Power (Soul Savers) (4 page)

***

“I don’t want to go!” Dorian crossed his arms over his chest,
flipped his light blond hair out of his hazel eyes and scowled at me as I
leaned against the wardrobe in his room at the mansion, having delivered the
news that he and Tristan would be going home tomorrow. “I don’t want to leave
you. Why aren’t you coming with us?”

He gave a football on the floor a kick across the room. Good
thing the wall was made of stone; plaster would have been ruined with the force.
I pressed my lips together and breathed deeply through my nose, practicing my
own emotional restraint.

As much as I hated being separated from my two men, I needed
to stay to help Mom with Rina and with everything else. Mom couldn’t do it
all—manage the entire Amadis as acting matriarch and also nurse Rina back
to health—on her own.

 
“I’ll be coming
home as soon as I can,” I promised. “As soon as Rina’s all better. And look on
the bright side—you’ll have Dad all to yourself.”

He didn’t respond to this, but I could see in his eyes that
he liked this perk.

I hated it. Well, for me. It would be good for Tristan and
Dorian to have some extended one-on-one time together, but I hated that they
had to leave. However, it was unavoidable and not unexpected. Dorian had
celebrated his eighth birthday a couple of months ago, and the older he became,
the more likely he’d keep memories into adulthood—memories of Amadis
secrets he’d take with him when he went to the Daemoni.
If he goes to the Daemoni. IF, dammit
. I refused to accept its
inevitability.

We’d been able to keep him here this long because Tristan
and I both had reason to be on the island. With Lilith gone and Bree leaving,
though, we were out of excuses to keep Tristan here, which meant he could take
Dorian home. Especially now that Rina was awake and we all knew it wouldn’t be
long before I could leave, too.

“I’ll miss you,” Dorian said. He looked away from me and
stared out the window. “I’ll miss this place.”

I felt his pain. Since Dorian had discovered the village on
the other end of the island and the people within it, we began taking him there
on occasion. After all, if we couldn’t somehow break the curse that would allow
the Daemoni to claim him, it wasn’t as though the fact of a village or magical
people living here would be such a great secret for him to share. The Daemoni
already knew all that.

He hadn’t exactly made friends here—the adults didn’t appreciate
the idea of Dorian, their future enemy, getting too close to their kids, as if
the curse might rub off on them. But at least the kids here didn’t make fun of
him as they had at the Norman schools, and they understood him better than any
Norman kids ever would. Even if he hadn’t forged a tight bond with any of them,
he obviously felt a sense of community here.

I opened my arms to him. He ignored me for a moment, his
fists on his hips and the corners of his mouth still pulled down. But then he
rushed across the room to me and threw his arms around my neck.

“I’m sorry, little man,” I said, hugging him tightly. “You
still have Dad and me and Sasha, though.”

“But not … not Uncle Owen.” And the dam that had been containing
his tears burst. He sobbed against my shoulder. “Why did he leave us? Is he
ever coming back? What if you don’t come home either?”

I blinked away my own tears at the realization of his true
fear. He didn’t want to leave here, but his feelings had less to do about
where
he was, and more about whom he was
with. With Tristan gone most of his life, he feared that we’d each disappear on
him. He didn’t want to lose his loved ones.
This
is good. He needs to know love as deeply as possible.
I counted on love—ours
for him and his for us—to help fight the curse.

“Uncle Owen will be back,” I said for the hundredth time,
praying it was true. “And I’ll definitely be coming home. I can’t stay away
from my two men for long.”

Dorian pulled away just enough to look at my face. “Maybe
Rina will be better tomorrow and you can come with us.”

I chuckled. “That would be wonderful. But, really, little
man, don’t worry. I’ll be home with you and Dad before you know it.”

After some more coaxing and soothing, he finally gave in,
and we spent the remainder of the day together as a family. I needed their love
to rejuvenate me and took advantage of the last chance I had to absorb it and
boost my Amadis power. I already missed them. I’d been spending so much time
bouncing between Rina and Lilith, I hadn’t been able to spend nearly enough
time with my own little family. And now they’d be leaving.

After putting Dorian to bed that night, Tristan and I snuck
off to our private place on the island, a little clearing in the woods, far
from the mansion and even farther from the village. Having to stay here for so
long and my little problem with my gift during sex had led us to finding a
place far enough away that I could let my shield down. We were right on the
edge of the island, not far from where we held the funerals.

We lay on the plush blanket afterward, the full length of
our naked bodies pressed together, and stared at the diamond-studded sky.

“I wish there was another way,” Tristan murmured, turning to
press his lips to my neck. His warm breath tickled my ear. “I already miss
you.”

“I know.” I burrowed my face against his wide, muscular chest,
and inhaled deeply, tasting his tangy-sweet scent of mangos, papayas, lime and
sage on my lips, on my tongue. “Me, too.”

He trailed his hand down the length of my side, sending a
current over my skin. “I already miss this.”

“Me, too,” I breathed against him. “Not long, though,
right?”

“Rina looked good when I saw her today. As good as can be
expected anyway. She’ll be back to herself soon, I’m sure, especially with your
power.”

My hand slid up his rippled abs and hard pecs, along his
neck, and up to his velvety soft face where I held him. My thumb stroked his
cheek. “I love you, my sweet Tristan.”

“I love you, too,
ma
lykita
.” He showed me again with his body exactly how much.

And, although he made me feel as incredible as always,
something seemed to be … missing.

Rina’s eyes glassed over as she looked away from Mom and stared
out the open French doors to the balcony, though she didn’t appear to be gazing
at the view of the cypress trees with the Aegean Sea sparkling behind them. She
sat in her oversized bed, propped by a mountain of pillows, but her mind had
traveled to another place … to another time. Perhaps to when she’d first met
the people whose names Mom had just mentioned, or maybe to when she’d ordained
them to her council.

“Adolf and Shihab,” she murmured, dabbing a finger at the
corners of her eyes. “And you said others?”

“Yes, but we don’t need to discuss this right now,” Mom
said, studying Rina’s haggard face as she adjusted the covers. My grandmother’s
brown eyes looked even larger than usual in her thin face, accented by dark
purple half-moons under her lower lids.

Tristan had been both right and wrong about Rina’s quick
recovery—she regained a good portion of her mental capacity the day after
he and Dorian had left and had continued showing improvement in the ten days
since, but physically she struggled. With as many hours of the day that she
slept, her body should have restored itself twenty times over by now, but her
cells weren’t regenerating as they should have been.

“Yes, we
do
need
to discuss it right now,” Rina said, shooing Mom’s fussing hands away with a
flick of her own.

Mom pulled back and instead made herself busy by pouring
Rina a cup of tea. “Mother, it can wait—”

Rina’s eyes snapped to Mom’s face. “My people are
dying
, Sophia. It can
not
wait!” Her chest rose and fell in a
calming breath before she took the teacup and saucer from Mom. “Who else?”

Mom pinched the bridge of her nose and squinted her eyes.
She looked as tired as I felt. Now that Rina was awake and coherent, Mom and I
had been spending even more time in here with her, gradually bringing her up to
date on the state of the Amadis. As her mind began to clear, one of Rina’s
first questions had been about whether Tristan and I had recovered the pendant
yet.

I hadn’t been surprised she’d focused on the pendant,
especially since we hadn’t yet told her about all of the Daemoni attacks. But
they probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference. The next Amadis daughter
would always remain a top priority, and the pendant housed the stone I needed
in my possession to ensure Tristan’s fertility. Although it wouldn’t guarantee a
daughter, I would definitely never conceive Tristan’s baby without the stone. The
Angels may or may not have instilled the faerie stone with additional
qualities, but if they had, the Daemoni could possibly turn it against us, making
it a weapon. We needed the pendant, but we hadn’t been able to find it or the
vampire-bitch who had stolen it until two weeks ago. Who knew when we’d find
her again?

“Alexis, I will need you to take further risks now. We need
that pendant,” Rina had said. “It will be our top priority. You and Tristan
will lead the operation, and I will give soldiers to assist.”

Mom and I exchanged a glance, but said nothing at the time
to Rina. The matriarch had been returning to her authoritative self, which was
good, but she didn’t have the full story then. She hadn’t known about the
increase in Daemoni attacks, and that our soldiers were already stretched thin.
We hadn’t wanted to bring up all of the Amadis deaths until Rina’s health
improved.

Now, only a few days later, we could no longer avoid that
discussion.

“Who else?” Rina repeated.

Mom didn’t need to answer. The memories others had shared
with me flashed through my mind, and I passed them on to Rina. My grandmother closed
her eyes, and the teacup rattled in the saucer as she watched the gruesome
images of the fights Adolf and Shihab had been in with the Daemoni. Fangs
flashed and blood splattered as limbs and heads were severed from bodies.
Wolves, cougars, and lions transformed into human bodies as they died on the
battlefield. Some of the German and Arabian troops had fallen with their
leaders in the violent battles. Then more abhorrent visuals played of the
Daemoni attacking Armand and his people as they tried to gather intelligence
for us. My own memories of the funerals on the cliff also flashed for Rina, and
I could feel her despair deepen with each one.

“The last one we sent to the Angels, before Lilith, was
Armand’s second-in-command, last month,” Mom finally said.

I had liked Armand’s second a lot—much more than the
French vampire himself who had been one of Tristan’s primary accusers last fall.
His second had been a female were-bear and a much better leader than her boss.
I’d only met her a couple of times, but admired her kind heart and tough
demeanor. Hers was the only funeral, until Lilith’s, where tears had stung my
eyes.

I’d shed no tears for Adolf, the German werewolf who had
also been one of Tristan’s adamant accusers. Yes, he was Amadis, so I probably
should have felt some remorse, and I supposed I did. A little. But only because
we needed every last soul. I certainly held no personal affection for him beyond
that.

“The rest of the Amadis are busy, but doing fairly well,”
Mom added. “The Daemoni are focused on Normans.”

“How many are they infecting?” Rina asked as she shakily placed
her cup and saucer on the nightstand next to her. “How bad is it?”

Mom shook her head. “We aren’t sure of exact numbers, but enough
that Normans are taking notice. Some smaller countries have closed their
borders completely, blaming the mysterious deaths and disappearances on foreign
terrorists. It’s only a matter of time before leaders begin considering more
drastic measures. If the Daemoni continue their current rate of attacks, or God
forbid, increase …”

Mom trailed off as Rina rubbed her finger and thumb against
her closed eyelids. I took her other hand and pushed more Amadis power into
her. She squeezed my hand in return.

“This is too much for you, Mother. You need to rest,” Mom
said.

Rina stopped rubbing her eyes and glowered at Mom. “I
apparently have been resting for eight months while the world falls apart
around me. Do you truly believe I can sleep right now?” She shook her head.
“Continue. How many have we converted?”

Mom sighed and took a seat in the chair by Rina’s bed. She
leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped together.
“Not enough. Not many at all. Our safe houses aren’t empty, but we don’t have
enough conversion specialists to be more aggressive with the Daemoni’s victims.
Charlotte has been doing what she can. So have our others. But you, Alexis, and
I have the strongest Amadis power, and, well …”

Rina gave me a sideways glance and looked back at Mom. “You
two have been here with me rather than out there helping.”

Accusation laced her tone, but what did she expect? She was
family. Besides, she was the matriarch. We weren’t the only ones who needed
her.

“The Amadis need a matriarch, that is true,” Rina said. “But
we have a line of succession. If I had not made it—if I still do not make
it—we have you, Sophia. The infected need you more than the people need
me.”

Mom opened her mouth, likely to protest, but Rina didn’t let
her speak.

“That is knowledge for you to remember for the future. At
the moment, however, I understand the predicament. Alexis is newly turned. She
needs to be trained in the art of conversion. Or have you been, darling?” Rina
turned her eyes on me. I shook my head.

“As you said, we’ve both been here the whole time,” Mom
said.