Power (Soul Savers) (40 page)

I hurried to Vanessa, squatting next to her body.

“Come on, he’s gone,” I said, pulling on her arm. “At least,
for now.”

“I can’t see,” Vanessa whispered as she sat up, her eyes
wide but glassy. She rubbed her fists into her eyes, and when they came away,
panic contorted her face. “Alexis! I can’t see!”

I grabbed her hand. “I’m right here. It’s okay.”

“It’s
not
okay!”
She shook off my hand. “I can’t
see
.
How can I run if I can’t see where I’m going?” She threw herself back on the
floor. “I’m dead.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I may as well be. And you are, too, if you don’t go.”

“Then let’s go.”

She pounded her fists into the floor, leaving divots in the
frozen earth. “I
can’t
, Alexis. Don’t
you get it? You go. Get out of here.”

“I’m
not
leaving
you here.”

“Yes, you are! There’s no need for both of us to die.”

I rocked backward off my heels to sit on my butt and dropped
my head into my hands.
What am I going to
do?
After everything we’d been through, I wasn’t about to leave Vanessa
behind. But I didn’t know how to get out. Hell, she
knew
this place and hadn’t found the way out yet. And now she
couldn’t see to at least try.

“You’re still here,” she said.

“Of course I am. I told you, I’m not leaving you.”

“Then what do you plan to do, oh smart one?”

“I don’t know. We can’t sit here right in the open.” I
didn’t sense any mind signatures close by, but that could change in an instant.
“Do you think your vamp powers will heal your sight any time soon?”

“I’m sure. Eventually.”

“Will a drink from me help?”

Vanessa lifted her hands in a shrug. “Probably. But then
you’ll
be too weak to go on, and
although I could, I’m not carrying your ass out of here if I don’t have to.”

“So we need a hiding place.” I looked around, then glanced
down the hall where the mage had been. “I’ll be right back.”

Keeping my mind open, I rushed to the doorway where the
mage’s body still lay and peeked inside. A small, empty room, no bigger than a
bathroom, and with no fire in the sconce on the wall. Just dark enough that
maybe we could hide there for a while. I hurried back to Vanessa.

“Keep your hands on my shoulders and try to see through my
mind,” I said, and I led her to the room.

We settled in the darkest corner, huddled together, and I
gave her my wrist. When she was done, I collapsed beside her. But only for a
few minutes. Several mind signatures buzzed on my radar.

Someone’s coming
,
I told Vanessa.
Can you see yet?

“
Not in the slightest.
”
But then she straightened up. “I have an idea, though. Follow me.”

Vanessa held her hand out in the air, searching for mine,
and I took it, not knowing what to expect since she couldn’t exactly lead me
anywhere. But then she flashed, and I realized barely in time to catch her
trail. Of course, we couldn’t flash out of the Daemoni compound—that
would have been too easy—but we flashed to a different part, and appeared
in another tiny room that had no doors or windows, no way in or out. And
treasure filled it—all gold, no silver, of course.

“Put what you can in your pockets,” Vanessa said, feeling
her way around.

“What is this?
Whose
is this?”

“It’s mine. This is my vault. We can’t stay here long,
though. This will be one of the first places Lucas looks for us when he
realizes they lost us. But hopefully we’ll have enough time for my sight to
come back.”

I picked up an ancient looking gold coin. “Wait,” I said,
hesitating before putting it in my pocket. “Where did
you
get this stuff from?”

She shrugged. “Some I won, fair and square. Most I stole.”

I dropped the coin. “We can’t take this, Vanessa. It’s like
… blood money.”

She groaned as she sank to the floor. “I knew you were going
to say that.”

I sat on the floor, leaned my head against the wall and
closed my eyes. “We don’t need it anyway. Let’s get a little rest then get out
of this God-forsaken place.”

But resting allowed the adrenaline to dissipate from my
system and my mind to think of more than running for my life. Everything that
had happened in the last few hours pressed down on me like a two-ton beast
making itself comfortable on my bruised throat and chest. The image Kali had
shown us of Tristan destroying Captiva Island, and the colony and the Normans
with it, replayed behind my eyelids. Now that she knew the power of the stone,
what had she made him do? Where would she lead him next?

Breathing became impossible as heartbreak ripped through me.
I had failed. Oh so miserably failed. The Amadis, with humanity right behind
it, would fall. This whole trip had been a waste of time. I’d not just
miserably failed, but
epically
failed. And I would never see Tristan or Dorian again.

Or would I? I could
always choose to stay here and then we could all be together …
I remembered
the vision I’d seen during my
Ang’dora
,
of Lucas—I now knew the man in the snowy field—tempting me with
this idea while Mom and Rina had stood on the sunny side of the mindscape,
fighting for me. With the Amadis, I was guaranteed to lose Dorian, and now I’d
lost Tristan, too. But, as Lucas had promised, with the Daemoni, we could have
it all.

Was he right, or were those more empty promises? Could I
stand to live this life if it meant being with the two people most important to
me? Did we even have a choice, since the Amadis would be gone anyway? Grief
blossomed, enshrouded me as this thought seized hold, and my mind barely
registered a muffled clanging in the walls.

“We gotta go,” Vanessa said. “That’s Lucas digging his way
in.”

I shook my head, though she couldn’t see me. Tears
overflowed down my cheeks. “It’s no use,” I croaked.

“
What?
What are
you talking about?” She sniffed the air. “Are you
crying
? Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’re
not
doing this. You can’t break down on me now, Alexis. I have a
plan. We’re going to get out of here.”

“But what’s the
point
?”
I cried. “I didn’t get the faerie stone. I didn’t get Kali’s soul, and we lost
Owen. They have Tristan, and they’ll get Dorian soon enough. I failed, Vanessa!
You go, but there’s no reason for me to.”

She reached her hands through the air in the direction of my
voice. They found my face and clamped down on each side.

“Don’t. Give. Up.” Her voice lost its musical quality,
replaced by the firmness of a mother. Or an older sister. “Don’t let their evil
energy get to you. It’s not over until it’s over. You wouldn’t leave me before,
and I’m not leaving you now. Not like this. I’ve seen you break through the
Daemoni power before to get to Tristan. I know you will find a way to reach him
again. And Owen …” Her voice trailed off for a moment. “I don’t know about
Owen, but we can’t lose hope, Alexis. We’ll get through this.”

I sniffled and scrubbed at my wet cheeks. Was she right?
Could I break through to Tristan? And what about everyone else?

More noise in the walls reminded me of the pointlessness of
worrying. We were trapped, anyway.

“No, we
won’t
get
through it,” I wailed. “It’s hopeless! I don’t know my way out. You’re blind as
a bat. I can’t even fight. I’ve failed, Vanessa. I. Have. Failed. We’ll
never
get out of here!”

“Don’t say that. We
will
.
Look at everything you’ve done since your change. You are strong, Alexis. You
are powerful!”

I tried to shake my head again, but her grip was too strong.
More tears fell. “You don’t understand. I lost the dagger. Cassandra’s dagger.
My connection to her and her power was the only reason I’d been able to do
anything. It was her, not me. Her power, not mine!”

Vanessa’s hands fell from my face. “What the hell are you
talking about?”

More ruckus came through the walls, but I ignored it.

“Cassandra’s power was driving me,” I admitted aloud. “All
this time, it was her helping me. The dagger connected us, and she gave me her
power and she guided me through everything. Everything! Every fight she’s been
there, and now I’ve lost her, too.”

Vanessa’s head tilted. “Well, everything I’ve heard about
Cassandra, her strongest power was love. They say she could literally love you
to death. Sounds stupid but the threat works with the Daemoni, since they fear
love so much. But even if it’s a crock of shit, I know you and your love for
Tristan, for your son, for …
everyone
.
Even strangers. Everything you do is to protect those you love and even those
you don’t think you do. Like me.”

I wiped at my tears again. She was right. That’s why I was
so reckless, always throwing myself into danger, risking my own life to protect
others. And here I’d been most reckless of all, breaking my promise to Tristan.
And everything had gone so terribly wrong. I hadn’t protected anyone. In fact,
my actions would probably get us all killed.

“Yeah, well, you’re right. I’m stupid,” I said.

Vanessa groaned. “Yeah, right now you’re being really damn
stupid. End the self-pity party, Alexis. Tristan needs you. Dorian needs you.
The Amadis need you. So put your big-girl panties back on and get your ass out
of here, then we’ll figure the rest out. But you’re
not
going to stay here! I won’t allow it. We’re all dead if you
stay.
All
of us. And there’s no hope
for Tristan and Dorian if you don’t make it. So are you going to fight for
them?”

She glared at me with blind eyes, and I still felt them
piercing into my soul, forcing me to study it myself. My soul opened and bared
itself to me, exposing the raw layer of nerves that contained my love for
Tristan, for Dorian, for the Amadis, even for Vanessa, and strangers. All of
humanity. The Angels had given me love for them all, and they all needed me.

I considered again if she was right about being able to
break through to Tristan. I didn’t have the stone, but did I still, in some
way, have his heart? Could I stop him from doing any more damage than what he
must have done already? Was our love strong enough? If I could find my way to
Tristan and pull him back to us before he destroyed the Amadis, we could figure
out the rest. We’d all be
alive
to
figure out the rest.

Well, there’s only one
way to find out if we can salvage this mess.

I pulled in a deep breath, mentally put on my big-girl panties
as Vanessa had instructed and nodded.

“Oh! Did you just nod?” Her hands reached out for my head.
“I can see you. Sort of. You’re just a big black blur, but I can see your
shape. I saw it move. So you’ll fight?”

Maybe her vision returning was a good sign. It gave me a
little more confidence. I nodded again.

“Yes,” I said. “I’ll fight.”

She let out a whoosh of relief. “Okay. So here’s my plan.
The city has two shields and two exits. One exit is through town, which we’re
staying far away from, and the other is the cave we came through.”

“Which we couldn’t find our way back to,” I pointed out.

“We’re not giving them time to change the paths. We’re going
to flash right to where the inner shield ends, about half-way down that long
tunnel. Then we can walk through the shield and flash again to the cave, where
the outer shield ends.”

“But that long tunnel changed, remember?”

“They won’t change it at the shield or they’d mess up its
force.”

I drew in a raggedy breath as I considered her plan, which
sounded too simple. “And why didn’t we do this sooner?”

She scowled. “Sorry. I was too busy running for my life to
have a clear thought.”

The clamor in the walls came closer, making both of us jump.
The adrenaline spiked through my system again, and if I hadn’t already decided,
I knew now that I would do whatever necessary to get us out of here. My fight
had, indeed, returned.

“Well, we have nothing to lose, do we?” I said.

“Nope. So are you ready for this?”

“Not exactly, but I don’t have a choice. How about you?”

She waved a hand in front of her face and scrunched her face.
“I’ll be relying on you.”

“Well, then, let’s do it.”

We clasped hands and flashed. We appeared in the
forever-tunnel, both ways empty of physical bodies and mind signatures. Was
this actually going to work? Were we going to get out of here alive?

“We should feel the shield about ten yards up,” Vanessa
said, and she was right. We walked uphill twelve of my paces, Vanessa stumbling
after me with her hand on my shoulder to guide her way, before we felt the
slight resistance and a buzz as we passed through the shield. “Now let’s flash
to the cave.”

Her hand slid down my arm and grasped my palm. We flashed.
And bounced. We landed on our butts.

Vanessa swore. “You’re right. This was too easy. Where did
we appear?”

I looked around and swore as well. “Right where we were.”

“Damn it! They’ve blocked us from flashing.”

With no other choice, Vanessa clamped her hand on my
shoulder again, and I led her up the tunnel. Being nearly blind, she lacked her
normal vampire grace, and we moved slowly, for us anyway. At least until I felt
the mind signatures from way down the tunnel.

“They’re coming,” I whispered.

“Go faster,” Vanessa hissed.

We picked up the speed, but the signatures were coming much
faster. I took Vanessa’s hand and yanked her forward, but she kept stumbling,
catching herself on me, almost pulling us both down. I wrapped my arm around
her waist and practically carried her, moving as fast as I possibly could. We
made better progress, but the thoughts—Weres’ thoughts—were closing
in on us.