Power (Soul Savers) (9 page)

“But that doesn’t explain how you figured everything out,” I
said, avoiding her accusation.

 
“Look at you.
You’re like …
exactly
the same as you
looked before. Well, not you. You’re a lot more … well, more everything.
Prettier, sexier, stronger. But still you, as if you’re frozen in time. And my
sister …” She drifted off, her mind going somewhere else as her fingers returned
to twisting in her anklets. When she spoke again, her voice came from a
distance. “She looked almost the same as the day she disappeared, too, but it’d
been four years. She’d barely been nineteen then and she should look older now.
At least different. Instead, she just looks … paler. Her hair’s exactly the
same—same cut and everything. She’d told me once, after reading your
books for the sixteenth time, that she wished she could be a vampire. Then one
day, not too long after you got the restraining order against her, she said, ‘I
know they’re out there. I’m going to go find them.’ And we never saw her
again.”

Guilt tugged at my heartstrings. I hadn’t personally
obtained the restraining order. My publicist had because Sonya seemed to be a
crazed fan, with a little too much emphasis on the “crazed.” She’d never
bothered me, though, and perhaps if that restraining order hadn’t been issued,
Heather wouldn’t be sitting next to me, asking for my help.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before encouraging her to
go on. “But then you did see her …”

“Yeah, I did. The first time I saw her was nearly two years
ago, and I totally freaked. I couldn’t believe it, and even convinced myself
that I saw wrong. When I looked back to be sure, she was gone. A few weeks
later, I was at the skate park with some friends, and I saw her again, and that
time I approached her. She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about, she
didn’t know me, and I’d better leave her alone if I wanted to live. But
something in her eyes, Alexis … she wanted to tell me something. She looked so
…
scared
.” A tear slid down Heather’s
cheek as she stared out at the horizon. “I had to
do
something for her. There had to be something that I
could
do. I stalked her for a while,
following her as best as I could, but keeping my distance because she’s, well,
pretty effin’ scary now. Some of those vamps aren’t very smart or secretive,
especially lately. It was so easy to creep on them and listen to their
conversations. They lie all the time, even to each other, but I learned some
things that were true, too. Like last summer when they were pissed at not being
able to attack some kind of colony on Captiva. Because of
you
. And Tristan. They were so scared of you guys!”

“That must have piqued your curiosity.”

“Hell, yeah, it did. How could these vamps be afraid of
you
? I mean, my asshole sperm-donor was,
but he was only human.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the term she used for
her dad—the same thing I called the guy who fathered me. She went on. “So
I knew you were different, but you didn’t seem the same as the vamps. I didn’t
get too close to them, but I didn’t have to. They felt all wrong. Bad vibes.
And when I’d been close to you in the office that one time, you felt right.
Good.
But I knew you had to be something
not quite human.”

I stared out at the water as I let her story sink in. How
was this possible? How could she detect anything different about me, unless she
wasn’t a Norman herself? But I knew she was—I could feel her humanity all
over her.

“Blossom says it’s because of my open mind,” Heather said,
startling me. I didn’t think I’d shared those thoughts with her telepathically,
but when she continued, I realized she’d gone down the same train of thought as
I had. “How I can feel the difference between all of you and us Normans, as you
call us. I got that open mind from you, you know.”

“Me?” I asked as I pushed my toes into the sand.

“You and your books. Sonya and I talked all the time about
how it could all be real. But I’d never want to
be
an evil vamp. I just prayed, if they
were
real, God would protect us from them.”

So Rina and the council had been right about my books. They
opened people’s minds to the possibility that so-called fantastical creatures
existed. I’d been so worried this would drive people to seek out the Daemoni to
become a Were or a vamp, as Sonya had. But, apparently, at least as many
readers could be like Heather, strengthening their faith, which would protect
them against the Daemoni’s increasing attacks. My guilt lessened. A hair.

“Anyway,” Heather continued, “after we moved to Sanibel, I
rode my bike to Captiva almost every day for a while, and as soon as I got my
license, I’d go and watch my sister, too. It didn’t take long to figure out
there were two groups and which side you were on. And then I thought, ‘They can
help me. They can help me get Sonya back.’”

A long moment passed before I realized the girl waited for
my response.

“Heather,” I said, “I really
do
want to help you, but honestly, I don’t know what can be done.
Sonya
chose
this, which meant she was
willing to give up her soul to be a vampire.”

“But she
hasn’t
yet. She hasn’t lost her soul. I see it in her eyes. I think she realizes she’s
made a huge mistake, but doesn’t know how to un-do it.” The girl turned to me and
tears filled her blue eyes as they pleaded with me. “Blossom says if there’s
any hope at all, you can save her. I know there’s hope. I
have
to believe that!”

I pulled her into my arms and smoothed her hair as she
cried. My decision was made. She needed me. She needed our help. And I owed it
to her and her sister.

So a few weeks later, Heather, Tristan, and I took a ride in
Tristan’s new toy—a shiny black Ford F-250—to spy on a nest of
Daemoni vampires in Fort Myers Beach. The mission was two-fold: try to get a
feel for Sonya and learn what we could about Vanessa and my pendant. A simple reconnaissance
trip. Yeah. Right.

Heather spotted Sonya and a redheaded female vamp leaving
the condo they shared with others from their nest, and we followed them as they
walked down the main road and made their way to the crowds of tourists. August
was one of the slowest months of the year, but there were still plenty of
tourists around. Perhaps because Key West had earned such a dangerous
reputation lately. The way Sonya and her companion hungrily eyed the Normans,
Fort Myers Beach would soon be gaining a similar rep.

The two vamps easily found their prey in a dark parking lot
behind a bar.

“Hey, two on one, huh? I’m down with that,” said the
middle-aged man covered in tattoos as we crouched behind a car on the far side
of the lot. I lifted my head up enough to see the vampires man-handling the
guy. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I like it rough, too, but easy now.”

“
We can’t let them
attack
,” Tristan said, and I nodded. “
You
stay with Heather. I’ll take care of it.
”

But by the time he finished his sentence, Heather was
already sprinting across the parking lot.

“Sonya, no!” she screamed. “Don’t do—”

A wail of pain cut off the girl’s words.

“
Go, Alexis!
” the
voice, the one I refused to believe belonged to Cassandra, screamed in my head.

Tristan and I blurred to the site to find the guy gone and
the redhead squatting over Heather’s splayed out body, blood pouring from a cut
across the girl’s cheek. With a thunderous crash of Sonya’s body against hers,
Red was thrown off of Heather. The two vampires rolled around the parking lot,
fists flying at each other.

“She scared away our dinner,” Red shrieked as she freed
herself from Sonya and jumped to her feet.

“She’s my
sister
,”
Sonya yelled back, springing to her feet, too.

“Not anymore. Now she’s just a meal.”

Sonya lunged at the other vampire. She never made it across
the three feet that had separated them, though—Tristan appeared between
them, and she slammed into his hard body. He caught her arm in one hand and
reached out to grab Red, but one look at him and she disappeared with a
pop
.

Only to reappear with three others.

No exchange of pleasantries ensued. They immediately moved
in for the attack. I uncloaked my dagger and yanked it from my hip, swinging it
as a little blond female flew at me. The blade sliced across her forearm, and
she screamed from the silver’s burn, but didn’t relent. She charged me again,
along with a short guy with orange hair. I shot her with electricity and pushed
Amadis power into my dagger as the blade slid between his ribs. He let out an
ear-piercing scream then disappeared. The blonde began to turn a sickly gray,
purple smoke rising from her skin, when something knocked my arm, breaking the
current.

“That’s enough, Lex,” Tristan murmured. “You can’t kill
her.”

The blonde flashed out of sight as my arm fell to my side.
All of the others had disappeared, too, except for Sonya and a tall guy with a
dark crew-cut, both of whom stood across the lane of cars from us.

“Go on,” Sonya said to the guy, nodding her head toward the
road.

“Sonya—” he said, and the tone of his voice sounded as
though he had some kind of authority.

“I need … to do this. Please,” she said. They eyed each
other for a long moment and something seemed to pass between them, some kind of
unspoken message. He disappeared before I had the thought to maybe “hear” what
they were thinking.

Having some faith Sonya wouldn’t attack us on her own, I
dropped to my knees next to Heather and pressed my fingers to her neck. Her
pulse came nice and strong. She must have hit her head when she was thrown,
though.

“Is she okay?” Sonya asked.

“I think so,” I said.

Sonya crossed the lane and stopped abruptly with a gasp as
she took in her sister’s condition.

“Oh, my God. What have I done?” She fell to her knees,
scooped Heather’s unconscious body into her arms, and rocked the girl as she
sobbed. “Heather, I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t be here. What have I—” She
stopped suddenly, as if frozen. The next instant, Heather was on the ground
again, and Sonya stood on her feet, staring at her sister with horror in her
eyes, her hand clamped over her nose and mouth. “The blood. The
blood
. Oh, God, don’t let me …”

My eyes darted to Tristan to silently ask for a little help
with the vampire, but his expression stopped me. He appeared to be waging some
kind of internal battle.
Tristan!
He
snapped out of it and looked at me with dark eyes.
Help Heather.
He stared for a confused moment, then finally gave a
slight nod and moved to the younger girl’s side.

“Sonya,” I said, slowly rising to my feet and moving toward
the vamp, one hand out in precaution, the other on the hilt of my dagger. “Be
strong. You don’t want to hurt her, right?”

She stared at me with wide eyes, the same blue as her
sister’s, and shook her head.

“No, don’t let me,” she whispered behind her hand. Then her
eyes changed, glowing bright red as her worried expression morphed into anger.
Her voice was no longer a whisper, but full of venom, stopping me in my tracks.
“How could you
do
this? How could you
bring her here? It’s too dangerous!”

“
I
brought
them
here,” said a hoarse voice at our
feet, and we both looked down at Heather, still cradled in Tristan’s arms. He’d
healed the cut on her cheek.

“How could you be so stupid?” Sonya demanded. “I told you to
stay away from me. You have no idea the monster I’ve become!”

And if I hadn’t already believed it, I knew right then her
soul could be saved. After all, you don’t worry about someone’s safety if you
don’t give a rat’s ass about them. She still cared. No, more than that. She
still
loved
.

“
Help her
,”
not-Cassandra whispered.

“Sonya,” I said, taking another step closer to her and
slowly reaching my hand out for her arm. She hissed at me and her fangs slid out,
but I refused to back off. “I
do
know
what you think you are. But you’re wrong. I sense good in you.”

“Don’t touch me!” she snapped, shrinking away from my hand.
She’d apparently been warned about my electrical touch or about the pain of the
Amadis power. Probably both. “
You
did
this. It’s all your fault!”

I cringed at the accusation, but nodded. “I know. I accept
that. But I want to make it better. You know I can, right? You know I can help
you?”

She shook her head violently, and her dark hair stuck to the
tears running down her cheek, reminding me of her mother a decade ago when her
father had struck her in the park by the beach. “You won’t help me! You’ll
kill
me.”

“Do you want to live like
this
?” I asked Sonya, throwing one hand toward Heather at my feet
and the other in the general direction of her nest. She didn’t respond, but her
answer came loud and clear in her thoughts:
No!
“We can help you. The Amadis can get you out of this. We can show you a better
way to live.”

Sonya’s blue eyes flew from me to Heather, back and forth several
times. A multitude of emotions stormed across her face as she remained in the
grip of indecision.

I think she’ll come
with us
, I said to Tristan. He didn’t respond, and I peered at him again.
He stared right at me, his eyes hard.
Tristan?

He blinked. His eyes softened. Sort of. Again, a battle
seemed to rage just under the surface, but his only coherent thought came as a
growl. “
This wasn’t the plan.
”

So you want to leave
her here?
I asked with disbelief. What was going on with him?