Purpose (37 page)

“Get the bedroom, too,” Mom said. I cringed
and stared at the floor in embarrassment. Owen seeing it was bad
enough.
Now Mom and Rina, too?

“Don’t know why I should bother,” Owen
muttered as he headed into the bedroom.

Tristan squeezed my hand and a guilty smile
tugged at the corners of my mouth. I wondered why Tristan hadn’t
had him fix it before. Perhaps, like Owen, he didn’t see the point
of it.

Rina sat in the chair and signaled for me to
sit on the couch. Tristan sat next to me, not letting go of my
hand, and I could feel a slight pull of energy through my arm and
into his. He strengthened his goodness with my power. Knowing I
could do that for him felt strange yet comforting. I gave his hand
a squeeze with my own.

“May I?” Rina asked Tristan, holding her hand
out to him. He reluctantly let go of my hand and took Rina’s. She
closed her eyes for several long moments, her face tense with
concentration. I held my breath as she assessed him. Finally, she
relaxed and a smile spread across her face. “Excellent,
Tristan.”

He let go of her hand and picked mine up
again, kissing the back of it before clasping it between both of
his. I pushed my energy into him, knowing what he needed.

“Thank you,” he murmured and I had a feeling
he meant that for both Rina and me.

Rina looked at me with her large, mahogany
eyes. Less than two weeks ago, both she and Mom could have nearly
passed as my daughters. Now we could all be sisters, rather than
three generations spanning over a-hundred-and-fifty years. But
Rina’s eyes would almost give her away. Not for her age, but for
her wisdom.

“You have waited a long time to hear your
story, no?” she asked.

“Way too long,” I said. My stomach fluttered
with anticipation.

“You have been very patient, I know. And now
that you have your full Amadis power, everything will be revealed.
There will be no more secrets.”

Finally
.

Rina sighed. “Unfortunately, I must ask you
to wait a few days longer.”

What?! Are you kidding me?

“Sophia and I must return for a debriefing
from the council immediately,” Rina continued. “This is not over.
In fact, it has just begun. The council must be made aware of
everything that has happened and discuss our future. In the
meantime, before you can come, you and Tristan, with Owen’s help,
need to prepare to start a new life. You have five days to put all
of your affairs in order and travel to the Island. Tristan, you
have a plan for A.K. Emerson, no?”

“I did,” Tristan said, “but it included
destroying her house in Atlanta. Is it still unsafe there?”

Rina pursed her lips for a moment. “No, the
situation there is under control, but I would rather not lose that
property. It may be useful for us.”

Tristan nodded and considered other
solutions. Anxious about the demise of my author’s life, I reached
for my pendant, for the calming effect it gave me. I gasped, my
fingers feeling only the bare skin of my chest. Tristan’s head
snapped toward me.

“Mom, please say you took off my necklace in
the back bedroom,” I said. Tristan disappeared.

“I don’t see it!” he called from there.

“No,” Mom said. “I know you don’t ever take
it off.”

“Oh, no! Not good!” I jumped to my feet and
frantically searched around the family room, not able to remember
now exactly where we’d been when Tristan tried to kill me.

“It’s not there,” Tristan said, now back in
the family room. Mom and Rina exchanged a meaningful look with each
other and then with Tristan.

“Maybe when we flew off the balcony?” I
asked. Tristan, Mom and Rina disappeared. I heard them outside on
the ground. I tried flashing, too.
I did it!
And, sucking in
air, I fell on my butt when I appeared. It really was disorienting
to be in one place and suddenly somewhere else. Owen laughed from
the balcony and I shot him a look.

“You’ll get used to it,” Mom said, lifting me
up.

I walked around a portion of the yard as we
each sectioned off areas to search. I could see every blade of
grass in twenty different shades of green, little bugs of all
shapes and colors and the tiniest specks of dirt and sand. But no
necklace or pendant.

“We have four sets of the best eyes in the
world. We
have
to find it,” Tristan muttered.

“Owen, can you summon it?” Mom asked.

I looked up at Owen, wondering why he hadn’t
tried by now. He waved his hand and I looked around, I guess
expecting it to be flying through the air or something. But there
was nothing. He shook his head. Mom’s and Rina’s shoulders
slumped.

“It’s nowhere around here,” he said with a
shrug.

He obviously didn’t understand its
importance. Mom and Rina seemed to understand, though. In fact, it
seemingly held more significance to them than it even did to me.
Once again, they traded pointed looks with Tristan. They all seemed
as upset as I felt over its loss, but I was sure for different
reasons. To me, the pendant was Tristan’s first gift to me, made by
his own hands, and it had served as a lifeline at times. But their
expressions gave me the feeling it was more than just a pretty
piece of jewelry. I rubbed my bare neckline, feeling partially
naked without it.

“Don’t worry. We’ll find it,” Tristan
promised with a squeeze of my hand as we went back inside.

“As I was saying,” Rina said once we were
settled again, “we will hold council on the sixth day and you both
will need to be there. Make a plan for Ms. Emerson, Tristan.”

“I have it now. We still submit the photos to
the media, announcing her marriage to her son’s father. Then they
go to Greece for a honeymoon.” Tristan winked at me and I could
barely follow the rest. I was happy to know that hadn’t changed
with the
Ang’dora
. Even if it made me stupid for a moment or
two, I didn’t ever want to lose that effect he had on me.

“Very good. Five days, no more.” Rina stood
up, but then she paused, looking at me. “
We will keep your new
gift a secret for now.
”

I blinked at her, not understanding.
Didn’t all those fighters just…hear…me, though?

“
I monitored their thoughts. You
controlled your wall very well. Nobody knows. I would like to keep
it as such for the time being. Your gift might be useful in
discovering information about the email and the video.”

Someone knocked on the door. Rina looked
toward it, then back at me, her eyebrows raised in a question. I
nodded. Then she must have silently invited the visitor in, because
a tall, pale woman with long, black hair came through the door and
into the kitchen. The same woman who’d accompanied Mom and Rina
inside last night, just before I collapsed. Julia gave a slight nod
to Rina, Mom and even me, then she just stood there, eyeing me. She
made me uncomfortable and I had to look away.

Something about her felt…different. Owen had
said Julia was Rina’s closest advisor, after Solomon, so surely she
could be trusted. But she just didn’t feel right to me. The thought
of peeking into her mind occurred to me, but I didn’t think I had
enough control. Rina would probably end up telling her, if she
really was her close advisor, but since I’d just promised Rina not
to reveal my gift, I couldn’t take the risk. So I was grateful when
Rina finally made the move to leave and Julia moved back toward the
door.

Tristan and I walked them outside. Rina told
Owen to accompany them to the airport, as an extra precaution. I
had a feeling she would use the opportunity to reprimand him for
his lack of attention to his responsibilities. I felt bad for him.
Though what Rina said made sense and I could definitely see the
truth of it in Owen, a lot of our mishaps were also my fault.

“Give Dorian hugs and kisses for me,” I told
Mom before they left. “And please save our surprise.”

“Of course, honey,” Mom said as she hugged
me. “You work on your powers. Learn what you have and how to use
them. Be prepared for anything.”

Owen snorted.

“Anyone who can handle Tristan the way she
did can handle
anyone
,” he said. “I thought I did good just
to hold him for so long. But, you, Alexis, you literally brought
him to his knees.”

“Ah, Tristan’s easy. I know his weakness.” I
saw Owen was about to ask. “But that’s
my
secret.”

Tristan squeezed my hand as we watched Mom,
Owen, Julia and Rina walk down the driveway, into the brush, and
disappear.

Tristan and I sat on our beach for the
sunset. Until now, I hadn’t purposely watched a sunset since our
honeymoon. I kneeled behind him, kissing and rubbing the scars away
from his back. He’d shuddered several times, but had otherwise been
quiet and withdrawn. My own thoughts had been reeling over
everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

“How can Vanessa and the other vampires come
out in daylight? Is that just a myth?” I asked, breaking the
silence. His back free of scars and dark magic, I moved to sit in
front of him, between his legs, just like the old days.

He chuckled. “With all the questions you must
have, you’re still focused on vampires?”

I shrugged. “I
have
been writing about
them for the last six years.”

I’d been curious about this since yesterday
in Key Largo, but I really asked now because it was the most
trivial of all my questions. I felt the need to lighten the tension
hovering over us. It worked—or, at least, distracted him from his
heavy thoughts. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and leaned
his chin on my shoulder.

“Can’t your vamps come out in the daytime?”
he asked.

“
My
vamps have no limitations. They’re
the ultimate predators.”

“And so are real vamps.”

A seashell in the sand caught my eye and I
reached out for it. It came to me without my touching it. I did it
again with another one.

“Whoa,” I breathed.

Tristan chuckled again. “You’d better be
careful or you’ll create bad habits. Next thing you know, you’ll be
at a restaurant and the salt shaker moves across the table in front
of the waiter.”

“Good point. But I’m supposed to
practice.”

I made the shells play leap frog with each
other. Then I tried to levitate a shell; I couldn’t hold it. A
different shell rose and hung in the air, but not by me. I watched
Tristan’s hand, but it just looked like he held it out, waiting for
someone to shake it. I tried to imitate him, but my shell only
hopped up and down.

“I thought
you
were the ultimate
predator,” I said. “If they have vampires, why did they need to
create you?”

“I’m a warrior, not a predator. There’s a
difference,” he said darkly. He made his shell fly into the water.
I tried levitating mine again and was able to hold it in the air.
“Vamps have their own problems. You can get the scoop from Solomon
in a few days.”

“Solomon?” I tried picturing Rina’s mate. I
hadn’t seen him since the day Tristan had disappeared, when they
left for the battle. In fact, I’d only seen him twice in my
life—the only other time in Mom’s cottage in Cape Heron, when I’d
first met Rina, too.

“Sure. He is a vampire, after all.”

“Solomon’s a
vampire
?” The shell fell
with my astonishment.

“What’d you think he is?”

“I don’t know. Didn’t really think about it.”
From what I did remember about Solomon, he looked to be of African
descent, but with very pale skin, and he
was
exceedingly
attractive and quite scary, actually…but I didn’t remember fangs,
like Vanessa and the others. Of course, I hadn’t known vampires
were even real at the time, so I wasn’t exactly looking for them.
“So, we have vampires on our side, too?”

“Of course. That’s what Amadis do, remember?
We save the souls of the so-called damned.”

“That’s an oxymoron. How can we save souls
that are already damned?”

“That’s exactly it. There are some who
willingly gave their souls up long ago, but for most, they’re not
entirely lost causes. If they’ve been bitten, turned against their
will, they can continue to hold onto some humanity. They can hold
onto their souls. As long as there’s any hope, Amadis power can
lead them to goodness. Like they did with me. Like
you
did
with me.”

“They started it.
Mom
started it.”

“You finished it,” he murmured as he
tightened his arms around me in a hug.

“Can you feel that it’s gone? I mean, I
actually felt the dark power leave my body.”

“The evil force? Most of it, yes. And with
each scar you remove, I feel the last traces disappearing. But the
strength of our powers mostly comes from Daemoni magic. It’s part
of our DNA.”

I shuddered. “I hate that part.”

“It’s pointless to hate it. There’s nothing
you can do about it. Something I realized a long time ago. But we
can use it for good and you have a lot of strength you can do good
with. I think you may be more of an ultimate warrior than I
am.”

I laughed. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious,” he said and his voice held no
hint of humor. “Owen was right. No one else could have done what
you did with me.”

“Like I told him, I know your weakness. You
told me a long time ago.”

He pressed his lips against the side of my
neck. “You.”

“And our love.”

“Our love is a strength.” He sighed, the warm
air fluttering the tiny hairs at the base of my scalp. “My biggest
strength
and
my biggest weakness.”

I remembered being ready to give myself up to
the Daemoni for love. “Yeah, probably mine, too.”

We sat in silence as the sun sank behind the
water. The heavy tension returned with each heartbeat of dead air.
My attempts at conversation hadn’t lifted Tristan’s mood at all. I
sighed, knowing what simmered in his mind.