Wrath (4 page)

“You’ll bring Sheree but not me?” Blossom demanded.

I pushed the memory of my kill back into the dark corner of my heart where it would forever live.

“She’s a
tiger
, Blossom,” I said, turning back to her. “With big muscles and huge teeth and sharp claws. And she’s a Were, which means she stands a good chance against a vampire.
And
she’s killed before.”

Blossom pursed her lips.

“As I was saying,” Charlotte said, glaring at me, “with those three, and especially if we get another Were and vamp, it’s likely Blossom won’t have to fight, even if you and I are in the middle of a conversion.” She turned toward the witch. “I could train you in conversions, too. So if one of us does need to fight, you can take over.”

Blossom shifted her weight to one leg, threw her hip to the side, and crossed her arms over her ample chest. “See. I can be useful in all kinds of ways.”

With a sigh, I looked across my desk at Tristan, who leaned back in my chair, his hands folded across his stomach.

“
I don’t like it either,
” he said. “
If something happens to her . . .
”

“
Exactly. I’d never forgive myself.
”

“
But if anyone would support our main mission, she would.
”

I made a face at his point. This argument wasted valuable time, and apparently I was in the minority.

“So what else will you be able to do?” I asked her. “Convince me that you’re an asset.”

Blossom blinked at me. “Well, uh . . . you know I’ve been working on my magic, prepping for a disaster, although I hadn’t imagined it would get this bad so soon. But you haven’t seen what I can do now. New spells. And potions—all kinds of new potions that would help.”

I cocked my head with a thought. If she was really determined to help me and would go to any lengths, I had a way for her to prove it.

“Tristan, can you please talk to Sheree and Vanessa?” I requested. “
Ask
them if they want to be a part of this—I don’t want to force anyone. We don’t need anyone on the team who doesn’t want to be on it. Charlotte, please help your people get settled and take care of the colony. I want to move out as soon as possible.”

“On it,” she said, already on her way out of the office.

“Blossom, come with me.” I headed for the door.

Tristan’s brow wrinkled.

“Sheree and Vanessa,” I reminded him.

He nodded. I could tell he knew I was up to something. But if I told him what, he would stop me, and I really didn’t want him to know the thoughts in my mind. They weren’t exactly the kind that made you love someone more.

I led Blossom through the crowd, into the corridor, and down to the suite I’d slept in last night. The one where Dorian had last been seen. My heart squeezed painfully at the sight of his video games and other toys abandoned by the TV. Sasha hadn’t moved—still curled in a ball on the pillow—but her new wing had grown to nearly full size. She lifted her head when we walked in, rose and stretched, then padded across the bed. I gave her a scratch before turning back to Blossom.

“First, show me how strong your shield is.”

She squirmed. “I’m still working on that. If it were strong enough . . .”

I pressed my lips together. She didn’t need to finish the sentence. If her shield were strong enough, we wouldn’t be in this situation. My mages wouldn’t be dead. My son wouldn’t be gone. But that wasn’t her fault.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I need to know its strength.”

With a sigh, she closed her eyes, lifted her arms above her head and twirled her hands. Then she opened her eyes, dropped her hands, and looked at me.

“Did you muffle the room, too?” I asked.

She thrust her hands out in front of her. “It is now.”

“CHARLOTTE,” I yelled, making Blossom flinch. Charlotte flew into the suite. I looked at Blossom. “Not strong enough.”

“What’s not strong enough?” Char’s gaze scanned the room. “What’s wrong?”

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to alarm you. We were testing her shield.”

Char’s eyes came back to me, filled with understanding. She gave me a small smile. “Not too many witches can shield
me
out. That’s not a good test. Besides, she’ll only have to maintain my shields. I can put them up.”

“Unless you’re incapacitated,” I muttered.

“Alexis—” Char began.

I waved her off. “I know. It’s not the biggest of my worries. I was only curious.”

Char studied my face for a moment, then nodded and left.

We’ll have to talk like this,
I said to Blossom’s mind.
I don’t want to be overheard and with all of the powerful hearing around . . .

Blossom nodded.

You know we’re not going out only to convert people who the Daemoni have turned, right?

“
I know you, Alexis. You won’t let Heather suffer or Dorian go so easily.
”

It’s not really official Amadis business, though. At least not Dorian, and I don’t know about Heather yet. For now, only converting and training our army is the official order. But Tristan and I are going to be searching for Dorian and Heather, doing the conversions along the way.

“
I want to help the Amadis any way I can,
” Blossom said, “
but honestly, I insist on going because of Dorian and Heather. I love them. And I was in charge of the safe house when all of this went down, and I can’t help but blame myself—
”

I held my hands up.
Stop. We could go on and on about who’s to blame, but it’s definitely not you, and we don’t have time to argue.

She nodded. “
So what do you want me to do? How can I prove that I can help so we can get going sooner rather than later?
”

I sat on the bed next to Sasha and stroked the soft fur on her back for a few moments before peering up at Blossom.

How far are you really willing to go to save Dorian?
I asked.

She tilted her head. “
I’ll do anything, Alexis. I swear I will. When I said I’d kill if I had to, I meant it.
”

How many?
I asked.

Not understanding—or not having a good answer—she squinted her eyes.

I made my question more direct.
Is it possible to wipe out a whole mage coven or vampire nest at once? Is there a spell for that?

Blossom rocked back on her heels, her eyes wide. “
What?
”

Is there a spell for that?
I repeated.

“
Um . . . yeah. I’m sure there is.
”

Are you powerful enough to do it?

She visibly gulped, and her hand went to her throat. “
Maybe. I don’t know. But that’s a lot of souls. Surely some can be saved.
”

I twisted on my butt to face her more directly.
Here’s how I see it. If we can wipe out an entire nest of vampires, how many human souls would that be that won’t be turned by them? We do it enough times, the Daemoni will—

“
Come after us and kill us!
”

I shrugged.
Maybe not if we give them an ultimatum. Return their hostages and we stop. Easy as that. Then we can focus on the business of building our army as they return to theirs.

Blossom stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “
But Alexis—
”

Can you do it or not? That’s all I’m asking.

She shook her head. “
I don’t know. I haven’t ever considered it.
”

So let’s try. There’s a huge nest in Fort Myers still. Can you do it from here, or do we need to do a quick flash-trip?

Her already big eyes widened. “
Alexis, you’re talking dark magic! I . . . I can’t—
”

You said you’d do anything
, I reminded her.

“
But that’s . . .
” She shook her head again. “
I’m Amadis. I don’t have that kind of dark power.
”

I rose to my feet, leaned toward her, and looked her directly in the eye. “That’s exactly why you can’t go. We’re all Amadis, but there’s darkness in us, too. Enough to do what needs to be done. You haven’t gone there yet, and I won’t be the one to take you.”

I turned my back on her and headed for the door.

“Wait!”

Chapter 4

I paused but didn’t turn back to the witch. To my friend.

“I can’t stay here,” she said. “I can’t be here. Please let me go with you. Please let me choose. It’s all on me, okay? Not on you at all. Everything I do will be my choice, and I’ll do
anything
.”

“Anything?” I asked.

“Yes. I’ll try, anyway. I don’t know if I can, but I’ll give it my best. I just can’t stay here where everything went bad. I can’t go into the common room without seeing the blood. Standing in this suite where Sasha and Dorian were . . . even walking by the door . . . please, Alexis. I have to
do
something!”

I’d originally asked her as a simple test—a way to prove to her that she didn’t have the makeup of a soldier. But the idea was making more and more sense to me. I hated myself for seriously considering it now, but I would try anything to save my son, and we’d be saving human souls at the same time. It was all for the greater good. If Blossom was willing, it couldn’t be too bad. Right?

I turned back to her.

“So you’ll try it?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Yeah, I will. I need to do a little research first, though. I’ve never studied dark magic before, but I’m sure there’s some kind of spell that will—”

The front door to the suite opened with a crash, and Tristan tore into the room. Not stopping, he grabbed me by the shoulders and pinned me to the wall.

“Blossom, leave,” he ordered, sparks in his eyes as he glared down at me. Blood rushed in my ears, so I didn’t hear her go, but she must have. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I glared back at him in shock. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you think I already thought of that solution?” he asked. Of course he had. He must have heard Blossom’s mention of dark magic and known my plan. “You can’t ask that of her, Alexis.”

“Why not? It’s the fastest way to get Dorian. With probably the fewest fatalities, especially
human
fatalities.”

“It’s dark magic, Alexis,” he barked. “Do you have any idea what that means?”

I blinked at him. No, not really, but I didn’t say so.

“Do you know what that would do to her?”

“No, but she does, and she made the choice.”

“Alexis!” he nearly yelled. He stopped and inhaled through flared nostrils, then blew the breath out. When he spoke again, his voice came low, barely controlled. “She is sworn to the Amadis way. Dark magic breaks that vow, putting her soul at risk. It could kill her. And if not, it could kill her soul. In most dark magic, that’s exactly what must be sacrificed. Her soul, and others’ as well.”

I gasped. My eyes stung, and I struggled to draw a normal breath into my tight lungs.

“I . . . I had no idea,” I whispered.

“Which is why you don’t go around asking people to do such things.” He released my shoulders and took a step back. “You and I will do anything for Dorian. I would sacrifice my life. My soul, too, if it would save his, even after everything I’ve been through. But we can’t ask that of anyone else. He’s
our
son. Not theirs. People, especially Blossom, will do what you want them to, Alexis. You’re their future leader. You have to be careful what you ask.”

I tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat, but it remained as tears threatened to spill.
Future leader—good thing that’s a very far-off future
. I obviously had no right to be leading anyone right now. As Mom had said—thank God for Tristan’s level head.

“I really didn’t know. She said she’d do anything . . . she didn’t say . . .” A breath shuddered out of me. “I know they’ll lay down their lives for me, for us. For the Amadis . . .”

“But we can’t ask anyone to risk their souls,” Tristan said, his voice softer now.

I sniffed, still blinking against the burn in my eyes. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just . . . all I can think about is how to get Dorian. Everything else is secondary.”

“I know, my love.” He pulled me into his arms. “I know.”

As I rested my head against his chest, I sensed Blossom in the other room—she hadn’t left the suite entirely. I felt so bad for my behavior toward her that I wanted to crawl under the bed and hide in shame. Instead, I called out to her. “Blossom, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

She stepped into the bedroom, and I reached my arm out for her. When she moved close enough, I pulled her into a one-armed hug.

“I really am sorry. I just—”

“You’re just a mom who’s worried about her son.”

I sniffled again and nodded. “Still. It was inexcusable.”

She gave me a squeeze and pulled back. “It’s not your fault. I said I’d do anything. It’s my choice.”

“I know, and I’m sure you will,” I said with a sigh as I pulled away from Tristan’s comforting arms. “But you have to tell me what exactly is at risk. I’m still pretty ignorant when it comes to all your magic stuff.”

“Well, there
is
something I can do that’s not risky at all. I can’t guarantee anything, especially if he’s really far away or if there’s a strong shield around him, which there might be, but maybe we’ll get lucky, so I can always try—”

“Blossom,” Tristan interrupted. She stopped her rambling and looked up at him. “What is it?”

“I can do a tracking spell,” she said.

My mouth dropped open, and my eyes dried as hope lifted my spirits. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“You were . . . well . . .” She scrunched her lips, trying not to say what I’d so horribly done to her—the position I’d put her in. “Anyway, um, like I said, I can’t guarantee anything. I’ve already tried a few times with no luck, but I want to keep pushing myself further. And maybe between the two of us—with you searching for his mind at the same time—maybe we can find Dorian.”

Tristan and I exchanged a look of hope.

“What do you need?” I asked.

“Well . . . before we cleaned up the blood in here, I took a sample to see if any of it was his—” She paused, her eyes wide at my reaction as the blood rushed out of my head, then she hurried on. “No, no, it wasn’t. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, but none of it belonged to him from what I could determine.”

I exhaled sharply. “Maybe Victor’s. Or even Lucas’s.” I wasn’t entirely convinced he hadn’t taken Dorian himself. “If so, I hope Sasha got him good.”

She nodded. “Yeah, probably, but anyway, it would have been helpful for the spell, but hopefully that means Dorian wasn’t hurt. I needed something of his, though, and the closer the better, but Sasha doesn’t work, which I don’t know if it’s because she’s a living being or what, so I tried one of his game controllers, but it’s still not enough.”

Tristan held his hand up, again making her stop to take a breath. “What
will
help?”

“Maybe if I’m in his room? I didn’t want to leave on my own, with everything going on, but maybe sitting in his room, surrounded by all of his things . . .”

“Let’s go,” I said, preparing to flash.

“I don’t like you going alone,” Tristan said. “Not after what happened.”

“I’ve been keeping my mind open, but there aren’t any Daemoni signatures for miles.”

“You never know when they’ll pop in, though.”

“Then come with us and keep watch.” I didn’t understand the problem. “Have you talked to Sheree and Vanessa?”

“I was sort of interrupted,” he said with a pointed look.

Guilt tightened my shoulder muscles. “Fine. I’ll call them.”

A minute later, Sheree and Vanessa entered the suite, and through mind-talk, I told them about our plan. All of it. They both volunteered immediately. Problem solved.

“Charlotte’s working on securing the safe house and the colony,” I told them. “As soon as it’s ready, we’re leaving. So be prepared.”

They nodded and took off to help.

“Now we can go.” I flashed to our home, more determined than ever to try anything that would lead us to my son.

Going into his bedroom proved to be a lot harder than I expected, though. As soon as I crossed the threshold, my lungs seized up. Tears filled my eyes as they took in the mess—his typical mess showing that he’d been here recently, having fun, being himself. His natural scent of oranges and grass, mixed with a hint of Sasha’s baby-powder fragrance, lingered on the air. I strode over to his bed, sat down at the head of it, and pulled his pillow to my chest. I buried my face in it and inhaled.
We’re coming, baby. Mom and Dad are coming for you.

A weight settled on the bed with me, and I opened my eyes to find Blossom crossing her legs and fisting her hands into Dorian’s blankets.

“His presence is so strong here,” she said. “Open your mind with me, and let’s search.”

She closed her eyes and began chanting something under her breath. I closed my eyes, too, and opened my mind to her as well as to the area around us, scanning the mind signatures. I broadened the area in my mind, going east to the mainland, as I’d already done before, and still no Dorian signature. Blossom’s chant became more urgent, and I pushed harder, reaching out as far as I could go.

Something suddenly nudged my mind north. Pushed it farther than I’d been able to go on my own. I continued scanning the tens of thousands of mind signatures, looking for the only one that mattered right now, until my head felt as though it were imploding. Another nudge north, but my mind couldn’t follow. Ignoring the pressure, I tried with all of my ability anyway, pushing, pushing, pushing—

But I was jerked out of it.

Panting, I opened my eyes to find Blossom staring at me with a frown.

“North,” I mumbled. I tried to stand up, to get moving, but my head pounded a strong protest, keeping me seated. “We need to go north, right?”

Blossom nodded, but her frown remained. “Are you going to answer that?”

Her eyes glanced at my hip. I didn’t realize my phone had been buzzing in my pocket. The annoying sound stopped before I could answer it, but my screen showed Mom had called. Apparently a couple of times. Blossom and I must have been too out of it to notice.

“We might have been able to go farther, if you want to try again,” Blossom said.

I lay back on Dorian’s pillow and rubbed my temple. “I don’t think I can. I guess
I’m
the one not strong enough.”

“Rest a moment and maybe—”

My phone rang again. Mom wasn’t letting up. But I wasn’t in a good state of mind to talk to her, so my fingers fumbled until they found the ignore button.

“I’ve never been able to go so far before,” I said. “Not even close. I can work on it, but I don’t want to sit here forever trying. At least we have a direction to head.”

I sat up when Tristan entered the room with an obvious purpose to his stride, but when he looked around, he stopped in his tracks. His chest rose as he drew in a deep breath. He picked up a picture of the three of us on Dorian’s dresser, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he worked to swallow. He put it down and looked at me, and his hazel eyes focused, as though he finally remembered why he came in.

“North’s going to be a problem,” he said, his voice thick. He cleared his throat. “Charlotte won’t buy into it.”

“Why not? We’re about as far south as we can be, so going north means more souls to help.” I thought it made perfect sense.

“Not when there are three Daemoni clusters in our backyard. Fort Myers Beach, South Beach, and Key West are all minor now, but they can easily become one large Major Cluster. She’ll want to go there first.”

Blossom’s shoulders sank. “He’s right.”

“Well, then we need to think of something to make her want to go north,” I said. “And we need to leave soon.”

“Alexis,” Tristan said, “that’s a lot of souls to abandon down there.”

“We have to find our son,” I insisted.

“I know,
ma lykita
, but—”

“We can still look for him.” Blossom reached over and put her hand over mine. “If we’re converting close to home, we can come back here and keep trying. It might be better than hitting the road for a physical search when we’re not sure exactly how far north we need to go.”

“It’ll take forever to get through those clusters, though.” I pressed my palm against my forehead and thought for a moment. “Maybe we don’t take Char. She can go south with a team, and we’ll take our own team north.”

“We need her. She’s the only warlock we have,” Tristan reminded me.

I pushed to my feet with a sudden need to punch something. My phone buzzed again, and I whipped it out of my pocket.

“What?” I barked.

“Alexis?” came a girl’s voice, sounding small and scared.

My breath caught in my lungs.

“
Heather?
” I practically shrieked into the phone. Both Tristan’s and Blossom’s heads snapped toward me. “Oh, my God, are you okay? Where are you? Is Dorian with you? Tell me where you are, and we’ll come get you. You’re okay, right?”

“I’m . . . uh, yeah, I’m fine.” Her voice sounded a little better than I’d thought at first. I let out a breath of relief.

“And Dorian? Please say he’s with you. Please say he’s fine, too. Please tell me you two got away.” The pitch of my voice raised a couple of octaves as I spoke.

“I’m . . . I’m with friends. I’m fine. I had to check in with my mom, let her know I was okay, and she said you guys were probably worried about me because she’d called Blossom—”

“Is Dorian with you?” I practically screamed, unable to listen to her nervous babbling a moment longer.

“No,” she whispered. “He never was. Is he . . . he’s
gone
?”

I closed my eyes and swallowed, my throat tight.

“Oh, my God. I should have known something was wrong,” she continued, though her words were distant in my mind as I tried to recover myself. How had I let my hopes soar so high so quickly? “Sonya warned me to get far away. She called me the other night and said to run as far and as fast as I could. To hide. So I . . . I came to some friends up at FSU in Tallahassee. I thought Dorian was at the safe house. I thought he’d be okay.”

“He was,” I managed to say through clenched teeth. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her exactly what Sonya had done. Heather had tried so hard to make sure her sister never hurt anyone again, and how did Sonya repay her? Us? She turned on all of us and massacred my mages. Allowed my son to be taken. “Something happened, though. We’re still figuring it out, but I need you to stay away from Sonya, okay? Hopefully, she’ll stay away from you, too, but . . . I don’t know. I just need to know that you’re safe, and it’s not safe with her. You’re with your friends now?”