Wrath (5 page)

“Um, yeah. I’m going to hang out here for a while, probably all of my spring break.” She paused for a long moment. “We’re watching movies. You know, the ones with the hot werewolf and the vampire that looks like a drug addict.”

“Good,” I breathed. But relief only lasted a moment as realization set in.

“I’m so sorry, Alexis,” she said, her voice small again and full of sorrow.

“Stay safe, okay?”
We’ll be there soon
, I didn’t tell her.

“Please don’t worry about me. Just . . . find Dorian.”

Yeah, right. I felt nothing but worry about her as I pressed END on my phone’s screen.

“Sonya has her,” I told Tristan and Blossom. Heather’s sister had used the exact same words to describe a movie once. She’d been giving me a message.

“We need to go!” Blossom shrieked, jumping to her feet.

Tristan and I agreed without hesitation, and I called Charlotte to let her know where we’d be going. I wouldn’t call Mom, though. I didn’t have time to argue with her.

“I don’t like it,” Char said.

“She’s a baby vamp, and it’s daytime. Tristan and I can handle it.”

A pop outside had me peeking through the curtains to see Vanessa. She blurred into the house. “I’m going.”

I cocked my head.

“She’s a vampire,” Vanessa explained. “I can help. And it’s better than hanging out here where no one wants anything to do with me.”

“Vanessa’s going, too,” I told Charlotte.

“And me,” Blossom said. “That’s my girl we’re saving.”

Of course she’d want to go.

“Sheree wants to go,” Char said through the phone.

“I was close to Sonya,” Sheree said from the other end of the line, though her voice came from farther away than Char’s. She knew I’d hear her, though. “Maybe I can talk her down.”

With the image I had in my head of what I wanted to do to Sonya, I didn’t think it would be good for Sheree to be there.

“No,” I said to Char. “Sheree can’t go. She needs to stay and help you at the safe house.”

“From the look on her face, she doesn’t agree.”

“Too bad. Keep her there. We’ll be back later with Heather.”

Not waiting for further argument, I disconnected the call. Tristan, Blossom, Vanessa, and I took each other’s hands, and Tristan led us for the flash to Tallahassee. We had to flash around the city a few times before I finally latched on to Heather’s mind signature near the FSU campus, as she had said.

“She’s definitely with Sonya.” I focused harder, and then frowned. Some
friends
Heather had. But it made sense for them to be near the campus—college kids were probably prime targets for food and turnings. “And a whole nest of vampires.”

“Is—” Blossom’s throat moved as she gulped. “Is she . . . ?”

“Turned?” I shook my head. “No. Her mind signature is still human.”

The witch let out a loud breath of relief. “We need to go get her.”

With a nod, we set out on foot, and I led the others toward Heather’s mind signature until we came to a row of townhouses. Five mind signatures were within the homes, all vampires. Heather and Sonya, however, were behind the row of houses, in an undeveloped area clustered with maples, palms, and huge oaks draped with Spanish moss. Two other vampires were with them. I listened in as we approached.

“For the hundredth time, you have to turn her, Sonya,” a female vamp’s voice said. “It’s for her own good, and you know it.”

“For the hundredth time, no,” Sonya’s familiar voice answered. “I won’t make her live this horrible existence.”

“Oh, it’s not so bad,” came a third female, menace underlying her taunting words. “Besides, your only other choice is that we eat her.”

“No!” Sonya’s voice came sharper. “Leave her alone, Lesley.”

Tristan and I exchanged a glance, then we both blurred to the edge of a small clearing. Vanessa and Blossom showed up at the same time, Vanessa’s fist swinging toward me. I ducked, then heard a body hit the ground behind me. I spun to find a fourth vamp at my feet—someone inside must have sensed our arrival.

“Thanks,” I murmured to Vanessa.

“That’s what I’m here for,” she whispered, then added, “Sis.”

“There are more of us around,” warned one of the two females threatening Sonya—the one who wanted to eat Heather. With a short blond bob, she stood in front of Sonya with her back to us, wearing a tank top and shorts with cowboy boots.

Her companion, another blonde, though she wore hers long, nearly to her butt, leaned less threateningly against a nearby tree, her arms crossed over her chest. Sonya stood protectively in front of Heather, who was backed up against the trunk of an oak.

“Let them come,” Tristan said as we stepped closer.

“Tristan!” Heather squeaked. “Alexis!”

The two blondes sucked in air noisily as they turned to face us. Sonya’s eyes popped open wide, and her jaw trembled. She took a step back, smashing Heather against the tree.

“Give us the Norman,” Tristan said. “That’s all we want.”

“Unless any of you want to convert,” I added, only because I was supposed to—and because the Daemoni often thought of that as a threat. I didn’t really expect either of them to want to.

The shorter vamp, the one with the bobbed hair, hissed. It was an odd sound coming from someone with her slight stature and sweet face. Her light blue eyes sparked with a wicked gleam.

“Fools,” she screeched, plenty loud enough to alert the rest of their small nest. Then she disappeared, only to reappear on Vanessa’s back, her fangs long and poised over my half-sister’s neck.

Vanessa hissed and spun in a blur, then the two vampires were bouncing around the woods, ramming each other into trees and rolling on the ground. I couldn’t help but think about the fight Vanessa and I had had in the woods in Washington when we were on our way to Hades. This must have been what we looked like.

“Lesley, stop!” the vamp with the long blond hair said. She must have realized none of the other vampires from the houses were coming to their rescue. “You know we’re outnumbered and out-powered.”

I didn’t know if it was the warning or the distraction that did it, but suddenly Vanessa and the other vamp came to a standstill. Vanessa’s arms were wrapped tightly around Lesley, pinning the Daemoni’s arms to her sides. Vanessa’s fangs were fully extended, ready to bite if necessary.

“Heather, come here,” I ordered, seizing the opportunity. She ran into my arms. I gave her a quick hug, and then handed her over to Blossom, who swallowed the girl into a bear hug. “Sonya.”

It wasn’t a kind greeting, and she knew it. Her eyes focused on me, still wide and mixed with fear and confusion. The vamp let out a little whimper. My heart had been pounding hard in my chest this whole time, wondering what we would come upon. Wondering if I could bring myself to kill this young vampire since it was her attack that caused the mages to drop their shield over the safe house, thereby allowing Lucas and/or Victor inside to steal Dorian. I expected her to be vicious, knowing how pissed we’d all be, especially Tristan and me. But strangely, though smartly, fear waved off of her.

I couldn’t let her faked innocence get to me. I had to remember what she’d done—the blood smeared on the walls, the mages’ mutilated bodies on the floor. She was a cold-blooded beast, not someone to feel sorry for. I took a step forward. She tried to step away, but she’d backed herself into the tree.

My voice came out low, my abhorrence for her weaved into each distinct word. “Give me one good reason not to kill you.”

“Please don’t hurt me,” she begged, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“What’s
wrong
with you?” Lesley demanded as she squirmed in Vanessa’s arms. Vanessa growled in her ear and lowered her mouth so her fangs scratched the other vamp’s skin. “We can take on these pansy-asses!”

The other vamp, the one with the long hair, rolled her eyes. “Don’t you know who they are? We can’t kill them.”

“Sure we can, Alys!” Lesley said, and then she gasped as Vanessa’s fangs gave a quick pierce into her skin.

“Shut up or we’ll call in the Weres,” Vanessa warned. “We have a tiger who might not seem so bad, though I wouldn’t underestimate her. And we happen to know a few others, too. They’re not far, and they’re just waiting to chomp on a pretty little bitch like you.”

Though we knew Vanessa was bluffing, Lesley obviously didn’t because she finally fell still.

“I . . . I’m sorry, Alexis,” Sonya said, turning her attention back to me. “I really am. Please . . . please let me explain. I . . . I can help you find Dorian.”

I flew at her, and my hand wrapped around her throat as I lifted her up against the tree.

“You have no right to say his name! It’s your fault he’s gone!”

“I know,” she choked out. “I’m sorry. But please listen. I can lead you to him. But I . . . I need your help first.”

“Please don’t hurt her,” Heather whispered from behind me, and I forced myself to let go of Sonya and take several steps back for Heather’s sake. She didn’t need to see what I had planned for her sister, and that could wait until Heather was long gone. “She really didn’t mean to do any of it.”

“Honey,” Blossom said, also from behind me, “you’re safe now. You don’t need to protect her.”

“No, really,” Heather said, her voice pleading, “Sonya couldn’t help it. Let her tell you.”

I strode closer to Sonya again. Alys, the other vamp, wisely stepped farther away. I didn’t know what was up with her—her thoughts were a hot mess of confusion between attacking us or running away, though running felt stronger. So I didn’t know why she stayed. She had to know we didn’t give a rat’s ass about her right now. So I stopped for a second and turned to her. She stood quite a bit taller than me so I had to crane my neck nearly as much as I did to look at Tristan.

“Do you want to convert?” I asked her.

She stared at me with big blue eyes, not answering.

“If not, then get the hell out of here. We have what we want.”

The vamp took a step backwards.

“Alys,” Sonya said. “You don’t—”

“Hush!” I barked. “You have no right to say anything.”

The two Daemoni vamps exchanged a look, and then Alys disappeared. I nodded at Vanessa, who loosened her grip on Lesley. The shorter blond crouched as though she planned to attack, but Tristan’s hand flew up.

“Leave. Now,” he commanded.

Her eyes swept over all of us, and she let out a growl, but then she blurred off into the woods.

“So what is it you have to say?” I demanded of Sonya. “Why do you think I’d want to help you with anything, except your death?”

Heather broke free of Blossom’s hold, rushed to her sister’s side, and took her hand. I immediately regretted the harshness of my words. The vamp had kidnapped the girl, but Heather still stood by her side faithfully—trusting her.

“Tell them,” Heather said.

Sonya nodded. She inhaled a deep breath, though she didn’t really need it, then blew it out, buying herself time. I tapped into her mind to find her thoughts in a jumbled mess she was trying to straighten into sense. She pushed her dark hair out of her face before beginning.

“The Daemoni set you up. Me up. You thought it was Vanessa who was trying to trick you, but it was me all along,” the vamp admitted. I bit back an insult. Her words began to come faster as she practically vomited an explanation. “I didn’t mean to, though. You have to believe me. I didn’t know what I’d gotten myself into. They put this stone into me a long time ago, and I didn’t really know what it was, but then the other night . . . I—I lost all control over my own body.” She hiccupped as though suppressing a sob, and Heather squeezed her hand. Tears filled her voice as she continued. “It was all Lucas. He . . . he took
control
over me, Alexis. He made me fly through the safe house, into the commons room, and before I even knew what was happening, I’d . . . I’d killed them all. The mages. I killed them and then left them in a bloody heap.”

Heather put her arm around her sister as the vamp cried against the younger one’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed. “I wish . . . I wish I’d never done this. I wish I could go back to being a Norman. I’m . . .” She pulled back and looked at me with her dark brown eyes. “I really am sorry.”

Her apologies seemed sincere enough, but her story didn’t make any sense and had a lot of holes. But there was only one thing I cared about.

“What happened after you killed the mages?” I managed to say though my throat was dry and constricted with the mental images she’d shared with me. “Did
you
take Dorian?”

She shook her head violently. “No. No, of course not! It was all Kali. Kali and—”

“
What?
” I interrupted, my patience running thin. “What does
Kali
have to do with anything?”

“Kali has to do with everything. She has Dorian.”

“Lucas or Victor took Dorian.”

“No.”

“You’re saying Kali took Dorian?” Tristan asked from right beside me.

“No, but she has him.” She looked to Tristan, then back at me, and her tongue darted over her lips. “Um . . . Owen took Dorian.”

Chapter 5

My stomach squeezed as though I’d been punched. I took several steps back, shaking my head in denial. I knew Owen had betrayed us, of course. He’d turned on me—and Vanessa—right in our faces and joined Kali’s side. But this? He’d go so far as to take my
son
? The one vulnerability he knew both Tristan and I had? Did he really become so ingrained with the Daemoni that he would willingly hurt us like this?

Tristan and I looked at each other, and his expression reflected my own feelings—surprise mixed with a heavy dose of doubt. What Sonya said . . . I couldn’t fathom Owen doing such a thing. I couldn’t believe Victor had told the truth.

“You can read my thoughts,” Sonya said. “I know you can. Check my—”

Sonya’s face contorted, cutting her off mid-sentence. A scream rose from deep in her chest, and her mouth opened wide to let it out. Then her eyes glazed over as she cocked her head at me.

The next thing I knew, the vampire lunged at me. Her hands reached out and scraped at my throat. At my necklace.

Help me
, Sonya’s voice came in my mind.
Get . . . the stone.

A strange growl ripped through Sonya’s chest this time as her body jerked side to side.

“
She’s all mine, Alexis, and I’ll kill her. Don’t think I won’t.
” Kali’s voice. In my head. From Sonya.

“Kali’s controlling her,” I said, though it almost sounded like a question. “Like she has a faerie stone in her.”

Sonya’s head barely twitched in a nod. Her body jerked and twisted as she tried to hold on to even a little control. While one hand still reached for my pendant, her other one clutched at her own chest. Her fingers closed in on my necklace and ripped it off my neck. She stumbled away from me, but didn’t get far. Tristan paralyzed her, one of her hands still digging into her chest as she fell to the ground.

But still her body convulsed. Pinkish foam started bubbling from her mouth, followed by liquid blood.

“Kali’s killing her!” I gasped.

“Help her,” Heather screamed as Blossom held the girl to keep her from running to her sister.

“Blossom, muffle us,” Tristan ordered, then he said to me, “Your dagger. If she really has a faerie stone in her, it’s the only way.”

Seeing this, I had no doubt she did. And if by chance she didn’t . . . well, she deserved this anyway for what she’d done to us all. I pulled my dagger out, fell to my knees, and plunged the blade into Sonya’s chest, not for the first time. The vampire’s scream matched her sister’s. I dug the blade around until the tip hit something hard, and with a twist of the knife and a sickening slurping sound, a small stone flew out of the hole I’d carved into her chest. I caught it in my free hand as I withdrew my dagger. Sonya’s skin healed immediately, and her body fell still. Tristan released his power from her, but she didn’t move.

We waited, all of us silent and our breaths held, for seconds that turned into minutes. Heather whimpered her sister’s name. The vampire stirred, and her eyes finally opened. They were clear again as they found my face. She held her hand up, my necklace dangling between her fingers.

“How long have you had that stone?” I asked as I snatched my necklace out of her hand.

“Convert me,” she whispered. “For real this time. I want to be converted, and when I tell you everything, you’ll know I’m telling the truth.”

I pressed my lips together as Tristan’s hand squeezed my shoulder, then I stuffed my necklace and the other stone into my pocket before leaning back on my heels. I hadn’t left her mind, so I knew Kali was gone, and now I focused in on Sonya’s intentions. My hand wrapped around her forearm, and I pushed Amadis power into her. She didn’t even flinch.

“It’s all in my mind and my soul still,” Sonya said to me. “Everything you and Sheree gave me, everything you taught me. Only my heart was blocked before. Now it’s open to you.”

I narrowed my eyes as I pushed the power harder. She seemed to grab a hold of it, drinking it in almost as hungrily as she’d drink blood. When I felt satisfied with her response, I gave Tristan a nod. He took Sonya in his arms, I took Heather, and we all flashed back to the safe house.

Heather sucked in a deep breath when we appeared. “Wow. That was . . .”

“Weird?” I finished for her as I set her on the ground.

“Very.”

As soon as we were in the safe house, the new team Charlotte had brought took over Sonya’s conversion. Although having a Norman here made some of the Amadis uncomfortable—Heather wasn’t supposed to know about them—I wasn’t about to send her home where she’d be vulnerable. Everyone would have to get over it because she would be staying at the safe house, too.

We told Charlotte what had happened—the little bit we knew so far—and we all shared theories about the holes in Sonya’s story. We wouldn’t really be able to fill them, though, until the vampire had fully converted. I agreed with her: she needed to be converted, for real this time, before I’d believe anything that came out of her mouth.

Tristan and I returned to our home for the night, but sleep eluded me. Although Dorian was just one little boy, his presence made the house a home, and I didn’t like being there without him. The sun had barely risen before Tristan, Charlotte, and I had settled into my office to regroup when a conversion team member knocked on the door.

“Sonya wants to talk to you,” the witch said. “All of you.”

“She’s done already?” I asked with disbelief.

“There’s no trace of Daemoni in her. We’ll need to spend more time with her, of course, and it’ll probably be a few months before she can be left to her own decisions, but all of her energy is Amadis.”

Wow
. Had Sonya been telling the truth about wanting to convert but not being able to? I pulled the stone out of my pocket and scratched the dry blood off with my thumbnail. While mine was ruby-colored, this one that came from Sonya was a dark emerald green. And while mine tended to warm when I touched it, this one grew cold. Charlotte peered over my shoulder.

“Definitely looks like a faerie stone,” she said. “I can sense magic on it, but not mage magic. That’s Otherworld magic.”

“Huh. If we’d only known . . . ” Without finishing my sentence, I rushed to the vampire’s room and held the stone out at her. “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

Sonya’s dark eyes glanced at the stone, up at me, then at something on the blanket covering her as she sat in her bed. The same bed where she’d spent months,
pretending
to convert.

“I was scared,” she finally said, and then she began babbling again. “I was scared you would throw me out for trying to fool you, and I thought I was stronger than the damn thing, and then the conversion seemed to be working. Sheree kept saying I was doing so well, that it always takes time, so I really thought I was overcoming the stone, and once I did, then I planned to tell you.”

“Whoa,” I said, my brows pushed together. “You’re not making any sense. What does it have to do with your conversion?”

“Start from the beginning,” Tristan suggested. “Where did you get it?”

“Right. Back to when I was still with the Daemoni.” Sonya grimaced on the word and then nodded. “So one night, right before you guys and Heather came to Fort Myers Beach to see me, my nest leader said Lucas had an important mission for me, and he took me to Kali. She told me to go to you and say I wanted to convert, but she said I would only be pretending. She had a plan so the conversion wouldn’t work, but they wanted me to gather valuable information for them. That’s what she said anyway, but apparently they were scamming me, too. Anyway, I really did want to convert, which was why I was okay with the whole thing. I’d hoped her stupid plan would fail. When I agreed to do it, she pressed some kind of rock into my chest, over my heart. It sunk down, beneath the skin.”

“The faerie stone,” Tristan said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Sonya said. “They called it a loyalty stone, but obviously it was more than that. I . . . I didn’t know how bad it would be. If I had any idea this could have happened, I would have never done it. I
swear
to you. I had no control that night. I couldn’t help it.”

I studied her face as I searched her mind, but I couldn’t find anything to contradict her words. I didn’t know if I could ever fully trust her again, but I, too, could only feel Amadis in her. She had to have been telling the truth about this.

“So tell us everything that happened the other night,” I said. “The whole story.”

Sonya’s eyes came up to my face again, then her gaze traveled behind me to the doorway. I sensed the whole gang waiting there—everyone who would probably be on my team. We all moved farther into the room.

The vamp swallowed, then began. “Kali stopped me from sharing my memories, so now you’ll know if she’s really gone. She didn’t want you to believe me.”

“Believe what?” Charlotte asked.

“What
really
happened here.”

Sonya’s memories of the night of the attack—only three nights ago, though it already felt like years—played in her mind, and I watched and shared them with the others while Sonya told the story aloud.

“Lucas took control of me first. He made me kill the mages, but that’s all he wanted from me. After the shield fell, I was compelled to go out to the beach. But that was
Kali
controlling me, just like she’d done yesterday. She’d taken over control from Lucas, and she stood out there, waiting.” Sonya’s eyes flitted over to the curtained window, as though she could see through it and out to the beach. Her voice came out quieter. “Then Owen showed up, too. He was kind of bloody, and he had Dorian in his arms. Kali let out a funny noise—almost like a squeal of happiness. Then those two disappeared with Dorian, leaving me alone on the beach. I was so scared. Scared of Kali. Scared of you guys. I got as far away as I could before I did anything worse.”

“But you kidnapped your sister,” Blossom said. “Your mom was freaking out!”

Sonya nodded. “I had to. Kali became so engrossed with Owen and Dorian, she forgot about me. Lucas seemed to, as well, but I didn’t take anything for granted. I was scared of what they’d do to Heather, so I had to get her away to keep her protected.”

“Yet there you were with several Daemoni vamps,” Tristan said.

“Vamps who wanted to
turn
her,” Blossom pointed out.

Sonya shook her head. “They’re not like most Daemoni. Lesley’s a little more evil than the others, but none are really bad. They wanted to turn Heather for her own good. Her own safety, so she’d be strong like the rest of us. That’s all. In fact, I’m pretty sure Alys wants to convert, but she was probably too scared to say so.”

“Who the hell cares,” I muttered under my breath, but everyone must have heard me because the room fell silent and all eyes turned toward me.

My mind remained focused on what she’d said about Owen and Kali—what she’d
shown
to us—and hurt and anger had bloomed. Again. Biting my tongue before I unleashed on anyone what was truly meant for Owen, I flashed to my office.

“Alexis?” Tristan had appeared right next to me. “That was—”

“Rude?” I snapped. “Yeah, I know. I don’t freaking care, though. Heather is here and safe. We need to find Dorian, but to do so, we need to figure out who we’re really looking for, not talking about a bunch of Daemoni vamps we don’t even know!”

He stepped in front of me, placed a hand on each side of my face, and tilted my head upward to look at him. His touch finally had a somewhat calming effect on me, and his eyes held mine until I relaxed.

“You don’t believe Sonya?” he finally asked as his hands slid to my shoulders.

“I don’t know what to believe,” I admitted. “She seemed sincere. Her memories seem real. Do you believe her?”

“It is hard to swallow.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. Lucas had my dagger last, and then here it was, where Dorian should have been. Where Sasha was left to
bleed out
.”

“Lucas could have given it to Kali to test it for magical powers.”

“And Owen would have brought it back to you,” Vanessa said, her voice small as she stood in the doorway with Blossom, Sheree, and Charlotte behind her.

I turned on her. “You’re
still
taking his side?”

Whether Sonya spoke the truth or not, Owen had definitely betrayed us. She shouldn’t have been defending him, as far as I was concerned. Vanessa came into the office, leaned her butt against the wall, lifted one foot against it to brace herself, and scowled at the floor. Sheree, and Blossom filed in, too, followed by Char, who waved her hands to muffle the room so we could have some privacy.

“Even if Owen had some good reason to take Dorian, I can’t imagine him doing that to Sasha,” Sheree said quietly. I couldn’t imagine it either, but then I couldn’t help it, and the vision sickened me.

“Maybe he didn’t,” Vanessa said, and before I could fly at her, she held her hand up. “Victor pretty much admitted to being there, too, remember?”

“And you believe
him
?” I asked with disbelief.

“He had the fresh scars.”

“They could have been fake.” I knew how far-fetched the idea sounded. Victor was a vampire, after all. There weren’t too many things—or creatures—who could leave scars on him. Although, Weres could, so my theory wasn’t entirely impossible. “And Sonya said Owen’s arms were bleeding, too.”

“Maybe they weren’t bleeding, but someone else’s blood was on him,” Blossom suggested.

“And Lucas could have given Victor the dagger at the same time he took control of Sonya,” Tristan said.

I peered up at him. “You just said Lucas could have given
Kali
the dagger. So which one is it?”

His gaze slid out of focus for a moment and then came back on me. “They’re both strong possibilities. I don’t have enough information to determine a best answer.”

“You sound like a freaking robot,” I muttered as my hand rubbed over the back of my head. “So what are we going to do? Was it Victor or Owen? Kali or Lucas?”

“Could have been both,” Charlotte said, and she grimaced. “They could have been working together, all of them sent by Lucas.”