Wrath (23 page)

My hand paused in midair, though, when Rina’s body jerked, convulsed, and then became still as she stood next to the Daemoni witch’s body, an awkward angle to the matriarch’s normally straight posture.

Rina jerked once more, straightening herself.

“Dorian?” she called out, her voice carrying over the lawn. “You can come out now.”

I knew I should have been trying to capture Kali’s soul, but I stood there with baited breath, anxious to see my boy. A long moment passed. Then . . .

“Rina?” Dorian’s voice—familiar, yet deeper—rang out from the dark shadows of the abbey, although I couldn’t see him.

Rina turned back to us. Her lips pulled up into a smile. But her eyes . . . they weren’t right.

“If you don’t behave,” Kali’s voice continued, but coming out of Rina’s mouth, “both Katerina and the boy will die.”

Every other soldier on this side of the circle spun, as though on command, and aimed at Rina’s body. Fifty or more barrels pointing at our matriarch. At my grandmother.

“Noah here,” Kali said as Rina’s lips moved and her arm flipped out toward her son, “has a special stone. Lucas gave me a grand idea when he had me implant the faerie stone in your little friend Sonya. Why couldn’t I create my own loyalty stones? I only needed some rocks and a spell. And I didn’t make only one, but several.”

Several loyalty stones? She had control over that many people?

“Oh, it’s worse than that,” she said, as though hearing my thoughts. “You see, Noah had a much bigger stone at one time, and I had all kinds of fun with him, but then we
broke
it. We divided it. And now all those soldiers out there have a piece of Noah’s stone. So I control Noah, and he controls them. Brilliant, aren’t I? Especially because I know you Amadis won’t harm those Norman soldiers out there. And how convenient that they can enter sacred grounds. Oh, as can Katerina.”

Rina’s body disappeared in a flash and reappeared in the circle of soldiers. All of those that had been aiming at her turned in unison, once again directing their barrels at Rina.

I yanked my dagger out of the witch’s body, and we all blurred for the soldiers. We stopped right behind them, though, when Rina’s power allowed Kali’s voice to sound in our heads.

“
You try to stop me or come after me, I order them to shoot,
” she said. “
There are many bodies here for me to take, but Katerina and the boy
. . . they only have their one
.”

“
Alexis
,” Owen’s voice shouted in my mind as he appeared next to me. “
She’s weakest now. She’s weakest right after taking a new body. This is our chance!
”

What the hell was he talking about?

“
Tsk, tsk, Owen,
” Kali said. “
I’ve told you which body I’ll take next
.”

Owen blanched as his eyes darted to Charlotte. “
No.
”

“
Maybe not
,” Kali offered. “
There’s always yours.
”

“You take me, you cowardly bitch,” Char yelled aloud.

“What the hell is going on?” Tristan whispered, his voice so low Rina’s ears shouldn’t have been able to hear it.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Owen replied, and his sapphire eyes landed on me. “This is our chance, Alexis. But it has to be you.”

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes.

“And what exactly have you been waiting for?” I said, not sure whether to believe what I thought I heard. God, did I want to. I wanted to know my protector and friend had been working on our side all along. But . . . “You
stole
our son.”

“I’ll explain it all later, but I’ve been planning this all along and now she knows!” His voice, though still hushed, became more distressed. “She’s weakest now, when she’s new in a body. But if we don’t hurry, she’ll have Dorian, and she’ll disappear with him. I’ve blown my cover and won’t be able to track her anymore.”

“What do you want Alexis to do?” Tristan demanded.

“Kill her!”

Chapter 23

Owen’s voice had risen with urgency, and he lowered it again. “I haven’t been able to tell you, to warn you or anything because she’s been in your head for months, Alexis. She’s been needling her way in every time you got close. But this has been my plan. And it has to be
you
. You have to get her soul.”

A storm of emotions battered at me—relief about Owen, confusion with all of the unanswered questions, anger at his means to reach this end, and so much more, but . . .

“Owen,” I said as I looked back at the lawn in front of the abbey, where Kali stood as though waiting for her betrayer to finish, as if indulging Owen. Her soldiers also stood perfectly still but on high alert. “She’s in
Rina’s
body now. We can’t . . . ”

“Martin didn’t die. He’s back at that building in Virginia,” he said with renewed urgency. He flipped his hand to the redheaded witch behind us. “Neither did she. Rina won’t die. She’ll—”

“You want us to attack the matriarch?” Tristan asked. “
Hurt
her?”

“Just enough—”

“Owen,” Vanessa said as she closed her hand around his arm. “I’ve been defending you from the beginning, but this doesn’t help your case, dumbass.”

“Do you have any better ideas?” he demanded. His blue eyes flitted over all of us, but nobody could answer.

What were we to do? Could we trust him, or was this another of his tricks while he still worked with Kali?

“We can’t let her stay in Rina’s body,” I murmured.

“She’s already so weak,” Mom said, her voice full of worry.

As though she’d been listening and had grown bored of indulging us and our debates on how to kill her, Kali called out in Rina’s voice, “Come out, Dorian. You are safe now, darling. Your mother and father are here. So is your grandmother. You can come out.”

A creaking sound, like an old metal or iron door swinging on rusty hinges, came from the abbey’s darkest shadows. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed simultaneously, lighting up Dorian’s figure as he stepped forward.

Dorian, no!
I yelled into his mind.
That’s not Rina. It’s a trick. Stay away from her!

And without further thought, I flashed to him.

“
I warned you
,” Kali said over another loud clap of thunder.

One moment of utter peace passed.

Followed by chaos as rapid gunfire shattered the night.

All aimed at Dorian and me.

I shoved my son’s unexpectedly large body back through the door he’d come through and followed him into the tiny, nearly pitch-black room as bullets ricocheted off the old stone walls of the abbey. Screams came from outside. I looked around us, and then up, where I found the only other way out of this room.

“It’s a tower, but no stairs,” Dorian murmured, then he wrapped an arm that was too big to belong to my little boy around me and flew us to a window ledge at the top. Tristan must have seen us, because he appeared in front of us, stopping the bullets in midair and flicking them to the ground.

I peeked around him to see Mom in the center of the abbey’s lawn now, her hands on Rina’s shoulders, shaking her. “Stop! You’re letting her win. You’re letting her hurt your family.
Please
,
Mother!
”

Kali gave a quick nod of her head to Noah. He lunged at Mom and wrapped his huge hands around her neck. Winston yelled and blurred toward them, but Kali twitched her hand, and he flew back once again. Mom swung her fists at Noah but she was too small, her arms too short to reach him. She kicked her legs out and struck Noah in the groin, but the kick didn’t faze him. His face contorted with pain as she pushed her Amadis power into him, but she became too weak. Tristan’s hand flew up, and Noah froze. But it was too late. Mom’s body hung limply in his hands, which still held tightly around her neck.

“
No!
” Rina’s voice screamed in my mind. Probably all of our minds. “
Sophia! Noah! Noooo!
”

The soldiers stopped firing. Silence filled the air.

“Stay here,” I told Dorian before I flashed to Mom’s side.

Tristan appeared next to me and plowed his fist into the side of Noah’s head, then released his power. Noah dropped Mom as he slumped to the ground. Tristan caught her, and then flashed with her to where Owen still stood with the rest of my team and the Amadis. They’d barely moved by the time I rejoined them. Everything had happened so lightning fast.

“
Leave my body
,” Rina snarled in our minds. I’d never heard her so angry.

“
Not until I kill you once and for all
,” Kali’s voice replied. “
Soldiers, aim!
”

Nothing happened.

Rina’s eyes fell on Noah’s body that lay in a heap on the ground. Her foot swung out from beneath her ball gown and connected with Noah’s stomach.

“
No!
” Rina cried out.

Noah grunted.

“
Soldiers, aim,
” Kali ordered again. Noah’s head twitched. All of the soldiers swung around. All of the guns pointed at Rina’s body.

Pain jolted through my head. The same icepick agony of before, and now I knew for certain it came from Kali. Had Rina tried to shove her out? The sorceress was becoming aggravated.

“Leave her alone and come get me,” Charlotte taunted. “It’s me you really want, isn’t it?”

“It was tempting before,” Kali sneered, “but I think I’ll have more fun with Owen. You obviously won’t kill me in this body. You’ll never be able to once I’m in his. But first . . .
soldiers, fire!
”

The tat-tat-tat of automatic gunfire rattled through the night. Again.

Owen thrust his hands toward Rina. I jumped onto Mom’s body, and Charlotte threw a shield over the both of us. I lifted my head to see several bullets stop in midair all around my grandmother and then fall to the grass below. More bullets missed Rina and her shield, flying across the abbey’s grounds. Rina’s hand jerked, and Kali’s staff shook. A bullet whizzed by Rina’s ear. Owen shoved his hands out harder, but Kali fought against his shield.

“Mum, I need help,” Owen yelled.

“Blossom,” Charlotte called out to the witch. “Hold my shield over here.”

Blossom thrust her hands at Mom and me, her face straining with the power she gave it.

“Disarm them!” Tristan shouted as he blurred in one direction of the circle of soldiers. Vanessa took off in the other direction. A crocodile, a tiger, Solomon, Julia, and the rest of the Amadis followed them, while I remained plastered to Mom.

Winston blurred straight to the sorceress herself, although I didn’t know what he planned to do since she occupied the matriarch’s body. Before he reached them, though, Kali’s staff pointed at him and flames flew out of the blue orb. Fire engulfed him. I clapped my hand over my mouth as he screamed and the fire brought him to his knees. His body writhed on the ground as he tried to smother the flames, but the sorceress continued shooting more at him.

Mom shifted underneath me, and her eyes flew open. Winston’s shouts immediately drew her attention. She pushed me off of her and raised her hand. Water shot out of her palm and across the lawn to her lover’s body, dousing the flames. But Kali wouldn’t relent, and it became a battle between her and Mom. But Mom wasn’t strong enough and would quickly lose.

“Alexis, now! While she’s distracted,” Owen yelled at me.

Not knowing what else to do, I pulled my dagger out and charged for my grandmother. If Owen was right about Kali being at her weakest now, maybe I could slash through her shield and push enough Amadis power into Rina’s body to force Kali’s soul out.

I’d almost reached her when the sorceress banged her staff against the ground. The breath slammed out of me, and all of my power and energy went with it. I crashed to my hands and knees. Kali drew on my power again, and this time she was quickly draining me. Charlotte, Owen, and Blossom slid to their knees, too, while still trying to shield Rina, Mom, and me.

“She’ll grow too strong,” Owen said, his voice croaking as he strained against the sorceress. “You have to hurry!”

He’d barely said the words before he collapsed. His shield over Rina fell. Kali cackled and threw her arms in the air, and all of the gunfire ceased. Her gaze fell on Owen with a gleam in her eye. She moved her staff to point it at him.

“No!” Charlotte yelled, throwing herself in front of her son. “You take me, you bitch!”

“Gladly,” Kali said through Rina’s smile. Lightning shot out of the staff and hit Charlotte. The warlock’s body fell next to Owen’s. “Time to finish this night once and for all.”

“I don’t think so,” Tristan growled, and he paralyzed Rina’s body.

Her form trembled against his power, but not because Kali fought Tristan. Rina fought Kali, trying to push the evil soul out. A ghostly image began to emerge from Rina’s body.

“
Alexis, I need your help, darling
.” Rina’s voice grew weaker in my mind with each word.

“No!” the sorceress shrieked.

“
One . . . chance
,” Rina said. “
Now!
”

The muscles in Rina’s neck strained, and her eyes popped wide open. A combination of pain and effort mixed in the scream that emitted from deep within her. With every ounce of energy I had left, my hands and feet scrambled at the ground until I could push myself to my feet. I staggered and lurched toward my grandmother. The gauzy image of the sorceress grew larger and more whole as Rina pushed the soul out of her body. My arm felt dragged down as though a magnet in the earth pulled my dagger toward its center, but I forced it up. I lifted the blade to waist height and then straight out in front of me. Rina’s hands reached out for me, for my arm, and she helped me lift the dagger higher. Over my head.

The soul released, but Kali’s yells of frustration turned into a shriek of victory as she streaked toward Owen and Charlotte.

“No!” Vanessa threw herself in front of the gray light of the ghostly image.

Blossom’s hands shot out and created some kind of block. The soul’s light slammed into an invisible wall and plopped to the ground with a sickening splat like an egg hitting a rock.

I plunged my dagger downward at it.

Into the swirling light.

An ear-piercing siren screamed through the night, making my toes curl. I slashed and twisted the blade in the gauzy substance until the soul became nothing but a stringy clump wrapped around the tip, and I could barely hold my grip on the dagger. The icepick in my brain dug deeper as Kali continued screaming. I began to sink to my knees, my trembling legs unable to hold me any longer and my head close to exploding. Tristan caught me and held me upright as my shaking hand fumbled inside my jacket for the soul jar. As soon as I freed it, he grabbed the small container and twisted the lid off. I lifted my dagger with Kali’s soul on the end of it and wiped it into the jar as if it were nothing more than extra mayonnaise on a butter knife. Tristan clamped the vessel shut, and it sealed with a hiss.

The world fell silent.

No more sorceress screaming her last moments. No more gunfire tearing apart the night. Even the thunderstorm quieted, as though the sorceress herself had brewed it. Perhaps she had.

Dorian landed next to me and whispered, “Hey, Mom and Dad.”

I tackled him in a hug and peppered kisses all over his face, not quite believing I actually held my son—my
baby
—again after so long. Without pulling away long enough to study him, I could tell he’d grown quite a bit in the six months since he’d been taken. I wouldn’t worry about that right now, though. I would push away all the negative thoughts for the moment and focus on the boy finally swathed in my arms once again. My Dorian. We had him back. Tristan wrapped his arms around both of us, and my heart swelled at our reunion.

But something about the moment gnawed at me.

Tears and anguish and heartbreak in the distance.

Sobs. Loud, ugly sobs. And not mine.

Mom’s.

But Mom never cried, let alone sobbed.

With a surreal sense of this-is-not-happening, I turned my head toward the ruins of the abbey, toward the sounds of loss and desperation. My head tilted at the sight of one body huddled between two others, as my brain slogged through the last few minutes as though my heart tried to prevent it from remembering. From remembering Mom trying with all her might to put out the fire consuming her soul mate. From remembering Rina’s small body crumpling to the ground once Kali’s soul had been exorcised.

One moment I held my son in my arms, and in a flash, I fell to my knees next to Mom.

“No, Winston,” Mom cried, tears and snot flowing down her face as she held the vampire’s burnt body in her arms. “You can’t leave me again, my love.”

I rubbed my hand down her back, but it was Rina’s small body, so tiny and frail looking, that caught my attention. She lay so still on the ground.
Too
still. But her eyes, warm and brown and full of wisdom and love like they always were, rolled toward me.

“Rina?” I said as I crawled over to her. “Are you healing?”

She blinked slowly. Very slowly. So slowly I thought she might not open her eyes again.

“Rina,” I said more urgently as I placed a hand on her shoulder. I wanted to shake her, to wake her up, but I feared I’d break her even more.

“No, darling,” she finally said.

“Tristan!” I yelled, jumping to my feet and searching him out. “Hurry! Rina needs you.”

“No,” my grandmother gasped. Mom’s body heaved as she looked over at us, at her mother. She choked back another sob and joined me at Rina’s side. My eyes jumped to Rina’s hand, which twitched as though reaching for mine. I sprang to her other side and fell back to my knees before taking her hand into mine. Julia appeared next to Mom, and Solomon at Rina’s head. He lifted her shoulders and pulled her halfway into his lap. Rina whispered, “It . . . is time.”

Solomon stroked Rina’s hair, and Mom pressed her palm against her mother’s cheek.

“I know, Mother,” she said while tears continued to stream down her face. “You have been so strong. But you can rest now.”