wanted to leave the Daemoni, become close to me, build my trust and then go in for the kill. Tristan really did want to leave and I was able to help him and bring him to the Amadis. But…' Her voice wavered and a tear slid down her cheek. And then another. I couldn't remember if I'd ever seen Mom cry before. Her voice filled with grief and longing. '…But I couldn't help Lucas. I tried so hard, did everything I could. I thought loving him, giving myself completely to him would do it. No one could have ever guessed…I'd already changed over and no one had ever conceived…'
' What? What are you saying…?' I shook my head, knowing already.
'Lucas is your…'
Whop! The breath flew out of me. I felt like I'd just been punched in the stomach.
'I…I…I'm Daemoni ?!' I choked on the words. A heavy weight pressed down on my chest, making my breaths shallow. Tristan's words from long ago echoed in my ears… pure evil … real demons … soldiers and followers of Satan himself. It flows through my blood? I jumped up and paced the living room, shaking my arms out, as if I could throw the hideousness off of me. 'No! No, no, no !'
' You are Amadis , through and through. Do not forget that!' Rina's voice thundered in my head. I stopped and glared at her through the tears in my eyes. She spoke aloud with calm surety, 'Alexis, you are not Daemoni. You have Lucas's blood, but you are completely Amadis. All of your powers, all of your qualities, everything that makes you one of our most powerful descendents yet, are all good and righteous.'
'How do you know that? How do you know for sure ?' I demanded, throwing my arms up in emphasis.
'We evaluated you as a baby. I felt it again when you first walked in…when I took your hand, I assessed you. The evil is fully suppressed; I can hardly feel anything.'
I didn't feel any better. The questions flying through my head panicked me.
'And what about when I change over? Do you know for sure I'll be like you ? That I'll be good ? What if I don't change? Or what if the evil strengthens with the Ang'dora ? Do you have those answers?' The thought of being anything different than myself or Mom…anything evil …terrified me. I choked on the idea as if it were a physical object lodged in my throat.
Rina shook her head and admitted, 'No, we do not have those answers. You are unique. But your powers are so strong, we are confident you will be perfect… magnificent .'
' You might not be here otherwise ,' she said in my head. I recoiled, startled.
They would have killed me.
' Quite possibly ,' she answered silently. I stared at her, not realizing she could hear my thoughts, and she nodded. That put things into perspective. If I was evil, I would've been a threat to them, but they didn't feel that. In fact, they expected me to lead them in some distant future.
I fell back into the loveseat and dropped my head into my hands. Tristan rubbed my back. Why isn't he mortified? Then I remembered he'd already known and still loved me, even came looking for me. I realized why he'd been so adamant about telling me he loved me no matter what. Of course, he was Daemoni. I turned my head toward him.
'Ha!' I barked hysterically. 'I guess we really are perfect for each other.'
He rolled his eyes.
I tried to tell myself I was physically no different than I'd been twenty minutes ago, just more knowledgeable. I closed my eyes, focused on that thought and tried to control my breathing and pulse.
' There you go ,' Rina's voice soothed in my head.
'Can we take another break?' I finally asked when I felt control.
I refilled my glass with ice water and chugged the entire glass, though the cold made my head hurt, then I escaped to the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face and caught my reflection in the mirror. Do I look any different? I couldn't help but wonder. I stared into my brown eyes, looking so much like Mom's and Rina's, but wondering if they really were. As I studied myself in the mirror, looking for signs of Daemoni, my stomach heaved and I barely caught the toilet as I vomited. The water mixed with the red wine looked like blood swirling in the white porcelain bowl. I wished it was the Daemoni blood pouring out of me.
I sat on the floor, breathing deeply. I really wanted to take a hot shower, thinking soap, scalding water and a lot of scrubbing would remove any evil from my system. I'm being irrational. I'm no different than I was. I just need to get over this. Someone knocked on the door and before I could answer, it opened and closed as Mom squeezed into the bathroom with me. I scooted against the bathtub and she slid down to the floor next to me.
'Are you okay?' she asked quietly.
'I think so,' I whispered, a half-truth.
She put her arms around me. 'I would say I'm sorry, but I'm really not, because I have you.'
I didn't know what to say, so I just hugged her back and we cried on each other's shoulders for several minutes, until there was another knock on the door. It opened slightly, catching against Mom's foot, and Rina slipped in. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She studied our tear-soaked faces.
'You two have a very close relationship. I am glad to see that,' Rina said. She smiled sadly at Mom. 'I am sorry we never had that.'
'Me, too,' Mom said, but she waved her hand in dismissal. 'It was a different time then. We had different challenges to deal with.'
'Well, we all face the same obstacles now.' Rina eyed us appreciatively. 'Together we can overcome them. Nothing can thwart the power of the three of us together.'
She held her hands out to us and we each took one. She was surprisingly strong—it shouldn't have startled me but it did—and she lifted both of us to our feet. She put her arms around us. 'We are Amadis ! All of us.'
An unusual, powerful sensation charged through her arm into me. I instinctively knew at once it was Amadis power. And my body reacted positively to it, absorbing the warm and potent feeling into every cell. Yes, I AM Amadis. Rina smiled at me with that thought.
We stood there, three generations arm-in-arm, until someone else knocked on the door.
'We still have a lot to discuss,' Stefan said from the other side.
We all sighed, our moment over. Mom and Rina stepped out while I quickly rinsed my mouth with water and gargled with mouthwash. When I caught my reflection in the mirror again, I saw a new strength in my eyes. The same strength as in the eyes of my kin—Mom and Rina. Amadis power.
Chapter 20
Tristan caught me in the hallway when I came out of the bathroom. He took my face in his hands and searched my eyes. I smiled.
'You're okay.' It wasn't a question.
'I'm perfect. You?'
'Perfect.' He brushed his lips against mine. I hoped the mouthwash did its job. 'I told you. I love you no matter what.'
'I know. I love you, too.'
Solomon studied my face and Stefan briefly looked at me as I sat down again. I smiled at them both and their expressions relaxed. Solomon, especially, intimidated me, but I knew he was good. And Stefan emanated power, a good power, nearly as appealing as Rina's. It still bugged me, though, how he felt familiar. And, even more, how he had a hard time bringing his eyes to mine.
He picked up where we left off…before I got punched in the stomach.
'As I was saying, the Daemoni believe it would be useful to have both Alexis and Tristan under their power. With Lucas's blood and Amadis royalty, Alexis will be nearly—if not equally—as powerful as Tristan. They believe there is a chance Alexis could come to their side and Tristan would follow her.'
'Which I would do,' Tristan muttered.
'No, we will not let that happen,' Rina said. 'Tristan, what do you see as the best solution?'
He stiffened and his jaw clamped audibly. Repeating what he'd told me earlier, he said through gritted teeth, 'It is not an option.'
'If it is the best, then we must know it so we can all consider it,' Solomon said.
