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.”
