I made the shells play leap frog with each other. Then I tried to levitate a shell; I couldn’t hold it. A different shell rose and hung in the air, but not by me. I watched Tristan’s hand, but it just looked like he held it out, waiting for someone to shake it. I tried to imitate him, but my shell only hopped up and down.
“I thought you were the ultimate predator,” I said. “If they have vampires, why did they need to create you?”
“I’m a warrior, not a predator. There’s a difference,” he said darkly. He made his shell fly into the water. I tried levitating mine again and was able to hold it in the air. “Vamps have their own problems. You can get the scoop from Solomon in a few days.”
“Solomon?” I tried picturing Rina’s mate. I hadn’t seen him since the day Tristan had disappeared, when they left for the battle. In fact, I’d only seen him twice in my life—the only other time in Mom’s cottage in Cape Heron, when I’d first met Rina, too.
“Sure. He is a vampire, after all.”
“Solomon’s a vampire?” The shell fell with my astonishment.
“What’d you think he is?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t really think about it.” From what I did remember about Solomon, he looked to be of African descent, but with very pale skin, and he was exceedingly attractive and quite scary, actually…but I didn’t remember fangs, like Vanessa and the others. Of course, I hadn’t known vampires were even real at the time, so I wasn’t exactly looking for them. “So, we have vampires on our side, too?”
“Of course. That’s what Amadis do, remember? We save the souls of the so-called damned.”
“That’s an oxymoron. How can we save souls that are already damned?”
“That’s exactly it. There are some who willingly gave their souls up long ago, but for most, they’re not entirely lost causes. If they’ve been bitten, turned against their will, they can continue to hold onto some humanity. They can hold onto their souls. As long as there’s any hope, Amadis power can lead them to goodness. Like they did with me. Like you did with me.”
“They started it. Mom started it.”
“You finished it,” he murmured as he tightened his arms around me in a hug.
“Can you feel that it’s gone? I mean, I actually felt the dark power leave my body.”
“The evil force? Most of it, yes. And with each scar you remove, I feel the last traces disappearing. But the strength of our powers mostly comes from Daemoni magic. It’s part of our DNA.”
I shuddered. “I hate that part.”
“It’s pointless to hate it. There’s nothing you can do about it. Something I realized a long time ago. But we can use it for good and you have a lot of strength you can do good with. I think you may be more of an ultimate warrior than I am.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious,” he said and his voice held no hint of humor. “Owen was right. No one else could have done what you did with me.”
“Like I told him, I know your weakness. You told me a long time ago.”
He pressed his lips against the side of my neck. “You.”
“And our love.”
“Our love is a strength.” He sighed, the warm air fluttering the tiny hairs at the base of my scalp. “My biggest strength and my biggest weakness.”
I remembered being ready to give myself up to the Daemoni for love. “Yeah, probably mine, too.”
We sat in silence as the sun sank behind the water. The heavy tension returned with each heartbeat of dead air. My attempts at conversation hadn’t lifted Tristan’s mood at all. I sighed, knowing what simmered in his mind.
“You’re brooding,” I finally said.
“Hmm…?” he asked distractedly.
“You’re wallowing in regret and you need to stop.”
He confirmed my suspicion by not responding for a long moment. When he finally did, his voice came out in a pained whisper. “I almost killed you today, Alexis.”
I shook my head. “No. Not you. You protected me. The monster tried to kill me, but you were still in there, too. Preventing it.”
“I couldn’t control it, though.”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” I countered.
He sighed. “You give me too much credit.”
“I wish you would stop beating yourself up,” I said with a groan of frustration. “If you really wanted to kill me, Tristan, you would have. But you didn’t. You couldn’t do it. You overcame the monster.”
He shook his head. “God overcame it.”
“God gave me the power and I gave it to you to strengthen the real you. Because we knew you were still fighting. I would be dead right now if it weren’t for Real Tristan…my Tristan…keeping me alive.”
He fell silent again for a long time. I hoped he accepted my point.
When he finally spoke, his voice was much lighter. “Well, keeping you alive is in my best interest. And I’m selfish like that.”
I snorted. “You are one of the most unselfish people I know.”
“Hmm…when it comes to you, you have no idea how selfish I can be.”
I smiled to myself. “Well, I forgive you for that, too. Since it’s also in my best interest.”
“Thank you,” he murmured. His kisses behind my ear and the lighter feeling in the air told me he no longer mulled over this afternoon’s events. Happy to move beyond the gloom, I trained my thoughts on the blaze over the water.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, turning sideways to see his face.
“You can always ask,” he teased, pulling out one of my old lines, from when we first met. I smiled at the memory…and at the fact that his attitude had genuinely improved.
“What is it with you and sunsets? You never told me why you like them so much.”
“Ah.” He shrugged. “They’re just beautiful, aren’t they? The perfect piece of art, each one unique.”
“That’s it?” I’d always thought there was something more to it—he’d always made such a point of watching them.
“Well…not exactly. I like to watch the sunrises, too, but you’re never awake for them.” He paused. “See, the vamps may be able to come out in the day, but they prefer the night and the cover of darkness. All the Daemoni do. Humans fear the unknown and anything beyond the light is unknown. The Daemoni feed off that fear. I once lived for the night, too, but now I appreciate the light and all its various forms. The colors it produces that can’t be seen in its absence. The way it bounces off the clouds and the water when it’s on the horizon. Sunsets are a little extra special because they mark another day I’ve been able to live in the light. They only mean anything when I’m with you, though.”
He glanced down at me, then quickly looked away, as if embarrassed by this secret he’d just divulged. The pinks and purples and golds—so many more than I’d ever noticed before—swam out of my vision as I took in an even more precious sight. If at all possible, he appeared even more exquisite now than he’d ever been before. And, if at all possible, I loved him more this moment than ever before.
I took his face in my hands and kissed him. It became the first passionate kiss we’d had since the Ang’dora. It blew me away. His lips felt even softer and smoother than they had last night, like silk against mine. I caressed my hands over his face, feeling the new smoothness, and slid them back, twisting them into his hair and pulling him closer. I separated my lips and his tangy-sweetness tasted delicious.
He lay me down in the sand, cradling my head in the crook of his arm, and moved his mouth along my jaw, down my neck and across my shoulder and then followed the path back up again. The electric current underneath my skin charged more intensely than ever and felt more exciting than our first touches. His free hand trailed down my side, over my hip and around my thigh. He slid it under the bottom of my dress, up along the inside of my leg. I shuddered with overwhelming excitement as his fingers trailed along the edge of my panties.
“This is unbelievable,” I breathed.
“Mmm…it’s a good start,” he replied, still kissing me. Then he picked me up and carried me into the house, our lips moving together the whole way. The results of the Ang’dora magnified every sensation of making love to
