Wrath

“Where are the Summoned?”

She replied with only a whimper. Her mind showed only fear.

“Let her go,” Tristan murmured in my ear.

I glowered at the vampire as she stared at me with a tinge of hope in her eyes. I felt something else from her that I really didn’t want to feel, but I couldn’t deny it. Her soul still had hope. My own soul dared to hold love for this evil bitch.

With a groan of frustration, I pulled my powers completely within me. The vamp scurried away on her hands and knees.

“That’s your problem,” a male vamp called out from the edge of the woods. “You Amadis don’t have it in you to do what you need to. You’ll never win like this!”

He cackled along with a few others before they ran into the woods. I scowled at them until they disappeared from sight, my jaw clenched and my fists on my hips.

“He’s right,” I muttered. “We’re too good to win.”

The Daemoni had taken off, but we hadn’t been able to save any of the cops. At least their souls had still been Norman before they’d died. We had to get out of here before more authorities came looking for them. Although we now knew their precinct supported our side, we didn’t need the delay caused by their questions and reports.

“Thank you so much,” I breathed as I hugged Bree goodbye.

“Try to keep yourself out of trouble,” she said. “I don’t know how many times they’ll let me keep doing this without demanding something in return. And you better capture that sorceress’s soul soon to repay the favor already owed, or there will come a time when none of us will be allowed to help you.”

I swallowed and nodded. Damn. For as long as they lived—forever, as far as I knew—the faeries had no patience.

That night we camped by a stream in the woods, staying out of sight of the Normans and the Daemoni. Blossom and Charlotte created tents for us as shelter, and Blossom and I sat inside one, searching again. She chanted her spell under her breath, and I opened my mind. Once again we were nudged north.

As we pulled our minds back in to our own location, I sensed new mind signatures that were alarmingly close. And alarmingly Daemoni. Had they followed us? They couldn’t see us . . . unless they had a Norman with them who had some kind of new trap that messed up Char’s cloak. But they weren’t attacking. I focused in on their minds and recognized them—Alys and Lesley, the vampires who’d been with Sonya and Heather when we found them.

Blossom and I exchanged a look, and then both of us crept downstream, Sasha at our heels, until we came close enough to hear their conversation.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Lesley’s voice hissed.

“I can’t believe you aren’t,” Alys replied. “You’re better than this . . . this so-called life.”

“I like this life. We have no rules. We do what we want. And soon—have you heard what they’re giving us? The world! And you want to give that up for what? A soul you only think you have but you lost when you were turned?”

“My soul is not lost,” Alys snapped. “Neither is yours. You heard Sonya—we still have hope. Isn’t it worth it?”

Seeing the perfect opportunity in front of us, I crept in closer to analyze the situation. The two blond vamps sat on opposite sides of the stream. Alys’s long legs were pulled up to her chin, her butt balanced on a rock on the side nearest to us. Lesley straddled a boulder on the other bank, one leg swinging impatiently back and forth.

“I think you’re crazy,” Lesley said, and she hopped to her feet. “But if that’s what you want to do, if you’re willing to leave me all alone, then I won’t stop you.”

“You don’t have to be alone—”

“But you can’t stop me from living the life I want. Good luck and goodbye.” And with that unceremonious farewell, the shorter vampire blurred away.

Alys sprang to her feet, staring into the direction Lesley had gone, but not following. No time like the present.

“Alys?” I called out so I wouldn’t frighten her. A surprised vamp could be a deadly thing.

She spun on me. “What are you doing here?”

I moved closer to her, Blossom right on my heels. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Her tongue slid over her lips, and she pulled her bottom one between her teeth to gnaw on it for a moment.

“I want to convert!” she blurted. Her face paled, if possible, and she wrung her hands as she continued. “I’ve wanted to for a long time, and I know I should have said something before, but I was scared. Now we have no home because Lesley and I got kicked out of our nest at FSU for not turning any students. We’ve been living in the wild ever since. She always wants to stalk campers, says it’s a cheap thrill, and we don’t drink them dry, but I can’t do it anymore. I’m starving, but I’m so done with this life. Please . . . please help me!”

If only they were all so easy. Since they weren’t, I had to do what I did next. Without giving her warning, I jumped at her and dug my dagger into her chest, twisting and maneuvering it around, looking for a foreign object. Alys tried to hit and swat at me, but Blossom held a spell on her that made the vamp’s appendages uncooperative, and Sasha grew into the size of a St. Bernard and bared her teeth in a growl. The vampire fell still. When I didn’t find a faerie stone buried in her chest, I launched myself several yards away, putting a safe distance between us. But the vampire didn’t come after me; she only stared at me with her fangs extended and disbelief in her eyes.

“Sorry,” I said, “but I had to be sure before we went any further. You can thank your friend Sonya for it next time you see her.”

Alys glared at me for one long moment, and I checked her mind to see if she’d changed it. She probably hadn’t expected an Amadis daughter to be so brutal. Then again, maybe word had spread about me and my impulsive stunts. Either way, she retracted her fangs and her body relaxed.

“Do you think I’ll get to see Sonya soon?” she asked. “She was a pretty cool friend.”

Chapter 16

“There’s a safe house in North Carolina, right?” I asked when we returned to the campsite.

Everyone jumped to their feet, sensing the Daemoni vampire who followed behind Blossom and me, Sasha trotting alongside us, back in her everyday form.

“What’s going on?” Charlotte asked as she eyed Alys.

“Easiest conversion we’ve had yet,” I said. “She’s Sonya’s friend, and she’s ready.”

“Um . . . more than ready,” Alys said from behind me.

“Sure she doesn’t have a stone?” Tristan’s mind had gone right to where mine had.

I threw my shoulders back with pride. “Already checked.”

Then I grimaced, disgusted with myself for being proud of thinking like a Daemoni. Sure, we had to be preemptive, which required anticipating their moves and schemes, but I shouldn’t have been so happy with myself. What did that say about me? I didn’t want to know because guilt would lead to inaction, which would lead to never finding our son.

“I think there’s a small safe house in Charlotte?” Sheree mused.

“You mean my city?” Char snickered. “Yeah, there is. I’ll give the caretaker a call to let her know we’re coming. You’ll love Terry.”

The drive to Charlotte took almost a full day because we once again had to take the back roads. I rode my own bike so Alys could ride with Tristan and he could keep his power on her. Sheree rode with Char this time. I tried to suppress my annoyance that we had to do a little jog south, rather than head north, but I didn’t want to drag Alys all over the eastern seaboard while she was still Daemoni and, therefore, a potential danger.

We arrived in Charlotte in time for dinner.

“Something smells delicious,” I couldn’t help saying as soon as we walked into the two-story home and got