Hours passed. Charlotte released the muffle on the room every so often, long enough so we could be sure Mom hadn’t started screaming for help or anything, and then she’d replace it to give them privacy. Finally, after the sun had risen the next morning, Mom came out of the room, pulling Winston with her by the hand.
“He needs faith healing,” she said, “but the Daemoni energy has been eliminated.”
Char and I rose from our seats on the stairs in surprise.
Mom shrugged. “Love can conquer anything. It was fairly easy, even on my own. In fact, we talked through much of it. Right now, though, he could use a shower and some clothes.”
While Winston cleaned up, Mom told us his story. When she’d thought he had died, he’d actually been turned, and his master had taken him away. He hadn’t known about Mom being an Amadis daughter, so he thought he could never tell her about what he had become. But he couldn’t stand to be away from her. He followed her to the States, but always talked himself out of approaching her, afraid he wouldn’t be able to overcome the desire to drink her dry. He’d decided to convert to Amadis, knowing he could never live like a Daemoni, and hoping he might be able to be around Mom then. But before he could take the necessary steps, the Daemoni staked him and buried him alive.
I’d never seen Mom so happy. So in love. For a long time when I was younger, I’d believed she wasn’t capable of love, and now she practically swooned. She stayed with us as Sheree worked with Winston through his faith healing, and when they weren’t doing that, Mom and Winston spent nearly all of their time in the bedroom. I didn’t want to think about what exactly they did in there—she was my
“Their story is amazing,” Blossom said one evening as we both cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. She stared out the window where Mom and Winston huddled together on a bench in the backyard, gazing at the stars.
“And yours?” I asked, nudging her in the ribs with my elbow.
“It’s not nearly as romantic.” She sighed before looking at me with a shy smile. “But I do really like Jax. I mean, more than like him. There’s been this connection since the beginning, you know, and we have so many things in common, but lots more not in common, which is okay because that’s what keeps things interesting. And he’s really sweet, and his body . . . wow, his body . . .”
She became uncharacteristically silent, and I suppressed a chuckle. I knew exactly what Jax’s body looked like. All of it. It didn’t compare to Tristan’s, but I could understand why Blossom would be impressed. The man- croc lacked nothing except for hair.
“So,” I said, bringing her attention back to the kitchen, “is it serious?”
She gazed out at Mom and Winston again. “Not like that. But I think I want it to be. I just don’t really know how to cross the line with Jax. He’s not like any other man I’ve ever been with.”
I dried the last wine glass and put it away, and a thought occurred to me.
“They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?” I said. “How about Tristan and I make you and Jax a romantic dinner? And
Blossom grinned excitedly. “You think?”
“He’ll be a goner,” I promised. Not that I knew a lot about seducing a man, but I did know Blossom’s cakes. They were practically orgasmic. If Jax didn’t get the message after the meal and dessert we planned for him, then he didn’t deserve her.
Fortunately, the meal went off without a hitch, and the two of them disappeared for their hotel right after, taking the cake with them. Mom and Winston were constantly alone, and she began to talk about bringing him to the Island. Char was happy for Mom, knowing how long she had been alone and what she had sacrificed in the area of love. But now I felt bad for the warlock, whose husband had been a farce for most of their marriage. Sheree remained single, too, and, of course, Vanessa, whose hope for eternal love had once again been placed in the wrong person.
That reminder came to me every day. Not an hour went by that I didn’t think about Owen, Kali, Lucas, or Dorian. Mostly Dorian, of course. We needed to get back on the road. We’d been ready to leave before the discovery of Winston, and Sheree had made great progress with his faith healing. Someone on the Island could provide what he needed now. We had to return our focus to our missions.
“The D.C. area,” Mom said one day in late June as we discussed our plans. “I feel something strong there. I sense that’s where you should go.”
Blossom’s spell had begun to work again, at least enough to give us a small prod north, which confirmed Mom’s hunch. So we finally packed up, said our goodbyes, and gave our well wishes to Mom and Winston before we headed north as they headed for the airport. The smile on Mom’s face and the love I felt radiating between the two of them would forever be imprinted on my soul. I hoped this was the beginning of better times to come.
After we crossed the Virginia state line, we stopped in the Shenandoah Mountains and spent the night in the woods, where Blossom and I could let our minds roam freely. We felt a bump to the northeast, rather than straight north. And it came stronger than usual.
“We must be getting close,” she said quietly, but I tried not to become too excited that Mom had been right about Washington, D.C. After all, it was a big metropolitan area.
The next day, we drove to my old stomping grounds of Northern Virginia and took up residence at the Fairfax safe house—the same one where Tristan had left me years ago. The place where I’d given birth to Dorian.
Perhaps because of that, his presence was heavy enough for Blossom to finally zero in, and I found it.
I.
Found.
It!
His mind signature floating in a sea of others, but definitely his.
“
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
My heart had jumped into my throat at his mental response, and now it throbbed there. I couldn’t believe after all these months I’d finally heard him. We’d found him! But then—
The pick jabbed into my brain again.
My vision went completely white. Then black.
I came to screaming Dorian’s name.
“No!” I yelled when I realized we’d lost him. I pushed myself out of Tristan’s lap and pawed at the tickle by my ear but ignored the blood on my fingers as I turned on Blossom. “Did we get his location?”
The witch frowned, her eyes full of tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was just about to, but we went blank at the last second. It was like someone shut us out.”
“That fucking bitch!” I screamed as I slammed my fists against my thighs.
Tristan and Blossom both looked at me with questions in their eyes.
“I’m almost positive it was Kali pushing me out,” I said through clenched teeth. “She must have Dorian and knew I’d reached him. I had probably been close those other times, too.”
Some part of me must have known it had been her all along jabbing into my brain, but another part had been trying to deny the theory because it meant admitting to Owen’s involvement as well. But the evidence had always been there, and my soul had always known. Because every day my hatred for the sorceress had grown. Every day I wanted to kill her more than I did the day before. Every night I dreamt of when the time would come. Probably not very Amadis of me, but the bitch’s soul had no hope. I fantasized about what the Otherworld would do with it.
When I didn’t dream of killing Kali, I had nightmares of the only real kill I’d ever had. The Were in Hades,
