Wrath

“You come with me,” Kali said, although she didn’t specify whom. She didn’t have to. She waved her staff, and Noah followed her like a robot as she stepped off the edge of the floor and floated over the heads of the Amadis and to the ground. Noah landed on his feet next to her without so much as a grunt. “You, too, darling.”

She waved her staff again. With a surprised cry, Rina flew off the edge of the building, her back arching and her white ball gown whipping behind her as she plummeted toward the ground.

“Rina!” I screamed as I jumped off the edge, hoping to beat her to the ground and catch her. But when I landed on my feet, Kali caught my grandmother in one arm.

Mom landed next to me and ran to Kali’s side. She wrapped her hand around the sorceress’s arm and gripped tightly. “You don’t need to do this, Kali. Whatever it is you have planned, it’s not the right strategy. It will fail. You need to stop and think for a moment. You can do better.”

She nodded her head, tried to pierce Kali with her gaze. She was using her power of persuasion.

“Save your breath,” Kali gnarled. She jerked her arm out and slammed her elbow into Mom’s gut. Mom landed several feet away, doubled over on her knees.

“Sophia!” Charlotte yelled, and she appeared by Mom’s side.

Kali let out a small chuckle. “You’re next, sweet one.”

“Come and get me,” Charlotte growled.

“Oh, I will. But not yet.”

“No!” Winston bellowed, and he blurred for the sorceress. She waved her staff. The vampire flew backwards, as though punched in the gut, and landed next to Mom and Char.

Dragging Noah and Rina with her, the sorceress turned toward all of us. My team stood behind me, except Char, who was off to my right with Mom and Winston, and Tristan, who remained on the platform above, holding Owen. Her eyes lifted to them, and then she banged her staff against the ground. More lightning shot down to it, but at the same time, electricity pulled out of me. She was draining me of my power, exactly as she’d done nearly two years ago in the courtroom on the Amadis Island. With the cries and whimpers around me, I knew she was doing it to all of us.

Her spell must have broken Tristan’s hold on Owen, because the warlock appeared next to Kali, but with a glare from her, he crumpled to his knees. “You’re a worthless liar. I should have known.”

I tried to delve into their minds, to find out what that meant, but her mind-shield remained strong against my sapping power. I had no energy to do anything but sink to my knees on the ground. Tristan landed on his feet next to me, his hand palm-out toward the sorceress, but even paralyzed, she was able to continue drawing power from her surroundings. She was gaining too much strength from me and everyone else, while we grew too weak to fight her. I shot what Amadis power I had left, and she shrieked with the pain, but the effort to push it at her quickly became too much for me.

“Now, here’s what’s going to happen,” she said as she continued bringing all of us to our knees. Everyone except Tristan. I struggled against the pull of power, trying to keep some energy for myself to at least pull out my dagger. “You lot are going to stay here and behave, while I retrieve the boy. And if you don’t—”

Tristan grabbed the dagger out of my hand and blurred for the sorceress.

“Don’t kill the host,” Mom screamed as he arced the blade down.

At the last second, Tristan’s hand dipped and instead of sinking the blade into the top of the witch’s head, he buried it in her shoulder. Blood streamed over her chest and arm, and blue smoke rose from the silver’s contact. Her green eyes filled with pain as her red lips formed a surprised O before her body slumped to the ground. The power drain stopped. Kali’s hold on us released. Summoning every bit of energy I possibly had left, I reached for the jar hidden in the inside pocket of my jacket. The soul. I needed the soul. I needed to capture the soul and be done with this bitch. Then we could retrieve Dorian and take him home. Then maybe I could breathe again.

My hand paused in midair, though, when Rina’s body jerked, convulsed, and then became still as she stood next to the Daemoni witch’s body, an awkward angle to the matriarch’s normally straight posture.

Rina jerked once more, straightening herself.

“Dorian?” she called out, her voice carrying over the lawn. “You can come out now.”

I knew I should have been trying to capture Kali’s soul, but I stood there with baited breath, anxious to see my boy. A long moment passed. Then . . .

“Rina?” Dorian’s voice—familiar, yet deeper—rang out from the dark shadows of the abbey, although I couldn’t see him.

Rina turned back to us. Her lips pulled up into a smile. But her eyes . . . they weren’t right.

“If you don’t behave,” Kali’s voice continued, but coming out of Rina’s mouth, “both Katerina and the boy will die.”

Every other soldier on this side of the circle spun, as though on command, and aimed at Rina’s body. Fifty or more barrels pointing at our matriarch. At my grandmother.

“Noah here,” Kali said as Rina’s lips moved and her arm flipped out toward her son, “has a special stone. Lucas gave me a grand idea when he had me implant the faerie stone in your little friend Sonya. Why couldn’t I create my own loyalty stones? I only needed some rocks and a spell. And I didn’t make only one, but several.”

Several loyalty stones? She had control over that many people?

“Oh, it’s worse than that,” she said, as though hearing my thoughts. “You see, Noah had a much bigger stone at one time, and I had all kinds of fun with him, but then we broke it. We divided it. And now all those soldiers out there have a piece of Noah’s stone. So I control Noah, and he controls them. Brilliant, aren’t I? Especially because I know you Amadis won’t harm those Norman soldiers out there. And how convenient that they can enter sacred grounds. Oh, as can Katerina.”

Rina’s body disappeared in a flash and reappeared in the circle of soldiers. All of those that had been aiming at her turned in unison, once again directing their barrels at Rina.

I yanked my dagger out of the witch’s body, and we all blurred for the soldiers. We stopped right behind them, though, when Rina’s power allowed Kali’s voice to sound in our heads.

“You try to stop me or come after me, I order them to shoot,” she said. “There are many bodies here for me to take, but Katerina and the boy . . . they only have their one.”

“Alexis,” Owen’s voice shouted in my mind as he appeared next to me. “She’s weakest now. She’s weakest right after taking a new body. This is our chance! ”

What the hell was he talking about?

“Tsk, tsk, Owen,” Kali said. “I’ve told you which body I’ll take next.”

Owen blanched as his eyes darted to Charlotte. “No.”

“Maybe not,” Kali offered. “There’s always yours.”

“You take me, you cowardly bitch,” Char yelled aloud.

“What the hell is going on?” Tristan whispered, his voice so low Rina’s ears shouldn’t have been able to hear it.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Owen replied, and his sapphire eyes landed on me. “This is our chance, Alexis. But it has to be you.”

I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes.

“And what exactly have you been waiting for?” I said, not sure whether to believe what I thought I heard. God, did I want to. I wanted to know my protector and friend had been working on our side all along. But . . . “You stole our son.”

“I’ll explain it all later, but I’ve been planning this all along and now she knows!” His voice, though still hushed, became more distressed. “She’s weakest now, when she’s new in a body. But if we don’t hurry, she’ll have Dorian, and she’ll disappear with him. I’ve blown my cover and won’t be able to track her anymore.”

“What do you want Alexis to do?” Tristan demanded.

“Kill her!”