Torment (Soul Savers Book 6) (28 page)

She blinked at me as
she tried to comprehend.

“Good vampires?”
She didn’t seem to believe the possibility at first, but then
her eyes flitted over to Vanessa and Solomon who stood at the other
end of the couch. “Like them?”

“Exactly like
them.” Char smoothed Ammi’s dark hair away from her pale
face. “That’s what we do—convert those who’ve
been turned against their will to the good side.”

“Will it be
painful?” the girl asked.

“Could be,”
Char said honestly. “But since she’s waking up with us
and not them, it won’t be as bad as it could have been.”

Kristen gnawed on her
lip for a moment, then nodded. “What choice do I have? We can’t
throw her out on the streets.”

“No, that would
only be worse for her,” I said. “And then we might
eventually have to kill her.”

“Like you did the
ones when I found you?”

I nodded.

“Then do it. Keep
her good. I can’t … I can’t imagine her evil.”

And I wondered then if
Kristen was really the one who wouldn’t be able to handle
Ammi’s change.

“You should
probably leave the room,” Char said. “All of you except
Alexis and Tristan. Send Sheree in.”

“I don’t
want to leave her,” Kristen protested.

Tristan wrapped an arm
over her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. “Trust me, you
don’t want to be here. She won’t want you to see her like
this. And you’ll need to explain to your people what’s
going on.”

Kristen looked back at
me. “It’ll be better coming from you, Alexis. They look
up to you.”

I glanced at Charlotte
and Ammi.

“Go on,”
Char said. “We can start without you. But your power will help
her most.”

I nodded and followed
Tristan and Kristen out with Solomon and Vanessa behind us. Questions
immediately started flying.

“What’s
wrong with her?”

“Is she okay?”

“Where are the
others?”

Kristen stuck her
finger and her thumb in her mouth and whistled, quieting everyone.
“She’s going to be okay, but Alexis has something to tell
you. Let’s go to the big room.”

Everyone packed into
the large room, chattering and speculating, and Kristen gained all of
their attention for me. As soon as the words “vampire”
and “turned” came out of my mouth, panic broke out.

“Why would you
bring her here?”

“She can’t
stay here!”

“She’ll
kill us!”

“We need to kill
her first!”

“Enough,”
Tristan said, and although he didn’t technically shout, the
tone came out loud and frightening enough to shut everyone up. “Let
Alexis explain.”

A few crossed their
arms over their chests or showed other signs of annoyance or
confrontation, but they all listened as I told them more about who
and what we were and how we could convert the turned to our side.
They seemed to relax as I finished explaining.

“Ammi will be
good then?” Olivia, who stood up front, asked, her voice full
of hope.

“Yes. Unless she
purposely gave her soul to the demons to become like one of them,
she’ll be good,” I said.

“She would
never
do that,” Kristen said.

“So I have a
question,” Terrence called from the back of the room. “If
the Amadis side needs more numbers to be able to clobber the Daemoni
side, why don’t you guys turn humans?”

And I should have known
that was coming.

“We wouldn’t
do that to a human’s soul,” Tristan said for me. “We
wouldn’t take that risk.”

“But if we’re
volunteering to be on the good side?” Terrence pressed.

“Right,”
another guy said. “What if we
wanted
to? I’ve
always thought it’d be brilliant to be a vampire.”

“And to be
immortal but not be evil? Have all that strength and speed and be
able to kick those Daemoni’s arses? That would be fabulous,”
a girl agreed.

“It would be.”
Terrence pointed his finger at me. “So what do you say? You
could make us vampires, and we could fight for you.”

Several others chimed
in their agreement with Terrence’s proposal.

“Trust me, you
don’t want this life,” Vanessa said.

“But we should
get to choose,” Terrence insisted.

“We cannot turn
anyone even if we wanted to.” Solomon’s deep, booming
voice quieted everyone. “We would be breaking the very vows
that saved our souls in the first place. It is not an option, so let
it go.”

I let him and the
others deal with the grumblings while I returned to the office to
help with the conversion. We spent over twenty-four hours with Ammi,
but because she was newly turned and hadn’t asked to be, she
converted rather quickly. Sheree wouldn’t even need to spend
much time with her for faith-healing since she’d never lost any
of her humanity. If only all conversions could be so easy.

She cried when we told
her what happened.

“I always had a
thing for vampires, thanks to you, Alexis,” she said through
her sniffles. “But I’d never wanted to
be
one.”

“I’m sorry
this happened to you.”

She sighed. “I
suppose it could be worse. Thank you for saving me.” She let
out a breathy laugh. “I can’t believe I’m really
talking to you. But then again … I’m a bloody vampire.
Which is more preposterous?” Her brows pinched together. “What
happened to George and the others?”

“We hoped you
could tell us,” Kristen said. We’d allowed her into the
room once we knew Ammi would be okay—that she’d be safe
around her own sister. This was a whole different situation than
Sonya and Heather had been in.

Ammi shook her head,
but then her eyes sparked. “I do remember one thing he said
when he paused from sucking all my blood out of my body. He said,
‘Don’t worry. We won’t kill your friends. We’ll
take good care of them, actually. We’ll need
some
Normans around for food, after all.”

“What? They’re
starting human farms or something?” Sheree asked, and I sucked
in a breath.

“Kristen,”
I said, “you mentioned something about bizarre-o military
camps. What did you mean?”

She snorted. “It’s
where all the
stupid
humans are going. You know, not like us.
They’re following the military guys like sheeple into this
fenced off place over there by Parliament. They’re basically
being held hostage. Why? You don’t really think it’s a
human farm, do you?”

I rubbed the back of my
neck, and said, “I’m thinking we need to check it out.”

“The camp is run
by the military and government, though,” Kristen said, “not
the supernaturals. Not the Daemoni.”

“I wouldn’t
be so sure there’s a difference,” Char muttered.

“Our queen
wouldn’t allow such a thing!” Ammi gasped, clapping her
hand against her chest.

Your queen might not
be alive … or human
. Something else I didn’t dare
say out loud.

“So she’d
allow concentration camps?” Char asked, and both girls frowned.
“That’s what this sounds like to me. You’re right,
Alexis. We do need to check it out.”

The next day, at high
noon, Owen cloaked Tristan, Vanessa, himself, and me, and the four of
us followed Kristen’s directions down the road and across the
street toward Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster. I wanted to stop
and gawk at the historical Gothic structure, but pillars of smoke
rising into the sky and the sharp odor of burning buildings filling
the air served as constant reminders that this was no sightseeing
tour. We were on a mission.

Kristen had warned us
that we wouldn’t be able to see much until we moved farther
down the street—seemingly farther into the heart of our
enemies. As we passed an old church and a sign showing Westminster
Abbey straight ahead, though, I began to wonder if this camp, or
whatever it was, possibly had nothing to do with the Daemoni after
all. Maybe the Normans had realized the evil ones couldn’t
enter sacred grounds, so they’d found refuge there. But before
we reached the abbey, the barricades broke wide enough for a car to
pass through, into an area where perhaps dignitaries were once
dropped off, but was now full of several dozen rectangular boxes that
looked like the big shipping containers used on cargo ships. A
twelve-foot high fence with rounds of razor wire spiraling across the
top of it surrounded the entire area, and a line of soldiers spread
out along the fence, one about every fifteen feet. No other people
could be seen, but we could hear their heartbeats, and I could sense
their mind signatures.

Hundreds of Normans
packed into the metal boxes.

As we watched, two
uniformed soldiers and a man dressed in black exited the building and
came into the camp. The civilian glanced up at the sun showing itself
from behind scattered clouds and scowled. The show of contempt for
the sun gave away his true species: vampire. The threesome walked
over to one of the pods and opened the door, ordering everybody out.
A couple dozen Normans shuffled out of the box, blinking against the
daylight. The soldiers stood on guard while the vampire inspected the
people.

He pointed to an
elderly man with a hunched back and bowed legs. “No. No good.”

The soldiers pulled him
to the side. The vamp said the same about an old woman and a younger
man who hadn’t stopped coughing.

“Get him out of
here,” the vampire ordered, and the soldiers dragged the sick
man apart from the others, and without even a heartbeat of hesitancy,
shot him in the head. My heart jumped into my throat.

“Oh no,” I
whispered as I clamped my hand over my mouth.

“They’re
good,” the vampire said, indicating the remainder of the
Normans who’d been in the box. “Send them on.”

I focused in on the
Normans, looking for anything helpful. Several had bite marks on
their necks and wrists. They’d definitely been fed on.

“Look at that
one’s wrist,” Tristan murmured from right next to me.
“The one with the red shirt.”

I zeroed in on what he
saw on the guy’s arm: a fresh tattoo of angel wings and the
initials A.K.

“There’s
one accounted for,” Vanessa said.

Before we could inspect
anyone else’s wrist, the soldiers rushed the Normans back into
the box. All except the two older people. The vampire dragged them
both inside, presumably for lunch. I wanted to be sick.

“That definitely
was not a place of refuge,” I said once we returned to the
bunker, and I told Ammi, Kristen, and the woman with the silver bun,
all of whom seemed to have taken leadership roles here, what we had
seen.

“The military and
government are obviously working with the Daemoni,” Tristan
said.

“And it sure
looked like they were harvesting humans,” Vanessa added.
“Weeding out the frail and keeping the strong.”

Kristen and Ammi both
frowned and shook their heads.

“I can’t
believe this has happened,” Kristen said.

“Did you see
Steven or Josie?” Ammi asked with a touch of hope. “George?
Any of them?”

“We saw a blond
guy with a red shirt and a tattoo like yours.” Tristan tapped
his finger against the inside of his wrist.

Ammi nodded. “Steven
was wearing a red shirt. We’d argued about why he’d worn
such a bright color when we’d gone out, but he’d spilt
kerosene on his only black one. I’m sure he’s not there
alone. We have to save them!”

“We have to save
all of them,” I agreed.

We spent the rest of
the day and the next scoping out the Norman farm and making our plan
of attack. It wouldn’t be easy when the House of Commons was
full of military and Daemoni. We’d have to be sneaky as foxes,
hoping the Normans would recognize we’d come to free them and
not scream for help. On the second day, we prepared to head out. Ammi
joined us.

“You need to stay
here,” Charlotte said when she noticed the girl.

“I can help,”
she protested. “Those arseholes changed me. I want to hurt
them!”

“You’re not
ready,” Tristan said.

She scowled at him. “I
have
to go. I promised everyone.”

I cocked my head as I
looked at her. “What do you mean you promised everyone? What
did you promise?”

She sucked in her
bottom lip and turned her face away from me. “I promised them
if they didn’t come back, I’d come and get them.”

“Who, Ammi? If
who didn’t come back?” I wracked my brain, but couldn’t
recall anyone being sent out for supplies or survivors. But, on
closer thought, there were some people noticeably missing. Tristan
realized it at the same time I did.

“Where did
Terrence and the others go?” he demanded.

Ammi didn’t
answer.

“They’ve
been gone for a couple of days, haven’t they?” Tristan
asked.

She gave the slightest
nod. My stomach sank at the thought of more of their group being
captured. We’d be severely outnumbered, and there was no
guarantee we’d be able to help anyone escape.

Tristan jabbed a finger
in her direction. “You’re staying here.”

She looked at me with
pleading eyes. I could only shake my head.

“The last thing
we need is another of you getting captured,” I said as we
headed for the door.

We’d barely made
it up the steps, however, when the door to the outside banged open,
and several bodies blocked the gray light of day. Three stumbled
through, dragging two others along. I smelled them instantly.

“What have you
done?” I demanded as I ran to them.

The three on their feet
were mostly fine … except for the deep fang gashes in their
shoulders. The other two—Terrence and the girl—lay
unconscious, but the scent of vampire blood ran through their veins.

“Now you have to
convert us,” one of the guys said with a smirk that I wanted to
slap right off his face. “They got the vamps, but we found the
wolves.”