Torment (Soul Savers Book 6) (3 page)

“It’s
happening in several major metropolitan areas around the world,”
the reporter announced as vampires tore open the throats of Normans
nearby and a Were changed on the fly.

Then Ian’s ugly
ogre face and dull red hair filled the screen, his crooked yellow
teeth showing in a nefarious grin.

“Guess what,
mates?” he said into the camera. “Vampires, werewolves,
witches, and warlocks—we’re all
real
. And we’re
coming for your blood … for your flesh … for your
souls
.”

I gasped, and my hand
flew to my mouth.

“They’ve
come out to the Normans,” Sheree said from the doorway, her
voice full of disbelief, and her brown eyes wide and round. She
lifted a long finger to her mouth and gnawed on a fingernail.

Vanessa slapped her
hands on her thighs. “It was only a matter of time. Lucas has
been planning it for ages.”

We remained glued to
our spots throughout the morning and into the afternoon as we watched
the carnage unfold around the world. Blossom and Jax had come into my
office and watched with us, and then Ophelia and other household
staff joined us, too. Everyone’s minds churned over the same
question: What were we going to do now?

Then Charlotte thought
and began to voice exactly what Tristan and I had been thinking.
“Looks like our reprieve is over. It’s time to plan for
war—”

Her words were stifled
by the sound of a loud explosion and the ground quaking under our
feet.

I gripped the edge of
the antique desk with one hand and reached out to hold onto Tristan’s
forearm with the other until the shaking stopped.

“That wasn’t
an earthquake.” He barely spoke the words before another bang
and subsequent tremors rocked the ground.

“
Daemoni!
”
The thoughts came from all over the island, screaming into my head
the moment I opened my mind to them.

“We’re
under attack,” I announced before delving into a sentry’s
mind—a wizard keeping watch from the tower near the village.

Through his eyes, I
shared with everyone in the room the vision he saw—Daemoni
surrounding the island, uncloaked and in broad daylight. All mages
hovering over the water, all shooting spell after spell at our
shield.

“Owen and Char—”
I started.

“Already on it,”
Owen said, his voice strained.

My mind left the
wizard’s, and my vision returned to my own, finding the two
warlocks standing in the center of my office. Their hands lifted high
above their heads and their brows and lips set into hard lines as
they concentrated on keeping the shield over the island as strong as
possible. We took another hit, and both their faces turned various
shades of red as the chords in their necks tensed and tightened.

Sweat beads popped out
on Owen’s forehead. “They have some powerful warlocks.
Maybe a sorcerer.”

“Go join the
others,” I ordered. “Do what you can.”

Owen and Char
disappeared from the room to join the mages who maintained the shield
on the other end of the island. When they came together as a group,
their power would multiply. Hopefully it would be enough.

“We have to get
to town,” I said. “In case they make their way through.”

“Change first.”
Vanessa pointed at Tristan and me before popping out of sight.

Right. We both still
wore Norman clothes that provided no protection. We flashed to our
suite and changed into our fighting leathers within a minute. After
making sure Dorian was safe in his room with Sasha, we flashed to the
Amadis village on the other end of the island. We appeared in front
of the council hall at the top of a low hill, looking down the main
street of town that sloped toward the pier and the sea. Some panicked
people ran amok in the streets, but many apparently hid in their
homes and businesses.

The air crackled with
powerful dark magic feeling thicker than it should have. The
intensity of it meant our shield was failing, and if the Daemoni
managed to pierce it, we’d be in deep trouble. Most of the
Amadis who lived here on the island were among our weakest. My
personal team contained some of our strongest fighters and other
guards protected the mansion and council hall, but for the most part,
everyone else lived here because they weren’t warriors. This
island was their place of refuge. If the Daemoni broke their way in,
though, it would be far from a safe haven.

Tristan and I lifted
our hands to aim our palms toward the Daemoni to return fire, but the
mages were too far away. By the time our powers reached their
shields, their potency had weakened too much to penetrate and were
easily deflected. Blossom and two other witches joined us, but their
spells also bounced off the offenders’ protection.

Owen, can’t
you blast them with something?
I called out to him.

“
Not if you
want me to hold this shield up!
” he answered from his
position in the tower with Char and the other mages. “
There
are too many, and they’re too powerful. We’re losing our
hold as it is.
”

Real panic started to
rise from the pit of my belly, sending my heart into a gallop. I
needed to protect my people!

What if we made the
shield smaller?
I asked Owen.
Would it be easier to hold?

“
Yeah, but
how? We’ve already brought it in from the sea to the edges of
the island, but we have to cover the entire thing.
”

No, you don’t
.
Hang on.
I used my telepathy to call to Ophelia and ordered her
to clear everyone out of the mansion and to take cover in the
village.
Tell the guards to come to the council hall.
Without
waiting for a response, I switched to my son’s mind.
Dorian,
I need you to bring Sasha and come here to town. Now!

He ignored me, but I
could feel his mind signature, locating him where we’d left him
in his room at the mansion.

Dorian! Now! We’re
under attack!

“
Ugh!
Whatever! I’m coming. Geez.
”

The sulfuric stench of
dark magic filled my nose. A red flash of light flew from the sea and
slammed into the island. A building near the shore exploded into
shards of wood and pieces of plaster.

“
They’re
getting through
,” Char said to me. No kidding.

Dorian dropped from the
air to my side with Sasha in his arms, apparently having flown here.
I reached my mind out to the mansion and found no signatures there.

“Get inside the
council hall,” I told my son, but he ignored me again, his gaze
locked on the Daemoni in the distance.

I wanted to shove him
away and prevent him from ever setting eyes on them again, but I
didn’t have time for the argument. My mind scanned the entire
northern half of the island from the beach to the forest to the
cliffs to be sure no one remained before I gave the orders. That part
of the island was clear of any mind signatures. Perfect.

Tighten the shield
to only surround the village
, I ordered Owen.

“
But the
mansion
—” He began to argue.

There’s nobody
there. Just protect the people.
Another flash of light hit a
second building. People poured out of the pub next to it, screaming
with panic and running up the hill toward the council hall.
Do it,
Owen, before it’s too late!

More spells soared
through, one hitting an old cypress that exploded into slivers.
Another hitting the blacksmith’s shop not too far below us,
taking out one side of it. The people running up the hill dropped to
the ground or scattered between the buildings, fleeing the main
street. Tristan swept Dorian and me into his arms and plastered us to
the ground, making us smaller targets as another spell headed
straight for us. It soared over our prone bodies and took out what
sounded like a tree behind us, but I couldn’t get up to look.

The odor of Daemoni and
dark magic faded, and the next round of spells ricocheted seemingly
in midair. Owen and his mage team must have strengthened our magical
armor. Sounds of explosions from the north side of the island meant
they had, indeed, contracted the shield to protect the people. That
was okay, as long as they were safe. Although millennia of history
filled the halls of the matriarch’s mansion, ultimately it
consisted of only stones and material possessions. We could always
rebuild it.

The attack on the
northern side of the island lasted for several more minutes. Knowing
we were safe here, though, Tristan and I sprang to our feet to check
on our people. I reached my mind out for everyone on my team—Owen,
Char, Blossom and Jax, Vanessa, and Sheree—and found them safe
and sound. Blossom, Jax, and Sheree were already helping some of the
Amadis in the lower part of town who’d been hurt from debris.
Vanessa stood on the roof of the council hall, her fists on her hips
and her ice-blue eyes staring hard at the Daemoni on the other side
of the shield.

“They’re
all warlocks,” she said after she jumped down to stand next to
Sasha, who had already grown to her extra-large size, towering over
all of us. “All of their best mages.”

I reached my mind out
to those on the other side of the shield, bracing myself for entering
the Daemoni’s putrid minds that filled me with the worst kind
of dread. I pushed past the evil and listened to their plans.

“They’ve
sent their most powerful mages here while their vamps and Weres are
attacking the Normans.”

I skipped to a new mind
signature, and as soon as I tried to latch onto the thoughts, intense
pain seared through my eyeball and into my brain as though a nail had
been driven into it. I clutched at my head, doubling over. I squeezed
my eyes closed and concentrated on pushing the pain out.

“Lex, what’s
wrong?” Tristan’s large hand landed on my back and tried
to soothe me.

My head tilted, and my
jaw clenched until finally, the agony dulled.

“They have a …
sorcerer …
and
a sorceress with them.” I tried to
breathe through the lingering pain and finally managed to open my
eyes to find Tristan and Vanessa hovering over me. “Kali must
have taught them how to block me from their minds. Shit, that hurt.”

Tristan reached out and
wiped his thumb over my upper lip. It came away bloody.

“They haven’t
been involved in the attack, though. Yet,” I added.

“They’re
just wearing us down right now,” Vanessa said.

Avoiding the sorcerers,
I took my injured mind to one of the warlocks’ to study her
thoughts further and nodded. They’d already figured out the
north end of the island had been deserted, so they gave up on their
attack up there. But they weren’t giving up for good. They were
only regrouping.

“They’re
getting ready to hit us with their heavy guns,” I confirmed,
and I opened my mind to those of the entire island.
Everyone take
cover! It’s not over!

People shrieked and ran
into the streets before flashing away, hopefully gathering together
under the protection of our weaker mages, which was protocol in the
event of an attack. Many of the witches and wizards of the village
may only be able to shield their homes or a single room, but that was
better than nothing if our main defense collapsed.

“
Sorcerers?
”
Owen asked me.

A sorcerer and a
sorceress
, I told him and Char.
Can you hold them?

“
We will for
as long as we can
,” Char said. “
But Owen needs to
get down there to protect you and Tristan.
”

Before I could argue, a
succession of bright yellow and orange lights shot across the water
and blasted into our shield, breaching it almost immediately. The
next spell hit our watchtower right behind the council hall, blowing
it into pieces. The very tower where our mages powered the shield.
Owen appeared next to me at the same moment and immediately threw a
bubble over Tristan, Dorian, and me.

“Come on,”
Tristan said, pulling Dorian back into his arms.

He flashed, and I
followed his trail with Owen and Vanessa right on mine. We appeared
inside the dungeons under the council hall, where they’d once
jailed Tristan when he’d been accused of betraying the Amadis.
I called the others to come join us, but Blossom, Jax, and Sheree
refused to leave the injured behind.

“
I have a
shield on them
,” Blossom assured me. “
You just
stay safe, Alexis.
”

Char didn’t
answer me, and I couldn’t locate her mind signature in the
chaos, but she’d been in the tower with the other mages when
the Daemoni had hit it. My heart wobbled, but I refused to believe
she was dead. I couldn’t handle another death so soon,
especially hers. I glanced at Owen, and his face remained stoic. He
refused to believe, too.

I sat against the cold,
stone wall of one of the cells, closed my eyes, and used my mind to
peek into others’ heads until I found a vampire who peered
outside from his window. Now that the main shield had collapsed, the
sorcerer and sorceress seemed to have backed off. In fact, magic
spells no longer rained down on the town. Only a few random shots
came, as though they were double-checking that the shield had
actually fallen.

I heard, “
It’s
a go
,” from one of them before they all disappeared, only
to reappear several miles away, nearly out of my mind’s reach.

“What are they
doing?” I asked aloud, not about to give the all clear to the
island yet. Something was up. Then I heard the planes in the
distance, quickly approaching—with no mind signatures inside of
them. Were they drones? The answer to my question came a moment later
when the bombs began dropping. On Amadis Island.