Torment (Soul Savers Book 6) (5 page)

I bit back a snicker at
her choice of words—like globes had corners.

“They seemed to
have been going for the shock factor, and they have definitely
shocked us. But we didn’t stand around and wait. We humans will
not bow down to these
monsters
that shouldn’t even
exist.” She leaned forward over the pedestal and glared
directly into the camera. “We will fight back, and we have
already started. As of this morning, we were able to locate the
strongholds of the most dangerous faction of these creatures. They
claim to be our ally and promise protection, but they are the most
vicious of all, preying on the hopes and fears of innocent humans.
They inhabit towns in nearly every country, and we struck every
cluster we know about, including their main headquarters in the
Aegean Sea, off the coast of Greece.”

I slapped my hand over
my mouth, but my gasp was still audible. My body began to tremble as
the bitch continued, filling me with anger.

“We believe the
bombs caused extensive damage, but we will not be complacent. These
creatures are difficult, nearly impossible to kill, as many people
have learned when they tried to protect themselves from attack today.
We will continue seeking out members of this most dangerous faction,
called the Amadis, as an end to them will likely end all of the
attacks. Beware if any of these non-human entities approach you and
offer protection.
None
of them are safe, especially those
claiming to be good, because they tell only lies. They will try to
deceive you into welcoming them into your homes so they can kill you
when you least expect it. We are most especially interested in
locating this pair.”

The scene of the press
conference disappeared from the screen, replaced by photos filling
the entire space with two very familiar faces—Tristan’s
and mine. And I couldn’t help it. The urge started in the pit
of my belly and bubbled up my throat until it burst out of my mouth.
I nearly doubled over with the giggles.

“She …
can’t be … serious,” I gasped as I tried to regain
control.

“They have
assumed various aliases over the years,” the woman’s
voice continued as our mugs remained on the screen, “but you
will notice the woman is none other than A.K. Emerson, the
internationally bestselling author who supposedly died two-and-a-half
years ago while honeymooning with this man. They have both faked
their deaths, proving their guilt. Emerson’s books, read by
millions around the world, are about these exact same creatures who
have murdered so many people today, on her orders. She must be found,
and she must be stopped.”

“Looks to me like
the shiela’s pretty serious, princess,” Jax said.

“I don’t
even …” I shook my head as the giggles over the
ridiculousness of it all died away. I let out one last laugh. “What
the
hell
?”

“Dude, Alexis,”
Owen said, turning in his seat to look at us, “you’re
like Harry Potter. They just made you Public Enemy Number One.”

I rolled my eyes. My
body still shook from the shock and absurdity, and a part of me still
wanted to laugh. But another part of me wanted to fly into a rage.
Control. Maintain control. Do not lose your temper.
It took
everything I had to hang on to it.

“She’s
obviously working for the Daemoni.” Blossom used her hand to
indicate the woman on the screens. “She pronounced Amadis
perfectly on her first try.”

“They’re
using their best weapon,” Tristan said from beside me.

I nodded. “Lies
and deceit. The Daemoni have effectively turned all humans against
us. They didn’t have to transform the Normans into vamps and
Weres to build their army, after all.”

“That’s
good for the Normans’ souls,” Sheree piped up.

“True,” I
said, “but not good for us. How are we going to fight the
Normans when we’re supposed to protect them?”

The question haunted me
through what little remained of the night. I must have drifted off
because when the nightmarish vision returned, the woman being shot by
the Norman soldiers didn’t just look like me, but
was
me. I’d replaced Mom as their target.

I didn’t visit
the cliffs the next morning. The bombing yesterday loosened my grip
on the past and brought me fully into the present. I longed for
guidance from Mom, Rina, and the rest of my ancestors more than ever,
but enjoying my solitude on the side of a cliff while watching the
sun rise felt like a luxury I couldn’t afford.

“I suppose it’s
time to call my first council meeting,” I said to Tristan as I
sat at Rina’s desk—my desk—sipping coffee and
staring mindlessly at all of the newspapers spread out in front of
me. Headlines screamed WAR and ATTACK and THEY’RE REAL! on the
front pages. My face was plastered all over them, right next to
Tristan’s.

The talking heads on
television droned on with words that had been force-fed to them,
speculating with each other about the ongoing supernatural attacks
and the mysterious and very dangerous Amadis faction that had
instigated it all.

“I’d say
that’s a good idea,” Tristan replied from his seat on the
couch by the fireplace. “You might want to wait until we get
word from Solomon, though. He should be able to give us news straight
from the U.N..”

God bless Solomon. I
wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d been locked in his room,
mourning Rina’s death as her life-mate, but he’d said he
needed a distraction, so he returned to his post at the United
Nations a few days ago. We hadn’t heard from him since
everything went down yesterday, though.

“Good point. I
suspect some of the council members need another day to help their
areas recover, too.”

Tristan looked over at
me. “Don’t expect them all to show up in person. A
conference call will have to suffice.”

“That’s
better anyway. I don’t want anyone leaving their regions.”
I mentally called out to Char and asked her to give everyone a call
and set it up, and then I stood and walked over to Tristan. My body
purposely blocked his view of the television screen and CNN, which
reported nothing new, but merely played scenes from yesterday on a
continuous loop. He reached out to place his hands on my hips, but I
didn’t budge when he tried to pull me to him. “In the
meantime, we need to make sure they can’t attack us like that
again.”

His gaze jumped up to
my face, and he lifted an eyebrow. “Retaliation?”

I widened my eyes with
mock innocence and placed my hand on my chest. “Amadis wouldn’t
do such a thing!”

His eyes narrowed with
skepticism. “But you would.”

My lips turned slightly
in a half-smile, and I cocked my head. “And so would you.”

He didn’t argue
with me. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“I think we can
figure out where one of the Daemoni’s covens is. Several of
their mind signatures went straight east when they left, and I saw
this in one of their minds.” I shared with him a visual of some
kind of residential compound outside a city comprised of modern
buildings mixed with old Middle Eastern architecture and a bridge
somewhat resembling the Golden Gate in San Francisco.

“Based on that
skyline, it looks like the outskirts of Istanbul.”

I smiled. “I knew
you’d know. If we get close enough, I can find their signatures
again and pinpoint their location.”

He pulled me harder
this time, into his lap. His strong arms embraced me, and I leaned my
head against his shoulder. “And what do you plan to do,
ma
lykita
? Convert them?”

I shrugged, not having
considered that possibility. “Of course, if they want to, but
that’s unlikely. Their minds were pure evil, and I want to get
rid of them. Make sure they can never attack us like that again.”

“So retaliation.”

“Well, it’s
not really retaliation if our goal is to
defend
ourselves,
right? To prevent more people from being harmed or killed?”

“Alexis—”

I sat up and turned to
look him in the eye. “We’re protecting our island and our
people. We might be protecting Normans, too, because if they’re
bombing villages and colonies, Tristan, then they could be killing
nearby Normans, also.”

“
Ma lykita
—”

“If we can show
our people that we can stop this coven, then they’ll see how
they can stop the others. We owe it to the families who lost loved
ones yesterday. To those who fear for their lives now.”

“Alexis, I’m
not arguing with you. I agree.”

I drew back and stared
at him. “You do?”

“Yes. And I think
the others will, too.”

“Even if it’s
not the Amadis way?”

“Everything else
in the world has changed. We must, too.”

I nodded as Mom’s,
Rina’s, and Cassandra’s words from yesterday morning came
back to me. “Exactly. And we don’t have to kill them. We
just need to flush them out and expose them for who
they
truly
are. Including Lucas. We’re going to fight fire with fire. He’s
not the only one who can use the media to sway the public.”

Tristan smiled,
catching on. “The world needs to know who the real Public Enemy
Number One is.”

I pressed my lips
together and stared at my hands twisting in my lap. “Do you
honestly think this is a good idea? Or am I just being hot-headed as
usual?”

“I think it’s
a show of strength, which is necessary. Between the change in
leadership, the attacks on the Normans, and the bombings of the
Amadis, the Daemoni will think we’re weak and disorganized,
trying to rebuild. They won’t be expecting this.”

I mulled over this and
finally nodded, but couldn’t quite look up at him yet.

“You know I’m
completely relying on you for this strategy stuff, right? Because I
have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. Everything comes from
my gut instinct, but that usually leads me to doing stupid things.”

He lifted my chin,
forcing me to look up at him. “I won’t let you do
anything stupid, my love. I’m here for you.”

His eyes studied mine
for a long moment, as though ensuring I understood and accepted.

“Thank you,”
I whispered.

His mouth spread into a
lovely grin. “Do you really think I’d let my wife look
bad? How would that reflect on me?”

I chuckled and rolled
my eyes, and then mentally called my team to my office to formulate
our plan.

“Good idea, but
not the part where you go, Alexis,” Charlotte said after we’d
mapped it all out. “It’s too dangerous.”

My head jerked to the
side to glare at her. “You know I’m not staying behind.
You need my telepathy.”

“I have to agree
it’s too dangerous,” Blossom said as she combed her
fingers through her long, dark blond hair. My gaze shot to her now.
She knew me better than to think I’d cower from a fight just
because I was the matriarch. “Those sorcerers do a number on
your head. It can’t be good for you.”

My glare softened with
her concern for the headaches the sorcerers gave me.

“Then your
telepathy won’t be any good anyway,” Vanessa added. “And
since they seem to like your electrical power so much, they’ll
drain your energy, too, making your whole self useless.”

I suppressed a
frustrated growl. The sorcerers, the Daemoni’s most powerful
mages, could pull energy from the world to boost their own magic.
Kali had a special magnetism to my electrical powers, like vampires
had to my blood, and she’d tried to drain me every chance she
had. No doubt the other sorcerers would, too.

“I’m
going,” I insisted as I stood up to my full height—which
wasn’t much—and crossed my arms over my chest. “Stop
ganging up on me.”

“Chances are low
the sorcerers will even be there,” Tristan said. “They
don’t play well with others.”

“Agreed,”
Owen piped up. “I seriously doubt they’re shacking up
with a coven of mages weaker than them. It’s not like they need
the protection.”

Charlotte’s mouth
twisted as she considered this, but she had to know the guys were
right. She, and Blossom and Vanessa, too, also had to know their
argument was futile.

“We’d
better be prepared,” Char said as her way of giving in.
“Vanessa, stay close to her. If someone gets a drain on her
powers, you’ll have to break the connection.”

“Sure, I’ll
get my ass fried. Again,” Vanessa grumbled, and I gave her a
grateful smile.

“What if the
island’s attacked again while we’re gone?” Sheree
asked. “Char and Owen won’t be here to help with the
shield.”

“Then that means
we’ve failed,” I muttered. “The whole point is to
keep them from attacking again.”

“Unless other
mages come from somewhere else,” Vanessa said. “There are
covens all over.”

I looked at Tristan.
His eyes were already a little glazed as he considered the options to
determine the best solution.

“We’ll be
facing some powerful mages, even if the sorcerers aren’t with
the coven,” he said after a moment. “We need Char and
Owen with us.”

Owen gave a sharp nod.
“Damn straight.”

“Wouldn’t
miss it,” Charlotte agreed, and I glared at her again. She
shrugged. “This is my job.”

“And mine, too,”
I countered. She opened her mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut.

“Stubborn like
your mother,” she groused, and for once, I accepted that
remark.

“So we need to
gather all the mages we can to the council hall and have them work
together to keep Owen’s shield up,” Tristan said.
“Blossom?”

She nodded. “I’ll
stay here.”

Jax shifted his weight
and rubbed his hand over his bald head as he stared at the floor. I
didn’t have to read his mind to know his dilemma.

“Stay here in
case Blossom and the others need you, Jax,” I said.

His eyes shot up to me
with surprise, and I nodded. He gave me a grateful smile. He hadn’t
wanted to choose between protecting me and protecting Blossom, but I
didn’t see why he had to make that choice. Being near a city in
the desert, this mission didn’t necessarily require the kinds
of advantages a were-croc from the Australian Outback provided.