Kristie Cook - Devotion

Everyone's heads snapped toward Owen, who stood frozen, his face a white mask of shock.

"I lived Martin's life, pretending to be one of you, waiting for my opportunity," Kali continued, her voice cold yet mesmerizing. "The Daemoni grew restless. They have no patience, no self-control, but I have mastered it. Killing Stefan was their way of getting me on the council, but it wasn't until Seth's return that the opportunity really arose. I knew about you then, Alexis, about your power, and purposely planted those ideas in your head. Ideas about a daughter. It took you and Tristan away from here, letting me execute my plan while at the same time, knowing what would happen when you found the girl. It all played out beautifully. Until now. You're better than I realized."

Martin's wrist flicked again, but no blue light shot out of his palm. Instead, a staff, taller than him with a blue, crystal-like ball on its top, appeared in his hand. He lifted the staff and banged the end on the floor. My body jerked as the electricity shot out of me and to the shimmering ball. But not only from me. Energy from the atmosphere created an electric flow to the staff, like lightning being pulled from the sky, and the ball's interior glowed and swirled. People started crying out, even whimpering, as the sorceress pulled on our life forces.

Owen yelled something over the noise, and the air around Martin trembled–Owen must have shot some kind of magic at the sorceress, but she had herself shielded.

"Use your power, Alexis," Tristan said.

"She's already taking it!"

"Your Amadis power. She's Daemoni!"

"Alexis, I think I can break the shield," Owen thought. "Be ready. She's weakening me, so we only have one chance."

Resisting the desire to sag to the ground, my energy all but gone, I dragged my right arm up. Owen yelled out again, and the air around Martin wavered once more. I seized the opportunity and pushed the Amadis power at the sorceress. She shrieked. Martin's body convulsed. But the sorceress fought it. She pointed the top of the staff my way, and a blue light streaked out of it. With a writhing body, though, her aim jerked to the right, and the blast missed me. A thud sounded from behind.

"Ferrer!" someone cried out. The spell must have hit the blacksmith.

Before I could react, another streak blasted out of Martin's hand. My arm shot up with my dagger out to parry it. The spell bounced off the blade, soared over the council members' heads and hit the wall above them. The angel's stone sword shattered and debris rained down on the dais. I gathered all my Amadis power within me and pushed it out at Martin. But it wasn't enough to bring the sorceress down.

"Mom!" I shouted. "Help!"

She sprang to her feet, grasped my shoulder and lifted her own right hand toward Martin. Our powers more than doubled–they grew exponentially. Then Tristan stood behind us, placed his hands on us and gave us what he had. No one else could project Amadis power and none were as strong as Mom and me, but the rest of the Amadis in the room did what they could. Council members jumped down from the dais and formed a human chain, ending with Minh's hand on my wrist. Others from the crowd joined us, too. Their hands–some bone white, others looking more like claws–grabbed our arms and legs, held on wherever they could and shared their power with us. The Amadis came together as one, the power of all that's good streaming through them, into me and out my hand. The sorceress couldn't fight the goodness. A siren of a scream escaped Martin's mouth as he collapsed to the floor. Our energy sapped, the rest of us fell, too.

An eerie stillness blanketed the room as we all processed what happened. But before anyone could move, motion from the center of the floor caught our attention. Martin flinched. His arm jerked upwards. His hand waved weakly, and the air around us trembled.

"The shield!" Charlotte shouted. "She's trying to take it down!"

"Owen! Stop her!" Mom said.

"Kill her!" Charlotte yelled.

But Owen didn't move. He only stared at Martin's upraised arm. And I knew he couldn't do it. He didn't see the sorceress anymore. He saw his father. And stopping the sorceress from hurting us was much different than killing his own father.

Martin's hand moved again, and the air shook harder. We had to do something. I switched the dagger to my right hand and pulled it up, behind my shoulder. Tristan's palm rose, and he paralyzed Martin just as I swung up and let go. The knife arced up and over, the light flashing off the silver blade as it flew end over end and stabbed Martin right where I intended. The dagger pierced through his hand and pulled it down, nailing him to the stone floor. The sorceress was too weak to withstand the silver. Her ghostly image rose from Martin's body, swirled and disintegrated. Her spirit became smoke in the wind.

I dropped my arm to my side and stared at Martin's lifeless body. Unable to move. Unable to breathe. As others began to stir, I remained on my knees. What have I done? A huge lump formed in my throat. My chest tightened. My stomach felt like a small stone. I … killed … someone. That was what I'd done. I'd ended a life. Martin's life.

But had I? Had there been anything of the real Martin left? Or had he already been dead, killed by the sorceress when she overtook his body decades ago? Who did I kill? Char's husband? Owen's dad? Or an evil and powerful sorceress? Or was she even dead?

I vaguely noticed people rising around me or the change in the air–relief that the real traitor had been identified and the situation managed. Mom, sounding distant to my ears, asked Tristan to flash Rina to the mansion. I finally tore my eyes away from the heap of robes and flesh that had been Martin and looked at Rina, who appeared to be just as dead.

My stomach clenched. "Is she …?"

"No," Mom said, "but she's not well."

"How bad?"

"I don't know, honey. She got the same dark magic you did."

Tristan bent down to lift Rina into his arms.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Julia hissed at him, her body protecting Rina's.

Chandra placed a hand on Julia's arm. "Julia, it's over. Tristan is obviously not the traitor."

"Yes, we have been made fools of," Armand said, his tone mixed with exhaustion and anger. "Martin was the traitor. He–or she, I should say–had all of our thoughts twisted up."

"Then are you done accusing my husband?" I asked.

Savio, Robin and several others averted their eyes and fidgeted nervously.

"I believe it is obvious," Solomon said, "that not only is Tristan not a traitor, but that he is meant to be with us. The Angels have given him to the Amadis, and we shall not disregard their gift."

Several council members murmured their assent, and the crowd cheered.

"Allow me to apologize on behalf of all of us who doubted," Savio said without raising his head.

"We'll deal with the consequences later," Mom said, and she turned toward Rina. "Tristan, you probably want to spend some time with Bree …"

Tristan looked at Bree and then at me. "I'd rather spend time with my wife and son first. I have much to think about."

"Then can you please take Rina to the mansion?"

"No, I will take her," Julia said, no longer defensive or protective, but more like she didn't want to let Rina go. Her eyes looked pained and grief-stricken as she looked down at Rina's still body.

"You can't flash with her," Mom said. "You have to see the logic in getting her to her bed as soon as possible."

Julia didn't respond at first, but finally nodded. Tristan bent down and lifted Rina into his arms. Her body fell limply against him as he turned to Bree.

"Go," Bree said before he could say anything. "I understand. I'll be here when you're ready."

Tristan disappeared, and Mom followed. The crowd noisily filtered through the doors. I was about to leave, too, but not before checking on Owen. He was nowhere around. Lisa and Jessica caught my eye, and I hurried over to them.