Kristie Cook: Wrath

Judging by the lack of daylight seeping under the heavy curtains, the complete regeneration my body felt, and Tristan sleeping by my side, I figured I’d awoken in the wee hours of morning, which meant Dorian had already been gone for twenty-four hours. Where was he? What was he doing? Who had him? Were they treating him like a prince, as Tristan expected? Did they have him in a cave in Hades, feeding him lies on a silver platter? What thoughts ran through his mind? Was he scared? Dorian wasn’t afraid of anything, but he had to be terrified now. He had to know that whoever took him hadn’t been sent by Tristan or me. He had to know he’d been kidnapped by the bad guys we’d warned him about.

And was Heather with him? She hadn’t been here at the safe house, but she’d also disappeared at the same time. That’s what Blossom had figured, anyway, when Heather’s mom had called, looking for her daughter. Maybe if she was with Dorian, they could at least help each other through this, but trying to imagine what they could both be going through broke my heart.

Why hadn’t we prepared more for this? We’d let Dorian practice his flying ability, but not enough. We never tested what other powers he might have, knowing the more they developed, the more the Daemoni would be attracted to him. He knew Aikido, but Lucas knew a lot worse. Dorian would never be a match for him or his cronies; Heather didn’t have a chance. And if Dorian did manage to escape, he wouldn’t know the way home or to the Amadis Island. He didn’t know there were safe houses he could go to around the world. I hadn’t even let him have a cell phone yet. I didn’t see the point of it since he wasn’t ever supposed to be alone, and I didn’t want to spoil him. How stupid of me!

His only hope would be Heather. If they were together. If she was even alive.

My second train of thought went to Vanessa. Was she really my half-sister? The reality of that shock still hadn’t completely sunk in, making it difficult to believe it was true. What had happened to her last night anyway? She had run for the water when we first arrived at the horrible scene, staying far away from all of the blood, and I hadn’t seen her since. Where had she gone?

My mind searched the mansion for her signature, but didn’t find it. I expanded the search over Captiva Island, but it wasn’t until I reached the opposite side of Sanibel when I found her. She wasn’t alone, either. A Daemoni accompanied her, and a familiar one at that.

Oh, hell no . I bolted upright in bed.

“Tristan,” I hissed, shaking his leg. “Wake up!”

Sasha sprang to her feet and, sensing my anxiety, began to grow. I took her head into my hand and scratched behind her ears, trying to be gentle through my impatience.

“No, girl, it’s okay,” I said. “You’re not ready yet. I’ll be okay.”

Her dark eyes stared into mine and she whimpered, then her body began to shrink into its natural toy-dog size. She curled up on the pillow, and I scrambled out of bed and began dressing in my leathers. I didn’t remember Tristan taking them off of me, and someone had already cleaned them.

“What’s going on?” Tristan asked as he moved out of bed, too slowly for my liking.

“Hurry up and find me.” I didn’t have time to wait for him in case they took off, so I gave him a mental picture of where I was going, grabbed my dagger by its hilt, and flashed.

Vanessa and Victor both jumped when I appeared right next to them at the top of the Sanibel lighthouse, on a landing below the light itself. The vamps weren’t used to being snuck up on.

“How the hell . . . ?” Victor wondered.

“I warned you,” Vanessa sneered, but I didn’t care who she warned or what about. I’d deal with her later.

I lunged for Victor, knocking him against the metal railing that kept us both from plunging nine stories to the ground below. His back bowed over the railing as the tip of my silver dagger pushed into his chest above his heart. Amadis power flowed through the weapon while electricity charged from my other hand. I kept both powers at moderate levels only because I needed information before I killed him.

“Where’s my son?” I demanded, practically spitting each word in his face.

His mouth contorted, stretching scars that marked his normally smooth and pale skin.

“I don’t know,” he hissed as his ice-blue eyes darted around nervously.

“ Liar ,” I seethed. I dug the point of the dagger further into his flesh. He let out a small yelp. “But if you really don’t know, I have no reason to keep you alive.”

“Give me that fucking dog of yours and maybe I’ll tell ya,” Victor said, throwing me off guard a little. He must have seen the flicker of confusion in my eyes. “Look what she did to me!”

His arms twitched at his side, drawing the moon’s glow to more scars on his hands and forearms.

“You were in the safe house,” I said, and hatred rushed forth again as the vision of him fighting Sasha filled my mind. I increased the current through my hand, electricity crackling between us accompanied by the sound and smell of singeing skin. “TELL ME WHERE HE IS!”

Victor began to tremble, and I pushed the dagger in deeper. The electric power charged through his body and into the railing. Vanessa jumped back with a small whimper—she must have been touching the metal that now carried the current.

“Alexis,” Vanessa said quietly from behind me, “he’s our brother.”

“Shut the hell up,” I yelled at her.

I didn’t want to hear it. I couldn’t erase from my mind the image he’d given me of his fight with Sasha. I couldn’t ignore the fact he’d been there when Dorian was taken. He had probably taken him himself. The desire to plunge the dagger all the way in, twist it around, and grind at his heart until the organ was nothing but pulp became too strong to resist.

But the Amadis in me was even stronger. As the trembles of Victor’s body became quakes and his eyes rolled into the back of his head so only whites showed, the guilt of what I was doing to him jolted through me.

As did the reminder that Vanessa was here, secretly meeting with him.

I pushed myself off of Victor and flew at her.

“You did this!” I screamed as my body plowed into hers.

We skidded across the concrete landing before coming to a stop at the edge with Vanessa on her back and me straddling her, my hands at her throat.

“You set us up, didn’t you, you bitch? Got us far away from here so Victor could take Dorian?”

“No—” she tried to choke out.

“Lies! That’s all either of you know how to speak! This whole thing has been a ruse, hasn’t it? Lies and deceit everywhere. You didn’t care about me getting out of Hades except to come back and see this, did you? Are you even my sister or was that a lie, too?” Holding one hand on her throat, I held my dagger to her heart, ready to give her a taste of the pain I felt.

But someone yanked me off of her. I swung and kicked at Tristan as he held me from behind. The vampire-bitch scrambled to her feet.

“Where is he?” I yelled as my gaze bounced wildly between the two vampires. “What did you do with my son?”

Vanessa’s blond hair swished as she shook her head. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

“Bullshit! Tell me or I will kill you!” I fought harder against Tristan but his grip remained iron-tight.

“Calm down,” he murmured against my ear.

“I swear I had nothing to do with this,” Vanessa said, her blue eyes sparking as she jerked her head toward her brother. Our brother. Supposedly. “Ask him .”

“Lies,” I yelled again.

“Why would she be here?” Tristan asked, his voice still low in my ear. “Why would she hang around if the worst they can do is already done?”