Free Power (Soul Savers) by Kristie Cook Page B

just looks … paler. Her hair’s exactly the
same—same cut and everything. She’d told me once, after reading your
books for the sixteenth time, that she wished she could be a vampire. Then one
day, not too long after you got the restraining order against her, she said, ‘I
know they’re out there. I’m going to go find them.’ And we never saw her
again.”
    Guilt tugged at my heartstrings. I hadn’t personally
obtained the restraining order. My publicist had because Sonya seemed to be a
crazed fan, with a little too much emphasis on the “crazed.” She’d never
bothered me, though, and perhaps if that restraining order hadn’t been issued,
Heather wouldn’t be sitting next to me, asking for my help.
    I swallowed the lump in my throat before encouraging her to
go on. “But then you did see her …”
    “Yeah, I did. The first time I saw her was nearly two years
ago, and I totally freaked. I couldn’t believe it, and even convinced myself
that I saw wrong. When I looked back to be sure, she was gone. A few weeks
later, I was at the skate park with some friends, and I saw her again, and that
time I approached her. She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about, she
didn’t know me, and I’d better leave her alone if I wanted to live. But
something in her eyes, Alexis … she wanted to tell me something. She looked so
… scared .” A tear slid down Heather’s
cheek as she stared out at the horizon. “I had to do something for her. There had to be something that I could do. I stalked her for a while,
following her as best as I could, but keeping my distance because she’s, well,
pretty effin’ scary now. Some of those vamps aren’t very smart or secretive,
especially lately. It was so easy to creep on them and listen to their
conversations. They lie all the time, even to each other, but I learned some
things that were true, too. Like last summer when they were pissed at not being
able to attack some kind of colony on Captiva. Because of you . And Tristan. They were so scared of you guys!”
    “That must have piqued your curiosity.”
    “Hell, yeah, it did. How could these vamps be afraid of you ? I mean, my asshole sperm-donor was,
but he was only human.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the term she used for
her dad—the same thing I called the guy who fathered me. She went on. “So
I knew you were different, but you didn’t seem the same as the vamps. I didn’t
get too close to them, but I didn’t have to. They felt all wrong. Bad vibes.
And when I’d been close to you in the office that one time, you felt right. Good. But I knew you had to be something
not quite human.”
    I stared out at the water as I let her story sink in. How
was this possible? How could she detect anything different about me, unless she
wasn’t a Norman herself? But I knew she was—I could feel her humanity all
over her.
    “Blossom says it’s because of my open mind,” Heather said,
startling me. I didn’t think I’d shared those thoughts with her telepathically,
but when she continued, I realized she’d gone down the same train of thought as
I had. “How I can feel the difference between all of you and us Normans, as you
call us. I got that open mind from you, you know.”
    “Me?” I asked as I pushed my toes into the sand.
    “You and your books. Sonya and I talked all the time about
how it could all be real. But I’d never want to be an evil vamp. I just prayed, if they were real, God would protect us from them.”
    So Rina and the council had been right about my books. They
opened people’s minds to the possibility that so-called fantastical creatures
existed. I’d been so worried this would drive people to seek out the Daemoni to
become a Were or a vamp, as Sonya had. But, apparently, at least as many
readers could be like Heather, strengthening their faith, which would protect
them against the Daemoni’s increasing attacks. My guilt lessened. A hair.
    “Anyway,” Heather continued, “after