Free Wrath by Kristie Cook

done this. I wish I could go back to being a Norman. I’m . . .” She pulled back and looked at me with her dark brown eyes. “I really am sorry.”
    Her apologies seemed sincere enough, but her story didn’t make any sense and had a lot of holes. But there was only one thing I cared about.
    “What happened after you killed the mages?” I managed to say though my throat was dry and constricted with the mental images she’d shared with me. “Did you take Dorian?”
    She shook her head violently. “No. No, of course not! It was all Kali. Kali and—”
    “ What? ” I interrupted, my patience running thin. “What does Kali have to do with anything?”
    “Kali has to do with everything. She has Dorian.”
    “Lucas or Victor took Dorian.”
    “No.”
    “You’re saying Kali took Dorian?” Tristan asked from right beside me.
    “No, but she has him.” She looked to Tristan, then back at me, and her tongue darted over her lips. “Um . . . Owen took Dorian.”

Chapter 5

    My stomach squeezed as though I’d been punched. I took several steps back, shaking my head in denial. I knew Owen had betrayed us, of course. He’d turned on me—and Vanessa—right in our faces and joined Kali’s side. But this? He’d go so far as to take my son ? The one vulnerability he knew both Tristan and I had? Did he really become so ingrained with the Daemoni that he would willingly hurt us like this?
    Tristan and I looked at each other, and his expression reflected my own feelings—surprise mixed with a heavy dose of doubt. What Sonya said . . . I couldn’t fathom Owen doing such a thing. I couldn’t believe Victor had told the truth.
    “You can read my thoughts,” Sonya said. “I know you can. Check my—”
    Sonya’s face contorted, cutting her off mid-sentence. A scream rose from deep in her chest, and her mouth opened wide to let it out. Then her eyes glazed over as she cocked her head at me.
    The next thing I knew, the vampire lunged at me. Her hands reached out and scraped at my throat. At my necklace.
    Help me , Sonya’s voice came in my mind. Get . . . the stone.
    A strange growl ripped through Sonya’s chest this time as her body jerked side to side.
    “ She’s all mine, Alexis, and I’ll kill her. Don’t think I won’t. ” Kali’s voice. In my head. From Sonya.
    “Kali’s controlling her,” I said, though it almost sounded like a question. “Like she has a faerie stone in her.”
    Sonya’s head barely twitched in a nod. Her body jerked and twisted as she tried to hold on to even a little control. While one hand still reached for my pendant, her other one clutched at her own chest. Her fingers closed in on my necklace and ripped it off my neck. She stumbled away from me, but didn’t get far. Tristan paralyzed her, one of her hands still digging into her chest as she fell to the ground.
    But still her body convulsed. Pinkish foam started bubbling from her mouth, followed by liquid blood.
    “Kali’s killing her!” I gasped.
    “Help her,” Heather screamed as Blossom held the girl to keep her from running to her sister.
    “Blossom, muffle us,” Tristan ordered, then he said to me, “Your dagger. If she really has a faerie stone in her, it’s the only way.”
    Seeing this, I had no doubt she did. And if by chance she didn’t . . . well, she deserved this anyway for what she’d done to us all. I pulled my dagger out, fell to my knees, and plunged the blade into Sonya’s chest, not for the first time. The vampire’s scream matched her sister’s. I dug the blade around until the tip hit something hard, and with a twist of the knife and a sickening slurping sound, a small stone flew out of the hole I’d carved into her chest. I caught it in my free hand as I withdrew my dagger. Sonya’s skin healed immediately, and her body fell still. Tristan released his power from her, but she didn’t move.
    We waited, all of us silent and our breaths held, for seconds that turned into minutes. Heather