Part 7 (1/2)
The vampire's body slackened.
”One step at a time, Alexis,” Char thought to me. ”And don't forget the Amadis power.”
Sonya's reaction had caused me to slacken my power without realizing it. I pushed it into her hard, and her body tensed again as she screamed.
”Sonya, do you want this?” I asked.
”It hurts,” she shrieked.
”I understand. If you don't want it, I can stop.” I eased back on the power.
”No! Don't.” She panted. ”Please, don't stop.”
”So you do want this?” I asked again.
”Yes. I want this.”
”You have to state it,” Char said.
”I want it. I ... want ... to be ... Aaaaah.” She screamed again, as if it hurt her to say the word. ”I want ... to be ... Aaaamaaadis. I ... don't want ... to be ... evil.”
Her eyes rolled up into her head, showing how much saying those words had drained her.
”Why?” Char persisted, and I remembered Mom had asked Sheree the same thing.
”Convince us,” I said, mimicking Mom's next words.
Sonya whimpered. Her eyes refocused on us. ”Because I love my sister. And I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. I ... I ... I made a big mistake. I should have never asked for this.”
Her last words were barely audible as her voice trailed off. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
”If you listen to her thoughts, you'll know if she's sincere,” Char told me, and I opened my mind to allow her to hear Sonya as well.
”I'm no better than our father. Worse even.” Her regret and despair gripped me. Char nodded.
”Now we get serious,” the warlock said. ”Push. Hard.”
I gathered all the Amadis power I'd been building inside of me for the last month or so and pushed the ribbon of energy down my arm and out my palm into Sonya. Char's eyebrows pulled together and her eyes tightened as she did the same. Sonya started shaking and convulsing against Tristan's power.
”Let go, Tristan,” Char said through gritted teeth. ”We need her loose. Alexis and I can handle her.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tristan give Charlotte a doubtful glance, but he eventually lowered his hand. Sonya whipped about for a few minutes, but I was physically stronger than I'd been with Sheree and could hold her down. Eventually the convulsions stopped, and her body went limp.
And then I felt the evil energy building inside her. Memories of the last time we did this and the consequences flooded my brain.
”Get out, Tristan,” I ordered.
He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. ”I'm not leaving you.”
”Get out!” I nearly yelled this time. ”I'm not letting you take it again.”
I wouldn't risk the chance of the evil power leaving Sonya's body only to find a new home in him as it had done before. Granted, freshly escaped from the Daemoni's clutches for over seven years and implanted with dark magic, he'd been what Rina had called an open vessel at the time. He had practically welcomed the evil energy inside of him. But no way would I jeopardize that happening again. He'd been acting too weird lately as it was, especially when we were around the Daemoni.
”Go,” Char said, backing me up. ”You're not helping, and Sheree can use you. She'll need help gathering supplies.”
Tristan wrapped his arms around me and pressed his lips against the top of my head for a long moment. The full strength of his love finally flowed out of him while awake, boosting my power. Maybe he could help. I let the thought pa.s.s, though, not wanting to have to go through again what we did last year.
”Call me if you need me,” he murmured.
”I don't know what that was about, but you can't waste your energy arguing,” Charlotte said after Tristan left.
”When I tried to do this with Sheree, I took in her Daemoni energy, and Tristan took it from me because it almost consumed me.”
”That was before your Ang'dora, right?” She didn't wait for an answer. ”You and your power should be strong enough now to eradicate the Daemoni energy. There should be no transfer this time. Unless-oh, b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l. Here we go.”
Just as the words came out of her mouth, I sensed what she did. Sonya felt as though she might literally explode with the dark energy building inside her. The color in Charlotte's face drained, and the muscles and tendons in her neck pulled taut as she strained against the power. I tightened my grip on Sonya's hand and pushed goodness into her with every bit of force I could muster.
A shriek of pain pierced my ears. Sonya's body bucked and writhed, and it was all I could do with my full strength to keep the vampire on the bed. A long string of profanities flew out of her mouth punctuated with more screams as visions of her life as a vampire flashed through her mind.
Then all at once, she fell calm again. Seemingly unconscious.
Char rubbed her forehead against her arm, mopping off the sweat. ”That was the first wave.”
”How many waves will there be?” The evil energy still swirled within Sonya, perhaps not as strong, but definitely still there.
”As many as it takes until the evil power is gone. Everyone's different.”
”So we're in for an all-nighter.”
”Yep. Probably longer.
”I'm so glad you're here. I have no idea what would've happened if I'd tried this by myself.”
”You'll be able to do it solo once you learn the basics. Number one rule: don't let yourself wear out. That's where trouble comes in.”
”That's what you were about to say before? There should be no transfer of energy unless ...?”
”Unless you're drained. But don't worry. It shouldn't happen with you.” She rested her head against her shoulder as her hands remained stretched out to grip Sonya's forearms, maintaining skin-to-skin contact. ”You have more Amadis power than any of us, including Rina. You just need to know what you're doing. Are you seeing the visions?”
”Of her past and her victims? Yeah. I hate them. All that death and evil.” I shuddered. ”Do you ever get used to them?”
”Me?” Charlotte chuckled. ”I don't see them. Only Rina can, so I a.s.sumed you could, too.”
”Really? Huh.” I thought about this for a moment. ”I could share them if you want.”
”Ugh. No, thanks. I see enough of what they do in real time.”
Wave after wave crashed over Sonya, each hit weakening both her and us. Tristan sat with me in between, sharing his love to boost my power before each round. But I always made him leave when I felt a new wave coming on. In case I wasn't powerful enough. Once morning came and brought the sun, Sonya's energy diminished considerably, and we began to make true progress.
”They're weaker during the day, especially the young ones,” Charlotte said as Sheree wiped a cool, wet cloth across the warlock's forehead and the nape of her neck. ”It's always better to try to start this in the early morning. Unfortunately, since the Daemoni prefer to come out at night, that's usually not possible.”