Power (Soul Savers) by Kristie Cook

now.
    “Rina thought you’d be happy to see her,” Char said to me.
“Sheree has turned out to be an excellent faith-healer. She’ll take over when
we’re done.”
    Char pushed past me and into Sonya’s room, taking in the
scene of the tied up vampire with a bloom of crimson staining her top. The
warlock shook her head with obvious disapproval. “Looks like I got here just in
time.”
    “Sorry,” I muttered. “I wasn’t sure what to do, but we
couldn’t abandon her.”
    “Of course you couldn’t. So … let your training begin.” Charlotte
moved to the bed and wrapped her hand around one of Sonya’s and told me to do
the same.
    “I’ll, um, show myself around,” Sheree whispered from the
doorway, and I sensed her slip out of the room.
    “ Push your Amadis
power into her and remind her of love ,” Char silently instructed . “ Rina
uses her telepathy, and it helps a lot. Use yours to share images the patient
can relate to. Then you need to get her to state her desire to convert. ”
    I started talking to Sonya in low, soothing tones, as Mom
and Rina had done with Sheree.
    “Sonya,” I said, “I want you to think about Heather, okay?
Focus on Heather, your little sister. You love her, right? You still feel
that?”
    Her mouth clamped with fear, Sonya blinked once, which I
took for a yes . I pushed an image of
Heather into her mind.
    “She loves you, too,” I said. “She’s waiting for you, so you
can be together as sisters again.”
    I didn’t think it possible but Sonya’s eyes widened even
more, white showing all the way around her irises. Her whole body trembled as
though she tried to fight Tristan’s paralyzing power.
    “We can’t be sisters again! I’m a monster ,” she yelled.
    “Shh, calm down,” Char said soothingly. “Don’t worry about
that right now. Just think about how much you love her. How you would do
anything for her.”
    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,