you ever get used to them?”
“Me?” Charlotte chuckled. “I don’t see them. Only Rina can,
so I assumed 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.”
When the room began darkening again with dusk, Charlotte’s
cell phone rang. Sonya’s body had given up its fight a long time ago, so Char
had no problem leaving me alone with her, pumping Amadis power into the
vampire’s depleted veins, while she took the call.
“I need to go to Galveston,” she said, reappearing only a
few minutes later.
Her tone rang my alarms. “What happened?”
“Daemoni went on a rampage. Our people were able to take in some
of the bitten and turned, but too many for them to handle alone.”
“Anything I can do?” I asked, though I already knew the
answer. Still too much of a novice, I was pretty useless.
“Hmph. Some day soon, it’ll be your job to take care of
these things, but for now, it’s mine. You just worry about Sonya here.” She ran
her hands over our patient’s arm and then her forehead. “You feel that?”
I nodded. “There’s still a trace of Daemoni power.”
“Right, and there will be for a while, probably months,
maybe longer. It takes time and faith-healing to eradicate it all.”
“And she won’t be completely good until then, right?”
Charlotte cocked her head, her sapphire eyes piercing into
me. “Alexis, after last fall, you know as well as anyone that not anybody’s
completely good, including the Amadis. We’re all basically human, after all. We
all have good and bad within us. Has Owen ever told you the Legend of Uri and
Duff?”
I shook my head.
“Well, I don’t have time to give you the children’s version
I used to tell Owen. I’ll have to keep this short, and then I need to go.” She returned
to her chair by Sonya’s bed, and leaned toward me on the other side. “According
to history, a few generations after the Ancients created the sorcerers and
sorceresses, one of the younger mages decided she wanted to experience sex with
a human, so she seduced one and became pregnant. The child obviously didn’t
have the same amount of magic as she did, but he was still quite powerful.
Other members of the youngest generation saw opportunity in this child—they
could create a whole new race that could serve them while never being powerful
enough to overcome them. Power breeds paranoia, and the mages were extremely
paranoid, especially when the Ancients created the vampires. The mages decided their
new race needed to be physically strong and fearless, even against the vampires
if ever needed, so they agreed they would only mate with the stoutest, toughest
and meanest human warriors.”
“The race they created was the warlocks,” I said.
“That’s right. With powerful magic and the bodies and
aggressiveness of warriors, we were bred to fight, although at the time, there
wasn’t much fighting going on except with each other or to pick on Normans. So,
I guess in their boredom, the warlocks mated with humans and over time the
weaker witches and wizards became a third mage sub-race.
“Anyway, Cassandra came along and created the Amadis, and
now we get into
“Me?” Charlotte chuckled. “I don’t see them. Only Rina can,
so I assumed 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.”
When the room began darkening again with dusk, Charlotte’s
cell phone rang. Sonya’s body had given up its fight a long time ago, so Char
had no problem leaving me alone with her, pumping Amadis power into the
vampire’s depleted veins, while she took the call.
“I need to go to Galveston,” she said, reappearing only a
few minutes later.
Her tone rang my alarms. “What happened?”
“Daemoni went on a rampage. Our people were able to take in some
of the bitten and turned, but too many for them to handle alone.”
“Anything I can do?” I asked, though I already knew the
answer. Still too much of a novice, I was pretty useless.
“Hmph. Some day soon, it’ll be your job to take care of
these things, but for now, it’s mine. You just worry about Sonya here.” She ran
her hands over our patient’s arm and then her forehead. “You feel that?”
I nodded. “There’s still a trace of Daemoni power.”
“Right, and there will be for a while, probably months,
maybe longer. It takes time and faith-healing to eradicate it all.”
“And she won’t be completely good until then, right?”
Charlotte cocked her head, her sapphire eyes piercing into
me. “Alexis, after last fall, you know as well as anyone that not anybody’s
completely good, including the Amadis. We’re all basically human, after all. We
all have good and bad within us. Has Owen ever told you the Legend of Uri and
Duff?”
I shook my head.
“Well, I don’t have time to give you the children’s version
I used to tell Owen. I’ll have to keep this short, and then I need to go.” She returned
to her chair by Sonya’s bed, and leaned toward me on the other side. “According
to history, a few generations after the Ancients created the sorcerers and
sorceresses, one of the younger mages decided she wanted to experience sex with
a human, so she seduced one and became pregnant. The child obviously didn’t
have the same amount of magic as she did, but he was still quite powerful.
Other members of the youngest generation saw opportunity in this child—they
could create a whole new race that could serve them while never being powerful
enough to overcome them. Power breeds paranoia, and the mages were extremely
paranoid, especially when the Ancients created the vampires. The mages decided their
new race needed to be physically strong and fearless, even against the vampires
if ever needed, so they agreed they would only mate with the stoutest, toughest
and meanest human warriors.”
“The race they created was the warlocks,” I said.
“That’s right. With powerful magic and the bodies and
aggressiveness of warriors, we were bred to fight, although at the time, there
wasn’t much fighting going on except with each other or to pick on Normans. So,
I guess in their boredom, the warlocks mated with humans and over time the
weaker witches and wizards became a third mage sub-race.
“Anyway, Cassandra came along and created the Amadis, and
now we get into
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