Purpose (35 page)

Tristan! Stop it! You’re not going to kill
me. You love me!

The muscles in his face and neck strained,
purple veins popping out, the scars severely red. He snarled
ferociously, a wild beast threatening its prey.

Tristan, it’s me, your Lexi. I love you.
You’re
not
going to do this
.

I thought he just needed to feel my touch, to
be reminded of me and our love. I reached my hand out and it
trembled fiercely. I held it in mid-air for just a second, terror
almost forcing it back to my side. I trusted my senses he was still
in there, that he wasn’t Daemoni. But he was much more powerful
than I’d ever realized and even the slightest movement could
possibly kill me.
I’m stronger now.
Yes, the
Ang’dora
made me less fragile and I had my own powers. I doubted they were
anything close to his, but I had to do something for him. So I
moved my hand closer and just barely touched his arm with my
fingertips.

Electricity zapped between us. It broke the
magic. A lion-like roar rattled my bones as he lunged at me.

And then I somehow stood in the family
room.

I must have flashed because Tristan hadn’t
touched me and I’d felt nothing push me there. I stood in the
kitchen in front of him and then I didn’t. The suddenness
disoriented me and I lost my balance, falling into the chair.

Tristan bowled through the kitchen island,
smashing through the wood and granite as if they were hollow props.
He stood where the island once had, the fire-eyes on me, his
muscles twitching and jerking. Mom and Owen stood in fighting
stances, their hands held out toward Tristan. They had some kind of
power on him. I didn’t know what, but knew it couldn’t be good.

“Stop it!” I yelled, jumping to my feet.
“You’re hurting him!”

But Tristan’s face showed no pain. Only fury.
He flicked his hand casually and Mom and Owen flew backwards
several feet, their powers released from him. Tristan flashed into
the family room, less than five feet from me. He started to lift
his hand toward me.

“I have to do it!” Owen yelled. The air in
the room whooshed upward, followed by popping noises as four more
people appeared. They immediately crouched, hands and wands out,
focused on Tristan.

“
NO!
” I cried, throwing myself in
front of him, my arms held out protectively. “Don’t hurt him!”

Tristan roared. I heard more popping outside
and then cackling.
Daemoni!
My old sixth-sense alarms
weren’t sounding. I had a feeling my new “gift” replaced that other
sense. Instead, I identified the Daemoni with an instantaneous
conviction. I could physically
feel
their evil energy
nearby. The noises outside momentarily diverted everyone else’s
attention. Tristan took advantage of their distraction. He snarled
ferociously and his arm suddenly snaked around my waist, pinning me
to his body.

Evil! Good! Evil! Good!
Again, not my
sense, but a physical feeling of the powers battling within him. I
remembered the pain I’d suffered as the same forces had battled
inside me only hours before. I had to help him win. I had to bring
him back to us.

The protectors’ eyes flew from Tristan to me
to the glass doors. The popping outside continued, like popcorn in
a hot pan.

“Go!” Mom commanded the others. “Outside!
Owen, we need more help!”

“Already on it!” Owen yelled.

“
Alexis, you can do this,”
Rina
thought calmly. “
His heart is yours. His soul is yours. Use your
Amadis power.”

Confidence filled her silent voice.
Confidence that felt unworthy. I knew the truth in what she said
about his heart and soul. They belonged to me. Or, at least, they
had. I didn’t know what, if anything, remained. The evil energy—the
demon, the Daemoni force, whatever raged inside him—was so strong.
Even if I could beat it, I couldn’t help but wonder what the evil
power had already done to him…what would be left of him…if he would
still be my Tristan.

The energy in him is so strong, Rina.
Stronger than Sheree’s. I can’t do this. You and Mom have to.

“
Use your Amadis power
,” she
repeated.

It’s not strong enough! I’m not risking our
lives again. I can’t do it, Rina!

“
Yes, you can, darling. Your power is
stronger than even mine. You can do this, Alexis.”

Tristan put the debate to an end. He flexed
his bicep and forearm, squeezing me tighter so I could barely
breathe. One more move like that and he would crush my ribs. Maybe
even snap my spine. But because he hadn’t done so already, I knew
he still fought for us. Somewhere deep inside, he resisted.

“
Trust me, Alexis. I am here if you need
me, but only you can reach Tristan.”

I closed my eyes, inhaled as deeply as
possible and focused on harnessing the Amadis power. I could feel
it concentrating and then expanding, creating a bubble within me.
Then I heaved the air I’d been holding and forced the bubble
outwards from my core. A growl rumbled in my own throat as I
impelled the Amadis power away from me. The bubble exploded from my
body.

Electricity zapped between Tristan and me,
violently separating us. I flew into the shelving against the wall.
Glass shattered around me and rained to the floor. Tristan flew to
the opposite wall. He crashed onto the couch, which broke with a
crack under his force. He raised his hand. His power pinned me
against the wall as he stood up. I remained motionless for several
moments, knowing from previous experience that his power paralyzed
his victims. But I realized I wasn’t completely paralyzed.
I
am
strong enough.

I lifted my left arm and twisted my hand at
him. The power surged through my arm and out my palm—not a thin
thread anymore, like yesterday, but now a thick rope pulling
through my veins. Blue lightning shot out, hitting Tristan in the
chest. His shirt sizzled and fell to the floor in pieces. I pulled
back slightly, for some reason afraid I could actually hurt him. I
made the current strong enough to hold him still as he continued to
hold me with his own power.

Owen and Mom both moved to take advantage of
the opportunity.

“No!” Rina said. “Alexis needs to do
this.”

“
Mother
!” Mom gasped.

“She can do it, Sophia. She
needs
to
do it. She is the only one who can.”

“And what if she can’t? She won’t be able to
kill him.”

“Her powers are very strong already,” Rina
said.

“Even if she could
physically
kill
him, she doesn’t have it within her. She won’t bring herself to do
it.”

“What are you talking about?
I’m not going
to kill him!
We don’t kill!” I shouted, confused and astonished
at what my own mother said.

“See, Mother?” Mom seethed. She turned her
eyes on me. “Alexis, if it’s your life or his…you’ll
have
to
kill him.”

“She will not have to,” Rina said. Her voice
remained amazingly calm. “Alexis, you can do this.”

“We’ll do it if she can’t,” Owen muttered.
“But it’ll take all of us.”

Pain shot through my chest as my heart
squeezed. “Nobody’s killing him!”

Even while this whole debate went on, even
while I held the current on Tristan, another part of my mind
assessed the situation outside. The popping noises had stopped and
I heard fighting, but no one made their way up to the house. The
protectors held the Daemoni back…at least for now. I had to keep
Tristan away from them, keep him with us. Because if they had any
influence on him, I might really lose him forever.

Mom was right—I could never kill him. Even if
I lost him again. In fact, I thought I would just follow him this
time. I couldn’t live without him again.

But what about Dorian? The Amadis?

They needed me and I needed him. I
had
to fight for him. He
had
to still be in there.

Tristan, listen to me, baby. It’s me. Your
Lexi, your wife, your
soul mate.
You love me. You don’t want
to hurt me.

He growled and increased the pressure on me.
I could barely hold the current on him.

Tristan, you don’t want to do this. I love
you. I trust you. I know you’re in there and I know you love
me
.
Please, baby, come back to me
.

My love and trust had always worked before.
Mom and Rina even emphasized love when working on Sheree. But it
seemed to only anger Tristan—or the monster within him. I could
feel his power gaining on me, pressing my flesh tighter to my
bones. I started to panic and lost control of the current. It
jumped, singeing a hole in the wall. The break was exactly what the
monster inside Tristan needed.

He lunged at me again.

I wasn’t quick enough this time.

He coiled his arms around me as if tackling
me in a football game. We flew through the air, crashing head first
through the sliding glass doors, through the railing and over the
edge of the balcony. We landed hard on the ground below—hard enough
to loosen his hold. I rolled free. We both jumped to our feet,
facing each other. He let out a roaring bark and threw a flame of
fire at me. I jumped out of the way and shot electricity at
him.

Mom and Rina leapt from the balcony, landing
to my right with the soft sound of bending grass blades. Owen
followed with a harder thud, but still landed on his feet, his
hands out and ready to throw magic. I noticed all this out of the
corner of my eye while keeping my main focus on Tristan.

Everyone else had stopped fighting, holding
each other at bay while watching Tristan and me. White noise, like
static, buzzed in my head—everyone’s thoughts agitated and louder
than normal with the promise of bloodshed. My wall started to
crumble and I had to make a point of keeping it up. But the
attention to the wall made me realize that if I could keep it up
and focus on Tristan, not on talking to him, but listening to him,
I would at least know his next move.

It was a good defense. Every time he moved at
me or tried to use a power, I eluded it. He lunged. I stepped to
the side. He shot a fire ball at my legs. I dodged it with a hop.
He shot another, but higher. I dropped to my knees and leaned back,
my shoulders nearly touching the ground as the flame soared over
me. From my upside-down viewpoint as I looked behind me, I watched
Mom extinguish the fire with a shot of water from her hand. The
shock of never knowing she could do that consumed my mind, but my
body moved on its own, jumping back to my feet to face Tristan. My
evasions infuriated him and his chest rumbled angrily. His thoughts
filled with frustration and we stood in a stand-off.

I didn’t know what to do. Reading his mind
protected me from his attacks, but it wasn’t a good offense. I
didn’t want to hurt him, if that were even possible, but I had to
do something to reach him—the Real Tristan imprisoned by the
monster trying to kill me. I’d never fought before. I’d never even
thought
about fighting. This part of my life had arrived so
soon and so quickly and no one had prepared me. I didn’t even know
what powers I had, how to use them or their strength.

And I fought the person I loved most in this
world, the person I could not live without, my own husband, my
sweet Tristan.

No, not my Tristan. The demon
within
.

I had Amadis power and love and those would
have to be enough.
But are they?
I just didn’t know.
Whatever the Daemoni had planted in Tristan proved itself powerful.
He was the mightiest creature on Earth and he couldn’t control it
on his own. He needed my help. He needed my love. After everything
we’d been through—everything we’d both suffered because of our
love—surely it was strong enough to overcome this.
Isn’t it?
Tears stung my eyes with the possibility that the answer was
“no.”

Owen’s words from just a couple of days ago
echoed in my mind: “We
always
win.”
Good always wins over
evil, right?
I’d lost my faith in that belief over seven years
ago. And then Tristan came back…or so I thought.
No, don’t think
that. He
is
my Tristan. I just need to pull him out, help
him beat the demon.

A strong gust of wind blew through the
grounds. My hair whipped around, slapping my face. My dress
thrashed at my legs. I glanced up for a split-second, the wind
watering my eyes. A storm cloud formed directly over us, though the
rest of the sky was the clear blue of a Spring day. The cloud
reminded me of our wedding, right when Tristan took his vow to the
Amadis. A strange, angry storm had hovered over us then, too. Like
that one, this dark cloud swirled and twisted and lightning shot
across its belly. Evil brewed above us, preparing to strike at the
opportune moment.

Tristan and I watched each other carefully.
His muscles bulged with power, his hair blew wildly and his eyes
blazed with fire. He looked like a beautiful but enraged god of
darkness. Everyone’s eyes remained transfixed on us as we moved
side to side in a macabre dance. I monitored his thoughts and a
series of profanities flew through his mind. The monster was
pissed. It couldn’t beat me.
Yet
. I wondered how long it
would take for the monster to completely take him over.
Can it
take his soul? Will the gray meadow imprison him in its
lifelessness? Will his soul be lost forever? What will I do
then?

I snapped out of the pensiveness with the
sound of a
Pop!

A long-legged, white-blond female, clad in
her usual leather, appeared about ten yards behind Tristan. Her
red-blue eyes, almost lavender in the daylight, shifted from
Tristan to me and back to him. Her lips peeled back in a wicked
grin.