"No, Alexis," he answered. "This is all me."

My jaw dropped as Kali took two steps to stand in front of Owen, her eyes never leaving him, while Vanessa disappeared into a blur. So this was their plan? They'd both been serving the Daemoni and Kali all along? My muscles automatically braced for Vanessa's impact, but she didn't come at me. She continued blurring around the room.

"She's distracted. Search!" Vanessa ordered me.

I couldn't move for a moment, frozen with disbelief as Kali stroked Owen's hair and cheek. The sorceress then lifted her hand, and Owen obediently rose to his feet.

"Hurry!" Vanessa shrieked.

Vanessa's not in on it. I snapped out of it and followed her lead, moving around the room at a blazing speed, rifling through everything on the table in a matter of seconds.

"Stop them!" Kali barked, and Owen waved one hand while twisting the other in the air.

A current of air blew past me, and I slammed into an invisible wall, forced to stop, and at the exact same time Vanessa slammed into the other side. We both stumbled backwards, but quickly regained our footing. Owen's hand waved again, then he moved in between us, where the invisible wall had been, a palm out directed at each of us. Kali stood in front of us all, a wicked gleam in her green eyes.

The sorceress flicked her hand the same way I'd seen Owen do when summoning something, but nothing happened. She narrowed her eyes and did it again, but still nothing moved. She rushed over to the table.

"Where is it?" she hissed. Objects started flying through the air as Kali searched. Owen took several steps back, his hands still aimed at us, and glanced over his shoulder.

"Looking for this?" Vanessa dangled the pendant between her fingers, the ruby-colored faerie stone flashing in the firelight, before tossing it at me. My heart leapt. I could have kissed Vanessa.

As I reached out my hand to catch the pendant, Owen's wrist twisted, and the stone's trajectory changed. It landed in the warlock's hand. With a bow of his head to the sorceress, he dropped the pendant into the front pocket of her robe. My heart, which had been soaring, plummeted.

Owen, how could you? No answer but a cold sapphire stare.

"Well done, my son," Kali said to Owen, and when he dipped his head in another bow, my stomach lurched. "Now what to do with you two? I don't appreciate thieves."

"The pendant is mine," I said. "You're the thief."

Kali's mouth turned up in a beautiful but dreadful smile. "I think I feel like playing."

She turned the heat of her full gaze on me, and a piercing pain shot through my head, as if an icepick had been buried into the back of my skull. The agony blinded me and nearly brought me to my knees. My heart bruised the inside of my chest as it raced, but when my hand reached to my head, no weapon protruded. I clamped my mouth shut, silencing my scream, and gritted my teeth through the pain. Kali preferred mind games. Not me, b.i.t.c.h. Straining with intense focus, I eventually raised my mental shield I used to block out others' thoughts. The pain disappeared.

Thwarted, Kali's face twisted with anger, then she shot her glare at Vanessa. The vampire's mouth screwed into a painful grimace that eventually gave way to a spine-tingling scream. Her hands clawed at her chest, and blood poured over the top of her leather halter as she fell to her knees.

"Stop it," I yelled as I lunged for Vanessa. I caught the vampire in one arm and, with the other, raised my dagger at the sorceress. "Stop now!"

Kali eyed the silver blade-the one that had caused her to lose her body the last time it had pierced her-and laughed. But the blood that had been all over Vanessa disappeared as if it had never been there, and the vampire stopped screaming, though she still trembled against me. Magic had made us both believe the mirage, but I knew from my own experience the pain felt very real. Knowing the sorceress could inflict such mental agony was more frightening than if she'd physically attacked us.

"You're right. Why waste my time with you, when I can do this?"

She lifted her hand, waved it in the air, and the fire-lit room disappeared. We suddenly stood in the middle of the main road of Captiva Island with the safe house on our right and the beach on our left. Oh no! Tristan came barreling down the front stone steps of the mansion, shooting fire from his hands back at the safe house. The mansion exploded, its roof blowing into pieces, windows shattering, and flames jumping high in the air. With fire-filled eyes, he then ran down the road toward the island's small business district, shooting more fireb.a.l.l.s with one hand and causing trees to crash on houses and cars with the other.

The scene disappeared, and we were back in Hades.

But my heart was still in Captiva. A storm of emotions roiled through me, taking my breath away. My son. Blossom and Sheree and Sonya ... the colony and the Normans ... Had Tristan already done all of that? Or had she just given him the orders? Either way, she'd just shown that she knew the power of the stone, and it sat right now in her pocket, giving her control. This was all for nothing. We're all dead. But then my mind focused like a laser beam on a single thought. Not if she's dead first. With the hope that killing her would sever her connection with Tristan, I twisted the dagger's hilt in my hand and threw it. Just like last time, it spun end-over-end in an arc, but this time, it landed in her chest.

Kali's mouth shaped into a surprised O as her hands flew to the dagger buried hilt-deep in her chest.

"Get. Her!" she hissed, and the next thing I knew, Owen's hands were around my throat, and my feet dangled in the air.

Owen! Don't do this, I pleaded with him, staring him in the eyes as I clawed at his hands. He glared back with hard sapphires, his face straining as the grip on my throat tightened. Tears blurred my vision before falling. Please, Owen. Don't let her do this to you. You're my friend. My protector. You're like my brother!

"No, I'm not, Alexis. I'm nothing to you."

Stop it! My lungs seized with the lack of air. This isn't you. You give your energy to Uri, remember? Not Duff, Owen. Not ... Duff.

A memory of his mother flickered in his mind and something in his eyes glimmered. Or maybe it was only one of many pops of light flashing in my vision from the lack of oxygen.

You're really ... going to ... kill me? I asked with the last bit of consciousness I had.

"That's enough!" bellowed a vaguely familiar male voice.

Owen let go, and I fell to the floor, on my knees next to Vanessa. My lungs drew desperately for a breath, and the air felt like razor blades slicing down my throat. When the lights stopped flashing before my eyes, I looked up to see someone new in the room, removing the dagger from Kali's chest. The sorceress gasped as the silver left her body, and then sneered at me.

"You're not so dangerous when your mommy and p.u.s.s.y-whipped husband aren't around, are you?" Kali asked.

"I said that's enough," the man growled at her, his voice cold and deep. "Remove the projection."

With a slight bow of her head, Kali waved her hand, and our surroundings transformed. We were no longer in a small workroom, but in a vast cavern with several other people-well, Weres-standing at its perimeter and this man in the center, just in front of us. I slowly rose to my feet, pulling Vanessa up with me, and eyed the man who had made Kali obey.

Nearly as tall as Tristan with shoulders almost as wide, he wore a black sleeveless shirt that exposed his muscular arms and black dress pants with combat-style boots. Eyes the color of icebergs looked Vanessa and me up and down, as if appraising us. Not a single wrinkle lined his face, but his goatee was snow white, as well as his long hair, which was tied in a ponytail and draped over the front of his shoulder. This had been the guy from Vanessa's memories, and with their similar features, I had no doubt he was her dad. So why had she said she didn't know her father?

"Very well done, both of you," the man said, his icy blue eyes scanning over all of us, then resting first on Owen and then on Vanessa.

His meaning sunk into my brain and then branded my soul. Both of you? I'd been right? Vanessa had been playing me all along? Even now ... all of this had been an act? Although I'd suspected it-even expected it-the betrayal of both Owen and Vanessa slammed into me with the impact of a city bus. I inhaled sharply and my lungs trapped the air inside. My heart stuttered, shrank, became a rock in my chest.

I was never getting out of here.

"Thank you, too, Kali," the man said, waving my dagger in the air as he eyed the sorceress. "I appreciate this gift. You can go now. And take your minion. That is, if he wants to go. Maybe he wants to stay here with us?"

Those ice-blue eyes locked on Owen's now. The warlock shook his head and moved to Kali's side. At this point, I was no longer surprised. My protector had tried to kill me, after all. The bruises on my neck still throbbed.

"You're dismissed." The man sneered at Kali, as if she dared to remain any longer. "Go on! You have work to do."

And the frightening sorceress-the one who had nearly drained the entire Amadis Island of all its energy, who now controlled my husband-almost seemed to cower beneath this man. Who was he, that he could frighten even Kali? With a flourish of her hand and a breeze that lifted the hair off my neck, the two mages disappeared, leaving Vanessa and me alone with the man. Oh yeah, and with the silent Weres standing on guard.

"So what do we do now?" the man asked.

Vanessa swallowed noisily, and for the first time in, well, ever, I felt fear rolling off her body. But what was she so afraid of? She'd done her job, as far as I could tell.

"Vanessa, you of all people ought to know that you can't take something from me without giving in return," he said.

Vanessa pulled up her shoulders and lifted her chin. "We've taken nothing."

He snarled at her. "I'm not a fool, child! I know what you came for!"

Vanessa swallowed again. "But we don't have the pendant. They took it back. Besides, it belongs to her. What had you given her in return when you took it?"

My mind spun. What was Vanessa doing? Whose side was she on?

"Her life," he said. "And, apparently, yours."

"Well, then, since she doesn't get the pendant, let her keep her life. In return," Vanessa took a step forward, "you can have me back. Father."

The man made a sound that I might have called a snort if anyone else had made it, but he wasn't the snorting type.

"Father?" he asked as if he didn't believe she'd had the gall to call him that. "We're going to do this again?"

"I know it for a fact now. You can't deny it anymore." She took another step forward, anger overpowering the fear she'd felt moments ago, giving her confidence. Her voice came out as icy as his. "I was never good enough for you, was I? Victor was. Your oh-so-precious Victor. But not me. You were too embarra.s.sed to call me your daughter so you denied us both. And then you made me into this. This monster that I am."

"I did it for your own good. I saved your life."

"No, you didn't. You took everything away from me. Everything! I wanted a family. A life. And you took it! Just like you took my mother's!" Tears streamed down Vanessa's face, and I actually felt sorry for her. She surely hated each traitorous drop. And at that moment, I knew she hated him, too, and the Daemoni. That she truly had converted. That she hadn't set me up, and I could trust her.

The man smirked. "This is exactly why I did it. To make you strong. Invincible. But you're still so pathetic, it's disgusting."

It took every ounce of control I had to keep from getting involved. This wasn't my fight. Not this part. This was between Vanessa and her fa- No, not father. That was no father standing before us. He was no better than my own sperm donor. But what did I expect from the Daemoni?

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down his nose at her. Ice dripped from every word. "What has finally convinced you? What makes you so sure you're even right?"

Vanessa jerked her head in my direction. "Her. The one you did always want."

My heart jumped again. She was bringing me into this after all. But why? What did I have to do with them and their dysfunctional relationship?

Vanessa smirked at the man's narrowed eyes as her tongue ran over the tip of a fang. "Her blood tastes very much like someone else's I've had. So much, that there must be a close relation. Closer than cousins. It tastes like Victor's. Like mine. And we know Sophia's not our mother, so the tie must come from you. Am I right, Father?" She practically spit that last word out. "Or, I guess you prefer I still call you Lucas."

My heart leapt into my throat. I felt like I had when Mom had first told me about him. As if I'd been punched in the stomach. How had I not considered that I'd come face-to-face with him while we were here? How had that not crossed my mind? And here he stood in the flesh.

Lucas. My infamous sperm donor.

Chapter 26.

"Watch it, or it'll be Mr. Emerson to you," Lucas snapped at Vanessa, dropping another bombsh.e.l.l.

So not just Lucas, but Lucas Emerson! As in A.K. Emerson. Rina had given my author's pen name after him. Why? But even more jarring-if Lucas, my sperm donor, was also Vanessa's father, that meant she ... Whoa. I couldn't process it all. My mind was in too much shock. I stood there stupidly, eyes wide and mouth open, no words forming in my muddled brain.

Lucas's mouth stretched into a grin as he drank in my expression. My jaw must have been hanging at my knees. I snapped it close.

"Welcome home, my daughter," he said as he acknowledged me for the first time with a tone that became suddenly warm and inviting. "I hope you plan to stay."

I took a step backwards, swallowed down my heart and croaked, "Never."

"Ah, that's a shame. I hoped for a different answer. But I guess you are your mother's daughter, aren't you? How is that c.u.n.t, anyway? She probably thought it funny to rub your books in my face by using the surname I so frequently go by. Just made me proud to be your father."

A small noise sounded in my throat as I tried not to gag. Lucas smirked again at my reaction. Jabbing b.u.t.tons. He's just trying to get to you. I tried to control the anger clawing at my chest.

He shook his head when I didn't answer. "I guess it's not the time for a grand reunion. So let me make this clear." He stepped toward me, his icy blue eyes piercing into my soul. His warm, b.u.t.tery voice became glacially cold. "You take something from me, I take something in return. It's only fair."

"As if you believe in fairness," I whispered.

"Oh, now, see, you don't even know me. I do believe in fairness. At least, when it's in my favor." He chuckled at his joke. "And this works in all of our favors, don't you think? You get Vanessa and I get something I want. Win-win! Isn't that what your generation calls it?"

"What do you want?" I asked, stalling for time to try to figure out how we were going to get out of here alive. Never had I wished so vehemently that I knew the best solution.

"My daughter of course."

"Then take me," Vanessa said. "I'll stay. Let her go."

Vanessa, no! I knew she really didn't want this. She was doing it for me. Vanessa, my once sworn enemy, was trying to save me.

"He'll never let us out alive. I have to try!"

Lucas eyed her, as if considering. Then he waved his hand at her, and she flew backwards, her back cracking against the earthen wall. He burst into laughter as her body slid to the floor. My heart hurt with the sound of his frigid guffaws, but not nearly as much as Vanessa's must have.

"You're not what I want!" he barked. "You're right-you were never good enough. And definitely aren't now." He turned back to me. "I want the daughter that actually matters. You stay, Alexis, and Vanessa can go, and I'll even let her take the stone with her. Seth will be free of us. He'll be safe and so will the Amadis."

My head moved side to side with each promise I knew he'd break. Lies. Deceit. Their most powerful weapon.

"You wouldn't do that for your people? Your husband? Your sister?" And, man, did he know how to use that weapon. "How about my grandson, then?"

"Never!" I seethed.

"I'll eventually get Dorian anyway, though. He'll be, what-nine?-next month? I'll be getting him soon, so why delay the inevitable? It'd be such a great trade for you."

The anger boiled over at the sound of my son's name coming from his wretched mouth. Just that he knew my son well enough to know his age and birth date made me sick. My body moved on its own until I stood nose-to-chest to Lucas. I glared up at him.

"You lay a hand on my son and I'll f.u.c.king kill you."

He laughed, the sound of an iceberg breaking apart. "Beautifully said. I'll have you on my side one of these days, my daughter. It's only a matter of time." His eyes flicked over to Vanessa and then to me as he combed the tip of my dagger through his goatee. "Here's what I'll do. I'll let you go as long as you take that traitorous wh.o.r.e with you. If you can get out of here alive, you're free."

What? I eyed him with suspicion. "You're letting us go? Just like that?"

"Well, no, not just like that," he said, mimicking my voice. He narrowed his eyes at me. "But I can't keep you here. Not against your will and not alive. Otherwise, Dorian might get it in his head to come rescue his mummy. And that would break the curse and ruin all of my plans for you and your little family." He leaned toward me. "I need him to come to me on my terms, not as a self-sacrifice."

"If he's letting us go, we gotta get out of here!" Vanessa shrieked in my mind.

Lucas snapped his fingers and the Weres-five burly men and a woman with black hair down to her knees-instantly stood next to him. The woman gave me a surly grin.

"Let's see what you're made of. I'll even give you a head start before I set Rene, here, after you." Lucas nodded at the woman and then the others. All of them burst out of their skins, were-goo flying, replaced by five werewolves and a cheetah. He petted the cheetah's head, and she let out a growl.