Power (Soul Savers) by Kristie Cook Page A

blade slid between his ribs. He let out an
ear-piercing scream then disappeared. The blonde began to turn a sickly gray,
purple smoke rising from her skin, when something knocked my arm, breaking the
current.
    “That’s enough, Lex,” Tristan murmured. “You can’t kill
her.”
    The blonde flashed out of sight as my arm fell to my side.
All of the others had disappeared, too, except for Sonya and a tall guy with a
dark crew-cut, both of whom stood across the lane of cars from us.
    “Go on,” Sonya said to the guy, nodding her head toward the
road.
    “Sonya—” he said, and the tone of his voice sounded as
though he had some kind of authority.
    “I need … to do this. Please,” she said. They eyed each
other for a long moment and something seemed to pass between them, some kind of
unspoken message. He disappeared before I had the thought to maybe “hear” what
they were thinking.
    Having some faith Sonya wouldn’t attack us on her own, I
dropped to my knees next to Heather and pressed my fingers to her neck. Her
pulse came nice and strong. She must have hit her head when she was thrown,
though.
    “Is she okay?” Sonya asked.
    “I think so,” I said.
    Sonya crossed the lane and stopped abruptly with a gasp as
she took in her sister’s condition.
    “Oh, my God. What have I done?” She fell to her knees,
scooped Heather’s unconscious body into her arms, and rocked the girl as she
sobbed. “Heather, I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t be here. What have I—” She
stopped suddenly, as if frozen. The next instant, Heather was on the ground
again, and Sonya stood on her feet, staring at her sister with horror in her
eyes, her hand clamped over her nose and mouth. “The blood. The blood . Oh, God, don’t let me …”
    My eyes darted to Tristan to silently ask for a little help
with the vampire, but his expression stopped me. He appeared to be waging some
kind of internal battle. Tristan! He
snapped out of it and looked at me with dark eyes. Help Heather. He stared for a confused moment, then finally gave a
slight nod and moved to the younger girl’s side.
    “Sonya,” I said, slowly rising to my feet and moving toward
the vamp, one hand out in precaution, the other on the hilt of my dagger. “Be
strong. You don’t want to hurt her, right?”
    She stared at me with wide eyes, the same blue as her
sister’s, and shook her head.
    “No, don’t let me,” she whispered behind her hand. Then her
eyes changed, glowing bright red as her worried expression morphed into anger.
Her voice was no longer a whisper, but full of venom, stopping me in my tracks.
“How could you do this? How could you
bring her here? It’s too dangerous!”
    “ I brought them here,” said a hoarse voice at our
feet, and we both looked down at Heather, still cradled in Tristan’s arms. He’d
healed the cut on her cheek.
    “How could you be so stupid?” Sonya demanded. “I told you to
stay away from me. You have no idea the monster I’ve become!”
    And if I hadn’t already believed it, I knew right then her
soul could be saved. After all, you don’t worry about someone’s safety if you
don’t give a rat’s ass about them. She still cared. No, more than that. She
still loved .
    “ Help her ,”
not-Cassandra whispered.
    “Sonya,” I said, taking another step closer to her and
slowly reaching my hand out for her arm. She hissed at me and her fangs slid out,
but I refused to back off. “I do know
what you think you are. But you’re wrong. I sense good in you.”
    “Don’t touch me!” she snapped, shrinking away from my hand.
She’d apparently been warned about my electrical touch or about the pain of the
Amadis power. Probably both. “ You did
this. It’s all your fault!”
    I cringed at the accusation, but nodded. “I know. I accept
that. But I want to make it better. You know I can, right? You know I can help
you?”
    She shook her head violently, and her dark hair stuck to the
tears running down her cheek,