Chapter Twenty-Four
Alexandra
“Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against natural instinct to pay back evil with evil.”
- Pope John Paul II
We planned everything down to a science, and we cleared Antigua and Bermuda with no casualties on our side.
Xander changed our original neutralization and elimination team of Luka, Drako, Tristan, Xander, and me. With the increased threat of Adam’s minions, Xander thought that St. Petersburg was most probably the biggest target. Luka and Tristan had to remain in St. Petersburg to help protect the family.
“And you want to replace Tristan and me with a child?! My child?!” Luka had been livid.
“Yes.” Xander had been undaunted and unapologetic.
“No fuckin’ way!”
“It is the only way that we can do this without alerting Adam as to the location of each family member.” Xander remained unmoved by Luka’s rage.
“Not happening.” Luka’s voice had been dark with rage.
“Nothing will happen to me, Dad. I am built for this! I trained for this!” Apollo had puffed out his little chest with the pure arrogance of a Petrov male.
“No!” Luka said emphatically.
“Perhaps you can find another way.” Luna had been a little gentler in her fear for her son.
“I won’t let anything happen to him.” The cool assurance in Xander’s voice had some of the adults looking at him with scepticism.
Reading some thoughts spilling out, I quickly slammed up my shield, not only to protect myself from the chaotic thoughts around me but also to respect my new family’s privacy. Either way, I still got pissed on Xander’s behalf at the unfair assumptions that everyone had been making.
“He is so cold that he thinks nothing about putting my son in mortal danger.”That was from Luna.
“By God, how could Xander risk one of the kids?”Danika had hugged her son closer, relieved that Xander hadn’t asked for Drago.
“Why is he such a cold bastard?”Luka was incensed.
“While you are arguing about this, people are dying.” Xander still had no emotion in his voice. “I can heal people who are sick, but I can’t raise anyone from the dead.”
“I will also ensure Apollo’s safety,” Drako said quietly. Up until then, he had been fairly quiet. “As Xander said, we don’t have time to debate this. Xander’s plan is sound and should provide minimum risk to all of us.”
“It is not your child being dragged into combat!” Luka growled.
“No one is asking Apollo to fight,” Drako muttered. “I don’t hear any objection to Xandra participating on the team.”
“Xandra is an adult dhampir, as indestructible as we are.” Luka’s rage didn’t dim even by a little. “She has proven that she is stronger than Malachi. Xandra can hurl toxic or paralyzing magick and has telekinetic powers as a witch. She has also told us what she can do as a demon.”
“And are you forgetting that Alexandra is pregnant?” Drako asked derisively. “Visibly, blatantly pregnant. Where is your consideration of Xander’s kid being drawn into battle?”
The argument was over after that. Luka had the grace to look slightly embarrassed and even tried to apologize to me, but I was more of the forgive-but-don’t-forget kind of person. So, I gave him a stiff nod, but my eyes bled to black.
I think he got the message. Nobody is allowed to fuck with my mate.
“I need a favor, Papa,” Xander said as we were preparing to leave.
I was shocked that, within thirty minutes, Alexi performed a quick, but incredibly solemn Catholic wedding ceremony for Xander and me, complete with the traditional Catholic blessing and Xander’s gifting of an emerald-cut diamond and double eternity band ring.
Xander had been determined that we officially legalize our relationship before going into battle. He wanted me and the baby taken care of in case something happened to him.
I didn’t have time to process what this meant or how I really felt about not even being asked. I knew I loved him, and if this gave him some peace before going into danger, I would do anything to ensure he remained safe. It wasn’t as if I would ever marry anyone else anyway.
Xander’s plan worked with perfect synchronization.
Drako teleported us first to Antigua. It was bad. Malachi’s mist was over the entire island. The mist’s repugnant scent wasn’t just offensive to the nostrils; it was toxic. Hundreds had already died and hundreds more were hospitalized.
The over two dozen immortals lying in wait for us never saw us coming. Apollo kept us shielded and invisible to everyone on the island, including the immortals.
In the few seconds, we were able to observe the immortals. It was clear that they were aware of our presence, even though they couldn’t see us. They wore white hazmat suits, along with the medical personnel from the WHO. Given that it was in the middle of the day in stark sunlight, the hazmat suits were a brilliant idea for them. Not only did the suits protect them from the deadly mist but they also protected them from the sun.
That was the main reason Xander had created our team of dhampirs. The sun wasn’t deadly for us. I smiled because Xander made us all dress in dark hunter-green fatigues with matching gas masks. It was a shame that no one could see us because we looked damn good. Lethal, but fashion badasses.
As planned, Xander froze time. He transferred the illnesses of humans who were closest to death to the immortals. He unfroze time, and we watched as they dropped where they stood. Their bodies were too weak with illness, and they struggled to breathe.
“Removere tegumen,” I chanted three times. The Latin words and spell came naturally from my memory. My grandmother had taught me well.
The hazmat suits disappeared from their bodies, and they immediately vaporized into dust.
Xander gave me a warm regard of respect at my resourceful use of the sun as a weapon. It hadn’t been something we discussed beforehand.
I loved that he was confident enough in his own skin to not be threatened by a strong woman. He was so perfect for me.
After that, it was nothing for Drako and me to use our telekinetic power to push the mist off the island and over the Atlantic Ocean until it dissipated. It was the same thing we did with the mist in Russia. We pushed the toxic mist into the Baltic Sea before we left Russia. We made sure that our family could breathe the air in St. Petersburg before we left.
Xander took another hour to visit every healthcare location in Antigua and healed everyone ill that we could within that time.
Antigua was reasonably restored within the hour and a half we had carved out for each location, if our plan was going to work. It was imperative that we worked during the day, as all three locations on this side of the world were in the same time zone. We again used the sunlight as a weapon, and it also reduced the opportunity of Adam’s team sending a warning about our presence since they were all immediately dusted.
We teleported to Bermuda, where we implemented the same plan.
We were about to teleport to New York when Alexi telepathically informed us that Adam’s army had arrived on the perimeter of the castle grounds.
New York would have to wait. We were sorry for the human lives that would be lost, but if Adam won this war, even more humans would be killed in the future.
We teleported back to the castle, and although Alexi had warned us, the sea of immortal soldiers flanking Adam, Sophia, Nickolai, Cedric, and Malachi was simply stunning. The soldiers each wore a uniform—liquid black leather pants and fitted jackets with a face mask that covered their nose and mouth. They looked lethal and robotic. Their uniformity in size and shape also gave us pause. Where would Adam have found so many immortals all over six and a half feet tall with massive bodies. Yeah, there was nothing natural about Adam’s army.
The size of the army extended several miles deep. Certainly, four or five times bigger than our training field.
We moved into our predetermined teams that Xander had formulated. The human mates and relatives, the babies, Meredith and the other concubines, and the castle staff had already been safely teleported to a private island off Fiji while our team had been in Antigua and Bermuda. Cyrus and Samson, two of the elite wolves were with Luna and Danika. We had anticipated the attack on the castle even then.
With the Neva River forming most of the backyard of the castle, our teams would concentrate on our attackers over the vast plains in front of the castle.
Alexi, Zora, Luka, and four elite wolf bodyguards would fight together, with Zora providing a protective shield if needed.
Drako, Drago, Owen, and four elite wolf guards would defend together, and Drago would create the protective shield.
Xander, Tristan, Apollo, and I, along with the remaining two elite wolf guards, would form the last team, and Apollo would shield.
We stood behind Alexi as he addressed Adam and his assembly.