Torment (Soul Savers Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

cover the entire island, I gave the all clear. We
popped outside, and my stomach sank at the sight.
    In contrast to the
stunning sunset on the water, the destruction was heartrending.
    The main street from
the council hall to the pier at the other end housed the business
district. Most of the village’s suppliers of goods and services
lined the cobblestone street, and those buildings closest to shore
had been completely annihilated—the only supplier of mage
reagents on the island, the Blood Bank where we donated blood for our
vamps, and one of the three pubs. Other structures, like the
blacksmith shop, had suffered major damage. Several homes had also,
and two were destroyed altogether.
    We had three fatalities
on the island, and I supposed we were lucky with such a small number,
but my heart shrank at more losses and more funerals. Dozens of
people had been injured, several badly. Fortunately, most of them
could heal themselves, and the mages who couldn’t drank a
healing potion made from vampire blood. It wasn’t perfect and
didn’t completely eliminate their pain, but it helped speed the
healing process.
    Owen, Charlotte, and
the rest of the mages did their best to put homes and businesses back
together, but some parts had been completely disintegrated or burnt
to ashes and others damaged beyond repair, returning none of the
structures to how they’d been before the attack. We had to make
the decision to destroy two more business buildings and three
homes—one of them Char’s—because they weren’t
safe for anyone to be near. She’d been able to retrieve some of
her belongings, but most everything she’d owned had been
destroyed by fire from the bombs.
    As everyone came
together to help each other, I fielded calls from around the world.
The Amadis had lost hundreds of people. The Daemoni had flattened
entire villages. Each casualty report felt like a punch to my
stomach, leaving me breathless and my body trembling.
    Not until the quiet
hours between midnight and dawn were we able to return to the
matriarch’s mansion to assess the damage there. My stomach
knotted itself once we decided our people were taken care of and we
could go. I feared the extent of the destruction of the beautiful
marble and stone structure that had been here for millennia. We
didn’t know its true age because it had already been standing
when Cassandra found it over two thousand years ago, as if waiting
for her discovery. If Charlotte’s house hadn’t just been
demolished, I would have suggested we stayed there for the night so
we could see the bad news in the light of morning. Not that the
darkness would affect our vision. It just seemed that the sight we
would see would be more dreadful in the night.
    My breath caught when
we appeared in front of it.
     
     

Chapter 3
     
    “Wow,” I
breathed. “It’s completely fine.”
    At least, the
matriarch’s mansion appeared to be intact and unharmed
from the outside. Several ancient cypress trees had been destroyed
around the building, huge craters were left in the ground right next
to the foundation, and bomb shrapnel was scattered over the earth.
The nearby training gym had been obliterated to no more than a pile
of broken stone. But the mansion itself stood in all its splendor,
entirely unscathed.
    “It’s
protected by the Angels,” Ophelia said matter-of-factly. The
centuries-old witch had just appeared right next to me, startling me.
She gave me a smile, her face crinkling under the deep creases lining
her skin, and then she bustled inside, ready to get back to work. If
the children in the village hadn’t needed her care and cooking
so badly, she likely would have been here hours ago. Once she
disappeared into the dark foyer, her voice carried out to us. “Oh,
dear.”
    Since everyone on my
team except Char had been staying at the mansion, they’d all
come back with Tristan, Dorian, and me. Char did, too. She obviously
needed a place to stay now. We hurried inside after