The tension was so strong that I expected my fists to begin boiling the water around me. Hell, I almost expected it from everyone. Somehow, I managed to keep my body in check—probably the knowledge that one misstep and I’d watch my best friend die in front of my eyes.
I hadn’t thought there could be anything worse than knowing what had happened to Sonia when she died, but seeing this happen would prove me wrong. All because the bitch queen was insulted we thought a vampire could best her. Having been on the receiving end of what vampires have to offer, my money wouldn’t have been on the queen.
Therin’s words were so quiet it was almost as if I was making them up in my own mind.“Truly, Queen of the Volitan. We mean no slight to you or your tribe. We only seek knowledge and anything that may help return our people to safety.”
After another tremulous eternity in silence, I saw us—Lelas, Nalu, Therin, and I—swimming away from the kelp forest. Wrell was nowhere to be seen.
At the vision, Lelas’s head jerked up. Even from my limited view of her face, I could make out the incredulous expression she gave the queen.“None of us came here to offend the Volitan. Least of all Wrell.”
The queen repeated the vision and shoved the sense of finality over us.
Beside me, Therin moved as if to gesture toward the queen, but Wrell cut him off with an image of us swimming away, him floating beside the queen.
The queen shoved another vision over his, replaying the departure of Wrell’s last interaction with the Volitan. Though there were no words, it was clear she was referring to her proclamation that he never return. There were consequences to be paid.
Wrell let his spears fall beside him and replied with another repeat of him remaining with the queen while the rest of us exited the scene. As he did, he started forward toward Lelas and the queen, his quills finally flat against his body. He made it obvious he was complying with her demands.
Terror encompassed me, watching him move toward Lelas and the queen. How long would they let him live? Would we even get out of the kelp forest before they fell all over him?
Though I didn’t notice any gesture from the queen, one of the Volitan males broke ranks from directly behind her. He could have been Wrell’s twin, with his massive tattooed form and shaved head. He darted as fast as a speedboat in Wrell’s direction, his long body as sleek as the spear that sliced a path before him.
They were all too close, Wrell, the approaching Volitan, Lelas. On instinct my hands rose, and I shoved with all my strength at the water. As when the shark had descended on Lelas, twin spirals cut through the dark space between us.
The growing funnels hit the Volitan square in his side. I had no way to tell if the snapping sound that accompanied the impact was his spear or his spine. He careened through the water, my power pushing him farther from Wrell. He’d been close enough to Lelas and the queen that, as his body cut between them, his spear sliced into Lelas and blood instantly bloomed around her. The currents from my jets of water pushed at both Lelas and the queen, flinging them apart—the queen pushed back toward her warriors, Lelas crashing into Wrell, knocking him aside.
The next few events took no more than thirty seconds total, but the slow-motion effects were burned into my memory.
From somewhere in the horde of Volitans, a cluster of spears shot toward me. At the same time, Nalu tore off in a blur toward Lelas’s bleeding form.
I started to raise my hands to use the water to thrust the oncoming spears from me. In the millisecond it took to realize I wasn’t going to be able to redirect my power that quickly, the spears buried themselves in a dark blur that appeared in front of me.
The force of their impact made the body whip around, an arm smashing against my chest at the movement. Through the plumes of blackish blood, Wrell’s face plunged toward my own, the end of one of the stone spears protruding from the collapsed section of his skull above his right eyebrow.
I screamed his name out loud, bubbles bursting from my mouth, blocking his face from view. I grasped at his body as the force shoved him past me. One of the points of other spears that riddled his body cut through my skin as he rocketed past.
Before I could attempt to reach out to stop his body’s trajectory, another detonation of dark blood drew my attention. Only a few feet from where Lelas was regaining her equilibrium, a forest of spears secured Nalu’s body to the sand.
The horror narrowed my vision to one of the spears that had sunk through Nalu’s outstretched hand.
Turning back toward the Volitans, jets of water spewed forth, creating a blast that struck the Volitan warriors. Those at the pinnacle of the wall received the worst of the whiplash, their bodies nothing more than rags caught in a hurricane. More blood bloomed as their forms bashed into each other in the torrent.
“Brett!”Therin’s panicked screaming in my head was the only thing that pulled me back to the moment. Turning my attention in his direction, I saw Therin, his blade raised in aggression, blocking Lelas from a small cluster of Volitan that had escaped my shock wave. Behind him, Lelas dragged herself over the sand to Nalu, reaching out to clasp his hand, which had been stretched out to her in death.
Even as I watched, a spear sliced through Therin’s tail, driving him backward. Still another shot past him and plunged into Nalu. His body jerked at the impact.
Water poured forth once more, gushing from me with the strength of a hurricane, and again the Volitans lost control and flew back into the flattened kelp behind them.
“Brett!”Therin motioned in front of him, past where I was looking. Turning, I saw Volitans swimming back toward us. I raised my hands, ready to send them back again.
“Brett, no! Help me with Lelas!”
I turned back to him, his form already curved over her tiny figure as he tried to pull her away from the body of her mate.
Bringing my attention back to the Volitan, water shot forth and shoved the closest away once more.
“No, Brett. Not like that. We must save Lelas!”
His words finally broke through, and I pushed off the sand and closed the distance between us in less than a second.
