Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(42)

“Grab her! I need her!” the White Mage screamed.

I dodged a green vine groping into the room and threw another blast of red toward three vicious looking guys running at me with determination. I hit an ugly couch.

Boom!

The couch shot airborne in the blast, two chairs went sideways. The three men got swept up in a breeze like Mary Poppins. Above them, the ceiling made ominous creaking noises, dirt starting to drizzle.

Another blast rocked the room, only this time, it came from above, where Stefan was. He was trying to get down to us.

“Hurry Stefan,” I pleaded, dodging a jet of pure white.

“Get her!” the White Mage screamed again. “We’ve got to get out of here before this place caves!”

Butt tingle.

I turned to my right just as a monster with bear claws burst through the only exit I could see. It narrowly missed me, and now I had to sprint back into the room, the putrid smell of rot following me. That warning butt pucker had me trying to turn left, but there were more people that way. Huge men with glowing swords had me surrounded, trying to corner the human.

My insides screamed to run just as a glowing white box surrounded me. I swore, tears in my eyes. I didn’t know how to get out.

Andris strode toward me as white bands wrapped around my middle.

“She’s strong, but she doesn’t know her craft!” Trek said, running toward the door. “Keep her confined and bring her with me.”

Another explosion sounded above. A massive groan splintered the ceiling. Dirt and debris rained down. Popping and cracks sounded off before a giant chunk of ceiling fell, landing right in front of Trek, making him dive out of the way.

Andris stopped right next to me, staring wide-eyed at the crumbling ceiling.

A man jumped through, narrowly dodging falling objects. He hit the ground and rolled to the side. Blood spilling down his muscle toned arms, strength and brawn tempered with a fluid grace of a swordsmen rose, his eyes like liquid magma as his gaze swept the area. My spine tingled, recognizing that rage and the wrath that would soon follow. Stefan had arrived.

He stepped forward, away from tumbling debris and jumping or falling bodies, meeting two men head on, his tattoos a whitish gold, his sword moving so fast, it looked like a flashlight in a horror movie.

“Bring the girl!” Trek screamed, on his feet and running, Dulcha pouring into the room.

Stefan cleaved someone in half, his sword making short work of the second, desperately trying to get to me. Andris squared his body, anticipating the fight with Stefan and unable to turn away from it.

“Don’t fight—grab her!” the coward in the white cape screamed as he stood within the doorway, power gathering to him, rolling and boiling.

“Sasha, you have to fight his advance,” Stefan said a calm voice crusted with ice. “Suck the power in the room to you. Suck it all in. Close your eyes and draw. I’ll balance you through our blood link.”

I closed my eyes and did as instructed. My chest got warm immediately, so much magic raging around me.

“It’ll kill me to take that much, Stefan!” I cried, fear eating away at me as the building around us started to groan again. The holes from the plants weakened the foundation and the blasts from within and above shaking the place down. Compared to Trek, I was an amateur.

“I’ll temper it, love. I’ll help.” Stefan flung a man out of his way, rending and tearing, meeting a monster with a whirling blade, his eyes now on Andris, the only thing standing in his way.

Besides Trek’s magic.

My gaze swept to the caped moron, his face a scary grimace of lethal concentration. His hands braced to the side of him like claws, the magic around his body building. I swung my gaze back to Stefan as he fought his way to me, unconcerned about the magic headed his way, and just trying to get me within his protective embrace.

“Here goes,” I whispered.

I closed my eyes again, feeling the elements, feeling the current as it sucked toward Trek like undertow. The feeling slipped through my fingers like water in a stream, tickling my skin. My chest burned now, then my limbs, my power calling to that sweet essence.

I felt the box around me, visibly seeing, in my mind’s eye, the weaves and knots that created it. I picked it apart like a sewing stitch, watching it unravel and fall away. I drew in more power, now feeling like insects crawling on my skin. Pure black power level, now, darker than night, sucking in light and turning it into energy. Still the power gathered near Trek.

“Reach for him now,” I heard. Stefan’s voice seemed so far away.

Floating on a distant breeze of magic, eddies and torrents separating the distance between the two of us. Except, I felt him within—loving support, bracing me to the here-and-now. Keeping me firmly rooted.

I did as Stefan said, reaching, feeling the lesser power levels around me, and shooing them away like fruit flies. I found that boiling collection of magic an instant before it released, and put up a shield.

His power blasted into mine, two solid things colliding like rams in a mating dance. The sound thundered, shaking the building, knocking everyone off their feet. Except for me and Trek.

His eyes burned into mine, not working the elements, just sucking them in and throwing them at me. Dumb move, because that was about all I could do, too. I dug in my feet magically and pushed, as hard as I could, the swirling magic of his attack spell inching back toward him.