King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)(45)
He chuckled. “Vampire, sweetheart. Don’t forget it.”
King Fergus hushed us as King Venclaire and King Kincaid glanced over their shoulders, regarding Ezra and me strangely, their eyes darting back and forth between the two of us.
Finally, Ezra muttered, “What? What did we do now?”
Neither answered, glancing at each other, then turned their attention to the screen where we were almost on the camera — you could actually hear us laughing — and apparently, that was when Ezra put on his real speed.
My jaw fell open when I saw him disappear because, at the time, I had thought he was always behind me but, now, I watched as he reappeared off to the side about twenty yards ahead on the beach, watching me for a beat, his arms crossed and a wicked grin on his face before he disappeared again, then reappeared directly behind me.
“Damn,” Jack mumbled. “That was cool.”
Ezra shrugged.
The footage showed Ezra picking me up, which was embarrassing because I was shrieking like a girl, the camera catching Ezra laughing as he turned three times in a fast circle before he chucked me into the ocean. Yeah, with me screeching the whole way.
I groaned.
King Kincaid cleared his throat, which sounded suspiciously like covered amusement, and tilted toward King Nelson, muttering, “I might have to try that technique.”
Pearl and Jack snickered but, after a quick glare from me, they both shut up.
Onscreen, the wind carried Ezra’s deep, booming laugh as I came out of the ocean water looking like a drowned rat, the camera zooming in on me — charming — and showing me grumbling under my breath until I stopped in the surf, nostrils flaring.
Holy shit. I had no clue I could look like that. Gone was the carefree, sweet young woman. In her place was a predator that would have scared me if it hadn’t been…well, me.
The room went silent, seeing what I was.
Watching the scene unfold on the flat screen, I saw my eyes flash blue and my head fall back, the breeze picking up my melodious, urgent howl to perfection.
All the Kings went outwardly rigid at the sound, also knowing what it was.
The shot zoomed out, catching me leaping through the air to Ezra’s side. It only looked mildly impressive to me, but to a Com it probably seemed as if I had strings attached to my body I flew so high and for so long. And yeah, thank God for those little blurry boxes they put on nude body parts because the camera zoomed in as I started stripping. The recording caught Ezra and me arguing, though not our quieter words, and then you heard the first gunshot even as our guards were rushing to us from the sidelines.
I heard a deep grunt from the person filming when I shifted, letting me know the person taping us was male, and the video showed our mad dash back down the beach. I saw three guards go down — they were dead — then we disappeared from view behind the bend where the guy couldn’t film us. Although, he did film the Coms rushing across the beach with their guns drawn.
By this time, the Kings were cursing obscenities at the TV screen, a few phrases I didn’t think them capable of, as Antonio took a step forward, watching the screen intently with a look of study on his face.
Footage still rolling, it pictured us as we came back around the curve of the beach, or, at least, as a wall of blue water did. The speakers thundered with all the gunfire erupting. The man recording it panted heavily and the picture moved. Seemingly, the man debated running, but the image steadied, and so did his breathing, as a stream of golden light erupted from the top of the wall of blue water.
The man caught everything on video. The guns being lifted and firing on their owners. The wall of water dropping, me shooting, Jack drowning his victims, Ezra’s blood bath, and the men flying into the air only to fall to their deaths. Then the wall of water shooting back up, and our guards attacking when our assailants fired on us again. Disgustingly, the footage kept rolling even as the Coms charged the water-wall. Over the speakers, all you could hear were their screams, the image vivid as blood flew. The camera zoomed in as the wall of water went down. The image caught Jack, Pearl, and Ezra swiftly killing their assailants, and then swung to me being plowed into.
King Kincaid cursed, and then froze, eyes on the screen as the Com’s gun was drawn.
The footage indicated my friends had been rushing to help me, but the recording also caught me twisting the guy around so I was on top, missing getting shot, with the picture zooming in right as I put my elbow into the Com’s head.
King Kincaid’s fists shot in the air.
The picture scanned the beach, showing the dead, before it cut off, going blank.
The anchor woman was shown once more, and she cleared her throat, her eyes considerably panicked as she said rapidly, “We, here at KLGM, would like to express to Ms. Ruckler, Mr. Zeller, Ms. Cooper, and Mr. Collins how deeply disturbed we are by this Com extremist group’s activities. It is an atrocity, a truly heinous act. Their beliefs and conduct are not shared by anyone here at KLGM.”
Antonio shut the TV off.
As one, all five turned to view us.
As if it hadn’t been bad enough before, with all of them knowing what we had done in the first place — the authorities, both Mys and Com, had been called to the scene, probably by the guy with the camera — but now it was in live-and-living color worldwide.
It was safe to say we were in even more trouble.
King Fergus peered down the line of Kings. “House arrest, unless they’re with each other at a King’s house or school, until Graduation sound about right?”