Wrath of Wind

by Kat Adams

  “You still have so much to learn about our powers.” He shook his head, tsking and sending his shaggy blond hair swinging. “I didn’t teleport you here. You did.”

  I dropped my jaw and quickly recovered by sucking in a quick breath. “Why would I teleport me here, then?”

  “Because you missed me.”

  I hit him with a fireball, knocking him back and singeing the material of his shirt. “I didn’t miss you at all. I have pretty good aim.”

  “But no good sense.” He fired back, slamming me with a wave of air so strong, I flew back several feet. When I landed, twisting my wrist wrong, I clenched my teeth against the pain. Son of a nasty ass. I had to stop using my hands to break my falls.

  “Have I taught you nothing?” He walked around me like an animal stalking its prey. It was menacing and had me completely freaked out. This was a side of him I’d never seen and definitely didn’t like. He was the most powerful quad I’d ever met, far more powerful than Alec, and I’d barely survived that man’s attack. I’d never survive Spencer’s.

  “No.” I rose to my feet and faced him. If I was destined to die, I’d go out on my terms, not his. “You haven’t.”

  “Oh, come now. You can’t mean that.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  He chuckled, the sound echoing through the warehouse and disappearing into the shadows. “You’ve built up quite the fan club since arriving in our world. Me. Alec. Jules. Let’s not forget your previous and current dormmates, Vanessa and Jess, respectively.”

  He counted them off on his fingers before stopping the creepy sidestepping and flashing a brilliant smile seeping with cruel intentions. I braced myself to teleport out. This was not going to turn out well for me. “Trevor.”

  “Trevor?” The name surprised me. That kid was president of my elemental fan club. No way did he hate me.

  “Hi, Katy.” The small blond with the giant owlish glasses came out of the shadows, his pale boyish face covered in dirt, streaks of dried tears on his little cheeks, his eyes wide. He wasn’t smiling this time. Warehouse grime covered his gray slacks and green blazer. I knew he hadn’t been here long, which meant whatever they’d done to him, they’d done recently.

  “Trevor?” I couldn’t teleport out now and leave the poor kid to the likes of Spencer and the one who’d just stepped out of the shadows behind Trevor to join the party. I never thought I’d have to face Alec von Leer’s sneering ass ever again. That stringy black hair curtaining his long face, dead eyes even darker than his hair, a scar carved down his right cheek. His black leather duster had enough grit stuck to it to turn it gray. Same with his dark shirt and jeans. Even his heavy boots matched the color of the warehouse floor. This must be where he’d been living since presumed dead.

  His appearance was a drastic contrast to the man next to him. His shaggy blond hair looked no different than every other day, perfectly messy. Those bold blue eyes assessed me, watching me, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness, of fear. He wore all black but didn’t quite pull it off like Alec.

  And now I had to face them both. Alone. Or did I?

  If I could find a way to reach my phone, I’d call one of the guys and put it on speaker. Maybe with enough hints, they’d know where to find me. Of course, none of them had been to this warehouse, so the likelihood of them picking it out of the dozens at this port were between zip and zilch.

  I had to try.

  “You need a bath, Alec.” I hit him with air and sent him flying back. He retaliated with the same, which had been my plan. When his air slammed into me, I used my own to send me airborne into the shadows. I landed and whipped out my phone, dialing Rob and putting it on speaker. The signal was weak at best. I didn’t hold out hope the call would go through.

  “Quint, come out, come out, wherever you are.” Alec’s raspy voice grated on my nerves even on my best days, and today definitely was not one of those days.

  “Or what?” Answering him gave away my position. I teleported out before the fireball hit me, popping back in on the opposite side of the illuminated square.

  “Or this.”

  Trevor arched his back and screamed, the sound digging into my ears and shooting panic through the rest of me. I ran out of the shadows and over to the kid writhing on the floor. That explained how he’d gotten so much of the warehouse on him. “Stop it!”

  Alec lowered his gloved hand. I still wanted to know what he had filling out the glove since I knew for a fact he no longer had a hand, but I’d hold my questions until the end of the presentation. Right now, I needed to focus on not getting dead and on getting Trevor the hell out of here before they killed him.

  Goddamn dark elementals and their love for torturing kids. Sadistic bastards.

  Trevor panted as he relaxed. I hurried to him, taking his hand. Tears streamed down his face and yet, when he looked up at me, he smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.” I concentrated on Cressida’s statue and was about to teleport us out when a blast of air separated us. Dammit. So close. When I landed, it knocked the air out of me. I coughed and gasped before realizing one of them was calling the air from my lungs. I countered by pushing it right back in. Thank God my element listened to me.

  “Someone’s been holding out on me,” Spencer mused, his arrogant expression grating on my nerves as much as Alec’s gravelly voice. “It’s not as much fun when you don’t scream.”

  Trevor shrieked and writhed as Alec held his hands up, opening and closing them into fists. He then lifted his arms, using air to pull the kid to his feet and dance him around like a marionette. Trevor whimpered his plea for Alec to stop, but of course the dark elemental simply grinned as his eyes glittered.

  “I’ve always enjoyed a good torture.” He switched to fire, and Trevor screamed as his skin blistered. Alec snapped his fingers, and Trevor crumpled to the dirty floor.

  Goddamn these bastards. I rushed to Trevor to grab him and teleport out, but they weren’t having any of that. I’d barely made it a few feet toward him when my entire body went numb as Spencer called water to freeze my cells. A slow, steady throb sprang to life in my palm. I didn’t need to look at it to know the pulse glowed a faint yellow just under my skin. I concentrated on the icy cold crawling up my arm, on the darkness consuming me.

  I shot a stream of ice at him, sending him flying backwards and killing his call. He slammed into Alec, and they both went down. Keeping an airfield up around me, I called earth to hold them down. The concrete vibrated beneath us, but the roots couldn’t break through. Dammit. The floor was too thick. I’d have to rely on my other calls.

  Or, the smarter thing would be to get the hell out of the warehouse with Trevor before they recovered from the ice attack. No way in hell would I leave here without him. They’d kill him just for fun.

  Spencer pushed off the ground and charged me. I threw a fireball at his face, singeing off his eyebrows and a good measure of those shaggy locks. He countered with water, and my flames fizzled out, leaving him smoldering and the lovely scent of burnt human hair wafting through the air. He felt for his eyebrows, then the top of his head, before howling out, not in anguish, but over the loss of his perfect model image.

  “That’s a good look for you.”

  He roared in response and sent a rolling wave of wind thundering through the warehouse, rattling what few windows there were.

  Alec took advantage of my focus on Spencer and attacked me from behind, pulling me into his arms and squeezing hard. I was about to send his balls into his sinuses when he grabbed me by the back of my neck and slammed me down against the concrete. I heard the sickening crack of my head before I felt it. When I did feel it, when I felt the warm, steady trickle of blood streaming down my face, the room tilted.

  I pushed myself up and staggered to remain upright. My vision blurred, and I staggered again. Lifting my hands, I called air and created a weak shield around me, not knowing what else to do. I couldn’t beat them, not together. The best
I could hope for was to save Trevor before the two dark dicks took me out.

  Spencer surrounded me in a ring of fire, which didn’t make any sense. He knew it wouldn’t hurt me since he was the one who showed me the neat little trick he now used against me. Then again, with as weak as I now was, I had no idea if I had enough strength to fight off his call.

  “That’s the thing about two quads willing to do whatever it takes to bring the rightful side to power. The more you can tip the scales, the better.” Alec strolled around the circle of fire, taunting me as I struggled to breathe. “I’ll admit, I couldn’t beat you alone, not without a little help from my friend here.” He knelt, parting the wall of fire enough to look me right in the eye with that sharklike gaze. “Any last words before I have him finish you off?”

  “Suck…my…” I coughed as I ran out of air before I could get out the last word.

  “I’ll leave that to your harem of boy toys.” He straightened and backed away slowly. The fire closed back up. “I can’t help but notice they’re not here. Oh, how unhappy they’ll all be when they discover your body. Say good-bye, quint.” Alec nodded to his charming little prodigy. The call increased around me and sucked the oxygen from the air. I coughed and gasped for breath, but the air was so hot, it singed my lungs. Pushing my fire to the surface, I countered the attack as I’d done during training.

  This time, it didn’t work.

  I fell to my knees as everything grew darker. I was going to be sick. Collapsing onto my stomach, I rolled to my back and stared at the skylight. And smiled.

  The shadows of four very distinctive, very gorgeous men popped into view just outside the skylight. Oh, thank God. The guys had found me. They were far enough away and had enough of the building separating us that my next move wouldn’t affect them. I hoped.

  With the last burst of strength I had, I rose to my knees, threw my arms out, and called light. It exploded out of every inch of me and in every direction. The entire warehouse burst into a blinding white with the brightness of ten thousand flashlights.

  I fell to my hands, panting and fighting to remain conscious. Shadows danced all around me, and my vision blurred. My strength failed, and I fell back to the floor. Concentrating on the cold now pounding in my hand and pulsing up my arm, I pulled as much as I could from it. The throbbing increased as the room stopped spinning. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely didn’t feel all that awesome. Ice coated my flesh and seeped that frost into my bones.

  Although freezing, I called fire, grateful when it heated my core, melting the thin layer of ice that’d collected on my skin. I focused my calls, on all my calls, and centered that energy on the crack in my skull. Please heal me. I need my strength. I was done messing around, done defending myself against this cheater. Against both of them. It was time to go on the offensive and pull out a can of elemental whoop ass.

  I lifted myself into the air as I’d done in the ruins before attacking the guys. This time, I’d let the cold take over. This time, I’d not stop until both of these dark elementals no longer drew a breath. I was the supreme elemental.

  It was time I proved it.

  As I hovered, I spread my arms and used the cold to charge my powers. It consumed me, stimulating my senses and swirling around me in a wrath of wind crackling with energy. I regarded the two now staring at me with gaping mouths and rounded eyes. “You cannot defeat me, futile beings.”

  “What the…” Alec whipped around to Spencer. “You told me you weakened her.”

  “I did exactly as you instructed,” he defended, his hands up. Why? Spencer was the stronger elemental.

  Alec motioned at me. “Does this look like she’s weaker? You were supposed to bind her powers, you imbecile, not make her stronger.”

  “I cast the spell. I stole her call. I attacked the boyfriends.” He bared his teeth. “What more do you expect?”

  “I expect you to follow orders.” Alec conjured up a fireball.

  Spencer did the same.

  The two dark elementals in the room turned on each other. I reined in my call, controlling the darkness within me, using light to counter it. Slowly, I lowered myself to the ground and would have brushed my hands off in satisfied triumph but didn’t want to bring attention to myself. These two were quite capable of destroying each other just fine without me.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Spencer increased the size of his fireball. “Are you truly challenging me after everything I’ve done? Placing an enchantment spell on the school so they couldn’t see what the leecher was really doing to the quint. The fog that you yourself taught me. The attack on the professor you said would separate the quint from the rest of her pack. I even grew close to the twin just to make your girlfriend happy. Everything I’ve done is to prove my worth to you. It’s exhausting attempting to live up to your expectations.”

  “Well, since you haven’t, our deal is off.” He threw his fireball, and Spencer dove down. It narrowly missed his head.

  “We are stronger together.” Spencer straightened. “She’s no match for us if we both take her on. Stop being so shortsighted.”

  Alec’s pale cheeks reddened. He definitely didn’t appreciate being lectured to by the likes of the UK heartthrob.

  I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. A trim shadow shifted, his beard just catching a bit of the light from the window above us. When our gazes snagged, he winked, sending his green eyes dancing in brilliant mischief. My nerves eased, knowing my genius air elemental had a plan.

  He snuck in behind Alec and Spencer bitching and attacking each other, inching toward Trevor. He brought his fingers to his lips when the kid spotted him.

  “Girls, girls. You’re both pretty.” I drew their attention to give Clay a chance to teleport out with Trevor undetected. As soon as he touched the kid’s wrist, they disappeared.

  Alec was too focused on shouting at Spencer to hear the audible pop, but Spencer did and whipped around. “No!”

  Now Alec turned and saw what Spencer saw. A huge fire elemental with a hard, dark glare. A fit water elemental with wild blond curls. Both with hatred hardening their expressions. They shared the same feelings for the man with no eyebrows.

  “Thanks for the call, Reed. Led us right to you. Of course, the calls coming from this location pegged my ECAD. There’s a patrol on the way.”

  “Then we’d best get on with it.” Alec dropped his gaze to where Trevor used to be. “I assume the air one took the boy. Let’s hope he’ll be back. We wouldn’t want him missing the fun.”

  “Where’s Bryan?” Spencer asked at the same time.

  He had to be close. I felt him. Not that I’d share that bit of news with these two douche bricks. “He had a previous engagement and told me to send you his regards.”

  “You’re lying. I’ll cast a truth spell and force you to tell me.”

  “No,” Alec barked. “I’m not trusting you with another spell when you couldn’t even do a simple binding spell. Take care of the extras. I’ll deal with the quint.”

  I brought my hands to the ready. Sure, I could teleport out and live to fight another day. So could the guys. But damn, I was so sick and tired of this guy taunting me. I didn’t know when I’d get another chance to end him once and for all.

  I was taking my chance.

  Alec was no match for my fire, so I focused on that warm sensation, setting my skin ablaze and pushing the intensity until the flames grew a brilliant purple. He shuffled back, shielding his face with his arm. He threw fire, which bounced right off me. He threw ice, which did the same. Even his air had no effect on my fire.

  “Well done, quint. Your turn, Spencer. I’ll take care of the boy toys.”

  Coward.

  They switched places, Alec now taking on both Rob and Leo while Spencer failed to break through my fire protection. “What spell is this?”

  “No spell, asshat. This is what happens when you don’t force the elements.” I sent the fire at him. It surrounded him and spun, cr
eating a firenado.

  He roared as the flames jumped around and licked at his skin. The firenado increased in intensity, closing in. He threw his arms out, calling air to break through the attack, sending purple flames flying. The walls of the warehouse, although metal, still caught fire.

  Damn, he really was stronger than Alec. I didn’t think anyone could overpower my fire. The fact Spencer now stood facing me, smoldering, more of his fancy blond hair gone, clearly disproved that theory.

  “Destroy her!” Alec had Rob in a layer of ice. Son of a bee scratch. Not again. Leo had blisters on his arms, telling me Alec had used fire on him.

  “You worry about your own battle,” Spencer retorted. “And let someone with true power deal with the quint.”

  Alec stopped battling Rob and Leo. “What did you just say?”

  “You came to me because you need me, not the other way around. Face it, Alec. I’m the stronger elemental.”

  “But I’m far more unpredictable.” He threw a fireball at Spencer.

  Spencer threw a bigger one at Alec.

  And, once again, the two toddlers in the room turned on each other. I took advantage of the distraction and hurried to Rob and Leo, calling their primaries to push power and help heal them. Rob kept trying to slap my hands away. Considering what’d happened the last time I healed him while battling Alec, I understood why. This time, however, I wouldn’t call light and short out his powers. This time, I pushed fire to him.

  “No, Reed. Keep your strength. I’ll be fine.” He slapped my hand.

  “Stop being such a baby.” I slapped him back. “I won’t give you enough to drain me.”

  “Uh, babe?”

  I followed Leo’s focus, glancing behind me at Alec and Spencer, both on fire, both pissed and trying to kill each other. “Should we stop them? You know, maybe remind them they’re supposed to be on the same side?”

  “Are you kidding? This is better than Game of Thrones.” Rob worked his neck, rocking his head back and forth. “Thanks for the boost, Reed.”

  “No problem.”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to suggest this, but should we maybe teleport out?” Leo asked as the three of us stood there and watched the show. Spencer had switched to water and shot sharp icicles at Alec. He deflected and sent them right back at Spencer.