son of a bitch is really starting to piss me off.”
“No worries. I am sure he is well aware of it. To tell the truth, I am ninety nine point nine percent
certain that he is gloating over it.”
Catching their attention and drawing their focus to the water below a gigantic gray whale breached
the surface and caused a tremendous splash when it fell on its side. Within seconds another whale
breached the surface as seagulls cried out and flew in from the ocean to seek shelter in the jagged cliff
walls. It occurred to Nikolas that it was the first time he had noticed any form of wildlife behave as if
troubled. It was strange. They should have sensed danger and reacted to it hours ago.
A massive explosion beneath the ocean violently rocked the earth. Within seconds, an enormous
spout of water shot up hundreds of feet into the sky and formed a rotating funnel. Snapping and uprooting
trees the wind picked up to hurricane force. Small stones and sand blasted them with enough force to tear
their flesh. Even after they started to be battered by large branches and other debris they could not afford
to squander their power to create a protective barrier to avoid being injured. Each brutal gust was notably
greater than the previous until it reached and maintained a speed of hundred and thirty to forty miles per
hour as the funnel sucked greater amounts of air into it. Growing in height and width the funnel stayed
stationary as it whirled and picked up speed and strength.
“Do you hear that?”
“I sure do.” Nikolas focused on the sound. “It is a group of teens down on the beach. They are scared
shitless.” He placed a wall of protection around them as they fled the area.
“I bet they regret bringing their party down there.”
“Good. It means they will not be coming back. I have had many problems with teens littering the
beach around here lately.” Picking up on the presence of a straggler, Nikolas paused to search out the
cause for the teen to stay behind. “Damn it. We have another problem. One of the boys is not leaving with
the rest. He is too intoxicated to even process what is happening. I think he is about to pass out.”
“He will be killed if we leave him down there. We are going to have to move him.”
Even though Demetri had the upper hand Nikolas decided to send Haden to rescue the kid.
“Physically. We cannot shift him away. He would end up being sliced to bits in the network of spells
Demetri has covered this entire area with.”
“So he stays where he is and we hope for the best.”
“No. You are going to get your ass down there and take him to safety.”
“Demetri is not showing any sign of letting up. We both know that you cannot hold this rising back
on your own. I will wait for Joseph to get here. He is close now.”
“We cannot prevent it for much longer even with our powers combined. If we continue to try to do it
we will both be too weak to fight when the rising actually occurs. You need to disconnect from it now.”
“You will not survive if you try to do it on your own for any length of time.”
“There is no need for dramatics. Have you forgotten that we are immortal? The kid has no hope of
defending himself.”
“I will go to them as soon as…”
“I can take care of myself. The kid will die if you do not get him off of the beach.”
Haden nodded. “Whatever. But I think it is a terrible idea.”
“You do not have to like. Just do it, because it is the right thing to do.”
Nikolas felt the full brunt of Demetri’s power slam into him the instant Haden withdrew and shifted
away. The weight of it nearly brought him to his knees, but he refused to go down. Needing to remain in
his human form to conserve his strength he had to push back his dragon side as it attempted to take
charge.
Physically his dragon form was unstoppable by any other immortal other than one of equal or greater
age and strength such as Demetri. Both had a height that reached one hundred twenty five feet, their
lengths were around one hundred and forty feet and their wingspans reached somewhere around one
hundred and forty seven feet. It was a drastic difference from their six foot four to five inch human forms.
But for the moment, remaining in his human form made better sense due to the fact that the battle was
mental and supernatural and had not yet reached the point of physical combat.
Nikolas had only been alone for a few seconds when he felt Brianna’s presence in his mind. What’s
wrong, Nikolas?
The news of her being worried about him should have disturbed him. Normally he would have
viewed it as a failure to properly shield her. Giving her a reason to feel anxious was unacceptable. It
should not have put a smile on his face, but nothing could have delighted him more at that moment.
Everything is fine, little one.
Why lie? We both know it is too late for you to hide the truth. I feel it. I know you are in trouble.
It was such an amazing relief to feel her and hear her voice in his mind. She hadn’t made any attempt
to contact him since he’d walked her home from the boutique over a week ago. He started fear that he had
pushed her too far. It appeared that he had lost her for good. He knew better now. She still cared about
him. He decided to tell her that he had encountered trouble rather than insult her with a lie. He could not
be certain how long she had been with him and monitoring this thoughts. Her ability to enter his mind and
remain so still and quiet that he could not detect her presence until she allowed it was inconceivable. No
one had ever come close to doing that before. The truth is that I am dealing with a problem, but
everything is okay. I have it under control. I am not in any real danger.
I have decided to allow you to talk to me now. Bring me to you.
We both know you don’t want to talk to me. You believe that I am in danger. You want to come to me
because, despite the fact that I am an idiot, you care about me.
Stop pretending you are fine. I am not stupid. You are in terrible pain. Every inch of your body
aches. Your head is throbbing. It was not my imagination. You will never make me believe that all is well
when I know it isn’t by blocking me from your discomfort the instant you realize I am with you. Let me
help you. Bring me to you.
The tears in her voice shattered him. I won’t deny that you felt my weakness and discomfort or that I
blocked you from it when I realized it. I am not injured. You experienced the natural strain of using my
energy for a prolonged period. Hoping to comfort her he made sure she felt the heat and masculine
firmness of his body against her backside and his arms holding her close. I am not in danger. Nothing
would give me more joy than to see you right now. From the last time we were together I have spent every
minute wishing you were with me. I cannot bring you to me right now. Doing so would place your life in
jeopardy.
While he talked she went still and relaxed in his long distance embrace, but the second he stopped
she pushed away from him. I don’t want any harm to come to you that’s all.
I have a confession.
Do I dare ask to hear it?
It’s up to you. I can wait.
What is it?
Hurting you, making you feel as though making love to you wasn’t the greatest moment of my life
was my most terrible mistake. I could nev
er survive in any world without you.
You survived ten thousand years before I was born and you will survive ten thousand more after I
die.
It was a lonely time. I will not repeat it. I couldn’t. Not after living in a world with you in it.
Wherever you go I will follow. I will come see you as soon as I’m able.
I suppose that means you will not place flowers on my grave.
It means that I will be bringing them to you and placing them in your hand.
Keep your stubborn self safe for both of our sakes. She was telling him that she would follow him if
he did not survive. Shaking his head, he smiled at her threat. She had no way of understanding the
strength it gave him to proceed into and survive the battle before him.
Of course I will. I love you, Brianna.
She didn’t respond by saying she loved him, but he didn’t expect it from her. It was more than
enough to know she cared about him. He remained merged with her mind but gently, despite her struggle
to remain, he pushed her out and completely blocked her from his.
“You were right,” Joseph said as he and Mia walked up from behind. “This is a huge rising.”
“I am so glad I called you here to help me sort out all of the convoluted details.”
“There is no need for the sarcastic tone.” Mia said.
“We are so close to your land. It does not make sense.” Joseph moved closer to the edge of the cliff.
“Do us all a favor and do not waste any time trying to make sense of it. Trust me the subject has been
thoroughly examined with no answers to show for the effort. We need to be ready to fight.” He glanced at
Mia and then to Joseph. “You should consider getting her out of here.”
“What do you know about burial sites down there?” With a nod of his head Joseph indicated the
beach.
Nikolas figured it was worth a try, but he was not shocked that Joseph ignored his suggestion to send
Mia away. They both knew she was not going anywhere. “Shipwrecks mostly.”
“How many?”
“Several. There is also an ancient human burial site or two a few hundred yards from the shoreline
toward the south.”
“When did this start?” Mia asked.
“Early this morning,” Nikolas replied.
Pushing them back from the edge of the cliff a powerful gust of wind pelted them with sand and
small stones. Joseph tackled Mia to the ground to shield her until Nikolas managed to create a barrier to
protect them.
“Get off, Joseph! You weigh a ton.”
Demetri’s laughter surrounded them.
“He is getting off on this. I really hate him. He is such an arrogant son of a bitch,” Mia said.
Standing up Joseph reached for her hand to help her up as Nikolas scanned the water below. A series
of flames lit up the water below. It wouldn’t be long.
“It’s Demetri.” Wiping the dirt from her butt she took her place at Joseph’s side.
“That’s right. Get out of here, angel.” Joseph grabbed her arm and started to pull her behind him.
“Now! Go to the boutique.”
She yanked her arm free. “Forget it.”
He tried to take her arm again but she dodged him. “I don’t need or want to hide behind the chest
beating a hero.”
Thunder rumbled all around as the ground moved beneath Joseph’s feet causing him to stumble.
“Wait.” Looking like a love sick puppy aching for a belly rub, he grinned at Mia. “That was you, wasn’t
it?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she nodded. “That’s right. And if you continue to treat me like a
child you’re also going to hear me roar.”
“Once again I find myself fighting some serious temptation.”
“I would not recommend giving into it. Mess with this angel and you’re going to get the horns that
keep her shiny halo in place.”
“Promise?”
“Considering your canine lineage, wouldn’t it be more like a bark or a howl rather than a roar?”
Nikolas asked.
Joseph chuckled. Mia smacked his arm, and then turned to give Nikolas a look. “Shut up.”
Another strong gust of wind blasted them from behind. Nikolas facing the setting sun nearly dropped
to his knees. “Do you two do this back and forth thing to exhaust and confuse the hell out of your
opponents?”
“Maybe,” Mia said. “Why?”
“It’s a genius strategy. I cannot even hear myself think.” He looked up and studied the gathering
black clouds as they took the form of a dragon over the ocean. Tsunami warning alarms rang out. That is
when he noticed the water had begun to recede at rapid rate. “It’s time. Do not get distracted by the water
when it rushes back in toward the shore. You have to destroy the ghouls first. I will focus on Demetri.”
“Are you strong enough to go up against him?” Joseph asked.
“I don’t have a choice but to be. I will distract him from the rising and force him to pull his power
away from it.”
Moving away from them, Nikolas took his dragon form. The instant he launched off of the cliff he
knew he had made a terrible mistake. He was pulled into the entrance of an invisible tunnel that was
similar to a black hole. Spiraling out of control, his massive body slammed against the walls. He was
drawn deeper and deeper until he found himself in the center on an explosion of flames and smoke as he
entered an alternate dimension.
Spinning flat on his back he was falling, his body uncontrollably hurdling toward the ground at
alarming rate of speed. Despite his best effort to regain control he only moved faster. He could not even
open his wings. He just kept tumbling and spiraling until his vision went black and then he could no
longer process a single coherent thought.
***
“We need to get down onto the beach where the majority of ghouls will most likely begin to rise.” Joseph
took Mia’s hand. “You will stay close to me. When the water returns to shore we need to get our asses off
of beach.”
“Why not stop the water?”
“It would take too much energy. It would leave you to fight without me being free to intervene when
you bite off more than you can chew.”
“That is so sweet. You are going to let a tsunami kill hundreds to thousands of innocent people
because you think I am an idiot.”
“It isn’t…”
“Wait.” She pointed down at the water. “Did you see that?”
He shook his. “What?”
“It was like a…it looked like a video malfunction or a glitch. Do you remember the security cameras
at the boutique you fixed?”
“Yes. It was a connection problem.”
“That is what it looked like. It flashed from a clear image to one with black horizontal lines.”
Joseph would not take her down there until he made sure he knew what he was dealing with. He
studied the view below he didn’t see anything that would explain what she’d seen. “The ocean?”
“No. The sky, the ocean and the beach.” She pointed again. “Everything out there in front of us
bleeped.”
“Bleeped?”
“That is because it is all an illusion,” Haden said as he approached from behind. “It’s a damn good
one. I didn’t realize it until I tried to move the teenager off the beach and ended up grabbing a fist full of
air.”
“What?” Mia asked.
“There is no rising. In f
act, there isn’t even a vampire anywhere near here,” Haden explained.
“Nikolas figured it out right after he took off to deal with Demetri.”
“What about the tsunami? The alarms?” Mia asked. “Those are real, right?”
“The water has not receded at all. The alarms are real. I suspect they are malfunctioning because
energy fluctuations.”
“Wait. This is an old trick,” Joseph said. “It was used to make the size of an army more impressive
or less impressive to deceive the opposing army. Didn’t one of our grandfathers use it to hide the sun? It
was also used to look as though the walls of a…”
“It was used for many things in the past. We all use it every day in smaller scales to remain unseen
when we shift forms and use our powers in front of humans.”
“Well played, Demetri.” Mia clapped. “Well played. Now what do we do? Should we go after
Nikolas?”
Haden shook his head. “We will not be able to get to him. He connected with me briefly when he
realized he had jumped into a trap, but he was not able to identify his whereabouts. I tried to follow the
path, but it literally closed in on itself.”
“Was it a time tunnel?” Joseph inquired.
“Yes.” Haden nodded. “Demetri likely took him to another time and realm to get him alone.”
“That’s really going to piss Nikolas off.”
“Why?” Mia asked.
“He will be able to hold a connection to Brianna for a short time, but eventually he will be
completely separated from her,” Joseph replied. “Being completely cut off from your mate is the worst
kind of torment imaginable.”
“He knows we will look out for her,” Mia said.
Haden shook his head. “It does not matter. Nothing, not even the necklace, will give him peace until
he reaches her again.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “I hate that stupid thing.”
Haden shrugged. “It will do its job. It will prevent any harm from coming to her.”
Mia faced Haden. “What makes it so powerful?”
“We are all masters of various supernatural powers and elements of nature, but we each possess one
that surpasses the rest. Our grandfather along with five of his brothers found a way to impart portions of
their greatest powers into it.”
“That is amazing. She has the power of the six of you to protect her?”
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