Shelby didn’t cower, but she did have a death grip on the doorframe. From the look in her eyes, the physical anchor might be the only thing keeping her from running. The girl swallowed once. Stiffening her back, she walked toward Sarah and Nick.
“I didn’t tell him who Chi’Kehra was. I just told him I had met Chi’Kehra and that her mate was vampire and she’d never attack Clan Valley,” the girl paused, gulping for air, after her rapid explanation. “I had to do something. I had to bring help. The dhark army was swarming around Aaron’s home. They hurt him.”
“You gave your word, but you left,” a harsh voice rasped. Aaron stood in the center of the doorway, swaying on unsteady feet. His face and neck reflected a maze of healing slash marks.
“I came back,” she whispered. Gritting her teeth, pain filled her eyes.
“Yes, you did,” Sarah said, stopping the budding argument.
“Why exactly is my uncle here?” Nick demanded.
“He’s here to offer help. Dhark Empire news channels have been running streaming video. I know they wanted to frighten people, but it’s had the opposite effect. They attacked schools, children! People are screaming for their heads. They want to help.”
“All right, that makes sense, but why did you go to Warren Andrews?” Sarah asked pointedly.
“I met him when Nick and I were dating. My great-grandfather is on the lower council, but I knew it would take too much time if I went through him. Mr. Andrews is on the high council. He was the only one that I thought might listen to me,” Shelby said. Twisting her hands together, she didn’t glance to see Nick’s reaction. Instead, she looked toward Aaron.
Sarah wanted details, but time was her enemy. Turning a cold gaze on Shelby, she asked, “Your silver collar is missing. Can I trust you to get Aaron to his room and stay with him?”
“Yes,” the girl whispered, nodding her head.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Aaron growled, weaving a bit more with each moment that passed.
“Don’t argue,” Sarah snapped.
Without pausing, she turned to Timothy. “Send an escort for Warren. Put him in the green receiving room.”
“You’re going to tell him?” Nick questioned, crossing his arms.
From his rigid stance, she might’ve thought he didn’t like the idea, even though he had suggested it in the first place. His emotions told another story. He was concerned.
She raised a single eyebrow in question. It was all the prodding he needed.
“He’s my uncle, and I love him, but if he freaks-out and attacks you, I’ll defend you.” Roughly, he ran a hand through his hair. “When you called him powerful, you hit the nail smack on the head. He has some wicked-strong powers that most vampires can never even dream of having. I don’t know if I can stop him. And before you say it, yes, I know you can stop him, but having that kind of fight here would probably topple part of the castle.”
“I would never kill a member of your family, not unless they gave me no other choice,” she said softly, touching his jaw.
His snarl took her by surprise. “If he tries to hurt you, don’t hesitate to kill him. I may love my family, but you are everything to me.”
The constant pulse of his love somehow increased, underscoring his words. She knew how much his family meant to him, and it made his words all the sweeter.
“I just want you to be extremely cautious. His coming here, simply because Shelby approached him, doesn’t make much sense,” he said, glancing toward the doorway where Shelby and Aaron stood quietly arguing.
“I have a contact in Clan Valley that might know a bit more about his reasoning. Give me a moment and I’ll ask Jessica what she knows about it all.” Her friend should never have left Trellick Valley. Would the girl listen? Of course, she didn’t listen. Jessica insisted on joining Trellick Valley’s military, an area of the armed forces that relied on intelligence and not strength.
“You mean a spy?” Nick asked with a grin.
“I prefer to think of Jessica as part of our network of eyes-and-ears,” she said, trying not to return his growing smile. “She’s one of the few nymphs in Clan Valley.”
“You know a nymph named Jessica, and she is in Clan Valley? That’s just too much of a coincidence. Does she have hip-length blonde hair?” Shelby asked, interrupting the private conversation. Her questions met silence, stone-cold silence.
Sarah glowered at the girl. If Shelby thought she could bargain her way out of her fix by threatening one of Sarah’s best friends, the girl was sorely mistaken.
“Protectiveness or unnecessary jealousy?” Nick asked gently.
Her teeth clicked together, and she exhaled a hiss of annoyance before answering him. “Okay, so I’m not perfect. I might, just might, be looking for a reason to hate her. I am so thankful you only had a handful of girlfriends. I don’t think I could handle a bevy of old flames popping up everywhere.”
Nick coughed, nearly choking on the chuckle he tried to swallow.
“Um,” Shelby said uncomfortably, she appeared to be well aware they were silently speaking to each other. “Well, the reason I ask, is when I was at Warren’s house he caught a young nymph, a woman named Jessica, sneaking around his property. It just seemed like an unusual coincidence.”
Sighing, Sarah turned to Shelby who, by that time, had managed to maneuver Aaron away from the door and into the hall. The tall elf didn’t look pleased.
“Her hair tends to move by itself, and her eyes are purple,” Sarah said softly, hoping her description wouldn’t meet with agreement.
Shelby nodded her head yes, agreeing with Sarah’s description. “And she has a really thick Texas accent.”
From across the room, Timothy groaned. “That’s our Jessica.”
The scream of an angry khatt sounded through the speakers, and everyone jumped.
Glancing toward the monitor, Sarah wasn’t surprised to see an angry khatt standing over a dead elf.
“Dad, time to stop playing nice with the elves,” she said.
“The teen elf came with the royal elves, but she is a member of the ruling house of Praesidium Valley. She is offering elvish warriors to support Chi’Kehra and rescue workers,” he answered. “The remaining royal elves aren’t offering anything, except threats and hot air. I didn’t have time to discuss anything with the boy from Haven Valley before he turned khatt and killed one of the elves. The final member of this weird collection is Councilman Andrews from Clan Valley. He is also offering assistance.”
“I don’t like bringing in so many people, but right now I don’t believe we have a choice. We need help. Refuse the warriors and accept whatever rescue help we can get, but assign them babysitters. I’ll take out the trash,” Sarah said.
“Who is in charge of the upper gallery?” she asked, referring to the hidden area above the main hall.
“Charles is down there,” Timothy said.
“Tell him to dart the elves - except the female teenager - with crystal.”
Watching the monitors, she watched as the elves slapped a shoulder or neck as if swatting a mosquito.
Reaching out, she mentally touched the bits of crystal embedded in their skin and ported each elf away from Trellick Valley, dumping them inside Royal Valley on the very northern edge. Too bad the edge of their territory was an area called Barrier Bay or Hudson Bay in the mundane world. The elves would have a long and very cold swim ahead of them. Unless, of course, the water was still frozen then they might get a little chilly.
Nick started laughing. “Teach the arrogant race a lesson for arguing with your dad.”
“True,” she said, splitting her attention between the monitor and contacting Jessica.
“Hey girl, you need help?” Sarah asked gently.
“Nope, I’ve got it covered,” Jessica said, her thick accent coloring her mental voice, emphasizing the fact she had spent the first twelve years of her life in the heart of Texas.
“Tied up?”
“Uh, no, why
would you ask?” she asked, sounding nervous.
“A little bird told me you had been captured. How about I…”
“No! Don’t!” her friend shouted then sighed, offering a quick apology. “Sorry, didn’t mean to shout. Do you remember the problem nymphs have when we find our mate?”
Sarah growled under her breath. How could she forget? The memory had given her nightmares. Well, crap, Sarah thought. “You found your mate?”
“Yeah, Warren Andrews is my mate, and I’m finally in his house.”
“Tied up?” Sarah demanded with a growl.
“No, just cuffed with silver. I can handle it. Honest.”
“He’s at the castle and offering assistance,” Sarah said in more of a question than a comment.
“I think it’s an honest offer of help. I overheard that much. He, ah, caught me before I could hear anything else.”
“Sarah?” Nick asked. No doubt, he was shaking his head over their screwy conversation.
“No, I’m not,” he denied. “I’m just a bit curious about the variety of friends you have. Going from a powerful phoenix to a near powerless nymph is quite the stretch.”
“Yeah, a variety of friends that drives me nuts,” she said with a slight huff. “I won’t leave her there, but I might have a solution.” She gazed at the screen that held her dad and Warren. The teenage elf and shapeshifter were gone. A pair of guards appeared on camera, ready to take Nick’s uncle to the green room.
“You do realize when you smile like that the hair on the back of my neck stands up in warning,” he said, squeezing her waist.
“Good, a little caution in a relationship is a wonderful thing,” she said, barely holding back a snort of laughter as his eyes widened, and a look of shock flashed across his face.
A moment later, he must’ve realized she was yanking his chain because she felt a surge of humor, one laced with a feeling of payback.
A flicker of thought and Sarah touched the crystal embedded in Jessica’s skull and ported the girl from Clan Valley to the Main Hall, dropping the golden-haired nymph immediately in front of Warren.
“Dad, I’m making Jessica the official liaison for Clan Valley. Make sure Warren understands three things: Jessica is his new shadow. As long as Clan Valley has rescue people here, he must be present at all times. And lastly, if anything happens to her, the vampire boogieman will rip his head through his…”
“I get the picture,” her dad said dryly.
The ground trembled.
A monitor crashed to the floor.
Timothy shrieked like a little girl and darted toward the multiple shelves holding high-powered servers, trying to hold as many steady as possible.
Weaving in place, as the floor swayed beneath her, Sarah spun a web of crystal around the delicate hardware, anchoring servers and monitors in place. When she finished, the room looked like a swarm of mythical crystal spiders had gone crazy spinning webs everywhere.
The tremor intensified, and the entire room bucked like a wild horse. Crashes sounded through the open doorway.
When the ground stopped shaking, silence lasted a short two seconds before chaos erupted.
“Sarah,” Nick said urgently, cupping her elbow, “what part of Trellick Valley are we in? Was that normal?”
“No, not normal,” she said softly. She knew his thoughts mirrored her own. The manipulation of the valley’s crystal must have caused the earthquake, either she did something wrong when she closed the gateways…
“That’s not what I thought,” he said with a growl. “I’m more concerned about Trellick Valley’s ruins.”
“I’ll check them,” she said, looking with her mental eye toward the network of ruins. She sucked in a hissing breath, and her blood ran cold.
When the ruins were empty, they appeared inert, nearly impossible to detect. Oh, she could see a massive area of crystal, but like Earth’s oil and gas fields, most valleys had massive crystal reserves scattered everywhere. Seeing the difference between a crystal ruin and a crystal reserve, one that lay several hundred feet below the surface, was nearly impossible. Now, that she knew what to look for, the seething mass of twisted power lines stood out from the crystal springs like a supernova against the darkest of space.
“Sarah?”
“Full,” she said. Choking on the word, she cleared her throat. “They are full and activated. Once activated, they blaze like a beacon. I’m checking the other valleys.” Looking toward the other valleys, she froze. Dread, more terrible than death stared her in the face, flooding her soul with a primitive form of terror. “All of them are all full.”
His dismayed curse reflected her growing sense of helplessness.
Wait, wait a darn minute! She was Chi’Kehra. Surely, she could do something. Taking a deep breath, she stepped away from Nick and crossed the floor to an empty spot, before sitting down on the cold stone.
“What are you doing?” Nick demanded, growling uneasily.
“If I can manipulate a gateway, surely I can drain the ruins. Give me a second,” she said, and looked toward the nearest ruin, the one running below the edge of the Rocky Mountains.
“Be careful,” he said, kneeling in front of her.
Closing her eyes, she opened her senses to the curling mass of power-filled ruins. With a tendril of thought, she carefully touched the very edge of the glowing energy.
A single touch was all it took. The raw power did not tingle through her body slowly. The unharnessed force of synth crystal slammed into her with the intensity of an exploding star.
Her body tried to absorb the hit, but power scorched across her skin, ripping into her mind, tearing through her body, destroying her as if she were a sheet of paper thrown into a volcano.
Agony was such a pale word to describe what she felt as something akin to a nuclear bomb exploded inside her skull.
____________
Nick cradled Sarah’s burning body in his arms. Tiny flecks of power danced across her skin, burning him as he held her. Damn, arrogant girl, thinks she can fix anything, he snarled to himself, swearing they would have a serious talk about taking stupid risks.
He would tell her exactly that, if she would just open her eyes. “Sarah, wake up.”
He didn’t know what happened, but if he had to take a wild guess, he’d bet she was suffering from a power overload. Her skin was burning, hot to the touch. It was the sparks of power - coating her skin - that had him terrified. What if the sparks were minor compared to what was going on inside her?
Lord Trellick knelt in front of him.
Before Nick could stop, he bared lengthened fangs and growled at the man, harsh and guttural.
“Easy, Son,” the much older elf soothed him. “What happened?”
“I think she got hit with a power overload,” Nick said between clenched teeth.
“She’s flushed,” Lord Trellick said, reaching for her.
Growling again, Nick’s lips curled back in a snarl. “Sorry,” he said curtly, trying to control his instinct to protect his helpless mate.
The man grunted. “I should know better. It’s a normal reaction for most mates, especially vampires. I can feel the heat she’s throwing off. I think we need to get her into a tub of ice water.”
“I don’t think the ice would last very long,” Nick said, but agreed the idea had merit. “Do you have a walk-in freezer?”
Following Lord Trellick, Nick rushed across the castle grounds to the compound’s kitchen. Broken dishes and collapsed shelves covered the large area. A dozen people, dressed in neat white uniforms, stood amid the disaster. The moment Nick walked into the room, carrying Sarah, the entire place went silent as a tomb.
Hours later, he sat on the floor of a large freezer. His entire backside felt frozen. Moving her into the freezer had not helped. Actually, they were no longer in the main castle. The first freezer had started defrosting. They were currently sitting in a freezer near the warrior’s barracks.
“Sarah, you need to wake-up,
” he said for what felt like the ten-thousandth time. His heart clenched. He couldn’t lose her, not when he finally had her. If she died, he prayed he’d die of a brain aneurysm. He simply couldn’t image life without her.
Leaning down, he kissed her forehead gently. Power flickered across his lips.
The door moved, opening to the heat of the kitchen. As warm air rushed in, his growl echoed within the metal walls. The sea of bodies in the kitchen parted.
Miranda hurried forward. A small hitch to her gait was the only indication of her previous injuries.
He blinked, but the image of Sarah’s little sister didn’t go away. Colin and Lord Trellick appeared at her side.
Hope flared inside of him. Colin had promised to help with the umbra problem, but Nick hadn’t thought his arrival would be so soon, not with the possibility of elvish nobles breaking their oath and attacking Elfheim.
“Jeez, Nick, what happened to her?” Miranda demanded, kneeling in front of him. She reached to touch Sarah, but Colin snatched her wrist in a restraining hold.
“Mia Cara, the power inside Sarah recognizes Nick as her mate, but it might fry you to a cinder,” he said gently.
“Oh, oh!” she exclaimed, understanding flared in her eyes and she scooted backward.
“Tell me what happened?” Colin said. Frowning as he appeared to study the power dancing across Sarah’s skin.
Nick glanced up. “Lord Trellick, I think we’d better have a little privacy.”
Lord Trellick, pure white-blond hair like both his daughters, glared at him. “Son, you call me Lord Trellick one more time and I will not be responsible for my actions. If you can’t call me dad, my name is James. That goes for both of you.”
As he slammed the door shut on the concerned-looking crowd, Miranda hid a grin behind her hand.
“The valley had an earthquake,” Nick said, stroking his fingers through Sarah’s static-filled hair. “We thought the ruins might be responsible. She checked, and they were full.”
“Back up,” Lord Trellick demanded. Hands on his hips, broadsword strapped across his back, his stance reflected the agitated warrior that he was. “The ruins are full of what?”
Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3 Page 25