Elizabeth Hunter - A Hidden Fire

“‘ The wicked shall see me and grieve, ’” he murmured as he wiped the gore from his body. He glanced at the churning ocean. “ ‘They shall gnash with their teeth and melt away.’ ”

When he returned to the room, Beatrice was dressed in strange white clothes, and her hair was pulled back from her face. She was thin, almost inhumanly pale, and her hair was different. She ran to throw her arms around him, and he felt her tears hot on his chest.

“I hoped,” he heard her whisper. “I didn’t know, but I hoped you’d find me.”

He pulled back and looked into her face, framing her cheeks with his hands and kissing her forehead. “He moved heaven and earth to find you, darling girl.”

He saw her eyes shutter at the mention of his friend, and he frowned.

“We have to go now. They’re waiting for my signal.”

“How-”

He turned and crouched in front of her. “Stories will have to wait. Climb on my back and hold on tight. I’ll need my hands to get out of here, so I can’t carry you. You have to make sure you hold on.”

“Okay.”

“No matter what happens.” He looked over his shoulder. “Keep your head down and hold on to me until I let you down or Gio takes you off, do you understand?”

“Yes!” She glanced at the door. “Please, can we go now?”

He grinned when he felt her climb on his back and grip his neck. Her legs swung around his waist like a child.

Patting her leg, he said, “Ready to go?”

“I’ve been ready for weeks.”

He strode from the room with Beatrice clutching his back. Walking over to a column of stones the size of an old Greek pillar, he gave a mighty shove and pushed the pillar into the ocean. There was a brief pause before he saw Giovanni’s blue flames flare higher as he and Tenzin took to the sky.

“Remember.” Carwyn grinned. “Hold on tight.”

He felt her gasp when the ground beneath his feet opened up and swallowed them.

Giovanni watched as the grey rock tumbled into the surf. He could hear the shouts of the vampires above as they rushed to investigate the disturbance. He met Tenzin’s steady eyes.

“My boy, is there anyone we need alive?”

Giovanni glanced at the dead girl who lay at their feet.

“No.”

He grasped her hand and she leapt, pulling him with her as she took flight.

They landed on the edge of the cliff and Tenzin raised her arms, sending a great rush of wind into the open salons where Lorenzo held court. The vampires inside were stunned into momentary submission and Giovanni and Tenzin separated to begin their assault.

Lorenzo’s guards spotted them, and no less than fifteen ran toward them, but as each approached, Tenzin reached out a small hand, capturing them in a swirling vortex of air as she lifted them into the sky. With a flick of her small hands, she grabbed half of them, flinging them toward Giovanni, who paused to toss roiling flames into each small whirlwind.

The captured vampires screamed and twisted as they burned in midair, lighting up the dark sky until their charred bodies turned to ash, and they drifted into the sea.

Giovanni took out the rest with a wall of fire he forced into a corner of the room. The guards tried to run, but were cornered by the flames. Their inhuman screams tore through the night air, as some of Lorenzo’s guard ran toward them, and others fled into the rocks.

Tenzin and Giovanni worked together in brutal concert, capturing and annihilating each vampire that came at them until most ran in the other direction or fled to the churning water.

But as they leapt, Giovanni noticed the sea began to grow, pulled by an unseen force as the waves crashing at the base of the cliffs rose until they spilled over and flooded the luxurious rooms. The humans in attendance, who had been cowering away from the assault of fire and wind, started screaming and rushing toward the interior doors.

From the corner, Giovanni caught a flash of blond hair and Lorenzo’s grin as the water vampire manipulated the ocean toward them.

“I see him,” he yelled to Tenzin.

“Go!”

A stinging rain began to beat upon his back, dousing the fire before he could fling it at his son, and he saw a large wave surge over the edge of the cliff where it grabbed Tenzin before she could take to the air. She disappeared from view, and he stalked toward the corner where he had seen his child.

“Lorenzo!” he roared, striding toward him. Giovanni heard a demented giggle before his son pushed a panel in the back wall, and a door slid open. He ducked into a dark passage which must have led further into the cliffs. A surge of new guards attacked then, and Giovanni no longer had the ready flames at his fingertips.

He was twisting the head from one attacker when he felt a slashing pain across his chest. He looked down to see a bullet wound that had glanced off. He tossed the dead vampire to the side and grabbed the human holding the gun by the throat. With one quick toss, he flung him into the churning ocean before he turned back to the rest of the guards.

He hadn’t seen Tenzin in a few minutes, and he cursed, knowing that if the five thousand year old wind vampire had any weakness, it was fighting in water.

He battled on, grabbing the rest of his attackers with long arms, pulling the guards to his fangs so he could rip and shred their throats. One by one, he twisted their heads from their bodies and tossed them on the ground, batting away the last of the humans who tried to defend their masters.

Most who came at him appeared to be water-born, but none of them had the strength of Lorenzo. The most they could do was keep him from building up any more flame as he crossed the room his son had soaked with a wave.

Giovanni paused when he got to the passageway, searching for Tenzin as he turned, and grunting in relief when he saw his old partner. She was perched on the edge of the cliff, darting over and around her attackers as she ripped at them with her talon-like fangs and tiny hands. She moved so quickly he could barely track her, but she paused in midair to meet his eyes.

“Go! Find him,” she yelled before grasping two vampires by the necks and swinging them around until their bodies detached and sailed into the sea. Though her attackers were all larger, no vampire he had ever seen could overpower Tenzin in combat, and Giovanni had no fear she would fail to best the few determined guards that tried to defend their fortress.

“Go!” she yelled. “He’s getting away!”

He nodded and ducked into the passageway, sniffing the damp air when he came to a turn. His path led him down twisting corridors until he smelled the ocean again. Listening at a heavy door where Lorenzo’s scent had ended, he could hear the sound of a boat engine start up. He tried to push through, surprised when it would not budge.

The mystery was solved when he saw sea water leaking from under the edge. He realized Lorenzo must have walled off the door with ocean water, which meant there was a lagoon somewhere in the caves that led to the open sea.

He would never break through the wall before Lorenzo could escape, so he rushed back up to the cliffs, yelling at Tenzin as he ran.

“Boat! He has a boat, Tenzin.”

She nodded and sank her teeth into one more neck before she tore her mouth away, dripping with blood and sinew from her opponent’s throat.

She saw Giovanni running toward the edge of the cliff and started toward him.

“Catch me!” he yelled, as he flung himself over the edge.

She swooped down and caught him by the waist, grabbing his legs with her own as she flew them down to the base of the cliffs to search for a crevice where a boat could escape.

“It could be anywhere,” she yelled. Giovanni could feel her struggle as she concentrated on keeping the air currents flowing around them so they stayed aloft.