Marie Harte - Below the Surface

Finally accepting the great power he’d given her, she consciously sapped more from those in the room, including ‘Sin Garu. Releasing the hold over her control, she let the rage of repressed vengeance, the bitter need for justice to swell within her. What ‘Sin Garu had done to her the past few hours, what he’d done to Marcus’ people, to his lands and his father stirred a mighty wave of fury that wouldn’t be stopped.

She channelled the Storm brothers’ pain and ‘Sin Garu’s sick pleasure into an unadulterated mass of chaotic energy. The taste of purity, of Tanselm’s essence filled her and her world turned hazy blue.

Dimly aware of Aerolus and Cadmus battling to save Marcus, she turned to ‘Sin Garu, now standing over a prone Jonas, and smiled. “You’ve taught me so much in so little time. Now it’s up to me to return the favour.”

The next few minutes blurred for Tessa. Crackling, booming thunder and static filled the air in and around her, as if she stood in the heart of a massive storm. Water and wind crashed over ‘Sin Garu like an extraordinarily well-contained monsoon.

The sorcerer shrieked and cursed, his words whipped away by the winds pulling at his hair and clothes. Psychic energy thrummed, pushing against the narrow walls of Davis’ apartment until the drywall actually buckled. Wood splintered and sparks flew as electrical wiring snapped and sparked, sizzling with the threat of shock under the cascading waters that splashed over everything.

Yet Tessa could only ride the wave of power, completely oblivious to the hazards of Marcus’ gift.

‘Sin Garu snarled and pointed a finger at her. She couldn’t make out what he said, but the spell was enough to shock her waters to stillness.

Breaking her concentration, the sorcerer shook himself and suddenly stood tall and completely dry, his expression one of mild displeasure. “I’m sorry we couldn’t see eye to eye on this. We would have made an unbeatable team,” he said and sighed.

Jonas groaned but the sorcerer paid no attention. Tessa, however, saw him trying to tell her something. He motioned to the sorcerer time and time again, until Tessa understood what he wanted.

‘Sin Garu pulled a large red glowing saber out of thin air and pointed it at her.

“Get back, Tessa,” Cadmus yelled from behind her. But he was too late.

Using the last bit of energy she had left, she shifted Jonas close enough to grasp ‘Sin Garu’s leg.

The sorcerer froze and stared down at Jonas, his mouth open in shock.

“I think you and I have taken enough of their time, don’t you, Van Nostren?” Jonas rasped. The black flames surrounding him engulfed the sorcerer’s leg, slowly travelling up his body.

“Release me,” ‘Sin Garu ordered coldly. “Or die very, very slowly. I’ll bend the light around you, I’ll immolate you in the fires of the Next,” he threatened before black flame danced from every orifice of his face.

“I’m glad I got to know you, Tessa,” Jonas said shakily. “And I thank you for weakening him enough that I can do this last thing. Take care of the River Prince.” He started to fade, his flames growing darker and darker until both he and ‘Sin Garu disappeared into a black void in the middle of the room.

“Wait, Jonas,” she said before a shout behind her drew her attention.

Marcus lay completely submerged in the Nocumat save for his face. His eyes were wide, his mouth open as he gasped for breath. Then the whites of his eyes started to darken, crimson slowly streaking the orbs as death reached for him in the guise of the Nocumat’s giant red body.

Tessa ignored the loud explosion behind her and would have run to Marcus had she been able, but at that moment her strength finally gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

“Marcus,” she cried weakly, reaching out her hand. She had nothing left to save him, no power within her but love to bring him back.

When her vision dimmed and finally blocked all sensation, she welcomed the darkness.

“It’s too late, Aerolus,” Cadmus said in a thick voice. “He’s almost gone.”

“It’s never too late,” Aerolus snapped, his control frayed so badly he feared he’d never get it back. Losing his father had been traumatic enough, but losing Marcus would be like losing a part of himself.

He should never have brought the three of them and Tessa to match ‘Sin Garu. But in his arrogance he’d wrongly compared himself to Arim, believing in his strange dreams when he knew he was a fledgeling sorcerer. Instead of conferring with Arim on the matter, he’d blithely accepted his powers as infallible. And now his brother lay on death’s path, the Nocumat bending low to take him in its arms for one final kiss before the Next.

“Dammit, Aerolus,” Cadmus yelled, trying to destroy the red giant hovering over Marcus. “Do something!”

The shock waves and pounds of earth Cadmus shot at the Nocumat had no effect. Its red substance absorbed every slap of force and deflected the soil to the ground around it.

“Nothing’s working,” Aerolus said, tired and sick and despairing, wishing he could trade his life for his brother’s. Tessa lay sprawled on the ground a few feet away, and her heartfelt plea for Marcus before passing out had shaken him to the quick.

He felt his brother’s life sputtering and gathered the most dangerous spell he knew within him. Praying it would save Marcus, he knew he, however, would not survive its aftereffects. Then a flash of white light blinded him.

“Enough already, Oxcen,” a feminine voice spoke, a voice both familiar and strangely alluring.

Aerolus couldn’t understand how, but he heard the Nocumat answer. It used neither words nor thought, yet still it spoke to the woman. He watched in stunned disbelief as she appeared next to Tessa, a vision garbed in white and shining like the sparkle of sun off clear glass.

She looked at Aerolus. “All you had to do was call him by name.” Stepping neatly over Tessa, she walked through the pooling Nocumat before he could warn her away.

Amazingly, the Nocumat , Oxcen apparently, protested her presence like a sullen little boy but did nothing to harm her. Aerolus could almost see it shuffling its globby feet petulantly as it voiced strenuous objections to returning home.

“I don’t care. You shouldn’t have encouraged the fair one to call on you. And wait until I tell your mother what you’ve done. She hates the Dark Lords.”

The Nocumat quickly lost shape, its man form dripping into the puddle from which it had grown, and soon withdrew altogether from the floor, rolling back into itself until only a drop remained before it, too, disappeared.

Marcus dropped like a stone the last few inches to the floor, no longer held by the viscous Oxcen. Cadmus did nothing to catch his brother. Instead he stood frozen over him, as if unable to see or hear anything.

“He can’t hear us or move,” the woman in white said. Her face and form were ethereal, stunning and regal in bearing, reminding him a bit of his mother. She circled him, staring at him from head to foot, until his shock grew to annoyance.

“I don’t know who you are but—”

Her ageless features brightened, their fierce perfection slowly morphing into a younger woman, one of flesh and blood with softer features, and one who made his blood roar as the bright glow around her faded.

“Yes, you do.” She circled to his front again, a broad smile on her full, red lips. “And I’m tired of waiting, Aerolus. But I admit the view’s been nothing but pleasant.”

Her gaze ran slowly over his face to his chest and lower, lingering over his groin.