Page 23 of Swamp Kings 1

She froze. “Ew, right.”

He chuckled, setting her down on her feet. “Walk with me to my Swamp Dragon.”

“You takin’ me for a ride?”

“Yes ma’am. A nice, long, hard ride.”

“And fast?”

“So fast.”

“And dirty?”

“Filthy.”

She giggled as they went. “What about mean?”

“‘Til you’re ugly crying.”

Tegan belted out one of her Texas laughs as they took off toward the back of the house. Dear Lord, she’d prayed for this very thing. Already these nuns were bringing God’s favor to the swamps.Oh my Texas loins.

****

The moment Lore stepped off the boat, all the horrible feelings returned to Celeste, bringing her panic. It suddenly felt like a sticky lava lined her veins, grabbing hold of her blood as it fought to push through her body. She closed her eyes getting thrust into a gooey darkness that terrified her until she spied a single window. She mentally raced to it, finding a kind of map of all the evil things taking place in and around her. She watched as a darkness stirred and growled inside her as though fighting with its own self with her mind and body as the battleground. One second it fought to protect her, the next it attacked.Like a faithful canine turning mad, forgetting the bond with its master.

She slammed her hands over her ears when the heated whispers started.

“Celeste, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head quickly, Natasha’s fear not helping. She forced her eyes open, fighting to get away from the battle ramping up inside her.

“Oh my God, your skin!”

She needed Kaphas! “Help me!”

Power escaped through her shriek and flung the sisters near her onto the ground. Her body pressed into the boat rail as a sound encased her muscles like a net of steel. It was Lore! She watched in her mind as the dark powers ate through the prison then launched her through the air. She flailed her arms and legs as the ground raced toward her. The wind exploded from her body right as another sound blasted through her eardrums and clamped her skull like metal fingers. The darkness writhed through her bones and muscles while drawing the kinetic energy from the claw into itself and then reversed the direction of molecules, sending the attack back to its source.

The sound of Lore’s agony filled her with horror. She washurtingpeople.OhGodhelpme.Helpme!

Celeste!

Kaphas’ voice filled her ears. She fought to turn her head, seeing him there, ten feet from her with his hand reaching. The darkness yanked every which way inside, turning her into writhing limbs on the ground as it realigned for something new, something worse. The moment she saw its intention, she screamed at him with all her might and breath, “Run!”

But he did not run! Fetch, Fathom and Fin were now forming a symbiotic barrier around her. The terror of what it wanted to do to Kaphas forced her into the fight inside herself. She threw every ounce of her being into the battle, bringing the Kevlar in her body to a boil as its will flashed between weapon and shield.

Fight it, angel,Kaphas whispered through her, slowly moving toward her.

She looked up at the dome of electric energy encasing all of them as the backlash began pushing at every inch, rapidly calculating.

“We can’t hold her for long,” Fetch, Fathom and Fin warned in unison as Kaphas closed the distance between them.

I need to touch you, Angel. Help me. Command my power. Our power.

I amshe screamed, fighting to reach for him as her jaw clenched so hard, she feared it might break.It wants… to kill you. And… use… me.

I will never let it happen.

She focused on the inches of distance between their hands as the powers screamed. While locked in his beautiful gaze so bright with love and terror, she saw the sacrifice he intended to make to save her. She realized six inches of their life remained between them. Six inches of heaven and hell clashed inside her and him and even the triplets. Six inches before she would lose him.

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