Page 20 of Tin God

“Fucking let me go!” Ben shouted at the behemoth covered in mud.

“Not until you learn some manners,” Carwyn growled.

Ben’s arm swiped down and the rain and wind followed, battering the vampire on the ground, buffeting him with the force of wind. The trees around the house shook, bending and creaking as Ben manipulated the air.

He might have been caught in the mud, but Ben gathered his element through the downpour and shoved his amnis at the earth vampire who had captured him.

The wind forced Carwyn’s head back, but not before he’d sunk himself into the ground, drawing power from the rock, the soil, and the matter around him.

“You think you’re strong.” Despite the wind, the earth vampire stalked toward him, lifting his legs only to sink them up to the knees as he walked toward Ben. “And you are. But you’re young, Benjamin.”

Ben was six feet in the air at that point, but the earth holding him hadn’t let go. He felt the ground holding him harden as Carwyn’s amnis forced the water from the densely packed soil. Within seconds, the earth around Ben’s legs felt more like stone than mud.

“Let me go!” Ben was angry and unfocused. He felt a burning pain in his thigh that pumped adrenaline through his body.

“Calm down.” Carwyn reached him and rose, the ground beneath the vampire lifting him to meet Ben’s eyes.

The moment he was within reach, Ben swung out, his fist meeting Carwyn’s rock-hard jaw with the force of a small hurricane.

Carwyn’s head snapped back, and the scent of fresh blood filled the air when his jaw came down and his fang sliced through his lip. He snarled and reached out, closing his massive hand around Ben’s neck.

The earth followed Carwyn’s arm, closing around Ben’s throat to choke off his words as Carwyn’s element folded around the threat, cutting off his ability to breathe and speak.

Ben tried to force the air into his lungs, but the pressure grew and the mud turned solid around him.

He was slowly being choked by solid rock.

“Calm down,” Carwyn said. “This isn’t helping anyone.”

Ben didn’t need air to live. His amnis churned the wind around him, battering Carwyn, but it felt as effective as blowing bubbles at a brick wall. His amnis roused, angry and frustrated. The pain in his leg grew sharper. His rage built.

He will kill you, and she will have no one.

She will be alone.

The thought of his mate in pain and alone in the darkness flipped a switch in his brain. Ben closed his eyes and reached out with his senses.

The air was all around him, surrounding him, holding the water from the clouds, the air remaining in his lungs, but there was nothing in the rock that held him. The earth vampire had pushed everything out of the matter, leaving Ben nothing to manipulate.

Save for the air in his enemy’s own body.

He opened his eyes, narrowed them, and watched as Carwyn slowly felt the air sucked from his lungs.

His blue eyes went wide, and he lifted the corner of his lip, baring a bloody fang.

“Bastard,” the giant mouthed.

He felt a surge of satisfaction until the press of rock tightened around his neck. The earth vampire’s element was slowly hardening around his body, no longer simply choking off the air but digging slowly and steadily into his spine.

His amnis raced in panic, and the air around him lost focus, swirling in spikes and erratic gusts that ripped at his hair and eyes.

What are you doing?Carwyn mouthed the words, his eyes streaming with bloody tears from the wind.

A jolt like a fist around his neck.

The shock of pain and panic snapped Ben back to awareness.

He stared at the man who had watched him grow up, the immortal who had been as much an uncle as a friend.

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