Page 138 of Legacy of Danger
Chapter 41
Higher than Everest one minute, bottom of the ocean the next. Vaughn should have known they weren't out of danger yet.
His power sparked into a virtual ice pick and lodged in his skull.
That damned creature rose out of nowhere and turned those nasty, red eyes on Mariah, and Vaughn's ability went crazy.
Mixed curses heralded his brothers' and Odie's arrival.
The voice that came from the creature, a scream blended with an animal howl, scorched Vaughn's ears. Tucking Mariah in to his side, Vaughn turned so his body protected her. His power pushed outward, no longer a rubbery bubble but a harder one, driven by pure rage and fear for her life.
Fuck this. No way would he save her from the Brand bastards only to have this bullshit, whatever the hell it was, hurt her. Not today. Not ever.
"You have tried to take my minion from me," the thing howled.
"If you mean the fucker who kidnapped her and tried to kill her, then yes, you bet we did," Vaughn snarled.
The nothingness expanded, soaking blackness into blackness. "You have failed. We are too strong."
Vaughn was beyond caring. "And by 'we' you mean...?"
"Mon dieu, don't ask it questions, my friend." Odie inhaled.
The thing turned to the Cajun. "You?" An inferno-whistle breath of sulfur blasted out of the thing. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."
What the actual fuck? Odie knew the creature? They had ahistory?
"But you did not. Now look at you, a disgusting shadow of what you used to be." Odie was baiting it. Why?
"Isshewith you?" the thing howled, red ember eyes casting around the forest.
"No idea who you're talking about," Odie replied, his tone casual but his stance rigid. Vaughn had to give the Cajun props for sheer balls.
"No matter. I will destroy her legacy once and for all." The glowing red orbs scanned the group. "Where is the last one?"
"What?" Garrison choked out.
"There is one more of the legacy missing. I must have them all." Snow melted into acrid liquid as thick clouds of sulfur billowed underneath the thing. "No matter." A finger of the black cloud elongated and reached toward Mariah. "Time for you all to know my power. I will destroy this paltry human now."
"No!" Vaughn yelled.
"You cannot stop me."
"The hell I can't."
As the blackness brushed over Mariah's skin, she screamed and grabbed at her neck.
The scent of her burnt flesh seared Vaughn's nose.
He released all conscious constraint of his gift and let it suck up layer after layer of power, cram it into a ball, and extend it out over her. Damn it, his head was going to fly apart.
Concentrate.
This time, he jammed virtual spikes on the outer portion of the thick sphere, because why the hell not? He ignored his own protection and instead ensured that his power covered Mariah. His head throbbed, but damned if she would be hurt any more by that thing.
The creature kept pushing against the invisible barrier, but Mariah's screams receded into a gasp as she sagged into Vaughn's chest. Safe. For now.
Another abrupt change in his power threw his mind from accelerate into annihilate. No longer did his ability want to protect. Now it wanted blood. It wanted revenge.
