Page 39 of The Elementalist
A squishythumpcame from behind me at the same moment the AR-15 vampire burst into flames. I peered back past Crystal at a female vampire a bit older looking than the others I’d seen so far, laying inert on the floor about twelve feet away with a stake embedded in her chest, twitching like a fish out of water. She went still after a few seconds and dried out into a pile of clothing and grey powder.
“You gotta get us out of here,” said the girl chained to the bed. “They’re gonna kill us.”
I swiveled to face her, but before I could think of what to do, another woman screamed in terror from down the hall. “Hold that thought.” I pointed at her. “Be back in a moment.”
“No! Don’t leave us here!” shouted the girl while struggling.
“Hey!” yelled Radiator Girl, running to the end of her leash. “Don’t go!”
Yeah, walking away from three kidnap victims might’ve been a dick move. Ask Justine. I’m good at pulling dick moves. Though, she tended to call me an asshole more than a dick. Anyway, I didn’t quite trust that those three were as harmless as they claimed. At least not yet. I suspected it would’ve been more of a dick move to get close enough for them to kill me, thus condemning them to undeath.
In the hallway, I stopped a few steps from the door the scream came from and hurled a conjured rock at it. Not too big a rock, only the size of a watermelon. Plenty big enough to take the door out. The instant it smashed its way into the room, a flurry of gunfire erupted from within.
“Shit!” shouted Piper.
Since I’m sure they could hear me even if I whispered, I glanced at Crystal with a look I hoped she read as ‘if we step into that doorway, we’re going to be riddled with bullets.’
She turned invisible for a second, then reappeared, pointing at her eyes, then at the wall. Oh, damn. That’s right. She said the vampires could still see her. Hmm. This blew.
I blinked.
Blew…
Idea!
Chapter Twenty-One
Wind and Fury
Crystal reacted to the shift in my expression from confused to devilish grin by dropping into a stance. She looked ready to charge in the door as soon as I did something.
And do something I did.
I raised my arms, palms up, and called the wind, pushing it into the room. Streamers of rotting wallpaper peeled off the walls and went flying. Paintings sailed, small tables collapsed, little vases smashed.
“What the fuck is this?” yelled Derek over the gale.
A woman screamed again.
I lifted my hands higher, increasing the force of the blast. More paper, and some plaster bits, ripped off the walls on either side of me. A sconce or three went flying as well, lightbulbs shattering. Crystal might have amazing reflexes, but she didn’t weigh that much. She flew into me from behind and wrapped her arms around me, sheltering inside the small area of calm at the eye of the storm I’d made.
Bangs and crashes came from the room along with the tinkle of smashing glass. Daylight burst into the corridor, no doubt from the hurricane tearing the boards off the windows. Hundred-mile-per-hour winds weren’t meant to exist inside a house. The same woman emitted a yowl of pain. At thethudof a body hitting the floor, I decided to roll the dice and charged through the door.
The large bedroom looked like… well, it looked like a tornado tore it apart. Both windows were little more than rectangular openings in the wall, now with no glass or curtains. Two bright beams of sunlight slanted into the room. Papers and trash still fluttered in the air over a single queen-sized bed, along with glittering dust motes. Piper’s legs stuck up from apile of smashed furniture at the far left corner. I figured he took a marble-topped table straight to the face. Closer on the right, Derek stood beside another college-age woman with red hair. Her little green dress, runny makeup, and earrings told me she’d went out for a fun night and found the exact opposite. Fortunately, I didn’t see any blood on or near her neck, but they’d cuffed her hands behind her back, tethering her by a six-foot chain to another radiator.
These two seriously got on my nerves.
A handgun sat on the rug within lunging reach of Derek. The instant his squinting gaze shifted from me to the gun, I covered it in ice, freezing it in place on the floor. He zipped behind the redhead and stared at me intently. Dark crimson light glowed from deep within his eyes in time with a sudden upwelling of the strong urge to destroy him. His cocky grin faltered to worry. As if by magic, a hunting knife appeared in his hand, held to her throat.
“What the hell is going on?” shouted Derek.
The young woman squirmed, equal parts furious and terrified. “You kidnapped me, you asshole! That’s what’s going on. Get off me!”
“Game over, man.” I said, raising my hands.
“You… you just stand right there and let Piper end your ass, or I’m gonna kill this bitch.” Again Derek’s eyes glowed, and my anger grew. A small tug at my temples told me he’d been trying to pry his way into my thoughts. This was his attempt to control me, but it didn’t work. And thank God it didn’t.
Piper groaned and pulled himself out of the pile of furniture pieces. Crystal slipped in behind me, still holding the stake she made from the railing.
