Chapter Eighteen

Evrain closed his eyes and extended his senses into the earth. He could see, or rather sense, the slow but steady movement of water as Gregory drew it from the pores of the rock. As each droplet was removed from the area of the fault line that Evrain meant to fuse, it was replaced by a miniature cushion of air. Nathaniel’s control was impressive. To keep so many different spots in his head and maintain the integrity of the protection he was providing was an immense task. Damon whimpered and Evrain took a quick look to see him sagging against Nate’s side. Nathaniel lowered him to the ground then knelt next to him, muttering and twisting his fingers into complex shapes, never stopping. Damon’s face was twisted in pain and Evrain had to close his eyes again. It was too hard to watch.

Gripping Dominic’s hand in his right, he bent the middle finger of his left hand until it touched his palm. He twisted his thumb in the opposite direction and extended his remaining fingers. The ache in his hand from the unnatural position helped his focus. Power flowed through him, or rather through Dominic as his conduit, into the ground. He probed deeper and deeper, following the path laid by Nathaniel and Gregory. He sensed Killian working alongside him, not yet manipulating the earth, just getting to where he needed to be.

In Evrain’s mind, the area where there was most friction between tectonic plates burned red hot. The heat was so much more than anything he had dealt with before—even the magma Killian had produced during his test was cool in comparison. The tension between the rock faces was immeasurable and, for a moment, he was terrified of what he was attempting. His confidence faltered. As if sensing his uncertainty, Dominic stroked the palm of his hand with his thumb. The gentle, rhythmic movements calmed him. Next to him, Killian grunted and deep beneath the earth rock fragments and crystals began to shift, creating a substance that Evrain could work with.

Pushing aside the pain in his head, Evrain muttered a rapid series of words, weaving his fingers into complex shapes as he sought to gather the heat contained within the earth. He wasn’t sure how he knew that he had seconds to act but he was absolutely certain that if he failed, catastrophic events would follow. He threw every ounce of energy he possessed into controlling the fire element, pulling molecules together, encouraging the heat to rise and rise. He replaced Nathaniel’s air bubbles with liquid heat, dissolving the mobile crystals Killian had created into liquid rock. He was shocked into opening his eyes when a geyser of steam and rock erupted from the surface of the lake, sending fragments of superheated granite high into the air. As they landed, every particle created a hiss. None of the debris was close enough to hurt his friends so he ignored the noise and carried on pouring power into the fault line. He hadn’t thought about how he would cool the liquid rock to fuse the plates together and there was no way he could control the other elements at the same time, but Gregory, Nathaniel and Killian came to his rescue. He released his hold on fire as cool air and cold water doused the massive area of liquid rock. The reaction hit him like a bus, throwing him off his feet as the fire element tried to push back. It wanted to grow, to create more heat, and Evrain got the sense that it blamed him for being thwarted. The angry backlash whipped across his body in a line of fire, pain consumed him and white light filled his vision. It was as if his entire body burned on the lakeshore and when darkness came, it was a merciful release.

 

Evrain was still channeling until the moment he hit the ground. Dominic caught him as he fell, dropping to his knees to cradle Evrain’s body. He didn’t dare say anything as it was apparent that the other warlocks were still engaged with whatever was happening deep below the surface of the earth. Evrain’s face was flushed and sweat coated his brow even though the temperature had to be below freezing. His left hand was clenched into a fist and when Dominic massaged it, he found blood oozing between Evrain’s fingers. Under layers of clothing, he couldn’t tell if Evrain had further injuries, but his breathing was fast and ragged. Dominic was desperate to get him somewhere safe where he could check him over properly but he had to wait.

Gregory swore and leaned heavily against Coryn. His skin had an unnatural gray cast to it and he looked exhausted. Nathaniel took a deep, shaky breath. His eyes, which had darkened to black, cleared. In his arms, Damon was barely conscious. Nathaniel stroked his hair with a trembling hand. Eric seemed dazed but was peppering Killian’s face with kisses and muttering soothing words to the warlock whose drawn face betrayed his pain.

“Did you succeed?” Dominic asked.

“Yes.” It was Nate who responded. “Evrain fused a massive area of rock. I don’t know how he did it. How is he?”

“Alive. Apart from that, I don’t know.” Dominic’s voice shook. He was close to tears and desperately trying to hold himself together for Evrain’s sake. “I need help getting him inside.”

“I think I can manage that.” Killian extracted himself from Eric’s grip. “You grab his feet and I’ll take his head.”

Between the two of them they carried Evrain inside, laying him on the floor with a rolled-up coat to cushion his head. Dominic started checking him from the bottom up, shoving his hands under Evrain’s clothes to check for injuries. He pushed up his pullover, opened his shirt and cursed when he saw the livid mark crossing Evrain’s body from hip to shoulder. He could have been slashed with a flaming whip.

“Fuck.” Dominic had no idea what to do. He couldn’t think.

Killian dropped to his knees next to Evrain’s body. “Fetch me some water, Eric. There’s a small kitchen area over there.”

Eric found a sink with a single tap and in the cupboard beneath it there was a bucket full of cleaning supplies. He tipped everything onto the floor then filled the bucket before lugging it across to Killian.

“Here.”

“Perfect.” Killian pulled Evrain’s shirt further apart. He cupped his hands in the bucket then spooned water across Evrain’s wound, muttering under his breath as he did. Ice crystals formed on Evrain’s skin and his breathing eased.

“Need to get the heat out of the wound,” Killian said. “You keep adding water and I’ll keep freezing it. It doesn’t take too much energy.”

After a few minutes of the unorthodox treatment, some of the redness around the wound had faded and Evrain’s breathing had evened out—as if he were sleeping rather than unconscious. Killian staggered to his feet then slumped into a chair by the table. From somewhere, Coryn had managed to magic up hot water, a jar of coffee and some mugs and was handing out hot drinks. Every man in the room seemed shell-shocked.

Evrain coughed and his eyes flickered open. “Fuck, everything hurts. Did I get trampled by a passing water buffalo?”

Dominic snorted his laughter, relieved that Evrain was able to see the funny side of the situation. “Actually, I think you just saved a lot of people from a terrible fate. No water buffaloes were involved.”

“Indeed,” Gregory said. “And nobody outside the few of us will ever know about it.”

“Can you make it to a chair?” Dominic asked, propping Evrain up little.

“Why am I half naked?”

“That’s where you’re going?” Dominic said. “Killian did some warlock first aid on you. You should be grateful.”

Evrain probed at the wound across his chest. “I felt that happen. Thought I’d been sliced in half. Some kind of backlash.” He staggered to his feet and, with Dominic’s help, collapsed into the nearest chair. “Is that coffee?” Coryn pushed a mug toward him. “I think I deserve a brandy, but this will have to do.”

“You were incredible tonight, Evrain,” Nathaniel said. “I’ve never seen so much power so finely controlled, and the scale of what you achieved was immense.”

“I couldn’t have done it alone. It was a team effort.”

“One that saved hundreds of thousands of people and billions of dollars,” Gregory said. “Not a bad night’s work.”

Damon coughed, then moaned. “I’d rather take three of Nathaniel’s spankings than go through that ever again.”

“You’ll take them anyway,” Nate growled. “You did good, brat.” He stroked Damon’s hair.

“It hurt,” Damon whined. “Please, let’s not do this again anytime soon.”

“I sincerely hope that won’t be necessary.”

“Good.” Damon settled against Nate’s chest. “Oh, and happy Christmas everyone.”

When Dominic checked his watch, it was two in the morning. “Happy Christmas.” They clinked mugs in an impromptu toast.

There was a knock on the door and before anyone could react, it opened. Felix stood there, hands on hips. “I’d quite like to make it home before dawn if that suits you all.”

“Felix, I told you to go home once you’d delivered Evrain and Dominic,” Nate said.

“You did and I didn’t. Deal with it. The car is at the gate along with another chauffeur-driven limousine, so get your behinds in gear and move. How you imagined you’d find transport at this time on Christmas morning, I’ll never know. All brains and no common sense.”

“Succinct as always, Felix,” Gregory said. “Though I for one greatly appreciate your disobedience.” There was a general murmur of agreement.

“I love you, Felix,” Damon said, eyelids drooping.

“Me too,” Eric echoed. “I was thinking we might have to hitchhike back to the city. It’s a shame warlocks can’t fly, or levitate, or do that thing like on Star Trek.”

Killian cast a sharp glance at Felix, then to Nate.

“It’s okay, Felix is fully aware of what we are, Killian,” Nate said. “Perhaps, if everyone can manage it, we should follow him before he gets impatient.”

In the general move toward the door, Dominic took Evrain’s arm and much of his weight. “It’s not far, love, then you can rest.” He kissed him. “Merry Christmas.”

He and Evrain brought up the rear of the procession back along the edge of the reservoir. It seemed so tranquil and, as Dominic gazed across the water, he could hardly believe that the scene hid such potential for catastrophe. A crisis had been averted while people slept peacefully or enjoyed their Christmas festivities. Midnight Mass had gone on undisturbed. A deep sense of accomplishment filled him. The worth of Evrain’s power became ever more evident and he was proud to be a small part of it.

“What are you thinking about?” Evrain murmured.

“Completely random things,” Dominic said. “Like how I grew sage for our turkey stuffing and now it won’t be used.”

“Hmm, I don’t believe you for a minute but regardless, we’ll have our Christmas a day late when we get home. I have some more…inspiring gifts for you.”

“I’ll bet you do.” Dominic gave Evrain’s ass a cheeky pat. “I’m sure Santa has delivered some interesting things for you too.”