The ungodly howl and mental pings of frustrated rage blowtorching two inches from her head told Shelby all she needed to know about her situation.
Visualizing a dome over herself and Eric, she used the instinctive filters she always had available. Only now, she used them to bolster that protective power and spread it out in a three-foot radius.
Sick, green fire battered the invisible covering and dissipated. Her head ached as she held the protection in place. The screaming engine noise of fire beating against her shield told the tale. If she let up, even for a second, she and Eric were dead.
She would not let go.
She pulled all of her best memories of him to her and used the energy they gave her to build her power into the little dome, shoring it up with affection and . . . love. Little did it matter to admit it.
Even if they survived the inferno, would Eric live? Was he even alive now?
The defenses wavered as sadness undermined her power. Fingers of flame worked through the shield and blistered her skin.
No. She had to hold it in place a little longer. That niggling sensation when her brother came near penetrated the relentless blast. He wasn’t far away. Maybe Kerr would make it in time to help.
What about her other power? The one where she dove into the other person’s mind to find out what he was feeling? Maybe she could dig into this . . . thing’s brain and mess with him. Knock out his power. Distract him. Annoy him. Anything.
First time she’d used that extra ability, she’d passed out and her vision blurred for a few minutes. And the last time she’d tried that trick, she had flat out gone blind for several hours. What would happen this time? She took stock of her current situation.
Nowhere to go but up.
She stroked Eric’s matted hair. Screw it all. She’d throw the kitchen sink at the fire-flinging jerk, if it meant saving Eric’s life.
Pushing back at the pain that speared through her entire body, she concentrated on the thing above her, letting its nasty emotions ooze all over her. Then she traced the path of hatred and revenge back to its source: a black, moist-sounding mass of worm-like creatures that moved and shifted within what served as the thing’s mind.
Ignoring the spike of pain that drilled her skull, she dove into the living, gelatinous mass and followed the emotions to their wriggling source: a dark red ember of evil, spewing hatred and rage in all directions. The thing’s mind. Its disgusting, writhing core.
There was no manual on dealing with situations like this one. So what did you do with worms?
Squish them?
She mentally plunged into the wriggling quagmire of the creature’s mind and held onto as many of the slimy tendrils as possible. She twisted and squeezed each one until it stopped moving. Grabbing more, she popped their quivering forms. The entrails turned her hands sticky.
This is all in your mind. Don’t get grossed out.
A nasty scream penetrated her corporeal ears. A good sign that something she was doing had pissed him off.
Or gave him the push he needed to try even harder to kill her.
Continuing to inflict as much damage as possible, she kept squeezing. All she wanted was to hurt him at least a fraction of how much he had hurt Eric.
Squeeze. Squish. Pop.
Screaming, slimy anger burst within the kernel of the creature’s mind.
Relentless waves of rage lashed her consciousness.
Keep going.
She gritted her teeth against the blinding headache. If going into normal people’s minds caused bad side effects, what might be the results of diving into a supernatural being of evil’s mind?
Didn’t care as long as it saved Eric.
After another minute of destroying as many worms as possible, her energy flagged and she had to withdraw.
Her hearing had become strangely muffled, like being underwater.
And her vision? Hard to tell in the darkness. The fire battering her wasn’t as bright.
The dark creature’s onslaught waned but did not stop.
Hold onto the shield. Don’t let it go.
The eerie green fire still rained down over Eric and her, but not as intensely now.
Peeking up at the figure, the size of the light-absorbing blackness had decreased.
Did Mr. Relationship-Challenged Evil Blob have limits? Weaknesses?
Did it matter? All she needed was to hold on for a little longer. The sense of Kerr’s presence was stronger now.
She dug her fingers into Eric’s arm and back and spread her torso out on top of him. If she did fail, that creature would literally have to go through her dead body to get to Eric.
Her shield weakened, and cracks formed in her mental dome. A finger of lurid green flame probed under the protection, charring her arm. More fire followed.
No. She concentrated on the man beneath her and threw all of her energy into bolstering the screen. Her head felt like it was getting turned inside out, raw, rubbed with salt. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.
Please let Kerr be close. Let this be done soon. I can’t go much further.
A white-blue light hit her from behind her shoulder, and she flinched. But this light didn’t hurt. The fire above her receded, but she kept her protection formed over Eric’s body.
Glancing up, she saw twin LED lights shining down from the cliff.
Shouts barely penetrated her fuzzy hearing.
The lights above her should be much brighter, but even blinking and trying to clear her eyes didn’t work. Her vision dimmed by the second.
A bubble of danger rode over her, but then a sensation of protection and safety enveloped her. Weird.
The crack of gunshot.
A howl.
And then a blast of a new power came, like that bubble of danger had exploded outward, mere inches above her head.
The creature yowled.
Then, the fiery torch of the thing hissed and disappeared.
Her ears rang. Crunches and rock fall penetrated her foggy senses. She wanted to protect herself and Eric from more rubble coming down, but she couldn’t move. Light flickered in and out of her field of gray vision. She couldn’t bring anything into focus. Her head throbbed.
She half lay on top of Eric, keeping one hand fisted in his jacket fabric. No way would she let go.
Low voices filtered through her ringing ears into her reality.
When something touched her arm, she screamed and whipped her free hand around, hitting solid muscle.
“Shelby!” someone shouted. Even with her muffled hearing, the tone sounded so familiar. “Kerr, get down here. She’s still alive.”
“Of course I’m alive. What did you expect,” she muttered, sagging onto Eric.
Her shattered leg spread agony through every inch of her body. All she wanted was to embrace unconsciousness.
No. Get Eric to safety first.
“Shelby!” That voice. “You’re going to be okay. I promise.”
Really? Was it him? Not possible.
A big hand slid under her chin and raised her head. The light from her headlamp lit up the face in front of her.
Thick neck muscles, a hard jaw, that unforgiving mouth, a crooked nose, and gold-glittering black eyes.
Oh, shit.
Blackness pulled her into the abyss.
“Vaughn.”