AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He had no idea where the flames were coming from, but Gabriel knew they were going to bring the house down with everyone inside.
So he called the fire to him.
It took everything he had and then some. Hunter had to be just outside, feeding him power, because he’d never been able to control a fire of this magnitude on his own. But he appealed to the rage and fury, promising the fire it could bring the house down if those firemen escaped. Promising to help. Promising it would be f**king spectacular.
The flames encircled him the way they had in the woods that night and they were still coming, burning through the walls and throwing choking smoke into the air until Gabriel couldn’t see anything.
But the firefighters were escaping. He could feel the fire’s regret as they poured out the door upstairs.
Gabriel smiled. This fire could bring down the building in a minute. For now, he held the control.
Then he heard the crack. The creak of splitting wood.
And a firefighter was coming through the floor.
Gabriel couldn’t move for a moment. At first he lost the man in the smoke, but then he darted forward, feeling burning splinters slice his palm. Then he hit something solid a body. The guy had to have broken a leg or something bodies just didn’t lie like that naturally. His helmet had come off, lost somewhere in the fire, and he was cursing a blue streak. Gabriel almost couldn’t hear him over the roar of flames.
Especially when the fire abandoned Gabriel and attacked the man on the ground.
Gabriel had once watched this documentary in science class or something, where there’d been a dead animal lying in the woods, and they sped up the film to show the insects attacking and devouring the animal.
That’s what this fire looked like.
He swiped at the man’s coat, flinging fire away. He smacked hard to kill the flames, trying to use his ability to drive the fire off into the darkness. He had no idea if these coats could really burn, but this didn’t seem like the time to find out.
The guy was shouting. It took Gabriel a minute to realize he was yelling at him.
“The floor’s gonna fall! Get to a doorway!”
Gabriel looked up. The ceiling was a blanket of flame.
Shit. He hooked his arms under the fireman’s and started to pull. His jeans were on fire; flames bit against his leg.
Christ, this guy weighed a ton, what with the gear and the oxygen tanks. He was trying to help, though, pushing with his good leg, but it was slow going.
“Tell them,” the guy gasped. “Tell them we’re coming through the back.”
Gabriel gave another good yank that bought them three feet.
Maybe the guy had hit his head. Tell them? Tell who?
“Tell them!”
Gabriel could see blisters on the guy’s face. Just how hot was it down here?
“Damn it, man, get on the radio before they send more guys in here.”
The radio.
“Not working,” Gabriel said, coughing through the smoke.
“Come on. Almost there.”
Sure, Hunter could help when there was a forty-pound kid to carry. Three hundred pounds of firefighter and equipment, not so much.
Fire was raining from the ceiling now. It stung Gabriel’s cheeks, protesting their escape. He wasn’t entirely sure he was dragging the guy in the right direction, but he was pretty sure the door was straight back.
“Just get out,” the guy coughed. His efforts to help were lack-ing strength now. “Get out of here before the floor falls.”
