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“What are you looking for?”
“Water! I need water!” Marcello stared at him as though he’d lost his mind, so Calder called forth the water he had in a large floating bubble. Marcello’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. “I need lots of water for a weapon. Do you have a garden faucet?”
“Uh…yeah,” Marcello replied in a strangled voice. He pointed to the left side of the house and Calder took off, running around the house until he finally spotted an old iron faucet with a hose still attached to it.
Calder nearly cried with relief as he turned on the faucet, welcoming the steady stream of water. It was like something inside of him unclenched near his soul, and he could breathe with relief. With his powers wrapping the flowing water, Calder swept one hand up, swinging it in a wide arc above his head. The water jumped up from where it was flowing into the ground and gathered in a growing ball.
In the distance, there was an angry growl and a scream. Baer had found a pestilent.
Now, Calder needed to find a few of his own. No one was getting near Gio and his family. They would remain safe even if it was the last thing he ever did in this world.
As he rushed around the back, he discovered pestilents running toward the house. So far it was only three men and a woman, but they had knives and guns raised, ready to strike. Calder ordered the ball of water to flatten into a wave. It crashed into them hard, knocking two off their feet. The other two were staggering but remained upright, soaked clothes sticking to their slender frames.
With a sweeping movement of arms, he directed the water into the pestilents, slamming into them again and again, until they were forced to crawl on their hands and knees if they wanted to reach him.
Each attack was directed by broad strokes of his arms. He was like a conductor directing a deadly symphony. The water obeyed his every command, rising and forming shapes to hammer at his attackers. In the end, there was no stopping them. He separated the water into four bubbles that encased their heads. Death by drowning was a horrible way to go, but it was no worse than what they had planned for all the humans on Earth.
He blocked out the sounds of Baer’s panther attacks, the cat’s screams matching that of the dying pestilents. He ignored the roar and crackle of Lucien’s flames, burying down his fears for his mate. If anyone could stay safe, it was Lucien. The man was amazing. No pestilent would harm him.
For now, there was only the rushing water, the break and crash of waves he created and controlled. When the pestilents died at his hands, there was only silence.
As four dead pestilents dropped lifeless to the ground, Calder gasped to find that six more pestilents had taken their place, and there were more moving shadows in the darkness. They were outnumbered by far more than he’d expected.
Calder’s arms shook and ached from the exertion, but he clenched his teeth and pulled more water from the running faucet. The giant ball of water stretched into a wall across the back of the yard, extending more than ten feet into the air. They would not cross. They would not pass. They would not gain entrance to this house.
No one touched Gio and his family.
Chapter Twenty-One
Gio ran from where Wiley was swearing at his phone in the kitchen to the living room so he could stare out the wide front window that looked out onto the lawn. Yes, he might have shoved one of his smaller cousins out of the way in his haste. And yes, he might have knocked the phone out of the hands of another who was trying to record the fight, but he didn’t care. His men were in danger.
The thick growth of bushes and trees made it hard to pick out a lot of what was happening, but it was easy to see Lucien as he stood in front of the house, surrounded by floating balls of fire. They circled him at a steady pace. Occasionally one would dart away to slam into a creature that screamed and writhed in pain, while a new ball of flames would pop into existence, replacing the one that had disappeared.
Lucien looked as if he had everything under control until two of the attackers started firing guns at his beautiful man. Everyone in the house shouted and ducked as a few of the bullets hammered the columns and brick. One of the windows on the second floor shattered.
“Why the hell aren’t we calling the police again?” his uncle Tony bellowed.
Clenching his teeth, Gio pivoted on the balls of his feet where he was crouched beside a window with his cousin Leo cuddled against him. He sucked in a breath to snap at him, but his mother beat him to it.
