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One minute. Two. Five.
Our shoulders began to fall. Grace had said nothing, and her link was open and calm.
Twenty minutes.
The back door slammed, and a chill went down my spine. Everyone stood in our circle except Nate and Victor, who watched over the children a few feet away. No one was missing but Grace and Dalton, and they wouldn’t leave the donut shop.
“Well, well, well. You tried to set a trap for me.” The other side of the circle let go of hands and turned to face the traitor.
Lady Life stood in her gleaming silver dress, a wicked smile on her face. She looked lovely. Too bad the outward appearance didn’t reflect her inward evil.
Carmon shared a glance with Olivia, who hid behind her large brother, Marcus, and disappeared. Life’s lips parted as she gave a deep laugh which chilled me to my bones, and a shiver ran up my spine.
“Oh yes, please grab darling Dalton and his trashy mate. Or wife? They did get married, didn’t they? How silly of me to forget.” Life took a couple more steps, and Nate, Victor, and Alex grabbed up the children and retreated to the front door of the house in the event they needed a quick escape.
Dalton, Grace, and Olivia popped into the house, a reversal of what we’d planned to happen. The rest of us should have popped into the donut shop when Life least expected our arrival. That had been the plan. Life had gotten the jump on us, though.
“It’s nice to have everyone in attendance now. So, let’s start. You have two choices: bow to me and offer your allegiance, or you can die. Pretty simple, I think.” She smiled and looked around the room. “Who’d like to go first?”
No one moved, but everyone glanced at each other. This was not the plan. This was not close to the plan we’d made. We couldn’t even talk through our links. Life was supposed to be surrounded by all of us while Carmon stripped her of her immortality and the rest of us fought to keep her there in the shop.
“Well, I’m not waiting all day.” Life’s pretty eyes narrowed. “I can kill you all right now, and it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.”
Carmon snorted and slowly walked to the fireplace. With a wince, he lowered himself to sit on the bricks. “You’re a seer, are you not? That’s part of our power now?”
Life narrowed her eyes further. “I did not give you that power, Carmon. By the way, did you know it was me who suggested you be given your father’s name as a middle name?”
“He’s so proud to have the name of his cheating, diabolical father, I’m sure.” Marcus rolled his eyes as his sister.
Life’s teeth ground together, and more than me cringed. We were all going to die.
“As it turns out,” Carmon interrupted before things could escalate, “you did give me the ability of a seer. You might not have meant to, but you did.”
Life paled, and Carmon laughed. His face morphed into one as evil as Lady Life’s had been.
“The end of this isn’t written. You know that.” Life shook herself and put on a show of confidence again.
“As a matter of fact, after devouring the immortality of your siblings and their mates, I know much more than I ever thought I would. You didn’t mean to transfer your seer ability to me. I bet you didn’t mean to transfer some pieces of knowledge either. Or maybe you did but hoped I’d still be overwhelmed with it all right now.” Carmon settled back against the fireplace and closed his eyes. While the plan had changed, Carmon was still moving forward with the most basic part. Life needed to lose her immortality. “As you can see, you have caused me a little trouble. I’ll pull through, but I just need a few minutes and I’ll be back on my feet.”
Life sneered. “Not if you’re the first to die, Carmon.”
Carmon stiffened and then his spine arched, his face taking on a look of intense pain. He couldn’t even shriek. His mouth opened, but no sound emerged.
“Carmon!” Sylee rushed to her mate as Marcus and Zhained growled their displeasure.
The two large men rushed their sister. With the gentleness of two SUVs, the two hit their sister, sending her flying through the back window, which covered the entire wall. Earth and Lightning followed Life into the backyard, the other Elementals following to keep her distracted.
I didn’t follow. Adam looked at me, unsure of what he should do.
“Go. I’m no good in a fight.” True to his word, he’d tried to train me in fighting basics after our planning meeting. I was nowhere near ready for this fight, and my element was useless out there in the cold. “Be safe.”
“I love you, baby.” Adam turned and ran for the window. No one used the door.
Even Sophie the healer had gone outside to help. Sylee stayed by Carmon, who’d relaxed onto the bricks again, sweat beading on his forehead. Carmon’s hands were wrapped gently in Sylee’s as he concentrated on his job. The sooner he took away Life’s immortality, the sooner we could kill her. I didn’t lust after her death, but a woman with that much power needed to be stopped, and Life would never give up her Elemental powers, if she could.
Sweat poured down Carmon’s face, and he gulped.
“Water.” His voice was a gasp. Sylee looked at me, and I was on my way to the kitchen.
