I Am the Storm (The Night Firm Book 2)

by Karpov Kinrade

  I pull him with me farther away from the crowd.

  The chime ends.

  The clock tower explodes.

  The force rocks the world beneath my feet, and it's only Sebastian’s hold on me that keeps me from collapsing.

  From the corner of my eye I see a familiar form surrounded by mist, her eyes sad, her mouth forming my name.

  "Eve."

  I hear it on the wind. The woman with skin dark as midnight and long silver braids that flow down her back. A silver horn protrudes from her forehead and her large silver eyes watch me with curiosity.

  I scream as another flash seizes me and clutch my head as my brain feels as if it's squeezed into a vice. I struggle to focus, my head pounding, bile rising in my throat. And then I smell it. Smoke. Ash. Fire. The rising dust of falling debris. And then I hear the screams.

  I turn to look at the town square and I see the flames, the panic, the people struggling to flee the courtyard, a brave few trying to put out the blaze with buckets of water. Smoke billowing everywhere, choking the oxygen out of my lungs. People clearing away rubble. Part of the courthouse has collapsed. The part holding the clock. The source of the explosion. And then I remember.

  I look around for Lily. The other Night brothers. I don't see them. I don't see any of them. Panic seizes me. "We need to find your brothers," I yell.

  Sebastian's eyes widen. "Let's go," he says, grabbing my hand.

  We run towards the direction of the explosion.

  I ditch my cloak that's slowing me down, and I try to pull out whatever power is in me. Can I put out the flames? Help in some way?

  Enforcers dressed in black leather organize a group to help put out the fire. It spreads beyond the courthouse, taking down other buildings and many stalls and booths. The Ifrits run in and out of the blaze, pulling people out from under the fallen structures, the flames dripping off them like oil. One of the gargoyles flies large buckets of water from a nearby stream, but it's not enough.

  I have to find a way to help.

  Anxiety clutches me and I struggle to breathe, to calm my mind. Where are the others? My mind spins with all my deepest fears of losing those I love. If they were near the blast, they could be dead, and I can't handle losing more of my family. Tears burn my eyes and the world feels like it's closing in on me.

  Sebastian pauses and glances at me. "Eve?"

  But I can't answer him. I'm hyperventilating and I feel dizzy and scared. Like my heart is going to explode.

  Sebastian turns to me, putting his hands gently on my face, and I feel a pulse of his earth power flow into me. It's strong, steady, stable, safe.

  "Breathe with me," he says, slowing his own breath and encouraging me to do the same.

  "Focus on my voice. Focus on my hands on your face."

  His hands do feel good, and his voice is deep and rhythmic. Calming.

  Finally, I use the tools I have learned over the years to manage my anxiety attacks. I focus on my senses. On identifying and counting things I can see, taste, touch, smell, hear.

  And then I feel it.

  Welling up within me.

  My power.

  I close my eyes.

  Water. We need water. I put everything I am into that thought, that feeling of covering the earth with water.

  Thunder breaks through the sky.

  Wind whips around us.

  And then…

  The rain falls.

  I open my eyes, and see Sebastian looking at me in wonder. "Did you do that?" he asks, looking up at the sky.

  "I think I did."

  His eyes widen in awe, and he caresses my cheek. "You're incredible."

  I put my hand on his and smile. "Thank you for helping me. Now, let's go find our family."

  The rain continues to pour, a storm building around us. It's not enough to put out the flames entirely, but it's helping.

  I call out for Derek, for Liam, for Lily. I look around for Elijah. Where is everyone?

  We reach the origin of the explosion, a shattered clock and a crater in the earth, and I suck in a sob. How could anyone survive this? "Liam had Alina with him," I say in despair.

  Sebastian squeezes my hand. "He'll protect her. She's part fire Druid, remember. Flames can't hurt them."

  I let out my breath. I hadn't thought of that. But…"Falling rubble can," I say.

  We jog along the edges of the flames, and I spot a familiar shoe sticking out from part of the collapsed stone structure. "Sebastian!" I scream, pointing.

  It’s Derek. Face paler than usual. Eyes glazed over. His head and feet the only part of him visible from beneath the rubble. I rush to his side. Start lifting away rocks. One is too heavy for me. My hands are cut and bleeding, but my tears aren't from pain but rather fear. Every moment he's trapped could be a moment too late.

  And then a large pillar begins to rise on its own, floating into the air and landing beside me with a hard thud.

  I turn to stare at Sebastian, whose forest green eyes are wide with awe. His hands are raised, and I can feel the power emanating from them.

  "That was you, wasn’t it?" I ask.

  He nods.

  I stand back as he makes quick work of the rest of the debris, until there's nothing left trapping Derek. I clutch the vampire in my arms. His body is broken, bloodied, and unnaturally still. "No!" I yell.

  The flames rage around us, but I don’t care. All of my focus is on the unconscious vampire in front of me.

  Smoke chokes me as I tilt his head to give him CPR, compressing his chest just as I learned in the classes Adam and I took together when he first got his diagnosis.

  I do everything I can, but nothing works. I look to Sebastian, panic on my face. "He's not waking up."

  "He needs blood," Sebastian says, kneeling next to me, his hands supporting his brother's head gently.

  I nod, knowing what I need to do. I hold up my wrist to Sebastian. "I don't have a knife, can you… "

  He knows what I'm asking and takes my wrist into his mouth, biting deeply. The pain only lasts a moment, then a strange pleasure spreads through me. When my blood touches Sebastian's tongue his eyes widen, and he sucks more out before he realizes what he's doing and pulls himself away.

  "Eve," he whispers, his pupils dilated, but I can't focus on him right now. I hold my wrist over Derek's mouth, letting my blood drip down his throat.

  After a few moments, Derek stirs, his mouth seeking my blood, and he begins to drink.

  My head spins and I feel dizzy from blood loss when strong arms pull me away from Derek. Sebastian cradles me in his arms. "You can't give him too much," he says sternly.

  I look into his eyes and flick my lids. "You really are always mad at me for something," I say half-jokingly.

  Then I hear Derek shift and sit up. He takes my wrist into his hand and licks at the puncture marks there, closing them.

  Another explosion rocks the ground, and as terror spreads through the crowd, a figure emerges from the flames of the courthouse.

  At first, it looks like an Ifrit, so lit up by fire is he, but as he nears us, I realize who it is, and I swallow a sob and run towards him.

  "Liam!"

  The fire Druid looks toward me, and I notice the bundle under his cloak, protected from the flames. He pulls out the infant as the fire dies around him. Alina lets out a piercing wail, and I release my breath in relief as I reach them and throw myself into his arms, burying my face in his neck.

  He smells of smoke and magick, and my tears burn off his hot skin like rain hitting scalding pavement. "I feared you were both dead," I say.

  His lips find mine and he kisses me deeply, his daughter between us, her tiny hand gripping onto a lock of my hair and tugging as Liam's passion consumes us both.

  We are so lost in each other that, at first, I don't hear it, but then, a distant sound intrudes on my consciousness. It's faint but grows in clarity as it draws closer and before long, I recognize it as the beating of wings.

  Very
large wings.

  As I pull away from Liam, I can feel the wind on my face, pulsing in time with the beat of those wings, and as I look up, I see a massive blue dragon descending from above. It is slightly smaller than Dath'Racul, with a sleek, elegant body and deep blue scales reflecting the light like sparkling sapphires. Each of the six living dragons embody an element, I recall, and as this dragon begins to roar, a powerful stream of icy water pours forth from its mouth, striking the flames with a steaming hiss, quenching them more quickly than anything else thus far.

  Water falls on us, soaking through our hair and clothes, and from the dying flames and gray smoke, Elijah emerges, silver hair wild in the wind, head bowed, shoulders slumped. A limp body lies in his arms, with skin charred black. And when he comes closer, I see who he's carrying.

  Lily.

  The Crime

  You are a storm in transition, even as these words are being written.

  ~Nikita Gill

  My gut clenches as I run to the wind Druid, the rain I created with my powers growing stronger as emotions flood me, surging my magick. The wind grows fierce and lightning flashes across the sky.

  "Is she—?" I'm afraid to say the word as my tears mix with the rain.

  "She's alive," Elijah says, "but by a thread. We have to get her home. To her tree."

  It takes a moment to see the smallest movement of her chest and I exhale in relief. She's still breathing, but I can barely imagine how. Her beautiful punk hair is singed, and her skin is covered in charred burns that swell with puss. If she were human, I would have no hope, but she's not, so anything is possible. You’ll be fine, I think. You have to be fine. I cling to that thought as my hand falls to Elijah's back and we walk as quickly as possible to the carriage. Sebastian helps Derek stand up and Liam follows with Alina in his arms, covered by his cloak to protect her from the smoke and rain.

  Elijah, Liam, and I squeeze in the back, and while I hold the baby, the fire Druid begins to examine Lily’s wounds. Sebastian and Derek sit up front, and Sebastian takes the reins to guide us home.

  The horses whinny at the clash of thunder in the sky, and I realize my storm is taking on a life of its own. The question is whether it's doing more harm than good at this point.

  I take a breath and try to calm my emotions as the baby in my arms fusses and begins to cry. I hold her closer and rock her, whispering soothing platitudes while I watch Liam.

  "How bad is it?" I ask, still marveling that Liam is the healer of the four. I would have pegged the water Druid as a man of medicine, not the fiery hot-headed vampire before me.

  He glances up, his expression grim "She needs balms to soothe the burns. Tinctures to facilitate recovery. Even those…may not be enough.”

  I kiss Alina's head, fighting the tears as I watch one of my closest friends fight for her life.

  Sebastian is pushing the horses as fast as he can, but we suddenly grind to a stop after some time of bumping along the dirt road, and Liam and Elijah frown.

  "I'll check to see what's going on," I say, taking the baby with me while they stay with Lily.

  Outside, other carriages and travelers have halted as well. It seems the bridge ahead is closed. Derek is still sitting up front, looking a little peaked from being buried under stones. Sebastian is standing in front of an Enforcer, arms crossed over his chest, looking pissed and impatient.

  "What's going on?" I ask, walking up to them.

  Sebastian gestures to the Enforcer, who's dressed all in black and has a sword hanging from his hip. "He says everyone leaving town has to be searched."

  I look to the Enforcer. "Why? Is this because of the explosion?" I ask.

  The Enforcer's brown eyes widen, and I wonder what his supernatural race is. He passes as pretty human. At least until I realize he has tiny horns on his forehead that were covered by the hood of his cloak. "I don't know anything about an explosion," he says. "A dragon egg—the dragon egg—has been stolen. By order of the Council of Dragons, no one may leave town without a thorough search.”

  I place a hand on Sebastian's arm. "We need to allow it so we can get going. Lily's not doing well."

  His frown deepens but he nods.

  The Enforcer pats Sebastian down, who clenches his jaw and his fists to keep from lashing out at the man doing his job.

  When the Enforcer turns to me, I sigh and pass the baby to Sebastian, who cradles her gently as the man pats me down. When he gets to the pockets in my cloak, he pulls out the Memory Catcher Adam left me and my breath hitches.

  "What's this?" he asks.

  I take it from his hand. "It's for work. We're lawyers," I say, though technically I'm not quite a lawyer in this world.

  Sebastian raises an eyebrow at me, his gaze falling to the crystal in my hand. He'll know it's not one of theirs. He'll wonder why I have it. And I don't have a good answer.

  The Enforcer nods. "Right. You defend all the criminals. Like Dracula."

  I can tell by his voice that he doesn't approve, and Sebastian's spine stiffens even more. "Everyone deserves a fair trial," he says through his teeth.

  The Enforcer doesn't respond. Instead he asks to see the baby.

  "Seriously?" I say. "We have a friend in the carriage dying from burns. This baby has just been through hell. We need to get them home. Do you think we're smuggling a dragon egg in her diaper?" I'm about to lose my shit, and the anger triggers heat to grow in my hands. I look down at them and realizing they’re hissing in the rain, small tendrils of fire spitting from my fingers.

  Sebastian notices and grabs one of them, pulling me closer to him as he holds the baby with the other hand. He leans into me to whisper in my ear, "Stay calm. Take a deep breath."

  I do as he says, grateful the Enforcer didn't see me. He's instead peeking into the baby blanket to pat Alina down, who doesn't enjoy the disruption and begins to wail.

  "What the hell are you doing to my daughter?" Liam yells, stepping out of the carriage, flames dancing around his hands.

  Unlike me, he does nothing to hide his fire or stem his anger.

  The Enforcer steps back, putting a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Step back, vampire. Or you'll be arrested. I need to search your carriage."

  I realize that this will escalate quickly if Liam doesn't chill. I leave Alina with Sebastian and slip my arm around Liam. "We need to let him, or he won't let us leave and Lily could die," I say softly, as I try to cool his fire with my own powers.

  It seems to work, and he simmers down as the Enforcer searches our carriage and pats down the rest of us. When he's done, he sighs, looking more tired than before. "You may go to your home, but just so you know…there will be no leaving the Otherworld for anyone until the egg is found, by order of the Council of Dragons." He pauses, looking at Lily through the carriage window. “I’ll provide an escort to help you move along quickly. I hope your friend recovers.”

  Once we return to the castle, Sebastian takes the baby to her crib while Liam carries Lily to her tree. Elijah and I follow at his heels. Worry for my friend consumes me. We wind through the expansive castle, the grandeur of it lost on me as my focus remains on the shallow breaths that Lily is taking. They seem to be coming further and further apart.

  When we finally get to the area where her tree lives, I gasp. The gorgeous blossoms of emerald and crimson, burnt-orange and deep purple, have shriveled, petals dropping to the floor, branches hanging like dead weight from the trunk, a black charred coating covering everything. "What happened to it?" I ask, shocked at the sight.

  "Lily and her tree are connected,” Liam says. “If she dies, it dies, and vice versa."

  He moves forward and the center of the massive trunk opens like a womb. He gently places her into it then steps back.

  I sit on my knees and clutch Lily's hand as the trunk begins to close around her. Vines grow over her skin and her eyes flicker open for just a moment. She grips my hand with more strength than I expected. "I saw him,” she whispers. “I saw him…"

&
nbsp; "Who did you see?" I ask.

  But she's already unconscious, the vines spreading over her face. I expect a miracle. To see her charred coating fall away, replaced by fresh skin, but the tree and Lily remain the same. Near death, lifeless, charred. Isn't she supposed to be healing?

  Behind me, I hear yelling. Liam’s voice. Sharp and mean. "Who else would have done this? Take note of who was injured or almost injured. Our family. My daughter. The Van Helsings want revenge, and this is how they're doing it," he shouts.

  “There’s no proof,” says Elijah, much more calmly but just as loud.

  “Then I’ll find some,” hisses the fire Druid. “Even if I have to wring it from their stupid throats.”

  I turn away from Lily, my gaze following their voices to the doorway. Liam heads for the exit, but Elijah blocks his path. ”You cannot go after them, brother. It will only make things worse.” He places a hand on Liam’s shoulder.

  “Let go of me.”

  Elijah doesn’t. “Use your head for once. If you attack the Van Helsings, you’ll end up in jail. How will that help Alina?”

  “At least she’ll be safe with them gone.” Liam raises his hand, flames dancing on his fingers. “But I’m not surprised you’d rather do nothing. You can read books about heroes all you want. But you’ll never be one.”

  Elijah's eyes widen. “I’m not trying to be a—”

  “Get out my way!”

  Liam shoves his brother aside, and then flies backwards as if hit by a car, slamming into the nearby wall. He stays there, struggling, as if pinned to the stone.

  “I won’t let you go,” says Elijah, his black jacket drifting in a wind I cannot feel.

  “Stop,” I yell. “Both of you—”

  But before I can finish, flames explode from Liam’s hand and fly towards his brother. A whip of wind knocks it out of the air. Elijah raises his arm and—

  “You will cease this insolence at once,” roars Matilda. The small old lady emerges from the doorway, her pinched face filled with fury. She then grabs Liam and Elijah each by the ear, dragging them both down to her height.