“Ivanov came to my house,” Rikki said, dragging her weighted blanket around her for comfort. “Jonas brought him out. I thought I’d convinced him I’d never seen Levi.”
“You must have done a good job,” Judith consoled, “because he had no idea where Levi was, he came back looking for clues. Had he thought Levi was with you, he would have been spying on the farm.”
“Why didn’t Levi and Thomas just call Jonas?” Airiana asked. “He’s the sheriff.”
Judith’s heart felt as if a vise was gripping it hard. She tasted fear in her mouth. Nothing could happen to Stefan, not now that she found him. She exchanged a long knowing look with Rikki. At least Rikki understood how frightened she really was.
“This man, this Ivanov, is a very scary killer. They worried that he would kill Jonas. They know Ivanov’s reputation and felt that Jonas would be hampered by the law.”
Blythe inhaled sharply as she fishtailed around the curve in the road leading to Highway 1. The sky had darkened ominously and now the clouds were boiling, rolling across the sky so thick and black that only the lightning lacing them provided any light in the unrelenting darkness.
“So they’re taking the law into their own hands?” Blythe shot Judith a look of sheer reprimand.
“They didn’t know where he was,” Rikki defended. “They’ve been trying to flush him out every night.”
Judith inhaled sharply, the edges of anger beginning to form as realization tried to penetrate. She turned her head slowly to look at Rikki. “
Every
night? What do you mean every night? Thomas was with me.”
“Yes, but then Levi and Thomas went out around two and came back around four-thirty,” Rikki explained, huddling deeper beneath the heavy blanket. “Levi says Thomas would go on his own, but Ivanov is here because of him and he feels he has no choice. They both are protecting Jonas.” She chewed at her thumbnail betraying her agitation. “Levi is adamant that Ivanov would kill Jonas. I can tell he believes it.”
“
Every
night?” Judith repeated. She could hear her heart roaring in her ears. Thunder boomed in the sky overhead and a fork of lightning streaked in a jagged fork from earth to sky and back. The crack was loud enough to shake the car.
“Calm down,” Blythe said firmly. “Everyone needs to calm down.”
Judith narrowed her eyes and pushed a shaky hand through her hair in agitation. There was no calming down, not now when suspicion was slipping into her mind. Not suspicion—knowledge. “I’m a light sleeper. How could I not know he was leaving the bed—the house?” She pressed her lips together, afraid she knew the answer. What had he said? “Russian recipe for sleeping”? He’d told her the truth and she hadn’t understood.
The earth rolled and a small crack developed along a berm on the side of the highway.
“Maybe what the two of you were doing exhausted you,” Lissa tried helpfully.
Stefan, where are you?
She had to know he was alive and well before she decided to boil him in oil.
Her fear for him fed the other women’s jumbled emotions in the close confines of the car as it streaked along the highway. Rushing parallel to them just over the cliffs was the sea, angry and turbulent now, reflecting the intensifying emotions of all the women in the car. The ocean rose up toward Rikki, huge swells crashing onto the bluffs, booming a warning, reaching toward the village of Sea Haven as if it might devour it.
“Rikki,” Blythe said in a very low, firm voice, “calm down before you create a rogue wave that comes over the highway and takes us out to sea. Take a breath.
All
of you take a breath. We’ll find him.” She glanced over her shoulder at Judith. “Both of them.”
“And then I’m
killing
Thomas,” Judith hissed between clenched teeth. “With my bare hands. He has no idea what he’s messing around with. Damn that man.” Because she
always
woke up, no matter how soft the sound in the middle of the night. “Secret recipe, my ass,” she muttered. “Who do they think they are? Sea Haven is
our
home. Some psycho comes here and threatens us, our men, or Jonas, we’re not little sissy girls cowering in our houses.
Damn
that man.”
With each condemning word, the interior of the car pulsed with her mounting fury and terrible fear. Glass shattered on the passenger’s side.
“Hey!” Blythe raised her voice, taking the turn into Sea Haven on two tires. “Breathe or something. Don’t destroy the car.”
“I’m sorry,” Judith hissed, “I’m just so . . . so upset. Angry. Afraid. I have no idea what’s happening to them. Do you, Rikki?”
Rikki rocked back and forth beneath the weighted blanket. She shook her head. “He’s telepathic, not me. I don’t know how to keep the connection if he isn’t reaching for me, not over such a distance. But I know he’s really hurt.”
Out on the ocean, a tower of water rose, spinning, racing toward the bluffs. A second and then a third joined it. The inside of the car bulged outward. Judith gulped air, desperate to control her anger and terror. Rikki fed her and she fed the others and amplified Rikki’s fear. It was a vicious circle and she tried to concentrate on Blythe’s voice.
“We need a plan.”
“That plan is going to include calling Jonas,” Blythe stated, “the moment we know for certain what is going on.”
“Agreed,” Lissa and Airiana said aloud.
Lexi nodded her head. Rikki just rocked and stared straight ahead.
Judith pressed her lips together. She had shared glimpses of Stefan and Levi’s childhood memories and she feared that Jonas would be out of his depth with a man as perverted and sick as Petr Ivanov.
“We can park the car and go on foot; we’ll have more control that way,” Judith decided. “Rikki and I can locate the men and assess the situation. Call Jonas when we know if the danger is real and we’ll do our best to help them. We’ve got enough power between us, if we can keep it under control.”
She’d never tried to weave all five elements together when she was upset and angry. She felt every bit as angry as the sea crashing against the bluffs. The street seemed completely deserted as Blythe pulled the car over on the main street of town and hastily parked.
“Get out, all of you. And for God’s sake, Judith, try to tone it down. You’re all over the place. You’re boosting the other elements until they’re completely out of control.”
The howling wind caught the cars doors and slammed them closed, rocking the vehicle and rushing down the empty street in a fury. A shelf cloud, ripples of various colors spread across the sky as the black, boiling clouds merged together and burst open. Torrents of water poured down, drenching the streets, pounding them in an uncompromising fury.
Judith knew Blythe was right, but now they were all feeding one another, trading intense emotions that Judith couldn’t rein in. Rikki’s storm gripped all of them, and the sheer force of it was shocking.
Where are you?
Judith demanded, searching for Stefan.
She reached out, pushing her spirit further than she’d ever consciously tried before. Power swept through Sea Haven, rattling windows and shaking buildings. The ground buckled.
Judith?
She could feel Stefan’s instant rejection, the impression of great danger, pain cut off, and fear for her. She knew at once that he was wounded. For a moment the world around her disappeared and there was only Stefan. She caught glimpses of blood, thick and congealed on his shoulder and running down his arm. Her heart stuttered in her chest and for a moment the edges of consciousness blackened. The earth buckled and a narrow crack raced down the shoulder of the street closest to the ocean.
Oh, God, you’re hurt.
Nothing else mattered. No one else mattered in that moment. She saw him and she saw her brother, fallen, bloody, lifeless.
Thunder crashed and lightning struck the street, exploding a small shrub, setting flames dancing and blackening the earth around it. The flames should have gone out with the drenching rain, but instead, they took on a life of their own, growing and spreading until they were a long train, rushing down the middle of the street as if the water was jet fuel.
Get out of here now. Ivanov is at his most dangerous when he’s cornered.
A volley of shots rang out and Judith’s heart skipped a beat.
Stefan!
Levi!
Rikki’s voice burst through Judith’s head, anguished, terrified for him.
I’m all right, baby. Calm down a little, I’m drowning.
That was definitely Levi, finding a little amusement in his wife’s storm.
Judith realized she was connecting all of them, all five elements, Levi and Stefan. She even felt Blythe’s presence.
Judith, since you’re here, stay where you are. Keep out of sight. I’m going to use the boost of power to try to free Levi’s leg.
Stefan was the calm in the middle of the turbulent storm.
Levi, whatever you do, resist the impulse to move around. You know he set more traps.
Then I’ll have to find them and spring them before some innocent kid stumbles on them.
Judith couldn’t fail to hear the pain in Levi’s voice. He was every bit as calm as Stefan, but he was hurting.
Thomas.
Even in the middle of a crisis, she noted Levi kept to Stefan’s cover.
Don’t take any chances. He’s all over you.
Stefan didn’t reply and two more shots rang out. Lightning slammed to earth a street over and flames raced up and over the houses following the lightning. Fortunately Rikki’s violent thunderstorm seemed to be able to keep the glowing blaze from setting the wood on fire.
“Lissa!” Blythe hissed her name. “Reel it in. I’m telling all of you, get control before something terrible happens.”
“If we could see this Ivanov,” Rikki said, “we could keep him away from both Stefan and Levi. Maybe even drive him out of the village.”
Judith didn’t bother to point out that Ivanov would surely return, he’d already come and gone once before, but Rikki did have a good idea.
“We came to keep him off our men,” Judith affirmed, “so let’s do it.”
Blythe sighed. “You know not only are those men going to wring your necks, but so is Jonas. And I’ve got my cell phone out to dial. The storm’s interfering with the signal so back it off, Judith.”
Judith didn’t care if Jonas was called, all she cared about was making certain Stefan and Levi weren’t in immediate danger. She sprinted to the narrow space between two storefronts that connected the street to the one behind it where some of the residents had homes. Her sisters followed her. The moment they were close to the street, still hidden from view, she halted and peered cautiously around the corner.
She was disappointed when she couldn’t locate any of the three men, but she knew she was much closer to the actual battle zone. The street pulsed with violent energy. A bullet splintered wood on the back gate of the neighboring house. The shot came from across the street, but she couldn’t see anyone, nor could she see Stefan, but he had to be in that yard somewhere.
You hit?
Levi asked.
No, he’s fishing. But I’ve got to get that trap off you before he circles around.
“Why isn’t he shooting back? They have enough weapons for a small army,” Rikki said.
Judith shrugged, trying to pinpoint Stefan’s exact location. She felt his concentration, an intense energy focused directly on an object a great distance from him. She caught the picture in her mind and nearly cried out. The surge of fear added to Rikki’s mounting terror. Both caught a glimpse of the medieval, vicious-looking device—a modified bear trap with serrated teeth honed to a razor’s edge.
Judith’s breath caught in her throat. A collective gasp came from her sisters and Rikki gave a shattered cry.
Is that thing on your ankle, Levi?
Rikki’s wail of horror was loud in Judith’s mind, amplifying her own near panic.
Raindrops turned icy cold, pummeled the street in the form of small icy golf balls. The wind bit at the fences.
More like my calf, honey, but Stefan will get it open. Stay put and trust us to handle this. I need you out of harm’s way.
The love in his voice only added to the mix of emotions the women were sharing. Clouds swirled and the wind blew sheets of rain down the street. In the center of the dark overhead mass, lightning danced and on the street, driven by the wind; a tower of flames rose high in spite of the rain—or maybe because of it. The flames fed by Lissa’s fiery element.
Another volley of shots sprayed the dancing fire tower, but the sheer force of the wind caught the bullets midflight and held them hovering in the air.
“Airiana,” Blythe hissed. “Stop playing with ammunition.”
“Sorry,” Airiana said. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
“At least those bullets won’t go into someone’s house,” Judith pointed out.
Through it all, Stefan’s concentration didn’t waver. He seemed to be the eye of the storm. Everything around him was chaos, the hail pounding cars and rooftops, the wind swirling in a vicious twister rushing down the street to sweep up everything in its path. Stefan blocked it all out. Judith could feel his absolute composure.
Two shots rang out again in quick succession, and Judith winced, as they hit just past the fence into the thick shrubbery where she feared Stefan had taken cover. Stefan never flinched, keeping his mind focused on what he was doing, slowly separating the wick jaws clenched around Lev’s ankle.
She actually felt the draw on her power and she gave him everything she could, reaching for that deep well inside of her to boost his abilities. Instantly, the lock on the gate close to her popped open with a rusty creak. Up and down the streets, gates flew open and doors unlatched.
“Whoops,” Judith said. “Didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“Take control, Judith,” Blythe urged. “I’ve called Jonas, but you can weave all the elements and push that man far away from Thomas and Levi. You weave them all together at the farm, you can do it here.”
“Everyone’s all over the place,” Judith said, shaking her head.