Her heart thudded as she saw the tall, elegant frame emerge from the heavy brush on the north side of the house. Lucian walked neither fast nor slow, his immaculate charcoal-gray jacket emphasizing the width of his shoulders. His hair was flowing around his shoulders, his eyes glittering in his still face. He stopped only feet from the gate and waved a hand. At once the sparks ceased, and the stranger realized there was no protection on the property. The gates began to swing open.
Jaxon’s attention was caught by the ominous appearance of dark clouds moving swiftly through the sky. Something was terribly wrong. She tried to open the door, afraid for Lucian, afraid he wouldn’t notice the danger from above when the creature on the ground was trudging toward him with such purposeful steps. She banged on the glass helplessly, tried to turn to run downstairs, but she was unable to move more than a couple of feet. Swallowing hard, she pulled out the Browning, praying Lucian hadn’t installed bulletproof glass.
In her mind she reached desperately for him. Lucian, above you! Something’s coming, and it’s far more evil than what you’re facing now. Let me help you! Nothing could happen to him. Nothing could ever happen to him.
She felt instant warmth, reassurance flowing into her mind. For a brief moment she even felt his arms around her, holding her close. Jaxon placed a hand on the glass, the Browning in her other fist, and watched the easy, fluid way Lucian walked. He moved with total confidence, total assurance, his head up, his long hair flowing behind him. He took her breath away. As she watched, his hand came up almost casually, and above him the black roiling clouds dispersed as if they had never been. Something dropped to earth, a twisted, writhing, reptilian body with wings.
“Oh, God,” Jaxon whispered aloud, all too afraid of what it was. She bit her lip hard in agitation.
The strange man had nearly reached Lucian, swinging a heavy spiked ball on the end of a chain. The ball whistled harmlessly through space as Lucian disappeared from Jaxon’s sight for a split second. When he reappeared, he was behind the huge stranger. She watched in horror as the stranger’s head tilted to one side, a crimson smile appearing around his throat like a necklace. The head wobbled grotesquely, then slowly slid off the shoulders, spraying a trail of red in all directions. The body toppled over and hit the ground as the head bounced and rolled away from Lucian’s legs.
The reptile sprang at Lucian so quickly it was a blur of claws and teeth. The tail lashed back and forth like a whip, and the beating wings were creating a windstorm, stirring up leaves and dirt like a smokescreen. Jaxon’s scream of warning caught in her throat, nearly choking her. Lucian seemed to stand completely motionless, his face expressionless, calm, even serene, as if he were simply admiring the view around him. Jaxon aimed the gun at the hideous lizard. The creature seemed to hit an invisible wall before it reached Lucian, and it shrieked as flames erupted all around it. Charred flesh peeled in layers from the lizard. The carcass split into pieces. Jaxon could hardly believe her eyes when a man emerged from the peeling flesh as if from a cocoon.
The vampire flew backward away from Lucian, while tree branches and rocks whistled through the air, aimed directly at him. Lucian flowed across the ground, going from stillness to motion with unbelievable speed. Jaxon felt she was watching a merciless predator, a killing machine, a jungle cat with rippling muscles to bring down its prey. At fast as the vampire retreated, throwing obstacles into his path, Lucian was faster. The debris never touched him, deflected with casual ease by his mind as Lucian overtook the undead.
At the realization it could not escape, the vampire turned its head and looked up at Jaxon, hatred in its eyes, cunning and malevolence on its face. The glass of the sliding door began to bulge inward toward her even as Lucian plunged his hand into the chest of the creature, extracting the pulsating heart. Jaxon leaped backward, away from the door, her gaze riveted on the scene below.