Dragos reached for Greer again, but the man danced aside.
“Dragos, do something!” Kate shrieked, holding the ruined skirt in front of her panties.
Parker’s eyes damn near crossed. The woman had a hell of a set of lungs on her.
“I take it back. I like this town.”
Greer leaped over the table and landed lightly next to Mina. “I say we take Parker and Amara into the woods, set them loose and let Amara deal with Terri. It should only take a couple of days, right?” Mina shot him an irritated look. “What?”
“That won’t do.” Parker tugged Amara close again, unwilling to go any longer without her sweet touch. “I’ve got a bit of a sunlight allergy, remember? A few minutes too long and whoosh, crispy Parker.”
“Right. Sorry.” Greer actually blushed, looking more embarrassed than when he’d accidentally ripped Kate’s skirt off. Parker wondered what the hell that was all about. “Ash?”
Ash was staring at something in the crowd, or possibly someone. His shoulders were tight, his hands loose. If Parker didn’t know better, he’d swear the man was hunting.
Ash’s head whipped to the left. His eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared and he placed himself firmly in front of Mina.
Fuck. He was hunting.
Parker immediately went on alert. He sniffed the air, hoping to sense whatever was making Ash so tense.
“Ash?”
Mina grumbled when Ash didn’t answer. He kept his focus on the crowd…or the wall behind the crowd. He grasped Mina’s wrist and kept her behind him when she tried to move past.
Something tickled the back of Parker’s throat. It tasted foul, fetid.
Rotten.
“Terri.” He started searching for that elusive stench, that horrible taste. She wouldn’t be in the crowd itself. There was no way she could blend in with so many supernaturals. But she was powerful enough to damage the building and everyone in it without ever having to come inside. “Can we get everyone out?”
“No! I’m half-naked!”
Parker turned to Kate, who was still struggling with her skirt. The zipper had apparently broken. “Bloody hell, woman. A witch with a vendetta is somewhere nearby, and you’re worried about your fucking togs?”
An ominous creak reverberated through the wooden floor. The lights flickered. A cracking noise was swiftly followed by the sound of pebbles hitting the ground.
“Oh shit.” Amara, eyes wide, stared at one of the walls. “She’s using the garden around the building to bring it down.”
“Parker,” Terri’s voice crooned, coming from everywhere at once. “Come to me, my love.”
“How the hell is she doing that?” Brian gagged. “Gods above, I can feel her in my head. It’s like my brain is coated in slime.”
“Everyone out!” Parker bellowed, using what power he had to force everyone to obey.
There was a stampede toward the front door, but when the first wave of people hit it, the door refused to open. It was jammed shut.
“I’m really beginning to dislike this witch-bitch of yours, Parker.” Dragos stepped off the platform into thin air. “We need to take her down before she kills the entire town to get to you.” He held out his hands, and a screeching noise, like branches being viciously scraped across a car, assaulted their ears. Dragos was trying to force the doors open telekinetically.
He was failing. And he looked utterly stunned by that fact.
Parker refrained from telling him he wasn’t the first person to underestimate the witch.
“Uh-uh, naughty, naughty.” Terri giggled. “I’ll tell you what—give me Parker and I’ll let you all live.” Plaster rained down on their heads; women screamed as a huge crack appeared in the ceiling.
“Out of my way, everyone.”
Parker turned to find Amara had assumed her hamadryad form. She lumbered toward the door, the townsfolk scattering away from her like sheep before a wolf. She placed her hands on the door and shoved, straining against the weight. Dragos resumed using his mind to help, but nothing happened. Whatever Terri was using to barricade the door was tough.
Plaster landed on Parker’s head. He looked up to find the ceiling riddled with cracks. A sharp snap had him cursing, but it was breaking glass that got him moving. He peered out one of the windows, using his enhanced night vision to see how bad things were.
All he saw was a sea of writhing green. He snapped his head back as a thorn poked through the window, damn near taking his eye out.
“Oh no, you don’t.” A tendril wiggled through the broken panes, wrapped around the lintel and snaked up the wall. Wherever it went, it left tiny cracks behind, which branched into more cracks. “You can save them from this. Just come outside. Join me, Parker.”
Soon the wall would be nothing but cracks and would fall, killing anyone in the way. Sprays of pollen formed and burst, drifting in the air. “We’re in deep trouble.” He bit his lip, thinking hard. The vampires could get out by misting, but that would leave everyone inside to face the fate Terri had in store for them. Knowing Terri, any vamp who demisted on the other side would be facing something horrific, and they’d be without protections of any kind. Enough puncture wounds would kill a vamp without ever touching his heart. She had to know that. She was crazy, but she’d never been stupid.
He couldn’t use fire. Burning the foliage would only enclose the victims in an oven, baking everything and everyone along with the vegetation. He had no way to freeze the plants, unless…
He grabbed the naiad who had stood up for her wolf mate. “Can you freeze water?”
She shook her head. “No. I can move water, but I can’t boil it or freeze it, not without help.”
“From what?”
“For boiling? A stove. For ice, I like my refrigerator.”
Smart-ass. “But you can influence water?”
“Yes,” she drawled, obviously thinking him a madman.
He tugged her over toward the window. “Can you work with the water inside the plants?”
She gasped. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” She rolled up her sleeves. “Stand back.”
Parker obeyed and hoped she got it right. If not, they were all dead.
Amara pushed and pushed, but nothing happened. The door remained stubbornly shut. “I need help!”
A pair of hands joined hers, their stony grip sure and steady. “I’m here.”
Rock. She’d recognize those hands anywhere. “Thanks.”
“Me too.” Another pair joined Rock’s, pale and small, the nails bright red. She hissed as she pushed. Amara recognized her as one of the vamps who’d cried out that she was guilty.
“Anyone else who wants to help, see if you can find another way out.” She couldn’t run the risk of doing more harm than good. Too much force could take the entire wall out.
She pushed, her muscles straining, and considered taking out the wall anyway. Soon it would be too late. The creaks and groans of the building told her the structure might soon fall on their heads, killing everyone inside.
Then something happened. The plants on the other side of the door quivered. She could feel their pain, but they were tainted, weeds of the worst kind, and she felt very little sympathy for them.
The door moved.
“Bad Parker. No cookie for you.” The voice had grown more distant, weaker. Terri was losing strength.
“Keep pushing!” Whatever was happening, the plants were losing their strength. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a withered, limp leaf falling to the floor. “What the hell?”
“Push now, talk later.” Rock never let up. He kept the pressure going, digging his fingers into the metal door. He didn’t even sound winded, but that was an earth elemental for you. Their strength was rooted in the ground they stood on.