Page 45 of Blood Brother Cursed

Phoenix leaned over. “It’s got two underground levels, and they are starting to evac now. If you can flood them when everyone’s out, I can make sure the facility can’t be brought back to life again.”

She gave a simple nod but couldn’t speak without losing some of the collected water. Clearly, he had something in mind,and whatever it was, she wanted to see it instead of knowing beforehand.

People began racing out of the facility, their eyes going to the sky as if they expected to see something immediately. They were much too far away to hear what was being said, but from the postures, the growing crowd was restless.

A smile spread over her face as Astrid turned the water into what would look like a large wave on the ground. The people saw it a few seconds later, and that’s when they started pointing, and she heard their screams.

Phoenix whispered in her ear, “Now that’s quite impressive.”

She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t without causing a massive problem to the area underwater. Raising her hand, she made the water rise farther in the air, and even to her, it looked like a massive wave rolling over the land. People were scrambling away from the place as she brought the wave down hard. That’s where the similarities to a tsunami ended. The water should have washed people away, wiping out everything in its path. Instead, she directed it into every door, crack, and crevice, washing through the facility. The people outside were all on the ground, knocked over by the force. Some were injured, others were fine, but they were all scrambling into their cars. She smiled—that amount of water would do serious damage to their vehicles.

The water rolled through the facility unchecked, destroying instruments and electronics. Astrid had never tried to hack the place, and now she wouldn’t need to since she had a much more cathartic way of destroying the place. The image of her brother sneaking into the place passed through her mind. Seconds later, Phoenix squeezed her hand. “They are fleeing. Now it’s time to really put on a show.”

Astrid snapped back to the present; her mind no longer focused on controlling the water. “What did you have in mind?” Her voice was a little breathless, something that had never happened. Then again, she had never controlled that much water, so she was starting to learn just how far her boundaries reached.

The image of her brother again flitted through her mind, and she felt anger starting to well up in her. Her abilities were far from exhausted and people were standing around in the water she had brought forth.

Phoenix released her hand and put his hand on her hip. “No, Astrid. We aren’t going to kill them.”

She turned to look at him. As soon as she saw those cool blue eyes, the anger dissipated. “He died here.”

“Yes, but he wouldn’t want you to kill for him. That’s not how you honor him.”

“Then how are we going to make them pay? I thought we were going to destroy this place. Water damage isn’t going to do that.”

“No, but this will.” He let go of her and walked away. Seconds later, he shifted into his gorgeous dragon form. Lowering his body, she could hear him breathing in.

That’s when she realized what he was doing. She smiled as he exhaled a small blue orb. It flew toward the facility, striking the middle of the roof.

The place imploded. Astrid stood there watching the beauty of the roaring fire as it consumed the place.

“Are you sure no one died?”

Phoenix turned his long neck toward her and let out a huff. Then he shifted again. “Yeah, I’m sure. And they are all going to find it hard to justify what they were doing here when the government comes to question them.”

“Why would the government care?”

“They only have the one contract with the military, and it was not easily won. They’ll never get another contract again, especially since that facility was built by the military decades ago, and it was only on loan to them this time. The government took it back after Evander was killed. Now, well, let’s just say word is going to spread.”

“Do I want to know how you plan to do that?”

“No, keep your plausible deniability.”

She laughed, then wrapped her arms around him. “Yeah, I don’t want to know what kind of scary mind tricks you can do.”

“Are you finally starting to fear me?”

She looked up at him, and she felt a comfortable warmth spread through her. “No, I don’t need you giving me ideas because I might start asking you to do things for me. And I don’t think you would turn me down.” She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss.

Phoenix wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I’m sorry you are stuck with me.”

Astrid slid a hand down and pinched his butt. “I think you got the raw end of the deal. Being stuck with me has got to be far more trying. Besides,” she slipped a hand down his pants and rested it on the top of his muscular butt, “I am looking forward to not being alone.”

He slid both of his hands down the back of her pants, pulling her into his body. “Me, too.”

For a few minutes, they remained like that, just enjoying a sense of peace.

Finally, Astrid pulled away a little and looked up at him. “I guess I should start returning the water.”

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