Page 31 of To Hell and Back
That immediately put him on guard. If her lucky warning system had also been transferred to him through their bond, he had to pay attention to it. Stretching his senses out, he tried to decipher what he was feeling. It was like having a premonition that something big was about to happen, but he just didn’t know what it was yet.
He noticed the moment the air pressure changed, but it wasn’t just a little variation from the storm strengthening. The shockwave of magic that struck him a moment later was strong enough to make him jump to his feet. His first instinct was to protect his mate, and he wrapped his arms around her, even as he threw up a magical shield around the entire building.
It was a magical surge, similar to what he’d felt when Seneca had been reborn, only not as intense. Still, it was enough to explain why the storm had caused so much damage during her previous life.
“Okay, I felt that,” Arson said also getting to his feet. “What the hell was it?”
“The awakening of a powerful supernatural,” Killian declared.
It all made sense to him now.
Since he had experienced it before, he knew what that type of magical surge was. A powerful supernatural had just gone through their awakening, and now they were leaking magic that was feeding the strength of the storm. That meant until they learned how to control their new powers, they were a serious danger to everyone around them.
In an instant, the rain outside had shifted into a torrential downpour with the wind force of a hurricane. A sense of urgency swept through the room, and he knew they had to act fast to save the people in the area.
“That’s why so many people died during my previous life. Whoever is causing the storm is literally flooding the entire area with magic. That’s why there is going to be more than one flash flood. Disasters are going to happen all over the place. But I never heard of this during my last life.” Seneca glanced over at Killian with wide eyes. “How do I know about it now?”
“Since this was caused by magic, peoples’ memories of the storm were probably altered or wiped. Maybe even by the Guardians here.”
“That would be ironic,” she said dryly.
“And you are scanning the area using your new magic and merging it with the information you acquired during your last life. I’m helping you a little, but you figured out how to do it on your own,” he said proudly.
“Go, me,” she quipped. “So, how should we deal with this?”
“We’ll have to split up. You guys focus on doing damage control and saving people, while Seneca and I go find the source to the north where the magical surge originated from,” Killian ordered. “Once we have the supernatural contained, the storm should quickly die down.”
“I’ll take Thane and Shadow with me to the west toward the town,” Arson said. “Celine, you and Gunner lead some of our people to patrol this area.”
“We’re on it,” Gunner assured.
“Boss, we have a problem,”Dario announced as soon as he and Anika stalked back into the room. Instead of the clothes they had been wearing earlier, they were decked out in the black leather armor warriors from the Hell Realm preferred to wear when going into battle.
“What is it?”
In response, he hurried toward the windows and threw open the curtains. Rain slammed against the windows, and the wind howled as the storm raged outside. Thunder boomed overhead, and lightning slashed across the sky, but it was almost impossible to see because it was pitch black outside. Even the lights coming from the surrounding buildings were being blocked out by the strange dense fog.
Clearly, it wasn’t normal darkness.
“What’s wrong?” Thane asked after everyone walked over to glance outside. “I don’t see anything.”
“I think that’s the point,” Shadow said dryly. “It’s like there is nothing out there.”
“That’s exactly right,” Anika stated. “We had a little trouble teleporting in, so we arrived through the portal on the top floor and saw this. When we went out on the roof to check it out, I couldn’t even see my fucking hand a few inches from my face.”
“It’s like some sort of dark cloud has settled over the entire area,”Dario said.“I flew up, and the darkness is being contained by the storm clouds. Above that, the sky is clear. So, it’s only happening in this area.”
“Interesting,” Killian murmured.
“That’s not interesting, it’s fucking terrifying,” Seneca countered.
Hearing the tremor in her voice made him want to leave her behind where she would be safe, but something told him that she had to go with him to find the supernatural causing the storm. If helping whoever was doing it was one of the things she needed to accomplish to stay in the new timeline, then that’s exactly what they would do.
Killian would make damn sure she was safe, though.
He would never risk losing her again.
When Seneca let out a little squeak of surprise, he glanced down to see her holding the magical umbrella in her hand. Clearly, the ancient relic didn’t want to be left behind. Since that was another layer of protection for her, he was grateful to have it tag along.
