Psychic connection

His left hand shot out to clench my throat with crushing power.
I formed the thumb and forefinger of my right hand into a C-shape, ice crackling as it spread over them, rigid and crystal clear.
I plunged them into both of his black, black eyes.
And then I sent my will coursing down my arm, along with all the soulfire I could find as I screamed, "Fuego!"
Fire seared and split and cooked and steamed, and the king of the Red Court, the most ancient vampire of their kind, the father and creator of their race, screamed in anguish. The sound was so loud that it blew out my left eardrum, a novel new agony for my collection.
And when the Red King screamed, every single member of his Court screamed with him.
This close to him I could almost feel it, feel the power of his will calling them, drawing vampires to him with a summoning beyond self-interest, beyond reason. But even if I hadn't been there touching him, the sudden storm of cries from outside would have told me the same story.
The vampires were coming toward us in a swarm, a storm, and nothing on earth would stop them from going to their king's aid. His grip on my throat faltered, and he staggered back and away from me. My fingers came free of his head, and I grabbed his knife hand at the wrist with both hands. Then, screaming in rage, coating his arm with frost, I snapped his forearm in half - and caught the dagger before it could fall to the floor.
Freed, the Red King staggered away, and even blinded and in sanity-destroying pain, he was dangerous. His will, unleashed at random, blew holes in the stone walls. Sorcery lashed out, the scarlet lightning that seemed to be a motif around here raking over one of his own Lords and cutting the struggling vampire in half.
The eldest vampire of the Red Court screamed in his agony as a tide of his creatures came to obliterate us.
Fire seared and split and cooked and steamed, and the king of the Red Court, the most ancient vampire of their kind, the father and creator of their race, screamed in anguish. The sound was so loud that it blew out my left eardrum, a novel new agony for my collection.
And when the Red King screamed, every single member of his Court screamed with him.
This close to him I could almost feel it, feel the power of his will calling them, drawing vampires to him with a summoning beyond self-interest, beyond reason. But even if I hadn't been there touching him, the sudden storm of cries from outside would have told me the same story.
The vampires were coming toward us in a swarm, a storm, and nothing on earth would stop them from going to their king's aid. His grip on my throat faltered, and he staggered back and away from me. My fingers came free of his head, and I grabbed his knife hand at the wrist with both hands. Then, screaming in rage, coating his arm with frost, I snapped his forearm in half - and caught the dagger before it could fall to the floor.
Freed, the Red King staggered away, and even blinded and in sanity-destroying pain, he was dangerous. His will, unleashed at random, blew holes in the stone walls. Sorcery lashed out, the scarlet lightning that seemed to be a motif around here raking over one of his own Lords and cutting the struggling vampire in half.
The eldest vampire of the Red Court screamed in his agony as a tide of his creatures came to obliterate us.
And the youngest vampire of the Red Court knelt on the ground over Martin, staring at her hands.
I watched for a second as the skin around her fingers seemed to burst at the tips. Then I saw her fingers begin to lengthen, nails growing into claws, muscle tissue tearing free of skin with audible, obvious torment. Susan stared at them with her all-black eyes, shaking her head, her face a mask of blood. She was moaning, shuddering.
"Susan," I said, kneeling down in front of her. The howl of sorcerous energies filled the temple with a symphony of destruction. I took her face in my hands.
She looked up at me, terrified and tortured, despair written over her face.
"They're coming," she rasped. "I can feel them. Inside. Outside. They're coming. Oh, God."


Changes Chapter 48, Page 520-521