Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

to subside. Beat it down. Wondered how long it would be until she could no longer control the Wilding magic's hunger to display its power through her. Over her.
     
    She blinked her eyes open when a shadow crossed her closed eyelids and saw the Atlantean crouching down to look into her face. The traces of amusement were gone, and she instinctively recoiled from the hardness in his eyes. A very thin layer of sophistication lay over the primitive savagery of this warrior, she realized.
     
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    "What in the nine hells was that?" he rasped out, staring into her face as though he could read her secrets in the lines of her flesh.
     
    "That was—" She stumbled over the lies she'd rehearsed so many times in her mind against this very possibility, trying desperately for reason. Another melody chimed in her mind. Sweeter, richer. Wordless lyrics of desire. The emeralds in her rings seared the skin of her index fingers.
     
    Shock had her reeling back. The emeralds! But—oh. His eyes. His eyes.
     
    "What is that!" she asked instead, staring into the bluish-emerald flame glowing in his eyes. Thoughts of Atlantean and Wilding magic crossing paths—water and electricity battling for supremacy—skittered through her mind.
     
    Disaster. Electrocution. Pain. Death.
     
    Before he could reply, she pulled herself up and leaned against the car, never taking her eyes off his. "What is that blue-green light flaring in your eyes? Do Atlanteans call the Wilding?"
     
    He shot to his feet. "What are you talking about? What blue-green flame? What is the Wilding?" He lifted a hand as if to touch his face, then lowered it; clenched and unclenched his hands and inhaled sharply.
     
    "If you'll excuse me, Erin," he said, biting off the words as he strode around her car to the passenger side and threw the door open. He slid onto the seat and looked in the mirror under the dimness of the car's overhead light.
     
    As Erin took a shaky step away from the car, determined to hide the truth of just how badly his touch had shattered her defenses, she heard the passenger door slam behind her. The car shook so hard with the force she nearly fell again.
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    She whirled around to face him, and the sight that confronted her was entirely unexpected. The warrior, eyes closed and head bowed, pounded his fists on the top of her car once, twice, and then a third time, muttering in a liquid tongue that sounded like no language she knew. Then he seemed to catch himself and stared at her over the roof of her car, eyes flared wide with shock and something that looked a lot like desperation.
     
    "Forgive me, please, but I have to leave. Now. I need to—Alaric—damnit. I just—oh, hells, I'm so outta here." With that, he turned and leapt into the air, shimmering into sparkling mist as he rose into the darkening twilight sky.
     
    She caught her breath. It was beautiful. It was terrifying. It was exactly as she'd dreamed of Atlantis. Shaking her head to try to clear it of magic and fancies, she caught sight of his car, blocking hers in.
     
    "Trapped. Oh, Goddess, what have you done to me?"
     
    A rasping voice answered her murmured question. "Better you should ask what we are about to do to you, Erin Connors."
     
    Before she could think or move or react, the amber on her fingers sang out a clear, sharp warning tone. A pulsing red light filled her field of vision and sliced through her powers and her personal shields, cutting off her access to the earth magic. For the first time since she'd turned sixteen, Erin was as powerless as a non-Magickal as she stood, alone, and faced the dark.

Chapter 3
    Ven soared over the treetops, feeling a sick twisting in his gut. Naming himself something he'd have called anyone else to battle challenge for; a coward.
     
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    Running from a woman—running from an emotion—wasn't his style. Hells,having emotions for women wasn't his style. There was nothing, not one damn thing, that was in any way normal about his reaction to Erin Connors.
     
    VEN! HELP ME!
     
    The sharp call smashed through his skull, shattering his concentration so thoroughly he nearly fell out of the air. It was Erin, and somehow, magically, she'd managed to reach him telepathically.
     
    And she was in trouble.
     
    He changed direction midflight and sped back through the