Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

powerful than any the warrior had ever been able to send before.
    Protect Tiernan.
    Brennan’s abilities struck Alaric as very different and very, very wrong. He headed for the building, without waiting to see if anyone followed him. “We go now.”
    Before he even reached the door, it slammed open and human men with guns streamed out shooting. Alaric heard screaming behind him, but it wasn’t Quinn, he knew her voice, and he did not have time to stop for anyone else. He channeled Poseidon’s pure, blue-green power in the form of small spheres, and he fired them at the men in a steady stream, blowing the resistance apart. The men scattered, still shooting, but the rebels had guns, too, and the shifters had fangs and claws, so Alaric kept going.
    He hit the door at a dead run. “Brennan,” he shouted. “I’m coming.”

Chapter 45
    Brennan called the lightning again and seared flame through the second wave of vampires, but the power flickered and went out, leaving a hollowness in his stomach like the charred earth of a battleground. Something deep in his skull—something vital—twisted and snapped when he tried again to reach for the unfamiliar power. He fell forward, but Tiernan darted in front of him and caught him by throwing her body under his and taking his weight on her back. She Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    stumbled and then steadied, and he gained his own balance and was able to stand.
    “It’s gone. The power—I can’t call the lightning,” he said.
    “Then call the water. Isn’t that your real power?” Tiernan said, slashing out with her scalpels at a vampire who dared to come too close.
    Daniel and Deirdre fought like wild animals, feral and single-minded in their fury. They tore through the oncoming swarm two at a time, Daniel facing one vanguard and Deirdre the other.
    But without Brennan’s lightning bolts, it wasn’t going to be enough.
    Not nearly enough.
    “Call the water,” Tiernan insisted. “Do the ice spears.”
    Brennan did just that, but for the first time in more than two thousand years, neither power nor water came easily to his hand. Perhaps the lightning had ruined him. Killed the magic.
    “Now would be a good time for some help,” Daniel yelled, and then he went down, buried under a half dozen vampires.
    “Brennan,” Tiernan cried out. “Help!”
    She pointed up and he saw a vampire crawling on the ceiling toward them, hanging like a bloated spider but faster than any spider had ever moved. Before Brennan could react, the repulsive creature leapt down through the air and grabbed Tiernan, then threw her across the corridor so hard that she smashed into the opposite wall with an audible crack.
    She screamed and held up her arm, which dangled in an unnatural way, clearly broken.
    Slumping back against the wall, cradling her wounded arm, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor staring up at Brennan, her face strained with the pain.
    Tiernan’s pain blasted through the barrier in Brennan’s mind, and he called the water again.
    “For Atlantis!” he roared, and this time the water came. He created spears of ice and arrows of pure, shining water, and it came to his call and followed his command, shooting through the corridors in swirls and ribbons like a deadly ballet; dancers pirouetting on blades of death.
    The vampire who had harmed Tiernan was the first to die.
    When Brennan lowered his hands and finally released the water, there was no one left standing. The corridors in both directions were littered with piles of disintegrating vampires, and he saw the backs of several more who were fleeing the battle, having evidently decided they did not care to face the true death just yet.
    He ran to Tiernan and carefully lifted her in his arms. Her face was white with pain, but she gritted her teeth and didn’t cry out.
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    “Daniel?” she said and he looked around, prepared to regret having destroyed his ally, but knowing he would have sacrificed far more for Tiernan.
    “I’m here,” Daniel said from behind them, his voice cracking. “But Deirdre isn’t doing very well.”
    Brennan turned around, carefully so as not to jostle Tiernan. “Did I—”
    “No,” Deirdre, who was lying on the ground with a stake in her chest, said. “No. It was one of them. He was going to stake Daniel.”
    Daniel, covered with wounds himself, pulled Deirdre into his arms,