Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

darkening sky, rage pounding through him. Trouble was something he could deal with.
     
    Trouble was his specialty.
     
    As he shimmered back over the tops of the trees bordering the headquarters building, he saw the sickly orange-red pulsing glow surrounding Erin and the two dark figures pointing sticks at her. Witches, then, or wizards. Vamps didn't use wands or like much to be around anything wooden or pointy.
     
    He called to the elements, diffused the mist forming his body even further so as not to draw suspicion, and floated down behind them. The two figures—definitely human, one male and one female on closer look—never even twitched. Erin stood, apparently unharmed, but frozen, in the center of an orb of the weird light. She was moving her lips but either she'd lost her voice or else no sound could penetrate the bubble. But he could hear the bastards holding her prisoner just fine, and decided to listen for a minute or two before he killed them for touching her.
     
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    Gather information. Act like a freaking ambassador. Then he'd rip their lungs out through their rib cages.
     
    The woman spoke, her voice low. "This was badly thought out. We should have waited.
    What if someone from the coven walks out here and sees us?"
     
    The man replied. "Hey, I saw an opportunity and I took it. He will reward us well for this.
    We just gotta get her out of here, fast. The car's on its way."
     
    "You expect me to keep this shield up all the way to the mountains? I'm already tired, you idiot. She's very powerful," she hissed.
     
    The man pulled something out of his pocket that glinted metallic in the pulsing red light.
    "No worry. She'll be out for hours after I stick her with this." He started walking toward Erin, and all ambassadorial thoughts vanished. A wave of primal fury roared through Ven, and he immediately transformed back into his body and leapt forward. He drew a dagger but changed his mind at the last second, turned it, handle first, and smashed it into the back of the woman's head. Not hard enough to kill her, but she'd have one hell of a headache.
     
    The reddish light immediately flickered off and Erin collapsed to the ground, maybe unconscious, striking her head on the dirt, hard.
     
    The man whirled around and saw Ven and gasped, raising what Ven now saw was a hypodermic needle into the air with one hand and holding a gun in the other. "Come closer and I'll kill her," the thug snarled, pointing the gun at Erin.
     
    "You're not going to touch her," Ven said, striding toward him and unsheathing his sword on the way. "In fact, you're already a dead man for even thinking about hurting her."
     
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    Time seemed to slow to the speed of a single grain of sand falling from an hourglass as the man's finger tightened on the gun and the image of Erin bleeding to death on the ground nearly blinded Ven with rage. Guns were fast. Bullets were fast.
     
    Poseidon's magic was faster.
     
    Before the man's finger could tighten sufficiently to pull the trigger, Ven had flashed between him and Erin and knocked his gun hand up so the pistol fired into the air. Then, wrenching the gun away, he smashed the bastard's face with his fist and smiled as the man hit the ground. He knelt to check Erin's pulse, which was strong and steady, and was relieved to see her eyelids were already flickering. The man groaned, and Ven grabbed him by the neck and yanked him up off the ground.
     
    "Nice silencer. Now tell me who you are and why you're here."
     
    The man flailed in Ven's hand, feet kicking the air and hands struggling to peel Ven's fingers from away from his throat. He made choking noises as his face darkened.
     
    "Oh, my bad. Guess you have to breathe to be able to talk," Ven said, loosening his grip a fraction. "Now spit it out before I kill you just for fun."
     
    The man's eyes glared hatred at him. That and something else. Terror, maybe. "If I tell you anything, they'll kill me."
     
    "Yeah, well, I hate to sound like a B movie, but if you don't talk, I’ll kill you."
     
    "You don't understand." The man practically spat the words at him. "There's killing and then there's killing. Do your worst."
     
    And then he laughed in Ven's face, and almost before Ven heard the sharp report of the gunshot a hole blossomed in the middle of the man's forehead.
    Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon