The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,193

mine. As if that was some kind of sign, Sam grabbed Nick's arm, offering his aether. Then Bel grabbed my other hand to do the same. Immediately, I felt my link to all of these people stabilizing, so I pulled on the men around me. I accepted every single thing that my legion was offering.

"If you can do this," I said again, "then we will get you through this storm. We, a group of college guys who just happened to be passing by when the tornado hit, will make sure that you come out of this safe and are finally free again. Do each and every one of you agree?"

Two hundred and twelve people. Two hundred and twelve simultaneous aethereal manipulations. They didn't fall into place one by one, but rather stretched, pulling at the life inside me until they had all been reinforced enough to be solid. And then the deal clicked with the kind of force that I'd never experienced before.

It burned.

Not that it was hot, but there was no other way to describe the sensation. It also didn't matter because the side of the building was losing to the tornado lazily battering it. Yet the screams of people sounded beautiful. It was proof that they once again could think for themselves, and I was too exhausted to do anything about it.

Luckily, Nick wasn't. "In the corner," he yelled. "Huddle together and shield your heads. You're going to be okay, but hold onto each other so the winds can't get us."

Because those winds were strong. An entire sheet of metal tore off the side, and the roof was peeling back like a sardine can. Sam rushed into the group, pushing people to where they needed to be, and Bel joined him. Nick turned around and clasped the back of Ron's neck, offering whatever aether he had left to the one keeping us safe.

But his complete attention was on me. "Are you okay?" Nick asked.

"Dazed, as if my mind is too full," I admitted.

So Nick pulled me against his side, twisting me so I was between him and Ron. "But we’re doing it. Ron, how do we help?"

"I got this," Ron assured us. "The trick is to deflect, not destroy. It takes less power. The people okay?"

I looked back over Nick's shoulder and saw them. Their clothes were filthy and disheveled, and their hair looked like it hadn't been washed in months. For far too long, we’d been seeing posters of missing people, but it was different standing before them. They weren’t just a concept anymore. They were real survivors, people who'd seen things that never should have existed, and now this?

"They will be," I assured Ron. "Just keep the debris off them, and they're going to be just fine. We’ll make sure of it."

Mere feet away, a gust blew hard enough to rip rust off the internal beams holding this building up. Less than a hundred feet away, the support at the corner twisted in the vortex of wind. The roaring was so loud that we'd been yelling at each other to be heard over it, but the scream of the metal folding in on itself was even louder.

The corner collapsed, the roof tilting down towards the ground with a thunderous boom, and then everything was just done. As if it had accomplished its final mission, the tornado simply gave up, dissipating into the pattering of heavy rain and nothing else. The three of us just looked at the devastation, taking breath after breath as we tried to process all of this.

And then Ron said it best. "Damn, she's good."

"Is anyone hurt?" Bel asked, his words for the humans.

There was a murmuring in response, and I was pretty sure that half of the questions were people asking where they were. Bel and Sam were doing their best to answer them, but they just weren't enough. I was completely exhausted, and I’d never done anything that strenuous before, but I wouldn't leave my legion to do all the dirty work. Turning, I walked to the closest person and started to reassure them.

"This is a warehouse at the edge of town. You're going to be okay, are you hurt?"

It was a woman, and she looked terrified. "They were trafficking us. We have to get out of here!"

"We’re working to get you out of here," I assured her.

A moment later, Ron joined me, but Nick had vanished. Glancing back, I saw him talking to a red-haired man with another young guy