Free Chasing Bloodlines (Book 4) by Jenna Van Vleet Page B

crushing it out of this world. The heat it gave off was enough to keep Mikelle back.
    A Spirit specter got close enough to touch Gabriel’s arm, and he immediately doubled over, coughing blood into the stones. They swarmed as soon as they saw him go down, pulling at his wings and shoulders, tearing him to a knee. Dagan gave a shout as his Earth specter rose from crushed stones, and suddenly Adelaide’s latest Water specter plucked itself out of the embers, hurling a blast of ice at her. Even Mikelle’s Fire specter was slowly pulling itself together.
    Bright light suddenly shone from where Gabriel had been cornered, and Mikelle shielded her face. He slowly stood amidst the specters, arms tensed at his side, fists clenched, and his head thrown back. His wings vanished as the fire slipped from him. There was blood on his neck from his lips. They parted in a sneer as he clenched his teeth as if in pain. A dozen black lines shot into his chest, and he gasped, his eyes widening. He raised on the balls of his feet, but she could not tell if he was being lifted or pushed.
    In a rush of silence, the specters abruptly halted their attacks and forward motion. The Elemental attacks quietly melted into the street. Gabriel dropped to his heels, and his head righted. His arms raised at the elbow. The black strings still emanated from him, and Mikelle followed them to each specter’s chest. He snapped both hands rapidly, and the specter’s heads jerked to look at him with blank expressions.
    “Be at rest,” Mikelle saw him mouth, and he slowly lowered his hands. As his hands fell, the specters sank into the cobbles, first with no expression. They had been people, robbed of their wits, but in the moments before they vanished, they came to full consciousness. Mikelle saw one girl weeping in joy before she sank into the next world.
    His hands at his sides, the black lines from his chest vanished with the specters. Gabriel let out a solid exhale and wove on a new shirt.
    Lael shouted in cheer, and the remaining Mages followed. Gabriel smiled faintly, extinguishing the remaining fires and evaporating the ice.
    “How did you do that?” Lael asked as he ran up, his face elated.
    “I’m…not sure. It just felt right.”
    Lael slapped him on the back. “Glad to see your lessons with Malain are working.”
    “You took control of them?” Mikelle asked.
    “No, I took over control of another person. Those lines were attached to someone else.” He turned and spat blood away from them and sighed.
    “Were you wounded?”
    He grabbed the back of his arm. “Just a few scratches.”
    “I wager anything you took control from Ryker, and he now knows he can push specters through the gates.” Lael said.
    “And he knows I can take control of them.”
    “I believe the armies and specters were all supposed to arrive at the same time.”
    Gabriel nodded. “I wondered the same thing. Come on, let’s get everyone inside.”
    He strode ahead to congratulate and thank the fighters. Mikelle looped her arm through Lael’s and smiled. “Our little boy is growing up.”
    “I did not think he would make it for a while. I knew him before the Castrofax took him, and I have been waiting for him to return to those days.”
    “Has he?”
    “Almost.”

 
     
    Chapter 7
    Gabriel slept like a dead person, exhausted from his fight and more exhausted by the idea that Ryker could attack again. He had spoken with Aelony briefly on Void patterns, but the specter claimed he had not used them in Ages. He expected Aelony to be concerned that he could control specters, but Aelony simply said he was not that kind of specter and vanished back to the library.
    Gabriel rested until Mikelle nearly dragged him from his bed. He readied himself in a sleepy stupor, preparing for a Council Meeting and two Classings. Mikelle rattled on about what the Mages were saying about the attack the previous night.
    “They can start putting cinnamon in my food again,” he cut in