Rage settled in him as an unshakable purpose. “You might not be able to make the crossover, but I can.”
“Make him hurt,” said Bailey. “Make him hurt real bad.”
“Count on it,” Sebastian told her.
He paused to look down at Olivia, his heart squeezing tight. He said to his people, “She’s going to be my mate.”
They all exchanged looks. None of them appeared surprised, but then they had all watched Sebastian with Olivia over the last week.
Derrick told him, “Trust me. Trust her.”
“I do,” he said.
He strode out of the cottage, shapeshifted and took wing to fly over the water. Then he shifted again in midair, rolled and dived toward the passageway. Lunging through the water as fast as he could, he thought ahead to what he would find.
Phaedra would be on watch, but the Djinn would only be on the lookout for people trying to approach the crossover passageway from Earth. She was expecting for the team to emerge from the Other land. She wouldn’t know to stop Steve.
Had Steve still been close enough to feel Olivia’s cry for help?
While the question renewed his rage, it was probably irrelevant. One way or another, as soon as Steve had made his move, he would have known that he would have to work fast. He couldn’t know whether or not Phaedra would say anything to the crew circling in the yacht at the surface. He would be swimming as fast as he could underwater, to get as much distance from the yacht as he could before surfacing, which was why he needed an oxygen tank even though he was also Wyr.
Steve had to have a preplanned route in mind. Perhaps he was meeting someone, but if he was, Sebastian doubted very much if they would chance connecting too close to Phaedra or the yacht. Just like with the crossover passageway, it would be much easier for someone to slip away than for someone to try to approach.
Then Sebastian knew where Steve was going.
The other Wyr was going to try for one of the underwater openings to an old, vast tunnel system that lay underneath San Francisco. Carling had told him about it. When Vampyres traveled back and forth from the island, they would swim to the tunnel system to avoid surfacing in any sunlight. If Steve reached the tunnels, his chances for disappearing grew a lot higher. He might even be planning to meet someone in the city.
Sebastian swam harder, pushing his body to the limit. His lungs began to burn. He needed to breathe.
He reached the other side of the passageway and sensed Phaedra’s presence.
She sensed him too. She said, sounding sleepy and bored, It’s about time you all started to come out.
We’re not, he said as he kicked upward. Steve killed Dendera, stabbed Olivia and sabotaged our equipment.
He broke the water’s surface and sucked air.
Phaedra’s physical form snapped into existence in front of him. She looked strange, as she didn’t swim, but merely appeared as if she stood in front of him on dry land.
“He stabbed Olivia?”
“Yes.”
The Djinn scowled. “I’m very displeased. Grace will be unhappy. That will make my father furious.”
“She’s going be all right.” He cocked his head, treading water. “Are you bored enough to track Steve down? I think he’s headed for some tunnels underneath the city.”
“I will do much better than that.” She vanished, then reappeared again almost instantly with Steve wrapped in her arms, complete with wetsuit, flippers, mask, oxygen tank and the container of books hanging from him by a cord. “You were correct,” she said. “He was just beginning to crawl into a tunnel when I found him.”
Steve kicked and struggled, wriggling like a fish on the end of a line. Behind the mask, Sebastian caught a glimpse of the other man’s astonished expression.
It swiftly turned to fear as Sebastian lunged for his throat.
Sebastian didn’t kill the other man, but he did hurt him real bad. He had told Bailey he would, and he always kept his word.
Steve tried to fight, but he didn’t have a chance. Sebastian was, by far, the better and more seasoned fighter. In fact there was no comparison. Steve was hampered with the weight of the oxygen tank, the heavy container of books, and the mouthpiece and mask that obscured his face when he attempted to shapeshift to bite.
Sebastian drove his fist into that mask. Then he did it again, and again. The blows broke the lens and drove pieces of the frame into the other man’s face. They twisted together, bobbing with the waves, while Phaedra floated close by and watched curiously. Sebastian felt other bones break underneath his hands. They sank underneath the water, and he was all right with that. All he could see was the wide pool of blood where Olivia had lain.