Just then, he felt water splash against his feet. Giovanni looked down to see a few inches of water had covered the floor.

A lot of water.

He felt the ground shake and looked for Carwyn.

Bomeni, playing to the strengths of his allies, had opened a crack in the floor, splitting the foundation and the earth below it. Giovanni finally spotted Livia. She was standing in the corner of the room, pulling groundwater from the river that flowed under the castle.

Too much water.

It splashed up around his feet. At the speed and power with which she was drawing it, the room would be filled in no time. The fire along his torso sizzled out. There was no way Tenzin would be able to dry him when she was battling six of Matilda’s guards in the air. Carwyn was holding off Bomeni with one arm and keeping the ceiling from crashing down with the other. Emil was dueling Lorenzo, as his allies battled Livia’s.

As Giovanni dispatched four of Livia’s guards, he saw a red-clad arm float by. He spun just in time to see Donatella Conti take a deep breath. Her eyes were wide and hollow when the sword slashed her neck and her head sailed across the room, landing with a splash as Emil roared out at the death of his mate.

Giovanni’s eyes sought Beatrice. She was holding her own, trying to make her way toward Livia, but he saw her arms were bloody and torn. The room continued to flood with water. They had lost one of their fiercest fighters. And the black clad guards poured into the room like a never-ending stream of death.

He needed to end this.

“Beatrice!”

Chapter Thirty-One

Castello Furio, Rome

November 2012

She heard Giovanni call her name from the back of the room. Beatrice cut off the heads of the two guards in front of her before she sped back to where he stood. Livia’s guards did not follow. They were completely focused on protecting their mistress, who seemed to be pulling water from the ground itself as the battle raged around her. Giovanni grabbed her and slashed at the vampires that fell on them.

“Beatrice, I need to end this. Now!”

“How?” she cried. “There’s too much water!”

Beatrice glanced toward Carwyn. The earth vampire seemed to have finally stabilized the pillars that held up the room, so he turned his attention fully on Bomeni. The fierce immortal bared his gleaming white fangs and sprang on the her friend, but Carwyn caught him and locked his long arms around the man’s chest, crushing his ribs with an audible crack before Bomeni howled in pain and fell to the ground. Carwyn stood over him, took the vampire’s head between his hands, and twisted it off in a spray of blood and gore. Then he roared and started into the mass of twisted bodies where Emil still fought.

The room was filling with water. Massive blocks of marble had fallen in front of the doors, so they were blocked, and Livia’s guards still outnumbered them.

Giovanni yelled, “Carwyn!”

The earth vampire turned and looked to them. Then he sped back, tossing away the vampires that followed.

“We need to do something!” he panted. “This water, Gio—”

“It’s filling up the room.” He shook his head. “I can’t build any flame, and even if I could, our allies are scattered. It’s not safe. I would kill our own people.”

“Carwyn,” Beatrice said. “Get to Emil. I’ll try to push the water back, but I’ll need his help.”

Carwyn nodded, but before he could leave them, a drenched and tattered Tenzin appeared with Emil gripped in her arms. He was wounded and bleeding from a deep cut to the neck.

“Your son almost killed him, my boy. I managed to grab him, but I think Lorenzo has fled.”

Giovanni said, “Forget him right now. We need to kill Livia. Can you get to her?”

She shook her head. “They’re watching for me. She has guards that are covering her from the air while she pulls this damn water up.”

“Go. Get as many of our allies as you can and bring them here to the back of the room. Then I need you to bring the wind.”

Tenzin cocked her head. “Truly?”

Giovanni’s voice was hoarse. “I need a hurricane, bird girl.”

Tenzin narrowed her eyes, but nodded before she took to the air.

A kind of barricade built up as they killed and tossed the bodies of Livia’s guards around them in the back corner of the room. Carwyn continued to protect them as Emil gathered his strength in the corner. Beatrice saw the ancient Roman grow stronger with each breath as the water grew higher. He grabbed a passing guard and bit his neck as the vampire screamed in agony. Then he broke his victim’s spine and tossed him on the growing pile.

She felt Giovanni tug on her arm. “Tesoro, we need to end this. We have to kill her.”

Beatrice wiped a spray of blood from her face. “How—”

“As soon as Tenzin gathers as many of our allies as she can, she’ll bring a whirlwind to this side of the room. That will block her guards; they won’t be able to get through.”

“But the water. She’s pulling from the river; there’s no end to it. I’ve tried! I can’t hold it back.”

He turned to face her and shook her shoulders. “Don’t hold it back! You and Emil must pull the water away from her.”

“I can’t!” Tears came to her eyes. She was exhausted, and Livia had not lifted a sword.

“You have to. Tenzin’s wind will help. As soon as the room is dry enough, I can finish this.”

A sick feeling rooted in her stomach. “How?”