Elemental Havoc (Paranormal Public Book 11) Read Online Free

there was no sign of Zellie. I gasped and looked from my right to my left, but she wasn’t anywhere within my line of sight. Slowly I stood up, thinking that she might have swung the door open, peered inside, and decided I wasn’t there after all.
    Immediately I felt a slight breeze rustling the air above me. I froze and carefully looked up, but I didn’t even have time to scream before Zellie was on me. She had watched me look for her and drifted closer; I had gotten careless, forgetting how high the kitchen ceiling was.
    Her cold fingers curled around my neck and squeezed. I gasped and struggled, grabbing her wrists with my hands and trying to yank free. It was useless. Whether the strength was because she was an adult vampire or because she was crazed, she was much more powerful than I was, and I was quickly losing consciousness. My eyes fluttered, examining her face. Her expression hadn’t changed. There was still that slight smile, still those vacant eyes.
    “Zellie,” I managed to get out, begging. My efforts were useless, and now I’d lost track of Crumple on top of everything else. Dacer’s cousin or no, if she had hurt the dog I was afraid I might kill her.
    I could think of only one thing to do. I made sure the diamond on my ring was facing forward, and I punched her in the forehead. My jab was weak, since not only could I barely see her at this point, I was at an awkward angle for hitting her. Luckily, my magic knew what to do. With the last dregs of my strength and all the elemental magic I could muster, I slammed Zellie right in the center of her head.
    The burst of power I sent into her was so pathetic that all she did was sort of jerk backward. Unfortunately, her hands were still in a steel grip around my throat, so the movement also jerked my head and shoulders weirdly upward. Pain lanced through me, and my eyes closed involuntarily.
    Then, with no warning, Zellie’s fingers released their clamp-like grip. I heard a ripping sound and looked down just in time to see Crumple with his jaws clamped around her leg. I tried to order the dog away, but I couldn’t make any sounds come out of my mouth.
    Zellie swayed briefly above me, then I sensed that she had gone flying sideways as if she’d been shoved. I kept my eyes closed for a few more seconds, taking stock of the pain pulsing through my body. My neck hurt and I breathed carefully so as not to make it worse. As I assessed the damage, I heard Keegan’s voice.
    “Ricky?” He sounded uncertain, but I had never been so happy to hear him.
    “Yes?” I said.
    “You okay?”
    “Super,” I said. “You know, ‘super.’”
    I opened my eyes. Keegan was standing over me and Dacer was gazing at Zellie, his face a mask of concern.
    “What happened?” Keegan asked. He reached down to help me up, but I waved him away. I wasn’t ready for crazy things like movement just yet. I blinked several times, trying to settle my spinning head. I wanted to look and see what Dacer was doing, but there was no way that was going to happen unless I wanted to throw up.
    “I don’t know,” I said carefully. “I heard a strange noise and I hadn’t been able to sleep anyway, so I thought I’d look into it. I figured it was just one of the weird things Charlotte said happen at Duckleworth.”
    “So nice of your sister to prepare you,” said Dacer dryly. I was relieved at the sound of bemusement in his voice, because somewhere below the surface of my mind I had worried that he’d be angry at me when he found his cousin with her hands around my throat, as if it was somehow my fault.
    “Is she going to be alright?” I whispered. Crumple was nudging my elbow and whimpering a little, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as tightly as I could.
    Dacer grimaced. “I think so, but I won’t be sure until she wakes up. I need to take her to the lab and maybe the lake.” I started a little. Was he talking about the underground lake that I had found, or a