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Corin wrapped his arm around Angela’s shoulders and kissed her temple. “Like Ezekiel said, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“I know.” Angela leaned into Corin’s shoulder. “Do you think Ezekiel is all right?”

“You’re referring to his losing his temper when we arrived?” Corin sighed. “I’m not sure. By any chance, did you catch his emotions when it happened?”

Angela shook her head. “He was just out of range, but he seems fine now. When he came closer, he felt calm and at ease. Although …”

Corin’s eyes narrowed. “Although?”

Angela bit her lip. “I now know vampires repress what they’re feeling to stop themselves from unveiling. Ezekiel has his emotions under control right now, but I can’t tell what’s going on with him … deep down. You know what I mean?”

“I do.” Corin gazed off toward the other side of the lake, where Ezekiel was casting ice and snow upon the trees. He had frozen the lake all the way across, creating a frozen hundred-yard-wide bridge. Corin chuckled. “He’s turning this place into a veritable winter wonderland. Why don’t we wait in the car and keep you warm?”

It took Ezekiel twenty minutes to traverse both sides of the lake and swathe the area in additional ice and snow, leaving not a single tree branch or blade of grass visible beneath the conjured blanket of white. The recent late-autumn snowfall had only dusted the region, but Ezekiel had buried the field surrounding the cars under a couple feet of snow and encased the nearby tree trunks in thick hoarfrost.

The large vampire returned to the picnic area, and Corin and Angela exited the car. Ezekiel gave a theatrical wave of his hand to their surroundings. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful,” Angela said, walking to the edge of the lake and turning about to survey their wintry surroundings.

Ezekiel beamed at Angela’s compliment, and Corin resisted the urge to swat his knee with his cane. “Yes, it’s quite pretty,” Corin grudgingly acknowledged. “Sad that it’ll all melt away tomorrow morning. The weather forecast predicts it will be in the mid-forties.”

“Well, let’s enjoy it while it lasts,” Ezekiel said, crossing his hands behind his back. “Does all this ease your apprehension over using your powers on the lake, Angela?”

Angela rubbed the back of her neck and surveyed the area once more. “A bit. It would take a lot of fire to cause any actual damage now.”

Ezekiel gestured to the lake. “Shall we proceed, then?”

Angela looked to Corin. Did she want his opinion? Corin had to commend Ezekiel for how thoroughly he prepared the area to safeguard against Angela’s fire getting out of hand, and it would be a shame to let all this conjured ice and snow go to waste, but Corin truly did not know the full extent of Angela’s powers. The fire that took the lives of her parents—the life of Corin’s precious Évangéline—had destroyed nearly half a square mile of forest.

No, this was far too risky, and Corin would always prioritize Angela’s safety above all else. He opened his mouth to voice his concern, but Angela spoke first.

“Yeah, let’s give this a shot.”

Ezekiel smiled and clapped his hands together. “I’m ready when you are.”

Corin touched Angela’s arm. “Angéline, are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Angela brushed her hair back behind her shoulders. “I mean, obviously I’m still nervous, but I’ll make no progress if I don’t push myself past my comfort zone.”

Corin clenched his jaw and scanned their wintry surroundings, then looked Angela in the eye and swallowed his fretfulness. “All right, if you’re sure.”

*****

The apprehension Angela felt from Corin lessened and soon was undetectable through her empathy. It really was remarkable how well vampires could subdue their emotions, but now that Angela knew they could do this, she was sure Corin’s anxiety over her safety was not truly gone, just repressed. She hugged Corin, wanting to ease that hidden concern if possible.

“Shall we?” Ezekiel gestured to the lake.

“Yes.” Angela joined Ezekiel at the edge of the water. “Okay, tell me what to do, coach.”

Ezekiel gently turned Angela to face the lake, then stepped behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Remember to use your hands as your aiming device.”

Angela raised her arms, splayed her fingers, and used the squared space between her extended thumbs and index fingers as her optical instrument. “Where should I aim?”

“Let’s start near the edge closest to us and then move your target out toward the middle of the lake as the water melts.”

Angela repositioned her arms so that her aim was toward the frozen water a few yards from where they stood at the bank. “Okay.”

Ezekiel removed his hands from Angela’s shoulders and extended them out toward the lake as well, Angela standing between his arms with his hands positioned next to hers. “Now, when you’re ready, draw in the heat from our surroundings and project it outward toward the lake. I’ll create a funnel of cold around your heat projectile.”

Angela winced. “Do you have to call it a projectile? That makes it sound like I’m shooting a missile launcher or something.”

“Uh, what should I call it?”

A series of equally unappealing terms whizzed through Angela’s thoughts. Heat ray, flame thrower, fire launcher … “Heat projectile’s fine.”

Ezekiel gave Angela’s wrist a comforting squeeze. “We can do this.” His voice was so soft and warm, sending a pleasant tingle up Angela’s spine. “Trust me.”

Angela took a steadying breath. “Okay, I’ll start then.” She performed her visualization, imagining heat in the area around them as golden light, then willing that light to move toward the water. The ice melted with only a little resistance, creating a small hole. Angela stopped the visualization and lowered her arms.

“Why did you stop?” Ezekiel coaxed.

“Sorry, just pacing myself.” Angela rubbed her face. “I thought it would be much harder with all the ice and snow around, but I only feel a small amount of resistance.”

“Well, that’s the funny thing about heat. When it feels cold, there is still thermal energy in our environment. Even as you draw it out of our immediate surroundings, more heat from further out will simply flow in toward us and replace the energy you’re using. The snow and ice I’ve covered the area with is a slight buffer, but I can’t remove all the heat from our surroundings.”

“So until the heat death of the universe, I have an unlimited supply of thermal energy.”

“Pretty much.”

Angela sighed. “Super.”

Ezekiel patted Angela’s shoulder. “Let’s continue.”

Angela stretched her arms, rotated her shoulders, and held her hands out again. She repeated the visualization and focused on the hole in the ice, melting it further. After less than a minute, the hole widened to almost four feet.

“Good,” Ezekiel said. “Now move the heat further out and away from us.”

Angela shifted her target, and the melting hole extended outward, cutting an elongated channel down the middle of the frozen lake. Steam rose from the warming water.

Ezekiel projected a cold flurry from his outstretched palms, keeping the crevice narrow. “See, it’s contained. There’s nothing to worry about.”

The water in the lengthening fissure started to bubble. Was she funneling too much heat into the lake? Flashes of small flame emitted from Angela’s outstretched hands. She was only trying to warm up the water, not generate fire. A fearful tremor skittered up her spine, and the flames increased. “Uh, Ezekiel?”

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