Elemental Flame (The Eldritch Files Book 4) Read online

  Kyle snorted. "Cordelia, how many of you came through this Cairn?"

  "Lots and lots," she said as she wobbled around to face him and flapped her arms. "Mostly us Boggarts."

  Oh. Great. Just…great. There's an open Cairn out there and wee Fae are coming through. I was starting to hate anything that dealt with Faeries. I say seal the realm and shut it off from everything else as far as I was concerned. I'd lost my patience these past few months, and Crwys's dumping me just…set that cherry on top.

  "And you don't know where the Cairn is?" Ivan said.

  Cordy shook her head.

  "Why was everyone yelling and heading to the Cairn?" Kyle asked.

  It was a good question. A solid one. But I was tired from driving. I wanted to go upstairs to my apartment, change into comfy clothing and watch bad TV for the rest of the day. Maybe Netflix had something I could binge on. And Chinese food. I wanted something from Moon Wok.

  But first I needed to find this damn Cairn and close it up so more of these little creepy things didn't come through. The last thing the people of New Orleans needed was to be overrun by their worst fears. Especially right before Mardi Gras. I could only give an inward groan when thinking about how many Cordy's lots and lots amounted to.

  I raised my right arm up over my head, and lowered my left one down in front of me in the opposite direction. Time to banish the little monster.

  "Cordelia isn't sure. Much happening at the Obsidian Palace. Much, much. Summer Queen is not happy."

  I moved my right hand to the right in an arc as I moved my left hand up in an arc. White and blue light trailed behind as I cut a Circle in the air.

  "You don't know why she wasn't happy?" Ivan said.

  "Cordelia doesn't know. But the others whispered of a bad man in the palace. Dark times. Fire. Lots of fire. The Queen tell us all to flee."

  My arms met their opposite starting points, completing the Circle. I made a banishing pentagram with my right hand inside the Circle. It stayed as well and I raised my arms.

  "She told you to go through the Cairn?" Kyle asked.

  "Queen is not happy. Obsidian is too powerful. She—"

  "I am a child of the Wandering Wide. I call upon the gates of future and past and cast you back into the world you hold so dear," I held out my hands. "So mote it be!"

  There was a slight pop in the air. The pentagram vanished, and so did Cordelia.

  My fingers tingled. It'd been a while since I used that spell, and it felt odd.

  "What did you do that for?" Kyle practically yelled at me.

  I turned and grabbed my overnight bag I'd set down on the kitchen floor. "She wanted to go home. I sent her home." Hefting the bag on my shoulder, I turned and faced the two of them. Both of them had some seriously angry looks on their faces. "What?"

  "She was telling us why she left Alfheim. There's something happening there," Ivan tilted his head to his shoulder.

  "So?" I narrowed my eyes. "I don't give a crap about Alfheim. Or any other world out there. Right now, our world has an open Cairn nearby and there are Boggarts coming through it. I suggest we get our shit together, go find it and knock it down."

  "Ah…ma petite, such language. Your little trip did not soften your anger," said a voice from behind me. It was deep and rich with a smooth Acadian accent.

 

  I sighed and turned to face one of the most beautiful red headed men I'd ever known. Bastien Dante LeBlanc, Alpha of the Aces pack.

  Great, just what my day needed. A Lycan.

  THREE

  "What do you want, Bastien?" I tried to keep the irritation and whine out of my voice. I don't think I was very successful.

  He looked good. His recently shorn hair fell just over one brilliant golden eye. He'd shaved his face smooth, and filled his t-shirt, denim jacket and matching jeans flawlessly. The cowboy boots were a nice touch. I didn't know if Lycans were just born sexy or if it was something that came in the DNA. Kyle's boyfriend, Jack Roberts, was a Lycan also (though he was an apogee, a turned wolf and not a born one like Bastien) and he was sexy too.

  There was also a draw to Bastien I couldn't explain. Well, yes I could. Or I thought I could. I believed the draw to him was due to his venom, which he'd transferred to me in a bite during our first meeting. A little incentive for me to find his missing pack mates. We'd found them, Crwys and I delivered a cub, and I didn't turn into a wolf.

  Crwys. Lady Darksome! I'd done so good not really thinking about that creep and there he was again.

  Bastien had his hands shoved into the tight front pockets of his jeans as he sauntered closer. "Bonjour Kyle. Ivan. Where is the petite mère?"

  "Hey Bastien," Kyle said as he and Ivan moved about. Show was over. The Boggart was gone.

  "Grey's around here somewhere," I gave an exaggerated, frustrated sigh. "Call her on the group chat wolf link if you need her. I'm tired. I want something to eat. And we have a Cairn to find and close." That was something else that perplexed me. When Bastien bit me, he'd forced a mental link between the pack and I. Once the venom was gone, I assumed the link would evaporate. But it hadn't.

  "A what?"

  "A Cairn. Faerie portal. Door. A place where little nasties are coming in," I gestured to the kitchen. "If you want tea, help yourself, but we've got work—"

  "It is the chiot, chérie," Bastien blurted out in a voice just a bit louder than normal. "She wishes to see you."

  The pup? I gave him a hard look. "She's a month old. How can you know she wants me?" It wasn't a good response. I already knew how and why, because the mother died before the child could be born, and while Crwys delivered her, I had been the one to keep the little Lycan's soul grounded. There was a bond there—something delicate. Tenuous.

  "You already know."

  "Yes. But…she hasn't called for me."

  "Because she is stubborn. Like her mother was." Bastien pulled his hands from his pockets. "She wants you to hold her. She wants you to…" he winced. "Play with her."

  I knew what he meant. When I'd held onto the little pup's soul, she'd appeared to me as a tiny wolf pup, all cute and fuzzy and playful. And she'd dozed in my arms. She'd also found comfort in Crwys's arms and that's when I remembered him kneeling beside me in the garden at Ina's house, holding that baby in his arms.

  "Bastien, that's all nice and warm and fuzzy, but I just can't right now. I don't think I'm…capable of being…close."

  "It isn't my choice, chérie. She refuses to eat until you come."

  I thought of a dozen metaphors at that moment, so forceful I got a bit of blowback from the pack link. "I can't just drop what I'm doing to go play with a baby, Bastien. Please. Tell her I will as soon as I—" As soon as I what? Get over the hurt of being dumped? Of being stood up? Of being rejected?

  The fear of getting close to someone—even a baby wolf?

  Pfft. I realized at that moment all my thoughts of making this a fast rebound were crap. It wasn't going to be quick at all to get over Crwys.

  Sam-Sam, I think you might heal just a bit by holding her. It wouldn't hurt.

  "I can't do that," I said aloud to my mom and looked around for her. I spotted her by the door to my office where she sat and watched us.

  "The petite mère is right. You should listen."

  I turned on Bastien and pointed at him. "Her name is Grey. Stop calling her little mother. Now if that's all you got, you can go. I'll be there when I can."

  He looked crestfallen and I felt awful. I mean I really, really felt bad. Not just for him but for the child, Regine. But really…the kid was five or so weeks old. How much could she really be aware of? With a nod he reached into the left breast pocket of his denim jacket, retrieved a card and handed it to me. "That is the address. When you have the time, chérie."

  I took the card, and without looking at it shoved it into my back pocket. When I looked back at him, Bastien was staring at me. "Is there something else?"
<
br />   "He hurt you. I don't know what he did, mon chérie. But it has cut deep. There is nothing more delicate than le coeur."

  The heart.

  He was so…so very right.

  And before I could wave him goodbye or turn and head upstairs, Bastien did that fast move thing he was so good at, placed his warm hands on my cheeks, and pressed a soft but passionate kiss on my lips. I think I blacked out for a few seconds as my mind traveled to the woods, to trees and flowers, to the scent of fresh earth and the perfume of early blooms. I heard the hum of the pack in my head and I shook myself to come out of it.

  I stepped back from him. Slapping his face seemed like a good idea. I wanted to tell him off and warn him never to do that again. But I couldn't find my voice. On rubber knees I turned, moved through Ivan and Kyle, and half ran up the stairs to my apartment with Grey at my heels.

  * * *

  A quick check of my refrigerator quelled any thought of a real meal. I'd left what groceries I had at Arden's cabin, thinking I had food here. But what I found here had already started its transformation into liquid form.

  Thus starts the kitchen search for food. Something to get my mind off my growling stomach as well as the butterflies Bastien's kiss had deposited next to the hungry monster. I found a couple packs of Ramen and a container of chicken bouillon cubes.

  I chose the Ramen, chicken flavor, and set a kettle of water on the gas eye to boil. Dusting off a deep bowl, I opened the packet and dumped the wavy noodles into it…and just stared at the pattern.

  Logically, Crwys is gone. Bastien's here. And I knew how Bastien felt. He didn't exactly hide it, especially through the pack link. But hearts, especially mine, didn't work like a revolving door. My attraction to Crwys had been unprecedented when we met. It seemed unprecedented when I broke up with him after a week long fling. It seemed unprecedented now that I could even entertain the idea of a relationship with a Lycan.

  Waiting on the water to boil, I leaned against the counter of my tiny kitchen and folded my hands over the puckered, hard scar that rose up in the center of my chest. What had once been the iridescent symbol of magic was now something hideous. It reminded me of the painting of Dorian Gray. Was this scar the culmination of my sins? Was this mark like the old Witch's mark, foretold in Malleus Maleficarum?

  I hadn't realized I'd closed my eyes until I heard the water faucet turn on. Opening them, I saw my Undine splash around in the running water. She swam up to me and slid her colored scales against my cheek. I smiled at her and realized the water on my face wasn't from any of the sink stream's spray.

  I sensed eyes on me and turned to see all of my Elementals crowded in the kitchen with me. My Gnome stood by the door and gave me a sad face. As did the Sylph as he glided through the air, and the Salamander as he moved to float in front of me.

  I felt their concern, our empathic communication a comfort. They missed Crwys too. There had been something about him, something about his magic that called to them. Fed them. And it fed me and the Arcane that rested inside of me. Two days ago, I wanted to give into that need to be close to him. And he'd promised me he'd tell me what he was.

  Drachen was the term he'd used when we met. But because that wasn't the word my dex gave me, I thought he was lying. I'd always assumed as much.

  "Drachen." I rolled the word around on my tongue.

  To my surprise, all of the Elementals nodded their heads. Were they agreeing that's what he was?

  "Crwys is a Drachen?"

  Again, they all nodded.

  I knew what the word sounded like, but it just wasn't possible, was it? "No…that can't be right. There's no such thing. I mean yeah, you guys are also like myths but you're real. And so are Faeries and Vampires…and I just had a Boggart in the shop." I stood in the kitchen by the stove, and wrapped my head around the possibility that Crwys was something a lot bigger than I thought possible. And I didn't mean in size—though size could definitely be an issue.

  I thought back over some of the comments Levi made since the three of us met. I knew he didn't approve of Crwys and I, but I'd always thought that was a cop and Witch sort of thing. Especially since they busted grifters in New Orleans all the time.

  But could it be something else? And if what I was thinking was true, if the image in my head was even remotely possible, it could be Levi's caution wasn't for Crwys, but for me?

  My Salamander moved in front of my face and made a tiny flair as he shot fire from his mouth. I'd never seen him do that before. But then he fanned his face and darted at the running stream of water, licking it as if to cool down his throat. I saw tiny wisps of steam rise from his nostrils. "Is that it? Is it possible that Crwys Holliard doesn't register on my dex because he's a…"

  "Sam!" Ivan shouted from behind the door to my apartment just as the kettle whistled.

  I turned the eye off and poured the boiling water into the bowl with the noodles. "What?" I shouted back.

  "You okay?"

  "What do you want?!"

  "Oh, ah, you've got a visitor down in the shop."

  A visitor? It wasn't Crwys because Ivan would tell me. I set the kettle back on the stove and covered the bowl with a towel. "It's not Prescott is it?" I did not want any more visits from Levi's police captain. "Or the Clerics?"

  "No. You have to come down here."

  "Is it bad?"

  "Just…come down, okay?"

  I didn't answer and listened for his footfalls heading back down the stairs. My Salamander lounged on the side of the sink. The others had vanished when Ivan intruded. I looked at the little guy. "That's what he is, isn't it?"

  The Salamander nodded.

  Lady Darksome…

  Casting a glance at the towel covered bowl, I realized the noodles would be paste by the time I got back upstairs to eat them and just left them on the counter. The waste didn't bother me like it usually did. "Grey, can you go see who it is?" I opened the apartment door and watched as she scooted down the stairs.

  Then, Sam—

  Is it bad? This visitor?

  You'll have to push through this.

  Oh shit.

  I walked through the door into the retail area. The shop was empty except for Kyle, Ivan and me…

  And Robin.

  Robin Tremere.

  He had his niece Kathy in tow. She stood beside him, her hand in his, and she was looking around the shop in awe. I was pretty sure she could see a whole lot more than Robin.

  He and I had dated not long after Crwys and I split. Robin was stable, good looking, sweet and so not deserving of the hell knowing me had put him through. The Leviathan that raised me had sent out Changelings, back in October, to kill the parents of the children they were exchanged for. It was all just a ruse to flush out something Dionysus wanted.

  But one of those Changelings had been a duplicate of Kathy. It attacked at dinner one night, narrowly missing the littlest girl, but eventually killing their mother, Robin's sister, Rose. And then it attacked Robin. Robin killed the Changeling in self-defense, but he thought he killed his niece. The shock of that, plus the Changeling's poison took its toll on him. For a while it looked like he was going to muddle through without his niece and sister, but his emotional state caved.

  Luckily, we were able to find those children and Kathy was returned. But our relationship had been one of the casualties.

  And now he was here, with Kathy, nearly two months after we called it quits.

  "You…you look good," Robin tilted his head to the side. He'd cut his hair shorter. He looked good. A bit thinner, but in better shape than when I left him.

  "You look good yourself," I refocused on Kathy. "And how are you doing?"

  "Oh, I'm great. Sammie, is this your magic shop?"

  "Yes it is."

  "This place is awesome!"

  I smiled at her before I looked back at Robin. "Is there something I can do for you?"

  "It's not me that wanted to come. I mean…I wanted to come. I wanted to call you, but
I heard you were having trouble again and I didn't want to get involved with magic stuff so I just…" his voice trailed off and he licked his lips. "Kathy said she had to see you. She insisted to the point where she was skipping school to find this place."

  "Kathy!" I put my hands on my hips. "You shouldn't do that. We do have a phone."

  She rolled her eyes. "Uncle Robin wouldn't let me call. And besides, I have to give you this in person."

  "Give me what?"

  Kathy took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Several seconds passed before she said, "Pain…there is always pain…need…a lifetime of loneliness….why haven't you come…why haven't you searched for him…no death, no life, no forward, no backward…search for the curse. You have to follow the curse." She staggered a bit, and then breathed deep and smiled. "Whew. Now maybe I can get some sleep."

  I stood still. Very still. I could hear the pack humming again. Finally, I glanced at Ivan at the computer with Kyle beside him. They both looked wide-eyed and confused.

  "What's wrong, Sammie?"

  Licking my lips, I thought about what I was going to say. "Where did you get that?"

  "From the voice in my dreams. He's been there since Uncle Robin took me and my sister out for Valentine's Day. I haven't been able to sleep since."

  "You have a voice in your dreams. Does this he have a name?"

  "No. But he's in pain. A lot of it. And he's asking for you, calling for you. I'm surprised you can't hear him."

  I felt my chest grow warm and realized the scar was heating up and glowing. Luckily the shirt and hoodie I was wearing covered the light. "Kathy…do you know who he is?"

  "No. But I know what he is. And he's the last of his kind."

  "What is he?"

  Kathy clasped her hands over her chest and her eyes sparkled. "He's a Dragon!"

  FOUR

  "A Dragon?" Kyle said to my right. "What's she talking about? A fairy tale?"

  It wasn't a fairy tale. It wasn't fiction or fantasy. There was only one person in my life whom I'd toyed with the possibility, but until a few minutes ago, believed it was impossible. My Elementals knew the truth. I suspected Grey knew as well.