eldritch files 07 - elemental blood

• Copyright
  
• Dedication
  
• SUMMARY
  
• ONE
  
• TWO
  
• THREE
  
• FOUR
  
• FIVE
  
• SIX
  
• SEVEN
  
• EIGHT
  
• NINE
  
• TEN
  
• ELEVEN
  
• TWELVE
  
• THIRTEEN
  
• FOURTEEN
  
• FIFTEEN
  
• SIXTEEN
  
• SEVENTEEN
  
• EIGHTEEN
  
• NINETEEN
  
• TWENTY
  
• TWENTY ONE
  
• TWENTY TWO
  
• TWENTY THREE
  
• TWENTY FOUR
  
• TWENTY FIVE
  
• TWENTY SIX
  
• TWENTY SEVEN
  
• Epilogue
  
• GLOSSARY
  
• About the Author
  

ELEMENTAL BLOOD

The Eldritch Files, Book Seven

PHAEDRA WELDON

Caldwell Press

Copyright © 2016 by Phaedra Weldon

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Published by Caldwell Press

Cover Design © 2015 by
Lou Harper

Editing
Kime Kirkpatrick

Thank you for purchasing and reading Elemental Storm. It would be greatly appreciated if you could take a moment and leave an honest review of this novel within the guidelines of your favorite retailer.

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To someone who has shown me a whole new world…

Summary

Sam's hunt to find her mother's killer ends in Oregon when she and Bastien are confronted by an Elf asking the Elemental Witch's help in finding his lost King. Even as she and Bastien agree to help, more Elves invade Sam's shop making demands to see the Elemental Witch. Does the disappearance of this King coincide with the discovery of stone bodies in the city's park?

Returning to New Orleans is easy—mending bridges isn't. As Sam and Bastien bring their Coven and Pack together to stop innocents from dying from an Elven Quest, they discover things are not what they seem, and the Dragon of Dreams returns in the ultimate showdown against Sam, and the Dragon she loves.

ONE

"Please tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing."

Detective Crwys Holliard pursed his lips sideways as he bit his tongue. He knew what he wanted to say, but spilling his Dragon-wise assessment of the oddity in front of them to the very human Captain Prescott wasn't a good idea. So, he simply stated the obvious. "It's a body. Er…and it's been half turned to stone."

A group of kids had discovered the rather unusual body early that morning, while playing inside City Park. The kids noticed the body on the bank of the stream running under the park, but it couldn't be seen from the park’s paths themselves.

It was the end of September, and the brutal heat of summer still lingered. At ten in the morning, the air already felt as thick as gumbo. The sound of cicadas, mixed with the smell of rotting plants added to the picture of end-of-Summer in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Captain Mildred Prescott rested her fists on her hips as she looked up at him. "Thank you, Detective Obvious. Now I know why they pay you the big bucks." She gave a short sigh and pointed down. Detective Levi Tulose had been kneeling over the body, searching through pockets, and now he stood with a flat stone in his hand as Prescott spoke. "That's five of these, gentlemen.
Five
half-stone bodies. Either this is some kind of elaborate hoax or we have an epidemic on our hands." She looked at Levi. "What's that?"

He held the stone out for Crwys and Prescott to see. "I think it's the victim’s wallet. Or a very nice carving of one."

Prescott took it carefully in her own gloved hands and gingerly turned it over. "Bag it with the rest of the items. Gonna have to use some of the padded boxes."

Crwys smirked as he glanced at his partner and spoke to Prescott, "The ME hasn't been able to tell you anything on the other bodies?"

She gave him a withering glance. "In case you haven't heard, Miss Todd has refused to look at them. Insists she’s a medical examiner, not a stonemason. Luckily, Mr. Canon has stepped up, but he’s late starting his examinations." Prescott waved in the air. "I'm heading back to the station. You three…eh…" And with that she walked away.

The third and newest member of their little team approached. Detective Tasoula Damali. Dressed in tight jeans and a white tank top, her badge hanging from a chain around her neck, the Detective presented a tall, shapely sight to behold, with dark hair and eyes and olive skin. Every available male in the station, as well as a few females, had already asked her out. But Tas, as she liked to be called, wasn't interested.

Tas pulled her purple latex gloves off with a snap and glanced behind her at Prescott's retreating back. "Thoughts?" She looked at each of them.

Levi shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this."

"I'm thinking it's a spell."

"What, a half finished one?"

"No," Tas said. "Well, I don't know."

"Faerie Magic?"

Crwys shook his head. "No. This isn't Faerie."

"So how do you know?" Levi pinned him with a look.

Crwys pursed his lips. "I've only seen this kind of magic when Purs were around."

Tas said, "Can't be Purs. I thought they left when Katrina hit."

Crwys blinked at her. "You know that for a fact? Or more to the point, you know
what
a Purs is?"

"I sure as hell don’t," Levi said.

Tas made a face. "It's a type of Troll.”

Levi laughed. "You gotta be kidding me. You mean those monsters under the bridge or the kind from computer games?"

"Both are wrong." She looked at Crwys. "Anyone who knows the flip side of this world knows about Purs. They're as old as magic."

Now Levi looked at him. "You've seen these Troll Purs?”

"Yeah…but it's not what you're thinking," Crwys said, and since Tas had already opened the door, it might be a good time to entertain the idea. Though, he was very interested to know
how
Tas knew about them because all manner of Trolls were very secretive. Almost to a point of xenophobic. "These aren't movie creatures. Not even the kind in fantasy films. I take it through your long life, you've never encountered a Purs?” Now he was addressing the Demon inside of Levi, the creature named Ashur, and one of Crwys's oldest friends. Tas took the knowledge that he was a Dragon and Levi, a Revenant, with a rather blasé attitude. No biggie. Runs into one of each all the time.

Levi's golden eyes darkened as his pupils filled the space and his face subtly changed as Ashur stepped forward to speak. Levi's voice took on a tonal duality as if the two were speaking at once in harmony. "I'm afraid you will have to enlighten me, Azazel."

Don't use that name
, Crwys said with mental force. He always bristled when the old Demon used one of his private names. Especially around humans.
I told you I haven't figured out what Tas is yet.

Does she have to be anything other than a very intelligent human?

Hell yeah
. Crwys cleared his throat. “Purs, Risi, Trolls…they're pretty much Elves, in a manner of speaking. But they call themselves the Nisse nation.”

"Trolls are Elves?" Levi didn't appear to be buying that as Ashur stepped back and Levi's face returned to normal, as did his voice. The symbiotic nature of the two of them always fascinated Crwys.

Tas made a snort-laugh. “That’s like saying bunnies are horses.”

"No, it's not," Crwys said. "You’re thinking in terms of human movie tropes. Fairy tales and legends, but all three of us know most of that’s just there to throw the smart humans off.” He glanced at Tas. “No offense.”

“None taken.” She smiled.

“We’ve already dealt with Faeries. Are they anything like you read about them in fairy tales or saw in movies?” He looked at Levi. “Are you anything like Bram Stoker's fiction? Nope. You have two types within your race, depending on their choices. Revenant, like yourself, or a Leviathan. So when I say they're all a type of Troll, I mean just that. They're all from the same stock, they’re just sort of…" He shrugged. “Different.”
Oh hell.
He really didn't want to deal with Trolls, Purs or otherwise
.

Levi stared at him blankly.

"Let me try," Tas said and faced him. “Each race looks different. They're not tall and pretty, but some can be short and pretty. Depending on which kind."

"So, how many kinds are there?" Levi asked.

"Four," Tas and Crwys said in unison.

Tas said, "That we know of. The Jötunn, the actual Troll, the Risi, and the Purs."

Levi held up his hand. "Which one does this kind of shit?" He pointed at the body between them.

"Purs turn things into stone but I’ve never known them to do it half-way,” Crwys said. "If this is some type of Troll magic, then I’d say we’re going to run into the Risi. The Risi and Purs work together to protect their land. The Risi are the warlike and courtly kind of Elf…ah, Troll. Nisse. They form small packs, a lot like Wolves."

"Which makes me wonder," Tas said as she stared at the body, and then moved aside as the people from the coroner's office stepped in to do their job. "How long has Bastien's pack been in New Orleans?"

Crwys shrugged. "Not sure. Well, long enough for them to have hit an accord with the Wardens and the Witch's Parliament. Oh, I see what you're thinking. How is it a Wolf pack's been here so long and we've never seen Risi activity before?"

She looked a little confused. "Like I said, the Purs left when Katrina hit."

"Why is that a question?" Levi asked.

"Because Wolves don’t get along with the Purs, or the Risi."

Levi snorted. "Wolves don't get along with
anything
. Except themselves."

"And Witches," Crwys muttered as his phone buzzed in his hip pocket. He fished it out as he moved away to let the people from the ME's office do their work. The face of his phone showed a quick text.
N. CALIFORNIA. OREGON BORDER.

Sighing, he put the phone back in his pocket.

With this break in their conversation, Levi stepped in close to Crwys, but it was Ashur who spoke,
Where is she now?

Northern Cali.

And you still won't bring her home? It's been two months.