eldritch files 07 - elemental blood (11 page)

ELEVEN

I stood in front of the wall where my basement used to be and scratched my head. "I got nothing."

"So"—Kyle stood to my right—"you didn't do this."

"No."

Ivan leaned against said wall on my left. "You're sure it wasn't something…subliminal?"

I shifted my gaze from the wall to his adorable face. "Yes."

Dharma stepped up with three mugs of tea. Ivan took one, then me, then Kyle. "I think you all should start looking at another possibility?"

We pinned her with our stares. "What?" Ivan said.

"That maybe the King did it himself?"

Brahms, who'd been standing off to my right with a strange, distant look on his face, blinked abruptly and stepped forward. "I believe the Water Witch is right."

My gaze shifted to him. I arched my brow at him when he looked at me.

"As the Chevalier, I was raised since birth to be attuned with the King. I know his mannerisms, habits, and I can taste his magical signature."

Kyle blinked. "Taste?"

"Magic has a sense to it. Sometimes it's a smell, and other times it's a taste, or even a noise."

I could relate to the sensory thing. In the beginning when I was infected with Arcane, it smelled like rotting chicken and looked like squirming red worms. Then later, as it fused itself to me, the worms turned into sparkles, all red and flash, and the smell faded away. Now it was something more akin to baked cinnamon. "So you sense Satar's magic?"

"Yes. And I can see it. It's covering this wall. It could be possible the King's protecting himself."

"So leaving him here wasn't a bad idea?" Arden said on approach. She'd been talking with Crwys, Tas and Levi in my office. About what? Who knew? And who cared? I wanted my basement back. It took a lot of power and a lot of long nights to carve that basement out of…well…it's hard to explain.

"I don't think it would have mattered where you left him," Kyle said. "He would have figured out a way to protect himself."

"If he sensed Yolyn nearby, it is possible he did this in order to hide himself," Brahms said.

"Can you break it?" Kyle said. "Contact him?"

"I've tried. Nothing."

I picked up on something there. "But he's alive."

"I don't know. I think so."

Crwys, Tas and Levi walked up at that moment. "Then the Quest really is a lie," Crwys said.

"Or it's a false positive," Tas said. When everyone, including me, stared at her, she smiled. "I can see where old magics could have been tripped. But what makes even that impossible is the timeline, given what Brahms has told us."

"Yeah," I said and looked at Crwys. He looked at me. We hadn't had a moment together since I got back, so there hadn't been a lot of time to talk. And I really wanted to talk to him. I
needed
to talk to him. I tore my gaze away from him and looked at Tas. "But even a false positive doesn't work. Which means someone or something has been creating evidence to indicate a Quest was launched."

"Why would anyone do that?" Ivan piped up. "I've been scanning the web all afternoon and can't find anything remotely related to the Risi and a Quest for a king."

"That's because we've never had one." Brahms leaned against the wall on the opposite side. "Windsong has been the King ever since the revolt. The Quest is set up to fail."

"Because of the Dragon part," Kyle said.

I glared at him.
No need bringing that up again, dude!

"Then what's going on?" Dharma said. "We've got Elves—sorry, Brahms, but you look like a horned Elf, and that whole contingent yesterday looked like
Lord of the Rings
meets
Narnia
."

I snickered. I could see that. "I wish we had a clearer picture."

"Has anyone tried hacking at the wall?" Arden said as she approached it and put her fingers on it.

"How exactly did you make a basement out of nothing?" Kyle asked. I'd been expecting that question.

So I held out my hands. "One of the first spells Ina—I mean Dionysus—taught me, was how to create nil space. It's like a pocket of reality that's here, but you can't touch it or see it unless there's an opening. You can make a password to open it, or you can build a permanent door. I opted for a door once I was done creating it…not long after I moved in here. Look, after a year of being in business, I realized I needed safe storage for some of the weird things customers brought in here. And this nil space is just that."

I addressed Arden's question. "I’m pretty sure if you hacked at the wall, you wouldn’t see the damage," Looking at everyone looking at me, I held up my free hand. "It’s visible because it’s been told to be, but if he’s manipulated the space, you might be hacking at something other than a wall, but it
looks
like a wall to you.” I glanced at their confused faces. “I really don't know how to explain that any clearer.”

"I got it. Meaning we could be hacking at thin air behind it where the staircase is, but we'd think we were still hitting a wall," Arden said, turning to face me. "I know the spell you used to create it, and if you put enough energy into it, the place becomes permanent."

"Yes. Mine did. To a point where I couldn't move it." I shrugged. "So there's a basement, but it's really not there. And if Satar is hiding, the wall is temporary, but it’s visually permanent.” I looked at everyone else. “It’s like putting a hologram out in front of something. You can see the hologram and it never changes, but you can’t see what’s behind it."

Kyle looked at me with a cocked brow. "Yeah I think we get that. But, if I’m understanding what you’re saying, the basement doesn’t exist in our world. So, where is it?"

"It's in
my
realm." Brahms snapped his fingers. "That's it. That's how Satar was able to close it." He smiled at me. "You used your magic to weave the two realities together."

Arden looked from Brahms to me, then back again. "You're saying she built a Cairn."

Brahms and I looked at each other with wide eyes. "I did?"

"No." He shook his head. "A Cairn is a
Faerie
portal. You built a footpath."

"A what?"

"It's what we call the means into your world. The Greater Kingdom is riddled with them. But there aren't that many here. I’m guessing, though, this path is actually closed space, which is why he’s still there. No opening on the other side." He smiled at me, and his expression was unreadable. "I'm impressed, Samantha."

"I'm not," I said. "I'm confused, and I don't like being confused." I pointed to the wall. "I want that down, but nothing I do moves it. It's not my magic, and it appears to be made of the same stuff I made the basement with. There's a false Quest out there, and innocent people are dying. There's a murderer still at large, and I can't find her…" I didn't realize my eyes were tearing up until I wiped at them. Just that fact alone made me stop talking when I looked down at the tear on my index finger.

It occurred to me at that moment, as things around me spun in a cacophony of crazy, that I hadn't cried once since I left New Orleans. Not even in the quiet alone moments Bastien gave me when we were on the road or in a hotel. I'd cried that night in the rain in his arms in the Cairn at Gypsy Gardens…but since then I hadn't actually let anything out.

Or anything…in.

Arden clapped her hands. "Okay…let's go. Sam's back. Bastien’s back with the Aces. Let's clear out."

"Clear out where?" Ivan asked, and I caught Dharma giving him a warning look as she pulled him to follow her.

Everyone left. Except Crwys.

He stood to my left as I faced that wall, my hand out in front of me as the tear I'd wiped away finally fell from my finger. I watched it leave a small dark circle on the hardwood beneath it. A second one appeared, and then a third, until there were too many to count. It was raining inside.

Inside of me.

I didn't remember him moving, just that he was around me, and his wings completed the circle. I couldn't remember ever feeling more loved, more at peace, and more safe than in his arms. And I knew on some level that Mom knew this. She knew I would be safe with Crwys. She approved of him, if no one else.

And I'd nearly thrown that all away when I listened to the Hawthorne blood in my veins. The human side that didn't take shit from anyone. The side that fought her own battles. The side that never let anyone in.

The side that…

Well…just needed to step to the back.

Most of the remainder of the day was a blur to me. I was in my own bed, Crwys was there. I wanted to make love, but he refused. Instead, he lay beside me, a naked Adonis…no, a winged, naked Apollo. He was made of legend, and he was mine.

I woke and it was dark outside. I could feel a cool breeze coming through the window, caressing my face and moving my wild hair. That meant the rest of the upstairs apartment was open as well, built to catch the cross breeze. I was wearing one of Crwys's larger shirts and nothing else except bruised sorrow. I felt it weigh heavy on my shoulders. A pressure I didn't think would ever go away. As I walked into the kitchen, I almost called out for Grey and then stopped myself with my hand on the fridge…and it all started again.

I was alone. No mother. No father. No one.

You have me
, Crwys's voice came to me in my head.
I am here. And I am eternal. Nothing will tear me from you. Ever.

He knelt on the kitchen floor with me, again, with his arms around me. His wings were gone, but his arms were just as strong. We rocked back and forth as I cried for my mother, for my familiar, for the comfort I wanted so, so badly from her.

I heard the church bell chime in the distance. It was midnight. I sat back. My eyes were swollen, so was my face. Crwys moved my hair and gently kissed my nose, then my lips, my cheeks, and my eyes.

"Please don't ever leave me again," he whispered. "The sorrow you feel now is only a fraction of the heartbreak I suffer when you're not with me."

"Don't…"

"You have to know. I love you, Samantha. I'm bonded to you. We mate for life, and you
are
my life." His brows pulled together over his nose, and I moved his shock of hair. "I just have to know…"

"You can see into me, Azazel." I smiled at him with swollen lips. "Can't you see Bastien was a perfect gentleman? You fight him when there's no need. He knows I'm yours. But he is a dear friend. He only went with me to make sure I didn't get myself killed."

"He said that?"

"Nah. I knew it. Bastien's got a good head on his shoulders. He's been at the revenge game before and preached its uselessness over and over." I snorted and then coughed. "Broken-ass record."

Crwys chuckled. "Then I owe him an apology."

"For?"

"For nearly killing him that night. Out back." He looked down. "I regret what I did. And I vowed never to do that again. Not to Bastien. He didn't deserve that."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, and I want to be there when you tell him."

"Why?" He grinned. "You want to see me squirm in my embarrassment?"

"No. I want to see Bastien's jaw hit the ground."

We both laughed and kissed. And then I wanted ice cream.

After standing, he pointed to the counter. "Get two spoons."

"Okay." I did and turned around to see him remove six different pints of ice cream from the freezer. Butter pecan, chocolate chip, cookie dough, rocky road, vanilla, and chocolate.

All of my favorites!

Then he held up a finger and retrieved a clear pint container. When I looked at the top, I yelled out, "You got cinnamon ice cream!"

"From Atlanta. I say we empty this container first. I also bought you that girl movie you like, in case you want to watch it."

"Yes! Wait, which one?
Love Actually
?"

"No."

"
Serendipity
?"

"No…but I did get that one too."

"So which…" Then I grinned up at him. "You got
He's Just Not That Into You
!"

He held out his arms as if to signal,
Am I not the best
?

And he was.

For a few hours, we sat on the couch under a blanket, the windows open as if we didn't have a care in the world, ate cinnamon ice cream, and watched as seemingly non-related couples came together.

It was heaven.

Just before hell broke loose.

TWELVE

A familiar tune woke Crwys. He opened his eyes, blinking back sleep as he focused on the beautiful brunette cuddled against him. He grabbed his phone on the nightstand and silenced the call before it woke Sam. The fact it didn't was a testament to her exhaustion, even more so when he put the phone to his ear and rose carefully from the bed.

"Holliard."

"It's Levi," his partner said. "Max's got something for us."

Crwys walked into the living area and winced when he realized he'd left the TV on. He grabbed the remote off the couch and hit the red button. "The assistant M.E.'s got something on what? The single bodies or the mass?" He checked the clock on the oven. "Damn…it's two in the morning."