eldritch files 07 - elemental blood (26 page)

"No," Crwys said. "But you'll heal better if you do." He didn't know this for sure, but it was something he and Kyle had guessed at.

Lethe pulled the top off and dabbed a bit of the blood on her finger then moved it over her stone forearm in its sling.

Dags moved then, pivoting in place as he looked around. "What is it?" Crwys asked in a low voice.

"She's here…" And then he pulled his hands from his pockets and wrapped his arms around himself.

"You okay?" Crwys divided his attention between watching what Lethe was doing and the odd behavior Dags was displaying.

"Cold…" Dags said in a small voice. "It's so cold…and dark…"

Lethe made a screech that was something between a laugh and a scream. Crwys turned and instantly ignited his internal furnace at the noise when he faced Lethe. But she wasn't coming at him. No, she was dancing around on one leg and pointing at her arm.

Her quickly healing arm.

Now it was time to act. "Where's Samantha, Lethe? You see the blood's real."

"Yes! Yes!" the Dream Dragon sang as she held the vial against her stone chest. Then she stopped and looked at Crwys. "Where is the King?"

"You're not going to touch him," Crwys said. Which was a truth in case she tried to read his mind. Since the man was long dead, Lethe could never touch him.

"Give him to me. I have to make sure Artemis never fashions another arrow like that again."

"Samantha!" Dags suddenly bellowed out as he stumbled away from them. "She's here…I can smell her…"

"Ah…so this creature thinks he can find my treat?" Lethe said as she held up the vial, and in one motion, downed the contents.

Crwys finished igniting his power and held his Dragon's Fury in check. If things went the way Arden assumed they would, there wouldn't be just one Dragon in the sky. Exposure was forbidden and punishable by the God Mother. But if it helped distract Lethe long enough for Dags to find Samantha—

Dags let out a yell as he stood in front of the scorched willow. Crwys narrowed his eyes as the kid reached out and touched the darkened bark and ran his hands along the sides. "The tree…oh my god…I remember…the tree…"

Another scream and a blast of wind caught Crwys off guard as Lethe's Dragon's Fury shattered. She burst forth in her full form as she beat her wings in all directions, and yet somehow, climbed into the sky. Crwys shook his head and spit ash and dirt from his mouth as he stood and raised his hand to look up at the moonlit sky.

She was there, fully restored to her full Dragon form, and a bigger threat than ever before.

"Crwys!" Arden yelled out behind them as she and the other coven members, including Ivan, Kyle, Jack and Dharma, came running up. She looked at Dags hugging the tree. "What—"

"The tree!" Dags started yelling at them as he backed away. "She's
in
the tree!"

Crwys's heart sank. In…the tree? Transfiguration wasn't part of a Dragon's magic. How had she…how was this possible? He looked at Arden. "Is she alive?"

"I don't know. That kind of magic is Faerie Magic, or Jötunn. I don't even know how to—"

"Look out!" Ivan screamed just as a burst of flame and ash, heat and wind exploded around them.

Crwys felt himself go flying, but he righted himself, regaining his balance as his wings unfurled. He looked around for everyone through the smoke. He spotted Arden being helped by her people, Jack and Kyle, and Ivan and Dharma getting to their feet, dim shadows in aftermath.

And then he saw the tree.

Engulfed in flames.

"Dharma!" Arden yelled as she summoned her Water Elemental and began a spell. Dharma joined her and the two of them worked together to encase the tree in water as they pulled it from the Earth itself. The fire was instantly snuffed out, then their Elementals parted the dome like a flower, and the petals of water lay out to the sides and cooled the ground around the tree.

That's when Crwys spotted Dags to the right. He'd been at ground zero when Lethe fired on the tree. Arden got to him first, trudging through the now muddy ash and soot and put her hand on his chest. Dharma joined them, as did Kyle and Ivan. Jack shifted abruptly and ran off into the dark.

Seeing the smoldering tree and knowing his love was inside of it…something very primordial snapped inside of him. He and Sam had been through so much to be together, namely his past. And now to have this bitch step in and try to destroy what he believed could be the key to his happiness?

Hell the fuck no.

"Arden—" he called out.

She turned from Dags and nodded. "Go. He'll be fine. We'll do what we can."

With that nod, he released the last of the spell and threw his head back as his human form dissolved and he was reborn into his Dragon. Power coursed through his veins, singing the song of the wind as his insides burned and churned and he twisted his long neck around to see Lethe in the sky.

Come to me, Azazel!
she taunted him.
Come to me and die!

Without a word, he launched himself into the sky, bent on one thing.

Killing.

TWENTY SIX

Arden shielded Dags from the storm Crwys's transformation created. She turned and could see his enormous form through the smoke and haze seconds before he launched himself in the air with an ear-splitting cry.

She turned to see Dharma watching, her mouth open as her gaze tracked the Dragons in the sky overhead. Though Arden could understand the girl's awe, this wasn't a good thing. Hardly. She sensed they were visible in their true forms to those who were magic sensitive, but if they dropped their outer glamour and let the world see two Dragons battling in the sky over New Orleans…

That would be bad.

"Hey!" Arden snapped her fingers at Dharma. "Focus."

Dags stirred at her knees. Arden had never met this mystery man—or boy. It was hard to tell with him. He looked no older than twenty, but had the “feel” of someone much,
much
older. But there was something else…something more powerful stirring around him. She put her hand on his shoulder and got a slight shock and let go. "Take it easy."

But he was already pushing himself to stand up, even with what looked like a nasty knock to the side of his head. Blood flowed in several lines over his cheek and jaw as he made it to his feet. Arden and Dharma followed, each of them helping to steady him. "The tree…she's in that damn tree…"

Arden looked at the burned-out willow in front of them. Sam was in the tree? Was that even possible? Transmutation like that took a special kind of…well…racial magic. And it wasn't something Witches could do easily or successfully.

Could Dragons?

"Dags are you saying Sam
is
the tree, or
in
the tree?"

He blinked gray eyes at her and then shook his head. "I don't know. It's like…I can see her, but then I can't." He staggered forward and pressed his hands against the wet, sooty edge of the wood. The bark had been completely burned away. "I can hear her!"

"Can we get her out of there?" Dharma asked Arden as Ivan appeared at her side. He looked pretty worse for wear as well, with muddied clothing and a bruise on the side of his face.

"It's not magic I can use," Arden said in a quiet voice as she watched Dags for a few seconds. "But it is Faerie…Dags…your mother was Daoine Sidhe?"

"Is. She's still alive."

"Then you have the ability to break this spell."

He half turned to face her. "Me? I have no idea…" Then he smiled. "But the Grimoire would."

What?

They watched as he took a step back and closed his eyes.

Arden looked around as she heard the howl of Wolves. The Aces were in a fight again, and winning. That much she could tell. The screams of the Dragons above prompted her to look up. She watched as Crwys and Lethe clashed high above, spitting fire at one another. Crwys belted out a large ball of flame just before he dove under it and tackled Lethe as his fire clipped her left wing. The two of them spun in the air as they fell, and just before she was sure they would land, Lethe broke free, fired greenish fire at Crwys, and then climbed out of the fall.

Crwys kept falling.

"Oh no…" she said as she turned to see him hit the earth and felt the shake under her feet.

Lethe screamed in triumph above, flew in circles, and then did a nosedive in the direction her opponent fell.

"I can't…"

Arden turned to see Dags holding a book in his hands. Well, not exactly holding it. It floated in front of him, only partially corporeal. A ghost book with immense power radiating from it.

Wait
… Arden stumbled forward, her boots catching in the mud. Is this…is that…the
Grand Grimoire
?
Was this boy, this Goblin…in
possession
of it?

And Dags was backing away from it. "I can't do this—"

Dharma put her hand on his arm. "But you can…you have to get her out of there!"

"What it says…" He looked at her with a stricken expression. "What it's asking!"

"Tell me." Arden moved to stand between him and the tree. She noticed the book had a single sigil on its cover, the same one now glowing in the palms of Dags's hands. "Is it something I can give you?"

"No…it's something I have to put aside." He licked his lips and stared at her, and for the first time, she could see his ethereal Faerie beauty. His smooth skin, his long lashes, and luminous gray eyes. A glow surrounded him, like the ones she'd seen about the Faerie queens.

"Is there a spell in there to free Sam? Or…" Her quick mind started putting old folklore she'd read together with practical knowledge of spells. "This is your mother's magic."

He nodded, his expression that of someone in panic.

She understood. All too well. From Sam and sources she'd gleaned, Dags McConnell had only recently remembered his past, then run from his father who'd been taken by a Leviathan who wanted the son's body. A hybrid race, Goblins had the best of both worlds…and the worst. The latter being the ability to grow old and die. But then, to someone who could live forever, would that be blessing or boon?

"You have to use your Faerie Magic."

Dags held up his hands, the light from the sigil illuminating his face. "I have to…unwrap it."

Unwrap? Arden narrowed her eyes. "Are you afraid of using it?"

"The book tells me to do this I have to give something up. Something of myself."

The sacrifice. Arden groaned.

Another screech in the air made them all look up to see a green Dragon intercept Lethe's descent on Crwys. The Fire Dragon hadn't appeared, and Arden worried Crwys was badly injured.

"Is that—" Dharma began.

"Artemis," Arden said and then looked at Dags. "You have to make this decision now, boy. Crwys is fighting for his life. So is Artemis. Free Sam or get the hell out of here!"

Well…that was democratic.

Arden cringed inside…but dammit. They didn't have time for hesitation!

Dags looked up and then at the book. He closed his eyes, and the book glowed like the sun before it disappeared. She put her hand up to ward away the muffled glow in the haze and then stepped out of his way as he approached the tree again. This time he didn't touch it, but instead held out his hands, palms up, and the light that came from them sprang forward as the tree began to peel away.

It flecked and flaked off before it broke into a million black butterflies that dispersed like tiny bats in a spiral into the air. Standing in its place was an all too familiar raven-haired woman. Her clothing hung in burnt tatters around her. Her Elementals clung to her, shielding her, and one by one they vanished like smoke until Samantha fell forward.

But Ivan was there to catch her and scooped her up in his arms. Arden and Dharma ran to them and put their hands on her. Arden spotted the burned patches on her skin, places where the Elementals couldn't cover. They'd protected her the best they could. But had they too been injured? She and Dharma patched up what they could just as a familiar roar made them all duck.

Crwys appeared above them and landed close by, his red-amber eyes swirling as he held his wings up high and moved his head on its long neck forward toward Ivan and Samantha. The smell of brimstone and the overwhelming heat drove Dharma and Arden back.

To Arden's surprise, Samantha stirred in Ivan's arms and then reached up a hand toward Crwys. Ivan put her down and helped her steady herself as she walked through the mud and ash to the great Dragon's muzzle, and there she wrapped her arms around it, sobbing uncontrollably.

Arden's own vision blurred and she wiped at her eyes angrily. A Witch and a Dragon…eternally in love.

Then Sam stepped back and nodded. Crwys took several steps back, crushing the earth beneath his weight. He lifted his head into the sky, bellowed out a call and launched himself up, beating his wings as he climbed and joined the battle above.

Arden watched Samantha, a raven-haired figure standing in exactly the same spot. Where Crwys's power had knocked Arden, Ivan, Dags, and Dharma back…Sam had remained still.

"Oh…wow…"

Arden turned at the sound of Dharma's voice. Arden gasped and put her hand to her face.