Storm Bear

by Bianca D’Arc

  The men of the unit had always impressed Ace. They might seem like easygoing bears on the outside, but their questions had been focused to laser precision. They were deep thinkers and strategists, though it was Big John who had the reputation of being the ultimate strategist. Undoubtedly, his way of looking at things had rubbed off on his subordinates.

  It had been the other guys who had done most of the questioning while Big John remained silent, taking a few notes on the pad of paper in front of him and basically absorbing everything that was said. His men knew just the right questions to ask. It was clear this group had done this many times before. They knew how to work together as a team to get the results they wanted. Ace was just glad this had been a friendly questioning session. He’d hate to see what they could do in an honest-to-goodness interrogation.

  He checked his phone for the time and realized he’d spent hours in that debriefing. No wonder he felt as if he’d been put through the wringer. He wondered what Sabrina had been up to all this time. Was she okay? Had they deliberately separated him from Sabrina so they could subject her to a similar kind of intense scrutiny?

  He thought maybe the answer to that question was a resounding yes. It worried him on one level, but he also knew that the people of Grizzly Cove had a right to be cautious. He and Sabrina had both passed the test of the wards, and she’d more than proven herself on the right side of things all along their journey, and particularly at that road block on the highway, but he supposed the mages of the town were concerned about her power being let loose in an unplanned way. After all, the Lords had been called for exactly that reason.

  If there was a design behind splitting them up, it was probably so that she could receive some magical instruction. At least, he hoped that was the case. But he wasn’t going to just sit still now that he had met the requirements of the town council. He was going to find her.

  *

  While Ace was being interviewed, Sabrina was with Urse and her sister, Amelia, down at the most wondrous spot Sabrina had ever seen. An honest-to-Goddess circle of standing stones that looked like a natural formation, complete with an altar stone in the center. It was wild. On the southern tip of the cove, jutting out just the tiniest bit into the Pacific Ocean, the place pulsed with magic in time with the rolling waves that crashed nearby.

  Amelia—who insisted that Sabrina should call her Mellie—took Sabrina around the outside of the ring, stopping at the closest point to the ocean and pointing out a disturbance in the water some distance away. “That’s the leviathan,” Mellie said, a little catch in her voice. “That’s what we’re up against.”

  Sabrina squinted to try and see more of what was out there, but it was very far away. “What is it?”

  “A creature from another realm. It feeds off anything magical, including people. The guys believe it was drawn here because of the high concentration of bear shifters. They’re very magical, you know, and they don’t often gather in such great numbers. Then, me and my sister moved in, and the mer showed up. All in all, we’ve got a lot of tasty magic here in town, and that tentacled monster wants it.” Mellie shivered.

  “It looks like it can’t come any closer. Did you guys do that?” Sabrina asked, trying to figure out what was keeping the sea monster at bay.

  “I crafted a potion that extended a magical barrier up and down the coast,” Mellie told her. “It was really something. Before that, we had the leviathan and all its mini-me’s patrolling the mouth of the cove. My sister had been able to encircle the town in one of her most powerful wards.”

  “I felt it on the way in,” Sabrina mentioned. The ward had been a tingle of intense magic that momentarily surged through her entire being, then was gone. It had felt like both a welcome and a warning. If Sabrina hadn’t passed its test, she would have been repelled in a most violent fashion. As it was, the ward had let her pass, thank goodness.

  “Well, before that, the darn creatures were in the cove itself,” Mellie told her as they started walking again. “It tried to drag Tina right off the beach and into the water.”

  Sabrina imagined something straight out of a horror movie. “That’s really scary.” She shivered, again.

  “It really was,” Mellie agreed.

  They completed their circuit around the outside of the standing stones, and Sabrina noticed that more people had arrived and were standing just inside the circle, talking with Urse. The magic of the place meant that Sabrina couldn’t hear anything of their conversation. The circle contained whatever happened within.

  So, maybe if she accidentally spawned a tornado, it wouldn’t destroy the town. Always a plus, she thought with grim humor.

  “Good,” Mellie said, at her side. “Looks like everyone’s here.” Following the younger sister’s lead, Sabrina stepped into the circle of stones and felt the surge of power right down to her bones.

  “Wow,” she whispered, stopping for a moment just inside the ring. She put one hand out and touched one of the stones. She was a little dizzy at all the power this circle contained.

  The moment her hand made contact with the stone, another surge blasted through her. It was as if the stones were trying to communicate with her in some way she didn’t fully understand. It wasn’t scary, though. Not really. It felt…right? As if the earth—represented by the stones—was welcoming her as a kindred spirit. No. That couldn’t be right. Could it?

  “You okay?” Mellie asked, turning back to look at Sabrina, her face showing concern.

  “Yeah,” Sabrina told her, trying to catch her breath. “It just took me by surprise.”

  “The circle speaks to you,” a male voice rang out, strong and sure. Sabrina had no trouble identifying the speaker. There was only one man present, and he stepped forward, Urse at his side. “Perhaps more than it speaks to me,” he mused, tilting his head to one side as he seemed to study Sabrina’s hand and her continued connection to the warm stone. Could he see the flow of magic happening?

  “It’s sending me images,” she confirmed, feeling more than seeing what the stones were trying to show her. “The four elements,” she said, closing her eyes to comprehend better. “Earth, water, fire, wind. The stones and bears. The ocean and mermaids.” She was more than a little puzzled. She’d heard some of the people in town talk about the mer, but she hadn’t seen any, yet, and the very idea that mermaids were real totally intrigued her. “Flames and…a dragon?” She tilted her head in surprise as the final images came to her. “The whirlwind and…me? I’m wind?” The stones seemed to answer in the affirmative, which kind of blew her mind. The living rock was talking to her—not in words—but definitely communicating.

  “Shifters are of the earth, mer the water.” Urse moved forward to stand next to the man. “I thought the dragon was both fire and wind?”

  “We need the best representative of each element, and he was all we had…until now.” The man nodded at Sabrina in a knowing way, his smile kind, even if his words were confusing. “I’m betting she’s at least part sylph.”

  Sabrina removed her hand from the stone once the images had stopped flowing. “What’s a sylph?” She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of this.

  “A sylph is a creature of air, most closely related to man, according to the alchemist Paracelsus.” An older woman came forward, her words heavily accented. She sounded Italian to Sabrina’s ears. “It has not been unheard of through the centuries, for them to walk among mortals—even mate with mortals. The males are ruggedly handsome, from all accounts.”

  Sabrina shook her head. Who were all these people? And what in the world were they talking about?

  Urse came closer, taking Sabrina’s hand. She must have seen the distress on her face.

  “Sabrina, I’d like you to meet my Nonna. Grandmother, this is Sabrina.” Urse presented her like a prize, but oddly, Sabrina didn’t mind. Urse’s grandmother had a kindly look about her, and a sharp-eyed glance. She saw way more than the average person. Of that, Sabrina was certain.

  Sabrin
a offered her hand to the older woman in greeting, and it was immediately clasped between her two wrinkled hands. The older woman seemed to be testing Sabrina’s power…subtly. It wasn’t anything intrusive—or anything Sabrina would have objected to. It was just a tiny tickle of energy, flowing from the old woman’s hands to hers, feeling her out, magically. The old woman nodded then released Sabrina’s hand. She felt like she’d just passed yet another test.

  “Call me Nonna,” the old woman told her. “Everybody does.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but Sabrina got the sense that she liked being everybody’s grandmother. “You, my dear, are part-sylph. I met a full-blooded sylph once, and you feel like that, only diluted. Though, not by much. Your power is strengthening, even as we speak.”

  Sabrina cringed. “It does tend to build up throughout the day,” she admitted. “It never did that before.”

  “If you need to release the magic, do it toward the creatures.” Another heavily accented voice came from Sabrina’s side. She hadn’t heard the woman come over, but suddenly, there was another older woman standing at her side.

  How Sabrina had missed the other woman’s approach was a mystery. Where Nonna was small of stature and wrinkled with age, this woman was tall and strong-looking. Older, for certain, but still statuesque.

  Was this what shifters looked like when they got really old? Maybe that’s why she’d been able to sneak up on Sabrina. She had shifter stealth. And a really thick Russian-sounding accent.

  “The dragon you saw in your vision is of my family,” the woman proclaimed. “Dragons are very, very rare.”

  “You’re…” Sabrina gulped, “…a dragon?”

  The woman laughed, thank goodness. “No, no. I am Kamchatka bear. From Siberia. But one of my ancestors was dragon shifter, and recently, I have found—or, rather, he found us—a young dragon, who is related. He promised to help us defeat leviathan.” Her expression was fierce and proud. “You may call me Babushka. Everybody does,” she said, sending a teasing shrug towards her contemporary, Nonna.

  The town had two grandmothers? One Italian and one Russian. Sabrina had to grin. This place was fun.

  “This is the local shaman, Gus,” Urse introduced the man who had spoken before. “He guards the ring of stones and is part of our growing magic circle.”

  “So…I’m part-sylph? Can you tell me anything more about sylphs?” Sabrina asked, puzzled as she went over what the Italian granny had said.

  “Sylphs are a type of elemental creature,” Mellie said. “I’ve read about them and the others. There are water sprites and something the old books call salamanders for fire and gnomes for earth.”

  “Shifters are also of the earth, so we’re well covered there, and mer are of the water. I’m not really sure what a salamander is,” Urse put in, “but the animal salamanders are a type of reptile, right? So, maybe dragons…?” She let her thought trail off as she looked around the group.

  “Are you intending to do some major magical working?” Sabrina asked. That could be the only real reason they were so interested in gathering representation for every element. “I have to tell you, I’m not much of a witch. All I’ve ever been able to do is influence the weather, and just lately, I’ve been screwing up left and right. The werewolves in the last town I lived in called the Lords to take me away because I kept spawning tornadoes accidentally.”

  She didn’t like admitting it, but these people had to know the truth about her. Especially if they intended to ask her to be part of some complicated spell work. She’d heard about that kind of thing, but she’d never been part of it. She’d never had the power.

  Things had changed for her, of course, but it was all still so new. She didn’t really have any control yet. She was very much afraid that if she tried to help, she would only mess things up. Again. As usual.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “We’re preparing our defenses, as well as strategies, to deal with the creature once and for all,” Urse said gently, but with a hint of steel in her tone. “We managed to push it back that far, already.” She pointed to the creature just visible in the distance by the turmoil in the water. “Our ultimate goal is to send it back to where it came from, but until then, we’re trying to prepare for all contingencies.”

  “You don’t want to kill it?” Sabrina asked. She would have thought those who lived with bear shifters wouldn’t shy away from killing.

  Nonna shook her head. “It cannot be killed in this realm. It must go back.”

  Sabrina had never heard of such a thing, but these people knew a lot more about magic than she did. If they said it couldn’t be killed, then it couldn’t be killed. She had no reason to doubt their beliefs.

  “Sabrina,” Urse spoke, again, after a moment of silence. “You said your power builds up until it has to be released. Is that what happened on the highway?”

  Sabrina nodded slowly. “Yes…and no. That was a bit of an extreme case because my anger and fear was feeding it into a frenzy. We’d been chased for an hour or more to that point, and even before that, there was a lot of anxiety about watching everything around us. We had been told there were people coming for me. It was kind of a terrible day, and the emotions roiled up and brought out more energy, somehow. I don’t know how it all works, but I can definitely say, my emotions are tied to it. If I’m having a calm day, like today, the energy buildup is nothing like it was on the highway. And…” She hesitated, ducking her head in a bit of embarrassment, but these people were trying to help her. They needed to know. “When I’m with Ace… You know… Alone. Then, he seems to be able to help me stabilize. I guess the energy gets channeled into…um…other things.”

  “Sex,” Babushka said in such a loud tone Sabrina flinched. “It is powerful magic in itself. My people have always known this.” The old lady nodded as if that was all that needed to be said on the matter.

  “How are you feeling, now? Is the magic too much, or are you good for a little experimentation? We’d like to assess your abilities so we can help you refine your control,” Urse explained. “Sound good?”

  Sabrina nodded. “Yeah, that sounds really good.” She felt a bit of her old spark returning. These were kind people who knew a lot more about magic than she did. “I’m stable, for now. No need to blow off any steam at the moment. Maybe later.” She shrugged. Her power wasn’t all that predictable and hadn’t been for weeks.

  What followed was the most intense magical training Sabrina had ever had. First, they tested her abilities. They actually wanted her to create whirlwinds. Just small ones, within the protective circle of stones. Dust devils, Gus called them, daring to walk into the middle of the smaller ones, to see just how strong they were. When she lifted him off the ground with her mini-tornadoes, he actually laughed like a kid on a carnival ride.

  Crazy bears. Sabrina had to shake her head, even as she found amusement in his antics.

  Ace watched Sabrina and the odd assortment of women plus one guy. It looked to Ace like they were trying to help her as he kept an eye on things from outside the stone circle. He couldn’t hear any of what went on inside, nor could he feel the magic she was stirring up in there. He could see it, though. When she sent the guy airborne with a mini-tornado, it was pretty obvious they were testing her powers.

  He’d come in search of Sabrina as soon as the town council had gotten through with him. He’d almost expected even more of a grilling than the one he’d received, but apparently, being sent by the Lords had helped pave the way for him a bit. Still, it was pretty clear the bears of Grizzly Cove had done their own investigation about him and his prior life history.

  Of course, he knew a bunch of them, having become acquainted with them years ago while he and his brothers had still been in the service. The three bear brothers had never served under John Marshall, nor had they been part of his unit, but their paths had crossed, from time to time, with some of the men in the group, and Ace had a lot of respect for those guys.

  They had been particularl
y interested in his experience as a mechanic, which had surprised him. Mechanics were a dime a dozen, and most of the guys in town probably knew one end of an engine from another. But, on his drive through after the meeting, he realized there was no garage in town. None at all.

  Oh, there was one gas pump next to the town hall that seemed to be self-service for official vehicles—and he’d bet that any vehicle owned by anyone in the community would qualify as official, when necessary—but there was no gas station. No garage. No place for a broken bike, car or truck to get fixed.

  If the town was open to tourists—and judging by all the art galleries lining Main Street, he was pretty sure it was—then where did they get gas or get their vehicles fixed if they broke down? This was a pretty rugged part of the coastline, which was why it hadn’t been settled before. If someone had a mechanical failure out here, it was a long way to another town. He wasn’t sure what the folks had been doing about the problem until now, but Ace smelled a business opportunity here, if he was interested in staying in Grizzly Cove.

  It became apparent by their questions that the town council was interested, too, though they hadn’t come out and said anything, yet. It felt like they were still gauging whether or not he’d fit into their community. He wondered idly if they were going to vote on him or something, after he’d been in town for a while and they’d gotten to know him better. He had no idea what it might take to win their confidence and the invitation to stay, but he wasn’t sure whether he wanted it or not, just yet.

  He wanted to see how things worked out for Sabrina, first. And he wanted to be sure this place was still going to be here. That big fucker out in the water looked pissed, if Ace was any judge, and right now, Grizzly Cove seemed to have a big fat bulls-eye all over it. Maybe this wasn’t the safest place to be… Or, maybe it was.