Song of Midnight Embers
Page 23
“We need to find her and deal with this.” Lore went past her, heading into the living room. “Is she still in control of her powers, or is this some kind of overflow?”
“I don’t know.” Mollie closed her eyes and attempted to find the center, the source of the heat. “She’s in the basement.”
“On it.” Noah sniffed around the basement door. “Oh, yeah. She’s there, all right. Her scent is even stronger when she sweats.”
“She’s sweating?” Mollie ran for the basement door and threw it open. This was not good at all. “Let me handle this. If she’s sweating, her power is out of control. You’ll die if you try and fight her.”
“Greer will kick my ass if you die, so I don’t think so.” Noah followed her down.
The basement was dark, the only light a tiny, too-bright flame in the center of the room. “Lena?”
A female grunt, a quiet cry, and the fire erupted all around them. “Go away!”
Mollie battled it back even as Noah screamed, a sound she hoped never to hear again. The alpha was on fire, and Mollie pulled, and pulled, taking that fire into herself before Noah wound up just like Dr. Kogon.
“Look out!”
A bang rang out, loud enough to rattle Mollie’s concentration.
But what might have been a bullet became a puddle on the floor at the feet of an unassuming woman. A woman with brown hair and brown eyes. A round face with laugh wrinkles just at the corners and lips touched with red. She looked like your average person, not someone who could light an innocent man on fire from the inside. “Leave. Me. Alone.”
“Lena, stop hurting Noah.” Lore took a step forward, his hands held up in supplication.
Mollie took advantage of that moment to check on Noah. The alpha was down, but he wasn’t out. The fire had burned him, would scar him, but he was glaring at the rogue elemental from his position on the concrete floor. He’d need medical attention soon, but if Mollie could stop Lena then Noah would be fine.
“It’s over, Lena. Bernadette and Arlene are dead. It’s time to come clean.” Lore started to lower his hands. “We know you three killed Allan and Lily.”
Lena shook her head. “No. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.” She glared at Lore, and Mollie held her breath, wondering if she’d turn her heat on the officer of the law. “He was supposed to die too.”
“How?” Mollie stood in front of Noah, not wanting Lena to get a good look at him. If she did, Mollie would be battling for Noah’s life once more. And if she tried to use her far-viewing abilities, Lore would know how to stop her.
Lena stared at Mollie. “Bree was taking Noah dinner.”
“And if he ate the pasta, he’d have suffered the same fate as Allan and Lily.” Mollie needed to take Lena down, and there was only one real way to do it. “I’d kill you now if I didn’t need answers.”
Fire flared, arching around Mollie toward Noah.
Noah groaned and tried to scramble out of the way.
But Mollie redirected the fire toward the concrete floor. “Lore, get Noah out of here now. Find Greer.” She flung her own fire at Lena, forcing her to dodge while Lore ran to Noah and gathered him up. “Lena! It’s over.”
Lena cried out. She slapped her hands together in front of her. Her arms were straight, her fingers pointed right at Mollie.
The intense beam of fire glowed white hot as it hit Mollie, burning through her like a laser, forcing her to take several steps back before she could absorb it properly. When the bright flash ended, Mollie was on one knee, her clothing scorched, her hair frazzled, but she was alive.
Mollie gave Lena her best Greer-like smile and stood, ignoring the aches Lena’s fires had started. The bitch was strong, Mollie would give her that.
Mollie was stronger. She had to believe that, because somewhere nearby the man she loved was probably singing his heart out to save the alpha, and she couldn’t let Greer burn.
“My turn.” Mollie swept her own fire in front of her, an unrelenting burst of flame that she controlled. Nothing in this house would burn from Mollie’s fire except the owner.
A trick, it seemed, Lena had also learned. Her fire whipped around Mollie’s, joined with it and forced it back in on itself until Mollie was forced to push back or eat her own flames.
And it didn’t scorch a single inch of Lena’s basement.
That was all the proof Mollie needed. Lena had been the one to burn Lily to ash, either before or after Lily had died from aconite poisoning, covering Bernadette’s tracks. If Mollie hadn’t become suspicious, hadn’t followed Bernadette around the woods that day, Noah would have died as well. The leadership of the pack would have been up for grabs, and chaos would have ensued.
Their strengths matched far too well for Mollie’s liking. It was time to break out some tricks she’d learned on her own. Mollie threw her hands wide and began sucking all of the warmth out of the room, out of the house...out of Lena.
The energy flowed into her, heating her, the few embers inside her that had been dormant flaring to life. Her hair lifted off her neck in the wave of heat and energy, flaming to life as she continued to pull at Lena’s inner fire.
It was a dangerous line she tread. Too much, and Mollie would be consumed by her own fire. Too little, and Lena would be able to fight back, possibly taking Mollie down and then going after Noah once more.
It had to be just right.
The concrete floor became so cold it cracked, threatening to pull the heat right back out of her through the soles of her sandals. If that happened, Lena would be able to access it, and possibly Mollie’s fire as well. Her breath misted in the air as she concentrated, fighting Lena tooth and nail for control of the fires that raged between them.
Lena was doing her own pulling, tugging at Mollie’s fire, but Mollie had something Lena didn’t. Mollie had Greer, a quiet, dark song in the back of her mind feeding her resolve to end the threat of Lena Armstrong once and for all.
She was concentrating so hard on pulling Lena’s fire that she didn’t see the punch coming until her head was rocked back. Mollie instinctively put up her fists, defending herself, her hands flaming. “Ready for round two, huh?”
Lena didn’t say a word, just began pummeling Mollie with desperation and white-hot flame. Mollie ducked another punch, getting in a jab of her own. Lena winced as Mollie’s fist landed in her solar plexus, but she kept her guard up, continuing to trade blows with Mollie until Mollie’s arms began to tire.
Shit, for how long was this going to go on? Lena should have been burnt out, but instead she continued to fight, the glow in her eyes only intensifying as they battled back and forth across Lena’s basement.
Something had to give. The fires Lena commanded were as hot as Mollie’s. Mollie might have no choice but to retreat and call for backup, but the damage Lena could do during that time was too painful to even think about.
Soft, rustling whispers invaded her thoughts, a language so ancient she could barely comprehend it was speech. Greer’s birch showed her what needed to be done and the price that would be paid. She would be useless for some time, unable to stand, unable to do much of anything once this was over.
But it would be done. Lena would never harm another being again.
Mollie did as Greer’s birch said. She sank into herself, planting her feet firmly on the ground. She ignored the punches Lena still threw at her, aware they couldn’t truly harm her now. What she fought was not on the outside, but rather within.
Mollie found the core of her fire, Greer’s song giving her strength. The tree continued to whisper, but this time Mollie could almost understand what it said rather than just getting impressions. She needed to embrace that core, become one with it, as the dryads did with their trees.
It was the ultimate form, one lost to time and thought gone forever. One rarely used,
since it would drain her near to death.
Of course, nothing natural was ever truly lost. The trees and the rocks remembered, and now Mollie remembered, too.
Greer was going to be pissed, but it was the only way she could stop Lena and live.
Mollie embraced her core and opened her eyes.
The world seemed different, brighter, tinged with flickering flames. Her enemy stepped back, gasping, as Mollie burst into flames, her entire being becoming one with her fire. It would eat her up from the inside, killing her, unless she found an outside source of fuel.
Like Lena.
Mollie raced toward Lena, pinning the horrified woman to the concrete block wall. The heat of Mollie’s new form blistered Lena’s skin as Mollie sank into her, giving her the same death Lena had dealt to Dr. Kogon.
Lena screamed, Mollie’s fire consuming her from within, but Mollie barely heard it. All she saw was Lena’s inner core, the same fire Mollie held inside herself. Lena’s fire drew her in, joined with Mollie’s, the two fires dancing and intertwining as Lena’s screams died, gurgling as her throat burned away to ash.
“Mollie.”
Mollie reveled in the dance she’d begun. She drew the last of Lena’s fire within herself, burning brighter and hotter than ever before.
“Mollie.” A cool touch, a quick gasp, and Mollie swung around, eager to fight—
Golden brown eyes. Pale hair, tipped with sunset orange. A quirked-up half smile on full lips she loved to kiss. “Don’t make me start singing ‘Let It Go.’ Mina threatened me with bodily harm if I did it one more time.”
A burst of unexpected laughter reminded Mollie that she breathed. She wasn’t pure fire. The elementals of old only took this form when they sacrificed themselves for the greater good. The lost art had been lost for a reason, as the fire elementals had almost died out, their souls lost to the joy of the flames.
Mollie listened as Greer began a new song. She sought out the cool leaves, the shade under his tree, and allowed herself to be drawn back, away from her core. The farther she moved, the colder she became, the dimmer the world seemed, until all she knew was darkness.
Chapter Nineteen
“Never. Again.” Greer raced toward the hospital, a shivering Mollie cradled in his arms. “Never again.”
To say he was pissed would be like saying there would be snow flurries in Alaska in winter.
Lore was rushing Noah to the hospital in his patrol car, the lights and sirens running. He’d radioed ahead to let them know that they had the injured alpha and an unconscious, ice-cold Mollie en route.
Greer didn’t want to wait for Lore. He could move as fast as needed, and right now he needed to be breaking the fucking sound barrier. Mollie’s lips were blue—hell, all of her was blue, and she was barely breathing. She’d killed Lena, destroyed her till not even ash was left, but it had taken all of her to do so.
Greer had been upstairs, rummaging through Lena’s computer files, when he’d heard Lore shouting for him. It had only taken one quick glance at the shape the alpha was in for Greer to dash down to the basement.
The sight that met his eyes would forever be burned into his memory as one of the most frightening of his life.
His beautiful Mollie had become a creature of cackling fire, consuming Lena with a harsh glee he’d never have thought her capable of. She’d been ruthless, ignoring the screams coming from her fellow elemental, sucking the life and the heat from Lena to feed her own.
He’d been terrified, not of what she’d become, but that she might never come back. And if she did, would what she’d done change her, mark her until he didn’t know her anymore?
Greer had called to her, hoping their bond, her bond to him, would cause her to hear when she’d heard nothing else. It worked, but when she’d collapsed, human and freezing cold, he’d been even more terrified than before. If he hadn’t seen her chest rise and fall, he might have done something rash. What, he had no idea, but the panic that rode him had been intense and all-consuming.
Greer rushed through the hospital’s emergency room doors and skidded to a halt in front of the admittance desk. “Help.”
The woman, a dryad, stood immediately. “Right this way, sir.” She led the way back into a cubicle, pulling back the curtain. “A doctor will be with your mate in a moment.”
Greer nodded and placed Mollie on the bed. “Thank you, Sera.”
The woman blushed. “If there’s anything I can do to help, I will.”
Greer nodded, his focus still on his mate. “Can you contact Mina and let her know where we are?”
“Yes, sir.” The receptionist darted off, leaving Mollie and Greer alone in the bustling emergency room. Far-off sounds of lives being saved and lost meant nothing to him. All that mattered was warming his mate.
“Mr. Berkley?” The thick Romanian accent belonged to a dark-haired, blue-eyed man who entered the cubicle the nurse had just left.
Greer flashed a glance at the man in the white coat, stethoscope hanging around his neck. “Yes?”
“I’m Dr. Constantin Radacanu.” The doctor held out his hand to shake Greer’s but hesitated when he glanced at Mollie. “What happened?” The stethoscope was whipped off his neck, the ends put in his ears as he listened to Mollie’s heartbeat.
“My mate is a fire elemental.” Greer hovered, the song in his mind threatening to burst free. “She used her powers to defeat the person who killed Dr. Kogon.”
Dr. Radacanu shot him a sharp glance before turning to a nurse who’d followed him in. “I need a warm saline drip started immediately. Get me blankets, as many as you can find.” The doctor turned to Greer. “I need you to go to the waiting room.”
“I can—”
“No.” The doctor held up his hand. “I swear to you, I’ll do everything in my power to help your mate, but you need to stay out of our way.” The doctor’s accent thickened, his draconic heritage showing in his pale blue eyes with the oddly shaped pupils. Like a chameleon, they were vertical slits, but had rounded spots up and down the slit. When their pupils dilated, a dragon’s eyes looked almost like a cat’s, except no cat Greer knew sported the veins and fissures a dragon’s eye did.
Greer took a deep breath. “Fine.” He turned away from Mollie, but not before casting back one final, longing look. He didn’t need to be in the room to help Mollie. He could sing to her even without being in her presence. The bond she’d established between them ensured that.
“Thank you.” The doctor returned his attention to his patient, barking out orders in quick, short bursts that had the nursing staff scrambling. Greer didn’t understand half of what the man said, but he seemed to know what he was doing.
Greer grumbled under his breath as he left the emergency room, “I’ll kill him if she dies.”
“I hate it when you make threats in front of an officer of the law,” Lore’s voice sounded from behind him. Greer turned to see Lore walking out from behind one of the cubicle curtains. “Glad to see you got here. Is she...?”
“Cold. She’s freezing cold, and the doctor kicked me out.” Greer wasn’t entirely happy about that, but if leaving meant his mate made a quicker recovery, so be it.
Lore nodded. “I heard you got Dr. Radacanu. He’s one of the best they’ve got, so I wouldn’t be too concerned.”
Greer’s brows rose. “Run into him a lot, do you?”
Lore shrugged. “You’d be surprised how many scars I’ve got. He’s patched me up before, and while he’s a bit gruff, he’s gentle. He’ll take good care of Mollie, I’m sure of it.”
That made Greer feel much better. “How’s Noah?”
Lore winced. “Complaining.”
Greer laughed, relieved. “That’s the best news I’ve gotten all day.”
Lore chuckled as well. “If he’s bitching, he’
s alive, and that’s all we need to know.”
“I’ll go in as soon as you’re done with me and see if I can help.” Greer glanced around, looking for the signs for the waiting room.
“Good, he could use your help.”
“It won’t erase any scarring, you know that, right?” Greer found the sign he was looking for. He needed to get this over with and get back to Mollie.
“He knows. He’s seen what you can, and can’t, do.”
“Good.” Then Noah wouldn’t expect a miracle. Greer could help, but it would be slow steps, like his healing of Iva, rather than the quick closing of a gash or the easing of inflammation. “I asked the receptionist to call Mina and let her know where we are. I expect she’ll show up soon, demanding answers.” Greer led the way into the waiting room and sat down. “You need to question me?”
Lore nodded. “What happened after Noah and I left?”
Greer shook his head, still quietly amazed at what Mollie had done. “She turned into a true elemental.”
Lore’s eyes widened in shock. “I didn’t think that was possible anymore. I thought that art was lost.”
“So did I.” And from the smug sensations he was getting from his tree, he was pretty certain he knew who’d planted the idea in Mollie’s head. “And it should fucking stay lost. When she snapped out of it, she...” Greer shuddered. “She was freezing and barely breathing.”
“I know.” Lore crouched in front of Greer. “What I need from you is what happened to Lena.”
“Mollie consumed her.” It was the only way Greer could think of to describe what he’d seen as well as what he’d sensed. “She took Lena and devoured her.”
Lore nodded briskly, as if he’d thought as much himself. “There wasn’t anything to find in the basement except scorch marks on the concrete.” He sighed wearily. “I need to let Lena’s family know what happened, and why. They’re not going to be happy about this, but the evidence is overwhelming.”