Elemental Storm (The Eldritch Files Book 6)

by Phaedra Weldon

  "Just that there was a murder here." He stopped as the two of them met at the front of the car and held up his hand. "You okay?"

  "Do I look not okay?"

  "You look tired."

  Crwys licked his lips and pointed to the crowd. "Let's get this done if we're going to meet up with Arden later."

  Levi sighed as he followed behind, and Crwys felt the Vampire's eyes boring holes into his back. He knew he needed to tell Levi about the incident in Sam's room. Falling asleep like that, that fast…could it be he really was just tired? Or was it something he didn't want to consider?

  The black-and-whites had the place blocked off, and yellow police tape was up along the perimeter. A familiar face in uniform waved Crwys and Levi through. The house was like the others to its left and right. A shotgun-style with a porch in front and concrete steps going up. A porch swing hung to the right of the door as Crwys's ancient eyes focused on the smallest details. A stack of papers, the Picayune Times, under the swing. Cigarette butts scattered over the rotting wood. An old glass of what was probably sweet tea at one point, given the number of little black ants covering the inside of it, sat on the windowsill.

  He noticed a sharp, acrid tinge to the air as he stepped inside, quickly followed by the harsh and all too familiar scent of cooked flesh. It was an aroma he'd never forget.

  "I do not like the smell of that," Levi said behind him.

  Clutter filled most of the hallway. A living room and dining room occupied the front area. A brick fireplace contained stacks of more newspapers, magazines, and old paperback books. He doubted a fire had been set there in years. A man in a white coat waved at him from the other end of the hall. He passed bedrooms, a bathroom, and then entered the kitchen where most of the professionals were gathered.

  A woman lay on her back, flat on the floor. He couldn't really determine her age or race since her entire upper half had been burned, blackened by something fast and intense. He and Levi stepped aside as several of the uniforms left the room, but the man in white remained. From the smell, the number of flies, and the decay on the body, she'd been laying on the floor for several days.

  "Hey, Tulose…Holliard."

  "Hey, Max," Levi said. "So…" He pointed to the body, and then to the scorch marks all over the kitchen walls. "What happened?"

  "Electrocution is my best guess." Max Canon was the local assistant ME for the county. He worked days while his boss worked nights. It was a strange arrangement, given the assistants or interns usually got the night shift, but since they knew the boss was a Vampire, it all made sense. "As you can see"—he pointed a gloved finger at the walls—"the fire or charge was electrical. Literally killed her while she was standing."

  Crwys wrinkled his nose as he knelt beside the body. "So…if she was electrocuted, why did someone request us? There's a stove, a toaster, even a microwave. This was an accident, right?"

  "Nope. Not even close."

  Levi stepped out of the way. "Come again?"

  "Take a look at the marks. There's no ignition. Or that's what I call a center of impact. Stan from the power company and myself haven't found any place in the house where the charge came from. No electrical appliances are damaged. And his initial examination shows there's no area in this room he could call the point of impact."

  Crwys knew what he meant. In order for a body to be burned this badly, a point of contact had to be made. And given this was an older house, the idea of being electrocuted was a possibility, but a charge sufficient enough would have set fire to the entire kitchen, and they should be able to find the origin of the spark.

  He held his hand up, and Levi put a latex glove in it. After he'd snapped it on, Crwys moved the body just enough to peel back some of the melted clothing. The smell intensified. Charred flesh snapping and crisping as he touched her. How many times had he seen a body destroyed like this?

  Too many. And he remembered all of them. All of the ones he'd killed by his own hand. At first after he was changed, the deaths had been accidental. He would get angry and lash out, his inner furnace would ignite, and he'd spit out liquid, molten death instead of flames.

  His first victim had been his nurse; the woman that took care of him after Artemis's arrow pierced his heart. Her name had been Secktah. A sweet, gentle woman whom his mother trusted. She'd been the only one brave enough to enter the lower dungeons to see him, to bring him livestock to eat, to teach him to kill his own food now, because that's what beasts do.

  Crwys had been angry when she called him a beast, and she'd insisted that's how he needed to think in order to survive. Those were the days before he knew he could fashion a human body, before he knew he could walk among humans and his own kind and look…normal.

  His childish anger spewed death as he cried out. He didn't hear her screams until he was silent and smelled the sickness of scorched meat.

  Wake up!

  Crwys blinked as he refocused on the body in front of him. Ashur's voice in his mind helped to establish where he was. But it had happened again. He'd had a genesis memory again!

  "You hear me, Holliard? You okay?" Max said.

  "Yeah…sorry. Just noticing the wound here."

  Max knelt down on the opposite side and pointed at the burned hole in the woman's chest. "That's why I had them call you. That's the only ignition point I could find. And from just looking at it, it's not a Taser dart, and it wasn't a cattle prod."

  "But someone hit this woman with enough volts to fry her from the waist up," Crwys said, hoping to cover up the panic he felt in his own chest. "So…why would anyone do this to this lady? It seems random."

  "I think I've got your answer in here," came a new voice.

  Crwys straightened up, ignoring the looks Levi gave him, and faced a woman in a suit much like Levi's, only hers fit better in all the right places.

  She was as tall as Crwys, with dark, thick hair pulled back from her face. Her skin was tan and he immediately guessed she had Greek ancestry. Large dark eyes, long nose, and full lips. It was a harsh beauty, but one he felt comfortable around. She held her hand out to him, and he saw her service weapon tucked under her arm in a holster. "Detective Tasoula Damali. Friends call me Tas."

  Definitely Greek.

  Crwys removed the glove and the two shook hands, and then Levi shook the woman's hand after. "You've been assigned to this case as well?"

  "I just transferred in from Shreveport. Prescott sent me down here to help out. I don't want to make a nuisance of myself, but I'm not that good at just standing around."

  Levi frowned. "Neither are we. But why would Prescott want three detectives on this case? She's never tossed a rookie at us before."

  Tas put her hands on her hips. "I'm not a rookie, ass-hat. I'm a Lieutenant, same as you. More than likely with Seniority." She narrowed her eyes at Levi. "I'm guessing Prescott put me with you two because of who the victim was."

  Crwys arched a brow. "We haven't even been given her name."

  "Nadeen Lefebvre. Otherwise known as Magie de maman." Tas's French was decent.

  Crwys put his hand to his head. "This was the Mambo Nadeen?"

  "You knew her?"

  "No, but I've heard of her reputation. She's the—or was—the strongest Mambo in the Quarter." He narrowed his eyes at Tas. "How did you know her name?"

  "I questioned a few of the onlookers outside. Several of them live in this neighborhood, so I took their statements for the past twenty-four hours. Miss Lefebvre has lived in this same house for over forty years, left to her twenty years ago by her deceased husband. She has three kids, all of whom are living with their own families in Tulsa, Atlanta, and Picayune. She's continued on her practice of healing and dispensing advice ever since, and from what I can gather, doesn't have any known physical enemies."

  "Physcial enemies?" Levi said. "I'm assuming she has non-physical enemies?"

  "Oh, I'm pretty sure she's made a lot of enemies, Detective Tulose. I'm just not sure any of them are brave enough to do this
to her. Come to the other room, and I'll show you."

  Crwys and Levi followed Tas away from the kitchen and into one of the side rooms. The smell of patchouli nearly knocked Crwys back, but it was a pleasant change from the scent of death permeating everything else.

  This room had been painted a dark blue. On the walls hung all manner of masks, many from the Congo. Feathers, shells, bits of stones, all of it woven and fashioned into works of art. Against the back wall was an altar, which Crwys recognized as a converted dining room hutch. The wood was long gone, now covered by years of candle wax. He couldn't identify every object on the altar, but many of them he'd seen before. He recognized the Loa representatives, as well as a few Greek Goddesses.

  No carpet. Just hardwood floor with a veve sketched out to the right. Chairs lined the walls. This was where Mambo Nadeen had her meetings and brought her clientele.

  Levi said. "Client not happy with her work? Had she been getting any threatening notes or messages? Did any of them tell you anything that'll help?"

  "Well, a few of them said the same odd thing. That Nadeen had a special gift." Tas looked at each of them. "She could summon the winds."

  Tulose made a noise. "You mean she was a Storm Warden?"

  Crwys looked at Levi. "A what?"

  Levi started to answer, but Tas interrupted. "In the magic she practiced, the control of Elements was given over to only four of the most powerful of mambos. Four Elements, four mambos." She gave them a lopsided grin. "Sorry—magic's one of my hobbies. All kinds of mumbo jumbo, you might say. I already knew about Mambo Nadeen, which might be why Prescott sent me here. Oh, and Nadeen here was the mambo for Air."

  Crwys frowned at Levi. You don't think this has anything to do with the fact that Sam's Sylph is gone, do you?

  What? Her Sylph's gone? Is that possible? Ashur's voice was deafening inside of Crwys's head. He realized at that moment he hadn't shared that bit of information with Levi since leaving the hospital.

  I'll tell you later.

  Yes, you will.

  Crwys approached the altar and studied the representations placed on top.

  "There's something missing off of the altar," Tas said. "I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure—"

  "Her working knife's gone," Crwys finished for her. "Most all touch- or imagination-fueled magic practices have some sort of working knife. Something they consecrate to use in prep, but not in the ritual itself."

  "Wow, Holliard. I'm impressed. You know your stuff."

  Levi spoke up, just not out loud. You think Nadeen's knife is the one that those boys were using? That's a huge jump.

  Crwys didn't answer Levi. Instead he looked back at Tas. "We're going to have to inventory everything in here. Talk to her assistants. And her customers or followers. Can you do that since you've already started interviews?"

  Tas's smile pulled to one side. "I can do that, Holliard. So I'll head back out to give you two time alone."

  He wasn't sure, but it looked like she winked before she left the room. "So how long was I…you know."

  "Experiencing genesis?" Levi's voice lowered. "Not long this time. And you remained partially in the present. But this is serious, Crwys. It's not a maybe anymore."

  "What am I gonna do, Ashur?" Crwys's shoulders slumped as he realized the ramifications of what was happening to him. "I just asked Sam to marry me. I thought I had enough time to spend with her."

  Thunder rolled over the house, so close that both of them glanced at the ceiling.

  "I don't know what you can do. You've tried stopping this before and it's never worked," Ashur's voice came through Levi's and his eyes turned black. "You have to tell Sam. She has to know what's coming."

  His oldest friend was right. Samantha had the right to know the truth about Drachens, about the curse of their longevity, and the reason there were so few now. He had to tell her about their Sleep and how long it lasts.

  Beyond a human lifetime.

  FIVE

  No matter how I positioned myself in the bed, I couldn't sleep. Not even a light doze.

  I didn't know if nurses had spy cameras in rooms, but someone came in with another light sedative and shot it into my IV. Apparently the doctor thought I should rest as well.

  An hour later…still nothing.

  I tried going over my morning. Had my coffee been caffeinated? I was trying to cut back…I had that soda before the Cleric meeting. But that couldn't be what was keeping me awake. I felt tired. Exhausted.

  And of course, every thought not concerned with sleeping dwelled on my Sylph, going over and over everything that had happened as my subconscious went over every possible way I could have stopped him from leaving me. Rejection was rejection, no matter how weird this situation seemed. More than my spirit was hurting. My pride and my feelings had taken a serious hit as well.

  Maybe that was it. I was so over-emotionalized (is that a word?) that I just couldn't sleep. That had to be it.

  I turned on the TV. After a half-episode of Law & Order, my eyelids finally became droopy. But I never could reach that darkness at the end of the tunnel.

  Hello?

  -I am here.-

  I can't sleep.

  -I noticed.-

  I really hoped my Arcane developed more of a personality.

  -I have a rather astounding personality.-

  And I hoped it would stop listening in on my thoughts.

  -Perhaps if you exercised.-

  In a hospital? For some reason, the idea of performing an activity meant to improve one's health while in a hospital didn't compute with me. It felt like that cart before the horse thing. Because people die in hospitals.

  -You really need to do a little work on your bedside manner.-

  I'm the wounded one here.

  -Do you honestly think I don't feel pain, and a little anger, at what he did? It was a betrayal across the board.-

  I had to think about that one. I hadn't checked on the other Elementals in a while, since my last attempt blew back a whole lot of angst. So I leaned into the pillows and concentrated love and hugs to my Salamander, my Undine, and my Gnome.

  Immediately the feeling was returned ten times greater than what I could possibly send them. The outpouring of love and support from them buoyed me for a while. It was just the medicine I needed, to be told they weren't mad at me, they didn't blame me, and they were just as confused as I was. What I got from that connection was confusion, frustration, and anger. And a very vivid image of my Salamander kicking the Sylph's ass around the planet.

  Nice.

  -You see? The others are just as bewildered as I. And you. What the Sylph did was inexplicable.-

  I had to agree, and I hadn't realized I'd been blaming myself.

  -No one else does, Samantha.-

  I sighed and closed my eyes, careful not to talk out loud just in case there were cameras. So…I wanted to thank you for the patch you put in place. The pain's nearly gone. I mean I can still feel it's there, but it doesn't really hurt anymore.

  -You're welcome. But I think you should take this opportunity to speak with your fifth Elemental.-

  Spirit.

  I agreed with her. I needed to check in with that elusive fifth wheel of mine. Or me. My higher self, which is what Spirit is manifested. And apparently I'm a Unicorn. And I'd spent time in the shape of a Unicorn a month ago, getting to know the limitations of being a horse.

  But also seeing the world through different eyes.

  I closed my eyes and resisted the urge to pop them right back open. I took in several deep, calming breaths and thought about a beautiful meadow. I imagined the trees, thick and full of green leaves. I thought of two-inch blades of grass, lots of colorful wild flowers, blue skies, and rolling hills. And in the air floated the seeds of dandelions, twisting on the wind.

  Oh great…I just recreated the set of Legend.

  I heard her before I saw her, trotting closer to me, until she was beside me, rubbing her flank against me and nearly kno
cking me off my feet. I realized I was standing there in a backless hospital gown, my butt shining in the breeze. I felt her worry and her reassurance as well, seconds before a dark hole opened up in the grass beneath us and I fell head first into it.

  I screamed as I tumbled in the darkness. I called out for my Arcane, but it didn't answer. No one answered as I felt my body pummeled by invisible winds. I finally landed on my bare butt on a cracked sidewalk somewhere in New Orleans. I hissed as I pushed myself up and wiped my backside off. It took a few seconds before I realized I was out on my balcony. Dark gray clouds tumbled and moved at an alarming rate overhead, sucking the brilliance out of the Quarter below. I grabbed a hold of the banister as the wind picked up and ripped the leaves off my carefully potted plants.

  Holding on for dear life, I saw the storm as it approached. It growled as it turned its clouds in a widdershins direction, obliterating the rooftops and spinning my way. The longer I stared at it, the more clearly I could see it. A massive thing, a creature that had no substance except the one it took. And this time it had chosen one of nature's mightiest weapons to unleash its rage and hatred of God and mankind.

  And just there in the softest pause between the rolling clouds as I glimpsed the true form of this thing, I heard a voice crying out in the wind and when I grabbed hold of it, I recognized my Sylph. He screamed and fought to take my outstretched hand on that balcony, but the wind was too strong and he was once again hurled away from me.

  I yelled out as I came to, gasping for air. "Wha—" I tried to say, but my voice wouldn't work right and I had a hard time moving.

  -I'm sorry, Sam. I should have told you what would happen.-

  What would happen when? What was that?

  -You had a vision. Your Spirit saw a possible future.-

  Where a storm swallows my Sylph and comes after me?

  -I think Spirit showed you the enemy.-