Elemental Storm (The Eldritch Files Book 6)

by Phaedra Weldon

  I rubbed at my face. "How is it that a Dybbuk is this powerful? I mean, to create this kind of hanging poison over a city the size of New Orleans?"

  "The Dybbuk's not the problem. You're right. They aren't that powerful. It's my guess, and a few of the other Conjure Elders in the city, that something else is pulling its strings. John Domingo is just the patsy. He's the means to an end. What we don't know is what end."

  When I moved my body, my muscles protested as if I'd exercised hard the day before. I was sore and stiff. I heard Bastien move behind me, and he crawled into the bed and put a hand on my shoulder. "Rest, chérie."

  "I'm fine."

  "Not yet," Solomon said. "Teleporting is a pretty intense piece of magic. It takes a series of triangulations, coordinates, and luck to move you physically from one place to another. And as you experienced, it zaps all of your energy."

  "I'm fine now."

  Bastien laughed. "Chérie, do you know how long you have been asleep?"

  I turned to look at him. "An hour or two?"

  "Try eight."

  What?

  Solomon chuckled softly. "Samantha, your Arcane made the decision to get you out of that situation in Nadeen's house rather than harm anyone else. She made the right choice. The people who made the wrong choice are the ones that planted an explosive to make it look like you set off a bomb and were killed by it." He shook his head. "Of course the rumor going around in the magical community is that your Arcane Power finally destroyed you."

  I put my hand to my head. "Wait…what? Explosives? Who…why would they do that to Nadeen's house?"

  "Because they wanted to cover up the fact you disappeared in front of a dozen Cowens. It wasn't the police who engineered this cover up. It was Martin Cosgrove and the people he's putting into place at the station."

  I guess I sort of understood Cosgrove's actions when it was explained that way. It was his job to protect the magical community. By placing the explosive, it gave the non-magical something to focus on and not really think about the fact a girl like me vanished in front of their eyes. Maybe this was why he decided to opt in for the new chief of detectives? That was a pretty big maybe. "So…this buys me time?"

  "I'm not sure if that was his initial reason for doing this. I'm sure he knows how you escaped."

  "What about everyone else? The ones that were with me?"

  "A detective named Damali left a message on your shop recorder. Your friend Ivan Westerfield isn't being held at the jail, so I'm assuming Cosgrove put him somewhere else. Not sure why since they released Miss Vervain to her Garden District home."

  Why was Ivan getting special treatment? Was it possible Kyle had told Cosgrove about Ivan's true capabilities? He hadn't at the house. I'd witnessed him evading it. "And Grey?"

  "She is with Arden."

  "What about Crwys?"

  When Solomon and Bastien looked at each other, I felt something cold crawl up my back. I looked from one to the other. "What?"

  Bastien spoke. "We can't locate the Dragon."

  "Don't frighten her. Drachens are sensed only when they want to be. And apparently your fiancé does not wish to be noticed at this moment. The news around his station is he is with the chief of detectives."

  "Cosgrove," I muttered.

  "Yes. We just don't know where."

  This was a lot to take in, but it was also putting a few more pieces together for me. But some of them still didn't make sense. "Cosgrove was in my shop accusing me of sending my Sylph out to kill Nadeen before Kyle ever got that ring on his finger."

  Solomon's eyes widened. "Someone wants you detained, put away, or disappeared. I assume you have enemies, Samantha?"

  I snorted. "You got a pen and paper?"

  He smiled with me. "I don't know that you're the only end game. I see a lot of players in motion, but most of the game board is sleeping. Why? What does the game master want to happen?"

  Now I had a headache. Or maybe it was there all along. So far Solomon had accounted for everyone except Levi. "Wait…has anyone talked to Levi? Detective Tulose?"

  Bastien said, "We haven't found him."

  I put my hand on my back pocket. "Where's my phone?"

  "I'm afraid it didn't make it through the teleport." Solomon nodded to a blackened and burned out phone on a nearby table.

  "Use mine," Bastien said as he pulled his from his pocket. "But I doubt the Dragon will answer my number."

  Yeah, but I wasn't calling Crwys. I dialed Levi's number. It went straight to voicemail. I dialed Crwys's number. It too went straight to voicemail. I stared at the phone. "Levi Tulose is the closest friend Crwys has, and I know for a fact he would never let him out of his sight. Both of their phones are going to voicemail, which means the phones are both off or dead. Something just doesn't feel right."

  "There are two influences here," Solomon said. "We must illuminate them one at a time. Let's free Kyle first."

  "I don't even know where he is." But, someone might. "You said Arden's at home?"

  "Yes, but she's confined to her home."

  Pfft. Right. Arden confined? I dialed her cell and waited.

  "It's about time you called me! I've been sick with worry!"

  I blinked as I stared at Bastien. "Arden, this isn't Bastien."

  "I know that, Samantha. I was talking to you."

  "But this is Bastien's number. How would you know it's me?"

  She made a rude noise. "Hello? You're in trouble. One of two heroes is going to rush in and save the day, and since Firebox is out of pocket, I was pretty sure Wolf Boy would do it. So are you with him?"

  "Yeah…"

  "What happened? It looked like you just folded in on yourself. Cosgrove's sure your Arcane killed you. I even saw on the news there was an explosion at Nadeen's house that I don't remember happening."

  "Let him keep thinking I killed myself. I heard Grey's with you. What about Ivan and Kyle?"

  "Don't mention my nephew to me. I'm writing him out of my will."

  "He's wearing that ring, Arden. He's possessed by the Black Constable."

  She didn't answer for a few seconds. Then, "Is he going to be all right?"

  "I don't know. But he's okay now?"

  "I guess. I haven't seen him, and there are cars watching me. And they don't have NOPD in them. They're Parliament men. As for Ivan—I haven't seen him either. Dharma's safe. She's still here and worried out of her mind about him."

  I licked my lips. "Have you seen Crwys or Levi?"

  "No. Nothing."

  "Are any of your coven there?" I looked at Solomon.

  "Yeah. A few."

  "Computer nerds?"

  "Yes…what are you getting at?"

  "I need them to locate Levi's or Crwys's phone. You got their numbers?"

  "Yes. Keep his phone close by." She disconnected.

  I smiled and grasped Bastien's phone. "I'm keeping this. My hope is she'll call right back with the location of one of those phones and that'll give us a place to start."

  "Shouldn't we be locating Kyle?" Bastien said.

  "No." I shook my head. "We need to find Levi or Crwys. Having a Dragon or a Vampire behind us is always a good idea. Then I need to find Ivan, because I've got to get something from him." I looked at Solomon, who nodded. I assumed he already knew I wanted to bond with my Elementals. He'd already talked to my Arcane. "And then I have do that spell. Tonight."

  "The blood moon." Solomon nodded. "You'll need clothes and food. Come."

  I started to follow Solomon out the door, but Bastien caught my arm. I turned and looked into his eyes. "What's wrong?"

  "I'm sorry, chérie."

  "Why are you sorry? This isn't your fault."

  "But the evidence Cosgrove is using against you is my fault."

  "I don't understand—" And then I did. The wolf fur, the long black hairs, the spell to sever something. I stepped away from him. "You went to see Nadeen."

  He nodded. "I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't just f
orget you. It's not so simple. Not for me. I was hoping…she offered to try and sever that bond. For me, not for you. I needed to be free."

  "Of me." The more logical part of me understood Bastien's actions. I mean, he needed to let go so that he could move on and find a mate. And I wanted him to.

  Or so I thought, because the emotional side of me was furious that he'd even try such a thing. Not just because he wanted to be free of me, but also because that kind of magic, sympathetic magic, always had a way of backfiring and usually in the worst way.

  "It didn't work," Bastien said in a hurry. "If nothing else—"

  "Your feelings are stronger toward me."

  "Oui."

  I didn't know what to say. There was evidence that looked like I was there, my hair on the altar. Circumstantial, but there. And this wasn't for a Cowen court; no this was for a magical one. The fact there was a spell there would matter, not the intent.

  "Samantha—"

  "When this is over…" I didn't look at him. "You will tell Cosgrove the truth, do you understand? You'll tell him what you did."

  Bastien didn't say anything as he bowed his head.

  I finally left that stifling cabin and headed to the small fire by the edge of the woods to sit with Solomon and eat just as Bastien's phone rang.

  TWENTY

  Arden's nerd Witch said she was picking up Levi's phone at the station. That could only mean he left it at his desk or he was still there. But if he was with the phone, why was it dead? Or turned off?

  There was no sneaking in through the front door of the police station on Royal. Most of the officers, in uniform and in plain clothes, knew me, if not by reputation, then by association with Detective Holliard. So I just assumed walking in the front would be a no-go even with a more-than-half-empty station.

  That is, until Solomon glamoured himself as a cop and motioned for me to follow him once I put one of Bastien's oversized black hoodies on with the hood pulled up. I did as he asked, but I wasn't happy with it.

  "This isn't going to work," I hissed under my breath after Solomon told the guy at the front desk I was one of his CI's (confidential informant). "There's a warrant out for me."

  "They think you blew yourself up. The only people actually looking for you would be Cosgrove's people. So no one here is looking for you. Just keep your head down and we'll be fine."

  We made it to the elevator, and once it closed, Solomon pulled out his phone. "Check the GPS."

  I did as he asked, and from the indicator, Levi's phone was to our right, but it was… "Down. Is there a basement?"

  "I think this building has a raised basement. But it flooded once, so it's no longer used." He hit the button for B.

  I felt the temperature and pressure change once we hit the lowest floor. The mildew smell that smacked us in the face was tangible as the doors opened. There was light in the form of old fluorescents, but half of them needed changing and the other half were blinking. If I ever wanted to set the mood to don't-go-in-the-basement-alone, this would be how I'd do it.

  The first thing we saw was a wall with faded arrows pointing to the right. Offices, restrooms, and cells two through five. I held the phone out in front of me and watched as the little arrow became a dot. That meant we were on the same level as the phone.

  Solomon produced a flashlight to help out the jittery fluorescents and walked just ahead of me, shinning the light on the floor. It was caked in dirt and debris and stuff I didn't want to know about. Probably left from that flood. I hoped there was another way out of the basement, because I did not want to go back through the front. Especially if Cosgrove showed up.

  We passed several damp mattresses on the floor in two cells. The bars were still in good condition, at least strong enough to hold a human down here.

  I spotted Levi's shoes sticking out from under one of the metal cots in the last cell. The door was locked, but not for long. Solomon touched it, popping it open and sending a few pieces of old corroded metal flying in several directions.

  I shoved the phone in my pocket and pushed my hood back as I bent over and grabbed Levi's ankles. Solomon helped me pull as well, and once Levi was out, I saw the stake rammed into his chest, right about heart level.

  "Lady Darksome!" I hissed as I yanked at his suit and pulled it and his shirt back from the wound. Everything was sticky, covered in the Revenant's blood. Levi's eyes stared straight ahead, but they weren't milky. They were black. That meant Ashur was holding it together—barely. "Ashur! Can you hear me? It's Sam. Blink if you can hear me."

  He blinked, but it was very subtle.

  "I'll take that as a yes. Will it help you if we pull the stake out or will you bleed out?"

  He didn't blink at all. I hoped with everything I had that the Demon would talk to me. But nothing. There was no sound.

  I unzipped the hoodie, balled it up, and put it under his head. "I'm gonna pull Ashur back."

  "How will you do that? I am afraid he's nearly gone. If the host dies and the Demon has no new body—"

  "Yeah, I know the drill. Ashur will return to the Well of Souls. Well, I'm not gonna let that happen." I didn't know what I was doing. My actions were running strictly on instinct. Something I'd seen before when I helped Crwys on the floor of my basement, when Dionysus tried to force himself into Crwys's mind. When I died and had been saved by Tzariene, I'd learned to touch my Spirit, my Unicorn, just as I had earlier when my Arcane took over and teleported us.

  But something else happened that day in the basement as well. I'd seen everyone's Spirit. Their light. That being inside of us, our soul to be precise. I'd seen Crwys's and I'd seen Ashur's. And that's what I intended to find.

  I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, and put my hands on his chest.

  -You can do this.-

  I know. I'm just…

  -No doubt, Sam.-

  Doubt would screw everything up. So I thought about the light I'd seen that night and the realization I'd had that Ashur was female. A female Demon in a man's body.

  A Demon in love with a Dragon.

  So I searched for that light, for the colors I'd seen. They came to me in the darkness behind my eyelids, all balled up in a bundle of flames. And beside it was a small bundle. This was Levi. The host.

  "Sam? You…you're a Unicorn!"

  I recognized the voice as Levi's. Though just behind it was an echo that was Ashur's.

  "Yes. I know. So what do you think you're doing, hanging out here in the dark?"

  The body's dying, Samantha.

  "Then you need blood."

  I need more blood than you can spare. Please, go after Crwys. He's being misled, Sam. He's weak right now and easily manipulated.

  I paused. "What do you mean he's weak? Is it the miasma?"

  Solomon touched my arm. He didn't speak, but I understood the nudge. "Levi, Ashur especially, I'll give you what I can, and so will Solomon. But you're going to have to control your feeding."

  I will.

  "Yeah. Do I take the stake out first?"

  Ashur paused. I love him, Samantha.

  I smiled to myself and nodded, feeling the weight of the horn on my forehead. "I know you do."

  I pulled back and gasped at the smell and the dampness as reality clashed with that other half-world. I pulled my blood-soaked hands away and wrapped them around the wood. Solomon did the same. We counted to three and yanked it out at the same time.

  Its release created a terrible sucking sound that made my skin crawl and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Blood rushed up from the hole, and I immediately pushed my hands on top of it.

  Solomon yanked his sleeve back and shoved his wrist under Levi's nose. Levi's eyes were blinking now, but they were still blank.

  "Drink," he said softly.

  I watched Levi's fangs grow long and sharp and heard the tear of flesh as he bit into the wrist. Levi wasn't a messy eater. No…clean and meticulous. I pulled my hands back when I realized there wasn't any more blood. When
I looked, there wasn't even a hole, just an indention of where it had been.

  Levi pushed Solomon's arm away and sat up. His usual mocha skin was ashy, and he looked at me with those black eyes. I held out my own wrist for him and then held my breath when he bit in. It wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be. But what I didn't expect was the euphoric feeling that came with the tug and pull of blood from my body. The skip of my heart and the odd sensation of falling.

  And then he was licking my wrist and applying pressure. Levi smiled at me, but it was Ashur. The sharp features, fangs, and black eyes told me Levi was resting.

  The Vampire stood and he was slow and careful. I had to giggle when he smoothed out his shirt and tried to button it. I'd ripped some of those buttons off when I pulled the shirt back.

  "I see I need a change of clothing," Levi's voice was all Ashur now. Deep and throaty. He focused on me as Solomon got to his feet. "There's a lot you need to know, but this isn't the place to tell you. As for that—" He pointed to the stake on the ground.

  "Who did you let get that close to stake you?" I asked.

  "Kyle."

  Of all the names I expected to hear, that wasn't one of them. I put my hands out and realized they were both still covered in blood. "Wait…there's no way Kyle shoved a stake into your chest. He's not that strong." Which was the truth. Movies and television made it look like it was the same as shoving a butter knife in a tub of lard. The reality was it had to go through the ribcage, unless it threaded just the right way, and then it still has to be shoved through gooey tissue and muscle.

  No, a stake has to be pounded in to reach the heart.

  "You're right. He didn't stake me. But he distracted me long enough for an old acquaintance to do the job."

  "An old acquaintance?" Now I was confused. "Whom are we talking about?"

  "Someone from mine and Crwys's past. A Dragon."

  Wait…what?

  Solomon stepped up. "The voice in Cosgrove's ear. The one pulling the strings."

  Ashur nodded at him. "I didn't know she was here. And I know for a fact that Crwys doesn't know."