"No. What is it?" Crwys said.
The officer held up his phone. "We've got the homeowner's name. Cheryl Newman. Born in Jacksonville, Florida. She's twenty-five years old, and according to police records, she's been missing since October."
"Seriously?" Levi took the officer's phone and looked through the information.
Crwys peered over his shoulder. "Got a DMV shot of her?"
"Yeah." The officer took the phone back, swiped the surface, and handed it back. "Her parents filed the missing persons report at the beginning of November. They've been here in New Orleans off and on ever since."
Crwys stared at the smiling woman and cursed under his breath. Levi realized it a second later, but it was Ashur who responded in Crwys's mind. Oh shit…isn't that…
"Arwen," Crwys said and then spoke back to Ashur the same way. That's the Ghoul we knew as Arwen, the one we thought was Dionysus. He pinched the bridge of his nose. The one Samantha killed so that Dionysus could take her soul.
But he didn't say this out loud or to Ashur. Because no one but Crwys knew what had really happened that night in the garden.
* * *
SAMANTHA
I sat in my Jeep for a long time before I cranked it. The parking lot was empty. In fact, most of the streets were empty. Nothing like New Orleans. This did not make me want to go home. Jack would mind the store and hopefully make money as tourists wandered in and out. I was sure Kyle would've made it back in time to help and had dropped Ben off where he needed to go.
The box with my new official regalia sat in the passenger seat, taunting me. After a few minutes of avoiding it, I grabbed the damn thing and tossed it in the back. I had the top on for the morning and now I just wanted to feel the sunshine. But where would I store the top if I took it off? Not here at this ridiculous church.
Bah. Screw it. I knew I wasn't going back to the shop just yet. I pulled my phone from the glove compartment and checked the face. No messages from Crwys or Ivan. I was sure Crwys was at work. His partner Levi wasn't about to let him take any more days off. The Revenant had had his fill of working without his best friend, and even though Levi never said it, I was sure he didn't like me taking Crwys's attention. Those two had a history I couldn't begin to grasp. A longer life than I would experience. And when I left this Earth and my body turned to dust, Levi would still be there.
And so would Crwys.
Great, that just depressed the hell out of me.
I scowled as I cranked the Jeep and backed out. As I put the Jeep in drive, I decided if Ivan would not answer my phone calls, then I was going to his apartment. I knew what Kyle and Jack had told me. Even Cromwell had said Ivan and Dharma were safe. But I wanted to see the apartment for myself.
So why not?
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway was ridiculously congested as I inched my way back into New Orleans. Stupid idea to take the bridge. It was after one in the afternoon before I pulled into Ivan's apartment's parking lot and fished my key out of my dump bag. I didn't have on jeans to store my gun, but it was in my bag, so I grabbed the whole thing, locked the Jeep, and headed to the second floor and Ivan's place.
I felt the tingle of wards as I unlocked his door. Luckily, he'd warded against people he didn't know so I could step inside. I dismantled a few of them since they were there to make the place invisible to prying eyes. I assumed those were for anyone looking for him on the web or government spooks looking for a hacker. I made a mental note to myself to put those back up before I left.
The place looked like the same IKEA nightmare I'd first entered when Ivan showed me where he lived. The couch and chair were still in front of the flat screen TV. Shelves with super hero figurines lined the wall next to the door, though he'd finally put curtains on the windows instead of just blinds. I attributed that to Dharma.
The computer set up was bigger and more badass than when I first saw it. There were six large flat screen monitors, and I thought I saw seven hard drives of varying makes and models, including Apple. I spotted a lot of equipment, none of which made any sense to me. What sparked my interest was that they were all on.
And they were all moving. There were images moving over the screens, traveling to other screens, and then closing windows. I'd seen Ivan do this, access computers remotely, though most of the time he masked his movements. Unless he felt safe enough in his own home not to worry.
Was Ivan accessing his computer? Or was it someone else? And how was I supposed to know the difference? Should I grab the mouse and type in a message? And what if it wasn't Ivan? I might alert them that they're being watched and then what if Ivan was watching them?
Crap. I'd just decided to type a text only Ivan could respond to when a message window popped up and a sentence typed itself out.
He's behind you.
What the hell? "Well that's all the-caller's-inside-the-house. What does it mean?"
"It means, aberration," came a voice behind me. "That you are not my next target. Give me the Cyber Witch and I will let you continue your sin-filled existence."
I pivoted nice and slowly, my bag over my shoulder, my hand in my bag, and faced the strangest looking man I'd ever seen. He was tall, probably as tall as Crwys. And he was pretty in a…well…a gay kind of way. Just nice to look at, with hair so blond it looked white as it cascaded down his shoulders over what looked like a white robe.
Yeah…it was a robe. A priest's robe. Trimmed in gold. He had his hands out to his sides, palms facing me. And his face? It was this weird twist between harsh and soft. Dark black eyebrows that made a straight line over blue eyes so pale they almost looked translucent.
I whispered the spell for my dex, making it dex light 'cause actually using arm gestures at that moment wasn't a good idea. The pentagrams formed, spun and zeroed in on tall, blond and weird, and the spell spit back…
UNDISCOVERABLE.
Whaaa? How was that possible? I'd never had that message pop up before. Unknown, yeah. My first scan of Crwys had come back as unknown. But undiscoverable?
"Witch, give me the aberration before you die as well."
I withdrew my hand from my bag and pointed my remaining Smith & Wesson at this son of a bitch. This one I called The Lady. The other one was still somewhere in Alfheim in the ruins of the Obsidian Palace. I removed the safety and returned his smile. "I got a better idea. You die first."
And I fired. First.
SIX
SAMANTHA
I knew I saw the bullet go into that dude's neck. But apparently it went through and exploded into the refrigerator on the other side. The hole it made in this guy's skin dripped one drop of blood before it closed up.
What…the hell?
"You are as the others, Witch, and worthy of my salvation." He moved his hands as if to put them on my cheeks. I jumped back as my Elementals manifested, prepared for battle. "Yes. All of your demonic servants are here, and once I grant you absolution, you will know peace."
He was faster than I estimated, and while one hand rested against my cheek, the other one moved to my chest. He pressed his hand against the scar, and for a few seconds I lost my footing in this world and it felt like he was pulling my stomach up through my chest. If I were to guess what he was doing, I'd say he was pulling my soul from my body.
Oh, I don't think so.
"Do it!" I yelled the command to my Gnome.
She swung her axe into and through his calf, just below the knee. It cut clean and the big guy stumbled, lost his hold on me, and tumbled back. Guess he didn't think a four-foot Elemental with an axe was a threat.
With my hand at my chest, I jumped back as my Undine turned on the water faucet at the sink and directed the flow of water into a ribbon that wrapped itself around the downed aggressor. She blew arctic air on it and the water froze, encasing him in ice from the neck down. He was in an odd position, facing the desk where he fell.
When my Salamander squeaked, I looked down to see the man's severed leg kicking back and forth on the f
loor. A few more seconds and I realized it was kicking at the ice, trying to free the rest of itself.
The Salamander, on my command, torched the leg, turning it into little more than ash and bone. Unfortunately, the blast took out a bit of Ivan's carpet as well. Oh hell, that wasn't going to get his deposit back.
The ice cracked and started steaming. So I called on my Arcane to give me a boost to somehow get rid of this guy—maybe in the way it got rid of that other Cyber Witch.
Only…it didn't happen.
I could see the ghosts of sparkles reveal themselves, but they weren't red. They were blue. The ice exploded. I ducked behind the couch as I heard the window shatter and looked up in time to see the rows of monitors topple over. Several of them cracked at the impact of the ice while others broke when they hit the ground.
My Sylph was beside me, hugging my neck as he whispered in my ear. The Elementals don't speak in words so much as impressions, images or conceptual interpretations, and what I got from him made sense. I just didn't know if it would work. Regardless, I was ready to try, because this guy—whatever he was—was either short-circuiting my Arcane or he was more powerful than I gave him credit.
But why were his sparkles blue? Was that Arcane too?
My Sylph grew to a human size and wrapped me in his arms. I felt the others vanish as they joined in, and we moved and blended into the floor. The Sylph was bending the air, refracting the light so that I would be invisible. I just hoped this guy didn't have some kind of X-ray vision or something.
I saw him appear over the top of the couch where he stood up straight. He didn't limp as he came around the couch and looked where he believed I'd been. I nearly yelled out when I saw the part of his leg that the Gnome had severed and the Salamander had toasted was now reattached, but it was just bones. Bones that dusted the carpet as he walked.
He looked down at me, but I could tell he couldn't see me. His eyes never focused, so he turned and we listened to him stomp through the apartment as if he were looking for something. After a few minutes, he reappeared and stood by the couch.
He closed his eyes put his hands to his chest, then disappeared in a swirl of sparkling blue glitter. I didn't dare move or breathe for a while afterward. I wanted to make sure he was gone. Eventually, I didn't have a choice because my hip was falling asleep and I signaled the Sylph to let go.
I was visible again and my Elementals were gone, back to where they could rest and recuperate. Once thing was clear; the Arcane wasn't working. It wasn't there to give them that boost of energy or me the power to destroy that wack job. I pushed myself up and dusted off.
When my phone buzzed from my dump bag I'd dropped on the floor, something Big and Sparkly hadn't noticed, I ran to it and retrieved the sucker. No number showed up so I answered it. "Hello?"
Nothing. Not a sound. I disconnected and tossed it back in the bag. Shaking, I sat on the edge of the couch and took several deep breaths. What the hell was that guy? Undiscoverable? And why was it in Ivan's apartment? Was this thing the reason Ivan and Dharma were gone? Was it some kind of weird-ass Faerie? 'Cause I sure as hell didn't know what else it could be.
And what was with that blue stuff? Some fancy new Arcane? An upgrade I didn't get the memo on?
I looked around at the mess and realized there was a lot more damage than just the monitors. There were holes in the walls as I walked into the bedroom and then the bathroom. The mirror was smashed as well. Had that already been done or was it the guy in white?
I came back out of the bedroom and noticed the small goldfish bowl on the coffee table. Ivan's fish was just fine. Healthy and swimming. When I leaned down I thought I saw food residue floating on the surface of the water.
That's when I remembered there was another member of Ivan's household. Where was his cat, Pyewacket? I did another tour around, but there was no cat box or food bowls.
Someone was coming in to feed the fish but took the cat? That meant someone else had been in this apartment since Ivan and Dharma went missing. I wanted to stomp my foot I was so irritated and frustrated. Why wouldn't Cromwell tell me where they were? Why all the secrecy and half-truths?
The door handle jiggled and I jumped back behind the door into the bedroom. My Elementals appeared, though my Sylph remained on my shoulder, obviously a bit winded (no pun intended). I drew a pentagram in the air in front of me and summoned a shield to protect my Elementals and myself seconds before the door opened.
I sent a small energy bolt out at the person entering—small, but fast and powerful—and it knocked them backwards. Coming out of the bedroom with a happy chuckle I grabbed my gun from where I'd dropped it by the couch and ran to the door. Whoever had just tried entering Ivan's place lay on their side and said something rather rude as they turned around to face me.
"You need to stop moving. Now. And tell me what the hell you're doing breaking into Ivan's apartment." I pointed my gun at the face of…
Arden Vervain.
SEVEN
SAMANTHA
"What the hell are you doing here?" we said at the same time, and our voices were in perfect harmony. Which just pissed me off even more.
I didn't lower my gun as she got to her feet. No damn way was I letting this chick into the apartment.
"Uh uh," I said as I indicated that she was staying in the hall. "This isn't your place."
"It's not yours either."
"I'm only going to ask you one more time before I call the police and request Crwys come just for this occasion. I'm sure he'd love to have the chance to return your hospitality to you." I narrowed my eyes. "What the fuck are you doing breaking into this apartment?"
"First off, you idiot, I wasn't breaking in. I have a key." She held up an apartment key on a leather strap. "Second, I'm here to feed that damn fish and make sure the apartment's okay because Cromwell got a message you were here."
I took the key from her and slipped it into my dump bag. I would check out its authenticity later. "Cromwell got a message? From who?"
She didn't answer. Just stared at me. Even for someone I'd just knocked on her keister, Arden looked as great as ever. I was pretty sure there wasn't a thing she didn't look good in.
"Goodbye, Arden. You got about a minute to disappear." I grabbed the door and started to close it.
"Wait!" She lunged forward and put her hand up to stop the door. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Go to hell."
"Dammit, Sam. You've got to talk to me."
"No. I don't." This time I shut the door in her face. But when I turned to face the mess I had to clean up, I'll be damned if that hussy didn't open that door back up and walk right in.
"Now you wait just a damn minute—" she said as she approached me.
Bad idea.
My Gnome immediately swung her axe in Arden's direction as the High Witch came at me. Arden dodged a direct hit, and the onslaught from the Gnome backed her out of the apartment again.
I faced her with my Gnome between us. "I'm not going to say it again, Miss Vervain. Get the hell out of my life."
"That's not possible, Sam. You're a Cleric now, and Elders and Clerics work together."
"I'll work with any other damn Elder but you. I'm closing the door now. You come back in and I swear I'll beat you to within an inch of your life with my bare hands."
I meant it. I really, really did. At that moment, all the rage and fear and hostility I felt for this woman and what she did to me, what she did to Crwys, came flooding back. I wanted her dead. Deader than a doorknob. And I was willing to put her into that state myself and risk a permanent warlock. As long as I had Crwys, I didn't need this shit.
But Arden didn't move from the doorway. She stared at me, and her expression wasn't the haughty mask I'd grown accustomed to. It was something different. A look I'd only seen a few times during our encounters. It was the same look I'd seen just briefly when she thought something had happened to Kyle, her nephew. It was a look of utter despair.
"What
?" I said when she didn't move.
"You really do love him."
"Who?"
"The Dragon."
I raised my hand to slap her, but shoved my finger in her face instead. "You don't get to call him that. You don't get to do anything, Arden Vervain, Queen of New Orleans. Because I know you're a fake. You're a coward and you're a liar, and I curse you. If I could curse you the way Crwys did, I'd do it right now and I sure as hell wouldn't reverse it."
"I didn't want to believe Cromwell. About the two of you. You and the…the detective." Arden looked as if I'd never threatened her, which to be honest, the fact I threatened the life of the High Witch was enough to get my ass thrown into solitary confinement. For life.
"You're not making any sense."
"No." She came toward me and I held the gun up again. But she walked into and then past it as she stepped into Ivan's living room. After a brief look around, her gaze found me and she released a long sigh. "We have to settle things, Samantha. We can't continue avoiding one another."
"I'm not avoiding you. You just don't exist to me."
"Yet here I am." She held out her arms. "I was sent here because people care about you. Not just Cromwell and myself, but Ivan and Dharma, Kyle and Jack. You mean a lot to a great number of people."
I lowered my shoulders. "Get out, Arden. This is Ivan's apartment."
"I know. And I wasn't kidding when I said I've been taking care of his fish. And this time I got a call from Cromwell that said you were in trouble and I needed to get here."
Now that was creepy. "How did Cromwell know I was in trouble?"
She totally ignored my question. "From the looks of things, he was right. What was it? Was it already in here when you got here?"
"No. I don't think it was. I think it followed me in and waited. But I'm not sure if it was following me or looking for Ivan." I lowered the gun when I remembered the message on the screen, now in pieces on the floor. "Ivan warned Cromwell."
Elemental Soul (The Eldritch Files Book 5) Page 4