Elemental Flame

by Phaedra Weldon

She shook her head. "I'm staying. You need my help."

  "No. I don't."

  "Sam," Kyle said. "Just listen, okay? I've already briefed them on what happened."

  I looked from him to Dharma to Ivan and then back. "Everything that happened?"

  Kyle matched my gaze. "Everything."

  Dharma stood up from the table as her chair scraped the hardwood floor. "Miss Hawthorne, it's okay. I'm not going to tell any of the others what's happened. Ivan filled me in on how you became infected—and I can honestly say—"

  "Infected?" That…what she said instantly pissed me off. "You think I'm infected? Little girl, do you even know what this is?" I put my hand to my chest but I didn't reveal the scar. "Do you know what I did? What made this infection possible?"

  My voice must've carried some kind of weight because I swear the girl trembled where she stood. And I wasn't going to let up on her.

  "Miss Water, you have no idea what I've been through from my side of things. And right now, I'm not interested in disinfecting myself. I'm interested in finding someone who might have been kidnapped and could be in some serious pain. Now, I'm happy you and Ivan are a thing, but this is personal, it's private and it's non of your business, or Parliament's."

  I'll have to give her credit. I could see her shaking, but she wasn't leaving. Instead she leaned into the table, bent forward and slammed her hands down. "Now it's your turn to listen to me!" Her face flushed red and I actually straightened up. "I am not here as a Cleric. I am not here to spy on you and report back to Parliament. In fact, if Dryden even knew I was dating Ivan—" she glanced at him and smiled. "I'm not sure he'd approve. Because he thinks, just like all of them think, that Ivan's a Dianic Witch and nothing more. I would never betray his confidence in me, and I would not and will not betray you."

  Kyle leaned back in his chair. "Did you make an oath to the Cleric position?"

  "Yes."

  "And are you right now, breaking any of that oath by being witness to a Witch who is infected with Arcane?"

  She didn't have a ready answer for that. Dharma licked her lips. "Yes, I am breaking my oath."

  I shot her a fake smile, but it faded just as fast. "Then why should we believe you now? You're breaking a sacred oath with Parliament. Who's to say you wouldn't betray me or Ivan later on when it suited your needs? Let's say you two break up?"

  She and Ivan looked at each other for a long time before Dharma broke eye contact and looked at me. "Because I know what they're doing to Circe. And I…I can't condone that. I can't…I can't let them do that to you, because you're special to Ivan. And I can't even imagine what they'd do to him."

  My thoughts and speculations on what Parliament would do to me and to Ivan had always been just that. Speculation. I had no idea about what they'd do to Ivan and his new power. I just assumed he'd disappear in some Witch government run building and be experimented on. And when it came to Arcane users, I always thought they were hunted and killed. I thought that was what happened to Circe.

  Kyle and I exchanged looks as Grey came to sit at my feet. She leaned against me and I reached down to scratch her neck. "They didn't terminate Circe?"

  "Hell no," she looked wounded. "They're using her. Testing her. Seeing what her power can and can't do."

  "What the hell for?" Kyle asked.

  It was Ivan that answered. "Because they want to develop some kind of protection against Arcane. Develop something that would neutralize it. So she's a guinea pig under the care of the Parliament. In secret."

  I watched him. "You've seen this place."

  "I've broken in and looked—"

  "Ivan!" Dharma whirled on him and smacked his arm. "I told you not to do that! They could catch you doing that."

  "How? Present day cyber surveillance isn't even all that good when it comes to hard keying information. How can they find soft key intrusions?"

  Assuming he meant hard key was manual inputting like keyboards and point and click, and soft keying meant with the mind, like he did, I followed his defense. But I also liked the way she smacked him. Jumped on his ass just like I would, and her tone and reaction had been genuine. She really cared for him.

  Of course she does. If you opened up you could feel how much she loves him.

  You like her too? I sent this to Grey.

  I do. She balances him.

  Well, she had my mom's approval. "Okay fine. Look, everyone sit down." I waited for Dharma to sit. "Since you all know what happened at Crwys's, the real problem here is if Blackwood tells Dryden or any other Cleric."

  "Or worse, if he recorded you going all Arcane and creepy," Ivan said. "I'd already cleared the place of any signals when I unlocked that door. But if he had some kind of hand camera that wasn't Wi-Fi enabled and recorded you, I wouldn't have seen it."

  So much for the obsoleteness of older tech. "Can you make a program or something that'll like…I don't know…sit out on the web and look for something like that? Just in case he uploads it to a cloud?"

  Ivan blinked a few times and then gave me a crooked smile. "I—I guess I could. I don't know. I haven't tried to do that."

  "Try it. Can you access his phone?"

  "I'd need his phone number. If he's got a burner then it makes it hard to tell who's initiating the call."

  I pointed at Kyle. "What did you see in the first car? The one I flipped?"

  Kyle looked at each of us. "There's not much to say. I bent down to look inside and I expected to see a body. There was a body—and it looked like a man—but it was made of stone."

  I blinked. I hadn't expected him to say that. "A stone driver?"

  "You mean like a golem?" Dharma said.

  "Like a clay man," Kyle put his hands on the table, palms down.

  "Yeah," Dharma said. "One of Blackwood's crowning achievements in alchemy is making golems, formed from clay or dirt. They're damn creepy. When Blackwood presented this to the Parliament as a possible project for funding, they rejected him and forbid him to create any more of them. There's a moral code involved in their creation."

  "Moral code?" Kyle said.

  "Blackwood puts a bit of himself inside of the golem. Like a touch of his own soul. Last I heard, they were still debating the legitimacy of golems being sentient or property. I think they tabled it when Higgins was killed."

  "He makes golems?" I pursed my lips in thought, then shook my head. "Explains the Fetches, since he likes to animate things."

  "Yes. Which is why I'm not surprised you had trouble fighting them. He's the best there is. And if he created a golem and used him as a driver, for whatever purpose, then I'm sure Blackwood's going to send a clean up crew out there to get rid of evidence. He can't afford to have evidence of his rule-breaking lying around for long."

  "I didn't know this about Blackwood," I said. "I just considered him a Ceremonial Magician."

  "None of us really know him. Except Cromwell and a few of the Elders," she clasped her hands on the table. "Blackwood's the closest thing the magical community has to a mafia. He's strong, powerful and patient. And he's got a lot of money and influence in all the right places. A few members of the Parliament grew up with him, know him and even trust him."

  Kyle put his teacup on the table with a thunk. "Now that's a scary thought."

  I chewed on my lower lip. "Yeah it is. But it means that he's spread out. That he's got his fingers in a lot of pies. Is there anyone in New Orleans in our community that would be particularly close to him? Someone he'd feel he could confide in or turn to?"

  Dharma glanced at Kyle. "Arden Vervain."

  My shoulders slumped. Now why was I not surprised by that? Her name popped up all the damn time. "Ehhh…" I leaned against the refrigerator and chewed on my thumb. "I just don't see that connection."

  I expected Kyle to protest or something, seeing as how Arden was his aunt, but instead he surprised me. "Blackwood was the one that pointed us toward Circe's powerbase. The house in the woods, on property he owns that backs up to my aunt's.
If that's not connection enough, then I think we need to hang up our investigative hats right now."

  Ivan had sat back and his eyes were green as they concentrated on quickly moving sets of wispy images. He reached out and pinched something, then with the other hand brushed all the other images away before releasing his chosen item. It expanded into sets of documents that he displayed sideways like a deck of cards. "Ivan?"

  "I've got…emails. Lots of them. Between two accounts with IP addresses that match…" he said as he squinted. "Is Edmund Blackwood his real name?"

  "I think so—" Dharma snapped her fingers. "No wait. I remember there was some function, a dinner or a meeting, and someone printed his name out wrong. Only Emily told me the name was right, but it wasn't a name he wanted to be known by."

  "There was a function between the Clerics and a Ceremonial leader?" Kyle said in a voice that matched my own internal surprise.

  "Yeah. Don't freak out. Happens all the time. But they're always held for negotiating something. I remember this one was before Samhain last year, before the Malleus Maleficarum was stolen from Higgins. Something about a possible issue with world borders," she shook her head. "Eh I can't remember. It was boring as hell."

  "To the point," I said. "Do you remember what the name was?"

  "No?"

  Ivan moved his hands about and the images increased in size. I couldn't read them because they were backwards. "Well these emails are discussing…artifacts. Was the name Akachi?"

  "Yes!" Dharma exploded. "Now I remember it 'cause I thought it was similar to Akasha. You know, like the Akashic Records?"

  Nodding, I moved to the table and put my hands on the surface, facing Ivan. "Can you send the emails to my computer?"

  "Better," Dharma said as she jumped up and grabbed a black backpack from the floor by the door to my office. "Ivan, send them to my Gmail account."

  Ivan didn't say anything. When he was online like this, I often considered how hard it must be to be in two places at once. In that world and this one. Dharma pulled a tablet from her pack and turned it on, then swiped it, and logged into her Gmail. There she had new mail from Ivan's ghost.

  Cute.

  We gathered around as she opened the attachments and then searched through by dates. "Looks like these emails between Arden and Blackwood started pretty heavily just after the new year. Here…this is the first one."

  I leaned in close to read, and felt my heart fall into my stomach.

  NINE

  Edmund,

  I hope this email finds you well. I know this is an unconventional way to contact you, but I'm afraid I don't have your most recent phone number. It's of an utmost urgent manner that I talk to you.

  Sincerely,

  Arden Vervain

  —

  Arden,

  I must say I was surprised to hear from you. Especially since the last time you and I spoke, you called me a talentless old fool. But I am willing to let bygones be bygones and do humbly ask what it is you wish to talk to me about. I always enjoy having you indebted to me.

  Richly,

  Edmund Blackwood

  —

  Edmund,

  I have always been a child with a wild tongue as well as a wild heart. I miss our days together in Paris. And you must forgive my temper.

  What I have to ask of you may seem odd, on the surface. But the deeper meaning will become clear.

  I have entered into a contract I find myself unable to find a loophole out of. My part of this contract has now come due and though I am willing to fulfill it, I am at a loss as to how. The party I owe a debt to has asked me to procure something. And well frankly, Edmund, I don't know why they want it. I find it dull, irritating and a bit of a bore. I also don't know how to deliver it. So I turn to you to find some answers.

  Would you care to meet with me? The matter of this transaction is delicate and I need to speak with you face to face. Pick a place, dear Edmund, and I will be there.

  Sincerely,

  Arden

  ——

  Dharma moved the next one up. "This one is a week later, and about the time Cromwell approached you about the Codex," she looked up at me.

  I nodded and kept reading.

  Arden,

  I have met with the target and I must say…I am impressed. The clues are subtle and if he is what I believe him to be, taking him will require cunning. You will need a certain artifact, a bow and quiver, and pray there is still at least one arrow left in that quiver. The set is called the Bow of Artemis. It was crafted by Artemis herself, and it is used to bring down the most powerful of creatures.

  The last time I saw this artifact was in Circe's home. I have planted the seeds for your procurement.

  I would advise you not to use the bow yourself as it has certain…drawbacks. Not to make a pun. Let the other party of your debt deal with those and I certainly don't recommend telling them.

  I wish you well, Arden Vervain, and I look forward to our land deal once you are made High Witch.

  Yours in the Power,

  Edmund

  —

  I took a few steps back. I remembered that bow and quiver. Arden had it in her hands the day we invaded Circe's home. She insisted it was part of a collection of stolen artifacts, and I assumed her taking them was just another political play on her part. Apparently she had an alternate purpose in mind. She'd played me and Bastien and his wolves. She didn't volunteer to help us find her nephew or the Lycan. She wanted in that house to find that damn bow and quiver!

  I looked at Kyle and saw the dawning of truth in his face. He realized it as well and looked more angry than sad. Ivan was still busy on the web, moving his hands as red and green and a few blue lights streaked back and forth in the air between his hands. I didn't want to disturb him, so I looked down at Dharma. I cleared my throat. "Look up the Bow of Artemis."

  With a deep breath, I turned away and stared at the wall that made up the side of my office. I'd hung several corkboards on that wall through the years. Ivan and Kyle had tacked things on them now and then. I stared the newspaper articles from local Witchy rags and a few flyers from magical seminars taught in voodoo shops. Above them were take out menus and a few pictures of the three of us being goofy.

  My stomach growled at the thought of the menus.

  I focused on my hunger because I didn't want to think about what I read in those emails. I'm not sure I wanted to swallow the truth that slowly dawned on me. Brendi had called in the payment. Arden had called me several times, but I hadn't wanted to talk to her. I hadn't wanted to deal with her because I was afraid Brendi would demand me as payment. I was the one that got away, the one that still "owed" her. I was the only black spot on Brendi's record as the Obsidian Queen of Faerie.

  But that mark had been called and it hadn't been me. It had been something she had to use a powerful, magical artifact against. And if Dharma discovered what I feared she would—

  "Here it is. Wow I had to go to the 'Ancient Spirit Guide and Quest, Volume Six' to find it."

  I didn't know what that meant.

  "And?" Kyle prompted.

  Grey was at my feet, looking up at me with a sad face.

  "The Bow of Artemis was commissioned by the God Ra to use in hunting the Son of Gaia. After a playful fight between friends resulted in the death of Ra's son, Amun-Ra, Ra sought justice for his child, and finding none, brought his grievance to Gaia's eldest daughter, Diana. Diana commissioned Artemis to make her the bow and arrows. When Diana gave Ra the gifts of Artemis, she told him to use them wisely, because justice might have been served (see appendix 45a, The Sins of Amun-Ra). Seven arrows were made for the seven days of the Feast of Samael. It was during this feast that Ra challenged the boy to an archery contest. Eager to win back Ra's comradeship, the boy accepted and a tournament was had.

  "Five arrows were fired from the bow at the designated target against five arrows from the boy's bow. Ra's marksmanship was leagues above the boy's and he offered to let th
e boy fire the sixth shot before him. But when the boy shot his arrow, Ra shot his own, but aimed the deadly arrow at the youth's chest.

  "The arrow struck the boy's heart and he fell dead before the whole of the Feast. Gaia ran to her son and wrenched the deadly arrow from his heart. She breathed life into him, using the magic of her rage, the Element of Fire. The boy shifted and changed and became a creature ten times larger than the temple of the feast. The boy's body twisted and burned with his mother's anger until he was no longer recognizable and a new creature was born. The Drachen. She sent a curse against Ra that would follow him and his family through the centuries. Their reign would know no peace and their loves would know no piety."

  No one spoke for a few seconds, and then Kyle said, "There was an arrow left. He only fired six arrows."

  I cleared my throat. "There was just one arrow in the quiver when Arden took it out of the mansion."

  "He said he was a Drachen."

  I nodded. "Yes."

  "That means she had to take down a Drachen. She had to take…Crwys."

  I turned to look at Kyle across the table. "Brendi wanted Crwys. Arden had to have him. And she used that arrow to do it."

  "But how could she know what he was? And if she knew, why? Why take on a…Dragon?"

  "I don't know." I started for the steps to my apartment. It was time to suit up. "But I'm going to find out."

  * * *

  Since Arden Vervain had two residences, we chose the closest first. Ivan couldn't find anything on Arden's schedule, which was odd. Usually she kept herself in the public eye, especially within the magical community. But apparently since being voted in as High Witch, which granted her a voting position on the local council, she'd become somewhat of a recluse, sending in her proxy, Branwen, to vote on her behalf.

  "How does someone become a recluse in such a short time?" Ivan asked as he leaned his chair back. He was taking a well-deserved break and sipping on a Reed's Ginger Beer. "I mean she was just elected how long ago?"