"Once the process is complete and there's no new tissue to transmute, this anomaly starts decaying. It basically turns the stone to something resembling pumice." He crushed the hand in his own, sending bit and pieces of it to the floor along with dust.
Crwys stared at the crumbled remains in Max's hand. "And this isn't something that will spread. You're sure?"
"I'm sure that me touching it, or your bare hand, won't spread it."
Tas stepped forward. "Because this is something in the blood. Will it spread if blood tainted with this thing is introduced into fresh blood?”
"Theoretically. But I haven’t been able to test it since every time I try to isolate this thing, it evaporates. My hypothesis is…it’s a one shot deal." He pointed to the screen. "I'm calling this an anomaly because I'm not sure where it fits. Most blood diseases like Leukemia or sickle cell are easily identified. But not this. I've never seen it before."
"But it was in every one of the victims."
"The ones who still had blood to pull from." Max dusted his hand off over a nearby waste can with a biohazard lid. "Even though I couldn’t separate it from corrupted blood, I’m pretty sure whatever this is had to be introduced into their bodies.”
Levi said, "You mean like a needle?"
"Possibly, but I haven't come across that sort of wound yet. I did find this, however." He walked them to a table in the back and pulled part of the sheet back.
Crwys winced when he recognized the first victim. Stone from her thighs down…no wait. He pulled the sheet back more. "The stone's at her waist now. It was at her thighs."
"Like I said, it continues to transmute after death." Max moved the girl's hair and pointed to the neck. "You see this?"
Everyone leaned in to see a single puncture wound, just to the back of the neck.
"That is not a Vampire bite," Levi said.
"I know," Max said. "The Revenants are also much better at hiding their feeds. When I tested the area, the results came back heavy with this anomaly. Whatever it is, it was introduced to this host there. If the others have similar marks, I haven't found them or they were destroyed by the transmutation."
"You said host." Tas cleared her throat.
"In my opinion, these bodies are its host for food. Until it starts consuming itself, which is why it becomes ash." He looked at each of them. "You need to find out who's doing this. That mass monstrosity is the work of a sick mind."
Crwys had to agree with him. "So for now…you can’t say if this is man-made or…”
“Magic made?” Max gave him a half smirk. “Honestly, Crwys…I’m at a loss.”
“Thanks, Max."
On the way out of the office, Tas spoke up, "This is and it isn't magic."
"I agree," Crwys said as the they stepped outside. It was four in the morning and the sun would be rising in a few hours. "Whatever this anomaly is, it's magic. But the way it's being applied isn't."
"At least we know it's not a Quest." Levi slipped on his shades.
"But it's being made to look like one." Crwys rubbed his chin.
"So…" Tas stepped out in front of them to the sidewalk. "We're still not sure on the who and why."
"Have you not been paying attention?" Crwys said and hated that he sounded so harsh. "Yolyn's the one starting this. You heard Brahms. He and the King were attacked by Yolyn's forces. But they failed when Brahms sent Satar through a gate. Arden finds him and heals him. No dead king, no Quest. But the King doesn't return, either because he doesn't want to or because he's locked in the invisible basement that doesn't really exist. Someone starts making stone bodies. No king. So it looks like the Quest is activated."
"Yeah, but"—Levi held out his hand—"the purpose of the Quest is to choose the new king. But he's not dead. So no legitimate Quest. The Quest can't be fulfilled. Even if they had a Dragon's heart—the magic wouldn't work because the prerequisite isn’t met. Or that’s how I see it.”
"The only think I can come up with is…" Crwys put his hands on his hips. "Someone is trying to fake it. Hear me out. Let's say Yolyn and wants to take over so she attacks the King. Only she fails and he escapes, but she's already faked the start of a Quest. She learns the King's not dead, so now she's scrambling to find him before someone discovers the Quest is a lie and innocent people have died.”
"So why is she scrambling? I mean, if she can fake a Quest, maybe she can fake winning it? Or are there judges to this thing?"
"I think the Purs are the judges, since they created it. So…" Something felt into place. "Levi…Sam and them said the Purs that attacked accused them of attacking the blood. What if this blood is the King?"
Levi arched a brow. "That would mean the Purs know the King was attacked. But…does that mean they were blaming Sam and Bastien? That's why the forest came to life? To seek revenge?"
Crwys pointed at Levi, paused and then lowered his hand. "I don't know. Unless they tracked down where the King arrived since the Cairn is nearby." He ran through all the ideas in his head and one continued to pop up. "I still think Lethe's somehow involved in this. The whole bodies into stone thing…"
“You thinking she's here?” Levi asked.
Crwys looked at the dark sky. "More than ever. Elizabeth shot Lethe with an arrow that nearly turned her into stone. The similarity isn’t a coincidence.”
“So how is Lethe doing it? The injection marks Max found?”
Tas spoke up, “I would be more concerned with what the Risi believe. If they truly believe there is a Quest, and they discover your true nature…” She let the sentence end with a look at Cryws.
"Well, but how would they even know that’s what he is? Dragons have been off the radar for centuries." Levi arched a brow over his shades.
Crwys turned when he heard the roar of a motorcycle. No, make that lots of motorcycles. All three of the detectives turned and watched as two dozen or so motorcycles of every make and model rolled down Royal Street and swarmed in front of them. "Aces."
Tas moved in close to flank Crwys. “These aren’t Aces. This is a different pack.”
A tall and stout rider got off his bike and approached them. Crwys didn't know him.
"You Crwys Holliard?" the man asked as he stood on the lowest step below them.
"I am." Crwys stepped forward. "What do you want?"
"I'm Marino Watson, Alpha of the Bloody Rose. Shreveport. We're making a delivery on behalf of the Aces." He turned and waved.
Crwys's heart sank when one of the members on a larger BMW bike dismounted. He had something wrapped in a blanket. Body size. And it was sideways on his bike. He hoisted it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and marched it to Marino. Marino nodded and the Wolf dumped it at their feet.
"You're taking a big chance delivering a body to three New Orleans police detectives," Levi said. "We can identify you."
"Not dead." Marino smiled and nodded. "Have a nice day." And with that, the two of them remounted their bikes and the entire pack motored into the darkness.
Crwys held up his hands when the other two went for the rolled body. "I'll do it. Just in case it's dangerous." With a short intake of breath, he approached the rolled blanket, knelt down, and peeled the bloody sheet back.
THIRTEEN
I woke to buzzing in my ears. I thought for a second it was my alarm going off on my phone, but realized all too fast it was just the remnants of my crying jag. I couldn't say I regretted it. I knew deep down I'd needed the release. And I wasn't ashamed I'd released it all with Crwys. It seemed…destined to happen. I didn't remember much of it. Just him holding onto me. And me…letting go what I could.
But not all of it. I knew I'd keep a bit of the sadness inside of me, just as I had when I'd been told my mom had died in the line duty. What utterly did me in, though, was knowing that had been a lie years later and finding my mother again.
That…just wasn't going to happen again. She was really gone this time.
I sat up in my bed and rubbed my face. I felt the ta
ngles in my hair when I tried to run my fingers through and they snagged. Repeatedly. I needed a shower and clean clothes. It was still dark outside and Crwys wasn't there. I knew on some level he wasn't in the apartment or the shop. Spying a note on the nightstand, I reached over and picked it up.
That's when I saw the ring. My ring. The one he'd given me when he asked me to marry him. I'd left it for him when Bastien and I took off. And I'd seen it around his neck when I saw him at the cabin. He'd kept it…and now he'd left it for me. The symbolism of the chain was clear to me. He was letting me make my choice.
I picked it up, held it in front of my face to watch the facets catch the light coming from the lamp, and then placed it around my neck.
Yes…but not yet.
Babe,
Levi called. Checking in with coroner. Call me when you wake.
I love you.
His handwriting was like something out of a fourteenth century diary. Curvy lines, ornate, and so totally not what anyone would expect of a man who looked like he'd just crawled out of “Urban Weekly.” My man of juxtaposition. Sometimes he spoke like a young man, and sometimes…he was something else entirely. I'd seen his true form and I didn't fear it. I loved it. I loved him.
I wanted that shower before I called him, so I slogged into the bathroom and attacked my hair. Half an hour later, I was dressing in my usual boots, jeans and t-shirt when I smelled coffee. Ivan, Dharma or Kyle must be in the shop. I wondered what they were doing here so early.
Coming down the steps, I spotted Brahms standing by the new wall where the basement stairs should be. His living clothing had shifted into something more modern. Jeans, hoodie, and wristbands. His horns were gone, as were his very pointed ears. He'd used glamour, Faerie Magic. I made a note in my head to find out more about Faeries and Nisse and weed out the difference. I'd never really dealt with male Faeries, always just the queens. I'd seen them while in Alfheim, and Brahms resembled one, except for those horns. And he was much shorter.
"Hey," Ivan called and held up a cup. "Want one?"
I nodded as I came around the corner, squeezed Brahms's shoulder, and took the warm cup Ivan poured me. Two sips and I was human again.
To a point. "Mana." I looked at him. “It’s nearly four thirty in the morning… Why are you here?”
Ivan laughed. "Couldn’t sleep. Felt like I needed to be here. Dharma's on her way. I couldn't get hold of Kyle."
"No?" I sipped again. Awesome!
"His phone's going straight to voicemail."
"Well, it’s way too early in the morning. Still dark. He could be sleeping. Oh hey, did Ina's house sell?"
Ivan shook his head "No…Crwys took it off the market after you left. He’s been living there." He looked sad. “I think it was too hard for him to stay here with you gone.”
Well…that just made me feel like a total bitch.
Inamorata Devonshire had been my mother's best friend, before she became a victim of a Leviathan. Leviathans were Vampires, same as Revenants with the subtle difference they didn't share the bodies they took with the residing souls like Revenants did. Leviathans tortured the resident soul for as long as they would last. The one that took Ina had been my mother's nemesis. A particularly nasty one named Dionysus. The catch with him, though, had been the curse put on him by the Faerie Queen Medbh, successfully fusing him to the body.
Ina had successfully taken me in when my dad fell apart. George Hawthorne never recovered from Elizabeth's disappearance. In hindsight, even though a Leviathan had raised me, I'd had a pretty all right pre-teen, teenage, and young adult life. It was only recently I discovered Ina was keeping me alive because when Ina's body gave out and Dionysus could lift the curse, the Demon inside of her would take mine and control the Arcane Magic inside of it.
It was her house, the one I'd grown up in, that was up for sale.
"Did Kyle and Jack find a place?"
"I don't think so. At least, he stopped talking about it a few weeks ago." Ivan shrugged. "I don't see much of him since he's usually with Solomon or Jack. And I'm with Dharma."
I smiled at him. We were pairing off, weren't we? Would there come a time when there was no one left to run the shop? This thought made me sad.
Brahms stirred from the wall and joined us. He held his mug at a slight angle so I corrected it for him with a gentle nudge. "No luck?"
"None." The Risi shook his head. "I saw your mate leave with the tall woman."
Tall woman. Had to be Tas. "Yeah, they went to work. So, tell me about this Yolyn."
He shrugged. "Not much to tell. Yolyn is one of the Elite Guard and the First Soldier of King Satar's Army of Shadows."
"So…what is her deal?"
"Deal?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Is she hoping to complete this fake Quest and rule the Risi or the Nisse herself? Seems kind of…General Zod-like."
"Who is General Zod?"
"Never mind."
Brahms shrugged. "Yolyn has a different opinion of how the whole Nisse nation should be run. If she had her way, the Purs would be enslaved, the Trolls brought under control, and the Jötunn enchanted to stay inside their rocks, trees, and lakes."
"So…she wants to be a dictator."
Brahms made a face. "I think…her heart's in the right place, in that she wants to insure the success of the Nisse Nation, but her methods might be what you would call extreme. She had a son once, you know. Threatened to stick him inside a tree when he didn't perform the way she believed he should."
Given he said inside of a tree, I took it to mean like…really inside of a tree.
Wait… "Brahms…can the Risi place themselves inside of trees?"
"Feyn can. But that's because they're half Leanan Sidhe.”
I was thinking of Dags McConnell, a friend of mine who lived in Savannah, Georgia. I'd met him when I'd taken a job for his roommate, Mike Ross. Mike wanted me to find his daughter, Brendi, who later became the Dark Court Queen. I'd made a deal with her once, to give Dags to her in exchange for saving someone's life. And if there is one lesson to be learned, it was never make a deal with a Faerie—and especially don't go back on it.
Like I had done. But at the time, there was no way I was going to give someone up to be a Faerie queen's prisoner. It wasn't until later Dags found out he was actually not human at all, but half human. The other part was Faerie, the Daoine Sidhe. That combination made him a Goblin. He also had a few…other magical abilities.
He'd told me once he'd been found inside a tree when he was eight, weeks after his mother allegedly died in a mysterious fire. Only Dags's mother had never died, but returned to Faerie. "So what's the difference between Leanan and Daoine?" I muttered aloud.
"Power," Brahms said. "The Leanan are simply Faeries who inspire. They're like…muses. And if the subject of their love ever sours," he made a face. "There's not much hope for their mate."
"Like a black widow? They eat their mates?"
"No. They cause them to go mad." He paused. "Unless they're killed."
"And a Daoine Sidhe?"
"I'm not sure. I don't know if I've ever met one. I'm not really all that learned in Faerie. But, there is a legend that Daoine children can become very powerful. When the Purs were breeding the Risi, there were stories about them capturing Daoine for brood mares." His brows knitted together over the bridge of his nose. "The Purs who did that, as well as the Risi used for that purpose all went mad and killed themselves, and each other."
So what would they think of a human and a Daoine Sidhe? Like Dags? I figured that wasn't a conversation to have. Just leave Dags out of this. I leaned back in the chair and Ivan sat down at the table. I pointed at Brahms. "Help me if I get this wrong, but Yolyn tried to kill the King to start a Quest."
Brahms shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she tried to kill the king just to kill him. I don't think she believed a Quest would actually happen."
"True. But you saved the King."
A nod.
"So, how could a Quest have st
arted if your king's not dead?"
He leaned back as well. "That's what I've been trying to piece together all night."
Ivan put his hands on the table. "I've been looking up Quests and getting the usual gaming references. But there were a few nice info sites that talked about resetting Quests. Now, this happens if a mistake is made or a misjudgment. Like…was there a moment when you were attacked that the King actually did die?"
"Oh. I don't know. I guess that's possible."
I saw where Ivan was going and focused on Brahms. "You said you were healing him?"
"Yes." Brahms stared at the table for a second. "I don't know if he died. He took a direct hit to the chest. But if he did die, and then I revived him or Miss Arden did, then the Quest should reset itself."
"How long before the reset? I mean, what kind of lag?" I leaned forward and scooted my cup out of the way. "Crwys said the bodies started showing up about a week ago. Arden said she’d taken care of Satar for a few days. But on your timeline, you were just attacked maybe four days ago? Yolyn and their little army showed up in my shop yesterday. So that means the bodies started showing up before you guys were ever attacked."
"Maybe we should just go straight to the source and attempt talking to the Purs?" Ivan said.
I looked at Ivan. "We should have tried to talk to the Purs at the cabin. I still don’t understand why they attacked us like that. And what they meant about blood.” I pushed my chair back as well. "And I'm not exactly eager to traipse through the swamp and find Purs right now—not if they’re going to make scary mud monsters and throw rocks at us."
Ivan held out his hands. "Why not? I would think with your Arcane power you could communicate with them. I’m surprised they didn’t try to talk to you yesterday when they attacked."
Okay. Awkward. "I'm not exactly…on speaking terms with my Arcane at the moment."
Ivan looked at me. "You're not? What'd you do now?"
"Samantha." Brahms narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"
"I pissed her off."
"Her?" Brahms knitted is brows together and tilted his head to the side.
eldritch files 07 - elemental blood Page 9