“I won’t. Don’t hurt her.” Amy raised her hands above her head. In her own mind she chided herself for watching too many police shows. She had to keep the attention off Raven. That second man kept glancing at Raven, watching her like she was a meal to be had.
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that. Let’s agree that we won’t hurt her more than we already have. Let me test your power, since I’m here.” Harold took a step closer to Amy, gun still raised. Petrodus took a step closer to Raven.
“Keep him away from my daughter or we have no deal.” Amy clenched her teeth and moved forward.
Amy wanted to puke. She wanted to kill that evil bastard. There was something wrong with him, something fundamentally off. Men like that were the reason women feared walking alone on a shaded path.
Harold laughed. It was a belly laugh full of dark humor, “Oh, you are priceless. I already know the old lady has Time. I just wanted to get closer to you before you decided to do something stupid. Now you make an easier target.
Amy felt like an idiot. She should have known. Psychopaths have no morals. Amy thought of Lawrence and that last week they were together all those years ago. Both of them had known they were hunted. They never dreamed that Lawrence would be dead in a week.
Just like now. Amy thought. I feel immortal, like this moment won’t kill me. And yet Death could come so easily.
“What do you want from us?” Amy couldn’t take her eyes off the barrel of the gun. It was pointed at her chest. If it went off, she would die.
“Say the oath to relinquish your Elements to me,” Harold said. His once rheumy eyes were bright and clear. His hair was at least three shades darker than it had been in town.
Don’t do it. Fire said.
He’s not to be trusted. Air agreed.
Even Earth weighed in, I won’t be his Element. If you pass your power to him, I will be alone rather than partner with him.
Amy didn’t want to die, but more than that, she needed to protect her little girl. So far, she had failed Raven abysmally. She’d failed them all. Speaking directly to the Universe she said, I need help. Don’t let this evil touch my daughters. Help me.
If Amy was expecting a miracle, she didn’t get it. She closed her eyes, waiting. Nothing happened. Amy clenched her teeth, “What oath do you want me to say?”
“Say that you relinquish your power, here and now, to Harold of the Death Keepers,” Harold didn’t notice Petrodus edging closer and closer to Raven. Amy did.
Softly she said, “I don’t think you can control him. He’s going to hurt my daughter whether you allow it or not.”
As he took another step closer to Raven, Petrodus whispered in a stage voice, “I’m going to do so many things to your little girl.”
Tears filled Amy’s eyes. It would be a mistake to think that she was sad. Her helpless anger was a HUGE crawling thing that made her whole body shake. Her tears were murderous. She begged, “Leave her alone.”
Harold’s face twisted into a sneer as he told Amy, “You should worry about saving your own life.”
“I want to save my daughters. Keep him away from her and you can have it all.” Amy said. Her eyes flickered from the gun to her daughter. The world had been dangerous for a long time, but somehow in the past seven years, she had managed to keep her daughters safe. At least, she thought she had. Instead, they had been under the watchful eye of one of the most evil men on the planet.
And yet she missed it.
“You’re boring me. Oath. Now.” Harold’s hand twitched. Not a massive movement, just the slightest flicker of muscle, as if he wanted to pull the trigger and was holding back.
That was when Amy knew. Harold would kill her no matter what she gave him. Her life was already forfeit. He decided to kill her the minute she knew he held the power of Transformation and that he could travel between dimensions with ease. She was the target. He was just hoping to get something from her before he killed her.
She had no illusions about her death. Harold would kill her either way. He was just hoping to trick her before he committed murder.
Amy hoped Earth could hear the tiny whisper from her mind. Some Death Keepers could listen in on Elementals talking to their Elements, so she kept it as quiet as she could.
She heard an unearthly howl from Raven’s directions. Amy didn’t have time to think because at just that moment, Earth said, Toward Raven! Now!
Amy threw herself to the side, just as Earth split the floor between Raven and Petrodus.
Amy saw her daughter, shocked and shaken. She had to get Raven out of there.
Chapter 13
~~ Raven ~~
~Moments Before Amy’s Arrival ~
Wake up. Wake up. Wake upppppp!
Air whispered to Raven over and over in a hushed tone. Keep your eyes closed, but wake up.
Finally Raven heard. She could easily keep her eyes closed. She hurt everywhere. She heard her Mom and Harold. He was asking her to relinquish her powers.
Don’t do it, Mom.
Raven had no special power of telepathy of psychic ability. Raven just knew that once her Mom agreed, Harold would kill her.
She felt it as Petrodus moved closer. She heard his ugly grating voice say, “I’m going to do so many things to your little girl.”
Raven had never been a victim.
In third grade when a kid two years older than her decided to steal her backpack and dump it out, she attacked him like a harpy.
Air was exhausted. So was Raven.
She couldn’t kill Petrodus. She needed him to pass through the gate.
What opens the gate? Is it his soul? His body? Why does it only open for Death Keepers?
Air answered, “It’s part of him. I’ve seen Death Keepers use the finger bones of ancient priests to get into a dimension long closed.”
Raven and Fire weren’t close as Elementals and Elements go, but Fire had helped before…and Raven desperately needed her now.
She called to Fire.
No one answered.
Raven asked Air, I need Fire.
The Fire that answered her call knew her, loved her. Raven felt that and with a strange sense of alarm realized that this was her Mom’s element. Raven wasn’t sure it was okay for her to ask.
It was such a great idea, though.
Just ask. Fire said. There’s not much time. The wolves are twitchy. Funny…even though Petrodus and Harold were in human form, Fire still saw them as wolves.
Petrodus was moving stealthily toward her. He tried to keep Harold and Amy from focusing on his steady approach to Raven. Raven showed Fire what she had in mind. Raven stayed completely still, waiting for what came next.
That should work.
Petrodus was missing his third tooth. Raven could see the gap when he knelt down beside her. She closed her eyes, her stomach roiling as he put his hand on a place that belonged only to her. He wouldn’t do that again.
Raven released every ounce of energy to Fire.
A beam of light so refined and intense that it could cut through metal suddenly splashed across Petrodus’ wrist, separating his hand from his body. Raven didn’t want to touch the hand, even though it was touching her. She grabbed it by the index finger and lifted it with the degree of disgust that she would have as she lifted a dead spider.
Fire didn’t stop there.
It worked the beam up into his body. Petrodus howled. He stumbled away from her, holding the bleeding stump as Fire ravaged his innards. Raven wanted it to stop. She closed her eyes, wincing and wishing it would end.
Stop. Please stop.
Fire dissipated into a thousand tiny sparks.
Earth shook and the floor cracked through the middle, wood splintering as a portion of the floor sank, leaving Raven and Amy on one side of the crack and Harold and Petrodus on the other, which was good as Petrodus, even with what appeared to be fatal wounds shifted into a wolf.
The shift served to cauterize his paw and stop the bleeding. As Raven stru
ggled to sit up, she realized that with his shift, he was growing stronger, the sounds of his growls and angry yaps grew louder and more menacing.
A hand touched Raven’s forehead and supported her shoulders.
“Mom?” Raven had managed to stay strong until that moment. She fell apart, tears streaming down her face. Wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck, Raven said, “You’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”
Get out!
The sound boomed in Raven’s ears. That was no mere Element. With her mother’s arms around her, Raven reached out to touch Fire’s ugly trophy, Petrodus’ severed hand.
The portal opened. Her mom half-carried, half-dragged Raven through. Raven thought she heard a growl and then there was silence. They were in a new place, quiet and unformed, and then they were home.
The portal opened straight into the bedroom Raven and Claire shared. Grabbing a towel one of the girls had left on the dresser, her Mom pressed it against the wound on her leg.
Indicating the severed hand Raven touched she said, “Mom, can we get rid of that? I know what it can do, but I don’t want it anywhere near me ever again.”
“I will. Let me take care of you first. Where are you hurt?”
“My arm and leg,” Raven said. She didn’t say it out loud, They were saving me for other things.
“That’s it?” Amy asked. Raven was covered in blood. Fire hadn’t been subtle with the laser beam.
Raven nodded, “I think so.”
“Okay. I’m going to call for an ambulance. We’ll tell them you were attacked by a wild dog,” She was about to go for the phone, but Raven stopped her.
“Mom, wait.” Raven struggled to sit up. When she put pressure on her leg she bit down a scream. “The hand. You can’t call an ambulance. Too many questions.”
Amy Gray saw a daughter in pain. Her instinct was to fix those wounds in the quickest way possible. The disembodied hand would turn their small town upside down. Even if they were cleared of charges, whatever those might be, the town would never forget.
“Fine. We’ll bury it, but first we’re going to the hospital.” Amy helped Raven stand. “Let’s get you to the van.”
Raven couldn’t help it. She barked a quick, almost hysterical laugh, “I wrecked the van.” It had happened last year running from vampires.
“Do we have any mode of transportation outside the house?” Amy asked, carrying much of Raven’s weight as they hobbled together out of her room and down the hall.
“Aunt Bertha’s car. Just so you know, we got you a 2002 Ford Escape with the money from the insurance. It’s bright yellow.” Raven giggled, tears filling her eyes. She was all over the place emotionally. She couldn’t erase the image of that wolf healing his wounds. Fire knew. She should have let Fire finish it. Petrodus would come for them. He would find a way and hunt her down. She feared for herself and her family.
“A yellow car?” Amy asked dryly. They had just been on the run for their lives, and her girls picked a beacon for transportation.
“Mindy liked it best,” Raven explained.
They were outside now. Amy helped her into the seat of the car. The blood from Raven’s leg wounds had already soaked through the towel. Raven couldn’t get the image of that hand out of her head. “Mom, you need to go back and get that hand, and we’ll stop somewhere along the way to ditch it.”
“You’re growing up bossy. I’ll take care of it. Just settle down.” Amy used her “Mom voice” to end the discussion.
~~ Amy ~~
Amy ran inside the house feeling older than middle-aged. Her daughter was growing up way too fast. Grabbing her least favorite dish towel from the kitchen and a few plastic garbage bags, Amy dashed into Raven’s room. She picked up the hand and transported it to a magical strong box she kept in her room. It looked like a regular chest, but only Amy could open it.
That’s where she kept the important things, like a sprig of dragon’s thorn. The girls had never been inside it…not for lack of trying. She caught all of the girls except Mindy on numerous occasions trying their luck with the box. Eventually after enough punishment, the girls decided it wasn’t worth weeks without television and stopped trying to break through the wards.
Amy hated to add something so dark and sinister to her happy little store of unique items. The hand was wrapped in a dish towel and stuffed inside two garbage bags. She left the hand inside her magical cedar chest. She would destroy it later. She grabbed more towels on her way out for Raven. She thought about calling an ambulance anyway. They were a volunteer ambulance crew, though. They carried pagers and had to drive to the hospital to pick up the ambulance and then take the country roads to Amy’s house.
Compromising, Amy started the car and while she sped down the long driveway past the trees on either side of the road, called 9-1-1 on her Bluetooth. Lauren answered. She worked days at dispatch.
Amy was relieved to hear a familiar voice. “My daughter was attacked by wild dogs. I’m driving her to the Wildwood Springs hospital now,” she said.
“Is she breathing?” Lauren asked.
They were on speaker, so Raven said, “I’m okay. I have bites on my arm and leg, and a shallow one on my neck. I think my leg is broken.”
They passed the Miller’s place. It was normally a fifteen minute drive from the Miller’s place to town, but Amy was speeding. She said, “We’re about ten minutes out.”
Lauren said, “I’m alerting the hospital and paging the paramedics.”
With the curvy roads, Amy was careful not to cross the center line while she weaved around the mountain into town. Her estimation of ten minutes was off because she had to slow down for the sharp curves.
They were passing the speed limit sign to town when Lauren said, “I’ve got the ambulance on stand-by. Where are you at?”
“We’ll be at the Emergency room in five minutes. I think we’re okay.” Amy said. She glanced over at Raven who nodded.
A whole slew of nurses and aids, plus the town doctor waited at the ramp for Amy and Raven. Helping Raven onto a wheelchair, the doctor said, “We’re going to get some fluids started and make sure Raven is stable, then transport her to Saint Ann’s. She’ll be in good hands there.”
In a small town, everyone knew everyone. Raven had been seeing Doctor Bev for years. Amy could see the question in Bev’s eyes. Wild dogs? That was a first. The whole town would be scared once the rumors spread.
One of the nurses said, “This is like that attack in Port Siena. You’re lucky you survived. Did it happen on your property?”
Raven shook her head, “No. I was out at that the old abandoned Tyler place.”
Amy gave Raven a hard look.
Raven didn’t want to give anyone access to her home. The Death Keepers were already trying to find ways to creep around and spy on the Gray family. Raven knew her reputation in town had a bit of an edge. After all, she was best friends with Shelly, a known party girl. If Raven said she was at an abandoned house, they would explain it away quite easily as a party or a drinking haunt. She would rather hurt her reputation than have strangers in her house.
“Was anyone else hurt?” the nurse asked. She was one of the women Raven had seen before, but didn’t know her name.
“No, just me,” Raven definitely wasn’t helping her reputation any.
Even knowing it was a fake conversation, Amy wanted to ask what she thought she was doing in an abandoned house. Then she realized that the nurses and doctor looked so horrified that they would be expecting that question anyway. She was getting an image of her daughter that both surprised and disappointed.
Amy finally asked what was in her head, “What were you doing out at the Tyler place?”
“I just went out there to think.” Raven said. A lame answer, but she didn’t have a better one.
The nurses efficiently inserted an I.V. The doctor took over then. She said, “We’re going to leave the wounds open for now. At St. Ann’s you’re going to get rabies shots. They’ll set
the leg there.”
“I don’t need a rabies shot,” Raven said quickly. She’d heard stories about them. Yikes.
“Better to get the shots than risk death. Rabies is fatal.” Bev said. With a pair of wolves on the prowl, Amy called, leaving messages of Jade, Claire, and Bertha’s phones. No one was picking up.
“You came home just in time,” Bev gave Amy a quick smile. With Raven’s care managed, she put her hand on Amy’s arm and said, “I’m going to see my other patients. Call me if you have any questions.”
Everything was happening so fast. Amy followed the ambulance in her car and hoped that her other children were safe. They weren’t picking up their phones.
Chapter 14
~~ Jade ~~
Raven was gone. They searched. They waited. They asked their Elements for help.
Mindy spent the last half-hour crying. She said, “Home. Home. Home.”
Even Claire finally broke down. With tears in her eyes, she said, “Jade, we’ve been trying to reconnect for hours. We should go home and get Aunt Bertha before it’s too late. Remember we can only do this on a full moon.”
It was as if Claire had dashed a glass of ice water over Jade’s head. She said with slow shock, “You’re right.”
The pressure and fear Jade felt when she realized how tight the timeframe was and how much time they had wasted so far nearly immobilized her. Zach put his arm across her shoulders, “Jade, I’ll drive. Let’s get to Aunt Bertha. She’ll know what to do.”
She handed him the keys, feeling a sense of distance from everything. Fire hadn’t been answering for hours. Neither had Air. Earth and Water knew only that Raven had gone through the portal, but not what happened to her.
Jade was exhausted, drained. She leaned against Zach, taking strength from his embrace.
“Thank you.”
Jade used all of her energy in the attempt to reopen the portal. Now she just closed her eyes and let Zach drive. She felt defeated and drained.
A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) Page 14