by D. N. Hoxa
“We weren’t after you. We had no idea who you were or that you were the Elemental. Mira got word about you being Samuel’s Keeper, and she thought she’d try to steal Illyion and bring it back so she could impress Grandmother and maybe be the object of her generosity. Foolish woman. After the Council caught her and her good-for-nothing nephew, she called for backup on her own accord.” The woman at the hospital. “The rest is history.”
“Those people are the reason I’m here today,” I said reluctantly. “They made the Rebels into my enemy even before this began.”
“I know,” he said, his lips in a tight line. “But they’re all dead now, so that should make you feel better.”
Wow, he really hated me, and I really needed to focus on something else.
“So tell me about the other Elder, the one who broke my powers free.”
“Yes, that was Azazel, a demon,” Aaron said calmly.
My heartbeat tripled when I heard his name.
“The Azazel?” From what I’d read about demons, some believed he was Satan himself. Aaron nodded. “Shit!” I cursed again. The way I’d spoken to him…
“He can possess up to a hundred people at once,” Aaron continued, amused by my panic.
I shivered at the thought of someone possessing my body and could almost feel the dark look of the demon, like he was standing right behind me. That definitely explained the look in his eyes and his power. With his beer belly stomach, he looked so different from what I’d imagined him to be when I read about him. I’d never met a demon before. They were said to be nasty creatures, not always evil but still—demons. The hairs on my arms stood up at the thought of how I had acted the night before. My mouth was going to get me killed one of these days, I was certain of it. Again, I was glad that I was still breathing.
* * *
I had my earpieces, and I was preparing my plan for Lyndor when the doorbell rang. Aaron put his laptop on the table and went for the door.
“S’up, brother!” someone called and took Aaron in a bear hug. The guy was big. He was African-American, tall and muscled, with bright brown eyes, hair curly and cut short. He had the whitest, biggest teeth I’d ever seen. Everything about him was big.
I stood up, eager to leave as soon as possible.
“What have we here?” he asked, coming slowly toward me.
He analyzed every inch of me with his curious eyes. He moved gracefully, like most vampires did. His shoulders were wide and his feet…wow. I’d never seen feet so big. His bright big eyes stopped and lingered on my legs and my chest longer than necessary. Good thing I left shame back home when I first entered Lyndor because the way his gaze lingered on me, that would have turned me bright crimson any other day. Instead, I put my hands on my hips and rolled my eyes.
“Honored to finally meet you.” He reached out his hand, and when I tried to shake it, he bowed down, took my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. I couldn’t help but smile a little. “Jack O’Brian, at your service.” He was a real charmer. He then turned to Aaron. “Damn it, bro. You can’t just go around hiding something like this from me like that. It breaks my heart.”
His eyes were wide, hands on his chest. Such a drama queen. I liked him right away.
“Trust me, it’s not my choice.” Aaron shrugged. The jerk! I got it. He didn’t want me there and that was fine. I didn’t want to be there, either.
Still, I was never comfortable with admitting something like that so I did what I did best and tried to piss him off and make him uncomfortable. So, I smiled at him, and said: “Oh, but you make such a great babysitter, Aaron. Maybe you should consider a change of profession.”
Jack’s lips parted in surprise as his gaze traveled from me to Aaron. “I can hardly believe my beautiful eyes,” he said, shaking his head. “Finally, a companion worthy of my company. A woman after my own heart who sees the world—and Aaron—the way I do.” He then took both my hands in his and said: “You have no idea how much fun this will be.”
“Trust me, I’m already having a blast.”
He laughed, turning to Aaron. His face was pale, and he was forcing a smile. Would you look at that? It seemed he didn’t like to be laughed at, either. My smile widened.
“Well, we’re ready if you are,” I said, looking at my phone. It was already seven in the afternoon.
* * *
We were on the top floor of a giant building, heading for the chopper that smelled like smoke. I liked it better than the grey ones the Council used.
We reached the Alpines soon after and then had to walk for an hour or so, before we reached a door behind a rock. A very good disguise. I’d have never guessed there was a door behind it. The rock blended perfectly with the setting.
The tunnel behind the rock was wet and smelly. My boots were completely caked with mud in the ten minutes it took for us to get to a large iron door that led to an even larger room. It was at least two hundred square meters, maybe more, and looked like a really big living room. The floor was paved with gray tiles, and the ceiling was low and filled with small light bulbs. There were four long wooden tables in each corner while the rest of the space was filled with sofas and comfortable looking recliners. Across from the entrance, there were three big iron doors.
At least thirty people were there. They all turned to look at us when we entered. Jack, who would literally never stop speaking and was indeed hilarious, waved at them, smiling. So did Aaron. I just stared, not sure what to do.
Awkward.
The sick feeling in my stomach started to pull at my insides before I turned my senses off. I looked around at the many faces. Some of them looked suspicious, some of them even smiled. But the majority looked at me with fear, disgust and hate. An old woman’s eyes were even filled with tears. With the look she gave me, I wanted to turn and leave the place running. Aaron must have sensed my tensed body because he motioned for me to follow him as he headed across the room to the iron doors. Everyone was silent and watching us, until we were in the middle of the room.
“Murderer!” someone cried.
I stopped and turned. It was the old woman. She and a boy no older than eighteen—who looked familiar to me but I couldn’t tell from where—had tears on their flushed cheeks. The pure hatred in their eyes when they looked at me almost brought me down to my knees.
Who knew who I’d killed from their family? Her son? his father?
“How dare you show your face here?” the old woman spit, walking slowly toward me while the boy held her by the arm. Aaron stepped in front of me.
“Felicia, please.” His voice was soft, patient.
“She deserves to die!” someone else called.
Tell me about it, I wanted to say. Just when I thought everyone was being so nice to me.
“Murderer!” the old woman, Felicia, called again, her tears falling nonstop on her wrinkled cheeks, adding to the heavy weight I was carrying on my shoulders. I’d never felt more worthless. Completely useless. Frozen in place as those people said right to my face what I thought every single day. But there was nothing I could do. I was a murderer. I did deserve to die. I wanted to and probably would in Lyndor. But not before my family was safe.
Aaron took my hand and hurried to the middle door, leaving the others behind. I could still hear their cries and the names they called me, even after he put the code in the panel to the side and opened the heavy door, pulling me inside. I kept my head low.
Aaron didn’t say anything, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he agreed with the others. I wanted to shout at him, to kick him, to tell them all how sorry I was by shouting at the top of my voice, but what good would that do? I wasn’t going to think about guilt and regret while my family was being held hostage, so I shook my head to clear my thoughts and just accepted the words they threw at me. I was the very best at accepting.
“They are right,” I whispered to myself a few times, and soon I was ready to move on and focus on the matter at hand.
I headed
forward, not sure where I was going. Good thing it was a hallway, and it headed only one way. The walls were white and clean, the space barely wide enough to fit two people at the same time. Too many light bulbs were up on the ceiling, making the narrow space as bright as it would have been outside. Aaron didn’t say anything as he caught up with me, and we reached another wooden door that led to an office.
The room was oval and warm, with a big desk in the middle and again, too many light bulbs in the ceiling. Behind the desk sat a man, probably in his late forties, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a black button-up shirt and a very nice watch on his wrist. He was the only one in the room, and there was only one other door behind his desk.
His eyes were cold, and they threw daggers my way. He didn’t offer his hand as we approached him.
“This is my father, Thomas. Dad, this is Star,” Aaron said. Father? Except for his eyes, which were paler than Aaron’s, and his hair color, he looked nothing like him.
I gave him a curt nod.
“Hello,” Thomas said and motioned for us to sit on the chairs across from him.
He analyzed me for a couple of seconds before he spoke. He didn’t bother to hide the disgust on his face. He even might’ve let it show on purpose, but he definitely wasn’t trying to hide it like he did his magic. I couldn’t tell what he turned into, either. It was an animal I hadn’t come across before.
“I’ve been notified by the Elders about what happened last night. I have to say, I’m not pleased about the deaths you brought to our doorstep,” he said, “but I am glad that you’ve finally come to your senses.”
His voice was bitter, his hands fisted as if he was ready for a fight should the occasion arrive. I didn’t mind. His son hated me, he hated me, and they probably all hated me. They just took me in because they believed I was the one who’d save them because of a stupid prophecy I didn’t even want to know about.
And I really wished I could just accept that and move on. But the bitchy part of me took hold of my mouth.
“I’m not pleased to be here either, Thomas. If you expect me to feel guilty, don’t hold your breath. I’m here because the Elders wanted me here. If you have a problem with that, please take it out on them.”
Aaron gritted his teeth, possibly warning me that he wasn’t happy with the way I talked to his daddy. See if I care. Thomas just nodded, apparently expecting nothing else from me.
“I understand the Council has your family, and you will have to get there in a few days’ time.”
I nodded, feeling the weight on my shoulders at the mention of my family. I refused to think what they were going through while I sat around doing nothing. Don’t go there. I told myself. No use for me to get angry at this point.
“Master Smith will be assisting you in your training for the next few days. I still don’t believe much can be done in such a short time, but you will be able to resume the training after you’ve come back,” Thomas said.
Aaron grunted. Apparently, the Elders hadn’t told them about the whole plan. They’d left out the part where I said I’d disappear after all this was done. Good thinking. I ignored Aaron and nodded. He was probably going to tell his daddy when they were alone, anyway.
“I’d like to start right away.” If there was any hope to me using my powers I wanted to know as soon as possible.
“Son, Smith is in the back,” he said and returned to his papers after giving me one of those ice-cold looks filled with hatred. I returned the favor right away.
Clearly dismissed, we made our way to the door behind Thomas’s desk. Once we were in another narrow hallway, Aaron said, “You really are a piece of work.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Guilt is for the weak. What’s done is done. I cannot change the past.”
I’d lost the better part of my humanity a long time ago, and I just wanted to get my family to safety. I would deal with everything else later. Just two steps away from the door, Aaron pushed me back into the wall, catching me by surprise. My hand was around his throat the second his was on mine.
Bring it on.
I pulled him by the neck until we were just inches apart, and I held his gaze. He tried to back off, but my nails were already in his flesh.
“You killed…” he started, but I didn’t let him finish.
“Many of their family and friends? All of them?” I hissed at him. “You think I don’t know?” I almost expected him to shout something, but he didn’t. “I am going to live with that my whole life! Not you, not your father, me. But right now, my family is in danger, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about anything but seeing them safe.”
He looked at me bitterly, and he read my mouth as I whispered the words to him. Instinctively, my eyes went to his lips, those bitable, perfectly defined full lips. I pushed him back before I did something stupid. He fell back a step and let me go, too, still holding my gaze. God, I had to get over this stupid crush I had for him. Not only because he was a major asshole, but because the timing was nowhere near right, too.
Silently, he moved to the door we were headed for and I followed. I wondered again what he turned into. He moved very gracefully for someone with shoulders that big. I also wondered how a tux would look on him…
I shook my head. I wanted to ask him about his shifting, but I was sure he wouldn’t tell me. Shifters had a thing about their animal side. Very few—and older—ones could completely control the shifting and their actions while in animal form. They tried to avoid it at all costs, turning only when absolutely necessary. I thought it was cool to be able to transform into something else. To be able to just be someone else, when you got tired of your life. Shifters disagreed, mostly.
Aaron opened the door and walked inside. The room had a considerably dimmer lighting. Only two small lamps were on. Wooden chairs, an old TV and an old desk were the only things inside the room. The walls were covered in shelves, and there were books of every size and color on them.
“No shoes!” someone said.
The voice came from the farthest right corner. A man sat on a chair, a book in his hands, turned toward the lamp. Saying he was old would be the understatement of the year. He was bald and wrinkled and wore a white robe that hung on him like a dress three sizes too big.
“No shoes!” the man I assumed was Master Smith said again, holding his half-moon glasses in his hand. Aaron bowed to take his sneakers off.
Smith stood up. He was taller than I expected. He also moved faster than I thought possible. Cursing under my breath, I bowed slowly to unzip my boots when I remembered the socks I had on. Shit. I had the very bright pink ones on, and they were toe socks, too. There goes my reputation…I thought when I pulled my boot off. They ruined my appearance. They definitely didn’t go well with the black tights and the black sleeveless shirt I had on.
Aaron let out a small scream, trying but failing to keep from laughing out loud. I pulled my hands into fists, biting my tongue. Mom always used to say that when you were angry, you just had to bite your tongue and count to ten. It never helped me, but I still tried.
“They’re comfortable!” I hissed at him.
He nodded, his hand covering his mouth.
“They’re very nice. Really, they reflect your personality.”
I gave him my don’t-fuck-with-me look.
He pulled his palms up. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
Bullshit. He would tell Jack at the very least.
“Is this her?”
The old man was a foot away from us now, his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, watching me curiously. His eyes were a rich whiskey brown. I thought he might break and fall on the floor at any moment. I expected him to start calling me names like the others, but he didn’t.
“You’re too thin,” he said instead, turning his back on us, walking ahead to the desk. “Way too thin! Foolish youngsters, think they can survive…” and he went on and on, mumbling more to himself than to us about what fast food was doing to us, about t
he lack of proper feeding and the reason why we died so young. Aaron cleared his throat to get his attention. We approached him while he was taking something out of his drawer.
“Master Smith, I’m sure the Elders told you about her training.”
“Yes, they did, my boy. They didn’t say she was this thin though, I tell ya. Never did I think I’d live long enough to meet an Elemental, but what do I know?” Smith said with his bald head shaking.
Aaron tried to suppress another laugh and turned to me.
“This is it,” he said, looking rather relieved that he was finally getting rid of me. I ignored the sting of disappointment in my stomach.
“Good,” I said, smiling despite the hollow feeling in my chest.
He nodded. “Have fun and be careful with the old man. We wouldn’t want the Elemental to break a toe or something.”
I sighed. I was disappointed I wouldn’t see that anymore? No, I was glad. I was thankful and even hopeful I’d never see him again.
“Oh, don’t be mad that your babysitting services are no longer needed. There has to be someone else out there in need of a strong nanny like you. Then you won’t be left going around all day, doing nothing.”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at him, but I expected his comeback. It never came. All we heard was the door closing when he left the room. Disappointment wasn’t going to get me anywhere, especially disappointment about someone like Aaron. I shook my head and focused on the old man instead.
Mr. Smith had taken a wooden box, a match, and a glass of water out of his drawer.
“Sit,” he said, pointing at the nearest chair. I obeyed silently.
“These are the elements, girl.” Maybe he thought I was blind? But I didn’t reply. “To learn how to properly master them, you first need to learn their essence, understand—”
“Sorry,” I interrupted. “Since I only have three days, I’d like to get on with the practice first. I will learn the theory later.”
“Yes, so the Elders said. Well enough, we will continue with the practice. Skip the theory. The very essence of being,” he said dryly, shaking his head. He opened the wooden box, and I saw handful of dirt inside. “We shall start with Earth. It is the most concrete element. We will start with these small pieces first, and move outside, if you are able to do anything in here.”