He could burn them all to hell.
Arden's voice was what woke me. She had a pleasant one, all dripping sugar with Southern charm. She was talking to someone and I wanted to know who. Too bad they never talked as I said, "Oh…water…I need water…"
I felt a glass put in my hand and I managed to sit up and gulp it down. Luckily, it wasn't too cold or I'd be in brain freeze at that moment.
Someone took the glass and I leaned back. Whatever I was laying down on, it was soft and it smelled…old.
Age.
And it felt like…velvet.
"You can stop rubbing the sofa, Sam," Arden said. "I think it likes you too."
I opened my eyes and looked into her face. It was a face I hadn't seen on her in a very long time. "What's wrong?"
"You."
"I fainted, didn't I?"
"Yeah…you did. You don't faint, Sam." She had the empty glass in her hand and waved her other hand in the air. I knew she'd done something, but I no longer had the sight to see magic. "There, now we can talk and no one in this entire parish can hear us." She lowered the glass. "How far along are you?"
I just blinked at her. "How…"
"Don't lie. Does Crwys know?"
Hold the damn phone…screw if Crwys knows…how did she know? I'd just found out myself. So either she really was a damn strong Witch or…
I shifted in the bed and felt an odd weight. When I looked down, I opened my mouth to scream.
Arden put her hand over my mouth as I propped up on my elbows, staring at the now quite prominent bulge in my belly. And when I say prominent, I mean…it was obvious I had something there. It wasn't the slight protrusion I'd had at the doctor's office. This was…
HOLYMOTHERFUCKING…!!!
Arden removed her hand. "I take it, you noticed?"
I plopped back on the sofa. A quick look around and I realized I was in Arden's office at the Cleric Office. "This can't be right."
"When did you know?"
"Like…a half hour before I got here. I just saw the doctor this morning."
"You're two months bigger than you were when you came in, Sam." Arden sat back. "I noticed the glow first, and there's something else odd about you. Something I hadn't seen before, but I've seen it with my own coven members, right before they tell me they're pregnant."
I put my hands on my swelling stomach. Was this why it hurt so much, sitting in that chair? Was this that pain? "I don't get it… How did this happen?"
Arden laughed. "You really need me to explain?"
"Not that, you asshat." I glared at her. "I mean, how did this kid grow so fast?"
"Now that I've been mulling over myself. I did some research while you were snoring—"
"I don't snore."
"You do now." She winked. "I didn't find much, other than what we already knew. The children Lethe had were pretty much useless."
"You think…" I stared at my belly. "You think our baby will be like that?"
"I don't know, Sam." Arden shook her head. "I think you and Crwys need to sit down and talk about this. And you need to do it fast."
"Why? Because its growing fast?"
"That…and because when people like Thorn realize you're pregnant with a Dragon baby…I think things will get worse than they are."
"Yeah, about that…" I pushed myself up into a sitting position. I wasn't like a nine-month bulge…I had to guess it was more like a three-month or a four-month. I really didn't know since I'd never even considered having a kid. "Who the hell told Cosgrove I wasn't a Witch? You do that?"
"Nope. And I drilled him about it and he wouldn't say. I originally thought it was Thorn, but given the fact the bastard didn't know Crwys was a Dragon, I'm thinking no. Thorn's new, by the way. Came in about a month ago and wormed his way right into Cosgrove's pocket."
"You sure he's a Witch?"
"Oh yeah. I had Ivan and Kyle check up on him. Had a few of my own girls do a full background. He's just an asshole, but he does have illusions of power. He did come in knowing you were in possession of Arcane, then seemed very happy when he learned you weren't even a Witch anymore. He's the one pushing for a memory wipe, which"—she raised a finger when I opened my mouth to protest—"I was able to squash. No one wants to piss Crwys off. What I am worried about now is the baby. They'll want it terminated."
"Oh fuck no. If I want that, it'll be me and Crwys's decision."
"Yeah…but given your current state, and I mean you being magically defenseless, they could actually do it to you."
Now I was getting upset. And with that emotion came the cramping. I took in a deep breath and said, "You care to explain that?"
"You don't have any magic defense, Sam. They could easily hire someone to abort the child for them."
"How?"
"Remotely."
"We don't have that kind of magic."
"No, but there are magic users who do. The ones who use Sympathetic Magic. There are Wiccans, Ceremonials and some bad practitioners of Voodoo who could. Now, don't look like that. No one in that community is going to harm you. Not after what you did for Mambo Nadeen."
I wasn't gonna let it go, though. "You mean a Mambo or a Houngan could actually abort my baby?"
"They could trigger a miscarriage. It's been done before, but I hear the Loa don't like it. The last Mambo to do that mysteriously disappeared about ten years ago. And don't ask me anything else about that. Right now, you need to grab your husband and have a Come to Jesus meeting on what you're going to do. For now, I can grab some help protecting you, but if they decide that you have to abort…there won't be much I can do."
I had a hand over my belly. "They don't want to piss Crwys off by wiping my memory…but they don't think killing his child wouldn't do the same thing?"
"Sam…it's no secret what Lethe did with her children. Nor is it a secret that Crwys fears his children would also be nothing but mindless, killing monsters. It could be he would welcome it."
That idea did not make me feel better.
"Now, let's get you back to your home. I've got a car waiting, driven by my people. We're taking the back way out." She helped me to my feet and I had to steady myself as I walked alongside her down a side hallway to what I knew was the secret way out. This was an escape route Cromwell used many times. I wondered if he'd only shared it with Arden since it was rumored he and she had…
Ew.
"Now, about the real reason you were brought into the Cleric Office," Arden said.
"Yeah," I said as we got into the back of a Lincoln Town Car with black windows. "What's up?"
Arden gave the driver directions, and as the car pulled out into the hazy Louisiana afternoon, she said, "It's Kyle and Ivan—"
The sound of a phone rang over the car speakers. The driver answered and then hung up. "It's for you, Mistress. It's Dharma."
"Oh…" Arden dug into her purse and pulled out her own cell. "Hello Dharma. This isn't a…"
I watched her expression, and it didn't take magic to know she wasn't getting good news. She was also staring at me the whole time. "Okay…we'll be right there." She lowered the phone. "Ceridwen, head to Tulane Medical Center."
"Yes, Mistress."
"What?" I asked as she put her phone back in her purse. "Is Dharma okay?"
"Yes. It's Ivan. She said he's in intensive care, in a deep coma." Arden put her hand on mine. "He stopped breathing."
FOUR
I don't remember much about the trip to the hospital. I was too intent on interrogating Arden about Dharma's phone call. And why had she called Arden and not me? I answered that question pretty quick when I found my phone at the bottom of my purse with twenty missed calls on it. All of them from Dharma.
Once in the hospital, the staff escorted Arden all the way to ICU, with me in tow. She practically owned the hospital, with donating nice sums of her family money to them over the years. She hired a few of the doctors and nurses herself.
Ivan was in a private room, all the way to
the right. At first, the nurses refused to let us in, but when Dharma stepped out and Arden exercised her might…well…all three of us went into that room.
He looked terrible. And thin. Ivan had always been thin, and tall, and wiry. His thick black hair seemed to have lost its shine, and his exotic face was obscured by tubes running into his nose and his mouth. His eyes looked bruised, and my gaze traced all the wires from his chest to the machines beeping and thumping. I wiped at my eyes, realizing how alone I was. Locked away from sensing Ivan. There was nothing there. And it wasn't because he was gone, it was because…I was gone.
That part of me my mother had gifted me upon my birth.
Dharma wrapped her arms around me and hugged, then immediately stepped back and stared down at my belly. I blinked at her, then looked down and slapped my hands over my mouth. Was it sticking out further than it had been in Arden's office?
"Uh…what…" Dharma looked at my belly, then looked at me, then looked down again. "Sam…"
"Don't make a big deal," Arden said as she moved to Ivan and put her hand on his forehead.
I watched her close her eyes as I moved from Dharma's watchful stare. "Is he…"
"He's there." Arden opened her eyes. "And he's not there. Dharma—" She gestured to the young Water Witch to come closer. "Tell us exactly what happened."
"Well…he's been experimenting with what he calls deep diving. You both knew he'd done it a few times before. At first, he swore he wasn't going to, but then I'd find him sitting in the living room just…staring at the TV."
"That seems normal," Arden said.
"The TV wasn't even on. I'd say his name and shake him, and he'd just stare. His eyes would be green and I knew he was online…but he wasn't using his hands. Remember like he always does to manipulate…whatever he's doing?"
I nodded. Ivan had always been very physical with his travels through Cyberspace. He'd even figured out how to talk to us on our phones from there. Though, in the past few months…I hadn't really talked to Ivan and he hadn't been in the shop much. Kyle and Jack had taken over the running of the place, while I sort of…
Well, I was there. And I did the books. And learned to cook. Which I think I was doing pretty good at.
Wait…where is my mind going?
"About a month or so ago, he said his server at Bell, Book and Candle had a DDoS attack on it." She pronounced it as dee-dos. "Now, this is something that happens to large companies, like big internet providers, like WordPress or even gaming servers. So, why would someone do it to his tiny little server in a magic book store that no one knew about?"
"DDoS?" I said.
"Distributed Denial of Service," Dharma said. "It's a way someone can attack a business with thousands or millions of hits. It's like…routing the traffic on a Los Angeles freeway into a suburb with a dead end. It makes that suburb impossible to get to. Same thing for a website or business. Too much traffic all at once makes it virtually invisible and inaccessible."
"People can do this?" I didn't like the sound of that at all. And someone had attacked my shop like that?
"Yeah. You can even buy a DDoS attack for about a hundred and fifty dollars these days. They're mostly used to influence political events, shut them down or even silence opposing voices on blogs." She shook her head. "So you see, finding out how this happened to Bell, Book and Candle became his top priority. He was determined to find out who was doing this and why."
"Sweet Lady," Arden said. "Is it possible he did…and they did this to him?"
"That's what I've been thinking. He's been at this for a couple of weeks, but this morning I found him on the floor of the bedroom. I thought he'd gone to Bell, Book and Candle, so I had my lesson with Miss Lavender." Dharma nodded to Arden and I assumed this Lavender was one of Arden's coven members. "His eyes were open and I could see the green glow. Only when they turned from green to red I noticed…he wasn't breathing. So I called the ambulance and he wasn't breathing when they got him." She reached out for Ivan's hand. "They were able to get him breathing again before they brought him here. The doctor says he's in a coma—but they can't find a reason for it. He's healthy, but he's dehydrated. Arden…" Dharma's voice cracked. "I don't know what to do. I can't go into Cyberspace and bring him back."
"Didn't you travel with him before?" I blurted out, remembering something about her being able to move with him with her Water Magic.
"She did," Arden said. "But he took her with him. He was the catalyst that brought her along. Ivan's already in Cyberspace. I don't know if he's lost or he's stuck somewhere."
I just stared at my friend, feeling more than helpless. Useless was a better word for it.
Arden pulled out her phone, ignoring all the signs around us about not using cell phones, and started dialing. I could hear their voice mails pick up, and she'd hang up and try a different number. I knew she'd called Kyle, then Jack.
"Sam, call Crwys," she said as she held the phone to her ear. "He needs to know what’s happened with Ivan."
I dug my phone back out and hit the button for Crwys's number. It went to voice mail. So I tried Levi. Same thing. Not sure what else to do, I tried Tas and then Bastien. Everyone's phone was going to voice mail.
"That's odd," Arden said as she dropped her phone back in her bag. "I can't remember ever having a moment where no one picked up. I have some tech Witches at Gypsy Gardens who might be able to help. Dharma, do you mind if I have him moved there?"
Dharma actually looked at me with big, pleading eyes. I nodded. Of all the places Ivan could be, I would trust Arden's estate as being the safest. She not only had magical wards, but she had high tech electronic surveillance as well.
"Good. I'll go make the arrangements." She put her hand on my shoulder. "You can trust Dharma. You know that." And then she left.
"Sam…" Dharma approached me again. "I thought you and Crwys weren't planning on kids?"
"I did too." I put my hand on my round stomach. I looked pregnant now. Sweet Lady…what was the doctor gonna think in the morning when I left her office at two months and returned at four months? Yeah, I was starting to panic. "But I was feeling sick these past few weeks, and dizzy, and we found out this morning."
"Is Crwys happy about it?"
"Oh, he doesn't know yet." Then I had to backtrack. "Oh, we as in my doctor and I. Then I had to get to a meeting—" I narrowed my eyes at her. "Speaking of which, did you or Ivan tell Cosgrove I’m not a Witch anymore?"
I could tell from the look on her face that Dharma hadn't. She had a genuine look of shock. "Oh crap…what did he say?"
"Quite a lot." I filled her in on the meeting, ending with Arden's concerns with Kyle and Ivan. "So, when she started to tell me about the real reason I'd been summoned there, she said it had to do with Kyle and Ivan, but then you called."
"Oh. Sorry."
"No. It's okay." I glanced at Ivan, listening to the respirator. "I just…" and then back to her. "What is it Ivan and Kyle did to upset the Parliament?"
Dharma shook her head. "I don't know. As far as I know, they haven't done anything. Kyle's been running Bell, Book and Candle, and Ivan's been working on a few projects."
"Projects?" I leaned my head forward.
"Remember that tech guy that called, looking for someone to install that security hub in his house?"
Oh, right. I nodded. I vaguely remembered Ivan telling me about the job and being excited because the money was too hard to pass up. "It's gonna be so easy," he'd said.
"Well, that's what he's been doing. So I don't know what the two of them could have done that would bring you before the Parliament." She frowned. "Wait a minute, why would they call you anyway? Those two are grown male Witches. If they did something questionable, wouldn't they just call them in on their own?"
"Because as far as the Parliament knew, I was still their coven leader, in a sense." I sighed. "But that's sort of moot."
"So, do they know about the baby?"
I opened my mouth to tell her wha
t Arden said they were thinking of doing when Arden came back into the room.
"It's all taken care of. They're going to get him out of here in the dead of night. No one will even know."
"Is there a reason for the secrecy?" Dharma asked. I was thinking the same thing.
I half expected Arden to make a flippant comment about it was her way, or they always handled her requests like that, but she didn't. Instead, she said, "I'm not sure, Dharma. I just feel like I need to protect him." She looked at me. "And you."
"Is that your Seer Gift coming through?" I asked.
"I don't know." She wasn't smiling. In fact, she looked a little worried, and I was pretty sure Arden Vervain wouldn't like seeing that crease between her brows. It marred her good looks. "Sam, you are more than welcome to come with us. Stay at Gypsy Gardens with us?"
"No," I said and looked down. "I've got an appointment in the morning and I'm gonna need a ride to the doctor."
Arden shook her head. "I don't do Cowen doctors. And definitely not baby doctors at that."
Dharma looked apologetic. "I don't really want to leave Ivan right now."
I waved them away. "Oh, it's okay. I wasn't really asking. It's just something I need to take care of. I guess. So…" I nodded. "I'll be on my way."
Arden said, "My driver can take you home. I can ride with Dharma."
I knew riding in Dharma's Gremlin wasn't really something Arden wanted to do. And I knew for a fact she didn't like riding in my Jeep, which of course was still parked at the Cleric Office. "Damn…my Jeep."
"It's in your parking lot," Arden said. "I had it taken care of."
"Thanks, Arden. I appreciate that. I'll just walk home."
"That's not a short walk," Dharma said. "And in this heat?"
"Nah, I got it. I need the exercise." I waved at them, then went to Ivan and kissed his forehead. "You come back to me," I whispered to him, then left the ICU.
I was little more than a zombie on my way out of the hospital. I had people open doors for me and a cab, waiting at the curb, offered me a ride for half fair. But I just didn't want to be inside of a car at that moment. I wanted to feel the sun and to think. I used to walk and think. Or pace and think, depending on the viewpoint. But I hadn't done that in the past few months. In fact, I hadn't really done much of anything.
Elemental Tears: An Urban Fantasy Series (The Eldritch Files Book 8) Page 3