Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One
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Life and Water
The Elementals: Book One
By: Melanie Gilbert
Summary
The war between the Light and Dark has raged for centuries on the continent of Loath. Commander Carmon Lanshay and his five brothers are the best assassins the Light have, so when a Governor and his family are threatened, he and his brothers are sent to bring them to safety.
Immediately, their mission takes a turn for the worse, and Carmon discovers that he will do pretty much anything to make it succeed, even if he has to die protecting the Governor’s oldest daughter, Sylee. On the other hand, Sylee would rather fight for herself than let her arrogant Commander treat her and her family with such callousness.
With danger lurking around every corner, Carmon and Sylee will have to learn to trust, and rely on, each other to save her family, and their world.
Copyright © 2017 by Melanie Gilbert
Published: August 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5219965-3-9
Cover Design by Melanie Gilbert
Edited by Sparkle and Shine Editing
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without express written permission from the author. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
To Lucas,
May your favorite word always be “book”, and may you one day enjoy reading Mommy’s.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to everyone who helped me get this book out, from encouragers to beta readers and my editor.
I would like to say a special thank you to my husband and son who both put up with me being in my own little world.
Thank you to Erin Gilbert for being the first, and most excited, to enter the world I created, and for being such a good hostess when we came to visit and all I wanted to do was get started on the second draft of my book.
Thank you to my parents and sisters for listening to me talk about my new hobby.
I would be completely ungrateful if I didn’t thank God for helping me with this project. If it weren’t for Him and the dream He gave me I would not have the first few chapters of this book.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter One
Carmon
I breathed in slowly, letting the feel of magic against my skin fade from my mind. The magic was evil, but it wouldn’t be smothering me much longer. The Harbor Witch was about to die.
The level of magic around me continued to increase, telling me my prey was coming closer. I looked to my left, beyond the trees hiding me from my quarry’s view, to see my brother, Chris.
He’ll be within view in moments, I communicated to Chris via the link in our minds. He is powerful. I’ll handle it. Just distract him as long as you can.
Chris gave me a barely perceivable nod instead of answering me back in my mind as he began to clean up the evidence of the lunch we had shared before the witch had drawn closer to our camp. Of course, we had purposefully chosen this location. The witch was our target, and we were drawing him in. Our plan had just worked faster than we had anticipated. He was a powerful witch, but apparently, he wasn’t very smart.
A minute after my conversation with Chris, the witch appeared. He was dressed like a hiker: long pants, tan shirt, boots, and a bag on his back. He appeared to be an ordinary man, but the magic coming off of him proved otherwise. It was like oil running over my skin. Normally, the witch would know where I was hiding. Chris and I were Light, a group of people with powerful, almost magical, blood. I was doing my best to keep my power within my body, while Chris was leaking it all over the place, covering up the power I couldn’t contain. Our plan was only working because we were young and the witch would hopefully take the bait and think Chris was inexperienced. So far, it seemed to work.
“Hello, fellow traveler,” the witch called to Chris.
Chris looked up, acting startled. “Oh, hello.”
“It looks like you are cleaning up. I was hoping to catch you before you ate to share a meal together. It gets a little lonely eating by yourself for so long,” the witch complained. I had to admit the witch was a good actor, but he was in the ring with a champ. Chris was a goofball, and I wasn’t worried about him at all. Even if his acting skills failed him, and the witch attacked, Chris was a deadly assassin. Not as good as me, but only just shy of my skill. I would never admit that to him, or anyone else, though.
“Sorry, man, I did just finish, but if you want some company, I can stick around for a little while,” Chris told the witch, who had moved forward into the small clearing with him. “And I have an extra chocolate bar if you want it.”
I had been moving toward the witch, but paused to glare at my brother. It was my chocolate bar Chris was attempting to give away. It was a quirk of mine to eat one after a successful mission, which meant I ate one after every mission, and I only had the one bar with me. The witch had better not eat it.
Continuing forward to save my chocolate bar, and my brother, of course, I was only minutely aware of the increase in magic around us. I could also feel Chris starting to weaken through the link we shared. That was how some witches worked. Before they attacked they weakened their foe through their magic.
The witch sat on a fallen log. He was too focused on Chris, who suddenly fell from the boulder he was sitting on. “Oh, are you okay?” the witch said with a smile, losing all pretenses of caring.
Can you get me some apples and oranges while you’re at it? Chris spoke through our mental link.
I quirked an eyebrow at him in confusion, not an uncommon emotion around Chris. What are you talking about?
I’m assuming you went grocery shopping. You haven’t arrived to save me yet, Chris shot back at me sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes at him. The witch stood abruptly, and I was grateful Chris had distracted me with his dumb joke, or I might have been found out when reaching for the witch’s neck to give it a good twist. Instead, I was a couple of feet behind the powerful man.
The witch took a few slow steps toward my brother while creating a glowing ball of energy in his hand. Little did the witch know that Chris would be almost unaffected by the electricity the ball would release upon impact with my brother’s skin. Chris pretended to be fearful and crawl away, and that made the witch laugh more. It was an annoying laugh. It needed to stop, so I stopped it.
With one swift twist of the surprised witch’s neck, the magic around us faded. This had to be the easiest mission we’d been assigned in ages. I was honestly surprised that the witch had lived for so long. He must have been in his fifties, but Harbor Witches aged very slowly, so he had looked much younger than he was.
“How are you doing down there?” I asked Chris, nudging him with my boot. He had stopped crawling wh
en the witch died.
“I think I need a nap,” Chris said, rolling to his back.
“You’ve got one hour and then I’m waking you up,” I told him. He was asleep before I even finished my sentence.
******
“The mission was a success, I take it, Commander?” Councilman Ernest Borgman asked as I took the seat across from his desk.
“Yes, sir,” I replied. Chris and I had arrived home that morning. Chris was still sleeping off the effects of the witch’s magic from yesterday’s events while I met with Borgman. Chris got the better end of the deal, and I wanted to switch places with my comedic brother.
“Good. I look forward to reading your report.” Borgman looked pointedly at me. I wasn’t known for my detailed, or timely, reports. That is, if the reports made it to Borgman and the Council at all. Soon, they would lay down the law with me, or rather, they would try. I’d like to see them succeed. I smirked inwardly while keeping my calm exterior.
“I’ll have Chris get right on it.” Chris was going to be so mad when I told him he was writing the report. I couldn’t wait. Instead of showing that excitement, I slouched in my chair a bit and crossed my right leg over my left.
Borgman laughed at me, but I knew it irked him when I didn’t show him the emotions I felt. He shouldn’t let it get to him. I never showed my emotions to anyone. My position, and what I was, did not allow for it. Not to mention my training on hiding emotion was very thorough. I take some of that back, I was known for being rude and arrogant. It kept annoying people at bay, so I was all right with the reputation.
Leaning forward, the councilman brought his hands together at his fingertips. He sighed before his next sentence. I groaned inwardly. I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to say next. The sigh always proceeded a job I didn’t want.
“I know you just got back, but we have an extremely important mission we need you and your team to get on immediately.” The councilman looked for a reaction from me, but I wasn’t going to give it to him, especially since he’d given me nothing to react about. We were used to getting back and leaving right away. It was the story of our lives and we did not mind. “A governor in the Alidone State under King Tristan, was attacked last night by Harbor Witches. He is alive and well. His guards stopped the kidnapping. Many other attempts have been made on him and his family the past few months but they almost nabbed the governor this time. We need to get the Hamilton’s here to Mount Pickett.”
“This isn’t our usual type of mission, Councilman. Not that I mean to question you,” but oh, I did mean to question him, and he knew it, “but our talents are better used elsewhere.”
I absolutely did not want this mission. My brothers and I were not an escort service, and I did not want to set a precedent. After the bummer of a mission the council had just given us, I wanted to go out and take someone’s head off, or at least get a good fight in. I did not want to babysit.
“I know it’s not your normal mission, Commander, but this is of great concern to the Council, and we can think of no one else who can do it better,” the councilman pleaded. Yeah, they were desperate. Wonderful. My sigh was again inward only, with no outside physical reaction.
“Why do the witches want the Governor’s family?” That was the most important, and confusing, question. Of course, I didn’t show the extent of my curiosity to Borgman.
“The Hamilton’s have very powerful blood that the Harbor Witches want to use,” Borgman answered.
Harbor Witches could drink blood to raise the power of their magic. This gave them the ability to do more advanced spells. The more powerful the blood, the more powerful the witch became. The effect was only temporary, so some Witches had been known to keep powerful Light alive for a time to keep themselves strong.
I looked at the clock. It was late afternoon. Chris needed one more good night sleep, and I selfishly wanted to sleep in a bed, “We’ll head out early tomorrow morning. It should take us a couple of days to get there, and maybe a little longer to get back. How many kids to the Hamilton’s have? And what ages?”
“There is a 19-year-old son, 17-year-old daughter, 15-year-old daughter, and 13-year-old son,” the councilman replied.
I nodded. Thank goodness, they weren’t very young. I would have denied the job right there on the spot had anyone been under ten. I had no patience for screaming, crying children who needed bathroom breaks that would slow us down. Luckily for me, I would never have to worry about children being a part of my life. I never planned to marry, so children weren’t even in the equation. If there was something I could not stand more than children, it was women.
“Get them here as soon as you can, Commander,” Councilman Borgman stood to dismiss me. We shook hands, a politeness that was required to keep our relationship flowing smoothly. Then I left to head to my office located in the castle of Mount Pickett, my team’s home base. My brothers were going to be meeting me there in ten minutes.
I passed many Light warriors on my walk through the hallways of Mount Pickett. The Light blooded people were fighting a centuries long war against the Dark blooded on our war-torn continent of Loath. The continent was split into states which were ruled by kings. Governors were selected to govern smaller regions of those states and report to their respective kings. The Light Council was the top governing body of the Light. All the kings reported to them quarterly, unless there was an emergency. My father was Light. That’s all Mother ever said about him. She’d forbidden anyone else from giving more information than that to us about him. He could have been alive and in the same building as myself for all I knew. After years of asking, we’d given up trying to find information about him, and were patiently waiting for the day our mother would be ready to tell us about him.
The Dark lived on the far west side of the continent. They were ruled by a king, and he was a ruthless man. The Harbor Witches, demons, and vampires that infested all areas of the continent worked mainly for the Dark king. On the other hand, the immortal Elementals did their best to help the Light.
Then there were the Neutrals who had no extra special blood. They tried to stay out of our way. Their blood was “normal”. I’d say it was boring. Light blood gave the body different abilities, like increased senses, faster healing, and extra speed and endurance. The Neutrals were physically weak which was why the Dark wanted to see them destroyed. They wanted to be the superior race, and that meant no breeding with Light and Neutrals, destroying them at any cost.
It did not take long to reach my destination. My office was small, with one window across from the door. The desk was mahogany and in the corner to the right of the door with five chairs scattered around the room. Each of my brothers had their favorite chair, and as I entered, I expected them all to be empty, but one wasn’t. Adam, my lieutenant, occupied the chair right in front of my desk.
My brothers and I were 20-year-old sextuplets. We hid that fact for years, afraid of the attention it would bring to us. I was the shortest at 6 feet 2 inches, and Adam the tallest at 6 feet 6 inches. We all had black hair and muscular builds. I had our mother’s blue eyes, but my brothers’ eyes were brown. We assumed their eye coloring came from our father, but we would never know.
Overall, we weren’t too bad in the looks department. Women couldn’t seem to stop sneaking glimpses at us when we walked down the halls, and the gym got more female foot traffic when we were there. So, my arrogance wasn’t completely my fault.
“We get another mission? Or are we on vacation?” Adam asked me after I sat behind my desk, relaxing in my plush chair.
“I thought you already had a vacation while Chris and I were gone.” I smiled when teasing Adam. It was easier to show emotion to my brothers. Especially Dalton and Jeff.
“It would have been a vacation if you hadn’t left a to-do list a mile long,” Adam grumbled. My brothers and I never got a break. We could not afford one. Not with the missions they handed us. As the Light’s best assassins, we needed to stay on top of our game.
“Pull up your seats. We have a lot to discuss and not a lot of time before we leave,” I commanded, “And Chris, no jokes, we don’t have time, and mostly, I don’t have patience.” Two days alone with Chris had almost put me over the edge already. Now, I was going to be stuck in a car with him again. Oh joy. I had to fight the urge not to bang my head on my desk when he responded.
“Yes, sir!” Chris mock saluted while everyone else called him some less than desirable names under their breath.
Never mind about putting him to bed early, I told Adam, Maybe he’ll sleep in the car.
Adam’s lips gave only a slight rise at the corners to signify he had heard me and agreed.
“What’s up Cal?” Jeff asked, using my nickname. My brothers were the only ones allowed to use it. Mom would never dream of calling me anything but my given name. They had given the nickname to me years ago. I couldn’t even remember the circumstances. All I did remember was that it was my initials, Carmon Aaron Lanshay, and for some reason, it had remained in my life ever since its creation.
My brothers were going to hate what I had to say almost as much as I hated having to say it. “We have a new mission. Leaving early tomorrow. We’re escorting Governor Hamilton and his family from Alidone State here, to Mount Pickett.” A collective variety of groans echoed around the room. It was expected.
“I know, I know, but Borgman was insistent, and after hearing him out I agreed to do it.” Once my brothers were pacified a little, I continued, “We can expect problems from Harbor Witches.” I knew they’d like that part, and they did. “Apparently, the Governor has been taking attacks from them. Hamilton has a wife and four teenage kids, two are legal adults, a boy and girl. The goal is to get in and out quickly. I know this isn’t our typical job, but according to Borgman, the Hamilton’s have very powerful Light blood that the witches want. If they are willing to attack this family over and over, there blood must have a kick to it. I do not want them falling into the hands of witches. That will make our jobs harder in the future. That or we’ll still have to go retrieve them if they are captured. That’s why I took the job. Any questions?” I asked after my explanation. No one said anything, so I turned to Drew, “Make sure the SUV’s are both ready to go. You’ll drive one, and I’ll drive the other.”