“I’m assuming you’ve been to Cambria before, and have enjoyed the sights.” Sylee tried to start a conversation with me. It was hard to hear over the music that played loudly to reach the streets, but I could still hear her.
“I’ve been here a few times. Always for a job, though. This is the first time I have been able to relax and enjoy myself,” I replied to her. “Thank you for helping me have a great day. I didn’t know it was possible to have this much fun.”
“You’re welcome, Cal,” she smiled at me, and I hoped I could keep it there.
“There was this one time, though,” I started telling her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “I was here with a really beautiful young woman. She was the first woman I ever wanted to dance with, but I didn’t know how to ask her.”
My mate tried to hide her jealousy, but I could see through it.
“Why didn’t you just ask her?”
“I’d never asked a woman to do anything like that before, and I was nervous. Should I have just asked?”
“Yes, Carmon. You just ask and hope they say ‘yes’. If they don’t want to, then it’s their loss.” I could tell the conversation was making her uncomfortable, so I decided to move it along.
“Love,” I stood in front of her and held out my hand. “Would you like to dance with me? I have never wanted to dance with anyone else. I will never want to dance with another.”
Sylee slapped my arm. “You tricked me.”
“I did, I’m sorry. I’ve just never done this before, and I wanted to do it right, but I did not lie. I am here with a beautiful young woman who I want to dance with.”
“You did good.” She put her hand in mine and I led her to the street to dance. She winced occasionally, so I assumed her feet still hurt, but she pushed through it like the strong woman I knew she was. I kept a tight grip on her as we moved. There were so many people around us that I was afraid of having her pulled from me while we danced. It was a likely possibility in this crowd.
I enjoyed spinning my mate around when the tempo called for it, and when it slowed, I pulled her close to me. When a song ended, I twisted my mate around into a dip that left little space between our faces. She killed me when her gaze lingered on my lips, and sometimes her tongue would come out to wet hers. Instead of stopping my torture, I continued to dip her at the end of every song.
Soon, a song came on that I knew. Most songs were about love, and I’d never been a big fan of the idea, so I did not listen to much music. It had a slow tempo and I pulled my mate back to me. Her arms went around my neck. She kept herself pulled back enough that she could see my face, and I enjoyed watching hers. I fisted my hands on her hip. I wanted to give in to the ideas running through my mind, but I had promised to go slow with her.
However, a minute into the song she would not take her beautiful brown eyes from my lips, and I lost every ounce of self-control I had built up over the years.
Slowly, I slid my right hand up her side from her hip, over to her shoulder blade, and then up to the back of her neck under her hair. I went slow so she could stop me any time she wanted. Instead of stopping me, Sylee closed her eyes as I used both hands to pull her even closer to me. My heart raced in my chest as I felt her lips gently graze mine. I still wanted to give her the opportunity to say no, but after the brief contact, I had to have more, so I went back for seconds. This time I was less shy, and when I licked her lips they opened, and her tongue came to play with mine. I reveled in the feel of her, and when she moved to her tiptoes to deepen the kiss further, a groan escaped me.
When the song ended and the beat of the music picked up again, I slowed our heated kiss and ended it with a few light kisses to her lips and jaw. Her breathing was heavy, as was mine, and her eyes took a few seconds to flutter open.
“Wow.” She was breathless. I silently concurred.
“Come, mate, I don’t think either of us are in the mood to dance to this.” I pulled her from the street and onto the sidewalk.
The loud music helped to clear my head. I studied Sylee when we again sat to watch the dancers. It was late, and she was starting to look exhausted. I should have been paying better attention. She needed more sleep than I did, and she’d been through a trauma that had almost killed her. I should have taken better care of her. I didn’t say anything as I stood and pulled her from her seat and guided her toward our hotel.
When we returned to our room, Sylee was almost asleep on her feet, again. She slowly gathered her things and closed herself in the bathroom. I needed to check on her soon just to make sure she didn’t fall asleep in there. She was going to sleep a long time, and I would hold her for the duration.
After she had been in the bathroom a few minutes, there was a knock at the door. As was second nature to me, I used my Life element to see what kind of person waited outside the room, but my senses came back empty. I was sure someone had knocked, but my elemental power said, “no one’s there.” Again, the knock sounded at the door. I’d never been, as others would say, “creeped out”, but what was happening was weird.
As I walked past the bathroom, I gave a small knock on the door before opening it a crack, “Sylee, when this door closes, lock it, and do not open it for anyone but myself or my brothers.”
“Is everything okay?” Her voice sounded worried, and I wanted to ease her fear, but I also needed her on her toes. I tried for both.
“I’m not sure. Just lock it and do not come out,” I ordered, then closed the door. I waited to hear the lock click before finishing my trek to the door that led to the hallway. I looked through the peep hole, and I could see no one. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Are you guys awake? I spoke to all of my brothers.
Yeah, need something? Adam asked. His mental voice was groggy, and I could feel the other links waking up as well.
I may need help. Be careful when you open your doors, I advised.
After a few more seconds of contemplation, I decided to open the door. I started by opening it a crack and peeking out. No one was there, so I listened intently. When I couldn’t hear anyone, I stepped out into the hall. I looked up and down the hallway while trying to decide if I really wasn’t losing my mind. It was late. Maybe my brain was playing tricks on me. Shrugging my shoulders at my behavior, I decided to join my mate in bed for some much-needed sleep.
Before I could turn back to the room a loud crunch sounded at the back of my head, followed by searing pain in my ribs and skull. I tried breathing, but it was almost impossible with the amount of pain I was in. The pain in my ribs extended to my middle, and I felt a scream leave me. When my brain finally registered what was happening, more pain began. This pain I was familiar with. Multiple pairs of teeth biting me on my neck, left arm, and right thigh. I heard Sylee scream and I fought to free myself, but my bloodsucking attackers held me too tightly.
Help! I cried to the links in my mind.
Finally, I rid myself of two of my attackers. As I tried to free myself from the third, his teeth deepened, followed by the most excruciating pain that I had felt in a long, long time. These were demons, and the one who held me had done a venom dump.
My mind couldn’t process all the pain that was coursing through me. The venom was spreading, causing obscene amounts of pain. I had an extrememly high pain tolerance, but even it was too much for me in my weakened state. I heard my mate scream again, and reached for the power of my Life element. When I grasped it, I used it to suck the life force from each demon, leaving them dead. Then I collapsed.
******
“You can wake up anytime, mate,” her voice demanded.
“Yes, Ma’am,” I rumbled out.
“Finally!” she said with happiness. Her lips landed on mine, and it was the best wakeup I’d ever experienced. Unfortunately, it was cut short by someone clearing their throat.
“While the rest of us are glad your relationship is taking a turn for the better, we’d rather not witness it first hand,” Chris quipped from somewher
e in the room.
I pulled back, but did not look away from my mate. “You wouldn’t have to witness it if you left,” I threw back at him. There were chuckles from the others in the room, and I wished they would all leave.
“Are you hurt?” I asked my mate, remembering her screams from hours ago. It was just hours? Right? What time was it?
“I’m not,” she said, and I closed my eyes in relief.
“I didn’t obey your command, though, and I’m sorry.” My eyes opened again. She played with my hair and wouldn’t look at me.
“You came out of the bathroom.” I didn’t need to ask to know that she had. I would not have heard her scream otherwise.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then she looked me in the eyes. “I messed up and it won’t happen again, Commander.”
“Okay.” I pulled my mate’s lips back to mine. When I was done, I released her. “Apology accepted.”
“Thank you,” she smiled at me. I guessed she had been expecting the monster in me to come back out after her mistake. Honestly, the monster had wanted to surface. It had started to, but then she’d called me Commander, and my anger at her disobedience dissolved.
“Were you hurt when you came out of the bathroom? I heard you scream.”
“I screamed because I wasn’t expecting the demon I saw when I opened the door, and I didn’t expect to see you in such bad shape.” She closed her eyes and a tremor passed through her. “I never want to see that again. The challenges were one thing. This was another. I heard you scream, and I couldn’t stay in the bathroom being useless. You had a knife in your stomach and three goons hanging off of you. The fourth attacked me when I came out, but I killed him.” She paused after that sentence.
“Was he your first?” I knew she’d know I meant her first kill.
She nodded her head at me. I knew how she felt. Every warrior did. The first time you took a life was shocking and many people threw up. I did.
“I’m sorry. Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah. I’m better now. I got a little bit of sleep while you did.” She gave me a small smile, and then continued her story. “Nathaniel came just after you collapsed, and he carried you in here and started healing you. Your brothers showed up only moments later and Jeff helped Nathaniel get you fixed up. Jeff said he put you in a healing sleep so you didn’t have to feel the pain from the venom dump. By the way, how are you feeling?”
“I’m not in pain, but I could use some blood to gain my strength back faster.” I was grateful not to be in pain. A venom dump was when a mature demon forced a great deal of venom into his victim to cause immense amounts of pain. Usually it caused the victim to pass out so they couldn’t struggle anymore while the demon sucked them dry, or ate them. Demons were not known to be picky.
“You’re welcome to some of mine,” a familiar voice said. I looked over to find Nathaniel Turnclaw, the Harbor Witch we’d been waiting on, standing by the bathroom.
“I’ll take you up on that,” I accepted. I wasn’t going to be fussy. I had never drank blood from a witch before. I was interested in what it would taste like. Nathaniel walked to my side of the bed, and I sat up with help from my mate since my muscles were still a bit shaky from their abuse by the venom.
Nathaniel pulled the collar away from his neck on the left side. I had no doubt he knew that was where I preferred to drink from. He knew a lot about my brothers and I. Soon he would answer us as to how he knew all of what he did.
I sank my teeth into his neck slowly, not really being sure what to expect. I certainly had not expected to meet a witch who was not trying to kill me, but I had. His blood rushed to my mouth when my teeth dug deep enough. It was more bitter and metallic tasting than that of regular humans without magic, but it was powerful. I would be on my feet again in no time.
Nathaniel let me drink as long as I needed to, and when I pulled away, he was breathing in and out slowly and heavily.
“You know,” he said after a moment, “when you hear rumors about how enjoyable being bitten by an elemental is, you tend to laugh them off, but wow. That was an experience. It’s a good thing you pulled back. I’m not sure I would have stopped you.”
“It’s a common occurrence for the one being bitten to feel that way,” Jeff said from a chair by the window. I looked around the room and found Archer was also present.
“Everyone else is on their way here,” Chris informed us. “After the attack, we need to figure out some stuff and get answers from magic dude. By the way, if you need to stretch or use the bathroom, you’d better do it now before it gets crowded in here.”
I did need to do both. I found I had been changed to my pajamas and my bloodied outfit from earlier was nowhere to be seen. That was a bummer because I’d really liked the way Sylee looked at me when she first saw my clothes yesterday. I also checked the time and found it was almost noon. No wonder I was hungry.
After finishing in the bathroom, I crawled back in bed with my mate. I was going to be comfortable during this conversation.
“I’m sorry our night was ruined,” I apologized to Sylee.
“It’s not your fault. We’re both alive, and I count that as a plus.”
Everyone entered then. It was a bit loud while they found places to sit or stand, but the noise didn’t last long. When everyone was ready, they all looked to me.
“Did you guys have any trouble at your rooms last night?” I asked my brothers. They all shook their heads.
“Why did you open the door without one of us being completely awake and ready when your power told you there were demons?” Adam asked me like I was a child.
“Watch your tone, Lieutenant,” I growled out. My poor mate shivered next to me. She was too used to being growled at by me. I put my arm around her and pulled her close to kiss her forehead so she would know she was safe with me, and not the brunt of my anger. She smiled up at me, and I was happy to see she was getting over her shyness of physical contact, and I was starting to find I needed her touch.
“My apologies, Commander,” Adam said with a nod.
“My power came back empty. It showed no one in the hall. I do not know how, but they tricked my element,” I explained. I didn’t want to respond after Adam’s belittling comment, but they needed to know the information.
“How is that possible?” Drew asked, standing straight from where he had been leaning against the wall.
“I don’t know,” I replied, looking to Nathaniel. “Do you know?”
“I have an idea, but I’d like to look into it first,” he replied.
“Fair enough. Let me know when you get an answer. If you don’t know something soon, I would still like to hear your theory.”
“Very well, Lord Carmon,” the witch inclined his head at me. A shocked expression must have broken through my calm demeanor because the witch added, “You are a Lord, are you not?”
“Yes, but no one outside of the elementals has ever addressed me as such.”
“I see. If my theory is correct, I predict that that will change,” the witch stated.
Please, no, I thought, as I leaned my head against the bed’s headboard and stared up at the ceiling. I liked being a Commander. I could move around as I pleased, and no one cared about my rank. Now, having a title on the other hand, that would cause issues with my façade. I would only be able to move a few feet at a time between all the bowing, and the ladies would flock around. Though, maybe not to me since I had a mate.
After looking at my brothers, I could tell they all had the same thoughts running through their minds as I had. None of them looked very happy. Because we were elementals, we inherited the title of Lord just like the full-blooded elemental men. The women had the title of Lady.
“You’re a Lord?” my mate asked in a mixture between shock and awe. “I guess I should have put that together, huh?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a title, Love. It doesn’t mean I like it. You never have to use it.” Turning to Nathaniel I asked, “How long is it goin
g to take for you to find your answers?”
“Not long. Speaking of answers, I owe you boys one.”
“The one about where we’ve met before,” Chris stated. He did not need to say it as a question. We all knew that was the only information we wanted to hear from our new friend, or was he an old friend?
“Yes, that one. I met you boys a little over a dozen years ago. You were just children at the time. Well, I didn’t really meet you per say. My two friends and I nearly killed you,” the witch admitted.
No. No way. Not now. I felt the blood drain from my face. After all these years, I would have to relive the worst night of my life, and on top of that, I would relive it with my mate by my side. That would be even worse. She truly would see the monster she was stuck with.
I could tell my brothers were as stunned as I was. None of them moved a single muscle. Then at the same time they came to life, yelling over each other.
Quiet! I yelled to their links. They were instantly silent.
The witch looked at me. “Thank you, my lord.”
I inclined my head for the witch to continue. I held Sylee tighter. I was going to need her support to get through this even if I did not want her present for it. She glanced up at me and gave me a small smile, followed by a nod like she knew something was happening inside me, and she was there for me. I relaxed the tiniest bit because of her support. I took a deep breath in, and then let it out as Nathaniel continued.
“Like I said, it was a little over a decade ago. My friends Abby, Lorna, and I had just finished a job for the Dark king. While on our way back to collect our payment, we felt a Light team nearby. The power of this team was very strong, and we wondered why they did not try to hide their power. Abby figured they were young and inexperienced. She wasn’t terribly off the mark.
Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One Page 15