by Andre, Becca
We reached the ground floor at last, and the rest of the SWAT team spread out around the area at the base of the stairs. It was dimly lit, most of the illumination coming from the track lighting aimed at a large mural on the wall facing us. But it was the unnatural quiet that really bothered me.
I reached down and pulled the straw of Knockout Powder from my sock. Waylon gave me a questioning look when I straightened. I shrugged, not wanting to break the silence by responding. He had his arsenal and I had mine.
“Sir,” one of the agents whispered, motioning for us to follow him.
We followed him into a large room that contained dozens of tables and chairs. The back and side walls were made of glass and looked out over a large pool, currently covered for the winter months. Lights illuminated the patio area around the pool, and it quickly became apparent why the agent had called us over.
Three men stood on the snow-dusted concrete, and I recognized them all: Rowan, David, and Colby. I cringed when I got a good look at the front of Colby’s hoodie. If the blood had come from a nosebleed, I had never seen one of that magnitude.
“We found him,” I said. “The young guy in the gray hoodie.”
A flash of light lit up the grounds. A lamppost vaporized, while a second one toppled over. David tried to get out of the way, but his foot slid out from under him on the slick concrete. The lamppost struck him across the back of the legs as he tried to crawl out of its path and knocked him to the ground.
“We need to get out there,” Waylon said.
“Remember, Elements are limited by distance,” I said. “Don’t get too close to him.”
“You heard her.” Waylon turned toward the short guy he had sent to turn off the sprinklers back at the office. “Sanders, get that tranquilizer gun ready. The rest of you, remember, the kid’s an innocent. Let’s try to make this a happy ending.”
The SWAT team hurried toward the nearest exit doors and I followed, glancing frequently out the windows. David was struggling to shove the large pole off his legs, but since he was facedown and the pole lay on the back of his legs, he couldn’t get the leverage.
Tiny flecks of sleet pelted my cheeks as I ran outside. One foot slipped out from under me, but I caught a nearby deck chair and managed not to fall.
We had reached the patio when the pole holding David immobile vanished in a flash of light. Suddenly Rowan was beside him.
I released a breath that was lost in a sob and hurried over.
“Stop right there!” Agent Johnson shouted to Colby. He and another agent stopped beside Rowan and David, guns leveled on Colby. The other agents spaced themselves out, forming a semicircle around the place where he stood.
“Hey,” I said, dropping to a knee beside David. “How badly are you hurt?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Rowan demanded.
“Just bruised,” David answered me. “But I wrenched my knee.”
Rowan rose to his feet. “Waylon,” he said, his voice soft, but commanding. “Get him and her out of here.”
A gesture from Waylon, and two agents came over to help David to his feet.
Colby was walking toward us. What kind of range did he have? If he was like Rowan, I would start to worry.
“Halt,” Johnson tried again. “Do not make me shoot you.”
“That’s not much of a threat.” Colby’s voice carried easily across the snowy quiet. “You see,” he reached up and pulled down the zipper on his hoodie, exposing his bare chest and the oozing, crudely stitched incision running down the center. “I’m already dead.”
Chapter
27
Colby stopped about fifteen yards away, the wound on his chest clearly visible.
My stomach lurched and I pressed a hand to my mouth. He had been Made.
A patio table came out of nowhere, slamming into Colby and knocking him to the far end of the enormous pool.
Donovan appeared beside us and with him, Cora and Era.
“Everyone has been evacuated,” Donovan said to Rowan.
“You haven’t.” Rowan kept his eyes on Colby as the young man regained his feet.
“We’re not leaving you,” Cora said. “Can you see in him, yet?” she whispered.
“No.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“What is she doing here?” Cora demanded, apparently just noticing me.
Rowan ignored her question, answering mine instead. “It’s like the time I couldn’t see in Neil last fall.”
I remembered the time we faced Neil in his uncle’s office, when he revealed my dark past to Rowan and James. Neil had taken a potion that prevented Rowan from seeing in him. A potion Ian designed. Damn. I really was going to strangle Ian the next time I saw him. James and him both.
“How long before it wears off?” Rowan asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t design it. Ian did.”
Colby had made up half the distance back to us. He looked so miserable that I wanted to hug him rather than run from him.
Rowan glanced over. “Ian designed it?”
“At Neil’s command.”
Another patio table whirled through the air toward Colby. This time, it vanished in a flash of light.
Cora sighed. “He would have made a fine Fire Element.”
“Yes,” Rowan agreed, his tone resigned.
“Donovan, the pool cover,” Cora said.
The metal clamps bolting down the heavy, tarp-like cover began to snap open.
“Waylon,” Rowan said without taking his eyes from Colby. “Get everyone inside. Era, Addie, go with him.”
“No,” Era said.
A violent wind whipped my hair into my face and suddenly every patio table and chair in the area was airborne. They whirled into a tighter and tighter vortex and spun down the patio toward Colby.
He took a step back and then another. Just when I thought he would get pounded, the tornado of patio furniture went up in flames, leaving a fine ash to swirl in the dying breeze.
The last bolt on the pool cover flew free, and the cover rolled back as it seemed every gallon of water in the huge pool rose in the air. Fortunately, this relatively mild winter hadn’t frozen it solid.
Colby moved back a little more quickly this time. He stared up at the tidal wave above him and gold flared in his orange eyes.
“Rowan, stop him,” Cora said.
“He’s too far away for that kind of precision,” David said.
The ground beneath Colby’s feet vanished, throwing him off balance and apparently breaking his concentration, because the air around him ignited instead of the water.
“That’s not possible,” David muttered, his wide eyes on Rowan.
The wave of water crashed into Colby and knocked him from his feet, then knocked him into the dark hole that was the pool. The cover whipped across the opening, the fasteners snapping closed.
“Will that hold him?” Waylon asked.
“No,” Rowan said. “Go inside and get out of sight. He only has a range of about fifteen feet. If you stay that far away—”
The pool cover and the water within vanished in a flash of blue-orange flame. Colby stood on the floor of the empty pool.
“Go,” Rowan commanded. “I’ll keep him occupied.”
“Rowan.” I reached for him.
“Please go. Find me an alchemical solution or track down James.”
An alchemical— I stuffed my hand in the front pocket of my jeans and pulled out the potion I had used on Megan earlier.
“I’ve got a solution.” I held up the vial.
A shout echoed out of the pool, and Colby ran up the slope toward us.
“Colby!” I yelled.
He skidded to a stop, his w
ide orange eyes focused on me. “Addie.”
“I have some X Dust.” I gestured with the vial.
“A bit late for that. Why didn’t you give it to me when I asked? Why did you let me go to him?”
“Do not blame her for your weakness.” Rowan stopped beside me.
“I’m not weak, you self-righteous asshole.” The air between us erupted in flames.
Rowan pushed me back, but the flames fell short.
“You don’t want to hurt anyone,” I called to Colby.
“Too late for that, too.”
I remembered the ashes upstairs. “Take the potion, Colby.”
“I can’t!” he wailed. “Kill the Elements. Let nothing stand in your way.” He talked fast, his voice going up in pitch. “Taking your potion would stand in my way!” He screamed and ran toward us.
Waylon stepped up beside me, but I didn’t see the gun in his hand until he fired. The heavy caliber pistol bucked in his hands, but he rode out the recoil with experienced ease.
Colby’s left thigh exploded in a burst of blood and gore, and he dropped to the ground.
Waylon leveled the gun and prepared for another shot.
“Please don’t,” Rowan whispered.
“He’s dead, Your Grace. He can’t feel pain.”
“I know.”
“This potion will break the necromantic compulsion on him,” I said.
“Not if he won’t take it,” Waylon said.
Colby was pushing himself to his feet.
“Sanders,” Waylon called.
The same young man he had sent to turn off the sprinklers at the office emerged from the back of the group. I noticed the scoped rifle slung over his shoulder.
“Can you put her potion in a dart?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do it, then find a good vantage point and take the shot.” Waylon turned to another agent. “Go with him and watch his back.”
I handed Sanders the vial, then he and the other agent hurried off to do as Waylon ordered.
“A dart gun to administer a potion,” I said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
“You altered those bullets,” Waylon reminded me.
Rowan glanced over at us.
I opened my mouth to explain that I hadn’t told Waylon—he had figured it out—when the ground beneath me gave way. Or more accurately, it vanished.
“Get back!” Rowan shouted.
I didn’t see if everyone made it to safety; I was falling. I hit the wet bottom of the pool and my feet slipped out from under me. I landed on one hip, my momentum sending me down the gentle slope. Pushing up on my hands and knees, I attempted to rise. Colby gripped me beneath the arm and pulled me to my feet.
“Let her go!” Rowan shouted from the edge of the pool. Damn, he was too close. Suddenly, he sprang back as the ground beneath him vanished.
“How can I make you stop?” I asked.
“Kill me completely?”
I turned to face him. His eyes glowed orange, but it was the tears on his cheeks that were the worst. He hadn’t been dead long enough for his bodily fluids to dry up.
“Why didn’t you take away my magic?” He choked on a sob.
“I’m sorry, Colby.”
“He killed me,” he whispered. “Ripped out my heart as I watched. It hurt so much.”
My breath shook as I released it. Beyond Colby’s shoulder, I saw Sanders line up to take the shot.
“I knew he wanted something from me. That’s why I went to you first.” He looked down at his chest. “I didn’t think he would make me his assassin.”
“Who, Neil?”
“He was there, but there were others. In robes, brown robes.”
“Did—”
He grunted and stumbled forward, catching me by the shoulders. “What the hell?” He twisted around and I glimpsed the dart in his shoulder.
“It’s okay. That was my potion.”
“The X Dust?” His glowing eyes still held mine.
“No. This was designed to break the necromantic compulsion.” I gripped his forearm. “You’re free.”
He pushed me back, the move so sudden that I stumbled. I couldn’t get any traction on the slick surface and started to fall. Arms came around me from behind, a warm chest pressed to my back. Rowan.
“I can’t be free,” Colby moaned. “I’m dead!”
“Cole—”
Rowan lifted me from my feet, pulling me back so quickly that I cried out in surprise.
The place where Colby stood exploded in blue-white flame, stretching into the sky and vaporizing everything in a five-foot radius. Including him.
The flames winked out and I stared at the empty space. “You ashed him?” I whispered.
“No.”
I turned to face Rowan.
“He did that himself,” Rowan answered, the misery I had seen in Colby’s eyes reflected in his.
My heart breaking for him and Colby, I pulled his head down and kissed him. I could taste his blood on his lips, but that was a concern for later. He was alive. Neil’s attempt to take down the Elements had failed.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
He hugged me. “Please stop putting yourself in harm’s way.”
“Then keep your ass out of trouble.”
He snorted, his breath hot against my scalp. Keeping an arm around my shoulders, he guided me to the edge of the pool where everyone waited. Agent Johnson reached down and took my hand, then pulled me out of the pool while Waylon gave Rowan a hand.
“Roe, Addie!” Era threw her arms around both of us. “I was so scared!”
Then Donovan and Cora were there, and I found myself in the middle of one of their group hugs. Literally in the middle, crushed between Rowan’s chest and Donovan’s with four pairs of arms encircling me—even Cora joined in.
“It’s over,” Donovan said. “We’re safe.”
I closed my eyes, overcome with a series of conflicting emotions: sadness and relief, loss and love. But what hit me hardest was this sense of family, of belonging. I pressed my forehead against the coarse wool of Donovan’s sweater.
“This alchemist is going to be the end of us,” Cora said.
I turned my head to look at her. “Do you mean Neil or me?”
“You, clearly. Him, I’ll simply kill.”
“Not if I beat you to it.”
She regarded me in silence a moment. “You’ve wormed your way into our family circle.”
I suspected she wasn’t referring to my current location in the group hug.
“It feels right, Cor,” Era said.
“Bone deep,” Donovan added. “You feel it, too, Cora.”
“Of course, I do.”
I frowned and glanced up at Donovan. “Do I dare ask for clarification?”
“He thinks you’re the fifth element,” Era said. She laughed, but when I glanced at her, she sobered, her expression almost hopeful.
I looked back up at Donovan.
“From the moment I met you, there was…something. I couldn’t define it, but when you explained how alchemy worked, how you could add an ingredient that represented the aspect of what you wanted to capture—”
“The quint ingredients,” I supplied the term. “Quintessent ingredients.”
“Exactly. The process intrigued me, so I read up on it, and came across the concept of the Quintessence.”
“The fifth essence, or element in classical alchemy.” I smiled. “It originated as a way to explain the heavens, but came to represent the essence of life in all living things.”
“Yes. The fifth essence, the Quintessence.” Donovan’s eagerness was endearing. “The alchemists of old tried to capt
ure it and use it in their experiments. They called it their secret fire, the alchemist’s flame. They considered it the ideal ingredient.”
“The ideal ingredient?” My breath caught. Could he be talking about the azoth?
Donovan nodded. “And you can tap into it, harness it, use it as an ingredient in your potions. You wield the fifth essence, as each of us wields our element.”
I stared at him, unable to speak.
“See,” Era spoke up. “I told you that you felt like an Element.”
I glanced at Cora, but she remained silent.
“I told him it wouldn’t work,” a new voice said. A familiar, accented voice.
I turned with a gasp. Gavin stood a few yards away, watching us.
“But nobody listens to the grim,” he continued. “All this power, and I’m nothing more than a slave.” He curled his lip, exposing his sharp teeth. “If he fails, Gavin, salvage my work. Kill the Elements.” He opened his hand, his ebony claws swallowing the light until they were little more than shadows on his fingertips.
I pushed out of the circle of Elements. “Gavin, wait.”
His red eyes shifted to me. “It’s my little brother’s alchemist. Are you going to make more promises of freedom?”
“I can free you. I’ve already designed the formula and tested it. Shall we go to my lab?”
“Addie,” Rowan whispered.
“Silence, Element. I’ll kill you in a moment.” Gavin returned his attention to me. “I can’t. I’m not allowed to leave this location until I’ve killed every last Element.”
Oh God. “What if the Elements leave? Then you can go with me.”
“Devious.” He grinned. “But it won’t work. I was also commanded not to let any of them escape.”
“I would prefer not to have you kill anyone and just free you.”
“I like the last part, but I want to kill them.” He gave me an eager smile as if sharing a secret. “Elemental souls are so tasty.”
My heart pounded in my ears. Logic wasn’t working, and I was all out of my necromancy solvent. I couldn’t free Gavin from the necromantic compulsion that commanded him to kill the Elements. Then too, it sounded like he intended to kill them without the compulsion. This insane monster didn’t belong in this world.