A sound came to me, muffled by the mist. Then another sound.
Something wasn’t right. I could feel it with my water elemental magic—the rain carried the message to me despite the heavy fog.
“One of the Weres, maybe two, are in trouble,” I said to the guards as the knowledge came to me as clear as if I was already there.
I bolted away from the guards before they had a chance to blink.
EIGHT
The pounding of my heart thudded in my ears as I ran through the thick mist of forest, dodging trees, jumping over logs and bounding over rocks. I used my air element to propel my natural speed and to guide me through the fog so that I wouldn’t run into anything.
Normally, with the grace of the Elves, I could avoid anything I saw the instant it came into view. But the haze was becoming so thick, that talent was almost impossible. Soon I had to rely on my air element to act like sonar to make my way without bumping into anything, or tripping, or falling.
From in front of me, both my air and water elemental magic brought to my ears sounds that didn’t belong. Strange. But they were muffled and I had no idea what it could be. My adrenaline kicked up a notch. Just a few more seconds and I’d be there.
I came up short when I reached the outskirts of the location where I was certain the sounds had come from. I stopped close to a tree to get my bearings and avoid rushing into the middle of something I was unfamiliar with.
Near silence pressed against my ears like the fog pressed against my body. Only rain pattered on the leaves and ground. I drew Lightning, one of my dragon-claw daggers.
Muffled noise broke the silence and echoed around me, ping-ponging through the mist. Goose bumps crawled over my skin at the eeriness of what sounded like low inhuman wails.
My muscles remained tense and I tried to use the rain and air to identify where the sounds originated. I kept my other hand close to my Kahr since I didn’t know what to expect.
I should have been able to identify the location the wail was coming from. It was as if something was purposefully sending out the low cry in all directions to keep its true location from being identified.
Yes, that was it. An unnatural object, possibly human-made, was emitting the unearthly sound that echoed in the mist. I tried using my air element like sonar to pin down the location, but somehow the sounds were confusing my ability. I smelled nothing, and I should have been able to scent whatever was there.
Then beneath the wail, my rain and earth element brought to my ears a faint scraping sound. So faint I could have imagined it. But I knew I’d heard it, and it wasn’t a sound that belonged in a forest. While the low cries echoed from all directions, the scrape came from one specific location.
In wolf form, the Werewolves reached me and stood like silent sentries to either side of me. The mist was so thick I couldn’t see them—I could only sense that they were there.
I crouched and reached my hand out until I was certain the back of it was beneath one Werewolf’s muzzle. It licked my hand and I knew it understood what I was going to do. With a slow movement I felt down the wolf’s chest and drew a circle in his fur before reaching back up and very gently pushing its muzzle to the right, in the direction I wanted it to go. The wolf went immediately to circle around to the right.
Then I reached out to my other side and repeated the sequence with the other wolf. When that wolf left, I prayed to the Goddess that I hadn’t just sent either wolf into a trap—and that I wasn’t about to walk into one myself.
The inhuman wail continued as I stayed low and crept closer to where the scraping sound had come from. My hair hung in soaked ropes around my face, and I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead to get it out of my eyes. I gripped my dagger tight in my other hand but kept my body loose. I sensed more Werewolves arriving in wolf form, as well as a squirrel and a Shifter’s faint amber scent, but I didn’t stop moving.
The scraping sound didn’t repeat and the wail grew fainter. Whatever was emitting the sounds was slowly losing power and I was able to identify where it was coming from. A few more steps and my “sonar” showed me where the thing was—something round and as big as my fist on the forest floor.
I sensed no presence, just the object. I kept low to the ground, relying on my senses as I reached the thing. My magic and senses told me it was harmless, simply a sound emitter. With a very slow movement I inched my hand toward the small object and touched it with one finger.
Electricity and pain pierced my body and brilliant blue light exploded from where I had touched the object. The jolt of electricity was so powerful it rocketed me backward, and it was so unexpected that I didn’t have time to protect myself.
My back and head slammed against a tree. More pain whipped around the electrical pain still surging through me. My whole body jerked as if I’d been struck by lightning.
I couldn’t breathe, my vision was black, my face contorted with pain. It took all my training not to cry out from the excruciating electrical charge racking me. I hadn’t had time to use my air element to prevent the thump of my body slamming against the tree.
Someone bent down beside me. The faint tiger flower scent of a female Doppler neared me and I knew it was Angel who had shifted from her squirrel form.
My body continued to jerk and my eyes ached so badly tears would have been flushing down my cheeks if Dark Elves had tear ducts.
“Shit,” Angel whispered and I felt her cool fingers against my neck. She raised her voice so that it carried through the fog. “Don’t touch whatever made that noise—Nyx is down.”
With her fingers, Angel applied pressure a half inch below the base of my skull. Pain vanished as my body went slack and I passed out.
My temples ached in a way they had never ached before. I shook my head, only to discover two things: The movement hurt as if my skull had served as a trampoline for about a hundred kids, and my head was on a large pile of leaves. Fortunately the rest of me was attached, and I rested on flat but springy loam.
An explosion of blue light flashed through my mind and I knew what had happened. I’d been electrocuted by the emitter when, like an idiot, I’d touched it with my finger. From my senses, and brushing it with my elements, I’d been so sure it was safe. But it wasn’t the first time I’d been fooled.
Scents of fallen rain and forest surrounded me but the rain had stopped.
Voices gradually pierced my hearing as it returned from muted to clear. Beketov’s furious bellow rose above Olivia’s and Angel’s angry responses. Bless it, their fighting was going to sever my head from the pain it caused.
I pressed my palms against my forehead and gritted my teeth before I yelled, “Shut up!”
My own shout just about split my head open.
“About time.” Olivia’s voice was below shout level when she responded, but I still winced. Leaves scrubbed the ground as she crouched beside me. “Stop screwing around, Nyx, and get your ass up. We need you.”
I would have smiled if I could have. Instead I opened my eyes. At first Olivia’s features were a little distorted, but once I blinked a few times I could see her better in the silver moonlight. Clouds no longer shrouded the now clear sky.
Olivia was trying to hide it, but I could see concern in her eyes.
“You’re supposed to be on the job, not playing Sleeping Purple Beauty.” She grasped one of my hands and lightly tugged, but didn’t force me upright. She waited for me to start to push myself up before helping me sit. “You’ve been letting us do all the work for the past six hours. It’s after midnight.”
“Amethyst.” My head spun a little and a remnant of electricity snapped in my body, causing my muscles to have involuntary spasms. “It’s after midnight?”
“We need your purple ass up and helping figure this thing out.” Olivia’s dark eyes examined me from head to toe. “You’ll live.”
This time I managed what I think was a smile, at least a partial one. She released my hand and I braced my palms on the ground t
o either side of me to keep myself in an upright position.
The haze was so faint now that I could see we were in a clearing. Moonlight touched everything in the small area, including all beings, but it made things look a little distorted through the remnants of mist. About twenty feet from me sat the small white object, and I shuddered before scowling.
I reached for my Kahr that was sheathed in my weapons belt, even though my arm ached at the movement. “I’m going to shoot the piece of—”
“As much as I’d like watching you use that thing as target practice, it is a clue.” Olivia pushed my hand away from my weapon. “The second clue this pack has had after the smell thing. And you were the lucky one to find it.”
“Yeah, lucky me.” I rubbed my temples with my fingers. Thankfully my headache was starting to ease even though Beketov was pacing and shouting orders. “What happened after Angel put me out of my misery?”
“The pack, the Trackers, and I pressed in as a circle until we knew nothing could be between us and that thing.” Olivia looked over her shoulder at Beketov.
I followed her gaze and watched the pack’s alpha. “What did you find?”
“It took hours until the mist got light enough to see so that we wouldn’t disturb the scene or kill each other,” she said. “We did find a third clue. In one spot the leaves and wet dirt are disturbed.” Our eyes met again. “It’s the first time any sign has been left at the scene of a kidnapping. Other than the possible trail Angel found. And that trail isn’t even close to here.”
I frowned. “Beketov never mentioned any kind of noise emitter.”
“That’s because it’s never happened before,” Olivia said. “We think whatever it was figured out you got here before it had a chance to finish the job, so it used that thing to throw you, us, off balance.”
With a shake of my head, which didn’t hurt as much this time, I said, “Whatever it was shouldn’t have been able to sense me unless it’s clairvoyant.”
Olivia took my hand again, this time to help me stand. “Or it has equipment that can identify approaching threats.”
“Whatever is doing this to the Werewolves is human, isn’t it.” I meant it as a statement. Now that my head was clearing, it seemed the logical thing. “Certainly nothing supernatural would have something like that.”
“Unless it was stolen.” Olivia walked with me toward the object that glowed in the moonlight. We kept a healthy distance from the thing. “But I seriously doubt it.”
Beketov approached us, veins standing out on his neck and a big one pulsing on his forehead. His size and the storm of emotions on his features was almost scary. “We know now who is missing. One of the females and her pup.”
Anger matching my own flashed across Olivia’s face. “Damn,” she practically shouted.
I pressed my hand to my belly as a sick sensation churned inside. “But this is so far from the pack’s camp.”
“Kveta must have been lured.” Beketov dragged his hand down his face. “I do not know how, but there is no other explanation. Every pack member knows that at least three adults must travel in any group that leaves the security of the camp.”
My body heated with fury as I walked away from Beketov and Olivia to study the spot where the wet dirt, leaves, and pine needles had been disturbed. I ignored the Werewolves who stared at me. No doubt they weren’t used to a blue-haired amethyst-skinned woman with small fangs.
When I reached the exact location where the disturbance had been, I knelt, settled on my haunches, and braced my hands on the ground away from the spot. I brought my face close to the ground and took a deep breath. Nothing. My sense of smell—what in the Goddess’s name?
The scent of a female wolf should strong, the pup a little lighter scent. All children and adolescents have a varied smell from the adults of their species.
If Beketov’s face grew any darker he was going to implode. “Kveta is pregnant. We must recover her and Petra.”
The news made my stomach churn from more anger at the female being stolen. “How far along is she?” I tilted my chin to look up at him from where I was kneeling. “When is the pup due?”
“Pups.” Beketov scrubbed his hand over his face again. “Triplets.”
Olivia’s hand was awfully close to her Sig, like she wanted to shoot something.
I wanted to shoot something. Better yet, take my dragon-claw daggers and slice something up. Daggers were more personal.
Somehow her being pregnant made it seem even more urgent. We had to find the pregnant female and her pup, and soon.
“Did anyone scent something I didn’t?” I asked, trying to control my shaking.
“Same as last. No one can smell much of anything. And it’s worse this time.” Olivia jerked her thumb toward Ice, who was a good distance behind us, then pointed with her index finger at Angel and Joshua on the other side of the clearing. “The dream team didn’t come up with anything more.”
“I heard a scraping sound.” I stood from where I’d been kneeling and looked at Beketov. He narrowed his eyes in obvious surprise at my statement. “It was faint because of the noise emitter, but it was there,” I added.
“No other has mentioned a sound such as that.” Beketov continued to study me with intensity.
My gaze held his, and I knew my expression was equally intense. “I barely heard it, but that’s what drew me to the emitter.”
“I will inform my people.” Beketov’s bronze hair glowed in the moonlight and he looked almost like a god ready to strike down whatever was in his way. “Perhaps it will aid them in their search. We must find Kveta and her pup, the wee Petra.”
My stomach churned again at the thought of this pregnant female and her daughter having been kidnapped before I could reach them. It hit me as if an iron mask had been slammed onto my face and throat, nearly strangling me and taking my breath away at the same time.
I’d lost friends in the battles against the Demons. Losses that I still blamed myself for because I hadn’t gotten there in time.
I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
While I was trying to breathe and calm my racing pulse, I examined the clearing, for the first time getting a really good look at it. It was small, mostly surrounded by trees so thick they swallowed any moonlight close to them. A rocky wall took up one side of the clearing, about six yards from me. The rocks started out smooth at the base but grew craggy and dangerous as the wall soared into a steep part of the mountain.
“I want to examine this area first.” I returned to a crouch and looked up at Olivia. “Have you gotten everything that you can from here?”
She gave a short nod. “With the exception of the emitter. We’ll have to find a way to collect it and send it back to Manhattan to have fingerprints run on it. If there are any.”
“Good luck with that,” I grumbled. “Unless I got all it had. Somehow I doubt that.”
“I’m not planning on touching it to find out.” An evil expression crossed her face. “Why don’t we tell Ice to—”
“Don’t you dare.” I held back a grin. “We need him on this mission.”
“You always ruin my fun,” she said with a wicked light still in her eyes.
With my gaze, I started examining the ground surrounding the disturbed wet leaves and dirt. “Thanks for not trying to kill Ice.”
“Yet.” Olivia patted her holstered Sig. “I’ll probably end up killing him eventually.”
I just shook my head. “Maybe there’s a trap door to an underground cavern.”
She nodded. “My thoughts, too.”
“Let me get to work.” With my hands at my sides, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My power over the elements should tell me something.
At twenty-seven, I was extremely young among Dark Elves. Most Drow are centuries if not millennia old, like my father. Because I was so young, using elemental magic always weakened me and I had to be careful not to leave myself exposed.
Right now there were enough bei
ngs around me that I felt secure enough to allow myself to lose sense of place and time and concentrate on finding the missing Weres.
I reached out with my earth magic first. I let the element flow into me, drawing the magic and gathering it like a giant fist of power.
With slow, even breaths, I released the power in a smooth wave. I reached into the earth, plunging into it, diving down, down—
Then my magic slammed into something solid.
Pain exploded in my head.
NINE
Like a star going nova, the pain burst in my head despite the fact that my physical body was nowhere near whatever it was my elemental magic had slammed into.
The pain lessened and I explored with my earth magic. It was bedrock. A layer so thick my senses couldn’t even reach through it.
I could master earth and move rocks, boulders, and other things with earth magic, but I couldn’t do anything with unyielding stone or other things like solidified lava rock.
All I could do was spread my power throughout the earth above the bedrock. I sent feelers of magic along the top of the stone, exploring every possible fissure that might allow me to dig deeper with my power.
As far as I could tell, there was no cavern beneath the stone. I didn’t sense any hollow sensations and the bedrock seemed to go on forever. Every crack I tried to go into went deep, but I always ended up coming to an abrupt stop and couldn’t go any farther.
A scream of frustration threatened to tear from my mouth as I came back to my physical body. My knees gave out the moment I returned to myself and I sat hard on my backside. I shook my head and Olivia was frowning at me when I looked up.
“Unless whoever is doing this has figured out a way to travel beneath an incredibly thick layer of bedrock,” I said as I tried to catch my breath, “there’s nothing down there other than the rock.”
Olivia looked up at the stars in the now clear sky. “Beam me up, Scotty.”
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