Water: The Elementals Book Three

by L. B. Gilbert

  Serin fingered the crystal glass’s rim. “And Dionysia is lucky you came along just then. Puck may have intended to shoot up the entire club. But when you didn’t drop dead right away, he knew he had to go back to the drawing board.”

  Daniel’s brow creased. “And they have to use bullets and deliver them via machine gun to get their poison in? Isn’t that overkill?”

  Loki shrugged. “Some Supes have surprisingly tough hides. Others are fast, really fast.”

  “Ugh,” Daniel grunted. “Not sure I want to know the gritty details about everything that goes bump in the night.”

  Don’t say vampires exist. Don’t say vampires exist.

  He cleared his throat, trying to refocus. “Let’s make sure we are all on the same page. This outfit we’ve been tracking is customizing weapons that can kill anything—my kind, your kind. Basically everyone.”

  “It’s a working hypothesis.”

  Fuck. This was worse than he thought. “Okay, then. What now?”

  Reaching over, she snatched the report out of his hand. “Now we part ways. Thank you for recovering the data from the phone. I want that back by the way. Where is it?”

  “Uh…I didn’t bring it.”

  Her face darkened. “Where is it?”

  “Still with our techs. I had to catalog it as evidence to get the workup done. Why do you want it?” He nodded to the report. “That’s everything that was on there.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.”

  He raised a brow. “Don’t tell me there’s a magic spell to reconstruct data from damaged SIM cards?”

  She cocked her head, drumming her fingers impatiently on the table.

  “Oh. I guess I should have brought the damn thing.”

  “Gee, ya think?” Loki’s shoulders wiggled with attitude. For a second, his face morphed into Serin’s as if he couldn’t help himself.

  “Enough, Loki,” she warned, turning back to him. “I have a friend who is very skilled with electronics, even damaged ones.”

  “Do you mean Gia? It’s Gia, isn’t it?” Loki asked, nudging her repeatedly.

  Daniel was lost. “Who’s that?”

  Loki was almost vibrating with fangirl excitement. He leaned closer. “It’s the Earth Elemental. She’s got skills with electronics cause they’re made of metal and plastic, which is made of petroleum.”

  “Huh. Interesting,” Daniel muttered, focusing on Serin. “I want to help.”

  “Good.” She reached into her pocket, took out a small card, and handed it to him. “Send the phone to that address.”

  “I meant help in person. Also, this is blank.”

  “Is it?”

  When he flicked his gaze down he started slightly. Blank only moments before, now the card had a local P.O. Box printed in neat cursive.

  “Aw, now you’re just showing off,” he said, glancing back up. Both chairs were empty.

  Damn it. He leapt to his feet, turning in a circle.

  There was no way Serin pulled another Houdini on him, not in front of an audience and not with Loki in tow.

  Despite the cold night, the smokers were still out, clutching their butts in mittened hands.

  He caught a glimpse of Loki disappearing around the corner. Daniel ran after them, nearly knocking over the waitress on his way past.

  Fuck, the bill!

  “I’ll be right back,” he called behind him.

  “Yeah right, asshole,” she screamed after him, waving her tray menacingly.

  Double fuck. He was going to have to hit an ATM so he could leave a tip big enough to make up for this.

  Daniel rounded the corner, relieved to see the pair hadn’t disappeared after all. For some reason, Serin’s hands were up, high above her head.

  “What the—” he began. A few more steps in and he saw him.

  “Ray?”

  His partner was standing a few feet away in the middle of the alley. He was holding a gun. It was pointed at Serin.

  21

  Serin shoved Loki behind her, wondering if the man holding the gun was part of the arms manufacturing ring. The barrel of the gun twitched slightly as Romero ran up behind them.

  “I knew you were acting squirrelly, Daniel,” the man said, waving the pistol in an angry arc at the papers in her hand. “I figured you were meeting her, but I never imagined you would give her classified information.”

  Daniel came to rest at her side, close enough for their arms to touch. “So you followed me? What the hell, Ray?”

  Oh… It was Agent Doyle. Belatedly, she recognized the small paunch and receding hairline. The two men faced off, staring each other down. Testosterone tainted the air. Serin kept her hands up, hoping to appear nonthreatening.

  “Would you two like to be alone to hash this out?” she asked.

  Doyle pointed the barrel at her aggressively. “Hey, you shut up! I’ve had it with this cloak-and-dagger shit. We’re taking you in.”

  Raising an eyebrow, she flicked her eyes to Romero. “We?”

  Romero shook his head. “Ray, we can’t do that.”

  “Why the hell not?” Doyle’s eyes were wild. “You’re the one who said she wasn’t government. Which means she’s the bad guy.”

  Serin winced. She could feel Ray’s frustration. Romero and Doyle had been partners for years. It was nowhere near as long as she had been serving with her sisters, but she understood where he was coming from.

  There was a solidarity and fellowship that came with jobs like theirs. Doyle was understandably freaking out because he thought the person he trusted most in the world had been compromised. And truthfully, Romero’s loyalty was divided. She had put him between a rock and a hard place.

  It wasn’t as if you didn’t warn him.

  “This all started when she showed up,” Ray shouted, the veins in his neck popping out in stark relief. “I knew you were keeping secrets, but I never thought you would do this. Are you working for her now? Are selling information to the other side?”

  The atmosphere around them darkened, the air charging with negative energy. It was resonating within Doyle’s indignation and betrayal. Loki grabbed the back of her jacket, glancing at the sky apprehensively, but the humans were too engrossed in their argument to notice.

  “Ray, you just have to trust me.” Romero was pleading now. “This isn’t what you think. This is way over our heads.”

  “If it’s not what I think, then why does that woman have the report?” the other agent said, making woman sound like a swear word.

  “Serin needed the information off that cell phone. She’s the one who found it in the first place.”

  Doyle threw up his hands. “So now we’re doing her dirty work? Why?”

  The gun swung back in her direction, shaking with Ray’s growing agitation. The man was starting to crack. She didn’t want him to lose control.

  “I’m very sorry, Agent Doyle,” she said, altering her accent. The British clip softened, knocking it down a few social classes. “But your partner is right. This is above your pay grade.”

  Slowly, gesturing that she had something to show him, she reached into her back pocket for one of the handy badges she and her sisters carried around for occasions like this.

  When she held it out to him, he squinted at it. “I’m supposed to believe you’re Interpol?”

  “This is a real badge just like this is a real investigation.”

  “The hell it is,” he said, raising the barrel of the gun again, his finger on the trigger. “There are rules about conducting investigations on American soil—paperwork needs to be filed. There would be a trail.”

  Serin’s smile was derisive. “And what makes you think you’re important enough to be read in on this?”

  Doyle stiffened, but he didn’t lower the gun.

  “C’mon, Ray,” Romero said. “The only reason I got read in was because I wouldn’t let it go. I wanted to tell you, but I was ordered not to by Serin’s superiors. They leaned on me kind of hard, but after ever
ything was explained, I understood. Sensitive information can’t be spread all over the place or people die.”

  “Is that why you came up with that crazy story? Fuck, Daniel, I’m your partner. What did they tell you to make you leave your partner in the dark?”

  Romero’s face darkened, his eyes going slitted. “They said there was a mole.”

  Serin leaned back on the balls of her feet. She had to hand it to Romero. He was one of the finest liars she’d ever seen—and she’d rubbed elbows with enough politicians to know some accomplished dissemblers.

  “What the fuck?” Doyle exploded. “Do you think it’s me?”

  “Of course I don’t think it’s you,” Romero said, his hands up. “But the powers-that-be were very clear. This was need-to-know, and you didn’t need to know. They were afraid the mole might get tipped off if word leaked. But trust me when I say Serin is trying to stop those next-gen guns from getting on the market. I’m just pitching in since she doesn’t have her Interpol resources on hand.”

  Doyle scowled. “So now it’s all about the guns. It has nothing to do with the fact you’re in love with her.” He sneered, gesturing to her with the firearm.

  Romero’s mouth tightened. He glanced at Serin to gauge her reaction, his expression…was that worry? No, it was something closer to embarrassment.

  No one said anything. Romero stood there, watching her.

  Oh. This was awkward. What was she supposed to do now?

  Loki piped up, gesturing at the mouth of the alley. “The bar is still open in case anyone needs a drink.”

  Romero rubbed his face. “I sure as hell need another one. I actually have to go back there to pay the bill I kind of ran out on.” Shrugging, his face turned sheepish. “It was an accident.”

  Ray’s stance relaxed, his face sagging. “You know, I think I could use a drink.”

  He started to put down the gun. The blast caught her unawares.

  Serin clapped a hand to her ear before realizing her midsection was stinging. Dropping her head, she stared dumbly at the blood pouring down her front. The bullet had caught her high in the stomach.

  Fire and ice exploded across her stomach. Her ears were ringing, but she could just make out Loki screaming and Romero yelling. Agent Doyle gaped, his feet fixed to the ground. He looked as shocked as she felt.

  Her hands trembled slightly as she touched her fingers to the front of her shirt. The sight of the dark red blood transfixed her.

  “Something’s wrong,” she whispered.

  Large hands grabbed her roughly. Romero was saying something, but she was having trouble making it out. “Something’s wrong,” she repeated.

  “Yes, something is fucking wrong. Ray shot you. What the fucking fuck, Ray?” Serin had never heard him sound so menacing.

  Ray Doyle was white as a sheet. “I’m so sorry. It just went off.”

  She fixed her gaze on the wound, muttering the strongest healing spell in her arsenal. “This was one of their bullets…a newer one.” She pressed her hands to her middle, fighting the lightheaded swimming sensation.

  It wasn’t her first gunshot wound. In her decades of service, she’d been shot, beaten, and stabbed. Such incidents grew less frequent as she gained experience, but they still happened occasionally. Getting injured on the job was a numbers game. It didn’t matter. She was somewhat skilled at healing herself. It was an aspect of her talent. The human body was mostly water.

  But this wound wasn’t responding.

  Romero was still holding on to her, but Serin pulled away, staggering backward and then forward, trying to walk through him.

  But the water didn’t come. She couldn’t shift into her medium. With that not working, her chance at stopping the poison was gone. It coursed through her veins, leaving fire in its wake. Every passing second made it worse. The poison was burning her up from the inside out. The pain grew exponentially with every breath.

  It should have been easy to isolate the toxin and expel it from her system. Whatever this poison was, it had instantly dispersed and bonded with her cells, making it impossible for her to get rid of without pushing out a large amount of her own blood. And maybe an organ or two…

  She gritted her teeth, trying to will the burning pain away. It felt like she was being sliced up by thousands of razor blades while trying to staunch the flow of blood with lemon-infused towels.

  “Where did you get that gun?” Romero sounded as if he were in a tunnel.

  Serin staggered, falling to her knees. She reached down, using the last bit of her strength to break through the asphalt, thrusting her hand into the barren soil underneath.

  Gia. Gia. I need you.

  “I asked you where you got the goddamn gun?” Romero yelled louder, his hands pressed to her middle just over hers.

  Agent Doyle said something. His voice was strained and desperate, but Serin could no longer make out of the words over the sound of her own fading heartbeat. She wanted to laugh. but she stifled it to conserve her strength.

  It was ironic. Serin had survived pitched battles with vampires, black witches, and out-of-control shifters, but right now, she was in the worst peril of her life because of a cop with an itchy trigger finger.

  Well, given the color of her skin and where she was in the world, that almost made sense.

  She was having trouble focusing now, but she made one last desperate plea. Atabey, Mother mine, can you hear me? I need help.

  Unlike her younger sisters Diana and Logan, Serin felt the guiding hand of their Mother, or at least she had at the beginning of her career. It was never anything as distinct as a voice in her head, not the way Gia felt their Mother. For Serin, it was subtle warmth when it should have been cold, an answer when she’d been lost.

  It’s been so long, please… But the Mother didn’t break her silence.

  Serin closed her eyes, but Romero pried them open. He was still shouting. Her vision was darkening at the corners.

  Then she got her answer.

  It wasn’t from the Mother. Her body, always a little colder than normal, stayed cold. This was local, a rumble in the earth. There was a hazy vision of a body in motion, and Doyle went down, crashing to the ground in front of her.

  Gia.

  “Yes. I’m here.”

  22

  Daniel wheezed, hitting his face and spitting out sand that wasn’t there. He spat again, touching his mouth. Nothing. He had just traveled under the earth—and there was nothing in his eyes or mouth. The ground simply ejected him spotless and baffled hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles from his last location.

  On his right, Loki was whacking his ear and head, shaking out the imaginary sand. “Stop, stop,” Daniel said, grabbing the fae’s hand before he hit himself again.

  “Where are we?” Loki asked, twisting his head left and right.

  “I have no freaking clue,” Daniel said, staring at the vision in front of him. It was a beach, but not the same one Serin had dumped him at twice now. That one was as far from this place as night was from day.

  This place was a vision that only existed in sci-fi movies or photoshopped pictures. The moon hung in the night sky like a giant pearl, illuminating a long stretch of sugar-white sand. And the water was glowing—literally.

  Daniel knew it was phosphorescent algae that made the interface of water and sand light up like a carpet of bright blue stars. but that was too simple an explanation. It was as if the hand of God had taken a piece of the night sky and carelessly tossed it here.

  “Oh my God, this is so cool!” Loki sprang up and ran a few steps, leaving a trail of sparkling footsteps in his wake as he disturbed the algae in the sand. “Where are we?”

  Daniel lifted his hand, rubbing his face. “We just had this conversation. I also don’t know who that scary-ass woman was who brought us here.”

  The vision of a small Hispanic woman tossing his two-hundred-pound partner like a sack of potatoes was burned into his brain. Dear Lord, dangerous things come in small packa
ges in the magic world.

  “Oh my God, I think that was Gia. The Gia. She’s Earth.”

  “Earth as in Earth like Serin is Water?” Daniel asked. He vaguely remembered Loki mentioning her earlier, but magic travel had a way of scrambling the brain.

  “Yes, there are four of them in total. Fire, Diana, is a ballbuster; you don’t want to meet her. Then there’s Air. Her name is Logan. She’s the youngest and she’s cool, but not as awesome as Serin. Earth is the most senior. I don’t know that much about her other than she’s really old.”

  Daniel blinked. “So this Gia person is like Serin’s boss?”

  He couldn’t picture anyone telling that woman what to do.

  “I don’t think it works like that. It’s more like a cross between being an independent contractor and a Charlie’s Angel with superpowers. Some come, some go—they decide when. They can work together, but typically act alone unless something big is going down.”

  “But this Gia person has more magic? Can she heal Serin?”

  Loki hesitated. “I thought Serin could heal herself, but she wasn’t, was she?”

  “No,” Daniel said. Still disbelieving, he murmured, “Damn it, Ray, what were you thinking?”

  Daniel got to his feet, searching for signs of civilization. The beach was surrounded by a high cliff edge that stretched as far as the eye could see. Except for the moon and algae, there were no lights to indicate the presence of people.

  “Fuck. Why do they all have to do this?” he said. “There must be a town or village or something here. They wouldn’t leave us stranded on a deserted island…would they?”

  Loki gasped like a teenager who’d just found out Taylor Swift was coming to town. He smacked him on the arm. “Shit, shit, shit! I know where we are.”

  The fae spun around, holding his arms out. “This is T’Kaieri.”

  “And?”

  Loki stopped, crestfallen. “Seriously?”

  “That name means nothing to me.” Daniel started walking, searching for a break in the cliff line.

  The fae hurried after him, catching up and trudging along beside him. “I was expecting a bigger reaction.”