Elemental: The First

by Alexandra May

  Elemental: The First

  By Alexandra May

  © Alexandra May 2011

  Published by Pauma Publishing at Smashwords

  An Urban Science Fiction Fantasy

  Alexandra May asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The physical setting of the book is Warminster in Wiltshire, England, and certain events portrayed in the novel actually happen in real life. However the names, characters and institutions in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this e-book/publication may be reproduced, extracted, photocopied, recorded or otherwise circulated without the prior permission of the author.

  Alexandra May can be contacted at www.alexandramay.co.uk

  or by email at

  info@alexandramay.co.uk

  And before the race is built anew,

  a silver serpent comes to view

  and spew out men of like unknown,

  to mingle with the earth now grown

  cold from its heat and these men,

  can enlighten the minds of future man

  to intermingle and show them how,

  to live and love and thus endow.

  the children with the second sight.

  A natural thing so that they might

  grow graceful, humble and when they do,

  the golden age will start anew.

  Mother Mary Shipton – Prophecies

  Praise for Elemental: The First

  This book has left me completely and utterly astonished! It will draw you in with its suspense and romance, and once you finish, it will leave you begging for book two.

  - Haley @ YA-AHOLIC Book Blog

  For me, this is YA at its finest. There was drama, intrigue, and mystery, romance without smut, betrayal, and friendships. I would highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone

  - Ellen - Goodreads Member

  Everything about this book was unpredictable. I was amazed at how the writing immediately drew me in.

  - Uputdownablebooks Book Blog

  I could not put this book down. I literally gasped out in shock at points. I'm so excited for the next book in the Primord series. I have a feeling it will get better and better and who doesn’t love that!

  - Graceful Reads Book Blog

  This is a tale full of mystery and intrigue, by the end I was wondering just who Rose could trust.

  - Book Monster Reviews

  Elemental: The First is not one to be missed out on. Awesome characters, thrilling plot and very intense relationships….what’s not to like.

  - Book Passion for Life Book Blog

  What a twist of a book. I was honestly expecting one thing and got something completely different, something amazing, and so original.

  - Airicka Phoenix Blog

  The story line is awesome; I loved the mystery aspect of it. I was so disappointed when I finished, I didn’t want the book to end!

  - Alexis Chronicles Book Blog

  This book was amazing! The author really grabbed your attention right away. I was really intrigued by the story and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

  - Rather Barefoot than Bookless Book Blog

  - Prologue -

  Present day

  The cavernous room was windowless. The lights, higher up the tall walls were ineffectual as the seven seated men stared into the gloomy shadows. They were sat at a rectangular wooden table, a lone candelabrum their only source of authentic light. Only one chair remained empty. The cloaked and hooded men waited, no one spoke. The only sounds were the occasional breath, omitting a warm mist against the dank cold room, or the creak of a wooden chair, so long unused. The men were in a dungeon, and they were all impatient.

  The reluctant hinges on the upstairs heavy iron door squealed, the thunderous boot steps audible on the open stone stairs. The large hooded man walked assertively down the short flight into the dark room and took his place in the empty position.

  “Gentlemen,” his voice echoed loudly in the empty hollow. “We must act fast and act quickly. Now is the time. Our reckoning. We must decide our fate now before it is too late. I have just heard, through my source, that the last of my kind is on the way, a young girl. As you know she will look older than her young years, and has not integrated into her new form yet. Much about this girl is unknown; she has been protected well by her keepers.”

  The man looked into the black hoods of his silent conspirators and continued relentlessly.

  “But this is a new age, the 21st century, a new dawn of time. Do we continue along our path, reaping the rewards that fall our way, or do we disappear quietly like petals in a wind with our quest unfinished?”

  He looked into each face, waiting for some sign, a reaction, an eyebrow raise or a nod. He received nothing in return. The hidden faces were still and silent. He persisted anxiously.

  “I am not afraid of her. She will be young, inexperienced, and vulnerable. She will be no threat to us. Gentlemen, you have been my advisors, my counsel, but most importantly, my friends. You know that our unity has brought us thus far. We have been together since my own integration, and I value your loyalty. But, please, you must think hard. We are in touching distance of our destiny, it is almost the end.

  It is in our grasp. The final conflict and once we kill the last Elemental before her integration we end the blood line once and for all. Halíka Dacomé has been our greatest enemy during these millennia. For all her goodness and peacekeeping, she is now at her most vulnerable and most defenceless in her form as the human child, this girl. Our two are the last remaining bloodlines of the four. Once she is gone, it will be ended and there will be nothing standing in our way to our ultimate goal. The last bloodline will endure and soon everything we have fought for will be ours. This is our final chance to rid the world of its pestilence, the virus that lives and breathes. But we must strike soon. If we allow her integration, our whole purpose, our whole quest will falter and I cannot allow that to happen. It must not. This is the time, gentlemen, and I need your decision now.”

  He crashed his clenched fist to the table, its echo thundering off the dense walls. He was feeling euphoric, his blood running hot as he finished. Despite the cool chill in the air he felt sweat beads on his brow and he passed a casual hand to wipe it.

  “Benedict,” said an older calm voice, beside the speaker. “I have lived long enough to know that, now, in these present times, we cannot continue. There is no point going on. I am an old man. I would rather live the rest of my life in peace, than know Halíka Dacomé may be coming for me. I have no reason to wish this young girl harm. She is the same age as my granddaughter and I could never forgive myself. Let it be.”

  There was a whispered agreement from several of the other men.

  Benedict looked to his left at the man. “I hear what you’re saying, Dunbar, but need I remind you of the peril that Halíka Dacomé once put your family in? She may be a young girl now but in a few weeks and months she will be powerful. She is not ordinary in any way, and you have grown soft if you think of her that way. She killed your first wife and your first child. Will their deaths be in vain?”

  Dunbar sat quietly for a moment, deep in thought.

  “What’s past is past, and maybe what happened was justified. She fought us and we fought back, and ultimately my family paid the price. Many of our families did, but no worse than we did to the other Elementals. It was the actions of our ancestors that sent the Elementals into hiding. We were lucky to find the first two, to find them and to end them, but it took 740 years of pain and suffering.”


  Dunbar wheezed a shallow breath and coughed lightly, looking down.

  Jacob stood; his chair scraped the floor as it slid back.

  “Benedict, no one here dare say this but I shall. Halíka Dacomé has always been within our grasp, but you didn’t act in time, and instead chose your own path, against our wishes, I might add. When you stripped Daisy Frost’s force of power, you acted selfishly, and put us all in danger. You coveted her, and she bargained with you. Was the life of your grandson worth it?” Jacob said with acid tone.

  “How can you ask me that?” Benedict scoffed. “My grandson is my legacy. I don’t doubt that you all thought it foolhardy, but my agenda was not to end his life.”

  “But that’s the bargain you made. She begged you. You would have killed her and then finished him. That would have left you all alone. You could have had your dream there and then. No more Elementals. No more destiny. The Four Primordial powers would all have been yours. But you couldn’t do it, you failed, and now there is this young girl, who will become Halíka Dacomé, and will soon be let loose upon us all. Do you really believe that after all these years, once their memories integrate, she won’t be after a little redemption? A little payback? She’s been neutered, kept captive. When she returns she will be more dangerous than ever, and the fact that she’ll be in a young body will only make things worse. She’ll be faster, stronger and her taste for our blood will be….”

  “That’s why it has to be now,” Benedict shouted. “Don’t you understand? We have to act now and soon.”

  “No,” another man stood. “Let it go. Let it be. I have a nice life away from all of this. I will not see more slaughter. It’s over.”

  “Andrew Orelian, I never took you for a coward,” Benedict gasped. “You might live a cosy existence in South America now but you are the youngest of us all. You alone should understand why this has to be done.”

  “Why?” Andrew answered. “Because I had nothing before all of this? Because you helped me when I left the orphanage, clothed me and gave me a purpose when I had little else? No, above all things, this life has made me realise that our war should end and this young girl deserves a chance at life, even more than us. I will not agree to this. And neither will your grandson.”

  “My grandson is well aware of the ultimate price. He knows what he must do. I have taught him well enough and he will do as I say.”

  “No, Benedict, he won’t,” Andrew continued. “He won’t because he’s been brought up in a different life than we had. We had to fight and claw and grasp for everything that we have now. He isn’t like us, and you need to know that.”

  “My grandson will do as I dictate. He will be like us, and so will his Seven. I have ensured it,” Benedict said confidently.

  “You mean you’ve brainwashed him?” Andrew retorted.

  “No, I’ve educated him,” Benedict smiled wryly.

  “Well, I don’t want any part of it. Not now, not in the future.” Andrew sat again, a chill crept down his spine at the notion but he refused to take his gaze from Benedict’s angered face.

  “Nor me,” another voice said.

  “Nor me,” Dunbar concurred. “You thought you had won, and in time you might have eliminated the bloodlines leaving yours alone. Until the birth of this girl. When she was born everything changed. Don’t you see? They got clever and they evaded us at every stage, and are still evading us. I say this with the best intentions, Benedict, for your own good. You cannot continue down this path.”

  From the table end, Simon scratched his chin and said nervously. “Do you realise how much danger we’re all in if this ever gets out? These are new times, not the old days. Do you know, gentlemen, that there are references to us even on the Internet? The police only have to find one piece of our DNA and any one of us could be implicated in any number of the bad things we’ve done. With today’s scientific analysis we cannot be as thorough as the past. I, for one, would like to sleep at night knowing I’m going to wake up in the morning, and not be murdered where I lay by Halíka Dacomé. She is not a killer, she will only attack if she is provoked and you must not forget that she has allies too, they will be powerful enough. We cannot continue. It is too dangerous.”

  “Simon Perayan, her allies are mostly children! And a few rag tag adults who have been privy to our secret. They can’t beat us.”

  “With all due respect, Benedict, we don’t know exactly who her allies are. None of us do. Daisy Frost is known in many circles, in higher echelons that we have little knowledge of.”

  Benedict looked dismayed. “So, am I to understand that you all feel this way?”

  The room echoed with one word, its source masked as the black hooded men spoke at once.

  “Yes.”

  Benedict stood up from his chair and overshadowed the table. His hood slipped back revealing his short grey hair which shone from the faint light above. His expression was pensive, his jaw line taut as he clenched his teeth, and his eyes became ever angrier, darting from one face to another.

  He stood tall as the other men appeared to shrink slightly where they sat.

  “Then our union is over and our House will fall. We have fought our battles and now we are running. How shameful. For thousands of years my ancestors have battled against the rest of the Elementals, defeating them over and over again, as was our right. Finally we have a chance at grasping our prize.” Benedict’s voice now boomed over the heads of the men.

  They all stood up in unison, chairs scraping, fear and trepidation filling the air. The man called Dunbar spoke. “We have no wish to fight any longer. These are not times as before. Our time is now futile, but precious. Let us grow old in peace. The world has moved on, whereas ‘we’ have not. The Elementals, now and future ones should be left alone to comply with their own duties. God knows they are needed. You should pass your power onto your heir and leave it in the hands of his fate.”

  “I agree, Benedict,” said Bartholomew. “This is over. We will carry on as if nothing has happened and our alliance never existed. I agree with Dunbar that it is time for your grandson to take control. We are all too old to continue, as are you, Benedict. You don’t have the stealth or agility that you did sixty years ago. How would you beat Halíka Dacomé in her new form?”

  “I will find a way, there is always a way,” Benedict’s eyes were bursting with fury, his euphoric demeanour changed to anger and ferocity.

  “What will you do?” Bartholomew asked.

  Benedict was quiet for a moment. In truth he had not been surprised by this outcome; he had seen it coming for months.

  “I shall continue the fight. I will not give in so easily. I will find the girl, and kill her. As you have said, my friends, these are new times, and science has advanced in leaps and bounds. Now I will find a way to make sure Halíka Dacomé stays dead this time. The age of the Primord Elementals is over.”

  He strode past them, his bearing upright and poised. His confident steps not waning as he walked up the stairs and out of the room.

  Present Day - West Wiltshire, England

  It was the beginning of August. Rose opened the car window wider, leaning out with her eyes closed, feeling the rushing breeze on her face. The raging sun was like a furnace in the sky with burning rays filtering down. She breathed in a full deep breath, alleviating the anxiety that had built up, finally feeling the freedom that their exodus was nearly over.

  She leaned back in the passenger seat, sipping from a bottle of water. The air in the car had been intolerable, hot and clammy for most of the five hour long drive.

  Rose ran her right index finger lightly under the curve of her bracelet, wiping away the moisture where the metal had rubbed against her skin. On the inside of her wrist, the two prongs stung as the blood pumped harder around her body in the heat. She didn’t complain.

  “Are they still following us?” Rose said quietly to her mother, who peered intensely into the rear view mirror and shook her head.

  “No, I think we
’re safe now,” her mother said softly, but her lips were rigid, pursed closed, her jaw clenched. She accelerated a little more and the car surged forward further along the empty road, the distance to their end lessening as the minutes passed.

  Rose’s mother, Dahlia, was a woman of few words but Rose could feel her mother’s apprehension. Once they reached their destination it would not be over. This torrid journey was only the beginning.

  Every element of Rose’s body ached from being immobile too long. Her long lean legs needed stretching, already aching from idleness. Her throat was parched from breathing the dry searing air, no matter how much she drank. Her stomach growled again in hunger.

  Pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear Rose looked back out the window. Her long copper locks were frequently tied back away from her bright emerald-green eyes. Her wispy hair had a tendency to do its own thing, chiefly falling in her face, so she always had it kept back with a metal hair band. It was less annoying this way. Her heart shaped face was faintly impish; her cheeks flushed slightly with the heat, pale pink hinting through cream soft skin. Her lips were redder now; she had to keep licking them to prevent dryness in the warmth and it was making them sore.

  Rose was pretty to look at, but through her own eyes Amy, her sister was the one who stood out from the crowd. Amy always received more attention, stray looks and compliments from boys at their previous schools as her Mediterranean look of thick, brown, wavy hair, warm brown eyes and olive skin made other girls pale by comparison. In Rose’s eyes Amy was the prettiest, and she envied her but would never admit it. Now Amy was gone, and Rose felt her heart pang at the thought of being separated permanently from her sister for the first time. There had only been one other occasion, when Amy, at fourteen years old, had spent a week in France on a school holiday.