Pure Elemental (Evelyn Storm Series Book 3)

by Tamara White

  Raphael has agreed to focus on gathering the remaining possessed, while Spencer will help us get back home.

  “Once we’re within range, I’ll tell Zach and Christian the plan too,” Dane says while I stare at him appalled at the plan.

  I pull Dane away from the others, and walk a few feet away. I want to be sure he’s ok with this plan.

  “Hey, you doing ok? Are you sure this is the best idea? What about the babies? Will the power hurt them?”

  “No man, I’m not ok. I knew going into this, they would try to hurt Evie, but I never thought they’d hurt Zach. I feel so helpless.

  The one plan I had is pointless because the woods are filled with Shaded waiting for us to attack. I can only hope that the Creator is telling the truth, and that this is going to be the only option that won’t get her hurt.”

  He grabs his hair groaning in frustration, kicking the tree in front of us before cursing in pain.

  “Evie and Zach are strong, but you know she’s going to hate us for this. Being bait is one thing, but funnelling power through our bond to her without telling her, she’s going to be pissed.”

  He sighs and sits on the ground with his head in his hands, “I know, I feel horrible.”

  I let him have a moment to gather himself, when suddenly he jerks up and smiles a look of pure revenge, “It’s time.”

  Dane

  Evie said she got rid of the demon possessing Christian’s wife, and Christian has knocked Max out, but now they’re surrounded by Shaded. Zach’s hurt, but he’s inside Evie’s barrier.

  We all run through the forest eager to get to Evie, and knock back any Shaded we come into contact with. Most stay down but others get up, trying to stop us from reaching the cabin.

  We blow through most of them until we get to a build-up around the forest edge. There has to be more than 50 Shaded here. I concentrate on my power and let it flow through to the guys. They gasp when they feel the strength I’m giving them. They won’t be able to use my powers yet, but the Creator did tell me I could share with them to give them an energy boost.

  “Wow! What was that?” Teddy asks me.

  “That, boys, is me sharing my power. We didn’t have time to teach you how to use my powers, but the Creator told me how to share my energy. You should all be nearly 5 times stronger. I’ve kept Evie out of it until the last moment. She’ll need all of our power to get rid of the demons.”

  Once we’re with Evie, we need to focus our energy on her so she can use all our power to remove the demons from the Elementals.

  Fighting our way through we see her. Her belly has grown dramatically in the past two days, to the point you can tell she’s pregnant.

  She still looks magnificent though.

  Our relief is short lived though because as we walk to her, we see the last thing we expected.

  Max is standing behind her holding a knife to her throat and stomach. If we don’t stop him, he’ll kill her.

  ‘Evie, I thought you said Christian knocked him out?’

  ‘He did, I swear. I saw him passed out too. I figured that was good enough until you got here. I didn’t know he was faking it.’

  I hear Mike and Teddy chuckle softly at the note of exasperation in her voice. She’s super feisty when she’s irritated.

  ‘Ok, guys, I hope you’re ready because we’re going to start funnelling our energy. Give me five minutes to get Zach and Christian up to speed. Spencer and Raphael will stall Max, while I tell them what to do. Christian, Zach, can you hear me?’

  Even though Evie hasn’t formed the bond yet, we should all be able to communicate effectively enough for what I have planned.

  ‘Dane?’ Zach sounds confused by the projecting.

  ‘Yeah, man, I can hear you,’ Christian projects back.

  ‘Zeke, how about you? Can you hear me? I have a plan.’

  There’s a moment of silence before Zeke responds, ‘Yeah, I hear you. What’s the plan?’

  ‘Here’s what we’re going to do.’ I explain as much as I can, hoping they understand the gist. We don’t have much time. Spencer and Raphael are stalling, but I doubt it will last long.

  Evie is going to hate what I’m about to do.

  Evie

  My father is holding a knife at my neck and at my babies. The last ounce of hope I had that he might be saved is gone. All my guys freeze, watching me, but they’re doing the same thing that I’ve seen them do before. Their communicating. Hopefully, they’re talking about a way to get me out of harm’s way without hurting me or the babies.

  “Why are you doing this Max? You realize you’re going to sacrifice your own daughter for Amelia. I miss her too, but you can’t do this. Amelia will hate you if you do this.”

  My grandfather’s staring at Max as if he doesn’t know him. There’s another guy with him also trying to talk to him, but I’m not listening to them anymore.

  Instead I’m hoping that one of them will tell me what’s going to happen.

  “You have no idea what I’m going through. This is the only way,” my father says tightening his grip on the knife at my throat.

  My powers can still be used, but what can I do that won’t risk him hurting us? The knife is biting into my skin and I can feel the sting of pain as the knife cuts the surface of my skin.

  “Dad, please. Just let me go,” I beg.

  I look directly at my grandfather just in time to see him throw me a wink. I relax knowing he obviously has a plan. I’m absolutely terrified, but I trust him to have something up his sleeve.

  ‘Guys, whatever you have planned, could you please hurry it up? I don’t like being held at knife point.’

  Projecting to them is the only thing I can think of to tell them to hurry their asses up.

  ‘I’m so sorry for this Evie, but it’s the only way.’

  ‘What?’

  Power starts flowing into my body, and I’m confused by what they’re doing. I try to control the flow but it’s too much. I look over at them, panicking, hoping they’ll give me some kind of hint of what I have to do, but they’re all in trances staring at nothing. I glance over at Christian and Zach. They’re in the same trance like state, which means they’re in on whatever is happening to me.

  I look around and notice all the Shaded are just standing still as if they’re stuck in some kind of freeze frame and I feel as if the power wants to help them, but I don’t know how to use it to do so.

  The power pulses inside me pushing against my control, and blasts free from me in an incredible wave of strength. My dad is thrown back, and, as I watch on in horror, his skin blisters from the force of the power.

  I try to rein the power in, to stop it, but I feel resistance inside me. They’re fighting against me stopping my power. I have no choice but to watch as my power disintegrates my father’s body into ash in front of me.

  The power stops, and I drop to my knees in pain. My father’s dead, and I killed him.

  Teddy

  When Dane explained what he wanted, I thought he was crazy. Not only was I worried the power would overload her system, but I was more worried about the babies being exposed to that much raw power.

  Still, I saw no other way to get her away from Max and the knives. We were all hesitant to, but we agreed and sent our power flowing into her.

  I saw when she realized what we were doing, and she held it in until she couldn’t contain it any longer.

  Zach and Christian had already moved Josie out of the dome of light Evie had surrounding them to stop the power from hurting her.

  It’s luck that it didn’t hurt them either. All the Shaded, however, were blown back by the blast of power and are littering the ground around us.

  She collapses to the ground sobbing and we all rush to her. Christian and Zach reach her at the same time we do, but the moment Dane and Ky reach for her she screams and scrambles away.

  My heart breaks seeing her pain stricken face staring at us accusingly. I try to go to her, but she holds her han
d up and scoots back more.

  Her terror is so real, and so heartbreaking, that it makes me regret doing what we did, but we had no choice. He would have killed her.

  She looks to each of us before getting up slowly. As she struggles to do it herself, Christian offers his hand to help her. She grabs his hand like a life line. When he goes to back away she grips it tighter keeping him next to her.

  “How could you? You used me as a weapon to kill my father!”

  She’s worked up, and looks ready to hit one of us, but we let her berate us. She needs to get her anger out of her system, and hopefully later she will have cooled down enough for us to talk to her, but right now she needs this.

  “I’ll never forget this,” she whispers softly, the sorrow in her voice clear.

  Tears prick my eyes, and I want nothing more than to hold her to make it better, but she walks straight past us, refusing to acknowledge us, and goes straight to Raphael.

  “Take me home, now please?”

  “Of course,” he takes her hand and mists them away.

  We look at each other, then Ky voices exactly what we’re thinking, “Well, that’s not good.”

  Chapter 8

  Christian

  We’ve been back for three days, and Evie, Zach, and I have been inseparable. She has refused to talk to anyone but me and Zach, going as far as locking herself in the bathroom if the others try.

  Her grandfather tried to corner her the day we got back, but she ran from him and almost hurt herself in the process. Yesterday, the same thing happened with Ky trying to get her when she just woke up. I allowed him in our room so she could talk to him, but she locked herself in the bathroom shouting at him to leave her alone. The more he tried to reason with her, the louder she got until he eventually gave up.

  Dane, Teddy, Mike, and Ky have been walking around the mansion in a slump because of her behaviour towards them. Nothing’s going to change until she talks to them, which is why we’re talking about it now.

  “Sweetie, you need to talk to them. If you ignore it, it’s only going to make things worse.”

  She’s watching me and pacing at the end of the bed, obviously frustrated. Since I’ve put her on bed rest, she has no option but to pace now. I’ve told her I don’t want her overworking herself.

  “Christian, I can’t. I have no idea how to face them,” she admits, sighing and sitting next to me.

  “Well you can’t ignore them anymore. There’s no more excuses left now that your parents are gone and the elementals are back to normal,” I point out.

  The last few days, Evie’s been using her tasks as a way to get rid of the others. She hasn’t had a problem with me, Zeke, or Zach being around, but as soon as one of the other guys comes close, she bolts.

  The first day back we spent with Evie detoxing all the elementals that were blown back from her blast of power. Most of them were already rid of their demon influence, but it was up to her to check they were clear.

  Yesterday, however, was an especially hard day with her watching her parents being taken away. I know they’re not her biological parents, but they raised her and after killing her father, she found it hard to watch.

  It would have been better if her other bonded were there for her, but she still let me and Zach comfort her while they were being taken away.

  From the window, we watched as four guards escorted them away into the back of a van with handcuffs securing them. The whole time tears ran down her face, but she didn’t say one word about it. After they were gone, she curled up in the bed and slept for four hours straight.

  “I know. I’ve been trying to push them away, but it’s not fair to them for me to treat them that way. We need to talk. I’m just scared. Thank you for talking to them before I do,” she leans her head against my shoulder.

  I love how close we’ve gotten but hate it at the same time. It feels like she’s using me to replace her current bonds, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

  “I don’t mind.”

  I’m hoping if I can explain what’s going on with her, they might be a bit more understanding and give her a little more time to adjust. It also gives them some time to absorb the full impact of what we’ve done.

  “Alright baby, if we want to get this over with, I need to go and get your food,” I tell her, using my commanding tone.

  She’s been feeling nauseous again, but she needs to eat. She can’t keep avoiding food or she’ll start to waste away.

  “Ok, go. My grandfather will be here in a second anyway.”

  “Good, maybe he can talk some sense into you,” I grin to let her know I’m trying to lighten the mood, then leave her to wait for Raphael.

  We’re taking her to her school tomorrow, so she can take her last exams, since going back to school will be too difficult on her. She’s been adamant that she needs to do it now, so Zach and I let her talk to the principal, but we made sure to have Raphael aware of what she wanted to do so he could set up any extra security. She insists having me, Zach, and Zeke are enough, but no way am I only taking so few of us. Especially since Zeke and I are too old to actually attend high school.

  I spend 20 minutes in the kitchen getting the right mix of foods ready for her, and I bring it up once she has finished talking to her grandfather.

  Hopefully, he’ll convince her that leaving so soon is a bad idea, but as much as I hate to admit it, if we leave it any longer she won’t be able to hide her pregnancy.

  She looks 5 months pregnant already, and it’s going to be hard enough to explain that to her principal let alone other students. I’ve told her if she wants to do this, I’m ok with it, but she needs to talk to the others first.

  “Evie? You ok?” I call out setting the food down on the side table waiting for her to leave the bathroom.

  “Yeah, I’ll be right out,” she says, followed by the sound of the toilet flushing.

  “I got you a variety of things to try so we can see what’s affecting you. We have some fruits and nuts, along with a small amount of cheese, and some dry crackers. If none of this helps, I’ll try some other stuff,” I fluff up the bed for her as she comes out from the bathroom and waddles back to the bed.

  She climbs in, and I position her pillows behind her so she can sit up and eat with no problem, “Thank you. If it weren’t for you and Zach, I don’t know if I wouldn’t have gotten through these last few days.”

  I feel so bad for her. The boys explained to me what the plan was and, but none of them knew Max would die, apart from Dane, Spencer and Raphael. She hasn’t stopped to listen to any of them explain their actions, so she isn’t aware that the others had no idea what would happen.

  From what they explained to me, the Creator told Dane that it wouldn’t harm anyone protected against it, so Raphael had shielded Spencer and Josie from it, hoping it would get rid of Max and remove the possession on the remaining Shaded.

  Well it worked a little too well. A few of the stronger elementals remembered what had happened, but the others have no memory of most of their lives from the time they were possessed until they woke up, which is a good thing. Their memories may come back in pieces, so hopefully in a few days one of them will know enough to help us determine the demons’ plans.

  “Ok, you go do your thing, and send the guys up when you’re finished,” she says shooing me out the door with a quick kiss.

  I laugh and leave her behind to eat in peace. I need to get this over with sooner rather than later. All of the stress and emotions going through Evie are too distracting. She won’t be able to focus on her tests if she’s this frazzled.

  I head down stairs to the kitchen, where Zach and I agreed to meet the others. Zeke will be there too because I figured it’s better to talk them all at once even though it’s different with Zeke. She barely knows him and isn’t sure what to do about the new bond. She’s trying her best to get to know him and she hasn’t pushed him away, but if he wants to get to know her better he needs to stop being so shy.


  Even with how close we have become the past few days, I’ve been trying to slow things down. I know she’s hurting and overwhelmed by all that’s happening. Part of me is afraid she’s just treating me as a rebound. I feel some of her emotions leaking from the bond. Thankfully, none of them relate to me. She’s always thinking about them, but she never talks about them. She just goes off into her own world and then the emotions come.

  She’s feeling hurt and betrayed while dealing with the grief of killing her own father. If we were to do anything now it would feel less real. I don’t want her to have any remorse over what happens between us.

  Lost in my thoughts, I run straight into Raphael, and would have toppled down the stairs if he hadn’t caught me at the last minute.

  “Thanks, man.”

  “It’s ok. You looked so lost in your mind that I don’t think you would’ve realized you fell down the stairs,” he says with a laugh.

  “Yeah, just thinking too hard, I guess. You going to see Evie?”

  “Sure am. She’s finally ready to talk to me, and I have to admit I’m terrified. I remember what my wife was like when she was pregnant with Amelia. Those hormones are crazy. Got to say, we’re lucky our pregnancies are so quick. Can you imagine dealing with an emotional woman for 10 months out of the year? It would be terrifying,” he confesses with a shudder.

  All I can do is grin seeing his fear of Evie. Sure, she’s slightly hormonal but she’s not that bad, yet.

  “Well as long as you don’t piss her off, you’ll be ok,” I walk away, trying not to laugh.

  Walking into the kitchen, I see everyone’s already gathered around the bench. Zach and Zeke seems to be on one side, while Mike, Teddy, Ky, and Dane are on the other. I would have thought it was just random position if it weren’t for some of the looks that were being thrown around.

  “So you know why we asked you all here to talk?” I ask, breaking the tension in the room.

  “Yeah, Evie wants you to talk to us before she’ll talk to any of us,” Ky’s answer is sullen.

  Zach and I both sigh in annoyance, irritated that that’s all he thinks it is. It’s so much more than that.