A Taste of Ice (The Elementals)

by Hanna Martine

  A woman appeared from the billowing smoke, parting the plumes like an ancient goddess standing on top of a cloud. She was dramatic in every sense of the word, from her muscled naked body, to the shiny streams of black hair, to the exotic tint of her skin. The best features of at least three different races granted her a powerful type of beauty, made all the more intimidating by her piercing stare. Cat didn’t think she’d ever felt so inadequate, and this woman was caged.

  The fire elemental wiped away some of the soot with her forearm and peered out. “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m Cat. Michael took me, too.”

  “Did he now?” The fire woman crossed her arms over her full breasts. “Another one of his kidnapped minions? Come to feed me or try to keep me company or something? Get on in here and try, beautiful.”

  Cat blinked. This wasn’t going at all like she’d imagined. “No, I’m, uh, here to get you out.”

  “Nice try. I’m not fucking working for him. Or that Ofarian.”

  “Michael’s dead. Or at least, part of him is. This is his blood all over me.” Cat ran a hand over her sticky, reddened hair. “I escaped. I’m trying to help you do the same.”

  The fire woman moved closer, her movements smooth, absolutely no fear on her face. “And that bitch Ofarian?”

  “You mean Lea?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one.”

  “She’s inside, right through that door. Tied up. So is Sean. The other Ofarians are drugged in the basement. Jase just returned, but he’s on our side.”

  The fire woman pressed her palms to the wall. Her lips formed an O, and for a second the tough warrior demeanor dropped away and she was just a captured woman, overjoyed by the good guys’ victory. The hardened look rolled back. “What are you waiting for then? Get me out of here.”

  A ladder leaned against the far wall of the garage and Cat glanced over at it. “Lea said you’d burn me to ash if I let you out.”

  The fire woman smiled, blinding white teeth against her dusky skin and the smoky backdrop. “Now, why would I do that? You didn’t put me in here, did you?”

  Cat relaxed. Somewhat. She had no idea where this woman’s magic came from, how she wielded fire. Could she really burn someone to ash? “No, I didn’t.”

  The two women stood there, watching each other. An unease prickled over Cat’s skin, but she chalked it up to the fear Lea had tried to plant in her. This poor woman was as much a prisoner as she’d been, and Cat hadn’t been the one to take her. “What’s your name?”

  “Kekona,” she replied at length. A tiny smile. “The ladder?”

  “Oh. Right.” Cat walked over to it, saying, “I’ve called the leaders of the Ofarians. They’re on the way.”

  “The Ofarians.” Kekona’s voice was strangely flat, but maybe Cat was hearing things, given the banging and clanging of the aluminum on the concrete floor.

  “They’ll know how to clean this up, straighten out this mess. I’m sure they’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

  “I’m sure.”

  As Cat set the ladder against the cage with a loud clatter, she caught Kekona’s intense, doubtful expression. “Lea’s not one of them. Well, she used to be, but she’s gone rogue.”

  Kekona raised an eyebrow. “Is that what she told you?”

  Cat started to climb. “You don’t need to fear them. We…I trust them.”

  Chances were Kekona’s trust was lying in ash on the floor along with her clothing. Cat didn’t blame her, but she felt the weight of Xavier’s word and Gwen’s vows in her bones, and she wanted to get that across. She would see Kekona free and prove Lea wrong.

  As Cat awkwardly pulled up the ladder, Kekona eyed it hungrily. Cat was starting to feel her own lack of strength. She should have eaten when Sean had brought her food. She needed about three days of sleep.

  “I’m sorry,” Cat said. “I didn’t bring you any clothes. I didn’t know you were…Maybe we could find you something inside. Lea’s a lot shorter than you though.”

  Kekona looked in confusion down at her body. “Sorry if I make you uncomfortable.”

  On top of the box, Cat stuck the key into the lock and flopped open the hatch. Heat billowed out. She wrestled with the ladder, pulling it up off the floor then sticking one end into the hole and sliding it down to land right at Kekona’s feet. It made a terrible noise and slipped from her grip, but Kekona didn’t even flinch.

  Kekona put one foot on the bottom rung, her hand on the ladder, and started to pull herself up. “Why did Michael want you? You’re a Secondary, I presume?”

  “Yes,” Cat replied, thinking it might grant them some sort of solidarity. Thinking that she’d never had difficulty speaking to people, except when it came to this most unusual woman.

  “Well, what are you?”

  The ease and speed with which she climbed the ladder left Cat agape. Kekona crouched next to her, awaiting an answer.

  Cat wondered if she should say. Lea was responsible for Kekona’s capture, but Lea didn’t represent the whole race. However, Kekona was a victim here and she deserved faith.

  “I guess I’m Ofarian.”

  Kekona’s pupils and irises were nearly indistinguishable they were so dark, and Cat could have sworn she saw a tiny flame flicker across them. But then it was gone and Kekona’s direct, enigmatic gaze set on her again.

  “You guess?”

  Cat swallowed. “I only just learned I was. Days ago. I don’t even know how to use my…magic.”

  A muscle in Kekona’s jaw ticked. How could someone who’d spent God knows how long in a fireproof box look so healthy and strong and focused?

  “Where are we?” Kekona asked. “Where did they bring me?”

  “You’re in Colorado. White Clover Creek.”

  “Colorado? Shit.” Her eyes shifted back and forth in thought. “Is there a car here? Anything to get us away?”

  Cat started to pull up the cumbersome ladder, her muscles screaming that they’d had enough. Kekona leaned down and yanked up the ladder with one arm. She slid it back down over the side of the box.

  “No, sorry,” Cat said, thinking of Jase and how he’d said he was going to return Michael’s rental car. She hadn’t seen any other vehicles on site. She frowned at the garage door. How had Jase gotten back? Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t heard the telltale sounds of a car prior to his reappearance out front.

  “The Ofarians told us to sit tight,” Cat said as she started to climb back down.

  Kekona didn’t bother with the ladder. She jumped off the box and absorbed the concrete landing with her muscular legs, straightening immediately. She tossed back her long hair with a shadowy smile.

  “Come on. Let’s get you inside. Find you some clothes.” Cat had to skirt around Kekona to move toward the door into the house. Kekona didn’t move aside, just followed Cat with her eyes.

  “No, Cat the Ofarian. I’m not going inside.”

  A bolt of flame shot straight across Cat’s path. With a scream she stumbled backward. Whirled around. Kekona was sitting into one hip, a thin trail of smoke leaking out from between her lips.

  “And neither are you. You’re going to sit right here with me,” Kekona said with a terrible smile, “and wait for your people.”

  That crash Xavier had heard while inside the house had been the leftover Christmas tree, toppling from the dry fountain and knocking off one of the stone angels. There was no wind.

  Jase stood next to the splintered angel. Alone. No rental car or taxi in sight. His skin was pasty, his lips tinged blue. He was trying to hide his shivering.

  Xavier jogged down the front steps, the Colorado nighttime cold hitting his damp, bloodied shirt and making it feel like he wore a sheet of ice. “How the hell did you get back so fast?”

  Jase didn’t respond, but his eyes flicked to the snow-speckled night sky.

  “The car?” Xavier prompted, not caring if Jase was a Popsicle. “Everything go okay?”

  “Taken ca
re of.” Jase shoved his hands into his hair. Gone was the indifferent air elemental who’d so casually thrown Xavier around the basement room with little more than a thought. He was anxious now, invested in events. And, if Xavier wasn’t mistaken, on the verge of tears. “Tell me; I’m dying here. What happened inside?”

  “Lea’s ours. So is Sean.”

  Jase’s knees buckled. He caught himself, straightened. “Are you serious? You got them?”

  “Yeah. The two Ofarians are unconscious in the basement. Sean gave a half-assed attempt to kill them but it looks like they’ll live.”

  But Jase wasn’t listening. He was staring somewhere beyond Xavier, a dazed look completely transforming his face. The rigid set to his torso and shoulders shattered, and when he exhaled, it seemed like he’d been holding his breath for years. Maybe he had been. “You get Lea’s phone? That’s her lifeline, man. If she presses any one of those numbers, I’m screwed. The Ofarians, too.”

  Xavier remembered hearing a clatter as he’d chased Lea through the hall. The phone had fallen off the desk. It should still be there. “I know where it is. We’ll get it. It’ll be taken care of.”

  “Where?”

  Xavier told him and Jase dashed into the house before he even finished. Xavier followed. Jase found Lea and Sean first, prone and helpless on the couch. He stood over the Ofarian woman with fists balled. She glared up at him.

  “Strange,” Jase murmured to her, “but I feel like I should be thanking you. For all you did for her, how you saved her.” Then his voice changed, darkening. His mouth twisted. “But I’m not yours to order around anymore, so it looks like she and I both win.”

  Lea’s eyes narrowed. A million questions perched on Xavier’s tongue, but he was too entranced by the scene, too mesmerized by the massive, complicated web Lea had woven.

  Jase swiveled away, heading for the hallway. He scooped up the phone where Xavier had told him it was. As his arm fell back, Xavier knew what was about to happen.

  “Wait!” Xavier dove for Jase. “We might need that—”

  But the phone was already exploding into tiny pieces against the wall. Jase picked them up, dumped them in the sink and turned on the water, then flicked on the garbage disposal. The jangling screech and grind of metal and plastic made Lea flinch.

  “You might need it,” Jase shot over his shoulder, “but I don’t. I’m sure she’s got a fail-safe somewhere. That one’s for you. This one was for me. And the others.” Then he headed for the front door.

  “Jase.” Xavier went after him. “There’s still a lot of loose ends. We’ve called the Ofarian leaders and they’re sending a team our way for cleanup. We just need to sit tight—”

  “Fuck that.” Jase threw open the front door and the wind rushed inside. He lifted his face to the snow for a brief moment, then bounded down the front steps.

  Xavier stood in the doorway, knowing he had no say over what Jase did or did not do.

  The air elemental just stood there in the driveway, then lifted his arms and turned around to face Xavier. He was smiling. “Well, goddamn. I’m free.”

  He was, and it showed. The Jase Xavier had been introduced to was not the same man who stood before him now.

  “So long, Xavier.” Another tip of the invisible cowboy hat. Jase turned. Sprinted down the driveway.

  Where the hell did he think he was going in the middle of the night, no car, trapped high up in the mountains, dressed in nothing but—

  A great gust of wind barreled down and lifted Jase clean off his feet.

  He threw his arms out, head tossed back. Spinning, spinning like a corkscrew, he rose into the night sky. Breathless, frozen by more than just the weather, Xavier watched him fly—higher and higher, the snow eddying around his diminishing body. Jase soared over the road and disappeared into the blackness above the evergreens.

  Even though the air elemental was no longer visible, Xavier heard Jase laugh. Joyous, relieved, anticipatory laughter. The sound drifted over the mountainside, mingling with the snowflakes. And then Jase was gone.

  Xavier was standing there, staring into the sky, when a scream ripped through the night.

  Cat’s scream. From inside the garage.

  Xavier whipped around and charged toward it. He grabbed the garage door handle, found a little strength left in his shoulders and legs, and pulled with everything he had. It didn’t budge. Not a centimeter.

  “Cat!” he roared. “I’m coming!”

  He sprinted for the front door and ran back through the house. As he careened through the great room, Lea was laughing behind her gag. He burst into the garage.

  Cat cowered in the far corner. A naked woman, dark in both hair and skin, stood in front of her, flames licking up one arm. As Xavier watched, the woman drew a deep breath, opened her mouth and blew another coating of flame over her opposite arm.

  Xavier lunged for her, blinded by the need to get Cat away. The fire elemental tossed a fireball at his feet. He skidded backward, heat searing his face.

  “That’s far enough,” she said.

  “Don’t you fucking dare hurt her.”

  At least he had known Michael’s intentions. He’d wanted Cat alive. This…this thing, he knew nothing about.

  His eyes watered, his lungs burned. Through the haze, he saw Cat coughing, her eyes red and tearing.

  “I’m so sorry,” Cat said.

  He knew she was. She’d just come out here to help someone she’d thought was trapped like her.

  The lingering smoke swirled in carefully controlled spirals, racing inward toward the fire elemental. The place between her ribs collapsed into an unnatural concave shape. She sucked in her cheeks and drew in the coils of smoke between her lips. When the smoke was gone, the fire elemental smacked her lips like she’d just drank ambrosia.

  She turned a wicked grin toward Xavier. “And who would you be?”

  “Let Cat go.”

  “No.”

  “She took down Michael. She just came in here to free you.”

  “And now she’s my barter,” the fire elemental said. “My ticket out of this alive.”

  “Your life is not in danger. You’re free. You can walk away.”

  She put a hand on her hip, and Xavier was suddenly acutely aware of her nakedness. “In the middle of a snowstorm. On a mountaintop. With no car or clothes. Oh, and here’s the kicker, the Ofarians are coming.” She came forward, fire still dancing over one arm. “It’s very clear what’s going on here.”

  Maybe to her. Xavier didn’t back away. Let her come. “What do you think is going on?”

  “You must not be Ofarian,” she said. “Otherwise you’d be a little smarter, a little more egotistical.”

  Fire, apparently, had no love for water.

  “This Ofarian, however,” she nodded at Cat, “has the humble and almighty act down pat. Bravo, by the way. You’ll fit right in.”

  “Kekona, I told you,” Cat said, “I don’t know them at all.”

  Xavier had lost his patience about five seconds ago, and he growled, “What do you think is going on?”

  Kekona moved to the side, giving Xavier a straight line of sight to Cat. It was a sickening tease.

  Kekona said, “I came to the mainland to advance the next Senatus meeting, set up security. Which means the Ofarians had a pretty good idea where I was. They’re not part of the Senatus but they know when and where the meetings take place. Two Ofarians, one of them Lea, got past my guards, and snatched me in my sleep. The male Ofarian used his water magic. Caged me here. Lea told me I was a present for Michael, but now he’s conveniently gone. Next thing I know, Cat tells me Griffin Aames and Gwen Carroway are headed here? To set me free?” She laughed, shaking her head. “No way. Nuh-uh. There’s only one reason the two of them are coming. And that’s to pick up what their little kidnapper Lea gathered for them. They’ll dangle me in front of the Senatus and bribe their way into the leadership.”

  Xavier remembered Gwen mentioning something like
that. About some big misunderstanding that had led to bad relations between the Ofarians and the Senatus. Gwen had also said that she’d wanted to find the missing Secondaries with the hope it would buy them some brownie points with the Senatus. Kidnapping and bribery were hardly the Ofarian style, especially given Gwen’s bleak history. They wouldn’t anonymously steal Secondaries, “rescue” them, then try to wedge their way into power. Would they?

  “You’re wrong,” Xavier said.

  Kekona moved closer to Cat. “Then this should be a no-brainer. If they don’t want me, they shouldn’t have any problem letting me go. But I still need some reassurance. I’m going to keep Freckle Princess close to me until they get here. I’m sure they’ll want one of their own back, so we’ll make an exchange: her for my freedom.”

  There were so many things wrong with this situation, not the least of which being: what on earth had Lea been playing with, taking this creature?

  “A fair exchange,” he told Kekona, knowing that Griffin would want nothing to do with this woman.

  Hurry, Gwen.

  Flame rolled over Kekona’a eyes. Actual petals of fire. “Then I guess all we have left to do is wait.”

  Xavier saw a lawn chair and went over to it. Sat down. If he kept calm, maybe Kekona would be, too. He found Cat’s eyes and stared into them. Kekona’s nakedness faded into the distance, became white noise. All he wanted was to focus on Cat. Most of her fear had worn away and now she just looked pissed off and cold.

  This will be over soon, sweetheart. Soon.

  THIRTY

  Cat fell asleep sometime in the small hours of the morning. Xavier went back into the house and brought her a blanket, which Kekona took from him and draped over her. The chill in the garage kept him awake. There was no way in hell he was going to sleep until the Ofarians got there. And neither was Kekona.

  To get out from under Kekona’s silent scrutiny—because she refused to answer anything he asked—he made the rounds in the house. Lea had fallen asleep on the couch, and Sean had transitioned from fight-induced unconsciousness into sleep. He checked their restraints and went upstairs to Michael.