Elements of Desire

by C. M. Stunich

  From what little I knew about the duck-billed creatures, they primarily lived in Tasmania, but it wasn't totally unheard of to see them on the east coast of Australia. So who knew? Maybe George's earth affinity might be able to root one out?

  For what seemed like a really long time, we wandered upstream alongside the creek, pausing to investigate every time someone spotted a burrow or tunnel dug into the creek banks. It sounded dumb, but it was actually kind of fun. We were like little kids, getting excited whenever we thought we'd found one for sure this time, but having it turn out to be just an empty hole. By the time we reached the pool at the base of the waterfall, all five of us were covered in mud and laughing like school kids.

  "We should have worn swimmers," I groaned looking at the crystal clear water and feeling sweat drip down my spine.

  "Why?" George asked, genuinely confused as he stripped naked and dove straight under the pounding water. Typical George, he was almost as much of a hippy as my mum. Except instead of smoking a shit ton of pot, he just liked to be naked.

  "Well, no sense in lettin' him have all the fun," Shane drawled, giving me a wink and then throwing his own clothes on the bank of the pool before joining George.

  "Guys, this is a really popular waterfall, you know?" I told them, trying not to laugh as they whooped and splashed one another. "There could be a bus load of Chinese tourists turning up any second now, and they'll be getting treated to quite an eyeful."

  "It's just an education for them, Smokey," Warden chuckled, slipping his Hawaiian print shirt from his well-toned shoulders and reaching for his waistband. "Besides, once they catch a look at Shane's inked-up plunger, they'll take off out of here as quick as an armadillo on a seesaw."

  "What—" My useless question of what the hell are you talking about was cut off by the sound of feet crunching over dead leaves. "Reg? Hey, you made it!"

  He shook his head at me, his eyes a bit wide, even as he flicked his glance at the water and licked his lips. It didn't make sense … He looked nervous.

  "Reg, what's up?" Billy frowned, taking a step up the path a bit, closer to Reg. That's when I saw what had him so worried. Or who. Whom? Who or whom? Fuck me. I was an unemployed newlywed, not a grammarian.

  "You," I snarled, as one of my bio moms stepped out from behind my water elemental husband. Instantly, I reached for my magic but she just smirked.

  "I wouldn't, if I were you … Arizona." The woman grinned like a damn maniac, and I wondered if that was where I got my crazy streak from. It sure as shit wasn't where I got my looks. This mom was brunette, and tanned. Almost a spitting image of Gemma, come to think of it.

  Shit. If there was any doubt about her being my sister before, this kind of cleared it up.

  In Bio Mom’s hand, a sleek black revolver was pressed to my husband's back. My blood ran cold when I saw it, and the murderous look in Bio Mom's eye. My guys had proven, time and time again that elementals could not heal themselves. Hell, we weren't werewolves!

  A shot from that gun at such close range would surely kill Reg.

  "What the fuck are you doing here, egg donor?" I demanded of the woman, as I felt my wet and naked husbands climbing from the water and flanking me.

  "I came with a message," she sneered. "Your foolish husbands were stupid enough to bring me to you to deliver that message."

  "Where's Dustin?" Warden snapped, and I realized that my Irish hubby was nowhere to be seen.

  "In the trunk of the car," Reg growled out, then winced when Bio Mom jabbed him with the barrel of her gun. Probably intended less to hurt, and more to remind him that his life was in her hands. Power-tripping bitch.

  "Shut up, you," she snarled, then turned back to me with a crocodile smile. "I came with a message for you and your sister, from CUM. We’re holding some friends of yours hostage. If you don't both present yourselves to CUM within thirty days, free and clear with no hostility, then your loved ones will be decapitated." She laughed then, and it was a true bad guy laugh. "After we drain them of whatever power they possess, naturally. Daniel will become the most powerful leader this world has ever seen, and you and your sister will help him get there. In blood."

  "I don't understand." I frowned, although that much was surely obvious by my stupid expression. "You're smothered in CUM now? When did they become sellouts to you? And what loved ones do you have hostage? My lovers are all here with me, and Grams is dead. The only person left is Britt, and she has the protection of an alpha and his pack …"

  As I spoke, Bio Mom's grin grew wider and I wondered if I might vomit.

  "Britt?" I whispered in horror. "You took Britt?"

  "The stinky dog chick? Yeah, we did. And you can save me the trouble of tracking down that ungrateful piece of shit twin of yours, and pass the message along, okay sweetheart?" The brunette Bio Mom smiled at me like I was a dog shaking hands or some shit, but I was willing to play along to see how it might all pan out.

  "What message do you have for her?" I asked cautiously, "Who is her loved one that you're going to behead?"

  The idea of Gemma loving anyone other than herself was laughable. Except maybe Joan. Ooooh, maybe if they had Joan, I could just not pass the message on and CUM could take care of my evil MIL for me?

  Too far?

  "Well, that one should be obvious to her, but just in case she's as dumb as you are, tell her we have the only woman she's ever truly loved. After all, she was already an agent of CUM in the first place so it was no great task to manipulate and then capture that red-haired succubus whore."

  "Do not slut-shame!" I snapped, without really processing what she'd said.

  Wait a second. Red-haired succubus? Surely not …

  "What's her name?" I asked casually. "Just so I’m passing on the full message to Gemma when I see her next."

  Bio Mom rolled her eyes dramatically, in a gesture I used far too often myself. "Oh God, I can't remember. It's something odd. Sinead or Shawna or something."

  "Siobhan?" I whispered in dread, and Bio Mom snapped her fingers.

  "That's it! Siobhan. Gemma's one true love." She scoffed. "Who ever thought of a spirit elemental being bisexual, I'd never know. Revolting behavior. Succubus add nothing to a sept. No magic, no energy. She could only ever be a dalliance, but no, Gemma was in love." She huffed a noise that spoke volumes for how disgusted she was.

  "So … hold up," Warden spoke, and I gripped his hand to try and warn him not to piss this unstable bitch off, "You have an issue with your daughter being bisexual? Or being with a succubus?"

  "The succubus! Clearly. If she could’ve found a powerful female elemental for her sept then we would have supported her one hundred percent. What parent doesn't want to see her daughter gain power and prestige? But no. She wanted a dirty sex demon." Bio Mom was getting worked up now, and she knew it. Tightening her lips, she took several long breaths through her nose to calm herself, then turned her crazy eyes on me once more.

  "So why have you come all the way to Australia to tell us this?" Shane asked, standing beside me in the stark nude and not at all ashamed of his tatted up dick out on display for my Bio Mom to see. Gross. The Bio Mom, I mean, not Shane’s dick, obvs. "Why not try to take Ari and Gemma yourselves? If Daniel is so strong?"

  Bio Mom shifted awkwardly. "Daniel couldn't get a visa approved. Apparently citing magical overlord of all supernatural beings as his profession was considered worthy of denying his application." She huffed again, like that was the stupid part? Not her revolting husband actually calling himself a magical overlord? "Well. Regardless, now we have the support of the mighty strong CUM on our backs, and this is the way they'd like to do it."

  "Is that everything?" I asked coolly. "Gemma and I have to present ourselves in thirty days or you'll behead our friends?"

  Bio Mom cocked her head to the side while she thought. "Yes, that about covers it."

  "You can go now, in that case," I sneered, "but watch out for platypus on your way out. You know those things are poisonous?
"

  "Don't try and follow me," she warned, "or I will shoot someone."

  She began backing away from Reg slowly, still holding her gun trained on him, then as she got further away, swinging it to aim at me. Silly bitch wasn't wearing appropriate footwear for a damp bush track, and as we watched, her shoe heel snagged on a tree root.

  Ass over tit, she fell, rolling right down the slight incline next to the stream. She still had her gun though, and I was inclined to just make a run for it.

  "Let's get the fuck out of here," I snarled, grabbing the hands of the husbands on either side of me—which just happened to be Shane and George—and making a run for it. I came skidding to a stop when Bio Mom let out a violent scream of pain, glancing down to find her … basically sitting on top of a platypus.

  Huh.

  So we really had gotten to see one after all.

  "Oh fuck," George murmured, eyes widening as he watched the egg donor stumble to her feet, yanking the platypus off of her arm. It's back legs had little spurs on them that seemed to have gotten stuck in her skin. As she held the wiggling little creature, it kicked at her a few more times, stabbing her again and again.

  Weirdly enough, I'd caught an episode of 72 Dangerous Animals: Australia on the last leg of the plane ride over here, and I knew that during mating season, male platypus became ridiculously aggressive and stab anyone or anything with their … not penises, God! Get your mind out of the gutter! No, they'd stab them with the venomous barbs on their back feet.

  Bio Mom chucked the creature against a tree, snarling and flicking her angry gaze up to mine … just before she started shaking, dropped her gun, and collapsed.

  "Elementals are allergic to the unique proteins found in platypi venom," George said, and I swung my gaze over to stare at him.

  "How could you possibly know that?!" I shrieked, and he grimaced.

  "In the forties, during the first elemental/dragon turf war," Reg started and I snickered.

  "You said dragons," I told him as he rolled his blue eyes. "I knew it; you think we look like dragons, don't you?"

  "I mean the first elemental versus dragon turf war," Reg corrected and I blinked stupidly at him. "They tried all sorts of random venom laced weapons and poisons on us, and by freak chance, they found that elementals can be killed with just a bit of venom from a platypus. A single sting. It won't kill a human, but it can sure as shit kill us."

  "Crap!' I said, looking down at the mom, paralyzed in the mud with her wide open eyes staring at the sky. "What do we do with her?" I was torn between leaving her there to die … and rescuing her so I could, you know, hold her hostage in exchange for my friends. Well, friend and … ex-friend? But I couldn't leave Siobhan to die, no fucking way. "Fuck, let's grab her," I growled, sliding down the incline with Billy and Warden. They hauled Bio Mom up together, and Billy tossed her over his shoulder as I picked up the gun.

  "Aren't guns, like, illegal here?" Reg whispered and I rolled my eyes as I shoved the weapon into his hands.

  "Put it in your waistband and cover it with your shirt before we scare the crap out of some tourists." I noticed that Shane and George had taken the extra minute to put their clothes back on. Well, at least there was that. If we ran into anyone on the way back to Mum's place, I wouldn't have to explain my husband's inked junk, a pistol, and a woman passed out from platypus venom all in one sentence.

  We took off, letting Billy set the pace which … kind of sucked because he was a lot more athletic than I was and even though he was carrying a whole other fucking person on his shoulder, I could barely keep up, huffing and puffing and sweating like … what would Shane say? A whore in church? Yep, that.

  Reg took us straight to Bio Mom’s parked car and fished the keys from the her pocket before unlocking it and revealing the metal elemental bound with vines. That must mean we either had the earth elemental mom with us … or at least a few of the others weren’t far behind. George quickly unfurled the magic greenery and Dustin burst out of the trunk cursing in such a thick accent I was having trouble understanding exactly what he was saying.

  "Bloody fecking bitch," he snarled. "The hell is wrong with her? And why in the name of Mother Mary are you cartin' her around like that?"

  "Platypus," I explained and Dustin's red brows rose all the way up his forehead.

  "Let the fucker rot," he said, but I had to at least try to save her. If not because she was worth saving but because she was a great hostage.

  "There is a way to save her, right?" I asked as I grabbed Dustin's hand and yanked him along with us. He looked at me like I was a crazy person, and nobody else bothered to speak. That was a bad sign, wasn't it?

  Running the rest of the way … was not good for my fat ass, but at least I managed to make it without collapsing.

  "We …" I wheezed and then paused as we burst into Mum's living room and … found a bunch of half-naked hippies, swirling incense, and having a discussion about the rules of swinging.

  "Sorry, hun," Kate whispered, sneaking over to me and grimacing. "I forgot we were having the meeting here this week." She paused to look at the comatose woman on Billy's shoulder. "Who is that, and what's going on? Also, you look awful. Have you considered getting an elliptical and trying to work out? Looks like you could use some extra exercise."

  With a growl, I shoved past my mother and led the guys into the guest room, laying out the Bio Mom of … uh … earth magic? ... on the guest room futon. She wasn't water or energy, that much I was sure of, but fuck if I could remember which one she actually was.

  "Now what?" I asked, feeling frantic as her pulse stuttered and then slowed. I wanted to save her because she'd make a really good hostage and … also, maybe for other reasons? Maybe I wasn't ready to let her go yet? Shit, what was wrong with me?

  "I gotta be honest with you, Honey Babe," Shane drawled, looked concerned as fuck. "I have no idea. George, do you know if there’s any cure for them duck-otter creatures?"

  "Duck-otter creatures?" George repeated, giving Shane an incredulous look. "Platypus, Shane. It's not hard to remember." Under his breath he muttered something about country bumpkin which almost made me smile.

  "So is there?" Warden prompted and George shrugged.

  "No." Our earth elemental shook his head. "Not that I know of. Really the only thing we can do is just … keep her comfortable or speed things up."

  "Speed things up?" I repeated in a strangled voice. "You mean …”

  George didn't say anything, but he grimaced and mimed picking up a pillow to smother my bio mom with. Charming.

  "We can't kill her," I exclaimed, not altogether sure why I was so horrified by the idea. Maybe genetics were a contributing factor to my reluctance? Maybe I wasn't such a hard ass after all. I didn’t know. What I did know, was we couldn't just smother her with a pillow.

  "Honey?" My mum tapped lightly on the door then barged in with a cloud of incense and pot. "What happened to her?"

  I took a moment to consider just how stoned she was, and decided she was far enough gone that we could chalk any weirdness up to THC side effects. "She got stung by a platypus," I explained, wearily.

  "Oh dear," my mum hummed. "That's not usually fatal for people but she's in a bad way."

  She stared at Bio Mom's convulsing form for a really long moment with a dazed smile on her face before snapping her fingers.

  "I know what we can do!" she announced. "Just a tick!"

  Disappearing out of the bedroom again, Kate was only gone for less than a minute before returning with … all of her hippy friends? What the …?

  "Take your places everyone," a long-haired, bearded guy sang in a strangely effeminate voice. "You know what to do!"

  The hippies all filed into the small room, crowding around the bed and elbowing my guys out of the way. As one, they joined hands, and an older lady did a weird sort of hopping dance around them all while waving a burning branch. Not even exaggerating, she had like a bundle of sticks that was on fire and producing
just crazy amounts of smoke as she bobbed and weaved around the hippy circle.

  "Ohhmmmmm." Their chant filled the room and I gave Warden a startled look. "Ohhhmmm."

  "Arizona, sweetie," my mum murmured, not opening her eyes, "join us. You have such a strong spirit, it will help the healing circle."

  My jaw dropped, second guessing what I'd just heard. I was such a strong spirit? How the fuck did my mum know about my spirit powers?

  "She's just stoned, Smokey," Warden muttered quietly. "She doesn't know. Join their circle. There's nothing else we can do for … ah … what’s-her-face. Does anyone know this chick’s name, by the way?"

  "Arizona, come," my mum encouraged again, this time beckoning me with a floaty hand movement and I sighed.

  "Fucking hippies," I muttered as I took Kate’s hand and then the hand of the skunky smelling dude on my other side.

  "Ohm with us, darling," Mum ordered, swaying to music that I clearly hadn't smoked enough to hear. The next time they said ohhmmmm, I grudgingly joined in.

  For some time, the hippy circle chanted and swayed, and the room slowly filled with incense smoke until it became hard to breathe. Obviously, these people had no magic to heal my bio mom of her platypus induced allergic reaction, but it sort of seemed nice that they were trying. If nothing else, it was a nice send-off.

  "Namaste," the bearded dude finally said, and all the hippies repeated it before dropping hands and filing silently out of the room once more. Soon, it was just my mum left, along with my husbands, myself and a very still form on the bed.

  "We've done all we can," my very stoned parent informed me, her eyes not quite focusing on my face as she spoke. "I think your friend will be just fine."

  She nodded happily to herself, then swayed out of the room and closed the door behind herself, leaving us all in privacy.

  "Uh, guys?" Billy called out, having knelt on the bed to check Bio Mom's pulse. "I'm pretty sure she's dead."

  "Great!" I threw my hands up. "So much for I think she'll be fine. Fucking hippies! Now what the hell do we do with a dead freaking body?! Huh?" I stomped over to the bed and prodded the lifeless form of one of my egg donors in the chest. "What the hell do we do with you now?!"