Jake grinned. “You’d have at least a million dollars.”
“Which would only be fair considering all the hell you two put me through.”
I decided not to mention the hell he’d put Jake and me through before we discovered Colin had faked his own death thanks to Ju Hai’s predictions of disaster if he didn’t disappear before my father could make him an unwilling minion. The moment of comedic relief had done wonders to ease our tension enough to re-focus our energies on the mission at hand.
Twenty minutes later, our little army was winding along a country lane that ran parallel to the one I’d scouted out psychically less than an hour earlier. We numbered two dozen Elementals and a few humans divided among several large SUVs. Another two dozen (including Isaac and a handful of his Freeholders) were waiting not too far away, hidden off the main highway on a third country road, just in case we needed reinforcements. Too many strange vehicles turning onto rural roads tended to attract attention.
My stomach knotted with both worry for my brother and anticipation for the coming battle. Bizarre as it seemed for someone trained as a scientist rather than a soldier, I was really starting to embrace this new side of my personality. No doubt because I was working so hard to master my new skills and learn how to be the leader my Clan and liegesworn needed.
Our SUV pulled to a stop just past an abandoned cabin rotting next to the road. A few dozen feet ahead, I could just make out the flash of water in the moonlight, signaling the pond that separated us from the mercenary headquarters where Nic should hopefully still be. Under other circumstances, we would have just had Rhianne scry the surroundings. Too bad we still had that mystery Mindbender to worry about.
As if she’d heard my thoughts, Rhianne turned from the passenger seat next to Liam. “You up for another recon mission using Spirit? I’m afraid if I scry, they’ll know we’re here.”
My concern exactly.
“Yeah, it won’t take much out of me as close as we are.”
Dia poked me from the third row behind. “You sure? Don’t go all hero on us, Firebird. We need you as close to full strength as possible once we storm the castle.”
I raised both hands with middle fingers extended, earning laughter all around. “Yes, Mom, I’m sure. Just have an ice-cold Dr. Pepper ready for me if you’re so concerned about my well-being.”
She poked me again, but I recognized it for the affection it displayed. Jake pulled me into the crook of his shoulder so I could get comfortable. I blew him a kiss and then closed my eyes to run a quick pass across the pond and through the now-dark surroundings of Merc Central. Moments later my eyes popped open, and I let out a string of obscenities that would have done a sailor proud.
Jake hugged me tight and let me vent a moment before arching a brow. “Problems, sweetheart?”
“Yeah. At least another dozen mercenaries have arrived since I left. Meaning our numbers are now just about even. And I still can’t tell whether or not one of them’s the Mindbender.”
“Hey, why are you so upset? You already planned ahead for that possibility, which is why those reinforcements are sitting pretty nearby. They can bust in from the front while we distract the mercs from behind.”
“The main reason I’m pissed as hell is because I recognized one of the mercs. You remember how Zoe Stevens’ brother Paul testified against her at the trial?”
Jake’s eyes grew more alert. “Yeah. Of course I do.”
“Well, apparently he now has it out for us, too. He was leading the second group of mercs in there.”
He let out a sigh and shook his head. “Can’t say I blame him if he hates us. Whether she deserved it or not, we are the ones who condemned his sister to a sentence worse than death.”
“Oh hell no you aren’t gonna place that guilt on my sister’s shoulders—or your own!” Dia chimed in. “Zoe Traitor-Ass Stevens condemned her own self. And that girl was a power-hungry bitch from way back. If her brother’s here working against us, I’d say both apples must not have fallen far from the tree.”
Jake tilted his head in surprise. “Wait, you know -?”
“Hell yeah I knew that racist little…” Dia took a deep breath. “She and I exchanged more than words several times during my relationship with Isaac. When I call her racist, I mean toward humans. Someone being black or brown didn’t phase her at all. She sucked up to Isaac and Avani all the damned time. But for those Freeholders raised by humans? Nothing but contempt.”
Couldn’t say I was hugely surprised to hear - had bullied people different from her. I don’t know why I was so surprised to discover we’d made her brother into an enemy. He’d seemed so intent on doing the right thing at that trial.
But nothing says his version of right mas to match up exactly with yours, the logical part of my brain pointed out.
No, but Elemental law was very much on my side. Just because the local Freeholder Chapter looked the other way when this group of mercs took on illegal jobs didn’t mean their version of right was actually legit. Kidnapping and murder were still heinous crimes among Elementals just the same as among humans.
At least my rage had cooled several degrees. “I’ll contact Riku and ask him to send the others in the front way immediately. We’ll strike out across the pond now as originally planned. They get the canoes in place yet?”
Liam stuck his head out the window to double-check. “Yep, they’ve got everything ready to go. All you need to do is keep an eye out for Spirit-wrapped wards we can’t see, and sneaking up on them should be a breeze.”
Dia groaned from the rear row. “Gryphon pun unintended?”
“Hell no,” Liam drawled. “When I make a pun, I damned well mean to.”
We piled out of the SUV and congregated on the beach with everyone else. Ten minutes later, we drifted silently toward the far end of the pond. The aforementioned breeze inspired goosebumps along my skin and played with the tendrils of my golden braid. It also carried the tinny sounds of a television show from the house we could now see a hundred feet away. Lights burned in all the windows facing the pond, and I could make out low murmurs from the nearest open window.
I amped up my vision using Fire and saw several unfamiliar vehicles parked behind the line of motorcycles. The local dealership tags seemed to confirm my suspicions that -’s brother Paul had fallen in with these enemy mercs rather than being here to pick up my brother for whoever had hired them.
A coyote howled in the distance, inspiring more shivers to dance along my spine. Crickets chirped more loudly the closer we drew to shore. Thankfully the evening had grown so dark, there was no need for me to expend precious energy cloaking our approach.
We pulled our canoes up alongside a thick copse of bushes that ran extremely close to the water. Our Gryphons masked the sounds that would normally have accompanied dragging metal canoes onto a rocky shoreline. The house that marked my brother’s prison now stood less than a hundred feet away. Darkness shrouded most of that expanse, but bright beams of light from tall light poles that also held security cameras illuminated twenty feet of space around the ranch house. There were undoubtedly magical wards stretching out far further than those lights. We’d have to run like hell once we made our move.
Everyone looked to me once we had properly stowed the canoes among the bushes. Not sure I’d ever get used to people looking to me to call the shots before heading into battle, but I was getting pretty good at faking it.
I kept my voice low despite the fact Gryphons still shielded sounds from escaping our immediate vicinity. Better safe than sorry. “Jake, Liam, Rhianne, Dia, and I will focus on securing Nic while the rest of you take out all the enemy mercs. Kill if you need to, but not permanently. We may want to question some of them, and I’d rather not start a war with the Springfield Freeholders if possible.”
My enhanced vision revealed everyone nodding, so far on board with my plan.
“I’ll also be trying to pinpoint whether our Mindbender friend is on the premises, but stay s
harp just in case I miss them. Hopefully, this will all go fast and furious—but we all know it won’t go as expected.”
Battle never did. Something I’d learned on the job well before ever reading it in military strategy books.
We split up into our predetermined groups, which faded into different directions to approach the house from all sides. A moment to catch our bearings—and then I sent the mental signal. ((All teams go!))
The wind whistled in my ears as I dug my feet into the ground and pumped as fast as possible. Liam and Jake took the lead on we three women, no surprise given their lanky legs, but we stayed close on their heels. Rocky ground gave way to thick weeds and tall grass before we broke out onto the mown grass around the house. At which point, magical wards started blaring a loud, obnoxious shriek.
I stuttered a step but then pushed forward. The klaxon cry sounded particularly alarming in the quiet country evening air. There were no neighbors for at least a mile in each direction, so I hoped nobody would be summoning the mortal authorities. Last thing I wanted was to get some innocent cops killed trying to protect the peace.
Jake must have sensed my concern, because he reassured me. ((These are magical sounds only Elementals can hear.))
That had me breathe a sigh of relief, but I didn’t slow my pace. We thundered across grass and onto the gravel road leading to the house, nearly making it to the sliding glass doors on our side of the house before they slammed open and the first line of enemies appeared.
Adrenaline surged in my veins as Liam and Jake closed in with two Elementals, one a Selkie and the other a Dragon based on the color of magic they were flinging. Jake went for the other Dragon while Liam smiled coldly at his opponent, and all four began their dance on the side lawn.
We didn’t have long to wait our turns, because several more Elementals dashed past them and toward us. They hit us hard with spells—Fire, Water, and Air, amusingly enough—and we split up to face our Elemental counterparts.
The enemy Phoenix—a slender white man not much taller than me—bared his teeth in a smile meant to intimidate, but I merely pretended to yawn. We all had our ways of pushing an opponent’s buttons, and my method worked better on him than vice versa. He spat out an unflattering expletive that started with the letter C and launched a volley of fireballs at me.
He was actually fairly strong, so redirecting those missiles toward the nearby pond required my full concentration. That gave him time to ready another round of ammunition, but I was quick enough to manipulate Fire of my own and fling that at him while deflecting his latest volley. Unfortunately for him, I’d decided to experiment with lacing a tiny thread of Spirit around my fireballs. That meant expending less energy on Fire and also meant he couldn’t deflect my missiles the way I had his.
He screamed another expletive when his fiery fate bore down upon him, setting his clothes and body immediately on fire. It wasn’t nearly as out-of-control as when I’d almost incinerated Jake’s mother and aunt, but neither was it gentle. The Phoenix did his best to reverse the effects of Fire consuming him, but my addition of Spirit meant these flames could—and did—kill him.
I glanced to each side and discovered Dia and Rhianne had their own fights under control. Good thing, since two more Elementals had poured out of the door. Jake and Liam were still preoccupied with their own opponents—not blessed with Spirit or a fairly weak enemy like I had been—so I went on the offensive.
The women on the right dropped to her knees when I flung a sheet of Fire in her direction, causing it to explode against the house with a sharp boom! These mercs had prepared for enemy Phoenixes, however, because the Fire burned itself out without consuming wood or leaving the smallest scorch mark.
The man on the left flashed me a crazed smile that had me dance back a half-step. He channeled Earth, and the woman—a Selkie—called upon Water while still on her knees. They either made a plan earlier or were used to working as a team, because Earth and Water combined to turn the ground at my feet into a soggy, suctioning mess. I sank up to my knees before realizing what they’d hit me with. My voice let out a choked cry that attracted Jake’s attention.
He redoubled his efforts to take out his opponent, knowing I wouldn’t borrow his own Earth powers while he was in the heat of battle. I sent him a blast of sarcasm through our bond.
((Worry about your own problems, Jake. I got this!))
He sent me back the mixed signals of faith and worry, making me shake my head because I understood completely. If he were getting his ass kicked by a Phoenix, I’d feel the same urgency to rush to his aid. Even if he didn’t think he needed help.
But I really do got this! I gave myself a mini pep talk.
Fire responded when I summoned it, radiating in a concentric ring away from my body at ground level. The bog that had grown around me solidified, and I winced at the sensation of being trapped in hard-baked mud up to my knees. On the plus side: I was no longer sinking. On the extremely minus side, I’d become a sitting (standing) duck for the two enemies now running straight toward me.
Okay, so maybe a little help wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Oh me of little faith in myself...I may not be willing to leave Jake defenseless by hijacking his abilities mid-battle, but I had no such qualms about my opponents.
The sudden fierce smile I shot them had them both skidding to a sudden cautious stop, but they had been within my range before they even started. Their eyes widened in shock when I reached out to yank on their Elemental hands with my own.
Earth and Water combined at my command this time. My body rose back to ground level as the dirt encasing me liquified just enough for me to escape its sucking grasp, and then it became rock-solid once more.
“Shit, that’s her!” the woman cried.
“We are so screwed,” the man sighed. All the crazy had been chased right out of him along with his ability to channel magic.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I drawled lazily. “You could just surrender nicely.”
His sneer broadcast his opinion of that suggestion loud and clear. I sighed. Of course it could never be easy even just once.
“All righty then, the hard way it is.”
They braced themselves, obviously expecting death, but instead I used Earth, Water, and Fire to sink them up to their necks in hard-baked dirt. Their bodies struggled and the woman’s eyes bulged in panic at being completely confined, so I channeled Spirit to put them both to sleep.
Jake had just disposed of his own opponent much more bloodily and turned to help—only to discover me smiling smugly. He shook his head, eyes twinkling suddenly. Something I could see thanks to my vision still being enhanced by Fire. “Don’t know why I even get nervous anymore. When it comes to magic, you’re starting to run circles around me.”
“Aw, don’t worry. You can still karate chop and flying kick the snot out of me nine times out of ten. Plus I was genetically bred for this by an evil scientist.”
“Well, that does help repair my fragile, every-Elemental-wants-to-help-their-bondmate ego.” He winked and then checked on Liam, who finished wiping the floor with his enemy just as Dia and Rhianne skipped up to rejoin us. Dia’s hair—formerly contained by a vibrant African-print headscarf—now sprung from her head in a riot of tight curls, and dirt smudged her cheeks. Rhianne’s clothes were soaking wet, and she had a purple bruise blooming on her shoulder. Other than that, they appeared healthy and—much like me—smug as hell.
We wasted no time in slipping into the house, keeping our fighting stances and magic ready. The sliding glass door opened onto a spacious dining room that fed into the kitchen on one side and the large living room I’d seen earlier. We heard fighting sounds coming from both rooms, but I zeroed in on the room where I’d first and last seen my brother.
The other four fell in step ahead of and behind me. Once I might have resented the hell out of Jake and Liam for hurrying ahead. Now, I recognized the tactical wisdom given their decades more experience as warriors. Dia a
nd Rhianne I trusted at my back completely. Knowing I was the only one who had a snowball’s chance in hell of defeating my father and brother made letting others place their bodies between me and danger just a tad bit easier.
Besides, any time that they bought me meant I could prepare a Spirit—soaked spell to take out our enemies before they did irreparable damage to my bodyguards. Or so I was telling myself to make it that much easier to stomach.
We rounded the huge china cabinet blocking the doorway into the living room and caught the sight of Jake’s parents, their bondmates, and a couple monks wiping the floor with about twice the number of foes we had faced; or so it seemed, judging by all the bodies on the floor.
One of those bodies turned out to be a monk, who we would revive back at the monastery. I instructed his two colleagues to stash his body in a closet so we’d be able to easily separate it from the others on our way out, and then I faced the annoying truth. Nic was no longer in the living room.
Nor did he prove to be in the kitchen, bathrooms, master bedroom, or any other room in the house. We did come across two dead Clanmates and dead mercenaries, plus several living allies of our own who joined in the search. I wanted to spit nails by the time we circled back to the sliding glass door where we had entered, no more the wiser regarding the whereabouts of the baby brother I actually liked. Okay, had come to love.
Liam’s clenched jaw and hands indicated he felt similar levels of rage, even if his burned icy rather than hot. That didn’t mean he cared any less.
I narrowed my eyes and gave him a fierce nod. “We are going to find him.”
“Damned right we will!” Dia piped in, hands wrapping across her chest.
Liam’s tension relaxed infinitesimally and he nodded. “Of course we will. The few survivors among these mercs better hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
My Magic 8 Ball would be flashing danger signals for those poor bastards given the pure menace in his voice. I moved to hip bump Liam, who appeared torn between shock I’d dared do something so crass and relief that I was including him in an effort to keep his spirits up. Rather than choosing an emotion, he settled for redirection.
Embraced by Embers Page 8
