Luke tensed up at the words. “Why would they want to attack us? Any of us,” he added looking at the other Elementals in the room.
Irving stroked his beard while considering his reply. “It isn’t Water who wants to destroy the rest of you.”
“Then who?” Rita’s voice hinted at irritation.
“That I don’t know. I’m not entirely certain how the wolves were convinced to take part in these attacks, but I do know they are working for somebody.”
“That makes absolutely no sense. Who could possibly have the power and influence to stage something of this size?” Todd was not buying the theory.
Lilah and her uncle had agreed to leave their minds open to each other before they went in to be able to communicate at all times. His opinion was loud and clear. It was a smoke screen. This old man wanted to throw everyone off the trail, so he was feeding them false information. Todd wasn’t one hundred percent sure the two regions of wolves were working together, but this man definitely was trying to protect the wolves reputation.
“How,” Lilah’s voice came out low and weak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Who would know about us?”
“What kind of absurd question is that?” Luke snipped.
Lilah shifted in her seat nervously.
“The entire world knows about us!” He continued.
This is why she had been against attending the meeting. The fear of not being able to contribute, or not being taken seriously if she did. The door wasn’t far away from her, and she couldn’t take her eyes off of it.
“Let her speak!” Eloise scolded Luke. “Go on, child. What are you trying to say?”
“The whole world doesn’t know about us. They know the myths and fairy tales they’ve been fed. Luke is a vampire, but the sun doesn’t faze him.”
“I am not a vampire,” he spat the word as if merely saying it was disgusting. “I am a Fire descendant.”
“A Fire descendant who can use his blood to control the minds of others. You’re a damn vampire. Now shut it!” Meredith ordered him.
Luke leaned in his chair hooking his thumbs around the frame of the back looking up at the ceiling, but he kept quiet after that.
“Who would know about our existence and want to eliminate us?” Lilah asked then continued. “With enough pull to sway an entire Elemental group?”
“Not an entire group,” the leader of the southern tribe quipped.
“Well, mostly then. It would have to be one of us.”
“How’s that?” Eloise asked.
“It would have to be someone with extensive knowledge of who we are and how to harm us. Someone who would know how to turn Water against the rest of us.”
“There’s always been an underlying quarrel with the wolves,” Matt reminded her.
“There are those who have issue with the wolves, Matt. I won’t act like that’s not true. But wouldn’t it be us attacking them?” Lilah pointed out.
“She has a point. Just because some factions hold them responsible to this day isn’t a reason for what they are planning,” Rita told her fiancé.
Eloise leaned in and clasped her hands in front of her mouth. “Lilah, I agree. If Water is taking their orders from outside their Elemental, it would have to be one of ours controlling the situation.” It looked like there was more Eloise wanted to say, but she held back.
“It’s not mine,” Luke snapped, leaning back into the conversation. “I can count on one hand the number of Fire remaining, and it wasn’t any of us.”
“It would seem unlikely,” Eloise agreed.
“That leaves Air and Earth,” Irving stated.
“Or Water,” Lilah added.
“I thought it was clear they were working for someone else,” he told her patronizingly.
“It could still be someone in their Elemental calling the shots.”
Irving leaned in on his elbow and was obviously preparing to give Lilah a piece of his mind when Eloise stepped in.
“We do need to figure out this mastermind. It will give us a leg up. We also need a game plan. How can we defeat them?”
“With the witches of course,” Irving answered while glaring at Lilah. “Earth is the only one with the numbers now. The rest of your people need to join us.”
Eloise looked forlorn. “I can’t force anyone to fight.”
“You need to try a rally cry,” Todd encouraged.
“I’ve been in contact with many covens. Some are in hiding already. They’re scared.”
“We’re all scared,” Irving turned to her his voice softer. “But if we don’t try, we’re defeated already.”
Eloise nodded. “I will do my best. How much time do you think we have? It would be best to meet with them in person. There’s a lot of areas to cover.”
Irving raised his hand and shook his head. “It’s hard to say at this point. If I hear anything, I will let you know. They will soon realize our involvement here and cut off communications with us.”
“I suppose I will just have to visit as many as I can until I’m needed back here.”
Meredith turned her entire body to face Eloise. “I know you and I have had our differences,” she started to say.
“I will appreciate all the help I can get. Perhaps, you and Everleigh can visit some covens together.” Eloise smiled.
Lilah’s mouth dropped in shock. This was not the Eloise she had heard about where Meredith was concerned. It was further evidence of the dire straits they were all in for her to be willing for them to work together.
“Alright, then,” Irving clapped his hands. “Let’s talk plans.”
They strategized for almost two hours. Most of the time was spent arguing over mindless details. The biggest key was gathering as many Earth Elementals as possible. The mixed blood in the southern tribes and covens meant there were a large number of witches who could use their magic on Water.
The benefits to that were endless. Divination spells to learn their next move. Tracking spells to find them. Blocking spells. Revealing spells. If there was something anyone could find helpful, those Earth covens would be able to find a way. The rest of the witches could assist making the spells more powerful.
There were rumors sweeping through the Wolves were using the blood of Fire to make new vampires and control them. This was the most frightening piece of information they heard. Water was smart going after the vampires first. In physical combat, they were the closest match to Water. It would be harder, but not impossible for them to defeat Water without the assistance of Fire. But to go against them both? It felt like a suicide mission.
Irving wanted to gather enough Intel to plan a surprise attack. That would be our most likely chance at victory. We would need to be in control of where and when we strike and would have to take out or overpower as many as we could at the start. Once Water was able to regroup and rally against us, there would be no turning back. Our plan had to be solid.
For now, everything hinged on gathering as many of Earth as possible. Eloise and Meredith planned to leave shortly after the meeting to convince them to fight with Everleigh in tow. They would target the most influential covens first. The ones who could potentially sway others to join the cause as well. It was the best way to recruit the most numbers, but if they didn’t succeed, the backlash would be ruinous. Newer covens would never come if the others bowed out.
Luke was not without his own mission. He had to find any surviving members of his clan he could. It would be difficult. Meredith had already used locator spells trying to hunt down remaining vampires with mixed results. This time even Eloise offered her assistance in getting Luke on the right track.
The meeting adjourned with Irving requesting the eight of them send regular updates of the progress they were making to each other. Lilah wondered if he had real military experience, but never asked. Everyone had the mindset of going to war with Water, but Irving took it to another level. It frightened her at times, and maybe that was all the reason for his approach. Maybe
he just needed to drive the gravity of the situation home for everyone.
Chapter Twenty-One
The seven Elementals who left the apartment did so in silence. Without discussing it beforehand, they all met up at Eloise’s house. There would be much to get done before anyone could begin their quest to expand their numbers. Lilah thought it strange her uncle would go there knowing they couldn’t assist with the spells, but she supposed there were other tasks they could do to help out.
She was the last one in the house, and it was already filled with voices overlapping each other. There were several young witches filled with excitement over finding out they would be doing real spell work tonight instead of merely learning about it. Eloise and Meredith were doling out orders to everyone to collect ingredients and prepare a space.
Voices like that act like a muse for Air. It’s like a crowded restaurant at peak dinner time when the patrons are all talking at their tables. The noise level rises creating a swirl of conversation all around. You may hear bits and pieces of a conversation from time to time, but not so much that anything would make sense necessarily. That type of volume clutter acts as white noise which is a medium through which psychic energy can flow.
Many psychics and mediums can use this energy to aide them during their preferred means of divination. For Air, it acts like a conduit through which many means of psychic abilities can heighten. Being a novice and not yet trained to handle her powers, she had no indication how much of an influence the white noise could have on her and what precautions she should take to ignore it.
There was no intent to the wandering of Lilah’s thoughts. She had drifted into a full trance without even acknowledging how the level of commotion could work to her favor like this. There was so much activity and hurried movement all around no one paid any attention to the lone Air in the hallway who hadn’t even yet removed her coat. If anyone had taken notice of her, they would probably have just assumed she had space out for a moment. Their attempts to get her to snap back would have failed. A trance like this was unshakable until the person’s vision ended.
Lilah was pulled from the home through the far wall of the living room through the town. Not physically, but through her mind’s eye. It was slow at first like a tug on an invisible rope, but it increased with speed as she went. She would not remember the way to the building where it stopped, but there were enough clues to figure it out. It stopped in the middle of a large bright room, and it was freezing cold. The movement ended so abruptly she felt like she would topple over, but back at Eloise’s house, she stood straight without a tremor.
The room looked like something in the back of a butcher shop or a meat market. There were large metal hooks on chains that hung from the ceiling. Some had slabs of meat dangling from them. It confused her. She didn’t know why she was there or how she arrived. A noise from the other side of the room caught her attention. She became aware there was something she was supposed to find, something of extreme importance, but what?
Moving the slabs of meat to the side, she walked through the room toward the sound she had heard. The noise came again. It was the sound of a single drop of water dripping into a sink, but the echo was loud and twisted distorting the noise grotesquely.
At last, she moved a side of beef and a man came into view. It scared her, and she stepped back instinctively even though she knew she couldn’t be seen. Peeking out again, she could see the man’s back was to her, and he was sitting in a chair. Lilah walked up behind him, and as she neared, the full scene became clear. She cried out, and her voice distorted. The echo came back to her ears like the sound a maniacal horror character would make before an attack.
It wasn’t anyone she had seen before, but she recognized who he was eventually all the same. The man was strapped to the chair. His arms were gashed, and below him were two large metal containers collecting the blood that dripped down. The blood flow had all but stopped. All color was gone from his face. Lilah had never seen someone who looked that pale. There were clumps of sandy blonde hair clingy to the side of his face hardened from the amount of sweat that had poured down for a very long time before being exposed to the cold in the room.
The wounds on his arms had almost healed completely she noticed as she circled around him. This was the Fire Element. It had to be she thought as she saw the amount of blood collected. There was no reading off him which meant he was an Elemental at any rate. Besides, no human could live through this.
His eyes fluttered, and his head rolled side to side. Could he sense me she wondered? It would be impossible for him to actually see her as her body was still Eloise’s house. Only her spirit had traveled on the astral plane. Still his eyes focused on her after several attempts of keeping them open. A low guttural grunt came from his throat. Lilah leaned in closer. There was something about him. Something familiar. She knew she had never seen this man before, but she somehow recognized his eyes.
Voices in the hall caught her attention. The instinct to hide runs deep even in this state, and Lilah went back to the shadows and protection of the slabs of beef without thinking about her visibility. It was better this way she thought when she was out of sight. If he could sense me, whoever is in the hall might be able to as well.
The sound of two people talking grew closer until they stopped outside the door. Lilah could hear the echoing of metal on metal as locks were being opened. There were at least four locks. “Now, step back,” she heard a woman say.
A chant began in the hallway, but she couldn’t recognize the language. It was a short verse, and she knew what it meant. The door was spelled. There was a witch involved in this man’s capture.
Lilah peeked out as the door opened and saw two women wearing long leather aprons enter the room. One of them examined the man in the chair who began to violently try to bust loose. “Don’t waste what little energy you have,” she told him, shining a light into his eyes. “You know you’re not going anywhere.”
The other woman began laying out tools and supplies on the metal table that sat between the man and the windowless door. Together they moved the metal containers of blood to the table and tested it under a microscope. “It’s still working,” the second woman said.
“You still doubt her?”
“It’s not that I doubt her-”
“It is,” the first woman cackled.
“Think what you want. Let’s hurry. I hate this room.”
“Agreed.”
The containers had a drainage spout on the bottom of each one. They took the blood and filled several plastic bags with it. It looked a little like blood bags hospitals use, but much larger. IV bags perhaps. Lilah couldn’t tell. They packed them up in a rolling cooler. The second woman began cleaning up the table while the first returned to the man carrying a large syringe.
He began to thrash about in the chair again trying his best to free himself. “Stop,” she told him. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
The needle entered his arm where a PICC line was in place, and she injected a clear liquid into his vein. “And that’s my job,” the woman added.
He continued to fight and thrash but it steadily slowed. Within a minute or two, he was out.
“I think you enjoy this too much,” the second woman told her.
“It’s not possible to enjoy it too much.” She walked back to the table and helped finish putting everything away.
“No cutting today?”
The first woman shook her head. “He’s drained. We need to let him recover a little to get anymore out of him.”
The second woman looked over at the man and said in a low voice, “You know how risky that is.”
“We’ll do it tonight when his body has replenished some of his blood.”
“We?” she asked. “I’m not sure I want to be in here when he’s not weakened.”
“I gave him a double dose just for that purpose. It’ll be fine.”
The second woman continued to stare at him. Even at this distance, Lilah could s
ee the terror in her eyes.
“We need to remember to bring more anticoagulant,” the first woman noted out loud dismissing her partner’s concerns.
They took the cooler and headed out the door. Lilah could hear the locks clicking, and a chant being spoken again. She listened as closely as she could hoping to be able to remember some of the words to ask the witches about it.
Once their voices and footsteps retreated down the hall. Lilah inspected the man in the chair again. His head hung to his chest. No movement. She would fear he might be dead except the only way to kill a Fire Elemental is with Fire.
She wondered what could possibly have been in that syringe. The cabinet doors were closed, and she couldn’t open them physically in this state. With her eyes closed, she concentrated heavily on what was behind each one. There were countless bags for the blood. Bandages. That was strange they would have bandages because it doesn’t appear like they get used. Finally, she saw multiple bottles of the liquid. The image in her mind was distorted like looking through the peephole of a motel room. It had to be due to her metaphysical state. The front of the bottle was turned, and she couldn’t read it all just the letters ‘Pent.’
Lilah turned back to the man who sat unconscious and bound behind her. There was something distinctly familiar about him that she couldn’t quite understand. She leaned in examining him closely. The wounds on his arms had completely healed, but he was still extraordinarily pale and would be considerably weak if he were awake. Something about his jawline resonated with her, and she tried to remember why she felt like she knew him.
It hit her hard when she finally understood, and she reeled backward with a very loud gasp. It resonated off the cold concrete walls until it sounded more like the echo of shrill laughter returning to her ears. The last thing she saw before being violently pulled back to her body was the man’s eyes shoot open as though the sound of her voice was powerful enough to wake him even with whatever it was the woman had pumped into his veins moments ago.
Air: The Elementals: Book One Page 26
