Keegan darted for my legs and I heard him fall heavily behind me.
“Don’t burn me,” he yelled. I promised I wouldn’t burn anything, least of all him.
Now I could see the fire bird clearly. She wasn’t truly black, but rather a deep, shimmering mix of maroon and orange and yellow and gold. Her eyes were a clear purple, and her beak was black.
She flapped to a halt when she saw the fire, then glided slowly down, her eyes never leaving the flames with which I had enveloped my entire body.
“Wow,” whispered Eighellie, who had hurried down the stairs. “Just, wow. I’ve heard that there’s been a huge bird terrorizing Surround, but until now I only half believed the stories.”
I nodded. “They must let her out at night.”
“She’s gigantic,” said Keegan. “Let’s get out of here.”
“She’s not going to hurt us,” I said. “Not now.”
“That’s what you think,” said my friend. “She’s a giant fire bird, and I’m pretty sure it’s hard to keep promises about giant fire birds.”
“He might have a point,” said Eighellie, coming to stand next to me.
“You look orange,” I said.
“You look warm,” she offered.
The bird drifted through the air and then turned, flapping until it was just out of view. When none of us moved, it wheeled around and came back. This time we followed it, despite Keegan’s protests.
“This is fascinating,” Eighellie murmured. “A bird of this size in this space, and you knew what it was without performing any scientific tests. Truly impressive.”
“You’re the weirdest darkness mage I’ve ever met,” said Keegan with feeling.
“How many more flights down?” I asked.
“How many can you count?” Eighellie demanded.
“There’s no way Hunters would try to get all the way down here,” Keegan argued. “They’d go for something easier.”
“I’m afraid they’ve already gotten all the easy stuff,” said Eighellie.
She wasn’t wrong. For the entire semester, whenever I had seen Charlotte I had known that she was worried, and that her worry was growing. I also hadn’t taken it as a good sign that I hadn’t seen Rake since he dropped us off, except for when he’d shown up at Lisabelle’s with a very angry vampire queen. Keegan had noticed too. One morning we had both just started looking at old newspaper clippings in the library, trying to find anything at all about missing artifacts. It turned out that there were a lot of them. In fact, someone had seen an opportunity – that someone being the paranormals who were now collectively called the Hunters – and gone around while the war was going on, stealing anything they could. Their success in this enterprise had been made possible by darkness and by the lack of good policing; the police had been too busy helping to fight the war to have any time left for fighting crime. Now we were paying for it.
“But they aren’t going to get the Cruor artifacts,” Keegan muttered. I found myself smiling.
Then another voice intruded, one that I didn’t recognize and could barely hear. It said, “In the land of darkness and light there can be only one all-powerful. As long as Lisabelle Verlans commands the demons, we cannot dethrone Sipythia Quest. In order to get to Sip we have to go through darkness. Always dark before light. I plan on speeding up that process.”
I leaned forward, trying to hear the voice more clearly. I wasn’t sure who I was listening to, just that it wasn’t Professor Erikson or Cynthia Malle. Surely it couldn’t be either of them!
I looked at Keegan to see what he made of it, but he wasn’t paying any attention. Frowning, I strained again, but this time there was nothing. The voice had disappeared as quickly as it had come. Keegan apparently hadn’t heard it at all, and Eighellie didn’t look the least bit fazed either. Shaking my head to clear it, I tried to concentrate, but it just felt like something was wrong. I’d been in such a rush to get down here and protect artifacts, but there turned out to be no need. The place was deserted. It didn’t look like anyone had been down here for ages. A swooping in the darkness above made me look up. The only thing up there was the bird.
“Come on,” said Eighellie. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Does something seem strange to you?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said, “which is why I want to get out of here pronto.”
“What’s strange?” Keegan asked. “The fact that we haven’t seen any Hunters when we ran down here thinking we would see Hunters? I agree, that’s strange.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it except hope that the vampires don’t find us in their dorm. If they do, we’re toast,” said Eighellie.
“You don’t think they’d believe we were just here for a nice, friendly visit?” Keegan asked.
“I certainly wouldn’t,” I said, frustrated.
We started to slip away as quietly as we could, but as I turned to head back up the stairs I saw a vampire glide out of the darkness ahead. When she met my gaze, she stopped and stared at the three of us.
“I was waiting for the Hunters,” she said in a conversational tone. “We knew it was only a matter of time before they came for what is ours. And no, I wouldn’t believe you were just here for a visit.”
I glanced up. Now there was no sign of the fire bird.
“You were waiting here alone?” Eighellie sounded aghast.
Averett smiled. “My cousin trained me well.”
Vital was the best fighter in the world, but Eighellie refused to put stock in such trivialities as reputations. She shook her head and said, “If you had told Ricky you needed him, he would have helped you. He’s very good that way.”
Averett nodded, her eyes unreadable. “I would have been fine, but I appreciate your concern.” Her tone spoke volumes of sarcasm, but sadly Eighellie didn’t know that particular language. Averett, who understood better than I would have liked, smiled. “You three should get out of here before the others come back. They might not be as understanding.” She looked at me, and this time her eyes narrowed. “Just because your sister is friends with my queen does not mean we are friends.”
“Glad you realize that,” I told her. “If vampires would start working with us instead of blaming us we might not have so many problems.”
Averett looked like she was about to respond, but in the end she bit her tongue. “Very well. If that is what you believe, I might believe it too.” She paused, then said, “You should be more careful with what you say and where you go without permission. If I were a little less forgiving you might be in a lot more trouble.”
“Oh, please. We were doing you a favor and you know perfectly well why we didn’t tell the vampires. Y’all are crazy,” said Keegan.
“I don’t think calling a vampire who is holding our lives in her hands crazy is the best idea,” Eighellie whispered.
“To each her own,” said Keegan. “She had to know. It’s not like we came here for our own benefit.” When my friend looked at me to back him up I realized that I couldn’t.
“Actually, we came here for the good of the paranormals. Some type has to remember that we are all in this together. It might as well be the elementals.”
Keegan looked surprised, but he recovered quickly, clearing his throat and nodding. “Yeah, exactly right.”
“Some is not all. The threat of the Hunters grows, and with it the danger in supporting anyone who supports Lisabelle Verlans. No one wants to stick his or her neck out,” said Averett quietly.
“That’s what the Hunters are counting on,” I told her matter-of-factly. Then I turned and left.
As we made our way quickly out of Cruor and into the cool day, Averett bringing up the rear, it struck me that I had a lot more in common with the vampires than I might have thought. Averett knew the artifacts were at risk and had waited there, a silent watcher, for the Hunters to come. If she hadn’t been there, and anyone had found us, we wouldn’t have made it out. Maybe she was right and it was foolish to have
gone in there without telling the vampires, but they hadn’t really given me any indication that they would be receptive to what I had to say.
Now that we were standing outside of Cruor, I looked back at the old building, glad to have escaped the danger we had put ourselves into.
“Where have you been, anyway?” Averett asked, peering at me.
I shrugged. “Around.”
“No, you haven’t,” she said. “I came to find you. I overheard some stuff I thought you should hear as well, but you weren’t there.”
“Who’d you overhear?”
“The Burble drudges,” Averett rolled her eyes. “It’s not even as if they’re real vampires. They’re like a disgrace to vampires.” She shook her head sadly. “If only we could kick out the ones we don’t like.”
“If you could do that, would there be anyone left but you?”
Averett’s mouth sliced in a grin. “No.”
Eighellie came marching over, her glare pounding into Averett’s chest. “We’re leaving,” she said. “What do you still want?”
The vampire looked the darkness mage up and down. Her bemusement slipped a little and I had a definite sense that Averett was impressed by what she saw in Eighellie. The darkness mage knew her stuff. I just wondered if anyone could see through her to the dark purpose that drove her.
“I was just talking to my friend here. Shockingly enough, it doesn’t concern you,” she said.
“Oh, no?” Eighellie demanded. Then she glanced at me and her protectiveness evaporated. Maybe it didn’t, in fact, concern her.
“What did you overhear?” I asked. “Eighellie can stay.”
My friend gave me a grateful look. Actually, Averett had said we were friends. That was kind of shocking.
“Something about something wonky, like elementals, and someone was working for someone else, but they weren’t who they said they were,” said Averett. “It was all very strange.”
I frowned, my mind suddenly racing again.
“That doesn’t make sense,” said Eighellie, breaking my concentration. “Ricky doesn’t have anyone working for him. He’s a student. Although I guess Astra gets cleaned somehow . . .” She bit her lip. Public had employees you rarely saw, and it was clear from Eighellie’s shock that as far as she was concerned, until that moment they had been very much out of sight, out of mind.
“That’s probably what the stolen TPs were for,” I mused. “It explains a lot. Like why there was no one in Cruor.”
“What are you talking about?” Averett demanded, suddenly bristling.
“He’s talking about the fact that we didn’t run into any Hunters, duh,” said Eighellie. “We thought we were going to. We thought they were about to break into Cruor, but then they weren’t there. Obviously. We only found you. Are YOU a Hunter?”
Somehow, Keegan knew what was about to happen, so when Averett launched herself forward with super fast speed, the tree sprite was able to step in front of her and grab her arm before she hit Eighellie.
“I know she might deserve it, but violence isn’t worth it,” he said. Turning to me he asked, “What do you want to do? It sounds like a lot of nonsense, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, probably,” I said. “Maybe just go back to Astra. I have to see Charlotte . . .”
My heart sank at the reminder.
Charlotte. An employee . . . could the Burble siblings have been talking about Charlotte and her secretary? Luther?
“My sister!” I yelled and was suddenly a ball of motion.
The small cottage Charlotte shared with Keller was white, framed by the dark green trees that ranged behind it and made a perfect backdrop to the rustic inside. The scene was beautiful, and usually it just made me smile.
Not this time.
A lump formed in my throat when I came around the side of Astra and saw the little home that Charlotte had named Dream’s Wing, in homage to her and Keller’s roots. The door was open, but no one was standing inside it. Ordinarily, the only time I saw the door open was when Charlotte or Keller was going through it, and this time neither of them was there.
I ran faster.
“Damnit Averett!” I yelled. The vampire could float faster than I could run. She was in front of me, her face worried. I could hear the pounding of feet behind and I knew that my friends were following as fast as they could.
The vampire paused about ten feet away and waited for me, but I could already see what she saw.
One body lying just inside the door, and another kneeling beside it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I’d like to say I was relieved when I saw that neither the body on the floor nor the one kneeling was Charlotte, but I wasn’t.
My sister was nowhere to be seen, but what I did see stopped my heart.
Sip lay on the floor in a pool of blood. Kneeling next to her was Bertrum, his face a mask of pain.
I stared for a minute, unable to absorb what exactly was taking place before my eyes. Finally, never taking my eyes from the werewolf, I skidded to a halt.
I was afraid to move or to say anything. My friends stood quietly behind me, but after what seemed like an age had passed, but was probably only a few moments, I felt a movement. Maybe Averett had gone to get help, I thought, but I didn’t look around to see.
It was a lot of blood.
At last I made myself move forward carefully and place my hand on Bertrum. He jerked wildly and then stilled. Then he jerked again and cried out, staring around at me with bleary eyes.
“I-I-I,” he stuttered, but he couldn’t seem to get any other words out.
I knelt down beside Sip. My ears were throbbing, all external sounds drowned out by a wailing deep down in my chest.
Then, suddenly, I felt a rumbling, as if the ground was coming apart.
“We’re in trouble,” Keegan said from somewhere close by. He looked down, then peered out the window at the trees. They appeared to be cowering, bracing for attack.
Clouds swept over the sky as if they’d been hurled there and were rushing to blot out even the dimming sun. In the next instant I knew what – or who – was coming.
My eyes went back to Sip. She looked peaceful, but paler than usual. Her hair fell backward as if it had been shoved by a hairband. She looked young and silly, basically, not like she had just been attacked and was dying.
“Wow,” said Eighellie. I glanced up, the wonder in my friend’s voice compelling me to lift my head.
Wow was right. Behind Astra, the field that stood between my dorm and my sister’s cottage was covered in writhing black masses. My stomach lurched. It had been a while since I had seen those black masses, but I knew what they were.
There were probably more hellhounds on the lawn now than there were blades of grass.
Thunder cracked overhead and the skies opened. The rain looked black. Maybe it was.
Lisabelle was going to see Sip like this. Lisabelle couldn’t see Sip like this. I scrambled to my feet, but suddenly she was there. She came from around the side of the cottage and stepped through the doorway. Rain beaded down her cheeks and I realized that I wouldn’t be able to tell if she cried.
Lisabelle looked up.
“The wolves are coming,” she murmured. “They were prepared for something like this.”
“Something like what?” I asked desperately.
“That they might be the only thing that stood between the paranormal president and sudden death,” she said. She lifted Sip in her arms. I had never seen her so gentle. “Charlotte?” she wasn’t speaking to me, but to Bertrum.
“She wasn’t here,” said Bertrum. “We knew she was in danger and Sip came to warn her, without her guard. I told her it was foolish. I told her. There were tears in the assistant’s eyes.
“Why couldn’t it have been you!” he yelled. “You didn’t need protection! You could have come without risk of dying!”
Lisabelle didn’t respond. She just walked past the frantic little man, carrying her dear and insepara
ble friend. I knew who I felt worse for, but Bertrum looked broken.
I raced after Lisabelle, who was walking away from me, her black dress, black cape, and black hair flapping in the cold wind. Her feet made a gentle crunching sound on the snow.
“Lisabelle!” I cried, and as I did so I thought of my essence. I don’t know why I did it, but instantly there was an uncurling of power and the air changed. Lisabelle paused for the briefest of moments to look back at me, her eyes questioning.
“Charlotte?” I asked breathlessly.
“Safe,” was all Lisabelle said.
“I need to help,” I panted, meeting her eyes. Then I swallowed hard and tried not to look at the body dangling in her arms.
She nodded once. “Consider yourself helping.” She turned away.
At first I didn’t think she had done anything, but then I felt my hand twitch, and I looked down at my fingers as warmth enveloped me. The molten rose gold that had been there since my essence shattered the ring Charlotte had given me was gone, replaced by a single band. There was no gem, just black metal.
I had a new ring.
When my eyes searched for Lisabelle again she was gone.
I looked around Charlotte’s cottage. It was true what Bertrum had said; she wasn’t there. I turned my head and looked back through the demon throng – which was now dispersing, because Lisabelle was leaving – to the walls of Astra.
My home, too was cloaked in a black essence. My ring burned.
The End
~
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Elemental Havoc (Paranormal Public Book 11) Page 21
