Elemental Storm (The Eldritch Files Book 6)

by Phaedra Weldon

  "Odd. He hasn't come by the camp either."

  I lifted my tea. "You think that would be such a good idea? I mean, look what everyone thinks of me and Bastien."

  "But you and Bastien are not mated." Ben smiled and turned to look at Bastien as he started speaking.

  Mostly the meeting was to solidify his control over those who came with Reese, but stayed because of loyalty to the pack. He declared Reese and his allies rogues and ordered they be treated as such. I wasn't sure I wanted to know exactly what that meant.

  He also declared this area of the French Quarter off limits for now. I again wondered about Kyle and retrieved my phone from my back pocket where I'd shoved it. No messages from him, so I sent him one myself and then set the phone on the table.

  Bastien stopped mid-sentence when my phone buzzed and vibrated, dancing around the table. I grabbed it, thinking it might be Kyle. It was Crwys.

  I waved for them to continue as I took the phone into my disheveled office and answered it. "Hey…you okay?"

  He paused. "Yeah, I'm good."

  "Crwys, I'm sorry about yesterday. I should have called you the moment Jack and Kyle were attacked."

  "No…it's fine. I know you didn't call the Aces. Look…" he paused again, and I thought I heard some people talking. "We've got a lead on some of the forensic evidence they found in Nadeen's house, so I'll be working late tonight. Do…do you have plans?"

  "Plans?" I decided not to tell him about the attack on the shop. I didn't think it was a good idea to add fuel to Crwys's already stoked wolf-fire. "Not really. I have to run to the store today since Kyle, Dharma, and Ivan are out."

  "How are they?"

  "Arden said Ivan's good. Dharma's still sore but recovering, and Ivan won't leave her side. Kyle…" Truth? "I'm not sure where Kyle is. He left Arden's early this morning."

  "I see. I'm sure Kyle's fine."

  That seemed like an odd response. Lately Crwys seemed as worried about Kyle as I was, especially ever since he introduced the young Witch to his hoodoo friend. "Crwys…you sure you're okay? Did your…other things go back the way they were?" I wanted to say wings but…given today's technology and its lack of security, I wasn't sure if saying wings would make someone perk up and listen.

  "Yeah. It's all good. Well, I'll call you tonight, okay?"

  "Okay. Love you."

  "You too."

  I stared at my phone for a few seconds before someone knocked on my open and half-destroyed door. It was Arden, her expression curious. "Hey."

  "Was that Kyle?" Arden came into the room, carefully picking her path through the debris of computer equipment and books.

  "No. It was Crwys. He sounded…weird."

  "Yeah, well"—she looked around—"I guess getting into a knock-down, drag-out fight with a Werewolf the night before over his fiancée's honor could make him sound weird."

  "Arden—"

  "None of my business. But what is my business is finding Kyle. He's not answering his home phone or his cell. And his GPS is turned off."

  I blinked at her. "Do you track him on his phone?"

  "Of course I do. In this city? I worry about him all the time. But he's off the grid. None of my girls have seen him." Her phone rang in her pocket and she answered it.

  I didn't listen in. My brain was too fuzzy to care. Usually I'd turn to Kyle when I felt like this and he would set everything out for me and help me put the pieces in order. That's a Scorpio for you. So why just up and disappear? And not go see Jack?

  Unless him leaving Arden's had been some weird head trauma thing and he was wandering around the city not remembering who he was.

  "So," Arden shoved her phone back in her pocket. "My contact in the police department came through and we've got a two-hour window over at Mambo Nadeen's. The officer watching the place will look the other way."

  I just stared at her. "I don't know which is scarier sometimes—you, or the fact you seem to have everyone in your pocket."

  Arden didn't comment as she bustled me out of the office.

  The back of the shop was empty. "Where did they go?"

  "They left." She came around and looked at me. "Don't give me that puppy dog look just because you missed Bastien. He said to tell you he'd get in touch with you, but you have to make up with your boyfriend. So"—she waved at me—"get dressed, wash your face, and let's get going. I'll drive."

  I ran up the stairs with Grey at my feet, insisting she was going too. And that was okay. I could hear Arden leaving a few irritated messages for Kyle as I got dressed and splashed some water on my face. And as I looked at my reflection, I decided I wanted the bond with my Elementals as soon as I could make it. Which meant tonight.

  That meant I was gonna need the athame and the Hammer.

  "Hey, you think we could swing by your place on the way to Nadeen's, so I can see Dharma and we can pick up Ivan? I think we'll need his magnetic field ability in Nadeen's house."

  "Sure," Arden said as we got into her car. "But we have to call it something else. Magnetic field ability sounds terrible…how about"—she cranked her car as Grey settled in the back and then put the car in drive—"his Vervain."

  She grinned as she pulled onto Bourbon. Grey and I rolled our eyes.

  * * *

  Crwys stared at his cell phone, at the "END CALL" screen and the picture of the woman that had his heart.

  Samantha.

  He couldn't remember why he'd called her. Maybe it was just to hear her voice, to tell himself it had been real, hadn't it? That she really loved him? That what he just learned…couldn't be the truth?

  "Hey, you okay?"

  Crwys half turned to look at Levi as he stuck his head outside Captain Prescott's office. "Yeah…I'm okay."

  "Come back in here."

  "Ashur"—Crwys turned and looked at his oldest friend, the only person he really trusted—"what do you make of this?"

  Levi stepped outside the office door, and once it closed, he let his Demon step forward. His eyes went black and his features sharpened, as did his fangs. He lowered his dual voice as he spoke up close. "I think we don't have all the facts. And I think you don't need to be making assumptions about Bastien and Sam without confronting the two of them. Whether or not they're having an affair or met with Nadeen for something else—"

  "But he said the herbs and the stuff on the altar—all of it was there for a love spell. The hairs belong to a red wolf, and the black ones? That's Sam!"

  "And the coroner said the hairs couldn't be identified because there weren't roots to test DNA, Azazel. You don't know the hairs on that altar were specifically Bastien's and Sam's. You're jumping to conclusions."

  "But he would know." Crwys pointed to the closed door, at Prescott's office. "I sent him to Solomon to learn this stuff. And now he's in there with Prescott, telling us that Sam and Bastien went to see Nadeen." He lowered his arm. "Why would he lie?"

  "You trust him?"

  Crwys looked at the office door as a shadow crossed the smoked glass and it opened. Kyle Kendrick looked out at both of them. "You two okay?"

  Crwys had been more than surprised to see Kyle in Prescott's office when he and Levi got to the station after their visit with the coroner. Tas had left before they did, but he hadn't seen her around yet. Crwys wasn't sure if he really trusted the detective, but he trusted Kyle. So when Prescott had the four of them sit down in her office and had Kyle repeat what he'd just told Prescott—

  It was hard to swallow. Any of it. But it coincided with what Todd had told them.

  Kyle shut the door and stepped up to the two of them. Crwys glanced at Levi and saw his face and eyes had returned to normal. "Look," Kyle said and eyed each of them. "I know what I said is hard to take."

  "You realize Prescott's going to think the wolf's fur is Grey's and the black hair is Sam's," Levi said. "That woman's wanted to get rid of Grey for months, and this is just giving her the ammunition to go after Sam." He crossed his hands in front of him. "Why would you go t
o Prescott first and not us?"

  Kyle looked down. "I just couldn't deal with the lies anymore. The way the two of them had been sneaking off together." He looked up at Crwys and met his eyes. "It wasn't fair to you. You've done so much for me, Crwys. Introducing me to Papa Dumaine? It gave me insight into the mechanics of magic I've never known before."

  Crwys couldn't believe what he was hearing, out of the mouth of Sam's best friend. Was he…did he just confess that Bastien and Sam had been sneaking around…together? Levi put his hand on Crwys's arm, but he pulled away. "So you…brought it here so that we'd what…arrest Sam on suspicion of murder? Kyle, you've got to know that's exactly where Prescott's going to go with this."

  Kyle put his hand on Crwys's arm, and though his instinct was to pull back, Crwys didn't. There was something oddly calming about the young man's touch. "Crwys…think about it. For the past few months she's been taking advice from Arcane Power. You, as well as I, know how dangerous that is, how untrustworthy that kind of magic can be. Look at the number of Witches it's destroyed? Just ask Cosgrove. When he came to the shop yesterday, he told us how dangerous it was. So I had to ask myself…what if it's not really her fault? What if it's the Arcane clouding her mind? Making her do these things? What if her Sylph didn't sever itself at all…what if she did it and sent it off to kill Nadeen because of the love spell?"

  "I don't—" Crwys narrowed his eyes as he looked into Kyle's hazel ones. He didn't want to hear this. He knew Sam. He could see into her bright soul. But…Kyle had always been her best friend. What if…what if he was seeing something Crwys couldn't because he was blinded by his love for her?

  "Think about it," Kyle's voice wrapped around his thoughts, making it difficult to protest. "She insists her Air Elemental has cut its way free, and then you find Nadeen's body, killed by electrocution? There is wolf hair and dark black hair on that altar. There's a love spell in progress there. She was trying to keep Nadeen quiet about their relationship—"

  "No, no, no," Levi's and Ashur's voices combined cut through the fog in Crwys's head as the Vampire slipped between the two of them. "That's where you're wrong. Timelines don't work. According to Todd, Nadeen died before Sam lost her Sylph. Ten hours before. She didn't send her Sylph out there to murder anybody."

  Kyle stepped back. "You know, you're right. Todd did prove Sam's Sylph didn't kill Nadeen. Levi, I apologize. I'm just worried about my old friend and her relationship with Bastien."

  Levi pursed his lips, but he didn't immediately seem to accept the apology.

  "Why don't you and I go grab a cup of coffee and let Crwys sort this stuff out for a bit, hmm? He's looking tired lately, and I wouldn't want Sam to yell at me for upsetting him."

  "I'm fine," Crwys began.

  "No, it's okay." Levi put his hand on Crwys's shoulder and squeezed. "I'll grab coffee with Kyle. Go sit down and wrap your head around this, okay? I'll be right back. You want any?"

  "Yeah. I think I'm gonna need the caffeine." Crwys watched the two of them as they walked down the hall to the break room. He peered at Prescott through the side window of her office. She was on the phone with someone, yelling.

  Maybe he did just need to sit down, so he took the stairs to the homicide department and went to his desk. The bullpen was empty, the entire station devoid of people as uniforms, detectives, and office workers had called in sick.

  Crwys was agitated, more than he should be. And he didn't want to believe what Kyle said. Some small part of him said it couldn't be true. He knew she loved him. But a larger part of him, the guilt-ridden part of him that worried about his impending Sleep and losing her wanted to believe she and the wolf were indeed sleeping together behind his back.

  Given the way they were holding on to each other last night…maybe it was true.

  "Ah, Detective Holliard." Martin Cosgrove strolled into the bullpen. "Just the man I wanted to see. I assume you've spoken to Prescott?"

  "Yeah. I did."

  "Good. Now, I know she means well, and she's got a good head on her shoulders, but I see what's happening between Sam and the wolf as a…well, it's not a NOPD concern. So I think we should handle it in our way. Do you agree? You know, keeping this out of the public eye?"

  Crwys stared at Cosgrove and he thought he understood. But the buzz from Kyle's voice was still in his head, and he didn't want to appear stupid so he nodded. "Sure. Sure."

  "Good, then if you'll follow me, we'll make plans to bring the two of them to the Cleric Office for questioning."

  Crwys fell in step beside Cosgrove as his cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he felt a short, mysterious pain in his chest when he lost a lifelong connection to something very dear, but assumed it was nothing more than heartburn.

  EIGHTEEN

  We took Arden's car as she dialed Kyle's number on her Bluetooth connection during the drive to her Garden District house to pick up Ivan. He looked better than he had the day before. Still banged up with a bandage over his left cheek, but in high spirits since Dharma woke up that morning and held his hand.

  "I told you I had the best doctors and nurses in New Orleans in my group," Arden said as she pulled back onto Prytania Street. "Or at least on my payroll."

  Ivan slid into the front passenger seat while I sat in the back with Grey, making my own calls. I dialed Crwys's number several times, and for the first few calls, it rang and then went to voicemail. Then it just went straight to voicemail. Was his phone dead? Had he turned it off?

  I dialed Levi's number as well and got a few rings and then voicemail, so I left him a message to call me back.

  There wasn't a police black-and-white stationed outside, but the yellow police tape with its black stenciled "DO NOT CROSS" seemed to embody their presence.

  Now that we were parked a few houses down in a neighborhood that had the hairs on my arms standing at attention, I stared at the police tape for a few minutes before I recognized the Ford Focus parked at the curb…in front of Nadeen's house.

  "Is that…" Arden began.

  "Emily Pearson's car," I finished and cursed under my breath as I got out of the car. Grey followed behind me, and I waited on Arden and Ivan. "What the hell is she doing here?"

  "I'm more concerned with her being parked in front of a house with police tape. Even I'm not that stupid." Arden led the four of us toward the house, then we ducked between two houses and made our way around the back.

  Arden seemed to know a shortcut through the back yards of two houses on a very visible footpath right to the back door of Nadeen's house.

  I think Arden's been here before. Grey's tone was full of mirth.

  I agree. I smirked but kept my questions to myself. It sort of made sense that the self-appointed Witch Queen of New Orleans would converse with the most powerful mambo in the Quarter. Though, given what little I knew about Nadeen and what more I knew about Arden, I assumed those conversations probably turned into yelling matches. You think two Alpha wolves couldn't get along? Try two Alpha Witchy women.

  Arden pulled out a pair of latex gloves and snapped them on before she grabbed the back door, mumbled something, and then made a symbol in the air above the lock. I didn't recognize it, but then, I was at a bad angle and the daylight didn't exactly help glowing magical symbols show up.

  The door opened and we filed in behind her.

  The room we entered looked like a converted back porch. The floor paint was nearly worn off from use and I noticed cracks along the edge where the floor met the back walls. The walls were covered in black cloth that blocked out the sun. Arden had turned on a single bulb suspended from the worn ceiling. Old leather couches covered in cracks and duct tape lined the walls. A box of old toys overflowed to the right as Arden stopped at another door. "This was where Mambo's customers would come to wait for her services."

  She did the same thing to the other interior door and we filed in again.

  This time we were in a kitchen, and the smell of something burned assaulted my nose.

  Caref
ul, Grey warned as she nudged my thigh with her nose.

  She stopped me from stepping on the outline of a body. Someone had used white tape on the old linoleum to outline where Nadeen had died. I guess I expected to feel something…maybe a lingering presence. But there was nothing.

  "Stop right there!"

  We all turned to see Emily Pearson standing in the kitchen doorway, a small caliber gun in her hand. She was pointing it at us.

  "Oh, please," Arden said as she waved and the gun sailed through the air to Ivan, who caught it. He looked a bit surprised and smiled at me. "Emily, be careful who you're pointing guns at. You might hurt someone."

  The look on Emily's face was a mixture of surprise, anger, frustration, and I think…fear? She stared at her hands and then at Ivan. "That's the Dianic, isn't it? The one that's dating Dharma?"

  "Guilty," Ivan said as he surprised me by releasing the gun's magazine, looking at it, and then shoving it back in. I knew he'd used guns before, but…I still saw him as like, my kid brother. No playing with guns!

  "He shouldn't be here. Cosgrove's not going to like this. In fact, you all shouldn't be here."

  "Cosgrove?" Arden tilted her head. "Who do you think gave us permission to look?"

  So…Arden liked keeping Cosgrove out of her loops of information, but she wasn't above using his connections to work that information. This did not bode well.

  Emily looked a little pissed off. "We're here keeping an eye on the house." She put her hands on her hips.

  "We?" Arden and I said at the same time.

  Emily smirked and totally ignored our question. "Mr. Cosgrove is the new chief of detectives."

  We all stared at her. The only one that looked mildly surprised was Ivan, who looked at me and I nodded.

  Now Emily looked defeated. "You already knew?"

  "Sorry to spoil your not-so-surprise, Emily," Arden said as she moved toward her, and to Emily's credit, the Earth Cleric didn't back away. "But we already know. Now out of my way."

  "You can't be here."