Elemental Storm (The Eldritch Files Book 6)

by Phaedra Weldon

  I stopped and held out my hands. "Stop…whoa…slow down. I thought Crwys said he was the only Dragon alive."

  "That's what we both thought. But she's here. And she's alive."

  It took a few seconds for the meaning of his statement to sink in. My gaze slid off of Ashur and onto Solomon's face. He looked as confused and then as stricken as I did. "You…you're saying there's another Dragon? Here? In New Orleans?"

  "Yes. And she's been here for a long time. We just never knew it. Now whether she recognized Crwys before recent events, I don't know. I didn't even know she was here until I saw her face a second before the stake went in." He pointed at me. "A Dragon can shove a stake into a Vampire's heart without breaking a sweat. My worry is she's gunning for Crwys like she's always done. And with him so close to—"

  I leaned in close when he stopped. "Close to…what?"

  "We need to get out of here. She's working with Cosgrove, and I don't know if he's aware of what she is." He walked out of the cell and looked down the hall. "You got a car?"

  "We have a car," Solomon said as he followed and stood by me in the hall outside of the cell. "Right now our goal is to find Ivan, so that Samantha can exorcize the ring and get rid of a Dybbuk."

  Asher's eyes widened. "A Dybbuk? Is that what's wrong with Kyle?"

  "You could tell he was possessed?" I said.

  Ashur held out his hands and looked sexy as hell, despite the fact he had fangs and he was covered in blood…and he was a she on the inside. "Are you serious? Look at me? I know about possession, girl. I could smell it on him. I just knew it wasn't a Demon, not like me. So let's get out of here and find Ivan." He looked both ways. "I need to drop by my house first and get some clean clothes. And you need a shower." He pointed at me. "You smell like blood, and I do not need to snack off you anymore."

  We decided to take a different route and eventually found a metal door to the outside. It was in the back of the building and chained shut. But with a Vampire with us, that wasn't the case for long. We would have stood out in the city, especially Ashur in his disheveled clothing and blood, but the sky hadn't lightened any more and clouds had created a monochromatic canopy over the city.

  "The storm's worsening," Ashur said as we piled in Solomon's car.

  I looked at Solomon. "You think this other Dragon's using Domingo to do this, and Domingo's using my Sylph?"

  "Who's Domingo?" Ashur pulled his seat belt down.

  Solomon nodded. "Which is why we have to exorcise that ring as soon as we can. I think if we sever Domingo's control, we'll be able to sever this Dragon's."

  "Who is Domingo?" Ashur asked again.

  I looked back at him. "Who is this Dragon? You said she. So it's a female."

  "Yeah, it's a female Dragon alright. Bat-shit crazy." Ashur's eyes lightened until they were gold and Levi's features softened. When he spoke, the deep timbre was gone and it was just Levi. "She's made Crwys's life a living hell at times. I thought she was dead. So did he. I've got to warn him that she's anything but."

  He looked at me. "Her name is Lethe. And she really believes Crwys is hers."

  TWENTY ONE

  Once I had the name Lethe in my head, I couldn't let it go. I think I sort of assumed there might be other Dragons out there, not that Crwys talked about them much, if at all. I thought he'd said once that he was the only one. But that might have been wishful thinking if this girl Dragon was as crazy as Levi said.

  I tried to get him to tell me more about her as we drove to the Garden District. We'd stopped at his place so he could change clothes, but I opted not to take a shower there since I didn't have any clean clothes to change into. I figured Arden's would be better.

  The look of the sky worried me. When we'd stepped out of the station's basement, the temperature had dropped significantly. I also noticed more thunder, more often. And bright, forked arcs of lightning. But was that lightning striking anything?

  Solomon parked the car along a side street, and we walked down the sidewalk to the back entrance of Arden's home. There wasn't a real back entrance, but there was a break between the brick wall and the iron fence.

  Arden knew we were coming, not because I called, but because she's a Seer. She knows things.

  "Solomon Dumaine, it's a pleasure to finally meet the man whose filling my nephew's head with voodoo nonsense." Arden wasn't known for being tactful at times. But she looked good in her white sundress and pink nail polish. She'd slipped white flats on her feet, and she limped a little when she walked. I wondered if she'd been injured during Cosgrove's little raid.

  I left the two of them to hash out magical theory while I took a shower and dressed in one of Arden's dresses again. I was toweling off my hair when Arden met me in the hall. She led me to the back through a set of doors to her indoor swimming pool. Well, I called it indoors because it wasn't visible from the fence or the road. Another brick wall and lots of tall cypress trees blocked it from view, and the whole area was covered in a netting to keep the bugs out. But now the netting sagged in places where blown leaves and twigs had accumulated in pockets.

  The tile around the pool was brown terra-cotta and the tile inside the pool was white and blue. I'd always considered this the best part of this house, like a little piece of paradise in the center of weird central.

  Meaning New Orleans.

  Usually the place was filled with sun, but I looked up at the gathering clouds. Wind moved the plants around, swayed the surrounding magnolias.

  Arden agreed the clouds were building up to something. No one knew what. Dharma rested in one of the lounge chairs, dressed in a cotton shirt and shorts. She looked good. I could still see the bruises on her cheek and forehead, but her olive skin hid them well. Her face lit up when she saw me, and I held up my hand and my towel as I approached. "Don't get up. I'm coming."

  We hugged, with me bending over to squeeze her tight. Then she caught my hand and searched my face. "Is he okay? I can't find him, Sam. He hasn't been online at all."

  "I'm sure he's fine, Dharma. As long as they think he's just a Dianic, they'll let him go."

  "Arden said Kyle's spilling his guts to Cosgrove. What if he tells Cosgrove about Ivan? Why is he doing this?"

  "A Dybbuk," Solomon said as he stepped out. He'd cleaned up and was now dressed in a cream-colored linen suit and barefoot. He introduced himself to Dharma as Papa Dumaine. The name registered. I saw that in Dharma's eyes.

  "Solomon and I came to an understanding so now we're…acquaintances." Arden pulled up her fan-back chair and sat. She was immediately attended by a group of women in white dresses. Once she had her drink, and her feet were propped up on a pedestal, she dismissed them. "Have a seat Sam. Levi's resting. Though we can't see it through the clouds, the sun is still high, and he's lost a lot of blood. But he'll be ready when we need him."

  "What exactly's going on?" Dharma looked up at the looming clouds. "It's been like this for two days now. It keeps threatening to storm, but it never rains. The thunder and lightning are getting worse."

  I looked up again. "I feel like I need to fight. I need to stand up and beat something down, because if I don't, something even worse is going to happen. But I don't know what that is, and I don't know if it'll effect the city of New Orleans or…"

  "Or?" Arden said.

  "You." Solomon nodded to me. "I've been watching the news, reading the signs, following the flux of magic in the city. I believe whatever this is—and I don't mean John Domingo but what's using him—it's targeting you."

  "Sam's the target?" Dharma said. "For what?"

  "Why do you think it's Sam?" Arden asked Solomon.

  I'd already started suspecting I was the one on the chopping block. I licked my lips as I looked at Dharma and Arden. "Someone used my name to bring that ring into the city. I think they knew what the ring was capable of. They manipulated innocent kids into buying it, giving Domingo the opportunity to attract attention with the zombies."

  "You mean attract the Parliament'
s attention." Arden pursed her lips.

  "Yes. I suspect Domingo already had enough power to manipulate one, if not all of those boys to visit Mambo Nadeen for two reasons." I held up my fingers for each point. "One, to get rid of the only force capable of preventing him from manifesting his power; and two, to steal her knife. A knife that was recently used in a spell that I was unknowingly a part of."

  Before Arden and Dharma could speak, Solomon put up his hand. "The spell was requested in innocence by another party. Sam was unaware of it. But the essence of her lingered on the knife which attracted her Sylph."

  "Exactly." Things started falling into place as I spoke. I was sort of working this out as I went along. "Domingo gained control of my Sylph because he is a spirit. It's what his ring allows him to do. That ring was then hidden away until Ivan discovered it and Kyle touched it. I think that touch changed things. I think…I think whomever is manipulating Domingo wanted to hurt me, but when they discovered Kyle, they decided they could do a better job of that by going through him to get to me."

  Arden held up her finger. "That makes sense. With the idea that someone's targeting you. Force you into situations that make you look dangerous, untrustworthy. Discredit you."

  "Yeah." I nodded. "So that's where I am now." I took in a deep breath. "Have you all talked to Levi?"

  Everyone shook his or her head. So it was up to me to deliver this next piece of news. "Kyle was the one that lured Levi away from Crwys, but he wasn't the one that shoved the stake through his heart." I looked at their faces. "I think it was the one that's after me. And Levi sort of gave me an idea of who...and what it is."

  "What do you mean, what?" Arden's voice lowered and grew stern.

  Solomon and I exchanged looks. He already knew this because he'd heard Levi. "There's another Dragon in town. A female." I waited for their reaction. Arden and Dharma's jaws dropped. "Her name is Lethe. Apparently, Levi and Crwys thought she was dead. Surprise, she's not."

  Several more seconds passed before Dharma said, "You…have a Dragon targeting you."

  "Apparently."

  "What the hell for?" Arden's voice remained low.

  "Apparently this Dragoness," Solomon said, "views Crwys as her own, according to Levi. Since Samantha and the detective are now engaged to be married. I'd say she wasn't too happy about that."

  "Did Crwys ever tell you anything about this?" Arden asked.

  I looked over at Grey who was oddly quiet. She watched me with her human eyes for a few seconds before she spoke. There are many secrets surrounding Dragons. I think you have to choose the ones you want to know.

  Of course that made no sense. I hated it when mom went Yoda. Do you know who this Dragon is?

  I do. I came across her years ago while I was in Medbh's service. She is a Dream Dragon.

  "Dream Dragon?" I said aloud. Everyone else looked as confused as I felt. "I don't know what that means."

  Abruptly, Grey got up and went into the house.

  What the hell?

  "My gut tells me," Solomon said, "that Dream Dragons are connected to Spirit. They have the ability to manipulate thoughts, especially through dreams."

  "Is that why most everyone in the city's asleep or tired?" Dharma said and then pointed up at the clouds. "Is...is that what that is?"

  Was it possible? For a Dream Dragon to create some kind of miasma in the storm to affect most everyone? And why put them to sleep unless—

  I put my hands on my face. That's it! Now it was all making sense.

  "Sam?" Arden said.

  I stood and looked up at the sky. "She's putting the city to sleep, don't you see?" Then I looked at them. "Think about how tired Crwys has been these past few days. How weakened he seems. What's the least confrontational way to take something, or someone? She's eliminating any competition that might oppose her plan."

  "Which is?" Dharma said.

  I looked at all of them and opened my mouth to say, but my mom said it for me.

  "To destroy Sam and take Crwys."

  All eyes turned to the tall brunette Witch standing in the doorway. She wasn't in her usual furs, but dressed in one of Arden's black dresses with long sleeves. Her feet were bare, and her face…

  Her face was no longer young. She didn't look the age she'd been when the Faerie Queen took her. She looked the age she should be. Eighteen years past that day.

  Arden gasped as she stood and put her hands to her face. "Elizabeth, you—"

  Mom held up her hand. "It was time, Arden. I can't keep hiding as a wolf. I can't even remember what I was hiding from. I'm free to choose." She focused on me and held out her hands. "I choose my daughter."

  I ran to her, my bare feet slapping against the tile. Her arms encircled me and I wrapped mine around her. She'd taken on human form now and then, but not like this.

  "I'm missing something," I heard Dharma say.

  "Eliza's given up her Faerie form," Arden said. "She's mortal now. And once again a God Mother's child."

  I pulled back a little from Mom and then wiped my eyes so I could look at her. "But why? As a Hunt animal you could live for a long time."

  "For what?" She said to me as he brushed my still damp hair aside. "Like that I can't help you. I can't…protect you the way I should as a mother. You were growing too used to me being your little furry companion. And right now—you all are going to have to fight a Dragon and you'll need all the Elemental Witches you can get. So…" She kissed my forehead before she put her right arm around me and led me back to the other three.

  I moved back as she hugged Arden, then Dharma, and then blushed when Solomon kissed her hand.

  "Now that that's out of the way, the best way to fight back is to cut off this Dragon's support. That would be Domingo and his hold over both the Sylph and Kyle. And to do both of those things, we're going to need to go find Ivan."

  "Ivan?" Arden blinked.

  "Yes. The ring has no effect on Ivan. In fact, his magic nullifies it, as we've seen. That would be the best way to remove the ring. And the best way for Sam to get her Sylph back and out of Domingo's hands is to perform the bonding ritual."

  Arden snorted. "What's that got to do with Ivan? And besides, you know that ritual's just a myth."

  "No, it's real, Arden." Mom smiled at her. "But it's in a book that we don't have access to at the moment. But Ivan does. I believe it's time to put the young Water Witch's power of her Element to use with yours to find Ivan."

  Solomon worked with Dharma, Mom, Arden and I in a small four-person circle by the pool. I think he'd wanted it that way, since her Undine and mine used the pool to spread out our probing Waters to search the city.

  It took over an hour, but once we hit Lake Pontchartrain, our Undines soared fast and stopped on the other side at the church where Parliament kept the local Cleric Office. Cosgrove had taken Ivan to the one place it wouldn't have occurred to me to look.

  We also found Kyle there as well.

  "Why there?" Dharma said as I poured her a glass of water and had her drink it. Two of Arden's girls brought us a tea service, which Solomon made quick work of.

  "I think it's because the Cleric Office has all he needs to keep a Witch in secret. Ivan's getting well known in some circles as my sidekick, just as Kyle is. So if he put him anywhere else, he'd be recognized."

  Dharma nearly dropped the teacup Solomon handed her. "I'm scared for him, Sam. I don't want them to know what he can really do."

  I thought back to that moment in Nadeen's house. I'd watched Kyle when Cosgrove asked him about Ivan, and I was pretty sure it was the real Kyle that prevented Domingo from revealing anything.

  But that didn't mean Kyle wouldn't lose the next battle with the thing possessing him, if he hadn't already. "I'm going to keep faith in Kyle and hope he doesn't tell Cosgrove the truth." I just hoped the real Kyle was keeping Ivan safe while protecting him from Domingo.

  "So," Mom said as she took her tea from Solomon. "We need Ivan. Do we break in and rescue him?"
<
br />   "Trying to break into the Cleric Office is sort of a do-not-even-try idea." I didn't touch my tea. I'd started thinking about this female Dragon again and dialed Crwys's number several times on Bastien's phone. Voicemail. "I'm pretty sure I could do it with my Arcane, but I'm not sure what kind of destruction that could wage on the building itself."

  -Thank you for that vote of confidence.-

  You know I'm right. "We could always do a black ops thing and sneak in like you said, but I don't know the full layout of the place. Ivan would be the one that could find that out for me. Arden, what about your nerd Witches? Could they give a full layout of the office?"

  "That wouldn't work," she said as she set her tea down. "The Cleric Office is too well warded even for my Witches to infiltrate. Trust me." She smirked. "I've already tried."

  I held the phone in both of my hands between my legs. Not a very lady like way to sit, but I was thinking and silently thanking Arcane for bandaging the hole where my Sylph had been. If she hadn't, that combined with Crwys deserting me last night and now not answering his phone, there being some crazy girl Dragon running around, and not to mention Kyle's possessed and Ivan's in trouble again…I'd be a basket case. "I'm open for suggestions."

  "Is this spell anywhere else?"

  I shrugged.

  "There is a book it might be listed in." Solomon set his tea down. "But I'm not even sure the book exists anymore. Last I heard it was destroyed. Ripped apart and scattered."

  "What book?" Dharma asked.

  "It doesn't really have a title. It's a Grimoire. It was actually called the Grand Grimoire at one time. Originally, it was put together by a Demoness who wanted to use the spells she collected to defeat her sibling but…"

  I wasn't listening to the story anymore. I'd already heard it, or a version of it, over a year ago. I knew exactly what book Solomon was talking about, and I knew where it was.

  But I didn't have my phone where the number was stored. Think, think…what was the last thing I knew about him, his last email, his last message…