Elemental Soul (The Eldritch Files Book 5)

by Phaedra Weldon

  Bastien was by the wood burning stove, pouring coffee into a tin cup. How very pioneer of him. He offered it to me and I took it. He poured himself a cup and sat down on the worn sofa. It was a newer one, as were the other bits and pieces of furniture. So I sat on the chair closest to him.

  I sipped the coffee and it was surprisingly good. Chicory of course. "Bastien—"

  "Très belle, manifique, chérie." He smiled at me and I was reminded again how alluring he was. "You have blossomed with amour, Samantha." I liked the way he said my name, like no one else. "Why are you here?"

  "Because it's come to my attention you're not shifting. And apparently someone named Court is vying for Alpha."

  He didn't agree or disagree, just watched me. "You are concerned, no?"

  "No…I mean yes, I'm concerned. You're what keeps the accord in place, Bastien. You have to stay Alpha. So I…" Okay so how was I going to put this? "I heard another rumor that the reason you're not shifting is because…"

  He arched a brow at me. "Oui?"

  "Because of me. That I broke your heart so you've lost the will to shift."

  I really, really wasn't expecting a deep belly laugh out of him. I mean, seriously…ouch? So I waited with growing irksomeness as he continued to laugh himself into tears. He rolled over on the couch and then set his tin cup on the wood coffee table along with the boob magazines and army surplus catalogs.

  When he quieted down I set my own cup on the table. "Are you done making fun of me?"

  "Oh no…I mean no I wasn't making fun of you, belle. It's just…" He wiped at his eyes and pushed a lock of red hair away. He'd grown a slight beard along his jawline. It looked good. "It's just…hearing that from you. It warmed my heart."

  "So you're not pining."

  "No."

  "And you're not, not-shifting because of me?"

  He shrugged with his shoulders. "Not really. My shifting doesn't have anything to do with how I feel about you." He abruptly sobered and looked very serious. "My feelings haven't changed, chérie. They never will."

  "But I love—"

  He held up his hand. "I know where your heart is. I know with whom. And I will be here in case his stupidity gets in the way of his duties. But my reasons for not embracing my wolf form are more complicated."

  "How complicated? Is it a curse?" I put my hands on my hips even while sitting. "Is it Arden? Did she do this?"

  "No. It 'twas not Arden." He scooted to the edge of the sofa. "Samantha, this situation calls for patience. My reasons for not becoming a wolf are my own."

  "Answer me this," I leaned toward him. "Is it voluntary? Or involuntary?" When he frowned I had to rephrase. "Can you really not shift?"

  "No. I cannot. And I will not."

  "But if they try to attack you…"

  He smiled at me. "You speak of their war council. I know of it. There is more to survival than brute force. I have survived for a very, very long time. Court and his followers don't frighten me. But I do need to speak with Ben—" He stopped moving and tilted his head to the right and became very, very still.

  I felt the hairs on my arms rise as I sensed something. I wasn't sure what it was, just that it was familiar. Something I'd been close to before.

  My Elementals appeared because they sensed it too. They looked worried, but determined.

  "Sam!" came Kyle's voice. "We got company!"

  Bastien was up and gone before I could shove my bag under the coffee table. I grabbed my gun, checked the ammunition and then stepped outside, giving my Elementals their orders to take up defensive positions.

  Jack and Kyle stood on the porch. Kyle's hands were aflame with magic as he faced forward. I didn't recognize any of the wolves facing us.

  There were four visible, standing just outside the cleared area, back in the trees. They weren't trying to hide themselves. They wanted us to see them. Three men and one woman.

  They were Aces pack.

  "It's Court," Jack said as he growled low in his throat. As an apogee, turning without the full moon would be difficult. He could do it, but I'd have to make him mad first.

  "Which one?" I asked.

  "Right here," the dark-skinned one said as he stepped forward. He wore jeans, boots and a denim vest covered in army patches. None of which he'd earned in any armed service, I was sure. Tattoos decorated his muscular arms and shaved head. Tribal from the looks of some. Others looked like…magical symbols. And they looked like welts…like fresh tattoos.

  "Hold it right there," I said as I raised my gun. "This is private property."

  "Yes, it is," Court said as he stopped on the edge of the clearing. "Property that doesn't belong to the Witch that holds it." He laughed and I saw sharp teeth. Which made sense since these were wolves.

  And then his eyes went red. All red, just like…

  A Leviathan.

  "Hello, Samantha. You miss your aunt Ina?" He held up his hands and laughed as he said, "I'm baaaaaack…"

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Dionysus."

  TEN

  SAMANTHA

  Dionysus had overshadowed a Lycan. And he had Lycan backup. Had he been overshadowing this Lycan since he abandoned Ina's body? It would be a perfect cover. Who would think that inside of a Lycan pack there was a Leviathan? They both loved the taste of blood. So what if one of them drank a lot more of it than the others?

  "I thought you'd be happier to see me. After all, I did raise you to be mine."

  I shot him a bird. "Nice to see you back in a male body, Dionysus. Bet you had a lot of penis envy for what—eighteen, nineteen years?"

  "Dionysus?" the wolf to his left said. "What the hell she call'n you that for?"

  "Shove it, Nash." Court/Dionysus kept his attention focused on me. "We know the big bad wolf is here, and he's not leaving here alive. Once he's out of the way, that just leaves the other problem."

  He was doing exactly what Cromwell believed he would. He was trying to get rid of all obstacles in his path to me. I could see it now. I glanced at Nash. "So Court hasn't told you, huh? That he's got a Leviathan inside of him?"

  "A what?"

  "A Vampire. He's not even Court anymore, 'cause Leviathan Vampires destroy their host's soul," said Kyle. His hands glowed with power.

  Getting ahead of the game, I sent my Salamander over to Jack and told him to light a little fire under the man's ass. And he did. Within seconds, Jack shifted from human to wolf—and either he'd gotten better at this or I'd never noticed how big he was, but Jack's shoulder height was even with Kyle's upper arm. Big. Black. And damn scary.

  "Kill them," Court/Dionysus said. "But leave me the girl."

  Jack launched before any of the others had a chance and he jumped the wolf named Nash. In fact, Jack got to him before he even had a chance to shift.

  The shorter of the wolves, standing between the female and Court ran at Kyle, but Kyle was ready and blasted the bastard backward. The wolf, still in human form, flipped in the air and landed in the woods. Kyle glanced at me, winked, and went after his intended.

  When the Leviathan's eyes widened, I glanced over to see Bastien beside me holding the biggest fucking gun known to wolf and man. He might not be shifting—but damn—he was packing.

  Bastien pointed it at Court. "Want me to take him, chérie?"

  "Naw. You get rid of the bitch." I smiled at Court/Dionysus. "Dionysus and I have some talking to do."

  Bastien aimed the gun at the girl, but she was fast and disappeared into the woods. He leaned in, kissed my cheek, and ran off after her. I sent a silent blessing after him, along with my Sylph to keep an eye on the three of them. I needed to know these were the only players Dionysus brought with him.

  "So," Dionysus stepped through the boundary and stood several feet from me. "Aren't you going to unleash your Arcane Power against me? Make me pay for what happened to your lover?"

  "No." I did summon my Elements, and all of them came to me, except for my Sylph, who kept a running image commentary in the back o
f my thoughts. I held my weapon up, aimed at his face. "The last time you forced me to use my Arcane a girl's soul was stolen. I'm not going to help you destroy the wolf's soul."

  "P'fff…it's already quite gone, Sam. Every body I touch loses itself, one way or another. But please…understand. The soul I'm riding here isn't that of the wolf."

  I winced. "Is it…Arwen?"

  "No. I'm afraid she didn't last as long as I'd hoped. I left her inside Ina with the promise if she could sustain that body, she would have it." He shrugged and gave me an exaggerated sigh. "Alas…she could not."

  Son of a bitch. "So you just left Ina's body there in her own garden."

  "That was never her garden, Sam. It was always mine. But I see the Parliament covered it all up for you. Tsk, tsk. Pity really. Having you locked up in jail would have proven the best place for you. All packaged and ready to go. I'm afraid that jacked my surprise for you."

  Abruptly, he shifted from human to wolf. It wasn't as smooth a transition as Bastien's or some of the other wolves I'd seen. This was drastic, with the snap and pop of ripping bone and skin, the crack of cartilage, and I wondered if whomever's soul he was riding inside of Court could feel the agony, if Dionysus was shunting that pain to them. Whoever they were, they powerless to do anything.

  So I shot him in the head.

  The bullet hit its mark and lodged into the wolf's skull. The damage to its brain abruptly halted the transformation so he was stuck between human and wolf. If I really thought about it, it was the most frightening thing I'd ever seen.

  I thought he'd scream in pain. I didn't expect him to laugh. But I should have. I stepped aside as my Gnome swung her axe at his back legs. The blade struck tendons as blood spurted up and splashed across her face. I fired again as I tossed a good-sized fireball at the creature and set it on fire as it stumbled.

  It screamed and went down, and though my Gnome raised her axe in triumphant glee…I knew this was too easy.

  Way…too easy.

  I heard the sound of gunfire again and the scream of something in pain.

  I stepped back as the burning, charred husk of the half-wolf, half-man continued to snap and crack as it shifted again, and then again. It was man, and then wolf, and then half, and then it twisted and lengthened until it finally came up out of a pile of ash. It wasn't a wolf anymore.

  And it wasn't human.

  His voice was rough and throaty as he growled through the muzzle of a panther.

  A large black panther. Its red eyes focused on me as it crept closer.

  I called on my Salamander and he instantly became the flaming gun in my hand again. I fired at the advancing panther.

  The Salamander's bullets became tiny needles of flame as they pierced the big cat's coat, but it didn't matter. It still kept coming closer. Dionysus couldn't feel the pain, but I suspected the soul he had could. And knowing that every wound I inflicted on the body was a wound I inflicted on that soul handicapped me. I found myself afraid to use magic against him.

  And he knew that. That bastard knew he'd found a weakness.

 

  I was at a loss as to how I was supposed to use Spirit to defeat this monster. How was I going to wound it, much less destroy it, without the combined power of all five Elements?

  He vaulted high in the air like big cats do to launch at their prey. My guilt reflex took a back seat to my survival reflex as I unloaded both guns into his underbelly, but he just shifted his dark fur into something harder like the shell of a tortoise.

  I threw up a ward seconds before I ran back to the house. A blur from my right side brushed past me, and the lunging, shifting cat never landed on me.

  Gulping air and grabbing hold of one of the porch supports, I turned and looked at the swamp surrounding us. I saw brush parting as Jack in wolf form bounded into view. Blood dripped from his muzzle and it looked like he'd taken a good cut to his left leg but he was alive. Then Kyle appeared. He had a cut across his cheek and both of his hands held long, sharp knives. Where did he get those?

  I don't know how I did it, but I heard Bastien in my mind before I heard him cry out around us. I dove into the woods, followed by Jack and Kyle. I zeroed in on where he was, turning right, turning left, following that tenuous link to the pack I still carried with me.

  Stopping at a tree, I found him on his side. The gun was half inside the skull of the panther and it was slowly shifting back to human form. This kind of shift meant the wolf was dying or dead, and from the look of brain matter splattered over the surrounding bushes and tree trunks, it looked as if Bastien had not only blown a bullet into its skull, but he'd bashed the skull in as well.

  "He's got a deep cut on his neck," Kyle said as he got on his knees and pushed Bastien over on his back. "Do you see it?"

  I did and I summoned power into my hands before I placed them carefully on his neck. Closing my eyes, I dove in as deep as I could until I felt the cut, the severed nerves, the veins, the muscle and the skin, and I pushed energy into mending it all.

  I knew in that moment I was using Spirit as I called upon all of my Elements and they came to form a crown above my hands. I called out in a single note to the soul of the man inside and I ordered him to stay alive. I begged him to stay alive. And just as I'd seen Regine in that place between life and death the night she was born, I could see Bastien as he came toward me.

  And I saw…

  No. Oh, Lady Darksome no!

  I saw the soul of only half a man. The wolf half, or the place where I knew a wolf should be…was cut away. Still raw and tender and bleeding…but gone.

  This was why he couldn't shift. This was why he'd distanced himself from everyone. And just on the edge of my own perception, I caught the scent of jasmine and roses. The smell of Faerie Magic.

  Of…

  Tzariene.

  "Sam…let go…he's breathing again."

  I felt Kyle's hand on my shoulder and I opened my eyes. I stared down into Bastien's face, into his human face. Still covered in his blood, I gingerly touched his cheek.

  "Sam?" Jack's voice cut through the noise in my head. "What's wrong? Is Bastien going to die?"

  I sniffed and looked over at Jack. He was nude and hunched down beside Kyle. Kyle looked worried, but I didn't think his concern was for Bastien. "We…we need to get him inside. Kyle, can you call Arden? Have her bring some of her healers here."

  "But you healed him."

  "As much as I could. But he's going to need more. He's got a few internal injuries…something I can't heal. I don't…I don't know if they can be mended."

  Jack spoke up. "But Bastien's a wolf. He's perigee. His natural ability to heal will kick in."

  "Not this time it won't." I looked at Jack. "Because he doesn't have a wolf half anymore."

  Both of them looked at me like I'd grown a third head. Kyle glanced at Bastien and then at me. "I don't understand. Is that why he hasn't shifted?"

  "Yeah. Because it's not there."

  "Wait," Kyle shifted closer. "Sam, wolves don't just lose their wolf half. You're saying Bastien's just a human."

  "Yeah. He is." I took Bastien's hand in mine and brought it to my lips. There I kissed him and rubbed my cheek against his clammy skin. "Just…call Arden, okay?"

  I watched as he retrieved his phone and stepped away. Jack moved in closer, a pup looking at his adopted father.

  I spoke directly to him, knowing on some level he could hear me. wolf half, didn't you? That's why you wouldn't tell me. That's why you disappeared after we stepped back through. Had that last time in Alfheim been your last moments as a wolf, Bastien? To give up a part of yourself for someone you barely knew…> I bowed my head and leaned into him, pushing my forehead against his chest.

  That was a lesson you, of all people, didn't need to learn.

  ELEVEN

  SAMANTHA

  More of the Aces pack showed up at the cabin before Arden and her people got there. The arriving wolves were those still loyal to Bastien—which I learned was pretty much everyone else. We'd destroyed the four causing the rift. Mainly Court. I didn't for a second believe that killing Court also killed Dionysus. He was still there. Possibly inside one of the other pack members, or maybe even in one of Arden's coven.

  I hated that we couldn't tell.

  The Lycan healers and the Witch healers argued over what was best for Bastien. The wolves wanted him brought back to their compound and the Witches believed he should convalesce at Gypsy Gardens. But when it came to making the decision, an awakened Bastien and a frustrated Arden agreed he should stay in the cabin with both a Witch and a Lycan healer. Though truthfully, Bastien didn't want anyone else there.

  Arden, still looking a bit rough after my punching fit, got a call while preparations were made and medical supplies were brought into the cabin. Once she stepped outside and Bastien and I were alone, I sat on the bed next to him.

  The wound on his neck was nearly healed, thanks to what little I still commanded of Spirit and having given him a little of my own. But his other wounds, the gashes and bruises, many of which needed icing and stitches, were wrapped tight. Several lengths of bandages wrapped around his shoulder, his left forearm and his chest. He propped himself up in bed with a sheet pulled up to his waist. And knowing Bastien, he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing beneath it.

  A bruised cheek and chin, a split lip and cuts over his forehead, all butterflied and treated, didn't look right on him. Lycans were notorious for healing quickly, much like Vampires. I'd never seen him so beat up…and I didn't like it.