That didn't make sense to me. Cromwell was the High Witch Elder Grand Whatsis, so shouldn't his word be law or something? If he didn't want to do this, then why were we? And why in the seven muses did he think gathering this kind of information was a waste of time? I mean, this kind of thing should be tickling his pickle, so to speak. If the guy warlocked me just to build strength with my Arcane, why not test to see if I can Track the way my mom did?
Unless… "He got outvoted. The Elders are still a committee."
Yes.
This was magic way outside my pay grade. And it was definitely not something Ina…Dionysus…ever taught me. I was pretty sure he never wanted me to learn this trick. You can teach me?
Your Elementals will. Ask them, and they will do it.
I stood and looked at Crwys beside me. I took his hand in mine and he kept his other hand on my back, supporting me. I felt an overwhelming surge of love for him. Acceptance. And genuine need. He was a part of me now…I somehow knew this.
I summoned my Elementals. They appeared around me, visible to everyone in the room, even Jack because they knew he was a part of my trusted circle of friends. I pulled each of them to me, touched them with my hands, and asked them as a group to show me what happened to the souls here.
Each of them dropped their shapes and became burning balls of light in their corresponding colors. Green for Earth, yellow for Air, blue for Water and red for Fire. I drew a white pentagram in the air in front of me and they moved into position. The only empty point was the one on top, the place where Spirit should be. I watched in fascination as they moved along the lines of the star and gathered together at the empty point to collide in a brilliant light that forced me to close my eyes.
For a second I felt like I was falling. But I wasn't panicked. I knew on some level I was safe and that nothing would hurt me. Not with two Elders and a Drachen by my side. The house formed around me in the dark, a chalk-like wire frame that built on itself as I moved up into the foyer once again. I saw a woman, thin, with beautiful blond hair come through the front door with a child beside her. The little girl couldn't have been more than six. They were dressed in matching outfits and the mother had a bag of groceries in her hand.
She called out a name. A man's name. And he came down the stairs to greet them. I couldn't make out their faces. The faces remained in shadows with only glimpses of a nose or a brow. No features. The man took the little girl up the stairs as the woman took the bag into the kitchen.
I followed the man and the little girl up the stairs as she removed her coat and took them to her room. The man said something and the little girl nodded. So he knelt beside her and put his arms around her.
At first, I didn't understand what I was seeing. I thought he was hugging her. But then she struggled against him, and he held her tighter and tighter. She screamed and finally stopped moving as her head lolled to one side. I put my hands to my mouth so I wouldn't scream. I wanted to scream. What I was seeing…had this man just murdered his child? Held her so tight she suffocated?
I saw the woman coming up the stairs and I tried to warn her not to go into the room. Not to see what her husband had done. I yelled until my throat was raw, but then, these were just shadows of what happened. Frozen images forever engrained on the Akashic Records.
The man carried the child to the bed and set her there. Carefully making sure she looked like she was sleeping. The mother stepped into the room and approached the child. What would she do when she realized her child was dead? That her husband had killed her?
The woman leaned over the little girl and brushed her hair to the side. She stood, faced the husband, and then dropped to the floor with a thud. No warning, no stumbling back. She just…fell.
Abruptly, the little girl sat up and stretched. She leaned her head to the right, then the left, as if stretching after a long nap. I caught the hint of a smile on the little girl's face as she scooted off the bed, touched the man's hand and said something…
She said…
"I'm done with that one. I took Arwen with me."
And then she ran off into the bathroom.
The man walked around the bed and picked up the lifeless body of the mother. I followed him as he descended the steps, went into the kitchen, and down the stairs to the basement. There I saw the bodies…piles of them with maybe five or ten of them in each section where the police would later mark them. There weren't as many bodies so I assumed this was some time in the past. This man…whatever he was…whoever he was…carried the body to the pile marked women and carefully, meticulously, set the body alongside another young woman. He arranged her arms, her legs and closed her eyes.
I heard footsteps and turned to see the little girl come running down. She'd changed her clothes into a little girl's jeans, shirt and hoodie. "Ready?"
"Yes." The man knelt down in front of her where she stood on the last step and held out his arms.
I'd seen that same gesture. I'd seen a blond man offer himself just like…
Just like that.
I moved behind the man so I could see the little girl's face. I saw—
Red eyes.
Long fangs.
"No!" I screamed out loud as my Elementals dispersed and the Technicolor world I lived in returned. I was on my back, on the floor, in the middle of the square where he'd put the woman's body. I scrambled to get away, knocking against Kyle and Jack. I didn't want to be there…not where she'd been laid to rest…not where he'd discarded her after he'd finished.
"Sam!"
The voice was both in my head and beside me as I tried to run up the steps. I looked up into the face of Cromwell Dryden, blocking my escape. For the first time I could remember, he looked worried. Apprehensive.
I shook my head. "Don't make me go back down there. D-don't make me see that again—"
"Elizabeth…it's okay." Cromwell looked past me as he spoke. "There's no need…"
Elizabeth. He'd used my mother's name. When she was human. When she wasn't…a wolf.
"Baby, turn around and look at me."
It was her voice. HER VOICE. Aloud. Not in my head. I half-turned to see her eyes. The wolf's eyes but also those of my mom. Her face…the face from pictures. She was beside me, stroking my hair. "M-mom?"
"Sshh…" She moved back and held out her hands.
I ran to her and held her. My mom. My own flesh and blood. Not a puppet. Not something out of a memory. But my real, honest to Goddess mother!
And I cried. Oh Lady Darksome, I cried. For that little girl, for the woman before her, for the poor souls who became nothing more than objects to him. Vehicles. Horses to ride from adventure to adventure.
"She…she hasn't aged…" said Kyle. "I mean I've seen pictures."
"Because in Faerie time runs differently, Kyle," Arden said. "Eliza Hawthorne stopped aging when she became Medbh's Hunt beast. But when the Obsidian Queen was removed, that claim was gone. Medbh released Elizabeth."
I heard her heart beating against my ear, felt her warm flesh against my cheek.
"Eliza…" said Arden. "Can you stay like this? As a human?"
"From time to time. It's getting easier. But those who knew me will know I haven't aged, and it's best, and easiest, for me to stay a wolf, to protect the one thing most precious to me."
I held her tighter. She'd taken her human form once before and I'd thought it a dream. To have her here now… "Mom…"
"You have to tell them what you saw. You have to let them know the truth."
I sniffed and stepped away. I was a little afraid Mom would be naked like the Lycans were when they shifted, but she wore a dark brown shift that accented her hair. I recognized it as Arden's. I looked at her, at Arden, and wondered…had she known this? Had she known what my mother could do?
"Sam—"
I shifted my gaze to Cromwell. "It's Dionysus. This was his home. Or one of them. I got the sense there are more. He's somehow using this man, or thing, to remove the souls from bodies so he can rid
e them like horses. The bodies that were piled up down here were the ones he discarded when he was done." I didn't want to think about what I saw, but I had to. "I think I know who—"
"Hey, Sam!"
That was Levi's voice. I looked around the room and noticed neither Levi nor Crwys was in the basement. "Where are you?"
"He took Detective Holliard upstairs." Cromwell sounded a bit irritated. "The poor man nearly fainted when you started your spell, so Tulose took him upstairs for air."
I smiled at my mom who pushed me to the steps. I ran up them, followed by everyone else.
"Sam!" Cromwell said. "You have to finish your report!"
Crwys was in the middle of the foyer unconscious with Levi over him. "What happened?"
"He passed out. We've got to get him back to your place. He's too vulnerable like this." He said that last part in a low voice next to my ear as the others came out of the kitchen.
"Can you lift him?" I asked the Vampire.
He smiled at me as his Demon came through, eyes black. "He ain't heavy, Sam. He's my brother."
I smiled at Ashur, whom I'd grown to know since dating Crwys. The Demon was a lot more laid back than Levi, and I liked it when he took the reigns. I stood back as Levi put on his sunglasses since the sun was still up, threw Crwys over his shoulder, and took my offered key. "Put him in the bed. I'll be right there."
I watched them leave before I turned back to Cromwell. "Show's over. I'm heading to Bell, Book and Candle. If you want me, you'll have to meet me there."
Kyle and Jack ran with me to my Jeep. Mom had transformed back into Grey and climbed in the back with Jack. I ran the Jeep over the grass to get around Arden's car and then went off the curb to get to the street.
What we needed to do now was find out who that blond man in my vision was. I had a pretty good idea that I'd already met him in Ivan's apartment. And I was lucky to not have been a body on that floor.
THIRTEEN
SAMANTHA
Bell, Book and Candle became the happening place that evening. Everyone at the soulless body house, except for Emily, ended up in the break room as Kyle, Levi and I sat with Crwys in the bedroom. He came to just after Levi got him into the Mustang and wanted to get back to the house. He remembered me screaming.
I didn't remember me screaming—at least out loud. But apparently I did.
Crwys eventually settled into the bed as long as I was with him and promised not to go back out. I was amazed at how fast he drifted off. He'd always been a light sleeper, as far as I could remember, even when we first met. Our first night together—any turn I made against him brought him wide awake and looking for trouble. His hair-trigger ability to come from sleep to fully awake made more sense once I knew what he was. Knowing his longevity and the fact that his blood, as well a few other parts of him, were sought after in the Other Worlds, keeping alert had been programmed in.
But this?
Kyle went downstairs to make coffee since my own coffee maker had stopped working a month ago and I hadn't bothered getting a new one. Those things were expensive, especially the kind that used those little non-biodegradable cups. It was just me, Levi and the now sleeping Crwys in my apartment.
Levi had kept pretty quiet during the whole thing. Even Ashur was silent, which given Crwys's recent situation and now this…I sort of assumed the Demon would have been all over it making jokes.
I'd curled up with Crwys, on top of the sheets, so he'd fall asleep. Once he was out, Levi appeared at the bedroom door and crooked his finger, wanting me to step out. I kissed my lover's forehead, smiled at his peaceful face, and joined Levi in the living room. "What is it?"
"Kyle just ran up here to give you a message, but I thought it was better if Crwys fell asleep first. Apparently, there's been some movement with the Blackwood decision."
"Oh really? Maybe the committee's settled on a punishment. Are they all still downstairs?"
Crwys yelled out in the bedroom and I was at his side in seconds, Levi just behind me. He was sitting up, the lower palms of his hands pressed against his eyes. "Baby?" He looked like he was in a lot of pain.
"It's this damn headache," he said in a small voice. "It's like this flare behind my eyes." He lowered his hands and looked at me. "Oh wow. That face. Do I look that bad?"
"It's okay. I'm just tired. Worried about you."
He smirked at me. "Don't be. I'm fine. Just maybe a flu or something."
I swallowed. "Do Dragons get the flu, Crwys?"
He didn't answer and I could see it in his eyes. He was scared. Just as much as I was.
"Hey, Sam!" came Kyle's voice from the living room just after I heard him stomping up the steps. "We need you in the break room. Did Levi tell you?"
"What's going on?" Crwys asked. "Is it about the soul stealer?"
"It's about Blackwood," I said and kissed him on the lips. "I'm gonna go see what's up. Levi, will you stay with him? Just make sure he rests."
Levi winked. I kissed Crwys again and ran out of the bedroom. I splashed water on my face, checked myself in the mirror, and then headed down stairs. Dragons don't get sick. I was pretty sure of that. So what in the hell was wrong with him?
"Arden was just telling me about something you fought in Ivan Westerfield's apartment?" Cromwell said as he met me at the bottom of the stairs.
I silently cursed Arden again as I moved around him and grabbed a clean coffee cup off the drainer. I was surprised she hadn't said anything to Crwys. But then again, she was probably steering clear of him. "Yeah." I didn't say anything else until I'd poured the coffee. That's when I turned and saw everyone looking at me. Cromwell, Arden, Kyle and Jack. I had my suspicions and maybe I liked keeping things under wraps until I knew, but I was also aware everyone in this room had a vested interest in finding out what happened in that house.
When I didn't say anything right away, Arden spoke up. "Did Detective Tulose tell you who owns that house?"
I shook my head. "No. He didn't say anything about it." I chalked Levi's silence about the house to his preoccupation with Crwys. Same as me. I mean seriously, I suck at multitasking, and right now, Crwys was front and center in my worry cue.
"Cheryl Newman," Arden said.
I pursed my lips and shook my head as I leaned my butt against the sink's edge. "Should I know that name?"
"You'd know her as Arwen."
Everything flat lined at that moment. It was like the room drained of color and I was looking at that scene again. The tall blond, the woman dropping and the child coming back to life. I knew it was Dionysus. Every fiber in my body said it was Dionysus. To learn the house was owned by the very soul he stole from the woman…I killed with Arcane.
Kyle came around the table and took the mug from my hand.
They don't know about what happened in the garden, Grey said in my mind. No one knows that but Crwys. So calm down.
I took in a deep breath. Everyone here but Grey, and myself, believed Dionysus killed Arwen and stole her soul. No one suspected the event, and everything leading up to it, was the reason I'd been infected with Arcane. But now I was no longer infected and I believed it was because that bastard stole it. So why did I feel so guilty?
"Shugah, you okay?" Arden's concern sounded genuine, I just didn't want it.
"I'm fine. Are you sure it's Arwen's house?"
"She actually bought it when she came to New Orleans for a new job. From what the NOPD has uncovered, after her disappearance, the utilities continue to be paid out of an account she set up, co-signed by Inamorata Devonshire."
Dionysus.
I gripped the edge of the sink at my sides. "So Dionysus kept this house to store the bodies he began using after he was freed from Medbh's curse."
"That's what it looks like," Kyle said. He stayed at my side. Grey came from under the table and leaned on my leg. I wanted her to be a human now, but I sensed, somehow, that those moments were fleeting. It used a lot of her power to take on her human form.
Cro
mwell said, "You said there was a man sucking out the souls. Is it the same man you fought in Westerfield's apartment?"
I nodded. "I think it was. I couldn't see his face in the Track. But it felt like him. Same height and build. When…when I used my dex on him," I swallowed. "I couldn't tell what he was. But when he attacked me, when he put his hand on me, it felt like he was trying to take my soul."
"The one with the funny blue Arcane?"
That comment elicited several questions for clarification. "It was blue was all I could see. And it felt like Arcane, but it was different."
"When you say you couldn't identify this man," Cromwell said. He didn't seem interested in this new blue Arcane at all. "What do you mean?"
"My dex has a database, parameters I set up when I wrote the spell. I add to it when I come across new things."
"Basic spell mechanics," he said. Not really in a judgey voice, but it sounded stern.
"Well, when I used the spell on him, it came up blank. Normally, when it can't identify something, I have it default to telling me unknown. But it didn't say unknown. It just said," I licked my lips and looked at Cromwell. "It literally said undiscoverable."
"What does that mean?" Arden asked.
"It's something I used…see, when I put the spell together, Ivan helped me by using the mechanics of writing a program. A flow chart to help me organize the spell's database. He had the flowchart say 'File Not Found,' but I rewrote it to say 'Undiscoverable.' That made more sense for me."
"Which means…what?" Arden lowered her chin to her chest. I could see she wasn't really getting a lot of the lingo.
"I get it," Jack said. "It means there was a file once, but it isn't there anymore. It was deleted."
"Yeah," I put my finger to my chest to the right of the tender scar. "I've gone in and tweaked it before, added in new information, but I've never deleted anything."
"Somebody did." Arden crossed her arms over her chest.
"That's not the way it works," Cromwell said. He looked thoughtful now, and I liked this face better than his stern one. "If you were to create a dynamic and complex spell such as this dex spell of Samantha's, I wouldn't be able to touch it because it's your spell. We can't counter one another's spells like that, not the ones we make." He looked at me. "Where do you pull your information from?"
Elemental Soul (The Eldritch Files Book 5) Page 9
