I made a noise at her. It sounded like a snort. The memory clarified as I saw Dionysus in Blackwood's eyes, but I had been too weak, too tired, and then I…
I…
"I died."
"In a manner of speaking." Tzariene stroked my hair as she stood beside me. She seemed smaller than she should. Shorter, maybe? "It was what had to happen so I could bring you here. You had to disassociate from your body. Give it up. That was the only way to save you and convince Dionysus and Vasiariah you were gone."
"Vas—" I knew that name. "Is an Angel…he's working with an Angel."
"A Dominion. Yes."
"But my dex should have seen him as an Angel and it didn't. How did he hide himself from me?" It still felt weird talking. But it was my voice. My teeth felt bigger than they should be.
"There's another story there, about the Ethereal Plane. And about events that most of your world isn't aware of. But right now, that's not important. For now, the goal Arden and I set is to get your body back from Dionysus and destroy him. For good."
"Get my body…" Okay, now I was upset. Like really upset. "He has my body? He's riding my body? What about my soul—" And then a thousand more questions came to me as I moved and again, heard the sound of a horse's hooves on the ground.
Tzariene moved back and gestured in the air. A large oval mirror appeared. It looked like a flat disc of water with no ripples, but it served its purpose as I looked inside of it—and saw the long, purplish face of a horse looking back.
"I —"
"Take a deep breath, Sam. That's you. It's more you than you understand at the moment."
"I'm—" I took a step back and more of me showed up in the mirror. I was purple all over. Light lavender with shades of something. I turned to the side to get a better look because having eyes on the side of my head was a bit confusing. That's when I saw it—the long silver and white spiral sticking out of my forehead.
"Yes."
"I'm a…Unicorn?"
Tzariene smiled. I liked it better when she smiled and didn't show her teeth. "This is the manifestation of your soul, Sam. Everyone's looks different, depending on his or her personality. Your Elementals came together, along with the borrowed animus of one who loves you, to create this body for you so your soul wouldn't return to the Well." She blinked a few times and I saw crystalline tears. "I'm so sorry this had to happen. I didn't have a choice at first—"
Memories of leading me into the room with Dionysus, standing back as Vasiariah took me, and watching as I died…
"Don't touch me!" I heard the whinny in my voice as I stomped back, making divots in the ground, kicking up grass and flowers as I reared back and kicked at her with my front hooves. To me, it felt like I was girl fighting, batting at her like a cat would. But in reality, my hooves could kill.
That is, if this was real. If I was real.
"Sam! You have to listen to me, please!" Tzariene disappeared and reappeared a good distance away until I stopped trying to kick her in the head. "There's so much I have to tell you and we have limited time."
I calmed down a bit. Or at least, I stopped trying to brain her. I moved away and showed her my backside as she reappeared. But every time I turned away, she showed up in front of me. I have never thought of Faeries as gnats more than I did at that moment. Annoying little bugs that should be smashed into a wall.
"Leave me alone. I can't trust anyone anymore. You led me to Dionysus. You let that Angel kill me!"
"Arden was the one that foresaw your death, Samantha." Tzariene's voice interrupted my little pity party. "She's been working day and night trying to come up with a way to subvert the vision. Your life has meaning for future generations of Witches. You are the only one that can wield Arcane and not let it drive you insane. You have a Dragon who loves you—he's bonded himself to you—what exactly do you think will happen to the world if he loses you? What he did to the Obsidian Palace is nothing compared to what he's capable of, Samantha Hawthorne." Her voice rose in volume. "He nearly destroyed an entire realm. Please…you have to know the truth."
I faced her, my brain siphoning through everything she just said. I knew Crwys had done something in his past, something the Faeries couldn't forgive him for. And yet, here was the Summer Queen offering me up to keep the Dragon calm.
Lady Darksome!
Tzariene appeared closer and clasped her hands in front of her as the skies overhead darkened just bit. Trees appeared around us and sheltered us from the weather and prying eyes. I don't know how I knew this, but I did.
"You're learning to use Alfheim, Sam. It proves our purpose is just." She licked her lips. "Arden is a Seer, you know this."
"It's her Dianic Gift."
"She saw you die at the hands of a Dominion. She saw Dionysus take your body and wreak havoc on the world. She saw bodies piling up in houses, dark neighborhoods devoid of life, the government declaring a state of emergency as your healers tried to figure out why so many were dying," Tzariene paused. "She saw more destruction as the Dragon burned cities in his despair."
"When…" I turned my head to the side. "When did she have this vision?"
"Sometime during the Changeling hunt. Medbh confirmed the vision when she was brought back here. At first, we thought Brendi would work with us to find a way to stop this. But another element had already wormed its way into her confidence. She told him about the Dragon burning the city, though she wasn't sure who he was. Only that he was close to Samantha Hawthorne."
That was how they knew of Crwys's existence. Why they knew to look. "Was that element Blackwood?"
"No, the element I speak of is Dionysus. He had overshadowed a young, attractive man and donned a hood to be her advisor. Edmond Blackwood was second element that stepped in for his own purposes and interfered. But he learned about the Dragon by his own means. As a Ceremonial Magician he was able to open a doorway back and forth between Alfheim and his home. He set up a Coyote Flame, which we understand some Witches have now destroyed, with great personal injury I might add." She smiled at me. "Be kind to your Green Witch, Samantha. He's devoted to you. And he's a good man."
"Ivan? What…what's he got to do with any of this?"
"He has a story that he'll tell you when he's ready." Tzariene moved to a tree and put her hand against it. Flowers sprouted at its base and from the branches. Pink blossoms. "Blackwood wasn't a pawn of Dionysus when he began his meddling, but it became his end when Dionysus realized he and the Magician were after the same thing. Power.
"During this time, if you recall, Arden made a deal with Brendi. Brendi decided to use that bargain to bring the Dragon to her, being told by Dionysis and by Blackwood that if she had the Dragon as a prisoner, then she could rule all of Alfheim and no one would doubt her magic or her place. And being a young Faerie, still so full of the human need to be accepted, she agreed. We don't know where she learned about the Arrow of Artemis, but Blackwood knew where the bow and a single arrow might be."
"The one Arden took from Circe's house."
"Yes. Arden was acting on her own at that point, afraid for her life and full of weaknesses she readily admits to. Witches are humans, Sam. Never forget that. So Arden did what she believed she had to do while still trying to find a way to prevent your death. Dionysus's original plan had been circumvented by Blackwood's interference, so he came to me and offered me a deal. We didn't want the Dragon here. And Brendi was amassing an army to be the supreme ruler of our world. She had to be stopped. He offered to get rid of the Dragon for us, even though he was one of the two who planted the seed to bring it here. But I had to follow his instructions precisely. He knew you would be the one that could break the events happening here."
"That's why you asked me to come slay the Dragon."
"His words. Not mine."
Some of the pieces started coming together for me. "And your end of the deal was to kill me?"
"I was to facilitate your death. I shared this with Arden. Her vision was coming together and we knew
you could not be allowed to die. We had to find a way for you survive. When Dionysus brought in the Dominion to ensure your death, the events changed again, but not the outcome of destruction. It remained the same. When your Green Witch was brought to me and I saw the way he'd been tortured, I knew Brendi was lost. I knew the only way to stop this was to destroy her. That the Dragon was going to have to be released."
I gasped. "You told Cordelia to free him! That's why she risked her life to pull out the Arrow."
"Yes. When I saw how the Alpha felt about you, that he was willing to make a deal to save the Green Witch, for you, I formulated a plan. I asked him for his animus. The part of him that makes him a shifter. I knew with that I could, at the right moment, trap you and your Elementals here so that you could survive."
"And here we are." I shifted my stance. "And I did die."
"To Dionysus you did. And to the Dominion. Arden's vision came true, but not in a literal sense."
"So…" I hated even thinking this. "Dionysus has my body."
"Yes."
"And Blackwood?"
"Dead. I watched Dionysus discard his body myself, and the Dominion took it out of Alfheim."
I just couldn't wrap my head around this. "Dionysus…has my body."
Her features twisted in confusion. "But from what I've learned, he doesn't have your power. Your Elementals are what's creating this body for you. And even stranger—your body was devoid of Arcane. Just trace amounts, but it wasn't there."
I knew something had taken the Arcane, and I'd assumed it was the blond in white. But apparently, all this Vas took was my soul.
What happened to my Arcane? It felt like I had the answer…that it was there on the edge of my memory but I just couldn't reach it.
"What do we do now?" I asked. "Crwys and everyone are in danger because of Dionysus. If they think he's me, then they'll trust him and he'll use that to hurt them. If he finds the Arrow again, he'll have a ready weapon to use on Crwys and right now—" Should I tell her he's weak? No. I would not betray my Dragon. "We have to stop Dionysus."
"He can't use magic without the Arcane because as a Leviathan, he's not a Witch. Your soul is what makes you a Witch. I take it, from the look on your face, you don't know where your Arcane is."
"It was ripped out of me, but I can't remember how or by whom."
"Strange. Even stranger that it would allow itself to be taken from you." She stepped away from the tree. "Another issue is your Alpha friend. The animus is half of him and without it, his health's going to suffer."
"Bastien's already suffering. I saw that before this happened. He's dying." I dipped my head and then brought it up again. "I've got to get my body back, Tzariene. I have to destroy Dionysus. For good."
TWENTY
CRWYS
The last thing Crwys expected to see when he and Kyle arrived at Ina's was a crowd of cars. He recognized a few of them. Levi's for sure. And he recognized Sam's Jeep. The Mercedes looked like Arden's, but he wouldn't stake his life on it. He checked his weapon, grabbed his badge, and he and Kyle ran through the open iron gate and up the front steps.
He heard yelling behind the closed door and pushed it open. Crwys and Kyle stood just inside the door for a few seconds, taking in the scene.
And what a scene it was.
Large jagged holes marred every visible wall in the foyer, the hall, the TV room and the dining room. Dust and drywall littered the floor, some of it tracked with shoe prints. Levi stood to the right of the front door, sort of in the opening between the foyer and the dining room and living room combo. Crwys recently paid a shit load of money to have the place remodeled.
Well, he hoped the insurance would cover patching all this up.
Levi had his weapon out pointed at someone behind the wall of the TV room, where he saw Arden come to the doorway. She looked a little frazzled and put her finger to her lips before she motioned Crwys and Kyle to follow her.
Putting his dislike of the Witch aside, Crwys moved behind her through the room and into the kitchen. She paused at the island and pointed at the other door to the dining room. Crwys moved around the stove and sink to the door and peered around the doorway.
He spotted Dharma against one of the sliding glass doors. The overhead lights caught the gleam of her blue, pink and black hair. The air in front of her wavered like ripples on top of ocean water. He spotted her Undine by her shoulder, glowing a bright blue.
Further around the corner, he spotted the back of Sam. Her legs were spread apart in a ready stance and she held an axe in her hands. Zeus's balls! Had Sam been the one to do all that damage? And what the infernal hell for?
"Just put it down, Sam. Attacking Dharma isn't going to find your anthema," Levi said.
"It's called an a-tha-may," Sam snarled back at him. "You'd think a Revenant would know what that is."
"Sam," Levi sounded unperturbed. "Put the axe down. Crwys isn't going to be too happy about you wrecking the house like this."
"Crwys loves me. He won't care." She turned and looked right at him. "Isn't that right, babe?"
He stepped out, weapon down, but he didn't holster it. "Actually, I'm a bit irritated, Sam. We were going to live here, remember?"
"Here? Are you nuts? There were bodies in the backyard. Why would I want to live here?"
He'd said that to see if there was something else in there with her, controlling her. He knew Elemental Witches weren't easy for Demons to possess. It was their control of Spirit that put a barrier up to make attempting a body hop on them exhausting. But he also knew his lover wasn't that exercised in Spirit. His Sam would never want to live here. So she'd given him the right answer, and she'd done it in Sam's tone.
"Then tell me what you're looking for."
"I told you this morning. I need that athame, the one that belonged to Mom. And I need the Hammer."
That last statement made everyone sort of look at each other. Kyle stepped out from the kitchen, followed by Arden. "Sam—the Hammer's with the Witch's Parliament. You can't have it."
She lowered the axe and gave him a seriously hateful look. "Don't be an ass, Kyle. You know there's a copy of it. And I need it." She whirled and held the axe up high again as she faced Dharma. "Only Google Boy won't give it to me and his piece of ass isn't telling me where he is."
Kyle stepped closer to Crwys. "Is it me or is there a significant difference in her diction?"
Crwys shot the Witch his own irritated look and focused on Sam. Kyle was right. This was so not like Sam. Which meant something happened between delivering Blackwood last night and when she got home. But Kyle insisted he hadn't noticed anything different. Only that she'd seemed irritated.
"Sam," Crwys said. "No one has a copy of the Hammer, least of all Dharma and Ivan. You handed it over to Cromwell and it's with them. No one has a copy of it."
She looked at him. "Then where is my athame?"
"We don't know that either. I never touch it. No one but you touches it. So you must've hidden it or something."
She took in a deep breath and released it as she lowered, but did not put down, the axe. "I know I hid it, otherwise I'd be able to find it. I just can't remember where I hid it."
"Why do you want it?" Kyle said.
"Because it—it can help me defeat Dionysus." She looked around. "That's what everyone wants, right? So I'm working to do what you told me to do. Why are all of you in my house, pointing guns at me, and threatening me when this is my house?"
"We're pointing guns at you," Levi said. "Because you tried to hack Dharma to pieces the moment you saw her. You chased her around the house with an axe." He glanced at Crwys. "That's why the walls are all beat to hell."
Crwys nodded. "Sam, put the axe down. You and I can talk. Okay? Maybe the athame is in my car or you left it at Arden's—"
"Oh no. That thing wreaks of Arcane," the High Witch piped up behind Crwys. "And that crazy idiot's not getting near my house."
"Dharma," Crwys motioned to her. "Come to me."
He raised his gun and kept it trained on Sam.
Dharma kept her defense up as she moved around the dining room table, and she didn't take her eyes off of Sam until she passed Arden and went into the kitchen. Arden glared at Sam a second before she trailed after Dharma.
Sam faced Crwys. "You going to shoot me?"
"You going to put that down?"
When she smiled, he relaxed. A little. When she hefted the axe in one hand, he stepped back. Then she set it on the table and held up her hands. "Fine. Can we look in your car?"
"Sure." He knew it wasn't there, but it gave her something to do. "Just stay right there. Levi, keep an eye on her?"
"Sure."
He turned, pulled at Kyle's arm, and they all met in the kitchen. Dharma looked visibly shaken, and not to mention, she was actually shaking. Her Undine looked terrified as she clung to a thick handful of blue hair. Arden stood behind her, rubbing her back.
"It's okay. You're okay, shugah."
"She's nuts," Dharma said in a quiet voice. "I swear. I came here because she called me and said she needed my help looking for something. I got here and she demanded to know where Ivan is. I couldn't tell her so she chased me with that axe."
"Well, let's get going. Come with me to Gypsy Gardens. I can stop the crazy axe-wielding Witch from attacking you." Arden pulled her phone from her back and frowned. "This is strange. I've got a dozen missed calls from Gypsy Gardens."
"Maybe something's happening there?" Crwys guessed at that moment where Ivan was. Where else was the safest place to be but in an antebellum mansion in the middle of the swamp?
"Why didn't she use magic?" Kyle asked.
Everyone looked at him. Crwys was the closet. "What do you mean?"
"Sam used an axe. I've never known her to use anything but her guns or her magic. There was an incident once with a crowbar, but that was a weapon of convenience. She's got four Elementals and she's up against a Water Witch." He looked at everyone. "Why didn't she use her magic?"
Elemental Soul (The Eldritch Files Book 5) Page 14
