"Y-yeah. What are they? Why is everyone stopped in place?"
"We're in the second between the moment of what is past and what is future."
I looked at Grey. She wasn't a wolf, but the visage of my mom. And she was in color like me. "Can you be a little bit more vague?"
She laughed. It was a sound from my past. A happy memory of making cookies in a kitchen filled with sunlight. "This is what it's like to know Spirit, Sam. I used to come here to watch yours. See the indigo lights flicker with reds, blues, greens and yellows. This is how I knew you were destined to be an Elemental like me. And I knew you'd be able to handle Arcane one day."
I leaned away from her. "Now you've lost me."
"It's okay. It'll all make sense. All of this will. Whether you or Dionysus wins. It will all make sense. Now," she nodded to Bastien. "Touch his chest with your horn."
I wanted to ask more questions, but something nagged at me like a tickle in the back of my throat. I was running out of time—or more so—Bastien was. It was time to give him back his animus. I walked to him and luckily his slumped position between Ben and Crwys made it easier to angle the tip of the horn just right so I could touch him and not skewer him.
But then, "Mom, how is this going to get my body back?"
"Have faith, baby."
"In what?"
"In you."
And we're back to vague. Great. I carefully touched the horn's tip to his chest.
It was a strange transition. A lot smoother than I expected. Bright lights. Lots of voices. The howl of wolves. The chirp of crickets. Even the flicker of pixies…or were those fireflies?
The images changed and I stood in the middle of a room. It looked like a two-car garage. Smelled like one too. A classic car of some kind sat in one of the bays, covered in a film of dust. To my left was a motorcycle. Chrome gleamed under fluorescent lights that I couldn't see. A sheet was spread out on the ground in front of the bike, scattered with tools. Some I recognized. Some I didn't.
I shivered from a draft coming from the open garage door. But there wasn't anything beyond that opening. Just darkness.
"You look good in that, chérie."
I recognized Bastien's accent before the timbre of his voice. When I looked back at the motorcycle, he was there, kneeling beside it, a wrench his hand. He looked good and healthy, and he was looking at me with the broadest grin I'd ever seen on his face. "You're okay?"
"Oui." He stood and tossed the wrench into a tray. Bastien grabbed a dirty towel and wiped his hands with it. "I must say, I was…skeptical when Tzariene told me if I gave her my wolf, it would save your life one day. I didn't volunteer my wolf lightly, no?"
"No. You didn't. I'm grateful you did. You saved not only Ivan's eyes, but our lives." I noticed him staring at me, so I looked down. Was I still in horse form or something?
Uh…no. I certainly was not in horse form. I was myself again and wearing something I wouldn't be caught dead in. I had on thigh high black boots with six-inch heels. Above that, wrapped tight around my body was a white dress that I thought would look better on a dancer in a strip club. I held out my hands and saw black gloves to my upper arms. "What the hell?"
"You are in my head, chérie, so I dressed you appropriately." He grinned. "Trés belle."
"I'm in your head—" And then it made sense. Tzariene said my Elementals had used his animus to create a physical form for my soul. But now that his animus had been returned, I was technically sharing his body with him. "Lady Darksome! What fresh Hell is this?"
Bastien laughed as he approached me. "No Hell, ma chérie. 'Tis Heaven for me. I saw this arrangement," he pointed at me and moved his finger up and down to indicate the dress, or what there was of it. "On a girl much like you while I partook of the French Quarter's delights." He shrugged. "Perhaps it is just my subconscious."
"I want my jeans."
"No." And then he looked very serious. Given his usual smirk and twinkle, this caught my attention. "I only have you this close to me for a short while, Samantha. I know your heart—it belongs to the Dragon. But for a little while, perhaps it could belong to me?"
There was a sweetness in what he said, in the way he said it. And of course a part of me wondered if there was creepy in there too. But this close to Bastien's soul, seeing it burning around him, I knew he had no bad intentions with me. Most people believed the Lycan Alpha to be an alpha male. Commanding, domineering, taking what he wants. But Bastien had taught me that wasn't always the case. It was possible for an Alpha to earn respect through his actions, and Bastien LeBlanc had earned that from his pack and from me.
So when he stopped inches in front of me and took a handful of hair in his hand, I didn't flinch. Instead, I smiled up at him. "Thank you," I told him.
Bastien released the hair and ran the back of his hand gently over my cheek. "No need. I would do anything for you, chérie. Anything."
I don't know if it was the moment, the mood, the fact he was drop dead gorgeous or just me needing physical contact, someone to let me know this was all real and I wasn't insane, but I put my gloved hands on his shoulders, went up on the balls of my feet and pressed a kiss to his lips.
Well that just opened the door for another one of the toe-curling kisses like the one he'd blasted my doors open with in the woods. He slipped his hands low around my back and kissed me. It was long and lingering, and I tasted cinnamon and salt. He smelled of earth and grass and all things wild.
When the kiss ended, he continued to hold me, which was a good idea since I was pretty sure my knees had turned to rubber, and buried his face in my neck. He pressed small kisses there before he pulled back and sighed. "Chérie—what comes next—"
"Bastien, you know how I feel about—"
He silenced me with a quick kiss. "Tais toi, Samantha." He smirked as I shut my mouth. "While we have established ourselves here in my wolf half, my pack demands I prove I am returned."
A few beats passed and I frowned. "What does that mean?"
"This is gong to hurt, chérie. So I am very, very sorry."
Going to hurt?
Bastien shifted. And oh sweet Lord and Lady it hurt!
The agony didn't build—it slammed into me with the force and impact of a speeding train. My screams joined Bastien's as this world of the garage, motorcycle and us ripped apart with blood, bone, flesh and muscle. The coppery aroma of blood, mingled with the incense of the Circle, filled my nose and wove its way into my senses. I smelled the night, the briny scents of the swamp around us and I craved…I needed to run. I threw my head back and howled to my brethren and they answered back. One voice, two, then five, then ten and a cacophony of voices as the pack link became the only way to speak.
There was joy and freedom and relief and…
Pain.
So much pain. I curled up into a ball wherever I was and hugged my arms around myself as Bastien took off to hunt, run and fight.
And not once during the time I remained conscious did the pain end. I felt tears rim my eyes as I realized to be a Lycan was to know the torment of a half-life. To feel the pain of living in two worlds. And to never know rest or peace.
"Oh…Bastien…" I said as I closed my eyes and held his soul in my arms.
TWENTY FIVE
CRWYS
Crwys watched as the wolves disappeared under the full moon of a New Orleans night. He avoided looking at Brendi as she appeared in the mirror and she and Arden spoke in whispers. Then the mirror was covered and the Circle dismissed.
He followed Dharma and Kyle back to the cabin where Ivan was up and sipping a mug of something that smelled like soup. He looked better. Dharma went to him and put her arm around him. He kissed her cheek.
He thought of Sam and his insides twisted.
Kyle joined him. "Now what?" he asked as Arden's coven brought in the Circle's instruments and stored them in a closet in the back. Arden brought in a Goddess statue and set it on a sideboard near the door.
"We go look for Sam
." He went to the box where everyone tossed their phones and retrieved his. Two messages from Levi, one from Prescott. Nothing from Sam. He tried her phone again and got voicemail. He didn't feel like checking his other messages and stared at the screen. Where could she be?
Arden ushered everyone out of the cabin except Crwys, Dharma, Kyle, Grey and Ivan. Once they were alone, she locked the door and faced all of them.
Crwys knitted his brows together. "Grey said you had something to tell me?"
"All of you," Arden began, while looking really, really nervous. "A while back I had a vision…it was a bad one. And because of the severity of it, and what I saw of the aftermath, I consulted Tzariene."
Crwys glanced at Dharma when she put her hand to her lips. "You consulted a Faerie on a vision? What the hell for?"
"Crwys," Arden said in a clipped tone. "You're going to have to promise not to make any knee-jerk reactions."
"I ain't promising you anything, Arden. Just spit it out."
"I don't think we should tell them," Arden looked at Grey.
Okay, now he was mad as he took a single, menacing step toward her. "What?"
Kyle dropped the bowl he was holding. The crash of the pottery on the hardwood floor made everyone jump as they turned to face him. Crwys's heart skipped when he saw the Witch's face. "What?" he said to him in a loud voice.
"Sam's…" Kyle's cheeks flushed as he moved past Crwys to face his aunt. "Why…how could you not tell us this was going to happen?"
Ivan and Dharma looked at each other. "What?" they said together.
Kyle answered them, "Sam's dead."
Silence became a thing in the room, a silent monster that moved in the shadows. No one wanted to speak for fear of disturbing it, because if it moved, if it became real, then they would have to accept it. No one wanted to this to be real.
Especially Crwys.
"No." He shook his head as he broke the silence and faced Arden. "She's not dead. I—I saw her earlier today. She bashed my Mustang all to hell."
Arden licked her lips. "Would Samantha, in good conscience, knowing you, really destroy your car? Even I know how much it means to you. I kept it in the garage for safe keeping when you were trapped in Alfheim." She clutched her hands to her chest. "The real Sam wouldn't do that, would she?"
"The real Sam?" Ivan said in a soft voice. "You're saying…what's out there isn't really her."
"It's Dionysus," Arden said. "I'm afraid he used the Angel to take her body."
"No," Crwys pointed at her. "That fucker is dead. I saw Kyle kill it."
"After it'd already taken Sam." Arden's brown eyes were big and red rimmed. "Now Crwys…you're going to have to listen to me very carefully—"
But he wasn't. There was no damn way he was listening to anyone. "You…" He pointed to her and then stopped. The temperature in the room rose as his felt a hole deepening inside of him. "You saw this happening? You saw that son of a bitch taking Sam's body?"
"Yes, but—"
"And you never bothered to tell any of us?"
"I thought it was better to keep the vision a secret to cut off its power."
Dharma's breath caught. He looked at her. Tears streaked the Witch's cheeks as she spoke. "She's right. It's best not to tell the intended or you'll guarantee its place in the Records."
"Didn't work, did it?" Crwys looked at Arden. "That son of a bitch got into her in Alfheim, didn't he?"
"He was riding Blackwood and we—"
Crwys's emotions ignited the bed. Dharma summoned her Undine and quickly doused it. "Dragon—I'm pissed off too, but I do not intend to die in this cabin by fire. You do that again and I'll dump an ocean on your head."
"Crwys you have to listen to me. I didn't know he was there. We can't see the possession unless the Demon allows us to see it. So we had no way of knowing where he was but we were expecting him to try this. We knew it was coming—"
"Ivan can see the possessed," Crwys's voice was flat.
"Yes, but he's been recovering, and to be honest…we've been keeping his new ability under wraps."
"But someone found out," Crwys said. He thought about this group called The Eldritch and wasn't sure if he should mention it here. For all he knew Arden was a part of it. "That's why you moved him here to keep him safe."
"Yes. Blackwood somehow found out he could see possessions, and my guess is he told Dionysus. So the Leviathan sent the Angel to kill Ivan. And thanks to you and Kyle, that's no longer a danger."
"Sam can't be dead. I'd know," Crwys muttered. A weight pressed down on his shoulders. "If she died. I could feel…if she died." He took a few unsteady steps away and grabbed his head as the pain behind his eyes flared. He felt hands on him, guiding him back, but he knocked everyone away and staggered to the door.
"Crwys, you've got to let me help you—"
"Help me?" he yelled at her. "You just let Sam die! You didn't share this with any one of us in this room. And you dare to say I should let you help me?"
"Damn you, you stupid Drachen!" Arden bellowed out and everyone froze. She had her arms down at her sides, her hands balled into fists. "Just shut up and listen to me. The moment I knew Dionysus wasn't locked in Ina's body, I realized anyone," and she pointed at all of them. "Any one of us could be his little spy. His window into our world. I knew he wanted Sam. That was easy to see. Especially once she was infected with Arcane because I saw it in the vision, Crwys. I saw an Angel kill her and I saw her killing others. And then…" she moved to stand next to him. "Then I saw you burning cities in your deliriously melodramatic need for revenge. You killed millions of innocent people. That," she put her finger in his face. "Could not happen, Azazel! I could not let you destroy this world either."
He took a few steps back, both angry and surprised that she knew him. Arden really knew him. She knew what he'd done, even when he couldn't get Sam to let him tell her.
Sam.
The pain flared again behind his eyes and he cringed.
"What's wrong with him?" Ivan asked.
"Something only the person who caused it can cure," Arden said as she approached Crwys. "The only reason I'm telling all of you this now is because Dionysus has achieved his goal. He has Sam's body."
Kyle made a noise. "But he doesn't have her magic. That's why Sam didn't use it against Dharma."
"Thank the Goddess for small favors," Dharma muttered. "Sam at full power could have killed me."
"She…" Crwys managed as the pain eased back. "She doesn't have her Arcane either."
"Does that mean he possessed a plain Jane body?" Ivan said. "How is that possible? If he's riding Sam's soul, shouldn't he still have access to everything?"
"That's what Arden's trying to tell us, babe," Dharma put a hand against his cheek. "He's not riding her soul. He's in that body on his own. Her magic was part of her soul."
Ivan swallowed as the rims of his eyes turned red. "But doesn't that mean he's fused to it now? Like he was with Ina?"
"No," Arden said. "Medbh worked the actual magic to lock him in Ina's body. But Dionysus can easily possess a body without a soul if he chooses. And once he leaves it, there is only the empty shell."
"So she's really gone."
Kyle let out a strangled sigh. "When we killed the Angel we released the souls he'd stolen."
"So that means Sam's already back in the Well of Souls," Ivan said. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes as Dharma took him in her arms.
"So…where did her Arcane go?" Dharma asked.
Arden took in a deep breath. "I think her Arcane knew what was coming and protected itself. Now," she clapped her hands together, her own cheeks wet and her voice cracking. "Our first…what we need to do is find where Sam…I mean Dionysus is now."
Ivan spoke up as he gently pushed away from Dharma. "She's—well, he's— at Bell, Book and Candle. He dismissed the magical wards but completely tripped my electronic ones. The alarm's what woke me up."
"He's…" Crwys slowly lifted his head to look at him. "You
're sure he's there?"
"He got there about a half hour ago, right before all the wolves went crazy. I'm assuming Bastien's got his animus back?"
Kyle wiped at his face before he strode to a side table and retrieved his bag. "You coming?" he looked at Crwys.
"Yeah." Crwys retrieved his gun from a lockbox by the door. "Dharma, Ivan, you coming?"
"Yeah," Ivan said as he slipped his hand into Dharma's. "We're with you."
Arden moved to block the door, along with Grey. "Wait," she held up her hands. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To kill this mother fucker once and for all," Crwys said. "He's in a weak, human body. Should be easy to do. A bullet to the brain, right?"
"Yes, but you can't do that!" Arden said as Crwys pushed her out of the way. "You have to wait for Bastien to get back! I've got something else to tell you—"
They slammed the door on her before they started down the path to the cars.
Dharma said, "I'll drive. I've got the Gremlin in a place we can get out quick."
Crwys got in the passenger side with Ivan and Kyle in the back. "Shouldn't we bring Grey?"
"And put her where?" Dharma said as she cranked the car and backed out.
Crwys concentrated on the path he'd just set himself on. The mother fucker had killed Sam—no, he couldn't think about that. Not now. Not until he'd burned that Vampire to a crisp so it could never rise again.
It all made sense now. Her strange behavior that morning. Her need to find the athame and the Hammer. It wasn't her. His Samantha was already dead. And knowing he and Kyle had released her from Vasiariah's prison gave him a little comfort.
Very little comfort.
Dharma pulled the car onto the highway. No one said a word. The only noise in the car was the sound of Crwys checking the magazine to make sure he had at least one bullet to put between the bastard's eyes before he set him on fire.
TWENTY SIX
CRWYS
The shop's floodlights were on, illuminating Sam's Jeep. Seeing it gave Crwys little comfort. It just confirmed Dionysus was there, still searching for the Hammer and the athame. His phone vibrated in his jeans so he retrieved it as he stepped out of the Gremlin. Levi was calling. Maybe Arden called him and told his partner he was about to do something he shouldn't.
Elemental Soul (The Eldritch Files Book 5) Page 18
