Elemental Soul (The Eldritch Files Book 5)

by Phaedra Weldon

  "Sorry, bro," he said as he refused the call and put the phone in his back pocket. Crwys looked at the back door as Dharma, Kyle and Ivan got out and stood in front of him.

  "I'm assuming you've got a plan?" Kyle said.

  "Ivan," Crwys said. "Can you see inside the shop using the surveillance?"

  "Yeah." He leaned against the car's hood and held his hands out as he closed his eyes. A soft green glow moved back and forth between them and when he opened his eyes again, they glowed a soft green. He moved his hands as his eyes tracked things only he could see. "I'm looking at the retail area, the break room, Sam's office…I don't see Sam's body. If he's in there, then he's either in the apartment or the basement."

  The basement! Crwys pulled his lips thin. Sam might have hid those things down there in the safe. He didn't think anyone but her could open it, and if Dionysus didn't save her soul, then he didn't have access to her memories. "Keep monitoring, okay Ivan? And keep a look out along the streets for anything that looks suspicious."

  "Will do."

  "Dharma, Kyle…I need the two of you to be my backup. If he gets past me, I'll need you two to stop him magically. He doesn't have magic the way he is now. So he's just a Leviathan."

  "You say that like it's not dangerous," Dharma smiled.

  "You want us to fix the wards to stop," Kyle said. "Or to kill?"

  "Kill. I don't want that fucker to leave here alive."

  "And you're doing what?" Kyle said.

  He held up his gun and ignited his internal furnace. "I'm going in there to flush him out. And then I'm going to burn him."

  Everyone nodded, but their expressions said they wanted to be anywhere but here.

  Luckily, the alarms were off as he went in the back, his gun up and ready. "Ivan, you see any change?"

  A chat box appeared in front of Crwys. No sign of him. But I am picking up noises in the basement.

  "Yeah, that's where I think he went. He's trying to get into the safe. I'm going down." Crwys crept around the steps leading up to Sam's apartment and eased himself down the first two steps heading into the basement before the first cutting pain sliced between his eyes. He nearly lost his balance as he braced his shoulder against the wall to his right. He held his breath and bit back a long stream of very colorful metaphors as the pain subsided. It didn't go away, though, because every other step he took down drove that pain deeper and deeper into his brain.

  He used the wall at the bottom to keep him upright as he took in several deep breaths and heard the sound of what could only be smashing bricks. Bricks?

  The same images came back to him. Bricks. A wall half finished. Blood in the mortar. Blood on cotton. Black eyes.

  "If you're going to lurk, babe, you might as well come help me."

  His free hand curled into a fist at the sound of him using Sam's voice. He took in a deep breath and pushed the pain behind the same wall he'd used while he hung helpless in the Obsidian Palace. "Sure, hon. What're you doing?"

  "Someone bricked up this room," Sam's voice said as Crwys moved through the two outer rooms full of metal shelves and boxes. "And I'm guessing what I'm looking for is in here."

  Crwys stopped at the door. He looked at the half destroyed wall as the images tried to surface. He'd been in here before, when the wall was half finished. Now he stood in front of it half demolished. And Sam was…

  An image of her with her hair up, in a t-shirt with a trowel superimposed itself on the image of her now, with her hair down holding an axe. She turned to look at him and her gaze focused on the gun. "I'm assuming you have that out because you thought I was a burglar?"

  "The alarm was tripped," he said as he blinked back the images. Why did it hurt so much? He pressed his palms to his eyes again, trying to squash the pain.

  "What's wrong with you?" She held the axe in a lax position. Dionysus didn't realize he knew the truth. She felt comfortable around him, knowing that Detective Holliard loved Sam and would protect Sam.

  "Headache. But you remember that, don't you? The PTSD from being in Alfheim?"

  She smiled sweetly. "Right. I haven't forgotten. You think you can get through it and help me? I've almost got it broken in enough so I can get in there and look."

  He didn't have PTSD from being in Alfheim. He'd only said that to test her, to prove to himself that this really wasn't Sam. A part of him didn't want to believe she was really gone. But this confirmed it. This wasn't Sam. It looked like her, sounded like her, smelled like her, but it wasn't her.

  "Hey," Sam said and waved her hand. "You hear me?"

  "Yeah. Sure. So, why are you tearing down this wall?" He didn't put his gun away as he moved closer. He figured if he could get right up to her he could aim at the back of her head and fire. Clean shot. Execution style. It was a coward's way, really. But he didn't think he could look her in face and see her body die. It was better if he just shot and left.

  "I think this is where the athame and the Hammer are."

  "I thought the Hammer was with Parliament."

  "Yeah, so I hear." Sam peered inside then stood back, raised the axe and struck the bricks again. The hole she'd made was shoulder height. A few more strikes and she'd have a hole big enough to step through.

  Crwys crossed behind her with the intent to maybe knock a brick or two out before he fired. He made enough noise so she could hear him, to keep her at ease. He stood to her left as he punched the wall and knocked more than a few bricks in. He'd put too much force behind the punch and knocked most of it inward.

  "Damn. You must be pissed or something—" Sam turned and saw the gun up near her head. Her reflexes were normally fast, but a Vampire's are fifty times faster. Crwys didn't see her move as she twisted around and brought the back of the axe up. It struck him on the side of the head. He lost hold of his gun as he flew back and slammed into the wall a few feet behind him.

  His ears rang from the blow as his knees gave. He slid all the way down on his ass until the concrete floor stopped him. The pain behind his eyes blurred his vision as he saw Sam's shadow bend down. Her face was inches from his as she grabbed his hair and yanked his head back. "Figured it out, I see?" Her voice was gone now, replaced with a strong male overtone.

  Dionysus.

  Her eyes turned black as her fangs descended. Long and sharp. "Didn't take you as long as I thought it would, with you not being yourself and all. Which I must say, works to my advantage."

  Rage ignited his internal furnace and set her hand on fire where it held his hair. She jumped back as she put out the flame, and Crwys took that opportunity to jump forward and grab her knees. With a yank toward himself, he pulled her down to the floor. When she slammed on the concrete at his level, he went for his gun.

  But she got there first, scrambling to get her legs out from under him. Her fingers closed around the grip as she twisted and aimed it at his face. "Don't try that again, Drachen. I know it won't kill you to shoot you in the head, but it'll mess up my plans. I want you as intact as I can get you in human form. Going all Dragon is not in the game plan."

  He stared past the gun pressed to his forehead and glared at Dionysus. He couldn't think of this as Sam anymore. More needles of pain flared behind his eyes and he grabbed his head. Crwys expected Dionysus to react with a threat. Instead, he felt him move away.

  Several minutes passed before he could surface again, before the pain eased up enough for him to open his eyes. He lay on his side, his knees pulled up into his chest. How long had he been like this?

  Dionysus stepped out of the bricked up room with an old book in one hand and the athame in the other. He kicked a few bricks away as he knelt beside Crwys and carefully set the book down. "You're back, I see. I don't know what's wrong with you, but I'm betting it's something Sam did. Or that bitch, Arden. Either way, it's not going to work. I'm not letting this opportunity escape me this time. It took a lot of planning to get to this point. With Sam gone, you are isolated and alone with me so I can use the power in this book to fi
nally take the body I want."

  What?

  Crwys blinked a few times as he tried to focus on Dionysus, but he was looking through a red haze. Was that what was wrong with him? Why he had such a hard time concentrating? Had Dionysus hit him with one of those bricks and now he was bleeding into his eyes?

  Dionysus opened the book and flipped a few pages, then pressed the athame to the words. Crwys struggled to push himself up just as he puzzled through what the Leviathan had said. Take the body I want.

  Zeus's balls! The bastard hadn't been after Sam's body.

  He wants mine!

  Arden's words replayed as well, the vision she'd seen of Sam dying at the hands of an Angel, of seeing him burn down whole cities. No…it wasn't him. It was Dionysus in his body. The bastard planned on taking his body from him and he'd probably enlisted the Angel to help him because it was going to take a lot of power to toss him out of his body. He was immortal.

  Crwys ignited his furnace again as Dionysus read the book and focused on the pages, on Sam's clothes and on…Sam's heart. It wasn't hers anymore. If he could burn her from within as he'd burned Arden, he could be done with this and save the world.

  Dionysus twitched when the fire started on the book, then yelled out and clutched Sam's chest as the heart began to smolder. Crwys pushed himself up as he concentrated on his flame, as he imagined turning this son of a bitch into ash.

  The pain returned with greater intensity than before. It was as if every time he tried to harm Dionysus, something in his brain stopped him. He grabbed his head and screamed as he writhed on the floor. It felt like fire in his mind that he couldn't put out.

  "Hold still or this is going to hurt," Dionysus said.

  Crwys felt pain in his chest, though not as great as the agony in his head. He stopped moving as a numbing sensation spread from the lesser pain and traveled to his feet and hands until his muscles relaxed. He opened his eyes and looked through the red haze as he lay on his back while Dionysus hovered over him. "Now it's time to exorcise whatever it is you call a soul out of there so I can step in."

  TWENTY SEVEN

  SAMANTHA

  I didn't exactly have control of Bastien's body, which alarmed me as he drove his van to Bell, Book and Candle. Why? Because the man drove like a crazy person. Tourists and other cars alike dodged his erratic turns and twists as he maneuvered the van through narrowed streets even a bicycle shouldn't fit through. Arden sat in the passenger side, tightly strapped in and looking a bit green. Jack and Grey were in the back with Ben, and from Grey's moans in my head, I could tell they were all getting a little van sick.

  It was late, but not past midnight yet as Bastien pulled the van into the back of the shop. I saw the white Gremlin beside my Jeep. Ivan was sitting on the hood, his hands out, and I was pretty sure he was on the Internet. Dharma and Kyle had a brazier going, and I smelled a few familiar herbs as Bastien threw it in park, cut the motor and jumped out. A wobbly Jack, Arden and Grey fell out of the back and Arden at least kept her shit together as she grabbed the side of the van trying not to throw up.

  "Where's Crwys?" Arden managed to say as we all stared at one another.

  Kyle nodded to the shop. "He went in there. Ivan's keeping an eye on them."

  "I'm trying to. But there aren't any cameras in the basement and that's where they are," Ivan said with his eyes still unfocused and an interesting shade of day-glow green. It was really nice to see him. "But…Detective Tulose has been trying to call you, Arden. Have you checked your phone?"

  "Oh no," she said as she grabbed her purse and looked inside. "I don't have it with me. What does he want?"

  "He says Crwys isn't answering. They got the ID on the owner of the second house with the bodies. A young woman named Michele Dryden." He looked up at Arden. "You don't think there's a connection, do you?"

  Arden turned white. Like ghost white. "Oh…no wonder…no wonder!" She turned to Bastien. "Sam, did you know the truth? Is that why you placed it inside of Crwys?"

  I stirred inside of Bastien and his motorcycle version of himself appeared beside me. When he slipped his arms around me I didn't push him away. "Can I answer her?"

 

  Bastien cleared his throat. "Not at first. I don't think I consciously knew it, but my Arcane did. I think that's why it happened. It was the only thing it knew would protect him."

  Kyle, Dharma and Ivan (who slid off the car hood) all approached Bastien with wide eyes. Kyle pointed to Bastien. "She…she's with you?"

  Bastien smiled. "Oui. We have to get to Crwys. He is in danger."

  "I don't understand," Dharma said. "What am I missing?"

  "Michele Dryden," Arden said. "Is Cromwell Dryden's daughter. The second house full of bodies is hers. Which means that Dionysus had control of Dryden's daughter all this time, especially if she was one of Ina's followers."

  I figured out a lot of things as certain parts of my memory unfolded, but that wasn't one of them. I didn't know about that connection. Neither did anyone else.

  "You mean Dryden's been in Dionysus's back pocket, all this time?" Ivan said. "Because his daughter was one of those Ghouls?"

  "That Crwys killed," Arden said. "Dryden's been a hard one to read these past two years. And now I know why. I had a few warning feelings about him being a Ghoul, I just didn't have the means or the power to check for myself."

  "This is why you never told him about your plan, no?" Bastien said.

  "I didn't. I never told him anything, but not because I didn't trust him. Because I didn't trust anyone that could be possessed by a Leviathan. And right now the very thing that could save Crwys could put him at a disadvantage if he's in there fighting with Dionysus."

  "What does that mean?" Kyle narrowed his eyes as he looked from Arden to Bastien.

  "It means Sam was just a means to an end. She was never Dionysus's target," Arden said.

  "It's Crwys," Dharma said. "It's always been Crwys."

  Arden touched Bastien's arm and I looked down at her through the wolf's eyes. "You need to get in there and make sure he's okay. It's time, Sam. Are you ready?"

  I nodded my head and Bastien nodded his. "Be careful," I said and Bastien relayed it.

  We ran into the shop, or I should say Bastien ran, I was along for the ride. He started down the basement steps just as Crwys screamed. I didn't interfere with Bastien's natural instinct to fight, though I insisted he be careful since it was my body he was diving for.

  I wasn't prepared for the scene in that basement. I barely recognized the room littered with bricks. Dionysus had the Hammer open, and he'd actually plunged the athame into Crwys's chest. My Dragon wasn't physically fighting. The Arcane I'd placed inside of him was preventing Dionysus from completing the spell. And though its presence gave Crwys pain, it was the one thing I was sure had just saved his life.

  "I don't understand," Dionysus said as he stood and faced Bastien. It was weird watching my own body stand and talk to me. "I did everything the book said to do, but I can't get in. I can't get into him!"

  "Of course not, you dick head," I said through Bastien. "That's because I won't let you."

  The look on Dionysus's face—my face—was priceless. Total deer caught in the headlights. And wow…I needed a serious haircut. "No…it's not possible."

  "I'm afraid it is. You're not the brightest light in the sign, Dionysus." I smiled and it felt interesting doing it with Bastien's fangs showing. "But I am."

  I gave my wolf the all clear.

  Bastien moved like lightning as he launched himself at Dionysus. The Leviathan was caught off guard as we tackled him to the ground, but he quickly recovered as he sank his teeth into Bastien. But the big bad wolf just laughed as he overpowered my body and put Dionysus on his back, straddling him as he held his wrists over his head. "I am going to enjoy this more than you."

  I don't think it mattered to Bastien that I wasn't inside my body, not if he got to kiss it. He was fine pressing that smooch
home so I could ride the contact back into what was mine.

  The connection was instantaneous. I don't know why I thought it would be anything else. I guess I thought Dionysus would put up more of a fight. He wasn't gone. I could feel him there, inside of me, lurking in the darker places of my soul, trying to gain purchase with anything.

  There was nowhere for him to run. No place to jump to. I'd sensed Dharma's and Kyle's barrier the second we stepped (or fell) out of the van. Dionysus's soul couldn't cross that to take any of them. I knew Cromwell wasn't within reach, so his Ghoul wasn't there to be his ride to a new body.

  It was just he and I. Alone at last.

  I thought about the garage in Bastien's mind and made one of my own. But I kept mine devoid of anything that could be used as a weapon. I summoned my Elementals to me and asked them to bring me the intruder. "And you don't have to be nice."

  They looked so happy as they scattered.

  I readied myself as I waited, and it didn't take long before a young, blond man in a toga was brought to the garage. He had tanned skin, great muscle tone and a face that could launch a thousand ships. Only, I think in his case, they would be running from him.

  So this was his soul. How he perceived himself. Sort of narcissistic if you ask me, but, hey, it was Dionysus after all.

  He adjusted his pristine toga and straightened his shoulders as he faced me. "So…you care to tell me how you're here?"

  "Bastien kissed my lips and I stepped back inside. You were there. Don't you remember?"

  "That's not what I mean."

  "I know what you mean, Dionysus. I think it's kind of strange to see you like this. Stripped down to your rawest self. Is this what you once looked like?"

  "We don't have a look," he sneered at me. "We're not born with bodies you can understand."