Elemental Moon
The Eldritch Files, Book Three
Phaedra Weldon
Copyright © 2015 by Phaedra Weldon
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As always, for my father. And for the readers.
The native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
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William Shakespeare, Hamlet
ONE
"You're kidding, right?" I gave my best friend and business partner my well-done this-is-ridiculous face, given our current situation. "Werewolves are myths."
Kyle Kendrick gave me his best version of the same face, which was visible in the flickering light of our waning fire. It was the beginning of January, just a few days into the new year. The moon overhead was full, which might account for the fact I could clearly see him as well as our other group member Ivan Westerfield, and my wolf familiar and mother, Grey.
Yes. That beautiful gray and white wolf is my mom. Deal. I had to.
After a two night drunkfest immediately following New Year's spent with my ex, I decided we, the Witches, needed to get back to the structure of ritual in our daily lives. So, I looked at a calendar and saw the full moon was coming up. Seemed like a great plan for us to center our energies and for me to get used to a whole new version of magic I wasn't happy with. Mom gave me a few pointers on full moon rituals, which were technically already written down in her Book of Shadows. But that book was at my Aunt Ina's house, a woman who wasn't really my aunt but a Vampire. And not just a plain Vampire, but a Leviathan Vampire. She wasn't there, having recently absconded with a soul whose body I had killed. I'd also just discovered the gardens of that house were full of dead bodies. Victims my so-called aunt had lured to her home, fed and then proceeded to go all Hansel and Gretel on.
While I was in high school.
Think this might be a lot to take in? You should see what it's like from my side of things. My name is Samantha Hawthorne. I'm a Witch, or I was a Witch, until the High Grand Master muckity-muck of the Witch's Parliament, or whatever they called themselves, decided I had something to do with the disappearance of a well-known Grimoire of sorts. A book known as the Malleus Maleficarum, or the Witch's Hammer. I call it the Hammer, cause the damn thing recently crushed my life.
I lost my connection to the Elements, something that made me who and what I was, but I'd gained an uncanny ability to use what is known as Arcane Magic. This is magic that has been forbidden for Witches to use for as long as I can remember. Most of the bad guys my group and I fight come from the realms where this magic thrives.
Including my ex…who might not be my ex…though I don't know.
Head spinning yet?
Good. Now pay attention.
"Guys," Ivan said as he moved in closer to us so we formed a three-backed triangle. I'm sure we looked pretty impressive. I had my hands out, my fingers laced with bright red smoky glitter. Ivan's hands were out in front, sparking with greenish electricity. And Kyle's hands, tattooed with two of the Elemental Symbols, glowed with bright yellow on his right for Air and brilliant blue on his left for Water. We were each ready to whammy anything that came at us. "Can we focus on the fact we're surrounded by a circle of really big wolves?"
He was right. Thus, the current situation I alluded to earlier.
The temperature was chilly, given it was January in Louisiana, and I could see our breath in the moonlight. Sometimes, but not this time, it dipped below freezing and made the news. I always wondered if the cause wasn't global warming related but Ceremonial Magician induced. They liked screwing up the weather. I wore my ex's leather jacket, 'cause mine had a hole in it and still reeked of Arcane taint.
Which had the aroma of two-day rotten chicken.
This jacket smelled like Detective Crwys Holliard. My ex. A fine piece of law enforcement who possessed the power of a flamethrower. Species? Unknown.
Grey sat at my side, panting, not even the least bit worried our full moon ritual had been interrupted by lycanis humongous. In fact, when I'd tried to talk to her, she’d abruptly said, Sshh! in my head.
The larger of the circle lumbered forward. I didn't know if that was the right word to use, but he didn't pounce, run or attack, so lumbered seemed right. His fur looked red in the moonlight, shadowed by darker hues of auburn and orange. His eyes glowed yellow as he approached—me!
Grey finally stood on all fours. I'd always thought of her as large. I obviously had no real appreciation of how big wolves could get. Next to Big Red there, mom looked like a puppy.
The two touched noses, then actually moved their heads as if to entwine their necks. I looked at Kyle, he looked at Ivan and Ivan looked at us.
"Is that normal?" Ivan whispered.
I lifted my shoulders in a shrug and finally prodded her thoughts again. Mom? What is going on? Are they going to eat us?
She finally answered me but there was something else in the thoughts…like an echo. No, silly. They're here because they were drawn to your magic.
Which magic? Ours combined or you mean my—
Your Arcane. They sensed it just before the new year and again after in these very woods. The last time it appeared, four days ago, two of their own vanished. When you activated yours tonight, they were drawn here. To you.
I gulped. You did tell him that wasn't me, right? That I'm not responsible for missing wolves? And that you're my mom?
He knows, Sam-Sam. Your Arcane doesn't have the same smell. And yes, he knows I'm your mother. I swear I heard an echo of laughter when she said that. Her laughter.
I relayed what she said to the other two.
Kyle's grin was infectious. "That's just so cool that you can talk to her like that."
It would be cooler if we weren't surrounded by wolves. All of them sat back on their haunches at once. Half of them panted with their tongues out and looked about as dangerous as a circle of puppies.
Really BIG puppies.
Everyone sat but Big Red. He continued to stand as mom turned to look at me. You can put your weapons away.
Oh. I lowered my hands and snuffed out the Arcane I'd powered up. Kyle clapped his hands and their lights extinguished. Ivan knelt down and pressed his hands to the ground, releasing the electricity into the earth. Once that was done we all turned to face Big Red.
Mom spoke to me. The Aces wish to ask a task of you, by right of the Goddess Arduinna, to which all Lycans bow.
That…was an epic line. I d
elivered it to the other two, though I was sure it didn't have the same impact as my mom's internal voice.
Ivan said, "Werewolves worship the moon?"
"Lycans. They prefer to be called Lycans," Kyle said. "The moon controls shifts between the apogee and the perigee."
Ivan and I stared at Kyle with wide eyes.
He looked back at us as if we'd each grown two heads. "What?"
"How do you know about apogee and perigee?" Ivan asked. "I had to Google that myself when you guys started talking about a full moon ritual. And how do you know what they prefer to be called?"
Mom cleared her throat in my mind. Kyle has something he needs to tell both of you. But now's not the time. When she said that, I didn't hear an echo. I assumed the echo meant she was sharing the thought, and for whatever reason she didn't want Kyle's secret shared. I felt I needed to answer the request so I looked at each of them and arched my brows in question. Do we help? Or do we get eaten?
When they both nodded, I turned back to mom and Big Red. "What is the task?"
Do you accept?
"Not until we hear the task. I don't want to promise them something I don't know if I can deliver."
Mom turned and looked up at Big Red who moved in front of me; his head nearly level with my own. Grey barked several times, but Big Red turned and gave her one hell of a roar. I jumped. So did she. It hurt watching mom take a few steps back, her ears down, whining like a wounded pup. So I started to call up a nice fireball to singe the big dog's ass off.
I wasn't prepared for what this bastard did next.
I froze as he stood up on his back legs, put his paws on my shoulders and bit into my shoulder. The whole action took less than a second. In my defense, I wasn't just standing there like some fragile deer waiting to be slaughtered. I had my mom's voice in my head saying, Just be still. Don't move. Just be still.
Naturally, I yelled out when he bit me. I assumed Kyle and Ivan moved or did something behind me because the wolves stood and growled low as they positioned themselves between us and the boys.
"What the hell?" Kyle called out. "You're gonna turn her into a Lycan!"
Uh. Whut?
The large wolf with his teeth buried into my shoulder blurred in front of me. The trees in the clearing spun around me as the wolf's warm fur was replaced by something softer, yet firmer. I stood with my head back, afraid to move because I didn't want my neck ripped out, and afraid to blast this son of a bitch into next year because my mom was in my head telling me everything was okay and I needed to relax. It was just a formality.
Getting bitten by a wolf was a formality?! Appetizer maybe, but…
Kyle whistled. Ivan swore.
Hands took my upper arms, just below my shoulders, and held me in a firm grip as Big Red pulled his teeth out and began licking the wound. I slowly became aware Big Red wasn't Big Red anymore. The wolf was gone, and in his place was a man. And the licking, though weird, made the pain go away.
When he stopped slobbering on my shoulder, he straightened. I looked up into the most handsome face I'd seen under a head full of red hair. The hair cascaded over his shoulders to his very bare nipples. A look down and I saw that Big Red the wolf was now Big Red the naked man.
I felt a full on body blush start from my forehead all the way to my feet. I was pretty sure if someone used a heat sensitive camera on me, I'd be flaming.
He put a very warm hand against my cheek. "Trés belle, chérie." His voice was pure sex in a rich, Acadian accent. "Now d'accord?"
Oh my. "What…what did you just do?"
"He bit you," Kyle said from behind me. "Now you're going to become a Lycan."
"No," Big Red the naked man said. "She will not become my mate unless she breaks her promise."
"Promise?" I was getting my common sense back. Slowly. "What—I didn't make a promise. And what do you mean mate? I'm not your mate." I looked down at Grey standing beside Big Red, facing me. "What the hell? I said I wanted to hear the task first!"
I know. And I told him not to. But he thinks the best way for you to understand is to be a part of the pack. Temporarily, of course.
"Part of the pack?"
I caught a weird buzzing in my head and wasn't sure where it was coming from. Abruptly, my ears popped like they usually did in a plane and a crowd of voices filled the silence. I grabbed my ears at the volume and tried to block it out.
The sheer number of voices in my head was deafening.
And then there was silence. I felt something move against my mind, brush against my soul as it inserted itself as a part of my consciousness. Big Red brushed up against me and pressed his very exposed body against mine as he put both of his hands against my face.
"I am Bastien Dante LeBlanc, Alpha of the Aces," he said as he moved one hand away from my face and gestured to the wolves around us. "And we want you to find our missing frère. Our brother. Our missing soeur. Our sister. And the enfant de loup she carries inside of her." He cast those yellow eyes down at me. "Or we will tear this city apart. Sang pour le sang. D'accord, mon amie?"
I didn't need my mom to translate for me, nor did I need the echo of their meaning in my head through the link the Alpha had just forced on me. They were desperate to find their pack mates, especially the wolf child their sister carried. And if they didn't find her alive, Mr. LeBlanc, the Alpha of an actual Werewolf pack, would declare war on the city of New Orleans.
Blood for blood.
TWO
Standing outside after midnight on the bayou with a naked Alpha Werewolf insisting on blood for blood, was not how I had imagined my Wednesday night. The naked part wrecked my ability to find a place to look, and the just been bitten by a Werewolf part had my brain pinging around my skull like a ricochet bullet. I put my hand up to my shoulder to touch where he bit me. When my fingers came away with something dark and sticky, I was ready to bust heads.
Only I seemed to be rooted to the ground, and I desperately wanted someone to shut off all those voices!
At some point while I stood there in a stupor, Kyle had moved up to stand beside me, and he was talking.
"Mr. LeBlanc," Kyle said as he bowed just slightly. He also kept his eyes downcast. Screw that. I looked the big bastard in the eye. "I understand your pack's need to find your missing brethren, but I'm not sure if infecting our coven leader with your venom was necessary. Even if we find your people, how can you stop the change?"
I narrowed my eyes at Kyle. Why was he acting all customer service? I figured if anyone had a rude thing to say about Mister Well Hung it would be Kyle. I hadn't spent a lot of time around him since my warlocking and the utter obliteration of my dad's house, his body, his wife's body, and the body of their nurse.
Those were just the highlights of my December.
I knew from Crwys that Kyle had started dating Jack Roberts, one of the G-Men that invaded my magic shop and arrested Ivan last month on suspicion of cyber terrorism. Luckily, those charges were dismissed and that little cyber terrorism squad had moved on. Except for Jack, who seemed genuinely interested in Kyle. Given that most of Kyle's romances lasted the span of an afternoon, I'd call their three-week relationship a win.
But…was Kyle's relationship with Mr. Roberts actually making him turn a blind eye to a tall hot man's naked physique?
I put my hands to my head as Bastien answered and then shoved my fingers into my ears, anything to stop all that talking in the background.
"Oui, it was necessary. I can stop my gift after the fever begins. But like this, ma petite has choices to make. She will hear our family and know their urgency. Their sadness," he tilted his head as he lifted my chin with his index finger. "Children are precious to us because there are so few perigee born. So if you fail, then you will be my mate. With a Sorcière, we would be guaranteed another enfant de loup to replace the one we lose."
Wait a minute. Did he ju
st say I'd have his baby?
Oh no, no, no, no…I pulled back from him, and that took a lot of will. Whatever he'd done to me, sunk into me…settled inside of me, was strong. I could feel him there, just on the edge of my thoughts, something moving in and out of my peripheral vision. I did not like this.
The Arcane Magic inside of me wasn't too happy either. It didn't like being watched. And neither did I. So…for the first time since destroying my dad's house, the forbidden magic inside of me and I were in agreement.
"You bastard!" Ivan yelled out and came up on my other side. He and Bastien were roughly the same height, but not quite the same build. Ivan's Asian heritage kept him slim and wiry, where Bastien was a bit more broad-shouldered with defined muscles. But he wasn't an over pumped body builder lookalike, which was nice. He was perfectly proportioned for his size and height. Not too big, and not to small.
And why was I sizing him up like I was shopping?
I put my right hand out and pressed it against Ivan's chest. "Ivan, step back. I'll handle it."
"Handle it? You let him bite you!"
Now I turned my own very pissed off face at him. To my delight, Ivan's brows disappeared under his thick black hair and he shrugged. "Fine."
"This one should be kept on a leash."
With every bit of strength I had, I slapped that big red headed mother across the face. His head snapped to his right and I had my striking hand in his face, finger pointed up his nose. "You shut the hell up. You obviously don't have a freak'n idea how to ask for a favor, do you? Well for starters, you don't go around biting people, and infecting them, just so they'll do your bidding to avoid turning into a killing, snarling, sniveling monster."
Bastien had a hand to his face and I realized none of the other wolves had stepped up to defend him. Not a one. Was it because we were linked and they knew deep down my intended slap wouldn't do any real damage?
Elemental Moon: The Eldritch Files, Book Three Page 1
