Elemental Moon: The Eldritch Files, Book Three

by Phaedra Weldon

 

  The pack grumbled at me but it was Bastien who answered.

  I shook my head as I pushed the link aside and ran up to Arden. I grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. "They're attacking the Magicians!"

  She pushed my hand off of her. "Yes. I know. That's how they can get into their minds to see who knows where our people are."

  "But…that's going to turn some of them into Lycans!"

  Arden's reaction freaked me out. She smiled. "That was my agreement with Bastien. They're just Magicians, Samantha. Once we get what we came for, he can have them all."

  TWENTY ONE

  We marched on Circe's power base as a unit. Arden's coven, Bastien's pack and my little group of myself, Ivan and Grey. Ivan had been inside of Arden's Mercedes, parked a little further back than where I left his truck. He told me as we walked through the woods he needed to be away from the use of magic to make his access to satellites via the tablet work. Made sense to me, even though I knew the electromagnetic fields of electronic devices weren't disrupted by magic when Ivan was around. It was all part of his Gift.

  I was still reeling from Arden's revelation. She and Bastien had decided this without me. Possibly while I was with Crwys, or even while the Cleric was in my bathroom. And of course that thought led me right back to Fred and fretting about what I was going to do. I was also wigged out because of how much more upset I was about this than what I did to my dad's house. But if I thought about it, my dad was already dead when I got there, having been killed by Kennett. This…this was active.

  But you did the same thing to the monster that attacked you at Circe's.

  I glared down at Grey. "That's different."

  I don't think so.

  "What's different?" Ivan said as he kept up with us. "What are you two talking about?"

  "Eh, nothing." I ducked under a branch, amazed at how easy it was for me to see in the darkness. The moon wasn't full anymore and tonight it was hidden behind trees. So was my nocturnal sight part of Bastien's venom? It was so easy to run, and I'm not exactly an athlete. Especially not traipsing through bogs and patches of smelly mud. I would have thought my boots would sink down and I'd get stuck. Instead, I was keeping up with Grey and Ivan was the one having trouble running.

  The house loomed ahead of us as we burst out of the line of swampy woods. It was huge and well lit from inside. Though after a few seconds I realized the light was coming from dozens of Salamanders sailing through the air, hot on the heels of retreating robed Magicians. I saw Gnomes swinging axes and throwing rocks, Undines gathering water from the surrounding woods and causing waves of it to tumble unsuspecting Magicians ass over end into the swamp. A Sylph made of dark, black soot billowed through the front door of the house and spat out a few more robed bodies.

  Dark blurs of movement preceded the echo of growls as Bastien's pack entered the almost comical scene. But whereas the Elementals toyed, teased and created mischief, the Lycans were drawing blood. The three of us stood on the precipice of precedent. This was insane. Dangerous. And just…wrong.

 

  Grey and I heard Bastien at the same time and instinctually followed the link into the house. The smell of bog and wood permeated the place. It looked like an episode of Elementals Gone Wild as we maneuvered around screaming Magicians and over exuberant creatures. Grey picked her way down the hall of oak and turned right behind a staircase as the Rock Creature I'd seen earlier tumbled down the steps. I followed her into a room and then to the right down another flight of steps. The temperature dropped drastically as we descended. I took in the damp stone walls, as well as the rusting iron hooks on the wooden frame of the steps.

  At the bottom was Bastien in all his Lycan glory. His fur gleamed in the flickering lights provided by several Salamanders that scurried along the wooden ceiling. The room itself was a good size, probably half the length and width of the antebellum above. But what I saw in the room creeped me out.

  The first thing I thought of was Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. The only thing missing was the monster and a lightning storm with electricity arcing from a bunch of metal towers. The gurney with the straps was ready, but something dark and still sticky coated most of the metal as well as the restraints. Metal shelves full of glass jars containing Goddess knows what lined the walls as fluorescent lights half hung from chains where they'd been bashed in and torn free.

  In the corner was a metal cage and in that cage was Kyle. Grey and I ran to him with Bastien beside us. His wrists were locked in some weird board that kept them apart but locked in front of him. And the cage was locked. Kyle looked okay, if a bit dirty. I saw smudges on his face and I hoped like hell that was dirt too, because if they were bruises? I'd feed Circe to Bastien myself.

  "She took Jack," Kyle said as I looked around for some way to break the lock. "And she took Marilla."

 

  Ivan came down the steps and whistled. "Damn Kyle, you're really in a dungeon."

  "Shut up and get me out of this."

  Bastien's form blurred as he shifted back into a man. It sounded a lot worse than I remembered it, but that might be because we were all in a room with echoes. The sound of snapping bones was never pleasant. Once he was upright and smoothed his hair back, he faced Kyle. "Was Marilla alive?"

  "Yeah, she was. But you didn't say she was really pregnant."

  "I didn't lie."

  "No, but you omitted that she's ready to pop."

  Oh. I hesitated and looked up at Bastien very much aware he was naked. Again. His heat warmed me in the basement or lab or dungeon, whatever this was. It also drew me to him, as I realized I was unconsciously moving closer. "She's ready to have the baby?"

  "Yes," he looked back at Kyle as I glanced back at Ivan picking his way to us. "Why did she take them?"

  That's when I heard it in Kyle's voice. He was upset. And when I looked at him, I saw it in his face. I grabbed the bars. They were like ice to the touch. "What did she do?"

  "She had him on that table. She carved into his skin. He was screaming…oh Goddess, Sam. I couldn't stand it. But I couldn't do anything," he held up his bound wrists. "Then she forced him to drink a potion, took Marilla and they left."

  "How long ago?" Bastien asked.

  "Several hours ago. I've been down here alone while they were partying upstairs."

  I could only guess Circe had forced Jack to drink the same potion that had mutated those two innocents and turned Bastien's brother into a monster. This didn't bode well for Jack, and I could feel Kyle's heart break. The room filled with small specks of Arcane as I reached down and touched the lock holding the cage. My intent had been to make the lock disappear. Instead, the entire cage vanished. All of it.

  After everyone's initial WTF moment, Bastien stepped forward and broke the wooden handcuffs on Kyle, pretty much cracking the wood into several pieces. Kyle rubbed his wrists as I held out my arms to him. He was cool against me and I felt him shiver.

  When he pulled back he stared into my face. "Your skin's hot. The fever's started."

  "Oui. Therefore, we must find Marilla," Bastien looked around. "Where is Arden?"

  Ivan pointed to the ceiling, indicating the subtle sounds still audible where we were. "They're upstairs, ransacking the place. As far as I can tell, the Magicians are all incapacitated, probably bleeding from wolf bites."

  "The bites will heal fast. Then they will seek me out." He turned and in a second blur, bounded up the stairs in wolf form.

  "What does he mean?" Kyle asked.

  I filled him in on what Arden and the pack had done as we started toward the stairs. He didn't like what he heard, but he wasn't as upset about it as I was. And I think if it'd been me, having just spent nearly twenty-four hours as a prisoner locked up in a cage, I wouldn't feel as
bad about their fate either.

  Kyle turned away from us at that moment and looked at the shelves. He grabbed a few bottles and jars off, plucked a black bag from the rubble and piled everything in. "Let's go."

  "Do you know where she took them?" I asked as we went back up the steps, Grey ahead of us and Ivan behind.

  "No. She never made sense when she talked."

  We stepped out into a gathering of Witches in the hallway. They were Arden's coven. They were laughing and talking, excited and all clutching things. They were magical looters bent on destruction.

  Arden came around the staircase. Clutched in her hands were a bow, a quiver and one arrow. They were gold and gleamed under the light of several Salamanders. "It's time to leave. Bastien said you got Kyle?"

  Kyle waved at his aunt. And to my surprise, she pushed her way through the milling Witches and embraced her nephew. I think that was the first time I'd ever seen that happen, given they didn't have the smoothest relationship. I took a closer look at the quiver, arrow and bow, touched them and yanked my hand back fast.

  They were ice cold. "Arden…what is that?" I needed to know.

  "It's one of the stolen artifacts I mentioned," she said it quickly. "We've scanned the house. The Codex isn't here." She looked around at everyone as if counting.

  Kyle looked at the quiver. "What good is it with only one arrow?"

  "I'm only going to need one arrow," Arden raised her hand. The talking stopped and all eyes were on her. Even the Elementals were paying attention. "Friends, Witches, Elementals, our harvest here was good and our ritual is done. We bid farewell to the Watchtowers of the East. May you go in peace and tranquility."

  The Sylphs all vanished with happy smiles and laughter. I watched her dismiss each of the Elements, thanking them, and then I felt something very cold touch my hand. When I looked down my Undine was sitting on the edge of the quiver, and she was shaking her head at it and pointing. But before I could get more from her, Arden dismissed Watchtowers of the West and she was gone with a bubble pop.

  My Undine had come to this ritual in that jar, and she'd somehow participated in this and then showed her dislike for the artifact in Arden's grasp. I had no explanation of any of it. No frame of reference to infer. In this, I was lost.

  "Everyone, the Alpha and his pack have departed in search of their sister and unborn child. We have sworn to help them, and we shall. I need my quarters to gather your teams and meet back at Gypsy Gardens. We have until dawn to find them."

  When everyone dispersed, I touched Arden's shoulder. The face she turned to me was blank. Almost…alien. "I'm not sure why she wants the girl wolf. Why not just leave her here? She's got the Codex."

  "The Codex is a spell, you know that."

  "Yeah."

  "And what do spells need to work?"

  I thought about that and of course came up with my mom's standard answer. "A spell is verbal, it's material and it needs focus." These things translated into a spoken chant, the ingredients needed to infuse the spell, and the caster's focus or will.

  "She has the spell, she has the focus. She needs the material. The spell is an Arcane spell, Sam. What component do Arcane spells require that we as the God Mother's children abhor?"

  I had the answer. A life. A death. Taken in the moment.

  Arden said, "Wolves know when their children will be born. This child comes at dawn. If we don't find them, I'm afraid Circe will take that child, and kill it to fulfill that spell."

  TWENTY TWO

  I didn't want to go to Gypsy Gardens, and as long as I had my guys with me, I wasn't going to. Everyone agreed to head to the shop, to our base of power, so to speak. Getting there was the worst part because all I had was Ivan's truck. Ivan and Grey volunteered to ride in the back and I was very, very careful about my driving. I didn't want to hit a hole and knock them into the road, and I didn't want to draw attention to us because I wasn't really sure if this was legal.

  It was just after two when we pulled into the back and got inside. I sent Kyle upstairs to take a shower. Luckily, he kept clothing in the shop for those nights he went from work to the clubs to have a cocktail. Ivan, Grey and I stayed in the break room and I set my unused bag on the tabletop. It was still open from when I'd removed the glass jar so I started pulling things from inside and set them on the table. The bag is where I put Fred's gun. The gun is what I was looking for.

  But the gun wasn't there.

  I fished around inside of the bag with my hand and when I still didn't find it, I turned it upside down. Bits and pieces of paper and dirt and a penny fell out. But no gun. Panicked, I went back outside to the truck and tore it apart looking for Fred's firearm. But it wasn't there.

  "What are you looking for?" Ivan said as he showed up on the opposite side of his truck.

  "Something I had in my bag when I left it near that rock. But now it's not inside."

  "You left it there when you went inside the house."

  I had. Because I'd forgotten about it once I realized Bastien's pack was biting Magicians. The only reason I remembered it on the way back was because I spotted it beside the rock. Crap. Maybe the gun fell out in the woods. Had I rubbed it down good enough? Could they tell it had been in my apartment? Or had someone taken it out of my bag?

  "Sam?"

  I put my hand to my cheek. My skin was so hot and I thought I smelled Bastien. It was sudden, like a forgotten perfume caught in the breeze. The scent of leaves and earth. I started shivering as my knees gave out. Ivan moved fast and grabbed me under my shoulders. "Damn…is it the venom?"

  I nodded as I used him to climb back up to my feet and then leaned on him as we went back inside. In the break room he made me tea as Kyle came down the stairs. He looked much better, but I could see the red marks on his wrists made by the wooden shackles.

  "What happened?"

  Ivan nodded at me. "The venom. We've got maybe five hours, tops, before she shifts and there's no way out."

  "No," Kyle said. "We've got more time than that." He moved around the table and picked up the bag he'd taken from Circe's and set it on the table next to the mess I'd made of my own bag. We watched as he set out each jar and bottle and then moved to a shelf beside the door where he kept his tools. There he grabbed a mortar and pestle, a bowl, a small cauldron, candles and a cup. He placed each of the items on the table and started mixing things into the mortar from the jars and bottles.

  "What are you doing? We don't have time to make potions right now."

  "I have time." Kyle continued working, talking sometimes as he drew symbols in the air periodically.

  I could see the colors and I had an idea of what he was doing. "You know the cure."

  "I was paying attention. I know the properties of roots, herbs, flowers and plants. I saw what she did and I've been working on a remedy, a counter potion to hers. I don't know if it'll work, but I have to try to save Jack."

  "Maybe it won't change him," I said. "Bastien told me he and the others drank the potion in the house and they didn't change."

  "Bastien didn't change because he's not apogee. He's a full blood."

  "But wasn't his brother full blood?" Ivan asked. "André. The one that changed."

  "No." Kyle continued to work as he spoke, but I could feel the stress radiating off of him. I could also feel his exhaustion. "They weren't blood brothers. Bastien created André and they became brothers. André was apogee. Marilla is perigee, that's why they hope the baby will be born perigee." He reached over to the pile of bottles and jars and hesitated. Kyle balled that hand in to a fist and sighed. "This just isn't going to work."

  "Why? What do you need?"

  "What I need—I don't think it exists." Kyle looked at Ivan and I as Grey's claws clacked on the hardwood floor. "I was basing this idea off of the Iliad. Just because Circe seemed very taken with the idea that she was actually Circe."

  Ivan frowned but I knew where he was going. Magic did indeed work more on intent of will and belief than by an
y other means. Even my Elementals couldn't perform what they did if I didn't believe in them. And they in turn received their orders from my want, my goal, my outcome, which I always visualized. So if Olivia Graham really believed she was Circe from legend, then she would know about moly and how Odysseus used it to evade her magic. So she would believe such an herb would defeat her magic. "And?"

  "And…Sam you know how it works. Eighty percent of potions and magic works off of intent and belief. If she believed she was really Circe, then I need to create this with moly."

  "Moly?" Ivan poured himself a cup of tea. "Is that a plant or a herb?"

  "Ivan, have you read the Iliad?" I smiled at him.

  "Yeah, but that was like, back in school. And I think I slept through most of it."

  I patted his hand. "Circe is the Witch that turned Odysseus's men into swine by having them drink a potion. The only way Odysseus escaped this fate was because Hermes gave him the herb moly to eat."

  Ivan's eyes widened. "And we all know some truths are hidden in myths. So, where do we get moly?"

  "It doesn't exist." Kyle's shoulders slumped and he sat down hard on one of the chairs. "That's the one thing I didn't really think through. There's no such thing."

  Yes there is.

  I sat back and looked down at Grey. "It's real?"

  Ivan and Kyle looked at me.

  Yes it is. Or really, it's what we believe is moly.

  I leaned in toward her. "And that is…"

  Snowdrop.

  "Snowdrop?"

  Kyle slapped his hands on the table. "What is that?"

  But Ivan was already on it. He had his hands out, moving barely visible web pages in the air. Google boy at work. "Snowdrop. It's also known as galanthus. It's a small offshoot of bulbous herbaceous plants in the family of amaryllidaceae. Most flower in winter before the vernal equinox and some species can bloom in spring and late autumn."

  That's it.

  "Dammit. Where am I going to get any of that now? It's after two in the morning and I'm pretty sure no one's going to know what it is."