I didn’t have a mother who worried about me.
I just had a mother I missed.
“Help me up?” Hyder asked. Lisabelle and I moved to help him, while Sip and Mrs. Quest stayed on the ground.
“A demon hit us,” he said grimly. “Or several. The protections that kept the demons down for all these years and away from public areas that paranormals frequent, like roads, are failing.”
This was the first I had heard of it.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, glancing at Lisabelle. For once she looked equally puzzled. I had become used to her knowing what was going on before anyone else, as if she had a tenth sense.
“I mean that all the protections are based in The Power of Five,” said Hyder, surveying what used to be the family car. “And those protections have now not been reinforced in a long time. Unfortunately, the senior paranormals do not even view that as one of the major problems facing us at this point.”
Lisabelle was silent, but I needed clarification.
“But paranormals are in even more danger, because of me?” It wasn’t enough that whoever was with me had to deal with almost being murdered.
“It isn’t your fault,” said Hyder quickly. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“How is it not my fault? Why haven’t they asked me to help?” I demanded, getting angry. As far as I was concerned, we had been attacked tonight because paranormals kept trying to coddle me.
“I don’t need to be coddled,” I insisted.
“What makes you think you’re strong enough?” This time it was Lisabelle who was arguing with me. Her chin was set in a mulish line. “You think it’s no big deal to enact The Power over all the land? Hours and hours of travel time?” She was staring at me, her face grave, but her eyes pleading. “You can’t just put yourself at risk like that.”
“Yeah,” I said. “See what I mean? Coddled. And if someone would help me search for my mother maybe I would not feel so badly about this.”
Lisabelle recoiled as if I had struck her, but I didn’t care; I was angry all over again, just as I had been back at the house.
I needed time to think about all the emotions coursing through me, so I stomped away from the little group and watched from the sidelines while Hyder and Lisabelle examined the wreckage.
We had very little time to waste, but they wanted to look at what kind of damage the demon had done and maybe figure out exactly which type had attacked us. I had a feeling it was a Demon of Knight, since they were the most powerful. It wasn’t easy to avoid detection by two senior paranormals and Lisabelle, but they hadn’t felt anything coming until it was too late.
Something buzzed in my pocket and I realized I still had the Quests’ Contact Stone from the night before. I wasn’t going to answer it, but then I saw a familiar shining and realized it was Keller calling.
Relief washed over me as I looked into his worried face. Just looking at him helped me relax.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“On the way to the coronation,” I said, smiling despite what was going on around me. “You’re going to be there, right?”
“I’m already here,” he said, sighing.
He leaned forward, his keen blue eyes searching. “Why does it look like you’re outside?”
“Oh, you know,” I said. “Just a little death and destruction.”
His eyes widened and I flinched. “Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“When will you get here?” he asked. “Are you safe? Is Lisabelle with you?”
“She is,” I said, glancing over to where Hyder and Lisabelle were still examining the car. Mrs. Quest and Sip had joined them and they were all talking and pointing.
“I should go,” I said. “It won’t be long, just a couple of hours now. We had to change our plans a little bit, but we’re fine. Have you seen Lanca?”
Keller grimaced. “Only from a distance. She’s pretty harried at this point.”
I nodded. “See you tomorrow.”
He smiled. “Can’t wait.”
Once I signed off the Contact Stone I felt better, almost forgetting what I had been angry about. I hurried back to my friends.
“What was it?” I asked.
Not looking at me but staring hard at something on the ground that only he could see, Hyder said, “My guess is a Demon of Knight. They like battle and head-on collisions, part of where they got their name.”
“And Doblan?”
“It looks like he exited the car here,” said Hyder, pointing to the back. “As the demon hit he jumped and rolled.” We followed Hyder around to the back of the car as he pointed to what he explained were tracks. Personally it just looked like dirt to me, but Hyder was a former paranormal military officer from back when we had a paranormal military, and I trusted what he said.
“Then the trail disappears, here,” he said, pointing a couple of feet behind the car.
“Did the Knight take him?” Lisabelle asked, fascinated. I could see that, like her uncle Risper, Lisabelle might have a future in tracking.
“No,” said Hyder darkly. “I believe there was more than one. They could have done more damage than they did.”
“Do you mean that this was a warning?” I asked. “They weren’t actually trying to kill us?”
Hyder glanced at his wife. “I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded if a couple of us had died, but no, I don’t think they were trying to kill you. Not tonight.”
My stomach tightened. What Hyder had said was almost worse than the alternative, because it meant that the demons knew enough to toy with us.
“I feel like a mouse heading into a pen of cats,” said Sip. “And I really hate cats.”
“We will just to have to find something bigger to fight them off,” said Lisabelle.
“Like what?” Sip asked.
“I don’t know,” said Lisabelle, lifting her shoulders. “We’ll think of something.”
“In the meantime we have to be careful. This whole visit is a bad idea, but we’ll make the best of it. Once we’re there Charlotte will have more protection, and after the ceremony she’ll be headed to Public.” I couldn’t mistake the relief in Hyder’s voice at the thought of getting rid of me, nor could I blame him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if by the time the demons were defeated I had no friends left, or was dead.
“Can we fly now?” Lisabelle asked, all too calmly.
Hyder looked at Lisabelle in wonder, and I had a feeling that this was the first time he had understood his only daughter’s friendship with this strange and powerful darkness mage.
“Yes,” he said. “I rather think that’s a good idea.”
Lisabelle nodded once and conjured brooms for the two of us. The next thing I knew I was following her into the night sky, as three furry bodies followed us on the ground.
I had no idea how to fly. It wasn’t something most elementals took to, preferring other means of fast transportation like wind riding, ground rolling, and the obvious water surfing. But those options weren’t available to me when I was traveling in mixed paranormal company.
As the three Quests transformed into their werewolf form, Lisabelle helped me out with the broom.
“You’re a natural,” I said, staring at her.
“Ha,” said Lisabelle. “This is how I spent my youth. Soaring. Drove my mother crazy with worry, so of course I did it as much as possible. She doesn’t know the half the stuff I’ve done.”
“Don’t tell me, either,” Sip’s voice called up to us. We were about twenty feet off the ground, floating. Lisabelle was trying to make sure I could fly well enough not to die, but basically I was just going to have to ride on just behind her broom and hold on for dear life.
“Damn werewolves and their exceptional hearing,” Lisabelle growled.
“Feel free to call me exceptional anytime,” said Sip. “I always appreciate honesty, especially from someone who has such a distant relationship with the truth.”
“Hold onto at all costs,” Lisabelle ordered. “Do NOT let go. I don’t care what happens. You hold on. You’ll be fine.”
“I don’t like heights,” I said.
“And I don’t like people. Tough,” said Lisabelle without sympathy. “If I can manage to co-exist with others you can fly for an hour and a half to Lanca and that other certain someone you were talking to a little while ago.”
I blushed. I hadn’t realized that she had known, but of course she had.
We didn’t speak for the rest of the trip. For an all too brief few hours, flying was enough.
“Watch the wind,” Lisabelle ordered as we soared higher and higher. “It’s no longer just friendly skies.”
Chapter Nine
Vampire Locke wasn’t what I expected. Never having seen a picture, I expected a kind of black castle, but it was far worse and more intimidating than that.
It was a black mountain, with scraggly trees, looking dead and burned, dotting the surface. Unlike Cruor dorm at Public, which somehow retained a tiny bit of charm and decency, Vampire Locke looked dead and abandoned, as if it belonged with the demons in the darkness.
If I ever forgot that vampires were linked to evil, the image of Locke from the air would remind me of it. It was nothing but darkness; any light that hit it, the black surfaces ate alive. Lanca’s sect, the Rapiers, commanded Locke. It made me wonder why the vampires were on the paranormals’ side at all.
“Impressive, right?” Lisabelle asked. “It has never been breached. Ever. In the entire history of vampires, which I grant you is as long as it can be, there has never been an attack that made it past the walls.”
“The walls of the mountain?” I asked, clarifying as I stared at the black rock.
“Yes,” said Lisabelle, yelling over the roar of the wind.
“And now we’ve invited the enemy in,” I said into her ear.
I saw her nod once. “Well, darkness mages anyway.” She grinned. “We’re not all so bad.”
I smiled so she knew I didn’t mean her. Lisabelle had grown up separate from other darkness mages, because even for darkness mages her family was weird. But now that the darkness mages were following President Malle in droves, there was yet another wedge between Lisabelle and others of her kind.
I just hoped the wedge was big enough. For all our sakes.
“Will Lough be there?” Lisabelle asked as we started to spiral downward.
“I think so,” I said, feeling a bit better at the thought of our red-cheeked friend. “He wouldn’t want to miss being there for Lanca.”
“Even though Lanca scares him?”
“He hides it well,” I said. “He hides several things well.”
Lisabelle made a grunting noise, but didn’t respond.
As we got closer to the ground I saw three dots racing along under us. The Quests had kept up. I had never seen werewolves run so fast.
We landed with a thud at the base of a dead tree. The Quests had already gathered around and changed form.
“We don’t have any of our stuff,” said Sip sadly. “I really liked the outfit I had planned for the coronation.”
“Yeah, shucks, who would be grateful for just being alive when they had lost their outfits,” Lisabelle drawled.
“I’m very tired,” said Helen, no longer even reacting to Lisabelle’s sarcasm. “Let’s get inside before something else goes horribly wrong. I have never wanted a shower so badly in my life.”
“Standing out here for a long period of time is a terrible idea,” I observed, thinking of the Demon of Knight. “How do we get inside?”
“Here,” came a familiar voice.
I was so shocked that at first I didn’t react to seeing Princess Lanca float toward us, seemingly out of nowhere.
“Wow,” said Hyder. He quickly dropped to both knees and pressed his hands to the ground. It was the position of respect that a werewolf afforded an important vampire.
Princess Lanca was now the most important vampire of all.
“Please,” said my friend, coming toward us so that I could just make out the sadness in her eyes and the tight lines around her mouth that hadn’t been there before. “I have not been crowned yet.”
Hyder was slow to get to his feet, still staring at Lanca in wonder. It was safe to assume he hadn’t realized how well his daughter and her friends knew the vampire princess. Hyder had had several surprises since I showed up. He and his wife had had a quiet and successful life up to now, but Sip’s friendship with the only elemental was obviously going to change that.
Helen took her husband’s hand and held on tight. She was quieter, but she looked just as overwhelmed.
“Forgive me,” said Hyder quietly, “but is this the normal way in?”
“Certainly not,” said Lanca. “The normal way is being watched, as am I. The Rapiers are sadly confused if they think that my becoming queen is going to turn me into a prisoner, but after losing my father” - she swallowed hard and her eyes filled with tears, but she forced herself to continue - “they are more afraid than ever. If something happens to me . . . I don’t think a war could be avoided.”
“You realize that it probably can’t be avoided anyway?” Lisabelle asked.
She got no answer.
“Follow me,” Lanca said. Now that I saw were she had come from I could see a giant, gaping hole in the ground. She motioned for the Quests to go first.
“Should you be out here alone?” Sip asked Lanca.
The vampire shrugged shoulders that had become painfully thin. “I’d like to see them try. Besides, no one knows I’m out here.” She gave a very thin, very Lisabelle smile and waited for us to follow Sip’s parents into the black hole.
I watched Sip and Lisabelle go before me. When it was my turn I glanced nervously at my friend. She waited, looking slightly bemused.
“You face demons and hellhounds and are afraid of a little jump?” she teased.
I glared at her. “I don’t like heights.”
“You are not going to fall,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, Keller’s waiting.”
That’s all she needed to tell me. Right after I jumped I realized that I was glad she could still joke about boys. From her expression in the brief minutes since she had snuck out to get us, she hadn’t joked much lately. With her dad murdered, there was no surprise in that.
Instead of falling into black nothingness, I landed on what felt like a cushioned bench. Slowly, with a strange creak, the bench started moving sideways and down. I gave a tiny cry and gripped the sides for dear life.
This was unlike any elevator I had ever ridden before.
“How is it?” I heard Lanca’s distant voice call, but I was too busy gasping in shock to respond. We were moving pretty fast, but the ride still took a while. The elevator seemed to know where I was going, and there was just enough room for me to breathe and lift my head, but not much else. I was in a black container in a vampire mountain and by the time I reached the other end I wasn’t sure it was very much better than being attacked by a Knight.
The elevator came gently into a small room that reminded me, I’m sorry to say, of a morgue, where the bodies are kept in freezers and then pulled out on massive trays.
“You look like death warmed over,” Lisabelle commented. She was already standing with Sip and her parents, looking very happy.
“I was thinking about a morgue,” I told them, sure that my eyes were huge.
“You really must stop being so morbid,” Lisabelle chided me.
“Yes, she’s the one who has that problem,” said Sip.
I looked around the room. There were several slides for elevators, all covered with black cushions. The walls were painted a dull brown and the carpet on the floor was also black, but somehow the room wasn’t really depressing. The more I looked around, the more I realized that the impression of a morgue had come more from my morbid imagination than from what was actually there.
“Lanca coming?” Lisabelle asked, glancin
g worriedly behind me.
“Here I am,” said Lanca, emerging through a door.
“I took the long way round,” she said, by way of explaining why she hadn’t used the lift like the rest of us. “It’s my mountain, so I can,” she said when Lisabelle continued to stare at her.
“Now, where were we?”
“You were about to explain why you snuck out and risked getting killed to meet us,” said Lisabelle. “We’re honored, but we were doing fine. At least I was. Sip was struggling a bit.”
“Yes, showing up looking battered and on a broom - not the plan - makes you seem really fine,” Lanca drawled. She was the only one who could match Lisabelle for sarcasm. Or at least almost match.
“Mr. and Mrs. Quest,” said Lanca, turning to Sip’s parents. “You must be very tired from your journey. Allow me to show you to your quarters.”
Mr. Quest looked like he was about to argue, but Mrs. Quest stopped him.
“Darling,” she said, “I think we have a lot to learn. Chief among those items is not to underestimate our daughter again.”
Sip’s shoulders straightened a little with pride.
“Mom, Dad, don’t worry. We’ll be fine,” Sip assured her parents.
Hyder shook his head. “You are all barely more than children. How can you possibly think you know what you’re doing?”
“We’re the ones with the responsibility,” said Lanca simply. “How does it make sense that senior paranormals understand our positions better than we do, when we are the ones who must live them?”
“You cannot underestimate experience,” said Hyder loftily. “Your elders should be able to advise you on matters of. . . .”
Lanca’s eyes flashed. “They have done nothing but advise me. They certainly do think they know what’s best for me, but here’s the thing,” she said, stepping forward. “I am the princess. I will be queen of the Rapier sect that commands Vampire Locke. I decide.”
The Lanca I knew, the beautiful and confident college student, was gone. In her place was a queen, harder, colder, more beautiful and more confident in her deadly abilities. I had some adjusting to do. We all did.
“I will discuss matters that are important to me with the people I trust. I don’t care what their age is, or mine. If I’m the one expected to make the decision, I will make it however I like.”
Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) Page 6
