Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One

by Melanie Gilbert

  “My brothers and I are the best assassins the Light have.” I heard Sylee gasp and her eyes were wide in shock, an expression I had been expecting. “Our job is not to escort people to safety, but to find our targets and end them. That’s just our job description. We’ve ended hundreds of lives from meaningless Dark warriors, witches, demons, and vampires to Dark’s with titles like Jonas’. It doesn’t matter who they are, or were. It’s another chance to perfect our skills and boast about who has had the best kills.”

  I shrugged like it didn’t matter because to me, it didn’t. It never had. “Taking lives has never bothered us like it does others. It’s a game to us and a way to escape the world for a moment. We’ve felt everything from joy to annoyance while killing, but never sadness. Even when I fought my challengers yesterday, taking their lives was easy. Others would have hated to kill, or at least felt remorse for it. They’d have thought about the family waiting for the dead at home, never to see them again. I have felt that sadness only once, after my first kill. Since then, my soul has taken a nose dive.

  “We’re good at what we do. The Light need us. Our job is important. We take missions no one else is willing to take, or could live through. If we had not been escorting you, but another group was, we could have defeated those witches that pushed us into the forest. It would have been a thrill for us, and probably still would be.” I turned to my mate whose expression I couldn’t read. “I’m sorry. I know this is not what you want to hear, but I will not sugar coat the truth for you. You need to hear it straight so you know what you’ve got. This is why Bard should give up on me. My soul isn’t worth saving.”

  Chapter Six

  Sylee

  My eyes were stuck on his. My mouth was slightly open, but I didn’t even know what to say. What do you say when you find out your mate has a soul as dark as the nights in the forest had been? What do you say when you find out he not only kills, but he loves doing it? I would not mind his job if only he didn’t like what he did so much. People with his skills were necessary in war, but as far as I knew, most had a little remorse. I could not find an ounce of that emotion in Carmon’s eyes when he looked at me after his explanation. The question ran through my head as I continued to sit there, starring at him. What do you say to that?

  No wonder he could be so mean to me. If he enjoyed killing, one of the worst things a person could ever do, he would not mind just dumping me somewhere. My eyes threatened to send tears to my cheeks as the hope I had barely been holding onto fled, leaving a gaping hole in my heart where it had been. Suddenly, I felt my fists clench and my breathing deepened in anger. How could Bard ask me to try to win over this man? Bard had said Carmon wasn’t worthy of a mate. I had assumed it was because of the way he treated people, but this? How could Bard ask someone to have hope for someone like this man?

  Time passed, and I guessed no one else knew what to say either because it was silent for a long time. Carmon kept glancing at me. I assumed it was to see how I handled what he had to say. He wasn’t going to get a reaction from me. My emotions were everywhere. Then part of what Bard said came to me.

  “Your mother had you trained to be assassins, didn’t she?” I asked no one in particular. I hardly recognized my own voice. It sounded dead to my ears, just how my heart felt in my chest. Without realizing I did it, my hand reached up to rub the spot where the new feeling had started when Carmon bit me.

  “Yes,” my mate answered. Could I even call him that anymore? I would be better off alone, but I didn’t want that either.

  “How could a mother do that to her children?” Mom asked. She would be the one to ask that since she was the only mother in the conversation.

  “She isn’t the nurturing type like you, Ruby. If she was, we would not be having this conversation right now. We’d probably be doing something more respectable,” Dalton answered. I had really liked him, but if what Carmon, no Commander Lanshay, had said was true, then Dalton was just as guilty as the others.

  The brothers seemed to have a silent conversation. They were good at those, and somehow, they knew what the others were saying. Maybe it was from being together so long.

  “How old are you guys?” I randomly asked when the silence became too much.

  “Twenty,” Commander Lanshay replied.

  “You are all twenty?” Isla asked.

  “Yes.”

  Only three years older than me and they’d killed hundreds of people already? What a horrible mother.

  “I’d like to give your mother a piece of my mind for doing this to you,” I muttered.

  “That wouldn’t be a wise idea, gal,” Dalton laughed at my mutterings.

  “And why not?” I shot back heatedly. I was tired of these guys laughing at me, even if it was in fun.

  “Her name is Clara. You know her better as Lady Water,” Adam answered.

  “Lady Water? The elemental?” Ruby asked in disbelief. Her mouth hung open at Adam’s answer.

  The Elementals were eight ancient, immortal beings who sided with the Light to win the war against the Dark. The world was out of balance and the Elementals were charged long ago with bringing balance back. Not that they had been doing a great job of it, but no one could tell them that. The elementals would probably kill him or her, or inflict an even worse punishment.

  “Yes, Ruby, our mother is an elemental. Her brothers, the men who trained us, are Fire, Earth, Lightning, and Healing. Our aunts, her sisters, are Life, Air, and Love. They each have names like mom, but they prefer that humans call them by their elements,” Carmon responded. “Our father was, or is, Light. We’re not sure who he is or whether he’s alive, so it’s really no use asking about him. We don’t even know his name.”

  “What does that make you guys? You’re half Light and half elemental? I’ve never heard of that happening before,” I wondered.

  “We are both Light and elemental,” Carmon corrected. “There is no ‘half’. We’re both. We have Light blood and different elements we are able to use.”

  “For example,” Adam took over. “I am a fire elemental like Uncle Leo.” He motioned with his hand and a fireball moved from the campfire to his hand where he held it without being burned.

  Dalton spoke up next. “I am an air elemental like Aunt Olivia.” The air around us started to swirl, kicking up dirt and dead leaves.

  “As you can probably guess from yesterday, I am a healing elemental like Uncle Alex,” Jeff stated. “But, I am also a Love elemental like Aunt Lilith.”

  “Drew is an Earth elemental like Marcus,” Carmon directed the attention to Drew who levitated a half dozen rocks a foot off the ground. “And Chris is a Lightning elemental like Uncle Zhaine.” Chris made lightning jump between his outstretched hands.

  “And what about you, Commander?” He tried not to, but I saw him flinch when I called him by his rank again. I wondered what that meant. I didn’t dare hope it meant he liked me using his name. Honestly, I liked using his name.

  “I am a Water elemental like Mom, and a Life elemental like Aunt Mercy.”

  My mouth fell open. Carmon got a good laugh out of that. I quickly closed my mouth and turned from him. I was still shocked that Carmon had the two most powerful elements, but I did not need him to see it. No wonder he could fight creatures like vampires and demons, and come out alive.

  “That’s how Drew could tell you about the trap a couple of days ago,” I guessed.

  “Yeah,” Carmon replied.

  “Bard didn’t seem to have much good to say about your mother,” I stated a few minutes later.

  “Probably not,” Chris agreed. “He didn’t like how we were raised without much in the way of physical or emotional affection. To elementals, emotional attachments are human traits and meant to be avoided. Unfortunately, our family forgot one detail when raising us: we’re part human. Bard and Aunt Lilith were the only ones who understood. They did what they could to help us balance our emotions and build relationships with each other, but we weren’t with th
em for very long before we headed back to our uncles who undid most of their work.”

  “It hasn’t been completely horrible,” Drew added. “When your mother is an elemental the council pretty much lets you be, and we get to take the jobs we want.”

  “Which brings us to the question you asked me earlier, Ruby, about what we do for the Light. Like I said, we’ve never had a job like this, escorting people places. As you can imagine, we were not happy about receiving it,” Carmon admitted.

  “If you can choose your jobs, then why did you take it?” Archer asked. I could tell he was irritated with Carmon’s attitude about helping our family. I was sure Archer was grateful we had been protected. He was just not a fan of the men doing it, and it showed. I wished he would cool his temper so they didn’t up and leave us.

  “Fair enough question, and the answer is simply curiosity. I wanted to know what was so special about your family that Harbor Witches would make such an effort to attain you,” Carmon answered.

  “And what have you found?” Dad asked with interest.

  “Honestly, nothing,” Carmon said, but after Archer scoffed added, “Really, Governor, your family does not seem more powerful than any other governor’s family in the country. We can’t figure it out. Is there something we should know you haven’t told us?”

  “No, Commander. We have been as confused about it as you have been.”

  “Okay. If you can think of anything let me know,” Dad nodded in reply to Carmon’s command.

  “Since we’re getting so many answers tonight,” Archer began, “Would you mind explaining what is going on with my sister and this bond thing?”

  “A bond can be created by three races: vampires, demons, and elementals. It is basically their form of marriage, and it’s permanent. I created the bond to protect Sylee from the vampires and demons we ran into,” Carmon started to explain. “I wasn’t sure how many of those creatures we would face who would want to bond with her like I did. In case there were too many for my brothers and I to handle while protecting your family, I decided to bond with Sylee. Then only I would have to fight and my brothers could protect the rest of you.”

  “I’m sorry for interrupting,” I interjected, “but since this has to do with me, I’d like for you to answer a couple of questions for me. First, why didn’t it hurt like crazy when you bit me? Your teeth are dull. It should have been excruciatingly painful.”

  “Elementals are a blood drinking race. Our teeth are designed to break skin easily, and not cause pain. Elementals don’t drink blood to survive like vampires and demons, and we don’t tear the flesh off a person like demons do. We drink to bond, gain strength, and to heal faster. That’s the best explanation I can give. We just have, for the sake of not knowing a different word, magical teeth.”

  “Okay then. Second, will I ever be safe with our bond? Or will you be challenged for the rest of our lives? Cause if I need to always be on guard to not get bitten by anything else, I’ll scream.”

  “I can only be challenged until you and I know each other as mates are supposed to,” Carmon answered vaguely. That was a terrible answer, but I had a feeling I knew what he meant. Since he was set on embarrassing me all the time, I decided it was my turn to return the favor, so I waved for him to try the explanation again.

  Carmon got a small smirk back on his face, and I ground my teeth together, regretting that I let him speak again. “I’m sure I don’t need to explain the birds and the bees to you, mate.” He even had the nerve to wink!

  I blushed. Oh, my goodness did I blush. It took everything in me not to throw his blanket over my head and bury myself in it forever. Not only was I getting pictures of what needed to go on, but now everyone else probably was too. I somehow needed to turn the tables here, so I steeled myself for what I needed to say. “I’m glad you know about those birds and bees, mate. I was afraid I would have to fill you in since you seem to know so little about women and relationships.”

  Carmon’s mouth fell open and I felt such pride and happiness fill me from besting him this once. Finally, he closed it. “Touché, mate.” A slow grin spread across his face and I blushed again with embarrassment.

  “Anyway,” Adam said, steering the conversation back to its point. “Carmon could bond with Sylee because of who our mother is. She also has the ability to bond.”

  “Meaning Carmon could do it because he’s an elemental, correct?” Dad asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Adam confirmed while Carmon stretched beside me.

  “Everyone get some sleep. We have about a day and a half to two days left in the forest. I haven’t felt a Harbor Witch close by yet, but I have a feeling they are waiting for us closer to the outside of the forest. Don’t worry, though,” Carmon added when Isla started to fidget nervously, “we will protect you. I promise. Now, Dalton and I are going on watch. Everyone else to bed.”

  To me, Carmon added, “You can sleep where you would like. I’ll join you when my turn on watch is over.”

  Then he left. I just stared at him as he walked away. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. I had slept by myself for years, but a few nights of sleeping next to Carmon left me unsure what to do by myself. Isla, bless her heart, must have saw the uncertain look on my face and came to me. We laid down together next to the fire. She wasn’t as warm as Carmon, or as large to give me more heat, but the fire helped. I lay awake a long time and watched the boys take turns keeping the flames going. Carmon didn’t come to bed before I fell asleep hours later, but when I woke, I felt him beside me. Per our agreement, he did not spoon or cuddle without my permission, which he had not gotten. I was torn and had to bite my lips to keep from crying. I wanted him close, but at the same time I didn’t want to touch a killer. I debated most of the night until I felt him leave before I got up in the morning.

  To say I had a fitful night sleep when I did fall under sleep’s spell was an understatement. If I wasn’t dreaming of Carmon killing the vampires and demon again with a smile on his face, then I spent time thinking. The thinking was worse than the dreams. I knew one day I would need to participate in the birds and bee’s thing with my mate to save myself, but how could I have that type of relationship with a man who would just as soon insult me? He was good looking, but would that be enough? And by good looking, I meant smokin’ hot. When he caught me staring at him by the stream after he cleaned up from the challenges, I wanted to dig a hole for myself right there. No way did I measure up to his standard of good looking. I was in the category of “She’ll Pass”. Knowing him, he’d probably be a jerk about my looks too someday.

  We headed out again soon after waking up. Would this never end?! Lords and Ladies, please make it end! The trees were less dense now, but that didn’t improve my mood much. My overlord had taken it upon himself to walk directly behind me now. He and Chris brought up the rear, and I was instructed to move to the back of the Hamilton group. Why did I have to always be so darn close to that man? My father let my mother walk wherever she wanted. Why couldn’t I? The walking wasn’t nearly as enjoyable when there was nothing hot and steamy to look at. Golly wolly girl get your head on straight! You’re acting like a hormonal teenager. Oh wait, that’s exactly what you are.

  “Stop,” Carmon called softly. Was he talking to me? Could he read my mind? I stopped, and so did everyone else. Then as a group we all turned to look at him. “There’s a Harbor Witch just north of here. Chris and Sylee will come with me. The rest of you stay quiet and keep walking. We’ll catch up with you soon.”

  First, how did he know there was a witch out there? Second, why did he want me with him? He couldn’t stand me, but I always had to be with him. Did he think I was going to run away on him? It’s not like I had anywhere else to go. I was in a forest that he knew and I didn’t. I was trapped.

  I did my best to sneak quietly through the woods like Carmon and Chris, but I fell so far short. Being quiet, yet moving as fast as them, were not compatible. It was either be quiet and move like a snail, or be fast and
loud. I chose fast, and they didn’t seem to mind. That was until Carmon scooped me up into his arms. He did it with such ease too, that anyone would have thought I weighed nothing, which I didn’t. I was happy not to have been thrown over his shoulder again, but my position put me against his hard, muscled chest. My heart beat wildly at the close contact, and I tried hard to lean as far from him as I could. I gave that up quickly. It was too exhausting since I was being bounced around because of Carmon’s hurried speed, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and slipped my arms around his neck and held on tight.

  “We’re close,” Carmon whispered in my ear. “We need to be quiet, and you’re not good at it.”

  “No kidding.” My voice was breathless from trying to keep up with them. It had nothing to do with the muscles I could feel in his chest. Not at all.

  Soon we slowed down. Carmon deposited me by a tree and told me to sit and not move. Was I a dog? And where was I going to go? I didn’t want to watch anyone else die, and no way did I want to get lost in this forest. I only hoped they would remember where they left me.

  “Come on out, little Light assassins. I know where you hide. Do not waste our time pretending you are not there. Come out and play with me,” a man taunted. Carmon and Chris exchanged a look. Again, some conversation took place between them. I could tell by their eyes. I had to remember to ask Dalton about it later. I didn’t think he’d bite my head off.

  As one, Carmon and Chris moved toward the witch. I, of course, found I needed to peek around the tree. The witch looked to be in his late thirties, probably making him close to 200 years old. He also wore the traditional cloak of the Harbor Witches that showed his ranking among them. This guy was top of the line. I hoped the two men with me could handle a witch that strong.

  Harbor Witches were ranked by level of power using letters. D was the weakest a witch could be. AA was the strongest a witch could be, though there was rumor of a AAA witch somewhere. That would be something to see. Witches were evil overall, at least a good witch had not been found in a long time.