Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One
Page 23
“Manuel,” Carmon called to the Warlock as he moved toward the center of the room. Now that I was seeing Manuel Jursey in person, he didn’t seem that scary, though that black cloud scared me a lot. “Stop what you are doing. We need to have a chat.”
Manuel laughed, and it was anything but pleasant. He turned to look at Carmon, and I gasped again when I saw his eyes were completely black.
“You think you can stop me, Elemental Child,” Manuel laughed, mocking my mate.
“Your predecessor signed a document called the Accords, Manuel,” Carmon said calmly while he continued to walk to Manuel. “It’s now your responsibility to make sure that the Harbor Witches, your people, abide by it.”
“Leave my throne room,” Manuel ordered, turning his back to us.
“Do not turn your back on me, Warlock!” Carmon bellowed. It made me jump. I remembered being on the other end of that voice. This witch had better get his act together because it was going to get worse.
Manuel did not turn around. He continued doing whatever it was he was doing to keep the black fog there.
“The Mindolin will never obey you. He will destroy this world,” Carmon told the witch.
Manuel laughed and turned to face Cal. “You are an insect I will crush.”
“Manuel Jursey.” The power behind Cal’s voice amazed me. He was no longer the arrogant child I had been forced to bond with. That felt like it was so long ago. Now, he was a grown man saving our world. I was honored to be his mate. “You will either follow the Accords, or you will be removed from power and spend the rest of your life in complete solitude.”
“You have no power here. The power in this land is mine, and I will draw all of yours into me. Then I will be able to save the Mindolin from his unlawful prison!” the Warlock cried.
I felt something tug within me. What had Carmon said about this guy? He stole power from those around him, and life force. That’s what he was trying to do to me! My heartrate skyrocketed as panic tried to set in. I could almost hear my pulse in my ears. Luckily, my brain functioned enough to remind me to breathe and take a deep breath in and let it out.
I closed my eyes as I continued to breathe and calm myself. I would not let this man take my power and harm the love of my life with it. My teeth ground together in determination and I struggled to stop the tugging. I even delved deeply into my Light blood power, but it did little to help. I felt frustrated tears welling in my eyes. I would not let my mate die because I was too weak to stop the Warlock from gaining strength.
I turned to Adam. “Can he take my power if I’m unconscious?” I asked, looking at him with pleading eyes.
“No, but are you sure this is what you want?” Adam asked, concern for me lay in his expression.
“I can’t stop him from taking my power. I’ve tried. I will not let Cal die because I’m weak!” I wanted to shake Adam for wasting time.
“Jeff, put her to sleep, hurry,” Adam ordered. “Knock Nate out for a little while too. He looks like he’s not succeeding in fighting Manuel either.”
I wondered why these guys weren’t having trouble, but quickly I was too tired to think of anything. I vaguely remembered someone picking me up and laying me on the floor. I hoped Cal’s family, not just his brothers, would protect him. I was no longer able to do that. I had been too weak.
Chapter Fifteen
Carmon
I knew the Warlock was drawing power from Sylee and Nate, but even with their power added to his, I could still beat him. He was also trying to draw from my brothers, but their elemental power kept them safe. I could see the anger in Manuel’s eyes as he discovered he could only draw from our two completely human teammates. My eyebrows rose in surprise when he then let out a growl. It was full of hatred.
What happened back there? I asked Adam. Something behind me had angered the Warlock.
Jeff put Sylee and Nate to sleep. He’s not getting power from them anymore, Adam responded.
That was a great idea. Good job, I commented. In fact, it was a brilliant idea.
None of us can take credit for it. Sylee asked for help becoming unconscious so he couldn’t steal from her. She thought she was weak for not being able to fight his pull, Adam corrected me.
My how she continued to surprise me, and she was in no way weak. Giving up the ability to protect herself in a room with a witch dealing in black magic was the opposite of weak. She would not be unprotected, though. I would see to it.
“Manuel, you have chosen to harm my mate and friend. You will give up your position as Warlock. If you do not,” I met his eyes for the last words, “I will remove you by force.”
“I thought you’d never ask, Little Lord,” Manuel mocked me. Nate had called me names similar to this when we met, but I had not felt hatred behind those names. If Nate had continued to call me those names I would not have stopped him. This evil witch, though, had to stop. His voice was like nails on a chalkboard to me, and I wanted to cringe every time he spoke.
A cackle came from the dimension opening that Manuel had created. I could feel the Mindolin, which unnerved me. Even if I stopped Manuel, would the prison still hold? It didn’t matter. I had to try.
I walked toward the Warlock. My power was still building, but the speed at which it grew was slowing. I needed to finish this. I was halfway across the hall when Manuel sent a spell at me. I had a half second to put up a shield in front of myself. The shield was one of the first things our uncles had taught us.
Manuel sent more magic my way until I decided to show him what an elemental was capable of doing. I was bored with defending myself. Especially when I held so much power. I had an advantage, too. There was a huge water fountain next to the wall on my left.
The Warlock surprised me and shot about a hundred tiny magic balls at my chest. Thankfully, I’d been thinking of the water. Each tiny magic ball was intercepted by an equally sized ball of ice. I sent ice spears his way after that. His magic melted them, but there was another round right behind it. One missed his magic and embedded in his right shoulder. This did little to slow him down or weaken him, but it angered him.
Is everyone out of the palace? I asked Drew.
Yes.
Our clash went on for a long time. Each of us sending, what we hoped, was a volley of power enough to take the other down. I tried everything from drowning him to pulling his life force out of his body, but he had stolen life from so many witchs I was unable to pull like I normally could. He sent magic bolts that kill on impact, magical nets to capture me, and acid balls. My shield held against it all, thank the lords and ladies.
Finally, I began to feel him weaken, so of course that was when I finally took a hit from his magic. It was a slicing spell, and it cut me in my right thigh. Jeff could heal it, but it would take longer because of the type of magic it was, and it was given from a strong witch. Slicing spells also tended to bleed a lot faster than other injuries, so we’d be back to being evenly matched when Jeff was finished healing me.
I needed to end this, and it needed to be now. I needed help, but dreaded asking for it. Normally, if we needed help from an elemental, they would require us to pay them back sometime in the future, and the repayment far outweighed what we had asked of them.
Mother. I hadn’t asked her for help in years. I hated showing her weakness. It made my stomach sour to show her my weakness now.
Carmon, her voice rang in my mind. Instantly, I remembered how much I had missed her voice.
If I do not stop the Warlock now, the Mindolin will be freed. What do I do? I asked her while still defending myself from magical attacks. He was sending more slicing spells, hoping I would be hit by another.
Life gave you the answer, son, and then she was gone. Oh, so helpful. What answer had Life given me?
I got distracted thinking of the answer, and the Warlock got a lucky hit to my other leg with another splicing spell when my shield did not go up fast enough. It was my luck that Jeff hadn’t finished the other leg yet. T
he new injury was deeper, and had cut through a lot of muscle. I dropped to a knee which hurt both legs, but I couldn’t stand on them both.
Hurry! I yelled at Jeff.
I’m at my max, Cal. Focus and don’t get hit by another, he spoke back.
I glanced at Jeff quickly. He was standing beside Nathaniel and Sylee. My mate was lying there defenseless, and I needed to protect her. Suddenly, it came to me. Lady Water had been right.
Wake Sylee up now, Jeff! I yelled at him.
He’ll steal power from her, Cal, Jeff reminded me.
Do it! I did not give him an explanation, and I gave him no room to argue, so he stayed quiet. I kept glancing at her while defending myself. She started to stir and Adam helped her wake up faster by talking to her and making her move. She was groggy, but hopefully she’d wake up quickly.
I stopped paying attention to her and attacked the Warlock with more water, ice spears, water ropes, and millions of ice crystals which were my strongest attacks. I found my life attacks, such as confusion and energy drains, were doing little to faze him. He had a harder time focusing on the small missiles I shot at him. A few ice spears had reached him, and he was bleeding as much as I was.
Soon, there was a touch on my back. I knew that touch. She stayed with me as I defended us against the current attacks the Warlock sent our way.
What’s the plan, Cal? He’s back to draining me, she told me.
He won’t be doing that much longer. Bite me, I ordered her.
You need your strength, she tried to argue back.
Sylee as your Commander, I order you to bite me this minute, I growled at her. I didn’t have time for politeness. She obeyed me. I felt her lift the back of my shirt and bite my left shoulder blade where she could reach. She didn’t take too much blood, but the amount she took would help her with the task I needed her to complete.
He’s not taking power from me anymore, she informed me in confusion. I had hoped that would be the case.
Love, feel where that blood is powering up, I told her. She was silent while she concentrated.
It feels like my chest where our bond is, she replied.
Dig into that power like you do your Light blood, I ordered. After a minute, I heard her gasp behind me.
Cal. She sounded stunned.
That is why you can breathe underwater, Love. The power you are feeling is your element. Sylee, you are a lower elemental, I could barely believe what I was telling her, so I understood her shock when she heard it.
It can’t be, she stuttered out. I’m not a lower elemental. How could that be possible?
Love, I need your help. You can decide if I’m right or wrong later. I need you to heat the water in that fountain. This guy loves heat magic, he’s been sending a lot of it at me, so we’ll give him heat. Plus, he always seems to melt my ice. We need to come at him from a different angle.
After I’d given her the command, I felt the water in the fountain heating. My mate was a natural elemental. I protected us until the water was to the temperature we needed. It was boiling away. The first objective was to stop the Mindolin from entering our world. I explained the plan quickly to Sylee. She was exhausted, but agreed to help me.
I took her hand, and using as much power as possible, we sent a stream of boiling hot water straight into the black fog. The Mindolin screamed and the Warlock was hit by the falling, steaming torrent of water. The connection between the two broke, and the black circle faded to nothing.
I felt the energy flowing from Sylee, and knew she was spent. That was fine. I could finish this now. After the connection had been broken, I discovered that the Warlock had been syphoning power from the Mindolin as well as his people, and he was weary. I walked toward him, and when he sent spells at me, I had no trouble blocking them. I even dodged one that came slowly at me. I wondered how long he’d been stealing power from the Mindolin. This Warlock was a big fraud in the power category.
When I got within feet of him, Manuel fell on his knees and started begging for his life. It was pathetic, and it didn’t work. The Warlock was being fired from his job, and I was the HR department.
Wake Nate up now, I spoke to Jeff again.
I turned my back to the former Warlock and walked to my mate. She sat on the ground, completely exhausted. I’d had my power since I was a child, so it and I had grown in strength together. It would take Sylee a long while to become mentally and physically strong enough to use her power like I could mine.
I knelt down beside her, and she gave me a weak smile, “Can I take a little time off, Commander?” she asked.
“Yes, Love,” I murmured into her hair when I knelt and pulled her close to me. “And I’m taking time off with you, but first I need to take care of a little business.”
I sat on the ground next to her. My fight against the Warlock and Mindolin combo had drained me. My brothers sat down with us. Nate had woken up, and when he was mentally aware, he joined the team as well.
“Congrats on the win,” Nate told me.
“I couldn’t have done it without my mate,” I looked at Sylee. She was practically falling asleep sitting up. I pulled her over so she could lay her head in my lap. She was out the next second.
“You’re going to have to explain that, even to us,” Adam told me.
“Sylee is a lower elemental,” I stated matter-of-factly.
I had never seen my brothers look so shocked and speechless in their lives, and we had had a lot of shocking revelations lately. Since no one was saying anything, I continued.
“I asked Mom for help when I struggled against the Warlock. She told me Life had already explained what I needed to help me beat him. It took me a few minutes, but then I realized it was my mate she was talking about, and I had a memory come to my remembrance from back in the forest. Sylee had told me about the two feelings she had when I bit her, her head with the link, and her chest. I didn’t think anything of it then, but now I realize it was her elemental power that is housed there. She is a lower water elemental.”
“That’s why she can breathe underwater.” Adam hit his forehead with the heel of his palm.
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that’s the reason she’s gotten quieter while she walks, and hears better,” Dalton suggested. This was news to me, but the others agreed readily.
“Now, onto more urgent matters,” I interrupted their agreements. “We’re short one Warlock.”
“What usually happens when a Warlock dies?” Drew asked Nate.
“The one who kills him becomes the next Warlock,” Nate answered. “But that won’t work here because Cal isn’t a witch.”
“Then you’ll just have to do it, Nate,” I responded. His mouth fell open. “We need someone in the Warlock position we can trust. Someone who can help us change the fate of the world. The Mindolin will not stop fighting and plotting to be free. Its prison is weakening, and we’ll need your race, and every other race’s help to stop him. The elementals can’t do it alone this time. It’s a big responsibility for you, but I know you’re up to it.”
“I don’t believe you’re giving me a choice, so I will accept this new job offer.” As soon as he had said those words, the symbols on his robes changed. They now represented his new place amongst his people. “I hope you’re planning on sticking around a few days so my people can see you. They need to know what you are, and that I have your support and your help if the need arises.”
“We’ll stay as long as you need us to,” I promised. Then I sighed. “You were right when you said we’d be sharing our secret identities before this was all over. I would, however, like to keep Sylee’s new ability concealed until she is strong enough to protect herself from those who would seek to harm her.”
“That’s a good idea,” Nate replied.
“Nate, you need to call your people in for a meeting. I’m sure they’re tired of being behind Drew’s rock wall. Let them know what happened. My brothers will stay here with you tonight, but I need to get my
mate and I to bed. We need sleep.”
“The highest floor belongs to the Warlock. You can have any room you want up there. I’m not sure what it looks like, but I’m sure you’ll be able to find someplace to sleep.”
“Thanks.” Before I could move to pick Sylee up, she was being removed from my arms.
“Cal, I know you need to hold her, but there’s no way you can carry her in your current condition. Let me help you,” Chris implored me. This was out of character for Chris. He held Sylee away from his body, so she touched him in the minimal number of places. My usually immature brother was surprising me a lot today with his mature decisions.
“This time I will accept your offer,” I conceded.
“Good. If you hadn’t, I would call your leadership skills into question.” Chris turned from me to walk to the throne room door. This was the Chris I knew and loved.
My brothers murmured their good nights as I left, and I followed Chris up so many flights of stairs I was almost asleep myself by the time we reached the top floor. We checked out the first door we came to. It had a bed in it, and I checked the other doors to make sure she would be safe. They led to a bathroom and a closet. I wasn’t sure when the bedding had been last washed, so I pulled the comforter off. I then pulled back the sheets and had Chris lay Sylee on the bed. He left immediately and I fell into bed next to my gorgeous mate.
******
“Breakfast is here, Cal,” my mate waved a piece of bacon under my nose. I lurched forward and grabbed it with my teeth without even opening my eyes. I heard her laugh at me. It sounded like music to my ears.
“Can you wait a little longer before eating, Love? I’d like to talk if that’s okay.” I opened my eyes. She looked well rested and there was a sparkle in her brown eyes.
“Sure, Cal.” She laid down so her hand lay on my chest and her chin rested on her hand.
“I’m afraid you are no longer going to be attending the academy,” I told her.