Fire
The Elementals Book One
L.B. Gilbert
Contents
Fire
Disclaimer
Credits
Titles by L.B. Gilbert
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Afterword
Also by L.B. Gilbert
About the Author
Fire
The Elementals Book One
PUBLISHED BY: L.B. Gilbert
Copyright © 2014, L.B. Gilbert
http://www.elementalauthor.com
ISBN: 978-1-942336-09-9
First Edition.
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with someone else, please send them to the author’s website, where they can find out where to purchase a copy for themselves. Thank you for respecting the author’s work. Enjoy!
Credits
Cover Design: Rebecca Hamilton, http://qualitybookworks.wordpress.com
Logo Design: Juan Fernando Garcia, http://www.elblackbat.com/
Editors: Rainy Kaye, http://www.rainyofthedark.com/
Rebecca Hamilton, http://qualitybookworks.wordpress.com
Readers: Thank you to all of my readers, especially Priti Patel and Damien Leroux and anyone else I forgot!
Titles by L.B. Gilbert
Fire: The Elementals Book One
Available Now
Air: The Elementals Book Two
Available November 28th
Water: The Elementals Book Three
Coming Soon
Writing As Lucy Leroux
Making Her His, A Singular Obsession, Book One
Available Now
Confiscating Charlie, A Singular Obsession Novelette
Book 1.5
Available Now
Calen’s Captive, A Singular Obsession, Book Two
Available Now
Stolen Angel, A Singular Obsession, Book Three
Available Now
The Roman’s Woman, A Singular Obsession,
Book Four
Available Now
Save Me, A Singular Obsession Novella, Book 4.5
Available Now
Cursed, A Spellbound Regency Novel
Available Now
Black Widow, A Spellbound Regency Novel, Book Two
Coming Soon
1
He ducked into the dark alley, just steps behind her, biting back his excitement to finally have her alone. He couldn’t give himself over to the pleasure until everything was ready. He’d made a few mistakes in the past when he’d gotten lost in the moment. The women had flaunted themselves and made him angry. It had been their fault. He had to remember to be firm with his girls, but not so angry that he became enraged. If he did, he lost control, and they slipped away so fast. That wouldn’t happen this time. This one was special. Very special.
He’d been watching her for weeks. She was perfect. He had been wrong about the others. It never lasted with them because they weren’t his one true love.
Diana. A clerk had called her that when she had stopped for takeout food.
The other women were nothing compared to her. Her perfectly formed features accentuated her soft skin and its fine pearl luster. Not a single blemish, not even a freckle. Just perfect, creamy, glowing skin. And her hair—deep red and shiny. He couldn’t wait to run his fingers through it.
He crept farther into the alley, unable to believe his luck. The alley was deserted and dark was swiftly falling. No one would notice if she never came out again. He would subdue her and bring the van around to take her to his place.
Their place.
Images of the other women floated through his mind. He could judge them dispassionately now, and he knew why they were wrong. But she was perfect. She was his angel. And she’d been waiting for him. That was more-than-clear to him.
There was no man in her life. She was alone in the world, just like he was without her. He knew everything about her. She liked candles and Thai food, and she never watched television. He didn’t watch television, either. He supposed there could be one in the bedroom of her sparsely furnished apartment. He had spent a lot of time peeking into her windows, but unfortunately none looked into her bedroom. He wanted to watch her sleep. Soon he would be in bed with her, next to her. . .inside of her.
They were going to be so happy together.
Taking another look at the garbage-filled alley, he wondered why she was in this neighborhood so late. Or why she had to have those bagels from the corner store. She went out of her way to get them. He’d tried them immediately after he’d seen her buy them. He didn’t think they were any better than the ones just down the block from her place, but he didn’t begrudge her choice. The fact that she detoured every day to this neighborhood where no one ever saw who came and went was a blessing to him. And now she’d entered this alley as the light was dying in the sky. It was like she was extending an invitation to him.
Except he had lost track of her. She should be just ahead. He peered around the dumpster—it was the only thing large enough for her to have hidden behind.
She isn’t here!
He spun around, looking for any sign of where she had gone. With an inarticulate growl, he yanked up an empty crate sitting to the side and threw it at the wall so hard it smashed into pieces, knocking over a piece of plywood leaning against the wall. It slid to the ground, revealing a large hole in the wall of the adjoining building. He forced himself to calm his breathing and examined the hole. It was definitely large enough for his angel to have passed through.
“Fuck!” he muttered through gritted teeth.
If this was the way she had gone, then there was a chance she had heard all the noise he’d just made. He stepped back to size up the building. It was the back of decrepit warehouse. Why would his angel go inside there?
He looked around again. No, there was no other place she could have gone. He waited for a count of ten and then ducked into the hole. It was a large, dark space. He couldn’t see much beyond the clutter surrounding the doorway. His angel wasn’t anywhere to be found. Maybe she hadn’t heard him. Relief flooded him. Maybe he still had a chance to surprise her.
He picked his way through the mess and stopped to listen. It was too quiet. He doubled his effort to stay silent i
n case she was nearby. For another few minutes, he picked his way, trying to move like the shadow he pretended to be. Reaching the midway point of the warehouse along the right wall, he paused. Light flickered from the back of the room.
A fire? He crept closer. Yes. It was definitely a fire. Maybe there were people here after all. Anger boiled inside him.
Is she meeting someone? A man?
His angel was really starting to piss him off. Maybe he wouldn’t be so gentle with her.
He crept around a pile of broken crates. No one was there. He waited several minutes, hoping his angel would appear. . .alone. She had to have wandered farther into the warehouse. Impatient now, he walked out from behind the pile and up to the fire. A piece of paper lay on the floor on the other side of the fire. After looking around to make sure he was still alone, he knelt down to pick it up. It was an index card, a new one in pristine condition. He turned it around and read the words.
Got you, it said in a neat cursive script. He whirled around.
And there she was. His angel. But something was wrong.
Very wrong.
* * *
Diana smiled at the killer. “Hello, Donald. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Donald Stevens, rapist and murderer of over a dozen women, stopped in his tracks. His narrow, greasy face froze in a mask of surprise. It was comical with its wide gaping mouth and protruding eyes that she had to stifle a laugh. But soon Donald’s astonishment faded, his expression transforming into a dark and predatory hunger. He shifted his weight, broadcasting his intention to rush her.
With a disgusted shake of her head, Diana extended her hand to the fire. His eyes widened as the flames leapt to her hand. She smiled at him as she held it, cradling it in her palm like a treasure. He edged away.
“Well, Donald, you’re disappointing me. I’ve been looking for you for a long time and, frankly, I expected more.”
“How the fuck do you know my—”
Diana raised the fire to triple its size, directing the rush of air to throw the larger man into the wall. In a split second, she had her free hand around his neck. With one arm, she smoothly lifted him off the ground.
His eyes bulged, and his face turned a dark shade of red as he choked. Diana smiled coldly when panic seized him and he kicked helplessly in the air.
“You didn’t honestly think you were the scariest thing walking this Earth, did you?” Diana whispered.
“Angel?” he wheezed as she released her grip on his throat a fraction.
“Not quite,” she said with a twist of her lips before hardening her expression as the fire built up inside her.
Donald looked into her eyes, and as they changed, opened his mouth wide and screamed. Tired of having to touch him, Diana brought her other hand up and released the fire directly into his gaping mouth. His screaming was strangled as he clawed at his throat in a vain attempt to stop the flames. But it was running inside of him then, burning everything into ash from the inside out.
Diana finally let go and backed away as the flames consumed his torso. She stared down at the burning body, weariness rising as the adrenaline of the kill faded away. Sighing, she stirred the burning embers with the tip of her steel-toed boot.
She’d waited longer than usual to bring this one down. She could have just killed him as soon as she got to town, but she’d decided to wait, to snare him with his own trap. It seemed like poetic justice. She’d wanted revenge for all of those girls he’d hunted down and killed as if they were nothing.
Closing her eyes, she saw their faces in her mind. His victims faces were usually too battered to be recognizable to their loved ones, their bodies torn and broken. Like the two youngest who’d been living on the streets. He had kept those two the longest. . .and they suffered the most. That was why she’d put it off, letting him see her, desire her for almost a week and half.
It was too long for one predator, as Gia had gently reminded her last night.
I did take too long, Diana thought as the rush of vengeance faded and the dissatisfaction took over again. She watched the flames do their work, much faster than a normal fire would act on a body.
She used to live for this. The satisfaction used to last longer. If they were all this clean, this clear, it would be better. Punishing the guilty was what she was built for. Unfortunately, it seemed like more and more of these monsters kept turning up. Like the heads of a Hydra, she cut one down and two more sprung up in their place.
She waited for the fire to consume the last of the body, tossing the note she’d left for Donald on the dying flames. A few of his earliest victims had been taunted by notes just like it. They had found them in their homes and their workplaces, places they thought were safe until he proved otherwise. Satisfaction flared briefly again.
When there were only ashes left, Diana gathered her coat and made her way to the front door of the warehouse. There was no need to sneak out of the hole she’d made back in the alley. She walked into the darkness and closed the door behind her.
Walking past the shabby buildings and storefronts, she inhaled the cool night air. It was moist and heavy, but the overcast sky held no hint of a coming storm.
Too bad I can’t make it rain at will. She always liked how it smelled after it rained.
Diana wrinkled her nose, silently acknowledging that she preferred firepower to water. Always had.
2
Diana unlocked the door to the apartment. She put her take-out on the table, one of the few pieces of furniture in the apartment.
Furnished apartments never had much of anything except for a used feeling in the air. She stripped off her uniform, the standard cargo pants and black tank she always wore with combat boots, and showered quickly. After pulling on clean clothes, she wrapped a fuzzy knit scarf from her pack around her shoulders.
The scarf was the one indulgence she carried with her from place to place. Gia had made it for her. Diana always waited till she was done with a case to take it out, unwilling to have it on as she did her work. It was like a reward after she finished a job.
Sighing, she looked around the bare room, glad she would be leaving it behind at first light. She was heading back to the east coast. Back to Boston.
And that was where this empty feeling started. After I took Katie home.
She pushed the thought away and pulled the candle on the bedside table closer. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she called the fire with a flick of her finger. The wick on the candle flared to life, and she focused on the flame. Reaching out with her mind, she sent the image of the flame into the aether.
Though each of the Mother Nature’s agents represented a distinct element, they were all bound together by the fifth, aether, which enabled them to communicate with each other. It didn’t matter where in the world they were. All they had to do was commune with their element. In Diana’s case, she simply lit a candle. No one ever questioned why a woman had so many candles.
Diana could feel the other three Elementals waiting through the aether. She winced slightly. It had been while since she’d talked to all of them as a group. She hadn’t wanted them to gang up on her to move on from this case. But that also meant she hadn’t heard how their missions were going, either.
“It’s done,” she said aloud.
“Good,” Gia, the Earth Elemental, responded over the aether link. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Diana lied.
“Are you sure?” Serin, the Water Elemental, chimed in.
Gia and Serin were the two most senior Elementals. Both had been in service of the mother for years. In Gia’s case, centuries.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Diana said. “But it will be good to get out of here. I don’t like the kind of cold they have here. Cold should not be humid.”
“Wait till you get back to Boston,” Logan said. “In summer, it’s a pit.”
Logan was the youngest Air Elemental in history. Gia considered her a prodigy, but Diana had decided not to hold that against her.
And now she loved her. They all did.
“You lucked out before, not having to go there at this time of year. You’ll miss Canada then,” Logan continued.
“Should I skip the car and fly into your namesake this time?” Diana asked.
“How many times do I have to tell you I am not named after the airport!” she huffed, making Diana smile.
Logan had taken to her Elemental inheritance with alacrity, but she was still very young and easy to needle.
“We know, sweetie,” Serin said. “Di’s just winding you up. I have to get going. I have to head south for another disturbance.”
“Any idea what’s going down?” Logan asked eagerly.
In both age and experience, she was the youngest, and was still keen to learn everything she could about their missions.
“No real details yet,” Serin supplied, “but there’s a center. San Juan de Abajo, a small village on the coast near Vallarta.”
Logan sighed. “You always get the best locations. Sometimes I wish I was Water.”
“No, you don’t,” Serin said, a smile clear in her voice. “You would miss getting to whip up winds and storms and knocking guys three times your size on their butt.”
“Hey, those guys were asking for it,” Logan grumbled. “And they lived. Like they were supposed to.”
With only four of them actively working at any one time, even some of the most knowledgeable magic practitioners didn’t believe in Elementals. Sometimes a good scare was enough to straighten people out. And for those beginning to stray into the darker shades of magic, a good thrashing early on was easier and more effective.
Logan’s last case was one of their preemptive attempts to stop such a situation from developing. She’d delivered a smack down worthy of a WWF wrestler, with a harsh reminder to stay within the parameters of the covenant.
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