Fire: The Elementals Book One

by Gilbert, L. B.

  They were ushered up a grand staircase made out of a clear plastic of some kind. The effect was like walking on ice. The owner may be a misogynistic piece of shit, but he had a definite sense of style. Not a good style, but style nonetheless.

  Their hostess opened a set of ornate carved white double doors at the head of the stairs, revealing a moderately sized room with more leather and lights. The couches were black leather here and the lights were a darker color than the rest of the club. The hostess briefly explained the other amenities of the room, including the glass top coffee table that was actually a touch screen computer. After some more preening and deep breathing, she left, visibly disappointed at Alec’s lack of interest.

  “It’s not what I was expecting. The name doesn’t match. I was expecting it to look like a high profile bordello,” Alec observed.

  “Yeah, like the coven house,” Diana said absently, fingering the table to explore the display.

  He let out a choked laugh. “Don’t say that around my mother’s decorator. They spend a fortune to update the look every decade. Funny thing is that it never seems to change much.”

  “Sorry. You don’t actually like that look, do you?” Diana asked almost apologetically, dropping her hostility for the time being.

  It was starting to take too much effort.

  Alec smiled thoughtfully. “You don’t spend a lot of time around people, do you? It seems odd, since men must trip all over themselves to meet you.”

  Diana frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “I was only thinking that you probably spend more time interrogating people than actually talking to them.”

  Annoyed at his perception, she ignored the comment, sitting next to him and crossing her legs.

  The vampire proved exactly how intelligent he was by moving on. “I’ve been pretty antisocial myself for the last fifty or sixty years. But I wasn’t righting grievous wrongs, simply poring through dusty books and scrolls.”

  His tone was commiserating, and she decided to let it go.

  “Is your doctorate in archeology?”

  “One of them is,” he said, smiling again. “I’ve had a considerable amount of time to accumulate degrees, but they’re all in related fields. I would have loved to get a medical degree, but for obvious reasons that one was out of my reach.”

  Diana studied him in amused disbelief. “You are the weirdest vampire I’ve ever met.”

  “Thanks,” he said, looking pleased. “Knowing how you feel about my kind, I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

  He glanced at the display. It had a list of events for the club and a menu. Pretty banal stuff. Until he hit the VIP icon. Then a menu of another sort was displayed, one that catered specifically to a vampire and his entourage. And it was clear that more than blood was on offer.

  “Well, now we know why they call it Whore,” Diana said flatly.

  Alec wrinkled his nose. “At least they don’t actually send the girl, or boy if you swing that way, up here like they do in Europe. Over there, it’s considered a matter of etiquette to sample what is offered. In private of course.”

  It was Diana’s turn to make a face. “You don’t even get a choice? Bite the merchandise or you’ve violated the vampire version of Emily Post?”

  He gave her a quick resigned smile. “I stopped visiting the noble houses and Underlife clubs after a while because of it. The blood exchange shouldn’t be trivialized.”

  Diana tried to picture being bitten. There wasn’t a scenario she could think of where she didn’t set the biter on fire.

  “They should be sending up the owner to greet me soon if he’s here. If he’s not, then the person the next rung down on the ladder,” Alec explained without a shred of conceit.

  He extended a glass of champagne from the complimentary setup at the bar. The lights changed to a soothing blue.

  “No, thanks. I don’t like the bubbles,” Diana said, refusing the glass.

  “No bubbles at all? No soda or beer?” he asked, surprised.

  “Yeah,” she said, stopping to think about it. “Why? Is that weird?”

  She sounded unsure. Nobody had ever questioned her preferences. Not even Logan.

  “No, it’s uncommon but not enough to be weird,” he reassured her, and Diana found herself incrementally relaxing.

  She walked around the room, examining the luxury items laid out for the VIP. There were high-end cut crystal glasses for whiskey and champagne on the bar. Some nice looking plates with gourmet treats. Vampires usually traveled with more non-vamps than not in their entourage so there was a wide selection. Foie Gras on toast, figs stuffed with some sort of cream and drizzled with honey, and some other cheese with a sun-dried tomato spread on a soft white bread. Diana had eaten her fill, but these looked good so she sampled a few. Alec shifted behind the bar and served her a glass of something else.

  “It’s a sweet dessert wine. It’s French, Pineau de Charentes,” he said with flawless pronunciation.

  Diana sampled it while she helped herself to more of the hors d’oeuvres. It was good, sweet, but not overwhelming. There were other toys, stuff that looked like it came out of the one percenter’s version of the Skymall catalogue. She leaned over to examine them more closely. Diana never bought anything that wasn’t functional since she had to travel light. In other circumstances, she would have liked to play with them.

  “You should have the best of everything,” Alec said quietly without preamble as if listening to her thoughts.

  Her lips twisted. “I have the best of everything,” she said and meant it.

  “We have differing opinions of what everything means, I think,” he said.

  She could feel his intent gaze even though she wasn’t facing him. An unfamiliar tension filled her, and atmosphere became thick. Racking her mind for something, she grew irritated when she couldn’t think of anything to say. Thankfully a knock at the double doors saved her from replying.

  The door swung open, and an elegantly dressed man came in with a flourish. He stopped short when he saw Diana. Fear flashed in his eyes, and he backed away.

  Guess my description has made the rounds.

  She resisted the urge to rush forward to grab the man. For one, he looked too sweaty. And she had agreed Alec should take the lead.

  Their guest was about to bolt back out the door when Alec gestured to him and said in a commanding tone, “Come, sit.”

  The man twitched but sat slowly on the couch while Alec sat at the armchair. Diana chose to stand.

  “Are you the owner?” Alec asked.

  “I’m Carter, the manager. I’m at your service,” he finished nervously as he eyed the door longingly.

  “Where is the owner?” Diana asked. Carter jerked his gaze her way, avoiding direct eye contact.

  “Gone,” he said. “He needed a vacation.”

  “Gone where?”

  “Not sure. Miami or the Hamptons. Maybe Manhattan? Wherever the hot spots are now. He scouts the latest places to scope out the competition. Doesn’t specify where he goes. He just takes off,” he said, diligently avoiding eye contact with Diana.

  “What is your employer’s full name?” Alec asked.

  “He only goes by J. No one knows his full name.”

  Diana could see the magic entwined in the man’s aura. “What spells have you been using, Carter?”

  He cleared his throat. “None, I simply activated some protection charms.”

  “Did they work?” she asked mockingly, guessing that they were meant to keep her out.

  He looked away. “Don’t know. There are meant to keep black witches out.”

  “Sure they are,” she said, knowing full well this guy was on the gray end of the spectrum. She leaned in close and spoke in a low voice. “Now tell me where J is.”

  Carter gulped. “He didn’t say, he just took off.”

  “And do you know why?” Alec asked.

  “No,” he said.

  Another lie.

 
; Diana leaned in closer to Carter’s ear. “I can tell when people are lying. So start telling me what you do know. The sooner you talk, the sooner we leave.”

  Carter looked to Alec for help, but all he found was an unyielding and unsympathetic stone sitting there watching him. “He brought in a group one night to his office. I wasn’t sure why, but I don’t interfere with the boss’s business. I’d never seen them before. It was a strange group. Two men and two women. I got a bad vibe from them.”

  Alec gestured for more. “Can you describe them? Did you catch any names?”

  “No names. And I only caught a glimpse of them before I had to go check on a mess in the kitchen,” he said, still only looking at Alec despite Diana’s menacing presence hovering over him.

  Alec gave Carter a pointed look, raising one fine black brow. “Describe what you can.”

  “One man was a little older than the rest. He was the only one I got a look at. He looked dignified and powerful. I don’t know if he was the one in charge, but that’s what I thought at the time. He had close-cropped grey hair, like a military cut, but his outfit was like dark bohemian, if that’s a thing. That’s all I know. Can I go now?” Carter looked ready to bolt out of that chair.

  “After you show us your boss’s office,” Diana added, going to the door and gesturing for him to follow her.

  Carter started and made eye contact with her for the first time. “J doesn’t let anyone in there without his permission. I don’t have the key.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she said.

  He rose to his feet and edged around her, then led them out of the VIP room. They walked along the upper story balcony and looked down onto the dance floor. The club was going strong now. The well-dressed masses writhed on the floor below them with the vibrant red light shifting underneath.

  The club’s main office was directly opposite. Carter shifted to one side of the double doors, looking around as if expecting his employer to appear from thin air to give him hell. Diana moved to the lock, and immediately Alec moved to hide her from view.

  There was a simple keypad coupled to a standard locking mechanism. She covered each with her hand and fried the connection between them. More direct heat, and the tumblers of the lock shifted and the doors swung open. Carter looked surprised, as if he had expected her to whip out some sort of lock picking set.

  Diana decided it was time for him to go. “Your help is no longer required. You may return to your duties.”

  Carter practically ran away as she and Alec moved inside, pulling the door shut behind them. The noise from the club ceased. It was more than soundproof; a spell muted the noise absolutely.

  “What are you looking for? I doubt he kept a record of his meetings or anything to identify the witches,” Alec said, walking slowly around the room.

  “I just need something of his, or theirs, that’s special enough to them, and then I can track the object back to the person,” Diana replied as she examined their surroundings.

  If he was going to insist on tagging along, he would figure that out on his own soon anyway.

  “Really, like a witch scries?” he asked, intrigued.

  Some skilled witches could track in that fashion, but the gift was rare, especially if they hadn’t met the person. Vampires could track their blood donors if they had given them their own blood. Unlike the fiction in the movies, tracking was the only purpose for a vampire giving blood most of the time, since most of their donors didn’t have the innate ability to be turned.

  “We are not entirely dissimilar,” Diana admitted reluctantly as she searched the desk.

  “But you didn’t need anything of Fiona’s to find her.”

  Perceptive bastard.

  “No. She was at the coven house. I didn’t need anything else after I’d been in her presence. I’m wired to track Supes.”

  “Oh,” Alec said quietly. “But you need something if you haven’t been around them before?”

  “Or if enough time has passed since I’ve seen them,” Diana shared before deciding it was high time to shut up.

  Alec searched the desk for an object of sufficient personal value. He picked up and examined a paperweight while she looked for a hidden safe.

  There was no obvious safe in the wall, but a guy who ran a club had to have one. Turning her attention to the floor, she searched for irregularities and soon hit pay dirt. A small Brown model safe was installed under the desk’s seating area. Rather than waste time trying to reason out the combination, she sent a blast of heat to fuse the mechanism before wrenching the handle open. The whole door came off in her hand with a protesting shriek of metal.

  Alec raised a brow but kept silent as she tossed the door aside and crouched down next to the open safe. Inside were a large gun and a lot of cash, but nothing related to witchcraft or something that resonated with J’s specific vibration.

  Annoyed, she stood, spinning around to examine the rest of the room. Unlike the others in the club, this part of the building wasn’t outfitted with glowing walls and floors. It was painted a deep dark green, a shade close to black. Sleek and expensive lamps lit the room. On the right side of the room stood a tall cabinet made out of a deep reddish wood. Its shelves were littered with small objects, a collection of baubles and curiosities that must have taken years to accumulate.

  Diana leaned in closer to run a finger over a delicate glass globe. There was something odd about it. It was out of place next to the other objects, which were more of the weapon or totem variety.

  She picked it up. Inside it, a light flared briefly. It was a spell, contained in a glass globe. There were particles shifting inside, not exactly glitter, more like dirt in red clay tones. It was perfectly sealed round globe, rather unusual for a spell. More unusual was that its power had been muted until she touched it. Usually she could see spells like beacons in the night, but this one only had a dull glow.

  Enclosing a spell in a glass globe wasn’t a practice of the various witch covens. They might use a stoppered vial, but nothing like this. It was something a new practitioner, untrained in the craft, but with talent to spare, might make to house spells with a kind of flourish. A unique touch to impress other practitioners and consumers of spells.

  She held it up to Alec. “This was made by them but wasn’t for them. It must have been commissioned by J.”

  “Can you trace them directly now?”

  “No. It wasn’t theirs to begin with. It was always meant for someone else. I can’t trace J with it either because he didn’t have it long enough to make it his.” She expelled a harsh breath, frustrated. “We will have to track J first after all.”

  “We?” Alec smile peeking out. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Do we know what type of spell it is? Or do you have to break it to activate it?”

  “No to the last. Hold on,” she said and picked up a cut crystal paperweight from the desk.

  She melted a layer of glass onto her hand and placed it over the globe. As the surfaces made contact, she melted the inner layer of glass and for a minute she touched the spell. Technically the second layer was unnecessary but it was added protection, in case the spell was lethal.

  It probably wouldn’t have hurt her, but Alec might be vulnerable, although there weren’t many spells that could affect a vampire. To some degree, vampires were impermeable to most forms of magic, but there were always exceptions to the rule.

  “It’s a confusion spell. It would muddle memories in normal humans and susceptible Supernaturals. A useful tool in certain situations. Not exactly endorsed by our kind, but this one is a low-level spell. J probably took the stronger ones with him,” she said.

  A flame flared inside the globe and the materials suspended inside burned to nothing. A puff of smoke and the entire globe was gone. She turned her attention back to the other items on the shelf, as did Alec. There were empty spaces. As suspected, J had taken most of the objects of value.

  “What about this?” Alec asked, pulling out an elaborately en
graved dagger.

  She took it from him. “No,” she shook her head. “It was probably a gift he left out for display.”

  She rounded the desk and sat in J’s leather chair so she could examine the shelf from his normal vantage point. From here, there were a few objects closer to the eye level. One of these was far more likely to be an object of personal value, even if J himself wasn’t aware of it.

  “Hand me that figurine. The fertility totem,” she said, gesturing to one of the lower shelves.

  Alec gave it to her, and she instantly felt the connection. The totem was a focusing tool used by practitioners, an object with a long history. It was the type of thing passed down in a family. But not J’s family. His possession was an interruption of its path. However, he valued it highly, more than he knew, probably because he’d stolen or cheated someone out of it. Now it was tied to him with enough force that it had become his.

  “This will work,” she said, throwing a smile in Alec’s direction.

  Flushing slightly, he asked, “Do you know where he is?”

  She turned her gaze inward, focusing on nothing, reaching for the threads that tied the object to J. “South. Quite a ways south. Took a car. He probably thought it would be harder to track. It’s actually easier.”

  “When do we leave?”

  She looked up at him, weighing her decision to take him along. If she didn’t, he would just end up following her. It was probably better to keep him with her than have him nipping at her heels, interfering with her investigation in ways she couldn’t anticipate.

  “You’re absolutely committed to this search?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Even if we end up in Cuba?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Fine. But if you get in my way or get all bitey on me, I will set your ass on fire and won’t even feel bad about it.”

  He smiled. “I think I can promise I won’t bite. Not unless you want me to. . .”