Fire: The Elementals Book One

by Gilbert, L. B.

  The living room was completely devoid of furniture. “It looks like this room was cleared out recently. Some adult-sized signatures are present. If children had passed through the front door, it was way before these adults. Unlike the cooler environment of the basement in Dover, the ambient temperature of these rooms is significantly higher. It’s swamping out all but the most recent movements,” she said.

  “It will be worse upstairs,” Alec warned, gesturing for her to precede him up the mostly intact stairs.

  The second story was in far better shape than the first. The floors were complete and relatively clean, as if someone had swept them recently. The upper story was divided into more rooms than the first, as if it had been added decades later for a larger family.

  Diana nodded at Alec, and they took opposite sides of the hallway, opening the closed doors and checking the rooms inside. She turned away from one bare room to look into the one Alec had opened last. This one had a bed and couch, both new, although there were no linens on the bed.

  Walking closer, she said, “Someone stayed here a while, an adult. Nothing else is clear.” She gestured to the last room on the right. “That one should match the vantage point I saw.”

  When she didn’t move, Alec put his hand on her back and gently pushed her toward it.

  The view from the window confirmed that this was the room from the Mother’s memory. The children had spent a lot of time here, enough to leave faint echoes in a few places. She nodded, knowing Alec would understand.

  Unlike the room in Dover, the circle took everything this time. The room was completely bare.

  Then she looked out the window into the wood surrounding the farmhouse and saw it.

  Alec let out a frustrated breath “We’re too late,” he said from behind her.

  “Yeah. We are,” she whispered, staring at the newly overturned earth at the tree line.

  30

  The grave was small, the warmth from the decomposing body close to the surface.

  Alec had called in his men to remove the body. He hadn’t wanted her to dig it up herself. She’d seen worse, a lot worse, but when she pointed that out, he only seemed to get more upset. He was determined to shield her as best he could, and in the end it was easier to let him have his way. And though she didn’t say so, she was grateful.

  It was always different when little kids were involved.

  “Can you tell which child it is?” Alec asked, his voice distant and flat.

  He seemed to be taking it better than she was, but she knew better. Alec was as crushed as she was.

  “No,” she said, leaning on a tree while they waited. “From here I can tell that there is only one body, not two. And I think the kids were roughly the same height as far as I know.”

  The last was said in an absent, far-away voice. If Alec hadn’t been here—hadn’t insisted on calling his men—she would be digging up that grave alone right now. She’d had to deal with the bodies of innocents before, but not children this small. She was glad he was there with her.

  Diana was past anger. Her grimness was edged in despair, the kind that sneaks in between disasters. She remembered the bitter feeling well from back when her mom had died. You could put away the emotions when the next hurdle loomed, but they always snuck back in when things went quiet again.

  “You know,” he said suddenly. “I thought we would make it. I thought together we would stop them.”

  She nodded. “I wouldn’t have thought so before. This job teaches you not to expect a happy ending. But somehow having a partner made it seem possible,” she said, giving him a ghost of a smile. “But this is what it’s like, you know. . .this job. Sometimes. Too often.”

  “Which is why the thought of you having to do this by yourself drives me fucking crazy,” he returned hoarsely.

  No other words were spoken as two cars drove up the lane, bringing Alec’s men and their shovels.

  Diana decided to wait by her bike during the exhumation. Alec had ex-Sûreté on his European staff as well as former Interpol. Proper forensic technique would be observed. Diana doubted it would make any difference. The body had been hidden, but not that well. The chances anything would be found were slim.

  A warm wind whipped around them, and Diana heard the wind whisper something to her. She normally didn’t hear it unless it was something Logan had passed on, but there were always exceptions. Turning to look into the wooded area behind them, she scanned the area with her extra sense. Without a word, she walked into the woods and towards one of those tiny heat sources, which was surrounded by the faint and fading signature of a slightly larger one.

  It was smaller than an adult’s. Alec followed silently behind her.

  Crouching near a tree, Diana brushed leaves and dirt away, uncovering a small item that had been buried. It was one of those novelty rubber duckies, the kind with the little devil horns. When squeezed, it lit up. The faint light inside accounted for the faint heat source she had seen.

  “This was Katie’s. She buried it here. She remembered.”

  “Remembered what?” Alec frowned. “And how do you know it’s hers?”

  She looked up at him before straightening up. “Because I gave it to her.”

  * * *

  Diana only had her bike when she’d rescued Katie from her captor’s hideaway. She’d carried the pale and silent little girl in front of her till they’d reached the nearest town where she’d rented a car.

  The little shop next to the car rental place had had the novelty duck display. Diana hadn’t seen them around in years, but Katie had stopped to look at them. It was the first thing she’d reacted to with any interest, and Diana had immediately bought her one.

  The first words Katie had spoken were after she’d received the duck. The little girl hadn’t looked directly at her when she’d said in a matter-of-fact tone, “You killed him.”

  Diana had contemplated lying, but she’d said Yes before she could stop herself.

  “That’s good,” Katie had said quietly, looking her in the face for the first time.

  Diana hadn’t known what to say, so she’d settled for the truth, “It’s what I do. Come on. Let’s get you back to your mom.”

  * * *

  Using a pristine white handkerchief Alec took the duck and brushed the dirt off, careful not to touch it, before handing it back to her. Putting it in her pocket, Diana inhaled deeply and walked back to the burial site. She had to know if it was Katie’s body they had found.

  Alec’s men had set up a perimeter around the now empty grave. The body had been moved; it was covered in white sheets on a gurney that had already been loaded onto the back of a van. It looked very small on the adult-sized gurney.

  Alec’s men whispered to him, telling him what, or who, it was that they’d found, but she didn’t hear a thing. Her ears were filled with the sound of a roaring fire as she pulled down the sheet.

  She had never seen the little boy, but he’d been small for his age. His clothes were simple but of good quality, and his shoes were new. Scanning the body carefully with all her senses, she searched for clues, but there were none to find. Her enemy was too careful.

  “Nothing?” Alec asked, coming up to the open end of the van.

  “No,” she said, turning to him.

  He was stiff and ice-cold, the area around him cooler by at least ten degrees.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  In a way, Elias and his father were his people. At least that’s the way he saw it, and she had grown to respect him for it.

  “The little girl isn’t near here, is she?” he said, scanning the dark woods for another small grave.

  Diana thought back to the child-size form she saw in the heat signature around where they found the duck. “I think she’s still alive. I think she’s hoping to be rescued.” She held up the duck. “By me.”

  He nodded, his eyes glowing with anger. “Then let’s find her. Can you track her with that? It must be a prized possession.”
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  Diana took a moment before she answered, “I don’t know. It’s not the same for children. You know that.”

  “You have to try,” he said.

  “I’ve been trying,” she said, rubbing her temple with her palm. “The connection is tenuous at best. It flickers in and out. I’m not getting a direction like I would if she was an adult who’d shifted the balance. And probably the only reason I can feel it at all is because I gave this to her.”

  “Well, don’t let go,” he said, taking her elbow and practically dragging her back to their bikes.

  Diana looked up at his face and decided not to blast him with a little fireball for manhandling her. It didn’t seem wise to argue with him when he had that expression. This was worse for him. The little boy had been his responsibility.

  “Are we heading back to town?” she asked.

  “I don’t think they would be hiding here in the middle of nowhere. This guy, the leader, he wants luxury and convenience. Even if they did have the kids here, I would bet money that the leader never stayed here. He’ll be in town, if he’s still here at all.”

  She hoped he was right.

  31

  As soon as she and Alec had gotten back to their safe house, shortly before dawn, he had mobilized his men to search for the rest of the circle in town. It wasn’t as large as most American cities, and they had a good chance of finding them the old-fashioned way as long as their quarry hadn’t moved on to a bigger place like Paris or London.

  And perhaps they had, but Katie was still here in Toulouse. Or at least that’s the sense Diana got whenever she tried to pinpoint the little girl’s location. She’d showered and changed, but neither she nor Alec tried to sleep. They were close to the end, and she could feel time running out.

  She was still pacing the room, fingering the toy duck in her hand, when Alec knocked.

  “Any luck?” he asked, sitting on the bed with a handful of papers.

  “She’s still here, somewhere in town. Not sure where. It’s like I can feel her nearby, but without a fixed direction, so it’s like she’s everywhere. And nowhere. The feeling is faint and blinks out. I’m starting to get a headache,” she said, rubbing her forehead again.

  “Well, I might have a few leads. They’ll want a base of operations similar to ours but more private if possible. I think we can safely restrict things to the higher end of the price range. This is a list of some recent high end rentals that might be where they are holed up,” he said, extending a sheet of paper with some addresses. “I’ve got men watching them all. Fortunately, this town isn’t that big. Unfortunately, it’s a vacation spot for Brits and other refugees from the cold, so there are a lot of rentals to check out.”

  “Well, I’m still not sure about the specifics, but I’ll go with your gut on this one,” she mumbled as she scanned the addresses. “We don’t have much else to go on.”

  “Thanks?” Alec asked with pursed lips.

  She threw him an apologetic glance before turning back to the list. “Most of these are pretty close by,” she said after a minute, handing the papers back.

  “If my people spot any likely candidates coming in or out, they’ll call us immediately. We should rest while we can,” he said, standing. “I’m having a tray sent up, a cold repas you can eat at your leisure. In the meantime, I think we should rest, or you can talk to the other Elementals again. . .”

  “I’m not sure that would help. If they knew something, they would have gotten in touch. It’s just us now. Look, I’m going to take a walk and pass by some of these places. I might be able to get something by proximity,” she said, grabbing her jacket and her phone.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” he asked, rising from the bed.

  “No,” she said, turning to him and screwing one eye closed. “I want to be able to focus, and having you around is a little distracting.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” he asked with a hint of a smile, his first since earlier that evening.

  Diana paused in the act of putting on her jacket. “I don’t know,” she said honestly before walking away.

  * * *

  Toulouse was a livable city. Paris was nice to visit, but living there would be harder. More isolating and anonymous. Toulouse was smaller, with a welcoming, open vibe, at least on the surface.

  Diana didn’t ever live in any of the cities she visited. Maybe if she and Alec really tried to partner up, then she would pick one to stay in, kind of like a home base.

  No, that wouldn’t work. Serin was obligated to try because of her situation, but it wasn’t practical for the rest of them. They moved around too much. Diana had never once thought about it before she met Alec. She didn’t want to question why she was thinking about it now.

  She walked through Carmes, one of the oldest quarters in the city. The area boasted a number of historical apartment buildings and probably the highest concentration of restaurants and bars from the looks of it. Alec probably knew which ones were the best.

  Sighing, Diana passed several high-end patisseries. Distractedly, she cut through a parking structure and was surprised to find herself in a gourmet market. The parking level’s were restricted to the upper stories, but the ground floor was filled with shoppers browsing stalls and deli cases.

  Putting in her earphones to discourage conversations, she took a good look around. She had stumbled on a Marché that sold everything from gourmet meat and seafood to fruits and nuts and oils. Rabbits were laid out alongside ducks and pots of Foie Gras. Turning left, she found a high-end cheese counter laden with things she couldn’t identify or pronounce. Behind it, a counter sold bottles of wine.

  Diana made a complete circuit of the market, discreetly checking out what few little girls were present with adults. Most of the people didn’t have kids. This was a place for chic couples to shop, not so much a place to grab mac and cheese for little ones. If the French ate mac and cheese…

  She headed out the other exit of the market, past more fruit stalls and some sort of modern art/flower shop. Blending into the crowded cobblestone street on the right, she let herself be propelled past full bars and cafes that catered to the well-dressed and attractive natives. The town definitely had an above average percentage of good-looking people compared to other places she had been. Alec fit right in.

  As Diana wandered through narrow cobblestone streets interspersed with broader paved avenues, she studied every face that passed. It seemed too early for the density of the crowd, until she stopped in front of a jewelry store with watches in the window and realized it was almost noon. And it was a Saturday. People were taking advantage of the good weather to shop for things they weren’t able to get during the workweek and wouldn’t be able to get on Sunday when most of the shops were closed.

  She skirted to the edge of the crowds and ended up on the boulevard running alongside the Garonne. Stopping to sit on a low stone wall with a view of the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in town, Diana let her mind go blank while fixing her gaze on the arches and the vaguely lion-like cutouts in the stonework.

  It was a trick she’d learned during her training when she’d initially had trouble tracking a perpetrator. Smaller shifts in the balance were easier to detect when her mind was silent and she was staring off into space.

  It had become unnecessary after the first few months. With practice, her skill set had sharpened rapidly, and she was now considered the best tracker of the four Elementals. But nothing of this case had been typical, so she reached into her reserves for the focus needed to quiet her mind.

  She was still watching the slow water flow toward her through the arches under the bridge a half hour later when she felt something. Closing her eyes again, she reached out with the extra sense to a familiar signature.

  Katie. She could feel the little girl somewhere nearby. But there was something off. Since she wasn’t supposed to be feeling Katie at all given her youth, Diana couldn’t pinpoint what was different.

  Scrambling off the wall, she wa
lked towards the crowds moving to the center of town. The crowd thickened at Quai de la Dauraude, where the concrete banked down to a picnic area and a playground set crawling with children. She took a good long look at every little girl below, but Katie wasn’t there.

  The tug she felt on her senses began to fade. Maybe Katie was somewhere in the shifting crowd and was being led away. On alert, Diana picked the most likely direction and followed it like a predator who’d scented prey.

  In a few streets, she was completely lost. She could barely feel anything anymore. A crushing sense of disappointment descended. Whirling around, she tried to get her bearings, but her pulse was racing and she couldn’t calm down

  Dammit, I lost it!

  Walking in a wide circle, she tried in vain to recapture the signal. Tired and frustrated, she stopped short in front a brick wall. Backing away to figure out where she was, Diana found herself looking up at a huge brick Gothic church.

  Les Jacobins was built in the thirteenth century by a group of Dominican brethren, according to the poster at the door. It also housed the remains of Thomas Aquinas under the altar in the center of the church.

  The energy coming from the building itself confused her senses, increasing the buzzing in the back of her brain like static. Some places with a lot of history tended to do that. The best option was to absorb it and let her senses adjust to the level of background noise, much the same way a person’s hearing acclimated to a noisy restaurant.

  The church was mostly empty space with a very high ceiling held up by large pillars. At the base of one of the pillars was a rounded wooden platform with a mirror, so visitor’s necks wouldn’t cramp when looking at the palm-shaped vaulted ceiling high above. She walked around it, avoiding eye contact with the few tourists milling nearby.

  Diana stilled, ignoring her surroundings as she let her mind empty again. Most of the tourists wandered away, except for one young man opposite her across the mirrored base. He appeared lost in thought and was too well-dressed to be a tourist. His suit was new and fit like a glove.