A Taste of Ice (The Elementals)

by Hanna Martine

  “I’m going to put her in the basement with Robert,” Jase murmured when he reached them. “That’s where she was supposed to go anyway. Wait until I’m gone to make your move.”

  They waited. And waited. At last the music cut off.

  “Oh, thank the stars they’re done,” came Lea’s muffled voice. “Took him long enough.”

  “I’m heading out,” Jase told Lea. “Picking up Michael’s double in town.”

  Cat could feel Lea bristling from one floor up. “I didn’t know he’d split tonight.”

  “Well, that’s what he said.”

  From the top of the stairs, they watched Jase go out the front door. Listened to the gentle purr of a car starting in the drive. Then the car peeling out. The house was pitched into heavy silence. Xavier took Cat’s hand and squeezed.

  Where was Lea? She could be anywhere. Cat had a terrible vision of Michael’s blood seeping through the floor and dripping into the kitchen, giving them away. Sean would split, she and Xavier would be surrounded, and they’d lose.

  “I could get you out of here,” Xavier whispered.

  “How? Where?”

  “Away from here. Safe.”

  The idea actually offended her. “Send me off into the cold while you stay here and face God knows what? I’m part of this world now. You’re here because of me. The others need to go free. Lea needs to be stopped.”

  He kissed her again, smothering her mouth with his. When he pulled away they were both breathless. He paused, bowed his head, and closed his eyes.

  “Shit. No glamour left.” Strain pulled down the edges of his mouth. He looked really tired. “Was hoping to make us look like Sean or Michael, but I don’t have anything left.”

  Cat took his chin and looked right into his eyes. “So she sees us coming. She doesn’t have any water magic. All it’s going to take is force.”

  A heavy emotion crossed his face, something like pride. “Ready?”

  The whole world had contracted to this house, to whatever it was they were about to do. Saying no wasn’t an option.

  Step by slow, soundless step, they edged downstairs. A clock ticked somewhere. Cat pointed down a hallway leading to the back of the house, from where the faint Secondary signatures wafted. When Lea caught wind of Cat and Xavier’s signatures, an alarm would go up. They’d have to move fast.

  Xavier tugged Cat into the kitchen and great room. The pull of several signatures burned strong in her senses. Sean, she mouthed, pointing to a door between two bookcases. And the two Ofarians.

  That’s the basement, he mouthed back, and frowned. Jase had told them Sean was likely in the garage, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

  The door next to the fireplace must have been the entrance to the garage, because from behind it came a loud bang and a low reverberation. Fire elemental. Cat memorized the feel of that new signature.

  Something on the mantel caught her eye. Ocean #2. The one Michael had bought from her the day they met. The one he said he’d never sell, the object that had started this all. He’d brought it with him here, which told her so much about how he’d viewed her: his, to carry around and look at or take down whenever he pleased.

  She turned her back on it. Another Secondary signature tugged at her, coming from the hallway branching off the kitchen. The hall was long and dim, and at the far end she could see where it opened up into a game room, the corner of a pool table and a blinking dartboard in view. From within that hall came the faint blue light of someone working on a computer. The tiny tap tap taps on the keyboard filtered into the kitchen.

  “Xavier?” Lea called, warily. “Is Shelby with you?”

  Xavier charged across the kitchen and dove into the dark hall, a predator zoned in on his prey, Cat on his heels. “It’s me and Cat. Surprise.”

  The keyboard clacking stopped. “Oh, no…”

  Lea scrambled up from the wheeled office chair. It shot backward and slammed into a set of cabinets. The quiet house exploded with noise.

  Lea took off down the hall, her high-heeled shoes making harsh sounds on the hardwood floor. Xavier pounded after her, whirling the office chair out of his path. Cat chased them both.

  When the hardwood met the game room carpet, Xavier tackled Lea from behind. Halfway to the ground, he spun. Arms around Lea’s waist, he flipped so he landed on his back, Lea flopping on top of him. Then, lightning quick, he rolled again so Lea’s face was crushed to the carpet. Xavier clamped her arms behind her back. She started to kick with her high heels and Xavier sat back on her legs, just like he’d done with Michael upstairs. Lea groaned and thrashed, not giving up.

  Xavier looked around frantically. “That lamp,” he told Cat, indicating a standing lamp in the corner. “Bring it over here.”

  Cat ran to the fluted wood lamp that stood as tall as she, and ripped the cord from the wall. She rolled the base over to Xavier and he snatched off the shade, laying the lamp post lengthwise over Lea’s back. He started to wind the long cord around her wrists.

  Lea wrenched her mouth away from the carpet and screamed. “Sean! Do it, Sean! Now!”

  Xavier froze, his eyes lifting to Cat’s. Sean was in the basement with the other Ofarians.

  “Oh, God,” Cat begged. “Go, Xavier. Please help them. I’ve got her.”

  She saw the deliberation in his eyes, the awful split-second decision. Try to save the lives of two Ofarians and go up against Sean, or keep control over the mastermind.

  “Please, Xavier. You’re not alone in this. I have Lea and you can get to them.”

  His mouth twisted as he shoved the end of the cord into her hands. Cat jumped on top of a struggling Lea as Xavier sprinted back down the corridor. He ran through the kitchen, threw open the door to the basement and bounded down the steps.

  Lea was smaller than Cat, but she had some fight. She bucked, popping Cat off her. She almost managed to roll onto her back, but the square lamp base prevented her from making it all the way and she had no leverage with her tied hands.

  A male roar Cat recognized as Xavier’s rumbled up from the basement. Another man shouted in surprised response. And then another, sounding exactly alike.

  Oh, no. Sean had split.

  Lea yanked desperately at her cord restraints. Cat kicked out. Her bare feet struck Lea’s stomach and the bound woman went motionless for a moment as the pain rolled in. Cat rose, standing over her.

  The fighting escalated below. Loud, terrible crashes. Male grunts and curses. How much energy did Xavier have left? He’d had none to work an illusion upstairs, and he’d already fought two Michaels. She’d sent him into that—to save two people who belonged to a race he hadn’t forgiven—and she couldn’t live with herself if he didn’t make it out.

  The moment of wonder proved stupid. Lea’s arms were still tied to the lamp, but her legs were free. With a screech, Lea threw out a leg. Cat caught a stiletto heel across the stomach, the sharp, stinging pain feeling like it scraped all the way back to her spine. Cat snapped backward, stumbling into one of the chairs surrounding a chessboard table. She righted herself, whipped around, and dove.

  Lea was struggling hard against the lamp, her elbows flapping under the loosened wire. Cat pushed Lea back onto her stomach and sat on her. Hard. She found the trailing end of the cord and brought it down with a smack on the backs of Lea’s legs. Lea cried out and tensed up, and it was that moment of stillness that gave Cat what she needed.

  Cat wound the cord around Lea’s wrists once, twice. Leaning back, she yanked one of Lea’s ankles, bringing it all the way to her butt. Cat looped the cord around Lea’s ankle and tied it off, pulling tighter than what was necessary. Lea writhed, finally immobile.

  “Water bitch!”

  Breathing hard, Cat crouched down near Lea’s head, careful not to get too close. “Who, exactly, is the bitch here?”

  It might have been comical, to see this seemingly innocent-looking woman strapped to a floor lamp, except that the awful sounds of a vicious fight in
the basement were far from funny. Cat paced, every collision, every groan, making her wince. Should she get down there? Could she help? What were the Ofarians doing? Were they fighting Xavier, too?

  She didn’t dare leave Lea. The woman had no magic and yet she’d been capable of so much already.

  Lea glared up at her, her makeup smeared all around her eyes, her blond hair in tangles. If hate had had physical power, Cat would have been the one tied to a lamp.

  “Is Michael dead?” Lea ground out.

  “Part of him. And I’m the one who did it.”

  Lea spit out carpet fuzz. “Good.”

  It took a moment to process that. “Why partner with Michael if you just wanted him dead?”

  Lea snorted. “Do you know how much money he has? Our interests overlapped. I got him what he wanted, and then used his resources to get what I wanted.”

  “It’s the end for you, too, you know. Whatever you wanted isn’t going to happen now.”

  Lea just laughed.

  The fighting downstairs was starting to lessen. Cat thought of Gwen’s blessing that invoked the stars. Cat had been brought up worshipping the Christian God, but the stars seemed just as powerful a thing to pray to. So many of them, always visible, full of possibility. So she did that now, praying that the fighting wasn’t dying because Xavier was weak.

  She looked down at Lea. “How do I free the fire elemental?”

  The laughter died. “You don’t want to do that.”

  “Yes,” Cat said. “I do.”

  “She’ll burn you to ash. On second thought, keys to the cage’s top hatch are in a bowl by your painting on the mantel. Have at it.”

  Cat bent closer and pulled back some of Lea’s hair so she could look right into Lea’s brown eyes, unobstructed. “I’m not the one who took her. I don’t believe she’ll come after me. But I’ll be sure to let her know where I’ve wrapped up a nice bundle of firewood for her in the game room. I’m sure she’d love to face you again.”

  The look of satisfaction that passed over Lea’s face made Cat shiver. Lea said nothing, but her nostrils flared as if she’d smelled smoke. Then her eyes shifted down the hall and toward the kitchen. Cat swiveled in that direction, wondering what she saw. There was nothing.

  That was it: nothing. The fighting had stopped. A ponderous silence pressed down on her. Both she and Lea stared at the basement door in expectation, their breathing loud and very nearly synchronized.

  Leaden footsteps started up the basement stairs. Only one man ascending, but two Secondary signatures. The footsteps moved so slowly, so unevenly. The basement door opened, hinging outward and hiding whoever it was that had claimed victory. If it wasn’t Xavier, Cat didn’t know what she’d do. Run? Try to fight Sean off?

  A floating pair of feet poked out from behind the door. Then a pair of legs. Then Xavier, shouldering an unconscious Sean.

  Cat let out a sound that was part sob, part laugh.

  Xavier’s long legs wobbled. He teetered toward the big couch making a U around the fireplace and dumped Sean onto it.

  “Xavier!” Cat called, unable to keep the relief and joy from her voice. “Are you okay? What happened?”

  He didn’t answer, just went to a side table, ripped out another lamp cord from the wall, and secured Sean as he had Lea.

  Xavier finally looked up, saw Cat, and started for the game room. His steps were uneven and dragging. When he hit the kitchen he stumbled and had to balance himself between the island and the stainless steel refrigerator.

  She met him in the middle of the dim hallway, pulled one of his arms around her shoulders, and helped him into the game room. In the light, the sight of him made her gasp. He was already covered in Michael’s blood, but now the buttons on his shirt were half gone. New bruises and cuts marred his beautiful face. His great shoulders slumped, his eyelids drooped at the corners.

  “Goddamn Tedran,” Lea snarled up at him, giving a new thrash that only tightened the wires around her wrists and ankles. “There’s a reason we kept you locked up.”

  Xavier just stared down at her. Nothing moved except the twitching corner of his top lip.

  “Don’t listen to her,” Cat told him.

  He lunged for Lea. She squeaked and tried to shrink away. Xavier bent over and scooped her up into his arms. Where he found the strength, Cat didn’t know. Barely able to stand by himself, his arms shaking from strain, he started back to the great room. He deposited Lea onto a section of couch opposite Sean.

  Still not saying a word, he went back to the kitchen and started rummaging through drawers.

  “Jase’ll be back soon,” Lea said.

  “Good,” Cat replied with a smile, and Lea glanced with fear at the front door.

  “That’s right. We got a little help from him. Weren’t expecting that, were you? But what I want to know is, what exactly did you want from him? He’s not Ofarian. He doesn’t fit into your revenge scheme.”

  Xavier came back around the couch, holding a roll of silver duct tape. He pulled out a section, ripped it off with his teeth. Cat held up a hand to him. “Let her answer first.”

  Lea eyed her captors then sank further into the couch. “I didn’t want him. Michael did. He was our first. The rest were mutually beneficial.”

  “Why?”

  Lea just laughed again. “Fuck you. Fuck you, too, Xavier.”

  He made a sound of disgust and slapped the duct tape over Lea’s mouth. He went over to Sean and knelt beside him. He covered Sean’s mouth, too, but much gentler. Xavier tilted his head to look into Sean’s unconscious face. “He was a decent fighter,” he said, almost to himself. “He fought because I went after him. He split to protect himself, but I could tell he didn’t want to. It took a lot out of him. Wore him down faster. In the end, I kicked one of them in the face, made him go down. He reabsorbed the second, but by then it was over.” He exhaled and placed a hand on the cushion near Sean’s head. “I don’t think he wanted to be down there any more than the Ofarians.”

  Cat threw a fearful glance at the basement door. “Are they…alive?”

  Xavier nodded shallowly. “They’re restrained, unconscious. Jase must’ve tied up Shelby to keep up appearances. Their allegiances are twisted. I think we should keep them like that until we know more.” Xavier sighed. “Sean was stalling, taking his time, I think. I saw vials of nelicoda nearby. Looks like he got some of the syringes into them, but I don’t know how much…how much it takes to burn out the magic. There was other stuff down there. Poison, maybe. I don’t think he got it in them.”

  “I think we should call Gwen,” she blurted out.

  His shoulders curved inward and he nodded. “I think so, too. I have no idea what to do with all this. If she doesn’t know, Griffin will.”

  She didn’t really want to ask, but did so anyway. “Why didn’t you call them earlier?”

  “Cat.” He looked up at her, his heart in his eyes. “All I could think about was you.”

  There was a phone on the wall next to the mini wine fridge. A laminated piece of paper taped to the wall above explained how houseguests would be charged for long-distance phone calls. She easily remembered Gwen’s number—heck, she’d studied it for hours before actually dialing it.

  Her hands shook from the dying adrenaline. Gwen answered on the second ring, and the sound of her voice instantly made Cat cry. The enormity of the past few days plowed into her. She sank onto a stool at the kitchen island and let it all out.

  She told Gwen everything. What had happened to her since they last talked. How Xavier had saved her. The caged fire elemental and the turncoat air elemental. The fates of the two missing Ofarians and…the role of her sister, Lea.

  Gwen went so quiet Cat thought she hung up. “Hello? Gwen, are you still there?”

  “It can’t be Delia,” Gwen whispered.

  “Delia?” On the couch, Lea stiffened, her blazing eyes boring holes into Cat. “I think it is her. Short, maybe five foot three. Blond hair, brown e
yes.” Cat lowered her voice. “Married a Primary named John.”

  And then it was Gwen’s turn to cry.

  “Hold tight. Be strong,” Gwen said after she’d steadied her voice, and Cat might have told her the exact same thing. “We’re coming.”

  She hung up the phone and turned to Xavier, who was watching her with such pride…and such strain. She knelt next to him on the floor and took his face in her hands. When his eyes lifted to hers, the hardness and pain and torment in them melted.

  There was no “he kissed her” or “she kissed him.” They came together at the same moment, with the same high level of desperation and relief. The blood didn’t matter. The physical pain faded away. The fear over what came next lifted up and escaped her body. It would come back, but for now—for now—they’d be together. Taste each other.

  In the cold of the room, Xavier was heat. In the stress of this house, Xavier was calm. Facing a future of the unknown, Xavier was the present, and Cat absorbed him. She kept her lips to his, her tongue taking him in. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gasped when he crushed her to him.

  When they separated, he was trembling. No, they both were.

  Something crashed outside. It sounded like stone falling on stone, with that telltale hollow clink.

  Xavier surged to his feet. “Stay here. I got it.”

  He grabbed a knife from the kitchen block and padded to the front door. There was a pause, then Xavier called back to her in surprise, “It’s Jase.”

  The door opened and closed as Xavier went outside.

  And then, from the garage, came a huge groan and a series of heavy thumps.

  Cat rocked to her feet and looked to Lea, whose wide eyes watched her. Without second thought, Cat marched to the fireplace mantel, reached into the little pot sitting next to Ocean #2, and removed the key to the fire elemental’s cage.

  TWENTY-NINE

  It really was a cage. A bizarre cage of some sort of thick, translucent material. Scorch marks striped the inside walls and little scraps of burned cloth littered the corners. Smoke leaked out of small holes at the top of the box, and a fan tried to dissipate it, but the old fire stench stung Cat’s nostrils.