Custodian (Elemental Paladins Book 5)

by Montana Ash

  “They didn’t,” the croaked reply came from Caspian’s mouth.

  If Cas wanted to say more, he didn’t get a chance to because Leo swooped down and captured his lips. After a minute, Ryker was starting think maybe he should fetch the hose, when Leo finally stopped mauling his lover’s face. Max waggled her eyebrows at Cali, Diana, and Ivy and mouthed the word: hot. The three woman all nodded in agreement, uncaring of their boyfriend’s scowls, and the blush of embarrassment spreading across Caspian’s fair face.

  “We were nowhere near any chades,” Caspian volunteered again, pushing himself upright with the aid of Lawson. “Thank you, my lady,” he then bowed his head humbly in Max’s direction.

  In typical Max fashion, she waved away his thanks, “No biggie. But what do you mean? Care to start at the beginning?”

  “We went to spy on Garrett’s place,” Caspian admitted.

  “You what?” Ten voices all yelled at the same time, causing the Order of Riparian to wince.

  “Caspian, what the hell? What possessed you to do something so dangerous?” Ryker demanded.

  Caspian shrugged, “After what you told us about Emmanuel and the break-out at the prison, we figured Garrett’s endgame must be nigh. The only way to see what numbers we’re dealing with was to go and check the place out. We also wanted to see if Emmanuel was staying there.”

  “You should never have taken such a risk,” Ryker’s voice was still stern because the image of an almost-dead Cas was still fresh in his mind.

  Caspian merely shrugged, looking around the room at all the frowning, concerned faces. “We owe you.”

  “You don’t owe us your life,” Ryker responded, before anyone else got the chance. He couldn’t have Caspian running around playing hero because he thought there was a check to balance. He – and everyone else in the room – did not operate that way.

  “Understood,” Caspian murmured, his smile a little sheepish. “Anyway, I honestly thought we weren’t in any danger of getting discovered. We weren’t anywhere near the house. We were at the bottom of the cliff. I used the ocean to see what was going on up top.”

  “Used the ocean? How?” Cali asked, looking interested.

  Caspian shrugged, “It was high tide. I asked some of the spray from the waves slamming against the rocks to stay up high. I then used those water droplets to spy – kind of like a seeing through a looking glass.”

  “Holy shit! You could see what the water was seeing?” Cali’s voice sounded excited and Ryker guessed it wasn’t a common water ability.

  Caspian looked embarrassed by the admiration he heard, “I can do a lot of things. Water is mine to command, not that it responds to me like a servant. It responds to me like a –”

  “Friend,” Max finished his sentence and the anxious warden nodded. “That’s because you treat it as such – like a friend, like family. Any element treated that way will always respond in kind. It’s no doubt why you were so powerful too, Dex. I bet you treated air the same way.”

  Dex nodded, “That I did. It’s a shame the practice seems to be largely lost.”

  “Perhaps that is something we can fix too,” Max offered, before turning to Caspian once more, “What did the water see?”

  Cas swallowed hard, “It’s bad. Really bad.”

  “The whole place is crawling with chades. The air was black with them – and humming. It looked and sounded like a giant swarm of flies,” Leo shuddered.

  “And beyond that; Orders. Dozens of wardens and paladins. I know you have a lot of people on your side, Max.” Lawson shook his head, eyes worried. “But I’m telling you; Garrett has more.”

  Ryker cast his eyes over to Max and was surprised when he all saw was weary resignation on her face. He knew nightmares and visions constantly bombarded her now. Like the one she’d had of his face. He could admit, getting a chade claw to the face again wasn’t at the top of his to-do list. But he had also told her the absolute truth; he would do what was necessary to see Max succeed. And he would accept whatever fate decided to dish out to him – as long as it included him and Max and their family whole and safe at the end of it.

  “Um, there’s more,” Caspian looked a little freaked out. “Their eyes were black.”

  “The chades? Cas, I hate to tell you, but that’s nothing new,” Beyden said, eyeing his friend with concern.

  Caspian was fit enough to roll his bright blue eyes in exasperation, “No shit. Not the chades, Bey. The wardens. The paladins. Their eyes were chade-black. No irises, no pupils – just blackness.”

  Ryker gaped, “Are you for real? Are you sure they weren’t just being shown the chades?”

  “I know the difference between a chade and an intact person. And I really know the difference between a chade and a paladin. Lark,” he turned to the earth paladin, “Isaac’s eyes were black. He’s a paladin. Paladins can’t be chades, right? That’s never happened before.”

  “No. That’s never happened before,” Ivy murmured, taking Lark’s hand in her own.

  Ryker felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, “Seriously? What the fuck?” he asked, no-one in particular.

  “Maybe it’s like these,” Dex offered, tracing the brand on his left bicep.

  Max walked over and touched the evidence of Dex’s loyalty to her, “What do you mean?”

  “Well, this is like your legacy, right? It’s a reflection of our faith in you. Maybe Emmanuel has something similar,” Dex suggested.

  “Crowley eyes? You think Emmanuel is handing out Crowley eyes like boy-scout badges?”

  All eyes turned to Ivy, who shrugged, “What? Sam and Dean are hot. Supernatural is the best. Besides, I’ve always thought the writers must have come across a chade at some time or other. What with the demon’s eyes all black like that. I mean, come on – those are clearly chade’s eyes!” She scoffed.

  After a beat of silence, the room burst into laughter, Cali smiling at the short ranger; “I knew I liked you.”

  Ivy pinned Cali with dark, droll eyes, “No you didn’t.”

  Cali grinned, “Ya got me. You’re a bit of an acquired taste. But consider yourself acquired.”

  Ivy rolled her eyes and didn’t say anything but Ryker could see the flush of pleasure on her face, as well as the happiness on Lark and Beyden’s faces. Ryker was also happy to see Ivy fitting into their family as if she were made to. Re-focusing on Caspian and his state when he had arrived, he asked;

  “Is that when you got busted and a chade drained you?”

  Leo shook his head, his hand gripped Caspian’s so hard Ryker was concerned for the warden’s circulation. “The water Caspian was controlling suddenly turned black – like it was putrid. Caspian started to gasp and –” Leo cut off, unable to continue.

  “And shrivel,” Lawson gritted out between clenched teeth. “It was like a chade was draining him but there wasn’t any there. Honest. We didn’t see or feel a thing.”

  Ryker saw the whole room frowning. This again, was something new. He looked at Ivy and Dex – their resident chade experts. “Have either of you ever seen a chade able to drain vitality from a distance? Without physically touching a warden?”

  “No,” Dex looked thoughtful. “But I know a half-breed custodian who can recharge that way.”

  Max merely shrugged when she became the focus of the room. “What? I don’t have the answers. I didn’t even know what a chade was before I met you. I was calling them phantoms, remember?”

  Caspian giggled at that, “Really?” He then rubbed his arm, wincing as if it pained him.

  Ryker nodded, “Really. She had all kinds of crazy ideas. Are you still injured?” He quickly asked, before Max could ream him for calling her crazy.

  Cas hesitated then admitted, “My brand hurts.” He lifted the edge of his tee shirt to reveal an angry-looking brand.

  “What the hell?” Ryker muttered as he leant in close to look at the defiled brand on Caspian’s left bicep. “It looks like it’s been scorched.”


  Max shook her head, looking angry, “I’m sure I can heal it. I –”

  But as soon as her hand made contact with the altered mark, Max’s face went blank and she dropped to the floor.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Max jolted as she felt an incredible cold rush through her body. She was about to ask her paladins what the hell was going on with the temperature when she realised she was no longer standing in the guest bedroom.

  “What the actual fuck!” Max looked around her but saw nothing but endlessness. Everywhere she looked, there was blackness. The place was absolutely devoid of all light but yet she could still see perfectly. “What is this place?” She asked, spinning around.

  “You don’t recognise it?” A smooth voice sounded from behind her.

  Max spun, reaching for her tanto sword that she had started strapping to her calf once more, but coming up empty. The man in front of her laughed, the sound very pleasant and infused with masculine humour. Max knew exactly who he was without introductions; “Emmanuel.”

  Emmanuel nodded, “And you are Max. There are no weapons allowed here, my pet. Other than those we hold inside ourselves, that is.”

  Max held still as Emmanuel walked a slow circle around her. She didn’t turn even when the chade was at her back, allowing him to look his fill as her mind scrambled to process what was happening.

  “You are much shorter than I imagined,” he finally said, after he had made his inspection.

  “I get that a lot,” Max replied, dryly.

  He laughed, “And so funny. I heard you were funny.”

  Max pulled her shoulders back, attempting to look down her nose at him, “What am I doing here, Emmanuel?”

  Emmanuel shrugged broad shoulders, making the light grey button-up shirt he wore move. “I thought you would like to see your new home. Or rather, your new nightmare.”

  Max looked around her, seeing nothing but the black abyss staring back at her and feeling the frigid cold seeping into her bones. “That’s what you do? Get inside people’s heads and trap them in their own nightmares? Is that how you achieve loyalty?”

  “At first,” he shrugged. “It’s a good way of gaining their attention. Then, after I have consumed their energy, I drop them in the abyss.” He smiled at her, his handsome, smooth features morphing into a grotesque parody in a blink of an eye. His smile split and his mouth oozed foul, black fluid. “Everyone fears the dark. Even those who don’t know it. Leave them alone in the cold long enough, with nothing but blackness, and fear always takes root.”

  Max shook her head, “No. Not always.”

  That seemed to give him pause. “No. Not always. Some are stubborn and cling to their light. No matter how long they are deprived of everything; food, water, sleep, their elements, they still refuse to take that final step that would snuff their light out.”

  “You mean draining a warden of their vitality to the point of death,” Max offered.

  “Correct,” he gave her a small applause.

  “How did you figure it out? What the final step to damnation was?” Emmanuel seemed to be in the mood for talking rather than maiming and Max was more than happy to facilitate that mood. The longer she kept him talking, the longer she had to come up with a plan. After all, she had rescued a hundred chades from this exact same place. Surely she would be able to save herself too.

  “It wasn’t that hard, really,” Emmanuel admitted, “When I first started needing more and more energy to function, I knew what was happening to me. Chades were nowhere near as prolific back then, but a pattern had already been made. I kept it to myself for a long time, but my own paladins betrayed me. They went to my father and told him what was happening. And what do you suppose dear old dad did then, hmm?”

  Max swallowed hard, “Locked you up in the chade prison.”

  “That’s right,” Emmanuel hissed, showing true anger for the first time. “He and my mother locked me up and allowed those barbaric rangers to torture me.”

  “They were trying to help you,” Max defended, even though she didn’t approve of the techniques utilised to try and find a cure.

  “Help me?” Emmanuel cackled, “That’s just what mummy said; ‘I love you, son. We’re trying to help you. Take your torture like a good little boy and I’ll give you a lollipop’.” Emmanuel’s voice rose in a parody of his mother’s. “Like I was a child visiting the doctor for his shots.”

  “What else would you have them do?” Max asked, steeling herself against the flash of empathy she felt for the poor, lost warden he once was.

  “They should have had the balls to kill me!” Emmanuel raged, “They should have shown me the same courtesy they would have shown a sick dog and put me down. But they couldn’t bear to lose their only son. And well,” Emmanuel shrugged, his ordered appearance returning once more, “by the time they realised that, it was too late.”

  Max nodded pleasantly as if she were following the conversation and enjoying it. “Because of the custodian your father found for you.”

  Emmanuel’s gaze turned dreamy, “Ah yes, the custodian. You always remember your first. So much energy, so much power! It was scared you know – still is.”

  Max felt her breath catch in her throat, “What do you mean, ‘still is’.”

  “Well, it’s still inside of me, still aware. I wasn’t lying to my old friend Dex when I said all my victims live on inside of me. I think it has something to do with me being a Life Warden. Or it could be because of the delicious custodian. In any event, it is the custodian inside me that gives me such unique abilities.”

  Max closed her eyes for a moment, unable to continue looking at the horrible being in front of her. The thought of such a pure, naked soul trapped inside such evil, made her physically ill and she knew she would do just about anything to save the poor thing. Max jolted when cool palms cupped her face.

  “Look at you, so sympathetic to the plight of others. You have such a sensitive soul.” Emmanuel licked his lips, “I love those – they are extra tasty.”

  Max tried to pull her face from Emmanuel’s grip but it had turned to steel, “You can’t infect me,” she gritted, between clenched teeth.

  “Alas, I’m afraid that is probably true. It’s a shame. You would have been a nice addition to my ranks. But never mind, I’d rather eat you, anyway.”

  Emmanuel then plastered his mouth against hers and before she could so much as blink, Max felt herself starting to fall. Cold seeped into her bones until they felt so brittle they would snap from the gentlest touch. She felt everything and nothing at the same, and she gave a fleeting thought to her man and her Order before her ability to think was taken away forever.

  As if her thoughts had conjured him, Ryker appeared behind Emmanuel, his dark eyes were intense and furious but they were the bitter chocolate colour she loved. He spared her a concerned glance before he yanked her attacker off by the scruff of his neck. He then grabbed Emmanuel by his collar, and before she could even fully process his presence, Ryker punched the master chade right in the head!

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Max gasped, feeling the betrayal like a literal slice to the gut.

  “No!” she whispered. Spinning on her heel, she tried to flee but wasn’t fast enough. Strong hands grabbed her and she felt herself being lifted off her feet.

  “Now, now, where do you think you’re going, hmm?” The silky voice in her ear should have been sexy. It should have sent shivers down her spine for an entirely different reason. But as it was, it sent her heart pounding in alarm. If her man was in on this horror, then all hope was truly lost.

  Ryker had been a frantic mess when they had appeared back in the guest bedroom as if nothing had ever happened. Her entire Order had been there, talking out loud as well as in her head and she realised they must have been trying to communicate with her for some time. They had explained that she had just gone blank, like she was under hypnosis or something the moment she touched the tarnished brand on Caspian’s arm. No matter what they did, the
y were unable to snap her out of it. But when she had started to gasp for breath, Ryker had planted his lips directly on hers and forced his own breath into her body. Somehow, Ryker had unknowingly mirrored what Emmanuel was doing to her in the abyss and had merged his soul with hers, just long enough to ride to the rescue. Cali had deemed the entire episode incredibly romantic.

  Hours of swearing, hugs, tears, and arguments had followed. But in the end, Max had got her way; the party at Dave’s hotel was still going ahead. The strategists of the group had proposed that the ruined brand on Caspian’s arm was some kind of Trojan horse. The moment she touched it, it had acted as a conduit directly to Emmanuel. Everybody was pissed and scared that such a thing was possible, but Max had calmly told them all that she simply wouldn’t go around touching scorched brands anymore. Problem solved. Her Order hadn’t been quite as practically-minded but had eventually acquiesced to her demands of the party continuing.

  And now she knew why; they had planted their own trap for her.

  “Ryker? Baby? Put me down, huh?” She asked sweetly, forcing a stiff smile past her lips. The man of her dreams merely smiled back, her fear obviously having no effect on him – probably because his heart was nothing but a cold slab of stone in his chest, she fumed internally.

  “Sure, baby. I’ll put you down,” he promised her.

  Her feet hit the floor and she dodged low, hoping to trick the second pair of masculine arms coming directly at her. She was too late. Axel knew her moves too well and was easily able to scoop her up, forcing her further into the brightly lit room with the device of torture perched evilly in the corner. Not even bothering to pretend anymore, she shrieked and bawled out her rage. The animalistic sounds of fury were met with loud guffaws and Max felt all hope slipping away. But she wasn’t going down without a fight. She was a street rat. Street rats fought to the death.

  Bringing her heel back, she felt some satisfaction in the swift indrawn breath of her captor as her foot managed to graze his crotch. Damn, she had been hoping to nail Axel directly in his precious boys, but the man had moved at the last second and what should have been testicle-annihilation was only a close-call. Still, it was enough to scare him into passing her onto the next person in the nightmarish-congo-line-of-betrayal.