The Elementals Collection

by L. B. Gilbert

  Once he had her, Daniel wondered how he could have missed her. Yes, it was like trying to hug a warm current in an otherwise-cold stream, but it was a Serin-current—and that somehow made it easy.

  I did it! He couldn’t believe he was cradling a formless Serin to his equally formless body. What was even more inconceivable was how normal it felt in its absolute abnormality.

  “Good,” Gia replied. “Now hold on to her. I’m flushing the pool.”

  The liquid in the pool began to move, but he held steady in the center, a rock in a very short raging river.

  “That should do it.” Gia sounded relieved, which clearly told him she’d been more worried than she’d let on. “Serin, can you hear me?”

  There was no answer. She tried again, but there was only silence.

  Okay. Now what? he asked.

  “Well…I was hoping the reconstitution would be immediate. Since it’s not, I guess you can give it a try.”

  Once again losing his calm, he sputtered, Wait! What?

  “Don’t shout like that.”

  Sorry, he winced, somehow feeling his shoulders draw up even with no tangible evidence.

  “Just think about both of your bodies. Picture them. Visualize your arms and legs. See them becoming solid enough to walk out of the pool,” she ordered.

  Okay. His agreement was weak, even to his own non-ears.

  Daniel focused on Serin first, because picturing her glorious curves was far easier than visualizing his own body. But nothing happened. He tried himself next. Excruciatingly long, frustrating minutes passed.

  It’s not working. I don’t know what to do, he said, hearing the defeat in his own voice.

  Gia sighed, the sound loud even through the water. “Well, without training, it was a long shot.”

  He wanted to throw up his hands—but he didn’t have any. You could have shared that sooner.

  “I didn’t want to discourage you,” she said, no trace of apology in her tone.

  Daniel hugged the Serin-essence tighter to him. So now what?

  “Now we wait for Serin to recover enough to reform the two of you.”

  Daniel paused, stomach dipping. Okay… So what if she doesn’t recover? Does that mean we stay like this forever?

  Gia didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.

  24

  Loki pushed the fish around in his plate.

  “Are you not hungry?” Noomi asked, sitting across from him at the small table.

  When it had become apparent that none of the other islanders had spared him a second thought after Daniel disappeared into the healing room, the archivist had opened her home to him, inviting him to share her evening meal.

  Her house was the coolest thing he’d ever seen outside of the Seelie Court.

  Noomi lived in a seashell. The building was nautilus shaped, a concentric spiraling ring divided into different chambers by walls that didn’t fully close. The opening in each was slightly offset to give the deeper parts more privacy while still being completely open.

  Square windows let in the ocean breeze, and the walls were a pearlescent pink and silver that reflected the light with a soft iridescence. The main entrance opened in a sitting room and salon, which was followed by an office and then the kitchen. He assumed the innermost part of the curve was the bedroom, but he’d not been invited to see that part…yet.

  “I quite like the sushi,” he said, admiring the colorful array of fish.

  He’d never tasted seafood so fresh or flavorful. The fruit and light leaven bread that accompanied it were equally mouthwatering. The only thing that was missing was a good bottle of wine, so he materialized one. But he pushed it aside without opening it.

  “Would you like a corkscrew?”

  He cocked his head at her. “Do you have one?”

  She shook her head, the neat little braids on her head swinging. “No, but I’m sure I could improvise something.”

  “That’s okay. I just realized I don’t feel like drinking. It doesn’t seem right while Serin and Daniel are still in danger.”

  Noomi leaned back in her chair, her face softening in sympathy. “You’re in love with her.”

  Loki felt the confusion cross his features. “Why do you say that?”

  The woman smiled. “Because all the unattached males on the island are in love with her. Hell, I’m a little in love with her. Serin is remarkable—strong, smart, and unfailingly kind to those who deserve or need it.”

  “And a holy terror to those that don’t,” Loki finished. “And no. I do have a mad crush on her, but I don’t love her. Not the way Daniel does, though he’ll never admit it. But even though I’m not in love with her, Serin may be my only real friend. We Lokis tend to burn bridges. It’s not intentional. It just happens…”

  Noomi nodded sagely. “You don’t have to worry. She’s going to be fine.”

  She sounded so certain. “How can you know that?” he asked.

  “I know her,” she said, popping a morsel of something into her mouth and chewing. She swallowed. “I believe she’s one of the strongest Waters in history. There are some who come and go—little more than ships in the night. But there are a couple of rare ones. They don’t just do their duty, they rise above it, elevating their service to something legendary. I think she is one of those. It’s been a privilege to watch her work.”

  “Have you seen others before?”

  Noomi appeared to be very young, mid-twenties at the most, but no one on this island looked their age. She could have been older than him for all he knew.

  “No, but I’ve read and researched all our records on Water talents as part of my work at the Archive.” She set down her fork. “This poison is dangerous and very potent, but of all the Elementals, Serin is the one best suited to fighting off its effects.”

  “Because of what Daniel did? Pushing her to turn into Water?”

  Noomi nodded. “It’s very dangerous for her to shift while unconscious. But hopefully with him as a focal point, it’s only a matter of time before she is able to reconstitute their forms.”

  “Yes, but…”

  She put a hand on his. “You blame yourself, but you are not responsible.”

  He blinked. “How did you know?”

  “You’re radiating guilt.”

  He leaned closer, fascinated. “Are you some sort of empath?”

  She shook her head, her eyes lightening to a honey brown. “No, but it is obvious.”

  “Oh.” He scratched his head. As a master of disguise, it should have bothered him that she could read him so effortlessly, but Noomi was a native T’Kaierian. Everybody in this place had magic infused into their blood. This place was like Mecca to Supernaturals.

  “Well, that aside, it is totally and completely my fault,” he said, sighing.

  Noomi was silent, but her eyes widened. She reached over for the bottle of wine, then waved her hand over it. The cork popped out, shooting across the room as if it had been a bottle of champagne and not a fine Koshu.

  She poured him a very full serving. “How do figure that?”

  He downed the glass gratefully. After swallowing, he put it down to hold his fingers a little apart. “I came this close to finding the weapons dealer for Serin. Then I got shot, and I had to let Serin take the lead.”

  “I thought she found the weapon maker,” she said after an awkward pause.

  “Oh, she did find the lackey who actually made the gun, but not his boss, the one in contact with Puck, the client.”

  Noomi’s angelic face hardened. “Puck is a thief and a murderer.” Her sweet voice was filled with venom.

  “Among other things,” he muttered.

  Her delicate nostrils flared. “When he is found, he should be stripped down and beaten in the streets.”

  Loki blinked, surprised. “I wouldn’t have guessed you’d feel so strongly about it.”

  Still glowering, Noomi dumped out her water glass, then poured herself a glass of wine. “I told you I was the
archivist, but I neglected to mention I am the head archivist. All the thefts happened on my watch.”

  Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes. “I was entrusted with the safety and care of all those artifacts, and I failed. The only reason I haven’t been removed from my post is because Gia and the others argued on my behalf. But the truth is that everything that has happened since is all my fault. I should have noticed when things first began to go missing. I should have sounded the alarm. Instead, I buried myself in my studies, letting the junior archivists conduct our endless inventory. That is why we didn’t discover the thefts for so long…because of my hubris.”

  Loki absorbed that in silence for a moment before screwing his face up. “No, forget that. It’s not my fault, and it’s not your fault. Furthermore, I’m tired of being treated like a child forced to sit at the kid’s table while the grown-ups make the plans and fight the battles.”

  He pointed his fork at the tearful archivist. “I had a bead on the gunmaker’s boss, the one that brokered the deal with Puck. This guy has some of your artifacts.”

  Her eyes widened. “Which ones? And why?”

  “Puck apparently thought some could be used to enhance the deadliness of those guns.”

  Noomi shuddered, taking a bracing sip of wine. “I want those artifacts back.”

  He nodded, pouring himself another glass. The sweet liquid was gone before he could blink, so he poured another. “I think you should get them back.”

  “Me?” It was said in such an incredulous tone, Loki almost laughed.

  “Yes!” He waved a hand to encompass over her. “You’re plainly a badass witch. Just look at what you did with that cork.”

  Her expression dampened. “That was nothing. I only study the badass magic spells to write treatises on them. I’m basically a glorified librarian.”

  Loki realized the bottle was empty so he materialized another one—pre-opened this time. “That’s perfect. Librarians are awesome. They know almost everything. If they don’t know something, then they know where to find it.”

  Uncertainty crossed Noomi features, warring with the pink flush of pleasure his words had caused. “Well, I may know defensive spells, but I’ve never cast them.”

  He cocked his head at her. “Really?”

  She turned left and right as if to see if they were still alone before leaning in conspiratorially. “All right, to be honest, I have tried one or two of them…”

  He didn’t buy that for a second. “Just one or two?”

  She cleared her throat. “Well, perhaps it was more than one or two.”

  Grinning, he gave her a give-it-up gesture. “Was it more than one or two dozen?”

  Noomi fiddled with her chopsticks before taking another drink. “Maybe.”

  Loki grabbed the bottle, sloppily topping up her glass. “So this is perfect. Together, you and I can hunt down the boss and get your artifacts back.”

  Her alarm was palpable. “I never said I mastered all of those spells. I can only perform a few.”

  “Combined with my glamour skills, a few is more than enough,” he cried, waving his glass around a little too enthusiastically.

  Enough wine spilled that he decided they needed another bottle. Several more glasses were consumed, mainly by him, but a few by her—enough she didn’t dismiss all of his arguments out of hand.

  “I’m telling you we can do this!”

  Most of his words were slurred, but Noomi apparently had an excellent ear.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Alec needs me to finish cataloging all the missing items.”

  Loki waved that away. “With his freakish vampire speed, he can do that by himself. In fact, he’s probably already done. But if you come with me and we get some of those artifacts back, no one can give you anymore shit about losing them.”

  Noomi’s face crumpled, her lip pulling down.

  “Not that you lost them,” he said, backtracking fast enough to get whiplash. “You did your job. It wasn’t your fault. This was an inside job. Besides, the guy who did it, Jordan, already paid the price.”

  She picked up her glass, then drained it with a morose expression. “The Elementals have been so supportive of me since the theft was discovered, but the elders dislike having a vampire here on the island and they hate that he is the one fixing my mess.”

  “Again, it’s not your mess—it’s Jordan’s—but since you insist on taking responsibility, let’s do this! We can fix it, or at least some of it.”

  Noomi gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment before asking, “Why are you so intent on helping? The archive thefts don’t have anything to do with you.”

  “I don’t know…I guess I’m tired of being a bit player.” Loki popped a big piece of sushi into his mouth. It was so good he shoveled in a few more. “Plus, these guns are bad news all around. They’re trying to figure out how to kill lower fae, too. Those are my people.”

  He leaned back in his seat. “Non-Seelie fae get stepped on all the time—the lower castes are the ones the Court would just as soon spit on than actual acknowledge them as members of the same species. Those are the guys who are going to feel this the most, not the members of the Court. Those assholes are protected by layers and layers of magic, not to mention the soldiers and warriors of the Great Hunt. But the rest of us are cannon-fodder waiting to happen “

  Attaching to take his hand, Noomi squeezed it. “I understand. Our history is filled with many stories of the Seelie Court. It is both a wondrous and bloodthirsty place.”

  Exactly. He was so glad she understood. “I have to do something before the shit hits the fan. It’ll still hit the fan anyway, but at least…at least I’ll have tried to stop it.”

  “I didn’t think a Loki would have such a strong sense of responsibility,” Noomi marveled. She was starting to slur a teeny bit, too.

  He pointed at her, realizing her prettiness was making him dizzy. “I don’t. This isn’t about that. It’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than you. It’s bigger than this damn island.”

  Noomi scowled. “This island will be here when all other life on earth is rotting in the ground.”

  She was definitely drunk now, no teeny bit about it.

  “Okay, that’s a little dark,” he said, starting to refill. It was taking too long so he gave up and started swigging straight from the bottle. “But it’s cool. You’re right. This place is the alpha and omega, and we are going to defend it and get your artifacts back.”

  Noomi slapped her hand down on the table, lifting her glass up in her other hand in a toast. “You know what? You are right. You and I are going to be a great team. And we’re not going to be caught unawares this time. I’m going back to the archives, and I’m going to get a few spell books. We’re going to do this!”

  “Abso-fucking-lutely we are.”

  Loki stood up too fast. The room spun, and he promptly fell on his ass.

  There was a beat of silence.

  “And we’re leaving just as soon as we sober up!” he cried.

  Cheering, an unsteady Noomi helped him to his feet.

  25

  Serin could taste the salt in the air, the perfume of the islands many flowers carried on the breeze. There was only one place with this scent. She was home…and against all her expectations, she was still alive.

  True, it still felt like her insides had been scraped up with a cheese grater. But the pain wasn’t as intense as before. She opened her eyes to transparent white curtains blowing gently in the breeze.

  Serin relaxed her hands, smoothing her palms over the sky-blue coverlet of her childhood bed. Relief that she could feel the sensation of the fabric beneath her fingers coursed through her.

  “Do you feel better?”

  Gia appeared next to her. Her sister’s calm expression was a comfort. Serin was out of danger.

  She licked her dry lips before rasping out, “I hope you didn’t kill Doyle.”

  Gia poured her a glass of water from the bedside table.
“No, but it was a near thing. His partner wasn’t happy about the condition I left him in. Fortunately, Romero didn’t start complaining until after the healers had seen you and decided you were on the mend.”

  Serin sat up, leaning against the headboard. “How did they do it? I was dying. I could feel it. I was certain I was beyond their skill.”

  Serin had been beyond hope. She’d accepted it, but she hadn’t been happy about it. And wasn’t that different…

  “They didn’t cure you.”

  Baffled, Serin gestured at herself. “But I feel fine.”

  Gia nodded. “You are improving. I can feel it. You began to improve as soon as you arrived at the island, but the real turn came when Romero pushed you into your medium. I was able to flush the toxin away then. After you reformed, it was just a matter of time. We just had to let your body repair itself.”

  Serin absorbed that in silence. Her sister didn’t appear as concerned as she should have been.

  “It was a single bullet from a handgun. The men at the farmhouse had machine guns capable of leveling that building. If I had been shot with one of those, I don’t think I’d be speaking to you now.”

  Gia’s chin firmed. “What about our deflection spells?”

  Serin shook her head. “I had one in place at the farmhouse, but it would have protected only me. I had to get Romero out of there…but my charm was active when Doyle shot me. The ingredients to the toxin weren’t the only thing coating those bullets. They must have a counter-spell on them, something to neutralize basic deflection spells.”

  “I was hoping you would say you hadn’t had time to cast one,” Gia said. “It was a friendly fire after all.”

  “Doyle wasn’t that friendly at first, but he was standing down.” She took Gia’s hand. “My sister, this is bad.”

  “Agreed. Someone with a lot of knowledge about us is involved.”

  “Gia, I know what you’re thinking, but Jordan isn’t the one behind this. He’s gone.”

  Gia winced. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t have a hand in this situation.”