The Elementals Collection

by L. B. Gilbert

  “Stop,” the demon screamed. “I can give you anything you want! Wealth beyond your wildest dreams. Or power. With my help, you can rule this country.”

  This time, she let a smirk escape. “Only the completely selfless or the very corrupt want that job. I am neither.”

  He was almost there. The circles had overlapped. Half the diameter of the pentagram had disintegrated, falling through the pit to hell.

  “Wait! I can do get you anything you want. You don’t know what it’s like in Sheol.”

  Gia edged closer to the pit. She stopped short at the edge, safely on the other side of the barrier. Nevertheless, she felt it, a wave of despair and bitter hatred—the collective turmoil of hundreds of thousands of beings, perhaps millions.

  Blinking, she swayed and stepped back. She hadn’t felt that the first time. But then, she hadn’t been the one to banish the last demon prince. Her mentor had closed the circle. It hadn’t been necessary to get this close to the door.

  Catching herself, she stepped away just as Mammon fell through the pit, cursing her at the top of his lungs as he went.

  Hands up, she focused on closing the circle, taking every precaution to reknit the fabric of reality back together. When she was done, the barrier was flawless, as if nothing had happened. And she was exhausted.

  Despite her weariness, she knelt on the ground. She began to pray to the Mother, thanking Her for the abilities She’d given her and for safeguarding their world.

  Gia didn’t have to imagine a world without Her. She’d just witnessed one firsthand.

  1

  The Present

  Salvador Delavordo knelt in front of the dirt altar that had magically appeared in the antechamber of his clinic.

  The woman lying on top hadn’t moved during his startled cursory inspection. Edging closer, he searched for signs she was breathing, but he couldn’t see if her chest moved under the brown leather jacket she wore.

  Salvador went to pull it off her, but he thought better of it. He couldn’t risk damaging his patient. Every inch of the woman’s exposed skin was covered in thick black strands, signs of some terrible contaminant in her system. He’d already foolishly touched one without gloves, but his magically honed diagnostic senses hadn’t picked up any signs of illness. It was probably a toxin and not a contagion, but he needed to confirm that.

  Salvador dug through his supplies, fishing out a hand mirror. He held it to the woman’s lips, relaxing when he saw the surface fog up.

  He heaved a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t dead. And whatever had happened to her didn’t appear to be progressing further, at least to the naked eye.

  I need samples. Hurrying to his exam room, he gathered supplies in a woven basket. The petri dishes, vials, scalpel, and syringes rattled as he knelt to grab his largest pair of scissors.

  Setting the basket next to the woman’s hip, he lifted the scissors, preparing to cut away the leather jacket.

  A hand shot out, grabbing his wrist with an unyielding grip. Rearing back, he yelped, dropping the scissors when the hand suddenly heated, burning him.

  “What the—” He gasped, turning wide frightened eyes on the woman who held him. She had red hair, her eyes filled with flame.

  Another much-colder hand pried the first from his wrist. “Diana, calm down.”

  “I’ll calm down when this brujo tells me what the hell he’s planning to do with those scissors.”

  Witch? Guess they knew who he was.

  “I, uh…” Salvador’s mind blanked as he glanced around. The room was full now. In the space between blinks, six other people had appeared.

  The two men opposite him were tall and built, their muscles straining their shirts. Both were menacing, but one more so than the other. He was a Were with a scowl dark enough to make Salvador want to back away—and he was used to defending himself. The other read as human. For some reason, it didn’t make the man seem any less dangerous.

  As intimidating as the men were, it was nothing compared to the women at their sides.

  Salvador flinched as his senses were overwhelmed. The sheer power radiating from the females was awesome—in the most terrifying sense of the word. Twisting, he studied the woman holding him again. Her touch had cooled, but she hadn’t let go. Those flames in her eyes hadn’t been his imagination.

  Aw, shit. He was surrounded by Elementals.

  “Salvador, we need your help.”

  It took him a moment before he could manage to tear his gaze away from the woman to focus on the man who spoke. When he did, Salvador recognized the man instantly.

  “Alec,” he unsteadily said. Alec Broussard was one of the few vampires Salvador did business with. A wealthy scholar, Alec was a useful friend to have. However, Salvador used that term loosely…

  The vampire nodded reassuringly. After prying the woman’s hand off Salvador, Alec urged her back a step.

  “As I said, we need some help. I’d like you to meet Diana, my mate. The ones over there are Serin and Logan. Daniel and Connell are their partners,” Alec said, pointing at each woman in turn.

  So, the rumors were true. Alec had landed an Elemental as a mate. Salvador was going to have to ask him how the hell that had happened—but some night far in the future, once Salvador had recovered from the shock.

  Good manners eventually overrode his fear. Nodding with a small bow, he tried to mask his feelings, but his upper lip had broken out with telltale beads of sweat.

  He cleared his throat, turning to the one called Diana. “I was going to cut her jacket off to examine the black veining more closely.”

  Diana’s head pulled back. She looked him up and down, her scrutiny more unnerving than the nuns at his childhood parochial school. She—the Fire Elemental presumably—took a slow and audible breath. “Our sister has been poisoned. Can you help her?”

  “I…do you know who I am?” There was no way an Elemental would ask him for help. Not if they knew who he was, who his parents were.

  “Alec told us that he worked with you before. You’re a Delavordo. He also said you’ve been disowned.”

  That came from another Elementals, the dark-skinned one with the afro. Her voice was lyrical, almost Caribbean in its cadence. It was nearly as beautiful as she was, but all these women possessed more than their fair share of attractiveness.

  The better to capture their prey with…

  He had to remind himself that they could crush him with one hand tied behind their back. “And you’re willing to let me touch her despite my family history?”

  That part was still difficult to believe.

  “If you don’t help, we’ll kill you,” the Were spat.

  Crossing his arms, Salvador glared at the shifter. He’d listen to threats from an Elemental, but he wasn’t about to take any lip from a werewolf.

  The small Asian girl put her hand on the Were’s arm. “Don’t, babe. He’s our best shot.”

  “Logan, you can’t trust him,” the Were began, but the Caribbean Elemental forestalled him.

  “Connell and Daniel, can you wait outside?” she interrupted.

  “But—”

  “She’s our sister. Wait outside.”

  Salvador suppressed a shiver. The steel in that voice was ice cold.

  The Were and the human man shuffled outside without another word, but not before the former gave Salvador a killing glance. Alec stayed, but Salvador knew better than to expect much help from that quarter. Not against three Elementals.

  He put his arms at his sides, determined to appear as nonthreatening as possible. “I can’t help you.”

  “Can’t or won’t?” Diana asked.

  “Can’t. I don’t know what’s going on here.” He waved his hands over the woman on the altar. “I’ve never seen whatever that is.”

  “Neither have we, which is why we need you. Alec says you study black magic and curses. You’re also reputed to be well versed in poisons.”

  He inhaled. “They are something of a famil
y hobby,” he said, then wondered why he’d bothered. These women knew all about that.

  The Delavordos were a powerful witch clan. But with all that power came temptation. And, at least for his family, abuse of their abilities. Salvador had seen his relatives do terrible things. He had been taught to believe if they had the ability, then they had the right.

  It was difficult to pinpoint exactly when he had realized most everything he had been taught was wrong. All he knew was he’d never felt right. Not until he’d broken ties with his family once and for all.

  He stared down at the Earth Elemental. “Is she the one who killed my uncle Thiago?” he asked.

  “No, that was me,” Serin said. Her stunning face was unreadable. “Is that going to be a problem?”

  Nightmare images rose in his mind. He pushed away the memories, but it took some effort. Blinking, he met her fathomless blue eyes. “No…and thank you,” he whispered before turning away.

  Salvador wanted to rub his face, but he was wearing gloves. Choked up, he reached behind himself, taking the basket so he could at least pretend to sort his supplies.

  This is more emotion than I wanted to feel today. In fact, it was more than he’d wanted to feel ever again.

  He cleared his throat. When he spoke, though, it still sounded as if he’d swallowed gravel. “I don’t know if I can help her. What happens if I fail?”

  Diana moved until she stood in front of him with her hands behind her back. “Don’t fail.”

  It sounded like a threat, but the words were weighted with so much emotion it didn’t feel like one. No, it was a plea.

  She’s scared, too. It was there in her eyes, which were red and shining with unshed tears. A quick glance confirmed all the women wore similar expressions. But they were too disciplined to cry.

  “I will do my best. But this malady is completely unfamiliar. Nor have I come across a similar reaction in my studies. Do you know what happened?”

  Logan, the smaller Asian woman, approached the altar, taking the unconscious woman’s hand. “We found her like this.”

  Nodding, he picked the scissors back up, cutting what had been a spectacular leather jacket. “Was there food or drink nearby? Did she ingest the poison?”

  “No, she was covered in the stuff,” Logan said.

  Salvador’s eyes flared, locking onto their joined hands. “Let her go,” he urged.

  “It’s okay. Serin washed it away.”

  “All of it?” He glanced up, brow creased. “Because a sample would be extremely helpful.”

  The girls glanced at each other, dismay clear on their faces.

  “The sea took it. It’s too diluted for me to get it back,” Serin said, her tone betraying her regret.

  Salvador winced, then returned to his task, using a scalpel to gently scrape the surface of a black thread. His first impression stood. This vein thing was hard as a rock.

  “Did the threading stop growing or thickening when you washed it away?” he asked, continuing to probe the different strands. Even the smaller ones had that same rigid quality, but they were slightly more pliable.

  Serin shook her head. “I believe they stopped thickening, but it’s difficult to say. I was…upset, and I didn’t pay attention.”

  “That… and the goo made them hard to see until you washed it off,” Logan added.

  Interesting. So, did the threading stop because the poison was washed off or because the patient’s blood had already hit the saturation point?

  “Should we dig up the basement where she was attacked?” Logan asked.

  Diana frowned. “Is that even possible without Gia?”

  “If it’s not, maybe I can slip in through a crack or something,” Logan said. “I could try to blow some of the poison to the surface.”

  “I guess it’s worth a shot,” Serin began when one of the men poked his head through the window next to the front door.

  “What about the gloves?” he asked.

  Salvador blinked at the strange sight of the large head sticking through the small window. Daniel, the human, had been eavesdropping.

  “What?” Serin asked.

  “My rubber gloves,” he continued, disappearing only to walk through the door a second later. Like Salvador, Daniel had to duck to avoid hitting the frame, but the Were following him was in too much of a hurry. Connell’s head smacked the frame with a satisfying thump.

  Serves him right. Salvador knew a lot of shifters. They shared similar aggressive attitudes, but they usually knew better than to act that way with him. He may have made his name as a healer, but that didn’t mean he was a pacifist.

  “I touched the toxin with rubber gloves,” the human continued.

  “But the earth reclaimed those,” Logan said. “The Mother was probably trying to protect us from the poison.”

  Serin nodded sadly. “I think they’re gone, Daniel.”

  The human shrugged. “Can’t you ask for them back?”

  “I don’t understand,” Diana said.

  Neither did Salvador.

  “The ground did that melting thing, and it did it without Gia’s intervention. It reacted to all of you.” He paused, letting that sink in. “If it did it then, it’s possible it will do it again now. Why don’t you try asking for the gloves back?”

  Serin frowned. Seeming a bit exasperated, Daniel shrugged and knelt on the ground himself. He banged on the ground as if he were knocking on a door. “Hey there, dirt. Can you give me those gloves back?” he called.

  The Were snickered aloud. Salvador bit his lip to keep from joining him.

  “Um, Daniel dear, I think…” Serin trailed off as the ground rippled. A blink later, a mound formed. On top was a pair of purple latex gloves, the tips stained with a greenish-yellow tint.

  “Huh,” Serin murmured. “That’s…new.”

  Salvador raised his brows, but then shrugged. That was hardly the weirdest thing to happen today. No, that he was standing in his clinic with Elementals and he was still breathing definitely took top prize on weirdest.

  “These should do,” he said, reaching for the gloves.

  He would have to cut them up, soak the pieces in different solvents, and run some tests. “I should be able to identify the major components from the residue. If we can identify what was in the poison, I’ll have a much better chance of crafting an antidote.”

  That last was a stretch, but Salvador had been in the healing business for a long time. He knew what his patient’s families needed to hear.

  “Connell, our friend here, has identified some of the components. He can write them down for you,” Alec said with a nod to the Were.

  Paper materialized in the Were’s hand, and he grudgingly began to write.

  “Your setup here is a little rudimentary,” Alec said. He was intimately familiar with the clinic from his previous visits. “Is there anything I can get you that might help? Maybe an HPLC machine or a mass spec?”

  Salvador glanced up, noting confusion on more than one face. “Those are machines humans use to identify chemical compounds,” he explained to the assemblage of superwomen. To Alec, he said, “And no thanks. I can do something similar with a few spells.”

  It was a technique he was still perfecting, but a lot of his work was reversing hexes and spells. The majority of the time, they were delivered via potion, usually slipped into the victim’s food or drink. Breaking down the components was difficult, but not impossible. It would be faster than the human way.

  “Are you sure there’s nothing I can get you?” Alec asked, examining the woman on the earthen bed with genuine concern. The Fire Elemental may have been his mate, but the vampire was clearly fond of them all.

  An added layer of responsibility came to rest on Salvador’s shoulders. “I’m waiting on some local herbs, but until I identify the components of this mix, I won’t have an accurate idea of what I’ll need. If I hit a wall, I’ll let you know.”

  “All right.” Alec shifted toward Diana, rubbing her low
er back comfortingly. She rested her head against his broad shoulder.

  The intimacy of the gesture was startling under the circumstances. How in the world had a vampire ended up with a Fire Elemental?

  “Are you all going to stay?” Salvador asked, holding his breath.

  Please say no.

  “I’m staying,” Alec said. “But the ladies have some hunting to do. I assume they’ll be taking the other two along with them.”

  “Logan’s not going anywhere without me,” Connell stated.

  Logan nudged Serin. “He won’t slow me down. But what about…”

  The petite woman nodded in the direction of the human man.

  “Daniel will be fine as long as he’s with me,” Serin said.

  At the same time, the man interjected, muttering he could take care of himself.

  “Well, if John could take out the strongest of us, does it matter if he’s human?” Diana asked.

  “Who knows? It might even be an advantage,” Daniel pointed out. “That poison is made for Supernaturals, but we don’t know what effect it has on humans—maybe none. If I were this John character, I’d try to make something that didn’t kill humans in case of accidental exposure.”

  “Do you think that’s even possible? To target Supes but not humans?” Logan asked.

  Daniel shrugged. “It doesn’t matter one way or another. That asshole is not getting anywhere close enough to Serin to douse her with his poison.”

  To illustrate his meaning, he patted a sidearm on his side Salvador hadn’t even noticed.

  Logan appeared skeptical, but Serin nodded. “At this point, we should be ready and willing to try everything to stop him.”

  Coming from anyone else, those words might sound desperate, but Salvador almost shivered. Whoever this John was, the fucker was in for a world of hurt.

  2

  John spread the map in front of him, tracking the line of his proposed route. It would take some time to drive to Yellowstone. Flying would have been more expedient, but there was no way he could have transported his lab in a few suitcases, which was why he had gone mobile.