The Elementals Collection

by L. B. Gilbert

  His luxurious RV had been earmarked for a rock star, but he’d manipulated the salesman into handing over the keys to him instead. All it had taken was some sleight of hand and a touch of mesmerism.

  Technically, he could have paid for it. John had more than enough funds to cover the expense. A being didn’t get to be as old as he was without having an excellent financial portfolio. But what fun was there in paying for things like a good citizen?

  John had spent the better part of a century acting the part of the benevolent and wise uncle. It had been the longest undercover con in history. Although there had been some days when he’d genuinely enjoyed himself learning all he could in T’Kaieri, the cradle of magic, he was grateful his time there was at an end. Now he could shed that cloak of benign goodness and please himself in ways he’d been unable to indulge in for far too long.

  Stealing the RV was just the start. It had been completely outfitted to suit his needs. The vehicle was spacious enough for most of his gear. True, he’d had to forsake his bulkier pieces of laboratory equipment, but that was fine. He no longer needed them. The RV even had a mobile garage with an expedient getaway car underneath the main cabin.

  Ah, technology… It had grown so wondrously decadent in the last few decades. As far as he was concerned, the little doohickeys and giant monster trucks were proof of human superiority. He was going to make sure every creature on Earth knew it, too.

  It had taken decades, but John had finally perfected his formula. He’d crafted a poison that could kill any Supernatural being on Earth. It would work on shifters, vampires—even those damn tricky Fae. He’d been testing his formula long enough to prove that. The evidence of his successes floated in dissection jars in the cabinet over his head.

  The most staggering part was how common the ingredients were. True, a few had been hard to get, but that was to be expected. Certain botanicals were thin on the ground these days, but John wasn’t a self-described genius for nothing.

  It hadn’t been an easy road. Time and time again, John had met with failure. He’d almost given up his venture when he’d discovered a couple of the plants he needed were extinct, or rare enough to seem so. But then, he’d had an epiphany. As long as he knew the chemical structure of the compound he needed, he could have the ingredients synthesized.

  John had managed to find a gifted and severely underpaid chemist to do the synthesis. It had taken the man some time, but he’d come through. Now John could simply add what he needed with a dropper.

  The advancements in the field of chemistry and physics in the last century were staggering. He could only imagine what the next hundred years would bring.

  What did this world need with Supernatural creatures in the face of human innovation? Witches and their ilk were evolutionary throwbacks, beings who belonged to the primitive ages of the past.

  John was going to show the world it didn’t need magic—at least not the kind one had to be born with. He’d come into the world without it, but he had learned to work around that small liability. Other humans would learn as well. Once the Supernaturals were gone, he planned to teach his secrets to a select few students. Only those worthy. He already had candidates in mind. A few good men and a couple of likeminded females.

  He sniffed at a sudden memory. Gia had been dead wrong. He didn’t dislike women or resent they had been given so much power. Yes, he believed the Mother creature had been misguided to entrust her greatest gifts solely to females, but that was plain common sense. Putting all of Her eggs in one basket was foolish.

  Soon, it wouldn’t matter. His last test had proved it. There was no witch on Earth who could stand against his poison. Not even the most powerful subspecies—the Elementals. The trial run on the Earth Elemental had gone better than his most optimistic projections.

  The mightiest had fallen. Well, almost the mightiest. But so, too, would She succumb. All he had to do was physically get to Her, but he wasn’t worried. His agile mind had just figured out how…

  3

  Salvador twisted the stopper on the distiller, letting a few drops fall into the collection vial.

  The liquid was clear with a purple tint. He frowned, making a note in his experimental log. Salvador couldn’t say for certain, but his instinct told him it needed to be colorless—clearer than spring water. His previous two attempts had failed, getting no reaction, but three times was supposed to be the charm, right?

  “I think adding a few more evaporation cycles will achieve the effect you’re searching for.”

  Blinking, he glanced up, startled to see someone else in the room. Alec Broussard stood a few feet away, leaning against the wall. A corner of his mouth tilted up. “You forgot I was here, didn’t you?”

  “I did. Sorry.” Salvador rose, stretching his stiff limbs. His neck ached from staying in one position for so long.

  “Don’t apologize,” Alec replied. “I’m exactly the same way. The last time I was so engrossed in a Sumerian text, I nearly got fried.”

  Salvador raised a brow, and Alec shrugged. “When Diana put her hand on my shoulder, I leapt on her, fangs out, ready to defend myself…”

  Salvador didn’t bother to ask if the Fire Elemental had been hurt. “Did she set you on fire?”

  Alec laughed. “No. Fortunately for me, Diana has excellent reflexes and good impulse control. She just brushed me off, kind of like you would a gnat. Of course, if she had lit me up, I wouldn’t have burned.”

  Salvador waved his arm in a silent “go on” gesture.

  The vampire’s expression was simultaneously smug and abashed. “Mating has its privileges.”

  Salvador snorted. “I guess so. How the hell did you two happen to be anyway?”

  Alec glanced behind him at the complicated distillation apparatus. “I’ll tell you the story after I get you some food. You’re going to need fuel to keep going.”

  Salvador put down his logbook, then went to wash his hands. “Is this why they left you behind? To crack the whip?” he asked.

  “And to make sure you don’t intentionally kill Gia.”

  Salvador frowned at the vampire. Alec shrugged. “I know you’re not going to do that, but the ladies aren’t prepared to risk leaving their sister without some form of protection. They know your family too well.”

  Salvador didn’t need to be told that. He’d been hearing about Elementals from the cradle—mostly warnings not to attract their attention.

  Of course, if his father or mother ever learned he’d had one under his care, completely at his mercy, and he hadn’t tried to kill her…he’d probably be disowned all over again.

  He glanced at the door leading to the antechamber. “What do you know about my patient?”

  Alec cocked his head. “She’s Earth. Gia is the oldest of Diana’s sisters. Which means—out of all—she’s probably tangled up with the Delavordos the most. And from what I heard, she’s not a big fan.”

  “She’s hardly alone in that.” In fact, Salvador strongly shared her opinion. Not that it would matter to this Gia woman—provided she recovered enough to learn his identity. He stared at the wall, lost in thought.

  “Have you heard from them lately?” Alec asked softly.

  “Just my mother, but you know about her hit and runs,” he said, bending over his logbook.

  Alec knew he wasn’t referring to Lucia Delavordo’s skill behind the wheel of a car. Salvador doubted his mother had ever been in a vehicle without a chauffeur in her life. No, his mother specialized in another type of collision—her out-of-the-blue messages—vitriolic blasts about duty and family loyalty.

  It didn’t matter how many times he changed his number or how many filters he added to his email—his mother’s magic always managed to find a way through. One time while hiking in the Andes, he’d even received a missive via giant raven.

  It was his mother’s considered opinion that Salvador needed to get over his foolish desire to help others. Selflessness was for the weak. Only the strong survived. His crusad
e to atone for the past sins of his family was stupid and self-serving.

  “You owe it to your family to let go of this foolish charade,” she had said on more than one occasion. “You are a Delavordo. Act like one.”

  Sometimes, he thought his mother was right. Not about being more like his family, but about his calling. Salvador had taken on an impossible task. He had foolishly thought to atone for the evil his family had done. But the Delavordos were the wickedest witching family in all of history. It was like trying to empty the water from Lake Michigan with a child’s sand bucket.

  “Fulgencio hasn’t contacted you?”

  Salvador almost laughed. “My father hasn’t spoken to me since he threw me out of the house for healing that Were cub.”

  “That’s right. One of your cousins was responsible…”

  He nodded. “Analia. She got away with it, too. She claimed she had no idea her little hex on the mother would concentrate in her fetus. Once I reversed the damage, the wolves dropped the matter.”

  “But you did undo the curse—it was a remarkable feat. One that put you on the map as a healer.”

  And it got Salvador kicked out of his family, despite the fact the hexing had been against the treaties his family had signed with the shifter pack. His father had claimed he hadn’t sanctioned the act, but Salvador had known Fulgencio been impressed by his cousin’s accomplishment—targeting the unborn, but leaving the mother untouched… It was a hellish innovation in the world of magic, and yet another weapon in his family’s arsenal—if they ever used it again.

  A knock sounded at the door.

  “That’ll be the food.”

  Salvador blinked. Alec hadn’t left the room. “Does mating with an Elemental give you access to their way of communicating?” he asked, slightly awed.

  Some witches could transmit messages along the aether, but it was a rare talent. All the Elementals could do it, of course. They were even able to move along it, accessing it with their dominant power, the element they controlled.

  “Not exactly,” Alec hedged. “I mean, Diana would know if I were in trouble, so I have some tie to it, but I can’t use it the way she does.”

  Alec held up a sleek cell phone. “I ordered the food with an app. Do you still like posole?”

  “How in the world did you convince a delivery person to come all the way out here?”

  Alec rocked on his heels. “I tip very well.”

  Snorting, Salvador nodded. Alec went outside to get the food, closing the door behind himself, presumably so the delivery person didn’t get a look at Salvador’s patient. Meanwhile, he set up the first steps of the new distillation again, the ones that took the longest and didn’t need to be monitored first-hand, before following Alec outside.

  They sat at the rough picnic table he’d been given as payment by a wood nymph he’d helped once. The light evening breeze did much to refresh Salvador’s senses. Some of the chemicals he used in the distillation process were disproportionally pungent. He’d set up a decent-enough ventilation system and boosted it with air-clearing spells, but certain odors still managed to seep into his clothing.

  Alec told him about meeting Diana over the meal. Halfway through, Salvador paused, the spoon he held next to his mouth forgotten—the story was that compelling.

  “Damn. So that’s where the whole thing started? With an illegitimate Burgess witch?”

  Alec passed him a beer. “Your family hasn’t cornered the market on black witches. Not completely.”

  “And the villain the ladies are chasing down helped this woman?”

  “Yes, along with a few others. John must have been tinkering with dark magic for a long time—and right under their noses. He excelled at setting others up to do his dirty work.”

  “But he must have continued doing his own, right? Otherwise, he’d never have succeeded in creating that poison.”

  Contemplatively, the vampire narrowed his eyes. “Personally, I don’t believe that’s as much an achievement as we’re making it out to be. Destruction is always easier than creation, than healing. You, of all people, should know that.”

  “Very true,” Salvador conceded. “Still, it’s hard to believe we’re dealing with an old-school alchemist in this day and age.”

  Self-styled alchemists—humans who dabbled in magical experimentation and the occult—used to be common, at least until the last century. But they had died out with the Industrial Revolution, or so he thought.

  No wonder the Elementals were pissed. According to Alec, the alchemist had infiltrated the cloistered T’Kaierian community years ago. The Water Elemental had considered him a part of her family. They’d all trusted him. Salvador knew something about betrayal…

  Alec sniffed one of the containers, taking a cautious bite. He didn’t eat a lot, but Salvador knew Alec still enjoyed the mechanics. “I sent word to the Elemental archives, asking for whatever texts they have on poisons capable of affecting Supernaturals. The archivist told me that they would arrive later today.”

  Salvador stilled. “They’re sending that stuff here?”

  “Yes. Noomi, the head archivists, said she’s pulling anything and everything she thinks might help. Although, it’s probably pointless now you’ve identified the components of the poison.”

  “Don’t discount your precious books yet. We don’t know if my antidote will work. It may take several attempts. Or they may not work at all…”

  Alec nodded. “I know. Nevertheless, a little optimism never hurt anyone.”

  Salvador grabbed a tortilla from one of the heat-conserving foam containers. “I can’t believe they gave you access to their archives.”

  The T’Kaierian community hoarded knowledge the way dragons did gold. The fact they would let an outsider have access was unbelievable, even if he was mated to an Elemental.

  “Grudgingly, but yes…eventually.” Alec hesitated as if he wanted to say something else, but he stopped, simply adding, “Sometimes, I have a hard time believing it myself.”

  “What’s it like?”

  The Elemental archives were the stuff of legend, but no one Salvador knew had ever been inside.

  Alec’s eyes went glassy and distant, but his expression was one of pure bliss.

  “If I believed that my kind had a heaven, I believe it would look like the Elemental archives.” He laughed. “Well, scratch that. It’s probably only heaven to me.”

  Salvador had known Alec long enough to assume that meant a ton of books and crumbling scrolls, but it was the Elemental archive, so there were probably all sorts of weapons and magical artifacts, too. Salvador’s grandfather had often groused about the various antiques the Elementals had confiscated from his great-grandmother. The fact they were cursed objects responsible hundreds, possibly thousands, of deaths was never really acknowledged.

  Wrapping up dinner, Salvador got back to work. Alec had been right. Extra distillation rounds did the trick. When the resulting potion was crystal clear, he took it into the antechamber and set it next to the altar.

  Normally, Salvador would be concerned with dosing, but since the poison had been introduced topically, he was going to apply the antidote the same way. He would have to trust the Elemental’s body would only take up as much as it needed.

  “Do you need either of these?” Alec held a syringe in one hand and a dropper in the other.

  Salvador shook his head, then unstopped the vial. Tipping his hand, he dropped it all onto the Elemental’s chest.

  Nothing happened. He waited, but didn’t see a reaction.

  “How long do you think it will take?”

  “I don’t kn—”

  Without warning, the liquid disappeared. The woman’s body had absorbed it all.

  Salvador held up a ruler to one of the thick black veins on her chest. It was difficult to see, but he eventually confirmed a change. A small retraction in the length of one of the strands.

  “It shrank, right?” Alec asked. “That wasn’t just a trick of the ligh
t.”

  Exhaling in relief, Salvador nodded. “We’re going to have to make more. A lot more. Judging from these results, I don’t have anything close to enough raw ingredients.”

  Alec was already on his phone. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you whatever you need.”

  4

  Salvador lifted the bucket, pouring their antidote into the tub.

  “Are we sure we need to immerse her?” Alec asked, handing Salvador another full bucket of the liquid.

  “It can’t hurt,” he muttered. “We need to purge the toxin as quickly as possible.”

  Thanks to Alec’s resources, Salvador had been able to synthesize enough of the antidote to fill a kiddie pool. However, that wouldn’t have covered her completely, so Salvador had asked for a cast-iron tub, the kind with clawed feet.

  At least I can keep the tub afterward. A bath would be a novelty. He hadn’t had one in years. His bathroom only had a shower—an inadequate one at that. It was too short for his six-foot-two frame.

  Salvador poured in the last bucket, then grabbed the snorkel he used when diving from the beach down the road. He handed it to Alec, watching as he fit it over the patient’s head and mouth. “Diana said Gia could borrow her other sisters’ abilities to some extent,” Alec pointed out as he nudged the mouthpiece between the woman’s lips. “I’m almost certain she can breathe underwater.”

  Salvador paused to meet the vampire’s eyes. “I’m not sure she can with all this crap in her system. Do you want to risk it?”

  Alec conceded with a shake of his head. “Let me lift her. All the Elementals are warriors, and Gia has been serving the longest. If she suddenly wakes up, she might come out of it swinging. It will hurt, but I can take it. And at least she knows my face.”

  There was also the fact Sal’s friend was a vampire. Alec was stronger and faster, despite the physical similarity of their builds. If the Earth Elemental decked Alec without thinking, he would recover more quickly than Sal would.