Flight: The Roc Warriors (Immortal Elements Book 1)

by Sarah Zolton Arthur

  “What?” This was getting old. I had an incubus to get to.

  “Get a grip, woman. Tap into your magic or whatever you got to do to fight it. He puts out lust pheromones. It turns even a nun into a frenzied wanton woman.”

  As hard as it was—and make no doubt, it was freaking hard—I focused on Race’s words. Focusing allowed me to cut through the power of the incubus enough to concentrate my power into building a wall to keep him at bay. His power outmatched mine because it took a great deal of mine to keep the wall up.

  “Tell me about incubi,” I demanded.

  “They are not vampires, or they are not just vampires. They suck you in with the pheromones while they suck you dry. First, your energy, your lifeforce, night after night until they get you to a point where you have nothing left. And you won’t fight it. You give it over happily while he is screwing you then screwing you over. Then finally with your lack of energy, you lie scared, knowing you are about to die. They withhold the pheromone to get you there, that last burst of energy he takes from you is like the perfect bite.”

  Um… well… not the best news I could’ve received. “Anything else?” I asked.

  “They are exceptionally strong. A hundred times stronger than the average human. Stronger than most Roc. Most wolves. Most other immortals in general. They harness demon magic, can pass through walls, control thoughts. Nasty sons of bitches.”

  “They’re what you talked about before, right? The things worse than vampires?”

  “What do you think?”

  What I thought—it was unfortunate that I had to figure out a way to avoid fire demons and two ravens all while using every ounce of magic I could muster to fight off the power of an incubus in order to get to the tunnel I needed to get to if I planned to save that voice. And I wouldn’t be here now if I didn’t plan on saving that voice.

  “Water,” I whispered. Aside from my worry, I was becoming dehydrated from the flow of lava cutting across the factory floor. I wasn’t much of a praying person, but before I attempted anything else, I sent off a prayer into the universe begging any deity listening to help a sister out.

  While Bracken fished the thermos from his pack, I opened the potion book Avalon had sent. Since I was dealing with potions, I wasn’t sure there’d be anything of use, still, it was what I had. As I hurriedly flipped through the pages, a folded piece of yellowed parchment fell out. I bent, catching it before it hit the floor.

  I unfolded the paper, my eyes narrowing in on one word: Invisibility. It wasn’t a potion. Oh, no no no… Avalon sent me an actual spell. I freaking loved my mother-in-law. She obviously believed in me, in my talents, because to my novice eyes, this spell seemed complicated. The trickiest part for me was going to be redirecting the magic from fending off the pull of the incubus to perform a spell I wasn’t even sure I could pronounce most of the words. Understanding spoken languages was apparently one of my powers. Reading them was not.

  My whole plan centered around me being able to pull off an invisibility spell and keep it on us until we hit the tunnel. To do this, I drank down the rest of the bottle of water Bracken offered up and handed the empty thermos back to him, then I tugged my arms out of my tee, keeping the shirt to drape around my boobage in order to keep me covered.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Race snapped at me.

  “I have to ground myself with the earth. The more direct contact, the more magic I can pull, the better spell I can perform.”

  We didn’t have time for more information. I pressed my arms, hands, and back against the rock wall to ground myself. And since I’d never done it before, I didn’t know if it was even going to work, but I had to try.

  Make us invisible… make us invisible… make us invisible… I chanted over and over in my head and then I proceeded to read the words on the page the best I could. They might have come from ancient Celtic language. When we got home, I was definitely diving into witchy spell research.

  Before my eyes, the magic began to ooze from my body onto the floor, crawling like The Blob toward Race, who stood closest, making contact first with his foot, engulfing his body slowly. He couldn’t see it. Neither could Bracken. You had to be a witch to see the visual manifestation of a witch’s magic.

  As it moved its way up his legs, they appeared to vanish. The spell wouldn’t take so long if not for holding off the incubus, too.

  “Holy shit,” Bracken whisper-yelled. “Your legs.”

  Race looked down, lifting his legs one at a time to check them out. I couldn’t see them anymore, either, only the magic where his legs, the one he raised and the one on the ground, used to be.

  “Meena,” he said. “This is—where the hell is Meena?”

  “I’m here,” I said.

  While part of the magic continued to move up Race, the other part oozed to Bracken, engulfing his feet in kind.

  I swore an eternity passed before Bracken disappeared completely. Time we really couldn’t afford to lose. When it finished, the second it finished, I took off, calling behind me, “Stick to the perimeter. They won’t see you, but I don’t know if they’ll sense you. I’m heading left.”

  The empty blobs followed behind me. We kept to the perimeter as I pulled my arms back through my shirt. I hated the feeling of it hanging bulkily around my neck and just in case the magic wore off, getting caught in mostly just my bra wasn’t the most appealing scenario.

  That turned out to be a good idea, pulling my arms back through. I wished more than anything for it not to be necessary. But my wishes were kind of hit or miss at getting granted. We made it almost to the tunnel, mere feet away, when my magic just tanked.

  The blobs began to rescind, moving back toward me. The tight ball of lust started to uncoil. Not cool. The incubus, this was all on him. Maybe it was because of the head injury or that I was new to this witchy stuff, or it might’ve been that he was that strong. All I knew was that I couldn’t keep us cloaked and keep the lust ball at bay. Something had to give.

  He stood before me, so close. So beautiful. Even more so this close. Feeling the pressure from the lust ball, my strength waned. At his proximity I couldn’t fight it, but if I gave into the lust, that would be the end for the three of us because once the lust took hold, the cloak would fizzle. All I’d care about was the lust.

  Or I could drop the cloak to keep the lust at bay. Same end result implied.

  We might be able to fight without the cloak. Me consumed by lust? No chance.

  “Sorry, guys,” I whispered, then I dropped the cloak to focus all remaining energy on the wall to block the lust.

  The atmosphere cracked and fizzed the same way it did right before a storm was about to hit. A domino effect of fiery heads tipping up rippled around the factory as hundreds of fire demons realized we were in the room—and then… they attacked.

  Chapter Eighteen:

  Bend Over and Kiss It Goodbye

  Both Race and Bracken grabbed a hold of one of the machines to pull it apart to use the metal bars as clubs or bats. Since I couldn’t keep us cloaked, I did the only other thing I could think of and channeled magic to their hands. Not to give them skill, they had that in spades, but to do the thing that took the least amount of energy. I kept their hands from burning.

  Useless. I was completely useless and a failure at being a witch.

  How did one go about disabling a fire demon? The thought of killing them bothered me. Aside from not relishing the thought of killing anything, I especially hated killing them when we were still in the dark as to why they wanted to hurt us. What had made them think that destroying the Earth was their best option?

  In the split second it took to think all these thoughts, Race and Bracken started swinging. Mini explosions happened every time a bar made contact with one of the demons. Embers scattered, but like with fire, the embers ignited, pulling the fallen form back together.

  They needed to be extinguished. How did one extinguish a fire demon?

  I knew we weren’t
too far from a lake. I thought back to the map of the area I’d studied before making the trip to the Yukon in the first place. If I remembered correctly… judging from the direction we’d traveled down the mountain then to get into this cavern, the lake was most likely right above our heads. Water extinguished fire. One thing was certain: I didn’t have the power to fight off the incubus, keep the eagles’ hands from burning, and summon up water.

  At the count of three, as the wall dropped, my belly dropped immediately filling full from that hideous ball of lust. Desire as hot as a fire demon consumed me. Wanton, lecherous need to be touched by that man scored a path straight to my lady bits. The desire so strong, it hurt. Physically.

  Shadow, I thought. Shadow. Shadow. My mate. My love. The only one who could help me push through the magic of the incubus. My friends stood no chance of survival if I didn’t do something soon. Once I fixed Shadow’s name securely in my heart, I turned my attention to extinguishing the fire demons by concentrating hard on the lake above our heads.

  With Shadow at my side—even if he didn’t know it—I shot a bolt of magic so strong that when it hit the rock, the ground shook with the ferocity of—in my professional opinion—a 6.0 magnitude quake, opening up a crater-sized hole. Water rushed inside, flooding the factory. Sizzles sounded simultaneously around the room and the air filled with steam. Fire demons fizzled out. Not dead. As the steam dissipated, I saw their embers still glowing.

  While searching the space for more fire demons, I made a mistake. I forgot about the incubus. The stupid, stupid mistake cost me dearly. In an instant he had me against a wall, my shirt whipped over my head, and he sunk his teeth into my shoulder.

  Oh, god.

  “Stop,” I managed to force out, even though it went against all the lustful feelings in me.

  Shadow was my love. Shadow, I need you… I continued to chant inside my mind, Shadow… Shadow….

  The incubus drew in deep. My energy drained from the wound into his mouth. He was going to ravage me.

  Shadow.

  Shadow.

  A great eagle’s cry, loud and angry, filled the room. Suddenly he was there—my copper. My copper and his brothers swooped in.

  He reached out his talons, ripping them through the flesh of the incubus. The incubus dropped me and swung fiercely at my mate. I slid down the wall, energy spent.

  My eyes went unfocussed.

  The ravens attacked Shadow. He fought off those two in the air and the incubus and his demon magic from the ground. Rogue swooped in, tearing at one of the ravens. Crest took on the second. My husband and his brothers weren’t about to show mercy. The larger raven, the male, Shadow and Rogue tag-teamed him and I kid not, ripped him in half.

  The agonizing caw of fear and pain right before they ended him made me want to vomit. Even worse was watching the pieces of him drop into the lava flow to beneath, engulfed by the molten rock. The incubus vanished, leaving only the female raven and the fire demons who’d begun to reignite slowly and with less intensity, to fight.

  She looked around the room. Her caw shattered eardrums and she flew off, too.

  My Roc brethren shifted to men before they hit ground, circling me. I couldn’t move.

  “Shadow…” I whispered because that was all I had left in me. “You came for me.”

  “Eaglet.” He didn’t drop to my side but scooped me up in his very naked arms, crushing me against his incredibly naked chest.

  “Why are the Dangey working with the ravens?” he demanded to know.

  The Dangey looked between me and Shadow.

  “Who is the leader?” the Dangey in the front of the pack asked. The Roc shook their heads, looking between one another, and I realized they couldn’t understand him.

  “Who’s the leader,” I whispered to Shadow. He nodded and stepped forward.

  “I am the leader,” my copper said. “What is the meaning behind attacking my mate?”

  The Dangey couldn’t understand him, either, which meant I turned back to them and not only understood their language, but spoke it, interpreting for both sides.

  “They’ve held us captive,” the leader said back and I repeated for our men. “You are our exalted guests.”

  The Roc men appeared pleased by the result. One of the Dangey offered to lead us to quarters where we could stay the night.

  I still lacked the energy to stand or walk, so Shadow continued to carry me. Something about all this didn’t sit so well with me, and so I couldn’t settle the way the others had. There was still the matter of the voice who called out to me. Was he one of these men held captive or is he somewhere else in more trouble? I needed to cool my skin. I needed to drink.

  “Settle,” Shadow ordered gently as he carried me toward our guest quarters.

  They’d left a spread of platters and drinks for us, and a tub of lukewarm, crystal-clear water. changes of clothing that fit both Shadow and me, and an enormous, comfortable bed.

  When did they have time to find and prepare all this for us? From what I picked up on during their brief communications, the Dangey were fire demons, but they lacked the magic of the witches or even the incubi of the world. And this… this bounty took time to assemble.

  “How were you able to fly down here?” I asked while Shadow unsnapped my bra and let it fall to the floor. “The heat should’ve scorched your wings making you incapable of flight.”

  He peeled the boots, socks, pants, and finally panties off me, tossing them down and carrying me to the tub before answering. “My mother hooked us up when I flew home to get her potion. She understood how making our way into the volcano would injure me and my brothers.”

  I sighed a long, luxurious sigh as I sunk under the water until it hit my chin, letting my arms float weightlessly.

  His mother was a wise, wise woman. We were lucky to have her on our side.

  He picked up a bottle of bath salts, unscrewed the cap, and poured about half into the tub with me. My magic reacted to the salt. It bonded with the residuals of Avalon’s healing potion, which still flowed through my system, supercharging me, the opposite effect salt had on most, as it was meant to relax. My cells recharged the longer I soaked.

  It occurred to me that the wolves hadn’t known I was a witch, so how would these Dangey seem to know? And a factory feeding rock into a lava flow had these elaborate guest quarters with clothing and beds large enough to fit a Roc Warrior? Delicious food platters filled to overflowing with our favorite foods?

  “Come,” Shadow said, his hand held out to me.

  “Pardon?”

  “Eaglet, you have sat in there close to an hour. Time to get out.”

  Close to an hour? He only helped me into the tub minutes ago. Minutes. I reached my hand out to him. The skin on my fingers pruney.

  He lifted me easily and set me on the fluffy towel he’d lain on the bed for me.

  “You need to eat,” he said, bringing a nightshirt over to me from the clothing they’d left for us.

  “We need to talk,” I countered. That was as much information as I got out before finding myself lifted and carried to the head of the bed. Shadow reached his long arm down to pull the pelts (yes pelts, just like the Roc used at home) back, gently setting me down and adjusting my pillow behind my back to make me more comfortable as I leaned against the headboard.

  “Please, Shadow, sit,” I said.

  He didn’t sit. He piled a platter with a little of everything they had to offer. Then he brought me a drink, a wine of some kind. Red and sweet. “Eat, my love.”

  “No, Sha—”

  He cut me off. “Eat.”

  Instead of starting the conversation we needed to have, I tore off a piece of flatbread and used it to scoop up a bite of stewed meat and gravy, shoveling it into my mouth. The salts helped to reenergize my cells, sure, but I still felt too exhausted to argue with Shadow. And there was no way—given the way he was doing everything to avoid having this conversation because he was a smart man knew that it would lead
to an argument—we wouldn’t end up arguing.

  I needed to rest. To get myself together before we went there. And the food tasted magnificent. Yet another thing to discuss. The Dangey not only knew foods the Roc ate, but served us flatbread and stewed meats exactly as the Roc would prepare them.

  As my belly filled and blood rushed to my stomach to help aid in digestion, my eyes drooped. The platter slipped. Vaguely, I became aware of Shadow removing it from my lap, standing from his side of the bed and walking over to the table to set it down, and then returning to help me lie down. He then moved around the bed and climbed under the covers bare-chested and in sleep pants, rolled to his side, tucking one arm under his pillow and reaching to pull me closer. I rolled to my side and Shadow draped his free arm and bent knee over my waist and thigh.

  This had become one of our go-to sleeping positions since we’d begun sleeping together. The other was slightly modified with me rolled into him, my arm over his waist, my bent knee over his thigh and my cheek resting on his chest.

  Tonight, though, I wanted his heat at my back. His large, long, hard body protecting me as we slept. I needed to feel safe and, cocooned by Shadow, and in this position, I felt safe.

  We slept the sleep of the dead, as the saying goes. Or in our case, the sleep of battle-weary warriors who’d won the battle but still had a war ahead of them. Though as I roused, all the events from the day before flooded back in a wash of memories and emotions. So although the rest refreshed my body, my mind was something else altogether.

  I slipped out from under Shadow’s arm, careful not to wake him and as silently as possible, I dressed in the clothing the Dangey had left for us last night. I looked kind of badass in the fitted black cargo pants, black boots, and a black, short-sleeved tee. My hair I braded in a French braid and tied the end off with the shoestring pulled from one of the old shoes I’d worn yesterday. At least if we find ourselves in another battle today, my wardrobe wouldn’t hinder me.

  Finally, I tucked the potion book in the waistband of my cargos and used my magic to manifest a note for Shadow so he didn’t worry when he woke up, laying it on his clothing. Using magic was freaking cool. I probably said it before, but I wished I’d known about is as a kid.