Eldritch Files: Elemental Flame Part 3

You'll have to push through this.

Oh s.h.i.+t.

I walked through the door into the retail area. The shop was empty except for Kyle, Ivan and me...

And Robin.

Robin Tremere.

He had his niece Kathy in tow. She stood beside him, her hand in his, and she was looking around the shop in awe. I was pretty sure she could see a whole lot more than Robin.

He and I had dated not long after Crwys and I split. Robin was stable, good looking, sweet and so not deserving of the h.e.l.l knowing me had put him through. The Leviathan that raised me had sent out Changelings, back in October, to kill the parents of the children they were exchanged for. It was all just a ruse to flush out something Dionysus wanted.

But one of those Changelings had been a duplicate of Kathy. It attacked at dinner one night, narrowly missing the littlest girl, but eventually killing their mother, Robin's sister, Rose. And then it attacked Robin. Robin killed the Changeling in self-defense, but he thought he killed his niece. The shock of that, plus the Changeling's poison took its toll on him. For a while it looked like he was going to muddle through without his niece and sister, but his emotional state caved.

Luckily, we were able to find those children and Kathy was returned. But our relations.h.i.+p had been one of the casualties.

And now he was here, with Kathy, nearly two months after we called it quits.

"You...you look good," Robin tilted his head to the side. He'd cut his hair shorter. He looked good. A bit thinner, but in better shape than when I left him.

"You look good yourself," I refocused on Kathy. "And how are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm great. Sammie, is this your magic shop?"

"Yes it is."

"This place is awesome!"

I smiled at her before I looked back at Robin. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"It's not me that wanted to come. I mean...I wanted to come. I wanted to call you, but I heard you were having trouble again and I didn't want to get involved with magic stuff so I just..." his voice trailed off and he licked his lips. "Kathy said she had to see you. She insisted to the point where she was skipping school to find this place."

"Kathy!" I put my hands on my hips. "You shouldn't do that. We do have a phone."

She rolled her eyes. "Uncle Robin wouldn't let me call. And besides, I have to give you this in person."

"Give me what?"

Kathy took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Several seconds pa.s.sed before she said, "Pain...there is always pain...need...a lifetime of loneliness....why haven't you come...why haven't you searched for him...no death, no life, no forward, no backward...search for the curse. You have to follow the curse." She staggered a bit, and then breathed deep and smiled. "Whew. Now maybe I can get some sleep."

I stood still. Very still. I could hear the pack humming again. Finally, I glanced at Ivan at the computer with Kyle beside him. They both looked wide-eyed and confused.

"What's wrong, Sammie?"

Licking my lips, I thought about what I was going to say. "Where did you get that?"

"From the voice in my dreams. He's been there since Uncle Robin took me and my sister out for Valentine's Day. I haven't been able to sleep since."

"You have a voice in your dreams. Does this he have a name?"

"No. But he's in pain. A lot of it. And he's asking for you, calling for you. I'm surprised you can't hear him."

I felt my chest grow warm and realized the scar was heating up and glowing. Luckily the s.h.i.+rt and hoodie I was wearing covered the light. "Kathy...do you know who he is?"

"No. But I know what he is. And he's the last of his kind."

"What is he?"

Kathy clasped her hands over her chest and her eyes sparkled. "He's a Dragon!"

FOUR.

"A Dragon?" Kyle said to my right. "What's she talking about? A fairy tale?"

It wasn't a fairy tale. It wasn't fiction or fantasy. There was only one person in my life whom I'd toyed with the possibility, but until a few minutes ago, believed it was impossible. My Elementals knew the truth. I suspected Grey knew as well.

And now Kathy.

I gripped the side of the counter to my right as I composed myself. I was pretty sure whatever miasma of emotions I was feeling also played out on my face.

"Sam? You okay?" Robin leaned forward, his gaze piercing. I knew this without even looking at him.

I swallowed and cleared my throat. "Guys...Robin...can Kathy and I have a few minutes alone?"

"Alone? Why?" Ivan moved away from his computer to stand by me. "What's wrong?"

Sam?

"Just..." I tightened my jaw and thinned my lips before I reined in my emotion-fueled temper. I could feel the scar at my chest pulsing as the heat moved throughout my body. In seconds, the tell tale red sparkle of Arcane was going to rear its ugly head and Ivan was going to get the brunt of it. "Leave."

Stepping back, he looked at everyone, and then shoved the door to the break room inward as he departed. I heard Grey in my head...but it wasn't words but pictures. Images of Crwys on the day we met, when he came in to ask my help to hunt down a Djinn. She turned and loped off behind Ivan through the open door.

"Come have some tea, Robin. We can catch up," Kyle said as he gestured for Robin to follow him.

My ex put his hand on my shoulder as he pa.s.sed and squeezed it before following Kyle into the break room.

Kathy looked troubled and clasped her hands behind her back. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No." I took a deep breath, summoned my Elementals and breathed a sigh of relief as their presence calmed me. They remained invisible so as not to startle the child. Kathy was a young G.o.d Mother's child and I wasn't sure just how far along her magic is.

I walked to her and knelt in front of her. Holding out my hands, palms up, I said, "You haven't done anything wrong. I just need you to tell me exactly what you've been dreaming about the Dragon."

"Okay." She put her hands in mine. They were warm and clammy, and tingled with untapped power. "I've seen him before. He was at Uncle Robin's house that day when I saw you fight the man in the hat."

She referred to the day when a Shadow Person entered Robin's house and tried to kill him and I. I let loose that time, working with my Elementals to cut the b.a.s.t.a.r.d off at the knees. And I discovered later that's exactly what I did. I had no idea that part of the group of Shadow People had been the children then, and Kathy had been among them. She'd seen me at my best.

Crwys had come that day, bringing Ivan and Kyle with him. "Kathy, please tell me."

"It's not exactly a nice thing to remember. I know he's in pain, but he's not letting me feel it. I just hear him crying. And that made me sad. Sammie, we can't let the evil queen hurt the Dragon."

I blinked. "Evil queen?"

"Yes. He's prisoner in her castle and no one can touch him. He's got a stick in his chest right here," she said before she pulled her hands from mine and pointed to the center of her chest. "It's hurting him real bad."

This was starting to sound a lot like a kid's fantasy book. Dragons and queens and castles. It faltered my belief she could mean Crwys. I licked my lips. "Kathy, don't you mean the princess is prisoner in the evil queen's castle and the prince slays the dragon to rescue the princess?"

She arched a dark brow at me and folded her arms over her chest. "That's a baby's book, Sammie. And that's not what's happening in this story. In this one the dragon is in trouble and the princess has to save him," Kathy smiled and lowered her arms before she put her hand to my cheek. "You're the princess, Sammie. You have to save him."

Was it possible this was exactly what I hoped it would be? It just seemed so out of reach. A child telling me I had to save a Dragon minutes after I finally figured out that was exactly what Crwys might be?

The shop door opened, the bell announcing a new customer. I put my hands on my thighs and stood, ready to tell them the shop was closed when I spotted a familiar face.

Detective Levi Tulose. Crwys's partner. He was the last person I spoke to about Crwys that night, Valentine's Day evening, when I was feeling really, really b.u.mmed out. I'd told him to tell Crwys not to bother coming back.

Levi was dressed in his usual suit, nice shoes and sungla.s.ses. He was a Revenant, a Vampire, and a bit sensitive to light. His usual cafe au last skin looked a bit ashy and I figured it was the sun. He was a handsome man, reminding me of the actor Michael Ealy. The clock over the shop door said it was after noon, closing in on one o'clock. He spotted me and held out his hand as he removed his shades. His usual gorgeous eyes were black from pupil to iris. This told me the demon inside of him was driving the bus, so to speak.

"Sam-don't kick me out. I've been trying to call you for two days. I just need you to listen to me." His voice had a dual tone to it. It was both the demon's voice and the host's.

"Levi-"

"Crwys is missing. Now, I know you're mad at him and I was too for the first twenty-four hours. But I can't find him anywhere. He hasn't been to work, his apartment is cleaned out and his car hasn't been spotted anywhere on any camera."

Kathy grabbed my fingers. "See?"

I squeezed her hand. "Levi, I'm not going to kick you out. But you have to answer something," I straightened my shoulders and took a deep breath. "Is Crwys a Dragon?"

Levi, or his demon, should never play poker. "You know the truth? I thought he never told you."

"He didn't. I've been hit in the head with the possibility several times since I got back in town. Apparently my Elementals knew, Mom knew and," I said as I nodded to Kathy. "Someone else does."

Levi came further inside the store and his eyes cleared, as if seeing the all black color might be frightening. His voice dropped the lower base tones of his demon as he spoke. "She knows where he is?"

I told him about the dream Kathy had, and she filled in where I left off. Levi knelt down in front of Kathy and smiled. "Can you tell me what the stick looks like? The one in his chest?"

Kathy shrugged. If Levi's presence bothered her, she didn't show it. Maybe she couldn't sense he wasn't human. "It was gold. That's all I can see. It's kinda fuzzy. But the walls are black."

"Black?" I said and shook my head. "I don't know where she's talking about."

Levi straightened. "Using the word queen makes me think of the Faerie."

"Yeah, me too. But...why? Why would he be with the Faeries? He's been around when I've called Brendi and Tzariene. But he's never been a part of that. We can't just jump to conclusions, I'm not sure yet if what she's seeing isn't her imagination." I rubbed at the back of my neck. "Levi, did you see him that day? The fourteenth?"

"Yeah. He talked about meeting you for dinner. I didn't want him to tell you what he was. I'm still not happy you know. My demon's been helping him hide that secret for a very long time, through two hosts. It was something I promised never to reveal and telling you seemed like a bad idea. When he told you he was Drachen that first day?" Levi shook his head. "I thought you'd figure it out."

"No. I wasn't thinking, I guess. I think I was too concerned there were Revenants in my shop," I gave him a half smile. "What else did he do on Valentine's Day?"

"We were taking it easy. It was midafternoon and we were at the station filling out paperwork. He got a call on his cell, said a few things and then jumped up. Said he had to go take care of something. I never saw him again," he put his hands on his hips, exposing the holster at his shoulder and his weapon. "That's why I was a bit surprised he never showed up at the restaurant. I called him that night so I could rag on him about blowing you off, but the number went straight to voicemail."

"Which means his phone was off. Have you called it recently?"

"Yeah, it's been disconnected. When I called the phone company, they said Mr. Holliard canceled his service. That's what made me head to his apartment. Place is cleaned out. The landlord said Crwys paid him six months in advance-so if he's gone, that's just more money for him since he can lease it out again."

"Have you tried getting his LUDS from that day?"

"Yeah. But for some reason, they don't have anything for Valentine's Day."

"What do you mean anything?"

Kathy yanked on my hand. "Sammie, can I go play with those cards over there?"

I glanced at the tarot card display. "Sure. Just don't get the different decks mixed up, okay?"

Kathy ran to the table and hummed to herself.

Levi held out his hand. "They have his calls to the florist and to make the reservation at the restaurant. But there's no incoming call at the time I remember him getting one."

"How is that possible? Did he have two phones?"

Levi blinked and leaned his head back. "That's possible. But...I never saw him use a second phone."

We needed to retrace Crwys's steps. As a Tracker, my mom had been the best in the south at this kind of thing. She'd tracked the Leviathan that eventually turned on her. I'd also shown a bit of my mother's skill. It wasn't hard. It was just good detective work.

I moved to the break room door and opened it. "Ivan, Kyle and Robin, come back in here."

Grey was the first one through the door and she moved to stand by Kathy. With Grey there, Kathy forgot all about the cards and got on the floor with the wolf to hug and pet her.

The other three lined up by the door.

"Hey Detective," Ivan said as he leaned on the counter and offered Levi his hand.

Levi shook hands with everyone, and I introduced him to Robin Tremere. "We've met under worse circ.u.mstances," Robin said.

"What is it?" Kyle asked, getting to the point.

I faced them with Levi beside me. "Crwys is missing. It's not that he ditched me, he ditched everything. Job, phone, apartment-he's vanished. And someone's going behind him and cleaning up his trail."

"Sweet Lady," Kyle said. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Levi said. "I've known Crwys a very long time. This is not like him. And given some recent information," he glanced back at Kathy and Grey. "We suspect foul play."