Elemental Shadows (20 page)

"You mean they can't feel that anymore?"
 

She laughed and put a hand on my arm. "Oh Heavens no. They'll feel those things all too soon because our society will nurture it. But for a while, they won't."

"Right now," Crwys said as he came up beside us. "I need to come up with some plausible story as to how I found them."
 

"
We
, found them," Arden said as she neared. She had a coat on and a hot cup of coffee in her hand. "I have just the plan in mind, Detective, if you're up for a little direction."
 

I didn't want to know what they would come up with. I figured I'd read about it in the paper. That was their problem. Mine was trying to figure out the rest of the problems. Like, how was I going to get Ivan out of government custody so he could make a book? And how in the hell did Ronald Kennett turn three Witch Elders into Shadow People? I doubted he built a Coyote Flame and made them.
 

And though finding the children was going to look good on Arden's record, unless I could connect Kennett or someone else to the Elders's deaths, she still might be indicted.
 

"Sam?"
 

I looked down to see Kathy looking up at me. I hadn't told her about her mother yet. I didn't have the heart, and I thought that should be Robin's place, not mine. I knelt down beside her. "What is it, Kathy?"
 

"Is the Hat Man going to try and take us back to that place?"
 

"The Hat Man?"
 

"Yeah. The big scary guy."
 

"Kathy, while you were in the that other place, did you ever go visit your house?"
 

"I tried to. But then Hat Man found me and he threw me out," she smiled. "I saw what you did to him. You cut off his legs! You're my new hero, Sam. I wanna be just like you when I grow up!"
 

C
rwys, Levi and Arden, as well as her entourage, took the kids to a remote location. Somewhere Arden knew about and not a place she owned. Not even clandestinely. It was Levi's suggestion they find the kids and Arden's people would build on some story to make it plausible to the police.
 

How they were going to get the kids to give the same story?
 

Not my circus.
 

I know that sounded crass and flippant, but, I was tired. I'd used up what juice I got from the ritual bath and needed real, unconscious sleep before I tackled getting Ivan freed so I could give the Clerics a damn copy of that book and they'd go away.
 

Or…so I thought.
 

But you know…my life was one big disaster after another lately.
 

Kyle drove Grey and I to the shop so I could go upstairs and pass out, remembering to set my alarm to wake up before nine, since that was my deadline.
 

But when I unlocked the back door to my shop the lights came on and the door was jerked open from the inside. I reached behind me for my guns, realized they were in my bag hanging over my shoulder and faced a very angry Fred the Cleric in his full robe regalia.
 

He pointed a very, non-magical gun at me and motioned me inside. I made a clicking noise and Grey took off back down the steps. Fred moved the gun in an attempt to shoot my Familiar and that's when I kicked him in the balls. I will admit…that might not have been the best time for him to piss me off. Not the way I was feeling.
 

I grabbed his gun, checked the ammo and set the safety, not that he'd know that and pointed it at him. "Get out of my house."
 

Fred writhed on the ground on his side in a fetal position, gasping for breath. It was the most dramatic display of
I just had my balls kicked
I'd ever seen. In fact…it was
way
over the top. I narrowed my eyes and sent out a few
feels
that determined very fast Fred was not the only Cleric in the shop.
 

I stepped inside over Fred's performance and hit the main switch to turn the lights on in the back. "You can come out. I know you're here." I went to the large table in the break room area and set my bag on top of it. I plopped in my chair and started taking my shoes off.
 

Emily was the first one to show up, coming from the direction of my office. Then the other two appeared. Fred…well…I could hear him sobbing. I dunno…maybe my cowgirl boots busted one of his nuts.
 

"That was a rather crude display," Emily said. I didn't like her tone. Especially after we’d saved her life at Arden's earlier.
 

"Pointing a gun at me at five in the morning is what I call crude. What do you people want? It's not nine yet. There's still time."
 

Miss Water, still very unique with her black hair, black lips and black nails, approached the opposite end of the table. "We heard you were with Arden tonight. We know there was a Coyote Flame made."
 

I leaned back after my boots were off and I could wiggle my toes. I wondered where Grey was and summoned the Sylph, with the askance to find my Familiar. He smiled, kissed my cheek, and disappeared.
 

"You have a very unique way with your Elementals."
 

"I don't control them. I give them space. I do what my aunt taught me."
 

"Your aunt being Inamorata Devonshire."
 

I cringed at the name, knowing what creature possessed that body. "Yeah. Look… I'm impressed you already know about the Coyote Flame. Why are you here?"
 

"The children taken by the Leviathan have been located," Emily said this with a less than happy inflection in her voice.
 

I looked at her. "Man…you guys do have sneaky snoopers everywhere. How did you know this already? Is that a bad thing?"
 

"It's a bad thing if someone shoved that many innocent children into a Coyote Flame. Do you realize what that could have done?"

"If left in that space, those children could have become full on badass scary Shadow People. But as it was, my associates investigated calls that came into my shop. All of them were about ghost sightings. What Ivan and Kyle saw were little Shadow People."
 

"And you figured this out all on your own?"
 

"No. It was a group effort."
 

"And Arden participated?"
 

I sat forward, really not liking this interrogation. "Can you people be a bit more forthcoming as to why you're in my home grilling me on what should be a joyous occasion? Come on…those kids are back. Unharmed."
 

"That will be for us to judge in the coming weeks," Emily said. She kept her Cleric robe closed around her. So did Air and Water. "What concerns us is this event now puts Arden Vervain in a positive spotlight."
 

"And you don't like that because you want to warlock her."
 

Fred appeared then, walking a little funny, and visibly mad. "Just do it and let's raise this place to the ground." His voice was pitched a little higher.
 

The Sylph returned and sat on my shoulder. I received an image of Grey outside near the back in the alley. Waiting. And…she wasn't alone.
 

There were other Familiars. Or…other dogs that looked a lot like wolves.
 

My phone buzzed and I pulled it from my jeans. Yes. Rude. But I wasn't concerned with annoying these people. It was Pauline again and I put it to voicemail. Again. That's when I saw I had seven missed calls and six messages.
 

My Salamander appeared on the table in front of me, facing the Clerics. My Gnome and my Undine appeared. All of my Elementals were there. I looked at each of them, feeling a bit of panic creep up my shoulders. "I didn't summon them."
 

"No. I did."
 

This was a new voice. It was male, deep, and not at all cheery. It reminded me of Christopher Lee's voice. And when the shadows parted to my left near my office, this Cleric looked like Christopher Lee. But I recognize him.
 

This was Cromwell Dryden, the High Grand Master of the Witch's Parliament.
 

And he was in my shop.
 

I pushed my chair back and stood. I might not readily adhere to the magical system around me, but Ina made sure I knew it. Maybe Dionysus dreamed of this day, of me facing the most power of the Witches.
 

If so…I was fucked.
 

I bowed, and then curtsied. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. "High Grand Master."
 

"Samantha Elizabeth Hawthorne," his commanding voice saying my name sent a shock up my spine. "The charges I've heard brought against you and Arden Vervain are most troubling. These Clerics believe Arden has the Malleus Maleficarum. And they suspect you know this to be true and are helping her hide it."
 

"High Grand Master—I told them yesterday—I don't believe she has it. I don't think any of us have it. I believe its location died with Grand Master Higgins."
 

"That's just a stupid—" Fred started to say.
 

Dryden held up his hand and Fred stopped talking. All of my Elementals came to me, surrounded me, almost as if protecting me, yet I knew they understood this man's power. He was a full Elemental himself, with control of Spirit and three Dianic Gifts. Telekinesis, Clairvoyance and Psychometry. "It's a good theory. All four of you have issued reports that Higgins was less than forthcoming about his own activities. And he did not disclose the hiding place, as he was required to. But," and then he refocused on me. "I am also told a Witch and her Coven are missing. Their disappearance coincides with the missing Hammer. There are those within the Parliament that wonder if there are other plots churning within."
 

I wasn't sure I knew what he was getting at. And it must have been evident on my face.
 

"Samantha, you are very much like your mother. We were devastated by her loss. And yet we were appreciative of Inamorata's volunteering to raise you. You have a strong loyalty of your Elementals. Do you sense it?"
 

"Yes, sir."

"They are willing to fight for you. This tells me they sense no guilt in you. Or at least, what they perceive as guilt. Elementals have a different code of morals. They are not human."
 

I knew this. Basic Elemental training. "Sir…I honestly don't know where the Hammer is."
 

"It is Parliament's suspicion Arden Vervain hid it. That she used it to set up the Changelings so that she could maneuver herself into a position of power. It is well known she seeks to be part of Parliament."
 

"But sir, a Leviathan created the Changelings. That same Leviathan is what put those children into that Flame."
 

"And you have proof of this?" he held out his hands. "Where is this Leviathan?"
 

And there I was—stuck between oh and fuck. I hadn't shared Inamorata's early fate with anyone but Ivan, Crwys, Levi and Kyle. Arden knew but only because it was necessary. Did I want the whole of Parliament to know I'd been raised by a Leviathan? Not just any Leviathan, the very one that destroyed my mother? I knew if this was made public, a scourge would be placed on Dionysus and every available Cleric in the world would be after him. They would get to him first.
 

But I wanted that right.
 

I wanted to destroy him, banish him, and dismantle his essence myself.
 

"Samantha, you either don't know, or you are hiding something. I am reluctant to believe the latter, but until I have proof of such a thing, the Parliament's judgment stands as it is."
 

My eyes widened. "What does that mean?"
 

"It means you're going down," Fred said.
 

And then he wasn't there anymore. Just…gone.