Warrior from the Shadowland (8 page)

A
frown puckered his brow.  “I am unfamiliar with that temporal period.”

Melanie
ground her teeth together.  “What’s wrong with the clouds, Uriel?”

He
hesitated for a long moment.  Then, he leaned forward as far as his seatbelt
would allow.  “There was a tragic dune buggy accident.  It killed the last of the
Cloud House.  Elementals everywhere mourned.”

“A
dune buggy accident.”  Melanie repeated, expressionlessly.

Uriel
nodded.  “I only say this because I sense something very special about you,
Melanie.”  He looked oddly hopeful.  “Tell me, were any of your ancestors of a
different species?”

Melanie
turned further in her seat so she could glare at him through the wire mesh that
separated the front of the car from the back.  “Was that an insult or has the
meth just completely trapped you in your
X-Files
fantasy?”

“Insult?” 
Uriel frowned.  “I would never insult you.  Please, if I said something wrong,
accept my apologies.  Your culture is… difficult for me.  The last thing I want
to do is offend you.  I have a great deal of respect for you and the job you do
keeping law for your people.”  He sounded so contrite that Melanie actually
believed him.

“It’s
alright.  You can’t help being delusional.”  She decided that she was being
crazy about the clouds and started the car.  “Or, I guess, you
could
help
it, if you went into some kind of treatment.”  She cleared her throat and tried
to sound like a totally unbiased civil servant.  “Maybe if you checked into
rehab and straightened out your life, you could actually –well--
have
a
life.  A girlfriend or whatever.”  Her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror
again.  “I’m just saying.”

He
continued to watch her with an unnerving sort of intensity.  “This might be
hard for you to accept, Melanie, but I need to tell you some things.  I won’t
be here in your realm for very long.”

“Yeah,
well, that’s sort of up to a jury of your peers, cowboy.”

“I’m
part of a rebellion.  We’re here in Florida looking for something human, but
not.”

“Robocop?” 
Melanie was almost enjoying herself, now.  It was Uriel’s accent.  Despite her
best efforts, it was getting to her.  She could’ve listened to him rattle off
ingredients from the side of a cereal box and been reluctantly charmed. 
Flur-aid-da.  They should change the way the rest of the world said “Florida,”
so it always sounded like Uriel’s more musical pronunciation.   “Where exactly
are you from, again?”

He
didn’t answer that.  “We are not sure of the name of the person we seek.  Maybe
you could help, in fact.  Is there anyone in your realm who seems…Divine?  Like
they may have unique powers?”

“Well,
there was that psychic hotline lady on TV, but I think they shut her down for tax
evasion.”  Melanie grinned.  “Let’s see… who else?  Hey, how about those
Olympic gymnasts?   That level of flexibility seems unnatural to me.  And my 10
^th
grade math teacher was some kind of cyborg.  Seriously, he could add fifty-nine
numbers at a time, all in his head.  Oh and my grandpa was really good at
growing ferns.”

“Ferns.” 
Uriel barley breathed the word.  The force of his gaze reached a level high
enough to nearly burn the back of her neck.

“Yep. 
And rosebushes.  On the beach.  He had a green thumb.  Are we counting
gardening as a unique power or do you want –like-- the ability to see through
steel?”

Uriel
licked his lower lip.  “How do human men approach the women they mean to Phaze
with?”  He asked, abruptly.

“Usually
in bars.”  Melanie muttered.  “If you’re talking about sex, anyway.  That’s how
I met my last boyfriend, Brad.”

Uriel’s
eyes narrowed, slightly.  “You have a Match?”  He didn’t sound happy.  In fact,
he sounded ready to hunt Brad down and do a lot of bodily harm.  Melanie was
not
kind of turned on by that.

“Not
anymore.  He left me for a bikini waitress down on the pier.”  Melanie gestured
in the direction of the beach.  “Bastard.  Let’s see how he likes his precious
truck living in the impound lot from now on.”  She grinned.  “Never dump a
vindictive police officer.  Words of wisdom.”

“I
don’t plan to.”  Uriel assured her, seriously.  The anger faded from his
voice.  Now, there was dawning light to his expression, as if he’d been
suddenly been let in on a cosmic revelation.  “These feelings I’m having for
you are interesting.  Possessive.  Caring.  That’s… unusual.  And you have the
eyes of a Wood Phase.  And the ferns…”  He shook his head.  “But, a Phase-Match
is between
Phases
.”

“Makes
sense.”  Melanie lied.

There
was a long pause, like Uriel was doing some deep thinking.  Probably plotting
out some wicked Dungeons and Dragons maneuvers to try on his space cadet, gamer
buddies.  Or maybe mentally debating the merits of
Babylon 5
versus
Battlestar
Galactica.
  The guy was a nerd trapped in the body of an action hero.

“There
are laws against interbreeding with humans.”  Uriel reported, at length.

“Seriously? 
Well, shit.”  Melanie gave her head a shake.  “There go my plans to horribly
abuse my power and ravish you on the way to the station, then.  You’ve broken
enough laws today.  No interbreeding for us.”

A
predatory light entered his eyes.  “I very much want you to ravish me.”   He
said, straight faced.  “This is more than just your beauty at work.”

She
snorted at that idea.  “You love me for my mind, huh?”

“I
love you for who you are.”  He took a deep breath.  “You are my Match.  I know
it with everything that I am.”

Melanie
fingers drummed on the steering wheel.  Uriel saying he loved her wasn’t nearly
as funny as it should be.  In fact, it sort of made her angry and hurt that
he’d lie like that.  Even if he was a psycho.  “I think you’d better just
shut-up for a while, Mr. Woods.”

“Listen
to me.  Please.”  He implored. “I don’t wish to overstep.  Cross has an easier
job with this, since I’m not sure how Matches are decided in your culture, but…
You’re mine.  I don’t need to know your species to be sure of who you are.  You
cannot be with another man.”

Melanie
hadn’t had a date in six months, but she wasn’t telling him that.  “Uriel,
you’re high.”  She told him, bluntly.  “You have no idea what you’re saying. 
Focus on how we can’t breed.  That’ll douse the flames of your passion, I bet.”

“The
law is very clear.”  Uriel agreed.  “I am a solider for Elementals.  I wouldn’t
disobey our most ancient rule on a whim.  Only the will of Gaia can overrule
the laws of the Council.”

“Well,
there ya go.”  Melanie was
not
kind of disappointed in his easy
acceptance of their doomed romance.  “Love affair over.”

“And
yet, Gaia has put me here with you and I know that…”  He smiled as if one
thought was leading to another in his mind so fast he couldn’t keep up.  “I
know
that you are part Wood Phase.  You must be.  So, interbreeding
must
have
occurred, no matter what the Council decreed.  That explains my feelings. 
Yes!”  He might as well have just found dark matter he sounded so “Eureka!-y”
at that moment. “You’re part Elemental, Melanie.”

“I’m
Irish American, actually, with a little Spanish tossed in for flavor.”

Uriel
shook his head, looking thrilled and happy and dazed.  “We are meant to be. 
Gaia has led me to you.  You are
mine
.  My Match.”

Melanie
spared him another quick mirror glance.  “I don’t go out with the guys I
arrest.”  She said it forcefully for both of their benefits.  “If there’s a
Miranda warning on the first date, it just sours the whole relationship for
me.”

“I’m
different from the prisoners you usually capture.”

“You’re
prettier
than most, but you’re still a criminal.”

“I’m
a solider.”  He corrected, sitting up straighter and angling his jaw.  “Like
you.  I serve my House and I protect all those weaker than myself.”

Melanie
almost made a sarcastic retort to that, but Uriel looked really serious.  Drug
induced hallucination or not, he really was buying into his own
300
image. 
And the mental picture of him in a loincloth was enough to distract Melanie
from any other intelligible response.

Uriel
apparently took her silence as encouragement.  “According to tradition, I have
to disclose certain things to you at this point.  So, if you accept me as your
Match, you’ll be in danger.  I need you to understand that I have enemies.”

“Persia?” 
Melanie guessed, dryly.  “No.  Wait, who do they fight in
Game of Thrones
?”

He
frowned over that.  “Melanie, I can tell you are joking, but I can’t protect
you if I’m restrained like this.  And if my enemies discover that you’re mine,
they’ll seek to take you from me.  And the Council themselves will not approve
our Match without my explanation.  So, I’d appreciate it if you’d…”

“What? 
Let you go, right?”  Melanie finished for him, cutting him off.  “Oh pha-leeeze. 
Like I haven’t had guys try to sweet talk themselves outta handcuffs before.” 
She shook her head, feeling strangely disappointed that Uriel would go for that
tactic.  “Just be quiet until we get to the station and you can call your
lawyer.”

He
disregarded that.  “I think it’s important that we don’t waste time.  These
ties are plastic, so I can’t manipulate them.  The Air House could attack,
again.  You need to know the truth.”  He paused for dramatic effect.  “I am not
human.”

“Uh-huh.” 
Melanie reached over and turned on the radio to the ‘80s rock station in an
effort to drown him out.  AC/DC began screaming about shaking all night long.

Uriel’s
face creased into pained lines at the noise.  “Torture isn’t necessary.  Just
try to open your mind to the truth.”

“Hey,
watch it, Alf.  I like this song.”

He
ignored that too and began speaking louder so he could be heard over the
pounding drums.  “I am an Elemental of the Wood House.  I control the forces of
the universe and I need your help.”

“My
help?  Wow, I’m flattered.  What with your universal power and all.”

“I
don’t have universal powers.  I get power
from
the universe.  My energy
is mainly drawn from wood.”

“Oh
man, if this is leading to some kind of joke about your penis…”

“Plants. 
Trees.  Wood.”  Uriel began to look aggravated.  “Elementals work together to
control and balance nature.”

“Wasn’t
that the plot of the
Captain Planet
cartoon?”  Melanie mused.

“I
can prove what I say is true.  Is that what you need to accept this, Melanie?”

“Nah,
if you
promise
you’re a wood sprite, that’s totally good enough for
me.”  She assured him.  “Seriously, I believe you.”  She nudged the volume
control on the radio up another click.

Why
where the hot ones always nuts?

Melanie
drew the police car to a stop at Mayport Beach’s only traffic light.  She could
see the Gulf of Mexico out her window on one side, while rows of small beach
bungalows lined up in the other.  There were no other cars on either side of
the street.  Mayport Beach was a classic palm tree and plastic flamingo Florida
beach town.  This time of year, there were very few residents, but Melanie
still observed all the traffic laws.

At
least, while she was on duty.

In
the back seat, Uriel closed his eyes and took a series of rapid, cleansing
breaths.  “Melanie, please don’t get upset over what’s about to happen.”  He
instructed.

Two
seconds later, eight huge Douglas firs surrounded the car like a fence.

Melanie
let out a panicked yelp.  “Shit!”  Her head reared back so fast she was
surprised that she didn’t give herself whiplash.  She sat there for a long
moment, her hands clenched in a white knuckle grip around the steering wheel.

Christmas
trees.

There
were fucking Christmas trees around her cruiser.

Without
moving the rest of her body, Melanie craned her neck to look out the window. 
The firs were so tall she couldn’t see the tops of them and they were coming
right out of the ground.  Right through the pavement.

Oh,
Sullivan was not going to like the damage their trunks had done to the surface
of the road.  She gave a slightly hysterical laugh at the thought and then
looked at Uriel again.  “So, you can do
this
, but not fix the clouds,
huh?”  It was the first thought that popped into her head.

He
regarded her, helplessly.  “I would put the pictures back in the sky for you if
I could, my love.  But, it’s beyond my power.”

Melanie
nodded.  “Okay.”  She turned back to the pine forest blocking her car. 
“Okay.”  She could handle this.  She was a professional.  “Okay.”

The
light flashed green again.

“Do
you see?”  Uriel prompted after a lengthy pause.  “I am not human.  I’m
Elemental.”