A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) (15 page)

A fang clamped on
Raven’s leg and she found herself dragged down. As her body struck the ground,
Raven realized that it was shaking—
she
was shaking.

Air said,
I’m
sorry.

She said, “You did
your best.  Tell my family I love them.”

Raven coughed. She
was lying facedown on the floor, her hands, arms and hip sore from the landing.
Her leg was on fire, and she felt the jaws of the second wolf crushing her calf
muscles against her shin. She tried to pull her leg out of the beast’s mouth.
Then she passed out.

~~ Amy ~~

The Elementals
were all screaming at once, at least that’s what it felt like in Amy’s head. 
The last time she felt that level of mayhem from the group was when she turned
seven and Mount Saint Helens erupted.

The conversations
were crazy.  Amy understood snippets.

Raven is being
chased by…

He’s out.
Petrodus is out.

Don’t let them
near you. He’ll know.

Who is that
other wolf?

Amy, you need
to send me to her now.
That was from Fire or Amy wouldn’t have hesitated.

“Go!” Amy said the
word aloud.

Fire and Water’s
chattered abruptly halted.  Amy asked Air. 
Where is she?

Elements could
exist as separate entities or as one.  Amy had her Element Air, also a portion
of the whole who stood by Amy and helped her, while another Air, also part of
the whole helped Raven.  The exchange of information could sometimes be slow,
but when Raven’s Air wore herself out trying to get Raven away from the wolves,
every Element on the island felt it and ran to their Elementals to report
trouble.

Amy’s Air discovered
Raven lying in the middle of the ball room unconscious and bleeding from
terrible wounds on her arm and leg. The wolf was gnawing on her leg as if it
were a bone. When it felt Air’s presence, the wolf smiled grotesquely. 

There was nothing
worse than seeing your child in danger.

Nothing worse than
watching as predators surrounded her, hurt her.

Amy felt a dozen emotions
at the same time. Rage. Pain. Fear. Sadness. Even a strange nostalgia because
as she saw Raven from Air’s perspective, she realized that Raven was growing
up.  Her Air saw Raven as already full grown.

Her fear and
sadness sank below the weight of a bitter rage.

Amy ran for the ball
room.  She had no weapons. As she ran, she tried to formulate a plan, to think
of some way to defeat the creatures.  Tony yelled to her from a hallway she had
just passed.

“Amy! Stop!”

There is no
stopping a mother.  Hurt the cub, you get torn apart when Mama comes. Ignoring
Tony, Amy raced on, praying that she wouldn’t be too late.  She couldn’t use
Air’s vision while she was running.  It would have caused a dizzy spell that
would hold her back. So Amy ran.

She burst through
the double doors of the ball room to a chilling sight.  Her daughter was still
unconscious on the floor, but the wolves were gone.  In their place were two men.

Amy would have
thought, had anyone ever asked her, that a wild animal would be more
frightening than any human.  She expected the wolf.  She feared the wolf. 
Harold and a powerful stranger with eyes that promised Death dragged Raven by
her legs across the room, as if she were no more than a piece of meat.

Fire attacked in
the form of a huge ball, sweeping across the ballroom.  Harold dropped Raven’s
legs and stepped forward. The fire ball encompassed him, occupying the same
space and yet not. Amy felt sick when she realized her best shot at destroying
her enemies was so easily dealt with.

Harold pulled a
gun out of a holster Amy hadn’t noticed and turned, pointing the gun at her
core.  He sneered, “Don’t even test me today. So now we are revealed.  Come
here.”

“Get over here or
I will shoot your daughter where she lies.”  He was no longer the chiding and
pompous Harold that Amy knew from Wildwood Springs.  This Harold was chilling,
scary in a way Amy had never seen.  Had she met this Harold all those years
ago, she would have never stopped running.

“I won’t.  Don’t
hurt her.” Amy raised her hands above her head.  In her own mind she chided
herself for watching too many police shows.   She had to keep the attention off
Raven.  That second man kept glancing at Raven, watching her like she was a
meal to be had.

“I’m afraid it’s
too late for that.  Let’s agree that we won’t hurt her more than we already
have. Let me test your power, since I’m here.” Harold took a step closer to
Amy, gun still raised.  Petrodus took a step closer to Raven.

“Keep him away
from my daughter or we have no deal.”  Amy clenched her teeth and moved forward.

Amy wanted to
puke. She wanted to kill that evil bastard.  There was something wrong with
him, something fundamentally off. Men like that were the reason women feared
walking alone on a shaded path.

 Harold laughed. 
It was a belly laugh full of dark humor, “Oh, you are priceless.  I already
know the old lady has Time.  I just wanted to get closer to you before you
decided to do something stupid. Now you make an easier target.

Amy felt like an
idiot.  She should have known. Psychopaths have no morals. Amy thought of
Lawrence and that last week they were together all those years ago. Both of
them had known they were hunted.  They never dreamed that Lawrence would be
dead in a week.

Just like now.
Amy thought. 
I feel immortal, like this moment won’t kill me.  And yet
Death could come so easily.

“What do you want
from us?” Amy couldn’t take her eyes off the barrel of the gun.  It was pointed
at her chest.  If it went off, she would die.

“Say the oath to
relinquish your Elements to me,” Harold said.  His once rheumy eyes were bright
and clear. His hair was at least three shades darker than it had been in town.

Don’t do it.
Fire said.

He’s not to be
trusted.
Air agreed.

Even Earth weighed
in,
I won’t be his Element. If you pass your power to him, I will be alone
rather than partner with him.

Amy didn’t want to
die, but more than that, she needed to protect her little girl.  So far, she
had failed Raven abysmally. She’d failed them all.  Speaking directly to the
Universe she said,
I need help. Don’t let this evil touch my daughters. 
Help me.

If Amy was
expecting a miracle, she didn’t get it.  She closed her eyes, waiting. Nothing
happened.  Amy clenched her teeth, “What oath do you want me to say?”

“Say that you
relinquish your power, here and now, to Harold of the Death Keepers,” Harold
didn’t notice Petrodus edging closer and closer to Raven.  Amy did.

Softly she said,
“I don’t think you can control him.  He’s going to hurt my daughter whether you
allow it or not.”

As he took another
step closer to Raven, Petrodus whispered in a stage voice, “I’m going to do so
many
things to your little girl.”

Tears filled Amy’s
eyes.  It would be a mistake to think that she was sad.  Her helpless anger was
a HUGE crawling thing that made her whole body shake. Her tears were murderous.
She begged, “Leave her alone.”  

Harold’s face
twisted into a sneer as he told Amy, “You should worry about saving your own
life.”

“I want to save my
daughters.  Keep him away from her and you can have it all.” Amy said.  Her
eyes flickered from the gun to her daughter.  The world had been dangerous for
a long time, but somehow in the past seven years, she had managed to keep her
daughters safe. At least, she thought she had.  Instead, they had been under
the watchful eye of one of the most evil men on the planet. 

And yet she missed
it.

“You’re boring me.
Oath. Now.” Harold’s hand twitched.  Not a massive movement, just the slightest
flicker of muscle, as if he wanted to pull the trigger and was holding back.

That was when Amy
knew.  Harold would kill her no matter what she gave him.  Her life was already
forfeit. He decided to kill her the minute she knew he held the power of
Transformation and that he could travel between dimensions with ease.  She was
the target.  He was just hoping to get something from her before he killed her.

She had no
illusions about her death.  Harold would kill her either way.  He was just
hoping to trick her before he committed murder.

Amy hoped Earth
could hear the tiny whisper from her mind.  Some Death Keepers could listen in
on Elementals talking to their Elements, so she kept it as quiet as she could. 

She heard an
unearthly howl from Raven’s directions.  Amy didn’t have time to think because
at just that moment, Earth said,
Toward Raven! Now!

Amy threw herself
to the side, just as Earth split the floor between Raven and Petrodus. 

Amy saw her
daughter, shocked and shaken. She had to get Raven out of there.

Chapter 13

~~ Raven ~~

~Moments Before Amy’s Arrival ~

Wake up. Wake
up. Wake upppppp!

Air
whispered to Raven over and over in a hushed tone.
Keep your eyes closed,
but wake up.

Finally
Raven heard.  She could easily keep her eyes closed.  She hurt everywhere. She
heard her Mom and Harold.  He was asking her to relinquish her powers.

Don’t do it,
Mom.

Raven had no
special power of telepathy of psychic ability.  Raven just knew that once her
Mom agreed, Harold would kill her.

She felt it as
Petrodus moved closer. She heard his ugly grating voice say, “I’m going to do
so many things to your little girl.”

Raven had never
been a victim. 

In third grade
when a kid two years older than her decided to steal her backpack and dump it
out, she attacked him like a harpy.

Air was
exhausted.  So was Raven.

She couldn’t kill
Petrodus.  She needed him to pass through the gate. 

What opens the
gate?  Is it his soul? His body?  Why does it only open for Death Keepers?

Air answered,
“It’s
part of him.  I’ve seen Death Keepers use the finger bones of ancient priests
to get into a dimension long closed.”
  

Raven and Fire
weren’t close as Elementals and Elements go, but Fire had helped before…and
Raven desperately needed her now.

She called to
Fire. 

No one answered.

Raven asked Air,
I
need Fire.

The Fire that
answered her call knew her, loved her.  Raven felt that and with a strange
sense of alarm realized that this was her Mom’s element.  Raven wasn’t sure it
was okay for her to ask. 

It was such a
great idea, though.

Just ask.
Fire said.
There’s not much time. The wolves are twitchy.
Funny…even
though Petrodus and Harold were in human form, Fire still saw them as wolves.

 Petrodus was
moving stealthily toward her.  He tried to keep Harold and Amy from focusing on
his steady approach to Raven. Raven showed Fire what she had in mind. Raven
stayed completely still, waiting for what came next.

That should
work.

Petrodus was
missing his third tooth.  Raven could see the gap when he knelt down beside
her. She closed her eyes, her stomach roiling as he put his hand on a place
that belonged only to her. He wouldn’t do that again.

Raven released
every ounce of energy to Fire.

A beam of light so
refined and intense that it could cut through metal suddenly splashed across
Petrodus’ wrist, separating his hand from his body.  Raven didn’t want to touch
the hand, even though it was touching her.  She grabbed it by the index finger
and lifted it with the degree of disgust that she would have as she lifted a
dead spider.

Fire didn’t stop
there. 

It worked the beam
up into his body.  Petrodus howled. He stumbled away from her, holding the
bleeding stump as Fire ravaged his innards.  Raven wanted it to stop.  She
closed her eyes, wincing and wishing it would end.

Stop. Please
stop.

Fire dissipated
into a thousand tiny sparks. 

Earth shook and
the floor cracked through the middle, wood splintering as a portion of the
floor sank, leaving Raven and Amy on one side of the crack and Harold and Petrodus
on the other, which was good as Petrodus, even with what appeared to be fatal
wounds shifted into a wolf. 

The shift served
to cauterize his paw and stop the bleeding.  As Raven struggled to sit up, she
realized that with his shift, he was growing stronger, the sounds of his growls
and angry yaps grew louder and more menacing.

A hand touched
Raven’s forehead and supported her shoulders.

“Mom?”  Raven had
managed to stay strong until that moment.  She fell apart, tears streaming down
her face. Wrapping her arms around her mother’s neck, Raven said, “You’re
here.  I’ve missed you so much.”

Get out!

The sound boomed
in Raven’s ears.  That was no mere Element.  With her mother’s arms around her,
Raven reached out to touch Fire’s ugly trophy, Petrodus’ severed hand.

The portal
opened.  Her mom half-carried, half-dragged Raven through.  Raven thought she
heard a growl and then there was silence. They were in a new place, quiet and
unformed, and then they were home.

The portal opened
straight into the bedroom Raven and Claire shared. Grabbing a towel one of the
girls had left on the dresser, her Mom pressed it against the wound on her leg.

Indicating the
severed hand Raven touched she said, “Mom, can we get rid of that?  I know what
it can do, but I don’t want it anywhere near me ever again.”

“I will.  Let me
take care of you first. Where are you hurt?”

“My arm and leg,”
Raven said. She didn’t say it out loud,
They were saving me for other
things.

“That’s it?” Amy
asked. Raven was covered in blood.  Fire hadn’t been subtle with the laser
beam.

Raven nodded, “I
think so.”

“Okay. I’m going
to call for an ambulance.  We’ll tell them you were attacked by a wild dog,”
She was about to go for the phone, but Raven stopped her.

“Mom, wait.” Raven
struggled to sit up.  When she put pressure on her leg she bit down a scream. “The
hand.  You can’t call an ambulance.  Too many questions.”

Amy Gray saw a
daughter in pain. Her instinct was to fix those wounds in the quickest way
possible. The disembodied hand would turn their small town upside down.  Even
if they were cleared of charges, whatever those might be, the town would never
forget. 

“Fine. We’ll bury
it, but first we’re going to the hospital.”  Amy helped Raven stand.  “Let’s
get you to the van.”

Raven couldn’t
help it.  She barked a quick, almost hysterical laugh, “I wrecked the van.” It
had happened last year running from vampires.

“Do we have any
mode of transportation outside the house?” Amy asked, carrying much of Raven’s
weight as they hobbled together out of her room and down the hall.

“Aunt Bertha’s
car.  Just so you know, we got you a 2002 Ford Escape with the money from the
insurance. It’s bright yellow.” Raven giggled, tears filling her eyes.  She was
all over the place emotionally.  She couldn’t erase the image of that wolf
healing his wounds. Fire knew.  She should have let Fire finish it.  Petrodus
would come for them.  He would find a way and hunt her down.  She feared for
herself and her family.

“A yellow car?”
Amy asked dryly. They had just been on the run for their lives, and her girls
picked a beacon for transportation.

“Mindy liked it
best,” Raven explained. 

They were outside
now.  Amy helped her into the seat of the car.  The blood from Raven’s leg
wounds had already soaked through the towel. Raven couldn’t get the image of
that hand out of her head.  “Mom, you need to go back and get that hand, and
we’ll stop somewhere along the way to ditch it.”

“You’re growing up
bossy.  I’ll take care of it. Just settle down.” Amy used her “Mom voice” to
end the discussion.

~~ Amy ~~

Amy ran inside the
house feeling older than middle-aged.  Her daughter was growing up way too fast. 
Grabbing her least favorite dish towel from the kitchen and a few plastic
garbage bags, Amy dashed into Raven’s room.  She picked up the hand and
transported it to a magical strong box she kept in her room.  It looked like a
regular chest, but only Amy could open it. 

That’s where she
kept the important things, like a sprig of dragon’s thorn. The girls had never
been inside it…not for lack of trying.  She caught all of the girls except
Mindy on numerous occasions trying their luck with the box.  Eventually after
enough punishment, the girls decided it wasn’t worth weeks without television
and stopped trying to break through the wards.

Amy hated to add
something so dark and sinister to her happy little store of unique items. The
hand was wrapped in a dish towel and stuffed inside two garbage bags. She left
the hand inside her magical cedar chest.  She would destroy it later. She
grabbed more towels on her way out for Raven.  She thought about calling an
ambulance anyway.  They were a volunteer ambulance crew, though.  They carried
pagers and had to drive to the hospital to pick up the ambulance and then take
the country roads to Amy’s house.

Compromising, Amy
started the car and while she sped down the long driveway past the trees on
either side of the road, called 9-1-1 on her Bluetooth. Lauren answered.  She
worked days at dispatch.

Amy was relieved
to hear a familiar voice. “My daughter was attacked by wild dogs. I’m driving
her to the Wildwood Springs hospital now,” she said. 

“Is she
breathing?” Lauren asked.

They were on
speaker, so Raven said, “I’m okay. I have bites on my arm and leg, and a
shallow one on my neck. I think my leg is broken.”

They passed the
Miller’s place. It was normally a fifteen minute drive from the Miller’s place
to town, but Amy was speeding.  She said, “We’re about ten minutes out.”    

Lauren said, “I’m
alerting the hospital and paging the paramedics.”  

With the curvy
roads, Amy was careful not to cross the center line while she weaved around the
mountain into town. Her estimation of ten minutes was off because she had to slow
down for the sharp curves.

They were passing
the speed limit sign to town when Lauren said, “I’ve got the ambulance on
stand-by.  Where are you at?”

“We’ll be at the
Emergency room in five minutes. I think we’re okay.” Amy said.  She glanced
over at Raven who nodded.

A whole slew of
nurses and aids, plus the town doctor waited at the ramp for Amy and Raven. 
Helping Raven onto a wheelchair, the doctor said, “We’re going to get some
fluids started and make sure Raven is stable, then transport her to Saint
Ann’s. She’ll be in good hands there.”

In a small town,
everyone knew everyone.  Raven had been seeing Doctor Bev for years.  Amy could
see the question in Bev’s eyes.  Wild dogs?  That was a first.  The whole town
would be scared once the rumors spread.

One of the nurses
said, “This is like that attack in Port Siena. You’re lucky you survived.  Did
it happen on your property?”

Raven shook her
head, “No. I was out at that the old abandoned Tyler place.”

Amy gave Raven a
hard look. 

Raven didn’t want
to give anyone access to her home. The Death Keepers were already trying to
find ways to creep around and spy on the Gray family. Raven knew her reputation
in town had a bit of an edge.  After all, she was best friends with Shelly, a
known party girl.  If Raven said she was at an abandoned house, they would explain
it away quite easily as a party or a drinking haunt. She would rather hurt her
reputation than have strangers in her house.

“Was anyone else
hurt?”  the nurse asked.  She was one of the women Raven had seen before, but
didn’t know her name.

“No, just me,” Raven
definitely wasn’t helping her reputation any.

Even knowing it
was a fake conversation, Amy wanted to ask what she thought she was doing in an
abandoned house.  Then she realized that the nurses and doctor looked so
horrified that they would be expecting that question anyway. She was getting an
image of her daughter that both surprised and disappointed.

Amy finally asked
what was in her head, “What were you doing out at the Tyler place?”

“I just went out
there to think.” Raven said.  A lame answer, but she didn’t have a better one.

The nurses efficiently
inserted an I.V. The doctor took over then. She said, “We’re going to leave the
wounds open for now.  At St. Ann’s you’re going to get rabies shots.  They’ll
set the leg there.”

“I don’t need a
rabies shot,” Raven said quickly.  She’d heard stories about them. Yikes.

“Better to get the
shots than risk death. Rabies is fatal.” Bev said. With a pair of wolves on the
prowl, Amy called, leaving messages of Jade, Claire, and Bertha’s phones. No
one was picking up.

“You came home
just in time,” Bev gave Amy a quick smile.  With Raven’s care managed, she put
her hand on Amy’s arm and said, “I’m going to see my other patients.  Call me
if you have any questions.”

Everything was
happening so fast. Amy followed the ambulance in her car and hoped that her
other children were safe. They weren’t picking up their phones.