Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) (2 page)

“What about joining another fae tribe?”

“There are many fae in that region, but you must be
born or married into one. Maseré made an alliance with one such tribe by taking
a wife and having a child. We became friends and I moved here with Maseré and
his family. Because Maseré moved around all over the world after that, we lost
touch for many years.”

“So Amelia and I met before?” Darwin asked. Amelia
and Darwin studied each other, as if memories would suddenly crop up.

“You have, but in order to stay in hiding, I colored
her hair and eyes and called her–”

“Amy!” Darwin interrupted. “I remember. I fell out of
my mother’s apple tree trying to get you an apple.”

Her eyes widened. “You were the one with gloves who
tied me to an apple tree!”

Darwin blushed and turned away. “No, that was the
neighbor’s kid.”

“So what’s the problem?” I asked, trying to get back
to the case.

“Three months ago, a friend told us that someone named
Gale was going after powerful paranormals in order to attain their magic. Since
Amelia was at school, I wasn’t too concerned about it, until I came home one
night to find my house destroyed. Two days later, Logan sent Amelia home with
Rosin, saying she was a witness to a murder and needed to get as far away as
possible. We contacted Drake, but since there were other murders going on, he
couldn’t help me. Instead, we found out that one of our friends, Bryson, was
killed and his son, Jake, was missing. Logan later told me you saved Jake.”

“Is Gale still after you?” He didn’t have the amulet,
so he had no reason to kill people. Of course, that never stopped the rest of
the psychopaths out there.

“No, he doesn’t appear to be. It seems my old tribe
is more vindictive than I had ever considered. There is a new leader and he is
adamant about tracking us down. He would never have even known we were in this
country except that the council is setting up some kind of record on all of the
fae in North America. We have been staying at a house Drake told us about, but
they found us in just a few days and we were attacked repeatedly.

“Well, you’ll be safe with us,” Darwin said brightly.

Sean didn’t look so sure. “I understand this is not
your typical kind of job. You were recommended by several people and, according
to Amelia, you are very peaceful unless you’re friends or family is threatened.
To our people, that is the strongest kind of man.”

“Surely your own powers are the best matched for–”

“Amelia has a rare variation of the Vouxeng gene,”
Sean interrupted. “She can control emotions and feed off of emotional energy.
My parents were both Vouxeng, so my abilities are a more standard type. I
control dreams. There was a reason I wasn’t the leader of my tribe. Aside from
this particular power, I am no more equipped to handle this than a human would
be. All I need is for you to protect her this summer and check in on her at the
university. Once she returns to Quintessence, I’m hoping that Logan’s wards can
protect her.”

“And you don’t need help?”

“On my own, I can travel until they lose track of me.
I just need to know that Amelia is safe.”

I nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“So…” Sean began slowly, blushing slightly. There was
a definite resemblance between him and his daughter. “We don’t have a lot of
money like Maseré or Stephen. Fae live off of what is provided by nature. I did
hear that you lacked a car, however, and I believe I can provide you with a
suitable one in exchange for you protecting my daughter.”

I opened my mouth to say that wasn’t necessary, but
Darwin cleared his throat and shook his head behind Sean’s back.
“What?”
I asked in his mind.

“Never refuse a gift or payment from fae. They
have a karma-like balance system and if you refuse, you’re basically wishing
them harm. Also, giving you something of monetary value is actually a last
resort for us, because that means he has nothing personal related to his
lineage that equals the value of his daughter’s life. Therefore, in this case,
refusal will also mean that his best isn’t enough for you.”

“A car would be lovely,” I said quickly.

*          *          *

August 25

“You’ll see for yourself when you come to visit,” I
said. I knew the man just wanted to see his son.

Darwin was old enough to live alone and was
ridiculously intelligent, but he wasn’t all that functional on his own. He
would work for days on his research and writing, forgetting to eat and falling
asleep in front of his computer like a child. Of course, his mother was a
forest spirit, which normally lived in tribes, and his father was a wolf
shifter, which normally lived in packs. Thus, Darwin had never been taught to be
independent.

A sharp beep alerted me to an incoming call. “I got a
call coming in, so I’ll have to talk to you when you get here.”

“Good. About five then?”

“Sounds good.” I hung up with him and answered the
incoming call. The number was private. “Hello?” I never offered my name on a
phone before I knew who I was talking to.

“Hey, brother.”

Marcus.
“What’s up?”

“So, my girl and I are going to try to get out to the
farm this weekend and we were hoping you would take care of Joey.”

The loud bark in the background was timed perfectly.
Marcus didn’t have a girlfriend and he didn’t have a dog; this was a code we
worked out not long after he found out the feds couldn’t protect him from his
father. What he was actually telling me was that someone was on his tail and he
didn’t know who. “No problem. Bring him over.”

“Actually, I thought I should drop him off at your
mom’s place on my way out. I figured he might protect her after your ex
leaves.”

Shit.
Regina was with my mother and Marcus was
in too much danger to deal with it. However, he hadn’t said the words to
indicate he needed help yet, and I knew he would say so if he needed my help. I
looked at my watch.
Fifteen seconds.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll pick him up
and swing by your place to water your plants.”

“I got some bug bombs set up. If you would…” Marcus
ran security and had confidential information on a lot of people. If the wrong
person got that information, they could bring down a lot of good people.

Five seconds
. “Sure. I’ll head there now. See
you when you get back.” We both hung up. Marcus had software that could call my
phone, scramble the location, and wipe the number completely after the call.
Unfortunately, it was only a hundred percent safe for three minutes.

I took a quick shower and dressed. Amelia entered as
I was holstering my gun. “I’m going out for a bit. Make sure Darwin doesn’t
magic my bedroom pink.”

She shut the door. “Darwin is running out of time,”
she whispered.

“I know.” Amelia and I had done everything we could
to no avail. In fact, he was now coloring everything uncontrollably, whereas at
least he could turn it off before.

Darwin’s fae magic was tied to nature, particularly
the forest, while his shifter magic was more like an inborn ability. Shifter
children learned to crawl, talk, walk, and shift… Darwin just never got to the
last stage. Unfortunately, he was also never “in tune” with nature. A lot of it
was learned helplessness. The more I tried to teach him, the more stubborn he
became. He believed he couldn’t do it, so when he failed, that just enforced
his belief.

It didn’t help that he couldn’t quiet his mind long
enough to do any of the meditation that I was taught. I suggested I try to
invade his mind again, but he whined about having work to do on his computer. I
was starting to think he was afraid of controlling magic.

*          *          *

The drive to my mother’s apartment was long and I had
to turn on the music because my fury rose with every mile. Regina was a snake
who could poison my mother’s fragile mind. My mother’s nurse was supposed to
keep Regina away.

By the time I pulled into the elegant, pricy gated
community, I was ready to get rid of Regina once and for all. I parked my new
blue 2013 Lexus LS 600h L next to a silver BMW M6 Coupe and resisted the urge
to shoot the windshield. It was the car I bought for her when she complained
that her previous BMW was embarrassingly outdated. She had also gotten my Prius
in the divorce, even though she hated it, just because she didn’t want me to
have anything and I was too sick of her to fight for it.

I was doing very well financially and could afford a
car easily, but Regina kept trying to sue me for stupid reasons, so I hadn’t
bothered.

The unit was a quaint, ground-floor, cottage-like
apartment made of red brick and dark brown wooden trim. The yard was carefully
manicured with seasonal flowers that drove my mother’s allergies nuts. Instead
of getting rid of the flowers like I had requested, they gave her allergy meds
that made her less lucid. I had thought having an on-site nurse made it worth
it, but I decided right then to move her somewhere else.

I didn’t bother to knock. The fact that the door was
locked didn’t even slow me down; I was so fired up that my power lashed out and
unlocked it. I hadn’t even known I could do that.

The inside of the house matched the outside, since
the units were furnished with tacky old-fashioned furniture that smelled old
and dusty. The living room was dark and I found the flowered couch and matching
chairs to be highly depressing— almost as much as the white lace curtains.

I tried to calm myself before entering the dining
room, but it was too late. Regina and my mother’s nurse were sitting at the
table, drinking rum and laughing.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked my ex.
They both turned to me.

Regina pouted, not drunk yet. “You can’t yell at me,
Devon,” she said.

I glared at Danielle, who just rolled her eyes. “You
don’t have the right to keep Regina from seeing her mother-in-law,” she said
with a scoff. “Maria is ashamed of how you treat your wife. You should stop
acting out and move back in. Can’t you see your poor wife deserves better
than–”

“You’re fired. Get out,” I told her. It occurred to
me I should have had Amelia come with me to help calm me.

Danielle scoffed again and waved her hand in a
dismissive gesture. “You can’t fire me.”

“I hired you, I paid you, now I’m firing you.” I
didn’t need to make any threats; it was all I could do not to reach into her
mind and hurt her.

Regina patted her shoulder with a small smile. “He
gets this way. Go ahead and take the afternoon off, paid, of course. I’ll see
you tomorrow.”

I let Danielle walk away, since I had no intention of
my mother being there in the morning. I turned to Regina. “Do you realize what
a restraining order is? You are not allowed–” She tried to slap me, but I
caught her arm.

Her eyes widened with shock as I squeezed. My power
lashed out again, just a little, and she winced. “You’re hurting me!” she
cried.

I almost let go of her arm until I saw the marks on
her skin. Needle marks. “You’ve been using again?” I squeezed her arm tighter
as she tried to tug it away. “You promised you quit over a year ago!”

“I’m not using!”

“What the hell is that then?” I let go and she rubbed
her arm.

“They’re mosquito bites,” she lied.

I went to my mother’s room, where she was sleeping in
her bed. The room was way too dark and smelled of mold. I stroked her hair back
and pressed on her shoulder gently until she was on her back. She didn’t even
make a sound. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked as Regina entered.

I was terrified her health had taken a turn for the
worst. I trusted Marcus to watch over her and warn me if something was wrong,
but I couldn’t bring myself to visit her after talking to Astrid, who had done
this to her in the first place.

“She was asking when you were coming to visit and
insisted we called you, so Danielle gave her something to help her sleep.”

My fist went through the wall before I even knew it
was coming. Thank god it was just plaster. Regina shrieked. I was honestly just
as mad at myself as my ex and Danielle, but I couldn’t hit them or myself. I
picked up my mother gently and carried her out of the room, pushing Regina out
of the way. I didn’t stop until we were outside in the sunlight. Carefully, I
opened the back door and laid my mother down in the back seat. Unfortunately,
Regina had followed me out.

“Where are you going? She’s in no condition for a
trip.”

I reached out with my magic far too easily, felt her
mind, and wrapped my power around it. My anger cooled almost instantly, so my
words were clear and concise. “If you ever come near my mother or me again, you
will feel physical pain. Don’t talk about me, think about me, or try to find me
or my mother again.”

I released her mind and only then felt guilt. It was
subtle, though, because the anger came back. The only thing my mother had left
was me and a little bit of her mind, and they were trying to take that from
her.

Knowing she would leave, I started to get into the
car. The chirp of her car as she unlocked it was completely normal, so it must
have been my instincts that made me tackle the woman to the ground and cover
her head. She screamed as her car exploded, showering us with glass and burning
metal.

The actual explosion was oddly silent, which I assumed
was due to shock. Regina continued screaming even after it was still again. I
climbed off her. The hood of the car was gone, as were most of the guts of the
engine. While there was technically some car left, it was twisting and charring
as the seats were on fire and dark smoke billowed from the windows.

Regina moaned, but I didn’t see any blood. “Are you
hurt?” I asked, torn between examining her and checking on my mother.