Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) (23 page)

He shook his head. “The walls have ears, and what I
know can start a war the world isn’t ready for. Have you ever killed a person?”

“No.”

“Then the only way to show you is to get into that
castle, and the route has never been successfully made.” He stood. “To follow
me into the dark will not end well for you. The journey will be dangerous,
painful, and lonely. However, if you do not take it, your brother will, and the
consequences will be catastrophic for everyone.”

He walked into the darkest corner of the room and it
was as if the shadows enveloped him completely. Vincent instantly felt a cold
sensation in his head as a vision forced itself onto him. He saw the wolf
again, but it wasn’t attacking him. Instead, the wolf tore Grayson’s throat
out.

He returned to reality at the same time he heard a
woman scream. He shot out of the room and froze when he saw the state of the
main sitting room. The wooden floors were clawed, the cushions of the chair by
the fireplace were shredded, and the coffee table was in pieces. In fact, the
door was destroyed from something very large breaking through it. He followed
the damage into the adjacent hallway, where there were claw marks not only in
the floor but also the walls.

Servants ran past him, trying to escape the danger he
was walking calmly towards. After a few minutes, he reached another sitting
room, where Grayson had been playing chess with a little boy. The wolf that
advanced on Grayson completely ignored the child as it backed the wizard up
against the fireplace.

In the span of a split second, Vincent experienced
three visions. In one, he grabbed a decorative sword off of the wall and struck
the wolf. That didn’t end well for him. In another, he struck the wolf with a
burst of energy, but the power reflected off the beast and hit the child. His
choice was made and he acted on the third option, which was to create an energy
shield around Grayson.

The wolf seemed to detect it instinctively and turned
on Vincent. My uncle froze with fear, as this creature was more than twice the
size of any shifter he had ever met. When the wolf opened its mouth in a
brilliant display of teeth and prepared to lunge at Vincent, my uncle acted
automatically. He hit the beast in the face with a burst of electricity. At the
same instant the current struck the wolf, black mist swirled around it. Much
faster than even the energy, the wolf vanished and the darkness faded with it.

“What was that?!” Vincent demanded.

“A hellhound that’s been after the council for
weeks,” Grayson said, panting. The child, crying hard, ran to him and he picked
the boy up.

“Hellhounds are a myth,” Vincent insisted.

“Then what else would you call that monster? He bit
off my hand and I was able to save it only with my superior skills in magic,”
the wizard said, showing off the red scab across his wrist. “I just received
word that your father died a few hours ago, so I assume you came to take his
old chair.” He paused, so Vincent opened his mouth to argue. “Kill that beast
and the position is yours.”

Vincent didn’t want the position, but something
stopped him from turning the council man down. Maybe it was because he wanted
to protect them, maybe it was his instincts, maybe it was because his father
had just died and he felt that he needed to make a place in the world for himself.
“Where can I find it?”

“It never strays far. When it’s not attacking one of
us, it is usually seen circling the mansion.”

“I will consider your offer. Is it after something in
particular?”

“We think it’s after revenge. It only attacks the
members of the council. It ignores the servants as if they’re not even there.”

Ten minutes later, Vincent got back into his car and
drove away from the estate. His plan was to return home and gather some of his
father’s weapons. Since the council often had to deal with rogue shifters and
vampires, his father still had many weapons designed specifically to kill
paranormal beings. Furthermore, his father had prepared for vengeful attacks,
so he taught Vincent and John to use them.

At the edge of the estate, when he could no longer
see the mansion through the manicured trees, he stopped the car and got out to
open the estate gates. He had barely gotten it open wide enough for the car to
pass through when a harsh growl startled him. He turned, preparing himself to
meet his end, and saw the wolf-like beast right behind his car. Vincent raised
his right hand to attack and the wolf vanished. In an instant, he was on the
ground with the huge wolf growling over him, those gold eyes glowing mere
inches from his. The wolf’s growl was lower than Vincent expected, as if he was
trying to be undetected.

Vincent’s heart pounded in his chest. When he tried
to squirm to the side, one massive paw pinned his chest and prevented him from
breathing. This was one of the rare moments when he wished he had John’s power
instead of visions. He closed his eyes, both because he didn’t want to see his
own bloods splattering, and because he hoped a vision would help him.
Inspiration, hope, an idea… he just wanted
something
to come of his rare
and freakish power. What he received was the image of a seriously ugly cat. He
felt confusion and then frustration before pressure built in his chest. He
thought it was merely the weight of the wolf until the pressure turned hot.

The wolf jumped back as if he had been burned.
Vincent opened his eyes in time to see the wolf shoot him a glare and run out
onto the road. Not wasting a second, Vincent scrambled off the snowy ground and
got into his car, which had lost a considerable amount of its heat. Or maybe it
was just the shock setting in.

He drove, shivering, out onto the paved road. It was
an unpopulated street with forest on either side. Between the bright moonlight
and his headlights, he thought he was in the clear. The movement was so sudden
that he slammed on his breaks before he realized what was blocking the road.

Tires screeching and wizard cursing, the car swerved
before coming to a stop about a foot away from the huge wolf. The beast never
once flinched. The car wasn’t facing the road but angled so that the beast
stared at him through the passenger window, blocking the main road with its
mass.

Either he could back up and ram the wolf, or he could
make a detour. When Vincent just stared at the wolf, it growled. Vincent
pressed on the horn, hoping the beast would act like any sane animal and run.
Instead, the huge wolf snarled and rammed the side of the car, cracking the
window and trashing the door.

At that point, Vincent knew this wasn’t a chance
encounter. The beast was intelligent and its actions were intentional. Since it
hadn’t killed every member of the council by then, killing must not have been
its intention. As calmly as he could, he drove off onto the side road. The wolf
easily ran ahead, but it wasn’t stopping the car so much as running beside it.
When the wolf took another side road, Vincent followed.

After about ten minutes of this, they arrived at a
two-story house that was creepy in every sense of the word. Although it looked
like it was being purposefully neglected, the home was new enough that there
was no visible structural damage. The gargoyle sitting on the roof over the
entrance, which was frozen in a “howling at the moon” pose, was the only thing
that looked old.

Vincent got out of the car when the wolf vanished
around the back of the house. He studied the yard, wondering if he would be
followed if he tried to run, when movement made him look back at the house.
Since nothing moved again, it took him a moment to figure out what was wrong.

The gargoyle was looking at him.

The door of the mansion opened and a young woman
stepped out, wearing a very conservative green dress. Her curly,
shoulder-length, dark brown hair framed an innocent, soft face. Although she
was rather average looking, there was something eerily familiar about her. She
smiled. “He’s expecting you.”

“Who is?”

“Please come in.” She held the door open wider, but
before Vincent could take a step closer, a small child ran out. “Mary!” she
shouted. The child ignored her, ran head-first into Vincent’s legs, and wrapped
her arms around his knees. “I am so sorry for her behavior. She is usually so
well-behaved.”

The child, no older than five, leaned back and smiled
at Vincent. Vincent laughed, surprising himself because he never really liked
children. Arthur Knight taught his sons that it was the wife’s job to take care
of the children, clean the house, and cook. However, since his mother left
them, Vincent really didn’t know what to do with the advice. He was generally
awkward around women and children.

The woman took the child and Vincent entered the
house. It was dim inside, though not gloomy. A fireplace crackled warmly from
the sitting room off to the right, which he could see into through the open
door. He took off his coat, folded it over his arm, and entered the room. Sitting
on one of the two chairs before the fireplace was Hunt. At his feet, the giant
wolf sat.

Mary squealed, barged into the room, and threw
herself at the wolf. Hunt scoffed. “Girls adore him. I get the feeling I will
hate that someday. You met Rosin already, I suspect?”

“That’s your pet?”

The wolf growled, which Mary tried to imitate.

Hunt laughed. “He is no pet. Rosin is my familiar.
Would you like some tea?”

The question distracted Vincent for a second and he
was startled when an elegant white teacup appeared beside him on a small table
he hadn’t noticed before. Unwilling to let himself show how unnerved he was, he
ignored the tea. “Why is he so big?”

“As my familiar, he can be any size he needs to be.
It also has to do with his genetics, of course, which you will understand
later.”

“He destroyed my car.”

“I had to stop you from returning to your home. Your
brother has been plotting to kill you for many years, and he has finally found
a way around your father’s spell.”

“How do you know about that?” He conscientiously
patted his shirt, as if afraid that the scar over his heart was showing.

“You of all people know the power of foreseeing
danger, but you lack one skill. Your brother developed the ability to
infiltrate minds. You developed the ability to see the future and past. Both of
these talents were inherited from your father.”

“I already know what my father could–”

“Neither of these were what made him such a powerful
edition to the council,” Hunt interrupted. “What made him so formidable was his
uncanny instincts, which not only guided his choices, but also was the key to
controlling his other powers. This is why you cannot entirely control your
visions and why your brother will never be in a reasonable state of mind.”

“What do I do?”

“For yourself? Nothing. Consider yourself
handicapped. Your future child, on the other hand, will possibly develop all
three abilities. You only inherited one ability from your father because you
also inherited power from your mother. If you have a child with a human, there
is a good chance your child will inherit all three abilities. In that case, you
must be prepared to protect him from John.”

“What if I don’t? What if I marry a paranormal?”

“Then, if your child has any magic at all, it will
not be what Arthur had. You have a much higher risk of ending up with another
John.”

“What if I don’t have children at all?”

He frowned. “That is an option. However, that is the
kind of decision you may come to regret.” He shrugged. “Or you may not. I know
some people who are major snots and I cannot imagine their parents’ shame.”

“The council wants me to kill your wolf.”

“Good.”

Vincent wasn’t expecting that. “How is that good?”

“Because that was my intention in sending Rosin after
them weeks ago. I knew either your father would send you to save them or you
would come to me. Either way, they would make you an offer to become a member
of the council. It is a simple plan; you pretend to kill Rosin, he vanishes,
and you become the newest member of the wizard council. Rosin has faked his
death a dozen times already; he is quite good at it.” The wolf glared at Hunt
for a moment.

“I don’t want to work for the council.”

“Of course not. The council is corrupt, just like
John. I want you to work for me by being a spy on the wizard council, including
pushing for me to buy the castle.”

“Why do you want that castle so badly?”

“Like I said, I can only show you.”

“Show me what?”

Hunt stared at the fire for a moment. As he did,
Rosin stood and crossed the room to the door, followed closely by Mary. The
wolf exited the room just long enough for the child to cross the threshold
before reentering without her. The door closed before she could follow. They
were alone.

“Long ago, a tower was discovered in the darkness
part of a cave. At first, those who found it thought it was manmade because it
had four doors, but nothing could get the doors open; not bombs, tools, or
acid. Thus, they believed it to have been created by gods. They told their
friends, who told theirs and soon, word spilled into the paranormal world.
Unfortunately, there was no harmony between the factions of paranormal beings
at this time. The wizards believed they were the evolution of humans, the
vampires believed they were the predators, the shifters believed they were
gods, and the fae believed they were above it all.

“The wizards claimed it as theirs and tried to force
the door open, but even the most powerful spell could not scratch it. The
vampires bullied their way in, yet their strength fell short. The fae tried
after that with no more success to show for it. Finally, the shifters claimed
it and never once tried to open the doors. Since they never tried, they could
never fail. Instead, they told the other paranormals that they could sense
unimaginable evil from within the tower. The wizards decided that if they could
not have it, nobody could, so they sealed the cave.