Elemental Moon: The Eldritch Files, Book Three (4 page)

I
van
.

I looked around and up and saw a camera. "Are you spying on me?" I figured he could hear me through the hospital surveillance system.

The next text proved me right.
I was looking for the body. You showed up and I texted Kyle.

"Is he with Jack?"

Y

"So not that way?"

No. That way is viewing and there is a guard there flirting with a nurse. Go straight ahead.

I smirked and tiptoed down the hall in front of me. There wasn't much to see, just rows of doors with names on them.

The text box moved with me.
The next one is storage.

"Storage?" I whispered.

It's war the bodies are stored.

Then he corrected his misspelling.
Where

I chuckled and wondered if Ivan had witchy auto correct with his Cyber Magic. "You mean like those morgue drawers?"

Sometimes. But if the drawers are full they will be stacked on gurneys in the back freezer.

Just…gross. I stopped in front of the door. Thinking ahead, I removed the jacket and wrapped it around my hand before I yanked down on the handle and opened the door. The room beyond looked like something out of a movie set. Big square with smaller squares on the back wall. There was a door on either side of me, on the adjoining walls, and then the door behind me leading back into the hall.

The jacket was becoming cumbersome so I searched the pockets and found Crwys's handkerchief. Hoping he hadn't actually wiped his nose with it, 'cause
ew
, I used it to open each of the doors. Sliding out the bodies was easy. Unzipping the bags and looking inside? That was hard. They were all hard, gray and dead.

"Well, she's not in the boxes."

Try the freezer on your left.

It was surprisingly unlocked and I stepped inside. "Can I get locked in here?"

No. It's all on an electronic system, which I've suspended for a bit. Let's hope they don't notice my tampering.

Yay for Cyber Witches. About eight gurneys were lined up side by side along the back, each with a sheet-covered body. I lifted the first three with no luck. But when I got to the fourth one, it wasn't a naked body on the gurney. It was a sealed body bag.

I hesitated at first. Did I want to see this? Did I want to have this forever burned into my brain? The answer to myself was no, but I had to solve this and get the cure before I got all hairy and toothy. I took a deep breath and slowly pulled the zipper all the way down. Then I parted the edges of the bag and looked inside.

"Lady Darksome…" I had to step back as I put my hand to my face.

Did you find her? There aren't any cameras in there.

I don't think anyone can truly explain a mutilation to anyone else. We're all set up to find different things repulsive, which makes some words, I think, subjective. I wouldn't have called this girl mutilated. I would have said she'd been butchered.

What was left of her head was little more than the outer skull at the top of what
had been
her head. There wasn't a face. Not even a jaw. And the skin and muscles had been eaten away. Her neck bone was completely exposed, as were her ribs and they were cracked and pushed inward. Her organs were gone, but I wasn't sure if that was because of what killed her or if they were removed during the autopsy.

Her legs were missing from the knees down. It looked as if they'd been ripped off. And her arms…

"Where are her arms?"

Pull her into the main room so I can see her.

"Ivan…Bastien can't see this."

I'm afraid he has to. He knows you're with the body.

"What?" I nearly shouted, but I kept my cool. Sort of. "Is he on his way here? To the morgue?"

Yep. I've been watching him through the traffic cam. The guy drives his van like he's a wolf.

Oh. Great. And some cop's going to stop him and give him a ticket on his way here. I zipped the body bag up and covered it with the sheet. The gurney had to be unlocked before I could push and pull it through the door and into the main room with the morgue drawers.

Open it back up.

"Hell no." Wait…I stopped and stared at the sheet-covered bag. I leaned in and sniffed. And then sniffed again.

That looks really weird, Sam.

"Ivan…I can
smell
Arcane. Bastien and his wolves really had smelled it."

How? With all the scents in a morgue you can pinpoint that smell?

"Yeah, I can. Do you see it?"

I didn't wait for an answer as I yanked the sheet off and unzipped the bag again. I looked with what I hoped was with my new magic…

But I didn't see anything. Not even the slightest tiny glitter of red.

I don't see anything, Sam. And…Jesus Fucking Christ…zip that back up.

I heard the revulsion in Ivan's text and then looked at the text box. It wasn't there. "Ivan…I can
hear
you."

That's not possible. I'm not projecting through the system's speakers. If I did that, everyone in the hospital could hear me.

"Well, I heard you. I can hear your voice. Yeah, you sound a bit electronic, like you're using a reverb machine, but…your text box is gone."

He didn't answer right away and I zipped the bag back up. Apparently Ivan's magic was still growing and evolving. "Ivan, are you in the system?"

If you mean am I immersed, yes.

"Just like Kennett was when he died?"

Sort of. But I know when to get out. You think that's why you can hear me without the text?

"I don't know. Could be the Arcane. So can you—"

Wait
. His presence disappeared. I don't know how to explain it; I just knew he wasn't watching me anymore. He wasn't in the hospital system. Then,
LeBlanc's outside. I just told Kyle how to get him to where you are.

Great. I cautiously moved out of the storage room and into the hall. To my left were the elevators and to my right was another door that looked like it led outside. I ran toward it and looked through the door's wired glass window in time to see a white van pull up in the parking lot.

I almost didn't recognize Bastien with his clothes on. But I sensed him, even through the shut door. He was this
presence
that wouldn't go away. He wore dark jeans, boots, a red shirt and a denim jacket. From where I stood, he looked like a farm hand. A very sexy one too. This dude really should pose for the covers of bodice ripper romance books.

I have control of the alarm and the electronic locks. Open the door for them.

I needed to put a little weight behind the door but I got it cracked in time for Bastien to wrench it the rest of the way. I stumbled outside and into his arms. Looking up into his half smiling face was sort of a reward. "Hey, Bastien."

"
Bonjour, ma petite
. Are you all right? That
diable
prevented me from seeing you when you were admitted here.”

Diable
? A devil? He must've meant Crwys. "I ah…yeah, I'm fine."

He brushed my hair and I backed away. Was it me or was I more attracted to him now than I had been last night?

"May we see the body?"

I motioned for him to follow me. Kyle was the last through the door and quietly closed it. Ivan might be able to silence alarms, but he couldn't exactly arrange physical silence. There was still a guard around the corner.

Jack was quick behind Bastien as they came into the storage room where I'd left the gurney. Jack looked nice too. I had only seen him in his G-man suit, and naked, but today he wore jeans and a dark blue hoodie. His Vans were the same color as the hoodie. I guess gay wolves were as fashion coordinated as their non-wolf counterparts.

Kyle was in his usual black uniform. Black pants, black shirt and black peacoat. We really needed to discuss the color wheel.

Bastien stood in front of the gurney but he didn't move to touch it. His expression was sad and I took it upon myself to unzip the bag a third time and spread it open.

His reaction wasn't the one I expected. Although, I wasn't sure what reaction I'd expect from a wolf. Maybe crying, howling or even a tear?

This guy leaned in and sniffed.

My stomach flopped. I smelled the Arcane again.

He sniffed again and motioned Jack over. Jack also leaned in and sniffed. Then he reached in and ran his bare finger over one of the bare, exposed bones and stuck it in is mouth.

After I slapped my hand over my mouth to prevent myself from dry-heaving, I looked at Kyle. Good. He looked as green as I felt 'cause I bet he'd been kissing that mouth.

"She is not wolf."

What? I imagined the sound of a needle being dragged across a vinyl record again. I leaned to the side and looked up at Bastien. "What do you mean she's not wolf?"

"
Chérie
, this is not a Lycan," he wrinkled his nose as he sniffed it again. "It smells like human…like wolf but…"

"It's too human," Jack filled in from his side of the gurney. He moved to the left and sniffed again. "Whatever this is, it isn't right."

I had two Lycans sniffing a ravaged corpse, telling me the body wasn't right. I absently rubbed at my chest before I gestured to the gurney in a circular manner. "So you're both telling me this girl isn't a Lycan?"

"She's…" Bastien screwed his handsome face up into something akin to a worried expression. "She's not,
not
Lycan. But she's not all Lycan." He finally shook his head and looked at Jack.
"Pischouette, mal pris?"

Jack shook his head and shrugged. “I’ll say.”

I pointed to Bastien. "I didn't catch that last bit." I was pretty good with Acadian most of the time, but there were words when pronounced that just slipped right by.

He gestured to the body. "The little girl was caught in mid shift. She…she's stuck, not making it either way."

I think he means the girl was stuck between being human and being Lycan.

Staring at the mutilated mess, I sighed. "So, she was an apogee?"

Jack nodded. Bastien shook his head.

A turned wolf, but not turned enough. "Can you tell who might have done this to her?"

"Normally—yeah," Bastien scratched the back of his head. "But this…I don't recognize this."

"When I was turned," Jack said, taking up the slack. "Bastien knew who turned me without me ever saying. In fact he knew before I did and sought me out. But this…" He shook his head at the body.

"Smells bad," Bastien made a face and zipped the body bag up.

I wondered, "Bastien, what do you smell that's bad? Can you describe it?"

"Yeah, like rotten chicken. Like when I don't take out the garbage," he pointed at me. "It's like your magic, but it's not."

Bingo! Arcane. I'd discovered over the years that smells could on occasion be subjective, but not with Arcane. Everyone described it the same way. I smelled it because I'm a Witch.
Was
a Witch?

Still a Witch…technically. And I figured Bastien and Jack smelled it because of their keen canine noses.

Sam—the guard is heading your way. You got a second to get that body back where it goes and hide.

Kyle and I relayed Ivan's message. It took us less than that second to get the gurney back in the freezer and us hidden in the back. We waited until Ivan gave us the all clear. Once we had that, I walked them out the back door to the van.

"Want a lift back to the shop?" Jack asked. "I don't think Bastien would mind seeing where you worked."

"Yeah…" I hesitated getting in the back as I looked at the door we'd just stepped out of.

"Sam, what is it?" Kyle asked.

"Crwys got a call while we were in the hospital. They found another body. Which means there's another player out there that not only might have kidnapped Bastien's people, but they're using Arcane to shift humans into beasts."

"
T
wo bodies
?" Kyle said as Bastien pulled the van around the back of
Bell, Book And Candle
and shut off the engine. "Where's the other body?"

I stepped out of the back along with Kyle, followed by Jack and Bastien. The January afternoon was cool enough to put a chill in the air and I noticed it had rained while I was in the hospital. It was two o'clock the following day, Thursday, and the sky threatened more rain, along with the aberrant ray of sunshine bursting through over the city. I smelled fish and oil as I shuffled up to the back of the shop and unlocked the door and keyed the alarm.

I absently reached down to stroke Grey's neck—and freaked out a little when she wasn't there. Now my brain was not only flooded with erroneous questions about what kind of creature was in the morgue, but seriously bad thoughts on how to make Mildred Prescott's life a living hell if I didn't get Grey back soon.

This was just not me. I didn't really consider revenge a great strategy in any situation. Yeah, I'm like anyone else when it comes to the reaction of someone doing me wrong. I want to get even the same as the next person. But usually that anger melts and I'm on to the best way to remedy the situation. Part of me knew this new body Crwys was investigating would prove Grey's innocence, and I trusted my detective to bring her home to me.

But this other part of me, the one lurking in the darkest closet of my mind, the one that crept along the shadows of my imagination and utterly destroyed the bodies of my dad, my step-mom and their nurse, as well as their house, that part of me was already thinking of curses, finding a disreputable Vodoun Priestess in the Quarter, or summoning a Fetch and sending it out to punish her myself.

These thoughts just weren't me! But there they were, jumping up into my window frame like a pen full of popcorn kittens. Each one leaping up to snag my attention for a brief moment before I shoved it back down.

Were those thoughts the Arcane that now permeated my insides? Were they caused by the symbol on my chest? Was I ever going to find the answers without getting myself and everyone I know in trouble?

Or worse.

Kyle went through the shop and turned on the lights before heading through the door into the retail area. I stopped at the break room and rinsed out the kettle before I filled it and set it back on its warmer. I pressed the button and turned to Jack and Bastien as Kyle came back through.

"I turned the lights on but left the closed sign out," he stood by Jack and crossed his arms. "What other body?"

I looked at each of them, more aware of Bastien's golden gaze than the others. He had a power about him. It was there, like a subtle hum just below the skin. He also exuded an odd calm. Calm men weren't something I was used to, especially since Crwys always felt like he was on the verge of fighting.

"All he said was they caught another mutilated body, and he was sure this would prove Grey had nothing to do with the first one," I looked at the floor. "I just want her home."

"This will happen,
chérie
," Bastien said. Even his voice had a hint of calm to it. This amazed me, given I'd seen him covered in fur and teeth less than twenty-four hours ago. “She will be home soon. Or I will personally rip the throat out of anyone who cages her."

I smiled at Bastien and put my hand on his arm. "There will be no ripping of throats, okay? There's been enough ripping of a lot of things. Especially flesh, given what we all just saw in that morgue." I had to put on my serious face, and my serious attitude now. I also needed to talk to Crwys and get information on what he found at that call. Given our previous conversation, I was sure he'd call me once he found out I wasn't in the hospital anymore and I'd skipped out on the bill. Oops.

What I didn't want was him coming by while the wolves were in the shop. Though he said he wanted to talk to the wolves, I wasn't so sure the puppies should meet
Mister
Flame On
.

Jack walked from around the table and pulled down four mugs. He also pulled out the tea sampler Kyle picked up a week ago and set it on the table. "I think we need to take a moment to think about the implications. Have some tea and put our heads together?"

Bastien snorted before he pointed at Jack. "Apogee."

"You say that like it's a dirty word," I said.

"Not a dirty word. Just is. Jack's turning was the mistake of Marilla's
frére.
"

I wanted to make sure I understood what Bastien just said as Jack took the now heated kettle off its stand and poured equal amounts of hot water in each mug. "Marilla is the missing female?"

"
Oui
."

"And her brother is responsible for turning Jack?"

Bastien nodded. Suddenly he looked tired, almost like a parent at their wit's end as he rubbed at his face. "
Oui
. Lucas is perigee, same as his
soeur
. Only perigee can make a
chiot
."

"
Chiot
?"

"Me," Jack said as he set the kettle back on its stand. "Apogees who accept the pack and the pack accepts them are known as
chiot
, or pups, because we're turned. Those that are young and born are called
loup de chiot.
There is a preference given to the perigee, but from what I've been able to learn, perigee aren't born as often as they once were. For every twenty children born to the perigee, maybe one
is
perigee and the others are human. In this area, the Lycans' numbers have been declining fast for the past fifty years, so they've been forced to selectively choose those to carry on and create apogee."

"Can apogee have perigee?" The words felt odd on my tongue.

Bastien answered with a nod. "But the births, they are as rare as any perigee couple. Arduinna has much in store for us, but we don't know why she wants so few of us."

There was that name again. I needed to educate myself where Arduinna fit into the pantheon of myths I'd grown up with. The world was filled with so many of them, from the Greeks to the Norse, the Native American to even the Witches. Similarities in names as well as positions and attributes bled from culture to culture and I accepted the old adage that all the Gods and Goddesses were one.

But I was having a bit of trouble accepting that a Goddess whose patronage was wolf-people had a shared pantheon with my own. I didn't think it was because I was stingy with my own Gods and Goddesses, it was just…Witches and wolves? How urban fantasy-esque was that?

The back door opened before I asked my question about Arduinna.

Sam!

My heart melted into my insides, making my middle gooey and golden as Grey came running from the back. I knelt down and scooped her into my arms as she nipped, licked and whined aloud, all the while talking to me.
Oh I missed you! They fed me dog food. Dog food! As if I were some ordinary canine in such a foul place. And speaking of foul places—wait until I tell you where they stuck things!

Bastien's rich, deep laughter made a nice accompaniment to Mom's non-stop complaining. I realized she was broadcasting to the entire pack.

Then that laughter twisted and became a howl. A dark, spine chilling howl. Grey and I pulled back from our place on the floor as Bastien turned. I stood up as he moved in front of me in a protective stance.

Jack took an almost comical growling stance by the counter as the two faced the back.

Crwys and Levi stepped into view; both of them wearing some seriously bored expressions at the display. Crwys was the first to approach. His eyes were red; Levi's were hidden behind shades.

"Easy there, puppies." Crwys said as he moved around the table and approached me from behind. He was quick and slipped his arm around my waist. "We're not the enemy here. But you and me," he said as he pointed at Bastien with his free hand. "We are going to have a lesson on marking another man's woman."

Wait…what?

Jack was the one that spoke. "
Diable du feu
," he said in a thick voice. He looked like he was mentally caught in between, as if he wanted to shift but wouldn't or couldn't. It reminded me of the condition of the girl's body in the morgue.

Levi laughed as he joined us at the table. He put his hands on the back of one of the chairs, standing just a few feet from Jack. Levi is a beautiful man. Physically, he reminded me a lot of the actor Michael Ealy. He wore nice suits, liked to follow the rules and always wore shades. I didn't know if the shades were an affectation due to his allergy to sunlight, or because he looked good in them.

"Told you, 'Lo," Levi said as he removed his shades and revealed his incredible blue eyes. "I'm not
diable
to a Lycan. That's you."

Levi had started calling Crwys 'Lo a lot lately and I couldn't figure out why. When I asked Crwys, all he would say was it was a childhood name.

"You shouldn't be here," Bastien pointed at Crwys.

"Neither should you, Lassie. The agreement was you stay in your woods and it stays government protected land."

Lassie?
I stepped back from Crwys and looked at him like he'd lost his freak'n mind. Yeah, Crwys was tall and wiry and sexy, but Bastien was a good foot and a half taller, and he's a wolf.

Let me repeat
—
he is a
wolf!

Bastien looked from Crwys to me and back to Crwys. “
Ma
petite
was yours?"

Crwys pulled me close to him. "Is."

Bastien stepped forward and let loose a growl before he said, "I offer a challenge. For the right of
petite
."

Crwys stood up straight and sneered. "I accept."

I pushed back and held out my hands. "Whoa, both of you. Wait a second. No one consulted me on this. I date whom I choose, not the other way around. And before we start showing who's got the bigger balls, we have a job to do because whether you like it or not, Mr. LeBlanc, I do not want to be your mate. Got it?" I glared at Bastien. "Got it?"

"
Oui
."

Crwys snorted.

I whirled on him. "And
you
…be nice. Don't think this is over. I plan on finding out why Jack called you a fire demon."

He grinned and I was happy to see the amber return to his eyes. "Jack is mistaken. And you can't possibly think I'm going to trust this schmuck after he forcibly marked you."

"She didn't fight."

I pointed at Bastien. "Stop it! I didn't know what you were doing." I grabbed an English breakfast tea and started steeping it. Bastien grabbed a honey lemon and Jack grabbed a chai. All of this was done in silence, except for Mom talking to me about her ordeal and the four of them giving each other ugly looks. No one said another word out loud until we were seated at the table, each with a mug of tea. I made sure I sat away from both of the big boys.

"The body in the morgue isn't one of the Aces. She isn't even a full wolf." I sipped my tea and let the warmth do its job.

Bastien finished his tea and stood to refill the kettle and start it heating again.

Levi held up his hands. "You guys were in the morgue?"

Everyone nodded. I said, "Yeah, I was looking for the body when Ivan—"

Wait…where was Ivan?

Speaking his name brought him to the forefront of everyone's mind. Grey was on the floor beside my chair and perked her head up as well.

"Sam," Kyle said. "Have you talked to him since the morgue?"

"Ivan was in the morgue too?" Crwys asked. The two cops did not look happy.

"He was in the security system," I said to Crwys before I turned to Kyle. "No. I haven't."

"I'll call," Kyle retrieved his phone.

"Back up," Crwys said. "Ivan broke into the hospital security system so you could go looking for the mutilated body."

I frowned at him. "You're learning our M.O."

"Do you know how many laws he broke doing that?"

I stared at Crwys. Since when was this guy worried about rules? "Ivan's good at what he does. Are you afraid they'll catch him?"

"Aren't you?"

A shrug was my best answer. "No. I trust him. Look, why are you so weirded out?"

Crwys stood and came around the table to offer me his hand. "We need to talk in private. Please?" he asked.

I took it and stood. He led me toward my office, away from the break room area. I felt Bastien's eyes on us and glanced over at him. He looked…irritated. Crwys turned us around so that my back was to Bastien. "Sam, think about this. It occurs to me, or maybe I'm just suspicious by nature, that the Magical Parliament is more interested in keeping your Elemental Gifts locked up. They passed them around the table like party favors. That gives them the false sense of security that you're power
less
," his gaze searched my face. "They have the copy of the Hammer. They dismissed the charges against Arden, and have made a public statement that you were incorrectly accused. But you're
still
warlocked. Aren't you the least bit curious why?"

"I figured they were just slow to admit they were in the wrong."

"Babe, you've got something inside that's slowly taking hold of you, making you far more dangerous than you were before the warlocking."

My eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"
I
'm saying
that your Elemental power is what kept the Arcane in check. But now that your natural power's been stripped," Crwys's voice had lowered considerably. "Arcane is free to do what it wants. And the sad part about this is if the Parliament knew you had this thing inside of you, they never would have warlocked you. They'd have just killed you. My suspicion is that someone suspects you do have Arcane and they're stopping your Elementals from controlling it, hoping you'll somehow betray your use of something they view as highly forbidden. I don't know who, but you can bet you're being watched. I think it's a good idea not to be so visible until the warlocking is removed."

"My Elementals were the ones keeping the Arcane in check?" I put my hand on his hand. "How do you know this? How would anyone in Parliament know this? What are you not telling me? And don't say you're not keeping something from me because you really don't lie very well."