Read Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) Online
Authors: Rain Oxford
Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) (20 page)
“You’re right. I’ll call you when we head for the
university.”
“Okay. See you then.”
I hung up with him and called my mother. It was Kyle
who answered. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Yes. Hunt fixed up the university’s defenses, so
we’re going to head over. Can you two meet me at my apartment?”
“No problem.”
“I also need you to bring Scott’s car-seat.”
“Is Henry okay?”
“Yes. He and Scott are heading to the university. I
need it for another kid.”
“How big is he? The one we have isn’t adjustable.”
“He’s about forty pounds, maybe forty inches tall.”
“That’ll work.”
“How do you know?”
“I told you I raised my brothers and sisters. I just
didn’t mention that I have seven of them. We’ll be there in about half an
hour.”
When I hung up with him, I asked Jason if he was
hungry. He nodded. “What do you like?” He shrugged.
Well, that was immensely
helpful
. I went to the kitchen and searched the cabinets. “Do you like
spaghettios?”
“Yeah.”
* * *
Everything went smoothly and Kyle and my mother
arrived right on time. My mother seemed to be okay when she hugged me, but she
froze when she saw Jason sitting on the couch. “He’s John’s son,” she whispered
to me.
“How do you---” She cut me off by pulling me into the
hallway and shutting the door behind us.
“I don’t want him to go with us. You can’t trust
John.”
“He’s not John. He’s four. You can’t hate---”
“He’s John’s son,” she interrupted.
“So am I.” Well, it was possible. Either he or
Vincent was my father. I reached for the doorknob, but she stepped in between
me and the door.
“I’m ready for you to see it now.”
I knew what she meant. “Are you sure?”
“You should know what happened.”
“Okay. Let’s go inside.” She moved and I opened the
door for her. She went straight for the kitchen, so I pulled out my wallet.
“Take Jason to the diner down the street for dinner and ice cream,” I whispered
to Kyle as I handed him money. I figured even if Jason wasn’t hungry, he
wouldn’t turn down ice cream. Kyle nodded and led Jason out without a word. I
tugged on the mental bond between Rocky and me. “
Watch over them
.”
My mother was already sitting uncomfortably at the
table. I couldn’t figure out what John and Jason had to do with Astrid
attacking her. I sat down at the table anyway.
I let my power feel out her mind gently. “You’re
going to have to see it again, but don’t fight it or you’ll remember more
details. I can push a sensation of peace that will make it feel like a dream
instead of a memory.”
“No. I don’t want you to change anything or do
anything to me.”
I nodded. “Okay.” She closed her eyes. “It might be
best if you lead it. Just start at the beginning and remember it. If it starts
to get blurry or something is falsified, I’ll nudge it in the right direction.”
My eyes closed as her memory faded in.
* * *
I felt her confusion as she woke, but it was quickly
overcome with horror as she sensed a familiar numbness in her mind. Familiar to
her, at least. A pot clanged in the kitchen and she jumped. That was what woke
her in the first place.
According to the clock on the bedside table, it was a
little after four in the morning. She got out of bed slowly, dreadfully, and
glanced back only when she reached the door. Joseph Sanders slept soundly. She
closed the door behind her and even from the top of the stairs, she saw that
the light was on in the kitchen. “Devon?” she called quietly. There was no
answer, so she started walking slowly down the stairs. When she reached the
bottom step, she hesitated because her skin was crawling. It was actually a
little like my own instincts. Unfortunately, she ignored them, entered the
kitchen, and froze. She couldn’t even take in a breath.
John Cross was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking
a cup of coffee leisurely. He wore a dressy black, button-up business shirt and
black pants. His black hair was the same style as when I first met him, but he
looked about ten years younger. Since this was more than twenty years before he
entered my office, that wasn’t too bad. His dark brown eyes were still cold,
but they looked less stressed. His cheekbones were a little less prominent, his
skin was less weathered, and he didn’t have the scar from the edge of his mouth
to his chin that he would have in 2015.
He grinned. It was the most sinister grin— the grin
of a man who held all the cards. “Sit down,” he said.
Maria’s eyes watered as she felt his control flood
her body and she sat in the seat across from him against her will. “Please
don’t do this. Why are you here? You said you were done with me.” She whispered
both because she didn’t want to cry and because she didn’t want to wake anyone.
John put his hand on her knee. “Oh, I am done with
you. It’s my son I’m here for.”
She did start crying then. “You can’t have him.”
He scoffed. “Stop crying.” She did. “I used to enjoy
your crying, but now it has become irritating. He leaned towards her and
caressed her hair. “There were good times, though. I mean, you aren’t half bad
to look at and there was no one in the world who could have hurt my brother
more. Come on, let’s play our special game for old time’s sake. Tell me the
truth. Are you worth anything?”
The compulsion to speak the truth was too strong for
her to fight, but it was the truth as she believed it. “No,” she whispered.
“Are you loved?”
“No.”
“Good girl. Just one more. Will you ever be able to
escape me?”
“No.”
He ruffled her hair like she was a dog and stood up.
“Good. Now to why I came. I’ll let you keep your larva if I don’t have any use
for him.”
“Use? What could you possibly want with him? I’m no
threat to him and Vincent doesn’t even---”
“Oh, do shut up. Your groveling grows tiresome. I’ll
tell you why, though. It was never about you. I chose you because you were
Vincent’s wife, but also because you didn’t have a drop of paranormal blood in
you. You see, my father was a powerful man, but not very bright. He never
thought that I would discover the great secret to his magic— the secret of why
he had foresight and mind control, whereas Vincent and I only got half of the
gift.
“My mother tried to take Vincent and leave me and my
father, but my dear older brother thought that it was his duty to help me. It
was me who made him believe that, of course. I could control him even before I
knew what I was doing. My mother was trying to protect him, but she also didn’t
want me learning the truth.”
“What truth? And what does it have to do with Devon?”
she asked.
His grin was devious. “The secret was the purity of
our genetics. To be less human, we had to be more human.” He paused for
dramatic effect. “I didn’t have the full force of the power because my mother
was a paranormal. She was fae, to be exact. However, I learned that if I have a
child with a completely human woman, then my child will very likely have both
mine and Vincent’s power. Then the possibilities will be endless. I could use
the child to do my bidding or even kill him and take his powers. I have other
children, too, who will be developing their powers soon. Devon is just the
first. In twenty years, I can have my own army of paranormals.”
“That is sick.”
“I know,” he said, so proud of his plot that it was
spilling out his ears. That was when they both heard a creak on the stairs and
turned to see Joseph on the bottom step.
“What the hell is going on here?” he asked.
“Well, well, this is better than Christmas,” John
proclaimed. “Come on in, Joseph, and tell your dear wife what your opinion of
Devon is.”
Joseph entered as he was told. “He’s a weird kid
who’s afraid of the dark because his mother coddles him and he’s going to grow
up thinking women are supposed to be treated equal to men.”
John raised his eyebrows at my mother. “You certainly
know how to pick a man.”
“Why did… how…?” Joseph tried to hide his confusion
and fear under a mask of anger, but his eyes revealed all.
“Maria, do you love Joseph?” John asked. She shook
her head. “And Joseph, do you love Maria?”
“No.”
“Excellent.” He pulled a knife out of a small harness
on his waist and set it gently on the table. It was decorative, single-sided,
with a blood-red rose on the black hilt. “Maria, I’m going upstairs to test my
son’s magic. He might die from it and he might not. If he’s powerful, I’ll take
him with me. You can try to stop me if you’d like. Joseph, you will stand there
without moving for as long as Maria does. If she tries to stop me, you will
grab the knife and kill her.”
He took two steps towards the door before she grabbed
the knife and slashed at him. Unfortunately, Joseph tackled her, took the
knife, and stabbed her in the hand.
John laughed. “That’s my girl, always keeping me on
my toes. You never did follow the rules. When you’re done with her, Joseph,
kill yourself as well.”
Joseph stabbed her in the stomach and limbs, anything
to stop her from getting up, but she wasn’t thinking about the pain; she was
thinking about John using her son the same way he used her. Out of will alone,
she found the strength to wrestle the knife from Joseph, and without allowing
herself to feel even a moment of doubt, she stabbed him in the throat. She
pulled the dagger back out, shoved him off her, and crawled out of the kitchen.
Once she reached the stairs, she used the rail to pull herself up to her feet.
She saw a burst of white light, ducked, and narrowly
got out of the way before John crashed to the floor beside her. When she tried
to make it back into the kitchen, she couldn’t take more than a few steps
before collapsing. There were too many holes in her body to try to stop the
bleeding, but even then the pain wasn’t as important as keeping John from going
upstairs.
Astrid descended the stairs slowly and reached John
just as he got back to his feet. Her eyes were not burgundy like Clara’s, but
completely crimson and even glowing slightly. It was creepy. “What are you?”
John snarled.
“I’m the one who will always stop anyone who wants to
hurt Devon.”
“Stop,” he said. She didn’t. “Turn around and walk
away,” he demanded, fear creeping into his voice. Again, she ignored his
command.
“You have no power over me. I am so much more than
you.”
“I can control everyone!”
“You can’t even control yourself.” Light formed in
her hands. Although it was white, it was somehow more sinister than Langril’s
red lightning. It spread like fire over him, engulfed him completely, and when
it faded, he was gone.
“You… killed him?”
“No. He’s gone, but he won’t remember this and the
next time he even thinks of coming after Devon, he’ll remember the pain. Sit
down in the kitchen so Devon isn’t scared when he sees you.”
She tried to stand. “He’ll wake up. We were too
loud.”
“He’s fine, and he’ll sleep for a while.” Astrid
helped her to stand and guided her into the kitchen. After settling my mother
into one of the chairs, Astrid checked on Joseph. “Your husband is dead.”
“I don’t… I remember marrying him, but I don’t… it’s
like I married him in a dream,” she whispered.
“That’s how it feels when someone messes with your
memories. I doubt you ever had a choice in the matter.”
Black shadows converged in the middle of the room and
a dark mass formed from its depths. Within seconds, the mass lightened to
reveal Ceyax, who laughed cruelly as Astrid stared in shock.
I had no idea what Ceyax was, other than Krechea’s
original familiar. Ceyax had taken Astrid when she was an infant and raised her
to fight for Krechea. Saying he was her grandfather, he tried to force her
under Krechea’s control by feeding her Krechea’s blood. It was Langril who
broke her from his control by feeding her his own blood, although I knew that
meant he was probably able to control her instead.
That was when my mother passed out.
Half of me wanted to dig John up and bring him back
to life so I could kill him again, and half of me wanted to drop everything and
find Astrid, if only to tell her she wasn’t at fault for hurting my mother. In
fact, if it hadn’t been for her, my mother would probably be dead and I would
have grown up in John’s hands. And I fucking shot her right after she risked
her life to save me.
Kyle and Jason soon returned and we all left for the
university. After about three hours, Kyle took over driving for me so I could
get a few hours of sleep in before we faced whatever was coming next. There was
always something about to happen at Quintessence.
* * *
I started to have a dream about Rocky hooking up with
a male gargoyle when, fortunately, I was interrupted. My dream changed. Suddenly,
I was in the tunnels underneath Quintessence. The only light came from a circle
of blue fire around me. “Langril.”
Out of the darkness in front of me, Professor Keigan
Langril appeared. “Were you hoping for someone else?”
“I may have been hoping, but I wasn’t expecting
anyone else. Apparently, saying the shadow man’s name aloud lets him overhear
us.”
“Yes, and that is partially my fault. Never mind
that, though; we are very short on time. This circle will protect us from being
spied on. Has Krechea revealed himself and offered you a deal yet?”
“Yes. He says if I let him use my key to get to you
and again to open the tower, you’re the only one he’ll kill.”
“Well, if you trust him, then do it.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Good.”
“I don’t trust you, either.”
“Also good. Don’t trust anyone. If the four keys come
together before the tower, human life will be spared, but you will be
condemning another world to death.”
“Then give me an alternative.”
“Krechea has blood control over the shadow walkers,
and you already know how to break that control.”
“The shadow walkers joined Krechea for a reason; I
doubt they would all suddenly turn on him if I let them go.”
“No, but most of them were my followers and only
followed him out of fear. Everyone still loyal to me will go into hiding until
I return. Unfortunately, I don’t know which shadow walkers he was able to bring
over to this side and how many soul guards there are. I tried to keep track of
all of my people, but it’s difficult as a full-time teacher.”
“What happens if the four keys are brought together?”
“Didn’t the gnomes tell you before you got the fourth
key? If you bring them together, they open the---”
* * *
I was shaken awake, pulled instantly back into
reality, and found myself in the car with Kyle, my mother, and Jason.
“We’re here,” Kyle said softly.
It took every ounce of my control not to start
cussing. He didn’t realize what he interrupted and it honestly wasn’t his
fault. It was just really bad timing. Through the windshield, I saw the grand
castle just as the sun was rising over the horizon. Strangely, I felt relief
and anxiety equally. If I summed up the university in three words, it would be majestic,
mysterious, and dangerous.
Jason, my mother, and I got out of the truck and
started heading up the gravel path to the castle while Kyle went to park the
car. I actually met Kyle at the university. When possessed golems caused an
earthquake that destroyed the dormitories, Maseré called in his pack to help
rebuild, and Kyle was one of the wolves who helped.
“It’s huge,” Jason whispered as we reached the
courtyard.
“Yes it is. Stay close when we get inside. There are
rooms where the doors will change, endless hallways, and sometimes monsters
running around.”
When we entered through the front door, I felt a
protective ward so powerful it was like a wall of charged energy. I knew
without looking that my cell lost service. It was almost ominous in the silence.
Each step creaked loudly on the very old wooden floors. Without students and
professors walking the halls, it seemed even more spooky than normal.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Jason said.
I did, too. Hunt warned me about the wizards, but it was
more than that. Maybe it was because Hunt wasn’t there. I looked for the
library where Vincent held classes the previous semester, but the staircase
leading to it had moved again. We rounded a corner and my mother shouted in
surprise as Kyle bumped into her.
I heard a very familiar and very angry voice down the
hallway Kyle had come from. “Watch them for a second,” I told Kyle quietly.
Without waiting for a response, I walked down the hallway until I heard the
sound again from a room on my right. I entered it to see that it was the
auditorium. Then I realized the carpets and chairs were blue instead of red.
Either Hunt redecorated, or we had
two
auditoriums.
Remington Hunt faced two shifters with a gun in her
hand. She pointed it from one to the other. Both shifters were huge men, and I
recognized their species by chance alone. I had only met one Komodo dragon
shifter before, but they were almost identical to Kevin. Their shaggy black
hair and black irises did nothing to make them look more human. They both wore
black jeans, black shirts, and black leather jackets.
I pulled my gun out, stepped up to the right of
Remington, and aimed it at the shifter to the right. If they attacked her at
the same time, I had no doubt the woman could handle herself, but I wasn’t
going to take that risk.
The shifters looked a fraction less arrogant. “We
have no qualms with you, wizard. Get out.”
“See, I have a problem with two against one.”
“I am appalled by the behavior of---” the shifter on
the left started.
“Shut the fuck up and return what you stole,” Remy
interrupted.
When the men shifted their weight very subtly, my
instincts told me they were about to attack. I reached out with my power and
took control of their minds. It was almost too easy. I felt the powerful reptiles
hidden inside them. They planned to kill and eat Remington. “
Return what you
took
,” I said in their minds, pushing fear into them along with the
command.
Their expressions remained stoic, but they both
quickly emptied the pockets of their jeans and jackets. Instead of setting
their stolen goods on a table or handing them over, they dropped them on the
ground at their feet with defiance. There were a few pieces of gold and silver
jewelry, money, and several bottles of what looked like potions. Finally, the
shifter on the left snarled. “That’s it.”
Remington lowered her gun. “Get out of here, and if
you steal anything else, I’ll break your hands.”
“Good luck trying,” the one on the right said. He
wanted her to try so that he could bite her.
Once they were gone, I let their minds go, worried
that I would start seeing their memories if I didn’t, and put my gun away. “You
realize those two are sick and probably murdered and ate a bunch of people,
right?”
“Yes. They used to work for the wizard council at disposing
of some people the council wanted gone.”
“They were paid to eat people?”
She nodded. “There is a dark side of the paranormal
world. Anyway, I appreciate the support. I don’t know anyone else who always
assumes I have a reason for pulling my gun on someone, let alone steps up
without asking any questions.”
I frowned. “Well, I figured they pissed you off for
some reason, even if it wasn’t worth killing them over. It sounds like they
weren’t the only ones getting on your nerves.”
She shrugged.
“Alpha Flagstone or your father?”
“Both.”
We went out into the hallway, where Jason, Kyle, and
my mother were waiting. Fortunately, the shifters were out of sight.
Kyle blushed and looked anywhere but at Remington. I
wasn’t surprised; she was an extremely beautiful woman. She was twenty-eight
with a shapely, athletic figure, long, chestnut-brown hair that was pulled back
into a ponytail, and stunning green eyes. She wore a dark green satin blouse, a
black skirt that would have been very professional if it were a few inches
longer, and knee-high, black leather boots. I had no clue where she hid her
gun.
Despite her reputation for being quick to anger, I
learned very rapidly how to stay off her hit list. If she and Flagstone weren’t
so perfect for each other, I probably would have asked her out before the end
of my first semester.
“I’m going to go take care of some stuff. Breakfast
is available in the dorms, but you might want to have your gun out when you go
in,” Remy said.
“Okay. Where is Alpha Flagstone?” I asked. She
shrugged and walked off without answering.
Well, someone is on her hit list
.
I guided Kyle, my mother, and Jason across campus to the dining room in the
dorms. I decided not to follow Remy’s advice.
It wasn’t just wizards staying at Quintessence for
protection. The first thing I saw when we walked in was a black bear. Instead
of jumping to conclusions, I took Jason’s hand and moved us out of the way of
the door. The bear made a gesture with his massive paw that strangely resembled
a wave before he walked out.
There were another three dozen or so people in the
dining room, two male lions, a griffin, and a large black dog. Although there
were a few people who, like me, didn’t join until later in life, the majority
of the student body of Quintessence ranged between eighteen and thirty, so I
was used to the younger crowd. Furthermore, some of the vampire students looked
very young, even those who were older than me.
With so many powerful students trying out new spells,
shifting in anger, and dueling, it was a dangerous place for anyone not alert
and prepared. In fact, I thought that was about as dangerous as it got.
I was wrong. The people in here were all older than
me and each wizard seemed to have an invisible personal bubble of magic that
warned everyone else away from them. They were here to eat, not socialize. I
took Jason over to the buffet and my mother and Kyle followed cautiously. We
waited behind one man who looked about eighty with long gray hair and a
matching, unkempt beard. Under all that hair, he looked frail. He wore a light
gray bathrobe instead of the dressy wizard robes that the professors wore. I
didn’t know Jason well enough to predict what he would do, so I was too slow to
stop him from tugging on the wizard’s bathrobe out of curiosity. The wizard
turned to look at us.
He was missing his left eye. Without a word, the
wizard turned back to the buffet, filled up his plate, and walked away.
A few minutes later, I sat down in the seat furthest
from the door, because my usual seat was taken. Apparently, these wizards had
the same preferences for being able to make a quick exit. Jason sat beside me,
my mother sat beside him, and Kyle started to sit across from me until Henry
cleared his throat. Kyle sat beside my mother instead. Henry, Scott, and Darwin
sat across from me, none of them with food.
“Did you make it okay?” I asked.
Henry glared at Darwin, who completely ignored the
silent remark. “Elizabeth is sleeping upstairs. We didn’t want to wake her.”
“How did you know I was in here?”
He shrugged. “We just knew. So, what’s our next
move?”
“We need to continue trying to stop the shadow
walkers.”
“Have you thought any more about the shadow man’s
deal?”
“I have, and then Langril popped up in my dream and
warned me that I couldn’t let the shadow man bring the keys together because…”
“Because what?” Darwin asked.
“I don’t know. I woke up.”
“Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?” my
mother asked.
“No.” I stood up.
“Where are we going?” Darwin asked, standing.
“To talk to someone else I don’t trust. Henry, you
got this?” I asked. He nodded that he would watch over my mother and Jason.
Darwin and I went down to the underground tunnels to
find Heather. Since her return from Dothra, she chose to stay away from the
other students for a few semesters, since everyone knew of her gruesome death.
I still didn’t know what to think. She was technically a soul with a magically
constructed body, not a zombie or ghost, but her demeanor was not demonic, so I
didn’t like calling her a demon. That didn’t mean I trusted her.
I paused outside her bedroom door when I heard the
sound of arguing. I put my finger up to indicate for Darwin to be quiet and he
nodded. Although I couldn’t hear what was being said, I recognized the voices.
A few seconds later, the door opened and Vincent frowned at me.
“Spying on people is not polite.”
“Maybe not, but it is a big part of my job.”
He nodded. “When you’re done here, I would like to
talk to you.”
“Okay. See you later.” When he was out of sight, I
knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Darwin and I entered to see that Heather was reading
a black book on her bed. She was dressed in a light blue sundress that would
barely reach her knees when she stood. Despite the nice weather outside, it was
much cooler underground. I had to redirect my thoughts a few times. “What was
that all about?” I asked.
She looked a little irritated. “Just a disagreement
over what to do about my father. It’s not like either of us have a choice
anyway; you have the key. How is the shadow hunting going?”
“Well, not great. Maybe you can help clear something
up. I had a vision of Langril, who said the shadow man can hear us when we say
his name.”