Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) (31 page)

Henry and Flagstone arrived as I was explaining the
second part of my plan, which was to defeat Krechea before Astrid destroyed the
tower from her side. The problem was that I had no idea how. Krechea wasn’t
immortal, but even with everyone we had on our side, it was going to be nearly
impossible. The truth was, we really needed the tower to be destroyed on any world.
Unfortunately, that meant death to whoever did it… except for Astrid or me.
While either of us could do it, it would mean being stranded there forever. I
wanted Langril to go and get her, but we couldn’t risk a paradox.

Langril scoffed. “You silly humans. You have such a
funny misunderstanding of time and magic.”

“I will stab you in the throat,” Hunt threatened.

Henry growled.

“Not in front of the kids,” Langril said easily. “And
you’re not that big.”

Hunt reached into his robe for something, probably a
dagger, but Flagstone grabbed his arm to stop him. Vincent rubbed his forehead
and sighed.

“All I am saying is that there really isn’t a reason
to wait. I can go get Astrid any time I choose from her perspective. I can
leave right now or in two months and be there one minute after you left her. No
paradox.”

“That leaves us with the issue of destroying the
Shadow Master without forcing him into the abyss.”

“What makes him so hard to defeat?” I asked.

Vincent and Hunt both looked at Langril. “He’s like a
flea. He’s nearly undetectable until he’s sucking your blood. He doesn’t have
the greatest offensive magic, but he has impeccable defensive magic. Plus, with
his blood control, he controls hundreds of shadow walkers. Not that many made
it out of Dothra with him, but he is still capable.”

“Plus, there’s the whole thing about the shadow
walkers possessing people,” I said.

“Have you seen anyone get possessed?”

I thought about it. “Felicity possessed me to give me
the list of who was going to be attacked by the shadow walkers and when.”

He looked surprised. “And you had the mental capacity
to understand the blood command? I’m impressed.”

“It was actually Darwin who understood it.”

“I did always like the little fae. The point is, you
gave yourself to her willingly, right?”

“Reluctantly willing, yes.”

“But you have not seen the shadow walkers possess
anyone against the human’s will?”

“No. Is that weird?”

“No. I think it’s because humans are so different.
The shadow walkers could possess bodies, golems, and such, but none of my
followers have ever managed it. I don’t think his have either. I think human
souls are too strong, or possibly incompatible.”

“You are constantly criticizing us for being human,”
Vincent said.

“I criticize your behavior. You have so much more
power than Dothra, but you don’t have a clue how to use it.”

“And you do?” I asked. “Your world is burned out. It
can’t have started out that way. I bet Dothra was like Earth until your kind
sucked the life out of it.”

“The difference between us is not our worlds. Souls
are power sources. That is how we create magic, yet you humans use them to
control the elementals instead. While we have to steal power to become
stronger, your magic is nurtured.”

“Well, it’s really good to know that they probably
can’t take over the body of a living person without the permission. Let’s go
gather the shadow walkers and have them take down the others. Once they’re
gone, Langril, you go save Astrid and bring her back. We’ll worry about
destroying the shadow man afterward.”

When we drove up to the edge of the campus grounds, I
was surprised. I figured it would take time for them to realize Langril was
back. We got out and all eyes focused on him. There were twenty-one of
Langril’s followers standing outside the school grounds, including Cathus and
Felicity.

“Are these all soul guards or are some of them the
shadow man’s followers? Because I don’t recognize anyone but Cathus and
Felicity,” I said quietly to Langril. Felicity refused to meet my eyes.

“They are all active or “finished” soul guards who
didn’t want him ruining the lives they worked so hard for. Many of his
followers would gladly choose to follow me over him, but he has control over
them the same way he did over Astrid.”

“So you have to give them your blood?”

“That should weaken his control enough for them to
choose their own side. The problem is that takes time and I don’t have an
endless supply of blood. It took years to break his hold over Astrid, although
that was because Ceyax kept feeding her Kea’s blood.”

“Did you really reject him because he wasn’t powerful
enough?”

“It was a dark time.”

“So you have returned to defeat the shadow master?”
Cathus asked.

“Of course,” Langril said. “Felicity, I’m surprised
to see you here. If I recall, you were one of the vermin babies I let live. You
were my one act of compassion during that raid. See, there’s always a chance
that two vermin could make a decently powerful baby.”

“You’re not helping,” Vincent told him.

“I wasn’t trying to.”

“What are our orders?” one of the demons asked.

“How do we defeat the Shadow Master?” another asked.

“We’ll do that ourselves. Your job is to destroy his
followers.”

A couple of them glanced at each other. “But most of
them would follow you if you would break the Shadow Master’s control over
them.”

“I don’t care. Kill them.”

“Hang on,” I argued. “If you truly think one of them
would turn to Langril, bring them to me. I’ll break it, you just have to hold
them still and corporeal.”

“I still have the cuffs you used on Felicity,”
Vincent said.

The soul guards all looked at Langril for direction.
After considering it for a moment, he nodded. “So be it. If you are certain
they would follow me, capture them and take them to Devon. Kill the others.”

“How can we bring them to Devon when we cannot reach
him?”

I considered returning to my apartment, but that
would make me useless in helping to defeat Krechea. I closed my eyes and
focused on my familiar’s presence. When I opened my eyes, she was right in
front of me. “I need you to stand guard here. The soul guards will bring some
of the shadow man’s followers. When they do, please let me know instantly,
before they escape.”

She nodded. “
I will detain them
.”

“Perfect.” All we had left was to figure out how to
defeat an almost undefeatable enemy without sacrificing Astrid.

When the six of us returned to Hunt’s office to come
up with a plan, I suggested we involve a few more people. Darwin, though not
much for planning, was brilliant. Heather had just as much at stake as I did,
if not more. Remington, despite Hunt’s and Flagstone’s objections, was more
likely to get herself in trouble or kidnapped if they
didn’t
let her in
on the planning. With that decided, Henry left to get Darwin and my sword,
Vincent left to get Remington, and Langril left to get his daughter.

Hunt pulled out a silver tray from his desk. When he
set it down on the coffee table, I gaped, because it now had eight cups, a
teapot, and several little cups of stuff. I got myself a cup before he
insisted. “Not going the liquor route this time?” I asked.

Hunt smirked. “Waste my good stuff on Keigan? Not a
chance. He pretends he is Asian instead of from the good old country.” I
laughed, knowing Langril preferred green tea to black tea.

Henry and Darwin arrived and both took a cup. “Did
you get any new books?” Darwin asked Hunt, handing me my sword. It was in its
harness, so I strapped the belt around my waist.

“A few,” Hunt said with obvious humor. “Go on.”

Darwin jumped up with excitement, spilling his tea,
and then ran off to the headmaster’s small study.”

“When his father first brought him to my school, I
thought there was no way he was Maseré’s and Anya’s boy. He looks like Anya,
but there was always something so wounded about him.”

“Darwin said they went here.”

“They did, but they missed each other. Maseré
attended the first year I opened. He was a brat even then.  He was twenty-one,
thought he owned the world, and challenged Rosin to no end. I still don’t know
why Rosin didn’t kick him out.”

“I could see that the alpha in him needed to be
encouraged, not beaten down. The world needs more wolves who can defend their
packs like him,” the shifter explained.

Hunt shrugged dismissively. “Anyway, I tried to have
the university run on a five-year course instead of a five-semester one.”

Flagstone scoffed. “That was a huge mistake. It is
the only way to go on the children’s school, but the adults have lives to get
back to. He ended up losing half the students by the end of the first year.
Then he switched it to five semesters and everyone who survived the first year
was credited for two semesters. Maseré was one of those we lost.”

“His father died and he had to run his pack. Ten
years later, he was having a terrible time of it and actually ran away when he
found out that his father had been killed by his uncle and that he was
betrothed to his uncle’s mistress. We took him in again and he tried so hard to
listen to Rosin. He spent so many years fighting the natural instincts of his
wolf before he realized he had what he needed all along. The day he left the
school, he returned to his pack, killed his uncle, and became the greatest
alpha of the lands.”

“How did he come to be an environmentalist?”

“In his mid-thirties, he did a lot of self-discovery
while whipping his pack into shape. They had become quite corrupt in the ten
years after his father’s murder. That was why they thought they could control
him rather than the other way around. He killed most of the pack, in fact. He
ended up going to a human university and got into marine biology. He was
extremely bright— not as intelligent as Darwin, but much more intuitive when it
came to people. Everything he did financially ended up being the right thing at
the right time, and his research papers were award-winning.”

“So he wasn’t born into money?”

“No. He earned every penny. No one was surprised when
he gave the majority of it to charities. Anyway, back to your original
question… Anya was a sweetheart, despite belonging to the most powerful and
feral fae tribe in North America. She was the youngest of three girls, and they
were all supposed to be given up as a peace offering. The oldest was supposed
to be ‘presented’ to the university, the second was supposed to be offered to a
wolf-shifter, and Anya was supposed to be offered to another tribe. The tribe
leader, however, fell in love with the oldest girl and sent Anya to the
university.”

“When he brought the ten-year-old in, sat her down in
that chair, and said that she was ours to do with what we wanted, Logan was
ready to burn their entire tribe,” Flagstone said. “She was like an abused
little pup. She couldn’t even speak.”

“They did not allow females to speak in their tribe.
We accepted her, though, and sent her to the children’s school. The tribe
leader then took the oldest sister and left the tribe. Leadership was fought
over so terribly that it split into three tribes. One of the tribes requested
to take Anya back and we refused, since we were her guardians. However, when
she graduated, she wanted to go back. She did not like society and thought she
belonged in the forest with her people.”

“Then she was given to Maseré?”

“Yes.”

“Fortunately, they love each other very much, but it
took them some time to get there,” Darwin said, standing in the doorway of the
study.

Vincent entered the room. “Remington decided not to
come.”

Hunt turned to Flagstone, who looked nauseated. “What
did you do to my daughter?”

“I’ll go talk to her.”

Actually, I didn’t think she wanted to talk to either
of them.

That was when Langril pushed Vincent out of the
doorway in a panic. “Krechea took Heather.”

“Are you sure?” Hunt asked.

“How did he get in?” I asked.

Langril handed Hunt a note. Hunt then scowled at him.
“What does it say?”

I took the paper from him, peered at the foreign
words, and passed it to Darwin. “It says that Devon, Langril, Hunt, and Vincent
are to meet him in front of the tower with Langril’s heart if you ever want to
see Heather again.”

Everyone stared at him for a minute. “When did you
learn Enochian?” Langril asked.

“Well, I got your book. It has words in it,” Darwin
answered. Langril nodded with understanding, as if that was how normal people
learned a language.

“What’s his I.Q. again,” Vincent asked Hunt.

“He was never tested.”

“Actually, that’s not---” Darwin started.

“My daughter is missing,” Langril interrupted
harshly.

“Okay, don’t panic yet,” I said. “He wants to kill
you, and he can’t do that if he kills her first. I’ll have a vision and try to
figure out his plan.”

“I thought we knew his plan.”

“Then to figure out his weakness.”

“Use the magic I gave you,” Hunt said, referring to
the glass sphere.

“But I’m saving that to help Astrid.”

“I told you I would get Astrid,” Langril said.

“But I don’t trust you, especially now that I can’t
kill you.”

“That’s right. If Krechea kills you, it would kill
Henry,” Darwin said.

“Devon, I swear that I will save Astrid if you help
me get Heather back,” Langril said.

At that point, Hunt, Vincent, Langril, and Darwin
started arguing in German. I groaned and rubbed my forehead. Langril was the
last person in the room I trusted, but his life was tied to Henry’s and I had
to accept that for my friend’s sake. Besides, if Langril tried to screw me
over, Henry would punish him.

I reached into my pocket for Hunt’s glass sphere.
When I held it out, Henry addressed the room. “Everyone shut up and listen,
because Devon is doing his plan thing!”

“I just break it?” I asked.

“Put on the ring first,” Vincent said.

I slipped on my vision ring and threw the sphere to
the ground. It shattered and what looked like blue smoke floated lazily up into
my ring. I moved my hand, but the smoke followed. My vision came on strong.

*          *          *

Krechea, still disguised as Vincent, was pacing
around a large bed with black satin sheets and a heavy wooden frame. The room
was ridiculously extravagant. The white carpet was plush and spotless, the
walls were a deep wine color, and the furniture looked like it belonged in a
designer magazine. Heather was bound and gagged in the middle of the bed.

“I don’t know why you had to make it so hard on
yourself,” Krechea said. “The only one who needs to die is your father. I even
tried to summon Astrid to offer her to Devon, but she has some sort of
protection over her. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t summon you, either.
The master is the only one who can hide himself from me.” Her silence seemed to
enrage him. After a few seconds, he stopped pacing, pulled out a knife, and
aimed it at her stomach. “How did you stop my magic?!”

She twisted around, making unintelligible sounds.

“Oh, yes.” He took the gag out of her mouth and then
pressed the blade against her stomach again. “Now tell me.”

“It’s the tattoos,” she said, trying and failing to
keep the panic out of her voice. When he waited for her to continue, she looked
down at herself. Krechea undid the buttons of her shirt to reveal an octagram
around her bellybutton. “The tattoo itself is done under a ritual and then it’s
swabbed with a special potion every seven hours for seven days. My father
taught me and I taught Astrid. She did it in Dothra so you couldn’t use her
against Devon and I did it when Devon and Vincent got me out so I couldn’t be
called back.”

Krechea put away his knife and started pacing again.

“You would really save Astrid?”

“I’ve never had a problem with her; she would have
been my best servant. I blame your father for losing my familiar, not Astrid.”

“But there must be more to it.”

“I have to stop her from destroying the tower.”

“Why? You want to return to Dothra?”

“Of course. After I get what I want, I will return to
Dothra with enough magic and natural resources to sustain the world for
eternity.”

“How will getting all four keys do that? Are you
going to try to siphon power from Earth?”

“Earth is not that powerful. Your father spent his
entire life researching world travel, but he never made it past traveling to
Earth. He wrote that he believed there was a higher form of magic out there— a
realm of power that Dothra could feed on endlessly. I have figured out the
key
to reaching it.”

“I don’t understand,” Heather said.

“You can ask your father if you ever see him again.
He figured it out and tried to switch places with Astrid and destroy the tower
himself. I was waiting.”

“Why would my father want to destroy the tower?”

“He has figured out a way to hide from death. When I
reach the realm of higher magic, I will become more powerful than death. I will
be a god and rule all five worlds. I will not allow the master to take Dothra
from me.”

“So you’re going to kill him?”

“Not because of my goals. I’m going to kill him
because he doesn’t belong in my world. He can kill all my followers he wants as
long as I get the four keys gathered before the tower. Devon will be easy to
convince, Vincent will follow him, and Logan will follow Vincent.”

“So you only kidnapped me to get my father here?”

“Of course. You’re no used to me.”

My vision changed to show two soul guards forcing a
shadow walker to his knees before Rocky. I took off my ring.

“What did you find out?” Langril asked.

“That you’re a serious bastard, that he hates your
guts, and that we cannot allow him to get everyone in front of the tower. He
doesn’t know Heather has the key.” The relief on Langril’s face was instant.
“How can he not know?”

“Heather is my daughter; she picks up magic well.
After Kea killed her mother, I taught her how to hide her magic. I then told
Logan, in confidence, that I took her magic, knowing Kea would overhear. As far
as Kea can tell, she isn’t any more powerful than a human.”

“You should have done that with Devon,” Vincent said,
glaring at Langril.

Langril scoffed. “Then I wouldn’t have been able to
use him.”

“I need to get to the edge of the grounds, because
there’s a… demon who needs to be… freed. This shit is weird.”

“I don’t know how many times we can say ‘welcome to
the paranormal world’ before you understand that nothing is weird at this
university,” Vincent said. He grabbed my shoulder and the shadows of the room
converged around us.

We were only in the shadow pass for a split second,
but it was long enough. I definitely wasn’t going to miss that “perk” of having
the key. Vincent grunted and staggered when we returned to the world. “Are you
okay?” I asked, ignoring the shadow walker who was forced to his knees at my
feet by two soul guards.

“Yes, I’ll be fine. The brighter it is, the more it
takes out of me,” he answered, indicating the bright afternoon sunlight. He
pulled silver shackles out of his bag and secured the shadow walker. I drew my
sword.

“I thought you weren’t going to kill him,” one of the
soul guards said nervously.

“I’m not.” I focused heat into the blade until it
glowed red. The shadow walker clenched his eyes closed. “This is going to
hurt.” I stabbed it into his stomach. I could see the pain on his face, but he
didn’t make a sound. After a moment, I pulled the blade out. Just like when I
did it to Felicity, there was no blood.

His eyes widened as he looked down at himself. “I’m
okay,” he said, shocked.

“Are you still under the Shadow Master’s control?”

“No. I’m free.” He looked up at one of the soul
guards. “Is the true master really back?”

“Yes, he is. He wants us to stop the Shadow Master’s
followers.”

Vincent took off the cuffs. “Thank you,” the shadow
walker said to me, standing and bowing slightly. The three of them disappeared
in a swarm of black shadows.

“I think when I go back to my old life of getting
shot at and uncovering conspiracies, I might die of boredom.” I felt Vincent
glance at me. “If,” I amended. Vincent grabbed my shoulder and the shadows
wrapped around us very slowly. When they left us in Hunt’s office, Vincent was
sweating.