Magic of the Wood House (The Elemental Phases Book 6) (4 page)

Everyone
ignored that.

“I
can take you guys.”  Since Teja’s family wasn’t going to compromise, Sax
switched to threats, again.  “The Fire House hasn’t been the same since Oberon
died.  Missy’s gone nutty.  Qadesh is mostly feral.  Who the hell knows where
Satour is most days.  Hope Phazed with that fucking dragon.  Teja’s falling
apart.”

Sullivan
looked at him sharply.

“Everyone
heard what she tried to do after the Fall.”  Sax continued, relentlessly. 
“Teja’s all that holds you together and she’s
broken
.”  He shook his
head.  “Your House isn’t as strong as it used to be, Djinn.  We all know it.” 
His colorless blue eyes narrowed.  “None of you can stop me.”

Sullivan
felt some kind of energy drag towards the guy.  The same kind of energy that
had slammed into Sullivan like a wrecking ball.

Alder
gave a slow smile of anticipation.

Goddamn
it
. 
Sullivan reached for his zip-cuffs before there was more bloodshed under the
town Christmas tree.  “That’s it.  I’m arresting all of you.”

Pele
actually laughed.  “Yeah, that kind of humoring-the-humans thing might fly with
the Water Phases, but we’re not feeling so charitable.  You’re not arresting
anyone.  Just let us kill this asshat and then give us the box.  It’s too
dangerous for you to have it.”

Sometime
Sullivan wondered if the Cult even knew
how
to speak in sentences filled
with words that made sense.  “What box?!  Ya know what?  It doesn’t even
matter.  All of you put your hands behind your heads.”  He started for Djinn,
because he seemed like the most dangerous guy present.  In fact, the smart
money was on Djinn being the most dangerous guy in the contiguous United
States.  “I am so sick of you weirdoes weirding around my town.  Do I have to
read you your rights, or do you have them memorized at this point in your
criminal career?”

Djinn
squinted at the zip-cuffs like Sullivan had lost his mind.  “You’re not putting
me in fucking plastic restraints!”

“Wanna
bet?”

Yasil
used their distraction to rush forward.

The
guy pulled himself to his feet and came charging at Alder from behind.  His
pale eyes glowed with hatred.  His sword was hefted over his head, ready to
strike a killing blow.

Sullivan
shot him.

He
didn’t even think about it.  He just saw a threat and he reacted.  When
Sullivan pulled a trigger, he always hit what he was aiming at and, when he
aimed, it was always a kill shot.  He’d been an Army Ranger for eight years and
the training never left him.  Even using an unfamiliar weapon, his bullet
slammed into Yasil’s forehead, directly between his eyes.

Pele
sent him a mystified look.  “Really?”  She asked in a skeptical tone.  “A gun?”

Sax
gave a contemptuous snort.  “Moronic human.  I told you it was pointless to…”

He
broke off, his whole face going pale as he watched Yasil fall.  With a deathly
wheeze, the wounded man went slack.  As if Yasil was a puppet and someone had
just cut all his strings, his body collapsed.  He tumbled to the ground in an
uncoordinated heap and lay there, ominously still.

All
around them, the other Cult members froze in shock.

Pele’s
eyebrows rose.

Alder
whispered a convoluted stream obscenities.

Djinn’s
head slowly swiveled to look at Sullivan, his gaze no longer mocking.

Hallie
gaped down at Yasil’s body.  “He’s dead.”  She blurted out.

“I
know.”  Sullivan said flatly.  “I warned him.”

Everyone
on the beach stared at Sullivan like he’d turned into the Incredible Hulk right
before their eyes.  Several people stepped away from him in fear.  Others shook
their heads in denial.  Some looked furious.  Some looked thrilled.  Some
dialed their phones, reporting the news to their weirdo ranks as fast as they
could.

Sax
and his remaining men fled, grabbing their dead and injured friends and
vanishing.

Sullivan
was relieved to see them go.  He had feeling the medical examiner would have a
field day with Yasil’s autopsy.  God only knew how many lungs and kidneys
mutants had.  Besides, no body meant he didn’t have to try and explain exactly
what had happened to the mayor.

Which
was good, because he had no idea what exactly had happened.

…Except
that he’d shot a man.

Sullivan
didn’t like shooting people.  Even people who weren’t really human.  But he was
a pragmatic guy and, the way he saw it, he hadn’t had much of a choice.  It was
his job to protect and Alder had needed protection.

Besides,
Alder was Teja’s family.  As much as he tried not to think about her, it was
hard to forget the most beautiful woman you’d ever
almost
slept with. 
Teja would be heartbroken if her dimwitted nephew was harmed and all Sullivan’s
instincts screamed to keep Teja from being hurt.  At his very deepest level, he
knew he’d keep her safe, no matter what the costs.  Because she was
his
.

Even
though she wasn’t.

Annoyed
at the world, Sullivan turned back to the shocked Cult members who were
goggling at him.  It wasn’t worth trying to take their statements, since the
whole story would read like a comic book.  “I’ve got more bullets.”  He told
them.  “Go home.”

Most
of them instantly disappeared.  Too bad they hadn’t done that earlier.

Alder
and his parents kept standing there, strange expressions on their faces. 
“Sullivan?”  Alder asked in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.  “Where did
you get that gun?”

“I
have no idea.”  He glowered over at them, blaming all Cult members for his
blackout.  “I just woke up with it, about two weeks ago.  It’s a souvenir from
twelve hours of my life that I can’t remember.”

“God,
I
knew
you were going to be a pain in the ass.”  Pele said grimly. 
“Alright, we’ll have to do this the hard way.”  Before Sullivan could stop her,
she reached over to seize hold of his arm…

…And
kidnapped him.

She had
made up her mind to be thoroughly disagreeable

and she
possessed the elements of success requisite for that purpose—

a sharp
tongue, a quick instinct and great presence of mind.

F.
Marion Crawford- “The Children of the King”

Christmas
Eve Morning

“It
wasn’t our fault.”  Djinn passionately announced as Teja slammed into the
dungeon.

The
words drove fear into Teja’s frozen heart.  Whenever he said them she knew her
family was
absolutely
at fault for all sorts of badness.

“What
have you
done?”
  She shouted.  “Where’s Sullivan?!  If you’ve hurt him,
I will…”

“Sully’s
fine…”  Alder began.

His
father cut him off.  “Your human is totally deranged, Tej!  He tried to attack
me and tie me up in
plastic
.”  Djinn’s voice vibrated with outrage over
that
injustice.  Elementals could manipulate the natural Elements, but manufactured
products, like plastics, were beyond their control.  Plastic could actually
contain them.  “He pulled out zip-ties and threatened to capture me, for God’s
sake!  The human was --like-- crazed or something.  Out of his mind!  You
know
their kind gets rabid, right?  I think that’s what happened.”

“That’s
dogs, Dad.”  Alder told him.  That sentence got repeated a lot, because Djinn
consistently mixed-up humans and canines.

Aside
from stealing curse words, watching slasher flicks, and visiting Disney World
no one in the Fire House knew very much about humans.  Alder was their resident
“expert” and he only visited the human realm for fun, fighting in their endless
wars.

“Sullivan’s
really okay, Tej.”  He continued.  “Really.  He’s just a little --you know--
out cold, is all.”

Pele
leaned a shoulder against the far wall and shrugged.  “He’s terrible at
jumping.  Face-planted into a wall.  Completely not our fault.”

“He’s
mostly just a human, Mom.”  Alder puffed out a sigh.  “I think we should’ve
been carefuler with him, maybe.”

“I
was
carefuler.”  Djinn insisted.  “We all were.  Real careful, real
polite, real friendly… Pele even told him his scar was kickass.”

Pele
nodded.  “Kickass scar.”  She agreed casually.

“Exactly!” 
Djinn made a “has the world gone mad?!” sort of hand gesture.  “We were
completely nice to that boy.  We showed up to help him and he
still
tried to kill me.”

“So,
you
kidnapped
him?”  Since the Fall, Teja hadn’t felt much of anything,
just the echoes of emotions that somehow existed behind the block of ice in her
chest.  But, even if she
could’ve
still felt, total disbelief over her
cousin’s idiocy would have driven out all other emotions.  “You honest to
fucking Gaia
kidnapped
my Match?”

Fire
Phases regularly abducted their own Matches, but they didn’t take kindly to
other people trying it.  Sullivan Pryce was off limits to anybody but Teja and
everyone knew it.

“We
didn’t kidnap him!”  Djinn snapped.  “We took him into protective custody.”

Pele
shrugged.  “It was for the boy’s own good.  You told us to protect him, so we
were protecting him.  You think we would’ve carted him here if we had another
choice?”

“Explain
it to me from the beginning, then.”  Teja ran a hand through her hair, so the
periwinkle streak at her temple slid between her fingers. 
Her family was a
walking, talking encyclopedia of terrible ideas. 
“What
happened?  Was there an actual reason for this stupidity or were you all just
drinking heavily?”

Alder
and Djinn exchanged a look.

Pele
became fascinated with one of the torches on the lava stone wall.

“
What
happened?
”  Teja roared.

“Alright,
alright.”  Alder cleared his throat.  “You know how you hate hearing about the
Tablets of Fate?”

Teja
swore in three languages.

For
millennia, the Tablets of Fate had been an Elemental fairytale.  No one had
believed that they really existed, until they started popping up and causing
problems.  The Tablets were sealed into boxes, but even then they packed a
wallop that could end the world.  The Elemental Council was determined to find
the boxes before anyone could use them to push all existence over the edge of
oblivion.

A
lot of other people were after them, too

And
the last time anyone had seen the Happiness Tablet, Parson, of the Wood House
had it in the human realm.  Unfortunately, Parson died without telling anyone
where exactly he left it.  Which meant his grandson was a natural starting
point for anyone who wanted to treasure hunt.

“Sullivan
doesn’t have that box.”  Teja shook her head.  “No way.”

“Rumor
going around says your Match is hiding it.”  Djinn told her.  “Saxon, of the
Air House showed up looking for the damn thing.  We had to kill some Air Phases
to protect your boy, but that’s not going to slow down the rest of the realm’s
mercenaries.  Every would-be badass is going to see Sullivan as the Golden
Ticket to unlimited power and candy.”

“And
then there’s the gun.”  Pele interjected.

Teja’s
frozen heart lurched.  “Sullivan’s shot?”

“Nope. 
He did the shooting.”  Alder tapped his forehead.  “Ventilated Yasil’s skull.”

“Jesus.” 
Teja breathed a sigh of relief and rolled her eyes.  “Is that pussy Yasil
whining about one little bullet hole…?”

“That
pussy Yasil’s dead.”  Djinn interrupted.  “The human shot him with that future
gun that Job’s been looking for.”

“Oh
shit.”  Teja’s mind raced.  “Where did Sullivan get that damn thing?”

“He
says he doesn’t remember.  He just woke up with it.”

Teja
blinked.  “What?”

“Humans
get amnesia, all the time.”  Alder put in.  “Ask Tessie.  We saw it on
Days
of Our Lives
.”

Pele
shrugged.  “The point is, we didn’t have much of a choice except to bring
Sullivan here and keep him out of sight.”

“And
for laughs.”  Djinn admitted.  He handed Teja the gun.  “Probably don’t want
the kid armed when he wakes up, though.  I betcha he’s gonna be moody.  He
seems moody.”

There
was a low groaning sound from inside Sullivan’s cell.  The hinges were rusted
open, so the door stood against the wall and the low sound carried.  Djinn
hadn’t been able to lock Sullivan in, which Teja guessed was
something
. 
At
least, her felonious relatives hadn’t tossed their
prisoner into an oubliette and lost the key… Again.

Luckily,
the dungeon in the Fire Castle wasn’t used for much more than Halloween pranks,
anymore.  Flickering torches and atmospheric cobwebs aside, it was basically
just a storage room.  No actual torture happened.  No starving, dirty Phases
were locked in any of the cells.  Not like the good old days.

Still,
chances were, Sullivan Pryce was
not
going to think that the dungeon was
a comfortable place to spend eternity.  They had to get him back to his home. 
Or at least to
someplace
in the human realm.  Teja didn’t care if he
wound up in Florida or the Australian Outback, just so he was far away of the
Fire Kingdom.

And
away from her.

“‘Bout
time lover boy opened his eyes.”  Pele said lazily.  She tilted her head and
peered in at Sullivan.  “It really is a kickass scar, isn’t it?  It’s unfair
that Elementals are so hard to damage.  You’d look hot with a warrior’s mark
like that, Djinn.”  She winked at her Match.

“I
always look hot.”  Djinn drawled back.

“Fine. 
Hot
ter
, then.”

Teja
ignored their flirting.  Djinn and Pele were one of the only Matches to have both
survived the Fall.  Both of them had been immune to the illness, as had all of
their children.  A lot of other Phases hated them just for that, jealous that the
Fire House’s royal family managed to pull through the plague almost intact.

But,
it was that “
almost
” that still haunted Teja.  They’d lost Oberon and
that was something she’d never be able to forget.

Teja
shoved the gun into her waistband and reluctantly moved to stare into
Sullivan’s darkened cell.  Djinn, Pele, and Alder had dumped the guy on the
only piece of furniture in the room:  A stained cot with three legs and a
horrible rodent-y smell.  Sullivan was flat on his stomach, his feet angled so
they hung off the edge.  He really was very big for a human.  His face was
turned so she could see his damaged cheek in the dim light.

Yeah,
the scar was super attractive.

Every
bit of him was attractive, actually.  Sullivan Pryce was really, really gorgeous.

Plus,
he gave off
sooooo
much power.  Teja could feel it as he pushed himself
up on one elbow and gave his dark head a shake.  The guy was more than just a
human.  He radiated dormant energy like a space heater and it had every
molecule in her system jangling.

“Son-of-a-bitch.” 
He muttered.  Even his voice was attractive.  Rich and deep, with a human
accent that sounded completely foreign and beautiful.  It echoed with latent
power.

Teja
felt her body warming.  Her pulse sped up, her energy tuning so it could try to
brush against Sullivan’s.

Damn.

She
took a step back from the open doorway.  Emotions that she forgotten how to
experience suddenly threatened to break free.  It was always like that when she
got close him.  Over the past two years, she’d worked hard to freeze herself solid
and not feel anything, at all.  Around Sullivan, her heart started pounding beneath
the ice in her chest.  Every time she was near the human it became harder to
stay cold.  She’d stayed in this world because of her Match, but she couldn’t
let him destroy her.  She couldn’t start to feel, again.

“Teja?” 
Djinn asked, taking in her pale face.  “You okay?”  Ever since the Fall, he’d
been hovering, like she might try to kill herself at any second.  It pissed
Teja off to no end.

“He
can’t stay here.”  She hissed, her attention locked on Sullivan.

“But,
he’s your Match.”  Pele reminded her.

“I
know!”

That
was the whole problem.  Teja didn’t
want
a Match.  She didn’t want to
open herself up to getting hurt again.  Loving someone left you vulnerable. 
When they were gone, it was like a knife in your heart.  She had all she could
handle with Djinn and Hope and the others slipping passed her icy guards.  A
Match would destroy her.  Everything frozen inside of her --everything that
protected her from that kind of pain-- panicked at the very idea of getting
attached to Sullivan Pryce.  She’d protect her Match, but she didn’t want to be
near him for more than two seconds at a time.

The
sound of voices brought Sullivan’s head around with a snap.  He looked severely
annoyed and slightly hung over.  Jumping had probably screwed up his human
equilibrium.  Well, that and crashing into a stone wall.  Sullivan was mostly
human.  A weak, helpless, very, very kidnapped human.

She
needed to remember that.

But
then Sullivan’s gaze slammed into Teja’s like a Mack truck and all thoughts
about his human-ness vanished.  Nothing but his eyes moved as he soaked in
every inch of her.  Teja could always read the desire on Sullivan’s face when
he looked at her.  “What the hell is going on?” incredulity mixed with “Oh my
God
”
lust.  He tried to hide it, but it was still there.

“Hello,
Teja.”  He finally muttered.  “I should’ve known you were behind this.”

People
told Teja she was beautiful.  She’d heard it all her life.  But, she’d never really
believed
it until Sullivan.  He focused on her with his intent, Wood
Phase brown stare and Teja felt it like a caress.  Her breasts tightened.  Her
breathing got faster.  Her energy sizzled the air wanting to connect with his.

Damn,
damn, damn.  The guy was
such
a problem.

Teja
looked away and instantly missed the heat of Sullivan’s gaze.  “I’m not behind
anything.”  She muttered.  “This is all
your
fault.”

“Right.” 
He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Because I asked your moronic
family to take me hostage.”

“Told
ya.”  Djinn grumbled.  “
Moody
.”

“We
were guarding you, Sully.”  Alder insisted.  “Teja asked us to.”

“Thanks
for that.”  Sullivan tilted his head, so the damaged side of his face was
hidden from view.  He did that a lot.  The movement brought the lava rock walls
into his direct line of sight.  He finally seemed to process that he was in a
stone prison cell.   “Fucking Cult.”  He let out a long sigh and glanced over
at Djinn.  “You’re
so
under arrest right now, dickweed.”