Soul Guard (Elemental Book 5) (33 page)

Hunt created a blue fire in his hands that produced
blue smoke. This smoke floated straight for the circle and enclosed it. Krechea
raised his hands and shot red lightning. It was definitely lessened by the blue
smoke, but enough got through to shoot down another four shadow walkers.

“I thought you were going to use the amulet,” Henry
whispered urgently to me.

“I am,” Darwin said. “It’s not enough.”

When Krechea aimed his lightning at Langril, Henry
shoved the wizard out of the way. Langril reacted with his own burst of red
lightning, which passed way too close to Henry before hitting Krechea.
Unfortunately, it didn’t do much to the younger wizard.

“Flagstone, get Henry away from Langril,” I demanded.
The shifter did as I asked, despite Henry’s struggles. “As long as his heart is
safe, he can’t be killed! You can be.”

“I know that!” my friend agreed grudgingly. “It
doesn’t make it any easier.”

This time, Krechea turned his attack on me. Right
before his lightning could strike me, an invisible wall of energy formed in
front of me, courtesy of Astrid. That was when I decided that just sucking his
magic out wasn’t enough.

I was taking his magic into me, so I might as well
use it. Since the university focused on teaching defense rather than offense, I
would have been more comfortable taking out my gun and shooting him than using
magic. Fortunately, after attending Watson’s classes, encountering numerous duels,
and fighting opponents like Gale, I felt like I was adequately prepared.

I summoned up all my anger, all my confidence, and
all my hate. It wasn’t just anger or hate for Krechea; I focused on my anger
towards Regina for all the times she was a misery to be around, on Gale for
cursing me and coming after paranormals, Langril for trapping Astrid, and
Astrid herself. I had forgiven Astrid completely, but I still remembered the
anger and hate I felt for her and all vampires for nearly twenty years. I let that
all fill my head.

Somehow, this increased the flow of Krechea’s magic
into me. He raised his hand to strike me again, and I unleashed my anger at the
same time. It was like fire, but so much more. Red burst from my entire body,
clashed with the oncoming energy, and formed into lightning that hit Krechea
with enough force to shatter the ward around him.

To my shock, it did little more than knock him off
his feet. He stood, prepared, and struck again. This time, there was no barrier
to stop it. I felt actual pressure first, a split second before there was only
pain.

And then it was gone. I opened my eyes to see Langril
and Krechea locked in some kind of blindingly bright energy fight. I was on the
ground, but there was no pain. It was definitely a killing blow, so my
immortality cured the damage. It occurred to me, as I climbed back to my feet,
that I should have made a deal with Heather a long time ago.

His fight with Langril distracted Krechea long enough
for the shadow walkers to reform their ward around him. As soon as Langril let
up, the circle snapped into place. “How many people have you killed for your
power?” Langril asked.

“Not as many as you. I kill only those whose power I
can benefit from. You kill powerless vermin.”

“I don’t do that anymore. You know that.”

“Because of your daughter? You think I would believe
that?”

“I never asked you to believe anything. That is the
difference between being on the top and being on the bottom; I never have to
answer to vermin… and that’s what you are. No matter how many people you kill,
no matter how much power you gain, you will always be that scrawny, worthless,
starving mongrel I spared. I should have killed you the day I found you. Your
brother was the one with power and I knew that, I just chose to give you a
chance. Instead, you killed the only person who cared about you.”

Darwin opened his mouth to interrupt, but I waved my
hand at him and he shut it. The more Langril distracted Krechea, the more
easily I was able to draw in his magic. Finally, when I thought I had drained
enough, I struck again with the red lightning. Once again, he was thrown off
his feet, only to get back up without any apparent damage.

Langril made a motion with his hands and the shadow
walkers changed their tactic. The circle changed to a small tornado of sparkly
silver smoke. With his shadow walkers distracting Krechea, Langril came to me.
“This isn’t working. I’m going to destroy the tower in Dothra. Give me a couple
of minutes and then push him through.”

“What about a paradox and shit?”

“I can contain it. Just make sure Henry protects my
heart. As long as my heart is safe, he doesn’t need to worry about being my
familiar, because all my power is in it.”

“But you would be trapped in Dothra forever.”

“All magic comes at a price, and it’s time for me to
pay up.”

“I’m going with you,” Heather said.

“You would never be able to come back here.”

“I know. I belong with my father; this isn’t my world
anymore.”

Langril turned back to me. “When the tower is
destroyed from Dothra’s side, you will lose your immortality. All the shadow
walkers will be trapped here and none of the humans who made a deal with the
soul guards will go to Dothra when they die.”

“I’m going, too!” Felicity insisted. Without waiting
for a response, she broke her magic from the battle and started for the door.
Langril reached out and grabbed her before she could get to it.

“Gale is not in Dothra.”

Her eyes widened with shock and she hesitated. “He’s
not? How can he not be there? How can you know that?”

“I looked for him while I was there. Krechea broke
your deal by taking you before Gale died, so Gale’s soul is with the dead.”

“No! I’m supposed to be with him!”

“You will be, someday, unless you go through that
door. You must choose between life and death, for if you stay here, you will
die and if you return to Dothra, you never will.” After a few seconds of
indecision, Felicity rejoined the battle.

Langril glanced at Hunt and I couldn’t comprehend his
expression. Hunt had an almost identical look, as if they knew what the other
person was thinking.  They hated each other, yet they were friends. Then
Langril and Heather vanished into the doorway.

“
Devon
!” Darwin snapped, bringing my attention
back to the battle. The more magic he pulled from Krechea, the faster the flow
became.

“
Trap the magic in the amulet
.” If Krechea
died while his magic was inside me, I would keep the magic, and I sure as hell
didn’t want that. I felt the energy change course and flow back into the
amulet. Within a few minutes, it was radiating power.

“
It’s not going to hold all his magic
!”

The silver smoke was losing its luster. “
It has
to. We can’t force Krechea through the door if he’s fighting back
.” The
flow was still increasing in potency. Several of the shadow walkers glanced
worriedly at me, probably hoping I would provide them with better instructions.

That was when I
felt
the amulet starting to
crack. An instant later, my wizard staff appeared in my hand.

“
Change of plans
,” I said. “
Spread the
magic among all the shadow walkers and Hunt
.”

“
What if they turn on you
?”

“
Do it with my magic so that I can control their
minds if they do
.”

“
You don’t like making it easy on me, do you
?”

I didn’t answer. The magic began flowing from
Krechea, to the amulet, through me, out into the amulet, and finally to all the
wizards except for Krechea. Suddenly, I could feel all of the shadow walkers
and soul guards in my mind. I stayed out of their memories and personal lives,
but I could give them a command and determine who got how much power. It was
like they were my little chess pieces that I could use however I wanted.

That was a slippery-slope if I ever saw one.

Still, it was an advantage, and I wasn’t going to
waste it. Without a word, I instructed the shadow walkers to force Krechea
through the door. More and more magic flowed through me until it started to
sting. I ignored that and pushed harder. Darwin was just directing at this
point.

This time, when Krechea struck me with another shot
of energy, it was out of desperation. I let it hit me, knowing full well that
my deal with Heather was voided. My instincts weren’t warning me of danger, and
that wasn’t because Krechea wasn’t dangerous. He was very dangerous.

The reason I didn’t bother to stop the lightning was
because when he struck, he was vulnerable, and also because my familiar was a
gargoyle. At that moment, when all his remaining power was working to defeat
me, his disguise fell away. In the few previous times I had seen his true,
adult form, he was very different than what he looked like before he became
Langril’s enemy. I had assumed that Langril had somehow disfigured him.

In reality, he was no different in appearance than
any mortal man. What I was seeing, however, was what I could only describe as
his soul. His hairless face was nothing short of grotesque, with stone-gray
skin, glowing yellow eyes, and sharpened teeth. His body was something straight
out of a horror flick; overall deformed with lumps, cysts, and greenish veins
on his skin. This figure seemed to overlay the mortal form of the man like a
ghost. It was so horrible a sight, in fact, that it nearly distracted me.

My instincts kept me focused. I channeled Krechea’s
power away and I could feel my gargoyle’s magic ready to assist me. The magic
that struck me should have thrown me across the room, yet I barely wobbled on
my feet. My focus was on the shadow walkers and when Krechea was completely
exposed, I was ready. In about one second, the silver tornado swept the
powerful demon up and into the darkness of the tower.

The power flow between Krechea, me, and the shadow
walkers snapped. Flagstone slammed the door shut, and there was absolute
silence.

Nobody seemed to even want to breathe, as if they
couldn’t believe he was gone. Even I was expecting it to be some kind of trick.
After a few minutes, however, the shadow walkers turned to me. “What now?” one
of them asked.

“We have the Shadow Master’s magic,” Felicity said,
sounding like she was on the verge of shock.

I turned to Hunt. “I guess you have a new faction of
students.”

The shadow walkers had to be introduced to society
without the rest of the paranormal community learning about the tower, the
wizard council was still being formed, and the paranormals who were under protection
at the university were taking their dear sweet time leaving. I didn’t want to
have anything to do with that.

That was why I was packed and ready to head home the
morning after the fight with Krechea. Darwin had his father come to pick him
up, Kyle took my mother home, and Henry and Scott took Elizabeth and the boys
back to their place.

I decided that I was going to find another place.
Henry argued about it, but I told him I wasn’t attached to my apartment
anymore. Since Henry, myself, and my landlord were the only ones with a key to
my place, I was apprehensive when I arrived to find mail on my coffee table.
Electric, water, and internet were paid online, my phones were pre-paid, I used
free antennae, and the rent for my office and apartment were paid months in
advance, so the only mail I got was junk.

Yet the letter on top of the junk mail had no stamp
or address, only my name. I picked it up and pulled it out of the envelope. It
was a single piece of letter paper and the handwriting was one I would never
forget.

Devon,

I gave up coming over cause ur landladys a bich. i spose ur fucking
her. anyway, im moving into jeffs mansion. i no the judge gave me the hous in
the divorce but you never put my name on it. The realtor was being anel about
it so jeff said he would pay me if i give it back to you. its not like the hous
is worth crap anyway. the key is on the porch. dont bother calling. u had ur
chance. the wedding is june 15 and ur NOT invited.

The letter was utterly painful to read thanks to my
ex-wife’s near illiteracy. However, after I deciphered the actual message, I
set the letter down feeling pretty damn happy. I wanted to go celebrate because
even after the divorce, she was still my problem. Neighbors had called me to
complain about her before I changed my number. After that, they showed up at my
office to demand that I control her when she drove sixty-miles-per-hour on the
neighborhood streets or drunkenly broke into their houses.

There was a knock on my door that sent a shiver down
my spine. It wasn’t a bad feeling, just very familiar. I went to my door and
opened it. “You know, my window is always open,” I said.

Astrid smirked. “Just how many vampires do you have
coming and going from your apartment? Is this a bad time?”

“Actually, I think you’re the one I wanted to see
most right now.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Well, you have improved on
your compliments.”

She entered the room and I shut the door behind her.
“Thanks. I’ve been practicing on Clara.”

Her glare could boil water. “I hate you,” she said.

I laughed. “I’m joking. I don’t know why you hate her
so much, though.”

“I don’t know why anyone likes her. She looks like a
rainbow puked in her hair and she’s a pansexual slut. You would be better off
with literally anyone else on Earth.” And that was when a little of the wind
rushed out of her sail. She sat on the couch and I sat next to her, not
touching. “I guess we need to talk. You seemed to have forgiven me before I
went to Dothra, but that was before you found out that Krechea was controlling
me.”

“You went to Dothra without saying anything to me.”

“I was being used against you!” She jumped up and
started pacing in front of the coffee table. “Besides, I thought you forgave me
for hurting your mother. I wasn’t ready to forgive myself.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back onto the couch
beside me. “You didn’t hurt her or kill Joseph.” She started to argue, so I
explained to her everything I learned from my mother’s memory. When I was done,
she didn’t say anything for a while.

Finally, she stood. “Want to order a pizza?”

“You’re a vampire,” I pointed out.

“I just got out of Dothra yesterday and want
something cheesy, greasy, and bad for me.”

“You just described half of the population of men in
this state.” I pulled out my phone and ordered a pizza. Astrid didn’t have a
working phone since she had been gone for months.

*          *          *

We chatted for hours. At one point, we watched some
television in comfortable silence, but we ended up talking over the show. We
had a lot to catch up on. We told each other about our lives. After I shot her,
she tried to stay away from me. Although she didn’t remember John attacking,
some part of her
knew
I was in danger. She was even suspicious of Cody
because no matter how much Cody tried to protect me, she felt like there was
someone after me.

When she saved Cody from the car accident, he
resented her. Astrid really didn’t know what to do; she knew I hated vampires
after what she did and that I cared so much about Cody. Unfortunately, she was
just a kid.

That was not something I had ever accounted for. Even
though we were both children, she always acted so wise that I assumed she
always knew what was right and what wasn’t. Instead, she just knew I was the
only person she cared about and she had to do what was best for me no matter
what it was.

She wanted Cody to explain to me what happened, but
he was a newly turned vampire and didn’t want to hurt me. There were a lot of
problems and mixed emotions between them until Stephen found them and taught
both of them self-control. Astrid decided it was time to give me space and Cody
was too worried that I would hate him just for being a vampire.

While I grew up from that point with as little
supernatural interference as possible, Astrid dedicated her life to protecting
humans against paranormals. She fought feral shifters, conquer-minded fae, and
kill-happy vampires. The only paranormal affairs she stayed out of was wizard
ones, since she was afraid it would somehow get back to me.

Eventually, we were quiet again.

“So, what’s next for us?” she asked when the silence
became awkward.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want an ‘us’?”

“I want us to be friends. I don’t know about more
than that.”

She put her hand on my knee and looked down. “I was
hoping you would say that. I love you. You’re my best friend, the only person
I’ve ever trusted, and the only one I can be myself with.” She met my eyes
again. “And I will always love you. But I’m not the same person I was when we
were kids and neither are you. In fact, I’ve recently discovered I’m not even
what I thought I was. Does that make sense?”

“Yes. Relationships are really difficult and time
consuming. Sometimes people can love each other and not be meant to be. Your
life is completely up in the air right now and you need to figure it out before
you can even think of adding something else that’s complicated and messy to it.
I get it.”

She pursed her lips. “Cody just said I have girl
problems and I needed to take it to a girl.”

“We’re not in high school. I have many sage quotes and
plenty of divorce experience to share. And, I agree because I’m in the same
boat. Not as much as you, of course, but I think we would end up hating each
other if we attempted something more than friendship right now. We don’t know
each other anymore.”

She gave me a wicked grin. “Well, you’re right; we’re
adults. We could have a friendship and still do other stuff without any of the
committed-relationship expectations.”

I nodded. “I’m a guy and you’re the first girl I’ve
ever loved, so I’m all for it… as long as I can still fool around with Clara
when she dyes her hair b---” My sentence was cut short as she punched my arm.

“I will kill that tramp! You can sleep with anyone in
the world, except for her!”

I was laughing, despite the fact that she was serious.
“I’m not going to sleep with Clara. Why does she bother you so much?”

“Because she slept with Cody and
then
stole
his girlfriend!”

I gaped.

*          *          *

I was awoken by a knock on the door. When it got
louder instead of going away, I groaned and sat up. Astrid moaned and rolled
away. Despite her blatant invitation, we didn’t do anything more intimate than
kiss and go to sleep in the same bed.

It was okay with me; I wasn’t really into casual sex.
I had some in college, and then I got too busy at my job. Unfortunately, there
was always someone who depended on me, so personal time was never a priority.

Astrid was safe and sticking around. I could visit
with her and get to know her when it was convenient for us both. I knew for
sure that we could be friends, and pushing that would come to no good.

When the knocking persisted, I went to the living
room and answered the door, dressed only in my boxers and my grouchiest glare.
Remington’s eyes widened for a split second before darting down my body. “Are
you coming?” I asked.

She swallowed and forced her eyes to meet mine.
“What?”

Hiding a grin, I made a gesture for her to enter. “I
asked if you were going to come in or just stand out in the hall all day.”

She stepped inside and I shut the door. “I’m sorry I
missed the big showdown.”

“You only missed helping to save the world.” She
nodded. “What did Flagstone do to piss you off so much?”

She shook her head with frustration and sat on the
couch. I knew her well enough to understand that sitting down was her way of
trying not to explode with anger. “Nothing. He was doing exactly what he was
supposed to do.”

I went to the kitchen and fixed her a cup of Earl
Grey tea. When I returned, she took it and held it in her hands without
drinking. To give her more time, I made myself a cup of coffee. When I finally
sat down beside her with my coffee, she set her tea cup down.

“Rosin is my father’s familiar. I don’t know how you
found it out, but you know what it means.”

“Your father can see through his eyes and vice
versa.”

“Yes. It also means Rosin must protect my father.
There’s a system they have that makes them the perfect team. They’re best
friends. I thought my father never remarried because he loved my mother too
much. Now I think otherwise.”

“You think Flagstone is the reason?”

“A familiar is only supposed to care about his
wizard, because they can only give a hundred percent to one person. When I was
born, suddenly Rosin had to divide his protection. Now each of us got fifty
percent. My theory is that my father was so overprotective of me so that Rosin
didn’t have to be, but then I went to school and Rosin chose to give me his
time and attention.”

“Why do I get the feeling you would have been a
hell-raiser without him there?”

She blushed. “I only did that once. The point is,
Rosin has always been there. He would chase away anyone else in my life. I
don’t get on with people because I never had to. If someone was in my way,
Rosin would remove them. Instead of learning to share and compromise, I learned
to fight.”

“I can see that.”

“And he was the only one I ever thought about.
Growing up, I always thought he was mine, and would always be mine. That day
you killed John, you saw how I felt about him. It was the day Rosin and I
realized we loved each other.”

“I can see that every time you’re in the same room.”

She shook her head. “When Rosin left to protect my
father because Vincent had a vision, I realized that I was wrong. Rosin was
never mine, not for a minute. He was born to protect my father; he was designed
to be my father’s familiar. Even his personality was created solely to protect
my father. Everyone thinks my father is the wisest, most level-headed man in
the paranormal world.”

“I thought he was a trouble maker when he was
younger.”

“He still is— Rosin keeps it at bay. They’re
opposites, and without each other, they’re self-destructive.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a part of it.”

“I don’t want to be a part of it. I want to get away
from them. I can’t have Rosin alone, so I don’t want him at all. I really love
him… I just think we’ve been together too long. He helped my father raise me.
That was attractive when I was ten, but now it’s really… not.”

I nodded. “Then what is it you want to do with your
life?”

“I’m going to run Helena’s Academy of Supernatural
Arts.”

“Why is the children’s school called that?”

“I’m pretty sure that was covered in one or more of
your classes. Remember the Malleus Maleficarium?”

“Yeah; Kale went over it briefly.”

“In Innsbruck, Helena Scheuberin, an outspoken woman
who was married to a wealthy merchant was accused of witchcraft in 1485. She
opposed an inquisitor and discouraged others from attending his sermons. She
even accused him of being in league with the devil. Anyway, I plan to change
the name of the school. It’s supposed to be empowering, but we don’t live in
Austria and too many people don’t understand it.”

“You could name it after your mother.”

She hesitated before nodding a little. “Maybe. Okay,
so the reason I’m here is because in order to run it without my father’s
interference, I need a deputy headmaster. I need a second-in-command who can
deal with a ridiculous amount of paranormal children, who can take orders from
a woman, and who will put the students first if something happens to me.”

I thought about it. “Watson?” I asked. I had no idea
how any of the professors handled children.

Remington just rolled her eyes. “I’m not asking for
nominations, idiot. I’m offering you a job! You’re probably the only one who
wouldn’t run screaming the first time I lost my temper.”

“Oh. I haven’t finished my training at Quintessence.”