elemental 07 - lonely hunger (3 page)

“For my money, we need to talk to Oriel Peters,” Aiden said. “She’s been out of the way for a while now but she was involved in the original conspiracy against you—she may have some ideas. She may even have connections with the group still. Her grandfather’s the ruler of fire; he’d make sure her stay in jail was as cushy as possible.” Aira chewed on her lip.

“Is it safe for you to potentially go up against the ruler of your element?” she asked him. Aiden hesitated for just a moment before shrugging.

“The elders have us on the case—along with other bounty hunters. We need to talk to Oriel, and I need to get in touch with Thomas.” Aira had briefly met Thomas—a friend and ‘colleague,’ inasmuch as such existed to Aiden; after she had risen to the rule of her element, and had taken on responsibilities alongside Aiden and Dylan hunting down dangerous elementals, Aiden had taken Thomas up on the offer of grabbing a drink and catching up.

Thomas combined most of the stereotypes that existed about fire elementals—he was blond, blue-eyed, handsome; he was not quite as slim as Aiden but slightly more muscular. Both men had the indefinable presence of their element, a crackling sort of tension that gave the sense that they were just waiting to burst into action like coiled springs. Where Aiden tended to fall on the protective and passionate end of the fire scale, Thomas was almost pure aggression. He had charisma, but Aira knew that if she was forced to spend more than a few hours with the man, the two of them would get into an argument that would potentially cause property damage. His ability to manipulate the element he had been born into was not as strong as Aiden’s, but his personality was fire all over. “So this is her,” he’d said when Aiden had introduced them.

“Her?” Aira had asked, feeling a ripple of dislike for Thomas’ tone. 

“Don’t take offense; I just never thought Aiden would settle with anyone—or if he did it’d be another fire elemental, someone a bit more…” Aira had raised an eyebrow, letting the wind around their outside table rise from a gentle breeze to a gust.

“She’s plenty able to fight, Tom,” Aiden had said with amusement in his voice, giving Aira a glance. She remembered their first meeting well—the fight they had gotten into, little more than a petty squabble, but it had set the tone. She remembered the fireballs Aiden had shot at her, the winds she had directed at him, the predatory birds.

“Everyone knows she’s plenty capable,” Thomas had said, sitting back. “And I’ve never seen you happier. The sex must be great.” Aira had rolled her eyes.

“It’s fabulous,” she had told him, holding his gaze. She didn’t mind discussing her sex life at least in theory—but she wanted to make sure she established where they stood. By the time she and Aiden had gone back to the apartment, Thomas had no illusions on the fact that they were matched partners; neither one of them had brought themselves down in their pairing. They were equals. 

Aira shrugged at the idea of contacting Thomas. She knew that he had his ear to the ground more than Aiden was able to do. “If you think he knows something, can’t hurt to ask,” she said. Aiden’s hands began to move over her body again. “What are we going to do if this goes all the way up to the rulers? Aiden, this could be…” she shook her head. “This could be really, really bad. For all of us.”

“We’ll have to investigate,” Aiden told her, bringing her face up to kiss her. “You need to rest to be at top strength.”

“You do too,” she told him firmly. “You can’t expect to continue running at full strength on potions and caffeine. You know if someone comes in, here we’ll both wake up in an instant.” Aiden chuckled.

“Well, maybe we don’t have to both go to sleep just yet,” he said lowly, pulling her on top of him. His hands dropped to her hips and Aira smiled down at him, feeling the low, constant hum of desire running through his body. 

“We’ll both sleep better,” she agreed. Aiden shifted her on top of him and Aira began to move, kissing him hungrily and letting her energy flow into him. She was worried indeed—but as long as she was with Aiden, Aira thought, they were able to take all comers.

CHAPTER THREE

DYLAN PEERED INTO THE SILVER bowl full of water, breathing steadily, trying to look into the rippling surface to see something he could use. Aiden was talking to Thomas, and Aira was putting out her own feelers. Dylan felt almost useless; since it was fire and earth elementals who had committed the attack, his own contacts among his element wouldn’t be of much avail. But he thought—he hoped—he might be able to glean a few answers through his scrying bowl. After months of practice, he was beginning to become adept at it—it had come in handy in more than one of their investigations. 

Aira had told him that she needed his help in interrogating Oriel Peters; they would all need to be on hand for that moment. But in the meantime, Dylan would do what he could to get as many answers as possible. He tried to focus down on the ephemeral, flickering connection he’d established with Leigh. He had to know what was going on with her—he had to get some answers for his own state of mind. He peered into the bowl of water and focused. Murky, floating figures passed in front of his eyes—as insubstantial as smoke within the depths. Dylan focused down and breathed slowly, trying not to stir the surface of the water. The scrying bowl was not entirely reliable; it didn’t always provide direct information, sometimes giving him nothing but groups of symbols, or an emotional state. His connection with Leigh was tenuous at best; he had felt her energy, especially in their kiss, but they hadn’t mingled sufficiently for him to be able to locate her as easily as he would be able to find Aiden or Aira or his mother.

The murky images in the bowl slowly resolved. Dylan closed his eyes for a moment to get a sense of the emotional state in the scene before his eyes. It was tense—Dylan felt his heart beating faster in reaction to the anxiety he could feel echoing through the water—someone was in pain. Dylan tried to focus in, tried to get a feel for who it was he was connecting with through the bowl. It was difficult to know for sure. There were several people; that impression Dylan had almost immediately. They were arguing. There was a lot of energy flowing—Dylan sorted out the impulses, tried to feel for the types of energy. He opened his eyes and peered into the scrying bowl.
“No way out for you, you’re already in this,”
Dylan heard through the connection he had established.
“You’re coming with us.”
Dylan peered more closely into the bowl. He couldn’t make out the figures enough to get a face—even the face of the person the comments were addressed to. He groaned in frustration. 

Dylan ran his fingers through the water, clearing the images impatiently. It was no use; he had no idea of where exactly the people were, but he knew that they were involved in the attack. He had felt the vibrations of energy—they were earth and fire elementals. Dylan still couldn’t be sure if it was Leigh they were talking to. What did it mean—if it was Leigh—for them to have told her that there was no way out, that she was already in it?

Dylan left his bedroom and walked into the living room, trying to decide how he could follow up on what little he had been able to see. Where had they been? Where had the people the scrying bowl showed him been having their argument? He closed his eyes and called up the impressions he’d received. They were all tense, that much he knew. He sensed they were working on another attack. But there was no indication of where they were, and Dylan had to wonder if they had somehow managed to find a spell that would make it more difficult to be tracked. It would be a wise precaution, one that he would take if he were on the run. 

Aira came downstairs, looking excited. 

“How have your investigations gone?” 

Aira came to the landing and gestured to the kitchen, silently asking of Dylan wanted anything.

“Get me a beer,” Dylan said, not quite asking. Aira nodded.

“Aiden is still checking around,” she said, going into the kitchen and then coming back out a moment later with two beers. “I’ve got a few things I need to look into more, but this is looking pretty complicated.” Dylan nodded.

“I’ve been trying to track down Leigh,” he admitted. Aira raised an eyebrow, passing him one of the beers before sitting down. “I haven’t been able to get a lock on her, so I don’t know for sure whether—whether or not she’s actually with them.” Dylan licked his lips. “But I did just get something in the bowl a few minutes ago. I think I found some of them, but I can’t track them.” Aira considered a moment before nodding.

“One of the earth elementals who’s actually on our side—inasmuch as we have a side—said that they thought the group might have anti-tracking magic on their side. That makes it harder, but not impossible.” Dylan shrugged.

“I mean, if we can figure out which kind of magic it is, what spell it is exactly, we should be able to get a lock on them and negate the spell.”

“That would certainly help. I don’t know how much help Thomas is going to be able to be. Though he’s supposedly investigating.” Aira sighed and sat back, taking a long pull of her beer. “It seems like everyone in the elemental community is either cheering them on, denying anything happened, or interested in exterminating them.” She chewed her bottom lip, and Dylan was able to see the troubled look in her eyes. “Why do they hate me so much?”

“I think for some of them, you’re nothing more than a figurehead,” Dylan said, contemplating. “There’s been discontent brewing against the elders for a long time. When you were named the ruler of air, the earth elementals got worried. I mean, with Lorene in power and no air ruler, they were pretty safe to expand their influence, gain more wealth and power.” Aira took another long pull of her beer, sighing.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” she said, her voice tinged with frustration. “I’m not coming down any harder on earth elementals than on any other kind.” Dylan shrugged.

“Well,” he said, “your presence among the rulers changes the balance of power. We definitely need to find a good candidate to replace your grandmother. But first things first. What did you find out?” 

“Just that they’re evading trackers thus far—no one has any real clue where they are in the world. They could still be in the States, but they could also be in Europe, even South America. It’s unlikely they’d flee to Asia or Africa.” 

Dylan had to agree. 

“Any other leads?” 

Aira smiled slowly.

“I was able to get one of Alex’s family members,” she said slowly. “I have a meeting with her this afternoon, before we go for Oriel. It seems this wrinkle in the plan hasn’t been well-received by others in my element. I’ve been flooded with requests for justice.” She sighed. “For a group of intellectuals, some of my fellow air-aligned people haven’t been thinking things through very well. It seems that there were a few families that were involved in the early stages—interested in the contention for the throne.”

“That makes sense,” Dylan said. “They’d want their own family members to rule the element. Air’s one of the more volatile alignments—more unstable elementals in your branch. You guys are a dangerous group.” 

Aira smiled wryly. 

“So they got on-board with overthrowing me and now it’s biting them in the ass and they’re all eager to roll over, but no one knows anything.” 

Dylan smiled and took a long drink of his beer.

“The water elementals are mostly not involved at all,” he said. He’d sent out tentative feelers—to his mother, to friends he knew. “You know how we are.” 

Aira nodded, smiling. “I’m still not entirely understanding why the fire elementals are getting involved—at least, apart from the situation with Oriel.”

Aiden came down the stairs, and Dylan lifted a hand to greet him. Aiden grabbed a beer from the kitchen and came into the room with them, sitting down next to Aira. “So,” Aiden said, sipping his beer. “Got some news.”

“Do tell,” Aira said, glancing from her husband to Dylan. “Dylan and I don’t really have a whole lot to go on.”

“There’s some arguing between the fire element and the earth representatives,” Aiden said. “They’re still united—those who are involved in this anyway—but they’re not exactly stable among themselves. Thomas says he’s heard some murmurs that some of the people on the periphery want to come forward and snitch, but they want some reassurances that they’ll be protected.”

“No one was really expecting a war to be this complicated, I suppose,” Aira said. Dylan chuckled.

“Battles against authority always sound good on the surface. It’s only when you start actually having to do things that people really think about it.” He chewed on his bottom lip. “I still don’t think Leigh was directly involved.” He explained what he had seen in the scrying bowl: the accusations, the fear, anxiety, and tension. “I think there’s some conflict in the inner circle. But until we can break the tracking spell they’ve got, we won’t be able to nab any of them.”

“Well how would that spell be aligned? If it’s earth, maybe you can sort it out.” 

Aira picked at the label on her bottle of beer.

“I can do some research. But we need to find out what Oriel knows first.” 

Dylan thought to himself that until Aira came into contention to rule her element, no one had ever given Oriel Peters very much thought at all. She was the granddaughter of the ruler of fire, but she was only of middling power—not strong enough in her elemental alignment to be capable of much more than a minor role in the politics of their kind. Certainly when the rule of the element came up—in a few decades at most—Oriel would not be in contention, even if she hadn’t been involved in underhanded dealings. 

“How are we going to get in there?” Aiden asked. Aira shrugged indolently.

“First of all, she’s still under arrest because of what she did to me, and I’m an elemental ruler.” Aira, in her capacity of deciding the fates of other elementals, had the top-most access to anyone kept in the care of the elders, awaiting a verdict on their status in the community. “Second of all, we’re investigating that crime, and she might have information.” Aira smiled slowly. “Thirdly, I’d like to see anyone argue with me about it.”