Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One Read online

  Instantly, both vehicles were on the side of the road, and my brothers and I were exiting.

  “What’s going on?” Sylee asked from behind my seat.

  “Stay in the car and shut your mouth,” I ordered in a voice that begged her to defy me. Her mouth closed instantly. She obeyed that voice. I should use it more often with her.

  “How many?” Adam asked when the four of us met between the vehicles.

  “Too many. Surrounding us on three sides. If it were just us we wouldn’t have a problem, but defending six others…” I trailed off. They’d get the picture. It wasn’t that we couldn’t do it, but more like if I wanted my chocolate bar after a successful mission we couldn’t chance it. After a few seconds, I asked, “Any ideas? I don’t think you’re going to like mine. I don’t even like it.”

  “I can only think of your plan. I don’t like it either,” Adam said.

  “Same,” Chris agreed, and Drew nodded.

  “We can’t take Sylee there,” Drew added as an afterthought. I knew he thought of the same creatures I did. Vampires and demons. They would love to get their hands on the girl.

  “I know. Let me worry about that,” I said. “I may have an idea.” Drew cocked an eyebrow at me, but I didn’t have time to explain. “They’re closing in fast. We have to leave now. There’s no time to grab bags. We need to move faster than we can carrying them. We’ll be on foot, and our adversaries aren’t.”

  Moving quickly back to our cars, we opened the doors and yelled for everyone to get out.

  “What’s going on Commander?” Sylee asked as I pulled her from the car, followed by Isla. Would this girl never stop asking questions of me?

  “Move,” I said simply, pointing everyone in the direction I needed them to go: east. Adam took the lead while I trailed behind to guard our backs.

  It seemed the witches were pushing us toward two options: Demon’s Ridge and Bard’s Forest. We’d never survive the trip through Demon’s Ridge. Not with the Hamilton’s. That left Bard’s Forest. It was a forest filled with magical, and unmagical, creatures. Humans rarely entered it, and for good reason. Some creatures were good, and others were utterly evil. It was the evil ones I needed to save Sylee from. I prayed I could figure out a different plan before we arrived at the forest. I hated the one I had.

  “Where are we going?” Governor Hamilton asked as we ran through the fields surrounding the forest. We needed cover soon. Jonas must not have been paying attention to where we were at, if he didn’t know where we were going.

  “Bard’s Forest,” Chris answered him.

  The Governor halted, “No,” he said firmly. Ah! This family!

  “Move, Sir,” I ordered.

  “It’s too dangerous,” Jonas stated.

  “It’s more dangerous behind us. We still have a few miles until we reach the forest. We must keep moving.”

  Governor Hamilton peered behind us, then turned to look forward.

  “Sir,” I said, trying to be nice so he would do as I said faster, “My team can protect your family better in the forest. If we couldn’t, we would not take you there. Our job is to bring you all in, not just some of you. If we don’t go into the forest, only some of you will make it to Mount Pickett.”

  It was a loose threat, but it worked. Looking defeated, the Governor nodded and we kept running. It took longer to reach the outskirts of the forest than I wanted, but when we arrived, I had decided on my plan for Sylee. Knowing her for a short time, I knew she would hate it, so I couldn’t ask her permission to enact it. She would hate that even more, but what choice did I have? I couldn’t take her into the forest in her current condition. The success of my mission, my duty, required this of me.

  We paused before the woods in front of us. This was it. The best time I would find to put my plan in place. I was dreading it. It was the worst decision of my life, and probably the stupidest.

  I have a bad idea about what you’re thinking, Adam told me.

  I don’t know what else to do. And I didn’t. You know this forest as well as I do, and we don’t have many, if any, other options.

  Good luck, Cal. I’m not going to try to talk you out of it. You’ve probably thought it all through. I just don’t know if you’re ready for this.

  Agreed. That was all I could tell him. I took a deep breath and released it slowly.

  “Sylee! With me please.” I started walking into the woods. I took a glance over my shoulder to make sure she was following me before continuing. She gave her family a questioning look before Adam told her to follow me. She looked at him first, and then she shrugged before following me. She’d hate him almost as much as me soon. Then she would regret her decision to come with me, but I didn’t have a choice. I kept telling myself that. Hopefully we would both learn to live with this decision I was making. It wasn’t like I wanted it either. Never in a million years did I want this, but duty came before anything else.

  We walked in silence until her family was well out of view. Adam spoke to my link just as I slowed my quick walk. And just so you know her family is asking about what you’re doing, and the rest of us are worried. We’re starting to feel the witch magic. Carmon, we didn’t realize there were so many. We seriously need to hurry.

  Did he not think I knew we needed to hurry? I need three minutes. I’m going to take care of it now.

  Are the Elementals okay with this?

  I’m not asking.

  “What do you want, Commander?” Sylee asked when we stopped. I turned to look at her and found she stood with her arms crossed and feet apart in a defiant stance. I took a deep breath to quiet my usually calm nerves. I couldn’t believe what I was about to do. Never had I imagined making this choice, especially with this girl! A girl who continually sat on an annoying nerve. Again, I reminded myself of my duty.

  “Come here,” I ordered holding out my hand.

  “What’s going on?” I could tell she was irritated. “If we’re in danger like you say we are, we should be moving. Not standing here in the woods.”

  It was now or never. I opted for the never, but found myself walking the few steps to her anyway. I took her head, tilted it to the side, and bit her neck where it met her shoulder, all before her brain registered that I had moved. Ignoring the taste of her sweet blood in my mouth, I recited the words to the bond in my mind: Mine to serve, Mine to cherish, and Mine to love. I didn’t know the meaning of the words, but said them because it was protocol.

  Sylee struggled against me momentarily. Then she hung limp in my arms. I knew how she felt, having been bitten by my brothers before. It was a very enjoyable experience having one of my kind drink from you.

  While Sylee was mentally trying to pull herself together after the euphoria she had just experienced, I used the knife on my belt to put a small cut on my wrist. It was short, but deep and would bleed just long enough for the job to be completed. Sylee needed my blood.

  After laying her on the ground, I laid my shaking wrist over her open mouth. There was so much blood pouring from the cut that she had no choice but to swallow or choke. After a couple of gulps I felt a new link form in my mind. The bond. The thing that made the girl laying in front of me my mate. It was the only way I knew to keep her safe in the forest. I hoped it was the right thing. If not, she was going to drive me crazy the rest of my short life. Short because she would be the death of me.

  Suddenly, Sylee shot up to a sitting position. “What did you do to me?!” she cried.

  “What was needed,” was the only reply I could give her before walking away.

  Chapter Two

  Sylee

  “No. No way is that the answer you give me!” I argued as I ran to catch up to him.

  What in the world had he done to me? I mean, I knew he bit me, but what was the new feeling in my chest and head? And let’s not even go into that bite. I felt a blush come to my face just thinking about it. Had I moaned? I’m pretty sure I had. Gross! I couldn’t stand the guy.

  First, Miste
r “I’m In Charge” comes bursting into my house and tells me what to do. Me! No way, Bud. Then, he thinks he can drag me into the woods and bite me? And drink my blood! Okay, I’ll admit as well that his blood was rather tasty, but I’m not into drinking blood. Again, gross!

  His only redeeming quality was his looks. Man, he was a fine specimen of the male species. That, however, did not give him the right to treat people the way he did. He even treated his brothers, who were equally as gorgeous, terribly. Why did they stick around, and not ask for a transfer?

  “Hey! Answer me!” I attempted to grab his arm, and he spun around with ice in his blue eyes.

  “It’s the answer you’re going to get right now. We don’t have time, and I’m not in the mood to talk to you. The witches are almost here,” he pretty much yelled at me.

  At the word “witches,” I shut my mouth and followed him back to the others. Whatever conversation we needed to have could wait until we were safe. The witches scared me, but I would not let this barbarian of a man see my fear.

  “What did he want?” my brother, Archer, asked when we returned. He eyed Carmon suspiciously.

  “Good question,” I replied, “but for now we need to run again.”

  “There are witches behind us, aren’t there, Commander?” Paul asked politely. There was a small tremble in his voice, but he stood straight and asked the question while making eye contact with the obnoxious man.

  “Yes, there are Paul,” Carmon replied more politely than he had to anyone else in my family.

  Isla started shaking and whimpering again. More tears streamed down her face. Out of all my family, she was the weakest and least able to protect herself. Archer and Paul, who were on either side of her, reached out and patted her on the back.

  “Let’s go,” Carmon growled out.

  Carmon’s brother, Adam, I think, continued to lead the way into the woods. When we crossed into the border of the forest, I could feel something settle over me like a blanket. It felt old. It was rumored that the forest was magical. Maybe that’s what I was feeling? If our security team was willing to talk to me later, maybe I could ask one of them about it.

  It seemed we ran forever and ever before even I, the best runner in my family, couldn’t run any further. My lungs were burning and I couldn’t get enough air into my body. My head was starting to feel light when, thankfully, my new “Commander” called a break before I could fall over and embarrass myself. My family were trained Light. Well, my parents were. Archer and I were doing well, and were enrolled to go to the academy soon. Isla and Paul still had a few years of home training before they headed to the academy. Part of our training was physical fitness. I’d never been so grateful for that part of it before.

  Soon after we stopped, my father started talking to our security guys. “Borgman said he was sending me the best,” but he was interrupted by one of them, Chris perhaps, saying, “he did”. My father continued, “Then why are we running through a magical forest away from the witches? Why don’t you get rid of them, and then we can go back to the vehicles?”

  Good question. I looked to my biter/attacker for an answer. Of course, he had one, “We are matched, Governor, your family and my team. There are six of you and six of us.” I wanted to comment about his ability to count, but his next sentence sent my smart mouth running. “And there are well over 75 witches.” Even my father’s face paled and his mouth dropped open. It was rare that witches gathered more than ten for a job. They didn’t need to be in large numbers because they were already deadly with less than a half dozen. Commander Lanshay continued, “My team and I could take that many if we didn’t have to also defend you. This is our best option.”

  “I see,” my father said, “My apologies, Commander. I should not have questioned your abilities.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have, Governor. I’ll let it slide this time, but not again,” that jerk told my father. How dare he speak to a Governor that way! I sent him the deadliest glare I could, and to my disappointment, it seemed to make him entertained, or did I just imagine the slight lift of his lips? Did those yummy looking lips even know how to smile?

  “Now will you answer my question?” Archer asked, standing and folding his arms across his chest. I do the same thing when I’m being defiant. I learned it from Archer. “What did you want with my sister?”

  “No, I will not answer your question.” Commander Lanshay didn’t even look at him. His jaw seemed to grind like he was trying to distract himself. I had no doubt this guy was trying not to hit someone.

  Carmon’s eyes grew wide and he looked at Drew. Something passed between them, but I couldn’t understand what it was. Afterwards, Drew closed his eyes like he was concentrating on something. It was all so weird.

  “What do you mean ‘no’? You’re going to tell me what you wanted to talk to my sister about,” Archer demanded, taking a step toward our Commander. This would not end well for Archer. I knew Archer was trying to be a good big brother and protect me, but I also knew I needed to step in before the glaring Commander did anything to hurt him.

  “Archer, it’s okay. He didn’t actually talk to me.” I paused while deciding if I should tell my family now or later. Since they’d find out anyway, I continued, “He bit me.”

  Five heads, all belonging to my family, shot in my direction.

  “Why in the world would you bite my sister?” Archer turned on Carmon again.

  Apparently, Commander Lanshay didn’t want to answer because he said, “It’s time we get moving. We still have a long day of walking and some of the witches have entered the forest.” He had to hold up a hand to cut Archer off. “First you all need to understand that I am in charge. There will be no challenging my decisions, no discussions about what way to go, or second guessing me. You will follow every order to the letter. If not, you will get us all killed. Trust me when I say you do not want to disobey me. Am I understood?” He let his gaze settle on each of my family members. “Good. Now, Chris and Adam will walk at the back of the group. Jeff and Dalton in the middle. Drew, you are with me at the front. Sylee,” he looked at me and my eyes changed to hard steel, “you will walk directly behind me. And you,” he pointed at Archer, “will not say a word the rest of the day, or I will break your jaw.”

  “Trust me, man, he means that,” Chris told Archer while rubbing his own jaw. I assumed he had been on the receiving end of such a threat before and failed to stay quiet. What a complete jerk. How could you be so callous that you would break your own brother’s jaw?

  “Let’s go.” Carmon headed deeper into the forest, and he expected us to follow.

  We walked for hours, no one saying anything. On occasion, I would catch the eye of one of my parents. They would mouth something like, “Are you okay?” to which I would respond with a small head nod. I could see the worry on my mother’s face. She was as tall as me, and had the same dark hair. My father’s hair was thinning and what was left of his short, black, course hair had started its change to a salt and pepper color years ago. He was tall and regal in appearance. Of course, I was a bit biased. My father was one of my favorite people. He had spent so much time with Archer and I growing up, teaching us to defend ourselves and taking us on trips to meet with other governors and the king. I despised the Commander for causing them so much worry on top of the stress the witches had already caused them. Now, they worried about me and the commander. It made my blood simmer.

  Our walking also gave me way too much time to think and observe our self-appointed leader. It was too bad the Commander had such a terrible attitude. He was good looking with almost black hair, and killer blue eyes. They were nice eyes when they weren’t icy. His shirt was black, and tight enough to show a multitude of hard muscles. I could feel a blush coming when I went to check out the lower half of him. His black cargo pants were quite nice fitting in just the right places. End of story. Then I noticed his height when he had to duck for a branch that I didn’t have to. He was a good six inches taller than me.
r />   Focusing on the man in front of me, no matter how much I couldn’t stand him, and shouldn’t even admire the view, kept my mind from the skittering I heard around us. I could feel the tiny hairs on the back of my neck rise often, and knew we were being watched. It didn’t seem to bother the Lanshay brothers. They kept walking like they couldn’t hear the skittering or feel the eyes on them.

  Carmon and Drew walked slowly. It surprised me after how fast we ran to get here. Then after two hours of walking, we were halted so they could check something out on the ground. I fought with myself for a while before asking, “What is that?”

  “A trap,” Jeff, who stood beside me, answered. My mouth fell open. No wonder we were walking so slow. We had to stop once more to dismantle a trap, and I’m pretty sure we walked around a few others because of the route we took before heading the way we had been.

  I kept having to stop myself from rubbing the weird feeling spot in my chest. Not to mention the weird feeling in my head was still there. What had he done to me? Did these same things happen to him as well? Why wasn’t he rubbing his chest or head too? Maybe it was just me. I wanted answers, but knew I wouldn’t get them until he was ready. I would show him that I could wait and not pester. I was stronger than that. I didn’t feel strong, though, as I stumbled along behind him while he didn’t seem fazed by our long journey. It wasn’t fair. The whole day was a nightmare, and I didn’t see it getting better anytime soon.

  The sun was starting to set when Carmon finally called a stop for the day. We were all tired, thirsty, and hungry. All except our fearless Commander. We hadn’t eaten or drank anything for a long time. In the haste of our retreat, we’d left our food and water in the car, and the requests we’d put in to stop and find something to eat and drink had been ignored or immediately shot down.

  Finally, I heard the words I’d been praying for. “Drew will go look for food. There’s a stream a quarter mile to the south.” How he knew that was a mystery to me. “Dalton and I will escort half the group there to drink, and then the other half will go when we return. Adam is in charge while I’m gone. Obey him.” Carmon glared at Archer. “Governor, you, your wife, and Isla will please come with me. When Drew comes back, the rest of you will eat.” Fine by me! He didn’t have to give me that order twice.