Elementally Priceless (6 page)

“Not my idea of fun, either, princess. But your dad doesn’t like you going around without some way of keeping tabs on you seeing as you can block him out.”

The fox and the hawk were two of my father’s familiars. Animals that bent to his beck and call. That was part of the reason I was sent to Death Valley in the first place. My own familiars didn’t hold up so well in the heat. Familiars were just animals, nothing special about them other than they could communicate with elementals. Just thinking of my two friends, a pang of sorrow flickered through me. I missed Peta the most, and I hoped that she was okay, wherever she was.

I tucked my hands into my pockets and stared at the humming boundary line. “Well, I’m going on a walkabout. You two coming, or staying behind to try to eat one another?”

Red butted his head against mine, nibbling on the edge of my ear. “The oubliette awaits you, why would you do this?”

My shoulders slumped. “If I don’t and the world goes to hell with demons riding it to the bitter end, how could I live with myself? What does the oubliette matter then?” That was the question that kept me up all night, unable to sleep. I was not like the other elementals; that had never been in doubt. That’s what had gotten me into trouble my entire life, if I was being honest with myself. I didn’t fit in.

Half-breed. Yeah, that too.

So why in the goddess’s green Earth would I stop doing what was right? Just because it scared me? No. Giselle was right; I had to go forward, regardless of the consequences.

Even if they made me want to hide under in the undergrowth of the redwoods as I had as a child.

Kit darted forward. “Well, let’s get this show on the road. You know we have to come with you.”

That was the fox for you. He didn’t really care I’d be in the oubliette after this little adventure was done. All he cared about was the prize for him. Whatever it was that my father had promised him was enough to keep Kit dodging my heels.

Red on the other hand… the hawk sprang from my shoulder. “Lead on then, princess.”

In some ways, far easier said than done.

The oubliette waited for me, but so did this missing kid. Giselle, after much prodding, hadn’t been able to tell me where the kid was, but she told me who was holding him.

And she was right, there was no way a young Tracker, or even a Tracker with help would be able to get the kid out.

It wasn’t every day a Shadow Walker took a child to protect. They were known for a lot of things, but not that. Unless he was using the kid to watch the future unfold, to see how it played out. That was possible. Shadow Walker’s loved their knowledge and prophecy crap. That alone would be enough for the kid to prove a veritable goody bag for the Walker. I hissed out a breath, thinking about the difficulties ahead instead of the punishment waiting for me and stepped over the boundary line.

The energy zipped off in the four directions of the world, snapping the chains of my confinement and speeding off to tattle on me to those who held said chains.

“Come on then, let’s get this over with,” Kit barked at me, trotting ahead. “Where are we headed?”

“None of your business, you smart-assed mutt.” I set off jogging, knowing I could cover a good deal of ground before the sun was fully up if I kept a steady pace.

“Mutt?” he snarled as Red screeched with laughter above our heads.

“Yeah, he does look like a mutt, doesn’t he? All stupid and mangy.”

Kit snarled at us both and I did my best to ignore him.

I settled into a ground eating pace, faster than any human could ever run. But for me, it was nothing. It wasn’t long before Kit swallowed his bitching complaints and focused on keeping up. No doubt, my father had imbued his familiars with stamina in case they had to keep up with me.

My father understood what made me tick, better than anyone else. He and I both knew it was only a matter of time before I pulled a stunt like this.

An hour passed and I slowed to a walk, the world seeming to move like molasses now that I was no longer running full tilt. Ahead of us, Las Vegas and the Strip loomed.

The only Shadow Walker I knew held court underneath Caesar’s Palace and if I remembered correctly, he was a serious douche. Grumpy and cranky, old and powerful, I was hoping to slip in and steal the kid without him even noticing I was there. And if that didn’t work, I’d try bribery.

Last resort would be fighting my way through to rescue the kid.

I watched the traffic speed by. Going unseen amongst the human population was easy enough, but I wanted to hitch a ride the rest of the way into town, to conserve my energy.

Even I didn’t have endless reserves, especially when I would be dealing with a hell of a lot of concrete and very little of the land itself. “Kit, make yourself useful and get one of those big rigs to stop.”

“Have you been eating magic mushrooms? I’m not going in front of one of those big—”

Before he could say anything else, I scooped him up and chucked him into the middle of the road. Traffic skittered and skidded to a screeching halt. Of course, it was just a few small rental vehicles, probably some poor sap of a vacationer who’d just shit his pants after nearly killing a piece of local wildlife. But the stoppage of those vehicles jammed all the traffic, including one large flatbed truck blessedly empty.

“You crazy ass bitch!” Kit screamed as he ducked and dodged the humans swarming him, trying to see if he was hurt. Laughing, I jogged to the truck and climbed on the back. Red dropped to my shoulder, chuckling.

“I always knew you liked me better.”

“You aren’t so damn pretentious,” I said as the truck shifted into gear and headed toward the city. I waved at Kit. “Besides, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?”

He screamed a number of obscenities and then Red launched into the air. “I have to get him.”

Letting out a sigh, I laid back on the flat-deck, the hot dry air so opposite to what I grew up with. I missed the lush forests and heavily wooded glades that had been my home for so long. Which of course, was why my punishment for my rebellion landed me in Death Valley. Better than the oubliette. I suppressed a shudder.

There was a thump on the deck, and I rolled my eyes to see Kit rushing toward me, his teeth bared. I flicked my hand at him, stopping him in his tracks. “Attack me and I’ll forget you are my father’s familiar, you little shit.”

His eyes darted from me to Red hopping on the deck closer to me. “I wouldn’t test her. I remember what she’s capable of. Just because she’s held back this last twenty years doesn’t mean she couldn’t turn you inside out and laugh while doing it.”

Ah, that was why Red was so respectful of me. He at least hadn’t forgotten who I was. Or what I was known for.

We rode into Las Vegas and at the first red light I slipped off the back of the truck. There was a bit of a walk to Caesar’s Palace, but that didn’t bother me. The crowds surged and flowed around me as if I didn’t exist. Red stayed on my shoulder, nervously lifting first one foot, then the other. At my heels, Kit paced, his face a mask of serious dislike. Maybe even hatred.

What did I care? I shouldn’t, but I didn’t want him to hate me. Just a side perk of being an elemental, when the animals around you weren’t happy, you felt it.

I took a step, then another on the hot concrete, glad I’d worn my army boots. “Kit, what’s my father got on you?”

He let out a choking, laughing bark. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me, you’d be surprised what I’d believe at this point in my life.”

Kit rolled his eyes up to me. “I was human, and made the mistake of cutting down his favorite tree.”

Shock rippled through me. I’d heard that fable every night growing up. The silly human who defied King Ghobe and had taken trees out of the sacred grove to build a house. “You’re yanking my chain.”

“I’m not.” His eyes wouldn’t lift to mine and his shoulders hunched.

“And if you serve him well, you get to be human again?”

Kit snorted. “Something like that.”

I did a quick calculation in my head. “You’ve been around over five hundred years, trapped as a fox. That stinks.”

Red bumped his beak against my temple. “He hasn’t always been a fox. Depends on his behavior.”

I looked at Red from the corner of my eye. “You a trapped human, too?”

“Nope, just a very long-lived bird.” The hawk had the audacity to wink at me.

I shook my head and picked up my pace. The humans flowed around me, never coming into my personal space. And because of their proximity to me, Red and Kit couldn’t be seen, the human eyes sliding right over them. Perks of a familiar with an elemental.

The Strip, even this early in the morning, all but vibrated with energy. There were the tourists, of course, the usual hawkers of wares and then my favorite, the passed out drunks. I particularly enjoyed the 
head down, ass in the air
 pose more than a few humans had assumed after their nightly revelries.

Yet as I walked, none of those things drew my attention.

Someone was coming my way, the someone who belonged to the sword strapped to my back.

Ahead, I could just see her energy floating above the other humans. Ignoring everything else I went straight for her.

She wasn’t just a human, I could tell right away.

No, she was more.

She carried blood of an elemental who was forbidden to blend with anything but another elemental. It had been tried a few times, blending different elements with humans, and the results had been mild. The four elements: fire, water, earth and air, could easily breed with a human and the offspring would be a human with perhaps an affinity for gardening, or the talent to swim great distances.

But there was one element, when bred with humans, where something stronger was created. A human that was no longer human, but a new kind of supernatural. One with unpredictable abilities and powers no one had ever seen.

This girl, whoever she was, had the fifth element residing deep within her.

The same element that made up my other half and caused me so many problems.

The element of Spirit.

Rylee

“HOW MUCH FARTHER?”
 Caleb asked as we walked the Strip. I was so focused on finding Jonathan I didn’t really hear him at first. I stopped walking and blinked at the sky, the painfully bright blue hurting my eyes.

“Not far.”

“You said that the last time I asked you.”

I’m not proud of what I said next, but it spilled out of me. “What the fuck, man? I told you it was going to be a bitch to go all the way with me, and now you want to fucking well pussy out?”

His jaw dropped. “What did you say to me?”

“She said stop being a pussy.” We spun to see a tall, blonde woman standing in front of us. I say tall because she was taller than my 5’9, but she was hardly an amazon. She had a large bird on her shoulder, and her eyes disturbingly reminded me of my own. One green, the other a golden amber hue. Though I saw the muscles all but ripple as she walked, she was very pretty, the lines of her face and cheekbones refined and feminine, her movements flowing like a dancer. All up her left arm, starting on the back of her hand was a tattoo that looked to be of a climbing vine with thorns. Delicate and unusual, I couldn’t stop staring at it, wondering how far over her body it went.

“Excuse me, I don’t think you’re a part of this conversation,” Caleb snapped, stepping between me and the new woman.

She laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. “Boy, you do not want to piss me off, any more than you want to piss her off.”

I stared at her. She was a supernatural, of that I was certain. What wasn’t certain was whether she was going to try and kill us or just warn us off like the sphinxes had.

“Caleb, don’t bother her.” I reached up and brushed her hand off his shoulder and sizzling electricity sparked between us. I stared, unable to take my eyes from her. There was a fucking lot of power under her skin, I sensed it and wasn’t sure my immunity would keep me safe.

“You’re the Tracker, aren’t you?” she asked, though the way she worded it, she already knew.

I blinked once, hoping she would understand I didn’t really want Caleb to know how different I really was.