elemental 01 - whirlwind (8 page)

Aiden was finally beginning to convince himself to relax. He looked at his watch, the meeting should’ve almost been over and then she would be home and under two sets of watchful eyes. He started to let his mind wander, trying to think of what he and Dylan could do to break up the monotony of their watch, when his phone pinged once. Then again. Seconds later it was ringing.

Picking it up quickly, Aiden saw the text message from his brother just before it disappeared: SOS. The phone call was from Aira. Aiden hit the intercept button to get her location before hitting the accept button to see if she was able to talk. If he could find anything out about their situation, at least he could locate her.

Over the phone he heard scuffling, and Aira’s voice raised in strident protest. It cut out abruptly, the tone announcing the call had been terminated. “Fuck,” Aiden muttered. He calling up the application that would track her phone’s location. He hoped whoever had made the grab for her didn’t know she had the phone on her. The application was automatically tracking his brother based on data from the contact patch they each kept on them at all times. He watched the icon indicating his brother’s location as it moved, while the one for Aira remained in one place.

Aiden had to make a decision—the right one. Either they had dropped Aira’s phone, leaving it behind before taking her or they had Aira in one place while they took his brother elsewhere. He wasn’t concerned with tracking his brother; Dylan would handle himself. Their priority had to be Aira’s safety. Whoever was involved in the situation may have separated them, and without a tracker on Aira it would be much more difficult for Aiden to find them, especially without his brother. He could do it; he had the tracking ability, but it would be easier if she had the phone.

Aiden grabbed his phone and the keys and rushed out of the apartment. He decided on the location where the phone was. If Aira wasn’t there, he would track her with his other abilities and hopefully find his brother at the same time.

Aiden cursed lowly under his breath as he got into the car and plugged in the phone, hooking it into the car’s GPS and instructing it to lead him to the phone’s location. He wouldn’t have much time, particularly if the intent of Aira’s assailants was to kill her. Aiden pushed the thought away that they may have already, if that was their goal. He pulled out of the parking spot quickly and got on the road, listening dispassionately to the GPS directions echoing through the car’s sound system.

Chapter 7

Aira felt like hell. She lay bound in the back of a van, seething with rage and utterly powerless. She should have noticed something was amiss, she thought bitterly, taking refuge in anger to avoid the fear bubbling under the surface. The meeting had been concluding, everything had seemed more or less normal. She stood to shake hands with the new client and leave. The very next moment, she felt herself suddenly crippled, pain shooting through her body. Alarmed, she had looked down to see an iron bracelet locked onto her wrist. The pain was intense, rocking Aira’s body from head to toe. She saw Dylan start to stand when another person—one who hadn’t been in the room before—came up behind him and murmured something before knocking him unconscious with some form of magic. The “new client” locked another iron bracelet on Aira’s other wrist, intensifying the pain. She fell to her knees, groaning in helpless misery. It was a dirty trick, she thought, fuming as the two men gathered her and Dylan and carried them out. Aira’s old client had left the room halfway through the meeting, saying he needed to attend to a business matter, but he trusted they would come to an agreement.

Aira quickly remembered Aiden had put his number as a speed-contact into her phone. She suspected he would have a way to track her, but didn’t know how. She managed to gather enough energy to dial out, and saw it connect. Her anger overcame her at that point and, as they took her and Dylan outside, she screamed to be let go, kicking and twisting in spite of the terrible pain that shot through her body every time the iron bracelets brushed against her skin. It was magic of an ancient sort—a type Aira had learned about, but had never had occasion to use. She managed one good kick at her assailant before he bundled her into the cleared back area of an unmarked van, reaching out for a pair of iron shackles. She kicked more vigorously. Her phone fell from her hands onto the floor of the van. Her assailant saw it and threw it out through the open door before falling on her and holding her down while he locked the shackles around her ankles.

Aira had time to reflect on her situation while the two strangers drove them away from her client’s office, silent in the front seats of the van. Dylan still had not recovered, but Aira hoped he had managed to get word out to his brother. Even if he didn’t, she thought angrily, she would find a way out of her predicament. Glancing at Dylan’s unconscious form nearby, Aira knew she was responsible for him as well. The iron bracelets made her ache bone deep, their ancient magic sapping away at her strength. For a while, she knew, anger would remain useful to her, would keep her energy up, but long enough in the restraints and she would fall into an utterly helpless exhaustion. Iron, an earth-aligned metal, quintessentially associated with that element, had the power to “ground” any air elemental. The magic came from the magical associations that each element, and elemental, had. Since earth was in almost all ways opposed to air as an element, it pulled air down in a sense, the magical items associated with it carried the power to sap the abilities and strength of air elementals. The pain was a side-effect, a particularly galling one in Aira’s current situation. She tried to lie as still as possible, tried to push her sleeves down between her skin and the iron bracelets on her wrists, but it was no use.

As long as the restraints were on her, she wouldn’t have access to her elemental abilities. Her mind would be the last thing to go. She would maintain her intelligence and her willpower the longest, since that was so central to her being. But she couldn’t call the wind, she couldn’t call for any of the animals she had dominion over, she couldn’t do any air-related magic while she was trapped in the iron. Aira’s fear rose to greater prominence than her anger, and she felt a sharp panic. She didn’t know the men who had taken her and Dylan, or what they wanted. She only knew they were elementals, or at least familiar with magic associated with elementals. Aira looked at Dylan again and wondered just what kind of spell the other man had used on him and how long would he be unconscious.

She had no way to keep track of how long they had been driving. Aira curled up, aching and becoming more and more exhausted as the iron pulled her down. Whoever had grabbed them, they knew exactly what they were doing. She tried to keep her mind occupied with her mental list of elemental correspondences to distract her from the pain, thankful at least to have something productive to do. If they were fire elementals, she thought, she would find silver bracelets and anklets and somehow find a way to get them on the two men. If they were water elementals, she’d give them a taste of brass. If they were earth elementals, she would damned well wrap them up in aluminum foil if she couldn’t find anything better.

Abruptly, the car came to a stop, and Aira opened her eyes. From her point of view on the floor, all she could through the thin strip not covered on the back window were signs of a lavishly landscaped location, trees overhead. She heard the men in the front of the van talking to someone. While her mind wasn’t as quick as it might be, she realized they must be talking to some kind of gate guard. Aira struggled to try and sit up; the iron felt as though it weighed so much more than it must. She fought against it, breaking out in a sweat from the simple act of trying to pull herself from the floor of the van. She knew the longer the restraints were in place, the more difficult it would be, and the heavier they would feel. The van began moving again and Aira caught sight of the top of a gate they were passing through just as the movement made her fall to the floor again too weakened to keep herself stable. She needed to find a way to get the restraints off. The sooner they were gone, the sooner she would regain her abilities.

Dylan was beginning to stir when the vehicle came to another stop. Aira considered struggling with her assailants once more when they came to get her, but the amount of effort it would take was next to impossible. Until Dylan was fully awake and aware, she was in too weakened a state to take care of them both. The best thing to do would be to find a way to get the restraints off, and deal with the rest afterwards. Dylan groaned, and Aira held a small hope he would be able to help her soon.

The van doors opened. She cried out in pain when one of the men the pretend client, shifted her and pulled her toward the back opening of the van. Every minute the iron touched her was a practice in withstanding torture.

The other man grabbed Dylan and managed to lock a gold bracelet on each of his wrists. Aira knew she was in more serious trouble than she had first suspected. If they knew an elemental technique to quell powers, they were likely to know more. The question was, how they had known Dylan was a water-aligned elemental? This was a serious situation, and Aira’s fear—and anger—intensified. She occupied her mind with thoughts of revenge as she and Dylan were lifted out of the van and carried towards a house.

The correct term for the residence, Aira decided as she got a better look at it, would be a mansion. It sprawled over a huge piece of land. The grounds were as well-maintained as any wealthy Victorian would have them, with topiary and perfectly manicured grass. The house was brick and timber, a half-Tudor style Aira would have admired more if it were not for the fact her assailants were carrying her toward it shackled. Her surprisingly sluggish mind realized the men who had attacked her and Dylan were not the ones in charge. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the deep, cold fog settling in, to no avail. As she was carried towards the house, Aira thought if she never saw another iron bracelet in her life, it would be too soon. She could consume iron as part of her diet, and with certain precautions she could use cast-iron cookware, but from a very young age, she had kept all of the iron in her life to a bare minimum. She hated that metal, and she had now more reason than ever for her hatred.

She and Dylan were taken into the palatial home through a marble foyer that was all gilt and ostentatious wealth. Aira pieced together if she had indeed been taken by elementals—and it seemed likely that such was the case—then the person in charge was likely an earth elemental. Aira yelped as she was deposited haphazardly onto a couch, Dylan was dropped in a chair not too far away. The two men left them there without a word. Aira felt anger overcoming fear at the thought of two of them being so helpless. She looked over at Dylan, who was waking up from whatever spell their assailants had used on him. She pitied him once he became fully conscious and felt the pain of the fire-aligned bracelets burning away at him.

When Dylan came to completely, he let out a muffled groan. Aira tried to think, tried to force her mind into high gear. Clearly, whoever had come after them was not interested in killing them or they’d be dead already. There was some other purpose at play. Aira couldn’t imagine anyone—even an elemental—thinking she would be a good target for a ransom attempt. While her grandmother was comfortable in her living, the person who owned this stately home was already far wealthier. For what purpose would someone kidnap her then?

Her skin began to itch where the iron touched it. She fought the urge to scratch, knowing it would only become more intense until she had scratched her skin raw. She tried once more to push her sleeve down between the bracelets and her skin, to get some kind of relief from the constant magical irritation of the metal.

After an undeterminable time, Aira heard movement from a distance. She and Dylan had looked at each other, but had no way of knowing whether or not there were guards listening in to prevent an escape. Instead, they exchanged pleasantries while they both writhed with discomfort, speculating as to where they were and what was going to happen to them. Aira’s mind had finally fallen on the idea that, if she could manage to gather enough strength, she could try and find a way to unlock the bracelets on Dylan. The fire-aligned material would have no effect on her, just as the earth-aligned iron would have no effect on Dylan. If she could get him free of his restraints, he might be able to use some of his magic to break her free.

A short man entered the room, immaculately dressed in a tailored suit. Aira stared at him as he approached. He wasn’t awful to look at. He had dark hair and eyes with a medium-dark skin tone. He clearly took a great deal of pride in his appearance. His hair was close-cropped to his head, his face smoothly shaven, and Aira thought she saw the glint of manicured nails as he folded his hands in front of him, stopping a few feet away from where she and Dylan sat, trapped. He smiled slowly at the two of them, and Aira found herself immediately resenting him. He was undoubtedly the owner of the house and the mastermind behind her abduction. Even if what he wanted was perfectly reasonable, Aira was suddenly determined to make sure he didn’t get it.

“Aira.” The man said, coming closer to her. His voice was thin and reedy, surprising compared to his muscular build. “I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”

Aira scowled at him, feeling the pain pulse through her system from the iron that felt like it was crushing her slowly but steadily. “If you’re so sorry, then perhaps you will do me a favor and get rid of these stupid bindings, you asshole.” Aira kept her voice sarcastically sweet.

The man shook his head, frowning slightly in a mockery of regret. “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he replied. He seemed to take no offense to the name calling. “I have to admit, you are even more beautiful than your pictures.” Aira raised an eyebrow, wondering where the man was going with that comment. She tried to push back the fog filling her mind. It was affecting her mind more slowly than her body, but the iron was insidiously breaking down every last ability she had as a creature of air. She had to get rid of it somehow.