Rapture (Elfin Series) (5 page)

“
Oakley’s going to drive us home.”

“I am?” h
e interrupted.

“You are,” Lisa confirmed.
“And then we will go over to Cassie’s and speak with her mother. Cush and Rin, you guys are just going to have to stay with us until this is all sorted out.”

The elves looked at each other and shrugged. With no better plan presenting itself,
they clambered into Oakley’s van, a vehicle which, while certainly roomy enough, was not designed for beings as large as Cush and Rin.

“Oakley
, when did you get a van?”  Elora asked as she started to climb in behind Rin but was pulled back by Cush, who made sure she didn’t end up on the bench seat next to the other elf. She wanted to be annoyed by it, but there was a part of her, way, way, way, WAY deep down that liked how possessive he was.
Mother of pearl, I’m a freak,
she thought to herself as Cush sat down in the seat next to her.
Maybe so, but if that is what I get to be freaky with, really who am I to complain?
Elora nearly laughed out loud at her inner monologue.

“I won it,” Oakley answered vaguely.

“Uh-uh, right,” Elora responded just as vaguely.

Twenty minutes into their drive
, Lisa suddenly turned around and looked at Elora. Her face held one of those looks that said she had just remembered something that shocked her the first time she’d heard it, and it still continued to do so.

“Chosen?” Her eyes narrowed at her daughter and then shifted to Cush. “While you are welcome to stay in my house, and I understand what a Chosen is and just how strong the connection is, there will be no sword wielding
under my roof!”

Elora’s eyes widened at her mother’s words and her mouth dropped open
, but nothing would come out. Cush didn’t seem to have the same problem because the words that came out of his mouth flowed as smooth as butter.

“I’m honored to be allowed in
your home, Lisa, and I understand that Elora and I will have to practice our swordplay off of the premises.”

“There comes a point in life when
just say no
shouldn’t just be a slogan, it should be a theme song and some people should have it playing in their ear non-stop.” ~Tony

Tony stood a silent witness to the horror that was taking place before him as he looked out over the casino floor from his office perch. He, like most casino managers
, had one way glass encasing his office so that he could watch without the public being able to see him. As two of his security guards took yet another violent patron to the ground, he wondered to himself if having the one way glass put in had been such a smart idea.

His phone vibrated in his pocket just as the man on the floor was finally subdued.

“Talk to me,” he said as he answered the call.

“
We’ve called the police again. Seems Mr. Black can’t remember who he is or where he lives.” The deep voice of Rick Lawson, head of Inequity security, rumbled through the line and Tony could hear the weariness that he knew was weighing on them all.

“They’re going to start charging me as often as they have to come down here,” Tony said only half joking.

“Boss,” Tony rolled his eyes. Rick only called him boss when he was about to say something that no one else could get away with. “You have to get rid of the stuff. Something about it isn’t right.”

Tony gritted his teeth as he bit back the growl of frustration and indignation he felt at Rick
’s words. Tony knew what he was talking about, and he knew that he was right, but his hands were tied. The dark elves that owned most of Vegas were in charge of the distribution of Rapture and it had been made perfectly clear to him that he was to keep it in the bar and keep his nose out of their business. But just as his father had before him, he bore the burden alone. None of the other employees knew anything about the elves, light or dark. None of the others knew that he had no real power. He was as subservient to the dark elves as his employees were to him.

“It’s been noted that you think that the selling of Rapture has become a detriment to our business,” Tony said tightly.

Rick let out a humorless laugh. “A detriment to our business my ass, Tony. It’s a detriment to people’s lives. Some guy last week tried to kill a man over a card game. The week before that a man nearly killed himself when we cut him off from the bar.”

“I don’t need a recap of all the crap that has been going down
, Rick,” he growled. “I’m here nearly twenty-four hours a day; I know exactly what is going on.”

“Tony
, I’ve got men ready to quit because they are scared for their lives. These people who are drinking this Rapture act like hard core addicts. You’ve been in this business a long time; you’ve seen what addictions can do to certain types of people. They’re dangerous to themselves and to everyone around them.”

Tony forced himself to take several deep breaths before he responded. “I hear you
, and I agree, but there’s more going on than you know. I’m trying to deal with it; please believe me when I say this is not how I want my casino running.” Rick was silent for several minutes.

Finally he said, “Okay. F
or now I’ll leave you to do whatever it is you need to do to handle this, but do it fast, or we’re all going to walk.”

Tony fought hard not to throw t
he cell phone across the room. After all, it wasn’t his cell phone’s fault that everything had gotten so out of control. He kept expecting Trik to come sauntering through his office glass with one of his smart-aleck remarks and a trade mark smirk, but he might as well have been waiting for pigs to fly. When it came down to it, Trik might be his friend, but he was a dark elf, first and foremost, which meant Tony was on his own.

“Wh
at the hell am I going to do?” he asked the empty office as he walked over to his personal wet bar. He poured himself a glass of cold ice water. Oddly enough, Tony never drank, but he downed the water as if it were single malt whiskey. The ice water hit his brain with a sharp sting and he welcomed the pain that helped him clear his thoughts. One thing he knew for certain was that Rapture couldn’t continue to sell in his casino, or any casino for that matter. But he didn’t know how to stop it or how to stay alive if he even tried.

“Why did you let them get away?” Ilyrana snapped
, stopping briefly to glare at her king and then resume her angry pacing. “And I say
let
because that is the only way those imbeciles would have been able to leave.”

Lorsan listened but did not respond right away. He loved his Chosen
, there was no doubt of that, but he didn’t let that love make him weak. He wouldn’t be dictated to by his woman—no matter how much he loved her. He was still king and she was not. So for now he just stared at her evenly, letting her stew in her own juices.

“If we want our court to continue to follow us and not go crawling after Triktapic, we have to make him the villain,
” Lorsan explained as if he were speaking to a child. “Trik has now broken into the dungeon and stolen my prisoners who trespassed on dark-elf territory. He has broken our laws.”

“You want to be a
ble to justify attacking him?” she asked as she once again came to a halt in front of him.

“I don’t have to justify myself,
” he quipped. But it will make it easier in the long run for some who might be otherwise difficult to convince to follow me.” He took a deep breath and popped his neck, getting rid of the tension that had been gathering there. “The facts are this, my dear,” he took her hand and pulled her to him as he spoke, “Triktapic is the king once again, put in that position by the Forest Lords. He is destined to rule.”

“You sou
nd resigned to defeat my love. It isn’t very attractive.”

He laughed. “You know me better than that. Defeat is not a term I even recognize in my v
ocabulary. Do not fret, My Sweet. The Forest Lords have set out Trik’s destiny before him.  They control him. But I am master of my own destiny. I choose my future. And my future does not have Trik in it as king.”

“Okay, let’s get this thing over with,” Elora said dryly as she slid the van door open and began to climb out.

“Don’t you think we should maybe have a plan before we go in there?” Lisa asked while not making any move to exit the vehicle.

“I don’t know what there is to plan,” Elora said from where she stood on the sidewalk with her arms folded across her chest. “Cassie is with an elf assassin in another realm. That’s all there is to it.”

“You’re going to reveal our world to them?” Cush asked her
. He didn’t sound alarmed, however, only resigned.

“They’re not going to believe us,
” Lisa said matter-of-fact like. “They’re going to hear us begin to talk about their daughter and as soon as we say,
elves
, and,
other realm
, they’re going to send us packing.”

“Well
, you don’t really have any other option,” Oakley pointed out.

“Sure we do.
” Elora smiled. “We can head to Sin City to see Trik’s friend.”

Cush’s head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. “You know Tony?”

Elora frowned, not sure why he was giving her his I’m not quite in control look. “I know
of
him. We haven’t exchanged digits or anything. Trik told Cassie about him and their ‘business,’” she made air quotes around the word business, “and naturally Cassie told me.”

“Naturally,” he responded just as dryly as Elora typically
did.

“So
, to continue my point, my dear brother,” she began again, giving Cush a pointed look, “we definitely have a choice. But we would be making the wrong choice if we didn’t stop here first and tell them what is going on.”

The creaking of the front passenger door broke the sudden silence as Lisa climbed out. “You’re right, we have to do this. If I were in their place and it was either of you missing I would want to know, no matter how impossible it seemed.”

“This is more along the lines of delusional, Mom,” Oakley said.

“Not helping,” Elora sung out through a grim smile.

Cush and Rin both squeezed their tall frames out of the small van door, somehow looking as graceful as ever, and joined the others on the sidewalk. Elora made a conscious effort not to drool as she watched Cush move, though she didn’t attempt to hide the fact that she was indeed watching. And the smirk he shot her testified that he hadn’t missed her attention.

“Are you coming, or are you just going to stand there?” Lisa hollered over her shoulder. Elora hadn’t realized th
at her mom and Oakley were halfway to the Tate’s front door.
Damn hormones,
she thought to herself. Shaking off her momentary distraction caused by the elf warrior, she hurried after her mom with Cush and Rin following behind her, no doubt keeping a look out for any potential danger from the dark elves.

The woman who answered Cassie’s front door hardly resembled the one Elora knew as Cassie’s mom. She was thin, even more than she used to be. Her hair hung limp on her head as if all the life had been sucked out of it. Her eyes, once happy and shining with mirth, were now as dull and lifeless as her hair. She looked tired and lost.

“Mrs. Tate,” Elora said her name almost as a question because she was beginning to wonder if this woman before her would even recognize her as Cassie’s best friend. “Can we come in?”

Mrs. Tate gave a brief nod and then stepped back to allow the group to enter. Elora went in first and the others followed as they filed into the living room. She looked around the familiar room, which somehow without Cassie now seemed foreign. Nothing had changed that she could tell, but despite there being no visible change, Cassie’s home was very different than it had been two months ago.

Elora stiffened as Cush stepped up beside her and leaned down so that his mouth was near her e
ar. “Magic has been worked here; I can feel it.”

Elora’s head snapped up nearly colliding with his face and her eyes
widened. “What kind of magic?” she whispered back. Before he could answer her, both their attentions switched to where Sylvia Tate had Lisa’s wrist in her hand and a look on her face worthy of a pissed-off grizzly.

“STOP SAYING THAT!” Sylvia yelled. Elora saw her mom’s face grimace in pain and hurried over to the pair—to do what, she had no clue.

“I don’t have a daughter
, Lisa!” Sylvia snapped out.

Elora looked over her shoulder at Cush and he mouthed the word ‘magic’ to her. She nearly shouted a big fat
duh
at him but decided that that would be less than helpful.

“Mrs. Tate, let’s just talk about this for a minute,” Elora said attempting to placate the obviously irate w
oman. “Can you let go of my mom? I think you’re hurting her.”

Like oxygen being sucked from a fire, her fury died down at Elora’s words and she dropped Lisa’s wrist. She
appeared horrified and she looked at her hand as though it were the culprit and acting of its own accord and then back up to Lisa.

“I’m so sorry
, Lisa,” she stuttered. “I-I-I don’t kn-n-ow what came over me.”