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EIRIK 1
I lean my head back against the tombstone and close my eyes. It has been a long couple of months, with constant fighting among the Elementals and the Cape Town gangs. Ever since the death of Sean, the Desperados’ leader, we have had a constant fight on our hands. When Dag killed Sean, we thought that it would have stopped the war between the Elementals and Desperados, but instead, it has brought more upheaval to us, as two more gangs are upset for losing out on the business they had going with Sean in the trafficking of women.
“I’m tired, Isabela,” I murmur softly to not disturb the peacefulness of this place. I’ve gotten into the habit over the years of coming to Isabela’s resting place to talk to her when I’m restless. I smile when I think of the beautiful woman she was, of the joy and laughter that she brought to my life. I knew that she wasn’t my mate. I knew that it was impossible for the two of us, but I never dreamed that I would have such little time with her. I always felt guilty in a way for not being able to give her what she most wanted, what in a way she deserved.
When she fell ill, I tried everything to keep her with me for longer, but nothing worked, and she eventually submitted to her illness. How was she not my mate? Still today I am baffled, because in my own way, I loved Isabela, but fate didn’t warrant that we be happy. I don’t want a mate; I don’t believe that I can give a woman what I couldn’t give to Isabela. Isabela knew everything about me, and even though I couldn’t make her my true mate, I married her and made her my wife to show her that I loved her, that no matter what fate dictated I considered her mine.
Her father blamed me for her death. He knew that I was different, and knew that I have lived for centuries, believing that somehow, I could make his daughter well. But no matter what I tried, it didn’t work.
“We have a war brewing that I don’t know if we can win,” I confide, knowing that I won’t get a reply but feeling better for talking about it. The others are like my brothers. We have been together for centuries, looking out for each other no matter what, but sometimes I just need the quiet of my thoughts, the stillness of this place.
Sighing, I open my eyes, looking around at the beauty that surrounds me. Spring has come early, and the meadow is blooming with flowers. The trees that surround this small piece of heaven stifle the sounds of the cars in the distance, giving me a moment in time to forget about all the trouble which we have had, all the trouble that is coming.
If it were only the gangs, we would easily defeat them, but the gangs are being driven by a more powerful force. Just under a year ago we found out that Aldor, the CEO of Zorba Ltd, a conglomerate that concentrates its funds in generic drugs—a façade, because the real business is what they have been hiding.
Their experiments on humans try to enhance them—try to make them more like us. As Elementals, our senses are more attuned than humans, we are stronger, faster, and can bend the elements. I am a water bender, there are others that bend fire, air, and earth, and very few that bend more than one. The older the Elemental, the more powerful he is.
Zorba is experimenting on humans to give them our powers, and somehow, they are using the women that they have been kidnapping to help them in these experiments.
We still don’t know how the women factor in the experiments, but we are going to find out because any one of those women can be one of my brothers’ mates. As elementals we are born knowing that sooner or later, we will turn Keres if we don’t find our true mate. A Keres is an Elemental that the darkness in our soul overcomes the goodness in us—the light. If we find our mate, then she brings more light into our lives, which overpowers the darkness. Otherwise, we travel through life fighting the darkness from defeating us.
Our women are also gifted with powers of their own. All of them are human, but they are born with specific gifts that enhance our own powers. Aldor, the Zorba CEO, is a Keres. He is filled with darkness, and even though a few years ago, after centuries of the Elementals fighting for our sanity, Draco, the President of the Elementals MC in Nature Valley, announced that his men had found a way of keeping the darkness at bay.
Ever since then, we Elementals go into the program. If we find that we can’t fight the darkness anymore and find that it’s overriding our efforts then we are treated, staying in the compound until we feel normal again and the darkness has somehow retreated again. We started capturing all the Keres and placing them in the program once the Elementals that were in higher risk had been treated. With the Keres it allows for the darkness in them to be compressed so that their light can fight for a while longer as they continue looking for their mates.
I was one of the Elementals that was placed in the program when it was first launched, Tor forced me to go and get treated, he refused to let me turn, or take my own life as so many of us do when we don’t want to turn dark. Tor is our leader, the President of the Cape Town Chapter, and even though he can be a real motherfucker when riled, I know that I can always depend on him.
He was trying to keep me sane, but I am tired. It has been centuries, and I am still fighting. Contrary to the others, I don’t expect to find my mate. I believe that the woman I was supposed to be with has died and there was nothing I could do about it. She might not have been my true mate, but she made me laugh, and made me happy.
I hear a faint rustle in the distance and know that someone is approaching. Closing my eyes again, I sigh. A few minutes later, I sense Garth’s energy. It will be a bit before he reaches me, giving me a few more minutes of peace. “I have to go.” I know that it’s crazy to sit here and talk to a tomb, a tomb that after all these years has nothing more than bones, but I feel a need to share what is happening with Isabela.
When I sense Garth getting closer, I open my eyes, looking towards where I know he is approaching from. Garth is a big son of a bitch, usually easy going until angered, then it’s a real problem to hold him back. Garth is the mediator among us, but he will be the first one in a fight if he sees an innocent in danger, or one of the MC brothers. Now, by the scowl on his face, I know that I am not going to like what he has to say.
“Why the fuck aren’t you answering your phone?” his deep voice booms across the meadow. His long, light brown hair has been tied up in a bun on the top of his head. Some of the guys tease him about his hair and how one of these days someone is going to confuse him for a woman, but it’s only teasing because there is no way that anyone can ever confuse the man that is approaching with a woman.
“Maybe, did you ever think it was because I didn’t want to be disturbed,” I reply sarcastically in frustration. Is it too hard to ask for a little peace and quiet? As the enforcer for the Cape Town Chapter, I am responsible for making sure that we are safe at all times, that there are no threats, but how am I supposed to do that when we are at war?
I used to love the fighting, love being in the middle of a squabble. As Elementals, we are warriors—warriors that will fight until our last breath for what we believe. The only problem with me is that I don’t know what I believe in anymore. When I look at this war we are in with the gangs, I know that it’s because of the women that they are kidnapping, because of Dag’s woman, Esmeralda.
And even though I will always fight to keep any of my brother’s mate’s safe, I get tired of always fighting for a lost cause. It seems that as soon as we conquer one problem, then another one is growing somewhere else. Evil seems to procreate faster than we can stop it. I shake my head at the thoughts that are running through it.
“We had a meet; you were supposed to be there,” Garth states as he comes to stand before me, his body blocking out the sun. Shit, why the fuck would we have a meeting out of the blue?
“What for?” I ask, raising a brow as Garth places his hands low on his waist.
“We are leaving for Qatar.”
“What?” shit, I should really have been at the fucking meeting. We know that Aldor is transporting women to Qatar, and that Zorb headquarters are in Qatar, but I didn’t think we would be the ones going to Qatar.
“Yeah, we’re leaving tomorrow morning,” Garth says as he steps to my side and takes a seat on the ground, his back also leaning against the corner of the Tombstone.
“Why the fuck are we going? Why aren’t Draco’s men going or the guys from the Johannesburg chapter?” Raising my hand, I slide my fingers through my dark hair, feeling the slight sting as my hair pulls at my skull, welcoming the slight twinge of pain.
“Draco’s men are all mated, and the Johannesburg guys seem to have a problem of their own down there, seems like they are coming down with different ailments.”
I turn my head to look at him. “What the fuck are you talking about? We don’t get sick.” The human ailments have never affected us, as our Immune systems are stronger, more averse to any sickness that the humans catch.
“Apparently they are getting sick, Bion has gone there to see what the fuck is happening.” Bion is a healer in our Mother Chapter, a great healer that we all turn to when encountering a problem.
