Saved Elemental (Evelyn Storm Series Book 2) Read online

  “Guys, just come out and tell us what the hell is going on! If you keep arguing, we might miss our chance to get Evie out safely. The sooner we get Evie, the better,” Ky shouts out in irritation.

  We all want to pack up and get Evie, but they obviously need to tell us something before we do. Ky, Teddy, and I are seated on the couch waiting for them to speak. Zach is sitting on a chair on the opposite side of the room, which is lucky for him, because we’re all still a little pissed he waited to tell Dane about Evie despite their differences.

  Max and Dane are at the front of the room before Max speaks “So we’ve found out some new information from Evie’s grandfather, Raphael. Demons have broken through the barrier and are back on earth. I’m not sure how much you know about demons, but I can’t give you the long version today, so these are the cliff notes.

  Basically, demons are beings from the underworld that can possess people and draw on their strength, and in the case of elementals, their powers. Since violence in the human world has evolved, it weakened the barrier of light which kept them out. Once they started leaking though the barrier, they targeted the elementals because elementals have more inner strength to feed on then what a human does. In the process of feeding on elementals, they discovered they were also able to possess them. The Shaded aren’t bad elementals that want to control the rest of the elementals, but demons influencing elementals to help them gain control of a richer feeding population.

  If they’re possessed, you won’t be able to tell, only Evie can. You may notice changes in their personality, but they’re very effective at blending in.”

  “Ok so why are you telling us this before we get Evie?” I ask. It could have waited until after we get Evie out of that place.

  Max gestures to Dane giving him the lead, “The council is possessed. Well, our fathers are that I know of, but I’m assuming the rest of the council would be if they are. There’s a way to get rid of the demons, but I was told only Evie can do it. She’s made of pure light from angel and fallen angel, so she’s the only one strong enough to do it. The angels have told me they won’t interfere, or more accurately, aren’t allowed to. When they interfered last time, we were only new beings and now the Creator believes we are strong enough to do it without them, but Evie will be responsible for fixing the light that protects the earth.”

  Dane

  I feel horrible. After Max dragged me inside, we went straight to the dining room to talk about what we should tell the guys. I was arguing with Max about telling them Evie is pregnant, but he seems to think it will distract everyone and they won’t be able to focus on the mission.

  I hate that I let him convince me he was right, because the lies will tear us apart. We need to be honest with each other if this is going to work. Otherwise, it will get to the point where we will second guess everything the others say. Not to mention that I can’t tell them someone is going to betray her.

  As it is, Max didn’t know a lot of what I told him. He wouldn’t tell me what he and Raphael discussed, but he knew the demons were back too.

  The guys are all quiet, probably taking in everything I’ve said. It’s hard to believe that demons are back on earth and ready to destroy us. The only one who hasn’t said anything or asked questions is Zach. He looks over at me as if he sensed me looking at him.

  Walking towards the door he stops and faces me, “We need to talk. Can we talk outside for a minute?”

  I nod and face the others. “I’ll be back in a minute, and we can make a plan to get Evie out.”

  Zach

  I’m pacing back and forth out front while I wait. He’s already angry about me waiting to call him, so he’ll probably be furious about a bond between Evie and I.

  “So, what do you want to talk about?” Dane says startling me. I didn’t even hear him come outside.

  “Well, I wanted to tell you this because I figured you should know before Evie tells you. I felt the bond between us,” I wait for him to snap, but he just looks confused.

  “Between us? I didn’t feel a bond,” Dane is looking at me as if I’m nuts.

  “No, not between us, between Evie and I. The first time I carried her to the bathroom I felt the shock, but I assumed it was residual energy from the chains causing some kind of static electricity. I’ve felt it a couple more times since. Now that I’ve acknowledged what it is, it’s stopped.”

  Dane looks extremely pissed off now, just like I predicted.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me?! Do you honestly think I would ever let you near her after what you did to me? I’m not putting her through the same heartbreak I went through!”

  He’s shouting at me and the others have all come to watch from the back door. I’ve never felt more ashamed of what I did. We weren’t exactly dating, but we were close, and I ruined it in a moment of grief by getting drunk and fooling around with another guy.

  It didn’t mean anything, and it only happened because I was upset over the loss of my mother. I needed him, but he’d been called away for the council and I was angry, so I had a few drinks.

  The morning after, he told me he had asked to move permanently, and he had requested I stay where I was.

  “Ok, I won’t pursue it. I just wanted to tell you,” I say, hoping one day he’ll forgive me, but I don’t see it being any day soon. He turns and walks back into the house slamming the door.

  Kylan

  At least now we know what happened between Dane and Zach. We all suspected something happened, but we didn’t want to bring it up because we could tell Dane was hurting over it.

  It’s a little shocking, though, that he felt the bond with Evie when I thought we would be the only ones to bond with her.

  I turn to ask Max if he knew about other bonds, “Did you know she might have another bond?”

  Mike and Teddy both turn at my question. I’d imagine they’re as curious to know the answer as I am.

  He looks towards the house as if he’s going to walk away before sighing and saying, “Yes I knew. Raphael told us Evie might have other bonds out there waiting to be found.” He doesn’t say anymore, just leaves us in shock and walks back in the house.

  How is Evie going to handle more than us? It’s better with the four of us because we know each other, but what happens if she has a bond with someone we don’t know? Or someone who is extremely jealous. We don’t mind sharing with each other because we’re best friends, but if what Dane says is true, I definitely don’t want Evie bonding with Zach.

  Evie has only just bonded with us. How will she react knowing she has another bond? She may decide it’s not worth it and leave us all.

  Teddy

  “Ok, guys, let’s talk about this later. We need to make a plan to get Evie before Zach has to go back to his shift,” I say, wondering how I became the sensible one here.

  I walk inside with everyone following me. Dane is in the kitchen making food, no doubt to calm himself. Cooking has always been calming for him. At least he’s not raging around banging things as he usually does when he gets angry. We’re all in the dining area, so Dane can hear us and interject if he has something to add.

  “Zach, how many of them are at the mansion and do you know their elements? Is it going to be easy to get us in without alerting everybody, or are we going to have to create some kind of diversion first?” I ask my questions while making sure everyone is paying attention.

  We need to know exactly what we’re facing before charging in half-cocked and un-prepared. At least if we know number, we will know what to expect and hopefully come up with a plan to get around everyone.

  “It should be easy enough I guess. Her parents are the only ones inside unless the council comes to visit, but they aren’t due for a couple more days yet. There are five guards inside the mansion, and four outside. Then there’s Jimmy and I on the basement door. You could probably easily distract everyone by showing up out front. Everyone knows who you are, so they might stand down knowing you are there. It might be a
good idea, though, if there’s also a distraction out back too. It might confuse everyone that’s out front to go around back and you could make your way through the front door. I’m probably going to have to knock Jimmy out, because I don’t think he’d be on our side. He trusts the council too much,” Zach explains to us with a grim look.

  None of us like hurting others of our kind unless it’s for our own safety and I feel for him, but Evie is our priority.

  “No, we can’t. Her parents know who we are and if they see us, they’ll know something’s up,” Ky says interrupting my next thought.

  Dane comes in and places a tray of biscuits on the table, “Here’s what we’re going to do. Zach is going to contact the people he knows will help us, and tell them to gather on the front lawn. Max is going to come with us around the back and create a lightning storm, while we sneak in and get Evie out.” When he finishes, he stomps back to the kitchen as if he was never here to begin with. He’s still moving around making who knows what.

  I look up at the guys, “Well, that settles that then.”

  Dane

  I’m so frustrated! I’m lying to the guys, and I didn’t even get a chance to tell them Evie will have more bonds. They had to find out from Zach! Argh!

  I’m in the kitchen doing my best to focus on the plan to get Evie out of the mansion safe but it’s hard. She could be pregnant with my child, and instead of barging in there and demanding her back, we’re here making plans. I can only hope we get there in time.

  The guys are all discussing the plan I laid out and how best to achieve it with minimal casualties, which I think is pointless. If what Max and Raphael have said is true, it means they would have already tried telling everyone we went rogue.

  Most likely everyone believes the same thing Zach did, that Evie was working for the Shaded and so she deserved what was happening. If they told Zach that, then who else have they told, and what have they said? They haven’t told Zach we went rogue. If they had, I think he would have been more suspicious of them, as he knows me well enough that I’d never betray our people even for my bonded.

  I serve up dinner, but my stomach is complaining too much to be able to eat. Heading outside, I make my way to the nearby lake so I can think things through. I need to work through everything that has been playing with my mind since Raphael told me about the demons.

  Now that I know our parents are being possessed, or influenced by the demons, things are starting to make a lot more sense. When we first started tracking down Shaded, we were given strict orders not to kill them, only incapacitate, or knock them out. At the time, we never questioned it because we were told it was because we needed to find out how they were stealing our powers, but now it makes me wonder if they were just using us to get in touch with the Shaded before releasing them. I never questioned that we never saw them again once we handed them over. I just assumed they were being imprisoned.

  Then we have the Demons. What’s their end game? Why have us out there catching Shaded all the time? Why even reveal their existence? Was it all just for appearances, or is there something bigger going on?

  Sighing, I focus on the lake in front of me and use my element to create waves over the lake. There is always something natural about using your elements, and I can feel my powers getting stronger lately. I feel like the closer we get to Evie, the more the bond is trying to connect to us, but there’s just something keeping it out of reach.

  I feel so bad for Evie. If what her grandfather says is true, she’ll be betrayed by someone soon and it will hurt her deeply. Evie loves so hard that someone betraying her could destroy her.

  Since the plane trip I’ve been trying to think of who it could be, and the only person that came to mind was her father. He seemed to show up conveniently the night she disappeared, and he knew she would. According to him, it was a vision he saw that showed him Evie being taken, but if that’s true why wouldn’t he warn her? And why would it take so long for him to come see her after contacting her? We hadn’t discussed it, but surely it shouldn’t have taken over 3 days to get to her once he knew where she was?

  And what about her grandfather, Raphael? He’s just dropping by now after all these years?

  I’ll just have to stick closer to Evie, and try to help her when the time comes.

  Chapter 6

  Evie

  I wake up to the sound of my chains moving to see Zach unclipping them. I must have slept longer than I realized. He carries me to the bathroom as usual, and I take my time relieving myself. Considering I can’t keep much down, I always need to pee like crazy. Huh, I guess that’s the pregnancy kicking in.

  Oh wow! I’m pregnant! I have to be crazy not to have realized sooner, but with everything else going on it didn’t even cross my mind. I figured they were drugging me with some heavy-duty drugs to cause the vomiting, but now that I think about it everything I’ve been feeling could be related to pregnancy. I’m confused, though. Isn’t it too soon for symptoms?

  Once I’m finished, Zach walks back in and carries me back to the chains. After he locks me back up, he stares at me brushing my matted hair out of my face before placing a soft kiss to my temple. Sighing, I watch him leave back up the stairs where he is presumably going back to his shift guarding me. He’s so anguished leaving me behind, but it’s the only way he can risk not being hurt by Marcia and Charles.

  I must have fallen asleep again, because I’m woken by the sound of shouting. There’re voices arguing upstairs, and I can hear people coming towards the basement door.

  When it opens, multiple people come down the stairs and one of the other guards is dragging Zach down behind him. There’s blood on his mouth, a purple bruise around his right eye and he’s clutching his ribs.

  Richard, Marcia, and Charles are all standing in front of me with 3 other men behind them that I haven’t seen before. I’m guessing its Dane’s, Teddy’s, and Mike’s fathers, because they look similar to my guys.

  Marcia steps forward, “Well, Evelyn, we’ve run out of time. Looks like one of our most loyal guards has deceived us, so we need to know who you’re bonded to. Now!” She steps forward and pulls my head back by the hair and that’s when I see the knife, right before she stabs me in the shoulder.

  I scream and nearly pass out from the pain. “I’m not bonded to anyone!” As much as I want the pain to stop, I won’t give in and risk them hurting one of the guys. They’ve proven by what they’ve done to Zach, that they don’t care as long as they get what they want.

  She walks back to the group and leans in, whispering to Richard. He nods before saying something which I don’t hear over the ringing in my ears and pounding in my head. I wonder how much blood I’ve lost.

  Marcia laughs, watching her lips move, I concentrate on what she is saying as she approaches me. She’s smiling so maliciously that it terrifies me. How could I have ever loved someone as cruel as her?

  “Well if you aren’t going to tell us who you’re bonded to, I’ll make sure none of them will want to touch you ever again,” she says, facing me with the knife before she cuts along the top of my breasts.

  It hurts so much, but I know that if I react, she’ll make it so much worse. She starts out slow with small shallow cuts taking her time to make sure they are all clearly visible but gets deeper the longer she’s cutting.

  “You can stop it anytime you want, Evelyn, just tell us who you’ve bonded to,” she says, when I flinch as she cuts across my stomach.

  I almost give in right then, knowing she could hurt my babies, but a voice whispers in the back of my mind telling me to be strong just a little longer.

  Feeling lightheaded, I look down at my body to see the red of my blood against my tan skin. I look at each of the people in the room hoping one of them will help me, but they’re all watching Marcia except for Zach, who has passed out on the ground in front of the other guard. I hope he’s ok.

  Charles steps forward and smiles while taking the knife and that’s the last thing I see bef
ore I let oblivion take me.

  Dane

  Finally, after what feels like hours of planning, but, in reality, was probably only an hour or two, everything is organized and ready to go. Max will create a distraction at the back of the mansion by calling a storm filled with lightning. He said he can keep it going for 10 minutes only, as his power dies quicker than when he was an angel. Something about being fallen decreases his power capacity.

  Zach has told the other elementals to meet us out front of the mansion hoping to throw the guards off. Seeing over 30 elementals standing outside your house, knowing you’re outnumbered three to one, should get them to stand down easy enough. Here’s to hoping they are smart enough to know when they’re fighting a losing battle.

  I know I shouldn’t take anything extra, but I grab a few bottles of ginger ale and some saltines in case Evie needs them. My mom used to swear they were the only things that got her thorough her pregnancy with me.

  We’re all geared up ready to go, when my phone rings. Zach’s name flashing across the screen has me panicking. Something’s wrong. We told him not to call us unless it was important because we didn’t want to tip anyone off.

  He’s whispering, so I can only just make out what he’s saying. “You have to get here quick! Your dads are here. All of them showed up two minutes ago. They’re all upstairs talking about something important, but they called Jimmy up with them. I have a really bad feeling someone told them what we were planning. Should I get her out now?”

  If our dads are there and they know what we planned, then I doubt he’ll have the time to get her out but maybe he should try. “If you think you have enough time then get her out, but don’t draw attention,” I tell him before I hear him grunt. All I hear is silence and I don’t want to say anything to give me away, but then the call ends.

  Shit! “Zach’s been found out. We need to hurry!”