eldritch files 07 - elemental blood by phaedra weldon Page A

side. Crwys's arms wrapped around me, held me, comforted me, and warmed me. He was hot to the touch and smelled of brimstone and ash. I couldn't remember ever smelling anything sexier. He held me so tight I thought I was going to break and my feet came off the ground.
    "Crwys," I choked out.
    "What?" His voice was muffled where he'd buried his face in my neck.
    "Monster."
    "Oh, right." He let go and stood back, but remained at my side.
    I felt a boost of confidence with him there, a resurgence of energy once again as we faced…whatever the hell that was.
    "It's a Purs!" Tas said as she came up to my left, her gun drawn. I noticed a few bits of plant life moving away from her, and I realized she was holding cold iron.
    Were the Nisse as allergic to cold iron as the Faerie?
    I pointed to the gun. "Will that hurt it?"
    "It might." She gave me a half smile. "Or it will piss it off. What's going on? Why are there Jötunn and a Purs fighting you?"
    "Something about protecting the blood." I shrugged. "I don't know. Bastien and I just got here through a Pathfinder's gate—"
    She grabbed my arm. "A Pathfinder?"
    I blinked. "You know about them?"
    "Where is he?"
    "He's in the cabin."
    Tas turned and fired at the roots barricading the door. They popped and snapped away as the door flow open and Brahms stumbled out. Oh crap…had he been trying to get out all this time?
    His long white-silvery hair fell over his shoulders and back as he blinked at few times and then his jaw dropped. "Who summoned a Purs?"
    "Do you know how to kill it?" Levi said as he sidled up, his gun drawn and picking off the occasional brave plant. Each one he hit with a bullet actually turned black before it melted. I watched him reload another magazine into the gun.
    The Wolves had regrouped and now moved their remaining numbers around the cabin, putting themselves between the forest and us. I recognized Bastien's big red wolf and Jack's black wolf beside him. They had blood on their coats, but appeared okay. Or I hoped so. I didn’t think the Jötunn bled.
    The Purs started moving again, coming right for us. "YOU ATTACKED BLOOOOOOOOOD!" it shouted in a very loud and very deep voice. My eardrums vibrated, and I could have sworn they were bleeding.
    Crwys, Levi and Tas raised their guns to fire. I figured…cold iron. Let's see. But I also summoned a spell of Fire, just in case, and my own Elementals rallied amongst the Wolves.
    "No!" Solomon Dumaine shouted as he and Kyle arrived around the side of the cabin.
    I yelled after him, but he was already sprinting toward the line of Wolves. And to my surprise, he leapt over them.
    "Shit," I muttered as I ran after him, and Bastien broke off ranks and followed. The three of us stopped in the Purs's path. I readied my Fire, with Belenos hovering above me. Crwys joined us as well, his hands ablaze, and Bastien growled.
    "Please, everyone stop now," Solomon said as he held out his hand. He jogged even closer as the Purs neared and shouted, " Wiccé Sidhe mech do'in loch! "
    Those of us behind him glanced at each other. No one knew what he said.
    The Purs stopped in its tracks. It bore down its triple gaze on the very small conjurer, and then to our surprise, one of the trees it used for legs snapped in two. I thought someone had chopped at it and looked around for Coventina. But that wasn't it at all. The vine of thorns snaked down and wrapped itself around the broken tree trunk, encasing it. Then the trunk bent in half where it broke, and it looked like the Purs was going down on one knee!
    "Huh," I said aloud as I dismissed the spell. I watched as that big old tree monster bowed to Solomon. It even lowered its head.
    Solomon spoke something else to it, then made a strange gesture in the air and the thing just…vanished. Went all green and sparkly, and poof.
    The woods grew quiet for a few seconds before the shushing and swishing of rustling leaves filled the space. Walking trees disappeared or went silent and still