18. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Gideon
Isaiah’s teleport was sluggish. Gideon had experienced the sensation so many times over the course of the last four years, but this one was different. Rather than the millisecond of hangtime between points, it felt stretched and clumsy—completely at odds with the sovereign’s usual efficiency.
He gave the Raeth a sidelong glance before dismissing the thought. Everyone could have an off day, even menacing Sovereigns.
They stood in an unoccupied office. Key’s stoicism remained a mask, her cool amber gaze studying each of them in turn. After Captain Hunter had driven off to the base, she’d explained that drowning this facility hadn’t been possible until recently. With the destruction of the kennels, the human mercenaries that manned the base—each hand picked to be immune to supernatural suggestion—had been redeployed to other areas.
Knowing that Key held their future in her hands was unnerving. The little she’d shared of their mission the day before had made Gideon’s skepticism rear its anxious head.
Swallowing the urge to demand more answers, he asked, “Where do we go from here, Key?”
“The weaponry contained within these walls can’t be allowed to come into play. With Rukia’s ability, we flood the storage and drown the facility. Then, Gideon, you’ll sink it into the earth where nothing can be retrieved. As it’s in the flood space between neighboring mountain peaks, the collapse won’t seem completely improbable.”
Despite his hesitation regarding the foreseer, Gideon was keen to do what he could to eliminate the Citizens . After the attempt on his life—and the losses the immortal world had sustained since then—nothing would give him greater pleasure than being able to rid the world of their terror.
Key turned to Jax. “Isaiah has already teleported your Humvee back to your base in Washington. You mind staying to watch the fireworks?”
When Jax nodded, the group’s attention turned to the task at hand. It was eerily quiet, and the sense of impending doom seemed to seep from every corner.
Gideon glanced at his companions. “Let’s get to work.”
Soon enough, they found themselves deep in the bowels of the building. Below their feet, Gideon connected with the earth beneath the poured concrete foundation. Concentrating, he drew the essence of his element into his mind, discerning the superficial from the substantial.
“Isaiah, are we absolutely certain there isn’t anyone in here other than us?” Rukia asked.
“There’s no one else. Other than the guard at the gate, we’re alone.”
Gideon nodded. As Key had foretold the night before, when he disturbed the earth beneath the facility, a natural spring would well up under them. Having Rukia here to hold back the tides would be essential, and Isaiah’s ability to teleport would see them out of danger.
The Elemental placed his hands on the floor and concentrated. He could already sense the compromised footing on which it’d been built. A faint rumble below their feet indicated the changing earth below them. Rock and soil split at his command, and through the cracks, frigid water began to rise. He held the foundation of the building stable as it seeped into the facility.
Slowly, the room they stood in began to flood.
Rukia encouraged its rise. At her command, the water formed a ring around them, keeping them dry as it splashed up the walls and over their heads. For their plan to work, Gideon needed to create a sinkhole large enough to swallow the entire base.
Though Rukia’s abilities were unmatched, Gideon couldn’t help but sense the rising distress in Rona. She had never been buried the same way he had.
The only thing he saw from Isaiah was a deep, resounding pride in his mate. There was no fear in his adoring gaze, even as her element became spherical around them, hemming them in on every side. Rukia was enjoying herself.
“The entire cursed place is filled with water now, Gideon, and I’ve directed the excess downhill.” Her eyes opened. “Ready?”
Though every kennel would soon be leveled and Derek had been removed from the equation, sinking their weaponry would effectively bring the Citizens to their knees. If what Key said was true and they failed, it would only be a decade before the Elementals—and every other immortal life—were hunted down like animals.
Gideon would do everything in his power to keep that future from happening. Hundreds of feet below, he shifted rock and altered the landscape underground. A hole formed, the earth allowing him easy access. In minutes, a cavern opened, waiting for his command to sink the facility.
“Ready?”
Gideon funneled one last pulse into the earth just before he nodded at Isaiah. But it wasn’t the Sylth sovereign who reached for them. Key extended her hand, confirming she would be the one to anchor them together in a teleport.
It was another oddity. Gideon couldn’t recall a single time that Isaiah had ever consented for another person to teleport him.
He didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Key brought them to a point further up the snowy mountain, just out of reach of the sinkhole. Gideon plunged his hands back into the frozen earth, and Rona did the same beside him. They reached the sinkhole’s formation at the same time. Together, they picked apart the supporting rock that held the facility aloft.
“Hold on.”
And then, the mountains shook.
The massive building was swallowed completely in seconds. A cavernous sinkhole yawned open, dust billowing from the depths. For good measure, Gideon buried the ruins beneath a layer of rock.
As he straightened, all of them stared at the black pit. It was one more assurance that the Citizens wouldn’t win—and for the first time, he felt hope rise.
Since the moment of Key’s revelation, Gideon’s every attention had focused on preventing it. Though he wouldn’t do anything without the foreseer’s oversight, he’d slowly begun to build up his stores. Elementals could be sustained fully by their elements, but Paracel had become a haven for all types of immortals.
A tickle of electrical energy made Gideon perk. Key’s gaze was affixed on Isaiah. After a small nod, the foreseer said, “Jax and I will return to Seattle. Your work here has gone a long way toward removing the threat to our lives.”
With a flare of power, Isaiah teleported all four of them back to the dome in Paracel, the lights bright to their dark-adjusted eyes. Blinking to compensate for the change, Gideon looked at his wife.
Her grin ravished him. “I’m going to let the vampire council know we’ve succeeded. You want to come?”
“I’m going to monitor the web for any indication of the sink hole for a bit,” Gideon said, “but then I’ll be home.”
Kissing her goodbye, Gideon smiled thoughtfully as he watched Rukia and his wife head out. Isaiah had disappeared as well, which wasn’t unusual: like Gideon, the Raeth had a community to run. As he headed to his office, his thoughts turned to Paracel.
For the first time in ages, they were building new homes and expanding their footprint into the Iowa countryside. Elementals were no longer the only breed within Paracel’s borders. Aidan, the leader of the werewolf nation, had made his home with Lucy here. Zia, Jeremiah’s mate, was one of several Raeths that’d moved in. Even a vampire, one who’d elected to live outside of their race’s housing structure, had built a home here and loved the community.
It’d become a melting pot Gideon had grown to cherish.
By the time he’d sat down in the warmth of his office, he closed his eyes to contemplate what they had accomplished tonight. The four of them had played their pivotal part in the destruction of the group who’d planned on destroying immortals.
The Citizens would have to be oblivious to miss the impact of their moves. They would strike back, and he would be watching.
Gideon opened his eyes to a guest he did not expect.
Isaiah stood in the doorframe, silent and watchful. The Raeth sovereign hadn’t made any noise, nor had he intruded on Gideon’s thoughts. His stance was a study in patience, but Gideon knew a question hung in the air between them.
“Isaiah.” Gideon motioned to the guest chairs before him. “Come in.”
There was a moment of hesitation before the Raeth pushed off the doorframe and settled into a chair in front of Gideon. The dynamic was new; Isaiah nearly always met him on equal ground.
“I haven’t come here to monitor the news.”
“What’s wrong?”
Isaiah’s eyes held a concerning intensity. “When you become your element, what is your process?”
This wasn’t a question he’d ever expect from a Raeth. It threw him off guard. “What do you mean?”
“When you become the earth, Gideon, how do you dissolve? What do you do to return to form? How do you keep your wits about you without a tangible mind to contain them?”
“Where is this coming from, Isaiah? Should I be worried?”
“As I am not an Elemental, you have nothing to worry about.” Isaiah batted away his concern as though it were nothing more than an annoying fly.
Reclining in his chair, Gideon steepled his fingers before him. “For an Elemental, becoming their element is typically akin to true death.”
“But that’s not the case for you.”
“It is not.”
Isaiah’s made an impatient gesture with his hand, spurring him on.
“For me, becoming the earth is natural. It’s a way to connect more deeply with my element and to make it respond instantly to my requests. Instead of asking, pulling for it to do my bidding, I simply become .”
“How, Gideon? How do you lose your form?”
Gideon turned his focus inward. He mentally picked apart the process, identifying the basis for the transformation and putting it to lyrics.
“What I am is a host to the power of the element. When that power loosens, when it breaks free from the well where it’s housed within me, I can shrug off my physical being and become the truth of what I am.”
The Raeth was pensive. “And how do you keep your consciousness?”
He shrugged. “Even when I’m my element, I still retain a sense of self. But it’s a conscious decision to remain aware. I’ve no doubt that when others seek to end their lives by merging with their element, they dissolve their individuality.”
Isaiah didn’t immediately respond.
“It isn’t without a price, Isaiah,” Gideon continued. “Every time I become my element, I’m dormant afterward—sometimes for weeks.”
“Yes, I understand.” The other man waved a dismissive hand. “I appreciate the transparency.”
Gideon nodded, unable to do anything other than simply let the conversation go as Isaiah intended it. Internally, his mind raced with questions. The other man bowed his head in gratitude, but the almost-oppressive intensity was back in his eyes by the time he straightened.
“You’re not to tell Rukia of our conversation.”
Gideon held his gaze, weighing the directive. No one could’ve missed the undertone of warning. Realization hit him. “Is Key behind this ask?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have my word.”
Stepping forward, Isaiah offered the Elemental monarch his arm in a warrior’s vow, their hands clasping on each other’s forearms.
“I’m glad she has you.”
By the time the shock registered on Gideon’s face, Isaiah was already gone.