Revenant’s Call: Elemental, #6

By Rain Oxford

Devon Sanders, a private investigator known for his efficiency and discretion, has proven himself to be a formidable wizard in the paranormal world. This time, however, his reputation could be his downfall.

Devon takes a job at a paranormal children's school, thinking it will be easy. With danger, treason, and enemies at every turn, he soon learns that the stakes are higher than ever. His priorities will be tested when dark magic appears to be the only chance for survival.

Magic is elemental.

Content Advisory: This book is intended for mature audiences and contains violence, disturbing imagery, and strong language.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rain Oxford
• Release date: Aug 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781540113511

Rain Oxford

Rain Oxford is a retired teacher who has been writing stories since she was twelve. She attended Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. Some of her interests include magic, psychology, and ancient history. She has four children: a Maltese, a Chihuahua, a Great Pyrenees puppy, and a Golden Retriever puppy. The only thing missing in her family is a dragon. When she’s not creating worlds, she enjoys reading, playing the piano, or photographing exotic wildlife.

Book preview

Previously, in Elemental...

I used to be a perfectly normal private investigator... who happened to have supernaturally accurate intuition and could communicate with animals. I was known for my discretion, so my talents were often utilized in fascinating cases such as embezzlement, cheating spouses, and the occasional inheritance scandal. It was boring and I liked it that way. Then I took a case at a secret paranormal university called Quintessence and learned that I was actually a wizard.

Among humans, there also lived wizards, fae, vampires, and shifters. They were secretive, but they were everywhere.

Shifters could only change into one animal, it was a full shift (they didn’t have a partial, man-beast form) and they weren’t controlled by the full moon. Most shifters were carnivores, predominantly wolves and large cats. Some of them (like wolves) lived in packs with an alpha whose word was the law for the entire pack.

Fae were like wizards in that they could do magic, except the magic was limited to just a few powers. However, they were much better at those powers than wizards were. Also like wizards, they looked human.

Vampires, as human lore suggested, had super strength, speed, and senses. They could also thrall people, which was akin to mind control. Garlic, holy water, and crosses did nothing to them, but sunlight could kill them. They typically lived in covens.

Wizards blended in the best with humans. They could do magic naturally, without tools. Their magic was based on the elements, so while an untrained wizard could whip up a nice little fireball, a master of wizardry could turn a person inside out.

When I was eleven years old, I found out my best friend, Astrid, was a vampire. Instead of going to my parents and vampire-proofing my house, I invited her in and helped her. I woke up to find my father dead, my mother bleeding out, and Astrid sitting on the floor, covered in their blood. After many years of shunning the entire paranormal community and hating vampires in particular, I learned that she had actually saved my mother and me from a wizard named John Cross, who was my real father.

Or my uncle.

John Cross was no mere wizard; he had a unique, powerful, and deadly ability to control minds. He also had children to steal their powers. His brother, Vincent Knight, had visions; he could see the future and past. Both of these abilities were inherited from their father, who had a third ability neither of them developed; he had supernatural intuition.

To hurt his brother, John stole Vincent’s wife with mind control and nearly destroyed her mind. She was my mother. I didn’t know whether John or Vincent was my father, but I inherited all three abilities my grandfather had. I had my intuition for my entire life. My ability to talk to animals was just the tip of the iceberg, and soon developed into more when I accepted that I was a wizard. In the end, I killed John and absorbed his magic, which unlocked my visions.

Vincent taught me to control my visions using a ring so that I wasn’t constantly seeing things I didn’t want to. Quintessence played a large part in preventing me from turning out like John.

To become a halfway decent wizard and not follow in John’s footsteps, I had to let love into my heart again. Water was the first element I had to master, which was characterized by healing and love. My roommates were vital in doing this, because they were the first paranormals after Astrid that I really trusted.

Henry was a jaguar shifter, but not like any other. Although he was born here, his mother was from another world, where shifters ruled. Other than his saber fangs and the fact that he could turn invisible, choose between being normal sized or the size of a horse, and regulate his own blood, Henry was a normal jaguar. He was also a trained thief, thanks to Luana and Matheus Lycosa, who kidnapped Henry from his real mother as an infant, exploited him his entire life, killed his wife, and kidnapped his son. Henry recently got his son back and cut Luana and Matheus out of his life. He was also an amazing artist.

Darwin was half fae, half wolf shifter, and all mouth. He was a genius and fiercely loyal, but he was nearly ten years younger than me, and I couldn’t take more than a few hours of him at a time. His jokes were older than me, he was messy and forgetful, he took his pranks way too far, and his cheekiness was going to get him eaten. There was also the fact that if anyone touched his skin, it would hurt him and he would see the person’s death.

Earth was the element of strength and stability of mind. I learned that fighting my magic was wrong; I had to control it. With the earth element, I could control my power instead of letting it control me. I could use it without turning out like John.

Fire was used for purification, passion, and willpower. It was similar to other elements in a way, but it was the element I took to the easiest. Air was the element of divination and psychism. The fifth element was the soul, which I didn’t actually master, since I didn’t attend my last semester at Quintessence.

When shadows began attacking people during my second semester, I knew we were up against a dangerous enemy. Krechea, the leader of shadow walkers, was a wizard from another world called Dothra. There was a tower far below the university that had four doors to four different worlds. Each of these worlds contained the pure ancestors of our paranormal factions: wizards, vampires, shifters, and fae.

These pure versions were also about a hundred times more dangerous than our diluted versions. Because the paranormals are so powerful, the doors need to be opened with a key. Logan Hunt, the headmaster of Quintessence, Vincent, and Keigan Langril each had a key when I first learned about it. Langril was a quirky professor who happened to be a pure wizard from Dothra. We called wizards from Dothra demons. While he wasn’t a good person, he was better than Krechea.

I attained the fourth key which, other than allowing me access to the shadow pass, didn’t seem to do a whole lot at first. The shadow pass was a dark realm that a demon or someone with a key could transport from place to place, but not across worlds.

I had been warned I would have to sacrifice what was most precious to me to get the key, but the alternative was letting Krechea have it or letting the boundaries between the worlds come undone.

Soon after I got the fourth key, Krechea escaped to Earth, along with a number of his followers. The shadow walkers were after wizards to convince them to work for Krechea or kill them.

It turned out that the price for the key was too high, so I made a deal with Langril’s daughter, Heather, so that she could take the key. Because the keys fused into our magic as soon as we accepted them, the only way to get it from us was to kill us. In order to take it from me, she first gave me immortality.

Then Langril and Heather went to Dothra to destroy the tower from that side while a small army of wizards and I pushed Krechea through the door. Langril told us it would destroy Krechea, but I wasn’t convinced. It also broke all deals between demons and humans. According to Hunt and Vincent, it should have made me mortal again, but I really didn’t want to test it.

Only when everything was over and calm again did I learn that the key had given me another ability that I didn’t want; I could see and sense the dead. Fortunately, this faded within a couple of weeks after getting rid of the key.

The reason I didn’t plan on attending my fifth semester at Quintessence was that I was offered a new job. Hunt also ran a children’s school and an orphanage for children of paranormals, and he was handing the children’s school over to his daughter, Remington. She wanted me to be her new vice principal.

Chapter 1

Thursday, August 4

Most people have days they think back on and decide they just shouldn’t have gotten out of bed that morning. Most people have met someone they wished they hadn’t, said things they shouldn’t have, and done something they knew was stupid at the time.

This was a day I would experience all of that and more, and it was a Thursday of all days. Give me the kittens.

No. I found them. They’re mine.

That’s not how it works with kittens. You can’t eat them.

Yes, I can. They’re mine.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good argument. The minute I had stepped out of my apartment, I found one of my coworkers gathering up a box of kittens. Jamal was a hawk shifter and a bouncer at Drake’s club.

Although I was a private investigator, I was working at a paranormal club. I worked two months for Drake to fulfill a favor, but I decided to stay until the start of the school year because I liked the job.

I hadn’t even gotten to work. The problem was that it was in Jamal’s animal nature to eat kittens (and pretty much any small animal) and I didn’t have a lot of right to tell him not to. Furthermore, we had a huge stray cat population in the area.

One of the fluffy orange kittens stuck his head up and meowed pathetically. I wasn’t a pet person. However, my uncle’s familiar was a cat and he saved my life many times, so I couldn’t help but like cats.

You can eat other animals. Cats are pets.

That is your culture. Would you say the same thing if they were chickens?

I don’t know any chickens personally, and I’m not a vegetarian, but in this country, you don’t eat cats. Don’t draw attention to your hawk over such an insubstantial meal.

He glared at me before shoving the box at me. If any of them make it outside again, I will eat them.

I took the box. I’ll make sure they get to a good home.

I don’t care if you burn them. You owe me lunch.

I’ll get you something cooked.

Gross.

Sushi, then.

He nodded. That sounds better, even if it’s already dead.

I took the kittens into my apartment, set the box on the table, grabbed some turkey out of the fridge, and fed it to the three kittens. I had enough money to live comfortably, but I wasn’t a collector of personal effects. Most of Drake’s employees lived at the Garden Villas apartments, which we often just called the Gardens. I managed to get one that was furnished, since I didn’t want to invest in furniture.

My living room had a comfortable chocolate brown couch and matching loveseat around a glass coffee table. Across from the couch was a TV set in an entertainment stand. On the north wall was a hallway to the one bedroom and one bathroom. On the east wall was a wide doorway to the dated kitchen.

I had three boxes packed with my clothes, guns, and the few sentimental items I kept. My client files, computers, and surveillance equipment were all in a storage room at my mother’s house, since I couldn’t take them to the school.

After taking a picture of the kittens, I headed to work, hoping I wouldn’t later come home to a trashed house.

I parked in the parking lot and walked across the street to what looked like a nondescript warehouse. The club was designed for paranormals, but plenty of humans partied there, usually for the paranormal customers’ enjoyment.

When I arrived, Jorge opened the door to let me in, since it wouldn’t be open to the public for another hour. He was a six-five, South American black caiman shifter with short black hair and trimmed facial hair. Hey, Dev. Drake wants you to see him.

Sure he does. I’ll be at the bar.

The lights inside were dimmed because none of the employees liked the excessive lights that revved up the partiers. Without music, the sound of talking, glasses tinkling, and vacuuming filled the club. Without a crowd, the floor space looked massive. The psychedelic-patterned carpet was loud no matter how dark it was. Along the walls of the main room were booths. On the northern end of the room was a wooden stage with three dance poles. Behind the stage was a staircase leading over the stage and to a loft, which was Drake’s office.

Three doors on the west wall led to storage and other back rooms, including poker rooms. Centered against the south wall was the bar. The bar was an aquarium full of cichlids and plecostomuses. Behind the bar were glass shelves of liquor, each lit with color-changing lights. 

I went to the bar to talk to the bartender, Mariah. She was a cute vampire from Stephen’s coven. Her hair was blond and red, and her body was covered in tattoos. She also had two lip piercings, a nose piercing, and her eyebrows pierced. While she wasn’t my type, I liked her spirit. She didn’t take shit from people, but she had an extremely good heart and about a dozen dogs and cats that she rescued from the streets.

She was wearing a leather miniskirt over fishnet stockings. Her black shirt had red skulls across her stomach with fishnet sleeves.

How’s it going? I asked. I learned soon after we met to stay out of her mind because she was always exhausted. She worked all night and had terrible insomnia from sunrise to sunset, so the only sleep she got was on her nights off.

I’m alright. How are you?

Pretty good, but I have to head to the school soon, and I’ve suddenly got three moochers crashing on my couch.

She grinned. Really? You’re suddenly getting a lot more interesting.

I pulled out my phone and showed her the pictures. I was hoping you could take them off my hands.

She grimaced. I wish I could, but I just took in six kittens yesterday and I’m tapped out. They’re so cute. Cats are good, low-maintenance pets.

That gave me an idea. They are. How’s the coffee tonight?

The same as always; cold and spiked.

I’ll pass, then. Let me know if anyone bothers you. I was joking, of course. People didn’t mess with Mariah, and if they did, they got their ass handed to them.

She laughed. Yeah, I’ll do that.

I walked away and called my mother. After a few rings, Vincent answered. Hello?

Wow, I didn’t know you could use a phone.

I heard a loud beep. Devon?

Yes. You don’t have to hold down the call button to talk.

Hello! What button do I push to talk? Over.

I laughed. Give my mother the phone.

She’s in the kitchen. Over.

He was using a wired phone. Tell her to pick up the kitchen phone. You don’t have to say ‘over’ on the phone. He didn’t say anything, so I sighed. Over.

He yelled to my mother for her to answer the phone and she picked up. Hi, honey. Are you coming for a visit early?

I loved how my mother progressed over the months. After years of torture from John, Hunt and Vincent made her forget all about magic. They sent us (I was three at the time) to live with a man named Joseph Sanders, who became abusive over the years. They made her and Joseph believe they were married and that I was Joseph’s son. Over the years, her mind fought their power. She could sense my magic and was afraid of it.

When John last attacked her, he destroyed almost all that was left of her mind. Then Vincent got back together with her and she remembered everything that happened to her. Within a couple of months, the improvement in her mental health was drastic.

Maybe it was because she remembered what had been done to her, maybe it was because of Vincent, but she recovered better than I had ever expected. She was completely lucid and more importantly, she was happy. Vincent was also happy, because he was reunited with the love of his life.

I also loved that she remembered all about the paranormal world, knew I was a wizard, and didn’t blame me for John’s power. I even asked her if Vincent was my father. She said she wasn’t sure, but that was better than denying it outright.

I’m afraid not. I’ll be over tomorrow night. I planned on finishing my work night, heading over to my mother’s house in the morning, and spending Friday night and Saturday with her before going to the school on Sunday morning. Remington had requested that I arrive a week early to adjust.

I’m looking forward to it.

In the meantime, aside from checking up on you, I called to see how you felt about taking in a few kittens.

I love kittens. Ghost might not like them, though.

I can try to find someone else to take them if you don’t—-

No, I want them. Ghost can get over it if he doesn’t like them.

Great. I’ll bring them with me in the morning.

Devon! Drake barked.

I sighed. I have to go. Love you.

I love you, too.

I got off the phone with my mother and headed up the stairs to the loft, where Drake was sitting on one of the two identical black leather couches. Drake was a picture-perfect mobster; a little heavy set, not too tall, slick black hair, cold brown eyes, over-priced black suit, and a cigarette in his mouth.

His bodyguard, Kevin, stood next to him, as always. Kevin was a massive man at six-foot-eight and two hundred seventy pounds without an ounce of fat. His black hair was on the long side of average and his irises were black. He was a Komodo dragon shifter.

What do you need? I asked.

I have a new blood supplier coming in tonight. He’s selling Sanguatine, a synthetic blood that has been out for a while.

I knew a little about Sanguatine, because I knew the maker of it. Andrew Martin was a demon, like Langril, as well as a necromancer, chemist, healer, and physician at Quintessence. He first made synthetic blood for the vampire students at Quintessence. However, it had a soporific effect to help curb their predatory nature. Outside of school, that was counterproductive, so he made a type that wasn’t calming.

Sounds good. What do you need me for?

The price he’s quoting me is too high.

Then turn him down.

It’s the only synthetic blood that vampires can live on. I want you to make him lower the price.

No.

You’re my employee. That means you do as you’re told.

You’re wrong on both accounts. I’m a private investigator. I’m working here because I like it, but I’m still a private investigator, and my work might take me away from the club. My skills help you and you pay me. I’m not going to use my powers to cheat someone out of money.

He’s the one trying to cheat me!

Supply and demand. Get him to come down, accept the price, or turn him down. You don’t have a lot of options, and I’m not going to help you cheat anyone. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be getting ready for the crowd.

At least sit in on the meeting. You’ll see for yourself that he’s trying to gouge me.

Fine. Call me when he gets here. I went downstairs and started scanning the minds of the staff. As I did that, I helped Pitch and Mariah get the bar ready. When it was time to let people in, I skimmed through their thoughts.

Even on a Thursday, the club would be packed. It was rarely crazy on weekdays, but people liked to hang out with fellow paranormals and play with humans. I read the minds of people as they entered and especially those who looked or acted suspiciously. Within a few weeks of working here, I learned who the regulars were and which ones I had to worry about.

Over several months of constant practice during nine-hour shifts, I mastered the ability to skim minds for particular times, emotions, or thoughts. Before, I would see too much of a person when all I wanted was to know if they were lying or telling the truth.

A couple hours in, Pitch approached. He was a gorilla shifter, just as tall as Kevin and even more muscular. Even though he could kill me with a half-hearted punch, my intuition didn’t warn me of danger like it did around Kevin. Pitch was a friend. Kevin would eat me in a split second if he thought he could get away with it. In fact, he had tried to sneak up on me several times, and it was only my mind control abilities that stopped him from trying harder.

Hey, Dev. Jorge is about to take his break, but I’m kind of busy in the back. Can you cover me for about fifteen minutes?

Since my magic was already flowing wild, I caught the image of a woman in his mind. Sure. Manning the door was actually the easiest way for me to do my job, and I’d rather do it alone than listen to Pitch talk about his flings.

Thanks. He left, probably afraid I’d see his real intention in his mind if he stuck around.

I went to the door and relieved Jorge to take his break. I greeted and chatted with regulars as they entered for another ten minutes until I noticed something odd in the dancing crowd. I focused my power on fear, and it directed me to a man who was harassing a sixteen-year-old girl.

She’d gotten past Jorge by stealing her older sister’s driver’s license. The man was a rogue vampire who appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with medium brown hair and dark blue eyes. I sent out an image of the two to all of the staff in the club. It was a backup plan. The instant they were all aware of the situation, I turned my attention to the troublemaker. "Leave her alone and go home," I ordered him. My magic easily overpowered him and he practically ran for the door. However, before he could reach me, Pitch grabbed him by the shirt collar.

Where do you think you’re going? Drake is waiting for you.

I looked deeper into the man’s mind. He’d known the girl he was harassing was underage. He was also the supplier for Sanguatine in this area. I made a mental note to see if Stephen would be willing to supply it to Drake’s club directly.

Vampires who didn’t live in covens were called rogues. The largest and most powerful vampire coven in North America belonged to Stephen Yocum. Rogues were allowed in coven territory, but they had to follow the rules of the coven master and were generally held in suspicion.

I only took two steps towards them before something struck me from behind. Aside from the fact that it hurt like a bitch, my vision darkened and my magic stopped flowing. I had been hit with some kind of magic. It wasn’t that my energy was blocked; I was too disoriented to focus it.

I shook my head, gaining enough sight back to realize someone was dragging me outside. I tried to lash out with my power, but I only managed a burst of fire.

Although Quintessence emphasized elemental magic, my natural instinct was to go with psychic magic. Powerful wizards could disrupt electrical devices because magical energy was similar to electricity. Once a wizard knew how to create fire, it was easy to use it in anger.

Gag him, a man said.

That’s not how his magic works, a woman argued.

Then hit him again.

I need a minute to recover my energy.

While they were talking, I was doing my best to gather my wits. I was picked up and put into the back of a truck. I attempted to roll over to see my attackers, but I couldn’t figure out which direction to look in. A moment later, the truck was in motion.