Chapter 11
I drove through the night. One of the advantages of being a mermaid is that we require very little sleep. We catch a few minutes here, a few minutes there, rarely do we sleep for more than an hour at a time.
I reached Gladrielle's home town just in time for breakfast. I didn't know where else to go, so I headed for Magical Java, the coffee shop where I found Elrod the last time I was there. I parked the Del Sol in front of the shop and headed inside.
The tall girl that served me the last time I was there was working behind the counter. She used glamor to hide her true appearance from me when I stepped through the door, then she realized who I was and let the glamor drop.
“Caramel mocha latte and six glazed?” she said.
“Make it a dozen,” I said.
Elrod was at his usual table by the window, sipping black coffee, eating a single donut, and reading the local paper.
I collected my latte and bag of one dozen donuts, paid for them, and drifted over to his table.
“You're back,” he said, without looking at me.
“I am,” I said, grabbing the seat across from him.
“You drop Claire off at her place?”
I stuffed a full donut in my mouth and washed it down with a sip of my latte. “Actually, Gladrielle's still in the city.”
That got Elrod's attention. He set his paper down and looked at me. “Why would she still be in the city?”
I wolfed down a second donut before answering. “She's kind of going through something. You might call it a change.”
“She's an elf, elves don't change. We're the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”
“Unless you kill someone.”
“Would you mind repeating that.” Elrod didn't seem to understand what I said. No big surprise, considering I stuffed a third donut in my mouth after the word unless.
I finished eating the donut, washed it down with a sip of my latte, then braced myself. “She killed someone. Specifically, she killed the vampire that I was hired to protect. Went by the name Titus Hawthorn. Burned him to a crisp with a big fireball.”
“Why would she want to kill him?”
“She didn't mean to kill him. She just wanted to singe him a little, force him to back away from the Count. Thing is, vampires have about half the water in their bodies as living beings. And vampires that haven't ate in awhile, like Titus, have even less.”
“Your point being?”
“Hungry vamps are kind of like mummies, dry and brittle and extremely flammable.”
“So the vampire she killed was going to kill another vampire? This Count?”
“She called him Eradu. A name he used a long time ago. I got the impression that she still had feelings for him. Which she all but confirmed when she killed Titus to save his life.”
Elrod paused for a minute, digesting everything I had just told him. “What happened then?”
“She started to change. Her hair turned black, her eyes turned black, her fingernails turned into long black claws. Even her voice changed.”
“And then?”
“She told me to run. So I ran. Hopped in my car and came here.”
“This Count, this Eradu, is still alive?”
“He was when I left. I suspect the two of them are doing the horizontal mambo right about now. Either that, or they've gone on a killing spree the likes of which the world has never seen.”
“The Count wanted her to take someone's life?”
“He said if she became a dark elf, they could be together, for eternity. Then he tried to force her to kill Titus.”
“Sounds like he succeeded.”
“Not in the way he planned it, but, yeah, I guess he did.”
“This is my fault,” Elrod said. “I never should have let her go to the city. I should have went instead.”
While Elrod took a few minutes to place the blame on himself, I polished off a couple more donuts. All right, three more donuts. I had spent the drive up here blaming myself for what happened, so I knew how he was feeling. I also knew that it wouldn't do any good to argue with him, tell him that it wasn't his fault.
In truth, we were all at fault. The Count for coming here and threatening people. Me for asking the elves for help. Elrod for letting Gladrielle go with me. Titus for deciding to stake the Count.
But ultimately, Gladrielle had chosen her own fate. She created the fireball and threw it at Titus. Maybe somewhere in the back of her mind, she wanted to become a dark elf, wanted to be with the Count.
“We're all at fault,” I said. “Me, you, Titus, the Count. Most of all Gladrielle. She didn't have to throw that fireball at Titus. She could've stepped between him and the Count. She could've grabbed his arm. She could've glowed so bright that he couldn't see what he was doing.”
“You make it sound like she wanted to become a dark elf.”
“I think part of her did. It was obvious that she still had feelings for the Count, Eradu, as she called him.”
“And the Count encouraged her to kill someone?”
“He did.”
“Then it sounds like she chose her own fate.”
“I think she did. You and I may be responsible for waving the temptation under her nose, but she's the one that succumbed to it.”
Elrod sat back and sighed. “Sounds like we're trying to justify our own innocence.”
“Maybe we are.” I started on another donut, eating this one like a normal person rather than a hungry mermaid. Then I asked the obvious question. “So what happens now?”
Elrod wrinkled his brow. “What do you mean?”
“What do you do when one of your kind becomes a dark elf? Can you bring her back from the dark side?”
Elrod chuckled. “I wish it were that easy.”
“Why isn't it?”
“We were put on this planet to nurture life, protect it, not destroy it. Taking the life of a sentient being changes who we think we are.”
“You make it sound like this is all in your heads.”
Elrod shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe it is.”
“Has anyone ever tried to bring a dark elf back?”
“Not that I know of.”
“So what do you do?”
“We let them go, forget they ever existed.”
“That's it?” I said. “No snuffing out a candle, or some other kind of ceremony?”
“Her stuff will be removed from the bed and breakfast, but that's about it.”
“What if she comes back for it?”
“She won't.”
“You seem pretty sure.”
“I've been around a long time,” Elrod said. “Long enough to see more than a few elves turn. None of them ever came back.”
“Yeah, well, don't throw her stuff away just yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because I'm going to see if I can bring her back.”
Elrod's eyebrows arched in surprise. “How do you plan on doing that?”
“The first thing I need to do is get rid of the Count. I think her desire to be with him is what made her throw that fireball, made her want to change. Once he's gone, she’ll have no reason to remain a dark elf.”
“And if she doesn't change back?”
“Then I might have to kill her. Depends upon how big a nuisance she is.”
“Or the humans might have to kill her,” Elrod said.
I nodded. “They don't care what we do to each other, as long as we don't harm them.”
“And if you do?”
“They either lock us up or exterminate us.”
“You came here because you needed help to get rid of the Count. Now that help is on his side.”
“Your point being?”
“How do you plan on getting rid of him without anyone's help? Can you get rid of him without anyone's help?”
“I came here looking for backup,” I said. “Because I didn't know if my power would work on the Count. Mostly because he's not your average vampire. But
now that I know it will work on him, I can handle him by myself.”
“But can you handle him and Claire together?”
“Are you offering to join me?”
Elrod chuckled. “I don't think the council would allow that. We sent Claire with you and looked what happened.”
“Gladrielle was the wrong person to send. You should've come and she should've stayed here.”
“You'll get no argument from me. Not on that point.” Elrod pushed his chair back and stood.
“If you'll excuse me, it's time to open the nursery.”
“Any advice on how to bring Gladrielle back from the dark side?”
“Remind her of the things that she loved. The bed and breakfast. Her flower garden. Elves delight in the simple things. Remind her of those.”
“Elves delight in the simple things. Got it.”
Elrod turned and headed for the door. When he reached it, he stopped and looked back at me. “I hope I see you again, but I suspect you won't survive this encounter.”
He headed out the door before I could think of a witty reply. Not that his comment bothered me. I was a mermaid, and like all mermaids, I was constantly being underestimated. Most people, supernaturals included, didn't know what we were capable of.
The only thing they know about mermaids is what they see in the moves. Throw water on our legs and they'll turn into a tail. Not true of course. We're shape shifters, we can change at will. They also think that we like to sing with clown fish and hermit crabs. Truth be told, I'm tone deaf, the last thing anyone wants to listen to is me singing. Oh, and just for the record, clown fish and hermit crabs don't sing.
Before heading back to the city. I stopped by Gladrielle's bed and breakfast. The front door was unlocked, even though nobody was home. Guess crime wasn't a problem in the world of elves. I headed into her sitting room and reached out to the water in the plush green fern sitting in front of the room's bay window. Then I commanded the water to leave the fern. When it did, the fern turned dry and brown. I took a picture of the lifeless brown fern with my phone, then ordered the water to flow back into the fern, which it did, causing that brown and lifeless fern to turn green again.
I did the same with the fern in her dining room, then headed to her backyard. I ordered the water to leave the flowers in her garden, then took a picture of the garden looking wilted and lifeless.
What better way to get the old Gladrielle back than to show her what her absence was doing to the things that she loved the most. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. Either way, it was worth a shot.
After restoring her flowers to full health, I climbed in the Del Sol and headed back to the city.