“Fire elementals?” I asked.
“They were sprites that materialized as small human children, though some aged into their late teens. They needed host families to survive, but as adoption became more of a bureaucratic process—and these weren’t real children—the host families became fewer and further between. The Chibold also had a reputation for causing trouble, thus not many supernatural families being willing to take them in.”
“What happened to them?”
“They died off, as happens if they go longer than a century without a host family. They were around during the War, back when the Maltorim first declared the dual-natureds be killed. The Chibold caused a lot of destruction with their fires and telekinetic powers.”
Wouldn’t that throw the Universe’s balance completely out of whack? Missing an entire element? Then again, they’d thought it was a good idea to only introduce one at the start. As crazy as I was, I had no place making judgments about ‘balance’ or the Universe’s decisions.
The Maltorim, on the other hand, was another story entirely.
We walked the rest of the way around the block in silence, stopping when Lauren’s car came back into view. Adonis was still with Lauren and Ivory, but no other Cruor were anywhere to be seen. Judging by the glazed sheen to Lauren’s eyes, she was still under his influence. We stayed far enough away to talk privately, so long as we kept our voices low.
“I’m still worried about Thalia,” I said. “She said they have our scent now. Whatever that means.”
“Thalia has the attention span of a gnat. She’ll find something else to occupy her time by the end of the night. You’d have been better off never coming to her attention to begin with, but she’s not going to hunt you down.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You’re not that important, darlin’,” he said, smirking.
Though his light candor broke the tension surrounding my concerns, Thalia still struck me as someone far too passionate to let things go.
I shuddered, remembering the other Cruor—the crazed redhead. “What about Circe?”
“Circe is a marionette controlled by its puppet master. She’s not going to do anything unless Thalia tells her. Those two are always together.”
“Thalia might not want to kill you,” I said, “but there’s no reason she wouldn’t come after me.”
“Thalia isn’t as dangerous as she likes to believe. She’s too busy sucking up to the Maltorim to break any laws.”
“Still, maybe it would help if I learned more about your world,” I said, hoping I could use this opportunity to get answers about my ancestor without him learning about my family’s curse.
“Such as?” he asked.
“You said humans once killed some of your kind. That some who died truly were elementals.”
Charles nodded.
“This is going to sound crazy”—I stole a glance at him—“but an ancestor of mine was killed during the Salem witch trials. Her court document was in my attic, but there’s no mention of her in any public records. Could she have been an elemental? Like, say, a spirit elemental?”
“Oh.” He sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Wow.” Another moment passed. “Well, she might have been a human who got dragged into things.”
“Or not,” I said.
“There were spirit elementals,” Charles replied. “Witches. But they were an extremely small population.”
“Witches?”
“Humans chosen by the Universe, imbued with unique powers that would have been too risky to give an immortal. They died with their human bodies. Their existence was short-lived. I don’t know anything more than that.”
“You’re a huge help.”
“If you’d let me finish…. I was going to say Adrian might know more. I’ll call him tonight and arrange something.”
Feeling a little more secure, I allowed myself the indulgence of asking him more about the Cruor lifestyle. It hadn’t mattered before, but if it was part of who Charles was, I would need to understand everything.
He explained how their blood cravings worked—how he didn’t struggle with them as much as a pure Cruor. He told me how most didn’t live as well as they could afford out of fear they might draw attention to themselves. Those who integrated with society lived their lives through forged documents and false family trees; they kept their money spread throughout different banks and in Swiss accounts.
As for the Strigoi, their animal forms also put them at more risk, such as if they crossed the path of a hunter. A human would have no way of knowing they were more than an animal. The idea of it made me happier I didn’t eat meat.
I asked Charles what happened if Strigoi were killed in their animal form, and he said…nothing. They just stayed in animal form; it was the Universe’s way of protecting their secrets.