Free eldritch files 07 - elemental blood by phaedra weldon

Bastien's arm. "What blood?"
    "Elemental Blood…pro-tect-ted. Foul is the one who betrays the blood."
    " Chérie , I do not like the sound of that," Bastien said in a soft voice. Then he tilted his head to the side. "We are not alone."
    For a second, I wanted to point at the walking forest and agree we weren't alone. Then I realized he meant the pack. The Aces were here. I sent my feels out to see if I could touch them, since I wasn't part of the link anymore. Every attempt was bounced back at me.
    Belenos abruptly turned and looked directly at me, hovering level with my face. - Tell the Wolves not to attack!-
    A roar broke through the sound of shifting leaves.
    Too late.



NINE
    Crwys stood to the side of the horror. He kept his face unreadable. The other detectives, officers, and government officials weren't as successful, as some of them cried and others retched.
    They stood on the north course at City Park Driving Range. Crwys had never been to this part of City Park, and after today, he never hoped to return. In the center of the course sat a new sculpture. Not one commissioned by the city or patrons of the arts, but one created by a magic far older and wilder than his own.
    Captain Prescott had been right about the twenty bodies. What she hadn't mentioned was they were twenty bodies of children, differing in age, sex, and race. The only way he could describe it…it looked as if they'd all been tossed into a large pile seconds before they started to change into stone. All of them were calcified from at least the waist down. The smaller children on the bottom were completely turned to stone. Each of them was forever frozen in an act of horror, marked by their outstretched arms and terrified expressions.
    "I don't know which is more haunting—" Levi said as he stood beside him. Ashur's voice came through in deeper tones. "The expressions of the stones, or of the ones still human."
    "What does it matter?" Crwys balled his hands into fists. "This is ‘effed up. And this is not a Quest."
    "I don’t believe this is what the Purs had in mind when they created the Quest," Ashur/Levi said. "Magic like this shouldn't be alive in this world. It shouldn't come through the veil like this."
    Crwys understood what his old friend meant by the veil. It wasn't a physical thing anyone could touch, but a sort of dimming of senses, a gestalt of magic over mind that prevented humans from seeing what existed around them. This veil had been voted on and established long before Crwys even knew what a Nisse was.
    And yet…here was a real, horrifying clue to what really walked around them. Quest or no Quest, this couldn't continue.
    Crwys watched in silent horror as men in hazmat suits moved around the twenty-foot high sculpture, and he wondered how a pile of victims could jump so high. The truth was…they couldn't. He had to reassess his initial assumption. These kids were dropped from a high altitude and then transformed in media res.
    In process.
    Captain Prescott approached, wearing a sharp black suit, a stern expression, and a pale countenance. She motioned for the two of them to follow her and then stopped several feet away. "I need ideas."
    "I don't have any at the moment," Levi said, no trace of Ashur in his voice.
    Crwys stared at the monstrosity. "What does the CDC say?" He nodded to the people in hazmat suits.
    "Nothing that helps us. Their supervisor said preliminary tests haven't shown a pathogen."
    "A what?" Levi said.
    Tas spoke up, "It's the first step in a chain of infection. It can be bacteria, or a virus, or even a fungus."
    "Exactly," Prescott said, her hands on her hips. "And they can't find anything. Which is knocking out our theory of some kind of medical issue. I've asked them to send samples to Max to see what he comes up with. If he finds anything, he'll give you three a call." She glanced back and Crwys noted the pain in her face. She had two kids. "I can't explain this one, and there is no way this is going to