Page 28 of The Elementalist (Four Elements #1)

Ironside

Ironside got its name from mining.

At least, I was fairly certain it had. The town stood damn close to the mountains, and much of its economy had been based around the extraction of iron ore. About thirty miles of forest—and one tunnel where the road cut through a swath of rocky hills—separated it from Shadow Pines.

It boasted a bizarre combination of outdoorsy and industrial.

The inner parts of the city felt a lot like Pittsburgh from about twenty years ago, while everywhere not ‘downtown’ had a vibe more like Boulder, Colorado.

Some of the ironworks still operated, though with the glut of steel being imported these days, most of the smelting plants stood idle.

Half the town reinvented itself as a ‘go to’ tourist destination for people looking for the ‘outdoorsman’s experience’ who also didn’t have much of a budget.

Some even referred to Ironside as the ‘poor man’s Aspen. ’

The town offered plenty of cheap hotels, ski lodges, hiking guides, small mom and pop coffee places, and so on.

After what Crystal said about werewolves, the abundance of that ‘natural’ vibe here took on a new light.

Conflict—of sorts—did exist between the ‘rugged’ types who’d been there forever and the influx of new hipster nature people.

I guess the old guard thought of them as posers, acting all concerned for the environment, but doing it more to be trendy than out of any true connection to nature.

No one paid us much attention as we drove into town.

We stopped at the first place I spotted that looked like it’d make for a decent, fast meal.

I didn’t realize they only sold vegan burgers until after we got back into the truck with our dinner.

Oh well. How bad could they be? At least the fries smelled real.

From there, we took a room at a tourist hotel called the Trail House Inn.

The guy behind the counter really overdid the stereotype: burly dude with a beard, red flannel shirt…

I couldn’t help but feel like I’d stumbled into one of those movies where a town appears all innocent during the day but everyone turns into flesh-eating monsters at night.

We sat at the little table in the hotel room to eat.

And, okay, the vegan burgers didn’t taste bad.

I’d never mistake it for real meat, but at the moment, I didn’t much care.

My thoughts about my damaged truck, the case, possibly having one of the Founding Families after my head, the general existence of vampires, werewolves, succubi, and actual magic all fell by the wayside.

Sitting so close across the table from Crystal, I found myself uncharacteristically lost for words.

Did she style her hair like that on purpose because she thought the ‘draped over one eye’ thing would endear her to a private detective?

I can’t say I’d seen too many girls rocking a retro style like that.

But it worked for her. She could totally pull off the vintage Hollywood bombshell, but more to the ingénue side than femme fatale.

Looks could—and often were—deceiving. In her case, very much so.

After all, I’d seen the girl throw a chunk of bannister through a vampire’s chest.

And that thought jogged my brain out of the schoolboy crush haze it had been floating in ever since we sat down to eat.

Crystal was a succubus, or at least a half of one.

Her real father had been a creature she referred to as an incubus—which I assumed to be the male version of a succubus.

Without doing any research, I had only bits and pieces of folklore I’d picked up on over the years to go by.

And, some people might think that wouldn’t amount to much, but if the residents of Shadow Pines had anything, it would be an abundance of folklore.

Which made sense, considering this shit was all real.

In hindsight, everything I grew up hearing and thinking of as ‘crazy old people telling stories’ was sounding more and more like serious life advice.

Well, I’d thought of succubi as demons, which may not be accurate.

However, they also supposedly charmed and devoured men.

(Or women in the case of Incubi). Considering that Crystal’s mother remained alive, and had given birth to her, that suggested that some of those rumors of ‘devouring’ had been overstated.

Demon or not, those thoughts didn’t change my sudden doubt that the feelings she stirred inside me from first sight might not be genuine.

When I’d first laid eyes on Justine—well not the first time.

Meaning, we’d both grown up in this town, so it wasn’t as if I’d never looked at her.

I’d known of her for most of my life, but didn’t really see her in that way until a few years ago.

Yeah, it’s shallow now that I think about it, and she’s probably right to call me an asshole, but with her, things had been heavy on the lust. Something about her ‘take no shit’ attitude, confidence, and utter lack of fear had turned me on big time.

She claimed I ‘hurt’ her, but it wasn’t like I cheated on her or ignored her or did anything I’d consider really bad.

Part of it came from our arguing over her not thinking private investigation amounted to a ‘real’ job and wanting me to get something more stable.

The rest of it came from me avoiding conversations whenever she brought up that whole ‘long term commitment’ thing.

Perhaps something deep inside me knew she wasn’t the ‘right one’ for me.

Whenever she started talking about anything long term, I’d kinda zone out or change the subject.

And, yeah, I guess that counted as being an asshole. I should’ve been straight with her.

But refer back to the lust part...

Anyway, the instant I first saw Crystal, it had been completely different.

Justine, I’d wanted to get in bed as fast as possible, but not Crystal.

She set off all sorts of those scary ‘long term commitment’ thoughts right away.

I hadn’t wanted to find the fastest way into the sack with her, more like I wanted to be with her in every conceivable way.

Just sitting here eating vegan burgers and talking made me happier than going all the way with Justine ever did.

Yet, as I sat there munching on my fake-a-burger, I couldn’t shake the nagging worry that everything I felt for her came from mental influence. It hit me like heartbreak and betrayal and terror all wrapped up into one petite little blonde package.

Crystal shifted her eyes up from her food to stare at me. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s kind of a silly question considering everything that’s happened.”

She almost smiled. “Obviously. No, I meant your mood changed so fast. Like, in the past few minutes. It’s as though you just found out someone close to you died.”

“You can read emotions off people?”

“Only after I’ve been around them for a little while, or start to think of them fondly.” She stuck a single French fry into her mouth, past an impish smile.

“Trying to sort out some things in my head.”

“You finally stopped to think about what I am.”

Unprepared for her directness, I tried to buy a second to think with a chuckle. “I…”

“That’s sweet. You thought I’ve charmed you and that’s where your sudden sadness came from.”

In all my twenty-eight years, I could recall only blushing twice.

Once in eighth grade when my little friend decided to stand at attention randomly in the middle of class and got noticed by a girl in the next row.

The second time? Right now. “Something like that. Did you charm me? Up until you walked into my office, I never really believed in that love at first sight thing. I’m questioning if my feelings are genuine. ”

“What sort of feelings do you have?”

I couldn’t look at her anymore. Except not making eye contact didn’t do anything to help.

I wasn’t used to being the kind of guy who mentally shut down when encountering the pretty girl, but damned if my brain didn’t turn off.

I felt like the babbling idiot who couldn’t string two words together when his crush finally noticed him.

“Umm. This is going to sound incredibly lame, but from the minute you... um... first showed up at my office, I wanted more than anything for you to be part of... well, to be part of my life.”

She tilted her head in contemplation.

“I’m sure you get plenty of guys falling over themselves, but the feelings I had were nothing like with Justine.”

“How long were you with the sheriff?”

I winced. “Briefly. Things didn’t work out. She had this whole list of unreasonable demands.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

“Oh, you know… wanting me to get a steady job instead of working for myself. Keep regular hours, do something with my life. You know, unreasonable.”

Crystal laughed. “I know her. And I’m beginning to know you better and better. The two of you are totally incompatible.”

“Yeah, found that out the hard way. With her, it was mostly just a physical thing. When I saw you, it wasn’t only your body… it felt like something went way deeper.”

“And, now you’re wondering if I somehow did that to you on purpose.” She looked down at her food, her eyes tinted with sorrow. I knew in that moment someone she’d trusted with her secret had hurt her… somehow. No, not me. Someone else.

“This is all new to me,” I said. “Dealing with vampires and other things that should be myths. If you felt my emotion change, that loss—like someone died—came from the fear that how I felt toward you might not have been real. I want it to be real.”

She looked up, trying to smile past whatever weight had settled on her heart.

“I know. Your feelings are probably genuine, though I do give off a continuous weak charm that I can’t do anything about.

But it wouldn’t have made you feel the way you feel.

Usually, it just causes men—rather, anyone attracted to women—to trust me.

It’s not the same as a full-blooded succubus.

They can supposedly charm men to the point that memory fails.

One look, and guys just stand there dumbfounded. ”

I grinned. “You had that effect on me, but I remember every second of it.”

Crystal laughed, her voice bright and free of sadness. “This might be a little forward of me, but would you like to have sex?”

I leaned back, blinked, and rubbed my earlobe. “Did you just ask me if I wanted to have sex?”

She folded her arms on the table, smiling. “I did. And yes, before you ask, I’m hungry... for sexual energy. It’s how I feed, remember? No, it won’t hurt.”

“With any other woman I’d ever dated, even before I knew them well, I’d be halfway to the bed already, cheering. But... are you sure? We’ve only known each other for a few days. Feels almost like I’m taking advantage of you.”

Crystal stood and offered a hand. “I know what I look like. Don’t feel that way. If anyone’s taking advantage here, it’s me.”

Who was I to say no to that? I still felt a bit like whatever we had would be cheapened by casual sex so soon, but I also appreciated my hypocrisy considering how things had been with Justine.

That said, Crystal and I soon wound up on the bed together, no clothes between us, holding each other.

Something definitely worked differently with this girl…

every time we kissed, a tingle sparked at my lips and rushed down inside me to parts unknown, and bounced back up.

Oh, yeah… I was about to have one hell of a night...