Page 34 of The Elementalist (Four Elements #1)

Reconciliation

Waiting in the room with Darth Grandmother didn’t exactly appeal to me.

However, after an hour sitting on a nice chair near the sitting room where Crystal broke the news to her mother about the former Mayor Bradbury cheating on her… I almost wished I’d rolled the dice with the old one.

I didn’t doubt Sophia Bradbury was Crystal’s mother.

By looks, they could’ve been sisters with a two-decade age gap.

Crystal’s more sylphlike, elven build came from her non-human father, and her mother had darker strawberry blonde hair.

As soon as we walked in, I could tell the woman had long since fallen into a deep depression and probably spent whole days sitting alone and staring into space.

The instant she saw Crystal, her mother brightened, clearly surprised at her being in the house. But also genuinely happy to see her.

So, I made myself as inconspicuous as possible, plopped down on a chair out in the hallway to give them some privacy, and tried not to feel too awkward as the resulting emotional storm raged on a short distance away from me.

Sophia, unlike Gram-zilla downstairs, appeared to possess genuine human emotions.

Though, I will say that after the elder realized what a shit her son had been to Crystal, she did soften a little.

Kinda lame the old woman only invited her back for holidays, but I suppose after spending the past eleven years thinking of her as a ‘creature’ with self-control issues, it would take her a while to adjust.

Still, that pissed me off. These people interacted with vampires relatively frequently and they thought Crystal was a dangerous fiend? The worst thing she’d ever do to someone is give a guy the best night of his life.

Anyway… over the next hour or two, Crystal danced around the subject of her not-father.

It was as awkward and cringe-inducing as a Will Ferrell movie, but not at all funny.

When she finally managed to get it out, her mother gasped, stared for a moment, then grabbed her in a fierce hug before bursting into tears.

I’m no psychologist, though I’ve taken a bunch of online classes (learning how to read people comes in handy for a PI), I got the feeling anger at what her husband did to Crystal helped Sophia at least see over the top of the pit of grief she’d fallen into over his death.

Maybe she’d even decided to be upset with him for cheating on her.

Sophia spent a little while scolding Crystal for going along with the lie, but in the ‘Oh my God, why would you ever do that?’ sort of way, not actual yelling.

Sophia also appeared quite upset that Nigel Farrington wanted to abduct and kill Crystal, and utterly furious over the death of her older daughter. Though the woman seemed much nicer than the elder, I had a feeling relations with the Farringtons would soon become rather tense.

Our meeting with her mother elongated into staying for lunch.

It unnerved me to watch the butler and some servants who’d initially reacted to Crystal as though some homeless drug addict had broken into the house were now all smiles and acting normal.

I couldn’t tell if they’d been artificially hostile to her out of fear of being dismissed, or if they faked the niceness now.

It bothered me that I couldn’t read them, though in all fairness, I’d only seen short glimpses of their nastiness beforehand.

I imagine whatever information network or gossip channel existed among the Founding Families had already started passing along word that Crystal had been restored to good graces with the family. That alone wouldn’t stop Nigel, but it could potentially complicate things for him.

Eventually, we escaped. Or at least I escaped. Crystal didn’t seem as relieved to get out of there as I did. She also appeared to be daydreaming about finally being able to move back into the place. As soon as we returned to her car, I let out a long sigh of relief.

“Oh, they’re not that bad.” She glanced at the mirror and tweaked at her hair. “Except Grandmother. I still can’t believe she actually listened to me.”

“And I’m kinda surprised you forgave them so easily for how they treated you.”

She gave me a ‘what can ya do’ look, then started the engine. “I’m too nice. But at least my mother won’t have to sneak around to see me without anyone finding out.”

“I can’t even begin to comprehend how your father lied about you like that. Who wants anyone to believe they were seduced by their own daughter?”

“First of all, the man wasn’t my father. Only on paper.”

“Stepdaughter is still creepy as hell, even without the age difference. Is the rivalry with the Anworths really that bad?”

She drove to the gate and drummed her fingers on the wheel while waiting for it to open.

“If I’d been a normal human, I don’t think he would’ve gone there.

Meaning, my being a succubus provided the perfect lie.

As in... not his fault; not my fault. Truly, I have no idea how he would’ve handled it if I hadn’t been such a perfect scapegoat.

Brittany Anworth is also blonde and thin…

the brief glimpse Mother got of her running off hadn’t been enough for her to positively identify me enough to deny it when he claimed it had been me charming him. It was just assumed.”

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault, Max. The idea that Sterling Bradbury’s daughter seduced him only sounds horrible to people who don’t understand the truth.

And really, no one outside the family even knows why I was sent to Ironside.

Only that I was ‘wild’ or ‘improper.’ And, the people who were given the story about Mother catching me with him know what I am and believed I couldn’t help myself. And he likewise.”

The gate opened.

She drove out down the long, curving driveway surrounded on both sides by thick trees. It seemed somehow wrong to be driving a car here instead of a horse-drawn carriage.

“Again, no one outside the family knows the real reason I was sent to Ironside… except you. I realize the man’s dead, but please keep that secret. About him and Brittany, I mean.”

“Sure. The last thing I need is to piss off one of the Founding Families. Especially one related to the girl who’s stolen my heart.”

“Do you always talk like you’re in a 1940s detective film?”

“They have specific classes on that at the private investigation academy.”

Crystal laughed. “You are so full of it.” She glanced sideways at me. “There’s no academy, is there?”

“Nah.” I smiled. “So you think this will work? With Nigel I mean. Can your grand—err, that woman really do anything?”

She shivered. “That woman has information that could end presidencies. She can keep Nigel away from me. It might only take her letting it leak to the other families that he plans to make an artifact like you mentioned.”

“Sorry for butting in back there. I know you asked me to let you do the talking.”

“It’s all right. You made a good point and the look on her face when you inserted yourself into the conversation was priceless. Even if nothing else happened today, seeing that would’ve made the trip worth it.”

“I take it the two of you won’t be besties, then?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Do they teach understatement in the private detective school, too?”

“It’s not a ‘school,’ it’s an ‘academy,’” I said with an overacted posh accent.

“Hah. And no. We never got along. I’m not Sterling’s actual daughter, after all.

Heck, the old bag barely tolerates Mother’s presence.

She once told me that she understood I didn’t ask to exist, so she didn’t blame me for that, though she felt I belonged at an orphanage and had been allowed to live there at the manor as a charity case. ”

“Ouch. Maybe she’ll feel bad enough about the past eleven years to change her mind about you living there again?”

“I’m not sure, Max baby. Maybe. It did seem strange that she almost felt sorry for me.

Maybe she’s getting emotional in her old age.

” Crystal brought the car to a stop at the intersection between driveway and road, then turned left after a brief look in either direction.

“The estate is all Bradbury. My mother is basically a guest. I’m sure if not for my two brothers, Grandmother would’ve sent her back to the Darceys.

Since the boys are Sterling’s offspring, Grandmother treats them wonderfully.

I suspect she will eventually invite me back under pressure from Arthur.

He is, after all, my half-brother, and as you could see, he seemed to come around and accept me. ”

“This is all like something out of medieval Europe.”

“Basically.” She jumped and eyed the rearview mirror. “Someone’s coming up behind us.”

I peered back at a newish Camaro full of high schoolers. “Just kids.”

“Ugh. I’m going to be jumpy for a while. I hope they hurry up and do something with Nigel.”

“What are you expecting them to do?”

She shrugged. “Like I said, it might only take her telling the other families what he wants to make. They’d all be petrified he’d turn it on them... and, in turn, silence him.”

“Silence him, how?”

“The families have their ways.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Hang around me long enough and you are bound to find out.”

“Then I have every intention of finding out. Oh, and I would like to add, I have ways of silencing him, too.”

“I know you do, and if it comes to that, we can discuss other ways to deal with that murderous asshole.”

I admired the beautiful forest passing by around us, still not quite sure how to feel about everything that happened to me—or that vampires existed.

I did know one thing… Nature gave me this power for a reason, and that reason appeared to be keeping the supernatural peace.

I guess I’d become something of a sheriff myself, only for stuff no sane law officer would believe—or be equipped to deal with.

“So… what do we do from here?” I asked.

“I’m going to return to Ironside for a bit until things cool down. I don’t expect Nigel to give up right away, but if I’m out of his reach, it’ll allow time for the pressure to build and maybe get him to back off.” She looked over at me. “Thank you for your help, Max.”

Ouch. I involuntarily cringed at the client/PI tone of that. “Sure, happy to help.”

“You will call me, won’t you?” She batted her innocent blue eyes at me.

Whew. I smiled back at her. “Absolutely.”