Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (31 page)

“
Why?” she asked, her voice
muffled against his shirt.

“
We need to find another
way out,” he whispered against her ear. She could feel how tense he
was and knew he had seen something terrible.

“
But you said this was the
only way out,” she argued, trying to keep her own voice low now,
too.

An ominous growl sounded from behind her.
She knew that sound, recognized it from earlier when he told her to
run. Before she could react, he swung her body around, using his to
shield hers, pressing her against the cold stone wall of the
passageway. “What is that?”

“
Stay
here! Do you hear me?” His warm heavy hands, once comforting, shook
her shoulders roughly, trying to make her listen. Her head snapped
back and forth. “Evie,
please
don’t go in that room. Do you hear me?” his voice
filled with growing urgency as another low growl emitted from the
darkened shadows.

“
Yeeess
,” she chattered out, her
teeth clacking against each other.

“
I
will
be back,” he
said.

“
You promise,” she asked,
not caring how desperate she sounded now.

“
I promise.” His mouth
landed on hers for a brief moment.

She reached out to grab him, but her hands
came up empty.

He was gone.

Slowly, she moved along
the cool damp stone wall, shying away from the horrible noises
echoing down the passageway. It was just like the first night she
had met him. It was a terrible sound, like massive animals were
tearing one another apart. “
Oh, no, no,
no
,” she whimpered, scared out of her
mind.

“
Adriane
,” she called weakly. He
didn’t answer, and the unnatural sounding growls were growing
fainter, like they were moving further away. She took a tentative
step forward, wanting to help but not knowing how…then she heard
another sound behind her, to her left. It was coming from the
chamber Adriane told her not to go into. Stupidity reared its ugly
head and her feet started moving toward the entrance of the
room.

“
I’ll
just take a peek
,” she reasoned, feeding
her guilt. That way she would still be doing what Adriane asked,
right?
Sure, sure
, her stupid brain said. Pressing her palms against the rough
stone, holding on, she leaned forward, the toes of her Chucks still
a good distance away from the inside of the chamber. Immediately
she jerked back out of the door, stumbling, her back slammed into
the wall behind her.

Ohmigod! Ohmigod!
Ohmigod
! She flattened her back against
the wall, covering her mouth with both of her hands to stop from
crying out. Bile rose in her throat, she needed to get sick but she
couldn’t or else that
thing
in there would hear her. She swallowed back the
burning taste of vomit, a cold sweat breaking out on her
forehead.

“
Where
did all the people go
?” Chance’s words
that seemed silly at the time echoed through her
mind.

“
Gee
Chance, they ran and now some godawful creature hanging out down in
the bowels of Briarcliff is having them for
dinner,
” her sick mind echoed back.
Clamping her hand tighter on her mouth she tried to stifle the
scream of hysteria that was desperately trying to
escape.

She had no idea how long she stood there
fighting wave after wave of fear coursing through her body, but
something finally gave. Voices broke through her slipping
consciousness, reviving her tenuous hold on reality, echoing in the
darkness.

“
Find a weapon,” someone
yelled.

Evie wasn’t real sure if it was her mind
finally snapping or her battered resolve finally kicking into
gear.

“
I can do
that,” she was saying to the disembodied voice, patting her pockets
with shaking hands. Reaching in one, she pulled out her iPod.
“Stupid iPod,” she groaned inwardly. The tips of her fingers grazed
across one of the rivets on her belt.
Thank God!
Quickly her trembling
fingers unbuckled her belt, unwinding it from her waist. It swung
like a pendulum above the floor. Again, she heard voices, louder
this time. One distinct voice rose above the rest. Was that
Heather? Hope sprang in her chest. She never thought she would be
relieved to hear Heather’s voice, but right now she didn’t care.
Shuffling out of the shadows, she inched forward gripping the wall
with her rigid fingers, trying to see inside the
room.

A startled gasp slipped
from her throat. Over to the far right side she saw a group of
people still alive on a slab of stone jutting up from the floor
itself.
It was her friends!

Relief, along with a
growing sense of fear washed over her simultaneously.
They stood in a semi-circle, shoulder to shoulder
around the edges of the stone slab. They were all using makeshift
weapons to battle against the monster. Michael Kors, Betsey
Johnson, and Coach would have been proud as the designer purses
used like maces whipped through the air against their solitary
attacker.

The beast let out a
high-pitched whine, its step faltering when a Coach purse slammed
into its hindquarters. “
Yeah, take that
you nasty piece of shit
!” Heather yelled
crazily, whipping her purse again in the air, pure adrenaline
racing through her, preparing to do some major damage.

Another low ominous growl emitted from the
beast as it shook its massive head, stalking with lethal intent
toward Heather.

Evie held tightly to one
end of her belt, getting the momentum up, swinging it above her
head, making a strange whizzing sound as it sliced through the air.
With every bit of strength she had, she slammed the buckle into the
back of the beast. The action sent jarring ripples of pain through
her arms just like hitting a fastball at the batting cages. The
beast reared its massive head and swung it in her direction.
Demonic yellow eyes bore down on her. Taking a reflexive step back,
her body pressed up against the wall with no place to go.
“
Hoshit!”
Evie
knew she was done for. And then out of nowhere low chants started
to fill the room, growing louder, echoing eerily off the
walls.

Everyone turned toward the compelling noise
with one exception, Evie. She was trying to figure out how not to
become Fido’s dinner. The beast stalked closer, moving in with
predatory intent, growling, a gray froth dripping from its razor
sharp teeth. Immediately she knew what Barnaby had meant when he
said it was like Cujo, except this bastard was so much worse. She
instantly regretted saying Heather looked anything like the
creature that was stalking purposely toward her now. She squeezed
her eyes shut, trembling.

“
Waa
,” split the
air.

She opened her eyes just in time to see
Colton jump off the slab, his hands slicing toward the creature. He
landed short of his mark, hitting the floor with a dull thud.

The creature swung its gigantic head in his
direction snapping its massive jaw, inches from biting his leg
off.

“
Ahhhhhhhhh…
” Colton screamed,
scrambling backward, but he couldn’t move fast
enough.

“
Ohmigod!
” Evie gasped.
Did Colton just try to save her life?
Suddenly everything seemed to slow down—coming
into focus with vivid clarity. The room. The creature. Colton’s
selfless act. It was all too much. She couldn’t take it. Opening
her mouth, she screamed like a crazed lunatic, her voice coming out
in an unnaturally high-pitch. The sound was
deafening.

The beast reared its head back, howling in
agony.

A blur of black and red sprang from the
center of the slab, landing in front of the beast. In one swift
movement, Simon grabbed its neck and twisted its head quickly to
the side, snapping the bones with a cascading cracking sound. Big
pieces of stone clattered loudly to the ground and a vile smelling
steam emitted into the air.

Evie shut her mouth.

Each one of her friends
stared, looking at her like she was a freak, and for once she found
she could agree.

The chanting that had died down to a whisper
suddenly grew louder, echoing throughout the cavernous room. All of
her friends climbed down off the stone slab. One by one, they
dropped their makeshift weapons onto the floor into a pile at the
base and lined up like soldiers, swaying in time to the luring
sound. They looked like they were sleep walking, filing out of the
room, through a black opening in the wall she had not seen
before.

“
Wait!”
she called out but no one seemed to notice. “
Ohhellno!”
she raced forward to
catch them. There was no way her ass was getting left
behind.

Halfway across the room, Simon stepped in
her way, stopping her.

“
What are you doing? I have
to follow them,” she tried to explain, trying to move around him
but he kept blocking her.

“
No, I don’t think so,” he
said, shaking his head.

Evie didn’t know which to
feel. Fear or anger? Both ended up coming out. She narrowed her
eyes, her hands shaking. “
MOVE!”
she gritted, planting both of her hands against
his chest and shoved with all her strength. Nothing happened. It
was like she was butting up against a solid rock wall.

He gave her a wounded look. “You know that
was not very nice.”

“
I need to follow my
friends!” she practically screamed in his face, trying to push past
him.

He exhaled heavily, unperturbed. “Yeah,
about that…” He shook his head. “I’m afraid you can’t leave.”

“
What?”
She gaped at him. “What do you mean I
can’t l
eave?” She tightened her hold
on her belt.

A slow smile crept over his face, making his
eyes glitter wickedly in the dim light as he watched her every
move.

Suddenly she felt like
little ole Red Riding Hood facing up against the Big Bad Wolf. The
odds were stacked against her. She swallowed hard past the lump
stuck in her throat. She had a very bad feeling—a
very, very
, bad
feeling.

Within in two strides he had her backed up
against the wall. Both of his hands braced on either side of her
head.

“
Shhh
,” he said, dipping his head
down in front of her face, his warm sweet smelling breath wafting
over her.

It was ludicrous. She felt like he was going
to kiss her. She bit down hard on her trembling lower lip. Then he
smiled. It wasn’t a normal smile. It was feral. He leaned in
closer, breathing deeply, her body responding, shaking from his
nearness. She didn’t know what to say, or what to do. He had her
trapped. She was afraid to move, or breathe; his mouth hovered
above her own.

“
I wonder if you taste as
good as you smell,” he asked leaning in, his enticing voice
vibrating against her ear making prickles of pleasure erupt over
her skin. “Simon, move please,” she asked, appalled by her reaction
to him.

“
It’s going to be all
right,” he said, trailing the backs of his fingers down the side of
her face. His entire body pressed against hers, his heat seeping
through the front of her clothing. His hand slipped under her hair
and he began pulling her head towards his face.

Jerking away, she shoved
him back hard. This time he did move, just a bit. “I don’t
want
you!
I want
Adriane!” The words rushed from her mouth a little more forcefully
than she intended, but she didn’t want him to get the wrong
idea.

“
You are just like her!” he
spat inches from her face, his face twisted in anger. “You are all
the same!” he raged, pacing now.

His demeanor had completely changed. One
minute he was being sweet and the next he was screaming in her face
like a crazed lunatic like Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward
Hyde.

“
Who?” Evie asked stalling.
Gripped with fear she inched her way toward the back wall where the
sconces were, watching him cautiously. Each step she took brought
her no closer. It looked like it was getting further away, like an
illusion at the fun house. Even the big black hole all her friends
had went through was now gone and in its place was another solid
rock wall.

“
I was a Rock Star. Did you
know that?” he asked, out of nowhere, like he was commenting on the
weather, Henry apparently making his appearance once
more.

“
Yeah, I can see that.” It
was true; he definitely had that certain “something” that draws
people in. Then just as suddenly, he changed again. His pretty face
twisting with rage and disgust.

“
I saw her sucking
Vincent’s cock.” Lifting his hands, he dragged the tips of his
fingers over his face, raking them against his flawless skin,
leaving red trailing lines.

“
Who?”
Shit
!
Edward’s back. She stumbled backward over her own feet and almost
fell, but caught herself on the stone slab her friends had been
standing on. She could see dark stains marring the top and
sides.