Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (8 page)

Lifting her iPod off her
bed, she docked it into her little cube speaker on her nightstand
and turned it on.
My life
by
Bliss n
Eso
blared throughout the room. The
song reached the chorus. A tremor flitted over her body, making her
feel strange… uneasy. “Must be lack of food,” she tried to reason,
balling her hands into fists to stop them from shaking. She felt
really -jittery… anxious—like something was about to happen.
Flashes of “
the guy
” from the night before loomed on the peripheral of her
memory. Quickly, she grabbed up her sketchbook and pencil. She
closed her eyes, remembering the tattoo. In fast, easy strokes, her
hand flew over the vellum.

No longer in the here and now, her mind went
to a place where the moon cast a bluish hue on everything. Fog
rolled across the gravel drive, cloaking everything underneath in a
thick mist.

In a trance, her mind saw far more than she
remembered. The statue came back into focus, her hand moved of its
own accord as her memory conjured the pictures she was
sketching.

Images zipped through her mind: first the
attack-followed by the inescapable, feeling of fear. The erratic
sound of her heart grew louder, seeing him as well, but it was from
a very different emotion. Her hand slowed, dragging across the
page, as another image jumped into her mind. Same moon, same color,
different time. Her vision skewed, back to him… his mouth on her
own, the way his body felt in her arms. Erratically, her hand
jerked over the page. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. It was like a
weight was pressing against her chest and she couldn’t get enough
air into her lungs.

Gasping, she fell backward
onto the bed into the folds of the tangled sheets and blankets. The
image of his beautiful face came vividly into focus like he was
right in front of her, like it was somehow etched into her brain.
Warmth spread out through her hand making it tingle, like he was
holding it. Words, “
Shhh, it’s going to be
all right
” vibrated against her ear,
pulling her back from the suffocating despair. Shivering she held
onto the feeling, not wanting it to fade away or let go.

A loud buzzing sound cut into her
consciousness, bringing her back fully. Her eyes opened with a
snap. She sat up, feeling woozy. Her phone buzzed wildly, shaking
on the bed at her side. She grabbed it up, knocking her sketchbook
on the floor in the process.

: ON MY WAY

Her thumbs skimmed over the letters as she
quickly texted him back.

: COOL

Setting her phone down, she stared at the
floor, feeling really drained. She knew she needed to move, she
still needed to put on her shoes, but her brain wasn’t working
properly. Forcing herself to stand, she swayed briefly and had to
use the bed to steady herself.

Taking a few deep
cleansing breaths, she finally felt normal enough to move again.
She waded through the mountain of clothing strewn across carpet to
the floor length mirror propped against the wall. “Shit!” she
moaned, lifting her foot. She nearly took her pinky toe off on one
of the rivets from her belt.
That woke her
up
.

Bending over, she picked
up her belt, and quickly wrapped it around her waist twice. Chewing
on her lip, she glanced around the room. “What am I
forgetting?”

She knew it was something. She could never
remember everything she needed to bring no matter how many lists
she made. Scanning the floor, she noticed her sketchbook, lying
upside down beside the bed. “No way—not gonna happen.” In one fluid
motion, she reached forward, grabbed the pad up, and pulled open
her nightstand drawer, shoving it inside. She pushed the drawer
shut. The lamp on the top wobbled briefly.

Her phone buzzed.

She picked it up and read the message.

:
IM HERE

Quickly, she texted him back.

: ON MY WAY

“
Shit!
Shoes, shoes
…” Hopping across the floor,
she pulled on her socks, and then crammed her feet in her lace up
boots, the heavy soles made a loud clomping noise on the wood floor
as she went to snag her monster tote, hoodie, and keys off the
kitchen counter. She was halfway to the door…she glanced at her
Chucks. The boot was mushing her sore pinky-toe. She decided to
bring her Chucks too, just in case. Grabbing them up from the
floor, she opened the door and shoved through, trying not to drop
everything. Once outside, she pulled the door shut, locking it
behind and then headed down the stairs to meet
Barnaby.

DISCOVERY

SATURDAY * 7:17 PM

Darkness was slowly
arriving, although it was still light enough to see. Of
course,
they
didn’t have to worry about that—
they
could see whether it was dark
or light.

Simon stood on the edge of the bluff looking
up at the sky, tracking the moon that was rising up from the dusky
horizon. Purplish hues transposed themselves over the light grayish
blues in the sky as he breathed the air deeply, pulling it into his
lungs, holding it inside, and then releasing it slowly. He
remembered that simple act, with clarity, although it did seem
different. He shrugged, knowing there really was no point in trying
to figure it out. It would come to him in time—like Alistair said.
He noticed the color and turned. “Hey, check it out, the moon looks
blue,” Simon said, crossing his arms, stroking his chin in thought.
“Wow, I haven’t seen that in years,” he commented offhand, climbing
back up on the outcropping of rock, and sitting down, his legs
dangling over the edge. He kicked them back and forth, feeling his
muscles regaining their strength.

Alistair climbed up beside him and looked
down through the clearing in the trees. “You know he will
awaken.”

“
Oh
right, I almost forgot about
him.
” Simon brooded. It had been so
long since they had to do
his
bidding, he had almost forgotten about
him—
almost
. He
and Alistair were tied to him. They were his pawns to use. They,
the ones that gather, were worse, of course, but Simon still didn’t
look forward to doing anyone’s bidding. He was enjoying his
freedom. He and Alistair were awakened earlier than normal and they
still didn’t know the cause. Could it be Adriane? Did he need them?
If so, no wonder. He looked down at the raised mark on the inside
of his arm, running his fingers across the design. It wasn’t
glowing yet, beckoning them to him, which was why he had almost
forgotten about Adriane. He was enjoying this new skin, and the
clothes he snagged were pretty nice.

Each time they awoke, they tried to stay and
not fade back to the blackness that threatened to rip them away
from this existence. No, he wanted to enjoy his freedom for a bit
longer. He looked down through the trees to the group of humans
gathering below in the clearing in front of the mansion.

“
Hey, it looks like
something is going on down there, maybe a party? Let’s go down, it
could be fun,” Simon suggested excitedly.

“
We can’t.”

“
Why? Who would know?”
Simon complained, sensing Alistair’s hesitation. He latched onto
it. “Look, it is almost dark, no one would notice us. See?” he
said. “There are a lot of people down there.” He lifted his hand
and pointed down to the people he could see in the clearing,
through the break in trees.

The wind began to pick up, wafting up from
below. He could feel the vibrations of the music as it thrummed in
the air around them, a gentle hum. It made his body tingle all
over. It was almost as good as sex. Although it had been so long
since he performed that act, he wasn’t so sure how that felt
anymore. He narrowed his eyes, spotting a girl, with long flowing
blonde hair.

“
Aren’t you a pretty
thing,” Simon, said, smiling. Oh, how he loved the softness of
human girls. They were so pliable, giving…their sweet kisses making
his blood boil, not go cold. He was always cold. No, he wanted
warmth, contact that only the heat of human flesh could give to his
body fully. Shivering excitedly, he wet his lips in anticipation.
“We need some fun,” he practically begged, dashing a hand through
his hair, making the peppered spikes stand at an awkward
angle.

Alistair could hear the ache—no, the need in
his voice. He wanted to as well, more than Simon would ever know.
He stared into the sky; lightening flashed far away at some distant
point in the horizon. His body trembled, not with fear, but
anticipation. His body was rigid, his muscles taut—a cord that was
ready to snap. He knew what would alleviate that, and on that
particular point, Simon was right, only one thing could fill the
ache he held inside, if only for a moment. “Okay,” he said quickly,
before he changed his mind.

“
Really?” he
asked.

A small smile tugged at the corners of
Alistair’s mouth.

Simon didn’t wait for him to answer. He
jumped up, brushing off his backside and leapt down from the
outcropping. “Awesome!” he exclaimed excitedly. “So how are we
getting down there?” he asked, not looking forward to the climb.
Alistair was a stickler for not using their abilities.

Alistair stretched out his muscled arms.
“We’ll fly of course.”

Simon whooped loudly. “Of course we will.”
He quickly stripped and folded his clothes neatly in a pile and
placed them on a rock. Smiling wickedly, he turned to Alistair. His
stone-gray eyes glittered in the dim light as he extended out his
arms. His body rippled, transforming. He picked up his clothing and
jumped off the cliff, plunging into the coming darkness.

DAZED

SATURDAY * 7:33 PM

The little car crept slowly up the winding
mountainside, rattling and kicking gravel up in its wake as it
climbed higher, the engine whining. Bright oranges, reds and
yellows turning to shadows smeared across the windshield,
reflecting a riot of fading color. Evie pushed the wrapper down on
her burger and took another large bite. She was sure she looked
like a pig, but couldn’t help herself. She was starving.

Thank goodness, Barnaby said he would drive.
The mountain made her nervous, dropping off into nothing around the
sharp turns. Evie wasn’t exactly afraid of heights, but she wasn’t
hip on them either.

Reflection by Four Day
Creep
played on the CD deck. The catchy
chorus barely covered up the awful noise the engine was making. She
took two more bites, finishing off her burger and then took a hefty
swig of Coke, the bubbles tickling her throat. She fought the urge
to belch, but ended up burping loudly anyway.

“
Scuse
me
,” she mumbled out from under her hand,
completely embarrassed and looked over at Barnaby. His eyes were
glued to the road so he didn’t seem to notice. The road twisted
precariously, into a hairpin turn. A tricky spot— one that was hard
enough to maneuver in the light of day let alone in approaching
darkness.

Barnaby made it safely around the turn and
glanced in her direction. “So I talked to my mom… about what you
wanted.”

Evie crumpled up her wrapper and tossed it
into the bag on the floor before she gave him her full attention.
She tried not to seem too eager even though she kind-of regretted
mentioning it. Now that he brought it up, she was dying to know
what his mom said.