Gryphon and His Thief (16 page)

The paintings on the wall in the office were
just as impressive as the ones in the corridor. Guess the stories
about Gryphons were true. They did like their treasures. Calli's
gaze took in the rest of the room. Vases and sculptures were
arranged strategically in curio cabinets and on display tables. A
statue of a wizard stood guard on the left side of the desk, and an
angel with wings carved to perfection stood guard in the corner to
the right. A
Doctor Who
episode came to mind and she
shuddered at the thought of it. Would it move if she blinked? She
shook her head. She really needed to cut down on her sci-fi
addiction, but she couldn't help but chance another look at the
statues. A chill ran down her spine and she shivered. Definitely
creepy.

"Well?" Professor Leander asked and her right
eyebrow rose a fraction of an inch.

"Well what?" Calli asked as she focused her
gaze on Professor Leander once more. She'd let
Professor
Uptight
spell out what she wanted since she called this
impromptu meeting.

"Don't play coy," the professor snapped. "I
want Hecate's Stone. You were paid to retrieve it, and yet I still
do not have it in my possession."

"Like I told your goons, I don't have the
artifact on me, but they dragged me here anyway. And you only paid
me half of what you owe me," she added for good measure.

Professor Leander drummed her long
fingernails on the desktop as she stared at her for a millisecond
longer before shifting her gaze to Bert. "Check her!" Professor
Leander ordered Bert and he took a step toward her.

"Whoa, wait a minute." Calli backed away in
protest. The last thing she wanted was Bert fondling her in search
of something she didn't have. "I told you, I don't have it on me.
It's back at the motel, but your goons wouldn't take me there. Said
their orders were to bring me straight to you. And F-Y-I, I didn't
sign up for murder."

Professor Leander's nostrils flared, truly
not a flattering look for her with that uptight hairdo. Made her
nose appear beaklike too. Maybe the Gryphon side of her was lurking
close to the surface.

"Murder?" Professor Leander asked. "What are
you prattling on about?" She glanced at Bert.

His shoulders slumped and he managed to look
somewhat contrite. "I had to shoot the caretaker at the museum,"
Bert said. "He would have called the cops."

Professor Leander inhaled deeply and exhaled
in a way that made Calli believe she barely kept her temper in
check. "I wanted the stone and the girl, dimwits," she said. "I
never mentioned you should shoot the caretaker."

Calli blinked in surprise and had to close
her mouth. Professor Leander didn't condone murder? Go figure. She
didn't know the woman, but with the thugs she hired to do her dirty
work, she would have thought eliminating a life here and there
wouldn't bother her at all. Heck, if she were truly Isa, the woman
staged her own murders.

Then it registered what Professor Leander had
said. She wanted the stone and…
the girl
. Like in…she wanted
her
? Her body stiffened in automatic defense. "Why do you
need me?" she blurted out before she could rein in her
curiosity.

Professor Leander's lips curved. "Opening the
portal to the other side requires blood."

Calli swallowed hard. When the evildoer
decided to share their plans, it usually meant the one hearing such
tactics didn't live long enough to tell anyone else about it. Why
did Isa need her blood? Wouldn't one of her goon's blood suffice?
"So slice your own palm and go for it," she spat with more bravery
than she felt.

Professor Leander didn't seem to find her
suggestion useful, if her frown of displeasure was any indication.
"You say the stone is at the motel?"

"Didn't I just tell you that?" she answered
the question with a question.

"If you're lying, Miss Angelis, you will not
like what I'll do to you. Take hold of her," she ordered Bert.
"She's coming with us."

Before Calli could move, his hand snaked out,
grabbing her upper arm in a grip that cut off her circulation, and
adding pain to her back and wrists. She inhaled sharply and Bert
chuckled low in his throat as if he enjoyed her discomfort. She
really hated this guy.

Professor Leander stood and straightened her
jacket. What do you know? The woman donned a skirt for her
'let's raise the dead'
party. Her three-inch stilettos
finished off the attire. She may not be beautiful, but she did have
a striking figure – tall, graceful, but unfortunately insane.

Her slanted eyes roved over Calli with
renewed interest as she sauntered over to her. "You look like her,
you know. Her hair was the same shade of dark copper as yours, and
her eyes were like moss."

"What are you talking about?" Though, she
really had a good idea, but she was all about the proof and she'd
like to hear Professor Leander say it.

"Callista," the professor said the name like
the syllables burned her tongue. "Darrien's soul mate." If she
could have spat on the floor and not appeared unladylike, Calli was
sure Professor Leander would have done just that.

"What do you know of Darrien?" she asked,
still pushing for confirmation that she was indeed
the
Isa
from Darrien's past.

Her hand cupped Calli's chin. "Come now,
sweet girl. Did you believe I came to hire you because of your
credentials?" Her fingers squeezed her jaw before she shoved her
back. She bounced off Bert's chest, who still had a hold of her
arm.

Calli didn't answer the question, but
remained silent. Of course she'd wondered how the professor found
her, but the woman was a great storyteller. She'd fabricated an
elaborate lie with stories about how she'd known her father, and
how they met at college. Calli located the transcripts, and the
details the professor knew about her father were uncanny. Professor
Leander may be a deceitful witch, but she was a thorough one.

"I've waited centuries for this moment,"
Professor Leander said as she glanced toward the large window as if
reminiscing about her journey to this point in time.

Being this high up, the city was spread out
before them, and the vehicles below looked no bigger than ants
trailing behind each other as they headed toward their destination.
At night, the city would come alive with color, but it wouldn't
take away from the sky. The stars would twinkle above the city
lights and from this window it would be the perfect show.

"All the stars are aligned," Professor
Leander told her, "and of course you're here." The woman met her
gaze then. "I had to wait for Callista's soul to be reborn for all
this to work to my advantage. You did take your sweet time, I must
say."

As much as she'd like to refute the whole
soul reincarnation business, she couldn't anymore. Not with all the
weird things that had happened in the last day—Gryphon shifters,
visions, and Hecate's Stone that housed enough power to open a
portal to the underworld.

Professor Leander was Isa. She didn't have to
witness the woman going all beastie and spreading her wings to have
it confirmed. She'd said enough to remove all doubts. She had
waited centuries for this moment. Her words.

In Calli's visions, she'd witnessed how Isa
was as a child. She'd always been jealous of Darrien and Callista's
relationship, and in the last vision, Isa had stood outside the
couples' window, coveting what she could never have. As much as
Calli would like to believe those snippets were a true glimpse of
the past, there were always two sides to a story. She'd have Isa's…
even if it ended up being the perverted version. Villains always
believed they were justified when they performed their heinous
acts.

"Let's say I'm Callista reincarnated," Calli
began, "who the hell are you in this never-ending saga?"

Professor Leander's chuckle was more a
courtesy laugh. "I'm Isa, and don't try to deny you didn't already
figure this out. I know how chummy you were with Darrien at the
museum. Heads together and scheming, no doubt." She paused as if
waiting for Calli to confirm or deny her claims. When none came,
she sighed and shook her head. "Darrien was to be mine, but the
fool always had a fondness for the human side of his existence.
Gryphons mate for life. Did you know that?
Gryphons
," she
said again, this time stressing the importance of that one word.
"Not humans and Gryphons. Humans don't know the first thing about
having a life commitment. They throw their love away on the first
person who pays attention to them." Her hatred for humans radiated
off her like heat from a furnace, her face turning redder and
redder as she voiced her grievances against the human race.

Now she got it. Isa wasn't into the whole
multi-cultural marriage thing. She supposed this applied to
preternatural beings as well. So she didn't believe it possible for
Darrien to find his true love with anyone other than another
Gryphon shifter. "You said Darrien was to be yours. Why did you
believe this? Did he tell you he wanted to be with you? Did he
proclaim his love for you?"

Isa's eyes narrowed. "He didn't have to. He
told me with his actions. He was always there for me, and would
never let anything bad happen to me. He always made sure to include
me when he was off to have an adventure. We were inseparable when
we were children."

The way she described it made it sound like
they were best buddies. "Just you and him…together, right?" she
asked, knowing full well Darrien and Isa had not been alone when
these so called adventures took place. Isa conveniently forgot
Darrien had many friends and didn't exclude anyone, including a
child who wanted to tag along.

Isa waved her hand. "Some of the others in
our tribe would join us now and again. But Callista always butted
in when no one cared to have her around. She couldn't fly like the
rest of us. She always slowed us down, but Darrien was too kind to
leave her behind and would volunteer to let her ride on his back.
She tricked him into falling for her. It was all a ploy to keep him
away from me."

Calli pitied Isa in a way. Isa hadn't
understood Darrien cared for her as he would a little sister. She
misconstrued every act of kindness as something more. If only
Darrien had realized Isa's infatuation had turned to something more
sinister, he might have been able to reason with her. "So what did
you do about Callista stealing Darrien away from you?" she goaded,
wanting her to confess.

Isa
harrumphed
. "I couldn't believe he
actually married her. It was true a few of the others from our
tribe had taken human mates, but Darrien was a warrior, respected
among our members. He could have one day been a great leader of our
tribe. He'd been favored among the elders."

"But he couldn't be one if he married a
human?" Calli asked.

Isa threw a look that clearly said she
thought Calli an imbecile for even voicing the question. "Of course
he couldn't. He ruined his chances when he took a human mate. If he
had any children with Callista, his bloodline would be tainted."
She shook her head. "Darrien told me he cared about me." For a
moment, the harsh lines of years of hatred fell away and her lower
lip trembled.

"He did love you, Isa," she said softly, "but
he wasn't
in
love with you. Surely you realize that."

"You're wrong." Her voice turned hard as
steel. "He was confused. He didn't realize the mistake he made when
he wedded Callista, and when she told him her news…" She inhaled
deeply as if she were reliving a tragic day. "Callista was to have
his young. I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. What
kind of mongrel would have been born from such a union? We're
shifters and the child would have been mixed with human blood."

"But you have a human side," she said, though
it seemed Isa had conveniently forgotten the fact."

"We are
not
human!" Her eyes flared
gold.

Definitely a sore spot with her so Calli
switched the conversation. "Even if you believed you were doing the
right thing by eliminating Callista, you do realize by killing her
you damned Darrien in more ways than one. He has lived centuries
with his essence split, leaving him restless and never truly
content. That's one hell of a way to show how much you love him.
You've condemned him for eternity."

Her lips curved, but the smile didn't reach
her eyes. "You knew the whole story, didn't you? Did you want me to
confess? I have nothing to hide. I killed Callista and the brat she
carried. There, I said it. I'm not sorry. I had every right."

Anger welled up inside of Calli and if her
hands were free, she'd go after Isa for the travesty she caused in
the name of love. Isa murdered a pregnant woman, and she left
Darrien to pay for the sins she'd committed.

Isa tilted her head and pursed her lips. "You
hate me."

Her statement hit home, surprising Calli. The
emotion felt personal and long earned.

"Interesting, don't you agree?" Isa said.
"Your soul recognizes me even if you don't truly grasp it." Then
she chuckled, but Calli could find no reason why she'd find this
humorous. "You question my affections for Darrien, don't you? You
believe my methods were too severe." Isa's eyes glowed as if fire
burned behind the irises, but Calli couldn't stop from voicing her
opinion.

"If you loved Darrien, why didn't you stop
him from being sentenced? If you had stepped forward and said
something in his defense, he wouldn't have been cursed."

She
harrumphed
again. "Did you expect
me to confess I was the one to murder his wife? I loved Darrien,
but I'm not stupid."

Maybe not stupid, but crazy was up for
debate. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying
as much. Anyway, it didn't seem as if Isa wanted a response from
her.