Gryphon and His Thief (17 page)

"At the time," Isa said, "I didn't realize
Spiro had the blessing from the goddess Hecate and was a powerful
Necromancer. I knew he would mourn his daughter, but I
miscalculated the depth of his sorrow."

Calli's mouth flattened into a hard line and
her brows rose. "You murdered his daughter and you didn't expect
him to be upset?" She couldn't believe the woman's rationale.

"Spiro's tribe also believed in reincarnation
as the Gryphon tribes did. His daughter would live again some day,
but Spiro seemed to have forgotten in his grief. I had it all
worked out, you see. I also knew by the time Callista's soul was
reborn and she grew to adulthood, Darrien would no longer care."
She waved her hand in dismissal.

That was where Isa was wrong. Darrien still
pined for his wife. She saw it in the way he gazed at her. Even
though the memories were lost to her, the vision she experienced
showed her a glimpse of what the two had shared. They had been in
love and this woman had destroyed their lives. "What did you
expect?" she asked Isa. "That you and Darrien would just fly off
into the sunset and live happily-ever-after?"

Isa didn't answer and the silence spoke more
than words.

"My God, you did," she said in disbelief.

"With Callista out of the way, it was
possible, but Spiro called his daughter back from the veil."

A small frown slipped across Calli's face.
"What do you mean?"

"Spiro could summon souls," Isa said, "and he
summoned his daughter to find out who'd been responsible for ending
her life."

It didn't take a genius to know how that
conversation turned out. "He would have the truth so why did he
curse Darrien?" Calli asked. "He had nothing to do with the
murder."

"Spiro still blamed Darrien for not realizing
the threat and stopping me. So he cursed Darrien then went after
all Gryphons. He hunted them down and killed them one by one."

Pain settled behind Calli's heart as she
realized what had happened because of Isa's treachery. "The tribe
had nothing to do with what you did. Spiro punished all Gryphons
because of you?"

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "Spiro's
grief turned to hatred and he lashed out."

"And yet, you managed to survive." Calli
couldn't quite keep the terseness out of her voice."

"When I knew he was coming after the tribe, I
took precautions."

"But what of the others? Why didn't you warn
them?"

"I couldn't. I needed to buy some time so I
could make my escape."

She was responsible for ending her species
lives, but she didn't seem all that upset. Maybe it was a survival
instinct, or maybe she was just a cold-blooded woman who only cared
about herself and her needs.

Isa sighed heavily. "Finally, Hecate became
aware of Spiro's acts of revenge. He had misused his gifts from the
goddess."

Took the goddess long enough to figure it
out,
Calli thought to herself, but she bit her tongue.

"Hecate stripped Spiro of his powers and
forged it into a stone. It was then cast into the desert and never
seen again until a student discovered it at a dig site. However,
before I could retrieve it, the Guards of Judgment, who preside
over all preternatural beings with their rules and regulations,
confiscated it and from there you know where it ended up."

She'd have to find out more about this
preternatural society, but for now she'd stick with this story. "It
ended up at The Museum of Cursed Antiquities," Calli recapped. "So
you hired me to steal the stone for you."

"Of course," she said with impatience.

"And you couldn't just waltz in there and
take it because the museum is warded against preternatural
beings."

For a moment Isa's composure slipped, but
then she must have decided it didn't matter if she spoke the truth.
"Well, clever girl, I would have sent my men," she glanced at Bert,
"but you saw how they botched the plan to extract you. I couldn't
chance it, but I didn't expect you to fall for the beastie's
charms. I'd swear you fell in love with Darrien all over again."
Isa didn't appear thrilled with the prospect.

The claim weaved an unsettling path through
Calli too. Was she in love with Darrien? Was it that easy to fall
in love with someone if the stars were aligned just right, as Isa
claimed? Didn't you have to date a person, get to know them,
kiss…make love…well, all in good time. Love at first sight was for
fairytales, wasn't it? A dating service would just love to have a
corner market on charting the stars and locating destined soul
mates. She could see it now.
Soul Mates Are Us, Dating
Service.

"Your plan to have me steal the stone was
nicely thought out," Calli said, "but if you think you're going to
have your happy ending, you might want to rethink your plans
again." She shifted her weight and flexed her hands for what little
good it did. She was starting to lose feeling in her fingers and
her shoulders ached, but her minor discomfort was nothing she
couldn't endure. Her thoughts turned toward Darrien, and she
swallowed the lump in her throat. "Let me remind you. Darrien has
been shot and is bleeding out as we take this sweet trip down
memory lane."

Isa rolled her eyes with such flourish there
was no doubt Calli's comment irritated her. "You worry for nothing.
Unless my men destroyed the Gryphon statue, which I can assure you
wouldn't be an easy task, Darrien will heal as soon as the sun
sets. I've seen it happen before." Isa shook her head and sighed
heavily as if she couldn't understand why Calli worried over a
little bullet wound.

A flood of relief hit her full force and she
closed her eyes as she realized how scared she'd actually been for
him. He would be all right. She opened her eyes again and glanced
out the window. A carpet of color painted the heavens, now that the
sun rode low in the sky. The change would happen soon.
Hold on,
Darrien,
and then she silently prayed what Isa claimed would be
the truth.

Isa let out a chuckle and covered her mouth.
"His human side will believe he dreamt the whole fiasco." Her gaze
slid over Calli with amusement. "He might not remember he had a
nice chat with you. The curse is not so kind with the human aspect,
most likely can't handle the magic. Makes him quite forgetful. I've
spoken to him before, you know. Twenty or so years ago… What a bore
he'd been. Weak and unable to see without his glasses, and his
horrible British accent just added to how dull he truly was. I will
be glad when that part of his essence is gone."

Isa believed Nerdy Darrien would cease to
exist once the curse was lifted? The human part of Darrien's
essence was still him, just without the intense beastie side. He
was witty and charming, and he most definitely was not weak or
dull.

"It all comes full circle," Isa broke through
her reverie, drawing Calli's attention, though the woman's words
were spoken as if she were talking to herself. "Centuries ago the
curse placed on Darrien was issued on what you humans now call
Halloween, most fitting don't you agree? Darrien's soul hovers
between life and death, and this time of the year is when the veil
between those two worlds is the thinnest. I plan on calling Spiro's
soul from the veil and demand he release Darrien from the curse.
Your blood will be the catalyst to bring it to fruit. Spiro will
not refuse an audience when the blood of his daughter has done the
summoning."

"Once the curse is broken, what then?" Calli
asked. "How can you still hold onto the belief Darrien will want to
be with you? He didn't want you the first time around. And what
about the other souls you'll be releasing from the other side in
the process? Paradise won't look so pretty then, will it?
Especially when the walking dead try to eat your face for a
snack."

Isa lifted her shoulders in a shrug as if she
didn't care about the consequences to opening the eternal
floodgates. "I'll be able to control the undead. I'll have Hecate's
Stone. The souls cannot cross the threshold unless I demand
it."

"Right," she said with sarcasm. "All's cool.
My bad." Isa thrived on control and she'd bet the woman wouldn't
just close the doors to the underworld once she had Spiro remove
the curse.

"Darrien will be beholden to me." She
harrumphed with annoyance as she narrowed her eyes on her. "I'm
freeing Darrien from the curse," she stated and lifted her chin.
"He'll owe me the devotion I deserve," she said and nodded as if
her evil plan made perfect sense.

Calli lifted her brows. Isa caused the
dilemma Darrien found himself in, but she somehow decided she was
doing him a favor by reversing it. Her demented expectations of how
this night would end astounded her. This woman, who claimed she
loved Darrien, didn't know him at all. Calli had spent a day and a
night with the man and the Gryphon, and she knew without a doubt
that Darrien wouldn't want '
hell on earth'
just to save his
hide.

If only Darrien could stop Isa, but she had
no way of knowing how fast he'd heal from a gunshot wound once the
change took place. Would he be up to full strength and able to take
on a Gryphon bent on making all her wishes come true, and the rest
of the world be damned?

Her throat ached with regret. She most likely
wouldn't make it out of this alive even if Darrien could
miraculously find her, and those chances were slim. Nerdy Darrien
and Beastie Darrien didn't share memories. His nighttime version
will most likely believe she'd left town while he was frozen as a
statue. He'd have no reason to hunt her down since she left
Hecate's Stone behind, and by the time it all became clear, it
would be too late. Isa would have already killed her and history
would repeat itself.

Dying would really suck big time, but her
heart went out to Darrien. He was convinced she'd been his wife in
a past life, and with her death tonight, he would believe he failed
her again.

Chapter Seventeen

Darrien sputtered to life in his Gryphon
state, the pain in his chest causing him to screech, the piping
sound descending into a high pitched keen. He clawed at the
offensive wound with his talons, expelling the bullet lodged there.
Then he shifted to his human existence and fell to his knees, but
the magic of the shift was already doing its job, healing the
damage the bullet had caused. Tissue mended and the hole knitted
together, leaving only a slight discoloration where the bullet had
entered.

Still in a crouched position and his muscles
tense and ready for anything, he made a quick visual sweep of the
museum. Silence rang like the toll of a bell, making it just as
deafening in its lack of sound. A gunfight of some sort must have
taken place while he stood in his stone-like state. His fingers
rubbed the scar on his chest, wondering how a stray bullet came so
close to penetrating his heart. Most amazing, how had it affected
him when he'd been in his cursed state, a statue and not flesh?
Where had Calli been when this all took place? Closing his eyes, he
breathed in deeply, hoping to pick up her delicate scent, but
instead the metallic coppery smell of violence gagged him.

"Blood," he murmured. Lots of it. Not just
from him removing the bullet from his chest. More had been spilled.
He ignored the sick twist in his gut and rose to his full height.
He spotted the trail of dry blood on the floor and his gaze riveted
to the desk. He strode over to it, half expecting to find a body
sprawled on the floor. Blood stained the chair and bloody palm
prints were pressed on the desk.

His frown deepened as his gaze retraced his
steps. There had been a distinct trail of blood leading to the
desk, but there was no trail leaving it. So much blood, but where
was the body?

He scanned the items laying out on display
upon the desktop, and spotted Hecate's Stone Calli had stolen from
the museum. Was it her blood then? Panic clawed at him, making him
want to shift and hunt down whoever had dared to harm her, but he
reined in the beast. He could not lose focus and he needed his
human side to make sense of the chaos. Then he realized the bloody
prints were large handprints, and not petite ones. It gave him hope
the blood wasn't Calli's after all.

He spotted a post-it with his name scrawled
on it and a blood-smeared message. "You must see the video Calli
filmed and the one I have made. It is vitally important," he read
the message out loud. It was signed with his name as if he wrote
the damn thing. He grabbed the phone and ripped off the post-it,
tossing it on the desk. He hadn't handled one of these contraptions
until now, but it seemed his fingers knew what to do. If he wasn't
in such a panic, he might have wondered more about his knowledge
and the strange message addressed to him, but right now all he
could think about was if Calli still lived.

The first video played and he witnessed how
he changed from the beastie to…
"The gods above…"
His voice
choked in a hoarse whisper of disbelief. He hadn't known this was
what happened to him when the curse turned him into stone. He
believed his whole essence lay dormant, but his human side
separated like a spirit, leaving for the underworld, but it didn't
leave did it? The ghostlike essence became solid…human. Bless
Calli's ingenious nature for filming the whole event.

He had always felt some part of him was
missing, but he couldn't put a finger on what, and now he
understood the restlessness, the reason he had difficulty
controlling the beast. His human side lay dormant at night. His
soul sliced in two and not one.

Once the first video ended, he searched for
the other video he apparently left for himself. He slid his thumb
over the play button. A man appeared on the screen with his
features, but he was not entirely like him. There were distinct
differences. Dark rimmed glasses adorned his face and his words
were peppered with a British cadence. Darrien couldn't help but
notice the blood smeared on this man's forehead and the cardigan
and shirt he wore were also soaked with blood.