hidden talents (21 page)

As she stepped around Grant"s body, the gargoyle opened his eyes. She"d never have guessed goblin eyes could be beautiful, but his were. Within his stone-gray face, they were as yellow as polished citrines, with vertical cat pupils. They sparkled in the roof lights, tears of pain adding to their luster. She couldn"t speak to him. She hoped he knew she was sorry.

Blackwater"s hand dropped heavily onto her shoulder. “You"re going to kill this for me,” he said.

A sound broke in Ari"s throat. When she twisted to look at Blackwater, his little pleased smile was back. This was the sin he hoped she"d commit. He must have thought it wouldn"t seem as bad as maiming Mariska Andoor: the death of an alleged pigeon versus a talented singer lost forever. If Adam was right about her being a pureheart, as long as she thought the lesser evil was bad enough, it would suit his purposes.

She knew she"d brought on this confrontation the moment she tried to defend the gargoyle from Darius.

“I won"t,” she said quietly.

Blackwater"s grin broadened. “Are you truly so tenderhearted? It"s nothing but a pest.”

Grant was a person, one who"d risked his life to help her and Adam, one who"d crowed with excitement at gaining his first home. God knew Ari didn"t want to die, but she couldn"t kill Grant to save herself.

“I won"t,” she repeated.

Blackwater beamed. “Ari, Ari, Ari, you"ve no idea how elated I am to hear that, especially since I"m going to give you a choice. Kill the gargoyle, or I"ll kill your lover. You know, the fellow who swears he"d sooner break his own heart than hurt yours? Truly, I"m insulted you didn"t think I"d notice you were in love.

Haven"t you learned I make a point of knowing all my employees" weaknesses?”

Adam made a sound as if he would speak.

“Oh, do!” Blackwater cut him off chirpily. “Do tell her to let me kill you! It"s so delightfully trite. It won"t save the flying squirrel, of course. You"re the only one I"m offering to let live tonight.”

He was rubbing his hands together, practically giggling. Ari noticed she wasn"t the only person looking at him askance. Henry Blackwater didn"t express joy this way.

Grant"s low moan pulled her from her amazement. She fell to her knees

beside him. No one stopped her. Perhaps they knew she couldn"t do anything for him. The surface of the roof was warded, as was the net of cables that held him.

She couldn"t free Grant without magic, or heal the wounds she now saw scoring his wings and side. His blood smelled like it was spiced. Ari"s palm had landed in a pool of it.

When she patted his front lion leg, she felt like she was trying to comfort an old-style Volkswagen minibus. Grant"s tired eyes were as big as hubcaps.

Level Five!
she heard as a faint echo in her mind.
Hello, Ari
.

Ari jerked in surprise, and immediately tried to hide the movement. Her fingers clenched deeper in his warm gray fur. Grant was communicating

telepathically. Maybe them being so close together gave him that ability. She was pretty sure most people in Resurrection wouldn"t have guessed he could.

I’m sorry
, she thought as forcefully as she could.
I never meant to get you in
trouble
.

Hush
, came the answer.
You. Me. Words not good head. Watch picture
.

Did he mean he couldn"t communicate to her mind-to-mind with words? And what picture was he talking about? She didn"t see any -

Her vision disappeared as images slammed her. She saw herself standing

over Grant, one of the soldier"s spear things gripped in her upraised hands. She plunged the blade downward into his heart, the location of which Grant sent her.

Grant lay still, blood spreading out under him. Blackwater bent to check his pulse, seeming to pronounce him dead. Like a silent film unreeling, everyone left the roof. Alone then, a glow began to surround Grant"s body, until he was bathed in radiance. He burst through the cables that held him and flew up into the sky.

No sin
, Grant"s voice came more weakly.
You still pure. Demon be mad. My
people enemy die.

Did Grant mean it was okay to kill him because he believed he"d go to

gargoyle heaven? Ari was no atheist, but she was far from certain about an afterlife.

I forgive
, Grant said.
No sin you. This ... only way
.

She felt the connection between them shut off. Maybe Grant closed it. Maybe he"d run out of strength. The furry foreleg she petted was very still.

“Well?” Blackwater said, breaking into her thoughts. “Let"s have a decision.”

Ari rose shakily. She didn"t look at Adam. She didn"t want what was on his face to influence her.

“I"ll take the spear,” she said.

Adam forced himself not to look at Ari, in case his expression gave away his thoughts. He"d done enough of that already. Though he wasn"t in on it, he"d sensed a communication between Ari and the gargoyle. Could Grant speak in her mind the way he"d spoken in Adam"s dream? He hoped Grant had a plan - like breaking free of his bonds and blasting Blackwater"s men to bits with his Level Eight magic. That would probably be too easy. Gargoyles worked in teams, and who knew how well even they could function in this warding?

He hoped Blackwater wasn"t thinking along these lines. He seemed to take the common view that gargoyles were powerful and annoying, but not the most intelligent species.

One of Blackwater"s soldiers handed Ari an electrified taser-spear.

“You probably want to stand over here,” Blackwater pointed out helpfully.

“To ensure the proper angle to hit the heart. Assuming you"d like to kill it on the first try.”

Adam had to look at Ari then. The clenching of her jaw was grim but

determined. She stood where Blackwater had directed her. Grant lay quiet, like a dumb beast in truth, watching her with his big yellow eyes.

“Put your back into it,” Blackwater added. “That blade is sharp, but it"ll be similar to harpooning a whale.”

Adam winced at the description. Ari set her feet in a wider brace and wiggled her shoulders. She was wiry, the spear taller than she was. She"d probably have trouble wielding it.

Any time now, Grant
, Adam thought.

Letting out a grunt like an Olympic shot putter, Ari plunged the spear into Grant"s lion chest. Blood fountained up the shaft, the scent a combination of copper and cinnamon. The blood was as red as Adam"s would have been.

Damn it
, were the only words he could think. She"d hit Grant"s heart. Blood wouldn"t pump from the wound that way otherwise. Grant"s paws twitched, and then he went stonelike. She"d killed him. Ari had actually killed the gargoyle.

Adam hoped saving him was worth it.

“Well,” Blackwater said into the stunned silence. “That was ... to the point.”

Ari jerked out the blade and handed the gory spear back to its owner. He was more openly stupefied than Blackwater.

“Check its pulse,” the Eunuch ordered another man.

The soldier bent for a moment, gingerly touching the gargoyle"s neck. Grant didn"t spring to life and attack. The soldier straightened and shook his head. “It"s dead. No pulse. No breath.”

Blackwater turned to Francis, who looked steadier than a few hours ago but not exactly good. Considering the dangerous tasks he"d been entrusted with, Adam would have welcomed a return of the man who"d had the energy to leer at Ari. Like his boss, Francis wore a suit, though his was a gray pinstripe. He shook his head the same way the soldier had.

“There aren"t any spirit signs, just fading life essence. The girl definitely killed it. Would you ...” He hesitated, for what reason Adam couldn"t guess. “Do you want me to harvest the valuable parts?”

Ari gasped in horror. She couldn"t have known gargoyle organs were used in rituals. Blackwater glanced at her briefly.

“Someone else can do that,” he said. “I have other duties for you right now.”

Francis gave a tight-lipped nod of acquiescence, and Adam realized he

relished those
other duties
even less than he"d have enjoyed cutting open a still-warm animal the size of a minivan. Then the lightbulb clicked above Adam"s head. Sweat broke out underneath his arms, the scent of his alarm sharp to his own nose. Blackwater must intend to give the demon his final payment tonight.

With Ari"s decision to kill Grant, he had all the pieces in place. He wasn"t waiting for the full moon.

Oh Ari
, he thought.
What were you thinking?

He seemed unlikely to get an answer. Beneath them, from the direction of the front of the house, came the sound of a vehicle crashing through the entrance gate.

Half the soldiers ran to the wall on that side of the roof. They knelt the moment they reached it, bracing their rifles on their shoulders. He gave them credit for being disciplined. Blackwater hadn"t given them an order to shoot, and all of them refrained.

“Henry Blackwater,” roared a male voice so mellifluous despite its anger that it must have belonged to a noble fae. “Come out here and face me like a man!”

“Ah,” Blackwater said, his air of satisfaction clear. He tugged his blood-splashed linen suit straighter. “Come on, everyone. Let"s go down and welcome our final guest.”

∞

Faeries weren"t strangers to hubris. Lord Grygir hadn"t come alone to

Blackwater"s party, but the dozen men who"d jumped out of the troop transport with which he"d rammed the gate weren"t going to do him much good - even if they were faeries. The Eunuch"s troops simply outnumbered and out-armed them by too much.

The hubris became most obvious when Lord Grygir flung up one hand and

started chanting in his kind"s high tongue.

Absolutely nothing happened. The air didn"t even ripple.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Blackwater admonished. “None of that
Stop! In the Name of
Love
nonsense here. I"ve been preparing for your visit for quite some time.” He spread his long-fingered hands to indicate the roundabout"s shiny black pavers.

“You see my lovely obsidian cobbles? They"re set into an inch-thick electrum plate. My pets have been feeding power into it for nearly a year - storing up for a rainy day, you might say. I anticipated I might need a little extra warding tonight.”

“What"s your game?” Grygir demanded, either too stupid to be afraid or too self-controlled to show it. “I know you practically choke on your envy every time we cross paths, but you could be more of a man than to attack me through my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend!” Blackwater laughed. “Is that what you call women you pine after? Trust me, your unrequited hybrid crush couldn"t matter less. I did think you"d figure out I was behind it quicker, but I only moved against Mariska so you"d come storming here.” Licking his thumb, he wiped a smear of blood off one jacket button. “Faeries can be challenging to track when they don"t want to be found.”

“You wanted me here?” Grygir said disbelievingly. “You don"t dare injure a faerie lord. You"d bring the entire weight of the fae crashing down on you.”

Blackwater"s smile gave the proud fae lord pause. “That would be suicide,”

he agreed. “Fortunately, I don"t intend to harm a single hair on your head. Francis, please do the honors.”

Francis cleared his throat as Grygir gaped at him. “By the power of Earth and Air I bind you, Grygir Aloysius Burke Err-Elian di Spaña.”

Though the charged electrum plate prevented Grygir from using magic, it wasn"t designed to stop Francis. Grygir didn"t have a chance against the invocation of his true name. Adam didn"t doubt some black deeds had been required for Blackwater to obtain it. Power flashed through the air to whip around the fae lord"s torso, a long wrist-thick eel of barely visible energy. It trapped his arms against his body more strongly than any rope. Sputtering, Grygir struggled against it. As he did, his faerie bodyguard sprung belatedly into action.

Like a scythe through grass, the Eunuch"s men mowed them down.

The soldiers must have been firing electrum bullets, a general-purpose ammo that could take down most supes. Adam discovered faeries smelled like lilacs when they crossed over.

“Shut the gate,” Blackwater ordered, businesslike once more. “And hide the bodies. We don"t want the neighbors seeing them if they drive by.”

If they smelled them, they"d think the Eunuch was a really good gardener.

Another snap of Blackwater"s fingers bought Grygir a two-man carrying

team. Adam was certain he and Ari could be given one as well. He was so shocked by the events of the last few minutes, he was having trouble catching his breath. Training forced him to ask if he could have done something to head this off. Right that second, he couldn"t imagine what. Grygir had a hell of a lot more power than he did, and Blackwater had snapped him like a twig.

He looked at Ari, who stood a few feet away from him. Her eyes were as sad as a pieta. She hadn"t liked seeing those faerie bodyguards die either.

“So,” Blackwater said, drawing their focus back to him. “Shall we raise the curtain on the next act?”

∞

As they were herded into the house, the scent of lilacs clung thickly to Ari"s nose. Those faeries had been so pretty, a sparkly bouquet of strong male beauty.

She knew that shouldn"t have made her mind them dying. What mattered was that they might have left behind faerie families and faerie friends - maybe faerie children as well.

Could a person like her learn to heal the sort of injuries they"d died from?

The idea didn"t have time to flower. They stumbled at gunpoint down the basement steps, too many bodies trying to go down at once.

The men who carried Lord Grygir nearly fell when they reached the bottom, earning themselves a scathing insult from Blackwater. They looked abashed rather than irritated. Didn"t they realize they were stronger than their boss? And that they had the guns? Maybe it didn"t matter. Maybe they liked being a cog in a powerful criminal machine. Maybe - just as Adam was alpha to his pack -

Blackwater was a born leader. Why Ari hadn"t broken to his will was a mystery she probably wouldn"t live long enough to solve.