Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) (13 page)

The sound of wrenching metal drew her back to her part
of the plan. A second later, a large-ish piece of the helicopter dropped down
into the lake below.

Lillian tensed, waiting for what would come next. Then
from within came much crashing and thumping as a moment later one unfortunate
soldier came flying out.

Shadowlight and Darkness broke away from their
helicopter and her little brother scooped up the free falling soldier before he
could hit the water at breakneck speed.

Another soldier was tossed from the opening. This one
Darkness caught, slowing his descent enough the human would survive the fall to
the water below.

“Lillian, now,” Gregory called.

She released her hold on the helicopter the same
moment Gregory burst out with two bundles tucked under his arms.

Lillian took the smaller form of Goswin and then they
were both beating their wings to gain altitude and put distance between
themselves and the carnage they’d left behind.

The bundle in Lillian’s arms was limp, but alive.
Sedated. She scrunched her nose up at the scent of chemicals oozing out of the
little Fae’s pores. She hoped the small, delicate Fae was tougher than she
seemed.

But until they could get them safely on the ground, it
was impossible to judge the severity of their injuries.

Darkness and Shadowlight would join them later, once
they had dealt with the human soldiers. By mutual agreement, they had all
agreed it was best to strip the humans of their memories before leaving them
for their fellows to find. Once that was done, the other two gargoyles would
rejoin them back in Coven lands.

With a nervous glance back at the mess of twisted
metal, Lillian winced. At least none of the soldiers were mortally wounded.
Still, she feared they’d just kicked the hornets’ nest.

“Oh, for the love of god,” Major Resnick snarled. “Get
Lieutenant-Colonel Harmon on the line. He’ll clear us.”

“Sorry, sir, these are his orders,” the private at the
main gate explained. “Any teams coming back in must now be searched and
debriefed before allowing them on base.”

In other words, they were looking to avoid another
incident. Which was all well and good, but today Resnick didn’t have time for
this kind of bullshit.

“Fine, I need you to get this to Colonel Tremblay or
Doctor Fleming or Doctor Rodgers. This contains intel about our enemy, and I
believe that helo transport is about to get hit. We need to warn them.”

“Sorry, sir. I can’t leave my post, but I’ll have the
tablet sent ahead.”

Resnick didn’t want to risk the tablet in someone
else’s hands but knew it was no use ranting about it. He’d been the one to
suggest the new procedure.

He just hadn’t thought his own idea would turn and
bite him in the ass. Of all the clusterfucks that could have befallen him, did
they all have to fall within the same week?

*****

Shadowlight hoisted the unconscious soldier higher on
his shoulder as he continued to run through the forest. Running on two legs, he
decided, was far less fun than four. The human flopping against his shoulder
didn’t help either.

At least the destination he had in mind wasn’t far,
which was good, since he still had two more humans to transport.

Each memory-erasing spell was delicate, time-consuming
work. Darkness, being much more experienced with such spells, performed each
procedure, which left Shadowlight with the work of moving the humans.

There were still two of those flying, noisy machines
in operation. One had turned back the way they’d come. Darkness said it was
probably going for reinforcements since the Coven had taken out their other
modes of communication.

Whatever that meant.

Which left the last one circling over the area,
searching for the other humans he and his father had rescued from the flying
machines before they’d crashed.

They’d managed to save all the humans though most had
bumps, bruises and one had sustained a broken arm. Shadowlight was feeling a
little battered himself. Going inside the machines as they’d spiraled out of
control hadn’t been as much fun as he’d thought. His one wing still ached
fiercely, and the ribs on the same side had suffered some abuse. In the chaos,
he didn’t remember it happening. It wasn’t until he was on the ground again,
running to do his father’s bidding, that his injuries made themselves known.

On this trip, his third such one, he’d gone a little
farther out of his way because he wanted to check on his pet human. His
shielding dome should both hide and protect her, but with that helicopter thing
circling, he didn’t want to take a chance she might be located.

Wiping all these humans’ memories wouldn’t do one
speck of good if the searchers found Mackenzie.

He slowed as he made his final approach. The area
seemed undisturbed. He remained cloaked as he came up to the dome. Inside, Anna
was sitting by the fire, waiting for her tea to steep by the scent of it.

She scanned the shadows and then honed in on his
location, telling him his gargoyle blood was still working its changes upon her
body.

“Shadowlight?” she called softly and then glanced in
his direction. “If that’s not you, I’m so screwed.”

He dropped his shadow magic and his human burden at
the same time.

Her expression shifted from annoyance to shock, and
then her eyes narrowed.

“What? You planning on starting a zoo?” she jerked her
chin in the newcomer’s direction.

Shadowlight’s ears flicked forward in question, not
knowing what she was referring to again. What was a zoo? He would search the
language memories his sister had shared with him later. At the moment, he
didn’t have time.

“Never mind,” she continued and then added, “That
one’s U.S. Army. You went and did something stupid, didn’t you?”

He stepped over the unconscious human and continued
toward Corporal Mackenzie. When he was still several feet from her position, he
wrinkled his muzzle.

“Yeah, I stink,” she barked with a good deal of
grumpiness in her voice. “See how good you smell covered in three-day-old
battle.” Her arms folded across her chest, her expression turning belligerent.
“You’re going to get me clean clothes and something to wash with, but first,”
she pointed at the lump of soldier behind him, “explain.”

He shrugged, seeing no point in not telling her. “We
rescued two of our fellows. A sidhe and a sprite were being transported
elsewhere by these humans.”

“I suppose this has something to do with those helos
from earlier?”

He puzzled over her words but then picked the meaning
from her thoughts. “Yes.”

“And then that lone one hightailing it back?”

“Yes, my father said it was going back for
reinforcements.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Shadowlight felt his ears swinging forward again
wondering where she was going with this.

She shook her head at him. “You just attacked a
powerful nation. Do you know what that means?”

He had an idea, but since she had that look that said
‘I’m going to tell you anyway’ he decided to hold his silence.

“It means you and your family just declared war.”

Shadowlight’s ears dropped of their own accord, and
his tail gave a half-hearted flick. Lillian and Gran had warned against that,
told him of the dangers. “Gran isn’t going to like this.”

“I can only assume she’s a smart lady.”

“Gregory entrusted his other half, my sister, into her
care. Gran is almost as fearsome as a gargoyle for all she descends from mostly
human bloodlines.” His wings clamped tight to his back with worry. Gran tended
to withhold treats when she was annoyed with someone. “We didn’t kill anyone,”
he said, hope kindling in his heart, or maybe that was his stomach. He’d worked
up an appetite.

“You brought down how many helicopters? Did you kill
anyone?”

“Three of the machines,” Shadowlight said with renewed
pride. Less than a week old and he’d already been victorious in battle twice.

“Oh, just a few million dollars’ worth of damage.
They’ll just hunt you down, no thermonuclear device required.”

She said it with such a straight face, he wasn’t sure
if it was said in jest or not.

But he didn’t have time to figure out human thought
processes at the moment.

After stretching to loosen stiff muscles, he turned
back to where he’d dropped his earlier burden. “I will come back later with
more food and clothing once I’ve returned this one to his fellows.”

“Where exactly are you taking him?”

“Back to the human military camp.”

“Shit, kid. You like living dangerously.”

Turning back to her, he gave her a huge toothy grin.
“I’m a gargoyle.”

She shook her head again, a smile twisting her lips
and flashing the point of one fang. “Adrenaline junkie. You’re going to get
your ass shot off.” She sobered. “Be careful, kid.”

He smiled. “You do like me.”

“Nah, just don’t like the idea of starving to death
here under the dome once you get yourself killed or captured.”

Her words would have hurt except there was a slight
twinkle in her eye.

“I’ll be careful not to get captured or shot. I don’t
like the idea of being haunted by your disquieted spirit.”

With the sound of her snort following after, he
ventured back into the forest with his sleeping burden bumping against his
back.

Tapping an index finger against his thigh, Major
Resnick frowned as the last member of his team was waved through the
checkpoint. None of them were allowed to move on until the entire team was
finished.

He was certain his blood pressure was crawling slowly
higher toward stroke level range.

When they approached the last checkpoint, there was
another team waiting to meet them.

“Major Resnick, I’m Corporal Jordan,” a fresh-faced
soldier said and motioned them forward. “We’re here to escort you to command.”

Resnick swallowed back his frustration and
acknowledged the other officer. “Did my intel reach them yet?”

“Yes, they are sending other helos after the convoy.
If you will come with me.” He started away, and Resnick followed on his heels.

With Jordan’s team clearing a path, they made good
time and were soon at the community center.

They didn’t make for the elevators, instead heading to
the stairs which led down to the arena floor which was now converted into a
field lab.

The room lacked the normal bustle. They’d cleared out
most of the non-essential personnel. Colonel Tremblay, his senior officers, and
the lead scientists heading the project were all clustered around a central
terminal.

Doctor Rodgers was gesturing at the screen
enthusiastically.

“This isn’t us,” she was saying.

Resnick’s and Jordan’s teams arrived, saluted the
general and the other senior officers and then took up positions.

Doctor Rogers and Fleming weren’t into niceties.
“Where did you find this? Were there other signs? Prints, hair or skin samples
caught in the underbrush, maybe? The terrain they were running through has
dense undergrowth—there should have been some physical evidence.”

Outwardly, only a slight shift in his position gave
away his displeasure. The science types always rubbed him the wrong way. The
less he had to interact with them, the better.

What had he expected? He’d brought this newest intel
in from the field—of course, they were going to have questions.

This was going to be a long debriefing. He turned his
gaze toward the screen with all its impossibilities.

A winged beast for god’s sake. Two actually. He
cleared his throat. “We didn’t take the time to study the area. When we saw the
two creatures on the recording and took note of the wings, I ordered my team to
return at once, fearing something like this might, theoretically, pose a threat
to our prisoner transport.” Though admittedly he didn’t know how something like
these creatures could keep up with, let alone attack one of their helos already
in flight. Yet he’d seen too many strange things in recent days. Besides, in
his gut he knew these two were trouble.

“A pity,” Doctor Fleming said, “but understandable why
you came back at once.”

Colonel Tremblay took over the conversation at that
point. “We haven’t been able to raise the helicopters, I’ve sent out other
units to search, but with the interruptions to communications we don’t know
anything yet. So tell me your thoughts on those.” He pointed to the screen.
“Any chance it’s a fake?”

One of his advisors gave a little shrug. “We have our
experts working on it. Nothing yet.”

“But it would explain one of the intruders we had last
night, and how he escaped. We were right on his tail when he suddenly vanished.
The grass showed a clear trail for a thousand meters and then it just ended in
the middle of the field like he had up and vanished. Or flew away.”

Doctor Fleming, who had been silent until then,
reached out and touched the screen. “I’m not sure if they could fly, the body
mass to wing span ratio… I’d love to get a closer look at their locomotion.” He
tapped a button, and the recording advanced a few frames at a greatly reduced
speed. “Quadrupeds, but look at the length of the strides.”

Resnick noted that too, and did a quick estimate of
stride and determined the beast could probably outrun a horse or most anything
else. One thing for sure, it was a hundred percent predator. No herbivore had
claws and teeth like that.

Once again the Colonel shut down the scientists before
they could descend into a debate. “But what is it? Some kind of genetically
engineered and weaponized new species?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Doctor Rodgers said as she
zoomed in on one of the creatures—the darker colored one. “But it’s not one of
ours if it is. It’s not one of us.”

Resnick frowned. A one-year-old could have taken a
look and known it wasn’t human. What was she getting at?

She tapped the screen with more force as she gestured
at them all. “The other ones we’ve captured, we know they are not human, but
they are genetically our next closest relative—closer than chimpanzees. They
are part of our evolutionary tree, on the same branch even,” she turned and
pointed out the wing joints of the newly found creature. “This isn’t us. This
isn’t part of our evolutionary tree. Six limbs. They both have six limbs. This
isn’t of our earth.”

“Non-earth evolution?” The general asked, but it wasn’t
a question, not exactly. He’d already come to the same conclusion as the
doctors. “We need to verify this recording and scavenge the area for evidence.

“I need blood and tissue samples,” Rogers said as she
looked from one person to the next. “We need to capture one of them.”

Oh, he knew where this was going. With a touch of
trepidation, he glanced back at the frozen still, studying the creature’s
natural weapons. Damn it all to hell. The creature looked like it could take
down a velociraptor without breaking a sweat. This assignment was proving too
interesting for his liking.

Major Resnick had known the recording was going to be
bad for his peace of mind. “We’re going to need bigger guns.”