The Girl and the Gargoyle: Book Two of The Girl and the Raven Series (40 page)

Marcus faces me. “I won’t let them touch you.”

“Garret’s crazed,” Selima says. “The way he was talking today…the way he’s been acting. I’ve never seen him so focused on revenge.” She paces. “I don’t know their plan…not exactly.”

That gets Dylan’s attention. “What do you mean by
exactly
?”

Selima looks at each of us nervously. “Garret said he wants Lucy ‘taken care of’.”

“Does that mean something different in gargoyle-speak?” Dylan asks.

“Allow me to clarify.”

We whirl around as Garret strides into the room. He looks very different than he did the night at the condo, wearing an expensive navy T-shirt and designer blue jeans. These are clothes he can fight in.

I refuse to acknowledge my fear. We have to end this tonight.

“I came to Chicago,” Garret says, as he studies the room, “one of my favorites cities, for two reasons.” He ticks off one finger. “First, to kill an offending demon who has given me a lifetime of headaches.”

“But what you accuse him of…you have no proof!” I say.

Even in the dimly lit room, there’s no missing the menace in Garret’s glare. Marcus takes hold of my hand and tugs me to his side.

“Second,” he ticks off another finger, “to appease my wife, we came to reconcile with her—
our
—son.”

Marcus snorts.

First Jude and now Garret. Why can’t anyone call Marcus by name?

“Imagine my disgrace when I discover our son has taken up with the offending demon’s offspring.” Garret clasps his hands behind his back and stands still as stone as his gaze lands on me again. “My rogue son consorting with the enemy is an insult to what we are, what we stand for. I won’t tolerate it.”

Marcus drops my hand and takes a step forward. “What’s your problem? No one’s getting hurt.”

“There aren’t any rules against it.” Selima smiles sweetly at her father. “I checked.”

“And now you turn my beloved daughter against me.” Garret’s piercing gaze never leaves my face. “You are a wicked, wicked thing. I’m going to kill you.”

All the air whooshes from my lungs.
No!
All this time I thought I had accepted the idea of death, so long as I could save the people I loved. But I want to live. I survived life in the trailer park with Momma. I survived three—
three
—near-death experiences last year. I survived demon training with Jude.

I raise my right hand and a fireball appears. I bounce it on my palm for effect. “Not if I kill you first.”

Marcus and Dylan stand ready on each side of me.

“A puny, inexperienced demon.” Garret snickers. “I will squash you like a bug.”

Puny?

“Enough, Father.” Selima moves to stand in front of me. She wraps her slender fingers around my forearm. My anger fades and the fireball snuffs out.

“Why did you do that?” I tug my arm free. “He’s here to kill me. Are you going to help him?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Selima turns to Garret and squares her shoulders. “I know about the blood drinkers in the clan.”

Garret shifts uneasily. “It’s merely an experiment.”

“But you plan to kill Jude for allegedly draining protectors, while our own kind do the same thing to demons?”

“We needed to know the effects,” Garret says.

“And when you saw those monsters, why didn’t you stop?”

“Because he got hooked,” I say.

Garret flashes a cocky smile. He takes a step back and cups his hands around his mouth. “Team one!”

I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

Six of the floor-to-ceiling windows shatter.

Marcus throws me to the floor and flings his body over mine. I catch a glimpse of blue-jean clad legs and boots stomping toward us, the hardwood bouncing under their weight.

“Selima, get Lucy out of here.” Marcus jerks me up from the floor by my arm. I yelp as he nearly removes my shoulder from its socket. “Dylan and I will stay and fight these goons.”

Across the room, Dylan grabs a protector in a headlock. With a swift jerk of his neck, the protector slides to the floor dead. My stomach flips with a sickening twist as I realize he learned how to kill from Jude.

Marcus throws his shirt to the floor then hunches as wings spring from his back. He spins around and drives his fist into the face of an oncoming gargoyle. Blood splatters in multiple directions.

I’m not going anywhere. This is my fight
. I glance over my shoulder to tell Selima as much, when I come face-to-face with Flynn. He grabs me by my hair and yanks me to my knees, his claws cutting against my skin. He’s taller than he was the night of Caroline’s party, probably on account of the demon blood he’s ingested. His shoulder-length brown hair flutters as he expands his slate gray wings.

“It’s good to see you again, darling,” he says in his pompous English accent. “Tonight is not your lucky night.”

Heat races up and down my arms, and energy vibrates throughout my body. I’m unable to turn my head due to his grip. I hurl a fireball behind me.

Flynn yanks my hair as he lunges to the left. I cry out as he stands on my calves. He wrenches my arms behind my back and restrains my wrists with a plastic zip tie. I attempt to tug and twist against it, but it’s too tight.

“Let’s watch lover boy get pummeled,” he says close to my ear.

Two protectors grab hold of Marcus while a third lunges at him, claws swiping.
Three against one. Bad odds.
Marcus sinks an elbow into the gut of one of the guys holding him, then swings around to strike the other in the face.

Free, Marcus wrenches the attacking gargoyle’s wrist. Bones snap. The two fallen gargoyles jump up and go at him.

“Marcus!” I struggle anew against my restraints, wincing as the hard plastic cuts into my skin. How do I get these things off?
Melt them?
I envision a fireball.

Bad idea!

Startled, I look over at Dylan.
What are you doing in my head?

He frowns at me
. Your skin will melt, genius.

A spell then?
I suggest.

Better. Make it fast. We need your fireballs.

I close my eyes and focus on the makeshift handcuffs.

Undo these restraints

Allow me to escape

Grant me freedom

Before we are beaten

I tug at the bindings.
Nothing.

Visualize. Imagine the zip ties snapping apart. Crumbling.

Deep breath in then out. My lips move fast, my words silent. I sink deeper into focus as I repeat the words.

Crack!
The pressure of the restraints loosens.

Selima joins Marcus as he fends off two attackers. She jumps backward to avoid an oncoming strike, spins and horse-kicks the guy in the solar plexus. Garret nods at a female gargoyle, whose pale gray wings bounce as she grabs Selima from behind.

“Get off me!” Selima whips her head around to Garret. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you doing this?”

“All for the good of the clan,” Garret replies.

Dylan sprints after the female gargoyle, but Ronan clotheslines him. Dylan drops to the floor, clutching his throat.

“No!” Selima and I both shriek as Ronan stomps on Dylan’s chest. Dylan grabs Ronan’s foot and yanks him off balance, rolling out of the way as the gargoyle crashes to the floor.

Selima bites and kicks her captor, but the monster-fied woman braces her tightly.

“You’re a traitor, Selima. You need to be punished.” Garret nods at the woman again. The gargoyle drags Selima, bucking and flailing, from the room.

No way I’m going to let one of Garret’s freaks hurt Selima. I focus on the female gargoyle.

Release Selima as if her skin burns to the touch

You nearly faint from the pain, it’s too much

Don’t bite or scratch

Because you know you’re mismatched

I repeat the spell, but nothing happens. Selima and the woman are gone.

Marcus drives his fist into the face of an oncoming gargoyle, slamming him against the bleachers. The gargoyle rises unsteadily to his feet. Marcus smashes his elbow into the side of the gargoyle’s skull, the soft spot high on the temple. The gargoyle falls to the ground. Marcus leaps toward Flynn and me. “Hurt her and I’ll kill you,” he says to Flynn. Then he turns to Garret. “This is between us. Release Lucy.”

“Between
us
?” Garret snorts. “
You
were never part of anything. You weren’t wanted. Not by me and, in the beginning, not by your mother.”

Heat roars inside of me, settles in my hands.

“Liar!” I witnessed Camille’s regret and guilt during the meeting in Marcus’s apartment. “Camille always wanted Marcus. Is that why you hate him so much?”

Garret arches his body, his angry roar bouncing off the walls. Wings, black as coal, unfold before me. Garret’s shirt lands in a torn heap. His barrel-sized chest heaves. He smiles, revealing two dagger sharp fangs.

Garret smacks his lips. “Time for you to go.”

I hurl a fireball at Garret and instantly have a second one ready. Flynn snags my arm, swinging me around. His fist collides with my fireball. He yelps, slapping his burned hand.

“I can’t trust you to eliminate one little nuisance!” Garret barks at Flynn, charging toward me.

At the same time, Marcus lunges for him.

“Back off,” Garret growls. He shoves Marcus, sending him stumbling and tripping over a large netted bag of basketballs.

Flynn reaches for me with his good hand. I spin away. I crunch over broken glass, pivot, and nail Marcus’s father with two successive fireballs. Garret dodges the first one. The second? Bullseye. Nailed him in the chest.

Across the room, Dylan scrunches his face against the smell of singed flesh as he smashes his elbow into Ronan’s face. Ronan’s nose crunches and blood spurts free. The blond spiky-haired protector stumbles to the floor, blinded by his own blood.

Dylan rushes to my side. “I’m going to find Selima.”

Ronan huddles in the corner, his hands covering his nose. He jerks it sharply to the right, coughs twice, then spits a mouthful of blood and mucus onto the floor.

Now Flynn and Ronan stalk toward Dylan and me. They both look extremely ticked off.

“I’ll create a diversion,” I whisper to Dylan. “Then Flynn’s mine.”

“Got it.”

“Selima, no!” I stare at the door in mock horror.

Garret, Ronan, and Flynn all look in the same direction, ready to pounce or run. With a wave of my hand, Flynn’s legs fly out from beneath him. There is a series of tinkling and scraping sounds as he crashes onto a pile of glass. Blood starts to run from various gashes on his arms and torso.

He struggles to his feet and comes at me.
These guys are unstoppable!
I lob a fireball at him. He bats it away and continues toward me.

I launch two fireballs at him, then two more. He dips and bobs, but isn’t fast enough to avoid shots three and four.

Flynn’s wings catch fire and he screams. Flames lick up his arms and chest then consume him. Tears cloud my vision. I press my hands to my ears. It doesn’t help.
There has to be another way. Freak or not, I can’t burn another creature alive.

Ronan fists his hands as his friend turns to dust. “Why can’t you both just die?” He springs at Dylan, swinging hard. He rakes his claws across Dylan’s face then slams his fist against Dylan’s jaw. Dylan teeters backward. Ronan bares his fangs. As he angles for Dylan’s throat, Dylan grabs his head with both hands. The force of the headbutt rings out with a dull crack and sends Ronan reeling. Dylan moves swiftly, jerking the gargoyle’s head sharply to the left. Ronan drops to the floor.

The collision of a body crashing into wood makes Dylan and me whirl around. The force of Marcus’s landing splits the floorboards beneath him. Garret’s raised fist is frozen. As Marcus struggles to regain his breath, two of Garret’s men stomp toward him. Their boots connect with his face, chest, and arms.

“Leave him alone!” I heave a series of fireballs at the gargoyles as I rush at them. Half of my shots hit their mark, but it doesn’t stop them. One of the gargoyles aims his thick work boot at Marcus’s stomach. “Don’t touch him!”
Too late
.

Marcus curls into a ball, coughing.

“Roast ’em, Lucy!” Dylan yells as he jumps over Ronan’s dead body and runs toward Marcus.

Adrenaline floods my system. My entire body twitches and my earlier remorse over Flynn is gone. I lob more fireballs, closing the distance between me and the monsters. One of the attackers screams as he’s engulfed in flames. Another leaps around, smacking out flames on his arms.

Garret’s massive arm hooks me, snatching me off the ground. He grips my throat with his clawed hand. As Dylan is about to capture one of Marcus’s attackers in a chokehold, another gargoyle comes from behind and knocks him to the ground. The beast plunks down on Dylan’s chest, anchoring his arms to the floor with his knees. Dylan bucks against the thug, trying to kick the gargoyle’s back and head.