Demon Evolution (17 page)

A
t first he had been
angry at having been awakened at such an early hour. But after he
was informed that Dionysus had requested his presence in his
private chambers, he had been more than happy to go with the lowly
guardsmen. Since his encounter with Gabriel during his escape, he
had been itching to hear the six words that so casually rolled off
of Dionysus’s lips: “I have a mission for you.”

When he heard what the mission was and how
secret it was—being kept even from the other Archangels—he was
ecstatic. Dionysus trusted him, and rightly so. He had a destiny to
fulfill, which would almost surely entail playing a major role in
ending the Great War. And it would all start with this one mission,
a mission that would give him both professional and personal
satisfaction.

Back in his apartment now, he was still
licking his lips just thinking about the opportunity he had been
given. Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to wait long—the mission was to
be carried out that very night. He had a lot of planning to do:
selecting his team, coordinating the timeline, procuring supplies,
contingency plans, etc.

His thoughts reverted to Gabriel—the traitor
to his people, the human-lover, the demon-lover, the imbecile.
Slamming his fist into the wall, he roared, “I WILL get my
revenge!” The glassy, fluorescent wall smashed inwards, showering
glass and sparks onto a table and two chairs. The light flickered
and then went dark. Wrenching his hand from the wall, he gazed at
the blood dripping off his knuckles. He watched as the flow of
white blood slowed and then ceased entirely, the wound repairing
itself in a matter of minutes.

He picked up the phone, pressed a button, and
then demanded, “Send someone up to repair my wall immediately.” He
returned the phone to its cradle.
Being chosen by Dionysus
really did have its perks
, Lucas thought.

A
s promised, Chris,
along with Sam, knocked on Taylor’s door at seven in the morning to
take her to visit the gargoyle dungeons. This time they utilized
the speedy transporter to get there, cutting the travel time in
half, which would allow Taylor to spend more time with her new
friend. During the ride, Chris continued to warn her that gargoyles
were strange creatures and that they were subject to sudden mood
swings and personality changes.

“How’s that any different than us? Remember
last night?” Taylor asked, rubbing her sore chest as a
reminder.

Sam and Chris looked at each other and
laughed. Clearly, they had been avoiding the subject, but Taylor
was more than ready to face it head on. “What are you going to do,
Tay?” Sam asked.

“Nothing. I’ll just listen to what he has to
say and then talk it through with him. That’s what couples do,
right?” Not that she knew. She had barely dated anyone in her life.
But it sounded logical.

“I don’t know, I normally just break up with
my boyfriends if they act like jerks,” Sam said.

“I guess I better watch my step,” Chris
replied. “I didn’t realize it was one strike and you’re out.”

“Well, I guess for you I can make an
exception. I’ll give you two, maybe even three strikes.”

“Wow, thanks, babe. I feel honored,” he
said.

“I think Gabriel will need quite a few more
than three strikes if this is going to last,” Taylor said.

Upon exiting the transporter, Chris led them
straight through the security doors. First room on the right,
Taylor remembered. She preferred to think of it as a room, rather
than a cell, despite the bars over the door.

They passed Freddy, from whom loud snores
could be heard in the otherwise quiet dungeons. Before they even
reached Rocky’s family, they heard a snort and then a scurrying of
feet across the stony floor. A small head popped out between the
bars and looked towards them. While it was hard to label
expressions on the face of a gargoyle, Rocky actually looked like
he was excited.

“Wow, Tay, he looks happy to see you,” Sam
remarked.

Chris said, “I’ve never seen anything like it
before. Gargoyles are typically quite shy and never really get
attached to anyone, not even their parents. He must have remembered
your smell from yesterday and then come to greet you when he picked
up the scent.”

“I do not have a smell, or a scent,” Taylor
said.

“I didn’t say a bad smell,” Chris laughed.
“Just a smell, in general.”

Ignoring her demon escort, Taylor knelt down
and said, “Hey, Rocky. Did you miss me, buddy? I definitely missed
you. There’s a certain angel upstairs that I’d like you to take
care of for me, can you do that for me, Rocky?” She laughed when he
tickled her hand with his long, wet, forked tongue, which snapped
in and out of his mouth quickly, like a snake.

“Hmm, maybe it
would
be useful to have
a pet gargoyle,” Sam said. “You know, to help keep boyfriends from
misbehaving.”

“I heard that,” Chris said, returning from
the storeroom where he had gone to obtain some food.

“I’m just sayin’,” Sam said.

Chris handed a tray to Taylor. It had various
meaty-looking treats on it. Unlike the previous day, the meat was
raw. He also gave her a padded glove. “What’s this for?” she
asked.

“A fire-retardant glove. Just in case,” he
explained.

“Oh, little Rocky won’t hurt his Aunt Taylor,
will you, buddy?” Despite what she believed, Taylor donned the
glove before holding the tray out for the mini-gargoyle to munch
on. She nearly dropped the tray when a ball of fire burst from his
mouth and licked the food, causing it to sizzle and pop on the
metal surface. The long glove was instantly warm from the heat.

“What the hell was that?” Taylor yelped.

Chris looked at Rocky curiously. “I don’t
know, but I think…”

“What?” Sam asked, looking at her boyfriend
quizzically.

The tiny meat-fires died slowly and then
Rocky opened his jaws wide and began scarfing down the food, barely
even chewing. “I think he prefers the meat to be cooked,” Chris
guessed.

“Makes sense to me,” Sam agreed. “I hate
bloody meat. I’ll take well-done every time. Except for sushi, of
course.”

“Is that strange?” Taylor asked.

Chris scratched his head. “Actually, very
strange. I have never seen a gargoyle do that. Typically, they’ll
just gobble up whatever you put in front of them, like a garbage
disposal. It seems Rocky here has very refined tastes.”

“That’s not surprising. Rocky is a very
special gargoyle,” Taylor remarked.

“It sure seems that way,” Chris replied.

“Hey, where are the parents?” Sam asked.
“Belinda and Prince.”

Taylor looked up quickly; she had forgotten
that Rocky even had parents. The back of the room was empty. Rocky
looked even smaller in the bare room.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you guys.
Apparently, after we left yesterday, the parents wanted nothing to
do with their baby. They were making all kinds of noise, refusing
to look at him, or go anywhere near him. So they moved them out. At
this age, most gargoyles are very dependent on their mothers to
care for them, but not Rocky. It seems he was too independent for
them and they didn’t like feeling useless, so they left him. When
they left, he reacted positively, running around his cell and
putting on quite a show for the gargoyle-tenders.”

“You
are
special, little one,” Taylor
cooed. He had finished the food and now looked up at Taylor, who
was stroking his head with a gloved hand. He appeared to be
smiling, his mouth wide open, displaying rows of sharp teeth. But
he didn’t look threatening. Instead, his mouth looked comical—just
a toothy grin from a playful pet. Taylor’s hand drifted down his
neck and onto his back.

“What are these?” she asked, her fingers
lingering on two raised bumps on Rocky’s upper back.

“That is the very, very beginning of his
wings. Despite the fact that he is only three-days-old, he is
already starting to mature, which is completely normal for them. We
track the growth patterns of all of the gargoyles, from birth to
death.” Chris pulled a chart from a clipboard attached to the wall.
Taylor hadn’t noticed it previously, as her attention was fully
focused on Rocky. Reading from the chart, Chris said, “As of this
morning, he’s three feet tall and was born at only two feet, so
he’s grown a foot in three days. In a week, he will be as tall as
me, and in a month, he will be about as tall as his parents were
and his wings will be ready for him to use.”

“Wow,” Taylor said, genuinely in awe of the
facts she had just learned. “I guess you won’t be my
little
Rocky much longer.” Rocky made a sighing sound, as if he understood
what she had said and wished it didn’t have to be that way. “But I
hope you’ll always be my friend.” He smiled at her and swished his
little tail from side to side, like he was using it as a broom to
clean the floor.

“We better get going, Taylor, we can come
back later if you want to,” Chris said.

Taylor scrambled to her feet and said goodbye
to the always-happy Rocky, promising to visit him again soon.

When they stepped off the transporter, they
all agreed that a nice, leisurely breakfast would hit the spot and
then Taylor could have her “talk” with Gabriel. However, when they
walked into the café, Gabriel jumped up from his seat, where he was
sitting with Sampson and Kiren, and rushed to Taylor’s side, in a
panic. “Where have you been?” he growled.

Taylor frowned, the blood rushing to her
face. “Listen, I don’t think you have any right to be asking the
questions right now. Not after what you did.”

Gabriel cut her off. “No, you don’t
understand, there’s some kind of an emergency. I think it affects
you.”

Taylor’s face wrinkled in confusion. She
said, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“There’s an unscheduled Elders meeting in ten
minutes.” He looked at his watch. “Make that five minutes. They’ve
been looking for you guys. We’ve been summoned and they said that
most importantly, you needed to be there. I’ve heard a rumor that
it has to do with your father, Tay.”

Taylor’s confusion turned to shock. “What
does my father have to do with anything?”

“I don’t know, but we will soon find
out.”

While Chris loaded up a bagful of almond
croissants and berry muffins for them to eat on the way, Taylor’s
mind raced. How could her father be involved in anything that had
to do with angels and demons? He was just a regular, boring old
human.

Unconsciously, she followed Chris and her
friends to the transporter, ignoring the constant looks from
Gabriel. They arrived five minutes later.

When they walked in, they were already a
minute late. The various discussions that were buzzing throughout
the Elders’ chamber ended abruptly and a hushed silence fell across
the room. As usual, six chairs had been prepared for the guests of
honor.

Before their butts had hit the chairs,
Clifford pushed the meeting forward. “I have some troubling news
for you, young lady,” he said, directing his words towards Taylor.
“Your father has become a target of the angels.”

From what Gabriel had told her, Taylor
already feared that her dad was in some sort of danger, so no
surprise showed on her face. Instead, she wanted facts. “How do we
know this?” she demanded.

“We have an inside source that is very
reliable.”

“I thought they had weeded out all the
spies.”

“Yes, all but this one. This one is near the
top. That’s all I can say.”

Taylor’s heart sank. When she became involved
in the whole angel-demon war mess, it was a risk she was willing to
take on her own. Because it was exciting; because she loved
Gabriel; because it felt right. But she was never willing to risk
her dad’s life for it. “What are they going to do to my
father?”

Clifford was not one to sugarcoat things.
“Abduct him. Hold him hostage. Use him to get to you.”

“When?”

“Tonight. As soon as we found out, we
teleported a squad of twelve, highly-trained demons to protect him
until we could conduct this meeting. In advance of tonight, we
would like to add some additional protection for him.”

Gabriel said, “I will go.”

Before Clifford could respond, Taylor said,
“No, you need to stay here with me. For support.”

“I need to do this for you, Taylor.”

“No, you need to stay here for me,
Gabriel.”

Gabriel looked at Clifford for backup—but he
didn’t get it. “Sorry, Gabriel, but in this case, I cannot go
against her wishes. You will remain here. We will send Sampson,
Christopher, Kiren and a few others, if they are willing.”

“Let’s rock,” Sampson said. The two demons
just nodded dutifully.

Gabriel looked frustrated, but managed to
hold his tongue.

“If there is nothing else to discuss, this
meeting is adjourned,” Clifford concluded.

A
s she had promised,
Taylor had called her dad each day she was away. Typically she
tried to get off the phone as quickly as possible, mostly because
she hated having to lie to him. She planned the daily calls in
advance to ensure she was able to tell him lies that made sense;
she was supposed to be vacationing in Florida, after all. The
beaches that she said they went to had to be real, and she needed
to research them so she had details that would make her stories
more credible.

Today though, she couldn’t bring herself to
tell him another lie. She also couldn’t tell him the truth; so
instead, she focused on asking him questions about what he had been
up to. Edward Kingston seemed excited that his daughter was
suddenly taking such a keen interest in his life, and he took it in
stride, describing in detail the weekend fishing trip that he had
taken with James over New Year’s.