Embrace (The Gryphon Series) (19 page)

“It’s the Celtic symbol for balance.  It represents the four elements and the spirit that binds them.”

“It’s kinda tragically beautiful.”  I commented and leaned closer to examine it.  

I could smell the soap on his skin and suddenly
felt very aware of our close proximity.  A heat not caused by his power rushed through me.  I glanced up.   His eyes narrowed with raw hunger as he caught my hand.  “Have more tah tell ya, lovey.  Important things ya need tah know.” His breath became ragged.  His voice rough.  “But we won’t be talkin’ much longer if ya keep caressin’ my chest like that.”  

I cannot express enough how much I did
not
want to pull my hand away.  “Talk fast.”  I suggested with a breathy sigh as I reeled in my wandering appendage. 

He rose off the couch to remove temptation for us both, and buttoned up his shirt.  “The most important thing ya need tah know is that the Countess is here.”

My eyebrows raised in alarm.  I glanced around the room and pointed at the floor.  “As in here, here?”

Caleb shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he turned to face me.  “No, not in the buildin’.  But she’s taken the form of a mortal and she’s in ya’r life already.  I don’t know who.  She trusted no one with that information.  My best guess is she took the form of
someone relatively new in ya’r life.  Someone ya wouldn’t notice if they started actin’ different at all.”

“Well
, that’s one way to kill the mood.”  Ice ran through my veins as I did a mental check list of any newcomers in my little world.  Professor Nosehair?  He was openly evil, but I already disposed of him.  Sophia?  As much as I liked her, she
had
taken a great deal of interest in my personal life.  She was even the one that forced me to talk to Caleb—definitely suspicious.  Or there was Melissa, with her cool detachment.  Maybe she was watching me.  Biding her time.  I could ponder this all I wanted to, but the truth was I had no way to figure it out until the Countess chose to reveal herself. 

“Ya’r chewin’ a hole in your lip, lovey.”

“It’s just a lot to process.”  I locked my brave face on tight.  “Guess I can’t trust anyone anymore.”  

Caleb stepped forward, looped his hands around my wrists, and guided me up off the couch and into his arms.  His hands met at the small of my back.  “There
are
people ya can trust.  Ya can trust ya’r family.  With as well as ya know them, ya would know if there was somethin’ amiss.  And…ya can trust me.”

As much as I appreciated his attempt at comforting,
I was in warrior mode.  “We have other allies, too.”  I said more to myself than him.  “The Glee Club, maybe they’ve heard something.”

One ink black eyebrow raised.  “I’m sorry?  The Glee Club?”

Needing something to do with my hands as my mind raced, I fiddled with the hem on the breast pocket of his shirt.  “Basically demonic nerds, but they’re on our side.”

Caleb laid his palms on my cheeks, his thumbs by my ears, and made me look at him.  The sternness of his expression caught me by surprise.  “I don’t know who these blokes are, Celeste.  But they’ve been playin’ ya.  Lesser half-breeds like that would never have made it through the trials.”

My forehead creased.  “Trials?”

“Fights to the death.  To ensure only the strongest survive.”   

An image flashed in my mind of a shirtless Caleb, covered in blood and fighting for his life.  A soldier.  A Titan.  With his powers and impressive physical stature, I knew how he prevailed.  But no way any of the glee clubbers could survive that. He had a point. Yet I couldn’t just break my alliance with them.  Not without poking into this matter further.  Their pain and desire to be free from the Countess appeared too genuine to dismiss. 

Then there was the matter of the icy blonde…“What about Rowan?  Is he on our side?”

“Ah, you’ve met my roommate.”  An affectionate smile tugged at his lips as he let his hands fall to my waist.  “Surprises me ya’re here with me then.  Most gals lose their inhibitions and their knickers around Rowan.”

Heat rose in my cheeks at the memory of the library incident.  “His power only works on me when he touches me.”

Caleb’s head cocked to the side.  A strand of hair tangled with his lashes.  “Do I wanna know how you know that?”

“No, probably not.”  I admitted.  Then cleared my throat and changed the subject.  “He said people were trapped as soldiers of the army, and I need to free them.” 

My hands rested on his chest.  Even through the heavy material I could feel the solid muscle beneath.  “He’s right that many have been trapped against their will.  Myself included.  But freein’ us all is a next to impossible task.  We’re all bound to the Countess by different means.  Most likely if Rowan told ya that, it’s because there’s something in it for him. He’s a good bloak, and the closest thing I’ve had to a friend for centuries.  But with him ya always have tah remember, he’s got pirate blood in his veins as well as demon.”

I stared up at him waiting for the connection there that I clearly wasn’t getting.  “And that means…?”

Caleb raked a hand through his hair.  I loved the messy result.  “It means Rowan’s always on Rowan’s side first.”

I crinkled my nose.  “Wait, so that horrible pirate accent is
real
?”

“Personally, I think he forces it.  But then,” Caleb stood up a little straighter and adopted a mock haughty expression, “we can’t all have such a charmin’ brogue.”

While I outwardly laughed, a storm brewed in my head.  I hoped I hid it well.  In no uncertain terms Caleb was telling me to trust no demon but him.  Yet he lied to me while Rowan and the Glee Club had been brutally honest about who and what they were.  Even as he pulled me to him and I rested my head against his well-muscled shoulder, I pondered how much I could really trust him. 

Doubt what you trust and trust what you doubt
.  Words scratched on a scroll I had discarded without a second thought.  Could this be what it meant?  Or was I letting a school-girl crush hinder logical thought?

While the rest of the note escaped me, I did remember one other part.  “Do you know what the well of a warrior’s strength is?”  I asked as I rubbed my cheek against the pleasant roughness of Caleb’s flannel shirt. 

“Aye.”  He pushed away to peer down at me.  The dim lighting of the room cast deep shadows across the plains of his face.  “There’s an old Gaelic sayin’ that the heart is the well of a true warrior’s strength.” He tipped his head slightly.  “Where’d ya hear that?”

I shook my head and tried to shrug it off.  “I don’t remember.  I think it was in a poem or something.  Don’t know why I thought of it.”  I burrowed back into the welcoming haven of his arms.  Mostly so he couldn’t see the worried lines creasing my face.

I remembered now.  
The prize they seek, the well of a warrior’s strength. 
My heart.  Caleb, Rowan, and even the Glee Club had attempted to twang my heartstrings in one way or another.  The question was…who could I really trust? 

CHAPTER
25

“Wait-wait-wait!  I need you to stop.”  I gasped.

“This was y
a’r idea, lovey.”  Caleb murmured against my ear.

“I know it was my idea, but I changed my mind
.  I’m not ready.”

“That’s what I tried to tell ya
.  But ya were quite insistent.”

“You’re so smart.  You’re the smartest
three hundred year old demon I know.  Now please stop before I throw up on you.”

“Ya know sarcasm didn’t exist in my time
.  I’m glad for that.” Despite his glib comment, Caleb honored my request. 

Our forms reverted from swirling black smoke to solid mass.  A
s soon as my feet touched the ground, I rejoiced by flopping down on my butt and putting my head between my knees.  I wasn’t kidding about the throwing up part.  Teleporting was incredibly disorienting and had brought on a nasty bout of motion sickness. 

“Y
a okay?  Ya’r a lovely shade of green.” 

“Gonna need a minute.”  I
inhaled through my nose and out through my mouth. 

Caleb called up his power over water and laid his cool hand on the back of my neck. 
“Mmmm.”  I groaned.  “That’s wonderful.  Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do. 
This is my fault.”

Nice and easy I brought my head up to argue.  Instead I gaped in astonishment. 
Three years ago my mom and dad took us kids on a Caribbean cruise.  One of our shore excursions had been a snorkeling trip at Nassau in the Bahamas.  I remember at one point being under the water and looking up.  Caleb’s skin appeared exactly the same as the light that danced with the crystal clear water creating beautiful patterns in the waves on that day so long ago.  His eye glistened a bright ocean blue. 

“
It…uh…”  I blinked rapidly to both push the memory aside and control the tear it conjured. I tried to remember what I had been about to say.  “It wasn’t your fault.  I asked.  You said no.  I nagged.  You gave in.  This was self-induced.”  Was it my imagination, or could I smell salty sea air on his skin? 

“Getting’ better?” He
moved his hand from my neck to my forehead. 

“
Must be.”  I gave my best shot at a grin, but it landed at a grimace.  I pulled his hand away and nodded that I was good.  He could shake off whatever effects his Neptune-like state caused. “The flop sweat seems to have stopped.  How far did we make it?”

As w
e left his apartment to get my truck from the café, I got the brilliant idea to skip the motorcycle and give teleporting a try.  I really hoped we were within walking distance, because no way was I doing
that
again.  I glanced around.  We were either in a driveway or a really quiet street.  Nicely landscaped trees and bushes lined the sidewalk behind us and—come to find out—I had plopped down on a curb.  The area seemed familiar. 

Caleb
strode a few paces away and peered off into the night in attempt to determine our location.  His head snapped back in my direction me.  “Uh—Celeste?  Isn’t that the café’?”

I
eased my still wobbly body up off the curb and followed Caleb’s stare.  Now I knew where we were.  I’d driven this particular stretch numerous times.  It was the driveway that led back to the parking lot of the NCC campus.  I just wasn’t used to seeing it while splayed on the ground.  Not even a quarter mile away, surrounded by cop cars with their lights flashing, was my workplace.  In an instant, my sickness was gone, and I was on full alert.   

“
Let’s go.” I broke into a run.  Adrenaline coursed through me, but I struggled to keep my speed in check.  Soon we would be within view of people.  I couldn’t risk moving at blur speed even though I wanted to.  Caleb fell in stride beside me.

I
jogged up to find a tear-streaked Sophia slumped on the curb at the far end of the parking lot.  Despite her own visibly-shaken look, Melissa had an arm around Sophia and was trying to comfort her.  I squatted down in front of them, my eyes searching for any signs of an attack.  “What happened?  Are you two okay?”

Sophia
peered up at me with red-rimmed eyes.  Her face was streaked with tears and mascara.  Instead of answering, she lunged.  “Celeste!  You’re okay!”  She latched on and squeezed me in a tight bear hug.  “When the police said they couldn’t get a hold of you I thought something terrible had happened to you, too!”

“Too?
” I frowned. “Who did something bad happen to?”

Sophia pulled away and
glanced over her shoulder at Melissa.  Melissa’s lip trembled.  The last of her composure threatened to crumble.  She managed a brief nod. 

With sorrowful resignation Sophia explained,
“Becca’s missing.  Her parents stopped by her apartment and found her place trashed.  Now no one can find her. Her car’s still here, but there’s no sign of her.  The police have questioned us and are going through all her stuff trying to get some idea of where she could be.  It’s awful, just awful!  What could have happened to her?!”

One word spr
ang to mind and filled me with dread. 
Alec.

“They are going to want to talk to you too, Celeste.”  Melissa added
and rose to her feet.  Tragedy made her normally calm and assertive tone shaky and small. “I’ll go let them know you’re here.” 

“Thank you.”  I stood up and glanced back at Sophia.  “Will you be okay alone for a sec?”  She gave a less than convincing nod.  “I’ll be right back.”

Caleb had been standing a couple of steps behind me, giving me the space I needed with my friends.  I latched onto his sleeve and jerked my head for him to come with me.  I stopped as soon as we got out of ear shot.  “You know about the other force rising.”  My tone made it clear that wasn’t a question and I didn’t want him to play dumb. 

“Aye.  I’ve heard murmurings.”  His brow furrowed
, and he gave me that ‘intense guy’ stare he was so good at.  “Celeste, that lad I saw ya talkin’ to.  I could feel the darkness emanatin’ off of him.  Could he have had somethin’ to do with this?”