Sacrifice (Gryphon Series) (17 page)

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An hour later the second floor of the Gainesboro library—the town’s
only
rentable hall space—bustled with pre-wedding activity. Gabe and his football players set up the guest tables under the watchful eye of the bride. Mom guided the florist through the space to show her where everything would be and what went where. Grams schooled the bartender on some of her homemade concoctions that I sincerely hoped he never tried on another human being.

I secur
ed the last of the skirting to the bridal table and attempted to tune out Rowan’s yammering. “I’m just sayin’,
Mo Chroi
, ya begged me to be your date. Really. It was a deep yearning grovel that was most unbecoming.”

“You planning on dropping this topic any time soon?”
I muttered around the clip I held in my teeth.

He leaned
over the table and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “The topic of how bad you want me? I’ll drop it as soon as you admit … ”

In a flash I was on my feet, one hand held up to silence Rowan. He followed my stare to the intimidating large dude in black biker boots, faded jeans, dingy white tank top, and black leather vest that just entered. Imagine Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson minus the charismatic charm or basic approachability. Tattoos covered every visible inch of this guy’s bulging arms and thick neck. He slid off his black shades and peered around the room with emotionless slate eyes. No doubt about it, this dude equaled bad news and he was dragging my little sister along by her arm. My muscles tensed. There were way too many innocents here. If things got ugly I was going to have to find a way to get the big guy out of here fast.

M
ystery Man shoved Keni into the nearest chair. “Stay,” he barked around the cigar lodged in his teeth. She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

The bald, bespectacled
hall manager scurried over, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he ran. “Excuse me, sir? I’m going to have to ask you to put that out. This is a no smoking facility.”

The stranger said nothing
… just stared.

The manager
shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Visible sweat stains appeared under his arms. “You know what? We’ll … we’ll make an exception this one time.”

Turning on his
heel, the manager darted off for the safety of the kitchen. In his mad dash he bumped into Alaina, who glanced up and caught sight of our new arrival.

“
Big Mike!” she squealed and sprinted over to him.

H
is stern expression broke into
almost
a hint of a half-grin as he scooped her up in a bear hug. “Little Lani, traded in the wings for a shiny rock? Never thought I’d see the day.”

At
the mention of wings, Gabe and I exchanged alarmed looks across the hall and rushed to intervene.

“
It’s been such a long time! I’m so happy to see you!” Alaina said in mid-gush when I walked up.

Gabe
arrived at the same time I did and whispered in his bride-to-be’s ear, “Maybe we take this greeting out into the hall?”

Alaina
gave an enthusiastic nod and caught Big Mike’s wrist. Before he budged an inch he clamped a mammoth hand around Keni’s upper arm and yanked her along, too. “I wasn’t sure you got my invitation, but I’m so happy you could come!”

“The C
ouncil wasn’t going to release me until my presence here became a necessity.” Slate grey eyes bore into Kendall, who squirmed under their weight.

“Became a necessity?
” I asked as soon as we made it to the hallway. “Why, did the Council hear about the demonic stripper?”

“Demonic
what
?” Gabe’s eyebrows nearly shot off his forehead.

Alaina cleared her thro
at and busied herself inspecting the crown moldings above the stairway. Gabe turned to me. His expectant stare demanded an answer.

“W
ant me to tell Alaina what the real draw of the owl themed restaurant is?”

“I heard nothing.” Gabe relented and turned back to Big Mike.

“It seems,” Big Mike’s deep growl cut off any other further discussions, “little sister decided to give base jumping off a Nashville high-rise a try. Took a running leap off a twelve-story building without a parachute. Her little show would’ve had a nice sized audience, too, if I hadn’t stepped in.”

“
They wouldn’t have seen anything!” Kendall argued, her tone dripping with annoyance. “As soon as my wings were out I would’ve taken off and been nothing more than a blurred flash of white.”

Alaina gasped
and covered her mouth with her hand. “How did you stop her?”

The muscles of his shoulders rose and fell
in a casual shrug. “Jumped out of a second story window and tackled her into an alley.”

“Kendall, what were you thinking?” I threw my arms out
to the sides, palms up.

The dramatic black and purple makeup caked on her eyes amplified her condescending look
. “Unclench, Cee. It’s seriously not a big deal.”

“It seriously
is
a big deal,” I hissed in an urgent whisper.

“This
is the Conduit?” Big Mike jerked his head in my direction.

“Oh
, yes! Sorry! Big Mike, this is Celeste and my fiancé, Gabe. Gang, this is Big Mike, my mentor.”

Before I could
open my mouth to utter a greeting he balled up his fist and punched me square in the face.

“
OW
! What the heck!”

“Huh. I expected t
he Conduit to have faster reflexes.”

“I like him,
” Gabe declared through a Cheshire cat grin.

“I’m not
a fan.” I rubbed my nose and tried to blink back my tears.

Alaina ignored
the socially inappropriate sucker punch and spun on Kendall. “Can you imagine if people would’ve seen your wings? Any attempts at normalcy would be gone! For
all
of you! Not to mention what you did was so risky that the
Council
felt the need to intervene. That should give you a clue that you aren’t making the most sound of judgments.”

Kendall
’s face formed a rebellious sneer I didn’t know she was capable of. “I’m sorry, but did you get reinstated as our Guide? Because last time I checked you’d been long since fired from that job.”

Alaina’s lip trembled and
tears instantly welled in her eyes. Anger flared Gabe’s nostrils and puffed up his chest. “Kendall! I don’t know what rebellious teenage crap you’re going through but you need to
get over it
. Apologize to Alaina!”

K
endall gave a disinterested snort and started for the stairs.

“Hey!
We’re not done here! Where are you going?” he called after her.

“If I have to spend all day tomorrow with you losers
I’m not wasting today here, too,” she shouted, but didn’t break stride. “Don’t worry. I’m over jumping off of things. That was lame anyway.”

This nasty attitude was so unlike
her. What the heck was her deal? A sudden thought occurred to me that made my stomach twist in a painful knot. I had seen a transformation like this once before—
Alec
.

As
the heels of her knee-high boots clicked down the ornate staircase I opened the channel to her emotions. Her warm glow still remained—which I took as a good sign—but some dark emotional drama she battled overshadowed it.

Gabe folded his arms over his chest
and tucked a hand under each arm. His thumbs pressed against his giant man-boobs. “Think it’s too late to talk Mom into only having two kids?”

“
Maybe she’s missing Keith more than she’s been letting on?” I chewed on my lip and sincerely hoped that was
all
that was plaguing my sister.

“Don’t mean to interrupt this touching family moment
,” Big Mike cut in, “but you know there’s singing demons setting up in the hall, right? The lead singer looks like Eddie Munster.”

“Of course the
re are,” I muttered and rubbed my suddenly throbbing temples.

C
HAPTER TWENTY

From the foot of the small, raised platform stage Gabe, Alaina, Big Mike and I gaped at … the Dark Army Glee Club. Grams and Mom led the rest of the onlookers in a round of applause when their rendition of
Girl From Ipanema
ended. The four of us by the stage didn’t join in. Not that the geeky musicians weren’t vocally talented. They absolutely were. However, knowing their dorky exteriors were disguises to hide the nasty demons underneath jaded us to the performance a tad.

“Eddie.
” I nodded to the Eddie Munster look-alike who served as the closest thing this band of misfits had to a leader.

“Celeste.
” He worked his eyebrows in an odd way that made me think he was either trying for an evil villain face, or he was gassy. I really couldn’t tell which.

“Bold move coming here.
” I looped my fingers in the pockets of my shorts and straightened my spine.

“Straight into the lion’s den.
” Gabe let his fangs slide out and curled his upper lip to show them off.

Red—a tall, lanky demon with shockingly red hair and the ability to actually
become
fire—gulped. “We’re not scared of you.”

B
ig Mike raised an eyebrow, the most emotion I’d seen him exhibit.

             
Red’s hand shook as he pointed at our tatted up muscle man. “The new guy, on the other hand, is terrifying. Who’s he?”

             
I gave a casual shrug. “We’re going for a tougher image. Traded in the cute blonde for him.” Big Mike pressed one palm over the opposite fist to crack his knuckles. “What do you think? Effective?”

             
Eddie’s pasty skin blanched. “Very. Is it too late to get the blonde back? I liked her.”

             
“Liked her so much that you tried to kill her?” I stared pointedly at the party responsible for that particular act—the demon in the back who fiddled with the microphone in attempt to make himself look busy. His blotchy, boil-covered skin hung off of him like it was a few sizes too big for his scrawny frame. When he attacked Kendall he grew into a globulous, mountain of a beast. Now he refused to look me in the eye. Go figure.

Hid
ing behind him were the twins. They were attached at the shoulder and completely identical. Matching bowl haircuts, small statures, and thick glasses held together by Scotch tape. Despite their weenie exteriors, they were a force to be reckoned with. They had the ability to transform into a giant, two-headed lizard with a wingspan like a B-52 bomber. Gabe still had a scar on his shoulder blade from a particularly nasty bite one of them landed during their brawl.

             
“She wasn’t our target. Speaking of which, how is Caleb these days?” Eddie asked with his eyes widened in mock-innocence.

             
I lunged for him with every intention of delivering one well-placed punch that would rid him of his front teeth.

Gabe’s
arm shot out to block my path. “We have an audience.”

             
The mic kicked on with a static buzz. Boil Face’s surprisingly smooth baritone voice flooded the room. “How about this song during dinner to get people ready to dance?”

             
Together he and the twins launched into a full out chorus of
Build Me Up Buttercup
. It ended rather abruptly when Eddie unplugged their mic. “Y
ou know that I have from
the …
HEY!”

             
“We’re not
actually
singing at the wedding!” Eddie yelled as he shook the cord at them. “I just said that to get us in here.”

             
“You really should have told us that before,” one twin huffed and folded his arms.

             
“Like, maybe,
before
we worked up an entire song list,” his brother declared and shook the paper at Eddie.

             
I utilized their distraction and opened my link to Rowan. A small taste of my emotions told him all he needed to know. He bowed his head, focused his gaze, and cleared the room. The entire crowd of innocent bystanders—Mom and Grams included—stopped their wedding tasks and filed out of the room like mindless drones.

Alaina
gnawed on her lower lip as she watched them exit. “Uh … Celeste? Quite a bit of the decorating is already done. And if you fight here … ”

             
“Oh, there won’t be a fight,” Eddie interrupted with a self-assured smirk. “We just came to deliver a message and have taken …
measures
to ensure that we get out of here unscathed.”