Sacrifice (Gryphon Series) (29 page)

Mom caught my arm halfway there
. “If you’re looking for the nearest bathroom, sweetie, it’s out the back and across the lawn to the Carriage House. Can’t miss it.”

Shot for sexy saunter, achieved pee-pee dance.
Awesome
.

Mom gave my arm a squeeze then went back to talking to her cousin whose weird name I could never seem to remember. Tazzy? Taffy? Tappy? No matter, they weren’t paying attention to me anymore anyway.

Once again walking in my normal gait,
I weaved through the crowd until I found my seat and flopped down with my elbows on the table. Despite the mountain of catastrophes that had almost ruined this day, it had somehow gone off without a hitch. On the dance floor, locked in each other’s arms, the bride and groom swayed to a Rascal Flatts song. Alaina wiped Gabe’s cheek where he had a bit of frosting left from them feeding each other the cake and showed it to him. He laughed and licked it off her finger. Grams and Dr. Allyn were also on the dance floor. Her head rested on his shoulder, his hand lingered on her butt. I groaned and averted my eyes.
Gross, horny, old people.
By the bar a bunch of the football players tried to coax the bartender into handing over a pitcher of beer. The bartenders stoic, thoroughly unamused expression made it clear even from across the room that the teens would be having a dry night.

Suddenly
a chill tracked down my spine. I didn’t see Kendall. With a fresh sense of urgency I rose to my feet and did another sweep of the room. A familiar bad feeling sent icy prickles across the back of my neck and down my arms.

That’s when I saw them. Kendall stood by the entrance
. A tall, slender man with a sinister, seductive smile had his arm locked tightly around her shoulders.
Alec.
No, actually Barnabus. Really, the bad guys needed to start wearing nametags
.

He dug into the inside breast pocket of his tailored tuxedo and drew something out. I saw a glint of metal and needed no further provocation. In a blur of speed
that blew napkins from tables and twisted my uncle’s bad toupee around I crossed the tent.

Terin
made it there a second before I did and positioned herself to block my way. Alec’s full lips twisted up in an amused smirk. “Easy, hot head, this has nothing to do with you.”

Then
—before I made the slightest move to prevent it—he plunged a syringe containing God only knows what deep into Kendall’s neck. Her eyes widened. Her black painted lips formed a scream that never escaped. I charged for Alec, fully prepared to rip his throat out in front of all the wedding guests.

Terin
caught me and held me back as Alec extracted the needle and pocketed it.

“No! Look!” s
he demanded in an urgent whisper.

Reluctantly
, I paused. The warm peaches and cream hue returned to Kendall’s complexion. The sparkle that I hadn’t even realized was gone blinked back into her ocean blue eyes.

Alec released his hold on her and Kendall gave
a wide-eyed, toothy grin. “Aw! Cee, look at you! You look so pretty! What are you all dressed up for?” She then noticed her surroundings and did a double take. “Wait ... where are we?”

My forehead creased in confusion. “Gabe and Alaina’s wedding. You don’t remember?”

“I missed the wedding?!
But how … ” Her black painted nails started to flutter up to her mouth. She caught sight of them and froze. “What happened to me and who gave me the manicure from hell?”

“What
happened is a great question,” I echoed and turned my attention to my former love interest. “What did you do to her?”

“
My minions told you they were trying to give the bride and groom a wedding present from me,” he remarked with a casual lift of his shoulder. “That was it. Your sister was attacked by a Spider Demon at a dress shop and became infected. Her wings couldn’t heal this because it was demonic poison. The venom effects emotion—causes moodiness, impulsive and rash behavior, and in her case bad decisions regarding her hair.”

Kendall’s hand
flew to her head. Her voice rose to a high-pitched squeak of alarm. “
What’s the matter with my hair
?!”

“
I just injected her with an elixir that cured her of the venom.” Alec’s lips curled up in a malicious grin. “As you kids would say, you owe me one.”

“Seriously!
What the freak happened to my hair?!” Keni squawked. Her eyes darted around for a mirrored surface of any kind.

I kept my gaze locked on Alec
/Barnabus. “Terin, why don’t you go get my Grams and the two of you take Kendall to the restroom. Be prepared for a fashionista meltdown.”

Terin
hesitated, her own warrior nature keeping her rooted where she stood.

“Go ahead, Phoenix,
” I encouraged. “He didn’t come here to fight. Did you?”

“
Not at all. I ask only for one dance.” He offered his arm to me and gave me what he probably considered a charming grin. It missed the mark and came across as skeevy.

Reluctantly,
Terin led Keni away. On the dance floor Gabe pulled away from his bride. His lip curled up in a snarl and his wide back rounded. This day had been so perfect I couldn’t let it be destroyed now. Even if it meant doing the unspeakable …

I held up a hand
to reassure Gabe everything was okay. “One dance. Then you leave and don’t come back.”

“You have my word
,” he vowed with a formal bow, then offered his arm to me once more.

Wrong and unnatural is the only way to describe how it felt to link my arm with his and
let him lead me to the dance floor. As soon as I stepped onto the glowing floor he twirled me into a classic ballroom dancing stance and waltzed me around the floor with his hand on the small of my back.

I gave a muddled squeak of protest
and tried to keep up.

“There was a time you would’ve loved to
get lost in my arms.” He grinned.

“
There was a time when you didn’t overuse hair products. Things change.”

H
is pungent aftershave assaulted my nostrils as he leaned in to whisper, “I’ve always appreciated your sharp tongue, girl.”

“And I appreciated burying one of your own talons deep into your chest.” I
pulled back and searched the planes of his face for traces of my long lost friend. “Tell me, how did you weasel your way into Alec’s body anyway?”

Pride straightened his
spine and oozed from his smirk. “I told you once that I had tricks, girl. You destroyed my body, but left a perfectly good—if slightly bloody—one lying right outside the door. Settling my spirit into him was easy enough considering you practically gift wrapped him for me.”

I hated to ask this question but had to know. “Is
… is he still in there somewhere?”

“Oh, he’s
here.” He nodded and twirled me around like a rag doll. “Buried deep. He rarely fights to the surface like he used to. You know, I think you may have broken his heart that day in the hospital when he
pleaded
for your help.”

I jerked out of his arms.
My hands balled into fists so tightly my nails sliced into my palms. “Shut up. Don’t you dare … ”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.
” Barnabus waved his finger side-to-side then caught me by the waist and pulled me back to him. “I didn’t come here to fight. If I
had
I wouldn’t have saved your sister.”

“
Why did you come here?” I asked and fought the urge to close my eyes as he spun me in yet another dizzying turn.

“A demonic war is coming
. Surely, you know that.” He gave a nod and a wink to Gabe when we waltzed past him and Alaina. My brother’s chest puffed up and a faint growl rumbled past his lips.

“One
you’re
starting with all your newly formed minions. How many innocent people have you stolen from their lives to turn into your slaves?”

“I gave their pointless lives meaning!” For a second his cool façade faltered and rage broke through. As quick as it came on, he blinked it away
. His smile—as smooth and deadly as the blade of a sword—returned. “I have a score to settle with the Countess. She set me up and got me killed. For that she
will
pay.”

“She wants
you
dead, you want
her
dead, and I want you
both
dead. You two kill each other and I’m off the hook for this whole Conduit business. That being said, I gotta know, why tell me this? What does any of it have to do with me?”

He peered
at me with intensity in his cobalt eyes that bordered on psychotic. “Because I want you to fight by my side.”

I
couldn’t hold back and snorted a loud, rather unfeminine laugh. “I’m sorry,
what
? You’re kidding right?”

“No, my dear. I
’m deadly serious.”

"
And what makes you think I would
ever
do that?”

Barnabus stopped
dancing and leaned in close enough for his cheek to graze mine. His hot breath warmed my neck as he whispered, “Because … I can give you your boyfriend back.”

About the Author

Stacey Rourke lives in Michigan with
her husband, two beautiful daughters, and two giant, drooly dogs.  She loves to travel, has an unhealthy shoe obsession and an unjustifiable fear of garden gnomes she tried to overcome by putting one in this book. It didn’t work. She is currently hard at work on the continuations of the Gryphon series, as well as other literary projects.

Visit her at www.staceyrourke.com

Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stacey-Rourke/

or on Twitter @Rourkewrites