Sacrifice (Gryphon Series) (3 page)

His hand slid up my leg and lingered on the curve o
f my hip. “Ya know,” he whispered, his voice low and husky, “it’s been far too long since I’ve made ya purr. I’m beginning to think I lost my touch.”

I brushed my cheek against his and
moved up to deliver a soft kiss to the tip of his ear lobe. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve been stifling it. Didn’t want you to get lazy.”

His head fell back as he laughed
. “Lazy? With you on me arm?” He wrapped both arms around my waist and flipped me so my back was in the sand. Raven locks fell forward and framed his handsome face when he leaned over me. “That’s an impossibility if e’er there was one.”

I ran my hands up his chest
, over the raised ridges of the lacework of scars that decorated his torso, and linked them behind his neck. “And you love it.”

In a blink
his humor vanished, burned away by the intensity of his gaze. “No,” he corrected. “I love
you
.”

Our lips met in a fiery explosion
and we lost ourselves in each other’s touch. My hands raked down his back, wanting to free him from the burden of his shirt.

He caught my
wandering digits and tried to pull away. “Celeste, the fire … ”

“I know
. It’s fantastic,” I murmured and reached for him again.

He
swatted my hands away and nodded past me. “No, lovey, the fire. Look!”

I didn’t want to look. I knew whatever it was would ruin the moment. I wasn’t wrong.
From within our small fire visible hands had formed. I sat up and cocked my head to watch; my eyes narrowed in confusion. The flaming fingers clawed and reached skyward, digging their way out. The fire blazed up toward the evening sky. Arms grew from the hands.

“What the heck is that?”
I asked, more irritated than surprised.

“Safe to say it’s demonic in nature, aye?”

“Of course it is,” I grumbled.

One fire arm slammed against the sand
and dragged itself in our direction. The center of the fire pit crumbled away and the head of the demon appeared—a flaming skull with vacant eye sockets and a wide grin. Horror movies had become significantly less scary since I became the Conduit.

Caleb pushed against my back.
“Up we go!”

Sand kicked up as we scrambled to our feet and
got some distance between the demon and us. Its fiery fingers dug into the sand to pull the lower half of its body out. Caleb shoved me behind him and held up a protective arm to keep me there—as if that would work.

Fully emerged, the demon rose up to its full height. It towered over us
, a geyser of orange, yellow, and red flames that acted as a pedestal for that creepy bonehead. It raised one arm and pointed at me. Flames snapped and hissed a warning. Its sinister grin widened to something that looked like twisted delight.
              “Stay behind me,” Caleb ordered.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the
diamond-shaped waves of blue that shimmered to life across the surface of Caleb’s skin as he called water to him. Helpful, yes, but still not enough to make me sit out a fight.

“Yeah, right,
” I snorted and sidestepped him.

I didn’t even have time to
assume a fighting stance before a lasso of fire flew out from the demon’s extended digit and cinched around my neck. The pain of my skin scorching knocked me to my knees. My fingers blistered and cracked as I scraped and clawed against the flaming noose for a whisper of air.

Through
blurred, teary eyes I watched Caleb raise his palms toward me. “Just once I wish you’d listen.” He unleashed a blast of water that doused me from head to toe and extinguished my assailant’s weapon. Coughing and gasping for air, I tumbled forward and ate a mouthful of sand.

A puff of black smoke and
Caleb was at my side. He crouched beside me, but kept his gaze fixed on the demon. “Ya a’right?”

“Do me a favor,” I wheezed
. “Go kill that thing.”

“Gladly,
” my Irishman growled, then rose for battle. His shoulders squared and his chest expanded. The power of the ocean was his to beckon. The fire demon didn’t stand a chance. I would’ve smiled if I weren’t a heaping lump of prickly, writhing pain.

Mr. Flaming-Skull curled
and then extended his pointer finger like he was casting out a fishing line. Flames reeled from the tip of his digit, hungrily licking their way toward Caleb. As they neared Caleb slowly raised his arms in the air. Behind the demon the formerly calm seas rose up. A lone wave materialized. It festered and churned, rushing toward the shore with the strength and speed of a freight train. The brunt of the massive tidal wave crashed down right where the demon stood. When the water rescinded, nothing remained of our blazing attacker except a lifeless skull that drifted out with the tide.

I pulled myself up to sitting
. Wet sand clung to every inch of me. The pain lessened by the second, thanks to my nifty rapid healing, but it still hurt like heck. What I needed was to submerse myself in a tub filled with aloe vera.

“Just once I’d like us to have a normal date.” I turned my hands over and admired the bright pink scars that now decorated them. “Free from demons, shapeshifters, muses, and anything else supernatural.”

Caleb squatted down next to me and wiped sand
off my cheek with his thumb. “With that criteria, lovey, neither of us would be allowed on that date.”

I
scowled. Yes, that was the truth. But I didn’t want to hear it. Before I could open my mouth to request he leave rational thought out of this conversation thundering footfalls and snapping foliage cut me off.

“What
now
?” We both spun toward the noise on high alert.

The ground shook as a stampede of deeply tanned island folk broke through the line of palm trees. Saplings broke, palm leaves flew. Terrified men, women, and children pushed and shoved in their scrambles to get away from … something. Women desperately tried to keep hold of their screaming children in the chaos. One man fell to the ground. Some of the crowd parted, while others trampled over him.

“W
ell that can’t be good,” I grumbled under my breath and hopped to my feet.

Caleb rose beside me
. His gaze fixated in the opposite direction. “I’m guessin’ it has something tah do with that.” He jerked his chin, motioning at the water.

I turned and followed his
stare. A shape in the distance moved across the surface of the water. It had a human-like form, but couldn’t be confused for a person. Partially for the whole “walking on water” thing, but mostly because of the charcoal grey storm cloud that swelled and rolled around it like a living cloak. Bursts of lightning sparked through the angry cloud. Rumbles of thunder trumpeted its arrival. The being raised one hand and drew the lightning from the cloud. Absorbing it made the shadow man spark and crackle. He raised one black, translucent arm and sent a jolt of lightning careening toward the shoreline. Sand flew as the lightning exploded not twenty feet from us.

I shook my head and
tsked
. “That’s a scary lookin’ dude.”

“I’ve got this, lovey.”
Caleb kissed the top of my head and murmured into my wet, sandy hair. “Why don’t yah make sure everyone else makes it tah safety?”

“
I’ll get them to safety, then I’m coming right back. You don’t get to have all the fun without me,” I said with a half-smile and pulled myself away to go wrangle the panicked masses.

Or
… formerly panicked masses.

“Uh, Caleb?”
I pointed.

He turned
and gaped. “Blimey! They’re like zombies!”

“
Very well behaved zombies.” The running and shoving stopped. The crowd slowed and walked in-land in an orderly fashion. Two gentlemen hoisted the man still sprawled on the ground to his feet. They draped his arms around their necks and ushered him along. The crowd parted and moved seamlessly around a bronze-skinned figure on the rise of a small sand dune. His hands were shoved casually in the pockets of faded jeans. The pale blue shirt he wore hung open to showcase sculpted abs.

“Miss me?”
Sun-bleached hair fell across his forehead as Rowan gave me a cocky leer.

I should’ve known
. Leave it to Rowan to turn a stampeding crowd into a bunch of trained circus monkeys without lifting a finger. An ex-member of the Dark Army, he had a talent for mind control. Fortunately, his power only worked on me when he touched me. A fact I found out the hard way. (I don’t wanna talk about how.)

Rumor had it that before being turned into a half-demon member of the Dark Army
he was a real life pirate. Occasionally he even broke into a bit of the lingo. Personally, I thought it was just a gimmick he used to impress girls. However, he was about as trustworthy as a pirate. Everything he did or said was in some way self-serving.

His
bare feet sank into the sand as he sauntered over. Turquoise eyes gave me an appreciative once over. Caleb noticed and tensed beside me.

T
he intimacy of his gaze prompted me to cross my arms over my chest. “What are
you
doing here?”

“Could
ask you the same thing, Poppet.” One golden eyebrow rose. “Shouldn’t you be drudging through snow-covered mountains, saving the world all by your lonesome?” He ran is hand through his hair, leaving it in a tangled mess of waves.

“I got the night off.
” Even I was surprised by my sharp and unforgiving tone. I guess Rowan brought that out in me.

Another bolt of
lightning struck, this time close enough to rain sand on us. We shielded our heads until it passed.

“I’m
guessin’ your friend there missed that memo,” Rowan said, then nodded at Caleb. The two had a very long history. For a couple hundred years, they were the closest thing to a friend each other had. “Cal, always good to see ya, mate.”

“
Been too long, brotha.” Caleb stared out at the shadowy creature moving across the water like a tropical storm and brushed the sand from his shoulders. “Maybe we could save the reunion for af’er ya use that nifty talent of yars on that thing?”

“Wish I co
uld.” Rowan shrugged and shook grit out of his shirt.

I caught myself
staring at the specks of sand that clung to his tanned and toned chest and quickly averted my gaze to the menacing shadow dude. Odd that I found
that
the safer option …

   “I tried for him before I went for the crowd
. Can’t reach him. He must be pure demon, my ability is human specific. Without a hint of humanity in him, I can’t break through.” He bumped me with his shoulder. “You might want to think about that, lass. Maybe you’re not as human as ya think. Could explain that touch factor.”

I chose to
ignore his attempt to get under my skin—right after shooting him a ‘do me a favor and drop dead’ glare. “So if we can’t control him, what’s the plan?”

Caleb’s jaw flexed
and his hands clenched into fists. Darkness fell over his features, giving him a dangerous and deadly appearance. “Row, get her out of here. I’ll handle this.”

“Uh, hello?” I snapped
and shoved one hand onto my hip. “I’m the
Chosen One
, remember? Not some meek little girlie-girl that needs you to protect her.”

Caleb’s
battle-ready exterior softened—but only for a moment. He stepped closer and pressed his palm to my cheek. “That’s right. The Chosen One—whose death would both break my heart and bring about the end of the world. So, off ya go.” He waved one hand to dismiss me.

If looks could kill
, my boyfriend would’ve been on the ground twitching. “
I’m not going anywhere
,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

Caleb
’s eyebrows rose in expectation. He cast a sideways glance to the blond pirate. “Row?”

A
hand clapped on my arm. My body fell limp and my mind went as blank as a freshly shaken
Etch-a-Sketch
. Rowan caught me and scooped me up in his arms before my head could hit the ground. Together we disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

CHAPTER THREE

As soon as my feet sank into the snow and the paralysis wore off, I spun on Rowan and slammed my fist into his stupid, chiseled jaw.

“Take me back!
Now!
”

“No can do, lass.
” He laughed and rubbed his reddened face. “See, most of the time I spent in that tropical haven I was slightly—correction,
majorly
—inebriated. I’m afraid I couldn’t find it again if I tried.”

“
Oh, don’t even try that!” I jabbed my finger at him, more than willing to hit him again if I thought it might help. “You know
exactly
where we were. And you’re going to take me back. Because if you don’t, and something bad happens to Caleb, I’m gonna snap you in two over my knee like a stick. Got it?”