Laire’s face tightened and a hurt, almost betrayed cast crossed her features for a brief moment. But then it smoothed into a mask, and she disappeared.
Fallon still had her hand wrapped around the acolyte’s jaw, and she pulled the man close, her fingers digging into the skin, making him wince. “A necromancer wannabe not able to kill himself? I’m ashamed for you.” She twisted his head, studying the work of her knife. “You should have kept your tongue, because now the Psy Master is going to
rip
into your mind.”
He whimpered. She loosened her grip and leaned close to his ear, saying in a small voice. “Don’t worry. If you’re still alive after he’s through with you, I’ll take pity on you and kill you. I have enough compassion that I won’t let you live like that.”
Terak searched Larissa’s apartment. Each pass plucked the ever-tightening string of fear that wound around his heart.
They had her. Somehow they had used a magic even he was not immune to and could not see through and had taken her from her books and her children. He spoke to Olivia, who informed him she had not seen Larissa since lunch. Olivia called Larissa’s father and brothers who also did not know Larissa’s whereabouts, and reported that information back to Terak.
It was now, when his mate was in danger, Terak understood the value of Clan, the slice-cut of being alone. He had no one to turn to that could help him save her.
Larissa’s door opened, and Fallon entered, cloaked with her customary assurance. Her sword hilt shone bright above her shoulder and her movements placed her where she could draw with no interruptions.
The quick-rise of anger flooded his muscles, expanding them with desire to destroy the woman before him, but long-fought-for control held him still. “If you have her, I’ll kill you.”
“If I had her, I wouldn’t be here.” She took a step toward him, still out of reach, still with her sword at the ready. “Did you know why they wanted her?”
Assured Fallon was, but there was a harsh tension in the lines of eyes and mouth and shoulders that not even battles with orcs and wargs had engendered. Something was out of her control, something large and frightening, and Fallon was readying herself for a life-altering battle.
The string around his heart pulled tight in a quick snap and severed the organ in his chest, the destruction leaving him unable to breathe. “Where is she?”
Fallon made no comment on the weak and pitiable sound, but her head tilted as she studied him. “She’s a null,” the swordswoman said after long moments. “They brought her in and used her to tear through our security. Years worth of magic cast by the greatest of mages, and tissue paper would have given her more of a challenge.”
“Nulls are beings of myth.”
“Oh really? Maybe you should tell that to my
dead
.” Fallon’s body shifted in her anger, but within a moment she was back to her original stance. “There’s more. They’re sacrificing her tonight to raise the Four Demons.”
Sacrifice.
Sacrifice.
Sacrifice.
He rushed at Fallon and grabbed the swordswoman by the throat. “Tell me where she
is
!”
Fallon’s eyes bore into his, molten gold surrounded by fire, and under his hand a peculiar warmth, a current of power travelling over her skin. “Get your hand off me or lose it.”
His hand loosened but did not let go. “
Tell
me.”
“Will you fight beside us for her and for the protection of this realm? Will you order your Clan to come to our aid?”
Terak stepped back. He did not break eye contact. He would never be ashamed of his decision, though at this moment he regretted it more than he ever contemplated. “I have no Clan. I gave them up for her. There are no others that can help.”
Fallon’s eyes lost their fire, though her body still had the brittle tenseness that spoke of upcoming battle. “Well, hell. Looks like I owe Ais ten bucks.”
Thwup. Thwup, thwup.
Both looked toward the balcony to see Malek and a half-dozen other gargoyles on the landing. Malek walked in, the others waited outside. “
Mennak
, the Guild has contacted us and told us what happened.”
Confusion flew through him on hummingbird’s wings. “Malek, why are you here?”
“To rescue our
Meyla
.”
“What are you speaking of? I am no longer Clan.”
“No.” Malek cut him off, his wings flaring out with the strength of that word. “That is unacceptable. We have cut ourselves from the Clan as well, because we will follow none but you. The old ways are unacceptable. We trust you to lead us in a new Clan, you and your mate.”
Terak shook his head as sorrow seeped into the cracks of his battered heart, the parts that broke when he flew away that last night. “I did not want this. I wanted the Clan to be strong and united.”
Malek came forward and placed his hand on Terak’s shoulder. “Perhaps it was inevitable. We were never a single Clan before, perhaps it is not our way. All we know,” he said, making a gesture to include those behind him, “Is we follow none but you. We trust you with our lives and the lives of our mates and children. We go where you lead.”
“And if my first order is to place you in danger to protect my mate?”
“We live and die for our
Mennak
and our
Meyla
. It has always been so.”
Terak drew him close and touched their foreheads for a small moment, a gesture of gratitude and acceptance and relief. He pulled away. “How many warriors to follow me tonight?”
“Sixty.”
Terak turned to Fallon. “Will that do?”
“Is there another choice? Now let’s go and kill some necromancers.”
So here’s where it ended, in a maze of caves far away from her home, a sacrifice to release powerful demons who were going to destroy this world and help rip the realms apart.
Larissa huddled deeper into her jacket. Earlier, above the clang of metal on metal and the screams of those hurt and dying, she had heard Laire’s voice...
She’s a null!
Before today, she’d never heard that word, the reason for all these weeks of pain and worry.
The reason Terak had come into her life.
Larissa glanced through the bars to where Taneasha lay in the other cage. The girl was quiet now, curled in on herself, but earlier she had been alternating between screaming at the vampire to let her out and begging Larissa to forgive her, swearing that what had been shown her was real, Terak really said those things.
It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense. It had all been a lie? Everything they had talked about those long evenings, the battles they had fought together?
Making love?
How could that have been a lie?
It was chilly, so she stuffed her hands into her pockets. Stiff leather brushed against her fingers, and she grabbed the unknown object, pulling it out.
This was the book the Oracle had given her.
The Mating Habits of Gargoyles.
The Oracle. The woman who had started it all, if those images were indeed true.
Guard her well.
He did do that. He held her and protected her and he was so warm. If he were here right now she could be curled up against that chest that could double as a furnace.
She pushed the confusion over Terak away and flipped the pages open. Knowing what she knew of the Oracle this book promised to be… interesting… but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do while waiting to be sacrificed.
It was written in English, which was good. But instead of salacious, wonderfully purple prose, it was written in academic speak. Well, that took some of the fun out of it.
Still, she kept reading, until one passage knocked in her chest and pushed all breath from her body.
“The ultimate physical expression of love for a gargoyle is the wrapping of their wings around their ‘mate’. It is an instinctive gesture and one that the paranoid and isolated gargoyle cannot force and cannot compel, as it leaves the gargoyle’s only true vulnerable spot on their body accessible to the one who is enveloped. Even couples that have been mated for years – decades – sometimes have not reached this level of trust.”
Terak wrapped her in his wings that first night as she had sobbed against the castle floor. She was the one who forced him to let her go.
A photo book flipped open through her mind, and time after time Terak stood with her, his wings either completely enveloping her or half around her as they stood together. He blocked out the world and let them remain in their own little world together with those wings. He hugged her tight to him that last night. It had been the most exquisite feeling of safety of love when he enveloped her, a feeling not even the embraces of her father and brothers had ever touched.
She felt loved.
And it was because he loved her.
None of it had been a lie, and she had been an emotional
idiot
to believe otherwise for even a moment. She knew Terak. She
knew
him. He was good and honorable to the point of being a stick-in-the-mud. That she could doubt him was ridiculous.
There was a reason he had been speaking to that vampire. It didn’t matter what it looked like, she was a jerk to have lost faith as she did.
Gods, she made a real mess of things.
Revelation sparked through her body and demanded movement. She stood, regaining her fight and her momentum.
Terak loved her, and he would be here for her. Of course, that didn’t mean she should wait to be rescued, but knowing back-up was fighting like hell to get to her, well, that pumped the spirits up.
She had a student to save, necromancers to thwart, and a gargoyle to make amends to. It was going to be a busy night.
The magical shield around the mountain pulsed in bright arcs underneath the hand of the Battle Mage, the glow illuminating her almond-shaped eyes and small, straight nose as she talked to Fallon, Terak, and assorted other warriors. “We can create a pocket in the shield for a small amount of time. If everything goes well, the pocket would stay open long enough to allow eight to twelve people to get through before the barrier seals itself again. Then we’ll have to recast the spells, which will take at least ten minutes per casting. The first waves are going to be deep in the shit and sans back-up. First wave should be ready to go in three minutes.”
Fallon nodded, her calm expression telling all that the mage’s words were exactly what she expected to hear. “How many waves can we get in before the start of the ceremony?”
Laire looked up at the moon. “Not many. Three at most, and that’s if the casting is perfect with no problems.” She waved her hand toward a group of haggard beings chanting in front of the wall. “As you can tell, perfect might be hard to achieve.”
Fallon looked over at Aislynn who stood at the edges of the group. The elf was on lookout, her bow at the ready. “Any signs someone has seen us and is coming to do any damage here?”
“None so far. The invisibility the wizards cast seems to be working.”
The shield started to flicker and break. It wouldn’t be much longer. Fallon turned back to Laire. “What about inside? Any clues what’s going on there?”
“I can give guesses, nothing better,” said Laire. “They suffered major casualties today, and they know they did damage to us. Even if they suspect we’re here to attack them, I wouldn’t be expecting huge amounts of guards, but the guards they do have will be fresh and ready to fight. As for the mages, a lot of spell power has been used today to get ready for the ceremony. They won’t be at full power any more than we are. But there is at least one vampire in there, and a half-tapped vampire is still a powerful enemy.”
Terak clenched his jaw, keeping his snarls behind teeth instead of roaring out his displeasure. It was of no matter how many stood guard or fought tonight. They were dead, and he would get his mate back.
“Gargoyles,” With a snap of her fingers the mage brought before them glowing map in the sky, pointing at a little x marked far away from the squares and circles that dominated the bottom of the map. “This is where you guys are being teleported. The cave has an entrance here that is high in the mountains and goes down. Impossible for anyone not winged or otherwise flying-abled, which is probably why they didn’t put a barrier there. Bad news is we don’t know exactly how easy it will be to travel that path. No dwarves we know had anything to do with the construction of these caves. At best, you’re going to arrive t-minus fifteen minutes, putting you somewhere between the second and third wave. At best.”
Terak shook his head. “I will be in the first wave through the barrier. The rest of my warriors are to be transported.”
Malek came, putting his hand on Terak’s shoulder. “We will retrieve our
Meyla
. Do not fear.”
Terak placed his hand on Malek’s shoulder, returning the gesture. He looked over at the warriors who stood ready to fight. “No matter the end of this night, we will teach the vampires to fear the Gargoyle.”
Laire flicked her fingers with clear impatience. “As heartwarming as this all is, all gargoyles who are going to be flying need to gather together. Teleporting this many beings is not easy, and I’d like to get you somewhere close to the entrance and not Siberia.”
Malek let go and stood at the head of the bunched group of gargoyles. With a wave of her fingers, the mage made the gargoyles disappear.
The mage swayed after they disappeared, and Fallon went over in front of her. “Laire?”
The Asian woman waved her off. “Long day. We all have to push past, right?”
Fallon smiled, and for the first time Terak could see friendship in the expression. “Right.”
“Thirty seconds,” called one of the wizards working on the barrier.
Laire clapped her hands in a bid for attention and motioned toward the entrance. “If you’re stupid or suicidal, please step up to become the first wave.”