by Cate Corvin
He unzipped it, pulled out an M-16 and slapped a magazine in it.
Although I knew I was resistant to human weaponry now, I couldn’t stop the instinctive rush of fear, crouching for cover behind one of the cars I’d thrown around earlier. Every fiber in my body tightened painfully.
“It can’t hurt you, Zara.” Gio’s voice was gentle.
Shit. He was right, but my training had kicked in, and I’d even reached for my missing holster to withdraw my weapon. “Right. I know that,” I gritted out. “It’s habit.”
Gio was a fullblood. He’d never known the fear of a perp pulling out a semi-automatic and knowing that your luck may have just run out.
“Straighten up.” He was all business now. “No more cowering. You don’t need to be afraid of this.”
My chest was tight as I forced myself to step out from behind the car, standing tall and spreading my arms. I kept my eyes open, determined to face the fear head-on.
“Good.” Gio lifted the rifle and took careful aim at the center of my chest. The skin there felt like it was crawling, aware of the dark barrel aimed at me. I had to work to not hunch over, anticipating the shred of bullets through soft, fallible human flesh.
Why did gargoyles suck so much?
His finger tightened on the trigger, and at the sound of gunfire I flinched, my eyes snapping shut so I wouldn’t see myself being torn to pieces.
Instead, all I felt was soft taps, heard the tink of bullets against stone. I cracked one eyelid just in time to see a bullet ping off one of my nipples, shredding my shirt in the process. “Ow, motherfucker!”
I slapped a hand against my breast. Just because it didn’t penetrate my skin didn’t mean taking a bullet to the nip didn’t hurt.
Gio paused firing, a slow grin spreading across his handsome face. “Need me to kiss it better?”
I glared at him, and he unloaded the rest of the magazine on me. I spun around halfway through, intending to rip a door off a car to use as a shield, but the last few sounds of gunfire weren’t accompanied by the feeling of bullets bouncing off me. They were bouncing off something else.
A shadow fell over me and my stomach dropped. I turned around, halfway through mangling the nearest car, and a surge of bitterness crashed through me.
Make that someone else.
Damien Viridios crossed his arms over his chest, looking me over with satisfaction. He wasn’t wearing an impeccably tailored suit today, but an olive green henley and jeans, thick arms crossed over his chest. The clothes that probably looked like they belonged on an Abercrombie model only minutes ago now sported brand-new bullet holes.
“Stone looks good on you,” he said, his voice quiet, but not low enough for Gio to miss it.
The bodyguard dropped the M-16. “I keep telling her that. She could use a little more, don’t you think? Onyx would be a great complement.”
To my surprise, Damien just rolled his eyes upwards.
Not even Gio’s joke could defuse my anger. I stepped away from the car, letting the door sag. “Surprised to see you slumming it with us, Viridios.”
He ran a hand through his hair sheepishly, somehow avoiding his vibrant emerald horns. “I could say I’m sorry, but it would be a lie.” Bronze eyes peered at me through thick lashes. “You were exactly who I wanted.”
For some reason, the wording of that sentence made my stomach twist a little. For one night, I’d wanted Damien too, even against my better judgment, against every wary prejudice I’d ever had… but he could’ve been crowned The King of Fucked Up One-Night Stands after how he’d ended the night.
He didn’t really want me. Just a vessel to keep his precious Ruby alive.
“You woke me up by ripping my heart out.” I matched his stance, crossing my arms and planting my feet. “What’s not to be sorry about?”
“You weren’t meant to wake up during the procedure.” He didn’t even have the decency to look abashed.
“That doesn’t change the fact that you changed my fundamental being without my say-so.” Did he really think that because I was a gargoyle now that I’d forgive how he’d done it?
“But you did express the desire to become a gargoyle.” Superiority gave way to a stern self-righteousness.
“Not in so many words!”
“No. You didn’t specifically say ‘Damien, make me a gargoyle’, but you did confess your deepest desire to me, whether you know it or not.” His jaw jutted out stubbornly. “‘Who doesn’t want to be able to make a difference?’”
My hands clenched. “Quoting me doesn’t make it right.”
“I gave you the ability to make a difference. I’m aware my methods weren’t to your preference, but the truth is, we were running out of time. Stonehearts can only survive so long without a host. Yours was… nearing its end.” He took a step closer, holding his hands out. “I would’ve done anything to prevent it from dying, and I didn’t want to give it to someone who would use it for lesser reasons.”
That stopped me in my tracks for a few seconds. “How can you believe that I won’t use it for lesser reasons based on one award? Plenty of awful people have done great things. You don’t know me at all.”
Damien opened his mouth, looking oddly pensive, then his eyes flicked over my shoulder to something behind me. I barely had time to react before he’d spun me around, crouching over me like a shield.
Something detonated, sending us flying into the side of a junker. My ears were ringing like a bomb had just gone off.
I shoved Damien off me and stood up, barely staggering despite the force of the impact. Gio gave me his bullshit innocent look, spinning the pin of a grenade around one finger.
“Just spicing things up,” he said. He gave Damien a pointed look. “Some conversations are best held indoors, yes?”
I reached down to give Damien a hand up, even though I still didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Against Gio the Grenade-Wielding Gargoyle, I was willing to declare a tentative truce.
“Then we’ll conduct our business indoors,” Damien growled. “A little warning next time would be nice.”
“Not my problem if you’re distracted by a pretty face.” Gio tossed the expended magazines back in the duffel.
I brushed myself off. The back of my shirt was tattered from the grenade’s shrapnel. My first instinct was to snap at Gio, but hey, now I knew I was grenade-proof, too. At least against a single blast. It’d hit hard enough that a few at once could probably weaken me, but still, becoming a stoneheart was turning out to be way cooler than could have ever anticipated. The sense of invincibility was almost dizzying.
While Gio was packing up his toys, however, I picked up a car door and flung it like an oversized frisbee. It smashed into him with a loud crunch, sending him head over heels and scattering his bag.
He sat up with a groan, fixing that dark gaze on me. For a second I thought maybe I’d gone too far, grenades or not. But Gio was untouched, and the door was dented into the precise shape of his wings.
“Well played, Zara. Take them out while they’re distracted. Are you going to offer me a hand, too?”
I finished dusting off my jeans. “Nope. That’s for the grenade.”
Gio just laughed and picked himself up, shaking his head as he fixed all the progress I’d just ruined. “Fair deal, Tin Woman.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?” I asked, my hands on my hips. I had a sneaking suspicion...
Gio shouldered his duffel bag. “You know why.” He did an odd little tapdance. “If you only had a… stoneheart,” he sang, doing horrible, over-large jazz hands.
“Wow,” I said dryly. “Wizard of Oz, huh?”
Damien slid off his shredded jacket. There was no bringing his clothes back to life now. “We’ll reconvene at home,” he said. “Obviously, there’s a few very important things we still need to discuss.”
“My home,” I corrected. No matter how cool this was, I wasn’t ready to see the penthouse where Damien had made me believe
he wanted me, only to fuck me then traumatize me. “Sawyer will be there later.”
Even with the real reason unspoken, both gargoyles seemed to understand why. Gio draped an arm over my shoulder, and even if he had just bombed me, there was a feeling of camaraderie to it that made me allow the arm to stay.
Nothing bonded friends like blowing each other up.
Chapter Seven
Gio prowled through my apartment, checking every door and window while Damien made coffee and I found new clothes.
Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately? —my new live-in bodyguard didn’t bother with the new clothes. He disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes and came out completely naked.
Which was exactly how Sawyer found him when he knocked on my door half an hour later. I hadn’t even realized how much time we’d spent in the junkyard that day, pitching cars and testing the strength of my new crystallized muscles, until the sun started sinking behind the horizon on the way home.
I flung open the door with a grin, Gio’s antics almost forgotten in my excitement to tell Sawyer that yes, I could in fact pick up a car now. Probably even a car with him in it.
He was still in uniform, carrying a bag of Chinese takeout. Dark circles of sleeplessness under his eyes didn’t do anything to diminish how attractive he was, and now that I’d slept with him… hell, I could openly appreciate his physical perfection all day long and not feel a speck of guilt. It was something that’d been simmering for months, and now that I was no longer part of ‘them,’ of humanity, it felt like permission to step forward and take what I wanted.
“Damien and Gio are here,” I blurted out. I hadn’t needed to announce it, because Sawyer got an eyeful of Gio a second later. All of Gio.
Sawyer’s eyes immediately narrowed, but he stepped inside, and I bolted and locked the door behind him.
“I brought you lo mein,” he said. Gio immediately took the bag from him, sat in on the counter, and began rifling through it, checking the styrofoam boxes.
Sawyer sat at the island and glared at the Onyx. “It’s just food.”
“Can’t be too careful.” Gio poked at the pile of noodles with a fork, closing the container when he was satisfied my dinner wasn’t hiding a weapon.
“We have Chinese on Fridays. I’m sure if Zara thought I was a potential threat to her, she would’ve said something by now.”
“He’s fine, Gio.” Sawyer was still glaring at the gargoyle, and Gio was glaring right back. “If he wanted me dead, he could’ve poisoned me ages ago.”
“Just doing my job, Tin,” Gio said, and stole a bite of my chicken. “Some of us take it seriously.”
I was startled speechless, but Sawyer’s cheekbones were tinged pink. “You think I don’t take Zara’s safety seriously?”
I met Damien’s eyes across the island. He shook his head the slightest bit, telling me to stay out of it.
“I think humans are fallible. All it takes is you coming across a single Diamond to spill the beans.”
Sawyer gritted his teeth. “I’ve known her far longer than you have. I’m her partner. It’d take more than a Diamond for me to betray her.”
“Would it?” Gio crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at Sawyer. “You have no resistance. You wouldn’t be able to stop the words from spilling out of your mouth.”
My partner stood up abruptly, matching Gio for height so the gargoyle was no longer looking down at him. “Try me, Onyx. I was the one who waited for her in the morgue all night. You and Viridios weren’t the ones sitting there believing she was dead. I waited for her, I got her home. You don’t get to walk in and try to take over now that the worst is past.”
Gio’s tense scowl cracked, becoming a sly smirk. “Oh, I know what this is.”
Damien strode around the table, took me by the elbow, and led me out into the hall, shutting the door behind us just as Sawyer snapped back.
“This living situation isn’t going to work for me,” I said, leaning against the wall while the boys had their dick-measuring contest in my kitchen. “Not only did I not ask for this stoneheart, but a live-in bodyguard was definitely not part of my plans, and he’s in there fucking with my partner. I don’t care how seriously Gio takes his job. Sawyer’s had my back from the moment I met him, and I trust him with my life.”
Damien scrubbed his hands over his face, exasperation clearly painted all over him. “Zara… I wish I could apologize for what I’ve dragged you into, but I can’t. Not when we need your kind and your magic.”
“I’m well aware you’re incapable of apologizing.” I gazed back at him levelly.
“I’m apologizing for attaching Gio to you, but believe me when I say that he’ll allow himself to be reduced to rubble before he’d ever let someone to harm you. He’s lost someone before, and he’ll never allow it to happen again.” His lips tightened, eyes burning into me. “It’s against our Accords, you see. For a gargoyle to harm another gargoyle without just cause or take a stoneheart from their chest unwillingly. You’re not just preserving the last of this family’s magic, you’re essentially a… a safe house for it.”
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for further explanation. Truthfully, I was burning up with curiosity despite the antagonism simmering inside me. Humans were privy to so few of gargoyles’ personal laws.
“As long as that stoneheart was out in the world, it was fair game for the gargoyles who want to destroy it. All I could do was move it around, assign the people I trusted most to guard it. By giving it to you, anyone who tries to take it is now culpable in the eyes of gargoyle law. You and the stoneheart have bonded. It gives you its power, and you give it a refuge to live in and grow stronger from its lack of a host.”
So I was a living shelter for the stoneheart. “Weren’t your protections enough? You could buy out a bank vault to store it in if you really wanted.”
A sad smile touched Damien’s mouth. “You’ve seen what my kind can do. You’ve done it yourself, now. Would a bank vault really stop whoever is intent on destroying the last of this House? No. It was only a matter of time before they managed to take it.”
I chewed my lower lip, marveling at the sensation of it. Strange how my skin could still be soft, and yet so impenetrable.
It made sense. The Ruby needed a sanctuary. I’d walked into Damien’s life when he was at the end of the line, out of all options and desperate for somewhere to turn.
And now I was as unstoppable a force as they came. I hadn’t even had a chance to see what I could really do yet. With this stoneheart, I’d never have to fear for my own safety again, only for those around me, like Sawyer.
“Here’s the deal,” I said slowly. “I won’t fight you on protection anymore. I’ll keep Gio around, but under certain conditions.”
“Of course,” Damien agreed, his tone clipped.
“Condition one: when Sawyer’s here, Gio needs to stand down. He’s never been anything but loyal to me, and I don’t appreciate the implication that he’d sell me out.”
Damien clearly didn’t like this, but he gave a short, sharp jerk of his head.
“Condition two: I want intel on who wants to kill me, and why. And I mean all the intel. Every last detail you have. If I’m going to be looking over my shoulder for the foreseeable future, I think I deserve to know why and how best to protect myself.”
I wasn’t surprised when he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. Of course he didn’t want to give away all his deep, dark secrets to a brand-new gargoyle, but like hell was I about to go deeper into this situation blindy. “This is my life, Damien. It’s not a game for me. You walked in and upended everything, now you need to tell me what I need to know so I can keep living it.”
“I will share as much as you need to know.”
Asshole. “You’ll tell me everything. Or Gio leaves, and I leave the city with your precious stoneheart.”
He stared me down, his face preternaturally still, clearly thinking through the ramifications of
filling me in. Unlike me, he didn’t have human ticks, like chewing his lip or rubbing his jaw. He just stared with those bronze eyes. “You will keep Gio with you at all times outside your partner’s company if I concede to your demands, Zara.”
I nodded, hoping my relief wasn’t too obvious. “Of course. I’m willing to play my part here… as long as I know what’s going on.”
“Very well, then.” Damien unfolded his arms and pushed himself off the wall. “We’re not going to have this conversation here in the open, but once we’re in a secured location, I’ll tell you everything.”
Fuck. That meant returning to Viridios Tower, which I wasn’t too keen on… but he’d agreed to my terms, and that was as good as I could have hoped for. I held out my hand. “Shake on it.”
He looked slightly incredulous, but he gripped my hand firmly. His thumb ran over my knuckles, an intimate gesture I hadn’t entirely been expecting, never breaking eye contact as he shook on our agreement.
Almost a full minute passed before I realized he was still holding my hand, and that the sounds of arguing had quieted inside my apartment. Feeling a little breathless, I pulled my hand out of his and opened the door, turning my back on him quickly so I wouldn’t see the look on his face. There’d been more than just irritation burning in those pretty eyes, I was sure of it.
The scene in the kitchen wasn’t what I’d been expecting. I’d half-anticipated walking in to find both Gio and Sawyer dead, but they were sitting beside each other on the couch.
“Did you two settle your differences?” I let Damien in and closed the door behind me.
Gio raised an eyebrow. “We did. Did you?”
Damn the Onyx and his sharp eyes. He could probably smell the tension that radiated off me whenever Damien was around. “Well enough. Here’s the deal. Damien will catch me up on everything I need to know.” I took a deep breath, committing myself to a total lack of privacy for the foreseeable future. “From now, you can do what you need to do. Check my home, my food, train me… as long as you get off Sawyer’s back. He’s not going to turn on me, and I want to spend time with him without you breathing down our necks.”