Heart Of Stone

by Cynthia Eden

  “Thank you.” There was almost a hum of…satisfaction…in Raymond’s voice as he turned for the door.

  The door shut a moment later, and Eric dismissed the man from his thoughts.

  Raymond could call the witch, but Eric had another plan, too. He pulled up an image he’d taken of Sabrina’s new lover…in the man’s human form. He zoomed in on that photo. When he’d been trying to research the guy before, he hadn’t been thinking in the right way.

  Or maybe…maybe he just hadn’t been thinking in the right time.

  Let’s use the facial recognition software again. Let’s search deeper into history. Let’s see where you’ve been, asshole.

  Not just within the last five years or ten years.

  The last thirty. The last forty. He’d access archived newspapers, he’d search every inch of the web. He’d find that guy.

  You can’t hide from me. He had the most sophisticated software out there. If the fellow’s identity was anywhere online, Eric would find him. It was just a matter of time.

  Chapter Nine

  When Sabrina woke up, she was in bed alone. She stretched slowly and her fingers reached out to touch the pillow near her. Cold. Just as the sheet beside her was cold.

  Adam had been gone for a long time.

  She rose from the bed and started to grab one of his T-shirts, but then she saw the bags at the foot of the bed. Bags from pricey, high-end, designer shops. Curiosity pushed her toward those bags, and she felt a wide smile split her face when she saw the clothing inside. Finally. Sabrina dressed quickly, sliding into a pair of new jeans and a soft-as-silk shirt. Both the shirt and the jeans fit her like a glove. There were even shoes waiting for her. Cute little boots that were sexy as hell. She combed her hair quickly and borrowed Adam’s toothbrush. When she was finished, she started hunting for him.

  Her hunt didn’t last long.

  Sabrina found Adam standing on the balcony. He was staring down out at the waves far below them.

  His back was to her, and he didn’t turn at her approach, but Sabrina saw his shoulders stiffen slightly, so she knew that he was aware of her. Taking her time now, she moved to his side. For a time, she just stared at the crashing waves, too. Then she cleared her throat, and she said, “The sun is already setting? I can’t believe I slept the whole day away.”

  “You needed the rest.” He paused. “I hated to wake you.”

  She turned to him, tilting her head slightly. “So you went shopping instead? Thanks for the clothes, by the way. They fit perfectly.”

  His eyes seemed to heat. “I learned your body pretty well, so it was easy to pick them out.”

  Her smile stretched a bit more. It felt almost normal to be out there with him. To be standing on the balcony, as the sun slowly sank beneath the waves of the ocean. It was a romantic scene for two lovers.

  “When darkness falls, I’m going after Eric again.”

  And just like that, normalcy fled. So did her smile. Because they weren’t just two lovers enjoying a romantic view. He was the hunter sent to eliminate the threat to her. And she…she was the woman who’d created a serial killer. She pulled her gaze away from Adam and stared once more at the ocean. “You ever make mistakes, Adam?”

  “I’ve made my share.”

  The deep rumble of his voice seemed to roll right through her. “I bet that my mistakes are worse than yours.”

  “Don’t be too sure of that.” A growl. This time, his words were a definite growl. Very animalistic. Almost savage.

  She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “You know, we’re not quite equals in this relationship of ours.”

  “Relationship? Is that what we’re calling it?”

  Sabrina had no idea what to call it. They were lovers. He was her protector. He was her guard. But when the threat out there was finally gone, when Eric was eliminated, Adam would disappear from her life. She knew that.

  Sabrina just didn’t like it.

  If he’s just going to vanish, then I guess, no, we don’t have a relationship. Did they have anything? And why did her heart ache? “I want you to tell me about your past.” The words slipped from her as the wind blew back her hair. “I already know that you’re not like most shifters.”

  “No, I’m not.” His shoulder brushed against hers.

  She looked back at the setting sun. It looked as if streaks of fire were falling into the ocean. “I’m guessing you weren’t born as a gargoyle, huh? You were made into one. At least, that’s what all the rumors say. Over the years, I’ve heard my share of whispers about gargoyles.”

  “What did those whispers say?”

  “That gargoyles use to be knights. You know, the shining armor variety. Riding horses, carrying lances, and, in general, saving the day.” Humans.

  He didn’t speak.

  So, Sabrina kept talking. “But then you were cursed. I mean, the knights were cursed. A powerful coven of witches put a spell on the knights. The witches wanted unstoppable warriors, and who could possibly defeat a stone army?”

  More silence from him. The guy didn’t want to share. Obviously. He wanted her secrets, but it appeared that he wanted to keep his own hidden from her. Hardly fair. She turned away from the sight of the ocean and headed for the doors. “I’m starving,” Sabrina mumbled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I can’t even remember the last time I ate.” True story. But her hunger was also an excuse to get her off that balcony so that she could escape his silence.

  Her hand lifted to reach for the door, but his fingers flew out and curved around her wrist. He’d done that quiet, stalking thing, and she hadn’t even realized that he’d followed her.

  “That’s not exactly how things happened.”

  Her head turned, just a bit, and she met his gaze. “Then how, exactly, did they happen?”

  “I was the leader of those knights. Those men were my friends. They trusted me. And I fucking let them all down. I sent us to hell.” A muscle jerked along the hardline of his jaw.

  She waited to hear more. But he just stared back at her. Sabrina gave a rough laugh. “You don’t get to just drop a bombshell like that, and say nothing more. Tell me. Tell me what happened.”

  He stared into her eyes, and then Adam gave a grim nod. “I made a mistake. I fell for the wrong woman.”

  Her stomach clenched.

  “Meredith seemed so innocent. She was being persecuted, you see. Hunted. An insanity had swept across the countryside back then. Families were turning against each other. Friends were becoming mortal enemies. It was a true hysteria. And many good people were being punished for no reason.”

  Uh, oh. Hysteria. “Witches.” She remembered that time all too well.

  “Meredith was accused of being a witch. She was going to be burned. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  No, a knight in shining armor wouldn’t let that happen. Not to the woman he’d fallen for.

  “I helped her to escape her prison, but then she wanted me to go back for her friends. She told me they were all innocent, that they had never done anything wrong. My men and I—the five best friends that I had, the five best warriors I knew—we broke into their dungeon cells, and we got them out. We thought that we were doing the right thing.”

  She waited for him to continue, but when he didn’t, Sabrina prompted, “When did you learn they were real witches?”

  “When they burned that village to the ground.” His eyes squeezed shut. “I could hear people screaming. The fire was everywhere. We couldn’t stop it, no matter what we did. Children were burning, and those witches were just there, chanting, watching it all happen. Men, women, kids—the flames took them all. The people we had rescued? They were evil. They were dark. They deserved to die.”

  She had a best friend who was a witch. All witches didn’t exist for destruction. Some could help humans. Some were on the side of good. Or, semi-good.

  Some…weren’t. “I’m surprised you didn’t kill the witches right then and there.”
>
  His eyes opened. They’d turned red, hinting at the dark power he held in check. She could almost see the burning town in his red gaze. “I tried to kill them. But Meredith had put up some kind of force field to protect herself and the others. Our swords couldn’t get to the witches. We couldn’t stop the fire, and we couldn’t stop them. You see, the witches needed to be together in order for their power to work. They’d been separated in the dungeon. My men and I…we brought them back together. We were the ones responsible for the fire and the death. The witches were laughing while everyone burned.” He released a ragged breath. “My parents burned and so did my little sister.”

  “I’m so sorry.” She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold Adam tight.

  “My men and I battled the flames with our bare hands. Burns covered our bodies, and I thought for sure that we would die, too. But Meredith had other plans.”

  Meredith, you are one serious bitch. If our paths ever cross, you’ll be the one who burns. “She turned you into a gargoyle.”

  He nodded, a stiff, jerky movement of his head. “It actually seemed as if she was healing us, at first. The burns faded, but then the stone grew to cover our flesh. Meredith and her witches wanted guards that they could control. They cursed us, and we had no choice but to follow their orders.”

  “I…don’t understand.”

  His hand lifted and pressed to his heart. “We were her guard dogs. She commanded, and we followed. And how the fuck did she do it? Easy. She held our hearts in her hand.”

  Automatically, her hands flew up and touched his chest, resting right over his heart. She could feel it beating beneath her fingertips.

  “Not the heart of the man, but the stone heart of the beast. When the spell was first cast, I swear, we are two separate things, Sabrina. There was the man, and then there was the gargoyle. When the stone beast took over, the man was trapped inside of him. Back then, I couldn’t control him. I couldn’t stop him. Not while she held his heart.” His lips twisted. “Over the years, her power just grew. She was able to control all of us, completely—whether we were in the form of men or beasts—because the gargoyles eventually became part of who we were.”

  She pretty much hated his back story. It sucked. “Tell me this witch is dead.”

  “She’s nothing but ashes, courtesy of me and Luke Thorne.”

  Had he helped Luke turn the witch into ashes? “She’s dead, but the spell remains?”

  “It’s hard to break some curses. They survive even after death. I found that out, too late.”

  “What happened to your friends?”

  Pain flashed in his eyes. I’m sorry. She’d already said that once, hadn’t she? Sabrina inched closer to him. “And the stone heart? Do you have it?”

  “No one is controlling me right now.”

  That wasn’t exactly an answer to her question. Her lips parted.

  “Others have controlled me over the years. Djinns and gargoyles…we have the same weakness. You control our hearts, and you control us. I’ve been forced to do things that I never wanted to do.” So much emotion was there, blazing at her from his burning gaze. “I wish I could take back the past. If I could, I would’ve left Meredith to burn.” Then he squared his shoulders and walked slowly back into the penthouse.

  Sabrina drew in a deep, bracing breath. She attempted to school her features before she followed him inside. She found him in the kitchen. The guy was pulling out food, as if he were about to cook a meal. As if he hadn’t just dropped a serious bombshell on her.

  Sabrina nibbled on her bottom lip. “They’re not all bad, you know.”

  He’d just put on a pot of water to boil. Adam raised one dark brow at her.

  “Witches,” she blurted. “They’re not all psychotic. They’re just like everyone else. Good, bad, some crazy mix of both in between.”

  “So says a ‘bad’ paranormal.” His fingers tapped on the countertop.

  Had he really just thrown that back at her? Her chin lifted. “I happen to have a really close friend who is a witch. She doesn’t curse knights, she doesn’t burn children, and she doesn’t spend her days trying to hurt people.” Cordelia wasn’t like that. Cordelia was powerful, almost scarily so once she got to spell-casting, but she’d never hurt a human. Not once. Not even when the humans deserved it.

  The woman had even married a human. Didn’t that say something about her non-scary-witchiness?

  Adam’s jaw tightened. “I’m sure she’s fabulous.” But his tone said otherwise.

  “Maybe she can help you.” Okay those words really had just blurted out. “Cordelia could try to break the curse. She can stop you from turning to stone. I mean, if you want to be human again…”

  He turned away from her and put spaghetti in the pot. His shoulders were tense and his broad back was ram-rod straight as he prepared the meal. Sabrina hopped up onto a barstool and watched him. Watched and waited. When the silence got too much for her, she asked, “Do you want to be human?”

  The spaghetti was ready. He grabbed two plates and brought the spaghetti toward her. He even poured her a glass of wine. Not that she had any intention of drinking it—wine never worked for her. He does not want to see what happens to a muse when she drinks.

  Adam sat next to her. “Sometimes, you can’t go back.”

  “That’s not an answer. You either say yes or you say no. Do you want to be human again?” After she asked the question, Sabrina realized she was holding her breath.

  He lifted his glass of wine and stared at the dark liquid. Almost blood red. “Do you think I haven’t gone to other witches and tried to get this curse broken?”

  “But Cordelia—”

  “I get that you think your friend is all that—”

  Because she was.

  “—but some curses last forever. I know what I am, and I know what I will always be.” His gaze held hers. “But what about you?”

  Her trembling fingers reached for her wine glass. “What about me?” She was so nervous that Sabrina almost took a gulp of the wine. Almost.

  “Do you like being a muse? Or do you see it as a curse?”

  Her heart raced faster.

  “If you could, would you want to be human?”

  “Why waste time wishing for something that can never be?” She forced a smile to her lips and then she lightly tapped her glass against his. “How about we just toast…to bad things?”

  His eyes gleamed. “To bad things.”

  She held his gaze and put her wine glass back on the table, never tasting a single drop.

  ***

  Raymond had known that his step-brother Kevin was different—he’d known it from the moment they met. Raymond had been fifteen and Kevin had been thirteen. Just how different, though? That part hadn’t been revealed until much, much later.

  Raymond glanced over his shoulder, looking back into the narrow apartment hallway. He wanted to make sure that Eric hadn’t sent anyone to follow him. He didn’t trust Eric, mostly because Raymond wasn’t a fool. When he didn’t see anyone lurking in the shadows, Raymond lifted his hand and pounded his fist against the door. “Kevin! It’s me!” He pounded again. “And I need to talk to you, right the hell now.”

  The door swung open. Kevin stood there, blinking a little owlishly behind his glasses. His black hair was smoothed back from his forehead, and he was dressed casually, in jeans and a T-shirt. As always, the guy was paler than death. “What’s the emergency? Don’t you just know how to pick up a phone?”

  Some conversations needed to be held in person. Raymond shouldered his way past Kevin, and his step-brother closed the door with a soft click. “Anyone else here?” Raymond demanded.

  “Okay, you’re weirding me out. No, no one else is here. Just us.” Kevin pushed up his glasses, even though they were already perfectly in place. The guy did things like that, though, a lot. Moved nervously. Always seemed to be twitching.

  Raymond blew out a heavy breath. “You know I don’t usually like your magi
c bullshit.”

  Kevin stiffened. “It’s not bull—”

  “A gargoyle. I need you to tell me how to handle a gargoyle.”

  Kevin’s mouth dropped and nearly hit the floor. “What?”

  “I didn’t fucking stutter.” Raymond raked his hand through his hair. “A gargoyle. A made of stone, super strong, damn gargoyle. Tell me everything you know about the beast. All weaknesses. All strengths. Everything.”

  Kevin licked his lower lip. His gaze was suddenly bright and avid. “Have you seriously found yourself a gargoyle? Because I thought they were all gone. I mean, it’s not like they’re easy to make. From the stories I’ve heard, only one coven ever could create them. A seriously, badass, dark coven. That coven turned humans into their freaking pit bulls.”

  “Keep talking…because Eric Foster is throwing around lots of money for this info.” Raymond crossed his arms over his chest and waited to hear more.

  “How much?” Kevin gnawed on his lower lip.

  “Eric said if the intel is good, he’ll pay fifty grand.”

  “Fifty…fuck me.” Kevin ran toward the large bookshelf in the corner. He pulled out a heavy, encyclopedia-like book. Then he was flipping through the pages, muttering to himself. Mostly talking about what he could do with fifty grand.

  Raymond kept waiting. “I don’t have all night.”

  Kevin looked up at him. He swallowed. “Look, I love money. Love it. And fifty—shit, I could use that cash, but…if you are really dealing with a gargoyle, then my best advice to you is this…Run. Run fast. Run hard. If this gargoyle is after you, if his master has set him on you—”

  Whoa. Back up. “Master?”

  Kevin nodded. “Gargoyles are like the attack dogs of the paranormal world. They’re controlled by a master. Back in the day, the leader of that dark coven, Meredith LaShay, she controlled them. But then that witch got herself burned…”

  Kevin was missing the important parts. “How?”

  “No one is really sure how they were able to get the jump on her. I mean, Meredith was supposed to have been the most powerful witch of all time. And a serious looker, by the way, but she was still burned until only ashes remained and—”