She was five steps inside the chamber when she stopped so suddenly, she nearly tripped. The draklings weren’t alone.
Their other caregiver was present and turned to study her, his gaze like two pools of lava. The strange tattoos covering his muscular, bronze-toned body glowed with the same intensity as his eyes.
She still didn’t know the djinn’s name—didn’t want to know it. It was said that to know a djinn’s name was to have it hunt you down later, once it was free, and strip your soul of the knowledge. That just sounded painful and fatal.
Admitting she was terrified of the djinn wasn’t hard in the quiet of her own mind.
Djinns were dangerous on a good day. This one had been summoned by a blood witch. Bervicta didn’t know the particulars about what was being done to him when he wasn’t here with the draklings, but she could see and feel the outcome. The witch’s spells and magic were unbalancing the spirit being, tainting him with their darkness and madness. His mind was once shielded from Bervicta by his powerful magic, but now his shields would slip, and she’d get glimpses into his mind.
She wasn’t sure if it was accidental or intentional. Both options were terrifying for different reasons. If accidental, then he was closer to insanity’s cliff than she wanted to imagine. If intentional, then Bervicta had caught the creature’s attention, and that was never a good situation.
Djinns were known to play with their victims before they killed them.
She usually tried to avoid the djinn when he was with the draklings, to give him time to find a bit of solace and balance in the chaos of his mind and to keep her own self out of the djinn’s line of sight.
But today she’d been distracted and forgotten to check with the other guards on duty to see if the djinn was present. She thought about retreating back the way she’d come, but the draklings saw her and raced to her side. She’d been spending so much time with them, they’d come to accept her as a secondary mother.
When she glanced up to where the djinn had been standing, she realized he was gone. Oh, bloody, bloody balls.
She slowly straightened and turned her head. A beautifully sculpted, long-fingered hand cupped her face, and she was suddenly looking into his blazing eyes.
“Little harpy. You’ve been avoiding me.” He looked her over, and for the first time she felt a shiver of fear course down her spine at a male’s look of interest. “Did no one tell you trying to deny a djinn only piques our interest more?”
The terrifyingly beautiful male regarded her through half-lidded eyes. “And while I’m not normally interested in anything more than playing with my prey, there is something different about you today.”
Leaning forward, the djinn sniffed along the skin of her jawline and down her neck.
“What are you doing? I damned well know a djinn isn’t interested in sex with a harpy.”
He smiled then, a look of glee in his expression. “You smell of my beloved companion—the Avatar. Or, at least, the female half of the soul. No other creature, demigod or flesh and blood would notice, she is so skilled at creating her spells. But I’ve known the Avatar soul my entire long existence. I know the touch and scent of its work. The female half has given you something for me. A gift.”
Bervicta hastily stepped back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No. I don’t suppose you do since the spell migrated to you from Vaspara. I scent her power upon the spell as well.”
Bervicta’s eyes widened at what he’d just revealed. If the Avatars had woven a spell upon Vaspara, that meant she hadn’t escaped on her own. They’d let her go.
Was Vaspara helping them?
No. Not possible. They never would have injured an ally as severely as they did Vaspara that day. And yet if the djinn smelt one of the Sorceress’s spells upon her, then she must have put it on Vaspara and then turned her loose with the intention she carry it here. To the djinn?
“Oh, yes, little harpy. This spell was intended for me from my oldest and most beloved companion.”
Bervicta attempted to bolt for the door, but the djinn wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her back. He was fiercely strong. Nothing should be that strong. She couldn’t even wiggle in his grasp.
Leaning forward, he surprised her again by capturing her chin and forcing her to meet his lips. They were warm, hot even. A moment later he sucked on her, drawing out the spell and maybe a piece of her soul with it and then he was drinking down whatever spell the Avatars had smuggled into enemy territory.
“You are not the Sorceress, but when I close off my other senses and draw the Sorceress’s spell from you, I can forget for a time that you aren’t her.”
But then he released her and Bervicta took a step toward the door.
He stalked forward, following her. “Perhaps if you’d spoken my name, it would have seemed more real.” What she could only call a mischievous light entered his eyes. “Should I give you my name?”
“No.” She continued to back up while he stalked her. She absolutely didn’t want the monster’s name so he could hunt her down later and exact his revenge.
He pinned her against the ironbound door. The iron reacted to his power, hissing and popping and igniting with sparks. Ignoring the iron, he leaned closer, his lips brushing against her ear. “I am Naharnin.”
“No.”
“Yes. I stand at the Avatar’s side in the Spirit Realm. Its oldest friend, confidant, and beloved companion.”
“Does the witch know what she has caught?”
“No.” He paused and graced her with the most beautifully cruel smile she’d ever seen. He pressed a finger to her lips. “And you won’t tell her or the Battle Goddess.”
“I...” But suddenly she couldn’t so much as think his name.
“And I wasn’t caught, harpy. I came willingly.”
She swallowed hard, only now realizing what the blood witch’s actions might bring down upon all their heads. The Avatars would level this fortress, destroy half a world to get this djinn back.
“Indeed, they will,” the djinn whispered before he released his hold on his form and expanded into a cloud of shimmering power.
The draklings rushed over to him, and the djinn crooned happily to the little ones as they began to feed upon his magic.
Bervicta’s hand slowly closed over the door’s latch. As she worked upon the ward spell shielding the door, she pondered her options. She needed to find a way to kill the blood witch and get the djinn back into the hands of the Avatars.
They were the only ones with any hope of containing the monster the blood witch was driving mad.
Chapter 15
Gregory
THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD’S home had likely seen more outsiders arrive on its shores in the last day than in the entirety of the last hundred thousand years. Human soldiers seemed to swarm everywhere as they helped Haven’s gargoyles and dryads move supplies and weapons from the hidden city.
Earth’s joint military once again performed with an efficiency that Gregory admired. They had set up a system of communication that crossed from the Mortal Realm into this world through an open portal spell and from here on to Haven.
The last step had been the trickiest, and Lillian needed to make a slight adjustment to the portal spell linking Haven to the present time so that the humans’ radio signals could travel back and forth without a delay.
Now a supply line moved from Haven to a temporary staging area outside of a human military base known as 22 Wing North Bay. From there, Second Legion would scatter into the surrounding forests under the guidance of human military leadership until they were ready to mobilize in a surprise attack on the Battle Goddess’s temple.
It was a delicate time for the alliance with the gargoyles and dryads weak from stepping into the Mortal Realm for the first time, but Gregory had confidence in his human allies. After all, the humans would be just as dependent on the members of Second Legion when it was time to take the war to the Battle Goddess in
the Magic Realm.
The knowledge that Anna and Obsidian had returned to the Mortal Realm with the first wave of the Second Legion and were overseeing things on that end put his mind at ease. The new Avatars were a capable pair.
New Avatars!
He was never going to get used to the idea that he and his Sorceress were no longer unique in the universe. Would Anna and Obsidian merge into a single soul at their deaths? He hoped they did. While there was pleasure to be experienced in flesh and blood forms and an unequaled delight in creating life and watching that child develop, there was nothing else like returning home and becoming complete once more.
But he also hoped that Anna and Obsidian survived the coming war and lived to enjoy a full, long life before experiencing what the Divine Ones had in store for them next.
“You, my beloved protector, are in an entirely too good of a mood for one preparing for war,” Lillian said as she stalked up to him and slid her arms around his waist.
He huffed softly. “I was not thinking of war. I was thinking of what we might all have to look forward to afterward should we all survive.”
“You damn well better survive,” she crooned as she leaned into him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
He was just looking around for a place where they might find a few moments of privacy when magic flared up around his Sorceress. A look of delight crossed her face, and then she was reaching for his mind.
“My spell worked. It’s Naharnin.” Lillian closed her eyes, and Gregory did the same a moment later.
Instinctively his wings encircled her, and the spell continued to wrap around them. A moment later, he felt the tug on his soul.
“He wishes to speak in privacy, away from the other gargoyles,” he said in sudden understanding.
“Wise of him. He doesn’t want to see anything that he might later have to divulge to the witch.”
“In that case...” Gregory called upon his gargoyle magic and turned both their bodies to stone before sending their spirits toward another location midway between the twins’ temples.
When they first arrived in the place outside of time, there was nothing but emptiness. Then slowly, stars formed in the vast void of space. Nearer at hand a great blue star winked into existence, followed by a planet surrounded by many rings and several moons. The largest moon formed below where they stood.
Gregory recognized the place but allowed the djinn to continue to construct it. Soon lush greenery and night-scented flowers appeared, growing along a wide stairway leading up to the temple of the Avatar.
All around them the night sky was aglow with nebulas and shooting stars and the glorious view of the ringed planet that this moon circled. Gregory and Lillian were standing on one of the viewing landings that they’d often used when they resided here. From this central point, they could look out into the universe in any direction.
Well, they could have if they’d been the Avatar soul. But being separated into two mortal bodies limited them, and they couldn’t see much beyond the blue star, the planet, the moons, and the beautiful nebula against the black sea of space.
“I had forgotten the beauty of this place.” Lillian’s words came out in a breathy sort of awe.
“I think if we remembered too clearly what it is like when we are a single Avatar, we would miss this place too greatly.”
Footsteps descended down the stairs behind them, and Gregory glanced over his shoulder just as a profoundly familiar voice wrapped around his mind.
“Perhaps that was a mistake on the Divine Ones’ part. Maybe you should remember everything in detail.” The djinn’s tone held a hint of humor. “Perhaps then you wouldn’t dally in the mortal or magic realms quite so long after completing a mission.”
Lillian turned to watch the djinn, her warmth and love already reaching out for him. Gregory too stepped forward; his arms open wide. “Come here, you great showman. Give us a hug. We have missed our most ancient companion.”
“I have missed you, too.” Then the djinn rushed forward, power swirling around him. He reached Lillian first and scooped her up into his arms. She was wrapping her arms around him for a hug when the djinn captured her chin in his hand and stared into her eyes.
He caught the djinn’s startling thoughts a moment before he was lowering his head to kiss the Sorceress. Several powerful sensations rushed through Gregory. Along with the surprising revelation that the djinn had been harboring some secret passion for the Sorceress, there was also warmth and love and the powerful bond of friendship.
At last, the djinn drew back, his gaze guarded once more. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
Gregory was surprised, but he wasn’t angry or jealous. He actually found it touching.
Lillian and the djinn held an arm out for him, and he moved closer until he was wrapping them both in his embrace, his wings sheltering his other half and his oldest companion. It was perfect, this moment outside of time.
The djinn chuckled. “Had I known I’d have an easier time at seducing the Avatar soul while it was severed in two and housed in flesh and blood forms, I would have left the Spirit Realm and joined you much sooner. After all, it’s certainly much harder to catch the eye of a sexless being in the Spirit Realm than two lovely flesh and blood bodies here in the Magic Realm.”
The djinn purred the last words, and heat flushed Gregory’s skin.
Lillian laughed in delight. “I think you just made my other half blush for the first time in his existence, Naharnin.”
“Ah. My quest then is done.” But a moment later all three of them turned sober.
They were all too aware they’d soon have to face each other from opposite sides of a battlefield.
“I do not want to fight you, my friends, but as the firstborn of the djinn, I’m best able to resist the blood witch’s influence longest. But even I can’t hold out against her forever. You must bring the war to the Battle Goddess soon, or I will be lost to madness and no longer able to aid you.”
Naharnin stepped back and glanced down at the magic swirling from his body. “As it is, it is already getting harder to influence the fleshlings around me. But I have been somewhat successful in sowing discord among the ranks of our enemy’s minions. None besides the Battle Goddess trusts the blood witch now. And while I have begun to exert influence upon her, I will not be able to continue much longer, not with the changes the blood magic attempts to make.”
“You have done enough. Focus on your own battles and leave the demigoddess and her minions to us.” Gregory rested a hand on the other’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
Naharnin glanced up and met both their gazes. “I am sorry. I never want to hurt you. But be warned, if we meet in battle, the witch can force me to fight. And I beg you if I am too far gone to save when we next meet, allow the Null to kill me. I do not want my oldest and most beloved companion to have to do such a thing.”
Gregory could feel Lillian’s rage and pain. It reflected his own. “We will save you and the blood witch will regret ever enslaving a djinn.”
A shudder ran through Naharnin’s body, and his magic flared. For the first time, Gregory saw what the djinn attempted to hide from them. Reddish-brown coils of blood magic twisted and squirmed around the spirit being’s form. He shuddered again.
“I am being summoned back to my vessel.” Naharnin groaned in pain as his power fluctuated wildly.
Lillian gripped the djinn harder as if she could hold him by sheer force of will. But the djinn wasn’t really here at all. There was nothing to hold onto.
But that knowledge didn’t stop Gregory from reaching out and wrapping both Lillian and Naharnin in his wings once more as if he could hold the other male here against all laws of nature and magic.
Naharnin screamed and then convulsed, his form breaking apart like smoke and embers and ash. Then in the next heartbeat, he was gone and the place outside of time was gone with him.
Gregory once again stood on Draydrak’s island, the humans, gargoyles, and
dryads going about their business, unaware of what had just happened. In his arms, Lillian sobbed out her rage and anguish.
“We have to save him,” she whispered in a broken voice. “Goddess, I could feel some of the things he’s endured at the witch’s hands. And he’s still been attempting to aid us all this time.
“Shhh. We will find him and rescue him.” Then his own rage slipped his control, and his voice lowered into a menacing growl. “No one will get away with harming Naharnin. I will find the blood witch and shred her soul and toss little tiny morsels into the void to feed the demons.”
The destruction of a soul was the most serious of all punishments, and he’d only done such a thing three times before. Each time to a blood witch, their souls too far gone to save.
Because sometimes evil just needed to be cast into the void.
Chapter 16
Lillian
AFTER THE BRIEF MEETING with Naharnin, she’d needed something to distract her from her impotent rage and anguish, which was why Lillian was now walking down one of the beautiful sand beaches surrounding the island. She was on her way to meet up with Gryton and Private Emerson while Gregory was busy seeing that each of the gargoyle council members knew to which of the human command units they needed to report.
Focusing on Gryton—or the dragon as it were—helped her regain her balance. It had been strange seeing Naharnin while she and Gregory were flesh and blood, and it became equally apparent that while they’d never thought of him as a sexual being, he most certainly was.
In the past, he’d always just been part of their existence as the Avatar. But like all djinn, he did have a gender even though he had never taken on a flesh and blood form to beget offspring with another djinn. When she was the Avatar, she and her other half had always assumed it was because Naharnin preferred to stay in an incorporeal form in the Spirit Realm, that he didn’t like surrendering power to take on a mortal body.
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 189