Embrace (The Gryphon Series Book 2)

by Stacey Rourke

  His jaw clenched as he shook his head. “I’m not goin’ to fight ya.”

  “Good. Then this’ll be over quick.” I corkscrewed around and aimed the side of my fist on course to connect with his windpipe. With demonic speed, he blocked my strike. I countered with a right hook. He caught my fist.

  The heat of his breath warmed my icy skin as he leaned in close. “Has anyone ever told ya you’re infuriatingly stubborn?”

  Against my better judgment my body responded to him. Knowing I really shouldn’t be thinking about kissing him, I tried to shake it off and appear unfazed. “Daily.” I shrugged and unleashed a crazed flurry of punches.

  Jab.

  Cross.

  Hook.

  Upper cut.

  Not once did I make contact. He blocked every punch with ease. “I would never hurt ya. Ya have tah know that.”

  “Oh yeah?” I dropped down into a swing kick. “So the Countess sent you here to, what? Start a book club?”

  He hopped out of the way. “She sent me tah kill ya. But I’m not the best at followin’ her orders.”

  A well-executed back handspring landed me directly in front of him. “From where I’m standing it looks like you followed her orders to the T.” I launched into a succession of rapid-fire jabs.

  He raised his forearms to shield himself. Then—in a lightning fast motion— caught both my wrists in his hand and spun me around. I could feel his heart pounding as my back pressed up against him. “I din’t choose this life,” he growled in my ear. “It was forced upon me. For centuries I’ve fought against it when it would’ve been far easier tah give in and embrace it. But I never did. I felt the need tah fight, but didn’t understand why until I met you. I want tah stand beside ya. To rid the world of this evil once and for all.”

  I jammed the heel of my boot into his foot. Caleb howled in pain and released me. I swung around, arms raised. Fists at the ready. “I’ve met rebels of the Dark Army, you don’t fall into that category. Star pupil in the art of lies and deception seems a bit more accurate.” Caleb winced. The pain from my words etched on his face.

  I charged in for another assault. For the first time, his anger appeared and he fought back. He swung his arm around. The heel of his hand connected with my chest with enough force to knock me off my feet. The skid across gravel bloodied my palms and shredded my favorite coat.

  Caleb gripped the collar of his T-shirt and tore it off. The tattered material hung at his waist by the hem. I gasped. A collage of scars covered his chest. Some old and faded. Some so fresh they still oozed. All of them made by violent means.

  If I were to draw an angel of wrath it would look exactly as he did in that moment. His broad and battered chest exposed. Eyes blazing. Strong jaw set. A gust of wind blowing the ebony locks back from his face. “Do these look like the badges of a star pupil?”

  CHAPTER 24

  I watched Caleb move around the tiny apartment. He seemed harder now. Perhaps I only thought that because I gave in and took a glimpse into his emotions. For me, his mask had been ripped off—along with his shirt—to reveal the battle-scarred fighter beneath. I felt the anger and resentment he had bottled up inside of him, all of it directed at the Countess and her Army. It was so powerful and potent I had to severe the connection under the weight of it, before I could grasp the full magnitude. His pain cut so deep, I longed for a way to erase it. I still hadn’t allowed myself to peek into how he felt about me. After this great revelation I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  Caleb pulled off what was left of his shirt and threw it on the back of a hideous plaid chair. Then disappeared into his room to retrieve a new one. In his momentary absence, I glanced around and noticed my surroundings for the first time. Every item of furniture in the living room/dining room/ kitchen combo had obviously been purchased in the seventies. The couch I sat on was a deep, burnt orange with scrolled oak trim. The end tables were dark, heavy wood with shiny brass knobs. A plastic owl decorated one wall, a giant wooden fork and spoon another. An old fashion console television took up a quarter of the tiny room. It served as a TV stand for a gigantic flat screen TV. It would seem the expression “boys and their toys” even applied to demonic boys.

  “Please tell me this place was furnished when you moved in,” I joked, through chattering teeth, when Caleb reentered the room.

  He pulled the red flannel shirt up his arms, but let it hang open and unbuttoned. His jeans sat low on his hips. “Aye, it did. Except for the television, of course.” He grabbed an afghan from the back of the couch and flung it around my shoulders. “Ya’r lips are blue.”

  “That seems about r…r…right. I can’t feel my fingers or my toes.” My whole body quaked. Hugging myself with my arms wasn’t helping at all.

  Caleb squatted down in front of me and held out his hands. “May I?”

  I started to extend my hand, but hesitated. Just because I stopped punching him didn’t mean I was quite ready to hold hands.

  His eyes darkened at my hesitation, but he didn’t waver. “Please?”

  Cautiously, I put my blue and trembling hands in his. Caleb gripped my frozen digits and closed his eyes. His hair fell across his forehead as he bowed his head.

  My gaze fell to the angry welts that criss-crossed over his bare chest. Brutal slashes that had once been. “What happened to you?” I whispered.

  He didn’t lift his head to answer. “Let’s just say I’m not the best listener.”

  “The Countess did that?”

  “Ordered it done. Aye.”

  I started to ask why, when warm tickling heat began to course up my arms and thaw my icy skin. Caleb’s hands glowed red hot.

  “What kind of demon are you?” The awe in my voice was unmistakable.

  He peered up at me with pupils that had suddenly turned the red of burning embers. “I’m a half-breed. Created when they infected me with the blood of a Titan.”

  The change in his appearance was fascinating. Flames danced all over his body just beneath the surface of his skin. As if he himself was fire. “Titans? Like the Greek Gods?”

  “Aye. That’s what people thought they were. Really they were demons that could control the elements.” As I looked at him now I understood how they’d been confused as Gods. He was magnificent. I could only imagine that was why for a moment in the woods I thought I saw his eye glow bright green, his skin become opalescent. Surrounded by nature his connection to the earth must have caused it.

  “You can actually control air, water, fire and earth?”

  “All but one.” He dropped my hands and my lifeline to that wonderful warmth severed. He pushed off the balls of his feet to stand. Then shook off the effects of calling the heat to him like a swimmer about to dive in the pool. His skin calmed to white. Red eyes cooled to green. “Try as I might, I can’t seem to make the earth move.”

  “Maybe you just need practice.” I shrugged and then blushed beet red. “Whoa, that came out wrong.”

  His dimple made a brief appearance. “No worries, lovey.”

  A light bulb blinked on in my head. “Wait, the storm in the mountains. Was that you?”

  His smile vanished as quickly as it came. “Aye. I didn’t want ya to follow me.”

  “Point taken,” I muttered.

  Old couch springs squealed as Caleb sat down beside me. With his forearms resting on his knees, he rubbed the palms of his hands together and stared at them as he spoke. “When a Seekers’ eyes turn black, the Countess can see through us. If the mood strikes her she can bring out our nastier demon traits. I left because I felt her comin’.”

  “You were protecting me?”

  He glanced over his flannel clad shoulder at me. His lips pressed firmly together. The look in his eyes confirmed my suspicion.

  “Thank you.” The words felt inadequate.

  His chin jerked down in an almost nod as he stared back at the floor.

  I didn’t know how comfortable he was talking about any of this, but I had to as
k. “Were you…taken?”

  A stillness fell over him. He folded his hands and brought them up to his lips. “I was just a boy. They threatened to kill my family if I didn’t swear myself to them.” He let his arms fall between his knees as he peered over at me. A shroud of sadness hung on him. “Thought I was doin’ me Dah proud by protecting them. Doubt he’d be proud if he knew the things I’ve done since.”

  I reached over and brushed his hair back from his face. The silky locks slid through my fingers like satin. “It’s never too late for redemption.”

  Caleb tipped his head toward my hand. His cheek grazed my skin. “I realized that when I met ya, a young lass with heartache all ya’r own. Forced to fight a battle that isn’t ya’rs. Yet ya do it willingly because ya know it’s right. My coming here was my last chance tah prove myself worthy tah the Countess. Failure will mean death. But I’d sooner lay down my life than let her harm you.” Those green eyes bore into me. Deep wells of truth.

  “I’d never ask you to do that.”

  “And that’s why I would.” The absolution chiseled on his face left no doubt that he meant it.

  My gaze flicked down to his Dark Army mark—the badge that bound him to the wrong side of the war of good versus evil. His branding was different than Rowan’s. Without thinking I reached out and traced my fingers over the raised and puffy scar. An intricate pattern of interlocking circles, all joined by a larger circle in the center and framed by complex scrolls and knots. “What does it mean?”

  “It’s the Celtic symbol for balance. It represents the four elements and the spirit that binds them.”

  “It’s kinda tragically beautiful,” I commented and leaned closer to examine it.

  I could smell the soap on his skin and suddenly felt very aware of our close proximity. A heat not caused by his power rushed through me. I glanced up. His eyes narrowed with raw hunger as he caught my hand. “Have more tah tell ya, lovey. Important things ya need tah know.” His breath became ragged, his voice rough. “But we won’t be talkin’ much longer if ya keep caressin’ my chest like that.”

  I cannot express enough how much I did not want to pull my hand away. “Talk fast.” I suggested with a breathy sigh as I reeled in my wandering appendage.

  He rose off the couch to remove temptation for us both and buttoned up his shirt. “The most important thing ya need tah know is that the Countess is here.”

  My eyebrows raised in alarm. I glanced around the room and pointed at the floor. “As in here, here?”

  Caleb shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he turned to face me. “No, not in the buildin’. But she’s taken the form of a mortal and she’s in ya’r life already. I don’t know who. She trusted no one with that information. My best guess is she took the form of someone relatively new in ya’r life. Someone ya wouldn’t notice if they started actin’ different at all.”

  “Well, that’s one way to kill the mood.” Ice ran through my veins as I did a mental checklist of any newcomers in my little world. Professor Nosehair? He was openly evil, but I already disposed of him. Sophia? As much as I liked her, she had taken a great deal of interest in my personal life. She was even the one that forced me to talk to Caleb—definitely suspicious. Or there was Melissa, with her cool detachment. Maybe she was watching me. Biding her time. I could ponder this all I wanted to, but the truth was I had no way to figure it out until the Countess chose to reveal herself.

  “Ya’r chewin’ a hole in your lip, lovey.”

  “It’s just a lot to process.” I locked my brave face on tight. “Guess I can’t trust anyone anymore.”

  Caleb stepped forward, looped his hands around my wrists, and guided me up off the couch and into his arms. His hands met at the small of my back. “There are people ya can trust. Ya can trust ya’r family. With as well as ya know them, ya would know if there was somethin’ amiss. And…ya can trust me.”

  As much as I appreciated his attempt at comforting, I was in warrior mode. “We have other allies, too,” I said, more to myself than him. “The Glee Club, maybe they’ve heard something.”

  One ink black eyebrow raised. “I’m sorry? The Glee Club?”

  Needing something to do with my hands as my mind raced, I fiddled with the hem on the breast pocket of his shirt. “Basically, demonic nerds, but they’re on our side.”

  Caleb laid his palms on my cheeks, his thumbs by my ears, and made me look at him. The sternness of his expression caught me by surprise. “I don’t know who these blokes are, Celeste, but they’ve been playin’ ya. Lesser half-breeds like that would never have made it through the trials.”

  My forehead creased. “Trials?”

  “Fights to the death. To ensure only the strongest survive.”

  An image flashed in my mind of a shirtless Caleb, covered in blood and fighting for his life. A soldier. A Titan. With his powers and impressive physical stature, I knew how he prevailed. But no way any of the Glee Clubbers could survive that. He had a point. Yet I couldn’t just break my alliance with them. Not without poking into this matter further. Their pain and desire to be free from the Countess appeared too genuine to dismiss.

  Then there was the matter of the icy blonde… “What about Rowan? Is he on our side?”

  “Ah, you’ve met my roommate.” An affectionate smile tugged at his lips as he let his hands fall to my waist. “Surprises me ya’re here with me then. Most gals lose their inhibitions and their knickers around Rowan.”

  Heat rose in my cheeks at the memory of the library incident. “His power only works on me when he touches me.”

  Caleb’s head cocked to the side. A strand of hair tangled with his lashes. “Do I wanna know how you know that?”

  “No, probably not,” I admitted. Then cleared my throat and changed the subject. “He said people were trapped as soldiers of the army, and I need to free them.”

  My hands rested on his chest. Even through the heavy material I could feel the solid muscle beneath. “He’s right that many have been trapped against their will. Myself included. But freein’ us all is a next to impossible task. We’re all bound to the Countess by different means. Most likely if Rowan told ya that, it’s because there’s something in it for him. He’s a good bloak, and the closest thing I’ve had to a friend for centuries. But with him ya always have tah remember, he’s got pirate blood in his veins as well as demon.”

  I stared up at him waiting for the connection there that I clearly wasn’t getting. “And that means…?”

  Caleb raked a hand through his hair. I loved the messy result. “It means Rowan’s always on Rowan’s side first.”

  I crinkled my nose. “Wait, so that horrible pirate accent is real?”

  “Personally, I think he forces it. But then,” Caleb stood up a little straighter and adopted a mock haughty expression, “we can’t all have such a charmin’ brogue.”

  While I outwardly laughed, a storm brewed in my head. I hoped I hid it well. In no uncertain terms Caleb was telling me to trust no demon but him. Yet he lied to me while Rowan and the Glee Club had been brutally honest about who and what they were. Even as he pulled me to him and I rested my head against his well-muscled shoulder, I pondered how much I could really trust him.

  Doubt what you trust and trust what you doubt. Words scratched on a scroll I had discarded without a second thought. Could this be what it meant? Or was I letting a schoolgirl crush hinder logical thought?

  While the rest of the note escaped me, I did remember one other part. “Do you know what the well of a warrior’s strength is?” I asked as I rubbed my cheek against the pleasant roughness of Caleb’s flannel shirt.

  “Aye.” He pushed away to peer down at me. The dim lighting of the room cast deep shadows across the plains of his face. “There’s an old Gaelic sayin’ that the heart is the well of a true warrior’s strength.” He tipped his head slightly. “Where’d ya hear that?”

  I shook my head and tried to shrug it off. “I don’t remember. I think it was in a
poem or something. Don’t know why I thought of it.” I burrowed back into the welcoming haven of his arms. Mostly so he couldn’t see the worried lines creasing my face.

  I remembered now. The prize they seek, the well of a warrior’s strength. My heart. Caleb, Rowan, and even the Glee Club had attempted to twang my heartstrings in one way or another. The question was … who could I really trust?

  CHAPTER 25

  “Wait-wait-wait! I need you to stop,” I gasped.

  “This was ya’r idea, lovey.” Caleb murmured against my ear.

  “I know it was my idea, but I changed my mind. I’m not ready.”

  “That’s what I tried to tell ya. But ya were quite insistent.”

  “You’re so smart. You’re the smartest three hundred year old demon I know. Now please stop before I throw up on you.”

  “Ya know sarcasm didn’t exist in my time. I’m glad for that.” Despite his glib comment, Caleb honored my request.

  Our forms reverted from swirling black smoke to solid mass. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I rejoiced by flopping down on my butt and putting my head between my knees. I wasn’t kidding about the throwing up part. Teleporting was incredibly disorienting and had brought on a nasty bout of motion sickness.

  “Ya okay? Ya’r a lovely shade of green.”

  “Gonna need a minute.” I inhaled through my nose and out through my mouth.

  Caleb called up his power over water and laid his cool hand on the back of my neck. “Mmmm,” I groaned. “That’s wonderful. Thank you.”

  “It’s the least I could do. This is my fault.”

  Nice and easy I brought my head up to argue. Instead I gaped in astonishment. Three years ago my mom and dad took us kids on a Caribbean cruise. One of our shore excursions had been a snorkeling trip at Nassau in the Bahamas. I remember at one point being under the water and looking up. Caleb’s skin appeared exactly the same as the light that danced with the crystal clear water creating beautiful patterns in the waves on that day so long ago. His eye glistened a bright ocean blue.