Embrace (The Gryphon Series Book 2)

by Stacey Rourke

  That simple thought caused my heart to seize in pain. The words were bitter on my tongue, but I forced them out. “Then I’ll kill him myself.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Having driven Becca home from work a couple times I knew right where to go. I parked in front of the refurbished industrial building that housed her apartment. A little well distributed application of strength to her front door was all it took to gain access. Her apartment consisted of one room, which acted as the living room, kitchenette, and bedroom. Off to the side was a tiny bathroom with a door so small even I had to enter sideways. Yet with its exposed brick wall, decorative crown moldings, and polished wood floor it held plenty of charm. If I could ever afford anything more than the gas in my truck, this was exactly the kind of apartment I would want. Only minus the part where it had been ransacked by a stranger.

  Becca’s mismatched furniture and eclectic décor only added to the appeal. Above her couch hung framed black and white portraits she probably snapped herself: a dandelion blowing in a gentle breeze, the backs of a little girl and her mother as they strolled down a dirt path wearing matching sundresses, an elderly, black saxophone player with his eyes shut as he blared out a tune. The final shot was the profile of a handsome man standing shirtless in front of a window as the curtains danced around him. The window on my right matched the one in the picture. I wondered if the guy was someone special to her. Was he somewhere worrying about her right now?

  “That poor girl!” Kendall fretted as she glanced around. “She has no closet space at all! It’s a tragedy.”

  Gabe rolled his eyes and pushed up the sleeves of his gray sweatshirt. “Here I thought her being kidnapped was the real concern. Cleary, I was mistaken.”

  “That too, but still,” Kendall murmured. Her cheeks reddened.

  “Let’s get to work.” I maneuvered my way around the overturned DVD stand, over the mess of pillows and couch cushions, and carefully through the other assorted paraphernalia strewn around the room. “Look for anything out of the ordinary. But put everything back where you found it. We don’t want anyone to know we were here.”

  Gingerly, we poked around. We righted the overturned furniture long enough to glance under it, then put it back. We opened cabinets, rifled through drawers, and shuffled through the items on the floor.

  “If this was a robbery gone wrong, or if the abductors were looking for something, don’t you think they would’ve gone through her drawers?” Gabe pulled open a drawer of Becca’s oak dresser. “Everything here is in perfect, almost OCD, order.”

  “Kitchen’s the same,” I answered after I closed the last of her whitewashed cabinets.

  Kendall’s brow creased in confusion. “Why would only the stuff out in the open get messed up?”

  Gabe raked his hands over his buzzed head as he peered around at the mess. “Because she put up a fight.”

  Kendall’s hand rose to her throat. Tears immediately flooded her sapphire eyes. “Oh, that poor girl.”

  “Why Becca?” I muttered to myself as I clicked on the bathroom light for another cursory glance. “What do you want with her?” I chewed on my lip as I poked through her medicine cabinet.

  A heap of towels in the corner by the tiled shower caught my eye. Perched on top of them sat a red satin ribbon. The exact same kind that came wrapped around my mysterious scrolls. My pulse quickened. I snatched it up and ran my thumb over the silky material. Someone left it for me. Freshly motivated, I sifted through the towels. There it was, at the very bottom of the pile—as if purposely hidden. Dread washed over me. I knew what it meant. And now I knew what I had to do. I never hated my calling more than I did in that moment.

  “Hey!” Gabe hissed. “Someone’s coming!”

  I shoved my discovery in the pocket of my hooded sweatshirt. Then sprang to my feet. “We need to hide.”

  “Hide where?” Kendall gestured at the cramped space. “The girl lives in a shoe box!”

  “Is there a fire escape?” Gabe asked Keni, who stood nearest to the window. “Can we get out that way?”

  Keni peeked out the window. She made no attempt to hide her unease when she spun back to face us. “That’s, like, the sorriest excuse for a fire escape I’ve ever seen. It’s so rusty a pigeon could bring the whole thing down.”

  “We don’t have a choice!” Gabe herded us toward the window. “They’re right outside the door. Go! Go!”

  A frantic Keni tried and failed to open the window. I pushed her out of the way and yanked it up. As I stepped out onto the rickety, metal frame it shifted and swayed under my weight.

  “Nuh-uh. I’ll think of some excuse to tell whoever it is. Let’s just go back in.” I tried to duck back into the window frame, but instead smacked into Gabe’s mega-muscular man-boobs.

  “Go!” he barked.

  “You suck,” I whined. Then went down on my hands and knees to ease one foot onto the flimsy ladder. That was all it took. The ladder broke free and crashed to the pavement below with a clang. “Now what?” I hissed as I pulled my leg back up.

  “Keys in the door! Jump!” With one fluid cat-like motion Gabe bounded over the rail. He plunged down from the second story and landed gracefully on his feet.

  Kendall scanned the area and then unfurled her wings. Over the rusty rail she went in an elegant swan dive. I panicked at being left there alone, and jumped on her piggy-back style. Keni squealed as we dipped in the air. Her wings struggled to flap under me.

  “Celeste! Get off me or we’re both going to fall! I can’t fly with you on my wings!”

  “You were going to leave me there!” I yelped. My arms and legs wrapped tightly around her. My eyes pinched shut. I knew we were in a free fall, but still clung to her.

  “Jump down! You’ll be fine! Just let go!” she screamed.

  “I can’t!”

  The wind whistled past us as we careened straight down into the open—and overly full—dumpster below.

  CHAPTER 28

  “Hey, Raiders of the Lost Garbage, the coast is clear. You can come out now.” Gabe snickered. “And FYI, whoever it was must have gone in the apartment across the hall. My bad.” He didn’t even attempt to sound sorry.

  I rose up out of the nasty, pungent mess and came nose-to-nose with Kendall. For a “creature of love” the expression she wore was far from loving. “There are chow mein noodles in my hair,” she hissed through her teeth.

  “I don’t think that’s chow mein, Keni.” Gabe’s nose crinkled in disgust.

  “Ugh!” Kendall shook her head frantically to dislodge whatever the unidentified grossness was.

  “I’m so sorry,” I apologized. “It was really high up and I freaked.”

  Kendall glared. “You’re practically—friggin’—invincible. You wouldn’t even have scraped your knee.”

  “Guess I’m still getting used to that, huh?” I chuckled. Her look made it clear my joking about it was a tad premature. “Would it make you feel any better to know I found what we were looking for? So, you falling on a bag of dirty diapers wasn’t in vain.”

  “I fell on what?!” Her head whipped to the side as she hiked up a cheek to check. “Gross! That is just so nasty!”

  Probably could’ve gone without pointing that out.

  “Yes. It is gross,” I admitted. “And again, I can’t apologize enough.”

  “You probably can’t,” she snapped and then vaulted over the side of the dumpster. “But keep trying.”

  As I followed her out, Gabe moved upwind of us. I didn’t blame him. The extravaganza of stink and squishiness had made my nose burn and my skin crawl.

  “Now,” I plucked what I hoped was wilted lettuce off my chest, “we could hold grudges and dwell on this unfortunate incident, or we could act on what I found and go save Becca. What do ya say?”

  “What did you find?” Gabe fanned his hand in front of his face to ward off our stink.

  I opened my mouth to tell him, but intuition shut it for me. A feeling nagged in my gut that I
couldn’t ignore. My intended declaration was replaced by, “We have to find Caleb.”

  “So, your demon boyfriend turned out to be a creep, huh?” Gabe asked with a smug half-grin.

  “So it would seem.” I purposely avoided his gaze.

  His shoulders puffed up with male bravado. “Well, let’s go get you a little retribution.”

  Kendall crossed her arms and planted her feet. “I am not going anywhere until I get the chance to go home and rinse, lather and repeat.”

  “Keni…” I started to argue.

  She held up a warning finger, “Hey! Am I, or am I not, your shield?”

  “You are.”

  “Well, until I shower I’m not gonna feel real ‘shield-ee’ towards you. Got it?”

  I opened my mouth to argue when Gabe interrupted, “Where are you thinking this is going to go down, Cee?”

  “Caleb’s apartment. It’s on the second floor of a flower shop.”

  Gabe flipped open his phone to check the time, then leaned over and snatched the keys that dangled from my pocket. “Sunrise isn’t far off. It’s way too risky for us to head there now. You both have time to shower. Wouldn’t hurt for us all to get some shut eye first, too.”

  “But Becca’s in danger!” I erupted.

  Gabe held up one hand to halt my rant. “And how many people would we put in danger if we start a demonic showdown just as the flower shop is opening for business?”

  I wanted to rub my eyes that were dry and sore from being awake for about twenty hours but was afraid to after being in the dumpster, “Fine, but as soon as night falls tonight…”

  Gabe jerked his chin in my direction. “Come night fall we’ll find your ex-sweetie and kill him.”

  “No!” I exclaimed, then tried to rein in my knee-jerk reaction. “There is no ‘we’. You leave Caleb to me, understood?”

  Gabe gave me a questioning look, but Kendall voiced her agreement.

  “I get it.” An animal cracker remnant fell off her shoulder as she lifted it and let it fall. “The dreamy demonic guy—that was, like, totally out of your league—pretended to like you just so he could kill you. You’re sad and want a little pay back. It’s understandable.”

  I stared at my sister and chewed on the inside of my cheek for a moment before answering. “He may be evil, but he’s still way hotter than Keith.”

  Kendall’s blue eyes blazed. She cocked her head and stuck out her chin. “Yeah? Well, you have a chicken bone sticking out of your bra.”

  That wasn’t an ill-tempered barb. I really did.

  I let Kendall take the first shower, while I headed into our room to grab some clean clothes. I had a hunch of what I would find there. I wasn’t wrong. On my pillow, tied tightly with a red satin ribbon, was a scroll. I scooped it up and freed it of the ribbon that bound it. The message it contained injected a lethal dose of foreboding into me that spread through my veins like a disease.

  Say nothing. If you are wrong, you must spare them the guilt.

  I crumpled the paper in my hands and pressed it to my forehead in my fists. I knew exactly what my mysterious helper was trying to warn me of because it was the same notion that clamped my mouth shut earlier. The clue they led me to had spawned a plan. But that plan held a huge risk. If it failed, if I was wrong, my brother and sister may never forgive me. They would have adequate cause to hate me, and I wouldn’t blame them if they did. My enigmatic aid knew the risks as well, but was prompting me to push on. I didn’t have a choice. I had to. It was my calling.

  In that moment I wished more than anything that Gabe and Kendall had been spared. And that I had been chosen to fight—and die—alone.

  CHAPTER 29

  The lone light pole buzzed as it cast a yellow glow on the ivory Victorian house. The building was situated on a little side road, so there was nothing around us but trees and darkness as we climbed out of my truck. Under the black cloak of night the place had a very Bates Motel vibe. The utter stillness of the night accentuated that. It was as if the moon itself was holding its breath in anticipation, or dread—or both.

  “You may want to change now, Gabe. Before things get hairy,” I said as I softly clicked my door shut. Gabe glanced at me sidewise from the other side of the truck. “No pun intended.”

  He needed no further invitation. Fabric ripped, bones noisily relocated, a plethora of body hair erupted, and the lion emerged. His chestnut mane fanned out around him as he shook his massive head. Then he arched his back and gave a mighty roar.

  “Shhh!” I pressed my finger to my lips. “This is an isolated area, but people could still hear you! Geesh!”

  Gabe-lion snorted and rolled his eyes.

  “Let’s just go.”

  “This place is pretty,” Kendall mused as we walked across the gravel lot. “I like the fountain.”

  I nudged her with my elbow. “Focus Keni.”

  With a roll of her shoulders she released her wings. “So, what do we do? Knock on the door and politely ask him to return the girl?”

  Gabe answered her question with a sniff of the air. His nostrils twitched as he inhaled deeply, then rumbled, “Deemmmoooooon.”

  Before I could chastise my brother for talking in his creepy growl voice, a swirling cloud of black smoke materialized in front of us. It churned and rolled into Caleb’s solidified form. Only this wasn’t my Caleb. Right now, his demon half had complete control. His normally pale skin was chalk white. Black veins tracked just below the surface of his skin like a satanic road map. The emerald was gone from his eyes. In its place emanated the haunted black of a Seeker. Caleb’s svelte frame had enlarged so drastically he would’ve towered over Gabe’s human form. His movie star handsome features were unrecognizable. They, too, had stretched as his frame expanded.

  “Hey, Cee? Remember the who’s hotter debate?” Keni asked, with her pert nose crinkled. “Keith wins, hands down. Ya know, ‘cause of the whole veiny, puffy, zombie-look Caleb’s rockin’.”

  I ignored Kendall and got to the pressing matters at hand. “Where is she? Where’s the girl?”

  Caleb’s voice came out an evil hiss. “What girl?”

  “I see the demon brings out your inner baritone,” I quipped. “How about if we skip all this preliminary crap and get to the point? You know exactly who I’m talking about. And I know that you have her. Spoiler alert—this is the part where you show her to me.”

  “So be it,” he said, with a formal bow of his head. After the wave of his arm, like a magician performing a trick, a second cloud of smoke appeared. Our trio tensed, unsure what to expect.

  Out of the smoke came a terrified and trembling Becca. Her mousy hair disheveled. I assumed they had grabbed her while she was sleeping because she was clad only in a dirty and tattered oversized t-shirt. Her eyes darted from side-to-side like a frightened animal. With her glasses missing she had to squint to see. She locked in on Kendall’s angelic silhouette immediately. Hope rapidly built behind her eyes.

  “Help m…”Her plea cut off as Caleb latched onto her throat and lifted her off the ground. She slapped and scratched at his arm—her dangling feet kicking frantically—all in attempts to free herself. Caleb didn’t even flinch. His vise grip brought tears to her eyes. Her breath came in choked gasps.

  “Stop it!” Kendall shrieked. I held out one arm to stop her.

  “The Conduit joins us or the girl dies,” the demon in my boyfriend’s skin demanded.

  Deep breath. Here we go…

  “Kill her.” I shrugged nonchalantly. I clenched my fists to stop myself from wiping my sweaty palms on my jeans.

  Becca’s eyes bulged and she mouthed an inaudible ‘no’. The desperate plea etched across her face made my blood pressure soar. But I couldn’t let my anxiety show.

  “Celeste!” My sister gaped in astonishment.

  I struggled to maintain a cool, carefree exterior. “Compared to my position and all that it represents, she’s nothing. Completely insignificant. So, do it. Kill her.”
r />   Gabe snarled and snapped his warning of disapproval.

  With her wings out, Keni rushed for Becca. “I won’t let you do this!”

  “Keni!” I caught her arm and held tight as she spun to face me. Our eyes locked. Not wanting to say anything that could give my plan away, I pushed my emotions at her. My resolve, determination, and even fear passed to her as I quietly muttered, “Trust me, please.”

  “He’s choking the life out of her.” Her words came through clenched teeth.

  “I know. But I need you to trust me,” I begged.

  I’d never before seen such unbridled fear and panic in her sapphire eyes. “Promise me we aren’t about to watch an innocent girl die.”

  I felt my façade falter. “I really wish I could.”

  “I told you before, I can’t heal dead.”

  I nodded slowly. “I know.”

  She took a step closer and leaned in. For a moment my little sister vanished and her role as the Protector consumed her. “If you’re wrong, I will never forgive you. Do you understand me?”

  “I do.”

  She held her head high as she begrudgingly took a step back.

  “Have you come to your decision?” the demon asked.

  “We stand by my statement.” I steeled my spine as best I could. “Kill her.”

  The Cal-demon raised Becca higher off the ground. Her face turned purple as he tightened his grip. “DO NOT TEST US! She will die!”

  “No, I really don’t think she will. ‘Cause see this?” With shaky hands, I pulled the towel I found in Becca’s apartment out of my sweatshirt pocket and held it up. “This little scorch mark right here was left by a branding iron of the Dark Army. It’s just like the one that body you’re currently wearing has on its chest. Some genius must’ve set the iron down for a sec while Becca was being initiated. Clearly CSI hasn’t made it to the Underworld. This tells me that Becca’s either a soldier, or the Countess herself. Either way, you won’t kill her. But if you wanna prove me wrong, go ahead. Do it.”