Sacrifice (The Gryphon Series Book 3)

by Stacey Rourke

  I cast my eyes down at my hands covered in dirt and grime and quickly hid them behind my back. “I don’t know for sure,” I mumbled.

  Her long ivory skirt fanned out as she spun around and marched across the room. At the table she grabbed her pitcher and poured a glass of water. I couldn’t stifle the whimper of desire that squeaked from my lips. She held it out to me and I wasted no time scampering to retrieve it.

  I felt her red eyes boring into me as I greedily downed it in one gulp. She refilled the glass. I finished that as well, only slightly slower than the first.

  She nodded at the basket on the table. “There’s bread, too. Help yourself to that.”

  I plopped down in the chair and tore into the bread, savoring every morsel. She said nothing of my forwardness but sat down across from me. “You’re the Captain’s boy, aren’t you?”

  The bread paused halfway to my mouth. Would she turn me in? Call for help? I wet my dry, cracked lips and mentally weighed my options between truth and lies.

  “Your silence gives me all the answer I need. What’s your name?”

  “Rowan.”

  “You’ve been hiding so they couldn’t find you, haven’t you, Rowan?”

  I stared at the table and nodded. “They’ll kill me just like they did my father.”

  “Yes, I suppose they would.” She reached across the table and lifted my chin. Her touch was such a soft caress against my skin I fought the urge to close my eyes and nuzzle into it. “But what if there was another way? What if you could continue on this voyage without hiding? Carry on in full view of everyone, knowing you were completely safe?”

  “How?” I gasped.

  To my deep regret, she pulled her hand away and cast that crimson gaze down as she smoothed the fabric of her skirt. Indecision furrowed her flawless brow. She took a deep breath before looking me right in the eye. “I admitted to you that I have powers and that was not a falsehood. I could give you a … gift … of sorts. It would grant you the ability to keep yourself safe from any on this ship that would mean you harm. “

  A sudden loss of appetite made me drop the bread back into the basket. “Like … magic?”

  “Not like it,” she corrected with a soft smile. “But that very thing.”

  “Is … is it safe?”

  She rose from the table and strode to the cast iron fireplace on the opposite side of the room. Pulling open the hatch, she stoked the flames with the fanciest poker I’d ever seen. The handle had been intricately molded to the shape of a dragon, the other end was a continuous swirl. “It will hurt at first, I promise you that. However, once the pain passes no man alive will be able to strike out at you in any form.” She glanced at me over her delicate shoulder. “You would even have the power to avenge the death of your father, if you so choose.”

  I stood up so fast my chair crashed to the ground. “Yes! I’ll do it! Whatever it takes!”

  Staring back into the fire, she rolled the dragon handle slowly one way and then the other. “How old are you, Rowan?”

  I puffed my chest up to look as grown and manly as my thin frame would allow. “Ten years old.”

  “So very young,” she murmured sadly. “If you are willing, and able to endure the pain, I will anoint you with the blood of a very special, very strong, breed of demon.”

  “Demons? Real demons?”

  “Demon blood is hard to come by. Lucky for me I have willing donors. Once the ritual is complete, you will be able to control the mind of any human.”

  A thousand different scenarios and possibilities swirled in my mind. I could be anything—have anything.

  “But there’s a catch …”

  All my dreams deflated. Here came the part where she would demand my soul in exchange. That was a trade I could not make. “What is it?”

  Only when she pulled the object from the fire did I realize it wasn’t a poker at all, but a red hot branding iron. “Your power will lay dormant in you until you choose to activate it. The second you make the decision to use it you will bind yourself to me. You will become a member of my army and serve me until I declare your term is up.” She held the poker out for me to see. “These are the stipulations and this is the price. Every step of this is completely your choice, Rowan, a choice I often don’t give. I’m only giving it to you because I pity the awful circumstances that you’ve found yourself in.”

  I fought to keep my voice steady despite its attempts to betray me. “And my soul. It’s mine to keep?”

  “I’m not a devil, Rowan. I don’t want your soul, just your servitude.”

  With my gaze locked on her, I thumbed the buttons free from my shirt and let the soiled garment fall to the floor. “For my father, and for his Marie Ann, I will do it.”

  She gave me no preemptive warning, but strode forward with deliberate strides and pressed the iron to my chest, directly over my heart. Tears welled in my eyes as the skin sizzled and scorched. Fear of waking the crew made me bite the inside of my cheek to prevent from screaming. The rusty taste of blood filled my mouth.

  “Good boy.” She smiled and pulled the iron away. I peered down at the swirling circle scar that puffed out red and angry from my skin.

  Other than the hot pain radiating through my chest, I felt no change. “Is that it?”

  She cocked her head and eyed me with amusement. “That’s it. The power is there. If you so choose all you have to do is concentrate on what you want your chosen victim to do. You should know, if you never, ever use it you will lead a normal, mortal life with no obligation to me. Plus, there is one other way you can get the revenge you so desire. I gave Klaus dominion over the sea, but had to ensure he wouldn’t use this power to rise up against me. Because of that, he must stay near water at all times; his very essence depends on it. Distance from it will cause him to dry up and turn to dust. You could use this knowledge to your advantage without ever having to accept my … gift.”

  “If I can make it off this ship alive,” I scoffed.

  A pounding at the door interrupted our conversation. Quickly I scanned the room for a place to hide and scrambled to put my shirt back on. Before I could accomplish either task, the door flung open.

  “Sorry, Countess, but we heard a noise … you!” Klaus’s face morphed in anger at the sight of me. “Were you hiding him from me, witch?”

  Her hands dropped to her sides. Blue bolts of electricity crackled between her fingers. “I don’t take kindly to that tone, Klaus. But the boy is yours. Do with him what you will.”

  “To the brig with him!” the mutinous Captain shouted. Thomas and Crazy Joe rushed toward me.

  I bowed my head, concentrating on them just as she instructed me.

  The Countess’s hands grasped my shoulders. Her breath warmed my lobe as she whispered, “No. Not yet. Give this a great deal of thought, Rowan. Do not let such a huge decision be made of rash emotions.”

  With that she released me into the care of the villainous crew.

  Chapter Five

  Now

  Klaus shot a nervous glance over his shoulder. Panic widened his eyes as his ship and the water he longed for faded into the distance behind him. A muffled whimper escaped from his lips; that’s the only sound he would make. My will kept his lips clamped shut.

  “No use livin’ in the past, mate.” I gave him a shove to prompt him to keep moving. “Your future lies before you.”

  With each tentative step he inched toward his certain doom. Death nipped and pecked at his flesh. Dry scaly patches and sores sprouted on his face and arms. The further he got from the water, the worse it would get until it claimed him completely.

  “Rowan,” Terin’s heels clicked against the concrete parking area as she scurried to keep up. “You remember that stupid thing I was here to prevent you from doing? This would be it.”

  “If you think this is stupid, ya may want to avert ya’r eyes, doll. Things are about to get wonderfully asinine.”

  “It won’t bring your father back!” Despe
ration raised her voice to a borderline shriek.

  “No, but it will make me feel better,” I mused and shoved Klaus again. “He killed my father, stole the ship that was to be mine, and has ruled the seas for far too long. His tyrannous reign ends tonight.”

  Abruptly, Terin stopped and turned on me. “Then what?”

  The absurdity of such a comment caught me off guard. I granted her the benefit of a pause long enough for me to address her lunacy. “What do you mean ‘then what’? Then I take back my ship and sail off into the horizon.”

  With her hands shoved on her hips she cocked her head and narrowed her blazing eyes. “What about Celeste?”

  “What about sodding Celeste?! We had a short run of makin’ each other miserable. Now she’ll continue fighting the good fight and saving the world while I head out to sea and don’t look back. End of story.” I turned my back to her to further demonstrate that this conversation was over.

  Ole Klausy boy looked a wreck as I prodded him to resume his death march. The skin of his left cheek rotted away to reveal deteriorating gums and black teeth. His yellowing eyes sunk into their sockets.

  “So that’s how you want to spend the rest of your days?” she shouted after me. “Letting people you claim to care about risk their lives while you sit back and do nothing?”

  Damn that Garrett girl. She was to blame for the guilt that stabbed and twisted in my gut. I cleared my throat and did my best to sound unaffected. “Sounds like a dandy of an existence to me.”

  “And if she dies?”

  I stared up at the sky, as if expecting it to offer up some explanation as to why I cared whether or not that certain bothersome brunette lived or died. A feeling was growing inside of me, one that was foreign and not easy to recognize. Was this … remorse? What a dreadful and useless emotion. I attempted to shake off this bothersome feeling and walked on. “Then she’ll soon be seeing Klaus here on the other side.”

  A rush of heat warmed my back and the night sky brightened to a midday glow. Nice and slow, I turned back around. Terin had embraced her inner Phoenix in a major way. Flames consumed her lean frame. Fiery wings swelled from her arms. The snap and hiss of her blaze even made the decomposing Klaus take notice.

  “Well, well, well look who wants to have a go. Don’t be shy, lass. Step on up.” I motioned her to advance. “Let’s make this a real party.”

  “I have no intention of fighting you,” she stated. “But I’m not going to stand here and watch you kill him. Celeste needs your help. Why is it so easy for you to betray her and just walk away?”

  “Why?” My chuckle lacked the key ingredient of humor as I waved my hand at the scene before us. “Because in case you missed the memo, I’m the bad guy! I do bad things! It’s who I am!”

  Her flames died down to embers. “And Celeste is a perfect, flawless being that never makes mistakes?”

  For the first time since the day I professed my love and then betrayed her, I allowed myself to really think about her. “Sometimes she laughs too loud and sounds like a crazed hyena. She fiddles with her hair whenever she’s stressed, bored, or awake for that matter. She drools in her sleep, which I only know because I loved nothing more than to watch as her warrior exterior faded and the soft peace of sleep set in. No,” I muttered. “She’s not perfect. But she’s a hell of a lot better than me.”

  Klaus’s knee gave out and he folded to the ground. Terin started to rush to his aid, which I prevented with a side-step and a warning glare.

  Her arms folded over her chest and she met my gaze directly. Hers had the added intensity of flaming irises. “Tell me, Rowan, what makes her better? Besides her genuine disinterest in using her abilities for torturous means? ”

  “Nice try. Turn the tables, get me talking. Shame you didn’t have the couch for me to lie on, or it may’ve worked.”

  “I’m not turning the tables at all.” Steam wafted from the top of her head and shoulders. “You’ve made up your mind to kill him, and I highly doubt I can stop someone with your ability. I’m simply asking because I don’t understand. How is it so easy for you to just walk away, knowing all you do? Do you truly not care if she lives or dies?”

  The idea of the Conduit cold and lifeless made bile rise in my throat, but there was no going back. I’d fallen too far. “She’s a tough gal that can take care of herself. She’ll be fine. Besides, she’s better off without me.”

  “Better off without someone that hands her over to the enemy because she won’t be your girlfriend?” Terin’s shoulder rose and fell in a casual shrug. “No arguments there.”

  “It was more than her not wanting to be my girlfriend …”

  “And you did it twice, too, right? First to the Countess and then to Bernard. Geez, you’d offer that girl up for a slice of pizza and a beer, wouldn’t you? ”

  My nostrils flared as I seethed through my teeth, “Don’t be glib. Both of them had information I needed.”

  “Oh!” She threw her hands in the air. “I get it! So it was all an act! You never really cared for her at all.”

  “I’m in love with her, dammit! You want me to admit it? Well there ya have it!” I took a deep breath and tried to steady my tone. “Celeste is good. That’s who she is. There’s something in her that just knows what the right thing to do is and she does it. No matter the cost or sacrifice she has to make. A guy like me has no place around someone like that.”

  A satisfied smile tugged at Terin’s lips. The last of her fiery heat died away. “She’s not the only person that puts others before themself.” Her thin hand gripped my wrist. “I told you I had a gift for you. It’s time.”

  ***

  Then

  I ventured down the ship’s stairs, but my form felt … off. Like shoving my foot into someone else’s well-worn shoes. Through the darkness I crept, quiet as death’s whisper. At a crossing hallway I stopped to check one direction then the other before I darted down the second set of stairs in a blur of speed and found myself in the brig. I came to a halt in front of a barred cell. Huddled inside was a young boy, trembling in fear. He looked up when I neared. The world swam around me. I could feel the anxiety I saw in his topaz blue eyes. I knew the pain that stung his back from the lashings he’d received. Because his pain … was mine. I was peering into the eyes of a young version of myself.

  “It’s okay. I’m here to help,” I said in a female voice that clearly wasn’t mine. Matter of fact, I hadn’t meant to speak at all. It seemed I was merely an observer in this little play. “Stay back for just a minute and I’ll get you out.”

  I gaped in astonishment at the flame that arced from my host’s finger and melted away the lock that held the cell shut.

  Wait … was I in Terin’s body? Of course it was just a matter of time until I was in some capacity. I mentally chuckled. Why didn’t I remember any of this? Come to think of it, I didn’t have the slightest idea how I’d gotten out of that cell.

  The door sprang open and I held out a hand to—me.

  This is downright disconcerting.

  When I thought back at this time in my life I always thought of myself as on the verge of manhood. Gazing at myself now I saw a little boy with sorrow-filled eyes and shoulders curled inward in terror.

  “We have to hurry. Come on. I’m going to help you off the ship,” I/Terin encouraged.

  Young me didn’t move, but a spark of hope swirled in my eyes. “We’re … we’re in the middle of the ocean. If we leave the ship we’ll drowned.”

  A long, red braid swung to the side as my hostess cocked her head. “We’ll be traveling by a different means.”

  Tentatively young me rose to my feet and crept forward. It was a might odd linking hands with myself, but that’s exactly what happened. Together we stuck to the shadows and tiptoed up the two flights of stairs to the main deck. Careful to stay out of sight of the night crew, we slunk to the rail of the ship, then around the side by the Captain’s quarters. That was a perfect blind spot to avoid being seen by
whoever held watch in the Crow’s Nest.

  In one impressive leap, I/Terin perched on the side rail of the ship. We extended a hand to young me, but before I could grasp it the seas themselves rose up in protest. White capped waves churned the water and crashed against the ship with enough force to jeopardize my host’s footings and send her crashing back down on deck.

  “Lookie what we have here, lads.” Klaus clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he rounded the corner, flanked by half a dozen crew members that eyed my youthful hostess like ravenous sharks. “It seems a pigeon has come to free our trapped squall.”

  “Birds flying the coup,” Easy Earl guffawed. He earned that name because the easy tasks were the only ones he could be trusted with on the ship.

  Klaus waved his hand and steadied the sea. “You’re a brave little lass, I’ll give you that. But that boy has a date with the depths that I’m afraid he can’t be missin’. I’ll let ya walk—or rather swim—ya’rself out of here if you’d like, but he won’t be goin’ with ya.”

  The crew members laughed and elbowed each other at their Captain’s clever pun.

  My host rose to her feet. Her hands ignited in flames. “I am leaving and he’s coming with me.”

  While the crew drew back in surprise, Klaus stepped closer. His pupils dilated with desire as he fixated on her ability. “What have we here? Who would send a specimen such as you here? Did the Countess put you up to this?”

  I grabbed young me’s hand and tugged me closer. “My powers do not come from evil means. You and I stand on opposite sides of an impending war.”

  The corners of Klaus’s thin lips curled up in a wicked smirk. “A war is it? And the worst you can do is burn? Hardly seems a fair fight.”

  Klaus drew a circle in the air with his index finger. Ocean water leapt over the deck at his request and trapped my host in a bubble. Our flames sizzled out as we accidentally coughed and sucked water into our lungs. Choking, we gulped in yet another mouthful of water. Through the waving watery prison we searched with panicked eyes for some form of escape. Young me was just outside of the bubble, urgency whipping his gaze from Terin to Klaus and back again. My host knew what he was thinking, and the cost that would come with it, and violently shook her head no. But it was too late. Young me had made his decision. He—I—bowed my head and focused my gaze. The crew backed off a pace, then three more. Klaus dropped his hand. The bubble holding Terin popped and she fell to the deck, coughing and gasping for air.