Found (Books of Stone Book 1)

by B. L. Brunnemer

  I bit back any noise I might make but it probably didn’t help. Through the link I could feel Atticus fighting not to grab me and stop me, his chest aching at the sight of tears on my face.

  “Done,” I announced.

  “What did you do?” Atticus growled. Hands were on my face instantly, wiping the tears away.

  I kept my eyes closed as my hands caught his so I could explain. “The spell uses a different energy level. I changed my eyes so I can trace it. I’m fine. It won’t last long, so we need to hurry.”

  He helped me to my feet, not releasing my arm. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. The room almost looked normal, except I could see through the walls to the electrical wires behind them. Okay, not so bad. I looked down at the floor. The spell indeed looked like it was armor, but this armor had a thick cable running from it. I smiled. “Gotcha. It’s nearby.” I took Atticus’s hand. “I won’t be able to look around once we’re outside, it’ll be too bright.”

  Atticus squeezed my hand. “I’ve got you,” he assured me. “But later we’ll have a chat about altering your body with energy without talking to me first.” I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as he walked me out of the apartment.

  Soon we were hurrying down the sidewalk and following the line. It wasn’t far. The line led to a department store. I kept my eyes on the floor as we followed it to a stairwell that led down. Oh, goody. Everyone else pulled a weapon while Atticus helped me down the stairs. We reached a locked door; Atticus broke it open with his foot. The basement was enormous, full of the store’s storage crates. I stopped everyone at a large metal door, then I looked up. Through the door I could see the demon. It was pacing back and forth, chafing under the control of the angel. The energy wound around its ankle like a chain then disappeared through another wall. From what I could see I could tell the angel wasn’t here.

  I closed my eyes and let them go back to normal. It burned again. I leaned into a parchment scented chest and waited until the pain stopped. Atticus was mentally cursing me, though I doubt he realized I could hear it. When the pain finally passed I stepped back, wiped my face and turned to face the door.

  “Here?”

  I nodded. Atticus sent the others a look. Everyone got ready. I pulled energy to me as I stayed at the front of the group. Atticus and I would head in first, I’d blast the armor off the demon before he even turned to us, then I would move to the side so the others could get by.

  I pulled energy until I was practically vibrating with it. I looked to the others. They all nodded.

  Atticus opened the door. The demon began to turn. Black armor was melted onto its red skin. That was all I saw before I threw all the energy I had at the seam under its arm. The energy knocked the demon sideways as it slipped in through his skin and underneath the armor melted onto the first layer. “Boom,” I stated. The energy exploded out from the demon, taking the armor and the top layer of skin with it. It screamed in pain.

  I barely managed to move to the side before the guys were running past.

  “Eve?”

  “Fine,” I assured him. The sound of fighting was loud. During the next two minutes there was cursing, crashes and walls breaking. The demon was bleeding, but not down. Atticus moved so quickly that I couldn’t keep up with where he was. He tried to keep the demon’s attention while the others slashed, dodged and tried to do as much damage as possible. Ranulf’s battleaxe slashed a gaping wound in its side, but the big boy wasn’t going down. Well, I could fix that.

  I pulled energy to me and formed a shockwave that would knock it on its back. Its head turned, spotted me with its yellow eyes. It grabbed a large chunk of cement that had fallen from the wall. With the way clear in front of me my hand slapped the floor. The shockwave raced towards the demon, shattering cement as it went. I looked up in time to register that something was flying at me. I couldn’t get a barrier up in time. It hit, I dropped to the ground. Pain tore through me, then everything went dark.

  Atticus

  I watched Evelyn go down hard. The demon dropped to its stomach. I slashed at the demon again and reached for her.

  “Eve? Luv?” I sent, my veins starting to boil. There was nothing, no response. “Zahur! Evelyn!” I ordered as my eyes went to the demon who hurt my Mate. It chuckled as everyone backed off the demon and Zahur moved to Evelyn’s crumpled body.

  “Oh, big mistake,” Ranulf declared. I could barely hear him through the blood pounding in my ears. My control shattered. I moved around the beast, slicing the back of its knees to the bone. It was barely a fraction of a second later and my blade cut through its arm at the elbow, severing it. The demon dropped the rest of the way to the floor. Then I was at the other one, severing that one as well. The demon roared. I jerked the battleaxe off Ranulf’s shoulder and was back at its legs. Two swift hits and I took them too. The demon roared at being helpless. I walked in front of it so it could see me. Then I drove the axe into the flesh of its shoulders. I proceeded to chop that fucker to pieces for hurting Evelyn. Time didn’t matter, no one stopped me, I just kept working.

  Eventually Zahur’s voice got through to me. “We need to get her home, Atticus!” Then I finally took the head of the begging demon.

  I stood over what was left of the body and caught my breath. Ranulf came to me.

  “Did ye hear the doc?” he shouted. It got me moving. I handed him his axe then went to Zahur and Evelyn.

  She was on her back, blood covered half her face, her arm at a bad angle, clearly broken. Blood covered that arm as well. “Can we move her?” I growled.

  “She has at least a concussion, possibly a skull fracture. Move her gently,” Zahur warned. I knelt down then gathered my wife’s limp body to me as carefully as possible. Zahur supported her head until I was standing and she was in a good spot. Then we started moving. Zahur and I left the clean-up to the others.

  Several security people tried to stop us as we walked through the stores, but we ignored them.

  By the time we got to the car, sirens could be heard in the distance. Zahur got in back and I laid her in his arms so I could get us out of here without the police following.

  21

  Christmas Eve, 11:10 p.m.

  Evelyn

  I woke up dizzy. I reached up and touched my head. There was a scar near my hairline, what…? It all came back to me. The basement, the Wrath demon, the fight… and that big chunk of cement that hit me before I could throw up a barrier. I groaned. Why didn’t I already have a barrier up? Stupid move, Evelyn.

  I opened my eyes to the dim light of Atticus’s room. Zahur set down one of my books and hopped off the dresser.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked in a soft voice. I took stock.

  “Like I got hit with a big hunk of wall,” I said dryly.

  He shook his head then held up his finger and pulled out a pen light. “Follow my finger,” he instructed.

  “If I end up clucking like a chicken, I’m coming after you,” I warned. He chuckled as he examined my eyes.

  “Well, no chicken clucking, but I want you to take it easy for a few more hours,” he said, putting the pen light away. “You had a nasty hit to the head, probably a bad skull fracture and a broken arm.”

  I looked down at my left arm to find it still bandaged. “Did it heal?”

  “Yeah, after I got it aligned properly it healed quickly,” he said. “I just didn’t want to wake you up to take off the bandages.” He leaned over me and started taking them off. “By the way, could you call Atticus and tell him you’re awake. He’s being a dick while hunting the angel with the others right now.”

  I smiled. Then closed my eyes and reached for him. “Atty, I’m awake and alright,” I sent with warmth along our link.

  The tremendous relief that radiated down the link left me breathless. “You’re okay? What about your arm? What did Zahur say about your head injuries?” I winced as his emotions swamped me.

  “Can’t keep this up, call me,” I sent. It was barely five s
econds later before my phone rang on the nightstand. Zahur handed it to me.

  “Hi,” I answered.

  “Are your injuries healed?” he demanded. I bent my arm and flexed my fingers. No numbness, everything felt fine.

  “Yes, good as new,” I reassured him. “How’s the hunting going?”

  “Don’t change the subject. What did Zahur say?” he shot back.

  I sighed. “He wants me to take it easy for a few more hours because of my head injuries. Otherwise, I’m good. Now, how’s the angel hunt going?”

  “We’re having to go street by street right now and it’s slow going,” he admitted. I thought of the chain of energy around the demon’s ankle.

  “To keep control of the Wrath demon, it had to be within a couple miles of the department store,” I told him.

  “We’ll head back and see if it's still there.” His voice turned gentle. “You scared the hell out of me, Eve.” The warmth in his voice made my pulse jump.

  “Well, next time I’ll have a barrier up before I go in. I usually do, I don’t know what happened this time.” Then I grinned. “I think you distracted me. Yeah, I’m going with that.”

  He sighed. “That’s your story?”

  I smiled. “And I’m sticking to it.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve got to get back. Take it easy, alright?”

  “No problem. The couch sounds perfect right now,” I assured him.

  “See you soon.”

  “Bye.”

  I hung up then looked at Zahur. “Can I get out of bed now?”

  He sighed. “Yes, but if you get dizzy tell me.”

  I gave him a thumbs up before sitting up at the end of the bed. I paused to see how I felt. No dizziness. I got to my feet and moved to the dresser. I felt grody and wanted a shower. It took me a moment before I realized I didn’t have any pajama bottoms here. Oh well, I grabbed a pair of Atticus’s, a white shirt and panties.

  My shower was quick; I didn’t want to risk getting dizzy and falling. Nothing would be more awkward than having to get help from Zahur. I put my wet hair back in a ponytail and went into the living room. Music was playing. I paused behind the sofa to listen. It sounded… like Christmas music, but not. It was an orchestra and an electric guitar? What?

  “Zahur, what’s playing?” I asked as I sat in the armchair Atticus usually took.

  “Trans-Siberian Orchestra, it’s Christmas music,” he said. “Haven’t you ever heard them before?”

  I shook my head. “No, I don’t really do Christmas music.” But this… this music I liked. It wasn’t traditional, I could listen to it.

  “Oh, sorry.” He went to turn it off.

  “No, leave it on,” I told him. “I actually like it.” He sat back down. I looked around the males’ apartment. There was a small Christmas tree in the corner on a table. It was cute. But the gifts under it bothered me. “You guys went shopping for me, didn’t you?”

  Zahur looked away, suddenly very interested in his book. “Maybe.”

  I sighed. It was Christmas Eve and I didn’t have time to get anything for them. Then I thought of something. “Do you think you guys would be happy with cookies as presents this year?”

  Zahur lifted his head at the word cookies. “Yes. Definitely yes.”

  I smiled. “Okay, what’s everyone’s favorite?” I went to the pantry and started pulling out ingredients.

  We had everything we needed for all the cookies except Ranulf’s and Atticus’s. I looked up at Zahur. “Could you run down to the store really quickly? I need chocolate chips, icing, and raspberry jam for the shortbread cookies.”

  He was already shaking his head before I finished. “No, I like my head attached to my body.”

  “Come on, it’ll take five minutes to go to the corner store,” I pleaded. “I’ll be good, I won’t go anywhere. I’ll just stay here and get the cookies ready to bake.” When he was quiet I added. “I won’t even turn on the oven until you get back.”

  He sighed. “Fine. But if Atticus finds out-”

  “I will take all the responsibility,” I promised. I gave him the list again, along with colors for Falk’s sugar cookies. Then he was gone.

  I went back to the kitchen and started Zahur’s cookies. Oddly, he likes shortbread. For some reason he seemed like a chocolate chip kind of man.

  I listened to the Christmas music and made Christmas cookies. It wasn’t until I was balling the dough for the cookie tray that I realized I was actually enjoying this. I smiled to myself. I had a husband, a Mate. I was surrounded by gargoyles who were my friends. It was incredible. Yeah, there was an angel in the city pulling demons through the barriers, but barring that… the last week had been the best one I’d had in decades.

  I was starting to wonder if Zahur had to go to a store further away when there was a knock at the door. His hands must be full. I put the dough down and answered. But it wasn’t Zahur.

  Matthew stood in the doorway, in the same wrinkled suit and mustard-stained tie. My shoulders straightened for a fight. Then he raised his head. His eyes were glowing red. It wasn’t Matt. Stunned, his hand shot out and grabbed my neck then lifted me off my feet. I fought his hold.

  “Here she is,” he growled, the voice wasn’t Matt’s. It was deep and dark, it sent fear skittering down my spine. Demon. Not just demon. High demon.

  “Abaddon,” I greeted as I tried to breathe. He smiled and threw me. I flew into the apartment and hit the floor hard. Ignoring the pain, I rolled to my feet. He stepped inside casually, as if he’d been invited. My brain started working again. High demon in ex-boyfriend. Shit. “Atticus! Abaddon is here!” Rage shot down the link.

  Matt’s eyes snapped to me. “No, no, no, we’ll have none of that.” The link between Atticus and I went cold. He’d blocked it. How? Figure it out later, stay alive now. Where the hell were my weapons? His eyes met mine as he strolled into the kitchen. I moved to the living room area. “I’ve wanted to have a word with you for some time now”—he dipped his finger into the bowl and tasted the dough—. “but you’re always surrounded by those males.” He met my eyes. “It’s difficult to get you alone.”

  “Oh. Darn,” I said sarcastically.

  His eyes shot daggers at me. “I’m here to offer you your life. I suggest you listen.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “My life isn’t yours to offer.”

  His gaze never left mine. “Then perhaps a job offer is more accurate.” He walked around the breakfast counter. I moved toward the door, keeping him as far from me as possible. Hell, running was an option. Not a great one, but if it meant staying alive I’d take it.

  “I have a job,” I stated.

  He scoffed. “I meant one that will keep you alive,” he countered as he stepped towards me. “You see, you’ve taken out a lot of demons. My handler would rather see you dead, but where he sees a threat I see an opportunity.”

  I smirked. “Your ‘handler?’ Don’t you mean the angel who is holding your leash?”

  His eyes flared. “Work for me and you’ll live.” He looked around the apartment. “Your friends are going to die either way.” My temper sparked as he met my eyes again. “That doesn’t mean you have to as well.”

  I smiled and pulled energy, my markings glowed blue, burning lines through my clothes. “I don’t think so.”

  He smiled. “I do love it when you gargoyles fight-” I blasted him through the wall behind him. And the one after that. Drywall dropped to the floor, dust was flung into the air. I didn’t wait, I turned to run. Carol of the Bells began to play.

  A hand on the back of my neck jerked me away from the door. I grunted as the door came off its hinges. “You surprise me,” he whispered into my ear. I drove my elbow into his stomach and stomped on his foot before blasting him back again. His hand took hair with it as he took out the wall between the living room and one of the bedrooms. He sat up among the debris and spit out blood.

  “That’s the bitch about a mortal body. You get to feel pain,” I s
aid dryly. He smiled, then moved. I went to dive behind the couch only to be slammed sideways into the brick wall. I cried out as something inside me broke. He was laughing as he held me a foot off the floor.

  “Yeah, but I’m not as attached to mine,” he taunted as he raised his other hand. Flame raced over it. Before I could counter he pressed that burning hand onto my chest. I screamed as I pulled energy. I just couldn’t think through the agony to use it. His hands left me. I shook as I realized I was still pinned to the wall. Think, Evelyn, think! It was a holding field, had to be. I knew exactly how to counter that. Fury flooded my veins as I opened my hand and ice covered him. He cursed and cried out but I kept at it until he lost his concentration and dropped me to the floor. Now I had both hands free I kept up the stream of energy until I blasted him again. I wasn’t thinking about running anymore. I was just going to hurt him as much as possible.

  I reached up, used my abilities to grab the ceiling and the roof beyond it. Just like the Raskasha, I slammed it down on to him as he was getting to his feet. He dropped. Snow fell into the apartment as I strode towards him, another blast forming in my fist. The music kept playing. He burst through the debris, his face bleeding and a smile on his lips.

  “Oh, I like you! So lively!” he cheered. I went to blast him again only for him to deflect it back at me. I sidestepped the blast which continued through the inner wall, through the hall and into my apartment. As I turned around he back-handed me, sending me flying into the fireplace. My breath rushed out of me, more pain along my back and ribs. As I struggled to get to my feet it gave him the opportunity he needed. He threw fire around me. My hair singed, my skin began to burn. Fury riding me hard, I looked up and met his eyes through the flames. I pulled the energy from the flames around me. They snuffed out. His smile dimmed. I blasted him again, only this time with lightning. He slammed into the kitchen cabinets, shattering them. I got to my feet and moved around the couches. He wanted to play with fire? Fine. I created a ball of fire in my hand and threw it. He dropped to the floor just before it hit. The cabinets immediately caught fire.