It backed up with a grunt, distracted enough that Lynx leaped on its back, raking his claws and tearing before he was suddenly by my side again.
He snarled something unintelligible, but my training from Troy helped.
“No idea if the gargoyle is friend or foe!” I answered.
The gargoyle supplied his own answer by charging into the pig, nearly ripping one tusk completely free.
Music swelled from behind us. The wall inside one of the candle niches flickered, wavered and then a ghostly face appeared.
“Kyle!”
He didn’t respond. He was too busy playing.
Martin yelled, “The name! We must have the name!”
Adriel lobbed a dark rock in his direction, probably bloodstone.
From the deadly screech emanating from the original breach in the weave, it was too late anyway. The curtain shred again and, music or no, this time the demon stepped through. His talons wrapped around Amy, cutting off her scream.
I thought her ghost face was melted before, but that was nothing compared to the elongated mess it became. The demon fed off pain and misery. From the way she was clawing at him, there was some anger transferring too.
“Let me tell the guitar guy the name.”
It was a whisper under the screams. It was a tiny voice that caused me to pull my punch or I might have knocked Espy all the way to the catacombs.
She stood behind me, her fingers tangled in Spook’s ghostly fur.
I stared at her, my mouth trying to form words and failing.
“I have to give him the name.” She held up her finger, the one with the demon mark. “Hurry.”
Hurry? White Feather was pulsing the feral pig away from us, but the damn thing breathed fire. It singed the very oxygen around us.
The demon was not in a hurry. It clearly was enjoying a leisurely lunch in front of our eyes, polishing off both Amy and Julia. No doubt it would come after one of us very soon.
I looked up. Kyle and Martin had thinned the weave, but the opening was near the ceiling. Well, any port in a storm.
I grabbed Espy’s hand and we nearly flew over to the altar. As soon as Lynx figured out my plan, he leaped up, reached a hand down and hauled her on top of the table. It wobbled. The ceiling was arched and still too far away.
He lifted her.
I climbed up on the table with them.
The demon laughed, an odd cross between his broken music and a human gag.
“Lift me and then I’ll lift her!” I shouted. The two of us stacked might still not be high enough. And Lynx might not be able to hold both of us at once, skinny though I might be.
Adriel yelled, “White Feather, lift!”
White Feather’s face was black from the flames that had scorched him. He blasted another sheer wind across the pig. Adriel pitched silver balls similar to the ones she had given me. The energy crackled against the floor, forming a wall between us and the pig.
Before White Feather could respond to Adriel’s plea, the gargoyle swooped down, lifted Espy high and hovered over the niche. She set one foot down, scooped up the candelabra, and then sat, teetering.
Lynx grabbed me in time to break my fall as the altar slid from its perch atop the adobe bricks.
Espy jabbed her finger against the brass edge of the candle holder. Without hesitating, she reached into the weave, dripping black flames across the strings of Kyle’s guitar.
Kyle, bless his heart, played, even when four strings snapped. The sound of music dying echoed from here to hell. It was the demon’s name.
Chapter 34
The walls shook.
Kyle lifted his face from his music. It was full of tears.
The first time I’d seen him, those tears had been real. They were still energy now, but the broken strings had taken their toll. He was splintering.
Martin was visible behind him, chanting and waving juniper berries, the smear of berry bits and juice forming a small, foggy pentagram.
The demon surged towards us, but his name demanded his presence. The weave snapped into him, trapping him, shredding him, and finally forcing him back over. The curtain undulated, sucking the oxygen from the room as it repaired itself.
The feral pig charged.
I slapped out with my staff, only to have it snap in two. I rolled, the heat from hooves blasting past me.
The wall didn’t just shake when the pig hit, it crumpled, tearing out huge chunks of plaster and knocking a hole right through the adobe.
“Shouldn’t that thing be disintegrating?” Adriel shouted. “Isn’t its power source from the demon?” She ran behind it, cutting the flank with the smallest dagger I’d ever seen, but that dagger sparked with magic, cutting a chunk of pig fat free.
The boar ignored any pain and turned to charge again, squealing a challenge.
Our weapons were the wrong kind of energy. They were too alive. Lynx couldn’t possibly hear me click my fingernails with the pig’s hooves churning and roaring as it attacked.
“I’m going sideways,” I yelled.
“Don’t!” But he stood guard near my body anyway.
I slid into gray, reaching up to pluck the guitar pick from behind my ear. Spook rushed the boar from behind. He’d fought this kind before. He knew to bite and not touch anything for long.
There wasn’t a lot of energy in the guitar pick, but it was the right kind. It was In Between. The pig was nearly blind and bleeding fire from several cuts.
I floated high and dove down, my hand with the pick aimed for the remaining good eye. Spook attacked a leg, providing a distraction.
It was now or never.
I plowed my fist into its remaining red orb and flicked the guitar pick with my fingers, shoving it deep, but yanking my hand free before my presence could register with the boar.
It whipped its head sideways. The momentum flipped me away, fire chasing me.
“Aaaaii!” The pain was like slamming into the weave, but the burn across my chest and arm didn’t shatter, it ate at me. My living body gasped.
I yanked at the gray essence of my shirt, ripping it and the pig snot away from me.
I slammed back into my body and reached for the juniper berries. “Stand clear!”
Lynx didn’t listen. He grabbed me as if he intended to haul me away. Adriel yelled, “I’ve got the left,” flanking him on one side and White Feather the other.
These people did not follow directions.
Berries in hand, I slid sideways again and pelted the boar, little stabs that exploded into it, driving it back, slicing deep. The fire that licked the edges banked, drawing in.
The demonic creature gave a mighty snort and bore down on us anyway.
I threw the last berry and shouted, “Scatter!” There was nothing more I could do and even my last gasp wasn’t enough to save anyone. Either they didn’t hear me because I was sideways or they ignored me again.
Just as I hit my body, the gargoyle dove at the beast and grabbed the remaining boar tusk. The boar spun halfway around as the gargoyle wrestled with it.
“Duck,” I yelled.
The tusk ripped free, belching stored fire, but the gargoyle turned to stone, dropping through the flame to the floor with an earth-shattering crash.
The flame fed on itself, exploding the pig outward in a huge fireball.
I flew backwards so hard, I took Lynx down. He landed on top of Adriel. White Feather must have reached for her or tried to yank her away because he ended up on the bottom. For a moment, it was difficult to tell whether I was in my body or still sideways.
Stumbling badly, I rolled to my feet, hunting for threats in the bits and pieces that burned along the floor.
Lynx rolled the opposite direction, and came up facing the wrong way.
Adriel groaned and slid onto a piece of clay tile without making it to her feet. The tile under her cracked like a bullet, splintering into pieces. White Feather sucked in air loud enough to be heard in the sudden silence.
&nbs
p; A tiny voice from the candle alcove said, “Are y’all okay?”
Espy was barely stable on the ledge. Kyle and Martin were gone. So was the pig. There was a distinct smell of sulfur and burned meat. I gagged. No fresh bacon here.
I sat down, hard. My shirt had nearly disintegrated; barely holding on by a few threads. Whatever life was contained in the cotton fibers had been removed when I ripped the essence of it away from me while sideways.
Spook scooted next to me, panting. I’d have reached to pet him, but lifting my arm was too much effort.
The gargoyle retrieved and then landed with Espy, settling gently near our pile of bodies.
“I must say, well met,” it said.
I stared at it, speechless.
Chapter 35
Oddly enough, the first thought to wander through my tired brain was to wonder whether the gargoyle smelled like a bat or not. He stood upright in a hunched gargoyle kind of way; from that position, he met me eye to eye even though I was sitting. His ears were almost as long as his entire head. Now that I had time to notice, his skin was several shades of gray and black. Leathery wings folded neatly behind him, almost invisible, making his arms resemble those of a human.
Spook didn’t seem alarmed or surprised by the nearness of the bat-beast.
“Thank you, witch,” the gargoyle rumbled at Adriel. “Your magic set me free.”
“Uhm, yeah.” Adriel muttered something about the moonlight, but it was little more than a puff of air followed by, “I didn’t know that spell could be absorbed through stone.”
“My name is Horacio.” He spoke with a clipped Spanish accent and a hurried cadence to his words. “I was trapped as stone for a very long time.”
“Who trapped you?” Lynx wanted to know.
“The prior was an old fashioned fellow who brought me over from Spain. Following in a long line of tiresome customs, he was granted my companionship for protection as a favor.”
“What happened to him?” I asked.
“The idiot died before passing on the proper release spells or granting me my freedom. It is in our nature to turn to stone and back, but as part of my promise, much to my regret, he held the key to that power for the time of my indenture. His death was rather sudden. There were things here he did not understand, and he did not learn readily despite my passing along wisdom.”
“No one else could release you?” Adriel asked.
The bat-head nodded. “Just so.”
I did some quick calculations of my own. “Your term is surely over, so you’re now free to go about your business?”
“Just so.” His smile was a bit toothy and rather fearsome. He was going to create some interesting dynamics in the world. Of course, if shifters, witches and vampires were all over the place, what was one small gargoyle?
“Thanks for the help.” I swept my arm to include the spattered mess around us. “We were having a time of it, and I’m not sure we’d have gotten Espy up there fast enough. Speaking of Espy,” I gave her a quizzical look. “Where is your aunt?”
“Somewhere that way. We were running, but I stopped.” She leaned tiredly against Horacio. “I knew the demon was coming through. I felt the tear in the fabric of the world. It was hunting me anyway. So I figured I may as well come back and see if I could tell you his name so you could pass it on to the guy you talked about.”
“That was very brave,” White Feather said softly.
“Damn straight,” Lynx added.
I slipped sideways just enough to see her finger. The black mark was gone. I would have told her so, but once back in my own body, her eyes met mine. She already knew. “Your aunt will be thrilled that the demon mark is gone,” I said instead.
She nodded. “Me too.”
White Feather and Adriel helped each other stand. Adriel surveyed the area in disgust. “We’ll need to come back and help Tino clean up this mess.”
“And find out where she lived.” White Feather pointed to Julia’s mangled body.
“At least we know Amy’s mother was the accomplice,” I said. “She worked at the hospital and had complete access to everyone involved.”
Lynx nodded. “It would be great if she left behind answers to some of our other questions.”
No argument there.
Chapter 36
After Adriel and White Feather dropped us off at The Owl, we picked up burgers for the way home. Tino appeared long enough to make sure we were okay and to complain about the mess at The Monastery. Apparently a very damaging wind storm had destroyed windows, dishes and tablecloths when White Feather attempted to stop Julia from following us.
I was pretty sure that the burn marks Tino described on his hardwood floors had nothing to do with Adriel or White Feather. Amy had more than enough demon in her to have left scorched footprints with ease.
The smell of sulfur clung to every pore, and I was almost too tired to eat. “We need to send Kyle a new set of guitar strings,” I said as Lynx parked the car in front of his house.
“Tonight?” His face fell as though I had stolen his burger.
I opened the car door and groaned my way out. Every part of me was stiff and sore. “No, but soon. And I am not sure I can talk to Kyle without Roberto’s help anymore so can we invite him too?” I explained how I had used the guitar pick. “It’s gone now. It was my only link to Kyle.” Sadness gripped my heart.
“Good thing he was already married,” Lynx grumbled.
He surprised a laugh out of me. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I reached out and linked his fingers with mine. He rarely smiled, but his eyes lit up and not with the glow of cat yellow.
***
I remembered showering, but not falling asleep.
Next thing I knew, Lynx was shaking me awake. “It’s gone, Shadow. The javelina from hell is gone.”
I stared up at him, breathing hard. My fists were clenched as though holding a staff between them. Lynx was right where the bar would be, holding my hands apart with his shoulders.
“You sure it’s gone?”
“Well, it’s not here right now.”
He was such an optimist. “I was back In Between.” My voice cracked. “In the dream I couldn’t leave without knowing my name. I don’t want to go back there.”
“You might have to someday, but we can plan it better.”
“I wonder what happened to my name.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t know my name either,” he admitted.
The window let in light from the coming dawn, but he was still only half visible, his face cloaked in shadows. “What do you mean, you don’t know your name?”
“Names are important. The ones you’re given, the ones you come to own. There’s power in a name, that’s why it banished the demon. Once they had his name and blood, Martin knew the right rituals. He’s one cool witch dude.”
I sat up. “When people crossed into In Between, I could sense their names. We all could, but no one knew my name.”
“So you either lost yours or you left it behind.” He shrugged. “When a thing like that Amy chick is chasing you, it might be good to lose your name.”
“What happened to your name?”
He shrugged, his eyes dropping, but only for a moment. “My mom never gave me one.”
There was probably a lot more to that story, but it didn’t matter right now. “So your name is Lynx.”
He nodded. “And your name is Shadow.” He said it with such finality, it was like a promise.
I threw my arms around him and kissed him with every bit of need inside me, enough to kill him had we been In Between. But I wasn’t dead, and he was alive with his own passion that may have come close to matching mine.
He leaned in, giving as good as he got, pressing me back against the pillows.
I wrapped my legs around him, not caring if he felt trapped. He moved against me, closer, his hands gripping my arms so hard he might well leave bruises.
I didn’t care. Our bodies tangled, tasting, nipping, feeling. I’d have begged for his touch, but was too busy ripping at his stubborn shirt, trying to convey everything all at once.
He pulled back, breathing hard, his eyes glinting in the dark with his own need. “Shadow...are you sure?”
“Lynx, don’t make me beat you up again.”
He smiled. A real, honest-to-goodness smile.
The warmth of it stayed with me, even as he ducked his head under his shirt and threw it across the room.
It was wonderful to be alive.
Chapter 37
From the outside, Julia Inkstar’s home was a quiet little place, especially in the dark. There was no grass in the front yard, but hardy roses, yarrow and lilacs lined the porch. Lynx had picked the time of one hour after midnight.
Adriel carried a flashlight, but she left it off.
White Feather blew a questing breeze through the place. Then Adriel did some sort of earth check. “It’s contaminated. I don’t even want to try to find silver or gold.” She sounded like her teeth were grinding.
Since everyone was being cautious, I was prepared to investigate next, but Spook beat me to it.
He trotted back out, and I clicked my fingers before drifting sideways. “Well, Spook?”
“Woof.” He coughed, hung his head and gagged.
“But is it safe?”
He sat and looked at me.
“Well, okay not safe and great, but we won’t die, right?”
He barked a pitiful “woooof” that was half wail as though he accepted we had to enter the place, but he didn’t like it.
I shifted back. “He says it smells bad, and he’s completely against us being here, but he won’t stop us.”
“He said all that?” White Feather asked.
I shrugged. “More or less.”
“I can attest to the smell,” he said. “Amy must not have taken care of much after she inhabited her mother.”
Worse than a lack of care was the flickering portal visible as soon as we squeezed through the front door. White Feather turned on the lights.
Ghost Shadow (Moon Shadow Series Book 4) Page 21