Protected by Stone (A Paranormal Romance Novel)

by Cynthia Brint

  His answer was a deep tangle of tongues, palms holding me up as my knees crumbled. “The kind of girl I'd like to keep warm,” he whispered.

  With a giant smile, I led him down the stairs.

  Chapter Sixteen.

  The dream wasn't what woke me.

  In the dark, my eyes saw nothing. Blackness surrounded me, the lantern the only steady constant.

  Beside me, I felt Grault's smooth skin. His breathing was soft, peaceful. I was only just coming to my senses when I heard the sound again.

  What was that?

  It was faint, tickling the edges of my memory. I thought I should know what it was, but I couldn't pin it.

  Sitting up gently, not wanting to wake Grault, I grabbed the lantern and headed into the hall. My ears strained, focusing. Where is it coming from?

  On stocking-clad feet, I crept down the dark hall. The lantern light flickered, glinting off of the bulbs at the bottom of the stairs. They were dim, a sight that set my pulse dancing.

  Why are the lights out? What's wrong?

  I'd left the lamps on constantly, something that hadn't seemed a problem. Shit, I think the power must be drained. The grey clouds had been hanging around for a few days, the sun unable to recharge the cells.

  Awesome, pure darkness. Well, almost. Hoisting the lantern, I stared around the rounded room. The wailing of the wind sent pin pricks up the backs of my arms. Okay, starting to scare myself.

  I thought the sound was coming from the right hallway, towards the kitchen. Confused by what it could be, I moved silently along the carpet. My legs were cramping from how tense I was, how quiet I was trying to be.

  The orange lamp shined on the kitchen floor. At first, I swore the slickness was from my spilled cup of tea. I'd forgotten about it earlier, distracted by Grault's promise to show me his room.

  Now, seeing the mug turned sideways, I realized the wetness was too great for just some leftover tea. Twisting, I lifted the lantern, illuminating the open window. The source of the noise was clear, the chilly air was blowing snow everywhere.

  I knew something was wrong, even before I heard the sloshing sounds. A whiff of rotten fish, then my guts became liquid. Oh, no. No no no no...

  The light made the sylph's body greasy, its black flesh stretching like a long snake. It was on its belly, low to the ground near the larder. All of those legs wriggled, slapping on the stones.

  For the first time, I got a good look at its face. Tiny eyes, set high on the domed scalp. I didn't look for long, not when I glimpsed the grinning mouth of needle-fangs.

  It smiled at me, lips spreading ear to ear.

  I don't know which of us moved first. Slamming into the doorway, I tore down the hall, desperate to get air into my lungs. I need to scream, I need to call for help! Wasn't that only a problem in nightmares?

  I wish this was just a nightmare! Behind me, the echo of too many feet clapped across the floor. That voice came, dry and slippery at the same time. “Tessa,” it crooned to me, “Tessa, Tessa.”

  Finally, I found enough strength to scream.

  “Grault! Someone! Help me, oh god, help me please! Help!” Taking the corner too hard, I felt myself slipping. The wooden floor was too smooth, and my socks were not made for friction.

  Slamming hard into the wall, I stared out at the room of stairs. It seemed so close, if I could only just crawl forward.

  “Tessa,” the sylph begged me, one of a selection of hands grabbing my ankle.

  Flipping around, I yanked at my leg, but three more hands came down. At that range, I could see how green its fangs were. “Let go of me!” With no other tools, the lantern was my one choice.

  Wrenching my arm forward, I aimed for that oily skull. Orange light flashed, fingers grabbing my wrist. I heard the crunch, but the blow only glanced off.

  Gasping, we watched each other for a long moment. Tiny fish eyes that did not blink, they focused on the lamp I held. “Tessa,” it whispered, stretching the word out like it meant so much.

  “Farra!”

  My hope swelled, the deep shout bringing me a shred of confidence. Jerking my head around, I saw Grault's barrel chest, his hard eyes. He emerged from the darkness, descending onto me and my attacker.

  The burgeoning relief fizzled at the first sight of my lover's snarling lips. Fangs, sharp as the sylph's, gleamed in my lantern. He jumped onto the long black body, hands yanking the many arms away from me.

  Fear turned my skin cold, I expected the razor claws to slice my wrists in twain. It seemed impossible for me to make it out unscathed.

  The sylph was wrenched off, not a drop of my blood spilling. Stumbling back, I clutched the lantern. My socks kicked, pushing me against the wall. I had the perfect seat for the show in front of me, a display that turned my world upside down.

  Grault's bare back exploded, wings pallid as a tomb sliding free. Leathery, they kicked wind, a single flap blowing through the halls. Hard lines etched across the bridge of his nose, a monstrous grimace before he bit down into the Sylph's skin.

  Covering my mouth, I could only stare. The two creatures (for surely, what could I call Grault?) struggled, the sylph screeching. Thrashing as a dying snake might, it keened in rage and pain.

  I sat up at the prospect of the sylph actually dying.

  Too many legs, so many hands, it threw Grault off with a flex of its whole torso. It screamed at him, at me, with multiple octaves at once.

  Ever my protector, Grault hurled himself back onto the monster. They scrambled down the hall, ancient bellows warring with high-pitched clicks. Together, the pair vanished back towards the kitchen. They left me there, alone with only the lamp for comfort.

  What is this, what's happening? Grault isn't... he isn't human. What the hell is he, what do I do?

  The sound of something breaking in the kitchen cut into my mind. I was on my feet, slipping on the wet floor before I knew it.

  Glass was sprinkled on the stone tiles, sparkling dangerously in my light. Cupboards had been kicked open, spilling porcelain out in disarray.

  The sylph had Grault pinned, a trio of hands around his throat. His bloodless-looking skin rippled, muscles bulging in his fight to get the monster off of him.

  He looked my way, ebony eyes like pits in his skull. The lips I'd kissed, been so eager to kiss, twisted around jagged teeth. One word was mouthed, and I knew what it was, even without sound. 'Run' he was saying.

  No, I thought in numb horror, he's begging me to run. He's terrified for me.

  The long end of the sylph's body, a finned tail that ended in grasping fingers, slammed into my ankles. It choked Grault harder, rolled its beady gaze my way. Then, it eyed the still open window. The sylph was telegraphing its plan.

  Its grinning face turned back to me, I saw my future. I saw my death.

  It's going to drag me out the window, then down into the lake.

  My terror was primal, but my fight or flight was failing me. Tender, tiny clawed fingers coiled around my legs. Grault's face was turning a wretched color, his talons digging into the creature's shoulders.

  “Help,” I whispered, my legs cold where the sylph had me. We're both going to die, we're going to die because of this thing. I thought of Grault's death, my chest inflating to the point of pain. I cried out as the sylph yanked me, my throat ragged from the volume. “Help, please! Someone help me!”

  Anyone... just please, I need help.

  Around us, the kitchen shook. My shoulder slammed into the stones, my back soaking in melting snow. The wind that whistled inside was loud, but it paled next to the groan of the house.

  Then, my guests made their presence known.

  From the hall behind me, through the walls, they even slid from the ceiling. Glowing or matte, the beings I'd been taking care of for weeks, that had only talked to me when they needed something... they came into existence in that ruined kitchen.

  The revenants had heard my plea.

  “Get off of her!” Junlit cried, circling the m
onster's head. The sylph hissed, swinging wide; its limbs just slid through the revenant's yellow body.

  Vibbs zipped in, trying to pry the fins off of my legs. Encouraged, I sat up to help in my own release.

  Chaos, the kitchen was pure chaos.

  The ghostly tenants pummeled the sylph, they yanked at me, and I glimpsed the skinny figure of Qui'nxious prying the hands from Grault's throat.

  We're winning, I realized, my disbelief making me laugh; it was inappropriate, but my mind was too stunned. We're actually winning! The sylph is outnumbered!

  Coga and Koga slammed into the sylph, an act that did little but make it pause. A trickle of fear grew in me, then.

  Xallen, the fly revenant, threw every bit of silverware and unbroken china he could find at the monster. The glass bounced, smashing among the rest.

  And then I realized. Nothing has even injured this thing. It was an awful comprehension. The sylph, too, understood the cold facts. Despite their attempts, no one had done a thing to the monster. It wasn't even bleeding.

  Lightning fast, all its arms and legs bunching, the sylph made a jump at the window. But it hadn't grabbed for me.

  It had made a swipe for Tessa's lantern.

  Yelping, I held on tight, pulled towards the green glass. In a blur, I watched the kitchen fly by me. The icy counter hit my stomach as I was pulled, threatening to make me vomit.

  “Help!” I cried, bracing my shoulder on the wall by the opening. It wants the lantern! Why does it want... I thought it wanted me?

  Everyone was grabbing at my legs. Too strong, the sylph gripped the edges of the window, forcing us out further. The orange light was moving into the night, the sylph winning the tug of war. Around me, the revenants gripped my waist, my shoulders, anything they could hold.

  A familiar hand, recognizable even with its ash flesh and wicked talons, coiled on the handle of the lantern. Looking up, I found Grault standing beside me.

  I wondered if my arms would pop from their sockets. The pressure of the struggle was so great, my fingers slipping ever slightly. No, I begged mentally. The knuckles of my hands were the color of bone. No no no no!

  The house rumbled, a noise that was fathomless. Through my throbbing skull, my panic, it was hard to focus on what the sound could be.

  I didn't need to guess.

  Before my eyes, I saw the window moving. The green glass shattered, blinding all of us. It was a split second, my cheek burning from a small slash. Looking back, I didn't believe what I was seeing.

  Like an angry mouth, the window closed down. Bits of green were stuck in it still, acting like a gnashing, jagged maw. It gnawed, cutting at the sylph.

  That scream made my teeth ache. I didn't see the sylph release the lantern, I simply fell backwards with everyone else in the kitchen. Landing hard, I heard the revenants gasp in shock.

  Grault was beside me, cradling me in the fall. But I didn't look at him. Hugging the lantern, I gawked at the broken window. Bits of white snow trickled in with the wind.

  The sylph was gone.

  I knew it, but I still jumped up to look. There was nothing outside, just the falling ice. It was easy to see the deep path the monster had cut from the lake, all the way to the house and back.

  Why was there still no blood? Hadn't it been injured from the glass?

  I should have felt good, we'd fought the sylph off. It was a victory.

  In my gut, I knew there was more going on. It was a clarity that cut more viciously than the broken window.

  I was no longer safe from the sylph.

  Chapter Seventeen.

  “What's going on?” Junlit asked, flitting around me in an erratic display. “Are you okay, Farra? Are we okay? What's happening?”

  The other guests murmured, clearly stuck on the same train of thought. I knew they were scared, how could they not be? However, my mind was buzzing too... and my stare was stuck on the person across from me.

  Person, I mused, looking over the grim-faced figure that was Grault. With the situation calming down, I was able to get a good look at him and his current state.

  From his short, light hair, I saw two small curling horns. They were as white as his eyelashes, pointed as his ears now were. All of the skin that I could see (for he wore only his trousers) was dull as slate. His face still looked the same, save for the dangerous fangs poking from the corners of his mouth.

  From his back, the two long wings stood taller than Qui'nxious himself. They were granite colored, thick veins traversing them and their fleshy looking skin. I had a suspicion that, if he turned, I'd find the tattoos I'd always admired were gone.

  The ends of his fingers were curled sharply, much like a lion's. He kept putting them behind his back, fidgeting under my unblinking gaze.

  “What,” I asked softly, “are you?”

  I heard Junlit and Vibbs gasp in tandem. “Grault! She didn't know?” The slug stared at me. “You didn't know!?”

  I ignored them all, keeping an awareness only on the space between me and the pale man. My forearm hurt. Glancing down, I noticed I'd been crushing the handle of the lantern.

  Qui'nxious moved, blue arms gesturing at the other revenants. “Come, we will discuss what has happened, but not now. Out, let us go, yes.”

  The group was reluctant, but they didn't argue. Soon, they'd all cleared, leaving me alone with the still silent Grault.

  “Tell me,” I said, my tone low and searing. “Tell me what you are.”

  His wings flexed, spreading slightly. It was almost a shrug. “Farra, I...”

  “Please, just tell me.”

  He sighed, all the fight melting from his body. “I'm a gargoyle, Farra.” The defeat in his voice dug at me, asked me to put aside my confusion and anger.

  But I couldn't, not so easily. “Why didn't you tell me? You've been hiding this since the beginning.” No, he didn't, I thought abruptly. Hearing him name himself, seeing him for what he was, I began putting the puzzle together. He'd told me when I'd arrived at the house that he'd 'flown' there, and I had been the one to doubt.

  His upstairs room, the giant window, his claims of patrolling the grounds... the sound of giant wings the night he'd shown up, bare chested, to save me at the lake.

  Grault hung his head, glaring down at his open palms. His fingers bent, making fists that shook with visible tendons. “I never meant to hide it, not until I started to...”

  “To what?” I prodded him, not moving from the spot.

  He took a step towards me, black eyes vulnerable. “To want to protect you, to care for you.”

  Beneath my heel, I stepped on a shard of glass. It sliced my foot, but the pain was easy to ignore. I had more pressing issues. “If you cared for me, why hide this side of you?”

  “It has to be obvious,” he insisted. “How could I not try and hide it after what you said about... about Tessa, and that sylph.”

  Blinking, I thought back on my comments. He didn't make me work hard, eager to assist me in jolting my memories.

  His shudder was violent, neck going taught. The way he displayed those sharp teeth, every hard facet of his body twitching, put me on edge. “You called it a monster, Farra! You asked how she could love such a thing, and that—that you didn't understand. I could feel your disgust, and it left me wary.”

  'Love.' This is about more than just caring and protectiveness. Reaching up, I pushed my hair back, felt the scratch on my face. I knew there was blood drying there. “That's not the same, I would never have called you a...” I didn't finish. The fight between him and the sylph, how the sight of Grault and his snarling visage had scared me, floated to my mind. Maybe I'm lying to myself. Would I have thought of him like that, if he'd been honest?

  Lifting my leg, I dug out the chunk of green glass. My flinch of pain brought him forward, he wanted to help. At the last second, he hesitated with his hand in the air, nervous to touch me. Gently, I closed the gap, setting the blood-tinged emerald onto his palm. “Monsters don't protect people.�
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  Closing his eyes, he curled his hand around the glass. I worried, when he squeezed it, that he'd cut himself. Amazingly, he opened his fingers to show no damage. “Even with my strength, each time I've tried to help, it was never quite in time.”

  “That's not true, you did save me.” Thinking about the slimy hands of the sylph as it climbed on me in the hallway set my hair prickling. “You heard my cry for help, and you came. You've saved me every time I needed it.”

  Like I might fly away, he approached me in slow motion. Our bodies almost touched. “You truly aren't scared of me?”

  My smile felt foreign after everything that night. “Have you looked around? You're hardly a blip on my radar when it comes to 'scary' at this point.”

  “And you aren't mad?”

  “I'm mad that you hid this from me,” I said, the fire already fading. “A gargoyle, hah. My life just isn't destined to be normal.”

  Grault bent his head down, horns gleaming like ivory. “I'll try to keep it more normal, I promise. I'll change back so you won't have to deal with this body.”

  “Wait,” I said, getting him to look at me. Inching my fingers forward, I wavered just above his wings. “Can I—is it alright if I touch them, first?”

  He couldn't hide his shock. “You want to touch them?”

  Blushing to my neck, I started to pull away. “Not if it's going to be weird, no, never mind.”

  I didn't get far before he grabbed my wrist, guiding me back towards his shoulder. “Go on.”

  My tongue tasted funny when I bit it. Okay, here we go. I didn't know what I expected. Dragging my finger tips over the skin, they were smooth as polished gems. My curiosity led me to feeling not just his wings, but his chest, his forehead, and those horns as well. Every part of Grault was like living rock. He was always sort of firm, but this... “Last night,” I whispered.

  “Hm?”

  My cheeks burned. “Um. When we were, you know? I thought I cut you with my nails, but I was confused when I didn't even see indents. I blamed it on the bad lighting, but your skin is just like that, isn't it?”