by Price, E A
Ophelia cocked her head on one side. “Luc has mentioned me to you?”
“Oh yes.” The gargoyle had a moue of possibly surprise or distaste on her lips; Kylie couldn’t tell. She would think about it later. After they escaped, which had to be before Luc could come and get hurt. “He’ll be coming for me.”
“You’re sure he will risk his life to save you?”
Was it Kylie’s imagination or was there a certain amount of disbelief in the way she said the word ‘you’? “Yes. He told me not to come here, and I… disobeyed," she admitted in embarrassment. "I don’t want them to hurt him.”
Ophelia bared her teeth. “No, they better not hurt him,” she said, gutturally.
“Let’s get out of here,” Kylie declared, struggling to her feet.
The gargoyle jangled her chains. “Do you even know how to pick locks?”
“No – I don’t even have a hairpin.” There was always a hairpin in the movies, why had she stopped wearing hairpins? Possibly because she wasn’t sixteen anymore and big, fluffy hairdos were not in style.
“Maybe you could use magic – Holling said you had magic.”
“I’m supposed to have magic, but I don’t know how to use it…”
“Try, opening a lock is easy. Try jut thinking about it and saying reclurir,” commanded Ophelia.
“Reclurir?” Back in Harry Potter territory again.
“Just say it!” snarled the gargoyle.
“Reclurir,” repeated Kylie with no conviction at all. “It’s not working.”
“Try!” roared the gargoyle, her wings rearing back and making her look enormous. Although not nearly as large as Luc, she was still twice Kylie’s size, and she didn’t give Kylie half the warm and fuzzy feelings Luc did. “Do you want Luc to die?”
“No!” she whimpered.
Her eyes blazed. “Then you must try!”
“But… I can’t…”
“If you know anything about Luc, you know he will not submit to Holling. If he risks his life to come here to rescue you,” she said it as if it were the strangest thing in the world, “do you believe Luc will allow Holling to keep you or hurt you?! Luc will die protecting you. Are you worth it?”
No, she wasn’t worth his life. “Reclurir!” howled Kylie.
The pressure eased on her wrists and ankles, and Kylie opened her eyes to see that the ropes had loosened. “Holy freaking Zeus! It worked, it actually worked!” She felt woozy and clung to a rickety wine rack.
“I’m thrilled,” hissed Ophelia. “Now how about my locks?”
Kylie tried the spell again, but it didn’t work. Her head, already pounding from being hit by Lara – bitch – felt thick. Trying to get her mind to work felt like wading through marshmallows.
“Pathetic!” snapped Ophelia. “Again!”
She tried again. It didn’t work. Kylie sniffed as the tears started welling up.
“Will you cry over Luc’s corpse?” mocked Ophelia.
“Shut up!” Kylie threw everything she had into saying the word and thinking about those locks just popping open, and they did!
Kylie felt her energy zap and she crumpled to the floor. But it was all worth it for the look of gratitude on the female’s face.
“About time,” Ophelia grumbled. Okay, maybe not.
They both looked up as they heard some muffled thumps and shouts from above. “Come on!” snapped Ophelia.
They rushed up the stairs and crashed through the door. Or at least, Ophelia rushed up the stairs and crashed through the door. Kylie followed in her wake, propelled by her fear for Luc’s safety.
Two of the black-clad strangers from town turned on Ophelia. They were carrying guns. The female snarled and leaped on them before they could do anything; she slashed and thrashed at them without reprieve. Kylie heard some sickening crunches from the men, and she tried not to vomit, as she caught sight of their bodies.
The house was like a war zone. Echoes of pounding footsteps, gunfire and growls reverberated through every room.
“Where’s Luc?” said Kylie, propping herself up against a wall.
Ophelia smirked at her. “I’m guessing we just need to follow the growls.”
The female fled, knocking down various people and causing cries of horror. Kylie tried to open her mouth to ask Ophelia to wait, but she gasped as a big, gruff looking man carrying an even bigger gun entered the room and sneered when he saw her.
Kylie ducked behind a couch. The wall behind where she had just been standing seemed to explode as round after round pelted into it. She covered her ears and tried not to scream. She didn’t even bother to stop herself from crying. If ever there was a time to cry – this was it.
The gunshots finally ended, and she could hear the squeak of the man’s boots as he walked towards her.
One of the men Ophelia had – gulp killed, was lying near to her. His dead eyes were open, and a look of horror was adorning his face. Tentatively Kylie reached out and wrestled the gun out of his hand.
As the gruff man peered behind the couch, Kylie closed her eyes and let rip. She shot the gun over and over until no more bullets remained, and then she tried to shoot it a few more times for good measure.
Kylie opened her eyes one at a time and saw that he was slumping on the floor. “Oh my god! I hit him!” she squeaked, which was somehow worse than not hitting him.
“No, you managed to miss him with an entire clip, thankfully, he wasn’t quite as immune to this… what am I holding?”
“A cricket bat!” said Kylie as she climbed to her feet and gratefully smothered Maggie with a hug. Maggie seemed to be a heck of a lot calmer than she was, so Kylie clung to her, and Maggie made soothing noises and wiped Kylie’s face with her sleeve.
“What the fuck is happening in my house?” asked Andrew, his hand on his head in a comically horrified pose.
“What are you doing here?” sniffled Kylie.
“I live here.” Andrew thought about that for a few beats. “I think.”
“Andrew broke up with Lara,” gushed Maggie but on seeing Kylie’s expression she added, “but that’s irrelevant, what is going on?”
“It’s a long story…”
There was a thunderous cacophony of sounds coming from somewhere in the direction of the library.
“Are those growls?” said Andrew. “Is there a dog in the house?”
Kylie shook her head. “No… I… maybe you should find somewhere to hide… I have to go.”
“Kylie!”
“Be safe.”
She took off as fast as her leaden legs, and jelly-like body would allow. She ignored Maggie’s yells and ran towards the noise, or at least the majority of the noise. There was a lot going on.
Kylie tore through the house or maybe loped would be a better description. She had enough foresight to pick up the cricket bat because she wanted some sort of protection, and clearly she wasn’t a natural with the gun.
Running towards the noise probably wasn’t the best plan, but there was no way she was abandoning Luc. She barely paused as she passed Ophelia, wrestling with two men and found Luc pinned down in the library. Three men were poking him with cattle prods as he snarled in pain, and a disheveled Holling was clutching at his head.
Kylie screamed and without thinking, she threw out her arm and the three men flew across the room. She didn’t pause to think about that as she ran to Luc. He groaned and the burns on his red body sizzled.
“Luc, Luc!” she cried almost hysterically.
“Are you okay, little one?” he rumbled.
She clutched at his shoulder, trying to pull him up. It was like trying to move a stubborn elephant. “Me? I’m fine, I’m more worried about you, you big dope.”
“Dope?” he chuckled, breathlessly before his face turned grim. “You look very pale, and you have been crying. I am very angry with you. You disobeyed me.”
“I just bumped my head but I’m fine, and I was kind of hoping that you’d forget the other thing.”
Laboriously, he rose to his feet. He was a little shaky, but his grip as he held her waist seemed sure. “No, little one, you can trust that I will not forget, but my relief at your safety is more important at this moment.” He traced a thumb over her cheek, and she managed a watery smile.
“Oh, you big dope!” Kylie pressed a kiss to his lips.
“I don’t believe it,” rasped Holling from behind them.
Luc growled, and in spite of his injuries, in spite of how tired he was and how much pain he must have felt, he pulled her behind him.
Holling shook his head in horror. “The two of you… but he’s a monster!”
“You’re the only monster here!” snapped Kylie, which she later lamented wasn’t the best comeback. But, emotions were running high, and she could just as easily have burst into tears – her go-to move in a crisis.
Luc didn’t even react to his insult. He was focusing on the gun that Holling was waving around indiscriminately. Through the peeks that Kylie got of Holling, she saw that blood was seeping from a wound on his head.
“You know, this doesn’t have to end badly,” said Holling, unsteadily. “It’s Lucifer, isn’t it?”
Luc growled, and Holling took this as a yes. “I’m sure we want the same thing – to awaken the other gargoyles.”
Luc trembled in his anger, but slowly his stance seemed to soften. Holling relaxed, and a smile even seemed to play on his lips.
“See, there’s no reason we can’t work together.” He sounded almost ingratiating now. Kylie dreaded where this was going. “Kylie has the ability to wake the others, and I have a lot of friends who could help. The amount of magic it will take will drain her; she’ll need my support.”
Luc half-turned to Kylie, he took her hand, and she frowned. What was he doing? He turned her hand over in his and looked at her wrists. The rope had burned pink marks into her skin. He traced a thumb over them, and she flinched from the rawness.
His eyes shuttered, and he turned back to Holling. “You hurt my mate. I cannot forgive you for this. I cannot trust you. There will be no alliance between our clans.”
Holling twitched as he considered arguing, but he snorted. “Fine,” he ground out. “Have it your way. You were supposed to live, but I need her.” He jutted his chin at Kylie. “I’ll just kill you and take her. I have the spell to awaken them. She’ll perform it over and over until it kills her.”
Luc roared in fury, and Holling raised his gun. Before he could do anything, an iron-like grip clamped onto his arm. He turned to find a furious Ophelia holding him. She yanked the gun out of his hand and then crushed it.
“What are you doing?” asked Holling in bewilderment.
Ophelia snarled and snapped his neck. Kylie shrieked and Ophelia, with barely a pause, leaped over to the other side of the room and killed the three men who had been hurting Luc with the cattle prods.
Maggie and Andrew came running in. “What the hell?!”
Kylie gave up and fainted.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Kylie groaned awake. The whole passing out and getting knocked out thing was starting to be a habit. A very irritating and wussy habit.
“Take it easy, dear,” came the comforting and melodious tone of Bea’s voice. Not to mention highly welcome. “You fainted.”
“Luc?” she whispered and licked her lips. Her mouth felt drier than the Sahara Desert. At that moment, she couldn’t remember the last time she had a drink.
“He’s fine, dear. Andrew would you mind telling Luc that Kylie’s awake.”
“Sure,” he said meekly. Kylie smiled at him, and he gave her a hopeless look in return. He looked how she felt – stunned to the brink of catatonic.
“Where is Luc?” asked Kylie as she propped herself up on her elbows. She found herself in a very large and luxurious bed.
“Talking to Ophelia,” said Maggie brightly, as she jumped on the bed, making it ripple lightly.
“Ugh.” Her head swam with some disturbing bright lights as she tried to sit up. How many blows to the head would it take before she should consider getting a CAT scan or something?
“Slow down,” murmured Bea. “Maggie, please can you bring her some beef broth.” Maggie slid off the bed and disappeared.
“Beef broth?” The sick person food.
“You haven’t eaten anything for two days,” Bea told her, gently.
Kylie held her head in her hands as she tried to think. Thoughts were not easy at that moment. “That can’t be right. What time is it?”
“It’s Thursday – and the sun just went down.”
“I’ve been asleep for almost a whole day?”
“Clearly you needed it,” said Maggie, returning and handing her an unappetizing bowl of what looked like sludge.
Under Bea’s insistent glare, she started eating. “Ugh, what happened?”
“After you fainted, Maggie called me, and I came up here with Gustave to find… the bodies…”
Ugh, now she remembered why she fainted – seeing someone actually die was a bit too much to handle. Bea didn’t know where to look. The world of antiques could be pretty cutthroat, but it didn’t usually involve vicious killings.
Kylie looked at Maggie. “What happened after I fainted?”
“Luc was pretty pissed at Ophelia, but he seemed happy that she was alive. Although, I think he was more concerned about you.” Maggie arched an eyebrow in a suggestive way; it said more than a thousand words could. Kylie blushed and focused on her broth, only wincing slightly at the taste. It contained an awful lot of vegetables.
“Andrew’s still pretty shook up about everything. We don’t know what happened to Lara.”
“He’s not going to…”
“No, he won’t say anything,” said Maggie, quickly. “He’s coming to terms with the gargoyles. Luc and Gustave explained about his uncle’s collection. It seems as if Lara and Holling came into his life, specifically to find the gargoyles. Knew that bitch couldn’t be trusted.”
“What about the… bodies?” Ugh, when did her life resemble a crime scene?
Bea smiled, bleakly. “Gustave was pretty handy at that – he’s feeling a lot better now. Apparently this wasn’t his first… time handling dead bodies.” Kylie wasn’t going to delve into what that meant. “He’s a handy man to have around. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Holling and all his friends left this house last night for places unknown. I better see how he’s doing, he started cleaning up the house.”
Bea kissed her temple and left, and Maggie punched her arm, lightly. “A gargoyle? A freaking gargoyle and you didn’t think to tell me?”
“It was a secret!” Kylie rubbed her forehead. “You’re taking this very well.”
Maggie put her hand on her heart. “Hey, I’ve always believed in the supernatural – just now I have proof. But you? I’m impressed; I saw the way that Luc was fawning over you.” She smirked. “Bride of the gargoyle. You ought to have your own erotic romance novel. I’m really pissed at you for not telling me.”
Kylie tore off a hunk of bread and dipped it in the broth. “Get in line, I think Luc’s annoyed at me, too.”
“Very,” agreed the gargoyle of the hour, making them both jump. “But more relieved that you are well.”
Pleasurable heat bloomed on Kylie’s cheeks. All the affection she felt, combined with all her fears of losing him, jostled for space in her heart. With all the emotions coursing through her, she wanted to say something to him, to show how she felt, how important he was to her and how she couldn’t imagine trying to live without him. “Hi.” Well, it was a start.
“Little one,” he purred as his wings fluttered.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” said Maggie with a knowing grin. Yep, Maggie wouldn’t even bat an eyelid if Kylie eloped to Vegas with a sasquatch.
Maggie was about to close the door when Ophelia stepped past her, almost pushing her out the way and giving her the evil eye. Maggie scowled in a way that perhaps w
ould beat down the Library Committee, but didn’t have much effect on a gargoyle warrior.
Kylie nodded to her friend that it was okay, and Maggie reluctantly left the three of them.
Luc knelt by the bed and took one of Kylie’s hands in his. “How are you?” she asked trying to inspect his body for wounds. She couldn’t see any; the only things on display were his acreage of dark red skin and his taut, impressive muscles. Her arousal stirred, and she scoffed at its bad timing.
His brows knit together in concern. “No, how are you?” He inspected her wrists, and his face tightened as he took in the bruising to her skin. “Are you in pain?”
“No,” she replied quickly. “But what about you? I saw what they did to you.”
He seemed to be confused by her concern. “I have slept since then, little one, and I am much improved.”
“Gargoyles heal faster than humans,” declared Ophelia. Kylie had almost forgotten she was there. But when she looked at the female gargoyle, she was struck by the thought that it would be a very dangerous thing indeed ever to forget about her.
“You should eat,” said Luc, encouragingly. He grasped the dainty spoon between his huge, clawed fingers and tried to feed her.
“I’m okay.” Her stomach growled, furiously just at that moment.
“Clearly,” he chuckled as Ophelia huffed. “But you must eat, you will waste away.”
“I think we may be a few months away from that,” Kylie said, wryly. Still she allowed him to feed her, were it not for Ophelia’s impatient presence, it might have been a tender and even sensual encounter. Instead, Kylie felt more like a badly behaved child who couldn’t be trusted to feed herself. Ophelia didn’t have to say it, but it seemed like she agreed that was the case.
After draining more than half the bowl and eating two bread rolls, Kylie cried uncle and Luc seemed to be satisfied. He removed the tray of food and sat on the edge of the bed. Luc smiled, and she stroked his cheek; he nuzzled against her hand. Had it only been a matter of days since they were together? Everything felt so right between them, like they’d been together forever and yet the magic of new love had never left them. She wanted to bask in his loving gaze forever. It was more warming than a hundred suns.