Curse of Stone

by Nikki Lockwood

  It was moments like these Gabriel was thankful for his father. He had been a man of few words, like most men who had been to battle one too many times. His father was a great warrior, precise and strong, and fast with his blade. The eldest son of five boys, Gabriel had taken more instruction than his brothers, and it put him in good stead as a fierce warrior in the village. Tales of his conquests, like Iktok’s, were lost to all of time. Though, his father’s teachings served him well in his cursed existence.

  But all the men like him, the ones he called brother, were great warriors.

  Vahagn, Balam, and Daica stood beside Gabriel. All four sets of eyes fixed the sky. A loud crack sounded from deep within the clouds, like that of a rain downfall about to start, but the four gargoyles stood ready. A star erupted out from behind the clouds and looked as if it was falling towards the city, but unsurprised they watched as it darted sideways.

  Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. “Radu.”

  “Impossible,” Vahagn said. “He shouldn’t be back this soon.”

  Radu. The devil’s most ferocious predator. They had encountered him countless times over the millennia and banished him half as much. The other half, the fight was lost, as too, was the healer.

  Gabriel stood up right, stretching out his huge muscular wings. He was close to eight-feet-tall in beast form. Without hesitation he flew into the sky towards the darting star. The others followed suit. They moved at great speed towards the star, following its trailing orange glow as it dashed around. Their wings flapped as they soared across the night sky, above all buildings and houses alike.

  The orange light stopped. As they flew closer, they spotted Radu hovering outside an apartment window, the curtains had not been drawn. Gabriel and his brothers stopped above the nearby building. Balam, without slowing, flew straight towards the star. Radu turned towards them. Within the orange glow, was a man. He smirked, then in a jagged flash, darted sideways. Balam stopped within inches of smashing through the window.

  Gabriel, Daica and Vahagn moved into action. In a V-shaped defence they headed towards the fleeing star. Radu whizzed around in amongst the rooftops, leading them around the city, but returned to the building and disappeared down a small chimney on the rooftop.

  Gabriel landed with an almighty thud on the corner of the building opposite, his brothers halted and landed beside him on the rooftop. A great cracking beneath them sounded as the corner of the building crumbled to the street below.

  “What is he doing?” Daica asked.

  “He hunts,” Gabriel said.

  “Hunts for what?” Daica asked. He had joined them several years ago after wandering the earth alone, for millennia, unaware that there were others cursed like him. He had yet to learn about and encounter the demon, the devil’s star, Radu.

  “For the healer,” Gabriel said. “The scent of her blood has lured him back to Earth. It was only a matter of time.”

  “We must find her before he does,” Vahagn said.

  Gabriel nodded and flew to the window. His brothers joined him, as he stared in. A young woman was asleep in her bed, and on her couch, a young wolf, one of Cathwulf’s. The scent of healer blood smothered him. They all gasped. His heart pounded with feverish angst and hope.

  “Maybe, he has led us to her,” Balam said.

  “It is conceivable,” Vahagn said.

  That was probable. Radu hunted healers for sport. That was all he desired – the heart of a healer. Gabriel scanned the apartment for any movement or an orange glow, but there wasn’t any.

  “Radu has not walked this plane for over half a century, and she might be the reason,” Vahagn said, gesturing to the window.

  “Indeed. We must go,” Balam said. “She is safe with a wolf at her side, for now.”

  Gabriel turned back to the young woman sleeping. Safe, with a wolf, unlikely. Even as strong and stubborn as those mangy flea hosts were, they couldn’t stop Radu, but they would be enough to deter him, for now.

  The woman rolled onto her side, facing him. Gabriel froze. His eyes widened. His memory flooded with glimpses of her deep jade eyes, as she had stared at him.

  Her long black hair contrasted against the paleness of her skin, even in such gloomy light, he could see she was beautiful.

  Danielle Stone. The woman whose beauty had bewildered him. It drew him to her. But it was more than that, he wanted to be near her, protect her, touch her. He traced every curve on her face, marvelling at the delicacy of her mortality.

  This wasn’t a coincidence.

  He had been angry at himself for allowing her to see him, even if it was just his eyes.

  The longer he stared, the possibility seemed within grasp. Could it be? Surely not, he thought, for it was a fool’s hope at best, that this woman could be his saviour.

  It was possible, she was, but then the warmth of hope.

  “Radu,” he uttered under his breath.

  Gabriel had lived long enough to know what happened next; he’d seen it a thousand times over. Sometimes they saved the healer. Other times, the devil sent one too many minions to the surface, outnumbering him and his brothers. It had been fifty-eight winters since the last loss. She’d been taken before they could confirm whether she was a healer or not.

  “Gabriel,” Vahagn called back.

  For a second longer he hovered, then turned to follow his brothers flying away in the night’s sky. Radu would never get to her, he was determined to make sure of that. For if she was his, he had to put aside his own fear and let nothing stand in his way.

  23

  The sound of people yelling from outside, followed by a series of loud clanking noises, jolted me awake. Eyes wide and a small dew across my upper lip. Scanning my apartment, I froze as slits of daylight shone through. I had been so tired that I’d left Jamie on the couch asleep, crawled into bed and hadn’t closed the curtains – for the first time ever.

  I jumped as another loud clank sounded outside. I flicked the covers off, swung my body round into an upright seated position and wandered over to the window.

  “What the hell?”

  Across the road, the top corner of the building had crumpled, causing debris to fall onto the footpath and road below. The wreckage had devastated two apartments, leaving them exposed. Down on the street, construction workers, a police officer, and several fire fighters stood out on the road, staring up at the destruction. One of the men wearing a hard hat, looked to be doing all the talking, while scratching his head as he looked up at the building. A crowd had started to gather behind the cordoned off rope, as a crane and other machines were removing the rubble from the road and loading it onto a dump truck with a clank.

  I walked into the kitchen, flicked the kettle on, picked up my phone off the charger, and called Jay.

  “Stone.”

  “Have you seen it?”

  “Seen what?”

  “The building across the road. Go look out your window.”

  I heard shuffling sounds on the other end of the phone, then the drag of curtain’s being pulled open.

  “Oh,” he said.

  “Did you hear anything last night?”

  “Nope.”

  There was silence on the other end of the phone.

  “You got coffee?” he asked.

  “Yeah…why?”

  There was no answer, he’d hung up. Several minutes later, there was a knock at my door. Before I even opened it, his humming energy zapped my skin.

  “H, hey,” I stammered as I opened the door.

  Jamie was dressed in nothing but trackpants. Allowing for full visuals of his defined muscles contouring his chest, every inch, covered in tattoos. My gaze drifted to his bulged, not erect, crutch region protruding unintentionally.

  Damn it. Jamie wasn’t attractive. Okay, okay, yeah, he was, not that I would ever tell him. Just as I had almost calmed myself entirely, his pectoral muscles flexed. Oh crap.

  “Morning,” he said, with a big smile on his face, looking me up and down a
s he waltzed into my apartment.

  ‘God’s Gift’ was inked in a curved shape across the middle of his torso. Two thick lined stars were placed on his hips; two black wolves were encased in flames on either side of his pecks, joining in the middle with a word. ‘Asena’. Who was that? He’d never had a girlfriend that I’d known of. I didn’t know anyone by that name. It wasn’t his mother’s name.

  Around his neck and sprawling on his arms to his wrists, was an array of motifs and symbols, inked in black. He really was a beautiful specimen of a man, but he knew it, that was his downfall. It made him dangerous to me because he cared for no one. I scolded myself, for having ignoble thoughts that included Jay, it would never happen.

  In the kitchen, the kettle squealed to boil.

  “Yeah, morning.” I closed the door behind him, made him a coffee, and joined him at the window.

  “Thanks,” he said. “Wow, it looks way worse from this height.”

  “What do you reckon happened?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Jamie?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It seems strange that only the top corner of the building collapsed. Maybe something hit it or fell out of the sky,” I uttered under my breath. A gargoyle?

  “Stop that right now. I can see your brain churning on the cogs.”

  “What?”

  “I know you better than you think. Nothing fell out of the sky, otherwise it would be there, on the ground, but look, there’s nothing but crumpled building on the road.”

  “But it could’ve flown away,” I suggested. It could have.

  “Do you hear yourself?” he scolded, then shook his head. “Flew away. Fucking hell.”

  It did seem far-fetched, that something flew in, smashed the building, and flew away, without so much as a howdy-do. Damn it, he was right.

  Jamie threw his arm around my shoulders and tucked me into his side. “Nice nightie.”

  Unimpressed, I glared up at him and was met with a big cheeky smile.

  “What?”

  “I can see down your top,” he said it so cool and casual.

  Wiggling out from under his arm, I shoved him away from me. “Ugh, you’re such a dick.”

  “What?” he said trying to sound innocent. “You know I could’ve said nothing and kept looking.”

  “You’re such a pervert.”

  “What? You have nice boobs.”

  “Oh, my god.” I picked up a cushion and threw it at him, and as it hit him, a bit of his coffee spilt on his hand and the floor.

  “You can clean that up for being a pervert.”

  “Okay, okay.” He started laughing, then walked into the kitchen, grabbed a cloth, and wiped up the spilt coffee.

  “Don’t you have work today?” I asked, changing the subject.

  “Yep.”

  “Why aren’t you there? I thought you started early.”

  “I slept in.”

  “You mean after you left here you had a booty call.”

  He raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer.

  “It’s Mac, isn’t it?” I cringed not sure if I wanted the answer.

  He pulled his long brown dreadlocks around to one side of his face. His eyes narrowed. “No,” he said in a cold, firm tone.

  “It so is.”

  Jay didn’t answer.

  I knew it. “Slut,” I sneered. It surprised me, my knee-jerk reaction. I didn’t mean it, and he wouldn’t take it to heart, but I was appalled at myself. I had never branded him for his man-whorish ways.

  He stepped forward shortening the space between us. “Jealous, are we?”

  A cold flush filled my face. “Jealous? Of what? Being another notch on your bedpost? No thank you.” It wasn’t a lie. I didn’t want to be just another one-night stand. Doing that would ruin our friendship, and as much as he fucking annoyed me, he was invaluable to me. But those feelings I’d had for him, that crush, were long subdued.

  Without warning, he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me into the air. I gasped. His smell, warmth, strength, it hit me all at once, intoxicating my senses, tingling my flesh. The heat from his bare chest and arms, holding me tight, seared. Those baby blue eyes stared up at me with a warmth. My heart fluttered.

  Jay’s face creased into a one-sided grin. “Jealous to know what it feels like?”

  “To know what, what feels like?”

  “You know what.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “How long has it been, Stone?”

  “How long has what been Jamie?”

  “Since you had sex.”

  My shoulders flinched at his casual use of the word, sex.

  Taking a second to regain my composure, my mind raced. Predictable Jamie had, in a split second, become unpredictable, and that made me nervous.

  “Jay, put me down,” I said. “And that’s none of your fucking business.”

  “Oh, you’re spoiling all the fun,” he said, as he walked over to the couch, bent over and let me down. As he did my grip, holding on for dear life, pulled him over too.

  Lying on the couch, Jay sprawled on top of me, his face almost touching mine, mixed emotions flooded me. He didn’t smile, he didn’t do anything, just stared, searching every inch of my eyes. Unmoved, something flickered in his eyes. My breathing slowed. What had I just seen? His warm breath tingled across my flesh. I could taste his scent on my tongue. His lips parted, I thought he was going to kiss me, and there was no way that was going to happen.

  “Uh, you want to get off me,” I said, interrupting his concentration because as he blinked, a cheeky smile reappeared.

  “Are you sure? You’re the one that pulled me on top of you.”

  “I did not, ugh, get off,” I huffed, swatting his shoulders with my hands. Ugh, he was vulgar sometimes. I pursed my lips to hold back the urge of wanting to curse him out. He knew me so damn well, and how to push my buttons.

  Jay stood up and held out his hand to help me up. I whacked it away, stood and readjusted my nightie. Disarmed with what had just happened, I needed to pull myself together. Velkan was his friend and Mac was mine. I hadn’t had sex with Velkan yet, we hadn’t taken that next step, but Jay doing this was messing with my mind. He didn’t like me like that.

  “Since you spoiled our fun, I better be off. What are you going to do today?”

  My eyes ran up his torso to his face. “Stuff,” I said.

  Jamie appeared amused that I’d just run my eyes over him. “It’s Monday. You’re going to see Gran.”

  “And?”

  “You know your gran loves me and that she wishes for us to be together.”

  “Oh, get a grip, she does not. She’s just nice to your face.” I laughed, knowing that I was now teasing him. Truth was, Gran loved Jay. He had spent many hours and days at her home when we were little. Even my mum had loved his scraggy arse.

  He planted a kiss on my cheek and headed for the door. “Oh, and Stone, thanks for the tussle, it was…”

  “Bye.” I cut him off.

  24

  Gran shuffled the pleats on her burgundy skirt. Steam bellowing from two cups of tea on the table in front of us.

  “Why wasn’t Ruth’s disappearance or your sighting ever reported in the local newspaper?”

  Gran sat silent. Her disappointment visible by the vein pulsating along her temple. “Danielle, why are you searching for information? I told you not to.”

  “I know, but I wanted to know if you reported the sighting.”

  Her whole body moved as she exhaled a deep breath. “We did.”

  Gran’s hands were held in a firm grasp on her lap, but even that couldn’t stop them from trembling. Guilt saddened me. I knew I was pressing hard for information she didn’t like to discuss.

  Her green eyes met mine. Gran leant forward and took a sip of tea from her cup.

  “Dad drove us down to the police station the next morning, to report what we had seen. That afternoon, a man dressed in a black su
it, turned up at our house, and spoke to dad, before interviewing us. Dad said he was a detective for weird things. But it was the strangest thing, the detective believed us even after the police dismissed us as silly teenage girls, letting our fear of the dark get the better of us, but there was something about him, I don’t know, it was just a feeling I had.”

  I could hear the matter of fact in her voice. A heaviness attached itself to my heart at the thought of all the pain and loss gran had suffered. It must’ve been a terrible thing.

  “What happened the night Ruth went missing?” I asked.

  “We were scared to go to sleep, I remember that. But nothing seemed out of the norm with Ruth. That night, while I slept, she disappeared. There was no trace of her, no leads, suspects or evidence to suggest what happened to her.”

  A tear trailed from her now glassy eyes. The pain of it, my heart ached for her.

  “Some dog handlers in the area came to help, using the smell off Ruth’s clothes to track her scent, but even they came up empty handed. Dad was furious that the police had not investigated our sighting, as he believed it was connected to Ruth’s disappearance.”

  Her eyes welled up with tears. She had never reacted this way when she used to tell me.

  “I’m so sorry.” I leant my head against her and hugged her tight.

  Silence filled the room for but a minute before she cleared her throat.

  “It’s okay sweetie, it’s not your fault.” She patted the tears from her cheeks with a tissue. “You know, I don’t recall his name, but there was a reporter snooping around. He spoke to Dad. But I never did.”

  “I wonder if they would still have a copy of the article?” The words flew out of my mouth as I thought them.

  Shit.

  Gran’s head snapped up, her back went rigid. “How many times do I have to tell you, not to go looking for answers,” she growled.

  “As many times as it takes.” I smirked.

  There was no swaying me. Her disappointment with me stung my heart, but if I could get her closure, it would bring peace to her heart.

  “Danielle, my sweet granddaughter, you are so much like me. But do not waste your life, like I did. I’ve had to accept the fact that I may never know what happened to Ruth.”