The man howled in pain, but she wasn’t finished yet. She grabbed up the rifle and brought it down. His good arm managed to block the first blow, but she smacked it out of the way.
“You tried to kill the kid. Only monsters kill children.” She screamed at him as the rage drove her to a greater need for violence. She brought the rifle’s butt against the human’s head again and again. Blood splattered her in a fine spray.
She’d broken his nose and likely a cheekbone, but the bastard was still breathing.
“He’s just a child,” she screamed and raised the rifle high above her head.
“Anna, no.” Shadowlight’s voice was young sounding and pain filled, but his will was strong and reached deep into her mind. “You will stop now.”
As if his words were a command, she released the rifle. It thumped to the ground beside the unconscious soldier underneath her.
The soldier was nearly unrecognizable.
She’d beaten him bloody.
She shook her head to clear it but still nothing made sense. No that wasn’t true. Something made sense in the madness. Shadowlight’s familiar voice.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“Come away now,” Shadowlight urged. “The threat is past.”
Anna came to her feet, obedient to Shadowlight’s command.
But it was Gregory who finally approached and urged her away from the human at her feet.
“Shadowlight is right. Come.” Gregory reached out and took her arm. At his touch, the red fog blanketing her mind seemed to lift.
She shook her head again. “What? What’s wrong with me?”
Shadowlight trotted up on her opposite side and bumped his muzzle under her hand. “The humans have been defeated. You can relax now.”
“Listen to Shadowlight and come away,” Gregory said. “We’ll get to the bottom of this later. First, we need to see to Lillian and Shadowlight’s injuries. Are you in control of yourself?”
It was a simple question. One that should have an easy answer. But the answer was evasive.
Was she in control of herself?
It didn’t feel like it.
But she nodded, and Gregory stepped away from her to see to Lillian. When she looked back to Shadowlight, it was to see that he’d reared up to stand on two legs. Anna immediately noticed his shell-shocked look.
She turned and then enfolded him in a bear hug. “I’m sorry kid.”
Shadowlight returned her fierce hug
“Why did they try to kill us? I thought they were allies.”
“I’m not sure, hon.” But I’m damned well going to find out.
When Shadowlight released her at last, she glanced around to check on Lillian and Gregory again but noticed the black pony rolling on his back and grunting. Had he been injured? If it didn’t mean leaving the kid unguarded or exposing him to new horror, she would have gone and checked on the Fae they simply called Pooka.
Gregory barked out something sharp and inhuman at the Fae. After a moment the pooka levered himself back to all fours with another grunt and then gave himself a good shake. Only then did he trot over toward the Avatars.
“Oh, God. Did he…? Gods, that’s so nasty. I think I’m going to puke,” Lillian said. She was still in gargoyle form at the moment, but if she’d been a dryad, Anna would have bet the other woman would be a bit green.
Anna scanned the pooka, trying to see what distressed Lillian so much. That’s when she noticed the pooka’s black pelt shone damply. And now that he was closer, her gargoyle senses could detect the dense coppery odor of blood. Lots of blood.
“What the hell?”
Shadowlight bumped his muzzle against her shoulder to get her attention. “Pookas roll in the blood of their fallen enemies after battle.”
Then the cub flicked a mildly horrified looked down Anna’s own blood smeared body. “I didn’t realize humans did the same.”
Anna glanced down at her bloodstained uniform.
How was she ever going to explain this mess to her superiors? And for that matter, how were her superiors going to smooth over the massive rift this attack would cause. Anna had a number of other questions all vying for attention, too.
Top of the list was finding out who the soldiers that had attacked them were. Why did they attack? Who did they work for? The questions went on and on. But whatever the answers, the motive was clear. The realization that humans weren’t the only sentient species on the planet was bound to put a bee up the ass of every elitist and human-centric crazy this side of the equator.
With a deeply unhappy sigh, Anna watched as Gregory dragged the soldiers to one location.
Anna needed to answer Shadowlight’s earlier question and hopefully quell his fear, even if it put her own differences in an uncomfortably bright light. “Humans don’t generally make a habit of glorying in our killing. Certainly no rolling in an enemy’s blood. I overreacted.”
“I was in danger,” Shadowlight said in a whisper. “You acted the way you did because of me. Because of what my blood has done to you. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. But don’t worry, kid. I’m an adult and can deal with my own shit,” Anna said and stroked another unruly lock of hair behind his ear. In truth, she knew what he was talking about, and she knew his words were true. But she didn’t care. She would have protected him even without the blood’s influence. “I need to go clean up and report this mess.”
“I think your superiors already know,” Gregory said as he stepped up to them. “I hear helicopters coming.”
The other gargoyle had Lillian tucked against his side protectively. That’s when Anna saw blood seeping down Lillian’s arm from a graze. Other than that minor wound, the female gargoyle didn’t seem to be harmed. She was in fact, alert and studying Anna.
“You might want to regain some…composure,” Lillian said and paused as she flailed for a better word. In the end, she just rushed to the truth. “You look more gargoyle than you did before.”
To reinforce her words, Lillian reached up and gestured at her own horns.
Anna felt her jaw drop. Oh, for fuck sakes. No. Nope. Can’t be.
But when she reached up, she felt the wide bases of two horns. Yup. She had big-ass horns.
Shadowlight reached out and touched first one horn and then the other. There was a mild heat in both horns, and then suddenly they were gone. Instantly her head felt lighter. How the hell hadn’t she known about the horns earlier?
Well, that was one thing fixed. What other surprises awaited her? Dragging in a deep breath, Anna glanced down at her body. She took stock of her condition and was pleased to see she hadn’t sustained any wounds or other disconcerting changes.
At least the horns were one less thing she’d have to explain in a report. She thought about asking Shadowlight how he had made them vanish, but at that moment she was too tired to care. She was just glad they were gone. She had enough weird ass anomalies as it was.
Overhead a helicopter circled, its spotlight illuminating the area. In the distance, she could hear other vehicles approaching. Light armored vehicles by the sounds of the engines.
Great. She was in for a night long debriefing and would later have scientists breathing down her neck.
“Do you wish to go elsewhere? We can.” Shadowlight said, proving she still hadn’t mastered the art of shielding her thoughts from the others.
Anna barked out a humorous laugh. “You know I do. But after Gran sees to the wound on your wing, I’ll stay and answer every question my superiors have and maybe later after it’s over, they’ll let us rest for a bit.”
The vehicles were still approaching fast, perhaps only two minutes out when the unicorn galloped into the clearing. The Mother’s Sorceress was astride his back, and Daryna was living up to her name. Raw, white and sizzling, power danced along her skin and silhouetted her against the lengthening shadows of dusk.
“Well. This doesn’t look good.” Anna stepped between D
aryna and the gargoyle child.
Daryna paid them no mind. Her attention was focused on the seven-man team where Gregory had dragged them all together in one pile. Anna was surprised to see that none of them were dead. Yet. But they had an assortment of wounds. Some grievous, others shallow. But all seven soldiers were bloodied and would have a long recovery.
Though by the look of them, Anna wasn’t certain if all would survive. The man she’d beaten and the two the pooka had taken down were the worst. Their futures looked the most uncertain.
While she might not shed a tear over what happened to them in the heat of battle, it did not mean she would sit back and do nothing while the soldiers were murdered in cold blood. Hell, they were soundly defeated and were presently unconscious.
Daryna dismounted from the unicorn and then stalked up to the fallen soldiers. She spread her arms wide and held her palms up, globes of blazing magic at the ready to rain fire and death down upon the soldiers.
Chapter Fifteen
Daryna’s sudden arrival surprised Lillian, but it also jarred her out of the numbing shock that had started to creep across her being. Daryna’s intent was obvious. And while Lillian wasn’t feeling precisely sympathetic to the soldiers, she couldn’t just stand back and watch them be snuffed from existence. Anna must have been thinking the same thing for she left Shadowlight to step between Daryna and the fallen soldiers.
Swiftly stepping out and away from Gregory’s sheltering wing, Lillian darted forward and circled around to stand beside Corporal Mackenzie.
“Lillian, step aside.” Daryna’s words were brisk and dripping with command.
“Nope.”
One of Daryna’s eyebrows arched up, showing her surprise. “These traitors must be put down, or their fear and hate will only spread like a disease.”
“That’s not your call to make,” Anna barked out, the rifle she’d taken from Shadowlight at the ready.
Behind Lillian, a growl broke the silence. Gregory. Really not happy. Lillian turned and pointed a finger at her mate. “You stay out of this.”
Gregory huffed out a startled grunt but swallowed back his aggression. Her gargoyle protector brought into line for a moment, she turned her attention toward Daryna. “You! Stow the fire and brimstone act. Violence generally only begets more violence. We need cooler heads. Yes, they attacked us. Yes, we used force to subdue them. But they are helpless now and are no threat to us. Their punishment will be decided by the humans. Not us.”
“Move out of the way.”
“Not until you’re rational.” Lillian spread her arms and wings wide, palms held out empty. “I’m not going to let you kill unconscious men. And I highly doubt you’re going to attack me just to get to them.”
Mind you, she expected Daryna knew a few spells and could get around Lillian’s defenses without much trouble.
Gregory, who had been stalking around the three women, finally released a chuckle. The tension in the air lessened a hundredfold. He paced over to Lillian and nuzzled at her hand.
A foolish thrill of happiness warmed her heart. Gregory had sided with her over his sorceress.
“I think the three of you must be some of the most formidable females to be found in any of the realms. I suppose it’s good that I adore strong women.” Gregory stood and wrapped a wing around Lillian, urging her up against his side. Then he reached out and wound his tail around Daryna, forcing her to lower her arm. When Daryna didn’t extinguish her magic, Gregory dragged her over to him.
Daryna hissed something but swallowed back her power before it could touch Gregory’s skin.
“There will be no more death this night. Besides, surely the future will hold enough. Lillian is correct. These humans will be turned over to their superiors.” Gregory glowered at them.
“They must be punished,” Daryna said, sounding taken aback.
“And they will,” Gregory said in a soothing voice. “As much as I would like to deal with them myself, our human allies will need to make the next move. If I do not like what that move is, we will discuss alternates.”
Lillian side-eyed Gregory. “Thanks for the support. I think.”
Still, some of Lillian’s weariness fell away, and she felt another wave of warmth that Gregory had sided with her over his sorceress.
Daryna sighed, the tense set of her shoulders relaxed. “You have more experience with these humans. I will bow to your wisdom in this, my protector.”
Lillian was certain there was a silent ‘this time’ at the end of Daryna’s sentence. But for now, she’d settle for temporary peace. She drew a deep breath and let it hiss out between her lips. “Good. Because I’m sweaty, smelly, sore and bleeding again.”
Inspecting the graze on her arm, she noted it still stung and seeped blood readily. “And I’m also hungry, and I want to shower. So let’s keep the damn peace when these nice soldiers all come rolling up.”
She nodded at the first of several armored vehicles sliding to a halt. Apparently, they were closer to finishing the fifty-kilometer run than she’d thought if the vehicles had already made their way to them so swiftly.
“Oh for fuck sakes. They brought scientists with them.” Anna groaned and dropped her head into her hands.
Shadowlight paced beside Anna. His tail flicked happily. “I like the scientists. They’re nice.”
Anna just shook her head. “You only like them because they give you candy.”
“Do not.”
“Ha. Yes, you do. That reminds me. We should have the talk about not taking candy from strangers.”
“But I like candy,” he admitted.
When Shadowlight leaned against Anna’s leg, she reached out and patted the young gargoyle on the shoulder. “Come on. We’ll deal with this and then see if we can find something sweet and totally bad for us. I think we deserve it after all this.”
Lillian watched as the unlikely dual walked to meet the soldiers filing out of the vehicles. Even though she was tired, dirty and sore, a smile pulled back her lips, flashing fangs in a toothy gargoyle grin.
The three realms might just have a grumpy soldier and an exuberant gargoyle child to thank for a peace treaty which could save them all.
Though, they couldn’t do it alone. Lillian glanced up at Gregory and then over to his other side where Daryna stood looking at the approaching humans with disdain and anger.
Sighing, Lillian squared her shoulders. “Come on. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can get cleaned up and find some food. It’s been a hellishly long day.”
Chapter Sixteen
After the epic disaster of the first joint training exercise with the humans, Lillian returned to their quarters with Gregory and Daryna while Gran, Whitethorn, and the banshee remained with the humans to salvage the peace treaty and see to Shadowlight and Anna’s wounds.
At the moment, Lillian doubted if Gregory was feeling particularly forgiving. Actually, his dark expression hinted that he was probably trying to figure out a way to deal with the Battle Goddess without the help of the humans.
“Oh come on,” Lillian said as they trudged up the stairs and turned down the hall that led to their chambers. “The day could have turned out far worse. No one has died yet.”
“You sound much calmer. You realize you weren’t half so calm when you thought Shadowlight had been harmed.”
“So what. I embrace double standards. If they’d hurt Shadowlight, you would’ve had to fight me for the kill.” Lillian sighed, her humor vanishing. “This incident was brought about by less than a dozen humans. We couldn’t just punish all of them for the acts of a few.”
“Innocent? If Resnick and the rest of his kind had been doing their duty, they should have scented the deception on the soldiers under their command.”
“You forget humans don’t have the highly developed senses of a gargoyle.” Once inside her rooms, Lillian started to peel off her bloodstained clothing. “Even we didn’t catch the dark intent of the traitors until we were practic
ally on top of them. How can you blame all the humans for the failings of a few?”
Gregory huffed again, likely wanting to deny her words, but he couldn’t.
Lillian pulled her crusted hair away from the graze on her shoulder and growled out a pained hiss.
“I should have braided this mess.” She pulled her thick mane over her shoulder and studied the wound more carefully. “The graze burns like a sonofabitch.”
“Let Gregory clean the wound,” Daryna said as she stepped closer to examine it. “Then I’ll heal it.”
“Sure.” Lillian glanced at Daryna, not really wanting the other woman to use her magic on the wound, but it wasn’t like Lillian could say no without raising suspicions. And that was the last thing she needed this night. The banshee’s concerns were still prominent in her mind. Focusing on the small wound, she pushed her other concerns away to deal with later as she probed at the minor injury.
“There doesn’t seem to be dirt or foreign debris in it. It’s all yours,” she said with a glance in Gregory’s direction.
He didn’t get the first aid kit like a human would. Instead, he stepped closer and dipped his muzzle down to the wound. At the first swipe of his tongue, Lillian grunted even though she expected it.
Not that she should have been surprised. Gargoyles were touchy-feely and weren’t turned off by a bit of blood. He continued to lap at the wound for a couple minutes and then nuzzled his way up her shoulder to the curve of her neck.
His warm, male scent wrapped around her like a comforting blanket. Having Gregory close was pleasant. She dragged in a deeper lungful of his scent. Her thoughts turned to more intimate things than the wound on her forearm.
At least until a movement behind Gregory caught her attention. Her gaze focused on Daryna and that effectively smothered the embers of desire Gregory’s presence had been fanning.
Yep. Nope.
No audience.
Lillian stepped away from Gregory and then presented her wounded arm to Daryna.
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