The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9)

by Lisa Blackwood

  Gregory tilted his head in acknowledgment, and Lillian could visualize the familiar glint of humor in his eyes. Only her irrational guardian would find thirty guns pointed at his chest amusing.

  Major Resnick’s expression remained stony though he did lift one eyebrow a fraction of an inch. “Were I in your place, I wouldn’t be finding it humorous. I know Corporal Jenkins, and that fancy face job might have fooled us had the real Jenkins not just crawled out of the forest and reported how he was ambushed. Now, hands behind your head and face down on the floor.”

  Lillian tensed as Gregory reached out and touched her mind. “My Sorceress, grant me my defensive magic and be ready to follow close on my tail.”

  “Use your magic, but don’t get yourself shot. And if we kill a bunch of soldiers to escape, they’ll just hunt us and our allies all the harder.”

  “I know, but my defensive magic can do more than kill on a large scale.” He gave the equivalent of a mental shrug and added, “I’ve just never had a reason not to simply kill my enemies, until now. I’ll have to teach you this part of your gargoyle magic at some point.”

  “Down, now. Or we’ll shoot you down.” Resnick sounded like he was losing patience.

  Gregory rolled his shoulders and slowly placed his hands on the back of his head. He went down on one knee like he was going to do as they demanded. “It’s not a mask.”

  Resnick’s eyes narrowed at Gregory’s words. “I’m sure we’ll get to that during the interrogation.”

  “Another time, perhaps.” At Gregory’s words, his shadow magic swirled up from the ground and its chilled currents washed against Lillian’s body. It had no effect on her, but when it touched the first human, it exploded outward in an ever-enlarging circle, carrying with it any hapless humans it had captured.

  Gregory bolted into motion as the soldiers landed hard, a good twenty feet away.

  Lillian followed him so close she bumped him once when he slowed to turn a corner.

  On the plus side of things, his defensive magic had also taken out most of the lights, and she was no longer blinded by all that vicious brightness.

  Gregory’s shadow magic continued to hide and protect them from the startled humans. The distraction would only last moments at best. Some of the downed soldiers were already picking themselves off the floor, as other newcomers came to their aid.

  Lillian didn’t care. They were swiftly through the last checkpoints. Shoving surprised guards out of their path, they were soon surrounded by glorious night air and freedom.

  Ahead, Gregory shifted into his gargoyle form and dropped to all four so he could run faster. She lengthened her stride to come alongside him.

  All around them, the terrain was suddenly torn up by bullets biting into the ground. Dirt and tall stalks of grass were mowed down as a continual rain of deadly projectiles pelted the ground less than ten feet from her present path.

  Gregory snarled in pain or anger, she couldn’t tell the cause from her position two strides behind him. The roar of an engine drowned out all other sounds. A helicopter was taking off. Possibly more than one, she concluded, as a greater noise rose up from the military camp behind them.

  Two armored vehicles with manned guns on the back were racing across the field she and Gregory were presently running through.

  “That was too damn close. Can they see us?” Lillian asked.

  “No, but they can guess.”

  Gregory veered to the side and slowed enough she shot right past him. At which point she realized the move was intentional on his part. He was protecting her, putting himself bodily between her and the enemy closing in behind them.

  His maneuvering also allowed her to see the bloody furrows running along his flank where more than one bullet had found its mark.

  “You’re hurt,” she uttered. The stupid remark exited her mouth before she could stop it.

  Gregory merely rolled his eyes at her. “They are flesh wounds. A lucky round which made it past my defensive magic.”

  Lillian instantly knew what he hadn’t said. The bullet had only made it through because he’d concentrated the vast majority of his magic around her. The shadow spells were still coiling around them, but they were fading. Either Gregory was weakening, which she doubted, or he had another idea.

  “My magic hides us from view. Unfortunately, this long grass still shows where we’ve been. In my haste, I didn’t weave a spell to conceal the evidence of our passage until too late. Now they know the rough area where to concentrate their attention and fire.”

  She glanced over her shoulder as she ran. Their mad dash for freedom was creating a trail through the tall grass even a toddler could follow. Ahead a marshy bog was meandering its way around the back acreage of the community center. There’d be no easy way to hide their path. Even with magic.

  More gunfire and a small explosion of grass and dirt erupted alongside Gregory, forcing him to leap sideways. He shouldered her in the side, steering her into a new trajectory. For once Lillian was not complaining about his overprotective tendencies.

  “I think it’s time for your first flying lesson.”

  “What?”

  “Our shadow magic will be much more effective against the dark sky. There will be no trail for them....”

  Again, Gregory drove her into a sharp turn. A half second later the land where they would have been exploded in a cloud of debris.

  “Damn, I think that was an RPG. They mean business.”

  Gregory didn’t even miss a beat. “Ahead, when we reach that small rise, spread your wings and allow your stride to power you more upward than forward. Jump like you mean to clear a fallen tree trunk and spread your wings. Ride the air. It will come naturally to you.”

  “Like hell!”

  But the rise—not much more than an anthill really—was upon them and when Gregory jumped into the air, she did too, squealing in terror. Yes, she learned, a gargoyle could squeal.

  Her wings, true to Gregory’s word, stretched wide instinctively, capturing the air and propelled her body up higher into the sky with each stroke. Her wings might know what to do, but her legs churned and thrashed like they were still hoping to find something with more traction than the air.

  Gregory maneuvered under her, putting himself between her and the ground as they gained more altitude.

  For another whole ten seconds of pure panic, she thought she’d entangle their wings and send them both spiraling to their deaths. Blessedly that didn’t happen. Instead, her body and wings began to mimic his motions in the air.

  He’d been firmly in her mind the entire time, but her blind panic had kept her from detecting him.

  “That’s it. Follow my lead.” His confidence washed over her senses. “You’re doing fine. We will be able to land soon, but not here. We are over solid forest at the moment. There’s a road a little distance ahead, which should be empty this time of night. We’ll land there and make our way home through the forest.”

  Home sounded good. The shelter of the forest sounded nice too.

  She’d settle for either at this point.

  “I just want to say this was an absolutely terrible time for my first flight lesson.”

  Gregory chuckled. “All in all, I thought it went rather well. We are free. We don’t have too many holes in our hides, and you did actually make it into the air under your own power.” He pulled ahead and then performed an aerial maneuver that would make a stunt pilot hold his breath.

  “Show off.”

  In a blink, he was flying next to her again.

  She concentrated on beating her wings and not falling out of the sky. They flew what she thought was another two kilometers before she saw the road ahead.

  “Oh, thank heavens,” she hissed, feeling a strain in her wings and shoulders. “I’m so not in shape for flying, but this has got to have been my best cardio workout ever.”

  “You’re tiring?”

  Lillian held back a sharp retort and instead said, “I’m a little
tired.”

  “We’re almost there, but landing is more dangerous. I’ll carry you to the ground this time. We’ll practice landing over shallow water the first few times. Trust me, it’s a much safer practice.”

  Lillian wasn’t at all sure about having him help her to the ground. It summoned visions of tangled wings and broken bodies.

  Gregory curled the edge of one wing a fraction and was suddenly right over top of her. He flew so close she could feel his heat.

  “Get ready to fold your wings tight to your body at my command. Don’t struggle or try to unfurl your wings until we are safely on the ground. Understand?”

  The road was almost under them, and she didn’t have time to argue. Besides, she trusted him with her life. “I understand.”

  “Fold your wings now.”

  She did, and his tail snaked around her waist and hips as his arms snapped forward to lock in a firm embrace around her chest.

  A squeak of surprise escaped her as his wings fanned out to slow them, and the combined forces of gravity and momentum threatened to peel her from his hold and leave her broken on the ground below.

  But Gregory didn’t fail her. With a few more violent beats of his wings, they landed in the middle of a tree-shrouded road.

  She panted harshly but dug her talons into the road’s gravel surface, mindlessly happy to be on the ground and to be in one piece.

  Slowly she came to recognize the area. They weren’t far from the old sawmill the Clan and Coven used during their lunar Wild Hunts. Well, the one they used to use before all the reporters, scientists, and military arrived. The sawmill should still be a safe place to hole up for a couple of hours until she had her breath back.

  Gregory didn’t immediately release her, although his grip loosened to allow his hands to skim along her arms as if he searched for wounds. He, too, still panted, his chest pressed against her back and wings, his warm breath puffing against her neck and right side of her face.

  “Are you alright?” His voice rumbled in her ear, and she detected a note of worry there.

  “I’m fine. A little shaken up, but no lasting scars.” She turned in his arms and touched her muzzle along the underside of his jaw while she simultaneously wrapped her arms around his waist. Her horns framed the sides of his face, but he seemed not to care. As for her tail, it seemed to seek out Gregory’s lower legs like it was trying to prevent him from going anywhere.

  Tonight, Gregory could have been badly hurt. She didn’t know if he could have survived being riddled with as many rounds as were aimed at him if his magic hadn’t been there. What if in the future he was unable to call upon his magic because she didn’t give an order in time?

  Gregory gave an affronted huff. “I would never have allowed them to land that many blows. Even if they caught me asleep and unaware, these weapons wouldn’t kill me. I’d heal. Sometimes I think you forget what I am. What I am capable of doing to protect you.”

  Lillian knew his words were true, but she had seen her beloved brought low before, and he had died defending her in past lives. She might not have those memories at the moment, but he’d alluded to such.

  Gregory nuzzled her, and then dragged her as close as two bodies could be. “Silly little dryad, those times we faced off against creatures far deadlier than a few humans—some of those creatures could kill even a demigod such as the Lady of Battles.”

  “Oh my god.”

  He held a finger up to her lips to silence her. “And other times I lost you first, not because I couldn’t protect you but because you would throw all you were into destroying an enemy before it could decimate other worlds. In so doing, you sacrificed your mortal body to call upon the full force of your Avatar magic. I don’t like to remember the times I lost you first. So, my little dryad, feel free to make me forget those unpleasant thoughts.”

  “I’m a gargoyle, at the moment, not a dryad if you couldn’t tell.”

  Gregory laughed with genuine humor. “Like I could forget it with you wrapped around me like a towel.”

  Lillian pretended insult and tried to extract herself. The slight flaring of her wings stirred the air and brought a fresh wave of blood scent to her nostrils, reminding her Gregory was still bleeding.

  “If you are so invincible, why the hell are you dripping blood on the road? Eh?”

  Gregory snorted and then waved a hand at the few drops of blood. They shimmered for a moment and then misted away.

  “You were able to do that without an order.” It was more of a question than a statement.

  “It is part of my defensive magic. Your earlier order is still in effect.”

  Lillian sighed and nuzzled him. Then another unhappy thought caused her stomach to tighten. “How much blood did you leave in that field? They will scour every blade of grass for evidence.”

  Gregory stretched out his injured wing to show it had stopped bleeding and was already healing. “And they will find nothing of interest. I ordered my magic to eradicate any drops left behind, no matter how far away.”

  Not surprising. Her guardian gargoyle always seemed to have every contingency covered.

  Lillian broke away from Gregory’s warmth.

  “Come, we’re not far from the sawmill where the Wild Hunt gathers. We can rest there for a short time before we make a run for home.

  Gregory agreed distractedly, his faraway look saying he was already thinking up further contingency plans.

  Lillian’s right hand drifted to her belly for a moment before she dropped to all fours and broke into a trot, leading Gregory into the forest.

  There was one event, should it come to pass, which even Gregory might not know how to handle. She hoped she never had to find out.

  Chapter 10

  COMMANDER GRYTON WATCHED the unfolding spectacle with what might have been a spark of humor, had he possessed such a weakness. His lips compressing, he unfolded his arms and pushed off from the brick wall at his back. He’d watched the Avatars, both in gargoyle forms, lead the soldiers of the human army on a merry chase.

  Clearly, the female half of the pair was not yet familiar with her gargoyle body. He was sure what he’d just witnessed was her first attempt at flight.

  The Avatars were not what he was expecting. He knew their reputations, the past feats which would give even the most powerful of beings pause. Yet, he saw little of the awe-inspiring personality apparent.

  As a child the Sorceress had been a somber little thing. Obedient to her dryad mother and the Battle Goddess’s edicts. At the time, the Battle Goddess had falsely assumed the demon seed sufficient to keep her docile. The seeming obedience proved an illusion. She’d only been biding her time until her protector matured enough to rescue her.

  During that time, Gryton had kept his magic leashed so the Sorceress wouldn’t see the full strength of his power and start speculating what he truly was.

  His continued survival hinged upon the Avatars’ ignorance. Yet, many times, he’d wondered almost hopefully if the female half would recognize him for what he was.

  But she never had.

  What the Divine Ones deemed a violation of their rules was dealt with swiftly and with no compassion. Even their Avatars were not immune to their judgment. It wasn’t a surprise the Avatars did not know him.

  The Divine Ones had stripped that knowledge—a whole lifetime—from their Avatars.

  Lillian and Gregory didn’t remember one moment of their last incarnation. Certainly not the one fatal moment of weakness which nearly cost them everything. A mistake which had changed the path of all three realms.

  That was the start of Gryton’s own personal misery. He didn’t serve the Battle Goddess because he wanted to. He suffered her rule to survive. Only her powerful army protected Gryton from her Twin’s gargoyle legion.

  Oh yes. Never could he forget, not for one moment, that Lord Death had been ordered to destroy him. And Death never gave up the hunt.

  So Gryton served the Battle Goddess—for now, and he would remain
loyal until she got from the Avatars what she needed to bring about her own Twin’s downfall. Once Lord Death was out of the way, she planned to challenge the Divine Ones with the help of an army of creatures possessing god-like powers bred from their Avatars.

  It was an ambitious plan. One he personally thought had no hope of success. Surely the Avatars wouldn’t repeat the same mistake which had earned the Divine Ones’ infinite wrath a second time?

  Yet, to judge by recent events transpiring in this realm, it seemed they would. How foolish the Avatars were made by their love for each other. Now there was an emotion he vowed never to feel—and be brought low by.

  Fate was drawing him forward, and he would consent to be the instrument that helped the Avatars find their doom if it would ensure his own survival.

  First, he had a little clean-up to do.

  Gryton walked through the middle of the human’s military camp, concealed by his magic. The last thing he needed was to be discovered by any of the Avatars’ allies that might be spying on the mortal’s camp.

  In truth, he merely wanted to accomplish what he’d come to this realm to do in the first place, and then leave it behind. Regrettably, something here in the human’s encampment needed his attention first, a loose end in need of tying.

  Gryton made his way deeper into the camp as it buzzed with activity.

  None saw him. His power was different than a gargoyle’s shadow magic, more mind than body. As he continued to direct the mortals’ attention away from his location, he felt the slight drain on his magic reserves.

  He strolled into their main building, past two guards, and several devices. The devices noted his passage and set up a racket, beeping and wailing loud enough to be heard even in the Spirit Realm. Without a glance behind, he hastened his step. His instincts focused solely on the bit of blighted, rotting darkness that masqueraded as a Riven’s soul.

  Mindless slaughter was always an affront. If one was going to kill, there should be some purpose behind the effort.

  He would do this Realm a single service.