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

by Lisa Blackwood

  She glanced at her father where he waited patiently for her to see their way of thinking. Even with the memory transfer Gregory talked of, she didn’t think this plan had a hope of success.

  But if they didn’t act now, Whitethorn and Goswin might slip forever beyond their reach.

  “Fine, let’s do this.”

  Gregory and Darkness gave almost identical somber nods, whereas Shadowlight jumped to attention, wings vibrating with excitement.

  If it were within her power, she would forbid Shadowlight from coming. He was far too young to go on such a dangerous mission. However, she’d been overruled, and they did need every set of wings available to rescue Whitethorn and Goswin.

  Besides, Shadowlight would likely just follow them, and if he was going into danger, she wanted him near enough to keep an eye on.

  MAJOR RESNICK DECIDED he was having the mother of all bad weeks. They made their way back to base as fast as humanly possible on foot, the land too rugged for any kind of motorized vehicles to extract them. Not that their radios were working. Something was jamming them again.

  He was just exiting the forest and coming out onto the road when he heard the roar of helos approaching. His team was less than five kilometers from the base, but they might as well have been a hundred for all the good it did him.

  Thirty seconds later, five US Army helos flew overhead, heading south. His gut told him that was the prisoner transport, and it was in danger. Was the communications blackout the work of his people or something else?

  If how this week was going was any indication, the blackout would be the work of something else.

  “We need to warn them. Move it.” He broke into a run.

  THE SLIGHT BREEZE TUGGED at Lillian’s tightly folded wings as she sat perched on the highest branch of the tree capable of holding her weight.

  The stout oak grew at the edge of a craggy ravine, where it had taken root along a small rocky outcropping in some long-ago century. Now it overlooked a narrow river and provided Lillian a convenient perch from which to launch herself into flight.

  Gregory, Darkness, and Shadowlight all waited in the surrounding trees, listening for the approach of their intended targets.

  “They come,” Shadowlight informed the others. “It’s as the Coven reported. I only detect five this time. The other two escorts stayed behind.”

  Lillian frowned and strained her ears forth and back, seeking what her little brother had heard.

  Another minute passed before she heard what Shadowlight had noted. Her little brother had sharp senses. Better even than Gregory? She’d ask about that later. There was no time now.

  Together, the four gargoyles launched from their perches and climbed high into the sky.

  She beat her powerful wings, but it wasn’t solely their strength which catapulted her higher, magic filled her wing membranes and snapped in the air around her.

  Shadowlight beat his wings harder and pulled ahead. With a wide grin, she answered his unvoiced challenge and flew faster, darting past first him and then Darkness and Gregory.

  Her sleeker body allowed for greater acceleration, and she had a hunch she might be much more agile, too. Although, she hadn’t tested her theory yet.

  With a joyous roar, she arched higher into the sky.

  “We’re at a good height,” Gregory called across their four-way link. “Prepare to dive.”

  His words tarnished her child-like joy, but she’d rekindle it another time when she could take wing with Gregory for the sheer pleasure of flying. But that would have to wait.

  Five dark military helicopters thundered closer to their positions. She thought they were called Black Hawks, but she was no expert.

  Within seconds, they’d be directly below, over the pristine waters of the lake.

  Lillian angled a wing and dipped a few feet lower to take up position behind the tip of Gregory’s tail as he continued to circle above their target area. The lake’s blue, calm expanse looked more like a puddle from this high up.

  “Ready,” he called, using their mental link.

  With slight shifts of her body, she mimicked Gregory’s every move, but she couldn’t manage his cool battle readiness, not even her father’s memories could calm her nerves although she was thankful for them. Otherwise, she never would have mastered either flying or her fear of heights.

  Gran and the rest of the ground crew, as Lillian had taken to calling the Clan and Coven members aiding in this endeavor, had reported that two hooded decoy prisoners had been escorted into each of the five choppers. The real Whitethorn and Goswin had been loaded into the second helicopter to take off.

  Many fae had taken to the trees, watching the track of the helicopters. Not once had the aerial formation changed during flight. Their targets were still in the chopper flying left of the leader in the wedge formation.

  Lillian kept her gaze locked on that target. Her part of the mission was easy.

  “Now!”

  Gregory and Darkness dived in unison, like arrows shot from a giant bow. Lillian darted after them, Shadowlight nearly wing tip to wing tip with her.

  Below, the two gargoyles parted company. Gregory angled toward their helicopter while Darkness headed for the one in the lead.

  Shadowlight dipped a wing and dived under Lillian, in pursuit of their father. She banked left to join Gregory.

  Darkness flared out his wings, and Shadowlight matched speed. Together their trajectory and momentum slammed them into the helicopter with such force it rocked sideways wildly as it started to spin out of control. They latched onto it. Darkness under the tail, Shadowlight clinging upside down from the landing struts.

  Lillian had only a moment to worry about the safety of everyone concerned before her own momentum carried her to her target.

  She twisted her body in the air, and as she sailed under the belly of the helicopter, she raked her claws out, grasping at anything to hold her securely to the bottom.

  The helicopter shook violently with a second impact. Gregory had just arrived. There were shouts from inside, followed by several seconds of chaos as the pilot tried to level out the wildly careening machine.

  Below her, she could see where Darkness and Shadowlight had managed to bring down their helicopter—or maybe the pilot performed some kind of emergency landing. Lillian wasn’t sure what had occurred, but the aircraft was down in the shallow, reed-filled waters at the lake’s edge.

  Her father and brother were heading toward the second helicopter that had swung back around to aid the two in trouble.

  From her vantage point hanging upside down while she waited for Gregory to do his part, she watched as Darkness and Shadowlight attacked their second target with undisguised glee.

  They were fulfilling their part of the plan admirably. The two helicopters not already engaged had broken formation and arced back around, but they had no targets to shoot at. At that moment, Lillian rather liked being a gargoyle. There was something to be said about being at the top of the magical food chain.

  The sound of wrenching metal drew her back to her part of the plan. A second later, a large-ish piece of the helicopter dropped down into the lake below.

  Lillian tensed, waiting for what would come next. Then from within came much crashing and thumping as a moment later one unfortunate soldier came flying out.

  Shadowlight and Darkness broke away from their helicopter and her little brother scooped up the free-falling soldier before he could hit the water at breakneck speed.

  Another soldier was tossed from the opening. This one Darkness caught, slowing his descent enough the human would survive the fall to the water below.

  “Lillian, now,” Gregory called.

  She released her hold on the helicopter the same moment Gregory burst out with two bundles tucked under his arms.

  Lillian took the smaller form of Goswin and then they were both beating their wings to gain altitude and put distance between themselves and the carnage they’d left behind.

&n
bsp; The bundle in Lillian’s arms was limp but alive. Sedated. She scrunched her nose at the scent of chemicals oozing out of the little fae’s pores. She hoped the small, delicate Fae was more robust than she seemed.

  But until they could get them safely on the ground, it was impossible to judge the severity of their injuries.

  Darkness and Shadowlight would join them later, once they had dealt with the human soldiers. By mutual agreement, they had all agreed it was best to strip the humans of their memories before leaving them for their fellows to find. Once that was done, the other two gargoyles would rejoin them back in Coven lands.

  With a nervous glance back at the mess of twisted metal, Lillian winced. At least none of the soldiers were mortally wounded. Still, she feared they’d just kicked the hornets’ nest.

  Chapter 18

  “OH, FOR THE LOVE OF God!” Major Resnick snarled. “Get Lieutenant-Colonel Harmon on the line. He’ll clear us.”

  “Sorry, sir, these are his orders,” the private at the main gate explained. “Any teams coming back in must now be searched and debriefed before allowing them on base.”

  In other words, they were looking to avoid another incident. Which was all well and good, but today Resnick didn’t have time for this kind of bullshit.

  “Fine, I need you to get this to Colonel Tremblay or Doctors Fleming and Rodgers. This contains intel about our enemy, and I believe the prisoner transport is about to get hit. We need to warn them.”

  “Sorry, sir. I can’t leave my post, but I’ll have the tablet sent ahead.”

  Resnick didn’t want to risk the tablet in someone else’s hands but knew it was no use ranting about it. He’d been the one to suggest the new protocol.

  He just hadn’t thought his own idea would turn and bite him in the ass. Of all the clusterfucks that could have befallen him, did they all have to fall within the same week?

  SHADOWLIGHT HOISTED the unconscious soldier higher on his shoulder as he continued to run through the forest. Running on two legs, he decided, was far less fun than four. The human flopping against his shoulder didn’t help either.

  At least the destination he had in mind wasn’t far, which was good since he still had two more humans to transport.

  Each memory-erasing spell was delicate, time-consuming work. Darkness, being much more experienced with such spells, performed each procedure, which left Shadowlight with the task of moving the humans.

  There were still two of those noisy flying machines in operation. One had turned back the way they’d come. His father had said it was probably going for reinforcements since the Coven had taken out their other modes of communication.

  Whatever that meant.

  Which left the last one circling over the area, searching for the other humans he and his father had rescued from the flying machines before they’d crashed.

  They’d managed to save all the humans though most had bumps and bruises; one had sustained a broken arm. Shadowlight was feeling a little battered himself. Going inside the machines as they’d spiraled out of control hadn’t been as much fun as he’d thought. His one wing still ached fiercely, and the ribs on the same side had suffered some abuse. In the chaos, he didn’t remember it happening. It wasn’t until he was on the ground again, running to do his father’s bidding, that his injuries made themselves known.

  On this trip, his third such one, he’d gone a little farther out of his way because he wanted to check on his pet human. His shielding dome should both hide and protect her, but with that helicopter thing circling, he didn’t want to take a chance she might be located.

  Wiping all these humans’ memories wouldn’t do one speck of good if the searchers found Anna Mackenzie.

  He slowed as he made his final approach. The area seemed undisturbed. He remained cloaked as he came up to the dome. Inside, Anna was sitting by the fire, waiting for her tea to steep by the scent of it.

  She scanned the shadows and then homed in on his location, telling him his gargoyle blood was still working its changes upon her body.

  “Shadowlight?” she called softly and then glanced in his direction. “If that’s not you, I’m so screwed.”

  He dropped his shadow magic and his human burden at the same time.

  Her expression shifted from annoyance to shock, and then her eyes narrowed.

  “What? You planning on starting a zoo?” she jerked her chin in the newcomer’s direction.

  Shadowlight’s ears flicked forward in question, not knowing what she was referring to again. What was a zoo? He would search the language memories his sister had shared with him later. At the moment, he didn’t have time.

  “Never mind,” she continued and then added, “That one’s U.S. Army. You went and did something stupid, didn’t you?”

  He stepped over the unconscious human and continued toward Corporal Mackenzie. When he was still several feet from her position, he wrinkled his muzzle.

  “Yeah, I stink,” she barked with a good deal of grumpiness in her voice. “See how good you smell covered in three-day-old battle.” Her arms folded across her chest, her expression turning belligerent. “You’re going to get me clean clothes and something to wash with, but first,” she pointed at the lump of soldier behind him, “explain.”

  He shrugged, seeing no point in not telling her. “We rescued two of our fellows. A sidhe and a sprite were being transported elsewhere by these humans.”

  “I suppose this has something to do with those helos from earlier?”

  He puzzled over her words but then picked the meaning from her thoughts. “Yes.”

  “And then that lone one hightailing it back?”

  “Yes, my father said it was going back for reinforcements.”

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  Shadowlight felt his ears swinging forward again wondering where she was going with this.

  She shook her head at him. “Do you know what your little stunt just accomplished?”

  He had an idea, but since she had that look that said ‘I’m going to tell you anyway’ he decided to hold his silence.

  “It means you and your family just declared war.”

  Shadowlight’s ears drooped of their own accord, and his tail gave a half-hearted flick. Lillian and Gran had warned against that, told him of the dangers. “Gran isn’t going to like this.”

  “I can only assume she’s a smart lady.”

  “Gregory entrusted his other half, my sister, into her care. Gran is almost as fearsome as a gargoyle for all she descends from mostly human bloodlines.” His wings clamped tight to his back with worry. Gran tended to withhold treats when she was annoyed with someone. “We didn’t kill anyone,” he said, hope kindling in his heart, or maybe that was his stomach. He’d worked up an appetite.

  “Well, that’s a plus.” But her expression didn’t improve much. “And you brought down how many helicopters?”

  “Three of the machines,” Shadowlight said with renewed pride. Less than a week old and he’d already been victorious in battle twice.

  “Oh, just a few million dollars’ worth of damage. They’ll just hunt you down, no thermonuclear device required.”

  She said it with such a straight face, he wasn’t sure if it was mentioned in jest or not.

  But he didn’t have time to figure out human thought processes now.

  After stretching to loosen stiff muscles, he turned back to where he’d dropped his earlier burden. “I will come back later with more food and clothing once I’ve returned this one to his fellows.”

  “Where exactly are you taking him?”

  “Back to the human military camp.”

  “Shit, kid. You like living dangerously.”

  Turning back to her, he gave her a huge toothy grin. “I’m a gargoyle.”

  She shook her head again, a smile twisting her lips and flashing the point of one fang. “Adrenaline junkie. You’re going to get your ass shot off.” She sobered after a bit. “Be careful, kid.”

  He smiled.
“You do like me.”

  “Nah, just don’t like the idea of starving to death here under the dome once you get yourself killed or captured.”

  Her words would have hurt if there hadn’t been a twinkle in her eye.

  “I’ll be careful not to get captured or shot. I don’t like the idea of being haunted by your disquieted spirit.”

  With the sound of her laughter still following him, he ventured back into the forest with his sleeping burden bumping against his back.

  Chapter 19

  TAPPING AN INDEX FINGER against his thigh, Major Resnick frowned as the last member of his team was waved through the checkpoint. None of them were allowed to move on until the entire team was finished.

  He was sure his blood pressure was crawling slowly higher toward stroke level range.

  When they approached the last checkpoint, there was another team waiting to meet them.

  “Major Resnick, I’m Corporal Jordan,” a fresh-faced soldier said and motioned them forward. “We’re here to escort you to command.”

  Resnick swallowed back his frustration and acknowledged the other officer. “Did my intel reach them yet?”

  “Yes, they are sending other helos after the convoy. If you will come with me.” He started away, and Resnick followed on his heels.

  With Jordan’s team clearing a path, they made good time and were soon at the community center.

  They didn’t make for the elevators. Instead they headed to the stairs which led down to the arena floor which was now converted into a field lab.

  The room lacked the usual bustle. They’d cleared out most of the non-essential personnel. Colonel Tremblay, his senior officers, and the lead scientists heading the project were all clustered around a central terminal.

  Doctor Rodgers was gesturing at the screen enthusiastically.

  “This isn’t us,” she was saying.

  Resnick and Jordan’s teams saluted the general and the other senior officers and then took up positions.