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

by Lisa Blackwood

  “Regardless of what you choose to believe at present, the fact remains that the Divine Ones took our memories, unmade us, and then forged us anew for a purpose. We wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

  Chapter 33

  LILLIAN HAD SENSED when Gregory’s growing despair had changed to a better mindset. If hunting down one’s child was a better mindset. But for now, if he was focusing on finding a solution instead of the fact that they’d given life to a monster with unknown powers and ambiguous loyalty, Lillian was okay with that. Because it was clear the Mortal Realm would never survive a war between the Avatars.

  Daryna was clearly going to protect Gryton. Equally clear was the fact that Gregory was going to do what he must to serve the Light.

  Why the heck couldn’t the Light clean up its own mess just this once?

  Yeah. Right. That wasn’t likely to happen. So that left Lillian to act as the negotiator. Then noting the dark glowers Gregory and Daryna were sending each other, Lillian thought that maybe divorce attorney was more accurate.

  “We need to come to a peaceful agreement.” Lillian stepped between them to make her point. “If the Avatars go to war with each other, everyone loses. Yes?”

  Gregory grunted, and Daryna gave a sharp nod.

  “And Daryna, even you must see that we must question Gryton. He might be our child just as much as this one.” Lillian pointed at her belly, silently reminding Daryna not to start a fight. “And after hearing what you’ve said about Gryton’s upbringing, I do feel some.... responsibility to see if there is something worthy of saving deep in his soul. But that doesn’t mean he’s innocent or that simply by virtue of his parentage his hands are suddenly washed clean of blood. He’s snuffed out a great many innocent lives.”

  All without a hint of remorse as far as I can see, Lillian thought to herself.

  “I still believe he is worthy of being saved and that the Divine Ones have a task for him to perform and ultimately that he was brought about by our creators will. However,” Daryna paused to take in the sight of Gregory’s lashing tail. “I also understand that you both will need to see what I have seen in him. I am willing to work with you to retrieve our son so that you both may discover what I have already learned.”

  “And if Lillian and I deem him incurable of the darkness the Battle Goddess has instilled in him?” Gregory’s words still managed to have a growling edge to them even though he wasn’t actually growling.

  “I will not kill our son.” The air around Daryna snapped with rising power. “Nor will I allow either of you to harm our son.”

  “Easy. If worse comes to worst, I’m still not going to let Gregory kill Gryton,” Lillian said.

  Gregory huffed in surprise and now watched her with narrowed eyes.

  “Think about it, Gregory. The last time Gryton attacked to capture Shadowlight, he didn’t kill anyone. I thought it was because he was too weak, but it wasn’t that. I think he was trying not to do any lasting harm to his ‘victims’ this time around.”

  Daryna nodded as she released the power she’d been gathering back into the surrounding forest where it wouldn’t do any harm. “Yes, once I learned a little about Gryton, I came to understand that he finds his actions distasteful but hasn’t a choice. Now that I’ve given him an alternative to the Battle Goddess’s harsh rule, he seems willing to embrace it.”

  “Fine,” Gregory said, an actual growl rattling in his tones this time. “I will find Gryton and judge if he’s curable. But if darkness runs to his core, I will see him destroyed for the good of all.”

  Lillian lightly slapped her mate across the muzzle to get his attention. “No. If Gryton can’t be saved, then the Divine Ones will get to do the deed. There’s no way I’m letting any of us carry that kind of guilt into the next life. Daryna if you have a problem with that, go pick a fight with the Divine Ones.”

  Daryna looked shocked and appalled. Lillian grinned. She’d had that same effect on Gregory from time to time. Taking advantage of Daryna’s shock, Lillian pressed hard. “Now...start explaining what happened to Shadowlight. You were somehow involved with that. I know you were because Gryton was. Talk. Or else I step back and see what Gregory does.”

  Daryna’s expression underwent a subtle shift, losing much of its earlier confidence.

  “I did not intend for Shadowlight to be taken to the Battle Goddess.”

  “All Gryton’s idea?”

  “No. I had meant for Shadowlight to go to Lord Death. Once the Lord of the Underworld sees just what his sister is planning, he’ll be forced to question the Divine Ones and their choice to allow the Battle Goddess to continue to exist.”

  “Gregory was concerned what Death would do should he ever get his hands on me. I assume that he would be no more pleased with Shadowlight. So you’d planned to just hand over my little brother....” Lillian fisted her hands and then sought for calm.

  Peacekeeper. I’m a peacekeeper.

  Marginally calmer, she continued. “Throwing my little brother to the wolves isn’t helping your cause.”

  Daryna turned on her heels and started to pace. It must have been catching.

  “It wouldn’t have been throwing him to the wolves, as you call it. I’ve known Lord Death all his existence. He would see past what the Battle Goddess wanted to turn Shadowlight into. He would see Shadowlight’s pure soul. He’d never harm the cub.”

  “That wasn’t your choice to make,” Gregory growled.

  “No. But he needed to be trained. He, too, has a role to play in all this. You know he does.”

  “He was mine to train.”

  “No. He was a distraction. Lord Death has thousands of gargoyles. I intended for one of them to train Shadowlight, freeing you for more important things.”

  “There is nothing more important than a child,” Gregory’s voice slipped an octave lower.

  Lillian squeezed Gregory’s arm as she faced Daryna. “What went wrong?”

  “I knew Gregory wouldn’t part with the cub. Shadowlight means too much to you and Gregory can deny you nothing. Think of me what you will, but Shadowlight needs a mentor who can spend every moment with him. I asked Gryton to take Shadowlight to the edge of Lord Death’s domain where the other gargoyles would find him.”

  “Somehow, that’s not what happened,” Lillian said with more venom than she’d intended. She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t a saint, and because of the Mother’s Sorceress, Shadowlight was now in enemy hands.

  “No. I asked Gryton to call for three of his least liked lieutenants to aid him in capturing Shadowlight. I knew Gregory would make quick work of whoever Gryton summoned. They were to be a distraction only—not a true threat. But many more arrived than we expected and unfortunately that allowed for Shadowlight’s capture in truth.”

  “Your plan sucked.” Lillian’s talons flexed against her thigh. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why did you betray Anna?”

  “I did not betray the hybrid. She wished to go. And the cub will need a reason to fight for his freedom. And Anna will be the friend that will get him through a terribly dark time.”

  “The human will be the mother bear to Shadowlight’s cub. But your plan still puts the human at great risk.” Some of Gregory’s rage diminished as his expression turned thoughtful. “However, I do agree that Anna’s arrival in Shadowlight’s life is not the result of random chance. I am certain that was Divine will at work. Perhaps this was as well. After all, the Battle Goddess admires two things. Strength and loyalty. Anna possesses them both. She might win the Lady of Battle’s admiration and be able to use that against her in some way.”

  “Oh, lucky Anna,” Lillian hissed. “You two are cut from the same cloth.”

  Gregory looked perplexed, so Lillian explained. “Now the Battle Goddess has them both to torture. She’ll use one against the other as leverage. She’ll break them both.”

  “Then she will find she has forged a weapon that will cut the hand that wields it.”

  “Sh
e. Is. Going. To. Torture. Them.” Lillian rocked forward onto her talon-tipped toes until she stood muzzle to muzzle with Gregory.

  “Yes. The Battle Goddess is not above torture, both physical and spiritual. But as long as there is life, there is hope. The Lady of Battles will not kill them. And I do plan to rescue them. Soon. Just as soon as I get my talons upon Gryton and we have a ‘heart to heart’ and I determine if he’s as worthy as my other half says he is.”

  Daryna stepped in closer to Gregory, reaching out to touch the side of his face, but he stepped out of reach.

  Allowing her arm to fall back to her side, she tilted her head and her gaze turned vacant for a moment.

  “Ah. That might be a bit of a problem as he just resurrected the remains of the spell I created to send Anna to the Magic Realm. He’s a quick study.”

  Gregory snarled something in his native tongue and Lillian didn’t blame him.

  “Peace. For now, it’s better this way. Besides, I still have faith that the human will find a way to free Shadowlight even before Gryton has a chance to aid in their escape. That human is tenacious and lethal. Before I sent her, I made sure she had an honest chance at rescuing the cub.”

  “What else did you do?” Gregory asked, but sounded tired and like nothing would surprise him anymore.

  “I further enhanced her gargoyle bloodline. She won’t shift into a full gargoyle for some months yet, but she will be stronger, faster and far more lethal.”

  “So you gave mamma bear bigger teeth and sharper claws? Are you actually trying to get her killed?” Lillian couldn’t help the accusation. Screw being a peacekeeper. She knew Daryna disdained the humans.

  Daryna arched an eyebrow. “Do you not know I can read you when we are close and you are angry?”

  “Yeah. Well. At least I’m honest.”

  “You haven’t always been honest to Gregory.”

  Lillian growled and looked at Gregory. “You deal with her. She’s your other half.”

  “It’s time we return to Major Resnick and explain to our human allies what you have done. You will no longer have the freedoms you had before. Do you understand what I am saying?” Gregory asked.

  Daryna huffed out a sigh. “Yes. And you have my word that as long as you give Gryton a chance, I will not go against your wishes again.”

  Gregory snorted out a humorless laugh. “Oh, my Sorceress. It’s not just me you will have to convince. It is the humans. I have agreed to be their ally and they mine. Thus, I have a few more rules to adhere to than in previous lives. Those humans might see things in a very different light.”

  “I will tell them the same thing I have told you. If given a choice, Gryton will side with us, and he will be a powerful ally in the fight against the Battle Goddess. And I think the humans will understand the value of having a ‘man on the inside’ to act as our spy.”

  “Yeah,” Lillian muttered under her breath. “Because double agents are oh so trustworthy.”

  Daryna glanced in Lillian’s direction. “Gryton will side with us. He has no love for the Battle Goddess.”

  “Maybe,” Lillian said grudgingly. “But we’re done chatting. It’s time to go share this new information with Major Resnick. I’ll let him figure out how to word it to his superiors. But after that, we’re forming a plan to rescue Shadowlight.”

  Gregory nodded agreement and then began to summon spirit magic and directed it into another of those portal spells. She really did need to learn more about magic and see if she could create such a spell. But that was a concern for later. Now, it was time to come clean with the humans.

  Daryna stepped up beside Gregory, showing herself to be docile and willing.

  Lillian wondered how long that would last if Gregory later met Gryton and didn’t agree with Daryna’s assessment of their son.

  Eyeing the Mother’s Sorceress, Lillian couldn’t help but think about that clichéd phrase about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Somehow, given the situation she found herself in, it seemed like sage advice.

  For now, her war with her sorceress self might be over, but the tension was still there, hinting at more war and peril just over the horizon. And come it would. For tomorrow they would begin the hunt for Gryton and find a way to rescue Shadowlight and Anna.

  Lillian, Gregory, Anna and Shadowlight’s story continues in Sorceress Enraged.

  Sorceress Enraged

  By

  Lisa Blackwood

  A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale

  Book 5

  Sorceress Enraged

  Back Cover

  While Lillian and Gregory have their hands full trying to track down Commander Gryton and prepare for an imminent invasion, Corporal Anna Mackenzie has her own set of problems. And surprisingly, it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that she’d been converted into a gargoyle by a well-meaning cub.

  No. Her new gargoyle nature is something she’ll come to grips with...eventually. Having that same gargoyle cub abducted by an evil demigoddess? That’s another story altogether.

  Anna has never failed to accomplish something once she’s put her mind to it, and her mind is now firmly set on seeing the young gargoyle freed at any cost. And if the evil demigoddess gets in her way...the Lady of Battles will be in for the fight of her immortal life.

  Prologue

  NEVER HAD THE SOUND of the ocean crashing against the cliffs failed to soothe him, but the restlessness of an unknown future had drawn Draydrak here to the edge of his self-imposed prison, and this dawn the seas failed to calm his rising unease.

  Soon, the Divine Ones would call upon him to serve. He felt it in his soul. Yet, for the first time in his existence, he wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to succeed. Or even if that was his wish. He was weary of his role.

  As this planet’s sun cleared the horizon, its light stretched across the sky in a white-gold glow. The perpetual beauty of the act wasn’t lost on him. It represented hope’s ever-renewing promise.

  New beginnings.

  The one thing beyond his power to give himself. And not unlike all the mortals upon the mortal plane, he craved the one thing he himself could not have.

  A hundred thousand times each moment his power bestowed the gift of new beginnings upon all the souls of the universe. Many mortals feared it, fought it, terrified to accept his embrace, his greatest gift, not understanding that it was merely a new beginning. Hope. The promise of life eternal as ordained by the Divine Ones at the beginning.

  The one thing forbidden to him.

  Death.

  But Lord Death could not succumb to his own power, even though he would willingly embrace it for the chance to absolve his greatest mistake and end the rivalry with his sister.

  In the past, he had tried. Even falling upon his four swords to no avail. His magic was tied to his twin’s and hers to his. Once, long ago, when he and his twin had first started their war, he had attempted to kill her and send her back to the Divine Ones for healing.

  To the woe of all the Realms, the Battle Goddess would live as long as her twin existed and Draydrak could not die.

  Their war had threatened to destabilize all of creation until the Avatars had been reborn into the Magic Realm and they had shown him a way to imprison his wayward sibling.

  Thus, the duality curse had been born, trapping both twins in their respective temples.

  Draydrak had gone willingly. His twin had not. Even trapped within her temple, she still sought to continue the war, raising armies and setting them loose every few thousand years.

  The Avatars returned each time to put an end to her rebellions. Until this time, when his twin had found a way to manipulate even them.

  War was coming again, and this time he wished an eternal ending to this on-going strife. He wanted a new beginning for them all, especially his sister. She needed healing only the Divine Ones could grant.

  But first, he needed to win the coming war and find a way to strike a fatal blow that his twin would not
be able to escape.

  “Dray?” The ocean breeze tried to steal the words of the speaker, but Thayn was too determined to let anything, even an innocent breeze, interfere with his plans. “Might I have a word with you?”

  Thayn was always there to draw him from his melancholy thoughts. Draydrak shifted his weight and glanced over his shoulder to an outcropping of rock where the gargoyle elder perched.

  “Of course my old friend,” he said as he turned to face the much smaller gargoyle. Boulders crumbled under Dray’s hooves as he turned his back on the ocean and the ever-seductive call of renewal the rising sun represented. “Speak.”

  The gargoyle’s ears flicked forward and back, betraying some small hint of uncertainty. At last, he said what was on his mind. “My Lord, the entire council felt the arrival of two new gargoyles in this realm. But they are unlike any to come before them.”

  Ah. His gargoyle legion had felt the arrival of his twin’s newest experiment.

  “I am aware,” he confirmed. “They are my sister’s doing.”

  “Of course, but do you wish us to raid the Battle Goddess’s lands and capture these two?”

  There was a hint of excitement in the old gargoyle’s expression.

  Dray hated to dash his general’s hopes, but he feared these two were not born of Divine will, were instead firmly his sister’s creatures, or would be before long. Although, that was yet to be determined. Perhaps they could still be reasoned with, persuaded into doing what was right.

  “No, I’ll not waste gargoyle lives on such an endeavor until I’ve learned more about them myself.” Draydrak paused and glanced back toward the rising sun. “If I find them worthy of saving, then I will act, but if they are just more souls turned by my sister’s corrupt power, then I will free their souls to return to the Divine Ones.”