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

by Lisa Blackwood

  His will was greater than a witch’s though, and he tugged harder, regaining the few feet of height he’d lost. But more of the tainted magic shot out from deep inside the Battle Goddess’s temple and attempted to drag her back to the ground.

  A moment later, the Lord of the Underworld took to the air and was slashing at the coiling tendrils with his swords. But for each one he severed, three more grew out of the severed end.

  Gregory growled at the sight, hating blood witches.

  This one needed to die. Unfortunately, he had his hands full with the struggling demigoddess. She was drawing power from the blood magic and her strength was returning.

  He cursed all blood witches to the void. Once he was finished here, he’d seek out the witch and shred her soul.

  But then his other half was there, rising up from the ground, surrounded by shimmering power even though she was still clothed in a flesh and blood body. It would be easier for her to fight in her natural form, but he knew why she didn’t sacrifice her body yet. She wouldn’t unless there was no other choice.

  But with Lillian’s aid slicing through the blood magic tendrils, hoisting the Battle Goddess’s essence toward the Spirit Realm grew easier, and with a mighty beating of his vast wings, and aided by Lord Draydrak, he dragged the demigoddess closer to the rip in the Veil Between the Realms.

  He didn’t see the lance of tainted blood magic until it pierced the substance of one of his wings. Roaring in pain, he struck back at the witch, but the distraction allowed the Battle Goddess to renew her fighting. She almost slipped free of his hold.

  “No, you don’t, you arrogant little neophyte.”

  Chapter 31

  Lillian

  THERE WAS NO OTHER option open to her. Her other half needed her help. The Battle Goddess was putting up too much of a fight, and with the blood witch’s aid, they were once again dragging the male half of the Avatar soul back down with them. Lord Draydrak was slashing and striking and stomping at the deathless, vine-like spell that continued to grow out of the fortress city. But his magic wasn’t having much success destroying something that wasn’t really alive. Draydrak couldn’t die; he would be fine. But Lillian knew it was a delicate and dangerous time for her other half.

  He was vulnerable until she joined him in the Spirit Realm, and they mended their soul, becoming a single being once more. Only then would they have the strength needed to defeat their enemies.

  But to do that she must shed this body. When it died, so too would so many of her dreams. Her mind scrounged for a way to save the life of her unborn child.

  Yes, the Avatars would die. Again. The facts were irrefutable. Their soul had no control over the most fundamental laws controlling it. But with their death, their unborn child would perish. The thought of that sparked great anguish within her.

  There had to be a way.

  Then in a moment between seconds, one glimmer of hope presented itself. Her other half saw it as well. Was that why he hadn’t incinerated his body when his powerful soul freed itself?

  Gripping that slim hope, the Sorceress landed and shifted back to her dryad form. She swiftly began weaving a powerful preservation spell over her body. Finishing her spell in such haste, she knew it was not her greatest work, but it was all she had time for.

  The blood witch was triggering more spells. One blasted out from somewhere within the fortress city, racing down the length of the vines. Lillian caught a taste of its essence and immediately knew its purpose. It was designed to attack the Veil Between the Realms and it would use Lillian’s vortex if she didn’t stop it.

  But the witch’s target wasn’t to invade the Mortal or Spirit Realms. This spell would open a gateway into the void, allowing the true demons back into the universe.

  That couldn’t be allowed to happen.

  But only the single being known as the Avatar could prevent the nightmare scenario of the blood spell tearing apart the Veil.

  “My son,” she called out to the dragon, “I must leave you to protect the Veil and contain the witch until after your father and I have dragged the Battle Goddess into the Spirit Realm, and I’ve had a chance to heal the rift. Be strong and quick, my beautiful one. And be safe. Goodbye.”

  She had no other choice. The universe needed the Avatar. She only hoped she didn’t have to sacrifice either of her children to save it.

  “Divine Ones, please protect my children.”

  Then the Sorceress shed her flesh and blood body and rose into the sky, her power burning around her as she chased after her other half and helped him drag the Lady of Battles into the Spirit Realm.

  Chapter 32

  Anna

  SHE COULD ONLY WATCH as the Sorceress sacrificed herself to aid the male half of the Avatars to wrestle the Battle Bitch into the next life. If Anna could have done something to help, she would have. But as it was, she could already feel her body’s need to rest, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it was already preparing to turn to stone.

  She glanced toward her Rasoren. He didn’t look much better.

  “I need to get to my sister’s body to stand guard. She might yet return,” Obsidian said.

  Anna wanted to reassure him, tell him Lillian would return to them, but this felt different than the time Gregory had shed his mortal body to battle Gryton’s dragon the first time the beast had appeared.

  Oh, her poor Obsidian. Had he just witnessed the death of his sister? There had already been so many deaths. Why did he have to lose everyone he loved?

  But she would go with him and guard the body of his sister. It was the least she could do.

  “Come.” She held out her hand as she took to the air.

  Obsidian was slow to follow, and she realized he was having trouble getting his big body into the air. She slowed her pace to match his, staying wingtip to wingtip until they reach the spot where they’d seen Lillian land to shed her body.

  To her surprise, others were already there when they reached the spot. Anna recognized Gran and Thayn first. Vivien was bent over her granddaughter, working to shore up the spells protecting her body.

  Gran looked up at their approach. “Lillian’s soul is gone, but the Sorceress did something to protect the body and keep it alive. And Gregory is stone, not dead. That must mean they will try to return. But they can only return if they have bodies to return to. Resnick and a company of human, legion, and fae soldiers are guarding Gregory, so he’s safe for now.”

  Anna nodded in acknowledgment of Gran’s words. As long as they could protect the Avatars’ mortal bodies, there was still hope they’d return to life.

  Beside them, the unicorn and the pooka were standing guard. Both equines looked like they’d been to hell and back. The pooka was limping, a deep gash marring his flank. The unicorn looked even worse, covered in cuts and bruises and burns. His horn had been snapped off three inches from his skull.

  A shadow flashed across the ground, and Anna instinctively had her sword out, but the gargoyle’s silhouette was familiar. Darkness came in for a landing a moment later. River leaped off his back and was running toward Lillian before the gargoyle had even touched down completely.

  There were other legion gargoyles arriving with them, but they landed in a defensive line just below the brow of the mountain ledge. A moment later, Anna saw why. Hundreds of enemy soldiers were climbing the slope toward them. She didn’t know if they merely sought to escape or if they were actively hunting the Sorceress to desecrate her body in an act of vengeance.

  “We gotta move!” Anna shouted.

  Obsidian went to Lillian’s other side. “I can carry her.”

  “No.” Gran held out a hand to stop him. “She can’t be moved. The preservation spell is healing the body. It’s anchored to the ground around it. If you sever that, it will unmake the spell. Without the Sorceress here to revive the body, I don’t know what will happen. Lillian might die for good.”

  Gran wiped at her tears. “I don’t know where Jason or Greenborrow or Whitethorn a
re, but I’m not losing any more of my family or friends if I can help it.”

  “If we can’t move her,” Anna barked, new determination taking hold of her spirit, “then we damn well will protect it here.”

  The sky overhead suddenly darkened, and the great elemental dragon came in for a landing downslope. Anna didn’t miss how he put himself between his mother’s body and the enemy soldiers making their way up the slope.

  Erika swiftly unhooked herself from her harness and slid down the dragon’s neck. In moments, she was running to join Anna. “I’m in a radiating mode. Gryton can’t drink any more of the power. Anyone here need a recharge before we go kick the blood witch’s ass? That beast is down there killing friends and foes alike. Gryton and I were trying to toast her when we saw what was happening up here.” The Null was panting and had to pause for a moment to catch her breath. “Is there anything else we can do to help here?”

  “Not here, no,” Thayn said. “But if you don’t destroy the blood witch and her evil work, there may be nothing for the Avatars to return to if we don’t finish this.”

  “I’m not sure if we can reach the witch. Every time we try, her power does something that disturbs the dragon’s fire magic. It’s like what the djinn tried with his assassin spell, but this is different, and he hasn’t found a way to counteract it yet. And I’ve hit my upper limit and can’t neutralize her power.”

  “Gryton and Erika, if there were another option, I wouldn’t ask this of you. But you have to do whatever you must to keep the blood witch’s spells from reaching the rift in the Veil.” Thayn looked at Anna and the others. “The rest of us will protect Lillian.”

  “I will not fail,” the dragon roared, nearly deafening everyone.

  Erika merely held her arms wide. “Drink up. I need to make room to absorb more magic, but I can’t stay long. Got a witch to kill.”

  Anna and her Rasoren didn’t take the Null up on her offer, not trusting what would happen if they absorbed any more magic into their already stressed bodies. But the others approached and accepted the gift she offered.

  Once they and the legion gargoyles had fed upon the Null’s purified magic, Erika ran back to her dragon mount and strapped herself back into her harness.

  “Give the witch a beating for me!” Anna shouted.

  The Null’s laughter reached her a moment later, and then the girl and her dragon were gone, plummeting down the side of a mountain at breakneck speed. The dragon breathed fire on any enemy in his path.

  “Thanks, Gryton,” Anna whispered. “You’re not so bad after all. Don’t get killed and bring Erika back safely too.”

  Chapter 33

  Gryton

  WHILE THEY’D BEEN WITH Anna and the others, the blood witch’s spell had been busy and had spread to cover three times the area it had covered before. What was left of the demigoddess’s temple was now completely covered in thick ropes of power and blood. They twisted and scrambled down the stairway and reached across the valley floor, covering everything it encountered like a bindweed trying to outgrow all the competition.

  “Damn. That fuck-nasty is spreading fast. Any idea how we kill it?”

  “I’m still studying it,” he rumbled in reply.

  He darted closer and breathed fire upon the nearest section of vines. The portions his flame touched turned to ash, and the rest withered and churned like the fire caused them pain.

  He struck repeatedly, diving and flaming. After the tenth such attack, the plant’s behavior changed, and it sent tendrils after him. Where it touched, his flames leaped up wildly, and Gryton hastily darted out of range.

  “That’s another type of assassin spell. Stay the hell away from that shit,” she barked.

  “I would if I could, but the vine is beginning to climb itself like it’s growing its own tower. If it’s left unchecked, it will reach the rift in the sky.”

  “Damn it.”

  “Indeed,” he agreed. “There is so much of it, I could burn away portions of it for the next thousand years and might never get it all. We need to find the source and destroy it.”

  “Sounds good. How the hell do we find the source?”

  “I’m certain the source is the blood witch’s soul.”

  He felt the Null’s hesitation, but at last she asked, “The witch’s soul will be buried deep in that vine. The attempt will kill you, won’t it?”

  “I already know where her soul is.” He paused before telling her the rest. “And, yes, I will lose mastery over my form, but my soul will live on in the heavens.”

  “Then I’m proud to fight and die at your side, Gryton.”

  “And I would be honored to die by your side,” he said in return, then looked ahead. “But I have no plans on allowing you to die with me.”

  He slashed the harness holding her in place, and then as she started to slide to one side, he caught her and gently cradled her in one of his front claws.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Destroying the witch and saving you, my Null.”

  “No! I’ll fight to the end at your side.”

  “Not this time.”

  He might know defeat this day, but he would make his mother proud and still protect his Null at the same time. He slowed enough to gently deposit her on the ground. Then he rose higher into the sky, screaming challenges at the threat. But this enemy would fall like the others of her kind before her. The powers of the lightless void were no match for the purifying fire of an elemental dragon.

  He raced toward the witch, no longer trying to avoid her traps and strikes. He just blew right through them until he, at last, reached the core of her power, the twisted darkness that had once been her soul.

  Exhaling a deep breath, his fire raced across the distance and burned away the taint holding the great spell together.

  It came at a cost, though. Even as the witch’s spell disintegrated around him, so did his own mastery of his fire magic. The witch would have her own revenge upon him, but that didn’t matter. He’d fulfilled his purpose and Erika was safe.

  As if thinking of the Null summoned her, she was suddenly in his mind again.

  “Dragon. What have you done?”

  “Destroyed the witch.”

  “I know.” She paused, and he felt her sob. “But what about you?”

  “I shall die now and be reborn a sun.”

  ERIKA COULDN’T STOP the sobs that shook her body. He was dying. She’d known there was only a slim chance that they’d survive, but she thought they’d die together.

  “Not this time.” The dragon’s voice was gentle, and she realized that in the moment of their death, both Gryton and his dragon nature had finally stopped fighting. “You are my one true friend. Keep me in your heart. Remember me, because everyone should have at least one loved one who will live to keep their memory alive.”

  He hovered in the air, no longer needing to beat his wings.

  “Tell my mother I loved her when next you see her.”

  “I will.”

  Then he rose higher, his flames expanding to twice the size they’d been before.

  “Goodbye. I’m sorry I wasn’t kinder to you, and I hope this last act has made me worthy.”

  “You are worthy, Gryton. Lillian and Gregory will be so very proud of you. And I will miss you, my friend.”

  But then he was streaking away, a vaguely dragon-shaped radiant ball of energy racing out to space, trailing fire. He looked like a comet. More tears gathered in her eyes until her vision blurred, but she continued to watch until he was just another star against the black sky.

  “I’ll see you again one day, in this life or the next. Goodbye, my Dragon.”

  Chapter 34

  Anna

  THEY COULD ONLY WATCH as the dragon sacrificed himself, but he’d succeeded in destroying the witch before her spell could reach the rift in the veil. While the dragon and the Null had been busy battling the witch, Anna and Obsidian and their beleaguered allies, had been fighting for their live
s, too.

  But the enemy soldiers never reached Lillian.

  “We’ve won.” Obsidian’s exhausted whisper barely reached her sensitive ears.

  She turned to him and saw that his wings were drooping, and his skin was more grayish than its usual lustrous black.

  “You need to find a safe place to rest before you embrace the stone sleep.”

  “Soon.” He stumbled away from her, and it wasn’t until she darted around his wings that she saw where he was headed.

  She stopped short, not wanting to intrude on the pooka’s grief, but also wanting to support him if he wanted a shoulder to cry on. The pooka had shed his black pony form for that of a black-haired, yellow-eyed youth.

  He was hunched over the dead body of the unicorn, sobbing while Gran held him with an arm around his shoulders. “Shhh. The unicorn knows that you loved him like a brother.”

  “I was terrible to him,” the pooka said in a broken voice, “but he was always my friend.”

  “I am sorry,” Obsidian said and patted the pooka gently. “He fought bravely. He saved my life.”

  Anna hadn’t even realized how close she’d come to losing Obsidian, but she saw in his mind how the unicorn had lunged and taken out an enemy soldier before the woman could release her arrow into Obsidian’s heart.

  God. She’d come so close to losing him.

  Anna knelt in the churned-up mud and blood and rested a hand on the unicorn’s neck. “Thank you, my friend. Until we meet again in the Spirit Realm.”

  She stood then and followed Obsidian to his next destination. He led her to the cliff. Midway down the slope River’s body rested propped against Darkness. A healer was with the pair, but after Anna and Obsidian scrambled down the slope, she saw as the healer gave that ever so slight shake of head that said the person was beyond the ability to heal.