by Karen Duvall
“I know how you can change back,” I told him.
He looked at me then, cat eyes narrowed and ears flattened to his wedge-shaped head.
“Barachiel told me. It’s easy. All you have to do is kill the gargoyle you were bonded to, then eat its heart.”
He snarled, a series of grunts and growls pouring from his mouth as he tried to talk. Shaking his head, he hissed and made a fist with his paw.
“Please, Aydin. You have to do this!” I didn’t like the pleading tone in my voice, but I was desperate. “It’s the only way for us to be together. No one can pull our strings anymore. You can become as free as me.”
He shook his head again and backed away even farther.
“We have a duty to my sister knights. You can’t let Geraldine down.”
At the mention of the saint’s name, he looked around the church, his gaze settling on the staircase that led to the basement. He pointed.
“She’s safe,” I assured him. “Quin is with her.”
He closed his eyes and his face relaxed while he exhaled a slow breath.
I took a chance and stepped toward him again. He heard me come closer and his eyes snapped open, his lips peeling back from his teeth to show an impressive set of fangs. I recognized a faker when I saw one.
“You don’t scare me. I’m on to you, you know.” I slid my hand over the incredibly soft fur on his feline face. He nuzzled into my touch and I came closer, sliding both arms around his thick neck to hold him close. He hesitated, then wrapped a paw around my waist to hug me back.
We stood like that for a full minute before he stiffened and drew away. His wings spread out behind him and he threw back his head to let out a mournful wail that tore right through my heart.
“Aydin, find Shojin. You have to find him and kill him. Please, do it for us and do it for yourself. Do it for the Hatchet knights!”
He roared again, his eyes shining with standing tears. One powerful flap of his wings sent him straight up toward the ceiling, where he circled once before heading out the broken window and into the predawn sky.
“Aydin!” I couldn’t let him leave me. Where would he go? How would I find him again?
I stared up at the gray sky and watched him disappear into the distance. I felt so empty, so alone. It reminded me of what I’d experienced right after Aydin’s ghost left my body in the summoning room. Now I knew why I’d felt that way. He had become a part of me, and losing him was almost like losing a piece of my soul. I had to get him back. And if he wouldn’t kill Shojin to consume the gargoyle’s heart, I would do it for him.
I stood in front of the tapestry that covered the tomb’s door. How was I going to explain what had happened to Aydin? Would Geraldine blame me? Hell, I blamed me. If only I’d worked harder at convincing Aydin I could handle Shui, he never would have let the change take him. He’d have gone to Shojin as planned and would still be human right now. And I would be dead.
Instead, Gavin was dead, as was Shui. And Aydin was… Still alive and had a chance to become human again.
It was fully dawn now, though clouds had rolled in to cover the late-autumn sun, making the day appear even more dismal. I heaved a shaky breath and keyed in the vault’s combination. The door swung toward me, and I held it open to let light in for Quin.
But there was no need. The room was lit up as if inside the sun itself, though it had no windows for sunlight to shine through. What the room did have was a gleamingwhite angel, and he glowed brighter than a dozen roman candles.
I blinked, certain my eyes would burn right through my brain, but it didn’t hurt. The light cast by the angel had no adverse effect on me, though the glare obscured my view of Quin.
“Quin?” I shielded my eyes and saw the outline of a man standing beside the angel. “What’s going on?”
He stepped forward with Geraldine’s head cradled in his arms like a baby. He jerked a nod at the angel. “We have a guest.”
“I see that.” I squinted at the being whose white hair and white wings pulsed with unearthly brightness. “Can he tone it down a little?”
Quin shook his head. “It’s what angels do.”
Geraldine looked more alive than I’d ever seen her. She blinked at me and smiled.
“I take it you and Quin are getting to know each other.”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “And I’m so sorry about earlier, but I sensed Gavin waiting outside and couldn’t take the chance of him hearing me.”
“He’s dead now.” I tossed a look over my shoulder, half expecting to see the old man standing there. It would take time for me to get used to his absence and I was looking forward to it. “His death was pretty awful.”
“We know,” Quin said. “We watched through the silver veil as it happened.”
I blinked in disbelief. “You did what?”
“Quin’s getting ahead of himself.” Geraldine sounded annoyed. “First off, I’d like you to meet your guardian angel, Rafael.”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Was he really my angel, like Barachiel had been my mother’s? Knowing how it had turned out between the two of them, I stared up at Rafael and felt a little woozy. He had to be at least seven feet tall and was silent as a tree. I assumed he’d had to keep himself a secret until now, seeing as how my curse was newly broken.
“Can’t you talk?” I asked him.
His forehead wrinkled, making his expression stern. “What would you have me say?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” This was too surreal. I shook my head and redirected my attention to Geraldine. “How were you able to watch everything through the veil?”
“I opened it in here,” Quin said, sounding matter-of-fact. He held up his right hand and I saw the pink scar of a sigil that was nearly healed. “I also opened the one inside the church upstairs. The result was a lot like watching a movie.”
“But you couldn’t go through it to get out of the tomb?”
He shook his head. “I’m human. I can’t pass through the veil, remember?”
I still had so much to learn about this new life of mine. “I thought your ability to communicate with angels made you an exception.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Rafael said.
I squinted up at him, then at Geraldine, realizing she knew what had happened to Aydin. I would have hugged her in sympathy if she’d had a body to hug. “I feel horrible about Aydin. It’s my fault.” I swallowed back my grief, trying to stay strong. He would want me to hang tough.
“It’s not your fault, dear. This was Aydin’s destiny. You couldn’t have prevented it.”
I refused to accept that. “He should have let Shui kill me.”
“He couldn’t,” she said. “You’re too important to the other knights. Your mission is to unite your sisters, to teach them how to defend themselves with curses and charms, to share with them what you know of the Vyantara and their allies. Aydin was sworn to protect them, and therefore to protect you.”
How could she be so casual about this? Aydin had turned into a monster. His life would never be the same, at least not until I did something to fix it. “I promised to help make him human again.”
Her pretty pink forehead creased with a frown. “I’m not sure you can.”
I held a hand to my chest to keep my heart from bursting with anguish. “Yes, I can. Barachiel told me how.”
“Are you so certain the dark angel told you the truth?” she asked.
“Why would he lie?”
“He’s one of the Fallen, Chalice. It’s what they do.”
“I don’t think so.” I thought back to the ritual that had brought Barachiel to me. “He saved my life, Geraldine. And what he told me about how to kill a gargoyle was true. He wouldn’t lie to me about this.”
She sucked in her bottom lip, looking thoughtful. “I suppose all you can do is try.”
And I would succeed. Geraldine knew next to nothing about the Fallen except that her mate had turned into one. He may have been a b
ad seed, but Barachiel wasn’t. I owed him my life.
Since the gargoyle stones I’d used to kill Shui had ripped up my coat, I knew I would freeze the moment I walked out the cathedral doors. But I had to return to Elmo’s and let the elf know what had happened to his friend. I’d get Quin’s help in fashioning knives from the gargoyle stones still in the trunk of his car. Then I would head for Quebec, track down Shojin and take his heart. My mind spun with all the tasks I’d set for myself, not the least of which was to connect with my sister knights. It’s what my mother had asked of me before I’d even been born.
I looked at the angel, wondering why he was still here. I said to Quin, “We have to go back to Elmo’s. It’s not safe for us here. There’s no telling how many more Vyantara maniacs are still in town, and I don’t like to think what they’d do if they found us.”
“They won’t find us,” Quin said. “Because you’re not going back to Elmo’s. You of all people need to lay low for now. As for me, everyone thinks I’m dead.”
“He’s right,” Geraldine said. “We want the Vyantara to believe Shui managed to kill you before he died. If they think Aydin is the one responsible for Shui’s death, they’ll respect him more. If they catch him, they may even treat him better than they treated Shui.”
“If I don’t go back to Elmo’s, where will I go?”
“You’ll come with me,” Rafael said.
“I don’t even know you.” The idea of hanging out with an angel made me uncomfortable. “And where would you take me?”
“Beyond the silver veil.” He waved a hand at the wall and it shimmered with silver light. “You’ll bring Geraldine with you.”
My mother’s rune divination had predicted I would cross over, and now that the curse was broken, I was free to do just that. Though I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted to. “My sister knights? They’ll be there?”
“Some will be, yes,” the angel said. “We bring them through if their lives are threatened, then relocate them to a safer place.”
Goose bumps rose the hairs on my arms. “What’s on the other side?”
“You’ll find out in a minute,” Quin said. “I’m sorry, Geraldine, but I need to put you back in the bag.”
“No problem. I’m ready.”
And so was I, or at least as ready as I’d ever be. But I would never forget my promise to Aydin. I wondered if the doorway through the veil might be the means to finding Shojin, and then Aydin, wherever he was hiding. If so, I planned to take full advantage.
Quin handed me the bowling bag with Geraldine’s head and hand zipped up inside. Rafael held his hand out to me and I took it. His skin felt warm, not icy like Barachiel’s had been, though the texture was equally soft. The first thing I noticed was that he had no calluses. Aydin used to have thick calluses on his fingers and palms. Now he had paws.
I sucked in a breath, feeling the tears gather behind my eyes again. I had to be brave for Aydin, and for myself. I looked over at Quin. “Tell Elmo I’ll be back.”
I slid my gaze to Rafael’s piercing blue eyes. I’d have to depend on this angel, the same as I had Aydin, to instruct me in my new life. Doing so would feel like a betrayal. Someday soon I’d have Aydin back the way he used to be and we’d pick up where we left off. I wasn’t giving up on him. Not ever.
I nodded at Rafael and he guided me to the silvery curtain that separated the mortal realm from the divine. I knew it was a way station of sorts, but I hadn’t a clue what I’d find there. Holding my guardian angel’s hand, I glanced over my shoulder at Quin, who grinned and flapped a farewell wave. My gaze swept the windowless tomb one last time before I passed through the shimmering veil and into an uncertain future.
KNIGHT’S CURSE
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1191-9
Copyright © 2011 by Karen Duvall
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