Found (Books of Stone Book 1)

by B. L. Brunnemer

  "I'll do that immediately." Delia hung up. I tucked my phone back in my pocket and turned back to Rowena. A bit of blood was smeared on the corner of her mouth.

  “That is the only mercy you will get from me,” I told her. “The others are on their way. They’ll do what they can to make you comfortable.”

  I turned to leave and paused. Atticus was leaning against the balcony railing, his gaze on Rowena’s writhing form. I moved past him and began down the stairs. He followed.

  “That was rather brutal,” he observed.

  “She broke the Treaty, she knew the repercussions.” I hurried down the stairs. He followed silently behind me.

  “I don’t disagree,” he said. Rowena let out a pained cry, stopping me at the bottom of the stairs. My eyes went to the balcony. “Some days I feel like a monster.” I barely breathed. I hated that spell, but I hadn’t seen any alternative. I turned away and walked out the door to the car with Atticus.

  Zahur met us at their apartment. Atticus had Ranulf’s arm over his shoulder and was leading him to his bedroom. Zahur took Falk from me. They moved through the door down the hall and on the left. Zahur let go of Falk. He dropped like a rock, half on and half off the bed.

  I grabbed his legs and rolled him the rest of the way onto the bed then yanked off his boots. Zahur went to get his doctor bag, I stopped him.

  “Just bring in a couple garbage bags, they’re going to be sick.” I warned. Zahur frowned then nodded and went to do as I asked.

  I moved to sit on the side of the bed next to Falk. His face was still pulled in pain. I held his face in my hands and closed my eyes.

  That barrier was gone. Rowena was too far away and too weak to hold it. Falk was in an old forest, and a woman was there; tall, blonde, and beautiful. She was yelling at Falk as he stood there, his head hung in shame.

  “I shouldn’t have been with you! You’re not even human!” she shouted. Who the heck was she? It didn’t really matter. I strode through the underbrush to his side.

  “Falk,” I called gently. He lifted his head to see me. Tears rolled down his ravaged face. The drugs were tearing him apart.

  “You’re not real,” he murmured. I reached up, grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me.

  “I’m the only real thing here, Falk,” I whispered. He slowly reached up, his hand holding mine to him.

  “Evie?” he asked softly, his voice shaking.

  “It’s me,” I assured him. The woman kept screaming at him for wasting her life. He looked from me to her. “She’s not real, you’ve been drugged,” I explained. His eyes came back to mine. “Remember, you were at Rowena’s house? You drank something?” He nodded slowly. His hands clung to my upper arms. “I’m going to force the drug out of you and you’re going to be sick, so I want you to puke.”

  “You’re really here,” he said, as if to reassure himself.

  “I’m really here.” I pulled him closer until he leaned down, I cradled his face in my hands. I poured healing energy through my hands and into his body. With my eyes closed I followed it. Through his lungs, into his blood stream and to his brain. I spread the healing energy everywhere I went as I pulled the drug from his system. When I was done, I pulled back.

  Zahur was there with the bag when Falk rolled to his side and was sick. I ran my hand up and down his back trying to soothe him. When he was done, he couldn’t even open his eyes as he relaxed into the bed. “Thank you, Evie,” he rasped. I brushed the hair off his face and smiled down at him.

  “No problem,” I said. “Get some sleep.” I covered him with his blankets and we left his room, closing the door behind us in time to spot Atticus leaving Ranulf’s room. I passed him and slipped into Ranulf’s room. Zahur a step behind me.

  The big bear of a man was flat on his back, still in his boots and mumbling. I pulled his boots off then covered him in his blankets and sat next to him. Zahur silently took his spot near the side of the bed.

  I held Ranulf’s face and closed my eyes. I was in a room lit by candles. A woman was giving birth in the bed and it didn’t look like it was going well. A younger Ranulf was kneeling beside her, holding her hand.

  “The healer is on the way, hold on, please.” Ranulf begged with tears in his eyes. The woman, who had the same blue eyes as Ranulf, turned to him. Her breathing was short and shallow.

  “Save the baby…” She whispered before going limp in the bed.

  “Meryl? Meryl!” Ranulf shouted as he tried to shake her awake.

  “Am I dead?” Ranulf’s voice came from behind me. I turned. He was standing in the corner, his tortured eyes on the lifeless figure in the bed. “Is this hell?”

  I went to him and stood between him and the bed. “No, you’ve been drugged.” I explained. “Do you remember going to see Rowena? The witch?”

  His eyes met mine as he nodded.

  I reached up and held his face. “I’m going to get the drug out and you’re going to be sick.”

  His hand wrapped around my wrists, his grip desperate. “Get me out of here.” He growled.

  I nodded and focused. I did the same as I had with Falk, clearing the drug from his system. When I was done working, I pulled my mind back and got my hands out of the way.

  Ranulf rolled to the side and threw up into the bag. I rubbed his shoulder as he heaved. When he was done he laid his head down on the pillow and sighed.

  “Lass…” he mumbled. His hand shoved the covers aside so he could take mine.

  “Rest,” I said softly. Zahur left with the garbage bag.

  “Thank you,” he murmured before he sighed deeply and relaxed into the mattress. I held his hand until his grip eased enough that I knew he was asleep. I slipped out of his room quietly.

  Zahur was in the living room, leaning against the wall. Atticus was pacing. I walked into the kitchen and started making coffee. It sounded good to me.

  When I turned back, Atticus and Zahur were watching me with assessing eyes. It put me on edge. “What?” I asked from across the apartment.

  “The spell you used for the Treaty,” Atticus began, “I’ve never seen effects like it before.”

  I brushed the hair out of my face and just told them. “Because I created it.” If it was possible, Atticus stood even straighter.

  “What are your abilities?” he asked, his voice calm. I moved to stand behind the couch and met his eyes.

  “Can you promise me that anything I tell you won’t go past this room?” I asked directly.

  “There are some things I have to report to the Council,” Atticus reminded me.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know,” I said. “That’s why I’m asking for your word.” Tension filled the silence in the apartment as he contemplated my request.

  “Why the secrecy, Evelyn?” he asked gently as he slowly walked around the couch to stand in front of me. “What are you trying to hide?”

  I licked my lips before looking up into his soft, golden eyes. “Me.”

  13

  Atticus

  Evelyn’s voice was sincere as she answered. I waited for her to elaborate, but she didn’t. She truly meant her.

  “Why are you hiding?” I asked gently. She pressed her lips together hard.

  “I’ll tell you if you both promise me that you’ll tell no one,” she said softly, making my pulse skip and blood flow to my groin. “Not even on your bloodlines. Just a promise to me.” Shoulders relaxing, I took a deep breath. If I had to report what she told me, it wouldn’t have any consequences with the Elder Council, just her… shit.

  Zahur nodded.

  “Alright,” I gave in. I had to know why she was hiding. “Now, what are your abilities?”

  She swallowed hard before answering. “All of them.” I stood there, stunned, for a full minute as her words sank in.

  “All of them?” Zahur asked carefully.

  “Yes.” Her voice was quiet. “Air, fire, water, lightning, earth, telepathy, telekinesis, conjurations, spell weaving, and he
aling. I can manipulate energy, all kinds, any kind. Anything you can think of, I can do it.”

  “To what level?” I asked.

  She kept eye contact with me as she answered. “Extremely high. Energy manipulation is like breathing to me. It’s easy, it always has been.” I was silent as I absorbed this information. Then confusion set in.

  “Why would you keep that a secret?” I asked. “There is no reason to.” The coffee finished dripping. She went to pick up the carafe. Zahur and I sat on the stools at the breakfast counter and watched her pour coffee. When she put a mug in front of me she finally met my eyes again.

  “A couple of reasons. First, what would your Elder Council do to a gargoyle with that kind of power, who they can’t control?” she asked matter-of-factly.

  I thought it over. If she didn’t take orders, and she wouldn’t if she didn’t agree… they would want her ‘handled.’ Which meant either dead or locked up.

  “They’d either kill you or lock you away,” Zahur stated.

  “I see your point.” I turned my mug in my hands on the counter. I watched her stir her coffee with a spoon. “And the second reason?”

  “My parents were in hiding, from someone on the Council. A male named Cyrus,” she began. My heart dropped. She continued. “Cyrus was a Match for mom. She always said suitor though. She said he had a great bloodline, reputation, position. You name it, he had everything you’d think a female would want in a husband.” She looked down at her coffee. “Except, my mom loved my dad. He didn’t have the best bloodline, or any of the advantages that Cyrus did. But she picked him.”

  “Your mother was Tatiana Suvu?” Zahur asked. We both turned to him.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “You know about this?” I asked, still reeling from Evelyn’s story.

  Zahur nodded as he met my gaze. “Yeah, it was a huge scandal about six hundred years ago.” He turned to her. “Your mother was the last in the rarest, most powerful bloodline in gargoyle history.” He turned back to me and gave me a meaningful look. “A match between Cyrus and the Suvu line would have brought two powerful bloodlines together. Instead, she picked the male she loved. Owyn Dalca.”

  My world was crashing down around me. That’s why he sent me to bring her back. That’s why he kept telling me to keep her at arm’s length; he probably thought he’d be a Match for her as well. If he couldn’t have the mother, he’d have the daughter. Murderous rage filled me, Zahur saw it in my eyes and nodded. He knew what I was thinking, he figured out why we were here. I was a fucking idiot.

  “They were married, that’s what she always called Mated I guess. It should have ended there, but it didn’t,” Evelyn continued, not noticing the tension between Zahur and I. “He had a higher position so he started to harass them and kept sending my father out on suicide missions.”

  I looked down at my coffee. My knuckles were white, I eased my grip on the mug.

  “He kept surviving. After a close call my parents had finally had enough. They packed a couple satchels and left that night.”

  “All we ever knew was that they were gone one morning,” Zahur said. “Then eventually, when our numbers dropped they were declared dead.”

  “They didn’t die until I was seventeen,” she said softly. Zahur reached out and took her hand.

  “I’m sorry that they are gone. I knew Owyn.” She met his eyes. “He was a good male, and utterly devoted to your mother.”

  He patted her hand before pulling away. “Thank you.” Her voice was quiet, barely there. She cleared her throat, pulling me out of my own head. “So, that’s what I haven't told you. I'm hiding from this male.”

  “Well, it’s nice to know your real last name. Dalca. It’s Romanian, isn’t it?” Zahur made small talk, giving me the chance to get myself under control.

  “Yes, it’s old Romanian.” She grinned as she took a sip of coffee.

  Zahur looked at the clock on the wall. “So, what do you have planned for the rest of the afternoon?” He looked back down to her.

  She checked the clock. “I need to get back to the store. Then tonight is girls’ night. Astrid usually comes over.” She met my eyes. “Would you mind not coming over until after she leaves?”

  I thought about it. “You’ll stay across the hall?”

  “Yes,” she said patiently.

  “Then I’ll give you your space,” I agreed. I needed some time to think anyway. She smiled at me and it made my pulse jumped.

  “Thank you,” she said before she headed out the door.

  We were silent for a full minute.

  “You have to tell her,” Zahur stated.

  I scoffed at that. “We are just now talking, I don’t think this will help.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he stated. “She needs to know.” He was right of course, I had to tell her. But… Shit. It was going to hurt. The way she’d look at me…

  “I’ll tell her. Just… not now,” I admitted quietly. Right now, I wanted to explode, rip something apart and slam it into a wall. Well, more like someone.

  “Then when? After she’s your Mate? When she has no choice but to accept it?” he asked pointedly.

  “If I tell her Cyrus adopted me, I’d have no chance anyway,” I growled.

  He raised a knowing eyebrow. “I think you’d have a better chance than you think, if you told her.”

  “Her mother is the one who refused Cyrus? You’re positive?” I asked again, to be sure. He nodded. FUCK!

  Zahur got up and headed for his room.

  “You know what this means,” I announced.

  “We can’t take her back,” Zahur finished for me. I nodded. Fucking Cyrus! Furious, I threw my mug against the kitchen cabinets. It shattered, coffee splattered everywhere. It did nothing to cool my temper.

  Evelyn

  Later that night...

  I was just hanging up the phone when my door opened.

  “Hey girl, I’ve got the booze, did you order the pizza?” Astrid announced as she strode into my apartment carrying a bottle of wine. Ranulf straightened, his eyes running over the tall, curvy blonde. Astrid’s gaze found Ranulf. She smirked as her eyes ran over Ranulf, slowly. The silence was too sexually charged for me.

  “Yeah, I just ordered the pizzas for everyone. Astrid, this is Ranulf, one of the gargoyles who came to town,” I announced as I moved to the back of the couch and watched them continue to eye each other. Okay, this was taking too long. “Ranulf, it’s girls’ night,” I reminded him.

  He tore his eyes off Astrid to look at me. “I’m going, text us when the pizzas are here.” He headed towards the door. Astrid watched him leave, turning to watch him go. She turned back biting her lower lip, her face pained.

  “That male… I want to climb him like a tree,” she stated emphatically. I chuckled as I picked up my ‘girls’ night' basket. It had everything we usually used. Mud masks, nail polish, all the other essentials. I moved to the living room and sat on the big sofa. I set the basket down and started pulling out polishes while Astrid went into the kitchen to grab wine glasses and a corkscrew.

  She came back and sat next to me. “So, what’s Ranulf’s deal?”

  I smiled as I found Astrid’s usual red for her toes. “He’s single. Thirteen hundred and some change old.”

  Astrid began to pour the wine. “That’s old. Think his plumbing still works?”

  I laughed as I handed her the nail polish and took the wine glass she handed me. “I imagine so.” I turned to her, she had that light in her eye. “Astrid.”

  “What?” she asked innocently.

  “We have a Mate thing, too,” I reminded her.

  She pulled off her boots and socks. “I’m not looking for forever here, Evie. Just a few great hot nights that leave me walking funny. I’m not the settling down type, you know that.”

  I rolled my eyes as I set my glass down and found my clear polish I liked to use. “Well, if you want to take a shot, go for it. They might be here a bit longer.” />
  She stopped shaking the bottle and raised an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”

  My cheeks grew warm as I found my nail file. “I had lunch with Atticus today.”

  “And?” she asked with a grin.

  “And … it was nice,” I admitted as I sat back on the couch and started filing my nails. “We talked. I got to know him. He got to know me.”

  “And?” she asked, grinning.

  “I told him about the store,” I admitted. Astrid’s grin disappeared. “He offered to give me the money.”

  Her eye brows went up. “Really?”

  I nodded as I started filing on my other hand. “Yeah, I turned him down.”

  “Of course you did,” she grumbled.

  “I don’t want his money,” I reminded her.

  “Just him out of his pants,” she countered. We both started laughing as my face burned.

  “Atticus naked.” I thought about it. Goosebumps ran over my skin. “That would be a sight.” I tried to shake the image from my mind.

  “You’ve only ever slept with humans, right?” She asked as she started painting her toenails.

  My face warmed. “Yes.”

  “Wow.” Astrid smiled mischievously, “You’re in for quite a ride.”

  My face caught fire. “Astrid!”

  She snickered. “I’m not kidding. At least with Atticus you won’t have to worry about hurting him or STDs, right? Or is that just us?”

  “No, all supernatural species are immune to human diseases.” I said absently, then quickly added “Besides, I didn’t say I was going to sleep with him.” I pointed out focusing on my own nails.

  “But you want to.” She teased.

  I sighed and shot her a look. “You know what I want.”

  Astrid grinned. “Yeah, a guy who will love you for you.”

  “Can you blame me?” I asked.

  “Not at all.” Astrid began painting her toenails on her other foot. “I still don’t know what you saw in that cop.”

  I shrugged as I started polishing my left hand. “Potential,” I admitted. “I was lonely and as you would say, ‘hard up.’”