The Avatars Series: Books 1-3

by Blackwood, Lisa

  Lillian narrowed her eyes, annoyance overriding fear for the first time in hours. “And what concern is it of yours?”

  Tethys’s laugh had a tone both beautiful and chilling at the same time. “It will be every sentient beings concern if you do not do something to curb your dire influence over your gargoyle. You say you won’t allow me to use either of you, that I and my plans for humanity are evil. But it is you, and your weakness, which taints your gargoyle. If you continue as you are, you will give the Lady of Battles exactly what she wants.”

  Lillian’s stomach cramped like she had rocks in it. The siren’s words were dreadful, because they struck with note after note of truth.

  Had she really forced Gregory to be other than he was supposed to be? And would he be punished for those changes she had inflicted on him? Gregory would never tell her.

  Focus. Think of something else, she chanted in her mind. “What you say does have a ring of truth, but I can’t just stand by and allow you to murder all the humans the world over.”

  The siren laughed, a bright, clear sound. “They’re doing a fine job themselves, I merely propose to help them along. And it need not be all of them, half would be enough to collapse their civilization. Their technology would fail and they would be back to living off the land and sea within a generation.”

  “It’s still mass murder.”

  The siren stared Lillian down like she was talking to a child. “Poachers killed 20,000 elephants for their ivory last year. On my journey here, it was just one story I read about in something called a magazine dedicated to wildlife. Humans murder out of greed, desperation, and madness. Do humans not put down rabid animals? I’ll merely be doing the same thing on a larger scale.”

  “What about those trying to change? What about the innocent children who have no control over what their elders do? Would you murder helpless infants?

  “Ah, you truly are young, child-like almost. Is this what remains of the Sorceress with all her knowledge and wisdom stripped away? An innocent. I see why the Gargoyle Protector can’t protect himself from you. You work great damage with your wholesome innocence.” Tethys snorted. “A deadly temptation to a gargoyle. I’m surprised he hasn’t given in and just had you. You wouldn’t be able to resist him even if you wanted to.” The siren’s lips turned up in a smile. “But you wouldn’t really put up a fight.”

  Lillian’s fingers tightened on her crossbow as she fought the urge to just take a shot and hope for the best.

  Tethys sighed and made a soothing noise. “Don’t get all confrontational, dryad. We both know I speak the truth.”

  “Your version,” Lillian snapped.

  “I don’t lie. I never have. Sirens are always forthright in our answers. Think about what I’ve said. We are not enemies. I can help free you and your gargoyle from the trap the Lady of Battles devised for you.”

  “We don’t need the kind of help you’re offering.”

  “Yes, your hamadryad is doing a fine job of killing the demon seed trapped within—it was very ingenious of the tree to remove it from you while she healed you. And I would judge the tree to finish her work in another three or four months. But I doubt you and Gregory have the time. Either the Lady of Battles will send her minions, or you and Gregory will give in to the desire growing between you.”

  “I won’t allow it to…”

  Tethys cut her off with a slashing motion of one arm. “I can offer you another option. I am powerful enough to sing the demon seed to death. Then I can help you rejoin your hamadryad and you can take back your soul and become the Sorceress as she was meant to be. Once you are whole, the Lady of Battles will be unable to withstand your joint power. You can take the battle to her and teach her it is unwise to pit oneself against the Avatars of the Divine Ones.”

  Oh, it sounded so tempting, Lillian thought, but for one little detail. “Is this the same deal you offered Gregory while he slept in stone? Since you’re now pandering it to me, I take it your plan didn’t go so well.”

  “No, it didn’t have the effect I’d hoped,” the siren answered and laughed openly. “He said he might have said yes had he also thought you’d ever forgive him. So I come to you with the same deal.”

  “And a very tempting deal it is, except for one rather large detail. Well, more like 3.5 billion smaller details. I think that is how many souls my decision would cost. I won’t barter one soul to save myself. I certainly won’t trade a few billion innocent human lives just so I can become the Sorceress again. No bloody deal.”

  She snapped the crossbow into position and loosed the bolt. It flew true, its trajectory level with the siren’s upper body. With an impossible gestured too fast to follow, Tethys swatted the bolt, knocking it to the side where it embedded itself in the muddy bank. Lillian was already reloading it when the crossbow took up a subtle vibration in her hands. It lasted for all of three seconds, and then she was suddenly clenching empty air, gaping with sickening astonishment at where it had been.

  “Ah,” Tethys said, sounding as calm as a lazy summer morning, as if Lillian hadn’t even attempted a shot, “That’s what your gargoyle said you would say, apparently he knows you better than you know him. But that doesn’t change my goal. You’ve forced my hand. I had so hoped you would make this easy. I truly don’t want to enslave your gargoyle. He is such a noble beast. So much better had it come from you.”

  Her heart pounding in her throat, Lillian glared at the siren, not liking the turn of events but admitting it was going exactly the way she feared it would. Not knowing what to say next or how to extract herself and her gargoyle from immediate danger, Lillian fell back on pure bravo.

  “If you could have enchanted Gregory, you already would have, and you wouldn’t need me to give him any orders.”

  “True and false,” Tethys said with a mysterious smile.

  “And what does that mean?”

  “Gregory is male. Under the correct situation, I could eventually win him over. He’s still weakened from expelling large quantities of magic to produce weapons for the land-bound Fae. It would be the perfect time to enchant him. Unfortunately, while he remains in stone, my power cannot touch him. So now he can heal, grow stronger, all while being impervious to my song. Once he is at full strength, he will awaken. At which point, it won’t go well for me. If he lets me live, I imagine it will be locked away behind a powerful spell.”

  The siren pointed to the maze’s northern exit, and then pushed herself backward until her lower half was below the water line.

  Lillian jerked around as she caught an unpleasant odor. Something unwholesome was coming. She could sense it deep down in the soles of her feet. The forest around her gave warning, the trees aware of an evil passing through their domain. She took a step back, the unconscious move drew Tethys’s attention away from Gregory and back to her.

  “Young dryad, stay. There is something I want to show you.” There was a commotion at the north entrance of the maze, accompanied by much growling and snarling as a tall, humanoid figure was shoved forward at sword point. The unidentified person dropped down into a defensive crouch. Three Fae followed close at his heels, hemming him in and directing his momentum.

  Lillian snarled in recognition and two inch black claws emerged from the tips of her fingers.

  The Riven answered her in kind, its snarl harsh on her ears.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  While she was less than happy to see one of them here in her grove, she held her position—not truly afraid of one lone Riven. If she had to, she could fight it in her gargoyle form. That nature simmered just below the surface, demanding she answer the challenge, eager to dispatch the Riven sullying her grove. Instead of forcing the dominant bloodline back, she held it in check, ready if she needed it, but stopped short of a full shift, which might neutralize her grandmother’s spell. That spell might be her last chance of escaping the siren.

  Lillian narrowed her eyes, every sense honing in on the Riven. Actually, the beast hemorrhaged a
black ooze from a dozen wounds. It looked like it might expire in front of her at any moment.

  “Why,” Lillian pointed at the offending creature occupying her grove, “is that Gods’ blighted beast here? One alone is no threat to Gregory or myself. If this is what you wanted me to see, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m already intimately acquainted with the murdering, soul stealing little monsters. I doubt you can show me anything new about them.”

  “No, but I did find this one and many others on the edge of your territory. As a favor to you and the local Fae, I killed all but this one.”

  “How nice of you.” Lilian’s voice dripped with sarcasm but she was already inching closer to where Gregory slept.

  At some point during the conversation, the Riven had turned his attention squarely between Lillian and the siren. If anything, the Riven looked more distraught and sank lower into its fighting crouch, fangs gleaming and claws extended in extreme threat.

  “I left this one alive because I thought to use it as evidence in case you didn’t believe me about the secondary threat, but then I decided on a better use for the creature.” Tethys gestured for the three Fae to herd the Riven closer.

  Lillian focused on keeping her breath and heart rate slow and even, but she allowed her claws to grow another half inch. Darting her eyes between the Riven and the enchanted ward stones ringing Gregory in a protective circle, she briefly debated ending the Riven before he reached the stone circle or allowing him to fry himself on the protective wards.

  In the end, she decided to leave him to be incinerated on the wards, less tainted blood to contaminate her grove that way.

  One of the spear carrying sidhe made a jab at the Riven. With a desperate contortion of his body, the Riven avoided being impaled and leaped back another dozen steps to land two feet inside the ward stone circle. A second later, Lillian realized the wards didn’t activate, not so much as a spark of magic flickered along their lengths.

  Tethys had nullified the protection on the stones.

  Her heart starting to pound with the sudden rise of adrenalin, Lillian glanced at Gregory.

  What other protective spells had the siren neutralized?

  The Riven seemed to think along the same lines, for with one last disbelieving look at the stone circle, he turned his hate filled eyes toward the sleeping gargoyle.

  No! Tethys planned to use the Riven to force Gregory to defend himself.

  Lillian snarled her own challenge and bolted toward the Riven, every logical thought forced beneath the need to protect her mate.

  She shifted while still in the air, her wings stretching out, carrying her across the distance. She snatched at the Riven, but the creature twisted away from her claws.

  With a flash of silver in the shadows, he summoned a demon blade and came at her.

  Lillian arched away from the blade, remembering what one had done to Gregory gave her a healthy respect for the thrice cursed things. Using her powerful tail as a weapon, she swiped at the Riven’s legs, forcing it to jump into the air where she nearly speared him on her talons while he was distracted.

  He twisted impossibly fast a second time and darted under a low hanging branch behind the tree. Growling in rage, Lillian gave chase. A sudden burning pain sliced across her back, just below where her wings attached. Yowling in rage, she spun, slashing out defensively at an enemy who wasn’t there.

  A second slice seared across her side, blood welling from a shallow wound that hadn’t been there seconds ago.

  She smelled the strong odor of sap mixing with the coppery stink of her blood and knew in a moment of lucidity, the Riven was attacking her tree, stabbing and slashing at her hamadryad in a vain attempt to kill her.

  Lillian howled out her wrath again. A second, much deeper roar answered her call. It came from behind and suddenly Gregory was racing past her to circle the tree.

  The Riven burst out from behind the trunk, Gregory on its tail and closing fast. The Riven put on a burst of speed, leaping straight toward Lillian with its demon blade extended before it.

  Gregory lashed out with a blast of bone chilling power, catching the Riven on one side. Its momentum carried it toward Lillian even as Gregory’s magic burned along the length of its body.

  Lillian sidestepped and slashed out at the beast. Her talons severed its head from its shoulders as it careened past. For good measure, Gregory leaped onto the corpse and blasted it with a second wave of magic.

  With a hiss and final crackle, the Riven’s body burned to ash, and then ash swirled into a fog-like smoke until even it was gone.

  Gregory raked the ground with his talons, then drew a deep breath and coughed it back out on an enraged snort. He took two steps toward Lillian, his muzzle pointed slightly upward and his lips pulled back to inhale another deep breath. She dropped to all fours and padded over to him, both to allow him to inspect her wounds and so she could check for any he might have gathered.

  They were mere feet apart when a beautiful and eerie song filled the glade. Gregory twitched an ear in the direction of the song. He turned his entire head and neck, taking a half step away from her.

  Her own ears swung forward, seeking the source of the sound, her body was just starting to mimic Gregory’s actions when a high pitched snap echoed in her ears, piercing deep with a sudden agony, and then all the world went silent.

  Bereft without the beautiful song, she whined and pawed at her ears, hoping to unblock them, but her hands came back covered in a few traces of blood. She snarled again, thinking this was more of the Riven’s work.

  But there was something she wasn’t remembering.

  Something about that beautiful song.

  Something dangerous.

  Gran had told her about a spell and a song.

  “I should remember this,” Lillian thought, the first clear one she’d had in several heartbeats. “Why can’t I remember?”

  The web of an enchantment fell away and everything came rushing back.

  She shook herself, then stretched, surprised to find herself resting on the ground.

  In a sudden panic, Lillian bolted to her feet and searched for Gregory. She found him halfway between her and the siren.

  He was crouched, his tail flicking in what she first took as annoyance. She changed her mind after she noticed his long ears flicking toward the siren, and then back in Lillian’s direction. Every so often, Gregory would glance at her, his expression vague and uncertain as if he was undecided what he was supposed to do.

  At the bank of the stream, Tethys waited, still half out of the water, her tail lazily splashing water over her body as she sang. For the moment, Lillian couldn’t hear the song. She’d been lucky her shift to gargoyle hadn’t neutralized Gran’s spell, but she didn’t know how much longer her luck would last. If she was to help Gregory, she had to do something now, before her gargoyle blood healed her ruptured eardrums.

  A quick glance down at the one injury she could see showed it had already stopped bleeding. Her hamadryad was much stronger from the periodic feedings of Gregory’s blood. What she’d normally consider a benefit was, in this instance, an unfortunate side effect. She couldn’t assume the healing powers would wait to heal her ears until all the other wounds were healed. For all she knew, her injuries might all be healing at the same rate.

  She glanced between Gregory and Tethys.

  There was no way she could remove Gregory from the siren’s influence, he weighed too much and he seemed disinclined to move from the spot anyway. She turned her attention back to the siren. Was it possible to eliminate her?

  By their very natures, gargoyles were immune to many forms of magical attack. Perhaps her gargoyle body could overcome the siren’s defensive magic where her magic enhanced crossbow had failed. And Tethys’s magic didn’t seem to be physical in nature, at least Lillian had seen no sign of the dome like shielding magic.

  Lillian leaped into motion, sending a silent prayer that what she did ranked as bravery not stupidity.

&
nbsp; The distance between Lillian and her prey halved. Her talons extended to their full length, her jaws parted in preparation to savage the siren’s throat. Let’s see if the bitch can sing sans vocal cords.

  Shadows shifted and suddenly Gregory was piling sidelong into her, his greater bulk and massive wingspan carrying them sideways several feet until they both slammed into the base of his stone pedestal.

  She took two swipes of his tongue to her face before it occurred that it wasn’t an attack on his part. Lillian tried to extract herself from their tangle of arms, wings, legs, and tails. But no matter how hard she tried, it was like pushing against a mountain.

  Gregory continued to growl happily as he gave her gentle nips and licks on her exposed skin.

  Lillian fought against Gregory’s overly happy greeting as it dawned on her that no song the siren sang could ever make him harm her. In fact, Tethys might not actually be able to force a person to do something outside of their innate character. Rather like a hypnotist, her power allowed her to influence what was already a part of a person’s makeup.

  When Tethys dialed up Gregory’s affectionate nature, he in turn became boisterous as a six-month-old puppy—if ever a puppy weight in at half a tonne.

  She forced her head to the side so she could study the siren. Her adversary was still half out of the water, seemingly in no hurry for Gregory to bring her his prize. But then, maybe Tethys couldn’t force anyone as powerful as Gregory to do anything he didn’t want to do.

  But what if she asked him to perform a task he didn’t find abhorrent?

  That gave Lillian pause.

  She broke out in a cold sweat.

  Gregory had made no attempt to hide his dislike of the human race and what it was currently doing to the planet and each other. Tethys had pretty much come out and said she wanted to reduce the human race to its hunter-gatherer origins.

  Could the siren influence Gregory enough to help?

  Oh, hell, yes. It wouldn’t take much more than a nudge to get Gregory to exterminate anything he perceived as evil. It was his sole purpose, his reason for existing. That, and to protect his Sorceress.