by Amity Green
“Get some rest.” He left without waiting for me to respond.
“Is everything okay with you two?” she asked.
“Yeah. You were right. We just needed to talk.” I sighed. She probably knew it was only half the truth. “No.” I gave a sarcastic laugh.
She dropped the topic and moved on. “We’ll be okay here for a while, right? I mean, everyone knows where we are, and they don’t seem to be worried as long as we’re not trying to run away?”
I nodded. She sounded unsure of herself, a contrast from my friend who usually had the world by the tail. Her world, anyway. Her lids were already threatening to close. She yawned.
“We can get some sleep.”
Brea dozed off in moments. I don’t know how long I lay awake watching her. Being stuck in Scotland made me feel sort of powerless, not that I was the Queen of Resourceful before. I’d begun to have a good grasp of my bearings in London, was just settling in. I think I may have accepted things there eventually. Life at the bookstore suddenly didn’t seem so bad, at all.
Chapter 23
Sleep found me but only stayed for a while. I awoke later to the sensation of my skin tingling, signaling my change. Darkness tinted the room while we dozed. Brea’s breath came in steady, slow beats. I slid out of bed snatching my old skirt and cami, and headed for the bathroom for some privacy.
I flipped on the light and my reflection caught me completely off-guard. My eyes were huge, the fleck of copper seeming to swirl or glint in a slow pulse. I picked up the ends of my hair, wondering why I’d ever had it trimmed or styled. The bright pink polish on my nails was suddenly disgusting. Coloring my fingers that way was childish. My physical appearance was perfection in its natural state, by the ages-old laws of divine creation. The t shirt I wore was an insult. I was confused, wondering where the new perspective and opinion of myself came from. Doing my best to shake it off, I turned on cold water and splashed my face.
I quickly patted dry on a hand towel. I felt better. I had no idea where the self-criticism came from, by my nails looked great and I was wearing a shirt with a big-eyed puppy on it. What could possibly have been wrong with a puppy?
My spine tingled, snapping me out of the confusion. I just made it into the skirt and cami before I transformed. The parody of decency I kept up when I Garged Out struck me then. Clothes were useless as a gargoyle. The moments before and after becoming one kept me changing into the old outfit. The mirror showed how odd I looked, a stony, dark figure in ruined lace and pastels. My scales weren’t the same color as before. Part of them shone deep grey, growing darker underneath. My face was dark, with cut features. The monster in me settled in, and my human side accommodated, blending. The resilience of human nature fought for survival, adapting. I craved being human again—appreciated daytime and sunlight more at that moment than ever before.
I left quietly, feeling cool air greet me on the other side of the door. Spines of books glinted in the low light. Sleet tapped at the glass, ice crystals gleaming and as they slid from the pane.
Headlights bobbed in the darkness toward the house, glinting through the storm. I walked to the window and crouched low to get a look at who’d driven up. I lowered the tops of my wings to keep out of sight.
A sleek, black Mercedes rolled to a stop. Kai got out of the backseat, dressed in a collared shirt and black pants, and tie that hung loose around his neck. His hair was tied back at the nape. He looked like he’d returned from some sort of business meeting as he reached into the car to retrieve a briefcase.
Kai walked beneath the courtyard lights toward the front door, on human feet. He was definitely no gargoyle. My tail twitched in agitation as I watched him until he was gone from view.
The front door pounded shut below me. He’d lied to me and it was time to get a better understanding of what he was, since I knew what he wasn’t. He’d played me before. I would continue to be a monster, when Kai, rotten as he was, remained human. That got my goat.
* * *
I glided over the bannister railing and landed quietly on the tile in the great room below. The more I thought about how he’d lied, connived and taken advantage of me the more incensed I became. Wishing I’d been able to explore the monstrosity of a house, I wandered the halls searching him out, intent on getting answers from him one way or another. Seeing him as a human changed things on the playing field. Being a gargoyle might give me the upper hand for once.
Kai’s voice echoed in a wordless monotone through a hallway. I stopped, straining to listen. A female voice spoke low and calm, but I couldn’t make out the conversation. I crept closer, trying to keep an eye on the hallway behind me. Soon, I stood outside the door to Kai’s study, peeking inside through a crack in the doorway.
The female I’d heard talking was Petra. She stood before Kai, claws folded in front of her. Her tail twitched at her back, and her wings fluttered with small motions above her head. She was agitated. Or scared.
“I’m sorry, Kai—”
Slap!
The room fell silent. I leaned back against the wall. I breathed hard, thinking about running into the room. Between the two of us, surely we could beat the crap right out of him.
Before I stepped inside, Petra ran out of the room and down the opposite hall. She hadn’t seen me. I flattened against the wall once more, trying to get a grip on my thoughts.
When I’d first met Kai, I would never have imagined him being such a monster. He’d been charming, and mysterious. Fun and polite. Hardly the type to kick a puppy. I snorted. Such a contrast. He was abusive, domineering and had apparently done something to keep Petra under his thumb.
Puppy kicker, extraordinaire.
I leaned off the wall and turned, taking one step into an unmoving wall of hard scales. I looked up into the face of a snarling gargoyle.
I snorted, completely on accident and this big guy totally thought I was being sarcastic or something.
The giant looked shocked for about a millisecond. He snatched me by an elbow and flung me inside the study. My wings flew out of control behind me as I was jerked to a stop in front of Kai’s desk. I rubbed my arm and glared up at the brute beside me.
Kai looked at me and shook his head with a sigh.
“Leave us,” he said.
I turned on a heel and stepped toward the door. No one needed to tell me twice.
“Tessa!” Kai snarled.
I dropped my head and resigned to stand in front of his desk again.
The big gargoyle smirked. He left the room, leaving Kai and I alone. I stood precisely where Petra was moments before. Kai was livid.
I practiced stoicism as he paced to a sidebar and poured a drink from a decanter. Ben Thomlinson’s face flashed through my mind as he’d poured himself multiple rocks glasses full of alcohol the day we’d met. That had not been a great day, either.
“What can I do for you this evening, Tessa?” He watched me with a rehearsed, calm smile.
“You lied to me.”
“On which account?” He seated himself at his desk.
“It’s nice to know I have choices.”
He smirked, sipping from his glass.
“You’re not a gargoyle.” The tips of my wings twitched above my head, clicking softly.
“Ah, you caught me. I am not, indeed.”
“But you were all see-through that day in London.”
“You’re the one that proclaimed I was a gargoyle, not I. I threw on a shroud.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal.
“You threw on a shroud,” I deadpanned. “I have no freaking idea what that means.”
“I altered the appearance of my physical state to suit the situation. So in a sense, that was the lie. I was trying to make friends with you.”
“Why? Someone like me should hardly matter to someone like you. I don’t like you at all. You disgust me.”
“There’s that quirk you have, Tessa,” he sipped from his glass and reclined in his expensive-looking desk chair. “I want
for us to reunite. We’ve shared much.”
I was about to give another snarky retort, but something in his voice stopped me. Behind the cocky attitude, there was a hint sorrow in his demeanor. I’d had the sense about him before. Whatever he felt, he was convinced it was real. We hadn’t shared much time together, but Kai’s eyes held a thousand years of affection. I looked at my feet. Oh, shit.
“Retrieving your friend emboldened you.” He regarded me, staring from my eyes to my wings and claws. “You really think you’ve figured it all out.”
“Don’t even bother wasting your breath. You’re a liar and I won’t listen anyway.” I was really lost. He’d made it seem like getting me there was his goal. It really figured I’d been misled, once again.
“I want my book back.”
“What book?”
“The one that old fool has at Librorum Taberna.” He removed two golden cufflinks from his shirt, rolling the sleeves against his forearms. “The fact he used that book to transform you into a gargoyle is the most absurd alignment of events possible.”
Cryptic blather from Kai, the way he placed intonation on certain words when he spoke, wasn’t something I’d entertain anymore. “So it’s okay for you to play with people, but no one else? And I don’t even know where your stupid book is,” I shot back. “As if Ezra tells me every-dang-thing around the place.”
My mistake was obvious a moment too late. I should have known not to get sarcastic with Kai. In the next second I found myself floating above the floor, unable to move as my body leveled out, going horizontal. I couldn’t make myself stop shaking from sheer terror. My stomach heaved. I glided atop the air, growing closer to Kai’s desk. He stood, taking my right hand, which had changed to human form along with the rest of me. My stained skirt and camisole hung against my chest and hips.
“This spell that makes you change at night?” He didn’t wait for an answer. It belongs to me. It’s part of you. Do the math.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered through tears. “I really am.”
“Sweet girl, you are,” he touched my cheek gently. “You will learn to watch your tongue around me.” He traced my bottom lip with a fingertip and placed his hand over my mouth.
I cried against his skin, begging him to stop.
“You’re blind to your own potential and have absolutely no idea what you’re dealing with.”
He gripped my little finger and snapped it.
Jagged, wet bone grated together. I screamed. Tears streamed toward my ears, dampening my hair. I continued to hover, trembling and helpless. Kai released my fractured finger and wrapped his hand around the ring finger on the same hand. I cried out again, muffled in the stillness of his study. He leaned over my face.
“Shhh …,” he nodded, waiting for me to nod my understanding.
The delicate bone in my finger snapped quickly, like a soggy Popsicle stick. He tightened his grip on my mouth when I screamed at the new pain. I drew ragged breaths sobbing quietly, not knowing which was worse; the terror of being helplessly tortured or the pain in my hand. My body trembled so hard I felt my hair and skirt swinging in the open air beneath me.
“Here’s how this will work.” He squeezed my middle finger hard, selecting the next bone to splinter. “Are you listening to me?” He moved his palm from my mouth.
“Yes,” I said, after inhaling a quivering breath. “Please don’t.”
“You will go to London and get my book. You will bring it here to me in two days’ time. Brea will stay here with me, Petra and the boys.” He snorted and shook his head slightly. “That reminds me of something we need to discuss.” He leaned in again. “You have the gift of surprising me. That’s a quality I’ve missed seeing in anyone for centuries. It’s one of the things I admire about you, Tessa.” His eyes scanned my face while one hand stroked my hair. “Don’t make it a habit to kill my boys.” The pressure was back on my finger.
“Okay,” I agreed, hastily. It hadn’t been a highpoint in my life, anyway.
“So let’s recap, shall we? You will bring me my book. Brea will remain here with me, in one of my suites. She will have the best of care, food, everything. You will refrain from habitually killing anyone else around here. Do we agree?
“Yes.”
“Good girl. I’ll even throw in a driver, as a token of good faith. But I feel it needs said that if you get any ideas to deviate from our agreement, I will kill your friend and hunt you down.”
I locked onto his eyes and met sincerity. He meant every syllable of what he said, without a doubt. He’d placed my best friend’s life in my hands. I felt horribly inadequate. Brea being threatened was entirely on me.
“Kai, will you do something for me when I give you your book?” I knew I was in no position to ask for perks but I had to try. I tried my best to engage him with sincerity through my tears and pain.
“Again, a surprise. Please, humor me,” he said, smiling down at me.
“Will you send Brea back home? That’s all I’ll ever ask for. She doesn’t deserve any of this. Just put her on a plane back to Austin and never contact her again.”
“Of course,” he said gently, stroking my brow. “You’ve such a big heart.” He kissed me softly.
I was horrified by that. I would never understand how Kai could be so tender while he tortured me.
“I’m not a monster, Tessa.”
That was the thing with Kai—he looked and spoke like a normal, sane human. No helter-skelter eyes. No face of evil, or little voices playing with his expressions as they dictated his motives. All bad guys should look the part. Twist a mustache while they laughed in maniacal tones or something equally tell-tale. I apparently needed more to go on, because Kai’s warning signs didn’t scare me off until it was far too late. The last few moments had done the trick. He was purely vile.
I was a believer.
And Kai, was also. He was convinced he was a good guy; that he’d been stolen from. Victimized. His state of mind sealed a cap over a really big bottle of “Psycho”.
I was lowered slowly to the floor. My bare toes touched down lightly. Kai held my wrist, moving the hand with my fractured fingers into the center of both our lines of sight. The tips pointed at sick angles toward the floor. I could barely stand looking at them.
He touched the base of one broken bone and I panicked.
“Nonono Kai, please don’t!”
“Shhhh,” he hissed as the pain left my hand. “You shouldn’t force me to do such things to you.” Broken bone fused together and my pinky reset against my other fingers, with the ring finger following suit. I shook, sweat growing heavy on my brow and upper lip. I was suddenly freezing, but numb.
He caressed my hand. “Good as new,” he whispered.
“Hamish!” his shout burst toward the door behind me. I was startled by the thunder in his voice. Kai held my hand, keeping me in place.
A moment later the door swung open and the hulking gargoyle approached us. I took a careful look at him as he came to stand next to me. He towered over Kai, with a wide, plated torso. Waist-length blond hair was tied at his nape, subtle hints of copper as if he’d spent time in a swimming pool that contained too much chlorine. Two long, spiraling horns pointed from his forehead, curving back like a goat’s. His face held no emotion at all, like a soldier who’d been trained to uphold duty above anything else. A spiked tail twitched against the floor, darting between the heels of his elongated, clawed feet. He looked straight ahead, as if I wasn’t in the room at all. Hamish had a lethal quality about him that was barely contained. His ability to make me feel nonexistent terrified me, like he could do away with me and carry on without missing a beat in his neatly, Garged Out world.
“Tomorrow you will take Tessa into London so she can get some of her things from Ezra’s book store—”
Hamish broke character, huffing.
“Kai,” I cut in. “Please.” There was no way I would be able to endure that long ride trapped in the same space as Hamish. I would
have to find another way to get Brea out of there if Kai disagreed.
“Ugh,” Hamish grunted, peering down at me with blatant disgust curling his lip.
I bristled. “Screw you.” The night had gone completely south and I was in no mood to be “Ughed” at. I turned to face Kai, who squinted, watching me.
Hamish continued to stare at me like he’d stepped up beside a steaming cow pie. I couldn’t concentrate with hate flowing so freely and from such a close distance. He tried to intimidate me, to make me feel unsubstantial in the shadow of his huge body.
“What’s your problem?” I returned the nasty look.
Hamish snorted his distaste. “I’ll not waste good breath on a woman who needs to be put in her place, for good,” he snarled.
The slap was rocket-fast, landing so hard against his rough cheek that my hand stung past the wrist, feeling like flames burst from the many pores of my palm. A blackened handprint marred Hamish’s face where I’d landed the blow with a searing sound like water dancing on a griddle.
Oddly, I was the only one surprised by the speed and result of my action. Kai erupted with laughter, telling Hamish, “You earned that one.”
Hamish jerked, standing rigid, facing Kai, The handprint on his burnt cheek pointing right at me. I needed to look for a good hiding place. The psycho gargoyle would seek revenge. It was high time to plead my case.
“I’ve seen Peter around. Could he take me? I don’t know how Ezra will react to a stranger showing up at the bookstore, and Peter knows the place well. I’ll need help locating your book.” I shot a look at Hamish. “And I don’t trust him with my safety.” I played on the hopes that Kai didn’t trust Hamish, either, especially since I’d dug my own, fresh grave by hitting him. And Peter coming to the bookstore with me would make more sense to Ezra, seem more natural, especially since Peter did Kai’s bidding to keep Petra alive.
“You have my word I will come right back.” I swallowed hard. “On my friend’s life.”
I must’ve said something right. He searched my face for sincerity then nodded like I was the Queen of the Obvious.
