Ascension (The Gryphon Series)

by Rourke, Stacey

  “I’m not sure. It didn’t come with an instruction manual. But it started glowing the second we started moving so I think it’s like a mystical game of Hotter or Colder.” I shoved the discus in Row’s direction. “Does it look like it’s getting brighter to you? I can’t tell.”

  He fought off a grin with a slight shake of his head. “Your Lucille Ball approach to things, while charming, is somewhat disheartening considering the magnitude of your sacred duties.”

  “If that’s the case, then in tonight’s episode you’re Ethel,” I stated, turning it toward the windshield.

  “I always did find Fred to be an attractively … sturdy fella.” Rowan’s gaze flicked off the road when the discus pulsated with light, steadily growing in intensity. “It seems to be waking up. Exactly what kind of big baddie is it steering us off to meet?”

  Oh, how I wanted to avoid this conversation, but seeing as he was driving, there really was no way around it. “We’re going to find Barnabus.”

  Five simple words created a big, fat, tension-filled, pause. When Rowan finally found his voice, it had dropped octaves to a low tremor. “To kill him?”

  I laid the discus on my thigh and stared out the window to avoid the judgmental stare I knew was coming. “Or join him. I’m hoping to figure out which before we get there.”

  “And what would motivate you to even consider such a thing?” His words came out cool and calculated, not at all the explosion I had been expecting.

  “We share a mutual goal—killing the Countess. He has an army of demonic minions and I don’t. I figured why not exploit that.”

  “And?”

  Now it was my turn for an uncomfortable pause. “He claims he can save Caleb and bring him back. Where he is … I don’t think he’s safe anymore.”

  I risked a glance out of the corner of my eye. Rowan’s hands tightened around the wheel in a white knuckled grasp. “Flip side of the coin, what happens if you kill Barnabus?”

  I raised my chin and mentally thanked the darkness for hiding how it quivered. “Rumor has it if I touch the discus to Barnabus’s chest it will kill him and set Alec free.”

  Rowan rubbed a hand over his face and across his chin with a dry, humorless laugh. “And you actually have to contemplate what the right thing to do here is?”

  “Yeah, I do!” I snapped defensively. “I want this over! If standing with Barnabus increases my chances of that then that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “Getting the beau back in the process is just the icing on top, isn’t it?” he sneered, his voice dripping with condescension.

  “This has nothing to do wi—”

  “Like hell it doesn’t!” Rowan’s fist slammed into the roof of my truck with a loud metallic twang that echoed through the cab. “Remove Cal from the equation and you’d be able to see that your formerly dear friend Alec is trapped. He’s a prisoner in his own body that needs you to help him!”

  “Of course you’d say that.” I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth, but couldn’t reel them back in.

  “I beg your pardon?” The sudden eerily calm detachment in Rowan’s tone set off warning alarms of an emotionally charged monsoon about to strike.

  I knew I should stop and use my silence as a life preserver to wait out the storm, but no. I was all built up on my own moxie and had apparently lost the ability to shut up. “You don’t think I know you’d love nothing more than to have Caleb out of the picture forever?”

  Rowan wrenched the steering wheel to the side. The truck skidded to the shoulder in a shower of loose gravel and a serenade of honking horns. Slamming the gear shift into park, he pivoted on the seat to face me. Anger darkened his turquois eyes to near pitch black. “Believe it or not, lass, not everything is about you. For centuries Cal has been like a brother to me, the closest thing I’ve had to family. I miss the bloke and would love to have him back. And yes, part of that is because I would love for you to see that he’s not the perfect specimen you’ve painted him to be. Then, maybe I wouldn’t have to compete with that idolized version anymore. However, the main thing you’re not getting here, you infuriatingly daft girl, is that this has nothing to do with my feelings for you. Freeing your friend from his curse is the right thing to do. If you could get past your emotional constipation for five seconds you’d see that. It’s your job to help people like him. Not to do what makes you feel all warm and snuggly inside.” He leaned in, his flexed jaw giving his cheeks a hollow appearance under the yellow streetlights. “If you let that boy die you can never again call yourself a hero. You’ll be nothin’ but a selfish-brat, undeserving of her own title.”

  I met his gaze, but my own growing self-doubt hindered me from matching his intensity. “You’re free to leave. I can do this alone.”

  The warmth of his fingertips brushed my thigh as he snatched the discus. Starting on his left, he moved it slowly in front of him until it noticeably brightened when pointed to the east. “That’s where you’re wrong, Mo Chroi. You could be zooming off to make the worst, most asinine decision of your life, but I’ll be right there beside you. Where you go, I go.” The pulsing glow of the discus gave his eyes an ethereal quality as he cocked his head and peered directly into it. “Matter of fact, I might even lead the way.”

  A shocked gasp was the only protest I had time for as he clasped my hand and reduced us both to a cloud of smoke.

  Chapter 12

  “Did you lock my truck or even take the keys out of the ignition?”

  Keys jangled, though I couldn’t see them … or a hand in front of my face for that matter. “Big picture, Mo Chroi, can we attempt to focus?”

  “Well now I can,” I grumbled under my breath and spun in a slow circle taking in the vast cavern of nothingness Rowan had poofed us into. “I think I’ve been here before.”

  “It’s a big, dark, empty hall with no distinguishing features. Perhaps you’re confusing it with another big, dark, empty hall with no distinguishing features.”

  “No, it’s a feeling. Like there’s something … familiar about this place.”

  “Frequent The Gateway often, do you?” purred a voice as smooth and deadly as a polished dagger.

  A loud snap echoed through the hall and a green glow illuminated Barnabus’s form.

  “You’re using the forces of darkness as a flashlight?” I crinkled my face and tsked.

  Barnabus took a step forward and flicked his wrist to scatter six green, luminescent sticks across the floor. “Glow sticks. Not everything is mystical.”

  “No one likes a wise cracking demon,” I deadpanned to distract myself from my suddenly sweaty palms. “So, what’s a Gateway? Banquet hall for the recently demonic?”

  He gave a quick snort of laughter then began pacing a wide circle around Rowan and I. “The Gateway is a lobby … of sorts. Somewhere in here lies the cloaked entrance to The Spirit Plane.” On one heel, he pivoted in my direction. The glowing green light cast wicked shadows across the sharp planes of his face. “Would you like to know how the entrance is revealed?”

  A foreboding chill danced down my spine. “I’m guessing the answer isn’t a super-secret knock.”

  In a wisp of ghoulish green smoke, Barnabus materialized directly in front of me. Warm breath assaulted my cheek as he leaned in close. Despite the droplets of sweat streaking down my back, I forced myself not to react as he raised one slender hand and let it trace down the indentation of my waist with only the threat of contact. I bristled as his wandering digits settled on the curve of my hip.

  “You got a point here, Barnie?” I cocked my head and met his gaze with a hard-edged stare. “Or do we need to have a talk about inappropriate touching in the workplace?”

  The tip of his index finger tapped against the discus hidden in my back pocket. “This wonderful little trinket I gave you, combined with your blood, would make that portal fling wide open,” he whispered in my ear in a seductive tone that made me cringe.

  I tilted my chin up and shook my hea
d at my own ignorance. “And you got me to deliver it right to you, you miserable bastard.”

  “Remind me never to go anywhere with you ever again,” Rowan added bitterly.

  “Easy, now.” Barnabus chuckled with his hands in the air and took a couple of steps back—for which I was exceedingly grateful. “No need to work ourselves up to an eruption of violence. I was merely making a point.”

  “Of how easy it would be to kill me and bring about the end of the world? Thanks. That’s always comforting to hear.”

  “The exact opposite, actually.” Barnabus strode a few paces away, then spun around with his arms thrown out wide. “You have to realize if I wanted you dead, you would be.”

  “You could try,” Rowan growled and took a threatening step forward.

  I held up one hand to halt him. “If this is supposed to be a trust building speech, you’re falling tragically short.”

  “Then let me try a simpler approach.” Barnabus folded his hands and attempted a demure mask that missed its desired effect. “I don’t need you dead. What I need is your help and you are well aware of what I will pay for your time.”

  “Since Celeste didn’t inquire at all about the fine print, how about you tell me how you plan to return Caleb to her?” Rowan asked with the lift of one currently lime green brow.

  Barnabus’s gaze flicked Rowan’s way for a moment, like an annoying chore he felt obligated to complete, before locking back on me. “The same method Caleb used to visit you … that sneaky little incantation. I have one a bit more powerful and plan to use it to whisk him back here to your eagerly awaiting arms. For good this time.”

  “How do you know about that?” I demanded as Rowan’s head whipped my way.

  Accusation sharpened his tone to a razor’s edge. “You saw Cal?”

  “I guess we all have our little secrets around here, don’t we?” Barnabus said with a triumphant sneer.

  I sidestepped the conversational landmines with a healthy dose of complete avoidance. “Will Caleb be human?”

  Green shadows added a sinister effect to the lines of Barnabus’s face as he bit his lower lip and peered at me with devilish glee. “I guess that’s up to you and your beau, isn’t it? If you feel you need a bit more … bad in him, I can add a touch of demon just for you.”

  “And the only price I have to pay is to help you kill the Countess?”

  “The only price makes it sound like a menial task,” Barnabus corrected. “This will be no small feat, I assure you.”

  “Keep talking like that and you’ll make me blush,” a sultry voice interrupted, followed by the echoing click of high heels against the hall floor. Out of the cloak of darkness, the Countess emerged.

  Barnabus sucked air in through his teeth in a wicked hiss that was more dragon than human.

  The Countess seductively dragged her tongue across her top lip then blew him a kiss. “Barnabus, my sweet. Who would have thought a simpleton like you would be so hard to kill?”

  “I had to dumb down my behavior when I worked with you.” He glowered in response. “Couldn’t have our pseudo-leader stumbling over the big words now could I? It would’ve been bad for morale.”

  Her crimson waves rippled behind her as she tossed her head back and laughed. “You’d do well to watch your tongue, boy. If it helps, I could cut it out and show it to you.”

  “Always such a giver.”

  One shoulder, left bare due to her fashion choice of a bustier as viable shirt, lifted in a coy shrug. “What can I say, I have a generous spirit.”

  “Do you think they’d even notice if we left?” I mumbled behind my hand to Rowan.

  Blood red irises locked on me and sent an involuntary shudder surging from my toes to the top of my head. “Of course we would, my dear. Your presence here is crucial.”

  “Bugger.” Rowan bumped me with his shoulder. “Just had to draw attention over here, didn’t you?”

  A weak squeak was all I could muster in response. The dynamic of the room changed dramatically with the both of them here. The lethal combination of their powers sizzled through the air with a tangible force. I’d never had the misfortune of being tossed into a pit of vipers, but I imagined it would feel strikingly similar.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk, our little Chosen One.” Now that the Countess’s attention was focused my way I mentally flogged myself for not just creeping slowly from the room. No, I had to open my big mouth. Although, a death caused by my incessant need to inject sarcasm would seem somewhat fitting. “Barnabus lures you here by dangling Caleb’s carrot and you come running like a mule in heat.”

  Nervous energy made my bark of laughter come out way too loud. “Sorry.” I slapped a hand over my mouth before another outbreak followed. “Coming from you, that struck me as funny.”

  “Are you trying to get us killed?” Rowan hissed through his teeth.

  Her flawlessly smooth brow creased in confusion, but only for a moment before rebounding to her cool mask of calculated deviance. “In all your eagerness to have your Irish honey returned, did you bother to ask what would become of the boy you’re offering up to Barnabus in exchange? What was his name? Adam? Allan? Alex?”

  “Alec,” I corrected.

  “It seems our conversational time table has suddenly run out.” Barnabus stepped forward to position himself between the Countess and I. “Do you remember what I told you must be done with the discus? Now is the time. Do it and I assure you that you, your boyfriend, and your pirate friend will make it out of this alive.”

  The Countess cocked her hip, allowing the slit of her floor-length skirt to slide open enough to expose a peek of the thigh-high boot beneath. “Why the rush? Afraid I’ll tell her the truth? That by joining the likes of you she’s cursing her friend to an eternity roaming the realms of purgatory with peace always evading him? Do you think she’s prepared to harbor the guilt for such a selfish act?”

  “Is that true?” I rasped, my throat suddenly raw and parched.

  “Conduit … Celeste … the second I located that discus I could’ve killed you and stormed the Spirit Plane. But I didn’t. I gave it to you, to earn your trust. Have you asked yourself why I haven’t unleashed an unholy war against that vile sorceress yet? It’s because I know her. I know all too well that I can’t beat her alone, and neither can you.”

  As much as I wanted to believe him, I knew I couldn’t. His claim that he could’ve already used the discus to storm the Spirit Plane was a complete fabrication. The Gateway itself wouldn’t have allowed a demon in possession of the discus to enter. Unless … that wasn’t true at all. The Countess may have purposely leaked that false information, just to sway me.

  “Hear that, Conduit?” the Countess taunted. “He’s doubting your … what do you kids call it? Mad skills?”

  Barnabus ignored her and pushed on, “If we band together she can’t stop us. Your energy joined with mine is our only chance, but we have to act now.” His voice rose with growing enthusiasm and vigor. “Your days of fighting for your life and losing those you care about to this endless battle will be over. Freedom is within your grasp, girl. All you have to do is claim it.”

  It didn’t escape my notice that he hadn’t answered my question, but the sincerity of his plea seemed genuine … for a demonic villain. Yet, he had spoken one word that resonated with me above all others—freedom. The mere idea of it was tempting enough to yank my feet forward in a few stumbling steps while my brain still wrestled with the decision.

  The Countess steepled her fingers and clicked her long nails together. “I wonder how sweet Caleb will look at you when he knows you’ve killed for him?” She hiked up one eyebrow in question. “Are you confident this won’t change his feelings for you? That seems like an exceptionally difficult element to look past.”

  “She’s filling your head with lies. The boy loves you and will understand.” Desperation flashed in Barnabus’s eyes as he shifted his gaze from me, to the discus, and back again. “All it will take is one touch a
nd the chant. Do you remember the chant, girl?”

  “I don’t have to lie to beat you, you incessant twit!” the Countess snapped. “Celeste, he stole the life of your friend. One of his minions killed your muse. All the loss around you has been at his hand, not mine. No magic words are needed. Just lay that discus over his heart and free the world of his wrath!”

  Barnabus gnashed his teeth as his eyes morphed to reptilian yellow and his forked tongue flicked across his lip. “Shhhhe doesssss that and her Irishman is lossssst forever.”

  “The slightest provocation and look at how volatile he becomes. You sure you want to take a chance on him?” The Countess held up her hands, weighing the two sides. “Caleb or Alec, Alec or Caleb. Can’t save them both and—since I’m now officially bored with this—you’re out of time.” Green flames ignited in her irises. Her voice dropped to a demonic boom that snaked around me in a menacing echo. “What’s it gonna be?”

  Rowan clasped my wrist and tried to use his influence to calm me. “Don’t let them goad you into anything.”

  “Stop it!” I screamed at all of them and shook free of his touch. I didn’t want my tension tamed. In fact, I needed it—clung to it—to do what had to be done. Before I could doubt my decision, I leapt through the air with my legs tucked in tight. One rotation mid-flight and I landed behind Barnabus in a low crouch.

  A victorious smile slowly seeped across his face that had lengthened to a more reptilian likeness. “You won’t regret this.”

  “I already do.” I forced the words through gritted teeth—then lunged.

  Shock widened his yellow eyes as I thumped the discus against his narrow chest and held it firm. Accusation sliced deep lines in his forehead as he glanced from me to the discus. The first jerk was a tame one, a mere hint of what was to come. His lips formed the word no, but the sound was cut off by the spastic thrashing that quickly overpowered him.

  “Keep it on him!” the Countess bellowed as Barnabus’s knees buckled and he folded to the floor.