Onyx Gryphon: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Gryphons vs Dragons Book 4)

by Ruby Ryan

  “Nobody. Conductor’s tied up in the first sleeper room, and the throttle’s set to one speed. We’ve got a long length of straight track to work with. Though if we’re already past Joliet…” He moaned some more.

  Orlando and I shared a look. This was quickly getting out of hand.

  “Knew this was a bad job. Others were worried too. Always gotta trust my gut…”

  I gave a start. “Wait. The others were worried too?”

  “Yeah…?”

  “So the other men don’t know Sebastian either?”

  James shook his head, which made the entire bed wobble. “Naw. None of them do. Only met each other right before the meet-up outside the train. They were wondering why this guy would pay so much for the gig…”

  “But they all have the same Italian accent,” Orlando said. “We assumed that meant they were together.”

  “The fuck you asking me for? I’m telling you what I know.”

  Okay. This was good. We had some information to work with.

  “What else can you tell us about him?” I asked.

  “Rich asshole who came outta nowhere. Friend of a friend said he was looking for a crew for a job.” I stared at him silently, which pulled more words from his mouth. “Uhh, we were told it would be quick. Smash and grab. Nothing about hurting nobody.”

  Before I could ask another question, Orlando leaned forward. I thought he was going to attack James, but he was just leaning over him to look out the window, tilting his face up toward the sky.

  “Whelp. Things are getting serious.”

  James protested as I climbed over his restrained body to look myself. High in the sky above the train were three helicopters: two police, and one smaller like a news crew. They appeared to be stationary in the sky, which meant they were following our train.

  We crawled off the bed and Orlando said, “Maybe the police will take care of this for us.”

  “Or maybe,” I said, “Sebastian will get more desperate.” James bobbed his head in silent agreement.

  As if on cue, the walkie-talkie barked to life in Orlando’s hand. Three pairs of eyes swung toward it.

  “James?” came Sebastian’s accented voice, slow and precise. “Gather all the passengers from the sleeper rooms and meet us in the observation car. The time has come to stop being polite.”

  Orlando hesitated, put the receiver to his mouth, and said, “Roger that,” in a formal tone.

  “Oh man,” James moaned at me. “I’m sorry for the way I treated you earlier. My mother didn’t raise me to be like that, but you put on a mask and become a different person, you know? I didn’t want any of this, just a quick job on a train, easy as pie he said, and…”

  I grabbed the gag and tied it back around his mouth to shut him up.

  “So are we going to try my plan now?” Orlando asked.

  I closed my eyes. “There has to be another way. Something else we can do. What else do we know about the dragon?”

  Orlando shrugged. “I was banged on the head when they first appeared. All I know is what you two have told me.”

  “What about what your friends told you?”

  “I mean, Ethan said they’re angry. Which is already obvious.” He stared off. “Umm. We don’t know how their shifting works, but they can be goaded into it. If they’re surprised, or enraged. Ethan said it’s a conscious effort for them to hold the dragon back, like a rabid dog on a leash.”

  The walkie-talkie barked: “James, what’s taking so long? Boss is losing his patience…”

  Orlando ignored it. “But that doesn’t matter, because we don’t want him shifting into a dragon.”

  James made a funny noise behind his gag at the mention of dragons.

  I blinked with surprise. Orlando looked a question at me, and my mouth hung open for a long moment.

  “What if we do?” I said.

  20

  ORLANDO

  There was no way this would work.

  I banged on the next sleeper room, ushering the passengers down the aisle. I was dressed in James’s clothes now, and the ski mask over my face was hot and scratchy. I hated being the bad guy, forcing innocent men and women to march toward the observation car as Sebastian had demanded, but it wasn’t hard. All I had to do was gesture with my Uzi and they practically leaped to obey.

  I prayed nobody tried to be a hero as we moved down the aisle.

  There was no way this would work because it was a terrible idea. It was worse than my original idea, which was saying something. But Cassie radiated confidence through the totem’s bond, and that helped me accept the plan even though I was terrified.

  She was up ahead in the group of passengers, keeping her distance with me so nobody would get suspicious. I kept looking toward her silky black hair, wishing she would look back at me, but she never did. She was an island of familiarity in a sea of unknown, and without her I probably wouldn’t have been able to even stand.

  I banged on the next door, then opened it. Empty.

  What I hated most about the plan was the danger to Cassie. At least my plan involved her staying back in the room away from all the chaos. Not front-and-center. But she wasn’t the kind of woman to cower in a sleeper car while others risked their lives. I knew that now, and trying to convince her to do so would have been futile. My mate liked being in control. It was who she was.

  All I could do was trust her, and play my part, and hope it was enough to keep her safe.

  God, I hoped this worked.

  Ahead of me, three people deep in the crowd of shuffling hostages, a woman turned around and began sobbing. “Why are you doing this?” she demanded through tear-streaked eyes. “Please don’t hurt me, I just wanted to see my grandchildren in St. Louis…”

  I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, Cassie put an arm around her and guided her forward again, whispering soothing words that calmed her down enough to continue on.

  The helicopters outside were now audible over the train noise, a constant reminder that none of this was normal, that things were escalating beyond anyone’s control. Earlier I’d been hoping a SWAT team would descend from ropes and storm the train, killing all the hijackers and saving the day. Now, with an automatic weapon in my hand and a ski mask covering my face, I prayed for the opposite. That would be a hell of a way to go: gunned down by the good guys while trying to save the people on the train. The absurdity of the situation was almost enough to make me laugh.

  Almost.

  As I guided the passengers forward like cattle, the man closest to me in the back began looking over his shoulder more and more. He was more tense than the rest, and held his hands in fists at his side. He began walking slower, trying to let me get close to him.

  “Don’t do it, man,” I hissed at him. “Just trust me. This is all almost over.”

  I hoped I didn’t sound like I was begging. If he turned around and attacked me I wouldn’t fight back; I couldn’t hurt an innocent person. I stared at the back of his head and silently willed him not to do it.

  Whether because of my words, or because he was too afraid to try anything, the man continued forward peacefully.

  We reached the connector between the dining and observation cars. As I passed through I took a few seconds to examine the partition: it was a combination of thin rubber and wiry fabric, an accordion that flexed along with the movements of the train.

  I took a deep breath to calm myself (which didn’t work) and stepped through the next door.

  The observation car was crammed tight with dozens of passengers, some seated but most standing in the aisle and against the windows. The opposite end of the car was guarded by the two other hijackers, guns held alertly across their chests and a gap between them and the passengers.

  But my eyes were immediately drawn to him. The dragon.

  Sebastian stood in the aisle in the middle of the car, legs spread in an A stance and arms behind his back. His head was tilted back and he looked down his nose at the gathered passengers like a
judge about to issue a sentence.

  I could feel all of him. His hate, his power. I would have been able to sense what he was even if he were inconspicuously seated among the hostages.

  Ice went up my spine. If that were true, then surely he could feel the totem. And me. I did my best to not make eye contact with him because surely that would reveal me, so I scanned that room as if I were doing my job and remained in front of the door.

  The dragon didn’t say anything to me, so I must have been doing the right thing.

  Right then, I knew Cassie had been right. I wouldn’t have been able to walk up to the dragon and shoot him. I didn’t have it in me. I would have collapsed into a puddle before him, and it would have all been over right then.

  It was a good thing I’d listened to her. I resolved to do a lot more of that from now on.

  If, you know, we got out of this alive.

  You can do this, I told myself, focusing on Cassie’s pulsing warmth. The confidence she made me feel.

  The dragon nodded to himself, and then spoke.

  21

  CASSANDRA

  You can do this, I prayed to myself, ignoring the drum-beat of my heart in my chest. I looked around the car and saw the kind old man that had been nice to me earlier, and he smiled at me as if to say everything would be okay.

  I found myself smiling back. I could do this.

  “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,” Sebastian, the dragon, said with a congenial smile completely at odds with the situation. “Thank you for being here. I know commutes and holidays have been disrupted by our interlude, but I assure you it is almost over.”

  He kept one hand behind his back, and spread the other to gesture at the crowd.

  “We had a simple plan. It should have been easy boarding the train and taking what we want, and then leaving as if nothing had happened at all. But what I failed to account for was the stubbornness of you. The unwillingness to cooperate with reasonable demands. It disappoints me, to be honest. That humanity has not changed in the past century. I suppose I should not be surprised, but I always am.”

  He gave an aloof shrug, then pointed at the window. “But now our time is rapidly evaporating, and I am forced to do something I did not want to do. Something less eloquent. You see, one of you has something I need. A small stone object, a carving of a mythical beast of wing and claw adorned with a shadowy gem. Perhaps you do not have it, but you spotted another passenger with it. Such information will be rewarded. Come forward now, unload your burdened consciences, and we can end this fruitless charade.”

  There was silence as Sebastian gazed slowly around the car. Other passengers did the same, though more frantically, in the hopes that someone would come forward.

  Of course, nobody did.

  Sebastian sighed, and his voice was thick with disappointment. “How predictable.”

  As quick as a striking snake, he lunged toward the old man seated in front of him. His wicked curved knife was in his hand and then slid under the old man’s jaw. A scattering of passengers cried out and I yelled with them, cringing at the sudden horror and the blood we would see at any moment, but the blade did not pierce skin. The dragon held the blade against the old man’s neck while holding the man’s head with the other.

  “I do hope it is obvious,” Sebastian drawled in his accent, “but my previous offer is still on the metaphorical table. If you have the totem, come forward now.”

  “Miserable little pissant,” the old man growled, angry instead of afraid. “I killed Italians like you at Solerno. Cocky when you have the numbers, but the moment the tide turned you all threw down your guns and pissed yourselves.”

  Sebastian’s eyes sparkled and a surprising smile touched his lips. “And in my day, the last time we escaped our prison and fought our great endless fight, I battled Americans and British and French above the trenches of the Somme. Now that was a bloody war.”

  The old man’s face twisted. “Don’t mock me, boy. You’re young enough that your grandpa was probably in diapers when I was killing men.”

  My eyes were glued to the knife at his throat. I could feel myself panicking, the calm structure of our plan too far way to focus on. My throat felt like it was tied shut with twine; I tried to make myself speak, and failed.

  This was it, I knew. I had to do it now.

  “Dragon!” I called, voice hoarse and fearful. I swallowed the lump in my throat and pulled the totem from my pocket, raising it high for all to see.

  The totem raged against me, practically burning my palm with power, but I held on as tight.

  Sebastian’s eyes grew wide, first with surprise and then pleasure. “I knew I saw something in your eyes before,” he said, “when we first took this train. Where is the gryphon?”

  The word sounded strange on his tongue in a way I couldn’t place. A different emphasis on the wrong syllable. I could practically feel the dragon’s fury 20 feet away, as if merely saying the word had caused him great pain.

  I did my best not to think about Orlando, who was a pulsing beacon of love behind me. My lie had to be convincing. Every lie I’d ever told in my life had merely been practice for this moment. The dragon had to believe me or none of this would work.

  “He’s back in Chicago,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “He thought he was keeping me safe by sending me away. Clearly he was wrong. I’m alone.”

  His eyes narrowed on me, but he didn’t question me. He licked his lips.

  “Bring it here, darling,” he whispered.

  I nodded to the old man. “Let him go first.”

  Sebastian pulled the knife away without hesitation, spreading his arms like an Italian Cristo Redentor. “See? I am reasonable.” His smile washed away and his voice grew ominous. “Now kindly prove you are the same.”

  The totem was a ball of fire in my hand. The pressure had built back up in my head, insisting I not do it. I knew this was going to be painful for me.

  “How did you know I would be on this train?” I asked. I knew I was delaying, but the question had plagued me and I had to know. “You planned all this before the totem was even here.”

  The dragon let his knife-hand hang at his side. “I can sense where it has been, and where it will be,” he said in a hollow voice, staring off at something I couldn’t see. “Those things leave traces across time, across our minds, like grease spilled on a pristine floor.”

  He shook his head, and raised his knife to point at me again.

  “It is time, and I am out of both patience and mercy. Give it to me now.”

  There was no more delaying. This was it. Either my plan would work, or it would kill us all.

  That’s a lot of pressure for a girl who’d expected to spend the weekend nude in bed with a man’s lips touching her body.

  I lowered my hand holding the totem, then shot it straight back up toward the ceiling.

  Even without the signal, I could tell my emotion would have told Orlando when it was time. From behind came the sound of gunfire, deafeningly loud in the enclosed space, the pressure punching my eardrums painfully. The window to my right exploded in a shower of glass. The dragon’s mouth hung open with shock, and the two henchmen at the far end of the car aimed there guns around, confused.

  My finger found the gem on the totem, smooth and warmer to the touch than the rest. I pressed it as hard as I could, feeling it give way beneath my thumb.

  And then I threw it out the window.

  22

  ORLANDO

  Firing my gun at the window was like pressing a big red button labeled “CHAOS.”

  Men and women screamed. Heads ducked, and spun around, and even dropped flat to the ground. The dragon looked confused for a moment, eyes locking onto me, wondering what had caused me to fire.

  And for the briefest second, realization shone in his eyes.

  I jerked my elbow behind me to open the door, and Cassie triggered the totem.

  I felt the gryphon inside me scream with pain and ecs
tasy and rage, a cacophony of emotions as its prison bars were removed. I fell backwards into the partition between cars as my body twisted and morphed, tearing me apart and building me back up from scratch. I screamed, and wasn’t sure if it was with my human throat or the beast’s.

  As I expanded and shifted, filling the narrow space, I lashed out with my fingers all around me. First they were only fingers rubbing pitifully against the barrier, but then they were vicious claws that bit into the thin rubber, tearing long gashes everywhere I aimed. Like a trapped animal I flailed around, fighting the partition, demanding to finally be free.

  The partition fell away, and then I could feel the open sky above.

  I launched into it and breathed deep with my new lungs, savoring the freedom and room to fly. I screeched in victory, unable to hold back my joy from everyone and anyone who could hear.

  I was the Onyx Gryphon, and I could not be contained.

  My impulse was to continue following the train and save Cassie, my mate. She was in danger: I knew it both intellectually and emotionally, feeling her fear as if it were my own. And as strong as my love for her was, I knew I had to stick to the plan.

  Ignoring the pain of abandoning her, and ignoring the three helicopters above, I turned away from the train to follow the totem.

  23

  CASSANDRA

  I felt Orlando beginning to shift, the immense power of it like a supernova just over my shoulder, but then pain sledgehammered into the side of my head.

  I fell to my knees as the chaos continued all around.

  The pain was from the totem striking the ground outside the train; I felt every bump and jostle as it rolled away from the tracks, striking the hard trunk of a tree. It made me dizzy as if I’d had a concussion; the patterned fabric floor of the train rolled across my vision, and only by gripping the nearby seat with both hands was I able to keep from falling on my face.