Acropolis (19 page)

The drex is lying docile at Emma's feet, and
Emma's attempt at cleaning away the blood is only making it smear
worse. I place my hand over hers.

"Stop, Em. It's fine."

I am looking over her shoulder, and I feel
her eyes meet mine before she follows my gaze. Roach's mouth is
gaping, and Mr. Durand looks disturbed. I feel suddenly
protective.

"What the hell?" Roach murmurs.

I am weak, but I sit up, pulling Emma behind
me for modesty's sake as much as protection. I can feel her
trembling against my back, and I know the dogged determination she
leaned so heavily on while we were under attack is now crumbling. I
will never again see shy people as weak. I have underestimated her.
Severely.

Durand moves toward us slowly, removing his
suit jacket as he approaches. He holds it out to Emma. I take it
from him, my eyes locked to his as I pass it over my shoulder.

"Where is Luther?" Durand asks.

I know by his tone that Luther was supposed
to walk us through the entire training session, to step in if the
situation got out of hand. The Demon has gotten the last laugh. He
is long gone. This I know only too well.

"Gone," I say.

Roach is circling the drex, and I feel Emma
tense as the creature growls. Durand stares at it.

"What has she done to it?" Roach asks.

I stand up slowly, Emma at my back. She has
her hands on my waist, and I know she's trying to support me in
case I fall.

Roach's gaze lands on Emma, his eyes narrowed
and watchful, full of hate. I know this expression. I wore it
once.

"We're not sure," I answer. "I asked her to
control it, and I think when it attacked me . . ."

"I bound it to me," Emma interrupts, her
voice strong. The hands on my waist are shaking, but her words are
sure and steady. "I don't know how, but he is mine now. He belongs
to me."

Durand's gaze moves between Emma and me.

"It attacked you?" Durand asks.

My hand touches the fading wound on my side
cautiously.

"It nearly killed me. Emma has healing
abilities."

It is all I say. I know without a doubt the
Headmaster and Roach are condemning Emma in their minds for what
she has done with the drex. She has not killed the Demon. She has
it under her control. This isn't just astounding, it's terrifying.
Healing her Guardian rather than destroying me is redeeming. She
will not be punished. I'm not quite sure what passed between us in
those moments when she was healing me, but I will not let them
punish her.

Durand stares at me. I know he sees the
resolve in my gaze. It's obvious I will protect Emma with my life.
She protected me when she could have run, but I doubt she even
considered leaving. Most hybrids with her powers would not have
hesitated. Durand gestures at the drex.

"Kill it," he tells Roach.

Emma is suddenly screaming. She pulls away
from my back, running to the beast before placing herself between
Roach and the Demon. The drex's head lifts, and it snarls.

Emma places a hand on its head, using
whatever power she has over emotion to calm it. Its head lowers,
and it is quiet. Emma's eyes are glowing red.

Everyone goes still. Roach's face transforms,
his teeth becoming the fangs he sports when in serpentine form. He
is angry.

"You protect it knowing what it is? What it
can do to men?" he snarls.

Emma's arms are spread, the suit jacket open
as she stands guard over the Demon.

"It was created to kill. It craves flesh, but
it doesn't kill because it wants to. It kills because its master
tells it to," Emma argues. "I'm its master now. It won't harm
anyone."

Roach laughs.

"Unless you tell it to. We're supposed to
trust you, allow you to control a beast you could have kill
us?"

Emma closes her eyes briefly. She won't win
this fight. She's a Demon asking them to preserve a lesser Demon
she could use as a weapon. It's impossible.

"I'll be responsible for them," I say
suddenly.

Durand and Roach turn to me.

"And do what? Make sure she controls it
properly? Are you mad? What are you going to feed it?" Roach
asks.

I walk over to Emma, closing the suit jacket
before standing before her.

"It can hunt animals. There is plenty of
non-human prey in these woods."

"No," Durand says. "The risk is too
great."

"It's a monster," Roach adds.

"He," Emma says fiercely. "It's a he."

I reach back and take one of her hands in
mine.

"You're not helping," I mutter.

She snorts. It's low, and I almost miss it,
but she definitely snorts. I look Durand in the eye.

"The creature can be as much as asset as a
risk. Think about it. You know as well as I do Emma is proving to
be more powerful than any of the hybrids that have come through
here in the past two years. We train her, and the creature fights
for our side as well."

Durand's jaw is tight. He looks between us,
his gaze landing on our clasped hands. It's a bad move on my
part.

"Back off, Roach," Durand orders. "I'm taking
this before the Council. If they deem it necessary, the creature
dies. No more arguments in its defense."

I nod. It's the best we can hope for. Emma
exhales, and I know she's relieved.

"Get back to the school," Durand adds. "Get
cleaned up, and then meet in the courtyard. Marion is going to meet
with some of the hybrids. A class on first aid. I think there's
been enough fighting for today."

Durand sounds tired. Being headmaster of a
school full of Demons can't be easy, especially when the hybrids'
own Guardians would happily slit the hybrids' throats in their
sleep. My opinion, however, has changed. Drastically.

Durand glances around our group before
shaking his head and walking back into the woods. He trusts Emma. I
have seen it in his eyes. Maybe he sees the same quiet willingness
to protect, the same caring nature I do, but he doesn't think
she'll use the creature against anyone who doesn't deserve it.
Roach, on the other hand, has a different opinion.

"It hurts anyone, I'll kill it."

I stare at him, my eyes narrowed.

"What are you still doing at the Acropolis,
Roach?"

Roach grins.

"You haven't heard?" he asks.

A knot suddenly forms in the pit of my
stomach. I know I'm not going to like what he has to say next.
Roach leans over, his face in mine. I'm taller, and I enjoy the
advantage of height, my glare cold and calculating.

"I've been assigned to you."

I feel the anger rising, the emotion so
strong I have to force myself to breathe.

"Gargoyles don't have Guardians," I say
through gritted teeth.

Roach raises a brow, his laughter low and
confident.

"No, but this case is opening a lot of eyes
in the Council. I'm not here to guard you. I'm here to make sure
you do your job right."

"Conor," Emma says quietly, her voice
strained.

I know she's feeling my anger, and I try my
best to rein it in. She's still learning control, and I'm not
helping her any.

"Stay out of my way, Roach," I warn.

Emma is next to me now, her hand
inconspicuously on my back. I feel calmer, and I wonder if she's
doing something to make me less angry.

"I don't intend to get in your way unless you
give me a reason to, Reinhardt. Just know that I'm watching you,"
Roach replies before slinking into the forest.

We watch him go, and I wait until I can no
longer hear or see him before I turn to Emma.

"Let's go."

She nods, her steps falling in with mine as
we move through the woods, the drex on our heels.

"Do you think they'll kill Ace?" Emma
asks.

We are almost to the edge of the forest when
she poses the question, the Acropolis' turret visible through the
foliage. I stop walking.

"Ace?" I ask, although I'm afraid I already
know the answer.

Emma nods, her hands gesturing at the monster
behind us.

"The drex," she says.

I just stare at her, at her rust smeared
cheeks, tangled hair, and wide, wondering eyes.

"Seriously? You
named
it?"

Emma's cheeks redden.

"I couldn't keeping calling him 'it'."

Her serious face makes me laugh, and she
scowls. But I can't help it. The damned girl is beyond endearing.
She's compassionate, determined, stubborn, irrational, and complex.
And combined, it is completely and utterly irresistible. I move
closer to her, my eyes searching hers. I don't think she's prepared
for the thoughts running now through my head, but I'm having a weak
moment and I choose not to ignore it.

"What I'm about to do never happened.
Understood?" I ask.

Emma watches me, and I know she sees the heat
in my gaze. If it isn't obvious, it should be. She nods slowly,
swallowing hard. And I'm suddenly kissing her.

There's no time for regrets. One moment I'm
running a hand over her grimy cheek, and the next my lips are on
hers, hungry and firm. She is pressed against me, her lips as
unrelenting as they are hesitant. She doesn't resist me, and I
deepen the kiss, my hand tangled in her hair. I feel her tentative
hand on my back, and I pull back a moment, my eyes on her face. Her
gaze meets mine.

She swallows again, her cheeks flushed and
hot. A lot can be said in a moment simply by staring. A million
sentences can be said in a minute of silence. Her eyes are cautious
and scared. She isn't ready for anything beyond friendship with
anyone. Not now. Not when her entire world has changed. And my eyes
. . . if she doesn't see regret, I know she sees guilt. I'm not
just breaking gargoyle law, I'm shattering it.

"It never happened," she whispers.

"Never happened," I repeat.

And I am kissing her again. She is more
confident this time, one arm around my neck, the other against my
cheek. Her lips are firm, insistent, and I feel the loneliness in
her embrace.

My arm tightens around her waist. In this
moment, there is no aloneness. Only need.

My hand is on her cheek, her hand is on mine
as my lips move over hers. It's the most emotional kiss I've shared
with anyone, and I'm struck by the irony. Gargoyle and Demon. Fire
and water. Together, the steam is explosive.

My hand moves under the borrowed suit jacket,
my fingers roaming over the sensitive skin of her back, and I am
deepening the kiss when I'm suddenly bumped from behind.

Emma stumbles, her back going against a tree
with me leaning heavily against her. I push away, my hand on the
bark above her head. Emma is laughing, her lips swollen from the
kiss, and I follow her gaze to the ill-tempered drex snorting
behind us.

"Now that's a chaperone," I grumble as my
gaze moves back to Emma.

She isn't laughing anymore, but her eyes
still smile. I rest my forehead against hers briefly before pushing
away. She moves with me, my hand going down to take hers as we move
to exit the woods. At the edge of the school's main garden our
hands fall apart.

It never happened.

Chapter 28

Emma

It never happened.

Over and over I repeat this to myself as I
shower. Conor is across the hall in the boy's bathroom and Ace is
safely hidden in an old un-renovated part of the stables.

It never
happened
.

It's best I don't go there even in my head.
Only a few days after discovering I am the half-mortal, half Demon
daughter of Enepsigos, and I am kissing a gargoyle. It's not
rational. It's not logical. It's mad. I want to talk to my mother
but can't.

You
can
.

Her voice is suddenly in my head. The same
unsympathetic, firm voice I had heard in the woods when I'd asked
for help in healing Conor. It's not my adopted mother's voice. I
turn off the shower and stand dripping, afraid.

"What do you want?" I ask.

To talk
, the
voice answers. I lean out of the shower and grab a towel, wrapping
it around myself before stepping clear of the stall.

"Talk about what?"

Anything you wish.

"I don't want to talk to you," I say as I dry
off, pulling on a fresh pair of clothes before facing the bathroom
mirror. My wet hair hangs down the back of a clean, black t-shit.
My face is pale.

I'm not here to hurt you, Emma. I'm here to
help.

"Help me with what?"

The mirror before me suddenly ripples as if
the surface is made out of water. I back away from it, my eyes wide
as a young woman appears in the glass. She looks a lot like me, but
she is "more" where I am "almost." Her hair is obsidian rather than
just dark. Her eyes are so amber they are red, and her lips are
full and ruby. She is wearing a black dress with a corseted top and
long flowing skirt.

There is going to be an uprising, Emma. You
will lead it.

I stare at her, my heart racing within my
chest.

"An uprising?"

The gargoyles you are with are an elite group
of warriors created by Heaven to guard mankind from evil. In the
old days, it was a simple endeavor. Now the world is more
complicated. Angels fell from Heaven, and the first Demons came to
be. The world has become a mix of Exiled Angels, Demons, a single
Naphil, and a race of half-Demonic people.

I stare at her, this woman, and I know she is
my mother. My real mother.

"And this will lead to an uprising with me at
its head?" I ask.

I am confused. Scared and confused.

There is no balance, Emma. The hybrids are in
danger. The gargoyles train you because you are not truly evil.
Demons fear you because you are not truly evil. This has become a
double-edged sword. The hybrids will have to rise above this.
Unite. Do you think you coming into your powers now is an accident?
Do you think meeting the gargoyle is an accident?