Ascension (The Gryphon Series) (11 page)

“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.

I moved with him
, pressing firm to the discus. It blackened in my hand, sucking Barnabus’s vile energy out like a hungry tick. The spastic convulsing seemed to drag on forever. Finally, with one last shudder, he stilled, his glassy eyes open with the unseeing calm of the dead.

C
rouched beside him, I prayed for a sign that it had worked, that I wasn’t too late. I leaned closer and blinked hard, unsure if the green glow was playing tricks or if his dead eyes had really just lightened in hue. A slow smile spread across my face as the darkness drained from his hair, brightening it to its original strawberry-blond hue.

Alec
awoke with a start. Hungrily, he gulped in a lungful of air. His blinks came furious and rapid as he gazed around the room in startled confusion. Finally, his stare settled on me. A smile, as fresh and jubilant as the first bud of spring, bloomed on his face. 

“Celeste
?” He scrambled to get his feet under him. I wrapped his arm around my neck to help him up on wobbly legs. “Where are we? I … I can’t remember. I was at the hospital then … nothing.”

For so long I’d carried the guilt of Alec’s possession
as my own cross to bear. Now he was free, and so was I. I didn’t love him—not in
that
way, I never had. Even so, as he peered down at me with those crystal blue eyes I was overcome with relief. I’d given my friend his life back. No matter the price, I’d done the right thing.

“I promise I’ll get you caught up,” I hooked one arm around his waist and shuffled him toward Rowan—our mystical
taxi, “just as soon as we get you home.”

“Oh, there is one more matter before you go.” A
powerful chill prompted a rash of goose bumps to spread across my arms at the cold malice in the Countess’s voice.

Alec craned his neck in her direction
. “Who’s that? Do I know her?”

“She’s no one. Rowan
, would you please help Alec back to the truck?” Row nodded and reached for Alec whose grip on me tightened when I tried to shrug out from under his arm.

“No, I don’t trust her. I
… can’t explain why, but I know I’m not leaving you here alone.”

P
rickles across my neck and down my arms alerted me that trouble was brewing. She was the hungry Great White and all three of us were injured, bleeding harp seals. “Alec, I forgot just how stubborn you can be. Even in moments when that’s
really
not an asset.”

“Come now,”
the Countess’s red painted lips curled into a wide smile as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, “the boy is just looking out for you. He’s so noble, and considerate … it’s almost a waste.” With one dangerously sharp finger-nail, she made a slicing motion across her own neck.

“You won’t touch h
—” My words were cut off by warmth dripping down my arm.

“Celeste?” Alec’s voice came out
as nothing more than a gurgled croak.

Time slowed to a crawl. A crimson line split
Alec’s neck. Blood gushed from the wound, soaking us both in a shower of inky red. My arms tightened around him as his eyes rolled back and his legs buckled. All I could do was hold tight to prevent his head from smacking against the ground as he crumpled.

“Alec!”
My pulse drummed in my head loud enough to muffle my own voice. “
Alec!
”

Rowan knelt beside me and reached for Alec
. I slapped his hand away, worried any touch would harm him more. He forcibly shoved me aside and clamped his hand around Alec’s wrist. “Celeste?”

“We
… we have to get him to Big Mike. Now!”

“
Celeste.”

I shook my head
in a proactive denial of the terrible words I feared were about to spout from his lips. “He can heal him, but we have to hurry! He’s already lost so much blood.”

My voice
betrayed me by cracking. That momentary display of weakness allowed the tears I’d been holding at bay to breakthrough. With tears falling in torrents, I laid my hands against the wound, silently praying this would be the moment the Gryphon would grant me the ability to heal, just as Keni could. No glowing warmth came. Just a nonstop flow of red that seeped between my fingers and stained my skin. “There’s so much blood …”

“
Celeste
!” Rowan pulled my trembling hands away and pressed them to his chest. “It’s too late. He’s gone,
Mo Chroi
. You need to pull it together
now
or we’ll be joinin’ him in the hereafter, sooner rather than later. Do you understand me?” 

I stared down at Alec
—or the empty shell where he’d once lived—and nodded. Rowan released his hold on me. I rose to my feet on shaky legs. In one hand I held tight to the now blood covered discus. The numb void of loss twisted and churned itself inside me into an ugly rage.

Slowly
, my head rose.  “Why?” I growled.

“
I said you could save him, I
never
said I’d let him live,” she answered with a warm, maternal smile that was set slightly askew by the malicious gleam in her crimson eyes. “I had to ensure Barnabus was truly gone. Couldn’t have old enemies wandering back, now could we? Your betrayal would make you as much a target for him as I am.” Her longing gaze flicked to the discus. “Now, I’m going to need one little drop of your blood and that device. After which it would be wise for you to get the hell out of my way … quickly.”

I weighed
the discus in my palm. Outwardly, it seemed such an insignificant lump of nothing, just useless glass. Yet this lone artifact could bring the Countess face to face with the being that betrayed her. One drop of my blood could free me and make her the lethal burden of the Spirit Plane.

Rowan
stepped closer. His breath warmed my ear as he coaxed softly, “Don’t do anything rash, lass. We still want to walk out of here, aye?”

No more pain. No more loss. The payment? One droplet of life
’s essence.

“Slide it back into your pocket. I’ll poof us out of here before she can follow.”

“I
wouldn’t listen to your back-up boyfriend if I were you.” Her stiletto boots clicked against the floor as she sauntered closer. Her crimson waves bobbed with each step. “Then again, I doubt sound reasoning is what draws you to him. Tell me, have you tasted both him and the Irishman? I bet this one taps into your darker, more animalistic urges, doesn’t he? Well, this night is still salvageable. Give me what I want and the two of you can scurry off for a naughty little rebound romp to clear the last of the thoughts of Caleb from your mind.”

A sharp bark of laughter bubbled up from my chest. It held no humor, but
signified the death of the last shred of sanity this horrific day had left me with. I didn’t pause—didn’t think—but reared back and whipped the discus at the ground with all my might. It broke into three pieces: one large and two small shards. For good measure I stomped down on the largest piece hard enough for it to shatter.

The Countess gasped.

Rowan uttered an expletive. 

I breathed in the stillness that rushed over me as a sign I’d done the right thing.

Fury sharpened the Countess’s pin-up features. Combined with the green haze hanging over the room and she looked every bit the part of the wicked witch. “You have no idea the hell you just brought down on yourself, you naïve little twit,” she snarled.

I threw my arms out wide and spun in a circle
. “Do you see my sword or my shield here? This is your big chance. Let’s end it. Right here, right now. Bleed me dry and the Gryphon will be weakened enough not to maintain the cloaked entrance.”

She didn’t advance, but laid her hands on her hips and peered at me with devilish delight. Her cavalier attitude only
fueled my rage.

“
What are you waiting for?
” I yelled hard enough to strain my throat.

From behind me came Rowan’s exasperated mumble
, “Oh, bugger.”

The Countess dismissed me altogether and focused her attention on my pirate cohort. “I think
the rubber band of your friend’s sanity has finally snapped. It is funny, though, that she thinks I would let her out of this so easily. Nevertheless, we both know how this works. Don’t we, pet?”

Rowan’s entire frame tensed at her
conspiratorial wink. If there was anything I’d learned in all my experiences, it was that nothing good ever followed a demon getting nervous. I spun back toward the Countess, wondering what I was missing in this highly charged exchange.

If she noticed his change in demeanor she didn’t acknowledge it, but caught one of the glow sticks
with the toe of her shoe and rolled it under her boot. “Our minds work differently. We tread the more twisted path; to go for the hurt, before the kill. That’s why we will always be the survivors—the
victors
—while the rest perish in our wake.”

“I’m nothing like you
,” Rowan hissed through his teeth.

Her head fell back and laughter rang through the Gateway, taunting us
with its echo. In a blink she stood directly in front of Rowan at a proximity reserved for lovers … or murderers.

“Oh, sweetness, you really believe that don’t you?” Her hand wandered up to stroke his chest
. He flinched at her touch, but stood firm. “You think you can be the good guy, just because you
want
to? I hate to break that sexy heart of yours, but it doesn’t work that way. Perhaps I’ll do you a favor and prove it? Spare you from living in this childish fantasy?”

“Try.
Please,
” he growled the statement as a dare, not a plea.  

The Countess
molded herself to him, whispering loud enough for me to hear, “I could’ve let her walk away, until she crossed me. Now she has to learn what you already know.” Black nails snaked through his hair. She grasped a handful of his golden locks in a tight grip and wrenched his head back hard enough to make him yelp. Her pink tongue darted out and licked across the pulse of his jugular. “I’ll make her watch as I kill every single person she loves. Then, I’ll bring the pain in ways her innocent mind can’t even fathom, until she begs me to kill her. And you
know
how effective my methods are …”

She pushed
off his chest and sashayed away, pausing by Alec’s lifeless body long enough to nudge him with the side of her boot. Her touching him at all awoke my deep-seeded lust to tear her head off. I lunged for her, but was snagged mid-motion by Rowan. Absolute terror branded its mark across his handsome face as he fervently shook his head in warning. 

“I gave you a choice once before to join me. That same offer stands now.
Rejoin my ranks in the Dark Army and avoid the agony this paltry human and all those that stand with her will suffer … or die alongside them.” She cast him a spiteful grin over her porcelain shoulder. “In case you were confused, this is definitely one of those ‘right hand of the devil’ moments.”

Rowan’s hands fell
as if I’d suddenly become scalding to the touch. Confusion and doubt swirled in his gaze. My blood ran cold. I knew that look. I’d seen it before—
on him
. Rowan had already made his decision. The only way I would get out of here alive was to fight my way out against the same guy that led me in.

Trepidation crept through m
e as a fresh resolve settled over the pirate. “
Mo Chroi
, I truly am sorry. For absolutely everything I’ve done to ya.”