When a Gargoyle Awakens (25 page)

Kylie struggled against the ropes currently cutting into her skin.  “You can’t do this,” she snapped.  “He’ll… someone will come looking for me.”

Idly, he inspected a random wine bottle.  “Your gargoyle?” he asked, offhandedly.

She froze and then cursed herself.  The way she reacted just confirmed it.

Holling grinned at her.  In the limited light, dark shadows rippled across his features.  He looked more devil than man.  “Hard to hide a gargoyle in a town this size.  How did you wake him?”

Kylie pursed her lips, refusing to answer.  She flinched as a small pain struck across her forehead, but it was just added to the pain she already felt there.

His smile faltered and pearls of sweat beaded on his forehead.  “Hmmm, you’re surprisingly strong.  My abilities, such as they are, are small but usually effective in weak minds.  I can’t read anything from you.”

She snorted.  “Sorry.”

Holling waved a hand.  “No matter.  When your gargoyle arrives, we’ll be waiting.  I’ve no doubt he’s strong, but he isn’t bulletproof.”

Kylie felt her defiance sag.  The thought of anything happening to Luc terrified her and stalked her dreams.  She prayed Luc would stay away, but in her hearts of hearts she knew he wouldn’t.  Part of her knew he’d come for her, even if he knew it was dangerous for him.  “You wouldn’t?”

“That depends.  If he hands himself over to us willingly, no he won’t be hurt.”

“Why do you even want him?”

His eyes gleamed.  “Him?  So it is a male.  Which one?  Tristan?  Dragomir?  Helyas?”

She frowned at the names.  She didn’t have a clue who any of the gargoyles were.  Luc wasn’t certain who else had been saved.  It was concerning that Holling did.

“Or is it perhaps Lucifer?”

Kylie flinched before she could stop herself.

Holling let out a nasty snigger.  “I don’t have to read minds to read minds.  I’m pleased that he’s awake.”

“What do you even want with the gargoyles?”  She knew there was no pretending now.

He took on an affected look of innocence.  “I just want them to be free.”

She looked at him doubtfully.

“No, I do.  What happened to them was reprehensible, they deserve to be free.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said, slowly.  He was voicing her opinion on the matter.  He sounded like a reasonable human being.  But reasonable human beings don’t tie people up in their basements, or even their wine cellars.

He rolled his shoulders.  “It doesn’t matter what you believe.  The point is, you are going to awaken them.”

“I don’t know how,” she spluttered.

“You already did it once,” he said, testily.

“Yes but… I don’t know how I did it.”  She sort of didn’t know.  Unless it truly was a sleeping beauty kind of deal with Luc.

“I have a spell for you to use; you can do this.”

Because her first foray into magic had gone so well.  “And if I can’t?”

“You’ll be useless.  Think on that.  What were you doing in the study?”

“Nothing,” she muttered picking at the ropes.

“Seemed like you were performing a finder’s spell.  Wouldn’t be anything to do with Gustave, would it?”  She stared at him, and he chuckled.  “Your poker face is awful.  You rest down here while we subdue your friend, Lucifer, and then you can make yourself useful.”  He took her chin in his hand and forced her to look into his manic eyes.  “You will find those other gargoyles, and you will awaken them.  Just remember, you only remain alive if you are useful.”

Holling gave her a chilly smile and walked away.  She heard the creak of the stairs and the slamming of the door, and then she attacked her ropes with more ferocity.  She had to get out of there before Luc arrived.  She couldn’t allow him to be hurt.  When he woke up, and she wasn’t there, he’d find out from Bea where she was and come for her.

She wished he wouldn’t, but he would.

Kylie strained against the ropes.  Ropes really freaking hurt!  Thank heavens she hadn’t given in and allowed Brian to try out that bondage stuff when they were together.  Dick head.

“I wouldn’t bother,” said a low, sultry voice.

Startled, Kylie scrambled backwards and hit her head on a bottle of wine.  She knew she hated wine.

Her heart thudded erratically as a creature stepped out of the darkness.  The dull clink of chains cracked against the ground.  It, no, she stepped into the light.  It was a gargoyle.

Kylie almost swallowed her tongue in shock.  “Who… what… what has he done to you?”

The female rattled her chains.  “Nothing yet, he wants to use us, though.”

“For what?”

She curled her upper lip back, revealing her terrifying teeth.  “To create an army, to steal our magic – who knows, he’s insane.”

Kylie felt a thrill of fear as she looked into the female’s glowing eyes.  She’d been scared of Luc at first, but then who wouldn’t be scared if a statue suddenly came to life in front of them.  The fear she felt for this female was different.  “How come you’re awake?”

“His mother awoke me – it killed her to do so, but she did it, and I’ve been Holling's captive ever since.”

“Has he woken any others?”

The female’s eyes never stopped roving over Kylie’s body.  “No, not to my knowledge, he’s never found anyone powerful enough to do so, and the gargoyles he managed to find over the years have been too damaged to bring back.”

“I’m sorry, that’s awful.”

She grunted.  “Did he say that Luc is alive?”

“Yes.”

The female sucked in a breath.  “And he is well.”

Kylie tingled with jealousy but tamped it down. Neither the time nor place.  “Yes, very well.”

“Thank goodness,” she growled.  “I am Ophelia.”

“Ophelia!”  Luc had told her numerous stories about his life back in his time, and quite a few had Ophelia in starring roles.  From the stories, she sounded fierce.  The stories didn’t do her justice.

Ophelia cocked her head on one side.  “Luc has mentioned me to you?”

“Oh yes.”  The gargoyle had a moue of possibly surprise or distaste on her lips; Kylie couldn’t tell.  She would think about it later.  After they escaped, which had to be before Luc could come and get hurt.  “He’ll be coming for me.”

“You’re sure he will risk his life to save you?”

Was it Kylie’s imagination or was there a certain amount of disbelief in the way she said the word ‘you’?  “Yes.  He told me not to come here, and I… disobeyed," she admitted in embarrassment.  "I don’t want them to hurt him.”

Ophelia bared her teeth.  “No, they better not hurt him,” she said, gutturally.

“Let’s get out of here,” Kylie declared, struggling to her feet.

The gargoyle jangled her chains.  “Do you even know how to pick locks?”

“No – I don’t even have a hairpin.”  There was always a hairpin in the movies, why had she stopped wearing hairpins?  Possibly because she wasn’t sixteen anymore and big, fluffy hairdos were not in style.

“Maybe you could use magic – Holling said you had magic.”

“I’m supposed to have magic, but I don’t know how to use it…”

“Try, opening a lock is easy.  Try jut thinking about it and saying reclurir,” commanded Ophelia.

“Reclurir?”  Back in Harry Potter territory again.

“Just say it!” snarled the gargoyle.

“Reclurir,” repeated Kylie with no conviction at all.  “It’s not working.”

“Try!” roared the gargoyle, her wings rearing back and making her look enormous.  Although not nearly as large as Luc, she was still twice Kylie’s size, and she didn’t give Kylie half the warm and fuzzy feelings Luc did.  “Do you want Luc to die?”

“No!” she whimpered.

Her eyes blazed.  “Then you must try!”

“But… I can’t…”

“If you know anything about Luc, you know he will not submit to Holling.  If he risks his life to come here to rescue you,” she said it as if it were the strangest thing in the world, “do you believe Luc will allow Holling to keep you or hurt you?!  Luc will die protecting you.  Are you worth it?”

No, she wasn’t worth his life.  “Reclurir!” howled Kylie.

The pressure eased on her wrists and ankles, and Kylie opened her eyes to see that the ropes had loosened.  “Holy freaking Zeus!  It worked, it actually worked!”  She felt woozy and clung to a rickety wine rack.

“I’m thrilled,” hissed Ophelia.  “Now how about my locks?”

Kylie tried the spell again, but it didn’t work.  Her head, already pounding from being hit by Lara – bitch – felt thick.  Trying to get her mind to work felt like wading through marshmallows.

“Pathetic!” snapped Ophelia.  “Again!”

She tried again.  It didn’t work.  Kylie sniffed as the tears started welling up.

“Will you cry over Luc’s corpse?” mocked Ophelia.

“Shut up!”  Kylie threw everything she had into saying the word and thinking about those locks just popping open, and they did!

Kylie felt her energy zap and she crumpled to the floor.  But it was all worth it for the look of gratitude on the female’s face.

“About time,” Ophelia grumbled.  Okay, maybe not.

They both looked up as they heard some muffled thumps and shouts from above.  “Come on!” snapped Ophelia.

They rushed up the stairs and crashed through the door.  Or at least, Ophelia rushed up the stairs and crashed through the door.  Kylie followed in her wake, propelled by her fear for Luc’s safety.

Two of the black-clad strangers from town turned on Ophelia. They were carrying guns.  The female snarled and leaped on them before they could do anything; she slashed and thrashed at them without reprieve.  Kylie heard some sickening crunches from the men, and she tried not to vomit, as she caught sight of their bodies.

The house was like a war zone.  Echoes of pounding footsteps, gunfire and growls reverberated through every room.

“Where’s Luc?” said Kylie, propping herself up against a wall.

Ophelia smirked at her.  “I’m guessing we just need to follow the growls.”

The female fled, knocking down various people and causing cries of horror.  Kylie tried to open her mouth to ask Ophelia to wait, but she gasped as a big, gruff looking man carrying an even bigger gun entered the room and sneered when he saw her.

Kylie ducked behind a couch.  The wall behind where she had just been standing seemed to explode as round after round pelted into it.  She covered her ears and tried not to scream.  She didn’t even bother to stop herself from crying.  If ever there was a time to cry – this was it.

The gunshots finally ended, and she could hear the squeak of the man’s boots as he walked towards her.

One of the men Ophelia had – gulp killed, was lying near to her.  His dead eyes were open, and a look of horror was adorning his face.  Tentatively Kylie reached out and wrestled the gun out of his hand.

As the gruff man peered behind the couch, Kylie closed her eyes and let rip.  She shot the gun over and over until no more bullets remained, and then she tried to shoot it a few more times for good measure.

Kylie opened her eyes one at a time and saw that he was slumping on the floor.  “Oh my god!  I hit him!” she squeaked, which was somehow worse than not hitting him.

“No, you managed to miss him with an entire clip, thankfully, he wasn’t quite as immune to this… what am I holding?”

“A cricket bat!” said Kylie as she climbed to her feet and gratefully smothered Maggie with a hug.  Maggie seemed to be a heck of a lot calmer than she was, so Kylie clung to her, and Maggie made soothing noises and wiped Kylie’s face with her sleeve.

“What the fuck is happening in my house?” asked Andrew, his hand on his head in a comically horrified pose.

“What are you doing here?” sniffled Kylie.

“I live here.”  Andrew thought about that for a few beats.  “I think.”

“Andrew broke up with Lara,” gushed Maggie but on seeing Kylie’s expression she added, “but that’s irrelevant, what is going on?”

“It’s a long story…”

There was a thunderous cacophony of sounds coming from somewhere in the direction of the library.

“Are those growls?” said Andrew.  “Is there a dog in the house?”

Kylie shook her head.  “No… I… maybe you should find somewhere to hide… I have to go.”

“Kylie!”

“Be safe.”

She took off as fast as her leaden legs, and jelly-like body would allow.  She ignored Maggie’s yells and ran towards the noise, or at least the majority of the noise.  There was a lot going on.

Kylie tore through the house or maybe loped would be a better description.  She had enough foresight to pick up the cricket bat because she wanted some sort of protection, and clearly she wasn’t a natural with the gun. 

Running towards the noise probably wasn’t the best plan, but there was no way she was abandoning Luc.  She barely paused as she passed Ophelia, wrestling with two men and found Luc pinned down in the library.  Three men were poking him with cattle prods as he snarled in pain, and a disheveled Holling was clutching at his head.