Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) Read online

  “Oh Evie,” he exhaled and raked his hands over his face. “No, you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s me…” he trailed off.

  O-migod! He was giving her the “It’s not you it’s me speech”. She felt sick. She cast her eyes to her feet, mentally gathering the decorations for the pity party she was getting ready to throw herself. She would need a crown emblazed with the word “Rejected” and…

  “Evie…”

  She looked up at him.

  “I…” he shook his head and exhaled sharply. A mask of uncertainty and something deeper, more alarming, etched across his beautiful face. “Say something …anything…”

  “Ah…” She drew a blank.

  “Please….”

  “Neerg,” she blurted quickly.

  A confused look came over his face but then it changed and he almost smiled.

  “I spell words backward in my head when I am nervous, mostly colors,” she explained, feeling like an idiot.

  “Backwards hmm?” Some of his tension seemed to fade. “Interesting,” he said his tone lighter.

  “Not really.”

  This time he did smile. “Come on, I need to show you something,” he said but didn’t grab hold of her hand.

  Evie shoved her hands in her pockets and followed him out the front door of Briarcliff Manor. The air was sharp, crisp, with the kind of chill that took your breath away. She burrowed her nose down inside her hoodie. An owl hooted in the distance.

  He stood off to her side and lifted his hand up in the air. “See the moon.”

  “Yeah,” she answered, looking up at the giant blue orb. A strange blue hue spread out from it, seemingly growing in size the longer she stared at it. She pulled her eyes away.

  “Don’t you notice the color?”

  “Well, yeah, it’s kind of hard to miss.”

  “Don’t you think the color is strange?” he asked looking down at her.

  “Not really.” She shrugged. “The moon does take on strange colors sometimes right? I never pay much attention to it.”

  “Well you should.”

  “Why?”

  “Because that’s how they know it’s time.”

  “Time for what?” she asked completely lost.

  “To come… here,” he said, as though that explained everything.

  Evie widened her eyes, staring at him. His back was facing the driveway and the moon illuminated his outline, making it glow. He looked like an Alien.

  “We don’t have much time…,” he was saying.

  His voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a very long tunnel. Darkness crept out of the corners of her mind…closing in on her. Her vision narrowed and then her legs gave out. She was going down…

  …or so she thought. “I’m okay,” she said, pushing slightly back, embarrassed. His strong arms held her securely. The breezed kicked up scattering dried leaves across the stone, making a creepy dragging sound.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice still sounding worried.

  “Yeah, it was stupid.” She couldn’t believe she had almost passed out. She felt like an idiot. “I’m fine, promise. I just got dizzy, lack of sleep probably.”

  “Evie…”

  She looked up at him. There was such a look of raw intensity in his eyes. Before she had a chance to respond his lips were on hers and he was pulling her against him closer, melding them together perfectly into one. All she could do was feel… every hard plane, every muscle, and every bit of emotion he was pouring into the most solitary perfect kiss she had ever experienced. Instantly every crappy thing that happened to her tonight disintegrated. Pressing up on the tips of her toes, she kissed him back, her hands snaking around his neck, pulling gently on his thick hair.

  “So damn sweet…” he murmured against her lips. Suddenly his hands were everywhere at once, fisting in her hair, and then skimming down the sides of her body, pulling her closer, making flashes of heat spread through her like wildfire. He was making her feel things she had never felt before, things she could never have imagined. The kiss was intense, full of pent up emotion. She could feel every ounce of his hunger…his want, which only added to the heat raging between them both, turning her on even more. His tongue delved deeper, his sweet breath rushing out of his mouth, clinging fervently to hers. His hands cradled her face, his lips leaving a fiery trail in their wake … and then just as suddenly, she was no longer touching him.

  Weightless, her body tumbled through the air, ending with jarring force at the base of the stairs inside the foyer. Limply her body hung against the stone as she struggled to pull air back into her lungs. She tried to open her eyes but her vision waffled. She lifted her hands to the sides of her head, trying to get her eyes to focus. The stone was cold as she pressed her hand against it, bracing herself, trying to stand.

  Loud, guttural whining sounds split through the darkness. It sounded like large animals were fighting with one another.

  What the hell is that? Fear clung to her like a dampened cloth, dripping over her body, making her immobile. Her damn feet wouldn’t budge. It took a few tries but she finally forced herself to walk toward the horrific sounds. Her fingers bit into the chipped paint on the frame of the door, as she leaned outside.

  Dark shapes were moving quickly… a blur of shadows in her peripheral. And the noise, the awful noise…it hurt her ears. Lifting one shaking hand she tried to block it out but it did no good. The horrific noises were inescapable, just like the fear racing through her veins, freezing her in place. There could be no comparison to that noise except… death.

  And just when she thought, she couldn’t take a moment more of the terrible sound…it stopped.

  It was suddenly too quiet. This quiet was thick, suffocating, and closing in on her. She lifted her hand from the doorframe. It shook uncontrollably, like the rest of her body. “Hey!” she called out weakly.

  There was no answer.

  A strangled whimper slipped from her constricted throat as she stepped outside. Everything covered in a strange blue hue from the moon. An awful stench hung in the air; it was nasty and burned her nose. The smell reminded her of sulphur. “Oh God,” she gasped, trying to cover her face quickly with the sleeve of her jacket. The thickness of the air closed in on her just like the eerie blue from the moon spreading across the drive, creeping forward. Her teeth steadily clicked together, chattering uncontrollably as she took a tentative step forward. Her foot slid. Reaching out she gripped the head of one of the statues beside the door.

  “Shit!” She yanked her hand away. It burned. Not from heat though. It was like touching a piece of metal in subzero temperatures. It burned from the cold. Lifting her fingers, she tried to blow some warmth into them. Something dark was all over the stairs. A lone streak from her foot spread out to the side. Leaning over she stuck the tip of her finger into the dark substance. It was warm and sticky. She gagged.

  “Ohmigod! Why did I touch that?” She dragged her finger frantically on the dry part of the stone, trying to get rid of whatever it was. The trail smeared down the stairs, disappearing around the corner…like something big and nasty was dragged away.

  The ground blurred before her eyes. Taking deep breaths, she fought the urge to pass out. She wasn’t big on gore. She always shut her eyes during scary movies when the gore-fest happened. But she couldn’t shut her eyes—not now. This was real. Fear crawled over her skin, making gooseflesh rise. Hugging her arms around her stomach, she took a step, dodging the mass. The stone of the stair crumbled under the weight of her feet once more. She tried to think about anything but what was on the stairs.

  A distinct thud sounded behind her. It reminded her of Cornelius, her mother’s black cat. That’s what he sounded like when he jumped down from the windowsill he liked to sit on, except this sounded heavier, like whatever it was… was bigger. She missed Corny suddenly, that was her nickname for him.

  “Oh, no Corny”…. tears clogged her throat. She stood perfectly still like her not moving w
ould make whatever it was not see her. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, like it was trying to break free and run. Something she couldn’t get her feet to do. Instead her mind raced, trying to will it away or wish it away, just like when she was a kid. “Please, please, please don’t be a monster…don’t be a monster…don’t be a monster!” Slowly she forced herself to turn around and let out a momentary sigh of relief. Nothing was there.

  Turning back, she focused on the trail once more. “Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay,” she said over and over, trying to calm her rampant fear. She had to find him. She knew it didn’t make a bit of sense, since she had only just met him. And yet it didn’t stop her from feeling like she had known him for a lifetime. It was completely crazy and unexplainable but that is how she felt.

  And even if she didn’t feel that way, she doubted she could leave anyway. She wasn’t one of those people either. She wasn’t a deserter. It just took a while for this emotion to kick in. She only needed to garner enough courage to kick fear’s butt. Sometimes it took a bit of time.

  “Move coward,” she told herself, trying to force her feet forward.

  She counted each step.

  It took one hundred and fifteen steps but she finally made it over to the edge of the house.

  The breath she had been holding shoved its way out of her chest. There he was…not ten feet from her, lying in a pool of the same stuff that was all over the stairs. Breaking into a dead run she sidestepped big pieces of broken stone that were scattered across the ground and dropped down to her knees at his side.

  Carefully lifting his head, she placed it onto her lap. Again, her teeth started clicking steadily, chattering, and breaking into the eerie quiet. Her stomach hurt. Leaning forward she placed her ear against his chest. It was hard to hear over the clicking of her teeth and her thundering heartbeat.

  “OH, no, no, no,” She couldn’t hear anything. Sitting up she clamped her teeth down while holding her breath and then lowered her ear back to his chest.

  Thump…thump…thump…. she could hear his faint heartbeat, deep down. She sat back up and ran her hand back and forth across his chest, patting him.

  “Thank you, God,” she cried out, looking up towards the sky. Tears rolled down her face. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, sniffing loudly. “You’re going to be alright, okay,” she assured his still form, running her hands over his arms and legs to make sure they were intact. “You’re going to be just fine” she repeated, sniffing back another rush of tears as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and started punching buttons.

  It was dead.

  “Shit!” She threw the phone down in frustration, feeling completely helpless. Leaning down she cradled his head in her arms. Tears streamed down her face as more sobs tore from her throat. She felt useless. Not ready to give up she choked the tears back. She would figure this out… she had to.

  “You’re going to be all right… You’re going to be all right…You’re going to be all right…,” she said over and over hoping that saying the words would somehow make them come true.

  ENCHANT

  SATURDAY *12:33 AM

  “What time is it?” Moriah asked.

  “I don’t care,” Kingston murmured huskily, lifting his hand, moving her hair and then lowered his mouth to nibble on the sweet spot just below her ear.

  “Kingston,” she moaned, bending her head to the side so he could have better access. The top was down on Kingston’s Aston Martin. The trees swayed above their heads as the air whispered by. The wind was brutal further up, closer to the house, but they were parked down in a little alcove near the base of the bluff. She could hear distinct rumblings of thunder in the distance and random flicks of light lit up the sky, sporadically. “Kingston, it’s going to rain, we should really get going,” Moriah murmured, running her hands through Kingston’s thick, dark blonde hair, holding him closely as he trailed hot wet kisses down her neck.

  Leaning forward, Kingston hit the button for the top to close, not missing a beat. Soundlessly, the cover moved back over them, blocking out everything else.

  Moriah climbed over the center console, straddling his lap. It was cramped in the car though, even with the driver’s seat reclined all the way.

  Kingston slid his warm hand under her t-shirt, slipping it into her bra and kneading the soft curve of her breast. “Damn, I love your tits, baby.” He slid his thumb over her already taut nipple, eliciting a soft moan of pleasure in response.

  “Come on babe, slide your shorts off,” he coaxed, adjusting her ass on his lap.

  “Ow!” The steering wheel scraped her back. “It’s too cramped in here,” she complained, pushing his hand down out of her shirt. “This isn’t going to work with the top up.”

  “I can reopen it,” he murmured between kisses.

  “But it looks like it is going to rain.” She pouted.

  He chuckled. “Baby, you won’t melt,” he assured her.

  “I know that!” She smacked him lightly on the chest, making him chuckle once more. “I didn’t bring that many clothes with me and besides it would ruin my hair and makeup.”

  “We can always go back to town you know.”

  “Ah…no we can’t. I told my mom I was going to be with Evie all weekend.”

  “So we’ll go to Evie’s. You got an extra key, don’t you?”

  “I do, but what about Evie?”

  “What about her? She’ll probably thank you for leaving her alone with Colton, longer.”

  “I don’t know.” She bit her lip nervously. “Maybe we shouldn’t have left her.”

  “Why? He is what she wanted for her birthday…right?” Kingston asked and then leaned forward and started trailing kisses down her neck.

  “Well maybe, maybe not,” she said. “I don’t know.” She blew out a nervous breath.

  “Wait,” he said leaning away. “She asked you to hook her up with Colton, didn’t she?”

  “Not exactly,” she hedged, shifting towards him.

  “Why did you say it like that?”

  “Well, it was kind of a surprise,” she said evasively, starting to regret leaving her friend alone. Evie wasn’t like Moriah. She was shy and impressionable. Even though she always talked about Colton, she wasn’t sure he was the best pick for her “first.” She really should have told her what she had planned and let her decide for herself.

  “Evie is a big girl you know. She can say no,” he reassured her while trailing his fingers over her back. “Besides Colton may be an ass, but he isn’t that big of an ass.”

  “You think so?” she asked worriedly.

  “Yeah babe, she can take care of herself.”

  “You’re right, I’m sure she’s fine,” she said, even though she wasn’t so sure.

  “Besides, she has her car. She can leave if she wants.”

  “Well not exactly. I told her to let Barnaby take it so she could be alone with Colton.”

  “Shit.”

  “Right, I know,” she said anxiously, biting her lip, again.

  He exhaled. “Babe, I’m sure she’s fine. We can drive back up and check on her if that will make you feel better,” he reasoned.

  “What if they’re, like, in the middle of something? I don’t want to ruin it for her by showing up.”

  Kingston placed his hands on either side of her face, looking her in the eye. “I’ll tell you what, let’s get out of here. We can go to town, get you another shirt, and pick her food up, too. We’ll be back in no time.”

  Moriah pulled back to see Kingston’s face. He was right. Colton was Kingston’s cousin so he should know….right? Evie was probably just fine. She let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, let’s go back to town, but we need to make it fast,” she said, climbing back over into the passenger seat.

  Kingston smiled, making his dimples deepen in his cheeks. “Yeah, I’ll be fast,” he said laughingly and started his car. The engine roared to life. He pulled out of the little alcove and sped off
down the winding mountain towards town.

  WAITING

  SATURDAY * 3:23 AM

  The wind blew harshly, frenetically twisting limbs of the few trees resilient enough to remain standing on the ridge. Clouds moved swiftly across the full moon, cloaking them both in and out of darkness at disjointed intervals.

  Simon climbed up on an outcropping of rock and laid back, pulling his shirt up to expose his muscled chest to the illumination. He let out a sigh of contentment, stretching lazily, pillowing his head on his arms, and closed his eyes.

  “What are you doing?”

  Simon slanted open one eye and looked over at Alistair. “Catching some beams.”

  “Beams?”

  “Yeah, moon beams. It makes my skin tingle. I feel the energy from it, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, but I am not lying out under it like a damn bathing beauty.”

  “Well you should.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it feels incredible,” Simon said, leaning back and closing his eyes once more.

  “That’s not how it works, you know.”

  Simon sighed. “Yes, I know.”

  “Then why are you doing it?”

  “I am enjoying the moment.”

  “What is there to enjoy?” Alistair asked in irritation, pushing his shoulder length hair back from his face.

  “Oh I don’t know, maybe the simple fact that my ass isn’t crouched on top of a mortared column guarding a gate any longer.”

  “You and I both know we weren’t guarding the gate,” Alistair deadpanned.

  “Weren’t we?” Simon sat up, pushing his own hair from his face, looking pointedly at Alistair.

  “I don’t even know anymore. “ It’s been so long,” Alistair replied, sounding defeated.

  “That’s true,” Simon said absently, rubbing his thighs, his palms starting to warm from the friction. “How long do you think it’s been this time?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know…” The cool air stung his face and arms, making his muscles bunch reflexively across his chest as he stuck his hands into his front pockets. “Where did you get these?” he asked, looking down at the jeans he wore.