Embrace (The Gryphon Series) (23 page)

Gabe
exerted every ounce of strength he had in his effort to get off the ground and protect me.  Bloodied claws dug deep into the gravel.  His muzzle curled and teeth bared from the strain.  But he couldn’t budge.  I assumed a fighting stance for a battle I was nowhere near prepared for. 

“Caleb!”  I pleaded
in a last ditch effort.  “I know you’re in there somewhere.  You don’t have to do this.  Fight her, please.”

“Aw
,” The Countess’ smile was equal parts belittling and coolly calculating.  “You poor, sweet girl.  Haven’t you figured it out yet?  I own him.  Any interest he showed in you, any sweet words he whispered, any loving gazes he cast your way, were all because
I
ordered him to.”

“That’s not true.” 
The ache in my heart brought the words to my lips.

“Oh, but it is.” 
Her grin widened to exhibit all her perfectly straight and brilliantly white teeth.  “I’m sure you’ll come to terms with that as he’s killing you.  Goodbye, Celeste.  Your death will bring me one step closer to my ultimate revenge.  Pity you won’t be around to witness it.”  She laid one hand on Caleb’s shoulder as she boomed, “Slave! 
Luguolo suus!
Kill her!”

S
he vanished in a silver mist. The battle began.

CHAPTER 31

In the general scheme of fights, this one could’ve been going better.  The Countess’s absence had freed Gabe, who immediately got his paws bound together by a pair of ice cuffs that Caleb shot out of the palm of his hand.  Caleb turned his focus on me.  Earlier that night I had wished I could fight alone.  That wish had been granted, and it sucked.  Caleb manifested balls of fire between his hands and whipped them at me one after another.  I spun, flipped and turned to avoid most of them.  The rest I lobbed back telekinetically.  Defense like this wasn’t easy, and relied primarily on luck that could run out at any second.  I found out just how true that was when Caleb released an exceptionally fast flying flame missile.  A split second was all I had to tuck into a tight side-flip before the flames careened past where my face had just been. I landed on the edge of the stone fountain, which wobbled slightly under my weight.  An idea formed.  With one leap high into the air, I came down as hard as I could on the edge of the fountain.  It tipped straight up on its side.  The ice cold water that sloshed over me hit me like a thousand knives.  My nerve endings screamed out in pain from the bitter cold.  Despite the quaking chills that wracked my body, I pushed on, and sprinted to Gabe’s side. 

“Sorry, brother.  This isn’t going to
be pleasant.”  With one hand I grabbed his tail and dragged him butt first behind the fountain.  The other hand I kept up to block any incoming fireballs. 

Temporarily safe behind our stone barrier, I released Gabe
and then slumped down beside him.  The orange flames that flew past seemed to taunt my icy skin with their fleeting warmth.  Occasionally, one would hit and chunks of stone would break free and skitter across the parking lot.  I brought the side of my fist down on Gabe’s icicle shackles to free him.  He rumbled his appreciation, then hunkered down beside me.  I never appreciated my big, hot, and furry brother more than I did in that moment.  I leaned up against him gratefully for his warmth.  

In an instant t
he trajectory of Caleb’s strikes changed.  They arced wide into the night sky narrowly missing the beautiful winged vixen that flapped down beside us.  “So, what’d I miss?”  Kendall grinned and winked her mile long lashes.

“
Oh, you know.  Same old, same old.”  I deadpanned.  “Where’s Becca?”

“I healed her and then dropped her off at the hosp
ital.  Told her not to mention sorceresses, demons, or flying people when they ask her what happened.” Keni risked a peek over the edge of the crumbling fountain and nearly got her platinum locks set ablaze for it.  “Any chance you guys have come up with a plan yet?” 

I rubbed my
purple arms with numb hands.  “Not yet.  But maybe you could cover us?  Then we could try to figure out how to take him down without hurting him.”

Keni and Gabe exchanged
matching ‘she’s an idiot’ looks.  That look on a lion would’ve been laughable if my face wasn’t a chunk of pure ice and incapable of moving the muscles needed to laugh.

“Is there a problem
?” I tried to sound assertive despite my shaking.

Kendall
gave Gabe an uneasy look.  He poked at her with the back of his paw to prod her on.  She cleared her throat and picked at the hem of her shirt.  “Celeste, we just don’t think you’re thinking real clearly.  You like Caleb.  He’s trying to set you on fire.  Fundamentally, your relationship is flawed.”   

Before I could
form an argument to the contrary a ruckus erupted on the other side of our fountain fortress.  Tendrils of smoke curled over the stone wall.  Familiar voices squealed and screamed. 

“I’m on fire!  I’m on fire!  Put me out!  Put me out!” 

“Aaahhh!!  He’s shooting again!”

“
Run!  Over here!”  Panicked feet kicked across the gravel as four more bodies skidded to join us behind the fountain.  The cavalry hadn’t arrived. The Glee Club had. 

“Hey.”  Snorted the lone twin
from well within my personal bubble and shoved his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

“We heard something big was going down and came to help.”  Red
patted his still smoking sleeve to kill the last remnants of where he’d been set ablaze. 

“Well you’re doing a b
…b…bang-up job.”  I joked through chattering teeth.

“Do you know who that is?”  Eddie jammed his thumb in Caleb’s direction.
  A fire ball whizzed past his head, and he ducked down lower.

Keni jerked her head at me. 
“Sure, he’s her domestically violent boyfriend.”  She followed it up with an exaggerated eye roll and a shake of her head.

“He’s not abusive
!”  I snapped.  “He’s possessed by a demon!  Big difference!”

“We know him as a lot more than that.”  Eddie’s eyes flicked to his friends nervously.  Their
twitchy anxiety matched his.  “In the Underworld he’s called The Destroyer.  He’s the most deadly demon the Dark Army has ever seen.”

“I’ve never been this close to him before.” 
Boil Face whined.  “I don’t like it.  We shouldn’t have come.”

“She needed to know what she was up against!”  Red’s
nervous energy made his words come out fast and high pitched.  He pressed his fist against his mouth to stifle a whimper.

Keni stabbed
her palm-up hand in their direction.  “
See
?  It takes a lot for me to say someone’s not a good person, but he falls into that category, Celeste.  You need to accept that!”

  A chunk of stone directly over me broke loose.  I shielded my head as pebbles rained down. “
I don’t buy it.  This isn’t him.  The Countess is controlling him!”

“
Monkeys learn faster than you!”  Keni shouted.  “He’s throwing friggin’ fire at us!”

Eddie laid a clammy hand on my shoulder
, winced and pulled back in reaction to my cold skin.  “She’s right, Celeste.  We know this guy’s reputation.  If we don’t kill him, he’s going to kill us.” 

Painful as it was, m
y blue hands curled into fists.  “No.”  My teeth ground together with my declaration.  I glanced at each of them.  One to the next.  To let them see my resolve.  “This is
my
fight. 
My
sacred duty.  The tough choices are left up to
me,
and I say we find a way to spare him.” 

Gabe’s topaz
eyes burned into me as he rose up on all fours.  “Nnnoooooooo.”  He growled. 

“
Don’t you touch him.”  I forced my frozen limbs up into an awkward crouch. 

“If you want to take him out, we’ll help in any way we can.  Maybe create a diversion so you can get close enough?”  Red offered
and shot me an apologetic look.  “I’m sorry, Celeste.  But it’s for the best.”

Gabe-lion
nodded and snorted his agreement.

“I’m not going to let you do this.
”  I stated in no uncertain terms.  “You wanna hurt him?  You’ll have to go through me.”

Gabe growled.

Eddie cringed.  “Guess we’ll just have to see who gets to him first.”

“Oh
, for crying out loud!”  Keni threw her hands up in exasperation, and spread her wings out wide.  “At least let me shield you guys so you don’t get burnt to a crisp.”

All seven of us
positioned ourselves at the sides of the fountain, prepared to bolt as soon as there was a break in Caleb’s assault.  Before anyone could take a step the shrill call of an eagle rang through the night.  Gold streaked across the sky like a shooting star headed straight for us.  Alaina transformed in mid-air, and landed beside us as the bird-woman she first appeared to me as. 

“Stop!
”  She threw her hands up, fingers splayed.  “You cannot hurt him!”

“
Finally!  Someone on my side!” I motioned at her with one up-turned hand.

“
You don’t understand.”  Anguish transformed her delicate features.  “He’s my brother.”

From behind me the lone twin muttered, “Huh.  Didn’t see
that
coming.”

CHAPTER
32

“Your
brother
?! How can he be your brother?” This shocking new development had prompted Gabe to revert back to human.  He maintained a tight position with his legs curled up around to thwart any unintentional displays of Little Gabe. 

“Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…”

“Not now, Kendall!”  I snapped.  Keni pantomimed zipping her lips. “Alaina, you told us the last time you saw your brother he was in a wagon full of kids headed away from your village and Barnabus.  That being the case, he should’ve died centuries ago.  So, I’m gonna second Gabe’s question—
how can he be your brother?”

Alaina
’s avian eyes blazed.  “That is exactly how his life
should
have gone.  I have just learned that is not what happened.  After the Gryphon chased him off, Barnabus sought out an immediate form of revenge.  He caught up with the children as they made their escape.”  Rock shards rained down on Alaina from another of Caleb’s blasts.  She showed no signs that she noticed.  “I always hoped my little brother found a wonderful family to love and care for him.  Now I know he suffered the worst fate imaginable.”

A particularly powerful blast broke off the top quarter of the fountain
.  Our group scrambled closer together.  We didn’t have much more time.  Our shelter would be demolished soon.  “Caleb told me he swore allegiance to Barnabus to keep his family safe.  If what you say is true, your parents were already dead when he agreed to that.”

Alaina
shielded her head from a close flying fireball.  “Exactly. His entire time in the Underworld has been based on a lie.”

“
That’s why ya always gotta read the fine print.”  Eddie snorted.

I shot him a look.  He snapped his mouth shut and
quickly looked away.  “This is all well and good, but how does it help our current situation?  In case you missed the memo, he’s still trying to kill us.”

Kendall nudged Alaina and the two of them popped their wings open to
provide us with a bit more protection from Caleb’s attack.  “I don’t know. “  Alaina shrugged.  “If we can get Caleb—the real Caleb—to hear the truth it should break the binding spell the Countess holds over him.”

This is insane!”
Boil Face threw his hands in the air.  “You go out there, you die. Simple as that.  Caleb is a lost cause.”

“He’s my brother
, and I will
not
give up on him.”  Alaina argued.  “Perhaps if I talked to him?  Maybe a small part of him will still remember me?”

“You’re signing your own death warrant.
  Words won’t impact him right now.  A rocket launcher might.”  Red attempted sarcasm through his fear.  His wavering voice betrayed him.  “Got one of those handy?”

“
You’re not helping!”  I yelled.

Gabe clasped a hand on my arm and peer
ed into my eyes. Jaw tensed.  Heavy brow furrowed. “No, he’s right, Cee.  You tried the talking method already.  Didn’t work.  We need to find a way to rattle him.  He’s gotta
want
to break through.  What would motivate him to fight?”

A fresh round of chills shuttered through me.  This time I couldn’t tell if
it was from the cold or the terrifying idea that had come to me.  I tried to hide my trepidation by keeping my voice firm and steady.  “I’m gonna buy you some time with your brother.”  I told to Alaina.  “Talk fast.”