Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (19 page)

It stood again, swinging its massive head
back and forth, the red eyes bore down on him, and the lips curling
back revealing razor sharp teeth. It lunged forward again…

Adriane lost his concentration for a moment
when Simon emerged from the tree line. The beast hit him full on,
knocking him backward. Grabbing the fur or what there was left of
it he struggled not to lose his footing and pushed it away from his
body. The foul smelling black blood seeping from the sores coated
his hands, burning the palms. Pressing his mind, he tried to alter
again, his muscles shaking…but he merely pulsed beneath the
surface, his powers failing him once again.

“
Damnit
.” He was losing the battle,
he knew…his strength waning. His breath now came out in ragged
gasps, as he fought to stay in one piece. “Simon…” Adriane gasped,
wrestling the nasty beast, trying to force it to the ground. Its
razor sharp teeth snapping loudly beside his ear, as he pushed it
backward.

Simon turned to look at him. “Alter if he is
too much for you.”

“
I can’t,” Adriane ground
out between gritted teeth, twisting his body to the side to avoid
another deadly snap.

“
What?” Simon lifted his
hand to his ear. “Sorry, can’t hear you buddy.” Served him right,
he thought.

Anger filled Adriane, making his body pulse
again, rippling just beneath the surface. The awful stench of rot
and excrement assailed him, his body covered in the slick wet ooze
from the seeping sores of the beast. He jerked his head to the side
to avoid getting part of his face bitten off while he wrestled the
vile creature further to the ground. He felt himself growing
weaker. “I am going to kill you if I make it out of this alive,” he
warned. Not that he would. At this rate he was going to be Degare’
dog chow soon enough. He knew something was wrong earlier but he
still thought he’d be able to alter if he needed, but now he knew
differently. It was his just-reward, he thought despondently as he
fought to stave off the beast. He began to recall fear. An emotion
he had not felt in a very long time, and he did not welcome it now.
Fear sucked but he used it to avoid being eaten alive.

Simon paid Adriane little heed. He sniffed
his shirt and made a face. Walking over to the drink table, he
pulled his t-shirt over his head. A long silver tub was beside the
table on the ground, filled with ice and water. Empty red cups
bobbed in the top as well as some plastic bottles. He glanced over
at Adriane noting he was still in once piece. Then he leaned down,
shoving his arms into the frigid water, splashing his chest. Once
he was satisfied the smell was gone he lifted his shirt back up to
slide it on. He made a face and held it away from his body as
Alistair walked up to the silver tub.

“
He’s losing it,” Alistair
commented, pulling his own shirt off over his head. He leaned
forward and scooped up handfuls of water to clean his chest and
arms off. Once the sticky residue was gone, he turned back to
Adriane, noting that in another time, he would have decimated that
very same beast in no time at all. They were mere foreplay to what
was coming. But apparently, times had changed. He contemplated the
meaning behind that thought.

Simon crossed his arms across his muscled
bare chest, stroking his chin. He wondered which would work better,
the Everclear or Captain Morgan’s Silver spiced rum.

“
Simon what are you
doing?”

“
Trying to decide which one
of these will get the stink off my shirt.”

Alistair eyed the bottles. “Why don’t you
smell them?”

“
Huh, hadn’t thought about
that.” He lifted up the bottle that said Everclear, unscrewed the
lid, and took a sniff. He pulled his face back, wrinkling his nose.
Not very appealing but it would do the trick. It was definitely
better than the alternative.

Alistair draped his own shirt over the
silver barrel with the black hose hanging down the side. He lifted
the other bottle, removed the lid, and took a sniff. It wasn’t an
unpleasant odor. “This one smells decent,” he said, handing the
bottle out to Simon.

Simon grabbed it and took a sniff. “Oh,
yeah…” he nodded his head up and down. “ This’ll do the trick,” he
said and then glanced over to Adriane. “Oh Snap!” Simon heckled,
dumping the rum over his shirt. “There you go, show him whose
boss,” he called out, while Adriane twisted the creature’s neck
back and forth.

Alistair hit him in the arm.

Simon turned. “What’d you do that for?”

“
Enough!” Alistair
commanded, a fierce protectiveness emerging.

“
Why? He deserves it after
the shit he pulled with you earlier,” Simon argued
defensively.

“
That is my battle to
fight. Not yours,” Alistair warned.

“
Excuse me for trying to
help a brother out.”

“
I am not your brother, any
more than you are mine.” Alistair sighed. “Listen, we are in this
together whether we like it or not.”

“
Yeah, yeah—I know,” Simon,
replied sounding dejected. “You want me to help him?”

“
No. Let’s see what he is
made of, shall we?” Alistair made sure to keep a watchful eye on
Adriane…just in case and dumped the rum over his shirt.

Simon lifted his shirt up, after he dipped
it back into the water and was now, wringing it out. He looked
around. The place had emptied out rather quickly. He was kind-of
hoping some of the human girls had stuck around, since he may have
a bit of time on his hands before the other’s showed.

Alastair cocked his head to the side,
following Simon’s line of vision. The party had obviously turned
into a bust. He was having a good time too. The girl whoever she
was, made him forget, even if it was merely for a moment.

“
I wonder what made them
all run.” Simon asked, waving his shirt, airing it out.

“
I’m not sure.” Alistair
said and he wasn’t. He and Simon had run to fight the beasts but
they were far enough away not to bring attention to themselves. One
beast slipped by, which is why Adriane was battling one now.
Seriously, why should he and Simon get stuck doing all the dirty
work. They were a team. Each of them held their own separate
expertise. There should be no leader. They were equals and if
Adriane hadn’t come to that conclusion on his own before, he
certainly would now. Alistair was teaching him a lesson. Adriane
needed to learn they each needed one another to survive what was
coming. He let out a heavy sigh, turning his attention back to
Adriane as he finally finished the beast off. He watched Adriane
stand and kick the beast once more for good measure. Rocks flew
upward into the air, falling heavily back to the ground. The act
brought a smile to Alistair’s normally stoic face. That was the
only good thing about Degare’ hell dogs, after they were gone, they
turned back to what they once were…Stone. Alistair wondered if the
same would happen to them if they were the ones defeated. Well one
thing was certain, he would find that out soon enough

INDECISION

SATURDAY * 10:45 PM

Inside Barnaby fought with all he had,
swinging his fists, and kicking his feet.

“
Man, stop kicking me,”
Chance yelled. “I am trying to help you here.”

The voice finally
registered in Barnaby’s terrified mind and he quit fighting.
“Chance…is that you?”

“
Yeah it’s me.” Chance
rubbed his stomach.

“
Oh thank God man.” Barnaby
stood up. “What are you doing in here?”

“
We’re hiding out.” Chance
answered.

“
Who’s hiding?” Barnaby
asked bending over and running his hands over the floor to look for
his glasses.

“
Evie and me,” Chance
added.

“
Where?” he asked,
squinting into the dim room. He finally found his glasses and put
them on, adjusting them on his face.

Evie felt her way across the room. “Hey
Barnaby,” she said, trying not to run into the furniture.

“
Evie…hey,” he said
relieved. “What are you two hiding from? Did you see it
too?”

“
See what?” Evie
asked.

“
The hell dog or whatever
it was.”

Evie froze. Tighty whitey
wasn’t tripping…
shit
.

“
What dog?” Chance asked
confused.

‘
You guys didn’t see it?”
Barnaby asked surprised.

“
Nah man, Evie got me from
under the stage and we came in here. Everyone’s gone.”

“
Where
did you see it?” Evie asked wondering if that was why Adriane had
told her to run and if so, where was he now? Was he all right or
did something happen to him? She started freaking out all over
again and had to squash it down. He
was
fine. He
had
to be fine.

“
Colton and I saw it over
by the drink table,” Barnaby rushed on. “It was nasty… crazy ugly
bastard.” He shuddered.

“
Where’s Colton?” Evie
heard herself asking.

“
Shit
! He’s outside.” Barnaby felt
his way past a few pieces of furniture over to the window. He
leaned out and called quietly, “Colton you
there?”

Colton nearly pissed himself again when he
saw what looked like the disembodied head of his friend. “Barnaby…”
his voice shook.

“
Dude it’s all right,”
Barnaby reassured him.

“
Thank God man. You okay.”
Colton asked relief washing over him.

“
Yeah I’m good,” Barnaby
said.

Colton heard a twig snap and jerked his head
over his shoulder, his heart thumping wildly. “Shit! Man—hurry up
and help me inside…something is out here with me,” he said, his
voice sounding unusually shrill.

Barnaby peered further out the window. He
didn’t see anything. “Calm down man…I don’t see anything.”

“
Easy for you to say, your
ass is inside,” Colton complained.

“
Dude quit your bitching,
you’re starting to sound like a girl,” Barnaby laughed out and then
swallowed hard. His own voice sounded just as shrill. “Give me your
hands,” he said, and leaned out the window to grab hold of Colton’s
hands, trying to pull him up. He couldn’t lift him he was dead
weight.

“
Pull me up man,” Colton
yelled, trying to scramble up the wall, his sneakers slipping on
the stone.

Barnaby let go of Colton’s hands.

“
Ow
shit!
” Colton groaned in pain as his
stomach connected with a sharp edge of a stick.

Barnaby flinched. “Sorry dude. Hold on a
minute.”

Colton rubbed his sore belly. “Hurry up!” he
whispered into the darkness.

Barnaby stuck his head back out again after
a minute. “Chance is going to help me.”

“
Chance is in there
too?”

“
Yeah,” Barnaby answered
and stuck his hands out the window and grabbed hold of Colton’s
hands once more.

Chance stepped forward and grabbed hold of
Barnaby’s belt, pulling backward.

Even Evie helped. She wrapped her arms
around Chances’ waist, her boobs squishing against his back, trying
to help pull backward. “Sorry Chance.”

“
Not a problem,” he assured
her, his face breaking into a momentary smile.

They were like a tug of war rope, each
person pulled backward. After a few failed attempts, they finally
managed to get Colton inside the window.

Colton slid through the window, his body
thumping loudly on the floor. He rolled, jumping to his feet.
“Ah-HA!” he yelled out, slicing his hands in the air.

Barnaby ducked, Colton’s hand barely missed
the side of his head. “What in the hell are you doing Colton?
Trying to knock the shit out of me?”

“
That’s my stealth Ninja
move…you like?” Colton preened.

“
Oh yeah, it’s great.
Where’d you learn that?” Barnaby asked.

“
I taught myself. I watch
Bruce all the time.”

“
Who the boss…?” Chance
asked.

“
Not Springsteen…Lee,”
Colton admonished, proudly.

“
Right…” Barnaby said
distractedly, his eyes searching the room.

“
You’re just jealous.”
Colton accused.

“
Dude, I
am
so
not jealous
of you,” Barnaby said.