Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (9 page)

“
And?” she asked, not able
to keep the expectancy from her voice.

“
Well,” he said. “She
didn’t know too much, but it was kind of a weird
conversation.”

“
Weird how?” she managed,
her voice coming out more of a croak.

“
I don’t know.” He sighed.
“I got the feeling she wasn’t telling me something, which was
just…” He shook his head. “I don’t know.” A frown creased his brow
as he maneuvered the car around another slight turn.

“
Why would you think that?”
she asked.

“
Ah, I don’t know,” he
said, shrugging his shoulders. “It was more of the way she couldn’t
keep eye contact with me, like she’s hiding something.” He lifted
his hand off the steering wheel and waved it in the air. “You’d
have to know my mom, she really sucks at lying.”

”
What did she do? I mean
when you asked?”

“
It wasn’t really what she
said but her expression looked really- startled, like she couldn’t
believe I asked her.” He glanced over and got a sheepish look on
his face. “Remember, I told you I quit messing with drugs…
right?”

“
Right,” Evie said her face
burning. She felt bad for accusing him of drugging her.

“
This is what’s so funny.
Normally I would be too stoned to notice…but like she was all
evasive and shit, it put me on guard.” He squeezed the wheel
tighter and cleared his throat. “I told you that she is really into
the legend of the area and has a fascination with “antiquities,” he
said making air quotes with one hand.

“
Antiquities?” she
asked.

“
Yeah, old
stuff—antiquities—whatever.” He made a face.

“
Hey I am all ears,” she
assured him, smiling.

“
Anyway…my mom majored in
literature in college, specializing in folklore and mythology.
She’s like the best in her field now. Go figure.” He rolled his
eyes. “Anyway, she runs a local curators club for the area. The
membership is pretty- exclusive.”

“
Oh so not just anyone can
get in?”

He laughed. “Not quite. It’s like a secret
society or something—very cloak and dagger. They hold meetings late
at night, and she doesn’t come home until really late and sometimes
not till the morning.

“
Maybe she’s got a
boyfriend?”

He laughed. “Yeah… maybe.” Even though he
didn’t believe that for a minute. No, he had a feeling his mom was
up to something—but what?

“
Did you tell her anything
about what I asked?”

“
Yeah I did.”

“
And…”

“
She said she’d love to
talk to you herself.” Again, he rolled his eyes. “Anyway, once this
thing is finished I can bring you over if you want.”

Shit!
“Sure. I mean thanks. That would be great.” Evie couldn’t
help but wonder what that was about. His mom wanted to talk with
her—
weird.
Evie
wasn’t so sure she wanted to repeat what happened to anyone, let
alone his mother of all people. “So, um, that’s all she said?” she
pried, not able to help herself.

“
Not exactly,” he hedged,
reaching over to turn off the stereo.

The inside of the car was completely quiet
now, except for the whining hiss of the engine as he pushed the
accelerator down to climb another steep incline.

“
The suspense is killing me
here,” she finally said, nervously pushing her hair away as a sharp
breeze kicked across the interior of the car.

He took an unsteady breath. “Okay. She said
gargoyles are protectors.”

“
Huh?” She gave him a
stunned look. “Protectors of what?” she asked.

“
Of many things, mostly
humans,” he said, awkwardly, feeling totally stupid.

That didn’t make sense. In her weird
delusional reality she thought, well maybe…whatever attacked her
was the big gargoyle statue come to life—granted that was out
there—like different dimension out there especially now that she
knew she wasn’t drugged. She narrowed her eyes at Barnaby …was he
lying? But why would he do that?

Barnaby glanced at her. “See I told you it
was out there.”

Her throat constricted.
No, she didn’t think he would lie to her…maybe Colton drugged her?
Right, that wasn’t possible her drink was in the other room. Wait?
Maybe his drink was drugged…and that’s why he was being such
an
asshole
.
Oh right that’s
why
.
Please.
S
he would believe a gargoyle came to life
before she believed that load of crap. He was just a jerk, and that
was that. She gave up making excuses and just decided to go with
it. “Um, okay, what are they protecting humans from?”

“
Well, this is where it
gets sketchy…Other gargoyles.” He made a face.

She gaped at him. “What? That doesn’t make
sense.” She rubbed her hands that were now ice cold over her
leggings. Her mind reeled.

“
I know, right? Hence the
sketchy part,” he said glancing over at her again.

Something massive swooped down through the
trees directly in front of the car. He jerked the wheel to the
right and then jerked it back, barely missing sliding off the steep
edge of the mountain.

Evie’s body wrenched to the side, slamming
into his arm, her face planted in his lap. She jerked her head back
up and lifted her shaking hands to her chest. “Shit!”

“
Shit! Sorry.” His hands
clenched around the wheel so tight his knuckles were turning
white.

Neither said a word for the rest of the
ride. Evie had no idea what swooped in front of the car and wasn’t
real sure she wanted to know, at least not right now. Gravel
crunched loudly under the tires as they pulled up in front of the
gigantic wrought iron gates of Briarcliff. Barnaby pulled the car
through, turned onto a patch of dead grass off to the side,
squeezing between a pair of ancient trees, and threw the car into
park. He leaned forward, pressing his head against the steering
wheel. “Shit!” He sat back up and ran his shaking hands over his
face. “I need a drink,” he said shakily.

“
Yeah, me too,” she readily
agreed. Barnaby looked green. “Thanks,” she said and reached
forward to grab hold of his hand. It was just as clammy as her own
was. It was kind of weird but comforting to hold onto his hand
especially since they had just shared a near death experience
together.

“
For …” he prompted,
squeezing her fingers lightly.

“
You know… for being an
awesome driver and all.”

A lopsided smile broke
across his face. “
I do
have some mad racecar driver skillz don’t I?”

“
Oh
yeah
…
the maddest ever,” she said laughing.

Barnaby tightened his fingers around hers
and began to lean forward.

The laughter seemed to evaporate out of the
interior of the car.

Evie didn’t know what to
do. It was one of those awkward moments. It looked like he might
want to kiss her. Now she knew what felt like to be a deer in the
headlights. She felt completely frozen. She was really grateful to
Barnaby but was she
that
grateful?

Another car pulled up and
somehow managed to fit between the other two trees right beside
them.

Barnaby turned to look out the window and
pulled his hand away.

She frowned at his
back.
That was fast
. Surprisingly, she wasn’t as relieved as she thought she
would be.

“
Chance and Colton are
here,” he said.

Perfect.
She rolled her eyes. “Can he park any
closer?”

“
I know right.” He turned
back around and gave her a halfhearted smile. “You know Evie…how
bout we wait and discuss…you know, later… after we have a
drink.”

“
Yeah…sure…fine—whatever,”
she said and climbed out of the car.

TWILIGHT

SATURDAY * 7:47 PM

The tree line loomed behind Adriane as he
stepped back into the clearing. He lifted up his shirt and
inspected his chest. The bloody rash was almost completely gone
now. Instead of taking the path that wound around through the maze
of hedgerows, he took a shortcut, and cut right through and into
another clearing at the base of the hill. Branches snapped loudly
as he pulled his body completely from the confines. Shaking his
head, he knocked tiny leaves onto the ground from his hair. Music
blared from up at the mansion. Vibrations slid over his muscled
chest, making it tingle back to life a bit more. Raking his hands
through his dark hair, he unearthed more tiny leaves, rumpling it
more than the constant breeze had.

Glancing down at his borrowed shoes he
wiggled his toes in the confines, amazed how heavy they felt. The
clothing, he had borrowed—borrowed was being used lightly, of
course. A rare smile spilt across his face as he remembered the
look of sheer terror that had crossed the guys face when he jumped
in front of his car last night.

The soles of his shoes
crunched loudly on the graveled path leading up towards the side of
the mansion. Once at the top he paused, sniffing the air… his eyes
turned dark as a predatory sneer broke across his face. With
unnatural speed, his arm shot out around the corner, yanking a body
back, slamming it hard against the wall. Ready to snap the fragile
bones of the neck, his fingers tightened around the soft
flesh.

“
Leave off Adriane,” a
strangled voice yelled frantically, as fingers pushed back, clawing
at his hand.

The glaze on Adriane’s eyes cleared as his
predatory reflexes slid back into the confines of his body. He
looked down and let out an exasperated sigh, releasing his deadly
hold. “Simon, what are you doing here?”

Simon rubbed his neck and
then a sly smile broke across his face. “I’m hanging at a
par
—Tay
. The
underworld is full right now.”

Adriane laughed and reached out giving him a
one-armed hug. “It’s been a long time… my friend.”

“
Yes, it has,” Simon
mumbled into the front of his shirt then pulled away and lifted his
hand in the air.

Adriane lifted his hand, copying Simon.

Simon smacked his hand.

“
Damn
,” Simon groaned, flexing his
aching hand. “I forgot hitting you was like hitting
granite.

Adriane gave him an apologetic look,
shrugging his shoulders.

“
Where’d you get your
clothing?” Simon noticed Adriane’s clothing fit him better than the
rejects he was stuck wearing. He briefly wondered if Adriane would
want to switch and instantly changed his mind. The one Adriane wore
would probably be too large for him as well.

“
I borrowed them.
“

“
Borrowed?” Simon asked
looking skeptical.

Adriane merely gave him a blank stare.
“Where did you get yours?”

“
I
didn’t
borrow
them,” he scoffed and then added when he saw the reproving
look Adriane was giving him. “Hey, I stole these fair and square,”
he defended and then made a face. “Still a goodie gum drop I see,”
he muttered under his breath.

“
You realize I can hear
you, right?”

Simon merely shrugged. It
never ceased to amaze him how different Adriane and Alistair were
from one another even though the resemblance between the two
was
freeeaky.
They looked like brothers. Who knew, maybe they were in
another life, one Simon didn’t remember.

Simon was shorter and not
as broad as they were, but he didn’t mind. He overheard a girl say,
“Good things come in small packages.” Maybe he would let her check
out his own package later. Cocking his head to the side, he sniffed
the air, and then spun around. “
Damnit!”
He widened his eyes when he
saw how many of them were crawling down the side of the
mansion.

Adriane looked up unsurprised. “You smell
them too?”

“
How can I not.” He made a
face. “I swear they smell even worse or is it just me?”

Adriane shook his head.
“No, I think you are right. They
do
smell worse.”