Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) (12 page)

“Are you done yet?”

It was the fourth time Lillian had heard that question
in the last two hours. The first time had been in the first drugstore she’d
hit, the second in the long lineup at the coffee shop. The third complaint had
been in the grocery store when two miniature tyrants—Gregory’s title for
them—had rammed him in the hip with the cart. She’d sweetly promised him a
special treat of his choosing if he didn’t decapitate the two boys.

They’d left the grocery store without further issue.
Their silent tails, two dower looking military types, pretended to pick up a
couple things at the store as well.

When Lillian had driven away, she’d spotted their new
friends following behind in an armored vehicle. Was that their attempt at
undercover? Or maybe they just didn’t care if they were spotted.

She made a few more stops and her tails followed
faithfully. She was almost tempted to set Gregory upon them. She was sure he’d
have enjoyed tormenting the humans.

It would distract Gregory, too. Which would be handy,
she admitted as she pulled into the second drugstore’s parking lot.

She needed to pick up a couple more items for her
peace of mind. The threat of pregnancy still hung over her head. Gregory hadn’t
remembered anything from the night of the masquerade, but that wouldn’t help
her if she was pregnant and began showing signs. Which brought her to her next
issue, being a gargoyle-dryad hybrid, she didn’t even know what the signs of
pregnancy would be.

She didn’t have a monthly cycle like a human. Hers
came once every three months. She’d always wondered about that, but Gran had
said it was a normal genetic blip on her side of the family. Being young and
naïve, she’d trusted Gran. Then again, who would have equated a longer cycle
than normal with being a dryad-gargoyle hybrid?

“More stops?” Gregory asked, sounding grumpy.

Lillian got out of the car and came around to his side
while he was still trying to extract himself from the car. She leaned down and
gave him a quick kiss on the lips while running her fingers along his tattoo.
“I would say you could wait in the car, but…”

Gregory snorted without humor. “As if I’d leave you
undefended.”

Yes, picking up a few pregnancy tests from the
drugstore without Gregory knowing was going to be problematic.

Feeling ornery and flippant, she waved to her two
tails as they pulled into the parking lot. Gregory gave them a toothy grin, and
a wave as well.

Lillian marched into the drugstore, and snatched up a
basket as she ran through her mental list of things to pick up.

She figured if she grabbed lots of stuff, Gregory
wouldn’t notice a few pregnancy tests among everything else. Not that he would
know what they were anyway, but he could read, which gave her an idea as she
walked past the magazine racks. She grabbed a local newspaper and gave it to
Gregory. “Read it and let me know if there is anything interesting in there we
may need to know.”

Gregory frowned but nodded and began to skim through
the paper. Lillian continued her task with military efficiency and came to the aisle
she needed. She didn’t pause to read or study the packages, instead grabbed
three of each variety on the shelf.

The number would make the girl at the checkout do a
triple take, but Lilian wasn’t sure when she’d have a chance to get more.

She knew gargoyles were warm-blooded and dryads had
breasts so they were mammals in theory. She didn’t know if they were enough like
humans for the test kits to be useful.

Personally she doubted they’d be accurate, dryads and
humans probably didn’t have the same hormones. In fact, it had only been two
days since the incident so they wouldn’t show anything yet, anyways. She
planned to use one tonight as a sort of baseline test, and then space the
others out on a weekly basis to check for any changes. At least she hoped it
would work, and she really hoped not to see any changes.

By her estimate, she was maybe two-thirds of the way
through her fertility cycle, which once again, told her nothing.

Damn, she really needed an idiots guide to dryads with
a bonus chapter on gargoyles.

Basket at her side, Gregory a few steps behind with
his nose still buried in the newspaper, Lillian rounded the corner of the next aisle
and nearly ran head-on into one of her friendly tails.

It was the taller of the two clones. Up close, she
noted this one had brown eyes where the other guy possessed a lighter
shade—hazel maybe?

She compressed her lips and then replaced the
encroaching frown with a smile instead. “Nice day,” she said. “Enjoying the
town?” Because really, what did one say to their tails?

“Ma’am,” Brown eyes acknowledged and then glanced down
in her basket.

His one eyebrow rose slightly. Yep, he was so adding
the basket of pregnancy tests to his report. Damn. As long as he didn’t say
anything in front of Gregory, she didn’t care.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again
soon.” She sidestepped brown eyes and nodded to military clone number two.

They didn’t stop her, so she continued on toward the
checkout. She was halfway there when the tattoo around her neck tingled and she
realized Gregory hadn’t followed.

A glance over her shoulder showed him having a staring
contest with the taller soldier. She sighed, and briefly wondered if there was
a sudden bout of testosterone poisoning sweeping through the town.

She ignored the tattoo’s second warning twinge and
continued on to the checkout. Eventually, Gregory returned to her side while
she was bagging her purchases, but his attention was still for the two
soldiers.

With a sigh, Lillian plucked the forgotten newspaper
from his fingers and gave it to the cashier to add to the other items.

Without a word in exchange, and apparently Gregory
being none the wiser about what she’d purchased, they returned to her car under
the watchful gazes of her two tails.

She’d just slammed the trunk when she heard a loud
rumble approaching. The sound increased in volume alarmingly quickly as seven
heavy-bodied helicopters armed to the teeth, tore through the skies overhead.

The townsfolk came out to gawk at the helicopters
until they vanished behind the tree line.

She couldn’t be sure of their destination, but she’d
bet the lower branches of her hamadryad those helicopters were there to
transport the prisoners to a more secure location.

She turned to Gregory and whispered, “We need to get
home, now.”

“Yes,” he agreed, but didn’t take his eyes off the
place they’d last seen the helicopters before they vanished.

By the time they made it back to the spa, Lillian
discovered everyone else was already home. Gregory stomped into the house
loaded down with eight bags of groceries while she scooped up her own bags and
ran them upstairs where she hid the pregnancy tests in her bathroom vanity. She
was just headed back down the stairs when the second warning tingle crawled
along her tattoo.

Gregory emerged from the kitchen, rubbing his own
throat and watched her with a questioning look as she crossed the living room
floor and returned to his side.

“Sorry,” she mumbled as she joined him. “I figured I
could run the stuff upstairs and be back before the collars reacted.”

“Darkness is in the kitchen. He has news.”

Gregory didn’t say or do anything else to outwardly
show his excitement, but she could sense it all the same.

The trip to town was almost too much for her beloved,
and now he was clearly itching to do something dangerous.

She felt her own blood surge at the thought of danger,
and she began to wonder if their DNA was coded to hunt out dangerous
situations.

Rather like they equated danger with fun. She now had
to include herself within those parameters.

She pushed open the kitchen door and was only halfway
through when she was scooped up in another strong embrace.

“Father says I get to help with this mission.”
Shadowlight vibrated with happiness. He spun Lillian around once and then put
her down.

Her little brother made an aborted motion toward
Gregory, who was still in human form, but her other half lifted an eyebrow in
warning and bestowed a grim look upon the youngest gargoyle which promised pain
to anyone foolish enough to attempt to pick him up.

Shadowlight dropped to all fours and butted Gregory in
the stomach instead.

With a sigh, and a smile he couldn’t hide, he gave the
youngster a few affectionate scratches before turning to the other gargoyle in
the room.

Darkness stood in the corner of the kitchen with the
most shadows. He wasn’t actively trying to hide. Perhaps it was just
unconscious instinct on his part.

Her mother stood off to the side, speaking with Gran,
Alan, and Jason. Gregory went straight to Darkness. Lillian joined them.

“Those loud flying machines landed at the humans’
camp,” Darkness was saying. “I overheard one pilot,” he hesitated over the foreign
word before continuing, “Say to another member of his team he had orders to be
back in the air within the hour.”

“Not long,” Gregory chimed in. “They must be planning
to move our people.”

“There was a flurry of activity at the base. I agree.
They will move your allies soon.”

Lillian glanced out the window, eyeing the sun as it
started its descent toward the horizon. She knew Gregory and Darkness were able
to hide even while the sun was still high. Shadowlight she wasn’t so sure
about. He was a proper gargoyle and had inherited their father’s memories and
skills to a much greater degree than she herself had. He, too, might be able to
hide while the sun was still high.

Lillian knew she wasn’t ready to infiltrate the base
again so soon but didn’t see another option. “We have to get them out. Now. In
the daylight.”

Gregory nodded. “The base is too well guarded. We’ll
take them on the wing.”

Darkness nodded agreement and they both went over to
Gran.

Lillian was left standing with Shadowlight, who leaned
against her, happy to be included in the hunt. She finally found her voice and
chased after Gregory so quickly, she heard Shadowlight lose his balance and
stumble into the cupboard door next to where she’d been standing a moment ago.
He made a disgruntled sound but bound after her.

“You can’t be planning to attack those helicopters.
It’s suicide to even think to try.”

Gregory huffed. “They won’t expect an attack on the
wing. Nor will they be able to see or hear us coming. This way we won’t have to
deal with the entire armed camp. Just what those five machines can carry.”

Lillian’s stomach fluttered nervously. “Those things
house weapons Gregory, ones like the guns the soldiers carry, but the ones
strapped to the helicopters will be bigger and meaner.”

“We know of these things now, and can use shielding
magic against them.”

“And how do you propose we go about catching them once
they’re in the air? Kind of hard to rescue our friends if we can’t even catch
them.”

Darkness tilted his head in her direction, and she had
the distinct impression he was translating her words in his mind into something
he understood. “Oh, but gargoyles can match speed with those things, and if we
dive from a much higher vantage point...”

“You’ll get sliced to ribbons,” Lillian cut in.

Her father’s look of disdain didn’t earn him any
sympathy from her, but he continued anyway. “I saw how those things keep
themselves up. It will be no great challenge to bring them down. If getting
close proves too dangerous we can do it from afar. Gargoyle magic is adaptable.
Those machines are not.”

“We can’t bring them down. Whitethorn and Goswin
wouldn’t survive, and the humans are just doing their jobs.”

Gregory placed a hand on Lillian’s shoulder and gave
it a squeeze. “We won’t need to harm the humans, but you need to trust me. I am
not underestimating the humans and you should know by now I would not embark
upon this quest if I thought you would be placed in undue danger.” He gestured
to Darkness. “That’s why I’ve asked your father to do a partial memory transfer
so you’ll have the skills and knowledge you’ll need for this mission.”

Oh, he made it sound so reasonable, but she couldn’t
help thinking about all the ways this attempt could end in painful disaster.

She glanced at her father where he waited patiently
for her to see their way of thinking. Even with the memory transfer Gregory
talked of, she didn’t think this plan had a hope of success.

But if they didn’t act now, Whitethorn and Goswin
might slip forever beyond their reach.

“Fine, let’s do this.”

Gregory and Darkness had almost identical somber nods,
whereas Shadowlight jumped to attention, wings vibrating with excitement.

If it was within her power, she would forbid
Shadowlight from coming. He was far too young to come on such a dangerous
mission. However, she’d been overruled, and they
did
need every set of
wings available to rescue Whitethorn and Goswin.

Besides, Shadowlight would likely just follow them and
if he was going into danger she wanted him near enough to keep an eye on.

*****

Major Resnick decided he was having the mother of all
bad weeks. They made their way back to base as fast as humanly possible on
foot, the land too rugged for any kind of motorized vehicles to extract them.
Not that their radios were working. Something was jamming them again.

He was just exiting the forest and coming out onto the
road when he heard the roar of helos approaching. His team was less than five kilometers
from base, but they might as well have been ten for all the good it did him.

Thirty seconds later, five helos flew overhead,
heading south. His gut told him that was the prisoner transport, and it was in
danger. Was the communications blackout the work of his people or something
else?

If how this week was going was any indication, the
blackout would be the work of something else.

“We need to warn them. Move it.” He broke into a run.

*****

The slight breeze tugged at Lillian’s tightly folded
wings, where she sat perched on the highest branch of the tree capable of
holding her weight.

The stout oak grew at the edge of a craggy ravine,
where it had taken root along a small rocky outcropping in some long ago
century. Now it overlooked a narrow river, and provided Lillian a convenient
perch from which to launch herself into flight.

Gregory, Darkness, and Shadowlight all waited in the
surrounding trees, listening for the approach of their intended targets.

“They come,” Shadowlight informed the others. “It’s as
the Coven reported, I only detect five this time. The other two stayed behind.”

Lillian frowned and strained her ears forth and back,
seeking what her little brother had heard.

Another minute passed before she heard what
Shadowlight had noted. Her little brother had sharp senses. Better even than
Gregory? She’d ask about that later. There was no time now.

Together, the four gargoyles launched from their
perches and climbed high into the sky.

She beat her powerful wings but it wasn’t solely their
strength which catapulted her higher, magic filled her wing membranes and
snapped in the air around her.

Shadowlight beat his wings harder and pulled ahead.
With a wide grin, she answered his unvoiced challenge and flew faster, darting
past first him and then Darkness and Gregory.

Her sleeker body allowed for greater acceleration, and
she had a hunch she might be much more agile, too. Although, she hadn’t tested
her theory yet.

With a joyous roar, she arched higher into the sky.

“We’re at a good height,”
Gregory called across their four-way link.
“Prepare to dive.”

Her beloved’s words tarnished her child-like joy, but
she’d rekindle it another time, when she could take wing with Gregory for the
sheer pleasure of flying. But that would have to wait.

Five dark, military helicopters thundered closer to
their positions. Within seconds, they’d be directly below. Over the pristine
waters of the lake.

Lillian angled a wing and dipped a few feet lower to
take up position behind the tip of Gregory’s tail as he continued to circle
above their target area. The lake’s blue, calm expanse looked more like a pond
or maybe a puddle from this high up.

“Ready,”
he called, using
their mental link.

With slight shifts of her body, she mimicked Gregory’s
every move, but she couldn’t manage his cool battle readiness, not even her
father’s memories could calm her nerves although she was thankful for them.
Otherwise, she never would have mastered either flying or her fear of heights.

Gran and the rest of the ground crew, as Lillian had
taken to calling the Clan and Coven members aiding in this endeavor, had
reported two hooded decoy prisoners had been escorted into each of the five
choppers. The real Whitethorn and Goswin had been loaded into the second
helicopter to take off.

Many Fae had taken to the trees, watching the track of
the helicopters. Not once had the aerial formation changed during flight. Their
targets were still in the chopper flying left of the leader and slightly back
in the wedge formation.

Lillian kept her gaze locked on that target. Her
target. Her part of the mission was easy. She just had to keep telling herself
that.

“Now!”

Gregory and Darkness dived in unison, like arrows shot
from some giant bow. Lillian darted after them, Shadowlight nearly wing tip to
wing tip with her.

Below, the two gargoyles parted company. Gregory
angled toward their helicopter while Darkness headed for the one in the lead.

Shadowlight dipped a wing and dived under Lillian, in
pursuit of their father. She banked left to join Gregory.

Darkness flared out his wings, and Shadowlight matched
speed. Together their trajectory and momentum slammed them into the helicopter
with such force it rocked sideways wildly as it started to spin out of control.
They latched onto it. Darkness under the tail, Shadowlight clinging upside down
from the landing struts.

Lillian had only a moment to worry about the safety of
everyone concerned before her own momentum carried her to her target.

She twisted her body in the air, and as she sailed
under the belly of the helicopter, she raked her claws out, grasping at
anything to hold her securely to the bottom.

The helicopter shook violently with a second impact.
Gregory had just arrived. There were shouts from inside, followed by several
seconds of chaos as the pilot tried to level out the wildly careening machine.

Below her, she could see where Darkness and
Shadowlight had managed to bring down their helicopter—or maybe the pilot
performed some kind of emergency landing. Lillian wasn’t sure what had
occurred, but the helicopter was down in the shallow, rush-filled waters at the
lake’s edge.

Her father and brother were already at work on the
second helicopter that had swung back around to aid the two in trouble.

From her vantage point hanging upside down while she
waited for Gregory to do his part, she watched as Darkness and Shadowlight
attacked the second helicopter with undisguised glee.

They were fulfilling their part of the plan admirably.
The two helicopters not already engaged had broken formation and arced back
around, but they had no targets to shoot at. In that moment, Lillian rather
like being a gargoyle. There was something to be said about being on top of the
magical food chain.