Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) (5 page)

“Do you think you can impersonate one of the humans
and switch the samples in time?”

Stress thickened Lillian’s voice. It was cute how she
still worried about him.

“Yes, but I’ll have Darkness shadow me in case I get
into trouble I can’t get out of.”

Lillian’s expression darkened. When he touched her
thoughts, he picked up that she worried two gargoyles could muck up far more
quickly than one alone.

He smiled.

She might be right.

He’d definitely bring the other gargoyle along.

Then he frowned, realizing something else. “You’ll
have to come, too. The collars won’t allow us to be apart.”

Lillian’s eyes widened. “You’re right. Unfortunately,
I don’t know how to take on another human appearance.”

“You won’t need to. You’ll merely be maintaining your
gargoyle form and shadow magic.”

“Never was very good at that, in case you didn’t
notice.”

“I’ll help. Besides, you’ll find it easier now with
the abundance of magic in this Realm.”

“Yeah, about that.” Lillian fingered her own tattoo.
“After that last big healing spell you did, I couldn’t stay gargoyle and
shifted back to dryad me. How do we know I’ll fare any better this time?”

“We don’t.” He shrugged. “But we’ll consider this the
first test.”

“That’s so not reassuring.”

Gregory huffed with humor and then allowed Gran to
hustle him from the room.

She continued to direct them outside and into a
waiting vehicle.

Lillian gave him a little shove when he balked at
getting in. He’d never been in one of the little boxy things.

Lillian strapped him in and then hopped in the back
unable to contain her laughter. His human face was probably more expressive
than he’d intended, but he hadn’t realized he’d be using the human’s mode of
travel.

Gran grinned at him and then the vehicle bumped and
jolted into motion in such a way he was certain a few internal organs were
still trying to catch up.

To distract himself from the unpleasantness of his
present situation, he called to Darkness and River.

“We may have need of you both. Come to me
as swiftly as you can.”

“Yes, Lord Protector,”
Darkness answered with his respectful tones.
“We will come at once.”

Not that now was the time for idle chat, but he would
have appreciated it if the other gargoyle could have been a longer distraction.

Gran took another corner at high speed, and he found
himself gripping the part of the vehicle Lillian’s memories had labeled ‘the
dash’.

As if the thought of her was enough to catch her
attention, she tapped him on the shoulder and then gave him a look of sympathy.
“Hey, Gran. We need to be alive to switch the samples. If we’re all killed in an
accident, it’s not going to help the other Clan or Coven members.”

“Oh, please.” Gran huffed loud enough to make any
gargoyle proud. “I’m barely speeding. Besides, we need to get you to the
rendezvous point with all haste.”

Gregory dug the fingers of one hand into the dashboard
and braced his other against the roof of the vehicle as the car jerked forward
with greater speed.

He dared to send a glower in Gran’s direction but held
his silence.

Gran took another hard turn. The vehicle shuddered as
one wheel caught the gravel at the side of the road.

Vivian didn’t even flinch. Gregory couldn’t say the
same thing about his stomach. He locked his jaws and sent a silent prayer to
the Father with the hope he’d live to see the Magic Realm again. Preferably,
before the Mortal Realm and its citizens killed him.

Gregory survived the trip though he did wonder if a
few of his organs were still somewhere back at the crossroads where Gran had
taken a hard left without slowing. She’d eventually stomped on the brakes and
pulled over. From there, they’d continued on foot, much to his immense
pleasure. If they’d remained in the car much longer, Gregory might have thrown
up all over the dash like his stomach had been urging. Riding in a truck’s bed
was much preferable. Inside a car? Never again.

Movement flashed between the trees ahead, but Gregory
wasn’t worried, he’d sensed the messenger spell’s approach long before it came
close. The tiny hummingbird spell zipped over and landed in Gran’s outstretched
hand. It glowed brightly for a few seconds and then the spell dissolved into
mist.

“Greenborrow and Russet report they found a dying tree
willing to sacrifice itself for our needs,” Gran said. “They say it landed
nicely across the road. Major Resnick’s group has discovered the problem and
are on their radios calling for equipment to remove the tree.”

Lillian cleared her throat. “Resnick and company won’t
stay and watch the tree being cleared. They’ll likely commandeer the newcomers’
vehicles.”

“Exactly,” Gran said with an accompanying nod. “And
you and Gregory need to insert yourselves with them before that. Now would be a
good time to do a little physical remodeling.”

After a quick search through Lillian’s memories for
the meaning, Gregory grinned belatedly. Yes, that was a good description for
what he was about to do.

He reached for his magic instinctively, only to have
it remain dormant. He touched his throat. How had he forgotten the damn tattoo?

“Oh.” Lillian’s eyes widened. “Sorry. Gregory, you
have my permission to shapeshift.”

When he called his magic a second time, it answered,
flooding him with its abundance. As the frosty chill spread through him, he
focused on the mental image and essence of the human who had drawn his blood.
His magic spiked, a wave raced over his body and sank its chill bone-deep. His
body accepted the new form between one heartbeat and the next.

Lillian blinked at him. “Damn, that’s fast. When will
I be able to manage that kind of speed?”

Gregory laughed, the tone different than usual due to
the changes in his body. “A few millenniums worth of practice helps.”

“I suppose it would.” Lillian glanced down at her
body. “So you think I should be in gargoyle form? You’re certain?”

Certain? No. Yet he didn’t want her playing a female
soldier. If she was found out, she’d be an easy target. He didn’t like the idea
of her ghosting him in gargoyle form much better, but at least this way she
could remain invisible and run or fight much more efficiently. He would have
left her behind, guarded by the other Fae if it wasn’t for the cursed brand
around his throat.

“I’m certain. Gargoyle form is your best defense.”

“Yeah, knew you were going to say that.” Lillian
didn’t waste time, though. She stripped off her outer clothing down to her
loincloth and crisscrossing breast band, both of which he’d spelled so they
would shapeshift with her.

Gran stepped back and turned her attention out into
the forest as if to watch for danger. Gregory didn’t bother with the same ruse,
more concerned about how her tattoo might react to her shapeshifting.

Lillian dropped to her knees and bowed her head. After
three slow even breaths, magic flowed along her skin and black wings with a
hint of crimson at the edges sprang out of her back. She made a small hissing
growl as her body continued its change.

When it was over, Lillian looked up at him, her wings
drooping along her sides. Then with a full body shake, she folded them tight to
her back and stepped up to him. After a quick glance down at her limbs and
tail, where she was clearly counting body parts, she looked back at him.

“Well, I’m all here. Guess that went well.” She
stepped closer and then her expression morphed into a toothy grin. “I’m taller
than you. How’s that for novelty?”

She came to stand nearly toe to toe with him and proceeded
to sniff at his hair, leaving his face until last. He stood stoic, waiting for
what was coming next.

Lillian didn’t disappoint. Her rumbling laugh filled
his senses a moment before her warm, wet tongue licked him from chin to
hairline.

He refused to rise to her baiting or wipe a forearm
across his face. When she didn’t get a reaction, she huffed and dropped to all
fours. “You’re no fun.”

“I try not to be,” he answered with half his attention
focused on the forest track. They would need to move quickly if he was to
infiltrate the human ranks. He set a brisk pace and Lillian trotted at his
side, quickly outpacing him.

She rolled an eye and then an ear at him. Changing
directions, she galloped back to his side.

She was having far too much fun at his expense,
Gregory decided.

“You’re too slow. We’ll never make it in time.” She
dipped her one wing as she sidled up next to him. “Get on. It’ll be faster.”

Gregory frowned. He was supposed to carry her—that was
the natural order of things. He grunted unhappily. Nothing about this life was
normal. Why should this be any different? Besides, she was right. They were
running out of time.

With an annoyed huff, he swung a leg over her back and
mounted. He’d barely settled in place before she set off down a game trail
which led in the general direction they needed.

Every time she leaped over a fallen tree or swerved
around a broad trunk in their path, he thought his human-formed body would fail
him and he’d find himself sprawled on the ground in an ungraceful heap.

*****

Ahead, flashes of light glimmered through the trees,
marking the road and the site where the tree had come down to block it.

Even with his dulled senses, he could see and hear the
humans as they organized themselves. Some were examining the tree—yes, that was
Major Resnick studying its base. His suspicious little heart wouldn’t find
anything more than a rot-hollowed trunk. The dryad and leshii required nothing
as mundane as an axe to fell a tree.

Lillian rolled an eye at him. “I hear the other vehicles
approaching from the east. They will be here within minutes.”

“We have time enough. Besides, I think the leshii
already has the humans in hand.”

Lillian slowed and then came to a stop ten feet from
the road’s edge, where the shadows were still deep enough to hide them even
without the use of magic.

Gregory reached for her thoughts, merging with a
little affectionate caress of his mind against hers.
“Call your concealment
spell and then follow my lead. You’ll have to run alongside the road and shadow
the vehicles the whole way. You can’t allow more than twenty feet between us
during the journey or the collars will activate.”

“I’ll stay close, I promise.”
She
sounded equal parts determined and worried.

“Your gargoyle body can reach speeds
greater than even I can run, but I don’t think you’ll have to test your limits
today.”
He jerked his chin to the left where the leshii was making his way to their
location.
“I have a feeling Greenborrow might have a number of surprises for
the humans if his grin is anything to go by.”

Lillian flicked an ear in the leshii’s direction.
“He
knows we’re not here to hurt the humans, right?”

Gregory started to nod and then changed his mind.

“Greenborrow,”
he warned.
“The
humans are not game for you to hunt.”

The leshii snorted.
“My dear boy, the humans are
always game, but don’t worry. You can tell your lovely lady her humans are safe
from harm. I only plan to have a little fun at their expense.”

“Do nothing to expose us and endanger
Lillian.”

“Never, you two are far more fun than the
humans.”

Gregory huffed.
“How reassuring. So what other
plans do you have to distract the humans?”

“A few, but unfortunately nothing that
will occupy them long enough to allow you time to sort the samples here.”
The
leshii shrugged.
“You’ll have to do the switching once you’re deep in their
lair.”

“I’ll manage.”

“If you’re caught trying to switch out the
Coven’s samples, it will be an admission of guilt as surely as if you signed a
written confession.”

Gregory nodded in agreement. Really, how hard could it
be to switch a few small samples of blood?

Lillian had merely bobbed her head and agreed to their
plans.

Which was how she found herself hunched down behind
the substantial body of the last military vehicle in line. The leshii was some
distance ahead, herding a mother bear and her cub closer to the line of
vehicles. As far as distractions went, it was creative. She just didn’t know if
it would be effective or bloodless. She didn’t like the idea of some poor bear
accidentally getting shot.

Gregory waited in the shadows to the left of her
position. With her shoulder pressed against the armored vehicle’s back end, the
vials in question only mere feet from her, she was sorely tempted to snatch the
vials and run if it would save Gregory from having to brave the dragon’s den.

Unfortunately, her concealment spell couldn’t hide the
vehicle without causing a stir, so she couldn’t switch the samples even if she
had the substitutes in her hand.

Still, it was tempting.

Lillian buried the impulse and waited, looking instead
at the spell Greenborrow had given her. It glowed softly between the fingers of
her right hand. The leshii had instructed her not to touch herself with it and
to make sure when she captured her target she got good skin contact. The leshii
promised the human would be asleep before he hit the ground. Simple.

Lillian studied the four inch span of glowing magic
suspended a above the tips of her talons. The spell resembled a spider’s web,
but the filaments shifted and swirled to her sight in a way no spider could
manage.

A sudden snapping of twigs and the shaking of
underbrush near at hand had her switching her attention back to the forest just
as a waist-high ball of fur burst onto the road.

Several flashlights tracked the noise and honed in on
the bear cub within seconds. The half-grown cub squalled in alarm at the bright
light and then bolted for the second vehicle in line, where its back passenger
door was still hanging open. The cub made for what it likely mistook as a dark
cave-like interior and vanished within.

A holler came from inside the vehicle, followed by an
‘oh shit’ and both front doors burst open. The soldiers inside jumped out,
their guns already trained on the armored vehicle’s dark interior as they
slowly backed away.

Major Resnick’s familiar voice rose over the other
surprised exclamations. “Turner. Winslow. Grab the tranquilizers.”

Lillian divided her attention between the two soldiers
making their way toward the back of the first armored vehicle, and Resnick,
where he stood facing the patch of forest which had first spat out the cub.

He held his big-ass gun at the ready, Lillian noted.

From the darkness about thirty feet to the left of the
road, she heard the mother bear’s approach. The bear let out a huffing growl,
which the cub answered with a loud distress call. At the sound, the mother’s
lumbering walk changed into a rolling, powerful run.

“And here comes momma.” Resnick’s voice held a hint of
‘you’ve got to be kidding me,’ but he was otherwise nonchalant about the charging,
angry mother bear. He calmly gestured everyone to move behind the vehicles.
“Turner. Winslow,” he added without taking his eyes off the forest.

“Ready, sir.”

“As soon as you see the first hint of her black hide.”

Lillian’s attention swung back to her own target only
to find he’d moved. Now he was flanked by two other soldiers, his gun trained
on the forest.

Gregory wasn’t going to be happy, but they didn’t have
time for a new plan. With luck, she could snatch the human and vanish before
the other two soldiers noticed.

With her concealment spell firmly around her body, she
stalked her target and was in position at the exact moment the bear ran onto
the road. It was a smallish black bear, Lillian noticed as she slapped one hand
over the human’s mouth and wrapped the other around his wrist. The soldier went
limp in her arms, and miracle of miracles, his badass gun didn’t go off.

She dragged him a short distance from the road and
realized the dryad, Russet, had joined her. Together, they began stripping the
soldier.

Gregory joined them a moment later and motioned them
off. “Order me to use my magic,” he whispered in her ear. “It will be faster.”

Lillian’s tail flicked in mild agitation. Now that was
an ambiguous command, but she was in a potentially dangerous situation which
might give Gregory more freedom over his magic.

After uttering the command softly, she sat back on her
haunches.

There wasn’t much to see, actually. A flickering of
the shadows and then Gregory was wearing the soldier’s uniform.

He made a sour face and then tugged and pulled at the
clothing for a moment before reaching down for the gun. He swung the strap over
his shoulder and adjusted it like he knew what he was doing.

She wondered if he did. When he’d scanned the soldier
earlier, he might have gained more than just his likeness.

Lillian frowned at that depth of violation. Identity
theft was one thing, but this poor man’s privacy had been violated on a
fundamental level.

But lives were on the line.

She’d worry about moral codes later.

Gregory took up position like the soldier had held
earlier. None of the other humans were aware of the switch.

Lillian sought out what had transpired of the leshii’s
little bear drama. The bear in question was lumbering around still, but
completely unfocused and lacking coordination. After a quick scan, she spotted
the tranquilizer dart embedded in the bear’s shoulder. The cub had rejoined its
mother. Neither man nor beast looked harmed.

Mission accomplished.

Lillian eased back into deeper shadows as the mother
bear and cub lumbered into the forest to sleep off the drugs.

By the look of things, the bears wouldn’t make it far,
but Lillian knew the leshii would watch over them and see to their safety.

The growing rumble of approaching vehicles announced
the next part of the plan was about to commence, and this one would be far more
dangerous.

The new vehicles and their tree-removal detail
arrived. Lillian watched with misgivings as Gregory took his place inside one
of the vehicles. When the first vehicle pulled away, Lillian ghosted behind.

She was only able to keep up with the convoy because
of a few of the leshii’s other well placed distractions, such as a herd of deer
that ran up the road ahead of the vehicles for a short time, and later, a
belligerent-looking moose no one was stupid enough to antagonize.

Resnick didn’t strike her as a suspicious man, but his
bullshit meter had to be going off by now.

No matter how hard he looked, there would be nothing
concrete he could point out to his superiors.

*****

Shadowlight stood over the unconscious Medical
Technician hoping the male would wake up.

Surely one that was awake would prove much more
interesting. He gave the human a nudge with his muzzle.

Nothing.

Greenborrow had ordered him to stay and watch the
human so the leshii, Darkness, and River could track Major Resnick’s convoy,
and provide distractions to slow it so Lillian could keep pace.

Shadowlight would have loved to have taken part, but
he was also pleased the leshii trusted him enough to have him watch this
unconscious human.

The duty was one he’d gladly fulfill any other day.
Unfortunately, it was keeping him from other duties today.

It had been a number of hours since he’d given his
blood to the female warrior he’d found in the forest. By now, his gargoyle
blood would have finished ridding her of the Riven taint, or it would have
killed her. She was a fighter. He thought she’d survive his blood, but in her
present weakened condition, the elements might be enough to kill her.

Worry gnawed at his belly. He glanced down at the
unconscious male at his feet.

By the look of it, this human would sleep for some
hours yet. Shadowlight knew he was not overly far from where he’d stashed his
rescued human. If he ran quickly, he could be there and back in a relatively short
time. The male human at his feet would be safe enough for now. He scented no
predator nearby. All the activity on the road had driven everything else off
long since.

Yes, he was certain it was for the best to check on
his pet human. The one at his feet didn’t need him.