Claimed By Shadow

Page 12

"We have worse problems.”
I jerked Enyo away from the smallest gargoyle, which she'd been poking at with a stick. The cowering, birdlike creature and his companion went running inside, squawking loudly. "And where were you?" I demanded, too angry to care that annoying an ancient goddess wasn't smart. "You three are always spoiling for a fight, but the first time I need help, you're off getting a manicure!”
It was true—Deino was sporting a new set of bright red nails—but less than fair, considering that they'd helped out in the bar. But I was in no mood to care. The Circle blocking my ward had me seriously rattled, now that I had time to think about it. It was the only defensive weapon I had, and being without it made me feel extremely vulnerable.
Enyo looked offended but let me keep the stick. Pemphredo and Deino crowded around while I resumed my rant at Casanova. "Now Pritkin's half dead," I informed him, "and the mages are sure to be—”
He gripped my arm so tightly that I yelped. "Where is he?" He began fumbling in his coat frantically. "Why can I never find my damn cell phone when I need it? We have to get him medical help, quickly!" For a minute I thought he was being sarcastic, but one look at his face told me otherwise. The guy looked absolutely terrified.
"What is wrong with you? Since when do you care if—”
Casanova left me standing there talking to myself, while he ran indoors. I followed, the Graeae trailing after me. Enyo picked up a broom on the way in and formed it into a weapon by snapping off the head to leave a jagged point. I didn't try to wrestle her for it. She was back to old-lady mode, but she'd probably win anyway.
I reentered the kitchen to find a livid Pritkin being pawed at by a frantic Casanova. The mage knocked the vampire aside hard enough to send him sprawling and glared at the gargoyle who'd helped him. Since he was back on his feet, I had to assume that her remedy, whatever it was, had worked.
"Take it off me," he barked. "Now!”
Casanova picked himself up off the floor. Not only did he not respond in kind, he actually seemed to cower slightly. "I can have a healer here in five minutes!”
I stared at the vamp as if he'd lost his mind, which maybe he had. Vamps and mages have an adversarial relationship, born out of the fact that they both claim to be the leading force in the supernatural world. The sight of a vamp as old as Casanova fawning over the war mage who'd just belted him was surreal.
"I don't need a healer. I need the damn geis removed," Pritkin said furiously.
That got my attention. "She can remove it?" I ran forward, hardly daring to believe it could be that simple, and the Graeae moved with me. I didn't get an answer because the gargoyles suddenly started to shriek like Armageddon had arrived, their combined voices loud enough to shatter several nearby glasses.
I covered my ears and dropped to my knees in shock, only to have Deino fall on top of me. I'm not sure whether she tripped, or whether she was trying to shield me from the hail of food—rolls, pastries and assorted molded-pâté body parts—being thrown at us from all sides. Either way, the landing jarred the eye loose from her face and sent it skittering across the floor. She screeched and scrambled after it, knocking gargoyles out of the way left and right. Her sisters waded into the fray as backup and I took refuge under the main prep table, where I found Casanova and Pritkin.
"You could get hurt! I can't allow you to go out there!" Casanova was practically screaming in order to be heard, and he had a two-handed grip on Pritkin's right arm. "The gargoyles view the kitchens as a sacred trust, as they once did the temples that fed them. They see the Graeae as a threat, but I'll explain—”
"I don't give a damn about your personnel problems," Pritkin snarled, grabbing the vamp by the front of his designer shirt. "Get her to remove my geis, or you will have more trouble than you've ever dreamed.”
"Hey, I'm the one with the geis here," I interrupted. "Remember? If anyone is getting anything removed, it's me.”
"This isn't about you!" Pritkin said as something heavy hit the tabletop and rolled off onto the floor. It was the little gargoyle with the hairnet and the donkey ears, and he wasn't moving.
I dragged him under the table with us but wasn't sure how to check for a pulse, or even if he was supposed to have one. What I was sure about was that the greenish colored blood he was leaking onto the tile wasn't good. "Okay, that's it.”
I crawled out from under the table and stood up. The noise level was unbelievable and, in the few seconds I'd been preoccupied, the kitchen had been completely trashed. Deino had retrieved the eye but was staggering about on the far side of the room, four gargoyles hanging off each arm while another perched on her back, hitting her over the head repeatedly with a rolling pin. Enyo, in all her blood-soaked glory, had the gargoyle with the earrings raised over her head and was about to throw her across the room. The throw alone might kill her, but if not, landing on the knives a grinning Pemphredo was holding out certainly would.
I took a deep breath and screamed, louder than I'd believed possible. The gargoyles ignored me, but the three Graeae stopped and looked at me inquiringly. None of them appeared overly upset. The only expression anyone wore was a lopsided grin on Pemphredo's face. "Stop it," I told them in a slightly more normal tone. "When I said I needed you to fight, I didn't mean them.”
Pemphredo cackled and pumped her fist in the air. Enyo looked at me sourly but sat the gargoyle down anyway, who hissed at her and staggered off, looking dizzy. Deino managed to lurch over to Enyo to hand her the eye, but her sister waved her off less than graciously. Pemphredo came skipping over and plucked it out of Deino's hands, looking triumphant. I suddenly got it. "You were betting on me?”
Enyo slumped onto the prep table, knocking some radish eyeballs out of the way and looking dejected. I wasn't sure why—obviously she could see without the eye, or come to some approximation of it—but she seemed very depressed about missing her turn.
The gargoyles had stopped the attack once their leader was safe, but were eyeing the Graeae with understandable concern. Several of those nearby were starting to check on their fallen comrades, with one pulling Donkey Ears away. His hairnet had come loose, but at least he was starting to come around. I hoped he'd recover, but the only thing I could do for him was to be sure we didn't cause any more harm. I reached under the table and pulled Casanova out by his fancy tie. "Explain to them that we'll be leaving now.”
"We bloody well won't!" Pritkin crawled out, looking like a madman with his bloodstained clothes and matted hair. He scowled about until he located the female gargoyle Enyo had released. "We aren't going anywhere until she removes the geis!”
"Miranda!" Casanova called in a strangled voice, and I realized I might be holding the tie a bit too tight.
The gargoyle came over, but although it was hard to read her fur-covered face, her body language didn't look cooperative. If someone can walk sullenly, she managed it. She poked Pritkin in the stomach, maybe because she couldn't reach his chest. "You well. We sssafe. Good trade." He tried to grab her but she dodged his hands with a fluid movement that seemed impossible unless she'd dislocated something.
Maybe she had, because her ears went back and she hissed at him, showing off a very nonfeline forked tongue. She crossed her arms and took a wide-legged stance behind Casanova, her long tail whipping about behind her.
"I do not deal with Fey affairs," Pritkin said haughtily, as if such a thing was beneath him. "It is of no concern to me whether you are here legally or not. You have nothing to fear. Now, take it off!”
"What's going on?" I asked Casanova, who was straightening his tie. He gave me a less-than-friendly look, which I guess was fair under the circumstances.
"In exchange for healing him, Miranda put a geis on him not to reveal their existence to anyone. If the Circle finds out they're here, they'll be deported.”
"Is that all?" I turned narrowed eyes on Pritkin, who didn't notice because all his attention was on Miranda. Considering the whopping geis I was carrying, I didn't have a lot of sympathy for his tiny one. "If you're not planning to tell on them anyway, what difference does it make? Let's go. Those mages could be back any minute.”
"I'm not going anywhere until she removes it," he repeated stubbornly. The tone made me want to kick him. Instead, I prodded Casanova, who rolled his eyes.
"Miranda—" he began in a long-suffering voice, but she set her jaw. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to.
"Damn it, Pritkin!" I said angrily. "I'm not standing here until the Circle sends someone else after us. You want to talk, fine. Let's go talk. Otherwise, I'm out of here.”
"There's an idea," Casanova said brightly. "I'll call you a car.”
Billy Joe came streaming through the door and got swatted at by half a dozen gargoyles on his way over. Normally, I'd have been surprised that they could see him, but after the day I'd had I didn't even blink. "He's with me," I told Miranda, who nonetheless began hissing at Casanova in the strange language the gargoyles used. She had obviously had enough unwanted visitors for one day.
"Ixnay on the car," Billy said, looking worried. "Is there an exit that bypasses the front, back and side doors? 'Cause they're all being watched.”
"By who?" Now what was wrong?
"Oh, I don't know," Billy replied sarcastically. "Whose mages did you just beat the crap out of? The Circle knows you're here, and they're out there in force. There's gotta be two, three dozen—I stopped counting. The trio we met in the bar was their advance crew, their way of asking you to come along nicely. But considering the way you returned 'em, I don't think they're interested in negotiating anymore.”