Chapter 6 – Celaeno
CELAENO
Celaeno
I wait and wait for my death, but nothing happens.
One of them sighs roughly. “What are you doing?”
Is this a trick? I squeeze my eyes closed even tighter. “I’m waiting for you to kill me.”
There’s another sigh, one that sounds strangely annoyed. “Open your eyes. We’re not going to kill you.”
I shake my head. “Please. Don't drag it out. Just do it.”
A second later, something hits the ground beside me.
Heart in my throat, my eyes snap open. The man with shaggy brown hair is kneeling in front of me in his human form. His green eyes are strangely amused as he gazes upon me.
“I said, we’re not going to kill you. At least not right now.”
My mouth curls, and I snap. “Then, what’s this about? You're just kidnapping women for fun?”
He raises a brow. “You did attack a group of humans.”
“Not on purpose!” I protest.
“I’m sure the harpy did it by mistake!” The man standing, arms crossed in front of us, is glaring as if he can make my head pop off just with his angry gaze.
I glare right back at him. “Harpy is an offensive term, I’ll have you know, made up by a man who couldn’t handle me dumping him and decided to paint a very different picture of who I am.”
His mouth turns into a thin line. “You mean, you don’t use birds to hurt people?”
He’s got me there, but I’m not going to admit it. I’ve had a long-ass day, and I’m just too tired to deal with one more asshole. Being nice got me nowhere. Maybe I’m sick of being nice. I’m sick of being a doormat. And lucky for me, this temperamental gargoyle is the perfect target for my bad mood.
“Gargoyles aren’t exactly known for their patience and diplomacy either. Aren’t you guys ugly statues that attack anyone who crosses your master’s land?”
I swear, his eyes widen and fire blazes in his pupils. “We don’t have masters. We—“
“Oh, did I strike a nerve? Sucks when people just assume the rumors about you are true, right?”
His mouth closes, and he’s back to glaring.
The guy in front of me watches us like it’s his favorite new show. The only thing missing is popcorn.
When he realizes we’re done, he pouts for a second in a way I refuse to find cute. “Well, Grey, looks like she won that one. One point for the harp—“ he catches my thunderous expression and trails off.
And then, something occurs to me. “You’re a gargoyle named Grey? What, did your parents hate you or something?”
The guy in front of me starts to laugh. And it isn’t a little chuckle either. He’s laughing like I just said the funniest thing in the world.
I try to hold onto my anger. I try to remember these guys are shitty gargoyles who abducted me on the worst day of my life, but his laugh is infectious. My lip quivers as I fight my need to join him.
He’s grabbing his stomach now, and tears roll down his face.
Grey starts to stalk towards him.
The third gargoyle jumps into the middle of them. “Whoa, whoa, let’s just stay calm,” he says.
“Get out of my way, Journey,” he orders through gritted teeth.
I turn and look at the blond, my gaze traveling up the tattoos on his very yummy arm. “Journey? Oh geez, don’t any of you have normal names?”
He looks back at me, raising a brow. “Says the girl named Celaeno.”
“Touché,” I admit begrudgingly. “But it’s classic.”
Blond guy—Journey—smirks and says nothing more, but the fight has left his big, angry friend.
The guy in front of me finally stops laughing, wiping the last of the tears off his face. “I can’t remember the last time someone challenged the big guy.”
I look at… freaking Grey. Yeah, I have to imagine not many people want to get on his bad side. “What? Is everyone scared of his stink-eye, because guess what Grey, I’m not.”
His gaze narrows, and his arms cross in front of his big chest.
“That might work on your sidekicks here, but I’m afraid you’ll have to think of something better with me.” As if in answer, my face starts to sting. Frowning, I reach up and touch my eye, wincing. “Oh, right, you’re the asshole who hit me, a woman, crying on the ground. Big man, aren’t yah?”
The guy in front of me rubs at his face and looks to the heavens, as if they might have the answer to all of this.
Journey glances at the guy in front of me. “Ender, will you just explain the situation to her?”
Ender? Geez. Who named these guys?
“Yeah, Ender, why don’t you explain why you and your friends kidnapped me? I mean, do you guys usually attack women you find crying? Or was this something special?”
He looks at me like he can’t decide what the hell I am, and I don’t blame him.
I’m a mess. One minute I was ready for death, and now I'm fired up like a demon. I’m just so tired of everything.
Was it too much to ask for that I had a friend, a job, and a life?
I mean, was I asking for the fucking moon?
“Okay, where to start?” Ender begins, running a hand through that shaggy hair of his.
His hair looks soft. My fingers itch to touch it. Maybe before I escape these clowns I’ll have to ask what conditioner he uses, because my dull, brown hair looks nothing like his flowing locks. Freaking jackass. And, of course, he has long eyelashes too, ones that should be on some gorgeous woman.
Ones I wish I had.
“So,” he starts, “we need your help with a problem.”
“My help?” I repeat, staring at him as if he’s grown an extra head. “You guys hit me, put a collar on me like some kind of animal, and kidnapped me, all because you needed my help? I mean, why not just kick me in the stomach and ask for directions, while you’re at it?”
He smiles, and when he does, his whole face changes. “You have got to be the strangest woman I’ve ever met.”
“She’s a monster, not a woman,” Grey growls behind me.
“And since you’re carved from stone, and probably weren’t given dicks, am I even allowed to call you men? Or should I just refer to you as the no-dicks?” I ask, trying to look sincere.
Grey launches himself at me and Journey has to hold him back.
“I’ve got a dick for you!” he shouts. “Want to see it?”
“Sure!” I challenge his bluff. “But don’t be disappointed when I’m not impressed with the sad little hotdog you’re hiding.”
“Fuck!” Ender shouts in front of me, grabbing my shoulders. “Shut up, you hilarious idiot! He’s going to kill you!”
At that moment, I do the most immature thing imaginable— I stick my tongue out at Grey.
He freezes. “We should’ve cut her head off when we had the chance.”
“Too late now.” The minute I say the words, I realize that the time for wishing for death is over. I didn’t really want to die. I was just feeling hopeless. And now, for some reason, I’m feeling different. Like I’m ready to take on the world again. Starting with these three.
“It’s never too late,” Grey says, quietly, with a darkness that gives me goose bumps.
Ender releases my shoulders. “Okay, well, like I said, we came here to ask for your help.”
I raise a brow. “Sure, since you all have been so charming and sweet.”
He shakes his head again, as if he can’t believe the things coming out of my mouth.
Frankly, neither can I. Maybe I had a little fire in my belly in my younger days, before my ex ruined my reputation and turned me into some kind of monster.
My confidence has gone to shit since then.
So, the woman who’s all fired up right now?
She’s like an outfit from my past that I haven’t been able to fit into for years, except right now, it’s fitting like a glove.
“Have you ever heard of the town of Cherish?” Ender asks me, trying to sound as if everything’s normal.
I shake my head. “No. Why? Should I have?”
He glances behind him, and he and the others exchange a look I can’t quite process.
“How do your powers work exactly?” he asks.
I shift, moving so that my legs are crossed in front of me. “You first.”
Ender stares and stares. “This isn’t a game. We need to know about your powers. How close do you have to be to control birds, and how do you give them orders?”
“You’re kidding right?”
Silence descends between us.
“Celaeno…”
“What?” I challenge him. “You think I’m going to fork over my secrets to three assholes who kill my kind and who, so far, have been nothing but unpleasant to me?”
He rubs his forehead.
Journey clears his throat and moves away from Grey. He sits down beside his friend, just a couple of feet in front of me. I ignore the way the sunlight clings to his blond hair, and how the dark strands weave with the blond to create a strangely beautiful head of hair for a man.
How do they do that? Is it their conditioner? I mean, geez, men aren’t supposed have freakishly beautiful hair.
“So…” Journey begins, trailing off.
I lower my eyes to meet his and stare into those deep blue eyes, so damn beautiful that for a moment I can’t breathe.
I tear my gaze away, and my glance hits his massive shoulders.
The dark blue sweater strains across his chest and arms, and his bigger-than-my-head arms, covered in sexy-ass tattoos, are exposed by the sleeves he’s pushed up.
Damn it. What does it say about me that these three guys are the most appealing men I’ve met in years, maybe even my whole life, and they’ve literally beat me up and taken me captive? For what, I still don't know. I need counseling… some kind of counseling for screwed up immortals.
“There’s a town called Cherish that’s having a bird problem.”
I immediately perk up. “What do you mean?”
There isn’t much I care about in life, but I do love birds. They’re sweet, gentle souls who aren’t given the credit they deserve.
“They… aren’t acting right.”
I frown. “What does that mean? Are they hurt or suffering?”
Journey stares at me for a long time, as if evaluating me. “No, they’re attacking people. Much like your birds attacked those humans on the street.”
My stomach twists. “Birds don’t just attack people. They hunt to survive, but they’re really just gentle souls.”
Grey snorts. “Yeah, they looked really gentle earlier.”
I leapt to my feet. “Shut your damn mouth! That wasn’t their fault! It was mine! I couldn’t control my emotions. I was too caught up in…,” I trail off, feeling my eyes sting. “I was hurting and let my emotions take over. It’s not their fault I was having a bad day.”
My eyes lower to the ground and some of the fight goes out of me. I remember the way I felt, and I'm ashamed. It was like I was trapped in an abyss of my own suffering. I’m too old to be forgetting that I can’t let myself feel too much.
Suddenly, a robin lands lightly on my shoulder. It’s a beautiful, graceful bird who looks at me with sad eyes.
I smile and stroke the top of his head. “It’s okay. I’m all right.”
The bird rubs against my finger, as if his touch can take away the sting of heartache that still lingers.
“Admit it. You’re commanding the birds to attack in Cherish.”
I stiffen and look down at Ender in disbelief. The robin on my shoulder takes flight. “First of all, I can’t command birds that far away. And second of all, I wouldn’t do that. I don’t just attack humans for no reason, nor would I put my birds at risk like that.”
“Excuse us if we find that hard to believe,” Grey says, his words cutting.
I want to tear chunks of hair out of his beard and see if he has a weak chin under all that hair. Just the thought makes me calm a little, and I realize my fists are clenched.
Slowly loosening them, I try to keep my voice level. “So, what do you want from me?”
“Can you stop them?” Journey asks.
If I tell them no, will they just kill me?
Is that the only reason they’re keeping me alive?
My mind moves a thousand miles a minute.
I’ll help those birds no matter what, because something is happening in that town.
Something that’s upsetting the birds. Besides, I have a strong feeling that if I tell these gargoyles no right now, I’ll end up dead.
Helping the birds is sort of a win-win.
But the gargoyles don’t need to know that.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to go there and see them to find out what’s wrong.”
Journey looks relieved. “We can do that.”
“But if I help you, I want your word as gargoyles that you will remove this collar and leave me alone afterwards.”
“Fuck that. Not happening,” Grey mutters.
I shrug. “Then no deal.”
He pulls his damned sword off his back. The metal scrapes as it pulls through the scabbard.
“Well, maybe we’ll just kill you now then.”
My heart races, but I don’t back down. “That won’t help you with your bird problem.”
He’s back to glaring.
“Her deal seems fair,” Journey hedges.
“But the Elites…” Ender doesn’t say more, but the effect of his words is instantaneous. Tension hangs so heavily between the three of them that I could reach out and touch it.
Ender rises. “We’ll give you a twenty-four hour head start.”
“Two weeks,” I negotiate.
“Two days.”
“A week,” I say, holding out my hand.
Everyone stares at me, and watches until Ender takes my hand. “Deal.”
The tension eases and Grey mutters something under his breath before re-sheathing his sword.
I lift my arms. “Who’s taking me?”
All the men exchange a wide-eyed look, and then Grey moves awkwardly forward, shifting before my eyes into a gargoyle once more.
“No talking,” he commands as he leans down, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
For a second our gazes meet, and the anger drains from his expression. Time stands still, and I forget to breathe. My stomach drops as we shoot into the air.
I scream and tighten my legs around his waist. He swears again, but I don’t care. Flying with a gargoyle is nothing like flying as a bird.
I can’t wait until this is over and I can shift once more.
If they hold up their end of our deal and I don’t end up dead.