Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
DUMONT
D on’t engage! I commanded Marc and Luc . I’m on the way.
It was true. He got her! That sonovabitch got her.
I pounded my wings with utmost speed across the city, like sprinting through the sky. They were all at the library. And Calix had just threatened to burn it all down—including Eloise .
Eloise …
I told the sentries not to intervene because I couldn’t risk anything happening to her. She was my mate, and now she was in the clutches of a power-hungry monster with formidable abilities. One move could trigger?—
No , I couldn’t think it. I couldn’t bear to envision anything bad happening to her. Her soft skin. So fragile and vulnerable. She didn’t have the same magical abilities that Adelaide had given my team to better protect her granddaughters. Magic that made us as fireproof as our stone.
Why the hell not? Couldn’t Adelaide have given her granddaughters that same magic—especially after they’d both barely survived a fire when they were young? Or was it impossible since they couldn’t shift to stone, which was impermeable to fire?
Questions battered my brain as I soared over, most swirling around a huge one—how could I save Eloise ?
That was what was most important. Since I’d met her, this had been a battle wrecking my brain. Duty . Loyalty . Responsibilities . Yes , those were all well and good, what I thought were the most important things in the world—but now…
The breeze rolled across my wings, slicing through the humidity on the otherwise sultry summer night. Once the tree-lined campus came into view below, I soared like hell across it. Although this was the fastest I’d ever flown, the duration seemed to stretch longer. The remote part of campus had fewer lights aside from those illuminating the library, shielding it from the shroud of darkness. That’s where I saw them.
Under the pale moonlight, I saw them on the grass before the library. Calix …and Eloise . She was fighting him, letting loose like a wild banshee.
“ I won’t help you. I’d die first.”
In the next blink, he shifted into a phoenix. He grasped her in his claws and flew upward. That unnatural vision shook me to my very soul. He’d stolen Eloise . My mate. Where was he taking her? Ice froze my blood, leaving me as petrified as stone.
I had to stop him and get her back. Free her from his despicable hold, but do so in a way that prevented her from getting hurt. More gargoyles were on the way. If we outnumbered him, we stood a better chance of defeating this monster. But first, I had to get Eloise away from Calix .
Soaring toward them, I shouted, “ Put her down!”
Calix turned his avian head toward me and let out a vicious squawk. Shadowy forms flew in from both sides of my peripheral vision, dark-feathered wings spreading wide. The stench wafting from them struck my nostrils. Demons .
Calix laughed a high-pitch, bloodcurdling sound. He opened his claws and dropped Eloise .
ELOISE
I screamed as I plunged through the sky, anticipating the inevitable crash.
Hands grabbed me, and I sucked in a breath. Once I regained my bearings, realizing I wasn’t about to die, I glanced over my shoulder. “ Dumont !”
He found me. He caught me!
“ I’ve got you.” He held me against his hard body as he flew us downward, his magnificent wings spread wide behind him. How different it was to be in his arms in flight—comforting rather than the unimaginable horror when Calix had tormented me in the air.
Dumont landed gracefully on the campus grass, but I stumbled to catch my footing.
“ Are you okay?” he asked with concern in his eyes as he steadied me.
“ I’m — I’m fine,” I stammered. Movement overhead caught my attention.
I glanced up. The nightmarish vision in the sky stole my breath. Black -winged beings who appeared otherwise human stormed in, clashing with the gargoyles who’d pulled away from the library. I counted six of them plus Calix , far outnumbering the three gargoyles.
Dumont shouted, “ Run !”
His command echoed in my ear. Yes , that’s exactly what I’d do.
I’d barely escaped death thanks to Calix . No way would I sit around and wait for him to nab me again. I ran like hell away from the library, my chest heaving with each quickened breath as my lungs ached. Shouts reverberated behind me as creatures clashed in the sky. I broke into a sprint as I traversed the tree-lined paths of the campus, stumbling over a fallen branch, but I had to keep going until I got away from those monsters.
More winged beings flew in toward the library, and I ducked beneath a tree for cover before I recognized they were gargoyles by their massive gray wingspan. The good guys. Shouts and blows sounded from behind me. My hand flew to my heaving chest as I feared for Dumont . Was he okay?
I slowed my pace as my concern shifted. I’d been so consumed by fear and getting away, running, the way I always did, that I didn’t stop to think. He’d been doing all he could do to protect me. And because I’d run from the Vault , I put him in danger. He came here for me and could be killed!
I stopped and turned around, then gaped. What I saw was unbelievable and barely visible in the darkness. Gray gargoyles battled what looked like winged shadows. Whatever the hell were they? Demons ?
And where was Dumont ? A streak of fire across the sky illuminated more of the scene. Oh no, it was going right for Dumont ! Damn Calix .
No , no, no. I’d lost so much due to fire. My entire family had been fractured by it. And now it was threatening the man—er, gargoyle— I loved.
When Dumont evaded the fiery mass, I sobbed with relief.
Loved ? What ?
Where did that come from? I couldn’t have fallen in love with Dumont , could I ? Fallen for a gargoyle?
As I questioned my reaction, staring up at the gray-winged being battling a phoenix, I knew with a certainty that it was true.
A flash of the nightmare I’d had in the Vault returned, when I’d been waiting for Dumont . The fiery battle in the sky was eerily similar.
Dumont flew beneath Calix and kicked him with so much force that he shot backward in the sky. When Calix recovered, he hurled another ball of fire at Dumont .
“ No !” I cried.
Dumont raised his wings to shield himself. The flames danced over his magnificent wings, and I stared in horror. But the flames vanished. Somehow , he’d managed not to burn. Oh my, he was incredible. And so freakin’ brave.
What could I do to help him?
I wrung my hands, searching, thinking. It was time for me to be courageous for once. Stop running and finally face my fears. To do whatever I could to help Dumont , rather than try to escape. In every fight-or-flight scenario in the past, I’d chosen flight, but not this time. I’d follow Dumont’s lead. He put others first and never backed away from doing what was difficult, even if it put him in immense danger, like now.
I had to do the same. But what could I do? I couldn’t fly, didn’t have his strength, and was so much weaker.
You know what to do, a woman’s voice said.
“ Grandmother ?” I whispered, turning around as if I’d see someone standing there. No one was there. And the voice had sounded in my head, not away from me.
It couldn’t be Adelaide , could it?
Anya had thought she heard our grandmother during the fight with Calix . I wasn’t sure I’d believed her, but now…could it be?
I paced on the campus, unsure what I could do.
Think … Think ! Anya had run into the library and had gotten the grimoire as well as Adelaide’s mirror. Perhaps I needed to do that.
I rushed back toward the library while the battle continued overhead. Sprinting to the front door, I prayed they’d be unlocked. When I reached it and pulled on the handle, my fear proved valid.
“ Damn !”
It was just as frustrating as when I’d been inside the library, desperately trying to hide the grimoire when Anya had found me.
“ Don’t even think it, Eloise ,” Calix seethed from overhead.
“ Stay away from her!” Dumont warned. The sound of more blows followed.
“ I know what you’re doing,” Calix said, his voice far too close now. “ I already faced your sister.” When I turned over my shoulder, he was only a dozen or so feet away, his phoenix face a clear mask of hatred. “ And I won’t let you do it.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“ I warned you and yet you try to betray me. Just like Victoria . For that, you will burn.” He raised a claw and hurled flames the size of a basketball at me. It appeared to come to me in slow motion, yet so fast that I wasn’t able to swerve out of its path.
Dumont slammed into Calix , but it was too late to stop the fiery mass. It slammed into my gut, and I shrieked.
The strangest thing happened. The scalding pain I expected didn’t come. Instead , the flames slid inside my skin, disappearing within my body. I gaped with disbelief. Then the heat seemed to crawl through me, surging in my veins like lava flowing from a volcano.
What the hell was going on?
Dumont flew down and attempted to beat the flames off me with his wings, but they’d all disappeared inside me.
“ Eloise !” he cried. “ What’s happening to you?”
Like I had a clue! The fiery heat cooled as a chilly, almost icy sensation flowed inside me.
“ I don’t know,” I admitted. Searching within, I grew more attuned to this presence—this energy.
Dumont stood with his back toward me, spreading his wings wide in a protective stance as he faced Calix . The phoenix glared with cold, beady eyes while the battle continued in the sky. He opened his mouth and unleashed another torrent of fire, not just headed for me, but across the library—as if holding true to his threat to burn it down.
“ No !” I stepped to the side around Dumont and instinctively threw both hands outward. My body arched and a radiant energy burst out of my chest. The air singed with electricity.
And then…water.
Streams of water flowed out from my hands. As it joined with that pulse of energy, the stream crackled with electricity. A tidal rush propelled forward with such power it knocked Calix backward. He tumbled to the ground, howling.
He threw another ball of fire toward me. I blocked it with the strange magical stream flowing from my right hand, and the flames were snuffed out.
“ Make it stop!” he wailed.
Hell no. He just tried to burn us and the library to the ground.
He writhed on the ground, twisting into the fetal position as shadows slithered out of him, rising with the fire. The shadows reshaped into skeletal faces and howled before they wafted higher in the sky and vanished. The wave of energy continued to flow toward the beings still in battle.
“ Get to the rooftop!” Dumont commanded.
Gargoyles broke away from the demons, flying to the library.
Whatever I’d unleashed from inside me rushed forward like a thunderous beast clearing the campus. But I didn’t fear it. I respected it. Somehow , I recognized it as magic—magic that had long existed through many generations of my family—which I’d only just begun to understand.
The powerful wave knocked out the demons, sending them hurling across the sky. One by one, they were carried outward with the force of this magic that rolled over like churning water, until they all disappeared in the darkness.
All fell silent aside from our heavy breaths.
Dumont turned to me, his gray eyes wide and unblinking. He raised a large hand. “ Eloise ?”
“ Yesss ?” I sobbed in a strangled voice.
“ You’re — okay?” He sounded bewildered as he scanned me from the head down.
I glanced down at myself. No burns from the fire. Unreal .
“ I think so.” Bringing my gaze back to him, I asked, “ And you?”
He blinked at me. “ How ?”
Perhaps he either didn’t hear or comprehend my question, yet he appeared to be all right, aside from the shock of what I’d just done. I couldn’t even begin to process what had happened, which was far beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
To lighten the gravity of the situation, I pointed to the library and gave a small smile.
“ Maybe the answers are in there.”
Dumont stared at me with an astonished expression, then turned around.
“ Where’s Calix ?”
Gone , a voice said. My grandmother.
I inhaled. “ He’s gone.” How I knew it for certain, I didn’t have a clue. “ He’s gone for good.”
I stumbled, unsteady on my feet. All that power surging through me took its toll, and exhaustion swept in. I couldn’t stand and my knees buckled.
“ Eloise !” Dumont rushed toward me, but all went dark.