Chapter 11 #2
“Oh, I dunno. I know my mom heard it, but the rest of my family’s records were destroyed with the manor house when I was a kid.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
Gideon templed his fingers. “Because it takes a great deal of time for a node to gather the required density of souls before it’s able to engage in the way I experienced when I crossed into your fair hamlet,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Impossible, really, considering there are still dormant nodes on the far continent several hundred years older than anything over here.”
“Well, Havers is a tourist town,” Jena snarked back. “Guess all those souls want to get in on the action, too. Now, you wanna tell me how the hell you know all that?”
Ophelia glanced up at Gideon. He sucked in his cheeks and pursed his lips, the two of them staring at each other.
The fact that he was a gargoyle wasn’t something he advertised.
They didn’t exactly have a stellar reputation.
People usually equated them to big, dumb constructs akin to golems, but with worse tempers and a propensity for violence when awoken.
Granted, the last part of that was spot on, but the first couldn’t be further from the truth. Gideon was brilliant, and Ophelia knew for a fact he wrestled with public perception.
“I’m a grotesque,” he finally admitted, shocking the shit out of Ophelia. “One of a handful created to protect the node at the center of the City of Light.”
“And if you tell anyone else, I will end you,” Ophelia snarled, putting a hand on Gideon’s knee. He covered it with his own, his expression reinforcing the threat.
“I—of course not.” Jena’s throat bobbed, protectively sliding her hands across her abdomen. She shook her head and blinked. “A grotesque, you mean l-like a gargoyle? Then what are you doing over here? Did something happen to your node?”
“No. Unfortunately for my kind, there’s less call for our service now than in the old days,” he said, uncharacteristically candid.
“Quite frankly, I was bored and received a dispensation to come to the new continent. However, given your node’s rather anticipatory welcome when I crossed into Havers and the fact that my intended has pledged her service to it, I can’t help but feel as if I’ve been played. ”
Ophelia’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”
“What I’m saying is, I’ll be damned if the blasted thing didn’t know I was coming. When we’re done here, we’re taking a room at the bed and breakfast Soku mentioned and finding a realtor, because in pledging your service to Havers’s node, it’s gained mine in tandem.”
Gideon stared into Ophelia’s wide eyes.
“Y-you’re staying?” she gasped, the repressed hope on her face filing his heart.
“I am.” He glanced up at Jena’s sharp intake of breath, her presence ruining the moment.
The witch put a hand to her head. Little wonder, the way the node’s power was currently thrumming through the room and plucking at them both. It reminded him of a willful child, and given its age, the metaphor was probably more accurate than he’d like.
“Um. Okay. Wow.” Jena blew out a slow breath. “No. This is actually good—really good—because I have no idea what I’m doing, and I know the node’s only telling me what it wants me to know.” She reached for her phone, then dropped it like she’d been burned. “Damn it. I seriously can’t tell anyone?”
“I would advise against it until things with the Vampire Court are resolved,” Gideon chided. “Their resources are vast.”
“Oh, right, yeah. Good thinking.” She drummed her fingers against her abdomen, her eyes still on her phone. “And when do you think that’ll be?”
Apparently, the node wasn’t the only willful child in the room. Gideon ran a palm over his face. Gods, what the hell was he committing himself to?
Ophelia rolled her eyes. “You’re like an addict.”
“I’m not good with keeping secrets from Chase and Felix, okay?” Jena said, throwing up her hands. “Besides, don’t you think the mayor of Havers should know we’ve got a gargoyle to go to bat for us? I mean, if even half the shit I’ve heard you guys can do is true—”
“And what exactly might that be?” Gideon asked, intrigued in spite of himself. Most of the lore about his kind had been grossly distorted over time.
“Well, for one, you can fly.”
He gave a noncommittal shrug, and the witch started ticking off fingers.
“You’re basically immortal, magic can’t touch you, your skin’s impervious, you can manipulate stone, and—” she tipped her head like she was listening to something. “And you can act like a conduit for the node’s power.”
Well, that was a remarkably more well-informed answer than he was expecting. Perhaps there was hope for the situation. “A fair assessment,” he said, neither confirming nor denying her assumptions. “But unless I directly pledge my service to the node, I’m unable to act as a channel.”
The blasted thing’s presence around him increased, and he ignored it, not willing to give it the satisfaction. He’d already been neatly trapped by the circumstances and wasn’t about to run out there and offer his throat up before getting the lay of the land.
“Just for clarification, are you staying here for me, or to spite the Vampire Court?” Ophelia asked, turning to narrow her eyes at him.
Oh, that fire… Gideon smirked back, raising a brow. “I don’t see how either goal needs to be exclusive,” he said, settling back in his chair. Ophelia looked like she was ready to pummel him, and he grinned. “There’s my girl,” he murmured, desire coiling in his belly. She was radiant when riled.
Her cheeks flushed, turning away as the door opened, and Chase came back into the room. A cloud of small creatures zipped in around him, yammering in high falsetto voices.
“Jena-Jena-Jena-Jena!” they cried, crazing around the room and trailing dust. Gideon hunched down, resisting the urge to swat the tiny annoyances from the air.
“Stupid-fae!” one said, landing on the cushion by Jena’s head. “Dumb-dumb-dumb!”
Another perched on the windowsill. “We-hate-their-vote-hate-hate-hate-it!”
Several made exceedingly rude gestures, and Ophelia put a hand to her lips, her eyes conveying her amusement as they descended upon the witch, tugging at her hair and clothes.
“You’ll-give-us-coconuts?”
“Coconuts-yes-yes-yes!
“I-want-this-many!” a female shrilled holding up all ten fingers
Another hovered in midair and spread both her fingers and toes. “No-this-many!”
The harem dissolved into laughter and took flight again. Gideon put a hand to his brow, his confidence sorely lacking that these creatures could sneak anyone, anywhere.
“Okay, settle down!” Jena yelled over the ruckus and the tiny, winged people alit around the room, focusing on her with a feral intensity that was more than a little disconcerting. She cleared her throat. “We need to get down into the Below to find Chambers—”
“Who?” one interrupted.
“Weasel-man,” another answered, wiggling his fingers like fangs.
“Yes, the weasel man. We need to catch him. If you help us get down there, I promise each of you ten coconuts,” Jena said, setting the pixies off again.
“Ten?” Ophelia asked, ducking as one of the little beasts buzzed by her.
Chase shrugged. “It’s the going rate.”
The harem convened high overhead, their piercing little voices too rapid to follow, then a single pixie with an acorn cap on her head flew down to hover in front of Jena.
“Ten-coconuts-good-but-we’re-gonna-need-bribes,” she shrilled.
Jena’s dark brows knit. “Bribes?”
The harem above all nodded their heads, except for one who shook his, then quickly corrected himself.
“Blackfinger-Grimley-Sweetpea-and-Hops.”
“Is that what they need or who they have to bribe?” Gideon asked, totally lost.
Chase scratched his jaw. “Those are the names of some other harems.”
“No, that sounds like a shit ton of coconuts,” Ophelia snorted. “Hope you guys have a good supplier.”
“Okay,” Jena said, more calmly than Gideon would’ve been able to manage. “Any pixie who helps will also get ten coconuts, but one of you has to vouch for them.”
“No-slackers!” one of them screamed, scattering the harem again.
Jena ducked. “Right. Ten coconuts each for getting me, Chase, Gideon, and Ophelia into the Below and helping us find Chambers.”
Ophelia’s spine straightened. “What? Wait a minute—”
“No-no-no-no-no!”
“Too-big.”
“Thump-thump-thump.”
“Not-them!”
Jena threw up her hands. “I can’t go alone!”
“No, you can’t,” Chase growled.
The pixie still hovering in front of Jena put a hand to her lips and spun around, narrowing her eyes at the three of them. “Her!” she screamed, pointing at Ophelia.
“Hey! I never signed up for this!” she protested. “Take Chase, he’s the one who wants to go.”
“And Ophelia isn’t leaving my sight,” Gideon gritted out, his hand on her shoulder.
“No-no-no.” The pixie raised her pointed little nose. “Too-big-just-her-soku-say-she’s-nice.”
“Soku lied,” Ophelia growled, shaking off Gideon’s hand. “And I can take care of myself.”
He chuckled, and Ophelia whipped around to glower at him, poised like she was about to crawl into his lap and strangle him. Gideon wet his lips, wanting nothing more.
“Fine,” she spat, turning away, much to his disappointment. “When do we leave?”
His heart about stopped.
“What? No.” Chase shook his head, his biceps tensing as he crossed his arms over his chest. “There’s no way the two of you are going down there alone.”
“We won’t be alone, we’ll have each other—” Jena started.
“She’s a fucking vampire!” Chase spat, his eyes flicking to Ophelia and Gideon at his growl.
Jena glared at him. “And we’ll have the node.” She looked at the pixie. “Do we have a deal? You sneak Ophelia and me into the Below and help us find Chambers for ten coconuts each, bribes included, but you have to vouch for any other pixie that comes to collect.”
“Deal!” the pixie screamed, the harem darting toward the door. “Come-on-come-on-come-on!”
“I don’t like this,” Gideon growled, a pit opening in his stomach.
Chase echoed it. “Agreed.”
“Aww, too bad,” Ophelia said, batting her lashes at Gideon. “But I’m sure you two boys can find something to occupy your time. Maybe look up that realtor?”
Jena snickered, then huffed as she got to her feet. “Let me just get my spell bag and coat. I’ll meet you downstairs.” She left the room, and Chase stalked after her, still protesting.
“Ophelia, you don’t know what’s down there,” Gideon said, rising to stand behind her. If he wasn’t there to accompany her and something were to happen—
She shrugged, far too nonchalant. “Can’t be anything worse than what I’ve already seen.”
That was entirely not the point. His brows furrowed, and he gripped her shoulders, then sighed, recognizing that spark of determination in her gaze.
She wasn’t going to relent, and the last thing he wanted to do was snuff the fire from her eyes, but— “Just…come back to me,” he said, his voice cracking.
Her expression softened, and she put a hand to his cheek. “That was always my intention.”
He nodded, turning his face to kiss her palm. Electricity bloomed between them. “I love you, Phe. However long it takes and wherever you might go, I’ll be waiting.”
Ophelia’s breath caught, her pupils expanding to swallow her irises. He tipped her chin up and kissed her gently. She trembled as he pulled away, resting her forehead against his chest for a breath.
Then walked out the door without another word, taking his heart with her.