Though she’d heard Cole’s rushed explanation of what he’d found in New Mexico, there was no way for Paige to prepare for being in the middle of a gargoyle hurricane. They emerged from the dripping bridge between two states, veering off to either cut straight up into the air or out to either side before curling back in to dive-bomb those who stood below them. When Liam reflexively swiped at one of the fliers and cut it into ribbons, the rest descended upon him and every other living thing on that shoreline.
Screaming from above, the leathery things swept down to scratch at her face and wrap bony arms around her body, putting even her steely nerves to the test. She, Milosh, and Nadya wrapped their arms around their heads and tried to duck beneath the incoming swarm. Bill, on the other hand, lifted his shotgun to aim at a cluster of the things diving at him and pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast was all but washed out by the grating wail of air passing through the gargoyles’ bodies. The powerful blast obliterated most of that group, spraying their clear blood and fluids across the entire shoreline.
Once the rest of the gargoyles caught that scent, the swarm of flapping bodies drew even closer, to wrap around him and latch on using their long, curved talons. Paige had almost made it to the water when she was slammed down by a gargoyle that dropped onto her like a wet leathery towel. It covered the back of her head, scraping at her shoulders and convulsing against her hair while sucking air through a wide, toothless mouth. A warm dampness spread between her shoulders, and before she could wonder if the thing had pissed on her, that spot began to tense and twist as if an invisible fist was clenched around her flesh and drawing it in. The sensation spread through her body, accompanied by a feeling of dry numbness.
“No, no, no!” she shouted while rolling over and swinging both arms at the creature. She saw, then, a muddled, sloppy attempt at a face that reminded her of a stingray’s underbelly. It gazed blankly at her until the gargoyle was sent hurtling away from its meal. Scraping its talons against the dirt, the thing popped itself less than a foot off the ground, drifted forward, then swung back at her. Paige watched it gain altitude like a piece of paper fluttering back up to a spot from which it had been dropped. More of them descended from a whirling cloud circling the shoreline, separating to glide away and adjust their flight path to find her. Even as she staggered toward the water, Paige doubted she’d be able to dive in before at least one of those things wrapped around her. The substance that had been poured onto her back was still hardening, making it difficult to remain upright. Suddenly, the water erupted and a large figure rose from the reservoir to charge at her. Her arms came up reflexively to defend herself, and by the time she spotted Cole’s face, her punch was already on its way to his chin.
Cole ducked under the swing, thanks to a familiarity with her that came in no small part from getting his ass kicked throughout months of sparring. Keeping his head down, he pressed his shoulder against Paige’s torso and wrapped an arm around her so he could drag her into the water. “Did they get any of that stone juice on you?” he asked.
Paige knew what he meant. “Yeah, but—” Before she could say another word, he shoved her into the water and held her there. As soon as the pressure on her eased, she stood up and sputtered, “I have to breathe, you know!”
“That crap dissolves in water before it hardens,” Cole said. “Just stay in there until it comes off.” After that he was forced to swing his spear at a group of the creatures that flapped over his head. The spearhead tore a few of them open badly enough for one to do a flat spin into the water and another to wind up hanging on the end of the weapon like a flag made of pale skin. Cole kept his spear upright and charged onto the shore.
Paige dropped below the water as three gargoyles screamed down at her. Their muddled, stingray faces gaped into the reservoir as the fliers swooped above water that was still reflecting pale glows emanating from the moon and the nearby portal. Pushing up with both legs, she broke the surface of the water to find the Amriany standing their ground no more than ten feet away.
“Milosh! Nadya!” she shouted. “Get in the water!”
Milosh turned while Nadya fired up at a cluster of the gargoyles without hitting a single one. “You hide there and we will keep them away,” he replied.
“You’ve got to come in the water or they’ll poison you!”
“Turn you to stone is more like it, but not if you scare them away. Takes loud noises,” Milosh said. Both he and Nadya stood their ground as two of the shrieking gargoyles swooped in from opposite sides to try and close in on them. Nadya waited for them to get close enough to see the black slits of their second pair of eyes before firing a short burst of automatic fire directly above them. The gargoyles parted and flapped away, getting close enough to the humans to slap the Amriany’s heads with the tattered tails at the ends of their bodies.
“Noises,” Milosh said with a crooked smile, “and a set of cast iron balls!”
Not far from the Amriany, Liam and Minh had their hands full. While Liam roared and swiped at the gargoyles, Minh kept her head down and did her best to avoid getting hit. As Paige watched, Liam turned one gargoyle into wet ribbons while another clamped onto his back. The Full Blood reached over both shoulders, grabbed the fleshy creature and ripped it away before howling with a pain Paige could actually recognize. He turned to bite another one in midair, giving her a good look at a strip of his back that had turned from a dirty white to light gray. Liam howled louder, arched his back and cracked the substance off him in what looked to be chunks of freshly dried cement.
Paige smiled and reached around for the spot where she’d been hit. The substance was still on her but had the consistency of paste. When she examined her fingers, she could feel it solidifying around their tips. The stuff broke away in a thick crust, taking a layer of skin along with it.
The Half Breeds weren’t content to stay within the trees. As Liam thrashed and fought with the gargoyles, the wretches surged out from hiding to attack the creatures that filled the air directly above the shoreline. Some leapt at the fliers, only to get their heads, shoulders, and upper bodies wrapped up. Others were brought down by several that enveloped them and didn’t let go until the solidifying paste was smeared over their bodies. Liam might have attracted more of the things, but was slashing too wildly to destroy very many of them.
In stark contrast to Liam, Minh kept her chest low to the ground and moved in slow, slinking steps. The gargoyles wound up either skidding along her back like stones across a pond or ignoring her completely. That stretch of good fortune ended when Cole rushed up to her and drove his spearhead into her side as if he’d finally chosen the perfect spot to plant his flag. Minh stood up and roared loudly, lifting him off his feet.
Paige stood up in the water, wiped off as much of the stuff from her back as she could and sloshed toward the shore. She was stopped by a gentle hand placed upon her back. Twisting around, she saw Tristan reaching out to her while crouching on the surface of the water as if the rippling reservoir had frozen beneath her feet.
“Let him go,” the Dryad said. “He knows what he’s doing.”
“Cole never fully knows what he’s doing,” Paige snapped. “And are you walking on water?”
“Yes,” Tristan said in a calm that seemed as out of place in the midst of battle as a woman did perched upon the surface of a lake, “and yes.”
Minh’s bellowing roar filled the air as the green glow in the water faded and died off completely. Tristan rose to her full height, displaying a perfect figure wrapped in veils of dark green and bright purple. With the water sprayed onto her flawless skin and the wind blowing around her, she became the spitting image of a siren lovingly depicted by the sailors who’d almost drifted to their deaths in pursuit of them.
It hadn’t taken long for Cole to regain his bearings. Still holding onto his spear with both hands, he curled his legs up to press both feet against Minh’s body. The spear came loose and he hit the ground on his side, leaving the wet stain of gargoyle innards smeared upon her fur. Almost immediately several of the gargoyles diverted their path to encircle her. Even though Minh slashed and roared at the flying creatures, she turned her gaze to Cole and bared her fangs.
“That’s it,” Tristan whispered as she closed her eyes.
Cole struggled to get to his feet and stood with his spear held in front of him. Paige could only watch for a second before she once again sloshed toward the shore.
“No!” Tristan told her. “Stay where you are! I need to feel his fear.”
Paige had every intention of ignoring the command until the air popped and hissed in front of her. Beneath the shrieking, howling, screaming, and gunfire, the pure tone of Tristan’s singing voice ran like the current flowing along the deepest ocean trench. As Cole faced the possibility of being torn apart by Minh, the Dryad’s voice rose in pitch and the disturbance in the air ripped apart to become another glowing green portal like the one that had brought him into Oklahoma.
Since the portal was between her and Cole, Paige walked around it in knee-deep water toward the Amriany. Once half a dozen gargoyles latched onto Minh’s fur, Cole backed toward the shimmering gateway. He waved his spear in the air to attract the next wave of fliers and was just quick enough to lay flat so they could streak over his head and disappear through the Dryad bridge.
Liam stared in utter disbelief. Minh swatted at the gargoyles around her but was losing her battle as more and more of them clamped on. She looked at him and roared for help, which Liam sent in the form of more Half Breeds. The wretches ran at her as well as the humans seeking shelter in the water, but were covered in so much of the gargoyle juices that the other flying creatures were drawn to them like magnets.
Paige stepped into the little area cleared by the Amriany and cupped her hand to her mouth. “On the ground at your feet, Cole! The silver thing! Pick it up!”
Cole turned and started walking toward her.
“No!” Paige shouted. “On the ground! Look on the ground!”
He looked down, spotted the discarded Amriany projectile, and stooped to pick it up as a gargoyle sliced through the air where his head had just been.
“Throw it over here, Cole!” she said.
She couldn’t be certain he’d heard everything she’d said, but there was no way Cole could miss the angry growl that rolled out of Liam’s throat like the engine of a rumbling semi. Cole’s fist tightened around the gleaming little cylinder before he tossed it to Paige. The object was passed to Nadya, who stuffed it into the engraved tube, pulled back the handle and shot it at Liam.
“It’s Full Blood bait!” Paige shouted.
Nadya threw the tube into the portal. Although Liam moved toward the glowing opening, he resisted with every powerful muscle and shred of willpower at his disposal. He ignored the gargoyles diving at him, shook off the ones that had sunk their talons into his fur, and dropped to all fours to run at Cole like a man that had suddenly become wild. His steps were clunky and off-kilter. Every time he stretched out his hands to claw at the earth, more of the rocky crust that had been poured onto his back cracked away. Rather than run at the portal, however, he charged Cole. By the time the splash of his steps reached Paige’s ears, the Full Blood, Cole, and several of the gargoyles disappeared through the green portal, which then flickered from existence.
“Where are they?” Paige demanded as she turned to face Tristan. “Where did you send them?”
She blinked, drew a breath, and quickly collected herself. “Hush.”
“Did you just tell me to—”
Paige was cut off by the crackle of one bridge closing and another being shredded into the air. This time the pale green light emerged in the vicinity of Minh and a group of Half Breeds. “We brought those gargoyles to deal with the Full Bloods, and I’m here to send them away. If that doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen at all.”
Minh was making her way to the trees, her movements slow as she kept a low profile, in contrast to the Half Breeds that barked and climbed over each other to wildly attack the gargoyles flapping around her. Paige could see that Tristan was right. And after all that had happened to get things this far along, she wasn’t about to let Cole’s plan go to waste.
“Can you herd those things?” Paige asked while making her way to the spot being held by the Amriany.
Nadya swapped the empty magazine in the FAMAS for a full one. “I may be able to steer them a little, but that’s all.”
“Then steer them toward me.” Without another word of explanation, Paige ran to Bill’s body and removed her sickle from his head. Tightening her grip on the weapon, she drew the stake from the holster in her boot and rushed toward Minh.
Now that Nadya’s bait had disappeared, Minh didn’t have to struggle to maintain her focus amid the swirling storm of predators. She turned her back on the reservoir and crouched in preparation for a leap that would carry her into the trees when a stabbing pain lanced all the way through her lower right side. She howled and tried to take a step, which only aggravated the wound created by the sickle blade now wedged into her thigh.
“You wanna run?” Paige asked as she raced to Minh’s side so she could grab the weapon she’d thrown and turn it like a crank within the meaty portion of the Full Blood’s leg. “Too late!”
Minh’s growl rose into a wailing howl as the metal-encrusted blade rotated within her. After pulling the weapon out, Paige dropped her other fist like a hammer to drive the pointed end of her wooden stake into the bloody gash she’d created. Minh’s flesh pinched together around the weapon, healing from what should have been a crippling injury. As the Full Blood straightened its back and looked down at her with fierce, crystalline eyes, Paige willed the stake to stretch deep within Minh’s thigh, where it branched into a sharp network of thorns.
Charmed wooden needles burrowed inside Minh’s lower body. When her knee hit the dirt, wooden points sprang from beneath her flesh, while others ripped her from within. The howl that she offered to the Breaking Moon was matched only by Paige’s war cry as she swung her sickle toward the Full Blood’s chest. Moving with a speed impressive even for a Full Blood, Minh blocked the sickle using her own forearm. But though she prevented that strike from landing, the wooden lattice still burrowed inside her leg.
The chatter of Nadya’s FAMAS remained on the outer edge of Paige’s awareness. Even the screaming gargoyles were demoted to background noise as one of the most powerful creatures in existence was held prone by the stake in her hand. Locking eyes with the Skinner, Minh planted her other foot and began to pull the sickle away from her. Unwilling to let the weapon go, Paige could only grit her teeth as her elbow strained to the point of popping out of joint.
Her ears were filled with the rush of blood pulsing through her body. Desperate thoughts raced through her mind, most of which were in expectation of losing a limb that she’d become very fond of throughout the years. The werewolf grinned widely, lifting her off the ground until the thorns snaking through Minh’s leg were twisted at a sharp angle. Paige willed as much of the weapon as she could to stretch into the Full Blood’s thigh and expand in every direction until more of the thorns emerged from her flesh. Minh narrowed her eyes into slits, bared her teeth and pulled Paige’s arms in opposite directions.
The Amriany were shouting and firing wildly behind her, but Paige was fading. When her elbows and shoulders crunched before snapping out of joint, she was hard-pressed to remember anything but the single face that had driven her this far.
Paige’s fist remained locked around the handle of her weapon. Coppery blood washed over her hands and shrieking cries mixed with the deafening chatter of assault rifle fire as she stared into the face of death itself. The glow of the moon that had played across Minh’s fur was suddenly splayed over the leathery back of a gargoyle that wrapped around the Full Blood’s face. It was followed by another and another, all of which sank their talons into Minh’s body to draw themselves tightly against her in a desperate, suffocating embrace. The only part of the Full Blood protected from the gargoyles was the section of her thigh where Paige’s stake protruded.
Abruptly, Paige fell to the ground. Not only had Minh released her to try and fight off the gargoyles, but Paige had somehow maintained her grip on the sickle. The Full Blood was unable to move quickly enough to shred all of the gargoyles that descended upon her, and the more of them she ripped apart, the more creatures showed up to take their place. A pair of hands grabbed Paige by the shoulder and dragged her away. She screamed as her dislocated arm was tugged with a crack that reverberated inside her head. When she was set down again, the pain from that shoulder had lessened significantly.
Now that the remaining gargoyles had their meal, the only sound they made was the brush of one leathery body against another and the scrape of talons against flesh. Every so often one of their gaping mouths sucked like a baby trying to latch onto a nipple.
Tristan’s voice filled the air, and the pale green glow flared up to an almost blinding flash. When it was gone, so was Minh and all the gargoyles attached to her.
“What happened?” Paige asked.
“This nymph would not let us help you!” Milosh roared.
Tristan stepped onto the shore and lowered herself to sit with both legs tucked beneath her. “I needed to use what you could gave me. The pain. The fear. It was strong enough to open a bridge and send her away.”
“Away to where?”
“Deep into a Japanese bamboo forest where one of our temples was built,” Tristan replied. “The gargoyles should have plenty of space to hide themselves when they’re through, and Minh should be disoriented enough to let them finish what they started. Someone should check to make sure she was contained, though. Also, some Half Breeds were sent with her as well, and the ones who don’t fall prey to the gargoyles will make trouble if they catch the scent of civilization.”
Blinking as if none of that had sunken in, Paige gasped, “Did you say Japan?”
“Cole will explain. We just needed to separate the Full Bloods before they got too powerful.”
“You mean return them to their territories?”
“Exactly,” the Dryad said. “Didn’t Cole warn you?”
Rubbing her shoulder, Paige winced and looked around. “It’s a lot quieter now. Can’t figure out if that’s a good or bad thing.” She watched as sections of the sky sprang to life with gargoyles gliding up and down to attack the remaining Half Breeds. “You seem to know a lot about those things,” she said to Tristan.
“Yes. We have many gargoyles back home. Dangerous, but merely pests if you know how to handle them. After feeding this much in one night, they will find a place to hibernate for a few months.”
“Will they kill her?”
They all looked toward the spot where Minh had stood.
“No,” Milosh sighed. “They will not be able to kill a Full Blood.”
“But can one be contained?” Tristan asked. Now that she’d gotten to her feet, she took on a presence that made her seem somehow beyond human. The sight of her supple body encased in wet veils and moonlight was enough to calm even the most raging soul.
Milosh looked at her with the same mix of awe and arousal that showed up on everyone’s face the first time they gazed upon a Dryad. “I think so, but not for long.”
“How long?” Paige asked. When she didn’t get an answer or even a glance in response, she reached out to snap her fingers in front of his face. “Hey! How long?”
“I don’t know! Maybe a few days or weeks.”
Placing a hand gingerly upon Paige’s shoulder, Nadya asked, “Do you need a sling?”
“No,” she replied while gently flexing her arm. “You must’ve popped it back into place when you dragged me away. It’s already healing. At least something went better than expected tonight.”
“Where is the trickster?” Tristan asked.
Paige’s head drooped forward. “There goes the better than expected thing. How the hell could I have forgotten about him?”
“The same way your civilization has forgotten him throughout every human era. The First Deceiver survives through lies and being able to slip away after telling them. All he needs to do is distract someone long enough and the memory of him will fall to the wayside.”
“And there,” Paige said while cautiously approaching one of the many Half Breed statues, “is one hell of a distraction.”
“What do we do now?” Nadya asked.
Tristan placed a hand on Paige’s shoulder, but not in a comforting manner. Using the Skinner to keep her upright, the Dryad said, “Cole is alone with Liam. That animal cannot be allowed to claim his prize from this night.”
Paige felt a surge of adrenaline rush through her that was the instantaneous equivalent of two nights of sleep followed by a cold shower. “Where are they?”
“Finland.”
“Finland?”
“The Torva’ox will be drawn to the Full Bloods more than any other creature on this earth,” Tristan replied. “Now that they are spread out, the power they seek is unfocused. I can’t take you to him without the energy to open another bridge.”
“Tell me where the closest strip club is and—”
“No,” Tristan snapped. “We don’t have time for that. We need more power than a local temple can provide. Cole and I tapped into darker energies before, and I’m willing to do that again.”
“How dark are we talking here?”
Before Tristan could answer, the distant howl of a few Half Breeds drifted through the air and a lithe body separated from the shadows within the nearby trees. It bounded toward the reservoir in swift, agile steps. Judging from the shape of its head and body, along with the fact that it stopped when it caught sight of the humans, Paige guessed it wasn’t a Half Breed. The creature trotted closer, favoring one of its forepaws. When it shifted to walk on two legs, it became a naked woman who held one arm across her chest for reasons that had nothing to do with modesty.
“The remaining Half Breeds are scattered,” Quinn confirmed. “My pack is almost completely destroyed, but we should be able to get you to safety if you come along with us now.”
Tristan lowered her head and closed her eyes. “Let them come.”
“They’re stronger than we’ve ever seen,” the Mongrel said. “Perhaps they are drawing from the Breaking Moon, but the fewer there are, the worse they get.”
“Take him to shelter,” Paige said while nodding to Milosh. “He’s wounded.”
“To hell with that!” he said. “If we are to die here, then we all die.”
“Bring the wretches to us,” Tristan said, ignoring the Amriany. “They can produce the energy I need.”
“You can draw strength from Half Breeds?” Paige asked.
“A little,” Tristan replied, “but I need a pure source that only comes from humans. We take our power from your spirits, which is heightened by emotion. There is no time to collect in our normal way, so I must draw from your fear.”
Paige had heard about wicked forest sprites and beautiful witches who drained humans of their essences and souls, but hadn’t connected them to Dryads until now. “There’s one problem,” she said while driving the thorns of her weapon handles into her palms. “I’m not afraid.”
“That is not the only darkness within the human soul,” Tristan replied. “Stand your ground and don’t fight the wretches. Let them overtake you.”
“There are maybe two or three Half Breeds left,” Quinn said. “Even if they were anywhere close, we couldn’t bring them back here.” When several gargoyles shrieked in the distance, she added, “I think you see why.”
Tristan’s eyes were closed, and even in the moonlight, the subtle shading of her skin and the smooth texture of her flesh was plain to see. The fact that she was still wet from the water spray coming from the reservoir only added to her sensuality. “There’s nothing I can do for you.”
“What?”
“There’s not enough in you for me to use. I won’t be able to do this.”
“Now you tell us? What about Cole’s plan?”
The Dryad shrugged and turned her back on the Skinner and Amriany. “You’re right. It was a stupid plan. Sorry.”
“You’re sorry?” Paige bellowed as the Half Breeds thundered toward her. “And now you’re leaving?” The air around her started to crackle, but Paige was too fired up to notice.
Tristan propped a hand casually on her hip and said, “Sorry, sweetie. Guess we have to leave Cole on his own. But that’s nothing new for you, is it?”
“What did you just say to me?”
Nadya and Milosh spoke to each other in clipped phrases pulled from their own language. For once they truly didn’t seem to know what to do.
“Fuck you, lady!” Paige roared. “If the world’s going to hell right now, then that’s the last thing I want to say! Fuck you!”
“There we go,” Tristan sighed as the crackling in the air turned into a spark that blinded every human eye in the vicinity.
The green glow was brighter than the other Dryad bridges she’d used, but Paige recognized the tumbling feeling that came along with it. Instead of having to step through a curtain set up at a temple to mark the spot where the mystical opening would appear, the ground simply opened up beneath her feet and she fell just over five thousand miles in the span of a few minutes.