Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(42)

I didn’t have time for this shit. I held my ground and sent my connection through the sand to wrap up the gargoyle. The sand hardened around its legs, forcing it to stop.

“Lark!” Peta’s warning gave me enough time to refocus on the gargoyle in front of me.

I got my good hand up and slammed it into the gargoyle’s chest, softening the stone so I could reach through it. But I was still holding on tightly to Spirit without realizing it and the connection brought me information I’d not expected.

Unlike the demon, the gargoyle was created, not born; made, not brought to life by love but by hatred and death. It froze where it was with my hand stuck elbow-deep in its chest.

I could almost taste the power that had made the gargoyle in the back of my throat, acrid and rotten, heavy and full of tingling pain I didn’t understand at first because it was so familiar to me, and yet I was sure I’d never dealt with it before. I was sure there had never been a… no… I blinked and found the gargoyle’s life source and his creator.

Viv had made this gargoyle. A vision spilled over me in a flash that went with the power I was undoing, a flash that I knew took only a few seconds even though it played out far longer in my mind. There was no doubt it was Vivica as she leaned over the pile of rocks and brought them to life, imbibed them with her Spirit and handed them over to Samara, knowing Samara would use them to go after Raven.

I plucked at the connections and saw the booby trap inside the gargoyle only a second before it went off. I was not fast enough with my arm so far within it. The gargoyle burst apart, its body and life force blasting through the air, which sent me flying with it. My broken arm flopped at the wrong angle and I screamed as I hit the deck, cradling the snapped limb to my body. A bad break didn’t even begin to cover what had happened. If anyone had a knife, they could cut off my arm without having to slice through any bone at all. I shuddered as I lay on the wet sand and stared up at the sky, darkness and stars floating across my eyes as I struggled to stay conscious.

“Peta, is Raven alive?”

“I don’t know,” she said as she pushed her face against mine, her strength and energy flowing through me. “The other gargoyles are dead too. At least that demon dog could do that much. But more are coming, Lark. A whole damn flock of them.”

A flock of gargoyles. This day could not get more difficult.

I drew a breath and allowed her energy to me, using it to fix my broken arm. Set, and partially healed, at least it wouldn’t end up being lopped off by accident. “Shazer, is Raven alive?” He was closer to Raven than the two of us, and he dropped his nose to sniff the blue-black hair.

“Hurt, but alive.”

I didn’t even look at him. Eight more gargoyles approached from the edge of the landing deck. The demon dog stood between us and them, but again I knew it couldn’t take them all, and it would only take one slipping through to snag Raven.

Shit sticks.

One of the human men ran forward. “Ma’am, is there anything we can do to help?”

I stared at him, his nondescript brown eyes and hair, and felt a swell of emotion. He’d seen the gargoyles and the demon and the power in both creatures. Yet, still he wanted to help. This was the courage that others spoke of when it came to the humans. I shook my head. “Stay out of my way. You can’t kill these things.”

There was a shimmer of light off to my right and I spun as Talan emerged as though he’d stepped out of thin air. The human men backed away farther. I knew why.

Talan was, to say the least, pissed.

“Unless you’re going to help me deal with these, you can just back the hell off.” I pointed a finger at him and then swept my hand to the gargoyles advancing.

His jaw twitched and he held his hand out, palm facing the gargoyles. Nothing happened and he frowned.

I couldn’t help the smirk. “Not so strong as you think, huh? You’ve got to get close and pull apart the threads that created them.”

“That is impossible,” he snapped.

I didn’t have a choice. We had to stop them. Because for the first time in a very long time, I didn’t want Raven to die. He was my brother and despite all the damage he’d done… I was beginning to see just how he’d been trying to help in his own twisted way.

The first gargoyle slipped around the demon dog. “I have no argument with you,” it grumbled, its eyes on my brother.

“Family is family, even when they’re dicks.” I reached out and clamped a hand around its forearm as I worked Spirit over the beast’s body, knowing I would probably be injured in the blast again.

As the gargoyle fell apart under my hand, I finally understood… finally grasped what Talan, Raven, and even Cassava had been doing, what they’d been willing to risk. They’d lost those they loved, their souls, and minds in Cassava’s case, and even their place in the world of the elementals. Talan had lost his family. Raven had lost his connection to his children.

All to save us.

To teach me.

My throat tightened, and I didn’t move from where I stood but waited for the gargoyles to come to me. One after another, they tried to pass me and I tore them apart, simply and quickly, now that I knew there was a booby trap waiting inside each of them. I dismantled them like pulling apart strands of bread dough, stretching them out farther and farther until they snapped and released. Even so, by the end I was left shaking, drenched in sweat, a pile of rocks and sand at my feet. The demon dog panted not far from me with all its tongues stretched out, as if it was a dog indeed.