Page 4 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

He sounded completely calm, as though he were going to shoo a herd of ducks off the road rather than face down a warlock who could use purple lightning to fry him with only a wave of his hand.

I opened my mouth to tell him to keep driving, that Minerva’s spell would protect us, but he was already out of the SUV, slamming the door behind him.

I watched in terror as he strode toward the hood of the SUV. His skin took on a light grey cast and his already huge frame grew even larger. Black, leathery wings exploded from his back, arching over his head before extending out to the side.

Thick horns spiraled from his forehead before curving back over his skull.

I gaped at him. I’d never seen Dax shift this much. I’d only ever seen photographs of fully shifted gargoyles, but I knew that he wasn’t completely changed.

But this was still the most I’d ever seen him alter his appearance.

He grew another foot in height and his shoulders widened and thickened, as did his arms and legs. His shirt and jeans stretched until I feared the seams would split, but they miraculously held.

Even from behind, he was a terrifying sight to behold.

Yet Sommerton continued to ignore him, his black eyes locked on me in the car.

Somehow, he knew what I was. That I was the key to waking the blood god.

Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised because the dark magic he was using could be used in many ways. It could augment a warlock’s natural abilities, or it could grant him powers he didn’t naturally have. Like the gift of premonition.

Light and smoke shot from Sommerton’s hands and slammed against the hood of the SUV again. The iridescent grid threw it back toward him.

Sommerton jerked in the air to avoid the ricochet of lightning, his face twisting into a scowl.

Still, he ignored Dax, who was closing in on him.

At least until Dax reached an arm behind his head and into the neck of his shirt. The hilt of a sword appeared in his hand, as though he’d conjured it out of thin air. In a slow motion, Dax drew out a longsword, the blade flashing with brilliant blue light as it cleared his shirt.

My mouth dropped open at the sight. I knew that he wasn’t wearing a sword behind him but somehow, he’d drawn it.

Sommerton’s attention turned to him, and I sucked in a breath as the black and grey smoke thickened around him, swirling wildly. I could no longer see the warlock, but I knew he was gathering for a strike.

I couldn’t prevent the scream that escaped my lips when the violet electricity burst from the maelstrom, aiming right for Dax.

Dax’s skin turned fully grey as the light hit it, absorbing the ferocious attack like dry soil absorbed rain. I gaped at the sight. I’d heard rumors that gargoyles were impervious to magic and that’s why they made excellent guardians, but it had never been confirmed. Gargoyles were nearly extinct, and they guarded their secrets as fiercely as they guarded those that earned their loyalty or paid for their services.

Dax picked up his pace, jogging toward Sommerton as though he had all the time in the world. I watched as Sommerton gathered another sphere of magic between his palms, this one nothing but a shimmering ball of amethyst light with no grey smoke mixed in. It was a huge magical attack, and he was going to hurl it at Dax again.

My heart pounded in my chest as Dax began to run full-out at Sommerton, moving faster than I’d ever seen him.

I held my breath when the warlock drew back and heaved the amethyst sphere, aiming for Dax.

Something shifted inside me, like a door opening, and the overwhelming urge to do something,anything, swamped me, but I wasn’t sure what to do with this sensation. It was like pure energy filling me up from the inside out, swelling until it felt as though I would explode.

Dax didn’t even pause as the lightning crashed into him. He just kept moving, rotating the wrist holding the sword in two circles, as though he were warming up his wrist.

Dax lifted the sword, preparing to strike, when Sommerton’s eyes widened and an expression of shock and rage took over his face, and he vanished in an explosion of black smoke.

I released the breath I’d been holding. Thank the goddess. The energy filling me drained away as quickly as it had arrived and that shifting occurred again, as though the door inside me was now closed tightly.

I tried to open it again, to reach for that feeling, but it was as if it had never existed.

Dax’s shoulders remained tensed as his head swiveled around, letting his eyes scan the tree line on each side of the road.

He waited there for a long time, so long that I was ready to scream again from the tension building inside me.

Finally, after it was clear that Sommerton wasn’t going to return, Dax turned and headed back to the car. His eyes came to me, and my breath stuttered in my chest again. Instead of the usual indigo color, they were pale, ice blue with a hint of grey.

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