Page 19 of Dragon's Golden Mate
“No.”
“About the size of a large housecat?”
“Yes. Why? Did you find it?” Kendrick’s feet echoed on the wooden floor behind her.
“That depends. You tell me what that is.” Maevepointed to the corner, where a creature was staring at her. Its ears were angled back, and its eyes were fierce, making it look like it was plotting murder. It was the same dull grey as the gobliny figure at the bottom of the stairs.
“This must be a different one,” Kendrick told her. “The one I saw was stretched out, clinging to the wall.”
The creature took a step forward.
Maeve and Kendrick both jumped back. “Like that?” she asked, hardly believing what she was seeing.
The cat-like beast took long, slinking paces toward them, stretching its front paws out and sinking its claws into the floor. Its long, sinewy body rippled with muscles. Though it very much looked like a feline, there was only stone where fur should’ve been.
“Holy hell.” Kendrick reached out to grab Maeve, pushing her behind him. “I guess that explains why it’s not where I saw it last.”
The gargoyle opened its mouth, showing a row of sharp teeth, and hissed as it crept another step forward.
“I think we should go,” Maeve suggested.
“Yes. Let’s get you out of here.”
“Me? What about you? It’s small, Kendrick, but it’s made ofstone,” she reminded him. Maeve glanced behind her. “The stairs are right here.”
“Go!”
She hurried down, glad to hear him thundering down behind her. Maeve could feel the cat’s presence behind her, watching her. She reached the landing, and her hand skimmed across unstained wood at the top of the newel post.
“Shit!” Kendrick grabbed her from behind and pulled her to the floor just as the goblin divebombed them, its wings making a terrible grinding noise as it flew past.
As they scrambled to their feet, Maeve realized that the magical feeling she’d been experiencing there was completely gone. It was replaced by a deep, bone-chilling horror that rolled her stomach. Her muscles threatened to freeze up completely.
Kendrick grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him. They rushed down the aisle together, only to find another winged creature flying at them. Its screech shattered the air. “It’s the damn bird!” Kendrick flung out his hand as it reached them.
The hawk-like thing crashed into the walls, sending a new shower of plaster down before it soared up to the ceiling again.
A heavy thud sounded behind Maeve. She turned to see that the cat had pounced down from the gallery, damaging the pew below. It bounded to the floor.
Suddenly, her vision blurred. A nightmare appeared before her eyes, an image of her skin being ripped from her bones. Blood poured from her wounds and ran down her sides, pooling on the floor. It was gone as soon as it came.
Kendrick grunted, holding his side. His face was contorted with pain, although Maeve saw no injuries.
“Come on.” She grabbed his hand. These creatures were small, but they weren’t fighting fair. Staying there would only cause damage to the church, themselves, or both.
They reached the offices and Sunday school classrooms, sped down the hall, and burst out into the parking lot. Kendrick slammed the door shut behind him. He grabbed a nearby landscaping stone and tossed it down in front of the door to keep it from opening again.
Hand-in-hand, they dashed across the parking lot until they reached the sidewalk, panting.
“What the fuck was that?” Behind them, the church looked like the old, slightly forlorn butstrikingly beautiful building she’d initially seen. No stone creatures came flooding out of it to fight them off.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, his voice softer than usual. “I can assure you, Maeve, when I told you it might be dangerous in there,that’snot what I meant.”
“Did you…did they…” Maeve struggled with the right way to ask her question. “Did you see things? Or feel things?”
“I did. I saw a blistering hot wind scorching my skin and flesh away, layer by layer. The energy in the building, what I thought was magic, that changed, too.”
Though it was no less disturbing, Maeve was glad that at least it wasn’t a figment of her imagination. “What the hell is going on in there?”
