Gargoyle: A Reawakening (Briarcliff Series, #2) (10 page)

Simon stepped away, to get behind the wind
instead of in front. “What do you think it means?”

“
I guess we will find out
soon enough,” Adriane said.

“
Oh joy,” Simon said
dejectedly, knowing what it meant if he could smell them. They were
waking. He lifted his face to the sky watching the moon as it crept
higher. At least it would be a while before the moon’s illumination
filled the night, bringing their vileness with it.

They both turned when Alistair shuffled
awkwardly around the corner of the mansion, carrying two red
plastic cups in his hands and holding another in his teeth. The one
in his mouth dropped.

Adriane leaned forward and snatched it from
the air before it hit the ground. Lifting the cup to his face, he
smelled the contents. Satisfied with the odor, he took a sip,
swirling the liquid in his mouth.

“
So,” Alistair said.
“You’re awake.” He handed the remaining cup off to
Simon.

“
It would seem so.” Adriane
said and took another drink from his cup, tasting a hint of
cherries, which immediately reminded him of the girl, Evie, he had
met last night.

Sighing audibly, Alistair
lifted the cup he was holding and gulped down more of the fiery
liquid. It was already his third. He liked the taste. It danced on
his tongue and burned warmly down his throat into his stomach. It
made him warm. He was never warm any longer. The wind shifted. He
spluttered out part of his drink not expecting the stench. “Are you
kidding me?” he asked looking up.

“
Mmm,
” Simon said, breaking from
taking a sip of his drink. “You smell them too?” He lifted his cup
to Alistair and took another long pull. The contents dripped down
the sides of his mouth and he wiped it away with the back of his
hand.

“
It’s hard to miss.”
Alistair shook his head completely disgusted. Angrily he swiped his
hair back from his eyes as the wind pushed it forward. “So,” he
said, giving Adriane a pointed look, “any ideas why we are awake so
early?”

Adriane lifted his brows. “No.” He stared
over the rim of his cup. “You’ve been phasing a lot.” It was a
statement. The changes in Alistair were obvious. He was bigger now.
With each phasing of the moon, Alistair was brought back and each
time he grew, becoming stronger than he was before. Glancing
towards Simon, he noticed he was not as large, but that was to be
expected. He was still a youngling, and had not phased as many
times.

“
It would seem so.”
Alistair smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Simon stood off the side,
acting disinterested. Sipping his drink, he watched them both over
the rim staring one another down. Their inky black hair whipped in
the wind. Alistair’s unease was palpable…the caged animal trying to
break free once more. Adriane, always in control—a silent force of
reckoning. Simon smiled into his cup his eyes flitting back and
forth between them, silently counting backwards…
Ten…nine…eight
…his own
body tensing in anticipation of the fight that was about to ensue.
It would be one hell of a close match now, if Alistair was so
inclined.

Adriane held his stance, not ready to
relinquish the tenuous hold he had over either of them, at least
not yet. He needed them to believe he was the one in control, even
though he was not so sure any longer. It had been a long time. A
tremor passed through him. He felt Alistair pushing out, testing
him. His control was slipping backward as Alistair gained ground.
If he wasn’t careful he would lose what little ground he still had.
Pushing his mind to the limit, he used every bit of his reserve
strength he had acquired from the pit to get Alistair to bend to
his will once more.

Alistair felt the nudge
against his mind. Shifting on his feet, he focused, pushing back
mentally, a force surged through him, he felt himself gaining
ground but just as suddenly he began to feel the slow intense burn
on the inside of his left arm, liquid fire filling every line … the
pain becoming unbearable. The marking on his arm throbbed, the
design glowing vibrant blue. Horrific memories slipped from the
crevices of his mind, binding him once more. His body shuddered. It
was too much to bear. Tearing his darkened gaze away he submitted
once more. He stalked purposely away.

Adriane shuddered, clenching his hand into a
tight fist trying to release the pain that had gathered behind his
eyes. It felt like a thousand needles had been jammed into his
head. A drop of blood slipped from his nose, spattering to the
gravel underfoot. He quickly wiped it away before Alistair saw.

Simon, however, caught the action. A slow
smile crept across his face as he turned away and walked over to
join Alistair.

ANXIOUS

SATURDAY * 8:03 PM

“
What time is it?” Moriah
asked, fidgeting nervously.

“
About five minutes later
than the last time you asked,” Kingston replied, checking out
another crowd of people ambling down the drive. He spotted Colton
and Chance waving them over.

“
I wonder what’s taking
them so long,” Moriah asked, looking up the drive watching Colton
and Chance waving towards Kingston. She spotted Heather Bishop and
her sidekicks, Addison and Brianna walking beside them.

“
Babe, she’ll be back soon.
It does take a while to get to town and she had to shower,
right?”

“
Right,”
Moriah said absently, watching Heather grab hold of Colton’s hand.
He leaned forward, saying something to her. Heather pulled back,
laughing, smacking him lightly.
Dick.

Chance broke away, jogging over as he pushed
his hand through his sun-streaked hair. “Hey, this looks totally
sweet. How’d you score this place?” he asked Kingston.

“
I have my ways,” Kingston
said.

“
Sure, right. Of course you
do,” Chance acknowledged, knowing full well Kingston’s family was
so loaded it wouldn’t surprise him if they owned the place and
everything else in a thousand mile radius. They were like the
Rockefellers of New England.

Colton broke away from Heather and snuck up
behind Kingston. “Boo!” he yelled loudly in his ear and grabbed
hold of his shoulders, squeezing them. “

Kingston didn’t even flinch. He turned,
annoyed, raising his brow defiantly. “Hey man, you’re rumpling my
shirt.”

“
Dude calm down, it’s just
a t-shirt,” Colton said laughingly.

“
Yeah right, I don’t want
it fingered up.” He gave Colton a scathing look. “Who knows where
your damn hands have been.”

Colton bit back a nasty retort. He was going
to say they had been all over Moriah’s sidekick, but then saw the
look Moriah gave him. Her pretty, dark blue eyes were seething as
she gave him an evil glare. He wondered what in the hell that chick
Edie had said to her. Not that he really cared, except after he had
left her high and dry, something completely messed up happened to
him. He was headed down the mountain when he saw someone or
something jump out in front of his car. He slammed on his breaks;
he thought for sure he had hit whatever it was, but when he got out
of his car, nothing was there.

Much later, he woke up in his car, his head
pounding, and his clothes were missing, with the exception of his
skivvies and socks. It freaked him out really bad. “Sorry dude. I
was just messing around,” Colton said, stepping away awkwardly.

“
Right,” Kingston said
finally, readjusting his shirt as he watched Colton walk back over
to Heather. She looked good. Kingston wondered what she was doing
with Colton.

Moriah turned and looked
up at Kingston. He was staring at Heather. Her heart sank. Heather
looked great. Her long black hair tumbled down her back in heavy
waves, nearly touching the waist of her overpriced designer jeans.
She had on a pair of sweet black boots and a low-v neck t-shirt
exposing most of her tits to the world. Her jacket was cool too…it
was short, cropped at the waist. She oozed sophistication, reeking
of wealth. Moriah looked down at her own outfit. It was completely
generic compared to Heathers. She rolled her eyes and turned away
before she vomited all over herself. Watching perfect Heather fling
her perfect hair around, wearing her perfect clothes was making
Moriah perfectly sick.
Bitch
.

“
Hey Moriah,” Evie
whispered in her ear, grabbing her shoulders.

Moriah jumped, turning quickly, holding her
hand over her chest. “Shit Evie, you scared me.”

“
Sure I did,” she said,
knowing she wasn’t what was scaring Moriah. “What are you looking
at?” she asked, raising her brow. Moriah was busted. Evie saw her
gawking over at Kingston while he checked out Heather, her
expression forlorn. It amazed Evie that she still felt inadequate
near Heather. Money wasn’t everything, but Moriah was always
insecure about that, especially since she had started seeing
Kingston—it kind of pissed Evie off. Money didn’t make the person,
and Moriah had a lot of shit going for her that money could never
buy. Kingston was the lucky one, not the other way around. Moriah
would never see it that way though—her mom messed with her mind way
too much. She was really into money.

Evie glanced across the drive towards
Colton. He looked perfect, as usual and was busy salivating all
over Heather. She made a face. She bet his ass knew Heather’s name.
She tried to pretend like she didn’t care. He could poke Heather
with his thingy. But watching them laugh with one another made her
stomach drop. Who was she kidding? She felt just as inadequate as
Moriah—probably even a bit more. That was it she couldn’t take it
anymore. “I’m getting a drink. You want one?” she asked, turning
towards Moriah.

“
Yeah, thanks,” she said
absently, still staring at Kingston.

“
You wanna come with?” Evie
asked, hoping she would.

“
Nah, I’m good.”

“
Okie
dokie be back in a bit.” She gave Moriah one last glance then took
off across the drive, purposely taking the long way to avoid
passing Colton. The ground was already becoming heavily littered
with red plastic cups. She cut across the front of the stage,
dodging another cup, weaving through the crowd of people gathering
there. The music was about to start.
The
Fantasy Defender
was about to hit the
stage. Evie loved their music too. It reminded her of
Garbage
with a heavier
edge. The lead singer Dawn was awesome, totally cool. She was
stoked to hear they agreed to stop by for a set. She looked around
at all the people that were beginning to show, arriving in droves.
There were at least a hundred people already idly standing around
drinking. She knew there would be more the later it got and she
didn’t envy them walking up the creepy drive in the
dark.

REPULSED

SATURDAY * 8:13 PM

Evie walked around the corner of the mansion
to use the bathroom and immediately regretted it. The ripe smell of
urine stole her breath. Gasping for fresh air she lifted her shirt
to cover her nose and stepped behind a line of girls curved around
the side of the building, waiting. Most of the girls she recognized
from the coffee house or campus. There were a few, though, that she
had no idea about, especially the two Goth-looking girls in front
of her. They were in the midst of a serious make-out session. It
was a heated scene.