Читать книгу Darkest Knight - Karen Duvall - Страница 11

four

“WHAT? No!”I STOOD UP AND NEARLY TOPPLED the table. I’d waited so long, struggled so hard to finally join my sisters in the knighthood. My mission was to train them in self-protection. I refused to believe it was too late. “It must be a mistake.”

Rafe gazed down at his fists and shook his head. “No mistake,” he whispered. “It happened a few hours ago. I was just told that those who didn’t perish were either out of the country, in a warded area, or on sacred ground. That’s the only common link the Arelim have found.”

I blinked over dry eyes that stung from the effort to control my sensitive vision. This news was too distracting. Lights became too bright, I saw people’s auras spike with the colors of their emotions, and smells from the kitchen roiled what little I had in my stomach. I no longer had an appetite.

“How?” I asked.

“Suffocation.” Rafe leaned back in the booth seat, his handsome face looking haggard, as if defeated. Angel or not, the dark circles under his eyes were proof he needed sleep. “How they suffocated is unclear, but it happened as they slept.”

It was mildly comforting to know they hadn’t suffered. I grieved for Shojin and now I added my sisters to what seemed to be a growing list. I hoped this wasn’t a sign of more to come. “What killed them?”

“Unknown, but the cause appears unnatural,” he said. “And by that I mean supernatural.”

That didn’t surprise me considering each knight had a supernatural ability of her own. “Magic?”

Narrowing his eyes, Rafe said, “Not exactly. The Arelim detected no spells, charms or curses.”

“Yet they weren’t strangled or smothered?”

He shook his head. “It’s as if their breath was snatched right out of their lungs.”

Now I was really puzzled. “What could do that? A demon?”

“Possibly.” He gave me a long look. “Or another knight.”

Wow. “Don’t tell me my sisters are prone to killing each other.”

“It’s been known to happen in the past, but that was hundreds of years ago. The motive had always been jealousy, usually of another knight’s abilities, or if her guardian angel chose to become human after mating. It’s very rare within the order to have an angel for a husband.”

Yet my grandmother had wedded her guardian after my mother was conceived. Had her sisters been jealous? Was her life ever threatened? There was so much I still didn’t know. “Are the surviving knights under suspicion?”

“No one is above suspicion, Chalice. Not even you.”

“Me?” That surprised me. “Impossible. I’ve been with you this whole time.”

“Perhaps it was someone you know.” His eyes became hard. “Someone who can enter a body and make it do whatever he wants.”

He was talking about Aydin. Even though he had that ability, Aydin would never use it to harm a living soul. Just because gargoyles were assassins for the Vyantara didn’t automatically make him one. “I know who you’re talking about and he’s not like that.” I felt my ire heating up. “What reason could he possibly have to hurt my sisters?”

Rafe shrugged. “He’s a beast of darkness now. Who knows what he would do, or why.”

I glared at him. “You’re wrong. Aydin took a vow to Saint Geraldine that he would protect the Hatchets. He’d never go back on his word.” Saint Geraldine was one of the very first knights in the order, but she was a mummy now. Or at least her head was a mummy. Suffice to say she still lived despite existing over nine hundred years without the rest of her body.

Rafe blew a blast of air out his nose. “How can you be so sure? You hardly even know each other.”

“I know him better than I know you.”

He looked stunned for a second, but quickly recovered. His eyes hooded as if he were bored. Though we hadn’t ordered anything, Rafe threw a couple of bills on the table and stood. “Let’s not keep your grandmother waiting longer than she already has. She needs you. And you need her.”

What I really needed was to be away from Rafe for a while. He’d been wearing on my nerves ever since we left Quebec and after seeing his hostile attitude toward Aydin, I’d rather be alone. Rafe’s ego was big enough to fill a small planet.

We finished our drive to Golden, Colorado, in awkward silence. I was angry and Rafe was…who knew what. Angels were hard to read. He appeared deep in thought, but he also seemed to be sulking.

The long, snow-packed driveway leading to my grandmother’s home had tall pines on either side that sparkled with frost. It looked like a fairy winter wonderland.

Rafe stopped the car. “We’re here.”

My gaze wandered over the majestic ponderosas and skeletal aspens that had lost all their leaves. No house in sight. “We are? I don’t see anything but trees and a few big rocks.”

He opened the car door and stepped out, his boots squeaking on the snowy ground. “That’s because it’s protected by a privacy ward.” His hand waved through empty space and like a mirage, the air rippled and gradually formed the image of a house.

No ordinary house, its size made it more like a mansion. Yet it still looked like a classic mountain home of exposed cedar logs and natural stones set into the walls. Awesome.

“Wow,” was all I could say.

“After you,” Rafe said, making a slight bow.

I stepped gingerly over the invisible barrier between the seen and unseen. A massive door on the front porch opened and out walked a woman who could have been my mother’s twin. On closer inspection I saw she was much older, with gray streaks running through her wavy ebony hair, and her frame was more generous than my mother’s had been. My grandmother had meat on her bones.

“Rafael!” she called to angel-man beside me. “And oh, dear lord! Is this our Chalice?”

I felt my cheeks grow hot.

“Yes, Aurora. It sure is,” Rafe said, a genuine smile in his voice. He liked her, I could tell.

“She’s the mirror image of Felicia, rest her soul.” My grandmother pranced down the steps, her breath steaming in the icy air. She hugged a thick wool cardigan closed against her chest and the knitted muffler at her neck trailed behind her. As she came nearer I got a good look at her eyes. Turquoise and gold. Just like mine.

Smiling, she stopped about a foot from me and opened her arms. I knew she expected a hug, but I wasn’t a hugger. I made only one exception, but getting to hug Aydin wouldn’t happen for a while. For my grandmother I compromised, leaning forward to touch my cheek to hers. She smelled like vanilla and cinnamon.

Eyes twinkling, she seemed satisfied with that. “Chalice, I’m so happy you’ve come.”

I was about to say how glad I was to be here when an enormous figure appeared at my grandmother’s back.

“So this is the granddaughter I’ve heard so much about.” The man stood slightly taller than Rafe in his human form, and his hair was black as Aurora’s. He looked mature, but it was hard to tell his age since there wasn’t a speck of gray in his hair. Signs of years gone by and exposure to the elements creased his handsome face. This must be my grandfather.

“Zeke, say hello to Chalice,” my grandmother said.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said to me, a grin tweaking the corners of his mouth. It made me feel like a little girl again. As happy as I was to finally meet my grandmother, my heart swelled at seeing my grandfather. I knew the sacrifice he’d made. He’d been an angel before deciding to become human just so he could marry the woman he loved and be a father to his child. His courage and commitment took my breath away.

“Honey, are you all right?” My grandmother placed a hand gently on my shoulder.

I blinked and sniffed, then rubbed my nose. “I’m fine. Just cold. Can I get a tissue, please?”

Eyes wide, she said, “Of course! Grab that angel of yours and let’s get you two inside to warm up.”

Rafe drew to my side and I jumped ahead before he could touch me. I wanted nothing to do with him right now.

“Welcome to Halo Home,” Zeke said.

I stood at the entrance and stared, wide-eyed, at the vast interior of the first floor. The foyer opened out into the living room, which opened to the dining room, which opened to the kitchen. One great room with a giant round fireplace in its center. This house was way too large for only two people.

Aurora nodded. “I know what you’re thinking. Yes, it’s too big for Zeke and me, which is why we have other Hatchet knights live here with us. This house has become something of a sanctuary over the years, mostly for new knights in training.”

I nodded, though I was puzzled by something Aydin once told me. “I thought it was too dangerous for the knights to live together. Made them vulnerable.”

Rafe studied my face. “Turns out it was more dangerous for them not to.”

My grandmother lifted both eyebrows in agreement. “It’s true that keeping the knights together can make them a target for black veil crackpots.” She shook her head. “Young knights come to us as orphans from time to time and we care for them until they’re ready to go out on their own. It’s a sad but necessary part of being a Hatchet knight. We’re prone to losing the people we’re close to.”

I’d been an orphan too, except I’d had no one to help me but a monastery of monks in Lebanon before I was kidnapped by the leader of the Vyantara.

She tipped her head to one side and said, “Follow me to the kitchen, Chalice. You can help me finish making cookies.” She frowned at the two men and made a shooing motion with her hands. “I’m sure these two can find something to do with themselves.”

Zeke rolled his eyes. “Sure, steal our grandchild so you can have her all to yourself. When is it my turn?”

“When I say so.” She marched toward the other end of the house and I followed.

“I’m sorry to tell you this,” I told Aurora as I watched her tug cookie sheets from a lower cupboard, “but I can’t cook.”

She winked at me. “There’s nothing to it, honey. Have you ever mixed a spell?”

I thought about the summoning ritual I’d performed to bring my fallen angel father across. “Sort of.”

She set the pans on the counter and placed a large mixing bowl filled with dough beside them. “A pinch of this, a dash of that, stir it all together and presto. You’re a cook.”

It couldn’t be that easy.

She handed me a spoon. “Scoop up a teaspoon of batter and plop it on the cookie sheet. Keep doing that until the bowl is empty.”

I stuck my finger in the batter for a taste. Peanut butter. Yummy.

Aurora smacked my hand. “None of that now. You’re as bad as your mother was.”

Wiping my hand on a towel, I asked, “What was she like?”

“Your mother? Headstrong, fearless, determined. A lot like you, I suspect.” She dumped two cups of flour into a large mixing bow. “Felicia was an amazing woman. I wish you’d had a chance to know her.”

“Me, too.” But all I had was one photo. Aydin had rescued it from a fire and saved it for me. It was a precious gift I’d cherish forever.

“You’re very lucky, you know,” Aurora said as she cracked an egg on the side of the bowl. “I don’t know of anyone who’s ever survived the gargoyle’s curse with their humanity intact.”

“I’m guessing you know the whole story about what happened to me?”

“In great detail.”

Of course she knew. She must have her finger on the pulse of the entire Hatchet order no matter how scattered they were. I guessed that Rafe kept her well informed about everything having to do with me. Everything he knew, anyway.

“I also know about the newly made gargoyle who used to be your friend.”

“Aydin is still my friend.” The flutter in my belly reminded me how my feelings ran deeper than mere friendship. “He may look different on the outside, but he’s the same man on the inside.”

My grandmother made a huffing noise. “Don’t be so sure.”

Her too? I plopped a glob of dough onto the pan. “You sound like Rafe.”

She looked at me and arched both her eyebrows. “Oh yes, you gave Raphael a nickname.” She chuckled. “Rafe. It suits him.”

I dug the spoon into the bowl. “I don’t get how he can be so judgy,” I said, then clamped my mouth shut before I could accuse her of being the same. We were just getting to know each other and I wanted her to like me. “I thought angels were supposed to be open-minded.”

“He worries about you, Chalice.”

I frowned, unused to anyone worrying about me unless they had an ulterior motive. It made me wonder if Rafe had one, too. “He’s a bit late, don’t you think?”

“Don’t be so hard on him. Your enslavement by the Vyantara wasn’t his fault.” Her voice sounded soft, but I heard the steel underneath.

“I’ve been on my own for a long time, Aurora. I know what’s best for me.”

She shrugged. “Maybe you do, but you have us now. Isn’t it time to let those who care about you into your life?”

I looked at her. “I’ve done that. Aydin cares about me. He saved my life.”

Aurora’s chest heaved with a sigh. “Okay, I’ll give you that. We would have lost you if not for him.”

Nodding, I said, “Exactly my point. Aydin’s a good man.”

“But he’s not a man anymore. And that’s my point.”

“Rafe isn’t a man, either.”

“Touché.” She scooped a glob of peanut butter out of a jar and dropped it in the bowl she was stirring. “But he could be. It’s what he wants.”

I blinked. “The only way that can happen is if…”

My grandmother gave me a hard look. “Your grandfather and I have been happy together for over fifty years. He was a wonderful guardian angel, and he’s an equally wonderful man.”

My skin heated at the thought of Rafe and I doing the wild thing. I didn’t think of him that way and it wouldn’t be right. It was hard enough being friends with the guy. He was more like an overprotective big brother than anything else.

I rapidly dropped more dollops of dough onto the pan. “He and I don’t really know each other.”

“That will change with time.”

“He’s not my type.”

“You two are more alike than you think.”

This conversation was making me more uncomfortable by the second. “Don’t get your hopes up. I have other plans.”

She folded her arms across her chest and waited for me to go on.

“Aydin won’t be a gargoyle much longer.”

Her expression softened when she said, “Honey, I know it’s hard to accept, but once humans have transformed—”

“They can become human again by eating the heart of their bonded gargoyle.”

Her eyes squinted in thought. “That old myth? Chalice, you’d have to kill a gargoyle to take its heart. The creature would turn to stone so fast you’d never get hold of it in time.”

I glanced behind and around me to make sure we were alone. I peeled back the shield on my senses and heard murmurs from both men in the other room as well as three distinct heartbeats somewhere else in the house. I knew my grandparents had other knights living with them and the three I sensed were far enough away they couldn’t see us.

I reached inside my inner jacket pocket and touched the warm chunk of polished stone that was Shojin’s heart. It seemed to pulse in my hand, though I knew my imagination got the best of me. The heart was just as dead as the gargoyle it came from.

Treating it like a fragile piece of glass, I held it out for my grandmother to see.

She looked puzzled before recognition brightened her eyes. “Oh, my.”

I smiled, feeling warm affection for the gentle monster the heart had come from. “This is the heart of Aydin’s gargoyle. All he has to do is eat it and he’ll become human again.”

“But how…?” She swallowed. “I don’t understand. It should have shattered along with the beast when it turned to stone.”

I slipped the heart back into my pocket. “I know, but there’s a reason that didn’t happen. It’s a long story.”

The mixing bowl I held grew suddenly warm. Glancing down at the lumps of dough on the pan, I saw steam begin to rise as if the cookies were baking. What the hell? The edges were turning brown and they weren’t even in the oven.

The wooden spoon in my hand exploded in flame.

“Oops,” said a quiet voice from the doorway.

I threw the spoon onto the stone-tile floor and stomped on it to put out the flames.

“Rusty! What have I told you about using cloaking spells in the house?” My grandmother soaked a towel under the faucet and tossed it over the smoldering spoon. “I hate it when you sneak up on me like that.”

Sneaking? I was more concerned about the fire. Even so, the very idea of a cloaking spell that could evade my senses had me worried.

Aurora crouched down and mopped up the mess of burned wood and ashes. “Honestly, Rusty. What were you thinking?”

“It was a joke,” said the young woman who stood leaning against the counter. “I didn’t mean for anything to catch on fire.” Her hair was the color of flame, long and wavy, and she appeared close to me in age. Maybe a year or two older and about five inches taller. Forest-green eyes reflected an odd combination of confidence and uncertainty. Her gaze flicked over me, then back to Aurora. “I thought it would be a fun way to introduce myself.” Her mouth tilted in a smug smile.

My grandmother shook her head and tossed the ruined towel in the sink. “Chalice, this is Rusty, one of the Hatchet knights staying with us.”

My heart fluttered. A sister knight, and she stood right in front of me. This was a moment I’d been longing for, but I somehow didn’t feel all that pleased to meet her. Rusty’s choice of introduction left a bad taste in my mouth, not to mention burned fingers.

“Hello, Rusty.” I blew on my hand. “I’d shake your hand if it wasn’t for the blisters.”

Aurora grabbed my arm to haul me to the sink. She flipped the knob on the faucet and cold water flowed over scorched flesh that was already starting to heal.

“Honestly,” my grandmother mumbled. “Rusty can be such a show-off.”

“Sorry, Chalice.” Sincere regret shone in Rusty’s eyes and my irritation waned. She was my sister. I couldn’t stay mad at her forever.

I grinned. “No worries. It’s already healing. See?” I waved my pink fingers at her.

“No wonder I have so many gray hairs,” Aurora said as she tossed me a fresh dish towel to dry my hands.

Another young woman, her small stature and dark complexion in sharp contrast to Rusty, joined us in the kitchen. She was about my height and had an ethnic cast to her features; her shoulder-length hair was stick-straight and shiny as black glass.

“Hey, Natalie,” my grandmother said. “This is Chalice.”

“Hello,” I said, happy to meet another sister.

She waved a small hand. “Hi.”

An awkward silence followed.

“You’ve witnessed Rusty’s ability firsthand,” my grandmother said as she tossed a glare at my red-haired sister. “Natalie has a unique talent for finding things.”

I was pretty good at finding things, too. I wondered if she shared my freakish anomaly of heightened senses. “That’s a handy skill to have.”

“I’m a psychometrist,” Natalie said.

Oh, yes. I’d met a few psychometrists in my previous line of work. They were clairvoyants with a unique ability to read psychic impressions that people left on objects. There were some who could even recite the history of things that were hundreds of years old. The Vyantara had often used psychometrists for authenticating the cursed and charmed objects I stole for them.

When the phone rang, everyone jumped. I imagined recent bad news to be the cause, though its delivery would have come via angel and not fiber optics. It was obvious that the nerves around here were strung as tight as a hangman’s rope.

Rusty snatched the wireless phone from its cradle on the wall. Her expression tense, she nodded and murmured something in the receiver before hanging it up.

“A fire broke out in a farmhouse outside of town.” She glanced at each of us, her expression grave. “The snow slowed it down, but flames are playing leapfrog in the treetops and spreading fast.”

Aurora put her hand to her chest. “Dear Lord. Was that the fire chief?”

Rusty nodded. “The fire’s almost out of control so he’s calling all volunteer firefighters.”

A firestarter who fights fires? That’s a switch. “Is there anything I can do?” I asked before thinking. Fire scared the crap out of me.

“No, Chalice, but thanks anyway.” She flashed a smile faster than I could blink. “Natalie, will you drive?”

Natalie nodded.

Rusty trotted to a closed door near the front of the house and yanked it open. Coats and jackets dangled from hangers and she pulled one free.

Aurora had followed her and I was right behind. “I think you should take Chalice with you,” my grandmother said.

Rusty blinked in surprise. “There’s nothing she can do.”

“Yes, there is.” Aurora looked at me, her face tight with concern. “We have a room stacked with boxes that contain the curses and charms Quin Dee brought to us.”

Quin. I’d never forget the angel whisperer who got killed because of me, though the angels had made sure he didn’t stay dead for long. My heart tripped over itself at the memory of his sudden and welcomed resurrection.

“The knights need protection at all costs,” my grandmother added in a voice edged with panic. “We can’t lose any more. Chalice, will you help them?”

“I’ll do what I can,” I said, my brain whirring as I tried to remember what all had been in that stash of hexed objects. It was Aydin’s pilfered treasure that he had entrusted to Quin. He’d wanted to make sure my sisters would have them someday. My job would be teaching them how to use each one. “I’ll grab a charm or two that could be useful.”

Rusty huffed out a breath. “We don’t have time for this. The chief said the fire is reaching a critical point.”

“I’ll hurry.” I followed my grandmother to a room in the back of the house.

It was all here. Every old rusted trunk, rotted wooden crate, ancient cardboard box, barrel and jar. I felt their power the moment I crossed the threshold into the storage room, but I was immune to their effects. Having endured the gargoyle’s curse, I could handle these objects with impunity, as could Aydin. My sister knights could not.

I scanned the stash, remembering what most everything was, and reached for a weathered old ox horn. It had special properties that would be useful in a fire.

I ran outside, where Natalie and Rusty were already sitting inside a battered old red Jeep.

Rafe marched toward me. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I scowled. “Since when do I have to check in with you?”

“Since the day I became your guardian.”

Which was little over a month ago and I still wasn’t used to the idea. “Is that part of the deal?”

“More or less.”

I shrugged. “Well, I’m going with my sisters. You do whatever you want.”

He raised an eyebrow, looking superior and irritating the crap out of me. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Chalice!” Rusty stuck her head out the open window. “Are you coming? Or would you rather wait for the entire town to burn down first?”

I lurched toward the Jeep and Rafe grabbed my arm. He dipped his chin. “You don’t want something to accidentally slip from your pocket, do you?”

I blinked. Shit. I still had Shojin’s heart. When I started to hand it to Rafe, he backed away. “I can’t touch it.”

Damn.

“Give me one more sec,” I shouted at Rusty, then ran around to the back of the house. A large ponderosa tree stood sentry there, a ring of melting snow at its base. I grabbed a stick to dig in the slightly frozen ground, creating a hole just big enough to conceal the heart. I buried it, then packed a few handfuls of snow on top. That would have to do for now. I’d find a better hiding place when I got back.