1. Luke

ONE

Luke

T he bitter sea air slapped me in the face with icy gauntlets, freezing rain soaking me through.

Where have you gone?

I shouldn’t be out here in the dead of night, struggling with the holes in my memory. But to hell with the shivers, the soggy pajamas, and the impending hypothermia. I wanted to find the missing pieces.

Where have you gone?

While Asher, my personal gargoyle bodyguard, slept in my bed, I’d crept outside. He’d be mad at me for coming alone, but what he didn’t know wouldn’t annoy him.

Go back to bed, my inner voice told me. Snuggle. Be dry.

I swiped the voice away, not wanting to get all warm and fuzzy over Asher right now. The mind holes would not be quiet.

How about revealing your secrets, then?

Gaps in my memories. At least, I thought there were gaps. I wasn’t sure. This might just be a side effect from the milky potion suppressing my new power, making me believe there were nonexistent problems in my brain.

Stupid potion. It still let me turn invisible and receive weird visions about an icy prison, but the new additions were locked away by its suppressing magic.

Hmmm.

With zero recollection of its arrival, I’d developed the ability to steal the abilities of others, bending them to my will. Like the fire and flight abilities I’d taken from the chimeras who’d attacked Brinecrest a couple of nights ago.

But when the hell did I receive this upgrade? When did I become a potential threat that needed to be kept on a leash by this suppressing potion?

I balled my hands into fists, my rage churning like the dark water before me. All this time, a thieving power sat inside me and Seth kept it under control by administering the potion every time he sucked my cock after a game of chess.

Never again.

Never. Ever. Again.

Seth. That liar. That manipulator. Once a man to give me pleasure, now a man to fill me with regret.

Damn him.

Okay, so I guess it was best for me to take the potion and keep my powers at bay for everyone’s safety, until we figured out what to do with me.

I mean, I could also end the motes. Devour them and puke them back up as nasty goo. Which opened up the possibility of obliterating them, allowing the gargoyles to return to Gula—their home world—and end their days as our protectors.

Was that my destiny?

This cautiousness left a nasty taste in my mouth. This power was mine . Mine. Mine. Mine. Out of reach, locked away in cage. Kept from me.

I want what is mine a dark voice whispered.

Too right. Screw Seth, the wretched gargoyle weaver. Grind his face into broken glass, make it hurt, make him bleed, obliterate him.

My temples throbbed, the cold biting harder. I left the peninsula’s tiny beach and plunged into the familiar vision of the icy prison.

A vertical tunnel of ice stretched above my head, many windows embedded into the smooth surface, poisonous snakes behind each one.

I wept, so cold, desperate to be free.

“Must get out. Must get out.”

“Stay…” another voice said. “You must stay. You cannot leave.”

I whimpered, slamming a fist into a window. The glass shattered, slicing my hand open. Two snakes slithered out, falling onto the ice beside my feet. They thrashed in death, their venom seeping into the ice as their hearts beat for the last time.

Poison. It seeped into me. Always inside, never leaving. Always, always, always.

“I lost you,” I sobbed, blood running down my arm. “I lost you because I…” I couldn’t finish, the pining unbearable.

“Let me out. Let me out. Let me out.”

Laughter. Rage. My fists breaking another window, the cold too much, the poison too much.

Everything too much.

Snakes spilled and died and I screamed.

Screamed for everything.

Screamed for?—

The vision collapsed, shoving me back onto the beach. I lumbered forward, falling to my knees in the wet sand.

“Crap.”

Damn vision. A possible warning of a future attack from Ember, a result of my apparent clairvoyancy.

A cluster of blue motes drifted past my face, glittering as if they were the most innocent particles to ever float by.

No chance.

Motes granted humans magical abilities while also making the monsters that plagued our world. Burped up from the bowels of the earth through mote vents, glittering away as they sowed their chaos.

And indestructible until my latest development.

Mote enchanters were able to use the energy of the motes to create potions or charms—some more skilled than others.

I snarled at the specks as they moved down the beach. A second purple cluster shot into the sky, sucked up by a funnel of wind.

Ugh. I should go inside, the shivering in my body not only from the cold, but also from craving my powers.

God, I didn’t want to be this creature, furious at being suppressed, salivating over the deadly potential of my skills. It was so exhausting, taking me away from my quest to rescue my brother, Finn, after a monster smashed his built-in gargoyle protection and made him a terror.

I had to get back to saving him, to cure him of his terrible fate. He shouldn’t be a terror—a creature made by a monster consuming its soul, dying in the process. Terrors were immortal tools for the monsters, able to smash gargoyle magic. If they ever escaped the terror houses holding them, they’d rampage and feast freely on humans.

Monsters craved human flesh more than anything, desperate to scare or trick us into giving up our protection. While mostly unsuccessful, it didn’t stop them from trying.

Green light shimmered across my skin, reminding me of the safety net within. No monster could lay a hand, a tooth, a tentacle, or any spiky appendage upon me.

Could I destroy terrors? Could I remove Finn’s affliction and bring back his soul?

My eyes brimmed with hot tears, my heart aching for Finn’s face, his laughter, to hear him talk about his obsession with the RMS Titanic . All of it. I just wanted my brother back.

“I miss you so much.” The wind swallowed my words.

I needed to keep working on a cure for Finn. I still had my pathetic mote enchanter powers, and I’d use them to keep making potions and charms to crack this heartbreaking code.

Never give up.

Why did we have to part on an argument? Pain twinged in my skull as I recalled our screaming match at Crab Cove, everything spinning, spinning, spinning.

Something wasn’t right. What the hell was going on inside my head? The memories of that night were wrong. Lies. Manipulated to hide my new power from me. I only recalled the argument and the monster, not the other stuff Seth said happened.

God, what a blur.

A big wave crashed to shore, almost reaching my feet. I watched the foam, falling into a bit of daze.

Water.

A watery power taken from the monster who hurt Finn.

Water.

Water.

Water.

What was with the water? Why did I fixate on it like this?

Movement cut off my thinking.

A few feet away, the sand moved as if a mole burrowed through it. But moles weren’t native to beaches, as far as I knew.

First came a pink spike, next a crab-like claw.

I folded my arms, rolling my eyes as the rest of the monster popped out of the sand.

“Hello, there!” it called sonorously.

“Pretty big voice for such a little monster,” I responded.

The pink crab-thingy scuttled to the side on skinny legs, waving its right claw at me. One big, humanoid eye blinked on its back. A train of purple seaweed trailed from its rear. The spike stood upright, bursting out of its back close to its eye like a radio antenna.

“How are you, Luke Garland?” it asked.

Monsters always knew our names, and here in Brinecrest they always came with a sea theme.

“Cold,” I answered.

“Come with me to warm those bones. We can talk, we can enjoy some tea together, even?—”

I lifted a hand to shut it up. “Save your crabby breath. I’m not in the mood.”

“But—”

“You really need to try harder.”

It snapped both claws aggressively. “One day, human. One day we will break down your walls and feast upon the bones and the flesh.”

“Uh-huh.”

My indifference didn’t stop its rambling. “We will open the doors of the terror houses and watch as the world falls, as the gargoyles’ work is undone.”

I turned to walk away.

The fucker scuttled closer, staying out of reach. Getting too close would deliver Crabby an arse-kicking from my inner monster repellent.

Oh, go on. Try pinching my leg.

“Foolish Luke. Foolish, foolish Luke,” the crab waffled.

“You okay down there?” Asher’s voice filled my head.

I caressed my amulet, the green stone at the end of the silver chain warm.

“You’re awake?” I said via the special mental connection to Asher this amulet provided.

“I’m on the lighthouse roof,” he answered.

I looked up at my home atop the cliff, just able to make out a figure at the top.

Asher waved.

I smiled, waving back, immediately flooded with gooey warmth.

My Asher.

My lover.

My port in the storm.

We were…I wasn’t sure what we were other than lovers right now. But things were blossoming between us quickly. And I couldn’t wait to see where they went.

He was the yellow against the murkiness of reality, the man making my heart race, my body tingling with delicious desire every time he looked at me.

“Come back inside,” he said. “Let me warm you up.”

My sadness over Finn alleviated somewhat. Further time spent in bed with Asher would chase more of those blues away. Yes, they’d still be waiting to drag me back to sorrowful shadows, but for now they could get lost.

I wanted gargoyle cuddles.

“Can’t have you catching a cold,” he added huskily.

My cock responded to his baritone, sparks licking across my skin.

“Okay. I’m coming.”

“What are you doing here?” I heard the crab monster say. “Will you come for tea and?—”

A sickening crunch had me spinning around.

“Pickles!” I yelled in surprise.

The crab lay flat, twitching, pink gore leaking from a fresh wound where its eye had been. Not dead, its body not melting away in true death. Only the strength and weapons of a gargoyle made that work.

What the hell?

There was a wet noise, the crab wiggling as if something was being pulled out of it.

Fear crawled across my body, killing off the horny sparks. I backed off, ready to run, curiosity keeping my eyes on the weirdness.

“Hello?” I said, a shiver of fear passing over me.

Great. Draw attention to yourself like some horror movie cannon fodder.

The crab stilled. My scalp prickled, the sense of being watched clenching my guts.

Asher landed beside me, his wings outstretched, his skin pebbling with gray stone, his ridged tail curling up behind him like a scorpion’s.

Thank God.

He drew his sword. “I know you’re there, wankers.”

I followed his furious gaze, his amber eyes beacons in the night.

“Who—”

“I smell humans,” he said with a snarl. “No gargoyle protection.”

“There’s more than one?”

Well, he’d said wankers.

“Yeah. Not sure how many. Stay close to me.”

Humans with no protection meant the gas-masked, tongueless humans who wanted me for the ring glued to my finger.

A ring to set Ember free.

Ugh. The burned woman. Another mystery and pain in my backside.

Asher lunged, his sword meeting something solid. Metal clanged against metal, my lover growling as he shoved the attacker back.

There were no marks in the sand. No footprints, no sign of anything to my human senses.

“Stay low, stay close!” Asher barked.

My body obeyed, dipping into a crouch. The whistling of weapons sounded around me, my fear palpable and threatening to weaken my bladder.

God, invisible enemies were the worst.

“Fuck!” Asher roared, parrying another attack. “Show your pissing faces!”

Cowards… They are cowards. Unleash me and I will destroy them…

Yikes.

Something sharp bit me on the back of my neck. I went down onto my belly, rolling onto my side as slimy toxin flooded my veins.

Dammit.

Stars exploded behind my eyes, preceding the tide of darkness that snatched me away into unconsciousness.