"There seems to be some confusion," Etude said, gesturing to the gargoyles surrounding us. "Everyone seems to think Bis is going to do this great thing. But this is my son we're talking about. We all know the mistakes he's made, the errors he sings."
The gargoyles watching nodded, their eyes showing impatience. Not liking their attitude, I cocked a hip. "He's saved my life more than once."
"All I'm saying is that it's a lot to put on someone so young," Bis's dad said. "He's only forty-seven."
"He told me he was fifty!" Jenks exclaimed.
Etude's wings opened, and I backed up in alarm, but he was only making the jump to the flat slab of cement. My expression blanked as he came forward on widely spaced toes. My God. He was huge. I froze, and Jenks darted away when the gargoyle put a sinewy, lightly furred arm over my shoulders, towering over me. "You and I both know that Bis is a good kid, but he's just a kid," he said softly, shifting his wings to block the other gargoyles' sight of us.
Unnerved, I let him move me forward back onto the softer ground and away from the others. "They're calling him the world breaker," I prompted, and Etude snuffed, his pricked ears going flat for a moment. He smelled like an iron bell, and somehow it made my teeth hurt.
"He's my son," he said. "He's bonded to you-a demon. I can see it in your aura. This isn't what I wanted for him. Everyone wants their child to grow up a little better than they are," Etude continued. "Settle down, raise a few goyles. Sing songs that resonate with the universe."
"That's not what I want for my kids," Jenks said.
"I accept his choices," Bis's dad said, far too reasonably to make me comfortable. "Even if it means that he might have to live in the ever-after and never see the stars again."
"I wouldn't make him do that," I protested, and his hand on my shoulder tensed, his claws pinching me for a bare second in warning.
"But you and I both know that Bis is not a great hero. He is a lob-winged klutz."
My mouth dropped open, and I pulled out from under his wing. "Etude, I think you have sold your son short," I said, facing him squarely, not liking that I had to look up at him. He was the size of a small elephant. "Your son, at the tender age of forty-seven, found and pulled my soul out of the ley lines when I had hardly a scrap of aura left to find it." I jabbed a finger up at Etude's bare, well-sculptured chest, and the gargoyle took a step back. "He jumped me to the only person possibly able to keep me alive," I said, following him, chin raised as I got into his face. "He sang me two resonances that exist in one line so I could repair it!"
"Ah, Rache?" Jenks said, hovering over Etude's shoulder, looking worried.
"That line right there," I said angrily, pointing. "The one that you are all clustered around like it's the last fire on a never-ending night! Right now, Bis is in the ever-after playing patty-cake with a psychotic demon who is trying to destroy the ever-after. He's trying to learn all the lines in an ungodly short amount of time so we can save your fuzzy asses!"
"Rache?" Gargoyles were winging in from all over, their black shadows landing menacingly in a large circle.
"If your son is the world breaker, I'm going to see him through it!" I shouted.
Shaking, I dropped back, suddenly aware that glowing red and gold eyes watching me were backed by strong muscle that could wring dust from a rock like water from a sponge. But I wasn't done yet. "Now you all can stay in my graveyard because I know the lines suck right now, and if they are giving me a headache, you must be in agony. But if you ever call Bis a lob-winged klutz again, I'm going to hunt you down at noon and chip your ear off!"
"Ah, Rache?" Jenks warbled.
"What do you want, pixy?" I snarled, my knees shaking as I stood with my hands on my hips.
"Never mind."
Etude was eyeing me, his big red eyes assessing, and my arms somehow got tangled up over my middle. I knew it made me look afraid, but I was trying for pissed. I was both. "Perhaps," Etude rumbled, his ears perking forward at me, "my son made a wise decision after all in his choice of weaponry. Can you keep him alive?"
His voice had changed, becoming respectful. I took a breath, hearing it shake as I exhaled. "I intend to," I said softly, believing it. Everyone wants me to protect someone. Who's going to protect me? "Down to my last breath."
Etude looked me up and down again. Rising to his full stature, he gestured to someone behind me. I couldn't stop my instinctive half step back, but Etude was smiling a savage black-toothed grin at me when he looked back. "In that case," he said, shifting his wings behind him, "what do you want us to do with these two? We found them skulking about and think they're up to mischief."
"No fairy-farting way!" Jenks exclaimed, and I felt my face flash hot.
"Nick," I said, not surprised, all my bile and anger distilled into that one word. I couldn't help my smirk as I looked at Nick hanging between two gargoyles, his toes inches from the soggy, chill earth. Jax was sitting on the palm of another gargoyle, his wings tattered and his back to us, clearly wishing he was somewhere else. The hand of the gargoyle holding him was radiating a visible gentle heat, and seeing him, Jenks swore loud enough to make his son's shoulders come up to his ears.
I didn't care if Nick could read the emotions on my face. None of what I was feeling was particularly nice: satisfaction, maybe, that we-well, someone, anyway-had caught him; anger that he had slapped me; hatred that he had betrayed Ceri and Pierce to their deaths. That Ivy and I had downed him in the museum was only a minor consolation.
He was here to steal the rings, and I felt my pocket to reassure myself they were still there. Thank God the garden was full of bright eyes tonight. Jenks's wings were turning blue from cold, but he hovered before Nick, looking as ticked as I felt. "Nick, Nick, Nick," I said, hands on my hips. "I wish I could say it was a surprise."
Sullen, Nick grimaced from the pain in his shoulders. His face had a swollen bruise, and I wondered if Ku'Sox had beaten him because he hadn't gotten the rings from us. He said, "Are you going to let me explain, or just assume you know what's going on?"
The corner of my eye twitched. "Hold him," I said curtly. "Keep him on holy ground. Jenks, get a strap, will you?"
"Holy crap!" the pixy said as he realized the danger Nick could turn into, then darted to the church, leaving an unsettlingly thin band of dust to show his path. Hearing his wing hum fade, Jax went scarlet. His wings were tattered beyond belief, but the main lines were undamaged. He'd recover. For all his anger, Jenks had been careful.
The surrounding gargoyles moved their wings, whispering in elephant tones as they chuckled at my precaution. "He won't evade us," Etude said, his voice holding a mocking assurance, and I tapped the line to make every single gargoyle's ears prick.
"That demon I told you about?" I said, pulling in the clean energy and filling my chi. "The one that has Bis? He can drop into this piece of crap like he's an old slipper."
Etude's tail curved up into a question mark, and Nick grunted as the sharp claws holding his shoulder pinched.
"So you don't mind if I strap him, do you?" I added, walking a sodden heel-toe, heel-toe toward Nick over the grass. "Simply being on holy ground won't stop Ku'Sox from taking over Nick. A strap, though, will at least prevent Ku'Sox from using a line if he should feel the need to drop in and see how his favorite human is doing. Our agreement to leave me alone aside."
"Ku'Sox isn't possessing me," Nick said, and I shrugged.
"Things change." I stopped before him, feeling confident with my belly full of energy and fifty gargoyles backing me. "Are you telling me you don't do-o-o-o that anymore, Nicky baby? Forgive me if I don't believe you." Maybe I shouldn't be so cocky, but I was so angry at Nick that I was beyond caring.
The gargoyles had hoisted him up, giving me the impression of him being crucified. Nick squinted down at me, clearly hurting. "You were right," he said, his words thready from the pain in his back and shoulders. "Ow. I'm here to help. Will you stop hurting me?"
The grinding sound of rocks had to be laughter, and a tiny thrill of anticipation dove through me. Oh, please . . . "I'm right, huh?" I said as I cocked my hip. "Right about what? I've said so many things about you." Hurry up, Jenks. I'm no good at monologues.
Nick's feet twitched, and a gargoyle hissed. "Trent is licking his boots," Nick said, unable to meet my eyes. "You were right. Ku'Sox doesn't need me anymore. I want to help you."
I leaned in, ready to smack his feet away if he tried to kick me. With two gargoyles holding his arms, it might be a really bad life choice. Because of him, Ceri and Pierce were dead. My eyes narrowed. "We don't need you either, Nick."
The door to the back of the church slammed into the siding, and I turned, backing up out of Nick's reach. A silver sparkle arrowed to us leaving a bright trail; the time inside had warmed Jenks up as I had hoped. It was too cold for him to be out here. Tomorrow wasn't going to be any better. How was I going to convince him to stay home? He would see through any excuse.
Ivy was behind him, moving fast until she found herself among the hulking shapes and she slowed to a respectful pace. One of her katanas was in her grip, and she lowered the tip, becoming a slow-moving shadow as the gargoyles responded to her with pricked ears.
"Strap the fairy louse," Jenks said as he dropped the flexible band of silver-cored plastic into my hand.