Inferno (The Gryphon Series Book 6) Read online

  Inferno

  A Gryphon Series Resurrection Novella

  Written by

  Stacey Rourke

  Copyright © 2016 Stacey Rourke

  All rights reserved. Published by Anchor Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

  Cover Design by Broken Arrow Book Covers

  Editing & Proofing by There for You Editing, Melanie Williams, and Cheree Castellanos

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Other Books by Stacey Rourke:

  The Gryphon Series:

  The Conduit

  Embrace

  Sacrifice

  Ascension

  Descent

  The Legends Saga:

  Crane

  Raven

  Steam

  Reel Romance:

  Adapted for Film

  Turn Tables coming soon!

  Chapter One

  Hands on my knees, I retched into a nearby bush for the third time since I began my journey. Over half my life had been spent in a hell dimension, during which I witnessed some truly gruesome atrocities. Even so, I had to doubt anything would ever haunt me the way the bone-grinding crunch of Gabe Garrett’s spine snapping did. In the moment of the strike, his stare locked with mine. I watched the shock of pain widen the whites of his eyes before the light of life flickered out. Nothing but a snuffed out future remained.

  He was a good man.

  He was to be a father.

  Now, only from the Spirit Plane would he gaze upon his child’s sweet face.

  Having fought beside the eldest Garrett, and eventually coming to call him a friend, I couldn’t let the details of his disappearance become an unsolved mystery to his family. They deserved to know. She deserved the truth.

  Stretching out my hunched back, I wiped at my mouth with the back of my hand. Celeste’s dorm sat only a parking lot and a quad away. For normal people, running into an ex could prove to a tortuously awkward situation. Celeste and I? We were about to elevate that bar to a whole new level.

  Our relationship defied labels. I was sent to execute her. She learned the truth and responded with a violent rebuttal. I, however, became a demonic traitor just to fight by her side, resulting in her feeling the need to protect me by casting me to the Spirit Plane. Somehow, we found our way back to each other. And, amid all of that, we fell in love. I took a knee before her and offered her my forever. Sonnets are written about the kind of bond we shared … and the occasional naughty limerick.

  If this were a fairy tale, our happily ever after would have followed in a swell of music and lift of doves.

  But, my girl, she’s a hero. In the face of the greatest battle we ever encountered, she sacrificed herself to save us all. Rowan and I both followed her to the Spirit Plane, pleading for the Gryphon to spare her.

  Out of affection for his Conduit, he agreed—with strict terms.

  All of us were brought back, all given normal lives. In exchange, anything supernatural was wiped from our memories, including every moment of our time together.

  The truth of it? They could erase my mind, but they couldn’t touch the scar of her name burned onto my heart. There, she never left. Not for a moment. I couldn’t indulge in another woman, because I knew my heart was spoken for—even if I couldn’t remember her face. Compare it to humming a song, when you can’t quite remember the words. Its mark has been left on you, while the chords of the chorus float just out of your mind’s reach.

  Memory restored by Rowan’s desperation, the entire symphony of her radiance returned to me.

  To her, I was a stranger.

  To me, she was everything.

  There was a thin line between romantic and creepy, I feared I was Highland dancing right along it.

  Proving fate is a cruel mistress with a sadistic sense of humor, the first words I would knowingly speak to her after over six months apart would be of death and gut-wrenching loss. Chances are she would end up hating me. Still, if Celeste could become a gryphon to save the world, I could play the clod that knocked on her door to inform her of her brother’s fate. It was a paltry sacrifice in comparison.

  In my mind, the soundtrack of breaking bone played on a loop once more.

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I swallowed hard to force the memory away. Filling my lungs with a last minute calming breath, I aligned myself to the task ahead.

  Three strides, that’s how far I made it.

  My detour came in the form of a body propelling off a nearby sapling. Feet collided with my ribs, forcing the air from my lungs in a pained huff. Stumbling to regain my footing, my hands curled into tight fists at my sides. The demon within tittered his giddy delight at the prospect of stretching his legs for the first time in months. Assuming a wide-legged stance, I struggled to keep my dark, less than personable side at bay. He doesn’t play well with others.

  Terin, the Conduit of the Phoenix, landed in an easy crouch in front of me. Flames licked viciously in the pools of her gaze.

  “Caleb,” she hissed, the threat in her voice sizzling like live fire. “It’s been a while.”

  Shoulders relaxing to the slightest degree, I greeted her with a brief nod. “Terin, glad tah see ya in the driver’s seat of ye’r own vessel. When did ya’r memory return?”

  A low rumble seeping between her bared teeth, Terin launched for me in a tornadic fury of flying fists. She didn’t pack quite the wallop Celeste did. Still, pit her against the toughest, human MMA fighter and my money would’ve been on the fiery redhead.

  “My sensei awakened me with all the knowledge I lost.” Jab, jab, cross elbow, knee kick: thankfully my reflexes allowed me to block and dodge each while barely breaking a sweat. If she channeled her inner Phoenix and turned up the heat, that would be an entirely different matter. “That includes my calling. I know all too well what I am now.”

  Forearms raised, I shielded my face from her onslaught, taking a few body blows in the process. “Did he … umph … tag on that I’m on ya’r side now? Have been … whoa, there … for a while now. My place on the white hat crew has been firmly established.”

  Corkscrewing into a backspin, her elbow cracked into my chin hard enough to snap my head back. “I am aware,” she stated quite calmly for someone unleashing all of hell’s fury. “All the details for this little melodrama returned to me while some random rugby player had his tongue shoved down my throat. Including the fact that you are on your way to disrupt the Garretts, which I cannot allow.”

  Sweeping her strike in a low block, my lips screwed to the side. “I don’t mean tah alarm ya, but ya may be the first woman ever to gain wisdom in the arms of a rugby player. I have tah ask, lass, could this whole onslaught be because ya can’t get the taste of frat boy and bad decisions out of yar mouth?”

  Planting her feet, she stabbed her fists onto her hips. “Hey! No slut shaming! Even if my human alter ego did seem to be going for some sort of record.”

  Seemingly ticking through the mental roster of her conquests, Terin’s face morphed from annoyance, to disgust, to blind screaming rage. Pivoting on the ball of her foot, she hammered me with a series of roundhouse kicks, followed by a spinning back wheel-kick.

  I dipped into a low crouch, narrowly missing getting my clock cleaned by the side of her foot. “Can I ask why we are doin’ this? Is that allowed?”

  “Because,” fo
rcing the words through gritted teeth, she unleashed a series of body blows meant to tenderize my ribs, “my human self was looking for a release that only a solid spot of violence can relieve. And you, my sinewy leprechaun, are the perfect partner.”

  “You’re not even goin’ tah buy me dinner before I scratch that most intimate itch for ya?” Catching her wrist, I granted myself a momentary reprieve from her onslaught, only to be yanked in to a hook kick to the back of the head.

  A couple—wearing oversized garments that looked desperate for a wash—moseyed passed. Gazing our way with red rimmed eyes, they nodded their appreciation.

  “Our school has the best theater department,” the mate with the man-bun marveled with audible awe, a cloud of Patchouli oil permeating off of him.

  Nodding her agreement, his girlfriend’s dreadlocks bobbed along. “They’re so committed to their art.”

  Guiltily dropping our hands to our sides, we watched them leave in an uncomfortable moment of silence.

  The second they were safely out of earshot, Terin cocked one hip and peered my way with annoyance. “You know, when you say things like that, you sound just like Rowan.”

  Raising my palms to halt any further attacks, I let my shoulders rise and fall in a casual shrug. “Well, I did spend a few centuries with the bloke. Speakin’ of, am I to guess ya’r sudden mystical resurrection had tah do with our boy getting his soul swirled in evil with a dollop of malicious mutt on top?”

  Shaking out her arms, Terin inspected a knuckle she’d split open, most likely on my face. “Colorful description, the human lingo seems to be rubbing off on you. Yes, Rowan is the main objective, but today you were the mandatory target.”

  Clucking my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I dragged my fingers through my hair. “Ay, I was goin’ tah see Celeste. It would seem the Council is worried about the lingerin’ connection between us.”

  Terin blinked my way, face white-washed of emotion. “Gross. The Council has more important issues to concern itself with than your pelvic magnetism for each other.”

  “And yet, here ya are,” I pointed out. Weaving my hands behind my neck, I stretched out my back which had taken a few solid strikes during our rumble.

  Lips pursed in distain, Terin’s head titled. One ginger curl fell into her eyes, and she flicked it away with a toss of her head. “Look, all I know is that the Garretts are exactly where they need to be. All of them. I am under strict orders to ensure you leave them be.”

  “Gabe is dead,” I stated flatly, letting my hands fall to my sides. “He was a brave warrior that I had the good fortune tah fight beside, and now he’s gone. His family has the right tah know he died a hero. I owe them that.”

  Features softening, Terin dragged her tongue over her lower lip. “You aren’t the only one that cares for them. Celeste has become closer than a sister to me. She is more my family than anyone has been in centuries, and—if I am being honest—after seeing her in yoga pants, I’ve got quite the girl-crush on her. Unfortunately, there is some big, bad mojo going down and we need to keep it far away from her and her kin. If she gets her memory back, this realm will be lost to her forever. We can’t allow the wall of the cloaking spell to crack, Caleb. You know that.”

  “There’s no greater anguish than havin’ tah move on without closure.” My accent thickened as I acknowledged for the first time the dull ache in my chest that called out for my sassy little brunette. “I can’t do that to them. I’ll go, tell them what happened and where tah find him, then I’ll disappear from their lives. No cloaks will be ruffled, or memories jogged. I need tah do this, Terin. With or without you.”

  Deep in the pits of her eyes a blaze ignited. Like wildfire it spread, licking over her skin and blowing her hair back in dancing flames.

  “And if I say I can’t allow that?” she asked, threat sizzling through her tone.

  A rolling of my neck and I called water to me, relishing in its cool waves lapping through me. Blue diamonds waved in a hypnotic rhythm up my arms, marking me as her perfect counterpoint. “I’d say ya’r going tah have tah stop me, and you’ve got me feelin’ peckish for a fight.”

  “Ugh!” With an exasperated groan she extinguished her flames. “Fine! If I show you the Garrett family is perfectly content in their mundane existence, will you leave them be so we can get back to the Hellhound hell-bent on sending us all into a tailspin of pain and darkness?”

  “Clevah play on words.” Shaking out my arms, I released the water effects into a salty sea breeze that licked off into the night. “Howevah, one of the Garretts is layin’ cold in an alley. Tha’s a far cry short of the definition of content.”

  Looking more the annoyed twenty-something than a fated chosen one, Terin rolled her eyes skyward. “But if I could?”

  Crossing my arms over my chest, flannel sleeve scuffed against flannel sleeve. “We’re speakin’ purely in fairy tale hypotheticals then? Sure. Show me everythin’ in her world is right as rain, and I will refrain from knockin’ on her door.”

  “Fantastic! Way to be a team player. Come with me.” Terin jerked her head in motion for me to follow. Spinning on her heel, she marched off, her stare scouring the trees that lined the sidewalk.

  Expelling an exasperated breath through pursed lips, I fell into step behind her. “I’m only gonna play along with this ruse fer so long, Phoenix. As ya mentioned, time is of the essence.”

  She came to an abrupt stop in front a towering oak whose leaves were tinged at the tips by autumn’s touch. Glancing from the treetop to the building across the street, and back again, Terin nodded her approval. “This won’t take long. Up you go; defy gravity.” With a casual flick of her wrist, she directed me up the tree.

  Eyebrows raised, I inspected our leafy destination. “I’m afraid I’m gonna need a bit more information tah go on here, lass.”

  “It’s a line from a hit Broadway musical. Get out of the pub once in a while and take in a little culture.”

  Dragging my tongue over my top teeth, I took a silent beat. “I meant the tree, pet.”

  As she combed her fingers through her hair, Terin’s curly strands leapt from her scalp in a messy disarray. “Wow, okay. If all demons need things spelled out to them in this much detail, the Spirit Plane is putting way too much effort into thwarting your kind.” Clapping her hands together, she addressed me with the wide smile and small words of a preschool teacher speaking to a class of young, simple minds. “Celeste’s dorm room is across the street. I know because it’s my room, too. See that pink thing hanging from the curtain rod? That’s my bra—it’s too delicate for the dryer. If you go up this tree, you can look into her room, and see her. ‘Kay? Now, ups-a-daisy!”

  Brow pinched, I waited for the punchline. “Our master plan is tah be a Peepin’ Tom?”

  Waving to a group of girls sauntering to the library, Terin fixed a smile on her face that came nowhere near reaching her eyes. “It’s the only way to get what you want without causing any unnecessary trouble. Stop making it weird and do that demonic poof trick to whisk us up there.”

  “Well, now I know ya’r messin’ with me,” I snorted, looping my thumbs in my front pockets. “You could fly yarself up there, easy as ya please.”

  For a beat she stared, blinking in my direction. “Did you actually go to any classes while you were here on campus? I am a Phoenix. I can only fly when I go full-on flame. Leaves and fire tend to like each other a little too much, and setting the campus ablaze isn’t really conducive to the incognito angle we are shooting for. You pickin’ up what I’m layin’ down here, hot stuff?”

  Dropping my chin to my chest, I peered up at her from under my raven brow. “Ya know, I think I liked ya bettah before the influence of modern pop culture tainted ya with the gift of sarcasm.”

  Terin stepped closer to the tree trunk, tilting her head in one direction and then the other in search of an acceptable perch. “Yeah, well, I liked you better when you weren’t crippled by your need to make goo-goo eye
s at my bestie. Third branch up on the left could hold us both easily.” Craning her neck to glance over her shoulder, she peered my way with a taunting half-smile. “What do you say? You ready to see if she still lives up to that glorified pedestal you placed her on now that you know a pirate pillaged her bootie?”

  “Her bootie is living in an alternate reality,” I grumbled, hearing the audible pout in my own tone and hating myself for it. “It doesn’t know what it’s doing.”

  Before she could argue to the contrary—leaving me no option but to douse the Phoenix in water just to shut her up—I encircled my hand around her wrist and whisked us both up the trunk of the tree in a rolling cloud of black smoke. Familiar with the disorienting rush of solidifying, I called on the wind to draw each floating wisp of our combined entities in tight. The moment Terin’s frame shimmered corporeal, I caught her by the waist and steadied her on the branch. Still, she did involuntary windmill arms. Having traveled with passengers many times before, I expected nothing less.

  “Whoa!” Fingernails digging halfmoons into my forearm, she seized my arm with one hand and the branch with the other. “I take back every snide comment I made. Please, don’t let go!”

  Pinching my lips together to squash a chuckle, I swallowed down my amusement before pointing out the obvious. “Isn’t yar sacred callin’ that of a mythical bird? I didn’t anticipate heights bein’ an issue.”

  “Heights aren’t the problem!” she squawked, burrowing her nails deeper into my flesh. “Plummeting from them is! Wings out here would take this tree out in a fiery blaze, and that ground would sneak up on us real quick!”

  I would like to say I was still listening, or that I took some measure to calm the panicked heroine beside me. Neither was true. Our perch provided the perfect vantage point … one I quickly lost myself in.

  There she sat.

  On her bed with her back to the wall, Celeste’s knees were drawn up to act as a makeshift easel for the sketch pad balanced on her lap. Her hair was twisted up in a messy bun, held in place by one of her art pencils. Gnawing on her lower lip, she used the side of her hand to mute the line she drew.