and whipped it around. She bashed it off theroadway, breaking its bones and pulverizing its head beforespinning in a rapid circle and releasing the limp body. Thegargoyle soared through the air and crashed through the glass ofanother building with a resonating bang.
More gunfire erupted, cutting down two moregargoyles and splattering them over the road. I glanced over theblood and death surrounding us before focusing on the two remaininggargoyles. They leapt between the buildings, bounding back andforth as they avoided the bullets the humans fired at them.
I flexed my hands, my skin pulling acrosswhere Hawk had shot me, but the wound was almost healed already. Astrengthening due to my bond with River, I realized. I’d alwayshealed faster than the other demons, but not this fast.
“Hold your fire!” I shouted as the gargoylesperched in a crouched position at the top of one of thebuildings.
Their mustard-colored eyes watched us; theirfangs were bared as their tails twitched in the air behind them. Wecouldn’t leave without destroying them; they would only pursue usand draw unnecessary attention to us if we did. We had to kill themand do it quickly.
I’d sent River out of here to keep her safe,but I’d be damned if I remained separated from her for long. Rightnow, there were far too many dangers out there for her to bewithout me.
No matter how much I would have preferred togo with her, I couldn’t. These things had to be destroyed and asmany human lives preserved as possible. I was the biggest weapon wehad against the gargoyles, and turning my back on the humans nowwould almost ensure a mutiny.
Corson would keep her safe. Usually, he waseasygoing and fun for the humans to be around, but when pushed, hecould be almost as lethal and ruthless as me. It was why I’d senthim with her over any of the others.
Fire continued to lick around my wrists as Iwatched the gargoyles. They didn’t speak, but I could sense themcommunicating with each other, plotting their next move. Turningthe hounds lose would do no good. They were ruthless, but theycouldn’t fly or scale the remains of a skyscraper, and I didn’twant the humans to know I was capable of releasing the hounds yeteither.
“What are we going to do?” Bale asked.
“Tear them to shreds,” I replied, “but Idon’t think they’re going to volunteer to come down here and let ushave at them.”
Morax stepped forward and craned his headback to gaze at the gargoyles. “No, they’re going to wait us outand follow us afterward.”
“I’ll burn them down,” I said. “Be ready forthem when I do.”
Shax cracked his knuckles. “We will.”
Stepping over the broken glass, body parts,and gargoyle remains littering the street, I kept my eyes on thetwo creatures perched on the windowsill a good seventy feet aboveme. Saliva dripped down their chins to plop onto the ground ingoopy splatters. My upper lip curled in disgust as I walked intothe building and moved around the pieces of jagged metal litteringthe floor.
The clicking of the gargoyles’ claws on thesteel beams above drew my attention to their shadows moving towardwhat remained of the top of the building. The rusted metal that hadcollapsed into the center of the building stood in odd anglesaround the floor now covered in moss. Creatures, most likely miceand rats, scampered away from me to hide beneath the rubble.
Turning, I tilted my head back to look forthe gargoyles who had moved another ten feet higher. They sniffedat the air before one of them crept cautiously over the side andhalfway down an intact pane of glass. It didn’t come any closer,afraid of the fire around my hands and wrists.
The other one perched on top of the steel,its claws curving around as it scraped back and forth to create aloud screeching noise. From outside, I heard a few humans cry outfrom the sound. My teeth ground together as I willed them to comecloser to me so I could put an end to this and get back toRiver.
Normally, they may have sat up there untilthe end of time, willing to wait all of us out until we died.However, my flesh was the one they’d love to tear into the most,and I was counting on that to lure them both into coming closer.While I may not have been the original varcolac demon to lock thegargoyles behind their seal, I had made sure they stayed lockedaway.
I waited until the other one took anotherstep toward me before shooting a wall of fire up the inside of thebuilding toward them. The remaining glass from the windows blastedoutward before falling to the ground in a crescendo that drownedout the startled cries of the humans. The first gargoyle leapt backbefore the fire could reach it and jumped to the safety of thehigher levels with its partner.
“Son of a bitch,” I snarled, keeping myflames focused on the bracings holding the remains of the buildingup.
Beneath the wall of fire, the steel glowed anorange-yellow color as it heated. The bracings holding the war-tornbuilding together sagged as the metal bent downward. The gargoylesleapt back when the wall sagged beneath their feet.
They scrambled out the window and bolted downthe front of the building when it began to give way beneath thepunishing heat of the flames. Their sticky palms allowed them tostay ahead of the flow of debris as the building rolled over itselfwhile collapsing toward the street. The rumbling sound of it grewuntil it reverberated in my ears and echoed throughout thecity.
I reined the flames back in when gunfireerupted outside again. Rushing forward, I leapt over the rubblelining the floor as the building gave way faster beneath the weightof the collapsing steel beams. I ducked, throwing myself forwardwhen the wall rushed toward the doorway, threatening to block theexit.
Raising my arms, flames shot upward to knockaside the debris looking to bury me beneath its crushing weight. Irolled through the doorway as the building fell with a thunderouscrash that shook the earth.
Leaping to my feet, I jumped over a pickup asone of the gargoyles dove at Verin, knocking her over the fountain.Morax bellowed with rage, rushing forward and leaping onto thegargoyle’s back when it landed beside her. Pulling his hand back,Morax drove his fist through the back of the creature’s head andjerked his arm back, ripping the tongue out the back of thegargoyle’s skull.
Around me, the remaining humans stumbledback, revolted by the thrashing creature. Morax seized its head andtwisted its neck with a violent jerk. It fell forward, collapsinginto the fountain as Verin shoved herself to her feet. Moraxgrabbed hold of her and drew her against his chest to hold herclose.
Turning, I found Bale and a human steppingaway from the remains of the last gargoyle. I recognized the man asCaptain Timothy Tresden, the soldier Mac had assigned to lead thehuman troops. At five foot eight, he wasn’t tall, but he wassolidly built with a thick neck and broad shoulders. His deep-brownskin was splattered with the black blood of the Gargoyle he’dhelped Bale slaughter. Wiping the blood away, he flung it to theground with a flick of his fingers. His sable eyes briefly met minebefore fluttering away to take in the massacre that had taken placearound us.
I looked over the human bodies littering theground before focusing on the survivors. We’d started out withfifty people. Now there were only a couple dozen left. I’d knownthe humans would sustain heavy casualties, but I hadn’t expected itto be in the first full day outside of the camp.
“Shit!” I hissed.
