AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But the others hadn't stopped chanting. If anything, they'd only gotten louder, to drown out the intruder's voice.
"For the last time, stop that before I set fire to something!" the man roared. He shoved between Octavia and Wystan, breaking their joined hands, and grabbed the glowing heart from the centre of the salt circle. He held it up in one meaty fist and squashed it to a pulp, then threw it into the bush. "Now, which of you came up with this stupid scheme?"
They all looked at each other. The idea had been Callie's, for it had been her spell book, but they owed this stranger nothing.
Callie stepped forward, chin jutting toward the stranger as her eyes flashed. "Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing on our property? You'd better have a good answer for me, or I'll curse you so completely you'll wish we'd opened a portal and shoved you through it."
The man snorted. "You've never seen hell, Calliope, and none of you would survive a day there."
Callie's hands balled into fists. "Last chance, arsehole. Name, and what you're doing here, before we throw you the fuck off our property and call the police."
Wings popped out of the man's back, bigger than Harlow's, as horns sprouted from his head and he took a distinctly reddish cast.
"I'm Sean Bell, and this is my property, and has been since the day the Governor gave it to me," the demon growled.
TWENTY-NINE
They went from chanting to swearing in a moment, as even Callie looked pale at the demon standing outside all her protective bespelled circles. But no one was game to run. Besides, where would they run to? They were home, and this demon, if he really was Sean Bell, had to know this place as well as they did. He'd owned it since he'd married Carline Steel.
A crazy idea came to Octavia, along with courage she had not known she possessed. "You won't hurt us, because we're your great-great-great granddaughters. You invited us here, to live in Bell House, to keep us safe. Carline summoned you the night the mill burned, didn't she, and you married her."
The demon blinked at her. "Which one are you?"
"Octavia Bell," she answered, then added, "Sir." It seemed sensible to be at least a little respectful. He was her ancestor, after all.
He nodded. "The younger sister. The maiden, not the mother."
Octavia felt her cheeks grow hot. If that bloody burglar hadn't stolen her condoms, she'd have done the deed with Harlow, and she wouldn't be a virgin any more.
"Was this your idea, young maiden?" Sean asked, waving at the circle.
"I just wanted answers," Octavia said.
A delighted grin appeared on the demon's face. "Oh, that's precious! You wanted to summon a demon just to talk? When you could have asked for anything? You're even more of an innocent than my Carline was!" He rubbed his hands together. "Well, seeing as you're the first of my descendants to actually discover the truth on your own, I suppose it would be nice to have a proper conversation, without having to hide anything. I don't suppose you have anything to drink in this house of yours, hmm? Temperance was a terrible thing, when it was in vogue..."
Octavia wasn't sure how it happened. One minute, they were standing outside, staring at a demon, and the next, they were sitting in the lounge room with cider bottles in hand, with a man who wouldn't have looked out of place in public, not a wing or horn to be seen. The same couldn't be said about the three gargoyles, though. Wystan, Harlow and Stan all had their horns out, bristling if Sean so much as looked their way.
Grant, on the other hand, looked as human as Sean, with a lazy smile on his face as he held Callie on his lap. Even stranger was that Callie stayed there.
"So, which ones are you? Carline made so many gargoyles, mostly when I was away from home, so I didn't keep track of all of them."
"Grant, Harlow, Wystan and Stanley Steel," Grant drawled, pointing at each man in turn.
Sean's eyes widened. "Oh, you were her first! She never was sure whether the spell had been successful, seeing as bloody William never did tell her where he'd buried your bodies. I don't suppose you'll tell me? Carline had her suspicions, of course..."
"East Perth Cemeteries," Alethia said softly. "But on the edge of one of the more recent burial grounds, with buildings on top of the graves. Almost like someone had wanted to give the bodies a decent burial, but didn't want them to be found."
Sean nodded. "Ah, that sounds like William. Always trying to protect Carline, even if he hadn't the slightest idea how to do it. If he'd buried you at the mill like she'd wanted, she'd never have been in danger, and I wouldn't have had to save her. She and I might never have...well. But I'd like to think that destiny brought us together." He turned to Octavia. "So, how did you find them, to summon them?"
Callie was the one who answered, "I found Carline's spell book, and we went to the cemetery to summon a demon. We only had a pig's heart, and we got interrupted then just like we did tonight, so we never completed the spell. I think it was a combination of the incantation calling for the demon's help, and the urgency when the security guard appeared, that woke the foundation sacrifices," Callie said. "You guys, I mean."
Harlow leaned forward. "How did you break the curse on Grant? Turn him from gargoyle to human again?"
Callie eyed Grant. "I'd like to think it was him gorging himself on my pies, but I don't think that's what it was. The book says that to break the curse, you have to melt a heart of stone. A friend told me it's not so much literal melting as a metaphorical thing. The protector has to become more fully himself, to willingly choose the path fate would have had him walk if he had never been cursed."
Grant slapped his thigh. "See? I told you! It was all the sex. Fate wanted me to seduce you, then marry you, so that you would feed me as many pies as I could stomach. We did all that and more!"
Octavia had never seen Callie blush before. Callie didn't blush ever.
