Karen Chance - Claimed by Shadow

"You could get hurt! I can't allow you to go out there!" Casanova was practically screaming in order to be heard, and he had a two-handed grip on Pritkin's right arm. "The gargoyles view the kitchens as a sacred trust, as they once did the temples that fed them. They see the Graeae as a threat, but I'll explain-”

"I don't give a damn about your personnel problems," Pritkin snarled, grabbing the vamp by the front of his designer shirt. "Get her to remove my geis, or you will have more trouble than you've ever dreamed.”

"Hey, I'm the one with the geis here," I interrupted. "Remember? If anyone is getting anything removed, it's me.”

"This isn't about you!" Pritkin said as something heavy hit the tabletop and rolled off onto the floor. It was the little gargoyle with the hairnet and the donkey ears, and he wasn't moving.

I dragged him under the table with us but wasn't sure how to check for a pulse, or even if he was supposed to have one. What I was sure about was that the greenish colored blood he was leaking onto the tile wasn't good. "Okay, that's it.”

I crawled out from under the table and stood up. The noise level was unbelievable and, in the few seconds I'd been preoccupied, the kitchen had been completely trashed. Deino had retrieved the eye but was staggering about on the far side of the room, four gargoyles hanging off each arm while another perched on her back, hitting her over the head repeatedly with a rolling pin. Enyo, in all her blood-soaked glory, had the gargoyle with the earrings raised over her head and was about to throw her across the room. The throw alone might kill her, but if not, landing on the knives a grinning Pemphredo was holding out certainly would.

I took a deep breath and screamed, louder than I'd believed possible. The gargoyles ignored me, but the three Graeae stopped and looked at me inquiringly. None of them appeared overly upset. The only expression anyone wore was a lopsided grin on Pemphredo's face. "Stop it," I told them in a slightly more normal tone. "When I said I needed you to fight, I didn't mean them.”

Pemphredo cackled and pumped her fist in the air. Enyo looked at me sourly but sat the gargoyle down anyway, who hissed at her and staggered off, looking dizzy. Deino managed to lurch over to Enyo to hand her the eye, but her sister waved her off less than graciously. Pemphredo came skipping over and plucked it out of Deino's hands, looking triumphant. I suddenly got it. "You were betting on me?”

Enyo slumped onto the prep table, knocking some radish eyeballs out of the way and looking dejected. I wasn't sure why-obviously she could see without the eye, or come to some approximation of it-but she seemed very depressed about missing her turn.

The gargoyles had stopped the attack once their leader was safe, but were eyeing the Graeae with understandable concern. Several of those nearby were starting to check on their fallen comrades, with one pulling Donkey Ears away. His hairnet had come loose, but at least he was starting to come around. I hoped he'd recover, but the only thing I could do for him was to be sure we didn't cause any more harm. I reached under the table and pulled Casanova out by his fancy tie. "Explain to them that we'll be leaving now.”

"We bloody well won't!" Pritkin crawled out, looking like a madman with his bloodstained clothes and matted hair. He scowled about until he located the female gargoyle Enyo had released. "We aren't going anywhere until she removes the geis !”

"Miranda!" Casanova called in a strangled voice, and I realized I might be holding the tie a bit too tight.

The gargoyle came over, but although it was hard to read her fur-covered face, her body language didn't look cooperative. If someone can walk sullenly, she managed it. She poked Pritkin in the stomach, maybe because she couldn't reach his chest. "You well. We sssafe. Good trade." He tried to grab her but she dodged his hands with a fluid movement that seemed impossible unless she'd dislocated something.

Maybe she had, because her ears went back and she hissed at him, showing off a very nonfeline forked tongue. She crossed her arms and took a wide-legged stance behind Casanova, her long tail whipping about behind her.

"I do not deal with Fey affairs," Pritkin said haughtily, as if such a thing was beneath him. "It is of no concern to me whether you are here legally or not. You have nothing to fear. Now, take it off!”

"What's going on?" I asked Casanova, who was straightening his tie. He gave me a less-than-friendly look, which I guess was fair under the circumstances.

"In exchange for healing him, Miranda put a geis on him not to reveal their existence to anyone. If the Circle finds out they're here, they'll be deported.”

"Is that all?" I turned narrowed eyes on Pritkin, who didn't notice because all his attention was on Miranda. Considering the whopping geis I was carrying, I didn't have a lot of sympathy for his tiny one. "If you're not planning to tell on them anyway, what difference does it make? Let's go. Those mages could be back any minute.”

"I'm not going anywhere until she removes it," he repeated stubbornly. The tone made me want to kick him. Instead, I prodded Casanova, who rolled his eyes.

"Miranda-" he began in a long-suffering voice, but she set her jaw. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to.

"Damn it, Pritkin!" I said angrily. "I'm not standing here until the Circle sends someone else after us. You want to talk, fine. Let's go talk. Otherwise, I'm out of here.”

"There's an idea," Casanova said brightly. "I'll call you a car.”

Billy Joe came streaming through the door and got swatted at by half a dozen gargoyles on his way over. Normally, I'd have been surprised that they could see him, but after the day I'd had I didn't even blink. "He's with me," I told Miranda, who nonetheless began hissing at Casanova in the strange language the gargoyles used. She had obviously had enough unwanted visitors for one day.

"Ixnay on the car," Billy said, looking worried. "Is there an exit that bypasses the front, back and side doors? 'Cause they're all being watched.”

"By who?" Now what was wrong?

"Oh, I don't know," Billy replied sarcastically. "Whose mages did you just beat the crap out of? The Circle knows you're here, and they're out there in force. There's gotta be two, three dozen-I stopped counting. The trio we met in the bar was their advance crew, their way of asking you to come along nicely. But considering the way you returned 'em, I don't think they're interested in negotiating anymore.”

"They attacked first," I said defensively, then paused to wonder whether that was strictly true. I hadn't seen what happened in the bar between the time I left and when Casanova and I tuned in to find Enyo throwing down with the mages. If Pritkin hadn't been with them, then they'd walked into a mess not of their own making. No wonder they hadn't been in a good mood when they met us again.

"It doesn't matter," Pritkin said, almost like he'd been reading my mind. "They want you dead. Making it easy for them won't change that.”

I swallowed. I'd suspected that the Circle wouldn't cry much if I had an accident, but hearing it stated so baldly was hard. You'd think I'd be used to people trying to kill me by now, but for some reason it doesn't seem to get any easier. "You sound certain.”

"I am. That's part of what we need to talk about." He looked at Casanova, who sighed.

"There are several emergency exits, but none are good options." He flapped a hand at me. "Can't you do whatever you did earlier, and shift away? With the internal defenses targeting you as well as them, I can claim you came here to bully me for information about Antonio and then left after trashing the place." He glanced around. "Oh, wait, that would even be true.”