Gargoyle Saga: In the middle

Chapter 14: A Lift, a Loss and a Sad Goodbye.

Chapter 14: A Lift, a Loss and a Sad Goodbye.

Justin was not a big help when we went from house to house, scientist to scientist, protecting them left right and centre. He bitched, he moaned, he grumbled being dragged around and I was growing tedious every time he threatened me. When I ignored him, he tried to grab me around the throat to throttle me. The last time he did it, I punched him in the face, giving him a bloody nose.

'No more, Justin!' I screamed at him on the outskirts of Barcelona. Squinting, he fell to the floor, writhing in pain. 'You know it serves you right! Stop trying to kill me!'

'I've had enough of this!' he yelled back, thickly. 'Why can't you just kill me now and get it over with?'

I sighed. 'I'm not going to kill you. I want you to try and act human, to at least try and be a nice member of human society. Is that so difficult?'

'Ha!' He barked. 'Likely chance. I'd rather die!'

I rolled my eyes. 'What is up with you and not wanting to be human? It's not a bad thing being human.'

With venom, he spat, 'Humans are pathetic, insignificant worms that need to be possessed and-'

'Shush!' With our magical bond, I pulled him to me and squatted behind a thick prickle bush in front of our last target's house. It wasn't a house, really, more like a dazzling white villa near the sea cliff. It took a while for Justin and me to find it as the road wasn't marked, and my Spanish was acutely crap.

'This is the last one, right?' he snapped.

Anger erupted in me, and I turned on him. 'I would hope so! Do you know how many people you want to kill or possess? It must be in the thousands, and I daresay that Alina's laptop clearly made you guys feel oh-so-special when there were two dozen people all wrapped up on a platter for you. So actually, why don't I ask you? This is the last one, right?'

His eyes flashed with anger but he didn't attack me, he just glared menacingly and left it at that. There was one thing he was learning to do, though it was taking a while: controlling his temper. Yes, I had to admit that mine was getting the better of me lately, but there were too many things that were getting in my way to give me some peace of mind. Too many things were putting me under immense pressure. How the hell was I meant to handle it all if people were giving me these damn tests and challenges?

A security light came on and a little Chihuahua was thrown out of the house followed by a string of rapid Spanish in an angry male voice. Justin smirked. 'That's my kind of man.'

I hated the fact that Justin could understand Spanish. He had spilt the beans on a few things while we were saving people. He told me that demons understood every language, but that they rarely communicated with their prey, as he put it. Demons had their own language. It was only spoken and understood by them and the Ancients.

'I'm not going to ask what-'

'He said "Piss or else I'll eat you."' Justin chuckled.

I punched him on the arm. 'That is not funny! That's an awful thing to say.'

Justin continued to laugh lightly and together we watched the little dog sniff around and do its business.

Suddenly, the fear of evil swept over me. 'Damn it,' I stood up and the dog saw me and began to bark. I shot a spell at it and kept it silent then above me, two winged demons swooped low, landing on the roof. 'Come on!'

Jumping out from behind the bush, I pelted one demon with spells. One spell hit it squarely in the chest. It screeched and then fell off the roof over the other side of the villa. The other demon spun and, seeing me, dove off the side and pounced on me, forcing me to the ground.