Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) by Lisa Blackwood Page B

business with the
discipline all soldiers adopted if they wished to survive long on a
battlefield.
    Lillian, on the other hand, seemed much less impressed
and far more worried. “This was a stupid idea. It’s going to end badly.
Hell, it’s one of my ideas, of course it’s going to end badly. We should head
back and go get the others. We need reinforcements. The collars will do gods
know what if we’re endangered.”
    Gregory agreed with her on all points, but he’d taken
note of something concerning when he studied the immediate area outside the
building’s main entrance.
    “Do you see those five vehicles parked in
the front? They are being loaded, not unloaded.”
    Lillian stopped dead, and Gregory had to sidestep at
the last moment so he wouldn’t run into her.
    “Oh shit.” Her tail flicked
in agitation. “They are packing up supplies, or more likely shipping samples
elsewhere for more in-depth study. By the size and number of vehicles, they
must be planning to move something they deem important. Look at that fire
power.”
    “Indeed, they are well armed,” he
acknowledged. “And we may not have much time. If they have a Riven or have
captured Whitethorn and Goswin, then we can only assume they will not waste
time in moving them to a more secure location.”
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Lillian’s stomach tied itself in knots. If Whitethorn
and Goswin were still alive, they needed rescuing. She wanted to help
accomplish that. Yet, handicapped by the collars as they were, she feared for
Gregory’s safety, too.
    He looked vulnerable with no natural weapons or
protective spells at the ready, just the fragile covering of his uniform. Was
this how Gregory viewed her when she was merely a dryad?
    “You worry too much,” he
sent with another mental command to relax. “ The Divine Ones have always
protected us.”
    “Yeah, when they aren’t demanding we die
for the cause, or while having their baby.”
    “Lillian!”
    “Sorry,” she mumbled, but
she wasn’t feeling very repentant.
    She still thought it was grossly unfair they demanded
their Avatars not know physical love, and yet allowed them to crave it. Damn
double standards. Or something along those lines. That particular discussion
was a fight for another day.
    When they reached the community center’s main
entrance, Gregory uttered a similar statement about Resnick a second time. They
were again granted entrance into the facility.
    Lillian squeezed herself between the four guards and
on into the building, being careful to stay close to Gregory. “Not to
concern you, but I’m fast running out of shadows to hide in.”
    “Easy, love,” Gregory said with
humor clear in his mind. “I’ve been cloaking you for the last five minutes.
I saw your growing wariness. You’ve done very well up until now, but if I could
have left you outside, I would have.”
    Gregory bypassed the elevators and opted for the
stairs.
    “Of course they’d keep the damn Riven
below ground, far from any useful windows we could use as an escape.”
    “A prison should not make escape easy.”
    They arrived in the basement. Lillian’s first look
inspired the words clean, bright, and downright sterile. She no longer smelt
the Riven taint as strongly as before either.
    It took her a moment to pinpoint what was different.
Ah, there was no more rumble of the A/C units on the roof. The night was cool
enough they’d shut down. Without the ventilation system circulating the Riven
scent, it grew fainter in their part of the building.
    “The Riven, or its body, isn’t here. It
must be somewhere else. The only way to find it might be to search room by
room.”
    “Or,” Gregory added. “They
already moved it onto one of those transports we noted when we first came in.”
    “We can’t let them transport it elsewhere. We have to
destroy it now before its evil contaminates someone else.”
    Gregory rumbled agreement.
    She scouted further down the hallway. The long
corridor had several