Hecate's Spell (Monsters and Gargoyles #7) - Lacey Carter Andersen Page 0,9

now, that’s what I need more than anything else.

“What do you know of her?”

Blaise is quiet for so long that I think he might not have heard me over the roar of the engine before he speaks. “She’s a dangerous monster. Gargoyles have hunted her unsuccessfully for years. And that if you get too close to her, she’ll kill you. Usually, she has a number of beasts that hunt the areas around her swamp. And she tends to move from place to place.”

“Yes.” I’d heard the same.

“Orion.” He clears his throat. “Are you going in here as a gargoyle or a--?”

“Not a gargoyle.”

My mind slips back to the days before my brother’s death. We rarely hunted monsters unless tasked with it. Most of our time was spent creating a beautiful community in the sanctuary and searching out gargoyles who hadn’t awakened. We’d try to get them to shed their stone form and join us, before too much time passed and they weren’t able to awaken anymore. We enjoyed what we did. We laughed. We joked. We spent time together staring up at the stars and talking about how one day we would find a mate, have a beautiful child, and be one happy family. We had lost three brothers over hundreds of years of fighting to defend our master’s lands until finally awaking the last time to find our master and our lands gone, then going to the sanctuary and starting a new life.

It was just him and I. All the time. Until the day. The day everything changed.

“I never enjoyed the hunt,” I admit. “I enjoyed spending time with my brother. I enjoyed being free...and having hope. If I never kill another monster again, I won’t care.”

“I hope she asks questions first and shoots after,” he says.

I don’t say it, but I agree.

“Maybe…” He hesitates, then continues. “Maybe I should go first and smooth things over.”

Every muscle in my body tightens. Blaise is important to me. Like a little brother. In the time we’d spent together, he’d worked to repair my soul, and I’d worked to keep him safe, even if I didn’t tell him that. He prides himself on being a warrior, but his body is still more fragile than my stone form. It worries me. And the thought of sending him alone to face a monstrous swamp beast...well, it makes me sick.

“I can do it, Orion,” he says, one of his brows raised.

“Stop that,” I mumble. I hate when he seems to read my mind. “We’re spending way too much time together.”

“I can handle a little mon--” He stops mid-sentence and gives a very umanly shriek as he leaps from one side of the boat to the other. I glance into the water and see a massive alligator right next to our boat.

I laugh.

“Those things are like prehistoric monsters!” he shouts back at me.

I laugh harder. Blaise is a brave fucker, but his fear of creatures he deems “creepy prehistoric animals” is hilarious. I have no idea how a man lives as long as he has and still fears things like them.

My gaze meets his, and I realize he’s smiling. “It’s nice to see you happy,” he says, then turns around.

Something inside of me aches. No, I’m not happy. How can I be happy when my brother is trapped in the Underworld? My thoughts move to the day of his accident, and then I jerk my thoughts away. If I think about that right now, I’ll completely lose my focus, and we can’t afford that.

“There!” he says.

I stiffen and follow the direction he’s pointing and see a wooden shack on platforms above the swampy water. Instantly, I cut the engine, and we drift until we get to the deck outside the house. Blaise ties the boat to it, and then we’re both staring at the strange house. Candles flicker behind curtains, but we can’t see anything inside.

Blaise climbs out of the boat.

“Wait,” I say. My heart’s racing. I’m so close to finding out how to reach Andros, but I won’t trade one brother for another. “I can go with you.”

Blaise locks eyes with me. “We don’t want to fight if we don’t have to. You might be some stone giant, but I’ve got skills too, including people skills.”

“Blaise…”

“I’ll be careful. Promise.”

Then he turns and walks around the house to where the door must be. My heart hammers. Blaise is six-foot-seven and a controlled kind of muscular. He has also lived nearly as long as I have, and