Heart of Stone Read Online Free Page A
Author: Christine Warren
scrambled away from him.
Damn it, he didn’t have time for this.
Muttering a curse, he closed the distance between them in one long stride and seized the woman’s arms in a careful grip. He intended nothing more than to stop her from fleeing, but perhaps she misunderstood, because the moment that his rough skin touched her, she raised her hands and blasted him with raw magic.
* * *
I have. Lost. My. Mind.
Ella’s first thought upon realizing she was about to be attacked for the second time in one night seemed perfectly reasonable to her. What other explanation could there be?
She should have been safe inside the secured confines of the museum property—at least once Patrick Stanley had been escorted from the premises—because she should have been alone. A man with a knife certainly shouldn’t have emerged from the shadows and come gliding toward her like a slice of walking evil.
Most of all, though, she should not have just witnessed a thousand-year-old statue springing to life in her defense, because things like that simply didn’t happen. Not in the sane world. Statues didn’t move, they didn’t fly, they didn’t knock would-be muggers unconscious, and they certainly didn’t speak to people who had not just slipped over the edge into the land of certifiable lunatics.
Therefore, Ella had lost her mind.
Simple, really.
She was almost ready to close her eyes, click her heels together three times, and head back to Kansas when the statue turned away from her unconscious attacker and held out a hand.
“I won’t hurt you,” it rumbled.
As if it wasn’t a freakin’ gargoyle !
Him, her impertinent mind quickly corrected. Even with the scrap of fabric masquerading as a loincloth covering up the evidentiary bits, the statue was unquestionably a him. Male. From the top of his horns to the tip of his tail.
Horns!
Tail!
Panic robbed Ella of her voice, so that all that emerged of her intended scream was a strangled, high-pitched chirp. Her heart formed a knot in her throat, and her eyes goggled, staring helplessly as the monster in front of her leaned forward, cutting off the light, the sky, the world, until all she could see was him. Chiseled features, sharp fangs, and eyes like pools of starless night sky.
She nearly passed out.
Fortunately, she caught herself before the edges of her vision could go more than a bit hazy.
Ella had no intention of being the dumb blond girl who got eviscerated before the end of the first act. Not only wasn’t she blond, but she was also not dumb, and she was not helpless; and if she found herself almost as scary as she found her present situation, at least she knew that this time, she wouldn’t be hurting any innocent bystanders.
Fifteen years ago, Ella had sworn to herself never to open this door again. She had slammed it shut and mentally nailed it over with stout boards. What was inside it, what was inside her, had never brought her anything more than fear and pain, but tonight, it might just bring her freedom.
Turning her head away from the sight of the monster who threatened her, she clenched her teeth, braced herself, and reached for the door handle.
It slammed open with the force of a Category 5 hurricane.
Ella tried to steel herself against the screaming. Now she could close her eyes. Now she had to close her eyes. She couldn’t watch what would follow.
It didn’t matter how many times she told herself that she had no choice, that it was her life at stake, that it wasn’t like the last time. Last time had been an accident. She hadn’t known what would happen, hadn’t even recognized it when her control snapped and her world ended. Then, her loss of control cost her everything. This time, she had nothing left to lose.
If she could have stepped out of the stream of energy and run screaming, she would have, but since the badness flowed straight through her, all she could do was to wait for the monster to let her go, and pray that it happened
Damn it, he didn’t have time for this.
Muttering a curse, he closed the distance between them in one long stride and seized the woman’s arms in a careful grip. He intended nothing more than to stop her from fleeing, but perhaps she misunderstood, because the moment that his rough skin touched her, she raised her hands and blasted him with raw magic.
* * *
I have. Lost. My. Mind.
Ella’s first thought upon realizing she was about to be attacked for the second time in one night seemed perfectly reasonable to her. What other explanation could there be?
She should have been safe inside the secured confines of the museum property—at least once Patrick Stanley had been escorted from the premises—because she should have been alone. A man with a knife certainly shouldn’t have emerged from the shadows and come gliding toward her like a slice of walking evil.
Most of all, though, she should not have just witnessed a thousand-year-old statue springing to life in her defense, because things like that simply didn’t happen. Not in the sane world. Statues didn’t move, they didn’t fly, they didn’t knock would-be muggers unconscious, and they certainly didn’t speak to people who had not just slipped over the edge into the land of certifiable lunatics.
Therefore, Ella had lost her mind.
Simple, really.
She was almost ready to close her eyes, click her heels together three times, and head back to Kansas when the statue turned away from her unconscious attacker and held out a hand.
“I won’t hurt you,” it rumbled.
As if it wasn’t a freakin’ gargoyle !
Him, her impertinent mind quickly corrected. Even with the scrap of fabric masquerading as a loincloth covering up the evidentiary bits, the statue was unquestionably a him. Male. From the top of his horns to the tip of his tail.
Horns!
Tail!
Panic robbed Ella of her voice, so that all that emerged of her intended scream was a strangled, high-pitched chirp. Her heart formed a knot in her throat, and her eyes goggled, staring helplessly as the monster in front of her leaned forward, cutting off the light, the sky, the world, until all she could see was him. Chiseled features, sharp fangs, and eyes like pools of starless night sky.
She nearly passed out.
Fortunately, she caught herself before the edges of her vision could go more than a bit hazy.
Ella had no intention of being the dumb blond girl who got eviscerated before the end of the first act. Not only wasn’t she blond, but she was also not dumb, and she was not helpless; and if she found herself almost as scary as she found her present situation, at least she knew that this time, she wouldn’t be hurting any innocent bystanders.
Fifteen years ago, Ella had sworn to herself never to open this door again. She had slammed it shut and mentally nailed it over with stout boards. What was inside it, what was inside her, had never brought her anything more than fear and pain, but tonight, it might just bring her freedom.
Turning her head away from the sight of the monster who threatened her, she clenched her teeth, braced herself, and reached for the door handle.
It slammed open with the force of a Category 5 hurricane.
Ella tried to steel herself against the screaming. Now she could close her eyes. Now she had to close her eyes. She couldn’t watch what would follow.
It didn’t matter how many times she told herself that she had no choice, that it was her life at stake, that it wasn’t like the last time. Last time had been an accident. She hadn’t known what would happen, hadn’t even recognized it when her control snapped and her world ended. Then, her loss of control cost her everything. This time, she had nothing left to lose.
If she could have stepped out of the stream of energy and run screaming, she would have, but since the badness flowed straight through her, all she could do was to wait for the monster to let her go, and pray that it happened