Page 29 of My Guardian Gryphon

“Says the woman who sees visions of the past, present, and future. How much do you and your Sisters see that is never shared?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. He had me there. We experienced dozens of visions every week and kept them to ourselves, because they didn’t relate to finding the next Protectors. “We don’t keep anything relevant from Sanctuary.”

“You say that, and you might very well believe it.” He pursed his lips—no doubt trying to decide whether or not to finish his statement. “But…what you have, however you may have come by the magick you and your Sisters possess, it is leverage. Never forget that. You are not something that can be recreated. It took the entire high council of the Lamassu to cast the spell to create the Sisters of the House of Lamidae.”

“How do you know that?” I’d never heard anything about the creation of the House.

“My fathers,” he answered, shrugging it away as if it weren’t a big deal.

But it was. I knew nothing about our origins. No one did, unless they were lying. And I’d certainly never considered that the visions we held back might be relevant to other things…just not our end goal. I glanced out the window at the small innocuous town that few outside even knew existed at all. My mind drifted back to his mother’s words spoken to me last week.

Things are not always as they seem.

I was beginning to believe her.

When I looked over again, Mikjáll had disappeared from the room.

Chapter 12

XERXES

“Master.” Cal stepped up to the table where I was eating my afternoon meal. “Commander Martin and his captain are here with a report from Sanctuary.”

“Good.” I took a sip of the rich merlot and nodded. “Show them in.”

He bowed and backed away from the table, leaving me once again in solitude. I enjoyed the silence. After as many years as I’d lived and breathed, silence was a rare commodity. The people on Earth always screamed and cried over something. Not that I didn’t enjoy the screaming and crying, but I preferred to be the one who’d caused it. The one who made their chests tighten and their hearts stop. The one they all feared.

Heavy boots clomped through the entrance ahead of me. Martin and his man came to a stop, feet apart, hands clasped behind their backs. These wolves were good at following protocol. Their faces were hard. Eyes cold. Calculating…but obedient. Very obedient. Like well-trained attack dogs.

“I see no gifts.”

“No, General Xerxes, sir. We encountered a barrier spell that alerted the residents of Sanctuary to our presence. The witch you assigned to my forces was able to cut through it, but an alarm sounded. We killed one Lycan before we made it back to out.”

His tone was hesitant, worried that I’d take the news badly, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t anticipated.

“It wasn’t the hole that set off the alarm. It was the Djinn. Rose and Calliope and probably several other ancient supernaturals the bitch has added to her town are able to sense magick. Every time a Djinn jumps, they give off a unique magickal signal,” I answered, deepening my voice with displeasure. Even if it wasn’t his fault, no need for him to feel that I was pleased with his lackluster report.

“Can that signal be masked?” Martin spoke again, his tone hopeful this time.

I shook my head. Smart dog, though. “A witch could potentially hide the Djinn signature, but only if she was already in position at the final destination with the spell in place. Too much trouble to be effective.”

Martin nodded. “We detected no sign of the key dagger, General, when we dumped the magick locating potion inside the town’s barrier. It didn’t react. No floating cloud to follow, but we can try again as soon as you command. My men are ready.”

“How many men?”

“Six hundred. Two hundred and fifty are Lycan, and the rest are human turncoats from part of the Washington Republic’s army. We would need a large force of Djinn to move us quietly into the Texas Republic, far enough away from Sanctuary that we would still maintain the element of surprise. Currently, we have about fifty men in the compound twenty miles south of Sanctuary.”

“You need to capture one of the Bateman witches. They are the only ones that will be able to undo the spells blocking Djinn teleportation on the castle and other buildings in the town. Until the Djinn can jump in and out of the buildings unimpeded, the forces in Sanctuary will still be too much. That castle may not look like anything special, but it was built to withstand heavy fire, and it’s likely the entire lower levels are secured bomb shelters.”

“Yes, General, sir.” Martin and his captain both saluted.

“Once the teleportation blocking spells are broken, we can begin mobilizing the larger force to take down the pain in my ass that is Rose Hilah and her band of fucking bothersome supernaturals. The Sisters will be mine. Sanctuary will be gone. I’ll have my revenge on Rose and Naram once and for all.”

I waved a hand, dismissing the wolves.

“Cal, bring me Manda.”

“Yes, Master.” Cal disappeared into the air. Barely five seconds passed before he reappeared with Manda in tow.

---