Page 38 of Guarded By the Gargoyle

I heard his protective growl—despite the fact that my ears were still ringing—but the wings in front of me parted a tiny bit and I was able to look through the crack between them.

Big Nicky was clutching his shoulder and there was blood dripping on the floor. The arm of the expensive suit he wore was soaked with it.

“They hit me!” he screamed. “The bastards shot me!”

“You shot yourself!” I snapped. “The bullets just bounced off Kael’s wings!”

But Big Nicky wasn’t listening.

“Get me the fuck out of here!” he snapped at his two thugs. “And send someone back to finish these fuckers off!”

“Yes, Boss—right away!” they said. One of them pointed a finger at us.

“You’re gonna be fucking sorry. Nobody shoots Big Nicky and lives to tell about it!”

A moment later the three of them were out my door with Big Nicky dripping blood behind him. But I had a bad feeling I hadn’t seen the last of them.

20

KAEL

Iwanted a moment to be sure the human males were gone before unfolding my wings and letting Willow out of the protective cage they formed. I was already returning to my angelic form—I knew my demonic visage scared her.

“Oh my Goddess, that wascrazy.”

She put a hand to her forehead as she surveyed her store. The bullets that had bounced off my wings had ricocheted everywhere, damaging a lot of the merchandise.

“Look at this mess!” She wandered over to a display that had contained bottles of some kind of syrup. Several of the glass bottles had burst and the sticky liquid was leaking all over the floor. Other items had huge holes in them and one of the large plate glass windows in the front of the store had been hit and was displaying an enormous spider web of cracks. It really was a mess, as she said. But I couldn’t let her agonize about it too long.

“Better the merchandise than you,” I pointed out. “Mistress, those men have promised to come back and try to hurt you again. I can’t kill all of them and protect you at the same time. We need to leave.”

I thought she would protest at first, but then she gave a deep sigh.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she muttered. “There’s too much going on here. Sooner or later Carlo is going to be missed and Big Nicky is sending back his thugs to get us. Not to mention that weird situation with Mr. Joe.”

“Mr. Joe?” I frowned. “Who is he?”

“Never mind.” She waved a hand. “I’m just saying we should get out of here.”

“We should go back to Hidden Hollow,” I told her. “I’m sure Goody Albright would let you stay in her cottage again.”

“She probably would. It’s just hard to leave everything behind, you know?” She looked up at me with pleading eyes. “This shop was my Pop-pop’s dream. Ihateto abandon it.”

“You don’t have to leave forever if you don’t want to,” I said, though to be honest, I doubted it would ever be safe for her to come back to this city. “But for right now, we need to get you someplace where no one is trying to hurt or kill you. It will be easier to protect you in Hidden Hollow.”

“All right.” She nodded decisively. “But I need to pack a few things first. And I have to find Miss Sassy—my cat. Can you keep an eye on the front? The police will probably be here soon if someone reported the gunshots butdon’tlet them in. I don’t need to answer questions from Carlo’s partner.”

“I’ll keep watch,” I promised. “And no one will come in.”

“Good. Thank you.” And she left to go get her things, leaving me to wander through the ruins of her shop.

I felt bad that she was leaving her grandfather’s dream behind, but there was no other way to keep her safe and that was my top priority.

21

WILLOW

Ifound Miss Sassy hiding in the bedroom, which is where she usually goes when things get too loud.

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