Page 30 of Halfblood Deceived

Isaiah started the car and turned up the volume.

Aella found herself paying attention to the lyrics and bobbing her head slightly along to the rhythm by the second time Isaiah replayed the song. It spoke of feeling hopeless, of having a broken soul, and being disappointed by faith. Which of course made it absolutely scandalous and sinful to the ears of Father Israel and everyone else in the household, but Isaiah didn’t give a crap about the priest’s disapproval.

The heathen song, as Ben had called it, made Aella feel a strange sort of relief, of reluctant acceptance.

She had the absolute certainty it meant the same for the conflicted male who had always shown her kindness and wished she could let him know that he wasn’t alone.

* * *

Aella jolted when Isaiah turned off the stereo, and the SUV stopped moving.

“God forgive me,” he said, heaving a sigh and leaving the vehicle.

He didn’t lock it.

Someone opened the back door of the SUV. Aella flinched and stopped breathing, her heart beating so hard it was hard to believe no one else could hear it.

But they didn’t.

The thunk of the door closing made Aella let out a shaky breath.

She sharpened her ears and counted one-hundred seconds in her head until she couldn’t hear the males. Hands shaking with adrenaline, she crawled out from her hiding space and peered outside through the tinted windows. There was no one around.

Licking her dry lips, Aella opened the back door and exited the vehicle. The cool, pine-scented wind felt heavenly on the exposed, sticky skin of her face, neck, and hands. She took in a lungful of clean air, divided between the thrilling feeling of freedom that being truly outside gave her, and the tightening in her gut as she examined her surroundings. There was a dirt road that led deeper into the pine forest. The soft yellow light of lamps came from what seemed like a great distance.

The gargoyles had no doubt taken flight to reach their target.

Aella had no such advantage.

So she hurried into the forest on the left side of the road.

She kept a safe distance from the open space, just in case the gargoyles could spot her, but not so far that she would lose sight of the light in the distance. Using the walking machine for an hour a day had never seemed useful before. But now, as Aella sprinted through the forest, she was almost glad Micah had made her exercise.

Almost.

It seemed to take forever and no time at all before Aella reached the bend on the path that led to a beautiful, huge cabin.

It was two stories tall and built with pinewood. The porch extended around the entire construction. There was a swing near the entrance, and a blanket was thrown over it.

The front door had been ripped from its hinges. Aella could see people moving through the windows. Massive stone people.

Two gargoyles perched on the ceiling, monitoring the road.

The others were inside.

Aella bit her lip, hesitating as she stepped further toward the side of the cabin, covered by the forest.

The gargoyle nearest her on the roof shifted focus to the side of the property every thirty seconds or so. If she miscalculated, she could be seen when she approached the window.

A sharp feminine scream cut through the silence of the dark forest.

Aella froze for a second. Then she raced toward the cabin, reaching the cover of the porch’s roof in all of two seconds. Back against the wall, her pulse roaring in her ears, she waited to be caught.

The gargoyles on the roof didn’t come for her.

So she crouched and approached the window.

What she found stole her breath and made her insides pulse with such a potent pain that she felt every muscle freeze.

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