Warrior's Angel (The Lost Angels Book 4) by Heather Killough-Walden Page B

more draining, telekinetic attacks put a dent in the flow of her attackers, but there were too many gargoyles and she only had so much strength. She needed to concentrate on getting away.
    Now t hat she considered it, she had to admit they could have caused her quite a bit more damage. In fact, they seemed to pull their punches, as if they were merely testing her or attempting to wear her down. Nevertheless, the battle that ensued left her bruised, bleeding, and terrified. The noise they made drew even more people out of their homes, and at some point, Rhiannon realized she had to set the warehouse behind her on fire to destroy any further evidence that might help to lead authorities her way. As soon as she saw the opportunity, she called lightning where she knew it would catch fire, and she ran once more, this time into the night.
    T he men grew wings and flew after her. She’d been forced to stick to the shadows, limiting her escape to alleyways. But in the end… she’d managed to get away.
    “Well, seeing as how it seems you’ll need a bulldozer to defeat these particular creatures, now that we know what to look for, we can do our best to avoid them in the future.”
    “ You mean by steering clear of old buildings with faces on them?”
    “Every one of them, Rhiannon,” her employer said, and his expression became ver y serious. “Don’t think I missed the bit in here about the fact that gargoyles never give birth to females.”
    Rhiannon swallowed hard and averted her gaze. She’d actually hoped he had overlooked that part.
    “They reproduce by transformi ng human females into gargoyles,” he continued. “And they can only do this when a female notices them. The ability to see them supposedly signals something special. Apparently, humans are incapable of noticing them. To humanity, gargoyles are invisible. Nonexistent. Yet you noticed them. And they noticed you noticing them.”
    Rhiannon smiled at his play on words, but her stomach was churning. “I know what you’re thinking.”
    “You must be more special than you realize, Miss Dante.”
    Rhiannon didn’t say anything. Mostly because it was already pretty obvious that she was special. She was a goddamned superhero. But to think of herself as something other than human… was too uncomfortable for some reason.
    She also didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to lend credence to what he was hinting at.
    “ And they marked you,” he said, nailing her coffin shut.
    He picked up his iced tea, took a long drink, and set it back down again. “ I think it would behoove you to not take it for granted that they’re giving up their search for you. I doubt this is over yet. By a long shot.”
    Once more, Rhiannon didn’t say anything. Also, because she once more agreed. Which was why she had gone to the trouble of renting an apartment in another part of town. If someone came for her, she didn’t want them anywhere near Verdigri. He could hold his own against quite a few bad guys. The security in the apartment complex was top notch, and he had guards tucked away everywhere, unseen, unheard, but deadly.
    Yet, s omeone had managed to bypass every bit of it the other night. The stranger in black.
    And now there were gargoyles with a vendetta on the loose. Things were getting a little too cozy in this neck of the woods. It was time to draw attention away from Verdigri and his home… and his butterflies.
    “Did any information leak out last night?”
    “Not that we were able to find. That we’ve counted so far, fourteen people were awakened by the commotion, six others were already awake and out on the street in that location at that time. It’s Manhattan, after all. However, to our fortune, as of yet we’ve found no phone recorded evidence, and nothing has shown up online. Hopefully you’re in the clear.”
    “There were cameras in the warehouse,” she said, “but they were the first to go when I got there. It was the bystanders I was most