Myths and Gargoyles Jamie Hawke (i read a book .TXT) 📖

stopped spinning, opened his red eyes, and stared down at me. When he opened his mouth to speak, long vampire fangs showed. Arthur hadn’t only gone dark in his time, he’d apparently become a vampire. They’d left out that little detail.

Before he could get a word out or any of us could move to take him down, Morganna was up and running. She leaped, grabbing hold of Arthur mid-jump, and the two vanished into an explosion of purple fog that followed them, leaving the immediate area free of all signs of them.

I stood there, sword in my hand, staring at the spot they should have been, utterly bewildered.

“We have to get out of here,” Red said, glancing around. Most of the regular conference-goers were cleared out, but now agents were moving in, cautiously, ready to strike. If we didn’t move now, we wouldn’t stand a chance.

24

Darting through the closest exit, we saw that the agents inside weren’t the only ones. Out here, while Normies ran amok with some gathering in groups to try to see what was going on, agents and Legends and Myths all fought, while several of Mowgli’s team worked to maintain a veil that would cause the Normies to see it as some sort of riot or large brawl without any of the supernatural elements.

To their credit, the agents weren’t attacking these Myths, and if anything, were helping them.

“Protector,” Mowgli shouted, seeing me and sprinting over with Bagheera at his side, having transformed into a large panther of a man—huge, muscular body covered in black fur, face of a panther along with claws and all. “You’ve recovered Excalibur!”

“And released King Arthur,” I shouted, looking around for where they needed us.

Two trolls charged over, and Bagheera dealt with the first while Mowgli and I dealt with the next.

“Get out of here,” Mowgli said.

“I can fight!”

“Elisa, help me get him to the mansion,” Mowgli said, seeing that I wasn’t about to go easily. “We need the Protector safe, and we need to ensure he’s connected with Excalibur so that he’s ready to use it when the time comes.”

“I’ll cover your path,” Bagheera roared, moving to intercept a witch who’d come at us.

My heart wanted to stay and fight, but my gut knew the look Elisa was giving me and that doing as Mowgli said was the right choice. Being out in the open was too big a risk, at least until I knew how to use this sword and its magic.

Elisa held out a hand and I took it, running at her side. Red and Pucky charged slightly ahead of us on each side, ready to intercept anyone who might try stopping us. We ducked back into the building, making for an exit on the other side where Mowgli had a car waiting.

As soon as we burst through the rear set of doors though, we heard a drone overhead. As we ran up to our vehicle, two more black cars screeched up next to us.

The agent I’d met earlier, Agent Torrind, emerged from one. We all turned, ready for more fighting.

“I’m not here to fight,” Torrind said, holding up a hand.

“What then?” Mowgli growled, stepping out ahead of us.

The agent looked at me and then Excalibur, before removing his sunglasses. His eyes were dark blue, like the ocean depths, and they seemed to swirl at the sight. “It’s true then. Excalibur is in his hands, and Arthur…”

“King Arthur has been restored,” Mowgli said, nodding. “And we’re going to stop him.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear,” Torrind said, moving to get back into his car.

“You’re not going to try and stop us?” Elisa asked. “Or at least capture us?”

Torrind looked at her, shook his head, and put his sunglasses back on before returning to his car. They drove away.

“He doesn’t have to,” Mowgli said, turning back to us and gesturing us into the car we were going for. “With King Arthur out there, it’s better to have us try and do the dirty work. I imagine what we’ve just been part of is an unofficial truce—they pull back until this is over, then the game’s back on.”

I followed Pucky in, and just as we were about to close the door, another person I recognized came running over—Sharon.

Red was at the door first, dagger drawn, but Sharon stopped short, hands up.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said. “Pan’s gone, meaning so is his influence over me. Please, I want to beat the darkness, I want to… I want to go Myth.”

Mowgli put a hand on Red’s forearm, and nodded. She was hesitant, but finally moved away from the door so that Sharon could enter.

“If you turn on us,” Red started, “if this is a trick—”

“It’s not,” Sharon interjected. “But I need help. I can’t beat it alone.”

Elisa leaned toward her and said, “We’ll do what we can,” as Pucky closed the door and the car took off.

Sharon nodded her thanks, gave me a look that was full of sorrow and guilt, and then sank back on the seat, legs folded up with her knees to her chest, and closed her eyes. After a moment, Elisa put an arm around her, comforting the woman.

As we drove, first there was silence, all of us thinking about what had just happened. I was very confused over how this transition to being a Myth would go, but also interested. I didn’t expect her to join the team, exactly, but there was something about her that intrigued me, and seeing Elisa’s arm around her made me feel there was a strange connection here. Maybe a past that I didn’t know about.

On the way back, Mowgli told us to get some rest, to get back to training, and that the intel teams would be doing their best to scour the world and find any sign of Morganna and Arthur’s resurgence.

“Nobody wanted to tell me he was a vampire before?” I asked, still pretty miffed about that little detail.

“It’s how he went dark,” Red explained. “He turned