Read Online Sorceress Rising (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 2) by Lisa Blackwood - Free Book Online

was the big guy with the beard, the one the pooka had
slammed with a shoulder, and the human didn’t look happy.
    “Oh! Sorry,” she
didn’t have to fake the nervous, fearful squeak in her voice. It quivered quite
naturally all on its own. “As I said, something spooked my horses and they both
bolted into the forest. I’ve been trailing them for the last four hours. I just
found one—well actually he found me. But the grey is still missing. I was about
to go back and get my brother, some flashlights, snacks, and a couple bottles
of water before resuming the search.”
    “You’ll have to
come back with us, ma’am. I’ll radio about the other missing horse.” The
soldier didn’t break eye contact as he pulled a radio from one of many pockets,
and raised it closer to his face. “You can stand down. The dogs were tracking a
horse. We found the owner and one of the animals.” The soldier continued to
give a description of Lillian’s appearance, including her hair color, height,
weight, and clothing.
    His fine
attention to details registered on Lillian’s mind and worry flashed to life. He
had no reason to relate her description with such detail. It occurred to her
they might be looking for someone fitting her description. And if they were
interested in someone fitting her description, then they must know something
more than Gran had suspected. And it didn’t bode well for either Clan or Coven.
    “You’re Vivian’s
granddaughter, aren’t you?
    “Yes, may I ask
how you know that?”
    He smiled, but
it wasn’t the type to put one at ease. “She has pictures of you and your
brother on her mantle. When I was there, I noticed them. I never forget a
face.”
    “Oh,” Lillian
laughed, but didn’t relax. “Gran always plasters our pictures on just about
every surface she can find. It’s embarrassing.”
    “Must be
difficult to find the real estate with that extensive sword collection she has
on her walls.”
    Lillian
swallowed the next bit of fluff she’d been about to spout and frowned as she
juggled several possible responses. “Some of those have been with the family
for generations—Gran didn’t start the collection. She is more a curator of
sorts.”
    “I thought she
said you and your fiancé were still up in Kirkland Lake for the rest of the
summer?”
    Lillian’s mind
scrambled to keep up with the soldier’s rapid change in topics. Trying to
follow his logic was as dizzying as trying to track a chipmunk jacked up on an
energy drink. His rapid change in topics must be some method to catch her in a
lie, and if it was, she was already a suspect. Damn and double damn. It was
just her luck. Of all the soldiers she could have run into in a forest, it
looked like she’d tripped over a military interrogator. Ah, her usual luck.
“Yes, we were there looking into some property. Gran wants to expand the family
business, possibly opening a chain of resorts. Anyways, our plans changed when
we heard about the rumors. We just had to come back and see what all the media
frenzy was about. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t, you know, not with all the talk of
monsters and aliens. Can you believe people?”
    With another
gruff chuckle, the bearded man glanced over Lillian’s shoulder, out beyond the
dark trees. “I never believe people.”
    “Ah,” Lillian
floundered for some response.
    The soldier
snapped his intense gaze back to her as quickly as he’d taken it off. “Have you
seen monsters in the forest, Lillian?”
    His question
caught her so off guard, she had to snap her jaws closed, and could only stand
there and look upon him with utter disbelief.
    “Monsters?” She
cleared her throat. “I’ve seen the news and heard all the rumors—terrorists,
cults, monsters, and aliens. I have to say I’m on the side of those who believe
it was some kind of twisted cult, or an elaborate hoax gone wrong.”
    “The way those
bodies were torn apart and scattered around the forest was no