Stone Defender

by Chris Redding

  Best not to be here. She could look up the number to Foley Security and they could get a message to Trent before he did anything.

  She held her breath for a moment then climbed out onto the roof. Still no one. This was too easy. Like a patient who initially responded to treatment then their condition went south because of some unforeseen circumstance. She looked around, but no one was in any of the houses she could see.

  The drop to the ground was far, but she could roll and hopefully not break anything. She was a nurse, but hobbling on a broken foot wasn’t going to aid her escape.

  Landing, she assessed and nothing hurt. She ran and vaulted over the low fence and heard horrid noises. Crap, but she didn’t look back.

  Something landed next to her. She refused to look.

  “Beth.”

  Startled, she stopped. “Trent?”

  He was pulling off pants. What? She didn’t understand.

  “You’re okay.”

  “Yes, I am. Where did you come from?”

  “Can I explain later? Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  He took off his pants and tucked them into a backpack. “Keep trusting me.”

  Before her eyes he transformed into a creature. Not one she could truly recognize, but she saw the humanity in his eyes. For the second time that day, claws lifted her into the air. That meant that Trent was a gargoyle. Her brain on overload, she fainted.

  Chapter Nine

  Trent landed on a building when he realized that Beth was unconscious. Donal’s words rolled around in his head. Beth was his fairy and only together could they defeat the goblins. Donal’s wife would join him, but everyone else’s wife was incapable. They were either pregnant or had just given birth.

  As much as he trusted Donal, he knew his wife wouldn’t get here in time. She was a fairy, but had no means of flying and Donal couldn’t stop and go get her. It was up to him and Beth. He hated that this was so, but it was the only answer.

  “Beth.”

  Her eyelids fluttered. Then they opened. He’d transformed back to human.

  Beth’s eyes widened, but she didn’t wrest herself from his arms. “Where are we?”

  “On a roof. You okay?”

  “Just a little shocked by this whole situation.” She sat up and looked around.

  He could see in the dark, but he doubted that she had the vision.

  “What’s happening?”

  He sat on his butt and stared at her. “Well it’s complicated.”

  “Work in ICU, try me,” she said.

  He took a deep breath. “Well it seems you’re a fairy.”

  “You’re a gargoyle.”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded and seemed to take it all in. “There’s more?”

  He chuckled. “Okay. I’ll tell it all.”

  “Good. I’d rather make a decision based on all of the information.”

  “Fair enough. As I understand it, you are my fairy. And we can defeat goblins when we are together. We need to be touching.”

  She nodded again, her gaze never leaving his. He didn’t know how much she could see as the streetlights were below this building.

  “Let’s do this.”

  He wanted to hug her. She was a strong, fierce woman and frankly he couldn’t imagine himself with anyone else. Before he could say anything a bolt of fire landed next to him. It seared some of his skin. It was going to hurt to transform.

  Beth grabbed his hand. “Come on, Trent. We have no choice.”

  He transformed and gritted his teeth as he did it. Beth’s hand never left his. They stood as a goblin landed on the roof. He must have been followed. “Don’t let go.”

  “Not a chance, Trent.”

  The goblin squawked then let loose some more fire. Trent dragged Beth out of the way then he connected with her mind. “Think fire.”

  He could tell that she did and he sent a stream of it at the goblin who was incinerated. That was powerful. He’d seen men die before, but there was nothing like what happened to that goblin.

  He switched back to human and took his pants out of his waiting backpack.

  “You can’t stop now,” Beth said.

  “What?”

  “We need to go back and help,” she said.

  He blinked. “I don’t want you in the fray.”

  “We are strong together, Trent. Even if I don’t understand it, I know we can’t just walk away. They are your friends.”

  She had had a point, but he didn’t want her hurt. Now that he’d found her and realized who she was to him, he couldn’t think of anything other than protecting her. To him that meant keeping her out of danger.

  “No.”

  “Yes Trent. Come on. Go back to gargoyle form and take me with you.”

  She stood with her hands on her hips. He’d seen that stance more than once while she’d been working. She wasn’t going to give in. His eyes fell closed. He didn’t have a choice did he?

  “Fine.”

  He transformed. He grabbed his backpack and he gently clutched her in his claws. Taking off he headed back to the house in West Philadelphia. A battle raged in the skies over Philadelphia and he hoped that no one was watching. Or maybe it was time for humans to discover what was going on. Maybe it was time for them to open their eyes and see that their world was very different than what they thought it was.

  He didn’t consider himself a crusader and he’d have to talk to his fellow gargoyles. They might want to continue living under the radar. It wasn’t his choice alone to make. On the other hand, the goblins were taking over the world. He couldn’t stand by and let that happen.

  Donal and his wife stood on the roof and took out every goblin that came near them. It was amazing that the residents of the neighborhood weren’t out in the streets trying to figure out what was going on.

  Trent put Beth down then landed next to her. She grabbed one of his wings and they took up the fight. Soon the goblins were either destroyed or had left the battle. Hopefully not to regroup.

  Trent and Donal returned to human form. Meg hugged Beth and seemed to be whispering to her. “What’s next?”

  Donal pointed to the street. “We’ve been seen. Time to leave.”

  “Wait,” Trent said. “What if it’s time to come out of hiding?”

  “That’s not just our decision to make, Trent.”

  Trent knew Donal was right, but he would have to talk to everyone else. Maybe humans needed to know what was threatening them. What the future could look like if goblins took over even more than they already had.

  “We need to get out of here,” Donal said.

  With no immediate action being taken, Trent transformed back to gargoyle and scooped up Beth. He didn’t stop until he’d landed on the roof of his apartment building.

  Chapter Ten

  Beth hadn’t seen Trent since she’d been taken into protective custody. She was testifying today and going to put the man who assaulted her behind bars. She felt empowered, but she missed Trent.

  She hadn’t known him long, but she knew in her soul that they belonged together. The door to the courtroom opened and she looked up.

  “Beth Swanson?”

  She stood, smoothing down her skirt. This might mean that she would never have a career as a professional actress, but she didn’t care about that anymore. She had an audition coming up, but she suspected that it would be cancelled once it came out that she helped to bring down one of the hottest producers in the business.

  It didn’t matter. She still had her little theatre and someone had bought the building, letting them stay. She couldn’t find out who did it, but she wanted to thank them. Renovations had begun on the top floor of the building. No one was allowed up there and none of the workers would tell her what was going on.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  The officer opened the door wider to let her past him.

  “You’re doing the right thing,” he said.

  She smiled at h
im. “I know. I’ve never been so sure in my life.”

  He grinned back at her. She walked through the door knowing her life was going to change and wishing she could share it with someone. She still didn’t know where her parents were, but Tex was doing some research. Hopefully she’d get an answer. Closure.

  She was walked to the witness stand. She put her hand on the Bible and swore to tell the truth.

  Every dirty detail.

  ***

  Trent chose to start with the Foleys. Maybe they would be willing to go public. They were a respected business in the city and could be role models for other supernaturals to come out. The goblins couldn’t win and they would as long as so much was shrouded in darkness. Evil always flourished in the darkness. Trent wanted to shine a light for others to see.

  To defeat the goblins, they had to do it in the light.

  “Hey Trent. Isn’t Beth testifying today?” Donal said. He stood in the outer room of Foley Security. Tex, of course, tapped on keys in his corner office.

  “She is, but she’s in custody and I wasn’t sure if she’d want to see me.”

  Donal laughed. “She’s going to track you down. She’s a tough one. Stronger than even our wives.”

  Donal may have been right, but Trent didn’t know what he felt about the situation. Okay. He did, but he didn’t want to hope that Beth would be okay with everything that might happen. He was on a crusade and he was out of his element. “I guess.”

  “What brought you here?”

  “Hey guys, check this out,” Tex said.

  They assembled into Tex’s office with his two giant screens. He hit play and they all gasped. Someone had filmed their fight in West Philadelphia. The videographer had been on the street and it had been dark so no one could see faces, only quick glimpses of the creatures in the sky.

  “It’s got more than a million views,” Tex said.

  “Is anyone guessing what we are in the comments?” Donal asked.

  Tex scrolled down. “The comments are nuts, but no one is saying gargoyles or goblins.”

  To Trent it was a sign. “This is what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  The group turned to him. “What?”

  “I think we need to reveal ourselves.”

  They all stared, except Tex who had gone back to scrolling through the comments. This affected him also since his wife was a gargoyle and sister to the Foleys.

  “What are you saying? Go against a code that we supernaturals have lived by for thousands of years?” Sean asked.

  “Yes. In a way. The goblins have forced our hand. They are systematically taking over the world. We need to stop them, but I think we need help from the normies. They deserve to know what is happening. It is their world also.”

  Tex leaned back in his chair, staring at Trent. “You’ve really thought about this.”

  “How did you feel when you learned about all of this?” Trent asked.

  Tex rubbed his chin. “I was surprised, but being homeless I had seen some crazy things. Donal telling me about gargoyles actually made sense. Things happen at night and when you live on the streets or on the roof as I did, you can believe almost anything. But that’s me.”

  “Most people believe what they see,” Declan said. “They feel safe in that they know how the world works.”

  “But they don’t. They have no idea and the goblins have used that to gain control. There is no telling what their plans are in the long term.”

  Something passed between the Foleys.

  “This isn’t just our decision to make,” Donal said.

  “It isn’t like there’s a governing body for supernaturals. If there were, the goblins could have been censured,” Trent said. “I don’t want to even suggest one, but something has to change. We aren’t making any real headway with the goblins. I can’t even imagine what their next move is.”

  “They are in the government, making policy decisions. They are affecting what people watch on television and what gets put on the news,” Sean said.

  Were they coming around to his way of thinking? Donal shook his head. “I think we need to think about this longer. We have to plan.”

  “The internet,” Tex said. “Start there. Things start as conspiracy theories and then are proved correct.”

  “It will take more than the fringes on 8chan to give us credibility.”

  “But it’s a start,” Tex said.

  Trent could see he was warming up to the idea. “What do the rest of you think?”

  Something passed again between the brothers and Trent had the sense they could talk to each other. The way he and Beth could sometimes. It was probably unnerving part of the time. He looked at each of them individually.

  “We’ll have to talk about it and we’ll get back to you,” Donal said.

  It wasn’t a no and that was a start.

  ***

  With Foley Security beefing up things at her apartment complex and there being no other threats as far as she could tell, Beth had insisted on resuming normal life. Well as normal as life could be after you found out that you were a fairy. She still hadn’t embraced that fully.

  But Maggie, her best friend, was on her way over and maybe they’d figure it all out. What would her friend think?

  Beth buzzed Maggie up to her apartment. Part of the new security was cameras and only people in the apartments could let anyone in. It was a start.

  Beth hugged her best friend who had brought lunch for both of them to share. They chattered about her honeymoon and caught up on all sorts of things as they ate. Beth had never been reluctant to tell Maggie anything, but her realistic friend who had always been grounded in reality might react strangely to Beth’s news.

  “You clearly have something to say, Beth. You’ve been dancing around it all afternoon. Just spill it.”

  They sat on her couch with mugs of tea by now.

  “This is going to sound strange,” Beth said.

  “Try me.”

  Beth took a deep breath and just blurted out. “I’m a fairy.”

  Maggie squeezed her hand. Not the reaction she was expecting. “You don’t think I’m nuts?”

  “No, because I’m one too.”

  That was certainly not what she’d expected Maggie to say. “Wait. You’re one too and you never told me?”

  Maggie cocked her head. “What would you have said?”

  “That your job was getting to you?”

  Maggie chuckled. “So that makes Trent a gargoyle.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because Kel is one. I suspect Ben and Pete are also.”

  Ben and Pete were the other two partners in Grotesque. Beth had only met them in passing. She hadn’t even thought of that, having had enough trouble wrapping her brain around gargoyles being real. And then there was the idea that fairies were real. It was all overwhelming.

  “My goodness. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Just embrace that Trent is yours.”

  “Trent? Mine? What do you mean?”

  “That he is a descendant of the gargoyle who was sworn to protect your fairy ancestor.”

  “You know all this?”

  “Yes. I was let it on it all when Kel and I were dealing with Billy. We’ve adopted him fully. The paperwork is all signed.”

  Beth squealed. “I’m so happy for you.”

  That made Beth think of her parents and she still didn’t know where they were.

  “I have something else to tell you, Beth.”

  “What?”

  “I talked to Tex and the Foleys agreed I should be the one to tell you,” she said.

  Beth didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What?”

  “Tex found your parents.”

  “Where are they?”

  “They fled the country. Trent said they were most likely goblins and they must have done something to make the Goblin King angry.”

  Beth would need time to know how to deal with this. Or even how she felt. Sh
e’d been at odds with her parents for a long time. She’d always known she was adopted, but it was as if they’d never tried to understand her. They wouldn’t have been able to since they weren’t fairies. “Do you think they knew I was a fairy?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry, Beth. I’ve been finding out that goblins have adopted fairies to keep them from knowing who they were. That way they couldn’t unite with their gargoyles and defeat the goblins.”

  “And that producer I put in jail?”

  “Goblin also. You might want to talk to the Foleys or Trent because they know more than I do. I know what has happened in child services. The goblins have been up to things for a while.”

  Beth chewed her lip. “I had no idea.”

  “Well I’m sure Trent will fill you in.”

  “I haven’t seen Trent.”

  Maggie stood. “No? That’s odd. Kel wasn’t letting me out of his sight.”

  “Maybe he’s not my gargoyle,” Beth said.

  Maggie laughed. “Oh. I’d bet he is and he’s dying to see you. Give the guy a break and call him.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Beth hugged her co-workers goodbye. She would miss this place, but her bank account was such that she could take some time to decide what she wanted to do. Someone had transferred money into it and she suspected it was her parents. They must have had one last pang of guilt over abandoning her. Of course they would try to smooth it over with money.

  She would take it for now, but she wasn’t going to sit on her butt and do nothing. In her pocket was a call for actors for an independent movie. No Hollywood involved. The casting call was at an auditorium and not a party or hotel room. No casting couch or she would leave and let go her dreams of acting.

  She didn’t even want to be a star. She just wanted steady work.

  She glanced back at the private hospital she’d worked at for years and her heart was filled with bittersweet memories.

  Then she pulled out the piece of paper in her pocket and smiled. “Hopefully this is my future.”

  The audition had attracted enough people that Beth wondered if she even had a chance. She wasn’t the youngest one there. These were all starry-eyed twenty year olds and she was well into her thirties.