by Price,E A
“What life?” she scoffed.
Chris glared at her, and she looked a little chagrined before it morphed into shock. “Wait, are you going on a date?”
“No!” he cried before changing his mind. “Yes, well, sort of. Melissa’s visiting.”
Melissa called him earlier in the day. She couldn’t make it over the weekend – some big succubus case further south had come up and she’d be away for a week – so she thought she would come up that evening for a fly-by investigative visit. Her call couldn’t have come at a better time. It forced him into action. Forced him to remember his earlier resolve. He suggested that he give her a tour of the town, introduce her to the people who thought they saw the giant bat, and then they go for dinner. Melissa was delighted to accept. Chris on the other hand felt queasy about it.
Brenda scrunched her nose. “You mean the FBI lady?”
“Yes.”
“Huh.”
“That all you have to say?” he demanded crankily.
Brenda shrugged. “Probably about time you started dating, and someone other than Martha – I’m not sure I could stand her perkiness and organizing over breakfast every morning.”
“Martha’s not that bad.”
“No, she’s the pick of the brain dead bimbos in town, but I’d rather not have to call her Auntie Martha.” She shuddered.
“I take it you’re going up to the mansion tonight to be with Ric.” Annoyance prickled his words. He was in a bad mood, and he was trying his hardest not to take it out on Brenda, but it wasn’t easy.
Thankfully, she didn’t either care or notice. “Of course. Luc says the whole clan should be present for the awakenings.”
“Have you done your homework?” Chris grunted.
Brenda beamed smugly. “Extra credit, too.”
Chris had been trying to find fault with his niece over her relationship with a gargoyle – what parent wouldn’t? But if anything, it had made her more motivated to do well in school. She even did chores around the house without being asked!
Brenda traced patterns on the kitchen counter top. “So how long have you known this woman? Who are her family? What do you really know about her?”
Chris gave her a look.
She held out her hands innocently. “What? Those are questions you used to ask me whenever I went on dates.”
“Do you need me to give you a ride up to the mansion?”
She shook her head. “I have other transportation.”
“What? Oh, no, don’t tell me…”
Ric dropped into their tiny garden and flexed his huge wings. Brenda beamed while Chris scowled.
“You have to tell him to stop doing that – he could be seen.”
“He’s always careful.”
“And tonight there will be an FBI agent who specializes in weird phenomena wandering around the town. I already called Kylie and warned her, but perhaps you could remind your boyfriend.”
Brenda rolled her eyes. “We’ll be careful.”
“You better be.”
Brenda pulled on her coat and danced over to him to give him a peck on the cheek. “Love you.”
He grunted as she virtually skipped to the door. She paused before leaving.
“And don’t forget to practice safe sex, because if you…”
She squealed and ran away laughing as Chris threw a wet sponge at her. He watched with irritation as Ric swept her into his arms, hugged her thoroughly and flew away into the night.
He tried to tamp down his fury and focus on mustering some excitement for his upcoming date. Well, sort of date anyway. It’s not like it was leading anywhere – probably. He thought of Melissa’s pretty, smiling face, her friendly chatter, endless funny stories and her curvy, sensual body and... his dick wilted. She was everything he should want.
Annis flashed before his eyes, and a large amount of his blood decided to take a trip south – up to the point where he was almost ready to pound nails.
Damn, he was screwed.
Chapter Ten
Maggie virtually attacked Annis with a hug the moment she made her way downstairs.
“We’re home!” declared the happy human.
“So I gather,” wheezed Annis through the tight grip.
Andrew stood a few steps away and gave her a smile. Maggie, when excited could be quite an enthusiastic hugger. Annis was for the first time in her life wandering into the unknown territory of female friendship.
Kylie was… Annis paused in her thought. Sweet, she supposed. Until she met Kylie and her Aunt Bea and Maggie, she had never really known that there could be such… a variety of females. In her experience, they were brash, violent warriors, or sly like Calliope – or both in some cases. Gargoyle females did not seem to vary.
Although she could not deny that Ingrede was not the female she imagined she would be. Undoubtedly a warrior, but she was also tender towards her son, Wolfe, in a way that Annis had never witnessed before.
“We have another gargoyle,” Maggie told her in between bounces. Her bubbliness was at odds with her black hair, dark make-up, and dour dress sense. “Another male, but intact and ready to be woken.”
On seeing Annis’ slight discomfort, Andrew pried Maggie away and held her hand. “Kylie should be down in a few moments. Luc and Gracchus are putting him in the garden if you want to take a look.”
Annis hesitated, not wanting to seem unexcited by the prospect of another brother, but truthfully she had other things on her mind. “I would rather see him awake than asleep. I will wait.”
Truthfully, seeing her kind asleep was a little nauseating. Gargoyles were never supposed to see other gargoyles asleep. They all went to sleep and awoke at the same time.
Annis found herself swept into another hug, this time from Brenda. Another happy human female. Another female in love a small voice told her.
Ric, however, did not have Andrew’s patience, and immediately pulled his mate back into his arms. The young male was still not past his jealousy over his mate touching anyone else – even someone as harmless as Annis.
As she tried to straighten her dress, Annis was once again subjected to a loving attack as Bob pounced and tried to lick her to death. She giggled and calmed the excitable beast with promises of belly rubs later.
Annis looked around and noticed someone missing. Perhaps he was talking to Luc or Gracchus – Chris seemed on edge when he was at the house, but he did manage to relax a little in the company of the two male gargoyles.
Before Annis could find a way to introduce her query as to Chris’ whereabouts that did not sound suspicious, Maggie blurted it out for her.
“Where’s Chief Tight Pants?” she asked boldly.
Andrew grumbled, and Maggie pinched his bottom, annoying and delighting him at the same time.
Brenda rolled her eyes. “Please don’t call him that, and he’s not coming.”
Annis looked up sharply; her eyes collided with Ric’s, and she looked down again, quickly trying to hide her flushing cheeks.
“Is he working again?” asked Andrew, who sounded a bit too happy that Chris was not there.
Brenda snickered. “Nope. He has a date.”
Annis’ hands stilled on Bob’s smooth fur. For a moment, the chatter and laughter of the others became a dull roar, and all she could hear was the beating of her heart.
Of course said an inner voice. It was just like Castor. Why would she expect anything else? How could she expect anything else? Why would a male like Chris want an ugly gargoyle like her?
A hand shook her shoulder, and she found herself under the scrutinizing but kindly looks of the others.
“Annis, are you coming?” asked Maggie. “Kylie’s ready to perform the ceremony.”
“Of course,” she said in a voice that even to her sounded brittle.
Nobody seemed to notice – nobody except for Bob. She padded behind them with Bob at her heels, whining and nosing her legs.
She didn’t even look up as Kylie recited the now familiar incant
ation. Maybe she was being selfish, wallowing in her own disappointment, but was she not allowed to wallow now and again? Chris at that moment could be with a human woman, kissing her, caressing her, telling her he loved her, and she was stuck there alone, and useless as always.
The spell worked, and the new gargoyle howled his way back to life. It was a howl Annis would know anywhere. She looked up and met the eyes of a very familiar gargoyle.
“Castor!”
Chapter Eleven
“So, long story short, it wasn’t an alien – it was a bear. Turns out the kid was feeding him leftovers and letting him live in their barn. By the way, if you ever need to outrun a bear, I don’t recommend climbing a tree – scariest ten minutes of my life until animal control turned up.”
Chris murmured in agreement while Melissa popped another fry into her mouth.
“Is something wrong? You’ve been a little distracted all night.”
No, nothing was wrong, except every inch of his body seemed to be prickling in objection at where he was and what he was doing.
Melissa had during the last two times they met made it clear she was interested in dating him, but Chris had subtly told her no. He expected her to do the same tonight, but she hadn’t. She had been friendly – the young Latina woman was always bubbly – but there was nothing more to it.
Melissa heard about other people in town reporting giant bats, and Chris was obliged to take her to visit the other so-called witnesses, which actually only boiled down to two people. There were rumors flying around, but only two people actually thought they saw anything. The first was Wade Whitman – the town insomniac who claims everyone in town is a commie and keeps trying to get them arrested. He was well known to the FBI, and Melissa was not impressed. The second was Emmy Vincent – a mother of four young kids who was actually pretty reliable. Thankfully, she admitted that since then she had rethought it and said she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t just one of her kids’ kites. As she saw something similar a couple of nights later that was indeed a kite, and she didn’t like to stake her reputation on her first assumption being correct.
Melissa was neither relieved nor disappointed by the outcome – apparently, this was how all her cases went. Outlandish theories followed by mundane outcomes. He wondered how she would react if she ever met a real gargoyle.
“I’m fine,” he said finally.
“New girlfriend?” she asked with sparkling eyes.
“What?”
He had been intending on proposing that they try dating, but he couldn’t seem to get the words out. It was a great relief that Melissa wasn’t showing any interest in him.
Melissa inclined her head to the far corner of the diner where Dr. White was sitting with a few other women. She saw him and waved.
“She’s been looking at you all evening.”
Chris shrugged. “That’s Dr. White. Didn’t even notice she was here,” he said honestly.
“Wow, whoever it is you’ve got it bad for is a lucky woman.” Melissa gave Dr. White a covert look. “Because she looks like she just stepped off a runway. Fashion runway I mean, not an airport – that would be weird.”
“I ah…”
Melissa waved her hand. “Chris, it’s fine, you’re not interested in me. I actually started seeing someone else.”
He let out a breath of relief and Melissa chuckled. “C’mon, it’s not that bad – I wasn’t going to jump on you.”
“No, I’m sorry I just…”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re a nice guy who doesn’t like letting women down. You’re perfect, blah, blah, blah.”
“Hardly perfect.”
“You’re right; your perfection is kind of annoying which in itself is an imperfection. But seriously, Dr. Hottie looks interested.”
“I don’t think so.”
Melissa reached across the table and patted his hand in a friendly fashion. “Would Mara have wanted you to stay single?”
His face clouded. He couldn’t honestly say he knew what Mara would want. She wouldn’t have had any time for a genuinely sweet person like Melissa. He dreaded to think what she would have thought of Annis.
“I hope you’re not too disappointed about our lack of giant bats.”
“Nah, I’m more of a Bigfoot girl myself.”
Chris smirked. “You’ve seen him then?”
Melissa smiled. “No, but I live in hope.”
Some of the tension left his body, and Chris actually managed to enjoy his evening.
Chapter Twelve
Castor eyed Luc cagily. The two males had never met in their former lives, but most clans knew of Luc. His had been the most powerful clan and most closely allied to the royal family, and Luc was a direct descendent of the first gargoyle created – Demon.
Castor bristled at the other male’s power - as he used to with his previous clan leader. It occurred to Annis that for all his good qualities, Castor did not like being out-dominated or told what to do.
When Castor stopped howling and trying to maim everything in sight, he calmed and listened to Luc’s speech – which Annis now knew by heart.
Castor was somewhat pleased to see Annis, another gargoyle from his clan. Although he probably wished it was any gargoyle but you whispered a harsh inner voice.
Luc and the other male gargoyles were even warier of Castor on hearing that he belonged to Annis’ clan – even more so when he confirmed he was her chief.
Castor paced up and down, his wings angrily beating through the air as his tail whipped against the ground.
“How many others of our clan survived?” he demanded.
“We do not know,” Annis said. “We do not know the full extent of how many others from all the clans survived yet. Perhaps others of our clan did, but perhaps not.”
Castor stopped and narrowed his eyes. “You are very calm about this. Our clan, our warriors, are gone and lost. We are adrift in this… place.”
Annis looked down on hearing the accusing tone in his voice. She focused on her leg, now fully healed from her scald and memories of Chris attending to her started to surface again.
Instead, she drew her to gaze the patio outside the house, where the other members of the clan milled, pretending they were not watching them closely.
“I have been alive again for nearly sixty days. I have come to accept what I cannot change. It may be harsh, but if you are to live again, you must accept it too.”
He gazed at her fixedly. “The female who was to be my mate is gone. Thank the ancestors that we did not yet have sons, or they would have perished too.”
“Or daughters,” Annis added quietly.
Castor merely grunted while glowering at the other gargoyles.
“Is this all that is left of us?”
“For now.”
“And this male, Lucifer has decided he is our leader.”
Annis remained silent. She could almost see the cogs turning in Castor’s head. Awake for fifty minutes and he was already considering trying to take down the leader of his new clan.
She decided not to be too hard on him. In spite of her embarrassment at his rejection, he was the member of her clan she least disliked. He had showed her kindness that far surpassed anything her mother ever had. She could not hold it against him just because he was not interested in her as a mate.
“Awaking after so long is difficult,” she murmured. “You should eat something and regain your strength.”
Castor gave her a grim smile. “You have not changed, Annis. Where there should be courage in your heart, there is still kindness.”
Annis stared at him, unsure how to answer his friendly insult. She felt a shiver of something that she couldn’t quite pin down. They had not spoken since the night he rejected her as a mate but offered her the chance to be his concubine. That had been only three months before they were cursed. She had been very careful to stay away from him, afraid that if he found her, he would force her into submission, force her to be something she did not want. She wou
ld not have dared reject him, even if it would have killed her.
He acted as if nothing had happened between them and to his mind, maybe nothing had. From his viewpoint, she should never have expected him to mate her, and the offer to allow her to be his concubine should have flattered her. Her clan chiefs had always had concubines. It was not until she was newly awakened that she realized how few others had indulged. She could not imagine Luc taking another female.
Every retort died on her lips under his imperious gaze. “You must be hungry,” Annis murmured. “Come and eat.”
She could not think of anything else to say. It was what Kylie said to her when she awoke. The world did not seem any less frightening on a full stomach, but it did not seem any more so.
She should eat as well. At least it would put her mind off what a certain police chief might have been doing at that moment.
*
“You’re home early,” said Chris, looking at his watch. “Or earlier than usual.” He reflected that most uncles wouldn’t let their eighteen-year-old nieces out to this time, never mind any later.
Brenda smirked at him. “I was about to say the same thing. Hot date not so hot?”
Chris scowled at her. “Maybe you should go to bed.”
She yawned and nodded. “Everyone says hi by the way. They’re all dying to hear about your date, too.”
Chris stiffened slightly and put his coffee cup down. “You told everyone?”
Brenda cocked her head nonchalantly. “Sure, it wasn’t a secret was it?”
“No, I guess not.” Although the thought of Annis knowing made him queasy. He had no reason to feel guilty – he didn’t owe her anything, they weren’t involved. Still, the queasiness remained.
His niece eyed him a little piteously, “Guess it really didn’t go that well.”
“We’re just friends,” he said without regret.
Brenda shrugged. “Maggie will be disappointed; she was hoping for a lot of juicy details.”
“I’ll bet.”
“You didn’t really miss much. The new gargoyle woke up; he was really grumpy, and Annis calmed him down.”
He tapped his fingers on the kitchen table – a nervous habit. “Annis?”
