by A C Warneke
“What?” she felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head as he so casually mentioned sleeping with Vanessa, a woman he frequently criticized. “You slept with Vanessa?”
“Don’t act like you’re the victim here,” he scolded. “You’ve been fucking strangers in public bathrooms but I’m willing to overlook that. After all, I’ve been screwing your friend. My god, that woman is a wild cat in the sack, Lenni. The things she lets me do to her….”
Who was this stranger wearing Peter’s face? The Peter she knew was kind, considerate, sane. He wasn’t this cruel, delusional beast who looked at her with a blank expression as he sliced her with his words. “You need to leave, Peter. We’re not going to discuss this.”
He turned his head slightly and glared at her, his vacant blue eyes containing none of the heat of Vaughn’s golden gaze. Peter fished something out of his pocket, held up a black box, and dread pressed down on her. “I had hoped to wait until Valentine’s Day to ask you this but it’s become apparent that you want it now.”
“Don’t do this, Peter,” she growled, turning away from him. A flash of movement from the balcony caught her eye so she turned her head and looked. A strange, grayish-green creature was hanging from the balcony rail, with large, pointy ears and gigantic black eyes in its small face. It smiled at her, its mouth full of sharp, wicked looking teeth. “What is that?”
“Don’t distract me, Melanie,” Peter growled, wrapping his fingers around her arm and forcing her attention back to him. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed his grip on her arm and smiled down at her. “Now, as I was saying, I was hoping to wait, but….”
Glancing back at her balcony, the creature was gone and she figured it must have been her imagination. She had more important concerns at the moment, like what kind of creature was pretending to be Peter. It couldn’t be the man she had spent six years with and if it was, he had to be on drugs or something. Shaking her head, she held out her hands to stop him. “I don’t want it; you know I don’t want it.”
Again, he ignored her, going down on one knee in front of her and opening the black jewelry box to reveal a flawless, single carat diamond solitaire ring. “Melanie Annette Jacobs, will you do me the very great honor of becoming Mrs. Peter Kingston?”
She almost got whiplash from the force of her head shaking. “No, absolutely not.”
“Of course, I plan on keeping Vanessa to take care of my more… primal urges,” he continued, ignoring her refusal. “But knowing how adventurous you can be, maybe you could join us?”
“No.”
“Then maybe we can invite another man?” his expression was almost hopeful.
She was shaking her head fervently. “No.”
Disbelief rippled across his face as he stared up at her, her refusal finally sinking in. “What?”
“No, Peter,” she repeated firmly. Did he honestly think she would? “I will not marry you. We are never going to get married to one another.”
“You were upset that I cheated on you with one of your best friends,” he cajoled, standing up, still holding the box in his hands. “I get that, I do. But I also forgave you for cheating on me. We weren’t faithful but that doesn’t mean we don’t belong together. Marry me, Lenni.”
“I never cheated on you, Peter,” she said, turning her back on him and flattening her palms against the counter top, wondering what bug crawled up into his brain and laid its rotten eggs because he was delusional. If he was truly Peter. She had to keep remembering that there were other things out there in the world and it might not be Peter. God, she hoped it wasn’t Peter. “We broke up because we didn’t belong together. I don’t think we ever belonged together.”
“But you are going to marry me,” he bullied, irritating her even further.
“No, I’m not,” she insisted. Walking away and then turning around to face him once more, she held up her hands, “Peter, you’re not acting like yourself. Please, just go and… sober up.”
“I’ve never been more sober,” he returned. “We’ll get married, have a couple of kids, get a dog….”
There was suddenly not enough oxygen in her small apartment and she stumbled over to the balcony doors. Pushing them opened, she welcomed the blast of cold wind that stung her face. She took a couple of deep breaths, welcoming the icy air into her lungs.
“That’s what I like about you, Lenni,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb, crossing his arms over his chest and watching her. “You’re so expressive and everything you feel is written on your face.”
“Then why won’t you accept my answer and leave me be?” she spat out, taking huge gulping breaths of the frigid evening air and swallowing the bile that threatened to choke her.
“Because you’re eyes tell me you still want me,” he said softly, reaching out to touch her. When she flinched, he let his hand fall to his side. “Now, come inside before you catch your death.”
“Peter,” she pleaded one last time, hoping to reach the man she knew was in there somewhere, not wanting to think about Vanessa lying to her all of these months. Why hadn’t her friend told her the truth? Melanie would have accepted it and been glad for it because then she wouldn’t have had to worry about Peter at all. “Go find Vanessa and ask her to marry you. She adores you.”
He scoffed, “Like I would marry that whore. No, I want someone less used up.”
“You’re a fucking bastard if you think that way about her,” Melanie seethed, still protective of her friend. “She’s a good woman….”
“Yes, in bed and only in bed.” Peter’s face twisted in disgust and turmoil. “I’ll fuck her but come home to you at night.”
“I’m not going to share my husband.” She squeezed her eyes shut, to clarify that she wasn’t going to marry him at all, but he was already talking.
“Come on, Melanie, you’re being childish,” he murmured, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “Nobody believes in monogamy anymore. With your, ahem, lover and my piece of ass on the side, we’re perfect together.”
She huffed out an incredulous snort, trying to bring her arms up to break his hold but his grip was like a vice. Even though the cold was seeping into her bones, she didn’t want him to touch her. “Let go Peter.”
His hand splayed over her abdomen, pulling her hard against his body and his arousal. His breath was hot against her neck as he whispered in her ear, “Marry me, Lenni.”
Struggling in earnest, she bit out, “It’s over and it’s been over for a very long time.”
“Baby, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmured coldly, tightening his hold and frightening her. He actually meant to harm her and she didn’t understand why. If he wasn’t a space alien or a skin walker, what the hell caused the horrific personality change? “You’re mine, you’ve always been mine. I’m not going to lose you again.”
“You’re not making any sense, Peter,” she said in a low voice, watching as the sun began to fall beneath the horizon, as colors exploded across the sky. It was going to be night soon and Vaughn was going to be knocking on her door in a few minutes. Maybe he would be able would be able to explain Peter’s behavior, maybe he would tell her that Peter wasn’t really Peter at all. Maybe….
Peter jerked her body against his, his voice a low, threatening growl, “I’m not letting you go again.”
She laughed, “You don’t get a say in the matter because I’m not yours.”
“You are mine,” he snarled, pressing her forward until the metal railing dug into her stomach.
“You’re hurting me, Peter,” she protested, as they stumbled backwards a few steps. With all of her strength, she pulled away from him. At the same time, he pushed her forward and she landed hard against the railing. Her hands curled around the bar to hold on when she realized that she was still falling forward. She was no longer looking at the sky but at the ground that was rushing up to greet her.
The ground that she was rushing to meet.
“Melanie!” s
he heard a gravelly voice cry out, the sound lost as the wind rushed past her body. She never should have taken a room on the fourteenth floor; living so high was bound to come to a bad end.
Time slowed down and the strangest thoughts went through her head: she was never going to see her family again, she was never going to see Vaughn again, that he had been the gargoyle in her bedroom. And how cool would it have been to have a gargoyle for a boyfriend? Especially one who looked like Vaughn at night and the glorious stone creature during the day? It would have been interesting to fuck him in his gargoyle form and she wondered if it would even be possible.
It was insanity to think about Vaughn as he was in his gargoyle form because she wasn’t going to see him again in any of his forms. She was never going to introduce him to her family. Hell, she was never going to see her family again. Guilt gnawed at her gut as she considered her family having to deal with her death, of Ferris having to deal with it. The little girl deserved nothing but sunshine and happiness, not the loss of her favorite aunt.
She almost laughed at the whole thing. The fates finally decided she was ready to see the truth just before they killed her.
Even more ridiculous was the fact that the talisman wasn’t very effective at protecting her. She was going to die and the necklace didn’t do a damn thing to stop her death except for nearly burning a hole in her skin. Closing her eyes, she let the metal bar go and brought her arms up to shield her face. Though from fourteen stories, she didn’t know why she bothered. She was going to be splattered all over the sidewalk next to her apartment building.
She was not going to be a pretty corpse.
Chapter Eleven
Armand grabbed Vaughn’s arm, “The sun is setting, there’s no time!”
“If I don’t, she’ll die!” Vaughn’s heart raced in his stone chest as he spread his wings.
“If you do, you’ll both die!” Armand yelled back in fear and anger.
Vaughn didn’t even look before he fell forward, streamlining his wings to gain speed. In his terrifying flight to reach Melanie, he was oblivious to the frozen wind that cut across his face. The sun was setting, he could feel his body transforming but he had to reach Melanie, he had to save Melanie. Without her, life would be cold and dark… empty.
Watching in horrified dread, he saw her bring her arms up to cover her head. Time was moving too quickly as she continued to fall and too slow as he desperately tried to reach her. She was too far away, falling too quickly and there wasn’t enough time. His body was softening, he was going to catch her but it would be too late. They were both going to hit the sidewalk and die.
Stretching out his arm, his hands, he reached for her and touched her waist with the tips of his fingers. With a primal roar, he stretched his fingers until they gripped her shirt, pulling her to him. Five feet above the ground, he had her in his arms and he extended his wings fully to halt their descent, jolting their bodies at the abrupt stop. As he set his feet on the cold ground, relief flooded him as he held her once again in his arms. She was safe.
She was alive.
Melanie looked up at his changing face with wide, frightened eyes and her voice barely made it past her taut jaw. “Vaughn.”
“Melanie,” he rumbled, his voice still gravelly even as his body became human. Her body trembled wildly in his arms and he closed his eyes, grateful that they were both still alive, that somehow, against all odds, he succeeded. Holding her against his body, he took a moment to absorb the feel of her, to reassure himself that she survived; that she was alive.
She was alive. Oh, God, he almost lost her! He couldn’t bear the thought of not having her in his life, of her lying cold and broken in a lonely grave. He couldn’t….
“You saved me,” she breathed, her voice uneven and breaking. He could feel her heart fluttering madly against his chest. His own heart was doing the same mad, adrenaline-fueled dance. It felt close to bursting, with relief, with fear at how close he came to losing her.
“Of course I did,” he murmured, brushing his lips against her forehead. His voice shook and he had to take a steadying breath before he could continue. “Did you think I would let you fall?”
Her laughter was choked and soft, “I didn’t know you could fly. I had hoped but I didn’t know.”
He smiled slightly as another wave of relief crashed through him, making him slightly delirious even as his heart continued to thump painfully fast. “Sweetheart, I’m a gargoyle. Of course I can fly.”
She laughed a bit hysterically as her eyes welled with tears. “So the fates have decided I’m ready….” Her voice quavered as a tear slipped down her cheek. “Hell of a way to show me. I guess that means I’m worthy, huh?”
He gathered her even closer, closing his eyes and simply holding her as she cried, tears of relief, tears of emotional over-load. Tears of surviving when everything in her must have known she was going to die.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing kisses against his chest. Nuzzling her nose against his skin, her terror turned to a need to affirm that she was still alive, that Vaughn had saved her and she was still alive. Twisting around in his arms until her breasts were pressed against his chest, she purred, “I love your gargoyle form.”
“I know,” he grunted, a gruff laugh rumbling his chest, letting himself drown in Melanie’s tender kisses. Her soft lips moved over his skin until the relief of surviving morphed into something more, into a lust for life, a lust for Melanie. As he held her, his penis grew and thickened, needing to claim her and celebrate their lives.
Her lips found his and when her tongue swept into his mouth, he groaned, tightening his hold on her. She nearly brought him to his knees when she wrapped her legs around his waist. The silky material of her skirt rode up until the smooth flesh of her thighs rubbed against the skin of his hips. She exhaled lustily, urgently moving her body against his, trying to crawl into his skin. “Vaughn.”
The uncomfortable feeling of being watched slowly crept into his conscious mind and he pulled his lips away from hers, looking around. Several people were staring at them with surprise at his lack of clothes and with dismay at their lack of discretion. He knew that if they had seen his gargoyle form, the magic would have automatically altered their memories to that of a man. But as the rush of adrenaline and fear began to recede, he realized he was standing in the middle of the sidewalk with a gorgeous woman in his arms and not a stitch of clothing on his body.
In the middle of a Minnesota winter.
Now that it registered, the coldness began to seep into his skin. Unlike his stone body, his human body was slightly more susceptible to the temperature. Of course, the winter chill was more of an annoyance than a true problem but it didn’t change the fact that he was naked.
“We’ve got an audience,” he murmured, feeling her body stiffen. He held her closer, not about to let her squirm out of his arms. He was never going to let her go again. “Let’s get inside.”
Hugging Melanie closer to his body to keep her warm, he began to walk around the block to the front of the building. Normally he had no problem with his nudity, but with the layers of clothing covering the humans, he felt more than naked, he felt… exposed. Melanie’s skirt was twisted about her legs, barely covering his erection.
Someone let out a low whistle and he felt a blush burnish his cheek bones. Females of this generation were so different than what he had known before. They were more open, more sexually aware. More daring. Most of the time he loved the new attitudes, now however, it made him uncomfortable because he had almost lost the woman he loved and they had almost died in the process.
He would have died had anything happened to her.
The thought of how close he came to losing her whipped through his body and he visibly shuddered, tightening his hold on her. Her rain-fresh scent filled his nostrils and calmed his senses and as he walked he pressed his lips to her temple. As soon as they were back in his room, he was never going to let her out of sight again.
<
br /> “It’s all right,” her voice drifted into his consciousness and he looked down at her, humbled by the compassion and love filling her eyes as she gazed up at him. Placing a palm over his heart, she offered a shaky smile, “You saved me. Vaughn. I’m all right.”
“I know,” he rasped, hugging her once more, no longer concerned with the humans who watched them pass. As he moved, he sent out the subtle memory spell to alter what the humans remembered, if they remembered anything at all. He knew that it might not be enough but it hardly mattered. Besides, who would believe a naked man walked through the winter streets with a luscious woman in his arms?
He reached the entrance as his brothers came rushing out and he was taken aback by the bewildered relief apparent on both of their faces. No, he had expected such emotion from Rhys but not Armand, who never let anything disturb his countenance. Even when he was angry, Armand looked cool and calm and collected. Vaughn was about to tell them he was all right when Armand stepped forward and embraced him in a powerful hug, not caring that Melanie was between them. He didn’t relent even when she squeaked. Instead, he pressed tighter.
“Thank the gods,” Armand breathed, hugging Vaughn with all of his might. “We thought we lost you.”
True, he had cut it very close, but he made it. With his arms full, Vaughn was unable to return the hug but he pressed his head against Armand’s to let him know he returned the love. “There was just enough time.”
“There wasn’t any time,” Armand said, stepping back and draping a robe over Vaughn’s broad shoulders.
With a confused expression, Vaughn looked to Rhys, who surprised him by also stepping forward and enfolding him in a powerful embrace, “We turned the moment you leapt.”
Vaughn’s head jerked back as he looked at his two brothers then down at Melanie. Her eyes were wide in her face as all four sets of eyes slowly looked down to her chest. The stone that was between her breasts was slowly dimming, as if it had been glowing.
