Stone Passions Trilogy (Stone Passion 1, 2, & 3)

by A C Warneke

  Vaughn and Melanie laughed softly as Jensen left the room, leaving the two of them alone. Turning on the bed, she was dismayed to note that Vaughn already had most of his clothes on. Sticking her lower lip out, she dropped the sheet that hid her nudity and purred, “I wish we had more time.”

  Vaughn’s eyes heated to the brilliant gold she loved so much, moments before he tackled her, bearing her back onto the bed. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she smiled up at him but before she said anything, Jensen knocked on the door and said in a loud whisper, “Hurry it up!”

  “Later,” she whispered.

  “Definitely,” he growled, kissing her hard and quick before pushing himself off of the bed.

  She stayed in bed for a few more minutes after Vaughn left, unable to wipe the silly, love-sick smile from her face. She supposed she ought to be grateful to Jensen for waking them up but it had been so very nice sleeping in Vaughn’s arms. It was worth not being able to soar above the city with a gargoyle to be able to wake up with the man.

  Vaughn couldn’t believe that he had slept so long or so hard – it felt remarkably good. Rather, waking up with Melanie in his arms felt remarkably good. Had her brother not been standing there, he would have rolled her onto her back and given her a proper good morning. Instead, he was shoveling a mountain of snow, willing his erection to subside. It couldn’t be healthy to be sporting wood in subzero temperatures.

  Jensen and he had made pretty good progress on the driveway and cars by the time Melanie made it out. She looked adorable in her puffy, down jacket with her hat pulled low over her ears and a scarf wrapped several times around her neck. Her eyes lit up when they met his and she hurried over to give him a quick hug. With an arm around his waist, she called out, “Hey, Jensen! Where’s my shovel?”

  “Well, if you could see anything besides Vaughn, you would have seen it by the garage!” Jensen called out. Using his own shovel as a pointer, he added, “Right behind you.”

  She was amazing and he took a moment to appreciate her as she walked over to get her shovel, as she held it over her head like a trophy to show her brother. With one last, longing look at Vaughn, she headed down to the bottom of the driveway to work up.

  Within a few minutes, the three of them were working hard and b.s.-ing about everyday things, laughing heartily over Jensen’s dating disasters. Vaughn liked Jensen – hell, he liked all of the Jacobs – which made the next several weeks bittersweet. How would he ever let Melanie go? How could he ask her to stay with him?

  “Hey, Melanie,” a new voice called out. Vaughn glanced up and saw a man approaching, a shovel in his hands. His senses went on alert as the man got closer to his Melanie but then he forced himself to relax since it was obvious both Jensen and Melanie knew the stranger and that he wasn’t a stranger to them. “I thought I’d lend a hand.”

  “Hey, Terrance,” Melanie called out, a smile in her voice. “We appreciate the offer but I think we have it under control.”

  “I insist,” the man – Terrance – said, ignoring her protests and digging in. Quite literally. Vaughn couldn’t tell much about the man because he wore layers of clothing like the rest of them. Judging by his voice, he was probably in his late twenties, early thirties. His appearance put an end to the camaraderie and the four of them now worked in companionable silence.

  Vaughn found he missed the mindless chatter and laughter.

  Melanie always had a soft spot for Terrance. He was older than her by a few years but younger than Jensen and had been a neighborhood playmate for as long as she could remember. For the longest time he had had a huge crush on Jenna and Melanie had been the only one who knew. The poor kid was painfully shy, or rather, he had been until senior year of high school when he grew eight inches, bulked up with muscle and lost the acne. By that time, Jenna was seriously involved with Jeremy and Terrance had his pick of cheerleaders.

  Smiling at her old friend, Melanie continued shoveling, figuring that the sooner they got done, the sooner they could go inside and have hot chocolate. At that moment, the front door opened and Melanie looked up to see Ferris come charging out, bundled up in her snowsuit and boots. She looked like a purple snowman and Melanie had to laugh.

  Her laughter died in her throat as a little, gray-green creature caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. But when she turned her head, the little guy was gone. Shaking her head to clear it of cobwebs, she tried to get back to work but she was distracted. Were the little green creatures real or was she just imagining things? Or were they the imps that Armand had mentioned in passing?

  “Aunt Mellie!” Ferris called out, waving madly. “Watch what I can do!”

  Pausing, Melanie watched her niece fall straight back into the snow and start making a snow angel. About to join Ferris, she paused, irritated by the pendant that was heating up against her skin. Rubbing at the annoying charm, she took a step and fell flat on her ass; and started to laugh at her clumsiness.

  After that everything happened in a blur of motion: Vaughn flew over her and tackled Terrace to the ground. Well, he didn’t actually fly since he was no longer a gargoyle, but he moved really fast. Jensen quickly joined him, wrestling with the downed man over the shovel. Soon, Vaughn was holding Terrance up by the scruff of the neck, a furious expression on his too-handsome face, and Jensen was bright red with fury.

  “What the fuck, Terrance?!” Jensen was yelling once the man had been disarmed. Jensen glared at Terrance as he held the shovel away from him.

  “What happened?” Melanie asked, shocked and confused. Had the whole world gone mad? Melanie looked between the three men and then automatically searched out Ferris, who stood a few feet away with wide, bewildered eyes. Pushing herself to her feet, she rushed over to the little girl and gathered her up in her arms.

  “This asshole tried to take your head off with his shovel,” Vaughn growled, giving Terrance a shake. Holding Ferris’s head to her shoulder, she watched as Vaughn looked briefly at Terrance and then let the man drop and crossed the distance to her. “If you hadn’t fallen when you did…." He swallowed thickly, his eyes a little wild as he looked at her. His hand shook as he cupped her face in his palm and rasped, "I almost lost you… it shouldn’t have been possibly but I almost lost you."

  "You didn't," she whispered, kissing his palm. She could hear Jensen and Terrence arguing but her focus was on Vaughn. Over the child’s head, she whispered, “Imps?”

  He nodded once and his eyes cleared the longer he stood near her. After a moment, he looked around at the small party and softly, almost hesitantly, he asked, “Do you want me to make them forget?”

  “Please.”

  With another nod, he broke the quarrel up and turned to Terrence, whispering a few words until the assailant went boneless and collapsed to the ground. Next, he turned to Jensen, this time staring longer, his words deeper. Melanie couldn’t hear what was being said but could see the tension ease from her brother’s shoulders, the fury clear from his face. Afterwards, Jensen nodded his head and went back to shoveling as if his sister didn't almost have her head bashed in.

  Vaughn looked down at the fallen man in disgust, the desire to hurt him written plainly on his face. In a low growl, Vaughn ordered, “Go home.”

  Terrance quickly scampered away, unknown fear driving him. Vaughn prowled back to Melanie and Ferris. Caressing Melanie’s cheek, almost as if he needed to touch her, he stared into Ferris’s eyes and breathed, “Everything is alright, little one. The snow is falling, the air is brisk and nothing happened. Everything is alright and nothing happened.”

  Ferris tilted her head to the side and looked up at Vaughn with concern, “Why would you want me to think nothing happened? Mr. Martin just tried to hurt Aunt Mellie.”

  Melanie had to bite back a smile even as she squeezed Ferris closer and kissed her cheek. She met Vaughn’s eyes over her head, seeing the grim amusement in his face. “Oh, joy. Another one immune to memory spells.”

  Melanie grinned at Vaug
hn’s disgruntled tone, “I told you she was a little me.”

  “So you did,” he murmured, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck and pulling her in for a kiss. Just before his lips met hers, he repeated, “So you did.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next weekend, Melanie had convinced Jenna to let her have Ferris for a few days. Knowing how much the little girl would love spending time with her Aunt Mellie and how much she would love the apartment, Jenna had no choice but to agree. Both Melanie and Ferris squealed with delight as they ran off to pack Ferris’s bag and pick out the perfect stuffed animals to bring with.

  It was also a good time to have a visit because Melanie was having her period and as much as she loved Vaughn, she didn’t want to be touched in any way remotely sexual for three days. She just wanted to snuggle and enjoy her niece.

  Taking Ferris’s right hand as Vaughn took her left, the three of them made their way into the apartment building. Ferris’s eyes wide in her elfin face as she breathed, “Aunt Mellie, you live in an enchanted castle. Are there dragons here?”

  “No, but there are gargoyles,” Melanie answered, exchanging a knowing glance with Vaughn.

  “Well, actually….” When Melanie gaped at him, he shrugged his broad shoulders and smiled sheepishly. How much more was there to the world that she was just barely seeing glimpses, of things that watched the humans with hunger and malice and others that watched with mere curiosity?

  “Human!” Nod called out, rushing out from behind the front desk to greet them, his arms opened wide as he came to welcome them. Then his eyes lit upon Ferris and the smile he was wearing grew even more brilliant. Stopping right in front of Ferris, the two met eye to eye; they were almost exactly the same size. Melanie worried for only a moment until Ferris smiled shyly at the little sprite.

  “Hello,” Ferris said softly, tightening her grip on Melanie’s hand. Melanie squeezed back in reassurance and Ferris’s smile grew.

  “I understand where I made my mistake!” Nod said, as if they knew what he was talking about. Shaking his head sadly, he lamented, “Humans are so difficult to work with; they don’t follow any of the rules.”

  He walked away without saying anything else, mumbling beneath his breath that it wasn’t his fault humans were uncooperative, it wasn’t his fault he had matched the human with the wrong brother. It wasn’t his fault Armand was a hard man to read and it was easy to make that kind of mistake.

  Melanie watched him go, unable to prevent the smile, even though she didn’t experience the champagne bubbles again. Vaughn had been right: the hang-over had been hell. She was grateful to discover he didn’t have nearly the same effect on her when she hadn’t just survived a fourteen foot fall.

  Looking down at Ferris, she saw the little girl staring after the strange man, a confused look on her face. When she looked up and met Melanie’s gaze, she frowned, “He’s not human, is he?”

  “No, honey, he’s not.” Squatting down to Ferris’s level, she took Ferris’s hands in her own. “He’s a sprite and there’s so much more out there, so much I want to share with you.”

  “But we have to keep it a secret, don’t we?” the little girl asked, knowing so much more than a small child should. Looking up at Vaughn, she swallowed, “Nobody will believe us if we tell them the truth.”

  “You can’t be upset with them, Ferris,” Vaughn said, joining Melanie on Ferris’s level. “They’re just more comfortable not knowing. They’re happier that way.”

  Her eyes moved over Vaughn’s face, seeing things that she shouldn’t have been able to see at such a young age. In an instant, her expression changed, her mouth spread into a dazzling smile and she threw her arms around Vaughn’s neck in an impromptu hug. “I am so happy you’re dating my Aunt Mellie.”

  Vaughn froze for a heartbeat before he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the much, much smaller body of Melanie’s niece. He looked at Melanie with wide, panic-stricken eyes, making Melanie laugh. Standing up, she grinned, “I think we should take her up to the roof.”

  Holding Melanie’s gaze, he stood up, keeping Ferris in his arms. He looked so handsome, holding the little girl in his big strong grip, his hold so gentle and yet so protective and in that moment, Melanie fell in love with him all over again. A sudden ache in her chest reminded her that she'd never have his child, never know the miracle of pregnancy and child birth. Unless he was able to have children, now that he was human… she hadn’t considered that. She would have to ask him about it when they had a chance.

  She had time. They had their entire lives ahead of them to talk about it. She was still young and not yet ready to have children anyway. Even if they weren’t able to have their own children, she still had Ferris. She would simply be an even more devoted aunt to her beautiful niece, if such a thing were possible.

  Ferris chattered incessantly as they made their way to the roof, entertaining Vaughn with her stories of dance class and art class, and all of her friends and her favorite stuffed animals and how she wanted a pony for Christmas but her mother said a pony would never fit in her room, what with all of the toys, and so she offered to move her toys to Aunt Mellie’s old room so she could have a pony and her mom still refused and weren’t mothers silly.

  Melanie wasn’t sure Ferris even took a breath in her long-winded, meandering monologue but Vaughn didn’t seem to mind. He looked at the little girl and Melanie could see his heart in his eyes. Of course, Ferris had that effect on everyone she met because she was a wonderful little girl. The panicked look in Vaughn’s eyes was completely gone by the time they reached the roof, having been utterly charmed by Ferris.

  “Oh, he’s bee-you-tiful,” Ferris breathed, scrambling out of Vaughn’s arms and rushing over to the griffin, to Armand. Reverently, she reached out and ran her hand along the muscled thigh. She looked over her shoulder to Vaughn, and in an earnest voice said, “I don’t want a pony anymore; I want him.”

  Melanie laughed, wrapping her arm around Vaughn’s as he stared at the little girl with something akin to horror. Noticing something peculiar, Melanie stood up on her tiptoes and whispered into Vaughn’s ear, “How are they able to hide their male parts?”

  He swallowed, unable to tear his eyes away from the little girl running her hands all over the griffin gargoyle. He could almost hear Armand growling though the gargoyle didn’t move so much as a muscle. “He, uh, we can alter our appearance if necessary, for short periods of time at least.”

  “So we probably shouldn’t stay up here too long, right?” Melanie grinned at Vaughn as she left his side and joined Ferris in front of the griffin. Kneeling down, she wrapped Ferris up in her arms and kissed her cheek, “Isn’t he spectacular?”

  Ferris looked at Melanie and smiled widely, enthusiastically nodding her head in agreement. “He is spet-cat-ular. Can I keep him?”

  “Armand is going to be furious,” Vaughn sighed. Melanie glanced over her shoulder and saw him leaning against the entry, his arms crossed over his chest, his shoulders slumped forward, as he shook his head in dismay.

  “Should she be concerned about imps?” Melanie quietly asked. Since the shovel incident, she had had several more altercations because of the little bastards over the past several days. Nothing as serious as the night she learned Vaughn was a gargoyle or shoveling with Terrence, just a few customers talking crap or throwing their empty chocolate wrappers at her as they left the store. Still, it was annoying.

  Vaughn shook his head no, “She’s a child and it’s expected that they believe in magic. When she becomes a teenager and continues to see what she shouldn’t then we can be concerned.”

  Melanie considered that for a moment, remembering a time when she was younger and believed in fairy tales and magic without question and wondering when that had changed. There wasn’t any date that she could pinpoint as the day she gave up believing the unbelievable but it had been a gradual thing that happened over time. It took meeting a gargoyle to remember something she had always kno
wn to be true but had forgotten.

  Granted, she had never completely given up her faith in the unseen. She had simply suppressed it to the demands of life, telling herself to stop believing in fairy tales because she was an adult and it was time to grow up. Had she not walked past the little curiosity shop when she had, would she have lost her belief in magic altogether? Would she have missed her chance with Vaughn? She cringed at the dismal thought.

  How was it going to affect Ferris, being around magic for the rest of her life? Was the little girl going to become an oddity, looked at by the rest of humanity as peculiar and… unnatural? Would it even matter if she was surrounded by mythical creatures the rest of the world couldn’t begin to fathom?

  “We need to get back inside,” Vaughn said, interrupting her thoughts. Shaking her head, she smiled as he gathered Ferris up in his arms. Geesh, she always got so melodramatic when she was on her period. “The sun is about to set and it’s not something she should see.”

  Melanie nodded, following him back inside and closing the door behind her. After they had gotten comfortable in Vaughn’s luxurious living room, as Ferris was picking out a movie and Vaughn was setting up a game of checkers, Melanie sighed, “When I was younger, I don’t think I saw even half as much as what Ferris can see. What happens to people like her?”

  “There aren’t many that have her gift,” he glanced at her with a wry look. “Or your gift, for that matter. If they are lucky, they fall in love with a gargoyle.”

  “And it they're not lucky?”

  “That’s not my area of expertise,” he answered honestly. “Usually, there is a purpose for a child that can see clearly because the fates always have something up their sleeves. They’re very clever that way, you know?”