by E A Price
“I am sorry, I flew as slowly as I could,” he told her sincerely. “It is an unfortunately windy evening.”
The crosswinds had made for a somewhat turbulent journey. He was sure that the finger marks where she had gripped him would last for days.
Melissa tried to give him a dirty look, but she had to stop as she slapped a hand over her mouth.
She had been reluctant, but he would not hear of her concerns. Melissa need not worry about him so much; he could easily take care of himself and her. Her anxiety for his welfare was sweet, endearing, wonderful… but unnecessary.
Melissa had voiced her objections, but he had argued against every one of them, and here they were, and admittedly, he felt somewhat guilty for the fact that she was now feeling sick.
“It’s fine,” she mumbled, “just remind me that next time we go flying, it needs to be on an empty stomach.”
Gracchus smiled slightly. “I will try to remember. This is where she was attacked?”
“Yeah, over there.” She pointed over to the edge of the path.
Carefully, when he was sure she could stand on her own, he freed her waist and moved in that direction. He could scent the blood that had been spilled, along with the scents of dozens of humans who had been through the park in the past few days.
“Anything?” asked Melissa, mildly anxious that they would be seen.
He could not scent any humans nearby, but he could not scent that any gargoyles had been there recently either.
“No,” he admitted moodily.
He had wanted to discover something to help lead to the gargoyle so that they could find him and hopefully have him join the clan. But, and perhaps this desire was greater, he had also wanted to help Melissa, to help her solve her cases. He wanted to impress her.
“No gargoyles?”
“No,” he repeated tersely.
“Well, good, right? Neither of us wants a gargoyle to be responsible for these murders.”
He grunted in agreement and inhaled again, almost hoping he had made a mistake. He hadn’t.
“There is a strange scent in the air, it almost seems to be the scent of a wolf,” he told her haltingly.
Melissa forgot her nausea, and her eyes widened. “A wolf? Really? Like a werewolf?”
“I have never smelled a werewolf.”
He had seen various movies and TV shows featuring werewolves. The legend varied, but he understood them to be humans who changed to wolves during the full moon. Though, humans changing to animals - that gave him a thought.
A low, angry rattle escaped the back of his throat. A remembered scent washed through him. An unwashed scent, filled with animal fur, desperation and most of all, hunger. Gracchus pressed his talons to the scar on his stomach. He had not smelled any of the beast men since the night they attacked his clan. It had been a long time ago, but certain scents could not be so easily forgotten.
He and the survivors had wiped out the beast men who slaughtered his clan, and he had not faced them in battle again. After Gracchus’ clan fell, he did not hear of any other beast men attacks. If he had, he would have chased after them, hunted them to the ends of the earth. But, it had seemed like they had finally died out. The creatures could not form clans like gargoyles and were driven half-mad by sharing their bodies with animals. It was better they not survive.
There had been no mention of them surviving to that day. Perhaps they had, perhaps all the werewolf legends were based on the beast men. Though beast men were not tied to the moon, they could change at any time they wanted, and they were not necessarily just wolves.
“What’s wrong?” asked Melissa, seemingly from a long way away. “You look… troubled to put it mildly.”
He realized he had been staring at the ground, at the bloodstains, furiously growling. “I thought I smelled something familiar.”
“You did? Like a gargoyle?”
“No,” he replied quickly, “something else.”
“Gracchus,” she soothed. She placed a hand on his arm, stilling him. He had been scratching at his old scar, opening it, making it bleed again. “Talk to me.”
He looked down at her big, beseeching eyes. “Melissa, I…”
Gracchus stiffened as he heard movement. It was soft and stealthy, but he heard movement. He immediately thought of the beast man, and bodily grabbed Melissa and dove into the trees.
“What the…”
“Hush,” he commanded, “someone is coming.”
“That was too fast. I’m going to be sick,” murmured Melissa from over his shoulder.
He set her down and steadied her, but he continuously scanned the area waiting for their visitor to make themselves known. Whoever had been making their way toward them had been careful and hadn’t wanted to make much noise, which made him think it was not a beast man – they did not tend to be stealthy. But, he could be wrong. Gracchus hid them in case it was human. If it were a beast man, Gracchus would break its neck. He balled his fists, thinking of all his fallen clan mates.
Gracchus itched to take down a beast man. His years and experience had taught him to be patient and measured in his actions, but when it came to beast men, as the humans would say, all bets were off.
He narrowed his eyes as a tall, broad man strolled out of the tree line. The male was human-shaped, perhaps a little larger than most humans. Chris was a large human male, but even he might seem average compared to this male. This male hardly made any sound. He moved as smoothly and quietly as one of Melissa’s cats, though not Panthro who was a giant creature and tended to lumber everywhere.
The male stopped at the crime scene and tilted his chin into the air, sniffing. His head jerked in the direction of Gracchus and Melissa.
Melissa elbowed him. “That’s my partner, Colt!” she whispered.
“Your partner?” he repeated unhappily looking at the male.
Gracchus considered himself no judge of male human attractiveness, but even he could see the appeal. The male was what humans considered handsome, and he looked large and strong. He would make an ideal mate for any female. For any female human, he thought glancing down at her.
Colt started walking in their direction.
“Crap,” exclaimed Melissa, “I can’t let him see you.”
Before Gracchus could stop her, she shimmied away from him and noisily fell out of the trees.
“Hey!’ she called.
Colt stopped and looked down at her. “Sanchez?”
He rushed over to her and picked her up off the ground. Anger flashed through Gracchus as the male placed his hands on her small waist, and it only intensified when the male did not remove them when Melissa was standing.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, perplexed at her sudden appearance.
“Oh ah, same as you, I guess,” she said brightly.
The male watched her warily.
“Getting another look at the crime scene,” she explained.
“It’s dark,” he said curiously.
“You’re here,” she pointed out.
Colt shrugged nonchalantly in a way that was obviously fake - if Gracchus didn’t already distrust him, he certainly would now. “I was on my way to a bar, thought I’d swing by here to get some inspiration. How come you’re here so late? Don’t you live on the other side of town?”
The male knew where she lived. Grrr!
“I… couldn’t sleep. I was thinking about the case, and like you, I wanted some inspiration.”
Melissa smiled charmingly, and while the male looked slightly doubtful, he accepted her explanation in the face of her smile. What male would not be won over by that smile thought Gracchus gloomily.
“So, you find any inspiration?”
“No, none at all.”
Colt nodded. “Me either, but there is a strange smell…”
“Probably just the blood,” piped up Melissa, “mixed with all the people who have been through here.”
“Yeah, look you want to get a drink?”
“I can’t just leave you in the middle of the park at night,” said Colt, affecting a teasing, flirty tone.
Gracchus had spent enough time around Kylie and Maggie to know that tone.
“Sure, a drink sounds good,” said Melissa.
Colt beamed, and as Melissa cast one last look in his direction, the two of them walked away, chatting.
Gracchus folded his arms as he watched them move away. His tail lashed out, snapping at the tree next to him. There was an ominous cracking sound, and Gracchus decided he ought to be somewhere else at that moment.
*
Melissa fidgeted impatiently. Ordinarily, she’d be happy to go for a drink with Colt. He was her new partner, and she liked him. But her life wasn’t exceptionally ordinary at that moment.
She hadn’t wanted to leave Gracchus, but if Colt wouldn’t go without her, then she really had no choice. She just hoped Gracchus could make it back safely to her apartment. One drink and then she was gone, back to Gracchus so they could talk about just what had him so worried when they were in the park.
Melissa smiled as Colt reappeared with two beers.
“Thanks,” she said and took a huge gulp.
That was a mistake. It was too much, and she immediately started choking.
Colt patted her on the back. “Slow down, Sanchez, the beer ain’t going anywhere,” he teased.
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” she spluttered.
Once she calmed down, she realized he was staring out of the window. The bar was pretty busy, but they had managed to snag a table by the window, it looked out across the park. The death of their second victim hadn’t been far from the bar, but even though it was suspected to be a wild animal attack, it appeared that it had not put people off from going out. Not much did.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure,” he muttered, “just had this strange feeling someone was hanging about over there.”
Melissa squinted through the window at the tree line, but all she could see were trees. She thought of Gracchus, but inevitably he would have already left by now. This side of the park bordered a street, which was hardly deserted even at that time of night. No, he would have more sense than to stick around.
“Maybe it’s just a dog or…”
“Or a werewolf?” Colt grinned.
“Yeah, maybe – I like the werewolf angle.”
Colt fiddled with the neck of his beer bottle. “I prefer the gargoyle angle.”
Melissa stared at him for a beat and then shrugged. “Gargoyles aren’t supposed to be able to go outside in the daytime.”
He looked up sharply. “You ever meet a gargoyle?”
Melissa’s heart virtually stopped. “Who, me?” she squeaked.
“Exactly,” said Colt waving his hand, “we don’t know what they can and can’t do, because no one’s ever met one.”
Her heart started up again, and she almost drooped to the floor in relief. “You don’t seem to doubt they exist though.”
Nor did she, but she had now seen three gargoyles in her life.
Colt chuckled. “You don’t seem to doubt that werewolves exist,” he countered.
Melissa giggled. “I believe in absolutely everything. Name anything, and I believe in it.”
“Really?” he asked with a charming grin. “Okay, Santa?”
Melissa rolled her eyes. “Come on, I know Santa existed, but he was just a human who became a Saint because he gave gifts to kids. He was never supernatural; people have just blown his persona up to supernatural proportions. Give me a hard one.”
“Okay, fine, aliens? You really believe aliens exist?”
“Sure, it would be insane not to think that in the universe, in another solar system that another form of life hasn’t sprung up on one of the planets.” She tapped the table, warming to her subject. “But I don’t believe they’ve made it to earth yet. I mean who knows, one day maybe, but look at us, we haven’t made it out of our own solar system yet. We haven’t even set foot on planets in our solar system yet!”
Yes, this was why she didn’t date much, and why she didn’t get on with any of the men her mom kept pushing at her. They all thought she was an absolute lunatic. Colt, on the other hand, looked half-bemused and half-interested in what she had to say.
Melissa sipped her beer a little more demurely, taking her time over it. Yes, she wanted to get back to Gracchus, but actually, she was enjoying Colt’s company. It was nice to talk to someone who shared the same interests. She’d never really had that.
“What made you start believing?” he asked.
She chewed her cheek thoughtfully. “It was never one thing. I wish I could say I had some profound experience where the ghost of my dead great, great, grandmother appeared to me and told me she was really a banshee. But no, when I was a kid I liked to read a lot, and I found a book on Bigfoot in the library, and then my dad bought me a book on cryptozoology, and well, that was that. I was hooked.”
Colt looked at her thoughtfully. “So why are you so sure all these creatures exist?”
“I just can’t believe that with all the hype that they don’t.”
“There’s lots of hype over the Loch Ness Monster, but the thing’s in a loch – how could it possibly hide from all the tourists who visit every year?”
“Underground tunnels,” she said sagely, “but it’s a moot point now. He died about fifty years ago.”
Colt rumbled with laughter so hard tears almost ran down his cheeks.
“So, come on, you’ve had a good laugh at me,” she teased, “what made you start believing?”
Colt sobered and gave her a serious look. “Well, when I was a kid, I saw the ghost of my great, great grandmother and she told me she was a banshee.”
Melissa burst into laughter and threw her napkin at his head. “Very funny!”
“I know,” he said modestly. “She also said she was an alien who could shoot laser beams and…”
Melissa slapped his shoulder, and he caught her wrist, drawing her even closer to him. She gasped as she realized their lips were barely an inch apart, and as his eyes flashed predatorily, he swooped in for a kiss.
Seventeen
Gracchus scowled as Melissa laughed at something the idiot said. For surely, with his ridiculously wavy hair and lopsided smile, he had to be an idiot!
She had been in there far too long. Gracchus had not meant to follow them; he just happened to be going in that same direction and when he realized he could watch them through the window… He actually had no excuse for doing that. Though, Melissa clearly hadn’t wanted to go for the drink, so he could perhaps justify his presence in that he needed to be there in case Melissa wished to leave, and the male would not let her. Yes, that would do.
However, if he honestly thought about it, he could not admit to himself that there was any danger of that happening. Melissa knew the male and in no way feared him. Gracchus just wished that she did not seem to enjoy his company half as well as she did.
He was annoyed that she was laughing and enjoying herself with this male, but he was even more annoyed at himself for feeling annoyed in the first place.
Gracchus couldn’t deny it. He was jealous. He was a foolish old gargoyle, but he was jealous of Melissa lavishing any kind of attention on this much more suitable male. He had no reason to be jealous; Melissa was not his. He had his chance at mating, and he lost her.
Guilt assailed him as he thought of her. They had barely even known each other. They had lived together for a few weeks and yet he had said less to her in that time than he had to Melissa in the nights since he met her.
He wished he had known his mate better; she had just been the creature he was told to mate and that was that. She had seemed… fine. She was slightly smaller and shier than most females. She did not make much of a warrior – that was perhaps why her father had sought to mate her away and to do so without allowing
them to see her in advance, but Gracchus had liked her enough. He had hoped their union would be happy, but they never really got that far.
She was the same as him – mating at the behest of a father, and she was doing her duty. She was amenable to him, and they mated, she was pregnant from their mating night, a week later he left on an errand from his father, and when he returned four weeks later, she was dead.
The beast men had attacked their weakest members first – the younglings and the pregnant females, and his mate had not escaped. Until then, Gracchus had always thought the beast men were creatures to be pitied. They were leftovers from when Morgan Le Fay still lived.
In her time, she had created the beast men. Born human, she had twisted them with magic to allow them to turn into vicious, inhumanly strong animals. She used them as part of her army, and they ripped through humans like they were mere flowers.
But when Le Fay died, the beast men did not change back to human; they were forever cursed, and being part animal drove them mad. They hid what they were from the world, and clearly, the ability to change into animals was passed on from generation to generation.
Those who attacked Gracchus’ clan had been starving and half-mad, and they considered nothing but their hunger. From that moment, Gracchus no longer pitied them; he considered that they were better off dead.
His father led them in retaliation, seeking support from other clans. They wiped out the beasts who slaughtered their clan mates, his father called it a victory, but the damage was done for Gracchus. He had not known her well, but she had been his, as had the youngling growing inside, and now he had nothing.
But that was a long time ago. He had fought a lot more battles since then, throwing himself into fight after fight. He had nothing else but the fight, and slowly the ache of not having a mate and of never having young had subsided.
Until he was frozen in time, woke up in the future and met a young female called Melissa. Now, the ache was definitely returned.
But tradition was clear, and as he watched the human male Colt press his lips to Melissa’s, Gracchus considered that even if it weren’t, she still wouldn’t be his.
