When a Gargoyle Lives (Gargoyles Book 2) (6 page)

The violence she’d seen in Luc’s eyes when the other male attacked him made her shiver.  Their growls made her ears hurt…

Kylie made it sound as if they were just like humans, but they weren’t.  Humans could be vicious.  But when those gargoyles clashed, they had been more animal than man.  Did Kylie know what she was letting herself in for?

“Brenda!”

“Coming,” she called absently.

Maybe she should tell her uncle after all.  But then she thought of Annis’ sweet smile and Ric’s petulant pout – both somewhat endearing, and she was torn.

Chapter Eleven

Ric dropped to the ground a few feet from Chloe.  Perhaps he shouldn’t have flown, but it was a cloudy night, and he had left Chloe waiting for three hours…

At first, it wasn’t his fault.  He couldn’t leave while Brenda was at the house.  And then she had infuriated him so much that all thoughts of Chloe had left his mind, and he had spent the next hour practicing his sword skills.  Accursed female, anytime she wanted a rematch he would be ready.  It was only when he dropped the cell phone Chloe had given him that he remembered their promise to meet.

Chloe rose to her feet from her perch on a fallen tree.  “Where the hell have you been?” she snapped.

“I could not get away,” he said slowly.  “I have told you my situation is difficult.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you call me?  Or even text me?”

Ric was taken aback at her tone.  Until that moment, she had been at turns teasing, coquettish and amused.  But never angry.  And the expression on her face turned him cold.  If he wasn’t mistaken, it was loathing.

Chloe blanched and then hung her head.  “I’m sorry, I was just… I…”  She pressed her hands to her face and sniffled.  “I thought you weren’t coming.  I thought something might have happened to you.  I was really worried.”

Unease poured through him.  His experience of comforting a crying female was limited to his younger sister when she was a baby.  She soon grew out of it – she grew out of it within three weeks of her birth.  He understood that human females cried at all kinds of things.  Kylie did.  She cried when she was happy.  She cried at movies.  He once saw her cry over a particularly poignant TV commercial.  Female gargoyles did not go in for that kind of behavior.  Kara had generally liked to punch things whenever she felt any kind of emotion.

Unused to having to comfort an emotional female, Ric awkwardly patted her on the shoulder.  She turned towards him and wrapped her arms around him, letting out deep sobs into his chest.  He froze for an instant before he gently rested his hands on her back, willing himself to relax.

Her body felt strange against his.  Her wiry limbs seemed to clash against him.  It did not feel… natural.  But then he supposed they were two very different species.

After a few moments of discomfort, she pulled back and gave him a watery smile.  “I really was worried,” she murmured.

“You need not worry about me,” he said gruffly, wishing for the conversation to end.

“But I do worry, what if… if the government or someone came and took you away.  You wouldn’t be able to stop them.  What protection do you have?”

“We are well protected; we are adept at taking care of ourselves.”

“But surely with modern technology…”

“We will be prepared.”

Her brow creased slightly, before she dabbed at her eyes.  “If you’re sure.”

“I am.  But, ah, thank you for worrying about me.”

“I can’t help it,” she said shyly.

Ric grunted in assent.  “I must go now, I… I cannot be seen out in the daytime.”

“Oh.  What about tomorrow night?

He hesitated.  With Cai and Ingrede and the youngling, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get away without being missed.  Then there was that female Brenda – what if she came back to the house?  He would not want to miss that.

He almost balked at the thought before managing to rationalize it.  The female was a menace, and he would be needed to protect the clan.  He almost dismissed that excuse as flimsy, but then he rubbed his bite mark.  No, she really was a menace, displaying fierceness that would have even have made Kara pause before attacking.

“I am not sure I will be able to come.”

Her face tightened.  “The night after?”

“I will try.  Goodbye, Chloe.”

“Bye.”

He left her pouting as he leaped into the sky, soaring through the clouds, enjoying the brief, artificial feeling of being free as he flew the small distance to his new home.

Chloe was concerned for him.  Perhaps her feelings for him were growing; perhaps she was starting to feel affection towards him.  He wasn’t sure he was entirely happy about that.  But hadn’t he been considering her as a mate just a few hours earlier?

His father had told him of his first meeting with his mother.  As an arranged mating they did not meet until a week before their mating ceremony.  His mother hated his father on sight.  His father found his mother attractive, but could not help goading her fiery temper.  They went through with the mating out of loyalty to their clans, but they fought like dragons for months after their ceremony.  Until eventually, the fighting became less frequent, and affection bloomed between them.  His father remembered it happened so gradually that at first he barely noticed.  It started with his mother preparing his favorite meal for him.  With his father sharpening her sword.  This was akin to gargoyles giving each other flowers.  Until eventually they laughed together, rather than argued.  And they realized they loved one another.  He didn’t like to admit it, feeling it was somehow unmanly, but he always loved hearing that story.  He had pictured himself and Kara taking a similar route once upon a time.

But Chloe’s affection, that was… fast.

Perhaps he was just irresistible and interesting, charming.  While his ego would like to believe that, the females in his clan had disabused him of that notion many years ago.  Arrogant, sometimes irritating – those were words that were bandied around by the females.  While they had been happy to slake a need with him, they certainly weren’t interested in talking to him.

He had not cared.  He was young.  He wasn’t interested in anything more at that time, even with Kara.  He had wanted to mate her, but anything tender hadn’t even entered into his consideration.  That kind of thing would happen later.

Chloe had hugged him.

When had he last been hugged?  Probably as a baby, and that wasn’t hugging – that was being held, and his mother had put a stop to that as soon as he could walk.  She loved her younglings in her own way, but she hadn’t been the most maternal creature on the planet.

Perhaps he was just scared of what his relationship might turn into with Chloe.  Then he shot that thought down.  He did not get scared.  Men like him did not get scared.  Grudgingly he could admit to a little loneliness – but that really was pushing it.

No, he was just wary of the difficulties of mating a human.  That had to be it.  He needed time.  Mixed matings were new territory, and it would be hard.  Although, Luc, and Kylie didn’t make it look particularly hard.

And just why did his thoughts keep returning to that insufferable female Brenda?

*

“We couldn’t just keep her here!”

“The security of the clan comes first over one female.  And we need to look into why our alarm did not work when she came onto the property.”

“I think it’s because she’s been here before and the magic recognizes her as a friend...  Don’t give me that look – I’m new to magic, I’m still learning.  And as for Brenda, she’s eighteen.  She’s not even out of school yet.  We couldn’t keep her here as a prisoner.”

“We should have ascertained that she was not going to tell anyone of our presence.”

Gracchus gave Ric a brief smile and turned the TV up to cover the arguing between Luc and Kylie.  Clearly Luc did not like the way she had handled the situation with Brenda.

Their loud argument could be heard through the ceiling.  Gracchus continued watching TV while Annis was fiddling with some type of garment.  What was that he was saying about Luc and Kylie making their relationship look easy?

A bang sounded, and Ric tensed.  Are they…

Then Kylie laughed, and the volume of her voice increased even more.  “Really?  You’re putting your foot down – that’s hilarious.”

Luc growled.

“I would not worry,” said Gracchus, managing to watch Starsky and Hutch while listening to the argument and talking to Ric.  Impressive multitasking.  “He will not hurt her.”

“Are you sure she will not hurt him?  Human females are surprisingly fierce.”  Again his thoughts returned to Brenda.  What the hell was wrong with him?

Gracchus grinned, showing his fangs, knowing exactly who he was referring to.  “Yes, she was spirited.”

Ric rolled his eyes.  “Not the word I would use.”

Dragoslava let out a roar that drowned out even the arguing.

Ric cocked his head at Annis.  “You should see what he wants.”

Annis put her sewing down, nodded and left.

Ric was gaining mastery over computers and phones, but Annis had made herself useful in learning how to use things such as washing machines and dryers and a sewing machine in order to make them new clothes.  Bea had bought them human clothes, but they were too awkward to wear, so Annis had set about making them some.  She was a useful female thought, Ric.

The argument had died down, either Kylie had knocked him out or… or they were indulging in their favorite past time.  A noisy, ceiling shaking past time and he definitely did not want to listen to that… again.

Gracchus turned the TV off and yawned.  “The dawn is nearly upon us.”

Annis decided to spend the day in the basement with Dragoslava.  Ric considered that while they were stone, Drago would have no idea she was even there, but he couldn’t be bothered to argue.

Gracchus and Ric wandered outside to find Cai and Ingrede huddled with their child.  Gracchus spoke to them in hushed tones.  Ric retained his distance and nodded at them.  Cai returned the nod.

Luc strode into the clearing, scowling.  He said a few words to Cai and Ingrede before standing next to Ric.

“Kylie heard from her aunt and Gustave,” he rumbled.  “The gargoyle statue they found was broken in half; there is no point in trying to revive her.  They are on their way home.”

Anger and sadness washed over him.  Another sister lost.  Wordlessly, Ric slapped Luc on the back.  The larger male grunted.

“There will be others.”

“Thank you for saving Kylie when Cai…”  Luc growled and hunched his shoulders making his wings tense.

“Of course.  She is clan.  You believe this Brenda female can be trusted?” he blurted.

Luc folded his arms, rustling his wings in disapproval.  “It would appear I have no choice in the matter,” he said stiffly.

“You trusted Kylie and look where that led you.”

“Kylie is my mate, not some random female.  She found me for a reason.”

Ric stepped away as he felt the first rays of sunshine on his skin.  Sleep started overcoming him.  Maybe Brenda found them for a reason, too.

*

“We still don’t know how many gargoyles there are,” said Bell with a sigh.  “You’re not pushing him hard enough.”

“I let the fucker hug me,” snapped Chloe.  “What more do you want from me?  I’m sure my aunt would agree I’m doing all I can.”

Bell let out a shuddering breath as he struggled with his temper.  He wished Chloe had never made contact with the gargoyle.  Sure, it sounded like progress, but Chloe was a pain in the ass.  She was impatient and bullheaded and got the job because she happened to be council member Marsters’ niece.  She only let him know it about ten times a day.

“We have less than two weeks here.  I want those gargoyles taken alive by then.  You need to find out how many there are.”

“What does it matter?  Why not just take them by force – they’re not invincible.  You have the resources to take them down.  My aunt…”

“The council want to maintain a low profile.”  Including her blasted aunt.  He didn’t imagine that Marsters wanted her face and name plastered all over the news for her connection to a massacre in a small Maine town.  “If we go in there, guns blazing, the gargoyles will fight back, we are sure to attract attention, and civilians may get caught in the crossfire.  The last thing the council want is for anyone to know about the existence of gargoyles too soon.”  He paused.  “Or to hurt innocent people.”  Though, he imagined some of the council only cared about that insofar as how it would reflect on them.

Chloe huffed.  “I’ve tried being nice to him, and it is killing me.”

“You’re the only one who has made contact with one of them; you need to push him as far as you can.”

She groaned and pouted snottily.  She really was her aunt’s niece.

“Make him trust you, and he’ll lead you to the others.”

“I’m trying,” she whined.

“Try harder.”

“You think I like having that monster slobber on me?”

“You’re taking one for the team, and you will be rewarded.”  Her damn aunt would see to that.  Chloe was pretty useless in most situations, but whenever something went right, she managed to hog all the glory.

“Can’t you find another way in?”

“Maybe, surveillance caught a young girl going into the property earlier.”

He showed her the pictures, and she squinted at them.  “These are a little blurry.”

“We can’t get any closer.”

“Magical interference,” piped up Monroe.  “It’s screwing up all our equipment.”

The pictures were immaterial.  After Bell watched her go in, he posted one of his men outside and had them follow her when she left.