by E A Price
Ingrede smiled at her mate, and he snorted. The mating dance between humans and gargoyles perhaps wasn’t that different after all – in Ingrede’s clan it had often started with the females incessantly insulting their chosen males. Not that her own mating began that way. No, theirs had been an arranged mating at Cai’s request, but she had always been in awe of him, and now she was in love with him.
It was nice that the clan were enjoying some peaceful moments together. Not that Danica or Grey were ever particularly peaceful. It was raining outside, so, in spite of Grey’s complaints that bad weather should not affect gargoyles, most were inside together. Gracchus was away somewhere at the moment; everyone was curious as to where but Luc would not say. Tristan had returned with Gwen, and they had taken to his room, while Brom and Joely had retreated to his room – Joely had not wanted to waste a ‘free babysitter.’ But apart from their human clan mates Bea and Gustave, everyone else was here. Leo and Allen were playing chess – a game which Cai had attempted to master on a similar rainy evening but only ended with him throwing the chess board across the room and managing to hit Grey with it. Ingrede had rather enjoyed playing, though playing with anyone other than Cai was not nearly so amusing. Maggie and Andrew were cuddling and watching TV, as were Ric and Brenda, though Brenda kept smacking Ric for his constant questions of asking ‘what did that guy say while I was asking what that other guy said.’ Annis appeared to be having what the humans called a mild panic attack while considering the upcoming birth, but Chris was trying his best to calm her.
Virtually all of the clan mates were there. Oh, with the exception of Ryia for which Ingrede was thankful. Ingrede was no slouch when it came to fighting, but being berated for being lazy and not wanting to go ten rounds while pregnant was damn infuriating. Also, Castor appeared to be missing, but given the lascivious looks Ryia flung at him, she did not blame him. Gargoyles should be strong and brave, but even they had their limits.
Annis stared at Ingrede’s swollen stomach as if it were a bomb about to explode.
“Have we considered a human doctor,” she suggested.
This was met by numerous growls, Cai’s the loudest.
“We could not risk it,” rumbled Luc carefully.
Worry laced Kylie’s features, and Ingrede felt sympathetic – something she was not used to. Gargoyles did not want sympathy and would probably challenge anyone who felt it for them to a fight. They were self-proclaimed stubborn and proud creatures. But she felt sympathy for Kylie, who was no doubt worrying over the birth of her own child – a half human and half gargoyle child. There could be untold dangers. No doubt it would be better for Kylie if one of her doctors could be present, but it seemed doubtful that would be possible.
“Birthing my daughter will be good practice for you,” Ingrede told Annis, as much for her benefit as Kylie’s. “And Bea has agreed to assist.” The human had some magical healing ability which probably would not work on Ingrede, but she had been a nurse in her younger days. “Also, Joely will be there – she has birthed a child.”
Maggie chuckled. “Surprised she remembers. She told me she was so doped up she saw yellow submarines when Daffy was born.”
“What does doped up mean?” piped up Daphne, taking a break from teasing Wolfe with his stuffed penguin.
Maggie shrank in her seat. “Me and my big mouth.”
“It means… happy,” said Martha forcing a smile on her face.
Grey snorted, and Danica allowed fire to flicker through her fingers while glaring at him.
“Everything will be fine,” declared Ingrede, and she truly believed that.
She was too excited about her new youngling to imagine otherwise.
“Perhaps you would like to be by my side when she is born,” she suggested shyly to her mate.
The gargoyle males in the room all looked up. A few of them appeared horrified by the suggestion.
“That is not the gargoyle way,” humphed Grey.
“That is not the gargoyle way,” mimicked Danica, unkindly but quite amusingly. “Wusses.”
“It is the human way,” said Kylie, giving her own mate a dazzling smile. “You will be there for when ours is born, won’t you?”
All eyes swiveled in Luc’s direction and their chief puffed out his chest. “Of course.”
“As will I,” declared Cai, not to be outdone. Ingrede squeezed his hand. “For when our son is born,” he added.
He smiled mischievously and she chuckled.
“Bet you your beloved battle-ax it’s a boy?” challenged Danica to Grey.
The male sneered. “I bet two weeks of silence from you that it is a girl.”
Danica hissed.
Ingrede laughed and smiled at her mate as she rubbed her stomach. Boy or girl, either would make her happy. They lived in difficult times, but at least some joy could be found.
Five
“Crumbs,” murmured Tilly as snowflakes started to flutter onto her car windshield.
They seemed to be plagued by cold weather this year, and her small car didn’t do well in snowy and icy conditions. She should really get a new car – something newer, something more reliable for bad weather conditions, something that didn’t have a Saved By the Bell bumper sticker. But cars were expensive. She already needed to pay for her oven to be fixed – or perhaps even a new oven. She didn’t particularly like being mean about money, but after working so hard to get herself out of debt over the past five years, she considered it was important to be frugal, and possibly more important to have separate bank accounts if she ever got remarried. Maybe she…
Thump!
“Oh, holy hellacious crumbs!”
Tilly’s brakes squealed as she jerked to a stop. She shook as her hands gripped the wheel. Something… she didn’t know what, got in front of her car and she hit it. She hit… something. It just seemed to fall from the sky!
She didn’t see it, whatever it was – or whoever it was! Was it a dog? Was it a person? Yes, it was snowing, but the thing appeared out of nowhere!
Tilly focussed on not hyperventilating, and with trembling hands, she took off her seatbelt and opened the car door. On jelly-like legs, and holding onto the car for support, she edged her way to the front bumper, preparing herself to see a dead deer – maybe. Perhaps a large bird? But as she peered at the road in front of her car she saw… nothing.
Her car had a huge dent in it – massive actually, and her lights were smashed. She pressed her fingers to the warm hood of the car.
“What in the…”
Tilly heard a growl behind her and spun to find an enormous orange monster bearing down on her. She screamed at the vision before her – all teeth, claws, and wings.
“Foolish human!” howled the beast, raising her vicious looking talons.
Tilly dropped to the ground, covering her face and screaming as if her life depended on it – which it probably did. But just as she was expecting the killing blow, a flash of purple dashed in front of her, shielding her. It was another one – another one of the creatures, but slightly larger and with purple skin. The orange creature sank its claws into the purple one, who snarled in return.
The purple one grasped the orange one and hurled it away, roaring as furiously and fiercely as a bear or a lion or some other deadly predator!
Tilly pressed herself against the car, her body immobilized by fear. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. She had banged her head on the steering wheel. It hadn’t felt bad, but maybe it was. Maybe she was dead, or dying or hopefully just hallucinating.
As if things couldn’t get any crazier, the chief of police, Chris, rolled up and pulled out his gun. The orange creature snarled and leaped into the air, flapping their enormous wings and flying away.
Chris ran over to the purple creature and asked if it was okay.
“Tilly?” gasped Chris on spotting her huddled form.
Tilly gave up on consciousness at that point. It was a miracle she held out as long as she could. B
ut now she was ready for this hallucination to be well and truly over.
*
Ophelia hissed at her wounds. Stupid human. Stupid Castor.
She had no intention of starting a fight. She was merely trying to gather intel, and the foolish beast got in the way, and then that ridiculous female… She grunted and stretched her limbs.
She was only there to see if Ingrede had given birth yet. She wanted Ingrede’s younglings. She was trying to build her own clan, but it was slow going. The gargoyles that her witch had awoken were useless. She was desperate to increase their numbers, to strengthen the clan so that when they finally challenged Luc’s clan, they would defeat them.
Of course, Luc would be allowed to live – he was going to be her mate, along with a few of his gargoyles. Annis who was subservient obviously. The fertile female, Ingrede was a must and her younglings. Her mate Cai may prove troublesome, but if he could learn to share Ingrede with other males, then he would be allowed into the clan. Plus she was fairly certain Grey and Ryia would be swayed to follow her. Until that night she would have thought she could have Castor too, but after their fight, maybe not. But she was not sure about the rest. Gracchus was not a gargoyle easily swayed, and as for the others, they may take exception when she killed their human mates. She certainly didn’t want Drago – he was unmanageable, and Twenty-Six was not a true gargoyle. She was just one of Blackthorne’s experiments – she needed to be put down. Mutt.
She needed more clan mates. She needed younglings. The fools she had already awakened stubbornly did not want to mate with one another.
She needed more gargoyles, and given that Ingrede was due to give birth, she wanted to check on the clan’s security, to see if she might acquire Ingrede for her clan sooner rather than later. But now, the security would be tightened, thanks to her run-in with Castor.
Dragon’s dung!
No, she would find a way. The future of her clan was at stake – and they came first.
Six
Something was touching her face. Half-asleep, Tilly tried to blow it away. “Not right now, Joe,” she murmured drowsily.
“Grrr.”
“Hmm?” What was that noise? An animal? “Is that you Milady?” she mumbled. “Milady?”
“Humph.”
Tilly’s eyelids fluttered open, and boy did they stay open when she saw what was on her couch.
“Ah… ah…”
The scream caught in her throat. It was one of the creatures. The purple one. The one who protected her from the other one. That should have been a little reassuring, but she wasn’t sure it was.
“Wh… wha… what…”
“The female is awake,” rumbled the creature. Tilly flinched at the deep timbre of his voice – for surely it was a he. He was certainly man-shaped apart from the extra things that other men didn’t have. Well, perhaps more like Superman-shaped, because she wasn’ t sure regular men had muscles like that. Well, maybe they wished they did.
Chris walked into her living room, a hard yet somewhat concerned look on his face.
“What the… I… ah…”
She tried to get to her feet, and Chris gently propelled her back into the chair.
“Take it easy, Tilly.”
Chris had a cell phone in one hand and on making sure Tilly wasn’t going to scream or run away – as if she could rely on her legs at that moment – he resumed his conversation.
“What? No just Tilly, she’s awake.” His tone turned softer, and it was almost a whisper, “Babe, that’s not important. You know you’re the only woman for me.”
The purple creature sneered at Chris and Chris glowered in return. Tilly opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
“Am I hallucinating?” she whispered.
Because it looked like some weird creature was currently lounging on her couch and sending her dirty looks. She picked up a cushion and tossed it at the creature. Perhaps he wasn’t really there. He snatched it out of the air, claws pressing into the soft material, and growled. Nope definitely there. Eep.
Tilly grabbed another cushion, closed her eyes and hid behind it.
“Tilly, everything’s fine,” said Chris in a firm voice.
Tilly peeked out from behind the cushion to look at Chris. “Yes, of course, it is – why wouldn’t it be? Ha, ha, ha!”
“The female is hysterical,” groused the creature.
“She wants to talk to you,” murmured Chris holding the cell out to the creature.
He jutted his chin in a stubborn lilt. “I do not use human contraptions.”
Chris sighed and put the phone back up to his own ear. “He’s too much of an ass to use a phone.”
The creature growled. Tilly peeked around her cushion a little more, watching as Chris leaned over the creature, pulling at the bandage covering his torso. Well, not covering it – there was still plenty of torso and muscles on show.
“It’s still bleeding,” said Chris. “Aha. Are you in pain?” he asked the creature.
“Never,” he declared. His tail thumped against the floor.
“He is,” said Chris into the phone. “He just won’t admit it.”
The creature scowled. “Humph.”
Tilly poked her head a little higher, caught the creature’s dark eyes and ducked behind the cushion again.
“No babe, you can’t come here,” chided Chris to whomever he was talking to. “Because I said so, that’s why. It’s too dangerous.” He sighed. “Put Luc on.”
“What is going on?” demanded the creature.
Chris held up a hand as he listened and the creature scowled, swishing his tail to and fro. Tilly peered around the cushion, studying the strange creature. He was so… strange!
Milady strolled into the room. Tilly held her breath. The huge cat looked the male up and down. He bared his huge teeth. Milady yawned and walked away again.
What? Didn’t he even warrant a meow?! The obnoxious beast would not stop wailing the last time Tilly dared bring a man home.
“Yeah, I agree,” muttered Chris. “Yeah. I’ll be right there.”
He hung up, and the creature pushed his wings back, shifting his position on the couch.
“Finally, we are leaving.”
Chris placed a hand on his shoulder. “No, I am to get a poultice from Annis – you’re staying here.”
“What?!” cried both Tilly and the creature.
Tilly discarded her cushion; fear was replaced by disbelief. She was starting to believe she wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating
“Chris, you cannot…” she started.
“Nonsense,” rumbled the creature, “I am…”
Chris gave them both stern looks. He pointed at the creature. “You’re injured, you need to sit tight.”
“But… but…” spluttered Tilly.
“Tilly, you could be in danger.”
“I could?”
“The female you hit might come after you.”
Tilly felt a shiver of fear. “That… thing…”
“Gargoyle,” hissed the creature.
She blinked at him. She was a gargoyle? Which meant he was a gargoyle. As far as she knew, they were just stone statues. Well, apart from in the animated Hunchback of Notre Dame movie. In that they were hilarious. This male didn’t look like he was about to break out into song.
“So that…” she gulped, “gargoyle I hit might come after me?”
Chris nodded.
Tilly pressed her hands to her cheeks. “Well, ah, don’t I need protection?”
“That’s why Castor will be staying.”
“You expect me to act as bodyguard to her?” snarled the creature. Or Castor as she should probably think of him. He didn’t sound too happy at the prospect - even less happy than her.
“Ummm…” she started.
“You’re injured,” Chris told Castor, “you shouldn’t be moved until you heal. But I suppose I could ask Grey to come down.”
Castor’s eyes flashed, and his wings twitched.
>
“Or Ryia?”
“No!” he growled making Tilly jump. “I do not need assistance.”
Chris nodded. “I’d bring you Bob,” the unruly police dog, “but last I checked Milady picks on him.”
Tilly cast a look at her giant furball who was now purring with a self-satisfied look on her face. Yeah, unlike Tilly, Milady could be very forceful.
“But he is injured,” interjected Tilly, very worried about being left with him. “What if she comes back and he can’t stop her?”
Castor bristled – a full body bristle that involved his wings and tail. “I am more than capable of defending a tiny human.”
“Ah…” Tilly rubbed her forehead. “Am I losing my mind?”
Chris tried to smile, but he missed, and it was frankly painful to watch. “Tilly, look, I know this is all a shock, but I just don’t have the time to explain. Look, this guy is your friend.”
Castor snorted.
“This gargoyle will not hurt you, but the one you hit with your car might, so please, just let him stay here for now until we make sure you are safe.”
“I… ah…”
She tried to put her objections into words, but Chris was already walking to the door.
“I’ll be back with that poultice,” he called.
“Ah…”
He strode out her house, and Tilly turned back to look at the creature – to look at Castor.
His eyes narrowed, and he growled. She ran out of the room and locked herself in the bathroom.
*
Castor rolled his eyes at the skittish female. Humans.
He shifted on her couch, wincing at the pain. The reappearance of Ophelia would cause a lot of worry for the clan. She had tried to kill Kylie, and had spied on them and tried to orchestrate Gracchus’ death, almost ending Annis in the process. No doubt they would be concerned, and possibly out hunting for her. He should be there with them.
He tried to move and grunted as pain lanced through his body. He should have allowed Ophelia just to strike the female down. But even as he thought it, he did not believe he could have done that. Protecting her had been instinctive.
The small, pink creature had staggered out of her car, fear, and concern over her face, and Ophelia hadn’t even hesitated. She was unarmed and so small and helpless, and yet Ophelia was prepared to kill her on the spot. No, even if he had to do it all again, he would protect her.