by E A Price
When a Gargoyle Dreams
E A Price
Copyright ©2017 by Elizabeth Ann Price
All rights reserved. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, species, and incidents are either the products of my imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to humans and gargoyles living or dead is coincidental.
Also, I have no idea whether deer prance around in the snow causing car crashes on Christmas Eve outside Portland. If they don’t, then it will just be one of many inaccurate leaps I made when writing this sucker. (Plus, if you think the local wildlife inaccuracies is bad, OMG just wait until you get to the part with the… actually I’m not going to spoil it for you. But if you’ve read my previous works, the weird leaps won’t wholly be a shock to you. ; )
Contents
Previously
Main Characters
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Epilogue
Previously
During King Arthur’s reign, to defeat his enemy, Morgan Le Fay and her legions of magical beasts, the King, his magician Merlin, and the leader of the dragon race sacrificed themselves to create a race of warriors. They became known as gargoyles.
After defeating Morgan, the gargoyles lived in tentative peace alongside the humans. But not all gargoyles were happy with their place. A female called Ophelia, second in command to Lucifer, a descendant of the first gargoyle, made a deal with the enemy, known as the Noir Clans, and gave them the spell used to bring the gargoyles to life. The armies of the Noir Clans rallied and in an attack, they used the spell on the gargoyles to put them into a stone sleep, that if not reversed within a thousand years would become permanent. Those who were not immediately destroyed were sheltered by the descendants of Arthur’s allies - the Blanc Clans. For years, attempts were made at waking them, but they were unsuccessful.
Almost a thousand years later, Lucifer, along with dozens of other hidden gargoyles, was being sheltered by a man called Professor Hardcastle, who lived in a town called Devil’s Hang. After his death, his heir and nephew, Andrew held a party at his house. A woman named Kylie Summers stumbled upon the gargoyle Lucifer, and while drunk, kissed the stone gargoyle and awakened him. Kylie was discovered to be a distant (very distant) relative of one of Arthur’s allies.
While Kylie and Luc fell in love, a man named Holling, a relative of one of Morgan’s allies, was attempting to revive the gargoyles to create an army. He held Kylie hostage to lure Luc to him. When Luc tried to rescue her, Ophelia was discovered to be alive, and she killed Holling. Disgusted at Luc’s relationship with Kylie, Ophelia tried to kill her. Ophelia escaped, and it was discovered that she had been working with Holling, trying to create a new clan of gargoyles.
Luc and Kylie mated and began working to decipher the locations of the other gargoyles Professor Hardcastle hid.
On learning of Holling’s death, the Council of Magic Users sent mercenaries to watch the mansion, to try and discover if the gargoyles had been reawakened and report back their findings.
One of the newly awakened gargoyles, Ric, was seen in the surroundings woods by a human called Chloe. They continued to meet in secret, and unbeknownst to Ric she was one of the mercenaries sent to watch them. While Chloe tried to seduce Ric, he fell in love with a human called Brenda.
Ric was kidnapped by the Council of Magic and taken to a medical facility, where he met Twenty-Six – a gargoyle who had been bred in the lab. The council was using gargoyle DNA to try and breed new gargoyles that stay awake in daylight.
Luc, the gargoyles and Brenda’s uncle, Chris attacked the facility and Ric and Twenty-Six were freed. Luc confronted the leader of the Council of Magic, Blackthorne, and told him that they would leave him alone if he left them alone.
A few weeks later, while trying to retrieve a new gargoyle, Annis and Chris were kidnapped and hunted for sport. They managed to free themselves and the pair mated.
It was revealed that the kidnapping was engineered by Ophelia, in an attempt to get rid of the male gargoyle, Gracchus. A new clan gargoyle called Lief was working with Ophelia, and he left the clan to return to Ophelia.
Kylie visited the new doctor in town in order to retrieve contraceptive pills, but the doctor gave her fertility drugs instead. The doctor was shown working with Blackthorne, and their plan is for Kylie to become pregnant with Luc’s child.
Over Christmas, the gargoyle Brom found a human mate called Joely after her daughter, Daphne mistook him for Santa Claus.
The story will be continued… right now.
Main Characters
Humans
Kylie Summers – Luc’s mate, and technically a witch. Her magical ability lay dormant until she stumbled upon Luc as a statue. She’d like it to be known that she doesn’t normally run around kissing statues. She isn’t a hussy for stone men, she was just very drunk.
Chris Wyatt – Brenda’s uncle and the local chief of police. A former detective from Portland, he now runs a police force made up of three people and a dog named Bob who refuses to obey.
Brenda Halverson – Mate of Ric and currently a high school senior. Spends her time acting as a referee between her overprotective mate and uncle.
Bea – Kylie’s aunt, but not biologically. Also a witch, she has some healing ability. Belongs to the magical community, and is one of many guardians Kylie had while growing up.
Maggie – Kylie’s best friend, a goth, and a lover of all things supernatural. Currently helping to track down all the missing gargoyles. Secretly enjoys Boggle.
Andrew Hardcastle – The nephew of Professor Hardcastle, who hid and protected the gargoyles for many years. Owns the Hardcastle Mansion where the gargoyles are currently living. Maggie’s fiancé and favorite Boggle victim.
Gustave – Former manservant of Professor Hardcastle. Working with Kylie and the gargoyles to find and wake the others. Does not like to be compared to Alfred from Batman.
Blackthorne – A descendant of one of the original Noir Clans. A member of the Council of Magic made up of other descendants. Involved with creating Twenty-Six and undoubtedly has various other nefarious schemes ongoing.
Melissa Sanchez – An FBI agent in Portland, and friend o
f Chris’. Assigned to the ‘weird’ cases, like UFO and Bigfoot sightings. As the only agent in her section, she has to be both Mulder and Scully. FYI, it can be quite exhausting to be both a believer and a skeptic at the same time.
Martha – Maggie’s cousin, and unflatteringly described as a ‘braindead twinset’ by Maggie. They don’t really get on. Currently suffering from some very lurid dreams about flying monsters…
Joely – Brom’s mate, waitress and according to Brom, a ‘saucy wench’.
Daphne – Joely’s daughter. Despite being told otherwise, is still convinced Brom is Santa Claus.
Dr. Casey White – The town’s doctor and an unbeknownst to the gargoyles, an ally of Blackthorne’s.
Gargoyles
Lucifer ‘Luc’ – Kylie’s mate and a direct descendant of the first gargoyle created. His interests include awaking his gargoyle brothers and sisters and keeping his human mate out of trouble.
Annis – A female with a deformed wing. Smaller and slighter than normal females, she is unable to fight, hunt or fly like gargoyles, but she makes a mean casserole and is mated to Chris.
Gracchus – A male a few years older than Luc. Genial and easygoing, he hints at a darker past, but is accepting of their new life, particularly the invention of TV. His favorite TV show is currently Elementary.
Amalric ‘Ric’ – A young male, recently mated to Brenda and the first gargoyle to be woken after Luc. Annoyingly cocky but Brenda manages to tease that out of him.
Dragoslava ‘Drago’ – Otherwise known as the thing in the basement. The male struggles to adapt to life after being asleep for so long, and on waking spent a month chained in the basement due to his uncontrolled anger. Not keen on clothes.
Twenty-Six – The female bred in a lab who is able to sleep at any time, day or night. She was the twenty-sixth of the experiments to create a superior species of gargoyles. She is considering changing her name.
Brom – A gargoyle hailing from Iceland and newly mated to Joely. Has a much shorter tail than other gargoyle, which he is very sensitive about.
Ophelia – Luc’s former second in command who betrayed the gargoyles and is currently on the loose, with numerous evil plots on the boil.
Ingrede – A female, mated to Cai and mother of Wolfe. Her mating was arranged, but she has feelings for Cai, particularly as she learned he requested to be mated to her and has feelings for her too (even if he has difficulty admitting them). Discovering the joys of shampoo and hair care. Her hair has never been so glossy.
Cai – Ingrede’s mate and father to Wolfe. Learning how to get in touch with his finer ‘female’ feelings in order to appease his pregnant mate. Has been watching reruns of The View to get inside the female mind.
Wolfe – Cai and Ingrede’s son; insufferably cute and obsessed with a stuffed penguin.
Tristan – A bookish gargoyle.
Grey – An aggressive gargoyle.
Lief – An ally of Ophelia’s.
Castor – A newly awakened gargoyle and old clan mate of Annis.
And Bob the dog – Of unknown parentage, he just showed up in town one day. Honorary member of the local police force.
Prologue
Many, many, many years ago
Dragoslava landed inelegantly in the courtyard, briefly tripping over his tail and hitting himself in the face with his wings. A few of his gargoyle brothers and sisters chuckled lowly, only silenced by the growl his father leveled at them.
Dragoslava shrugged and grinned at them, pleased when they smiled in return. He had never been the most graceful of gargoyles, growing faster than his feet could keep up with him. He was now of age and towered over the rest of the clan, and his once lanky form was slowly filling out with rippling muscles.
For many years he had been the butt of many a joke because of his growth spurts, but he had never minded. While his father was gruff and unforgiving, Dragoslava was much more even-tempered, happy to laugh at himself and quicker to forgive. His father was the leader of their clan and in two minds about whether Dragoslava’s mild temperament was a good thing. One day Dragoslava should be the leader too, but he knew his father was already considering whether his younger son would make a better successor.
Their clan lived in the forest surrounding Castle Mortling. They had a tenuous alliance with the lord of the castle, Corin – a descendant of a cousin of Guinevere’s. They protected the castle at night, and the humans ensured no harm came to them during the day.
It worked well, but at both his father’s and Corin’s insistence, there was minimum contact between the gargoyles and humans. Dragoslava had not even been inside the castle until now, only his father and his enforcers had, and Dragoslava had to admit to some curiosity. He had seen humans, of course, fought against them, but had never been near one in what could be called a social setting. But apparently Lord Corin’s daughter was home, and she insisted they honor the gargoyles for their assistance in the most recent raid by one of the Noir Clans. The Noir Clans, after more than a hundred years of near silence, were getting bolder, and their attacks more frequent.
Lady Muriel was apparently very dear to Corin, and he wouldn’t deny her what she wanted, though from what Dragoslava’s father said, this was the last thing the old man wanted. So, they would make an appearance, be as polite as it was possible for gargoyles and then leave. It was a small price to pay for peace.
“Do not speak to them,” warned his father, flicking his tail impatiently. “No good comes from getting close to humans, but when you became clan chief, you will need to deal with them too.”
Dragoslava nodded dutifully.
The gargoyles, happy and amused one second stilled and tensed as a rotund, red-faced man approached, flanked by a dozen men in armor and wielding both a sword and a nervous expression.
The rotund man was clearly Corin, and he looked like he had just smelled something disgusting.
The other gargoyles let out snorts. None of them were enamored by Corin’s attitude towards them, but Dragoslava didn’t give it another thought. Many humans hated them because they feared them. Gargoyles were larger and stronger than them – they feared things that could hurt them, it was natural.
Corin said a few words to his father, and Dragoslava noticed that behind the man was a slim human female.
He caught her eye by accident, and she blushed. He could scent she was female, but he had never actually seen a human female in the flesh. Her skin was paler, smoother than her father’s and her dark hair hung in silky waves around her round face. Altogether, she was a much more appealing sight than her father, with his bulbous nose and small, mean mouth.
Her brown eyes seemed to warm as they looked at him and gracefully, she stepped around her father and stood in front of him.
“Hello, I am Lady Muriel.”
“Dragoslava,” he replied, a little tongue-tied. Talking to her should be no different to talking to a female gargoyle, but for some reason it was.
He noticed the guards around her clutching their weapons a little more tightly, but she didn’t seem to care.
“That is an unusual name,” she commented, her expression open and interested.
“They call me Drago,” he mumbled.
“Then I shall, too, Drago.”
She smiled widely, and he did as well.
*
Two weeks later
The castle suffered another attack – a bad one. They attacked during the day when the gargoyles could not assist, a lot of damage was done and many human lives lost, but they had prevailed, and the castle remained.
However, both Drago’s father and Lord Corin were on edge, awaiting the next attack. They had even agreed that the gargoyles would move inside the castle walls temporarily. It was not a solution they wished to make permanent. Having that many gargoyles so close made the humans nervous, while the gargoyles were itching to roam free. Any kind of shelter made them antsy, made them feel trapped. But the human male who was leading the attacks against them
– Blackwell – did not appear as though he was going to stop anytime soon. While the attacks were ongoing, the humans could not protect them, and if the gargoyles remained in the forest, they ran the risk of being found and destroyed during the day.
Drago was patrolling the north side. He stared at the forest, longing to go hunting.
He stilled as he detected a light, floral scent. Muriel. He couldn’t honestly say he cared for the scent of humans, but Muriel always smelled fragrant.
“Drago,” she called, boldly approaching him.
Other human females barely dared even look at the gargoyles, never mind talk to one of them. Yet, here she was approaching him without even an escort. Indeed, there was no one else around. They were alone.
As she came to stand in front of him, her eyes traveled up his huge body, and she regained a little of her previous shyness. “Hello.”
“Hello,” he murmured, flicking his tail.
He always did so when uncertain about what to do. If he were his father, he would gruffly send her on her way with no care to rudeness, but he was not his father. The movement seemed to catch her eye, and she watched his tail with unabashed curiosity.
“Are you well?” she asked.
Drago shrugged. Gargoyles of his clan were not apt to worry about how someone was feeling.
“As well as can be expected,” he muttered upon realizing she was waiting for an answer. “Are you?” he asked after a pause.
She smiled genuinely. “A little tired of being cooped up in the castle, but otherwise, yes.”
They remained watching each other in awkward silence until Muriel bit her lip and hesitantly said, “I hope you do not find this offensive…” Drago braced himself for an insult. “But would you mind if I touched your wings?”
He stared at her in frank surprise. Of all the things he imagined her saying, it was not that.
“I, ah, no,” he blurted.
Her small hand, trembling slightly reached out and with the briefest touch, stroked the edge of one of his wings. Her hand looked so small and pale against his huge, dark wing. The motion was surprisingly sensual, and he could not help the shudder she elicited.