by E A Price
Like Chris, she was a law enforcement officer, working for the FBI. He watched more than enough TV to know what that meant.
Gracchus would not deny that the gargoyles needed as many allies as possible for when the day arrived that they showed themselves to the world, but they needed to be careful. He trusted Chris’ judgment. The human male proved himself much more level headed than most of the gargoyles in their clan, and he was a good mate to Annis whose delicate spirit surely would have been trampled by a gargoyle mate. However, he was not sure about this female. She looked so tiny, and curvy. She did not look to be the sort of woman who should be running around with a gun trying to arrest dangerous men. Surely police officers needed to be strong and tough – like Chris who refused to back down from gargoyles. She looked far too delicate.
He groaned and shifted his wings, trying to find a more comfortable position in the tree. He had been there a couple of hours, and already his back was starting to ache from sitting in the same position. He reflected that in his younger days, he could have done this all night long and never felt a twitch. Time was marching on for him. He was not old, but nor was he young. Older than Luc, but he had a long way to go before he would be like one of their newest gargoyles – Leo. Humans put so much emphasis on age and numbers, but he had never kept track. As far as he was concerned, gargoyles were young, then they were warriors and then they were old. He was still a warrior.
Gracchus watched as the female moved around, swaying her hips. Her movements were loose and almost hypnotic. He was so intent on watching her that he almost missed the man entering her apartment.
For a moment, he assumed the male to be someone she knew – a friend, a relative or even a lover. He growled at the last thought, but his assumption went right out the tree as the male pulled a gun out.
He had to do something, but showing himself to humans… It was only the briefest of hesitations as he launched himself out the tree and shot towards her apartment. He landed with a soft thud on her balcony. The door was slightly ajar and tucking his wings and tail behind him; he hoped to take the male by surprise.
He didn’t, but what he saw took him by surprise.
The male was face down on the floor, his eyes closed and a little bit of drool escaping his mouth. Melissa was cuffing his hands behind his back. She looked slightly disheveled, but unhurt. She stooped to pick up the male’s gun and only when she had grabbed it did she notice Gracchus standing in her living room.
He froze, uncertain whether he should tell her she was dreaming and duck out the window. That happened a lot in TV shows and about fifty percent of the time, it actually worked.
“What are you?” she murmured, her eyes roving over him.
“Gargoyle,” he blurted unthinkingly.
She had a gun; she could easily shoot him. He should move before she recovered her senses and did just that. She was a cop – in spite of her small and exceedingly curvy stature. Melissa had been unarmed and had taken out a much larger male than herself with what appeared to be very little trouble. It seemed unlikely she would have any issue in shooting a supernatural creature who had just appeared in her apartment.
Just when he thought she would, she giggled.
“You’re real!”
“Yes,” he said cautiously.
“You’re really real!”
“Yes?” This time it was more of a question.
“I knew it! I knew it! I was right all along!”
Then she started jumping for joy. He supposed it was probably too late to go with the dream explanation.
To be continued
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