by Price,E A
With dinner ruined, Kylie called down to the diner for some food. Chris imagined that their chili cheese fries would be quite an eye opener for Annis. Kylie sent down a bulk order, nearly ordering everything off the menu, but he imagined that Edward the owner would be more than happy to accommodate. He’d always had a soft spot for Kylie’s aunt, Bea.
Luc had declared that Kylie was not permitted to go out in the dark on her own. Given that she barely even bothered to argue with him, Chris gathered this was a common argument for them. Considering the frustration on Luc’s face, he doubted the gargoyle often won it.
But, given Chris’ low tolerance for listening to couples arguing, he agreed that he would go to the diner with Kylie – a compromise that appeased everyone. He left Bob guarding Annis, or possibly trying to smother her as he tried to lie on top of her, and drove Kylie down.
She prattled aimlessly about their research into the gargoyles, and Chris listened intermittently. In reality, his attention was elsewhere.
It was just a scald. Annis would be okay. But he could not forget the moment he heard her shriek. His blood ran cold, and he ran to her like his life depended on it. She was fine. She would be okay. It probably would not even show a mark. Thank god. Her health and safety came first, naturally, but he would not want anything to happen to her long, flawless legs.
He had touched Annis before – not willingly, though. He was an intruder in their house, and she had tied him to a chair. He got himself free and pounced on her, pinning her to the floor. Given that situation, he had not taken the time to appreciate the softness of her skin. It was not like human skin, but more like buttery leather. Every inch of her leg was hairless and smooth, with supple flesh and… Chris shook his head. He had to stop this. It wasn’t appropriate. Although, he wondered how old she was. She certainly seemed young, but too young for his thirty-six years?
Damnit! He needed to stop this. He was not interested in a damn gargoyle! He was still in mourning for his wife. Or at least, wasn’t he supposed to be mourning for his wife? Wasn’t that the appropriate thing?
Their dating life had been a whirlwind of kisses, dares, and sex. It shouldn’t have been a shock when she turned up at his house, with tear-stained cheeks to tell him she was pregnant. While having their fun they were hardly careful and looking back, Chris knew he should have seen that Mara was hardly the type to be sensible and plan ahead when it came to birth control. Usually, he did, but not with Mara. She had wailed and cried and told him she loved him, told him her parents would never forgive her for having a baby and no husband. Next thing he knew, they were flying down to Las Vegas. They were married by Elvis, lost half his savings gambling and spent the night in a honeymoon suite with more ruffles than a nineteenth-century dandy’s shirt and a mirror over the bed the size of the Titanic.
It was possibly the wildest thing he ever did. He wasn’t sure if he loved or lamented the memory of it.
Chris withheld a chuckle as he imagined what the gargoyles would make of Las Vegas. Annis’ nose would probably scrunch up like whenever she was confused, and her tail would curl around his leg and…
“We’re here,” he said gruffly, abruptly pulling into a spot opposite the diner.
“No kidding,” chuckled Kylie. “You okay? You zoned out for a while there. I was afraid to do anything in case you were sleeping with your eyes open.”
“But I was driving!”
Kylie shrugged and shouldered her purse. “Eh, you seemed to know where you were going. C’mon, there’s a double bacon cheeseburger in there calling my name.”
*
“Five double bacon cheeseburgers, five double cheeseburgers with special sauce, five quattro cheeseburgers, five hamburgers with extra everything, five plain hamburgers, five club sandwiches, ten hot dogs, ten orders of buttermilk chicken, ten orders of fries, ten chili fries, ten cheese fries, ten onion rings, ten mozzarella sticks, extra packets of ketchup and mustard and one cobb salad.” Carole let out a breath at the end of their order and stuck her pencil behind her ear. “Let me just ring up your bill and I’ll get a busboy to help carry it out to your car.”
On looking over the many bags of food, Chris was impressed Carole had managed to get all that right. Kylie ordered a mountain of food, hoping to tempt the gargoyles.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Cobb salad?”
Kylie shrugged. “Gotta try and be healthy.”
Chris reached for his wallet and Kylie placed a hand on his arm. “We’re treating you, remember.”
“It’s not a problem.” He was old fashioned; it felt weird to let a woman pay for food.
“No seriously, let me.”
Grudgingly, he did, although it still rankled. It probably shouldn’t. He’d been on dates with lots of strong, professional women, more than capable of paying for dinner for themselves, but he liked to. He had no problem with dating women who earned more than him, and had more powerful jobs, but he did like to take care of his female. Maybe he should have been born a caveman.
The new doctor in town, Carey White waved over at him. She was ensconced in a booth with a few members of the council, and he waved back. She seemed like a nice, down to earth woman and was possibly about to overtake Martha as most eligible single female in town. Carey disentangled herself from the stuffy old men and wandered over to them.
“Hi, Chris. Hi, Kylie.” Unlike some of the other women in town, her smile for Kylie was just as warm as it was for him.
“Dr. White, how nice to see you,” said Kylie. “Outside of office hours,” she added.
Carey beamed. “Outside the office, you can call me Carey.”
“I’ve been meaning to call for an appointment,” admitted Kylie.
“Do - I have loads of free time at the moment.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “I don’t think anyone around here likes change. I think they’d rather still see Dr. East. It means I’ve had a lot of time to practice my knitting.”
Chris had to admit that was true. People around there didn’t like change, and Dr. East had been the local doctor for fifty years. The fact that he was incompetent and convinced that a hot compress and a sugary soda would cure everything from epilepsy to postnatal depression wasn’t great.
“Give it forty years and they’ll come around,” said Chris.
Carey tinkled with laughter. “Imagine how great my knitting skills will be by then. Anyway, I better get back – the council members are looking a little lonely.”
Sure enough, the older gentlemen were casting longing looks in her direction. “I’ll see you guys around and Kylie, call me tomorrow and we’ll fix something up.”
They said their goodbyes and he watched the slim, beautiful doctor sashay through the diner. She was a lovely woman. Just the type Chris should date, just the type he normally went for, and yet – nothing. Not even a wisp of interest in her. He wasn’t even interested enough to check out her ass like all the other male diner patrons. Not that he was much of an ass man. He preferred breasts. Dangerously, his thoughts wandered to Annis and wondered about hers. From under that scrap of fabric she called a top, he could tell they were plump and perky, but he wondered what color her nipples were. Dusky pink?
“She’s great,” murmured Kylie.
“Yes, she is,” Chris muttered before realizing Kylie meant the doctor. “Oh, yes, yes she is.”
Fuck, did he need a cold shower because of a gargoyle?!
“So much better than the old doctor, but then Dr. Lecter might have been preferable.”
“Hi, guys!”
Chris and Kylie spun to find themselves under a scrutinizing smile from Martha. Her face was nearly cracking under the pressure from the grin, but her eyes looked hard and accusatory.
Crud. He’d forgotten she was on her way here, and that she’d invited him to join her.
“Hello, Martha,” mumbled Kylie.
Martha had a clique of friends that were a lot like her – pretty, slim, well groomed and invariably in pearls. They ran
the town fundraisers and events and book clubs and had all been born there. When Kylie arrived in town, more than one of the clique made it known that curvy Kylie with her Blondie and Queen t-shirts wasn’t what they were looking for in a friend or book club member. Course, Maggie had then pounced and declared Kylie belonged to her as a friend, but Chris imagined their rejection still rankled. Not that he thought Martha was actually mean to Kylie. Considering she was the Queen Bee, she was probably the nicest member of her clique.
Martha peered past them to the food. “My, my, you must be hungry.”
“Dinner party,” squeaked Kylie.
Martha raised a perfectly sculptured eyebrow. “With hamburgers? I must remember that the next time I’m planning an event.”
“The dinner was ruined, so we’re improvising,” said Chris smoothly.
“Really? A party up at the mansion?” Martha watched them closely.
Kylie fidgeted next to him, and he said, “Some of Kylie’s relatives are in town – distant relatives.”
“Yes,” agreed Kylie. “You know I’ve had a ton of different guardians over the years, and some of them are here to see me.”
“Oh, how nice,” murmured Martha, frowning at Chris, obviously wondering how he fit into the equation.
Chris inwardly groaned at the implications of what he was about to do, but at least it would allay the gossip about why he was always running up to the Hardcastle Mansion. He slipped his arm around Kylie’s waist and drew her closer to him. She stiffened as her body collided with his, but on realizing his intentions, she placed a hand on his chest and rubbed while nestling closer. Martha’s jaw almost hit the floor.
“They wanted to meet my new boyfriend,” said Kylie shyly.
“You’ve certainly kept this quiet,” Martha said to Chris.
He shrugged. “Small town – gossips.”
Given that Myrna from the library was watching them with beady eyes, it would be all over the small town in a matter of minutes now.
Martha looked at them uncertainly, unsure as to whether she had any right to be annoyed. Instead, she settled on subdued, and it was an odd look for her.
“Well, I won’t take up any more of your time. The Winter Wonderland Parade won’t organize itself.” She gave them a brittle smile and left.
Neither of them said anything until they had paid and all their food was in the car – the interior of which would need to be fumigated because it was going to smell like cheese for weeks.
Kylie let out a breath, and she smiled at Chris. “The whole town’s going to think we’re a couple.”
“Yep. I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. Got Martha off our backs. I’m just sorry that it’s going to stunt your love life.”
What love life? If anything it would give him some relief from the single population of Devil’s Hang. Some of them were a lot pushier than Martha and employed tactics from baking him pies to showing up at the police station in just a trench coat to try and lure him into a relationship. The trench coat thing had been from Valerie – one of Martha’s cliquey friends, and not a woman anyone should trust to stand behind them with a knife.
Kylie gave him a fearful look. “Also, don’t mention this to Luc. He’d understand eventually, but in the meantime, he might very well maim you.”
“You got it.”
Chris knew the huge gargoyle to be pretty damn possessive of Kylie. He imagined Luc was capable of inflicting a hell of a lot of pain when he wanted to. Chris had no idea what it was to be so possessive of a woman that he couldn’t even bear to have other men look at her, never mind anything else. Mara flashed through his mind as he thought about the first time she stayed out all night after they argued. She was drunk, her make-up smeared and her shirt was inside out. She hadn’t spent the night alone. He’d felt anger all right. But not at her and not at the idiot she undoubtedly picked up off the street or in some bar. No, he was only angry at himself for putting himself in that situation. When they got married, he’d acted impulsively, hadn’t thought it through, and the cold reality of his relationship with Mara was shining through.
The image of Mara, blowing kisses at him, taunting him with her sexuality slowly morphed into Annis, smiling shyly, barely even able to look at him. Her cheeks blossomed crimson and violet eyes peeked up at him through thick blue-black lashes.
“You know, I’m just grateful for everything you’re doing,” Kylie said, forcing him back to earth.
Chris cleared his throat, trying to ignore the reality that thinking of Annis was turning him on. “Yeah, well, I can imagine the argument if I tried to hand over Brenda’s boyfriend to the FBI.”
If Chris truly thought the gargoyles were dangerous, he would – in spite of the screaming he would have to endure from Brenda. She was a pretty mellow girl, but she was still a teenager – and teenagers weren’t known for not being melodramatic. But he’d seen the gargoyles, how they acted toward humans, how they were with their young, and he saw that the gargoyles were just like regular people. He couldn’t imagine Annis ever being a danger to anyone.
“Not just that,” Kylie said. “But for helping Annis earlier. If you weren’t there taking charge, Luc would have just strode around saying she would be fine, and that gargoyles could heal themselves until I ran and got Bea.” She chuckled softly. “It was actually quite funny to see Luc surprised and compliant. He isn’t used to listening to anyone’s orders.” She paused. “Except mine.”
“Annis told me that gargoyles used to have healers.”
Kylie cocked her head at him. “She did?”
“You seem surprised.”
“Annis doesn’t say much to anyone other than me, Maggie, Bea or Dragoslava. The fact that she told you anything about the gargoyle culture is amazing. Not just her, but all the gargoyles are pretty tight lipped about anything.”
“Luc must tell you stuff.”
“Sure, he tells me everything, but I’m his mate. The others, though, are precious about a lot of things. Not that I blame them, sounds like most humans hated them and treated them like crap. The gargoyles were scared they’d get the same treatment as the dragons. Apparently, the dragons died out because humans were afraid of them and hunted them into extinction.” She beamed at him almost manically. “We belong to a wonderful species, don’t we?”
Chris chuckled as he drove back to the mansion, although he couldn’t help but wonder at Annis’ frankness with him. They did not really know each other, but maybe she did trust him. The thought elated him more than it probably should.
Chapter Six
After what seemed like an interminable amount of time – because Luc spent all of it pacing up and down and threatening to go and find out what was taking so long – Chris and Kylie returned with a mountain of food.
It was carried into the dining room and dumped on the enormous table. They didn’t bother with plates or cutlery. Just eating at a table was a new experience for the gargoyles; Kylie didn’t want to push too much on them too soon.
The original dining table chairs had not exactly been gargoyle accessible, so were replaced by backless seats to ensure there was plenty of room for wings and tails. Thankfully, the table was built for about twenty people, leaving plenty of room for wings to spread. Indeed it was so big that you could barely hear people at the opposite end of it. Gustave told her that it had rarely been used by the Professor. It was an antique he acquired for his collection.
Brom and Grey were missing from the dinner, eschewing dining like humans. They had been allowed to hunt under Luc’s watch earlier and were probably devouring raw deer mate at that moment. The two males were loud and outspoken, and generally disagreeable – they were very much typical male gargoyles. Lief and Tristan had deigned to join them, and Tristan was already thoughtfully munching on a portion of onion rings. The two of them were quieter than their other new clan members, but Annis thought them to be sharper. Tristan was not as big or as strong as the larger clan males, but he was cle
ver. He admitted to her that he had been the chief tactician of his clan. Her clan never had such a position – her chief would never have admitted that a gargoyle lower in dominance was better at battle plans than he. Tristan must be canny to have cleaved a position like that for himself.
Drago was naked, making Brenda giggle. Ric howled and covered Brenda’s eyes while Luc snarled at the huge male to cover up. Drago shrugged and fetched a loincloth.
Twenty-Six bounced into the room. “Oh, thank god – real food! Come to mama.” She swiped a hotdog and inhaled it in two bites. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
Luc frowned at her; Gracchus rolled his eyes – although that might have been at the hamburger that he did not seem to be enjoying, and Drago grunted. Annis caught Chris chuckling, and it struck her how human Twenty-Six really was.
Rescued from a lab, they did not know exactly how she had been created. She was the twenty-sixth lab experiment – created from gargoyles and something else. Given her looks, she must have some human in her. Twenty-Six was the palest gargoyle Annis had ever seen. Her peach-colored skin was nearly the same as Chris or Brenda’s, and her face was smoother and rounder than any other gargoyle, more like a human. Annis’ features were pointed, but Twenty-Six was softer and undoubtedly much more attractive to a human. Dress Twenty-Six up in a long coat, gloves and brush her wavy hair over her ears and small horn nubs, and she would probably pass for human. She could probably go out in the world – go out in Chris’ world.
The meat in Annis’ mouth turned bitter. She swallowed it, and it lazily traveled down into her stomach, sitting there like a leaden weight.
Annis had known jealousy. Had she not spent her whole life jealous of the normal females in the clan? Envious that she could not be one? But she had never felt it so acutely and violently for one of her clan. The unfairness hit her like a war-hammer, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Or what to make of the fact that it stemmed from her feelings about Chris.