by A C Warneke
“Your face is beautiful,” she said immediately. Heat rose in her cheeks because his face wasn’t beautiful and they both knew it. “I mean it’s beautiful to me because you’re beautiful.”
“Stop while you’re ahead, sweetheart,” he chuckled. After a moment, the levity left him and Daisy felt the seriousness of his next words. “You saw me when you were a child.”
“I don’t remember ever seeing a gargoyle when I was a child,” she countered, straining her brain trying to figure out when she might have seen him. There was a vague memory from her childhood but it was hazy and it made her gut clench when she tried to bring it into focus.
“It doesn’t matter,” he offered, obviously sensing her distress. “Just know that you brought me to life.”
Cocking her head to the side, she looked up at him. “Why don’t I remember?”
“You will,” he assured her. When she opened her mouth to ask him when, he placed a finger over her lips and chuckled, “Don’t worry about it, my little flower. It’ll come to you when you’re ready.”
“But….”
His laughter warmed her from the inside out and she couldn’t stop the smile that curved her lips if her life depended on it. But then he stopped and glanced at the sky, the laughter gone as quickly as it had come. “Shit, it’s almost dawn. I have just enough time to get you back to your car and find a place to hunker down for the day.”
“Come home with me,” she said, the last word coming out as a squeak as he hoisted her into his arms and took off. Automatically, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life even though she knew he held her and he wasn’t going to let her go.
Everything would have been fine except when they got to the parking lot, there was something very wrong. Flashing lights lit the area and a crowd of people were milling about as police officers talked into their walkie talkies. Roman landed in a darkened area between two buildings and gruffly whispered, “I can’t be seen.”
Nodding her head in understanding, she gave him a brief kiss on his cheek, “Where will you spend the day?”
“I’ll find a place.” Urgency colored his voice and she knew he was eager to get out of there before the sun rose, before he was noticed, but she was reluctant to part with him.
“When will I see you again?”
“Daisy, go,” he rasped, pushing towards the gathered by-standers.
She stumbled a step before she managed to stop but the rush of wind along her back let her know that he had flown off. Frustrated, she started walking towards her car, wondering what all of the fuss was about. It wasn’t until her mother pulled away from the crowd that she realized that the fuss was over her and she had screwed up. “Oh, shit.”
“Daisy!” her mom cried out, rushing across the distance, her arms outstretched. In the next moment, Daisy was in her mother’s arms and being hugged to within an inch of her life.
Patting her mom’s back, she asked, “What happened?”
Pulling back, Lexi framed Daisy’s face with her hands and simply drank in the sight of her daughter as she brokenly said, “One of your friends called the police when she realized your car was still in the parking lot and then someone found your bag about a half mile from here totally destroyed. Your classmate – Adrian? – said he saw you leave but he didn’t know where you were and you were gone and we didn’t know what to think.”
Guilt ate away at her as her mom cried but it was worse than that because she had given no thought to anyone else once Roman appeared. She hadn’t even realized she had dropped her bag. As her mom pulled her into another rib-crushing hug, Daisy awkwardly patted Lexi’s back, “I’m sorry.”
Over her mom’s shoulder, she saw her dad striding over, a grim expression on his face. Emotion burned in his silver eyes, anger, fear, relief. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around both his wife and his daughter, hugging them with nearly all of his strength. “Jesus, Daisy, you had us all worried.”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized again, looking for Roman in the shadows, hoping he managed to escape without anyone seeing him.
Without another word, her father ushered them into the SUV that was waiting for them before walking over and talking to one of the people who looked to be in charge of the search party. Her mom had climbed into the backseat as well and hadn’t stopped hugging Daisy, which only made her feel worse. “What happened, Daisy? Where did you go?”
Now that she was no longer soaring with Roman, exhaustion was creeping in along the edges and she had to stifle a yawn. “I was with my gargoyle.”
“And you didn’t think to call?” Lexi asked with reproof and concern in equal measure.
“There really wasn’t an opportunity,” she answered lamely, watching through the window as her father stalked back to the car, his grim expression even grimmer now that his daughter was back safe and sound. Dread filled her belly, making her feel hollow and uneasy because she hated disappointing her parents and she knew they were justified in their anger. But she couldn’t regret it because her time with Roman had been magical.
The driver’s side door opened and her dad slid into the car behind the wheel. Without a word, he started the engine and headed towards the exit of the parking lot. With a frown, Daisy watched her car slowly get further and further away. Clearing her throat, knowing she shouldn’t ask, she asked anyway, “What about my car?”
“Your brother will bring it back home,” her father ground out, fury overtaking the earlier concern. His hands tightened on the steering wheel until Daisy was sure the thing was going to break off in his grip. Wisely, she remained silent, basking in her mother’s love while her father worked through his anger until he was ready to talk.
It took nearly twenty minutes before he spoke, the words filled with guttural emotion. “We couldn’t scent you, Daisy. We had no idea where you were, if something had happened to you, and we couldn’t fucking scent you.”
Her dad never swore and hearing him say fuck made her ill. Swallowing over the knot in her throat, she said the only thing she could think, “I’m sorry.”
“The world is a dangerous place, Daisy,” her father continued. “You more than anyone should know that. God, Daisy, I thought I lost you all over.”
Tears filled her eyes because she recognized the emotion driving her father’s words, his fury, the pain that still lingered in his chest from ten years before. Her mother’s arms tightened around her and Daisy was grateful for it.
“What were you thinking?” he asked, glancing in the rear view mirror and meeting Daisy’s eyes. When he was experiencing strong emotions, he was unable to conceal his wolf like usual and his silver eyes were even sharper. The penetrating gleam reminded her of everything she lost ten years ago, not just her best friend.
“I wasn’t thinking,” she said softly. Before her father could say anything else, she continued in a broken voice, “I wasn’t thinking because for the first time in ten years I felt like I belonged somewhere.”
She felt her mother stiffen and saw her father’s jaw clench but she couldn’t stop the words from coming, words that had been bubbling up inside of her but had remained unspoken because she hadn’t known them. “I’m a wolf who can’t shift, dad. When Roxie shifted, something inside of me sort of… despaired of never being able to shift. It’s why I wanted to move into the dorms. It’s why I took summer classes.”
“Daisy,” her mother breathed.
Turning her head, she looked at her beautiful mother and shook her head, offering a sad smile, “But I’m also a Siren yet I’m not allowed to sing. With Roman, I can be just me and it’s enough.”
“We love you, Daisy,” her father growled from the front seat, his silver eyes flashing.
“I know,” she said quickly, knowing how very much her parents loved her, how much she loved them. “But that almost makes it worse because you’re both so amazing and my friends are so amazing and yet I’m struggling to find a place where I fit because all of you can shift and I can’t.�
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“It doesn’t matter if you never shift,” her mom said passionately, giving Daisy a little shake for emphasis. “You’re our daughter and you are wonderful just the way you are.”
Daisy let out a little laugh between her tears, “But I still feel the pressure to shift.”
Clearing his throat, her father said, “I can’t ground you but I want you to stay close to home until fall semester starts. When you go out, I want you to take Dominic or one of your cousins with you.”
“Dad!” she protested, bemused by his over-protectiveness.
“You had half the city looking for you, Daisy,” he reminded her, exaggerating perhaps a bit. “You nearly gave me a heart attack and you terrified your mother. We just want to know you’re safe.”
She was grateful they were unaware of her activities the previous couple of weeks. If they knew she was exploring condemned buildings in her search for Roman they would probably send her to the moon until she was forty. “I know.”
“And don’t worry about shifting, sweetheart,” her dad said. “It’ll happen when it happens and if it doesn’t it’ll be okay. You’re a member of the pack and that will never change.”
Roman watched from across the street and silently cursed. She wasn’t just anyone’s daughter; she was the daughter of someone who had the ear of the local government. It was the only explanation for why there were helicopters and police cars and a horde of people looking when she had only been missing for a few hours. Several wolves were there in their human skin, of course, and he was fairly certain they were from three or four different packs. To command one pack was impressive, to command several was an impossible feat. Also, her father was obviously the Alpha and not a man to be trifled with. Had he not seen the way everyone else acquiesced to the man, Roman would have known it by the way the man carried himself, the confidence he exuded without even trying.
When he had been flying with Daisy, he had forgotten about the world and the reasons why he was pursuing her. It had simply been him and her and the night sky. He hadn’t meant to abscond with her but the moment he had her in his arms he hadn’t wanted to let her go. If he didn’t change into a statue once the sun rose, he probably wouldn’t have let her go.
She was dangerous.
Skulking into a dilapidated building, he struggled to climb the stairs to the third floor. Not a moment too soon, he found a dark corner and hunkered down, shuddering as his body transformed and he lost mobility. The memories started almost immediately.
“A virgin will set you free,” a craggy voice whispered in his stone ear. Unable to move, to speak, Roman just stood there as the stranger taunted him with hope. “But you will need more than the virgin’s blood to fully break my sister’s curse. A sacrifice will be necessary.” At that, the man chuckled, “Of course, a sacrifice is always necessary. A heart for a heart.”
Roman had no idea how many years had passed since he became a statue. Long enough that he had forgotten what it was like to move beneath the sun as a gargoyle, to enjoy the nights as a man. He frequently thought about his brothers, if they remembered him or if they ever wondered where he had gone. Maybe they had looked for him but gave up when they didn’t find him or maybe they thought he burned up when Mount Vesuvius took out Pompeii. Maybe they were still looking only they didn’t know they were supposed to be looking for a statue in every sense of the word.
“This time I have hidden the pieces far and wide,” the stranger continued. “It will take centuries for her to find all of them, which will buy you some time. Of course, you’re very aware of my sister’s progress, aren’t you? You can feel the ticking of the clock as you slip further and further into oblivion.
“My sister has always been ridiculously devoted to our brother,” the man continued. The Egyptian god Set. Of course. Roman wondered why it had taken him so long to figure it out but then he hadn’t really paid attention to the Egyptian family tree. With a sneer, Set continued, “He’s dead; she should just let him go.”
There were many myths surrounding Isis and Osiris but Roman wasn’t sure what was fact and what was fiction. He had no idea how many pieces Osiris had been cut into, either thirteen or fourteen or forty-two, though he could feel another part of his soul slip away with each piece of Osiris found. No, it had to be closer to forty-two because she had already found fifteen pieces and he was still there. Once she found the last piece, he knew that his time would be at an end. Isis would return for him and take what little remained and he would disappear as if he had never been born. He wondered if his brothers would mourn him.
Not that it signified since he himself was trapped in stone until the end of time whether or not the bitch completed her search. He would just as soon disappear than continue living a non-existence.
“If the virgin frees you,” Set continued in a tantalizing whisper. “You can thwart my sister’s plans, Romulus. You can make her pay for using you so heartlessly. All you need is one little virgin that is willing to spread her legs for a beast and my sister will lose her gargoyle. The virgin will have value because she had you. She may be valuable enough to trade for your freedom.”
Set had promised him freedom but he hadn’t mentioned how long Roman was going to have to wait for the virgin or how very important the virgin would end up being to him. Throughout the years, many people had touched him but it had been Daisy who had wakened him, brought him back to life. It had been Daisy who made his heart beat and gave him hope. And it was Daisy who was going to be the sacrifice that Set spoke about.
He had to remember that the only way he would ever be completely free is if he gave her up, if he gave her to Isis. He’d take his place among his brothers and be a true gargoyle once again. He’d be alive and he’d be remembered and the last two thousand years could just be swept away like a bad memory, a living nightmare.
All he had to do was give up Daisy.
To be free, to have his family once again, he had to do it, no matter how much it cost him.
Chapter 9
“So, you scared the shit out of mom and dad last night,” Dominic smirked as he joined her by the pool. Laying back on the recliner next to Daisy’s, he grinned, “I got to experience what it was like being the responsible one for a change. I didn’t like it.”
Daisy grinned at her brother’s words, keeping her eyes closed as she enjoyed the feel of the sun on her skin. “They’ve grounded me… well, as much as they can, considering I’m twenty.”
He let out a low whistle, “Geeze, sis, when you decide to go bad, you really go bad.”
“I went flying with a gargoyle, Dominic,” she said dryly. With a shrug of her shoulders, she added, “I just didn’t tell anyone where I was going.”
“Well, you’ve always been the favorite,” he said teasingly, though there was a hint of resignation in his tone almost as if he believed the words to be true. When she opened her mouth, he interrupted, “Don’t deny it, Daisy. Except for that minor incident your freshman year, which had more to do with alcohol than it did with your singing, you never did anything wrong until last night. You do well in school, you help out with everything and you never complain.”
“That doesn’t make me the favorite,” she grumbled, dismayed at how boring Dominic made her sound. “Just the easiest to deal with.”
“You don’t sing, Daise,” he said, looking at her over the top of his sunglasses. “You have an amazing voice and you don’t sing.”
She felt the heat in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the sun. “You know why I don’t sing, Dominic. That minor incident freshman year led to several unexpected pregnancies, a few STD’s, and more than enough broken hearts to last a life time.”
“But no one fell in love with you and isn’t that the whole deal with a Siren song?”
“That’s the theory,” she grumbled morosely, recalling the event that had shaped so much of her college life.
“Then it wasn’t your song and you can’t be blamed for fools having unprotected sex,” he sc
offed, not seeing the problem. “You should be on stage performing. You could be famous.”
She laughed out loud at that, at the image that popped into her head of what would happen if a Siren became a rock star. “That’s not going to happen and you know why it can’t.” When he opened his mouth to repeat his argument, she shook her head and said, “I won’t take the risk. Besides, I have no desire to be famous.”
“Well, you could sing at dad’s bar,” he offered instead. “The wolves have far more control over their libidos.”
That only made her laugh harder because wolves, her brother included, enjoyed copious amounts of sex with a variety of partners. The Black Wolf was as much a place to hook up as it was a bar. But her brother had a point. Wolves probably weren’t too affected by a Siren’s song and if they were, they’d be able to handle the lust. It would give her a chance to sing, which she loved, and it would prove that she could get a little wild without the world crashing down around her. She knew her mom sang the song of the wolves while in wolf form, which some might call howling, and nothing bad ever happened. “Fine. If it will make you happy, I’ll get up on stage tomorrow night and sing. But you get to explain to mom and dad that it was your idea.”
“Sis, you’re already in so much trouble you can’t really sink any lower,” he grinned. “You might as well take full blame for what you’re going to do because as much as it sucks being the responsible one, it’s kind of nice not being the disappointing one. But don’t worry because nothing is going to happen.”
“You’re full of shit,” she growled, knowing he wasn’t a disappointment. But maybe she understood what he meant because hadn’t she just realized that her feelings of inadequacy were mostly in her head? Maybe Dominic was outgrowing the role he created for himself when he was just starting to shift and experiencing the joys of being a wolf. He had gone a little wild and then he had embraced his reckless reputation. “I’ll sing and take all of the blame if you promise to keep your dick to yourself for a month.”