Stone Guardian (12 page)

No. That nonsense needed to stop. Panic was not allowed until after she got her gargoyle back.

Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth. Do it again. After this is over you better be prepared, Double Mocha Fudge Ripple, because you are going down.

First was getting Terak bandaged up. The first-aid kit was under the sink, so well-stocked a hospital could borrow it in an emergency. Only nurses appreciated a fully loaded first-aid kit more than a cop’s kid.

Kit, check. She turned on the water and let it run for a few moments to warm up, then filled a plastic basin and grabbed a few washcloths.

Terak gave a loud groan. She scooped up everything and hustled back into the bedroom. The items were placed around her on the floor as she took stock of Terak’s injuries. The goal was to bandage him up enough that when her next gargoyle protector came on duty, that gargoyle could then take Terak home, where his own people could heal him. Gods, please let him heal enough that a hospital visit wouldn’t be necessary. He might look human now, but who knew if he was as human on the inside? He might have extra organs or something that would give him away. And that was assuming they could actually survive the trip out the building to the car.

Car!
Crap!

Since her gargoyle-turned-human protector was bleeding out over her seat on the drive here, it was understandable little things like orc parts possibly caught in the bumper or a front end that had held a strong resemblance to an accordion were overlooked.

No way could she leave Terak, and anyway taking it to Cliff, the mechanic who usually worked on her car, was out. He’d be on the phone to her father in three seconds flat. Any body shop would, all of them by law were supposed to report anything suspicious.

Right now what was needed was a friend who’d dump it somewhere and could be trusted to not blab, and only one person fit that description.

On the second ring the woman on the other end of the phone answered, and before she could finish her ‘Hello?’ Larissa started talking over her. “Olivia, I’m in trouble. Help me.”

Olivia’s tone was soothing. “Calm down, sweetie. Of course I’ll help you. Tell me what is going on?”

Thank gods for Olivia. “I need you to take my car away and not ask any questions.”

Confusion burned through Olivia’s tone. “Take your car? To do what?”

And now came the hard part. “I was chased by orcs. I had to slam into one to escape and now my car is messed up. Please Olivia, I need you to come get it and hide it somewhere.”

There was a long silence on the other end. Before Larissa hung up to dial again, Olivia spoke. “I know someone. I’ll get your car fixed for you. Don’t worry, there won’t be any questions.”

Olivia’s voice was calm and low and apprehension skittered the length of Larissa’s spine at her friend’s words. This was not what she expected when she picked up that phone. “You…
know
someone? Olivia, what are you talking about?”

“You said no questions, I’m going to say the same to you. We are going to have a nice long talk later, but right now, the only thing that matters is where is your car?”

“On the south side of the building.”

“It’s taken care of. Don’t worry and I’ll call you tomorrow.” And Olivia hung up.

Were there any more surprises ready to drop down on her head? If so, a little advance notice would be welcome, because the nice people at the mental hospital might give her a discount rate after a certain amount of shocks to the system.

Terak was still on the bed, his breathing not as labored as it had been. Picking up a washcloth, she ran it over his flesh, now a sun kissed tone instead of stone grey. He slept through her ministrations.

The wounds across his abdomen looked the worst. Cleaning them would give the answer to whether she could wait with him here or she’d have to brave the hospital.

The washcloth cleared the blood away and a small giggle erupted from her throat.

Relief caused some weird reactions, but after everything that happened today, a little giggle was a nice surprise. The wounds weren’t as bad as all that blood suggested. He still needed to be seen by a healer, but cleaning and wrapping the wounds would suffice for now. Her gargoyle was going to be fine.

He was going to be fine, and the relief flooding through her system left her light-headed in its wake. She closed her eyes tight for a moment to regain equilibrium before opening them to continue with the cleaning.

Through all wiping and bandaging he stayed asleep, even the groans becoming less frequent. And now, was that…
a snore?

Some bodyguard.

His face was gentler now, softer. It wasn’t the human features that caused the change, though that helped. Asleep he lost the worry and the authority he always carried otherwise.

Not that the human features were bad to look at. The gargoyle made a damn fine looking human. That had been obvious from the first moment he shifted, but it seemed impolite to ogle someone when they needed medical attention.

His chest was done, now his… pants.

Oh dear gods, she had to take off his pants.

Did gargoyles wear underwear?

Did they need to? Did gargoyle males have the same equipment…?

No.
That was not what mature, adult women thought when taking care of an injured male. That response was more in line with pubescent males who hid the girlie mags they stole from their dads under their mattresses. She was above such thoughts.

She grabbed a towel from the floor and laid it across his pelvis. Eyes on his face, she reached under the towel to lay her hands at his waist, his skin as warm as a human as it was as a gargoyle. She inched fabric down, slow and gentle in deference to wounds both known and undiscovered.

The whole process to remove Terak’s pants took less than a minute, and at the end of it she was breathing as heavily as she did after running a 5k.

She cleared her throat, embarrassment warring with the crazy, inappropriate thoughts that had somehow become embedded in her brain this last week. She was taking care of him, and that was why she was running her hands over his legs. There were a few scrapes and bruises, but his legs were fine. Well, not
fine
like that. No, wait, they were…

She rapped her forehead with a knuckle a few times. This was ridiculous when she was even a stuttering fool within her own brain.

A little more washing, a few more bandages, and
voila
, a patched up, human-looking gargoyle was now in her bed. “When you wake up, we are having a serious talk. Like about gargoyle emergency contacts, and this whole
turning human
thing.”

If he was awake he wasn’t admitting to it. His eyes stayed closed and his breathing stayed even.

Her warrior.

The smile curled in the corner of her mouth without permission from her. Yeah, he was. He had been amazing, ferocious and unstoppable. He took on those orcs without hesitation, all to protect her.

She leaned back against the wall and slid down until her butt hit the floor. She could still see him from this angle, that human face displaying no signs of distress.

What did she have to do now? Car was taken care of, and the list of questions she was going to be asking Olivia tomorrow could be made later. Olivia
knew
people, when had she started
knowing
people, people who could fix a car filled with orc parts and not blink?

Later
. Much, much later.

Blood. Maybe cleaning up any blood trail would be a good idea, yes?

Thirty minutes later, and any signs she had hauled a bleeding guy around were taken care of, thankfully without any neighbors catching her in the middle of clean-up duty. The sheets and towels would need to be trashed, but other than that no worries.

Terak was still resting. His breathing was easier and color better than it had been when she left.

Pulling one of the bandages away from his chest she looked, then looked again, doing a double-take. “Oh holy
hell
.”

He said no hospital and it wasn’t him being a stubborn male. He was healing on his own. What had been a good sized gash was now half the depth and width it had been when she had cleaned it.

It wasn’t that she had misjudged the severity of his wounds at the park. It was that they had healed somewhat in the time that it took to get to the apartment.

Huh. So gargoyles could shift into human form, and they healed in no time flat. Handy gifts, those.

Larissa kneeled down beside him and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. The human hair was finer than the coarse gargoyle strands, but it was the same deep black. No fever, just warm, perfect skin. “Do you think next time you can share the important info that will keep from worrying
before
you faint?” No answer, but his breaths were deep and regular without a hint of pain in them. She sighed. “You’re lucky you saved my life today, or you’d be in for a serious talking to.”

As she stood splotches of red on her once blue t-shirt caught her eye. Oh,
ew
. Blood and sweat and dirt and who knew what else were all down the front of her clothing. And her hair was still damp with sweat. And her legs had stuff streaked on them that she didn’t even want to identify.

Terak was still sleeping comfortably. A quick shower wouldn’t hurt.

The hot water pounded her from above, working into sore muscles in a painfully pleasurable way. She had entered academia and not followed her dad and brothers into law enforcement for a reason. She was not cut out for all this physical stuff.

After tossing on some comfy pajamas and giving her hair a quick towel dry, she went back to the bedroom where Terak had flipped over and was now on his stomach, his face at the edge of the bed and his arm hanging over the side of the mattress.

He had been so frightening and alien that first night, a monster who had grabbed her against her will. Now here he was, undeniably human, and there was such a strong physical resemblance between man and gargoyle that it seemed ridiculous she’d ever thought gargoyles were scary-looking.

Larissa smoothed the blankets over him since he was in danger of losing the towel with his maneuverings. Would he be embarrassed waking up without his pants? An embarrassed Terak – now that expression would be worth checking out.

She left the room and headed for the balcony. She never asked about the schedule on who watched over her when, so she didn’t know when the next gargoyle would come. After five minutes of doing the arm-waving trick and no one showing up, she went back inside.

Someone would figure it out eventually, and it wasn’t like Terak was in danger anymore.

She entered the living room, glancing at the clock. Dinnertime. Her stomach let out a low roar that would be highly embarrassing if anyone else would have been around to hear it.

Well, she was hungry, and everything that could be done was done. No sense starving while she waited.

The television caught her eye as she wandered over to the kitchen. Sigh. It would be nice to have a television that worked, and she needed to make a note to call a repairman tomorrow.

What was being reported on? Was the city in panic? How was dad going to respond to the news that the wards were broken?

Speaking of dad, why wasn’t her phone ringing off the hook? As soon as an orc invasion was noticed, her father should have made a beeline to the apartment and proceeded to try to grab her up and bring her home.

Strange. Maybe not the strangest incident of the day, but strange.

She made a turkey on rye. It was nice to do something as normal as make food after the last few hours. Normal was severely underrated, and if her life ever went back to normal, she would never take it for granted again.

Normal was not a gargoyle who had the ability to shift into human form.

Human.

It had been so crazy today she hadn’t considered how important this was, but this… this was big. How the zombies and orcs had gotten past the wards was still a question, but this ability was probably the way gargoyles were able to enter the city and pass the wards that guarded it – presuming the other gargoyles had this same ability. Only a human was supposed to be able to walk past them, and right now Terak was certainly human, at least on the outside.

Think of the implications. So many spells, especially protection spells, relied on that one designator.
Human.
An enemy who could bypass them at will, especially a race as powerful as the gargoyles – that would scare a whole lot of people.

Alone and unarmed, Terak had fought a band of orcs. He had been hurt, and yes, she helped, but none of that changed the fact he alone killed over a dozen of some of the most feared fighters in this world.

Gargoyles were not to be underestimated.

A hard knock sounded against the door.

Surprise visitors at this time had to be bad news.
Terak…

Several loud thumps sounded in a row, as though the person on the other side were hitting the door with the side of their fist. “Ris, open up. Now.”

Michael, using his patented
I’m the eldest and with Dad gone I’m in charge
voice.

Her brother the cop, who never came over without calling first.

As tempting as not opening that door was, that wasn’t an option. Michael would kick it down in a heartbeat – any of the family would. And if she objected in any way, shape, or form or threatened parts of their anatomy, she would be met with a shrug and an insincere apology, and left with the full knowledge they would do it again if they felt it necessary.

With no other choice unless she wanted this to go into a full-scale incident, she opened the door. “Michael, what are you doing here?”

He walked in before she had a chance to fully block the entrance or voice an excuse on why this was not a good time to visit, which translated meant he was not going to be leaving until whatever had brought him over was wrapped up to his satisfaction.