When A Gargoyle Flies (Gargoyles Book 3) (6 page)

Chapter Eight

“Wakey, wakey.”

Chris groaned as soft fingers tickled his stomach.  “Five more minutes.”

She giggled at him.  A lot of his time with Mara now left a sour taste in his mouth, but in truth, they had their moments.  The sweeter, quieter moments when he truly believed they were in love.  This was one of them.  The one he dreamed about.  The morning where he didn’t want to get up, so he didn’t.  For once, he played hooky from work, and they spent all day making love.  That was the time he didn’t mind being irresponsible.  It started with Mara tickling his chest hair, her smooth, supple body pressing against his.  Completely hidden under the covers, her head bobbed, and her laughter taunted him as she kissed her way down his torso.  He couldn’t pretend to be asleep for long.  Finally, her laughter stopped as she found his manhood, engulfing him in her hot, wet mouth.  He moaned as she took his length, caressing, and suckling at him as if her life depended on it.  Their sex life was always glorious, and fleetingly he wondered what they would have without it, but he pushed that thought aside and just enjoyed the attention being laved upon him.

Abruptly she let him go, and her hand curled around his member.

Chris frowned.  No, this wasn’t how the dream was supposed to go.  He pulled at the covers, dragging them off her.  But it wasn’t Mara.  It was Annis.  Her body was splayed between his legs, her tail dancing between his feet.  Her wings framed her perfect, pink body, fluttering gently around her.  Her breasts hung plump and peachy as she bent over his groin.  Damn if the sight of her didn’t make him even harder.  Annis looked up at him with startling purple eyes and swollen come-hither lips.

“Is this not what you want?”

Chris let out a yelp as he tumbled to the floor, tangled in bedsheets.  After a fight with the bedclothes monster, he leaped to his feet and scanned the bed.  Empty.  Morning sunlight filtered through the room as he searched it, searching for any sign that the female gargoyle had been there.  Nothing.  The bedroom was the same as when he went to sleep.  He didn’t know whether he should be disappointed or not.

It was a dream.  Nothing more than a dream.  Yet it had felt so real.

Chris grunted and flopped face down onto the bed.  Strangely enough, his mood did not improve when Bob nosed his way into the room, leaped on the bed and promptly slumped on top of him.

“Thanks, Bob,” Chris mumbled.

With very little ease or grace, Chris managed to maneuver into a face-up position with Bob lying next to him, rather than on him – Bob was cute but no lightweight.  Absently, Chris scratched the dog’s head.

He shouldn’t think of Annis that way.  There was no future for them, and he doubted Annis was the type to go for one-night stands.

He shouldn’t consider her attractive.  It was her own fault if he did.  Dancing around in a bare slip of a skirt and a piece of cloth no larger than a handkerchief covering her breasts.  Her tiny outfits perfectly showcased her slim figure, taut breasts, long legs and flat stomach with a tiny indented belly button.  Not that he’d been looking or anything, but it was all on display – he couldn’t help but notice her.  If Brenda had dared wear so little, he’d have tried to lock her in the house. 

He was just horny.  Obviously, that was all it was.  It had been nearly two damn years since he had sex and he was starting to feel the pinch.

After Mara died, he dated, he slept with a few women, but although it gave him physical relief, he didn’t find it altogether satisfying.  Perhaps his experience with Mara just soured relationships with women completely.  But now… well, now he was starting to feel desire again.

But he couldn’t do anything with Annis.  It wouldn’t work.  Brenda and Kylie were fooling themselves if they thought they could have normal relationships.  If there was one thing he’d learned, it was that he needed to be practical.  He didn’t need to be in another relationship with someone unsuitable.  He already went through that, with three months of coming home to an empty house, a wife doing and going wherever she wanted and rarely coming home at night.  What might seem cute and fun while dating, soon becomes old in a marriage.

He didn’t need another letdown, and he definitely didn’t want to disappoint Annis.  He needed to stay away from her.  It was for their own good.

Chapter Nine

Annis brushed her hair and luxuriated in the silky smoothness.  Conditioner – now there was something she adored about the modern world.  Perhaps not as much as Ingrede, who declared she was in love with her shampoo – much to her mate’s jealous consternation – but she did adore it.  That and showers.  It was one thing to smell like a moldy river when the rest of your clan did, but when there was a multitude of fragrant body washes available, there was no excuse.

She surveyed herself in the mirror and wondered how humans saw her.  Gargoyles saw her as weak and worthless, and most would never be able to see anything past her inability to fly or wield a battleax.  She was overlooked on that alone.

If she asked Gracchus or Drago if they considered her pretty, she imagined the two males would be flummoxed at the question.  Not that she would ever be so bold.

What would Chris say if she asked him?

Humans valued beauty hugely, almost as much as gargoyles valued the ability to let out a war cry or hurl an ax.

Annis had only felt stirrings for two males – Castor and Chris – and the two males were quite different.  She could not say what it was that attracted her to either male.  Perhaps it was because she had been little more than a youngling when her affection for Castor started to blossom.  Perhaps it was just a folly of youth.  But Chris was something else – there had to be something there.

Although timid and worried, she had thought the matter over while she slept, and decided that she wished to explore the attraction she felt for the human.  If Ric was allowed to, why couldn’t she?

Her previous attraction had ended in disappointment, but that had technically been a thousand years ago.  Surely it was time to try again.

With that in mind, she donned her favorite dress.  It was a modified dress previously belonging to Kylie who said she was too shy to wear it – and Luc had also forbidden her from doing so.  Annis wondered at his attitude.  He seemed obsessed with not allowing another male to see Kylie’s body.  Gargoyle males never cared about that.  Indeed a lot of clans – like Drago’s - eschewed clothes and had no thought as to anyone looking at their naked females.  Kylie rolled her eyes at Luc whenever he said something, but secretly, Annis suspected she enjoyed his boorish behavior.

Still, it was Annis’ gain.  It was a purple halterneck dress with a low back for her wings, and, Maggie informed her, it also showed off her cleavage perfectly.  Although that was not the way Maggie said it.  She said ‘whoa, check out those bazongas’.  She then explained and told her that apparently, human males found breasts attractive.  To gargoyles, they were just means to feed their young during their first few days of life, but human males seemed to have a different opinion on the matter

Annis brushed her hair once more, enjoying the shine and softness.  She donned some lipgloss – both for the cherry taste and the way it made her mouth look shiny – and prepared to do the scariest thing she ever had.

*

“Whoo-whoo!”

Chris arched an eyebrow as he looked at his niece.  “What was that?”

“It was supposed to be a wolf whistle.  I can’t whistle very well, so I just say the sound.”

“Ah.”

“But, seriously, you’re all dolled up.” Brenda looked him up and down approvingly.  “Something going on at the mansion I don’t know about?  Or are you just trying to make a good impression on the new gargoyle?  Maggie texted me that she was home.”

“Yes, she texted me, too,” he muttered.

“Probably a good thing.  Last time they brought one home you looked like you’d been living under your car for a month.”

Chris pulled on his watch and sighed.  “I’d been working on my car, and it was just a little oil.  But, I ah, I’m not going.”

Brenda blinked at him.  “You’re not?”

“My life does not revolve around the gargoyles,” he said a little more sharply than intended.

“What life?” she scoffed.

Chris glared at her, and she looked a little chagrined before it morphed into shock.  “Wait, are you going on a date?”

“No!” he cried before changing his mind.  “Yes, well, sort of.  Melissa’s visiting.”

Melissa called him earlier in the day.  She couldn’t make it over the weekend – some big succubus case further south had come up and she’d be away for a week – so she thought she would come up that evening for a fly-by investigative visit.  Her call couldn’t have come at a better time.  It forced him into action.  Forced him to remember his earlier resolve.  He suggested that he give her a tour of the town, introduce her to the people who thought they saw the giant bat, and then they go for dinner.  Melissa was delighted to accept.  Chris on the other hand felt queasy about it.

Brenda scrunched her nose.  “You mean the FBI lady?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.”

“That all you have to say?” he demanded crankily.

Brenda shrugged.  “Probably about time you started dating, and someone other than Martha – I’m not sure I could stand her perkiness and organizing over breakfast every morning.”

“Martha’s not that bad.”

“No, she’s the pick of the brain dead bimbos in town, but I’d rather not have to call her Auntie Martha.”  She shuddered.

“I take it you’re going up to the mansion tonight to be with Ric.”  Annoyance prickled his words.  He was in a bad mood, and he was trying his hardest not to take it out on Brenda, but it wasn’t easy.

Thankfully, she didn’t either care or notice.  “Of course.  Luc says the whole clan should be present for the awakenings.”

“Have you done your homework?” Chris grunted.

Brenda beamed smugly.  “Extra credit, too.”

Chris had been trying to find fault with his niece over her relationship with a gargoyle – what parent wouldn’t?  But if anything, it had made her more motivated to do well in school.  She even did chores around the house without being asked!

Brenda traced patterns on the kitchen counter top.  “So how long have you known this woman?  Who are her family?  What do you really know about her?”

Chris gave her a look.

She held out her hands innocently.  “What?  Those are questions you used to ask me whenever I went on dates.”

“Do you need me to give you a ride up to the mansion?”

She shook her head.  “I have other transportation.”

“What?  Oh, no, don’t tell me…”

Ric dropped into their tiny garden and flexed his huge wings.  Brenda beamed while Chris scowled.

“You have to tell him to stop doing that – he could be seen.”

“He’s always careful.”

“And tonight there will be an FBI agent who specializes in weird phenomena wandering around the town.  I already called Kylie and warned her, but perhaps you could remind your boyfriend.”

Brenda rolled her eyes.  “We’ll be careful.”

“You better be.”

Brenda pulled on her coat and danced over to him to give him a peck on the cheek.  “Love you.”

He grunted as she virtually skipped to the door.  She paused before leaving.

“And don’t forget to practice safe sex, because if you…”

She squealed and ran away laughing as Chris threw a wet sponge at her.  He watched with irritation as Ric swept her into his arms, hugged her thoroughly and flew away into the night.

He tried to tamp down his fury and focus on mustering some excitement for his upcoming date.  Well, sort of date anyway.  It’s not like it was leading anywhere – probably.  He thought of Melissa’s pretty, smiling face, her friendly chatter, endless funny stories and her curvy, sensual body and... his dick wilted.  She was everything he should want.

Annis flashed before his eyes, and a large amount of his blood decided to take a trip south – up to the point where he was almost ready to pound nails.

Damn, he was screwed.

Chapter Ten

Maggie virtually attacked Annis with a hug the moment she made her way downstairs.

“We’re home!” declared the happy human.

“So I gather,” wheezed Annis through the tight grip.

Andrew stood a few steps away and gave her a smile.  Maggie, when excited could be quite an enthusiastic hugger. Annis was for the first time in her life wandering into the unknown territory of female friendship.

Kylie was…  Annis paused in her thought.  Sweet, she supposed.  Until she met Kylie and her Aunt Bea and Maggie, she had never really known that there could be such… a variety of females.  In her experience, they were brash, violent warriors, or sly like Calliope – or both in some cases.  Gargoyle females did not seem to vary. 

Although she could not deny that Ingrede was not the female she imagined she would be.  Undoubtedly a warrior, but she was also tender towards her son, Wolfe, in a way that Annis had never witnessed before.

“We have another gargoyle,” Maggie told her in between bounces.  Her bubbliness was at odds with her black hair, dark make-up, and dour dress sense.  “Another male, but intact and ready to be woken.”

On seeing Annis’ slight discomfort, Andrew pried Maggie away and held her hand.  “Kylie should be down in a few moments.  Luc and Gracchus are putting him in the garden if you want to take a look.”

Annis hesitated, not wanting to seem unexcited by the prospect of another brother, but truthfully she had other things on her mind.  “I would rather see him awake than asleep.  I will wait.”

Truthfully, seeing her kind asleep was a little nauseating.  Gargoyles were never supposed to see other gargoyles asleep.  They all went to sleep and awoke at the same time.

Annis found herself swept into another hug, this time from Brenda.  Another happy human female.  Another female in love a small voice told her.

Ric, however, did not have Andrew’s patience, and immediately pulled his mate back into his arms.  The young male was still not past his jealousy over his mate touching anyone else – even someone as harmless as Annis.

As she tried to straighten her dress, Annis was once again subjected to a loving attack as Bob pounced and tried to lick her to death.  She giggled and calmed the excitable beast with promises of belly rubs later.

Annis looked around and noticed someone missing.  Perhaps he was talking to Luc or Gracchus – Chris seemed on edge when he was at the house, but he did manage to relax a little in the company of the two male gargoyles.

Before Annis could find a way to introduce her query as to Chris’ whereabouts that did not sound suspicious, Maggie blurted it out for her.

“Where’s Chief Tight Pants?” she asked boldly.

Andrew grumbled, and Maggie pinched his bottom, annoying and delighting him at the same time.

Brenda rolled her eyes.  “Please don’t call him that, and he’s not coming.”

Annis looked up sharply; her eyes collided with Ric’s, and she looked down again, quickly trying to hide her flushing cheeks.

“Is he working again?” asked Andrew, who sounded a bit too happy that Chris was not there.

Brenda snickered.  “Nope.  He has a date.”

Annis’ hands stilled on Bob’s smooth fur.  For a moment, the chatter and laughter of the others became a dull roar, and all she could hear was the beating of her heart.

Of course said an inner voice.  It was just like Castor.  Why would she expect anything else?  How could she expect anything else?  Why would a male like Chris want an ugly gargoyle like her?

A hand shook her shoulder, and she found herself under the scrutinizing but kindly looks of the others.

“Annis, are you coming?” asked Maggie.  “Kylie’s ready to perform the ceremony.”

“Of course,” she said in a voice that even to her sounded brittle.

Nobody seemed to notice – nobody except for Bob.  She padded behind them with Bob at her heels, whining and nosing her legs.

She didn’t even look up as Kylie recited the now familiar incantation.  Maybe she was being selfish, wallowing in her own disappointment, but was she not allowed to wallow now and again?  Chris at that moment could be with a human woman, kissing her, caressing her, telling her he loved her, and she was stuck there alone, and useless as always.

The spell worked, and the new gargoyle howled his way back to life.  It was a howl Annis would know anywhere.  She looked up and met the eyes of a very familiar gargoyle.

“Castor!”