When A Gargoyle Flies (Gargoyles Book 3) (15 page)

Chapter Thirty

Chris groaned as her fangs pushed into his body, but thankfully he didn’t cry out.  His arms wrapped around her, supporting her body.  By now he was probably curious as to why she had jumped him, biting his shoulder.  She was glad he was not throwing her off him.  It had been a stupid move, but it was all she could think of to stop herself from howling out loud - fearing that might have attracted a few unwelcome visitors.

He shuddered against her, and she hoped he wasn’t in too much pain.  She didn’t know what it was, but it felt like the jaws of hell had snapped around her tail.  Pain radiated through her, and she hugged his body closer.

Finally, as it started to ease, or as she became accustomed to it, she relaxed her mouth and withdrew her fangs.

“I am sorry,” she panted, leaning against him.

Chris raised a hand and cupped her cheek, he grunted on finding it wet.  She didn’t know whether it was from tears or sweat – probably both.  He raised her face to look at him.  He looked startled, and his face was pink, but he did not appear to be in any pain.  In truth, gargoyle bites were not nearly as horrific as their wicked fangs would suggest.  Like the dragons before them, when they would bite down on something, they would release a numbing agent into their victim, which some found quite pleasurable.  The dragons, like gargoyles, although powerful beasts were not cruel; they needed to eat other animals to live, but they would not have them suffer.  If they wanted to make another suffer, there were other means – their vicious talons among them.  In fact, she heard told that some gargoyles bit one another during coupling…

“What happened?” he asked breathlessly.

“My tail,” she whimpered, “it hurts very much.  I did not want to scream… so I bit you.”

Chris raised an eyebrow.

“I am sorry, I did not know what else to do.  Did I hurt you?”

“I might be a little tender for a few days, but, ah, I wouldn’t say it hurt exactly.”

Annis felt his groin push against her stomach and she let out, “Oh!”  Chris’ cheeks went from mildly pink to full on puce.

He coughed.  “Your tail?”

She nodded and bit her lip.  Chris gently pulled her arms away and looked behind her.

“Fuck!” he hissed.

“What is it?” she asked frantically trying to look over her shoulder.  All she managed to do was hit him in the face with one of her wings.

He pushed her flapping appendage away.  “It’s a bear trap,” he said grimly.  “Designed to snap shut on a bear paw when they step on it.”

Annis managed to peek under her legs and found metal jaws clamped around her tail.  Her blood wept over the metal, and she was starting to lose feeling in her tail.

“It is horrible!  Who would create something like that?”  Her agitation made her fidget, and the trap pulled on her tail, making her grimace.

“I know, sweetheart.  Take it easy.”  He ran his hand up her leg and patted her thigh.  “I’m going to try and pull it open, as soon as I do, you pull your tail out.  Okay?”

“Please hurry.”

Chris nodded and kneeled at her feet.  He took each side of the trap and heaved.  It didn’t budge.  He let out a few choice swear words that Annis knew were things that should not be repeated in polite society.  An involuntary whine escaped her, and Chris let out a rumble before trying again.  Every muscle he owned bunched and strained with the effort, but finally, he managed to pry it apart for a few seconds and Annis pulled her poor tail free.

The trap snapped back shut, and Chris collapsed, dragging Annis into his arms.  “It’s okay,” he repeated as she quivered.  “We’re okay.”

She suspected he was doing it for his benefit more than hers.  It had been painful – she could not stress that enough, but it was not the first time she had suffered so.

“That bastard probably has this place covered with traps.”

“Yes,” Annis agreed, burrowing her head in his shoulder.

“That could have been your foot!”  His body shook under hers.

“Or yours.”  Gargoyles healed fast – even she healed pretty fast, but she could not abide to think of what it would mean if Chris had been the one in the trap.  He might have bled to death.  No, he wasn’t allowed to die.  Not now, not ever!

Annis swiped her tongue over his bite mark.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a strangled voice.

“Ensuring that your wound heals quickly.  I would not wish it to be infected.”

She started licking him with gusto and Chris shifted uneasily.  “You really ought to stop doing that.”

“Why?” she asked between licks.

Chris raised her chin to look at his wild, lust-filled eyes.  “You know why, and now is not the time.”

“Do you mean that there will be time for that later?”  Distant hope tingled.

“Annis…”  There was that exasperated tone again.

“Never mind,” she mumbled rolling away from him.  She grasped her tail and inspected the mangled tip.  It wasn’t a pretty picture, and would possibly scar, but it looked worse than it was.  She had known gargoyles that had lost the ends of their tails in battle, and they were perfectly fine.

Chris took hold of the bear trap and inspected it.  His previous arousal dimmed as his ire rose.

“It is truly a fearsome looking object,” Annis said.  “This Carlton man made it?”

“No, he bought it.  There are plenty of people who make these.”

“To catch bears?”

“Originally, but they will catch other wildlife too.”

“So humans eat bears?”

“They’re not supposed to, but yeah, some do.”

“We should destroy it,” Annis said fervently.

“Yeah, we should.”  Chris stared at it for a few moments.  “Although, maybe we should try making a pre-emptive strike first.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Martha sped through her house, banging every door closed behind her.  “Monsters in the sky!” she muttered over and over.

The sound of the creature crashing behind her was deafening.  It was coming for her, and nothing could stop it.  Who could she call?  The police?  Hah!  If she told them a monster was coming for her, they’d label her as crazy as her father.  She shivered as she remembered visiting the asylum on his birthday.  The way he smiled so sadly at her.  No, she would never let that happen to her – no matter what.

The stairs groaned under its weight.  It was coming up the stairs.

She shuffled under her bed, ignoring the dust mites and clutching her arms around her.  Martha closed her eyes, screwing them tightly shut, willing the beast to go.

But no, the door to her bedroom crashed off its hinges and a second later she felt a whoosh of air as the creature hauled her sturdy bed up and tossed it aside.  As a warm hand encircled her wrist, she opened her eyes to meet the stare of two demonic red eyes.  It was then that she started screaming.

“For goodness sakes, Martha,” snapped Phillip.

Martha blinked at him, and he tightened his grip on her wrist.  “What’s going on?”

“You were just dreaming,” he said in disgust, “I could hear you all the way downstairs in my study.”

She opened her mouth to correct him that it was, in fact, her father’s study, and her house, but on seeing his unimpressed expression, decided against it.

“I’m sorry, I must have fallen asleep, I…”

“I was on an important conference call with London.”

“I didn’t realize how tired I was.”

Phillip scowled and let go of her wrist.  She rubbed a bit of feeling into it.  He had been gripping her just a bit too hard.

“You are always tired.  You fell asleep at the partners’ dinner the other night.  Do you know how embarrassing that was for me?”  He placed a hand over his heart and affected a wounded look.

“I just haven’t been sleeping.”  Martha rubbed her bleary eyes.

“Well, whatever is going on, you better deal with it.”

Phillip left, slamming the door behind him.  Only then did Martha slip off the bed to peek under it.

“It was just a dream,” she muttered aloud.  “That was all it was.”

Martha pulled her knees up to her chin.  She needed some better sleeping pills.  The dreams were just getting worse.

The words her father had spoken so many times before echoed in her head.  Monsters in the sky.  Look out for the monsters in the sky.  The monsters in the sky are coming.

Chapter Thirty-Two

They heard the familiar ‘snikt’ and then a loud, squeal of pain.  Chris and Annis jumped out of their hiding spots as quickly as they could.  Chris went for the fallen weapon the hunter had been carrying, and Annis punched the male in the face.  His struggles stopped, and he passed out.

Annis’ hands flew to her mouth.  “I only meant to stun him.”

Chris lowered the gun.  “He’d probably have passed out from the pain anyway.”

“I would not have blamed him.”

While she felt the plan to allow one of the hunters to be entrapped – like a bear – was cruel, she was not against it.  They were not being vicious for the sake of it.

Chris surmised that the hunters knew where the traps were, and how to avoid them.  Between the two of them, with a heck of a lot of effort, they managed to pry the thing apart and reset it, placing it away from where Annis had unfortunately found it.  It soon found a new victim in the first hunter who wandered along.

Annis and Chris decided to hide on the ground, this time, both hiding behind the fallen log, and once again pressed excruciatingly close together.

“We must remove the bear trap,” Annis said.

Chris gave her a level look for a few moments before grudgingly giving in.  “Yeah, you’re right.  I wish I were man enough to leave it on there, but the guy could bleed out and die.”

“I do not think it is unmanly to show mercy.”

“I guess not.”

“I do not think anything about you is unmanly,” she added almost under her breath.

Chris smirked, and Annis’ blush was visible even in the moonlight.

They watched each other for a few moments, and in spite of the tense situation, she almost thought he was going to stalk her the way he had the night before.  It was partly a relief and disappointment that he didn’t.

He kneeled next to the caught hunter, sprawled on the ground, twitching slightly.  “That is some right hook you got there.”

“It was my first time,” she admitted.  It was more painful than the people on TV made it look.  “I hope I did it right.”

“You’re a natural.”  His eyes clouded for a moment as he swallowed.  “Give me a hand.”

With a lot of grunts and groans, they managed to open the trap and get it off the hunter.  Then, they set about the reason why they wanted to trap the man at all – they wanted the man’s supplies.  They divested him of everything he owned – including a coat and shoes for Chris.  The coat gaped over his muscles, and the shoes were a little on the small side.  Chris made her giggle when he used one of the hunter’s knives to open up the tips of the boots so his toes could poke out, but they would do.

Annis ripped some of the man’s shirt and bandaged the fallen man's wound as best she could.  Chris ripped some more of the shirt and used it to bind the man’s hands together.  They propped him up against a tree and beat a hasty if careful retreat.

Altogether, it was quite a good haul.  They now had energy bars, water, three knives, a rifle, ammunition, a small torch, a radio and some rope – which Chris did not want to waste on the man.  Sadly, no cell phone.  Chris would have preferred that above anything else, but they were both grateful for the food and water, even if the energy bars smelled like feet.

Annis rubbed one of her arms as they hobbled away.

“Are you cold?” asked Chris quickly, pulling her a little closer.  “You should have the coat.”

“No, no, gargoyles do not tend to feel the heat.”

His arm started to slacken again.

“Although, I am not most gargoyles.  You need the coat more than me, but I do feel warm against you.”

His arm tightened again, and Annis allowed herself a small smile of triumph.  If she was about to die, she might as well enjoy the little time she had left.

Annis stopped abruptly and held Chris back.  She pointed to the ground; a sliver of silver shone in the moonlight – another trap.

They gave it a wide berth and continued to move.

“If we do not believe that Carlton will let us go even if we do live until daybreak, what is our plan of escape?”

“It’s in progress.  So far I’m just winging it.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

They were taking a short break – by walking a little slower than they had been - when Annis managed to stumble over a rock and crash to the ground.

“Some gargoyle I am,” she mumbled as Chris helped her to her feet.

Chris shrugged.  “Being a little clumsy isn’t an issue.”

“Gargoyles are not supposed to be clumsy.”

“You’re very graceful,” he said kindly, his cheeks turning slightly pink.  “You should have seen Brenda when she was a kid, if I didn’t know better, I could have sworn she was drunk.  I once took her to a birthday party, and she managed to bounce out of the jumping castle three times.”

“You are sure she was not drunk?” asked Annis thoughtfully.

“She was ten, so I doubt it,” he snickered.  “She was a cute kid.”  His expression dimmed.

“I am sure she is okay,” Annis reassured him.

“She was with Ric, how do we know he wasn’t attacked too?”

“Ric is a far stronger and able gargoyle than I.  I feel sure he would not have been taken.  He would protect Brenda.”

Chris grimaced.  “I didn’t do a good job of protecting you.”

Annis bridled at his self-deprecating tone.  “It is not your place to protect me.  I should protect myself.  If I had a mate, it would be his place.”

“You don’t have a mate.”

“Not yet, no,” she agreed weakly thinking of Castor.  Would he worry about her when she did not return?  He might worry that he would miss his chance to have younglings, but he would not particularly miss her.

Chris’ eyes hooded.  “You said that before.  You saying you got one lined up?”

“I, ah…”

“You do,” he rumbled angrily.

“I have not accepted the mate-claim.”

“From who?” he demanded.

“Castor.”

Chris’ face was a picture of badly controlled rage.  “Castor?  The asshole who tried to hurt Bob?”

“He thought I was being attacked.  He did not understand.  Our clan was fairly sheltered, he may never have seen a creature like Bob before.”

“So you’re what, with that guy, and you slept with me?”

Annis stopped and drew herself away from him.  “No, it is not like that at all.  He has just made a mate-claim for me.  He can still choose to withdraw it, and I can choose to reject it.  Unless I accept it, I am free.  He has no say over… over the males I lay with.”

Unfortunately, that did not appease him either.  “So you’re going to run off and lay with other males?”

Her formerly shallow well of rage started to run over.  “I do not understand why you are angry with me yet again.  When you find you have taken my innocence, you are angry with me.  When you wonder if I will lay with other men, you are angry with me.  You are angry with me for another male mate-claiming me.  How am I to take your behavior?”

Chris didn’t say anything, just stared at her, breathing deeply, so she continued.

“You said before we were together, that you could not offer me anything, and I accepted that.  You do not want me to want anything from you, and yet you seem to want something from me, but do not seem to want to tell me what that is.”

Laughter blossomed out of the darkness.  Annis yelped and scuttled over to Chris.  She wasn’t so annoyed or so brave that she didn’t want his reassuring presence next to her.

Chris pushed her behind him and glared at the newcomer.

“Lovers’ tiff?” sneered the male.

It was one of the males who had accompanied Carlton earlier.  The less nice looking male, and considering that they both looked like they had been beaten with ugly sticks, that was saying something.

Chris’ eyes flickered to their rifle, laying on the ground two feet away.  The male raised his gun.  “Don’t bother trying.”  He looked them over.  “Looks like you’ve been having fun.”

“You have come to kill us,” said Annis.

“No, freak, just him.”

Annis tried to push past Chris, and he grasped her arm.  “Why not just get rid of me while I slept?” Chris asked.  “Why bother dumping me in here at all?”

The male’s cheek twitched.  “That was Carlton.  Thought she’d be more manageable with you around.”  He scoffed.  “What a waste – she’s no less manageable than an otter.  Wild animal, my ass.  What a waste of money she is.  Still, she’ll look good stuffed and mounted in some rich guy’s study.”

Annis vibrated against Chris, but he remained remarkably calm.

“Why kill me now?  Why not wait?  Even if I make it to daybreak, Carlton won’t let me live.  A few more hours and you’ll get your chance anyway.”

“Had to make sure it was mine.”

Chris frowned.  “Have we met before or something?  I cut in line in front of you at a coffee shop?  Take the last scone?”

“Zeke probably won’t make it through the night.  You nicked his artery.  It’s a miracle he’s still hanging on.”

“Perhaps he shouldn’t run around kidnapping gargoyles.”

The man’s eyes bulged.  “Zeke’s my brother, and you’re going to die for what you’ve done.”

Annis, quick as a flash stepped in front of Chris.  “Then I will die, too.”

“Out of the way!” snapped the irate male.

“You will have to kill me!”

“Annis!  Ugh!”  Chris tried to move her and got a face full of wing for his troubles.

“Move, bitch!” snarled the man striding towards them.

Big mistake.  Annis’ tail whipped out and knocked the gun from his hands.  Startled, he allowed Annis to tackle him to the ground.  He was a big guy, strong too, but even he struggled with the snapping and snarling female.  Annis clawed at him, battering with her wings and scrabbling with her feet.

It seemed like ages but was really only moments before he finally managed to take control of her.  He seized her wrists and held her away from his body.  He scowled and tossed her aside.  Annis thudded heavily on the ground, and Chris knocked the man out with the butt of his rifle.

Chris scrambled over to Annis and pulled her into a sitting position.  He ran his hands up and down her body, just a little too thoroughly, checking her for injuries.  He sat back on his haunches and sighed.

“Maybe you’re right.”

Annis looked up from inspecting a bruise on her elbow.  “About what?”

“You said I didn’t have to protect you.”

“Oh,” she deflated slightly.  “And you do not.”

Chris pinned her with his dark gaze.  “I want to, though.”