When a Gargoyle Falls Read online

  When a Gargoyle Falls

  E A Price

  Copyright ©2018 by Elizabeth Ann Price

  All rights reserved. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

  Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, species, and incidents are either the products of my imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to humans and gargoyles living or dead is coincidental.

  This story is intended as entertainment, but if you are a major grump who doesn’t like puppies or rainbows or the idea of big gruff gargoyles falling in love with cute humans, then maybe this isn’t for you. You have been warned.

  Contents

  Previously

  Main Characters

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  Previously

  During King Arthur’s reign, to defeat his enemy, Morgan Le Fay and her legions of magical beasts, the King, his magician Merlin, and the leader of the dragon race sacrificed themselves to create a race of warriors. They became known as gargoyles.

  After defeating Morgan, the gargoyles lived in tentative peace alongside the humans. But not all gargoyles were happy with their place. A female called Ophelia, second in command to Lucifer, a descendant of the first gargoyle, made a deal with the enemy, known as the Noir Clans, and gave them the spell used to bring the gargoyles to life. The armies of the Noir Clans rallied and in an attack, they used the spell on the gargoyles to put them into a stone sleep, that if not reversed within a thousand years would become permanent. Those who were not immediately destroyed were sheltered by the descendants of Arthur’s allies - the Blanc Clans. For years, attempts were made at waking them, but they were unsuccessful.

  Almost a thousand years later, Lucifer, along with dozens of other hidden gargoyles, was being sheltered by a man called Professor Hardcastle, who lived in a town called Devil’s Hang. After his death, his heir and nephew, Andrew held a party at his house. A woman named Kylie Summers stumbled upon the gargoyle Lucifer, and while drunk, kissed the stone gargoyle and awakened him. Kylie was discovered to be a distant (very distant) relative of one of Arthur’s allies.

  While Kylie and Luc fell in love, a man named Holling, a relative of one of Morgan’s allies, was attempting to revive the gargoyles to create an army. He held Kylie hostage to lure Luc to him. When Luc tried to rescue her, Ophelia was discovered to be alive, and she killed Holling. Disgusted at Luc’s relationship with Kylie, Ophelia tried to kill her. Ophelia escaped, and it was discovered that she had been working with Holling, trying to create a new clan of gargoyles.

  Luc and Kylie mated and began working to decipher the locations of the other gargoyles Professor Hardcastle hid.

  On learning of Holling’s death, the Council of Magic Users sent mercenaries to watch the mansion, to try and discover if the gargoyles had been reawakened and report back their findings.

  One of the newly awakened gargoyles, Ric, was seen in the surroundings woods by a human called Chloe. They continued to meet in secret, and unbeknownst to Ric she was one of the mercenaries sent to watch them. While Chloe tried to seduce Ric, he fell in love with a human called Brenda.

  Ric was kidnapped by the Council of Magic and taken to a medical facility, where he met Twenty-Six – a gargoyle who had been bred in the lab. The council was using gargoyle DNA to try and breed new gargoyles that stay awake in daylight.

  Luc, the gargoyles and Brenda’s uncle, Chris attacked the facility and Ric and Twenty-Six were freed. Luc confronted the leader of the Council of Magic, Blackthorne, and told him that they would leave him alone if he left them alone.

  A few weeks later, while trying to retrieve a new gargoyle, Annis and Chris were kidnapped and hunted for sport. They managed to free themselves and the pair mated.

  It was revealed that the kidnapping was engineered by Ophelia, in an attempt to get rid of the male gargoyle, Gracchus. A new clan gargoyle called Lief was working with Ophelia, and he left the clan to return to Ophelia.

  Kylie visited the new doctor in town in order to retrieve contraceptive pills, but the doctor gave her fertility drugs instead. The doctor was shown working with Blackthorne, and their plan is for Kylie to become pregnant with Luc’s child.

  Over Christmas, the gargoyle Brom found a human mate called Joely after her daughter, Daphne mistook him for Santa Claus. Kylie also discovered she was pregnant.

  Meanwhile Drago found his mate in Martha – who discovered she was psychic, and that her father (who she had thought to be deceased) was alive and had been kept imprisoned by Blackthorne for many years. He escaped along with a woman called Danica, who happened to be pyrokinetic. Both Martha’s father and Danica are now hiding out at the mansion, and her father told the gargoyles how there were other gargoyles at the institution where he was kept, except, they were guards and not inmates.

  Tristan found his mate in Gwen after he accidentally kidnapped her. Gwen and her mother are now living in Martha’s house – given that Gwen’s crazy ex-boyfriend burned her house to the ground.

  Gracchus is away in Portland, and Ingrede is due to give birth any day.

  The story will be continued… right now.

  Main Characters

  Humans

  Kylie Summers – Luc’s mate, and technically a witch. Her magical ability lay dormant until she stumbled upon Luc as a statue. She’d like it to be known that she doesn’t normally run around kissing statues. She isn’t a hussy for stone men, she was just very drunk.

  Chris Wyatt – Brenda’s uncle and the local chief of police. A former detective from Portland, he now runs a police force made up of three people and a dog named Bob who refuses to obey. Mated to Annis.

  Brenda Halverson – Mate of Ric and currently a high school senior. Spends her time acting as a referee between her overprotective mate and uncle.

  Bea – Kylie’s aunt, but not biologically. Also a witch, she has some healing ability. Belongs to the magical community, and is one of many guardians Kylie had while growing up.

  Maggie – Kylie’s best friend, a goth, and a lover of all things supernatural. Currently helping to track down all the missing gargoyles. Secretly enjoys Boggle.

  Andrew Hardcastle – The nephew of Professor Hardcastle, who hid and protected the gargoyles for many years. Owns the Hardcastle Mansion where the gargoyles are currently living. Maggie’s fiancé and favorite Boggle victim.

  Gustave – Former manservant of Professor Hardcastle. Working with Kylie and the gargoyles to find and wake the others. Does not like to be compared to Alfred from Batman.

  Blackthorne – A descendant of one of the original Noir Clans. A member of the Council of Magic made up of other descendants. Involved with creating Twenty-Six and has various other nefarious schemes ongoing.

  Melissa Sanchez – An FBI agent in Portland, and friend of Chris’. Assigned to the ‘weird’ cases, like UFO and Bigfoot sightings. As the only agent in her section, she has to be both Mulder and Scully. FYI, it can be quite exhausting to be b
oth a believer and a skeptic at the same time.

  Martha – Maggie’s cousin, and mated to Drago. Recently discovered she was psychic thanks to some very lurid dreams.

  Joely – Brom’s mate, waitress and according to Brom, a ‘saucy wench’.

  Daphne – Joely’s daughter. Despite being told otherwise, is still convinced Brom is Santa Claus.

  Guinevere ‘Gwen’ – Tristan’s mate who works in Bea’s antique store and the library.

  Tilly – Gwen’s former neighbour. Doctor’s receptionist, has a baking blog, owns a huge cat called Milady, and loves the color pink.

  Helen – Gwen’s mother.

  Dr. Casey White – The town’s doctor and an unbeknownst to the gargoyles, an ally of Blackthorne’s.

  Danica – a young woman with pyrokinetic abilities imprisoned by Blackthorne since she was a child. Obviously, she has issues.

  Allen – Martha’s father and also a psychic. Had been kept imprisoned by Blackthorne for many years.

  Gargoyles

  Lucifer ‘Luc’ – Kylie’s mate and a direct descendant of the first gargoyle created. His interests include awaking his gargoyle brothers and sisters and keeping his human mate out of trouble.

  Annis – A female with a deformed wing. Smaller and slighter than normal females, she is unable to fight, hunt or fly like gargoyles, but she makes a mean casserole and is mated to Chris.

  Gracchus – A male a few years older than Luc and second to Luc in the clan. Genial and easygoing, he hints at a darker past, but is accepting of their new life, particularly the invention of TV. His favorite TV show is currently American Dad.

  Amalric ‘Ric’ – A young male, recently mated to Brenda and the first gargoyle to be woken after Luc. Annoyingly cocky but Brenda manages to tease that out of him.

  Dragoslava ‘Drago’ – Otherwise known as the thing in the basement. The male struggles to adapt to life after being asleep for so long, and on waking spent a month chained in the basement due to his uncontrolled anger, but is improving now that he is mated to Martha. Though, if any male dares look at her…

  Twenty-Six – The female bred in a lab who is able to sleep at any time, day or night. She was the twenty-sixth of the experiments to create a superior species of gargoyles. She is considering changing her name.

  Brom – A gargoyle hailing from Iceland and newly mated to Joely. Has a much shorter tail than other gargoyle, which he is very sensitive about.

  Ophelia – Luc’s former second in command who betrayed the gargoyles and is currently on the loose, with numerous evil plots on the boil.

  Ingrede – A female, mated to Cai and mother of Wolfe. About to give birth to her second youngling – convinced it will be a girl.

  Cai – Ingrede’s mate and father to Wolfe, anxiously awaiting the birth of his second youngling – convinced it will be a boy. Scared witless is a phrase tossed around.

  Wolfe – Cai and Ingrede’s son; insufferably cute and obsessed with a stuffed penguin.

  Tristan – A bookish gargoyle and formerly a tactician for his old clan. Newly mated to Gwen and Luc’s fourth in the clan.

  Grey – An aggressive gargoyle, nicknamed ‘princess’ by Danica.

  Lief – An ally of Ophelia’s who spent some time with Luc’s clan spying on them.

  Castor – Annis’ former clan chief, now Luc’s third after Gracchus. Partial to The Golden Girls though he would die before admitting it.

  Leo – An older gargoyle recently awakened.

  Ryia – A scary female who has her sights set on mating a certain gargoyle.

  And Bob the dog – Of unknown parentage, he just showed up in town one day. Honorary member of the local police force.

  One

  “I believe we should lie together to slake our carnal needs.”

  Castor almost choked when he heard that. The bowl of Cheerios he was gingerly trying to eat went hurtling down the wrong hole, and he managed to snort milk through his nose as he tried to regain his senses.

  It wasn’t so much the words – female gargoyles could be very direct – but rather who they were coming from.

  “What?” he spluttered as Cai gave him a firm thump on the back. When the male wasn’t doubled over with laughter that is.

  Cai apparently found his predicament hilarious. As did Brom, Grey, Tristan and Cai’s mate, Ingrede. Though at least Ingrede had the grace to look merely amused, rather than nearly howling with laughter like the males.

  Ryia – the female who had both shocked and horrified him with that outrageous statement curled her lip at the four of them and that quieted them. She then proceeded to repeat her statement.

  The human Maggie rested her head in her hand as she watched them in fascination. “My goodness, female gargoyles do not hold back. I love it.”

  Castor scowled at her before looking at Ryia impassively. “No, I am not interested,” he replied simply.

  In truth, gargoyle females did tend to be forward when it came to their own wants, and were no less fearsome in battle, and often could be dominant to males. Like Ryia – she could easily out-dominate most of the males in their new clan and was certainly more powerful than the few female gargoyles they had awoken. If they wanted sex, they asked for it. Like Ryia was now. While Castor found this to be correct and the way things should be, he wouldn’t deny that the idea of lying with her was… well, manhood shriveling.

  Ryia shook out her large wings. “It makes sense that we should. Out of all the males in our clan,” she sneered at the other males present, “you are least objectionable. It is important that we have sexual release so that we do not become too tense.”

  Was it him or was there a collective sigh of relief from the other males? Ryia would probably point out what he was doing wrong, tell him that he did not measure up to her previous partners and bark orders on how to improve during any encounter they had. The act of laying with Ryia was sure to increase rather than decrease any tension he was feeling.

  Castor supposed for a female gargoyle she was fairly normal, quite average – above average perhaps in fighting skill, but she was difficult, and stern and frankly, terrifying.

  He did not want her. Part of him thought he should, that as the only available female gargoyle he should be clamoring to want to mate with her. The only other female being the one who called herself Twenty-Six, who was a gargoyle created in a laboratory and had made it quite clear she was not up for mating of any kind.

  He should want to be with Ryia, should want to ensure the continuation of their species – it was his duty. When he freshly awoke, that was foremost on his mind, but… things were different. Or rather, perhaps he was different.

  The world was not the one he knew anymore. He had spent hundreds of years enslaved in his stone body, and frankly, the idea of spending potentially the next sixty years enslaved in a mating with Ryia did not appeal.

  “It makes sense that we couple. What other choice do we have?”

  “I have no desire for you,” he rumbled. His tail thumped against the floor, almost nervously – though he would never admit to being nervous.

  Maggie raised her eyebrows. She was hardly a prude by human standards – she could wax lyrical on her own human mate’s butt for hours much to his embarrassment. But even she felt a little awkward in this exchange.

  “Do you two want some privacy?” she asked.

  “No,” growled Castor quickly. That was definitely the last thing he wanted.

  Ryia’s lips tightened for a few moments before she merely shrugged her wings and began devouring the bacon – all the bacon, which is why Castor was currently attempting to eat – ugh – cereal. He considered challenging her about it – as Grey had who now sported a gash over one eye – but really, he could live with losing the battle for the bacon. There were more important things in the world.

  Nearly a thousand years ago his whole race had been put to sleep, forced into their stone state and left to rot. The few that were now awake were lucky to be alive and had
formed a makeshift clan under the leadership of Luc – a direct descendant of the first gargoyle ever created. But things were hardly smooth sailing. For one thing, very few females were being woken, and honestly, he was frustrated by the lack of female attention – though, not quite frustrated enough to submit to Ryia. In his time, he had been chief of his clan; he had a promised mate who was a strong and fierce warrior. True, she had hated his guts but still… He wasn’t sure of his point about that. He had challenged for leadership in his clan and won over the sons of the old clan chief. He had decided to take Danya as a mate because she was the old clan chief’s daughter. He had no more desire for her than he did Ryia. He had never found a female who incited anything more than his natural need for release.

  The other males had found mates in humans, but Castor was not sure he could bring himself to do the same. His old clan had always considered that the only good human was a dead human, and Castor still could not bring himself to trust them entirely. He could not even imagine the kind of human female who would entice him. None that his gargoyle brothers had attracted interested him. Though Maggie’s feistiness, as well as that of Brom’s mate, Joely was somewhat intriguing, but they did not elicit anything more than a mild tail thump.

  No, it would take a human of immeasurable strength to turn his head and his heart.

  *

  “Oh! No, no, no, no! Oh, crumbs!” whispered Tilly.

  She bit her lip and tried not to cry. That was her third batch in a row of cupcakes, and they were burned to a crisp and yet somehow still goopy in the center.

  Tilly paced up and down her small kitchen and told herself not to overreact. They were just cupcakes. It was okay. She’d live. It didn’t matter. In the whole scheme of things, they did not matter.

  She picked up one of the cupcakes and pushed a finger into it. It pushed through the crisp crust and soon found the mushy center.

  “Oh, they’re an absolute disaster!”

  Tilly’s bottom lip wobbled. Nope, no, this was nothing to fall apart over. Just because it meant her poor oven had finally given up on life and needed replacing, that was no reason to get upset. It was just one of those things, and after years of scrimping and saving and being careful, she had money for emergencies like these.