Impress Me

(A/N) Thank You for reading my very first publishing. Black Gargie inspired me with Dark Angel of the Skies. You should thank her for my awesomeness.

Disclaimer: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. THIS STORY IS JUST FOR FUN. No copyright infringement intended. All rights to Gargoyles belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 2 – New Faces

A scarlet hand appeared before her. As she looked up, her eyes beheld a silhouette outlined before the over-head street light. The only things she could make out were wings and shining, silver hair. Finally, the glowing shadow spoke in a soft tone.

"Are you alright?" Haven took the hand and let it help her up. "Thanks." As she made it to her feet – with much effort thanks to the sharp pain in her back – the dark figure became recognizable. He had scarlet skin and wings. He had a beak-like mouth and his hair was pasty white.

Regaining her senses, she turned to check on Kale. He was being protected by another gargoyle, smaller with caramel-colored skin and webbed wings. "The kid's fine." He pulled Kale out from under the fallen boxes. "There's three of 'em now!"

"I don't care if there's thirty of 'em! Take 'em out!" The thugs started for them. The red one swatted them away and threw them about before they could attack. Any that didn't run away were thrown into a nearby dumpster in hardly any time at all. "That takes care of the trash. So who's got the dishes?"

Haven rushed over to Kale taking him from the caramel gargoyle. "Kale? Come on niño, wake up." The boy opened his eyes a little. Haven let out a sigh of relief. "Cool, more gargoyles."

"Yeah, pequeño, you forget about your stomach ache?" If Kale did forget, he was surely reminded by the urge once again. He pushed away from Haven and threw up in his little box.

"What did he eat?" asked the caramel gargoyle. "Just a triangle with cheese and meats."

"It was a pizza." Kale called. The bronze gargoyle inspected the pizza box, "How old was it?"

"A few days o…" another belch. "It may be food poisoning. Unrefrigerated meats can do that." chimed in the red gargoyle. Kale finally finished throwing up before Haven crawled over. She grabbed the medicine from her pouch and a bottle of water from the pile of boxes. He took two pills with a Lot of fuss then buried his face into Haven's side. "It still hurts."

"Give it some time to work, okay?" Kale nodded then gasped, "Your hand…"

"Don't fuss about it. It will be fixed by tomorrow. So… *turns around* …who are we thanking for the help?" The caramel one answered first. "I'm Lexington."

"And I'm Brooklyn." Lexington took a rip at his breech cloth and gave it to Haven for her hand. "Thanks. Haven, and this is Kale."

"Your accent doesn't sound like it's from around here, if you don't mind me asking." Brooklyn stated. "Costa Rica, and I don't."

"She just got in off a boat." Kale blurted, "She's been staying with me."

"Well you're not safe here anymore. You can come to our place if you want and we can get both your injuries looked at." Lexington insisted, "It's better than an alley."

"This is your alley, Kale, so it's your call." Kale shifted to balance him own weight, "Let's go. I'm tired of this alley."

Haven tried to pick him up but her hand started hurting and so did her back so Lexington offered to take him while Brooklyn turned his back to her to climb on, "You can't glide with your back like that."

"Right, my back." Approaching the wall, Haven tightened her grip especially constricting, "You okay?"

"No." Just then, they heard men shouting, "Over here, Marco! They can't have gone far!"

"Sorry. Hold on best you can." he started climbing the wall of the building. Not half way up, Brooklyn felt her heart beat against his back. The men rounded the corner in time to catch Haven's tail going onto the three story roof. "Up there!"

Lexington helped them onto the roof and double checked their advantage; the men were already in the other alley trying to access the fire escape while others were breaking into the building to climb the flights to the roof. They ran to the next building, leaping over the gap and clinging to the wall. The men were reaching the previous roof just as Brooklyn was getting over the top of the second. They fired at Lexington and Kale, luckily missing as Kale would have been the first to get hit.

Now that they had another few minutes before the thugs could reach them, they got ready to take off. Thinking Haven was having trouble hanging on he picked her up in the front, much to her protest, "Hang on to me."

"Wait!" But before she could protest any further, the hoodlums were bursting through the attic door and Brooklyn was leaping off the five story ledge and gliding away. Kale, despite his aiments, rooted in excitement. Haven shut her eyes and buried her face into his shoulder. Brooklyn felt her pounding heart beating a mile a minute and her breath in short, panicked puffs against his chest.

'Is she in that much pain? Was I too rough?' His thoughts meshed a little as a faint scent of ocean mists filled his nose. It was coming from her hair, a side effect of living in costal Costa Rica he imagined. He was gentler with her nonetheless to avoid causing further pain.

Soon, they were back home at Castle Wyvern atop Xanatos Tower. "We're here." Lexington told Kale as he gazed at the castle's majesty. As soon as he let down the kid, he took off to explore; apparently the medicine kicked in, "This place is HUGE!"

Brooklyn let Haven down slowly and the more her feet made contact with the ground, the slower her pulse. A large gargoyle came to greet them, "Lexington, Brooklyn, who have you brought home with you?"

"This is Haven. She's from Costa Rica, and…Kale ran off somewhere." Lexington answered. Goliath smiled at Haven who tried not to stare, "It's nice to see a new face around here." the great gargoyle exclaimed. Haven only nodded in response catching her breath.

"They lost their alleyway to the Blazers gang. Is it okay for them to stay here a while?" Lexington requested. "Of course. Our home is open to you if you will stay."

Goliath held out his hand to her. "Come child, I will not harm you." She stared into the eyes of the great gargoyle. In truth, she had never seen such a large gargoyle before in her life. It frightened her a little. Realizing she hadn't moved since he appeared, she slowly reached out her hand to his and took it. When they touched, the trance in her eyes broke and she looked away. "Sorry. I've…never seen such a large gargoyle."

"Do not worry. You will get used to it. I am Goliath."

'That's a fitting name' she thought as she continued to look down trying not to stare again. "Hola…"

"Come, I would like you to meet the others." He let go of her hand and beckoned her to follow. She trailed behind him a few steps with Lexington and Brooklyn on either side of her, descending a flight of stairs and into an impressive hallway. Goliath led them to a room with a tv. Inside was an aged gargoyle with a bad eye and a gargoyle beast curled up next to him. "Hudson, I'd like you to meet someone."

The old gargoyle turned to face them. "Aye, so who might this lass be?" He got up to greet them with the gargoyle beast following close behind. "Haven, this is Hudson. Hudson, Haven."

"Welcome to Castle Wyvern, lass. I hope ye feel at home."

"Gracias." The gargoyle beast could wait no longer. He pounced onto her and soaked her face in a coat of drool. "Iche."

"And this is Bronx." The creature woofed and panted. "Nice to meet you Bronx, and you salivary glands." She rubbed his ears in a way that made his leg twitch. When he rolled on his back, she rubbed his tummy up and down earning more kicks from his leg. "He really likes you." Brooklyn assured her. "You just gotta know where to rub. Not much different from dogs." she replied.

"Come, there are still others to meet." Goliath called. "Goliath, I have to watch Alex now. See you later." They watched as Lexington ran down the halls until he turned a corner and left their sight. "Who's Alex?"

"You'll see." Next, Goliath took them to a kitchen where a round, bluish gargoyle was with another female gargoyle. Next to her was a small boy with Band-Aids all over him. "And that's Kale." she told Goliath. The boy turned around as did the gargoyles. "Hi, Haven. Broadway was just teaching me and Angela how to make chocolate pudding. And he made me ginger tea."

"Initially, I was just teaching Angela when this kid found us. We cleaned him up." They came towards them. Kale stared in awe at Goliath towering over him. "Woah."

"Kale, this is Goliath." The female presented Kale to Goliath. Goliath knelt down to address him at a more suitable level. "It is nice to meet you, child."

"How did you get so big?" Kale asked. Goliath chuckled. "I'm told to tell young ones that it's because I eat my vegetables."

Kale groaned, "But vegetables are so gross." Broadway put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Not if you cook 'em right."

"Haven, this is Broadway. And this is Angela, my daughter." Angela took her hand. "I can't remember the last time I had female company." Haven stated.

"Kinda makes you feel outnumbered, huh?" The two girls giggled as if they became close friends from the start. "Come. There are still more friends to meet."

"More gargoyles?!" Kale asked eagerly. "No, but still family…sorta." Brooklyn answered.

Haven hesitated on following hearing that, turning Kale's attention, "You coming?" Haven swallowed, "Sure."

They came to a large double door. "They should all be in here." Goliath added. Beyond the doors was a grand master bedroom. A man and a woman stood next to a cradle and Lexington holding an infant. The man was the first to take notice of them. "Goliath. It seems your clan growing."

"Haven, this is Xanatos, the owner of this place." Haven looked at them coldly. "This is Haven. And this is my young friend, Kale." Kale rushed over to see the baby. "What's his name?"

"Alexander. Cute, isn't he?" Fox replied. Finally, Haven broke her silence, "Thanks for the hospitality." Her tone was firm and actually directed towards the Goliath, but Xanatos didn't seem bothered by her intrepid offensive.

"It's no trouble really. Come and go as you please. This is my wife, Fox, and this is our son Alexander." Fox smiled, also disregarding her hostility, "Stay as long as you like. We hope you find yourself comfortable." Haven pause for but a moment. "Thank you but that won't be necessary. Let's go, Kale."

She turned around and hurried down the hall, Kale hesitantly trailing behind her. Brooklyn looked at Goliath, then Lexington, both of which had the same confused look as he did. "Don't look so surprised. You were the same way when you first came here." Xanatos stated.

Brooklyn motioned to Goliath that he'd go after her and left to follow them. He found them outside as long crimson hair, shimmering in the moon light caught his eye.

(A/N) I've see the reviews and the favorites and the story/author alerts in my email and it literally warms me to know my stories are so appreciated. Thank you all so much for the support and know that I feel absolutely guilty for not rewarding your loyalty with more chapters. It's my greatest regret when I see "何々さん has added you to their story alerts" or "何々さん is now following you" and I realize that they won't get anything new for a while. To all college students out there reading my stories, I KNOW you understand how time consuming things can get. My friends feel neglected as well. I think I've even become more introverted since I see people so little these days. But Enough of my excuses. I'm going to find some way to AT MINIMUM finish this one, advance the other, and START a new fanfic before the christmas holiday ends. Just so you know how devoted I am to giving you all what you justly deserve, after school is out for this semester, I'm going to make it my goal to wake up at 5am just so i can get some quiet time to write for you. I know a lot of you will think that's a bit much but you all are worth it and when you love something this much, you MAKE time for it. If I don't finish this, I've hit a road block. SO, look forward to new chapters, etc. because I REALLY don't want to send you all another apology at the end of a chapter months from now.

Go to my deviantArt page to see Haven. My sister's a budding animator and she drew the original but I upgraded it and changed quite a bit. I've never taken an art class to learn how to do this stuff so I'll ask for help from time to time but the more recent ones and some of the old ones are purely my work...A~nd then there's that one I just cheated on all together. but the link is below, copy and paste, delete the space, and don't forget the dot-com. And enjoy.

xai16. deviantart

/gallery/33636029