It had started like any other night in New York. The peaceful, springtime evening shattered by gargoyles roaring to life and shedding their stone skins right as the sun dipped beneath the horizon.
The clan of seven gargoyles roared and stretched from having been in stone sleep since sunrise that morning. They all felt refreshed and ready for a new night of activity.
Hudson, the old one, and Goliath, the younger lavender leader, took off down to the ground from the tower to go hang out in the TV room for a little while, at least until their breakfast time.
Broadway, the aqua big male, and his mate, Angela, the lavender female, joined hands and flew down toward the area that would take them to the library. Brooklyn, the red beaked male, eyed them sadly. He so wanted what they had: love.
The smallest of the clan was beside Brooklyn. As he saw the two lovers take off, he turned to Lexington. "Hey, Lex. Do you want to hang out tonight?" Brooklyn asked.
"No, thanks, Brooklyn," Lex replied. "I'm going to go see Alex. Maybe another night."
"Alright," Brooklyn frowned. Then Lex glided down to the nursery area to go see his little buddy, Alex.
Brooklyn wondered what he could do with himself tonight. He was the clan's Second in Command, but he didn't have much else to consider to be proud of. He wasn't happy with his position in the clan currently. The gar-dog, Bronx ran down the stairs going after Hudson, leaving the red male alone on his roost.
He sat up there, thinking for awhile before he went down and wandered the hallways. He was going to head to his own room. What he wouldn't give for a best friend, someone to hang with, but more so, a female love of his own. Lex was the only other one that he seemed to be able to hang with at times, but even he could get busy with his computer games, fixing things, and babysitting Alex.
Later, breakfast was done and the gargoyles joined the Xanatos family. What was breakfast to the gargoyles first thing in the evening was dinner for their human benefactors.
Brooklyn reluctantly joined them to eat. He barely tasted the food as he stared at Broadway and Angela having a delightful conversation about something.
It was after breakfast that Goliath assigned patrols.
Bronx would remain behind to guard the castle, and Hudson and Lex would go with Goliath. Brooklyn groaned softly at having been assigned to Broadway and Angela's group. This was just what he didn't want. Why did his leader have to do this to him? He would have much rather been with anyone else.
After Goliath's group left first, Brooklyn growled and tried to just get away from the lovebirds. He ran and spread his wings first. He was going to try to stay ahead of them. His group had been assigned to the east side.
Broadway and Angela knew they needed to have a serious outlook on this, but they were just glad to be together on this night. Broadway knew his red brother was jealous of what he and Angela had together, and he knew Brooklyn felt like a third wheel.
The couple tried to keep up with Brooklyn, but it was hard because he was the fastest glider of the clan.
"I wonder what's bothering Brooklyn?" Angela asked.
"Us, is what is bothering him," Broadway replied lowly. "He hates being assigned to us because he doesn't have what we have."
"He'll find his love one of these days," Angela said.
"I just wish he wouldn't go moping about when he's around us," Broadway stated.
After gliding quite a distance, Brooklyn came to land on a rooftop and try to look around to see if there was anything going on. That was when the other two showed up. He walked away, trying to ignore them.
"Brooklyn, what's going on?" Angela asked curiously.
Brook sighed. 'Must you ask?' he growled to himself. "Just seeing if there was anything down there to see." Brooklyn replied.
"I don't see anything and all I can hear are car horns." Broadway said.
Brooklyn wanted to see if he had a chance with Angela. "Hey, Angela, we could go to a movie if you want after our patrol," he offered.
"No, thanks. Broadway and I have plans of our own already," she replied. "Sorry, Brooklyn."
Brooklyn's look saddened, but he saw Broadway glaring at him with possessive anger, his gaze clearly stating that Angela was his.
Their patrol that night was rather quiet and when they got back to the castle the couple were more than happy to go off on their own. Brooklyn didn't follow them inside. He growled and took off on his own this time.
The city wasn't the safest to go wandering around in on his own, but he needed to occupy himself somehow.
Brooklyn ended up flying to Central Park to see if there was any action there, or just have a quiet night for himself in the park. Most of the humans were at home anyway this time of night.
When he found no action in most of the park, he finally decided to land by the lake. He remembered the Lady of the Lake that was in there, but he wouldn't disturb her. Chances were, she was back on Avalon anyway. Most of Oberon's people were back there as it was when he had called them back to the magical island.
Brooklyn wished he could go there and meet Angela's sisters. He would love to have one of them pick him as their mate, but he would want the right one to be bonded too as well. He wanted the right female to love him and support him all his life.
…..
At a lab in the city, there were a group of scientists who lived to help animals and conserve their species. They, like many other folks in New York, were aware of the gargoyles living in the city, but had never encountered them. They had only seen them as shadows in the sky from time to time.
But, among them was one Preston Winslow, who had worked alongside Anton Sevarius at one point and had decided that his talents could be utilized better elsewhere. He had learned some special skills from Sevarius but didn't want to be involved in what his former crazy boss had done, not unless necessary.
Winslow was in his mid-thirties, had brownish blonde hair, green eyes, and stood about 5' 9. He wore a lab coat over a plaid shirt and beige pants.
He had many years of experience from schooling and working at Gen-U-Tech under his belt to understand the genetics of many creatures. He had even had a hand at studying gargoyle DNA at one point, but he went back to studying other animals instead when he quit working for the maniac scientist.
He had two assistants working with him this night, a woman named Vanessa Riley and a man named Nathan Bradford.
Vanessa was in her mid-twenties, stood at 5'5, had dark, black hair that was half-way down her back and pale blue eyes. She was learning the ropes here. She wore a white dress shirt and beige pants and a lab coat.
Nathan was a tall, lanky man, in his early thirties, stood at 5'10 with red hair and brown eyes. He wore light blue scrubs and a lab coat.
When Preston was taking a break from his work that night, he saw a gargoyle flying overhead, looking like it could be headed to Central Park. This was the first time he saw one in the sky, and its unique anatomy got his curiosity going. He smiled and went to get his associates.
"Vanessa! Nathan!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"What?" they asked in unison.
"I just saw one of the gargoyles heading to the park close by here. Let's check it out," Preston invited them. "We haven't had much excitement in a long time."
"Aren't they dangerous?" Nathan asked.
"They certainly are unique," Preston said. "Let's go, now."
"Alright." Nathan had his reservations.
The trio of humans ran and jumped into their van, and hurriedly drove to Central Park to see if they could catch up with the gargoyle.
"Just what do you plan to do when you see him or her?" Vanessa asked.
"I think it was male. First, we observe it. I think it will be fascinating. I think we should make a study of it. I have sedatives in the back. All of us take a dart gun. It will be silent. We can't let it see us," Preston explained.
When the van was parked, they all took dart guns loaded with darts. They looked around carefully for signs of the gargoyle.
Soon, there was the sound of a voice and footsteps. It was coming from the lake area. The group peered through the bushes. There, at the lake was a winged figure, sitting by the water. It was hard to see what it looked like from where they were crouched and they tried to get closer.
"Why couldn't Angela pick me instead of Broadway?" Brooklyn asked himself. "I'm not that bad looking, am I?" He looked at himself in the water.
"It talks?" Vanessa whispered.
Preston gave the cue to be quiet. They had gotten close enough, and if they were seen, who knows what the gargoyle would do? It was obviously male from the sound of the voice. Preston was intrigued with the gargoyle. He gave the motion to spread out.
Brooklyn suddenly heard something. He perked up, looking around. He got up. He tried to pinpoint the location of the sound. He was hearing what sounded like footsteps. This was bad. It could be those horrible Quarrymen!
"Who's there?" he demanded forcefully.
Nathan took the cue to blow his dart out. He had gotten the closest.
The dart landed in Brooklyn's right shoulder. He yelped and held his shoulder. He saw the dart sticking in his skin. This wasn't good. He was alone. He had to get away, but his vision was already starting to get fuzzy. Fighting and getting away wasn't much of an option. He swayed at first, but then fell to his knees. He tried to fight the drug, but it wasn't long before he was out.
The three scientists came out of hiding. "Nice shot, Nathan," Preston said.
"What are we going to do with him?" Vanessa asked.
"We're taking him back to the lab to do a study of him," Preston replied. "I studied one of his kind once, but my boss was insane. That's why I quit and started my own practice. I want to help other creatures," Preston explained.
The trio picked up the unconscious gargoyle and took him back to the van. It was a tight fit, but they got him in there. He would be out for awhile.
This story is being beta read too.