FEAR
Chapter Five
I woke up from stone sleep and stretched to break the thin stone skin that had formed itself around me at sunrise. Now, it was sunset, and the sun had gone down, the sky was still tinted purple, I stood up tall and looked out over the city. Deep in thought, the thought of Goliath's having not returned in the morning was troubling me. All I could think about was what if he was in danger, and needed us?
Hudson walked over to me, and put his hand on my shoulder, "Are ye alright, lad?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.
I think you should confront all them about Goliath having not returned yet, and advise them what to do in the meantime.
"I guess you're right…" I sighed, I glanced back over my shoulder, Angela, Broadway, Lexington and Bronx were standing together, Bronx was trying to get some attention as probably more than likely hungry, while Lexington was recalling some of the previous nights encounters on patrol.
I climbed down from the battlements, and I walked over to where everyone else was standing, "guys," I said loudly.
They all stopped talking to each other and looked at me, confused as to why I had interrupted.
"Okay, so…as you may all have noticed, Goliath hasn't come back from his patrol yet…" I began.
"So…what do we do, shouldn't we be out looking for him?" Broadway asked of me.
"Well…we can't do that until we know if we should be – if he has not returned back by a certain time we'll search. In the meantime, we should continue with things as normal – we'll go out on patrol as we always do. I won't give you certain places to patrol – I think it would be better if you all use your own judgement," I stated, "But, uhm…Hudson…" I looked at him, "can you stay here, just in case Goliath returns?" I asked.
Hudson gave a nod, "of course…" he nodded.
"I'll take my phone – report to me if he returns," I instructed, then looked back to everyone else, "report to me every hour on the hour, and also if you see anything suspicious or unusual I want to know…so those of you who are hungry…get something to eat before you leave…and please keep in touch with me. And return an hour before sunrise, promptly."
They shrugged and agreed, and left me standing on the parapet with only Hudson, "They look sceptical," Hudson remarked, he folded his arms, standing proudly.
"I don't blame them, sometimes I query my own position as second in command," I sighed, I pushed my hair back from my shoulder.
"It'll be fine, lad. Even though you sometimes speak before you think you'll make a fine leader one day…" Hudson sighed, "But I've been meaning to have a word with you about your attitude towards Goliath. He is doing his best, as leader. Just as you are, and if you have an opinion different from his, then put it across but do not start arguments, especially not in front of the rest of the clan – those are the very Gargoyles you will be leading in Goliath's absence, and if you make yourself seem quite mulish and stubborn, they might not be so willing to be under your command."
"I understand," I sighed, "I just…I am very stressed out lately, and I guess I'm lashing out at people as an outlet, I'm sorry, Hudson, and you're right, sometimes I do speak before I think," I stated, "Please do keep in touch with me if you hear anything from Goliath," I looked at him, "I hope the others will too."
"Why?" Hudson asked, watching me climb up onto the edge of the battlements as I was getting ready to leave for my patrol.
"Because if Goliath does not return then we have to assume something might have happened – and if that's the case, something might happen to any of us – I have to look out for the clans safety…"
"Alright," Hudson nodded.
"Hi guys," Elisa had just come out of the tower stairwell, she looked at me, "Goliath around?" she queried, "I've just been up to the top of the tower – but he's not there…"
"No…uhm," I scratched my head, "He didn't come home this morning," I turned around properly, looking at her, "is something wrong?"
"Alena Martin called in to the station about an hour ago, she said some suspicious guys were following her on her way to work. Might be more of Manross and Mizzoni's crew…"
"Any ideas why they'd be following her?" I asked casually, I realised I had forgotten to pick up my phone – and I headed down into the TV room of the castle where I had left it on charge, Elisa followed.
"Well, we have a few ideas," Elisa admitted, "Alena's older brother Wesley owns a bar called Asylum, not too far from here actually…"
"I know of it," I admitted, Asylum wasn't your average kind of bar, it was actually more of a nightclub for people of gothic and punk culture. "So what has that got to do with it?"
"Wes had reported last week that the thugs expected 'protection' money – and that if he didn't pay up, bad things would happen. And I guess attacking Alena would scare him bad enough to pay up – and to make sure the money was always up front. I can't believe Alena didn't tell us about it…" Elisa sighed.
"I thought you'd arrested them…" I demanded sighing, walking down the hallway, our footsteps were echoing loudly.
"No…they'd been in complaining about being attacked by you, but they left, and only later on, Alena Martin came in – by that time the thugs were gone, and we don't have any address to link them up to," Elisa explained, "We did try, but we were way too late to find out anything."
"Damn," I sighed, I walked into the TV room and grabbed my phone, "she's working tonight?"
"Yeah," Elisa answered. "She doesn't finish 'til three."
"Okay, I'll watch the area just in case something happens," I promised.
"Thanks, Brooklyn, I owe you one," Elisa patted my shoulder and left quickly.
I couldn't believe that the night previous Alena had not advised me about what the thugs had been doing – we had discussed the subject briefly when I'd asked her if I had gotten to her in time, she should have mentioned it then. Then again – there wouldn't have been much I could do at that point. I suddenly felt a lot more helpless than usual.
I left for the street that Asylum lay on, and found a place to hide near the front. Asylum was a small nightclub, outside a sign with crude red painted writing on it indicated the bands that would be playing that night, two large bouncers dressed in black picked who was going in and who wasn't. And most of the men going into the place wore more eyeliner than the women going in did. I smirked a little at this, but watched. The music could be heard outside, and wasn't really my thing, but I didn't mind, it was better than sitting listening to the sounds of the street and traffic.
I saw no sign of Manross and Mizzoni, or anything I could count as suspicious – its hard to look strange and suspicious when you have 200 people in a queue dressed in black PVC and leather.
I waited out, and things became quieter, people left, one by one, two by two, three by three, and the music died down eventually just after three. The street fell silent, and the lit up signs went off. The bouncers disappeared, and the staff began to leave. Alena was one of the last to leave.
She was wearing a long bright purple wig, and thick makeup, I could barely recognise her in such a provocative PVC costume catsuit, knee high boots, she was the only one on the street, she was locking up. I thought it kind of dangerous how she was alone, locking up. I would have thought surely some bouncers would have stayed until she'd locked up so she could not be jumped. I wondered if she had a car, or was going to get a taxi – but as the traffic on that particular road had died, I wondered how she would hail one.
I did not want to leave her alone there, even to chance letting the suspicious creeps jump out so I could catch them and harm them. I swooped down, and landed on the pavement, my talons making a soft click on the cement, she gasped and spun around, and looked at me, then relaxed.
"Oh…Brooklyn…it's you…"
I smiled, at least she had remembered my name. "Detective Maza sent me to look out for you – said you'd been having some trouble – creeps following you?" I stayed crouched, just the way I had landed.
"Yes…" she finished locking up and put the keys in a bag that matched her outfit, "But I haven't seen them around, I think maybe the bouncers scared them off."
"At least you're safe, that's the main thing," I stated, "do you have a car?"
"No, I walk."
"It's not safe to walk the streets this time of night, Alena," I stated, I stood up slowly, I still felt even though she'd seen me a couple of times closer up now, she still was not used to seeing me. I understood this though, I was used to it.
"I know – but with the taxi fares in this city, it's cheaper to get mugged," she smirked a little, then hugged herself.
"Why didn't you say Manross and Mizzoni were threatening your brother?"
"I didn't think you'd care, it's not your problem."
"Your protection is my obligation, Alena, and I'll keep you safe," I added.
"Brooklyn, you don't have to do that," Alena stated.
"I want to…" I smiled a little, I walked over slowly, I could see her studying how my feet – different to human feet – moved across the pavement, I could see her observe the swish of my tail. She finally raised her eyes to mines as I reached her, and was the closest I had ever been to her, only inches apart, I could look right into those dark green eyes of hers close up, and for a moment I was enchanted, but quickly I reminded myself I was a Gargoyle, not a human, and I had no right being enchanted.
"Thank you…" Alena looked down, as if she were afraid to look me in the eye all of a sudden.
"I can glide you home…if you like," I said.
"You can?" Alena raised her eyes again.
"If you trust me…" I added.
"I trust you…" Alena stated.
"Good…hop on my back, I need to scale the building to get a current…" I turned away from her, and nodded my head forward just in case one of my horns should cause her to be poked in the eye if she did climb onto me, as she did, I felt no fear or tension in the way she held on – that was, until we glided.