OK, busy week, was unable to get to this until today, I hope that you like it. Please let me know what you think…And thanks for Reading!
Darwin
Chapter Nine: Waiting Out the Dawn
Michelle was stuffing the gun back into her large purse and before Tanner had even thought his action through, he had gathered her into his arms and was sprinting through the park. She hastily gathered her purse into her lap to keep it from banging against his battered body. She had thrown one arm over his shoulder to steady her perch, her other hand clutched at the bag. She didn't seem to notice the blood that was now staining her pretty white shirt, her eyes were fixed steadfastly on their path.
Tanner swerved and dodged around trees and bushes, in what seemed to be a blind flight through the park. He stumbled as he reached an underpass and ungraciously dumped Michelle onto the damp pavement. Himself, he fell flat onto his face, unable to recover in time. He lay there for long moments feeling how weak he was, feeling every wound and bruise that covered his body.
Michelle got slowly to her feet as Tanner pushed up and rolled over, leaning gingerly onto his undamaged arm onto the curved wall of the overpass. He unhooked his aching thumbs and let his wings fall loosely about him. They sagged heavily, no strength left in him to hold them in their normal position. He looked sidelong at her panting hard with the exertion, not sure what to expect at this point. He was unsure whether she had just seen them tangling and decided to help, or whether she actually knew who he was.
"What's the rush?" Michelle said trying to recover her own breath.
"She…" Tanner said in a very winded voice, "She's not dead…she can't die…"
"Everybody dies," Michelle said with a shake of her head.
"She…She's immortal," Tanner gasped, "We had to get away from there, or she would have hurt you too."
Michelle looked disconcerted by that statement, but didn't seem inclined to argue further. She moved a bit closer to him leaning over and propping her self there hand on her knees, "Are you OK?"
He raised one hand to run across the raking marks on his chest. He brought his hand away and it was covered in blood. Tanner licked his lips, unable to raise his head off the wall, but shook it slightly in the negative, "And dawn is a long way off," He rumbled.
"She got you pretty good, Tanner," Michelle said matter-of-factly as she sank to her knees right next to him.
The mention of his name sent a shock through him…She knew! He pushed himself slowly upright watching with wide eyes as she rummaged through her overly large purse for something, "What? How long…have you known?"
She shrugged bringing out a large handkerchief, "Since the concert…I mean you knocked me down and I got a ground level view of your feet. The costume was good but it didn't hide everything."
"You've known," He winced as she laid the handkerchief onto one heavily bleeding section of his arm, "All this time?"
She looked into his eyes, smiling sheepishly, "Uh, huh."
"Then why…Why did you insist on…"
"On asking you to meet me every night?" She finished for him. She smiled, "Well, because, you were friendly, you were considerate, and I found you very easy to talk to. So what if you're a Gargoyle…its like being another skin color, what does it matter, if you like that person?"
"You…like me?" Tanner said stupidly.
"Well Duh! I just saved your ass from a mad gargoyle, doesn't that qualify?"
Tanner nodded slowly smiling, "I don't have many human friends, besides my m…my friend Elisa and her partner Matt," He must be getting bad, that was twice this night he had almost revealed his secret to someone outside the clan.
"I'm no doctor," Michelle went on, "But these don't look good."
"So," Tanner said shifting a little to make himself more comfortable, "Why didn't you tell me before now that you knew who…what I was?"
"You had obviously gone to a lot of trouble to keep your identity hidden," Michelle said, "I figured that it would be awkward to reveal that piece of information. I didn't want you feeling uptight around me. Especially after you lied about the Gargoyle that buzzed us yesterday…was it the same one? The one that attacked you tonight?"
"We've been at it since you left me yesterday," Tanner said softly, "She won't let me get away from her."
Just then a yowl broke the silence of the night and both of their attentions were tensely on the forest behind them, "She's coming," Tanner said urgently, forcing himself to his feet again. He wobbled a little and Michelle was quickly at his side trying to help support him. He looked down at her a moment, "You really think that if I go over that you're going to be able to hold me up?"
"Consider it moral support then," She said sternly, "I can move pretty fast if I want to, so getting crushed under you is not a worry. Now you getting a concussion is another matter."
Tanner had to smile again at her wit, allowing her to remain steadfast under his arm, "We need to find some kind of shelter until the sun comes up."
"Can't you glide? I mean can't you get back to the Eerie building?"
He looked down at her in surprise, but forced himself not to ask the obvious question. Instead he said, "My wing is damaged, one of the fingers is still fractured and it will not support me in the current. That is why I have been on foot since last night."
"Last night? But you should be healed by now," Michelle stated sternly looking nervous at that bit of news.
Again Tanner had to look on her in surprise, and just a little bit of fear. The only people who knew that much were Xanatos, the clan itself, Elisa and some of their worst enemies. He was unsure just how to look at her now. He again refrained from asking the question, but was more alert to any signs of deceit on her part, "The answer to that is going to have to wait, we need to go before Demona catches up to us!"
"I'm still new to the area but I think that there is a place near here that will keep us out of her radar," She offered, "And it is not far to go."
"Well then, I will follow your lead," Tanner said, "As I have very little idea what this area looks like from the ground."
"Oh great, the blind leading the blind…I love it," Michelle managed to say lightly.
They soon found themselves in a small cramped stonework building, sitting amongst moldering crates. Tanner looked around them, very little light from the lamp outside filtered in through the boarded windows.
He turned to Michelle sitting silently beside him, the question about her extensive knowledge of Gargoyles eating at him.
"How is it you know so much about gargoyles?" Tanner asked pointedly.
Her gaze was suddenly on his face, looking a little bit guilty, "Well, um, there's this web site I visit a lot since coming here."
She flushed red before his eyes, "Most of the stuff on there is tripe…how gargoyles suck the brains out of the unsuspecting, stupid stuff that some wacko decides will get him some publicity. On occasion they put out some very detailed, and accurate information, corroborated by several other sources even. Someone out there is a very big fan."
"That scares me," Tanner admitted, "I will have to visit that site and see just what it says…Goliath may want to know."
"Goliath?" Michelle said, "No kidding."
Tanner smiled at the enthusiasm in her face, "He's my father."
"Whoa!" Michelle said in surprise, then silenced looking over him with scrutiny, "You do look a lot like the pictures I've seen of him. Except for your skin tone…"
"That I get from my mother," He clarified.
"And these gorgeous horns on your head," She shifted tracing a light finger along one crowning eye ridge.
A shiver ran through him as she did that, and that inexplicable feeling welled up within him again. He reached up trying not to look to desperate to stop her, drawing her hands down and setting them in her lap, "Those…I can't claim lineage for, probably a kickback from another generation."
"You don't know your grandparents?"
"With all that information on the 'web site' you should already know that prior to ten years ago, gargoyles never traced lineage," He said sarcastically.
She laughed loudly and then clamped a hand over her mouth, looking about as if she had given away their position, "Sorry," she whispered.
"It's OK," Tanner said.
"So…Why is it more difficult for you to heal?" Michelle said just as straightforwardly.
His eyes were hard on her, "I'm not like the others in my clan," He said softly, "I don't have as great a strength, I break bones more easily, and yes I take more than one night to heal."
"I heard the other say something about…weak blood?" Michelle said softly.
"My blood is not weak," He growled defensively, "I am…my blood is just different, I inherited some recessive traits, that's all." Tanner lied. He was still not comfortable with telling the whole truth.
Uncomfortably a silence fell over the two of them. Michelle continued to daub at his wounds, not meeting his eyes for a long time, yet not so turned off by his sudden shift in attitude that she wanted to leave him alone. The wounds did not seem interested in clotting over, and Tanner wondered vaguely if Demona had dipped her nails in something to keep his blood from coagulating. That sent a jolt of fright through him, knowing he could never get back to the castle with Demona on the hunt for him, on foot anyway. He could not very well walk into a doctor's office to be treated either. That meant that he was sure to bleed to death before the sun rose and put him into a healing sleep.
He drew one unsteady hand across the wound again, this time bringing it to his nose and trying to smell something Demona might have used. He was not familiar with most poisons or drugs that could be used to this effect. He smelled nothing amiss, but again, with Demona that meant nothing.
Long hours passed as they sat there and Tanner could feel himself getting weaker by the moment. Around him a sizable pool of blood had formed, and it confirmed in his mind that Demona had disabled his bloods ability to clot and begin the healing process. By this point, however he was too weak to really care about that deduction, or what it meant for him in the long run.
Tanner was possessed suddenly by an overwhelming pain that coursed through his body. He clutched his chest suddenly doubling over. He fell forward knocking Michelle over with one convulsing wing as he sprawled onto the dusty floor.
Michelle quickly regained her feet, not seriously hurt by him, "Tanner?" She said, laying her hands on his shoulders and shaking him roughly in panic, "Tanner!"
He did not respond to either her frantic voice or her violent machinations of his body, "No!" She growled, "You stay with me!"
A shudder ran through Tanner's body a moment later and his arms pulled closer to his large body. He gathered them under him and pushed slightly up able only to turn his head toward her, dragging his forehead across the dusty stone beneath him. His body went lax again, with the exception of his eyes, which were steady on Michelle's face.
"How…Long…'til dawn?" He croaked.
Michelle leaned back on her heels consulting her watch, "Fifteen minutes," she said as she glanced to the color stained shaft of light beginning to come in through the crack in the boards.
"Promise me," Tanner started blinking slowly, "Promise me that you will go home after dawn…that you will leave me here."
She leaned closer to him gently stroking one brow ridge, "I don't want to leave you here," She said shaking her head in the negative, "Not for that Demona woman to have another go at, you won't be up for it even after you wake."
"You have to," Tanner whispered sounding weaker still, "It's you're only chance to get out of here safely…When Demona is only human."
"What do you mean?" Michelle said in confusion.
"She has been affected in more ways than one by magic…During the day… instead of sleeping…Demona becomes human. You must…You must leave before she can resume her Gargoyle form, otherwise she will kill you."
"No, I won't promise that. Friends don't abandon one another," Michelle said fiercely.
He smiled wanly closing his eyes again, but the pain eased it out again, "Please, I don't want your death on my conscience."
Michelle leaned back on her heels again her mouth a thin line, "OK," she relented, "I promise."
Tanner nodded minutely his eyes sliding closed again, his breath stirring the dust on the floor. A moment later, and not a moment too soon, the sun broke over the horizon and Michelle watched in fascination as the flesh and blood body before her turned to solid stone. The curves of his features became choppy as if he had been chiseled out of a boulder, "Wow," She uttered.
In the distance, Michelle thought she heard the scream of a woman in torturous pain. Could it be Demona taking her human form? She looked back down at the statue lying prone on the floor and then toward the crack of the window again, "Sorry Tanner, I am going to have to break my promise to you already."