1.2: Death by Talking
Fox awoke about two hours before sunset, stretching and yawning, and scolding herself that she'd gotten soft and spoiled in the last few years. Back in her mercenary days, she'd learned to sleep in virtually any conditions; whether soft bed or hard ground, daytime or nighttime, even in the rain… and wake up reasonably refreshed. And now here she was thinking that the bed she'd been given wasn't as comfortable as her luxury bed back in the castle, and she was just a little sore… definitely spoiled!
Fox glanced over at Elisa, slumbering in the room's other twin-size bed, and decided to let her sleep until sunset at least. From the way the bedclothes were knotted about her, sleep had not come easily. And so far as Fox knew, she didn't even know the mildly unpleasant news; that Adam was assuming Goliath was still single!
From what Adam had said in the truck that morning before dawn, and from what she remembered overhearing in conversations around the castle, gargoyles who were mated went through some subtle transformation that changed their bodies' scents in some way. Not that Fox could smell this 'mated marker' herself, but after Hudson had remarked that it was about time Goliath's official mated status matched his scent, and after Angela had agreed with him, Fox figured gargoyles could smell it pretty easily. Full-blooded gargoyles only, though; not Adam, who had admitted his sense of smell was lacking because he was half-human. (And how had that happened, anyway? Probably some magic involved; she'd have to ask later.)
That other girl-gargoyle should probably have noticed Goliath's scent, but from the way she'd been wrapping herself around Brooklyn, it was obvious that she'd probably been pretty much oblivious to anything else. But when some of those other unmated females started swarming around the boys from New York, they'd be sure to notice that marker, and might complain that their fearless leader had shorted them one of the unmated males they'd been promised. It would probably be for the best if someone whispered the truth in Adam's ear as soon as he woke up, before he did anything embarrassing.
Fox considered discreetly giving the information herself, then decided against it with a little wicked grin. She'd have Elisa do it instead, but be on hand just to watch the good detective blush again. For such a rough-n-tough cop, Elisa sure blushed at the drop of a hat—no, a loincloth. In the meantime, Fox felt like finding some food, for breakfast or dinner or whatever. Then finding a phone and calling the castle, to talk to David and listen to her son's sweet babbling. Hopefully he'd be up from his afternoon nap by now.
Elisa awoke some time later, less than an hour before sunset. Xanatos' better half was out of the room and her stomach was rumbling, so she got dressed and went in search of Fox and food, in no particular order. She found the kitchen just by following her nose, and ran into one of the people who lived here with the clan—no, were part of the clan; a grandmotherly lady who'd introduced herself that morning as Amelie DuBois. Rather than invite her into the huge kitchen, which was teeming with people running here and there with all sort of pots, pans and utensils, Amelie apologetically asked her to wait in the dining room, and shouted for someone named Suzette to bring them chicory coffee and beignets while she showed Elisa the way.
Amelie was a nice lady, very kindly… but she virtually defined the term 'chatterbox'! First she talked about the menu for the feast they had planned that night, combining some of the traditional northern-USA Thanksgiving foods with Cajun-style and Creole-style fare; New England-style roast turkey, Cajun roast turkey, baked ham, medallions of Creole roast pork, Mississippi quail with blue crab stuffing, crawfish pie, Oysters Bienville, garlic mashed potatoes, autumn wild rice, jambalaya, Martha's best gumbo, sweet potato praline casserole, pumpkin pie, mincemeat pie and New Orleans Bread Pudding with rum sauce. (Listening to all that, Elisa was practically drooling by the time Suzette arrived with the coffee and beignets. So she bit into the pastries with a little more haste and a little less care than she should have, and ended up with a fine dusting of powdered sugar all over her shirt and pants.)
Then Amelie went on about how wonderful it was that a new clan had been found at last, and at just the right time; only a year before the next breeding season! It was so fortunate for both clans that the New Yorkers had an excess of single males, because the New Orleans clan had an excess of single females! Oh, the catfighting had been dreadful in the last few years, before the few men they'd had in the maturing generation had finally picked their mates; hopefully it wouldn't be so bad this time, although there still weren't quite enough males to go around; there would still be at least one unhappy female, thanks to their Robert—oh never mind that, at least some of their single females would surely find happiness with some of the boys from New York! Though Amelie certainly hoped that they would stay down in New Orleans, rather than return to such a cold an inhospitable place. The things they'd been hearing about those Quarrymen, so dreadful; even nastier than the Klansmen that the gargoyles had secretly battled over the decades. And Marcel had been telling them that morning about what he'd seen and heard while he'd been up there; was it true that it was nearly impossible to get a decent cup of chicory coffee in New York? But Marcel was always so picky about his coffee, having to have it just so; he got that from his father Armand. The stories Amelie could tell about that man…
Elisa finally begged off to go back up to her room and change into a different shirt and pants, since she still had powdered sugar clinging here and there after the beignets. On the way back to her room, she ran into Fox, sitting in a hall chair and talking into the telephone. Elisa eyed the way Fox was perched in the chair and heard the words Fox was babbling into the phone, doubtless talking to her son, and idly speculated how much she could blackmail the former mercenary for. She had no doubt that any of the Pack would love to hear about their tough and tactically-minded former leader being curled up around the phone, cooing into the receiver about what a good little boy she had, yes, lil' Alex was such a good baby for having his nap without complaint, and for getting over his diaper rash…
Fox noticed her smirk and gave her an unmistakable glare of 'what are you looking at?' Then she gave a smirk of her own, and covered the receiver long enough to say to Elisa, "Did you hear yet about all the single ladies this clan has?"
"A woman named Amelie just told me about them, in the midst of talking my ear off about everything else under the sun," Elisa admitted. "Fox, back when we were fighting, thank you for never just talking me to death."
Fox grinned in reply, then started cooing into the receiver again. But as Elisa walked past, she stopped long enough to say, "Oh, Elisa, thought you should know: the people down here consider Goliath still available. Figured I'd let you set them straight on that, and I already bet David twenty bucks that you'll be blushing when you do."
Elisa whipped around to stare at Fox in shock, but Fox just waved her away as she went back to talking to her baby. This clan still considered Goliath unmated?
Elisa went back to her room, her stomach roiling with tension. Goliath had assured her, he had sworn that the second any other gargoyle caught his scent with its new 'mated' marker, they would know he was 'off the market' and, rather than even attempt to seduce him, instantly go looking for a mate somewhere else. But obviously, that wasn't the case for all gargoyles; not for this clan, at least. Adam and Rebecca had to have gotten a good whiff of Goliath's scent during the course of that long night… and if they considered Goliath still 'up for grabs', then so would everybody else.
It was because she was human, she just knew it. Because she was human, Goliath's scent-marker probably didn't smell like it should, and therefore his mated status was invalid in this clan's eyes, or rather their noses. Never mind that the two of them loved each other, had damn near died for each other a dozen times already and had sworn to stay together always, 'till death do them part; she was human, so in their eyes none of it counted.
But it wasn't right! The people down here even had a half-human gargoyle for their leader; they had absolutely no business being prejudiced against human-gargoyle relationships!
But as her mother had once dryly pointed out to her, when explaining why some of the Taylors on her mother's side of the family didn't socialize with the Maza kids, prejudice didn't have to make sense.
Hell, for all she knew, maybe the clan down here considered Adam the gargoyle equivalent of a bastard… the product of an illegitimate relationship. The fact that he'd risen to become their leader meant that they were willing to overlook a flaw that a person had no control over, such as who his parents were… but being willing to overlook 'past mistakes' was one thing; being willing to accept present 'mistakes-in-progress' was another matter entirely.
She was not going to give Goliath up, not on their say-so. She and her Big Guy had sworn their lives to each other, and she intended to keep up her end of the bargain, and if she knew anything about Goliath, it was that he fully intended to live up to his. But if these people insisted that he breed gargoyle hatchlings with one of their available females, since the whole race was in desperate need of young… and if Goliath wanted to placate this other clan, since they could really use an alliance and even a refuge while things were so bad for them in New York… she might end up having to share him. Having to watch some other female go on a mating flight with him, to breed full-blooded gargoyle hatchlings. Having to watch Goliath enjoy the pleasures of another female…
Although that might let Elisa herself off the hook for producing hybrid babies…
GODDAMMIT! She really, really, really wanted to hit something! Where was a crook when you needed one?
She stomped up the stairs to the guest room, changed into a new shirt and jeans, and hurried downstairs and out to the back yard. It was almost sunset, and she need to talk to Goliath in private as soon as he woke up. They had to discuss their options…
To Be Continued…