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Souls of the Night – Vol 3

5.

"Good thing Nashville's not here," Lex muttered as the four of us squatted on the steel roof of a warehouse, watching the hustle and bustle on this otherwise deserted harbor pier. Katana was our chaperone tonight and nodded gravely where Broadway growled (he wasn't actually part of our team, he just happened to spot us when he was on his way to pick up Angela from the police station after her training).

"Why would it be bad if Nash was here?" I asked, cowering on the roof like the others so that the armed guys down there wouldn't spot us. Other people were scrutinizing a delivery of whatever. Lex pointed to a person who was jumping out of the truck. "Remember that guy?"

For my gargoyle eyes, 200 yards wasn't much of an obstacle. But even with human eyesight, I would have remembered the frizzy, short but Solero blond shock of hair that just looked weird on a seven-foot guy with a bodybuilder's physique.

"Sonny!" I whispered, watching as the big guy- alienatingly gallant-turned to the open hatch of the truck, stretching his arms inside and a smaller woman with long straight hair reached for his hand and allowed him to gently lift her out of the truck and onto the ground.

"Graziella Dracon?" It was a question and a statement at the same time. Wasn't that the woman Nash had flirted with back then? And who ... had also flirted with him. Then it was probably a good thing that he was patrolling Queens with Goliath. Although I would have loved to have Goliath with me at the sight of one-two-three-six! armed guys standing around the scene, keeping an eye on the surroundings at street AND sky level. I took a deep breath and looked at my temporary Second.

"What are we doing?"

She smiled broadly and suddenly looked at me so proudly that I blushed.

"I already have a plan," Katana said. "Broadway - you're back-up. You radio Angela and Elisa, but I don't want you down there without a Kevla vest until we've relieved most of the humans of their weapons. Lex - crouch attack."

My friend nodded with a scary wide grin.

"I love the crouch attack," he muttered and winked at me. I winked back even though I was about to wet myself with human fear and gargoyle-like anticipation as Katana continued to talk and explain my part.

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I breathed heavily as, four minutes later, I stood in the middle of the chaotic scene that I had partly caused myself, in a gargoyle-like, ready-to-attack pose. Katana's plan had gone perfectly. So far.

With my magical wind, I had taken away the guards' sight and hearing against approaching gargoyles. Lexington had rushed to them quick as a hare and, staying below their radar as only he could with his "crouch attack", had slammed his tail into the back of as many guys' knees as he could to make them collapse and take their weapons. The fact that three or four of the men's pants had accidentally caught fire was another distraction and had required an extreme amount of concentration on my part to keep the flames small enough to be knocked out by the panicked, partially fleeing men. And now - it was just three Gargoyles (or two and a fake) against two normal humans. Broadway was still hidden, circling above the scene until he realized he was needed. I couldn't believe that I - Nathaniel Sharif, who was afraid of even scurrying mice - had just helped take out six armed guys and was now facing one of the top mob bosses in North America. I wasn't allowed to think about it too much. Not at all, actually. Just instinct- I whispered to myself. Just be instinct. I crouched lower to the ground as Lex did two yards away from me, all muscles ready to attack and vibrating with natural gargoyle energy, feeling a rumble in my chest and my eyes glowing the way Katanas and Lexingtons did.

Graziella Dracon and her right hand Sonny were the only ones not down or running. The two humans were still standing at the hatch of the truck. And where Sonny was looking around with narrowed eyes, pointing a gun at Katana, who was closest to them, Graziella Dracon was just standing behind him, looking around perplexed.

"He's not here, Graziella," Katana said coldly.

The beautiful woman, who according to the occasional newspaper article must be in her thirties but looked younger, licked her lips and looked left and right again as if she didn't trust Katana's words. I had a hunch who she was looking for.

"I haven't seen him for a while," she said, looking at Katana reproachfully.

"You don't have to worry about him, Dracon! You lost that privilege!" Lex barked, crawling a yard closer to the two of them.

I heard Sonny cock his gun and Katana moved her arm in a gesture that made Lex stop.

The barrel was pointed straight at Katana. Best target, hard to miss even with her speed when she was this close. Sonny was calm. Not just a big, dumb guy who relied on his muscles. A professional. I swallowed and felt sweat run down my temple to my jaw horns.

"You're not getting out of here, Graziella," Katana said in a milder tone. "Whatever you picked up is not going to reach the American market."

Graziella Dracon laughed, and with a shake of her head that made her dark brown silky hair flutter, the wind shifted at the same time, blowing sea air and a disgustingly pungent aroma of hairspray in our direction that immediately got on my tongue. And not just on mine. Katana grumbled and wrinkled her nose, Lex next to me even gagged briefly and I could see that even his big eyes were watering.

"I've never gone to prison permanently. I have too much to protect. As do you. And now I'm not going either," she said with amusement, letting her cool, regal gaze wander over Katana, then Lexington- until she came to me and narrowed her eyes. I moved closer to my friend - without really realizing it - and her smile took on a hungry, sly quality.

"Everyone's luck runs out, Graziella," Katana explained. "Even yours and Sonny's. If you put down your guns and let us arrest you, no one has to get hurt. All weapons down on the ground, handguns AND knives."

Now Sonny snorted alongside Graziella without lowering his barrel or taking his eyes off Katana.

"Oh, we all know we're more than just lucky. And whether anyone gets hurt here is entirely up to you do-gooders." Graziella whispered and suddenly something flew in my direction!

I heard Lex scream, felt him tackle me so hard that all the air was squeezed out of my body and my skull hit the concrete. Iheard it snarl somewhere else and an approaching gargoyle battle roar, heard a shot and someone barking something in a foreign language. And damn it, I had only had my eyes closed for five seconds at most, but when I opened them again it was as if more time had passed. He crawled off me, his wide eyes scanning me for injuries.

"I'm fine," I croaked, even though my head hurt like hell. Lex nodded, whirling around to face the action. I gasped when I saw the cut on his upper arm, not deep but bleeding yet he didn't seem to notice or care as he ran towards Sonny, who had somehow lost his weapon and was bleeding from some tail whip, clawed karate kick or punch to the ribcage but had just kicked Katana brutally in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. Lex jumped into his back as he tried to pick up his weapon. Graziella Dracon was struggling in Broadway's grip, who had landed on the roof of the truck and had wrapped his tail around one of her wrists, pulling her up.

"You know you can't kill me, fatso!" she shrieked like a fury and seemed to have no fear of the huge gargoyle with the glowing eyes.

"You'll end up where you've belonged for fifteen years, Dracon," Lexington's usually gentle brother hissed back and was about to throw her away when the dark arm gauntlet she wore on her free wrist suddenly spat out something shiny. And my instinct - gargoyle or even more otherworldly - made me yank my hand up and blow them both off the roof of the truck with a fierce gust of wind. But too late. Not fast enough. I didn't see the cut yet, but I saw how Graziella's knife cut deep through Broadway's abdominal tissue. His roar of pain made all three of us falter, but Graziella's scream for Sonny, shrill and angry at the same time, also brought her right hand out of its frenzy. Sonny threw Lex over his shoulder onto the floor and ran to his mistress where we rushed to Broadway. The mobster grabbed Graziella, who had a red head and a few bruises, but was putting the bloody knife back in her bracers and directing him to the cab of the truck.

The mobsters drove off with their booty, where the three of us gathered around the gasping fellow. I heard police sirens in the distance and wished it was an ambulance.

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Goliath and Nashville returned to the castle as quickly as possible after Katana's distress call that Broadway was injured and had been flown back to the castle. Supposedly there was nothing more to do at the pier where he had been injured, and the human task force was investigating the scene. The gargoyles were allowed to hand in their reports tomorrow night. Everyone knew the nature of their non-human colleagues, that they would not leave an injured clan member alone.

Although Gargoyles were now all covered by health insurance (something that seemed ridiculous given their stone sleep) and could not be denied care, their past experiences still caused them all trepidation when one of their own was hospitalized. That's why they preferred to have any injury that wasn't really life-threatening treated in the castle's infirmary and usually patched each other up until their stone sleep healed them.

The moment I touched down in the castle courtyard - or rather stumbled and landed on my face on the stones - sweating and panting like Katana and Angela, we were joined by Nashville and Goliath as well as Brooklyn, Tachi and Heather.

"What happened?" Goliath asked in his typical thunderous voice, making me automatically duck and crawl to the side.

"Sonny and Dracon," Broadway muttered, turning his head away from Nash where I could see his features contort into horror and then anger. But when his mother looked at him, he instantly regained control of his facial muscles and just looked worried like everyone else. I fought back the urge to vomit even though the blood stung my nose and I didn't dare see where I was soaked with it. But I could feel Broadway's blood on my arm where I had taken him on one side in the tandem flight directed by Katana. Katana on Broadway's right, me on his left, Angela under him to support him in case of a descent and regularly checking the bandage around his belly, we had managed to get him up here. The biggest effort of my freakin' life. Broadway was pretty pale by now, the pressure bandage from the first paramedic on the scene was almost bleeding through. But he grinned at Lexington, who had flown ahead and now came bouncing to him with a mountain of fresh bandages. My beloved nudged him teasingly with his claw against the arch of his brow and set about removing old bandages with his claw.

"Details," the clan leader said, looking at his mate and second.

"At 22:14 we observed a transfer or control of undetermined substances or trade goods by Dracon, her right hand and half a dozen armed family members. I saw the labeling on the crates in the truck. Japanese characters. But I highly doubt there was only fragile furniture in there like was printed on it."

"Apparently business with the Triads again," Lex muttered. Which had just brushed Betaisodona solution from a bottle onto a wide but thankfully not very bloody cut on his stomach, causing him to whimper and me to kneel beside him and clutch his hand. It was freezing cold and I let some of my magical warmth flow into my arms and hands, realizing from the way Broadway grinned at me that he sensed what I was doing. Meanwhile, as Katana recounted how the fight had gone, Heather had crouched down next to Broadway's head. She stroked his chubby cheeks.

"Does your tummy hurt much, Broadway?"

"Hardly at all," her father lied, then scrunched up his face. "'She's losing her bite. She only scratched my belly. I've never been more grateful for being chubby. But ... I'd feel a lot better with lots of hatchling smooches and ridge nudges and later we'll cuddle up with Angela on the couch and watch TV. Would you be there, my treasure?"

Heather wagged happily her tail and straightened up. "I'll do what I can," she chirped and then began gently cuddling and kissing him all over his face. Angela treated her mate the same way.

Tears stung my eyes. I couldn't believe that he could just take an injury like that ... and ticked it off. How everyone ticked it off. I knew gargoyle bodies were tough. I knew what could kill a human was still a scratch to them and yes - it was probably just Broadway's bacon that had been slashed. But it had been slashed! And everyone just accepted it and worked with what they had as if... it was the most normal thing in the world. Oh God ... I realized. THAT was normal for them. This was their life? I was relieved that he was probably going to make it without any consequential damage but ... damn, I really wasn't cut out for situations like that. My eyes found Lexington's as he looked up from his finished bandage. And I didn't know what he saw in my eyes or my face, but his satisfied smile vanished and gave way to sorrow. He and I crawled backwards a little and Tachi took my place to squeeze and pat Broadway's hand. Lex pressed himself against me and I leaned against him.

"This is my fault. If I hadn't been so slow and weak, I could have stopped them. And I should have thought about melting the tires," I whispered with regret. I had these 'superpowers' and wasn't thinking at all.

"You're not in good control of your abilities under stress, Nate," Lexington whispered back, wiping a hand across his forehead. I couldn't tell if the smudge afterward was from blood or spilled orange antispetic solution. "You could have blown up the whole truck and hurt a lot of people. With fire, less is always more."

I looked at Nash. He was standing behind his mother, arms crossed and sour-faced, and I guessed he'd heard us but didn't look like he felt addressed or like he was looking for a fight. Finally Broadway assured us that he felt ready to get up. Goliath helped him to his feet and really - at least he didn't topple over.

"How about lunch now? Shall we order Chinese?" he asked.

"We'll order whatever you want," Brooklyn said and patted him on the shoulder. Everyone made their way inside. Angela and Goliath flanked Broadway for safety while Lexington and I crawled behind everyone so we wouldn't be in anyone's way.

"Broadway?" Nash spoke up. His turquoise uncle turned around with a smile.

"Yes?"

"Can... can I watch TV with you?" he asked quietly, suddenly looking very young and very dejected.

"But we cuddle too. Then you have to cuddle too," Broadway said with a cheeky grin.

"That's - that's okay," Nash replied, looking down.

"And the worst hurt gets to pick the movie, as always. I want to see The Hundred-Foot Journey. Not a bit of action, just a bitchy Helen Mirren and a bunch of Indian people teaching each other to cook."

Nashville gave a tortured laugh. "Okay. Sounds great. I'm in."

Angela and Broadway nodded happily and Heather took her big brother by the hand and dragged him to the lounge where there was not only a large seating area in front of the TV but also lots of big cushions and blankets for the gargoyles to stretch out and relax on. I was glad that Nashville obviously took it well and sought the closeness of his clan. He took the events better than I did. No - I wouldn't miss that either.

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Lexington found me on the battlements at around four in the morning. He sat down next to me, legs dangling. Another thing I would miss. It felt good to sit on the highest buildings - nothing under your feet and lose yourself in the view. I didn't think I'd ever feel that way as a human.

"Hey, Nate," my friend said, squeezing onto the pinnacle with me. We didn't really have to squeeze, because we were both slim. I put my wing around him.

"No sooner have you told me about it than I'm taking part in one of those famous gargoyle cuddle piles myself. It was nice."

"Oh, the one in front of the TV when we were in a food coma from Chinese food? That wasn't a real gargoyle cuddle pile. You wouldn't have come out of a real gargoyle cuddle pile and you wouldn't have wanted to. Why did you leave if you liked it?"

"Well, mainly because Broadway was snoring in my ear. And Heather was chewing on my wing bar in her sleep. And Fu Dog kicked me because she was probably dreaming about rat hunting or something. I thought adult gargoyles didn't sleep!"

Lexington laughed. "I swear to you, no one but the three of them were sleeping - dozing at most. Otherwise some of them wouldn't have disappeared from the pile before."

"At least I was allowed to shower beforehand. But ... I imagine I can still feel Broadway's blood on my arm. ... how are you?" I thought it was overdue to ask about it. I hadn't wanted to do it in front of the others because Lex would have asked me too and I'd gotten away very easy with my bump on the back of my head. But even Brooklyn had comfortingly stroked his proud Japanese girl's aching abdomen while most of the others were sprawled on the floor as the two eldest sat on the couch, both thinking their displays of affection wouldn't be so noticeable. Lex rubbed his arm where a thick band-aid covered his cut.

"Just a scratch, like I said Nate. We've all been hurt worse than Broadway."

"I ... was still scared. I am just not ... cut out for this. At least we got Dracon on our body cam footage."

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Lexington muttered grimly.

"What, why? With this - we can get her with this, can't we? We - I know for a fact that I filmed her several times, I had my upper body turned towards her."

"Graziella Dracon ... and Sonny too can't be captured on film or in photos, just like we can't through our bracelets, Nate."

"But ... but them? Do they wear them - but no, you said the spell has to be customized to the person."

"It's complicated. Everything about Dracon and Sonny is complicated. The story is long. Very long and not really-"

"I know," I said quietly. "I don't need to burden myself with it. It's too complicated."

Sensing that he was hurting me, he stroked my arm comfortingly.

"You were very brave tonight. And a great help. Katana planned you and your abilities into the mission like she plans everyone else and their abilities. And even if you become human again, no one can take your experience away from you. I'm very proud of you."

I sniffled out of embarrassment. I didn't feel like there was much to be proud of.

Lex reached into his pockets and pulled out two fortune cookies from the Chinese food we'd had delivered.

"You haven't broken yours yet," he said.

"You haven't broken yours either."

"I wanted to do it with you."

I grinned as I took mine. "You're the smartest person in this town and you believe in fortune cookie spells? You know they're printed a thousand times and kept so unspecific that they always fit?"

"Yes - I know that. Nevertheless, I want to break them with you."

I grunted with amusement. My cheerful frog prince.

"All right, let's see what the fortune cookie industry has in store for us. On three," I said.

"One, two, three." Crunching and cracking, we broke our cookies.

"You first, Mr. Wywern." Lex pulled out the tiny piece of paper with pointed claws and raised it to his eyes.

"If you don't dream of flying, you won't grow wings." We were both silent for a moment. Then we both started to laugh.

"Okay, okay, that was pretty horrible," Lex admitted. "What about yours?"

I pulled out my slip of paper and read:

"Be who you want to be, not who others want you to be."

Silence again. But neither I nor Lexington laughed. Apart from the rustling of the wind and the faint echoes of the New York morning up here, the silence between us was palpable. Probably just so our mouths had something to do, we nibbled on our cookies. And probably only because we were both silent and I wasn't distracted by anything but my conflicted thoughts did I see the winged figure gliding away from the Eyrie building.

"Look!" I said, pointing downwards. A shadow in dark clothes rushed silently towards the East River. I jumped onto the parapet and did what would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago because of my fear of heights. I jumped off the world's tallest building and followed Nashville.

"Hey," Lexington called, and without turning around, I knew he had jumped too. He glided to the edge of my field of vision. And I felt his questioning gaze on me.

"What happened earlier took its toll on Nash too. He shouldn't be alone - you said that yourself. I don't know why he's flying out again tonight, but I'm scared for him."

Lexington cheeped - a strange, rarely heard gargoyle sound from him that I couldn't place. If it had come from Heather, I might have associated it with insecurity. Maybe fear, too.

"I don't think he's in one of those crises where you have to fear for his life, Nate," my friend pointed out as I squinted against the fierce wind and my speed, trying not to lose sight of Nashville. But he was SO damn fast! He was already over Brooklyn- just a dark distant shadow when we were just over the East River. I only noticed in passing that we were gliding hurriedly over my old and soon-to-be-again neighborhood.

"I think we should turn back. Or write to him and ask where he's gliding to!" Lex said hurriedly and flew a spiral around me as if to get me to turn around with his body too. I dodged him and caught the right air stream again. I suspected I should listen to Lexington. He knew Nashville better than I did. He also knew how Nashville reacted in emotional crises better than I did. Even if there were similarities, each depressive was a case of their own. But I couldn't let it go. I couldn't mind my own business in this situation like a good human Nathaniel Sharif would have done. Even if my Gargoyle-ness had an expiration date, Nashville was Clan. And precisely because I now knew that he and I had something in common, I somehow felt ... responsible to stand by him. What if he had taken a break from the others tonight to cry? To curl up somewhere alone and slowly drown in his feelings and that black spiral of thoughts that I knew so well too? Because he had also been afraid for Broadway. Because Graziella Dracon had treated him so strangely the last time we almost caught her in that alley and he had behaved strangely too. Perhaps he felt more affected by such clashes than the others because he had a strange crush on her and she was clearly taking advantage of it like the criminal she was. She was a beautiful woman and many were attracted to what they could not or should not have. No matter what was going on between the two of them - he shouldn't be left alone to deal with it.

"There. We lost him," Lex groaned. I grumbled, ignoring the fact that he sounded almost relieved, and landed on an industrial chimney on the outskirts of Queens where he dug his claws into the bricks of the chimney below me.

"Let's fly back. Nashville is all grown up. He can take care of himself," Lex tried again and I tuned out his voice, closing my eyes and sniffing intensely like I'd seen others do sporadically. I opened my mouth and tried to taste " kin" out of the air. I wasn't a real gargoyle. But my nose and tongue didn't know that. And I might be able to find a recently passed fellow Gargoyle if the wind hadn't blown his trail away completely.

Trigger warning next chapter.

Thanks for reading Q.T.