"A most unfortunate accident." Owen explained to the female detective as they were in the lobby of the Eyrie Building. "One of the newly installed generators in the castle exploded. Mr. Xanatos is quite willing to pay for any damages that may have-"
"Mr. Burnett, I heard automatic weapons firing up there," she declared pointing upwards. "Now you can either let me look the place over, or I can come back with a warrant and a lot more cops. It's your call."
Pretty soon, the detective and the millionaires assistant were riding the elevator to the top floor of the building. When the elevator buzzed, the detective came out first looking around the dining hall, secretly surprised how big the room is.
"Must have a heck of a heating bill." The detective muttered.
"Detective Maza," she turned to Xanatos who came into the room shortly. "I've just called the mayor to offer my profound apologies for what happened."
"What exactly did happen here Xanatos? And don't try to feed some line about an exploding generator."
Xanatos merely smirked, then gestured the detective to follow him. "Owen was a little confused. That's for the press. The truth is my men repelled an invasion by a rival corporation trying to steal our new technology"
Maza gasped, then held her hands to her hips. "Repelled an invasion? You're a private citizen Xanatos, not a country."
"Detective," Xanatos turned to her after pressing a button that opened a large door. "I am the owner of a multinational corporation, which is bigger than many countries you could name."
When they came outside to the courtyard, Detective Maza looked around seeing smoke rising and fallen stone on the ground as if a battle recently happened.
"I assume you have permits for the weapons I heard being fired up here?" she asked with a frown.
"Of course," he answered with a smile.
Unbeknownst to the both of them, Goliath was looking over from the top battlements with a narrowed look.
Back inside the castle, the young gargoyles decided to explore their old home that was given modern day upgrades. The four of them exited the elevator and found themselves into the kitchens. Shiny Pots, pans, everything looked so new to them.
"Look at all this stuff, it's fantastic." The green one exclaimed.
The female nodded as she found a ladle on the counter and looked at her warped reflection with curiosity. "This must be where the cooking occurs, since everything here looks like a place for cooking food."
"Food?" the aqua one perked up at the mention of that word.
The female sweat dropped at the aqua one. "Maybe saying that word wasn't a good idea…"
The red one was inspecting the stove in not knowing what it was. "What do you suppose this does?"
He looked down to turn on one of the stove tops where his hand was currently resting on. He exclaimed in fright at the bright blue flame and took a few steps back, resulting in bumping the green one.
"Hey!" the green one exclaimed as he fell toward the number of pots, pans, and tableware that were stacked on metal shelves. Up top, a shelf fell, and a number of pots and pans came crashing down on top of him.
The female and red one came over to check if the green one was okay.
"You alright?" the female asked with an worried look.
The green one pulled a large pot off his head and gave an annoyed look at the two. "Never better."
Over at another part of the kitchens, the aqua gargoyle located the freezer where an number of different types of food were being kept. He gasped at the sight and was drooling over the large slabs of meat that were hanging on the hooks all over the room. He began gathering as much food he could carry. Outside, the green one went closed the door on him, not realizing the aqua one was in there.
"Hey!" the aqua one exclaimed. "Let me out! It's cold in here!"
"We'll save you!" the green one yelled as the he and the other two ran to the freezer.
"You push, and we'll pull." The red one said.
"And don't panic." The female added as each of them took a hold of the freezer.
Inside the freezer, the aqua one took a few steps back as the other three tried to pull as hard as they could. The aqua one ran to the door just as the other three opened it slowly, which was a big mistake… Soon the potbelly gargoyle crashed into the other three and sent them flying across the kitchen. They all hit another wall, and the room was a terrible mess thanks to the different types of food.
Back outside, Owen came to Xanatos and Maza who were talking privately.
"Excuse me Mr. Xanatos," Owen started. "There seems to be a problem in the kitchen with our new guests."
Xanatos turned to the female detective. "I hope I've answered all your questions satisfactorily, Detective Maza." He turned to leave. "Owen will show you out. Excuse me."
After the man left, Owen turned to the detective. "If you'll come with me?"
When they started walking, the female detective heard a little bit of rusting from above. She looked up with a slight jump. Owen stopped when he took notice the detective wasn't following.
"Is there a problem detective?" he asked.
Elisa looked up at the top battlements. "That stone gargoyle up there. I could have sworn I saw it move."
The assistant merely gave a nervous laugh. "Yes. This old place is rather spooky at night. I've thought the same thing more than once." He ended as they headed back inside toward the elevator.
When they made it back to the elevator, Owen pressed the down button, and the elevator clicked open for the detective.
"Good night Detective," Owen bowed.
"Good night." The detective said politely as she went in the elevator.
When the doors closed, Owen left knowing the female detective had left, but he was wrong… She opened the door again and looked around making sure she wasn't being seen.
"Sorry pal, but this investigation isn't over yet."
Looking around a medieval castle is more than meets the eye. Investigating dealt with taking out her flashlight and looking around the dark rooms. In looking around, she couldn't help but feel something or someone is following her
"Don't tell me this is where Dracula shows up?" she said as she went down another door.
When she came out, she found herself in a dark corridor that led upstairs. What was suspicious was that it was a complete mess. With old armor like spears, swords, and shields were littered around the hall.
When she didn't find anything that could be used as evidence, she turned her way to the stairs to her right. When she was at the foot of the stairs, she felt a cold breeze coming down her neck, and quickly turned around. Nothing was behind her.
"Ha!" she shrugged. "A good laugh would be worth a lot of money right now."
She turned around and slowly walked up the stairs with her flashlight guiding her. Little did she know, was that she was being followed…
When the detective found her way back outside, she found herself at the tallest battlement. Looking around, she was alone, only the sounds of New York as her company as she looked down to the city below.
Where she first came out, she heard the sound of growl of some creature from where she came from. Using her instincts, the detective jumped near the archway entrance and draw out her gun in a click. She jumped in front with her gun in front of her.
"Okay pal! Let me see you. Nice and easy."
What came out was not what she expected at all. The gargoyle beast snarled at her and the detective took a step back but didn't back down. Suddenly, a flash of purple grabbed her gun, and behind her she gasped at a large lavender gargoyle creature crushing her gun in an instant.
She leaned back to the tower trying to get as far away from him as possible. What she didn't know was that she was getting to close to the lower battlement and was too late to acknowledge that. She lost her footing, and began plummeting down to the city below, screaming the whole way down.
The detective kept shrieking as she thought she was going to die, seeing the world flash before her eyes was going to be her final scenes of reality. She gasped when she saw the large lavender creature diving down to her. What made her shriek in surprise was he caught her, saving her from not falling to her death.
The creature then spread his long wings, bring them up to one of the ledges of the building. The detective jumped out of his arms and took a good look at her rescuer. From his towering form to brute-like appearance, she knows she shouldn't be making this guy mad.
"Okay," she breathed, the wind blowing her long bluish dark hair in the wind. "Okay, just take it easy."
"What were you doing in my castle?" the creature demanded in a low voice.
"You…you can talk?" The detective jumped. "Who…what are you?"
"My kind don't have names," he stated. "But you humans call me Goliath."
"Your kind? You mean there's more than one of you?"
Goliath took a deep breath, then let it out. "Barely." He was about to leave when she pulled her arm out.
"Wait, don't go."
He turned back to her with a raised eye ridge.
"Uh look, we need to get down to the street or up to the castle." She explained with a little fright in her tone. "Since you can fly-"
"I can't fly," Goliath cut her off. "I can only glide on currents of wind." He then looked over as he felt the wind currents. "There are none strong enough here to lift us back up."
The detective gulped as she looked back down to the streets. "So were stuck here?"
Her answer was heard as Goliath grabbed her right arm and brought her behind him. He brought her arms to his shoulders.
"Hold on." Was all he said as his claws dug deep into the stone building and he was climbing with ease. The detective gasped in fright at how high up they were and tightened her grip on Goliath.
"Trust me." Was all the gargoyle said as they kept getting closer and closer to the castle.
When the finally reached the top of the battlements, the detective sighed in relief, but was cut short when the gargoyle beast snarled up at her.
"I forgot about him…" she muttered as she took a step back.
"He won't hurt you." Goliath said as he patted the beast on the head to calm him down. He then turned to her with a grim look. "Now, once again, what are you doing here? And please, don't fall off the building this time."
Leaving the kitchens before anyone could find them, the four gargoyles made their way back to the courtyard with the old one.
"A fine mess you made of that kitchen lads." He grunted. "When I heard that crash I thought that-"
"Look!" the green one interrupted pointing upwards. Everyone looked up at the tall battles to see Goliath with a human. "Goliath is talking to that human."
"And I thought he didn't want to trust them again." The female muttered as they all went up the stairs to the where their leader is.
"So a thousand years ago, you were betrayed by the one human you trusted." The detective looked up from her thinking position to Goliath. "Does anyone else know about you?"
"Only the man called Xanatos." As he said that, the other gargoyles came around, making the detective silently gasp. "He brought us here."
"Oh this can't be happening." She gasped when the red one came up behind her and sniffed her.
"Is this a new friend Goliath?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"Boy I hope so…" the detective muttered.
"Don't worry," the female said coming next to the red one as the woman turned to her. "We don't bite…much." She said that last part to herself, but the detective must have heard her because the human gave a gulp.
"This is Elisa Maza," Goliath introduced, then gave a look of confusion. "A detective?"
"Second class. NYPD." Elisa pulled out her badge to show the others who surrounded her.
"What exactly does a detective do lass?" the old one asked.
"Well uh," Elisa tried thinking of something, then gestured out her hand and put her other on it making it look like she was being handcuffed. "When somebody does something wrong, I find out who and arrest them."
"Who says what's wrong?" Goliath asked with a narrow look.
"Well we have a justice system." Elisa explained. "Laws, penalties, assessments that the people decide."
"You mean, the humans decide?" The leader looked over to the city and saw the sky was brightening. Dawn was coming. He turned back to the human. "You have to go."
"Wait, will I see you again?" Elisa asked, not sure what was the hurry. "I'd like to know more about you." Goliath looked hesitant, so she continued as she came over to him. "Look you saved my life, so I owe you. Let me help you understand this city. You need to know how it works."
Goliath looked back at the new world he and his clan are at now. "If we are to defend this castle, we need to be prepared for whatever is out there."
The other gargoyles nodded in approval.
"Good." Elisa said. "Tomorrow's my day off I'll meet you in the afternoon-"
"After dark." Goliath interrupted.
Elisa chuckled. "Why am I not surprised?" She nodded. "Alright, here after dark."
"No. Not here. Over there." He then pointed at a nearby rooftop that was easy gliding to. "On that rooftop."
"Why there?" Elisa asked.
"Why were you sneaking into the castle?" he countered.
Elisa merely turned, her hair sort of in her face. "A good detective trusts no one."
"That's one thing we have in common."
Elisa nodded and took her leave down the stairs. Everyone watches her go.
"It seems much has changed from what we knew." The old one stated.
"Yes, and if we are to survive in this new world." Goliath pointed out. "We need to learn about it and the humans who rule here."
"Goliath!" the leader turned to his left and saw Owen waving his hand about. The leader raised an eye ridge and went to see what him or Xanatos would want.
The others went to their perches and the female thought of something. "You know, maybe Goliath shouldn't be the only one to leave the castle."
That made the trio looked at her with confused expressions.
"What do you mean?" asked the green one next to her right.
"Oh come on, you know what I mean." She continued. "Why don't we go and explore this new world ourselves? We need to learn more about it just as much as Goliath does." The female crossed her arms. "Besides, we just woke up in a new world, and do you want to see the world yourself?"
That made the trio nod in approval as the old one shook his head. "I rather not lass, besides, someone needs to watch the castle while Goliath is away. Also, I would have to watch this pup from getting into trouble." He patted the gargoyle beast on his head before jumping on his perch.
"That's fine." The female nodded. Then made a quizzical expression. "Now to find a way to ask Goliath." Pretty soon, Goliath came back and the others were encased in stone sleep as the sun came up.
Sunset soon came as the gargoyles were stone beings during the whole day. When the sun set behind the horizon, the gargoyles began to break free of their stone encasing. Pretty soon, the gargoyles broke out of their imprisonments and were shaking the last of their stone skin.
The female sighed as she shook her wings of any dust buildup and turned to the trio. "Let's get gliding."
Suddenly Goliath landed to lower tower with them. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To explore the city," the red one answered who was on his perch next to the female. He turned to his leader. "After all, we can't spend the rest of our lives in the castle."
"He's right." The green one chimed in. "If we're going to live here, we got to know all about the city. Its people, its devices…"
"Its food." The aqua one ended with a smile.
The female turned to her leader with a small smile. "Don't worry Goliath, we'll be careful," she then crossed her arms with a look of determination and pointed at the trio with her thumb. "And I'll keep these three in line if you want."
"Hey!" the trio turned to the female who merely snickered in delight. Teasing them is usually so easy for her, that they get it every time.
Goliath sighed. "Oh, very well. The four of you may explore. But stay close to the building and stay out of sight."
The four of them eagerly nodded, then one at a time they all jumped off the tower and glided away to the huge city. The others watched them go, hoping they would be safe.
At the building where they promised to meet, Elisa just came out of the door and looked around with uncertainty.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Elisa gasped when Goliath came out of nowhere in front of her. She calmed her breaths as she saw him. "There you are. Why were you hiding back there?"
"I wanted to make sure you were alone." He answered simply as he came over to her.
Elisa laughed. "Not to worry. You look like you can handle a whole SWAT team."
Just then, the old one jumped down from the building, making the human jump and turn to him.
"What are you doing here?" Goliath asked.
"Just making sure you were not being ambushed." The old one answered with a look of untrust.
Elisa chuckled, not expecting the tension. "You guys are paranoid even for New York." She came to the ledge, then turned to the old one. "Are you coming on the tour…What do I call you anyway?"
The old one made a confused face. "Must you humans name everything? Nothing's real to you till you've named it, given it limits."
"It's not like that. It's just that…well…uh…" she tried to explain but couldn't. She shrugged. "Things need names."
"Does the sky need the name?" the old one inquired. He pointed at the river over in the distance. "Does the river?"
"The river's called the Hudson."
The old one turned to Goliath who merely smirked and crossed his arms.
The old gargoyle sighed, knowing he lost this round. "Fine, lass. Then I'll be the Hudson as well."
Elisa smiled. "Great. Hudson it is." She looked over at Goliath. "I don't know how I'm going keep people from noticing you."
"Simple," Goliath answered. "We'll stay on the rooftops."
"Easy for you for those wings, but what about me?" Elisa asked. Her answer was heard as Goliath merely picked her up bridle style. She was shocked at first, but slowly calmed down when Goliath didn't let go. "Well, that answers that question."
Goliath and Elisa smiled at one another, then they turned to 'Hudson' who was on the side with a grim look.
"Uh, let's be off then." Goliath said, then turned to Hudson. "Coming…Hudson?" he said that last part as if he were talking in a new language.
Hudson looked down at the city with a unsure look. "I think not. This new world is too big, too bright, too loud." He turned to his leader. "Now that I know you're alright, I'll return and guard the castle." With that, Hudson jumped off the building and spread his wings, and was soon gliding back to the castle.
Now that they were alone, Elisa turned to Goliath. "Well, looks like it's just you and me. What do you want to see?"
"The dangers that threatened me and my kind." Goliath answered simply with a grim look.
Elisa laughed. "Lighten up, will you? You're starting to bring me down and I'm a cop."
Goliath didn't say anything as he jumped on the ledge of the building, spread his large wings and was soaring in the skies. At first, Elisa was scared and thought she would fall out of the gargoyles grip, but after gliding for a while, she started getting comfortable in his grip as the night carried.
Both of them glided above the city, Elisa showing Goliath everything she could think would be a good tour attraction. As they were gliding, the people below were oblivious that a gargoyle were above them.
After long hours of gliding, Goliath landed on the Empire State Building to rest.
"What do you think so far?" Elisa asked, haven't heard the gargoyle talk at all.
"Such amazing changes men have made while we slept." He answered as he gazed at the large city. "Stone streets…finer than those the Romans built. Towers of glass and iron…"
"Yeah, I'm used to it." She said with her hair blowing. "But I guess it's pretty impressive to an out-of-towner."
"I see no walls to guard this city." Goliath turned to her. "How do you protect it from invaders?"
"Well, our biggest worries aren't from outside." She answered turning to him. "They're from inside."
Goliath breathed, knowing what she meant. "That I am all too familiar with."
Back at the castle, Hudson and the gargoyle dog were walking in the halls not knowing what to do. This new world to the old gargoyle was strange, and it wasn't something he was expecting.
The beast whimpered over to Hudson as they turned a corner.
"Ay boy," Hudson said as they stopped at a door. "It's a strange new world."
He opened the door, and found it had a red recliner, a love seat, a coffee table in the middle, a window with stone seating below it, and a strange box with a screen in front of the recliner.
Hudson checked to recliner to see if it was safe. When he didn't find anything, he merely took a seat to it. He found it quite relaxing, but gasped when the back to it fell back. The dog jumped with worry, but relaxed when the old one sighed with satisfaction at the couch.
"This isn't so bad." He sighed, then turned to find a strange small box with many buttons.
When he pressed an anonymous button, the screen was on and a screaming rock singer was singing and playing his guitar really loud. Hudson jumped out of his chair with the gargoyle beast running away in front of him. When both of them were out of the room, the old one shut the door behind him.
Over at another part of the city, the female and the trio decided to rest on a library building roof filled with stone gargoyles. As they were resting, they were all looking down at the streets, still amazed at what was around them.
"I've never seen so many wonders." The aqua one said with a sigh.
"I know," the female smiled as she looked around. "Have you ever seen something so spectacular that you couldn't describe it, even in an instant?"
"Every night." The red one muttered as he turned to her with a genuine smile.
The female stopped gazing down and turned to the red one with a curious look, then smiled back at him with an equal warm smile. It soon ended when the green and aqua one's gave out 'Ooh' sounds, in which the red and female turned to them with two equal frowns. The olive and aqua one laughed at their reactions as the female rolled her eyes and the red one glared at his rookery brothers.
"Grow up." The red one said as he crossed his arms.
Both gargoyles kept laughing at the hothead until the green one gasped and pointed downwards. "Look."
Everyone looked down the streets and saw a human riding a strange vehicle with two wheels. The green got all excited at the new device that he jumped on the ledge.
"Oh I-I've got to see how it works." The green one announced.
"Wait!" the red one tried to stop him but was too slow as the green one jumped off the building too fast.
The green one glided behind the human as he was gazing down at the machine with awe and wonder. "What a beautiful device."
Just as he said those words, the human turned to him, and ended up falling off his vehicle, and rolled a good few feet. He look alright thanks to his weird head gear and jacket. The man scrambled to his feet and ran away screaming down the street, leaving his bike with the green one.
"Wait! Come back!" the green one yelled as the other three landed.
Slap!
"Ow!" the green one exclaimed massaging his head as the female back slapped him behind his head with an angry glare.
"Did you remember anything Goliath told us?!" The female hissed looking down at the gargoyle with her hands on her hips.
"He said not to let anyone see us." The red one chastised.
"I didn't mean to let him see me," the green one moped looking down at the two wheeled vehicle. "I just wanted to look at his machine."
"Its nice that you were curious," The female explained placing a hand on the green one's shoulder. "But sometimes that curiosity could be dangerous depending on what it is." She sighed. "And sorry for back slapping you, that wasn't the right thing to do."
"It's okay." The green one picked up the fallen machine and got on it like the human.
The female gasped. "What did I just say about your curiosity?" she warned.
"I'm just looking." He looked at the bike with fascination.
"Be careful." The aqua one said a bit uneasy of this machine.
"It looks easy enough," the green gargoyle replied as he pumped the gas on the handles. Without the gargoyle noticing, he hit the gas pedal, and was now flying down the road hanging on the handles for dear life. The others chased after him, but the vehicle was too fast for them. The green one let go and the vehicle flew toward a wall, which crashed on impact, and burst into flames.
The other gargoyles stopped behind the green one who was looking at the flames with worry.
"Oh Goliath will have our heads if he found out…" the female moaned as she held her neck.
"Maybe we better not tell Goliath about this." The red one suggested, which everyone nodded in agreement.
After a run in with a three member gang who were harming a couple, Goliath and Elisa were walking through Central Park, and enjoying the small piece of nature amongst the loud city of Manhattan.
"You know, we're probably the only couple in the park that doesn't have to worry about muggers." Elisa commented.
Goliath shook his head. "This world is just as savage as the one I remember."
Elisa turned to the gargoyle. "You're judging it the way humans have judged you."
Goliath looked down at her with no expression, wondering what she was talking about.
"Sure the city shows an ugly face sometimes, but…" Elisa stopped and turned to him. "There's more to it that that. There's beauty here, Moms that sing to her kids…the way that my mom used to."
Before he could comment, the sound of bushes drew Goliath's attention. Elisa noticed this and became on edge.
"Goliath what is it?"
Before anyone could react, the sound of a pistol was heard, and a dart struck Goliath on the shoulder. He howled in pain, clawing his arm as he stumbled down. Immediately, the same gunmen from the castle, surround the duo and closed in on them. Elisa drew her gun, but was kicked out of her hands, and one of them grabbed her dragging her away.
Seeing this, Goliath became enraged. His eyes glowed brightly as he lashed out trying to fight back, but with the sedative that was being difficult. His movements were growing sluggish, his limbs becoming heavy, and his strength was fading rapidly. This made it their advancement as the three gunman wrestled him to the ground.
The leader of the gunmen came out of nowhere and looked at the gargoyle down on the ground. He slowly drew out a gun from his belt, approaching the gargoyle with a smirk.
"What do you want?!" Elisa demanded, still struggling in the grip of her captor.
"Just tying up loose ends." Was all the leader replied, leveling his gun to Goliath…
Oh I'm so excited for this one. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter might not be published for a while, but I can reassure you I won't give this up.