Page 16 of Etched in Stone
Her gargoyle. Her flying gargoyle. Who was also Ray.
What. The. Fuck.
She heard the flap of wings and turned around to see Ray standing behind her. He was back in fedora form, but he was flickering.
“Your funky old man is on the fritz.” It was a lame thing to say, but what else could she add.
“Not really. It's just a perception filter. The more you know what I look like, the less it actually works on you. I- Olivia was supposed to tell you everything.”
“Well, she didn't.”
“I know.”
They stood there for a moment in an awkward silence.
“He's gone, by the way. You want to go back to your apartment?” Ray asked.
“He tried to kill me,” Jesse answered, incredulously.
“I saw that.”
“Why?”
“I told you he was bad news. Are you ready to go back now?” he asked again.
“I need a gun.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I’m going to shoot that bastard in the neck. Not like his wife. He’s going to die. With prejudice.
And…”
Ray was grinning at her.
“And why do you think this is amusing? He just tried to kill me and you’re sitting there smiling.”
“I don’t know. I’m kinda used to people screaming and trying to run away. You know, like, ‘Ahh.
Ahh, he’s a monster. He’s gonna eat me!’”
“I’m pretty sure if you were going to eat me, you would have done it by now. I mean you just saved my life.”
“Are you ready to go back?”
“He has keys to my apartment. He just let himself in.”
“I threw the deadbolts. I’m not stupid. And I’ll rekey the elevator. No one will be able to get up without a retina scan and a fingerprint.”
Jesse glanced at his hands.
“That would work for you?”
“I have retinas and fingerprints.” He held up his chunky hands. “They may look clumsy, but I’m quite good with my hands.”
Jesse blinked. Was her gargoyle flirting with her?
“Okay.”
