Page 3 of Never Been Gargoyled
Sound returned first. The creak of hinges. The rustle of dry leaves skittering across smooth stones. A female voice cut through the stillness and brought me fully awake. One that was too loud. Too alive. Too near my domain.
Intruder.
My role surged up from the dark. Not a memory exactly. Just instinct. Protect the estate.
My muscles screamed as they unfroze. My backarched, the joints grinding together after too many years of sleep. Stone flaked off my skin in chunks, revealing gray flesh underneath, rough to the touch. The wind drifted across my body, and I shuddered from the shock of being awake.
My wings broke free next with a sharp crack. I stretched them slowly, leather scraping against the slate tiles beneath my bare feet. Each joint was stiff, and my left wing cracked before finally holding its shape. Stone dust settled around me. I hissed, biting back a groan.
Skittering to the edge, I soared from the roof, landing hard on a broad tree branch that would give me a better view of the estate grounds below.
Someone was moving down there. I blinked, sharpening my vision to cut through the moonlight.
There. A figure on the porch. Small but curved in all the right places. Female. A bag by her feet, one hand on her hip, and the other holding a glowing rectangular thing.
Some kind of magic? As far as I knew, humans didn’t possess magical powers, but from the appearance of the estate, I’d been asleep for a long time. Years, perhaps.
It didn’t matter. She was on the grounds.Mygrounds.
Teeth bared, I leaned forward, digging my claws into the branch. Bark cracked beneath me. The urge to lunge, to pounce, boiled under my skin, but my body wasn’t ready. I was still too stiff and slow.
I could still warn her.
“You should not be here,” I growled, my throat raw from disuse.
Her hands lifting, she stumbled backward, falling on the porch floor. Good. I would grin as I watched this intruder run away.
She peered around, flashing her not-magical light at the shadowy trees and overgrown gardens. When had it fallen into disarray? That wasn’t right. It should look as pristine as it had…
Whenhad it looked wonderful?
Too long ago.
Intruder.The word pulsed through me, demanding I defend my territory.
“Leave this place now,” I rumbled, my voice rough as gravel. It echoed across the lawn, and she spun around again. Stumbled.
I watched her peer around, heard the threat in her voice. Police? Let her call them. I’d hide, and they’d escort her off the grounds with a stern warning not to trespass again. Then I could return to the roof and go back to sleep.
She flashed the glowing thing around again, looking for me. Foolish. She wouldn’t see me, not unless I wanted her to.
A deep scraping sound echoed beneath me, my tail shifting against the tree trunk, and she pivoted and flung herself through the broken window.
Insidemyhome.
My growl started low, a deep roar building inside mychest. She’d come to steal or destroy or worse,changewhat she shouldn’t.
But I was awake now.
And I would not let her ruin anything.
With a snarl, I sprung off the tree branch, unfurling my wings and soaring down to land with a solid thud on the crumbling estate porch.
Chapter 3
Dazy
Iscrambled to my feet and raced to peer out the window, seeing nothing of concern outside.
