Stone Guardian (8 page)

Fallon stood as well, and Larissa conceded that Fallon rising to her full height was a much more impressive scene than she could ever pull off. “What about the gargoyle?”

“What about him?” Good, no cracks in her vocals. Learning to deflect her father’s questions was paying off in unexpected ways.

Fallon’s eyebrow arched at that. “He flew away with you. You were gone for a considerable length of time. Are you telling me that happens to you every day?”

“Of course not. I don’t know why he was there either. He flew me away, and I guess when he decided it was safe, he brought me back?”

“That simple?”

“Well, at the time it wasn’t! At the time I was scared to death. Actually, I’m still sleeping with my lights on. But I don’t know what to tell you when I have no clue why what happened on Friday night… happened. Zombies attacked, you appeared, the gargoyle appeared. The more time that passes, the more it becomes a blur in my head, which is good, because I want to forget it!”

Fallon stared at her like she was a bug under a microscope. Breathing as she did in her yoga class, Larissa quieted her mind, quieted her body. She would not give away anything to his woman. No matter what assurances Fallon gave, the little warning bell in the back of her skull was still sounding an alert.

Fallon’s body relaxed, the signal to Larissa that she won this round. At least she wouldn’t be kidnapped right now, but Larissa didn’t need the thinning of Fallon’s mouth to tell her that the amazon was not yet finished with her. “By all means, you know nothing and the gargoyle flew you around for a couple hours before taking you home. Why, it almost sounds romantic.”

“I need to get back to my class now.”

“Of course, who am I to deprive those poor children of their education? Then again, Laire is probably educating them beyond their wildest dreams.” Fallon went to the door and opened it, then turned and motioned for Larissa to precede her out.

Larissa entered her classroom to her students scribbling notes with a frenetic intensity, their expressions sharpened as they seldom were for any of her lectures.

Then she heard the Japanese woman speak.

“Yes, I do realize men who have an orc ancestor tend to be really ugly, but that’s why they invented paper bags. Trust me, as long as a guy knows he’s getting some, he’ll wear a pink bunny costume if that’s what’s needed to seal the deal. What matters here and what you need to remember is guys that have some orc in them are hung like nobody’s business. If you like your men large and dominating, make a beeline for them.”

“What about elves?” called a male student.

“Elves are ridiculously high maintenance. If that’s fine with you, the key for elves is the ears and the back. Sure, they like the other areas fine, but you want to make one a little puddle of goo, spend ten minutes massaging their back. It’s practically a sure thing after that.”

“What are you telling my students?” While Larissa’s squeaky tone may not have been what one would call commanding, it did stop the small woman from talking.

“I was answering questions. They are woefully unprepared to enter the real world,” Laire said, turning back to a student in the front with her hand up.

“I think that’s enough question and answer. Let’s go,” said Fallon, a quick movement of her head signaling the other woman to get off the desk.

“But, Fallon, they need educated. You wouldn’t believe the misconceptions they had about how to have sex with a shifter.”

Fallon walked over to the desk and grabbed the woman’s ear, walking toward the door without waiting to see if Laire was on her feet yet. “Ow, Fallon, ow! Let go, I’m coming, I’m coming!”

“Goodbye, Miss Miller,” Fallon said. Larissa didn’t have to be a mind reader to see the
for now
Fallon mentally added onto the end of that sentence.

Fallon walked toward the door, pulling the small woman behind her. “I knew I should have brought Aislynn,” Fallon said as they left the classroom.

Laire’s snort was loud and clear though her voice was fading, their steps indicating they were walking away from the classroom. “Good idea to bring an elf amongst hormonal high school seniors. Do you really think Ais wants to be the jerk-off fantasy of the graduating class… OWWWWWWWWW!”

*****

“So I hear that there was much excitement in your class this morning.” Olivia Berry took her usual seat across from Larissa in the teacher’s lounge, leaning forward over the table as though she’d be able to get the full scoop faster that way.

“That’s one way to put it,” Larissa agreed, not looking up from the book she was reading. It was always nice when Olivia went crazy over good gossip, a situation not to be rushed.

Olivia didn’t even try at uninterested. “Tell me all or I’ll seduce one of your brothers and give you the play by play.”

The full body shudder overtook her before she could stop it. “Eww. Don’t even talk about that.”

“Michael is seriously hot…”

“Fine, I’ll talk! Just stay away from the male members of my family.”

Olivia settled down, smug radiating from every pore. “So who were your guests? I won’t even tell you the official version of the story, it’s too much BS to believe.”

“Why are you such a conspiracy theorist? Maybe the official story is the real story.” Olivia said nothing, just blinked once, twice, three times. Larissa sighed. “So here’s what happened. I was attacked over the weekend…”

Olivia’s face lost its maniacal interest, replaced by pure concern. She grabbed Larissa’s hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am, I am,” Larissa reassured her, squeezing Olivia’s hand in hers. “I was attacked by zombies.”

“Zombies!” Olivia’s voice ricocheted in the empty room.

“Shh!” Larissa admonished, looking around to verify they were indeed alone. “I’d rather not everyone know, thank you.”

Olivia leaned closer, her voice lowering. “Are you kidding me, zombies?”

“Yeah, zombies. And those two who visited me wanted to know why.”

Olivia’s body shook as if in preparation for the answer. “And why were you?”

“I have no idea.”

Disbelief was as evident on Olivia’s face as it had been on both Terak’s and Fallon’s. “You have no idea?”

“None. I think it was an accident and they attacked the wrong woman, but everyone around me seems determined to believe I was attacked on purpose.”

Olivia pulled back then, angling away from Larissa, her hand smoothing her brown curls back. “It seems likely that attack was on purpose. Necromancers don’t make many mistakes.”

“And what would you know about necromancers?” This was new. Olivia had never expressed any personal knowledge of the other races before.

Olivia shrugged, the movement the height of nonchalance. “Only what everyone else knows. Mages that powerful probably don’t make mistakes.” Changing the subject, Olivia motioned to the book Larissa had open. “What’s that? Going to teach gargoyles?”

It was Larissa’s turn to shrug. This part she didn’t want to mention to Olivia. “After my attack, I thought it would be a good idea to be a little more concerned with the other races. They seemed interesting.”

Olivia studied the picture, tapping the drawn gargoyle with one long red nail. “I would have chosen another race to start with. Outside of necromancers, I can’t think of any creature I’d want to meet less.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because, if they had nothing to hide, they’d be part of the world amongst all the other creatures. Hell, you can even find necromancer clubs in certain areas.”

Which was disturbing, but considering how vampires had been romanticized and fetishized in the Human Realm before the collision, the fact those clubs existed wasn’t as shocking as it should have been. “Maybe they’re afraid. It can’t be easy to enter the world when you’ve always shunned it before.”

“Well, yeah, or maybe they are as evil as the necromancers but don’t have that dark, sexy-charm swagger to cover their deviousness.”

Deviousness.
There was no word she could think of less right to describe Terak. No, he wasn’t telling her everything, but it seemed to come from a place of protection, not slyness.

Then again, she could be fooling herself.

“Olivia, have you ever left the city?”

“Why, are you thinking of taking a long weekend or something? Your dad would flip.”

“No, it’s just…” Larissa looked down at the picture again. “I’m starting to think about what I don’t know. It never occurred to me before, but the attack has me thinking on things.”

The bell rang, and Olivia stood. “I have class next period so I got to get going. If you need to talk, I’ll be free tonight.”

Larissa shook her head. “I’m fine. Really.”

Olivia looked dubious, but nodded her acceptance. “If you change your mind, give me a call.”

When she left, Larissa stared down at the drawing in the book, at the large wings and sharp claws. The picture was terrifying and it was not nearly as impressive as seeing them in moving flesh.

Emulating Olivia, she stroked the snarling face on the picture. Terrifying, yes, but she couldn’t quite remember ever feeling so warm as when she had been enfolded in Terak’s wings.

Larissa looked out of the nearby window. Was a gargoyle nearby, watching her? The sun was shining today, a light wind whipping the occasional leaf past the glass. How could a gargoyle exist on a day like today? They belonged to the night, to full moons and dark clouds and the wind howling through trees.

They certainly didn’t get involved with people like her, boring people with a too stifling family and a regular job. She had no money problems, no social life… hell, she hadn’t even had a steady boyfriend yet. Growing up, the brothers had scared off anyone who they didn’t think was good enough for their baby sister, and then Dad took over with the matchmaking. Her big weekend plans involved playing cards with her family.

How sad was that?

How could someone like her attract the attention of necromancers? Or gargoyles?

Stubborn gargoyles who don’t listen to reason and take over your life even though they may be next in line for the “Ultimate Evil” award.

Why couldn’t she have been saved by an elf?

When going back to you childhood home, there is that one perfect moment. It’s the moment where, as you grab the door handle and start turning, memories jumble across your mind like the spill of photographs from a box, quick and cluttered and all of them so damn good you wish you could crawl inside one.

“Baby sister! Get your ass in here, you’re letting the cold air in.”

And then a male member of the family opens his mouth and reminds you why you moved.

“Bite me there, Steven. How can you pretend to be this big, bad cop if two seconds in the wind has you whining?”

Her third oldest brother came over from the couch and enveloped her in a hug, which he used to maneuver her out of the doorway and then proceeded to close the door with his foot. “So, you missed Friday night, huh?”

Leave it to Steven to bulldoze over any pleasantries and get straight to what concerned him.

“I do have a life outside of this house.”

“You were tutoring a student.”

After he let go she shrugged out of her coat and hung it in the closet. Larissa said, “Teaching is not a job, it’s my life’s calling. I read that on a greeting card somewhere.”

Larissa walked toward the kitchen, the hub of activity in their house, with Steven following. “Your life’s calling is condemning us to the crap shifts.”

“Don’t blame me. I don’t set your schedule.”

“You’re right, the chief does.”

“Do I hear you complaining out there again, boy?” came the call from the kitchen.

Larissa turned into the kitchen to see her father at the stove and her other brothers Gary, Michael, and Christopher sitting at the black granite island. She crossed the wood floor and gave her father a kiss on the cheek. “Hi Daddy.”

“Pumpkin.” Going grey dark-brown hair and a non-ironic mustache on a slightly chubby but still very handsome face, Jack Miller was in his element, stirring a pot of simmering chili and surrounded by his kids. “How was work?”

“Went fine. You didn’t tell me we were having chili, I would have made some salsa and cornbread.”

“I had Michael bring some. You can set the table.”

The brothers jumped up and began their respective chores. Before her stomach had the chance to start growling, the table was set and everyone dug into their food, her dad on one end, her on the other, and two brothers on each side.

“So, baby sis, your television still on the fritz?” asked Gary, youngest of all the boys and the one who tortured her most while they were growing up.

Larissa sighed. “I haven’t had a chance to bring it in to the shop yet.”

“How did you manage to break this one?” asked Steven.

Jack snorted before taking a long drink from his bottle of beer. “Why is it I have four boys but whenever anything broke around here, it was always the fault of my baby girl?”

She couldn’t help it she had a black thumb, only instead of killing plants, she killed all their electronics. Four rambunctious older brothers, but when something broke in the house, all eyes turned to her. “I had to do something to stand out from the pack. At least I never almost burned the house down, or snuck boys in here by having them climb in the third story window.”

This time Michael snorted. The oldest of the kids, Michael was the only one who inherited their father’s coloring of dark brown hair and eyes while she and the other brothers favored their mom. He also inherited their father’s stubborn streak and overdeveloped sense of responsibility, leading to the nickname
Dad Two
while they were growing up. “No boy would ever have dared climb through your window, Ris. Remember when you hit puberty? Dad began to clean his guns on the front porch.”

“Hell yes I did. You look like your mother, who was only the most beautiful woman to ever be born. I saw her for the first time when she was sixteen and I was seventeen and I remember exactly what I wished I could be doing to her. No way any little punk was going to think those things about my daughter.”