When a Gargoyle Lives (Gargoyles Book 2) by E A Price Read Free Book Online

you been, Lieutenant?”
    Chloe smirked at him, eagerly anticipating the effect of the bomb she was about to drop on her arrogant, commanding officer.  “Wandering around the woods with a gargoyle.”
    “What?!”
    A few of their other teammates looked up, each with matching startled expressions.  She relished the attention.
    “I was trying to plant hidden cameras around the perimeter of the Hardcastle estate when I ran into one of the creatures.”
    Silence reigned in the room as everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her.
    “You’re serious?” Bell asked in disbelief.
    “Deadly,” she said smugly.
    “Was it Ophelia?  Or Lucifer?”
    “Neither, he called himself Amalric.”
    “And you made it out alive?” asked Pike, a teammate who had once made the mistake of insulting Ophelia.  He was lucky he only had the one scar after that encounter.  Shame it covered half his face.
    “Clearly.”  She gestured to her clothes.  “I told him I was out for a run, I acted all scared of him, and the gullible monster lapped it all up.”
    “You could have been killed!” gasped Johnson, one of the new recruits who had yet actually to meet a gargoyle.
    Chloe shrugged.  “I didn’t expect him to be there.  Besides, I had my gun.”
    “You know we’re not to kill them,” said Bell quietly.
    “I would have just winged him, or shot him in the wing, whatever.”
    “Are there others?”
    “He didn’t say, and I didn’t push him, not on our first date anyway.”
    “What?!”
    “I made him agree to meet me again tomorrow night, and he said yes.”
    Bell gaped at her.  “You’re serious?”
    “You keep asking that and yes, I’m serious.  With all those magical shields around the house, there’s no way we’d get through without anyone inside the house knowing.  So, all we have to do is get in place and nab him tomorrow.  Then the council can do whatever they want with him.”
    “Are you sure he was not Lucifer?” asked Monroe, the tech whizz.  He flipped through their pictures of gargoyles.  They had been drawn based on descriptions from Ophelia.
    “Isn’t Lucifer supposed to be red?  This one was blue.  He had short horns and pale blonde hair.  He was about six foot five, and I reckon with enough electricity we can…”
    “No,” said Bell.
    Chloe scowled.  “No?  This just fell into our laps, and you don’t…”
    “No, we don’t take him yet.  You are right this situation fell into our laps.  We shouldn’t act rashly and take him; it would make Lucifer and whoever else is hiding in there suspicious.  We don’t want one gargoyle; we want them all.  Meet with him, find out who else is in that house – we will find a way to get them all.”
    “If you can handle that,” sneered Pike.
    Chloe glared at him.  “Yeah, unlike you, I can handle one fugly monster.”

Chapter Eight
    “Going out again, boy?” asked Gracchus.
    Ric gave him a peevish look.  For such a large creature, Gracchus moved very stealthily.
    “Yeah, I thought I’d take a short flight.  Nothing outside the grounds,” he lied.  “I thought it would be okay because it is cloudy tonight.”
    “Hmmm.”
    Ric stilled under Gracchus’ penetrating gaze.  After a few moments, the older gargoyle shrugged.
    “Luc wants us here tonight.  Maggie and Andrew are due back, and he wants to perform the spell on the new gargoyles straight away.  He wants us all to be there.”
    Ric looked towards the woods.  Chloe would be waiting for him, just as she had been the past three nights.
    Gracchus followed his gaze.  “Something wrong?”
    “No.”
    “Good, I think I hear the vehicle arriving now.”
    Gracchus walked away, and Ric breathed in and out.  He would just be late.  The spell would not take long.  Kylie would awaken them.  Luc would give his boring speech about reuniting the gargoyles.  Hopefully, they would not go berserk like Dragoslava, and then Annis would prepare them food while Gracchus