Wonderland Ch. 02

"I don't really know where to begin," he said quietly. "You know almost nothing."

"Start with your name," I suggested.

He smirked slightly. "In your language – English – the name would translate as 'claw', but in your thoughts you mentioned 'talon'. I think I prefer that name."

I eyed the sharp black nails at the tips of his toes and fingers, curious to know why that was his name, but unsure of how to pose the question or how he would react to it.

"Alright," I said finally. "I'll call you Talon."

Talon nodded, his look distant for a brief moment. "I guess I could start with my history. Gargoyles walked this earth long before the humans. I remember when we discovered your tribes...it was shocking for all of us at the time. We taught what I supposed were your ancestors how to survive and in exchange they didn't kill us for meals. After my first few winters I never saw them again until this afternoon, with you. Your kind was much fewer in number then."

Talon's brow furrowed slightly. "In my time, there were only four species: the Gargoyles, the Lunar, the Druls, and the Raspans. There were animals of course, but they were much larger than the ones I hunt in your forests now."

"The Gargoyles kept peace with the Lunar and the Druls, since we are all of the earth." He held up his hand to pause my questioning. "Let me continue with my explanation," he said gently. "What I have to say might answer your questions."

I nodded and relented. "Go on."

"The Druls are able to pull the energy from the earth and harness it, but to keep balance, they must give part of themselves in exchange. Once there is nothing left in them to give, they return to the earth. As a result, Druls are often unstable and our interaction with them was rare. The Lunar, in this same manner, have the earth engrained within their spirits, carrying the energy with them until their deaths, where the energy is returned bodily."

At my confusion, Talon smiled. "I believe humans would consider my definition of energy as 'magic.'"

Oh. I nodded to let him know I understood now (sort of).

Talon continued. "My kind can also carry magic, though it isn't obtained through the earth, but rather through blood. My father's clan had very strong bloodlines, which makes our magic stronger. Before I was imprisoned, my clan was the ruler of the others for this very reason." For a moment Talon trailed off, briefly lost in his memories.

"You said there were four tribes," I said after a while, interrupting his reverie. "What are the Raspans?"

That drew Talon out of his thoughts. Instantly his eyes went cold and his full lips pulled into a grim smile. "They are dirty offspring, mistakes of our Creator. They're foul creatures that thrive on the death and decay of the earth for survival. They live in the soil and come out only at night to scavenge, but I now regret that I was fooled by their simplicity. They were the reason why I was imprisoned."

Talon took a moment to collect himself, his jaw ticking with the effort. "The Raspans used to eat on the carcasses of our dead. Like your vultures. After they ate the flesh of a living Gargoyle, they became addicted to our taste. Soon they were invading our rookeries and nests for eggs of our unborn. They burrowed into Lunar dens and attacked nursing mothers. We had no choice but to band together and destroy them to ensure our survival, and for a while I was sure that we would win the battle."

"But?" I asked quietly.

Talon looked at me. "But we were betrayed. By who and why I do not know. My father had realized this sometime during the war and asked me to leave for my safety, to keep those of our kind alive. But in my escape I saw none of my brethren. I was trapped in that castle by some magic, and why I do not know." Talon shook his head, his anger palpable. "If you are right in that I am the only Gargoyle left, I am sure I will never know the answers to those questions."

Talon leaned forward then, his eyes darkening to ash grey. "You must understand the situation in which I find myself in, Tempest. I cannot roam the world to find those of my kind, or even those of the other species. You have made it clear in your words and thoughts that by being found I will only become a series of tests, locked up forever in a cage to be studied by your kind endlessly. But yet, to sit here and remain stagnant, never obtaining any of my answers, I will slowly go mad."

I sat back on the bed, trying to not let my pity show. I had felt trapped by Talon's presence earlier, but I had no thought to how he must feel about all this. Leaving the pool house for him meant possible death. But staying here, never knowing for sure if he was really all alone like I said he was, had to be hard pill to swallow.

I met Talon's eyes and watched his eyes narrow in curiosity.

"But I can't help but wonder as to why now, of all the years I have been trapped in that forsaken castle, why now did I finally wake up? Why was it by your hand that I escaped?" Talon stood suddenly and I did with him, out of fear and something else I could not name, my heart beginning to quicken in pace as he approached.

"And if the Gods can answer those questions, then surely they can help me find the others. And maybe they can explain to me my feel-"

The sound of a car pulling up into the drive froze us both. Talon's hand dropped from its reach towards me and he stepped back. "It is your mother," he said quietly, smiling at my astounded expression. "She has a spirit similar to yours," he clarified. "And further explanation can wait. She's looking for you as we speak."

I started to walk away but stopped, looking over my shoulder at him. "Are you staying here or...?"

Talon smiled and dropped onto the bed, bouncing a little. "I think we have spoken enough tonight. We'll continue talking tomorrow, once you are back from school. And Tempest?"

I stopped walking again. "Yes?"

Talon was sitting in the center of the bed, clutching one of the large body pillows to his chest. The timid look in his eyes was almost laughable considering his previous behavior, but I managed to keep a straight face as I waited for him to speak.

"You humans tell each other 'sweet dreams' before you rest. It is not common in my kind to bid one another such things, but...sweet dreams, Tempest."

I allowed myself a smile. "Sweet dreams, Talon."

I tried not to snicker as I left, turning down the lights as I made my way through the pool house, but it escaped anyway. And if I wasn't mistaken, I heard Talon laugh before I shut the main door of the pool house shut.

Mom was standing in the kitchen with her back to me, still in her full business attire, but minus her heels. She turned at the stove when I walked in and beamed a smile, the lines around her eyes and face deepening at the gesture.

"How was school today?" she asked as she put on the kettle for tea.

I froze from sitting on the bar stool at the kitchen island, my heart in my throat. Had it only been a few hours since the Exlax incident at school? It felt like a lifetime.

Mom turned in concern at my silence and I beamed her a smile, feigning nonchalance. "It was great, considering I had two major exams and all."

She wrinkled her nose in distaste, understanding my sarcasm. "How do you think you did?" she asked, knowing full well I had studied for weeks for those tests.

"I think I did okay," I lied, shrugging my shoulders casually.

"How was work?" I asked, wanting to get off the subject of school.

"I had to talk over a manuscript with one of the authors...she bawled the entire time, poor thing, but her book has a long way to go before being publishable." Mom gave me a tired smile and kissed my forehead as she passed by. "I'm going to take a bath. Take the tea off will you?"

I nodded, not surprised by her lack of conversation. Mom often had little energy these days, especially not after working nearly nonstop on editing novels-in-progress. Her job as an editor was nearly a twenty-four-seven kind of thing, especially since she worked between two to three novels at a time. When it was crunch time for a specific novel, she sometimes didn't even come home.

Dad, however, was a different story. Sometimes he would be home for months and then he would be absent for just as long. He was a special kind of architect, one that could build skyscrapers and design arenas, but someone who secretly enjoyed restoring old homes and did so whenever he had the chance. There were at least ten properties in the area of Boston alone that dad had set aside for future renovations. That's where he was now, living on site in Boston as construction finished up on a hotel he had laid the plans for.

The kettle whistled in that moment and I hopped off the stool to retrieve it, obeying mom's shouted order for chamomile. After making us both a cup, I ventured to the converted attic that was now by bedroom and nursed away my tea before showering and heading to bed.

~+~

He ventured out of the darkness the moment she turned out her light. He waited until her breathing evened out before approaching her, his silver eyes wandering lazily over her curvy frame hidden beneath the thin, pale green bed sheets.

Little did Tempest know that his sleep – and hers – relied solely upon their proximity, it was the main reason as to why he was here. The other reason he was about to test out.

Talon lowered himself into the contraption she called her "desk chair", wincing when it creaked under his weight. Being careful to not wake her, he rolled the chair across the carpet and out of the moonlight, keeping himself in the darkness in case she should awaken prematurely.

As he watched her sleep, he contemplated the course he should take with Tempest. She had been the one to save him, and gave him a place to hide despite her doubts and better judgment. But what she did not know, since he had neglected to tell her earlier, was that her scent had been what woke him from his sleep. The moment Tempest had entered the castle he had known, but it wasn't until she had fully relaxed in his presence and felt completely safe that the spell over him had been broken.

And when she ran from him...

A soft growl escaped his throat, his eyes closing as he savored the memory. The noise stirred Tempest and he quickly knelt at her side, carefully stroking back the wavy tresses of her hair. The touch soothed her instantly and she nodded off, her breathing deepening within seconds.

Talon smiled softly, knowing for certain what this meant.

"You can run from me, Tempest," he whispered quietly in her ear. "But with me on the hunt, you will not go very far." He heard her pulse quicken as his words became her dreams, and a satisfied smile crossed his lips as she moaned out his name.

"You are mine, Tempest Cohen," he murmured as he lowered himself onto the bed beside her, gathering up her slim frame into his arms. "For better or for worse."

~+~

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