Tempest smiled at Bailey. “I love you, you know that, right? And what I’m going to tell you does not change me from who I was the day I met you, or who I’ve been since.”
“You’re my best friend, Tempest. I love you. But you’re making me a little nervous.”
“I’m sorry. I just know that this is really going to be a lot. I put it off for Remi to tell you, thinking I’d fill in my parts after, but he hasn’t gotten around to it, so it falls back on me, and now it looks bad because I’ve waited so long.”
“Tempest…”
“Okay, here goes. What I mean about my grandparents is that my grandmother is stronger than any other human woman I’ve ever met. She’s level headed, courageous and has a soul as big as anything you can imagine. She says each time she tells the story that my grandfather saved her, but the way he tells it, she saved him. I kind of tend to believe him.”
“Aw, that’s so romantic.”
“Yeah, but he means it literally. He’s a Gargoyle, so old even he doesn’t know exactly how old he is. He is obviously not human. He’s got to be careful so that humans don’t see him. Every human has always feared him, except for my grandmother. She loved him when every other living creature feared him — except for Uncle Enthrall — he didn’t fear him, and neither did Uncle Lore, but that’s another whole story. Let’sstick to the basics for now.” Tempest paused and took a bite of ice cream, her eyes closing while she savored the flavor before opening them again and smiling at Bailey.
Bailey just looked at her, stupefied. “I think I need to call Brandt. How are you feeling? Any dizziness? Nausea?”
“No. I’m good.”
“You just told me your grandfather is a Gargoyle. I’m calling Brandt.”
“Why? He knows.”
“And he doesn’t think it’s strange that you believe that?”
“He did at first, because despite everyone he’d ever met, no one in his family had ever met a Gargoyle. But now he gets it. He met my Uncle Destroy when he came after me when I left during Christmas. And then he met my grandfather himself — who by the way threatened to skin him. Destroy just kept taunting him and not telling him where to find me.”
“Destroy?” Bailey asked.
“Yes.”
“What kind of name is Destroy?”
“A Gargoyle name. My grandfather’s name is Carnage. And I have another uncle named Murder, who’s also a Gargoyle. Enthrall is a Vampire, Lore is, well, he’s one of the ancients, and is the most powerful being I know, other than my mother. She took on most of his powers and all of his brother’s when his brother died so that the world would be balanced. My father, though, is a Dragon. Well, a Dragon shifter. He’s an original to be fair, so he has some of the healing tendencies that some of the originals did, but Remi doesn’t have the healing tendencies. I do think that he’s got a touch of an Empath in him, though. He’s very sensitive.” Tempest paused to focus on Bailey for a moment.
Bailey sat speechlessly staring at Tempest. Finally she reached for her purse, dug out her phone and started scrolling for Brandt’s number.
“Bailey, put the phone down,” Tempest said.
“I will. Just want to drop a quick message to Brandt,” Bailey said.
Tempest lifted a hand and gestured toward the phone with her fingers. The phone lifted from Bailey’s hands and floated across the room to land on the kitchen table.
Bailey’s gaze remained on the phone, though her eyes widened almost comically.
“Bailey, I am not human. My family, other than my grandmother, is not human. Brandt is not human. His family are all shifters. His mother is a human, his father is a Bear shifter, and he’s a Bear shifter. Barron is a hybrid, his mother is a Dragon shifter, his father is a Bear shifter and while he shifts into a Bear, he’s got a lot of the traits of his mother, too. Havoc and Hellen are Wolf shifters though their mother is a Lion shifter and I think Hellen gets a lot of her attitude from her mother, Analise is a Fox shifter, like her mother, Emmalyn is a Bear shifter like her dad. Remi’s father is a Dragon shifter, and his mother is human.”
“You’re honestly sitting here telling me none of you are human…”
“Most of us have a little human lineage in us, but we’ve got paranormal backgrounds as well. The thing I want you to remember is that we’re just as much people as you are. We just have a little extra umph.”
Bailey’s eyes moved over to her phone still lying on the kitchen table.
“I’ll give it back to you if you stop trying to call Brandt. He and the others are trying to save Hellen. They won’t answer anyway, and I don’t want him distracted while he’s doingsomething dangerous. Once he let’s me know he’s on the way home, if you want to contact him you’re welcome to.”
Bailey shifted her gaze to Tempest.
Tempest gestured toward Bailey’s phone and it returned to her hand.
Bailey looked at her phone now sitting in her hand just as it had before it floated over to the kitchen table. She set it down and used one hand to rub her temples while she pressed the other to the back of her neck. Finally she looked up and focused on Tempest.
