Warning! Only read this if you are willing to go to http://www. youpublish .com/files/22237/Gargoyle-Nights,-Human-Days where you can buy the rest of this novel for $5 cause the rest of this novel will not be posted for free.

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-One-

I was flying over the city. Nothing special, nothing unusual, just me, the wind in my wings, and the ear piece for my police radio stuffed in my ear. There wasn't much happening tonight, really. The chatter had been pretty low, and even though I had been advised by the chief not to use it much, at least for anything other than listening, the fact was that he couldn't, and wouldn't, stop me. It was pretty much a matter of public record, or at least widely published in the newspapers, that I had police connections. No one knew which precinct, though, and those that did weren't about to say anything. There had been investigations, sure, but they never went anywhere cause the chief wanted to keep his job.

They had gotten close, once, there had been a skittish newbie in my precinct, but peer pressure kept him almost all the way silent. The chief did the rest. There was some suspicion for a while, and I had to stop visiting the roof in my gargoyle form for a bit, which made life annoying and difficult, but not as difficult as being caught would have been.

But at least I wasn't underage anymore. If someone had figured out a few years ago that I wasn't eighteen... well... who knows what would have happened. I didn't think social services would have gotten involved, at least not to the point where they would have separated me from Peter, but I couldn't imagine that it would have gone well, either.

Course, I couldn't even begin to fathom not being able to see the guy who had raised me from age five on. But the idea of being stuck with some unknowing, uncaring, probably idiotic person who wouldn't understand that I didn't have a choice in my sleep patterns, that I turned to stone at sunrise and sunset for two hours each like clockwork, and that I wasn't a freak for being a human during the day and gargoyle at night, seemed even worse. There weren't many who actually understood all that, and Peter was one of the very few who truly did. I mean, there were guys at the station who treated me all well and fine, but they were always more relaxed around me when I was human. Even if I'm not exactly normal even in my human form.

I spotted something then, a quick movement, and focused enough to see a man with a black ski mask with a sack in one hand and a gun in the other coming out of a bank. He hadn't seen me yet, and his gun was haphazardly held. If I flew at him from the right angle I might just be able to tackle him before he spotted me.

And then his partner came out, also sporting a gun, and I knew that it would be stupid to try. That, and Peter would kill me if I got shot. Well, Jason first, but they would both...

“Burglary in process at 1920 1st Avenue. Suspects are armed and should be considered dangerous.” I reported.

“I thought you were all into dealing with these things yourself.” Phillips' voice responded in his natural teasing voice.

“Yeah, well, I'd like to see you get the best of two gun-wielding bank robbers.”

“Well don't worry, someone already called it in. We're almost there. Phillips over and out.”

I chuckled and shook my head as I slowly circled round, hoping that they wouldn't spot me and act stupid or panic.

They got into a blue van, and I made sure to follow at a distance. The cops were long used to my method of tailing cars, and it wouldn't take them long to figure out what I was doing.

“Hey, Birdie, which is it?” Phillips asked.

“Blue van. Can't see the license from here.”

“Thanks. Phillips over and out.”

I continued to tail, just in case. Then I spotted another police car coming from the opposite direction, and knew that they could corral them, no problem. But for some reason, something inside me was saying to stay and wait. I didn't know why, so I decided it would be better just to listen and continued on like I hadn't seen a thing.

The operation went smoothly, really. They managed to surround them without harming any innocent bystanders, except I noticed when they went to cuff one, the other started to run through a side alley. The cops there were too busy trying to get the first guy down to go after him, so I sped on down, praying that the draft wouldn't change at the wrong second as I dove, tackling him swiftly and skillfully as I landed.

Except I must have hit him a bit too hard, cause he didn't get up after hitting the pavement. He wasn't bleeding and was still breathing, though, so I made my way to the emergency exit and climbed my way up the ladders to the roof. Granted, I probably could have climbed up the side of the building, but creating holes in brick was a pain in the ass, slow going, and hurt like hell. And I still had a freaking paper to edit before class tomorrow.

I got up on the roof without difficulty, and looked down to see two cops I didn't know rushing through the alleyway, only to stop at the body, confused. They started to look up, so I backed off, checking the drafts; there wasn't anything strong enough yet for me to push off of. Course, I knew I might need a taller building for that, but--

“Alders to Little Bird, come in?”

I smiled. That would be Jason, probably to try and talk me into going home. Peter had probably called him by now to see if he could talk some sense into me about my stupid paper that I could finish in my sleep. “Little Bird here, what's up?”

“You done with the burglary? Cause if so, I've got someone you need to meet out on Fourth and Holgate.” Which really meant the back alley of. Not that it was hard to spot Jason; he wasn't exactly getting any skinnier, or any more hair, for that matter.

“Alright, will be there shortly. Little Bird, over and out.” I knew he wasn't too far from here, which I was thankful for. I didn't exactly want to go out to the middle of nowhere just to find out... well.. more like just to have to fly all the way back. I didn't exactly have all night to be out here.

Except there was still that problem of wind. I looked around. There wasn't much out here that would be of use, especially since this was one of the taller buildings in the area. But I didn't have time to wait out the cops, so that just left my least favorite thing. Building jumping. I hated still-wind nights.

I made a run for the edge and jumped, using my wings as leverage to get across. The buildings were close enough that it wasn't too hard, and I made pretty good progress... until I hit a major intersection.

I cursed. Well, I was at the right place, just had to get across the street, I realized. Fantastic. And I couldn't exactly just hop down and saunter across the street like this. Red skin, bat wings, and a long golden braid is just too weird, even in Seattle. And that didn't even go into my weird horns that came up from my forehead and followed back along my head right above my hair, or the interesting shape of my feet and the fact that I had a weird claw-thing on my heel that pointed down, making it impossible for me to actually walk on my entire foot. Not like it mattered, it just made it easier for certain martial arts poses. That, and the way my foot worked, I didn't think I was actually supposed to walk on it anyway... for some reason.

And just as I was contemplating radioing Jason back, the wind picked up again, just enough.

“Figures.” I muttered as I jumped off the roof and rode the current across the street, spotted Jason, and landed behind him as softly as I could.

Jason turned and smiled at me. I never could get the one-up on him, even though I had been trying pretty much all my life. “I didn't expect you to take that long.”

“Calm night. Had to roof hop. So you said you wanted me to meet someone?”

The gray haired cop nodded and rotated enough for me to see a scared looking skinny woman with long brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She was wearing sneakers, blue jeans, a red collared shirt, and was shakily holding a pen and pad of paper.

“Oh, hey, if I knew you had a civvie with you I would have made more noise.”

Jason chuckled. “She'll get over it. This is Rebecca Stark, she--”

I narrowed my golden eyes at him. “You wanted me to meet a freaking reporter?!”

“She's a friend of mine, and I promised her an exclusive if she could pull that picture of you talking with Michaels. She even got the negatives.”

I sighed, knowing that picture would have been disaster for the entire building. “Fine. But I'm not even going to acknowledge personal questions.”

“She's been warned.”

“Thank you.” I said dryly, looking back over at the woman who had calmed down significantly. But first impressions were always like that with most people. I figured it was part of the magic curse that had turned my father into a gargoyle centuries ago, and one of the more specific parts the mage had been going for.

“Hi.” I smiled, but not enough to show teeth. My teeth were too pointed right now for that to look anything but threatening.

“Hi.” She smiled back, weakly. She still seemed stunned that I was standing in front of her. “So, no personal questions... right.” She looked from me to Jason and back again.

Jason chuckled. “We all have our secrets.”

She nodded. “Right... I'd ask how long, but neither of you will answer that, will you?”

Jason shook his head.

“Right. So, um... what should I call you?”

I chuckled. “Aaron. Spell it any way you like.” It's not like she couldn't figure that out from the police scanners, anyway, even if it wasn't my actual name, but they had to use something for when they 'slipped up'. They couldn't just go about calling me bird all the time...

“Right. Aaron. So, how long have you been...?”

“...Fighting crime?” I finished. “About six years.”

“Six? But what about the reports that go back a good couple decades...?”

I chuckled. “You know what they say, don't believe everything you read in the newspapers. I don't know how you guys got the idea that it's been the same person this entire time. I don't look anything like my dad did, outside coloring and--” I sighed. “That is to say, I'm a lot skinner than he was. Your pictures reflect that, too. Guess no one was paying enough attention to notice.”

“So that would explain the eight year absence, then?” She asked as she started scribbling. “You taking your father's place?”

I nodded.

“What happened?”

“He died.”

“I'm sorry.” She said, actually sounding like she meant it.

“Me too. Don't ask for details, though.”

She nodded. “Right. Well, I was hoping for some of your feedback on the statistics that have come up, showing a correlation between... gargoyle activity in the city and its decreasing crime rates.”

I shrugged. “Well, at this point, it's pretty much pointless to try and deny cooperation with law enforcement.” I looked at Jason, who nodded, so I continued, thankful that I could say that without him protesting. “But a lot of that is effective use of my time. There's no way in heck that statistic would be that low if I weren't involved with the cops. 99% of the time, I'm involved in a strategic plan or pattern established by the authorities, covertly. And there is always a plan in place. I may not work for the police, and the majority of the force may not realize that I am... involved... with them... but the truth is, it's teamwork that made that statistic decrease. I actually came in at a really weird point in the force's history. Several key people were switched around, the Chief of Police changed... There's more to that statistic than meets the eye, and I think it was mostly done to create drama. It's not like I did it all by myself, you know. I have a life.”

She smiled and nodded. “What got you interested in crime fighting in the first place?”

I shrugged. “A lot of it was my dad. I admired him. He used to go out all the time... and the relationships he made with the police carried on with me even after his death. He was a good guy, and I wanted to be just like him.”

“You must miss him a lot.”

I nodded. “Who doesn't?”

Jason cleared his throat.

She stood up a bit straighter. Apparently that was his signal to her that she needed to change topics before she found herself in hot water. “So, Aaron, how do you think the cops you're in contact with avoid detection?”

“By being careful.” It wasn't exactly rocket science. Especially now that even other cops in the area had figured out that I was one of the good guys. I talked with cops from all over the city now, some more than others. Especially since there were people in other precincts of the city now that had gone through ours and actually knew me. There wasn't much to really connect me with my building, and in the early days of my crime fighting, they had made sure to pretend to act as innocent and confused as the rest.

Course, a lot of them were already used to that from days with my dad, as well as the days hiding me and keeping me safe after his death. So it wasn't like they were unused to keeping secrets from the rest of the world regarding gargoyles. “It's not like any of us can afford for anyone to find out." I continued. "If I'm caught by the world at large, they'll probably take me to some government or privately owned lab somewhere and dissect me to figure out how I tick. And the cops... well... who knows what would happen to the ones that helped me and lied for me and... and the rest of it.”

“Is that why you've been careful about what you've revealed to the public?”

I nodded. “If I had it my way, there wouldn't be any pictures of me, period, but I suppose that would just make things worse. I'm just glad Jason didn't give you the idea that you could tape record me.”

“Part of the deal.” He smiled at me. “And I made sure, don't worry.”

“I figured.”

He looked at Rebecca. “No offense, but I know you too well.”

She chuckled. “Like I was going to blow the interview of a lifetime by having you find one of those on me. You're a cop, you know all the good places to hide them. But you know, I'm going to need a picture of this to replace the one that dissappeared. Besides, no one will believe me unless...”

“Not my problem.” I insisted.

He sighed. “I wondered why you had the camera.” Jason looked at me. “I confiscated it until the meeting was over.”

“Thanks.” I looked at her. “I wasn't kidding about the no-picture thing. Besides, deal was for an interview, yeah? You'll have to seriously produce to get me to agree to a picture.”

She smiled and handed me a folder.

I carefully and suspiciously took it from her. I opened it up and found a couple more pictures, complete with negatives, though much less incriminating, a thumb drive, and a short manuscript entitled Gargoyle Menace at Large.

I skimmed it and found that the writer had eerily put together too much of the right facts...

She looked at Jason. “People are starting to notice that the cops that seem the friendliest with Aaron, here, went through your building at one point or another. One of my co-workers managed to put a lot of it together. The paper doesn't want to run it because they're afraid it's correct, actually. If it is, it means that Aaron might be caught, and our major story dies after a few weeks of frenzy. It's very much in our best interest to keep Aaron anonymously alive and free, even if he's not exactly front page news much anymore.”

“Not to mention the dive the popular ratings for your paper would take if you broke it.” Peter said.

She nodded. “That too. Public opinion on you is pretty high, Aaron, you could probably run for office and win.”

“Ugh, god no.” I suppressed the urge to shudder.

“And when Jason here gave me the offer of an interview, I figured it best if I had some... extra leverage. I've gotten permission to give you the whole bundle... that's everything, including all his info on you. He wasn't real thrilled to give it up.”

“You want more than a picture, huh?”

She nodded. “I want more interviews, and I want details. I won't publish or even share the details, mind you, but I want them.”

“No, hell no! You don't know what you're doing, saying that! It's not just me I'd be risking, it would be anyone who ever helped me; people who are totally innocent of anything whatsoever! Even if Jason swore for your character up, down, and sideways, I'd still be concerned. There are enough people who freaking know too much as is; it's a miracle something hasn't leaked. I can't let anyone else know the details, especially a reporter. If you said the wrong thing to the wrong person... it could lead to disaster.”

Jason looked at Rebecca. “I warned you.”

“Wait... you knew?”

“Not specifically, but she seemed way too calm and smirky coming over here. I figured something had to be up.”

“Fantastic.”

“And yes, he gave me the riot act, but Aaron, what we're talking about here is a lot worse than me potentially spilling something.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “I'll agree to the stupid picture, and I'll agree to the continued interviews, but I'm not agreeing to the information. At least not yet. I need to know you a hell of a lot better before I can even consider it.”

She smiled. “Fair enough. I trust you're a man of your word?”

“Don't insult me. If you know as much as you freaking say, you should know that my word is my bond. If I say something, I mean it, period. But I'm leaving this open for renegotiation, you realize that, right?”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.”

“We done?”

“Until next time.”

“Good.” I muttered, and started to walk towards the emergency exit behind Jason.

“When do you want to have the next one?”

I turned and looked at her, studying her for a moment. “Schedule it with Jason. He'll probably want to be there.”
“Hell yeah.” He muttered, and from the tone of his voice, I could tell that he didn't like this any better than I did.

She nodded. “You must trust him an awful lot.”

“An awful lot more than I trust you.”

She laughed. “Do you even know him?”

I just stared at her for a bit. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Aaron--” Jason soothed, or tried to, but I was way beyond soothing at that point. After all the blackmailing, she had the audacity to--?!

“You don't know a fucking thing, do you?” I asked, slowly getting closer and closer to the woman. “Makes me wonder how well you actually know anything. Jason is the most loyal guy anyone could ever ask for. You have no clue what he's done for me, and what he's put on the line to make sure that I was okay. He made an oath, which may not mean much to you, but for me and my dad, it meant everything.” I finished with a glare, discovering that I had moved almost a little too close, and was making her afraid again.

I shook my head and walked away again, long, curling tail swishing behind me slightly. “Like I said, you don't know a fucking thing.”

Jason put his hand in front of me as I passed. I stopped and looked up at him, still pissed. I could tell that he was, too, he was just hiding it better. This wasn't exactly how either of us had expected this evening to go.

He took a corner of the folder. “I'll give this to Big Bird tomorrow.”

“Don't bother. Just make sure everything's there and burn it.”

He nodded. “I'll see what I can do.”

“Thanks.”

He dropped his hand. I walked up to the fire escape, and this time no one said anything as I went up it. Unbelievable. The nerve of some people.

“And suddenly I get it, why you don't have kids.”

“What's that supposed to mean?!” I heard Jason half roar behind me. I smiled slightly to myself. There was the Jason I knew.

“You see Aaron like your kid, don't you?”

I didn't hear the rest as I climbed the escape, but neither did I have to. Jason would have gladly taken me home with him if he could have when my dad died, but his wife didn't know a thing. That, combined with his relatives who couldn't keep their mouths shut about other things as it was, and having a gargoyle for a son wouldn't have stayed a secret long, and that was something we couldn't afford.

It was a good thing Peter had moved into the area soon after; who knows what would have happened if he hadn't shown when he did. Course, it took him a while to get used to and like the idea of raising a five year old, especially one who only slept four hours a day at weird times. It was amazing he hadn't gone insane trying to figure out what to do with me when he was asleep, let alone anything else.

Course, it probably helped that I had been a pretty good kid. Death does that.

I shook my head, trying to clear it of my dreary thoughts as I got to the roof. I looked at my watch. One A.M. I still had a long while before sunrise and sleep the hour before, and almost eight before I had to get ready for school. So the question was, did I need the full six hours of wake time to finish the essay? Not really. Did I especially want to stay out another hour or two? Not really.

I stopped and listened to the chatter for a bit, nothing exciting, nothing demanding my attention. No one would miss me much if I called it a night.

“Little Bird over and out.” I called, letting them know I was down for the night, and jumped off the roof right as a large gust came in, carrying me upwards and into the stronger drafts that brought me all the way home.

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So yes, this is grand plan for making extra money, and thought the best way to tell you all about it would be to post the first chapter, especially since they don't allow posting just notes anymore, which I think is silly. The rest of the novel, in its entirety, including this chapter, can be found at the link above (once you delete the spaces I had to put in so that the address would stay). And yes, for those of you who've been wondering what I've been up to, this is one of the things I've been busy with. :) The other one will show up eventually, probably sooner rather than later. And no, that one won't be completely free either.

Mya