hidden talents by Emma Holly

short-sleeved dress.
    Adam and the gargoyle"s matriarch were debating what sort of Talent he
    ought to impersonate.
    “Sight no good,” she said. “You need flash.”
    “That would be better,” Adam said politely as if he talked to giant stone people every day. “But don"t you need to build on a gift that"s already there?”
    The lady gargoyle spread her feathered wings proudly. “Twelve here. Much magic. Pick any gift.”
    “Wait,” interrupted the boy gargoyle, the one who"d gotten permission to live on Adam"s roof. “Girl cold.”
    “Oh,” Adam said, spinning around to her. “Sorry, I didn"t think.”
    Before Ari could decide if she was embarrassed, Adam had his dark sport coat whipped around her shoulders. Once she was in it, no way would she let it go. The silk-lined cloth was warm from his body. And it smelled just like him.

    Adam bent to look into her eyes. “You hanging in, sweetheart?”
    “F-firebug,” she said through her chattering teeth. “Henry Blackwater loved the one he used to have. He was always having him burn up things. After he disappeared, he never could find another one.”
    “Hm,” mused the head gargoyle. “Fire-starting big flash gift.”
    “And a hard gift to control,” Adam said.
    “Hah!” barked the lady gargoyle. “You hot practice much!”
    Apparently, the telepathic version of this joke was hilarious. The formerly silent gargoyles burst into thunderous laughter. Ari grinned herself. Unless she misunderstood, Hot Cop"s sex appeal was apparent across species.
    The sight of Adam blushing like a schoolboy didn"t lessen her amusement.
    That he didn"t know how to respond was obvious. Seeing his dilemma, the lady gargoyle"s cow face appeared to smile. “No worry, werewolf,” she said, her crunching voice actually sounding kind. “We give just-right power. First, though, you bite girl.”
    “Uh.” Adam glanced at Ari and back to the gargoyle. “Me bite girl?”
    The lady gargoyle made shooing motions with her front paws. “You bite girl.
    Two for one.”
    “My mother wants you two to entwine your energy,” her son interjected in perfectly intelligible English. “If you form a moon bond, the Eunuch will be more likely to take you both. He won"t even realize why he wants to.”
    His mother stomped the roof so hard with one back paw that a crack formed in the concrete.
    “Sorry,” said her son, though he didn"t seem very. “I"m just trying to move this along.”
    She glowered at him, which - considering her size - would have made Ari quail. Her son held firm. After a few more heartbeats, she turned her great brown eyes to Adam. “You bite girl,” she said stubbornly.
    Adam looked helplessly at Ari. A pulse beat in his neck, visible in the rooftop security lights. The quickened rhythm told her he was only part reluctant. Another part of him longed to do exactly what the head gargoyle demanded.

    Feeling very much the same, Ari shrugged under his jacket. “Who am I to argue? If that"s what we need to do, you bite girl.”
    ∞
    Ari"s eyes were nervous, though - like his - her respiration was coming more shallowly. Adam dragged one hand down his mouth, where the throbbing length of his fangs reminded him how intensely he wanted to go along with this.
    Hoping he was thinking clearly, he reached for Ari"s wrist.
    “We need to speak alone,” he said over his shoulder to the head gargoyle. “I promise we won"t be long.”
    “We wait,” she said. A second later, she and her compadres had settled into such stillness they could have been statues.
    Aware that this was as private as they were going to get, Adam tugged Ari a bit too fast into the stairwell. She stumbled as the heavy door clanged shut. Adam caught her, then slid his hands under his jacket to frame her waist. This wasn"t likely to help either of them make a rational decision, but at that moment he couldn"t not touch her.
    Her hands came to his chest and stayed there.
    “I"m not sure we have a choice about