Gargoyles are the property of Walt Disney. No copyright infringement is intended. Sue me for being relaistic, but am I the only one who wondered what happened after ‘Angels in the Night?’ A major change like that is bound to have some kind of effect on the city - for better or for worse. This is just part of what I think may have happened. Sightings: Angels of the Night ‘Full house,’ Dani Wagner thought. ‘Good.’ The 32 year old woman stood at the edge of the stage, just before the audience. She held a microphone in one hand and wore a fake smile like she had been born with it. She was waiting for the signal from her producer. Any second now...He pointed to her, and she snapped into her role. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Dani Wagner, welcome to ‘The Dani Show!’” She waited for the applause to die down, then continued. “As you undoubtedly know, we have a special show for you today.” She walked across the stage a bit, a concerned frown on her face. “For the past year, New York has been alive with reports of winged creatures flying through the city. Creatures that only come out at night. For a long time, such rumors were dismissed as hallucinations, or a trick of the media in an effort to grab ratings. But now we have proof. Proof that these creatures, these gargoyles, really exist.” She paused and looked straight into the camera. “But what do we really know about these gargoyles? Are they a danger to us and our families? Or are they protectors of the night? Today, we’re going to try and find out.” She walked back to the center of the stage and took her seat. “Today we have invited two very special guests, guests who claim to have actually met a gargoyle in person. They have agreed to tell us their stories. We also have Detective Matt Bluestone, head of the NYPD’s Gargoyle Task Force, District Attorney Margo Yale, Ms. Abigail Underwood founder of the People for Interspecies Tolerance and Mr. Lennox MacDuff, who has studied gargoyles for the better part of his life.” She smiled. “We’ll be back with our first guest after these messages.” The producer signaled all clear and the smile dropped. “What are they going to think of next?” Dani muttered. “Gargoyles? Spare me. Why not do a show on Elvis sightings?” “You say something Ms. Wagner?” One of the stage girls, Melissa, handed her some notes. “Mr. Jakobs said you’d need these.” Dani took the papers with a distinct lack of interest. “A change in the order of interviews? They let me know this five minutes beforehand? Splendid.” She scanned the notes quickly. “And we’re back!” The producer signaled. “Hi everybody, welcome back.” Dani crossed her legs and smiled for the camera. “Our first guest today is Ms. Lauren Rand from New York City.” Amid thunderous applause a young woman with long black hair came out from back stage and took the seat next to Dani. “Welcome, Lauren. I understand you have a story to tell us?” “I do, Dani,” Lauren smiled, totally at ease with the cameras and audience. “It was about two years ago. I was on my way home from work...” *** Lauren kicked her car again. “Damnit!” Of all the times for her car to break down, it would have to be in the middle of the road, at eleven o’clock at night, more than six blocks from her home. “Shit! There’s gotta be a payphone around here somewhere.” She spotted one across the road, and darted over. “I know I have a quarter here somewhere,” she muttered, digging through her purse as she ran. “I’m not that broke - uhn!” She ran into something and fell flat on her back. “Whoa!” A young man looked down at her. “Careful, honey.” He smiled. “You almost knocked the wind out of yourself.” Lauren smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I’m in a bit of a hurry.” She accepted the hand he offered warily. “I do apologize. If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a quick phone call.” “I don't think so.” Lauren’s eyes widened and she tried to pull away, but his grip on her wrist was tight. “You’re a pretty one,” he said appraisingly. “Very pretty. What’s a pretty girl doing all alone out here in the middle of the night?” “Let go of me,” Lauren demanded, but her voice was breathless with fear, barely more than a whisper. “I’ll scream, I swear I will. Let me go!” “Nah,” he said. “I think I’ll keep you. The two of us are going to have a lot of fun, aren’t we?” He twisted her arm roughly. Lauren cried out and hit him, hard, across the face. He grunted, but his hold didn’t loosen. “Now is that how you want it to be, honey?” he demanded. “I don’t mind. I like it rough.” She screamed wordlessly, pulling away from him, adrenaline suddenly pumping through her. She caught him by surprise and managed to get free. She ran. His footsteps echoed behind her, getting closer ever second. She knew she couldn’t outrun him, he was easily eight inches taller than she, and probably did this sort of thing more often. “Help!” she screamed. “Help me! Please!” She felt his hand on her shoulder, then suddenly he was gone. She stumbled, trying to keep her balance and turned to see what had happened. The guy who had grabbed her was flat on his back on the ground, and above him she saw - glowing eyes? Lauren gasped, but didn’t run. “Well, well, well. Look at this.” The voice was mocking, and young. “Mr. Bigshot getting his kicks terrorizing a woman.” Lauren took a couple of steps closer. Whoever this was, glowing eyes or not, he didn’t sound like he was out for dinner. And he’d hardly go to the trouble of saving her if he was going to kill her, right? “Holy shit,” her attacker whispered. “What are you?” He didn’t move an inch as he talked, practically frozen with fear. Lauren got a kind of pleasure out of the sight. ‘Sacred, are you?’ she thought vengefully. ‘Serves you right, pig.’ The owner of the glowing eyes didn’t respond. Lauren bit her lip as the eyes turned toward her. They moved a bit closer, and the glow faded. “Wow,” she muttered absently, the biology major in her coming to the surface. Now that her rescuer was closer she could make out enough to tell that he definitely wasn’t human. His skin was a golden-greenish-brown, and his wide eyes were a deep brown. He walked on all fours, and Lauren could see web-like wings connecting between his arms and his side. Lauren saw that his hands had four fingers, or more accurately, three fingers and an opposable thumb. ‘Usually a sign of intelligence,’ she thought. She stood still, not wanting to frighten it. He paused a short distance away, out of arm’s reach. “Are you all right?” he asked. Lauren couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said, seeing his confused look. “I just - I didn’t expect any of this to happen. I was just trying to get home and get a few hours’ sleep before I had to get back to the lab.” “Are you hurt?” he asked. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Just tired and a little out of breath.” “What happened? Why are you out here so late?” “My car broke down,” she sighed. “And I’m too broke to afford a mechanic. I was going to call my husband to come pick me up when this creep grabbed me.” He watched her calmly. “Why don’t you sit down for a minute? Catch your breath.” “I really shouldn’t,” she objected. “I have to get home.” “I’ll take a look at your car,” he told her. “I’m pretty good with machines and stuff.” “Would you?” Lauren asked. “It’s that one over there.” “Just a minute,” he told her. Lauren sat down wearily at the curb, resting her head on her knees and watched as her rescuer returned to her attacker. He stooped down and it looked like he was tying the guys hands and feet. Lauren had a sudden hysterical thought of Batman, leaving the bad guys tied up for the cops to find, like he used to in the old comics. He said something, but she didn’t catch what. She must have drifted off because the next thing she knew a woman with long black hair was shaking her gently. “Ma’am? Are you all right?” Lauren yawned in her face. “Sorry,” she said apologetically. “I’m a little tired.” “Understandable.” The woman stood and helped Lauren up. “I’m Elisa Maza, NYPD. Is everything all right here?” Lauren whirled around and saw her attacker where he had been the last time she saw him. “That bastard tried to rape me,” she said. As if saying it made it real all of a sudden she started to cry. “It’s all right,” Maza said softly. “I’ll take him down to the station and you can press charges.” “I want to call my husband.” “We’ll give him a call from the station,” Maza promised. “Why don’t you get your car started while I cuff this guy?” Lauren slowly made her way across the street, then sank into the car with a tired sigh. She suddenly remembered how all this had started as she stared at the ignition. “Aw, no.” She whispered. “I really don’t need this. But, he said he’d try to fix it,” she remembered. She slid the key into the ignition and, crossing her fingers, gave it a try. She almost cried when she heard the engine start up. “Oh, thank you.” *** “So you’re saying this gargoyle saved you from a rapist?” For once Dani wasn’t faking her interest in what a guest was saying. “And then he fixed your car?” “I know it sounds silly,” Lauren laughed. “But that’s really how it happened.” “What happened to the man who assaulted you?” Dani asked. “Did the gargoyle hurt him?” “Couple bruises from getting knocked down. Better than he deserved and better than he had planned for me. The case went to trial and I’m happy to say that he is currently serving the third year of a four year sentence.” The audience, especially the female members, cheered. “Did you ever see your gargoyle again?” Dani asked. “I’m afraid so,” Lauren said. “It was about a year later, on the evening news. Do you remember the kidnapping case last year, involving the mayoral candidate, Doyle?” Dani nodded. “Well if you recall, Doyle captured a gargoyle and offered it as ransom for a baby who had been kidnapped. Of course,” she added, “Doyle was really the kidnapper, but that wasn’t known at the time. Any way, the gargoyle he captured was shown on the news and it was the same one who rescued me that night.” “That must have been difficult,” Dani said sympathetically. “I think we have that footage, actually. Do we,” she called over to the producer. “Let’s see if we can’t show the people what Lauren means.” A moment or two later the screen behind Dani snapped to life. A small green gargoyle, held in restraints appeared on the screen. “Is this what you mean, Lauren?” Lauren nodded. “That’s him.” Dani consulted her notes. “According to this, the gargoyle escaped, took out Doyle and rescued the baby Doyle was using as a hostage.” The picture changed to a shot of the same gargoyle handing a small child over to a young couple. “It certainly seems that some gargoyles, at least, are not the dangerous threat they have been made out to be.” Dani gave Lauren a beaming grin. “I’d like to thank you for sharing your story with us Ms. Rand.” “My pleasure,” Lauren replied. Dani turned to the camera. “Our next guest, however, seems to have a very different tale to tell. We’ll hear his story when we come back.” *** Continued in ‘Sightings: Terror in the Sky’