these thick patches along the sides and back, tell me there are real gargoyles here!”
“And how did you know these statues were here at all?”
“Spotted ’em while passing through town a few months ago,” Jessup told him. “Gotta keep yer eyes open for this sort of thing.”
“How slow do you drive?”
“See, here’s the tricky thing with gargoyles,” Jessup said without paying any mind to Cole’s sarcasm. “It’s the same tricky thing that has to do with a lot of the smaller beasties that have been surfacing lately. Since things like these have been hidden away or sleeping or whatever the hell else, Skinners haven’t seen them for years. And,” he added just as Cole opened his mouth to hurry him along, “since these things ain’t bloodsuckers or shapeshifters, there’s no way for most Skinners to feel them in their scars anymore.”
“So Skinners have seen gargoyles before?”
“Gargoyles were mentioned in almost every Skinner journal from the 1750s all the way through the 1800s. That’s when a Full Blood claimed this whole continent and drove ’em underground. I spotted the first one for myself when I was scouring graveyards for more Half Breed dens or Shunkaws. Did some research and now I’m spotting them all over.”
Pulling open his vest, Jessup revealed a harness that might have started off as a shoulder holster but had been modified to carry two wooden clubs that were each just under a foot long. He pulled one out by the handle, using the tips of his fingers to avoid the thorns. “Shapeshifters and Nymar are the most common things out there. Wasn’t always like that, though. Full Blood’s closin’ in.”
“I know. I can feel her.”
“Can you feel the Squam?”
“No,” Cole said warily. “Can you?”
When Jessup tossed him one of the clubs, Cole reflexively snatched it from the air. The thorns bit into him, sinking like needles through the toughened skin of his palm. As soon as the little spikes touched his blood, something else flowed through the scars. It was a cold tingle that felt as if he’d accidentally gotten window cleaner into his blood.
“Journals talk about there being lots more than what we see nowadays,” Jessup continued. “Skinners had to adapt. Their methods were more or less the same as they are now, but were a bit more flexible. Whenever they found something new, they’d take some of its blood and add it to the mix used for the varnish on their weapons. It’s a practice that’s been phased out lately just because there hasn’t been much need for it. Old-timers like me passed along the methods for modifying the varnish even when the young ones only wanted to fight what they could see.”
The Full Blood was getting closer. Cole figured he didn’t have to say as much to another Skinner, so he nervously glanced toward the edge of town, where he guessed Cecile might be approaching. Then something else came along to add itself to the growing burn caused by the werewolf. The chill beneath his scars spread like a layer of slush sandwiched somewhere in between the heat from the varnish and the warmth of his own body.
“Feel it yet?” Jessup asked.
“I think so.”
“That cold is from the sample of gargoyle blood I scraped up when I found the first one a few weeks ago. It’ll only last a while after you switch back to your own weapon, so we’ll have to modify that one too. Didn’t you carry a spear back in Philly?”
“Yeah. Mind if I use this until I get it back?”
“Sure, just don’t get too jumpy.”
Cole’s entire hand started to shake. Everything from cold to heat and every gradient in between rushed through his fist. “I think something’s wrong. Feels like I’m allergic to this one or something.”
“Told you not to get jumpy. I’ve scraped up all kinds of new blood and added it to the varnish on that club. You need to get used to it. Finding that first gargoyle was a lucky stroke. They must’ve either been getting too cocky, frightened, or hungry to worry about staying hid any longer. I didn’t know what the hell it was at first until a bunch of them damn near got me. Faster than you’d ever think. That’s one of the things that keeps ’em from being noticed. They’ll jump out and take yer head off before you even knew what was happening.”
“Shit,” Cole said as he hopped away from the statue. “You might want to open with that the next time