Forever The World of Nightwalkers - By Jacquelyn Frank Page 0,91

greater numbers. Before long they might all be on the Politic side of the line drawn between their two camps. It was a state wherein he could be very content should it come to pass.

“Is the Templar alone?” he asked his intuitive friend. There was no better tracker than a Gargoyle. Their specialized senses made it so.

“There are no other Templars in the area,” Ahnvil assured him. “I do not even sense the energy of spells that might cloak them.”

“Then I suggest we let our guest come to us and see what we see. Tameri’s foot in our door is going to have to change our approach to things from now on,” he warned Ahnvil, Ihron, and the female Gargoyle, Diahmond.

Ihron was a slightly leaner version of Ahnvil, which was unsurprising because they were not only from the same clan; they were rumored to have been born of the same maker. As for Diahmond … if a Gargoyle in its stone form could ever be considered beautiful, Jackson would have to say that Diahmond was exactly that. There were many stages of a Gargoyle’s appearances. There was the human appearance, meant to blend into the world, the human appearance with stone skin, worn like an armor that could be quickly donned and shed, and then the full Gargoyle form, which was that of a grotesque, winged beast. In any of his forms, Ahnvil was an enormous figure, and by the standards of a human woman, Diahmond was taller even than Marissa and quite muscular and fit. When human and wearing her stone skin she was as beautiful as a marble Aphrodite, smooth and graceful and powerful. Only when going into battle or when she flew did she turn into her grotesque form. Even so, she was compelling and a thing of fierce feminine strength, like a Valkyrie set for battle and convinced of her superiority.

“Should we not meet this Templar at the gate?” Ahnvil said, clearly chafing against the idea of letting a Templar simply walk onto the grounds of his king’s home. Then again, Ahnvil was happiest when Templars were either not in his purview … or were being ground beneath his heel in battle. Getting the formerly enslaved Gargoyles on board with this new plan of acceptance was potentially going to be quite difficult. For good reason they did not trust any Templar.

That attitude had to change, if for no other reason than that his sister was Blended to a Templar and he would not have her treated like a pariah in her own home. Nor would Ram stand for it, and they could not afford to squabble among themselves” she stammered have better. Their unity was the one thing they had always had over the Templars, who were actually greater in number than the Politic. It was unity that had kept their heads above water in the face of those greater numbers.

“Let them come,” Jackson said. “I don’t suggest letting them in the house or near the women, but let them come as far as they will as long as they behave. Speaking of women, Max, where is Angelina?”

“Sleeping I imagine. It’s past midnight.”

Jackson had not realized it was that late. He had spent far more time than he had realized making love to Marissa. It had seemed so incredibly short … so not long enough. “Let’s not guess. Diahmond, Ahnvil, Ihron, please shift to human form. I don’t need Angelina walking around the corner and seeing you in your present forms. Max, head back toward the guesthouse and see to it she’s protected and that she stays away from the main house. I do seem to recall telling you not to leave her side.”

“What am I supposed to do, get in her bed with her?” Max might have sounded more put out if the idea clearly didn’t have merits in his estimation.

“Do refrain from that, too,” Jackson warned him. “She is going to be a part of this family, so it would be wise not to play where you eat.”

The statement made all eyes turn to him, each face staring at him in disbelief.

“But …”

“Let’s talk about it later,” Jackson said, glancing over to Diahmond. She was just as loyal to Hatshepsut as Ahnvil was to him. He knew that she would view him taking Marissa into his bed as an affront to her mistress’s honor. And without the details of what was transpiring, he could see her becoming offended on her mistress’s behalf. But since