Gargoyle: Kinswoman

Part 21

"Who are you?"

Robert asked surprisingly loud, waking her up. She had managed to turn herself on her side, away from the man after she realized he was still there around seven – she knew, because she asked for time – and then succumbed back to sleep. She blinked at the room's window, checking the darkness, but then realized it wasn't sunlight coming in, but the skylights from the corridor.

"You can't be here, the visiting hour ends soon!"

There was familiar rustle of a long coat and she frowned, trying to remember whom it might belong to. She turned slowly, giving the aching body time for the move so she could see, who Robert was talking to.

"Then you best leave." The growl he received wasn't friendly. Her heart raced when she recognized the low sound and she nearly burst in tears with relief while her brain was trying to explain her this was bad to be hearing voices. But she wasn't hearing them alone, so it couldn't be from concussion, she reasoned.

Robert held his ground on the door, not letting Bascun through. He had put his jacket on and was holding his briefcase, so he was about to leave. Behind Bascun stood the other man, who had helped to transport him away back then, when she still had some sense of time. She chuckled on that idea, but it was bitter sound.

Tougo's hand flew up to pat on Bascun's shoulder, though the gargoyle was head taller of him, but it did nothing to relax his muscles while he was in the middle of a stare down competition with Robert.

"We're friends of her niece. She heard of her injuries and sent us to check on her, we being close by while she can't come herself." He said with honeyed tone which lost nothing of its sharpness.

"My wife has no niece." Robert's voice was icy, but he didn't move from his spot. She sensed he was actually trying to protect her, which made her mind panic. She didn't want his protection, she didn't want Bascun to be here either! What if someone saw him, his wings? Or Tougo's? How did they get past the security and the nurses? They both looked massive in their jackets and she guessed it was to hide their wings.

Tougo's expression remained nonchalantly polite, but the next sentence was clear warning. "Nor do you have a wife!"

There was a thick silence between them for a moment, then Robert took a step back inside the ward instead of leaving.

Bascun didn't skip a beat as he walked straight to her bed and and took hold of her outstretched hand as he pulled her tight against his many layered chest. She could feel the buckles and leather strips running all over his chest under the jacket as they dug into her bruised and tender flesh. She didn't care, as long as her hand could reach around his neck and squeeze at the neckline.

"I did as you told me," he whispered to her ear, kissing it gently, "without fuss – that was our deal."

She chuckled, but it hurt all over and she tugged at him to set her back on the bed, because suddenly it felt mightily uncomfortable to be hanged in midair.

Meanwhile, Tougo formed a living wall between them and Robert, who stared at the couple with surprise. Tougo gave him a wide grin with all his fangs visible and she could see Robert pale when his brain made the connections that what he was seeing in front of him was not human.

"Your dreaming." Tougo made a poo-sound at the man, who shrank an inch. "Thank you for taking care of her while she wasn't capable. Now, get out."

"Impolite a little, are we!"

"I asked you to leave." He repeated stoically.

She sank her fingers in his sleeve, when she felt him extract from her and straighten by her side, but after he took a step closer, she couldn't see past him.