On the Rooftop: A Gargoyle Story
an excerpt

I was flying over the city. Nothing special, nothing unusual, just me, the wind in my wings, and the ear piece for my police radio stuffed in my ear. There wasn't much happening tonight, really. The chatter had been pretty low, and even though I had been advised by the chief not to use it much, at least in the verbal sense, the fact was that he couldn't, and wouldn't, stop me. It was pretty much a matter of public record, or at least widely published in the newspapers, that I had police connections. No one knew which one, and those who didn't weren't about to say anything. There had been investigations, sure, but they never went anywhere cause the chief wanted to keep his job.
They had gotten close, once, there had been a skiddish newbie in my precinct, but peer pressure kept him almost all the way silent. The chief did the rest. There was some suspicion for a while, and I had to stop visiting the roof in my gargoyle form for a while, which made life annoying and difficult, but not as difficult as being caught would have been.
But at least I wasn't underage anymore. If someone had figured out a few years ago that I wasn't eighteen... well... who knows what would have happened. I couldn't imagine that social services would have gotten involved... at least not to the point of separating me from Peter... god what a scary thought. Not being able to see the guy who raised me from age five on... and being stuck with some unknowing, uncaring, probably idiotic people who wouldn't understand that I didn't have a choice in my sleep patterns, in turning to stone at sunrise and sunset like clockwork, and that I wasn't a freak for being a human during the day and gargoyle at night. There weren't many who actually got that, and Peter was one of the very few who truly did. I mean, there were guys at the station who treated me all well and fine, but they were always more relaxed around me when I was human. Though even in my human form I'm not exactly... normal.
I spotted something then, a quick movement, and focused enough to see a man with a black ski mask with a sack and a gun in one hand coming out of a bank. He hadn't seen me yet, and his gun was haphazardly held. If I got on him from the right angle I might just be able to tackle him before he spotted me.
And then his partner came out, also sporting a gun, and I knew that it would be stupid to try. That, and Peter would kill me if I got shot. Well, Jason first, but they would both...
“Burglary in process at 1920 1st Avenue. Suspects are armed and should be considered dangerous.”
“I thought you were all into dealing with these things yourself.” Phillips responded in his natural teasing voice.
“Yeah, well, I'd like to see you get the best of two gun-wielding bank robbers.”
“Well don't worry, someone already called it in. We're almost there. Phillips over and out.”
I chuckled and shook my head as I slowly circled round, hoping that they wouldn't spot me and act stupid and or panic.
They got into a blue van, and I made sure to follow at a distance. The cops were long used to my method of tailing cars, and it wouldn't take them long to figure out what I was doing.
“Hey, Birdie, which is it?” Phillips asked.
“Blue van. Can't see the license from here.”
“Thanks.” Phillips over and out.
I continued to tail, just in case, as I spotted another car coming from the opposite direction, and knew that they could corral them, no problem. But for some reason, something inside me was saying to stay and wait. I didn't know why, so I decided it would be better just to listen and continued on like I hadn't seen a thing.
The operation went smoothly, really. They managed to surround the guy without harming any innocent bystanders, except I noticed when they went to cuff one, the other one started to run through a side alley. The cops there were too busy trying to get the first guy down to go after him, so I sped on down, praying that the draft wouldn't change at the wrong second as I dove, tackling him swiftly and skillfully as I landed.
Except I must have hit a bit too hard, cause he seemed to have been knocked unconscious by the fall. He wasn't bleeding and was still breathing, so I made my way to the emergency exit and climbed my way up the ladders. Granted, I probably could have climbed up the side of the building, but creating holes in brick was a pain in the ass, slow going, and hurt like hell. And I still had a freaking paper to edit before class tomorrow.
I got up on the roof without difficulty, and looked down to see two cops I didn't know rushing through the alleyway, only to stop at the body, confused. They started to look up, so I backed off, checking the drafts... There wasn't anything strong enough yet for me to push off of. Course, I really might need a taller building for that, but--
“Alders to Little Bird, come in?”
I smiled. That would be Jason, probably to try and talk me into going home... Peter had probably called him by now to see if he could talk some sense into me about my stupid paper that I could finish in my sleep... “Little Bird here, what's up?”
“You done with the burglary? Cause if so, I've got someone you need to meet out on Fourth and Holgate.” Which really meant the back alley of. Not that it was hard to spot Jason, he wasn't exactly getting any skinnier, or any more hair, for that matter.
“Will do. Little Bird, over and out.” He wasn't too far, I knew, which I was thankful for. I didn't exactly want to out to the middle of nowhere just to find out... well.. most like just to have to fly all the way back. I didn't exactly have all night to be out here.
Except there was still that problem of wind... I looked around. There wasn't much around here that would be of use... and this was one of the taller buildings in the area. But I didn't have time to wait out the cops... so that just left my least favorite thing. Building jumping. I hated still-wind nights.
I made a run for the edge and jumped, using my wings as leverage to get across. The buildings were close enough that it wasn't to hard, and I made pretty good progress... until I hit a major intersection.
I cursed. Well, I was at the right place, just had to be across the street, I realized. Fantastic. And I couldn't exactly just hop down and saunter across the street like this. Red skin, bat wings, and a long golden braid is just too weird, even in Seattle. And that doesn't even go into my weird horns that came up from my forehead and followed back along my head right above my hairline, or the interesting shape of my feet and the fact that I had a weird claw-thing on my heel that pointed down, making it impossible for me to actually walk on my entire foot. Not like it mattered, it just made it easier for certain martial arts poses... that, and the way my foot worked, I didn't think I was actually supposed to walk on it anyway... for some reason.
And just as I was contemplating radioing back over to Jason, the wind picked up again, just enough.