Once the roast and the vegetables finished their cooking I pull out a loaf of bread I had baked early in the morning to add to the meal and rummage though the wine cabinet looking for another bottle of the 1982 red we used on the roast. And the three of us sit at the table Maahes taking a serving fork and very sharp carving knife and with an amused look asks. “So should I just cut this into three pieces and say it’s good?” I chuckle as does Doug, and then my father grins and expertly slices the roast into twenty perfect slices. Knowing full well me and Doug did not need to eat as much as he did, he did however take almost half the meat and place it on his plate with a healthy helping of the mixed veggies and potatoes. I pulled out a piece of fresh butter from one of the local farms, and set it next to the fresh bread on a bread board. Fresh bread is always better with fresh butter, pity the bread wasn’t straight out of the oven though; watching the golden butter slowly melt into the bread is a good way to tease your taste buds.

After cutting himself a piece and ensuring the two of us each also had some butter my father takes a few bites and then a drink of wine with a thoughtful look on his face. He takes a bite of meat with a faraway look, “let’s see; did you know Scartooth knew Lobo?” I shake my head at my father, and he continues after pausing in his eating to take a small sip of wine. “Oh yes. They protected the same local tribe, you wouldn’t know that due to the restrictions that Lobo had placed upon him.” I look at my father with a curious look, “why would there have been restrictions then?” My father takes a heaping forkful of vegetables, “these are very good Nancy. Back then, once settlers started appearing here the council caught wind that there were ‘specials’ even here. They knew what wolves were like and sent Simon over to issue their dictates, now while they had seen big cat ‘specials’ before; more like very large African lions and Bengal tigers. They knew nothing of Saber tooth cats, nor the American lion either. I had been just a cub back then so they had no idea what I was, and my people had made a point to keep it that way.” I nod my head, from my classes on shifter history I knew that ‘specials’ didn’t always appear in an area. It was almost as if the Goddess randomly chose where to send her unique children.

My father quickly downs the rest of his glass of wine looking angry a moment then refilling it. “I once met an Aurochs while in Europe, did you know in shifter biology the herbivores are less common?” I nod my head, we were told that but never why; my father continues. “I had asked him why there were so few of his kind, he got a sad look on his face and then told me why. It seems due to the nature of a herbivore they tend to remain with their normal cousins. Then they wind up getting hunted for food.” I shudder at the thought, I knew technically if we died in our beast form we would remain that way; a human wouldn’t know any better. They could not smell the human within the beast, and would be unable to know they did a horrible thing.

My father takes a bite of roast after looking at it a few minutes, “he said that over the years large groups get born. Then they feel the urge to join a herd and are never heard from again. That is why the council does so much extensive testing these days. Did you know farmers are required to get all newborn farm animals a major blood screening before they are permitted to do anything with the animals? This is to ensure the possibility of the ‘luck born’ from being killed.” The ‘luck born’ was an oddity that allowed shifters to be born to non shifters, the problem was; sometimes they were born to the beast species verses the human one. It is how new shifter species come about generally, or just new types of a current one. If I were to hazard a guess that shifter that killed Drake’s father was a ‘luck born’.

My father finishes his food and opens the second bottle of wine and leans back in the chair, “so due to the restrictions placed on Lobo your grandmother had to do more work than he did. When the settlers would show up to attack the tribe they would see her standing proudly on her four feet snarling them down. One time she had been away rescuing a hunter from a crazed bear, we think it had been rabid. A group of people had shown up and stolen a number of the tribe’s children. Lobo was not permitted to go after them, he had only taken out about half of them. She followed them for days till they stopped at the sea, where a couple of tall ships were docked. She waited till they had all fallen asleep and then she eviscerated all of them, and then gently woke the children up and had them ride on her back, to go home again. A few days after the local village found the remains and became scared of the tribe.”

The front door opens and Simon walks in, “you forgot to add in that I was called in after that to deal with the aftermath Maahes.” Simon says as he retrieves himself a glass, then reaches into the cabinet to pull a third bottle out. My father gives Simon a mock offended look, “I was just getting to that old man.” Simon snorts as my father pours him a glass from the open bottle, “Nancy; you should have come to me if you wanted to know about your grandmother. I knew her very well, she is the reason I did not return to Europe.” I blink my eyes surprised at the statement and ask, “Simon were you and her;” he cuts me off with a withering look. “Do not ask me that question Nancy, I will not answer it. Suffice it to say I will ensure Scartooth’s legacy lives to her fullest potential.” I nod my head understanding the unspoken comment included, I had not figured Gargoyles could get involved with other species; but apparently they must have found some way.

Doug speaks up, “Mr Simon. Nancy still doesn’t understand that people are not afraid of her.” Simon nods his head, “ah I understand why you are discussing her then.” He turns to look at me, already on his second glass. “You know Mr Lee?” I nod my head, and he continues; “well he is from China. They have a few odder shifter types there, that people are not permitted to discuss. One of which is a real Dragon shifter, while actual Dragons are rare. They have the ability to mimic human form to enable them to interact with other species. Dragon shifters spend a great deal of time sleeping and eating. More so than a wolf shifter shifting to something that large requires a great deal of energy, and they generally require a large meal as soon as they shift into their beast form. They are strictly regulated due to the fear they might shift while out in public with nothing for them to consume. They will go crazy if starved. Now Mr. Lee use to work in the shifter compound in the Forbidden City. He learned how to determine what is the best foods for any shifter from working there.” Simon levers me with a look, “that is why he gives you a stack of shrimp when you eat at his place. He knows somewhere in your makeup your body needs it, none of us understand why as the scientists cannot trace your kind back to any sea side cat.”

Simon then waves a hand at Doug, “you know how rabid his mother is. Yet she lets her one and only son hang out with you? Surly she understands you better than you think. The guy who owns the feed store? His wife is a goat shifter, and if she’s not afraid of smelling you on her husband you have nothing to worry about.” He downs the current wine glass and refills it again, “what they did to Scartooth was horrible, and what they did to your mother was worse. They put her with a human family who was afraid of shifters who only had bad things to say about your grandmother. Nancy, even the humans have to learn some shifter history. Especially the parts where mistakes were made in the past. Everyone native to this area knows who your grandmother was and the good she did for her people.” He stands and hugs me, which is a very un-Simon thing to do; he then pulls back and says. “Seldom is the past something we wish to remember, but when we do something wrong we must remember it or we will never be able to go beyond it.”

He then sits back down and asks, “so do you want to hear the news about your uninvited guests?”