Myths and Gargoyles

by Jamie Hawke

  Stifling a laugh as a car rolled by and someone shouted, “Sweaty back” at him, I couldn’t help noting how his short brown hair and long beard reminded me of my buddy Andy from back home. Not that we’d been in touch much even before I took off, but I kind of missed hanging out with the guy. A simpler life of going to try and find dive bars, but nine times out of ten giving up and hitting Rida’s down the street from my house. Drinking beers, talking punk music and movies from our youth. I somehow still hadn’t convinced him of what a great movie Total Recall was, even though I’d sworn it as a life goal. He simply wasn’t into the sci-fi stuff, so wouldn’t give it a full chance. At least we both agreed that the Back to the Future movies ranked among the best, but then again, I couldn’t stand when he tried to refer to those as sci-fi. Ugh. All the excitement I had now, and I was focusing on those simpler times.

  “We should… grab a beer,” I mumbled.

  Steph shifted. “Grab a beer?”

  “Right. I mean, not right now. But when we have time. With the others, too.”

  Her eyebrow raised, her cute lips forming a hint of a smile. “The heat must be getting to you.”

  I knew exactly what she meant. Going out with Steph was fine, since her stark white hair could be explained as an outlandish personality or homage to a television character. Going out with large gargoyles who had horns and wings wasn’t as easily explained. They could illusion themselves to appear normal, but that took focus, and beer tended to drive that away.

  Unless we wanted the gargoyles to be the designated drivers, the whole idea didn’t work. Maybe I’d find a way to reconnect with Andy, or my other buddies back home, someday. Explain to them what a douche I’d been for spending so much time studying and prepping—and with Steph—before moving east. Then again, it wasn’t likely that we’d get each other anymore, anyway. They had their bands and their part-time shitty jobs, while I had magic and a team of gargoyles plus a witch, with a mission to restore magic back to the world, and fighting nine magical ladies… or less, as I thought two had separated from the others, if I remembered correctly.

  “Maybe when all of this is over,” I finally said. “Not going out, but I could rearrange the den to have a bar feel, and we could pretend.”

  She chuckled, a hand on my thigh, and nodded. “Sure, sure.”

  “Here you are,” the driver said. I used my credit card but gave him a cash tip, then we were out and moving along the neighboring block, ducking through trees to get out of sight and make it home without prying eyes noticing.

  “Faster,” Steph said, taking the lead as I used my powers to unlock the door and let us in under the haze of dusk, then we pounded up the stairs and darted down the hall to reach the bedroom before sunset.

  Aerona and Kordelia were in their statuesque poses, while Ebrill had turned to stone on the bed with her legs spread. Being the considerate guy that I was, after a quick glance of curiosity to see the way her spread legs looked, I had draped the sheet over her. It would have felt wrong to leave her exposed, and Steph had given me a nod that showed the act had earned points in her book.

  Still, I was a recent high school grad, and walking back in there, knowing the sheet covered what would appear to be the most intricate pussy ever carved in stone, I longed to move that curtain aside and appreciate the details again. The gentleman in me refrained.

  “No attacks, then?” Steph said, eyeing me and then glancing past, to show that Shisa had entered. The little, living stone dog-dragon stared at us, then turned to look at the statues, waiting.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” I replied. With the traps we had set up and magical defenses, we weren’t too worried about the house during the day. It helped that Shisa was badass and never needed sleep, while the enemy’s magic worked best when fueled by the darkness of night.

  As the scattered clouds moved from pink to near black, the sun nothing but several lines poking up from behind the houses and distant buildings, I wrapped an arm over Steph’s shoulders and we waited.

  It was such a magical moment, these transformations, and we both wanted to be there to observe. More touching than any fireworks show, although less showy. My eyes roamed over the curves of Kordelia’s stone skin, only barely covered by her armor, wings folded back and long horns like thick streamers flowing back from her head. Aerona was every bit as beautiful, although the most petite of the three and with horns that reminded me more of a halo in the way they curved around her head toward the front. A halo, or perhaps a rare ram, while the other two had horns that reminded me more of those of an antelope, maybe. Thinking of them in animal terms felt wrong, so I let my eyes move back to their curves, letting my animal instinct take over.

  “They’re beautiful,” Steph said, glancing at me.

  “I know.”

  “So…” She looked down at herself, causing me to do the same. To think of Aerona as petite meant Steph was downright tiny, but only by comparison. She was only five-foot-two, with not much in the chest region. Her eyes met mine, and there was vulnerability there as she asked, “Why am I here?”

  “You mean… here, here?” I gestured to the bedroom, and she nodded. “Steph, seriously?” I moved my hands to her waist and kissed her briefly. “You know, I had a thing for you even when you were apparently possessed.”

  “Cursed,” she corrected me. “Maybe a bit of mind-manipulation, but not possessed.”

  “Well, you get the point. I care for you—and there was some of the real you then, I have no doubts. So… what? You’re not some super-buff gargoyle, your breasts aren’t big enough to smother me to death?”

  “Not helping.”

  “I’m saying you’re sexy in your own way. A way that I can’t get enough of.” I picked her up in a way that forced her to wrap her legs around my waist, causing her to laugh. Kissing her chest over her shirt, then moving up to her neck, I let her down again and said, “If we didn’t have work to do, I’d take you right here, right now.”

  “Maybe we should, anyway,” she said, glancing to the window. “We have… actually…”

  “What?” As my eyes followed hers to the window, my smile faded. “Shit.”

  “I was going to say we have a minute or two, but we shouldn’t. Right?”

  We both moved to the window, hand in hand, and moved the curtains completely out of the way to get a better look. The streaks of sunlight were gone, dusk upon us, but the gargoyles hadn’t woken.

  100

  “I don’t understand,” Steph said, releasing my hand and going to the statue of Kordelia, running her hand along the gargoyle’s arm as if that would wake her. “It’s sunset. Why…?”

  “They should be awake.” Stating the obvious always sat wrong with me, but the words needed to be said in case the universe simply wasn’t aware. I frowned, but had an idea. Using my transmutation powers, I created the videogame screen I’d made to help me understand this magic, and tried to wake them that way.

  No luck.

  “Do you think,” Steph went from Kordelia to Ebrill, kneeling at her side on the bed, a hand on the statues, “that we won? That in spite of all that’s left to do, that was it and now they’re stone forever?”

  “Of course not. First, Aerona just came to us. Second, no way would the universe let Ebrill be frozen forever like… that.”

  We both stared at Ebrill for a moment. She had been in the act of finishing her orgasm as I pulled out in time to not have my dick stuck in stone as she transformed. Her eyes were closed, a look of pure ecstasy on her face, and one hand clutched her breast. It was hot, a feeling that was muddied by the confusion over whether we would ever see her awake again.

  “I don’t like this,” Steph muttered. “It reeks of black magic intervention.”

  “Shisa?” I turned to the stone lion-dog that I’d previously brought to life, one of a pair, whose twin had died fighting off the enemy. I cocked my head, hoping it had some way of enlightening us.

  Shisa circled, first Aerona, and then Kordeli
a, before finally leaping up next to Ebrill and nuzzling her in a way that pulled the sheet aside. Damn, seeing her spread pussy like that—even in stone—made my mind swim with confusion and my chest ache. I quickly covered her up again, annoyed that Shisa had, apparently, decided to simply perch beside her.

  “Not much of an answer,” Steph noted. At the window again, she closed the curtains. “What do we do if there’s an attack?”

  “Hold out as best we can,” I replied. “To be fair, I’ve changed up the house and blocked off entrances. We have the wards in place, and now that I have access to the magic of Avalon we might be safe.”

  “Shit, Jericho.” She paced the room, going to the door and glancing out as if there might be someone out there, coming for us. “This… I mean, it’s bad.”

  “Maybe?” I focused one more time, trying to use my powers along with my recently acquired connection to Avalon, but nothing woke the gargoyles. When I saw she was still staring at me, I went to Ebrill, caressing her cheek. “Wake up. Please.” I frowned, then leaned in and kissed her stone lips.

  “Are you seriously trying the Sleeping Beauty move?”

  “Wasn’t it Snow White?” I stood, rubbing my hands together nervously. As much as I was able to play it cool, this was getting to me. It wasn’t planned, and in situations like these, that could be majorly fucked up.

  Steph scratched her neck, her long nails causing a prick of blood. She wiped it, looked at the blood and, sighed. “Let’s… get a bite.”

  “We’re not leaving, not at a time like this.”

  Her frown reminded me to calm down. Her gesture to the grocery bags beside the door made me feel like an idiot.

  “Ah, right.” I stepped over and pulled out some salami and cheeses, along with a can of kombucha that Steph had insisted I try. “We can eat here, though. I don’t want to let them out of my sight.” Glancing over at Shisa, I asked, “Do you eat?”

  Shisa shook its head no.

  “Okay.” Steph took out some sushi rolls and a sparkling water, setting the rolls down on the nightstand. “First, we still need to find the others, right? Only…” She opened the water, pulling back with a yelp as it sprayed a bit on her arm. Licking it off, she rolled her eyes. “Only, as I was saying, Aerona was the one with the lead. We don’t get her back, we got nothing.”

  “Right. And we know that Thiten is going to be hunting us down. She could find a way to be summoned again, or break into our world officially, and show up any minute.”

  “Maybe…”

  “You know something?”

  A flicker of pain crossed through Steph’s eyes. “Bits of my time with them come back to haunt me, and mostly… it sucks.”

  “Okay.” I was about to ask why, but the pain was still in her eyes, so I took a bite of salami and waited for her to speak.

  She took a long sip, the bubbles causing her to burp slightly. At least that took away some of the tension. Setting it aside, she continued. “Whenever things didn’t work out perfectly for those involved, there were… repercussions.”

  “Steph, I—”

  “I don’t want your pity or anything like that.” She turned away, eyes cast down. “Just… I’m sharing because my point is, I don’t think they’re smart enough to strike right now. They suffered a major setback, even with Fatiha regaining her power. She’s rogue, as far as I know. So, they’ll be regrouping, punishing those they think deserve to be punished. They could show up at any minute, but… I wouldn’t think so.”

  Finishing off a cheese and salami combo, then cringing at a sip of the kombucha, I nodded. My mind was working to process her words, my emotions not able to hide how annoyed I was at the idea of anyone ever hurting her. But I let it go, instead focusing on the here and now.

  “Okay. We might have time. Then… we…?” I was at a loss.

  “Visit Rianne? See if she has any answers for us?”

  I nodded and reached out for her hand.

  “One sec.” She engulfed a massive bite of sushi, chewed it awkwardly for a few seconds before swallowing, and took my hand. “Ready.”

  Taking her hand, I closed my eyes and reached out to that magical world. Before, it had only been accessible via dreams, but my understanding now was that it was connected to our world again.

  Only, nothing came.

  My eyes opened to see Steph staring at me, her lips pressed together so that they formed a thin line. Her left eye twitched.

  “I need to try something,” she said, and then stood, taking a step away from me. With a lick of her lips, she narrowed her eyes, focusing.

  Nothing happened.

  “Are you…” I started, but her look of frustration caused me to stop.

  Again, she focused. Again, nothing happened.

  When her eyes burst open, she let out a loud “FUCKKK!” and “SHITTT!” followed by throwing her hands forward in what would have otherwise been a fireball. As it was, nothing happened.

  “Shit,” I said. “You…”

  “Nothing.” She turned to me, shoulders back, nostrils flared and breathing heavily. “No fire, no Wraith Knights. What the fuck did you do?”

  “Not a damn thing.”

  “Well you sure did something, because it’s gone, they—they’re gone!”

  I threw my hands up, about to argue, but instead ran them through my hair, standing there like that for a moment, hands on head, thinking.

  “Could it be the return of Avalon?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  She scoffed. “J… We just tried to connect to Avalon, and it didn’t work. Oh, shit,” she put her hand to her chest as if pained, “what if this is them? The enemy doing this?”

  “Fuck me.” I blinked, rubbed at my eyes, and knelt, putting my hand to the floor. Before, I had been able to sense when the house was under attack. Oddly, when I shifted the floor around with my transmutation power, it worked. “I can’t sense anyone attacking, and I’m still able to use magic.”

  This time, she looked like she was going to be sick. “So maybe… since my powers were corrupted by darkness, kind of… maybe only mine are gone?”

  I indicated the stone gargoyles, shaking my head, then turned to Shisa who was eyeing us with its wide orbs of eyes. Not giving us any answers, though. Steph was staring at me, hands clutched to her chest and biting her lip as if she expected me to come up with an answer.

  “If we’re being attacked, we need to know,” I said, then turned back to Shisa. “Can you… sniff out any magic that might be affecting us?”

  Shisa jumped off the bed, walked to the door, and glanced around before continuing.

  “That’s our plan?” Steph asked.

  “Until we come up with a better one? Yeah. I can’t sense anything, but maybe Shisa can, or maybe there is an attack and at least we’ll be able to find a clue, somehow.”

  I took her hand and we followed along, moving toward the back staircase that I had made while changing things around. It led down to the basement, and we kept on until we were in a large room with ancient weapons but not much else. I marveled at an especially cool double-sided axe, but turned to see Shisa moving along the walls, clearly looking for something.

  “While we wait,” I said, eyeing Steph. “Back there, when you couldn’t access… them…”

  “The Wraith Knights.”

  “Yes. You seemed pretty shook up about it.”

  “Is it ‘shook’ or ‘shaken’?” She forced a grin, clearly trying to avoid the question. When I folded my arms, she sighed. “There’s a bit of a story there.”

  “We don’t know how long we have, and… it’s not like we know what else to do in the meantime.”

  Eyeing me a moment longer, she nodded, then glanced over to the wall. “Make us a bench to sit on, at least.”

  I chuckled as I obliged, loving that I had the power. Only, as soon as the wall moved out to form the bench, Shisa growled and darted into an opening he had found. Steph and I shared a look of exc
itement. Putting her story on hold, I made the opening larger and we followed Shisa in to find a drop off that led to darkness below. A growl, and Shisa fell.

  “No!” I shouted, reaching with one hand and using the other to grab the wall and morph whatever was down there to grab him. Only, nothing happened.

  “What?” Steph asked.

  “It’s not… part of the house. Down there.”

  “So?” She leaned over, kneeling at the edge to see better. “Doesn’t your power work on rock and whatnot?”

  “It should,” I replied with a frown. A look around revealed stone, maybe the foundation upon which the house was built. Parts of it had crumbled away, likely due to my shifting of the house numerous times. When I tried to adjust it, though, nothing happened. “Shisa, you okay?”

  A flash of light reflected as something moved, followed closely by what sounded like a grunt.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Steph said.

  “Still, we’re going down.”

  “How?”

  I glanced around, then back at the walls behind us. While I couldn’t adjust the rocks, I had an idea. Hand on the wall, I made the whole wall transmorph to move out and form a stairway leading down.

  “After you, my lady.” I gestured, then laughed at her annoyed look. “Joking, joking.”

  Holding her hand behind me, I took the lead, adjusting the stairs slightly as my first step made me worried about slipping and falling. On the third step, there was a vibration and then, halfway to the next, a loud booming sound.

  “Outside, I think,” Steph said.

  It was followed by more of those booming sounds, and I found my mind flooding with images of the enemy up there, breaking in and finding a way to collapse the whole house down on top of us.

  “Tell me about the knights,” I said, reaching the bottom and crouching to rub Shisa’s ears. The lion-dog looked fine, with just a small chip out of its left ear and a crack on the curled tail.

  As we stood and moved about in the darkness, my eyes started to adjust. We felt our way along the walls, in what was clearly once something more. For one, the room was cleared out in a way that didn’t make sense for a house’s foundations. Also, the stone of the walls was smooth, but in some places seemingly forming patterns.