Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

Then again, all of this action was fun as hell. I kind of liked the high of the fight, the risk of not knowing what was coming next.

We reached the open area with the cathedral, and Sekhmet slowed, considering the high spires and how we were going to reach the top.

“No matter what anyone says, or who stands in our way, no stopping,” she said, and kept right on, heading for the doors.

“That’s the plan? Just push our way through?”

“Meow,” Bastet replied, as if that were the obvious and only choice.

“Worst case, Bastet gives them some illusions to work through.” Sekhmet opened the door and we entered. It felt like I’d just walked into an amplified version of the Hogwarts great hall—minus the actual magic stuff. No floating candles or pumpkins or whatever. The ceiling arched up in multiple positions, massive columns with more carvings at their top, and pew after pew arranged to face the front. We turned to the wall to move along the sides, passing various statues and stained-glass windows depicting saints and biblical scenes. I had to ask about it.

“All this… God, the saints…?”

“You’re asking if there’s a God?” Sekhmet hissed, ignoring the couple walking past and glancing our way only briefly. “How would I know?”

“I just assumed, I mean with the way you all live so long and the spiritual realm and all that—”

“No.”

“‘No,’ as in there’s no God?”

She frowned, gave Bastet a look like I was an idiot, and said, “No, as in you assumed wrong. Anyone who claims to know for certain is fooling you—or trying to sell something. Believe if you want. Our existence, the existence of the Fae world and everything that comes with it, none of that has to do with whether there’s a one God or not. Believe in what you want to believe in, and don’t let outside forces dictate that.”

I actually liked that answer, especially in a cathedral as grand as this. That didn’t mean I had any idea of what I actually believed, but hearing it from her in this cathedral gave me some relief. If she’d told me a definitive answer one way or the other, I wanted to think I’d still have chosen to make up my own mind on the subject someday, but either way I was content to not know, and to have everything I was doing be unrelated.

It was all too confusing, and right now I simply wanted to focus on getting my ladies back. Oh, and finding Arthur and Morganna so we could kick their asses.

“Hey,” my hand reached out for her arm, stopping her, though the slightest touch sent a slight shock through my body that I hadn’t been expecting. I dug into my pockets and found some damp euros that Elisa had given me, then pointed to an elevator. “Says it takes us to the top. We just give them some of this.”

“I’m familiar with payment systems,” Sekhmet said with a sneer, but then smiled. “Good thinking. Much easier than what I had in mind.”

We entered the elevators with several other tourists after buying tickets, and were almost to the top when the elevator suddenly stopped, the doors ripped open, and one of the stone gargoyles—now alive with fierce, red eyes, stared right at me.

As much as I’d seen lately, somehow this still gave me the sudden urge to shit myself. To my credit, that didn’t happen, but I still felt like a big ol’ wuss when I let out a whimper, even as my hand went to Excalibur and I prepared to fight.

It wasn’t until then that I noticed that one of the people in the elevator was a small boy, staring at the gargoyle with as much fright as likely showed on my face. Maybe more.

I had to be brave, for him—though I was slightly bothered by the fact that he could see the monster—so I stepped in front of them, Sekhmet and Bastet already moving, and prepared to face the gargoyle.

42

When a gargoyle with skin like stone comes at you, the best course of action is to run. We did exactly that, only we ran at the gargoyle instead of away, as was our way of doing things. Shrieks came from behind us, but aside from the boy who’d clearly seen the gargoyle, the rest of the tourists probably thought the elevator was simply malfunctioning.

They’d be fine, as this monster was after us, not them.

My first blow actually hit, only to be deflected by the strength of the gargoyle’s skin. Sekhmet’s blades came in fast at my side, diving under my blade as it ricocheted, then coming up with two quick strikes that actually sent the beast stumbling back. As it recovered, I got a good look at the thing—about the size of a large dog, it had a hooked jaw with sharp teeth, wings that spread out behind it in a way that reminded me of a dragon, and sharp claws to match.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, I said, sooo wishing this was an episode of that amazing Gargoyles show that used to be on. Sit me on a couch with a box of Oreos and a liter of Coke any day instead of making me fight one of these things.

Sekhmet and Bastet joined in the fight, charging in with the goddess making several large slits in its stony hide with her fiery blades, and the cat boxing it in with purple light so there was only one direction of attack. We lined up, me with my sword held high, Sekhmet with her blades at the ready, and Bastet hissing and showing her teeth.

The gargoyle flapped its wings and charged us.

“Move!” Sekhmet said, and took a step to her left, away from me. I did the same as she said, “Go for the wings,” and we attacked as one. Excalibur sent a crack through the wing on my side while her blades cut