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

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