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

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 Kordelia, 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