Page 25 of Stolen by the Gargoyle (Gargoyles of the Underworld #1)

Darkness shrouded the human world. Not a sound was to be heard, for the world was fast asleep, and I clung to the shadows of an old cathedral, standing beneath a pillar with my arms crossed against my chest, still to the untrained human eye, as I waited.

The winds around me fluttered to life and my gaze snapped to the skies. The clouds were dense and dark, but I sensed them, even if I could not yet see them.

“Xavir,” I greeted. “Qanek.”

My brothers emerged from the darkness, landing on the ground and walking towards me. They thumped their chests in greeting.

“It has been a long time.”

My wife had once asked me about my brothers and I had given her an answer as bare as the bones of a carcass. The truth of them ran far deeper than even I knew how to describe.

Xavir was pressed to the shadows. Of the three of us, he was the tallest. The thinnest. His inky black hair slid down his chest, all the way towards his waist. His wings spanned the longest, his claws sharper, his teeth gleaming like blades.

I had witnessed him slicing through enemy throats with his mouth, crazed and vicious.

And yet, there was a quiet quality to him as well.

His voice did not match the vicious nature of his bloodlust. It was gentle where his weapon-like body was not.

Qanek was the shortest of us, but built with far more muscle than even I possessed. HIs anger made him an explosive being, brutal in battle and in those he tortured. He was cruel and unforgiving. His blood burned with a hot red fire that matched the king of hell’s.

Qanek glared at me then, crossing his bulky arms against his chest. “What do you want, brother?” he demanded, impatience making him stomp his claws on the ground, scraping away the stone.

“I come bearing a warning,” I said lowly. “The Angel of Death hunts the two of you. He is angry we have disobeyed him and he means to find you and punish you.”

Qanek scoffed. “His wife keeps him tethered to his castle and away from us.”

I shook my head. “Not this time. He told me he means to search, to kill you for disobeying.”

Xavir shifted silently from the darkness, walking beneath a beam of moonlight. His tall frame cast endless shadows against the ground. “He did not kill you .” The words were meant to be a question.

I shook my head.

“Why?” Xavir’s head tilted to the side.

He had always been the more scholarly of us, always eager to learn. Millions of worlds and stories lived in his head.

A dreamer, I called him.

A fool, Qanek always countered.

I stepped closer and my brothers shifted back, a sharp inhalation rushing through them both.

“You have found and claimed your wife,” Xavir answered for me. “He did not kill you for it?”

“My wife defended me,” I explained.

Xavir and Qanek shared a look. Envy, perhaps.

“I have much to tell you of humans,” I went on. “If you will listen?”

Xavir nodded first and Qanek was short to follow.

So I told them what had happened. I told them of Dolores. I told them of how I stole her away and all that I had learned of human culture. What I learned of her, of her body, or her heart.

“Steal your bride,” I told them. “But seek her permission first. She will think you a beast who means to violate her if you do not ask first.”

Qanek scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Fool,” he muttered. “Your advice is fucking foolish.”

I glared at him. “Heed it or do not, but if you take a wife against her wishes, Ramiel will kill you. If you do it my way, if she cares for you, loves you, then he will allow the union. And I suggest you move quickly. Steal your wife, and steal her heart. Perhaps the Angel of Death will look upon you kindly then.”

“No,” Qanek growled. “I will do things my way. And if the Angel of Death wishes to hunt, then let him come. I will be ready.” And without another word, he turned and dove into the sky, disappearing in a swirl of clouds and darkness.

I watched my prideful brother leave and sighed before turning back to Xavir. “Will you heed what I say?”

His lips twitched. “You have given me much wisdom, brother. I will think on it.”

I nodded. It was what I could only hope for, I supposed. “Have you found someone yet?”

He looked away, and that seemed all the answer I would get from him.

“Be safe, brother,” I said. “Find your wife, steal her heart, and come back home where we belong.”

Xavir nodded and offered me a rare smile. “Until we meet again, Nazzar.” He slid backwards into the shadows. There was a gust of wind and then…

Silence.

My brothers had gone. To find their human wives and to steal their bodies and their hearts…

And have their own stolen in return.

To be continued…

Curious about the Lords of the Underworld and their queen? Read about them in Lourdes & the Mafia.