Page 11 of Loved By the Gargoyle

The creature was there, above my bed, watching me.

My breathing kicked up and I took stock of my situation. Of the dream, and everything else that had followed. Had the creature… seen me?

Had it touched me?

My body was too gripped with fear to jolt. I’d imagined Xavir was the one touching me, only to wake up to a figure above my bed.

Creatures roamed the world alongside humans these days. It wasn’t unheard of. In fact, it was a normal occurrence to run into all manner of people and interspecies relationships. My cousin, Kendra, was dating a wolf shifter. I remembered when she introduced him to the family and they hadn’t been concerned about what he was, rather what type of job he had.

He was a doctor, so it had all worked out for her, really.

I knew the thing above me wasn’t a werewolf, though. In fact, I wasn’t quite sure what it was. I’d never seen anything quite like it before. But the more I stared at the ceiling, the more I could pick apart the different shades of darkness like puzzle pieces allotting into place. I could make out the outline of a massive body that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was unlike any body I’d seen before, but a body nonetheless. Nothing but a dark silhouette. I could make out curving claws, the tips sharp like something out of a horror film. There were feet that weren’t quite feet, but curved and talon-like. And… were those wings?

And then, another thought trickled into my head the longer I stared and picked the creature apart.

Xavir?

Almost as if the creature heard my thought, as though I’d spoken it aloud, the darkness moved. It shifted, almost as if it meant to flee.

“I know you’re there,” I whispered into the night.

The figure paused.

My heart beat louder.

Could it be?

Could the creature above my bed be Xavir? Or was I completely and utterly insane for even thinking that?

Maybe I just wanted to believe it. Maybe I was convincing myself. Maybe I should have been running, screaming, calling for the police.

But, as always, my curiosity, my bone-deep loneliness got the better of me.

“Show yourself.” I paused. “Please?”

There was a rumbling, like rocks sliding together. It was the sound that had come from Xavir the night before. I recognized it, even through the flimsy barrier my door had made between the two of us.

I could feel my bottom lip trembling.

“Xavir?”

Slowly, like a face slowly emerging through water, he showed himself. The shadows pulled away and I could see him clearly, and every image I’d ever conjured up of what Xavir would look like were swept away in a single instant.

In none of those daydreams had I pictured him to be this.

His skin was gray like stone, with the slightest blue undertone. Even in the dimness, even from where I lay, I could make out the rough, grainy texture. He was slim, with twin horns that rose, skinny and tall on his forehead. Long, inky black hair slid over wide shoulders, falling across sharp cheekbones and thin lips that pulled back to reveal sharp teeth.

He was frightening.

But he was also…

“Beautiful,” I whispered, unable to contain my awe. “You are beautiful.”

He jolted, as though that were the last thing he’d expected to hear from me, and in that surprise, his body shuddered and suddenly…

He was tumbling from the ceiling and slamming down onto the floor of my bedroom.

It was like stone dropping and I winced, scrambling up to peer over the edge of my bed at him. My downstairs neighbors were going to complain, I was sure of it, but at that moment, I was more concerned with him and his well-being.