Page 9 of Hated By the Gargoyle

“Yes. And then I shall find Carlota, the woman I truly wanted, and bring her here to make her my wife.”

The human choked and began to cough as though something were lodged deep in her throat. I stared with barely concealed disgust as she fought to pull herself to a presentable state.

“Did you just say wife?”

Wife.

The one thing in the world I desired above all others. The one I should have had in my presence right then, but instead I was stuck with an annoying, feral creature that boasted of no self awareness, with a grating voice and a penchant for violence.

But even though I had stolen her, she would not be mine. I would not allow such a thing. I would take her back and take the right bride. And this human would be all but forgotten. She would never become my wife. So long as I never brought her into my den, let her lie in my nest, clothed her, fed her, or mated her…

She would not be my wife as long as I took her back where she belonged.

“I will right my wrong,” I told her. “I will bring my true bride back.”

She opened her mouth as though she meant to say something or create her mouth noises once again.

Before she could utter a syllable, the ground beneath us rumbled. A second later, it exploded behind me. Earth tore through the sky in a geyser of violence.

And then something wrapped a scaled body around my own and pain, crippling pain, exploded through my body.

The earth exploded in seconds. A scream ripped out of my throat, and I staggered back as a giant, demonic worm erupted from the earth and wrapped its long body around the gargoyle.

The gargoyle shrieked, attempting to twist away, but the worm’s deadly embrace held. The gargoyle fought, using talons and tail, but the worm had the advantage. They thrashed along the ground and black blood sprayed. The gargoyle roared in pain, chilling me down to the bone.

The worm’s mouth opened, revealing sharp teeth that clamped tightly down on the gargoyle’s wings.

He screamed again, his agony ricocheting off the very earth and sky.

Bile rose in the back of my throat at the sight of such brutality. Fear overflowed. Fear of that thing, and even stranger, fear for the gargoyle. He himself was a force, all muscle and cruel anger, and yet he was losing against that thing.

And if he lost, what did that mean for me?

I didn’t know what his intentions were. Hell, I didn’t even know if he was to be trusted. His word was all I had, his word that all of this–my presence here–was truly a mistake. That he was going to take me back home and this nightmare would end.

But he couldn’t do that if he died, if this beast took him down.

It was my own determination that had me reaching for that poisonous spike in my back pocket. That and my worry for him, for myself, for the both of us, that had me gripping it tightly.

I was nothing but a human in an Underworld full of monsters I knew nothing about. I was insignificant. That was something I’d contended to being my entire life.

But here, right now, I felt a surge of powerful determination. To live.

I didn’t know if I could, but I sure as hell knew I had to try.

The worm twisted with the gargoyle clasped in its body. It squeezed tightly, so tightly I thought it would break him in half.

I swallowed past my fear, and while it was distracted, I ran towards it, the spike raised. I used all the force I could muster, stabbing down against the worm’s body until the spike pierced the sensitive flesh of its underbelly.

The worm shrieked and thrashed, knocking me to the side and dropping the gargoyle from its grip. The poisonous tip of the spike seemed to come alight within the worm’s body. It began to eat at it, fire scorching across thick skin and shredding it like it was paper. It crumpled within itself, letting out a deafening shriek of agony as it twisted and writhed on the ground. It began to burn from the inside, crumpling like ash until its cries died and its body became dust in the wind.

Like it had never really been there at all.

I didn’t contemplate the weird, terrifying death. My focus was already on the gargoyle.

He was splayed out on the ground, his body twitching, his wings a bloody mass behind him. They fell over his lower body like a tattered blanket, and I didn’t know what to do.

My hands gripped his shoulders and he shifted, groaning and grumbling in the same rocky language I didn’t understand.