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“Get your hands off of her, gargoyle!”
I peered down the meadow at my mother, my father, Jules, and his father standing with wands at the ready. I blinked. “What are you all doing here?”
They didn’t answer, just took battle-ready stances.Witches didn't brandish wands unless they were serious about attacking.
Gideon wrapped his wings around me protectively, and I shook my head at him. “They won’t hurt me,” I said. “Stay back while I talk to them.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes on my arm where the darkness was creeping back around me.
“I can see it now, my love,” I said. “I just had to know where to look.”
“Antonia,” my mother said shrilly. “We’re here to rescue you. Get away from that foul beast.”
I laughed and stepped down from the porch. “I’m not being held captive. Gideon’s . . . well, he’s my boyfriend.”
The witches stopped, frozen in their tracks.
“You’re promised to me,” Jules shouted, shooting a bolt past me at the house where it crashed through one of the windows, shattering it.
“Careful,” my father hissed. “Don’t hit Antonia.”
“I thought I made myself very clear, Jules," I said as loud and clear as I could. "I told you I will never date, marry, or fuck you again.”
“She must be bespelled,” Jules’ father, Luther, shouted. He looked almost identical to his son, blond and blue eyed, except older.He'd been the head of our coven for as long as I could remember, but I'd never liked him. He wasn't a kind man.
“The only one who’s been bewitching people is your son.” I reached out and gathered the dark magic that was trying to curl around my arm, and gave a tug on it. Jules tumbled to the ground. “Did you know he cast this hex on me?”
“Hex? What hex?” My mother and father exclaimed, looking genuinely confused. Their eyes pingponged between us.
“Jules hexed me to be weak, to be pliable, to put up with his asshole behavior,” I said as I rolled the dark magic up and tossed it back at Jules.
He’d just gotten to his feet, and he stumbled again when the hex hit him. His father ran over and tried to untangle his son from his own mess.
"Hexes hit three-fold when they're given back to their caster," I stated, glaring at Jules. "Look who's the weak one now."
Luther took his fallen son in his arms, and turned to glare at me. “You bitch,” he muttered. “You don’t deserve to be part of our bloodline.”
I laughed. “Like I’d want to be anyway.” I heard the low rumble of Gideon’s answering chuckle from the porch behind me.
Luther and Jules disappeared.
My mother still looked bewildered. “I don’t know what’s going on here, Antonia," she said, trying to take control of the situation, "but we have to get you away from that beast.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Mother,” I said, stopping some feet from them. I could feel Gideon at my back, not willing to leave me alone, even with my own parents.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” my dad said, reaching for my arm.
I backed away from them. “I love Gideon, and he loves me. Like I said, he’s my boyfriend.”
My mother gasped. “He’s really bewitched you.”
“That’s not how gargoyle magic works,” I said with a sigh.I'd spent the weekend learning as much as I could about Gideon. He'd shared his enhanced senses which allowed him to spot the malignant hex, and his stone form that gave him extra strength. We'd even talked about his glamour and its limits. There was no way that he could bespell anyone.
My dad dived toward me, trying to grab me and fly away, but Gideon was there in an instant. He blocked my dad with his arm, but he didn’t hurt him.He knew that despite their prejudice, I still cared about my parents.
“Toni makes her own choices now,” Gideon said calmly. “She has chosen me. So accept it, or leave.”
My mother burst into tears, and my dad wrapped her in his arms. They looked at me accusingly, but then they both disappeared.
