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FORTY-FOUR
Anemone set a cup of coffee in front of Alethea. "Where'd you get him?"
Alethea considered spinning some sort of story about meeting him on a dating app, but this seemed more like a time for the truth. "East Perth Cemeteries," she said instead.
"How?"
This bit wasn't going to sound good, even to people who believed in demons and...other things. "I went on a date with this guy, who started stalking me. When I mentioned it to Callie, she said she had a spell to summon a protector for me..."
Rochelle's eyes widened. "The girls' night Tacey tried to get me to go to? But Callie doesn't believe in magic!"
"That's what I thought, too, but she said she'd been talking to some sort of...cartoonist..." Ben. She must have been talking to Ben, Alethia realised. "Anyway, she said it would be fun to try the spell, so we went down to the cemetery where we're doing an archaeological dig, but then security came, and the others ran, but I twisted my ankle, so I distracted the security guard by calling for help to let them get away. Only...Stan appeared, and took me home."
"Flew you home?" Catena asked.
How could she possibly know that? "Yes." Alethia wet her lips. "But he said he was my demon protector. That I'd summoned him to protect me."
Anemone stared dreamily into her coffee cup. "All big and muscly and naked, ready to scoop you into his arms at the perfect possible moment? Gargoyles are amazing, aren't they? Oh, and once you get them into bed...rock hard all the way down, and all night, too." She sighed, then took a sip.
"He won't...I mean, we haven't..." Alethia stammered.
"What are you waiting for? Seriously, monster sex is amazing. I mean, once you get over the size of him, and the size is definitely a plus, it's the best sex you'll ever have. Once you've tasted monster, you'll never go back," Rochelle said.
"I would if he would, but he's just...he thinks he's a demon, and that if we do it, he'll go straight back to hell, and he'll never see whatsername again," Alethia said darkly, taking a deep draught of her coffee.
"What is her name, and what is she to him?" Anemone asked.
Alethia shrugged. "Her name was Carline Steel, before she married Sean Bell, and became Carline Bell. She died in 1887, right here in Western Australia. She's actually one of my ancestors. Stan said he was supposed to marry her, but he also said she didn't know. The first time he saw me, he mistook me for her, and asked me why I killed him, because he thinks it was her."
Anemone looked grim. "He's in love with a dead woman...and the woman who cursed and killed him? Oh, that's messed up. Someone needs to tell Dunstan. Or Ben. Between them, they'll help him get his head straightened out and banish the killer witch, or at least help him realise what she is. He'll need to, before he can break the curse. He'll need your help, too. If you're interested in helping him, of course. I mean, the sex is phenomenal, but two hundred year old men are high maintenance. They don't know their way around a coffee maker."
"Or a microwave," Alethia chimed in. "Yeah, I promised I'd help him. I thought I'd regret making a deal with a demon, but he's been wonderful. Well, except for his sex hangups, of course."
"That's because he's not a demon. He's a gargoyle. Turning to stone in sunlight is a pretty big tell," Anemone said. "He broke my bed and we had to get a new one." She looked up to find the others staring at her. "What? We forgot to close the curtains, woke up the next morning and he was stone. So heavy he broke the bed. That's all." She grinned. "So if you help him break the curse, your Stan won't break your bed. Even better, you can take him to the beach during the day, or go out to lunch together, and he'll actually eat. Seriously, if you can break the curse, he'll be almost like a normal man again, except with...certain extra abilities. Oh, and he'll get his memories back, too. Which could be very handy for an archaeologist who specialises in the time period he was actually alive."
Yes, it would. All those reasons. But also...it would fulfil her promise to him, to help him. Maybe not in the way they'd hoped, but...was it wrong to hope she could have him, and not Carline the killer witch?
"What do I have to do to break the curse?" Alethia asked eagerly.
