Page 24 of Stolen By the Gargoyle
A demon scuttled along the ceiling, chittering a mating call. This place lacked comfort; a disgusting hovel, in comparison to what my wife was used to.
I had taken her from the luxuries of her home and brought her into garbage.
Shame filled me. Even more than that, I was repulsed with myself, for not clarifying my intent. I had not assuaged her fears. This whole time, she thought I would force her like some vile villain.
I had seen the insides of the minds of disturbed and disgusting individuals. I had seen the things mortals had done to one another. The harm they had coaxed. The Lord of Torture and Pain, Lord Kane, had made them suffer tenfold for every travesty they had committed against others. I had helped.
And in her fear, my wife thought me to be like them.
It was then that the stark differences between the two of us glared down at me. I took her, and in her culture, taking was wrong. I had not known, and in my ignorance, I had committed an irreparable sin.
So I would take her back to the place she called home, even if her home was not at my side.
I hated to part from her, but I would do it, if it would make amends and ease her spirit.
“You’ll–you’ll take me home?” Her eyes were wide, and though the scent of fear had left her body, I could smell the hope in its place.
“I will.” I pulled my hand away from her. Even touching her felt unclean now, tainted. I had sought her touch freely, eagerly taking what I wanted, but knowing she did not feel the same and thought so low of me? I would not feed that image she held of me. I would do all I could to ensure she knew I would never, ever, harm her.
Starting with this.
“Really?” Her voice wobbled.
I inclined my head. “I shall deposit you back in your home and…” Everything inside me recoiled at the words I was about to utter. But I had to force myself to say them. I would do what was necessary.
I’d been selfish in taking her. Without a thought or care to her well-being. I’d all but let her whither in this filthy place. And now I would have to give her up.
“I will come back to the Underworld.” A failure. Alone. Without my wife. My throat grew tight with that knowledge. “And you never have to see me again if you do not wish.”
“Nazzar–”
“Come, wi–” I cut off. But she was not my wife, was she? I supposed she never was. “Come,” I repeated. “Dolores.”
I swept her up into my arms then, even though she appeared as though she were about to say something. I did not give her the chance, because I was not sure my stone heart could take the rejection. So I held her close, knowing it would likely be the last time I ever held her, and then we vanished from the cave, and flew up to the human world.
“Come, wi–” He brokeoff. “Come, Dolores.”
He’d been about to call me wife but thought better of it. There were several things wrong with that. One was that while I had wanted him to call me by my name, it didn’t feel as intimate as I thought it would. Another was that I instantly missed the way he called mewife.
I was fucking insane, honestly. And I wasconfused. My own body and mind and heart were at war with each other, fighting over things that shouldn’t have been fought over. My body wanted him, that much was true. My heart ached for something I’d always wanted deep down. But my mind kept telling me no.
He’d kidnapped me.
We were strangers.
The short time we knew each other wasn’t enough to build a foundation on, certainly not a marriage like he wanted.
Then there was the anxiety. I admitted, I no longer felt it. The beast had been fed by my own fear of waking up in a strange place, with someone I didn’t know. But Nazzar had proven within hours that he wouldn’t harm me. And now he was taking me home, because it was what I wanted.
He’d tried to claw his own heart out for me, for fuck’s sake.
Maybe I was fucked up in the head. Maybe I liked toxic shit. Who knew?
The journey back to the human world was a whirlwind of colors, darkness, and confusion. By the time we arrived on familiar streets, I was breathless and dizzy. And when he flew me into the open window of my apartment, I could breathe a little easier.
Slowly, he set me onto my bare feet, and when they squished into the soft carpet of my living room, I sighed with relief.
Home.
