Gargoyle Curiosity

Amara flew low above the individual houses in the city. Her pearlescent white wings sparkled as the sun reflected on each feather.

Everywhere she went, people would gawk and pointed at her in awe and admiration. She loved the attention, but the mental screams of excitement threatened to tear through her concentration. Since her initial method to search for her brother proved to be ineffective in locating him, she had to resort to manual searching. If he was blocking her mentally, it would only work at a distance. The closer she would get, the easier it would be to sense Trinity's energy.

She had spent three whole days searching through her mind, and navigating through her aura while he had possessed her. Her energy signature would be easy enough to locate, if only she could get close enough that the mental block from her brother would no longer work. If she could find her, then she would find her brother.

She had already finished searching all the locations that she had assumed he might hide, especially with an injured human. The hospitals were her first target to search. Surely with the magnitude of the human girl's injury, she was certain that he would have taken her to a healer.

However, as each new search proved to yield no results, she became annoyed. She had been certain that him taking the human would have made it easier to find him, yet it seemed as if he was mocking her. Taunting her ability, making her feel weak.

Amara clenched her teeth in anger. 'I will show you who is weak!'

After the last hospital was investigated, she went on to search the other surrounding churches. Keeping her distance, she reached out with her mind and entered the thoughts of each person residing within, searching for any trace of Trinity and her brother. Again, each church searched proving to be a failure, one after another.

From there, Amara began searching the residential homes, and this is what brought her to where she was currently. Flying over each home, searching the thoughts and energies of each person.

What annoyed her the most was knowing that she had to get started implementing what she came here to do. And if her brother was staying hidden and out of sight, then this would have been easy for her to accomplish. He had yet to even once make an appearance in the three weeks that he had disappeared.

But the issue with this was the priest was a large part in her plan, and if she didn't at least make an attempt at searching for his daughter, it would make it that much harder in convincing him to do what she needed him to do.

As she finished this latest section of residence, she flapped her large wings, pushing her higher up into the air to gain a grander vantage point to survey the area.

The city was large, filled with bustling of people and loud machines that she still was not used to seeing. But outside the city was farmland, which she doubted he would be hiding. Beyond that lay thick layers of forests to the south that ran until it hit a range of mountains. While to the west, north, and east lay several more cities that she had yet to attempt to search.

'Perhaps he took her outside the city?' Amara wondered. 'That would make the most sense. He would have known that I would be looking for her if he took her.'

Annoyed that she hadn't thought about this possibility sooner, she turned towards the forest as she glided high above the trees. 'Humans have grown further and further away from nature. I cannot see him taking her here. They seem to gravitate more towards technology these days. Although, he would not be used to this. Would he have taken her somewhere that he was more familiar with, or would he take her somewhere that she was more familiar? Using the Divine Language, he could make it so she was more cooperative. That can explain why I have not heard her thoughts yet, as well.'

She sat there, hovering in the air as she contemplated which option he might have chosen. When she eventually came to a conclusion, she flapped hard with her wings and with a burst of speed, took off northwest to the direction of the closest city that she was nearest.

'Just stick to the hospitals and the churches. There is no reason to waste time searching the entire city as I have already done here.' Amara thought to herself in frustration.

'The sun is just starting to set. If I work throughout the night, I can focus only on the energy signature and not have to worry about the mental excitement every time someone catches a glimpse of me.' Amara smiled with newfound determination.

~*~*~*~*~

Trinity woke up the next morning and stretched out on the hard stone that Zyxel had carved into the cave wall. She missed her bed, but she had learned to adapt to the changes that she was currently stuck in.

As distant as Zyxel had become lately, he did still attempt to make her life as comfortable as possible. He was excellent at carving, and had made her several bowls, as well as her walking staff. It wasn't the same as crutches, but the beauty that he put into it was breathtaking to her. The elegant curves and spirals that he had carved into it made her cherish the gift.

She sat up and looked for the bowl that he would always leave next to her bed for her in the morning. She grabbed an orange and began peeling it as she ate her breakfast, waiting for Zyxel to no longer be a stone statue.

Every morning, it was the same routine. He would stand at the front entrance to the cave and for the next six hours, he would remain stone. That was something the mythology had apparently gotten wrong. Gargoyles in mythology were known to remain stone all during the day, and awaken at night.

As she sat there eating her orange, and staring at Zyxel's stone statue, she began to wonder why the difference. Why did he only require six hours instead of the full day? What was going on beneath the stone skin? Why does he have to do it? Why did he require her to remain nearby while he was stone?

Whatever that spell was that he had taught her while she was possessed, this was the result of it. He had mentioned that it was necessary in his survival on Earth. But for what reason? He would never explain that detail.

Curiosity got the better of her. It was almost 12:30 pm, and if she wanted to investigate before he woke up, she would have to act quickly.

Finishing the last bites of her orange, she tightened the straps on her makeshift leg braces, then grabbed her walking staff before limping over towards Zyxel. The same as always, he was in his demonic form, with the large bat shaped wings spread out wide. She wasn't sure if this was to block her from escaping, not that she'd be able to climb down even if she tried; or if this was to maximize the sun exposure that hit his skin.

She held up a hand towards his stone skin. Keeping her hand about an inch away, not even touching the stone, she could feel an intense heat radiating from him.

'What is this heat and where is it coming from?' she wondered.

Trinity reached forward about to touch the stone skin, when suddenly cracks in the stone began splitting open, as his six hours of stone sleep came to an end. She heard the familiar hiss of the steam, yet her hand could not feel any steam being released outward from the cracks.

Her brain was trying to contemplate and understand what any of this could mean. What was that heat she had been feeling? Where was the steam escaping to if it wasn't escaping out from the cracks? Then again, why would it even be steam to begin with? Being a demon, surely it would have been fire that she was sensing radiating off him, right?

As all of these questions floated around her brain, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. Therefore, she didn't even notice that Zyxel was turning around to meet her gaze until a red hand with long sharp claws, grabbed her wrist tight.

Seeing her outreached hand and her dazed expression, a deep and menacing growl escaped from his throat as his red eyes glowed in anger. "Tell me you didn't touch the stone skin?"

Trinity blinked as she pulled her mind back into focus. "No, of course not! But I was curious!" She tried to pull her wrist out of his grip, but he held on tighter.

"DO NOT touch me while I am stone, if you want to remain alive!" He growled the words viciously at her.

"Are you threatening me?" Trinity argued back at him. She yanked harder to release her wrist from his grasp; as he continued to hold tight, not bothered by her feeble attempts.

Zyxel smirked and gave a small chuckle, which sent a shiver down her spine since he was still in his demonic form. "That is not a threat, it is a warning."

He released her wrist with a flick, and she stumbled back a few steps, the staff helping her to keep her balance. Luckily though she had already been close to the wall, so she was never at any risk of falling over from the quick motion.

Zyxel continued to glare at her, as she returned his gaze with equal intensity. Neither willing to back down to the other.

__________________________

Books I am currently writing:

- The Forbidden Luna

- Divine Banishment