“I told you things that weren’t meant to be heard!”
I stroke her cheek with the back of my finger. “And I enjoyed every detail. Your words and company have been the greatest gifts. Gifts I did not deserve, ones I took selfishly.”
She lifts her face. “Didn’t deserve? What does that mean?”
I drop my hand. “I am being punished.”
“Why?”
“I could not destroy my demon. I have one purpose—to keep Adrial in check—and having failed to destroy him, I became stone. I have been in this war with him for centuries, and while I have tried countless ways to end him, he is powerful and it eludes me. However, all is not lost. I became a statue, and through the sheer perseverance of my silent existence, I have limited him. For as long as I am here, anchoring him, he will never be entirely free to do as he pleases. We are connected, he and I.”
“What do you mean?”
There is much she would not know. “First, know that demons are incorporeal and needhosts, a body with which to interact with the mundane world.”
“What I saw…”
“You destroyed his host.”
“Wait. So that man…” She blanches. “Was he human? Did I…”
“You cannot kill someone who is already dead,” I whisper, though I worry my words offer little comfort. “A human soul cannot coexist with a demon for very long before being driven to insanity. He will claim another form, in time.”
“Then he’ll always be there?” Panic edges her voice. “Always chasing me, pursuing you?”
Holding her gaze, I nod.
“Why though?”
“All demons haveanchors. When demons escape Hell, the angels, unable to visit Earth directly without creating an imbalance themselves, create another in their stead. The anchor balances the demon’s menace, keeping the realm in line.”
“So you were sent here to stop him.”
“I was sent here to be his anchor, to limit him, as all true gargoyles are. If I manage to destroy him, then my greatest purpose is complete.”
Summer’s brow furrows. “I don’t understand.”
“There cannot be great evil or goodness in this earthly realm without something to balance it out. Destroying him would fulfill my reason for being here, but failing at that, it is simply enough that I exist. I limit his power through my existence, preventing him from wreaking mass havoc.”
“Is that why he needs your name?”
“Yes, Summer, that’s why he needs my name. If he can invoke me, I will become his servant, and he could use me to do his bidding, amplifying his power and chipping away at the balance. Long ago, he almost learned my name, forcing me into this solid form. It is a punishment as well as a… failsafe. One cannot make a stone talk. Only one with my name can stir me, and even then, merely at night. It is why you will never be safe.” I sigh. “And why, as long as you live, I will never, ever let you go.”
She eyes me through her dark-rimmed glasses, silent for a time. “Thank you for telling me this.”
“You are a good person.”
She releases a sad laugh. “It would probably make this all so much simpler if you just killed me now.”
Cupping her cheeks, I coerce her gaze, dipping my chin when she lowers her eyes. “I would never do such a thing. I am culpable in this too. Yes, it takes blood to invoke me, except it is easy to combat. Before you, I have never wanted to be invoked,” I tell her. “When your blood was absorbed by my stone, I offered you my name from the depths of my fugue, and soon my name reached you. You are entangled in this due to my selfishness. I have never wanted someone so much as you.”
Her lips part.
I lean closer, leveling my face with hers. “That is the truth. You are in grave danger because of my decisions. And my demon knows that I willingly gave you my name after the countless tricks he has attempted to take it from me. He knows what you mean to me.”
“What do I mean to you?”
“Can’t you feel how much I want you?”
