Xaniban smiled confidently and patted my thigh.
I shook my head, incredulous.“Whoa.Such a generous king you are, to give me the freedom to choose past baby number three.”
His dark brows knitted together.“You want fewer than three?”
Poor Xaniban sounded so confused by the possibility of a woman not wanting to birth a small kindergarten.How many children did a Gargoylish family have on average?That was a question I suspected I would eventually find the answer to, most probably by becoming part of the statistics myself.
I caressed his chest until his frown disappeared and a pleased rumble escaped him.“I haven’t thought about kids before, so I have no idea, honestly.I had lost hope in finding a good man to raise a family with.”And I hadn’t found an actual man, had I?All along, the one I had been searching for had been waiting for me amid the clouds.
“Anyway, I believe the matter should be left in the hands of God–er, Gods.I mean, I might already be pregnant, with us getting carried away for days and all.”
Xaniban chuckled.“Anima, you can’t be carrying apipyet.I haven’t willed it so.”My eye roll made him squint at me.He patted my belly with the tip of his tail.“When I fill you up with fruit-bearing seed, you will know.Because you would have demanded it of me, once ready.The decision on the firstpipis yours to make, not mine.That is the law of the Gods.”
“Okay…”I guess?It might be time to suspend all disbelief and simply roll with the impossible.My gargoyle could will his swimmers to becomefruit-bearing?Sure.Of course.Next.
“Are you saying you are ready now?”Hope and yearning were clear to hear in his voice.
I gave a shaky laugh.“Down, boy.I’m not ready to go there with you yet.”Feeling his tail droop around my waist, I quickly added, “Yet, Xan.I will be someday.Just give me time.”
The smile returned to his face.“I will wait patiently.”
I pulled him down for a kiss to let him know how much I appreciated his patience.Then it was time to ask the big question, this time without leaving space for misinterpretation.
“What happens with the ground now?With the zombies soon to be out of the picture and the vamps disorganized once more,will you do something about the other threats to humanity?You want to save humans, don’t you?”
Xaniban exhaled loudly through his nose–a sigh, I now knew.He shifted until he was sitting more comfortably with me on his lap.
“Any family members of yours are my family, too, and are welcome here.Individual humans who agree to come to the homecloud once approved, I can save.Humankind… is beyond my abilities to save,anima.Even if all homeclouds were to unite–which has not been done in centuries–it would still not be enough.The hope was lost the moment the aliens approached Earth, and the human leaders chose not to fight, too greedy for the technologies offered.They chose to stand disunited, unwilling to share those technologies with other kingdoms.”
I went slack-jawed.“You’re saying that some governments knew the aliens were coming but decided to keep it a secret?”
Wait, why was I so surprised?Then again, in movies the humans always chose to fight when aliens showed up, even when the extraterrestrials were peaceful.Why hadn’t humanity acted like that now?For once, it wouldn’t have been a dumb move; the third apocalypse might have been averted.Dammit.
“I had my informants on the ground,” Xaniban told me, “so I knew the human leaders were keeping more than the contact with the aliens a secret from each other.They were also planning to use the alien technologies against other kingdoms.Humankind was divided and vulnerable, and its incoming fall was foreseen by all shadow kinds with informants of their own.It just so happened that the flesh eaters’ king was the first to take advantage of the situation.”
“He wanted to take over before the aliens did,” I thought out loud.“But what do you mean byshadow kinds?”
Tracing soothing circles up and down my arm, Xaniban explained.“The kinds who used to live in hiding from humans.They chose to come into the light before the alien ships infested the skies.Many of the shadow kinds perceive as theirs what humans call theirown, and they finally saw a chance to take it back.”
“Like the Elves?”Everything I’d seen and heard lately was starting to make sense now.“They want the green territories of the world for themselves, like forests and parks.”
“Yes, it is so.”
“And those predatory mermaids have taken over the rivers, lakes, and seas.”
“There are also those who want control over the ground for its resources.The moon-cursed and the pixies, to name a few, need humans to replenish their numbers.”
I fell silent.Gargoyles, as romantic as they were, were also among the shadow kinds Xaniban was talking about.They needed women to survive, and so they were part of the war for Earth themselves.But if there was such a thing as good guys in this war, it was the Gargoyles.
I had been unbelievably lucky to find myself in the arms of one.And one hell of a gargoyle, at that.Which made me decide that if Carson had made it back to the bunker in one piece, I wouldn’t kill the coward.I would thank him for forcing me to stay in that monster-infested building, thus helping me find my Xan.Only then would I beat the crap out of Carson for leaving me behind to die.
“So, the aliens joined the party last,” I noted, finally piecing everything together.“They pretended to want to help us–what remained of our civilization, anyway–so that we would go to them willingly.Like lambs to the slaughter.And while gathering the survivors up for experiments and reproduction,” I shuddered at the thought despite Xaniban’s warmth, “they also began bombing the cities.They needed to get rid of the zombies and vamps as the greatest threat to the aliens’ precious human resource.”
Xaniban kissed the top of my head.“Now you understand why my kind cannot save yours.It is too late.”
“But you can continue fighting!You plan to do so, don’t you?You spoke of an alliance with the Elves in the war room.”
“An alliance to defeat the flesh eaters,” he reminded me.“We no longer need to take the risk that alliance talks with the Elves always entail.We have fulfilled our ancestors’ duty.The war is over for us.Now I must focus my limited resources, as my brethren will of me, on protecting this homecloud and saving individual humans whenever possible.”
