“I just mean, I noticed your posture changed,” he adds, slightly flustered.
Evangeline huffs.
Okay. They’re acting weird.
“Oh, um, yeah,” I say, grabbing a glass of wine for myself and returning to the living room. “It’s just anytime someone says, ‘we need to talk’, it’s never good news.”
Xander shifts slightly, causing his human form to flicker. I stifle a giggle because he takes up nearly half of my blue couch.
I sit in the matching recliner perpendicular to my bestie and her mate and set my wine on the glass coffee table. The TV show is still playing so I push pause on the remote.
“The place is really coming together,” Evangeline says and swallows hard.
She’s nervous too.
“Thank you,” I say and scan the space.
It’s open concept with only a marble top peninsula separating the kitchen from the living room. The appliances haven’t been updated in decades, but they all work fine. I also have a washer and dryer combo, which is considered a hot commodity in New York City. The living room is bigenough to fit my couch, recliner, two side tables, and a desk in the corner with one floor to ceiling bookcase. The TV hangs on the brick wall across from the couch.
The bedroom fits a queen bed, and the closet space is decent. It’s small but perfect for just me. I got an amazing deal, thanks to Evangeline, and Xander, who said he knows the landlord. Which is great since my teaching position’s salary wouldn’t cover the market value rent for this place.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Monsters,” Evangeline blurts out.
Xander clears his throat. “She means—”
“Monsters,” Evangeline repeats, cutting off her husband again. “They’re real. I’m married to one.”
I blink at my best friend then blink some more. “Okayyyy.”
So this is why they’re acting weird.
I need to act stunned. I’m not supposed to know that monsters exist.
“Xander, show her,” Evangeline says, nudging the gargoyle king’s leg.
He sighs and sets Potato on the ground. My cat runs off toward the bedroom as if anticipating what’s about to happen. Xander stands, then locks eyes with me. “Please don’t freak out.”
It’s all he says before dropping his human form.
I curse and jump out of my seat, stepping back. The glitches that gave me glimpses of these monsters did nothing to prepare me. And while I’ve always known of the existence of monsters… while I trained to fight them… I never did. I never came face to face with any supernatural being. At least, nothing more mystical than a vampire.
My brain is having a hard time comprehending that this is real.
When I’m around Xander and Locheran, which has only been a handful of times, they’re masked as humans. My brain knows they’re monsters, but my eyes tell me they’re not. When I jumped into Locheran’s arms after the wedding reception, they were human arms. When I kissed him, his lips were human.
Now there’s a seven-foot-tall gargoyle king standing in my living room with his black horns, lavender skin, dark blue hair, wings, and a long tail.
This is surreal.
“I won’t hurt you,” Xander says, holding up his hands.
“Say something, Fare,” Evangeline pleads.
She hasn’t used the childhood nickname in years, and it snaps me out of my fascinated stare.
“I um… I…”Say something!“Holy shit.”
