“Ah, there she is, and with her warrior again.” A small gargoyle hobbled around a short table from across the room.
“Good morning, Master Fistideeous.” I dipped my head in greeting.
The small gargoyle wore a long crimson robe, and his clawed feet poked out from beneath it. He had pitch-black eyes, horrifically looking sharp teeth, and his skin, the color of stone, cracked into a smile as he approached us.
“And who have you brought with you?” he asked, his attention shifting to Ree.
“This is my best friend, Harrietta Blackthorn. She’d planned to help us with research today, so she came along. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not. Now, I’m assuming you got my dillemsill?”
“Yes, it arrived at the palace this morning. We’re very eager to hear what you’ve found.”
His wide lips parted, revealing wickedly jagged teeth. “I figured you would be. Come with me.”
He hobbled back to where he’d been working, and the three of us followed. My chest tightened, my dead body’s only response to the plethora of parchment and books he had spread out before him. But like me, he didn’t carry a heartbeat.
Since gargoyles were actually stone creatures that fed off a supernatural’s life source in order to become alive, they weren’t actually living beings. And at night, they returned to stone, only to come alive again in the morning if they had enough life source left.
In a way, I supposed I was no different from Master Fistideeous now. Only, instead of leeching a supernatural’s life source to live, I drank their blood.
My spirits dimmed slightly, but I shook myself out of it and reminded myself that today could take a turn for the better. Optimism returning, I squared my shoulders.
The gargoyle shuffled through a few books, as though searching for something in particular. “I do apologize that it took me so long to get back to you. The Nolus queen had an urgent request that I couldn’t ignore, but as soon as I dove into finding what I could of the God of Night and Goddess of Light, I uncovered many documents that I believe you’ll find most helpful.”
“Thank you so much.” And I meant every word of my heartfelt gratitude. After all, gargoyles were known to be better at sniffing out details in the ancient archives. Better than any other creature. Some even believed they had an extra sense that allowed them to find hidden information that others couldn’t.
He stopped his perusing and picked up a book. “Ah, here it is. This particular relic has many references to those gods.” He flipped it open, and despite the preserving magic, the pages looked worn and faded.
“How old is that?” Ree asked, her head cocking.
“This is one of our most ancient books. It was written over ten thousand seasons ago.”
My eyes turned to saucers. “Truly?”
The gargoyle dipped his head, and I couldn’t help but glance up at Kole, who unsurprisingly had remained silent. But while Kole’s expression hadn’t changed, curiosity strummed into his aura.
“Yes, we have quite a few archives that old, but if not for our weekly dosing of magic to preserve them, I fear that they would be lost to time.” Master Fistideeous carefully tapped on the page,being mindful of his sharp claw. “I think you should read this entire chapter. It sums up the battle that waged between the God of Night and Goddess of Light for many millennia as they both walked in our realm.”
The three ofus settled onto the hard stools surrounding the short table and began to read. Ree sat on my right, Kole on my left, but even though we were all silent as our eyes flew across the pages, I was achingly aware of Kole’s every move.
His warm, hard thigh pressed against mine. His sweet, minty breath puffed near my cheek. And his heartbeat...it thumped strong and steady, and even though I was concentrating on what the gargoyle had found, my vampire urges took notice.
Shifting uncomfortably on my stool, I tried to get my blazing appetites under control, but twice, I felt Kole watching me. No,studyingme would have been a more apt description.
“This is fascinating,” Ree said, breaking the quiet.
I tried to nod. Tried to say that I agreed, but my attention kept drifting to Kole.
“What do you make of this?” Ree pointed to a passage, and I finally was able to concentrate enough to comprehend it.
When Heleveer, the Goddess of Light, took the vamfeers from Tenevris, the God of Night, she infused them with her light. This banished their black claws and taut skin. In its place, they returned to looking like fae children. However, she left their fangs as a reminder of where they’d come from. But while her light allowed them to walk in the sun, it also made their skin pale, and since the God of Night had created his vamfeers from dead fae, their hearts no longer beat, andthey required blood from the living to sustain themselves. Heleveer left those traits as well so their origins would never be forgotten. She told her vampiric children that they must always remember the darkness in which they were born, so they could work to overcome it.
But Tenevris was angry at her interference, and he cursed the newly created vampires to eventually return to his darkness. If alive long enough, vampires would grow sensitive to sunlight, and it would eventually burn them, and his curse also gave them his dark appetites, forcing them to feel carnal urges for the rest of their existence.
I jolted upright the second I finished that paragraph. If what this tome claimed was true, and I lived long enough, that meant that eventually I wouldn’t be able to tolerate sunlight. That, like the vamfeers my uncle had created, I would be condemned to a life at night, forever bathed in only moonlight.
My stomach plummeted, but Master Fistideeous tapped a new document with his claw. “And in this scroll here”—the gargoyle slid a rolled piece of parchment toward us—“it also speaks of Goddess Heleveer creating the first vampires, and how those creatures are still with us today but not in our realm any longer. Many centuries ago, they were banished by the fae races, but her offspring still inhabit theotherrealm, which is the realm they fled to when our kind hunted them.”
