Guardian of the Abyss

by Shannon Phoenix

  "You don't think it's my right alone?" she asked, distracted for a moment by the statement.

  "No," he answered. "I don't. We made him together. You chose to lay with me and take this chance."

  "I didn't know I could get pregnant as a gargoyle," she admitted. "But I would never do that. I don't believe in abortion as birth control, so you don't need to fear that."

  "But you are angry," he acknowledged.

  "Well, it should be my choice, not just something I feel is my choice."

  He shrugged. "I refused to lay with you," he reminded her. "You promised not to cease trying until we were together. I would say that you made your choice."

  Irritation warred with acceptance in her. He was right, she had done exactly that.

  "I've never been seduced before. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," he told her.

  She gasped before she realized he was joking. She narrowed her eyes. "You can't distract me that easily," she smacked him on the chest.

  "Are you unhappy?" he asked, serious again.

  "No," she admitted. "I think I feel kind of like you do, although I never really wanted kids. I thought they'd get in the way of my life."

  "You will find that they become your life, and that never goes away, even after centuries."

  "That's exactly what I'm afraid of," she told him with a laugh.

  "It's a mixed blessing. Just think of it as another adventure," he suggested.

  Sarah's stomach took that moment, just as he leaned forward to kiss her, to protest. He blinked down at it.

  "I think I'm still hungry," she admitted.

  "But gargoyles--"

  "--don't get hungry." She finished his sentence. "How many pregnant gargoyles have you known?"

  "Um, I've never known one. I guess we'll figure it out as we go. Let's go see if there's any food left."

  They returned to the dining area, surprised to find that, not only was there still plenty of food, but most of those who had been there remained.

  They sat down and Thanatos said something to Abaddon in Latin.

  The door opened and a couple walked in. They were remarkably beautiful together. Sarah almost forgot about her food as she stared in awe.

  "This is Hamish, and that's Desiree," Thanatos introduced them, repeating it for Abaddon. Then he said something to Abaddon, who rose from the table, towering over Sarah for a moment until he left her side.

  The woman in the doorway was staring at Abaddon with something akin to shock, and obvious recognition. Abaddon charged across the room before landing on his knees in front of the beautiful woman. He said something to her, his voice breaking.

  Sarah stood up in consternation as he gazed up at Desiree with obvious adoration that bordered on worship. The woman placed her hand on Abaddon's head and smiled at him with a tenderness that broke Sarah's heart.

  Alexis touched her hand. "It's okay, she's the Sacred Mother," she whispered. "The gargoyle mother. He'll explain everything, I'm sure."

  Then Alexis went back to watching the trio at the doorway, her hand on her belly as she leaned into Thanatos.

  Unnoticed, Sarah fled the room. Abaddon was the first gargoyle...the father. This woman in the doorway was the mother... it didn't take a rocket scientist to understand. She didn't need the birds and the bees or the gargoyles explained to her.

  Not aware of where she was going, she found a sliding glass door and rushed through it, barely remembering to close it behind her. She ran in bare feet across a manicured lawn until she reached the forest. She stumbled on for some time before she finally stopped. She never even noticed when she idly wished for sneakers and her skin reformed to give them to her. Instead, she kept going until she felt too tired to go on.

  Then she laid back and stared up at the sky. She wished she was back in their underwater prison, and the woman now calling herself Desiree was a distant memory in Abaddon's mind. She probably should have read the woman's past, but somehow, she didn't want to know which one she was.

  And she suddenly hated and despised Alexis. The other woman had taken it so casually, even smiling like it was the most wonderful thing to see Abaddon reunited with the gargoyle 'mother'.

  A sound woke her many hours later, the bright sun overhead hurting her eyes as it had since she'd left the grotto. She looked around until she saw them. The woman, Desiree, stood beside a wolf that Sarah immediately recognized as the werewolf man who'd been beside her.

  "What do you want?" she demanded. The woman already had Abaddon, what more could she possibly want?

  "Do you mind if I sit down?" the woman asked.

  "It's a free country," Sarah snapped with ill grace.

  Desiree sat down, the wolf nudging his head into her lap. She patted him absently as she sat in silence for a while. After a tense few minutes, she asked, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

  "Yes," Sarah answered. "Of course."

  "Why 'of course'?" Desiree asked.

  "Never mind, it's not important. Why do you want to know?"

  Desiree sighed. "You know, the first thing that we should get clear is that Abaddon and I have never been lovers. Not in any lifetime." When Sarah looked at her in surprise, she asked, "Now will you hear me out without hating me before I even get to explain myself, please? We don't have a lot of time; Abaddon's destroying Thanatos' house."

  Grudgingly, Sarah nodded.

  "When the sorcerers made Abaddon, they tied the essence of his transformation to the soul of a human woman. Then they locked her up and kept her safe--a relative term, believe me. They took all of her small clan hostage. When a human reincarnates, they must reincarnate back into a clan, and they intended to protect all of her clan for their own purposes, and always control her."

  The wolf lifted his head, and she looked down as if listening. She nodded. "And, as Hamish pointed out, they also wanted to be sure that they could continue to reproduce gargoyles as they saw fit."

  "But Abaddon was forced to be with a lot of different women. They were all from her clan?"

  "No," Desiree answered. "They were never from her clan. They feared that if her soul returned, it might come back in one of the gargoyles, and then they couldn't kill that one if they wanted to." She shifted uncomfortably on the fallen tree before continuing. "The ability of the gargoyles to reproduce was tied to her soul. It has nothing to do with a physical connection at all. When she's alive somewhere in the world, her soul is incarnate and gargoyles can reproduce. When she is dead, they can't."

  "That sounds a lot like magic," Sarah argued.

  "Magic is as much fact as reincarnation and as inevitable as death," Desiree informed her. "It's definitely magic, and very powerful magic at that.

  "Anyway," she went on, "they bound the gargoyle reproduction to her soul, and used Abaddon to create the race. Although he's the first one of the gargoyles, though, he's only called 'Father' by those he directly sired. The rest refer to him as The Progenitor. There's one or more for every race, but most have been gone for a very long time."

  "He was awful happy to see you," Sarah informed her. "Happier than he's ever been to see me." Was that bitterness in her voice?

  Desiree came to kneel in front of her. Her wolf sat beside the log she'd been sitting on. "That isn't true. He was happy to see me because he believed he'd failed to protect me four hundred years ago. I thought I watched him die, but they took him captive instead. And you know the rest of what happened to him. He didn't know what happened after that attack. He thought I was gone forever and that the Deathwalkers had taken me."

  "Mayra?" Sarah asked, remembering the memory in Abaddon's mind. "You survived?"

  She shook her head. "No. I died that night as Mayra. I poisoned myself so that the Deathwalkers couldn't take me and use the spiritual power of reproduction for their own use." She crossed her legs and sat down in front of Sarah. "This time around, I found a way to take over the body of a child that had died and whose spirit had gone home. That's how I returned against all odds. And
that's why gargoyles can reproduce again."

  Sarah's hand went unbidden to her belly.

  Desiree nodded. "That's why he looked that way. Because I am alive again and thus it was possible for him to have a child with the first and only woman he has ever fallen in love with. And because he thought he had failed me and he just learned that he had saved the world, instead. In this incarnation, I never met him before today, and even if I had, I'm Hamish's mate and I wouldn't leave him for anyone or anything." She waved her hand at the wolf.

  At the gesture, the were trotted over and began to lick her face. "No, not the licking!" Desiree cried, trying to push him away; which only resulted in him bowling her over in his eagerness to lick her face.

  Sarah found herself laughing out loud at their antics. It was readily apparent that this was an established 'argument' between them. After a moment of tussle, they stopped and Desiree turned back to Sarah.

  "We really should get back. I wasn't kidding when I said he was destroying Thanatos' house. His wings broke out a couple of walls, and he ripped multiple doors off, trying to get them open to see if you were hiding in one of the rooms. Someone needs to teach the guy about doorknobs."

  Sarah nodded and let the other woman help her to her feet. "I'm sorry," she told her. "I saw the way he looked at you, and I just..."

  "All the gargoyles look at me that way. It's creepy, if you ask me. Don't tell them I said that, they'd get all butt-hurt."

  Sarah laughed. Desiree made sense to her, and she hoped the other woman would become a friend, despite their rocky beginning. It must have taken her great courage to come look for Sarah and explain. As well as a forgiving personality, something that Sarah wished she could emulate.

  When they returned, she hadn't gotten more than a few steps out of the trees before she saw Abaddon running across the manicured lawn, his eyes obviously burning from the sunrise as black streaks ran down his cheeks. He was clearly in great distress, as his wings were fully extended and even though they were slowing him down he couldn't put them away.

  He skidded to a stop a yard or so away from her. "Sarah," he growled, his voice thick.

  She closed the distance between them, pulling his head down until their foreheads touched. "Your eyes," she reprimanded him gently. "You should be inside."

  "I'm sorry," came the reply. "I should have told you. I should have waited until I made sure you knew. I just thought you did, because you seemed to know so much after seeing my past, and I never even thought it would upset you."

  It was a good thing they were talking mentally, Sarah thought. Otherwise, he had said all of that so fast that he'd have died of hyperventilation by then.

  "Shhh," she admonished him. When even his mind grew quiet, she pulled his head down a bit further so that she could kiss him. Then she pulled away, running her hand down his cheek. "Desiree explained. I'm so sorry. I didn't understand."

  "When you weren't here, I just freaked out," came the quiet admission in her mind. "I don't have much of a hoard, but I will need to dig into it to pay Thanatos for all the damage I did to his lovely home."

  "Hmm, so I heard. Remind me to teach you about doorknobs," she said. "Later." She took him by the hand and told him to close his eyes and trust her. Then she led him through the early morning sunshine, back into the house carved into the stone of a mountainside.

  Chapter 20

  Abaddon followed Sarah, his chest constricted. He had almost lost her again, by being an idiota. It was unforgivable for him to kneel in front of another woman, no matter whom. He had been possessed by the pain of the past and the consuming fear that had lived with him every moment of his imprisonment. In his unbounded joy, he had greeted the woman who carried the soul he had failed so long ago, and in so doing, he had broken the heart of the woman he loved more than his own life.

  He followed her to the blessed darkness inside, then opened his eyes as she greeted the gathered people inside. He felt her embarrassment keenly, though he didn't need the bond to sense it. She was broadcasting it strongly.

  "I'm sorry I ran off," she said to the room at large.

  Alexis moved forward. "You must be exhausted. Are you hungry, though?"

  "I'm starving," Sarah admitted, gratitude lining her voice.

  "Let's get you something to eat. You guys stop standing around. Sit down or go find something to do."

  There was immediate mass movement as room was made for her in the kitchen. Abaddon heard Sarah offer to help, and Alexis arguing for a moment before accepting. The two women began to prepare breakfast.

  "So, Father." Abaddon broke the silence. "We have been trying very hard to be patient, but we all want to know what happened and where you've been."

  Pondering how best to tell the tale, Abaddon sat back and began to relate the story of how he was captured by the Deathwalkers at the werewolf village. He recognized some of those who were there as people who had lived there--Hamish for one. There were others, too. They wept openly for lost children or spouses as he told about the battle and the heavy death toll of that day. As the only survivor, he was their first glimpse into the true depth of suffering the gargoyles experienced in trying to protect their families that night.

  He listened as Hamish told him that their heroic efforts had given the Sacred Mother--now Desiree--the time to take the lives of the children so that they weren't captured by the Deathwalkers. The children would reincarnate, their souls still innocent before their shifts into Supernaturals. But if they were captured by the Deathwalkers, those innocent souls would have experienced endless torture, forced to live the pain of every death the Deathwalkers caused in intimate detail... losing their innocence over and over and over again.

  As cruel as it sounded on the surface, Abaddon knew that saving the children's souls through reincarnation had been the best possible outcome for them under the circumstances.

  When the telling of that was over, Abaddon explained how the sorcerers had dropped him into the ocean, and he had walked and climbed for so long that he thought he would never find the end of the ocean. Eventually, he had fallen into the ring of coral where he had been when Sarah found him.

  While he talked, Sarah and Alexis finished making breakfast, and one of the gargoyles got up to help pass the plates around. Sarah sat down at Abaddon's feet and ate. He tried to ignore how often her plate was refilled, attempting to focus on his story. It was going rather slowly due to the fact that everything had to be translated by Thanatos.

  Everything went fine until he reached the part where he saw Sarah for the first time.

  "I watched him go over to the package with the fire-maker on it. As he ignited it, he threw his face apparatus into the water. He released blood into the water, and then he swam away while Sarah lay unconscious. I knew she was--"

  "James is alive?" Sarah interrupted him, staring at him with wide eyes.

  "For now," Abaddon growled.

  She looked taken aback. "He can't be alive. He would have come back for me."

  "He wouldn't have, even if he hadn't thought you were dead," Abaddon informed her. "He wanted you dead, and was satisfied at his belief he had most likely accomplished it."

  She sat the plate down and scowled at him. "That's not true."

  "His intent was easy to read," Abaddon told her. "He was broadcasting it loudly. He feared you might be able to make it to the surface, so he tried to fool you into believing he was dead in case you did. But if you were the one to die, he hoped to profit from it in some way."

  "He's my friend. I can't believe he would do that."

  "He burned with envy." Abaddon put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly as she reacted to his comment with visceral pain.

  "James Halloran?" one of the werewolves suddenly asked.

  Sarah's head snapped up. "Yes."

  "His boss disappeared and he had her declared dead. The court gave him a two year waiting period, after which the terms of her will are to be ratified, making him sole owner of the company. Hol
t Outfitters, I think the company is called. The waiting period is up in four months, when he intends to take the company public." Everyone was looking at him in surprise. "What, it's a big deal in the diving community. Holt has always promised to never go pub--"

  "That son-of-a-bitch!" Sarah roared, leaping to her feet. Her wings snapped out, shredding her blouse and literally flinging people and breaking through the walls. White chunks and rock rained down from the ceiling as they slammed up into it.

  Startled, Sarah spun in a circle, and with cries, people dodged the massive, iridescent wings. As light and ephemeral as they looked, they should have bent or even broken, but instead, they tore through stone easily, squealing as they dragged across the ceiling.

  "Oh my god, make it stop!" she cried.

  Abaddon leaped up from where the emergence of her wings had knocked him against the wall and ran to her. "Stop!" He wrapped his arms around her, just above her wings. "Just be still. You have to calm down. Relax."

  If anything, his comment distressed her more. "He's going to take my company public! He's going to ruin everything I worked for! How can I relax?"

  "Because if you don't, you'll kill somebody with those things."

  She blinked at him and then looked around again. He could see when she realized that she had met--and exceeded--his own damage. "Oh... oh wow. Dear god, I did all that?"

  "Close your eyes." He watched her obey as he spoke privately to her through their bond. "Now, imagine your wings shrinking and drawing into your back. Just imagine it, you don't have to do it."