~Truths ~

Xavier made us ham and cheese hoagies. Once I had food in my empty stomach, I calmed down a bit, but not much. I still didn't think it was fair of him to ask me to throw my sister's death to the side and ignore what happened to her. I could also see his side now that I wasn't blinded by anger. In his eyes, he was trying to save everyone. There were still questions that needed to be answered too, like how I was supposed to set his people free. No clue on that one.

"Feeling better?" he asked when I shoved my plate away.

"I will once you take me home."

He rolled his eyes, which only served to piss me off again. "I used to think your temper tantrums were cute." Before I could say anything, he put a finger over my lips. "No yelling. We still have stuff to talk about."

He took our plates to the sink and then came back over to sit beside me. "Knowing you like I do, I'm sure you're full of questions."

"Tell me about Gargoyles," I said, trying not to let my anger go because he was smiling crookedly at me.

"My people have existed since before the Earth was born. We lived in a different plane of existence parallel to this one. It was called Argoylia. We named ourselves Gargoyles after our home. Before, we had no names, we just existed. It wasn't until we began to messenger back and forth between planes that we even needed names. Our outer skin allowed us to travel between worlds."

"Wait, what do you mean?" I interrupted him. "How did that let you travel?"

"In order to breathe in some worlds, a person's genetic makeup had to be of that world. Some places had toxic gases, some had no air at all. Because we can turn ourselves into stone, that didn't bother us. We don't need to breathe in that state, and stone is immune to toxic gas."

"But wouldn't that be hard to do?" I asked. "I mean, if you're stone, then doesn't that make it difficult to hold things, to talk even? Stones seem...well, they're hard and immobile."

"Don't freak out again," he warned and showed me his hand. It started to change. At first it elongated and then it got bigger, like he was morphing into the Hulk or something, but instead of turning green, it turned a dark gray color, closer to black. "Touch it," he urged.

I took a deep breath. This so wasn't on my bucket list. My fingers grazed the top of his hand, and I gasped. It didn't feel like stone. Well, it did, but it was softer, almost leathery. I looked up and Xavier had his eyes closed. I couldn't tell what he was feeling, though. His face was still pretty closed off. I'd hurt his feelings earlier, and I didn't think he'd recovered from that yet. He was being cautious.

"It's so soft," I whispered, taking his hand in both of mine. "I thought it would feel more like real stone."

"We can harden it if we want," he explained, a soft sound vibrating through him. It sounded almost like a cat purring. "When you see us on top of churches or other buildings, we've hardened our skin and gone into hibernation. Some of my people have been in that state of sleep for over a thousand years."

"How old are you?" I asked. Did I really want that answer, though?

"I was born after the Great War in Heaven," he said, eyeing me warily.

"So you're like thousands of years old?" I gulped. I sort of expected that, but hearing it was harder than I thought it would be.

He nodded. "I've hibernated most of my time here, though, so I'm not as old as you'd think, but I've seen a lot on this plane."

"You came here from your home?" I asked.

"No," he said. "I was born a slave here on your Earth."

"How did you all become slaves?" Being a slave was wrong, no matter who or what you were.

"It was during the Great War. Loliam, the oldest of all of us, was captured and collared. Once he was tethered to the Angels, we all were. We're connected, and when he lost his ability to go home, none of us could either."

"Like the Borg from Star Trek?" I blurted out and then slapped a hand over my mouth. I'm a closet Treky. No need for Xavier to know that, though. Most people who knew thought I was weird.

Xavier only smiled. "A little like the Borg, I guess. We don't hear each other like they do. We aren't one mind, but metaphysically, if you destroy our main link, you cripple us all."

"And Loliam was your...main link?"

"Yes, he was our Elder, the fabric of what held us together. We don't know where he is, but it is said among my people that the moment the collar went on him, we all fell from the skies and cried out at the pain that lashed through us. Until he can be found and freed, then we remain slaves, bidden to do as our masters tell us."

"And you think I can somehow free you all?" I asked. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, I was not. Sure, I loved those movies, but I kept myself firmly planted on the ground, not running here and there from one dangerous adventure to another looking for relics.

"The circle that you will be a part of will free us. I don't know how, our Seers can't give us any more details." He sighed. "I've spoken with them myself, and I believe they know, but refuse to say anything for fear of inadvertently changing the outcome. Will it be you specifically? I honestly don't know, but without you in that circle, we'll never be free. That much I do know."

A headache started behind my eyes. He was dumping all this responsibility not only for freeing his people in my lap, but also for all of humanity. Not something I wanted to deal with.

"I know this is hard for you, Rose," he said softly. "You're torn. You want justice for your sister, but you want to do the right thing for everyone else too."

"Why do you call me Rose?" I asked to get him to shut up. If he kept on like that, I might actually change my mind, and I wasn't ready to do that yet.

"It suits you," he said simply. "You remember when I said you had thorns, but were as beautiful as a rose?"

I nodded. It had been the most beautiful thing anyone ever said to me.

"It's true," he said, smiling. "You remind me of a lone rose in winter struggling to survive the cold. This beautiful, rich color taunting the snow-covered ground. You're just as stubborn and willful as the winter rose, and that is why I call you Rose."

His fingers grazed my cheek, and I gasped at the electricity that shot through me. "Do you flirt with all your charges?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"What do you think?" he asked and scooted closer.

"I think you're good at getting what you want, and if seducing a girl gets you that, then you'll do it," I told him, my voice a little steadier. That was my biggest fear, that he was using seduction to get what he wanted. It might work, too, if he kept this up.

"I'm not Sebastian Caine," he said, his eyes darkening. "I don't treat people like playthings that I can toss aside when I get done with them."

That came out left field, what in the world? My eyes widened slightly. O...M...G! He was jealous!

"And for the record, Melinda, I don't go around sleeping with my charges to get them to do what I want them to," he huffed and stood up.

"Sebastian isn't as bad as you think he is," I told him, standing myself.

"Really?" he asked, the sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "You've gotten so up close and personal with him already? You know for a fact he's not a leech who snuffs out girls' hearts without a backward glance?"

"He loved Jenny," I said, my own anger back.

"You're sure about that?" He laughed. "Just because he fed you a line of bull, you're buying into that? How do you know he doesn't already know who you are? You're her sister. She had pictures of you."

"She had pictures of my Goth look, not this Stepford version of myself," I said. Did Sebastian know who I was? Could he have figured it out and was now playing me? I hated that Xavier made me doubt my judgment, but dammit, he could be right. The Sebastian I knew was night and day from the one Jenny described in the latter half of her diary. Did Xavier know something I didn't? Dammit.

Xavier sighed. "Rose, I know you want to believe the best of him because you like him as a person and could see yourself being friends with him, but don't forget who he is. Don't be blindsided by him. That's all I'm asking. He'll break you without a second thought."

"We're getting off topic," I sighed. "We were supposed to be talking about this big life altering decision. Tell me more about why it's important these bad Angels be stopped. Do they plan on starting another war on Heaven or something?" Best to get off the topic of Sebastian before one or both of us said things we would regret.

"No, although the Heavenly Host might disagree with me I personally think they could care less about Heaven. It's more about them getting revenge on the ones who caused the fight to begin with."

I frowned at him, then my mouth dropped open. "Ohhh...you mean humanity?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. They want to destroy the things that usurped their treasured spot. Humanity became their devil as Lucifer became yours."

"Witches don't really buy into all that," I told him. "I mean, we know the gods are there and all. Some of us even call upon them to strengthen our magic, but I never have. I don't..."

"It doesn't matter if you believe or not, Rose. God believes in you. Your mother had a deep and abiding faith in her religion, and she had you baptized. Your life was given over in God's keeping, and He takes that very seriously."

"I never said I didn't believe," I grouched, "only that I didn't worship any god or goddess."

"Still doesn't matter," Xavier said. "It is what it is, and you're going to have to deal with it. Now, these trapped Angels are what we need to focus on. When they get out, they're going to be pissed."

"Wait," I interrupted. "Aren't we supposed to stop them from getting out?"

"No." Xavier shook his head. "I wish it were that easy, Rose. Remember I told you there were events you couldn't control? Couldn't stop? That's one of them. They're going to get out, and when they do, it's going to cause a lot of damage. What the circle is supposed to stop is one particular Angel. He's going to get out, and when he does, he's going to come straight for the people who can stop him from doing whatever the hell he wants."

"Me."

"And anyone else in the circle. You have to help Cassie find the others. Left on their own, they're sitting ducks."

Well, hell. Why did he have to go and say that? The first pangs of guilt started to creep in. If I ignored this and kept on with my plan to murder the ones responsible for Jenny's death, I'd be putting innocent people at risk. Selfishness. I didn't remember a lot about my mom, but I did remember she taught me not to be selfish. She used to harp on me all the time to share with Jenny. Dad would be disappointed in me too if I gave in to my own selfish desires. What to do?

Damn him. Xavier managed to throw more wrenches into my plans than a monkey gone wild in space trying to catch the floating bananas. I watched as he added more wood to the fire and stoked it into a blazing heat box again. I hadn't noticed until now how cold it was getting in here. Why didn't he have central heating? Fires were cozy, but insta-heat was even better.

"Did you bring your gloves?" he asked, standing up.

"Yeah, why?"

He grinned and fetched our coats. "We're going to build a snowman."

"Uh, no. I don't do the cold."

"Rose, you used to love the snow," he said patiently. "You've just forgotten it since you went to California. By the time we're done, you are going to remember how much fun winter can be."

"Is this before or after I freeze to death?" I grouched as I pulled on my coat. I couldn't believe I was going outside into the cold wet stuff on purpose.

"Don't be a brat," he chided and helped me with my gloves. "This is going to be fun. I have a sled we can use too. And I will warn you, I have deadly aim with snowballs."

"That so?" I scoffed, picking up the challenge in his voice. "I happen to be a Softball All-Star back home. I pitch a mean ball myself."

Xavier laughed and pulled me out into the falling snow. "Okay, Miss All-Star, we'll see how mean your fast ball is after we build Frosty."

I frowned and looked around. How the hell did one even start to build a snowman? Xavier shook his head at my perplexed expression. He gathered a snowball together in his hand and then started to roll it through the snow. The more he rolled, the bigger it got, until it was huge. The base of the snowman. He packed another snowball together and handed it to me with instructions to start rolling. I scrunched up my nose and sighed. I was not getting out of this. So I started rolling and rolling and rolling.

The snowball was the size of two basketballs when I felt the first smack in the back. I whirled and took one to the face. Oh, he so did not! I dived behind the base of the snowman, but it wasn't good enough cover, and I took several more before I was able to scoop up enough snow to pack a ball myself. I peeked and dodged another one.

"Stop!" I called. "I need a second!"

Xavier laughed and dropped the snowball he had in his hand. "I warned you..." Mine hit him square in the face. I had several more waiting and drove him into hiding behind the trash cans. "Foul ball, Rose!"

"Ha! I had my back turned when you hit me!"

For the next hour we traded snowballs and dodged around anything that could provide shelter. Xavier had me at a disadvantage as I wasn't used to the cold, but I didn't care. He was right and it was fun.

I heard the sound of the wind whistling as his next ball came at me. I was getting tired of being hit, though. Do not mess with a witch in tune with all the Elements. I called Air to me, and the snowball stopped in mid-air. I stood up and embraced Air. I could feel the rush of wind as it blew around me, felt it in my bones, and sighed in sheer pleasure.

"Unfair advantage," Xavier called, backing up. "Damn, you're beautiful with your hair flying in all directions."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Snowballs by the dozens rose up out of the ground and lined up like good little soldiers. Xavier's eyes widened, and I shouted, "Fire!"

Xavier blurred, and I blinked, seeing something shoot up in the air as my snowballs landed harmlessly against the trees on the edge of the property. I looked up and gaped. Xavier stood about thirty feet up in the air, humongous black leathery wings shooting out of his back. He laughed at my expression. Then bombarded me with snowballs. I barely had time to throw up a shield, before he'd dived and grabbed more snow.

"Flying is a foul," I shouted as he flew over me, testing my shield with snowballs.

"Calling up the Elements is a foul!" he shouted back, the laugh in his voice evident.

I dropped my shields and used Air to target him with more snowballs. He dodged and dived down, catching me around the waist before I could throw the shield back up. I screeched like a girl when we flew up several hundred feet. I wrapped myself around him and hid my face in his neck, terrified. Flying without an airplane wrapped around me was another thing so not on my bucket list.

Xavier laughed, and sound vibrated through me. "I'm not going to let you fall, Rose."

"I don't want to be up this high!" I whisper-screamed.

"Shh," he soothed. "Trust me. Just look. It's beautiful."

I peeked up and looked over his shoulder and gasped. The sun was starting to set over the lake, and the snow glinted in muted colors of pink and orange. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I'd seen some gorgeous sunsets in California, but they had nothing on this myriad of colors glinting off the snow.

Xavier pulled me closer, and I found myself snuggling into him. He made some kind of purring or humming noise, and I looked up at him, startled. "What's that noise you make? I've heard you do it before."

"It just means I'm content, happy."

"I'm terrified," I told him, holding on as tight as I could.

"Don't be afraid, sweetheart," he told me, his black eyes swirling with emotion. "I'm the one person who'll never let you fall."

"What if you're what I'm afraid of?" I asked. "What if not letting me fall means killing me?"

He sighed and buried his face into my hair. His wings beat at the air around us, cocooning me in heat. "It won't come to that. I believe in you."

"But what if it does?"

"Then I'll be glad I won't be alive another minute without you." His voice held sorrow and pain, but I could hear the sincerity in it. "You mean more to me than you can ever realize, Rose."

Yeah, I could realize. That was the problem. Witches aren't like normal humans. We feel things more deeply, are more in tune with nature. I understood what I was feeling, what he was feeling. I just didn't want to admit it. I needed to process this, to think and analyze.

"Don't analyze it, Rose," Xavier said. "If you overthink this, you'll twist yourself up like you always do. For once, just go with it."

"Can you read my mind?" I asked, startled that he knew what I was thinking.

He chuckled. "It would be so much easier if I could, but no, Rose, I can't read your mind. Your emotions, yes, but not your thoughts."

"I'm just...I'm confused. I didn't want any of this. I came here to make them all pay, and then you go and dump all this stuff on me, and I want to help you, I do, but Jenny..."

"Shh, Rose. You don't need to make any decisions right now. Will you promise me one thing?"

"What?" I asked cautiously.

"Will you at least think about everything I told you today?"

"I can do that."

"That's all I'm asking." His soft expression turned wicked. "Ready for some fun?"

My eyes widened, and I didn't even have time to take a breath to scream before we were soaring across the mountaintops. I held on for dear life and closed my eyes, praying to anyone who could hear me to keep me from falling. Xavier laughed, the sound echoing around me. I must have been praying out loud. "It's not funny!" I shouted.

His arms turned me around and held me in a strong grip. "Open your eyes, Rose. Feel the wind as it rushes you. It's amazing."

"No! I'm chicken!"

That earned a full body laugh. "Just look, Rose, before the sun completely sets."

I cracked open an eye and then another. It took me a second for my eyes to adjust, but when I was able to fully look out over the landscape, I sighed in sheer joy. I only ever got this feeling when the Elements surrounded me, but this was as close to pure bliss as a person could come. It looked like a winter wonderland sparkling like diamonds in the dying rays of the sunlight. It truly was beautiful.

"See?" Xavier whispered against my ear. "Aren't you glad you opened your eyes?"

I nodded. "It's...I have no words, Xavier. This is..."

"I know," he said. "Just relax and enjoy the ride, Rose. You're safe with me."

And I was. Xavier made me feel safer than anyone else, so I did what he asked. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride. I could worry about everything else later.