Chapter Four
Chapter Four
A ldric perched atop the cathedral, his gaze fixed on the stars above. Each point of light felt like a reminder of his eternal vigil, still bound by the curse that stole his days. But tonight, he wasn’t alone again.
Elena had returned, just as she promised.
He watched her step carefully across the weathered stones, a dance of curiosity and caution. In the moonlight, her fiery hair shimmered like the embers of a dying fire, and Aldric felt a warmth stir within his chest that he had long forgotten.
As she drew closer, Aldric stepped from the shadows. “You came back,” he said softly, his voice tinged with both surprise and gratitude.
Elena smiled, her green eyes sparkling with mischief. “I couldn’t resist the allure of ancient secrets and brooding gargoyles.” She ran a hand over his wings. “Plus, flying was really cool once I was dumb screaming.”
Aldric chuckled, a sound that felt foreign yet pleasant on his lips. In her presence, the weight of centuries seemed to lift, if only for a moment. But as the laughter faded, a somber realization settled upon him.
He needed her help, more than he cared to admit. The curse that bound him was not broken, merely altered and there were dozens more on the rooftop. It felt wrong to be free for a few hours when his brethren were not.
And yet, you don’t ask her to touch them because you don’t want to share her time.
The selfish thought bristled him and he shook it off.
Aldric took a step towards her, his gaze intense. “Elena, I must ask you something.” He paused, searching for the right words. “How far are you willing to go to help?”
Before she could answer, Elena stumbled, her foot catching on a loose stone. Instinctively, Aldric lunged forward, his arms encircling her waist as he pulled her close. He scooped her up effortlessly, cradling her against his chest as if she weighed nothing at all.
As he looked down into her eyes, Aldric a surge of emotion threatened to overwhelm him. With a trembling hand, he reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, his touch gentle despite how hard he knew his fingers would be for her.
Her eyes locked onto his and didn’t falter and though he held her, she did not try to move and he did nothing to set her back on her feet. Their faces remained mere inches apart and her body still lay within his grasp.
Aldric’s heart raced, a drumbeat of anticipation and uncertainty pounding in his chest. Part of him feared that she would recoil from his touch, repulsed by the monstrous form he wore.
But Elena did not flinch. Instead, she leaned into his embrace, her hands coming to rest upon his shoulders. He was shocked as her looked into her eyes and no longer saw not the fear and revulsion from just a week ago, but a glimmer of something else entirely.
Understanding. Acceptance. And perhaps, even desire.
“Elena, I...” Aldric’s voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper. “I apologize. I’m uncertain if I can prevent myself from kissing you right now. It might be best if you remove yourself while I work on understanding what being awake after centuries has done to me.”
The words hung between them, a confession and a plea all at once. Elena said nothing, her gaze never wavering from his. Aldric’s heart thundered in his ears as he lowered his head, slowly closing the distance between their lips.
When he finally pressed his lips against hers, it was like a lightning strike. Her lips were soft whereas he knew hers would crush with a bruising force despite his body now only being stone colored and not made of stone.
The kiss was heated, desperate, as if they were both starving for the taste of each other. Aldric’s mind reeled as fragmented memories sprang to life—a dance in a candlelit ballroom, stolen glances across a crowded cathedral, the brush of her hand against his in a moment of shared grief.
He couldn’t make sense of the visions, but one thing was clear. This was not their first kiss. Somehow, in some other lifetime, they had been here before.
Aldric’s body responded with a ferocity that shocked him. His cock hardened and felt like the stone he was cursed to be, straining against the confines of his trousers. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted Elena higher, making certain she could feel the evidence of his desire as he carried her toward the wall.
“Forgive me,” he gasped, tearing his mouth from hers. “It’s been so long, and you feel so good in my arms.”
To his surprise, Elena’s fingers threaded through his hair, pulling him back down to her. “Then don’t,” she breathed against his lips. “Don’t stop.”
Permission granted, Aldric claimed her mouth once more, pouring centuries of loneliness and longing into the kiss. The world fell away until all that remained were them, entwined beneath the star-strewn sky, lost in a passion that defied the curse itself.
Aldric’s hands roamed Elena’s body with an intensity born from pent-up desire. His fingers traced every curve and dip of her form, mapping the contours he had long admired from afar. In a frenzy, he tore at her clothing, needing to feel her skin against his own. She met his urgency, their movements a symphony of passion as she yanked at his shirt to reveal the taut muscles of his chest. Their bodies melded together, each touch igniting a new wave of heat and longing between them. He was no longer stone, but it seemed everywhere she touched he went taught.
They fell to the cathedral roof in a tangle of limbs, heedless of the rough stone beneath them. Aldric trailed hot kisses down Elena’s neck, savoring the taste of her skin. She arched into him, a soft moan escaping her lips.
“Please,” she gasped, her fingers fumbling with the fastenings of his trousers. “Oh my god,” she whispered as her hands wrapped around his length. “You’re a literal rock.”
He could only grunt as his mind was clouded over by the pure ecstasy of her hand on his length. He knew that despite his cock staying literal stone it would not hurt her, and would change as he sunk into her length as it had every time since the curse.
Why do you know that?
“Aldric,” she whispered, her hands gripping him tighter as she stroked him. “Why do I remember this?”
Aldric needed no further encouragement. In one swift motion, he freed himself and positioned his body over hers. Their eyes locked, a silent acknowledgment of the precipice they were about to cross.
Then, with a thrust of his hips, he was inside her. She cried out, but not in pain as his cock drove inside her core, shifting from stone to flesh and back to stone as he pulled out. Every thrust was both hard and soft as his curse let him only find relief within her body.
Aldric’s movements were driven by an insatiable hunger, and Elena eagerly matched his every stroke.
Her fingers dug into his skin, leaving red marks in their wake as they moved together with primal desire. The sound of their heavy breathing mixed with the rhythm of their bodies as the only sounds in the otherwise quiet night.
The world narrowed to the slide of skin against skin, the mingling of their ragged breaths. Aldric watched Elena’s face, drinking in every flutter of her eyelashes, every gasp of pleasure. He wanted to imprint this moment on his memory, to carry it with him through the long, lonely days ahead because he had no doubt this was a dream.
With a swift and fluid motion, he shifted and grabbed her ankle, pulling her closer to him. He then deftly tossed one of her ankles around his neck before repeating the action with the other foot, never breaking free from her body he continued to fuck her, driving deeper as she did not relent on the new position.
“Fuck,” he groaned as the new angle let him slam into her to the base of his dick, his balls slapping against her with every uncontrolled thrust.
“God,” she hissed, her hips bucking. “Part of you is still stone.”
“I’d apologize, but I wouldn’t mean it,” he dipped his mouth to nip at her ear and trailed his cold lips down her neck. “I will always be stone except where we join.” He gasped as used his ear to pull him up.
“I didn’t complain.”
As he felt her body tighten around him, Aldric redoubled his efforts. With a final, deep thrust, he sent Elena over the edge. She shattered beneath him, his name a hoarse cry on her lips.
The sight of her surrender was his undoing. With a grunt, Aldric pulled free, spilling his seed on the cathedral stones. For a long moment, he remained poised above her, their gazes locked as they struggled to catch their breath.
Elena’s mind reeled as she lay beneath Aldric, her body trembling from the force of her release. The enormity of what they’d done crashed over her like a tidal wave, threatening to sweep her away.
What had she been thinking, letting a man she barely knew take her on a rooftop? It wasn’t like her to be so reckless, so impulsive. Panic clawed at her throat, urging her to run, to put as much distance between herself and this moment as possible.
But as Aldric’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her close, the panic receded. The gentle pulse of her body in the aftermath of their lovemaking was a soothing counterpoint to the chaos in her mind. She’d done this before, not up here, but with this man of literal stone. She couldn’t explain it, but everything in the moment had swirled around her like fiery memories urging her on.
She’d made a lot of questionable choices in her life, but this—this felt right in a way she couldn’t quite explain. Like it was always meant to happen, regardless of the consequences.
Besides , Elena thought wryly, I’ve done a lot stupider things than let a handsome man fuck me senseless a few days after meeting him. In the grand scheme of things, this barely cracked the top ten.
So instead of running, she nestled into Aldric’s embrace, letting his warmth seep into her bones. This was crazy, but she was home on winter break, and wasn’t winter break for bad choices?
Her eyes were heavy with pleasure, but something in the distance on the roof, just beyond Aldric, seemed to draw her eye to the same spot even as she tried to simply wait for him to discuss what would happen next.
Ethereal forms shimmered into existence, wisps of light coalescing on the rooftop. Elena gasped, her heart slamming against her ribs. She leaped up, grasping at Aldric’s arm as he rose to stand before her. “What—what are those?” She dropped her hold on his arm only long enough to fix her clothing even though he did not seem to mind being as naked as a man of stone could be.
“The Ethereal Guardians.” Aldric’s voice was steady, a soothing balm to her frayed nerves. “They mean us no harm. Though our state of clothing is probably an issue.”
Elena swallowed hard, her gaze darting between the ghostly apparitions. They drifted closer, their faces serene, eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. A gentle breeze carried their whispers, the melodic echoes weaving through the night air.
“Darkness gathers,” they murmured, voices overlapping like a haunting choir. “The curse’s grip tightens.”
Elena’s mind raced, trying to make sense of their cryptic words. She stepped forward, her curiosity overpowering her fear. “What darkness? What do you mean?”
The spirits swirled around her, their luminous forms casting an eerie glow across the rooftop. “Ancient evil stirs, seeking to claim the cathedral’s power.”
Elena’s heart clenched. The cathedral—the heart of the city, the place she’d always felt drawn to. She couldn’t let anything happen to it, to the people who found solace within its walls.
“How do we stop it?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Nothing made sense, but if these creatures were real she certainly wasn’t going to regret not asking them questions.
The Ethereal Guardians hovered before her, their eyes boring into hers. “A ritual, long forgotten, holds the key to breaking the curse.”
Hope bloomed in Elena’s chest, a fragile flower taking root amidst the chaos. “What ritual? Please, tell me.”
But the spirits were already fading, their forms dissolving into mist. “Seek the truth in the cathedral’s depths,” they whispered, their voices growing fainter with each passing second. “The path will reveal itself to those who are worthy.”
And then they were gone, leaving Elena and Aldric alone on the rooftop once more. Elena turned to him, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and determination.
“We have to find that ritual,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “We can’t let the darkness win.”
Aldric nodded, his jaw set. “We won’t. Together, we’ll unravel this mystery and break the curse once and for all.”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed as he watched the intimate exchange between Aldric and Elena from his hidden vantage point. The ghostly whispers of the Ethereal Guardians reached his ears, their cryptic words stoking the flames of his ambition.
He stepped back, melting into the shadows as his mind raced. The ritual they spoke of, the key to breaking the curse—it was the missing piece he’d been searching for all these years.
Lucien’s lips curled into a smile, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Elena and Aldric’s budding connection was a weakness he could exploit, a chink in their armor that he would use to his advantage. They clearly didn’t remember one another from centuries before—which meant they wouldn’t remember him and his damning fire, either.
He had waited centuries for this moment, biding his time as he gathered his strength. And now, with the gargoyles stirring to life and the city on the brink of chaos, his opportunity had finally arrived.
Lucien’s gaze drifted to Aldric, the once-proud guardian now trapped in a cycle of stone and flesh. He could sense the power that lay dormant within him, a force that could tip the scales in his favor.
But first, he needed to find that ritual. He needed to unlock the cathedral’s secrets before Aldric and Elena could intervene.
Lucien closed his eyes, reaching out with his senses. He could feel the ancient magic that thrummed through the cathedral’s walls, a pulsing heartbeat that called to him like a siren’s song.
He would find that ritual, no matter the cost. And when he did, he would harness its power for himself, bending the city to his will and claiming his rightful place as its master.
Lucien opened his eyes, his resolve hardening into an unbreakable steel. He cast one last glance at Aldric and Elena, their figures illuminated by the moonlight.
“Enjoy your little romance while you can,” he murmured, his voice laced with a quiet menace. “For soon, the cathedral will be mine, and you will bow before me.”
With that, Lucien turned and melted into the night, his footsteps echoing against the stone as he descended from the rooftop. The game was on, and he would stop at nothing to emerge victorious.