Here is chapter 2 of my story, I hope everyone enjoys it.
Special thanks to my beta "London Bai" for editing it!
About forty-five minutes had passed since Brandon left to get the Chinese food for there had been a large lineup which was not uncommon, but tonight it annoyed him more than usual since he had company. Finally, after what seemed to take forever, he was able to get his order and briskly walk back across the street to his building.
Demona stepped out of the shower just as Brandon returned looking around his apartment while putting the food on the kitchen counter top. Nothing was remotely disturbed and all was dead quiet, then he noticed that the balcony drapes were open. Calling out for Demona seemed futile since he thought she had decided to leave.
He deeply sighed. "Well, that is a bit disappointing. She was kind of pretty, too."
Looking at his watch, which read eight fifteen in the evening, he decided that it was time for him to take a shower. So he placed the boxed food into the fridge for the time being since it was obvious he wasn't having company.
"I guess I'll just eat after my shower, then hit the sack."
Unbeknownst to him, Demona was in the bathroom drying herself off with the towels the human had laid out for her. Brandon started to unbutton his shirt as he walked into his bedroom and discarded it onto the bed while walking towards the bathroom, still somewhat disappointed that his guest had just up and left.
"She could have at least waited and said goodbye," he mumbled as he brushed open the slightly shut bathroom door.
He was frozen stiff in the doorway to the bathroom as he saw something he couldn't believe: a completely nude Demona staring back at him. His jaw nearly hit the floorboards as Demona was just standing there looking back at him. She had been fluffing her hair with the towel when he had walked in and he couldn't help but just stare at her lithe body as he failed to make comprehensible words. Sure, she was a gargoyle, but she really wasn't at all that he was expecting. He thought her quite beautiful from her light blue skin tone to the curves of her toned, muscular, yet voluptuous body. His eyes glanced from her perky breasts with the dark blue nipples, down her flat stomach to a neatly trimmed mound of red curls.
After Demona came to her own senses, she hissed at him angrily, noticing where his eyes rested. Brandon realized that he was rudely staring at her and averted his eyes quickly while going into full apology mode. He started back peddling out of the bathroom repeating almost in a mantra, "Sorry, sorry!" He bumbled into his living room with a look of utmost shock while eerie thoughts of Demona skinning him alive for what he had just seen unnerved him.
Demona, still standing in the bathroom, quickly wrapped herself tautly in the towel and slammed the door completely shut.
"Stupid human!" She yelled out, loud enough for Brandon to hear the disdain in her voice.
Growling lowly, she thought to herself, 'I am going to kill him.' But then, she wondered why hadn't she immediately shut the door or yelled at the human to get out when she came to realize something. While he was staring at her body, she was staring at his body, at least the part that was removed of any clothing. 'Why would I do that?' Her hatred for humans was absolute... or so she thought. Sure, he was nice and kind of cute, pretty muscular, too but... "Whoa, whoa, whoa" Demona shook her head of any thoughts she didn't want to have. Perhaps her time as a human female during the day had other unforeseen effects on her views of human males.
"She is gonna kill me!" Brandon worried to himself, "I thought she was gone!" Even though he was sure that he was about to meet his doom, desiring thoughts of the gargoyle's body entered his mind.
Demona commandingly called out of the bathroom, "Human! I need some clothing, mine are still wet!"
Brandon stirred out of his thoughts and was a little taken back by being called 'human' in such a derogatory manner. Demona, hearing nothing but silence, realized what she had said, yet not knowing why she rephrased her request. "Brandon, I need some fresh clothing."
Smiling that she made an attempt at being a little more polite, he raised his voice enough to be heard and informs her that she can essentially raid his closet for what she wants to wear and that his pajamas are hung up to the left in his closet. He remembered that she had wings so he also tells her that he has a few old pajama tops that she can tear if need be to make room for her wings.
Demona peered out of the bathroom and looked around the bedroom, seeing that Brandon isn't present, and she stepped out of the bathroom wrapped firmly in the towel and exposes the contents of his closet. Once again, she was impressed at the level of organization. White shirts are grouped together, blue shirts are grouped together and so forth, even his slacks and jeans are hung up and grouped.
Demona easily found some clothing she could wear with her wings in a red tank-top and a pair of black baggy pajama pants. She walked out to see Brandon sitting on the couch looking bewilderingly up at her.
"What?" She snapped, watching him jump to his feet. "I assume these were the clothes you were speaking of."
"Yes, you look good... I mean, yes those are... They're fine." He just stood there with an oh-man-did-I-just-say-that kind of look.
Brandon immediately apologizes again for walking in on Demona, "I thought you had left because I didn't hear anything and the drapes were wide open."
For some reason, Demona came to accept his apology; maybe it was because he did seem truly sincere and he had meant no harm. "I was thinking of leaving. I had opened the drapes to see if the skies were clear."
Demona took note that he was still without his shirt and just had his jeans on from earlier. She took small unnoticeable glances at his upper torso and somehow found herself impressed by this human's physique. He was well defined from what she could see and seemed as if he took great care of himself. To stop herself from continuing to look Demona mentioned she was hungry and looked towards the kitchen.
"Yes, of course." Brandon slipped into the kitchen, opening the fridge. "I picked up some chicken and rice, if you would like that. Not sure what you would like to drink, I only have a few bottles of Gatorade and... hmm... ahh, how about this?" Brandon questioned as he shut the fridge and opened the cupboard to pull out a half a bottle of wine.
Demona gave an awkward look. "Hmm, wine? Do you treat all the gargoyles you harbor to wine and dinner?"
Brandon laughed and assured her that it was simply a choice of drink if she liked and nothing more. He took up the Chinese food in his hands and turned his back to Demona to put the the food in the microwave. She took discovery of several angry scars on his back, just below his right shoulder, across the center and down the side. They ranged in size and looked like cuts, possibly whip marks, but either way, they looked to have been a painful set of injuries when it had happened.
Brandon set a time on the microwave and noticed the silence. He immediately figured out why Demona was quiet, so he quietly poured two glasses of wine and turned to face Demona. She was observing him with a curious look on her face.
Handing her a glass he spoke. "Noticed the scars, I take it?"
Demona nodded her head and rather bluntly asked what they were from. She saw a sad look, a shadow of the past, fall over his face paired with a bit of anger as he looked down to the kitchen floor. "I saw your medals; you were in the military, weren't you?"
"I was on a mission. That didn't end well, I..."
Just then the microwave beeped and he quickly turned around to grab the food, anxious for anything to get him out of the conversation. He placed the heated dinner on two ceramic plates and set them on his dining room table. Brandon pulled out a chair for Demona and offered her a seat, so she sat down graciously. Seeing that the last subject was very touchy, she brought up all the artwork around his home.
"I saw your easels, did you paint all of these yourself?"
"Yes, do you like them?"
Demona gave a smile, "They are quite realistic."
"They said, painting would help make transitioning into civilian life easier, that it would keep my mind clear."
Demona looked at him, slightly intrigued by the potential story, but then saw the dismay inch across his face.
Brandon quickly spoke. "Painting gives me a chance to forget certain things and only focus on the beautiful things in life; the things that make me happy."
A couple hours passed as they finished their dinner while attempting small talk. Eventually, Brandon had asked Demona why she had such hatred for humanity. "You seem to hate humans very much. Did you always dislike us so?"
"No... there was a time when..." But, she was interrupted by Brandon's wrist watch, beeping profusely which he checked right quick.
"Wow! I didn't realize that the time had flown so quickly. I should probably get to sleep."
Dropping the question from before, she asked. "Big day tomorrow, human?"
Brandon glared at her slightly. "Not all humans are horrible, Demona, and we do have names." Demona sighed a little.
"Big day tomorrow, Brandon?"
He smiled warmly. "No, nothing special really. I just get up at five fifteen most mornings so I can make it to the gym by six, then after that, I work on my art and try to get it shown in galleries. I to have find some means to pay the bills around here." He said with a forced smile. "I guess I will pass on a shower tonight. It was a pleasant evening and I enjoyed talking with you. Maybe we can finish our conversation sometime later in the future." He said smiling at Demona, until he thought of the need for slumber. "I am going get some sleep, but you can take my bed for the night, if you would like to stay. I can sleep on the couch."
Demona looked at him and agreed, she wasn't going to turn down a bed because the alternative was either the couch or outside where the hunters and rain were, and that simply wouldn't do for Demona. As Brandon cleaned up the dining table, Demona walked down the hall into Brandon's bedroom and pulled the tightly tucked-in sheets back. She figured she would wait until he was asleep and the skies a bit clearer before leaving; the proposition of staying all night wasn't all bad, but she needed to leave before she transformed. She disrobed and slipped under the covers, taking comfort in how smooth and cool to the touch they were on her skin. The sheets were soft and shiny, possibly satin. 'This human has good taste in bed sheets.' She thought.
Demona laid there, watching the nightstand clock tick by, her mind wandered as to why this human, Brandon, was so nice to her, how he was so attractive... she shook her head again, clearing thoughts she didn't want to have. Suddenly, she was startled by something jumping onto the bed by her feet.
"Meeeooow." Demona looked down at the cat. "You must be Snuggles, hmm?" The cat just yawned and curled up into a ball down by the end of the bed, but kept her eyes glued on Demona.
Brandon had been unable to fall asleep as he intended, his mind strayed with thoughts of the beautiful redhead sleeping in his bed, who just happened to be a gargoyle. He never had much luck with women because of his former life, he was always gone or doing something out of country. Why did he find a gargoyle to be attractive? Something about her just seemed... alluring. There was no question, Demona had a strong exterior that even the hardest metal couldn't crack, but he felt that she was more than just a mean gargoyle. She was quite pretty, actually, and what he had seen in the bathroom was not just pretty, but just downright gorgeous.
'A gargoyle like her, though, would never have the same thoughts towards a human.' With that thought in mind, he finally managed to drift off to sleep.
The nightstand clock hit two in the morning as Demona pushed the sheets back and slipped out from the human's bed. The cat, who had been sleeping at the end of the bed, stood up and leisurely stretched. Demona walked past the cat to the bedroom window and peeked outside to see if the weather had let up, and was grateful that it had. The night skies were clearing and the moon could be seen through the breaking clouds.
She walked back past the cat and stopped. "Well, little kitty, it's time for me to go." She whispered as she scratched the cat behind its ears. The cat responded by jumping down and rubbing along her legs in a grand show of affection. Demona lightly pushed the cat away with her foot and walked into the bathroom to retrieve her, hopefully dry, clothing and get dressed. Flicking the lights on, she felt the fabric that she had hung to dry.
"Bah! still wet." She softly growled, slightly annoyed. Turning to the counter, she put her jewelery back on and looked into the mirror, her eyes focused on the human clothes that she placed in a pile next to the bed. "Well, he did say I could wear them."
She put the borrowed clothing back on, then gathered her still damp top and loin cloth and left the bathroom. Demona cautiously opened the bedroom door and slowly walked into the living room to see Brandon fast asleep on the couch. As she walked, the belt to her loin cloth clanged slightly to which she quickly grabbed in her talons to silence it.
'Why did I do that?' She thought; she didn't care if she woke the human up or so she thought.
Demona continued to walk through the living room, but stopped to look down at Brandon. He was sleeping on his stomach, half covered by his blanket, and hugging a pillow leaving his back exposed. Without even realizing it, she bent down and lightly brushed one of the scars with her talon. It felt as if the wound had been deep when the incident that caused it happened. She looked over to his sleeping face, he really did seem to be genuinely nice to her, and remembered that she had once said that Elisa Maza was the one exception to rule of humans being evil. Perhaps... this one wasn't so bad either.
Quietly, she pulled the drapes back enough to expose a glass door leading to the balcony. Sliding, the door open as best as she could, she stepped outside and glanced back at the human who so sweetly gave up his bed so she could sleep in it.
"Goodnight, Brandon." She said softly with a real smile as she slowly slid the door shut. Looking over the balcony, she made sure the coast was clear before flaring her great wings out and taking to the night sky towards her own home.