Page 11 of Let Go My Gargoyle
“Yeah, Griffin told me that last night.”
“He told you that I’m a god and a witch?”
Sofia frowned and chanced a glance at Griffin, who gave her a stony stare in return. “No, just a witch.”
“And I’m a god, too. See? Feel my fingers.” The little girl grabbed Sofia’s hand and pressed the tips of their fingers together. Sofia definitely felt magic, but she had no idea how to differentiate between hers and Penelope’s.
Griffin shook his head. “She can’t tell, Penelope. She doesn’t have enough experience with other beings to be able to separate the various kinds of magic. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure most dragons don’t even know the story of the Daughters of Light.”
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Sofia said, reluctantly.Veryreluctantly. “Tell me the story.”
Griffin hesitated. Oh, so he wasn’t quite ready to confide the rules of this game, huh?
“Come on, out with it.”
He sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. Sofia took the time to study his face, the serious set of his jaw, the fine lines around his eye, which was when the first niggling of concern wormed its way into her brain.
“Basically, Daughters of Light were created to destroy warlocks after they damn near decimated the witch population a couple of centuries ago.”
Sofia remained still, waiting for more, but Griffin did not expand on his incredibly brief description.
“Warlocks are bad,” Penelope piped up.
Sofia glanced down at her daughter. “How do you know that?” They’d never talked about warlocks, mostly because Sofia didn’t know anything about them beyond that they were bad dudes who did not have a conscience.
“Uncle Mitch told me.”
She was going to have a come to Jesus conversation with her boss about what he talked about in front of her little girl.
“Who is Uncle Mitch?” Griffin asked. “Your brother?” He gave Sofia an imploring look, but she shook her head.
No, Mitch wasn’t her brother. Mitch was a super nice guy, and her brother, well…he wasn’t. Enough said.
“He’s my boss.”
“You take the child to a bar?”
Sofia rolled her eyes. “When I pick up my paycheck, yes. Or if we happen to be in the vicinity on my days off, because Mitch and Bebé both adore her.”
“What did Uncle Mitch tell you about warlocks?” Griffin asked, looking to Penelope for an answer.
“They’re bad, bad men. They don’t care about anyone. And they kill witches because witches are the only beings who can keep them in check.”
Griffin glanced at Sofia and shrugged. “That’s a reasonably accurate description.”
Penelope puffed out her chest like he’d just given her a compliment.
“If witches keep the warlocks under control, then where do Daughters of Light come in?” Sofia asked, annoyed by her own curiosity. Although, if this had anything to do with Penelope, then of course she needed to know as much information as possible.
“Normal witches aren’t equipped to protect themselves against warlocks,” Griffin explained. “Even though most of them have comparable magic, witches have consciences, whereas warlocks do not, which gives them a step up in any sort of warfare.”
That damn sense of foreboding had returned.
Griffin continued his story. “If the witch population were decimated, it would throw off the circle of life, I suppose you could say. If witches were destroyed, eventually, so would all of humanity. There would be no balance between the various species. Chaos would ensue. The world would be devastated in a matter of a few generations.”
“Well, that’s morbid,” Sofia muttered.
“In desperation, the leader of the witches and her mate went to the gods and begged for their help.”
