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Vladik led her into a small dining room that only had eight tables. They were packed except for one in the far corner. He hung up their coats on wall hooks beside the table and pulled out a chair for her. "This is us."
"What'ssbiten?" Zori asked.
"It's kind of like a mulled wine but made with honey and spices. It'll chase your chill away." Vladik sat down and studied her face. "You still haven't screamed."
Zori chewed on her lip. "I'm in shock, I think. I might need you to reassure me that I'm not crazy a few more times."
"You're not crazy. Not even a little." Vladik lowered his voice. "Give me an hour without walking out on me, and I'll change your world."
Zori toyed with her napkin. "Only one hour? You're going to have to talk quick."
"Then let's start with the biggest thing."
Vladik placed a large hand over her fidgeting one, and she looked up into his calm eyes. He smiled at her, making her heart skip a beat, and then said the words that she'd been taught never to believe.
"Magic is real."
Zori placed her head in her hands. "I knew I was going crazy."
7
Zori was still trying not walk out of the restaurant when the server came back with her steaming drink. She took one look at Zori's face and walked back into the kitchen, returning with shots of vodka.
"Don't make this nice girl cry in my restaurant or there will be trouble, Iron Heart," she grumbled.
"I promise," Vladik said, giving her a wink that made the older woman blush.
Zori's lips twitched in a smile. Damn it. She gulped down the shot of vodka. "Okay, so you think magic is real."
"No. I know it is. You just watched me turn from a gargoyle into this form, and still, you doubt that magic exists?" Vladik drank his own vodka. "Just because Maxim wants you to think you're crazy for his benefit doesn't mean you are, puppy."
Zori's world tilted again. "H-How do you know about Maxim?"
"I know lots of things, but before I continue, there's something you need to hear first." Vladik reached across the table and placed a hand over hers again. "When I met you in the club, I had no idea who you were. What we felt between us, that was all us."
Heat curled in Zori's gut as his long fingers stroked over the back of her hand. She was confused as hell, but this one thing he was definitely right about. It didn't matter what she had seen in the alley. He made something in her hum with desire and longing.
Zori nodded as the vodka helped calm her nerves. "So, magic is real. What else?"
Vladik left his hand on hers and gave her another of his punch-in-the-gut beautiful smiles. "I'm going to tell you a story, puppy. It's about Morana, the goddess of winter and magic, and how my kind came to be."
Zori suddenly felt like she was a little girl again. No one had told her stories since her mother had died.
"Our history is written in the blood of the holy, the stone of beasts, and the curses of gods," Vladik began, keeping his voice low. "Long ago, there was a priestess of Morana, named Yelena, who was more powerful than any that came before her. She was so beautiful that kings, sultans, and emperors wished to marry her. She refused them all. Yelena was devoted to her goddess, and that devotion made Chernobog jealous.
“Chernobog is a god of dark magic, chaos, winter, and death. He had manyvolhv, shaman priests, that followed him, but it wasn't enough. He commanded his followers to kill Yelena because the rivalry between the gods still burned hot, and he didn't want the goddess to have the power of her worshippers.
“They hunted Yelena relentlessly until she was forced to flee with some of the other priestesses to a sacred place of Morana, deep within the Ural Mountains. There, thevolhvcornered them. Yelena prayed to Morana, begging her to help her followers escape. Morana heard her and transformed all the priestesses into beautiful swans so they could fly away.
“So angry was Morana at the audacity of thevolhv, she carved warriors from the stone of her sacred caves and gave them life. They slaughtered Chernobog'svolhvthat dared try to harm Morana's holy. They were the first of the gargoyles, destined to protect the swan priestesses with their lives and bodies forever."
Vladik sipped on his warm drink, letting Zori absorb the story. There was something familiar about it.
"I think my mother once told me a story like that," she said, searching her memory.
"It wouldn't surprise me. Your mother was the daughter of our current high priestess, Irina," he replied.
Zori's eyes went wide. "What?"
