The gargoyle king was furious. How dare some loathsome hairless primate manhandle his mate? As he looked down upon the worthless wretch, he saw the man with a horrified look of terror in his eyes. Yet before they had been released form their stone sleep, he had seen just who this man actually was. He was himself a king, but a different kind of king. One that ruled his own dark underground empire.

"My god it's you!" The man on the floor cried. "You, and the woman are from the statue! I didn't realize that she was yours! I thought she was with someone who had stolen the statue from me!"

"To think such a pathetic worm like you, could install such fear into so many." The gargoyle growled in disgust. "I do believe that man kind has become even more of a disappointment over the years."

"I can assure you that I am none of those things!" The man replied, as he gave the gargoyle a look of anger. "I want to make you an offer. You're kind has always fascinated me. I have often dreamed of having one such as you within my ranks. Pledge your loyalty, and your service to me, and I will make it worth your while. You, and your lovely wife will always be taken care of. With you as a part of Esposito empire, I could finally take control of the entire mafia world."

"Don't make me laugh!" The gargoyle scoffed. "Why would I want to swear my allegiance to your kingdom, when I could have my own."

"Because, you don't know this world." The man replied as he got up off the floor. "There is much I could teach you. It would be much easier to be a part of an empire, as opposed to starting your own. I am guessing you're the last of your kind. You would have a difficult time finding loyal humans to follow you. I already have an organization in place."

"I suppose I can't argue with that logic." The gargoyle agreed.

"Then we have a deal?" The man asked, as he extended his hand, and smiled. The gargoyle soon returned his smile.

"No." The gargoyle answered. "I'm just going to take your empire instead."

All of a sudden, the man's face hardened. "Over my dead body!" He then pulled out some sort of a weapon, and aimed it at the gargoyle. It fired some sort of projectile, that went right through the gargoyle's lower abdomen. The gargoyle roared in pain, as he felt it go through him, and come out o the other side. But just as quickly as it had caused his wounds, they soon began to heal. And it didn't even look as though he had been injured.

"What the hell?" The man screamed as he had a look of astonishment plastered across his face.

"You know you really are nothing more than an annoying bug to me!" The gargoyle exclaimed. All at once he used one hand to grab the man by the neck, lifted him off the ground, and removed the weapon from his hand. He looked into the terrified mans eyes, and then down at the weapon.

"I will say this." The gargoyle mused. "Your weapons are much more impressive, but they are also quite fragile." With that he crushed the weapon into dust, and just let it fall. All of a sudden he heard his mate cry out to him.

"What are you going to do?" His mate cried. The gargoyle turned around to look at her, as he gave a reassuring smile.

"Simple my love." The gargoyle replied. "I am the superior being. So I am going to take his kingdom, his empire. And just as I had promised, you will become my queen. And our son, that is currently growing inside of you, shall one day ascend the throne. And mankind shall fall to his knees."

"My men will stop you!" The man exclaimed as he was struggling to breath within the gargoyles grasp.

The gargoyle just laughed. "They're not even going to know that your dead. You know there is a power that a gargoyle has, that has always been forbidden. One that has never been tried before. I know because gargoyles can always pick up on the sent of another gargoyles, even as early as conception. But yet, I've never before smelled a gargoyle hiding among a human."

"What are talking about?" His mate cried as her face shone a look of confusion. "What forbidden power?"

"It was never done before, because we swore an oath to protect man." The gargoyle told her. "But it was your father's betrayal, that made such an oath null and void. All I have to do his eat this cowards beating heart, and I shall take on his form. Not only that, but I shall retain his memories. I will know all that he knows, but still remain as myself. But best of all, I will be able to shift my form between gargoyle and human. Unfortunately the gargoyle growing inside of you will not have this ability. But any gargoyle we conceive form this moment on, will."

"Please don't do this!" She cried. "I don't want anymore people to die because of me! No matter what this man tried to do!"

"I am doing this for you my love." He replied. "And I am doing this for our son. I promised you a kingdom, and this one is perfect. It is a dark kingdom, that lies within the shadows. Yet it is extremely powerful. It is just what we have been looking for."

"Please!" The man struggled to say as he continued squeezing the cowards throat.

"Please what?" The gargoyle asked. "Please put you out of your misery. If you insist."

With his clawed hand, the punched threw the man's rib cage with all of his might. He then ripped out his beating heart, as his mate cried out in terror. The gargoyle savored the look of terror on that waste of fleshes's face, as he was killing him. He then let the foul human's body drop to the ground, as if he disposed of some useless trash. He couldn't help but smile, as he looked at the beating heart within his hand.

Then with triumphant victory, he bit into the still beating heart as if it had been a piece of fruit. He soon wiped the blood form his mouth, as his body began to change. The metamorphosis was painful, as his wings retracted into his body. But as he finished, he looked at his mate and smile.

"You see my dear." He told her. "Is this not the handsome face of a human king, that your father wanted for you?"

She looked at him, shook her head, and just continued to cry. "Why? Why did you have to kill him?"

"This man deserved to die!" He exclaimed. "He was going to rape you!"

"And you didn't?" She cried.

"I did not rape you!" He roared. "We made love! We conceived a child out of love! A future king, to rule the great empire that we will build! I saved your life, remember! Your own father was going to kill you for carrying a gargoyle child! Mankind will kill him, if I don't protect the both of you! Is that what you want?"

"No." She cried, as she held belly. "He's all I have."

The gargoyle sighed, as his face softened. He made his way over to her, and cupped her chin. He then looked into her beautiful teary eyes.

"You are truly the most beautiful woman, that I have ever known." He whispered. "You were the only woman, the only person, who was ever truly kind to me. Humans either feared us, or treated us like second class citizens to do their bidding. But you were different, you treated me like a person. To you I was neither a monster, nor a slave to be ordered around. So how could I not fall in love with you?"

"I was grateful that you helped defend our kingdom." She replied. "I thought the right thing to do was give you the respect you deserved. But you mistook those feelings of friendship for love."

He gabbed her neck, but he made sure not her, or squeeze too hard. "No!" He cried, as angry tears came to his eyes. "You will learn to love me, even if it means that I shall take you every night! I am no longer just an ugly monster that you are incapable of loving! I now have the face of a human that any woman would desire!"

"It wasn't on the outside where you were an ugly monster!" She cried, as she stared back at him with fear.

"I'll show you an ugly monster." He growled. With that, he smashed his lips into hers. She struggle, but she was completely powerless against his hold. She wasn't returning his passion, but she had apparently just given up trying to fight him. Her body began to tremble, as she burst into tears. His heart sunk, this was not how he wanted her to feel about him.

"I'm so sorry!" He cried, as he held her frail body close to him. Maybe she hated him, but at least she letting him comfort her.

"Hold it!" He heard some male voice exclaim, as the gargoyle heard a strange clicking sound. As he and his mate looked towards where the noise had come. He noticed that he was pointing the kind of weapon that was used to hurt him.

"Just what is that thing you have pointed at us?" The gargoyle asked as moved his mate behind him. More than anything, he was determined to protect her and his son.

"It's called a gun." The man answered without much emotion. Though the man's eyes kept wondering towards the dead body.

"You seemed to know how to use it, quite well." The gargoyle replied. "I saw you save the life on your leader."

"I have pledged my life, my loyalty, and my service to him." The man with the gun replied.

The gargoyle just laughed, as he looked back at the dead body. All of a sudden, he painfully forced himself to turn back into his true gargoyle form.

"I guess you failed then." The gargoyle stated bak at the man with the gun. But to his surprise the man showed no fear, and still no emotion."

"What the hell are you?" The man asked. "How did you kill Mr.Esposito, and then take is form?"

"He inadvertently freed my mate, and me, from our long sleep inside the statue." The gargoyle replied. "Then he tried to rape my mate, and tried bribing me into joining his ranks. I think he wanted me to replace you. Anyway, he then tried the same type of weapon, that you now have pointed at me. It didn't go so well. So I ripped out his heart, and ate it. I think it was last thing he saw before he died."

"That's impossible." The man stated.

"And yet that is the only explanation that matches the evidence right before your very eyes." The gargoyle said as he smiled at him. "Perhaps we can come to an agreement."

"What sort of agreement?" The man asked.

"The way I see it, we need one another." The gargoyle explained. "I need an ally, and you need a reason not to die. See you failed to guard his life, and failure in his eyes was never in option. In his mind you should already be dead. And if desire to avenge him, if you try to kill me that—gun, as you call it. You will die by my hand. So perhaps, instead, you and I can come to a mutual understanding."

"I'm listening." The man replied.

"If you keep my secret." The gargoyle told him, "I'll keep yours. Pledge your life and your loyalty to me, just as you did to him. Do that, and you will not be punished for your failure. I will need a right hand man to help me understand my new empire. Do that, and you shall be justly rewarded. Reject my offer, and or try to avenge him or betray me, and you will die. What shall it be?"

"Agreed." The man replied. He then got down on one knee, and placed his hands upon it. With that he bowed his head, as he was obviously paying homage to his new master.

"I, Vincent Salvatore, pledge myself to you. As you are now the head of the Esposito Family, I pledge my life, my loyalty and my protection including the knowledge of your true identity. I also make the same pledge towards your queen, and your direct descendants. And if I am to fail you, or betray you in anyway, may death be brought down upon me."

"Excellent!" The gargoyle gleefully replied. He then turned around to look at his mate, though she was not as enthusiastic. "Just as I had promised you, my beloved queen, we have found our kingdom."