I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas.
4.Adjustments
26.08.98; 01:21 Xanadu Estate:
"Okay, hatchlings! Now gather around!" Deborah ordered.
The hatchlings of the Wyvern clan did so, silencing the chatter that had ruled during the all too short break given on them during their training time on Xanatos's estate outside the city.
Eagerly they looked on Deborah, the teacher who had given them their first task this evening by ordering groups of them to find a certain amount of herbs, and to come back when the moon had reached a certain position.
After having taken the samples and rebuking the teams, which had brought the wrong herbs, she let the other elders who had accompanied her separate them.
After this she had sent the hatchlings to gather firewood for the next task of the night until she believed they had had enough.
"Come down here or I'll come up to you!" the teacher ordered, looking hard on three hatchlings who had chosen some branches in the tree-top as resting places.
The hatchlings smiled and jumped of the tree, sailing down and landing by their siblings, earning their giggles.
Deborah stayed calm, looking at the hatchlings of her clan who had gathered around her until even the last had become silent.
"Making fire is a basic ability to survive." she began. "And even though we aren't as dependent on fire as our human friends, we nevertheless may need it in the winter, or to cook."
She pointed on the pile of wood beside her.
"Time to see how much you remember from your lessons," the teacher noted. "Each group takes some wood and makes a fire in the fireplaces. In fifteen minutes, I want to see this place lighted up."
The hatchlings did so cheerfully, dividing the groups by letting some carry the wood and some stones, to secure the fireplaces. Minutes later they found themselves concentrated on their not so eager task.
On one of the wannabe fireplaces, Eve knelt before a piece of dry moss, trying to set a spark with the help of a stock while Connor and Jarred talked.
"So pathfinders do the same thing?" Connor tried to figure it out.
Jarred nodded.
"Well, except the fighting stuff," he said.
A pretty red-skinned female hatchling with long blond hair, who preferred to be called Amy this week, turned her head a bit.
"And you were such a pathfinder?" she asked, sitting on the ground beside them, and playing with a stone in front of her.
"No, we hadn't enough money." Jarred admitted a bit ashamed. "But dad took us once on a trip to the Rockies."
"Sounds cool," Amy noticed. "We just went to the wild near the castle whenever our parents wanted to teach us something about the wild."
Jarred felt sadness rise in him by these words, parents…. he would never have two of them again.
"Have you ever thought about your real parents?" he asked in a more serious voice than usual.
"Well two or three of the elders resemble me, but…" Amy said, knowing this topic from back at Wyvern and shook her shoulders. "Searching for blood-relationship is human."
Connor nodded.
"We are clan, so it doesn't matter," he said.
"You were never curious?" Jarred asked him.
"Well…" Connor began.
"Arghh…" an angry snarl stopped him, and as the three chatting hatchlings turned around, they found Eve starring angrily on the still not smoking moss, and the broken stick.
"No success?" Connor asked his sister.
She turned angrily to her brother, her arms by her hip.
"If the moss would be drier, or if I had some firestones…" she explained angrily and frustrated. "But this way? Forget it."
Connor looked first on his sister, then on the wannabe fireplace, noticing that two other fireplaces were already glowing and knelt in front of it, thinking hard.
"What are you…?" Amy began, but was cut off by Jarred who knew it already.
"Fire rise." Connor ordered in Latin, and the fire obeyed as it rose in the fireplace.
"Great!" Jarred exclaimed, laying a claw on Connor's left shoulder.
Eve smiled on her brother, but this smile faded as she noticed someone stepping behind her two brothers and sister.
"What is this!" Deborah demanded to know in an angry voice, and made the three hatchlings turn around at once.
Jarred and Amy looked away from their teacher's angry gaze. Only Connor, who found himself centered by this, was unable to do.
"We…" he began. "…made fire?"
Deborah stared on him, proofing him to have given the wrong answer.
"You used magic," she noticed, spitting the word magic out as if it was a curse.
As she saw her brother seem to sink into the ground, his beak turning red by their teacher's words, Eve rushed to his side.
"Yes," she tried to explain. "The moss was too wet so we…."
"Put it out." Deborah ordered, her claws at her hip, her anger barely controlled. "And then do it again, the right way."
"But…" Jarred unwisely dared to protest.
"Now!" the elder ordered, her voice leaving no hope of mercy. "And I don't want any of you to use magic again, understood?"
She looked at them until every one of them nodded reluctantly, even Amy.
"Magic is dangerous, and I won't allow you to play with it." Deborah noted icily
With this, the teacher turned away.
"Great," Eve whispered and knelt on the ground to take some earth to put it on the fire.
26.08.98; 01:34; Castle Wyvern, A Guest's Room:
Lana laughed, as she saw herself in the mirror, wearing a long blue dress.
"Fantastic!" she said.
Mary and Ruth were sitting on the bed, and their unnamed sister stood by Lana's side. They all seemed to agree, as they looked at her.
"I still think the opening is too small," the young tailor noticed critically. "But I could only open it further by cutting it open a bit at the tail."
Lana looked at her back and had to agree, as the clothing was rather small for her larger gargoyle size, but then again she hadn't bought it to make sport in it.
"The tail is a bit uncomfortable," she said. "But this isn't important."
To be honest, Lana felt rather good, as her tail couldn't be seen by anyone through the dress, and that let her seem almost… Human.
"Oh, I think you'll need some freedom…" the tailor noted. "At least with the skydancing."
"Skydancing?" Lana asked surprised.
"Oh yes." Mary said in a dreamy voice "On every solstice, we and the males rise in the sky and glide together… it's the height of every celebration."
Lana thought of her high school's senior prom, something she would never attend, and nodded.
"Do you mind if I try this?" Ruth asked, having stood up and inspected the other clothes lying on the bed, now holding up a short top and a pair of small blue jeans.
"No, try it." Lana said, thinking about it for a moment. "Hey, why don't we share these clothes?"
"Really?" Mary asked surprised.
Lana nodded.
"Without you I would have thrown these away anyway," she explained. "And don't gargoyles share everything?"
Mary nodded with a smile, and turned to the clothes.
Smiling Lana turned to the tailor, but her smile faded as she found her on her fours watching her two sisters with a somewhat sad interest.
"Why don't you go look, too?" she asked. "I mean you could sure change what you like so…"
The tailor just shook her head.
"I would have to cut it into two halves at least, and ruin it for the others," she explained. "At the moment, I have no need for a second pair of clothes."
Lana wasn't surprised, as no one in the clan seemed to care for this.
"I always wanted to ask how…" she began. "How can you wear clothes?"
The yellow-skinned gargess looked surprised, but then she realized.
"Oh," she said, rising on two legs. "This makes the rings."
The tailor pointed on the rings pierced through her wings to hold her top and her underwear.
"Doesn't this hurt?" Lana asked surprised.
"Not more than these," the tailor said, pointing on her earrings. "I got them when I was just hatched out of my egg."
Lana was going to ask another question, but the sound of a knock on the door stopped her.
The four females looked at each other, and Ruth quickly fixed her top.
"Well, the hatchlings are out." the tailor noticed, going to the door and opening it carefully, so as not to let a room full of male hormones to see too much of them.
To her surprise though, it was five of their sisters.
"Sisters?" she asked.
"We heard that you were testing some new clothes," the one standing in front of them said. "Mind if we join you?"
The tailor looked to her sisters in the room who all smiled.
"Sure, be welcomed." the tailor said with a smile on her face, and let her sisters in.
Lana smiled by the sight of them, feeling that this was the happiest she'd been in months.
26.08.98; 01:56; Castle Wyvern:
Darlene felt worse than she had for months… barely able to listen her sisters, as they walked along the floor, her thoughts back with her husband.
"… Okay, I'll be back in my lab." Asrial said to both and walked off.
Desdemona looked at her clever sister, and then she looked on Darlene and stopped.
"How do you feel?" she asked, seriously.
"Mhh?" Darlene murmured surprised, taken out of her thoughts and just realizing that her sister had spoken to her "Oh, very well, thank you."
Desdemona looked hard on her new sister.
"You have paid less attention than our clever sister usually does," she noticed. "And this means something?"
"I'm sorry," Darlene said. "I was in my thoughts."
"About Gem?" Desdemona asked. "I'm sure she's having fun with the rookery mothers."
Darlene nodded.
"So it is not about her… " her sister concluded. "Are you worried about Sevarius? Believe me the clan will be with you when he tests you."
Darlene bit her lip.
I'll tell you what I'm worried about, she replied in her mind. I think my mother killed my husband, and I'm too afraid to ask her because I fear what she might answer!
"It's…" she began, but stopped. "Never mind. It's nothing."
Desdemona felt a thrill race through her spine and tail.
"Okay," she replied. "But if you ever want to talk, you can."
Darlene nodded, already feeling better.
26.08.98; 03:47; Xanadu Estate:
Eve brushed the sweat of her face, as she put the last of the stones on the pile. Beside her, Jarred, Connor and Amy breathed heavily as they heard the sound of helicopters coming nearer.
The hatchlings all over the place looked up, and saw how three helicopters arrived in the nightly sky, seemingly a bit earlier than expected and much earlier than hoped. Training here was hard, yet it was much better than at the monotony of the castle, with its floors and stone, surrounded by a city they weren't allowed to visit alone or to play in... Xanatos's estate was much better indeed.
"Okay, hatchlings, we are ready here," Deborah announced, having overseen the cleaning of the area while having spoken with the other elders. "Go into the helicopters and wait there, I want you to think about tonight and the lessons you've learned."
Eve looked on her teacher standing in the middle of the other elders, having seen them talk amongst themselves, surely about the successes and failures of them, something Eve had ever accepted since she believed the elders were fair in this, but now…
Eve sighed and cleaned her claws on her legs, for one moment tasting the rabbit she and her comrades had skinned, roasted and eaten once their fire had burned again.
"Let's go," Connor said, he too sounding depressed over the nights outturn as well as over the ending of their tour.
Silently the group walked over the clearing to the direction of the helicopter-landing place, just to be stopped by Deborah.
"Hatchlings, I must have a word with ye," the teacher said, looking at them. "And ye young one, don't give me this glare if ye know what is good for ye."
Eve managed to wipe the scowl off her face, though it was hard, even harder under the looks of the siblings, including Michael who had stopped to look at them.
"I want you by the helicopters in 5 seconds," Deborah ordered, looking around to see on the wannabe bystanders, who quickly minded their own business.
The teacher turned back to the hatchlings and waited a second.
"I know my reaction tonight seemed hard to you," Deborah revealed. "But ye cheated and I will never allow this in my training lessons. Especially I will not allow you to cheat with something so dangerous as magic."
"Magic isn't dangerous…" Jarred began, earning the look of his teacher. "At least not if you're trained in it."
"I've seen enough of magic to know it is dangerous," Deborah replied in a hard voice. "And anyone who is not even fully trained in it, makes it even more dangerous."
"If we could learn it like Jarred, we…" Eve began hopefully.
"No!" Deborah said forcefully, staring at her. "What Jarred learns outside my lessons isn't my business, but I… but the clan won't allow its children to learn the dark arts, never!"
The former second stopped and looked on the hatchlings in front of her, until she knew that even Amy had understood her.
"Now lets go and join the others," Deborah told them, her voice milder now.
They did, and as they reached the helicopters, Eve made sure she and her siblings were on the other machine than their teacher, which was unfortunately the same one Duncan sat in.
"Being rebuked for using the dark arts, sister?" he teased her.
"Shut up," Eve replied with something near a snarl, not even caring to notice that he had seemingly eavesdropped.
"Now, now, young ones, be nice," an elder rebuked them before closing the door behind her, turning to the pilot and signaling him to start.
Ignoring him and her siblings chattering near her, Eve turned and looked out of the window of the helicopter, looking thoughtfully in the night.
01.09.98; 01:59; Castle Wyvern; The Medical Station:
Demona still sat on the bed, the hatchling sucking at her breast and slowly drifting to sleep.
Darlene had gone looking for Gem while a rookery mother had gone to inform the clan about the healing of one of their children. Desdemona and Othello had left to take some fresh air and rest a bit while Jarred, Connor and Eve had sad on the bed beside Demona, quite visibly tired, but unwilling to admit it.
Goliath, a rookery mother and one elder stood beside the bed, looking after them when the sound of a door being opened made them turn their heads.
It was Hudson who rolled in on his wheelchair, with Deborah, Dr. Moore, Shade and Bronx following him.
"Mentor," Goliath greeted his old friend, and believed he was able to hear the weight on his heart falling down. "Good to see you up and about."
"Aye, it was a hard fight, which I was helpless in…" Hudson replied, driving closer until standing in front of his leader. Deborah laid a claw on his shoulder, which he then took in his. "But my mate watched over me in my sleep, so I have no reason to complain."
The former leader of his clan looked to his mate, showing passion and true love as they hadn't allowed themselves very often when they still had been leader and second.
"Ye had some problems here, too, I heard," he noticed, looking to Demona. "Is the lassie okay?"
"She is," Goliath said.
Meanwhile, Demona had handed the sleeping Jaheira over to the rookery mother standing on one side of the bed, and left it to kneel down and stroke an excited Shade.
"And we helped her with magic," Eve said, her feeling of tiredness vanished.
She looked straight on Deborah who returned the look surprised, which was what the hatchling had wanted from her, while the rookery mother took the sleeping Jaheira over to Hudson so that he could see her before she would join her siblings in the rookery.
"So we can help the clan by doing magic," Eve concluded, looking back to Demona and then to her leader. "If we would learn it."
Deborah felt anger rising in her, as she realized how the hatchling was trying to pass her over this way, but Eve held against the glare of her teacher and even Connor seemed to be with her on this.
While the rookery mother, who was holding Jaheira, seemed rather shocked from these words of the hatchling, Hudson and Goliath remained calm.
"No," someone said firmly, and from an unexpected source, making everyone in the room turn to Demona. "I have no time for this."
Jarred and Connor looked surprised to the immortal, but Eve stared through and through unbelieving on her rookery mother.
"But…" she began. "We could learn with Jarred."
"You'd have to glide to my mansion," Demona replied, calm but strong. "And with Lucifia out there, this is nothing I want to risk."
"But…" Eve began, again wanting to say that they could learn at the castle… through television if needed. She stopped, seeing in the eyes of her mother that she wouldn't accept it.
Angrily, she jumped off the bed and ran out of the room through the door.
"Hey!" Connor screamed and jumped off the bed, too, following his sister.
Jarred stayed, looking to his grandmother who rose from the ground, surprised and hurt.
"Can't you…" he began.
Demona just shook her head, so Jarred just starred at her before running after his siblings and friends.
The grownups remained silent for a moment.
"It has been a long night," Goliath said, and everyone agreed this.
01.09.98; 02:12; Castle Wyvern; The Floors:
Connor didn't need to search hard to find where his sister had gone, first passing the breast-plated gray elder with the two horns, then running along the floor.
He passed some other elders until he came to a guest room, which had been opened but not closed.
Connor found his sister lying on the big bed, and closed the door behind him.
"Go away," Eve said in a half-angry, half-begging voice.
His sister lay with her back to him, but even so, Connor could hear her cry, something that did happen seldom, and he was more than surprised.
"It is okay," Connor said, walking nearer to his sister. "There are others who could teach us magic."
Eve turned around, her blue eyes reddened, tears rolling on the pale green skin of her face.
"I don't care," she said defiantly. "I want her to train us."
Realizing how she must look, maybe seeing it in her brother's eyes, Eve wiped her face with her arm.
"I just want to make it like it was," Eve whispered, sitting on the bed. "Don't you, too?"
Connor sat beside Eve, and he nodded.
Instinctively, Eve laid her head on her brother's shoulder who thus laid a claw on Eve's shoulder.
This moment of peace seemed to last long, and Connor grew more and more unsure of what he should do next, when the door opened.
The two hatchlings quickly departed from each other, both feeling the heat rising in their cheeks, knowing that if one of their siblings found them in this way, all of their rookery siblings would tease them forever… or worse yet, if the elders found them they would be seen as cute.
It was Jarred, with his worried face showing no sign of noticing anything of what they had been doing… But their large, brown-gray skinned rookery father with gray hair, who was standing behind him, had a short glimmer in the eyes as he looked at his two children.
"There you are," he said, without going in on what he had believed to see, or on the tears which were still quite visible on Eve's cheeks. "Listen, I know you are tired, so what do you think about staying here and taking a rest while I get you some food?"
"Yes!" Jarred said, realizing this moment how hungry he truly was, knowing it was already time for the meal.
The elder nodded and left the room, leaving the three hatchlings alone.
"He's cool," Jarred stated, as the door closed.
Connor nodded, thinking about maybe for the first time realizing how much they looked alike.
Father? he thought, surprised of the fact and himself. Yes, it is cool!
01.09.98; 02:28; Castle Wyvern, The Medical Station:
The mates lay on the bed, their eyes closed, and both listening to the sound of the other's breathing. Both were exhausted, as the former leader had gone through an operation, and the former second from the fight she had fought for her love's life.
"The lass has courage," Hudson said thoughtfully.
"The lass is insolent," Deborah replied, opening her eyes and looking at her mate angrily. "She tried to go over me through the leader, right in front of me… Have you ever seen such a thing?"
"No," Hudson said, opening his eyes and looking to the ceiling. "But maybe we should think about it."
Deborah looked on her mate in surprise and anger.
"You can't be serious?" she said. "How can you consider letting them be taught by her?"
Hudson turned around on the bed to look directly into his mate's face.
"Not necessarily," he explained. "The London clan practices magic, too."
Deborah remained silent for a moment.
"I don't like magic," she revealed. "I know it saved my life… and that of the rest of the clan, but I just don't like it."
Hudson thought for a moment, and then he set himself up a bit, raising the knee of his partly artificial leg.
"I feared this," he said, pointing to his new leg. "And I still fear it partly because it makes me more like one of the Pack, and because it seems to me like magic despite all the things the young ones say."
"This is nonsense," his mate noticed, looking to her mate's artificial leg which was so unimaginably similar to his organic one. "Their deeds make them this way not their limps."
"Aye, I know." Hudson said chuckling. "Thinking otherwise would rob myself, or the clan, of a chance, all cause of my foolish fears again."
Deborah remained silent for a moment.
"You think I wouldn't see the usefulness of magic cause of what we have been through by the Archmage and Demona?" she asked.
"The lasses won't forget what they have learned even if we wait another six months," Hudson admitted. "And I think if we don't choose their teacher, they will choose their own."
Deborah thought about it.
"If we choose one of the London clan to train them, it would strengthen the relationships between our clans," she admitted. "But the clan would vote against such."
"Things change," Hudson said. "Besides, we don't have to fasten it, just give the lasses an opportunity. Maybe after their ascensions?"
"You still fit in the role of a wise leader," Deborah noticed.
Hudson chuckled.
"I prefer the role of a wise mate," he replied.
Softly, the former leader stroked his former second's hair... who returned the gesture and they touched each other on the forehead.
"I will speak with the leader about this," Deborah said slowly, reluctantly.
"Aye, and if our sister is already awake, tell her I'll come by later," her mate replied understanding, sounding tired.
Deborah nodded, and stood up.
"I'll be back soon," she said, and left.
"Aye…" Hudson murmured, starring at the ceiling, feeling the tiredness rise in him.
Some seconds later, he rose his right leg and starred at it until sleep overtook him.
01.09.98; 18:43; 23rd Precinct Police Department:
Elisa walked through the precinct, feeling the pity in the eyes of her colleagues as she passed them. News spread fast, and the news that one of them had had her home attacked was surely the hottest news for some time, maybe hotter than the sect practicing human sacrifices under the streets of New York.
Cops didn't like it when their homes were attacked.
She got some condolences of officers she barely knew and returned them politely, but it wasn't until she met Morgan that she actually felt an emotion other than dullness in her.
"Hello, Elisa," the black cop greeted her warm heartily. "Got some sleep?"
Elisa nodded.
"Do you know where Matt is?" she asked
"He is still underground," Morgan replied. "With the forensics."
"Any news so far?" she asked.
"We found the rooms you described, but there wasn't anything more in there other than waste," Morgan replied. "Same for your apartment… I mean there were no tracks, but we still compare the fingerprints with that of your friends."
Elisa thought about it, as Goliath and the rest of the clan hadn't visited her for some time, so there shouldn't be any tracks of them left, at least none too visible.
"What about…" she hesitated, feeling a trembling rise in her. "What about Cagney?"
Morgan looked at her, a moment touched.
"They are ready with him," he explained. "You can take him from the pathology lab whenever you want."
Elisa nodded.
"Detective," a voice called her, and made her look around.
It was detective Balnetti who came nearer, holding a pistol.
"A new gun from the precinct," he said. "We thought we might spare you the paperwork."
"Thank you," Elisa replied, looking at her new weapon. "Could you lay it on my desk?"
Balnetti nodded, turning around.
"Chavez wants to see you… Oh, and you know…" he added. "One more gun lost and you get a discount."
It was a silly attempt to make her smile, yet Elisa felt her lips rise a little.
"Thanks," she replied.
She turned to Morgan.
"We will see," Elisa said, making her colleague nod
The detective walked through the police station, straight to Chavez's office where she knocked on the door.
A moment later, Elisa felt tired and weak despite the bunch of sleep. She felt dirty too, not having been able to change her red bomber jacket, her jeans and her black shirt since all of her other clothes were still in her sealed apartment.
"Come in," the voice of her boss called her.
As Elisa stepped in, she noticed a man with filthy blond hair in a usual worker overall, standing in the door, seemingly just finished having a talk with Chavez.
"I will talk with the major about this," she replied. "You can go."
The man nodded and left the office, not without giving Elisa a short look.
"He is of the municipality, responsible for the underground," Chavez explained, looking up from her desk. "He told me the rooms down there were originally created for construction crews, but were long forgotten… We will seal them when we are finished there. Sit down."
Elisa nodded, following the order since it was all she could do.
"The mayor gave us full authority in this, since he's afraid of the people lynching him for allowing such a sect to roam free in the city," Chavez continued, leaning back. "The press already knows of it. I have no idea how, but they even got a news team down to the place of the crime… but we will take care that your name will be kept out of this."
"There are no hot trails?" Elisa asked, feeling the imagination of her face in the news hard to swallow.
"Merely cold," Chavez confirmed. "Especially since we don't know how many were actually slaughtered by them, and how many by the thing your colleagues discovered."
Elisa felt torn. For once she wanted these murderers to be caught, but every step closer to them would bring the police closer to discover that a gargoyle was actually leading this sect… The consequences of this unveiling were something she didn't want to imagine.
Chavez meanwhile stood up and turned around, looking through the windows of her office out on the night and Manhattan's skyline.
"I will have you be watched by two officers while you're not in service," she stated. "Until the whole mess is over."
"That could be months!" Elisa said, rising from the chair after she had gone through the first shock. "My husband couldn't visit me, and I couldn't visit the clan without…."
"…Without rising suspicion, I know." Chavez said, raising a hand. "My concern must lay to your safety, not your personal life. I'm sorry, Elisa."
Elisa stopped. The fact that her boss seldom used her forename shook her. She knew she would do the same if it were another ones life being laid in her hand. If there was just…
A thought flashed through her mind.
"I have an alternative idea," Elisa stated, looking in Chavez's eyes.
01.09.98; 20:09; Castle Wyvern:
The last beams of sunshine sunk behind Manhattan, and as the last of Xanatos's watchmen retired, two men walked over to two statues seemingly holding the other's claw, standing beside some other statues.
With the night claiming its dominion, the statues in front of them began to crack, as did that of several others all over the castle. As the living creatures within freed themselves of the stone skin by letting a loud roar pass over the courtyard, one of the men set one step back.
"Never seen that before?" Moore asked with a smile.
"On a videotape," Leicester revealed. "But this is far more impressive."
The clan's doctor nodded, and turned to the two gargoyles already having woken up.
"Good evening," he greeted them.
"Evening, doctor," Hudson greeted him, looking to Leicester. "A test then?"
Leicester nodded, looking a bit nervous on the other gargoyles, most of Hudson's age silently watching this scene, and the blue gargbeast that was sniffing at his leg.
"It should be short," he explained. "Shall we go then?"
Hudson stiffed a bit by the word 'go', and took a look on the ground.
"I could get the wheelchair," Deborah offered.
"Nay," Hudson replied, shaking his head. "Now is as good as ever."
With this he let himself slide to the ground, with his organically left leg first, then using his mechanical right leg and slowly shifting weight on it, until he stood on both, watched by everyone including Bronx, who whined a bit, sensing the stress of the old warrior.
Carefully, seeing his mate-taking place beside him, Hudson took a step forward, using his left leg first, but when he tried to draw his right leg back, he felt himself stumble, slowly falling backwards.
Some of the surrounding gargoyles gave a gasp, but Deborah was by his side, faster than he had believed, not holding him entirely but giving him enough hold to regain a firm stand, something he paid her with a weak smile, which she returned with a nod.
"Don't worry about that," Leicester stated, turning around and going to the wheelchair. "It is not unusual, but this may help."
He returned with a stick made of metal, holding it to Hudson who starred on it.
"I have taken this operation not to be dependent on such," Hudson noted.
"It may really be just for a short while," Moore stepped in. "It is needed until people readjust to their prosthesis."
Hudson looked at the stick skeptically. He didn't like the thought of it, as the thought of having to use it like some of the elders had to was terrifying to him, yet then he remembered what his pride had cost him already, and he grabbed it with his right claw.
Carefully he placed it on the ground, feeling the coldness of it and disliked it, yet he probed himself on it until he felt secure enough to dare a step, which he managed quite easily now.
The old warrior threw a look at his mate who returned the look with an unmoved face, and then shortly looked over the gargoyles standing near him, and Bronx who smelled on the stick.
"Lets make your tests then," he told the two doctors. "And lets make them fast. I'm hungry."
The two doctors's turned around and went in, the two gargoyles following them.
The old warrior just stopped once when they passed the wheelchair, and he looked at it first thoughtful, then with a grim smile he left it behind, with his mate by his side and Bronx following.
Up On The Tower:
Up on the leader's tower, another human had waited on the gargoyles awakening, using the first seconds of the night to throw herself in her mate's arms, embracing and kissing him before he could see her face and ask questions about the bruises in it.
Answering the questions came easy, since Elisa had had time to think about it. Goliath, as well as Angela, Broadway and Brooklyn, who had come later, listened as she told them of the events of the last few days, her undercover mission and what she had discovered under New York.
Goliath's face darkened as he heard of the human sacrifices that Lucifia had ordered, while Brooklyn let out a growl and Angela gasped, just to be comforted by her mate whose eyes lit up as he heard of Cagney's fate.
"Those bastards," he snarled. "How dare they!"
Elisa nodded, sadly remembering that Broadway had loved Cagney, too.
"I slipped by Matt and had Cagney burn in the crematory today," she added. "In case Lucifia had planned anything more with his body."
Elisa remained silent after this, remembering how she had handed the plastic bag with Cagney's remnants over to the fire.
"This is enough," Brooklyn exclaimed angrily, turning to his leader. "Goliath, let me take a group down there and see…"
"No," Elisa stopped him. "No one of the clan can go down there. If you do, and would be seen, you would be brought in connection with the sect…" she looked back to her mate. "You can't risk it."
There was a longer silence until Goliath nodded stoically.
"We have to do something," Brooklyn insisted, realizing that Elisa had spoken the truth with his head, yet his heart was saying something other. "We can't…"
"I know…" Goliath suddenly shouted on his second, making him take one step backwards as he looked in the glowing eyes of his leader.
As fast and as shocking as this outburst came, it went off as the mighty gargoyle closed his eyes and opened them again, clear this time.
"I know," he repeated, looking first on his second and then on everyone else around him. "But Elisa is right, if we bring us into connection with the sect then we will have the city against us, and this is what Lucifia wants, where she had us already. I won't let it come thus far again."
He stopped.
"Brooklyn, go and inform the rest of the clan about what has happened," Goliath ordered his second. "And Xanatos."
Brooklyn nodded and left, still feeling his blood cooking.
Goliath waited a second, looking on Elisa.
"We'll see you at the meal," Broadway said, sensing that they would be better alone now.
His leader nodded and slowly the mates left, but not before Angela gave Elisa a big hug, which Elisa replied strongly.
The two mates were with each other some seconds before one spoke a word.
"I know how you hate this, Goliath," Elisa said.
"They could have killed you down there," the leader of the Wyvern clan said in a voice full of worry, his eyes studying his mate. "Or they could have planted a bomb in your apartment."
Elisa looked on Goliath, her heart feeling with him, yet unable to say something.
"Chavez sees it this way," she explained. "So she gave me two officers to guard me during my free time."
"This is understandable," Goliath replied, having thought on something similar already.
"Yes and makes things worse," Elisa added. "Goliath, these will be officers I barely know, let alone could trust with my relationship to the clan. They would notice if any of you would visit me and if I go too often to visit you…."
"For how long?" he asked.
"As long as Lucifia is out there," his mate replied.
Goliath let out a mixture of growl and sighs.
"This is bad," he admitted, looking in Elisa's eyes. "But your safety is more important than anything else."
Elisa felt touched by these words, laying a hand on her mate's broad chest.
"There could be another way," she explained cautiously. "If I would decide to move in here, Chavez would cut it out."
"Then do it!" Goliath exclaimed.
Elisa sighed, departing a bit from him.
"Look, Goliath, it isn't that easy," she replied. "If I abandoned my home because I fear Lucifia and her henchmen, it would be like fleeing… I've faced criminals and murderers before who knew where I lived, and I never fled."
"This isn't a threat like Dracon… or Demona," Goliath reminded her. "It is like when we were threatened by Xanatos during the day."
Elisa knew her mate had a point and turned around, looking down to the courtyard where some hatchlings were playing.
"Goliath, I always wished to move in here someday," she said, looking in his eyes. "But if I do it because someone threatens me, it feels like the bad reason for it…. I don't want to ruin it."
Goliath leaned himself on one perch beside Elisa.
"I understand it, my love," he said. "It doesn't matter how you will decide, but the clan… your clan will stand with you."
Elisa gave her mate a deep smile, and then she embraced him once more and kissed him.
"Thank you, big guy," she told him.
"Always," Goliath replied, embracing his love. "My Elisa."
After a long time it seemed, Elisa sighed.
"Lets go down to the clan," she said. "I'm hungry."
So they did.
01.09.98; 21:14; Castle Wyvern, The Great Hall:
The room was filled with chatter, as the meal neared its end.
Elisa was the first to stand in the center of it, for once because Brooklyn had told the clan of the newest developments and how Elisa had managed to evade Lucifia. For the other, because she revealed even more of the events of the last night by telling them of the creature their colleagues had discovered.
In the end, Elisa found herself being seen with a bit more of respect and sympathy, even by some members of the clan who usually viewed her more critically.
The second person gaining attention was Hudson, who stepped into the hall with the help of a cane, yet standing on both of his legs. Having done Leicester's tests, he was quite hungry and yet not really talkative, something his tablemates respected.
The third person of interest was the elder with a now demolished breast, who was stable again, but seemingly preferred to take her meal in her room, causing some worried whisper.
Barely twenty minutes later, the meal ended and the gargbeasts became uneasy, chasing each other partly under the table. It was decided that it was time to go out with them, a duty to which Hudson and his mate volunteered together with some other clan members.
As they walked through the large gate, Darlene landed in the courtyard along with a pair of elder clan members who had taken the duty to serve as their bodyguards. After a short talk with Hudson, in which she expressed her surprise and respect about Hudson's quick progressions, Demona's daughter walked in with Gem by her side, Lana behind her, and Jarred searching for fun anywhere in the city.
"Hello!" Darlene greeted Elisa, standing by her mate. "How…"
She stopped, as she saw the bruises on Elisa's face.
"Who did this?" Darlene gasped.
Thus Elisa told the story the third time this evening, making Darlene and Lana swallow hard.
Lana however got bored. Sure, she felt bad about what Lucifia had done to the cat, not to speak to the people, but this seemed to be normal for the clan, and it just wasn't her…
"The only good thing is that we got this creature," Elisa pointed out. "We still don't know how many of the missing people go on its count."
Lana stiffened.
"Creature?" she asked. "How did it look?"
"As far as I know, it was some sort of worm," Elisa explained. "It drilled itself into the skull of a man and controlled him… Lana?"
Lana's face had become gray.
This is it, she thought horrified. I helped to release this creature, and it killed…
"Lana…" Darlene began, knowing very well what went on in her daughter's mind.
But Lana wouldn't listen, and turned around and ran to the door, not caring for some surprised gargoyles looking after her.
Darlene sighed
"Please look after her," she told the surprised Elisa, handling the even so surprised Gem over to her before running after her oldest daughter.
She found her by the perches over the courtyard.
"Lana?" Darlene said, and laid a claw on Lana's left shoulder. "This wasn't your fault."
"I helped Lucifia to summon this thing!" Lana told her mother frantically. "I wanted to be human again and now… it killed all these people."
Her mother didn't say anything, but embraced her child.
"Now listen," Darlene told her daughter, looking in her eyes. "Giving Lucifia the bowl was a mistake, but you are not responsible for what she did with it, neither for what this creature did."
Lana didn't respond, the tears in her eyes staying.
"There you are," a voice said
Turning around, mother and daughter discovered the elder female with the lame standing next to them, studying both critically.
"You have a training lesson if you remember," she told Lana. "Go down and prepare yourself."
"Couldn't you delay it a bit?" Darlene asked, noticing that her daughter definitely wasn't in the mood for this
"I don't see why," the elder replied in a voice that didn't allow any protest.
Lana looked a bit perplexed at her teacher, and then to her mother who nodded slightly.
Without a further word, Lana walked away back into the castle.
"Was that necessary?" Darlene asked angrily when Lana was out of sight. "She is in distress."
"Aye," the elder replied, shortly supporting on a perch to rest her lame leg. "But as long as she trains, she has no time to think on it… I'll take care of it."
Darlene thought about it, and then she nodded after a while.
"I guess you're right, elder," she noticed, reconciling.
"Of course I am," the elder thus replied, and walked after Lana.
Darlene watched after them, giving a sigh.
"Promise me to make not such problems, will you?" she asked her child to come, rubbing her stomach.
01.09.98; 21:42; New York, Some street near the docks:
The group of gargoyles, elders and young warriors, couples and singles landed on the street covered by some large dock buildings.
The gargbeasts quickly ran around, excited barking at each other, and the gargoyles were just happy to be at another place other than the castle. They looked around, studying the area for signs of humans or other problems showing up, but found no one.
"A silent night," Deborah commented, having let Bronx loose, and watched her mate as he landed besides her, using his right claw to steady himself.
"Aye," Hudson replied, holding onto his stick. "Lets hope it stays this way."
Silently they walked a bit further.
"This becomes more and more dangerous for us," Deborah commented. "It will be very hard to hide Lucifia's involvement in the cult, no matter how much Elisa and Chavez try."
Hudson nodded, for a moment not paying attention to Bronx who sniffed in the direction of a dark alley right in front of them.
"Aye, but we don't…" he replied, just to be stopped by Bronx's barking. "What is it, boy?"
Both mates starred into the dark alley, but it was Deborah who noticed the shadow of a feet claw standing in the shadows.
"Come out," she ordered, taking her battle position, ready to defend herself or to jump on the figure she believed to be the demon they had spoken off.
A muffled snarl was heard, followed by the red-eyed glare, as the female gargoyle stepped forward.
"You!" Deborah asked, surprised and distrusting. "What are you doing here?"
Demona eyed her coldly, Shade standing protectively by her side.
"The same as you, I guess," she explained, stroking her gargbeast and eyeing Hudson's stick and new leg "That is until you stopped me… which cult were you speaking of?"
Deborah felt herself near screaming on this act of eavesdropping, but was silent since Hudson laid a claw on her shoulder.
"Lucifia created a cult under the streets, which killed a lot of homeless," Hudson explained calmly, eyeing Bronx seemingly sniffing on Shade while the other gargoyles near them came closer. "Elisa was captured by them, but she evaded them, and by searching for her the police discovered a monster, which has killed people in an old house."
"Pity," Demona replied, not showing on which she related on. "I hope your… friends, can stop the humans from learning about it. You still remember what it brought you last time. "
"We remember," Deborah said in a cold hard voice, not having forgotten the little spell her former pupil had worked on her, and the rest of the world, to forget this special night. "And what have you done meanwhile?"
"None of your business," Demona replied in the same voice, making Deborah scowl.
There isn't such a thing like a silent night, Hudson thought slightly frustrated, as the argument between his mate and his rookery daughter enfolded.
01.09.98; 23:37; Castle Wyvern, Female Bathing Room:
"Do you think he held back?" Darlene asked, rubbing shower gel on the end of her tail.
"Our weas… our brother?" Desdemona asked with a smile, activating the shower and turning it on hot. "Not really."
"I had him on the mat most of the time," her sister noticed.
"Guess that is where he wanted to be," Desdemona replied with a slight smile. "It's been a long time since he has been able to court for a female."
Darlene broke out in laughter, and was soon joined by all.
"I can't get enough of it," Elisa commented under the shower.
"Of what, the training or the shower?" Desdemona asked beside her, relaxing her muscles under the hot stream of water.
"Both," the detective replied with a genuine smile.
"You were a bit distracted," Darlene noticed. "Cagney?"
Elisa slightly shook her head.
"No," she said. "I'm thinking about the choice Chavez left me. Either she sends me two officers to guard me during my time off, which would no longer allow me to visit you so often, or to get visits at home, or decide to live here."
"And you don't know what to do?" Desdemona asked surprised.
Elisa sighed, turning off the shower.
"It's not so easy," she said. "Except for Xanatos, I don't think it is right to let my decision be influenced by Lucifia."
"Then don't…" Desdemona suggested to her sister. "Where would you go to if Lucifia wouldn't be out there?"
"Right," Darlene said, turning out her own shower. "Home is where the heart is, so where does your heart want you to live?"
Elisa thought about it a moment, and then smiled.
"Guess I should speak with Xanatos," she said. "But if he makes any comment or jokes, I'll jail him."
This made her sisters giggle.
02.09.98; 3:59; Destine Mansion, A Balcony:
Darlene and her children landed on the balcony, and while Gem slept in Darlene's arms and Lana walked straight through the French window up to her room, Jarred turned on the perch and waved after the pair of gargoyles who had accompanied them home.
After having gone in, she found Shade waiting for them, enthusiastically greeted by Jarred. When Gem was resting securely and dreaming sweet dreams in her crib, Darlene began to search for her mother and found her in her working room, sunken in manuscripts and old books all lying on her desk and partly on the ground.
"Mother?" she asked.
The immortal looked up, seemingly a bit surprised, but looking as cold as ever.
"Back already?" the immortal asked without much interest.
"We are over the time," Darlene said, a bit surprised that her mother had overseen this.
Demona looked on the clock and nodded.
"I see," she noticed and turned back to her records.
She doesn't even ask me how it was, Darlene thought disappointed.
Not showing her disappointment, she took a look on one of the books her mother was working through.
Forms of vampirism
"Mother, how…" Darlene began.
"I met Hudson and the others taking out the beasts," Demona replied without waiting for her daughter to end the question, and without looking up. "He told me about the detective's little adventure and how Lucifia seemingly uses blood to form this… this cult."
While she said this, the immortal made some notes on a page of paper.
"I doubt I'll find anything, but it is better than to stand around," Demona noted.
"Ah…" Darlene replied and wondered herself what she had thought.
Did I think that mother would have something to do with the murders? she thought surprised. That she knew of it and hadn't told anyone simply because she didn't care…?
Darlene feared she had thought this.
"I will look after Lana," she said, finally a bit terrified. "She doesn't feel well."
This made Demona looking up questioningly.
"The bowl?" she asked after a moment.
Darlene nodded, and her mother turned back to her book.
"Just tell her how you summoned a fire elemental and nearly burned down this mansion," the immortal suggested. "That will help."
"Sure, mother," Darlene replied sarcastically and turned away, shaking her head.
Home is where heart is.
On her way downstairs, Darlene had to think how less and less this place felt like home and how much she longed for the presence of her sisters, and tried to fight the result these thoughts would ultimately lead to.
02.09.98; 7:01; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:
Hudson, Deborah, Agamemnon his mate, and two further elders of their rookery sat at the table, taking the rest of the morning meal, and talking about the newest trouble from the hatchlings.
"A week of kitchen duty should set their heads," an elder noticed. "Gliding around in the city really…"
"Aye," Agamemnon's mate said. "But how much more have already taken the opportunity, and haven't been noticed before?"
"Under the eyes of our warriors standing on their posts?" Deborah asked skeptically.
"Aye," her sister agreed. "They always seem to find their ways."
Deborah thought about that. She would have to look at the posts sometimes. What they were doing… sleeping?
"Not that they are to blame," an elder said. "Back in Wyvern the hatchlings could go out on the playgrounds even when we were attacked by the rogue clan."
"Every part of the city is harder to watch over than the playgrounds back then," Hudson noticed. "Not to speak of the weapons."
While saying this, Hudson held his stick as he sat near his mate, feeling his artificial leg tickling, yet without showing it to his siblings.
"Right," Agamemnon noticed, unusually short, having the hint of sadness in his voice.
Hudson finally gave in to his body and scraped his artificial leg, carefully so as not to harm the artificial skin.
"It tickles," the old warrior said, noticing the looks of his siblings. "I think I will go out and use it a bit."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Deborah asked, as her mate stood up.
"Nay," Hudson replied, propping on his stick. "It is just a little training."
His mate nodded and turned her attention back to the table where it was discussed how they could have handled such a situation under Prince Malcolm's reign.
Indeed the tickling vanished instantly, as he walked more and as he sunk in thought.
"Brother?" he heard a voice calling him, and noticed beside him his sister with the lame left.
"Aye?" Hudson asked, looking up.
"I just wanted to see how ye feel… now," the unnamed female asked.
"Better," her brother answered, tipping his artificial leg with his stick. "Though I think I'll need time to convince myself of it."
The drillmaster nodded understanding.
"Good," she said. "We will need every warrior in the battle against this demon."
"Ye think it will end in a battle?" Hudson asked.
"Aye, I feel it in my bones," she replied, and massaged her hip over her left leg. "Good morning, brother."
"Ye, too." Hudson replied and watched after his sister, as she limped away.
The old warrior watched after his sister a moment, and then he sighed and walked down the floor, propping on his stick and throwing a look on the new right leg. Suddenly he stumbled, going down on his left knee, and would have fallen if not for the stick.
"By the dragon!" Hudson grumbled, looking at his artificial limp having clutched to the floor and not letting loose.
"Get off, you damn thing!" the old warrior cursed and hit the rebellious limp with his stick.
The artificial limp actually had the nerve to feel hurt where he had hit it, but finally it let loose.
"Useless thing of iron," Hudson cursed and walked down the floor in the direction of the medical station, though slower and more carefully.
Having arrived there, he found Dr. Moore sitting half asleep in his chair, his feet on his desk.
"Doctor?" the old warrior asked and made the human stumble while waking up in his chair.
"Uh?" Moore asked surprised. "Oh, Hudson. Sorry, I just took a little rest."
Hudson nodded.
"I came because of my leg," he said. "It tickles when I sit down, and it has just nearly brought me down."
"Sit down please," Moore asked the older gargoyle and showed him the chair in front of him. "When and how did this happen?"
Hudson explained it to him, and Dr. Moore stayed quiet.
"I see, and what shall I do?" Moore asked, as Hudson had finished.
"Well, doctor. What about this computer Leicester left," his patient asked. "Couldn't you use it so that I feel the leg less?"
"I could, but it wouldn't help you," the doctor said. "You thought on it when this happened, right?"
"Aye," Hudson admitted. "But what about that?"
"See, normally a rehabilitation after this sort of operation needs months if not more than a year," Moore explained. "But in your case, thanks to Xanatos science and your stone sleep, I think you don't need anything more than a little psychological help."
"Ye think it is something wrong with my mind?" Hudson asked skeptically.
"I think your constantly thinking on your new leg causes these malfunctions," Moore replied. "The leg reacts on your attention by overusing its sensors. To stop it you have to stop thinking on it and beginning to trust it as you would do with a normal leg."
Hudson thought about it, and then he nodded.
"Thank ye, doctor," he said and rose, using his stick.
The old warrior hesitated in the middle of the movement, and then he laid his stick on the doctor's table.
"Hold it," Hudson said calmly. "Just in case."
Moore nodded and watched how his patient left the room, slowly, but just using his two legs.
02.09.98; 7:41; Castle Wyvern, A Floor:
The doors of the elevator opened, and Owen looked at the guest with his usual stoic mine.
"Welcome home," he told the detective. "May I take your rucksack?"
Elisa looked at the major-domo, feeling a bit strange by this offer.
"Here," she said, handing the rather light rucksack over to the man with the Fey in him. "But if I find my clothes washed and pressed, I will put you in a cell surrounded by iron bars."
Owen nodded.
"Your mate is already at his perch," he said. "If you hurry you may still get him before sunrise."
Elisa threw a look at him, and then she ran along the floor, following the path she knew would lead her to her love.
Running up, she passed Deborah and Hudson who, without his stick, jumped up on his perch seemingly with ease.
Having arrived at the top of Castle Wyvern's highest tower, she found Goliath on his perch, looking at the ending night over the city, turning around as he heard the steps coming nearer.
"Elisa, what is…?" the leader of the Manhattan clan asked. "Has Lu…"
Elisa approached her mate and put a finger on his lips.
"From now on I will life here, by my clan and by you, big guy," she explained to him. "I've already brought some clothes here."
Before Goliath could say anything, Elisa kissed him on the mouth until she felt him become cold.
Departing from her mate's smiling stone form, Elisa went to the perch and looked over the castle where her clan had just started its day sleep, including the old soldier and the former second under her who had completely turned to stone.
Home, she thought.
To be continued….