16. In the face of my enemy
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 and for the characters of his ficverse.
Deep under New York, Elisa sees Lucifia killing a man, using his blood for a dark ritual while many humans of the cult are watching.
***
Detective Balnetti is killing a monster which had overtaken a human by drilling itself into his skull.
******
"Where is this cave?" he asked his former mate with his voice showing the anger of learning about another of her former schemes.
"Why do you bother to know?" Demona asked, looking to her mate and already realizing why.
"This imprisonment has lasted long enough," the leader of the Manhattan clan said seriously. "We will free him."
***
After she, Deborah, Hudson and Brooklyn were defeated by Roland, Atalanta and foul of her clan.
"I said it was the wrong decision." Demona snarled in the direction of Brooklyn.
******
Brooklyn after being informer that there had been an attack with deaths on a clan in Europe.
"Which?" he asked total emotionless.
"Nia's clan." Tom said. "The leader is in the great hall informing the rest of us."
***15. Family life***
12.09.98; 22:07; Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Living Complex:
Travanti looked at the door leading into the abandoned looking living-complex, pushing it open.
"This was the easy part." he joked, looking at his partner.
Beside him a gray/brown skinned, white haired gargoyle who bore a striking resemblance to Connor, except for the forehead, and the middle sized antlers nodded, stared at the broken lock of the door, having been stepped in, noticing the mark of a shoe imprinted on the door.
"So the call was authentic," the gargoyle noticed, studying it.
"Not necessarily," Phil Travanti said. "Morgan and I were called here one month before when this lock had been opened… seemingly the company owning this hasn't yet managed to repair it."
The gargoyle looked around at the entrance with all the litter falling out of the one seemingly old trash can, and nodded.
The police officer didn't say anything, but moved into the house with his partner following, and after they discovered the naturally defect elevator; the partners began climbing the steps.
On the first level they met a woman with dark blond hair, seemingly entering her home at the left side of the house and eyeing them, especially the winged shape behind the cop, distrustfully while holding a bag with her left.
"Madam, could you please…" Travanti began, but the woman already had moved into her apartment and shutting the door behind her, locking it hearable.
"Always helpful folks here," the detective commented, while walking further and removing his cap to scratch his brown hair.
"If something loud would have happened, they would have told us," the gargoyle noticed, following his footsteps.
"If something had happened they would stayed locked up in their apartments," Travanti replied with a grin, repositioning his cap while walking up the steps.
It was then when he heard the sound of someone opening a door behind him, silent enough indeed that only his gargoyle senses being on alarm noticed them. Quickly he turned around, finding to his surprise not a hard eyed gangster, but an African-American boy with rather long black hair, looking at him with eyes of innocent wonder.
"Hello," the white haired gargoyle greeted as friendly as he could.
The boy stared at him for a moment, seemingly thinking if he should dare ask a question without being devoured, but before he could make this test, a larger black hand appeared on his shoulder.
"James, I told you," his mother hissed at him from inside where the Gargoyle couldn't see her, strongly pulling the boy in and shutting the door, locking it.
The Gargoyle sighed, looking up the stairs where his partner was standing on one mid-level.
"No success in diplomacy tonight?" Travanti noticed with a look of sympathy.
The gargoyle just shook his head, the smooth light of the floor giving him a slightly sad look and making Travanti continue the rise without a further word until four levels further.
"Makes you wish for an elevator," he commented. "But at least it is more comfortable then climbing up the façade."
"Actually, climbing would be easier," the gargoyle replied. "Using four limps isn't that hard."
"You say so, partner," Phil agreed without turning around to hide the fact that he was actually smiling, happy about being pulled out of his thoughts since he knew how much things seemed to pull the gargoyle down.
Reaching the seventh level, both looked at the right door.
"This is it," the human officer noticed, beginning to knock on the door. "Mister, if you..."
The door swung open at the first knock, revealing a lock being broken open from outside.
Human and gargoyle shared a look, and the latter realized that this had not been there the last time.
Travanti drew his weapon and gave his partner a sign to move left to him, which he did with a silence that yet again surprised the human. They moved along the floor, which divided into three more rooms, one left on the floor, one right, and one ahead of them.
With Travanti having thrown a look on the room to the right, discovering an empty bedroom, and the gargoyle having checked the empty bathroom to the left, both continued to the large room ahead that turned out as a mix of living room and kitchen.
The blood on the floor of it proofed to them that they were right.
Half a second later, they discovered the blood belonging to a man lying in it between the couch and the TV, with a small table seemingly having been thrown some meters away.
"Jesus," Travanti noticed, resettling his gun in his holster after he recognized by the state of dried blood having flooded from the open throat that the deed must have happened some time ago. "He must have called us too late."
The gargoyles eyes meanwhile had wandered from the view of the victim's corpse back to the TV… discovering something written in blood
"Luc…" Travanti read, discovering it also. "Maybe his girlfriend, like Lucy or something."
The gargoyle nodded, not daring to look at him since he feared his eyes could betray him.
"I have to inform the reinforcements and the forensic," the human cop said, standing up, not knowing anything of his partner's thoughts. "Stay at guard, okay?"
The gargoyle nodded, and the officer left, leaving the gargoyle to think about what he had to inform his leader as soon as possible.
12.09.98; 23:01; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:
Brooklyn listened to the report of the warrior, as did the part of the clan that was present in the hall.
"You're sure they found nothing else?" he asked the brown-brown rookery father.
"As long as my partner and I were there, no," the warrior replied.
The clan's second seemed to think about it for a second, then he nodded.
The rookery father said some more, but then he left.
"Elisa," he said, turning to his leader's mate standing not too far away beside Darlene and Desdemona. "What do you think?"
The only human present looked around a bit uncomfortably, it was visible her thoughts were thousands of miles away.
"Since nothing has changed, Chavez will hardly be able to get the mayor for more resources, especially since she can't link the murders to the cult," Elisa explained calmly. "But it doesn't mean she won't try."
Brooklyn nodded.
"Good," he said in a tone that the discussion was over with for the moment.
"Good?" a voice asked from beside him, sounding very doubtfully.
The second turned his beak in the direction of the voice, and had to work hard to hold a straight face as he stared at Kronos standing beside Achilles and Emilia, and such forming an interesting trio.
"Lucifia has shown up," the big black skinned gargoyle said, as if he tried to explain something to a hatchling. "So how do we react?"
Brooklyn stared at the older gargoyle, and his eyes were sparkling with antipathy.
~ He knows, ~ the second thought, working hard to keep his emotion in check. ~ Playing his stupid game. ~
"There is no sign that Lucifia has killed him herself," Brooklyn explained to everyone, staring at the gargoyles surrounding him. "Even if she did, the police haven't yet got a clue of it, or how this could be related to us."
"Reason enough to let us go there and search for tracks," Achilles noticed. "They don't see everything, but next time we might not be that lucky."
Seeing some agreeing to that, and most still showing skeptical looks, Brooklyn took a deep breath, noticing Emilia laying a claw on her mate's shoulder.
"Look, I know you all want to do something… I, too," the second explained, looking in the eyes of some of his siblings, amongst them Broadway and Lexington standing somewhere near. "Her sect is spreading and killing people, that's bad but that isn't new, and we can't do much more then staying watchful and not let our guard down. This is something."
A moment of silence raved, and Brooklyn could see at least a reassurance in the eyes watching him, even in that of some of the hatchlings, standing somewhat aside the elders.
"And will you call the leader? He might know something to do besides just going on," Kronos said, having the nerve of letting this sound like a reasonable suggestion. "Besides, you might have the opportunity to hear if the Nevin clan is all right, including their second."
It happened fast enough that even he himself didn't knew it was coming… Snarling, he was one step nearer to Kronos, looking at him with white shining eyes, and it was only the fact that he read in the older gargoyle's eyes that he had known it was coming that Brooklyn was able to calm down.
~ Yeah, slap him down, ~ he told himself cynically, feeling his claws burning. ~ But if you do you can step back from your position the same minute, giving Goliath another blow and leaving this bastard smiling. ~
"I won't…" Brooklyn said, clenching his claws while staring at Kronos. "I won't put another clan in danger of being discovered because of something, which might happen weekly... No matter what you want."
Without giving the gargoyle the opportunity to answer, Brooklyn walked away from him straight to the door leading to the courtyard.
"That was narrow," Emilia noticed.
Kronos nodded, his face showing no emotion.
"Was it necessary?" Achilles asked, sounding at least a bit skeptical as he watched the younger gargoyle leave. "If we are attacked, we need him to lead us in the leader's absence."
"We don't," Emilia said beside him, her claw pressing her mate's shoulder stronger. "We need a strong leader… like you."
Achilles turned his head to his mate, watching her thoughtfully.
12.09.98; 23:07; Wales, cargo train in direction of Nevin past Beddgelert:
Goliath, Hudson and Deborah sat on the packets containing washing machines, partly looking out of the open door, seeing the landscape pass by in which seemed a too slow speed for them.
Some meters away from them, two young warriors of the London clan, a brown female griffon and a red skinned dragon-like male were watching them unhappily.
Silence prevailed to the point that not even names had been exchanged, and Goliath knew that this was partly because of the fact that they had become distressed by the fact they had been ordered from the front in Nevin to catch them up by the airfield.
Just partly.
Something beeped, breaking the silence, and the dragon-like gargoyle grabbed the cellphone on his belt.
"I told you to activate the shuffling," the female griffon snubbed her brother.
"Okay…" he thus mumbled while taking up the handy and leading it to his head. "Hello?"
"Yes, yes, okay," the red skinned gargoyle said, walking to Goliath and hanging him the handy. "Our leader."
"Michael?" Goliath said taking the piece of technology, which was actually quite too small for his claw, to his right ear.
"Are you already there?" the leader of the London clan began, wasting no time.
"There was a delay of twenty minutes, so we should arrive at the place in another twenty," Goliath explained, and after he heard Michael growling, he added. "What happened?"
"Griff just called us. She gave us time until midnight until they begin executing the hostages," Michael explained. "My brother says he will try to negotiate, but you know how the chances are."
Goliath said nothing since he knew all too well.
"We will come as fast as we can," the Leader of his clan promised.
"Okay…" Michael sounded as if he wanted to say more, but then he concluded. "Good luck."
Goliath switched the cell phone off, knowing very well that the words Michael hadn't dared to speak out was to watch over the warriors of his clan assigned here, the same thing he would have thought above.
"She's set a deadline on midnight," he explained to the comrades while handing the phone over to the male of the London clan. "Then the first hostage will be executed."
While the two young London warriors gasped, Deborah and Hudson replied this with darkened faces.
"Happy now?" the female griffin asked.
"J…" her brother warned her, giving a short look to Goliath.
"Neither I nor anyone of my clan wished this," the older gargoyle replied calmly, having prepared himself for such an argument the moment he saw them on the airfield… and deep inside the moment he had heard of the attack.
"You freed them and let them roam on our isle," the griffon accused him, pointing with one claw on him, her eyes flashing slightly red, a gesture which lost much of its threatening potential by the imminent size difference of the two gargoyles. "Now two of a clan which had nothing to do with your problems are dead and more may follow… how do you justify that?!"
Goliath still calmly looked on her while behind him Deborah felt her pulse rising by the insolence of this young one, but it was her mate who took the word.
"We can't, lass," Hudson told the much younger gargoyle from beside his leader in a calm, understanding voice. "What we did was free someone of our clan to give him a second chance, the consequences weren't wished for, but they are still ours."
The younger warrior stayed silent, but her eyes remained hard, and after a second of staring at Goliath she left for the back parts of the train with her brother following.
The gargoyles watched them in silence, but the look they shared told them they thought all the same… this had been the easy part.
12.09.98; 23:12; Castle Wyvern, Around the Courtyard:
Elisa watched the rookery parents having a look at the hatchlings, while they enjoyed themselves in the courtyard of the castle. But she wasn't really looking, as her thoughts were somewhere else. Goliath was in Europe trying to help with the explosive situation that Lucifia and Thailog had ignited there, and she couldn't help but worry if he would return in one piece... And if the clan still stood when he returned.
She noticed Darlene walking up beside her. "Ah...hello. I guess Lana is off again to fulfill her 'social hours'?" she asked her.
Darlene had no problem seeing that Elisa's mood was a little subdued tonight, and she knew why. Better avoiding the topic, she answered: "Yes, right now she is busy with Ruth cleaning up the kitchen." Darlene made sure she saw Jarred in the group with the hatchlings, as there was no need for him to do something stupid. And she knew Gem was in good hands at the moment (despite herself being a full-time mother, she really liked having someone to help her)
"You're waiting for the clones, right?" Elisa had of course heard about last night, and despite herself still being a little spooked of Delilah, she actually liked Darlene reaching out to them. Really curious that two of Demona's daughters had turned out to be the opposite of her, and of the third she didn't want to think about.
"Yes, they should be here any moment. They could really use some more encouragement..." Despite all the other stuff going on elsewere, life went on.
Elisa looked to the gargess. There weren't any obvious signs of pregancy yet, but considering the diagnostic, it wouldn't take much longer. Well, one sign had happened today. Darlene had been in the midst of something, when suddenly she had clamped her hand over her mouth, before running to the next bathroom. Elisa guessed that gargoyle females also got a sort of morning sickness, only far less predictable.
Darlene right then spotted the clones arriving, and wanted to greet them, when suddenly crackling arcs of electricity appeared in the courtyard. The rookery parents acted fast, quickly herding the hatchlings to the far side of the yard, while the other adults at once went battle-ready. After all the trouble of the last time, they were prepared for everything. Since this could be Lucifia starting a new attack.
The gargoyles patrolling on the parapets jumped down into the yard, watching as in the middle of the lightning a blue-glowing sort of rift opened up. All of them prepared for the worst...when suddenly something came flying through the rift, which at once closed afterwards. To their horror it flew in the general direction of where the hatchlings had been herded away.
'Ahhhh, shit, I shouldn't have run into it!' Elisa-goyle now regretted her panic-reaction in the last universe, since her momentum had significantly increased inside the rift, and the one thing she saw approaching was a wall. 'Crap!'
-BANG-
Elisa-goyle thought she was seeing funny colors after her painful impact with the wall. Added to this bizarre picture was that suddenly she thought she was surrounded by hatchlings, before darkness claimed her.
The rookery parents had reacted in horror when the hatchlings became too curious for their own good, looking at the gargoyle that had impacted the wall not three meters from them. The little ones already started to comment that this one looked like their leader's mate, only that she was one of them, before the rookery parents finally managed to get them away, and the warriors surrounded the unconscious female, gasping when they saw her.
Elisa, having run across the yard, shoved her way through the warriors surrounding whatever it was, only to stop when she saw something she thought she would never see again. "That can't be possible!" she gasped, looking at a double of herself, only that this double was a gargoyle.
12.09.98; 23:22; Manhattan docks:
Balnetti parked his car before the large, rather gone rack, storehouse and looked around, noticing the empty streets which were only lightened up by the lamp of the building in front of him.
~ Tell me this doesn't look like a trap, ~ the detective thought.
Knowing that a dropout did indeed sound too good to be true, he once again checked his gun in his easy accessible holster, and the one in the glove compartment … just to be sure.
Making a decision, Balnetti stepped out of the car and shut the door, yet did not lock it up… again just to be sure.
The call had come from an informant he used to spy on smugglers in the docks, one he believed he had got to be trustworthy enough. He had said he had overheard some colleagues who had talked about someone they had killed in Hell's kitchen, colleagues which had begun to act strange, vanishing and talking amongst themselves.
Walking down along the walls of the building in the direction of a small back door, Balnetti thought of the message he had left in the office, a message containing the name of his informant, what he had learned, sure to be found if he was missing for the long next day…
Having reached the door and once again finding no one, Balnetti knocked on the door.
He thought of the people missing in the streets, how detective Maza had been kidnapped, the thing they had had found in this house with the corpses….
Moments later the door opened a bit.
"Yo… you're late!" a male voice said, trying to sound silent, angry and demanding at once.
Balnetti got a look in the shadows, a glimpse on the face which looked very much like that of his informant….
"I'm here now," he simply replied, once again checking the corners of the small alley. "Come out and we can talk."
"No… no way," the man spit out, and as his eyes accommodated on the light, Balnetti noticed the usual rather dirty clothes of the man, smelling as if they hadn't been changed for weeks, which they probably hadn't. "Come in or forget it…"
The detective sighed.
"Look, we can't stand here for long, but I for my part feel slightly cold so…" Balnetti began.
"TRAITOR!" another male voice shouted from behind the informant, and two rough hands were grabbing his shoulders and pulling him back into the darkness of the storehouse.
"New York Police! Let him loose, and on the ground!" Balnetti shouted, drawing his gun, gaining no avail but the cries of the man out of the darkness, which seemed to have eaten him.
He took one step in the building, and the fact that it was a small one saved him, since the attack with the plumber wrench only hit his gun, knocking it out of his hands…. Enabling Balnetti to jump backwards.
The detective did not loose time to analyse anything, but turned on the spot and ran in the direction of his car, realising that he just had barely escaped a trap.
The Ceiling of the building beside the storehouse...
Lucifia watched the human running, through eyes black which there was no description for… and turned to her two companions, one large and one small…
"Catch him," she ordered coolly. "And make sure he is unharmed."
The two other gargoyles followed her orders and quickly glided down the building after the fleeing human… leaving Demona's daughter to watch, smiling.
12.09.98; 23:24; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:
"I have looked a little closer at her. She appears to be a genuine female gargoyle of your age, transfered to our aging rate. She is still out from impacting with the wall. But these frightening similarities, I can't explain them," the clan's healer said, after leaving the cell where they were keeping the double.
Waiting outside, Elisa was still a little shaken by this stranger, while Brooklyn felt a headache coming up. He wanted to be in Europe, helping Nia and her clan to defend themselves, instead he got stuck here, and now had a really crazy mess at his claws.
"Anything else?" Brooklyn asked, hoping that this wouldn't become a huge problem. They had enough trouble already.
"I found this in her jacket..." the healer said, giving Brooklyn some sort of plastic-sealed photography.
Brooklyn looked at it, and the others had no problem to see his confusion over whatever he was seeing on the picture. "Gather the others, they have to see this themselves..."
Most of the clan who right now had nothing to do, had gathered. This strange arrival had caused unrest among them, so they were only too eager to be told what was going on. Looking at the picture that Brooklyn had put on the table, which they had surrounded, they could only wonder how that was created. It was a group picture that was so bizarre...
"Just look...That's supposed to be me, but I look much younger on that picture!" Asrial commented, seeing herself on the picture leaning strangely close to Lex.
"It looks like a group of randomly picked clan members..." Queens had no trouble to see beside the "core clan" (as they dubbed it) his brother with yellow skin and red hair, Deborah, Desdemona, Othello and an female elder who hadn't a name. A curious mix.
"I wonder who these strangers in the group are?"Angela wondered, pointing out a pink and bald female, a web-winged and beaked green female, and a totally white male.
Looking at the picture again, Brooklyn shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense..." Looking up, he saw the clan actually waiting for him to tell them his decision. He looked to the healer. "If she doesn't get up in half a hour, give her something that will get her on her feet. Regardless who she is, she will answer our questions."
12.09.98; 23:32; New Jersey De'Mark Psychiatric hospital:
" … denies the government's officials that there is such a thing like a sect responsible for the current acts of violence, but blame it on the effects of police budget cuts carried out by the former mayor." a brown haired woman in a blue blazer explained. "Yet the question is still lingering…"
"I told you," one Guardsman said, looking up from his small pocket TV. "Something is going on in this city."
"Something is always going on in this city, or it wouldn't be New York," his partner, a woman maybe in her mid twenties, sitting on the other side of the floor noticed. "Loraine Mccancy is just exaggerating to make up for the gargoyle story she missed…. Wants her own show like Marshall."
The other guardsman wanted to say something when a bed, containing a seemingly sleeping, tied up man whose whole head was bandaged, rolled down the floor in direction of the elevators by two male nurses, one black and one white.
"Is he it?" Guardsman one asked, and the bulky white male nurse who had shoved him nodded.
"Be happy you don't have to check his face. He seemed to have wanted to cut it off and succeeded mostly before he was stopped…" the black male nurse explained, looking on the head covered in bandages. "What about your patient? Heard the doctors want him to be declared sick."
"The terrorist?" Guardsman two asked angrily. "I had a friend on that train… never."
"Could be worse." the black nurse noticed. "Imagine that one is declared sane and has to pay the bill of the operations himself."
"Speaking of, don't let us keep him waiting," the white nurse said.
The black one nodded and both pushed the bed to the elevators.
"Being evacuated to a normal station for budget reasons," the female guardsman noticed, watching the two nurses carrying their patient in the elevator. "Can you believe it?"
The male guardsman just shook his shoulders and continued watching TV.
12.09.98; 23:47; Nevin, Hill in front of the estate:
Goliath, his mentor, Deborah and the two gargoyles of the London clan landed near the centre of the force, resting behind a small hill, of at least 30 or 40 gargoyles to a great part of the London clan, including three beasts and a human who looked somehow displaced there, if just for the fact he wore an armor seemingly coming out of the middle-ages, including a sword.
Griff approached them at once.
"I feared you wouldn't make it!" the griffon-like gargoyle said, visibly relieved, greeting the clan leader with a warrior grasp while giving the rest of his group a nod.
"We had luck," Goliath replied as politely as possible before asking his question. "How is the situation?"
"She hasn't come out again after the ultimatum, and she won't negotiate," Griff explained, walking with Goliath over to the top of the hill.
"Signs of bombs?" Goliath asked, and for the first time got a clear view of the estate.
It was not as big as where the London clan resided in, or even the castle Wyvern, but still large enough, especially in Wales and unlike the Marter Estate in a good constitution from in and outside where few trees covered its front and for sure its back, yet not even near enough to provide sensible hide…
"No," the London gargoyle admitted, "but we know they have guns, so Lucifia could…"
"She told us they positioned the bombs by the hostage," a calm female voice told them from behind. "Straight in the center so the explosion would kill them at once, if it is true."
Both warriors turned around and for the first time Goliath saw her, a soft brown female near her hundred years, yet somewhat beautiful though strongly built with long dark blond hair and two long horns growing of her forehead, which turned backwards over her hair, trying to flex her arm muscles in her strong build, her upper arm containing four ridges doing the same.
Looking closer, Goliath discovered four scars, clearly originating from a gargoyle claw, running over her left forearm, scars which might have come from a long forgotten battle or one fought just two nights ago.
"I'm Rhea, leader of the Nevin clan," she quickly said, and in this situation with an extraordinary calmness, introducing herself, mustering Goliath. "And aside from the two elders and two hatchlings of my clan that they hold hostage, we know of five warriors inside the estate, including the one you call Atlanta, but no signs, neither of the one you call Lucifia, nor the clone nor the other..."
Goliath nodded, knowing there was no time for formalities, and feeling no more hostility from this gargess that came from the stress she was in, and which she bravely tried to suppress and strangely feeling even more guilty by that.
"You got what she wanted?" Rhea asked, slipping shortly in a sharp tone. "No tricks we should know about?"
"I have it," the other leader assured her, pointing to the bag hanging on his belt.
"Then let us talk with them," the older gargess replied once again calmly, looking at the two younger ones. "And let us hope that we can manage it without that, or more of our clans have to bleed."
"So be it," Goliath noted, looking over to Deborah and Hudson, as to the rest of the group, before joining Rhea in walking over the hill to the estate.
12.09.98; 23:56; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:
'She could have been a little more gentle...' But considering that they mistrusted her so much that they had thrown her into a cell and now escorted her to the great hall, she had no right to complain. Rubbing her butt at the spot where the needle of the syringe had penetrated deeply, she felt that it still stung.
'Either they are as paranoid as hell, or something happened to make them very cautious...' she thought while being escorted through the entrance door. To her surprise the hall was full of gargoyles. 'I wonder how the clan can be this big?' Most of them were unknown to her, however she did spot a number of familiar faces. To her big surprise, it wasn't Goliath who waited for her, but Brooklyn.
'Could this universe be that different?' she wondered, seeing her double standing beside him, looking suspiciously at her.
Finally, she stopped after being escorted in front of the table he was standing behind. He didn't even bother with niceties when addressing her. The situation was far too suspicious anyway.
"All right...who are you, and what is with this strange picture?" Brooklyn had no desire to have disaster strike just because he wasn't careful enough.
"You want the short version?" Elisa-goyle asked. After all, she guessed that this clan hadn't the patience for a long-winded explanation. "Good. I'm from another universe, a magical accident ripped a hole and I'm forced to wander through all kinds of weird worlds until they finally can get me out of this. I'm as much Elisa as she is, only in the wrong world. Was that short enough?"
The was silence for a moment, before there started to be discussion among the clan. "SILENCE!" Brooklyn shouted. Seeing that this had the desired effect, he looked to the gargoyle-Elisa. "And you think we should believe this story, why?"
"I have no idea what made you so paranoid, but that's the truth. That picture, and I want it back, is the clan in my world. And I'm quite genuine, complete with smell." Seeing some of them wondering, before realising what she meant, she looked back to Brooklyn. "Look, I can see I can't seem to convince you. Just give me some time and then I'm out of your hair, all right?"
Brooklyn debated internally about what he should do. Either this was a really poorly constructed story that everyone would recognise as a lie, or it was the unbelievable truth. But then again, they already had more than their share of weirdness. He looked to Elisa. "What do you think?"
"I'm actually at a loss, she reacted exactly as I would have, only a little bit more agressive... Must be in her genes," Elisa said, still wondering if it could be true. The clan seemed to have quite an interest in this strange double. Seeing a gargoyle-version of her must have been quite shocking and yet eye-opening to them. Maybe they now understood what Goliath saw in her?
"Don't think I will allow you to run around in the castle," Brooklyn then returned the picture to Elisa-goyle. "But I won't throw you into a cell. I don't know if I can trust you, so you will have some guards. If you speak the truth, you can leave when the time comes.... If not..." Brooklyn let it hang in the air. "I need volunteers! Preferredly female."
"I will do it!" Brooklyn could have guessed that Darlene's curiosity would get the better of her. He saw Asrial raising her hand as well, propably because the age difference between her and her other self had intruiged her. And Elisa seemed to have made it clear she wouldn't let her double out of her sight, with one look to him.
Brooklyn wasn't that sure if he should allow Darlene to do the job, but then again, she was stubborn and that double seemed harmless enough. "All right... As long as you keep her away from the rookery and other sensitive areas..."
The clan watched them leave, barely hearing the double asking if she could first use the bathroom, before again errupting in chatter. Brooklyn wondered why things like this had to happen as soon as Goliath was away.
13.09.98; 00:00; Somewhere New York:
Roland stood, leaning on the wall and watched the other side of the dirty floor, his arms crossed, his eyes closed.
"AHhhhhhh…."
Screams, human and inhuman came from the door to his left, causing him to look at it somewhat uneasy.
"Aren't you worried what she does in there?" he finally asked, looking at the gargoyle standing on the other side of the door.
"She explained to us what she does," Thailog explained to the smaller gargoyle, not even looking up from the economic magazine he was reading. "Opening the gates to the land of the dead isn't easy I guess."
Roland felt a creep running down his spine to his tail as at the same time a new scream echoed in the floor, and he remembered the humans who had entered the room before, humans who looked in a scary way happy that he couldn't describe and whom he knew he wouldn't see again… alive at least.
~ I will never again ally myself with wizards, ~ the bandit told himself.
Yet it wasn't just this that made him shudder, aside from his "partner" who looked so very much like his hated brother and was yet so different, the red eyes… but all this…
He still wanted his old clan to pay, but somehow he trusted this Lucifia even less than he had Atlanta, and wasn't sure she would help him as promised… or kill him whenever it pleased her.
"I for my part prefer my own… business," Thailog's smooth voice called him back to the present. "One where you don't have to fear an end with an open throat."
Roland recognized an offer when it was made, and began to….
'BOOOOOMMM'
The explosion, which threw Thailog to the ground and made Roland kneel down, caused the door to be thrown against the wall, and a deluge of sick smelling air.
Thailog coughed, trying to stand up.
Beside him, Roland discovered some piece of black wool lying on the door, and grabbing it he recognized it to be what they had "acquired" on their trip to Manhattan, a mask out of black cloth unlike his own, strangely covered by three slashes of old blood which reminded him of gargoyle claws.
The sound of steps behind him made him turn around, and with the echoes of silent whimpering in her back, Lucifia stepped out.
"He's here," she told them with eyes black.
And there in the darkness behind her back, Roland could see the figure of a man slowly rising.
12.09.98; 00:03; Castle Wyvern, Some Place:
Demona watched the night with growing bitterness and anger. The first time she had seen this… this fake coming in the courtyard she had felt sick already, but when she had heard her story and realized it could actually be true, she had nearly become nausea.
~ Can't this damn Fey get it right in at least one dimension?! ~ the immortal asked herself.
For some reason she didn't quite understand why she felt the idea of any Elisa being part of her former clan being more disgusting than it actually should be, maybe becuase this version was actually able to give the clan healthy hatchlings…
Demona felt her claws threatening to hurt the palm of her fists, and relaxed them.
~ I can just go… ~ she told herself and tried to believe this, feeling her head beginning to hurt.
"Sorry?" the detective's voice asked her from behind.
"What do you…" the immortal began irritated, turning around just to see not the detective but the other fake standing behind her.
"You!" Demona snarled, her eyes burning brightly while staring on the hybrid. "What are you doing here?"
Delilah made one move backward after she had looked on her genetic mother's eyes.
"I just wanted to know when the training starts," she began. "We can…"
"Never dare to speak with me again!" Demona said, and by doing so she stepped one step further to the young hybrid who took, out of surprise, one step back, having forgotten what the teacher had told her about holding her ground. "You're an abomination, and if…"
"SISTER!" a loud voice stopped the immortal before she could say something else nasty.
Demona stared at the source of the voice, as did the hybrid, recognizing the caramel skinned gargess which had been introduced to her as Desdemona who wasted no time by stepping between the two.
"You'd better go in," the caramel skinned gargess told the hybrid in a tone near an order. "Wait in the training room. Your teacher will come then."
Delilah nodded, giving a last, fearful glance on the immortal before leaving hastily.
"By the dragon, what is wrong with you?!" Desdemona demanded to know from her sister, after being sure the hybrid had left.
"Nothing," Demona tried to brush her off, beginning to turn
Desdemona quickly rushed to her side, not allowing her to turn her face away.
"You nearly jumped on her," she insisted angrily. "Do you call this normal?"
In half a second, Demona turned her face on her sister, her fangs bared and her eyes fully enflamed, making Desdemona stumble since she never had seen such a… mad expression on her sister before.
"Call it what you want," her sister replied, jumping on the battlements and gliding away into the night.
13.09.98; 00:07; Nevin, Open space before the estate:
Goliath and Rhea waited maybe forty metres away from the estate, while ten metres behind them the rest of the group did the same.
The massive oak doors of the estate opened and Atlanta stepped out, causing a silent movement from behind the two leaders as a large gargess walked nearer, seemingly unimpressed by the mass which stared at her with hostile eyes, her claws near an automatic gun at her belt.
Atalanta stopped maybe five metres away from Goliath and Rhea.
"Do you have what I want?" she asked.
"Are the hostages unharmed?" Goliath asked in return.
They are… for now," Atalanta explained, eyeing the larger gargoyle with mistrust. "Now give me what I want and they will stay so."
Goliath looked on the gargess a moment longer, then he opened the bag on his belt without taking his eyes from her, and threw the content on the ground before Atalanta´s feetclaws.
Likewise without loosing eye contact, the rogue warrior took it up and stared on it.
"What is this?!" Atalanta angrily demanded to know, holding the half of the talisman in her claw. "Even I can see a half is missing!"
"The Phoenix Gate was broken to prevent misuse. Lucifia acquired the other half," Goliath explained as calm as he could so as not to anger her further. "I assume she can reunite both if she is with you?"
The last words were a trap, one that Atalanta sensed at once.
"You may hope she can," the rogue clan's leader explained.
"You can still end it," Goliath tried. "Give up and let the hostages go free, and I promise once we regain the Phoenix Gate we will bring back the rest of your clan."
Atalanta said nothing but stared on him, and then made one move to leave.
"You got what you wanted," Rhea said in a calm manner which once again surprised Goliath, taking one step forward, feeling she had held still long enough. "Let them go, or at least the hatchlings… I will go with you for them."
Atalanta, seemingly likewise surprised by her calmness, studied her for a moment, then she laughed.
"Exchanging two hatchlings who one of my warriors can hold under control, for someone who might cause us trouble?" she taunted. "Hardly."
With these words, Atalanta left, walking back into the mansion, still holding the part of the gate.
13.09.98; 00:31; Castle Wyvern, Courtyard:
Elisa-goyle was relieved that at least they had given her the benefit of the doubt. It had been somewhat strange to see this world's Asrial being quite a bit older, but after hearing the description of this Bea, who was almost a younger copy of Asrial, flirting around with Lex, she wondered if there was some kind of universal law. And Darlene was also nice. She had been quite surprised that she was Demona's daughter, and had been, for quite some years, human. Her double was probably the most curious of them all. Still suspicious, she had literally fired off the questions concerning her life with her world's Goliath.
At this moment, the rift opened. The clan again was nervous seeing something like that opening in their yard, but after the rift clamed down, they limited themselves to watching it.
Elisa-goyle looked to the three who had been asigned as her guards. "See, I told you the truth. I have to go now."
"Wow...So it IS true! Alone the possibilities of this..." Asrial couldn't help but to imagine thousands of differents Earths. Her imagination finally failed.
"Well, I have to admit that you really could be me. So take care, I don't want my other half getting into trouble..." Elisa had been really a little spooked how much this other Elisa was like her. Even if it was in the nature of things, she hoped she wasn't miffed at how they had treated her.
"You know, you probably shook the view on how some of the clan view Elisa. They don't think she should be with Goliath... You gave them quite a scare," Darlene told Elisa-goyle. She guesed some of them now knew what Goliath saw in Elisa.
"Ah, no problem! You know, every night a good deed!" Elisa-goyle laughed, before walking into the rift, which vanished after she had entered it.
13.09.98; 00:33; Estate of the Nevin Clan:
In the large room with relatively small windows, near the center of the whole estate, two elders with hair turned gray since a long time, one male and one female, cared for two hatchlings between them, who were barely able to stand and were mercifully engaged in a happy game between each other, unaware of what was going on.
"Giving up is no option," Atlanta told the dark red skinned male who now stood before her.
"What other option have we left?" her clan member replied. "We can't hold this façade much longer if their human allies scan this area by day."
"They are too fearful," the leader said, pointing in direction of their hostages. "If not for the old ones, they won't dare to risk the hatchlings."
The dark red one looked at the hostage and felt a coldness rising in him, as the old ones returned the look… and he turned his look to the bucket of C4 standing on a chair left of the elders who had placed themselves between the explosive and the hatchlings.
It was a senseless gesture, if what Lucifia had told them about the power of the explosion had been in any way true, yet…. the remote control on his belt felt heavier.
The dark red one looked to his large, green skinned sister, but she said nothing but stared on the new weapon called gun and the window, as did probably the two others of their clan who held guard above.
"Once we get the other part of the talisman, we can take the others and can search for a good place for the clan to live…" Atlanta said invoking, "with plenty of hatchlings."
Besides them their elder hostages exchanged looks, yet the dark red one knew it sounded good...
"What if Lucifia has the other half as they say it?" he asked.
Atlanta's face remained hard, yet inside of her she felt relieved. It wasn't her opinion that she as clan leader had actually to discuss with the others, but considering the circumstances it was good that she had set him back on course without having to use violence….
"We will begin to feed them less, every night a bit," she explained, looking with a cruel smirk to their hostages. "I guess this will make them find ways to acquire the other half so…."
The sound of breaking glass stopped her, but as fast as she was able to turn around and drawing her gun, she couldn't prevent Goliath from jumping on her through the window, pinning her on the ground and letting the gun slitter away.
Near the window, the large green female who was likewise attacked, and doomed to fail against three gargoyles, led by Griff who had made her loose her weapon.
In front of him the dark red one could see three other warriors approaching, an older gargess he knew from the initial fight over this area, and two younger gargoyles, a female young brown-feathered griffon and a red skinned dragon-like male, who strangely seemed to stop one meter away from him.
By the sound of battle above him, he realized they were attacking the second level, too.
On the ground, Atlanta and Goliath struggled fiercely nevertheless, yet Goliath's superior weight and strength gave him the edge, keeping her pinned down.
"BLAST THEM UP!" Atlanta screamed on the dark red one, realizing she had lost. "DON'T LET THEM WIN!"
The dark red one looked at his right claw where he held the remote control without remembering to have grabbed it from his belt, and then he looked to the hostages recognizing that the elders had picked up the hatchlings with amazing speed and had already managed to slip three meters away from the bucket…. It wouldn't help a bit.
The next second he looked at the remote control again… he threw it away in the corner left of him.
Half a second later, he was pinned on the ground by the two younger warriors, surely to be killed, and yet he felt strangely relieved.
A meter away from him, the fight still continued as Atlanta still struggled against Goliath.
"It is over," Goliath told her. "Give up."
Atlanta's only response was a slash over Goliath's back with her whip-like tail, causing him to roar in pain but not to give up.
"I need help!" he called into the roam where constantly more gargoyles jumped in.
Behind him, Griff laid his full weight on the large female who still resisted.
Suddenly, a soft brown feet-claw appeared left of Goliath and Atlanta's head, and Rhea knelt down. Before Goliath realized what was going on, or even could react, the other leader had the mouth of the gun pinned on Atlanta's forehead, and shot three times.
The bangs ended the fight for good, as for a long moment everyone looked on her.
Goliath stood up, his face partly covered with blood, and an expression between shock and anger.
"I had her down," he shouted. "This was senseless!"
Rhea looked on him, and her calm face revealed no emotion.
"For my brother and younger sister it was," she explained calmly as if to a hatchling, dropping the gun. "Now I have to see after my clan."
With that, she turned around and went in the direction the former hostages had been led out of, leaving Goliath still bloody to watch how Atlanta's face stared on him in endless hatred while Hudson and Deborah entered.
13.09.98; 01:21; New York 23rd Precinct:
It was late, and yet the precinct was busy as every night since the cop's "customers" didn't allow them any sleep.
A figure stumbled up the stairs, clearly out of breath and straight into the arms of officer Morgan.
"Hey, hey…" the cop tried to calm him down, suspecting the victim of a robbery until… "Balnetti?!"
The man looked up, trying to catch his breath and laid an arm on Morgan's chest before he thus realized he had dried bleed on his left arm.
"What happened to you, man?" Morgan asked, noticing that the blood came from three slashes, which seemed to have scratched deep into his skin.
"I was attacked by two gargoyles," Balnetti revealed.
To Be Continued…
(In case you want to learn more about Elisagoyle and the universe she comes from, try Tribun's "Countless Ways„ I got the scenes with her from… and once again thanks to the author for letting me use them!)