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.

4. What you haven't told

"You'll be making a business trip to New York?" Jarred asked his grandmother.

***2.A German Story***

"I'm watching TV," Demona explained quickly out of the telephone. "I'm sorry, how are you?"

~ You never watch TV, mother ~ Darlene thought, but kept silent.

"Well, it is all well here... "Darlene started reporting her mother."We miss you."

***

~ What is going on? ~ Darlene asked herself about her mother's strange behavior.

***

"Kids," Darlene addressed her children, looking at them. "Pack up; we're going to visit your grandmother."

***

We see Darlene and her family at the JFK-Airport, starring speechlessly on the monitor showing Demona killing humans.

***

Darlene glides to the Eyrie-tower and sees a gargoyle, hidden by lightening, falling down the highest tower of Castle Wyvern.

***

We see Demona falling in the enlarging hole in the courtyard of Castle Wyvern

***

We see Darlene's face when she learns that Lucifia, whom her mother has just killed, was indeed her half-sister.

***

"Wow, our sister was definitely no nun in the last 1000 years." Thersities said with a wicked smile to Asrial.

"No, she wasn't." Darlene agreed with them, going to her mother.

***

"I thought you were in Berlin." Demona told her calmly, but with a slight accusation in her voice.

"And I thought you would have told me at least half of your life." Darlene replied, crossing her arms. "Turns out we were both wrong."

***

By searching her mother's Amnesia-spell Darlene discovered another one.

"L-Kor spell." she read and what she saw didn't make her happy.

***

Darlene read what there said about the amnesia spell and became even angrier.

"Mother!" she snarled angrily, her eyes fading to red.

"The spell doesn't just affect humans, but gargoyles too." Goliath's voice said behind her noticed.

***

Demona speaks the spell:

"God of memory, hear my prayer. I plead to make all this night undone in the minds and scrolls of all creatures, which should never have happened. Hear my plea."

***

"Yes, all or nothing," Demona confessed to Angela about the amnesia-spell. "There is no other way. But I will visit the clan in the next few nights and introduce you to Darlene and the children and I will let you know that Connor is your half brother."

"The next few nights?!" Darlene asked angrily.

Demona sighed. "The next night," she promised.

***

Demona collapses in Darlene's arms and her daughter brings her to her bed where she stays with her until the sun rises.

***3.A Secret Revealed***

03.08.98; 20:12; Demona's Mansion:

Demona, still in her human form, stretched the muscles of her body since she knew that this somehow eased the pain she felt through her daily transformation... a bit.

She still felt groggy, but not as much as she had when she had woken up, noticing that she had slept the half of the day and had transformed without her noticing it. The next thing the immortal had noticed had been her daughter above her and Shade sitting on the other side of the bed, both in their stone forms.

That was when the memories of last night had returned like a nightmare, just that she knew that this nightmare had been real. Stumbling, she had stood up from her bed and called her firm, telling them that she wouldn't be coming in this day before lying on the bed again, but this time curled up into a ball like she had done often as a hatchling.

She hadn't slept, hadn't been able to sleep and not wanting it since she feared to dream of... her.

So she had stood up again, barely an hour before nightfall and had figured out what to do. At first, she changed the bed linen since they were bloody, then she had taken maybe the longest shower of her life and washed all the dirt, dead skin and blood from her body until she was clean like a fresh hatchling out of the egg.

~ Blood ~ Demona thought while she did so ~ my blood and hers... ~

After this she had looked around the house, first after her grandchildren, then after the swords and had finally destroyed the signs of battle as good as possible. There were still many scratches, but she could blame Shade. Demona didn't think that her beast would mind that.

She had then called Xanatos and ordered him to ask Angela to come to her mansion, as soon as possible. And finally she called a firm, which would transport her and her family's things from her mansion in Germany to Destine Manor, as fast as possible.

Now she waited for the sun to come and the transformation to begin, looking on her daughter.

~ How can I start to explain...? ~ Demona thought ~ what can I say... ~

But already the last beams of the sun went away and the immortal felt her bones changing so fast along with her flesh that she nearly believed they were breaking, as she screamed out her pain which made a chorus with her daughter's and her beast's scream to welcome the night.

Darlene first looked a bit perplexed, as she stared around the room which she recognized as her old home, but. hadn't the sun caught her in her mother's mansion in Germany?

Then she saw her mother looking on her with a calm face.

"Mother. What?" Darlene began.

Demona shook her head, looking disapproving on her daughter.

"I told you that flying over the ocean and the time grades without the right preparation isn't something for you and the children." she told her in a tone that Darlene knew of when she had been young and her mother had lectured her in her calm voice. "But you wanted to surprise me, so don't complain. at least the plane didn't crash."

Darlene still felt perplexed, but this had to be it, hadn't it? She and the children had ordered a flight to New York to surprise her mother.

Suddenly, she saw a large lizard dog with a scarred face coming out, strolling from behind the bed, looking and smelling around rather confused.

~ A gargoyle beast ~ Darlene thought confused ~ but how? ~

"Mother, what is this?" Darlene asked her mother, who stroked the beasts scarred back, while Shade seemed to be as interested in Darlene as she was in her.

"Shade..." Demona began, saying it as if it was the most natural thing in the world, ". is my gargbeast, I told you of her yesterday, remember?"

Again, Darlene tried to bring an order to her memories... Yes, her mother had.

Darlene nodded and Demona gave her one of her rare smiles.

"I...." she began, but was stopped when her grandchildren entered the room.

"Whoa!" Jarred, who had entered first, said. "What is that?"

"Shade," Darlene replied before her mother could say anything. "Mother introduced us to her yesterday after we arrived here, remember?"

Jarred first looked perplexed on his mother, but then he nodded, yes such it had been. Then he knelt down, smiling on the large beast that came nearer, sniffing on him.

"Cool! I always wanted a dog!" he exclaimed.

Shade replied this with a snort, seemingly not liking to be called a dog. And after she had given Jarred a lick on his face, to which he replied with a short giggle, she went to further smell on Lana with Gem in her arms.

"Great, now the freak show is complete." Lana noticed and wanted to say more until her mother's eyes stopped her... She definitely didn't like the word 'freak'.

Much to Darlene's wonder, her mother seemed not to care.

"Well, I guess you are hungry." Demona told her family. "I have prepared some snacks."

Jarred and Lana threw some fearful looks on her mother, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay mother." Darlene replied, surrendering to her fate.


03.08.98; 20:56; Demona's Mansion, Dinner room:

Demona looked at how her family ate the snacks, noticing that Jarred gave a happy Shade more than half of what he had on his plate. This was until her keen ears heard the sound that she had waited for much too long.

"Whuff!" Shade barked when she heard a knocking on the French door in the next room and went to investigate.

"What...." Darlene began, but Demona stood up and made a calming gesture.

"It is okay Darlene," she explained, studying her daughter with an expression that Darlene couldn't really identify. "I have been waiting for someone, who I have to introduce you to."

Darlene just looked on her mother totally perplexed, along with Lana and Jarred, while they went into the other room. Not knowing what else to do, Darlene pricked up her ears, listening for whoever was in the other room, but all she finally heard was her mother telling the stranger that she had a surprise for him... her?

Demona came back in the room together with Shade, leading the stranger in.

The stranger turned out to be a female gargoyle, a bit older than Lana, with long brown hair and lavender skin and was a bit smaller than Demona with whom she had a somehow too large a resemblance.

"Darlene," Demona began. "This is Angela. your half sister."

Darlene's mouth hanged open, like Angela's, but Demona ignored this.

"Angela, this is Darlene, your half sister," she pointed to the gargoyle who was nearly as old as she, "and her children Lana, Jarred and Gem."

If someone had thrown a knife, it would have been caught in the air by the thickness of the silence, even Gem looked silently around, sensing that something was going on.

Demona's daughters first looked on each other unbelieving, then back on their mother and finally back on each other.

"Mother," Darlene finally began, speaking her half-sister out of the heart. "How... what... why..."

Demona led a totally shocked Angela with a claw on her shoulder, to her chair.

"Well I think I owe you an explanation..." Demona began just to be interrupted by Darlene.

"You think?" Darlene screamed on her mother unbelieving by this understatement.


"Okay, I do." Demona admitted in a cool manner, which made Darlene's claw tingle.

~ I will strangle her ~ Darlene thought ~ until she is dead... again and again ~

But she controlled herself, because she didn't want to make this scene in front of her children, and she didn't want to make a bad first expression to her new... half sister.

~ I'll kill her ~ Darlene thought despite this, looking on her mother ~ I swear one night... ~

"So, you are my half sister?" Angela asked looking back and forth from her mother to Darlene and back.

Darlene nodded.

"But I don't remember mother having another hatchling when I left." Darlene said.

"When you left?" Angela replied perplexed.

"Why don't you let me explain it?" Demona suggested.

"Please!" Angela and Darlene demanded in chorus.

03.08.98; 22:13; Demona's Mansion, Dinner room:

Demona had just ended her story, beginning with Darlene's life and ending it with her last visit at Wyvern... Well, the last in the official chronology anyway.

"Wow!" Jarred, who found the power to first speak, said to Angela. "So you're my aunt!"

Angela looked to the hatchling... her nephew and nodded, still not believing it herself while Darlene just looked on her mother.

"And why haven't you told me that the clan you had 'struggled' with, was indeed your clan?" she asked, not knowing if she should be angry on her mother or happy that she had gained a sister. "Why not once in 6 months?"

Demona shrugged her shoulders.

"I didn't get the right moment." she lied and Darlene felt how the tickling in her claws returned. "Besides, I wanted to wait until they made the first step and Darlene... They aren't my clan, remember this."

This was something that Angela couldn't accept.


"Mother, they..." she began, but corrected herself quickly, "we are."

Demona was going to deny this, but Darlene interrupted.

"In any case, we are family." she explained and added looking to her mother, "and I would like to get to know this family... finally."

Angela shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know what I should say." she explained. "We can leave at once if you want."

Darlene was going to agree to this, when Demona intervened.

"I think Angela should glide to the clan first and warn them." she said in a tone not tolerating contradiction. "We can both go to the roof with her, Darlene."

Darlene was at first confused about this, but when she looked into her mother's eyes, she realized that her mother was going to reveal something more.

"Yes, I think this is best, Ang..." she replied and stood up, giving Gem to Lana. ".. Sister?"

Angela first looked to Darlene then to her mother and nodded.

"Okay," Angela replied, standing up too. "Sure, why not?"

The female trio had just passed through the door when Lana took the hint, crossing her arms and looking remarkable like her mother through this.

"I have to go right when there is something you want to speak of, without us?" she asked.

Darlene looked on her daughter, wanting to say not now, but her mother intervened first.

"Yes." she replied simply and went up to the stairs.

Darlene sighed.

~ A little bit of diplomacy, please mother ~ she thought.

"I will return soon." Darlene said and followed her mother together with Angela.

Jarred looked up to his sister, as he stroked a purring Shade's back. "Why don't they tell us?" he complained. "We can keep a secret."

Lana looked to her brother.

"YOU could never keep a secret, pal!" Lana pointed out.

"Well this time I could!" Jarred defended himself.

Meanwhile, Demona and her daughter's had reached the roof.

"Okay, mom." Darlene said to her mother while she closed the door. "Which secret is it? Do we have another sibling?!"

Demona, who had turned her back on them, turned around and looked sternly into Angela and Darlene's eyes.

"Yes."

Darlene and Angela just stared at her.

"What?" Angela screamed. "Whom?"

Demona crossed her arms.

"You know him Angela; he has white hair, grey-brown skin, my forehead..." Demona explained calmly.

"Connor?" Angela said unbelieving. "Connor is your son?"

Demona nodded, realizing too late that this might be a mistake.

"Who is Connor?" Darlene asked, looking to her half sister. "One of your clan?"

It was Demona who answered.

"He was part of my clan at Moray." she explained to her. "Now he is part of the Manhattan clan."

"You never told me I had any other siblings, except for the egg you had in Wyvern!" Darlene accused her mother.

"And back in the Labyrinth, you never told me that I had any siblings!" Angela added. "Neither did you tell me that you had any other mates in Moray."

Demona sighed.

"I didn't have any 'mates' at Moray." she explained. "I just followed the old rules of the clan."

"MOTHER!" Darlene claimed out "Tell me you didn't..."

Demona simply shook her shoulders. "I told you I did." she explained.

"You have done what?" Angela asked perplexed, which reminded Darlene that she had been raised by humans.

"She mated with the one who had been able to catch her during breeder's moon." Darlene said still unbelieving. "Mother told me once that back in the old ages, even before she lived, the clans did it so."

Angela stared at her mother.

"And there is another thing." Demona began and her daughter's prepared for another shock. "He doesn't know that he is my... my biological son, so please don't let him know, neither Lana nor Jarred for this matter."

Again, Angela and Darlene stared at her mother.

"And why shouldn't we?" Darlene asked.

"Because I asked you to." Demona told them with a barely hidden hardness in her voice.

Darlene was just about to retort when Angela spoke out.

"A younger brother." Angela noticed unbelieving.

"Well, chronologically he is your older brother." Demona noted. "You once told me you hatched barely around 1078?"


Angela nodded and then realized what her mother was going to say.

"You mean..." Angela began "Oh..."

She looked on her chronological youngest and biologically oldest sibling.

~ I've certainly got hell of a family tree here ~ Angela thought

"Okay, mother." Angela told them totally shocked. "But I better go now... or is there another thing?"

Demona shook her head and so released her daughter, who doubted that she could bear another surprise this night.

Darlene looked to her new sister and nodded.

"I will come at once." she promised, embracing her sister tightly "We all will."

Angela nodded and leaped from the roof in the air, trying to let the air under the wings clear her thoughts.

~ Three siblings! ~

Meanwhile, Darlene stared on her mother, who watched after Angela.

"Well, I think we should go downstairs." Demona said and was moving to the door only to be stopped by Darlene's strong arm on her shoulder.

"Why mother?" she asked simply. "Why have you never told me of them?"

"I told you my reasons." Demona replied coolly, not fleeing from the look in her daughter's eyes.

"For that, you haven't told me of how you brought back your clan, yes, even when it is a damned weak one, mother." Darlene snarled and studied her mother intensively, who hadn't even blinked. "But why haven't you told me of Connor, in all these years?"

Demona shook her head.

"I told you that my clan in Moray had hatchlings." she explained to her daughter. "And I told you that I was their rookery mother, that is it, there wasn't more."

~ She is insane! ~ Darlene thought for a moment.

"There wasn't more?" Darlene asked her furiously "He is your son and there isn't more?"

Demona shook her head.

"Darlene, it is like I explained to you back then." she tried. "They were all my children, those who hatched in Moray... as even the youngest generation of Wyvern were."

Darlene wasn't going to accept this.

"Why do you refuse to acknowledge him like you did with me or Angela?" Darlene demanded to know.

Demona's claws became fists, as she didn't like to be questioned by her daughter in this way.


"I 'acknowledged' you because you were the only child I had." she explained to her daughter. "I acknowledged Angela for the same reason." she lied. "But with Connor, there was never a reason to do so. He is a child of the clan and I ask you to accept this."

Darlene shook her head. "And if I do not?" she asked. "If I tell him the truth?"

Demona's eyes had now a glimmer of red.

"You mean just because you are angry with me, you would destroy the life he has?" she replied.

"He has a right to know the truth." Darlene answered "He... "

"The truth?" Demona asked. "The truth is that he is and always has been a child of the clan, the truth is I am and will always be his rookery mother, this is the truth."

Demona spit out the last words angrily and studied her chronological youngest daughter.

"If he wants to know more and ask me about this, I will not lie to him," she said, "but for now, this is no topic."

Demona's tone, a half-snarl, like her near red eyes and her tensed muscles made absolutely clear that the topic was over for her and so she went to the door.

Unfortunately, her mother's heritage of anger and stubbornness overthrew Darlene's survival instincts and she jumped in Demona's way, her eyes blood red and her lips curled into a snarl, baring her fangs.

"IT IS A TOPIC!" Darlene snarled furiously. "You lied to me, mother. about something which is part of my life, you lied to me not just these six months, but my whole life!"

Demona's response was a snarl, with her eyes now turning completely red. An observer would by now recognize the similarities between mother and daughter more than ever.

"There speaks the right one, Darlene?" Demona snarled on her daughter. "Not only did you try to hide your little affair with this human by faking your death, you would have denied your own children their true heritage for their whole lives, or am I wrong daughter?"

She spit out the last word as if it was a curse, but Darlene didn't show if she had been hit.

"I admit this was wrong mother," she replied, "but neither do you have a right to hide such things from me nor will I tolerate as such."

Demona's anger was calmed a bit by confusion.

~ Did she say she wouldn't tolerate it? ~ Demona thought ~ who does she think she is?! ~

"I won't ask you why you really have kept me and the children away from the clan for so long, even when I know that there is more." Darlene began, studying her mother with eyes now clear again. "But tell me, are there any more siblings of mine out there wandering through the world just waiting to meet me?"

Demona had managed to calm her blood down so that her mind didn't check her daughter's body for the best area of an attack anymore, even though it had been very hard. After a longer silence, she gathered her strength to let her answer be more than a snarl.

"No," Demona told her daughter, "there aren't."

Darlene held her view.

"And has there ever been anymore?" she asked her mother. "More siblings that have been dead since centuries... a whole clan perhaps?"

Demona was a bit shocked by this question, but kept cool.

~ Is the spell dissolving itself? ~ she asked herself, but rejected it ~ no she is just suspicious and angry, this is all. ~

"This talk is over." Demona noted icily and went around her daughter, to the door.

She half-expected an attack of her daughter, but it didn't come and so she placed her claw on the door handle.

"I can't force you to tell me the whole story of your life mother, I know this," Darlene told her mother in the same voice that Demona had ended the discussion. "But if because of your secrets, my children or my siblings or anyone that I care for, get hurt then I swear I will..."

"You made your point, Darlene." Demona interrupted her not turning around, so that it seemed to a distant observer as if both spoke to the night. "I warn you not to let it become a threat... I don't like threats."

With this, the immortal walked through the door, leaving her daughter alone, looking into the night.