All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.
Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. This story takes place one day after "Aftermath".
Home Again
By SN/TVfan
Email: Sam_Nary
London
Macbeth and Arthur barely noticed the roars of the gargoyles as they woke up. Both were far too involved in a discussion with Merlin concerning the Holy Grail, which was still with them.
"So you say it's only good for healing?" Macbeth asked.
"And it's a one time use only," Merlin explained, "From what I've read, it can cure one person only once. It can be used more than once, but not on the same person."
"So it would be best to save it for a life threatening injury," Arthur guessed.
"Or Britain's greatest hour of need," Merlin sighed, "The Lady of the Lake warned me that you would need to be ready for it and that it is coming."
"How do we know what is Britain's greatest hour of need?" Arthur asked.
"That's the tricky part," Merlin sighed, "It could be anything. Some Unseelies that survived the war might cause more trouble than we think. Some foreign nation could attack Britain, or it could be something we haven't encountered yet."
"What are you talking about?" came a new voice causing the three humans to turn to see that the clan had indeed woken up and was now arriving for their breakfast.
"Mostly strategy on how we are going to use the Holy Grail for now," Merlin answered,
"Any big plans for the night on your end?"
"Una and I have a lot of paperwork left to do to get the shop running again," Leo sighed,
"We'll probably be working on that for most of the night."
"Chloe, Octavia, and I will run one patrol for tonight," Julia said, "Make sure that no
criminals have grown bold in our absence."
"I'm stuck as a tour guide," Griff chuckled, "Giving the three Avalon clan members a tour of London."
"I know this is really unimportant for you all, but Demona and I will simply be finding a train to Liverpool after breakfast," Wedrington said weakly.
Macbeth and Arthur nodded. The first couple of days back in London would be rather hectic for everyone. There had been no progress on rebuilding Una and Leo's shop. The two gargoyles essentially owned an abandoned and unoccupied piece of earth and now had to send rejection letters to various people offering to buy the land. Lancelot, Guinevere, and Gawain would need to learn more about London if they were to be successful in helping the clan protect the city. Chloe and the rest of the London clan had to catch up in terms of keeping crime in London under control.
Macbeth and Arthur also knew they had things they needed to do. Macbeth had sent an
application in to a small college in the area that needed a history professor, and Arthur was working with Merlin to get a small private investigator's business started. All of them had things to do.
Elsewhere
"Ah," Morrigan smiled as the escaped Unseelie walked along the back streets of London, "It is good to be back in London"
The Unseelie looked around the street and noticed the various people walking from place to place. It was calm, too calm for the fey's taste.
"It's too quiet here," Morrigan thought to herself, "I'll need to do something about that."
The fey then looked at a nearby intersection. Cars and buses drove through it at a slow but steady pace. Smiling, Morrigan lifted her arms out and sent a small burst of magic out into the intersection and then into two separate cars. She carefully used her magic to control the drivers of each vehicle, making them speed into the intersection while there were still other cars in the middle of it. The Unseelie barely controlled herself from bursting out laughing as the vehicles she had controlled caused a massive pile up as cars and buses slammed into each other. The Unseelie then watched to see what would happen next.
It was the first man that had gotten hit by the cars driven by the people that Morrigan
manipulated who acted first. He crawled out the window of his vehicle and approached the vehicle that hit him, a large tour bus.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the man screamed at the bus driver, "You could have killed me!"
Morrigan smiled at the growing tension and played her hand with magic again.
"You were in my way," the bus driver answered in an almost trance-like voice.
The first man suddenly kicked the door in to the bus and began to physically attack the bus driver as passengers on the bus began to argue as well over who was at fault. Morrigan meanwhile watched as the arguments between the people began to grow into a full fledged riot.
"Now, this is entertainment," Morrigan thought to herself, "Now to find a seat where I can watch this in comfort."
The fey then slowly faded from view as chaos began to engulf the intersection. Morrigan
was not able to leave unnoticed however, as two people in dark colored clothing noticed that the fey had simply vanished.
"Did you see that?" one of the two people said with a great deal of curiosity in his
voice, "That girl just disappeared."
"I did see," the man's female companion said with a lot of curiosity in her voice as
well, "I wonder who that woman is."
The male viewed the chaos going on down below and then scanned the rooftops and tried to listen for the sound of police sirens. He then quickly turned and bolted for the door.
"Where are you going?" his companion asked.
"I think that woman is on the roof of the building across from us," the man said, "I'm
going to find out who she is."
"I'm coming with you," the woman then said and followed him out.
Meanwhile, in the air above the whole mess, Chloe, Octavia, and Julia came across the riot going on in the intersection. It didn't take much for the three gargoyles to see all the commotion that was going on below them.
"It's utter chaos!" Chloe exclaimed.
Octavia noticed several police cars were coming from far away, "We can't do much. The
police are well on their way."
Julia frowned at the situation, "We should still try to determine what caused this."
"Unless we reveal ourselves, we can't," Chloe sighed.
"I still don't like this," Julia sighed in frustration.
"We'll stay in the area to make sure the police can handle things," Octavia answered the
other Roman gargoyle's concerns, "If they begin attacking the policemen, then we will intervene. For now we can only observe what is going on."
Julia sighed heavily, "You're right. Let's land on that roof there."
Morrigan's amusement at the riot she had started below had faded when she saw three winged forms land on the roof of a nearby building. Obviously gargoyles, the Unseelie felt both feelings of frustration and the sense of an opportunity.
"If they are here, that means that Arthur and Merlin are here," Morrigan thought with an
evil smile, "I can show that halfling a thing or two and killing that 'Once and Future King' will be much more fun."
Morrigan looked out over the roof and watched the three gargoyles. Two were the Roman
females while the third was a forest green Scottish female. All were focused on what was happening below.
"Dealing with them will be interesting, but will require more work," Morrigan thought
smiling, as she faded from view.
The two people that had seen the Unseelie earlier arrived to see Morrigan disappear again.
"Damn," the man cursed, "Who was that?"
The woman sighed, "I guess we'll never know."
"Wow," Guinevere commented as Griff showed them the monument that the British had
erected to both Griff and Goliath's actions during the Battle of Britain.
"They really built this for you?" Gawain asked, "From what Angela's told us of her
early adventures in Manhattan, most humans hold a strong fear of gargoyles."
"It was a different time," Griff chuckled, "The war was on and the people who built this
monument were disparate for help. And I gave them all the help I could give."
"The whole city seems to be amazing to me," Lancelot said, "It's very much like New York."
Griff restrained himself from laughing too hard, "Not so much. New York, specifically Manhattan is city of 'skyscrapers'. London is a much older city and has many buildings that are still in use that are far older than New York. They're both different."
"It's still all very interesting," Guinevere told the griffon-like gargoyle, "And completely different from Avalon. I'm glad I came."
Lancelot and Gawain nodded in agreement.
"Well," Griff shrugged, "I'm glad you like London. Now, let's get going, we still have the areas where we commonly have to check while patrolling."
Griff then moved off in a direction to find a building that they could climb up to
continue their tour.
London Train Station
Wedrington stepped out onto the platform looking very nervous, while Demona was inside buying tickets. One of his reasons was the fact that he was only in England at the moment to tell and show his parents that something had taken his humanity from him. Another reason was that he was afraid that the spell Demona had cast to make him appear human would wear off.
"Relax," came Demona's voice from behind him as she came out in the guise of Dominique Destine, "The spell will last for twenty four hours. We have until tomorrow night before the spell will wear off, and the train should get us to Liverpool before dawn."
Wedrington sighed in relief, "Which train do we go to?"
Demona looked down at the two tickets she had bought and handed one to Wedrington.
"They say our train will arrive here in ten minutes," Demona answered, "We don't need to go anywhere."
Wedrington sighed and then went to sit on an empty bench near the wall while they waited for the train. Demona sat beside him, making sure that there was no room for anyone else to sit on the bench.
"You seem nervous," Demona commented.
"It's the whole meeting my folks and having to show them what's happened to me,"
Wedrington sighed, "It's not that I'm going to weasel out of it and it's not like they don't need to know, but what if they don't believe I'm who I say I am."
Demona didn't know how to answer that. Despite her promise not to ever wage war to
destroy all humanity, she still hated the species for its flaws which she saw as obvious and nearly universal. Yet at the same time she had come to care Wedrington in a manner in which she did not anticipate and he had originally been human. He had sworn to guard her during the day despite her earlier treatment of him in Egypt and had now promised to help her 'reform'. It was more than she thought she would ever receive. Yet it led the immortal female to let Wedrington remain with her, and now Demona found herself unwilling to let him leave.
"I'm sure that won't happen," Demona finally answered thinking of something to say.
"Demona, no one in my family has ever seen a gargoyle before and magic is just an object of fantasy to them," Wedrington explained, "It will be hard to prove it's me and not a suit."
"You can always return with me to New York," Demona offered, "If they reject you, you could remain with me…"
"I will return to New York with you when this is over," Wedrington answered, "That is not in question. What is in question how my family will react to this."
"I promise I will help you," Demona answered placing her 'hand' over his.
"I thank you for that," Wedrington answered with a weak smile as their train arrived.
The two stood up and slowly moved to the closest passenger car. Demona handed the car
attendant the tickets that she had bought and told the man that she and Wedrington were traveling together.
The London Docks
Morrigan floated along a quiet sector of what was one of London's busiest districts. Most people had gone home or at least gone elsewhere. There were no new ships coming in to unload their cargo, and the few dock workers who were involved in taking the crates that had been unloaded over the course of the day to the nearby warehouses were too far away to see the floating Unseelie.
"It is Merlin that needs to be dealt with," Morrigan muttered quietly to herself, "Even as a halfling, his powers rival some of the Third Race's full bloods. And with Arthur, Macbeth, and their gargoyle allies at his side, it will be difficult."
Morrigan paused to look up in the night sky, as if trying to read something.
"I will need someone to play with Arthur and Macbeth while I deal with Merlin," Morrigan then thought, "Too bad Xanatos captured Lucius and all the slaves."
Morrigan then looked back at the few dock yard workers. The Unseelie smiled.
"But then, new slaves aren't that hard to find," Morrigan laughed to herself.
The Mansion
"A riot was the only criminal activity you came across?" Arthur asked curiously.
"Not the only," Julia reported, "There were some low level crimes. Muggings and so
forth."
"The real thing is what could have been the cause of the accident," Octavia said, "When
we got there, it looked it had been sparked out of a traffic accident, but people wouldn't automatically start a riot over car accidents. There could be a fight between two or three people, but nothing on the scale that we saw."
"It was sparked by a car accident?" Merlin asked from where he sitting.
Both Roman gargoyles nodded.
"There were several cars and a bus had crashed into each other in the intersection,"
Octavia said, "And people were fighting around the wrecked vehicles."
"The world has gone mad," Arthur commented.
"Not mad," Merlin countered, "I suspect outside intervention in this. Car accidents do not
cause riots on the scale that they have described."
"You think someone caused the accident?" Arthur asked.
"Possibly," Merlin nodded, "but more importantly, I think someone else did something to
spark the riot. Although, I'm not sure how."
"Should we look into it?" Arthur asked.
"It couldn't hurt to do so, but not too much," Merlin said to his long time student and friend, "Scotland Yard has probably begun its own investigation by now and a civilian snooping around could cause suspicion."
"It'd be best to wait until tomorrow, also," Macbeth commented from his chair, "Creates
the image that you had just learned about it through the paper."
Arthur nodded in agreement.
Liverpool
Demona and Wedrington were quiet as they got off the train. They walked quietly through the train station and then down the city's streets. Demona had quietly suggested that they actually stay outside the city for the day. The spell that maintained the illusion they wore would wear off during the day, and a maid would notice their stone statues in a hotel room. Wedrington didn't like the idea of hiding out on the countryside, but agreed that they couldn't stay in the city to hide. Dawn was coming and the illusion spell made trying to climb up on a church roof impossible.
Demona quietly lead Wedrington down a dark alley to hide them from sight. Wedrington
watched patiently as she raised one hand into the air and began to chant in Latin. He saw only a flash of emerald light after she had finished for a moment and when it faded he found them standing amongst a thick clump of trees near main road leading into the city.
"We'll be safe here," Demona said looking around.
"Should we climb the trees?" Wedrington asked.
Demona shook her head, "No. The weight of our stone forms would break the branches. We will stay on the ground."
Wedrington nodded and was about to say more when the sun rose and the two gargoyles
solidified into stone.
London
Arthur and Merlin went out to investigate the riot scene the next day. Macbeth had decided to remain at the mansion, both to wait for a possible answer to his own attempt at getting a new teaching job and to make sure that no harm came to the gargoyles while they slept.
"They got everything cleaned up awfully well," Arthur commented quietly to Merlin as the two walked along one the streets that met at the intersection where the riot had occurred.
Merlin nodded and then looked to one street corner.
"Yes," Merlin sighed, "And I sense magic here too. It was a sorcerer who caused this, if not a fey."
Arthur turned to look at his mentor, almost as if he were actually asking a question.
"I can not tell which or who," Merlin answered, "We will need to see if anyone spotted the source."
"You guys talking about that riot that happened last night?" a voice asked from behind them.
Both Arthur and Merlin whirled to see a man in rather dark cloths, looking almost like what Elisa and some of the Manhattan clan had referred to as 'goths'.
"Yes," Merlin answered simply.
"That was weird, wasn't it?" the man asked.
"From what I read, it certainly was," Arthur answered, "The police do not even know for
sure was the cause of the riot."
"I'll bet that woman Lucy and I saw had something to do with it," the man muttered out
loud.
"What?" Merlin asked.
"My girlfriend, Lucy, and I saw some strange woman standing not too far away from where we are now before the riot started," the man explained, "And then as the riot started she vanished and then reappeared on the roof of that building. We tried to figure out who she was, but she had vanished by then."
"What did this woman look like?" Merlin asked urgently.
"I don't know," the man shrugged, "Lucy and I never really got a good look at her. She
had dark hair though. I think."
The man shook his head, "That's about all I can tell you. A woman with dark hair."
"Thank you," Merlin said quickly and began to walk down the street.
"Do you think this woman he saw is behind this?" Arthur asked as he caught up with
Merlin.
The wizard nodded, "Although his description doesn't narrow the field much. There are many women with dark hair in London."
"Back to square one, then," Arthur sighed, "We'd best get back to the mansion. We can
talk with Macbeth, he might have some suggestions that we can use."
Merlin nodded in agreement and followed Arthur. Meanwhile, a large black raven sat on a phone line that hung over the street. It turned its head sideways to look down and watch the two men as they walked down the street. As they rounded a turn, its eyes glowed green and it took off to follow them.
Elsewhere
Morrigan smiled as she looked into the small and broken mirror that she had found and
hung on the far wall of the apartment she had 'bought'. It was really an old room that the building's landlord had had emptied for repairs. Morrigan used her magic to persuade him to let her stay there and to repair the most serious damage. Her 'raven drone' was working perfectly as the image of Arthur and Merlin walked down London's streets.
"I knew you would come to investigate," Morrigan smiled, "Now to find out where you live."
Morrigan watched as the two walked along various streets. They mostly headed north along one main road and a bridge over the river Thames. After getting to the north end of London and the more suburban areas of the city, the two headed west for several blocks until they came to a large mansion with a small yard around it. Morrigan smiled as she watched the two walk up and into the mansion.
"Of course they'd have a mansion," Morrigan practically laughed, "Where would a clan of gargoyles live anyway?"
"Should we attack now?" asked a voice from behind the Unseelie.
Morrigan turned to see the three dock workers and the building's landlord standing behind her, looking at the mirror with enslaved trances on their faces.
"No," Morrigan answered, "We must exercise patience. I want to deal with Merlin alone
and there are not enough of you to deal with Arthur and Macbeth. And that is not counting the gargoyle clan that they are allied with."
Morrigan turned back to face the mirror, which now only held the Unseelie's reflection as the 'raven drone' was no longer necessary and dissipated back into magical energy.
"I will need more slaves and a method of distracting Arthur and Macbeth," Morrigan mumbled.
The Mansion
"So it's a dark haired woman that we're looking for?" Macbeth asked as Arthur and Merlin finished their report on what they'd found.
"Who knows magic," Merlin added, "That is why we are looking into all of this concerning that riot. If it were just a normal riot caused by some sort of frustration of people with something, it should be left to the police to figure out. But, magic is powerful and if someone is wielding to cause trouble the police might find themselves outmatched if they find the person causing all this trouble."
"Do you know if whoever this is human?" Macbeth asked, "Or a fey disguised as a human?"
"No," Merlin sighed, "I could sense magic in the area of the street corner where the man
said she was standing, but the 'woman' must have been trying to 'shield' her magic as well as use it. It would be impossible to tell if it was human or fey because of it."
"Great," Macbeth grumbled.
"I'll talk with Griff," Arthur sighed, "He and his clan will need to know about this and
that they may be dealing with a magic user."
"I guess that's about all we can do until we get some more clues," Macbeth sighed.
"On other matters, Macbeth," Merlin began, changing the subject, "Have you heard anything back from the university?"
"I haven't heard anything from them," Macbeth answered, "They must be busy with something. Which I hope doesn't last too long. My 'fortune' won't last forever and it will take a while before Leo and Una can get their shop running again. Which means we will have no source of income, unless Merlin can summon money?"
"I could," Merlin laughed, "If you're found of inflation."
Arthur raised an eyebrow at his mentor.
"If I were to 'summon money'," Merlin began to explain, "It would have to come from two sources. Either I would have to transport it here from somewhere else, or create new pieces. The former would be stealing and the latter would create different problems. While the money summoned would be real, but it would cause a lot of inflation because there are more Pounds in circulation then was actually printed."
The two nodded and sat back in their chairs.
"And I wouldn't worry too much, Macbeth," Merlin commented, "I'm sure this is easily
fixable."
"I hope so," Macbeth answered.
Liverpool outskirts, Dusk
Demona and Wedrington flinched slightly as their wings brushed against tree branches that were above them. They didn't bother Demona too much, since the skin on the back of her wings was pretty tough, but they did give Wedrington's feathered wings some trouble.
"You didn't ever have to sleep out in places like this?" Wedrington asked as he began
brushing twigs off his wings.
"One must adapt to many different adverse circumstances when one is essentially an outcast," Demona answered, "I've had no clan ever since… ever since I betrayed Macbeth in the Middle Ages."
Wedrington was silent.
"Come, we'll need to climb these trees to get to a height sufficient for gliding," Demona answered, "If you still want to inform your parents."
Wedrington nodded and began to follow Demona up one of the nearby trees, and did as much as possible to keep the branches from messing up his wings. Once they got to the top of the tree they launched themselves into the air and began to glide back towards the city.
"Where exactly does your family live in the city?" Demona asked as they began to approach the city.
"It's a small house on the south side of the city," Wedrington answered, "I could lead you there, if you think that's easier?"
Demona waved one hand out and said simply, "Lead the way."
Wedrington then lead the way into the city. He glided at a fairly low altitude as he tried to read street signs as they glided over them. Demona remained slightly above him in altitude and was gliding slightly slower than the English gargoyle, but followed his every turn and kept close enough that she wouldn't lose him.
"There she is!" Wedrington announced suddenly.
"There's who?" Demona asked, "Your family's home?"
"No," Wedrington shook his head, "It's my mother. Must be on the way home from the grocery."
Wedrington then began to follow the woman through the air, although being careful to avoid being seen. Demona once again followed Wedrington, but as they went the sky blue immortal gargoyle noticed a pair of shadows hiding in a small alley way between two houses.
Before Demona could say anything about the shadows, Wedrington's mother neared the alley that the 'shadows' seemed to be hiding in. As she did so, two large men leaped out, knocking her sack of groceries to the ground and began demanding her for money.
"Give us yer purse!" one screamed.
"NO!" Wedrington screamed in a voice that even the people on the street heard and dove down toward the scene below them.
Mrs. Bethany Wedrington glanced up, ignoring her attackers when she heard a voice scream 'no' before she could. What she saw frightened her to no end. A large white skinned winged sphinx-like creature with glowing white eyes was diving down out of the sky. Upon looking further, she saw that there was a sky blue colored demon with red eyes following close behind. Her two would be robbers saw them to and released her. Mrs. Wedrington however was too overcome with fear to even move.
Wedrington landed on the sidewalk putting himself between the crook and his mother. The man tried to stab him with a knife he had produced, but Wedrington quickly dodged and hit the man with his other fist. The blow sent him flying and he crashed head first into an Iron fence that went around a small garden that was attached to the front of a nearby house. The man then fell unconscious.
Demona meanwhile landed on the stone staircase of that lead to another building and
before the other would-be thief could do anything, lifted him into the air and growled into his face with glowing red eyes. The man fainted dead away.
"That will teach you to try and rob helpless women," Demona growled dropping the man to ground, trying to sound like she truly did care about humans.
"Don't harm me!" Mrs. Wedrington shrieked.
"We have no intentions of harming you," Demona said calmly, "But my partner here has some very important information he must give you and your husband."
"He needs to speak with me and George?" Mrs. Wedrington asked.
"Yes," Demona answered, "But not here. Can you lead us to your home?"
Mrs. Wedrington looked at the creatures and noticed that the glow in their eyes had faded, leaving dark pupils on a generally white 'background'. The woman then sighed.
"Fine," Mrs. Wedrington sighed, "I might as well get an explanation for all of this."
Wedrington had already gathered up his mother's groceries and handed the bag to her. Mrs. Wedrington took them, startled that these two strange creatures had appeared out of nowhere and were more concerned with helping her then attacking her or doing anything else. It was strange that creatures so frightening in appearance could be as polite as they were. She calmly began walking toward her home again, and noticed that the two creatures had taken to the air and were gliding behind her.
Demona and Wedrington landed again as Mrs. Wedrington approached her own front door.
"You'll explain all this, now?" Mrs. Wedrington asked.
"Inside," Demona insisted, "We will attract too much attention out here."
"Yes, yes," Mrs. Wedrington sighed as she opened the door and reluctantly let the two
gargoyles.
"Beth, is that you?" a voice asked from further inside the house as Demona and Wedrington walked into the entrance way.
A fairly elderly man cam out from another room, leaning heavily on a cane, and was
obviously looking for Mrs. Wedrington. When he saw the two gargoyles he very nearly had a heart attack.
"Oh my!" the man screamed, "Demons! Beth! Where are you?"
Wedrington rushed silently to make sure his father didn't fall down in his frightened
state.
"You can relax, George," Mrs. Wedrington came in and set her groceries down on a small end-table, "They may be demons, but they don't appear to be evil. They actually rescued me from some robbers out on the street."
"And you bring them into our house?" George Wedrington screamed and then clutched his chest, and then wheezed out, "I need my pills."
"Too much excitement," Mrs. Wedrington chided, "Too much excitement. They've promised to explain everything."
Demona and Wedrington watched as George Wedrington moved off into another room and pulled out a small plastic jar and took a pill out. Demona saw that it was some brand of heart medicine, most likely some form of aspirin. He then took his cane and slowly walked out into a small living room and sat down into a chair.
"Good," George Wedrington said, "I could use it after you gave me a heart attack."
Mrs. Wedrington sighed and sat down into another chair in the living room and motioned to a nearby couch for Demona and Wedrington to sit in. Both elderly humans watched as the two gargoyles sat down, and both noticed that the white sphinx-like gargoyle looked more comfortable of the two with being around them.
"What are you?" Mrs. Wedrington asked simply.
"What kind of demon are you?" George Wedrington added.
It was Demona who answered.
"We are NOT demons," Demona nearly growled, "We are gargoyles…"
"Like the ones in New York on the news?" Mrs. Wedrington asked.
Demona nodded, "We are mythological creatures in the sense that we are not human and that we turn to stone during the day, but we are not demons."
"A lot of demons have an intense aversion to sunlight," George Wedrington argued from his seat.
"Not all of them do and for those that do have to avoid sunlight, they do so because it
literally threatens their life," Demona explained, making no attempt to hide her frustration, "A GARGOYLE however does not have any need to fear the sun in such a way. We are a nocturnal species, when we are incased in stone, we are simply sleeping."
George Wedrington was about to argue when Mrs. Wedrington cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"I thought you said he had something to tell us?" Mrs. Wedrington asked.
"He does," Demona sighed, "But I am just trying to give you the facts you will need to know in order to believe him."
Demona waited for both to nod before continuing.
"I can obviously see that you believe that gargoyles are in fact real, rather then simple myth," Demona said slowly, "but I'm sure there many things that you do not know."
"Like what?" George Wedrington demanded.
"Like magic and sorcery," Demona answered in similar tone, "The ability to do things that would seem impossible or at least irrational."
"They're real?" Mrs. Wedrington asked, "Can you do magic?"
"They are real," Demona answered, "And yes I can do magic. I am a sorceress versed in
mortal magic…"
"Mortal magic?" George Wedrington questioned.
"There are beings out there that are technically immortal and can do magic naturally,"
Demona answered, "Magic done by beings that do not belong to that race is considered 'mortal magic'."
The elderly couple sat quietly and after Demona felt it had all sunk in, she decided to
continue.
"If I may ask a question, have you heard from you son recently?" Demona asked in a
questioning manner.
"How do you…?" George Wedrington demanded.
"Do you know our Jeffery?" Mrs. Wedrington asked, trying to sound less surprised and
startled by the fact that this gargoyle mentioned their son's name, without them knowing if the creature knew their son.
Demona looked at Wedrington for a moment and nodded, "Yes. I met him at a site in
Egypt."
"What have you done to him?" George Wedrington demanded again, "I'll have you arrested if he's been harmed."
Demona looked shocked as the old man looked as if he was going to get out of his chair
and challenge her.
"I have done nothing to him," Demona growled back defensively.
"We heard he was staying in New York," Mrs. Wedrington replied, "Has something happened to our Jeffery?"
It was then that Wedrington has.
"I'm afraid something has," Wedrington answered weakly, trying to avoid looking embarrassed.
"Jeffery?" Mrs. Wedrington asked in shocked voice and on the verge of fainting.
"Yes, it's me," Wedrington looked down, "You see, after Demona and I…"
"What have you done to my son?" George Wedrington yelled at Demona, getting up onto his feet.
"Demona didn't do anything," Wedrington said quickly, "Some lunatic kidnapped me after we arrived in New York and had some other gargoyle use magic to turn me into a gargoyle."
"This is real?" Mrs. Wedrington asked weakly, "That's not a costume you're wearing?"
"It's real," Wedrington said looking down.
George Wedrington, however, kept his attention fixed on Demona.
"Prove it," he growled.
"Huh?" Demona and Wedrington answered in unison.
"Our Jeffery said that some used magic to transform him into a gargoyle," George
Wedrington explained, "and you mentioned something about knowing 'magic'. Prove that magic exists."
"How?" Demona asked, hoping for anything that would get this meeting over with.
"You could change our son back into a human," George Wedrington said in a commanding voice.
Demona sighed, "Unfortunately, that is impossible. The spell cast on him is irreversible by any 'normal' counter-spell. A series of spells would be needed from different types of mortal magic and your son would have to be the one to cast them."
"Then change something into a gargoyle, then," George Wedrington growled, "That old
newspaper over there would work."
Demona looked over to an end-table that sat in the corner of the room. An old folded
up newspaper sat there.
"I can't do that," Demona answered, "The spell to transform anything into a gargoyle, must be cast on an animal or human. On an animal, the spell would create a gargoyle beast and on a human it would result in another gargoyle. And I WILL NOT do that. I personally do not care for humans, and would prefer to avoid them as much as possible and creating another gargoyle out of a human is something I would never do."
"Not to mention that because the spell can not be reversed, the person transformed would lose their former life and would have to really want a gargoyle's lifestyle in order to go through with it," Wedrington sighed.
"We understand," Mrs. Wedrington nodded, "Maybe perhaps a different display of magic. Something that you can do that doesn't have dire consequences."
Demona nodded and began to think.
"Can you simply create something out of thin air?" Mrs. Wedrington asked suddenly.
"Yes," Demona answered simply, not bothering to explain magic and its laws any
further.
"How about creating a warm pot of tea then?" Mrs. Wedrington asked, "It's after tea time, I know, but I'm thirsty and it's one of the few beverages that are healthy for George and I to drink at our age."
Demona shrugged, not really needing to hear the woman's explanation and then began to
chant in Latin. A few seconds later there was small emerald green flash that left a moderately sized tea pot sitting on a small table that sat between the chair that Mrs. Wedrington was sitting in and the chair that her husband was sitting in. Mrs. Wedrington looked at it for a moment and blinked.
"That's good enough for me," Mrs. Wedrington said with some awe in her voice, "I'll get
some sugar and milk, as well as some cups. Do you take anything with your tea?"
"I'm actually not thirsty at the moment," Demona answered.
Mrs. Wedrington nodded and continued on into the kitchen.
London
Griff and Octavia glided quietly over the British capital city. Both the English and Roman gargoyle were focused on trying to find anything like what happened the night before. So far they had seen none.
"I seem to miss all the excitement," Griff grumbled, "Last night you come upon a massive riot while I'm off giving tours. Now I'm back on patrol and nothing happens."
"I thought you would enjoy a break from so much excitement," Octavia chuckled back,
"Especially considering all the trouble the Unseelies caused."
"I guess I've just lived through too much excitement," Griff sighed, "I'd like peace,
but once I get it, I have no idea what to do with it."
They suddenly heard the sound of ravens above and behind them. When the two gargoyles turned to look and see what it was, they saw several of the large black birds flying behind them, their glowing red eyes clearly indicating that these weren't normal birds.
"What the devil?" Griff growled as a raven dove at his chest.
The griffon-like gargoyle batted the attacking bird away with his talons, but it recovered and flew up again, driving its beak into the back of Griff's calf muscle. Griff roared with pain and whipped his tail to knock the offending bird away from him. This time it dissipated into nothing.
"It's like that battle in Central Park," Griff growled as he clawed at another raven as it dove at him, "They're composed of energy."
Octavia dodged one raven's attack and deflected another.
"Who summoned the energy to form them, though?" the Roman gargoyle asked, "Do you
see anyone on the ground?"
Griff grabbed one raven that had missed in its attempt to attack him and flung it at another that was nearby.
"There is no one around here, besides us," Griff answered
"Great," Octavia grumbled, "Here's the excitement you said you were looking for."
Griff only sighed as he dodged another raven's attack.
Elsewhere
Morrigan floated high in air at a spot where she could observe the mansion that Arthur
and his allies were staying in. She quickly noticed that not all of her mortal foes had left. Arthur remained inside the building and she could sense the presence of two gargoyles inside. Merlin was also there.
"Shall we attack, now?" one of slaves that Morrigan had acquired the night before asked.
"No," Morrigan sighed, "Apparently, not all of Merlin's mortal friends left for patrol. At this time, I only want Merlin. I want him alone and isolated from the mortals he's always befriended. That way I can destroy him."
"Yes, mistress," the slave acknowledged.
Inside the mansion, there was very little activity. Arthur had called it a night about half an hour earlier. Merlin was busy studying various manuscripts that he had on the Holy Grail, trying to make sure they had everything they would need, in case the Grail was needed. Merlin himself was about turn in when most of the patrol teams walked into his small study. Chloe, Macbeth, and Gawain had not with them but Merlin could already hear other footsteps walking through the
mansion's halls.
"Another riot?" Merlin asked.
"No," Lancelot answered quickly, "It was ravens."
Merlin looked at the young Avalon gargoyle with a real look of puzzlement.
"Someone using magic summoned ravens made out of energy to attack us," Griff explained, "Not necessarily life threatening for a gargoyle, but there were enough of them that we spent much of our patrol time fighting them off."
"Did Macbeth and his group run into anything similar?" Merlin asked.
"Yes, we did," came Macbeth's voice as the immortal Scottish noble walked in, with Chloe and Gawain closely following.
"And these ravens were created by magic, you say?" Merlin asked.
"Yes," Julia answered, "And very tenacious for simple birds."
"Then I believe we have our prime suspect for who caused that riot last night," Merlin
answered, "Or at least the first 'person' we should look for and question regarding it."
"What do you mean?" Macbeth questioned.
"With Madoc's death the Unseelie Court's second war against Titania is over," Merlin explained as he sat down, "But that doesn't mean that the surviving Unseelies won't cause problems. And your run in with these ravens is simply proof of that."
"You're saying one of those Unseelies summoned those birds?" Chloe asked.
Merlin nodded.
"Which one of the Unseelies do you think it is?" Gawain asked.
"More than likely, it's Morrigan," Merlin sighed, "She's the only one still alive that
uses ravens. But any fey could do it."
"Tomorrow we'll begin looking for her," Griff told the medieval wizard.
"For scouting purposes only," Merlin cautioned, "We only need to find out where her base is. Besides, a fey intent on causing trouble could kill you if you forced a confrontation. Especially now that the Unseelie Court is defeated and its former members can no longer dream of conquering the world. They won't be as confident about the victory and will try to end the battle much faster than they've done before."
Merlin sat quietly while the others watched in silence.
"Besides," Merlin continued, "I am most likely her primary target. We'll discuss this at
length later. Arthur has already turned in and I'm heading that way myself."
"Okay then," Griff sighed as Merlin left, "I guess things are going to be fairly busy
around here after all."
Liverpool
Demona and Wedrington quietly made their way back to the spot where they had slept the day before. Meeting his parents again had gone slightly better than Wedrington had expected. While he was certain that his parents had been frightened by his appearance and shocked by what had happened to him, they didn't completely overreact nor have an actual heart attack. On the other side of the coin, Demona didn't lose her temper and try to attack them.
"Thank you for helping me with all that," Wedrington spoke finally, "I don't think I could have done that alone."
"Yes," Demona answered, "But I do not want to go through that again. Your mother is far too nervous and your father looked like he was going to attack me every time he spoke."
"Sorry about that," Wedrington sighed, "He's always been somewhat confrontational. From what I've been told, his service in Korea made it worse."
"What service?" Demona asked, somewhat puzzled.
"The Korean War in the nineteen fifties," Wedrington explained, "My father was among the British troops that were sent to fight in that war through the UN."
"Ah," Demona nodded, "well, I'm still glad we won't have to do this again. I have more important things to do."
"So we're going back to New York?" Wedrington asked.
"Tomorrow night, yes," Demona answered, "It is too late to try now. We'd either turn to
stone on the roof the train on the ride back to London or on the airplane. We wait for tomorrow night."
Wedrington nodded as he sat down on a small tree stump.
London
"Just you wait," Morrigan smiled evilly as she looked out the small window in the room she was in, "sooner or later Merlin, you will be all alone. And then I'll have my chance to kill you."
The End…