Chapter 2

I still don't own any more than I did before. Hopefully, this chapter will remove any doubts about whether this is another Willow Destine or not. If it does not convince you, the next chapter should.
A full week had passed since that eventful Halloween, and Willow had yet to divulge her new status as a part-time gargoyle to the rest of the Scoobies. She had escaped being revealed by using Dominique's own excuse, a mix of noctiphobia and anthropophobia. Surprisingly, no one questioned what Willow admitted was a fairly flimsy excuse. She still stayed current on the Slaying front, especially in the researching, with the help of Giles, who had installed a speaker phone in the library for this purpose. While she was not able to help Buffy as much as she would have liked, at least overtly, Willow was doing her part to actively help, having saved several people while out gliding.

The one thing that had gone too well was hiding her changes from her parents. They had returned home for a few days before heading out again without ever noticing anything amiss. Considering that there was a highly visible gash in her door frame from her first night as a gargoyle, Willow found this somewhat depressing. The two psychologists had not noticed the noises from their daughter's room as she changed and left through the bedroom window, either. Neither activity was silent, showing how little concern Willow's parents felt towards her well being. They were already gone on another business trip, leaving Willow by herself. She was used to it by now.

Willow was checking her email Saturday evening when she noticed that Demona had sent her something. After the initial few days, the older gargoyle had stopped emailing her regularly, preferring to only contact the girl if there was something urgent to discuss, so the new email was a bit of a surprise. Willow quickly opened it and began to read.

To: Meeting

I am going to be in Sunnydale tonight. Meet me on top of the school at 2:00 A.M. What I need to say should be told in person, not in an email. Of course, I could just show up at your house instead, but you would probably prefer to keep some avenues of escape open in case this is a trap or some such. It is not a trap, but I, of all people, understand the need for paranoia; as you well know. However, if you are not there by 2:30, to provide time for any heroics you seem compelled to undertake, I will be waiting for you in your room.

Waiting moderately patiently,

Demona

"She wants to see me?" Willow asked herself. "It's about time. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to need to try to get to Manhattan on my own if I wanted to meet her."

As it was approaching night, Willow changed into one of her new outfits, bought because they looked just as nice on her as a gargoyle as they did when she was human. None of the Scoobies had seen any of her new clothes because pre-Halloween Willow would have never worn anything so revealing. It was even worse than what Buffy had tried to force her into for Halloween. Dawn's suggestions were no better. Made from leather or heavy cloth, the ensembles looked more like a loincloth than anything else. Even though she still blushed at the thought of wearing such things, she really did not have much choice, as her tail would be in the way with nearly anything else. While she had been able to alter several pairs of panties to accommodate the extra limb, it would have been much harder to do so with anything sturdy enough to wear while hunting. She had tried wearing a skirt after her original shirt had been ripped to shreds, but the thought of helping ant local perverts was not in anyway appealing. Thus, she decided on something that would cover her properly, even if it did look embarrassingly like a loincloth.

After donning her clothing, Willow picked up the chew-toy, that she had originally bought as a joke to herself, and bit down on it as she waited for the fast approaching dusk to fall. Having bought the toy, she had decided it could not hurt to try it. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that it worked far better than a towel, and she had continued using the toy in this fashion from then on. Dusk fell, triggering her change from human to gargoyle. Biting down on the chew-toy to keep from screaming, Willow hunched over, no longer collapsing in pain with each change. Roaring the customary gargoyle wakeup call, the only known Hellmouth gargoyle got the rest of her supplies ready for the night. A couple of stakes and a few bottles of holy water later, and Willow was ready to go. Hopping out of her bedroom window, Willow spread her wings and began a leisurely glide.

"That's strange," Willow thought as she flew over the cemeteries and the factory sections of Sunnydale. "There doesn't seem to be much going on tonight. I mean, there are usually a few vamps hanging out where I would see them." Shrugging off the feeling of foreboding which accompanied this thought, she continued her glide, enjoying the unexpectedly quiet night, completely unaware that across the town Buffy was fighting for her life, caught in a trap planned by her old friend Ford and Spike. After flying around enjoying herself for several hours, Willow headed towards the school to meet Demona, eager to meet the older gargoyle face to face. Something was going to change this night. Willow could feel it. She could not wait to see what that change was going to be.

Already on the roof of the school sat Demona. She, too, had been waiting for this day to come. In her clawed hands she held a briefcase. Willow wondered at its contents as she approached, knowing that it would be the focal point of the night's meeting. As the youngling drew near, preparing to land, Demona spoke. "You're early," she commented. "That is good. It will give us more time to discuss your options."

Willow landed gracefully, an impressive feat for someone with wings that long. The landing seemed almost instinctual, which, in fact, it was. At the very least, the magic that caused her changes was some high quality magic. "It's good to finally see you in person, too," Willow quipped. "So, why the sudden meeting?"

"First, allow me to commend you for keeping this a secret so far," Demona said with a smirk. "I guess that means I won't be killing any of your friends. Yet."

"Hurt them, and I'll beat you to death with a shovel!" Willow threatened, her eyes glowing a bright red.

Demona's smirk grew and she replied, "Considering that I am immortal, and you know that, I find it hard to take your threat seriously."

Now it was Willow''s turn to smirk as she continued, "Your immortality will just let me beat you to death several times. Why stop at just once?" The tension broke as both gargoyles spontaneously broke out in laughter.

"Ah, I knew there was a reason I liked you," Demona commented after she stopped laughing. "Now, however, it is time for us to talk about more serious matters." Making herself comfortable on the roof, she gestured for Willow to do the same before continuing. "Your parents," Demona almost snarled, "are not fit to be raising anyone, especially not a girl as special as you are. I will be adopting you."

"What?" Willow demanded. "How are you going to do that?"

Demona opened her briefcase and handed a set of documents to Willow. "I have enough evidence to have them convicted for negligent child abuse, endangering a minor, just to name two. You would be made a ward of the state and then I would adopt you, or claim you as my own child. Interestingly enough, our genetic profiles would support that claim, thanks to whatever magic caused this. That would also get your parents arrested for kidnapping."

"But I'd miss my parents!" Willow protested. "I know they aren't the best, but they're all I have!"

"I know," Demona replied. "That is where your other option comes in. Together we would go to your parents, or just myself if you would prefer, and explain that they can either give me custody of you, while they would maintain visitation rights, or I'll push the case through and claim you that way. I don't care which way you chose, but either way I'll be getting you, and I'd rather not have another daughter hate me."

"You- you think of me as a daughter?" Willow asked incredulously. Her parents barely noticed her existence when they were home, thinking of her more as the statistically average teenager rather than their flesh and blood.

Demona blinked. "I never said that," she replied gruffly, as though trying to convince herself. "Now, what is your choice?"

"Definitely the second one because getting my parents arrested is not of the good, especially if we can do this with out the arrests and trials and I'm babbling and I need to stop so I'll just stop talking now." Ah, the joys of Willow-babble. Demona actually had to take a few seconds just to interpret the stream of words flowing out of Willow's mouth.

"Her gargoyle form must have an increased lung capacity," Demona mused softly. "That is the only way she could say so much without pausing for breath." Unfortunately, for her, she had not been as quiet as she had intended, as Willow heard her.

"Nope," Willow grinned. "It's all about practicing for several years." Looking around, Willow commented, "We should probably get going before Giles or Buffy notices us up here."

"Why would they be in the library at this time of night?"

"Giles is Giles. We're pretty sure he lives in there most of the time," Willow answered with a shrug. "It's not like we've never pulled all night research parties before, so the others could be there, too."

"In that case, it would be best for us to leave," Demona agreed. "Where would you like to continue our discussion?"

"I guess we could go back to my house," Willow suggested. "It's pretty much the only place in town where we won't be interrupted by random vampire attacks."

"Yes, that should do nicely. Let's go." With that, Demona jumped from the roof, circling the school twice to give Willow time to launch, and veered off towards the Rosenberg residence. The pair flew directly to their destination; there was time for fun later. Now it was time for business.

Willow landed in front of her house and quickly unlocked the front door and ushered Demona inside without a verbal invitation. This being Sunnydale, at night, no one in the neighborhood noticed anything odd, and those that did repressed it. Once both gargoyles were inside, Willow shut and locked the door. "There. We should be able to talk without any interruptions."

"Good," Demona replied while making herself comfortable on one of the living room couches. "We need to talk about your immediate future first. When are your parents going to be back?"

"They're coming back tomorrow for a few days," Willow started, before starting to babble, "so we can take care of the adoption type stuff then, and then we can go to Manhattan; I can't wait to meet the Clan, even if you don't get along with them, they're going to find out about me, and unless they meet me, they are going to think you're doing something evil again; besides, I really want to meet Angela; I've always wanted a sister, and." Demona calmly covered Willow's mouth with her hand, cutting the babbling short.

With a smile, Demona commented, "You really do have a surprisingly large lung capacity. You'll probably be able to fly even higher than I can before you start having problems."

"Just because you're immortal doesn't mean you don't need to breathe," Willow pointed out. "You wouldn't be able to glide at any higher an altitude than any other normal gargoyle before you'd start getting hypoxia."

"I suppose," the older gargoyle relented. "Hm, I think your eventual meeting with the Clan will be quite amusing." Demona gained a malicious, if not evil, smile at the thought. "You'll probably get along fairly well with Lexington, at least after he gets over his distrust, anyways."

"We are going to come back here eventually, right?" Willow asked, suddenly distraught. "I can't just abandon my friends here."

Demona awkwardly wrapped Willow in a motherly embrace, rubbing the youngling's hair soothingly as she reassured her new daughter, "We'll be back, I just need some time to train you properly and prepare to move the company out here."

"You're moving the company to Sunnydale?" Willow exclaimed in shock.

"By the Dragon, no," Demona chuckled. "Having to replace employees constantly because of 'gangs on PCP' or 'animal attacks' would be bad for business. I'll be moving Nightstone Unlimited to Los Angeles. We, however, will be moving back to Sunnydale."

If Willow had not already been wrapped in a hug, she would have tackled Demona in a hug at that declaration. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, thank you!" A moment later, she added, "You know we're going to have to tell the Clan about the Hellmouth, right?"

"Why ever would we do that?" Demona asked with a blink. "It would just make them even more paranoid about me."

"It's not paranoia if you really are out to get them," Willow quipped. "Seriously, though, you know that at least some of the Clan is going to follow us back here. Especially Angela, if she can. I'd prefer they know what they're getting into. We could even hand them all the information they need." Willow was becoming more excited as her idea progressed. "If we give it to them freely, it could be like a peace offering so they'll begin to trust us."

"I suppose that is a good idea," Demona mused. "We'll need to collect all of the information before we leave, though."

"Don't worry about it," Willow scoffed. "I'll just make some copies in the library on Monday. I'll just tell Giles that it's so I can research at night without taking the books home with me every night." Willow was going to continue when a noise from upstairs caught the attention of both gargoyles. "Who's there?" Willow demanded looking at the stairs. "Show yourself!"

A young brunette appeared at the top of the stairwell and said, "Willow, it's me, Dawn. Mom had to head out of town for the night, and Buffy was hanging out with Ford, so I snuck over here."

Moving out of the girl's sight, Willow asked, "Why didn't Joice take you with her?"

Dawn made a face, that was audible if not visible, as she said, "Buffy was supposed to be watching me, but her date was more important. Is it okay if I stay here for the night?" Before Willow could answer, the ten year old was already down the stairs.

"I'm going to have to kill her, aren't I?" Demona asked mildly, flexing her clawed fingers as though around a throat.

Dawn blinked and looked at each of the gargoyles in turn. "Cool!" she exclaimed. "You're gargoyles! Just like the ones in New York!"

"How do you know about gargoyles?" Willow asked, surprised. She had never even heard of gargoyles before she became one, and she had access to a lot of really old books about demons and monsters. "And, no, Màthair , you can't kill her."

"Dad took me to New York before he sent me here and headed off with his secretary," Dawn explained. "A really cute, olive gargoyle saved me from a kidnapping. I'm going to find him again when I'm a little older. He doesn't know it yet, but he's mine."

Demona almost fell over laughing. "You have a crush on Lexington?" she managed to gasp out between her chortles. "Oh, this is wonderful."

Willow joined in by giggling. "Blackmail material, here we come!" she crowed.

Dawn ruined the moment by asking, "So, Willow, when did you become a gargoyle?"

"Forget that for the moment," Willow countered. "What were you doing outside at night?"

"I was careful!" Dawn exclaimed indignantly, waving a cross around. "Besides, I'm too small for a midnight snack. Us kids are probably the safest people in Sunnydale." A moment later, she added, "And don't think you've changed the subject! I want to know why you're a gargoyle!"

Willow sighed in defeat and looked to Demona for guidance. When the older gargoyle shrugged she sighed and said, "Fine; I'll tell you. But you'll have to promise to keep it a secret, okay?" Dawn nodded eagerly, so Willow continued, "How much do you remember from Halloween?"

"Willow, it was a week ago. I dressed up as a cowgirl and got a bunch of neat rope tricks from it," Dawn answered condescendingly. "But you should have known that already. I mean, you were with me when I bought the costume. What does Halloween have to do with you being a gargoyle, anyways?"

"I accidentally dressed as Demona," Willow explained. "And the amount of magic surrounding both of us caused me to turn into a gargoyle every night. There's more to it than that, but it's Demona's story to tell."

"How do you accidentally dress as a gargoyle?" Dawn asked. "Especially when your costume was of a business woman?"

Demona sighed and massaged her temples wearily. "You're too perceptive, brat," she commented.

"I'm a good eavesdropper," Dawn shot back with a grin. "It's the only way to find out anything around here, and only Willow knows about it so far. So much for sis' Slayer hearing, eh? Buffy's never heard or found me."

"Fine," Demona growled. "I'll tell you, but, if you tell anyone, I will kill you. Understand?" Dawn nodded, so Demona continued her explanation. "Puck used a spell on me that makes me a human during the day. My human identity is Dominique Destine, the owner and CEO of Nightstone Unlimited. Somehow, Willow managed to dress enough like my human guise for the Chaos spell to force my mind to possess her. The sun finished setting, I turned into a gargoyle for the second time that night, and realized that something was wrong. I made my way here, cast a protection spell and passed out. When the spell ended, I used a scrying spell and saw that Willow was still a gargoyle. That is all you need to know about how this happened."

"Darn, I should have thought of that," Dawn complained. "Think I could get this Puck to do that for me? Being a gargoyle would be so cool!"

Willow sighed and tried to change the subject by asking, "So, Dawnie, you are going to keep this between us, right?"

Dawn nodded solemnly before an impish grin crossed her face. "Of course I will. Buffy's been keeping the Slayage from me, so it's only fair that I keep this from her."

"Good," Demona replied. "I might not have to kill you after all."

Willow glanced at a nearby clock and suggested, "It's getting late. Why don't we all head to bed. We can finish talking in the morning."

"That may be for the best," Demona agreed.

"Alright, then," Willow started. "Demona, you can use the guest room. Dawnie can share my bed." With the sleeping arrangements settled, everyone prepared to go to bed. Once settled, all three quickly fell asleep, with Dawn tucked comfortably under one of Willow's wings.