12.08.98; 21:37; Destine Mansion, Lana's room:

Lana lay on her bed, listening to the music with closed eyes. She knew her mother had knocked on the door to her room some minutes ago, but didn't care. Why should she?

Even now, she saw the image before her inner eye... The head in a pool of blood... the eyes open... with blue color.

What was that sound ringing around your brain?

Today was just a blur, you gotta head like a ghost train

What was that sound ringing around your brain?

You're here on your own...

Lana opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling, trying not to think and to concentrate on the song.

You're the outcast - you're the underclass

But you don't care -...

She did care... one year ago, she had had a life and now...

I know you've got a problem that the devil sends

You think they're talking 'bout you but you don't know who

I'll be scraping your life...

It knocked again.

Doesn't mom ever give up? Lana asked herself.

She wanted to ignore it again, but then she noticed that it didn't come from the door, but the window.

Surprised, Lana sat up, looking to the window, just to see nobody there.

Your head's in a fish tank

Your body and your mind can't breath...

Wondering, she rose from the bed, moving to the window, but seeing no one outside.

Guess mum is trying to lure me, Lana guessed, or Jarred wants the music.

Slowly, she opened the window to have a better look outside. When she had opened the window just an inch, a thought hit her like a bag of cement and she tried to close it again instantly…

You're the un-invited guest who stays 'till the end

I know you've got a problem that the devil sends...

… Too late!

Something very massive pushed the window inside again, when Lana was about to close the lock. The power made Lana fall backwards very painfully on her back.

Looking up, she saw a gargoyles kneeling on the roof of the window and looking down on her with a wide, taunting smile.

Lana knew it was Lucifia even when she had never seen her... Well, it wasn't that she knew that many gargoyle females with black eyes running around in New York.

Lana registered all details of the gargess at once... the black hair, the skin tone slightly darker than her grandmother's and much darker than her mothers or her own. The face... except the two little horns growing out of the head, it resembled definitely very much her grandmother's and Lana would have paid this more attention, if not for the darkness of Lucifia's eyes that had caught her.

A second past while she thought about this, a second until she remembered that maybe it was perhaps a good idea to scream, or to try to run away.

It proofed to be definitely too late for this, since Lucifia made a jump, landing on Lana, pressing her down with her left claw and laying the right on Lana's mouth.

"Hello, niece." she greeted with a slight smile. "Don't even think of calling for help... You won't need it."

Lana didn't move, in fact she just stared into her aunt's completely black eyes, as if she had been hypnotized, feeling the black leather of her skin.

Lucifia held her smile, releasing her claw from Lana's mouth and stroked her face softly along the line in a soft way, which made Lana shudder.

"Lana, I think we should talk," she told her.

Lana couldn't talk, she felt as if her muscles were out of control.

"I heard you had some trouble last year?" Lucifia told her and Lana could feel how the gargess's tail winded around her own. "Your father's death, yourself being changed into a gargoyle, moving to your grandmothers..." her smile enlarged. "Oh, and the little thing about last night... I'm sorry about that."

"Really?" Lana asked in low voice... not really believing this.

"Yes." Lucifia replied, without just the hint of humor. "But I can make things better."

Lana looked away, not wishing to see the black glimmer of her captor's eyes.

Lucifia ignored this and came closer. For a moment, Lana believed the gargess would lick her, something that would make her scream definitely, but Lucifia didn't, instead she took a deep breath, inhaling her niece's scent.

"You still smell human..." she noticed. "…At least partly, but I could give it back to you again."

This made Lana look up. For a moment, she wanted to ask her captor if this was true, but then she reminded herself that this could very well be true, considering the abilities her grandmother had reported Lucifia to have.

"And I should believe that you would simply do this?" Lana asked her captor, looking up into Lucifia's face, which had rose a little.

"It would have a price." Lucifia replied. "Something in return... a bowl laying on the chimney still of your grandmother's artifact room."

Lana stared at her. She knew that the one thing she had learned about her aunt was that she couldn't trust Lucifia… yet.

"What do you need it for?" Lana asked, as she stared into the black eyes and feeling her soul tremble by the darkness in it.

"This is none your business." Lucifia replied, soft, tempting and not angry as Lana had suspected. "None of this is."

She smiled again, taking her claw away from Lana's shoulder and stepping away from her, such allowing Lana to move away from her.

"You never wanted this life, this constant nightmare without a wake up." Lucifia noticed. "You never wanted to be a gargoyle, and you don't like it, as your brother does."

Lana rose carefully, being one meter away from her captor.

"And it won't end, or do you think your mother would allow you to turn back into a human, if she could?" Lucifia teased with a harder voice. "Or your grandmother?"

Lana stayed silent, biting her lip and taking a quick glance over her shoulder, finding that the door was still too far away.

Looking back, she saw Lucifia smiling again, as if she had read her mind... which truly wasn't hard to do.

"Your mother has her family, her clan." Lucifia explained. "Your brother has a life without school... but what do you have?"

With this, Lucifia turned around, walking to the window.

"Think about it, as this may be your only chance." she told her niece. "If you want it, meet me in the next two hours, with the bowl, in the alley behind the fabric of the Golden Cup in the Bronx... You won't miss it."

With this, Lucifia jumped back on the roof of the window, preparing to launch into the sky.

"Wait!" Lana stopped her.

"Yes?" Lucifia replied, turning half around and studying her niece with interest.

Her eyes were twice as interested, by what she said next...

"Why...?" Lana began, before she realized what she had said, and realized why it sounded so fishy. "Why don't you just take it?"

"Because I promised not to attack your home." Lucifia told her. "Stealing something would be pretty much like this, wouldn't it?"

With this question, she jumped outside, launching into the night.

Lana stared at the window, then she slowly walked closer to it, leaning it back to its closed position, but unable to close it completely since Lucifia's entry had destroyed the lock.

She stared out of the window.

Afterwards, Lana couldn't say how many minutes she had stood there... or what she had thought of… just that it had ended suddenly and that she had turned around, walking outside.

On the floor, she began asking herself where she actually was walking to and stayed there a second. Lana turned around, looking to her room, as if to make sure that she hadn't dreamed this.

But naturally she had not and along with this knowledge, she registered something other. There were the sound of her brother's laughter, along with Gem's giggle, coming out of Jarred's room and Lana believed to hear the sound of another voice... surely from the television, coming from downstairs.

So mum is watching TV, Lana thought, taking a step to the stairs, leading to the lower level.

She stopped.

What am I doing? Lana asked herself, staring at the stairs.

She knew what the greatest part in her wanted to do, most important in her brain, yet she had doubts about simply walking down to her mother, telling her everything and the doubts had a voice...

"...Do you think your mother would allow you to turn you back into a human if she could?" Lucifia's voice asked teasingly.

Lana knew these words came from an insane psycho, yet the offer...

She looked to the stairs, leading upwards.

Lana walked, following her eyes. At first, she walked slowly and then she began to run, using four arms and legs until she had reached the highest level of the mansion.

There it was, a room full of weapons, statues, vessels and some solemnly pictures that Lana believed to be Scottish.

But Lana wasn't interested in studying them. Instead she walked further, past some shelves and heading to the fireplace. A large wooden chair was placed before it and when Lana passed it, she discovered the bowl at once, having been placed in the middle of the chimney sill.

Lana stared on it, registering the fine carvings, having been carved in the ancient wood.

How old is it? She asked herself, why does Lucifia want it so much?

Lana took it up, feeling the weight, but without discovering something unusual.

If Lucifia wanted it, it had to be dangerous, hadn't it?

On the other hand, why should her grandmother place it here openly, when it was dangerous?

"Maybe it's a test?" Lana thought.

This sounded reasonable, maybe Lucifia just wanted to test her, if she would really be able to do it.

Or she wants to lure me into a trap to kill me. Lana thought. Maybe...?

She didn't know.

If it's true, mum will be angry if she finds out... Lana reminded herself. And grandma will kill me.

But she would die as a human.

Lana took the bowl, just hesitating a moment, when an idea crossed her mind.