Chapter 5: Living on the Edge
(partly inspired by Living on the Edge by Aerosmith song)
March 1996
Corrine sat on the plane as the other passengers departed. She felt numb and she just stared at the back of the seat in front of her as her seatmate got up and left. Corrine sat still as the man across from her on the aisle waited a moment for her and then just went ahead with moving into the aisle and getting his bags. Corrine felt sick, having to give up, but she wasn't getting anywhere and staying in Paris had become an indulgence when her clan needed her. Demona just wasn't there. Oh, Corrine knew she'd been there, all evidence pointed to the gargoyle being in the city. No, Demona had come and gone, all without seeing Corrine. It didn't fit her patterns, patterns Demona had for hundreds of years. Demona had not stayed in Paris for more than a couple months. She had to have seen the notes, as they were plastered all over the city, and yet she never came.
The trickle of people getting off the plane was starting to trickle and Corrine swallowed hard and looked up to see that aside from the flight stewardess, she was the only person in the back of the plan and the line of people leaving was just three people long now. With a heavy sigh she stood up, before someone asked her to. She grabbed her carry on and started for the door.
Corrine had finally thrown the towel in on her hunt a month after Valentine's day. She'd spent the anniversary of the last time she'd seen Demona on the rooftop they'd been on together years ago, and even though she felt like it was time to give up, she couldn't, not yet. She'd promised herself to just work hard for another month and if she still hadn't found her to give up. Her last month hadn't been very successful.
Una had sounded different and her words had come fast. Something had happened, and apparently it was a good thing, but Corrine would have to come home to hear it, to see it. Una tried to make Corrine feel like she was coming home, rather than giving up. Corrine felt like a failure and she was afraid that she'd lost her one chance to see Demona again in her lifetime.
Corrine caught a taxi to her apartment and as it drove she stared out the window, her mind filled with all the things she wished she'd had the opportunity to say to Demona. It hurt that Demona had to have known she was there and ignored her. Demona didn't even stop by long enough to see if Corrine was okay.
How could Corrine protect the female if she couldn't ever talk to her? Corrine felt tears start to gather in her eyes and did her best to push her thoughts away from Demona. Corrine did her best to try and figure out what Una was excited about. They'd talked weekly, and Una had sounded happier, and was a bit mysterious as to why. Katara hadn't answered Corrine when she'd asked why Una sounded so much more energetic either. It was a mystery that Corrine hadn't had the energy to pursue, because all her nights were dedicated to finding a gargoyle that apparently really did want nothing to do with her.
Corrine unpacked mechanically and then sat down heavily in her star gazing chair, to stare out at the late afternoon sky. She had a few hours before Una woke up, so Corrine just curled up a little in the comfortable chair and pulled the throw blanket over her as she attempted to take a nap.
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Una looked younger somehow, Corrine thought as she stood just inside the shop and noticed the gargoyle smiling and helping a customer. She seemed lighter somehow. Corrine watched her for a moment, before sighing and moving toward the back room to lock up her purse. She felt like she'd aged at least fifteen years, but apparently Una had benefited from Corrine's loss. Corrine put her lock on the purse and gave the locker a weak grin. At least someone was happy.
Corrine moved over to the boxes of stock to see what had come in recently that she could stock. As she was going over the packing slip she noticed the movement at the doorway and looked up to see a gargoyle she hadn't met. Corrine stared at him a moment as he seemed to be studying her. His eyes weren't all that friendly, but Corrine could see he was puzzled as well. "So you're the Canmore?"
Corrine felt a bit lost, it never was good to be identified as a Canmore. She stared at him noticing the birdlike characteristics and the resemblance to the male Una had lost years ago and her head tilted just a little to the side, surprised. "Corrine." She gave a name she preferred.
"I'm Griff." He took a step into the room and glanced around briefly, before looking at Corrine again. "Una says you're her apprentice."
"Yes." Corrine felt a bit wary and she set the packing slip back down on the stack of boxes. "Have been for a few years."
He frowned a little at her words. "Seems strange a Canmore would be with my clan for years and I'd have anything left to come back to." Corrine gave him a weak nod, understanding that comment. "She's talked a lot about you, I think she was afraid I'd make you feel unwelcome." He sighed and stared at her. "A few of the others took me aside to tell me you were clan, and it seemed like a warning. You really managed to work yourself into my clan didn't you?"
"There you are." Una's voice was lighter and Corrine watched Griff's stiff stance relax a bit as Una appeared to be approaching. Corrine saw Una glance into the room to see her. Una's smile widened. "Corrine, you're back!"
Corrine held the hug a bit longer than Una was giving it, because she really needed it. Una looked concerned when she pulled away and then glanced at Griff. "Griff dear, could you tell Leo I'll be a moment?"
Corrine noticed his reluctance to leave Una alone with her, but he nodded and left. Corrine sighed as she watched the doorway he'd been in. It had been years since she was treated like she was untrustworthy. It didn't feel good, and she'd come home to try and heal her pain. "Don't worry, he'll see what we all do soon enough." Una spoke gently. Corrine turned back to her. "You didn't find her, did you?" Una spoke, clearly knowing the answer.
"I know she was there, and she had to know I was." Corrine clenched her fists when her voice cracked. She looked away from Una at the work she had to do tonight. "She ignored me."
"Well, that's better than what she normally does to Canmores." Una spoke softly, but Corrine didn't feel that was comforting. "Especially ones looking for her."
"She has to know I wouldn't hurt her." Corrine's voice was hurt sounding and she hated it. She wished she could at least pretend it hadn't hurt so much.
Corrine was a bit surprised by the soft kiss to her forehead and the hug. Una rubbed her back gently as she held her. The gargoyle spoke softly and quietly. "I'm sorry your quest didn't go well, but you are home now." Una hugged her tighter. "Demona has been taking care of herself a very long time. She'll be okay." Una tried to reassure her, but Corrine couldn't help but worry.
"Griff is back." Corrine spoke, changing the topic to the mystery of the missing gargoyle as they separated.
Una smiled. "I know, it's a miracle." Una was so animated as she explained that the gargoyle she'd always blamed for her losing Griff had come by, and he'd gone back into time with a magical artifact to bring Griff forward in time to them.
"I'm glad he's back." Corrine said after the story, as impossible as it seemed. Corrine had no feelings about the male at all, but Una looked happy and that was enough for her.
"What are you going to do now?" Una asked after a moment and Corrine just sighed heavily as she considered that question.
"Study, train." Corrine muttered her two plans, the things she'd been doing all this time. She was preparing for a family war.
"While I can't fault your desire to do that, what about live?" Una asked softly and Corrine stared into her teacher's eyes for a moment, confused. "Settling down?" These were old questions that hadn't been touched on in a long time. "I have Griff back and it just reminds me of the difference between what I was doing to live and what living really is. I'd buried myself in this store, in magic, and I hadn't been doing anything about feeling alive. I don't want that life for you sister. You deserve better."
Corrine was a bit stunned, she thought Una was relatively happy. She didn't like hearing it wasn't true.
"Isn't there anyone in that list of women you've dated that you can imagine any sort of a future with?" Una asked and Corrine shook her head slowly from side to side. She couldn't see herself with any of them.
The one that got away was rather intriguing, Corrine's traitorous mind filled in as she considered Dominique, but that woman was gone. She hadn't seen her after January either, which was probably for the best. Corrine would have tried for a date, and she knew the woman was getting married. It was better to avoid screwing up Dominique's life for a fling.
"I'd tell you to look harder, but you do look everywhere." Una stared into her eyes, "Look deeper." Una stepped back. Her voice gaining her work place tone, she spoke again. "We missed you around here. I think putting up the stock should go first. We haven't had time in too long and our shelves are getting bare."
"Okay." Corrine had already planned to do that.
"Things have changed a bit since you've left. You may be running the store more often." Una glanced to the doorway, where Griff had just returned to.
"That's fine." Corrine smiled just a little, sensing why Una would want more time off.
"Keep the spell book you borrowed. It's time for my apprentice to start her own library." Una smiled back at her and Corrine's eyes widened. That book was ancient and had a lot of spells in it. "You'll gain your own, make your own, but it is tradition for a master to give her student their first. Since that book was your choice, you may have it."
"Thank you." Corrine said, her eyes conveying her thanks more than her words. Una left with Griff, and Griff waved half heartedly at Corrine as they left. Corrine watched them go for a moment before looking back at the stack of boxes that needed to be unpacked. It was good mindless work. She needed something that wouldn't require a lot of thought. Her mind was spinning as she wondered what all was about to change now.
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Corrine felt her hands shaking as she stood in the basement of the shop. She growled as she slammed her fist into a box, and it tore and broke as she hit it. It felt to the ground and she kicked it angrily, bouncing it off the wall several times as she yelled. "God Dammit!"
Finally she stood still and moved her shaky hands to her head, to pull her hair away from her face. "Dammit, Una." She turned to look at the older gargoyle who didn't look so excited anymore, she looked shocked and concerned. "Don't you understand what will happen?" Corrine had never so much as raised her voice with her teacher, but she was yelling now. "Don't you understand! God Dammmit!"
"We'd forgotten what we are, but Griff is right. Protecting is in our blood." Una spoke passionately and Corrine just moved her hands over her eyes as she took a few hopefully calming deep breaths.
"People are seeing you." Corrine pulled her hands away and stared at Una. "My family will hear reports." Una's eyes widened just a little and Corrine's tense shoulders relaxed as she saw comprehension in her teacher's eyes. "You may be having fun, but you're going to guarantee they come here."
"I'm training as fast as I can." Corrine spoke, her voice shaky. "But until I'm a stronger magic user and can fight better, I'm not ready to fight my family. I'm not ready Una." Corrine waved her arm to the wall. "We have the eggs to think about and I'm still working with my fake company to repair the walls that show the clan is here on the local buildings. I'm tossing out hundreds of thousands of dollars to hide you and you are just gliding around and landing on streets in front of people." Corrine crossed her arms in front of her. "If my family comes, I can't talk them out of it. They aren't reasonable, they aren't merciful."
"I'm so sorry." Una stared down at the ground. "I'm so sorry to put you in this position sister. I have no excuse. Goliath and Griff's words sounded so sane, so right." It seemed so strange to have Una apologize like this. It sounded like a young girl caught doing wrong, but then Griff did make Una act and think like a young girl, Corrine had noticed it dozens of times lately.
"And yet neither of them appeared to know of the danger." Corrine spoke softly. She stared into Una's eyes. "You have to talk to him Una. Griff is endangering the clan." Corrine felt bad, seeing the look on Una's face. From what Corrine had learned of the male in the past month back, he wasn't one to back from a battle, even if it was a bad choice to fight at all. "I could read you all stories of what hunters do when they find a clan. I have the documentation that spells out the death of quite a few clans. I could talk about how hunters feel it was a good days work to smash eggs against the still forms of their parents, cracking both. I could talk for days about the way they use a mates' detached stone arm to smash their lover. It's sick. I could talk all night to give the entire clan nightmares if it will combat this infection he'd brought to us. The clan may hate me then, to know I come from that, but better to hate me and live."
Una pulled her into a hug, and Corrine could feel they were both shaking a bit. "They would not hate you even then Corrine, because we know you are only a Canmore in name. It doesn't run in your blood."
"But I need to do this don't I?" Corrine remembered how happy the clan had looked as they talked about this or that encounter with thugs in London. Too many were thrilled to be fighting back against crime. Griff's enthusiasm and his legendary charisma, along with the fascination about his story, had too many gargoyles enthralled. "I need to let them all know what monsters we're hiding from, because they only think they know."
"I'll call a clan meeting for tomorrow night." Una seemed to square her shoulders as she pulled back. "And we'll try and fix this."
"It won't be enough, the stories are out there." Corrine spoke, feeling nauseous with her nerves jangling.
"I know, but maybe if we don't create any new stories it will help." Una answered. It wasn't reassuring.
As they started up the stairs, Una rested her hand on Corrine's shoulder. It was more friendly than the way she'd held Corrine's arm as she dragged her down here. They'd been arguing in the break room. "You have Demona's temper. I didn't know that."
Corrine grimaced. "No I don't. She's a bit louder."
"Only because a human can't make those sounds." Una teased quietly. It was how Corrine knew they'd be okay, or at least the relationship would be.
Corrine spent the day throwing money around like she had rarely ever done before as she waited for the meeting. She hired five private investigators to watch her family and warn her if they were on the move. She wouldn't trust just one. She pulled out the old hunter's journals and felt sweaty and sick as she imagined her clan in the stories they told, but she picked out the most detailed writers, the most graphic stories, to share that night.
She wished she could tell the youngest to not be there, but with Griff's influence, she needed to make sure they all understood the cost if they were discovered.
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Later that night, Corrine closed the old journal she'd been reading from and slowly looked up, because she couldn't hear a sound from anyone. She saw several very serious looking gargoyles staring at her or at the floor. A few gargoyles were leaning on the person next to them, clearly for support. Corrine swallowed hard once, hating to see what just the knowledge of what her family did during a hunt affected her clan.
"And you let her walk among us." Griff muttered and Corrine flinched visibly. That was the response she was afraid of. The fact that more than one person shoved him and glanced up at her.
"She's not a Canmore, she's Corrine of the London Clan." Katara hissed out at Griff.
"Okay, okay. If you say she's clan, clearly she's clan." Griff's voice was louder. "But we can't live in fear, what kind of a life is that?"
Corrine clenched the hunter's journal tighter in her fist and glanced around, her eyes falling on Katara.
"Do any of us have the right to risk this, knowing they'd go after the young as well. And what good does saying you're willing to fight do, when they'll come during the day. I'm the only one awake at that time. It'll fall to me." Corrine's voice was pleading. "It'll fall to me." Her voice cracked and she looked away from the others.
"Those hunters are her brothers and sister." Katara spoke for her. "Her blood. She is willing to do that for us, but how could we ask her too?" Katara's voice rose. "Turn to your right, and look at someone you were raised with. Could you kill that person for the good of the clan?" Corrine took in a shaky breath. "Can you even imagine it? I had said it before, but I would hope you all have enough respect for the pain our sister is in to stop your patrols."
"And we will." Una's voice rose, and Griff looked like he wanted to argue. "As clan leader I cannot condone the continued risk with the hunters living just a country away. We will avoid being seen by humans and we will take care of clan first. Clan first." Griff shook his head and turned away, Corrine watched Una cover up a pained expression at the male glided away clearly unhappy.
"There is no glory in hiding." Una spoke quietly, predicting Griff's thoughts, and Corrine grimaced. No good would come of this.
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The phone was ringing, but Corrine didn't answer it. It was still early evening and she had just stood up a woman that didn't give her the opportunity to say no, because she'd made the date with Corrine's answering machine. Since Terry thought she could make a date with the answering machine, she could complain to it when Corrine didn't show.
It wasn't Terry's voice that filled the room as the answering machine kicked in. "Corrine, you need to come in. Una's upset." Scotty's voice was pleading. "Please, she got a message and I think she's crying."
Corrine took three large strides toward the phone and picked up it. "What?" She spoke quickly. Una didn't cry easily. It worried Corrine.
"She left me to take care of sales with Leo, but she's in the back and I think she's crying." Scotty repeated. "I thought maybe you," The young gargoyle's words trailed off. Corrine nodded a little.
"I'll be there." Corrine said as she walked across the room to grab her purse.
"Sorry to bug you on your day off, but I don't know what to do." Scotty whispered. "She never cries, and I haven't seen Griff or I'd send him in."
"Why not Leo?" Corrine asked quietly.
"He looks two seconds away from crying himself." Scotty whispered, clearly he was closer to the young gargoyle.
"shit." Corrine muttered and said her goodbyes as she hung up. She wondered if Griff got himself killed as she hurried to her elevator. Those three had been close, and Corrine felt a moment of panic, hoping her family hadn't done the killing.
Corrine strode into the shop shortly after to see a relieved look on Scotty's face. She tried to catch Leo's eye but he was with a customer, so Corrine headed back to Una's office, to see if she was there. The door was closed.
"Una?" Corrine spoke gently as she knocked.
"Corrine? It's your night off." Una spoke and she sounded like she'd aged twice as much as Griff's being around made her younger. Corrine slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
"Scotty said you were upset." Corrine answered the unasked question as she closed the door behind her. Una sat at her desk, seeming to be slumping over it.
"He left. This time he called, but he left." Una muttered. "He's on a quest, a grand adventure." Una looked up and the sadness in her eyes trapped Corrine. "He's out hunting glory again. I just got him back and he's left." There was no question in Corrine's mind who they were talking about.
"Oh Una. I'm so sorry." Corrine moved to walk further into the room so she could squat down and touch Una's hand while staring into her eyes.
"I was a fool to think he'd stay. With the hiding and the hunters." Una whispered and Corrine felt a stab of guilt. "And his need for glory. Staying here with us was never going to be enough for him."
Corrine had no idea what to say, so she just rubbed Una's arm gently and gave her sympathy.
"King Arthur, he's on a King Arthur quest. What kind of crappy luck is that? I can't compete with that." Una's voice cracked and Corrine moved to pull the older gargoyle into a hug, holding her tightly. Her words might make more sense later, but the emotions made sense now.
"He's a fool to take adventure over love." Corrine whispered. She'd often thought he was a fool, but she didn't elaborate on all his bad qualities now.
"So many people chose other things over love don't they?" Una whispered. "Why do they do that Corrine?" Corrine was at a loss to answer that. "Why do you? You don't want love, you want variety. Why? What's wrong with love?" There was a hint of accusation and Corrine was really at a loss as to what to do, because it felt like she was being asked to speak for every unfaithful heart in the world. She didn't like the company she was being cast with.
"It hurts. If you love and they don't, it hurts." Corrine whispered her answer and just held Una tighter as the gargoyle cried. Una had to more than understand Corrine's words.
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August 1996
It took three months, but Una was starting to seem like herself again. During her dark times Corrine and Scotty had supported each other in their training, and Una had occasionally come out of her funk to help guide them. Corrine was glad Una was seemingly better. The older gargoyle had also been giving Corrine more intense training when she was able, so Corrine was making headway in her magic.
All those positive thoughts disappeared as Corrine listened to her answering machine again. Three of her private investigators called. Corrine hit play again to hear the latest message again, hoping she wasn't really hearing this.
"It looks like the Canmores are preparing for something big. They've arranged transportation for a lot of equipment and are on the way to New York." The man spoke so calmly, not realizing what a catastrophe this was. "If you want me to follow them, I'll need an advance. Call me."
Corrine took a few deep breaths, trying to combat the panic she felt. They were in motion, and while Corrine wouldn't have expected Demona to be in New York, if what Jon said was still the truth, it would only be Demona that had her family mobilizing.
She was still pale as she walked into the shop. Una took one look at her and pulled her into the back room. "It's started." Corrine whispered. "At least they aren't coming here, but it's started."
Una's eyes widened. "Your family?"
"They're hunting." Corrine took a shaky breath and stared her teacher in the eyes. "I have to go. I have to stop them."
"Where?" Una sat down heavily.
"New York." Corrine didn't miss the dismay in Una's face.
"There IS a clan there." Una told her and Corrine's heart clenched. That pretty much sealed it. She really had to go, and right now. She had to beat her family to the gargoyles. "I don't know how to reach them."
Part of her hoped Demona wasn't there, and part of her really wanted the ancient gargoyle's support in this. Corrine was going to stand up to the Canmores' and she wondered if she'd survive it.
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