Chapter 3

The rock concert

Talia was in her old bedroom. It was warped and fuzzy. She heard shouting. She tried to get to her parents, but the door kept disappearing. Something tickled her nose and she saw a flash of white hair.

"Tell you what? I'll grant you a wish."

Talia sat up. It wasn't the first time she had a nightmare. But the wish part was new. Owen got her for breakfast and they ate eggs and pancakes. She had morning lessons after breakfast. Today, Owen decided to English and Social studies first. When it was break time, she snuck into the living room to watch TV. It was a local channel. An ad for a rock concert was playing.

"Talia? Talia, where are you? I need to tell you something." Xanatos called from down the hallway, the sound of his steps getting closer to the living room.

"Uh oh." She said. She did not want to get trouble for watching an ad. Thinking quickly, she hid under the couch. Then when he left, she'd go back in the hall.

Xanatos entered the living room and raised an eyebrow at the TV being turned on. He rolled his eyes: it was obvious that neither him or Owen did that. As for Roxanne, she was still resting from last night.

"Talia, I will give you a choice: either you come out now and apologize, or I add another week of being grounded. Your call." He said crossing his arms.

"Dang it." Talia muttered. "Can I go to the concert?"

"Not a chance. Not only you're still grounded, but I won't have my daughter go to a rock concert held in the worst part of New York City. Remember that you're a Xanatos now, it's time you learn how to behave properly." Xanatos scolded. "In any case, I wanted to tell you that I'll be going to an important charity event tonight. Owen will accompany me, so you will be alone with Roxanne. No going out."

She got out from under the couch and dusted herself off. "That sounds boring anyway. I'd rather be here."

"Good." David placed one hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Look: I know we started off on the wrong foot, but...we're a family now. And I'm not cruel, so...for this time, tonight you have permission to watch a movie on TV. And get pizza, if you want." He smiled.

Talia raised an eyebrow. "Ok."

"What? Don't believe me?" Xanatos asked.

"Kinda." She pursed her lips.

"I'm sincere, Talia, I assure you." He rubbed her hair. "Now, why don't you go read something until Roxanne wakes up? Our library has all sorts of books."

"Fine." She huffed.

She bumped him as she passed, taking a credit card for his wallet. Then she went to the library for a bit. Owen continued her lessons there. Talia was allowed to go to her room for a bit. Not a lot to do, but it was better than lessons. Soon, Xanatos called her out. Probably to make her say goodbye.

As soon as the sun went down, Roxanne opened her eyes. She stretched, washed her face and got dressed before joining Talia in the living room, just in time to see Owen help Xanatos put on his overcoat; they were both dressed elegantly and she couldn't help but whistle.

"What a lovely view to see after just waking up." She smirked. "Gentlemen, you both look dazzling."

"It's just you and Talia tonight. I told her that she can get pizza and watch a movie." Xanatos turned to Talia. "Remember to behave. I don't want to ground you further. "

"I'll be good." Talia lied.

"Ah, don't worry Mr. X: me and Talia will just chill and watch a nice movie and order pizza. You go enjoy your evening." Roxanne walked closer to Owen.

"And maybe we could spend some nice, quality time together later?" She winked.

"Time permitting." Owen answered.

Then they left. The woman chuckled and went to take the phone.

"Hey, what kind of movie genre do you like?" Roxanne asked.

"Uh, action or fantasy." Talia said. It'd be suspicious if she left so soon. "I want pepperoni and sausage." She added as Roxanne left.

She waited in the living room. The pizza would take maybe 30 minutes to get there. Roxanne would go get the pizza and then she'd mess with the TV. While she was trying to fix it, Talia would leave. Roxanne ordered the pizza and then went back into the living room, sitting on the couch.

"Mmh, action or fantasy...have you seen The Neverending Story? It's pretty good."

"Ok, let's watch that." Talia nodded.

After a good search among Xanatos's VHS collection, she finally found it.

"He probably bought this for you." Roxie said as she put the VHS in.

"Huh, I guess he did." Talia sat down.

The movie started. It was about a boy who took a strange book from the bookstore. It described a land called Fantasia slowly being devoured by a malevolent force called "The Nothing.". Talia almost forget her plan to leave when the phone rang. Roxanne picked it up. It was lobby, telling her the delivery guy was there.

"I'll be right back." Roxanne took her wallet and used the elevator to get to the lobby. She realized that she too needed to feed.

Talia waited until she knew Roxanne was gone to mess with the TV. Pulling out a few cords until the screen went fuzzy. Then she took the elevator down to the lobby. She didn't see Roxanne at all. Where could she have gone? It didn't matter. Talia took a cab to the rock concert.

Once on the ground floor, the woman paid the delivery boy and observed him from head to toe: he'll do. She started flirting with him, suggesting him to go somewhere more 'private'. The poor young man didn't have any chances to resist her charm, and followed her into one of the various broom closets. Fifteen minutes later she was done; the guy was tired and dizzy, but very happy. Roxanne smirked, took the pizza and went back to the castle floor.

"Hey kid, here I am. Sorry I'm late, but this guy kept flirting with me..." She lied.

"...Talia? Talia, pizza's here." Roxanne called as she placed the square, flat box on the table.

She noticed that the TV wasn't working correctly and tried to fix it; the woman noticed that a couple of cables weren't plugged in.

"Taliaaa! I fixed the TV, do you wanna see the movie or not?!" She huffed and went to the bathroom, thinking that the teenager was probably there. She knocked a few times, but there was no answer; Roxanne opened the door and saw that the bathroom was empty. Immediately, she started searching throughout the whole castle, but there was no sign of the girl whatsoever.

She growled, knowing full well what just happened. "I was a fucking fool!"

Enraged, Roxanne went back in the lobby and ran towards a security guard. "Have you seen a teenage girl with black hair?"

"Uh, 15 minutes ago. I thought she was looking for you." A young man said.

"Oh, are you talking about Talia? She passed by me. Said she was going to a rock concert. Nice kid." A middle-aged woman said. She smelled like cigarettes.

Roxanne rubbed the bridge of her nose and cursed. "That's it, no more Mrs. nice girl!"

She grabbed a newspaper laying on the guard's desk and quickly found the musical events page. Her eyes narrowed: Port Morris.

Fuck.

Talia had gotten her ticket and a tee shirt. She waded through the crowd to get to her spot. She knew that the Brooklyn sometimes liked to go these things, but if he was there, she didn't see him in the rafters.

The music was so loud that Talia could barely hear her own thoughts; the crowd was wild as they started dancing to the band's rhythm and shoving each other violently. Talia danced along with the crowd. The band took a 10 minute break. She went to the bathroom. She didn't see the strange men until they grabbed her.

"Sssssh, don't make such a fuss girl, it will all be over soon..." The man who grabbed her cooed mockingly.

"Quick, that bitch could be around here somewhere." One of them hissed.

"Shut your hole, she's not here, I checked." The other said.

The three men had an unnaturally, pale skin color and dark circles around their eyes; one of them grinned and showed two long fangs. "We're gonna leave a nice message for her..."

Talia panicked. Those men weren't human. She struggled to get free. Her eyes began to glow. "BROOKLYN, HELP!"

Suddenly, the bathroom's window broke and a figure jumped inside with unnatural speed. It was Roxanne. Her eyes were red and bright as two embers and she had long fangs as well. With a powerful kick, she hit one of the three men, the one who was holding Talia.

"You lay one hand on her, and you're gonna regret it!" The woman roared.

Brooklyn heard a commotion in the woman's bathroom. Was that Talia? He glanced around and make sure that no one saw him go in.

"You BITCH! You're the one who's gonna regret refusing our offer!" One of the goons hissed and bared his canines.

"I won't be part of a group of fanatic psychopaths!" Roxanne growled as she took Talia and hid her behind herself.

Brooklyn saw the group of vampires fighting. Talia was trapped with them. He roared and jumped on the nearest one.

"You leave that girl alone, vampire!" He snarled as he tore into the man with his talons.

"What the?! Ugh!" One of the attackers went flying over the broken window and out of the bathroom. Roxanne was busy fighting the other two.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but if you care about Talia, take her home!" Roxanne cried out as she was able to tear one of the men's arm. He screeched and fainted on the floor, becoming a pile of ashes. "I can take them, GO!"

Brooklyn was confused for a moment before taking Talia and climbing out the window. The fight went on for a few more minutes, before Roxanne was able to wobble out of the window holding her shoulder, which was pretty damaged.

All that was left of the vampires, were piles of grey ashes. It was pure luck that no one heard them since the music was extremely loud, and in shitholes like that, there were no cameras usually aside from the front and the back of the building. She made a deep sigh and called for a taxi, after healing her injury.

Talia was clinging onto Brooklyn. They flew toward the castle. It was cold, but Talia didn't really notice.

"Hey, you ok?" Brooklyn asked.

"Y-yeah, I guess. I'm tired. And thirsty." Talia told him.

"Do you know why they attacked you?" He asked her.

"Nu huh." Talia shook her head. "What're we gonna do about them?"

"You aren't doing anything. I'll tell the clan what happened. Hudson must know something." Brooklyn said.

"Ok..." Talia sighed.

"It's not like that, Tai. Vampires are dangerous. We're clan, Talia, we'll protect you." He soothed.

"Thanks, Brooklyn." She hugged him.

They landed in the courtyard. Brooklyn took Talia inside. She got a glass of water and then went to bed. Brooklyn watched over her. She was exhausted.

Roxanne was finally able to reach the Eyrie Building, but she chose to use the security backdoor to avoid any suspicions. She slowly made her way up to the last floor, using the emergency stairs; never getting physically tired was a great advantage.

"How is she?" Roxanne whispered from the bedroom door. "Is she injured?"

"She's sleeping. I didn't see anything." Brooklyn came out to the hall. "Now, you better explain what's going on." He glared at her.

"First of all, who are you? Are you one of those Gargoyles Xanatos told me about?" Roxanne asked him.

"My name is Brooklyn. If you mean by "one of those gargoyles", you mean part of Goliath's clan, then yes." He frowned unhappily.

"Okay, good. Xanatos said Talia developed a special bond with you all." The woman sat down and rubbed her neck.

"My name is Roxanne. I was hired by Mr. Xanatos as a bodyguard for Talia. She and you are the only ones that saw who I really am...a vampire." She murmured.

"Fine job you did. Why were those vampires attacking her?" Brooklyn stood across from her, keeping his back to the door. "And don't think I'll forget the part about you being a vampire."

"Like it's my freaking fault for being one!" She hissed, her eyes flashing red, then shook her head and sighed. "No, I need to stay calm...those three wanted to kill Talia. And since she's still alive...and they're not..."

Roxanne glared at Brooklyn. "I'd say I did a pretty good job. She's here, safe and sound. It's not my fault if she lied to me and went to that concert alone. I gave her my trust, and she betrayed it. Twice. It's not going to happen again."

The woman narrowed her eyes and looked towards the door. "If she wants a watchdog, then a watchdog she'll have."

"I won't have you locking her up here just because you were hired by Xanatos. He's already done too much to our clan." He crossed his arms. "Now, why did they try to kill her?"

"Lock her up? She's grounded! She's being punished for being a careless, disobedient brat! Besides, Xanatos is officially her father, whether she likes it or not." Roxanne scoffed.

"I'm not sure. Maybe they saw her with me yesterday and thought to get her as a revenge towards me. Who knows what those psychos want." She shrugged.

"Don't call her a brat! You don't know what Xanatos is capable of. He's manipulative and self-centered." Brooklyn took a breath. "Clearly, you wanted the money. I don't see why else a vampire would take this job. At least, Talia knows to look out for our enemies."

"Well duh, that's how a job works, genius." Roxanne rolled her eyes. "One doesn't just work for free. And if you really were her friend, you should understand that she's not capable of surviving on her own. Talia was lucky that we were both near the club. Otherwise..." The woman fixed her trench coat.

"Whatever. That's what I get for getting close to someone. When will I learn to be selfish and just not care?" She smiled bitterly.

"What Talia did, I admit, wasn't exactly smart. I don't care if you like us or not, you're going to help us fix this. Then you can go back and do whatever you did before." Brooklyn huffed.

"All I can do is protect her. Hey, I may look like a bitch, but I'm not just going to leave a kid alone against a group of religious fanatics who want her dead." She looked towards Talia's bedroom once again. "You know what hurt the most tonight? It wasn't the fact that she fooled me, but that she could've just asked me to take her to the concert. At least I would've been already there and know if something wasn't right. They wouldn't have had the balls to attack her with me around."

Brooklyn paused at her tone of voice. "Xanatos hasn't made it easy for her. He keeps denying her request to go home. We can't help with that. I think she just got used to it. Tomorrow night, we'll meet at Central Park and you'll explain everything."

"There's a good reason why he won't let her go home...she doesn't have a home to go back to anymore." Roxanne murmured grimly. "Fine. Central Park, tomorrow at midnight."

Brooklyn looked at her warily. "Until then."

Brooklyn went back to the courtyard and headed back to the clock tower. He needed to tell the others right away. Hopefully, Goliath would know what to do about the vampires. And perhaps figure out what this 'Roxanne' was really about.

Talia saw the pale men grin at her with their big fangs. They reached for her. Then it was Roxanne she was looking at. Her red eyes froze her in place. Then there was a pain in her neck.

Talia tossed and turned in her sleep. Puck appeared. He had long white hair and wore an orange tunic with covered by a purple toga, held by a gold pin and a gold sash, and dark leggings and boots. He sat on Talia's bed, running his fingers through her hair.

"Hey, no, shh, shh. You're ok, Tai. It's fine. The vampires can't get you. I'm here." Puck said quietly.

Talia slowly calmed down. Puck cast a sleep spell on her. He noticed the tee shirt she had gotten earlier. He took it and frowned. There was unfamiliar magic on it. Puck concentrated, his eyes widening in surprise. It was hers.