When Elisa had satisfied herself that all of the gargoyles were, indeed, wholly intact and safe, she made her way to Xanatos's office.
Xanatos had been behind his desk, absently called for her to enter, and when he finally looked up, Elisa gasped.
David Xanatos, martial artist and former criminal who never went anywhere with a hair out of place, was sporting a deep purple and swollen eye.
Elisa flinched. "Is this the part where I say that I'm sorry?"
Xanatos, the bruised eye not quite swollen shut, gave her an unfriendly look.
Elisa sighed. "I'm sorry," she said again, sincerely.
He eyed her for a moment, then gave a short nod. "Nothing that won't heal soon."
"I think it makes him look rakish," Fox said from the doorway, her head tilted a little as she studied his face. "Vaguely pirate-ish with a hint of dangerous."
Xanatos sat back in the seat, and gave his wife a small smile. "Well, I'm glad you appreciate it, my dear, but," he said in a warning tone, "don't expect it often."
Fox gave an exaggerated sigh before pushing off the doorframe and entering the office. "I take it that this latest attempt from Apate to get you out of the picture?"
Elisa nodded. "It was a nightmare, and one that I don't ever want to revisit." She gave a shiver and was hoping that Fox would let it go for now.
"Thank you," Elisa turned her full attention on Xanatos. "I've been told that you grabbed me out of the air and stopped me from a massive mistake."
Xanatos gave her a casual, one shoulder shrug and an "aw, shucks ma'am" look.
She didn't believe that for an instant, but she let it go.
For now.
"So," Elisa said, grimacing, "I'm hoping that during my bout of sleep-induced temporary insanity, that you were able to push the plan along without me?"
"I have," Xanatos acknowledged. "Here is what we've set up…"
By the time the gargoyles awakened, the plan that Elisa and Xanatos had worked on most of the evening had been put into motion.
The reproduction of Pandora's Box, though truly appearing almost identical, was actually heavier than the real one. Elisa hoped that Apate wouldn't know the difference. Xanatos had spent the day dropping information with several of his contacts, auction houses (both legal and not) and collectable dealers in and around Manhattan. He'd also let it "slip" that it was kept in a secured warehouse near the docks.
Now they would just sit and wait.
Elisa spent a little bit with the clan, putting off the inevitable, "Oh and by the way, I almost threw myself off the building this morning" talk.
In an effort to avoid sleep, since she wasn't sure who would come through at that point, Pandora or Apate, she was on her fourth or fifth cup of coffee. Her nerves were a little jumpy and she felt a little like her whole body was vibrating with the artificial energy.
Elisa looked wryly into the dark recesses of the liquid in her cup. She'd have to find out what kind of coffee Xanatos had. This stuff would come in handy the next time she was on a long stake out.
About an hour into the watch-and-wait part of the evening, consisting of several of the more tech savvy staring at their computer screens, Elisa's cell phone rang.
"Maza," she answered out of habit.
"Detective," Pamela Bluestone, Matt's wife and head of the Forensics department greeted. "I'm sorry to bother you on your day off, but I wanted to let you know. Do you remember that print you found at one of the theft scenes about a week ago?"
"Yeah," Elisa said, rising to move to the far end of the room and away from the other conversations so that she'd be able to hear clearly. "You get any hits?"
"I did," Pamela confirmed. "It's an old case. Young woman, just turned eighteen and tried as an adult. Shoplifting some cosmetics, got caught and booked."
"So the prints are on file," Elisa finished. "Let me find something to write with," Elisa muttered, looking around the room, "Does anyone have any paper? Something to write with?"
"Here, Mom," Nayeli came running, an oversized paper pad in her hands.
Elisa flipped open the cover and discovered that it was Nayeli's sketch pad. She sighed and opened directly to a blank page somewhere in the middle. Taking the bright green colored pencil from her daughter, Elisa held the pencil poised. "Alright, Pamela. I'm ready."
"Ok. Name is Dolion. Mallory Dolion. She works at…"
"I know where," Elisa ground out. "She's the woman that Goliath 'rescued' after calling 911 to report a break in at her gallery."
"Oh," Pamela said. "Want me to call Matt?"
"Let him know," Elisa said, glancing at her watch. The gallery itself would be closed by now. "Do you have a home address for her?"
"Only what she had when she was arrested," Pamela said apologetically. "You or Matt would probably be able to find it faster."
"I'll call Matt, Pamela. Thanks," she said and hung up the phone. She looked up to find several pairs of eyes on her. Elisa held up one finger, then punched in Matt's number. "Matt, Pamela called… Yeah… We got a match on a print from one of the theft scenes," she said, and passed along all that Pamela knew. When Matt reassured her that he would find the current home address of a Miss Mallory Dolion, Elisa ended the call.
Matt and a few other officers could go to her address, but Elisa knew that the chances were that she wouldn't be there.
She'd be going after the box.
Elisa gave an involuntary yawn, which shouldn't have been possible after all of the coffee that she'd been drinking.
"Enjoying your coffee? It's probably Kopi Luwak, you know"
"What?" Elisa asked, shaking her head awake.
"Tired, detective?" a familiar voice came from beside her, and Elisa turned to look into the smirking face of Demona.
"Yeah," Elisa answered shortly. "It's hard to get sleep when two supernatural entities are fighting over who gets to talk to me, and one…if not both…can get to me only when I sleep. I do actually sleep, but…" Elisa shrugged.
Demona frowned. "Something happened. Something you haven't told them yet," she stated, nodding to where the others had gathered.
Elisa flicked a glance at the others and gave a small nod to Demona. Quickly, without going into a lot of detail, Elisa gave Demona a rundown of the two incidents where Apate had gotten to her.
"And both times involved physical movement and reactions," Elisa admitted.
"I can help you with that," Demona said casually, inspecting her talons like a teenage girl would inspect her manicure.
"I'm sure you can," Elisa said with an eyeroll.
"I would not do anything to harm you," Demona snapped, then gave the human a sneer, "At least, not where my daughter and my grandchildren were watching."
That gave Elisa pause. "True," she said slowly. "What… exactly… are we talking about here?"
Demona gave a shrug. "It's a simple enough thing, to keep you awake and aware. I can set a date to end, or keep it active as long as you would like. Be warned," Demona said darkly, "that the longer you allow the spell to take hold, the harder it will be, physically, to your body. A body needs rest, and denying it that never ends well. Short term, however, will not be harmful."
"Just how long is too long?" Elisa asked.
"Two days? Three?" Demona tapped a taloned finger to her chin, "I probably would not go longer than three days."
Elisa took a deep breath, let it go, then made the decision. "Do it," she said, then added, "please," at Demona's irritated look.
Demona waved a hand at Elisa and briefly a green aura pulsed from Elisa's form before disappearing. "Done."
The effect was instantaneous. The caffeine jitters were gone, and Elisa's weariness was gone.
"Whoah," Elisa said softly.
"It's a good, temporary solution," Demona admitted. "I have had to use it a few times to get through board meetings, myself."
Elisa slanted her former enemy an almost envious look, having been in some long, drawn out meetings herself.. "That's cheating," she said.
"To each his… or her… own," Demona said, waving Elisa's attempt at humor away. "Now, let us continue to watch a small red dot on the map."