"Boring night for patrol," Brooklyn commented. "See anything?"
Lexington was scanning the area through binoculars. "Nope."
"I'm bored."
"I know. This is just the kind of night for curling up with the laptop."
"Lex, do you think Angela's right?"
"On whether Broadway loves her or the food on his plate?"
"No! On Demona."
"I don't know. You never can tell with Demona. She's got more faces than Janus."
"I guess." Brooklyn leaned on the brick wall. "What else is new?"
"Fox thinks she's pregnant again."
*************************************************
Demona stood on the rooftop, looking down at the street below. People passed by beneath her, looking like tiny toys. Little pieces in the infinite fabric of the universe.
"Mother?" a voice called.
The gargess turned around. "Angela! You're a welcome sight! What brings you here?"
"I wanted to see you." The answer was simple, truthful.
"Goliath didn't send you to spy on me?" The voice came out colder than Demona intended. She hated the thought that Goliath knew full well that Angela was the only one who could talk to her without getting killed or hurt in the process.
"You loved Father once," Angela said. "And deep in that dark heart of yours, you still love him."
"I hate him."
"Hate is such an ugly word."
"I..." Demona's vision turned inward. Puck's razzing. Her temporary love affair with Thailog, who had dumped her. How she had attempted countless times to kill Goliath and his new love muffin, only to have them return to foil her again. All her hate, anger, and frustration directed toward the clan leader and Elisa, and as if they were a mortar, she had thrust her heart's flaming shell upon the broken ties. After all the encounters and exchanges, did she still harbor an ember for her old flame? Had she fallen for Thailog for the mere reason that he looked and sounded like Goliath? "Love let me down. Not once, but twice!"
We are a clan, Demona. Something you forgot long ago.
"I haven't forgotten!" she cried, throwing her arms around her daughter, one of the few things she loved. Angela...her tempest against Goliath's calm. Her emotion combined with his logic. The temper from both of them. Light and dark blended. Two sides of the truth, with a middle ground in common. Demona saw the stone wall around herself. Rigid, solid. A supposedly unassailable fortress. Everytime she saw or even thought about Angela, a stone would fall from the wall. Sometimes it was a pebble. Other times it was a boulder.
Why do I push away the things I love? Demona kept hugging her daughter, who hugged back. From the fleeting glance in Paris, to the Labyrinth and Coney Island. How the three words 'I hate you' seemed to cut like a rain of sharp knives. Then her guilt over Angela's understandable wrath over being used. "I thought you would never forgive me."
"I tried to stay angry, but I couldn't. I despise your actions, but I love you just the same. I just wish you'd learn."
"Honey..." Did I just say that? "I know it's difficult seeing your parents apart like this."
"It doesn't have to be this way. Walls can fall."
"It's not that simple, Angela."
"1989."
"What?"
"1989. East and West Germany, after over forty years of separation, regrouped into one country again."
"The two Koreas are still separate. It takes more than a ceasefire to make a country whole. It takes trust, which is only an illusion."
"Mother!" Angela let Demona release her. "Father and Brooklyn say you can't change. Don't you want to prove them wrong?"
Demona's eyes glowed red. "Why do they think they know me?"
"I want to know you, Mother. Why did you create Malevola?"
"I felt guilty over using you."
"So you're just using her?"
Sheepish grin. "Basically." Demona looked ashamed. "I guess I wanted to show you I could create instead of destroy."
"Oh, you showed me something all right. She creeps me out."
"In retrospect, she's a mistake." I should have known I could never replicate Angela. "You're the real prize."
Below them, the redhaired gargoyle child was listening in. "I'll show you both." Malevola slipped away, thoughts racing.
*******************************************************************************************
"Life imitates art, I guess," Goliath said to the stone statue. "Thailog, I read a book in the library. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll concocts a potion to introduce his evil self, Mr. Edward Hyde. And Hyde, the part you played, died at the end."
"I read that." Elisa was standing on the roof with him. "One couldn't live without the other?"
"How'd you find me?"
"I figured you'd be up here." She gestured to the petrified clone. "Having a chat with your version of Remus?" Thailog, even as a lifeless rock, creeped her out. He seemingly was a distortion of everything that was Goliath. Everything she loved. "It's for the better."
"Sometimes I wish I could change the course of history."
"You'd bring Thailog back? You're too virtuous for your own good, Lyath."
"Not that. I'd have made sure he'd never have been created. A clone couldn't survive in a world of originals."
"We're more complex than bacteria, I guess."
*******************************************************************************************
Dr. Thal burst into the laboratory. "Anton!"
The auburn-haired mad scientist looked up. "Lee? Always one to make an entrance."
"Cut the comedy, you...madman!"
Sevarius put down the test tube he was holding. "Are you calling me a madman?"
"Yes...madman! I've heard all about your abominable practices."
"Your point being?"
"You weren't always this way. Sure, you'd pull the wings off flies and put leeches in your sister's bed, but look at yourself. Testing on human subjects--"
"Look at your hobbies: saving endangered species and cancer research. You've forgotten what genetic science is all about. It's manipulating the basic building blocks of life! Playing God! Doing what Mother Nature doesn't dare to do!"
"No, Anton. It's about understanding the microcosm of life for the sake of understanding the macrocosm!"
Sevarius threw the test tube. It missed by several inches and hit the wall. Hydrochloric acid spilled and glass shards flew everywhere. "Get out of my lab before I throw you out."
Thal turned to leave. He looked over his shoulder at his former best friend's wrist. "Nice watch, Sevarius."
To be continued
Lexington was scanning the area through binoculars. "Nope."
"I'm bored."
"I know. This is just the kind of night for curling up with the laptop."
"Lex, do you think Angela's right?"
"On whether Broadway loves her or the food on his plate?"
"No! On Demona."
"I don't know. You never can tell with Demona. She's got more faces than Janus."
"I guess." Brooklyn leaned on the brick wall. "What else is new?"
"Fox thinks she's pregnant again."
*************************************************
Demona stood on the rooftop, looking down at the street below. People passed by beneath her, looking like tiny toys. Little pieces in the infinite fabric of the universe.
"Mother?" a voice called.
The gargess turned around. "Angela! You're a welcome sight! What brings you here?"
"I wanted to see you." The answer was simple, truthful.
"Goliath didn't send you to spy on me?" The voice came out colder than Demona intended. She hated the thought that Goliath knew full well that Angela was the only one who could talk to her without getting killed or hurt in the process.
"You loved Father once," Angela said. "And deep in that dark heart of yours, you still love him."
"I hate him."
"Hate is such an ugly word."
"I..." Demona's vision turned inward. Puck's razzing. Her temporary love affair with Thailog, who had dumped her. How she had attempted countless times to kill Goliath and his new love muffin, only to have them return to foil her again. All her hate, anger, and frustration directed toward the clan leader and Elisa, and as if they were a mortar, she had thrust her heart's flaming shell upon the broken ties. After all the encounters and exchanges, did she still harbor an ember for her old flame? Had she fallen for Thailog for the mere reason that he looked and sounded like Goliath? "Love let me down. Not once, but twice!"
We are a clan, Demona. Something you forgot long ago.
"I haven't forgotten!" she cried, throwing her arms around her daughter, one of the few things she loved. Angela...her tempest against Goliath's calm. Her emotion combined with his logic. The temper from both of them. Light and dark blended. Two sides of the truth, with a middle ground in common. Demona saw the stone wall around herself. Rigid, solid. A supposedly unassailable fortress. Everytime she saw or even thought about Angela, a stone would fall from the wall. Sometimes it was a pebble. Other times it was a boulder.
Why do I push away the things I love? Demona kept hugging her daughter, who hugged back. From the fleeting glance in Paris, to the Labyrinth and Coney Island. How the three words 'I hate you' seemed to cut like a rain of sharp knives. Then her guilt over Angela's understandable wrath over being used. "I thought you would never forgive me."
"I tried to stay angry, but I couldn't. I despise your actions, but I love you just the same. I just wish you'd learn."
"Honey..." Did I just say that? "I know it's difficult seeing your parents apart like this."
"It doesn't have to be this way. Walls can fall."
"It's not that simple, Angela."
"1989."
"What?"
"1989. East and West Germany, after over forty years of separation, regrouped into one country again."
"The two Koreas are still separate. It takes more than a ceasefire to make a country whole. It takes trust, which is only an illusion."
"Mother!" Angela let Demona release her. "Father and Brooklyn say you can't change. Don't you want to prove them wrong?"
Demona's eyes glowed red. "Why do they think they know me?"
"I want to know you, Mother. Why did you create Malevola?"
"I felt guilty over using you."
"So you're just using her?"
Sheepish grin. "Basically." Demona looked ashamed. "I guess I wanted to show you I could create instead of destroy."
"Oh, you showed me something all right. She creeps me out."
"In retrospect, she's a mistake." I should have known I could never replicate Angela. "You're the real prize."
Below them, the redhaired gargoyle child was listening in. "I'll show you both." Malevola slipped away, thoughts racing.
*******************************************************************************************
"Life imitates art, I guess," Goliath said to the stone statue. "Thailog, I read a book in the library. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll concocts a potion to introduce his evil self, Mr. Edward Hyde. And Hyde, the part you played, died at the end."
"I read that." Elisa was standing on the roof with him. "One couldn't live without the other?"
"How'd you find me?"
"I figured you'd be up here." She gestured to the petrified clone. "Having a chat with your version of Remus?" Thailog, even as a lifeless rock, creeped her out. He seemingly was a distortion of everything that was Goliath. Everything she loved. "It's for the better."
"Sometimes I wish I could change the course of history."
"You'd bring Thailog back? You're too virtuous for your own good, Lyath."
"Not that. I'd have made sure he'd never have been created. A clone couldn't survive in a world of originals."
"We're more complex than bacteria, I guess."
*******************************************************************************************
Dr. Thal burst into the laboratory. "Anton!"
The auburn-haired mad scientist looked up. "Lee? Always one to make an entrance."
"Cut the comedy, you...madman!"
Sevarius put down the test tube he was holding. "Are you calling me a madman?"
"Yes...madman! I've heard all about your abominable practices."
"Your point being?"
"You weren't always this way. Sure, you'd pull the wings off flies and put leeches in your sister's bed, but look at yourself. Testing on human subjects--"
"Look at your hobbies: saving endangered species and cancer research. You've forgotten what genetic science is all about. It's manipulating the basic building blocks of life! Playing God! Doing what Mother Nature doesn't dare to do!"
"No, Anton. It's about understanding the microcosm of life for the sake of understanding the macrocosm!"
Sevarius threw the test tube. It missed by several inches and hit the wall. Hydrochloric acid spilled and glass shards flew everywhere. "Get out of my lab before I throw you out."
Thal turned to leave. He looked over his shoulder at his former best friend's wrist. "Nice watch, Sevarius."
To be continued