Heirs to a Prophesy
By Tigris Euphrates (tigris@sbcglobal.net)
Chapter Two: Children of the SocietyLana once again knew only pain. However, because she felt it, she knew she was still alive. Her sheets were torn on her dirty bed, which consisted only of a lumpy box less mattress and some dirty blankets. There was a pervasive and sickening odor of burned hair about her. The sheets were also drenched in her blood, as well as her skin. Her things were all missing. How had she gotten in the door? Her keys were nowhere to be seen! A look at the door told her enough. The doorplate for the regular doorknob had been kicked in, but the deadbolt was perfectly in place and locked, as well as the chain.
Lana suddenly remembered she had only locked the doorknob when she left.
After lying in her bed for what felt like hours, she picked herself up, and practically crawled over to the sink. Her few dishes were still in there. She turned to the cupboards where there were a few items left by the government charity agencies... and a FIRST AID KIT! Lana thanked every star and Goddess she could name all at once, as she pulled down the box marked conspicuously by the American Red Cross.
It contained a number of clean needles to help addicts reduce their rate of HIV transmission, but it also had plenty of sterile pads, gauze, band-aids, and betadine solution. She found a washcloth, added some of the solution, and began to clean the wounds on her wrist... when she noticed something, and paused.
'That sure is a funny color...' she thought. She rubbed at it some more... the color persisted.
She picked herself unsteadily off the floor, and went to the corner of her room where she had a small one-horse bathroom that had a standup shower. Turning it as cold as she could get it, she spun the dial on, and let the water run over her body.
She hissed and snarled as the water touched her wounds. Dirt, blood, and other things washed away... but the odd color remained. And that sound...? Did I make that hissing noise? Is there an animal in here? That couldn't have been me...
Naked, and sopping wet, the shower still pouring, Lana stepped up to the bathroom mirror and looked.
The scream shattered the glass on the bathroom's window.
There was now a cool breeze drifting in through her bathroom window, from the airshaft beyond, that resided in the center of her building. The mirror was cheap - made of a shiny reflective metal, and so it did not break.
What she saw was a blue version of her own face. She followed the dark blue coloring down to every extremity of her body. As she studied the image in the mirror, there were two shapes behind her, and she soon realized she could move them without a conscious thought. They were wings! Large batlike wings with three little fingers at the tip. While the inside skin the wing itself was a light purple at the end and turned gradually into an emerald green near the top. She flexed the appendages, even folded them around her shoulders a few times. She touched them, feeling the skin and looking at that fantastic display of color.
Examining the other changes to her body, her forehead had sprouted small forward pointing horns amidst all her ebony hair. Looking closer at her hands revealed they were not hands at all. Her fingers had become long, sharp talons, and one of her fingers on each hand was missing. The same was true of her feet - which had changed dramatically as well. She walked on three toes now, and instead of a heel, she had a sharp fetlock on each foot. Her knees and elbows had been replaced with wicked looking barbs. Strangest of all, was the prehensile tail that hung from the base of her back, which she could swing back and forth, and wrap around things.
Suddenly a thousand questions flooded through her mind. What had happened to her? What had caused this? Why had is happened to her? With no good answers, and her body aching still, she sat down in the shower with the water pouring over her, and began to cry again.
After about twenty minutes of this, she turned the water off, and went back to attempting to bandage her wounds. That was when someone started pounding on her door. She panicked - could it be them? Could they know where I live? Did they follow me here? Who could it be at this hour of the morning? She couldn't even remember how she'd gotten home in the first place! Could she have been followed? 'Get a hold of yourself!' She scolded herself. 'It's probably just a neighbor or the house manager or someone. They can't get in with the chain and the deadbolt drawn.'
Sure enough, after a few minutes, the knocking went away.
She sighed for a minute, collecting her thoughts. She went back to bandaging for a time before her body was momentarily filled with a warm, pleasant sensation spreading throughout her body. She let loose a cry, trying to move, but found herself held rigidly in place. The morning sun had claimed her.
Lana had the desire to scream again, and she did, stretching herself out to her full span. Her body was tired, but she felt refreshed and rested. What time was it? A quick look at the small clock on her wall told her that it was early evening. A quick look at her wrists told her that all the scraped, burns, bruises, and cuts from the night before were gone!
"Sleep well?"
Lana spun around to see Elisa Maza propped backwards on a chair, smiling at her. A quick glance at the door revealed that she had not broken in - the locks were all still in place.
"How did you get in here?"
"If you hang around with gargoyles as long as I have, you pick up a few things. I... found my way to the roof, climbed down the shaft to your windowsill, and used the broken glass to unlock the window, and climbed in. It's okay, I'm one of the good guys, though it seems I was too late to keep you from getting bitten by the bad guys."
Lana felt a little embarrassed. Her clothes had been taken from her the day before, and she had packed away most everything she had and taken it with her then. She had the dirty blankets from her old bed, though - and she wrapped one around her middle. "Yeah, I guess I'm screwed now. They have my ID, my welfare cards - everything. I'm still afraid they might find me."
"You're not the first one that has been experimented on with serums that turn humans into gargoyles."
"Gar... Gargoyle? Living ones? Aren't they a myth - like alligators in the sewers?" Lana stammered, sitting down on the mattress. "Can I change back?"
"Take a look at yourself, and ask me again if Gargoyles are a myth. And no, I'm afraid not - the changes are there to stay. You're going to be a hard case because the metamorphosis looks like it completed, but others have been luckier and still can pass as human with a little work." Lana looked at the floor like she was going to cry. Elisa walked over to the Gargoyle girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Lacy, I came because someone saw what happened, and told me. I'm here to help you. Maybe I was too late to stop it from happening, but you can help me stop whoever did this. I'm willing to bet it has something to do with those men who killed your young friend in the park who was in drag."
She sighed and looked at the detective. "Do you honestly think I'm going to trust you after Detective Lansing did this to me?"
"LANSING DID THIS?!!!" Elisa's voice raised several octaves, and she leapt to her feet. "What happened, girl? Tell me!"
Slowly, Lana finally admitted everything she knew. Elisa cursed and slammed her fists together when Lana finished. "AND because you're now a gargoyle, you can't testify in a court and Lansing and his other flunkies get off scot free. Fucking perfect. Can you tell me anything about the other two?"
"Two women, tall and lanky, looked kinda like sisters."
"I don't know those two badges, but believe me I'm about to find out."
Lana stood up. "You were a gargoyle once too, weren't you?"
Elisa was taken aback by the question. "Well yeah, but it was sorta an accident."
"Something about the way your eyes flash when you're angry." Lana observed.
Elisa gave her a blank look. "Lacy..."
That name grated on her nerves for the last time, and she exploded. "My name ISN'T Lacy, Maza!" Lana shouted, motioning to her body. "That... person is dead now thanks to Lansing!"
Elisa motioned for her to calm down. "Alright, okay - call me Elisa - but I can't call you 'Hey You'. And I won't call you Lana - you're not a street kid anymore - I know some people who will take care of you. You're not safe here, if Lansing found out where you worked, he can find out where you live."
Lana was a little taken aback by that. Just as she was no longer human - no longer Lacy Meyers, she was not longer Lana either. "Then call me Lanara."
"Fine, Lanara it is." Elisa nodded. "A new name for a new life, I guess that's fair."
Lana - or Lanara as she called herself now, sighed reservedly. "Where would I stay?"
Elisa put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I know you've got no reason to trust cops right now. The guy and his wife who own the place are both convicted felons - I should know, I threw both of them in jail once! But things changed, and he owns a place where you can be safe and talk to others who've been through the same thing."
Lanara sighed. "Maybe... for a little while. But then I need to get an house someplace. I'm a human, not a gargoyle."
"Sorry, but you're NOT, didn't you hear me? We CAN'T reverse the mutations - even my own brother was changed, and he's still got batwings." she pointed a finger at her, and made a wings motion with her hands. "You're a gargoyle, and the best thing you can do right now is to accept it and move on with your life."
Someone thumped on the door repeatedly. The Detective and the Gargoyle stiffened. A voice came from behind the door. "OPEN UP, IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!"
Maza immediately recognized the voice, and pulled her semi-automatic from under her red jacket. "LANSING, you SCUMBAG!"
Lanara pulled on Maza's shoulder. "Back this way."
Together they scurried off into the bathroom and locked the door. "If it worked for you, then if work the other way." Lanara pointed out, and climbed out the window. The sill was not very big, no more than a foot deep and as wide as the window.
Lanara looked up the shaft. The bricks could not possibly give her enough of a hold to climb with. "Now what do we do?"
"I keep forgetting you don't know how to be a gargoyle yet." Elisa muttered flatly. "Pound your claws into the cement and climb!"
"But that's solid concrete!"
"Trust me!"
Lanara did, and no surprise to Elisa, her claws sank right in. Picking Elisa up, Lanara climbed out with Elisa over her shoulders.
"I have to admit, there are times I miss being a gargoyle. Particularly anytime Demona is trying to kill me." Elisa muttered as Lanara set her down on the roof. There were crashing sounds from the house below.
"Who?"
"Nevermind. Let's just glide out of here!"
"Glide?"
"Your wings, Lanara - last night Broadway said you glided away from that building." Elisa said in a condescending tone.
"I don't remember half of what happened last night!" Lanara protested, spreading her wings to their fullest span. "What do you do?"
"Do what I did! Fuck everything and just JUMP!" Elisa shouted, gunfire erupting from the bathroom's airshaft, and grabbing onto Lanara for dear life. "There's no time!"
Lanara ran, and threw herself and her passenger into the void beyond the rooftop. Surprisingly, her wings stiffened, caught the air currents, and they glided.
Elisa took a deep breath as they sailed away from the house building. "Okay, lesson one - you can't fly, just glide..."
Lanara pointed towards a glass skyscraper that was approaching them very quickly. "Uh, can we skip to the lesson about turning? We're drifting straight for it!"
"Turn your head! Your body will follow!" Elisa replied.
Quickly, Lanara did, and almost immediately had to correct her course.
"Don't oversteer." Elisa sighed, smiling a little.
As Elisa pointed Lanara's way towards the Aerie district, a ruckus began below. "Look! Up there! It's a monster! It's one of those gargoyle creatures! They're attacking again! Horrible creatures! Filthy beasts!"
Elisa looked at winged girl who carried her. Lanara tried to look straight ahead, but in the end her eyes welled up and she began to cry. "Look Lanara, I once visited a place called New Olympus. People there treated me like this, and..."
She was interrupted by the sound of copper blades, and the sound of chaingun fire echoed behind them. "Get down! Towards the deck!" Elisa shouted. "Get low, get fast!"
Gasping, Lanara dived. She struggled a little, but she regained control near street level. The crowd began to cheer on the helicopter. Lanara didn't need to be told any more, she banked a hard turn around a corner of a building going as fast as she could with her limited practice, and managed to slow the chopper down a little bit, but it caught up in a big hurry.
Another gargoyle roar filled the air - this one sounding much like a lion instead of a panther or a tiger. Lanara barely made out the sight of several shapes attacking the chopper, before Lanara had to face forward again and straighten her flight out. Now at the base of the Aerie building, she drifted as far up it as she could, and then grabbed hold. Lanara was pretty graceless about it, and a few times Elisa was afraid she was going to get thrown off, but Lanara made it safely to a ledge just below the atrium.
"Elisa!" someone called out to them. Two more gargoyles appeared, landing far more gracefully on the same ledge, a teal colored overweight male, and a beautiful lavender female - both appearing to be a little older than Lanara - probably about eighteen and twenty one. Lanara gasped - amazed at the sight of real live gargoyles.
"I'm fine guys - but I'll need a lift back up to the castle, and Lanara probably will too." Elisa noted.
"Lanara?" asked the male - the other two gargoyles looked straight at Lanara.
"Yeah Broadway - she's the one that escaped from that building last night. Your suspicions were right - she's another mutate. She might need some help getting up to the castle. Introduce her to Kanthara, and get her some clothes."
Lanara looked away, embarrassed. She felt like a weakling and a fool, had tears all over her face, and except for her wings, was completely naked. She could not read from their faces if they liked her or not, but at least they had not been openly hostile toward her. She had caught them looking at her, and it was a look she knew all too well.
The lavender female assisted her in climbing up the building to the castle at the top. With her wings wrapped around herself, she thanked the lavender gargoyle woman.
"My name is Angela." she replied in a friendly way. "You'll be safe here, and welcome company."
"I'm sorry about my clumsiness, but I'm not used to being this way..."
Another voice cut her off. "We're used to it." The voice belonged to a female gargoyle that emerged from the castle. She had long flowing white hair done in a mohawk on her head. She had orange wings, large gold earrings and bracelets, and very human attire. Her face was framed by two sets of horns on either side of her forehead. "The number of humans changed into gargoyles like us seems to be rising, and we only know about the ones that have escaped - how many haven't escaped?"
Elisa and the yellow gargoyle exchanged a look - and unpleasant, untrusting look. Elisa went elsewhere. The yellow gargoyle handed Lanara a robe.
"You were human too?" Lanara inquired.
She nodded, motioning for Lanara to follow her. As they descended the parapets, Lanara was fascinated at the castle - she'd never dreamed of being inside a real castle before! "My name is now Kanthara."
"Lanara."
The yellow gargoyle looked at her. "I think I might have seen you from afar before this happened, but most of us don't like to talk about ourselves before the change." They boarded an elevator and emerged out onto a balcony above the atrium. "Look, I know how you feel. You don't trust anyone right now. You feel violated - raped of your very humanity, but you can't let it consume you. You've got to do what we've done - learn to move on." Kanthara looked away from Lanara down at the atrium pool. "You'll learn how, in time, to accept what's happened, and help us bring did this to justice like any other rapist."
Lanara looked at the floor, crumpled into a little ball on the balcony floor, wrapped her new wings around her entire body, and cried. Kanthara took the new gargoyle girl in her arms and held her. "I'm sorry." Kanthara sighed.
"Is it my imagination..." David Xanatos inquired, "Or is there a resemblance?" Using one of those remote controls he always seemed to have, he clicked the viewing screen off and gave the broad-chested Goliath one of those looks that spoke volumes.
Goliath sighed thoughtfully in his impressive, masculine way. "Yes, I see what you mean. She does look... familiar."
"I'm not too sure about you, but the hair, the eyes, the coloring, the... dynamic and SHAPELY figure - they speak loudly of our dear Angela." Xanatos concluded, sitting down at his computer, and punching away. "My only question is - where did they get cells from Angela to start copying her DNA?"
Goliath gave a frustrated noise. "Loch Ness."
David looked up from the computer, confused. "Loch Ness?"
Goliath turned to him. "When Elisa, me, Bronx, and Angela were sent to Loch Ness by Avalon, we were sent there to put a stop to Sevarius's evil surrounding the creatures of legend who reside there. Using one of his submarines, he captured Angela and held her for several days before we were able to free her. He must taken a sample of her blood then."
David looked at him for a long moment. "Too bad I fired him after that arrest."
"We can't keep her here with the others - not if she doesn't want to stay. We might have to put her with one of the others, like Robbie and Walden." Goliath shook his head. "Besides, I cannot predict how Angela will react when she learns that Lanara was created from her blood."
"True. I'll see if I can find a place for her, so in the meantime you might ask Kanthara to introduce her to Robbie, Walden, Payton, and the other gargoyle mutates." Xanatos's eyebrows furrowed. "We don't have time right now to help another girl cope with her transformation, but we do need her help."
Goliath sighed. "Agreed, but we cannot deny the child her need to mourn. To push her would be inexcusable."
"He's right, David." Came Fox's voice from the doorway. Fox stood there, in her usual daywear dress and finery, holding the young Alexander in her arms. "She's been through a lot - you can't expect her to recover immediately. Remember what Elisa said? If she were still human, she'd need crisis counseling. She's hardly fit to be a warrior right now."
David Xanatos turned back to Goliath, and the two exchanged a long look.
Thankfully, when the knock came, it was from the window and not the door. This meant one of two things. Either it was trouble that they could handle, or two it was a friend. Life seldom was doing Robbie Mackenzie any favors lately, but apparently today was an exception - because tonight it was a friend.
"Kanthara!" Walden exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
Kanthara, rarely the social type, stepped aside to reveal the friend she had with her. A young gargoyle girl stood on the rail next to Kanthara, covered with a blanket, and shivering in fright. "Elisa found her during the day today. She was just changed yesterday. Someone combined her DNA with Angela's." she explained succinctly. Kanthara and Lanara carefully stepped down from the window into the house space. "We were watching the city yesterday night, and saw her escape. We attacked the helicopter that was chasing her, but lost her in the process. Elisa found her after she turned to stone."
All eyes turned to the new girl. She felt like she had been put on the spot. "Uh... my name is Lanara." She stammered.
"Walden" "Robbie" "Magistrate" "Payton" the others introduced themselves with a rather stiff shaking of hands. The girl, despite the fact she had lots of brownish auburn hair, wore glasses, and all of her skin that showed was flesh tone, she was less than human. She had very large wings with single digits on the end that she would drape around her shoulders, large fanlike ears, barbed joints, and gargoyle claws.
Kanthara turned to leave, but Robbie put a hand on her shoulder. "Any idea who's doing this yet?"
Kanthara took two steps up the windowsill, and sailed off into the night, back in the direction of the Aerie building, leaving behind only the sound of her wings catching an updraft. The attention turned back to Lanara. Walden motioned her to a chair, as Robbie disappeared into a closet.
"How old are... were you?" Walden inquired.
"Fifteen."
Robbie made a noise from the closet. "Add child molestation to the charges."
Walden looked back at her. "Right."
"Who are you?" Lanara inquired.
Robbie returned with a few articles of clothing from her closet and laid them down at Lanara's feet. "I told you - my name is Robbie, he's Walden, Magistrate, and Payton. We're roommates because we have a common problem."
Lanara looked back and forth at the two half-breeds. "You were human once, like me - weren't you?"
"Still are, to some degree." Walden pointed out. "We don't turn to stone." Robbie gave him a look. "Well..." he corrected himself. "At least not yet."
"But what about me? Can I look like you?"
Walden studied her critically. "I don't think so. It looks like the retroviral program ran it's course and has gone into remission."
"How can you tell?" Lanara inquired.
Walden paled a little, frowning. "I kinda... helped designed the formula." He turned away, a visibly stricken look crossing his features that Lanara picked up on.
"Oh." Lanara decided not to press him any further.
"Try these, they're too small for me. The police woman gave them too me after the change, but they didn't fit me." Robbie instructed, pointing to some of the denim she had laid before Lanara.
Lanara picked them up, looking nervously at Walden. "Can I... use the bathroom?"
"Such as it is." Robbie jabbed her thumb in that direction. "Don't worry, they won't look."
Walden and the others did as he was told, and turned away. Quickly and industriously, Lanara tried them on. She turned to Robbie. "They fit, but I can't wear these with my... legs this way."
"I've got a sewing machine, do you know how to use one?"
She nodded. Robbie pulled the device out of the corner, and Lanara went to work with scissors and sewing machine while they talked.
"So how much do you know, Lanara?" Walden asked.
"Nothing." She snorted, her back to them, working on the jeans. Robbie tossed her a few bits of feminine underwear and a white cotton sports bra, which Lanara took gratefully. "Thanks so much, Robbie! Who is this group that everyone keeps talking about? Why did they turn me into a monst... a freak? Who are all those others who live at the castle at the Aerie building? How did they do this to me? Why? Who are they?"
"One thing at a time." Walden said. "I used to work with this company, but I soon saw that what they wanted was going nowhere I wanted to be. I met Robbie, and saw what they had done to her. When I protested, someone attacked me, and I began to change. They seem to think they own humanity and can do with it as they please. Many view gargoyles as the next step in our evolution, and whoever is behind this is experimenting on making humanity better by mixing their DNA with gargoyles'."
"Gargoyles?" Lanara asked in confusion, still adjusting to the concept. "Like the ones I saw back at the Aerie tower?"
"Yep, though they were BORN gargoyles, with the exception of Kanthara. One of their people probably noticed you and thought you were smart enough to be a good subject for an 'advanced human' and that's why they experimented on you."
"Hatched." Walden corrected. "Gargoyles hatch from eggs."
"Shut up." Robbie snapped at him, annoyed. Walden was quiet.
Lanara stood up from the machine, and pulled on her creation and buttoned it. It was a tight pair of the detectives' denim jeans, only cut off at just above the knee and restiched to avoid being cut by the spikes on her knees, and a slit had been cut high in the seat of the jeans and resewn, through which she slipped her tail. It was a nicely 21st century look - a white sports bra and blue denim. "Can I keep these?" Lanara inquired. She had altered each of three pairs of jeans Robbie had given her.
"Sure. I've got sports bras laying around all over the place - take some more." Robbie chuckled. "You could make money off those selling them to gargoyle girls."
"You look good." Walden smiled, and gave her a thumb's-up.
Lanara blushed. "Thanks."
"Your wings are an interesting color." Walden added.
Lanara didn't like being reminded of her predicament any more than was necessary. "I didn't choose my colors."
"That's not what he meant." Robbie laughed. "Look in the mirror, Lanara. They made you gorgeous!"
She looked at her reflection once more. "Well, my hair is a little darker than before."
"Angela's hair is a kinda dark-brown." Robbie observed.
Walden laughed. "They went to a lot of trouble to make you cute and sexy. They may even have genetically made playmates of their own."
"Gross!" Lanara protested.
Robbie gave Walden a look that could have melted steel, and turned back to Lanara. "All we're saying, dear, is that you need to be aware that they went to a lot of trouble to sexualize your body. Not everything came from Angela's DNA - the blended wing color looks like something from Angela's mother. But... hey... the horns I've never seen before. They're certainly an interesting touch."
Lanara touched her horns for a moment with her paw. "But, you're saying I'm ALL gargoyle - no human left?"
Walden and Robbie looked at each other. "Yeah... looks like it." Walden observed. "The serum I designed causes the polymerases in the body's cells to construct a new DNA code, using only the barest genetic differences I could isolate between humans and gargoyles. It's as though they had the genetic code of a gargoyle from the moment that person was conceived."
Lanara walked over to the window, put her hands on the ledge, and folded her wings around herself as she had seen the others do. "Can you teach me about fight like a gargoyle and things?"
Robbie put a hand on her shoulder. "The gargoyles at the castle can do that better than us. Why?"
Lanara turned to the night sky where a partial moon was rising. "If I'm a gargoyle, then they can't blame Lacy Myers if I KILL whoever did this!" her eyes flamed red, and her fists clenched. "I'll find the man who thinks I'm HIS toy, take his prick, and CUT IT OFF!"
"WHOA! Get a grip, girl! You can't fight them alone! We need a plan, armor, allies!" Robbie pulled her back, and the amber flame in Lanara's eyes faded. "Let's learn who they are, first."
She gave a cry of pain, tasting blood in her mouth, and hit the courtyard, landing on her hands and knees. She yelped the pain, and was holding her middle with one arm. Kanthara held out a hand to her, to help her up. "You've got to watch your back. You either have constant neck pain, or you push up daisies."
Lanara took her wrist in hers, placed one foot, ploughed into Kanthara, and launched the other over her shoulders. Kanthara recovered immediately, and swung her weight into her tail, swiping it beneath Lanara's feet, and once more Lanara's face was on the paving stones.
She did not stand, but began to cry.
Angela, watching from nearby, chose this moment to step in. "Let me talk to her, Kanthara."
Kanthara nodded, helping Lanara again to her feet. The two faced off, and bowed to one another before Kanthara walked off elsewhere in the castle.
Angela put a hand on her arm as Lanara held her middle where she had recently been kicked. "Why are you doing this, Lanara?"
Lanara regarded the girl with a degree of open awe. In some way, she felt like Angela's daughter, and thought of her very much like a mother. "I... can't let them get away with they're doing. Somebody has to put a stop to these people, and bring them to justice."
"Justice will be mete - but not by you alone. This isn't just your fight."
"I want to make a difference when the fight comes. I want them to know how I feel."
"You don't want justice - you want vengeance." Angela observed.
Lanara sighed, deflating. "Maybe you're right. What can I do? I can't just let go of everything I feel."
"I'm just warning you. Our clan once went after vengeance, and it cost us our home, and nearly cost us Elisa's life." She tried to explain. "Revenge only leads to more vengeance. You need to let it go."
Lanara said nothing, only sighed, looking down at her large fifteen-year-old gargoyle feet.