Early April, 2004
Amy
Klein snuck into The Last Mug as Lanara was working. Amy was checking behind
her to make sure no one she knew had seen her entered the shop, and sat down at
the bar by Lanara, who finished serving a Latte to someone, and looked down at
her. Lanara was dressed in her usual white halter-top and blue denim cutoffs
that she'd resewn for her new body, overlaid by a green apron, with a mug on it
and the initials LM. Lanara's wings had been expertly wrapped around her
shoulder, and each of her three wing digits held them around her like her wings
were a cape. "Can I get you something?" the female gargoyle inquired.
"Have
you seen Benjamin recently?" Amy asked.
"Not
since yesterday."
"What
was he doing yesterday?"
"Jeffrey
called him, to try and help me with some...
problems I was having."
"Jeffrey?
Jeffrey Warman? You know him? Is he here tonight?"
"Nope.
He left a message with Robbie that he volunteered with an outreach hotline, and
wouldn't be in for a few days." Lanara replied, pulling a sprite out from
the fridge beneath the counter and setting it before the girl. "I should
know him, Amy - he's in love with me."
Amy
looked at the soda and scowled. "Can't I have something with ice cream in
it? Why, aren't you in love with him too?"
Lanara
smiled a little. "You have my kind of taste in desserts." Lanara
replaced the soda in the fridge, and began to gather various implements and
ingredients and mix them. When she finished, she slid a Banana Split in front
of the girl and smiled. "While I
do love him, I have to be realistic.
I'm in love with Richard. Jeffery and I... could never be more than friends. Besides, Richard is totally
honest with me, and Jeffrey has a problem telling me the whole truth."
"I
still would have taken Jeffrey."
"I'm
not a human anymore, I've accepted that. Jeffrey is not a gargoyle, and has no
wish to be." Lanara shrugged, washing a few dishes in the basin.
"Though I admit I liked it when I fit in."
"I'd
rather have people respect me, like you."
"What
makes you think anyone respects me? I mean, look at me! I'm a freak!"
"You
have a claws! Fangs! Wings! You can beat up Volkswagens!" the girl
laughed. "Nobody tells you what to do."
"Perhaps,
but there are plenty who want me dead. Yet, for some reason, I wouldn't want to
be anything else, now."
"I
liked it when I got to be a gargoyle, but Benjamin made me change back."
Lanara
didn't let it show, but many light bulbs suddenly clicked on in her brain.
"So, you would be Amy Klein then. Benjamin doesn't like you hanging around
us 'evil' gargoyles, and that's why you're so worried if I had seen him."
Amy stammered a bit, but decided to recover gracefully by not saying anything.
"I'm curious. Someone else turned me into a gargoyle by force. Did they do
the same to you?"
"No,
I did it."
Lanara's
eyes opened wide. "How?"
"I
have this stuff, when you give it a piece of what you want to become, and then
you eat it and throw it back up again." She answered, pulling out a
plastic Zip-Lock bag full of some kind of disgusting brown goo that looked
vaguely like chocolate.
"May
I borrow it?"
"Why?"
Amy asked with suspicion.
"I
have this friend... " Lanara explained. "The society did something
nasty to him, and he's having a lot of cravings he can't control. I'm thinking this might be able to help
him."
"That... goo will reform itself into a bar once you
give it a hair, a fingernail, or something of the person who's DNA will be
used."
Lanara
nodded. "How does it work?"
"Can
I have one of you hairs?"
Puzzled,
Lanara plucked out a single strand of her long ebony brown hair and handed it
to the girl, a little suspicious. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm
going to become you! Like your twin!"
"Why?"
Lanara pressured, her voice darkening.
"Because
I'm sick of people telling ME what to do! I can take care of myself!"
"Shouldn't
you ask me first, Amy?"
Amy
blinked. "Why?"
"Because
that hair is a part of my body. President Clinton signed a law a few years ago
saying it's illegal to clone a person, and that's what you're saying you're
about to do. Maybe I don't want a clone of me running around."
"Well...
" Amy stammered, looking at the hair. "What if I combine it with one
of my hairs? That would make me a hybrid of me and you. That way no one will
recognize me and I'll get to be a gargoyle, but I won't look like you either.
Lanara
nodded. "I like that idea. It combines the DNA of the two strands? What
about gender?" Lanara had a nasty vision in her head of two strands of
male DNA combining, to wind up with both X's in the final product to produce a
female.
"As
long as both are the same gender, you'll end up with the same gender at the
end."
"Good
thinking." Lanara nodded.
Amy
striped her clothes off down to her bra and panties, folded them, and gave them
to Lanara, who stashed them under the counter. Lanara looked up to make sure
none of the other patrons noticed, and thanks to the magic of the place, none
had. Taking one of her own hairs, Lanara watched Amy take one of her own hairs,
and entwine it with Lanara's. As Lanara continued to think about the
possibilities of helping Richard, Amy dropped the combined hairs into the bag
with the goo in it. A puff of steam issued out of the bag, and the goo
coagulated into something the size and shape of a chocolate bar.
Amy
ate it.
It
took a few moments, but slowly Amy Klein's hands and feet painlessly
transformed into claws and fetlocks. Her skin became light blue, like Demona's,
and her hair became ebony brown like Lanara's.
A small growl issued from Amy's throat as her brow began to sport a pair
horns that resembled Angela's, long elfin ears, little spikes on all her
joints, and a youthful tail issued from one foot hole of her panties. Lastly,
outside the straps of her bra, the skin there rippled and sprouted a pair of
large, adolescent blue wings with the chromatic purple and teal interior and
with three little digits at their apex.
Lanara
smiled at the new gargoyle girl who stood in front of her. Amy looked hardly a
year younger than herself, like a younger sister.
"So
now I have a sister. Mom will have a field day."
Amy
turned, grabbing the Zip-Lock bag, and began to yack and hurl into it. Lanara
winced. "Ewwww... " Lanara grabbed some napkins and handed them to
her new sister. As Amy wiped her face, Lanara noted to herself that she still
looked a little like the human Amy, but Lanara saw her own, new gargoyle face
there too. The resemblance was a little disturbing to her, but she kept it
under control.
Lanara
took the bag of goo, sealed it, and placed it in a pouch in her belt.
"Well sis, you still remember how to glide?"
Amy
tested her new wings experimentally once or twice. "I did well enough at
it before."
Lanara
untied her apron, and folded it, placing it under the counter. "Then let's
see how good you are."
Lanara
leapt up to the stonework about the door and began to climb the front of the
building. Amy bunched her legs together
and leapt up, grabbing hold of the stone. Once up the to the top, Lanara
offered a paw to her, but Amy declined. "I can do it."
"Then
let's see if you can catch me, sis." Lanara smiled, diving neatly into an
oncoming breeze. Startled, Amy was after her in a bound. Neatly slicing through
the air like a knife through water. Lanara tacked sideways, and between two
buildings. When Amy followed, Lanara was nowhere to be seen. Lanara then
tackled her new sister from above, and they came to a sudden halt on a rooftop
a few meters below, and on the other side of the street.
"If
this were real, you'd be dead by now." Lanara scowled, her eyes glowing.
She turned and leapt into the wind again. "Come on."
Amy
took her reprimand, dusted herself off, and followed.
Arriving
at the house by the sea, Lanara landed neatly, folded her wings around her, and
walked in a doorway, entering a special code. When done, the positions of the
numbers on the keypad vanished and reappeared in different positions. "New
kind of lock." Lanara explained. "Courtesy of Xanatos's security
people."
"You'll
help keep my secret, right?" Amy asked.
"Amy,
you know I HATE lying." She growled a little to herself. "But I have
to if I want to help Richard."
"You
make it sound like I blackmailed you."
"No,
but have me backed into a corner. There's a difference."
Amy
wasn't sure she understood.
Lanara
went through her bag and handed the other a few sports bras of different sizes
and colors from Robbie's collection, and a pair of Lanara's modified denim
cutoffs. Amy stripped down to her panties, and pulled the bits of clothes on.
Meantime, Lanara reached into a small lockbox under the bed with her name
written on it, and twisted the dial a few times. She placed the bag of goo
inside, and drew out a small laser pistol.
"Here
sis, you're defending yourself now - I have another. Remember two things.
Gargoyles protect their community, and we also protect each other. Secondly,
you might want to pick a new name, or else Kanthara or one of the others might
find you out."
"I'll
think about it." Amy nodded. She looked up at the ceiling, with a strange
expression on her face. "What's that? I'm feeling... "
"The
sun." Lanara nodded, locking the safe again, and striking a fearsome pose.
"The sun is rising - gargoyles can feel it coming. Just wait."
Amy
waited for a few more seconds, until she felt a warm sensation flush throughout
her body, and felt it stiffen. Amy Klein had turned to stone for the very first
time.
Elsewhere in Manhattan
"Good
morning, Demona."
Demona
turned, barely finished with her transformation only to find her haven
invaded. She drew her blade and turned
to face the intruder. "Who are
you? How did you get past my
security?"
"I
have a more pressing question for you, Demona.
What is your goal in life?"
"I
do not answer questions from unwanted intruders." Demona tried to take a step forward, but
couldn't. She looked down to find her
feet mired in her own floor.
"What... ?!"
"I
have a proposition for you, Demona. I
know well your true desires, and I can help you in ways you can't possibly
understand."
"And
why would you help me? What do you want
in return?"
The
woman stood up, coming into full view.
"Because I want what you want.
Mankind, these worthless worms not worthy of protection, have raped and
pillaged this planet, destroyed its beauty, polluted what resources are
left. They need to be destroyed."
As she spoke, her words became subtly more vicious. "But to do that, we need to remove the obstacles in our
way. Not only the humans must be
destroyed, but also their misguided protectors, like other gargoyles and the
Seelie Court. Once they are gone, the
humans will be defenseless."
"And
I'll be the last gargoyle on Earth, I take it?"
"Until
we breed some more, of course. We'll
still have enough genetic supplies to clone those we fought; only they would
learn how to take care of the world...
not some parasitic bipeds.
They'll think like we do."
Demona
paused. The idea had merit. "You're talking about challenging
Oberon's Children. You'll need a lot
more than just the two of us to stop them."
The
intruder smiled. "I will have an
army numbering in the quadrillions. I
have developed a virus that resists magical treatment, and a foolproof way of
distributing the virus."
"If
you have such resources, why do you want my help?" Demona asked
suspiciously. "Surely someone of
your capabilities could do all this by yourself."
"I
have a problem. It concerns a couple of
recent developments that I have found...
troublesome. I want them taken
care of before I can proceed with my plans.
Two people, gargoyles, in fact.
A gargoyle travesty named Richard...
and Lanara."
Demona's
eyes glowed in hatred. "You don't
say... "
"Do
I have your attention now?"
"As
well as my feet. But I'll listen."
A
chair pulled itself from its resting place by the table and moved under the
dark woman as she sat down. "Are
you acquainted with Lanara?"
"I've
been watching her as how she associates with my daughter." Demona snarled, "She is an unholy spawn
of my daughter's blood, and I will have her destroyed utterly!"
"Consider
my words. Would it truly be satisfying
to simply kill her? Wouldn't it soothe
your mind to ruin her, humiliate her, drive her face into the dirt BEFORE
killing her?"
Demona
sat back and crossed her arms.
"What did you have in mind?"
"I
need to have Richard destroyed, but I cannot act directly. If I act directly, I will alert Oberon's
brood. I need your assistance if we are
to succeed."
"Go
on, stranger. I'm listening."
"I
have agencies currently at work securing the young miss, but Richard is much
more... difficult. He has been altered with an addition
of... SHARK DNA." The intruder shuddered.
"I
can handle him. Secure Lanara and
Richard will inevitably follow."
"Here
are the terms of our agreement. You
will have access to resources above and beyond even yours, and access to
information you once believed unavailable.
In return, you will serve me without question or challenge, and I shall
reward you with great power in the New Order, once the cancer of humanity has
been cured completely."
"I
serve no one, crone," Demona said levelly.
"Well,
then, there is the alternative."
The intruder's smile flickered and Demona felt her feet sink into the
floor. Demona looked down in shock and
pulls on her legs, but not even her considerable strength enabled her to pull
free of the mire that was once solid concrete.
She struggled, snarling, trying to use her own magic to resist. The intruder didn't even rise, but Demona's
magical attempts to stop herself proved fruitless as the concrete of the floor
began to swallow her. "Stone you
may have been once, and stone you can be again."
'What
do you want?!!!'
"I
thought I made that clear; Unquestioning obedience and fealty to me. Swear it...
or the next person who comes into this room will be trotting upon your
face."
As
a credit to her resistance, Demona waited until the floor was up to her chest
before saying with a grudging snarl, "I will do as you say, so long as our
goals remain mutual."
"Our
goals will be the same... but you will
serve me no matter what." The
intruder smiled as the floor absorbed Demona's shoulders. The smile was serene, confident... the smile of a conqueror.
Almost
at the last second, Demona stops swearing, just long enough to say, "Very
well, you have my oath of fealty!"
The
intruder's smile broadened and Demona found herself instantly freed from the
floor. "It's a pleasure and an
honor to work with someone so reasonable." Demona snarled, brushing off her arms to remove the pins-and-needles
feeling from them. "Now, Demona,
this is a crucial time. Things are
moving very quickly now, and we have a lot to do. There is a place out in the far reaches of the New York forests
where you will be able to act with impunity.
A castle of my own design, created as a lark for a rich industrialist,
now re-made into a fortress. Here, you
may act without you or your own organization being implicated in its use."
Demona
nodded. "What kind of... equipment? Anything... for the humiliation of the human girl?" She felt an evil smile grow on her face.
"I
made my own additions to the 'rec room' of the place. Removed the paltry things like the pool table and such, put in
more useful items... I'm sure you'll approve."
Demona's
small smile became a large smile. "I can hardly wait. I suspect we already think alike."
"All
the better for our continued partnership.
After all, we have a world to save, Demona. These insects are raping and killing Mother Earth. This cannot be tolerated."
"We
have a deal, then."
"That
we do. We are sisters in this, you and
I. And I feel we both already know how
tolerant the other is about being disappointed." The intruder turns and fades away, leaving a sickly-sweet smell
behind... and a small, leather bound
book. Demona picked it up and opened
it, finding information written in flowing script about the castle, the men and
women guarding it, the technological defenses, layout... every minute detail about the castle Demona
could ever wish to know. Demona found
herself impressed despite her original misgivings about dealing with someone as
committed as her new ally. "Well,
well... she certainly does her
homework. Very well, my liege... I thank you for giving me a true calling to
follow. But if you betray that calling,
I shall destroy you."
Later that month
Richard
looked down at the water below the pier, and then back up at Lanara.
"Ready to do some fishing?"
Lanara
folded her wings and looked down at the water. "Last time I was out here I
was thrown in." she mused, frowning. "It was cold."
"Well,
nobody's going to be throwing anybody in tonight." Richard reassured her.
He handed the girl a pole and took one of his own. "I've got to get used
to doing it the old fashioned way again."
Lanara
smiled and nodded. "Nothing's ever really cold to me anymore, so I'm not
worried. I'm just a little scared to get near water... since... "
Richard
nodded in understanding. "Maybe if I catch fish this way, it'll keep my
shark's instincts under control."
Jeffrey
watched the two gargoyles a little dubiously. "Do you really expect to
catch something?"
"It's
worth a short." Lanara offered.
"Well,
this is New York." Jeffrey contributed. "You might pull out a fish
with three eyes."
Lanara
laughed. "How true."
Richard
only shrugged. "Besides, fishing isn't just to catch anything... it's to relax, reflect, and calm
oneself."
Jeffrey
made a noise. "The docks in the middle of the night are not the place I
would have chosen."
"Nobody
comes here. It's quiet." Lanara pointed out. "I just wish my father
had taught me to fish and things when I was little."
"I
suppose... " Jeffrey acquiesced.
Lanara
motioned for him to sit down, and Richard made room for him. He sat down on the
other side on Lanara. Something made Lanara's ears twitch, and her head
swiveled as she looked around them...
"Richard... did you hear
something?"
Richard
turned and looked as a group of eight men started walking towards them, holding
rifles. "If it's not one thing, it's another... " he muttered to
himself.
"This... is not good." Jeffrey observed numbly.
"We're
surrounded!" Lanara immediately began to take stock of the situation.
Lanara noted that the peer was too close to the water. "No room to get any
height for gliding. HIT 'EM!"
Richard
did - moving into a crouching run. At this point Jeffrey seriously considered
jumping off the pier. Lanara snarled, ready to jump into the fray. Richard's
claws and teeth found flesh, and he scattered the attackers as gunshots began
to ring out. He pushed some off into the water, others he hurled away like
Frisbees, but the ones he never saw were the ones coming up to the pier through
the water in scuba gear. Lanara was ready to spring when she suddenly felt a
jab in her hip. Richard pounded his way through the men, his fists breaking
bones and rupturing organs. It wasn't until the fight was over that he noticed
that Lanara was nowhere to be seen. Richard searched the pier madly, looking
around wildly. "LANARA!!!" he bellowed.
Jeffrey
cowered nervously. "She's gone."
"No!!!"
Richard exclaimed, resisting the urge to tell Jeffrey what a worthless waste of
blood he was, because he knew - deep down - that Jeffrey was not a fighter and
that Richard's rage was at those who took Lanara from him, not at Jeffrey.
Frustrated, Richard turned and leapt into the water, training his sense of
smell to pick up Lanara's scent. Jeffrey felt like he was being watched.
Meanwhile,
perched on a nearby rooftop, a dark shadow waited. She had watched the whole
exchange go down, and was now smiling with satisfaction.
