by Clan LeFemme (clanlefemme@hotmail.com)
written by Firedancer (grbachnick.koberkat@verizon.net)
The red gargess watched from the corner of the room as the younger gargoyles took part in their usual nightly
antics. A half smile came to her lips, but it faded after only a few seconds and she looked outside with a sigh. After a
few minutes more, the need to get out and by herself became too strong, and she pushed her way through the
growing crowd towards the doors. One young male named Nick snuck up behind intent on pouncing her, but she
spun and growled at him, warning him to back off. He blinked in surprise but left the older gargess alone.
Finally she was out back, but the noise and lights from inside still bombarded her senses and need for peace. With a
quick climb up the side of their home, she was airborne and soon the laughter and shouts of her friends were but a
memory. For several hours the lone gargess glided, enjoying the feel of the warm currents rushing past her body
and lifting her higher. After altering her course some, she headed out over the Pacific Ocean and swooped in low
over the water, daring the waves to reach up and touch her.
The moon was full and hanging high above the water to the west. A single moonbeam stretched from the shore
towards the moon, like a path to the heavens themselves. The stars twinkled at her from above and glittered their
reflections from the water below her. When her flight came to an end, she landed on an empty beach and sat in the
sand watching the waves for awhile. She had been raised here along the ocean. There were many good memories
here, and many painful ones too.
Trying to block the painful ones, she stood and began to gather the large number of driftwood left over from the last
storm, into a large pile. When she had formed a large rectangular fire pit she raised her hand and pointed it at the
soaking wood. The wood resisted for only a brief moment, and then her powers overtook it and the whole thing burst
into flames.
Using her gift, she made the pile burn hot and fast until half the pile had been reduced to glowing hot embers in the
sand. Flames still reached several feet into the air though and after shedding her clothing, the gargess stepped into
the flames. Her head dropped back, eyes closed, as a sigh escaped her lips. The flames kissed her skin and then
curled up her legs, leaving her shivering in pleasure from its hot touch.
Slowly she began to walk within her fiery realm, her every move causing the currents within to pick up as the
flames reached higher into the sky. When her body was completely encased by the fire, she began to dance.
She twisted and whirled seeking the hottest currents, ducking low at some points and then leaping up at other
times. She was trying to forget, but she couldn't, and despite not wanting to do it, a figure of a man began to take
shape in the fire. Tears would have run down her face if it had been possible, and a small sob escaped her chest as
the fire-man walked towards her and ran a "hand" along her cheek.
"Alec" she whispered as his arms closed around her and they stood together in the flames. Up above, along the highway, two officers noticed the fire from down below and pulled off. "Probably another bunch of
kids drinkin' around a bonfire again," the one man sighed as he slipped his club into its ring.
"You'd think they would be smart enough to make them small so they don't get our attention Tim," the other
chuckled.
Both men made their way to the rocks that led down to the beach and froze when they caught sight of the fire. "You
seein' what I'm seein' Mike?"
"Damn, the stories really were true," the man named Mike finally breathed, awe-struck.
"What stories?"
"Remember that gargoyle that used to be a firefighter? Well she had disappeared for nearly a month. Then she
turned up in some lab or something. Sicko was experimenting on her....anyways she went into seclusion after that
cause he'd done something into her. Harry, up at the Malibu fire station said she couldn't be burned or something.
Some say she breathes fire, or you'll get burnt if you touch her."
His partner didn't say anything for awhile as he just stared at the gargoyle encased in the flames. She seemed to
just stand there for a long time, a pillar of fire nearly wrapped around her. Then she finally began to move, the pillar
following her. It took him a moment but suddenly he realized that the pillar was really an imitation of a man.
"Wh-Who's that?" Tim asked running his hands through his short hair in disbelief.
"A young firefighter named Alec. They worked together and rumor had it that they loved each other. A few even
hinted that she was pregnant by him, but she supposedly lost the baby when she was being experimented on."
"Your kidding me," he asked skeptically.
Mike just shrugged. "Oh you know how rumors are, it's probably not even true, like half of them about her aren't.
But I do know that Alec was killed the night they found her, and people heard her cry of anguish for miles around."
He caught another skeptical look and nodded. "Didn't believe it myself but I guess shots were being fired, and
several units of police were called to the scene. Joe and Frank were there, and both said there wasn't a dry eye
around after they all heard that."
"Frank?" Tim asked in surprise. Frank was notorious in the department for his cool demeanor in every situation.
He never let anything get to him emotionally, even when his partner had been shot once. With nothing left to say
Tim just turned and looked down below a sadness filling his heart as he watched the gargoyle dance.
Oblivious to her audience up above she and "Alec" danced through the flames, until they began to die down. Finally
she looked up at the figure of her once living lover and swallowed. "I wish I could have shown you this," she
whispered. In her mind's eyes she could see Alec give that half crooked grin and run his hands through her hair
reassuring her it was ok. The fire- Alec did the same thing and she managed to smile back, a small weight lifting
from her heart for the first time in a long time. Then he leaned forward and placed a hot kiss on her forehead and
she swore she heard the figure whisper to her.
"Be happy again."
Smiling, she stepped back and the figure melted back into the random flickering of the dying flames. Stepping from
the fire she held her hands out again and the flames seemed to curl around them and disappear. Covering the
glowing embers over with sand she walked towards the water an d stepped in. Stea m rose around her as the water
began to cool her fevered skin, and she chuckled, slightly amused at how hot her body had become.
After dressing she looked over the remains of the fire one last time memories of her firedance still vivid. She
looked up to see two men in police uniforms rooted in place, and laughed. So they had seen that the rumors were
true. They had seen the Firedancer. With a wave, she climbed up onto a large boulder and took to the sky.
She began to head back to the gargoyles' home. But she felt a longing to go elsewhere. She enjoyed the Clan, but
they were all considerably younger than her. All except Jen that was. But she had hidden away long enough.
Tonight she had discovered what it was to live again, and she was born to live life on the edge and seek adventure.
It was time for her to leave. It was time for her to find her happiness again.
Deciding to take a few of her personal things with her, she headed back and before walking upstairs, motioned for
Jen to join her. The leader watched as she began packing a few things and sighed. "Will you be returning Fire?"
Fire thought about that and then nodded. "Someday my friend. But I need to leave. I've run from who I am long
enough, now I need to find and make a new life for myself."
"Where will you go?"
"East," came the immediate reply. "I don't know why, but I have this urge to go east."
"Stay the day here with us one last time and then head out tomorrow evening. The others will want to say goodbye,"
Jen said finally, respecting her decision to leave.
Fire agreed to the leader's wish and spent the remaining hour before dawn, bidding the others farewell. With pack
in hand she took her place on the roof with the others, gradual excitement at what lay ahead growing within her.
As the sun peaked over the horizon she was frozen in her stone sleep, memories of Alec filling her dreams. But this
time the sadness was replaced by a happiness that she was finally moving on. And Fire knew that somewhere, he
was smiling.
The End