Previously:
Kyra always thought Faith was over-rated. Everyone says
that Faith will lead you on the right path. Kyra took care of herself since
she was twelve. She believed in herself, but there was no such thing as
Faith, unless it was in others. She had complete faith in her friends,
she knew they would always be there when she needed them most, if they
weren't there, she didn't need them at that moment.
Everyone, well, almost everyone, has absolute faith in one person, this person is called their hero. Kyra had yet to have a hero because she could never have absolute faith. She didn't depend solely on herself, she just had faith in so many people she could never have more faith in one person than another.
Kyra was nearly seventeen when she was proven wrong, well, three months from it. It had been over nine years since she was taken to New York with Kirstie. As the sun shone brightly, Kyra began sketching a picture from her memory. It was her family. She drew herself, Kirstie, her Uncle White Feather, Lenoya, and stopped. That was all the family she knew as a human, she no longer acknowledged her parents as part of that family. She never really liked her father, and because of her abandoning Kyra and Kirstie, half-despised her mother.
Angela said Kyra shouldn't be angry with her mother for leaving, but Kyra refused to listen. What did she know? Her father wanted her to be with him, Kyra's father acted as if she were forced upon him and he didn't want her. And no one listened to an eleven year old girl when she said she had family, especially since that family wasn't registered anywhere; the tribe wasn't part of the nation.
"Kyra, you okay up there?" Elisa asked, looking up at the tower Kyra was on.
"I'm fine, just thinking." Kyra called.
"Well, it's getting late, you might want to come down soon, You don't want to stay up there all day, do you?" Elisa asked. "Ryujin probably misses you."
Kyra shrugged.
"Kyra, that happened over nine years ago, Kirstie's gotten over it, why haven't you?" Elisa replied.
"Because I'm not Kirstie." Kyra said and went on sketching. I'm nothing like Kirstie. I bet if she saw mom tomorrow she would run right into her arms, but I'd run the other way. To my real family, the ones that care about me. She sketched Brooklyn, Elisa, Goliath and the others into the picture. Then she sketched a picture alone of her and Ryujin: the family she wanted to have someday. If he'd let her.
That night, Kyra stayed in her room for four hours. Everyone knew she was upset and Goliath knew what about. In a few months she would turn seventeen, a reminder of her parents, the two people she hated most. After nine o' clock, they started worrying if she would come down at all. Ryujin had come up and she wouldn't even see him.
"Kyra must be really upset tonight, I wonder what's wrong." Lexington said.
"It's almost her birthday..." Elisa reminded him.
"She doesn't want to get older? Isn't she a little young for that?" Ryujin asked, hiking a brow.
"No, it's not that, Ryujin. Her parents abandoned her." Brooklyn told him.
A few minutes later, Kyra came down and went straight out. Goliath didn't even finish calling her name before she was out the door and in the courtyard.
"I don't think she's done sulking." Broadway said after Kyra left, looking at the slammed door sullenly.
Ryujin narrowed his eyes, "She's not sulking without someone to tell her how childish she's acting." he said and went down to follow her. He could sense her aura and tell what general area she was over.
Kyra went flying to get her mind off her worries, seeing all of the bright lights and feeling the breeze whip at her hair always made her feel better. She saw so much that night she knew she would never see more in any other night. Kyra lost her bearings for a while and noticed she had drifted into the east territory, it was forbidden, and she knew she wouldn't get out without a fight.
She decided to see what Micheal was up to and flew over his usual hang-out spots. She found him in an alley, messing with some little kid. Kyra assumed the boy wasn't in the gang, he was only five or six years old. "Mikey, when will you learn?" she asked him. Of course Kyra was too far up for him to hear, so she decided to go and tell him so he could.
Kyra went down and landed on a rooftop to the right of Micheal and the three boys who were helping him pester the small ebony-haired boy. "Leave me alone!" the child yelled. "You big ol' bullies!" He spoke well for a five year old human.
"Oh brother, this kid's a riot, thinks he's a big tough guy." A tough leather-clad boy said laughingly. It was Carlos, he was always more talk than action, Kyra wasn't too worried about him.
"You're pretty far from home kid, the brat house is on the other side of the city." Micheal joked. He always called the orphanage the "brat house".
Unable to take anymore of watching Micheal and his thugs pick on a little boy, Kyra swooped down into a nearby alley and changed into a human, dressed in the usual denim jacket, black jeans, and dark red shirt, the knees in the jeans were torn by her gargoyle form, making her look tougher. She didn't want to scare the little boy, so she reminded herself to keep her anger to a minimum, so her true self wouldn't show. She ran into the alley Micheal and the thugs were in and knocked the thugs away from Micheal.
"Why don't you go home Mikey? I'm sure someone there misses you." she said sarcastically, hands on her hips for enthusiasm.
"Stay out of this, Kyra, it doesn't concern you." Micheal said roughly.
"It does if you're bothering someone out of your gang." Kyra told him, "And unless you're recruiting a little younger this year, I think you'd better go." Watch it girl, you're getting angry. she warned herself.
"This isn't your territory, Kyra, whatever I do here is my business." Micheal protested, his dark eyes were near slits of anger. Kyra shook her head, wondering how on earth she thought Ryujin was Micheal when she first saw him.
"Go or I'll make it my business. I still haven't gotten revenge for the leg incident." she reminded him slyly. She smiled mock cruelty, he knew what she was capable of.
"Fine, I'll get you for this later, so watch your back." Micheal threatened as he and the thugs left.
"Watch yours, Mikey." she called his bluff as he turned a corner. Kyra checked the child for any injuries, though she doubted there would be any. Micheal was a jerk, but even he wouldn't hurt a kid. "Are you all right?" she asked the boy. He nodded shyly. "My name's Kyra, what's yours?"
"I'm Ryan." he told her. She couldn't take her eyes off the coal-black mop of hair on his head, it was hardly combed, with a little sweep of bangs over on the right. It was a Dennis the Menace cut if ever she saw one. His brown eyes were dark and haunting.
"Do you live near here, Ryan?" Kyra asked softly. He nodded shyly again, Kyra could tell he wasn't big on talking to strangers. That was good in New York, but she needed to know things to help him. "Are you close enough to walk home?"
He shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't sure where he was, she could tell from his eyes. "Do you know your address?" He shook his head. "How about your phone number?" He nodded. "Then I'll take you to the police building, my friend there can call your mom or dad and they come and take you home. I'll even have someone get you an ice cream, would you like that?" she held her hand out to Ryan, he took it uncertainly and Kyra led him to the police station.
"Hi, kid, what are you doing here?" Morgan asked as Kyra led Ryan in.
"I found a lost boy, is Elisa or Matt here?" Kyra answered.
"Sure Elisa just came in with an arrest, three boys vandalizing on the east side of town." Morgan replied, "Sure is a lot of trouble over there lately."
"More than you know." Kyra said quietly as she took Ryan over to Elisa.
"Kyra! What's wrong?" Elisa asked.
"I found this little guy getting bothered by Micheal and three boys from his gang." Kyra answered, "He knows he lives on the east side, but he doesn't know his address."
"Poor kid, I hate it when this stuff happens, this isn't the best city for a child to get lost in" Elisa remarked, "Any way to find his parents?"
"He knows his phone number." Kyra replied helpfully.
"How about his last name, I have to know what to call the answerer by." Elisa said.
"Ryan, what's your full name?" Kyra asked gently.
"Ryan Gregory Terrison." Ryan answered. He was pretty smart!
"Finally something to go by, what's your phone number Ryan?" Elisa asked him.
"Five two five, seven and twenty and four." Ryan answered slowly. Elisa dialed the number and waited for the connection. It rang three times before a woman picked it up. She sounded worried.
"Hello? Ryan?" she asked frantically.
"Are you Mrs. Terrison?" Elisa asked.
"Yes." The woman answered, "Who's this?"
"I'm Elisa Maza, a detective for the New York police." Elisa said.
"Oh my God, is Ryan hurt?" Mrs. Terrison exclaimed.
"Your son Ryan is fine ma'am, he just got lost. A teen girl found him and brought him to the station." Elisa replied calmly, "You can come down and get him right now, there are no problems."
"Thank you, I'll be right there." The lady hung up immediately.
Elisa guessed she would be there in five minutes with two speeding tickets. Kyra guessed three and six. They were both wrong, she was there in seven minutes, with no tickets, she really knew the streets and took the unclogged side roads the whole way.
"Ryan!" she cried as she ran to him, "I was looking all over for you!"
"I'm sorry, mommy." Ryan said meekly.
"Was there any trouble?" Mrs. Terrison asked.
"No, not at all, he was very helpful." Elisa answered.
"Where's the girl that found him?" Mrs. Terrison asked. "I want to thank her."
"She was just here." Elisa said looking around, "Has anyone seen Kyra?"
"I think she went home a few minutes ago." Matt said from a desk.
"Kyra? Is that her name?" Mrs. Terrison asked.
"Yeah, she's really a great kid, she always brings in lost kids and reports cats stuck in trees and all that other stuff." Matt answered. "She's probably going into Police Academy eventually."
"Out of curiosity, why do you ask?" Elisa asked.
"Oh nothing, I just have a daughter with that name, but there must be hundreds of Kyra's in the country." Mrs. Terrison answered.
"Well it couldn't be our Kyra, she's a Kutenai Native." Elisa replied.
"I left a branch of the Kutenai when my daughter was seven, she went to God knows what city in New York with her father and twin sister." Mrs. Terrison said. "I've been looking for her, but the adoption agency said she ran away from her foster family."
"Matt, go and get Kyra, now." Elisa said quickly.
"Right. Why?" Matt asked.
"Just go, hurry!" Elisa answered.
"Fine, I'll be back in a few." Matt went to the castle.
Kyra was talking to Angela, telling her about Ryan and how Micheal tried to threaten her, but failed miserably. Ryujin had come up from being on her tail all night. He was not happy that she'd nearly gotten into a streetfight.
"Really, Kyrana, of all the reckless, thoughtless things you've done lately..." he started.
"Hey, Kyra, Elisa wants to talk to you down at the station." Matt called from the doorway.
"Sure, I'll be back in a few minutes, guys." Kyra said as she went, grateful for the interruption.
"Take your time, Elisa may have something important for you to do." Goliath told her.
"Wait for me... you're not leaving my sight for the rest of the night!" Ryujin yelled and followed her. He put his sword in her room on the way down.
When Kyra got to the station, Mrs. Terrison was still there. Ryan was playing with a rubber stamp, he put red 'Classified' stamps all over a sheet of notebook paper.
"Kyrana, this is Mrs. Terrison, Ryan's mother, you may know her." Elisa told her.
"Kyrana? You don't usually call me that Elisa, you must have picked it up off Ryu." Kyra said, slanting a glance to her companion. She looked at the woman a minute. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize her."
"Well, she's changed since you were a little girl, she heard about Kirsten and you being here." Elisa hinted.
"You're kidding, you mean she's..." Kyra didn't dare finish. Ryujin gripped her hand instinctivly, sensing her fear.
"Kyra, meet Daline Kirri-Terrison, your mother." Elisa finished.
"I don't believe it." Matt gasped.
"I don't want to." Kyra said angrily.
"Kyra, don't start that again." Elisa warned.
"I've got a right to, Elisa. She abandoned Kirsten and me to be taken to New York where I was thrown in a orphanage at twelve, fostered by people who treated me like I was Cinderella, and on top of that I was forced to live on the streets for three years, nearly killed countless times by three different people, and through all that time I never even got a birthday card from her!" Kyra exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, Kyrana, but I couldn't keep you both, and you and Kirsten shouldn't be separated." Daline replied.
"Well, since we were twelve we've barely seen anything of each other except at school, and we're graduating." Kyra said roughly, back turned from her.
"If you were on the street for three years, then why aren't you now?" Daline asked.
"Because I met some people that really care about me and want me around." Kyra told her, her back still turned with Ryujin's arm around her. He was muttering things about her being foolish again.
"Who?" Daline asked.
"A few of them are on the roof, waiting for her. I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Matt answered.
"I told them not to follow me. What if QM's saw them?" Kyra said curtly. "And I don't want her up there."
"I'll go and ask if they would mind her." Elisa said staring harshly at her.
"Where's Kirstie staying?" Daline asked.
"At the foster's, they've had her since she was twelve." Kyra answered. "Of course now she's going to college after this summer."
"Kyra, I think you're wanted up on the roof. No Ryujin." Elisa said firmly. Kyra knew Goliath wanted to talk, and she was in trouble because Ryujin would have taken her side in an argument despite his own loss of family. She reluctantly went up. Everyone but Hudson and Bronx was there, Kyra was in real trouble.
"Kyra, I heard about how you're acting down there. What's wrong with you?" Goliath asked concernedly. "You're a street kid, and I expect you to have an attitude. I can deal with that easily, because there's a good excuse for it, but what you did down there has no good excuse."
"Yes it does, a good one." Kyra protested.
"And what is that?" Goliath asked straightly. Kyra could tell he wouldn't take any excuse as a good one in this matter.
"She abandoned Kirstie and me to be raised by my father. Normally I wouldn't mind, but he wasn't like you, he barely paid any attention to us." Kyra answered.
"That's not an excuse, she is your mother." Angela replied.
"Demona's your mother, I don't see you calling her that too often." Kyra told her.
"That's different, at least..." Angela faded, "Ok, you've got a point, some people aren't meant to be parents."
"But you should give your mother a second chance." Brooklyn suggested, "After all, she probably came to New York because she was looking for you."
"I doubt it, she's got a little kid, five years old." Kyra shook her head disappointedly. "She got remarried and had another kid! I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot totally about me until she heard Elisa say my name."
"What about Kirstie?" Lexington asked.
"I'm sure she remembered Kirstie, she was her favorite. I was always the little mischief causer, a trouble maker; Kirstie was obedient and sweet." Kyra answered.
"Kind of the total opposite twin huh?" Broadway asked.
"Pretty much, I was on a horse before some of the boys, Mom and Dad barely noticed, White Feather was so proud of me. Kirstie learned to walk way after I did, and Mom was all over her with affection and praise, she barely even noticed me. I was more White Feather's than my parents'." Kyra answered sadly, kicking absently at a stone.
"I didn't pay much attention to you on that horse because the girls aren't supposed to ride hunting ponies. I couldn't pay attention to it, it was against tribal rules." Daline said, coming up with Elisa, "And I praised Kirstie so much because she's a slow learner and needed the encouragement to do better. Actually, you were my favorite, you always took chances. Whatever the boys did, you were the first to do it, you were always the first. And I was very proud of you."
"You could have told me." Kyra said stubbornly, crossing her arms. She wished Ryujin was behind her then, instead of just coming up. He moved past everyone and immediately smiled to cheer her up.
"I never had a chance. You were always somewhere playing or fighting." Daline told her. "So I'm telling you now, everything you ever did was the best thing in the world to me."
"I just wish you had told me before, all this time I had a grudge against you because I thought you ignored what I did on purpose." Kyra replied.
"Your father may not have liked either of you, but I loved you both. I just couldn't keep you, tribal law said the father took the children when divorce occurred." Daline told her, "I wanted you to stay, I really did."
"I wish my mother was this nice." Angela said with pretend jealousy.
"Hey, you've got a nice father, Kyra's got a nice mother, it balances out. It's rare to have both." Brooklyn said.
"I have both, and nice siblings too." Elisa told him.
"That's because Fate likes you." Kyra told her, both she and Ryujin smirked. "Except for the Demona thing." Kyra added.
"Thanks for reminding me." Elisa said sarcastically.
"So what's happened all this time?" Daline asked. "I can tell it's a long story, but Ryan doesn't need to go home for bed for another two hours."
"We can go to Eyrie Tower and talk, there's a bed in my room he can sleep on if he gets tired." Kyra told her.
"You live up here?" Daline asked as they came out onto the castle courtyard. It took a little talking, but Xanatos had let her and Ryan up. Ryan asked to play with Alexander, but pouted when he was told it was the toddler's bedtime.
"Of course. With all the enemies I have, it's the only safe place for me. I'm rarely here for more than an hour in the daylight hours, though." Kyra told her.
"Enemies? I wonder how you got enemies." Daline replied sarcastically. "You've always been so easy to get along with."
"Now I know where Kyra gets it from." Brooklyn sighed, shaking his head.
"When I ran away I joined the gang of my former friend, who happened to get a hormone overload, every girl belonged to a boy in the gang, but the best girl was his. For three years, that was me." Ryujin looked a bit upset at hearing that, she'd never told him the story before.
"Nice boy." Daline said, frowning and leaning casually on a parapet.
"Yeah remind me to have a "talk" with him sometime, huh, Kyrana?" Ryujin added.
"You're a little late, Brook's had the honors." Kyra told him.
"But who's this Demona I heard about?" Daline asked.
"When I was just fresh in the gang, the boy, Micheal, called me in to talk to his so-called friend, a gargoyle named Demona. The other gargoyles were staying up here with David Xanatos. Demona told me about this big plan to get rid of some clan of gargoyles that was bothering her, I was young and naive enough to partly fall for it. I was trained well enough to defeat a gargoyle, but it backfired on Micheal, because the first gargoyle I met wasn't the one I was supposed to get, so I talked with him instead of fighting and learned why Micheal's "friend" really wanted the gargoyles out of the city. I became friends with them and ever since have helped them keep Micheal and Demona from killing them off or Savarrius from sending them to a lab to be dissected. Though that never happens anymore."
"Who's Savarrius?" Daline asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A scientist. A few months ago, I met a cruel gargoyle named Phalog, he was a clone of Goliath that Savarrius made. Appearances was where the similarities stopped immediately. Phalog tried to make me a member of his clan, but I won and still live here with Goliath's clan, but Phalog still tries. I also went to a legendary island, Avalon, with Angela and the trio, where I met Angela's umm... brothers and sisters. Then we went to Africa, where we saved a cheetah family from being kept in a lab by Savarrius, then went to the tribe's reservation to save Culostel from Micheal and let me patch things up with Lenoya."
"Bout time, Kyra. It's been, what? At least a decade since you two spoke?" Daline replied.
"Funny, mom. After that we got shipwrecked and I met Ryujin." Kyra paused to check her mind for anything she missed.
"She also has about a million pets!" Brooklyn picked up.
"Just six, and two of them I barely see." Kyra told him, slanting a narrowed eyed glance at her friend and smirking.
"Pets, where?" Ryan asked enthusiastically.
"Over in that corner, there's four dogs, and I'll show you the other two pets tomorrow afternoon if mom lets me." Kyra told him and he ran to play with Cana, Lupus, Nip, and Fang. "Be gentle with Fang, he's a little to wild to play rough."
"Just what are those pets?" Daline asked.
"I have three wolves, a mixed dog, a dolphin, and a Peregrine falcon." Kyra answered.
"And two other wolves that Kirstie and her friend have." Angela added.
"You do love animals don't you?" Daline asked.
"I should, I have three animal spirit guardians." Kyra told her.
"Which ones?" Daline asked curiously. "No one in the tribe has more than two spirits."
"The wolf, for my running speed and endurance, the dolphin for my ability to swim deep and fast, and the falcon for, well..." Kyra faded. Should I tell her?
Ryujin whispered in her ear. "Families shouldn't have secrets..."
"Falcon? Why would you have the falcon, you already have the wolf for speed, you don't fly.".
"Well, she can, sometimes." Goliath answered.
"What?" Daline was definitely surprised.
"Better show her, Kyra." Brooklyn told Kyra.
"Do I have to?" she asked, "It scares the heck outta people usually." she rubbed her arm. "And I get cramps."
"Do it." Elisa said, "It's easier than explaining."
Kyra concentrated on her jewel and felt a light engulf her. When the light faded, she had changed to her true self, changing always gave her a fright because of the sudden added strength.
"I can barely believe it." her mother gasped.
"Barely?" Kyra asked, "Then you do?"
"Well, you always did things that seemed inhumanly possible." Daline answered, "I guessed the reason would show itself sooner or later."
"I got it from dad, long story. It's the one thing he's given me that's good." Fang ran over and jumped in Kyra's arms, "I think he likes me better like this." she said, as he wiggled to get his nose up to her face. He gave her a quick lick and jumped down.
"He's just hyper. I think someone snuck sugar into his dog biscuits or something." Elisa replied. "Actually, out of all the animals you have, I think Fang's the most like you."
"I am not hyper, I'm just easily excited." Kyra defended herself.
Ryujin just smirked and laughed, "That's an understatement!"
"Well, you certainly seem hyper when there's a fight." Brooklyn told her, "If it's someone you really hate, you can't wait to beat them to a pulp."
"Can you blame me?" Kyra asked, "It happens when you never lose. As soon as I start losing more than a battle a year, I'll be more careful, until then, I'm reckless."
"Wait, you've been fighting? Since when?" Daline asked.
"Since I left the gang." Kyra answered, "Actually, I do more fighting now that I'm out than when I was in."
"Speaking of fighting, there's a lot of trouble down in the east side tonight. Elisa, I need your help." Matt said from a door.
"Sure Matt, I'll be right out." Elisa replied and went down after saying goodbye.
"Trouble on the east side means trouble for us, that's where the real dangerous people are." Kyra remembered.
"Think it's Demona?" Brooklyn asked urgingly.
"Maybe, then again, maybe not, it could be Phalog looking for revenge. Or even Micheal, working off his anger from being humiliated by me in front of three of the toughest gang boys." Kyra answered.
"Kyra, you've got to stay off Micheal's bad side once in a while." Angela told her.
"I know, but everytime I decide to lay off him for a while, he does something stupid I can't ignore." Krya replied tiredly.
She was getting tired of people always telling her to lay off Micheal, they'd feel differently if they knew him the way she did. The only Micheal Kyra knew was an inhuman, evil, cold-hearted, hormone driven, devil of a boy. No, scratch that, he made the devil look like an angel when he was really bad. The only faith Kyra had in Micheal was faith in his predictability, it was the only reason she had been able to beat him so many times. Demona was unpredictable, Kyra knew it would take more than a battle to defeat her.
Everyone else saw Micheal as a human, a bad human, but a human. Kyra just thought of him as a demon boy, the perfect helper for Demona. Which was all he was, he never really came up with a plan that worked to keep me for more than a day, Demona came up with the real plans. That was why Kyra was determined to get those two away from each other quickly, or she would be in more trouble than Micheal was worth.
Kyra felt a shudder, not emotional, but physical. Ryujin's arms tightened around her protectively without him realizing it. "What the...?" That was as far as she got. The shudder ended just as she went into silence.
"What was that?" Brooklyn asked frantically.
"Earthquake, but it's over." Ryujin answered. "Pretty strong for New York, especially on an island." he realized.
"Exactly, maybe there's more than gang riots going on in the east territory." Goliath decided.
"You mean?" Kyra didn't need to finish.
"Demona's playing around with magic again?" Brooklyn finished.
"Mom, I've got to go help them." Kyra said and jumped up on a parapet as the guys left. Ryujin cleared his throat. "What? Kyra said innocently and blinked. Then grinned and pointed to a hang glider. "I can't carry you everywhere."
"Be careful, sweetheart." Daline said and Fang jumped in Kyra's arms. She took off immediately.
Kyra landed behind Brooklyn and yelled as loud as she could: "Hey!"
He yelled in fright and jumped. Kyra couldn't help but giggle and smile.
"Kyra..." Goliath warned.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." Kyra replied, still smiling and supressing laughter. Ryujin landed a few feet away and laughed.
"I know, that's what I like about you." It wasn't Goliath, it sounded like him, but Goliath would never say that. It got rid of Kyra's laughter immediately.
"We were wrong about Demona, it's not her." Kyra declared, changing back to a human form so she could fight with more agility. Ryujin ditched the glider and walked angrily between Kyra and the clones.
"Oh man, I really don't feel like fighting with myself tonight." Brooklyn replied. By that he meant he didn't want to fight with his clone. His sense of humor definitely needed work. But Brooklyn had a right to complain, Phalog had cured the clones of the gargoyle clan while the majority of it was gone.
"Don't you ever get tired of coming after me or the others?" Kyra asked tiredly. He was really getting on her nerves, he was the most persistent and annoying of all the enemies. Well, maybe close second to Micheal.
"No." Phalog answered simply.
"Why should he?" It was Delilah.
"Oh, where's Elisa when we need her?" Angela groaned. Delilah was a mix of Elisa and Demona's DNA, and only Elisa could beat her, since Elisa knew her physical weakness.
"We don't need Elisa, you beat Delilah in the first battle." Brooklyn told her.
"That was then, this is now." Angela said worriedly.
"Have a little confidence, girl." Kyra sighed and put her hand on Angela's shoulder to comfort her. Of all the clones, Angela hated Delilah the most.
"Besides, I'm here." Elisa said from behind a corner on the rooftop, she rounded it immediately.
"So am I." Matt added, "Though I doubt I could do much."
"All right! Take that Phalog!" Kyra exclaimed. "You're way outnumbered, you wouldn't dare attack now."
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Phalog sneered. "Take her!" he ordered and every single clone jumped at Kyra.
"All right now that was bad phrasing!" Kyra shouted as the clones attacked. Luckily they reached her one at a time and she kicked and punched each of them out of the way just before they got close enough to hurt her. Ryujin slashed at all of them, making them retreat twice as fast.
"You've been practicing." Goliath observed.
"Blame Mikey for that." Kyra replied, "He always sends a bunch of boys after me, so I'm used to a group attack."
The clones backed away as soon as they got to their feet, holding their slashed arms and tails. "Chickens." Brooklyn snickered, "Hey, you all right, Kyr?"
"Yeah, they didn't even touch me." Kyra joked.
"Yes, they did, at least one of them did." Elisa pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Goliath asked.
"She's bleeding!" Brooklyn noticed it too, he was the one who said it.
"Where!" Kyra gasped.
"Your left arm, it's got a slash on it." Ryujin told her, looking at it worriedly. She looked, he was right, it was deep, and bleeding terribly.
"Who did it?" Angela asked frantically. Kyra was her closest friend and she always worried about her.
"I don't know, they all attacked one after the other. I didn't pay that much attention." Kyra looked over at the clones, and saw the blood on Delilah's right hand. Delilah didn't have any cuts on her arm.
She had gotten through so quickly Kyra never even felt the pain. But she felt it then. Hot searing pain that flared with every drop of blood that seeped through. It never hurt that much when Kyra had gotten a slash like that from Demona. What had Delilah put on her claws to make it hurt so much?
Kyra winced and held the wound tightly, to keep more blood from getting out. Suddenly, she felt dizzy, she couldn't stay on her feet. She wobbled a little, and Ryujin caught her before she fell.
"What is it?" he asked worriedly.
"I don't know. Delilah put something in me, I'm so weak." she immediately slipped out of consciousness.
The gargoyles took Kyra to the castle immediately, Phalog had retreated right after she fainted. Brooklyn and Lexington hurried down into the building below the castle to get Xanatos. When Xanatos came up, Kyra was conscious but too weak to talk.
"What's wrong?" Xanatos asked. "These two only told me you needed me for something urgent."
"Kyra's been poisoned by a clone, we don't know what's in her, and we don't know if it's curable." Elisa answered worriedly.
"That is urgent." Xanatos said lightly, "So what do you think we should do?"
"You're the science genius." Brooklyn told him.
"Not really, I'd have to send a blood sample to a lab to figure out what poison Phalog used." Xanatos said. "Goliath, I know how you hate me messing with your clan, I need your permission to do this."
"Anything to make Kyra well again." Goliath agreed and Xanatos went in the building.
He came back up with a needle and drew a little blood from Kyra's arm, just below her bandaged injury. She winced. Ever since the vampire thing, Kyra had hated needles. Actually, she always hated needles, that just gave her an excuse. Ryujin held her hand and squeezed it.
"It'll take a half hour to find out what's wrong." Xanatos said and went down.
Elisa got a thoughtful look in her eyes and went inside, coming out with a thermometer. "We'd better see how sick the poison's making her." Kyra tried to resist biting on the foreign object in her mouth. Her temperature was a little above normal. "She's getting sick very slowly, that's good." Elisa observed, "It means the half hour it'll take to find out what's in her will leave more than enough time to find an antidote."
"If there is one." Brooklyn said sadly.
"Quit being a pessimist, Brooklyn." Angela told him, "Kyra will be fine." her voice was a little shaky on that sentence. Elisa called Goliath away from the others.
"What's wrong?" Goliath asked.
"Everyone's so worried, this could really hurt a lot of people if Kyra doesn't make it." Elisa answered worriedly.
"I know, but Kyra's a fighter, she'll make it." Goliath told her.
"Goliath, remember what happened a long time ago, when Demona thought she poisoned me? Remember what she said?" Elisa asked. "She said there was no antidote."
"So? The odds that Phalog found the exact same poison Demona tried to use on you are uncountable." Goliath answered.
"Uncountable, but they are there." Elisa replied, looking over at Ryujin..
"Don't worry so much." Goliath told her, "Demona may have been lying, after all, she thought she had killed you. Why would she say there was an antidote after the purpose of the poison had been carried out?"
"I hope you're right Goliath, I really do." Elisa said and went down to join Matt outside.
Meanwhile, Kyra was getting worse. Her breathing was getting very forced, and her pulse was weakening. Brooklyn and Angela were getting more and more worried, and angry.
"I can't stand waiting! How much longer?" Brooklyn asked, pounding his fist into a wall. It left a deep dent.
"Fifteen minutes or so." Lex answered, looking at a clock.
"That's fifteen minutes too long! She's getting worse!" Brooklyn shouted. "I'm going after Phalog... he'll know the cure."
"That's just what this Phalog person wants." Daline said, coming in the room. Elisa had called her and told her what happened to Kyra.
"But there's got to be a way to save her." Angela sighed.
"There is, but until we get the cure, we'll have to just give her medicine for the symptoms." Fox said, bringing in a tray of medicine.
"Yuk." Kyra said weakly.
"It's that or go unconscious again, and that's dangerous in your state." Fox sighed and gave Kyra the pills and needle.
"Yuk and ouch." Kyra said in the same tone as before. It made Brooklyn smile a little, which was what she wanted. She felt a little better after the medicine started working. "Well this means whatever's in me is curable." she said and smiled. "But that stuff still tastes like rotten juice."
Daline laughed. "You always did have a sense of humor in the toughest times."
"Hey it's better than groaning and being a pain in the butt." Kyra said and shrugged.
"Maybe you should get sick more often..." Brooklyn joked and went outside before Kyra could retort.
Ryujin was kneeling on a parapet, obviously weighing the consequences of leaving and not knowing how Kyra was doing and the benefit of hunting down Phalog and beating him into giving an antidote they wouldn't have to wait for... Brooklyn grimaced and thought the same thing over. They both happened to notice how upset Angela and Elisa looked, both the gargoyle and the human females of the clan were visibly stressed and concerned that the hybrid female might die. And they both cared too much to watch her suffer so badly. Ryujin and Brooklyn caught each other's eye and nodded, setting off immediately. Ryujin grabbed the hang glider and ran off while Brooklyn glided away.
"What if we don't find him in time?" Brooklyn asked when they'd covered about half the island.
"We will. Though I have an idea that he'll find us." Ryujin growled and they spotted movement on a rooftop... It wasn't Phalog, it was Demona. They landed a few rooftops away from her.
"Great..." Brooklyn sighed. "Dare we even consider asking her for help?"
"You said she helped against Phalog before..." Ryujin told him and frowned.
"Yeah, with Angela... she'd prefer to see Kyra dead." Brooklyn grumbled, his eyes glowing a little.
"No harm in asking." Ryujin reasoned.
"Yeah sure, why not? I could use a few more lazer burns etched in my memory..." Brooklyn sighed as the young man walked calmly to the side of the rooftop that faced Demona and called to her.
"What do you want?" Demona hissed, landing next to the human.
"Help." he answered simply.
"With what?" Demona crossed her arms.
"Phalog." Brooklyn muttered. That word sparked fire in the demoness's eyes.
"Now what did he do?" she snarled.
"He didn't exactly do it, but he had Delilah do it." Brooklyn told her.
"That freakish mixed creature? What did she do then?" Demona sighed, getting impatient.
"Because of her and Phalog, one of the clan may die before dawn..." Ryujin told her.
"Angela?!?"
"No... Kyra..." Brooklyn said resignedly.
Demona narrowed her eyes and they glowed. "What makes you think I'll help that half-breed?"
"Because Phalog's behind it and he'll probably go after Angela next." Ryujin crossed his arms and stared at her, "If we don't find Phalog and get the antivenom for whatever he had Delilah put through Kyra's system, in time to test it on Kyra, Angela will probably die next."
Demona's eyes faded back to normal. "Damn, I hate when humans are right... All right, I'll help you hunt the clones and find the antidote... but only to prevent it from happening to Angela!"
"Of course." Brooklyn growled then pointed eastward. "Did you happen to pass over that way yet?"
"No." Demona answered.
"Then let's go." Ryujin said and he and Demona glided off immediately. Brooklyn hung back and frowned, he touched the reciever in his ear.
"I don't like this, Elisa."
"Neither do I, but she knows him better than anyone else. Ryujin thought quickly... and he's right. Angela would be next, if not Goliath, then all of you eventually. Even her. She knows that." Elisa replied, glancing at the closed door that Kyra was resting behind. How much time do we have left?
Just then Xanatos came up with a grim look on his face. There was no possible way his labs could identify the poison's cure, they couldn't even identify the type of poison... They would need an extra day to separate it from the cells it had bonded to.
"That day won't be enough!" Elisa sighed, "Looks like those guys and Demona are Kyra's only hope... God, I hope we made the right choice dragging her into this..."
"Demona will do it for her child's sake, Detective. Being a parent changes a person." Xanatos said warmly and smiled a bit, then looked at the dark wooden door she was gazing worriedly at. "Still, time is running out."
Elisa looked at the horizon. "We've got only two hours until sunrise! After then the clones and the Gargoyles will be stone, Demona and Ryujin can't get information from a statue." she sighed, "We need a miracle..."
"The darkest times are usually the ones where a light of hope is needed. Just keep up faith, Detective, have you ever known the Gargoyles to let a person die when they can help it?" Xanatos asked then went inside to make sure his son wasn't flying around the room instead of sleeping.
"No," Elisa answered as the door closed behind him. "...but I've known Demona to."
Kyra groaned and opened her eyes, Ryujin was over her,
looking a bit worried. She tried to sit up but winced as her body screamed
in pain. She screamed with it and fell back unconsious again. Ryujin sat
her up carefully to check her wounds. Her back was bruised from the wall,
but it wasn't too bad... Her front was a different story. The clips to
hold his sword had cut up her chest and the backplate had proably broken
a rib or two. The top of her outfit was nearly torn off, it wouldn't be
safe to have her walking around in it. If she could even walk. He lowered
her back down and took off his armor, then his shirt, earning him a snort
from the red gargoyle.
"You got a problem?" Ryujin asked, looking up at
the gargoyle and hiking an eyebrow.
"Not at all. You'd just better put that shirt back
on before she wakes up again."
Ryujin shook his head and slipped the shirt over
Kyra's head. He picked her up and offered her to the red gargoyle. "Take
care of her."
It was the gargoyle's turn to hike an eyebrow. "You're
not coming?"
Ryujin shook his head again, this time strongly,
"I have to catch that jerk and stop him and his goons. Tell her goodbye
for me when she wakes up."
The three gargoyles behind the red one looked at
each other. The female sighed and frowned. Ryujin turned away and froze
in his tracks when he heard Kyra groan again. "Damn."
"Don't tell me you weren't even going to say goodbye
after everything that happened..." she asked weakly.
"I figured it would be best that way... Go home,
Kyrana... it's not safe for you and your friends here." Ryujin told her
emotionlessly without even turning around. He walked off without a glance
back.
Just then Kyra was launched up in the air by a well
placed kick. She landed on a stone gargoyle and broke it into pebbles and
fragments. She screamed in pain and tried to get up. Before she could,
Phalog got to her and slashed her again. She was caught right on the cheek
and rolled over to one side from the force. There was a silence that followed
for what seemed like eternity.
"That ended quickly." Phalog said smugly and turned
to walk away.
Just before Ryujin could stand up and attack Phalog
for killing Kyra, she moved slightly. Her hand grabbed a fragment of statue
and threw it with all her strength at Phalog's head. It caught him right
in the back and made him stagger. Kyra was famous for fighting until she
was dead or won. And she wasn't going to die.
She pulled herself up slowly and growled in pain.
"It's not over yet, you hunk-a-granite!" she steadied herself and leaned
on the remains of the statue she'd fallen through. Her whole body was bloodied,
stained red. Even her hair was matted with blood, it didn't catch the moonlight
at all.
"Kyra! Stop, you'll die if you keep going!" Angela
said desperately, stepping forward.
"This city is my home. And I don't think there's room for two feuding clans here." Kyra said, wiping blood out of her eyes.
Kyra laughed, "Sorry, I can't help what a negative
bloodcell count does to my body. How did you find me?" she looked around,
she was in an abandoned building, the one Ryujin had moved into.
"Brooklyn told me you always came to that river
when you were upset." Ryujin said concernedly. "Just what the hell was
that guy? I thought you said gargoyles are good!"
"It wasn't a real gargoyle. It was a clone of one
of them... he didn't like the side I was taking of things and we had a
slight argument. Well a carry-over argument from before I left."
"Kyra, you nearly died tonight! Can't those guys
fight without you?"
"They can't. That's the problem... They need me.
They're family." Kyra sighed.
Power of Faith
Everyone, well, almost everyone, has absolute faith in one person, this person is called their hero. Kyra had yet to have a hero because she could never have absolute faith. She didn't depend solely on herself, she just had faith in so many people she could never have more faith in one person than another.
Kyra was nearly seventeen when she was proven wrong, well, three months from it. It had been over nine years since she was taken to New York with Kirstie. As the sun shone brightly, Kyra began sketching a picture from her memory. It was her family. She drew herself, Kirstie, her Uncle White Feather, Lenoya, and stopped. That was all the family she knew as a human, she no longer acknowledged her parents as part of that family. She never really liked her father, and because of her abandoning Kyra and Kirstie, half-despised her mother.
Angela said Kyra shouldn't be angry with her mother for leaving, but Kyra refused to listen. What did she know? Her father wanted her to be with him, Kyra's father acted as if she were forced upon him and he didn't want her. And no one listened to an eleven year old girl when she said she had family, especially since that family wasn't registered anywhere; the tribe wasn't part of the nation.
"Kyra, you okay up there?" Elisa asked, looking up at the tower Kyra was on.
"I'm fine, just thinking." Kyra called.
"Well, it's getting late, you might want to come down soon, You don't want to stay up there all day, do you?" Elisa asked. "Ryujin probably misses you."
Kyra shrugged.
"Kyra, that happened over nine years ago, Kirstie's gotten over it, why haven't you?" Elisa replied.
"Because I'm not Kirstie." Kyra said and went on sketching. I'm nothing like Kirstie. I bet if she saw mom tomorrow she would run right into her arms, but I'd run the other way. To my real family, the ones that care about me. She sketched Brooklyn, Elisa, Goliath and the others into the picture. Then she sketched a picture alone of her and Ryujin: the family she wanted to have someday. If he'd let her.
That night, Kyra stayed in her room for four hours. Everyone knew she was upset and Goliath knew what about. In a few months she would turn seventeen, a reminder of her parents, the two people she hated most. After nine o' clock, they started worrying if she would come down at all. Ryujin had come up and she wouldn't even see him.
"Kyra must be really upset tonight, I wonder what's wrong." Lexington said.
"It's almost her birthday..." Elisa reminded him.
"She doesn't want to get older? Isn't she a little young for that?" Ryujin asked, hiking a brow.
"No, it's not that, Ryujin. Her parents abandoned her." Brooklyn told him.
A few minutes later, Kyra came down and went straight out. Goliath didn't even finish calling her name before she was out the door and in the courtyard.
"I don't think she's done sulking." Broadway said after Kyra left, looking at the slammed door sullenly.
Ryujin narrowed his eyes, "She's not sulking without someone to tell her how childish she's acting." he said and went down to follow her. He could sense her aura and tell what general area she was over.
Kyra went flying to get her mind off her worries, seeing all of the bright lights and feeling the breeze whip at her hair always made her feel better. She saw so much that night she knew she would never see more in any other night. Kyra lost her bearings for a while and noticed she had drifted into the east territory, it was forbidden, and she knew she wouldn't get out without a fight.
She decided to see what Micheal was up to and flew over his usual hang-out spots. She found him in an alley, messing with some little kid. Kyra assumed the boy wasn't in the gang, he was only five or six years old. "Mikey, when will you learn?" she asked him. Of course Kyra was too far up for him to hear, so she decided to go and tell him so he could.
Kyra went down and landed on a rooftop to the right of Micheal and the three boys who were helping him pester the small ebony-haired boy. "Leave me alone!" the child yelled. "You big ol' bullies!" He spoke well for a five year old human.
"Oh brother, this kid's a riot, thinks he's a big tough guy." A tough leather-clad boy said laughingly. It was Carlos, he was always more talk than action, Kyra wasn't too worried about him.
"You're pretty far from home kid, the brat house is on the other side of the city." Micheal joked. He always called the orphanage the "brat house".
Unable to take anymore of watching Micheal and his thugs pick on a little boy, Kyra swooped down into a nearby alley and changed into a human, dressed in the usual denim jacket, black jeans, and dark red shirt, the knees in the jeans were torn by her gargoyle form, making her look tougher. She didn't want to scare the little boy, so she reminded herself to keep her anger to a minimum, so her true self wouldn't show. She ran into the alley Micheal and the thugs were in and knocked the thugs away from Micheal.
"Why don't you go home Mikey? I'm sure someone there misses you." she said sarcastically, hands on her hips for enthusiasm.
"Stay out of this, Kyra, it doesn't concern you." Micheal said roughly.
"It does if you're bothering someone out of your gang." Kyra told him, "And unless you're recruiting a little younger this year, I think you'd better go." Watch it girl, you're getting angry. she warned herself.
"This isn't your territory, Kyra, whatever I do here is my business." Micheal protested, his dark eyes were near slits of anger. Kyra shook her head, wondering how on earth she thought Ryujin was Micheal when she first saw him.
"Go or I'll make it my business. I still haven't gotten revenge for the leg incident." she reminded him slyly. She smiled mock cruelty, he knew what she was capable of.
"Fine, I'll get you for this later, so watch your back." Micheal threatened as he and the thugs left.
"Watch yours, Mikey." she called his bluff as he turned a corner. Kyra checked the child for any injuries, though she doubted there would be any. Micheal was a jerk, but even he wouldn't hurt a kid. "Are you all right?" she asked the boy. He nodded shyly. "My name's Kyra, what's yours?"
"I'm Ryan." he told her. She couldn't take her eyes off the coal-black mop of hair on his head, it was hardly combed, with a little sweep of bangs over on the right. It was a Dennis the Menace cut if ever she saw one. His brown eyes were dark and haunting.
"Do you live near here, Ryan?" Kyra asked softly. He nodded shyly again, Kyra could tell he wasn't big on talking to strangers. That was good in New York, but she needed to know things to help him. "Are you close enough to walk home?"
He shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't sure where he was, she could tell from his eyes. "Do you know your address?" He shook his head. "How about your phone number?" He nodded. "Then I'll take you to the police building, my friend there can call your mom or dad and they come and take you home. I'll even have someone get you an ice cream, would you like that?" she held her hand out to Ryan, he took it uncertainly and Kyra led him to the police station.
"Hi, kid, what are you doing here?" Morgan asked as Kyra led Ryan in.
"I found a lost boy, is Elisa or Matt here?" Kyra answered.
"Sure Elisa just came in with an arrest, three boys vandalizing on the east side of town." Morgan replied, "Sure is a lot of trouble over there lately."
"More than you know." Kyra said quietly as she took Ryan over to Elisa.
"Kyra! What's wrong?" Elisa asked.
"I found this little guy getting bothered by Micheal and three boys from his gang." Kyra answered, "He knows he lives on the east side, but he doesn't know his address."
"Poor kid, I hate it when this stuff happens, this isn't the best city for a child to get lost in" Elisa remarked, "Any way to find his parents?"
"He knows his phone number." Kyra replied helpfully.
"How about his last name, I have to know what to call the answerer by." Elisa said.
"Ryan, what's your full name?" Kyra asked gently.
"Ryan Gregory Terrison." Ryan answered. He was pretty smart!
"Finally something to go by, what's your phone number Ryan?" Elisa asked him.
"Five two five, seven and twenty and four." Ryan answered slowly. Elisa dialed the number and waited for the connection. It rang three times before a woman picked it up. She sounded worried.
"Hello? Ryan?" she asked frantically.
"Are you Mrs. Terrison?" Elisa asked.
"Yes." The woman answered, "Who's this?"
"I'm Elisa Maza, a detective for the New York police." Elisa said.
"Oh my God, is Ryan hurt?" Mrs. Terrison exclaimed.
"Your son Ryan is fine ma'am, he just got lost. A teen girl found him and brought him to the station." Elisa replied calmly, "You can come down and get him right now, there are no problems."
"Thank you, I'll be right there." The lady hung up immediately.
Elisa guessed she would be there in five minutes with two speeding tickets. Kyra guessed three and six. They were both wrong, she was there in seven minutes, with no tickets, she really knew the streets and took the unclogged side roads the whole way.
"Ryan!" she cried as she ran to him, "I was looking all over for you!"
"I'm sorry, mommy." Ryan said meekly.
"Was there any trouble?" Mrs. Terrison asked.
"No, not at all, he was very helpful." Elisa answered.
"Where's the girl that found him?" Mrs. Terrison asked. "I want to thank her."
"She was just here." Elisa said looking around, "Has anyone seen Kyra?"
"I think she went home a few minutes ago." Matt said from a desk.
"Kyra? Is that her name?" Mrs. Terrison asked.
"Yeah, she's really a great kid, she always brings in lost kids and reports cats stuck in trees and all that other stuff." Matt answered. "She's probably going into Police Academy eventually."
"Out of curiosity, why do you ask?" Elisa asked.
"Oh nothing, I just have a daughter with that name, but there must be hundreds of Kyra's in the country." Mrs. Terrison answered.
"Well it couldn't be our Kyra, she's a Kutenai Native." Elisa replied.
"I left a branch of the Kutenai when my daughter was seven, she went to God knows what city in New York with her father and twin sister." Mrs. Terrison said. "I've been looking for her, but the adoption agency said she ran away from her foster family."
"Matt, go and get Kyra, now." Elisa said quickly.
"Right. Why?" Matt asked.
"Just go, hurry!" Elisa answered.
"Fine, I'll be back in a few." Matt went to the castle.
Kyra was talking to Angela, telling her about Ryan and how Micheal tried to threaten her, but failed miserably. Ryujin had come up from being on her tail all night. He was not happy that she'd nearly gotten into a streetfight.
"Really, Kyrana, of all the reckless, thoughtless things you've done lately..." he started.
"Hey, Kyra, Elisa wants to talk to you down at the station." Matt called from the doorway.
"Sure, I'll be back in a few minutes, guys." Kyra said as she went, grateful for the interruption.
"Take your time, Elisa may have something important for you to do." Goliath told her.
"Wait for me... you're not leaving my sight for the rest of the night!" Ryujin yelled and followed her. He put his sword in her room on the way down.
When Kyra got to the station, Mrs. Terrison was still there. Ryan was playing with a rubber stamp, he put red 'Classified' stamps all over a sheet of notebook paper.
"Kyrana, this is Mrs. Terrison, Ryan's mother, you may know her." Elisa told her.
"Kyrana? You don't usually call me that Elisa, you must have picked it up off Ryu." Kyra said, slanting a glance to her companion. She looked at the woman a minute. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize her."
"Well, she's changed since you were a little girl, she heard about Kirsten and you being here." Elisa hinted.
"You're kidding, you mean she's..." Kyra didn't dare finish. Ryujin gripped her hand instinctivly, sensing her fear.
"Kyra, meet Daline Kirri-Terrison, your mother." Elisa finished.
"I don't believe it." Matt gasped.
"I don't want to." Kyra said angrily.
"Kyra, don't start that again." Elisa warned.
"I've got a right to, Elisa. She abandoned Kirsten and me to be taken to New York where I was thrown in a orphanage at twelve, fostered by people who treated me like I was Cinderella, and on top of that I was forced to live on the streets for three years, nearly killed countless times by three different people, and through all that time I never even got a birthday card from her!" Kyra exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, Kyrana, but I couldn't keep you both, and you and Kirsten shouldn't be separated." Daline replied.
"Well, since we were twelve we've barely seen anything of each other except at school, and we're graduating." Kyra said roughly, back turned from her.
"If you were on the street for three years, then why aren't you now?" Daline asked.
"Because I met some people that really care about me and want me around." Kyra told her, her back still turned with Ryujin's arm around her. He was muttering things about her being foolish again.
"Who?" Daline asked.
"A few of them are on the roof, waiting for her. I'm sure they'd like to meet you." Matt answered.
"I told them not to follow me. What if QM's saw them?" Kyra said curtly. "And I don't want her up there."
"I'll go and ask if they would mind her." Elisa said staring harshly at her.
"Where's Kirstie staying?" Daline asked.
"At the foster's, they've had her since she was twelve." Kyra answered. "Of course now she's going to college after this summer."
"Kyra, I think you're wanted up on the roof. No Ryujin." Elisa said firmly. Kyra knew Goliath wanted to talk, and she was in trouble because Ryujin would have taken her side in an argument despite his own loss of family. She reluctantly went up. Everyone but Hudson and Bronx was there, Kyra was in real trouble.
"Kyra, I heard about how you're acting down there. What's wrong with you?" Goliath asked concernedly. "You're a street kid, and I expect you to have an attitude. I can deal with that easily, because there's a good excuse for it, but what you did down there has no good excuse."
"Yes it does, a good one." Kyra protested.
"And what is that?" Goliath asked straightly. Kyra could tell he wouldn't take any excuse as a good one in this matter.
"She abandoned Kirstie and me to be raised by my father. Normally I wouldn't mind, but he wasn't like you, he barely paid any attention to us." Kyra answered.
"That's not an excuse, she is your mother." Angela replied.
"Demona's your mother, I don't see you calling her that too often." Kyra told her.
"That's different, at least..." Angela faded, "Ok, you've got a point, some people aren't meant to be parents."
"But you should give your mother a second chance." Brooklyn suggested, "After all, she probably came to New York because she was looking for you."
"I doubt it, she's got a little kid, five years old." Kyra shook her head disappointedly. "She got remarried and had another kid! I wouldn't be surprised if she forgot totally about me until she heard Elisa say my name."
"What about Kirstie?" Lexington asked.
"I'm sure she remembered Kirstie, she was her favorite. I was always the little mischief causer, a trouble maker; Kirstie was obedient and sweet." Kyra answered.
"Kind of the total opposite twin huh?" Broadway asked.
"Pretty much, I was on a horse before some of the boys, Mom and Dad barely noticed, White Feather was so proud of me. Kirstie learned to walk way after I did, and Mom was all over her with affection and praise, she barely even noticed me. I was more White Feather's than my parents'." Kyra answered sadly, kicking absently at a stone.
"I didn't pay much attention to you on that horse because the girls aren't supposed to ride hunting ponies. I couldn't pay attention to it, it was against tribal rules." Daline said, coming up with Elisa, "And I praised Kirstie so much because she's a slow learner and needed the encouragement to do better. Actually, you were my favorite, you always took chances. Whatever the boys did, you were the first to do it, you were always the first. And I was very proud of you."
"You could have told me." Kyra said stubbornly, crossing her arms. She wished Ryujin was behind her then, instead of just coming up. He moved past everyone and immediately smiled to cheer her up.
"I never had a chance. You were always somewhere playing or fighting." Daline told her. "So I'm telling you now, everything you ever did was the best thing in the world to me."
"I just wish you had told me before, all this time I had a grudge against you because I thought you ignored what I did on purpose." Kyra replied.
"Your father may not have liked either of you, but I loved you both. I just couldn't keep you, tribal law said the father took the children when divorce occurred." Daline told her, "I wanted you to stay, I really did."
"I wish my mother was this nice." Angela said with pretend jealousy.
"Hey, you've got a nice father, Kyra's got a nice mother, it balances out. It's rare to have both." Brooklyn said.
"I have both, and nice siblings too." Elisa told him.
"That's because Fate likes you." Kyra told her, both she and Ryujin smirked. "Except for the Demona thing." Kyra added.
"Thanks for reminding me." Elisa said sarcastically.
"So what's happened all this time?" Daline asked. "I can tell it's a long story, but Ryan doesn't need to go home for bed for another two hours."
"We can go to Eyrie Tower and talk, there's a bed in my room he can sleep on if he gets tired." Kyra told her.
"You live up here?" Daline asked as they came out onto the castle courtyard. It took a little talking, but Xanatos had let her and Ryan up. Ryan asked to play with Alexander, but pouted when he was told it was the toddler's bedtime.
"Of course. With all the enemies I have, it's the only safe place for me. I'm rarely here for more than an hour in the daylight hours, though." Kyra told her.
"Enemies? I wonder how you got enemies." Daline replied sarcastically. "You've always been so easy to get along with."
"Now I know where Kyra gets it from." Brooklyn sighed, shaking his head.
"When I ran away I joined the gang of my former friend, who happened to get a hormone overload, every girl belonged to a boy in the gang, but the best girl was his. For three years, that was me." Ryujin looked a bit upset at hearing that, she'd never told him the story before.
"Nice boy." Daline said, frowning and leaning casually on a parapet.
"Yeah remind me to have a "talk" with him sometime, huh, Kyrana?" Ryujin added.
"You're a little late, Brook's had the honors." Kyra told him.
"But who's this Demona I heard about?" Daline asked.
"When I was just fresh in the gang, the boy, Micheal, called me in to talk to his so-called friend, a gargoyle named Demona. The other gargoyles were staying up here with David Xanatos. Demona told me about this big plan to get rid of some clan of gargoyles that was bothering her, I was young and naive enough to partly fall for it. I was trained well enough to defeat a gargoyle, but it backfired on Micheal, because the first gargoyle I met wasn't the one I was supposed to get, so I talked with him instead of fighting and learned why Micheal's "friend" really wanted the gargoyles out of the city. I became friends with them and ever since have helped them keep Micheal and Demona from killing them off or Savarrius from sending them to a lab to be dissected. Though that never happens anymore."
"Who's Savarrius?" Daline asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A scientist. A few months ago, I met a cruel gargoyle named Phalog, he was a clone of Goliath that Savarrius made. Appearances was where the similarities stopped immediately. Phalog tried to make me a member of his clan, but I won and still live here with Goliath's clan, but Phalog still tries. I also went to a legendary island, Avalon, with Angela and the trio, where I met Angela's umm... brothers and sisters. Then we went to Africa, where we saved a cheetah family from being kept in a lab by Savarrius, then went to the tribe's reservation to save Culostel from Micheal and let me patch things up with Lenoya."
"Bout time, Kyra. It's been, what? At least a decade since you two spoke?" Daline replied.
"Funny, mom. After that we got shipwrecked and I met Ryujin." Kyra paused to check her mind for anything she missed.
"She also has about a million pets!" Brooklyn picked up.
"Just six, and two of them I barely see." Kyra told him, slanting a narrowed eyed glance at her friend and smirking.
"Pets, where?" Ryan asked enthusiastically.
"Over in that corner, there's four dogs, and I'll show you the other two pets tomorrow afternoon if mom lets me." Kyra told him and he ran to play with Cana, Lupus, Nip, and Fang. "Be gentle with Fang, he's a little to wild to play rough."
"Just what are those pets?" Daline asked.
"I have three wolves, a mixed dog, a dolphin, and a Peregrine falcon." Kyra answered.
"And two other wolves that Kirstie and her friend have." Angela added.
"You do love animals don't you?" Daline asked.
"I should, I have three animal spirit guardians." Kyra told her.
"Which ones?" Daline asked curiously. "No one in the tribe has more than two spirits."
"The wolf, for my running speed and endurance, the dolphin for my ability to swim deep and fast, and the falcon for, well..." Kyra faded. Should I tell her?
Ryujin whispered in her ear. "Families shouldn't have secrets..."
"Falcon? Why would you have the falcon, you already have the wolf for speed, you don't fly.".
"Well, she can, sometimes." Goliath answered.
"What?" Daline was definitely surprised.
"Better show her, Kyra." Brooklyn told Kyra.
"Do I have to?" she asked, "It scares the heck outta people usually." she rubbed her arm. "And I get cramps."
"Do it." Elisa said, "It's easier than explaining."
Kyra concentrated on her jewel and felt a light engulf her. When the light faded, she had changed to her true self, changing always gave her a fright because of the sudden added strength.
"I can barely believe it." her mother gasped.
"Barely?" Kyra asked, "Then you do?"
"Well, you always did things that seemed inhumanly possible." Daline answered, "I guessed the reason would show itself sooner or later."
"I got it from dad, long story. It's the one thing he's given me that's good." Fang ran over and jumped in Kyra's arms, "I think he likes me better like this." she said, as he wiggled to get his nose up to her face. He gave her a quick lick and jumped down.
"He's just hyper. I think someone snuck sugar into his dog biscuits or something." Elisa replied. "Actually, out of all the animals you have, I think Fang's the most like you."
"I am not hyper, I'm just easily excited." Kyra defended herself.
Ryujin just smirked and laughed, "That's an understatement!"
"Well, you certainly seem hyper when there's a fight." Brooklyn told her, "If it's someone you really hate, you can't wait to beat them to a pulp."
"Can you blame me?" Kyra asked, "It happens when you never lose. As soon as I start losing more than a battle a year, I'll be more careful, until then, I'm reckless."
"Wait, you've been fighting? Since when?" Daline asked.
"Since I left the gang." Kyra answered, "Actually, I do more fighting now that I'm out than when I was in."
"Speaking of fighting, there's a lot of trouble down in the east side tonight. Elisa, I need your help." Matt said from a door.
"Sure Matt, I'll be right out." Elisa replied and went down after saying goodbye.
"Trouble on the east side means trouble for us, that's where the real dangerous people are." Kyra remembered.
"Think it's Demona?" Brooklyn asked urgingly.
"Maybe, then again, maybe not, it could be Phalog looking for revenge. Or even Micheal, working off his anger from being humiliated by me in front of three of the toughest gang boys." Kyra answered.
"Kyra, you've got to stay off Micheal's bad side once in a while." Angela told her.
"I know, but everytime I decide to lay off him for a while, he does something stupid I can't ignore." Krya replied tiredly.
She was getting tired of people always telling her to lay off Micheal, they'd feel differently if they knew him the way she did. The only Micheal Kyra knew was an inhuman, evil, cold-hearted, hormone driven, devil of a boy. No, scratch that, he made the devil look like an angel when he was really bad. The only faith Kyra had in Micheal was faith in his predictability, it was the only reason she had been able to beat him so many times. Demona was unpredictable, Kyra knew it would take more than a battle to defeat her.
Everyone else saw Micheal as a human, a bad human, but a human. Kyra just thought of him as a demon boy, the perfect helper for Demona. Which was all he was, he never really came up with a plan that worked to keep me for more than a day, Demona came up with the real plans. That was why Kyra was determined to get those two away from each other quickly, or she would be in more trouble than Micheal was worth.
Kyra felt a shudder, not emotional, but physical. Ryujin's arms tightened around her protectively without him realizing it. "What the...?" That was as far as she got. The shudder ended just as she went into silence.
"What was that?" Brooklyn asked frantically.
"Earthquake, but it's over." Ryujin answered. "Pretty strong for New York, especially on an island." he realized.
"Exactly, maybe there's more than gang riots going on in the east territory." Goliath decided.
"You mean?" Kyra didn't need to finish.
"Demona's playing around with magic again?" Brooklyn finished.
"Mom, I've got to go help them." Kyra said and jumped up on a parapet as the guys left. Ryujin cleared his throat. "What? Kyra said innocently and blinked. Then grinned and pointed to a hang glider. "I can't carry you everywhere."
"Be careful, sweetheart." Daline said and Fang jumped in Kyra's arms. She took off immediately.
Kyra landed behind Brooklyn and yelled as loud as she could: "Hey!"
He yelled in fright and jumped. Kyra couldn't help but giggle and smile.
"Kyra..." Goliath warned.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." Kyra replied, still smiling and supressing laughter. Ryujin landed a few feet away and laughed.
"I know, that's what I like about you." It wasn't Goliath, it sounded like him, but Goliath would never say that. It got rid of Kyra's laughter immediately.
"We were wrong about Demona, it's not her." Kyra declared, changing back to a human form so she could fight with more agility. Ryujin ditched the glider and walked angrily between Kyra and the clones.
"Oh man, I really don't feel like fighting with myself tonight." Brooklyn replied. By that he meant he didn't want to fight with his clone. His sense of humor definitely needed work. But Brooklyn had a right to complain, Phalog had cured the clones of the gargoyle clan while the majority of it was gone.
"Don't you ever get tired of coming after me or the others?" Kyra asked tiredly. He was really getting on her nerves, he was the most persistent and annoying of all the enemies. Well, maybe close second to Micheal.
"No." Phalog answered simply.
"Why should he?" It was Delilah.
"Oh, where's Elisa when we need her?" Angela groaned. Delilah was a mix of Elisa and Demona's DNA, and only Elisa could beat her, since Elisa knew her physical weakness.
"We don't need Elisa, you beat Delilah in the first battle." Brooklyn told her.
"That was then, this is now." Angela said worriedly.
"Have a little confidence, girl." Kyra sighed and put her hand on Angela's shoulder to comfort her. Of all the clones, Angela hated Delilah the most.
"Besides, I'm here." Elisa said from behind a corner on the rooftop, she rounded it immediately.
"So am I." Matt added, "Though I doubt I could do much."
"All right! Take that Phalog!" Kyra exclaimed. "You're way outnumbered, you wouldn't dare attack now."
"Oh, wouldn't I?" Phalog sneered. "Take her!" he ordered and every single clone jumped at Kyra.
"All right now that was bad phrasing!" Kyra shouted as the clones attacked. Luckily they reached her one at a time and she kicked and punched each of them out of the way just before they got close enough to hurt her. Ryujin slashed at all of them, making them retreat twice as fast.
"You've been practicing." Goliath observed.
"Blame Mikey for that." Kyra replied, "He always sends a bunch of boys after me, so I'm used to a group attack."
The clones backed away as soon as they got to their feet, holding their slashed arms and tails. "Chickens." Brooklyn snickered, "Hey, you all right, Kyr?"
"Yeah, they didn't even touch me." Kyra joked.
"Yes, they did, at least one of them did." Elisa pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Goliath asked.
"She's bleeding!" Brooklyn noticed it too, he was the one who said it.
"Where!" Kyra gasped.
"Your left arm, it's got a slash on it." Ryujin told her, looking at it worriedly. She looked, he was right, it was deep, and bleeding terribly.
"Who did it?" Angela asked frantically. Kyra was her closest friend and she always worried about her.
"I don't know, they all attacked one after the other. I didn't pay that much attention." Kyra looked over at the clones, and saw the blood on Delilah's right hand. Delilah didn't have any cuts on her arm.
She had gotten through so quickly Kyra never even felt the pain. But she felt it then. Hot searing pain that flared with every drop of blood that seeped through. It never hurt that much when Kyra had gotten a slash like that from Demona. What had Delilah put on her claws to make it hurt so much?
Kyra winced and held the wound tightly, to keep more blood from getting out. Suddenly, she felt dizzy, she couldn't stay on her feet. She wobbled a little, and Ryujin caught her before she fell.
"What is it?" he asked worriedly.
"I don't know. Delilah put something in me, I'm so weak." she immediately slipped out of consciousness.
The gargoyles took Kyra to the castle immediately, Phalog had retreated right after she fainted. Brooklyn and Lexington hurried down into the building below the castle to get Xanatos. When Xanatos came up, Kyra was conscious but too weak to talk.
"What's wrong?" Xanatos asked. "These two only told me you needed me for something urgent."
"Kyra's been poisoned by a clone, we don't know what's in her, and we don't know if it's curable." Elisa answered worriedly.
"That is urgent." Xanatos said lightly, "So what do you think we should do?"
"You're the science genius." Brooklyn told him.
"Not really, I'd have to send a blood sample to a lab to figure out what poison Phalog used." Xanatos said. "Goliath, I know how you hate me messing with your clan, I need your permission to do this."
"Anything to make Kyra well again." Goliath agreed and Xanatos went in the building.
He came back up with a needle and drew a little blood from Kyra's arm, just below her bandaged injury. She winced. Ever since the vampire thing, Kyra had hated needles. Actually, she always hated needles, that just gave her an excuse. Ryujin held her hand and squeezed it.
"It'll take a half hour to find out what's wrong." Xanatos said and went down.
Elisa got a thoughtful look in her eyes and went inside, coming out with a thermometer. "We'd better see how sick the poison's making her." Kyra tried to resist biting on the foreign object in her mouth. Her temperature was a little above normal. "She's getting sick very slowly, that's good." Elisa observed, "It means the half hour it'll take to find out what's in her will leave more than enough time to find an antidote."
"If there is one." Brooklyn said sadly.
"Quit being a pessimist, Brooklyn." Angela told him, "Kyra will be fine." her voice was a little shaky on that sentence. Elisa called Goliath away from the others.
"What's wrong?" Goliath asked.
"Everyone's so worried, this could really hurt a lot of people if Kyra doesn't make it." Elisa answered worriedly.
"I know, but Kyra's a fighter, she'll make it." Goliath told her.
"Goliath, remember what happened a long time ago, when Demona thought she poisoned me? Remember what she said?" Elisa asked. "She said there was no antidote."
"So? The odds that Phalog found the exact same poison Demona tried to use on you are uncountable." Goliath answered.
"Uncountable, but they are there." Elisa replied, looking over at Ryujin..
"Don't worry so much." Goliath told her, "Demona may have been lying, after all, she thought she had killed you. Why would she say there was an antidote after the purpose of the poison had been carried out?"
"I hope you're right Goliath, I really do." Elisa said and went down to join Matt outside.
Meanwhile, Kyra was getting worse. Her breathing was getting very forced, and her pulse was weakening. Brooklyn and Angela were getting more and more worried, and angry.
"I can't stand waiting! How much longer?" Brooklyn asked, pounding his fist into a wall. It left a deep dent.
"Fifteen minutes or so." Lex answered, looking at a clock.
"That's fifteen minutes too long! She's getting worse!" Brooklyn shouted. "I'm going after Phalog... he'll know the cure."
"That's just what this Phalog person wants." Daline said, coming in the room. Elisa had called her and told her what happened to Kyra.
"But there's got to be a way to save her." Angela sighed.
"There is, but until we get the cure, we'll have to just give her medicine for the symptoms." Fox said, bringing in a tray of medicine.
"Yuk." Kyra said weakly.
"It's that or go unconscious again, and that's dangerous in your state." Fox sighed and gave Kyra the pills and needle.
"Yuk and ouch." Kyra said in the same tone as before. It made Brooklyn smile a little, which was what she wanted. She felt a little better after the medicine started working. "Well this means whatever's in me is curable." she said and smiled. "But that stuff still tastes like rotten juice."
Daline laughed. "You always did have a sense of humor in the toughest times."
"Hey it's better than groaning and being a pain in the butt." Kyra said and shrugged.
"Maybe you should get sick more often..." Brooklyn joked and went outside before Kyra could retort.
Ryujin was kneeling on a parapet, obviously weighing the consequences of leaving and not knowing how Kyra was doing and the benefit of hunting down Phalog and beating him into giving an antidote they wouldn't have to wait for... Brooklyn grimaced and thought the same thing over. They both happened to notice how upset Angela and Elisa looked, both the gargoyle and the human females of the clan were visibly stressed and concerned that the hybrid female might die. And they both cared too much to watch her suffer so badly. Ryujin and Brooklyn caught each other's eye and nodded, setting off immediately. Ryujin grabbed the hang glider and ran off while Brooklyn glided away.
"What if we don't find him in time?" Brooklyn asked when they'd covered about half the island.
"We will. Though I have an idea that he'll find us." Ryujin growled and they spotted movement on a rooftop... It wasn't Phalog, it was Demona. They landed a few rooftops away from her.
"Great..." Brooklyn sighed. "Dare we even consider asking her for help?"
"You said she helped against Phalog before..." Ryujin told him and frowned.
"Yeah, with Angela... she'd prefer to see Kyra dead." Brooklyn grumbled, his eyes glowing a little.
"No harm in asking." Ryujin reasoned.
"Yeah sure, why not? I could use a few more lazer burns etched in my memory..." Brooklyn sighed as the young man walked calmly to the side of the rooftop that faced Demona and called to her.
"What do you want?" Demona hissed, landing next to the human.
"Help." he answered simply.
"With what?" Demona crossed her arms.
"Phalog." Brooklyn muttered. That word sparked fire in the demoness's eyes.
"Now what did he do?" she snarled.
"He didn't exactly do it, but he had Delilah do it." Brooklyn told her.
"That freakish mixed creature? What did she do then?" Demona sighed, getting impatient.
"Because of her and Phalog, one of the clan may die before dawn..." Ryujin told her.
"Angela?!?"
"No... Kyra..." Brooklyn said resignedly.
Demona narrowed her eyes and they glowed. "What makes you think I'll help that half-breed?"
"Because Phalog's behind it and he'll probably go after Angela next." Ryujin crossed his arms and stared at her, "If we don't find Phalog and get the antivenom for whatever he had Delilah put through Kyra's system, in time to test it on Kyra, Angela will probably die next."
Demona's eyes faded back to normal. "Damn, I hate when humans are right... All right, I'll help you hunt the clones and find the antidote... but only to prevent it from happening to Angela!"
"Of course." Brooklyn growled then pointed eastward. "Did you happen to pass over that way yet?"
"No." Demona answered.
"Then let's go." Ryujin said and he and Demona glided off immediately. Brooklyn hung back and frowned, he touched the reciever in his ear.
"I don't like this, Elisa."
"Neither do I, but she knows him better than anyone else. Ryujin thought quickly... and he's right. Angela would be next, if not Goliath, then all of you eventually. Even her. She knows that." Elisa replied, glancing at the closed door that Kyra was resting behind. How much time do we have left?
Just then Xanatos came up with a grim look on his face. There was no possible way his labs could identify the poison's cure, they couldn't even identify the type of poison... They would need an extra day to separate it from the cells it had bonded to.
"That day won't be enough!" Elisa sighed, "Looks like those guys and Demona are Kyra's only hope... God, I hope we made the right choice dragging her into this..."
"Demona will do it for her child's sake, Detective. Being a parent changes a person." Xanatos said warmly and smiled a bit, then looked at the dark wooden door she was gazing worriedly at. "Still, time is running out."
Elisa looked at the horizon. "We've got only two hours until sunrise! After then the clones and the Gargoyles will be stone, Demona and Ryujin can't get information from a statue." she sighed, "We need a miracle..."
"The darkest times are usually the ones where a light of hope is needed. Just keep up faith, Detective, have you ever known the Gargoyles to let a person die when they can help it?" Xanatos asked then went inside to make sure his son wasn't flying around the room instead of sleeping.
"No," Elisa answered as the door closed behind him. "...but I've known Demona to."
To be continued.......