Alone Chapter Four: A Change in Priorities
After stopping by a small cemetery a ways outside of Milan, Italy to pay respect to some old friends of MacBeth's, they decided to explore the ancient ruins of Rome.
"Some how, I like visiting these places that are older than we are," MacBeth noted as the pair walked under an ancient aqueduct.
"Huh, looks like a protest." Demona grunted as they walked by the Pantheon. There were swarms of people, surrounded by police who were trying to ensure a peaceful protest. There were humans holding up signs and shouting in Italian.
"'Tis an anti-gargoyle protest." MacBeth stated with interest in his voice. Demona's expression said 'really?' as MacBeth went on to translate the signs. "'It is our world'; 'Darwinism, Natural Selection'; 'They are savages, monsters'" MacBeth stopped reading the signs when he saw her eyes turn red and could feel her fill with anger. "We should leave."
"And let them continue with this!"
"They have a right to have opinions, however misinformed they may be."
Demona grumbled, MacBeth was about to continue arguing when they turned to see a blast of light. The words 'They will overcome us and destroy our way of life!' in Italian, streamed a crossed the sky in a fantastic display.
"Those were no special effects!" Demona yelled over the boom of the display.
"Magic!" MacBeth and Demona were too familiar with the magic of fays, it was as if they could smell it. The humans thought the display to be no more than a technological demonstration. Uncomfortably, MacBeth said, "I dohn like this."
"MacBeth look!" Demona pointed to the top of the Pantheon. They could make out figures of gargoyles, real stone ones.
"I dinna know there were gargoyles in Rome."
"Something could happen to them."
Another crowd approached the restless anti-gargoyle protesters. The other crowd seemed to be fans of the protectors atop the ancient building. Maybe not fans, but against destroying the gargoyles. They argued that they at least had rights, that they had been protecting the city of Rome, that it was wrong to kill them.
The crowds quickly erupted into a riot. The human police called in reinforcements. Anti-gargoyle protesters began to climb to the top of the Pantheon.
"Ok," MacBeth decided, "Now we stop them."
Demona immediately grabbed the large gun which hung from her belt and you wonder how she possibly hid it in the first place.
"Wait," MacBeth halted her, "we canna fire the first shots." Elsewhere a gun was heard going off, so Demona shot at one of the humans who approached one of the statues.
"Here," MacBeth handed Demona an anchor-and-rope launcher he kept in his collection under his trench-coat, "-try- not to kill anyone."
A man in the middle of the crowd noticed MacBeth and Demona headed to protect the stone gargoyles and shouted, "there they are, that's the two." Demona and MacBeth just looked at each other and the man, confused. Suddenly the man and a two other men's olive skin tone melted away to glowing, colorful skin tones and they grew some. The fays shot magic blast toward the duo, broke MacBeth's rope and cause him fall to the ground. The pain from MacBeth's impact with the ground was enough to make Demona loose grip on her rope and she fell also.
MacBeth sat up quickly and analyzed the situation. "Demona, stop the humans left on the roof, but try not kill them, 'tis not going to help the gargoyles' cause if we kill their attackers, after that, go get my hover jet," he handed her the keys, "and bring it back here, it has some iron based weapons. By the time you return, you should be a gargoyle. I'll hold off the children of Oberon until ye return."
Demona climbed up her rope in time to stop some humans from slaughtering defenseless gargoyles. Even though she was just a human, Demona was able to use her skill and agility to fight the Italians. She took out one human by tackling him and then kicking him nearly to the edge of the roof. She then pulled out her gun and blasted another human, trying, but not too hard, not to kill him. When the last of the humans had been stopped, Demona looked at her stone companions and simply said, "You're a lot of help." Moments later she was taken by a sudden jolt of pain. She raced to the edge to see MacBeth being attacked by the fays. She set her gun to high and blasted the fays, draining some of their energy even though her weapon was not iron based, distracting them long enough. Demona quickly rushed to MacBeth's side and took him to cover.
"I'll be alright, just get the jet." MacBeth panted.
"You be careful!" Demona said forcefully, "fays put this spell of immortality on us, they can take it off!"
"Go!"
Most of the humans had left the scene. Some policemen still remained, but could do nothing against the great magical entity. After Demona had taken off, the wall protecting MacBeth was demolished. MacBeth started blasting the fays with his own weapon, but it had little affect. The two sidekick fays released magic which destroyed MacBeth's gun and wrapped around the human, binding him captive. MacBeth heard one of the observing police officers say something about Mars. He realized that the officer was referring to the main fay, Roman god of war. His Greek counterpart, Ares, is the brother of Eris, so he -was- part of the same group of fays as Eris, that seemed so against Gargoyles. But that didn't explain why MacBeth was the one caught.
"What do ye want with me?" MacBeth shouted to his captors.
"This world, human world, shouldn't have gargoyles interfering." was Mars' reply.
"Aye! What does that have to do with me?" The fays did not reply
MacBeth turned his head to the watching police officers. "Shoot him!" MacBeth shouted in Italian, hoping some of their bullets might contain iron. It worked, the bullets drained enough energy that MacBeth was able to break free.
"Run!" MacBeth shouted before any of the officers were hurt. MacBeth saw a wheelbarrow. He quickly guessed from the rust that it was made of iron, so he took it and thrust it toward the fays. His guess was right and it crashed into one of the sidekicks, weakening him severely. The other two chased after MacBeth. i Why are they attacking me instead of the stone gargoyles/i MacBeth ran into a small shop.
"What have you that is iron?" He panted in Italian as he threw some cash on the counter. The confused store owner handed him a cast-iron skillet. "Good, I will take two." He took one, broke it on the floor and picked up the pieces. As soon as he was outside, a flash of pain struck MacBeth, not very strong and MacBeth recognized it as Demona's metamorphosis pain. He looked around, expecting her near, but didn't see her.
MacBeth threw the whole skillet at the sidekick who soon would have been right on top of him. He then started shoving the pieces of skillet into the nozzle of his spare gun and shot the projectiles at the fays. He kept repeating that until the sidekick became smaller and smaller until he vanished into a puff of smoke. I killed him? Confused MacBeth had never done that to an immortal before. But he did not dwell on that long. The Roman gargoyles had come to life and Mars began attacking them, MacBeth had to help. Before MacBeth reached the Pantheon again, his hover jet arrived. Demona set it to hover near the roof of the temple and started handing out iron weapons to the gargoyles she had never met. Though Demona was a stranger, they hoped they could trust a fellow gargoyle, but they knew they could
help someone giving them free guns. The gargoyles started circling Mars and the remaining sidekick, firing at them and weakening them.
Demona flew down, picked up MacBeth and brought him to the top of the Pantheon. MacBeth ran into his jet and brought back an iron chain from his collection. He grabbed Demona's iron based gun and handed her the chain. The Scot started shooting at the fays as Demona signaled to another gargoyle, and the two flew down, circled the weak magical entities and bound them with the iron so they could not escape.
After the fays were bound, the gargoyle who helped Demona asked in Latin, a language she could speak, "Who are they?"
"There's a group of fays who are out to kill gargoyles for some reason." Demona explained. They rejoined the group on the roof where MacBeth was explaining.
"You might want to collect up some iron weapon to fight them in the future," MacBeth explained as he collected his own. They discussed the situation with these Italian gargoyles some more but they didn't come to any conclusions to why the fays had attacked them or what their purpose was.
MacBeth was rummaging through the Internet when Demona woke up from her short sleep.
"What are you looking for?" Human Demona asked in her usual unfriendly tone as she approached the Internet surfer.
"Oh, I just hacked into the Xanatos Database, looking at what has happened back in New York."
"Oh, is that all?"
"Brooklyn married Patch."
"Really," she said sardonically. Demona didn't care much for Patch, a human who was turned into a gargoyle during nights. "Good luck on them having any kids."
MacBeth ignored her comment. "There was another fay attack."
"Really?' She said obviously concerned."Who was it?"
"Banshee was the only one Goliath's clan could identify. They weren't as strong as Eris apparently so they were able to defeat them with out any casualties. Bronx was severely injured, apparently, due to Banshee's grudge against him."
MacBeth could sense the feeling of relief that came over Demona when she knew that Angela was alright.
"They still don't know what is provoking the attacks." MacBeth breezed through the data as Demona pondered the fay situation. "Well, here is something that may interest you." MacBeth broke the silence. "Angela has an egg due to hatch next April."
Demona's eye widened, "Really? But a-, that would mean..."
"Congratulations grandmother." MacBeth smiled with sarcasm as he slapped her on the back. Demona glared at him and smacked his hand.
"I wonder if she will let me see my grandchild," she grumbled.
"Give her a chance. People tend to get senselessly happy when they have a child," he spoke from experience, smiling with happy memories.
"Where are we going?" Demona asked.
"Germany." MacBeth informed. Demona gave an agreeable smirk.
"Funny how a country with so much hate directed toward it in the past and yet, neither of us have any regrets or dark memories for the place, unlike many other places."
"Well, I found that a fort in North Germany I had visited sometime in the 1200's is still intact as a tourist attraction. We should arrive after closing time."
MacBeth set the jet down on a beach at the base of a cliff on the edge of the Nord See. Demona stepped out and the ocean breeze caught her hair, it felt nice. She took in a deep breath, smelling the air, the memories of the time she had spent in Germany came back to her. They weren't exactly good memories, but it was a time of peace, when she was free of the Hunters for a time.
MacBeth approached the cliffs and shot a rope-and-anchor to the top of the cliff. Demona looked hesitant.
"What is it?" MacBeth questioned. "Too far of a climb?"
"As a gargoyle, it would be a piece of cake." MacBeth beckoned to her and she wrapped her arms around his neck as MacBeth climbed to the top of the cliff. It was the first time they had been that close since Russia. They climbed to the top of the small fortress and watched the sun fall lower in the sky.
"So what brought you to Germany?" Demona inquired.
"No reason in particular, I was trying to find my place in the world. My main purpose was to hunt you down, I wanted to find something to do in the meantime. I didn't find much except I remember the sunset at this fort. What brought you to Germany?"
"I was actually looking up on the German legend of trolls, I thought they might be gargoyles." There was a long pause as they listened to the wind and the crickets as they watched the waves crash on the beach below. Their thoughts began to wander.
"What?" MacBeth said suddenly. Demona looked up at him to discover he was watching her. "'Tis the strangest sensation, I can sense the battle within you."
Demona, surprised at that, thought back to what she was thinking when he interrupted... she was actually trying to convince herself not to become friends with MacBeth. MacBeth continued, "what is it? Tell me. I've found that talking to someone about what's-bothering-me is something I've missed the most about having friends. Tell me," he said forcefully, "even if I am a miserable old man who hates you." He said that seriously despite the irony of the whole statement.
Demona hesitated, but after a long pause, she sighed and started, "that's what I was fighting myself about...friends."
MacBeth had forgotten that he had just referred to this woman he hated as his friend. "I suppose you understand why I'm so reluctant to make them."
He too a deep breath. "Aye... yer last friend was Thailog was he not? That ended... badly..." They both stared at the ocean. His face went cross, "I can only imagine what 'tis like to be completely convinced that someone's in love with you only to have that love stab ye in the back."
Demona sighed bitterly and rolled her eyes, knowing that he was referring again to how she betrayed him in Paris, "look at me, you can sense my feelings, I know you can, because I can sense yours...doesn't anything I'm feeling tell you that I'm not planning on deceiving you this time?"
"This time but what about ever again?"
"I don't know what's going to happen in the future," she defended angrily, "a lot can happen in a long time."
"Oh, so you're not going to stab me in the back today but you might tomorrow."
"I might!" Demona stood up. "What do you expect from me? Time and time again, an alliance with a human has failed for me and now you except me to be friends with you?"
"I never said I wanted you to be friends with me!" MacBeth stood up too. "Besides, the only reason our alliance dinna work is because others got in the way! Well, that and yer biased... Besides, members of yer own kind canna even trust you! How long is it going to be before you leave yer daughter in the dirt too!" Demona growled, eyes red and lunged on MacBeth, forcing him to the roof floor. MacBeth didn't fight.
"That is not true, I would never hurt my daughter!"
"Aye, but hurting her father, her friends, is hurting her!"
"Do you really think that I would sink so low as to hurt my child?"
"I dohn know, you killed mine!"
Demona froze, her eye returned to normal. Still holding MacBeth to the floor of the fort roof, she said, "Wha...I didn't kill your son."
"Nay, but Canmore did, yer 'ally'." Demona release MacBeth and started to pace. "Ye abandoned me and my son to him."
"I..." Demona didn't really know what to say, she hasn't realized that he blamed her for Luach's death. She could feel the hurt MacBeth felt at the death of his son centuries ago and understood, knowing that how much it would hurt for her to loose Angela. "I was prejudice, convinced that you were going to kill my clan... so I... lost consideration for your clan."
"I was not going..." MacBeth said angrily impatient.
"I know!" Anger built up in her, but anger towards who? "I can sense your feelings, I believe you that it was a misunderstanding. Maybe that was why this sense sharing spell was put on us..."
"So we can understand each other." MacBeth got up off the floor of the roof and sighed. "So we can finally know when to trust each other, after so long of doubt, anger and hate." He slowly walked over to her,
Demona kept her eyes fixed on the sunset, "never again will I be able to deceive you."
"Then a truce," MacBeth offered his hand, "that we will from this day forward, always be able to simply trust each other, whether we like it or not?" Demona looked at him, and frankly, he was right, with this spell they recently discovered, they didn't have much of a choice anymore. She accepted the handshake.
MacBeth held on the handshake, looking into Demona's eyes. It was odd, this truce, that they had already made it at the beginning of the summer but now they finally vocally admitted the truce. "How does it feel to have a friend you know you can actually trust?"
"'Friend?'" Demona pulled her hand out of the shake, "I wouldn't go that far."
"I'm not the one who needs friends here, remember," MacBeth still faced her, but she had turned away, "I have Sir Griff and King Arthur, and many co-workers at the school--"
"But you are a lie to your co-worker 'friends'." Demona turned to face him, waving her arms angrily at him, "if you told them that you were really King MacBeth of Scotland they'd send you to an asylum in an instant!"
MacBeth suddenly grabbed Demona's flinging arm and pulled her closer. She didn't fight him which surprised herself more than it surprised him. She let his lips just gently touch hers before she turned away forcefully. She took several steps away as MacBeth said, "I'm sure even Goliath thinks I should be in an asylum."
Now she understood what is was he needed. They had not talked or made reference to what happened in Russia and she told herself she didn't want to think about it, but she did anyway. i I had been hungry for comfort at the time, that is all, I hate him. Have I learned anything? You'd think after this long I would have. After the captain of the guard, or Canmore... or Thailog and Goliath, what a fool I am, why don't I learn? /i
MacBeth could sense her sudden depression and embarrassed he too turned away. He walked to the edge of the fort and put his foot up on the edge and rested his arm on his knee. As her thoughts cleared, Demona looked at the gray-haired man. His expression on his face alone showed feelings of regret but she could also sense that he felt lonely too, so lonely that she could sense pain in his chest.
After a pause of only the sound of crickets and the waves crashing on the beach below.
"Marry me?" he said suddenly. She turned around quickly with surprise.
"What!" The shock evident in her voice, "I think you have more spells on you than you think!"
"Do I?" He kept his eyes on the sea.
"A moment ago you just accused me of killing you son!" She had good reason for her confusion. "Maybe I should be the one turning you into the asylum!"
"Aye," MacBeth grumbled, "but I know I can trust you now!" He kept his eyes on the waves. "I know that not just because of our shared pain and emotions, but also because I know you...I know you like no mortal on the Earth can. And because I love you."
Shocked by this compliment, Demona hesitated, thoughts running through her mind like freeway traffic. Thoughts of other males who had said the same flashed through her mind, but she believed MacBeth, more than just wanting to believe she could be loved. After a pause Demona turned to go be by herself. "Wait." MacBeth stopped her. "Ye are only leaving because it is what you think you want.. to be alone, because it is what you have always done." Demona stopped walking but didn't turn around. MacBeth walked up behind her. "Please Demona, you don't have to be alone anymore." He put one hand on her shoulder and the other hand he ran down her other arm. "I dohn want to be alone anymore." Demona breathed deep, the fight within herself was strong, and then she pulled way forcefully. MacBeth grabbed her arm, not gently and turn her around. "Demona! ...let go." They just looked at each other for a moment as MacBeth sensed her feelings such longing, loneliness and anger, anger at him and herself. Demona pushed him and walked away. MacBeth sighed deeply, and turned back to face the sunset as he considered jumping.
MacBeth followed Demona as she approached the edge of a cliff before a hole cut in the ground. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and he watched and waited, not sure what she was going to do next. They said nothing as the wind blew and the rain fell.
Finally, MacBeth said quietly, "So this is where Castle Wyvern was?" Demona said nothing.
They walked to a ledge where below was another ledge. "That's where I hid to escape the Vikings. It's eroded some over the years." Demona spoke coldly and distantly. Demona continued to wander about the place, and MacBeth followed at a distance. Her attitude brightened as they approached a stone door, "Ah, the rockery. Granted the hatchlings were to look on the whole clan as their parents, still, many mothers would often come down and check on their eggs." She smiled sadly. "I made friends with Brooklyn's mother down there."
They walked up a nearby hill and climbed to the top of some steep rock formations. MacBeth wanted to ask her what this was, but didn't. She told him anyway. "This...this was Goliath's and my favorite spot." She laughed to herself through her melancholy, "I taught him to fly here." MacBeth stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets. "We grew up together... and then the Vikings and the magus and...I guess me." Demona hesitated, so did MacBeth, the feelings that came over him were more like anger but he didn't like the guilt that was coming over Demona. Guilt was almost a new sensation to her, for one of the only times in her 1000 year life, she admitted fault to something. The gargoyle dropped to her knees and began to cry. MacBeth turned away uncomfortable.
"Did I really change that much over the centuries?" Demona asked no one, Her mind raced..
"You changed over the last months." MacBeth muttered under his breath, head down. Demona sighed deeply and walked off. MacBeth continued staring at the same patch of ground.
The jet was parked in a small, quiet park in northern England. It was early morning and MacBeth was reading. Demona entered the cockpit with some tea. She handed him a mug and sat in the co-pilot chair.
"What are you reading?" Demona inquired. It was the first time they had casually spoken for a couple days.
MacBeth cleared his throat, nervous because the woman he had proposed to was speaking to him again. He started casually, "History, August is coming up and I need to start getting prepared for school to start again. I'm sure I've missed a few faculty meetings already."
"What are you teaching this next year?" She asked calmly as she sipped her tea, sighing as she breathed.
"A few of the same classes, the Junior European History classes, a couple freshman American History classes, but I'm teaching Advanced Placement World History this year, I need to get ready for that. But I should know most of the students in the class, I had them as students last year."
Demona, patiently and quietly, nodded in agreement as she let him continue and waited. MacBeth looked at the curriculum book as he took a sip of the tea. He got a whiff of something so he put the mug close to his nose to smell the tea. He recognized the smell. Shocked, he looked up at Demona, who could sense the feelings of anger and betrayal come over him before he lost consciousness. Demona caught his mug of tea just in time before it spilled. She gave out her evil chuckle as if she had always wanted to do it.
"Oh, I thought you said you trusted me?" She mocked. Then she laughed again as she pushed him from the pilot chair and let him fall to the floor. She didn't think too much about how he had recognized the smell of the drug she had put in the tea; the things one can learn from simply living forever. Demona assumed the chair and set in the course.
He woke with a headache, and his stomach didn't feel at ease either. He rose from the deck of his jet, angry, with a determination to share this headache with the one who had caused it. Filled with feelings of betrayal, anger and a slight hangover, He stepped out of the jet onto the roof of an older building. A breeze caught him and a mist of rain was carried with it. He walked to the edge where he finally recognized where he was, castle Moray, his castle! It had been a long time. He looked at the changes that had occurred. The building was worn, old, but fixed up slightly. Below the kingdom looked like the typical modern suburb rather than the medieval villages that were once under his jurisdiction.
He found an entrance to his old home and found that it had been repaired after the damage that had been inflicted on it the last time her was there. He discovered that the building was now a museum, which pleased him, there were worse thing that could happen to his childhood home, some rich actor or singer could have purchased it for his mansion or whatever. He drew his gun and entered each room cautiously, gun before him, knowing that his arch-nemesis would have a trap ready for him. Feeling like he had nothing left anymore, he just wanted to end it.
Different rooms told the stories of different rulers of the kingdom, such as Duncan his cousin, Findlaech his father, and Gillcomgain his father's murder. The Museum also discussed changes over time, what life was like in the dark ages and so on and had several artifacts, paintings, treasures and other items to be displayed behind glass. The museum was empty, on a Friday, that didn't make sense. MacBeth searched the museum for the human gargoyle he was out to kill until he was hit by an unexpected surprise.
MacBeth stood at the doorway stunned for a moment, trying to comprehend what was before him. He blinked. The room was dedicated to him and his family. In the corner stood people who he guessed to be museum employees and in the center of the room was Demona, at whom he pointed his weapon. Suddenly, he laughed. Above, a banner stretched across the room, "Happy Birthday!" and under that, "1000 years."
Demona was standing under the banner with her hands on her hips. "Happy birthday, your majesty," she said.
MacBeth's mouth just hung open. He stood there in shock for several moments. He looked at the historic paintings, the banner, the confused employees, the small wrapped gifts in the corner, and then finally to his traitor, at whom he looked at even more confused. Demona cleared her throat nervously. She could tell she was gonna have to walk him through this one. "Here," she said, and tossed him one of the small wrapped package.
"It's a gift," She informed him after he started at it for a little while, "unwrap it." She ordered.
And so he did. He removed the paper and Styrofoam for find a small porcelain duplicate of the castle. His eyes brightened as if he had never seen anything more precious.
"Wha-Where..." He paused and looked at Demona, "Why?"
She laughed, "It's your birthday! Isn't it human tradition to throw a party and give gifts?"
"Birthday?" MacBeth was slow today.
"According to your database, you were born on July 23, 1004." She laughed, "What do you think I do on your computer while you sleep?"
"1000 years?" MacBeth questioned.
Demona nodded and smiled.
"Really?" He relaxed, "I lost track around 36. "
"It was an amazingly convenient coincidence." Demona smirked, "Too convenient to pass up. At least there's a record of your age, I have no idea how old I am."
"Older than 1000 years of age." He chuckled, "Where's the cake and ice cream?"
"And I am up on my human traditions?" Demona grumbled.
MacBeth chuckled softly again as he looked at the displays for the family. "They talk both about what was recorded in history and Shakespear's play, both make Duncan sound like the good guy," Demona stated with distaste and then growled with eyes red, "and out of all the humans...he must have been the most treacherous!"
MacBeth looked again at the little castle he had in his hand. "Where did you get this?"
Demona shrugged, "The gift shop."
MacBeth opened another. It was an ancient crest of the family of Findlaech of clan Moray. It was small, there were more than one of these, it was the type that would have been worn on clothing. He still had his one that signified the king of Scotland. But this small item couldn't have been cheap. "How did you pay for this, for the rent of the museum?" Demona didn't need to answer. She didn't need to, he knew that Demona was sole owner of NightStone Unlimited. He opened another gift. This one was a sword that used to decorate a hall of the castle. It was beautifully engraved, not meant to be used as a weapon. "How many priceless artifacts did you buy from the museum?"
"Just those two. The last one is also from the gift shop." MacBeth opened it. It was a small, photograph size duplicate of the grand painting of King MacBeth, his Queen Gruoch and son, Luach, that hung in that room. It was old style painting, two-dimensional medieval style. He smiled at the little painting in deep thought, memories flowing back.
His thoughts were interrupted when Demona asked, "What do you buy a man who has everything?"
He blinked and then smirked slightly nodded and gave a soft chuckle, "Aye, I suppose yer right. This..." he sighed deeply and said, "Only you would know what to get."
Demona responded quietly, "I probably am." Then she lightened the mood, "Besides, everyone else would have probably just gotten you guns!"
"I wouldn't mind those either," He smirked. She laughed in agreement.
After Demona collected up his things, MacBeth thanked the castle employees, told them it was good to be home and left them to enjoy their confusion.
As the pair entered the jet, Demona sat down as set the next course into the computer. MacBeth hesitated in his footsteps. He still held in his hand the little porcelain model of the castle and he looked over it with his hands.
"Why?" He asked suddenly. Demona looked up from the pilot chair asked 'what?' with her hands. "This. This is the first birthday party I've had in a long time. And... it really meant a lot to me."
Demona looked back down at the controls and smiled. "Well, don't expect this to happen next year!"
He chuckled, "Aye, what is 1001?" After a pause he added, "Seriously, why did you do it?"
She gave him a look and said, "Why not?" Then she turned and looked out the window and said hesitantly, "Do I have to have a reason to do something for someone?"
"Well, forgive me for saying so, but usually, with you, it's the opposite."
Demona kept her eyes away from him. "Eh." She paused, "my priorities changed."
MacBeth sat down in the co-pilot chair and looked at her despite the fact that she refused to look at him. "Have they?" When she said nothing he continued, "This must have taken you a while to prepare." She still said nothing and stared out the window or pretended to work on controlling the vessel. MacBeth got frustrated and moved to get up by pushing off her shoulder. Instinctively her hand met his hand to stop him.
"Isn't that what friends do?" Demona asked hesitantly. MacBeth sat back down, hand still on her shoulder. "Is it so strange that friends would want...to do things for each other?"
MacBeth took her hand into his. "Friends?" He asked hopefully.
"Friends," she smiled, giving his hand a squeeze. They looked at each other for another moment, holding their breath, waiting for the other to make the next move. So Demona did. She let go of MacBeth's hand and put her arms around his neck and leaned forward and hugged him. MacBeth stood up, he pulled Demona with him. He took her, held her, and kissed her.
"Griff?"
"'ello?"
"Good day, 'Tis MacBeth, I'm amazed I was able get a hold of ye!"
"Well, the cell phone was actually given to King Arthur by David Xanatos, but I'm slightly more familiar with some of this technology than he is, which is ironic considering how many years I'm behind..."
"Is Arthur there? Can I talk to him?"
"Right-O"
"MacBeth?"
"Hello Arthur"
"Why, hello, have not seen you in a while. We are actually in Denmark right now, how have you been?"
"I am in Ireland, I was wondering if you could come to my wedding, be my best man?"
"Why, I'd be delighted. To whom are you getting married?"
"Demona."
"Oh, your life long enemy, how nice..."
Brooklyn and Liberty landed in the courtyard of Castle Wyvern, panting, frightened.
"What's wrong?" Lexington asked his girlfriend.
"We...were...out on... patrol," Liberty said between breaths, she swallowed, " with Angela...and like out of nowhere...and then..." she tried to explain by waving her arms but failed.
"Angela's gone, been captured, something!" Brooklyn explained.
"How did you let this happen to her?" Broadway accused.
"Hey, we've looked everywhere, we need your help."
Angela regained consciousness. She was on a hover jet, alone except for the pilot, but what most surprised her was that she had no restraints, she was not being treated like a prisoner. She noticed that they were flying over ocean. She quietly tried to sneak to an exit. The pilot heard her moving.
"Ah, ye aire awake!" He turned so she could see him.
"MacBeth?"
"Do not worry, all things will be explained. First of all, I have some questions for you."
"Why did you capture me? You've been our ally since Paris, betray us now?"
"First of all, you are not my prisoner, just say the word, and I'll take you home, but hear me out first. Tell, me, what do you think of Demona?"
"What do you mean? She's my mother?"
"Yes, but do you hate her?"
Angela, still believing that MacBeth and Demona were still life long enemies, started defending her, "Don't think I'm going to do anything to help you, we may not always get along, but she's still my mother."
"Are you her ally or her enemy?"
"The other gargoyles may not want her as an ally but she's certainly not my enemy."
"Do you love her?"
"Sometimes."
"Why did you not tell her about your marriage to Broadway?"
Confused how he knew about that, she didn't question it. "That was actually Broadway's idea," she hung her head low, "I wanted to invite her to the wedding, but she and Father wouldn't have gotten along."
"How long have you been married?"
Not questioning why her interrogator wanted to know that, she answered, "three years."
"And you still have not told her?"
"I wasn't sure how she would take it."
"How about your egg, when were you planning on telling her she was a grandmother?"
"How did you..? Why do you want to know?"
"I want to see if I can trust you, answer the question."
"Actually, I want her to be there when it hatches. What does that have to do with trusting me?"
"Can I trust you?"
"With what?"
"Can I trust you? Can I trust you with something that your mother would want you to know but she would not want Goliath or any of the clan to know." He turned to the piloting consol so he wasn't facing Angela.
"What do you know of my mother?"
"Do not act so surprised, we have countless things in common."
"Can you explain what is going on?"
"Can I trust, not to tell your clan?"
"That depends what it is that is going on?"
MacBeth sighed, he didn't know how to say it, "We are getting married?"
"What?" she asked confused.
"Demona and I, in Ireland."
"What!" she asked again but shocked.
MacBeth continued, "Seeing as ye aire Demona's only friend other than myself, she'll want ye to be her matron of honor. Will ye do it or do ye want me to go back to New York?"
"But...how... that's impossible! After Paris, you have got to be kidding!"
"I know what you must be thinking..."
"You trust her? After last time? After what she did to you? Are you crazy, a fool?"
"Maybe I am. We sometimes do foolish things when we are in love."
"In love! How can you love someone that has been trying to kill you for centuries? Are you sure you're not under a spell, that the Wyrd Sisters don't have more plans for you?"
"Yes, I have wondered that many times and I am not sure how to be positive I am not under a spell. Let me explain, four months ago, we met again at the battle with Eris. A month later we were in a fight at Central Park where we again tried to kill each other. In the end, we came to the first truce that we have in centuries, we agreed that it was all a misunderstanding, well, come to think of it, I don't know if we ever agreed on that... But in any case, we started talking, spending time together because, well, there is no other person in this world that understands what we've been through. Like I said before, we have so much in common..."
"I don't believe it." Angela shook her head in annoyance.
"You don't have to, tell me, do you want to go to Ireland, or back to New York, you can talk to Demona when we get there and then try to talk us out of the marriage? Hmm?"
Angela nodded in agreement. There was a pause. "Why did you capture me?"
MacBeth laughed, "because I can just see you now trying to explain what happened to your colleagues. Because I've always wanted to do that? I know, I've been living too long and now have a sick sense of humor."
Angela just smiled. MacBeth grabbed for something in a compartment. It look like some sort of herbs and powder. "Here, eat this."
"Why."
"Trust me."
"After you captured me?" She teased and ate the herb. It tasted horrible. MacBeth threw the powder over her and chanted something in Latin. Angela sneezed, coughed and gagged.
"What was that? What did you do?"
"The wedding is during the day, we cannot very well have a stone Matron of Honor, now can we? Here, this is for the headache."
"You mean, I won't turn to stone?"
"Just for tomorrow, you will be human. There are going to have some unpleasant side-effects, fortunately we have medication these days for that."
"Really? Why haven't I heard of gargoyles using it before? I'm sure father would want to get his hands on this."
"The ingredients are very rare, hard to find, the side effects unpleasant but fortunately there are no permanent side-effects for females. I suggest if your father wants to be human for a day, he should seek out a fay, hopefully one that is not trying to kill him."
"Well, I think he and Elisa have accepted what they are anyway."
"Here," MacBeth handed her a light blue dress. He showed her the dress, "Here are holes for your wings and tail, the cape covers the holes. 'Tis yours."
"Really? I've never owned a dress before."
"These too." MacBeth handed her a string of pearls. MacBeth also found a pair of Demona's shoes in her temporary room which he assumed Angela could borrow.
They landed in a field outside a small, ancient Irish chapel. Sunrise was a few hours away.
"There's a small restroom, an addition to the church, Demona is in there getting ready." Angela gathered her things and left MacBeth to get ready in his jet.
Angela entered the chapel. King Arthur and Sir Griff were inside, setting up the few, modest decorations. They greeted her as she passed to the restroom.
"Mother?" Demona was looking the mirror, doing up her hair.
"Angela? What are you doing here?" Surprised, she smiled and gave her daughter a hug, which pleasantly surprised Angela.
"You mean, MacBeth didn't tell you I was coming?"
Demona smiled broad, "He probably wanted to surprise me. Oh, I'm glad you came," Demona looked her daughter over, whom she had not seen in a while. "I didn't really think you wanted to see me."
"You mean, the whole thing of how I didn't tell you I was getting married?" Angela asked. Demona nodded and tried to not mess up her hair. Angela began helping Demona. "I'm sorry about that, it was Broadway's idea." Try to imagine a purple gargoyle trying to do a blue gargoyle's red hair with large, sharp claws.
"Well, I suppose I understand. Hmph, I probably would have ended up getting in a fight with your father and ruining it for you anyway." Angela was surprised, she'd never heard her mother talk like that before. Usually she would automatically blame Goliath for the fight.
"You're going to be a grandmother, you know that, right?"
"Yes, MacBeth told me."
"How did that happen? I mean really, you're marrying a human?"
"What's so bad about humans? You father wants to marry one too, doesn't he?"
"Come now, mother, how did you end up marrying a member of a species you have tried to kill on numerous occasions?" The two gargoyles continued as they changed into their dresses. "Not to mention he's a man who's had a grudge on you for centuries."
"Well, it started out ... well, I have no idea how it started, but I found myself needing someone to talk to, someone who would really understand, and it kind of went from there. It's amazing what can happen in a short space of time," she laughed to herself, "especially after so long of a time."
"How do you know you're not under a spell? That he isn't trying to play you like your were using him in Paris?"
"Well, the more we have gotten to know each other, the closer friends we became, we began to feel more than just each other's pain, we began to feel emotions. That is how I know I can trust him, and he knows he can trust me. I can also feel him love me. Really knowing someone loves me, that's something I haven't felt since, well, since you were but an egg one thousand years ago. Besides, if it is a spell, believe me dear, there are worse spells to be cast."
Everything was set up, Arthur and Griff started munching on some cookies and punch that were in the corner of the chapel. Angela and Demona just talked as they waited. When MacBeth entered, his sight was immediately directed toward his bride, whom he approached.
"You look enchanting," he told her as he touched her hair. She wore a beautiful but simple wedding dress with a cape and pearls. Her hair was done back in an older fashion hair net with pearls, yet she still wore her crown she always wore. She wore the earrings MacBeth bought her in Japan. MacBeth wore a typical tuxedo with a dark green vest and bow tie.
MacBeth approached King Arthur. "Thank you so much for coming, it is such an honor to have you as my best man."
"The pleasure is mine." The king replied politely. MacBeth moved to Griff.
"I'm afraid I couldn't find a spell to allow you to see the wedding too..."
"That's quite alright, dear boy, I will be here after all, as stone anyway. As long as I get to kiss the bride!" Griff kissed Demona on the cheek before she had a chance to say anything about it. Then he pulled out a camera and started taking pictures of and with everyone in the room.
Sunrise came. Demona's transformation was painful, but Angela's change to human was about as smooth as Griff's change to stone. But as soon as Angela was human, a look of nausea came over her and she ran to the bathroom. Not too much later, the priest entered the chapel along with a small Irish band to play some soothing Irish folk music. When Angela returned from the restroom, MacBeth stopped her in almost a fatherly way and handed her some pills in the most discrete way he could.
The priest came to the center of attention, looked briefly at the stone gargoyle in the middle of the room, thought little of it and began the ceremony.
They were flying back over the Atlantic Ocean. Demona and MacBeth had both gone to their quarters to change into more comfortable clothing and left Angela in the cockpit. MacBeth was finished changing first.
"So, what does it feel like to have me as your step-father?" He sat down in the chair opposite Angela.
"I haven't decided yet, the first time I met you, you were trying to kill me."
"So was Demona."
Angela nodded in agreement. "It will take me a long time to finally understand how my mother married someone who's been trying to kill her for centuries." MacBeth just chuckled, Angela continued, "I mean, I guess I understand how you fell in love with her, you loved her in Paris and didn't even know it, but Mother...I don't understand, I'm afraid I can't imagine her being in love with Father either. I don't really think of my mother as being one of the easiest people to get along with, I mean, I love her and all, but what do you see in her?"
"Well, she really is very beautiful," he paused, "during the day."
"I heard that," Demona said as she entered the cockpit dressed in civilian clothing. She went to the back of MacBeth's chair and put her arms around MacBeth's neck threateningly. "What are you trying to say?"
"That I fell in love with your personality." She threatened his face with her fingernails, just kissed fingers.
"And what do you see in MacBeth, Mother?" Angela teased MacBeth also.
"Hmm," Demona pondered the seemingly difficult question as she looked at him, "well, you have to admire a man who can, after not being in Scotland for a few hundred years, kept his accent."
"Not to mention a grudge." MacBeth razed. Angela blinked.
"Well, it's nice to have someone who won't leave me, for once." Demona smirked evilly.
"That's because we'd kill each other before that happened."
"Exactly!" MacBeth rolled his eyes at his wife. Angela blinked again.
"When will we arrive at New York?" Demona changed the subject.
MacBeth turned to his controls, still with Demona on his neck, "around noon. What do you say, we do lunch, the three of us, and then I leave you two ladies to spend the day together?" Demona nodded in agreement to show they both had been planning that.
"Wait a minute, I don't want to bring you two apart on your wedding day."
"And you will only be human for one day, I don't want to come between my wife and her daughter either." MacBeth explained. "We," looking up at Demona again, "on the other hand, have eternity." Demona gave him a disapproving dirty look and shoved her hand in his face.
The first place Angela and Demona stopped was a clothing shop to pick Angela up some casual clothes she could wear the rest of the day.
"So where's MacBeth?" Angela asked as she strolled through the New York streets in the hot August sun.
"He says he went to go clean up his place. He's had employees for a long time up until a few months ago. I suppose things have begun to run down since then." She chuckled evilly, remembering what she had done to it. "Besides, he hasn't been home for two months. I remember him mentioning that when he returned home after Paris, he found that his security system had been destroyed." Demona changed the subject, "Have you ever walked these streets before?"
"My first Halloween here was the first time. The last Halloweens we didn't go out in the street because people knew about gargoyles and would have rejected us. Now their opening up a bit more..." Demona had to hold her tongue to keep from talking negatively about humans. "What are you going to do for your honeymoon?"
"Well, seeing as we just saw the world, we're not going to go anywhere. I'd like to take it easy for a while anyway." Demona stated. The two human gargoyles jay-walked across the street into the park. "Have you ever been shopping?"
"No, Father probably wouldn't like us to get a lot of possessions and such, 'not the gargoyle way' and all. Besides, Xanatos will buy anything we need."
"There are a lot of things you need to still learn about humans, one of them is that when human females go shopping, it's not about the things, it's about bonding."
Angela chuckled, "Well, I suppose we both have plenty of things to learn about each other." Angela smiled at her mother as they strolled Central Park.
One of Angela's purchases was a camera. After convincing Xanatos' guards that she lived there, Angela rushed up the stories of Xanatos' mansion to see what her friends looked like when they were stone. She put her purchases in her room. She came out to the balcony to take pictures of the stone gargoyles, the sunset and so on. When Patch came home from where she spent her days, Angela posed with her and asked her to take pictures of herself and her mother. In the midst of that, the cat Liberty awoke from her sleep on her stone boyfriend, so Angela decided to take a picture of the two of them too.
"Angela," right before sunset, Demona pulled her daughter out of Patch and Liberty's hearing. "Do you promise not to tell them about my marriage?"
"Promise not to use that secret against them?" Angela sounded determined.
"Alright." Demona gave in, and she sounded like she meant it.
"Then I will." and the hugged each other.
Sunset fell. Demona and Patch both groaned with the pain that came with their transformation and Liberty and Angela both morphed into the original forms. The stone figures broke into gargoyles and immediately Brooklyn and Goliath growled, "Demona!"
"Well, I guess I best be off." Demona told her daughter, "see you later?"
"Later." Angela smiled and Demona took off.
"Angela, darling, you're alright!" Broadway hugged his wife who had been kidnaped the night before.
"What did Demona do?" Goliath demanded.
"We just spent a day together."
"The day!"
"What happened?" Broadway held his wife close.
"I promised not to tell. But one day I will be able to explain all of this, I am sure."
"Demona will pay for your capture!" Brooklyn's grudge surfaced.
"I can't believe she would do that!" Goliath growled.
"Hey, father! Would you have let me go spend some time with her if she offered politely?" Angela didn't need to argue it but was frustrated with her clan's bias.
"'Politely' isn't in her vocabulary."
"In other words 'no'!" She stormed off, only letting Broadway follow her.
Demona and MacBeth spent that night moving Demona's belongings from her mansion to his. They decided to go ahead and sell Demona's mansion, "one less thing to dust" was how MacBeth put it after doing a lot of cleaning to his own place apparently.
Not too long before sunrise, as Demona moved a box full of ancient artifacts that she had owned for almost her entire life, MacBeth grabbed her from behind, put his arms around her, and didn't let the gargoyle finish what she was doing.
"So..." he said as he held her close.
"So..." she repeated over her shoulder, looking at him.
"What are we going to do now?" He paused, "Now that we're married?"
"Well, I'm assuming you going to go to the school tomorrow and find out what you've missed and start getting ready for the next school year."
"Hmm, but what about you? Are you going to go back to the usual take-over-the-world, get revenge business?"
"Well," Demona thought about the question a moment, "maybe I'll take a vacation from taking-over-the-world..."
"Who do we have left to get revenge on hmm? Is there still a hunter?"
"There always seems to be one..." Demona turned around in MacBeth's arms to look at him.
"And what of Goliath? I think it would make your daughter happy if you didn't do anything to them for a while." MacBeth took off Demona's crown and started admiring her gargoyle features like her horns, which were similar in shape to her crown, that she always hid.
"Yes, I suppose you're right."
"You could become a teacher. I'm sure you would add an interesting twist to human history, no?" Demona gave him a look of disapproval, he just kissed her on the head. "Maybe you could teach a class about gargoyles. And right along side that you could teach 'Gender Roles.'"
"Gender Roles?" He just laughed as he looked her over. Demona continued, "Besides, I don't think I have the patience for human children."
"'Tis a shame." Rolling her eyes, the blue gargoyle stopped the conversation by kissing her husband. They stayed in each others arms, consumed by the feeling of love, the joy of belonging, of being wanted. They kissed each other until sunrise came and Demona's skin melted to a pale Caucasian tone.
"I know, you could be a lawyer!" MacBeth said suddenly.
"What?"
"Seriously, you could specialize in gargoyle cases. I can probably forge you a high school diploma and arrange for you to test out some early years of college, that's how I did it. If it's something you'd be interested in."
"Why would I be interested in working for the human law system?"
"Because you'd get to yell at humans?" MacBeth suggested.
"Hmm, I'll think about it." She smiled, ran her hand along his neatly trimmed beard.
"What..." His tone became more serious "...what do you look forward to most about married life, hmm?"
"Not being alone..." she replied serious. MacBeth smiled, he knew she would take his answer. Never again, they both thought and went back to kissing each other.
To be continued...