Day and Night
Seven
Alicia Sevarius kept a eye on the clock as the blond worked, organizing her boss' schedule and generally playing guard dog to the outer office. One of the more critical duties she did was keep minor stuff from bothering Dominique, and she was generally pretty good at it. Today, though, she was a bit more distracted than usual.
It was strange, but hearing the boss say that she had a ex had thrown her badly off. Alicia had never really thought about her employer having a personal life, in fact she hadn't thought she had a personal life at all. Which was stupid, really.
'She's not a statue on a pedestal,' Alicia reminded herself, 'she's as human as I.'
Shortly after the Xanatos rep left a woman walked in, dressed in dress slacks and a blouse, a jacket thrown over it, Her skin was a warm brown, well suiting her black hair, and she scanned the office like she expected a ambush.
"Miss Maza?" Alicia asked politely, studying the woman thoughtfully.
"Eliza," she said, smiling down at the sitting woman. She saw the name on the desk and raised a eyebrow, "Sevarius?"
Alicia sighed softly. "You know my uncle?" she asked mildly.
"We've had professional dealings," Eliza said dryly. She put her hands in her jacket pockets, "Can I see Ms. Destine?"
"Just a moment," Alicia said as she activated the intercom, "Ms. Destine, your appointment is here."
"Send Maza in," Dominique answered crisply.
"You can go in, Miss," Alicia smiled professionally at the woman.
Once the other woman went into the office, Alicia tried to return to work, but she was distracted. 'I wish I could hear what's going on in there,' she admitted to herself, surprised at the impulse. Calling up the browser on her PC she decided to look up Maza on the search engine, to see what came up.
'She's a cop?' Alicia thought, not too surprised considering the wary way the woman acted. Her record was quite good, with multiple commendations and awards. She had been shot not too long ago, in a home break in apparently, and her brother had gone missing. In fact there was still a reward for information, though reading between the lines it looked like they had lost hope.
'Poor people,' Alicia thought, wondering how it would feel to just have one of your family disappear. Shaking it off she went back to work, typing up a report that Dominique needed finished for the end of the day.
About half a hour later Miss Maza left the inner office, her stride calm but forceful. Her expression was a odd mix of thoughtful and irritated, as if she was having to digest a thought that made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.
"Have a nice day," Alicia called politely as she walked out.
Eliza paused at the outer door and smiled slightly, "Thanks."
Alicia worked for about ten more minutes, noting it was very quiet inside the boss' office. Getting up she tapped on the door lightly, then looked inside as she called, "Dominique?"
Dominique sat at her desk, the redhead frowning as she tapped on her desk with a single finger. She looked up with a weak smile, "Yes, Alicia?"
"Is everything all right?" Alicia asked tentatively.
Dominique sat up, smiling a bit stronger as she said, "I'm fine."
"Really?" Alicia smiled, raising a eyebrow.
Dominique chuckled softly, "Just a bit frustrated, I suppose." She paused and looked out the window a moment as she mused, "How do you convince someone who's known you for a long time that you've changed?"
"You and Miss Maza have known each other that long?" Alicia asked, feeling a surprising spike of jealousy.
"No, it's someone we both know...," Dominique hesitated then smiled slightly as she added, "it's a long story."
From her tone of voice Alicia expected that the long story wouldn't be explained, which she didn't mind. Well, not too much anyway. "I suppose it will just take time," she said honestly, "time for you to show you have changed, and time for them to believe it.'
"True enough," Dominique agreed, nodding. She chuckled wryly and added, "Too bad I'm not really the patient type."
"Oh, I don't know, you seem pretty patient to me," Alicia offered brightly.
"Thank you," Dominique smiled. She shook her head a moment, "Ugh, I forgot lunch. Do you want to go get something with me?"
"Should we?" Alicia looked surprised, "I mean, the front desk can take messages but..."
Dominique got up from her desk, smoothing out her clothes as she said firmly, "I am the CEO and owner of Nightstone enterprises, I think that at least lets me play hooky occasionally."
Alicia had to laugh, "Let's go."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
As Eliza Maza left Nightstone, she was surprised at how muddled her feelings were. She honestly hadn't wanted to believe Hudson or the news reports, the whole idea of Demona changing her ways was impossible.
But somehow, the Demona in that office was different than Eliza had expected. Maybe it was her frankly conceding that Eliza shouldn't trust her, or even her stating that she was calling a truce for practical reasons. Her bottom line, it seemed, was preserving the Gargoyle race, and they couldn't afford to lose any more of their number to internal fighting.
'Which is consistent with what I know about her,' Eliza admitted, 'But can I trust her word?'
Catching a taxi to the station was pretty easy, and Eliza paused to look up at the wreck of the clock tower above them Once it had been home to Goliath's clan, until the Hunters had brought them out into the open then launched a rocket attack on the building. Ironically that very attack was what turned public opinion a bit towards the Gargoyles...
"Hey, Eliza!" the brown haired man in the trench coat waved, his clothes a bit rumpled from a long day's work.
"Matt," Eliza smiled slightly.
Matt Bluestone was a good cop, if a trifle obsessed with the idea of plots and secret societies. He had actually worked with her and Goliath a few times, and he was now in charge of the city Gargoyle task force. Of course they didn't do much, mostly because the cops approved of the city's mysterious stone guardians.
"You might want to tell our friend G that the feds are still poking around," Matt cautioned her quietly as they paused in the sunlight.
"I'll see him tonight," Eliza nodded.
Matt smiled wryly, "Remind the others the cops still have a shoot on sight order, too. Not that most beat cops will do that, but..."
"Mother hen much?" Eliza teased, smirking.
"Yeah, yeah," Matt laughed, then scratched his unshaven chin. "Do you know anything about that Demona we've been hearing about?"
"Some," Eliza conceded. "got a hour?"
Matt sighed as he followed her inside, "Yeah, I can swing that."
Eliza proceeded to give him a summary of the life and times of Demona, running from stuff Macbeth told them to modern times. After a moment of internal debate she didn't tell him about Demona's human identity.
"Macbeth?" Matt blinked, "as in, Macbeth from the PLAY?"
"That's him," Eliza agreed, smiling wryly. That had been pretty much her own reaction, too. Conversationally she added, "My understanding is the play was more propaganda from the king who overthrew Macbeth, so don't take it too seriously."
"Still, wow," Matt shook his head. He sat back, trying to process what he had heard, "So she's been alive centuries?"
"Looks like it," Eliza nodded.
Matt sighed, "Poor woman."
"You think that immortality would be that bad?" Eliza wondered, having been considering that question herself a few times since meeting Demona.
"Outliving everyone you cared for," Matt noted, "and maybe even getting to the point you're scared to connect to people at all? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."
Eliza nodded reluctantly, "You could have a point."
Changing the subject Matt asked, "Do you think she's serious about reforming?"
Eliza frowned, looking down at her desk a moment. "My brain says no," she conceded, "but my gut feeling is yes. I've talked with her recently, and she seems sincere."
"Good," Matt actually looked relieved, "there's some talk of finally shutting down the gargoyle task force, but if something happens they'll start it back up again."
"I'll talk to my friends about it," Eliza told him, "we'll try to make sure nothing blows up in anyone's faces."
"That's probably the best we can do," Matt agreed as he got up and sauntered off.
After her shift ended Eliza headed over to Xanatos Tower, using her key-card to access the private elevator. At times she still found it hard to take in, having access to the home of the richest man in the world, not to mention being his enemy for awhile. But Goliath seemed willing to let bygones be bygones, and she had to accept that.
"Miss Maza," Owen nodded, the stiff blonde haired man nodding hello as she neared.
"Owen," Eliza nodded back. "How's the evil minion business?"
"Satisfactory," Owen said with barely a smile. Somewhat more seriously he added, "Please let your brother know we are still working on curing his condition."
Anton Savarius had experimented on runaways and others including her brother, trying to create Gargoyle-like beings. It hadn't gone well. "No luck finding Savarius?" she asked.
"He's gone to ground very well," Owen answered, "I fear he believes Thalog or Mr. Xanatos mean him harm."
"Understandably," Eliza agreed. "Let me know if you find him."
"Of course, miss," Owen bowed slightly as they separated.
'I better make sure my brother doesn't hear about Alicia Sevarius,' Eliza mused as she took the final lift up to the castle, 'there's no telling what he'd do.'
To be continued...