Day and Night
Eight
As the day shifted to the evening Dominique Destine returned to her home, feeling surprisingly good about how the day had gone. Her negotiations with Xanatos were going well, and while she knew Elisa Maza didn't trust her yet, she felt she was making progress.
"Is there anything else?" Alicia Sevarius asked politely as the limo pulled up to the older townhouse in Manhattan and parked as they finished their talk.
"You're a fan of the Gargoyles, correct?" Dominique asked, a slight smile teasing her lips.
A blush colored Alicia's cheeks as she admitted, "Well, I like Demona a lot."
Dominique smiled back, struck by how cute her assistant looked, blushing like that. 'I'm getting soft,' she mused. Aloud she said, "Can you do me a favor? There have been rumors of Gargoyles in other cities, could you look into that for me?"
"Certainly," Alicia nodded, "but why?"
Dominique smiled calmly as she answered, "I don't see business opportumities with the Gargoyles yet, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. And the more information we have, the better equipped we'll be to go forward."
"I see," Alicia nodded.
An impish thought occurred to her as Dominique teased, "Who knows, maybe Demona will let us buy the licensing rights. We could sell t-shirts, plush dolls, action figures..."
Alicia actually giggled at that. "I can't quite see her agreeing to that," she chuckled.
"You never know," Dominique answered as she opened the door and got out, "Good night, Alicia."
"Night," the younger woman smiled.
Dominique nodded to the young man driving, "And good night to you, too. Please make sure to escort her to her door."
"Yes ma'am," he saluted, touching the brim of his hat.
Dominique turned and walked to her building, unaware that two people were admiring how good she looked in the stylish business suit. She unlocked the gate and went inside, then unlocked the front door. Her employees would have been shocked to see her casually toss aside her clothes as she walked to the shower, standing under the hot water as she washed away the day's accumulated scents.
Dressed in a robe Dominique watched the city, her thoughts turning to a problem that had vexed her of late. For much of her life Demona had dedicated herself to the survival of the Gargoyle race, but in doing so had lost sight of the forest for the trees. She had fought wars to save her clan and nearly destroyed them, then dedicated herself to destroying humanity and nearly killed Goliath's clan. She could no longer afford to be short sighted, not with the dire straits her people were in.
Sometimes Dominique wished she had never met Anton Savarius, for it was him that had taught her the basics of biology and about genetic diversity. To save a endangered species a certain minimum number of subjects was required, or there was a risk of interbreeding and genetic diseases. Gargoyles seemed to have greater genetic redundancy, but there was no telling how many of them they needed to remain a viable species.
'That's why I asked Alicia to investigate other clans,' she mused, brightening as she thought of her lovely assistant, 'maybe we can somehow trade members of the clans...?'
Lost in thought she was unaware as the sun dipped below the horizon, gasping in sudden pain as the transformation tool hold. It felt like her muscles were on fire as her human flesh was exchanged for gargoyle biology, her eyes blazing as she cried out. Her robe shredded as her batlike wings exploded from her back, stretching out as the pain faded.
Demona stood in her living room, her ragged breaths evening out as the pain faded away. "Damn you Puck," she growled, "does it have to hurt so much?"
Demona stalked nude across her suite, finding where she hid the rough cloth garments she wore in her gargoyle form. She pulled on the crude cloth garments and the circlet she usually wore, pausing to look at her reflection. Demona looked like some kind of barbarian princess, and for a moment was tempted to try on a t-shirt and shorts.
'Goliath would just die,' Demona actually smiled, then shook her head.
Leaving the bedroom Demona locked the doors for security, then cliumbed out a attic window to look out over the city. The bustle and smell made her wince, then she shook herself as she extended her leathery wings and caught a updraft. There was a incredible freedom to soaring over the city on currents of air, twisting and gliding above the busy streets. If there was anything she liked about this era, it was how easy it made gliding.
As she did most every night, Demona patrolled her part of the city, then began to spiral outward. She felt a fierce joy in pounding thieves and robbers, though she wondered if it was out of doing good deeds or just her dislike of the average human rabble.
'Still, there are humans I like,' Demona admitted. She would even concede she respected Maza, even if she didn't like the woman much.
A scream ripped through the night, and Demona launched herself gracefully from the rooftop she had been perching on. Out on the street a man was trying to get a purse from a woman, the lady fighting fiercely to keep hold. With a snarl Demona dove downward, startling the both of them.
"What the fuck?" the man yelped, pulling a gun from under his jacket even as he released the woman's purse.
The first bullet whizzed by, then Demona forcefully slapped the weapon out of his hand. The next blow knocked him out, though Demona was tempted to break the arm too. She looked at the victim and asked, "Are you all right?"
The redhead was looking at Demona wide eyed as she stammered and pointed past Demona, "I am, but..."
Demona whirled around, seeing a stunned looking young man who's shoulder was wet with blood. 'The bullet,' she realized, mentally cursing that she hadn't checked behind her.
"Oh hell," the boy muttered, swaying as he looked like he was going to faint.
Demona caught him even as her thoughts raced. "Call nine one one," she briskly ordered the woman, "I'll take him to a hospital."
Cradling the boy to her carefully Demona used her clawed hands and feet to rapidly scale a wall, then caught a warm wind as she took off. It took only minutes to reach the hospital, much faster than a ambulance could, and the emergency room literally froze when she burst inside carrying the boy.
"I have a gunshot wound here," Demoina barked, sending the interns and doctors scrambling.
Within moments the boy's shirt had been torn open and they were treating him, and Demona backed away to let them work. As minutes drew into a hour or more she wondered if she should stay here or leave, but with all the people gawking at her she was tempted to go.
"Miss... Demona, is it?" a older man pushed through the crowd, frowning up at her.
Demona tensed, for a moment reminded of Macbeth, then made herself relax. He was... softer than Macbeth, and seemed even older in some ways. "Yes, I am," she nodded to him a trifle warily.
Suddenly he threw his arms around her, stunning her. "Thank you," he said as he smiled weakly, "you may have saved our Timmy's life."
"I should have been more careful," Demona told him with a shrug. Quietly she asked, "Is he going to be all right?"
"The bullet nicked a artery," he said quietly, "he might have bled out if you hadn't gotten him here as fast as you did." The older man smiled up at her again as he said, "Thank you."
Demona lingered with the boy's grandfather as other family trickled in, listening to status reports as the night passed. Finally as Dawn neared she rose to leave, talking to the family for a moment before stalking off.
'I should have been watching,' Demona thought grimly as she scaled the side of the hospital, then launching herself out on the breeze. The sun would rise soon so she hurried across the city, eventually alighting on top of her home and slipping inside just as the sun rose once more.
"Arrgh!" Demona groaned in pain as she shifted from gargoyle back to human, silently cursing as the agony wracked her body.
Not long afterward Dominique Destine emerged from her bedroom, once more dressed in a fashionable suit and munching on a sandwich. Because she did not transform to rock in the daylight, she couldn't draw on sunlight to refuel. Therefore she had to eat a great deal to replenish her reserves, something she went to great lengths to hide from her assistant.
Entering the living room Dominique snapped on the TV to catch the news, as well as to see the financial numbers. The serious looking newscaster was caught in mid-sentence, "... and thanks to the heroic actions of the gargoyle, Demona, both the assault victim and shooting victim survived."
"But...," Dominique sounded rather strangled as she muttered, "I screwed up!"
Flicking through stations Dominique saw that coverage of the event was nearly uniformly positive. Only one station actually suggested she had made a error, and even they were quite mild about it. Much of the footage was of the woman Demona had saved along with Tim's family, who raved about how happy they were that she helped.
"I will never understand humans," Dominique shook her head, drinking down a protein shake and finishing getting ready to go.
Right on time the limo pulled up to the street as Dominique finished locking up, then with a confident stride the redhead walked out to the car. "Morning," she nodded to the driver.
"Morning," he nodded, smiling slightly.
Sitting in the back Alicia had a broad smile on her face, her eyes nearly glittering with excitement. "Did you catch the news?" she asked excitedly.
Dominique had to bite back a laugh as she sat down, her briefcase sitting across her lap. "I did," she admitted as the car started up and smoothly slid into the busy morning traffic, "it seems your hero had been busy."
Alicia blushed as the attractive young woman asked, "I'm not that bad, am I?"
Deadpan Dominique answered her, "Yes, you are." She laughed as she sat back, "Well, I suppose we all must have our hobbies."
Alicia actually chuckled softly. "So, should I start saving newspaper clippings of Demona?" she asked with a teasing smile.
"If it makes you happy," Dominique answered, and was faintly surprised to realize she meant it. Somewhat briskly she decided to fall back on business she asked, "What's on the schedule for today?"
"The Cyberbiotics rep wants to see you, I presume they've heard rumors about our Xanatos project," Alicia checked her PDA, "we've been approached by the news media on the support we offered for Demona earlier, and the annual charity lunch is coming up. Do you want me to book you a rent-a-date?"
"Not this time," Dominique shook her head then smiled as a thought occurred to her. "Would you like to come along?" she asked.
Alicia's eyes widened, "Would that be a good idea?"
Dominique smiled at her, "I'd like you to. The event will be a bore otherwise."
To be continued...