Day and Night

Chapter 20

Dominique blinked as she took in what the young woman had said. "You want to write up Miss Sevarius for taking personal days without notice?" she repeated it back flatly.

Jessica Nicholes was clearly braver than most people as the black haired, stylishly dressed woman met her eyes calmly. The Human Resources staffer defensively said, "We like for staffers to give reasonable notice, as per Nightstone company policy."

Dominique fought the urge to facepalm. "Has she a history of not coming in to work?" she asked her dryly.

Jessica looked uncomfortable, "Well, no..."

"Has she taken frequent personal days?"

"No, she's only used personal days twice. The first time being the death of her aunt," Jessica reluctantly conceded.

Dominique just STARED at her over that comment. After a moment, even Jessica looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"And you think she should be written up...," Dominique finally said wryly. After letting the woman stew a few moments more she added, "I will concede that I'm biased because she's my assistant, but I strongly disagree."

"Yes, ma'am," Jessica squeaked and fled out of the office.

Alicia stuck her head in the door a few minutes later. "Sorry, she insisted she needed to see you," she apologized.

"It's fine," Dominique said with a sigh. "That woman needs a vacation..." she muttered, shaking her head.

"Booked three days in advance," Alicia added wryly.

Dominique laughed. Curiously she asked, "Did you piss in her Cheerios or something? She really has it in for you."

Alicia snorted, "That is SO crude, ma'am." She added, "And no, I did not..."

Once Alicia left Dominique looked up Jessica Nicholes file. Had been with them from almost the beginning. Moved up to become head of her department. No infractions on her file, tho as head of Human Resouces that didn't mean THAT much.

With a sigh Demona put that aside and tried to focus on her work, but it was more difficult than usual. She kept being reminded of what had gone on yesterday when, as Demona, she had basically crashed on Alicia's couch for the day.

They had watched movies, talked and ate snacks. It had been an oddly pleasant experience... in fact she had been quite reluctant to go, once night fell. But Demona could feel that she was largely healed, and if she stayed there till dawn she'd probably turn human. Which would take MUCH explaining.

So after thanking Alicia, she had taken off into the night.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Alicia was doing her best not to beam happily. Yesterday had been so much FUN! They had sat on the couch together, ate bad food and watched comedies.

'I wonder if Demona got all then jokes?" Alicia mused as she copied a document for their files. There was no way to know a gargoyle's cultural back ground, after all.

The phone rand and she answered it,"Nightstone Enterprises, President Destine's office. How may I help you?"

"It's Detective Maza. Could I speak with Miss Destine?" the woman asked politely.

"I'll check and see is she's available," Alicia told her. She switched to the office phone, confirmed it was all right, then put Maza through.

Humming cheerfully she fielded calls, made appointments and just generally managed her boss' life. As Nightstone was a very diverse company, she saw multiple companies and products daily. And, of course, people who thought there needs were 'urgent' and should be put through right now...

"No, sir. No, sir. I'm sorry, but the soonest I can squeeze you in is tomorrow afternoon, after three-ish," Alicia said politely.

There was a burst of complaining about how HE was an important customer, yada yada yada.

Alicia thought about mentioning that the morning meetings were with the US Secretary of Commerce. Plus Cyberbiotics in the afternoon. No, it would be rude. "I'm sorry, but that's the sooniest I can fit you in, sir," she said politely.

There was more bitching, but he accepted it and Alicia added him to the scheduler.

Noting the time Alicia tapped on the boss' door. "I'm going for lunch, ma'am. Do you want anything?" she asked politely.

Dominique looked up from her work with a wry smile. "I'm snowed in for now... could you get me two of the usual?" she asked pleadingly.

"Certainly," Alicia agreed and headed out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

David Xanatos was a man with connections to many levels of society. You had to be informed, to be ready to seize oportunities and be ready to make a profit. Which meant news of all sorts crossed his desk fairly quickly.

"Owen," David addressed his assistant, "has Dominique Destine's usual schedule changed?"

Calmly Owen replied, "She was away from work yesterday, as was Miss Sevarius. Both are back today, however."

"That fits," David made a face, "Demona was apparently shot three days ago, apparently saving Tony Dacon from a hit. Though why she'd save him..."

"She apparently saw a random person being attacked and saved him," Owen noted. He smiled faintly, "Really, it's a very Gargoyle thing to do."

"Ha!" David smiled, "Yeah, true enough."

"The energy weapons were Cyberbiotics make. Reynard is less than happy," Owen noted.

"Legally aquired? Or...?" David asked thoughtfully.

"Illegally shipped into the country," Owen said calmly.

Both men exchanged a glance, wondering in Reynard's assistant Preston Vogel was involved. While David had done morally questionable things in the past, there were lines he generally chiose not to cross. Not so with Preston.

"Should I sent a get well card?" Owen suggested. "She HAS appparently fully recovered."

"Who's recovered?" Fox asked as she carried Alexander on her hip.

"Someone managed to shoot Demona," David noted as he took his son in his lap. The cute little boy beamed up at him cheerfully.

"Unless she was badly wounded, she should have recovered quickly, right?" Fox asked.

"Hmm, yes," David agreed. "We were just thinking if we should do something..."

"I think Demona would be annoyed if we went after her shooters anyway," Fox pointed out to her husband reasonably.

"Point," David conceded...

"I will make a apointment to see her," Fox mused, "just to check, though."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Someone tried to whack the boss?" Coyote asked, the slim thief frowning worriedly. Not that he was actually THAT worried, but it could endanger their pay.

Jackal nodded, "It was a reasonably well planned hit too. They disabled his vehicle, dropped his bodyguards and nearly got him too."

"Ironically, a Gargoyle saved him," Hyena added, amused. "Do we need to check in?" she asked. "We probably should at least ACT concerned."

Jackal gave her a look. "Sister, you are just overflowing with the milk of human kindness," he noted mildly.

"Aren't I tho?" Hyena shrugged casually.

"Mr Dakon said not to contact him until he needed us for a job," Panther said coolly. The taller woman was casually sharpening her new, built in claws.

"Which we're STILL waiting on," Wolf complained mildly.

"He's going to have to go after whomever tried to hit him eventually," Coyote pointed out, "betcha he'll need a big distraction to keep the Gargoyles away."

"Which would be us," Wolf agreed.

"Still bored tho," Hyena added.

"No, we can NOT go out. We'd get arrested," Jackal reminded her.

Panther had to admit their augmentations made all of them stand out in a crowd. Her and Coyote's fur, Wolf using a armor suit, and the sibling's cybernetics were all very visible. At least she could KIND of blend with enough clothes...

"Didn't one of your upgrades mean you can hide the cyborg bits?" Wolf had to ask.

"But why would I want to hide these gorgeous looks?" Hyena asked, visibly appalled.

Wolf facepalmed...

To be continued...

Notes: I still need to figure out what Mace Malone's deal is. Is he a opportunist who's adopted the name? Is he the original Mace? Is he working for the Illuminati for a mission? Or no?