Brooklyn woke the next night alone. Closing off his usual roar to a snarl he looked around. He didn't see Cordelia anywhere. Nor anyone else actually. Looking around he must be in one of the bedrooms. Hers probably by the smell and feminine appearance. Very comfortable and plush. But old, Nothing in this room furniture or fixture wise was new. Stooping down so he didn't hit his head on the angle of the ceiling beam he headed to the door. Stopping to decide if he should just make his way back out the window or see if Cordelia was still here. She might have called one of the others from her clan to come get here. Or they might be downstairs with her and pissed he intruded on their home. Or she is lying dead downstairs alone. This woman is going to be the death of me he thought.
Heading down the steps quietly he heard no one else moving. It was so still he thought Cordelia might still be here from the subtle heartbeat coming from the living room. And he was correct, asleep on the couch half siting up half lying down. Covered in a blanket. He cleared his throat once and she didn't notice. Watching her sleep he noticed she must have showered and changed while he was in turn sleeping. Her clothing that he could see was different. And her hair down and soft where it had been wet and tangled around her face. A book sat upended on the floor where she must have dropped it. Reaching to pick it up and set it down flat he suddenly stilled and stared at her transfixed. She was just so so pretty. Crouching next to her Brooklyn reached and touched her face. Pushing some of her hair behind her ear. He didn't know what came over him, but if he didn't pull her into his arms and kiss her he felt his heart might explode out of his chest. He shoved the blanket out of the way and leaned in to do that when she woke up sensing someone else close to her. Drowsy at first and then panic crossed her face. Then anger.
"What the hell do you think your doing!?" Cordelia screamed at him.
This snapped him back to reality somewhat. Even screeching at him she was so beautiful. And Brooklyn leaned in again to tough her. This time Cordelia brought up a small fire ball and held it out in front of herself protectively. Coming close to singeing his hair she yelled again.
"Hey! Snap out of it!" She yelled loudly. Pushing her self up and backing out of the living room away from him. Then slipping and falling and landing on her ass on the floor with a shriek.
Brooklyn jumped forward to help her up. One arm curling behind her head and the other behind the small of her back.
"Oh hell no. Get the fuck out of my house! GET OUT!" Cordeila yelled at him slapping his claws away with one hand. With the other she brought a small fire ball back up. Brandishing it in his face she waved it back and forth till Brooklyn jumped back from her.
The fireball and the yelling seemed to do the trick.
"What the hell was that?" Brooklyn asked in confusion and Cordelia struggled to get up.
"You being a creeper while I was sleeping" Cordelia snarled at him.
She pushed herself up and off the couch, limping, and put space between the two of them. Letting the blankets hit the floor.
"What the fuck, damit it, I'm sorry. I don't know whats wrong with me" Brooklyn gritted out. Embarrassed and disgusted with himself for the thoughts running through his head. Ones that involved a whole lot of tearing her cloths off and... He shook his head trying to get the images out of his mind.
"Just go away and don't touch me and it will be fine" Cordelia explained. Trying to get more distance between the two of them and avoiding slipping and falling on the tiled floor.
Brooklyn was torn between getting the hell out of this house and helping her.
"Why didn't you heal during the day, or call one of your clan to take care of you?" Brooklyn asked and he watched her teeter and nearly fall again.
"Because I don't heal like you and I don't want the others to know I got hurt. I'm not a gargoyle, well mostly not and going to sleep doesn't fix everything. I usually heal just like a human." She answered annoyed.
Brooklyn ran his claws through his hair. Torn between getting the fuck away as she yelled at him and going home instead of staying here to protect her.
"There's the door" She told him with a gesture. He didn't move and looked even more uncomfortable than before.
"Jesus you are worse than the boys. I will be fine. Go away." Cordelia ordered him.
"Wait where is the rest of your clan? Shouldn't they be here by now?" Brooklyn questioned her.
"No I didn't drag you all the way to our family home, or even one of the temporary ones. This is one of my fall back safe houses. My favorite in the area actually. And now I'm not going to want to use it anymore now that you are going to be able to find it" Cordelia told him. Not amused at all.
"Why the hell do you need a safe house from your own clan?" Brooklyn asked her. Wondering if perhaps she wasn't as safe with them as he would have thought. His instincts again tell him he had to stay here.
"That way if just one of us gets caught, either by the hunters or by the Orfeo and we are tortured they won't necessarily be able to find the rest. Because we can go together or separate and hide" She explained in annoyance. Shifting her weight uncomfortably.
"You need to get a hold of your leader so he can come protect you before I leave." Crossing his arms over his chest.
"From fucking what? You pissing me off some more? Patrick can't help me with that. I will be fine in a few days, its not life or death" She gritted out.
"No, because you're hurt and need to be protected. Why the hell don't you listen? And what I don't get is how you could heal so fast after getting into a fight with me, but you can't fix a measly hole in your leg?" Brooklyn snarled at her.
Cordeila didn't answer him. Instead limping the long way around him to go sit back in the living room. Brooklyn growled at her ignoring him and stepped into her way to pick her up and set her down. But instead the instant he touched her his heart raced and he felt like he couldn't breath, couldn't get a straight thought through his head.
"Put me down, you have to stop touching me" She told him angrily. When he didn't and instead looked like he wanted to... Cordelia gave up and slapped him. Hard. Causing Brooklyn to let go of her and her fall back onto the couch. Screeching as the jarring motion ripped the very carefully closed stitches on her leg open.
"What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm just trying to help you!" Brooklyn roared at her.
"If you really want to help go stand on the other side of the room" She panted in pain.
"Fine!" He snapped at her. "Happy?"
"Yes" She told him through gritted teeth. "Now stay there, no matter what crazy thoughts or hormone raging ideas are running through your head."
"How could you possibly?!... Wait can you read minds?" Brooklyn asked in revulsion. He was going to be incredibly embarrassed if he knew what he was thinking about her.
"No, no. Its just...Biology." She told him with a sigh. He snorted at that. Leaning her head back in frustration she bounced it off the cushion a few times.
"You aren't making a whole lot of sense" He told her gruffly.
"Uggghhh. Fine. The others will probably tell you and your clan at some point. Particularly when you meet Gio and Antoni. I am biologically different than you right? Well when you get close to me and especially if you touch me your hormones go nuts and you start thinking about..." Cordeila trailed off looking embarrassed. "Well that's not you, its me. How I look, smell, feel? Its just to draw someone in so I can use my abilities on them. Especially when I need to heal myself."
"How does that have anything to do with you being injured" Brooklyn growled again.
"Because you dumb Gargoyle I am a frigging Succubus. That's the kind of witch" she said using air quotes, " I am. I can literally suck out another beings life force to heal my self very VERY quickly."
"That's disgusting! You kill other beings to eat them?" Brooklyn asked her in horror. Taking a few steps back from her.
"I don't eat people. I can borrow a little teenie tiny bit of someones life force to heal myself, which grows back in a few hours. Even for a human." Cordelia snapped at him.
Warily staring at her small form on the couch he bristled at the idea.
"Gargoyles don't feed off other beings." He said. His temper rising.
"Well Fae do all the time. And I am a large part Fae. I can't change what I am any more than you can give up having wings and a tail" She retorted more softly.
"How often do you have to go suck the life out of people then?" He growled.
"In my lifetime I have once. We usually never have a need and if we do we go to our mates for help anyways." She answered.
"Why would you want to hurt your mate like that. If you could even find one." Brooklyn said in disgust.
"Borrowing someones life force to heal ourself doesn't hurt them at all. Actively trying to kill someone in the heat of battle is apparently uncomfortable for both parties. But I don't know personally as I have never done it"
"How could you be certain?" Brooklyn snapped at her.
"You certainly would know what it feels like" She retorted before turning and walking away from him.
"What are you talking about?" He growled. As she stopped facing away from him.
"I have only done that once in my life. When you attacked me and I thought that I was going to die on that stupid rooftop and never get home to my family. So I made the decision to make it home alive" She snapped at him.
Brooklyn just stared at her. Gobsmacked.
"What?!" Cordelia snarled. "Like you wouldn't do everything possible to get home to your own clan."
"That's what the hell that was?!" He asked.
"Yes you big dummy. Usually we just go straight to our mate" she said tilting her head as she thought.
"So why don't you just go find a mate and suck the life out of each other" Brooklyn told her crudely. Regretting his word choice instantly as her face turned back to him.
She looked absolutely enraged and disgusted with him.
"Get. Out. Of. My. House." Cordelia told him. Punctuating every word.
"Gladly" Brooklyn snapped and walked out the door.
Clawing himself up the side of the stone house Brooklyn took off into the night air. Not crisp yet but mellow for October. He wouldn't have called in to the castle if he could. His head a jumble of everything that him and Cordelia had yelled at each other. He didn't know to be more disgusted with whatever the hell she is or angry with himself for what he said to her. She was so pissed at him. Fuck. The rest of her clan is going to be angry. And that was going to end so badly. Flipping over as he glided he rubbed his face and then looked around. He didn't see anyone or anything out in the area at night. That didn't mean that there weren't any hunters out. Or whatever the hell else this weird world throws at his kind.
That made him wonder if Cordelia was going to call Patrick or just ignore it. She was infuriating. Something compelled him to turn around and head in the direction of her house. Perhaps he would get a hold of her clan somehow and let them know where she was so they could take care of her. Then he would at least done his duty of getting her home like Goliath asked. If not safely alive at least. Gliding into the area he heard noise. Screaming. And it was defiantly come from the place he just left.
Shit. He thought, someone, a hunter probably was just waiting until he left to attack her. A tiny injured female. My god how could he be so dam stupid. Tearing into the house he couldn't see anyone else. He could smell more blood. And heard Cordelia making noises somewhere upstairs. Racing up there he slammed into a door. Cracking the edges even though the door was open and it would have been simpler to open it. Sitting on the tiled bathroom floor Cordeila stared up at him confused.
"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed at him.
"What the hell are you doing? I heard screaming. I thought someone was killing you!?" Brooklyn stuttered confused.
"I am fixing my dam gunshot wound, What does it look like I am doing?" She asked in annoyance.
Looking down at her sitting, legs sprawled out on the bathroom floor. She much have tried stitching it closed. And when that didn't work she...melted it shut. The smell of burnt skin was terrible. It was sealed and no longer bleeding. But looking over her body and up to her face. She was still shaking slightly and had been crying, her very pale skin now blotchy and red.
"You'd rather burn yourself than ask for help?" Brooklyn gasped.
"You act like I've never done this before" she told him rolling away from him like she was going to get up to her knees. Squeaking in pain as she did so.
Brooklyn grabbed her and held her from moving again. She recoiled at his touch. Her skin was no longer hot or even warm. But cold and clammy. The smell of burnt was threatening to make him hurl.
"Let go of me" she snapped at him.
Touching her he could feel the same exact way he had early in the night when he woke up and went down to the living room to find her.
"How do we do this?" He asked.
"Do what?" she asked confused and annoyed with him.
"Heal you" Brooklyn gritted out.
"Absolutely not" Cordelia said. Scrambling away from him.
"Why not?" He asked. "I can't exactly drop you off to the rest of your clan injured."
"I would rather drop dead. You insulted me and act like I'm a monster. I wouldn't accept that from you if I was dying" She bristled.
"Listen I'm sorry. Its... you are... not anything like I am use to" Brooklyn tried to explain.
"That is not an excuse" Cordelia retorted.
Brooklyn growled in frustration. Cordeila throwing her hands up and giving him the same frustrated expression.
"Doors behind you, try not to smash it any more on the way out" Cordelia responded.
Brooklyn was going to say something else but the phone ringing downstairs distracted them both. Cordeila getting up and pushing past him to go answer it. He didn't follow her but stayed crouched on the floor. He heard her talking to what must have been Patrick. Listening to only one side of the conversation left out some parts. But he could get the gist of it.
"Yes... No... We got spotted by some hunters... No of course not...They ended up going after some other gargoyle... Yes I think she did...Yes the red pain in the ass is still here... He refuses to leave... Isn't his clan wondering where he got to?... How is that my problem?...Absolutely not... No I will not... Patrick I can barely take a suggestion much less an order like that...What!? Are they ok?!... They are ok?...Fine... Yes I will be home as soon as I can, Bye." Cordeila said into the phone.
It was quiet for a few moments before he heard something crash across the room and break. And then more silence before Cordelia called him.
"Brooklyn you need to call home and talk to Goliath" she called up the steps.
Patrick had told her that the Hunters made an attempt, granted a poor one at attacking the castle while Brooklyn and herself were getting chased around town last night. Patrick had ordered the boys to stay at home and then stayed at the castle with Puck and Xanatos through the day. The hunters regrouped and had made a daytime attack as well. Elisa and Xanatos were having a field day with the press and the cops trying to keep them from fully investigating the "Terrorist attack" at Brooklyn's home.
He was down the steps in an instant. She tossed her phone at him. Accurately guessing that his was ruined after getting dunked in the water. He texted Goliath quickly. The first two responses were garbled. Then the third clear. Elisa or someone else must have grabbed the phone from him. Brooklyn's eyes going huge as he read through the response. Goliath must have demanded that Brooklyn call him. With a grimace he dialed and holding the phone away from his ear waiting for Goliath to roar at him. Cordelia also listened to the half the conversation she could hear.
"No I didn't... Yes... Because we got chased around lower Manhatten and Brooklyn by a bunch of hunters with helicopters shooting machine guns at us... I am, she is not... She'll live... How is that my fault!?... Is everyone ok?...Puck must be going nuts...My job is to stay with my clan... ... ... ... Fine, your the leader" Brooklyn snarled before he closed the phone with a lot more dexterity that Cordelia would have thought he had.
"I need to get changed and head home to my clan and keep on eye on our younglings. Patrick is staying at your castle in case they try something during the day again. I assume you want to head straight back to the castle?" Cordelia asked.
"No Goliath and Patrick ordered me to stay with you and take you to the rest of your clan." Brooklyn answered with a growl.
"Why the hell they doing that?" Cordelia asked in disgust.
"Because they think it too dangerous for me to try and fly in. And he said him and Patrick already discussed it and agreed" Brooklyn answered.
Cordelia scrunched her fists up and looked like she wanted to explode. She physically stretched her hands out trying to calm herself.
"The very last thing I want to do is spend more time with you. But my younglings safety comes before what I want. Home, well one of them is south of here. We will be unlikely to run into hunters if they are staking out your clan." Cordelia explained.
"How far south?" He asked.
"Point breeze, near the water. Can you fly that far carrying me or do I need to drive. That will take longer" She asked.
Brooklyn stood up to his full height. Pushing seven foot he towered over her. Crossing his arms over his chest.
"I am a gargoyle. Do I look weak?" He snapped at her.
Cordelia rolled her eyes at him.
"Ill be down in ten. Try not to wreck the rest of my house while your at it" She told him.
Brooklyn watched her head up the stairs, slowly he watched her figure head up the stairs before turning away and growling to himself. He contemplated ignoring Goliath and heading home himself. This was going to be a really crap night again he thought.