Not So Alone
Part 2
By Princess Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
Demona walked behind the girl as she moved quickly towards the dinosaur exhibit. Brenna was a bit more enthusiastic about being here now that they'd arrived. Demona had been right, this was the sort of thing Brenna would like. She felt the beginnings of a small smile as she watched Brenna staring at the caveman exhibit.
"I think I've seen that man on the subway." Brenna gave her a smirk as she pointed to a hairy looking hunched over humanoid.
Demona had wondered something since science had declared it years ago. "Descended from apes. How do you feel about that?"
"Oh, I believe in evolution over creationism." Brenna sounded pretty intellectual. That wasn't what Demona was asking but she just leaned against the railing and got more comfortable. The girl had a way of answering questions she hadn't even thought to ask when Demona just let her go. "There is a lot of proof that humans did evolve. Scientist found fossils and it just makes more sense to me than to think some god decided to make us."
Demona couldn't help but remember the way Darwin was received by his peers when he mentioned that. She personally agreed with the evolution idea for the humans, because they were far too flawed to be some god's idea of a superior species. They were an accident of evolution that spread like rats across the planet.
"As for the being descendents of apes." Brenna stepped a little closer to Demona and spoke more quietly so that the other people didn't hear them. "The apes should be ashamed. If they'd just exhibited a little control…" Brenna chuckled. "Really though, I can believe it even though I can't climb to save my life. Shame we lost all that strength when we gained a brain, but then it does prove that those jocks really are lower life forms."
Demona chuckled and reached out to push some of Brenna's hair out of her eyes. "You really are a weird human."
Brenna stuck her tongue out playfully and grinned, "Better to be a weird one. The normal ones are really scary." Brenna was a real puzzle, but Demona couldn't help but like her attitude and the way she thought. "Oh, and Dominique…" Brenna smiled at her, "You're pretty weird yourself."
"So what did you want to look at now?" Demona asked as they started away from the caveman exhibit. Brenna glanced at the map they'd picked up at the door.
"Is there something that you wanted to see?" Brenna glanced at her with soft eyes. Coming to the museum with Brenna was a lot more fun than coming alone. Of course whenever she went to a museum it was to case the place for a break in later that night.
********
Brenna followed Dominique through the medieval history exhibit. The playfulness was gone as the redhead looked more seriously at the exhibits of weapons and other artifacts. "It's really amazing what things managed to survive the ages." Dominique spoke quietly while staring at a painting from some Scottish castle. "This was the most hideous painting in the whole castle." Dominique glanced at Brenna who'd moved closer to stand beside her, "Or it must have been."
"My mom's family was Scottish." Brenna spoke quietly, a bit unwilling to interrupt whatever Dominique's thoughts were, but not wanting to leave her alone either. Dominique was too intense, like something was really bothering her. The woman didn't acknowledge her and Brenna nibbled on her lip while she tried to think of what to do. She hesitantly moved closer and reached out to rest her hand over Dominique's, which was resting on the bar keeping visitors from getting too close to this exhibit.
When Dominique turned to look at her, clearly startled. Brenna spoke softly. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, of course." Dominique glanced at the painting of a young woman again before turning to give Brenna a searching look. "I'm feeling like we've seen everything interesting here. Let's go eat."
********
Demona was stunned to see Brenna acting very attentive and slightly concerned in the museum. The painting of Princess Katherine had irritated her. That woman's influence touched far too much. It was a thousand years after she should have been dead, and neither the woman nor the painting seemed to realize that. That horrible woman was who raised Angela, after having treated her clan with less respect than she gave the castle dogs.
"I've had a lot of fun." Brenna started talking to her while they walked to a nearby restaurant.
"So have I." Demona was a bit surprised at how much she meant that.
********
Brenna had the camera in her lap as she sat on the chair near the balcony doors. She'd had her new friend Gencie teach her how to use it, it was more advanced than the camera that Brenna had used in her photography class. Gencie was a photojournalist on the school newspaper. She sighed as she continued to stare up at the sky. She'd been waiting a week for Angela to come back but no luck so far. She'd hate to think she wasted the money on the camera.
It was a bit cold this close to the windows so she got up and moved to her bed. "Sorry Lacey, you need to move." She whispered to her sleeping cat as she rolled her off the blanket. She then wrapped it around herself and sat back down in the chair. The cat was a bit insulted, but she'd get over it.
She stared at the sky, "Come on Angela. I just want to show Ms. Destine I wasn't crazy."
********
Demona glided high over the mansion and she noticed Brenna's light was still on. It was far too late for the girl to be awake. She moved carefully out of sight of her window and moved lower. Her landing on the ground was quiet and she was then able to leap up to grab onto the trellis so she could climb up. She'd made sure those were attached firmly when they were put in so that if she ever had to climb her home she wouldn't damage it with her talons. They also didn't start until much higher than a human could jump.
Once she was even with Brenna's balcony she carefully moved to glance into the room. Brenna's overhead lights were still on and the television was as well. The girl, however, was asleep on the chair by the window, covered with a blanket.
"Oh Brenna." Demona whispered, even though the child couldn't hear her through the door. "You're so desperate. Why do you need to find a gargoyle so badly?" She had no doubt that the girl was watching for her again. Brenna had been a bit tired looking ever since she'd seen Demona that once. Demona had to cut down the amount of time she watched her young human, because Brenna spent far more time looking out these windows now.
Sleeping in that chair wouldn't be comfortable. Brenna would be sore when she woke up if she stayed there all night. Unfortunately Demona didn't know how sound a sleeper Brenna was, so she couldn't risk going in to move the child herself. Well, perhaps a little neck pain would help discourage her from staying in that chair so late. Demona watched the young girl sleep for a few moments before pushing off of the mansion and gliding to the other side, where her bedroom was.
After some time brushing out her wind swept hair Demona sighed. She opened her bedroom door, walked down the hall and knocked loudly on the girl's door. "Time to go to bed Brenna. Turn out the lights and get some sleep." She them moved quickly back to her own room before the girl could answer the door. Brenna would get at least a few hours of sleep in a real bed before waking up for school.
********
Brenna grabbed her lunch and moved towards the cafeteria tables. This was one of the big differences between the schools. This school had only around 200 students and Brenna didn't want to know how much tuition must be to be able to afford everything they had here. No wonder her mother couldn't send her.
The entire school had lunch at the same time and there wasn't as sharp a difference between grade levels. People could take any classes they wanted, they didn't need to wait until they were in the right grade. A hand shot up in the air and Brenna started towards it. The others had gotten their lunches faster, Brenna had picked the slow line. Gencie moved her binder so that Brenna had a place to set her tray. Brenna had found her the second day of classes and they'd become friends rather quickly. On top of that Brenna was adopted into Gencie's group of friends. It was a completely new experience for the girl used to eating alone and having no one to talk to.
"Did you catch what the assignment was in Ms. Cysinger's class?" Allaine asked as soon as Brenna got comfortable. Brenna just grinned at him and decided to scare the boy. He should have been paying attention rather than trying to finish his math homework for the next class.
"Well, she wants us to research Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Find out what scholars think, compare his message to the world of his day, you know all the typical stuff."
Allaine paled a bit and Brenna tried to keep the grin off her face. "But we haven't been studying Shakespeare."
"This is to get ready so that we can. We'll be starting the Shakespeare unit in two days."
"When's the paper due? How big does it need to be?"
Brenna looked him right in the face. "Two day, to start off the lecture. It needs to be a twelve pager. Shouldn't be too hard."
"Twelve pages?! On scholarly interpretations?!" Allaine's voice rose in panic and Brenna couldn't help but chuckle. Lily had been watching this in silence but now she laughed.
"Man, she's totally messing with you. We just need to read the rest of our book and be ready to talk about it in class tomorrow." Lily was in their class too. Gencie was in Journalism instead.
"That was mean." Allaine grinned. "Finish the book, I can do that. I'm never asking you about assignments again, you've got a cruel streak."
Brenna grinned at him, "Pay attention in class." She then started to eat.
"So, what you do this weekend?" Gencie asked. This was the first Brenna had seen her today, because it was their afternoon classes that they shared.
"Dominique took me to the museum, and we went out to eat." Brenna felt a little odd talking about her home life now that it was so different from other peoples. Her friends had already heard about her mother's death and the fact that she was living with the CEO of NightStone.
"How are things going with her?" Lily asked with a concerned expression on her face. Brenna's previously good mood soured a little.
"We get along great, but…" Brenna sighed. "I just don't know."
"She'd be crazy to not want to keep you." Allaine smiled at her. "You're a Cordova kid. Don't get much more prestigious than that. Not to mention when you aren't trying to give me a heart attack you're actually pretty nice."
"I don't really want to talk about this." Brenna stared down at her plate and made a real effort to put her vegetables on her fork so she didn't have to see her friends' pity. She sometimes felt like a stray dog, begging for a home.
"So…" Gencie started. "I got roped into covering Career week for the school paper." Gencie didn't sound thrilled. "It means I have to go to EVERY presentation, while the reporters get to divide it all up."
"Hey, don't complain so much." Allaine mock glared. "I'm on the committee organizing that. Me, some other student and a bunch of parents and teachers. It really could be worse. Try my job. I have to go to every presentation and have to be part of endless meetings." He then turned to Brenna and Lily, "Enjoy your freedom ladies, once your sophomores you'll be roped into running something or being on some committee." Brenna remembered the counselor telling her and Dominique about that. The sophomores and juniors were required to be a part of something, running the student store, being on a committee, or some other thing. They had a choice of what they did, but it was required. The seniors got out of it because they'd be doing things to get ready for college, and the freshman, like Brenna and Lily had one years grace before service to learn how the school runs.
Gencie stared at Brenna, "You really need to join the paper as a photojournalist with me."
"You just don't want to suffer alone." Brenna would prefer to be a reporter if she had to join the paper, but those on the school paper had to stay after school often, and Brenna had to work. Her scholarship was tied to her job. "Sorry, can't. I have a job."
"Yeah, I told my mom where you work and she didn't believe me." Lily interrupted with a real energy to her voice. "She says it's sooo hard to get hired on there. She'd tried several times before she finally landed a job down the street instead."
"What's your mom do anyhow?" Allaine asked. Lily hadn't ever mentioned her mother working before. They all knew her dad was a cosmetic surgeon, but nothing about her mom. Brenna felt a bit uncomfortable whenever anyone's mother became the topic of conversation. It just made her feel out of place, and she wasn't really ready to talk about her own mother yet. It had only been a month since she died.
"She's an accountant." Lily obviously found that less interesting than her dad's job. "So, how did you get hired on there?"
"I was just in the right place at the right time." Brenna felt her face blushing. She still wasn't sure why Dominique had hired her. It really wasn't like the woman to hire a stranger out of the blue like she had with Brenna.
********
After lunch Demona was doing a brief walk about in her Accounting department to remind the employees whom it was they worked for. She felt the need to reinforce her dominance today. She scowled at scared looking accountants and their office support as she walked around the cubicles. The conversation she'd overheard this morning didn't please her at all. It was no secret around NightStone that Demona had taken in their youngest employee after Candace's death, but Demona hadn't been prepared for the employees to feel that it softened her or made her any less intimidating. She needed to find someone on this floor to publicly humiliate so that they all realized that no matter what she had going on at home, she was still Ms. Destine and she'd put up with nothing less than the best from her people. She really wished she'd been able to see who it was that was gossiping about her earlier so that she could target them, but unfortunately she didn't.
"Who's responsible for maintaining this breakroom?!" Her voice rose as soon as she found something remotely out of place. It was a minor glitch, so her coming down on this person would have the proper effect of making everyone very careful around her for a while.
Once she was done yelling at the scared looking receptionist she went back to her office and slipped into her secret room with all the surveillance equipment to see how her staff dealt with what happened. She liked to see the fallout and to know if there was anyone that she should make sure to put in his or her place later.
"I can't believe she yelled at her for that long because coffee grounds had accidentally fallen out of the garbage." One young accountant was talking to another. Demona just smirked at the hushed way they talked, not realizing that this entire building had surveillance cameras and microphones.
"How is she?"
"I think she's crying in the bathroom. Ms. Destine was downright cruel." The blonde male accountant sighed. "I think I should get her flowers or something to try and make up for it. She's a pretty good receptionist."
"If Ms. Destine goes this crazy over a messy floor, I can't imagine what living with her must be like. That poor kid, like loosing her mother wasn't bad enough. Living in terror of Ms. Destine's temper… I don't know how Brenna manages to smile at all." Demona's pleased smirk started to fade as conversation once again turned to her private life. She took note of their names this time and flipped off her monitor. The employees had never been aware of her private life before and she'd heard wild speculation about it, but having Brenna at the mansion was the only solid information they'd ever had. That had to be why they seemed to talk about it so often.
Later she walked past the file room and heard the mail clerk in there with Brenna. Demona slowed down to listen, not liking a man five years older than Brenna hanging around like that. There was little reason to interrupt the girl's work.
"Your hair is pretty cool that way. Were you thinking of dying it a color?" His flirtatious tone made Demona's eyes widen and she started to growl lightly.
"No, it's fine black." Brenna sounded very disinterested in talking with him, but when Demona moved just a little so that she could see into the room he was leaning against a file cabinet to make himself more comfortable.
"Well it looks good." His tone was now so very inappropriate for talking to a child. Demona's hands clenched into fists, but she waited to see how bad he would get. She wanted to know if she should fire him or wait until it was night and kill him. After Brenna ignored his comment he seemed a bit put off. "So what's it like living with her?" He was asking, obviously wanting the latest gossip.
Brenna sounded irritated, "I have work to do and I doubt she would want me to sit here and talk about her when I'm falling behind in my filing." Demona felt a small smirk cross her lips. She recognized that irritated and commanding tone. Brenna was imitating Demona to get the man to leave her alone. He took the hint and Demona's eyebrow rose as he noticed her. She followed him out into the main reception area for her office and grabbed his arm.
"A man your age really shouldn't be pursuing minors." She glared at him. She wasn't about to let some lecherous human near the girl again. "In fact… you're fired. Get out of here in five minutes and I won't send security after you." He must have thought he could use Brenna's recent loss to get into the girls pants. Brenna was too smart to fall for that, but Demona didn't like that her… that Brenna had to deflect advances while at work. She's just a child.
Once he was out of sight she called security anyhow. Best to scare him away.
"Do you have men hit on you often?" Demona leaned against the doorway and watched the girl. She seemed tense. It had bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Demona's voice got softer, "I fired him."
Brenna looked down at her pile of papers for a moment, and Demona wished she could read her mind. "I…"
"Did he scare you?" Demona took a step into the room and closed the door behind her. He'd seemed too obvious in his interests, and while Demona had occasionally had to push off interested men, Brenna was still young. The scene replayed in her mind and she remembered how he stood in front of the only exit to the room. Demona clenched her fist as she wondered if she should have gone with her second choice and waiting until nightfall to deal with him. If he died right after being fired the police would investigate NightStone, she couldn't act right away now.
"No, I wasn't scared." Brenna answered, but she still seemed nervous. He'd at least made Brenna uncomfortable.
Demona moved closer and pushed some of that hair he'd commented on out of Brenna's eyes. "If anyone ever makes you feel uncomfortable you tell me. I won't tolerate anyone…" Her words trailed off as she recognized the fierce protectiveness she felt.
"I will." Brenna spoke softly and Demona just nodded. She felt a bit distracted by her reaction to the whole thing. There was only one person she felt this protective of before. How did Brenna managed to worm her way into… Demona sighed and walked away to let the girl work.
Brenna was a human girl. She belonged with her own kind. Demona made a call to that useless social worker to see how things were progressing with finding Brenna a new home. When Rachel didn't have any new news to give her Demona didn't bother wasting energy yelling at her.
********
Brenna sat next to her balcony doors once again staring at the sky. It was a clear night, which always made visibility easier. Her camera was in her lap with her hands resting on it.
The shadow in the sky was so small it could be a bird, but Brenna picked up the camera and used it to get a better look. She'd made sure to get one with a very good zoom. A smile started across her face as she recognized arms and legs. It was no bird. She had her. Brenna started to snap pictures quickly, wanting to get as many as possible. The gargoyle wasn't Angela, she looked a bit different and dressed differently. Brenna found that the zoom on her camera just wasn't good enough, she couldn't get any real details. She wanted to see this gargoyle, but still these pictures would prove to Dominique that a gargoyle was gliding over their home.
Once the gargoyle moved over the roof Brenna pulled the camera away from her face and waited to see if she'd return. After a half hour she decided that was probably the only pass over she'd get. Brenna carefully removed her film and prepared it to take to school. Gencie would let her use the dark room keys. Even though she was thrilled to have proof she didn't want anyone to know they had a gargoyle in the neighborhood. Tina's threats showed that the gargoyles still had enemies and Brenna didn't want to lead anyone to this female. Gencie was a good friend, but she loved having gossip and if she found out about this Brenna might as well write an article for the school newspaper.
Brenna put her roll of film in her back pack and went to her desk to pull out another roll. This one had more innocent pictures that she could show Gencie, pictures of artwork and people. It would also explain her need for the darkroom.
"I got her Lacey." Brenna whispered happily. "She was real."
Brenna took a deep breath as she walked down the stairs to go have breakfast. Once she saw Dominique she decided to put the second part of the plan into action. "Dominique, I need to stay after school today. We're working on a project and it's the only time I'm available since we have to come right home after work."
"Fine." Dominique didn't even seem suspicious. Good. Brenna wanted to surprise her with the pictures. "What kind of project." Uh… Brenna had to think quickly.
"Allaine and Gencie are helping out with the Career Week thing and I promised I'd help them with the posters." Her eyes became a little pleading, "I promise I won't miss work often, and I'm all caught up on the filing now."
"I already said it was okay Brenna." Dominique gave her a small smile. "You can have friends you know. Of course we already talked about what you shouldn't be sharing with your friends." Brenna nodded. The strange rules were a secret, and it wasn't like they hurt anyone.
********
Demona stood in the boardroom while waiting for her department managers to leave. She took a sip of her coffee and watched them picking up their notes and leaving. She also noticed one man moving more slowly than the others, obviously trying to be the last one out. That was unusual. Normally they all ran like rats fleeing a sinking ship, afraid that Ms. Destine will think of yet another thing for them to do if they didn't.
"Jane, call Gregory and tell him we'll be leaving to pick up Brenna at five." The girl wanted to stay pretty late at school, so they'd just get her on the way home. The receptionist left, leaving Demona alone with the Mail room supervisor. If he said one thing about her firing his pedophiliac employee she'd find a replacement for him as well.
"Well, Mr. Vega." Demona glared at him, "Are you going to tell me why you are still here or did you just want to waste my time?"
He looked properly nervous then. "Ms. Destine, I had no idea that Scott was hitting on Brenna like that. I just want you to know that I would never have given him this floor if I knew what kind of man he was." Oh, he was just worried that she would take out his whole department for this.
She sneered at him, "If you show such bad judgment with your employees again, it won't just be the mail clerk that loses his job." Drake's eyes widened a bit in fear. She then just marched out of the room and back into her office.
********
Brenna spent the time waiting for her pictures to develop actually helping out by making some Career Week posters. Of course her friends weren't here like she'd told Dominique, but she wanted to have been lying as little as possible. Allaine had given her a funny look as he pulled out the supplies and information so that Brenna could work on that. He then went to his planning meeting and left her alone.
Gencie had also, as predicted, handed over the dark room key without any trouble at all. So Brenna took over the art room after school and was being very productive.
At a little before five Brenna started cleaning up quickly. She hide the developed pictures of the gargoyle in her textbook and carried the others out in her arms so that if Gencie was still around after her newspaper meeting she'd see normal pictures. Brenna also stacked the posters she made and carried them to the office so she could leave them with the receptionist. She'd make sure the teacher in charge of the Career Week got them.
She was almost to the door when she heard fast footsteps coming down the nearly deserted hallway. "Brenna, wait up!" Gencie called out so Brenna turned to look at her friend. Gencie made a funny voice, "I'm free… free.. from meeting hell!" She grinned at Brenna and started to walk beside her through the front doors. "Next year you have to join the school paper, so that I have at least one person to talk to when Mr. Flemming starts rambling. We should have gotten out of there a half hour ago, but he started talking about something or other and it had nothing to do with anything. All the other committees always get to go home before us."
"You aren't really selling this right." Brenna leaned against the wall at the bottom of the stairs so she could wait for Dominique. "You are supposed to tell me how great it is so I want it, not that you hate suffering that hell alone. Don't go into sales."
Gencie just stuck her tongue out as a response. "So, where are the pictures? I want to see if you have what it takes to work with me next year." Brenna handed over the decoys and watched her friend studying them.
"You have a funny idea about interesting." Gencie flipped through pictures of art and random people that Brenna had just taken pictures of for practice. "But at least most of these aren't fuzzy."
"Hey, I'm just learning to use that camera. The later ones were much better." Brenna took the pictures out of Gencie's hand to show her.
"Oh, I see. And you didn't even get your thumb in the shot, good job." Gencie teased her.
The limo pulling up in front of them made Brenna look up. "Oh, I gotta go." She took the pictures Gencie was looking at away from her and picked up her backpack.
The window of the limo rolled down and Dominique was there watching her. "Is that Ms. Destine?" Gencie asked quietly as they finished going down the steps towards the sidewalk.
"Yes." Brenna pulled the strap of her backpack up a bit more.
"She's younger than I thought she'd be."
Brenna glanced at the redhead obviously studying Brenna's friend. "Yeah, I know. I think she's younger than my mom."
"You don't know how old she is?"
"It hasn't come up." Brenna sighed at the way Gencie gave her a disbelieving look. Dominique tensed up when Brenna started asking personal questions, so Brenna didn't ask them often.
Once they were in the limo and heading home Dominique glanced back at Gencie one more time. "So that is one of your friends?"
Brenna nodded, "Yeah, that's Gencie. She's the one I told you worked on the paper."
"Have you put any thought into what you'll do next year?" Dominique was looking interested. Brenna wished she had a good answer.
"I don't know. I want to pick something that will be helpful… you know when I want to start a career, but I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up."
"Do you have any ideas?"
Brenna sighed, "No." Brenna would much rather be talking about the pictures she had hidden in her backpack, but she was waiting until they were alone. Dominique may act like Gregory was invisible, but Brenna was always very aware of his being there. She liked the man, but this was between Brenna and Dominique.
"Yes, I suppose there are a lot of choices for a young hu.. woman today. It might be hard to make a decision."
Brenna just nodded. She was wishing that there was less traffic. She was really looking forward to proving to Dominique that she'd really seen a gargoyle. Brenna had also been wondering why that gargoyle would be so far from the city and she couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with the strange rules Dominique had for Brenna.