Ripped Apart
Part 2
By Princess Alexandria
Princess_alex24@hotmail.com
Brenna felt a nervous anticipation as she got out of the limo on Friday. She didn't know how she was going to be able to pay attention to class. Dominique was coming to talk to the High School. She'd cancelled important meetings and Brenna knew that Dominique had been working on what she was going to say ever since she agreed to do this. She was taking it very seriously.
"Oh god, I hope it goes well." Brenna felt like Dominique was really putting herself out there and didn't want the woman to feel hurt if the students weren't interested. That was always a horrible feeling to be talking in front of the class and to realize that no one cared.
"Brenna, she's coming right?" Allaine asked as soon as Brenna came in the door. He was putting up the new Business day posters with Dominique's name. That was the first hint that Brenna gave Allaine. Ms. Destine may have been second choice, but it better not look like that once she got there.
"She cancelled her meetings. She'll come." Brenna gave him a weak smile. She still wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing. She left him to finish his before school preparations and went to her locker.
"You got Ms. Destine of Nightstone to come?" A girl that Brenna knew she should know the name of asked while Brenna was hunting for her books for first class.
"Yeah."
"That is so cool." The girl from Brenna's History class smiled at her. "She's like your guardian isn't she? I hear she's like the second richest person in the city."
Brenna just stared at the girl for a moment, wondering how it was random people she didn't even have names for knew that much about her. "She does alright." Brenna didn't like to talk about the money. "Well, I better get to the library. I didn't finish some of my homework." Brenna lied to get away. Her homework was always done and double checked. It was too important for her grades to stay high.
Still she went to the library, not really having anywhere better to be for the half hour until her first class.
********
Elisa sat on Fox's bed while the woman worked on her makeup. "It'll just be you and me. Matt had to go to a meeting about the changes in the Gargoyle Task Force." Elisa had taken up Xanatos' offer of help, and asked for Fox to be one of the people sent to represent Xanatos Enterprises. It gave them one more set of eyes, and while she'd never actually worked with Fox she was sure she could trust the woman to do her best.
"Well, hardly an army but it will have to do." Fox was almost ready and she was dressed to blend in with the business types that would be there. Elisa had to change her own appearance a bit for this since every kid in the school had seen her recently and Demona would recognize her immediately. She pulled out her blonde wig and went with a conservative dress suit. She had no table, but if she wandered around people may assume she belonged.
"Elisa?" Elisa glanced up to see Fox was ready to go.
"Alright, let's do this."
********
Demona left work early and had Gregory drive her to the school. She'd had to go over her false identities fake school records to make sure she didn't say anything that would contradict the human persona she'd created. Still, this talk was going to focus on the job and not the preparation to get the job. Not everyone could rob an immortal Scottish king to get the seed money for a business, although that would be amusing if they could.
She walked with a purpose to the school doors. Brenna was standing in the hall next to a tall young man. "Ms. Destine." Brenna called out in greeting, keeping it formal. Clever girl. Demona didn't even have to tell Brenna to act like she was at work. The boy next to Brenna drew Demona's attention. "This is Allaine." Brenna introduced him. He was the one that called the house.
"It's nice to meet you." The boy started to talk, and it was an effort for Demona to not snap at him that she didn't want to stand around saying hellos.
"Um, We'll show you where to go." Brenna spoke up when Demona just stood silently glaring at the boy. Demona knew that he wasn't Brenna's boyfriend now, but she didn't want him to become that in the near future either. Brenna was too young.
"Oh, yes." Allaine stammered and seemed to stand a little straighter. Demona just dismissed him from her awareness as she fell into step beside Brenna. The girl was looking a bit nervous, but she wasn't the one that was going to be speaking in front of a group.
********
Elisa moved back towards the wall and looked down so that hopefully Demona wouldn't see her face as she marched past. The woman was walking beside the boy that had arranged for her to be there, and a young girl that stood straighter now that Demona was here. It was the girl that Morgan had pointed out.
"I expect this won't take too long." Demona's voice carried back to Elisa. "You can check out the other tables, but you won't find any business that compares to NightStone." The girl nodded quietly and gave Demona a small smile. It looked like they actually knew each other.
"Thank you for doing this." The girl was now alone with Demona while the boy went off looking for the faculty advisor. Elisa was familiar with the routine, having done it herself Monday. Elisa held a brochure she'd pulled off the Cyberbiotic table because it was the largest brochure she'd found. It helped her blend in, and made it less obvious that she was watching Demona.
"I'm doing this because it makes sense to start recruiting the young people at this school." Demona was still talking to the girl.
"Are you seeing this?" Fox spoke over the communication device Elisa had in her ear.
"Yes." Elisa answered quietly. Demona had actually given the girl a small smile and reached out to touch her hair briefly. It looked almost affectionate. Elisa started to think she'd imagined it when Demona stood back and what had resembled affection faded in her expression.
"Well, it looks like the boy found his teacher. I'll find you after this is all over." Demona dismissed the girl… Elisa stared at the girls face, trying to remember her name. Morgan had told her. It wasn't coming to her.
Elisa carefully navigated the slowly growing crowded halls to stay nearby Demona, but out of sight. She couldn't see any weapons, or even a briefcase to hold one or any magical artifacts. It looked like Demona hadn't brought anything in with her at all. "First Latin word and I'm going to move." She muttered to herself. It made no sense to target the kids of this school, but here Demona was.
********
Brenna felt awkward wandering the halls when she felt she should be by Dominique's side. Ms. Leonhart was telling Dominique more about Career week and what the kids should get out of her presentation.
"Hi." A woman spoke and Brenna looked over to see a redhead watching her. Brenna glanced around to see that there wasn't anyone standing behind her. The halls weren't too busy yet, since only some of the classes had let there students go early. Brenna took a step closer to the table while searching out the name of the business. Xanatos Enterprises. He at least sent some representatives.
"Hi." Brenna gave the woman a small smile. It was best to be polite. These people came here to help out after all. Brenna glanced at the Fox shaped tattoo over the woman's eye and immediately liked her better. This was Fox Xanatos, and she had connections to the gargoyles. She hadn't sold them out even when her baby was taken.
"What's your name?"
Brenna blinked at the cross between a friendly question and what sounded like an interview. "I'm Brenna." A boy stepped up to the Xanatos table and the redhead glanced at the man with her at the table. He took over answering the boy's questions, while the redhead took a step away from her table to talk with Brenna.
"Were you thinking of a career in Business?" The woman smiled, "Oh, I'm Fox by the way." As if anyone looking at her wouldn't know.
"Is that why you have that tattoo?" Brenna grinned at her.
"Look whose talking." Fox reached out to touch the short fuzz growing on the side of Brenna's head. Brenna blushed at the woman's attention being on her hair. Fox was a gorgeous ex-actress, and it just made Brenna feel ugly in comparison. Her head looked ridiculous with sparse hair on the sides. She just didn't have the rest of her hair long enough to cover it up.
"I'm growing it out." Brenna spoke quietly.
"Parents didn't care for it?" Fox leaned against the wall behind her and Brenna didn't even realize she flinched at that comment. Her mother had not been thrilled when she got the hair done, but she said it was Brenna's body and she could do what she wanted as long as it wasn't permanent, like that tattoo of Fox's. Dominique only mentioned the hair when it became an issue in the adoption process.
"That's not it." Brenna glanced around, hoping it was almost time for Dominique's presentation. Other employers were setting up tables and a few of them were watching Fox. Well, she was pretty and the tattoo was unusual, but it didn't warrant the stares. Sure she was a Xanatos, it was hard not to recognize a woman with a facial tattoo, but the whole gargoyle sympathizer label should have faded by now.
Brenna would have loved to have talked with Fox about gargoyles, but ever since she found out about Demona she didn't like drawing that kind of attention to herself. If she hated the anti gargoyle comments because it insulted Angela, she wouldn't be able to deal with listening to that crap now that she knew it hurt Dominique. It was best not to bring it up at school, so she didn't find another person like Tina to piss her off. She couldn't get into any trouble now, with the adoption proceeding going on.
"Well, what about business? Is that what you're going to major in?"
"Ah…" Brenna turned to look at Fox again. "I don't know. I'm still deciding." When a few students started in to where Dominique would be giving her presentation Brenna started to feel anxious. She wanted a good seat for that.
"Well, Xanatos Enterprises hires more than just Business majors."
Brenna watched Lily nod to her. She'd save her a seat. "I'd probably work for NightStone anyhow. That's where I work now."
Fox stood up a little taller. "Really? Ms. Destine hired someone so… young? What do you do?" The undivided attention made Brenna feel a bit proud.
"I'm a file clerk in her office, but I do some errands too." Brenna smiled at Fox. "She told me that if I decide to stay at NightStone I'd probably be the best manager she ever had." Actually she said that Brenna would be far superior to the lame brain idiots she currently had working for her, but Brenna kept that to herself.
"It doesn't hurt that she believes in nepotism." Gencie's amused voice was suddenly behind Brenna. "Be honest with the lady. You'll be running NightStone as soon as Ms. Destine is too old."
Brenna felt heat on her cheeks at Gencie's rude and embarrassing comment. "She's not going to give me NightStone." Fox was staring so hard Brenna took a few steps back. "I have to go. Can't miss the presentation."
Once they were out of earshot Brenna hissed at Gencie. "Don't go telling everyone about Ms. Destine and me. I don't want to jinx it." Suddenly that girl knowing that Ms. Destine was Brenna's guardian in the morning made sense. Gencie didn't need to be a reporter to spread the news.
"Oh get real. Like anyone would say that a woman that rich wasn't a suitable parent." Gencie rolled her eyes.
"I mean it." Brenna glared at her friend. "This is my life, not some story." Dominique had wanted to keep this quiet until it was official. She said something about not tempting fate. Brenna had made the mistake of telling Allaine without realizing that Gencie was nearby.
"Fine, fine whatever." Gencie was starting to really piss Brenna off. "I need to set up my camera so I can shoot her."
Lily waved towards them and Brenna just took a deep breath and went to sit down. She may have got the job because she was Candace's daughter, but that wasn't why Ms. Destine had asked her to stay when she went back to school. Brenna earned that job. She glanced up at the woman waiting until everyone was seated. Dominique had chosen to keep her working there because she was good.
********
Demona nodded to Brenna and was amused when that earned her a little smile. Brenna always did that. It was like a reflex.
It was almost time and Demona could see that most of the school had attended. Brenna had said she wasn't sure that everyone would show up since it was a Friday and the kids might want to sneak out early. Well, obviously she was enough of a draw to keep the human kids here. She also noticed quite a few of the teachers had wandered in.
Demona took a few steps to stand in front of the podium. As she spoke she paid careful attention to how she was being received, and changed the focus of her talk if it looked like she was losing them. The biggest draw in business was power and money, and she could see several students understood that.
The way Brenna was looking at her was a bit distracting at times, but Demona couldn't help but glance over at the girl every so often. Brenna was practically beaming. That was pride. Demona took a sip of her water to give herself a moment to think. That wasn't a look she got too often. Angela had looked at her in many different ways, but there were only a few brief moments before Demona's plans were uncovered that it had been pride.
********
Dominique was fantastic! She held everyone's attention better than any of the previous speakers had, even Detective Maza who had been the best this week so far. She made what Nightstone did sound so much more interesting than the part of it Brenna saw. Obviously there was so much more going on at work.
Brenna's mother had never told her about all of this. Brenna wondered if she'd even known. No, she had to have known, she was Dominique's right hand man in that office. Thinking about her mother still hurt. Not as bad as it used to, but it did. Brenna looked up again and saw Dominique smirk at her, obviously pleased with the way things were going. Brenna's mother had no idea Dominique could be like that. That the woman would drop all her work to come here for Brenna. Brenna's mother would have been shocked that her boss was willing to take Brenna in at all. Of course there were a lot of things about Ms. Destine that would have shocked Brenna's mother. A small smirk came to the girl's lips as she thought of that.
"Man she's great." Lily leaned over and whispered to Brenna.
"Yeah, she is." Brenna smiled. She'd been so worried that Dominique wouldn't be good and would be upset about it that she never even thought that the woman would blow them all away. She was an energetic speaker that could teach a few of the teachers a thing or two about keeping peoples attention.
********
Elisa leaned on a wall in the back to watch. "I saw you talking with the girl." She spoke when she glanced over to see Fox standing next to her while watching Demona talk.
"She's better at that than I would have thought." Fox muttered before turning to face Elisa. The crowds were all standing or sitting much closer to Demona so they had privacy if they spoke quietly. "There is more going on here than we thought. The girl's name is Brenna and she works for Nightstone."
"Demona's her boss?" Elisa turned to stare at Demona. Morgan said that when the girl's mother died it was her boss that came to get her. Demona glanced at the dark haired girl and smirked. It was brief, if you weren't looking for something you might have missed it.
"Elisa what is it?" Fox moved a little closer. Elisa turned to glance at Fox, but she was still thinking. Demona came to collect the girl after her mother died and was here at the girl's school.
"Brenna's mother died recently. Morgan told me he had the call and was forced to tell her that." Elisa turned to watch as Demona calmly started to answer questions from the students. A lot of students had their hand up to ask questions.
"Oh, that explains that look." Fox sounded a bit concerned. Why? The question must have been on her face because Fox answered it. "I said something about how her parents felt about her hair. She looked like I'd slapped her."
"There's more. Brenna's boss came to get her that day. Demona came to pick the girl up."
"And that one explains why Brenna's friend told me that Brenna was going to be the new CEO of NightStone when she got older." Fox glanced over at the girl, but Elisa's eyes were riveted on Fox. What exactly was going on?
"I hate to say this, but maybe Demona isn't up to something today." Elisa watched as Brenna stood up once the questions were over and moved through the crowd towards the NightStone CEO. This wasn't about the school and all these kids. Whatever Demona's game was it focused on that girl. Elisa needed to find out what was so special about Brenna that it warranted all of this effort from Demona. Did Demona arrange for Brenna's mother's death to get access to the girl?
"Is she part Fey?" Elisa asked distractedly. She really was at a loss for what Brenna could offer Demona or what the big plot was.
"I'm not really the one to ask about that. We'd need to introduce her to Alexander or Owen." Fox tilted her head a little as a smile came to her lips. "But I think I can arrange for one of them to meet her. Don't you think it was terribly rude of David to cancel on them?" Fox's grin was very mischievous as she turned to look at Elisa. "I'm sure a tour of the nearby business for some select students would help to make him feel better about letting them down. It's all good PR."
"And then we could try and get Brenna alone."
"Yes, cut her off from the herd." Fox really sounded like the predator her namesake was at that moment.
"Demona will know something is up if the girl is suddenly invited to the Eyrie."
"We'll ask the school to keep the location a secret until the last minute. Say its for security reasons."
"You think they'll do that?" Elisa couldn't help but remember the hassle of getting permission for field trips when she was a student.
Elisa felt a little shiver at the look on Fox's face. She'd seen it before, when they were on opposite sides of a jail visit. "Oh, I think what David wants, David can get." Fox then grinned at her. "Well, I better get back to the table to keep up appearances."
Elisa nodded as she moved to keep a close eye on Demona. Even if she didn't think the woman was about to try something she wasn't willing to risk being wrong. Somehow it wasn't at all comforting that Demona was after one child instead of the whole school. Brenna had suffered enough lately and it was just sick that Demona was playing games with the girl.
********
Demona was grateful when the crowd of students took the hint and left to check out the tables. They'd been swarming her. A small smile came to Demona's lips as she allowed herself a moment of victory. She'd clearly blown the Detective's wonderful presentation out of the water. Brenna told her that she was by far the best speaker this week.
Brenna was out looking at the other company tables, and she'd been reluctant to go, but Demona had her eyes on someone she wanted to talk to. She promised Brenna they'd go out to dinner after they were done here. That had helped deal with the strangely disappointed look on the girls face.
"Ms. Destine, that was a terrific presentation." The woman that had helped enroll Brenna in the school came forward to speak with her now that the other kids were gone.
"Thank you." Demona then looked at the counselor with a serious expression. "I've started the adoption proceeding with Brenna. The social worker may be getting into contact with you." While she didn't want anyone to know about this until it was a done deal, there was something that she needed to deal with here.
"Well that's terrific." The counselor smiled at her.
"I'm concerned that the misunderstanding about the day Brenna left early to visit her mother's grave will cause problems." Demona spoke a little slowly, hoping that the woman would get the hint. Every human had a price, she just needed to find out what this one wanted. "She was just too distraught to remember to give the office the note I gave her." Demona started to paint a new story for that day, the one that she wanted the social worker to hear. "I'd even given her money for the cab fare, so that I could take care of business and meet her there."
Ms. Pogge wasn't smiling now. She was looking thoughtful. "You really think that one incident is all it would take to stop the adoption?"
"It could be a problem, and it was all just a misunderstanding." Demona watched the woman consider her words. "I'm sure that the records in Brenna's file could be altered to reflect the real situation." Brenna had been written up for leaving school grounds. Demona wanted that paper out of there. "She had permission to go, but the poor girl is still having such a hard time with dealing with her mother's death." Demona watched the human counselor. She was obviously fighting her desire to help because of the rules about those records. This might take a little while.
********
Brenna tried to walk past the Xanatos table and once again Fox was calling out to her. "Hey, were taking names of people that visited our table and I forgot to get you on the list." Fox smiled at her. "I wouldn't want David to think I didn't represent us well."
"Oh… Okay." Brenna moved forward and took the clipboard Fox handed her. Once she'd signed it she gave it back.
"McCullen? That sounds Scottish."
"Yeah." Brenna noticed Lily leaving to go home. That girl had no interest in majoring in Business. She wanted to go into medicine like her father. Gencie was still busy taking pictures of all the tables, and Allaine was visiting those tables making sure the employers had everything they needed. It left Brenna on her own a bit, and normally at this point she'd go to work, but Dominique was still talking to her counselor. Brenna noticed them walking into the main office together.
********
Elisa stood outside next to Goliath waiting for sunset. After Demona had driven away with Brenna Elisa had started to do a little research. Demona was up to something, something big, Elisa could just feel it. But she had no idea what exactly it was. She hated knowing that something was going on and being unable to prove it. And she really hated having to let that poor girl ride off with Demona knowing that Brenna was in for a world of hurt whenever Demona finally revealed the true plan.
When the sun dipped below the horizon Elisa watched as Goliath and the clan stretched, their roars echoing in the castle. Goliath had been very concerned about today, and wished that Demona would just stick to attacking at night, when he could help against her.
"Elisa!" Goliath looked relieved to see her. Elisa gave him a small smile in return. "How did things go at the school?" He asked as the other gargoyles started towards them. Angela was looking a bit more somber than normal. She'd taken the news that Demona may be going after kids hard, even though she didn't let it show. Elisa could just tell, in fact all of them could. They'd all avoided talking about Demona for a while, and instead focused on the fact that while the Quarrymen weren't as abundant as before, they were still out there.
"Well, Demona is up to something, but nothing happened at the school." Elisa glanced at Angela for a moment. "She was there with a girl, Brenna, that goes to that school." Elisa took a deep breath. This was the part the clan wouldn't believe. "Brenna lost her mother in a car accident in February and Demona has had custody of her since then. I checked with the state and it looks like she's applied to adopt the girl."
"What?" Brooklyn stared at Elisa in disbelief and confusion. "Demona's trying to adopt a human girl?"
"There has to be more that we aren't seeing." Goliath looked as troubled as Elisa felt. "What do we know about this Brenna?"
"Yeah, I mean… she's a teenage human girl right?" Lex moved a little closer. "What use could Demona have for her?"
"I don't want to think of what uses Demona would come up with." Brooklyn muttered. Elisa just managed to not agree with him. The look on Angela's face made Elisa think that tact was the better way to go. Angela looked like she was close to being sick.
"Well, I managed to ask a few questions from a friend of hers and it turns out that Brenna used to be a P.I.T. member." Elisa turned a bit to face Angela. "She had a run in with a gargoyle and it really impressed her. Angela do you remember meeting a girl a few blocks from the library in October? She told Gencie that you stopped a mugging and helped her pick up her books. You two even talked about authors."
Angela had a surprised look on her face. "Brenna? I remember her." Angela glanced around at the clan once. "Remember, I told you guys that a girl I helped stayed to talk with me. She didn't run away in fear." Angela looked like she was trying to remember all the details. "She said her mother was out on a date and she'd run out of things to do so she went to the library before it closed." Elisa sighed as she heard the story. She remembered it now, Angela had been so pleased that a human had treated her well and Elisa had pointed out that it proved that some people could learn to accept them. That was the girl that Demona had. Somehow that made it even worse, the girl could easily have been a friend of the clan, and who knows what Demona would try and do to her.
"Yeah, that's got to be her. Her mother had worked for Nightstone, and when Brenna got suspended for fighting with a girl insulting gargoyles she ended up with a job at NightStone." Elisa had found it very easy to get Gencie to talk, the girl loved having information that others needed. It made this investigation easier.
"Did her mother disappear mysteriously?" Broadway asked.
"No, it was a car accident when she was out on a date." Elisa would have thought that as well if she hadn't known about the car accident first. It wouldn't have been the first Nightstone employee to suddenly go missing. There was a night janitor shortly after Nightstone came to New York, but Elisa couldn't prove anything, and at that time it could have been either Demona or Thailog.
"I don't understand why Demona would be after her." Angela spoke softly. Whenever she said Demona it sounded a bit stilted and awkward. "Brenna doesn't have anything that Demona could use."
"Well maybe Demona needs a human sacrifice for a spell." Brooklyn muttered, gaining him a cold glare from Angela.
"She better not hurt that girl." Angela's fists clenched and her eyes burned. "Brenna was really a good kid." Elisa was almost sorry to hear how easily Angela believed Demona would do that. It had to be hard to realize your mother was capable of that kind of evil and it had taken Demona's attempt on Goliath's life to make Angela see it.
"It's a shame she lost her mother like that." Broadway spoke quietly. "Where is the rest of her family though?"
Elisa could see Broadway was upset for Brenna's loss. He was always so empathetic. "Brenna doesn't have any other family. Her grandmother died last July." Elisa had searched for other family, someone that could help her get Brenna away from Demona. That was the only reason she had an answer to that question.
"So her father is dead too?"
"There is no father listed on the birth certificate." Elisa could see the puzzled look on Broadway's face and decided to beat him to the question. "Either her mother didn't know who he was or she didn't want to admit to who he was, but either way he wasn't a part of Brenna's life and I don't know who he was."
Before Broadway asked the question about how someone wouldn't know who the father was and put Elisa in an awkward position of educating the clan about some humans' indulgence in casual sex, Goliath interrupted. "We have to get Brenna away from Demona."
"It doesn't work that way." Elisa really hated the red tape at times, but she had to go by the law. "Demona has legal custody of her now. If I go in and take Brenna away I'll be the kidnapper."
"But we have to do something!" Goliath growled out.
"I'm working on it."
"How is Demona able to live with a human teenager?" Lex's forehead was scrunched up a bit with his thoughts. "She'd have to give Brenna a really early bedtime."
********
Brenna glanced at the clock and smiled. One good thing about living with a gargoyle was the fact that Demona had no concept of bedtimes because she was used to being up all night.
"Brenna, I've been thinking about what to do about the summer." Demona handed Brenna the bowl of popcorn. They were getting ready to watch a movie.
"Yeah?"
"I talked with your counselor and you can get credit for internships. I'd like for you to do one at NightStone. It would give you something to do during the day because we don't have enough work for a full time file clerk and I don't want to leave you home alone." Brenna grimaced at that. She used to be left home alone all the time. Demona's voice softened. "We don't live close to anything you could do. You can't just walk to the library from here." Oh, well that was different. It wasn't that Demona didn't trust her.
Brenna set the bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table. "What would I be doing?" Brenna normally got really bored during the summer, and had been hoping to be able to work more hours so she could save up some money. She didn't want to have to rely on Dominique for everything. Or have to get all her purchases approved first.
"I'll get you a list of potential departments and you can pick." Demona reached over and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "I also agreed to take a few other interns from Cordova for the summer."
"Really?" Brenna stared at the nonchalant attitude Demona had about that.
"Yes, I'll be having a few interview for a couple positions." Demona smiled at her, "You get first pick though, and there are some departments that I don't want them in… but you could be." Demona's expression became stern, "But if you or any of those kids spend more time chatting than working, I will end the internship. This is still a job."
********
Demona wasn't thrilled with the internship program that she'd had to create. Ms. Pogge's price was surprisingly not personal. She cleaned up Brenna's school records in exchange for one summer Nightstone paying internship program. Demona would find offices far away from her so that she didn't have to deal with the children. They would only take up to five of them, and only if they met the criteria and passed the interview
The movie started and Brenna sat back to watch. Demona glanced at the girl. The things she did for this child. Demona shook her head, not quite believing her own actions at times. Still, the way Brenna had looked at her today during the presentation and the way Brenna excitedly told her how well she thought Demona had done during dinner… it was nice.
Halfway through the late night movie Demona noticed Brenna looked a bit cold, but she wasn't moving to get a blanket. That was something that Demona wasn't used to yet, making sure the thermostat was high enough for Brenna's sensitive human skin at night. Gargoyles handled cold much better.
"Brenna." Demona snapped at the girl when she noticed her getting so cold she was curling in on herself, but wasn't making any move to leave the couch. "Get a blanket already! I don't want to sit here and watch you shiver."
"Okay." Brenna got up and moved up the stairs towards her bedroom quickly. Demona just rolled her eyes and hit pause on the movie. She then got up and stretched. How Brenna talked her into a Star Trek movie she'd never know. And one with time travel as well. Demona grimaced. Time travel never worked out how you wanted it to.
Demona then wandered over to the thermostat to turn it up. She could hear Brenna started down the hall. When they sat back down on the couch Demona was a little surprised that the girl moved to cover Demona up with the large blanket as well. Brenna's small smile made Demona decide to just sit back, rather than explain to the girl that the cold really didn't bother her.
********
Brenna couldn't believe she was doing this. Demona said it was safe, but still the idea scared her. Well, this was definitely something that she couldn't tell her friends she did on a Saturday night.
"Are you warm enough?" Demona asked. Brenna just nodded. It was weird being held like she weighed nothing, like she really was a baby. Demona just grinned at her. "Alright, here we go." Brenna's entire body tensed up when Demona leapt off the balcony and her heart was pounding in her chest. Finally they were gliding up and when Brenna felt that she risked opening her eyes.
The ground was getting further and further away. Brenna had asked a simple question, what was it like being able to fly, and that got her into this mess. She wasn't sure Demona wasn't just trying to teach her to keep her stupid questions to herself.
"Relax." Demona sounded a touch irritated. "I won't drop you."
"I never thought you would." Brenna spoke softly, but Demona was able to hear her over the wind. It was then that Brenna felt Demona relaxing a little.
"I like being up here. It's peaceful." Demona spoke while Brenna stared down at the ground. It was different seeing it from up high than seeing it in a movie like this. The mansion wasn't very big from this high up.
"It's pretty." Brenna felt the need to say something positive, since it seemed like Demona was actually doing this to be nice. It wasn't a punishment, no matter how much if felt like it. Brenna was really looking forward to being back on the ground again.
"The city isn't really that far by air." Demona spoke as she stopped doing the wide circles around their home and Brenna realized they were going to be up there for a while.
"Aren't I too heavy to carry for long?"
"No, my true form is much stronger. You don't weigh anything to me." Demona's answer made Brenna's heart sink. They could be in the air a while if that were true.
"Great." She muttered, but when Demona glanced at her Brenna just smiled like she meant that in a good way. Brenna was pretty sure there was a reason humans didn't have wings. They didn't belong in the air like this.
When they got closer to the city the lights from the air made it look really beautiful. And that ugly Eyrie building looked pretty nice at night as well, not that they got anywhere close to it.
********
Demona noticed Brenna starting to ease her death grip on Demona's neck as they glided over the city. Demona didn't try any building dodging with the girl in her arms even if she thought it would be fun. Brenna was just starting to trust her with this and Demona didn't want to ruin that. She could feel the girl finally starting to relax. Brenna had been scared, that was obvious once they'd started, but Brenna didn't back down. Demona could admire that.
For some reason Demona hadn't even thought that gliding would scare Brenna. It was just such a natural thing to do, like breathing the air.
"This is nice." Demona could hear Brenna mutter and it made her smile. That was what she'd wanted to show the girl. Most humans would never get to see the city like this, but Brenna should get the opportunity. She deserved it far more than that blasted Detective that Goliath carted about.
They headed back home shortly after that. Demona was satisfied that Brenna had fun.
********
"Mother's day is right around the corner. Make sure to say it with flowers." Brenna read the sign on Lynati's Florists as they drove to school Monday morning. Her fist clenched at that. It was coming up this month.
The sound of Dominique turning a page in a report that had been faxed to the house made Brenna glance up. She'd bring it up later. Brenna turned to look out the window again. She should really get her mother some flowers. They could take it to the cemetery. God, she hated having to go there.
"Do you have enough lunch money?" Dominique asked as they pulled onto the block that the school was on.
"Yeah." Brenna double checked that it was still in her pocket when she said that. The limo stopped and Brenna got out. When it pulled away Brenna found herself staring after it. Should she get Dominique a mother's day gift too? Would that be right? The thought hurt. Brenna turned to trudge inside. Dominique wasn't her mother, and treating her like she was… how was that fair to Brenna's real mother? But Dominique was going to adopt Brenna and she was taking care of her. Brenna just didn't know. She had two weeks to figure it out.
Allaine beamed at her when he found her in the halls. "Did you hear… No of course you heard." He moved closer to Brenna. "Ms. Destine decided to create an internship program. My committee is beyond thrilled. You made me a star. I should give you my first born."
"No thanks." Brenna gave him a weak smile. She wasn't feeling up to celebrating with him right now.
"Are you okay?" Allaine lost his grin and looked at Brenna seriously.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." Brenna lied.
********
"Okay, what is this plan you told me about?" Elisa stared at Fox, and was a bit put off by the woman's complete lack of concern.
"It's simple. We will call Cordova and tell them that David wants to make it up for canceling on them. We will be willing to give the kids a short tour and do mock interviews. We'll rope the people from Human Resources into doing the majority of them, but Brenna will get pulled out for an interview with Owen." Fox glanced down at her now filed nails. She'd been doing them while they talked.
"Its gonna be hard to get time off right now." Elisa hated not being able to be available for whatever needed to be done, but if things went well they'd be keeping Brenna into the night so she could meet the clan. Elisa wanted to be able to be there.
"When is your next night off?"
"Thursday"
Fox glanced up at Elisa. "We could do this sooner. It isn't like you need to be there." Elisa just glared at Fox. The redhead had the nerve to smirk at her. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a bit of a control freak?" That was hypocritical of a woman that used real people as chess pieces in games.
"I want to be there." Elisa said flatly.
"Fine." Fox shoved her hair back over her shoulder. "We'll wait. I guess if Demona hasn't killed her yet she'll probably be safe a few more days."
********
"No." Dominique's voice held a definite finality to it. Brenna grimaced. "These lyrics… have you even paid attention to what they're saying?" The redhead took the CD out of Brenna's hand and placed it on the rack. "It's disgusting. Find better music. If I hear you ever buy anything from this…" Dominique glanced at the cover, "Worker72… I can't even call them a band… I'll dump it."
"What?" Brenna just stared at Dominique in shock. She liked their music, it had a great beat, perfect for dancing in her bedroom to.
"No." Dominique just stared at Brenna, clearly expecting the conversation was over. Dammit. Brenna didn't have a chance in hell of changing her mind when Dominique got like this.
"Fine."
"What other music were you getting?" When Dominique asked that, Brenna really regretted asking the woman to stop here on the way home. Her CD's were getting tiring, and she just wanted some new ones. She didn't expect Dominique to start objecting to language or questionable content.
They left with three of the five CD's that Brenna had wanted, but Dominique had paid for those. Still, Brenna was not in the best of moods when they left.
********
Demona grimaced. They were halfway home and the girl was still pouting over those two CD's. The language was harsh, and while one had several disgusting songs about sex, the other actually had a song about suicide. Demona couldn't let the child have things like that.
"Oh, I got a permission slip I need signed." Brenna finally spoke. Demona wasn't going to apologize for looking out for her human. It looked like Brenna was letting go of her anger. Good, if it had gone on much longer Demona would have had to do something about it.
"What for?"
Brenna pulled the paper out of her bookbag and glanced at it. "Doing mock interviews with a business."
"Oh, that sounds like a good idea." Demona took the paper from Brenna's hand and pulled her briefcase onto her lap to pull out a pen. "Take it seriously, we really do judge applicants quickly."
"Is that how I got the job?" Something in Brenna's voice sounded like there was something wrong. Demona handed the paper back to her and looked into her eyes. Teenage humans were so incredibly moody it was like a constant battle to figure out their emotions.
"I liked your views." Demona gave the girl a small grin. "You were working on that paper when I first saw you."
"So it wasn't nepotism?" Oh, so that was it. Someone told the girl she didn't deserve her job.
"Did someone at work say that?" Demona spoke slowly, her voice raising just a little. If someone was rude enough to imply that to Brenna they wouldn't be working with her tomorrow.
"No." Brenna spoke and Demona just stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate. "Gencie just said something the other day and it made me wonder."
Demona almost regretted it wasn't someone at work. She was better able to deal with punishing people there. "I hired you in spite of the fact that your mother worked for me, not because of it. It's never a good idea to hire relatives or lovers for the same office, because things can become unprofessional." Demona reached out to caress the slowly growing hair on the side of Brenna's head. It was soft and fuzzy. "And I kept you working there because you do good work. I know that you will do your best." She kept out the part where she had really hired her to get on Angela's good side. It was nepotism in a round about way, and it wasn't like she'd ever had the chance to tell Angela what she was doing with the girl, she'd lost her chance with her daughter shortly after hiring Brenna.
"Thanks." Brenna gave Demona a pleased smile.
********
"Brenna McCullen " The man with short blonde hair called out her name and Brenna stood up. She was taking this seriously, because Dominique thought that she should. She'd dressed in one of her better outfits and had created a resume. Dominique had actually helped her revise it a few times as well, wording what she did at work to sound more important. One glance at the other students showed her that a few of them weren't doing that. It had been a bit of a surprise that they had come here to Xanatos Enterprises. Brenna had expected a smaller company to be doing this.
"Hello, I'm Mr. Burnett, and I'll be conducting your interview." The man stood rather rigidly, but after having worked with Ms. Destine for months it didn't intimidate her. "Follow me."
When they got into the elevator, rather than slipping into one of the offices that Brenna had noticed other students going into she started to feel a bit nervous. "Mrs. Xanatos said she was impressed with you." He spoke as Brenna glanced at the button he'd pushed when he came in. It was lit up. They were almost going to the top of the building.
"Where are we going?"
"My office is on one of the top floors." Mr. Burnett answered her calmly.
He sat at his desk glancing at Brenna's resume for an uncomfortable length of time. "I see you left out an address."
"Security." Brenna answered feeling a bit embarrassed about the need for it. Dominique had explained that being as rich as she was made Brenna a target. People might try to get to her through Brenna.
"You do realize in a real interview you shouldn't leave that out."
"Yes, but I already have a job." Brenna gave him a weak smile. "They know where I live."
"Yes, I noticed you are working for our competitor." Mr. Burnett gave her a slight nod. "How do you like it there?"
"It's good. I have enough to do, have flexible hours, and lots of advancement potential." Which was a fancy way of saying she was pretty close to the bottom of the food chain and there was only up from there. Of course, with Dominique's giving her things like internships, she really did have the opportunity to grow into the jobs she might get.
"How is working with Ms. Destine? I've heard she isn't the easiest person to work for."
********
Elisa sat in the surveillance room watching the interview. "She's evading like crazy. We already know she lives with Demona but she won't admit it."
"Well we are the competition." Xanatos spoke from behind her and Elisa felt her back tense. "Or perhaps Demona has the girl on a short leash."
Elisa nodded at that. She could easily imagine Demona demanding silence from Brenna. She continued to watch Owen conduct the interview.
"Her last name is McCullen?" Xanatos asked while watching the monitors. He'd been away while they planned this whole operation. Elisa just nodded as she listened to Brenna talking about her job. The job wasn't what she really wanted to know about, but Owen couldn't ask the questions Elisa really had without putting Brenna on edge. "Do you have a file on her? Maybe I can find some leads that you can't."
Elisa shoved the file towards him without even looking. She didn't like the way he said that, and knew some of his methods were less than legal, but this was a young girl's life they were talking about, and Elisa couldn't go to the cops and explain why this was a problem. She had to keep Demona's secret.
When she glanced over at him, Elisa could swear he looked a bit upset for just a moment, before he covered it up. "Well, I'll make a few copies of this and see what I can discover." He smiled at her and set the file aside.
After a few more minutes Owen slipped out leaving Brenna alone in his office. Elisa watched as Brenna's curious eyes traveled over the room.
"She isn't Fey sir." Owen said as soon as he entered the room. "She's completely human."
"Well, there goes that theory." Xanatos' casual dismissal of the only lead Elisa had irritated her. He didn't seem at all surprised, and to be honest neither was Elisa, but then it left them with the same question. What did Demona want with Brenna?
"I think Owen has gotten all he's going to from her." Fox spoke softly while staring at the monitor. "I'm going in. She seemed more comfortable with me at the Career Day."
"How are things going downstairs with the other kids?" Fox turned to ask Xanatos.
"Splendid. We have about a ten of them still here and they are in their interviews." Xanatos smiled at Fox and Elisa wasn't too comfortable with that. When Fox said she wanted to cut Brenna off from the herd, she meant it. They had made sure the girl was, while not the last one called in, near the last.
When Fox left Elisa glanced at her watch. They still had a few hours before nightfall, and after reading the P.I.T. newsletter with Brenna's story about meeting Angela, Elisa knew that having Angela around when they talked about Demona would be helpful. Brenna clearly looked up to the young female.
********
Brenna had been talking with Fox for a while. The woman had come in to chat, and she was really friendly. They even talked about gargoyles for a bit, but Fox didn't say anything more personal about them, or mention the rumor that they lived in the castle with her. Brenna figured it was just talk anyhow, people found someone famous that stood up for gargoyles and picked on her.
"Oh," Brenna glanced out the window and noticed it was getting later. A quick glance at her watch let her know that she was supposed to be at NightStone in ten minutes. She was late. "I've gotta go."
"It's only 4:30." Fox said after casually glancing at the clock on Mr. Burnett's desk. He'd left them alone in here.
"I need to get to work before they close up for the day." Brenna stood up. She hadn't meant to be late, and she hated disappointing Dominique.
"Why? You don't have enough time to do any work now. I thought you must have the day off."
"My mom works there, we need to go home after work." Brenna spoke distractedly while putting her jacket back on. She didn't notice Fox raise her eyebrow at that.
"Why don't you call her and invite her over for dinner as well. We could eat around 6:30." Brenna blinked at the unexpected invitation. Her mind quickly calculated the sunset time and realized that even if Dominique wanted to, they couldn't.
"Ah, no thanks." Brenna smiled at the woman a little tensely.
"Are you sure, you didn't even ask your mom." Brenna felt a little pale at that. Did she call Dominique her mom?
"No, she isn't my mom. She's my guardian." Brenna felt an embarrassed flush come to her cheeks. "I… my mom died this year and she's taking care of me."
"Who is she? Maybe she'd like to visit. We could even eat in the Castle."
Brenna didn't like being on the spot like this. Dominique knew people at NightStone knew about them, but she didn't want it public knowledge. "Thanks for talking with me." Brenna felt incredibly rude completely ignoring the question like that. "But I need to go."
"Maybe you could come back Friday and have dinner? I'm sure David would like to meet you." This was starting to creep Brenna out a little. Fox wanted her to stay too badly.
"Dom… My guardian isn't going to want me to. She likes to get home before dark." Brenna opened the office door and Fox walked with her to the elevator.
"Okay." Fox pushed the button for the elevator for Brenna, and Brenna relaxed a little. She was probably imagining it. Fox wasn't being a pervert. "If you ever decide to apply here, just let me know. I'll make sure we have somewhere to put you." Fox smiled as Brenna stepped into the elevator.
"Thanks." Brenna felt a blush come to her cheeks. It wasn't long ago that bookstores and even fast food places were turning her down and now she was getting open invitations to work at Xanatos Enterprises.
********
Elisa marched out into the hall as soon as the elevator doors closed. "What are you doing letting her get away?"
"You obviously weren't watching close enough or you would have seen I was starting to scare her." Fox flipped her hair to punctuate her statement. "If she thinks I'm a freak, she isn't going to trust me and right now I think she needs to trust someone."
Elisa took a deep breath. Brenna was going back to Demona. They needed to get the girl to meet the clan, to find out exactly how much she knew, and to get her to understand that being with Demona was bad for her health.
"She'll tell Demona where she was." Elisa spoke slowly. "And I don't think Demona will take that well."
"Keeping her against her will is still kidnapping, or did you not realize that detective."
"I know that." Elisa snapped at Fox, hating her smug attitude. It's just this became a lot more complicated. Demona would quickly realize they were on to her.
"She's planning to adopt her. Whatever her plans are, they must be long term." Fox spoke a bit more softly. "It gives us time. I'll put her under surveillance at school, and we can try to get to her again."
"You'll put her under surveillance?" Elisa glared up at Fox. This was her investigation.
"Well, unless you wanted to quit your job to follow that girl around, we'll have to use my people."
********
Demona glanced at the clock on the wall again. Brenna wasn't here yet and it was almost five. That girl knew she had to leave with enough time to get home before dark.
"I'm here." Brenna panted out, obviously having been running. "I'm sorry."
"Well, lets get going." Demona grabbed her coat and left her office. Brenna had made it at the last minute, as seemed to be that girl's talent. "So how was the interview?" She asked as they walked down the hall.
"You won't believe who was doing them." Brenna started to speak a bit excitedly.