Chapter 10

Long Way to Morning

Quinn sighed as she kicked the front door closed to her apartment and set her bag down by her feet while she took her bikers' jacket off and placed it on the highest point of the coat hanger.

She yawned hugely as she stretched her arms over her head, moving the sleeves to her pine green shirt back onto her shoulders, before a loud crash caught her attention, and she looked up to see Demona standing in the midst of broken glass from a window in the room with them.

Demona held up a threatening gun, though her face, for some reason that Quinn couldn't understand, looked like she was fighting an internal battle with herself about something.

Quinn quickly moved her blue eyes around to look for something to fight with, preferably in the form of a stick, "Demona." she said, regarding her with a cautious air as she moved to the side, where she knew there were knives in the wooden block next to the coffee maker on the counter.

The female Gargoyle smiled at her, "Quinn. How are you?" she asked as she started walking around the room slowly.

Quinn looked taken aback, "I'm fine. You?" she asked in response as she raised an arm and moved it over the edge of the counter to finally grab a kitchen knife.

Demona shrugged as if this were a normal habit for them to get into, "I could be better." she said before she pointed the barrel of the gun at Quinn's foot and, looking at her with a look of pure concentration, pulled the trigger.

Quinn jumped slightly in shock before she looked down at her foot, only to see a small dart sticking out of the very bottom.

She looked up at Demona, who shouldered the gun and walked around to go to the broken window, before she turned around, looking at Quinn with a slightly angered expression, but it wasn't directed at her, "Have Goliath meet me at the village tonight if he wants the antidote to the poison, Quinn. Ciao!" she called almost cheerily before she dived out the window and glided away.

Quinn set the knife back in the slot it came from as she bent down to examine her foot, 'Shit... I'm going to fraking die..' she thought before she really looked at where the dart stood out, 'Wait, what?' she pulled the dart out of the rubber part of her sneaker.

She took off her shoe and sock, only to see a tiny hole in the rubber of her shoe, but nothing in the sock, or even a tiny needle wound on her foot, 'I'm gonna live! Wait, why didn't Demona shoot higher than my foot?' she asked herself, but shook her head as she replaced her shoe and her sock before standing back up, grabbing her coat and bag, and rushing out the door to go to the Gargoyles.

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"..and that's what happened." Quinn finished telling the remaining Wyvern Clan about her ordeal with Demona in her apartment as the Clan leader examined the dart she had handed him.

She sat on one of the stone steps that lead to the outside of the clock tower, Brooklyn was sitting to her right, with Bronx at her feet, Broadway behind her, and Lexington to her left, each one was looking at the dart with anger, although no one could compare with Brooklyn's furious expression. He hated the red headed female Gargoyle with a firey passion; ever since she betrayed his trust to steal the Grimourum and then brainwash Goliath, and with her attacking his secret crush, well, she better hope she's no where close to him for the next millennium.

Goliath hummed to himself as he turned the dart over to look at the opposite side, then he looked up at the red headed girl, "Hudson and I will go to her." he said.

Quinn attempted to stand up, but found it impossible with Bronx at her feet, blocking all chance of walking, "You don't have to, I mean, I'm perfectly fine. The dart didn't hit me, so I don't have poison in my bloodstream." she tried to reason.

Goliath nodded, "I understand, Quinn, but if we did not show up, then Demona would know her plan failed and she would attempt to get you again, maybe succeed this time." he said, to which she nodded rather dejectedly, before he turned to Broadway and Lexington, "I want you two to go and guard Quinn at her apartment." he said.

Brooklyn stood up, nearly knocking Quinn off her butt at the sudden move, "I'll come with you, Goliath." he said, pounding a fist into his open hand.

Goliath shook his head at him, "No, Brooklyn. I want you and Bronx to stay here and guard our home until we return." he said it with a note of finality that made Brooklyn sit back down and silently grumble to himself under his breath.

Quinn patted his shoulder to let him know it was okay before she looked at Goliath, "I still don't think you should go, Goliath." she said, and before he could protest, "But, I know you'll ignore everything I do to make you stay, so I'll just shut up now." she said.

Goliath smiled at her as he bent down to pat her gently on the head in a sign of parental affection, before he turned around and addressed his mentor and old friend, "Hudson, we will leave now." he said, and as they started walking away, he turned his head in their direction again, "Broadway, Lexington, you both know what to do, now get to it." he said before they vanished out of sight, possibly to go meet Demona.

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"Thanks for helping with the glass, guys." she thanked Lex and Broadway as they made their way over to the trash can in the kitchen with scoops full of broken glass shards and dumping them out.

They nodded at her, "It was no problem, Quinn. We wouldn't want you to cut yourself on this stuff, would we?" Broadway asked her with a friendly smile as he placed his scoop on the counter top, carefully avoiding the spot on the kitchen floor where she was bleeding a few months ago after the shooting incident, Brooklyn still hadn't fully forgiven him for that, and he didn't blame his Rookery Brother.

Lex walked over to place his scoop next to Broadway's, "So, where are Joaquin and Julie, Quinn?" he asked the red head as he dusted his hands together.

Quinn was walking around the kitchen, getting out the needed ingredients to make the spaghetti they had requested earlier, "Joaquin is at a friend's house having a little sleep over, and Julie is working the night shift." she said as the sound of barking from behind her alerted her enough to swivel her head, only to see her dog Tripp behind her, his tail wagging to the point that it would fall off if it went any faster.

Broadway started petting the Labrador as he looked at Quinn, she looked troubled for some reason that he couldn't figure out, "Somethin' bothering you, Quinn?" he asked her, startling her from her thoughts.

She turned to look at him, "Oh, it's nothing, really.." she started putting the noodles in the boiling water when it started bubbling, "I was just thinking about this whole thing with Demona tonight." she said.

Lex came over to sit on the counter next to her work space, "What about it?" he asked her with a curious expression.

Quinn didn't answer him for a moment, and it seemed like she was going to ignore the question all together, but then, "I think she aimed." she said it so suddenly that it caught both Gargoyle's off guard.

Broadway stood back up and walked over to where she and Lexington were, "What do you mean?" he asked her, thinking that maybe Quinn had lost her mind.

Quinn started stirring the noodles, "I mean, when she shot the dart, it seemed like she was purposely trying to hit the exact rubber of my shoe, like she meant to miss my flesh or something." she explained, leaving the noodles to take care of the red sauce.

Lex and Broadway looked at each other quizzically, "Why would she want to miss your flesh completely? And if she did, why did she tell you to tell Goliath to meet her at the village?" Lex asked the girl when she came back to stir the noodles again.

Quinn sighed as if the answer should have been obvious, "To keep up the act that she actually hit my bloodstream and I would die if Goliath didn't come to meet her about the antidote." she said, grabbing her oven mits, taking the pot by the handles, and moving over to the sink, where the strainer was waiting.

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The next night...

"Until next time, Goliath." Demona called before she jumped off the roof of the building and taking off in the opposite direction.

Goliath looked to Hudson, "I knew you could do it." he said, clapping a hand on his mentor's shoulder.

Hudson raised an eyeridge, "I thought yeh said 'You can't beat her'?" he recalled, crossing his arms over his armored chest with a smirk as Goliath stuttered.

"Yes, well, I- uh." he stammered, trying to come up with something to say to that, but failing and having to change the subject, "Thank you for keeping me alive, Hudson." he said.

Hudson smiled, "I'm just glad yeh didn't lose faith in me, son." he said, turning to glide off, when a thought came to him, "Goliath, in all that time we just spent with Demona, did she once mention Quinn?" he asked his old apprentice.

Goliath looked back at the way Demona left, "... No, she didn't. Not a word about it, not even the alleged antidote." he said, before he turned back around a started walking away to where Hudson stood, "But, let's not dwell on that tonight, I think it's time we went home." he said before he and Hudson jumped off at the same time and glided away, with the light of the moon illuminating their bodies.

Unbeknownst to them, the same red headed Gargoyle sat perched in a a tree across from where they took off, Demona sighed, she forgot to keep her act going. She had been so caught up with destroying them that she hadn't remembered to speak of Quinn 'dying' within the twenty four hour period.

She looked up at the moon, "When can I stop this charade?" she asked it as if it could produce an answer to her question before she looked down sadly, "At least I know she wasn't harmed in any way." she said, smiling at that thought before she turned around on the branch she was perched on and glided away from the sight with a lighter heart than she had earlier.

Wow, three uploads in one day. I'm pretty proud of myself about this!

I hope you liked this chapter, I'm sorry if it's too short for your likings, but the next one will be longer, I promise!

Please review!

Don't flame me, I beg of you.

-Zabby