Chapter 16

It wasn't until shortly before dawn that Kat and Demona got an explanation about what had happened back at the castle.

It was only the sun rising that kept Demona calm. The pain of the transformation cooling her anger while her human body lacked gargoyle hormones to keep her angry.

Sadly, Angela never returned to human form, and so turned to stone, leaving Kat and Demona basically alone once more, and Demona had to go into Nightstone because of what she put off to go to the hospital the previous day.

"Are sure you'll be alright?" Demona asked, even as she was grabbing her briefcase.

Kat smiled. "I'll be fine," she assured the millennium old woman.

And it was true. While she was still worried about her father, and planned on making a stop at the hospital this morning, Angela's situation had actually helped her. And she had plans of her own to stay busy and keep her mind occupied.

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Fox was thankful her son was capable of magic.

Earlier, when she slugged Goliath, she'd managed to break four bones in her hand. And though Puck needed to supervise him, Alex had quickly mended the offending bones.

Still, seeing her son actually perform magic creeped her out.

Currently, she was sitting in her office, trying to finish the paperwork Angela's visit and her subsequent confrontation with Goliath had put off.

She still had to take it to the Cyber-biotics office.

Her father's health had taken another turn for the worse, and his doctors had finally told him he couldn't run the company anymore, that the stress wasn't healthy for him. And while he was still technically the owner, he'd appointed her as manager. Even if he didn't like her husband, or her lack of business ethics, he had built the company for her.

She was pulled once more from her paperwork by the sudden appearance of a white, nine-tailed fox in her office. Setting her paperwork aside, she greeted the fox, "Kat, I heard about your father, I'm sorry."

To her surprise, the fox, in a brief flash of light, turned into an attractive Asian looking woman. "Hello Fox. And thanks for your concern."

The former mercenary grinned. "Finally decided to trust me?"

Kat shrugged. "Angela trust you, that's enough for me."

"Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Fox asked. "I doubt you came here just to show me what you look like."

Kat took a deep breath. "My shop is still a crime scene. To build that motorcycle you wanted, I need someplace to work, and the materials."

Fox raised an eyebrow and sat back in her chair. "You know, I don't need it right away."

"Angela told me," Kat explained. "But I need to do this, I need something to keep my mind off of everything. And I'm ready to do the photo shoot whenever you're ready."

Fox was silent for a few moments as she thought. "If you get me a list of what you need, I can have a shop set up this afternoon on one of the lower levels. And, since she's really the only one that can't set her own schedule, I'll call and see what night Elisa has free and set up the shoot."

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Demona's voice was tense as she answered her phone, "Yes?"

"Demona?" Kat's voice spoke, calming her down as she realized it wasn't one of her department managers.

"Kat, is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yes, I just wanted you to know I won't be at the manor when you get out," her daughter's mate explained. "Fox is providing me a workshop to start working on the bike. She wanted me to tell you the shoot will be Thursday night, starting at six."

"You're okay with that?"

"Yes."

Demona sighed. "I'll make sure I can be there then."

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After visiting her father, who was still unconscious, for a few hours and talking to the nurses about how he was doing, Kat returned to the Eyrie building and Fox showed her to the workshop she'd had set up.

Angela had presented the idea to Kat, alone with the photo shoot, and the kitsune had agreed. Not only was it important to her bonded, but building a gargoyle themed motorcycle was great advertising for her skills.

Granted, she normally didn't do flamboyant bikes, but that didn't mean she couldn't.

The best part was that Fox was giving her free reign. As long as the bike was gargoyle themed, she could do what she wished. Fox was bankrolling the bike, and told her not to worry about cost. In fact, the only instruction Fox gave was to make the bike as 'badass' as possible.

Sitting down at the workbench, she pulled out a pad of paper and began to sketch designs.

She needed the distraction to keep her from thinking about her father, and hunting down whomever shot him.

Hell, the only reason she wasn't was because she knew her father wouldn't approve. But if he died, she didn't think anything would stop her.

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Angela roared as she awoke, throwing off her stone skin.

It took her a moment to recognize the surroundings she had awoken in as her mother's home. Not seeing either her mother or her mate, she called, "Mother! Kat!"

"Kat's at the Eyrie building," Demona said from behind her, causing the lavender gargess to spin around to face her mother. "She needed a distraction, and went to talk to Fox," she explained. "Apparently, Fox provided someplace to build the bike she's auctioning off. And the photo shoots Thursday at six by the way."

"Kat's at the Eyrie?" Angela asked.

Her mother nodded.

"Do you mind if…"

"Go," Demona prompted.

The lavender gargess walked forward, and hugged her mother, before turning to climb out the window.

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Not wanting any trouble from the clan, Angela was careful as she approached the Eyrie building, and kept her eyes open as she landed on a nearby rooftop.

Being only a few blocks away, the climbed down into a secluded alley and changed into her human form. From there, it took her about half an hour to walk to the building.

Upon entering the lobby Angela walked past the front desk to the elevator. Entering the necessary code into the number pad that would allow her to go right up to the upper levels of the building, Angela pressed the button for the floor directly below the castle.

She was heading to that floor for two main reasons, one, Fox's office was on that floor (as was Xanatos', due to the fact they occasionally had late meetings and didn't want to run the risk of the clan being seen walking about), and secondly, she didn't want to run into the clan, as unless they were invited down to the lower levels, they stayed in the castle in an effort not to be seen by the night janitors and any other workers.

The ride up the elevator passed relatively quickly, and soon the disguised gargess was stepping from the elevator.

She was surprised to find Owen waiting for her.

The fey in disguise obviously read her expression correctly, as he explained, "You mother called Fox and said you'd be coming. Fox assumed you'd take the elevator so as to avoid the clan. Am I correct in assuming you wish to see Ms. MacAuley?"

"Yes," she responded.

With a slight smile, Owen gestured back to the elevator. "Ms. MacAuley is up in the castle workshop."

"Castle workshop?" she asked, a little worried about either she or her mate encountering the clan.

"Don't worry Ms. Nolava," he assured, a slight smirk on his face. "The clan never goes there, as it's the area your mother and Mr. Xanatos used to construct Coldstone, and later Mr. Xanatos used it to build Coldfire and Coldsteel. And just in case they get curious, Fox warned the clan that she had a guest there, and they are staying away from that wing until Fox told otherwise."

Angela raised an eyebrow. She really couldn't see her father leaving such a place alone if he knew someone was building something there, especially after the Cold robots/cyborg had been built there. "How'd she manage that one?" she asked.

"She told them what Ms. MacAuley was building, and promised the trio they could look at the finished bike before it was actioned off," Owen explained, as they stepped off the elevator.

The two walked in silence until they reached the appropriate door, though music drifted down to them from down the hallway. Gesturing to it, Owen said, "Ms. MacAuley is right through there." Without another word, he turned and walked away.

Taking a deep breath, Angela opened the door and stepped through. She instantly noticed Kat.

The kitsune had her back turned to her. She was standing at a long workbench, on top of which was a motorcycle frame, and several pieces of tubing. There were marks on the motorcycle frame, and Kat was busy marking and measuring the tubes.

Angela waited for Kat to finish her current marks, before asking, a little loudly to be heard over the music. "What are you listening to?"

Kat stopped and turned around. Giving Angela a small smile, Kat walked over and turned down the radio. When it was low enough that it could still be heard, yet low enough they didn't have to raise their voices, she said, "ABBA." Walking back over to her workbench, she explained, "While Dad introduced me to a lot of the things I listen to, he particularly likes ABBA."

Angela walked over to her mate and placed turned her around so that she was looking at her. Lightly lifting Kat's chin so that they were looking each other in the eye, Angela could see the sadness in her mate's eyes. Smiling lightly, Angela asked, "How long have you been working?"

"A few hours, I just started measuring and preparing the frame for fabrication," Kat said

"Have you eaten anything?" Angela asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kat shrugged. "A little, I haven't really been hungry."

The gargess sighed. "Come on, you need to eat." She stepped away from Kat and walked towards the wall where a phone rested. "I'll just call Fox and make sure the clan isn't around," she explained as she picked up the phone, and pressed in the number for Fox's cell.

As the phone rang, she decided she needed to get a sturdy purse she could carry in human and gargoyle form.

She needed some way to carry a cell phone all the time.

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Puck smiled inwardly. Despite his disguise and attitude as Owen, he was still the trickster Puck inside.

He had plans for Fox's request for her photo-shoot. And while he knew he would have nothing to do with Angela or that kitsune that she spent so much time with (he personally suspected Angela was her bonded, despite never hearing of a kitsune being mated to a gargoyle before), he still intended to have some fun with Demona, Elisa, and Fox.

Though he admitted he needed to be careful with Fox, and was actually contemplating leaving her out of his fun entirely. Not out of any sense of right or wrong, but rather it was self-preservation that was making him hesitate in regards to including Fox. Not only was the woman a force to be reckoned with in her own right, but so was her husband, and her mother.

Then again, what was life without a little risk?

He was a trickster after-all.

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