Day and Night
Chapter 34
"Ooooh," Alicia Sevarius came awake, then sat RIGHT up as memory hit.
"Are you all right?" Demona asked worriedly.
Alicia quickly remembered what happened, and realized she was laying on Dominique's couch. "You're Dominique?" she managed.
"Yes," she said, crouching down beside her as she added, "though more accurately you could say she is me."
"You were a Gargoyle first," Alicia quickly realized, sitting up and looking at Demona in awe and excitement.
Demona looked at her, smiling gently. "Other than the fainting, you're taking this well," she noted, amused.
"I'm a New Yorker," Alicia said, "weird shit is normal."
"Fair enough," Demona agreed.
"Plus having Anton Sevarius as an uncle," Alicia added.
"I imagine so," Demona agreed.
Once again Alicia was struck by how beautiful Demona was... if in an inhuman sort of way. But she felt certain she could get used to it.
Alicia added, "I have a LOT of questions."
"I'll do my best to answer," Demona agreed.
What followed was a VERY brief summary of Demona's history... she also didn't hide her darker activities, which surprised Alicia a bit.
"After human's betrayed you so many times...," Alicia shook her head, sighing, "I can't really blame you for it all."
"No," Demona shook her head, "I was awful. You're lucky you didn't meet me then."
Alicia looked curious, "What made you change?"
Demona shrugged slightly, "I never let people get close to me, I suppose."
"You let me get close," Alicia noted.
"I can't seem to resist you," Demona admitted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Pack were out again, and were engaging Mace Malone's forces.
"SHIT, you have got to be kidding me!" the one goon yelled, his rifle having NO effect on Wolf's armor.
"Sorry, kid," Wolf gruffly replied as he punched the guy out, doing possibly lethal damage. "Drat," he added mildly.
"I guess holding back it out," Hyena noted, the woman tearing a man's arm off, then tossing it aside casually.
"Minimal casualties, remember," Jackal laughed as he dropped another, the alley now littered with stunned or dead men.
"Our augments don't really let us go easy," Panther noted. Mind you she had greater fine control than the others, and was mostly knocking out Mace Malone's men.
Coyote tacked one dude who was trying to flee then noted, "Found him!"
"Grab the money, we've got to go before the cops arrive," Jackal noted as they got the briefcase.
"The sewers, AGAIN?" Panther complained as they rushed off.
"It's out of sight. We don't exactly blend in, after all," Coyote pointed out as the two cyborgs, armored dude and two animal hybrids went into the tunnels.
"True enough," Wolf conceded as they hurried away from the scene.
As they were both wanted by the cops AND had bounties on their head, the Pack couldn't casually wander around New York. Thankfully the city's sewers served as a good means of getting around, and the mutates under the city didn't care about them.
In fact Panther had conned Talon into thinking that SHE was a 'victim' of Sevarius too, and he regarded them as friends. A feeling helped along by the Pack providing them with various supplies as a indirect bribe...
"Ugh this is awful," Hyena complained as they hurried along.
"At least you and Jackal can turn off your senses of smell," Coyote complained.
"I want to DIE," Panther agreed.
They reached the access they wanted, then Wolf checked the coast was clear before they returned to the surface. A van awaited them, with a driver provided by Tony Dacon, to take them back to the safe house.
"Mr Dacon wants you to call," the driver passed them a burner phone.
"Right," Jackal took it. "Mr Dacon, we took out the target. Right. Right," he nodded.
"Bet you it's another job," Coyote guessed.
Panther shook her head, "Not taking THAT bet."
"Wonder what?" Wold mused aloud.
"We'll see in a moment," Hyena said, watching her brother.
"Got it," Hyena hung up and sighed.
"What now?" Panther asked.
"We've got a new target," Jackal said to them thoughtfully, "it's those anti-Gargoyle nuts, the Quarrymen."
"HUH?" everyone else grunted.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Earlier that day...
"Fuck me," Tony Dacon cursed as the younger crime lord looked over the wreck of one of his illegal gambling dens.
Luna, one of the triplets, noted, "It's a total loss."
"WHY did the Quarrymen hit us?" Selena wondered aloud.
Tony sighed as he pointed out, "Demona saved me, remember? Mace probably told them I'm a Gargoyle ally or something."
The three Quarrymen hit the bar in the powered armor they used and trashed the place. The suits were resistant against light arms, and that was all the men guarding the place had. The only bright side was that no one was killed.
"Sorry, sir," the nearby Mac sighed, a bandage around his arm where he had been winged from flying debris.
"What did they do?' Tony asked.
"Burst through the wall," Mac gestured, "and trashed the place. We tried shooting 'em, but bullets just bounced off. They then burst out the front before taking off."
"Do you think they deliberately tried avoiding hurting people?" Phoebe, the third triplet, asked him, frowning.
Mac shrugged, "I don't think they were deliberately targeting people."
"Hmm," Phoebe nodded thoughtfully.
"What are you thinking?" Luna asked her.
"The leader of the Quarrymen likely ordered no casualties," Phoebe said, "he still thinks he's on the side of the angels. We can use that."
"They're STILL too much for our soldiers, though," Tony noted, "even if they choose not to kill our guys."
"Maybe not our soldiers... but maybe the Pack?" Luna suggested.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Eliza Maza frowned at the little cafe, "Why meet HERE damn it?"
Alicia Sevarius looked up from the table and smiled, "Miss Maza! Thank you for seeing me."
"Eliza, please," she smiled, "what was so urgent? Work related?"
Eliza was of course aware that the cops kept a eye on Alicia due to her uncle, Anton. And she had been targeted at least once by a client who was unhappy with her uncle, so...
"No, it's more personal," Alicia looked shy all of a sudden.
Eliza had heard she was dating Dominique, which might mean...
"Dominique told me her secret," Alicia said softly, "that she's actually Demona. And about you dating Goliath."
"I sort of wish she had ASKED before telling you that about me," Eliza noted dryly.
"Sorry," Alicia said.
"It's fine, I guess. You okay?" Eliza asked gently. "It had to have been a shock," she added.
"Not as much a shock as I expected," Alicia admitted, "there were a lot of little things I noticed that didn't add up."
They ordered food, each getting a small lunch and drink, and continued talking.
"So have you...?" Eliza gestured vaguely.
"No," Alicia pouted. "I think she's giving me a chance to back out, in case I decide to," she mused aloud.
"Gargoyles are weirdly honorable," Eliza noted.
To be continued...