All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.

Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. This story takes place four days after "The Warrior, the Wizard, and the Wolf".

Dark Magic

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

London, Late Night

A young couple slowly made their way along one of London's quieter streets. The sound of car horns was still very audible, but they weren't blaring. The two talked peacefully about their life and what had happened in it so far. Then suddenly as they rounded a corner they were stopped short by something they didn't expect to see. It appeared to be a great creature covered in dark fur and glowing red eyes.

"Give me your money," the creature demanded in a voice that sounded as if it was being faked just to sound scary.

Both the man and the woman dropped their wallet and purse on the ground and then ran, terrified. Neither looked back to see the creature fade away into nothing and then to see a man in very dark clothes walk out from behind an alley way.

"All too easy," the man smiled as he picked up both the discarded items.

Macbeth's Mansion, Next Morning

"Not again," Macbeth mumbled as put down the morning Times.

"What is it?" Arthur asked.

"London is beginning to face a crime wave that is becoming truly weird," Macbeth grumbled handing Arthur the paper, "Some 'creature' robbed at least a dozen people last night."

"A dozen?" Arthur questioned with disbelief, "Griff said the night was very quiet last night."

"He, Octavia, and Julia were the only ones who patrolled last night," Macbeth answered, "They probably missed it."

Arthur only sighed and began to read the article.

"We've got to stop this thing," Arthur said as he read the article, "Before it harms someone."

"It might be wise to ask our present guests to help find this creature," Macbeth commented, "The clan is too small to adequately cover the city to find a creature that appears to be so reclusive."

"I'm not entirely sure they'd want to," Arthur sighed, "I mean we've mostly been trying to get a warehouse that they can operate as a shelter. None have expressed any interest in monster hunting."

"Monster what?" a voice asked from behind them.

Arthur and Macbeth looked over to see the leader of the English mutates that had escaped the Unseelies, Chester. Macbeth and Arthur had been trying to purchase a warehouse that was no longer in use, but there were few, and of them, they were all condemned, which would mean major reconstruction. While Arthur and Macbeth worked to try and get their 'shelter' set up, Chester and his group remained in the mansion, and largely seemed to try and stay out of everybody's way. The one bulldog mutate was slightly confrontational if you ran into him, but even he didn't go around looking for a fight.

"Apparently London is looking a supernatural crime wave," Arthur sighed, "Some creature robbed a dozen people last night."

"Which makes more then three dozen in the past four nights," Macbeth added.

"And your clan hasn't found this creature?" Chester asked.

Arthur shook his head, "The clan has reported very quiet nights. No sign of any Illuminati activity that would be termed as action against me and there has still been no sign of Lucius."

"You don't suppose this thing could BE Lucius, do you?" Chester asked as he sat down.

"I had thought that at first," Arthur sighed, "But the reports indicate that this creature is wingless and the Illuminati were that we have locked up told us that there are no weres in London, other himself and Rachel when she returns."

"I take it you want me and the others to help you find this creature?" Chester asked.

"We can't let this thing run around London and harm someone," Arthur answered, "Especially if it is supernatural. It may only be robbing people right now, but that won't necessarily stop it from deciding to go after people for food or to maim them. And when that happens, and the creature is supernatural, we will have bigger problems."

"I understand," Chester answered, "But you do understand that I and the others were never trained to fight. We wouldn't last very long against something that is either fearsome or well trained."

Both Arthur and Macbeth nodded with a sigh.

"Our problem, however, is numbers," Arthur sighed, "The London Clan is too small to adequately patrol a city of this size and catch everything. They stop a lot of crimes that the police might miss, but they can't get everything. If you and the other mutates help us, we might at least be able to find this thing."

"The creature also appears to lack any long range weapon," Macbeth added, "If you're concerned about not being able to fight it at close quarters, you might be able to use your electric blasts against it at long range. Although, then you'll need to make sure you don't hit a bystander."

"You wouldn't mind if I talked with the others about this?" Chester asked, "Would you?"

Arthur shook his head, "It wouldn't be wise to go looking for this thing until after the gargoyles awaken, which will be after dusk."

"And I need to leave for work soon," Macbeth sighed, "So there is no real rush at this moment."

"Thank you," Chester answered and then left.

Basement Apartment

"Our little illusion is making us quite the pretty purse of money," a woman, who was wearing a dog collar with moderately sized spikes, spoke, "And everyone thinks it's a creature."

The only other person in the room, a man in black clothing nodded in agreement.

"Everything is working perfectly, Bett," the man smiled, "I'm telling you this will work a lot better then anything the old gang did."

"Not to mention that since those weirdoes from Soho have decided to play 'hero', our old gang's been beaten and arrested almost every night," Bett, whose full name was Betty, but it was not a name she used, nodded, "It's a good thin that were into this sort of hocus pocus."

"Very good," the man nodded as he began counting some of the money that they had collected during the night.

"What do you suppose we should do when those Soho weirdoes intervene?" Bett asked.

"I don't believe they'll ever get the chance," the man answered, "Besides, even if they see our creature, they won't see us."

"Maybe," Bett replied, "But they always get involved. They got involved with everything our gang tried. And our gang usually lost."

"Yes, but our gang generally tried to fight with those things," the man said, "I don't know where those people got those costumes, but they can fly with them and they are excellent brawlers. Let them fight our creature, instead of us."

"And if they find us?" Bett questioned.

"We better see about a gun," the man shrugged.

Macbeth's Mansion

Arthur was surprised as he heard the doorbell ring. Knowing that it was probably a client, he sighed. With this creature robbing people at night, the last thing he needed at the moment was to deal with a new case. He found no sign of any of the mutates as he walked toward the door, and hoped that they were either on one of the upper floors or in the basement. Arthur opened the door to see an older man standing there.

"Are you Arthur Dragon?" the man asked.

"Yes, come in," Arthur said politely, "How may I help you?"

"I trust you've read this morning's newspaper?" the man asked.

"Yes," Arthur nodded, "Primarily the article about this creature that's been out robbing people."

"That is why I'm here," the man sighed, "My name is Albert Goodwill. I want you to deal with this thing."

Arthur blinked at the situation. The man was hiring him to deal with these robberies.

"The police are on that job," Arthur pointed out, knowing full well that he was intending to look into it anyway.

"Yes, but they don't understand the full nature of this crisis," Albert answered, "I saw this creature the first night it appeared, and don't believe what the police say. It is not simply some human in costume."

Arthur pretended surprise at this. He had already assumed that it wasn't a man in costume, but he couldn't make it seem like he was already going to investigate the issue.

"It isn't?" Arthur asked, "Please come where we can sit down, and tell me more."

The two then walked slowly to kitchen and Arthur let Albert sit down opposite him. Once Arthur sat down, he began to run the basic questioning, to try and figure out what Albert knew.

"So, what did you see?" Arthur asked.

"As I told you before, this creature is not human in a costume," Albert answered, "On the first night it appeared I was at home and was reading. I heard some strange screaming coming from outside my window and went to investigate."

Arthur then watched as Albert shuddered at the memory.

"What I saw was beyond comprehension," Albert continued, "It stood like the werewolves you see in the movies, and there were quite a few things that were wolf-like, but it was different."

"How so?" Arthur asked.

"Well, it had horns that came out from behind its ears and it had scales, like a reptile's, that were clearly visible," Albert answered.

Arthur carefully thought over the situation. Albert's information clarified that the creature was truly supernatural, but ruled out lycanthropy. As to what it was, Arthur wasn't sure, and without Merlin, he couldn't get any solid information. He simply continued with the basic questioning to get everything he needed.

Half an hour later, Arthur returned to the cell where the Illuminati's werewolf was being held. Merlin had specifically made sure that the walls of the room and the bars that made up the door were made of silver. Which was good because the were had chosen to remain in his wolf form almost constantly. The floor had silver in it, but the were wouldn't come in contact with it if he didn't try to tunnel out.

"Ah, the jailer returns," the werewolf chuckled, "Dinner time already?"

"Besides yourself, what other creatures do the Illuminati employ in this city?" Arthur questioned.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the werewolf answered.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," Arthur growled, "This creature that has been robbing people blind. It's supernatural and given London's current population, I find it hard to believe that one of these creatures could have simply kept hidden."

"And you believe the Illuminati is hiding and controlling this creature?" the werewolf asked back.

"It has to be," Arthur said firmly.

"Some detective you are, Sherlock," the werewolf nearly laughed, "I suppose if another clan of gargoyles comes here and starts competing with your friends to save the most people, you'll think that that is another Illuminati trap."

"That is completely different matter," Arthur growled.

"Oh but it isn't," the werewolf answered, "It isn't."

"Then what is it?" Arthur demanded, "You can't get out of there, so you might as well cooperate."

"Supernatural beings can be controlled by anyone who knows magic, or through reason if you're either another supernatural being, or understand the creature's 'language'," the werewolf answered, "The Illuminati has had a history of controlling these creatures because they have the most knowledge of magic to control them, but that does not mean that there are others. There are supernatural beings out there that the Illuminati have no control over and magicians who are not under the Illuminati's employ. Your own teacher is an example of that."

"Why are you so certain this isn't an Illuminati plot?" Arthur asked for a few moments.

The werewolf laughed and slowly approached the bars, "We already control the world. Why should we want to steal from individual citizens in a manner in which it would appear as a crime?"

Arthur sighed and slowly left, listening to the werewolf's laughter the entire way.

Meanwhile, Chester was having to deal with a much more difficult problem.

"Why are you suggesting we help in this endeavor?" the large bulldog mutate, Boris, growled.

"Because they need the help finding it," Chester pointed out, "That thing is robbing people blind."

"None of us know how to fight," a Siamese Cat mutate spoke up in a weak voice, "This monster is supposedly big and scary."

"We can still use our electric blasts against it," Chester pointed out again, "And we can glide, somewhat. All the reports on this creature indicate that it is not capable of flying."

"And suppose we hit the person that that creature is robbing?" Boris growled, "None of us have particularly good aim. You especially, Chester."

"I still think that we ought to help," Chester said, "Even if it is only to find this creature. The more people who get robbed by this thing, the more people who run the risk of ending up in the situations that we were in when Lucius and the Unseelies grabbed us."

That got a few to nod in agreement, but the vast majority of the former Unseelie slaves wanted no part in hunting down some monstrous creature. Chester sighed.

"It isn't that we don't like you as leader," Boris spoke up, "it's just that we have no skill or business getting involved."

"I'm surprised you don't want to fight this thing," Chester commented to the large bulldog mutate, "You always seem quite ready to fight on many occasions."

"I'm just blowing off steam," Boris sighed, "You know that. Actually fighting some creature that could mess us up even more then we already are, is a different story. Besides, without any training we won't be able to do much."

"Maybe it's high time we get some training then," Chester sighed, "If Macbeth and Arthur get the shelter that we're supposed to run established we'll need to look after the people we're sheltering. We don't want any criminals down there, do we?"

"Let Arthur and his group find this creature before you ask about training," a female cougar mutate spoke in a calm voice, "We don't want to overwork them."

"Right," Chester sighed, "I will be going with them though."

With that Chester slowly left.

Dusk

The London clan awoke to find Arthur, Macbeth, and Chester waiting for them in their sleeping room. This was an obvious sign that something was going on that was very big.

"What's going on, Arthur?" Griff asked, stepping forward.

"There's some strange creature going around robbing people," Arthur sighed, "And we are going to find it and stop it."

"A creature?" Una asked, "The same one as in the papers?"

"Supposedly," Macbeth answered, "As far as we know it can't be a man in costume."

"Why would a creature be robbing people?" Griff wondered aloud, "Wouldn't it be more interested in trying to eat the person?"

"That is what I had thought at first," Arthur sighed, "But it has apparently stuck to robbing people."

"Then we have a different problem," Una spoke up, "Griff is right, if this were just a creature, we'd have more reports of attacks then mere robbery. Someone has to be controlling this brute."

"Either way, we must stop it," Octavia spoke up, "It is a threat to the city and therefore must be stopped."

"Quite right," Macbeth nodded, "Regardless of whether or not this beast is acting on its own or if it is being controlled, it must be stopped."

Arthur nodded in agreement, "We need to know how many of you will be able to help. Chester is the only one of the mutates who will be helping us."

Lancelot and Gawain stepped forward, with Guinevere shortly behind them.

"The three of us will help," Gawain spoke.

"We will help as well," Octavia and Julia spoke in unison.

"You can always trust me, sire," Griff spoke to Arthur.

"Leo and I should open the shop," Una began, "But if this creature is being controlled, we may need to deal with a sorcerer or sorceress, so I will come along and Leo, you will have to run the shop on your own tonight."

Leo nodded, knowing what the others were up against.

"I'll even run some checks around Soho before I open the shop and after I close the shop," Leo added, "There were some reports of that creature in the area."

Elsewhere

"Ready for another productive night, Bett?" the man in dark clothing asked.

"Completely," Bett answered as she held up her small spell book, "Ready with our 'summoning' spell, right here."

The man then smiled and led Bett out into a nearby alley. He peaked out around a corner to check and see where the best possible target would be coming from. Bett meanwhile opened her book to the page that she had marked a few days before.

"Get ready," the man said triumphantly, "We got what looks like a corporate CEO coming."

Bett then slowly chanted the spell from the book.

Over London

Arthur piloted his small hover-sled through the air with Griff and Octavia close behind him. No one had anything in the way of dinner, and they were quite hopeful that they would find the creature.

"See anything?" Arthur asked.

Both gargoyles shook their heads, to which Arthur only sighed. They made a turn to head down another street when suddenly the communicator on Arthur's hoversled came to life.

"Hello, anyone there?!" came Chester's voice in a very urgent manner.

"Yes, this is Arthur," Arthur answered, "Did you find it?"

"Yes," Chester answered through the radio, "Julia, Una, and I have just found the creature we've been looking for. It just jumped some guy about a mile straight south from the mansion."

"We're on our way," Arthur answered, "Hold on."

At Chester's location while the mutate rushed to try and contact everyone in the area, Julia and Una dove down toward the creature. It was a strange creature to say the least. It looked remarkably wolf-like, but it had horns and its hands and forearms were covered in reptilian-like scales. Julia arrived at the creature first and attempted to try and knock it down while still gliding back. To the Roman gargoyle's surprise, her fist pasted straight through the creature. Almost as if it wasn't there. This made Una break off her attack and land directly in front of the man that the 'creature' was trying to rob.

"You're not going to rob me now?" the man asked nervously.

"No," Una answered, "We are like the superheroes the Yanks draw in their comic books."

"That's a costume?" the man questioned.

"A very complex one," Una answered, "We thought we could do better then simple cloth."

"Unfortunately this thing doesn't appear to be tangible," Julia growled, mostly in frustration that their attack failed to knock the creature down.

Una nodded and finished her conversation with the intended victim, "You'd best get going, sir. It isn't safe here."

The man didn't need to be told twice and was quickly off. Shortly after, the other groups arrived with Chester coming in for a landing. Arthur readied Excalibur while Macbeth readied an electric blaster.

"It is quite the beast," Chloe commented, "Why isn't it moving?"

"I don't think it's a real creature," Una commented, "Julia passed straight through it in her attempt to attack it."

Una then held up a small pendent for the others to see.

"And my pendent isn't reacting to this thing as if it were a real creature," Una finished.

"A hologram then," Macbeth commented as he came up and swiped a hand through the creature's body.

"Give me all your money," the creature said in a fake spooky voice.

"There's no projector though," Una said, "I think this is a magical illusion. Some one is using sorcery to project this image. And he or she isn't too far away."

"How do you know?" Guinevere asked as she looked around.

"Because this thing hasn't faded away," Una answered simply.

"Then he must be nearby," Macbeth commented as he looked toward a nearby alley.

Macbeth then watched as he saw a head disappear behind the corner of the building and into the alley that he had just looked toward.

"And I believe we've found where our crooks have gone," Macbeth commented and began to walk toward the alley.

"The old one spotted us," the man sighed in a frustrated manner while reaching for a gun he had bought earlier in the day.

"Let's get out of here then," Bett insisted quietly, "They got more here then either of us can shoot."

"I'm not gonna run from them anymore," the man practically snarled, "They saw through our 'creature' and now we're trapped in this alley."

"We can…" Bett began to say as Macbeth appeared in the alleyway.

"Come out you two," the immortal Scotsman ordered.

The man then fired his weapon, almost on reflex. Bett turned and ran down the alley, hoping to escape. The others were shocked and ducked down as they heard the gunshot ring out. The bullet bounced off of Macbeth's armor, but its kinetic energy did knock him to the ground.

"He's armed!" Macbeth announced and fired his electric blaster down the alley.

Chloe and Lancelot then began scaling up the side of a wall to get a better look at where the crook was without coming under fire, with Guinevere following Lancelot. The rest approached the edge of the building in an attempt to peak around the corner.

"He's got a partner who is running!" Chloe exclaimed from the rooftop as she and Lancelot spotted Bett running off.

This drew the man's fire as he attempted to fire on Chloe and Lancelot as they leaped to glide after Bett. This, however, allowed Una to step full around the corner and cast a sleep spell on the man. He was asleep before he even turned to see who was speaking. The group then began to walk down the alley and approached the unconscious man.

"At risk of pointing out the dreadfully obvious," Griff began, "I think this is our man."

Octavia nodded and picked up a small black book that was lying on the ground nearby.

"What do you suppose this is?" she asked, holding up the book.

"Let me see," Una spoke as she came closer.

Octavia handed the white unicorn-like gargoyle the book and let Una read through it. Once she was finished, Una gave short gasp of shock and nearly horror.

"It's a black magic spell book," Una said, some shock still in her voice, "It allows a spell caster to use dark magic. Very dangerous."

"Has there been any real harm done?" Arthur asked.

"From what we've seen," Una responded, "I'd doubt it, but dark magic is still dangerous. The more powerful a person is with dark magic, the greater danger they become to themselves and others."

"But he had a partner," Arthur said, "Wouldn't that have removed the risk."

"Even if the two of them did the spell together, the answer would be no," Una explained, "Thankfully the spell that he has chosen doesn't require much power."

"I think it is his partner that is responsible for casting the spell," came Chloe's voice as she and Lancelot landed with the person who had tried to flee earlier.

Chloe moved to stand near Macbeth while Lancelot moved to stand next to Guinevere. Chloe then dumped the unconscious woman down next to her partner.

"She put up a fair struggle when we caught up with her, but it was nothing serious," Chloe reported.

"Let's get these two tied up," Griff commented, "Then Arthur can call the police in to pick up these two."

"How will you explain the 'creature' part of the whole thing?" Lancelot asked.

"I don't know," Arthur sighed as he looked down on the two thugs.

Macbeth meanwhile reached inside his coat and pulled out a small cube. He then handed it to Arthur.

"Just tell them they had stolen a hologram projector from somewhere," Macbeth said calmly.

"Where did you get this?" Arthur asked.

"Borrowed it from Xanatos while we were there," Macbeth answered, "His technology development department had a lot of trouble with those early models, so he was really giving them away."

"So why did you ask for one?" Arthur asked.

"Though we could fix it up with my hovercraft," Macbeth sighed, "Which failed spectacularly. You'll have to crush the cube to make sure they can't check the hologratic imager for what image it actually produces, but you can use it in your explanation."

"Thanks, I guess," Arthur sighed as the others began to head off, to allow him to call the police and let them pick up the two crooks.

As they left, Arthur looked down at the two crooks and remembered Una's comments about dark magic. He then sighed knowing that they were lucky to merely end up dealing with a couple of street thugs who knew something about magic. It was also times like this that he missed Merlin. While Arthur waited, his mind drifted to his former teacher and to Rachel, and hoped their travels were successful.

The End