AN: Dear Reader,

As I wrote this chapter, I became concerned that it might be brushing the line of a mature rating. I just wanted to let you know in case that is a problem for you. Subsequent chapters will be more in line with my typical tone. As always, I appreciate reviews, even critical ones. Please consider leaving one so I know how I am doing!

Gratefully,

Allegra

Adelpha stood to the side as Coldsteel processed the videos and tried to find the location of the clan's hatchlings in the massive city. She could tell by the tone of his voice that Thailog was getting more and more frustrated with the delay, but she was so numb, she did not have the energy to be concerned by it. She was not unconscious of the fact that she had only narrowly escaped being raped by Thailog, but other than a sense of relief that Coldsteel had been there to spare her that fate, her mind didn't seem to know how to process it. It occurred to her that she should feel something. Fear, pain, anger, or something more in keeping with the situation. But she could only stand there, feeling as if she was not really there at all. It was as if she were watching herself the way Coldsteel was watching the children on the small tablet screen, or the way she had dreamed of Demona killing the clan when Coldsteel had knocked her unconscious earlier that evening. As if she were trapped in some separate space, witnessing it all unfolding in helpless horror.

"They're there one moment, then gone the next!" Thailog complained again, slamming his massive fist on the desk.

"They are tricky little darlings," Coldsteel agreed, "And this compilation of video does not seem to make sense, no matter how it is arranged. Unless…"

He turned to Adelpha, the lenses of his mechanical eyes shifting as he studied her.

"You aren't holding out on us, are you Sister?" he asked slyly.

Adelpha's eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" she demanded. Thailog rose from the desk and rounded on her, grabbing her arm in a region that was still sore from when he had pinned her to the filthy mattress in the next room. She refused to give him the satisfaction of grimacing in pain though.

"Tell us how they do it?" Thailog insisted.

"How do they do what?"

"How they get around the cameras of course," he clarified in a disingenuously patient voice, "There are cameras everywhere these days, and the clan is almost never caught on one. How do they do it? How are these little brats able to scamper around the city and not show up half the time? Is it some sort of spell you've put on them?"

"I have given up all my magic," she replied coldly.

"Technology, then?" Thailog urged, "Some sort of electrical signal that Lexington or Xanatos cooked up that can thwart the cameras?"

Adelpha had to admit that it was a fair question, though one which she had never really considered. She was not aware of any spell or devices that had been put on the clan, and certainly not the children, but she could see for herself on the monitor that they seemed to vanish from one frame to the next and even she could not guess where they had disappeared to.

"You must tell us, Demona," Coldsteel told her, "If we are to get to the hatchlings before it's too late."

"I know nothing about it," she replied truthfully.

Coldsteel seized the tablet and pressed it into her claws.

"Behold, the type of killers who are hunting your children tonight," Coldsteel told her, "That man is Angelo Draconi. He is a known murderer and extortionist; a lifelong criminal and member of the Draconi crime family. He and his father's thugs are, at this moment, chasing your hatchlings around this city, armed to the teeth. Look!"

Adelpha stared in horror at the screen, which played a looping video of some gangsters threatening the children in a place that looked like a zoo. She clicked ahead to the next video and, with relief, saw the blundering grown men fleeing in terror from the clever hatchlings across the zoo's marshy pond. She clicked again, and her anxiety began to subside even more as she watched Orion and Sister in combat with these career criminals. A soft, proud smile graced the corners of her lips as she witnessed her daughters dumping bear feces on the wretched henchmen. Another click showed her the inside of the ape house, where the unarmed, disgraced mob boss cowered before her brave, young son.

"Oh, the silly child let him live," she commented with an unapproving snicker that could not disguise her affection, "He is, indeed, his father's son!" One last click revealed the defeated mobsters hanging upside down from a primate play structure, mostly unconscious, for the entertainment of curious monkeys."

"I don't know what you're on about, Brother," Adelpha said snidely, handing him back his device, "They seem to have the situation under control. If anything, it's the Chicago mafia who should be tossing in their beds with worry tonight! At any rate, I like their chances against these idiotic humans better than in the company of that miscreant!"

She glared at Thailog who did not return her accusation. In fact, he didn't seem to be listening to them at all but carefully examining, or rather, scrutinizing a video of a train platform.

"Coldsteel!" he barked suddenly, "Come look at this! Do you see what I see?"

Coldsteel joined him at the desk, looking at the other monitor.

"Could it be?" he asked in surprise.

"Oh, it can indeed!" Thailog replied with a chuckle, glancing back to scold Adelpha, "We've found your secret, you devious thing!"

Curious and anxious to know what he was talking about, she stepped forward to catch a glimpse of what they were looking at on the screen. There on the platform were four small figures, huddled together on a bench. One of them was shrouded in a heavy winter coat, but her clawed feet hanging from beneath the hem gave her away. The other three she recognized immediately, though she had never seen them before at night. Coldsteel was astute enough to catch her wide-eyed surprise.

"You didn't know about this either?" he asked craftily. It was all she could do to keep from putting a fist through his titanium face.

No, she had not known that her own children had mastered this power. In fact, she and Lyra had been working on the possibility of keeping her human form at night as part of her lessons for months now. Or at least, Adelpha had thought they had been. Lyra must have been told to hold back on performing this magic for Adelpha. She knew that Orion had been asked not to share details about his combat training with her, and she understood that, but even Bonnie was now being taught by the clan to deceive her. She knew the reason, of course. There was always the chance that she could use the children to act on her behalf against the clan. Still, her heart ached at the thought of it.

But there was no time to dwell on it now. She needed to see which train the children got on! Coldsteel clicked ahead, past the arrival of several trains, before he finally caught them getting aboard the redline.

"How very convenient!" he declared, "They are coming right this way as we speak! Now we just have to wait and see where they get off."

Slowly, Adelpha began to back away from them, hoping to get to the window fast enough to get a good head start. She had a clean shot and was about to make a dash and hope she didn't get too cut up by the thick, ancient glass when she busted through the window, but she stopped in her tracks as Coldsteel began to speak in a voice that instinctively made her blood run cold.

"What lovely children they are," he commented casually as he reviewed the video of their successful battle with the gangsters, "Don't you think so, Thailog?"

Thailog grunted, unconcerned with the appearance of his rival's progeny.

"And three healthy females," he continued, despite Thailog's disinterest, "The clan will soon have a full rookery again, if they can find warriors to make suitable mates for them, of course!"

"I find that highly unlikely, unless they import them," Thailog replied.

"It wouldn't surprise me if males from other clans came from far and wide to pay suit," Coldsteel argued, "Demona? Is this the one you've named Lyra? See, how well trained she is at such a tender age! And such power in her young body! See for yourself, my friend!"

Coldsteel set the tablet on the desk beside the laptop so that Thailog could watch the children battling the gangsters. He glanced away from the train footage to give it a moment of attention.

"What, that little twig?" Thailog laughed with a roll of his eyes, "Yes. She's very cute."

"She's a little child!" Adelpha felt the urgent need to point out. She didn't like the timbre of Coldsteel's observations and greatly wished him to shut up.

"Of course, sister," Coldsteel conceded, "Of course, she has years ahead of her before that sort of thing is to be thought of. One must let children have the chance to be children while they can! But with so few of us left, is it not wonderful to know that our people have a future? And Sister! Thailog, you can't see her properly there under that silly coat, but look here!"

Coldsteel swiped his claw at the tablet, and the images of Sister, diving in to rescue Fiorella Draconi appeared.

"Look how brave and strong she is, rescuing that little human child! It won't be another cycle before she is a full-fledged warrior. And a more delightful little female you never met! It was such a joy, every time I spoke to her. She was so clever, compassionate, and very eager to please!"

Thailog rolled his eyes again.

"Well by all means," he replied sarcastically, "Let's get her mated up as soon as possible! According to you, all it takes is once and the younger the better. Then she can be inescapably bonded to a single male for all her nights!"

A moment of horrified silence followed this statement. Adelpha, now filled with protective rage, was nearly ready to grab this monster's throat from behind and let him bleed out on the horrid, moldy carpet, but Coldsteel recovered faster.

"What a senseless, horrible thing to say!" he scolded in a mechanical tone that held none of the appropriate fury, "Sister may be physically mature enough to form a bond, but there are other reasons we wait until our youth are of age! Isn't that right, Demona?"

Demona did not answer out loud, but let the seething rage emanating from her face be her response.

Thailog, on the other hand, looked uncharacteristically abashed, "I didn't mean…"

"Aside from that, don't you think she is too closely related to you by blood? You are a genetic clone of her father after all! The very idea is…well…indecent!"

"I didn't mean for me, you fool! I was just saying…and YOU are the one who said, the younger the female, the stronger the bond!"

"Precisely the reason the suggestion is so…morally repugnant!" Coldsteel explained, "These bonds are permanent! She would never be right without you!"

Looking very uncomfortable, Thailog raised a claw in protest.

"I don't even know how we got on the subject!" he thundered, "I'm certainly not interested in assessing the physiques of prepubescent females! Now look! They're on the move!"

Indeed, the children in the video had risen anxiously and supporting the weight of the Sister under the coat, they made their way onto the platform.

"How fortuitous!" Thailog exclaimed in a sickening saccharine tone, "They've come right to us!"

"Indeed! They're heading toward the beach!" Coldsteel added, "Where on earth could they be going?"

As they were both fully focused on the screen, Adelpha seized the moment and bolted for the window.

"Stop her!" Thailog ordered and Coldsteel's tentacles went into instant action, blocking her egress through the bedroom. She ducked as one of them swung at her, seeking to catch her in a hold. Crouched on one leg, she swung her tail and leg at Coldsteel's knee, but the blow against his steel limb only unstabilized him long enough that she could roll away from him. But it proved to be in vain as Thailog was there and ready to snatch her up again. Adelpha roared in indignation and struggled against him, swinging and contorting her legs until Thailog howled in pain and dropped her on the floor. She looked up in time to see Coldsteel's claw grab her by her wing joint and force her upright.

"You halfwit!" he hissed in her ear, "You had only to control yourself a few moments longer and I might have taken you with me! Now he'll never let me!"

Thailog had recovered from her strike to his thigh. He bent to gingerly touch the wound and the blood smeared and dripped down to his knee. He looked up and acknowledged her strike with a menacing smile before he spoke to Coldsteel.

"Go and fetch these poor wayward children, Coldsteel. Bring them back here."

"I fear my reputation precedes me," Coldsteel replied, "It will take a fair bit of convincing to get them to come along willingly. If I had their mother with me…"

"They're children," Thailog snapped, "If further convincing is required, a good whipping ought to suffice. She stays here."

Adelpha looked over her shoulder with a pleading expression, but the machine didn't seem to see.

"As you wish, Thailog," he agreed, releasing her, "But I will not bind her again."

Thailog uttered a quiet, cruel laugh.

"By all means. It'll be more fun that way."

Adelpha watched in internal desperation as Coldsteel departed, tasked with bringing her defenceless young ones back to this cruel maniac. But not really 'defenseless', she reminded herself. She had seen on the video how well they handled themselves against the Draconi gang, a fact that gave her hope. But Thailog and Coldsteel were far more formidable opponents, and while she didn't whole-heartedly trust Coldsteel to act in their best interest as a loving clan uncle, she knew Thailog would kill them in an instant if he judged them to be in the way of his plans. She had to protect them.

Slowly, her eyes surveyed the room, searching for some hope. Some measure to gain an upper hand against the much-stronger adversary, or perhaps some method of escape that she had not noticed before. She found no such inspiration, and as if he could read her thoughts, he grinned sardonically, standing at ease with his arms and wings folded.

"There's nowhere to hide, my girl," he taunted her.

"Who's hiding?" she snapped back, and he chuckled and drew closer to her with two large strides.

"If you so much as touch me, I'll kill you!" she threatened.

Thailog's brows raised.

"Oh?" he asked, then smacked her across the face. Adelpha drew a sharp breath at the force of the blow. It had not been meant to do her harm, but to insult her.

"Well?" he goaded her, "Here I stand."

Adelpha seethed with a fury she had not known in years. Indeed, if foolisih Coldsteel had left her implants intact, she suspected every alarm would be sounding in the Eyrie Tower at that moment. She wanted to tear the brute's face off, but she knew that, without some sort of advantage, she was no match for his strength. She reminded herself of Coldsteel's last admonishment before he had abandoned her. She had to keep her cool if she was to stay ahead of Thailog.

"That's what I thought," Thailog spat, and to add further insult, he gave her cheek an affectionate squeeze before returning to the cameras. Adelpha glanced at them as well. Coldsteel had located the children, but curiously, he had not approached them yet. Rather, he watched them from a high perch as they took shelter in a dilapidated lighthouse along the beach.

"What is he doing?" Thailog demanded under his breath, "Why doesn't he just take the little brats?"

Adelpha also wondered what Coldsteel was up to as he stalked them like a predator. Then, to her surprise, Orion and Lyra departed the lighthouse, gliding toward the coast in separate directions, and Coldsteel let them leave.

"Not a particularly bright fellow, this young warrior of yours!" Thailog commented disapprovingly as he zoomed in on the confrontation, "Leaving his sisters alone and unprotected. No matter though. Coldsteel will get them all one way or another."

He shut the case of the laptop and turned back to her on the stool, "It looks like we might have a bit of a wait, my dear. How shall we pass the time?"

Adelpha did not answer. Her eyes had fallen upon a thin, black box that was tucked between Thailog's desk and the wall. Intrigued by this, she remembered that she had almost never seen the clone without a gun. It stood to reason that he would have at least one here in his lair as well. But how to get to it with him perched right there, practically on top of it?

Slowly and nonchalantly, she began to take small steps toward the window, which made Thailog scowl with annoyance.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.

Quickly, she dodged toward the open bedroom door, causing Thailog to rise like a firecracker, overturning the stool. He lunged forward to stop her, but to his surprise, she pivoted and lunged toward him as well, using their combined inertia to punch him in the gut.

Thailog groaned and tripped forward as the wind was knocked from him. Meanwhile, she nimbly darted under his outstretched wing and rolled across the carpet to the box, which she lifted and crashed to the floor. To her dismay, the case broke into pieces to reveal only papers, several phones, and two thick wads of cash.

Thailog was not amused.

"Did you want to buy a soda or something, Demona?" he joked dryly, and she snarled in frustration. She took one more futile glance around the empty room. There was nothing there to help her, and she had run out of time. If she was going to have a chance to stop Thailog before Coldsteel brought the hatchlings there, the moment had come. She took a determined breath and grabbed the only object she could, the flimsy metal stool Thailog had been squatting on, and charged.

The battle raged for several minutes, smashing holes in the walls and exposing rotting wood beneath the flooring. A section of pipe, dripping brown sludge, became her feeble weapon as she attacked relentlessly. She knew her best chance was to strike hard and keep her space. If he managed to catch her in a hold, it was over!

As she fought, she was somehow reminded of one of Demona's battles long ago. Poor old Hudson, with little more than courage and patience, had kept her at bay for almost an entire night, faithfully risking his own life to defend a wounded Goliath.

"Hudson, please grant me the luck you had that night!" she beseeched in her mind as she struggled against a foe that overwhelmed her in size and strength.

"As long as you are still fighting, you have not failed," Hudson's memory answered in her heart. And she would not relent against this monster who dared to threaten her and her children! He was stronger, yes, but the wretched, clanless rogue was untrained and unskilled in combat. She would give him a run for his money.

On and on they raged, and Adelpha sensed the signs of fatigue setting in on her opponent who, try though he might, could not seem to keep ahold of her. They faced one another, both panting and prepared to attack again, and Thailog smiled.

You certainly aren't an easy prize to claim, my dear," Thailog told her.

"I've been told that I am worth it though," she sneered back, lunging for his throat. She knew she mustn't give him a chance to rest. His fatigue was in her favor and allowing him the time to speak was not. His words only served to distract and manipulate.

"I'm not so sure!" he continued as he blocked her with a mad spark in his eyes, "All this drama is making that young one look much more appealing. Of course, I'd prefer a mature consort, but perhaps it would pay to claim her tonight, so that I might enjoy her later? Once Coldsteel arrives, shall we bring her in and see how receptive she is to this strange, yet natural imprinting process?"

His threats hit their mark and Adelpha howled in rage, leaping wilding for his face and landing squarely into his trap. He caught her in a hold at last, and though she struggled and thrashed violently, he brought her to the floor.

She tore at him with her claws as he laughingly mounted her and pinned her, back to the floor, then he caught her wrists, hissing in anger as she pierced the flesh of forearm.

"Now, now!" he scolded her through clenched teeth, "To the victor go the spoils!"

He pressed his body against hers and his lips helped themselves to her throat, shoulders, and breasts. But suddenly he shot upright, gasping in pain. She gave him a defiant glare and Thailog released her arm to put his claw to his neck, where her fangs had pierced him. He withdrew it to reveal blood, and she sneered at him with a matching stain on her lips.

"It would behoove you not to leave your throat so open to the jaws of your enemy," she scolded sharply.

"I hadn't realized that my enemy was such a blood-lustful little beast!" he replied with a hint of scorn, "But if that's the way you want it, my dear…"

He shifted his weight and for a moment, Adelpha actually dared to hope that he had judged her to be too much trouble. But instead, he placed his knee on her stomach, painfully crushing her and pinning her down as he grabbed at her belt and unbuckled it.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked in a rage.

"You want to behave like a beast?" he bellowed at her, "Well, a beast gets the strap!"

He pulled his knee from her belly, allowing her just enough time to draw a full breath before he yanked her head up and forcefully turned her over to reveal her back. He forced her face to the floor and two sharp cracks resounded through the empty room as he struck her with her own belt. Before she could even fully register the pain, he had forced the belt into her mouth and drawn it painfully taut around the back of her head, like a horse's bit and bridle.

"The strap and the muzzle for you!" he told her triumphantly. She clawed at the buckle, now tangled in the back of her hair, but Thailog didn't give her the time before forcing her back onto her back.

"That's more like it!" he moaned as he pressed himself against her, "And I don't mind the least bit if you think of Goliath while I have my way with you. After all, the only good thing about not being able to kill you when I'm done, is the pleasant knowledge that some night, you will have to tell him about everything I did to you. How I wish I could see his face when you do, my dear!"

But as she thrashed and railed against Thailog, no longer even conscious of the pain her body was suffering, she could not stand to even think of Goliath's name. There was only one name she knew to invoke. The same name that had once been chosen to strike terror in traitorous men. The name that had served as a breastplate, deflecting all her grief, shame, and helplessness and replacing it with rage, hatred, and power. The unuttered, but never forgotten name that represented deception, betrayal, and tragedy to the entire clan, and was only whispered with fear and contempt by hatchlings around a campfire.

"Demona?"

He addressed her as a question, she realized, because while lost in her own desperate mind, she had suddenly stopped fighting back.

"Have your systems frozen or something?" he demanded mockingly, "Or have you finally realized that this will go much easier for you if you just cooperate?"

She looked up at him with an empty gaze, but laughed weakly at the joke. He wasn't wrong. She did feel as though she had somehow frozen. She felt nothing but a cold emptiness as she observed that Thailog had managed to remove his own belt as well. And the same strange, but almost safe, lack of feeling as she cringed at his swollen genitals, fully prepared to commit the final act of violation and humiliation upon her. She was equally as emotionless as she determined that they would both be dead before she would ever let him have his way. She was cold. She was unfeeling. But she would not be made helpless.

Confused by her suddenly icy glare of defiance combined with a refusal to move, Thailog seemed to hesitate. But soon, the arrogant sneer returned to his face.

"That's right, my little beast," he cooed as he leaned forward slowly and gently kissed her abdomen, "We both know you want it."

She stretched her arms above her head, tightening the muscles of her well-formed belly as his kisses traveled downward across it. So intent on his destination, he did not notice her unfastening the buckle of her belt behind her head until she had already looped it over the back of his own, drawing his face toward her and his body on top of hers. Even in her hypnotic, icy state, she felt the feverish heat of his hard and sticky genitals pressed into her thigh. Almost playfully she wrapped her legs high around his waist, ensuring that he just missed his mark. And before he could protest, she wrapped her arms under his, stretching them in an embrace around his broad chest to caress the tender muscles on either side of his wing joints.

Thailog sighed in pleasure, his body undulating softly in anticipation of what was to come.

"Do I satisfy you, Demona?" he whispered.

"Not at all," she cooed patronizingly, "But you are about to."

With that, she dug her fangs into the corner of his jaw and he shrieked in pain, struggling to get upright even as she clung to him with an unyielding grip. Immediately roused from her trance by the hot, metallic taste of his blood, she struck again, tearing into his ear and pulling flesh away. Her victim screamed again, clawing frantically at her back, but to no avail. She dug her talons into the flesh and muscle of his wing joint, which caused him to scream even louder. She grabbed one of his wing joints with both her claws and began to pull on it with all her strength until she heard and felt a most satisfying pop. Now Thailog's cries had transformed into pitiful pleas, though she gave them no heed as she tore into his back again and again.

At last, he managed to get one of his thick arms between her body and his chest, pry her off, and deposit her onto the floor. She laughed darkly and maniacally at her would-be rapist, who stood over her, naked, dripping with blood, his puzzled penis still slightly erect and leaking wasted seed onto the floor as he desperately clawed at the damage she had done to his face.

Demona might have stopped there as her foe was clearly defeated, but she felt obligated to impart one final blow, to ensure that at least that night, there would be no more threats of sexual violence from Thailog. Doubled over in pain, Thailog sounded a final howl, then tore out of the room, into the dark corridor, leaving Demona laughing hysterically on the carpet.

And that is how Coldsteel found her when he returned, naked and blood soaked, but otherwise unsullied, and cackling like a lunatic.

"What happened?" the machine asked, surveying the broken wall and splatters of blood.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "What did you expect to happen?"

"Is he dead?"

"He ran off in that direction," she replied, gesturing toward the hallways as if it were a matter of little consequence, "If you want him, he shouldn't be too hard to track. His wing is broken so he can't glide, and he's bleeding like a stuck-and -hung-up pig. Where are the children?"

"I ran into some difficulty," Coldsteel replied cryptically.

"They escaped?"

Coldsteel shrugged, his eerie mechanical grin reflecting what little light there was in the dark room.

"What did you expect to happen?" he asked.

"I'm going to find them now," she told the robot, rising from the floor and replacing her loin cloth and belt around her waist, "And you won't hinder me any further."

Coldsteel nodded.

"You might do well to find a place to wash yourself, before you see the little ones," he suggested, in a tone that was not really disapproving, "Most females would cleanse themselves with water, but my sister bathes in blood!"

She gave him a grim look in response, uncertain if the comment was meant to be criticism or praise but not appreciating his unsolicited assessment either way. Then she departed from the Golden Adler Hotel.