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Discussions - Chapter 9
By Kudara
Disclaimer:
All the characters appearing in Gargoyles are copyright Buena
Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of
these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan
fiction work. All original characters are the property of the
author.
Warning: Sexual
suggestiveness
Notes: Songs: ‘When You
Say Nothing At All’ by Alison Krauss, and‘Black Velvet’ by
Alannah Myles. Dominique Destine’s home,
and the character’s Candice and Gregory are from ‘The
Gargoyles Saga’ world and adapted for use in this story.
Rating: Mature
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike
about the story.
Revision History: 06/29/08
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Saturday, December 13th 1997
Late Night – Kendra’s Estate, north of
Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, NY
Dominique examined the black jeans, emerald
green long sleeve shirt and black loafers she was wearing with a
critical eye, Kendra had assured her this was appropriate for
where they were going to dance. The redhead shrugged and
grabbed the black leather jacket her lover had loaned her, it
was nine thirty at night and time to leave. It seemed late to
Dominique, but Kendra had said they would actually be a bit
early and could practice their dancing; the club wouldn’t start
to fill up until after eleven or so.
The first thing the redhead noticed when
they entered the club was the loud booming music. The second
was the pervasive smell of stale smoke, causing her to wrinkle
her nose in distaste.
“What’s wrong?” Kendra asked leaning close
so she didn’t have to raise her voice over the sound.
“It smells of cigarette smoke,” Dominique
answered.
Kendra responded, “We’ll take a bath before
going to bed to get the smell out of our hair.” She looked a
little apologetic, “It’s pretty much like this at any bar or
club you go to.”
Dominique nodded, resigning herself to the
situation, she looked around the bar curiously, noticing that
the majority of the humans currently present were male, with
only a few women either standing by the bar or seated at the
tables around the edge of the dance floor. A few male couples
were…the redhead stared at one pair of males that appeared to be
only moments away from mating in public with the way they were
grinding their crotches into each other, the rest were gyrating,
there really was no other word for it, on the dance floor.
Kendra followed her eyes, “Don’t worry they
won’t be going any further than that in here,” she assured her,
“though there’s a few places in the city where I couldn’t make
that guarantee.” Dominique stared at her wondering if she were
joking, but Kendra didn’t notice as she was looking at the few
still empty tables around the walls of the bar. As she began
guiding the redhead across the floor to claim one of them, she
commented, “It’s been a few years since I’ve been here. I hope
they haven’t started playing only techno club music, if that’s
the case then we’ll have to wait till we go back to the city to
practice our dancing. I’ll go over and ask the DJ, and if it
is, then we can leave if you want.”
From where she sat at the table they had
claimed, Dominique watched as her lover walked around the dance
floor and spoke to the male standing behind a bank of
electronics gear. Kendra’s red lips curved up in a smile at his
answer and the redhead guessed that his answer had been that
this was not the only music he was playing the entire night.
She didn’t know whether to be pleased or not, this place smelled
and was very loud. She glanced briefly again at the two males
grinding into one another, though the activities of the humans
here might be interesting.
“Dominique,” the mixture of reproach and
amusement in her lover’s voice caused the redhead to glance at
Kendra, who had just come back to the table, with a raised
eyebrow. “You’re not supposed to stare at the boys as if
they’re wildlife at the zoo.” The redhead’s eyebrow arched
higher, and the black haired woman grinned, “No matter how
they’re acting,” she added. “Now what would you like to drink,
and you don’t want to order any wine here,” she hurriedly added.
Dominique had already guessed that, “What
are you having?”
“Corona,” Kendra responded, “it’s about the
best beer you can get here, or I can see what they have for
bottled water.” She paused a beat before adding, “Unless you
want a mixed drink?”
The redhead shook her head; except for the
occasional scotch, she wasn’t that fond of distilled spirits,
“How about some water and I’ll try your beer.” Kendra nodded
and headed in the direction of the bar.
About a minute later, the black haired
woman returned with her beer, a wedge of lime floating inside
the neck of the bottle, and bottled water. “Not entirely
unpleasant,” Dominique announced after taking a sip of it, the
beer itself wasn’t too strongly flavored, and the lime, which
the redhead had initially thought rather odd, went well with it.
“Did you want me to get you one?” Kendra
inquired, watching the redhead open the bottled water.
Dominique shook her head, “This will do for
now,” she lifted the bottle and took a sip. Her eyes went to
the doorway as a large group of women entered, noisily greeting
the bartender and others. One of them, an auburn haired woman,
looked vaguely familiar to Dominique, though she couldn’t place
where she might have seen the human before. A vaguely annoyed
sound from Kendra drew her attention away from the boisterous
group to her lover; the black haired woman was staring at the
group as well, a slight grimace turning the corners of her lips
down. “What’s wrong?” the redhead asked, her attention going
back to the group. The auburn haired woman was now staring back
at them, and the expression on her face was not a particularly
friendly one.
“Ex,” Kendra replied succinctly, looking
away from the woman to meet Dominique’s gaze, “one that didn’t
want to be an ex, but I didn’t feel for her what she said she
felt for me.”
Well that explained why the woman had
looked familiar, the redhead thought as she remembered the
pictures her investigator had included in his report. Her green
eyes sharpened on her lover, “You doubted her?” she glanced
again at the woman, “Was she one of the ones more interested in
your money than you?”
Kendra shrugged, drawing Dominique’s
attention once again, “I don’t know, I never knew if what she
was saying was the truth or not.” She took a sip of her beer,
looking introspective, “I think maybe it started out that way
for her and then she started getting serious…or maybe I just
want to think that it wasn’t just my money.”
Dominique asked carefully, “You cared for
her?” She knew it wasn’t fair of her considering that she had
her own lovers in the past, but she just didn’t like the idea of
Kendra caring about some other woman.
Kendra responded quietly enough that the
redhead had to lean closer to hear over the music, “Enough so
that when she started talking long term, I decided it was time
to end it because I knew I’d never feel that way about her.”
Sapphire blue eyes met green, “You have no need to feel jealous
of her,” Kendra commented gently, “when you start making plans
for a year or two from now I’ll happily make them with you, when
she did I headed for the hills.” The redhead flushed, both at
being caught, and in pleasure at the comment, before she could
respond however, Kendra continued, her eyes locked onto
Dominique’s, “And I’ve never told anyone else that I’m falling
in love with them.” The black haired woman stood and held out
her hand, “Dance with me?”
Dominique had been so focused on their
conversation that she had barely noticed the end of the thumping
music, and the start of a ballad. She let Kendra help her to
her feet as she began listening to the soft, gentle sounding
voice of the female singer.
“It's amazing how you can speak right to my
heart,
Without saying a word you can light up the dark,
Try as I may I could never explain,
What I hear when you don't say a thing.”
Dominique looked into Kendra’s face as they
stepped onto the dance floor, her lover’s expression was tender
and yet serious and a bit intense as well. Kendra pulled her
closer than she had when they practiced the steps, but Dominique
didn’t mind, she knew the steps now and she wanted her lover to
hold her close.
“The smile on your face lets me know that
you need me,
There’s a truth in your eyes saying that
you’ll never leave me,
The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me
if ever I fall,
You say it best when say nothing at all.”
The look in Kendra’s eyes caused the
redhead’s heart to beat more strongly, and Dominique wondered,
as she had when she woke up earlier, if she had dreamed that
Kendra told her that she loved her or if it had been real. “Did
you request this?” She asked softly. The black haired woman
nodded. Dominique felt embarrassed now at her jealousy of the
other woman, the song was beautiful, and the fact that Kendra
had asked that it be played for their first dance together…
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, feeling slightly ashamed.
“For what?” Kendra glanced at her
curiously.
“For being jealous,” the redhead responded
quietly.
“Shh…” Kendra leaned forward and brushed
her lips in a feather light caress across her brow, “don’t worry
about it.”
Reassured, the redhead did relax, allowing
herself to enjoy moving in rhythm with her lover as they
danced. As she listened to the words of the song and stared
into Kendra’s blue eyes, her throat tightened with emotion, she
was starting to think it hadn’t been a dream at all. She could
guess why her lover hadn’t spoken more openly, undoubtedly for
the same reasons she herself hadn’t, this was so fast, so
sudden. Her more pragmatic side doubted that love could happen
so swiftly and completely, and was waiting for it to disappear
like a mirage in the desert heat.
“All day long I can hear people talking out
loud,
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd,
Old Mr. Webster could never define,
What's being said between your heart and mine.”
Her pragmatic side might be wrong though,
Dominique thought and if this sweet rush of emotion she was
feeling for Kendra wasn’t love then she had no idea what it
might be.
“The smile on your face lets me know that
you need me,
There’s a truth in your eyes saying that
you’ll never leave me,
The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me
if ever I fall,
You say it best when say nothing at all.”
As they continued dancing, the redhead
became aware of the looks they were drawing, some envious, many
appreciative, as they moved around the dance floor. Dominique
was starting to see the appeal of going out to a gay club. She
knew there weren’t many places where she could openly be with
Kendra and not get hostile or shocked looks, and being out with
her lover in a public place where everyone was aware that they
were together was rather nice.
The current song playing ended and when the
next one began the redhead eyed the couples taking a dance
stance that she had never seen before. “What dance are they
doing?” she asked curiously, the couple she was watching were
both facing the same direction, the woman in what she guessed
was the lead position holding their partner close to them with
one arm wrapped around her waist.
Kendra chuckled, “I guess you’d call it the
Gay Nightclub Two Step, because I haven’t seen it done anywhere
else. It’s a quick, quick slow step, though with this beat it’s
a step, step, slow step, and it’s not that hard to learn if
you’d like?”
Dominique nodded, “I would,” she confirmed,
staring at the other dancers.
“Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell,
Jimmy Rogers on the Victrola up high,
Mama's dancing with baby on her shoulder,
The sun is setting like molasses in the sky,
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything,
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for”
The redhead drew in a breath when Kendra’s
warm body pressed against her back, “Alright,” her lover
whispered in her ear, sending a shiver of arousal though her.
“You can do this with the more traditional dance frame or this
completely untraditional one,” Dominique could hear the
amusement in her whispered voice. “Since you’re looking at the
dancers dancing this way, I’ll explain this one,” Kendra said.
“One hand at the center of the waist,” she took the redhead’s
right hand in hers and wrapped her arm round Dominique’s waist,
pulling her tightly against her so that her shapely rear nestled
tight against her groin. Her voice was huskier as she took the
redhead’s left hand in hers, “And this arm out like this, just
bent slightly,” she held her left arm outstretched with a slight
bend at the elbow, “this acts as a guide for what direction we
will be going,” she moved her left arm forward and back a
little. “Now as for the dance step, we’re both technically in
the lead position so we will both be starting off on our left
foot. As you can see from the other dancers it’s a step with
the left foot to the left and forward, then bring the right foot
up beside the left, take another step with the left and bring
the right up. Then a slow step with the right foot in the other
direction and bring the left foot up and start over again.”
“Black velvet and that little boy's smile,
Black velvet with that slow southern style,
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees,
Black velvet if you please”
After finishing her instructions, Kendra
said, “Let’s start over here in this corner so we will be out of
the way of the other dancers.” She only called out the steps
softly a few times before stopping, the beat of the song was
very slow and Dominique was having no problems catching onto the
simple steps.
“Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave,
White lightning, bound to drive you wild,
Mama's baby's in the heart of every school girl,
"Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle,
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true,
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for”
They were pressed so close together that
Dominique could feel the warmth of her lover from her shoulders
to her thighs, the soft press of Kendra’s breasts against her
back, and every flex of the powerful muscles in her lover’s
thighs against her rear and back of her legs as Kendra danced.
The slow, heavy bass beat of the song throbbed into her body
forming a sensual counterpoint to the rock and sway of their
hips as they moved together in the steps of the dance.
“Black velvet and that little boy's smile,
Black velvet with that slow southern style,
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees,
Black velvet if you please”
As they moved together to the unhurried
rhythm of the song, the redhead half closed her eyes, preferring
to concentrate less on the other dancers and more on the feel of
the strong warm body behind her guiding her so surely around the
dance floor.
“Every word of every song that he sang was
for you,
In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon, what could you do?”
When the song ended far sooner than she
would have liked, the redhead turned around and looked at her
lover. Kendra’s blue eyes were darkened, showing her arousal,
and Dominique knew her own eyes were just as revealing of her
own state. Dancing so close together, their bodies moving as
one in a slow sensual rhythm, had been more than a little
suggestive of something a bit more intimate than dancing.
“We can practice this at home, and I’ll
teach you how to switch from one hold to the other and back
again, and how to do the turns from either hold,” Kendra offered
as they returned to their table.
Dominique nodded, “I’d like that,” she had
noticed the other dancers doing some rather intricate looking
moves as they switched back and forth between the two holds.
The redhead glanced around, noticing that the club was starting
to fill up. There were no tables where there were not drinks
left while their owners were on the dance floor or people
sitting and talking.
Kendra finished her beer in one long
swallow, she held up the empty bottle, “Did you want another
water or one of these?”
The redhead stared at the bottle for a
second before making up her mind, “I’ll try one of those,” she
finally responded. She turned in her seat to watch as the black
haired woman made her way through the crowd to the bar, admiring
how the black jeans she was wearing showed off the muscular
length of her legs and the white shirt she was wearing
contrasted with her black hair and dusky skin.
“Don’t let the songs or those soft blue
eyes get to you,” Dominique turned back around in her seat to
look up at the owner of the bitter voice, “haven’t you noticed
yet how she never mentions anything beyond the fact that she
cares for you?” The auburn haired woman’s eyes glittered with
malice as she continued, “How though her hands are tender when
she has sex with you that you’re always alone on your side of
the bed come morning.”
Dominique stared at her, knowing that the
woman couldn’t realize what she had just revealed about her
relationship with Kendra. Yes her lover had touched this woman
intimately, had given her pleasure, but she had clearly never
given this woman much of her heart at all. The redhead knew she
could wound the woman with a few well-placed words, a simple
statement of ‘No I don’t know about either of those things’
would be both succinct, truthful…and cruel. She chose not to
say anything, and was unaware of the obvious pity in her green
eyes.
Just as the bitter malice in the woman’s
hazel eyes changed to anger Dominique felt a warm hand upon her
shoulder and Kendra’s unmistakable presence behind her, “Marla,”
her lover’s tone was a warning and held no softness or warmth.
A hand holding two bottles appeared within her field of vision
as Kendra placed them on the table in front of her, “I think you
should go back and sit with your friends.”
The auburn haired woman pasted a false
looking smile on her face as she looked over Dominique’s head at
the woman standing behind her, “I was just giving your new
girlfriend a friendly warning to never assume you mean more than
exactly what you say.”
Kendra responded in a firm, unsympathetic
tone, “I think you’ve already realized that she doesn’t need a
warning and that’s why you’re over here.”
Marla paled noticeably and Dominique’s eyes
sharpened on her, so that had been the woman’s intention.
Unfortunately for her, she and Kendra’s relationship had already
passed the stage where her words would have any effect. If
indeed it had ever started there, Dominique mused remembering
how from the very beginning they had slept cuddled up against
one another, and it hadn’t been just because of the cold, though
that had definitely contributed.
Dominique smirked, seeing no need to be
nice now that she knew what the woman’s game was, “I thank you
for your concern,” she said sweetly, “but Kendra and I have no
problems with being emotionally intimate with one another, and
as for the other, I’ve never woken without her wrapped around me
holding me in her arms.” She reached up and stroked her fingers
along her lover’s hand, Kendra’s hand slid forward capturing her
own and held it. The auburn haired woman stared at her in what
almost looked like disbelief for a second before she flushed
angrily, whirled and left, almost knocking the chair on that
side of the table over in her haste.
Kendra’s hand let go of hers and then the
black haired woman slid into the chair next to her, giving her a
concerned glance.
Before her lover could ask, Dominique said,
“She was busy telling me about how you would be sleeping on the
other side of the bed come morning. Funny how I’ve never
noticed that, I’ve never woken up without your arm around me,
you seem rather possessive of me in your sleep.”
Kendra grinned crookedly, “I do, do I?”
Dominique nodded, smiling. “Do you mind?”
The redhead shook her head, “No I rather
like it,” she admitted.
“That was it?” the black haired woman
remarked looking rather surprised.
“Well she did say something about you never
telling me anything more than you cared about me, but I rather
think we’ve already gone past that point,” Dominique said
softly.
Kendra gave her a tender look, “Yes, I
believe we have.”
It was after midnight, the club lights were
down low, and the song playing was soft and slow. Like most of
the other couples on the floor Dominique and Kendra were barely
bothering to step to the music. Pressed close against one
another they stepped in a small circle and swayed to the music,
Kendra’s hands were around the redhead’s waist pressing and
stroking her lower back in a way that if she were a gargoyle
would definitely amount to having public sex. Dominique’s head
was resting upon Kendra’s shoulder, her arms were wrapped around
Kendra’s neck her fingers playing with her lover’s silky black
hair or stroking teasingly along her neck and shoulders.
“I think it’s time we went home,” the
redhead lifted her head enough to whisper into Kendra’s ear.
The hands at her waist pulled her tighter against her lover’s
hips for a moment, causing a fresh surge of arousal to go
through her body.
“That sounds good,” the black haired woman
agreed in a low, husky voice.
They released one another and left the
dance floor, stopping by their table to get their jackets before
leaving. If either of them noticed the knowing looks that
followed them, they didn’t bother acknowledging them.
Sunday, December 14th 1997
Early Night – Kendra’s Estate, north of
Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, NY
After getting up late, they had spent the
day being more productive than they had been on Saturday. They
had worked out together and then Dominique had sat down to do
some work while Kendra went out to the small barn that had been
converted to a gymnasium to practice. In the afternoon, the
redhead had called Robert’s Aunt and persuaded the woman to let
her take the young Owl’s chosen out for two nights in a row,
first to get fitted for a suit and go out to dinner, and the
next night to attend dinner and the play with the group.
After eating dinner and cleaning up the
dishes, Dominique transformed into her gargoyle form and they
sat down on the leather living room couch together, getting
ready to go into the spirit realm.
“So are you going to offer her the
position?” Kendra asked curiously.
Demona glanced at her surprised before
realizing that she hadn’t shown Kendra Sharon’s resume, she
reached over and shuffled the papers on the coffee table around
searching for it. As soon as she found it, she handed it to the
black haired woman and waited.
Kendra looked up after scanning though the
resume quickly, “You’re offering her the position,” she stated.
The gargoyle smiled, “I am, she is
certainly more knowledgeable about business than I was when
Thailog and I started Nightstone. The only thing I’m worried
about is whether she can adapt to the more formal atmosphere of
the company, but there’s no way of knowing that until she
actually starts working for me.”
The black haired woman nodded, “She’ll need
to upgrade her wardrobe as well if what she wore last time was
an example of what she has for work clothes.” She paused
thoughtfully, “Depending on how well off her family is, she may
need some money up front to be able to afford the move for
herself and her horse, a month’s rent and deposit as well as new
clothing.”
“I’ve already considered that, I plan to
offer her a rather healthy signing bonus, it should cover all of
her expenses,” Demona commented.
Kendra grinned, “Sounds like you have
everything covered then, shall we go?”
Rather large group was waiting for them
when they got there, not only was the Ancient One there along
with Sharon and the Horse spirit, but also the Jaguar spirit,
Rachael, and the Wolf spirit with Wayne Robinson.
“Chosen,” the Ancient One and the Jaguar
spirit greeted them almost at the same time.
“Ancient One,” Demona greeted the Irish Elk
spirit, rather taken aback at the size of the gathering and
wondering especially why the Wolf spirit and Wayne were there.
“Jaguar,” Kendra greeted her spirit,
“What’s going on?” she asked staring at the others.
“You cannot reach your cousin Robyn to free
her from the fey enchantment upon her. The Wolf spirit believes
that his chosen will be able to do so,” the great cat explained.
That seemed to be the cue for the lean pack
leader and Wayne to approach. “Greetings Ancient One’s chosen,
young Jaguar,” the Wolf spirit said as he sat back down on his
haunches.
Kendra and Demona returned the spirits
greeting and then exchanged greetings with Wayne.
“My chosen,” the grey Wolf spirit looked up
expectantly at the lanky man standing next to him.
“I’ve started investigating the Quarrymen.
Bluestone, the lead detective of the Gargoyle’s Task Force was
right, there are some organized crime groups among other’s
funding them. With that piece of information, I’ve got enough
of a reason to go visit Robyn Canmore to see if she knows
anything about these Quarrymen. I’ll also question her to see
if any of the money for their expensive toys came from some
place other than their inheritance from their father.” Wayne
smiled crookedly, “I expect she won’t be very cooperative, but
that will get me close enough to her to rip out that enchantment
the Weird Sisters put on her.”
Kendra’s lips quirked briefly upward at his
choice of words before her expression became more serious,
“Thank you Wayne, I didn’t like the idea of leaving that
enchantment on her until her sentence was complete.”
“Yea that’s alright,” he waved her thanks
away, sounding rather gruff and embarrassed, “it’s what we do
for each other and that…” he seemed to be struggling to find the
proper word, open anger apparent now, “perversion shouldn’t
remain on her any longer than necessary.” He didn’t even pause
long enough for Kendra to respond before continuing, “I’ll get a
message to you letting you know when it’s done.”
The black haired woman stared at him for a
second, and then her lips twitched in amusement, “I’d appreciate
that,” she acknowledged.
He nodded sharply, then wavered and
disappeared.
“He’s not one for a lot of small talk is
he,” Kendra commented bemused.
The Wolf spirits mouth opened in a canine
grin, “My chosen prefers actions to words. If at all possible
he will accomplish what he has promised to do.” The pack leader
stood, “Now I will leave you to your business with the Horse’s
chosen.” He turned to go, paused and looked back at Demona, “It
is good to see you reaching out to your fellow chosen as you
are, Ancient One’s chosen, you will find that your trust in them
is well placed.”
It took Demona a half second to reply; she
hadn’t been expecting the spirit to speak to her at all, much
less about this topic. “I don’t doubt it,” she acknowledged, “I
only hope I can be as helpful when someone comes to me with a
request.”
He cocked his head a little to the side and
stared at her, “But you already have been, Ancient One’s
chosen.”
The gargoyle stared at him puzzled,
“Robert?” she finally made the connection, “but…” she cut off
her protest, seeing Robert had started out as a favor to
Rachael. “It’s not that way anymore, I like the young man and
enjoy his company,” she said softly.
“And that is what I meant by how you are
reaching out to your fellow chosen,” the Wolf spirit said, the
canine grin apparent once again. Then, apparently satisfied
with Demona’s surprised expression, he turned and trotted away,
blending quickly into the grey mists.
The Irish Elk stared after him for a moment
before turning his massive head to gaze at his chosen, “The Wolf
spirit is right, it is good to see you forming relationships
with your fellow chosen,” he said, his tone approving.
Demona stared at him, his words ringing in
her mind. She caped her wings automatically about herself as
she thought about the recent past and her interactions with
Rachael, Margaret, Sharon and yes, even Wayne. She certainly
hadn’t consciously set out to do so, but she had been forming
relationships this entire time, friendships. Kendra was, of
course, her friend as well as her lover, and Rachael was her
friend and possibly Robert as well in time. Margaret and Wayne
weren’t yet her friends, but that would probably happen as they
interacted more in the future. She glanced over at young
Sharon; the Horse’s chosen would likely become a friend as well
as an employee if everything worked out. Friends, the concept
was strange after being completely alone for so many centuries,
she hadn’t had a friend since Michael and now she possibly had
several.
“You’re not alone anymore,” Kendra said
softly from beside her.
The flame haired gargoyle glanced at her,
“No, I’m not,” she agreed. Well she had wondered at one point
what the chosen were to one another; apparently, the answer was
they were friends or at least potential friends.
“Demona, Kendra,” Rachael greeted them
warmly as she, Sharon, and the Horse spirit came over. Demona
stepped forward hesitantly her arms slightly upraised, the Cree
woman gave her a big smile and finished the movement, wrapping
her arms around the gargoyle in a warm hug.
As soon as everyone finished greeting one
another, Demona turned toward the senior Owl’s chosen,
“Rachael,” she said, “I spoke to Robert’s aunt today, he will be
going out with us on two days, the nineteenth and the
twentieth.”
The smile on Rachael’s face grew brighter
at this news, “How did you manage that?”
Demona smirked, “Why I told the truth, of
course. He’s interviewing for the intern position in Kendra’s
division, which means he has to be able to interact with other
corporate executives in social situations where he will be
representing the company.” The smirk shifted into a wry smile,
“Well mostly the truth,” she amended her previous statement, “he
already has the position, but I do need to see if he can handle
himself in social situations.” Rachael gave her a questioning
look, so the gargoyle explained further, “Kendra will be
visiting other companies, as her intern Robert would accompany
her and those usually involve going out to lunch or dinner with
the company’s executives.”
The confusion on Rachael’s face cleared,
“When I asked you to get to know Robert,” the senior Owl’s
chosen said, looking guilty, “I didn’t mean that you had to hire
him.”
The blue skin gargoyle waved it off,
“Nightstone has several summer intern positions, I have no doubt
that Robert is just as capable of performing up to the level I
expect of an intern as any of the college students we hire.”
The Cree woman gave her a penetrating look,
“Yes, but would you hire anyone of them to be Kendra’s intern?”
she asked perceptively.
Demona grinned, “Certainly not, I’d never
give one of them access to information such as what technologies
the company will be developing or which companies Nightstone
intends to acquire. Robert however, is another matter and
hopefully it will give him some direction so he can select what
major or majors he wishes to take in college.” Before Rachael
could say anything else, the gargoyle added in a softer tone,
“Besides I like Robert. I can see that he’s a bright,
intelligent young man and depending on what he chooses to do
with his future, I’d like to persuade him that there’s no better
place for him to work than Nightstone once he finishes with
college.”
Rachael expression softened and she gave
the gargoyle a crooked smile, “So this is all just a plot to
make sure you get first dibbs on him four years from now?”
The flame haired gargoyle’s smile widened,
showing white teeth and fangs, “Precisely,” she agreed her green
eyes dancing with amusement. From Kendra’s quizzical glance,
Demona knew she was acting unusually cheerful, but her surprise
at realizing she had friends had changed into a mild feeling
of…elation, she really couldn’t think of another word that fit
how she was feeling.
Having friends wasn’t the same as having
clan, but then Demona didn’t think she would really be happy in
a clan anymore. Clan meant that you were seldom alone, that you
did everything with your rookery brothers and sisters, and that
everyone seemed to be always curious about what you were doing.
She hadn’t always appreciated the closeness a thousand years
ago, but she had accepted it because that was the reality of
belonging to a gargoyle clan. After several centuries of being
alone, the gargoyle strongly suspected she would feel completely
smothered by the closeness and attention these days.
Even though she didn’t want to be part of a
clan, Demona was still a gargoyle, and that meant that she
didn’t want to be completely alone and needed regular social
contact with others. As far as she was concerned, the good
thing about friends was they didn’t insist on living with you
and knowing what you were doing all the time, and that made them
sound just about perfect to Demona.
The gargoyle looked over at the Horse
spirit and his chosen, noting that Sharon looked troubled. The
young woman’s expression immediately damped her good mood, “Did
your conversation with your father not go well?” she asked
concerned.
A frown etched itself between the younger
woman’s brows, “Dad brought up a lot of things he wanted me to
consider before accepting. I didn’t realize how expensive it is
to live in New York City.”
“Ah,” now Demona understood, she imagined
it was quite a shock after living in Arizona to look at the
prices for housing in New York City.
“I found a few stables that I wouldn’t mind
boarding Bree, all around an hour’s drive or so north of the
city,” Sharon continued, “if I can find a place around the
Yonkers end of the metro line then it would only be a thirty
minute drive to see her. It’s just the amount of rent they want
is…”
“High compared to where you live,” the
gargoyle finished for her, “However, the salaries here are also
higher than they would be in Arizona. I was planning on
offering you sixty-eight thousand plus the boarding costs for
your horse.” Sharon looked stunned at the figure and the big
bay stallion standing behind the young woman stretched his
muzzle forward and nuzzled her hair. The brown haired woman
reached up and touched his jaw briefly in what seemed almost
like an automatic response.
Kendra spoke up, “Boarding places run about
seven hundred and fifty a month if you want them to let your
horse out to graze and run for a few hours each day.”
Demona quickly added the cost for a year up
in her head, “Let’s make it eighty thousand then, that should
give you enough to feed your horse as well as board her.”
“Are you sure?” the young woman asked
sounding uncertain.
“Interesting, I’ve never had anyone try to
persuade me to lower their salary,” the gargoyle said with sly
amusement. Sharon blushed, but before she could respond Demona
continued, “I did say salaries were higher here to make up for
the fact that rent is rather high. I believe that takes care of
your concerns about managing to find a decent place to live and
eat as well?”
“Yes,” the young brown haired woman agreed
weakly.
The green eyes sharpened on her, “Don’t
think it’s a handout, I’ll expect you to work as hard as I do,
so you’ll earn every penny of it.”
Sharon straightened, “I’m used to working
from seven in the morning until four or five in the afternoon on
the ranch,” she said determinedly.
“Good,” Demona said, her words a challenge,
“Because I work from eight until five with usually only a half
hour break for lunch. And for the first few months’ I imagine
you’ll be taking home a few hours work as well each night as you
learn about the company, its competitors, and our business
environment.”
The young chosen’s jaw firmed as her head
rose proudly, and in that moment Demona saw a striking
similarity between Sharon and the proud bay stallion standing
behind her. It was the look in her eye, the way she held
herself, she could see the horse spirit inside the younger woman
and it reminded the gargoyle of the way she could see the jaguar
in Kendra. “I’m a hard worker, Ms. Destine I’ll do what I need
to do to get up to speed.”
Demona stared measuringly at the younger
woman, finally she smiled, “I’m sure you will, I’ll have HR send
your official job offer on Monday to start work on the 12th
of January, a month should give you time to arrange everything
and move.”
Sharon looked slightly overwhelmed, but she
nodded determinedly, “I’ll be ready by then.”
The flame haired gargoyle took in a breath,
this was the part she wasn’t so certain about, but she was
managing to remain focused on work with Kendra while they were
at Nightstone, so she didn’t see why she couldn’t manage to be
both Sharon’s employer and friend. “I’m sure you’re aware that
Rachael is staying with me later in the week and that Margaret
is going to be in New York City at the same time as well. I can
get plane tickets for you to come and stay with me a few days to
celebrate Solstice with us while you look for an apartment and
arrange for the boarding of your horse.”
The younger woman’s face brightened, before
she could reply though Rachael broke in, “Oh, please say yes, we
already have Margaret and Robert it would be nice for you to be
there as well.”
Sharon grinned at the older Cree woman
before turning back to Demona, “That would be wonderful.”
“Good, because I’d hate for that extra play
ticket I had Candice purchase earlier this week go to waste,”
the gargoyle stated.
“But you didn’t know if I would accept,”
Sharon protested, looking as if she wasn’t certain whether to be
offended that she had been so predictable or not.
Demona shook an admonishing talon at her,
“A good businesswoman is always prepared for all possible
outcomes of an offer,” she said with a smirk.
Monday, December 15th 1997
Early Afternoon, Rose M. Singer Center,
Rikers Island
Robyn Canmore stared after the two men from
the FBI as they left the small room where she had been brought
so they could question her about what she knew of the Quarrymen
and any connection her family had with organized crime. Oh Jon,
she thought to herself sadly, what have you gotten yourself into
now.
It had certainly been one of the stranger
interrogations she had experienced since the ill-fated attack on
the 23rd precinct building. She was becoming used to
being sneered at and treated with open hostility from various
law enforcement officers, firing a missile into a building full
of their fellow officers certainly hadn’t made her very popular
with them. The two FBI agents, despite their stern demeanor,
hadn’t been very hostile toward her at all; even when the one
tall agent had briefly put his hands on her shoulders, she
hadn’t felt threatened by either of them.
“Canmore,” the stern voice of the prison
guard drew her out of her thoughts, schooling her face to
impassiveness she stood and let the woman check her restraints.
The way the guard was fingering her baton and Robyn knew the
woman was just looking for the slightest excuse to use it. Once
she was safely back in her cell, she sat down on her cot and
allowed herself to relax for a few moments.
She didn’t know what had possessed Jon to
get involved with the organized crime syndicates, now he had
federal level attention. What was worse, she was certain that
the two agents suspected that Jon Canmore and John Castaway were
the same person, why they hadn’t pulled her brother in for
questioning if they knew that she wasn’t sure. Maybe they were
just waiting for him to make a mistake big enough for them to
throw him in jail too; she knew they didn’t have enough on him
to arrest him for his role in the clock tower attack. Neither
she nor Jason had even mentioned he was there, and lacking any
evidence to the contrary the only thing the police department
possibly had on him was using a false identity to get hired as a
journalist.
Steps coming down the corridor had her
opening her eyes and focusing them on the far side of the cell.
She didn’t look through the bars to see who it was; she guessed
it was a guard doing their regular round through the cellblock.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the guard slow as they
walked past her cell and look in at her. Their baton swung out,
hit one of the bars, she finally looked away from the wall to
meet the guard’s sharp gaze, keeping her own carefully neutral.
The guard sneered at her, satisfied they had interrupted
whatever it was she was doing and continued on their round.
Robyn took in a deep breath, she hated
this, hated being treated like an animal in a cage for the
guards to amuse themselves by tormenting, and she wished more
than anything else that she had never ever fired that damn
missile. But the thought of killing the gargoyles she knew were
inside the clock tower had driven her on, that and the feeling
of righteous elation she felt whenever she contemplated killing
the demon who had killed her father or any others like her.
She tensed, realizing with dismay where her
thoughts had gone, and waiting for the rush of feeling that now
sickened her, but it never came. She stared unseeing at the
institutional green colored wall, thought about killing the
demon once again, this time intentionally…nothing. There was
none of the feeling her father had taught her was God’s reward
for thinking righteous thoughts. She tried again, thought of
firing a particle beam right through the scarlet haired demons
chest, still nothing except for the ever present hatred she felt
for the gargoyle that had killed her father.
The blonde woman frowned utterly confused;
the rush of pleasure that followed thoughts of killing a
gargoyle had been something she had known for as long as she
could remember. Suddenly not feeling that was disconcerting and
even slightly frightening, even though the feelings were ones
she had grown to hate for leading her to this place.
Late Afternoon – inside Quarryman
Headquarters in Lower Manhattan
“Hey Sally, get away from there,” the gruff
voice caused Elisa to jump guiltily away from the partially open
door she had been peering though.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a low voice
stepping closer to the Quarryman, “I’m just worried about Mr.
Castaway.” The sound of a hammer hitting rock from the
partially open door behind her caused her to jump, it was
followed a moment later by a frustrated sounding shout.
“He just wants to find one of those demons
to kill, he’ll be fine after that,” the man said, it would have
been more convincing if he hadn’t sounded like he was trying to
persuade himself as well as her. “We should get the stuff to
bag us some pretty soon though,” he patted her on the arm in a
comforting manner, “we got some extra special anti-gargoyle
weapons coming in soon.”
She looked up at the tall heavy-set man
curiously, “We will, will I get to try one of them?” It was in
character of her to ask, she was playing a rather gung ho
gargoyle hating recruit.
For some reason her question amused him,
“Maybe,” he responded after he quick chuckling. “Don’t worry,
you’ll get your chance to kill one of those demons too.”
Her eyes narrowed in supposed anger,
“Good,” she said vehemently, “I’m looking forward to getting rid
of those winged freaks.”
“You’ll have your chance soon,” the smooth
oily voice of Jon Canmore, or rather John Castaway, came from
behind her.
She turned around, “Mr. Castaway,” she
greeted him in the respectful, deferential tone she had noticed
he liked from his followers. She couldn’t help notice how his
reddened eyes darted nervously around the hallway, he looked
pale, tired, and perhaps even sick. “Are you coming down with a
cold Mr. Castaway? You look like you don’t feel well,” she said
solicitously.
“What?” he barked, staring at her
suspiciously.
“I thought you might want some chicken
soup?” she offered startled at his behavior, she was fairly sure
her cover was still intact, but he was acting so strange
lately. She had thought it just a coincidence that the odd
behavior had begun right after his altercation with his cousin.
However, what she had heard him say right before the Quarryman
had found her watching at the door indicated that the way he was
acting did have something to do with Kendra Canmore.
“Soup?” he repeated staring at her blankly,
“No, no,” he finally responded in a more reasonable tone, “I’m
not ill I’ve just been having trouble sleeping lately.” The
blonde man turned and walked away, leaving both she and the
Quarryman next to her staring after him baffled. Elisa couldn’t
figure out his behavior, if she didn’t know better, she would
think he was a junkie badly needing his next fix, but she was
fairly certain that he wasn’t doing drugs.
She found a quiet room to sit and think
about what she had just seen and heard, her cop instincts were
telling her that it was significant. Jon had been smashing
gargoyle statues, staring at the rubble as if he expected
something from it and then looking disappointed and enraged when
it did not. What had he been expecting, she asked herself, and
what did it have to do with Kendra Canmore, for what she had
heard him say was “What did you do to me cousin, how could you
have taken God’s reward for the righteous from me?”
That phrase kept repeating in her mind, to
what was he referring? What was God’s reward for the
righteous? Her mind kept coming back to the last question and
to how he was looking and acting like a junkie deprived of his
fix. Elisa really didn’t like the connections her mind was
making; surely the Weird Sisters wouldn’t have… The detective
remembered their cold, arrogant manner the both times she had
interacted with them, the way they had regarded her as if her
life and the lives of those she cared about were worth
absolutely nothing to them. Yes they would have she knew, they
would have enchanted Jason, Jon and Robyn to give them a high
like a druggie taking a hit whenever they did anything that
resembled killing a gargoyle and thought nothing of doing it.
Elisa felt sick, if what she was thinking
was true no wonder Kendra had sounded so furious and ready to
kill the three fey. Her mind raced trying to figure out a way
to either prove or disprove the conclusion she had drawn from
Jon’s words and behavior. She couldn’t go to Jason while the
investigation was ongoing to ask him if he ever felt high when
he thought about killing a gargoyle, he would certainly want to
know why she was asking, and she couldn’t risk him warning his
brother. Finding out the truth would have to wait until she got
the evidence she needed to arrest Jon Canmore, she finally
decided with reluctance.
Late Evening – Wyvern Castle atop the
Eyrie Building, Upper Manhattan
Marvin has entered GayChat
Xenafan0001: hey Marvin how are you doing
this evening?
Marvin: alright
Furrybear: looking forward to your
Christmas break?
Marvin: yea, that will be nice to be out of
school for a few days
Greywolf has entered GayChat
Greywolf: hey guys, how are you all doing
tonight
Furrybear: hey Grey
Marvin: doing alright Greywolf
Xenafan0001: hey Greywolf
Greywolf: wow, what a weekend, I went up to
see a friend of mine in Poughkeepsie and we went out Saturday
night at the club up there and you wouldn’t believe who we saw
in there
Xenafan0001: who?
Furrybear: spill it don’t keep us waiting
Greywolf: you know those two women who were
kidnapped? Haha well I know now what they were doing every
night when they stopped to warm up :o
J
Xenafan0001: you saw Kendra Canmore and
Dominique Destine at the gay club in Poughkeepsie? You’re
joking
Greywolf: I swear I’m not, and by the way
they were dancing together and looking at each other they are
certainly not just friends
Xenafan0001: damn, I mean I knew Kendra was
gay but I never heard anything about Dominique Destine being gay
Greywolf: well then she’s certainly at
least bi, and stunning wow what a gorgeous shade of red and
those green eyes and that body sigh, Kendra’s a lucky woman but
then from what I understand shes very partial to redheads
Marvin: when did you see her?
Greywolf: Saturday I thought I said that?
Marvin: I mean what time?
Greywolf: shrug, dunno midnight or so, why?
Marvin: oh… just wondered. You’re sure it
was Dominique Destine?
Greywolf: haha, oh yea, both me and my
friend were like is that Dominique Destine with Kendra? But
then we were like how many other women with that shade of red
hair and green eyes that also look just like the picture of her
are there… it was Dominique Destine
Xenafan0001: so they’re lover’s now I
wonder how long Dominique will last, Kendra isn’t known for
keeping them around for long though I haven’t heard of her
seeing anyone in years
Furrybear: yea from what I’ve heard she
isn’t into long term relationships
Greywolf: uhh I dunno, I sorta remember
seeing her years ago out with another woman and I don’t remember
seeing her look at that woman then like she looked at Dominique
last night. They were really into each other, I mean really
really into each other like the rest of the world doesn’t exist
into each other
Xenafan0001: you’re joking
Greywolf: no I’m not, I could hear other
people around us talking about how Kendra looked like she’s been
landed this time. I mean we were all drooling over how hot they
looked together but no one even tried to go up and ask either of
them for a dance
Greywolf: and I heard that before we got
there Dominique sent Marla off with a bee in her bonnet when she
came over
Xenafan0001: oh god why doesn’t she get
over it, I mean it’s been like three years since she was going
out with Kendra
Greywolf: well from the tale going around
and I don’t know if its true or not since we weren’t there.
Marla tried to say something to her about Kendra never falling
in love and she told her that they had no problems being
emotionally intimate with one another and that Kendra held her
all night
Xeanfan0001: :o
Greywolf: but as I said I don’t know if
that’s true or not, since it was a someone overheard her and
they told…etc type of thing
Furrybear: yea no telling what she actually
said though that sorta sounds weird I mean the emotionally
intimate part of it who says something like that
Greywolf: shrug. I don’t know about that
but I’m telling you they looked really sweet together the way
they would just stare into each other’s eyes
Furrybear: haha, the if your a diabetic
don’t sit at this table type of were staring into each others
eyes?
Xenafan0001: you’re
Greywolf: LOL yes definitely that type of
sweet, as I said they were really into one another and it was
pretty clear what they were planning on doing when they left
cause they were slow dancing or maybe slow swaying would be a
better description and then they left like right in the middle
of the song
Greywolf: it didn’t take much of an
imagination to guess they were going somewhere to do the
horizontal dance
Greywolf: damn they looked hot together, I
need to find a girlfriend
Furrybear: haha
Xenafan0001: LOL poor baby did watching
them get you wishing you had someone to do that with?
Xenafan0001: I keep offering to hook you up
with someone, come out with us this weekend
Greywolf: I may take you up on that, where
is it you go?
Lexington sat back in his chair shaking his
head, and chuckling at himself, for a moment there he had
actually thought…but Demona was a gargoyle at night so they had
to have seen some other redheaded woman with Kendra Canmore.
Still it was interesting to find out that Kendra was gay. He
looked back at his screen reading the text he had missed,
Xenafan and Greywolf were still discussing going out to the club
to find a girlfriend for Greywolf. He suspected the
conversation would get more explicit once he left, they all
thought he was a sophomore in high school, so they often
wouldn’t talk that way when he showed up in the chat room.
He knew he should tell Goliath about this,
but that would mean explaining where he had heard the
information. The green gargoyle cringed, he did not want to
tell the big lavender male that he chatted in this particular
chat room, he still remembered Goliath’s reaction to Elisa
explaining why those two men had been threatened. The clan
leader hadn’t said much but it had been very clear to all of
them that he disapproved of such relationships and thought they
were abnormal in some way. The last thing he wanted the clan
leader to start suspecting was that he might be that way…
He huddled unhappily in his chair his wings
curling automatically around him in response to his thoughts.
He already didn’t fit into the clan with his obsession with
modern electronics, the last thing he needed was yet something
else to set him apart much less something that Goliath
disapproved of so strongly. Anyway, it wasn’t as if it could
have actually been Demona, the green web-winged gargoyle
comforted himself, so there was really no reason to tell his
clan leader about this.
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