***
The white coated man moved around the operating table. The room he was in was filled with medical and monitoring equipment hooked up to the person on the table. A white sheet covered the person on the table, but it was possible to tell that it was humanoid, and that it was female.
The man checked the last monitor, then lifted the edge of the sheet to look underneath.
"Sevarius!"
Anton Sevarius spun around to face the angry red head. "Ms. Destine! I didn't expect you to be here this late."
"I'm not paying you to be a Peeping Tom, Sevarius. Just finish your work and make sure she's ready for tonight."
"Of course, I'm not about to let two months of work be for nothing. I was just about to give her the final injection. Care to watch?" He lifted the sheet to reveal a delicate pale arm.
Dominique left the room without a word. She only had ten or so minutes before sunset and barely made it to her office in time to strip for her transformation. As much as she hated wearing them, she didn't want to lose another suit; they were expensive after all, the finest in human clothing.
She donned her loincloth and halter-top, and jewelry. She had only a few precious hours to get everything ready for tonight.
***
Brooklyn roared and yawned as he and the other gargoyles awoke from their stone sleep. Goliath swooped down from his tower and landed next to Brooklyn.
"Are you going to get your friend?" he asked.
"Yes, she's expecting me," Brooklyn answered.
"I'll go with you. None of us should be away from the castle alone. That goes for the rest of you as well." He turned back to Brooklyn. "And I can tell you about the Quarrymen as we go."
Brooklyn shrugged. "All right, just follow me."
***
They landed on the roof of Layne's building and Brooklyn looked in the window. The lights were off.
"That's funny, she knew I was coming." After tapping on the widow and getting no response, Brooklyn quietly opened the window. "This should have been locked," he said. He turned the lights on and looked around the apartment.
"It seems she forgot, or is perhaps running late," Goliath said. Brooklyn continued searching the apartment, room by room, but Layne was nowhere to be found.
"She's not that absent-minded. Wait, look at that." He walked over to the door and showed Goliath the broken chain. "Someone broke in."
"Yes," Goliath said, bending down to pick something up. It was a tranquilizer dart. "It looks like your friend was attacked. Someone probably broke in, shot her with this, then took her." Goliath saw something on the side of the dart and tried to hide it from Brooklyn, but the younger gargoyle saw. Brooklyn grabbed the dart and looked at the logo.
His eyes flared white. "Nightstone Unlimited."
***
Demona dropped through the museum skylight, landing quietly among the display cases. She headed straight for her goal, not even glancing at the jewelry and artifacts in the other cases. She passed by silently, finally stopping in front of a glass case.
A silver blade rested on a royal blue cloth; the metal reflected what little light was in the room. Demona smiled as she raised her fist. The glass shattered but there was no blaring alarm. Silent alarm, she thought. Not that it mattered. She grabbed the black handle and ran towards the nearest window.
"Freeze!" The security guard stepped into her path, his gun aimed at her head. Demona knocked him down, but was in too much of a hurry to stay and kill him. This was too important and time was of the essence.
She was long gone before anyone else arrived. After talking to the guard, Elisa slipped away into the shadows and around the corner. Lexington and Broadway were waiting for her.
"No doubt it was Demona," Elisa told them. "The guard saw her, and she seemed to be in a big hurry."
"What'd she take?" Broadway asked.
"A dagger, dating back a few thousand years. It's believed to be Druidic, but there doesn't seem to be a legend or anything that goes with it." Elisa stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. "I don't know why Demona would want it."
"We should tell Goliath," Lex suggested. "He and Brooklyn should be back at the castle by now. Are you coming up to meet Layne, Elisa?"
"Yeah, I just have to finish up here. I'll try to find out more."
***
Goliath was barely able to convince Brooklyn to go back to the castle before going after Demona. As it was, Goliath had to keep hold of him while they tried to find the others. They turned around a corner and saw Lexington and Broadway coming towards them.
"I'm so glad we found you guys," Lexington said. "Where's your friend?"
"She was kidnapped by Demona," Goliath told them.
"We should be out there looking for them!" Brooklyn argued.
Broadway and Lex looked at each other. "Demona broke into a museum tonight," Broadway told them. "She stole a dagger."
Goliath looked thoughtful. "Demona does nothing without a reason. There must be a connection." Goliath turned to Brooklyn, who was still fighting his grip. "Why would Demona take your friend?"
"I don't know!" Brooklyn paled. The thought of Demona with that dagger, and his love, frightened him. "We have to find them. Before Demona does something to Layne."
"We will," Goliath said. "Lexington, Broadway, go find Hudson and Angela, tell them about this." After they left, Goliath turned back to Brooklyn. "Think Brooklyn, what is so special about your friend?"
"I don't know, she's a college student, she studies…that's it! That's why."
"What? What does she study?"
Brooklyn tore away and took off down that hall, with Goliath right behind him. Brooklyn yelled over his shoulder as they ran up the tower stairs on all fours. "She studies metaphysics, magic. Demona must want her because she practices magic!" He jumped off the wall.
"Where are you going?" Goliath yelled over the wind.
"To Demona's mansion, whatever Demona's planning, it can't be good."
"We should get the other's."
"No!" Brooklyn growled. "Whatever she's doing, she's going to have to do it soon."
Goliath stared at the younger gargoyle. "How do you know that?"
Brooklyn smiled and said, "You don't hang around a witch for as long as I have and not pick up some basics."
***
"Five minutes to go. I'm excited, are you?"
Silence was her answer. Demona looked down at the young gargoyle, unconscious and chained to a stone table. Too bad she has to die, Demona thought, picking up a bag, their kind were so few in numbers.
The immortal gargoyle tossed a handful of leaves into a cauldron fire. It flared up then went back to normal. Bluish smoke came up and circled around them. Demona approached the table and took the dagger in her hand.
"<Leaves of change and transformation.>" *Translated from Latin.
"<By this sacred blade and pure soul. Draw gargoyle blood, draw innocent blood, draw magickal blood!>"
She raised the silver dagger over the heart of the younger gargoyle as the ground around them began to glow. A bright circle appeared under her feet.
"<And a God I become!>"
A scream came from above. She looked up in time to see an incredibly angry Brooklyn diving towards her. He caught her around the waist and tackled her. As she fell, the blade caught the sacrifice's shoulder and left a deep cut down her arm. She screamed as she was brought into consciousness.
Brooklyn wrestled with Demona and they rolled out of the circle. The strange gargoyle struggled against her bonds, blood gushing from the wound. It pooled on the stone table and dripped onto the ground. The circle flared up and formed a wall of light around the table.
"No. You've ruined it!" Demona screamed. She threw Brooklyn aside and ran towards the circle. As soon as she reached it, she screamed again. This time in pain.
Brooklyn watched as Demona was electrified by the magic. He didn't even notice Goliath coming up beside him. Demona finally fell to the ground, a charred, smoking gargoyle. The two males watched the circle. The female on the table seemed unhurt by the magic; in fact, her body seemed to be absorbing it.
The light faded and Brooklyn cautiously approached the table. Once it was safe, he and Goliath hurried to break the chains. Brooklyn noticed that the cut on her arm was completely healed. Her features were very familiar, as were her pale skin and blonde hair. She wore a simple white toga, stained where the blood had been. He picked her up and turned to Goliath.
"We can't leave her here."
"Of course not, bring her back to the castle with us. That was very reckless, you could have gotten killed."
"She would have if we'd waited," he said, looking down at the gargoyle in his arms. "Did you catch any of what Demona said?"
Goliath picked up the stolen dagger and stuck it in his belt. "A bit. Let's go."
"What about her?" Brooklyn nodded his head towards Demona.
"Leave her, we have to tend to her victim."
Brooklyn looked down at the young female in his arms; she had fallen back into unconsciousness and looked very peaceful. He vowed Demona would pay for whatever she'd done to this girl.
***
Goliath stood off in the corner, trying to piece together what had happened earlier. Elisa hurried into the room, followed by Xanatos and Owen.
"Goliath, what happened?" Elisa asked.
Goliath looked down at the detective. "We stopped Demona from casting a spell." He pulled the stolen dagger out of his belt and handed it to Elisa. "She was going to use this to kill the young gargoyle."
Elisa looked over to where he others stood around a couch where the young gargoyle was resting. Brooklyn knelt beside her. She took the dagger from Goliath. "I'll give the dagger to Matt so he can return it to the museum. After cleaning the blood off, of course."
Xanatos finally spoke up. "We translated the spell, and found, with the help of Puck, that its purpose was to grant Demona the powers of a god. Apparently, she was unsatisfied with being simply immortal."
Elisa looked back to the unconscious gargoyle. "And for that Demona would kill one of her own kind. But who is she? Where did she come from? She wasn't a part of any of the clans we met."
Goliath was about to say something when the stranger moaned. She tossed her head to the side and slowly opened her eyes. She looked around before laying her eyes on Brooklyn. She smiled and reached for his hand.
Does she recognize me as her rescuer? he thought to himself. He stared back into her eyes. Such lovely, dark blue eyes.
His own eyes widened in recognition.
"Layne?"
***