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Discussions - Chapter 12
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: none
Notes: Events mentioned in the story are from the third season
episode, “…For It May Come True.” 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: Teen
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: 07/21/08
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Saturday, December 20th 1997
Early Morning – Destine Manor, Forest Hills Gardens, Long Island
Dominique smiled fondly at her sleeping lover. This was
definitely one thing she had noticed about Kendra, she woke up
easily enough, but left to her own devices she would lay in bed
much longer than the redhead would. “Kendra, time to get up,”
she said and watched as the blue eyes opened slowly, blinked
once and then the black haired woman sat up and stretched,
arching her back and extending her arms upward. Dominique
allowed herself to enjoy the sight, it was unfortunate that they
didn’t have time for her to go over and run her hands up her
lover’s back, over her shoulders and then downward. She held
out a cup of coffee instead, “Sharon has a list of five
apartments and two different stables that she wants to see, so
it shouldn’t take that long.”
Kendra accepted it and took a long sip before slipping out of
bed, “I hadn’t expected you to gain a rookery sister in Sharon,”
Dominique finally had to comment on yesterday’s behavior between
the two.
The black haired woman looked startled, and then her expression
became thoughtful, “I guess, I wouldn’t really know.” That was
right, the redhead realized, Kendra had been an only child. Her
lover shrugged, “I like her, and it’s funny how she’s trying to
show me she can be just as much a warrior type as I am. Don’t
worry though we won’t do it at work,” she assured the redhead.
“I’m trusting that you won’t,” Dominique replied. She wasn’t
quite certain that Kendra had read the situation correctly,
though she did agree that Sharon was trying to prove something
to the black haired woman. “I’m not sure though that she’s
trying to prove that she’s a warrior or just trying to prove
herself to you in a more general sense,” she commented.
“Prove herself to me,” Kendra said, pausing to frown at her
before heading into the bathroom.
Dominique stayed where she was, giving her lover some privacy,
“Well you are older.”
“Only by four years,” the black haired woman protested.
The redhead smiled, “And you are Jaguar’s chosen.”
“Which means?”
“I don’t think she’s trying to show that she’s your equal, so
much as get you to recognize that she’s capable,” Dominique
explained.
There was a long silence from the bathroom, “I guess I shouldn’t
tease her so much about it then,” Kendra finally responded, “I
have no doubts that she’s capable. Though I guess I should spar
with her a few times just to make sure she knows how to protect
herself.”
Dominique smirked; she had no idea if Sharon was quite ready for
Kendra’s idea of a friendly sparring session. They hadn’t
really had time for more than one or two spars since they
returned from Canada; she was hoping that once Sharon got up to
speed she and Kendra could start sparring regularly once again.
On a more serious note though, “Did you want to talk about Jon
yet?” the redhead asked. When she read the headlines yesterday,
she had been very worried for her daughter until she read the
whole story. From what the paper said witnesses saw four
gargoyles involved in the battle and they saw those same four
flying away carrying one of their number between them. From the
description of the hurt gargoyle, she guessed it was Lexington,
since he was the only web wing. He must have been knocked
unconscious she guessed, since otherwise Goliath would have
carried the small gargoyle in his arms and not let Brooklyn and
Broadway hold him in between them by the arms.
Kendra hadn’t said much after reading the article, but the fact
that she had gone upstairs and worked out for a full hour made
its own statement about her reaction to the news.
“What can I say,” her lover finally responded to her question,
“I was concerned that he would continue doing crazy things
despite me removing the enchantment on him, and he did. His
stunt the other night firing off anti-aircraft guns in the
middle of Manhattan endangered the other gargoyles and sent a
lot of people to the hospital. He’s obviously learned nothing
from what he did to Jason because he still gives no thought to
how much harm his actions can cause, or if he does then he
doesn’t give a damn. The only other thing I can think of to
explain his actions is that he’s so desperate to get a hit from
the enchantment that he doesn’t care who he has to hurt to kill
a gargoyle and he doesn’t realize or want to realized that it’s
no longer there” Her voice was tense, angry. Apparently, she
had only cooled down slightly from her initial reaction
yesterday.
Dominique lowered her head, damn it, why had she ever conceived
of the carrier virus or that mad plan in the first place, “I’m
sorry.” It didn’t really matter that the cleanser and carrier
virus mixture she had made was completely harmless, what
mattered was that all this had come about because of the events
of that night. Jason had been crippled and Jon became John
Castaway leader of the Quarrymen because everyone there,
including her at that time, had thought it was real and that she
was about to wipe out the entire human race.
“Why?” came the puzzled question from the bathroom.
Dominique lifted her head, staring into the bathroom through the
open door, “Because if it hadn’t been for me they wouldn’t have
been in the cathedral, and Jon wouldn’t have shot Jason,
starting all of this,” she stated, her tone bleak.
Kendra came back out of the bathroom, as nude as she had went
in, and came over, placing both hands on Dominique’s shoulders
and staring into her eyes. “You are not responsible for Jon’s
actions, whether those actions are caused by his inability to
accept that he was the one who pulled the trigger and wounded
Jason, or the fact that he can’t accept he’s no longer going to
get a feel good hit for killing a gargoyle, or a combination of
both,” she said rather forcefully. The redhead stared at her
wide eyed, not having expected the strength of her lover’s
response to her statement.
“And as for why you were there in the first place with the
master plan to wipe out humanity that couldn’t possibly work as
advertised,” Kendra continued, “Well, we know whose enchantment
is to blame for that. It’s the same three fey whose enchantment
on my cousins is probably at fault for Robyn failing to realize
that the carrier virus bound to a disinfectant could not
possibly do what you claimed it could on that disk.”
The black haired woman exhaled in a loud sigh, her expression
unhappy, “There’s plenty of blame for that night to go around.
Jon for shooting Jason, all of my cousins for not thinking
logically about what the disk was claiming. Jason for forcing
the other two into continuing the hunt after Charles died when
they really didn’t want too. The Weird Sisters for enchanting
my family to hunt you and for the enchantment on you that caused
you to drive your clan away from you.”
Dominique opened her mouth as if to speak, but Kendra beat her
to it. “If,” she stressed the word strongly, “you are to blame
for any of it,” she removed one hand and measured out a space
between her thumb and index finger, “then you can only claim a
slice of it, the majority of it goes to those three fey and my
cousins.”
The redhead stared uncertainly at Kendra, her feelings in a
jumble from everything that the black haired woman had said to
her. Finally, she simply leaned forward and rested her head on
Kendra’s bare shoulder. She knew her lover was right, she,
Jason, Robyn and Jon Canmore, and the three Weird Sisters had
all made choices and done things that lead to that night at the
cathedral on the Hunter’s Moon. The events there had lead to
the formation of the Quarrymen by Jon as John Castaway, and then
to Jon’s arrest for illegally purchasing military anti aircraft
weapons and then firing them inside the city.
Kendra’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer, and
Dominique snuggled into the embrace, turning her head to bury
her face into the hollow of her neck and shoulder and enjoying
the feel of her lover’s warm body against hers. She felt an
uncomfortable mixture of guilt over her own actions, anger and
embarrassment because that entire disaster the night of the
Hunter’s Moon had been an unwilling hoax on her part caused by
the Weird Sister’s enchantment, and dismay that removing the
enchantment on Jon hadn’t caused him to give up the hunt. She
took in a deep breath, scenting her lover’s distinctive faintly
musky scent; it soothed her, quieting the chaos of her emotions.
A hand gently stroking through her hair and then cupping her jaw
had Dominique lifting her head to look up into Kendra’s face.
“I love you,” the black haired woman whispered before gently
capturing the redhead’s lips with her own.
When she returned to the kitchen, Rachael held up the New York
Times “Did you see this Dominique?”
The redhead glanced at the paper warily, at least it didn’t
appear that Rachael was referring to the front page, “See what?”
The Cree woman handed over the NY/Region section of the paper,
down the page some she saw the article title, ‘CEO of Nightstone
Comes Out on the Side of the Gargoyles.’
“That’s quite a sizable donation,” Rachael commented, referring
to the one million dollars quoted in the article.
“It was a nice round figure,” the redhead commented, beginning
to read the article, “and advertising in papers like the Times
is expensive.” The article was very short, noting that
Dominique Destine had never indicated any opinion on whether
gargoyles were a threat or not before making this donation to
PIT. It also mentioned that this was the largest donation ever
made by an individual to the organization, and that its leaders
were excited by the opportunities the donation opened to expand
their efforts to inform and educate people about gargoyles and
disprove the myths and outright lies circulating about them by
groups such as the Quarrymen.
She looked up from the article, “If they’re smart they will take
out some ads in the Times as soon as possible and capitalize on
the Quarrymen’s actions Thursday night.”
“From what I’ve read that does seem to have changed some
people’s opinions of the Quarrymen, they damaged a lot of
buildings with those weapons,” Rachael said, “the concussion
from the rounds exploding broke out windows for blocks around
the entire area and sent some people to the hospital with
injuries from the falling glass.”
Dominique nodded, keeping silent. She felt rather conflicted
about the injuries; on the one hand, she was pleased that it had
happened because those injuries hurt the Quarrymen’s image much
more than the property damage. On the other hand, innocent
people, perhaps even people who didn’t hate gargoyles or think
they were demons, had been hurt, some of them seriously by the
falling glass. All she had to do was think about what if Robert
or Margaret had been in the area and injured to understand the
anger and worry their friends and family must feel.
Morning – Xanatos’ Residence, Wyvern Castle, Eyrie Building,
Upper Manhattan
Xanatos looked up as Owen entered, a stack of papers in his
hand, “You may want to look at the Regional section of the Times
first,” the blond man advised calmly as he handed them over.
David looked at him curiously as he accepted them, but Owen’s
face was giving nothing away. He opened the Times after a
cursory glance at the front page and turned to the indicated
section. The slight widening of his eyes revealed his surprise,
“That’s quite a sizable donation,” he commented after reading
the article.
“Coming so soon after the Quarrymen’s actions and Castaway’s
arrest this is bound to provoke a reaction from them,” Owen
noted.
Xanatos shrugged, “It would have provoked a reaction from them
no matter what,” he noted.
“Perhaps I should have said it will provoke a stronger reaction
from them than if this had been announced before the Quarrymen
illegally bought anti-aircraft weapons and shot them over the
city resulting in Castaway’s arrest,” Owen stated.
David smiled, “Now on that, you may be right.”
Afternoon, District Court House, Manhattan
“Sorry that took so long Mr. Castaway, we couldn’t get a bail
hearing set any sooner,” the lawyer explained.
Jon waved his hand; he had much more important things on his
mind right now than the extra night he had spent in jail waiting
for the bail amount to be decided. “I want to arrange a press
conference, I have something important I want to announce.”
It was too much to be borne, first his cousin had deserted them
entirely by going over to the side of the Demon and now the
Demon was supporting those who actively sought to corrupt others
with the idea that the demons were not demons but living
creatures that deserved respect and tolerance.
One hour later John Canmore stood on the steps of the courthouse
where his trial would be held in a few weeks.
“My fellow citizens of this city we are in the midst of a war.”
He paused for a moment letting that idea sink in, “A war against
these alien monsters who have invaded our city. Who terrify the
citizens with their attacks, and cause us to keep our children
indoors once the sun goes down out of fear of them. The
Quarrymen have stood against these monsters and will continue
standing against them without fear, without hesitation, taking
the battle to them wherever we find these demons.”
These reporters were not a good audience for him, he realized,
seeing the skepticism on their faces. Perhaps it would be
better to simply make his announcement and then let the Demon
deal with having the entire city knowing what a monster she
really was under the human appearing illusion she wore during
the day.
“But that is not why I am speaking to you today. We all know
that these monsters, these unholy demons turn to stone by day.
However, there is one of them that does not, and that one is the
most terrible, the most cruel and evil of them all. The Demon
does not turn into stone during the day, but into a human…” he
paused, looked at his audience, he finally had them, he could
see the interest on their faces, “Dominique Destine.”
Late Afternoon - Collin’s Residence, Union City, New Jersey
Dominique let Gregory assist her from the limousine, she paused
a moment, focusing upon the image she wanted to project before
beginning the walk to Robert’s home. She didn’t have to look
around to know that Kendra had already fallen into step behind
her.
To her surprise, it was a balding, pot-bellied male human, and
not Robert’s Aunt who answered the door. He had a belligerent
look on his face, and immediately after opening the door he
leaned forward aggressively giving every impression of being
about to start an argument with her. This must be the
frequently absent Uncle, “Mr. Edward Collins I presume,” she
said coolly before he could say anything. “I’m Dominique
Destine,” she turned around slightly, and the black haired woman
stepped forward, “and this is Ms. Kendra Canmore, the Division
manager of New Technologies and Special Projects. It is for the
internship in her Division that we are considering Robert.”
She wasn’t quite certain what he had been ready to argue about,
but she could see that the way she had introduced herself and
Kendra had disarmed him for he was no longer leaning slightly
forward and his initial belligerence was rapidly being replaced
by surprise. “I thought he was lying about that,” he blurted.
Dominique held her anger in check, instead raising one eyebrow
at the human male. “It is unusual that he would be considered
at his age,” a variation of this had worked on the aunt, so it
should work on the uncle, “but Ms. Canmore would prefer to have
the same intern for several summers in a row rather than a
different one every, or every other summer.”
Or perhaps not, she thought taking in the skeptical expression
on the uncle’s florid face, “Oh you don’t have to trot out that
nonsense for me, I understand,” he assured her with a wink and
sly smile.
“Indeed,” she responded shortly, she had no clue what he thought
she meant and her brain was racing trying to figure out the
various possibilities.
“You need a handicapped person to fill out your numbers,” he
didn’t even make the effort to lower his voice, “You don’t have
to lie to me, people like us, we understand the world.” The
redhead gritted her teeth, his statement rankled, she was
nothing like this man…at least not anymore. The Uncle
continued, “What I don’t understand is why you’re buying him
things like that suit and that wheelchair.” Some of the
belligerence crept back into his tone, and now she could guess
the reason for his antagonism.
Dominique forced herself to smile back at the odious human, and
to not betray how much she already detested him, “Well as you
say, we understand the world,” she forced the words out, feeling
tainted by just saying them, “and you know people make their
initial judgments based on appearances. I could have put him
into the most expensive suit in the world and it wouldn’t have
done any good at all if he were in his old wheelchair.”
Now he looked surprised, “You meant all that stuff you said to
Nancy about him representing your company was true?”
The redhead nodded, “Provided he continues to perform as he did
last evening, yes. He will be Ms. Canmore’s intern and
accompany her on her visits to companies that interest
Nightstone Unlimited. It is imperative that he represent the
company properly and that extends to his appearance, thus the
wheelchair.”
Robert’s uncle scowled, “And the other wheelchair?”
She waved the question away with one elegant hand, what she was
about to say was certainly an outright lie, but she suspected he
would believe it, “I expense accounted them, I didn’t want him
using the other when he goes to school and then to college.”
“Ah,” the angry expression disappeared, the human gave her a
knowing look and laughed, “I get it now; you’re taking all this
off on your taxes. I do the same thing,” he admitted
confidingly, “handicapped kids are expensive.” He took a step
backward and turned slightly to the side, “Robert get over here,
don’t keep Ms. Destine waiting on you.”
Dominique willed her expression to smooth before the human
turned back around, inside she was seething at the thought of
Robert hearing this conversation. Hopefully the young man knew
better by now than to believe that she thought that way about
him.
Robert appeared from around the corner; his aunt followed him
and came to stand beside her husband. “Mrs. Collins,” Dominique
spared a moment to acknowledge the woman before examining
Robert’s appearance. The two-button virgin wool black suit they
had picked out at the Armani store, and then had tailored for
him looked just as good on the young man as she had thought it
would, subtly accentuating the muscles he had built up in his
arms and shoulders without bunching in an unsightly manner. She
glanced into his grey eyes, they were calm and when he saw her
looking at him, he gave her a reassuring smile. She let out a
relived breath, but was careful not to let her emotions show on
her face. She nodded to him, “Yes, that will do nicely indeed;
you look every inch the young gentleman Robert.”
“He does, doesn’t he,” his Aunt agreed, an odd note of surprise
in her tone.
Robert glanced at her uncertainly, giving her a tentative smile
before turning back to Dominique, “Thank you, Ms. Destine,” he
replied politely.
Edward gave his nephew a hard stare, “Now you mind your manners
tonight.” His wife glanced over at him, a hint of disapproval
in her eyes that surprised the watching redhead, but she didn’t
say anything.
“Yes, Uncle,” Robert replied; only the slightest tightening
around his mouth betraying how he felt.
The balding man glanced at the suit Robert was wearing and he
scowled again, “I don’t know why she got you a designer suit,
but don’t let it go to your head.”
“He will be representing Nightstone Unlimited to other company
CEO’s and owners,” Dominique interrupted him, “and men like
David Xanatos and Halycon Renard would instantly recognize the
lack of quality of his clothing. It would reflect badly upon me
if he attended such meetings in less than appropriate clothing.”
She could see that the names made an impression on him. The
scowl faded and Edward looked dubiously at his nephew, “Are you
sure you want him going to those types of meetings? I mean,” he
glanced meaningfully at the wheelchair.
Dominique ignored the insinuation that Robert’s handicap made
him unsuitable as a representative for her company “That is what
events such as tonight’s dinner at the Savoy and the theater are
supposed to determine,” she responded, she looked at her watch,
“Speaking of which our reservation time is in thirty minutes, we
need to get going.”
“You’ll do fine Robert,” his Aunt reassured him, “just remember
what we talked about earlier and watch out for your suit
sleeves.”
Dominique barely stopped herself from betraying her surprise at
the woman being so openly supportive of him. Perhaps the woman
wasn’t as bad of an elder to Robert as she had initially
thought.
As soon as Gregory got Robert into the limousine and closed the
doors, the redhead leaned forward, reaching out and placing her
hand on the young man’s arm, “I want to know everything you
remember about your inheritance and what your parents might have
left you.”
Robert stared at her with wide eyes, not having expected the
question at all, “Umm I don’t really remember much,” he said
embarrassed. He was painfully aware that Rachael, Margaret and
Sharon were watching them curiously.
“All I need to start with are their names,” Dominique assured
him, “most of the information such as the initial size of your
inheritance, and the details of how your trust fund is set up
will be available in the public court records.”
“I’m named after my father, Robert, and my mother’s name was
Mary, she was a Maguire before they married,” Robert answered
quietly, his expression uncertain.
Dominique squeezed his arm, “I’ll let you know what I find out,
at the very least I’ll find the starting amount of your trust
fund and let you know the details of how and when you will come
into control of it.” Robert nodded, still not quite certain why
the Ancient One’s chosen was suddenly interested in his
inheritance.
“Do you think you will find something?” Rachael asked, looking
intently at the redhead.
Dominique released Robert’s arm and sat back in the seat. Her
jaw firmed, “I’m fairly certain there will be something there to
find.”
“Why?” Robert asked his grey eyes wide as he stared at her,
trying to think of what his Uncle had said that would cause her
to be so sure.
The redhead stared at him, her eyes distant, melancholy,
“Because of the assumptions he made about my motivations,” she
responded after a few seconds. She drew in a deep breath, “What
people assume about others frequently indicates what they would
do in a similar situation.” Her green eyes finally focused on
him, she should know, she thought to herself grimly, in the past
her assumptions had said quite a lot of unflattering things
about what she would do if she were in the other person’s
place. “He made several assumptions, that I would only hire you
because I needed a handicapped employee to prove I wasn’t
discriminating against them in Nightstone’s hiring practices,
and that I would claim the cost of your wheelchairs and suits on
my expense account, which by the way I did not,” she assured
him. He nodded since the way she was staring at him seemed to
indicate she wanted an acknowledgement.
Dominique fell silent for a long moment before continuing, “The
strongest reason that I think I will find something, however, is
the statement that he made that he claimed your expenses on his
taxes. You’ve told me that they’ve been using your trust fund
to pay for all your needs. Your Uncle cannot do both. If he’s
been using your trust fund to pay for your living expenses, then
he can’t claim you or any of your medical expenses on his
taxes,” she explained. “At the very least I suspect I’ll find
that he’s guilty of tax fraud.”
He stared at her, thinking about what she had said, what he
remembered his uncle saying both when he was talking to
Dominique and at other times. What she was saying made sense,
his uncle had stated quite a few times that almost all of his
trust fund had been used up in taking care of him, and yet he
had also heard his uncle say that he claimed his expenses on his
taxes. “If you do find out that he’s been doing that will you
let me decide whether or not to…” he hesitated, trying to decide
on the right words to use, “do anything with it?”
Dominique saw the pleading in his eyes; it reminded her of her
daughter, and all the mistakes she had made by not listening to
the younger female, by insisting on her own way of doing
things. “I won’t do anything with the information I find unless
you tell me to,” she promised him quietly.
“Do you know where your Social Security survivor benefits are
going?” asked Margaret.
Robert looked over at her confused; he had no idea what she was
talking about, “I’m sorry? I don’t know what those are.”
“Your parents died, you should be getting their Social Security
benefits since you’re their child. I got checks until I turned
nineteen after my father died in a car accident,” Kendra
responded.
Sharon leaned forward in her seat, “Do you get an allowance?”
“My aunt gives me fifty dollars a month,” Robert responded,
while it wasn’t that much, he knew it was more than some kids
got.
The shorthaired brunette frowned, “I don’t know how much you
should get, but I would think it would be several hundred
dollars a month.”
“Around a thousand or more I would think,” Kendra answered.
Robert noticed that Rachael looked troubled; he felt a sinking
sensation in his stomach, the senior Owl’s chosen also suspected
that Dominique would find out that his uncle had been lying on
his taxes. “Well let’s see what Demona finds out first before
jumping to conclusions,” Margaret spoke once again. “By the way
Robert, you look very handsome this evening,” she smiled at him.
He was flushing by the time both Sharon and Rachael added in
their complements as well, off to the side he noticed Kendra
grinning at him. “Shall I add my complements as well, and see
how much more you can blush?” she teased.
He grinned back at her and shook his head, “Please don’t.” That
caused a round of soft laughter among the women. He looked
around at them thinking of how strong and assured they all were,
even Sharon who was the closest to his age. He wanted to be
more like them, not like his uncle or his aunt.
Dominique leaned back in her seat, relieved to see the young man
looking less distressed. She hadn’t meant to upset Robert, she
had only been thinking of what his Uncle had said and realizing
there was a good chance the man was misusing Robert’s trust
fund. And, she had to admit to herself, she had been looking
for a way to distance herself from the man. She had been
disturbed by who she had pretended to be to Robert’s uncle, by
the assumptions he had made about her motives, and by the fact
that only a few months ago it probably wouldn’t have been a
pretense and he probably would have been right about her
motives. There was also the fact that she didn’t find it at all
comforting to think of Robert being in the care of a man who was
reassured by the idea that she was using his nephew. She
glanced out the window, and one never knew when such information
might prove handy to have, she wouldn’t use it unless Robert
said it was all right, but she wanted as much information on the
Collins as possible now.
Late Afternoon – 23rd Precinct Police Office, Upper
Manhattan
“What utter nonsense,” the drawling tones of Margot Yale greeted
Elisa as she stepped into the precinct headquarters to begin her
shift. The Assistant District Attorney was talking to Captain
Maria Chavez, “Why I saw her just last night at Luger’s
Steakhouse and then later at the movie theater where they had
gone to see the new Bond movie.”
Maria shook her head, “I guess it was her donation to PIT that
set him off. I wish he hadn’t made bail today, but I guess you
couldn’t stall the hearing any longer.”
Elisa frowned wondering what they were talking about, she hadn’t
heard anything on the radio during her short drive to the
station, but that didn’t mean much.
“He’s legally entitled to a bail hearing and he had the five
million to pay it.” Mrs. Yale shook her head sadly, “I can’t
believe that they did what they did, the Quarrymen had such a
promising beginning standing up and saying those gargoyles are
menaces and need to be stopped. Castaway though is obviously
unstable, first buying illegal military weapons and firing them
in the city, and now accusing Dominique Destine of being a
gargoyle. The Quarrymen really need to get rid of him, he’s
going to be a laughing stock by tomorrow. I’ve already talked
to Travis Marshal of WVRN about seeing her out last night with
her friends.”
The detective stared at the woman; surely she hadn’t just said
what she thought she had said.
“Detective Maza, what are you doing in here? You’re supposed to
be off for a few more nights,” Maria said to her, noticing her
for the first time.
Elisa glanced over at her, “I just came in to finish a piece of
paperwork for Castaway’s arrest, what are you two talking
about?”
“Castaway made bail this afternoon,” Chavez answered, “and then
an hour later he called for a press conference where he made a
rather big production of announcing that Dominique Destine is
actually a gargoyle.” The dark skinned woman’s voice was dryly
amused.
Elisa drew in a sharp breath, she had heard what she had thought
she heard, Jon Canmore had revealed that Demona turned into a
human during the day, but...
“Utter nonsense of course,” Margot spoke up, interrupting the
detective’s stunned thoughts, “it just proves how unstable he
is.”
“I don’t know why he thought he would get away with it, I know
she’s usually a recluse and doesn’t go to any of the big social
functions, but all she has to do is show up once at night to
disprove it,” Maria shook her head, an incredulous expression on
her face. “And as Margot just pointed out she saw Ms. Destine
out with her friends just last night.”
Elisa just managed to keep her shock off her face, she hadn’t
misheard what they were talking about when she came in.
“Really, where?” she asked weakly, not quite knowing what to
think of this new twist.
“As I said before, Luger’s Steakhouse and then later at the
movie theater,” Margot looked and sounded impatient with her.
The dark haired woman fought off her shock at the idea of Demona
going to something as mundane as a movie to remember what else
Margot had said. “You said she was with friends?” she asked,
feeling more in control and calmer as she started thinking of
this as an information gathering mission.
“Oh yes, and they were having a good time at Luger’s,” Margot
said with a smirk, “between the five of them drinking they went
through several bottles of wine, I know I noticed the waiter
brought at least four or five bottles over. It’s a good thing
they were using a limo, because the only one not drinking was
the young man in a wheelchair with them. Dominique must really
like him,” the woman commented, “because when I spoke to him at
the theater he said that she had just bought him the nice
looking wheelchair he was using.”
Elisa stared at her for a moment, the image in her mind of the
redhead drinking and partying too much for her to believe. Nor
could she figure out why the gargoyle would befriend a young
disabled man and buy him a wheelchair. “Are you sure it was
Dominique Destine?” she finally had to ask.
Margot stared at her, her eyebrow rising at the question, “Of
course, I would think that I knew who I was speaking to at the
theater,” she responded curtly, her annoyance clear.
The detective nodded, only too aware of her Captain’s sharpening
eyes on her, she had to control herself better, she didn’t want
to be explaining to Maria why she was so surprised that
Dominique Destine wasn’t a gargoyle at night. “It’s just that
the times I’ve had to talk to Ms. Destine she hasn’t seemed like
the type of person to make many friends.”
The ADA smirked, “Well, people aren’t usually at their
friendliest when their being questioned by the police,” she
commented. “I don’t know who everyone was, but I did recognize
Kendra Canmore with her, I guess they became friends during
their trek across Canada.” She paused for a second, adding as
an afterthought, “Oh and the young man’s name was Robert, I
remember her calling him that.”
Thirty minutes later Elisa was done with filling out the
paperwork she needed to complete. After the way Maria Chavez
had stared at her after Margot Yale left, she didn’t dare leave
it undone. She had also managed to find out about the donation
they had been discussing when she walked in; Demona had given a
million dollars to PIT, and that had probably been what provoked
Jon Canmore into revealing her dual nature.
Elisa stepped outside the police station, glancing up at the
setting sun. She needed to get to the Eyrie building, the clan
definitely needed to know about all this. She had no idea how
Demona was managing to pull off appearing as a human at night,
but she didn’t doubt that she was, Margot wouldn’t make a
mistake like not recognizing one of the richest women in the
city.
Evening – Savoy Restaurant, Lower Manhattan
Dominique raised her eyebrow at the host, wondering why in the
world he was giving her such an odd look. “Destine party, we do
have reservations for this time,” she just managed not to snap
at him, but her irritation with his behavior was clear.
Her tone seemed enough to snap him out of whatever had been
distracting him, “Of course, Ms. Destine, pardon me. It’s just
that…” his voice trailed off uncertainly and he seemed to wilt
under her gaze.
“Ms. Destine,” Gregory’s slightly out of breath voice had her
turning around, wondering why he had followed them into the
restaurant and why he was out of breath as if he had been
running. The dark haired man paused, took off his cap and took
two deep breaths before continuing, “I just heard something on
the radio you should know about, Ms. Destine.” She noticed his
dark eyes were worried, he glanced over at the host for a moment
and then a subtle wave of his hand indicated that he wished to
tell her whatever he had to say out of the man’s hearing.
She nodded to him and turned back to the other women. She met
Kendra’s eyes, nodded, and then glanced over at Rachael, “If you
would get our table, we should be back shortly.”
“Of course,” the Cree woman agreed smoothly, stepping up to the
podium and looking at the host expectantly.
Dominique turned and followed Gregory out of the restaurant,
Kendra falling into step beside her. “Gregory?” she questioned
when they stepped outside.
“I was listening to the radio,” he began, “when the news came
on, that man that was arrested the other night for firing those
anti aircraft weapons, Mr. Castaway, claimed that you were a
gargoyle.” Gregory shook his head, looking bemused, “I thought
you should know Ms. Destine, just in case the press tries to
contact you for a comment.”
Kendra snorted, “You mean just in case they come looking for her
to see if it’s true,” she remarked dryly.
Gregory flushed, gave a small shrug of his shoulders, as if to
say what can you do about the press.
After all these months of silence, Dominique thought, it was too
bad for Jon Canmore that he hadn’t revealed that particular fact
sooner. She wasn’t worried for herself or Kendra, but the
others and especially Robert, might find a crush of journalists
with their camera’s flashing intimidating. “Perhaps we should
skip going to the theater after dinner,” she grimaced; she
didn’t want to deprive the others of seeing the play they were
looking forward to but…
“Ms. Destine,” Gregory offered hesitantly, “We have a company we
usually work with to provide security for celebrities that we
chauffeur; I could call them for you and arrange for them to
meet us here.” His voice firmed, “They will make sure the press
doesn’t get anywhere near you or your guests.”
Dominique stared into his eyes, he appeared confident that these
security people could do what he claimed. “Very well,” she
responded, “make the arrangements, and make sure there are
enough of them to provide protection to Robert while he’s being
moved into and out of the vehicle.”
“I will Ms. Destine,” he assured her.
As they walked back into the restaurant, Kendra observed, “Well
at least now we know why the host was staring at you so
strangely.”
“Did he expect me to turn into a gargoyle in front of him?” the
redhead asked sardonically.
Kendra shrugged, “It’s not as if it really matters anymore,” she
observed, her sapphire blue eyes meeting Dominique’s green ones.
The redhead smirked, “No I guess it doesn’t, does it.” The
smirk on her face faded slightly as she considered what might
have happened had Jon publicized that piece of information just
a few months ago when she wouldn’t have been able to come out at
night and disprove it. The suspicions that Castaway might be
right would have grown until it would have been impossible for
her to go out at night at all lest she be seen departing her
home as a gargoyle.
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