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Puppet Strings - Chapter 13
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, and is not authorized by the copyright
holder. All original characters are the property of the author.
Warning: none
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: 03/08/09
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It was close to sunset and Dominique had
still not returned. Kendra stared out into the forest
indecisively for a few minutes longer before coming to a
decision. Even though the redhead had asked them to leave her
alone until she was ready to return, Kendra didn’t think
Dominique wanted to ruin the new clothes Rachael had brought by
transforming in them. The Cree woman looked up but didn’t say
anything as Kendra rose and walked into the forest headed in the
direction Dominique had gone in over two hours ago.
She spotted the flaming red hair
immediately as she stepped out of the forest; Dominique was
sitting by the stream staring at its rapidly flowing waters.
She walked across the winter-browned grass and crouched beside
the redhead, and stared with her at the flowing water for a few
seconds. “You know you never see the same stream from second to
second, its constantly changing as the water continues to flow
downstream. In a way a stream or river epitomizes the fact that
everything changes, even those things we think are static are
constantly changing even if only at the atomic or subatomic
level.” Kendra quietly commented.
Dominique turned her head to stare at her
lover, bemused by her words. She hadn’t expected a short lesson
in philosophy or perhaps it was quantum physics when her lover
had knelt beside her.
“The sun will be going down soon; I thought
you might want to change out of your new clothes before then,”
Kendra added glancing at the orange-red color of the setting
sun.
The redhead was startled that so much time
had passed while chaotic thoughts whirled about in her head.
“Thank you, I would have been upset if I had destroyed them,”
her face wavered briefly at the word destroyed, right now the
slightest thing was enough to bring back memories of holding her
rookery brother’s broken face in her talons.
“Come on,” Kendra rose and offered her hand
to Dominique, “let’s get back so you can change.”
Dominique took the proffered hand and
allowed the black-haired woman to pull her to her feet.
“I don’t recall seeing much of the Magus in
the memories you had of Avalon,” Kendra commented as they walked
through the forest to the camp.
“He died fighting the Weird Sisters.” The
redhead snarled, “I would have liked to discuss with him exactly
why he cast that spell on all of us, but I’m denied that
pleasure. At least he died doing something useful,” she
finished bitterly.
Kendra was fairly certain that discuss was
probably another word for pummel or kill, or more likely pummel
and then kill in this case. It was a good thing the man was
already dead, that meant she wasn’t faced with the task of
trying to talk the gargoyle out of going to a fey infested
island to dismember him. She understood why Dominique felt that
way, but somehow she doubted the Magus had ever meant for the
situation at the castle to spin as far out of control as it had,
no doubt the sacking of the castle had come as a completely
unexpected surprise to him. Then there was the fact that
killing him would accomplish nothing except adding to the burden
of destruction that the gargoyle carried already and end the
life of a man who, given that he had died protecting the clan’s
children, had probably been trying to atone for his deed ever
since the sacking of the castle.
“He could have kept the Grimorium, left
Princess Katherine and the gargoyle eggs, and found another lord
to serve if he wanted to keep seeking power and influence.
Given that he didn’t, perhaps his protection of the clan’s
children on Avalon was his way of trying to atone for the
destruction his actions lead to,” They had stopped walking and
Kendra weathered the redhead’s angry glare to finish, “even up
to giving his own life for them.”
“How can you defend him?” Dominique
hissed.
“I’m not,” Kendra responded calmly, “What
happened was a tragedy Demona. He couldn’t have meant for what
happened to happen, he wanted more influence with the Princess
and instead his actions got the castle sacked and its defenders
killed. No one involved in any of the events, except for the
Vikings, got what they intended to happen. You, the Captain,
the Princess and Magus all ended up losing everything, and the
Magus got to live with the knowledge that ultimately it was
because of his actions, his greed. I can’t think of one reason
for a power hungry mage to stay on a deserted island and protect
a woman, a child and lots of gargoyle eggs, can you?”
Dominique didn’t answer she only stared at
Kendra angrily.
Kendra continued, “On the other hand I can
think of several reasons for a man suffering from a guilty
conscience to do so in an effort to atone for his acts.”
The redheads face twisted in anger or pain
or perhaps a mixture of both, “I’m not ready to forgive him, not
now, not so soon. I can’t.”
“I’m not asking you to, I’m just asking you
to not dwell on thoughts of vengeance against him,” Kendra
assured her soothingly. She glanced around them realizing with
alarm how dark it had gotten. “How close are we to sunset?” she
asked hurriedly.
Dominique glanced at the slivers of sky she
could see through the pine needles, her green eyes widened, “Too
close.”
“Get out of your clothes,” Kendra ordered
her, “I’ll get your stuff and bring it back here.”
Dominique stripped quickly, realizing she
had not a moment to spare. She barely had time to shiver in the
cold as she handed the last of her clothing to Kendra before the
pain of her change overwhelmed all other sensations. She took a
deep breath of the clean, slightly pine scented air and caped
her wings around herself as soon as the transformation was
complete.
“Can I hug you or are you too angry with
me,” Kendra asked quietly.
Demona uncapped her wings, and held out her
arms, “Please.” She responded.
Kendra stepped into them and slipped her
arms around the gargoyle, she buried her face into the blue neck
as Demona’s arms and wings wrapped around her. “I care about
you, I care so much about you already that it’s somewhat
frightening to me. I don’t want you to lash out in anger and
end up hurting yourself as much or more than the target of that
anger and I don’t want you to do something out of anger that you
would regret later,” she murmured against the blue skin.
Demona felt a twinge of pain, for some
reason Kendra’s words caused her to think of the plans that had
so recently gone awry with the Assassin. She had lashed out at
Goliath and plotted to have him killed so she could take over
the clan and protect them, only to have everything go wrong.
Instead of saving her daughter, she had caused what might be an
insurmountable rift between Angela and her. She tightened her
arms around Kendra, “I don’t want that either,” she admitted,
adding silently to herself, at least not any more. “And
you know I care very much about you too, more than I would have
thought possible even three days ago.” She added, surprised
when she realized it was only too true. So much had changed in
just the past few days that it was almost inconceivable to her
and she was the one who had lived through it.
Kendra chuckled, “It has been a
rollercoaster of a few days hasn’t it,” she acknowledged lifting
her head. She kissed Demona’s narrow chin, “I need to go get
your halter-top and loincloth.”
Reluctantly Demona let her go, watching as
the strong, agile figure disappeared through the trees. Kendra
was right the last few days had been very chaotic, and there
didn’t seem to be much of a chance of things calming down very
soon for tonight she would find out how the Irish Elk and Owl
planned to protect her from the Weird Sisters.
Kendra returned a short time later with
Demona’s halter-top and loincloth. “Rachael’s making food
again; she wants us all to eat as much as we can before going
into the spirit realm tonight. She says she’s expecting it to
be a long visit tonight.”
Ninety minutes later, all three were ready
for the night’s journey. They would not be using the sweat
lodge this time, as Demona had a fair idea of how to make the
transition. With Rachael and Kendra’s guidance, only the
drumming would be needed for all three of them to travel to the
spirit realm.
As soon as they appeared in the shadowy
realm, Demona saw the Irish Elk and Eagle Owl spirits already
waiting for them.
“Wise One,” Rachael greeted the Eagle Owl
spirit warmly.
“Rachael,” the owl spirit responded,
“excellent deductive work earlier,” the owl praised. “I have
already traveled to Avalon and verified your hypothesis; there
are the markings of a similar spell upon the human woman. It
will just take me a second now that Demona is here to verify
that the spell remains are the same and that they were cast by
the same person.” The Eagle Owl turned her attention to the
gargoyle and examined her in silence for a few seconds before
bobbing her head up and down once, “Definitely, the same spell
and the same caster,” she commented satisfied. “And it has the
stench of the Grimorium Arcanorum upon it as well; I didn’t
think to look for it earlier until Rachael mentioned you
believed such a spell was in that book.”
Demona was not surprised, “So it was the
Magus,” she said grimly. Her tail moved restlessly behind her
as she received this final verification of the mages
responsibility.
“Given the evidence, and the fact that the
spell is from the Grimorium Arcanorum, the only other that could
have cast it would have been the Archmage,” the owl stated, “And
you have verified that you did not begin to feel the effects of
the spell until after the Grimorium came into the possession of
the Magus. Therefore he is almost certainly the one who cast
the spells upon you and Princess Katherine.”
The immortal gargoyle nodded abruptly and
then glared into the spirit realm’s misty borders, her tail
lashing slowly from side to side.
Kendra waited until it was clear that no
one else had anything immediate to say before asking, “What do
you mean by the stench of the Grimorium Arcanorum? Do spells
have a scent to them?”
“In a manner of speaking,” the owl turned
her attention to the Jaguar’s chosen, “Spell books contain great
power, in a way they almost become living entities of their own
because of the magical energy contained in their pages. The
nature of the spells written on the spell books pages determines
the nature of the book, and the Grimorium Arcanorum contained
mostly spells to manipulate others such as the spell the Magus
used, and spells to destroy things. Therefore, the nature of
the Grimorium Arcanorum was both manipulative and destructive.
Spell books can tempt those that hold them into using their
spells if the person is susceptible to that particular type of
temptation and you can guess what the Grimorium Arcanorum
tempted its holders to do.”
Kendra’s blue eyes widened, “Manipulate
others and destroy things, was it destroyed when the Archmage
was?”
“It was,” the Irish Elk answered.
“Good riddance then,” Kendra remarked
firmly.
“Indeed,” agreed the Eagle Owl, “that’s why
it’s much safer to leave spells upon single scrolls, that way
you don’t run the risk of creating a semi-sentient magical
entity.”
Demona turned around at this piece of
information, her anger briefly eclipsed by her interest in the
conversation. She had read speculation that Grimoriums had a
magical energy of their own, but no one had been able to verify
it. “Sorcerers have speculated that was the case, but I wasn’t
aware of anyone being able to prove it.”
The owl turned toward her, “You now have
the ability to see sorcerous energies, if you looked at a
Grimorium it would be obvious to you.”
The immortal gargoyle nodded, her thoughts
went uneasily to the binder of spells she had been collecting
over the years. Perhaps it might be a wise idea to separate
them into their own scroll cases. “What type of scroll casings
would you recommend?” she asked.
“Lead lined, preferably lead lined pine or
cedar scroll cases,” the owl spirit answered immediately.
Demona nodded, lead lined pine cases at
least would not be too difficult to obtain, and while she was
going through her spells there were several that she should just
destroy.
“Demona,” the great stag addressed her,
“let us take a walk together you and I, there are things I must
ask you before I can determine which of the two possible choices
I have decided upon is the best way to proceed.”
The flame-haired gargoyle felt a flutter of
unease in her stomach at these words. The Eagle Owl’s trip to
Avalon made it clear that the two spirits were aware of the
conversation earlier in the day about what had happened at
Wyvern Castle, and Rachael’s link with the owl spirit was most
likely how the spirits knew. Still the stag had said there were
two choices, so learning about her role in the clan’s massacre
hadn’t changed the spirits mind about helping her.
Kendra gave her a warm, encouraging look
and Demona felt her spirits rise at seeing it, she smiled in
return before following the stag into the forest. Walking
beside the giant stag gave Demona more of an appreciation for
exactly how huge the spirit animal was, the top of its shoulder
was over a foot higher than her head. She felt short next to
it. The two of them walked through the forest until they could
not see the others.
“You need to know the following information
before I ask you my questions.” The Irish Elk spirit halted and
turned to face the gargoyle. “The members of the young Jaguar’s
ancestral line that hunted you and that still hunt you have been
enchanted by the Weird Sisters. Their hatred is in part their
own, but the strength of it and their determination to pursue
you is due to the enchantments the Sisters placed upon them.”
Demona felt as if someone had kicked her in
the stomach, all the years of being hunted, all the years of
hatred of the Hunters, all the clans the Hunters had wiped out.
She didn’t say anything for a minute, and then she said, “You
must tell Kendra, it hurts her to hate them.”
“The Wise One is telling her now, though
she thinks that Kendra suspects already. It is not difficult to
see how the Hunters served the Weird Sister’s purposes,” the
giant stag responded. “You care for the Jaguar’s chosen.”
“I do, very much,” she acknowledged, she
might have said more, but she was still reeling from the
information the stag had just given her.
The giant stag flipped its ears at this,
and Demona thought she saw satisfaction in the Elks brown eyes
before the stags demeanor turned serious once again. “Now that
you know about the Hunters enchantment, do you still hate
humanity, are you still their enemy trying to destroy them?”
The gargoyle stared at the stag, “How do
you know about that?” she asked with wary concern as she caped
her wings around herself.
“I watch the Weird Sisters quite
frequently; I followed them to the city where you live. I saw
the sorcery you did that night turning its inhabitants into
stone and I watched as you destroyed several of them. From the
Jaguar spirit, I learned about the illness you planned to use to
kill all of the humans.” The stag responded calmly.
Demona couldn’t respond immediately, the
stag had seen what she had done that night and was still willing
to help her? “You saw me, you heard me mock them as I smashed
them as they have smashed us for centuries…” she stopped
unwilling to continue. Most likely, none of the random humans
she had killed had ever even tried to harm a gargoyle, and there
was only the slightest chance that one of their ancestors had
ever killed or tried to kill a gargoyle. She couldn’t continue
the lie, not after what she had learned yesterday and today.
“You know what I did and you are still willing to help me?” she
restated staring at the ground. She couldn’t meet the stag
spirits gaze, not knowing what had happened to his children and
what she had attempted to do.
“Yes,” answered the Irish Elk spirit, “The
Fey have tormented many humans and gargoyles over the course of
time, but never has anyone suffered their torment for the length
of time that you have. No one has ever been the subject of so
much manipulation that not even I can tell which actions are
your responsibility and which are not. Everything you have done
since the Weird Sisters enchanted you has been tainted by their
spells, and today you and we learned that even before the
Archmage and Weird Sisters interfered in your life that a
sorcery spell had been cast upon you to affect your emotions and
judgment.” The great stag paused for a moment to let the
gargoyle think before continuing, “So I ask you. Now that you
are free of two of their manipulation spells, and now that you
understand your and other’s past actions better, do you still
hate humans enough to continue to try and destroy them?”
Was she still the humans enemy?
Demona asked herself. As little as a week ago, she would have
unhesitatingly answered yes. After becoming involved with
Kendra, she probably would have still answered yes, but for
Kendra’s sake she wouldn’t trying to kill them off anymore.
Today though…today had shattered all of the reasons, the
justifications she had held onto so tightly for ten centuries.
She had hated the humans at Wyvern for the
massacre of her clan for almost a millennium. She had blamed
the Princess and the Captain for what had happened to her
rookery brothers and sisters as much as she silently blamed
herself. Only today she had found out that the Magus, seeking
more power and influence with the Princess, had played such a
central role in all the events, that the Princess, the Captain
and she had all been under the effects of a spell he had cast to
manipulate their emotions and thoughts to his own ends. The
Princess hadn’t been as responsible for her hateful words and
actions as Demona had always believed her to be. The Captain
hadn’t betrayed them, but under the influence of the Magus’s
spell had let his anger goad him into rashly promising something
that he could not fulfill. Finally under the spells influence,
she had agreed to the Captain’s plan to rid the castle of the
humans who lived there and had when the Captain had changed the
plan at the last minute had failed to realize until too late
that the Captain could not possibly protect her clan in their
stone sleep during the Vikings attack.
The Hunters had epitomized in her mind the
very worst of humanity; they had been in a large part
responsible for her hatred of all humans, for her belief that it
was impossible for humans not to kill gargoyles. However, they
had been pawns of the Weird Sisters, tools for them to bend and
use to their own ends just as she had been used by the three
fey. There had been so much death and destruction on both sides
because of the Sisters enchantments.
“No, I won’t try to destroy them anymore,”
she was finally able to respond.
“Do you still feel that they all deserve
your hatred?” the great stag asked.
The gargoyle glanced up at him quickly, her
thoughts turning first to Kendra, but she suspected that her
relationship with the Jaguar’s chosen wasn’t what he was after.
She sighed, there was always Maza, the clan’s human, the human
that had always defied her expectation that all humans betrayed
given enough time. A memory of a newspaper article niggled at
her mind, she remembered sneering at it in disbelief at the
time, what had been that groups name? P.I.T? They had become
the target of the Quarrymen because they believed humans and
gargoyles should live together in peace. The Quarrymen had
attacked the groups meeting and put several of them in the
hospital from what she remembered of the article, but it hadn’t
dissuaded the group from their beliefs.
“No,” she answered, “Not all of them wish
to harm us.” Her eyes flashed red briefly, “But that doesn’t
mean that I will idly stand by and allow those that do to
succeed without trying to stop them.”
The stag spirit shook his head, “I would
not expect you to, I would only ask that you consider all the
possible consequences of your actions.”
Demona growled in annoyance, this was twice
today, did everyone think she was incapable of responding in a
rational controlled manner? “I will,” she promised grouchily.
The Irish Elk stared at her searchingly for
a long enough time for Demona to feel uneasy under the intense
regard. “I am satisfied with your responses,” he finally said,
“I wish to offer you the choice of becoming my first chosen.”
“What?” Demona stammered when she
recovered her voice, she had expected lessons not this.
“I wish you to become my chosen,” the Irish
Elk spirit said calmly, “I wish you to be my link to the living
world.”
Recalling what Rachael had said of the
spirits offering and requiring different things from their
chosen the gargoyle inquired, “What exactly would that mean?
Would you grant me immortality like Kendra and Rachael? What
about my transformation to a human during the day and would I
have to transform into an Irish Elk each full moon?”
The stag dipped his head and blew gently
into her hair, “It is good to ask these things, you have been
unpleasantly surprised in the past by such agreements. I will
grant you immortality and dispel the enchantment that the
sisters have placed upon you. As for the human you are linked
to, I will grant him immortality as well, if he should chose it,
for it is not right that he should be negatively affected by
your choice here. You will no longer be linked to his pain nor
will he be linked to yours.”
Demona felt ashamed that she had forgotten
about Macbeth in all of this. She knew he was currently
enjoying being a professor of history and certainly didn’t
deserve to lose his immortality just because she was getting the
enchantment that bound them together removed.
The stag spirit continued, “I will replace
the spell the fey Puck placed upon you to transform you into a
human with my own gift, you will have the ability to chose which
form you wish to be in at any time, gargoyle or human. Know
that if you chose to be a gargoyle during the day and you fall
asleep you will immediately go in your stone sleep and not waken
until sunset like any other gargoyle. Unless there is an
extreme situation, such as you confronting a Fey in battle, you
will not have the ability to transform into my shape; such a
transformation from a being of your size into one of mine would
be extremely difficult and painful for you.”
The gargoyle breathed out a sigh of relief,
she had seen Kendra change and knew it was painful when mass was
lost. She couldn’t imagine the agony she would suffer going
from something as large as the Irish Elk was to her normal size.
“I will also teach you about the life
energies in the living world, how to see them to touch them and
use them in beneficial ways to heal, and to protect. In return
for these gifts I expect certain things from you.” The Irish
Elk said sternly.
“Never take life to sustain yourself
without respecting the life it gave for you to live. Revere
Mother Earth for giving and sustaining all life, in all things
seek to protect her and live in harmony with her. Know that
each life has inherent worth and never harm a life for harm’s
sake. Avoid practicing magic on another without their full
consent and if possible teach them how instead of doing
yourself.” Demona repeated what she had learned from Kendra
feeling uncertain that she could promise the third. She might
have given up her war on the human race, and she definitely felt
some of them had inherent worth, but all of them?
The stag dipped his head, “Those are
expected of all our chosen, I understand the third one will be
difficult for you. Other chosen have their personal reasons for
that promise being difficult for them to fulfill as well. The
Eagle Owl’s primary chosen has many reasons to hate those who
came to settle in this land after her people. I expect from you
what the Wise One expects from her: strive to honor that
promise.”
Strive; she could do that, Demona decided,
especially considering everything she was gaining in return.
“In addition there are two other tasks I
wish for you to willingly take upon yourself,” the Irish Elk
added.
Demona stared at him warily, “What tasks?”
she asked her tail beginning to twitch restlessly behind her.
“Your anger and hatred, though amplified by
both the Magus and Weird Sisters were and are still your own
emotions. They have caused much harm and destruction to both
yourself and others over your long lifetime. I know that your
part in the destruction of your clan still weights heavily upon
you, and that you bear a burden of hatred toward yourself for
your actions and failure to warn your clan.” The stags tone was
gentle even if his words were not.
The flame-haired gargoyle flinched, coming
so soon after this afternoon the stags words were especially
painful. “I do,” she acknowledged harshly.
“Would you accept a task from me to atone
for your actions?” he asked.
Demona stared at him, what could he require
that would make up for what she had done? “What task would be
enough to make up for the destruction of my clan?”
“Become a true protector to the worlds
remaining gargoyles,” the great stag responded.
The immortal gargoyle’s green eyes widened
as the scope of the task the spirit was asking of her sunk in.
Still she had wondered what task would be difficult enough to
atone for what she had done, and if she could save even a few,
it would in some way make up for what she had done so long ago.
“Where would I start? I know of a few surviving clans, but am
not certain that I know of them all, and how will I know which
ones need my help?”
“You will not be left without guidance in
this task, I and the Eagle Owl will help you determine where the
most immediate need is and our thoughts on what the most
beneficial course of action might be,” the Irish Elk assured
her.
Hearing these words, Demona felt more
optimistic about the task. In fact, the more she thought about
it the more she began to feel a certain anticipation to begin,
“I accept, and the second task?”
The Irish Elk spirit said, “You become a
wise steward and guardian of your domain.”
Demona frowned, “I don’t understand, what
domain?”
“Your domain is Nightstone, you are
responsible for land and for the people who work for you are you
not?” the stag inquired.
The flame haired gargoyle eyed the spirit
uncertainly, “I’m responsible for maintaining the building, but
I’m not responsible for my employees. I pay them and offer them
competitive benefits, but that’s all,” she finished warily.
“It is my understanding you provide for
their medical care, is it sufficient? Are they healthy? Are
they cared for properly when they are wounded or taken ill? Do
you treat them fairly and justly as their leader? Do you treat
them in such a way that you acknowledge they have inherent worth
and not harm them for harm’s sake? Does the way you manage your
domain show your respect for Mother Earth and your attempt to
live in harmony with her? Do you protect the environment?” The
stag reeled off the long string of questions while Demona
stared. “The Wise One assured me this would be a challenging
task for you while remaining competitive and growing your
business,” the gargoyle swore the spirit actually sounded slyly
amused as he added the last sentence.
Demona grimaced at the list; at least some
of the requirements were ones she would have had to fulfill
anyway. The owl spirit was right it would be difficult to do
all those things and remain competitive. “The Wise One is
correct it will be very difficult because those will require me
to assume expenses that other companies do not have, I’m not
certain that it’s possible to do all those things and remain
competitive.” She had to admit.
“You are not required to meet all of the
requirements immediately, remember the tasks are ongoing
challenges, you will never fully complete them. You are only
required to strive toward accomplishing them, to become a wise
steward and guardian of your domain.” The Irish Elk reassured
her. “Also I believe you will find the Jaguar’s chosen and
several of the Wise One’s chosen will be eager to assist you
with this task.”
Demona stared at great stag, all she had to
do was agree to the last task and the spirit would free her from
the Weird Sisters and Puck’s enchantments, replacing them with
his own. Did she want to trade their control over her life for
his? “What would happen if I did not want to become your
chosen?” she asked hesitantly.
The great stag’s ears flickered briefly,
“Then I would give you two choices. I could leave the
transformation and immortality enchantments and remove the
remaining manipulation enchantments and teach you some basic
methods of protecting yourself. However, your chances of
preventing the Weird Sisters from enthralling you once again
would be low given the hold they have on you with the
immortality spell. The other choice would be for me to remove
all the fey spells upon you, leaving you mortal, and as any
other gargoyle you would stone sleep during the day. Your
chances of protecting yourself from the Fey re-enchanting would
be better if you took that option for they would have to trick
you anew into accepting their aid.”
The flame-haired gargoyle let out the
breath she had been holding, now she knew all of her options the
question was which one did she want to take? She stared
searchingly into the great stag’s eyes. Could she trust him or
as with the three fey would there be hidden requirements
revealed later once she had accepted his aid?
“As with all chosen,” the great stag
interrupted her thoughts, “You will have the choice of ending
your role as my chosen at any time. We do not force any to
remain bound to us if they no longer desire it. If you ever
wish to be released from your role as my chosen I will withdraw
my gifts and you will be mortal and you will be as any other
gargoyle.”
She now remembered Rachael saying something
about that to Kendra and the black-haired woman vehemently
denying that she would ever give up the Jaguar’s gifts. Her
stomach full of nervous fluttering, Demona made her decision.
“I accept your tasks; I will become your chosen Ancient One.”
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