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Puppet Strings - Chapter 15
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: 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: 03/20/08
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Dominique reluctantly stirred from her
sleep not wanting to leave her dream, only to realize that the
light teasing touches were wonderfully real. She moaned and
spread her legs wider, offering herself to Kendra’s touch. “Shh,”
her lover whispered, even as she slid her fingers home into the
tight warm welcoming depths. Warm lips covered the redhead’s
and swallowed the sighing groan this action elicited. “We don’t
want to wake Rachael.”
Rachael, Dominique’s mind struggled for a
moment before remembering the Cree woman in the tent on the
other side of the fire from theirs. The redhead stifled she
moan rising from her throat as her hips arched up to meet the
fingers stroking so deeply inside of her. She opened her eyes
and looked up into the wickedly smiling face of her lover.
Kendra’s fingers began doing truly wonderful things as they
teased, touched and stroked. “Evil woman,” she hissed quietly
knowing that the black haired woman was not going to make
remaining quiet easy for her.
Kendra leaned closer, nipped at her ear,
“Would you want it any other way?” she whispered huskily,
sending shivers down Dominique’s spine.
Even as she arched into the tenderly
tormenting touch and bit on her own lips to keep quiet,
Dominique knew the answer to that question, no, she wouldn’t
want it any other way. Somehow having to remain quiet seemed to
make the sensations all the more intense and it wasn’t long
before the redhead reached the pinnacle of her release with
Kendra’s lips upon hers swallowing up her pleasured cries as she
clutched desperately at her lover.
Her heart rate was still slowing down and
her breathing evening out when Kendra moved to hover above her,
“bend your leg please,” she whispered.
Curious Dominique did as she requested,
when Kendra pressed against her thigh and began rocking steadily
against it the redhead was tempted to let her continue. After
all certain things were within easy reach and looking up into
her lovers beautiful face so marked with pleasure as she moved
against her was certainly enjoyable. However, there was really
no reason for her to deprive herself of one of her favorite
experiences and certainly no reason for Kendra to get off,
literally, so lightly this morning.
With an amused smirk, she ignored her
lover’s soft protest as she straightened her leg, “Shh, don’t
wake Rachael,” she whispered as she scooted further down into
the sleeping bag. Like dangling ripe fruit, she thought looking
up at the dusky skinned breasts, and who was she to resist such
temptation, Dominique thought to herself as she pulled Kendra
down closer and took one into her mouth. She heard her lover’s
stifled moan with satisfaction.
A few moments later she pulled away long
enough to whisper, “Do you know what I like best about touching
you?”
“No?” Kendra whispered back after a second
when it became clear the redhead would not continue until she
answered.
“Here,” Dominique whispered, she ran her
hand down her lovers back and around and then down and in
between her thighs. Her lover whimpered in response and the
redhead smiled in satisfaction, “You feel so soft, so tender
here. Hmm…and so very wet for me, I love touching you, running
my fingers over you,” she kept her whisper barely audible
knowing that Kendra’s hearing meant that her lover could still
hear her, “feeling how sensitive you are.” Kendra arched and
shuddered in pleasure, “Yes, especially when I touch you there,”
Dominique whispered letting her fingers circle and tease
mercilessly for a long moment, enjoying the way Kendra twitched
and shuddered in response to her every touch.
“But as much as I like touching you here
though there is one other place I enjoy exploring more,” the
redhead felt a surge of carnal satisfaction at her lovers bit
off cry. “So warm, so yielding to me, and once I’m inside how
you clench around fingers as if to resist my leaving.” Kendra
whimpered above her, “I can’t resist doing it over,” her actions
suited her words, “and over again just to feel how you yield to
me so welcomingly and then try to keep me inside you.” She
could hear Kendra’s harsh breathing as her lover attempted to
remain quiet as she arched to meet every movement of the
redhead’s hand. “Sometimes I accept the invitation and stay to
explore awhile, as there are such interesting places to occupy
my attention,” Kendra shuddered and ground herself against
Dominique’s hand as the redhead’s fingers found and caressed a
particularly sensitive spot inside her.
“Goddess,” Kendra hissed, her lovers
whispered words weaving a spell of arousal around her. Kendra
hadn’t doubted that the redhead enjoyed making love to her, but
she hadn’t been sure if Demona would have enjoyed it more if she
had been male like the rest of the gargoyles past lovers. Her
lover’s whispered words, however, made it quite clear that
Demona was taking pleasure in the fact that she was a woman.
Dominique fell silent as she concentrated
on driving her lover over the edge and to completion; she could
feel Kendra was close from the way her lover’s body was reacting
to her touch. She occupied her mouth with what she had been
enjoying earlier, lightly nipping and suckling at the dusky
swells swaying so temptingly above her. It wasn’t long before
Dominique was holding Kendra tightly as her lover silently
screamed in a long exhale and shuddered in release above her.
The black-haired woman collapsed on top of her briefly, before
they rolled over to rest side by side. Their lips met, the
kisses tender, slow and loving as they entwined together,
basking in their closeness and the sensations following their
lovemaking.
Dominique rested her head against Kendra’s
chest listening to the steady beat of her lover’s heart. She
felt comfortable and relaxed in the warm cocoon of the sleeping
bag they shared and was in no immediate hurry to leave it for
the chill of the Canadian winter outside their tent. Kendra was
both feminine softness and curves, and lithely muscled thighs
and arms and very comfortable and soothing to lie against and be
held by.
“Are you two ready for breakfast yet?”
Rachael’s amused voice outside the tent startled both of them
out of their comfortable doze.
Kendra stretched, “Sure,” she acknowledged
the Cree woman. She squeezed the redhead in her arms and
brushed a kiss across her forehead. “Do you want to shower
first?” she asked Dominique.
Thirty minutes later, they had both
showered and were sitting down by the fire. Kendra was slightly
embarrassed to learn that they were having the fish Rachael had
caught earlier in the morning. Either the Cree woman had
actually wanted fish for breakfast or they needed to work on
being quieter.
“I need to leave soon,” Rachael announced
after they finished cleaning up from breakfast, “it’s about a
four hour journey to my house from here and I need to get back
before anyone notices I’ve been gone. I’ll leave the trailer
here, there’s no reason to haul it back and forth and we can
hide it in the woods. In four days, I’ll be back to get the
supplies and pick you two up. My house is back in the woods
away from the other tribe members so you can stay there
overnight. We’ll say I met you two walking in the next morning,
and took you in for showers and fresh clothing before calling
the tribal police.” She looked at the two of them thoughtfully,
“You will need to say that you found two sets of survival gear
otherwise there’s no way that one of you wouldn’t have frostbite
from being out in this for ten days. Work out what you want to
say to the police about your journey, it will be believable for
you to have traveled twenty-five miles a day if you walked for
ten to eleven hours a day. Your feet might be hard to explain,
but hopefully no one will think to notice that you don’t have
any blisters like you should from walking that far and that long
without proper boots and socks.”
“So when we are found on the eleventh day
no one should be suspicious about how fast we traveled,”
Dominique commented.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Rachael
confirmed.
“Do you know what the police know about the
kidnapping?” Kendra asked quietly, thinking of her cousin and
what the Irish Elk had said about the Canmore’s being
enchanted. She now wanted a chance to see if Jon had fey magic
influencing him before deciding what to do about him, maybe if
they broke the enchantment he would decide to give up the hunt.
She wasn’t going to bet on it, but at least he should be given
the chance.
“Oh,” Rachael sounded embarrassed, “I can’t
believe I forgot…We haven’t talked at all about that have we.
The last I heard just before I left was that they had located
the kidnapper’s plane where it crashed.”
“Wow,” Kendra remarked, “I’m surprised they
found it that quick, how in the world did they even know to look
for up there?”
“The news said something about an
eyewitness at the airport in New York seeing you being loaded
onto a plane,” Rachael explained, “The police traced the plane
from there to Alma where they transferred you into the plane
that crashed. The Mounties had the flight plan the plane filed
in Alma and from there it was probably a simple matter to follow
it and find the plane. They are flying search and rescue
missions for you now, I’m sure their efforts have been
concentrated further north, but they will be moving south
following the path they expect you to travel. You might want to
be careful in the next few days about staying out in the open,”
she cautioned them.
Dominique asked, “Is there any way you can
find out more information before we allow ourselves to be
found?”
Kendra added, “We need to know if they
suspect Jon and his Quarrymen yet, if they do their going to ask
what connection Dominique Destine has to the gargoyles.” She
grimaced, “Actually we need to make sure the police don’t have
any idea that Dominique is Demona or even that a gargoyle was
involved.”
Dominique nodded, “That would not be a good
situation to walk into unprepared,” she said grimly.
Kendra reassured her, “At least now that
will be an easy one to disprove.”
The redhead realized with surprise that
Kendra was correct; Dominique Destine didn’t have to disappear
at sunset anymore. If Jon Canmore tried to claim she turned
into a gargoyle at night, all she had to do was appear in her
human form after sunset.
Rachael commented, “I should be able to get
that information for you; I have a friend or two on the tribal
police that I can ask about what the Mounties know. In the
American side, the FBI is in charge of the investigation. One
of Wolf’s chosen works for them; I can ask him if they suspect
anything. I noticed that Wolf was there when the Ancient One
made you his chosen so all of Wolf’s chosen should know about
you by now just as all of Owl’s chosen know.”
The Owl’s chosen’s expression turned even
more solemn than before, “Demona there is something you need to
consider in the next few days and let me know as soon as you
come to a decision.”
“What is it?” Dominique asked, concerned
about Rachael’s manner.
Rachael looked them both in the eye with a
very serious expression on her face as if to impress upon them
the importance of whatever she was about to say before beginning
to speak. “Most of us chose to share very little about our
shamanism with others, only perhaps our immediate families. The
spirits both do and don’t understand our concerns, to them it
was only a short while ago when shamans were honored members of
the community and such gifts as we have were accepted by our
communities in most parts of the world. In the places where
they weren’t accepted, such as parts of Europe and America, it
was easy to stay out of sight or simply pretend to have
eccentric religious beliefs. Things have changed though in the
past hundred years, it’s become much harder in this age of
computers and government record-keeping to hide our abilities,
and almost all of us fear that our gifts will bring us unwelcome
attention if they become known.” She paused to take a breath,
“As I said the spirits both do and don’t understand our fear, so
they don’t mandate that we keep our shamanism a secret.
Currently it is up to each individual chosen how much, and with
whom, they share it. That said, no one knows about my shamanism
except for the other chosen and I suspect Kendra has also told
very few if any people,” Rachael looked inquiringly at Kendra.
“Demona was one of the first people I told
even a little about it to, and at first that was only because
she noticed it when we were sparing. Of course, I didn’t know
about the chosen then either, I’ve just learned about all of
this myself recently, but I know don’t feel very comfortable
with people knowing, it just seems safer for me if they don’t,”
Kendra admitted. “I don’t want people hounding me to do stuff
just because they think I should, and I really don’t want the
government knowing about my immortality and ability to heal.”
“I suspect you probably wouldn’t have even
approached me if you knew what you do now,” Dominique remarked
quietly.
Kendra winced, “I’d have thought about it a
lot more,” she reluctantly admitted.
Rachael turned back to the redhead, “I know
there is a rift between you and the rest of your family because
of what happened at Wyvern Castle and your actions since then,
and that if you told them something about what has happened to
you here might help mend that rift. What I need you to consider
is how much, or even if you will share with them, because it
will affect how safe it is for the other chosen to openly
interact with you.”
Dominique did not even have a moment to
begin to consider the implications of this before Rachael
continued, “Kendra brought up an essential point when she
mentioned that it would be easy for you to disprove that you’re
a gargoyle. With the rest of us, unless someone saw us
transform or do something that most humans couldn’t it is easy
to hide our changed nature. With you, the fact that you can
walk around as a human at night is going to indicate that
something about you has radically changed. And chances are you
will need to do that to protect your dual identity.”
The Cree woman held up a restraining hand
when it looked like Dominique was about to speak, “Let me
discuss just one more rather important concern of mine before
you respond.” She paused a moment until the redhead nodded for
her to continue, “I don’t know of any other chosen that had the
attention of the Fey before becoming chosen. You are immune to
any spells they try to place upon you as they did in the past,
but you are not immune to their destructive spells and those
have the ability to permanently kill you just as we have the
ability to permanently kill them.”
Kendra straightened, alarmed, “You mean
they might try to kill her if they realize she’s broken free
from their control?”
Rachael looked grim, “I don’t know what
they might do, and honestly the more I hear about these three
Fey the less I like them. They seem to care even less than most
Fey about mortals. Given what they did when working with the
Archmage just to get their revenge against the Magus, who knows
how they will react to Demona breaking free from their control
and becoming a shaman?” She stared into the redhead’s green
eyes, “As I said I don’t know how they will react, but my advice
is that you learn as much as you can about protecting yourself
from fey attacks before they have a chance to learn that you
aren’t under their control anymore.”
Dominique’s green eyes narrowed in concern,
“What about Kendra? Doesn’t she need to learn how to protect
herself as well?”
Kendra answered before Rachael could, “Part
of what the priestess taught me was how to resist offensive fey
spell casting. I just need to practice my martial arts, my
defense will be how fast I can dodge their attacks and close
with them to kill or knock them out.”
Rachael chuckled wryly, “She’s a Jaguar.
They have pretty much one way of reacting to any threat.”
“Kill them,” responded Kendra calmly, “or
if I don’t deem them a threat, subdue them.”
Dominique’s smirked at her lover, she
commented dryly to Rachael, “I gather then that I’ll have
somewhat of a more complex or at least varied response?”
“Your learning life and nature magic
correct?” Rachael asked. When the redhead nodded she said,
“You will have several different ways you can react depending on
the situation. I don’t want to interfere with whatever training
plan the Ancient One and Wise One have for you so I won’t say
any more, but I don’t think you will be disappointed with the
depth and variety of your options,” the Cree woman’s eyes
twinkled.
Dominique stared at her wondering exactly
what she meant. Whatever it was it sounded like there was quite
a lot she had to learn about nature and life magic. “At the
very least then I need to keep my shamanism a secret until I can
protect myself if need be, do you have any idea how long it will
take for me to learn what I need to know?” The gargoyle could
see that Rachael was giving her question considerable thought;
it was at least a full minute or so before she responded.
“I’d guess at least two or three months if
you put some serious effort into it every day, but I’d guess
with your company, and,” she paused to glance at Kendra, “your
new relationship that six months would be a more accurate guess
and you would just know enough to survive against those three.
With Kendra’s help, you would be able to drive them off, perhaps
even do some serious damage to them.”
The redhead took in a deep breath; she
didn’t want to neglect either Kendra or Nightstone. They were
both important to her, “So six months minimum then.” Kendra
frowned, but before she could protest Dominique said, “No, I’m
not spending every moment away from work studying, I want to
spend time with you.”
Kendra stared at her for a moment
frowningly, and then her face softened, “Alright, I don’t really
want to not see you for two or three months either,” she
admitted, “even if it might be safer if you concentrated on your
magic.” She looked over at Rachael, “I think we need to come up
with something the clan would believe about how Demona can be
Dominique at night just in case it’s needed for whatever
reason.” She turned back to Dominique, her blue eyes warm, “And
even if it isn’t needed to protect your dual identity, I’d like
to take you out to eat at night or to go see a play or out
dancing without having to worry about being seen by someone
associated with the clan.”
Dominique looked at her in surprise; she
hadn’t considered remaining in her human form at night just to
go out and do things. She smiled, the thought of doing them
with Kendra was enticing, “I don’t know how to dance,” she
admitted. It had always seemed like too much of a human thing
to learn, but if Kendra wanted to dance with her, she would
consider learning how.
“I’d love to teach you,” Kendra responded
sincerely.
“So something that it’s believable that the
effect is reusable or permanent,” Rachael said with a smile at
them. “What about a magical artifact?” she suggested.
“Where would we find one?” asked Dominique
nonplused, one simply didn’t find powerful magical artifacts
lying about. She should know she had spent several hundred
years looking for them.
Rachael grinned roguishly, “Why we make one
of course, after all it doesn’t have to actually do anything; it
just has to appear as if it can to anyone with the ability to
examine it for magical properties.”
Kendra chuckled, “We’re making a bogus
artifact?”
Rachael’s eyes danced, “Let me get some
stuff together and we can do it the night you stay with me.
We’ll have Bogus Artifact Making 101.”
Dominique stared at them both in
bemusement; it hadn’t occurred to her that they could just make
something that would appear to be a magical artifact. She had
wondered how much the chosen interacted with each other, and
what Rachael was offering to do was an example of how they
helped one another. Did she want to give this up on the chance
that the clan, that Angela, would even believe her? She
remembered her thoughts earlier that her daughter would not
believe anything she claimed right now, especially if what she
said sounded like an excuse for her actions. She could either
make it more difficult for the chosen to help her with only the
slightest chance that Angela would believe her, or she could do
what she had decided to do earlier, let her actions speak for
themselves that she had changed and wait for her daughter to
come to her. She didn’t need to reveal the full truth to
Angela, she could tell her daughter that she had finally decided
to give up her war with humanity and make some changes in her
life. Given enough time, and lack of any plans to destroy
humanity on her part, and Angela would eventually believe her.
Did she even want to tell the clan? Demona
asked herself. She knew her daughter would never keep the truth
to herself, if Goliath asked she would tell him and he would
tell the others and Maza and then who knew else they would
tell. It would make it almost impossible for the other chosen
to feel comfortable or safe in being associated with her when
she couldn’t even say who would end up knowing that she was a
shaman.
With that thought the redhead made her
decision, “I already know what my answer is; I’m not going to be
telling the clan. Angela won’t keep such a secret from her
father and clan leader even if she did believe me, and he would
tell others. So I won’t be able to tell her anyway.”
“Are you sure? You might be able to rejoin
them,” Kendra said softly.
Dominique shook her head resolutely, “I
don’t want to, once Goliath knew the information would be shared
with too many other people, I won’t put myself, you, or the
other chosen at risk like that. Besides, I was having trouble
with Goliath’s leadership even before the massacre and them
being turned into stone for almost a thousand years. After
being a clan leader myself and after being alone as many
centuries as I have, I won’t go back to following Goliath’s
leadership. I don’t believe in the things he does and frankly I
think he’s a foolish dreamer whose actions are going to get the
clan and my daughter killed.” Dominique looked sad, “Angela is
more Goliath’s daughter than she is mine. She is like him in so
many ways. She belongs with the clan, and I,” she hesitated
briefly before continuing, “I don’t fit in there if I ever did.”
“You’ve always been different,” Kendra
commented thoughtfully, “with wanting to learn how to read and
do sorcery.”
Dominique stared at her for a long moment
before answering, “Yes I guess I have, I’ve always wanted to
know more than my rookery brothers and sisters were interested
in learning.” She didn’t mention that it was more the fact that
she craved knowledge because she felt it gave her power, and
power wasn’t something a gargoyle was supposed to desire, that
set her more apart from her rookery brothers and sisters than a
craving for knowledge. It was one of the reasons that
Nightstone Unlimited meant so much to her, her company gave her
the power and control she had always craved.
“I was always different from the rest of my
tribe as well,” Rachael commented, “it was one of the reasons
the tribal shaman picked me to teach. He wasn’t a chosen, just
wise in the way of our lore and the use of herbs to heal, but I
never felt understood until the Wise One chose me. Not even the
tribal shaman could understand my hunger for knowledge, only the
Owl spirit did.”
Dominique’s eyes went curiously to Kendra
wondering if she too shared this characteristic.
Kendra chuckled, but there was little humor
in it, “I think every gay person feels different from their
peers. You start realizing it when you’re young and it only
gets stronger as you grow older and realize that you actually
are different from them.” She took in an unsteady breath, “My
father had just died and my mother was handicapped and in
constant pain from her spinal cord injury when I realized I was
gay. I never told her, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to
accept it and I didn’t want her to worry about me. I always
thought she would get better that there would be time for me to
tell her, but then she died in her sleep one night.”
Without any conscious decision, Dominique
pulled her lover into her arms and held her tightly, she knew
how it felt to keep secrets from ones clan because you feared
their rejection if they knew the truth about you. She could
tell this still hurt Kendra deeply, the uncertainty of not
knowing whether or not her mother would have accepted or
rejected her.
Kendra wrapped her arms around the redhead
and held on to her tightly, after a moment she continued, “It
would have been so much harder on me if it hadn’t been for the
dreams and then the Jaguar spirit merging with me. There was an
acceptance of who I was...of everything that I was...that I
desperately needed at that time.”
“I’m sure she would have accepted you, even
if it took her some time. A mother’s love for their child is
not so easily put aside,” Rachael said gently.
Kendra took in a deep breath and nodded, “I
know, I don’t actually think that she would have rejected me. I
just wish I knew for certain, that I had told her.” She pulled
gently away from Dominique with a sigh and glanced up at the
sky, “You need to get going don’t you?” she said to Rachael.
“Yes I do,” Rachael acknowledged. “As soon
as I learn anything I’ll try and catch up with one of you in the
spirit realm to let you know. I’m assuming you will be there
every night working on your were-jaguar shape?”
Kendra stared at her bemused for a moment,
“I hadn’t actually thought about us being able to do that. Yea,
I’ll be working on it every night probably unless Demona wants
me to go with them tonight.” She frowned, “Speaking of Macbeth
and keeping things secret, how is that going to work? I know he
thinks it’s a dream right now, but when he learns more tonight
what’s to keep him from figuring things out.”
Dominique stiffened in alarm; she hadn’t
considered how Macbeth’s involvement and knowledge of what was
happening might affect whether or not she could keep her new
status as a shaman a secret.
“Just ask the Ancient One to obscure his
memories so that he doesn’t remember enough about last night and
tonight to piece it together,” Rachael said, “He will remember
the important parts: that he and Demona are no longer bound
together and what the Weird Sisters did, but he won’t remember
much of anything else. If he does suspect it’s real, he won’t
remember it in enough detail to know anything other than the
fact that some anonymous spirit decided to help Demona and he
break free from the Weird Sisters. I’ve seen this done before;
the Ancient One will take care of it if you let him know that’s
what you want.”
Dominique took in a deep breath in relief,
she didn’t want Macbeth’s knowing about their bond being broken
to take the decision of whether or not to keep the fact she was
a shaman secret away from her. She also didn’t want to regret
asking the stag to show both of them the truth tonight. She had
no interest anymore in fighting with Macbeth, or having to worry
about him attacking her. Her old ally knowing the truth would
hopefully mean that they could just ignore one another and
finally live their own separate lives.
“Alright,” Rachael said looking up at the
sun, “I really must get going now. Look for me in the spirit
realm each night; I’ll let you know what I find out as soon as I
learn something.”
When Rachael left, Kendra gave her a quick
hug and heartfelt thanks for everything she had done for them.
Dominique certainly didn’t give the Cree woman a hug, but the
forearm grasp and the warmness of her thanks told their own tale
of the gargoyle’s changed perception of the Owl’s chosen from
just a day ago.
No sooner had the sound of Rachael’s ATV
faded in the distance than Kendra turned to Dominique with an
intent gleam in her sapphire blue eyes.
“Kendra,” the redhead said reluctantly, she
didn’t want to do this, the thought of it chilled her and filled
her with dread, but she needed, she had to do this. She had to
tell Kendra about her past, she couldn’t let herself become any
closer to the other woman without knowing whether Kendra would
reject her once she knew about her past.
“Demona?” the gleam in her eyes faded as
Kendra took in the uncertain, fearful expression on the
redhead’s face.
“I…” Dominique hesitated, for a moment,
took in a determined breath, “I need to tell you...” her voice
trailed off…wavered before she firmed it by sheer force of will,
“I need to tell you about some of the things I’ve done in the
past.”
“You don’t have to,” Kendra assured her
gently, “It’s in the past before the enchantments were removed…”
Yes I do,” interrupted Dominique before
Kendra could say anymore. “If I don’t I’m certain the clan will
tell you about what I’ve done the first chance one of them
gets,” she said bitterly, “and I don’t want the possibility
hanging between us that I did something you can’t…” she looked
away glassy eyed as she fought her emotions.
“That I can’t forgive?” Kendra filled in
softly.
Dominique nodded; she couldn’t bring
herself to say the words. Images of the frozen stone forms of
humans on their way home from work from shopping crushed into
rubble by her mace filled her mind. Kendra could have easily
been one of those humans that night, trapped by her spell,
shattered carelessly as she mocked and laughed in pleasure at
the damage she was doing. She found it hard to meet her
lovers…her human lover’s…blue eyes. What would Kendra think of
her; could she forgive her for that night?
“Alright,” Kendra acquiesced seeing how
serious and upset the gargoyle was about this. “Let me put more
wood on the fire and we can get out the sleeping bag and sit by
it.”
Kendra pulled the sleeping bag around
herself, it was cold today, but thankfully the sun was shining
warmly and the trees kept the wind down. Dominique sat down
beside her and pulled the material of the sleeping bag around
herself, looking more as if she were shielding herself than
seeking to keep warm. The black-haired woman shifted closer
until their knees touched, and reached out to take one of the
pale hands that played nervously with the fabric of the sleeping
bag. She knew Demona had killed people, and probably a large
number of people over the centuries. Even if the gargoyle had
only killed one a year that would add up to over nine hundred,
and only two nights ago Demona had talked about the years she
had pursued what she thought was her vengeance against humanity,
only to find out it was all the Archmage’s revenge. That
indicated that the immortal gargoyle had most likely killed more
than one human a year so the number was probably much more than
nine hundred.
“Demona,” the green eyes finally looked up
to meet hers, “I know you’ve killed people, both the guilty and
the innocent, and that you’ve probably killed more than a
thousand of them, but the Ancient One accepted you as his
chosen. To me that means that whatever you did is forgivable or
that he thought you weren’t responsible for your actions. I can
see your worried that whatever it is you have to tell me will
upset me so much that I won’t want to be with you, but I really
don’t think that will be the case. I’m not inclined to question
his judgment in this, he didn’t find you unforgivable and I just
don’t see myself having any valid reason to decide any
differently.”
Dominique could see the sincerity in
Kendra’s gaze, and it gave her hope. There was one thing
however, that she felt needed immediate clarification. She
didn’t want Kendra thinking she had been on some type of
bloodthirsty rampage for nine centuries. “I wouldn’t say that
I’ve killed more than a thousand humans though, the battles we
fought when I was allied with Macbeth were very small by today’s
standards, maybe twenty to forty warriors on each side.”
Kendra stared at her for a moment, rather
surprised; she had expected a higher number given that Demona
had claimed she had been at war with humanity for nine hundred
years. Apparently the war had been a very low-key one, or the
gargoyle hadn’t been as interested in it as she made it sound
like she was. “Ok, when you said you were seeking your
vengeance against humanity I sort of thought it was a bit
more…active than your indicating now,” she said puzzled.
Dominique grimaced, “That was before I
found out I had a daughter and that she had left Avalon and came
to Manhattan to be with her father.”
“Ah,” the one word had wealth of
understanding packed in it. Kendra was starting to see why
Demona had dusted off and gotten re-interested in her plans for
wiping out humanity. It was that scorched earth form of
protecting that the gargoyle needed to learn how to control.
She stared at the redhead waiting for her to speak, however
Dominique didn’t seem very eager to begin. “Demona I already
know about the virus and I’m obviously willing to forgive you
for trying to kill me and every other human, is what you have to
tell me so much worse than that?” Kendra decided not to mention
her doubts about whether or not the gargoyle’s virus would have
been effective or not. After all, for all she knew it might
have worked.
“I did a spell to turn everyone in
Manhattan to stone at night and then I took the mace I took from
a hunter and I used it and a laser rifle to smash the humans I
found on the streets,” Dominique blurted out suddenly.
“A hunter,” Kendra said, feeling sick. She
dropped her eyes to the ground remembering what the Owl spirit
had confirmed last night. Demona had used a mace on humans that
one of her ancestors had used to kill gargoyles, used because of
the Weird Sister’s compulsion.
Dominique realized where her lover’s
thoughts had gone with alarm, she hadn’t told Kendra about this
for her to feel guilty about the actions of the Canmore
hunters. She leaned forward and placed her hands on her lover’s
shoulders to get her attention. When the sapphire blue eyes
rose and met hers she said, “Kendra you are not responsible for
the hunters, you are nothing like them.” She paused and
grimaced, “and they weren’t even completely responsible for
their own actions courtesy of those three damned Fey.”
“But if it weren’t for the hunters you
wouldn’t hate humans so much,” responded Kendra quietly.
The redhead sighed in frustration, she
couldn’t disagree with the statement, but the hunters hadn’t
made her cast that spell. She had spent centuries wrongly
blaming the humans for everything, for what happened at Wyvern
Castle, Macbeth for what happened to her clan at Moray, she
wasn’t going to do it anymore. “No, probably not,” she agreed,
“but the humans I killed that night weren’t responsible for any
gargoyle deaths either, they didn’t deserve to die because of my
hatred for the hunters.”
Kendra could hear the regret in Dominique’s
voice, there wasn’t a lot of empathy there for her victims, but
there was regret. “What did the Ancient One say?” she asked,
taking for granted that the stag spirit knew about it.
“That he was there following the Weird
Sisters around, and that he could not tell what actions were my
responsibility and which where theirs,” Dominique answered
feeling disappointed that Kendra was not giving her own opinion
on her actions, but seeking out the stag spirit’s.
Kendra frowned suspiciously, why had those
Fey been there, how did they benefit from what had happened.
Her thoughts halted when she caught a glance of the gargoyles
face, Dominique looked as if she were about to cry. “Demona?”
she asked, alarmed.
“You can’t forgive me can you?” Dominique
whispered desolately.
“What?” Kendra responded, dismayed that
the redhead had interpreted her question that way. “I asked
because I wanted to know if his opinion mirrored mine.”
Dominique looked at her hopefully and
Kendra was upset to see the fragileness in those green eyes, “I
won’t say that I can forget about what you did, the death of
innocents is never something that should be forgotten. However,
knowing about the enchantments on you and my ancestors, and
understanding their and your history, I can forgive you for what
you did if you promise never to do anything like that again,”
the words were stern, but the tone and look in Kendra’s blue
eyes were not, they were caring and understanding.
“I won’t,” Dominique promised, acutely
relieved. It was an easy promise for to make, after all she had
already promised as much to the Ancient One.
“I know,” Kendra replied gently, “Come
here,” she invited the redhead with open arms.
Dominique immediately went into them, and
resting her head against Kendra’s shoulder enjoying the warmth
of the strong arms holding her. She was feeling almost euphoric
about Kendra having forgiven her. That night had been the one
thing from her past that she felt the clan could try to use to
persuade Kendra to leave her. There were still more things she
needed to tell Kendra about, but that had been the one she had
truly been frightened that the black-haired woman might not be
able to forgive.
Kendra always enjoyed holding Dominique,
but she was worried about the insecure way the redhead was still
acting. “Demona I wish you wouldn’t worry so much about this.
I’m more interested in what you are doing now and what you will
do in the future than in anything that you did in the past.”
She hugged the redhead in her arms, “You’re already such a
different person than the prickly, hostile woman I met that
first day. I suspect you were already changing when I first met
you, and it’s only accelerated now that your free from the
enchantments those three Fey put on you.”
Dominique considered her lover’s words,
“Have I really changed that much already?” she asked
uncertainly, not sure how she felt about the possibility.
“Yes you have,” Kendra said gently stroking
the long, fiery-red hair, “Is it really so surprising
considering what you’ve found out about your past and what’s
happened in the past few days?”
Dominique lifted her head to look musingly
at her lover as she considered the question, “Perhaps not. I’m
no longer just a puppet for the Weird Sisters to pull the
strings and make me act according to their whim. And now I know
the hunters were just their puppets as well.”
The two of them fell silent, Kendra
stroking Dominique’s red hair and the gargoyle allowing herself
to relax and enjoy the attention. Eventually Kendra asked,
“What did you mean by the clan would take the first opportunity
to tell me about your past?”
The redhead grimaced, “I know that Elisa
Maza or Goliath will seek you out once we return to New York and
try and persuade you to have nothing to do with me. They will
tell you about all the horrible things I’ve done, and that I’m
manipulating you and only keeping you around because I have some
use for you. They’ll probably warn you that once I have no use
for you I might kill you.”
Kendra smirked, “Well you do have a use for
me, so I guess I’ll just have to make sure you don’t get tired
of me.”
Dominique chuckled, “I doubt they will even
consider that, as far as I know there’s never been a gay
gargoyle. It won’t ever cross their minds that it’s a
possibility. I didn’t even know that such a thing existed at
all until I happened to see two human female’s with each other
one night.”
“I guess any gays would be pretty well
closeted back then if they dared act on their feelings at all,”
Kendra said, “but surely after three years in New York City they
must have come across the concept by now.”
“Probably,” Dominique allowed, “but they
still won’t consider it, after all you’re a human and I’m
supposed to hate humans, and you’re a Canmore as well.”
Kendra shook her head, “Wouldn’t they get
the idea thought that you don’t hate me after we both return to
New York alive and well?”
The redhead sighed, “They’ll probably just
wonder what scheme I’m planning that I’m keeping you alive and
around for.”
Kendra looked down at the redhead in her
lap in disbelief, “Why would they be so determined to think the
absolute worst of you?”
Dominique sat up, “I guess I’d better tell
you the rest,” she said reluctantly.
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