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Puppet Strings - Chapter 3
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: PG-13
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: 9/6/04; 02/01/08
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When Kendra woke the next morning, one of
the first things she did was to call Nightstone Unlimited and
request a meeting with Dominique Destine to discuss investment
opportunities within the company. To her pleased surprise, the
secretary informed her that there had been a cancellation and
that Ms. Destine would be able to meet with her over lunch. The
secretary reeled off a list of possible lunches, mainly salads.
They all sounded equally unappetizing and Kendra finally
informed the woman that she usually had a steak for lunch. The
secretary sounded surprised, and put her on hold for a few
moments, when she came back she asked if a steak from Chris’s
Steakhouse would be acceptable. Kendra agreed, she would arrive
promptly at 11:30 am for the meeting.
Kendra spent most of the morning working
out in the small gym in her apartment. Around 10 am, she
stopped, showered and changed into a cream silk shirt, black
leather pants and boots. Grabbing her jacket, she went down to
the garage and rode her motorbike over to Nightstone.
Upon giving her name at the building’s
parking gate, Kendra was directed toward a reserved parking spot
in Nightstone’s garage. She took the elevator up to the top
floor and admired the monochromatic décor as she walked up to
the desk that sat protectively in front of a large door with Ms.
Destine’s name upon it and introduced herself. The woman behind
the desk did a noticeable double take at her outfit, but quickly
recovered and informed her that Ms. Destine would be a few more
minutes. The woman then pointed her toward some uncomfortable
chairs. Kendra raised a dubious eyebrow at them and instead
went over to the wall length windows to look out upon the city
as she waited.
Finally, the secretary called her name.
Kendra turned around and her attention was immediately captured
by the red haired woman now standing by the office doorway
studying her. Dominique Destine was sexier in person than
Kendra had thought she would be as she stood regally staring
directly back at Kendra. Kendra took a moment to admire the
woman’s figure in an encompassing glance noting trim ankles and
a narrow waist then moving upward to admire the delicate
features and bright red hair. Kendra nodded to the secretary
and walked up to Dominique extending her hand as she did so, the
flame haired woman paused for a fraction of a second, and then
extended her hand as well and the two exchanged a firm
handshake.
“Miss Canmore,” Dominique Destine greeted
her with cool politeness, “Please come in.”
Kendra chuckled softly, “Please just call
me Kendra. Formality isn’t really my strong suit,” she said as
she walked by Dominique and into the woman’s office.
Demona frowned at Kendra’s back as the
taller woman walked by her, “Of course, call me Dominique. I
understand you are here to discuss some investments you would
like to make?”
Kendra knew she had won round one and
permitted herself a brief victorious smile before listing the
Nightstone projects she wanted to discuss.
Demona was aware that she had been
maneuvered into permitting the human to use her first name, but
her annoyance was quickly forgotten as Kendra unhesitatingly
listed the areas of her business she was interested in learning
more about. To Demona’s surprise, the human unerringly choose
the projects that she expected to do well in the coming year.
The immortal gargoyle had thought the human
was just here to gather information about her, but as they
settled down to lunch and serious business conversation, she
expanded her original assumption. Kendra Canmore had a keen
business sense and was a shrewd negotiator. Lunch was long
completed when they agreed that Kendra would initially invest
several million dollars in Nightstone, and if that went well the
investment amount would be increased.
Demona studied the woman across from her as
they concluded their business meeting; she understood now why
the human tailing this woman was so impressed by her beauty.
Pictures did not do her justice; sitting she conveyed the
impression of leashed strength and power. There was also
something different about this Canmore. Something that didn’t
quite fit, something that had caused her senses to alert when
the human had first brushed past her in the doorway, and
something that kept her slightly on edge even now.
Demona couldn’t help but be aware that
Kendra had been intently studying her throughout the meeting.
The human had certainly not bothered to hide what she was doing,
and Demona found this Canmore’s interest in her rather
disconcerting. The gargoyle was used to Hunters regarding her
with fear and hatred. Kendra Canmore’s gaze showed neither of
those emotions, instead there was respect, and more than a hint
of desire, in the humans sapphire blue eyes. Demona was
starting to wonder whether or not this Canmore was even aware of
her dual identity.
That notion was dispelled when Kendra
commented, “I would enjoy the opportunity for a friendly spar
with you sometime, either day or night. With the understanding,
of course, that neither of us will intentionally harm the other,
it’s getting rather hard for me to find someone who can actually
challenge me.” Kendra waited patiently for Dominique’s reply to
her offer, hoping that the gargoyle would accept.
Demona gave her a hard stare, “And what
makes you think I would agree to a friendly spar with a
Canmore?”
Kendra grinned at her, “Worthy opponents
are hard to find wouldn’t you agree?”
Demona blinked at the smile, “Don’t you
mean enemies?”
Kendra shook her head emphatically, “No, my
father wanted no part of that nonsense and neither do I. You
had every right to kill Charles once he began hunting you.
Every living thing has the right to defend its life, to kill,
maim, or drive off its hunter if it can.”
Demona was struck silent, not only by the
words, but by the resolute tone with which they were stated.
She had no doubt that the human meant every one of them, as odd
as it seemed, there was a Canmore standing in front of her
affirming her right to defend herself. Affirming her right to
kill those humans who hunted her, and the human telling her this
was of their clan.
Kendra continued, “I meant exactly what I
said; I want a sparring partner, a worthy one, one that can help
me become a better warrior. If we agree to become sparring
partners I would expect that you would do me the honor of
pointing out any weakness you see and I will of course do the
same for you.”
The human’s words unexpectedly stirred old
memories in the immortal gargoyle’s mind. Gargoyles sparring
with each other were expected to do just what the human had
described, help each other become better warriors. To her own
surprise, Demona found herself agreeing to meet Kendra later
that evening for a workout in her private gymnasium.
“I’ll return after nightfall then,” Kendra
responded, pleased, “Do you have any sparring gear here?” she
asked.
Demona sneered, “You might want to bring
some for yourself, but I will not need any.”
A brief twitch of her lips was the only
thing that betrayed Kendra’s amusement, “I’ll find somewhere to
buy some for my fragile self then this afternoon. Will it be
alright if I just have them deliver it here?”
Demona nodded abruptly, “That will be
fine. I’ll expect you at six this evening, do not be late,” she
finished in a sharp, demanding tone.
Kendra took that as her cue to leave. She
didn’t want to risk Dominique changing her mind about the
sparring practice, and it looked like the red-head was beginning
to regret her agreeing to it already.
As the door closed behind Kendra, Demona
smirked; the human wanted a challenging sparring partner did
she? The gargoyle toyed a moment with the idea of showing the
human exactly how weak she was compared to a gargoyle, but then
decided against it. The sparring practices would be a useful
way to learn more about the human, and she wanted to find out
what it was about this particular Canmore that set her on edge.
The woman didn’t seem to be a threat, and yet Demona had felt a
vague sense of being in danger during the entire meeting. It
was not a sensation she was used to feeling, and definitely not
around a human.
There was also the fact that an infusion of
several million dollars into her company was worth humoring the
woman for a few weeks. Demona considered the human’s obvious
attraction for her weak human form, at least Kendra Canmore
hadn’t been objectionable as some human males, she hadn’t stared
at her breasts the entire meeting.
Kendra paused at the secretary’s desk and
asked for the yellow pages. It only took a few minutes of
scanning thru the entries to locate a martial arts store that
was not too far away. She returned the book, thanked the
secretary, and left Nightstone. Once she located the store she
picked out sparring equipment that she thought might come in
handy. Dominique had made it clear that she didn’t plan on
using any protective gear, but there were times when a padded
kick shield or padded target was really useful. After Kendra
had made her selections, she had the store deliver them directly
to Ms. Destine at Nightstone. Kendra just had enough time to
drop by her apartment to eat a snack and pack a gym bag before
heading back to Nightstone.
The guard at the front desk looked at her
oddly when she gave her name, “I’ll have to search your bag
before you go any further Miss Canmore,” he stated firmly.
Kendra was surprised for a second, and then
she chuckled softly. “Of course,” she lifted the bag to the
security counter and even helpfully unzipped it. She looked on
in amusement as all four items in the bag were pulled out and
thoroughly inspected before being replaced.
Finally the guard seemed to be satisfied
that the uniform and mouth guard weren’t actually deadly
weapons. “Ms. Destine is waiting on you; the open elevator will
take you to the proper floor Miss Canmore.” The button for the
right floor was already lit when she entered the elevator. She
suspected none of the other buttons would even light, but she
didn’t bother to try them; instead, she pushed the button to
close the doors and waited as the elevator rose.
The doors opened, she stepped out of the
elevator and looked up and down the hallway. Noise through an
open door drew her attention; she walked toward it and looked
inside. Blue padding covered part of the floor and an all in
one weight system was against the wall, this was probably the
right gym. Movement drew her attention as she stepped through
the door…yes this was definitely the right gym.
Even though she had seen pictures of Demona
before and she knew that the gargoyle and Dominique Destine were
the same, seeing the same features in blue was…odd. Kendra’s
lips curved up in a slight smile, odd didn’t necessarily mean
bad though. Whether the features were blue or pale cream either
was just as beautiful.
“What are you smiling at?” Demona asked in
an irritated tone.
Kendra answered honestly, “That no matter
what form you choose you’re beautiful in either.” She could
tell that her response startled the gargoyle. Her eyes took in
the differences between the form in front of her now and the
form she had seen earlier. Wings, tail, claw like hands and
talon like feet, pointed ears, she could see why humans would
label gargoyles as bestial, but as to whether or not they were
beasts… Her mind flashed back to her thoughts a few days ago
and she stepped closer to Demona staring searchingly into the
gargoyles increasingly wary eyes.
It only took her a few seconds to come to a
decision. She had already strongly suspected that the gargoyles
were intelligent and not beasts as the Canmore’s claimed, and
looking into this gargoyle’s eyes only confirmed it. “Sometimes
I really hate the fact that I share blood with a bunch of damn
homicidal idiots, at least my father didn’t inherit whatever
warped genes cause the hunter madness,” she snarled angrily.
Only once the words were spoken did Kendra belatedly consider
the fact that it was probably unwise it was to bring up this
topic around the very gargoyle the Canmore’s had been hunting
for so many centuries.
From the startled widened eyes, Kendra
could see that she had once again surprised the gargoyle. Her
eyes fell upon the box from the martial arts store, and she
seized upon the distraction it offered, “Oh good they did
deliver it.” Hopefully the gargoyle wouldn’t get angry, and
wouldn’t think Kendra was mental herself, after all she had went
from complementing Demona to snarling about her family within
less than thirty seconds. She forced herself to meet the now
speculative green-eyed gaze calmly; at least the wariness that
had been there was gone.
“Yes,” Demona finally answered after a long
moment, apparently willing to let what had been said go without
further comment.
Kendra walked over to the box, knelt beside
it, opened it and began unpacking the equipment she had bought
earlier in the day. Demona came over a minute later and began
examining the pieces Kendra had already unpacked. The dark
haired woman let her eyes sweep over the gargoyle beside her,
admiring the female’s figure and noting the obvious muscle
definition in her arms, shoulders and bare stomach. Dragging
her gaze away from Demona’s trim, toned stomach, she focused on
the gargoyles wings. They looked soft and leathery, something
she hadn’t really noticed in the pictures. They were also quite
large and extended a good distance to either side of Demona’s
body. Kendra frowned as she realized that she had not
considered how to spar with Demona without accidentally damaging
her wings.
Demona glanced over at that moment,
noticing the humans frown, “What having second thoughts so soon
human?” she sneered.
Kendra stopped staring at the gargoyles
wings and met Demona’s eyes instead, “I’m concerned about
injuring your wings, I didn’t really think about the fact they
would have to be so large to carry your weight. It’s not
something I’ve had to worry about before.”
Demona paused surprised by the answer then
folded her wings further back and closer together.
Kendra’s face cleared in relief, “That will
work.” She looked around for a changing room, but did not see
any door that might lead to one in the room. Shrugging she
grabbed her bag and walked over to the bench at the back of the
room, pulled off her jacket and began changing into her martial
arts uniform.
Demona found herself amused by Kendra’s
nonchalance as the human began undressing in front of her and
took the opportunity to examine the woman’s body. Kendra was
surprisingly muscular for a human female, fully as muscular as
she was the gargoyle realized with surprise. This might
actually turn out to be an interesting evening.
Kendra finished changing into her uniform,
she turned to Demona, “It would probably be a good idea to go
slowly tonight and get accustomed to each other’s styles since
they are likely to be very different,” she proposed.
Demona sneered and seemed ready to make
some cutting comment, but to Kendra’s surprise the blue gargoyle
only muttered, “Very well.”
Kendra inserted her mouth guard, bowed to
the gargoyle, and then sunk into a defensive position, “If you
would attack first please.”
A smirk was all the warning Demona gave
before she attacked. It was deftly blocked. The immortal
gargoyle was not surprised, she expected as much after reading
the report on this human. Slowly Demona increased her attack
speed and Kendra matched her perfectly, blocking each attack
gracefully. Kendra called a halt and they backed away from each
other and Demona went on the defensive.
Kendra was extremely careful at first,
provoking Demona to angrily tell her to stop being so cautious,
she wasn’t one of the weak humans Kendra was used to sparring
with. Kendra smiled in response, “I’m merely learning the
distance I needed to avoid striking your wings. I understand
you heal quickly, but I suspect a snapped wing vane would still
hurt like a bitch and personally I’d be ashamed to midjudge a
blow and harm you.”
Demona sighed, irritated at this, but
realized that Kendra would not seriously begin fighting till she
was certain that she would not damage her wings. The human was
taking her promise that she would not injure Demona very
seriously, something the gargoyle found both equally annoying
and amusing.
Finally, Kendra’s attacks speeded up and
Demona actually began enjoying herself as the attacks came in
faster and faster. After a while, Kendra called a halt and
suggested that they spar for another half hour then call it
quits for this night. The next session they could begin
sparring in earnest.
At the end of the half hour of sparring,
Demona unbent enough to incline her head in response to Kendra’s
bow. The immortal gargoyle had not taken the human seriously,
considering the sparring sessions an amusement that could be
quickly dropped, but after fighting with Kendra for the past
hour she realized how much she was enjoying the exercise. It
had been a very long time since she had someone with which to
practice fighting. Her only critique was, “You need to work on
not being so rote, your martial arts’ training is excellent, but
you have a tendency to be too predictable because of it.”
Kendra nodded thoughtfully, “I don’t have
any matching insight to give you. I can only complement you on
your skill.” She paused for a moment then continued in a softer
tone, “I am honored that you agreed to spar with me.”
She was sincere, Demona realized,
startled. The immortal gargoyle found herself at a loss as to
how to respond, she finally settled for an abrupt acknowledging
nod which seemed to satisfy the human.
“When would you like to do this again?”
Kendra asked. After a brief discussion, they decided to meet
three times a week if their schedules permitted it.
“My changing room and shower are next
door,” Demona informed Kendra before the woman could begin
stripping off her uniform once they agreed on when they would
next meet.
Kendra chuckled, thinking of how she had
blithely stripped in front of the gargoyle earlier. Apparently,
Demona didn’t want a repeat performance, “Mind if I use your
shower? I’m sweaty and I don’t want to get chilled on my way
home.”
Demona nodded, “I’ll be in my office, let
me know when you are ready to leave,” she ordered and then left
abruptly.
Kendra raised an eyebrow at the tone as she
watched Demona leave; prickly didn’t even begin to describe the
gargoyle, razor sharp spikes of doom might though.
After showering and changing, Kendra
stopped by the office and wished Demona a good night. It
garnered her a disbelieving look from the gargoyle, and she
turned to leave, not expecting a response.
The muttered, “good night,” in response had
Kendra turning back around in surprise, she nodded her
acknowledgement and left before the gargoyle’s mood could swing
once again. In the elevator, remembering her own moodiness in
the gym, she felt a pang of sympathy for the gargoyle. She was
finding it hard to deal with her regret of what her family had
done over the centuries, how much harder it must be for Demona
to deal with her being a Canmore.
Demona rose and moved from her outer office
into her inner one, she sat down at the security monitoring
console and watched Kendra as she left the building. The woman
was riding the same motorbike as she had earlier in the day,
after meeting the human her choice of conveyance didn’t seem as
odd now. Kendra Canmore had more than a hint of wildness to
her. She switched from the internal cameras to the building’s
exterior ones as Kendra left the parking garage. Her eyes
narrowed as she saw a figure step out from the shadows of the
street and attract Kendra’s attention. Maza, she snarled
silently as she recognized the figure.
She began tapping commands into the
console, as she saw Kendra halt her bike next to the detective
and remove the helmet from her head. She needed to hear what
the two were saying; she needed to know what connection this
Canmore had with the clan’s pet human.
“Detective fancy meeting you again, I’m
beginning to think you are following me around. Does that mean
you’re not as straight as I first thought?”
Demona winced and turned down the volume
quickly as the exterior microphones abruptly picked up the
conversation. A sly smile formed as she saw the detective scowl
at Kendra. This wasn’t what she had expected, but it certainly
held possibilities for being far more entertaining than she had
anticipated.
“What were you doing at Nightstone,” Maza
asked coolly, her question clearly the beginning of an
interrogation.
The gargoyle saw Kendra’s head tilt to the
side, she didn’t respond to the detective’s question, instead
she was silently staring at the woman. Demona wished that she
could see the expression on Kendra’s face, but the human had her
back to the camera. She could however, see the detective’s
expression, and Detective Maza was looking more and more
irritated as Kendra’s silence continued.
“Sparring,” Kendra finally answered just as
it looked as if Maza was about to demand an answer. Demona
snorted, she could hear the amusement in Kendra’s voice. The
woman was baiting the detective, and she wasn’t being that
subtle about it.
The brief snort changed into an actual
chuckle as Demona watched Maza’s expression, apparently that was
not a response the detective had been expecting.
“Sparring?” Maza repeated blankly.
“Sparring,” Kendra repeated slowly. She
continued in a patient teaching tone, “It’s where you and
another person practice fighting together, hopefully with the
end result of both parties improving their skill level.” Maza
glared in response, but Kendra ignored her displeasure,
continuing in a normal tone, “I’ll have to get better though for
that, it was rather one sided tonight. I think all I did was to
give her a bit of a workout, she’s very good.”
Maza seemed to recover herself, she now
glared coldly at Kendra, “Jason told you what she tried to do,
she was going to kill everyone if we hadn’t stopped her and
that’s not the only time she’s done something like that. She’s
a murderer several times over and you’re sparring with her?”
Demona heard nothing over the speakers for
a second, then Kendra replied, “Surely you aren’t counting the
hunters she’s killed, I don’t care what my cousin’s say that was
self defense. All they had to do was not hunt her and they
would have lived.”
“You can’t really believe that,” Maza
snapped dismissively.
Demona didn’t see Kendra move, but suddenly
the detective looked very tense. Demona stared in surprise as
she saw Maza’s hand reach for the gun she knew was under the
detective’s coat. The detective jerked her hand abruptly back
to her side a half second later with a startled expression that
made it clear that the reaction had been instinctive and not
purposeful, but it was clear to the gargoyle that Maza had come
rather close to drawing her revolver. Kendra still had not
moved or even twitched in response, she might have been a statue
she was so still.
When Kendra finally spoke, it was easy to
tell that she was angry by the sharpness of her tone, “I believe
I might know more Canmore history than you do detective, and yes
I do believe that. I don’t know why you would think she’s at
fault for the Canmore’s hunting her. Either Jason’s been
telling you lies or you simply haven’t asked for the facts. So
let me tell you the reason the Canmore’s believe justifies every
gargoyle murder they’ve committed over the centuries.”
She continued sounding less angry as she
related what she knew, “Demona and her clan of gargoyles allied
with Macbeth. When Duncan, the Scottish king at that time,
decided to attack Macbeth she stood by their alliance and they
killed Duncan. Macbeth chose to not kill Duncan’s son, who was
named Canmore. When the Canmore became an adult he retaliated
against Macbeth, by then Demona and Macbeth had parted ways and
Canmore’s troops were able to overrun Macbeth’s castle and he
was killed. After Macbeth was dead, Canmore vowed to kill all
gargoyles simply because his father died in a battle to one.
Last time I checked that wasn’t usually considered a reasonable
justification for mass murder.”
Maza was still eyeing Kendra warily Demona
noticed, as Kendra quit speaking. The gargoyle really wished
that one of the exterior cameras covered Kendra’s face. The
immortal gargoyle had threatened to kill the detective several
times and Maza had never looked as rattled as she had a moment
ago. As far as she could tell, besides sounding angry, Kendra
hadn’t threatened the detective in any way. Yet it was obvious
to Demona that Elisa Maza felt the same sense of threat from
Kendra that she had felt earlier today during their meeting.
Well maybe not the same she corrected herself, she had only felt
slightly threatened, given that the detective had almost draw
her weapon on Kendra, Demona guessed that Maza had felt more
than slightly threatened. Interestingly enough, Demona
belatedly realized, she hadn’t noticed feeling that way tonight
when she and Kendra were sparring.
“What about the claw marks on the mask,”
Maza’s voice drew the gargoyles attention back to the monitors.
“Wasn’t the first hunter some boy she clawed and left scarred?”
Kendra’s laughter in response to Maza’s
question surprised Demona, “Ah yes poor Gillecomigan, I guess
Jason left out Canmore’s own opinions of his father’s hired
assassin.”
The scowl on the detectives face in
response to Kendra’s laughter faded into puzzlement, “Assassin?
Jason only told me that Duncan and Canmore learned how to hunt
gargoyles from him.”
“I had a chance to see the original journal
written by Canmore when my grandfather died, it
was…enlightening, but not the way that Uncle Charles thought it
would be when he showed it to me.” Kendra explained coolly, “In
it Canmore made it very clear that he thought Gillecomigan
womanish because of the way he moaned and carried on about his
scars and getting revenge on the gargoyle who clawed him. He
also wrote that the man enjoyed killing gargoyles and men in the
same measure. The only reason Canmore used the mask for his own
hunts was because the mask was already recognized as a symbol,
not because he wanted to take up the man’s personal vendetta as
his own.”
Enlightening and enjoyable, thought Demona
as she watched Maza’s increasing uncertainty. She hadn’t known
what the connection was between the first Hunter and Duncan
before hearing this.
Kendra was silent for a moment before
finishing in a softer tone, “Gillecomigan was a man who enjoyed
killing detective, both for his own personal pleasure and for
money. He’s hardly what I would cite as an example of an
innocent victim. And in any case, unlike the other Canmores, I
don’t think that murdering entire families of gargoyles was in
any way a justified response to her assault of him. I would
think that as an officer of the law you wouldn’t approve of his
actions Detective.”
“I don’t,” Elisa protested immediately.
“Indeed,” Kendra responded, her tone
shading toward coolness once again, “It sounded to me like you
were agreeing with them.”
“No,” Maza responded to Kendra sharply, “no
I don’t. It just…” her voice trailed off and she looked
troubled.
Kendra finished, “That it sounded more
reasonable when Jason explained it? That’s the hunter madness
Elisa Maza. The older generation passes it down to the younger,
and if I were you I’d be wary of listening to those
justifications too much just in case the madness is contagious.”
Elisa stared at her, “You make it sound
like a disease.”
“I do have a tendency to think of them as
being rabid,” Kendra admitted.
The detective frowned at Kendra, crossing
her arms over her chest, “She didn’t have to kill them, she
could have disabled them,” she muttered.
“Are you really that naive Detective, or
perhaps you are just that callous when it involves her?”
Kendra’s tone was icily derisive when she next spoke.
Demona took in the detective’s reaction to
Kendra’s anger with sharp interest. Maza didn’t reach for her
weapon this time, but the way the human suddenly paled, the grip
her hands had on her arms and the extreme stillness with which
she stood…the detective was definitely frightened. The gargoyle
snarled her irritation at the lack of a camera with which she
could see what Maza was seeing that frightened her so.
Kendra looked away from the detective;
Demona could now see her profile as she looked up the street. A
car’s lights flashed across her face and her eyes reflected it
back with a greenish glow. Maza seemed to take Kendra looking
away from her as a sign that she could relax; the gargoyle
noticed the detective taking in a few deep breaths.
“You seem to think that mercy on her part
would have stopped them detective,” Kendra turned back to the
detective, her tone calmer, “You would be wrong though, she did
leave some of them alive several centuries ago, but it only
meant they lived to kill more gargoyles. Never once did any
hunter she spared decide to stop their killing. Before Jason
told me the other day that it was the same gargoyle, I used to
think news had just gotten around among the gargoyles about what
type of ruthless murders the Canmores were, that that was why
the gargoyles had become just as ruthless as the hunters. Now I
realize that she must have found out what they did after she
spared them, and I can only imagine how much she must have
bitterly regretted not killing them when she had the
opportunity.”
Demona stared at the monitor screen
blankly, remembering. Yes, she had bitterly regretted not
killing those hunters as she stood among the broken stone pieces
of her kind.
“Most of the hunters were completely
merciless.” Kendra continued, “They came home after they had
killed entire family groups and wrote about it in their
journals. Wrote about killing hatchlings, about smashing
eggs…killing the most innocent of all life. They wrote about it
as if it were something to be proud of instead of revealing how
truly monstrous they had become. Leaving them alive didn’t
persuade them they were wrong detective, the only thing that
stopped them from killing was when she killed them,” Kendra
finished.
The angry, sorrowful bitterness with which
the human spoke echoed Demona’s own emotions as she remembered
the small shattered forms.
The sound of Kendra’s motorbike starting up
pulled Demona’s attention back to the bank of monitors, “So
detective you can keep telling yourself that there would have
been no hunters and no Quarrymen if only she hadn’t ever struck
back at those trying to harm her.” Kendra commented, “Excuse me
though if I choose not to do decide the same, because I believe
she has the same right to defend herself that I do. Good night
Detective Maza.”
Kendra put her helmet back on and left
without another glance at the detective, not that Maza tried to
stop her again. The detective only stared after her with a
pensive look on her face. When Maza finally spoke, it was in a
whisper that the microphones barely picked up, “You may be right
Kendra, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that she’s tried to kill
her own clan, and it doesn’t excuse the fact that’s she’s killed
her own share of completely innocent people.”
Demona’s eyes glowed red and she growled as
she watched the detective pass out of the camera’s range. She
would remember that comment, but for now it was more useful for
Maza to remain alive. With any luck, Goliath’s pet human would
tell the clan what she had heard tonight and Angela would hear
about the things humans had done to them. Her daughter hadn’t
believed her when she tried to tell her, but she would know that
Demona had told her the truth if she heard about this
conversation from the detective.
Demona waited awhile longer and exited
Nightstone from the rooftop, making sure there were no gargoyles
or Quarrymen about first. Tomorrow night she would begin her
plan with the Assassin and ‘save’ her daughter and the clan from
the Quarrymen.
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