| |
Puppet Strings - Chapter 4
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: 12/08/04; 02/05/08
********************************************************************
“Elisa,” Goliath’s greeted her warmly.
She smiled, the unease she had felt since confronting Kendra
Canmore dissipating under the gargoyle’s loving regard. “Hey big
guy,” she answered.
“Were you able to speak with Kendra Canmore?” he asked. Elisa
had told him about meeting Jason’s cousin the night before, and
about how interested the woman seemed in finding information
about Demona.
The unease was instantly back.
Goliath stepped towards her, laying a gentle hand upon her
shoulder, “Elisa?” he questioned in concern.
She drew in a deep breath, “Yes, I found her about an hour ago;
she was leaving the Nightstone building.”
Goliath blinked, “She was uninjured?” he asked confused.
“She was sparring with Demona,” Elisa answered, she relaxed
enough to chuckle at his expression. “That was my response; I
couldn’t believe it when she said it either.”
“I don’t understand, she is human and a Canmore, why would
Demona agree to spar with her?” Goliath protested.
Elisa shook her head, “I don’t know, I just don’t know. It
doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t think she was lying.”
Silence fell between them, finally she shook herself out of her
confused thoughts, “I did find out a few things I hadn’t known
about the Canmores from her, things that Jason didn’t tell me.”
Goliath regarded her inquiringly, “What did she tell you that he
has not?”
Elisa began retelling what Kendra had told her, remembering with
a chill the angry blazing blue eyes, and the aura of danger the
woman had exuded. “So,” she finished finally, “Kendra seemed
pretty certain that the Canmore's started the vendetta and they
were the ones that kept it going, and that Demona only killed
the Hunters when they attacked her.”
She glanced over at Goliath, his eyes were closed and his hands
were fisted tightly, she could almost see the anger and sorrow
rolling off him. “They did terrible things, inexcusable things,”
she whispered, “Kendra was very angry and upset when she told me
about it.” She leaned against his shoulder, offering what
comfort she could.
Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her, “Maybe that’s it,
maybe Kendra told Demona the same things she told me. Demona
might find the novelty of a Canmore that thinks the Hunters are
as evil as she does reason enough to keep Kendra around.” Even
as she said it she grew uncertain as to whether even that was a
strong enough reason for Demona not to kill Kendra, “At least
that’s the only thing I can think of for why Demona would have
anything to do with her besides trying to kill her.”
Goliath frowned, “Hmm,” it was an uncertain sound. “If that is
so we should warn her that is not likely to last.”
“Maybe,” Elias muttered absently, her mind focused once again on
trying to puzzle out her reactions to Kendra. It wasn’t as if
the other woman had made any threatening moves, certainly Kendra
hadn’t done anything to warrant the instinctive flinch for her
weapon. More worrisome was the fact that Kendra had looked away
the second time, allowing Elisa a moment to calm herself. It
indicated that the woman was aware of the effect she was having
and was trying to lessen it.
“Elisa?” Goliath’s surprised tone drew her abruptly out of her
thoughts.
She turned guiltily toward the huge gargoyle, “I don’t know.
There’s something strange about her. There were times when we
were talking that I felt… she hesitated then admitted
reluctantly, “very afraid of her.”
He straightened protectively, growling, “She threatened you?”
Elisa sighed unhappily, “No, that’s just it, she didn’t threaten
me at all, and yet I was afraid of her. And my instincts are
loudly telling me that she might be even more dangerous than
Demona.” She turned and met his gaze, “Goliath, I’ve never felt
the…” she searched for an appropriate term that sounded less
mystical, but couldn’t find one, “aura of danger from anyone or
anything so strongly as I did from her tonight and her anger
wasn’t even directed at me.” She snorted, “Before meeting you
guys and going to Avalon and everything else that’s happened, I
would have put my reaction down to being overstressed and
needing some sleep.” She trailed off, gave a frustrated sigh,
“Ah, I don’t know maybe it is that, maybe I was just imaging
things.”
He pulled her into a warm, comforting hug, “It is enough for me
that you believe you felt threatened, no matter the reason. I
want to be with you the next time you speak with her, we will
warn her, and we will determine whether or not she was the
source of the threat you felt.”
“Or if I just need a good day’s sleep?” Elisa ruefully chuckled.
******************************************************
Kendra woke up late the next morning; she made herself coffee
and took it out onto the balcony. Gazing over the city, she
considered the events of the previous day and night; Detective
Maza had not chosen a good time to confront her. The moon was
still full and her jaguar nature was very strong at this time of
month, though she had not meant to, she had frightened the
detective badly last night.
Then there was the topic of their discussion, right after she
had decided that gargoyles were intelligent, and that the
Canmore's had been murderers as she had always suspected, was
not the best time for the Detective to insinuate that they had
been right to carry on their bloody vendetta. She frowned into
her coffee, after a good night’s sleep she wasn’t quite so sure
the Detective had really been defending anyone except for Jason.
Kendra shrugged, what was done was done; at least now the
detective knew where she stood concerning the history between
the Canmore’s and Demona. Kendra didn’t really care what the
detective thought, only that the woman didn’t interfere with her
getting to know Demona better.
Today and tomorrow would be slow days for her. Even with the
immortal being as prickly as a honey locust tree, Kendra was
looking forward to their next sparring session. She checked her
email and saw a follow up letter from John asking her what she
thought about the files he sent. She decided to be truthful and
replied to him that they were very interesting, but she still
hadn’t made up her mind about Demona. Kendra resolved to ignore
any more emails from him for a few days; with any luck, he would
get the hint. More likely, he would hear that she had invested
in Nightstone, become angry and begin ignoring her again.
However, if he were as unstable as Jason thought, he might
attempt to attack her for associating with his enemy. It was
something she needed to keep in mind, Kendra decided.
As she had expected, the next day and a half were slow until it
was time for her to meet Demona for their first actual sparring
match. The guard waved her through to the elevator as soon as
she walked in the door; apparently, there were no orders to
search her bag this time. She went to the locker room to change
then into the gymnasium. Demona was already there.
She looked up as Kendra entered, “You will probably want to wear
some of that tonight, she motioned toward the padded sparring
equipment. Since you aren’t used to sparring with me yet I’ll
avoid using my tail this time,” she finished with a smirk.
Kendra was so bemused at the change in the gargoyles demeanor
that she didn’t immediately realize what Demona had said. As
soon as the words sunk in Kendra glanced at the blue gargoyle’s
tail in surprise, “I hadn’t thought about you attacking with
your tail that should make things more interesting for me
later.” She gazed at the appendage for a moment longer before
shaking herself, “Give me a just a minute or two and I’ll be
ready.” Whatever was going on with Demona, Kendra didn’t want to
risk upsetting the gargoyle by mentioning it because it was nice
to see a less prickly side of her.
They warmed up with sparring slowly, after fifteen or so minutes
Kendra asked, “Ready?” The only reply she got was a flat stare.
“Silly question,” she grinned, “Shall we?” The tempo gradually
speed up as their sparring became more serious. Kendra was
thoroughly enjoying herself. She had been practicing hard for
the past day and a half, and she hoped that Demona would find
her a more worthy opponent tonight.
Demona was not attacking at the gargoyle’s full strength and
speed, and while Kendra wondered if she could match the
gargoyles speed and strength, she wasn’t interested in Demona
finding out just yet about how strong and fast she actually was.
It would raise too many questions, and she had no idea yet what
Demona’s reaction would be when she did find out. As the
sparring match went on Kendra found herself admiring the
gargoyle, she was quick, agile and a joy to watch. She found
herself smiling happily and was astonished to see a quick
answering grin on Demona’s face in reply.
Demona was surprised when she realized had smiled at Kendra’s
obvious pleasure in their sparring. The human was more skilled
than she had given her credit for, and Demona found that she was
enjoying watching her. In both defense and attack, Kendra moved
with a gracefulness the gargoyle had never seen in any human, or
any gargoyle for that matter. She almost seemed to be dancing
with Demona at times instead of fighting.
Knowing that the human could not possibly match her strength and
speed, Demona was both slowing and pulling her blows. Even with
her fighting as if training a very young gargoyle, she expected
the human to have some difficulty, but to her surprise, Kendra
was blocking her blows and attacking in return with ease.
Curious as to the human’s capabilities, Demona began increasing
the speed and power of her fighting. Kendra was still able to
match her. After a minute of this, Kendra called for a breather
and backed away with an unreadable glance.
The human was very quick and strong, Demona’s eyes narrowed with
suspicion; perhaps even quicker and stronger than a human should
be she realized. Though Kendra had called for a breather, Demona
could tell that the woman didn’t need it. Two questions were
uppermost in the immortal gargoyle’s mind at the moment. First,
did this have something to do with vague sense of danger she had
felt around Kendra in her office, and had seen Maza react so
strongly to that night? Second, exactly how strong and fast was
Kendra Canmore?
Kendra wasn’t pleased that Demona was catching on quite so
quickly, the gargoyles suspicious glances confirmed that she was
not doing a good job of hiding her higher than expected strength
or speed. She hadn’t expected that she would be able to keep it
hidden from Demona for long, but had hoped that it would take a
few sparring sessions before the gargoyle realized exactly how
strong and quick she really was. She pondered whether to let
Demona think that she had reached her limits, or just drop the
pretense, spar as well as she was able, and see what happened.
Her deliberations were cut short as Demona stepped back onto the
practice mat and settled into an attack stance, silently
indicating the break was over. The gargoyles fast and powerful
attack left Kendra only two choices, to block or be hit. She
blocked the attack and launched her own, causing Demona to step
back to avoid the blow. The gargoyle stared at her with a
measuring, speculative gaze before settling into her attack
stance once again. The sparring continued, but now it was at
near full speed and strength for both of them. Demona finally
got in a solid blow to Kendra’s torso and they backed away from
each other.
Kendra paused to breathe in deeply and check for rib injury,
there was none and in a few minutes, she knew the muscular pain
would be gone as well.
Demona spoke up at that moment, commenting, “Your stronger than
I gave you credit for, no wonder you have trouble finding people
to spar with that are able to challenge you. Did I injure you
with that last attack?”
Kendra glanced at her noting with surprise the true concern in
the gargoyles green gaze. She shook her head, “I’m ok you didn’t
hurt me. I can’t fight up to my full abilities with other
people. I haven’t had a challenging sparring session with anyone
for years now.”
Demona looked at her sharply, “Don’t insult me then by holding
yourself back.”
Kendra looked directly in the gargoyles eyes trying to read her,
and then nodded. They began sparring again, and this time, as
requested, Kendra did not hold back. Demona found her skills
seriously tested as they sparred back and forth along the full
length of the practice mat. This time it was Demona what was
tagged by a deceptive attack that switched momentum midway and
got through her defenses. Kendra backed off after the touch and
looked at Demona as she rubbed her side and stared at her
intently.
Demona had one of her questions answered; she had attacked at
full strength and speed expecting to overwhelm Kendra, but
instead had found herself evenly matched. The gargoyle commented
suspiciously, “You aren’t fully human are you, what are you a
mutate of some type?” Kendra glanced at her but did not answer.
Demona grinned not surprised that Kendra would not trust her
with the answer yet, “Do the other Canmore’s know?”
Kendra shook her head, “And I would rather they didn’t please.”
Demona was surprised by the request. She slowly nodded her
agreement, “I certainly will not bother to inform them.” Since
she couldn’t see any advantage she could gain by telling them,
it was an easy promise for the gargoyle to make.
Kendra stared at the flame haired gargoyle for a long moment,
“So do I need to start worrying about you locking me up
somewhere to figure me out?” She asked evenly.
Demona paused, amused by the direct question. “Would you even
trust my answer?” Before Kendra could reply the gargoyle waved a
dismissive hand, “I’d rather keep you as a sparring partner, so
you don’t need to worry about me locking you up one night.
Besides, I’m certain I will figure it out anyway.”
Kendra chuckled, amused by the gargoyles self-confidence, “Very
well, did you want to continue our sparring?”
Demona smirked, “Best two out of three; we are evenly matched so
far.”
They began again, but neither immediately went on the attack.
Instead, they circled each other each looking for the opening
that would allow them to win the match. They exchanged a flurry
of blows, and Kendra thought she saw the opening she was
watching for, she gripped Demona’s forearm, attempting to pull
the gargoyle off balance. Unfortunately she didn’t realize how
much heavier the gargoyle was than a human of the same size.
Demona chuckled at Kendra’s surprised expression right before
she shifted her weight throwing Kendra off balance instead and
threw the human to the mat. The gargoyle moved swiftly to
exploit her advantage, straddling the woman and using her
greater mass to pin her against the mat no matter how she
struggled to break free.
Kendra gritted her teeth and strained against the taloned hands
holding her down, unable to accept that Demona was stronger than
she was, no one had been stronger than she was for several
years. She stared into the triumphant gaze of the gargoyle above
her, unwilling as yet to admit defeat. She might be able to
break free if she kneed Demona in the back and knocked her off
balance, but she would strike the gargoyles wings if she did
that, and she didn’t want to risk injuring them.
Demona knew she had won; Kendra had impressive upper body
strength, but was not strong enough to free herself with brute
strength alone. The human wasn’t using her legs to knock her
away, which might have worked. Demona suspected it was because
Kendra feared damaging her wings. Still it wasn’t her fault the
human wasn’t taking advantage of the only way she could break
free. Demona leaned closer; she was going to enjoy this. The red
lips parted, “Surrender,” she purred.
The gargoyle was about to rub the human’s defeat in further only
to be startled by the feel of Kendra suddenly relaxing
underneath her. The blue eyes locked onto her own darkened in
unmistakable arousal, the rest of the words died in her throat
as she realized how Kendra had taken what she had said, and how
much the woman was apparently willing to surrender to her at
this moment. Demona froze staring down at the woman beneath her,
then startled at the direction her thoughts were taking; she
abruptly released the human and stood up.
Demona glanced briefly at Kendra as the woman got up from the
mat, her mind unhelpfully replaying the woman’s reaction to her
demand, the moment she had stopped struggling against Demona’s
strength, the look of desire on her face. Demona had known that
Kendra was attracted to her, but what had happened a moment ago
had caught her by surprise, as had her own momentary impulse to
keep holding the woman down.
She had expected that she would have to put Kendra in her place
at some point due to the woman’s attraction to her; but she had
never thought that she would respond to that desire. She had
never found humans attractive in that way…but then Kendra wasn’t
just a human. No human possessed the deadly, graceful strength
Demona had admired so much during their sparring, and the feel
of that strength surrendering so completely… Demona shook her
head angrily and finally noticed Kendra’s expression. She looked
confused, apparently, what had occurred had taken them equally
by surprise, the gargoyle found that realization oddly calming.
Demona asked curious as to how Kendra would respond, “What’s
bothering you? Trying to figure out how you lost that last
match?”
Kendra shook her head, “I didn’t expect you to have as much mass
as you do; I miscalculated the amount of force needed.” She did
not comment on her reaction to Demona’s demand that she
surrender, she was still trying to figure out why she had
reacted as strongly, and more importantly, as submissively as
she had. She had never felt the desire to yield to anyone
before, in her past relationships she had always been the strong
one, the one in control.
All of Kendra’s relationships had ended when she realized that
something was lacking, or she realized the women were with her
more for her money than for herself. She had been too young
before she had met the jaguar to be interested such things, she
hadn’t even known she was gay then. Once she had become sexually
active she had certainly never been physically overpowered by
anyone, indeed she had always felt the need to be very careful
and gentle with her lovers. Kendra wasn’t entirely sure she
wanted analyze why being overpowered and feeling helpless in
Demona’s grip, and then being told to surrender, had resulted in
the sudden surge of arousal she had experienced.
Kendra began taking off her safety equipment and stacking it.
“When did you want to spar again?” she asked when she was done,
finally looking at Demona.
Demona raised one eyebrow, “We can meet night after next for a
short session, and again Friday and Monday. I have plans for the
evenings this weekend that I cannot reschedule.”
Kendra nodded, “I will be in town for another two weeks, and
then I will be out of town during the full moon. I always spend
that time at my estate in upper New York. But besides that time
I should be available.”
Demona replied, “I will be working for awhile longer, let me
know when you are ready to leave.”
Kendra showered, ignoring one problem by concentrating on
another; she hoped that Demona would not decide to betray her
word to her. She would have to be careful, but she had to give
the gargoyle the chance to either keep her word or break it.
Demona stared out the window pondering what all had happened
this evening. She intended to keep Kendra’s secret. She enjoyed
having someone to practice with, and now that neither one of
them was holding back during their sparring she was enjoying it
far more than she had ever anticipated.
That, however, wasn’t the only reason she would keep Kendra’s
secret. This Canmore could be very useful to her once Goliath
was out of the way and she took over the leadership of the clan.
Given how Kendra had reacted to Maza’s insinuations last night,
Demona was certain she could persuade Kendra to tell the clan
about everything that the Canmore Hunters had done over the
centuries they had hunted her. They would believe Kendra, and
that would make it much easier for Demona to persuade them how
dangerous humans could be.
As for Kendra’s secret, it hadn’t escaped Demona’s notice that
while Kendra had been dismayed that the gargoyle noticed her
abilities, she hadn’t been particularly upset. Cautious and wary
yes, but not that upset. The woman had to have known that
sparring with Demona would eventually result in just what had
happened tonight. That meant that either Kendra was very naive,
or she was certain that Demona would not be interested in
exploiting whatever her secret was once the gargoyle found it
out. Demona didn’t really have any idea what Kendra was, but
perhaps the woman had revealed something when she said that she
would spend the full moon at her estate. She would have to do
some research to see if that piece of information lead to any
answers, Demona frowned considering the current demands on her
time, as soon as she had the time she would research it she
resolved.
Then there was the last thing that had happened tonight, the
moment in the gym, one that Kendra apparently didn’t want to
admit to any more then Demona did from the way she had avoided
Demona’s gaze for a while afterward.
Demona remembered the first time she had seen two women
together. It had been a few months after the massacre of her
clan at the castle. She had found a cottage out in the middle of
a forest. Thinking it was a deserted house; she had crept in
trying to find some food and had been lucky to find some stored
fruit and cheese. Then she had heard the moans from the loft.
She had froze as she heard a feminine voice say, “I love the way
you look right now all soft and wanting me to touch you. But I
think I’ll make you wait for what you want.” The woman had
chuckled throatily and then a different feminine voice had
groaned in what sounded like a plea.
Demona had been confused at first, she had heard human men and
women together but never two women, she had not even been aware
that two women could be mates. Curious, she had left the cottage
and quietly crawled up to the roof and found an open window she
could stare in without being seen. There were two women naked in
a bed, one on top of the other.
The dark haired woman on top had the other woman’s arms pinned
to her side and was busy nibbling down her stomach. The woman
being pinned was blond and she struggled slightly against the
dark haired woman’s hold, but what was occurring seemed entirely
consensual since she looked very aroused by what the dark haired
woman was doing. The dark haired woman continued downward and
Demona realized with shock exactly what the woman had to be
doing. The blond woman was moaning and trembling and Demona
looked away and then back as she heard the dark haired woman
ask, “Is this mine?” The blonde groaned and said in a hoarse
whisper, “Yes.” The dark haired woman growled softly then
returned to what she had been doing as Demona looked away again.
Demona had never heard this type of love play between humans,
but then human males assumed their women belonged to them, in
that way human and gargoyle males were rather alike Demona had
noticed. Perhaps this type of love play only took place between
human females.
After a few minutes, she heard again, “Is this mine?” She
glanced back in the window as the other woman said in a deep
voice, “Yes.” It took a moment for Demona to realize that the
dark haired woman was using her fingers to thrust into the other
woman. The gargoyle looked away again and then back as the
blonde’s moans and whimpers escalated and she started shuddering
in release. Demona expected that the dark haired woman would be
done now, but she paused only a moment to watch the other woman
looking satisfied then returned to what she had been doing
apparently intent on bringing the other woman to release yet
again.
Demona had intended to leave but now she was curious as to how
many times the dark haired woman intended to bring her partner
pleasure. Human males stopped satisfied with the one from what
she had seen around the castle. She waited, after two more cries
in the darkness there was quiet, looking in the window she saw
that the blonde was exhausted. She lay gasping and the dark
haired woman smiled and moved upward to cradle her against her
saying, “Sleep my love.”
The blonde said weakly “You need?” and the dark haired woman
said “No, I’m alright, sleep.” The blonde seemed to relax then
and the dark haired woman smiled and snuffed out the candle,
their forms snuggled against each other on the bed and then it
was quiet except for their breathing.
She had left once the two women were asleep, but had returned by
the clearing occasionally to see what they were doing. The last
time she had went she had found the bodies of the two women.
They had been savagely attacked; around the bodies were the
footprints of several men. Demona had taken the time to bury the
two women and had later found out the reason for the attack. She
had overheard two men bragging about how they and others had
killed the two women; they had called the two women unnatural
and had said they were in league with the Devil. Listening to
the two men Demona had been unsettled by the hatred and venom in
their tones, and how the others listening to them had agreed
that they had acted justly.
Demona had known humans hated her kind, but obviously, they
hated what the two women represented just as much. She had
watched the gentleness and obvious love the two women had for
each other and could not understand why that love incited such
hatred. The gargoyle had followed the two men as they left and
had taken great pleasure in killing them both.
She had not known of the word lesbian at the time, but 600 years
later she knew the word and found herself frequently cursing the
sexual stamina of the two women who lived below her as she tried
to study her sorcery during the night. They only saw each other
on weekends as both of them were maids, but they made up for all
the lost time during the week when they were together.
Demona had finally counted the hours they made love during one
winter weekend when the nights were long and came up with a
truly amazing number. Demona remembered how she had smirked when
she realized the two had spent no less than 12 hours of the 24
night hours making love. No wonder the male humans seemed so
threatened by these women, they obviously realized how poorly
they measured against a woman’s stamina.
Demona smirked in her office as she remembered her annoyance at
the two women who made it so difficult to study on the weekends.
Kendra walked in at that moment and gave her a curious look, but
merely wished her a good evening before turning and leaving.
Demona sighed knowing that she would have to deal with what had
occurred in the gym sometime, but more important right now was
the plan she had to get Goliath out of the way and lead the
Wyvern Clan for herself.
That night Kendra dreamed, her subconscious rebelliously
bringing up what her conscious mind would prefer to forget. She
was lying on her stomach; Demona’s toned muscular form resting
partially upon her, pressing her into the surface of the
bedding. The flame haired gargoyle was softly growling as she
bit gently upon nape of Kendra’s neck while holding her arms
pinned firmly to the bed. Kendra moaned as she felt a gentle,
teasing touch upon her most intimate flesh, and then the
satisfaction of being filled. At first she could not comprehend
how Demona was managing this until it dawned on her that what
she felt gently thrusting inside her was the gargoyles tail.
Between the steady penetration and the teasing nipping bites
along her neck and shoulders, it was not long before she was
writhing under Demona. Release seemed always just beyond her
grasp until Demona bit into the muscle at the junction of her
shoulder and neck. The sweet pain was enough to finally send her
over the edge.
The orgasm woke Kendra from the dream while her body was still
twitching with the aftershocks. “Damn,” she whispered shakily to
the dark room. She rubbed her neck where she remembered being
bitten then got up on shaking legs to go to the bathroom and
shower. She was drenched with sweat.
|
|
