CHAPTER FINALE: DEATH IS THE ONLY WAY?
She felt a sudden blast on her chest. It felt like being hit by a huge boulder. She couldn’t feel anything at first but when she saw herself beginning to drench in blood the pain was immediately searing through her bones.
She knew that this was the end. The end of her life and the end of her existence. She will never see Broadway and his obsession with food. She will never see Angela and her lovely smile. She will never see Lexington and play with his videogames. She will never see Goliath and Hudson, the elders of the clan who had been so kind and patient towards her. She will never see Bronx and pet him ever again.
The more terrible thought was…that she’ll never see Brooklyn again. She will never be with him ever again. Everything that is him would be gone before her eyes: his smile, his eyes, his arms giving her those warm and reassuring embraces, his protective wings that shielded her from any harm, his handsome face and his long billowing hair, everything. They’ll disappear out of her sight forever.
She fell towards the ground below, her wings failing her. Everything was as if in slow motion. She continued to fall and fall like it would never end.
Deep down inside, she knew that perhaps, just perhaps, her death was for the best.
“Suki!! NO~!!!”
Brooklyn, with all his strength, pushed away the black-robed man off him and pushed through the fighting crowd towards the falling Suki. He held out his hands and caught her just in time. He looked in horror at all the blood seeping out of her chest and her face going pale. She was beginning to falter—and fast. Brooklyn’s eyes glowed in anger as he turned to Xanatos who, in turn, had caught the falling Owen, and snarled.
“What have you done to her?! Why did you do this?!”
“There’s no time for pep talk, Brooklyn,” Xanatos replied briefly before turning towards Goliath, “Goliath! You have to get out of here. I had Owen set up a bomb in this place and it’ll blow within the next 15 seconds!”
Goliath’s growl rumbled in his throat as he broke out of the heap he had fallen on when he tried to grab Xanatos and went off to alert Matt. Demona staggered to stand upright as she glared at Xanatos with her glowing red eyes with a vengeance.
“You have destroyed my most potential weapon to destroy mankind, and I thought you were my ally! Don’t think you have won the war yet!”
Within a thrice, Demona raced towards the edge of the building and jumped off, following behind Thailog. The building was beginning to rumble as the bomb slowly activated itself. Soon a loud explosion was heard and the building began to crumble bit by bit. It was going down quite fast that the gargoyles didn’t think that they will have enough time to save all of the humans. Suki and Elisa were in Brooklyn and Goliath’s arms respectively and the rest just grabbed whatever human they could manage and jumped off the building. Owen quickly jumped up onto Xanatos’ back before Xanatos activated his rocket boots he wore on his way to Milestone Mines and flew off with the clan.
As soon as they were on the ground at a safe distance from the crumbling building, the clan and the humans gathered around Brooklyn who was kneeling on the ground with the blood-drenched Suki in his arms. She still had breath left in her but everyone looked with a heavy heart as they knew she could never survive, the shot Xanatos fired was fatal.
“You shot her,” Brooklyn hissed, holding Suki close.
“I had to do something. She was trying to make a dinner out of Owen. I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to lose a potential personal secretary,” Xanatos replied, setting Owen down on the ground. “Besides, I was doing you a favour. You know perfectly well that you cannot risk her going out on a blood-feeding frenzy again.”
“But you didn’t have to shoot her. She’s a living being,” Goliath growled as his glowing eyes glared at Xanatos, his words speaking for all the gargoyles that were glaring grudgingly at him. Xanatos accepted those looks nonchalantly—he had worse remarks.
“Suki…Suki, please…” Brooklyn whispered as he shook Suki lightly, trying to wake her up. after much shaking and calling, she finally did. Quite slow though, but still she was awake.
“Brooklyn…” Suki breathed her lover’s name.
“Suki, hang in there. You’re gonna be OK. You’re gonna be alright. I’m just right here,” Brooklyn encouraged, although deep down inside he knew, she wasn’t going to pull through.
“Brooklyn…Suki sorry…Suki make trouble…” Suki said but Brooklyn hushed her.
“Shh…It’s not your fault. This has all been nature’s big mistake. You’re gonna be alright.”
“Suki…cannot be with Brooklyn…Suki die…”
“Don’t say that!” Brooklyn exclaimed desperately, laying his hand on her cheek which was slowly going cold. “Don’t you ever say that! You’ll be alright! We’re together now, and we’ll always be together. We’ll be going home together and you will be my mate, always and forever more.”
Suki shook her head slightly and breathed, “Suki…not want…hurt Brooklyn…”
“There will be a cure,” Brooklyn replied indignantly. “There has to be a cure to stop you from blood-sucking. We will find a cure…”
“No cure…Suki no cure…Suki know…”
Brooklyn’s heart ached. Why did everyone that he cared or loved never stay by his side? Maggie Reed refused to follow him because she thought of him as a monster and refused to be one herself. Angela didn’t return his love, but loved his brother Broadway instead. And now Suki was slowly slipping away from his hands and closer to the brink of death. This wasn’t fair! This wasn’t fair at all!
“Suki…why? Why, Suki…?” Brooklyn couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. They fell freely like rain out of his eyes as he hugged Suki closer to him, not wanting to let her go. “Why does it have to end this way…?”
He felt Suki’s lips on his beak-like mouth. He opened his eyes and saw Suki’s hand gripping tightly on his wing, just like the first time she did it when she came into the clan. He turned to Suki and saw her smiling weakly at him. Her dark pruple eyes were filled with bliss and content, like she had finally achieved what she had wanted and had no more regrets.
“Ai…Aishiteru…Brooklyn…”
Her grip on Brooklyn’s wing slowly weakened. It slid off his wing and fell onto her side. Her eyes closed, covering those beautiful dark purple eyes forever. Brooklyn’s heart sank and his eyes went blank. He could feel his heart breaking as the life of the hybrid gargoyle he had come to love finally slipped out of his grasp and disappeared out of his life. The other gargoyles looked on in sorrow and downcast. Angela sobbed silently on Broadway’s shoulder and Goliath laid his hand on Elisa’s shoulder who looked like she was also going to cry. Bronx whined sadly.
Xanatos, though not obvious, was also feeling a little sorry for Brooklyn. He turned to Owen and asked, “Owen, what does she mean by…?”
“It’s Japanese,” Owen replied quietly. “It means ‘I love you’.”
With trembling hands, Brooklyn held Suki tighter, trying to suppress the aching feeling in his heart. He tried to be strong like Suki had known him to be. He tried to hold on to the happiness and let go of the sadness just like he tried to when Maggie Reed and Angela broke his heart. But try as he might, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t suppress the pain. He couldn’t take it all in. it was too much for him to bear.
It has come to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore.
“SUKI~~~~!!!!”
The gargoyles were back at the clock tower. The whole tower abnormally quiet as the sad mourning atmosphere hung about. They were evidently devastated about Suki’s death. They found it hard to believe that the Suki who took them quite a long while to tame and who had brought joy to the clan—although for a short period of time—was now no more. She was truly gone.
Perhaps the gargoyle who felt the loss the most would be Brooklyn. He was outside the tower sitting on the edge of the tower musing and grieving over Suki. Broadway and Lexington did think about comforting Brooklyn but Goliath fobade them to do so.
“Words are not enough to heal his broken heart. Only time can heal his wounds.”
Elisa saw the other gargoyles gathering at their places, not wanting to bother Brooklyn’s musing. She sighed and went up to the face of the clock and out into the open.
“Brooklyn, are you alright now?” Elisa asked, although she knew it was a stupid question.
“How can I be?” Brooklyn replied quietly.
“She’s gone, Brooklyn. None of your grief could ever bring her back. You do realize that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Brooklyn whispered. “But…It’s just that…It’s just that no one has ever done something like this for me. No one has ever tried to make themselves into something they’re not just to be with me. No one would ever go through all the trouble and all the pain…and risk their lives just to be with someone like me.”
“Except Suki,” Elisa pointed out.
“I feel…like as if I am responsible for her monstrosity and her death. If it wasn’t for me, she wouldn’t have to go through all this. She would’ve just led her life as a scientist and remained alive, just like she was supposed to be. If it weren’t for me…” Brooklyn put his hands over his head in remorse. Elisa laid her hand on his shoulder to stop him short.
“Don’t blame yourself, Brooklyn. It was no one’s fault. She did this by her own accord, and you’ve given her the best days in her entire life. For years she has been living a monotonous life of a child prodigy. It’s not easy being a genius, Brooklyn. No true friends, no rest, forever having to come up with new solutions, no time for love, nothing. You have made her the happiest person in the world.”
Brooklyn didn’t reply. Elisa could see that he wasn’t thoroughly convinced. She dug her pocket and took a golden locket. She tapped Brooklyn on the shoulder and handed the locket to him.
“What is this?” Brooklyn asked, taking the locket.
“I found this among the pictures inside the case at Suki’s home,” Elisa replied. “Open it and take a look.”
Brooklyn did as he was requested. Inside the locket he was quite surprised to see that in one side of the locket was his picture and in the other side was Suki’s picture as a human, smiling at the camera just like she smiled when she was beside him. It was Suki—his Suki—immortalized in this picture where he and her would be together. Forever.
As Brooklyn put on the locket around his neck, he made a vow, “Suki shall be my mate, and will always be my mate forever. I shall have no other.”
Elisa sighed. Inside, she felt that such vow would only hurt himself, but she knew she had no place to question Brooklyn’s decision. The only thing she could do before leaving him alone was pat his arm and say, “Just…take care of yourself.”
Under the creeping rising sun, Brooklyn cried…
Friday, October 28, 2005
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp14
CHAPTER 14: THE SKY BLEEDS & FALLS RED
She was ordered by Demona to get going. She saw Demona and the Goliath look-a-like named Thailog held hands as they jumped off the window of Demona’s bedroom and into the night sky. She, on the other hand, jumped off alone.
Seeing them together flying side by side in the mid-air towards wherever this Thailog was taking them reminded her of what she and Brooklyn had been doing for the past few nights. She and Brooklyn had spent nights that she would never forget. She began to remember the first day she met Brooklyn—not as a hybrid now, but as a human she once was. She remembered the riot happening when rubble fell from the sky. She remembered ditching her friends and followed closely behind Elisa to go up and find out what was causing the rubble shower. She remembered laying her eyes on the clan for the first time and the first gargoyle she saw standing out from the rest—Brooklyn. All those memories came back to her again one by one, just like the day she began to remember her past after hearing Elisa’s theory on her investigation.
Then she remembered meeting Brooklyn for the first time as a gargoyle hybrid. She remembered how scared she was being surrounded by weird-looking beings she forgotten that she had met before. She remembered how calm she felt when she was under Brooklyn’s care and his wing in her reach. She remembered the nights when she and Brooklyn with the rest of the juvenile gargoyles went out to interesting places she forgot that she had been before. And above all that, she remembered how blissful it felt flying together side by side with Brooklyn, holding his arm and never wanting to let go.
All that has changed now. All that has become another distant memory she will soon forget, just like how easily she forgot her past as a human. Things will never be the same again between her and Brooklyn, not after when she discovered how lethal she was to both the clan and to the people around her and definitely not after she discovered that she actually did what she feared she would do: sucking her love’s blood. The vampiric urge inside her has awakened and was taking over her humanity. She didn’t want any of this to happen but it did. And it cost her greatly.
As they reached their destination, the distant smell of blood swept her musings away and lit the fire of hunger within her.
The night was silent as three figures landed onto the top floor of an abandoned building. Thailog looked around to see if anyone was watching before gesturing Demona and Suki to follow him. They went down a long flight of steps, which had practically seen better days. It was as if one more pressure on those steps and they will find themselves falling through it and towards the hard solid ground below. The walls were deteriorating both in colour and in structure. You could see patches of bricks here and there and there were moss and fungi gathering everywhere. The whole place, too, smelt seriously of fungi. Demona grimaced a little at the sight of it.
“Nice place you got here,” Demona commented sarcastically. “Pretty comfy, don’t you think, vampire?”
“Luxurious life heightened up your sense of taste, hasn’t it?” Thailog grinned. “I’ve did a little research of my own and I have discovered this place fully abandoned and fully unused. The owner of this building had long since lost his business due a certain faulty procedure in his products. He went in and out of courts for many weeks until he was finally declared bankrupt. He finally sold this building and the land with it to Xanatos. What I’ve heard is that Xanatos will be demolishing this building by the end of this month. I’ve heard that this land still serves itself as a profitable asset for Xanatos.”
“Xanatos?” Demona smirked a little. “Anything that concerns with money never fails to escape his eye. I bet my company can outrun him better. But what does this place have to do with your plan in helping me destroy the human population?”
“Remember, back at your home, what I told you about those fanatics?” Thailog said as he shifted his red eyes towards Suki who was following him quietly behind. “Your plan of killing the humans and Suki’s way of doing it has made a great impact on the nation, especially the gothic and dark cult practitioners. They believe that the end is near and that their so-called ‘Devil’ has come in the form of a vampire to rid the earth of its people. So I have gone to them and posed as the so-called ‘Devil’s Messenger’ and told them that I would bring the ‘Devil’ to them. I also told them to bring as much victims as they possibly can so that they can sort of serve their purpose in assisting the ‘Devil’ to world destruction.”
“Now that’s an interesting idea,” Demona said, impressed. “We do not have to hassle about skulking in the dark and worry about finding victims, and we won’t have to worry about bumping into unwanted people. They come straight into our doorstep, served in a silver platter.”
“And we won’t have to promise the cult followers anything,” Thailog grinned maliciously as he stopped in front of a huge door. He pulled it open and showed the females proudly a great parade of humans in a wide warehouse cheering and talking in leveled tones at the sight of Thailog’s arrival and a whole lot more humans locked in a giant-sized cage, crying and screaming and begging for mercy, demanding to be let go. Demona stared at this in awe. Suki eyed at all the people gathered there waiting to be consumed but remained where she was before being given the cue. She wanted to just pounce on each and every one of those humans and suck the life force out of them but she had no choice but to wait for the cue. She was trained to follow Demona’s orders.
“Thailog, I have just found another reason to love you even more,” Demona said as she wrapped her arms around his.
“Where is Brooklyn?”
All the gargoyles looked at each other questioningly. They were all getting ready to go out into the night to search for Demona and Suki to stop them from harming any other humans again, but somehow Brooklyn has slipped past their eyes and had disappeared.
“Oh boy, here we go again,” Broadway sighed and rolled his eyes, getting exasperated with his brother who lately has been running off soundlessly to do things behind their backs.
“He must’ve taken off on his own again,” Lexington said, his gaze shifted towards the outside of the tower. “He’s always doing that. That lovesick guy never gives up.”
“Aye, he is a strong-headed lad. What are we to do with him?” Hudson asked.
“The usual, I suppose,” Goliath sighed tiredly. “Half of us will take patrol to look for Suki and Demona, and half of you will…”
“Hey, guys, am I missing anything?”
The gargoyles turned around and smiled a little to see their favourite human friend Elisa Maza coming up the stairs with her usual work clothes on. Sometimes they suspect that that’s the only work clothes she has for life.
“Brooklyn walked out on us again,” Angela said as Elisa moved towards the clan. “We are just going to split up and search for both Suki and Demona and Brooklyn as usual.”
“Maybe there is some place you might want to try out,” Elisa suggested. “I just got a call from Xanatos and he wishes that Bluestone and I go with him to Millstone Mines ‘coz his purchased land had a security breach.”
“Security breach?” Goliath still couldn’t really get to understand this type of police talk.
“She means someone is trespassing in Xanatos’ land,” Lexington, the ever smart one, translated for him.
“That’s right, and he wants me and Bluestone to come with me,” Elisa said. “Also, he wishes a little help from a certain concerned citizens with wings.”
“Why would Xanatos need our help this time?” Broadway asked suspiciously.
“Well, if Xanatos want help from you guys, I bet that there must be something serious going on over there to ask for such help. Besides maybe you might find your leads over there.”
“Are you saying that either Demona and Suki might be there or Brooklyn would be there?” Broadway and Lexington asked almost simultaneously.
“I’m only making hunches just like we cops always do,” Elisa replied.
“She may be right, Goliath,” Angela said. “We couldn’t find Demona and Suki anywhere near Manhattan City and Brooklyn might have figured out that they might not be in Manhattan City anymore. They could be there.”
“She’s got a point there,” Broadway agreed. “From what I’ve heard, Milestone Mines is a few distant miles away from Manhattan City somewhere in the interiors. I have been suspecting Brooklyn to be venturing into further places to find Suki—there was once I had to search for him down into the suburban airport and believe me, it wasn’t easy coaxing him out of there.”
“Then let us waste no time,” Goliath said as he moved out of the clock tower towards the edge. “If there is any possibility of the three of them to be there, then we shall have to take that chance. Yes, Bronx,” Goliath said when Bronx whined and padded at his feet, “you can come along too.”
“I’d like to fly with you guys too,” Elisa said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been air-borne. Bluestone can take the car.”
So, with Elisa in Goliath’s arms and Lexington carrying Bronx, all the gargoyles jumped off the clock tower and swooped down through the night sky towards the direction of the Milestone Mines.
Brooklyn glided through the night sky towards the place where Xanatos and Owen had talked about. If there were disturbances in that place, Suki and Demona would surely to be there. Who else would be able to cause such trouble at an unlikely place like this abandoned building? Certainly not some mere human crooks who want to steal a bunch of useless metal and wood.
He knew he shouldn’t be doing this alone. He knew he should’ve told his clan first beforehand, but he couldn’t do it. He had no choice. He couldn’t bear letting Goliath know about his suspicions on Suki’s whereabouts and risk the possibility of Goliath killing her. He couldn’t bear it. He just couldn’t bear it. He had to get to Suki first before he and the clan does and get her out of there before it’s too late.
As the abandoned building came in sight, he swooped down onto the top floor and made his way silently down the unearthly stairs towards the warehouse. From there he could hear cheers and loud chanting of some ancient language he had long forgotten since being trapped in stone for a thousand years. He found himself standing in front of the warehouse door and he could hear the cheers and chanting coming from the other side. Curiosity stepped in as he wondered what these people could be celebrating at a time like this and at a god forsaken place like this rundown building. He looked up and saw that there was an air vent up on the ceiling. He climbed the wall and wriggled his way into the air vent and started crawling. Luckily the air vent fit his body size including his wings, or he would’ve gotten stuck in the midway.
As he crawled into the other end of the air vent and peered through the opening, he saw a whole crowd of people wearing black robes and their faces were shielded by their hoods, almost like the clothes of the Ring Wraiths in LOTR. Then he saw that behind those black-robed people was the huge cage of people of all ages and their screams of agony and fear definitely did not fit in the merriment of the black-robed people.
“Children of the Darkness, come and witness the true evil that has awakened unto your cry! Let the blood feast begin!!”
The black-robed people cheered joyously. Brooklyn couldn’t help thinking that the deep rumbling voice he just heard sounded familiar. He wanted to see who the owner of the voice was but he was out of sight. He shifted his gaze and saw Demona standing at one end of the cage holding a struggling woman while Suki was a few feet away from Demona sucking the blood of a middle-aged man. Brooklyn’s heart went a little sour as it reminded him of Suki sucking his blood.
He couldn’t sit still any longer. He had to stop this madness. Without waiting another second, he broke through the opening he was peering through and jumped out of the air vent with a loud roar, landing right in front of Suki who was now sucking the woman Demona was holding just now. Everyone was shocked and gasped at the sight of him.
“Suki, stop it! Stop it right now!” Brooklyn yelled.
“Brooklyn…?” It was only when Suki finished draining the woman off her blood that Brooklyn’s words got into her ears.
“Come back with me! Let’s leave this place! Let’s go!” Brooklyn yelled desperately as he pulled at Suki’s hands. Whether it was because she just finished her meal or too ecstatic with blood, surprisingly she didn’t attempt to fight him.
“No one is going anywhere!”
Before he knew it, Brooklyn was swiped away and was sent skidding across the floor. As he struggled to get up, he suddenly felt the hard weight from Thailog’s foot as the Goliath clone stepped onto his chest, holding him down.
“Go…Goliath…?” Brooklyn strained to see and was shocked to see Thailog in the likeness of Goliath, then narrowed his eyes in contempt, “No…I’ve heard about you…Lexington told me…about Goliath having a clone…”
“My fame has even reached your ears,” Thailog said with a smug. “I’m impressed.”
“Well, don’t get too swell-headed,” Brooklyn growled.
“You’re really brave, Brooklyn, to be coming here,” Demona said, moving towards the weak and blank-looking Suki. “You know that it’s rude to crash someone’s party.”
“Let her go!” Brooklyn snarled, his eyes glowing. “Stop doing this to her! Look what she has become!”
“Oh, she has become something really fascinating and useful indeed, Brooklyn. She has understood the true purpose of a gargoyle and she has been doing her share of righteous work I have for her. And don’t worry, Brooklyn,” Demona said as she led Suki back towards the cage for her next feeding frenzy, “she’s just gone through a phase of optimum she has her fill, she’ll soon get out of this daze.”
With that, Thailog lifted his foot off Brooklyn’s chest and grabbed him by the neck before raising him high above his head and throwing him onto the wall, making a dent. The black-robed people cheered as Brooklyn groaned and slumped into a stupor.
“Bring in the next victims!” Thailog commanded. The black-robed people obeyed, chanting as they did Thailog’s bidding.
“Remember, Suki. Humans are our enemies and betrayer,” Demona said as she led her towards a petrified-looking boy, “and they are just as good as dead!”
“Not if I can help it.”
Demona turned sharply to see Goliath standing in front of the boy with his wings spread, shielding him, and Elisa standing beside him. Their eyes met and instantly glowed, showing their distaste for each other. The rest of the clan flew in, ready for a fight. The black-robed people stood there, looking confused at all these weird creatures around them.
“They are betrayers of the sacred cause!!” Thailog growled. “They are trying to stop us from doing the Devil’s bidding! Seize them!!”
All at once, the black-robed people pounced onto the gargoyles. A huge hectic fight occurred. Face-punching, butt-kicking, tail-swishing and bone-crushing ensured. Gun-firing not excluded. Broadway, Lexington and Bronx helped Brooklyn up and joined Goliath in the fight while Hudson and Angela tried to free the people in the huge cage, battling the black-robed people on the way. Soon a few cars came in and they were none other than Matt Bluestone, Xanatos and his trusty secretary Owen. They were also quite shocked to see such hullabaloo going on inside the abandoned building of the land Xanatos bought. They soon kicked into action too, Matt calling for backup while firing shots at the black-robed people together with Xanatos and Owen as they moved in. in the midst of all this chaos, Brooklyn spotted Suki sitting on the floor not moving an inch. He quickly pulled her out of the way and sat her at one corner.
“Don’t worry, Suki. It’ll be all over soon. You’re going home,” Brooklyn reassured her before leaving off to help the other gargoyles fight.
The fight kept on going and was getting more and more hectic, especially the fight between Demona, Goliath and Thailog. Elisa and Matt made sure that all the victims were out of the building and safe outside the dried mines before helping the other gargoyles apprehend the black-robed people. Xanatos, with his expertise in karate and taekwan-do, took down those who tried to escape and Owen, using the latest technologies, apprehended them and held them down. Seeing that their plans have yet again failed, Demona signaled Thailog and they both retreated up the building towards the top floor. Some of the black-robed people who managed to escape their apprehenders’ grasp followed suite. The gargoyles gave chase, followed by Elisa, Matt and Xanatos. Owen stayed behind to do something.
Under all that chaotic whatnot, they have forgotten Suki who was still sitting in a daze at the corner Brooklyn had hid her, still not out of the blood-sucking trance she was abruptly broken out. As her eyes came slowly into focus and her body finally having the strength to stand, she caught a glimpse of Owen walking around the warehouse calmly and putting in a box-like gadget on each corner. He took out his palm desktop and clicked a few buttons before rushing quickly towards the top floor. Suki’s appetite for blood hasn’t satisfied yet and the sight of Owen and the realization that her meal has been rudely interrupted brought back the bloody hunger pangs within her. In a thrice, she pounced on the unsuspecting Owen and carried him all the way to the top floor and up into the midair. Broadway, who was trying to crush one of the black-robed people’s guns, saw her first.
“Look! It’s Suki! She’s got Owen!” he yelled, alerting the others.
“What?” Xanatos turned to see his secretary struggling to get out of Suki’s grasp.
“Oh no…No! Suki, no!! Stop!! Don’t do it!!” Brooklyn yelled while trying to push the black-robed man who was on him trying to strangle him.
Demona and Thailog noticed and smirked—they knew Owen was one of his most important person in his firm. In the midair, Suki bared her fangs and was ready to embed them into the blonde secretary’s jugular. Lexington was about to get ready to fly up and pounce on her but from the corner of his eye, he saw Xanatos taking out his gun from inside his jacket and was aiming it at Suki.
“Xanatos, what do you think you’re…!?” Lexington didn’t finish his question. He had to stop him. As much as he thought that Suki was trouble, she’s still his sister and a part of the clan.
His yell alerted the other gargoyles and they were shocked too. Everything went into slow motion as one by one Demona, Goliath, Angela, Lexington and Hudson tried to run over to Xanatos and stop him. Brooklyn still couldn’t break from the black-robed man’s grasp but he struggled to get up anyway.
Everyone was coming closer to Xanatos. All trying to stop him from firing. They all had different reasons for Xanatos not to shoot her but they all have one desire.
Don’t let Suki die.
Suki has started to bite Owen’s jugular. Brooklyn could see Xanatos’ finger pulling the trigger. He let out one desperate cry, “Xanatos, don’t kill her~!!!”
Too late.
She was ordered by Demona to get going. She saw Demona and the Goliath look-a-like named Thailog held hands as they jumped off the window of Demona’s bedroom and into the night sky. She, on the other hand, jumped off alone.
Seeing them together flying side by side in the mid-air towards wherever this Thailog was taking them reminded her of what she and Brooklyn had been doing for the past few nights. She and Brooklyn had spent nights that she would never forget. She began to remember the first day she met Brooklyn—not as a hybrid now, but as a human she once was. She remembered the riot happening when rubble fell from the sky. She remembered ditching her friends and followed closely behind Elisa to go up and find out what was causing the rubble shower. She remembered laying her eyes on the clan for the first time and the first gargoyle she saw standing out from the rest—Brooklyn. All those memories came back to her again one by one, just like the day she began to remember her past after hearing Elisa’s theory on her investigation.
Then she remembered meeting Brooklyn for the first time as a gargoyle hybrid. She remembered how scared she was being surrounded by weird-looking beings she forgotten that she had met before. She remembered how calm she felt when she was under Brooklyn’s care and his wing in her reach. She remembered the nights when she and Brooklyn with the rest of the juvenile gargoyles went out to interesting places she forgot that she had been before. And above all that, she remembered how blissful it felt flying together side by side with Brooklyn, holding his arm and never wanting to let go.
All that has changed now. All that has become another distant memory she will soon forget, just like how easily she forgot her past as a human. Things will never be the same again between her and Brooklyn, not after when she discovered how lethal she was to both the clan and to the people around her and definitely not after she discovered that she actually did what she feared she would do: sucking her love’s blood. The vampiric urge inside her has awakened and was taking over her humanity. She didn’t want any of this to happen but it did. And it cost her greatly.
As they reached their destination, the distant smell of blood swept her musings away and lit the fire of hunger within her.
The night was silent as three figures landed onto the top floor of an abandoned building. Thailog looked around to see if anyone was watching before gesturing Demona and Suki to follow him. They went down a long flight of steps, which had practically seen better days. It was as if one more pressure on those steps and they will find themselves falling through it and towards the hard solid ground below. The walls were deteriorating both in colour and in structure. You could see patches of bricks here and there and there were moss and fungi gathering everywhere. The whole place, too, smelt seriously of fungi. Demona grimaced a little at the sight of it.
“Nice place you got here,” Demona commented sarcastically. “Pretty comfy, don’t you think, vampire?”
“Luxurious life heightened up your sense of taste, hasn’t it?” Thailog grinned. “I’ve did a little research of my own and I have discovered this place fully abandoned and fully unused. The owner of this building had long since lost his business due a certain faulty procedure in his products. He went in and out of courts for many weeks until he was finally declared bankrupt. He finally sold this building and the land with it to Xanatos. What I’ve heard is that Xanatos will be demolishing this building by the end of this month. I’ve heard that this land still serves itself as a profitable asset for Xanatos.”
“Xanatos?” Demona smirked a little. “Anything that concerns with money never fails to escape his eye. I bet my company can outrun him better. But what does this place have to do with your plan in helping me destroy the human population?”
“Remember, back at your home, what I told you about those fanatics?” Thailog said as he shifted his red eyes towards Suki who was following him quietly behind. “Your plan of killing the humans and Suki’s way of doing it has made a great impact on the nation, especially the gothic and dark cult practitioners. They believe that the end is near and that their so-called ‘Devil’ has come in the form of a vampire to rid the earth of its people. So I have gone to them and posed as the so-called ‘Devil’s Messenger’ and told them that I would bring the ‘Devil’ to them. I also told them to bring as much victims as they possibly can so that they can sort of serve their purpose in assisting the ‘Devil’ to world destruction.”
“Now that’s an interesting idea,” Demona said, impressed. “We do not have to hassle about skulking in the dark and worry about finding victims, and we won’t have to worry about bumping into unwanted people. They come straight into our doorstep, served in a silver platter.”
“And we won’t have to promise the cult followers anything,” Thailog grinned maliciously as he stopped in front of a huge door. He pulled it open and showed the females proudly a great parade of humans in a wide warehouse cheering and talking in leveled tones at the sight of Thailog’s arrival and a whole lot more humans locked in a giant-sized cage, crying and screaming and begging for mercy, demanding to be let go. Demona stared at this in awe. Suki eyed at all the people gathered there waiting to be consumed but remained where she was before being given the cue. She wanted to just pounce on each and every one of those humans and suck the life force out of them but she had no choice but to wait for the cue. She was trained to follow Demona’s orders.
“Thailog, I have just found another reason to love you even more,” Demona said as she wrapped her arms around his.
“Where is Brooklyn?”
All the gargoyles looked at each other questioningly. They were all getting ready to go out into the night to search for Demona and Suki to stop them from harming any other humans again, but somehow Brooklyn has slipped past their eyes and had disappeared.
“Oh boy, here we go again,” Broadway sighed and rolled his eyes, getting exasperated with his brother who lately has been running off soundlessly to do things behind their backs.
“He must’ve taken off on his own again,” Lexington said, his gaze shifted towards the outside of the tower. “He’s always doing that. That lovesick guy never gives up.”
“Aye, he is a strong-headed lad. What are we to do with him?” Hudson asked.
“The usual, I suppose,” Goliath sighed tiredly. “Half of us will take patrol to look for Suki and Demona, and half of you will…”
“Hey, guys, am I missing anything?”
The gargoyles turned around and smiled a little to see their favourite human friend Elisa Maza coming up the stairs with her usual work clothes on. Sometimes they suspect that that’s the only work clothes she has for life.
“Brooklyn walked out on us again,” Angela said as Elisa moved towards the clan. “We are just going to split up and search for both Suki and Demona and Brooklyn as usual.”
“Maybe there is some place you might want to try out,” Elisa suggested. “I just got a call from Xanatos and he wishes that Bluestone and I go with him to Millstone Mines ‘coz his purchased land had a security breach.”
“Security breach?” Goliath still couldn’t really get to understand this type of police talk.
“She means someone is trespassing in Xanatos’ land,” Lexington, the ever smart one, translated for him.
“That’s right, and he wants me and Bluestone to come with me,” Elisa said. “Also, he wishes a little help from a certain concerned citizens with wings.”
“Why would Xanatos need our help this time?” Broadway asked suspiciously.
“Well, if Xanatos want help from you guys, I bet that there must be something serious going on over there to ask for such help. Besides maybe you might find your leads over there.”
“Are you saying that either Demona and Suki might be there or Brooklyn would be there?” Broadway and Lexington asked almost simultaneously.
“I’m only making hunches just like we cops always do,” Elisa replied.
“She may be right, Goliath,” Angela said. “We couldn’t find Demona and Suki anywhere near Manhattan City and Brooklyn might have figured out that they might not be in Manhattan City anymore. They could be there.”
“She’s got a point there,” Broadway agreed. “From what I’ve heard, Milestone Mines is a few distant miles away from Manhattan City somewhere in the interiors. I have been suspecting Brooklyn to be venturing into further places to find Suki—there was once I had to search for him down into the suburban airport and believe me, it wasn’t easy coaxing him out of there.”
“Then let us waste no time,” Goliath said as he moved out of the clock tower towards the edge. “If there is any possibility of the three of them to be there, then we shall have to take that chance. Yes, Bronx,” Goliath said when Bronx whined and padded at his feet, “you can come along too.”
“I’d like to fly with you guys too,” Elisa said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been air-borne. Bluestone can take the car.”
So, with Elisa in Goliath’s arms and Lexington carrying Bronx, all the gargoyles jumped off the clock tower and swooped down through the night sky towards the direction of the Milestone Mines.
Brooklyn glided through the night sky towards the place where Xanatos and Owen had talked about. If there were disturbances in that place, Suki and Demona would surely to be there. Who else would be able to cause such trouble at an unlikely place like this abandoned building? Certainly not some mere human crooks who want to steal a bunch of useless metal and wood.
He knew he shouldn’t be doing this alone. He knew he should’ve told his clan first beforehand, but he couldn’t do it. He had no choice. He couldn’t bear letting Goliath know about his suspicions on Suki’s whereabouts and risk the possibility of Goliath killing her. He couldn’t bear it. He just couldn’t bear it. He had to get to Suki first before he and the clan does and get her out of there before it’s too late.
As the abandoned building came in sight, he swooped down onto the top floor and made his way silently down the unearthly stairs towards the warehouse. From there he could hear cheers and loud chanting of some ancient language he had long forgotten since being trapped in stone for a thousand years. He found himself standing in front of the warehouse door and he could hear the cheers and chanting coming from the other side. Curiosity stepped in as he wondered what these people could be celebrating at a time like this and at a god forsaken place like this rundown building. He looked up and saw that there was an air vent up on the ceiling. He climbed the wall and wriggled his way into the air vent and started crawling. Luckily the air vent fit his body size including his wings, or he would’ve gotten stuck in the midway.
As he crawled into the other end of the air vent and peered through the opening, he saw a whole crowd of people wearing black robes and their faces were shielded by their hoods, almost like the clothes of the Ring Wraiths in LOTR. Then he saw that behind those black-robed people was the huge cage of people of all ages and their screams of agony and fear definitely did not fit in the merriment of the black-robed people.
“Children of the Darkness, come and witness the true evil that has awakened unto your cry! Let the blood feast begin!!”
The black-robed people cheered joyously. Brooklyn couldn’t help thinking that the deep rumbling voice he just heard sounded familiar. He wanted to see who the owner of the voice was but he was out of sight. He shifted his gaze and saw Demona standing at one end of the cage holding a struggling woman while Suki was a few feet away from Demona sucking the blood of a middle-aged man. Brooklyn’s heart went a little sour as it reminded him of Suki sucking his blood.
He couldn’t sit still any longer. He had to stop this madness. Without waiting another second, he broke through the opening he was peering through and jumped out of the air vent with a loud roar, landing right in front of Suki who was now sucking the woman Demona was holding just now. Everyone was shocked and gasped at the sight of him.
“Suki, stop it! Stop it right now!” Brooklyn yelled.
“Brooklyn…?” It was only when Suki finished draining the woman off her blood that Brooklyn’s words got into her ears.
“Come back with me! Let’s leave this place! Let’s go!” Brooklyn yelled desperately as he pulled at Suki’s hands. Whether it was because she just finished her meal or too ecstatic with blood, surprisingly she didn’t attempt to fight him.
“No one is going anywhere!”
Before he knew it, Brooklyn was swiped away and was sent skidding across the floor. As he struggled to get up, he suddenly felt the hard weight from Thailog’s foot as the Goliath clone stepped onto his chest, holding him down.
“Go…Goliath…?” Brooklyn strained to see and was shocked to see Thailog in the likeness of Goliath, then narrowed his eyes in contempt, “No…I’ve heard about you…Lexington told me…about Goliath having a clone…”
“My fame has even reached your ears,” Thailog said with a smug. “I’m impressed.”
“Well, don’t get too swell-headed,” Brooklyn growled.
“You’re really brave, Brooklyn, to be coming here,” Demona said, moving towards the weak and blank-looking Suki. “You know that it’s rude to crash someone’s party.”
“Let her go!” Brooklyn snarled, his eyes glowing. “Stop doing this to her! Look what she has become!”
“Oh, she has become something really fascinating and useful indeed, Brooklyn. She has understood the true purpose of a gargoyle and she has been doing her share of righteous work I have for her. And don’t worry, Brooklyn,” Demona said as she led Suki back towards the cage for her next feeding frenzy, “she’s just gone through a phase of optimum she has her fill, she’ll soon get out of this daze.”
With that, Thailog lifted his foot off Brooklyn’s chest and grabbed him by the neck before raising him high above his head and throwing him onto the wall, making a dent. The black-robed people cheered as Brooklyn groaned and slumped into a stupor.
“Bring in the next victims!” Thailog commanded. The black-robed people obeyed, chanting as they did Thailog’s bidding.
“Remember, Suki. Humans are our enemies and betrayer,” Demona said as she led her towards a petrified-looking boy, “and they are just as good as dead!”
“Not if I can help it.”
Demona turned sharply to see Goliath standing in front of the boy with his wings spread, shielding him, and Elisa standing beside him. Their eyes met and instantly glowed, showing their distaste for each other. The rest of the clan flew in, ready for a fight. The black-robed people stood there, looking confused at all these weird creatures around them.
“They are betrayers of the sacred cause!!” Thailog growled. “They are trying to stop us from doing the Devil’s bidding! Seize them!!”
All at once, the black-robed people pounced onto the gargoyles. A huge hectic fight occurred. Face-punching, butt-kicking, tail-swishing and bone-crushing ensured. Gun-firing not excluded. Broadway, Lexington and Bronx helped Brooklyn up and joined Goliath in the fight while Hudson and Angela tried to free the people in the huge cage, battling the black-robed people on the way. Soon a few cars came in and they were none other than Matt Bluestone, Xanatos and his trusty secretary Owen. They were also quite shocked to see such hullabaloo going on inside the abandoned building of the land Xanatos bought. They soon kicked into action too, Matt calling for backup while firing shots at the black-robed people together with Xanatos and Owen as they moved in. in the midst of all this chaos, Brooklyn spotted Suki sitting on the floor not moving an inch. He quickly pulled her out of the way and sat her at one corner.
“Don’t worry, Suki. It’ll be all over soon. You’re going home,” Brooklyn reassured her before leaving off to help the other gargoyles fight.
The fight kept on going and was getting more and more hectic, especially the fight between Demona, Goliath and Thailog. Elisa and Matt made sure that all the victims were out of the building and safe outside the dried mines before helping the other gargoyles apprehend the black-robed people. Xanatos, with his expertise in karate and taekwan-do, took down those who tried to escape and Owen, using the latest technologies, apprehended them and held them down. Seeing that their plans have yet again failed, Demona signaled Thailog and they both retreated up the building towards the top floor. Some of the black-robed people who managed to escape their apprehenders’ grasp followed suite. The gargoyles gave chase, followed by Elisa, Matt and Xanatos. Owen stayed behind to do something.
Under all that chaotic whatnot, they have forgotten Suki who was still sitting in a daze at the corner Brooklyn had hid her, still not out of the blood-sucking trance she was abruptly broken out. As her eyes came slowly into focus and her body finally having the strength to stand, she caught a glimpse of Owen walking around the warehouse calmly and putting in a box-like gadget on each corner. He took out his palm desktop and clicked a few buttons before rushing quickly towards the top floor. Suki’s appetite for blood hasn’t satisfied yet and the sight of Owen and the realization that her meal has been rudely interrupted brought back the bloody hunger pangs within her. In a thrice, she pounced on the unsuspecting Owen and carried him all the way to the top floor and up into the midair. Broadway, who was trying to crush one of the black-robed people’s guns, saw her first.
“Look! It’s Suki! She’s got Owen!” he yelled, alerting the others.
“What?” Xanatos turned to see his secretary struggling to get out of Suki’s grasp.
“Oh no…No! Suki, no!! Stop!! Don’t do it!!” Brooklyn yelled while trying to push the black-robed man who was on him trying to strangle him.
Demona and Thailog noticed and smirked—they knew Owen was one of his most important person in his firm. In the midair, Suki bared her fangs and was ready to embed them into the blonde secretary’s jugular. Lexington was about to get ready to fly up and pounce on her but from the corner of his eye, he saw Xanatos taking out his gun from inside his jacket and was aiming it at Suki.
“Xanatos, what do you think you’re…!?” Lexington didn’t finish his question. He had to stop him. As much as he thought that Suki was trouble, she’s still his sister and a part of the clan.
His yell alerted the other gargoyles and they were shocked too. Everything went into slow motion as one by one Demona, Goliath, Angela, Lexington and Hudson tried to run over to Xanatos and stop him. Brooklyn still couldn’t break from the black-robed man’s grasp but he struggled to get up anyway.
Everyone was coming closer to Xanatos. All trying to stop him from firing. They all had different reasons for Xanatos not to shoot her but they all have one desire.
Don’t let Suki die.
Suki has started to bite Owen’s jugular. Brooklyn could see Xanatos’ finger pulling the trigger. He let out one desperate cry, “Xanatos, don’t kill her~!!!”
Too late.
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp13
CHAPTER 13: DARKNESS FALLS IN
She could feel herself getting closer and closer towards the dark side. She could feel herself changing from the timid, scared-of-everything little girl into a bloodthirsty vampire hybrid who is bent on helping the gargoyle Demona to do her bidding and destroy all the humans she once was.
Somehow she felt that Demona was quite right about the humans. She had seen the way the humans reacted when she and Demona appeared in front of them. They looked as if they were terrified of them, scared and horrified by their appearance and if they could and have the courage to do so, they would want to kill them. They run at the sight of them and they scream like hell was going to come and claim their souls or something like that.
Well, she and Demona are coming to claim their lives anyway, literally.
Demona was right. She was right all along. Humans really don’t appreciate people who are different than they are. They really see things which are different as a threat. They didn’t stop to think or find out who they really are and what their purpose in this Earth is all about. They are just so bent on trying to get rid of people who are different from them and bring the ones that are as same as they are closer to them. They take the protection they were given by those who are different for granted and when they have no use to them, they try to eliminate them without trying to understand what they need. She found it hard to believe that she used to be this kind of race.
When she thought about it, she couldn’t see why Goliath tries to protect this race who doesn’t even know that the clan existed and fear them whenever they actually appear up close and personal to them. Goliath told her before that she was one of them and that she also has an obligation just like the rest of the gargoyles to protect and watch over the humans. Brooklyn even volunteered to protect the humans alongside with her and help her out in any way he could to make her understand her purpose. She understood the purpose now and yet somehow she felt that it was practically the dumbest, most worthless purpose she had ever brought herself to believe in.
Their cause is meaningless and should be enlightened to a truer purpose. Demona was right. They are against her and should not be of any connection to her. Any enemy of Demona is an enemy of her.
Including Brooklyn.
“He’s awake! Oh, thank the gods, he’s awake!”
Brooklyn opened his eyes slowly and could barely hear Lexington’s excited voice. He held out his hand and reached over towards the place on his neck where it hurt slightly. Then the memory slipped silently back into his mind. He remembered the pair of sharp fangs buried into his jugular by the hybrid gargoyle he had come to love. He was actually attacked and was almost killed by Suki, his love. He felt the bandage on his neck and let out a small sigh before shifting his eyes towards his clan.
“Are you alright, Brooklyn? You gave us quite a scare there,” Goliath asked as he knelt down beside his second-in-command.
“Yeah. Bronx found you in the park after Demona got away from us,” Broadway said as he sat his brother up. “You were bleeding from the neck and we thought you were a goner. We took you home and stayed by your side until dawn broke, and we seriously hoped that the morning sleep will heal, seeing that you have lost so much blood.”
“But after the sun set and we broke out of our stone sleep one by one,” Lexington continued, “you took your time to break and when you did break, you didn’t stretch or yawn like we did. The stone skin just broke and you just fell onto the floor like a rag doll.”
“We were so afraid that you lost so much blood that even the stone sleep couldn’t cure you,” Angela said worriedly. “You were barely breathing. We couldn’t do the…CPR Elisa taught us, so we had no choice but to try and shake you awake.”
“That explains the dizziness of my head,” Brooklyn muttered in a half-jokingly way.
“Who did this to you?” Goliath asked, his voice rumbled in his throat with a serious tone. It sounded pretty authoritative and Brooklyn was afraid. He could tell from that tone that Goliath was going to pulverize the person who had hurt him. He remained quiet, his hand still on the neck, fingering the bandage.
“Who else but his vampire girlfriend?” Lexington said in a grudging tone. “I knew she was a bit of a trouble from the start. She probably tried to kill him just like she killed all the other humans in the bar…”
“She didn’t mean it, OK?” Brooklyn hissed, not wanting Lexington to say anything bad about his love. “She just wanted to get away and escape from me. She didn’t mean to hurt me…I’m sure of it.”
“No matter what the reason,” Goliath said as he helped Brooklyn to sit up, “she has gone against us and has deserted our clan. She is now our enemy and must be stopped at all costs before she kills again, even if it means taking drastic measures.”
“Please don’t kill her, Goliath,” Brooklyn pleaded. “I beg you, Goliath. She really didn’t mean to hurt me. It’s just…”
“I, too, would not wish to hurt her. She had been a fond member in our team and I would like to avoid anything unwanted if I can. But if the situation gets bleak, I’m afraid we’ll have no choice.”
Brooklyn lowered his head, feeling downcast. Deep down inside, he knew that Goliath was right and that if the situation persisted, none of them will have a choice to do otherwise. Her thirst for blood, as shown in the bar house he and his brothers barged in, was more lethal and insatiable than they could’ve imagined. She has begun to become a threat to the human race he and the clan had sworn to protect.
But he just couldn’t stand the idea of killing her.
The sound of beating wings outside Demona’s little home alerted her. She rushed over to open the window for whoever it was that was hovering outside her window to come in. Suki, who was sitting beside Demona’s chair by the fireplace, looked at the window curiously from her spot.
“Thailog, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, my love.”
Suki stared at the gargoyle that entered the room. His white hair and red eyes looked new to her, and his skin was so dark that if they hadn’t turned on the lights, she probably wouldn’t be able to see him. The funny thing was that he looked exactly like Goliath. Suki was a little scared: Has Goliath turned himself into a different form to trick Demona and take her back to the clan and back to Brooklyn she just tried to kill? Suki growled and backed away.
“Looks exactly like your clan leader Goliath, doesn’t he?” Demona turned to Suki who was keeping a wary eye on Thailog. “Don’t worry, he’s not Goliath. He’s a very dear love of mine, just like between you and Brooklyn.”
“Brooklyn not Suki’s love,” Suki shifted her gaze for a while, then eyed Thailog’s jugular hungrily and grinned. “Is Thailog for Suki eat?”
“Don’t you even think about it, you little vampire,” Demona hissed. “Sorry, Thailog. She’s been trying to get used to enjoy the blood consumption. I guess she got a pint of blood too many.”
“I have heard a lot about your news on my way here,” Thailog said as he brought a copy of a newspaper for Demona to see. On the newspaper was a very huge headlines writing ‘VAMPIRES: TRUTH OR CULT?’ with a very big picture of dead people stacked up in a careless heap, their bite marks being highlighted. “It seems that you have a great head start in fulfilling your mission and your wildest dreams. I suppose she’s the one been doing your dirty work, isn’t she?”
“She certainly is, and what a prized jewel she is. With an appetite for blood like her, we’ll soon take our rightful place as rulers of this earth and no one, not even one single human, will ever tear this truth apart. It may take some time for her to eliminate all the beings in this world, but with the modern technology in this century, we could definitely figure out something to create more creatures like her.”
“And I, a gargoyle born of this century and with the brains of both my fathers Sevarius and Xanatos, can definitely come up with a certain plan on creating that batch,” Thailog replied as he eyed thoughtfully at Suki who was still eyeing at Thailog with that hungry look on her eyes. “Are you sure she won’t bite?”
“As long as I have her on the leash, she’s pretty much harmless,” Demona replied, then fell into her evil sweetheart’s arms and asked, “So, what brings you here, my love?”
“I’m here because I have a perfect preposition for you,” Thailog said as he brought Demona’s face closer to his mouth before whispering, “Listen…”
And as the huge Goliath-like white-haired gargoyle clone whispered his plans to his redhead gargoyle, Suki continued to watch with curiosity over the two.
Xanatos and Owen were in their office as usual checking what’s new on the market and, at the same time, trying to figure out the whereabouts of Ms. Dominique Destin a.k.a. Demona. The fact that there was someone more successful in business than him kind of tweaked Xanatos a little, and finding her became a little personal to him than wanting to help the gargoyle clan to help find Suki.
Suddenly there was a loud, long beep in one of the computer screens. Xanatos shifted his gaze from his laptop towards that computer while Owen had a head start in clicking the keyboards into finding out what was going on. As Owen scanned through the perimeters and zoomed in the screen, the screen soon showed something in the landscape that both Owen and Xanatos were familiar of.
“Sir, it appears that there seems to be some sort of a disturbance in the abandoned building on the land you’ve recently bought,” Owen commented as he pointed at the blinking spot on the landscape.
“Ah, the building that I have bugged so that I can keep track of any trespassers coming into my property,” Xanatos remembered the land he had bought from someone who was going bankrupt in his business and going down the drains in debts. “Now who could that be, I wonder?”
“Shall I get us a vehicle to go and check it out?” Owen offered as he took out his cell phone.
“Do that,” Xanatos replied. “We’ll see who the fool to cause this unnecessary disturbance is.”
While Owen made the arrangements, a dark figure with long white hair and a beak-like mouth hid in the corner of the window listening to every word before taking off down the moonlit sky.
She could feel herself getting closer and closer towards the dark side. She could feel herself changing from the timid, scared-of-everything little girl into a bloodthirsty vampire hybrid who is bent on helping the gargoyle Demona to do her bidding and destroy all the humans she once was.
Somehow she felt that Demona was quite right about the humans. She had seen the way the humans reacted when she and Demona appeared in front of them. They looked as if they were terrified of them, scared and horrified by their appearance and if they could and have the courage to do so, they would want to kill them. They run at the sight of them and they scream like hell was going to come and claim their souls or something like that.
Well, she and Demona are coming to claim their lives anyway, literally.
Demona was right. She was right all along. Humans really don’t appreciate people who are different than they are. They really see things which are different as a threat. They didn’t stop to think or find out who they really are and what their purpose in this Earth is all about. They are just so bent on trying to get rid of people who are different from them and bring the ones that are as same as they are closer to them. They take the protection they were given by those who are different for granted and when they have no use to them, they try to eliminate them without trying to understand what they need. She found it hard to believe that she used to be this kind of race.
When she thought about it, she couldn’t see why Goliath tries to protect this race who doesn’t even know that the clan existed and fear them whenever they actually appear up close and personal to them. Goliath told her before that she was one of them and that she also has an obligation just like the rest of the gargoyles to protect and watch over the humans. Brooklyn even volunteered to protect the humans alongside with her and help her out in any way he could to make her understand her purpose. She understood the purpose now and yet somehow she felt that it was practically the dumbest, most worthless purpose she had ever brought herself to believe in.
Their cause is meaningless and should be enlightened to a truer purpose. Demona was right. They are against her and should not be of any connection to her. Any enemy of Demona is an enemy of her.
Including Brooklyn.
“He’s awake! Oh, thank the gods, he’s awake!”
Brooklyn opened his eyes slowly and could barely hear Lexington’s excited voice. He held out his hand and reached over towards the place on his neck where it hurt slightly. Then the memory slipped silently back into his mind. He remembered the pair of sharp fangs buried into his jugular by the hybrid gargoyle he had come to love. He was actually attacked and was almost killed by Suki, his love. He felt the bandage on his neck and let out a small sigh before shifting his eyes towards his clan.
“Are you alright, Brooklyn? You gave us quite a scare there,” Goliath asked as he knelt down beside his second-in-command.
“Yeah. Bronx found you in the park after Demona got away from us,” Broadway said as he sat his brother up. “You were bleeding from the neck and we thought you were a goner. We took you home and stayed by your side until dawn broke, and we seriously hoped that the morning sleep will heal, seeing that you have lost so much blood.”
“But after the sun set and we broke out of our stone sleep one by one,” Lexington continued, “you took your time to break and when you did break, you didn’t stretch or yawn like we did. The stone skin just broke and you just fell onto the floor like a rag doll.”
“We were so afraid that you lost so much blood that even the stone sleep couldn’t cure you,” Angela said worriedly. “You were barely breathing. We couldn’t do the…CPR Elisa taught us, so we had no choice but to try and shake you awake.”
“That explains the dizziness of my head,” Brooklyn muttered in a half-jokingly way.
“Who did this to you?” Goliath asked, his voice rumbled in his throat with a serious tone. It sounded pretty authoritative and Brooklyn was afraid. He could tell from that tone that Goliath was going to pulverize the person who had hurt him. He remained quiet, his hand still on the neck, fingering the bandage.
“Who else but his vampire girlfriend?” Lexington said in a grudging tone. “I knew she was a bit of a trouble from the start. She probably tried to kill him just like she killed all the other humans in the bar…”
“She didn’t mean it, OK?” Brooklyn hissed, not wanting Lexington to say anything bad about his love. “She just wanted to get away and escape from me. She didn’t mean to hurt me…I’m sure of it.”
“No matter what the reason,” Goliath said as he helped Brooklyn to sit up, “she has gone against us and has deserted our clan. She is now our enemy and must be stopped at all costs before she kills again, even if it means taking drastic measures.”
“Please don’t kill her, Goliath,” Brooklyn pleaded. “I beg you, Goliath. She really didn’t mean to hurt me. It’s just…”
“I, too, would not wish to hurt her. She had been a fond member in our team and I would like to avoid anything unwanted if I can. But if the situation gets bleak, I’m afraid we’ll have no choice.”
Brooklyn lowered his head, feeling downcast. Deep down inside, he knew that Goliath was right and that if the situation persisted, none of them will have a choice to do otherwise. Her thirst for blood, as shown in the bar house he and his brothers barged in, was more lethal and insatiable than they could’ve imagined. She has begun to become a threat to the human race he and the clan had sworn to protect.
But he just couldn’t stand the idea of killing her.
The sound of beating wings outside Demona’s little home alerted her. She rushed over to open the window for whoever it was that was hovering outside her window to come in. Suki, who was sitting beside Demona’s chair by the fireplace, looked at the window curiously from her spot.
“Thailog, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, my love.”
Suki stared at the gargoyle that entered the room. His white hair and red eyes looked new to her, and his skin was so dark that if they hadn’t turned on the lights, she probably wouldn’t be able to see him. The funny thing was that he looked exactly like Goliath. Suki was a little scared: Has Goliath turned himself into a different form to trick Demona and take her back to the clan and back to Brooklyn she just tried to kill? Suki growled and backed away.
“Looks exactly like your clan leader Goliath, doesn’t he?” Demona turned to Suki who was keeping a wary eye on Thailog. “Don’t worry, he’s not Goliath. He’s a very dear love of mine, just like between you and Brooklyn.”
“Brooklyn not Suki’s love,” Suki shifted her gaze for a while, then eyed Thailog’s jugular hungrily and grinned. “Is Thailog for Suki eat?”
“Don’t you even think about it, you little vampire,” Demona hissed. “Sorry, Thailog. She’s been trying to get used to enjoy the blood consumption. I guess she got a pint of blood too many.”
“I have heard a lot about your news on my way here,” Thailog said as he brought a copy of a newspaper for Demona to see. On the newspaper was a very huge headlines writing ‘VAMPIRES: TRUTH OR CULT?’ with a very big picture of dead people stacked up in a careless heap, their bite marks being highlighted. “It seems that you have a great head start in fulfilling your mission and your wildest dreams. I suppose she’s the one been doing your dirty work, isn’t she?”
“She certainly is, and what a prized jewel she is. With an appetite for blood like her, we’ll soon take our rightful place as rulers of this earth and no one, not even one single human, will ever tear this truth apart. It may take some time for her to eliminate all the beings in this world, but with the modern technology in this century, we could definitely figure out something to create more creatures like her.”
“And I, a gargoyle born of this century and with the brains of both my fathers Sevarius and Xanatos, can definitely come up with a certain plan on creating that batch,” Thailog replied as he eyed thoughtfully at Suki who was still eyeing at Thailog with that hungry look on her eyes. “Are you sure she won’t bite?”
“As long as I have her on the leash, she’s pretty much harmless,” Demona replied, then fell into her evil sweetheart’s arms and asked, “So, what brings you here, my love?”
“I’m here because I have a perfect preposition for you,” Thailog said as he brought Demona’s face closer to his mouth before whispering, “Listen…”
And as the huge Goliath-like white-haired gargoyle clone whispered his plans to his redhead gargoyle, Suki continued to watch with curiosity over the two.
Xanatos and Owen were in their office as usual checking what’s new on the market and, at the same time, trying to figure out the whereabouts of Ms. Dominique Destin a.k.a. Demona. The fact that there was someone more successful in business than him kind of tweaked Xanatos a little, and finding her became a little personal to him than wanting to help the gargoyle clan to help find Suki.
Suddenly there was a loud, long beep in one of the computer screens. Xanatos shifted his gaze from his laptop towards that computer while Owen had a head start in clicking the keyboards into finding out what was going on. As Owen scanned through the perimeters and zoomed in the screen, the screen soon showed something in the landscape that both Owen and Xanatos were familiar of.
“Sir, it appears that there seems to be some sort of a disturbance in the abandoned building on the land you’ve recently bought,” Owen commented as he pointed at the blinking spot on the landscape.
“Ah, the building that I have bugged so that I can keep track of any trespassers coming into my property,” Xanatos remembered the land he had bought from someone who was going bankrupt in his business and going down the drains in debts. “Now who could that be, I wonder?”
“Shall I get us a vehicle to go and check it out?” Owen offered as he took out his cell phone.
“Do that,” Xanatos replied. “We’ll see who the fool to cause this unnecessary disturbance is.”
While Owen made the arrangements, a dark figure with long white hair and a beak-like mouth hid in the corner of the window listening to every word before taking off down the moonlit sky.
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp12
CHAPTER 12: THE HEART ACHES
She had never felt guiltier than this. She had promised not to hurt anyone that was her kin, but in the end she had actually consumed more than 10 people last night. She couldn’t forget the shocked look on their faces and their gurgling voices as they try to scream for help. She couldn’t forget how the blood from their veins was sucked out of them and entered into her gut. She couldn’t forget the sweet taste that filled her mouth when she sucked their blood dry off their body and the bitter after-taste later.
But the most important thing she couldn’t forget was the shocked look on their faces when they fell out of her hands and onto the floor on a careless heap. Those wide bulging eyes, their pale faces and their mouths opening and frozen into a half-scream really reminded her of the same expression she had seen in her nightmares.
They reminded her of the surprised and shocked look on Brooklyn’s face in her nightmares when she found out that she had sucked his blood.
She was scared. Really, really scared. She was scared that her terrible actions would be found by Brooklyn. She was afraid that after knowing that she had hurt and killed humans, Brooklyn would hate her and would leave her for doing so. She didn’t want to be hurt. She didn’t want Brooklyn to leave her. She didn’t want to lose someone whom she loved and being protected from. She didn’t want to even lose the sight of him.
Yet she knew that deep down inside her heart, sooner or later, she will not be with him ever again.
“Unbelievable. This is the most bizarre case I have ever seen in my entire life.”
Elisa and her partner Matt were staring over the dead bodies that lay on the floor of the alley. The coroner came in and carried them one by one in their black bags into their van. There were on-lookers and reporters surrounding the crime scene either wanting to see what was going on or wanting to catch the latest scoop for their newspaper or their TV news channel. The police surrounded them, barring them all from coming in.
“All these people died at the same time. This is too bizarre,” Matt said as he examined one of the bodies. “It looks as if they were sucked dry of their blood like drinking from a small packet drink. Either that or they’ve just been popped into an oven and being overly dehydrated or something.”
“I’d vouch for the first one, Matt,” Elisa muttered as she took a look at their necks. As she suspected, there were two puncture wounds on each of their jugular. Bite marks, to be more precise. She feared the worst.
“We also have a few more incidents down at almost every other dark street just like this one, and they were all either squatters or just plain normal citizens,” another officer gave them his report. “They died the same way too looking like dried prunes. So many dead bodies at one night. They sure got our work cut out for us.”
“What do you think happened, Elisa? Could this be a cult or a ritual of some kind?” Matt asked worriedly.
“I’m afraid it’s something much worse than that,” Elisa replied in leveled fear, for once wishing that the sun doesn’t set for today.
The sun slowly crept away from the horizon, inching its way for darkness to settle in. The gargoyles began to stir one by one, breaking out of their stone encasing. Elisa could hear their roar as she inched reluctantly up to the clock tower to meet them. How was she going to say that the timid and quiet little Suki they have come to like and whom Brooklyn has come to love was in a rampage to suck blood and kill humans? How would she explain to them that there had been an intensive investigation has been ordered out in search of a cult killer where the truth is that Suki has been feeding on those poor people and that she knew about it? How could she even tell them that Suki, who would never even harm a fly, has already become Demona’s pawn in her plans to wipe out mankind? As she sat on the armchair contemplating and finding the right words to say, Goliath approached her.
“Any news on Demona or Suki?”
It took Elisa quite a while to realize that her tall, dark and handsome gargoyle was standing before her, “Oh, sorry, Goliath. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Any news about Demona or Suki?” Goliath repeated his question. The rest of the gargoyles, including the ever anxious Brooklyn, gathered around them, the questions written all over their faces.
“Yes, but I’m afraid it’s bad news,” Elisa said. She took a deep breath before deciding to spit it all out. “Matt and I were called in to a crime scene this morning. It appears that there had been a mound of dead people at a dirty alley of the secluded side of Manhattan, and I’m afraid that this is not going to be a pretty conclusion to who could have done those murders.”
“Any suspects?” Broadway asked.
“There’s only one who I can think of,” Elisa replied guiltily. She still wasn’t sure whether the gargoyles—not to mention Brooklyn—could take the shocking pressure of Suki being a wanted suspect of ritual murder.
“How many has she killed?”
All heads turned towards the second-in-command of the clan. His eyes were fixed and determined and his face was of none the other gargoyles have ever seen before. They didn’t think that Suki would be the first thing in his mind. He moved closer towards the detective and repeated his question again, “How many has she killed? How many bodies were there?”
“About 10, give or take, for every street,” Elisa replied. “Their blood was practically sucked dry…”
Brooklyn didn’t stay to listen to the rest of the details. He swiftly ran out of the tower and jumped off the edge of it, soaring and gliding down quickly towards the city of Manhattan. Goliath, through eye-contact, told the other younger gargoyles to go after him and keep from harm’s way. They nodded and jumped off the edge of the tower as well, following behind Brooklyn’s tail. Goliath and the rest remaining in the tower looked out into the city and stared after the juvenile gargoyles going closer and closer towards the city.
“Brooklyn is getting more and more to himself now,” Goliath sighed as the last gargoyle disappeared out of sight. “He leaves the tower immediately after he has awakened and he only returns when the sun is almost out in the horizon. Sometimes he doesn’t even come home at all. And he is getting thinner and paler by the night. I fear for his safety and his health.”
“That lad is up to here about the lass,” Hudson said, making a gesture with his hand. “And I bet me old bones he’s not going to rest until he finds her.”
“People certainly do crazy things when they’re in love,” Elisa muttered under her breath as she unconsciously wrapped her arm around Goliath’s.
The After-Hours Bar House was pretty full of people at this time of night. There were a lot of people in there from all walks of life and all of them between 18 and above. They were all there for one reason: to get a little booze and have some fun.
Suddenly someone barged in with a little girl probably not older than 15 in her arms. She had red flaming hair and had some sort of cape draped around her. She seemed pretty panicky indeed as she was looking left and right for someone to help her while holding the limp little girl in her arms.
“Please! Somebody! Anybody! I need help! My daughter is dying!” the woman with red hair yelled frantically. Her calls caught the bartender’s attention.
“Yo, lady, wassup?” the bartender asked. “Is your daughter sick or something?”
“She’s dying! She’s getting weak and will be weaker if you don’t do something!” the woman said as she rushed towards the bartender and placed the little girl on the counter. It appeared that the little girl was wearing a cape just like hers.
“Hey, lady, this ain’t no hospital,” the bartender replied awkwardly. “I think she needs to see a doctor.”
“No, she can’t have a doctor! No doctor can cure her! She needs help from you! All of you!”
“And what is it do we need to do to help her?” one of the customers asked. “Give her a funeral?”
“No, only your blood.”
As if by cue, the little girl got up abruptly and pounced onto the bartender, baring her fangs and sinking them into his jugular. Yup, you guessed it. They were none other than Demona and Suki, ganging up together to feed on the humans’ blood and, at the same time, destroy mankind. Suki jumped onto one person after another, ridding them of their blood and filling it into herself. Many screamed and tried to escape but Demona, with her gargoyle strength, barred the doors shut, keeping everyone a prisoner. As the people inside the bar house ran frantically around trying to find a way out, Suki pounced onto them, sucking them dry one by one.
“Stop it, Suki! STOP IT!!!”
Suki turned around and was shocked to see Brooklyn, Broadway, Angela and Lexington in the bar the other gargoyles did battle with Demona and tried to free the other surviving victims, Brooklyn swooped towards Suki and grabbed her by the waist with one swipe of his hand. With his mighty claw, he broke a hole on the ceiling of the bar house and climbed upwards with Suki in his arm. Lexington and Angela guided the survivors either from the opened ceiling while the stronger gargoyles Broadway and Bronx fought with Demona and keep her distracted.
Brooklyn, on the other hand, brought the struggling Suki higher and higher into the sky and towards a tall skyscraper. Once he landed on the skyscraper, Suki immediately scrambled out of his grasp and stood as far away as possible from him, shaking her head slightly.
“No come near Suki!” she warned. “Suki danger! No come near Suki!”
“Suki, it’s me!” Brooklyn coaxed as he tried to inch his way towards her. “It’s me, Brooklyn. Don’t you remember me? It’s me, Brooklyn, your friend, your protector, your…your love…”
“Suki no want be with Brooklyn,” Suki replied sadly. “Suki no want hurt Brooklyn.”
“There has to be some cure for this. There has to be something to stop you from doing this nasty blood-sucking habit. Please, Suki, don’t leave us anymore. You’re family. You don’t belong with Demona. You shouldn’t even be near her.”
“Demona make Suki more belong.”
“Suki, Demona is evil. She is evil and you know it. She’ll do anything to kill the humans that she loathed for centuries and centuries long. Once you’re of no use to her, she’ll kill you too.”
“Suki no care.”
“You don’t care, but I care!”
“Suki evil too,” Suki looked away sadly.
“No, Suki! Don’t say that! You are not evil! You are evil only if you want to be. You cannot trust Demona. She would do anything to get her way. I don’t want you to kill anymore! I don’t want to see you become like this! Please, don’t leave me anymore. We want you back into the clan. I want you back into my life. Please…”
"Suki kill humans. Suki suck blood. Suki not in Goliath’s clan anymore. Suki no fit…”
“They’ll welcome you whenever you want to come back and no matter what you have turned into, Suki,” Brooklyn reassured her. “At least, I would do that if I were Goliath. If it’s blood you want, I am willing to give it to you. You can suck my blood anytime you want. Just come back to me, Suki. Leave Demona and return to my clan. Please.”
“Too late,” Suki replied as she backed away towards the edge of the skyscraper. “Suki danger and Suki evil. Suki no want hurt Brooklyn. Suki kill people. Suki no want kill Brooklyn.”
As she turned around to jump off the edge and fly away, Brooklyn grabbed hold of her waist again—this time with both hands—and held on to her real tight. Suki struggled to break free but the relentless Brooklyn refused to let go. He didn’t want her to leave him, not ever again. The nights without her seemed torturous and endless and horribly tragic. He was sure that he couldn’t live without her anymore. He was sure and true to his feelings that he had actually fallen in love with this mysterious, timid little hybrid.
“Suki, Suki, please! I beg of you! Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me anymore! Please, I beg you with my life! You have no idea how hard it was for me without you around! I can’t let you out of my sight ever again!”
“Let go! Let go~!! No touch Suki!! No touch Suki~!!!”
“I love you, Suki! I love you!!”
They struggled and struggled, one wanting to break free and the other not wanting to let go. Suki knew that Brooklyn was stronger but she had to try fighting him off anyway. The struggle made her lose her balance and both of them soon were plummeting down towards the ground below. Brooklyn opened his wings just in time and held onto Suki tight, determined to keep her by his side and take her back to the clock tower where she belongs. He’ll obey any confinements Goliath might give if that’s what it takes to make her stay. He’ll oblige to asking Xanatos for help if it means being able to cure her habit of blood-sucking. He’ll give her his blood if there is no cure for her. He’ll do anything. Just anything…
“AHH!!”
His thoughts were cut short when he felt a sharp jab on his neck. He lost control of his flight and fell slowly down towards the ground. He was lucky that below him was the park and he soon landed on the thick bushes. He tried to get up but he couldn’t. he could feel something warm trickling down his shoulder and towards his chest. That’s when he realized that Suki had actually sunk her teeth onto his neck and was sucking his blood. She was trying to kill him! She was trying to snuff the life out of him just to escape his grasp! Has she become evil? Has she really become as evil as Demona? He could hardly believe the fact that Suki was actually feasting on him.
And yet part of him was glad.
If he were to die, at least he was dying in the hands of his love.
As he felt himself slowly slipping into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was Suki’s purple eyes glowing…
Demona roared and thrashed at everything she saw once she was at her home. She couldn’t believe it. She was so close into killing another batch of humans and yet the gargoyles of Goliath’s clan had to come and foil it all. And what’s worse was that Brooklyn had stolen from her the best pawn she could ever have for her diabolical plans.
“When I get my hands on Goliath and his clan, I swear I’ll…”
Her ranting stopped when she heard a tiny rap on her window. She went over and opened it and was surprised to see Suki in the mid-air. She stepped aside to let her into the room. Suki swooped silently inside and sat on the bed, looking pretty downcast.
“What brings you here? I thought you were taken away by your precious prince.”
“Suki no want be Brooklyn anymore. Suki no want be in Goliath’s clan,” Suki replied bitterly.
“Is that so? What makes you think I should trust…” Her words stopped abruptly when Suki looked up suddenly with a purple glow in her eyes.
“Suki just want blood.”
She had never felt guiltier than this. She had promised not to hurt anyone that was her kin, but in the end she had actually consumed more than 10 people last night. She couldn’t forget the shocked look on their faces and their gurgling voices as they try to scream for help. She couldn’t forget how the blood from their veins was sucked out of them and entered into her gut. She couldn’t forget the sweet taste that filled her mouth when she sucked their blood dry off their body and the bitter after-taste later.
But the most important thing she couldn’t forget was the shocked look on their faces when they fell out of her hands and onto the floor on a careless heap. Those wide bulging eyes, their pale faces and their mouths opening and frozen into a half-scream really reminded her of the same expression she had seen in her nightmares.
They reminded her of the surprised and shocked look on Brooklyn’s face in her nightmares when she found out that she had sucked his blood.
She was scared. Really, really scared. She was scared that her terrible actions would be found by Brooklyn. She was afraid that after knowing that she had hurt and killed humans, Brooklyn would hate her and would leave her for doing so. She didn’t want to be hurt. She didn’t want Brooklyn to leave her. She didn’t want to lose someone whom she loved and being protected from. She didn’t want to even lose the sight of him.
Yet she knew that deep down inside her heart, sooner or later, she will not be with him ever again.
“Unbelievable. This is the most bizarre case I have ever seen in my entire life.”
Elisa and her partner Matt were staring over the dead bodies that lay on the floor of the alley. The coroner came in and carried them one by one in their black bags into their van. There were on-lookers and reporters surrounding the crime scene either wanting to see what was going on or wanting to catch the latest scoop for their newspaper or their TV news channel. The police surrounded them, barring them all from coming in.
“All these people died at the same time. This is too bizarre,” Matt said as he examined one of the bodies. “It looks as if they were sucked dry of their blood like drinking from a small packet drink. Either that or they’ve just been popped into an oven and being overly dehydrated or something.”
“I’d vouch for the first one, Matt,” Elisa muttered as she took a look at their necks. As she suspected, there were two puncture wounds on each of their jugular. Bite marks, to be more precise. She feared the worst.
“We also have a few more incidents down at almost every other dark street just like this one, and they were all either squatters or just plain normal citizens,” another officer gave them his report. “They died the same way too looking like dried prunes. So many dead bodies at one night. They sure got our work cut out for us.”
“What do you think happened, Elisa? Could this be a cult or a ritual of some kind?” Matt asked worriedly.
“I’m afraid it’s something much worse than that,” Elisa replied in leveled fear, for once wishing that the sun doesn’t set for today.
The sun slowly crept away from the horizon, inching its way for darkness to settle in. The gargoyles began to stir one by one, breaking out of their stone encasing. Elisa could hear their roar as she inched reluctantly up to the clock tower to meet them. How was she going to say that the timid and quiet little Suki they have come to like and whom Brooklyn has come to love was in a rampage to suck blood and kill humans? How would she explain to them that there had been an intensive investigation has been ordered out in search of a cult killer where the truth is that Suki has been feeding on those poor people and that she knew about it? How could she even tell them that Suki, who would never even harm a fly, has already become Demona’s pawn in her plans to wipe out mankind? As she sat on the armchair contemplating and finding the right words to say, Goliath approached her.
“Any news on Demona or Suki?”
It took Elisa quite a while to realize that her tall, dark and handsome gargoyle was standing before her, “Oh, sorry, Goliath. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Any news about Demona or Suki?” Goliath repeated his question. The rest of the gargoyles, including the ever anxious Brooklyn, gathered around them, the questions written all over their faces.
“Yes, but I’m afraid it’s bad news,” Elisa said. She took a deep breath before deciding to spit it all out. “Matt and I were called in to a crime scene this morning. It appears that there had been a mound of dead people at a dirty alley of the secluded side of Manhattan, and I’m afraid that this is not going to be a pretty conclusion to who could have done those murders.”
“Any suspects?” Broadway asked.
“There’s only one who I can think of,” Elisa replied guiltily. She still wasn’t sure whether the gargoyles—not to mention Brooklyn—could take the shocking pressure of Suki being a wanted suspect of ritual murder.
“How many has she killed?”
All heads turned towards the second-in-command of the clan. His eyes were fixed and determined and his face was of none the other gargoyles have ever seen before. They didn’t think that Suki would be the first thing in his mind. He moved closer towards the detective and repeated his question again, “How many has she killed? How many bodies were there?”
“About 10, give or take, for every street,” Elisa replied. “Their blood was practically sucked dry…”
Brooklyn didn’t stay to listen to the rest of the details. He swiftly ran out of the tower and jumped off the edge of it, soaring and gliding down quickly towards the city of Manhattan. Goliath, through eye-contact, told the other younger gargoyles to go after him and keep from harm’s way. They nodded and jumped off the edge of the tower as well, following behind Brooklyn’s tail. Goliath and the rest remaining in the tower looked out into the city and stared after the juvenile gargoyles going closer and closer towards the city.
“Brooklyn is getting more and more to himself now,” Goliath sighed as the last gargoyle disappeared out of sight. “He leaves the tower immediately after he has awakened and he only returns when the sun is almost out in the horizon. Sometimes he doesn’t even come home at all. And he is getting thinner and paler by the night. I fear for his safety and his health.”
“That lad is up to here about the lass,” Hudson said, making a gesture with his hand. “And I bet me old bones he’s not going to rest until he finds her.”
“People certainly do crazy things when they’re in love,” Elisa muttered under her breath as she unconsciously wrapped her arm around Goliath’s.
The After-Hours Bar House was pretty full of people at this time of night. There were a lot of people in there from all walks of life and all of them between 18 and above. They were all there for one reason: to get a little booze and have some fun.
Suddenly someone barged in with a little girl probably not older than 15 in her arms. She had red flaming hair and had some sort of cape draped around her. She seemed pretty panicky indeed as she was looking left and right for someone to help her while holding the limp little girl in her arms.
“Please! Somebody! Anybody! I need help! My daughter is dying!” the woman with red hair yelled frantically. Her calls caught the bartender’s attention.
“Yo, lady, wassup?” the bartender asked. “Is your daughter sick or something?”
“She’s dying! She’s getting weak and will be weaker if you don’t do something!” the woman said as she rushed towards the bartender and placed the little girl on the counter. It appeared that the little girl was wearing a cape just like hers.
“Hey, lady, this ain’t no hospital,” the bartender replied awkwardly. “I think she needs to see a doctor.”
“No, she can’t have a doctor! No doctor can cure her! She needs help from you! All of you!”
“And what is it do we need to do to help her?” one of the customers asked. “Give her a funeral?”
“No, only your blood.”
As if by cue, the little girl got up abruptly and pounced onto the bartender, baring her fangs and sinking them into his jugular. Yup, you guessed it. They were none other than Demona and Suki, ganging up together to feed on the humans’ blood and, at the same time, destroy mankind. Suki jumped onto one person after another, ridding them of their blood and filling it into herself. Many screamed and tried to escape but Demona, with her gargoyle strength, barred the doors shut, keeping everyone a prisoner. As the people inside the bar house ran frantically around trying to find a way out, Suki pounced onto them, sucking them dry one by one.
“Stop it, Suki! STOP IT!!!”
Suki turned around and was shocked to see Brooklyn, Broadway, Angela and Lexington in the bar the other gargoyles did battle with Demona and tried to free the other surviving victims, Brooklyn swooped towards Suki and grabbed her by the waist with one swipe of his hand. With his mighty claw, he broke a hole on the ceiling of the bar house and climbed upwards with Suki in his arm. Lexington and Angela guided the survivors either from the opened ceiling while the stronger gargoyles Broadway and Bronx fought with Demona and keep her distracted.
Brooklyn, on the other hand, brought the struggling Suki higher and higher into the sky and towards a tall skyscraper. Once he landed on the skyscraper, Suki immediately scrambled out of his grasp and stood as far away as possible from him, shaking her head slightly.
“No come near Suki!” she warned. “Suki danger! No come near Suki!”
“Suki, it’s me!” Brooklyn coaxed as he tried to inch his way towards her. “It’s me, Brooklyn. Don’t you remember me? It’s me, Brooklyn, your friend, your protector, your…your love…”
“Suki no want be with Brooklyn,” Suki replied sadly. “Suki no want hurt Brooklyn.”
“There has to be some cure for this. There has to be something to stop you from doing this nasty blood-sucking habit. Please, Suki, don’t leave us anymore. You’re family. You don’t belong with Demona. You shouldn’t even be near her.”
“Demona make Suki more belong.”
“Suki, Demona is evil. She is evil and you know it. She’ll do anything to kill the humans that she loathed for centuries and centuries long. Once you’re of no use to her, she’ll kill you too.”
“Suki no care.”
“You don’t care, but I care!”
“Suki evil too,” Suki looked away sadly.
“No, Suki! Don’t say that! You are not evil! You are evil only if you want to be. You cannot trust Demona. She would do anything to get her way. I don’t want you to kill anymore! I don’t want to see you become like this! Please, don’t leave me anymore. We want you back into the clan. I want you back into my life. Please…”
"Suki kill humans. Suki suck blood. Suki not in Goliath’s clan anymore. Suki no fit…”
“They’ll welcome you whenever you want to come back and no matter what you have turned into, Suki,” Brooklyn reassured her. “At least, I would do that if I were Goliath. If it’s blood you want, I am willing to give it to you. You can suck my blood anytime you want. Just come back to me, Suki. Leave Demona and return to my clan. Please.”
“Too late,” Suki replied as she backed away towards the edge of the skyscraper. “Suki danger and Suki evil. Suki no want hurt Brooklyn. Suki kill people. Suki no want kill Brooklyn.”
As she turned around to jump off the edge and fly away, Brooklyn grabbed hold of her waist again—this time with both hands—and held on to her real tight. Suki struggled to break free but the relentless Brooklyn refused to let go. He didn’t want her to leave him, not ever again. The nights without her seemed torturous and endless and horribly tragic. He was sure that he couldn’t live without her anymore. He was sure and true to his feelings that he had actually fallen in love with this mysterious, timid little hybrid.
“Suki, Suki, please! I beg of you! Don’t leave me! Don’t leave me anymore! Please, I beg you with my life! You have no idea how hard it was for me without you around! I can’t let you out of my sight ever again!”
“Let go! Let go~!! No touch Suki!! No touch Suki~!!!”
“I love you, Suki! I love you!!”
They struggled and struggled, one wanting to break free and the other not wanting to let go. Suki knew that Brooklyn was stronger but she had to try fighting him off anyway. The struggle made her lose her balance and both of them soon were plummeting down towards the ground below. Brooklyn opened his wings just in time and held onto Suki tight, determined to keep her by his side and take her back to the clock tower where she belongs. He’ll obey any confinements Goliath might give if that’s what it takes to make her stay. He’ll oblige to asking Xanatos for help if it means being able to cure her habit of blood-sucking. He’ll give her his blood if there is no cure for her. He’ll do anything. Just anything…
“AHH!!”
His thoughts were cut short when he felt a sharp jab on his neck. He lost control of his flight and fell slowly down towards the ground. He was lucky that below him was the park and he soon landed on the thick bushes. He tried to get up but he couldn’t. he could feel something warm trickling down his shoulder and towards his chest. That’s when he realized that Suki had actually sunk her teeth onto his neck and was sucking his blood. She was trying to kill him! She was trying to snuff the life out of him just to escape his grasp! Has she become evil? Has she really become as evil as Demona? He could hardly believe the fact that Suki was actually feasting on him.
And yet part of him was glad.
If he were to die, at least he was dying in the hands of his love.
As he felt himself slowly slipping into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was Suki’s purple eyes glowing…
Demona roared and thrashed at everything she saw once she was at her home. She couldn’t believe it. She was so close into killing another batch of humans and yet the gargoyles of Goliath’s clan had to come and foil it all. And what’s worse was that Brooklyn had stolen from her the best pawn she could ever have for her diabolical plans.
“When I get my hands on Goliath and his clan, I swear I’ll…”
Her ranting stopped when she heard a tiny rap on her window. She went over and opened it and was surprised to see Suki in the mid-air. She stepped aside to let her into the room. Suki swooped silently inside and sat on the bed, looking pretty downcast.
“What brings you here? I thought you were taken away by your precious prince.”
“Suki no want be Brooklyn anymore. Suki no want be in Goliath’s clan,” Suki replied bitterly.
“Is that so? What makes you think I should trust…” Her words stopped abruptly when Suki looked up suddenly with a purple glow in her eyes.
“Suki just want blood.”
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp11
CHAPTER 11: THE BLOOD FEED BEGINS
She opened her eyes slowly, her mind slowly drifting from her slumber land. She sat up slowly and stretched herself, trying to rub the sleep away from her eyes. Another day has gone by and she could feel herself going hungry. She looked around and saw her usual bread and water on the table. She took it and stared at it before hesitantly stuffing it into her mouth.
Suddenly, the bread and water tasted awful to her, like eating a piece of dead flesh and drinking ditch water. She spat it out and threw it away, sending the cup crashing onto the wall. It wasn’t the first time she found out that her taste buds were beginning to reject real food. She couldn’t remember when it started though, but she knew that one day she ate her usual bread and water and it started to taste awful, like a rotten egg or an overripe fruit. At first she was able to stomach a few mouthfuls but as the days went by, she couldn’t stand the taste of it anymore. Just like tonight, nothing tasted better.
Except blood.
Yes, the sweet taste of blood. The feeling of having a taste of life going into her mouth and slipping down her throat, filling the cavity of hunger inside her stomach. The feeling of sucking someone else’s life force and satisfying the fire and the cravings deep inside her. It felt so good…like tasting the purest of wine and the sweetest of sweets…
She slapped herself for ever having that thought. How could she think of such things? Didn’t she promise herself that she would never hurt anyone? Didn’t she make a vow that she would not ever comply with Demona’s wishes? How could she even have a thought about such ugly things? Maybe because she was stuck in this room for so long without being able to see the outside world except through a barred window in her room.
Or maybe…Just maybe…
There is no other way at all to fight it.
It has been about 4 days since Suki disappeared. The gargoyles searched for her everywhere. They tried every home that could be Demona’s lair—abandoned building sites, homes that have been empty for a long time, rundown houses or old buildings, anywhere they could think of, but they just couldn’t find her. Elisa tried her luck in the morning to look for Demona but she also had no luck. It was as if Demona was able to camouflage her and her home so that no one would be able to look for her. Another problem would be that they just simply couldn’t find out what Demona’s human name is. Certainly no one has ever heard of anyone by the name ‘Demona’ and there hasn’t been a sighting of Demona whether in human form or in gargoyle form in days. As far as they could see she could’ve practically disappeared from the face of the earth itself.
They even tried asking Talon and his clan to help look for Suki. They were overwhelmed by the story of Suki turning herself into a gargoyle and the monstrous side-effects to her experiment and were only too willing to help. Talon, Fang, Claw and Maggie flew alongside with the gargoyles to search for Suki and they have spared some of their mornings to help Elisa search for her through air, but they, too, were fruitless. The gargoyles were getting quite restless.
“We can’t find her anywhere!” Broadway said as he sat down tiredly on the floor of the clock tower. “We’ve tried every place we could think of but there is no one that fits Demona’s description and we just don’t know where she could be!”
“Same situation here,” Elisa said apologetically. “I couldn’t find her anywhere in the morning and I don’t see her walking around the humans. There are plenty of redheads like her and I didn’t want to risk catching the wrong redhead. She was so good at concealing herself. If she were a criminal, she would definitely make it to the top on the Top Ten Most Wanted List.”
“I’ve also sneaked into quite a lot of business buildings and check out all the database of any sales or transactions made within these few months and I’ve discovered nothing out of the ordinary,” Lexington replied. “I even hacked through many big corporations and checked their transactions and still I found nothing. There is no way she can survive in the human world without a decent job to feed her and judging by her cunning ways, I bet she could be a big businesswoman by now.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised even if she owned Xanatos’ biggest factory,” Brooklyn commented darkly. “I tried locating Suki’s scent and find her but no luck. It has been days since she disappeared and her scent might have gone cold by now. Wherever she’s hiding Suki, she’s good. That treacherous devil…!”
“Keep calm, lad. Being rash is not the gargoyle way,” Hudson said as he laid a hand on his shoulder. “So, lass, what do you suggest we do now? We can’t find the lass anywhere and we’ve tried everywhere. What now?”
“I’m just as stumped as you are,” Elisa admitted. “Even with Derek’s and his friends’ help, we couldn’t locate where Suki is. Manhattan is a large town and to look for someone out of the ordinary is still a hard thing. Suki is a very timid person and would never go anywhere without Brooklyn or some else by her side, and Demona is too smart to be flying around the city with her without fearing that she might be discovered. She might even have an idea of you guys looking for her.”
“Then I guess we have only one last resort, and I fear we have no choice,” Goliath finally spoke.
“I don’t think I like the sound of that,” Angela commented.
“Yes,” Goliath hesitated before saying, “We need Xanatos’ help.”
“What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to have guests coming to my humble home.”
The gargoyle clan and Elisa were ascending on the castle towers and Xanatos and his wife Fox were sitting there enjoying a nice cup of tea and playing chess together. Owen who was standing beside them ready to refill their tea also didn’t look as surprised as Xanatos sarcastically put it. He was used to their sudden visits.
“As much as we resent it, we are here to ask for your help,” Goliath replied in his deep rumbling voice with a grudge in his tone.
“I see. Well, whatever it is, it sure is quite an urgent thing, judging by the desperate look on your faces,” Xanatos replied as he got out of his chair. “What can I do for you and your friends, Goliath?”
As they moved inside Xanatos’ personal office, the gargoyles explained again the story of Suki and her bizarre experiment and also their suspicion of Demona being human by day and taking Suki as her hostage and her tool of misdeeds. Xanatos listened to everything with interest and when they finished, he was truly amazed indeed, although his face didn’t show it.
“Amazing,” Xanatos said in bated breath. “I have heard of Yusuki Hamasaki. I’m amazed. She actually succeeded in making a real live gargoyle. She is even better than Sevarius. I admire that. I should’ve asked her to be my genetic scientist instead.”
Brooklyn growled as his eyes glowed angrily at Xanatos, “If you ever dare think of using Suki as your pawn in your deeds, I’m gonna…”
Xanatos held up his hands in surrender, “Hey, I was only joking. It is a shame if Demona ever tries to use her for her bidding. It would look bad for both her and all mankind. You know, I have been aware of a certain newbie in the business traits and she has been quite successful. If I’d give it a thought, I would definitely give her a piece of my mind for trying to monopolize the business without my permission. Maybe she might be your missing link.”
He signaled Owen. Owen nodded and went over to the computer and clicked a few keyboards. The computer screen soon showed a list showing her bio-data and her limited background and a picture of a woman dressed in red. The face and the red hair immediately caught Elisa’s attention. She walked quickly towards the computer screen and pointed at the picture.
“That’s Demona! That’s her! That’s how she looks like in human form!”
“Demona? That Dominique Destin, the newbie in the business trait and one of my tight opponents, is actually Demona in the flesh? Now I’m really impressed.” Xanatos said with a leveled tone of surprise.
“Will you help us or not? Because we do not have much time and she could be using Suki right now for her diabolical plans,” Goliath said, putting a hand on Brooklyn’s shoulder that tensed when he mentioned the phrase that Suki could be Demona’s pawn.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Xanatos replied as he gestured Owen to get ready. “It’s been a while since I had any actions in my life anyway. Don’t worry, my main target is to eliminate the competition. Whatever you want to do with Yusuki Hamasaki, that’s your business.”
“You bet it is,” Brooklyn muttered under his breath.
“Look, Suki, there they are. It’s your chance.”
Suki was hiding with Demona in a secluded alley and they were looking at people passing by without noticing or even paying attention to them. Suki looked at all the people one by one, her face quite and hesitant and afraid.
“I know you are hungry,” Demona whispered to her ear. “And I know you want to taste it. Go on. Have a bite. It wouldn’t hurt to satisfy your hunger. It is all for the cause.”
“No,” Suki shook her head as she backed away. “Suki no want to bite people. Suki no want to hurt them. Suki no want…”
“You promised me, vampire, and you said you would do as I tell you to do!” Demona hissed as her red eyes glowed menacingly at her. She grabbed her wrist and shoved her in front of her towards the passing humans and demanded, “Go on, vampire. I know you want it! Grab someone and satisfy your hunger before you die of it!”
Suki’s eyes fell upon the people’s necks and could see their jugulars throbbing temptingly at her. Her mouth began to water and her stomach began to growl. Her head began to go woozy. She recognized that feeling—she had it when she was hungry and was lost in the middle of the road trying to find Brooklyn. She winced and looked away, closing her eyes tight, not wanting to give into temptation. She had vowed not to hurt anyone. She knew there is only one way for her to go but she was trying not to go to that road.
Demona was getting impatient. She growled and let her go harshly. She waited quietly for an unsuspecting passer-by and, as quick as a flash, she grabbed his collar and pulled him into the alley, making sure no one saw her do that. Holding the petrified man, she pulled Suki close to him and snarled with a vengeance.
“Do it! I know you want it!”
“No! Suki no want! Suki no hurt…”
“If you don’t do as I say,” Demona narrowed her eyes dangerously, “you know exactly what would happen to your precious Brooklyn and his clan. Understand?”
Suki stared guiltily at the whimpering man. Tentatively, she reached her hands out to the man and put them on his shoulders, feeling them wince as she brought him closer to her. She removed the collar of his shirt and stared at the jugular. Her eyes shifted towards Demona who, in turn, glared back at her warningly. She stared back at the man before shutting her eyes tight and sank her fangs onto his jugular, sucking the life out of him. The more she sucked, the more she wanted of his blood. Her hunger soon took over her and as Demona brought in more unsuspecting victims into her grasp, she reluctantly did her bidding, sucking their blood dry and leaving their shriveled body in a careless heap beside the dumpster.
As she claimed her last victim for the night, tears began trickling out of her dark purple eyes.
She opened her eyes slowly, her mind slowly drifting from her slumber land. She sat up slowly and stretched herself, trying to rub the sleep away from her eyes. Another day has gone by and she could feel herself going hungry. She looked around and saw her usual bread and water on the table. She took it and stared at it before hesitantly stuffing it into her mouth.
Suddenly, the bread and water tasted awful to her, like eating a piece of dead flesh and drinking ditch water. She spat it out and threw it away, sending the cup crashing onto the wall. It wasn’t the first time she found out that her taste buds were beginning to reject real food. She couldn’t remember when it started though, but she knew that one day she ate her usual bread and water and it started to taste awful, like a rotten egg or an overripe fruit. At first she was able to stomach a few mouthfuls but as the days went by, she couldn’t stand the taste of it anymore. Just like tonight, nothing tasted better.
Except blood.
Yes, the sweet taste of blood. The feeling of having a taste of life going into her mouth and slipping down her throat, filling the cavity of hunger inside her stomach. The feeling of sucking someone else’s life force and satisfying the fire and the cravings deep inside her. It felt so good…like tasting the purest of wine and the sweetest of sweets…
She slapped herself for ever having that thought. How could she think of such things? Didn’t she promise herself that she would never hurt anyone? Didn’t she make a vow that she would not ever comply with Demona’s wishes? How could she even have a thought about such ugly things? Maybe because she was stuck in this room for so long without being able to see the outside world except through a barred window in her room.
Or maybe…Just maybe…
There is no other way at all to fight it.
It has been about 4 days since Suki disappeared. The gargoyles searched for her everywhere. They tried every home that could be Demona’s lair—abandoned building sites, homes that have been empty for a long time, rundown houses or old buildings, anywhere they could think of, but they just couldn’t find her. Elisa tried her luck in the morning to look for Demona but she also had no luck. It was as if Demona was able to camouflage her and her home so that no one would be able to look for her. Another problem would be that they just simply couldn’t find out what Demona’s human name is. Certainly no one has ever heard of anyone by the name ‘Demona’ and there hasn’t been a sighting of Demona whether in human form or in gargoyle form in days. As far as they could see she could’ve practically disappeared from the face of the earth itself.
They even tried asking Talon and his clan to help look for Suki. They were overwhelmed by the story of Suki turning herself into a gargoyle and the monstrous side-effects to her experiment and were only too willing to help. Talon, Fang, Claw and Maggie flew alongside with the gargoyles to search for Suki and they have spared some of their mornings to help Elisa search for her through air, but they, too, were fruitless. The gargoyles were getting quite restless.
“We can’t find her anywhere!” Broadway said as he sat down tiredly on the floor of the clock tower. “We’ve tried every place we could think of but there is no one that fits Demona’s description and we just don’t know where she could be!”
“Same situation here,” Elisa said apologetically. “I couldn’t find her anywhere in the morning and I don’t see her walking around the humans. There are plenty of redheads like her and I didn’t want to risk catching the wrong redhead. She was so good at concealing herself. If she were a criminal, she would definitely make it to the top on the Top Ten Most Wanted List.”
“I’ve also sneaked into quite a lot of business buildings and check out all the database of any sales or transactions made within these few months and I’ve discovered nothing out of the ordinary,” Lexington replied. “I even hacked through many big corporations and checked their transactions and still I found nothing. There is no way she can survive in the human world without a decent job to feed her and judging by her cunning ways, I bet she could be a big businesswoman by now.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised even if she owned Xanatos’ biggest factory,” Brooklyn commented darkly. “I tried locating Suki’s scent and find her but no luck. It has been days since she disappeared and her scent might have gone cold by now. Wherever she’s hiding Suki, she’s good. That treacherous devil…!”
“Keep calm, lad. Being rash is not the gargoyle way,” Hudson said as he laid a hand on his shoulder. “So, lass, what do you suggest we do now? We can’t find the lass anywhere and we’ve tried everywhere. What now?”
“I’m just as stumped as you are,” Elisa admitted. “Even with Derek’s and his friends’ help, we couldn’t locate where Suki is. Manhattan is a large town and to look for someone out of the ordinary is still a hard thing. Suki is a very timid person and would never go anywhere without Brooklyn or some else by her side, and Demona is too smart to be flying around the city with her without fearing that she might be discovered. She might even have an idea of you guys looking for her.”
“Then I guess we have only one last resort, and I fear we have no choice,” Goliath finally spoke.
“I don’t think I like the sound of that,” Angela commented.
“Yes,” Goliath hesitated before saying, “We need Xanatos’ help.”
“What a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to have guests coming to my humble home.”
The gargoyle clan and Elisa were ascending on the castle towers and Xanatos and his wife Fox were sitting there enjoying a nice cup of tea and playing chess together. Owen who was standing beside them ready to refill their tea also didn’t look as surprised as Xanatos sarcastically put it. He was used to their sudden visits.
“As much as we resent it, we are here to ask for your help,” Goliath replied in his deep rumbling voice with a grudge in his tone.
“I see. Well, whatever it is, it sure is quite an urgent thing, judging by the desperate look on your faces,” Xanatos replied as he got out of his chair. “What can I do for you and your friends, Goliath?”
As they moved inside Xanatos’ personal office, the gargoyles explained again the story of Suki and her bizarre experiment and also their suspicion of Demona being human by day and taking Suki as her hostage and her tool of misdeeds. Xanatos listened to everything with interest and when they finished, he was truly amazed indeed, although his face didn’t show it.
“Amazing,” Xanatos said in bated breath. “I have heard of Yusuki Hamasaki. I’m amazed. She actually succeeded in making a real live gargoyle. She is even better than Sevarius. I admire that. I should’ve asked her to be my genetic scientist instead.”
Brooklyn growled as his eyes glowed angrily at Xanatos, “If you ever dare think of using Suki as your pawn in your deeds, I’m gonna…”
Xanatos held up his hands in surrender, “Hey, I was only joking. It is a shame if Demona ever tries to use her for her bidding. It would look bad for both her and all mankind. You know, I have been aware of a certain newbie in the business traits and she has been quite successful. If I’d give it a thought, I would definitely give her a piece of my mind for trying to monopolize the business without my permission. Maybe she might be your missing link.”
He signaled Owen. Owen nodded and went over to the computer and clicked a few keyboards. The computer screen soon showed a list showing her bio-data and her limited background and a picture of a woman dressed in red. The face and the red hair immediately caught Elisa’s attention. She walked quickly towards the computer screen and pointed at the picture.
“That’s Demona! That’s her! That’s how she looks like in human form!”
“Demona? That Dominique Destin, the newbie in the business trait and one of my tight opponents, is actually Demona in the flesh? Now I’m really impressed.” Xanatos said with a leveled tone of surprise.
“Will you help us or not? Because we do not have much time and she could be using Suki right now for her diabolical plans,” Goliath said, putting a hand on Brooklyn’s shoulder that tensed when he mentioned the phrase that Suki could be Demona’s pawn.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Xanatos replied as he gestured Owen to get ready. “It’s been a while since I had any actions in my life anyway. Don’t worry, my main target is to eliminate the competition. Whatever you want to do with Yusuki Hamasaki, that’s your business.”
“You bet it is,” Brooklyn muttered under his breath.
“Look, Suki, there they are. It’s your chance.”
Suki was hiding with Demona in a secluded alley and they were looking at people passing by without noticing or even paying attention to them. Suki looked at all the people one by one, her face quite and hesitant and afraid.
“I know you are hungry,” Demona whispered to her ear. “And I know you want to taste it. Go on. Have a bite. It wouldn’t hurt to satisfy your hunger. It is all for the cause.”
“No,” Suki shook her head as she backed away. “Suki no want to bite people. Suki no want to hurt them. Suki no want…”
“You promised me, vampire, and you said you would do as I tell you to do!” Demona hissed as her red eyes glowed menacingly at her. She grabbed her wrist and shoved her in front of her towards the passing humans and demanded, “Go on, vampire. I know you want it! Grab someone and satisfy your hunger before you die of it!”
Suki’s eyes fell upon the people’s necks and could see their jugulars throbbing temptingly at her. Her mouth began to water and her stomach began to growl. Her head began to go woozy. She recognized that feeling—she had it when she was hungry and was lost in the middle of the road trying to find Brooklyn. She winced and looked away, closing her eyes tight, not wanting to give into temptation. She had vowed not to hurt anyone. She knew there is only one way for her to go but she was trying not to go to that road.
Demona was getting impatient. She growled and let her go harshly. She waited quietly for an unsuspecting passer-by and, as quick as a flash, she grabbed his collar and pulled him into the alley, making sure no one saw her do that. Holding the petrified man, she pulled Suki close to him and snarled with a vengeance.
“Do it! I know you want it!”
“No! Suki no want! Suki no hurt…”
“If you don’t do as I say,” Demona narrowed her eyes dangerously, “you know exactly what would happen to your precious Brooklyn and his clan. Understand?”
Suki stared guiltily at the whimpering man. Tentatively, she reached her hands out to the man and put them on his shoulders, feeling them wince as she brought him closer to her. She removed the collar of his shirt and stared at the jugular. Her eyes shifted towards Demona who, in turn, glared back at her warningly. She stared back at the man before shutting her eyes tight and sank her fangs onto his jugular, sucking the life out of him. The more she sucked, the more she wanted of his blood. Her hunger soon took over her and as Demona brought in more unsuspecting victims into her grasp, she reluctantly did her bidding, sucking their blood dry and leaving their shriveled body in a careless heap beside the dumpster.
As she claimed her last victim for the night, tears began trickling out of her dark purple eyes.
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp10
CHAPTER 10: LOVE & FEELINGS REVEALED
She had a nightmare. She dreamt that she was walking down a dark and lonely road with no one around her and no one to guide the way. Goliath wasn’t around, Hudson and Bronx weren’t there, Broadway wasn’t there, and neither was Lexington or Angela.
Neither was Brooklyn around for her. There wasn’t even a sight of his protective wings or his gentle smile or his loving hand to be there to keep her company. She was alone. All alone in the dark road. Unprotected, unshielded, unsafe.
The next thing she knew was that the road was suddenly bright and there were people on the streets. Not gargoyles, but people like Elisa’s kind. There were humans abundant everywhere—tall, short, fat, thin, white black, and all kinds of people walking down the street. But what fascinated her weren’t their looks or their personalities.
It was their necks, or to be more precise, their jugular.
Their jugulars were throbbing in a steady beat of soft light. She could hear their heartbeat through the jugular. It was truly tempting. Truly inviting. She had never felt more tempted than this. Her hunger began to overpower her and make her lose her control. She had to feed. She wanted something that was in their jugular only her cravings knew what.
Without warning, she found herself pouncing on them. Her fangs were set to the kill as they bore into their throats and started sucking the life out of them. She could feel something warm and delicious going down her throat and extinguishing the fire of hunger that was burning in her stomach. She sucked and sucked, pouncing from one human to another and gorged herself of all the blood that was churning inside their body and flowing into hers as she consumed them one by one. She had never felt more satisfied than this.
When she opened her eyes to see who else she had left out, she widened her eyes to see that the person whose blood she was sucking had white billowing hair and a beak-like mouth. His eyes were open in surprise and his clay-coloured skin was going pale. She saw him having a pair of wings just like hers. She recognized those wings anywhere.
It was Brooklyn.
“What?! Demona has Suki??”
Elisa has made her way towards the clock tower later in the evening and waited until the gargoyles broke out of their stone encasing before trying to break the news to the gargoyles. Evidently, the gargoyles didn’t like the answer at all, especially when it concerned with one of their worst enemies, Demona.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Elisa replied regretfully. “I guess she has beaten me in finding Suki. Who knows what Demona would do, especially if she finds out about Suki’s tendency to make a dinner or a snack out of people.”
“This is terrible!” Lexington exclaimed. “We have to go and get her back before Demona finds about her secret! With Demona around, there’s bound to be trouble afoot. She would definitely misuse her for her evil schemes.”
“Yeah, he’s right!” Broadway agreed. “There’s no telling what kind of new plan Demona will cook up when she knows that Suki has the blood-sucking appetite. We have to go out there and get her back!”
“I understand that you guys want to help Suki get back to the clan,” Elisa said, trying to calm the younger gargoyles down, “but we have no idea where she lives and no idea where her workplace may be. As far as I know, we may not even know her human name. We would never know of her whereabouts at this rate.”
“She’s right,” Goliath said in his deep rumbling voice. “We cannot go after her and investigate about her during the day to get whatever information we want on Demona, and we don’t even know anything about her whereabouts even during the night. If Elisa couldn’t find out about her human identity, I suspect that trying to find her now would be like trying to look for a needle in a haystack.”
“Aye, lass,” Hudson agreed. “Unless we have a miracle, there ain’t telling where that Suki lass may be. She might be out there somewhere with…Now where is that Brooklyn lad?”
That was when they realized that Brooklyn was not among them. They quickly moved out of the tower to see Brooklyn already soaring in the air going towards the city of Manhattan. Lexington and Broadway called after him but he was too far from earshot. Hudson sighed and muttered, “The curse of youth. He would never find that lass like this.”
“We always say he’s the hot-blooded one,” Elisa said.
“Go after him,” Goliath said to Lexington and Broadway. “Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”
Lexington and Broadway nodded and jumped off the tower, tailing behind their brother. The elders of the clan stared as they disappeared further and further away into the depths of Manhattan. Bronx whined, a worried look on his face. Elisa laid her hand on the gargoyle pet’s head and hushed him, “I know, Bronx. I’m worried too.”
“It seems that our lad Brooklyn truly has the heart for that Suki lass,” Hudson commented.
“It is true,” Goliath nodded. “But let’s not hope that his love for her bring him into any harm.”
“You will do as I as say, vampire, or else!”
Demona was towering over the cowering Suki as her eyes glowed red glaring at her. They were in a small room which didn’t look as pretty or as magnificent as Demona’s, but still homey and comfortable. Suki was on the bed cowering from the raging Demona and it was evident on her face that Demona was a very scary figure; much scarier than the first time when she met Brooklyn and the other gargoyles.
“No, please. Suki not want hurt people. Suki not want make danger. Suki not want be danger,” Suki pleaded when Demona demanded her to do the unimaginable.
“Well, guess you don’t have choice now, do you?” Demona said evilly. “You are already a danger to yourself and the people around you. You’re lucky that I’m being compassionate enough not to end your misery and snuff the life out of you. I’m giving you a chance to live and feel that you belong. You don’t belong to the humans out there and you certainly don’t belong to Goliath’s wretched clan. I found you, so you belong to me! Mine and mine alone, do you understand?!”
“Elisa say…Suki was human,” Suki said, looking downcast. “Suki belong to human. Suki not want to hurt own people…”
Her words were cut short by Demona’s growl and her strong claw-like hands on her shoulder, gripping her so tightly until she whined. Demona’s red glowing eyes bore into her purple ones as she hissed, “Humans are incompetent and foolish! They are evil and must be destroyed. I can see that you were once a human, and what a foul race you have been. Tell me, vampire, what is the reason for you to become like this if you cherish your humanity so much?”
“Suki…Suki become this…because want become like Brooklyn, like Goliath…like you…” Suki replied, her voice hesitant. Demona laughed maliciously at her answer.
“You see? Even you, as a human, marveled at our species and want to become one of us! Don’t you see that humans are just as foolish and as dumb as they have always been since the past? Your so-called humans have betrayed and destroyed our clan once because they were afraid of our power and our strengths. Now you want to become like us because you learnt about our strengths and power and want to be as powerful as we are! Humans are of no use to this world! This land is a waste for mankind, and it should belong to us! We have existed earlier than the humans and we should be the one to rule over this world and them, not the other way round!”
Suki released herself from Demona’s grip and cowered further away to the wall. She truly feared this gargoyle. The gargoyle she knew was never as hot-tempered as her. They were either kind, firm, sweet-talking, funny or just plain charming, like Brooklyn. Her red flaming hair made her scary looks even scarier. Demona calmed down a little, but her eyes were still glowing red as she sat on the bed beside Suki.
“You will do as I say, vampire, and I’m making it clear to you that there is no other way but to obey me,” Demona hissed. “You will stay in this room and never come out. Your meals will only be bread and water once a day and nothing else. I can be perfectly sure that once I take you outside, you are going to be very hungry to even care for those humans. If you don’t do as I say, I guess there will be a very serious accident in Goliath’s clan.”
“What will Demona do to Goliath?” Suki asked worriedly.
“Let’s just say Brooklyn will be more than just heartbroken. Think about it, Suki, while you still can,” Demona smirked evilly as she walked out of the room and closed the door, locking it from the outside.
Suki started to worry as she stayed in the slightly dark room on the bed. What would she do? What does she mean by Brooklyn being ‘more than just heartbroken’? Was she going to hurt Brooklyn? Was she going to harm Brooklyn and the rest of the clan if she didn’t do what she tells her to do? If they got hurt, that would mean that it was her fault! She doesn’t want to hurt anybody, but if she didn’t do it, she would, in a way, hurt the gargoyle clan.
As her eyelids grew heavier, she knew that it was almost sunrise and it would be time for her to sleep. She couldn’t fight the urge. She wanted to think of a way to get out of this place before Demona asked her to do the unthinkable but she just couldn’t keep awake. Like the gargoyles who had no control over their body changing into stone by day, she had no control over her sleepiness as well.
She was left with only one choice in her mind.
Brooklyn walked around the city of Manhattan among the people wearing their costumes and, fortunately, ignoring him. It was Halloween night—the most favourite night of the gargoyles where they could walk around the humans without fearing that they would scare the life out of them. But it wasn’t the time for Brooklyn to be hanging around and mingling with the people happily celebrating their Halloween (and neither would Goliath and Elisa again this time). He was there to look for Suki, his one and only important person in the world. He feared that she could be among these people under the orders of Demona, grabbing them unaware and sucking their blood till they go dry. He truly feared that Demona, with her manipulative words and all, influenced her to turn against mankind she once was and joined her in her plan of destroying them once and for all. He truly feared it. He couldn’t bear the idea of her turning against the clan and him and doing Demona’s dirty work.
He could feel his body going quite uneasy and noticed that the sky was gradually getting brighter and the people were getting lesser and lesser as the day set in. He ignored it. He continued to keep his eyes on the road to see if there were any signs of Suki and trying to find her by scent. He practically ignored the calls of his brothers who were following behind him and trying to tell him to get to the nearest building to rest.
Finally, after trying in vain to slow Brooklyn down, Lexington and Broadway took the last resort: using force. They pounced onto Brooklyn and held him tight, dragging him a nearby building. They had Brooklyn under one of their arms while they climbed the walls of the building up towards the top. It wasn’t until they got his feet on the top floor of the building that they finally let go the struggling Brooklyn.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Brooklyn exclaimed angrily. “Can’t you see I’m looking for Suki here? She could be anywhere, probably even among the people here! I have to go out there and stop her from…”
“Cool it, Romeo. We know you are worried about Suki but it’s not going to work walking around there blindly trying to find someone when you have no idea where exactly she is,” Broadway tried to reason with the hot-headed Brooklyn.
“You don’t understand. Elisa said she was with Demona and she could be influenced by whatever Demona would say to her!” Brooklyn said, shuddering at the memory of how she was able to manipulate him to betray the clan and Goliath. “Suki is just a young girl. She is still fresh towards her surroundings and she definitely doesn’t know what kind of person Demona is. She could be…”
“Do you think we never thought about it?” Lexington scolded. “Do you think we have never thought of what Demona is capable of doing? Brooklyn, you’re not the only who had encounters with her. We know what she’s capable of, especially when she was able to live throughout the centuries for so long and know more about the passing of time than anyone of us! Do you think we’re not worried about Suki too? Would you please just stop torturing yourself with all the responsibilities? She’s one of us too!”
“He’s right,” Broadway replied as he laid a hand on Brooklyn’s shoulder. “We all care about Suki and we all want to look for her. But you cannot just find her like this. Manhattan is a big city and Suki is only one person. Besides, you don’t want to risk turning into stone in front of those humans, do you? She’s part of our clan, she’s our sister and she’s our responsibility too. We all want her back safe and sound.”
Brooklyn slumped and sat abruptly on the floor, his face looking downcast. He shivered as he said quietly, “I just…I just want her back. I mean, it feels so different without her around. It has only been a while, that I know, but I just can’t help feeling uneasy without her by my side. She was always there trying to look for me, wanting me to shelter her, wanting me to protect her, wanting me to assure her that everything was alright. I am the only one she had ever been close to and the only one she trusted. I…I just…I just…”
“You love her, don’t you?” Broadway asked. “I can tell by your words. You are in love with Suki and you truly care about her and her wellbeing. She hangs around with you so much and trusts you more she does us and you have grown to love her. We understand that.”
“I have…never felt such strong feelings for her before…” Brooklyn buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as his sobs could be heard. “I have never felt so worried about anyone and I have never felt such urge to do almost anything for anyone before. She…She was beautiful and innocent and all…She was afraid that her blood-sucking appetite would hurt me or even kill me. She went through everything and endured too much pain just to…be…with me…”
“We understand how you feel, Brooklyn,” Lexington said as he took a glance towards the horizon to see the sun slowly coming out. “She has loved you a lot to be willing to go through it all and you have loved her a lot to be willing to risk your existence and your safety to find her and make her come back to your life, but for now, you must rest. You’ll need it.”
With his hands still buried in his hands and his brothers’ comforting hands on his shoulders, Brooklyn continued to sob silently until the trio hardened into stone as the sun finally came out.
She had a nightmare. She dreamt that she was walking down a dark and lonely road with no one around her and no one to guide the way. Goliath wasn’t around, Hudson and Bronx weren’t there, Broadway wasn’t there, and neither was Lexington or Angela.
Neither was Brooklyn around for her. There wasn’t even a sight of his protective wings or his gentle smile or his loving hand to be there to keep her company. She was alone. All alone in the dark road. Unprotected, unshielded, unsafe.
The next thing she knew was that the road was suddenly bright and there were people on the streets. Not gargoyles, but people like Elisa’s kind. There were humans abundant everywhere—tall, short, fat, thin, white black, and all kinds of people walking down the street. But what fascinated her weren’t their looks or their personalities.
It was their necks, or to be more precise, their jugular.
Their jugulars were throbbing in a steady beat of soft light. She could hear their heartbeat through the jugular. It was truly tempting. Truly inviting. She had never felt more tempted than this. Her hunger began to overpower her and make her lose her control. She had to feed. She wanted something that was in their jugular only her cravings knew what.
Without warning, she found herself pouncing on them. Her fangs were set to the kill as they bore into their throats and started sucking the life out of them. She could feel something warm and delicious going down her throat and extinguishing the fire of hunger that was burning in her stomach. She sucked and sucked, pouncing from one human to another and gorged herself of all the blood that was churning inside their body and flowing into hers as she consumed them one by one. She had never felt more satisfied than this.
When she opened her eyes to see who else she had left out, she widened her eyes to see that the person whose blood she was sucking had white billowing hair and a beak-like mouth. His eyes were open in surprise and his clay-coloured skin was going pale. She saw him having a pair of wings just like hers. She recognized those wings anywhere.
It was Brooklyn.
“What?! Demona has Suki??”
Elisa has made her way towards the clock tower later in the evening and waited until the gargoyles broke out of their stone encasing before trying to break the news to the gargoyles. Evidently, the gargoyles didn’t like the answer at all, especially when it concerned with one of their worst enemies, Demona.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Elisa replied regretfully. “I guess she has beaten me in finding Suki. Who knows what Demona would do, especially if she finds out about Suki’s tendency to make a dinner or a snack out of people.”
“This is terrible!” Lexington exclaimed. “We have to go and get her back before Demona finds about her secret! With Demona around, there’s bound to be trouble afoot. She would definitely misuse her for her evil schemes.”
“Yeah, he’s right!” Broadway agreed. “There’s no telling what kind of new plan Demona will cook up when she knows that Suki has the blood-sucking appetite. We have to go out there and get her back!”
“I understand that you guys want to help Suki get back to the clan,” Elisa said, trying to calm the younger gargoyles down, “but we have no idea where she lives and no idea where her workplace may be. As far as I know, we may not even know her human name. We would never know of her whereabouts at this rate.”
“She’s right,” Goliath said in his deep rumbling voice. “We cannot go after her and investigate about her during the day to get whatever information we want on Demona, and we don’t even know anything about her whereabouts even during the night. If Elisa couldn’t find out about her human identity, I suspect that trying to find her now would be like trying to look for a needle in a haystack.”
“Aye, lass,” Hudson agreed. “Unless we have a miracle, there ain’t telling where that Suki lass may be. She might be out there somewhere with…Now where is that Brooklyn lad?”
That was when they realized that Brooklyn was not among them. They quickly moved out of the tower to see Brooklyn already soaring in the air going towards the city of Manhattan. Lexington and Broadway called after him but he was too far from earshot. Hudson sighed and muttered, “The curse of youth. He would never find that lass like this.”
“We always say he’s the hot-blooded one,” Elisa said.
“Go after him,” Goliath said to Lexington and Broadway. “Make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”
Lexington and Broadway nodded and jumped off the tower, tailing behind their brother. The elders of the clan stared as they disappeared further and further away into the depths of Manhattan. Bronx whined, a worried look on his face. Elisa laid her hand on the gargoyle pet’s head and hushed him, “I know, Bronx. I’m worried too.”
“It seems that our lad Brooklyn truly has the heart for that Suki lass,” Hudson commented.
“It is true,” Goliath nodded. “But let’s not hope that his love for her bring him into any harm.”
“You will do as I as say, vampire, or else!”
Demona was towering over the cowering Suki as her eyes glowed red glaring at her. They were in a small room which didn’t look as pretty or as magnificent as Demona’s, but still homey and comfortable. Suki was on the bed cowering from the raging Demona and it was evident on her face that Demona was a very scary figure; much scarier than the first time when she met Brooklyn and the other gargoyles.
“No, please. Suki not want hurt people. Suki not want make danger. Suki not want be danger,” Suki pleaded when Demona demanded her to do the unimaginable.
“Well, guess you don’t have choice now, do you?” Demona said evilly. “You are already a danger to yourself and the people around you. You’re lucky that I’m being compassionate enough not to end your misery and snuff the life out of you. I’m giving you a chance to live and feel that you belong. You don’t belong to the humans out there and you certainly don’t belong to Goliath’s wretched clan. I found you, so you belong to me! Mine and mine alone, do you understand?!”
“Elisa say…Suki was human,” Suki said, looking downcast. “Suki belong to human. Suki not want to hurt own people…”
Her words were cut short by Demona’s growl and her strong claw-like hands on her shoulder, gripping her so tightly until she whined. Demona’s red glowing eyes bore into her purple ones as she hissed, “Humans are incompetent and foolish! They are evil and must be destroyed. I can see that you were once a human, and what a foul race you have been. Tell me, vampire, what is the reason for you to become like this if you cherish your humanity so much?”
“Suki…Suki become this…because want become like Brooklyn, like Goliath…like you…” Suki replied, her voice hesitant. Demona laughed maliciously at her answer.
“You see? Even you, as a human, marveled at our species and want to become one of us! Don’t you see that humans are just as foolish and as dumb as they have always been since the past? Your so-called humans have betrayed and destroyed our clan once because they were afraid of our power and our strengths. Now you want to become like us because you learnt about our strengths and power and want to be as powerful as we are! Humans are of no use to this world! This land is a waste for mankind, and it should belong to us! We have existed earlier than the humans and we should be the one to rule over this world and them, not the other way round!”
Suki released herself from Demona’s grip and cowered further away to the wall. She truly feared this gargoyle. The gargoyle she knew was never as hot-tempered as her. They were either kind, firm, sweet-talking, funny or just plain charming, like Brooklyn. Her red flaming hair made her scary looks even scarier. Demona calmed down a little, but her eyes were still glowing red as she sat on the bed beside Suki.
“You will do as I say, vampire, and I’m making it clear to you that there is no other way but to obey me,” Demona hissed. “You will stay in this room and never come out. Your meals will only be bread and water once a day and nothing else. I can be perfectly sure that once I take you outside, you are going to be very hungry to even care for those humans. If you don’t do as I say, I guess there will be a very serious accident in Goliath’s clan.”
“What will Demona do to Goliath?” Suki asked worriedly.
“Let’s just say Brooklyn will be more than just heartbroken. Think about it, Suki, while you still can,” Demona smirked evilly as she walked out of the room and closed the door, locking it from the outside.
Suki started to worry as she stayed in the slightly dark room on the bed. What would she do? What does she mean by Brooklyn being ‘more than just heartbroken’? Was she going to hurt Brooklyn? Was she going to harm Brooklyn and the rest of the clan if she didn’t do what she tells her to do? If they got hurt, that would mean that it was her fault! She doesn’t want to hurt anybody, but if she didn’t do it, she would, in a way, hurt the gargoyle clan.
As her eyelids grew heavier, she knew that it was almost sunrise and it would be time for her to sleep. She couldn’t fight the urge. She wanted to think of a way to get out of this place before Demona asked her to do the unthinkable but she just couldn’t keep awake. Like the gargoyles who had no control over their body changing into stone by day, she had no control over her sleepiness as well.
She was left with only one choice in her mind.
Brooklyn walked around the city of Manhattan among the people wearing their costumes and, fortunately, ignoring him. It was Halloween night—the most favourite night of the gargoyles where they could walk around the humans without fearing that they would scare the life out of them. But it wasn’t the time for Brooklyn to be hanging around and mingling with the people happily celebrating their Halloween (and neither would Goliath and Elisa again this time). He was there to look for Suki, his one and only important person in the world. He feared that she could be among these people under the orders of Demona, grabbing them unaware and sucking their blood till they go dry. He truly feared that Demona, with her manipulative words and all, influenced her to turn against mankind she once was and joined her in her plan of destroying them once and for all. He truly feared it. He couldn’t bear the idea of her turning against the clan and him and doing Demona’s dirty work.
He could feel his body going quite uneasy and noticed that the sky was gradually getting brighter and the people were getting lesser and lesser as the day set in. He ignored it. He continued to keep his eyes on the road to see if there were any signs of Suki and trying to find her by scent. He practically ignored the calls of his brothers who were following behind him and trying to tell him to get to the nearest building to rest.
Finally, after trying in vain to slow Brooklyn down, Lexington and Broadway took the last resort: using force. They pounced onto Brooklyn and held him tight, dragging him a nearby building. They had Brooklyn under one of their arms while they climbed the walls of the building up towards the top. It wasn’t until they got his feet on the top floor of the building that they finally let go the struggling Brooklyn.
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Brooklyn exclaimed angrily. “Can’t you see I’m looking for Suki here? She could be anywhere, probably even among the people here! I have to go out there and stop her from…”
“Cool it, Romeo. We know you are worried about Suki but it’s not going to work walking around there blindly trying to find someone when you have no idea where exactly she is,” Broadway tried to reason with the hot-headed Brooklyn.
“You don’t understand. Elisa said she was with Demona and she could be influenced by whatever Demona would say to her!” Brooklyn said, shuddering at the memory of how she was able to manipulate him to betray the clan and Goliath. “Suki is just a young girl. She is still fresh towards her surroundings and she definitely doesn’t know what kind of person Demona is. She could be…”
“Do you think we never thought about it?” Lexington scolded. “Do you think we have never thought of what Demona is capable of doing? Brooklyn, you’re not the only who had encounters with her. We know what she’s capable of, especially when she was able to live throughout the centuries for so long and know more about the passing of time than anyone of us! Do you think we’re not worried about Suki too? Would you please just stop torturing yourself with all the responsibilities? She’s one of us too!”
“He’s right,” Broadway replied as he laid a hand on Brooklyn’s shoulder. “We all care about Suki and we all want to look for her. But you cannot just find her like this. Manhattan is a big city and Suki is only one person. Besides, you don’t want to risk turning into stone in front of those humans, do you? She’s part of our clan, she’s our sister and she’s our responsibility too. We all want her back safe and sound.”
Brooklyn slumped and sat abruptly on the floor, his face looking downcast. He shivered as he said quietly, “I just…I just want her back. I mean, it feels so different without her around. It has only been a while, that I know, but I just can’t help feeling uneasy without her by my side. She was always there trying to look for me, wanting me to shelter her, wanting me to protect her, wanting me to assure her that everything was alright. I am the only one she had ever been close to and the only one she trusted. I…I just…I just…”
“You love her, don’t you?” Broadway asked. “I can tell by your words. You are in love with Suki and you truly care about her and her wellbeing. She hangs around with you so much and trusts you more she does us and you have grown to love her. We understand that.”
“I have…never felt such strong feelings for her before…” Brooklyn buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as his sobs could be heard. “I have never felt so worried about anyone and I have never felt such urge to do almost anything for anyone before. She…She was beautiful and innocent and all…She was afraid that her blood-sucking appetite would hurt me or even kill me. She went through everything and endured too much pain just to…be…with me…”
“We understand how you feel, Brooklyn,” Lexington said as he took a glance towards the horizon to see the sun slowly coming out. “She has loved you a lot to be willing to go through it all and you have loved her a lot to be willing to risk your existence and your safety to find her and make her come back to your life, but for now, you must rest. You’ll need it.”
With his hands still buried in his hands and his brothers’ comforting hands on his shoulders, Brooklyn continued to sob silently until the trio hardened into stone as the sun finally came out.
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp9
CHAPTER 9: ENCOUNTER WITH THE "DEMON"
She flew and flew, not knowing when to stop. Her only plan was to get as far as possible away from the clock tower and away from the gargoyle clan. She was afraid to be among them, not after she had been caught killing someone and sucking his blood. And worst of all, she didn’t want to end up sucking Brooklyn’s blood just like she almost did when she found out that she had bit Brooklyn’s neck. She didn’t want to hurt anybody, and she seriously didn’t want to hurt Brooklyn.
Anyone but Brooklyn.
Her head ached a little. The things Elisa had just told her were slightly coming back to her now. It may be in bits and pieces, but she remembered them a little alright. She remembered the smiles of other humans whom she called ‘friends’ and their praises as she was able to finish an equation she never thought she knew. She remembered proud faces of a couple whom she recognized as her parents as she graduated from college. She even remembered being given an offer letter to work with a company the name she couldn’t recall. She remembered the robbery, the rocks that fell from the sky when she was on her way with her friends to a local nightclub, the first time she saw the gargoyles that weren’t supposed to exist in this scientific age and the first time she laid eyes on Brooklyn. He was a sight to behold. She remembered the feeling when she found herself falling in love at first sight over him.
Then the bitter memories came in as she lowered herself to the ground and hid in a dark alley when the sun slowly came up. She remembered doing countless experiments on the bats and on herself and the searing pain that followed. She remembered how she was determined to make herself a gargoyle just like Brooklyn and how she was able to persevere with Brooklyn’s picture as her encouragement. Then she remembered the pain as she started to change into the gargoyle she had worked so hard for. She remembered her mind slowly going blank as the growth of her wings and pain seared through her bones like knives cutting from inside.
As she slowly slipped into her deep slumber, the memories faltered one by one until the only memory that remained in her mind was taking a last look at Brooklyn’s picture before her transformation was complete and her splitting headache overtook her sanity…
Elisa walked around the city trying to look for Suki on her own. It was hard work as she didn’t want to draw attention to people that there’s a hybrid in the loose and she definitely wouldn’t get a positive answer if she showed them Suki’s human picture when she had practically changed a lot ever since she quit Techtro Industries.
Elisa scouted around the area to see if Suki was around. She didn’t know where to start, but she had to do something if she were ever going to find Suki. Like Broadway, Lexington and Angela did, she searched the secluded corners, the roofs of abandoned houses or buildings, dirty streets and dark alleys—anywhere she could figure out. Yet no matter how far she went or how long she looked, without a trail or a clue to lead her, she simply couldn’t do anything. Besides, fatigue and sleepiness was getting into her, and that disabled her find.
Just when she thought that she would never find Suki and had to bring bad news to Brooklyn and the rest of the gargoyle clan, her eyes caught sight of something unusual in a dark alley. She walked over and checked it out. Using tissue paper, she carefully picked it up and realized that under the light, it was an earring the shape of a cross. Her trained photographic memory recalled that Suki had worn that kind of earring was on the right earlobe and a ruby-studded butterfly earring on the left.
It was definitely Suki’s earring alright, and she as definitely here taking her morning nap.
While she was trying to figure where she could’ve been, Elisa noticed something else on the floor. She picked that up too and saw that it was a piece of torn cloth. She recognized it as part of the loincloth Goliath or Lexington or any of the other gargoyles would wear. There is only one gargoyle who could walk in daylight and fear not the sun that might turn it to stone.
“Demona.”
Suki was sleeping on the bed practically oblivious to her surroundings. She had never once awoken when she was taken from her dirty sleeping spot to this huge, expensive-looking bed. She was tucked well in a really soft blanket and her deep sleep state had made it clear that she will not wake up unless the sun has set.
The same theory goes to Demona who was watching her sleep from one side of the bed. As we all know, Puck’s spell on her has cause her to morph from human to gargoyle as soon as the sun sets, and right now, Demona was actually standing there in her gargoyle outfit of half-T and loincloth, but now in human form. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she continued to look at the sleeping Suki.
“A very interesting being,” Demona commented silently. “She looks like a human, and yet she has wings just like a gargoyle. Could she be a new breed? A new kind of gargoyle the result of certain ‘relationships’ between Goliath’s clan and the humans? She definitely doesn’t look like the human detective though; she looks more of an Asian kind of person. And she was a far cry from looking like Goliath or any of the gargoyles. Who could she be?”
It came as a surprise to her when she came across Suki when she was out into the streets among the humans she loathed to do a little grocery shopping (and also a little bit of plotting to destroy the humans once and for all). She had smelt something different among the humans, something half-animal-half-human. She may have become human during the day but her special gargoyle sense of smell never failed her. She followed the scent until she found Suki there on the dirty and dark alley sleeping. She kicked her slightly at first to see if she was dead before lowering herself to check if she was still breathing. When she made sure that she was alive, she tried to shake the hybrid awake but couldn’t. Finally she resolved to take the hybrid home. She left her alone to sleep in her bedroom while she resumed her human duties as Dominique Destin in her company and only came back to check on Suki again during the late afternoon.
While Suki slept, Demona pulled away the blanket and started to examine her thoroughly. She touched her ear and felt for the pointy tip. She opened her mouth slightly and touched tentatively at the protruding fangs. She checked her skin, slightly surprised at the tan complexion and not the abnormal skin colour gargoyles have, and she checked her fingers and toes. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she noticed the 10 fingers and 10 toes on her hands and feet like her human ones instead of the 8 claw-like fingers and 6 toes on hitched-back feet like the ones gargoyle have. Her hair was of the darkest night you can imagine and when Demona opened one of her eyes a little, she noticed the dark purple colour of her pupil.
Demona had to admit—she was pretty stunned about this strange phenomenon before her. She—Suki—looked all human, if the ears, strange eye colour and fangs were ignored, that is; and yet she wasn’t entirely human. She looked almost like a gargoyle too, as Demona inspected the wings and their structure, and yet she wasn’t entirely a gargoyle either. She was like a bridge between two worlds that would’ve seemed impossible. She had never seen anything like it.
“And nice outfit too,” Demona commented as she looked at Suki’s clothes that looked exactly like hers. “Of course, pink is not my kind of colour.”
“Brooklyn…” Suki mumbled in her sleep. Demona immediately got the idea.
“Ah…I can see that she has been hanging around with Goliath and the rest of his puny little clan,” Demona smirked. “And our dear Brooklyn has got himself a girlfriend. Interesting indeed.”
Soon it dawned to her that she has been observing Suki and so engrossed about her to realize that the sun was beginning to set. She then remembered that she was supposed to meet a dealer on getting her the latest smuggled weapons she had planned to use to destroy mankind. As the sun set, she could feel the transformation coming to her and the searing pain that followed. She groaned and moaned in pain as her skin colour changed and the wings began sprouting out of her back. Her legs hitched back to turn into the pair of gargoyle feet she was more accustomed to.
When the tail finally came out, it was the same time when Suki started stretching herself awake. As Demona regained her composure, her eyes came in contact with Suki’s dark purple ones. Whether it was because she was looking at a gargoyle or she was still groggy with sleep, she didn’t react as much as she reacted to Elisa. She looked around her, her eyes looking slightly tired and confused—or to be more specific, drained of energy.
“Brooklyn…?” Suki muttered as she looked around to find her beau. Demona came towards her and laid her hands on her shoulder.
“Brooklyn is not around here,” Demona replied haughtily. “The name’s Demona. It’s obvious that you have been with that wretched clan for some time.”
“Brooklyn…Oh, Suki remember, Suki not want be with them anymore…” Suki’s face looked downcast.
“Oh, really? And why is that, little missy?” Demona asked sarcastically.
“Brooklyn see Suki hurt people. Suki no want hurt Brooklyn. Suki run away.”
“Well, that is something I would’ve expect to hear from a timid little mouse like you,” Demona smirked. “What have you done to hurt anyone and why…”
“Ms. Destin, I was wondering if you…Good Lord! Who…What the heck are you?!”
Demona turned around to see the dealer she was supposed to meet for the smuggled weapons inside the bedroom. He obviously looked shocked at the sight of two gargoyles—one a hybrid—on the bed instead of the charismatic and devilishly charming redhead Ms. Dominique Destin. Demona cursed inwardly. No living human who did business with her has ever seen her gargoyle form in her own domain and in her own home. If this goes out, she’ll be worse off and her revenge on humans would be a harder goal to reach. She had no choice but to eliminate this man before it’s too late.
Before she could do anything, something else swooshed past her and pounced on the man. After getting herself together over the mild surprise, she saw that it was Suki who jumped onto the surprised man with a loud snarl, baring her fangs at him with a very hungry look on her face. Demona has never seen any face as hungry as this. Without warning, Suki bore her fangs onto the man’s jugular and sucking sounds could be heard. The man struggled to get out of her fatal bite and was gurgling in agony. Suki continued to suck until the man stopped struggling. In fact, her face looked so hungry that she kept sucking even though the man had stopped struggling and had slumped into a complete stupor. She sucked and sucked and didn’t seem that she would ever stop.
Demona had watched the entire process with wide eyes. She watched in fascination as Suki probably sucked the life force out of the man. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Suki finally let go of the man she was feasting on and stopped to catch her breath. Demona got off the bed she was sitting on and took a look at the man. He was barely recognizable with the shrunken look on his face and his protruding eyeballs. Demona realized that this hybrid was actually sucking blood out of his body like a small child sucking orange juice out of a packet drink. The man was practically shriveled up like a prune when she was done with him.
Suki stared at the man in horror when she realized what she had done and backed away a little, “Oh no…Suki hurt people again…Suki no want hurt him…Suki…hungry…Suki scare you, yes…?”
“On the contrary,” Demona smiled evilly as she picked the shriveled man up by the collar. “You have made me the luckiest gargoyle in the whole world.”
She flew and flew, not knowing when to stop. Her only plan was to get as far as possible away from the clock tower and away from the gargoyle clan. She was afraid to be among them, not after she had been caught killing someone and sucking his blood. And worst of all, she didn’t want to end up sucking Brooklyn’s blood just like she almost did when she found out that she had bit Brooklyn’s neck. She didn’t want to hurt anybody, and she seriously didn’t want to hurt Brooklyn.
Anyone but Brooklyn.
Her head ached a little. The things Elisa had just told her were slightly coming back to her now. It may be in bits and pieces, but she remembered them a little alright. She remembered the smiles of other humans whom she called ‘friends’ and their praises as she was able to finish an equation she never thought she knew. She remembered proud faces of a couple whom she recognized as her parents as she graduated from college. She even remembered being given an offer letter to work with a company the name she couldn’t recall. She remembered the robbery, the rocks that fell from the sky when she was on her way with her friends to a local nightclub, the first time she saw the gargoyles that weren’t supposed to exist in this scientific age and the first time she laid eyes on Brooklyn. He was a sight to behold. She remembered the feeling when she found herself falling in love at first sight over him.
Then the bitter memories came in as she lowered herself to the ground and hid in a dark alley when the sun slowly came up. She remembered doing countless experiments on the bats and on herself and the searing pain that followed. She remembered how she was determined to make herself a gargoyle just like Brooklyn and how she was able to persevere with Brooklyn’s picture as her encouragement. Then she remembered the pain as she started to change into the gargoyle she had worked so hard for. She remembered her mind slowly going blank as the growth of her wings and pain seared through her bones like knives cutting from inside.
As she slowly slipped into her deep slumber, the memories faltered one by one until the only memory that remained in her mind was taking a last look at Brooklyn’s picture before her transformation was complete and her splitting headache overtook her sanity…
Elisa walked around the city trying to look for Suki on her own. It was hard work as she didn’t want to draw attention to people that there’s a hybrid in the loose and she definitely wouldn’t get a positive answer if she showed them Suki’s human picture when she had practically changed a lot ever since she quit Techtro Industries.
Elisa scouted around the area to see if Suki was around. She didn’t know where to start, but she had to do something if she were ever going to find Suki. Like Broadway, Lexington and Angela did, she searched the secluded corners, the roofs of abandoned houses or buildings, dirty streets and dark alleys—anywhere she could figure out. Yet no matter how far she went or how long she looked, without a trail or a clue to lead her, she simply couldn’t do anything. Besides, fatigue and sleepiness was getting into her, and that disabled her find.
Just when she thought that she would never find Suki and had to bring bad news to Brooklyn and the rest of the gargoyle clan, her eyes caught sight of something unusual in a dark alley. She walked over and checked it out. Using tissue paper, she carefully picked it up and realized that under the light, it was an earring the shape of a cross. Her trained photographic memory recalled that Suki had worn that kind of earring was on the right earlobe and a ruby-studded butterfly earring on the left.
It was definitely Suki’s earring alright, and she as definitely here taking her morning nap.
While she was trying to figure where she could’ve been, Elisa noticed something else on the floor. She picked that up too and saw that it was a piece of torn cloth. She recognized it as part of the loincloth Goliath or Lexington or any of the other gargoyles would wear. There is only one gargoyle who could walk in daylight and fear not the sun that might turn it to stone.
“Demona.”
Suki was sleeping on the bed practically oblivious to her surroundings. She had never once awoken when she was taken from her dirty sleeping spot to this huge, expensive-looking bed. She was tucked well in a really soft blanket and her deep sleep state had made it clear that she will not wake up unless the sun has set.
The same theory goes to Demona who was watching her sleep from one side of the bed. As we all know, Puck’s spell on her has cause her to morph from human to gargoyle as soon as the sun sets, and right now, Demona was actually standing there in her gargoyle outfit of half-T and loincloth, but now in human form. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully as she continued to look at the sleeping Suki.
“A very interesting being,” Demona commented silently. “She looks like a human, and yet she has wings just like a gargoyle. Could she be a new breed? A new kind of gargoyle the result of certain ‘relationships’ between Goliath’s clan and the humans? She definitely doesn’t look like the human detective though; she looks more of an Asian kind of person. And she was a far cry from looking like Goliath or any of the gargoyles. Who could she be?”
It came as a surprise to her when she came across Suki when she was out into the streets among the humans she loathed to do a little grocery shopping (and also a little bit of plotting to destroy the humans once and for all). She had smelt something different among the humans, something half-animal-half-human. She may have become human during the day but her special gargoyle sense of smell never failed her. She followed the scent until she found Suki there on the dirty and dark alley sleeping. She kicked her slightly at first to see if she was dead before lowering herself to check if she was still breathing. When she made sure that she was alive, she tried to shake the hybrid awake but couldn’t. Finally she resolved to take the hybrid home. She left her alone to sleep in her bedroom while she resumed her human duties as Dominique Destin in her company and only came back to check on Suki again during the late afternoon.
While Suki slept, Demona pulled away the blanket and started to examine her thoroughly. She touched her ear and felt for the pointy tip. She opened her mouth slightly and touched tentatively at the protruding fangs. She checked her skin, slightly surprised at the tan complexion and not the abnormal skin colour gargoyles have, and she checked her fingers and toes. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she noticed the 10 fingers and 10 toes on her hands and feet like her human ones instead of the 8 claw-like fingers and 6 toes on hitched-back feet like the ones gargoyle have. Her hair was of the darkest night you can imagine and when Demona opened one of her eyes a little, she noticed the dark purple colour of her pupil.
Demona had to admit—she was pretty stunned about this strange phenomenon before her. She—Suki—looked all human, if the ears, strange eye colour and fangs were ignored, that is; and yet she wasn’t entirely human. She looked almost like a gargoyle too, as Demona inspected the wings and their structure, and yet she wasn’t entirely a gargoyle either. She was like a bridge between two worlds that would’ve seemed impossible. She had never seen anything like it.
“And nice outfit too,” Demona commented as she looked at Suki’s clothes that looked exactly like hers. “Of course, pink is not my kind of colour.”
“Brooklyn…” Suki mumbled in her sleep. Demona immediately got the idea.
“Ah…I can see that she has been hanging around with Goliath and the rest of his puny little clan,” Demona smirked. “And our dear Brooklyn has got himself a girlfriend. Interesting indeed.”
Soon it dawned to her that she has been observing Suki and so engrossed about her to realize that the sun was beginning to set. She then remembered that she was supposed to meet a dealer on getting her the latest smuggled weapons she had planned to use to destroy mankind. As the sun set, she could feel the transformation coming to her and the searing pain that followed. She groaned and moaned in pain as her skin colour changed and the wings began sprouting out of her back. Her legs hitched back to turn into the pair of gargoyle feet she was more accustomed to.
When the tail finally came out, it was the same time when Suki started stretching herself awake. As Demona regained her composure, her eyes came in contact with Suki’s dark purple ones. Whether it was because she was looking at a gargoyle or she was still groggy with sleep, she didn’t react as much as she reacted to Elisa. She looked around her, her eyes looking slightly tired and confused—or to be more specific, drained of energy.
“Brooklyn…?” Suki muttered as she looked around to find her beau. Demona came towards her and laid her hands on her shoulder.
“Brooklyn is not around here,” Demona replied haughtily. “The name’s Demona. It’s obvious that you have been with that wretched clan for some time.”
“Brooklyn…Oh, Suki remember, Suki not want be with them anymore…” Suki’s face looked downcast.
“Oh, really? And why is that, little missy?” Demona asked sarcastically.
“Brooklyn see Suki hurt people. Suki no want hurt Brooklyn. Suki run away.”
“Well, that is something I would’ve expect to hear from a timid little mouse like you,” Demona smirked. “What have you done to hurt anyone and why…”
“Ms. Destin, I was wondering if you…Good Lord! Who…What the heck are you?!”
Demona turned around to see the dealer she was supposed to meet for the smuggled weapons inside the bedroom. He obviously looked shocked at the sight of two gargoyles—one a hybrid—on the bed instead of the charismatic and devilishly charming redhead Ms. Dominique Destin. Demona cursed inwardly. No living human who did business with her has ever seen her gargoyle form in her own domain and in her own home. If this goes out, she’ll be worse off and her revenge on humans would be a harder goal to reach. She had no choice but to eliminate this man before it’s too late.
Before she could do anything, something else swooshed past her and pounced on the man. After getting herself together over the mild surprise, she saw that it was Suki who jumped onto the surprised man with a loud snarl, baring her fangs at him with a very hungry look on her face. Demona has never seen any face as hungry as this. Without warning, Suki bore her fangs onto the man’s jugular and sucking sounds could be heard. The man struggled to get out of her fatal bite and was gurgling in agony. Suki continued to suck until the man stopped struggling. In fact, her face looked so hungry that she kept sucking even though the man had stopped struggling and had slumped into a complete stupor. She sucked and sucked and didn’t seem that she would ever stop.
Demona had watched the entire process with wide eyes. She watched in fascination as Suki probably sucked the life force out of the man. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Suki finally let go of the man she was feasting on and stopped to catch her breath. Demona got off the bed she was sitting on and took a look at the man. He was barely recognizable with the shrunken look on his face and his protruding eyeballs. Demona realized that this hybrid was actually sucking blood out of his body like a small child sucking orange juice out of a packet drink. The man was practically shriveled up like a prune when she was done with him.
Suki stared at the man in horror when she realized what she had done and backed away a little, “Oh no…Suki hurt people again…Suki no want hurt him…Suki…hungry…Suki scare you, yes…?”
“On the contrary,” Demona smiled evilly as she picked the shriveled man up by the collar. “You have made me the luckiest gargoyle in the whole world.”
Dark Angel of the Skies-Chp8
CHAPTER 8: THE TRUTH UNFOLDS
She was wandering around the city among the humans, her eyes frantically searching for her Brooklyn. Where could Brooklyn be? Where was her protector, her shield, her cover, her love? She couldn’t stand being away from him. Without him, she was nothing. Without him, she wasn’t safe. Without him, there is nothing in the world she could do.
Her life was torn apart. How could she ever be separated from him? How could Elisa take her away from him? She had to find him. She had to find him fast. She was hungry—so hungry she could eat anything. She was surrounded by humans who looked at her curiously as she passed by. She was so alone out here, and so hungry. She knew no one here to help her satisfy her hunger. She was scared. She wanted Brooklyn. She wanted her friends. Where is Broadway who could provide her food? Where’s Lexington who could take them anywhere easier without getting caught? Where is the sweet Angela? Where’s…Brooklyn…?
When her eyes came back into focus after that sudden long blackout she had, Brooklyn was there in front of her eyes. Her prayers and hope has not failed her. She was glad, happy and relieved. Her love was right in front of her! He’s with her now! They’re together again! She swore she will never part from him ever, not even for all the money in the world! She felt some sort of an aftertaste in her mouth, but she didn’t care. Brooklyn was there and that’s all she wanted right now.
But she could see through his eyes that everything is going to change.
The gargoyles were all gathered around Suki who was sitting in the middle looking pretty guilty and awkward. Elisa was also there, which made the situation even more awkward than it is, especially when Elisa was a detective, a member of the law. The blood on her lips were fairly clean, but it couldn’t hide the scent—Bronx cowered away from that smell.
“And you say that she had just feasted the blood of a human?” Goliath asked the trio and Angela. They nodded one by one, though reluctant to convict the friend that they have come to be fond of. Elisa came close to Suki and knelt in front of her.
“Suki, tell me. What happened back then? Do you remember anything?” Elisa asked.
Suki turned to Brooklyn, looking lost. Brooklyn nodded, gesturing her to tell the truth. She then turned to Elisa and replied, “Suki only remember…very hungry…Suki want find Brooklyn, but cannot find…Suki saw man, very hungry…then Suki…not remember anymore…”
“This is bad. Really bad,” Elisa said worriedly as she took a look at Suki’s blood-stained fangs. “The experiment she did on herself is giving side effects.”
“Experiment?” Brooklyn’s heart skipped a beat. It cannot be…could it? Everyone turned to look at her questioningly.
“I’ve found out more about her past, and it has confirmed her identity as a human and a scientist,” Elisa said as she took out the printed information for Suki to see. Brooklyn wanted to stop her—he didn’t want her to remember and leave him—but Goliath laid a hand on Brooklyn’s shoulder, his eyes giving him a She-has-to-know-the-truth look. Brooklyn sighed inwardly and watched as Elisa unfolded the piece of paper for Suki.
“See, Suki? This is you, well, were you when you were human, that is,” Elisa said as she pointed at the picture on the right side of the paper. “You look like this before you became like this.”
“Suki…was human? Like Elisa?” Suki stared at the picture on the paper in awe.
“Yes, Suki. Your real name is Yusuki Hamasaki, and you were a genius, a very, very smart girl. You were a scientist working in a medicine industry. Do you remember that?”
“Suki…was…scientist…?”
“Mmhmm, and you were very good at making medicine. But after the robbery, you were scared. You didn’t go to work, and you disappeared from everyone’s sight. Suki, do you remember your small lab in your home? You’ve been using that to do a little private experiment of your own. You wanted to become like this.”
Elisa held up a whole stack of pictures in front of Suki. The gargoyles moved closer to see the pictures. They gasped in awe as the pictures were all about them. There was Broadway flying towards a skyscraper, Lexington playing videogames in front of the TV with Brooklyn, Bronx and Hudson at the beach enjoying the sea, Goliath talking to Elisa from her window, Angela with Broadway sitting together at the cinema’s top bunk watching a movie, the whole clan changing from flesh to stone and another one was vice versa.
“These pictures…she’s been taking pictures of us in secret! How did she take them without us finding out? How did she do that? Look at this, this is seriously close-up! There is no way she could be able to take that with coming face to face with us!” Lexington exclaimed as he pointed at a picture where he and his brothers were fighting a mob who was trying to hurt a family in a car.
“She’s a genius, remember? She can always come up with some gadget to take your pictures up close and personal,” Elisa replied. “I found a whole lot of them back at her home. She had been keeping records of you guys in a notebook and records of her experiments in another. Suki, you have been doing this experiment for a long time and you have been trying so many times to make yourself into a gargoyle just like them. You were scared when the company worked for was robbed because you’re the youngest and most likely prone to danger, and that made you more determined to become a gargoyle like them. You wanted to be strong just like them.”
“Suki…Suki make self into this…?” Suki was still trying to take it all in as she looked at herself in her odd gargoyle-like form.
“Woah, this is creepy, man. Some of these pictures were dated when we were still adjusting to this future world!” Lexington said, shivering a little. “She’s been on our tail ever since we’ve got here! That is scary!”
“Suki take these pictures?” Suki asked Elisa as she looked at her share of the pictures.
“Yes, Suki. You have been taking their pictures and investigating them since the first time I’ve met them. I’ve read your notes, Suki. You have been on them since the day I first knew them, you know, that fateful day where I was investigating on Xanatos’ case and those weird rocks started falling from the air. You were there, Suki, among the crowd. And you followed me secretly all the way and caught the first glimpse of the gargoyles. You were even able to keep your presence out of my eyes. You make a better detective than I am.”
“But why? Why all this torture on herself?” Goliath asked as he returned his share of pictures to Elisa. “We gargoyles have weaknesses too. We are not always as strong as she thinks we are. She could’ve killed herself doing this. Why does she want to do this?”
“It’s not a question of why she did it that was important,” Elisa said as she picked a picture out of the stack and put it onto Suki’s lap. “It’s a question of for whom she did this experiment that is the issue here.”
Suki looked down and saw that it was a full scale picture of Brooklyn on the clock tower, smiling at his brothers. She blushed and held the picture up to her face, purring.
“Ye don’t mean…?” Hudson said, getting the idea. Elisa nodded.
“She did it for Brooklyn. She wanted to become a gargoyle to be with Brooklyn. She had a crush on you for a very long time, Brooklyn, and she was willing to go the extra mile to perfect herself for you.”
“What?!” Brooklyn was taken aback. Suki did this…for him…? She went through all the torture and the pain of turning herself into a gargoyle just for…him? He found it hard to believe. “It can’t be…! It can’t be! How could she be so willing to do this on herself?! She couldn’t just…”
“She’s right. These pictures…” Angela said as she looked at her share of pictures. “Almost all of these pictures have Brooklyn in them. There’s even a picture where only Brooklyn’s tail was showing. There’s Brooklyn in almost every picture.”
“Yeah, you’re right! There’s Brooklyn while he was waking up,” Broadway said as he pointed at his share. “And there’s Brooklyn with me flying in the air, and this one is where Brooklyn saved Lexington from The Pack! She’s been onto us for so long!! Who could’ve thought of that?!”
“There are some humans who are willing to do anything for love, Brooklyn,” Elisa said. “She is one of them.”
Brooklyn stared at Suki with a weight in his heart. He had never thought that someone would go through so much just for him. It was both a heavy yet blissful feeling. He never knew that he had become the cause of her oddity. He didn’t think he would lead an innocent young human to turn into something she wasn’t.
“If she has created herself into a gargoyle,” Broadway voiced out, “why did she start sucking human’s blood? We gargoyles don’t suck blood. We eat like you humans eat.”
“It has to be the flaw in her experiment,” Elisa replied. “The transformation has short-circuited her brain that limited her intelligence, made her lose part of her memory and also weakened her speech capacity, which means that after transforming into this form, she became a not-so-genius girl and can’t talk right. And I’ve been through her notes and found out that of all the bats she could use to merge with her DNA, the vampire bat is the most suitable one. The vampire bats feed on blood from other animals, and she has then turned into a blood-sucking vampire bat herself.”
The younger members of the clan gasped. Goliath sighed in pity—all that trouble and yet backfired by one simple flaw. Suki still remained seated on the floor still trying to take in everything. She shifted her gaze from Broadway to Lexington to Angela and then finally to Brooklyn. All of them looked shocked, as if she was a terrible monster and not a sight to behold. Suki shivered as she looked again at her hands and her wings and at her own body. She looked back at Brooklyn who was looking back at her in dismay. Suddenly she stood up and started screaming in agony, as she was in pain. She screamed and screamed like she would never stop. Brooklyn immediately came to her aid.
“Suki? Suki, it’s OK, I’m here. What’s wrong? Calm down, calm down!” Brooklyn exclaimed as he held Suki close to his chest. “Calm down! What’s wrong? Talk to me!”
“No! No! NO~!!! Go away!!! No touch Suki~!!! No touch Suki~!!!” Suki screamed as she struggled to get away from Brooklyn’s embrace. Brooklyn held her tighter.
“What’s wrong? Tell me, Suki! I’m here!”
“No~!! No touch Suki~!!!” Suki yelled as she struggled again. Without warning, she suddenly sank her teeth onto Brooklyn’s shoulder, which is almost near the jugular, and it was bleeding a little. Brooklyn was taken aback and let her go out of reflex. Suki stared in horror at the bleeding bite marks and flew up to the door that was on the face of the clock, panting breathlessly.
“Suki, come back down here! It’s alright! I was just a little shocked! Come here!”
“No…Suki…Suki no want…hurt Brooklyn…” Suki said before running out of the tower and jumping off the edge. When Brooklyn and the rest finally came up and out of the tower, she was already out of sight. Brooklyn was in panic and jumped up onto the edge in a thrice.
“We have to go and find her! She won’t be able to survive out there! We gotta go get her back!”
“No!” Goliath growled in his low rumbling voice as he picked Brooklyn up and away from the edge. “You cannot go out there again. It is almost sunrise and I cannot risk you turning into stone in the middle of the flight. Calm down, Brooklyn!”
“But…But Suki…She…She needs me! She’s very vulnerable out there! Elisa, you did say that she would fall asleep almost immediately once the sun comes up and will only wake when the sun goes down! You even said that she cannot be awaken unless it is truly sundown! What if the humans discover her and take her away? She’ll never know a thing until it’s too late!”
“Don’t worry, Brooklyn. I’ll go out and look for her,” Elisa replied. “You’ve been out there and under too much stress. You need your rest.”
As soon as she mentioned it, Brooklyn felt an unbelievable sense of fatigue. He slumped in Goliath’s embrace and Broadway and Lexington helped him up one of the stones of the tower. Elisa was right—he had been working himself too much on Suki and bearing all the responsibility. It’s about time he let go a little and trust someone else to help him out.
“Everything will be fine. Don’t you worry. Just rest and leave it to me,” Elisa assured Brooklyn. “It’s also one way for me to make up for taking her away from you in the first place.”
“Bring her here safe and sound,” Goliath said, speaking for all the gargoyles. “She has found favour in our eyes and we do not wish to see her go into any harm.”
“I’m on it, Goliath. Don’t worry.”
As the sun rose, Brooklyn let out a sigh, the worry and anxiousness still hung in his heart as he slowly turned to stone.
She was wandering around the city among the humans, her eyes frantically searching for her Brooklyn. Where could Brooklyn be? Where was her protector, her shield, her cover, her love? She couldn’t stand being away from him. Without him, she was nothing. Without him, she wasn’t safe. Without him, there is nothing in the world she could do.
Her life was torn apart. How could she ever be separated from him? How could Elisa take her away from him? She had to find him. She had to find him fast. She was hungry—so hungry she could eat anything. She was surrounded by humans who looked at her curiously as she passed by. She was so alone out here, and so hungry. She knew no one here to help her satisfy her hunger. She was scared. She wanted Brooklyn. She wanted her friends. Where is Broadway who could provide her food? Where’s Lexington who could take them anywhere easier without getting caught? Where is the sweet Angela? Where’s…Brooklyn…?
When her eyes came back into focus after that sudden long blackout she had, Brooklyn was there in front of her eyes. Her prayers and hope has not failed her. She was glad, happy and relieved. Her love was right in front of her! He’s with her now! They’re together again! She swore she will never part from him ever, not even for all the money in the world! She felt some sort of an aftertaste in her mouth, but she didn’t care. Brooklyn was there and that’s all she wanted right now.
But she could see through his eyes that everything is going to change.
The gargoyles were all gathered around Suki who was sitting in the middle looking pretty guilty and awkward. Elisa was also there, which made the situation even more awkward than it is, especially when Elisa was a detective, a member of the law. The blood on her lips were fairly clean, but it couldn’t hide the scent—Bronx cowered away from that smell.
“And you say that she had just feasted the blood of a human?” Goliath asked the trio and Angela. They nodded one by one, though reluctant to convict the friend that they have come to be fond of. Elisa came close to Suki and knelt in front of her.
“Suki, tell me. What happened back then? Do you remember anything?” Elisa asked.
Suki turned to Brooklyn, looking lost. Brooklyn nodded, gesturing her to tell the truth. She then turned to Elisa and replied, “Suki only remember…very hungry…Suki want find Brooklyn, but cannot find…Suki saw man, very hungry…then Suki…not remember anymore…”
“This is bad. Really bad,” Elisa said worriedly as she took a look at Suki’s blood-stained fangs. “The experiment she did on herself is giving side effects.”
“Experiment?” Brooklyn’s heart skipped a beat. It cannot be…could it? Everyone turned to look at her questioningly.
“I’ve found out more about her past, and it has confirmed her identity as a human and a scientist,” Elisa said as she took out the printed information for Suki to see. Brooklyn wanted to stop her—he didn’t want her to remember and leave him—but Goliath laid a hand on Brooklyn’s shoulder, his eyes giving him a She-has-to-know-the-truth look. Brooklyn sighed inwardly and watched as Elisa unfolded the piece of paper for Suki.
“See, Suki? This is you, well, were you when you were human, that is,” Elisa said as she pointed at the picture on the right side of the paper. “You look like this before you became like this.”
“Suki…was human? Like Elisa?” Suki stared at the picture on the paper in awe.
“Yes, Suki. Your real name is Yusuki Hamasaki, and you were a genius, a very, very smart girl. You were a scientist working in a medicine industry. Do you remember that?”
“Suki…was…scientist…?”
“Mmhmm, and you were very good at making medicine. But after the robbery, you were scared. You didn’t go to work, and you disappeared from everyone’s sight. Suki, do you remember your small lab in your home? You’ve been using that to do a little private experiment of your own. You wanted to become like this.”
Elisa held up a whole stack of pictures in front of Suki. The gargoyles moved closer to see the pictures. They gasped in awe as the pictures were all about them. There was Broadway flying towards a skyscraper, Lexington playing videogames in front of the TV with Brooklyn, Bronx and Hudson at the beach enjoying the sea, Goliath talking to Elisa from her window, Angela with Broadway sitting together at the cinema’s top bunk watching a movie, the whole clan changing from flesh to stone and another one was vice versa.
“These pictures…she’s been taking pictures of us in secret! How did she take them without us finding out? How did she do that? Look at this, this is seriously close-up! There is no way she could be able to take that with coming face to face with us!” Lexington exclaimed as he pointed at a picture where he and his brothers were fighting a mob who was trying to hurt a family in a car.
“She’s a genius, remember? She can always come up with some gadget to take your pictures up close and personal,” Elisa replied. “I found a whole lot of them back at her home. She had been keeping records of you guys in a notebook and records of her experiments in another. Suki, you have been doing this experiment for a long time and you have been trying so many times to make yourself into a gargoyle just like them. You were scared when the company worked for was robbed because you’re the youngest and most likely prone to danger, and that made you more determined to become a gargoyle like them. You wanted to be strong just like them.”
“Suki…Suki make self into this…?” Suki was still trying to take it all in as she looked at herself in her odd gargoyle-like form.
“Woah, this is creepy, man. Some of these pictures were dated when we were still adjusting to this future world!” Lexington said, shivering a little. “She’s been on our tail ever since we’ve got here! That is scary!”
“Suki take these pictures?” Suki asked Elisa as she looked at her share of the pictures.
“Yes, Suki. You have been taking their pictures and investigating them since the first time I’ve met them. I’ve read your notes, Suki. You have been on them since the day I first knew them, you know, that fateful day where I was investigating on Xanatos’ case and those weird rocks started falling from the air. You were there, Suki, among the crowd. And you followed me secretly all the way and caught the first glimpse of the gargoyles. You were even able to keep your presence out of my eyes. You make a better detective than I am.”
“But why? Why all this torture on herself?” Goliath asked as he returned his share of pictures to Elisa. “We gargoyles have weaknesses too. We are not always as strong as she thinks we are. She could’ve killed herself doing this. Why does she want to do this?”
“It’s not a question of why she did it that was important,” Elisa said as she picked a picture out of the stack and put it onto Suki’s lap. “It’s a question of for whom she did this experiment that is the issue here.”
Suki looked down and saw that it was a full scale picture of Brooklyn on the clock tower, smiling at his brothers. She blushed and held the picture up to her face, purring.
“Ye don’t mean…?” Hudson said, getting the idea. Elisa nodded.
“She did it for Brooklyn. She wanted to become a gargoyle to be with Brooklyn. She had a crush on you for a very long time, Brooklyn, and she was willing to go the extra mile to perfect herself for you.”
“What?!” Brooklyn was taken aback. Suki did this…for him…? She went through all the torture and the pain of turning herself into a gargoyle just for…him? He found it hard to believe. “It can’t be…! It can’t be! How could she be so willing to do this on herself?! She couldn’t just…”
“She’s right. These pictures…” Angela said as she looked at her share of pictures. “Almost all of these pictures have Brooklyn in them. There’s even a picture where only Brooklyn’s tail was showing. There’s Brooklyn in almost every picture.”
“Yeah, you’re right! There’s Brooklyn while he was waking up,” Broadway said as he pointed at his share. “And there’s Brooklyn with me flying in the air, and this one is where Brooklyn saved Lexington from The Pack! She’s been onto us for so long!! Who could’ve thought of that?!”
“There are some humans who are willing to do anything for love, Brooklyn,” Elisa said. “She is one of them.”
Brooklyn stared at Suki with a weight in his heart. He had never thought that someone would go through so much just for him. It was both a heavy yet blissful feeling. He never knew that he had become the cause of her oddity. He didn’t think he would lead an innocent young human to turn into something she wasn’t.
“If she has created herself into a gargoyle,” Broadway voiced out, “why did she start sucking human’s blood? We gargoyles don’t suck blood. We eat like you humans eat.”
“It has to be the flaw in her experiment,” Elisa replied. “The transformation has short-circuited her brain that limited her intelligence, made her lose part of her memory and also weakened her speech capacity, which means that after transforming into this form, she became a not-so-genius girl and can’t talk right. And I’ve been through her notes and found out that of all the bats she could use to merge with her DNA, the vampire bat is the most suitable one. The vampire bats feed on blood from other animals, and she has then turned into a blood-sucking vampire bat herself.”
The younger members of the clan gasped. Goliath sighed in pity—all that trouble and yet backfired by one simple flaw. Suki still remained seated on the floor still trying to take in everything. She shifted her gaze from Broadway to Lexington to Angela and then finally to Brooklyn. All of them looked shocked, as if she was a terrible monster and not a sight to behold. Suki shivered as she looked again at her hands and her wings and at her own body. She looked back at Brooklyn who was looking back at her in dismay. Suddenly she stood up and started screaming in agony, as she was in pain. She screamed and screamed like she would never stop. Brooklyn immediately came to her aid.
“Suki? Suki, it’s OK, I’m here. What’s wrong? Calm down, calm down!” Brooklyn exclaimed as he held Suki close to his chest. “Calm down! What’s wrong? Talk to me!”
“No! No! NO~!!! Go away!!! No touch Suki~!!! No touch Suki~!!!” Suki screamed as she struggled to get away from Brooklyn’s embrace. Brooklyn held her tighter.
“What’s wrong? Tell me, Suki! I’m here!”
“No~!! No touch Suki~!!!” Suki yelled as she struggled again. Without warning, she suddenly sank her teeth onto Brooklyn’s shoulder, which is almost near the jugular, and it was bleeding a little. Brooklyn was taken aback and let her go out of reflex. Suki stared in horror at the bleeding bite marks and flew up to the door that was on the face of the clock, panting breathlessly.
“Suki, come back down here! It’s alright! I was just a little shocked! Come here!”
“No…Suki…Suki no want…hurt Brooklyn…” Suki said before running out of the tower and jumping off the edge. When Brooklyn and the rest finally came up and out of the tower, she was already out of sight. Brooklyn was in panic and jumped up onto the edge in a thrice.
“We have to go and find her! She won’t be able to survive out there! We gotta go get her back!”
“No!” Goliath growled in his low rumbling voice as he picked Brooklyn up and away from the edge. “You cannot go out there again. It is almost sunrise and I cannot risk you turning into stone in the middle of the flight. Calm down, Brooklyn!”
“But…But Suki…She…She needs me! She’s very vulnerable out there! Elisa, you did say that she would fall asleep almost immediately once the sun comes up and will only wake when the sun goes down! You even said that she cannot be awaken unless it is truly sundown! What if the humans discover her and take her away? She’ll never know a thing until it’s too late!”
“Don’t worry, Brooklyn. I’ll go out and look for her,” Elisa replied. “You’ve been out there and under too much stress. You need your rest.”
As soon as she mentioned it, Brooklyn felt an unbelievable sense of fatigue. He slumped in Goliath’s embrace and Broadway and Lexington helped him up one of the stones of the tower. Elisa was right—he had been working himself too much on Suki and bearing all the responsibility. It’s about time he let go a little and trust someone else to help him out.
“Everything will be fine. Don’t you worry. Just rest and leave it to me,” Elisa assured Brooklyn. “It’s also one way for me to make up for taking her away from you in the first place.”
“Bring her here safe and sound,” Goliath said, speaking for all the gargoyles. “She has found favour in our eyes and we do not wish to see her go into any harm.”
“I’m on it, Goliath. Don’t worry.”
As the sun rose, Brooklyn let out a sigh, the worry and anxiousness still hung in his heart as he slowly turned to stone.
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