Friday, October 28, 2005

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.

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