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.”
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