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.”
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