Ripped Apart

********

Elisa leaned against the castle wall while waiting for sunset. In her hand she had a large envelope of things she wanted to share with the clan. This unofficial investigation was starting to frustrate her. Still they had no lead as to what Demona wanted Brenna for. One of the people on Brenna's tail was sounding like he believed those two made a cute family… Elisa's jaw had actually dropped when Fox's spy told her that. Demona was a far better actress than she'd ever considered.

Elisa glanced at the envelope in her hand. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but these pictures only told her that Brenna was really going to hurt when everything came out. The girl was falling for all of it. The adoration in her eyes when she looked at Demona sometimes was just painful to look at. As if losing her own mother hadn't been enough pain for the child this year, she was going to find out that the woman she was obviously attached to wasn't who she thought… Damn Demona! Elisa's jaw clenched. That gargoyle had done many despicable things in her life, but this purposely abusing a child's love… she'd done it with her own daughter, and now Brenna.

The sun dipped below the horizon, so Elisa pushed herself off from leaning on the wall. She had to give them the latest Demona report today. She'd rather be telling them that Brenna was safely away from that gargoyle. Goliath wasn't feeling as patient with this process, but they couldn't go around breaking laws that they didn't like.

As sick as it sounded, Elisa had hoped to find some evidence of the abuse she'd thought Brenna was receiving, but there hadn't been any. Without proof like that, she had nothing to give the social workers to protest Demona's custody request. It looked like they wouldn't get proof like that. Brenna didn't act like an abused child. They were going to have to think of something else. If Demona wasn't thinking it was important to hide her secrets from the girl it could mean that Demona didn't expect Brenna would live to be a threat. They had to move soon.

********

Brenna had Gregory help her carry her books upstairs. This paper for history was a large part of the grade and she'd wasted a week deciding on a topic, so she was going to spend the next week working hard to get it done. This school was a lot more effort than her last. A small smile crossed her lips. She was finally not wasting her time at school, she liked that.

"So you went with the Internment camps?" Dominique followed them upstairs and was glancing at the books that Gregory had put on Brenna's bed before moving to leave.

"Well, yeah." Brenna had to admit it was interesting, and it was Dominique's suggestion. There was no shortage of books about it. Dominique gave her a strange smile that Brenna didn't quite understand.

"Good. Well, I'll let you organize your books. I need to change out of this suit." Dominique's eyes widened a little in their shared secret. Dominique hated wearing those things.

"Okay. I'll be downstairs as soon as I have this put away." Brenna said distractedly while clearing a space on her bookshelf for the latest library haul.

"Oh don't rush. Schoolwork is important."

********

Brenna noticed the poster as she walked up the stairs to school. Internship Opportunities at NightStone Unlimited. They were finally advertising it. Dominique had been waiting until Brenna had chosen her internship. The list was impressive and intimidating. Accounting, Human Resources, Security, Public Relations… the list went on. Brenna's list had been even larger, including Research and Development, and one special internship with the CEO. Brenna had felt a bit embarrassed that she didn't know much about the different offices, but after arguing with herself about seeming too clingy she finally admitted to Dominique that she wanted to see what Dominique did for her job. It wasn't that she thought she'd ever run NightStone, but it really looked like the most interesting internship possibility on her list. The redheaded CEO had seemed pleased with her decision.

"I'm going to apply." Allaine's voice startled her as he walked up behind her. "Do you think I have a shot?"

Brenna managed to not grimace. For some reason Dominique didn't really like him. "I don't know. She doesn’t play favorites."

They went inside and split up as she went down the hall to her own first class. One awkward thing about her internship was that she was in charge of the others. They reported to their own departments, and they'd report to her as well. It was Dominique's idea to have Brenna have employees of her own to manage.

"School is almost over." Gencie's sing-song happiness went with her bouncy walk. "Two weeks… two weeks and counting…" Her hands raised above her head as she did a little dance.

"Well did you get the job your family wanted you to have?" Brenna watched as that deflated Gencie's joy a little.

"I'm still looking. I'll find something." The girl grimaced, "Hopefully something good." Brenna almost suggested applying for the internship, but held off. If she suggested it Gencie might think she was going to automatically be in, and Brenna couldn't guarantee anything. Gencie never did understand that Brenna didn't have a lot of influence when it came to work, and really that nepotism thing. She didn’t want Gencie saying that at work where the other employees could hear it. Yeah, Gencie was her friend, but… no, she shouldn't work at NightStone. It would just make Brenna's job harder.

********

Demona glanced up from the kitchen table to see Brenna carefully editing her History paper. The girl had already mentioned how she didn't realize that the US Government had done something like that. Demona had barely grimaced as she heard yet another subgroup of humans that Brenna was going to lay the blame on, rather than making the connection. It was still a step in the right direction though. If Demona pushed too hard for Brenna to see it, the girl might pull away. Demona glanced back down at the applications for the internships she'd brought home to look at, but wasn't really seeing them. Another problem Demona had to keep in mind was that she didn't want Brenna thinking that she was in any way evil, like the other humans. That had occurred to her after suggesting the topic for this paper. Demona was going to have to be more careful than she'd originally thought. Humans had done horrible things to themselves and to the gargoyle race, but Brenna was just sensitive enough to accept the guilt for that and she was the last person that deserved it.

"I've narrowed down the list of applicants." Demona interrupted the girl's studying. "Could you look at them and let me know if some are just…" completely incompetent was left unsaid. Most of them would be, but perhaps Brenna could prevent a truly huge waste of flesh from getting in. It wouldn't look good to have to fire one of them the first week, but if they deserved it Demona would do it. Technically as Brenna's employees the girl should take care of those, but then they might try to take it out on her in school.

She handed over the applications when Brenna held her hand out. "I don't know that many people yet."

"Well, if you run across someone that really shouldn't even get an interview you'll save me time." Demona then got up to check on dinner.

After a few minutes of shuffling Brenna spoke a little hesitantly. "Why isn't Allaine in this pile?" Demona glanced at the girl, who'd been placing the applications in three different piles. She had some system going on.

"I didn't care for his application." Demona's voice held her authoritative clip. That boy's being around NightStone would be a disruption.

She watched as Brenna glanced down at the applications for a moment while taking a deep breath. She was actually going to push this, Demona could tell. "I saw his application before he turned it in. It was better than some of these."

Demona turned away from the stove and leaned against the counter with her arms crossed in front of her while she stared at Brenna. "I don't want your boyfriend working there." She studied Brenna's reaction to that and the surprise and then indignation fell away quickly to a determination and a bit of anger.

"He isn't my boyfriend and he's a lot more qualified than Jay Fries." She was actually pretty mad. Demona barely smirked at that. The girl may have the fire needed to be the boss after all. She still was keeping her voice calm, not necessarily challenging Demona's decision, but clearly unhappy with it.

"If you think he's better than Jay, go ahead and take Jay out and put Allaine in the running, but he still needs to interview." Demona gave the girl a hollow victory for now. What mattered to her more was that Brenna had showed more backbone with Demona than she had in a long time. Brenna was starting to feel secure. As long as that didn't get out of hand, that was a good thing.

********

Brenna wandered into the library to wait until her first class started. Her paper was done and ready to turn in. Now she just had to worry about regular assignments and finals.

"Brenna?" A woman's voice behind her startled her. Brenna turned around and her heart sank. Detective Maza. She didn't want to be rude, but Dominique was very clear that she shouldn't talk to this woman.

Brenna just stared at the woman sitting down across from her at the table. "I'm kinda busy." Brenna grimaced at that knee jerk reaction. She wasn't busy. She pretended to start reading for class, even though she'd read it already.

The Detective gave her a measuring glance. "You aren't supposed to talk to me are you?" Brenna's shoulders tensed up at that. She'd hoped to avoid that. "Did you ever wonder why she'd tell you to not talk to a police officer?" The stern tone made Brenna glance at her.

Brenna's voice was quiet and tense as she stood up and started to repack her books into her book bag. "I'm not supposed to talk to you."

"And what will happen if she finds out you did?" The Detective's voice softened. The woman seemed to honestly believe Dominique would hurt her. Brenna stared at her in disbelief.

"Just leave us alone." Brenna tossed her bag behind her with one strap around her shoulder. "I'm sure your nice…" She felt a bit bad about being so rude, but this was important. "But…" She bit her lip. Even this could qualify as talking to her. "I have to go."

She sound of footsteps falling into line next to her own made Brenna feel a bit trapped. She couldn't leave the school once she got there. She'd get written up. She couldn't make a scene. She had to stay a perfect student now. "She's not being honest with you." Brenna jaw tensed as she started to walk faster. There weren't a lot of students in the halls because it was a nice day outside. "Do you really watch T.V. at night with her?" The question was soft and Brenna's eyes widened as she turned to stare at the police detective next to her. It took seconds to realize that Elisa Maza knew about Dominique being Demona, and now knew that Brenna knew. Seconds to realize that was a mistake, because the Detective looked more tense, more determined to talk.

"Just leave us alone." Brenna pleaded while standing in front of the art room. She could hear voices in there and right now she needed to be near the other students to try and drive this woman away. "I'm happy… just leave us alone." Brenna couldn't help but plead. Dominique said that this woman would want to tear them apart. She opened the door and went in quickly. She could see the shadow of the Detective standing in the hall for another moment through the frosted glass on the door, before leaving.

She didn't know any of the people sitting around talking, but she sat down quietly and stayed there until shortly before her first class.

********

"And how did stalking her go?" Fox asked as soon as Elisa came into the room.

"Shut up." Elisa glared at the superior look Fox was giving her. Fox's spies probably told her about that mess as soon as it happened. She just wanted to feel out the girl and maybe get a chance to warn her. It proved to be a big mistake. Dominique Destine called the school and Elisa was called by them and informed that she wasn't to drop by unannounced. It was against their security rules. She was banned from the High School.

"Demona's driver picked Brenna up at the front doors today. He normally lets the girl walk a block so that the kids don't all see she comes from money." Fox wasn't letting it go.

"Well, Brenna definitely knows Demona's a gargoyle." Elisa announced to change the subject. She wasn't enjoying working with Fox on this at the moment. Sure the woman had resources and more time than Elisa did, but she rubbed in the mistakes. Elisa was just hoping that word of this didn't get back to her captain. "We need to get her to talk to us, but Demona told her to avoid us."

"I'm working on that." Fox sat forward at her desk.

"What are you doing?" Elisa finally moved to sit across from her.

Fox just smirked at her. "Brenna loves gargoyles. Angela in particular." Fox motioned between herself and Elisa, "We aren't going to get her to stand still long enough to talk…" The smirk grew wicked, "but I'm betting she won't have such an easy time giving her hero the brush off."

"She's always at home at night."

"I'm working on that." Fox pulled a file out of her desk drawer and tossed it out for Elisa to look at. "Demona's faced many things before, but I'm betting she hasn't faced a begging teenager."

********

Brenna felt a bit nervous as she packed her overnight bag. This was the first time in a long time that she'd spend the night somewhere besides home. She wasn't feeling comfortable leaving Dominique alone for a night. It was usually night when the woman got hurt.

She zipped the bag up slowly and carried it in one hand, with her book bag in the other as she walked down the stairs. She left both bags by the front door as she went to join Dominique for breakfast.

It was the last day of school today and Gencie had managed to get tickets for a concert in Madison Square Gardens tonight. She'd won six of them in some raffle she didn't even remember entering, and it was one of Brenna's favorite singers. She'd had to let Dominique listen to the CD she had, and explain how Gencie's big brother was going to take them and watch out for them. She explained how all her friends were going and that she'd never been to a concert before. She'd talked Dominique into letting her go, and now she had second thoughts.

It was Dominique that told her if she went she couldn't get the Salter's to drive her home. It would be night and they couldn't cover up that Brenna's guardian was a gargoyle. So Brenna ended up with the invitation to stay the night with Gencie.

"Brenna, you're all packed?" Dominique was sitting at the kitchen table.

"Yeah… I…" Brenna stammered a bit. She almost said she didn't want to go, but she did. She just felt like something would go wrong if she weren't here. "I'm all ready."

"Well, good. Eat up we don't want to be late." Dominique didn't seem at all concerned about this. It helped Brenna relax a bit. She was probably just nervous because she hadn't spent the night at anyone's place in years.

********

Demona watched Brenna's friends move to walk with her into the school, each talking excitedly about the plans for the night. Demona wasn’t exactly comfortable with letting Brenna go, but she couldn't keep the girl locked up at home every night. She'd just reinforced the rules. Brenna couldn't wander around the city once the concert was over, she had to go straight to Gencie's. The chances of accidently bumping into the clan were slim, but staying inside would help decrease that.

Brenna had done well when faced with Maza's visit. She'd gotten away from the detective and then called Demona as soon as she was able to. It was that reaction, and the obvious respect for Demona's rules even when Brenna didn't understand them that made Demona think giving her girl this chance to see this singer would be alright. It would also free Demona up to take care of a little problem. It might take a while to deal with Maza. Demona didn't want to search for the detective while being distracted by the fact that her child was home alone and worrying.

********

"So your Gencie's friend Brenna?" An older woman asked her. Brenna just smiled, keeping her surprise at the fact Gencie's mother was so much older to herself.

"Yeah."

"Mom, we have to get ready." Gencie was practically bouncing on her feet.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." Gencie's mom smiled and Gencie started to pull Brenna further down the hall and into her bedroom. "Tim will be here in an hour." Her mother called out to them before Gencie shut the door.

"Tim's my brother." Gencie explained while flopping down on a rather feminine bed. "So… this is my room." Gencie smiled teasingly, "And you can sit on my bed if you want."

"Oh." Brenna set her bags down next to Gencie's and moved to sit. She felt a bit awkward, even though Gencie was her friend. This bedroom wasn't what she'd expected, far too feminine with doll figurines, a white dresser, and canopy bed.

"We'll meet Allaine and Lily at the restaurant." Gencie leaned up against her headboard. "And Tim is bringing his friend Greg."

"Cool." Brenna didn't really know how to respond to that. She didn't know them, but they were older and were supposed to keep them out of trouble. It was Gencie's mom's idea.

Gencie's grin grew wicked and Brenna started to worry. "So… are you and Allaine… you know, together?"

"What?" Brenna's eyebrows drew together as Gencie said that. Why did everyone assume that? "No."

"Why not? Isn't he your type?" Gencie's questions were making Brenna wish it were already time to go. She hated these type of questions.

"He's just a friend."

"He likes you, you know."

That made Brenna fell like a lead weight had fallen on her chest. She didn't like him like that. She'd hoped that he understood that. When she didn't say anything, Gencie rolled onto her side to stare up at her. "So what is your type?"

"I don’t have a type." Brenna felt an embarrassed flush on her face. Gencie hadn't gotten this personal before, and it seemed to come out of no where.

"Oh, you must like someone. Even if it's just someone from T.V." Gencie got a slightly dreamy look on her face. "I like Dean Cain, from Lois and Clark. He is so hot."

"Um, yeah. He was kinda hot." Brenna spoke a bit nervously. He was attractive, but Brenna wasn't really that interested. It started a monologue where Gencie talked about the virtues of his body and the way he smiled for at least a half hour. Gencie then started to talk about other male actors that she wished she could be with. Brenna just smiled and put in small comments once in a while when she thought she had something she could add. The truth of the matter was there weren't a lot of people that Brenna considered sexy in the way that Gencie seemed to consider so many male actors sexy.

********

Demona had changed into her night clothes early and was currently in the basement getting prepared for the evening. Half of the large basement held her magic books and other magical item, while the half she was currently in held her weaponry. She set out the gun she wanted for that evening. Unfortunately it wasn't one designed to kill, but she couldn't kill the detective right now, or Goliath in his anger would ensure that Demona lost custody of Brenna. She was going to try something else.

She hadn't spent a millennium studying magic for nothing. An evil grin crossed her face as she set the gun down to go finish up the preparations for her spell. It was ready. It had taken her a while to find this spell in her books. She'd originally deemed it useless when she first found it, but it had its uses. It was complex, used up a lot of resources, and didn't give her that much control. That was why this wasn't the one she'd tried to use on Goliath, opting instead for complete control of his mind at the time. This time though, she needed Maza to seem like herself. If no one suspected the detective was her puppet she'd have a lot more freedom to stop them from interfering. That human had a lot of influence with the clan, influence that really should have been Demona's, but it would be Demona's now.

She'd tranquilize the human, cast her spell, and give her instructions tonight. Maza would then help her keep the clan and Xanatos out of her business. Maza would be very helpful.

********

Gencie must worship her brother. Brenna watched the girl smile at him when he said something quietly into Gencie's ear. Tim was a bit older, and in college. Brenna was an only child, she didn't have this kind of relationship that Gencie had. She remembered being little and asking for a little brother. She'd wanted a brother because girls were so boring, and a brother would have been able to play with her. She was disappointed that year when a little brother wasn't sitting under the Christmas tree for her to play with when she woke up. Kids had funny ideas about things. A small sad smile came to her as she remembered talking to her mother about that.

"Pizza's here." Allaine spoke to her and Brenna was embarrassed that she had to pull her eyes away from Gencie talking with her brother to see the waiter setting it down. "You alright? You seem sad." Allaine's voice held a hint of boyfriend to it and it made Brenna want to cringe. She'd never heard it before… never noticed. With everything else going on in her life, this had escaped her.

"I'm fine." She smiled at him, while taking a piece of the pizza. It was still a little too hot to actually eat. "This concert is going to be great."

"Oh yeah." He was quickly pulled into changing the topic.

********

Elisa paid the cabbie and barely nodded to the security guard at the door as she marched past him to the elevator. She hated to say it, but it looked like Fox's plan might actually work. Brenna hadn't gone home tonight, she'd gone to her friend Gencie's. Gencie lived in the city, which was much more convenient than trying to get to Brenna in what was bound to be a heavily guarded mansion.

The concert would get out at eleven, and it would be fully night by then.

Elisa found Fox actually out waiting for Angela to wake up. That was relatively unusual, but then all their plans for tonight centered around the female gargoyle.

Shortly after sunset the clan all came towards Elisa and Fox. "We could all go." Brooklyn spoke.

"And scare her." Lex added less than quietly.

"She's not afraid of gargoyles."

"But she's been told to avoid the clan." Elisa interjected before this became a huge debate. She knew that Brooklyn was eager to save Brenna. He felt some sort of kinship to the girl because she was being tricked by Demona. Still this had to be Angela's show. "She already knows Angela, but if you all go to her it will just reinforce whatever lies Demona's been telling her." She couldn't help but think about how her own eagerness to help had just managed to push Brenna away. Demona had done a good job of getting Brenna too cautious for her or the clan to talk to. Her voice got softer with her understanding of his frustrated desire to help. "She met Angela before she met Demona. This is really the best way to go."

Angela nodded. The girl was looking like she was going out on a very important mission. Her determination was clear to everyone. Angela wouldn't let this opportunity slip away. It wasn’t easy to separate Brenna from Demona at night, and it could take a while to do it again if they didn’t make this night count.

Fox had spent a lot of money getting Brenna's favorite singer to change his mind and schedule one concert in New York. She also made sure that Gencie, Brenna's best friend, got more than enough tickets so that Brenna would be invited.

"Angela." Goliath spoke gently to his daughter. "Bring the girl here so that we can all talk to her. We can help her, she needs to know that."

"I will father."

Elisa tried to calm her unease. This was too close to kidnapping in her mind, but nothing else had worked. They needed to force Brenna to listen to them. If they couldn't get through to the girl, Brenna might not live to be an adult. But with Brenna's help they could stop the adoption proceedings and find the girl a safer home. They might end up having to hide Brenna for a while if Demona felt like retaliating, but Xanatos had already said he'd do whatever he could to make sure the girl stayed safe.

"Angela." Fox was staring at Angela. "Don't push her too hard or too fast. Brenna is cautious and she'll need to be gently convinced to come with you." Fox then glanced around at the clan. "And when she gets here, we can't just start telling her that her guardian is evil incarnate. She'll stop listening to us at that point. Demona's had months to gain her trust. We aren't going to be able to get past that in five minutes." Fox was mostly staring at Brooklyn. Elisa moved to nod at him. It was true. Maybe if they'd found Brenna shortly after her mother died they could just warn her, but it had been three months the girl was living with Demona, and Brenna didn't want to leave her. If her pleading at the school was any indication, this would have to be done carefully. God Damn Demona. They were going to have to break Brenna's heart tonight.

********

Demona found herself gliding over Madison Square Gardens before she even realized she'd shifted her course. That was where Brenna was right now. The concert must have just started. She did a small sweep of the area and was glad to see so many cops on the streets. Brenna should be safe leaving there. She then continued her journey to see if she got lucky and Maza was at home.

She grimaced as she noticed the lack of lights in Maza's apartment, but she landed anyhow. It was too much to hope she'd be here right away. Demona could spend hours hunting for the woman's beat up car, but Maza would have to come back home at some point, even if it were early morning. She could borrow clothes from her new minion after she'd completed the spell and still be home before Brenna got there.

The sound of something moving drew her aim, but she just saw Maza's gray cat jumping up onto the couch. Demona watched it glance at her briefly before settling down for a nap. "Just like Lacey. You don’t even notice me." Brenna's cat for the most part stayed in the girl's room, but on the few occasions that Demona had crossed paths with it, Lacey walked around her like she were furniture.

"Well, lets see if Maza has anything interesting to look at." Demona used the guns shoulder strap to sling it over her shoulder as she headed for the detective's bedroom. It was a good place to start.

********

"Okay, the concert is over." Lex's voice came over the head set that Elisa was wearing. He was one of the gargoyles watching Madison Square Gardens.

"Good." Elisa glanced over at Angela. The girl was just standing on the castle wall staring out at the sky. She walked over to her slowly. "Are you alright?" Angela just glanced at her briefly before returning to staring out over the city now.

"Brenna… it's just hard to believe Demona is doing this. There's just something off about this." Elisa sighed as she watched the female. "We still don't even know what she wants with Brenna."

"It doesn't really matter what she wants with Brenna." Elisa moved to rest a hand on Angela's arm. "Whatever it is, can't be good for Brenna."

"That's it Elisa." Angela turned to finally look at her. "If she has some big plans, why go through the trouble of adopting her? Why didn’t she just kidnap her and keep Brenna locked up. We would never have known if she'd done that."

"Maybe she's taunting us. Maybe she wants us to find out, because she thinks she has that strong of a hold on Brenna." Elisa spoke, but that actually sounded more like something that Xanatos would do.

"Or maybe…" Angela sighed and went quiet for a moment. "Well, I better get going if I want to get to Gencie's before they get home."

"Okay." Elisa just watched Angela leap off the building and glide away. This was not easy on Angela. Elisa wished that they could have done this without making Angela a part of it. The female obviously still held out some hope that Demona would change, in spite of what that hope had gotten her last time.

********

Brenna waved as Allaine, Lily and Tim's friend Greg got out of the subway. Greg lived closer to Allaine and Lily and was going to make sure they got home. Brenna hadn't even known those two lived within blocks of each other. It was beginning to feel like she was the only student at Cordova that lived so far away.

"Thanks for inviting me squirt." Tim smiled at Gencie. Brenna just stared out the subway windows, feeling a little out of place. "Oh Brenna. Don't let her start talking or you won't get any sleep tonight." Tim smiled at her and Brenna just nodded. It wasn't like she went to bed early normally anyhow.

They were almost there when Brenna heard the sound of wings. It wasn't something she'd mistake or miss. She stopped walking and Gencie and her brother hadn't noticed right away since she'd been walking behind them. The shadow that glided into the nearby alley looked like Demona. Was something wrong? Brenna grimaced as she had to make a quick decision. If Demona were hurt enough to actually seek Brenna out then she wasn't going to want Gencie or Tim seeing her like that. They were close to Gencie's house. Dammit. Brenna darted into the alley quietly and moved towards the sound of fluttering wings.

"Dominique?" Brenna spoke quietly. "Are you okay?"

"Brenna?!" Gencie's nervous and loud voice made Brenna stop her trip into the alley. "What are you doing? Ms. Destine will kill me if I lose you." It was only a half joke.

"I thought I saw a cat." It was a lame excuse and Brenna's eyes trailed over the darkness again as she backed out of the alley. "She looked hurt."

"Well, we don't go checking out dark alleys at night." Tim interrupted them. Brenna's fist clenched. Dominique might need her, but she couldn't go to her right now.

"Okay, sorry. You're right." Brenna moved to follow them, but turned to face the darkness for a moment. "I'll check later." She told the shadows. She needed to sneak out and make sure Dominique was alright.

********

Elisa sat on a rooftop nearby the girl's home with Goliath. "She'll be back." Angela's voice carried to them. "She sounded worried and thought I was my mother." Elisa watched Goliath's normal reaction to Angela calling Demona that. His body tensed up for a moment.

"Okay, keep us informed." Elisa answered. They were just there as backup, in case something like Quarrymen or Demona decided to interfere.

"She calls her Dominique." Angela spoke, obviously setting herself up for a wait. It might take Brenna a while to escape her friend.

"Well, maybe she doesn't know her real name." Elisa sat down on the buildings edge to chat. It would be boring for everyone now, and while she was used to stake outs, the clan spent more time in motion.

"Hmmm, yeah could be."

********

Brenna felt bad when she told Gencie she was too tired to stay up and talk. She felt like she'd let her down, but she needed to get out of the apartment and check on Dominique. After some firm declarations that she was fine and if Gencie wanted to go visit her brother she could, but Brenna was going to bed, Gencie finally left her alone.

Brenna opened the window as quietly as she could, and just knew that someone would notice her missing just seconds after she left. It was just the way things went. She used the fire escape to get down to the ground and moved quickly back to where she'd run into the gargoyle.

The alley was uncomfortably dark. The lights had burned out or been broken. Brenna walked slowly, while listening cautiously for any danger. "Dominique, I'm here. Are you okay?" It had taken an hour. An hour that her… family could have been hurting and alone. Every second that she had to reassure or convince Gencie that she was alright, just tired was tense.

"It's not Dominique." A feminine voice answered her. Brenna turned around to find the shape of a female gargoyle stepping out of the shadows. "It's Angela."

Brenna just stared for a moment as the gargoyle came closer. It was Angela. She hadn't seen her in months, but she was right here. "Brenna are you alright?" Angela sounded a bit concerned.

"Oh… Um…" Brenna felt a blush cover her cheeks as Angela seemed to study her, making sure she wasn’t hurt. "You remember me?" Brenna nibbled on her lip, a bit embarrassed at the shy tone of her voice.

"Of course I remember you." Angela smiled at her. "I don't get to talk about books with many girls. In fact, I don't even know many females around here."

"Oh." Brenna started to glance at Angela. "I thought… are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." Angela took another step closer. It was when she was standing right in front of Brenna that she remembered the rules. She wasn't supposed to talk to Angela. "I've been worried about you though." Angela spoke softly. It did sound like she really had been worrying.

"I'm fine." Brenna was a little stunned that Angela had even been thinking about her. The gargoyle must run into so many humans, and she remembered Brenna.

"I heard about your mother Brenna." Brenna clenched her fist so that the sympathy in Angela's voice wouldn't make her tear up. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, well… shit happens." Brenna looked away from Angela and stared at the alley walls while taking deep breaths. She didn't want to cry like a baby just because Angela cared. She didn't want to look like a kid.

"It shouldn't though." Angela's touch was tentative as she wiped the tear Brenna hadn't been able to stop off of her cheek. It reminded Brenna of Dominique. "And I want you to know I'm sorry the world has treated you so badly lately."

"It's not all bad stuff." Brenna took a deep breath, completely eager to talk with Angela. "I'm going to a good school and Dominique is…" oh, Brenna's eyes widened and a stricken look crossed her face. "I'm not supposed to talk to you." It hurt to even say it. She should have remembered it before. God, she finally got to see Angela again, and she wasn't supposed to talk to her.

"So she told you to avoid me too?" Angela sounded a bit bitter about that for a moment and there was a flash of angry red in her eyes before her features calmed. "I'm just checking on you. I just want to make sure you're safe."

Brenna hated the rules, hated Dominique for just a brief moment as she realized that she had to leave. Dominique wouldn't have told her to avoid Angela for no reason, she told herself that. "I need to get back before Gencie realizes I snuck out." Brenna took a step to walk around Angela, while wondering if she'd ever see her again.

"She's my mother. Did you know that?" Angela spoke in flat tone and Brenna froze, to turn and stare at Angela. "Her real name is Demona."

"I know about that name." Brenna just stared at Angela in disbelief. Dominique had never said who her daughter was. In all the time that Brenna had talked about meeting Angela, she'd never said. "She's great." Brenna gave Angela a small smile, and was a bit confused when Angela didn't return it. "I didn't know…" But now that she thought about it she should have. Talking about Angela always made Demona look pained.

"So she didn't talk about me?" Angela sounded a bit bitter and Brenna felt bad for her.

"No, she just didn’t tell me that…" Brenna didn’t want to say anything to make Angela feel bad or get Dominique into trouble with her daughter. Her daughter. "You're gonna be my sister." Brenna blinked in surprise as that registered in her mind, and she didn’t notice the shocked look Angela gave her at that moment. She did notice it after a moment. "Oh… I…" Brenna suddenly worried that Angela wouldn't like that Dominique was adopting her. She still wasn’t so comfortable with the idea that Angela would become her sister. It was one thing to know that Dominique had a daughter, but for it to be Angela was just too weird. Brenna tried to break this to her gently. "She's going to adopt me."

"I heard about that." Angela was staring a little too hard. "I wanted to talk to you about that." The slight disapproving tone in Angela's voice reminded Brenna that Dominique had said the entire clan would have a problem with the adoption, including Angela.

"I'm glad she's going to adopt me." Brenna stood just a little taller. She fidgeted a little and took another step towards the street. She should leave, she really should.

"You love her?" Angela's voice stopped her once again. Brenna nibbled on her lip, unsure of what to do. She wanted to stay… she really wanted to stay.

"Yes. She's my family now." Brenna answered a little defensively. She was talking to Angela, and she knew she shouldn't be. Her heart was beating a little faster in the feeling of guilt she had. Her words just got tense silence. Brenna took another step towards the street.

"My family is called a clan." Angela started to speak a little louder. Brenna found herself stopping her retreat to look at the pretty female. "There aren't really a lot of us, but we watch out for each other."

Brenna stared into Angela's gentle eyes. "Maybe if you guys didn’t…" She trailed off. It wasn't really up to her to tell them how to live, but she remembered being scared when the police captured Angela. She remembered the things she was afraid that they'd do to the female.

"If we didn't what?" Angela took a step closer. She looked at Brenna like she was the most important person around at that moment. It made Brenna blush again and her heart beat just a little faster.

"If you didn't risk your lives saving humans maybe you'd be safer." Brenna watched as Angela actually seemed surprised at that. It just made sense. Brenna's voice got softer. "I was so worried when the police arrested you."

"Everything turned out alright though." Angela seemed to squat down a little so that Brenna didn't have to stare up at her so much. Gargoyles were all so tall. Brenna would never even be considered tall for a human.

"Do you have any idea how bad that could have gone?" Brenna just stared at Angela with a faint look of horror on her face. "Do you know what the government would have done to you just because you aren't human?" Angela didn't seem cautious enough, and that scared Brenna.

Angela glanced down for a moment, and Brenna could swear she heard voices, but there weren't other people around and she couldn't really make it out. Maybe it was from down the street, or she was hearing things. "I know what could have happened. I couldn't help but think about it while I was locked up." Angela spoke and the slight fear in her voice made Brenna move closer. She felt so bad for the fear the gargoyles must have to live with. Brenna lived with that fear now too, because she worried about Dominique, but at least she was immortal. Angela wasn't. "It was horrible." Brenna reached out to rest a comforting hand on Angela's arm while staring at her in concern.

The sound of loud and very male laughter from the street startled Brenna and Angela tensed up and took a step back into the shadows. "Get out of the light." Angela whispered to her, and Brenna moved to the same shadows Angela had. The street light from across the street had illuminated some of the alley. Brenna watched as the men seemed to stop right in the opening of the alley.

"Man, shame Castaway died." One guy muttered. "He had the right idea." Brenna tensed up and glanced nervously at Angela. The gargoyle leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"I'm going to climb up the wall. Hold onto my back. I don't want to leave you here around them." Brenna just nodded and held on tightly while Angela slowly, quietly made her way up the four story building. The Quarrymen, they must be quarrymen, were still standing there talking.

Once they were on the rooftop, Angela leaned over to let Brenna off. "Not every battle needs to be fought." Angela gave Brenna a tense smile. When some rude comments about gargoyles reached their ears Brenna felt so bad for Angela. The female didn't try to hide that it hurt her.

"They're just stupid." Brenna murmured softly. "Humans can be really stupid sometimes."

********

Elisa held the binoculars to her eyes, while envying that Goliath didn't need them to see Angela and Brenna. "Fox's actors are pretty handy." She moved her focus to the rough looking trio of men standing in the alley opening. This was a bit too staged for her to be comfortable with, but Fox was right. It looked like it was working.

They were listening in on the conversation on the other rooftop through Angela's comm. Device. Elisa hated to admit it, but Fox really was a good judge of character. Brenna had obviously struggled with the fact that she'd been told to avoid Angela, but she still stayed. They were using one female gargoyle to combat the other's influence. It was just a shame it had to be Angela. While Angela was definitely smart enough and sensitive enough for this job, it was far too close to home. Elisa hadn't missed the comments about her mother and the tone of Angela's voice.

"She still needs to get Brenna to agree to glide with her to the castle." Goliath spoke quietly while watching Brenna trying to comfort his daughter. They both watched that. Brenna really was a sweet girl. She didn't realize that the comments the actors saying were staged, or that while Angela didn't care for the deception, her hurt reaction was an act as well.

"Well if anyone can." Elisa muttered. From that building Brenna wasn't getting down unless a gargoyle helped her down. She had to listen now.

********

Brenna started to walk further away from the side of the building those men were on, hoping that Angela wouldn't be able to hear them that way. The female gargoyle walked with her.

"So, how did you end up with my mother?" Angela asked while sitting down on the ledge. Brenna paced a little in front of the gargoyle. It was only talking, and maybe she could make Angela see that whatever problem they had with Dominique didn't mean they had the right to try and rip them apart.

"She gave me a job…" Brenna made her decision to talk. She turned to face Angela. The gargoyle's sitting on that ledge actually made Angela more Brenna's height. "and she'd help me out with my homework before my mom…" died. She didn’t finish that sentence, there really was no point. "When the police officer came to my house… I didn't know who else to call. She was…" Brenna's body shook and she wrapped her arms around herself as she stood still and took a few deep breaths. "She was the only other person that cared about me. She came and took me in. It was only supposed to be until my mother was… buried." Brenna glanced up at Angela and could see she had the gargoyle's undivided attention. "she had such strange rules." Brenna gave Angela a weak smile. "I had to stay in my room at night. She put so much in my room so that I wouldn't need to leave. T.V., computer, fridge. It's still like a little apartment."

"How did you find out she was a gargoyle?"

Brenna moved to stand a little closer to Angela. Angela must know about the immortality. Dominique wouldn't tell Brenna something she hadn't told her own daughter. "She came home after someone shot her and… she was really hurt. She… I heard her smash through her window and found her on the floor…" Brenna's body shuddered at the remembered fear. "bleeding so much. I didn't know it was her at first."

They both sat silently for a while. Until Brenna spoke softly. "She stopped trying to get rid of me after that."

"Trying to get RID of you?" Angela's head seemed to snap up and she stared into Brenna's eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I know why she was like that now." Brenna moved to sit beside Angela and stared down at the roof. It had hurt when Dominique had acted like she didn't want Brenna around. "She was trying to get the social workers to hurry up and find me a home. She called them almost every day. But they never found anything good." Brenna's eyes pleaded with Angela. "But I have something good now."

"So she was going to let you go, until you found out what she was." Angela sounded a bit too stunned and Brenna didn't like the way she said that. As if she were a prisoner now.

********

Elisa's eyes widened a little as she listened to the conversation on the other rooftop. Things were a bit more complicated than they had thought.

"She has become even more devious." Goliath grumbled as he continued to watch, but Elisa lowered her binoculars for a moment. Was Demona just pretending to try and get rid of the girl and had always planned to keep her for some reason, or had a… good deed… gotten out of hand? Could Demona have actually taken in Brenna to help? That didn't seem right. Why would Demona help a human kid? Elisa was starting to feel a little uneasy about this. At the very least Angela would have doubts now. That girl always wanted to give Demona the benefit of the doubt. Elisa was inclined to agree with Goliath that Demona had worked very hard to manipulate the girl.

She pulled her binoculars back up to her eyes. But if it were true…

The sound of a rocket pack reached her ears before she saw it. Her. Damn it, what was Fox doing? The ex-mercenary was heading right for them. The exosuit she wore covered her face and her hair was in a ponytail. This wasn't part of the plan. They were supposed to talk Brenna into leaving with Angela, not fake an attack and force the girl's hand.

"I really wish she'd told me the ENTIRE plan." Elisa said between gritted teeth.

********

The noise startled Brenna and she looked up to see an angry looking woman in some sort of suit staring down at them. "Gargoyle." The one word held such hatred. Brenna moved a step to the left without even thinking about it. Standing between Angela and this woman.

"What Are you…" Angela stared at the hovering woman for a second sounding confused. This wasn't good. Obviously this was some sort of Quarryman. When the woman moved to raise an arm Brenna felt like her heart was going to stop. She was right in the line of fire.

"Stop." Brenna yelled out, while fighting with the desire to move. She held her ground and her words seemed to startle the woman into stopping for a moment. Too bad Brenna couldn't think of other words to follow up with. Please don't kill us didn't sound nearly forceful enough. She didn't dare move, because maybe, just maybe this woman would have a problem shooting her to get to Angela. She was keeping the woman from being able to take that shot.

While she was struggling to come up with something to do, Angela wrapped her arms around her and pulled Brenna with her off of the building. The air rushed past them as Angela moved to get a better hold on Brenna and Brenna moved to grab her just like she'd grabbed Dominique while they glided. "We'll try to outrun her." Angela spoke and she sounded more than a little mad. Of course Brenna was sure once her fear faded a bit more she'd be pissed too.

Gliding with Angela was nothing like gliding with Dominique. Angela moved faster, while dodging the laser fire that seemed to follow them and just miss them every time. Brenna buried her head in Angela's shoulder and prayed that Dominique would find them… save them.

"We don't need her. I've got this under control." Angela spoke while dodging to the left sharply. Brenna hadn't even realized she'd been saying any of that out loud.

********

"Fox is making this look too real." Elisa muttered as she flinched. That shot was too close to them. The fact that she could hear Brenna begging for Dominique to find her really didn't help her feel any better about this. They'd terrified the girl, and she wanted… her mother figure. This was not going well.

"Fox pull back." Elisa said as soon as she'd found the redhead's comm. signal. Fox couldn't hear what was going on with Angela and Brenna, because she had some ground crews helping her with the special effects. It didn't sound like the laser fire was actually real… from the signals Fox was giving out about when to blow certain parts of building walls. "She's terrified. Pull back." Elisa demanded again and watched as Fox slowed her pursuit. Once she got that woman alone Elisa planned to really express how very much she didn’t appreciate being kept out of the loop. She glared at Fox as the woman turned away from Angela and let them escape.

"Tell Angela to tell Brenna it isn't safe to come back to this neighborhood tonight. Tell her to take Brenna to the castle." Fox finally responded.

"All of THIS was to get her to the castle?!" Elisa growled out. Goliath's hand moved to rest on her shoulder and she glanced up at him. He wasn't looking very pleased either. "Angela was going to talk her into it."

"Brenna isn't the type of girl to disobey Demona that easily. She needed a push, I gave it to her."

"Why you…" Elisa's voice started to raise.

"Elisa, maybe we should be getting to the castle. I do not like Fox's methods any more than you do, but that does not change the fact that Brenna will be arriving there soon." Goliath interrupted gently, but it didn't stop Elisa glaring at the redhead as she flew over them. This was far from over.

"Can you drop me off at my apartment on the way?" When he looked at her in surprise at the request she started to talk a little quieter. "I'll be along after a little while, but I need my car…" She felt a bit of shame at the next comment, "and after our last confrontation I think you all will have an easier time getting her to talk if I'm not there right away." Brenna was bound to tense up and suspect something as soon as she saw Elisa.

"You were only trying to help." Goliath spoke softly and Elisa leaned into the gentle caress of her hair. She'd told him about that disaster at the high school, and he'd been more than understanding. Elisa, however, couldn't shake the feeling that she'd made a stupid mistake. "I will drop you off at home if that is what you want, but don't wait too long to come to the castle. We may need you."

********

Demona sat in the dark with the tranquilizer gun draped over her leg. Maza's cat sat next to her, on the arm of the chair, lightly purring as she slowly pet it. She would have thought Maza would have more interesting things to look at in her bedroom, but no.

The sound of wings out on the detective's patio made her sit further back into the shadows. If Goliath chose to come in and visit her plan would be ruined. She'd counted on getting the woman alone. She watched with unblinking eyes as he leaned down to kiss Elisa before gliding off. Maza just stared after him a moment, before moving towards the door.

The cat leapt away from her when her body tensed and she lifted the tranquilizer gun. She had to make sure Maza didn't have a chance to scream, or Goliath might be close enough to hear it.

"Hey Cagney. You hungry?" Elisa spoke to the cat that had moved to greet his mistress. As soon as Maza closed the door Demona risked a glance out the window to see Goliath's shadow had moved away quickly. He must be in a hurry. A slight grin came to her lips as she turned to face Maza again, just moments before the woman was about to turn on the lights.

"Oh, there's no need to do that." Demona felt a thrill of pleasure at the detective's suddenly tense pose, moments before the dart hit her in the neck. Demona's sense of victory was enhanced as those wide eyes stared at her in disbelief while Maza fell to the ground. "You may have stolen my mate Maza, but you won't be getting my Brenna." The cat was screeching in confused fear, but Demona just ignored it, swatting it aside to lean down over the nearly unconscious detective. "I really should have done this long ago." Demona whispered into Elisa's ear before Elisa finally lost consciousness.

She then picked up the woman and moved towards her bedroom. She'd managed to prepare it for the spell while she waited. It wouldn't be long and she'd have her own Maza puppet to control for the rest of Maza's life.

********

Brenna was now watching the sky behind them, tensely waiting for that woman to suddenly appear like all the villains in the horror movies did. She was going with Angela to her home, and the fact that it was so beyond against the rules that Dominique's head would probably spin all the way around also worried her.

"You could drop me off and I could take a cab home." Brenna said yet again. "Really, I'd be alright."

"No, it's the middle of the night. It's not safe for a young girl to wander around looking for a cab." Angela said as she gained altitude and Brenna risked taking her eyes off of where they'd been to see the Eyrie coming closer.

"You live there? I mean it isn't just a rumor?" Brenna couldn't misinterpret their destination and the fact that she'd been there before, probably not far from where Angela slept was nagging at her.

"Yes." Angela moved closer to the castle, and Brenna could see someone standing on the wall.

"I'll need to call Gencie. And I need to call home." Brenna was trying to think of what else she should do. People were going to be upset with her regardless. Angela seemed to tense up a bit, but she moved to land. She wasn't as smooth about her landing as Dominique was, not that Brenna had a lot of experience going out with Dominique. The redhead had only taken her out once.

Brenna stood a little nervously, feeling on display as a smaller gargoyle with green skin and strange wings stared at her. After a moment he stepped closer and smiled. "Hi, I'm Lex."

"I'm Brenna." Brenna gave him a small smile. He seemed really friendly. She then turned to Angela. "Can I use a phone?" She was a little worried that she wouldn't be allowed to.

"Oh, of course." A different voice answered. Brenna looked beyond Angela's shoulder to see Mr. Burnett. "If you come with me to my office."

"Ah… Thank you." Brenna took a deep breath. At least she could call. It wasn't really her fault that she was here. Dominique would have to forgive her.

********

Demona moved around the bed. "I bind thee in body, as I'll bind thee in mind." She spoke quietly in Latin as she fastened each individual manacle, spreading the detective's arms and legs towards the corners of her bed. The candles flickered eerily on the walls, but really magic was meant to be done by firelight, not electricity. This spell had far too many rituals to it, but she could enjoy each and every one knowing that she would at least finally be rid of Maza as a threat. Her voice practically caressed the words that Elisa couldn't have understood had she even been conscious. Of course she'd have to be conscious for some of the spell, but the preparation work didn't need that.

Elisa lay clad in only her underwear, not that Demona got any satisfaction from that except to know it would be making the human feel very vulnerable once she realized it.

Demona sat on the side of the bed and reached over to the bowl she'd brought with her for this spell. The consistency of the red paste was perfect now. She took the brush and got started on the markings. This would be much easier to do when the detective wasn’t squirming, and once they dried only casting the spell would make them fade. "I bind thee in spirit as I'll bind thee in mind." Demona whispered again in Latin before moving to write the first symbol on her victim. She moved with sure hands as quickly as she could, because she didn't want to have the woman wake up and make this part difficult. No she wanted everything in place before Maza woke up. That human would barely get a moment of free will before she was bound, just long enough for Demona to torture her with the knowledge that she was no longer a free woman, she was Demona's Pet.

********

Brenna put the phone down slowly after listening to Gencie yell at her for scaring her. She hadn't had a lie ready, so she told her friend that she'd tell her what happened later, but she'd needed to go home right away. Not a good cover story at all. Maybe Dominique could help her with that.

She then stood tensely behind Mr. Burnett's desk while waiting for Dominique to answer the phone. She waited and waited, but nothing. Dominique must be out gliding, but the answering machine should have at least picked up. "I guess I'll have to call later." She muttered her herself, but she was more tense than she had been. She didn’t have the access codes to the security system at home. She couldn't leave here without Dominique being home. She was trapped here, with the people Dominique told her to avoid.

"You all done?" A deep male voice asked from the doorway, pulling Brenna's eyes away from the phone. He was a dark haired human with a beard. He looked familiar.

"Yeah." Brenna sounded a bit defeated to her own ears, as she moved to leave the office.

"Oh, excuse me." He smiled at her. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm David Xanatos." He held out a hand and Brenna slowly moved to shake it.

"I'm Brenna McCullen." This was Fox's husband, and the richest man in New York. Too bad Brenna was too tense to be impressed.

He moved to lean against the doorway and his smile faded a little. "I used to know your mother. I was sorry to hear what happened." That made her stare at him. Her mother had never said anything about knowing David Xanatos. He was always in the news, he was rich, surely he would have been mentioned at least once. "She used to work for me." He spoke softly, obviously sensing Brenna's confusion. Brenna noticed him staring at her a bit strangely for a moment. When had she done that? Brenna didn't remember her mother working here. "You look a lot like her. You have her eyes."

What do you say to something like that? "Thank you." Brenna hazarded a guess. She actually didn't think she looked that much like her mother. Her hair was black, her skin was more olive, her cheekbones more pronounced. She was shorter than most people though, just like her mother.

"Well, you want to meet the clan?" He pushed off from the doorway, obviously ready to take her to them.

"Maybe it would be better if I just stayed in here and tried to call home again in a few minutes." Brenna nibbled on her lip. She was supposed to avoid the clan, but she wanted to see them. She hated these rules, but Dominique had been so sure they'd try to do something to mess up things.

"You can't just hide away in here." Mr. Xanatos moved to open the door wider. "They don't bite."

********

Demona carefully finished the body writing and stood back to admire her work. Her symbols were perfectly placed, leaving Elisa looking very much like a human sacrifice. Too bad that wasn't the plan.

The bed had been moved to the center of the bedroom, leaving Demona room to walk all the way around it. She poured out the salt in a circle around the bed. "I bind your body, I bind your spirit, I bind your mind." She repeated several times in Latin as she made her slow progress around the bed. The circle of salt had to be thick enough. The bag she'd brought with all her supplies had been mostly salt weight. "Elisa Maza, human born, I bind your body, I bind your spirit, I bind your mind." Demona spoke a bit more loudly as the circle was finally closed. She just needed to place some of the salt onto her intended victim now to finish this ritual. She was right, this one was far too elaborate to have used on Goliath. Demona moved to the bed, careful to leave her circle unbroken and finally found a use for the ridiculous human belly button. She poured her salt into the fleshy container.

The symbols on Elisa's flesh seemed to glow for a brief moment, letting Demona know that she'd completed that ritual and was ready for the next. Anytime Elisa wanted to wake up now would be good. The spell casting was primed and ready to go. Demona set her spell book down beside the bed and settled in to wait.

********

"Hi, I'm Brooklyn, and this is Bronx." The male smiled at her gently and Brenna tried not to stare. He had a beak, and she'd gotten so used to more human like features on the gargoyles she knew. He wasn't really bad looking, just really different.

"Hi." Brenna took the hand he held out to shake easily enough. She'd had practice since Lex, Broadway, and Hudson had wanted to shake her hand as well when they introduced themselves.

Lexington was not really sitting on the couch, more like squatting on the arm watching them and Angela was never far away from Brenna. Brenna appreciated that, since she kinda knew her and these people were strangers.

When someone came into the library where they all were Brenna noticed Angela's eyes flash red at the person a moment before she turned to see who it was. Fox was a bit damp from a shower, but she smiled warmly at Brenna. "I see you decided to drop by." Fox then glanced at Angela briefly before moving closer to them. It was a good thing this room was so big, since there were so many people in it.

"Oh, here comes Goliath." Lex said a bit nervously while glancing out towards the doors to the castle walls. Brenna recognized him easily. He was huge, purple, and had been in the news quite a bit when he'd been wrongfully arrested. It was the clan leader.

"Father, I'd like you to meet Brenna." Angela said and Brenna's eyes widened a little. This was Angela's father. He smiled at her gently and moved close enough to hold out a hand.

"It is good to finally meet you Brenna. Angela told us a lot about when you and she met." Angela had talked about her? Brenna felt a warm blush cover her cheeks at this confirmation that Angela had indeed remembered her.

"It's nice to meet you too." Brenna glanced a bit nervously over at Angela, for some sort of guidance. Was she supposed to bow or something? Was he a king? He kept looking at her like he expected something.

"Hey Brenna. Would you like something to eat?" Broadway asked to fill the silence.

"Um," Brenna glanced over at him. "I really shouldn't be here long. In fact I should go try and call home again." She noticed Brooklyn tense up a little at that, but he didn't say anything.

"I heard that you are a member of People for Interspecies Tolerance." Goliath interrupted smoothly.

Brenna blushed a bit. They sure knew a lot about her. "I was."

"Why aren't you now?" Fox asked while moving to lean against the back of a couch.

"Dominique thinks its too dangerous. The Quarrymen are still out there and they've attacked P.I.T. groups before." Brenna had been a little disappointed with that, but she hadn't put up any fuss. She hadn't really felt up to going anyhow.

"Well that is a shame." Fox spoke softly.

"She's right." Brenna moved to glance at Goliath. "Angela and I were attacked, Dominique keeps getting attacked. It's dangerous out there." He really shouldn't be sending the clan out there where people tried to kill them. If Brenna thought she could keep Dominique safely at home she would.

"Wait, you were attacked? Tonight?" Brooklyn stared at them a little confused looking. What did they always get lucky when they went out?

"Some crazy bit…" Brenna blushed when she noticed Fox raising an eyebrow at her like Dominique did when she swore too much. "lady tried to shoot us."

"Really?" Broadway moved closer to Angela and was looking at her in real concern. Brenna felt more than a little out of place when he took Angela's hand. She had to pull her eyes away and noticed Fox looking at her. Brenna moved to stare at Bronx, sitting so comfortably in front of Hudson's feet.

"It wasn't that big of a deal." Angela comforted the clan while glaring at Fox.

"I hope she fell out of the sky." Brenna muttered quietly to herself, but the fact that a few people glanced at her made her realize it wasn't that quiet. Well, it wasn't like that woman hadn't tried to kill her and Angela. She'd deserve it.

"Yes, this city can be dangerous, for all of its inhabitants at times." Goliath's talking forced Brenna's attention back to her.

"Yeah." Brenna bit back her wish that the clan was more careful, it could be seen as criticizing Goliath.

"As a clan we try to make it a little safer lass." Hudson finally spoke, but he was also busy petting Bronx, so he wasn't looking at Brenna.

"Yes, we fight different threats to the safety of this city." Goliath nodded to Hudson like he'd done something helpful. The younger male gargoyles were fidgeting just a little and Brenna glanced at them briefly before looking up at the leader again. "Sometimes the dangers to this city have been truly threatening. Most of the humans here aren't aware of what all has happened, what all we have managed to prevent."

"Yeah, like that Lost Night the news reporters talked about." Brooklyn interjected quickly and then just shrugged when Broadway and Lex looked at him.

"I remember that." Brenna had wondered about it, and the idea that it was some sort of mass hysteria or something… the theories had all been so crazy.

Goliath moved to caress Angela's arm gently before stepping closer to Brenna. "That night an enemy of the clan cast a spell that turned humans to stone. She proceeded to destroy as many as she could… the people that went missing that night." Brenna just blinked at him.

"Stone?" Someone turned people to stone? Could magic really do that? When Dominique told her magic was real she hadn't considered that type of thing possible. Had she been stone?

"We've also fought to stop a virus that could have..." Lex spoke up quickly while Brenna was still working on wrapping her mind around the idea that magic was that powerful, and these gargoyles had to fight that.

"Maybe we are moving a little fast." Fox interrupted with a hint of authority while looking at Brenna.

"Magic can change people to stone?" Brenna asked Fox since she was the one looking at her.

"Yes. I was lucky to be with David when it happened. I was flying a helicopter and we would have crashed."

"Wow." Brenna had been asking Dominique if she could do relatively small things with magic, like growing hair, she'd never thought to ask what someone COULD do with magic.

"Do you know anything about magic?" Angela asked while staring at Brenna so hard Brenna thought she'd blush under the female's attention.

"Dominique said…" Brenna trailed off as her eyes moved to Fox and David.

"We already know she's an gargoyle and a sorceress." Fox gave Brenna a gentle smile.

"Oh." Brenna hesitated just a moment longer, but this was too interesting. "Dominique hasn't told me a lot. I know it's magic that lets her change forms. She said that there need to be spells for whatever someone wants, you can just make up new ones to grow hair." When that got a puzzled look Brenna felt embarrassed. "I asked her if she could make my hair grow faster, because this…" She touched the sides of her head. "Looks stupid while its growing out. She told me that while hair is sometimes used in spells, there aren't spells about hair."

"It is growing in pretty nicely on its own. It was much shorter when I saw you last time." Fox moved closer and ran her fingers through the short part of Brenna's hair. "Why exactly are you growing it out."

Brooklyn looked impatient with the change of topic, so Brenna kept her answer short. "Dominique said humans base too much on appearance and she was worried that the judge would think I was a junkie or something." Brenna's jaw clenched tight for a moment. This was a bit embarrassing. "I can have my hair any way I want after… but I have to look more normal by the court date." She glanced at these people that Dominique said would have a problem with them being family. "We don't want anything screwing up her adopting me. If I have to look stupid for a while, I can do that."

********

Elisa groaned and tried to shift her arms. She couldn't move. So tired. The breeze in the room was a little chilly. Needed to get up and close a window. Instead she just rolled her head to the side and fell back to sleep.