Disclaimer: The characters of this story, besides Kayla and Joyce, are not mine. They belong to Buena Vista or the Walt Disney Company. This story takes place after "Possession" and "Hunter's Moon-Part 1"
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It had been two months since our clash with the Clone Clan as the clan called them and one month since Coldstone’s three personalities was split up into three different bodies. Angela and Broadway discovered their feelings for one another and Brooklyn and I continued our love once Broadway made it clear that he and Angela were in love. However, Lexington did not have any female company which seemed to suit him fine. He had his computer to keep him busy, but once in a while I would see him look at Broadway and Angela with sad eyes.
But there was time later to talk to Lex about his “problem”. Brooklyn and I were heading out to go on patrol. We walked out the clocktower door and onto the balcony. I jumped onto the rail with graceful ease. Brooklyn followed suit. Unfurling our wings, we launched ourselves off the rail and into a few rising updrafts. The wind filled our wings and lifted us up into the star covered sky. We soared over the streets of Manhattan before deciding to hit Central Park for our watch. Banking west, we arrived at the park and alighted on a tree. There, we watched and waited.
We didn’t wait long. A young couple was walking down the path, looking from side to side every so often. Two punks were coming towards them from the opposite way. One was taller than the other but both were wearing torn jeans and tank tops as well as shoes with laces missing. The two pairs’ paths met and the couple backed away from the punks, frightened.
“Hand over your valuables and no one gets hurt,” the tall punk demanded.
“No, please just leave us alone,” the young woman pleaded.
“We’ll leave you alone. Just as soon as you give us your jewelry and money.”
“Leave them alone!” Brooklyn yelled at the two men. I had glided to land behind the situation.
Brooklyn landed on the ground and grabbed the tall man. The couple ran away, screaming. The shorter man turned to escape but he stopped short when he saw me blocking his path, my arms crossed.
“And where do you think you’re going?” I grabbed his top and lifted him three feet off the ground. My eyes glowed as I growled at him. The man, who lost his courage a long time ago, fainted. I dropped the guy and dragged him over to Brooklyn’s criminal. We tied them together with two steel cables we found in some nearby trash cans.
“I’ll drop these guys off at the police station. You stay here. I’ll be back,” Brooklyn told me. He picked up the punks, jumped on a tree branch and glided toward the station.
Minutes passed. Brooklyn should be heading back to the park by now. I heard leaves rustling behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw no one behind me. Suddenly a twig snapped. My eyes widened and I quickly spun around. Still, I saw no one. I sighed. Boy, was I getting spooked. And I’m a gargoyle, too.
Another rustle of leaves. It was coming from the bushes on my right. Was it Lexington or Broadway who followed us hoping to see us kiss? Not likely. It could be Angela, wanting some female talk. Yes, that had to be it.
“All right, Angela. Come on out so we can talk.”
More rustling. Slowly a figure emerged from the foliage. It wasn’t Angela, but another female gargoyle. One I had never seen before. She looked about Lex’s age and had the same wing structure as the olive green gargoyle. Her skin was rose pink with brown hair. She was so beautiful, but her attitude…was not.
“YOU!” she snarled, her eyes a crimson red.
I took a step back at this accusation. “W-what?”
“You did this to me!” the strange gargoyle continued. She leaped towards me, aiming for my throat.
It all seemed to go in slow motion. The female was going for my throat, I was attempting to duck, but I feared that I wouldn’t make it. Suddenly, a red shape appeared in my field of vision and took the rose pink shape with it, to the ground.
“Brooklyn!” I exclaimed. “You saved my life.”
“No problem,” the beaked gargoyle replied, pinning the gargoyle to the concrete. “I was coming back and saw this gargoyle attacking you. The question is…Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know her name and she attacks.”
“The name’s Kayla,” spat the gargoyle. “Kayla Johnson.”
“You’re not really a gargoyle,” I realized. “Gargoyles don’t have last names.”
“You already knew I wasn’t a gargoyle.”
“No, I didn’t. I thought you were a true gargoyle.”
“Yes, you did know. You and Brooklyn did this to me.”
“Who told you this?” I suspected that it was possibly Demona. She hates Brooklyn and me as much as she hates Goliath.
“She calls herself Demona. She says that you and Brooklyn captured me a couple of days ago and used a serum to turn me into a gargoyle at night and human during the day.”
“Kayla,” Brooklyn said. “Demona lied to you. She was the one who injected the serum into you.”
“No! You’re lying!”
“We’re not lying to you.”
“They’re right, they’re not!” a voice said. Whirling around, I saw Demona in the air with a laser rifle aimed at us. She fired.
“Brooklyn, watch out!” I cried, slamming into Brooklyn and rolling him and me out of the beam’s path which struck the ground a few feet in front of Kayla.
“Kayla, come with me and we will plan our next attack.”
“You liar! You tricked me!” Kayla yelled at her.
“You will come with me or else your friend will be in the same situation you’re in.”
“Joyce?” Kayla whispered softly.
“Yes, your precious friend, Joyce,” Demona mocked. “Now, come with me and-Oof!”
Brooklyn had managed to glide into the air and ram Demona from behind. Demona fell to the ground unconscious with the red gargoyle still on her. The rifle landed at my feet. I jumped on top of the rifle and destroyed it.
“Are you all right Kayla?” Brooklyn asked, getting off Demona.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Can we take you home?”
“I don’t have a home. I live with my friend Joyce’s family.”
“Well, can we take you to Joyce’s home?”
“No, I can go there myself.”
“Does Joyce know what happened to you?”
“Yes. She fainted when she saw me.”
Brooklyn and I smiled amusingly at this thought.
“Can I meet you tomorrow night?” the rose pink gargoyle asked.
“Sure. Right here. Then, we’ll introduce you to the rest of the clan,” Brooklyn said.
“Great. See you tomorrow night.” Kayla jumped onto a tree branch I glided away. Looking behind us, Brooklyn and I saw Demona still unconscious. I had no doubt that she would wake up soon. I told my mate that we better leave before our adversary came to. He agreed. The two of us started back to the clocktower. On the way back, a thought occurred to me.
“Brooklyn?” I asked as we glided. “Are you sure we should show Kayla where we live? It might be a trick.”
“Goliath will figure out a meeting place if he wants to protect our home.”
We arrived at the clocktower and walked inside to see Lex at his computer, Hudson and Bronx at the TV, and Broadway with Angela reading a book together. Goliath was not in the tower, but my guess was down in the library.
“Hi Brooklyn. Hi Jasmine. How was patrol?” Broadway greeted when he noticed us at the threshold. Everyone else looked up at us.
“Very well and very interesting,” Brooklyn told him. “Actually we need Goliath up here so we can tell all of you.”
“Tell us what?” a deep voice asked. Looking behind us, we saw Goliath standing there, with Elisa beside him. I guess he wasn’t in the library. At least not alone.
“Well, we were in Central Park and broke up a mugging. I decided to take the guys to the station and join Jasmine in the park afterwards,” Brooklyn began.
Elisa nodded, “Yes, Matt and I took care of those two. They admitted that they tried to mug a young couple but two “monsters” attacked them. Good job you two.”
“Anyway,” I said. “I was waiting for Brooklyn and I heard noises in some nearby bushes. I thought it was Angela so I called out to her. It wasn’t Angela, though. It was another female gargoyle.”
“Demona?” Goliath asked. It was no secret that Goliath still loves Demona even though the feeling is not mutual. He hopes that Demona will accept humanity and return to the clan.
“No, it wasn’t Demona. This gargoyle was small, about Lex’s age.”
“Yeah. Her name is Kayla. Demona turned her into a gargoyle at night and human during the day. I invited her to meet to rest of you tomorrow night.”
“Well, we can not bring her here. She might be working for Demona,” Goliath contemplated.
“How about my apartment?” Elisa suggested. “I’ve got everything we’ll need to make it look like you live with me.”
“Excellent idea, Elisa,” Goliath praised. He looked Brooklyn and me. “You two meet with Kayla tomorrow night and lead her to Elisa’s.” We nodded. “It’s almost dawn. We should get some sleep.” We went outside and poised as the sun rose. We turned to stone.
A layer of stone surrounded me. Pushing against it, I burst free and let out a jaguar scream into the night. Brooklyn and I looked at each other for a brief moment before launching ourselves into the air and heading for the place where we first met Kayla.
Landing on the concrete paths of Central Park, I folded my wings, and looked around. Brooklyn did the same. Would Kayla be here? Or was it really a trick as we thought?
“Psst. Over here,” a voice whispered loudly. Looking to my left, I saw a rose pink face looking at me. I smiled as I walked over to her.
“Kayla, why are you whispering?”
“I think I was followed.”
“Followed? By whom?”
“Demona.”
“Well, Demona’s not going to have you. We’ll make sure of that,” Brooklyn jumped in.
“And besides,” Kayla replied coming out of her hiding place. “Demona doesn’t know where Joyce lives.”
“Well, come on Kayla. We’ll take you meet our clan,” I told her. We bounded onto a tree and took flight.
Soon, Elisa’s apartment came into view. On the rooftop, I could clearly see Elisa and the clan standing there. The three of us alighted on the roof. Brooklyn and I folded our wings as we looked at the clan’s reactions.
Broadway and Angela wore pleasant expressions, Hudson and Goliath had suspicious expressions. Lexington, however, had a totally different reaction. He was simply awed. To him, it was probably love at first sight. She had the wings and stature that he had as well as the same age. Elisa was also awed by Kayla’s beauty. Her brown hair did look nice with her skin. She almost seemed like some sort of goddess.
“Everyone, meet Kayla,” Brooklyn announced. “Kayla, this is Goliath our leader, Angela his daughter, Elisa, Hudson, Bronx, and Broadway and Lexington my rookery brothers.”
“Jasmine and Brooklyn has told us of Demona’s deception she used to trick you,” Goliath addressed her.
“Yes, she did trick me,” she admitted. “You see, it happened three days ago in the afternoon. I was heading to the movies when an arm shot out of an alley and grabbed me. I felt a needle piercing my arm and then I was unconscious. When I came to, it was night and I was in an office building. I heard a sound behind me and when I turned around and saw Demona, I was scared. She calmed me down about her being a gargoyle. But when I saw that I was a gargoyle too I freaked out again. Once I calmed down, she lied to me, saying that Brooklyn and Jasmine did it instead of her doing it. I was convinced that if I captured one of them, they would give me the cure. When I told Demona my idea, she said there was no cure and that I would be human during the day and gargoyle at night forever.”
I felt sorry for Kayla and envious of her, too. She wasn’t a gargoyle all the time like I was. I regarded my talons and wings. Demona did this to me just as Demona changed Kayla’s life. Kayla lived in Manhattan, but I could never return to my birthplace.
“That would be just like Demona to pull something like this,” Brooklyn growled pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Of course it would,” a sarcastic voice said. That lined followed by a blast of laser hitting the stone roof. It was Demona.
Eyes blazing blood red, Demona fired at the clan. We all dodged the blast. I rolled off the roof, then unfurled my wings as I went into the air. I rose upwards and ended up above and behind the evil female gargoyle. I grinned. Here was my chance to pay her back for all the times she attacked me and my clan. With my eyes glowing white, I lunged at my foe. The impact of my lunge sent the two of us careening toward the ground. Demona twisted around to face me. “Insolent brat,” she spat at me. She pushed me away, then sunk her talons into the building. I threw my wings out and caught an updraft towards the roof. Halfway up my ascent, something heavy landed on me. It was Demona. We landed on the ground. I felt something break as I hit. I lost consciousness.
My first conscious thought was someone gently rubbing my cheek with their hand.
“Come on Jasmine wake up,” said Goliath’s deep voice. So, that’s who was rubbing my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the clan plus Kayla looking at me.
“Hi guys,” I said softly. I started to sit up away from the brick surface behind me but a sharp pain in my chest cause me to gasp and fall back against the brick, holding the area below my bosom.
“Jasmine, what’s wrong?” my leader asked.
“I think it’s some…bruised ribs,” I admitted. Then, I muttered, “Again.” I noticed the clan’s look of confusion while Elisa brought out a first aid kit to bandage my wound. Just then, a thought struck me.
“Where’s Demona?’ I asked.
“Demona flew off after you hit the ground. I brought you back up here,” Brooklyn explained. I nodded.
“I think I better be getting home. I’ll see you guys another time,” Kayla spoke up.
“Okay. Here at our home,” Goliath agreed.
Kayla leaped off the building and out of sight. We watched our new friend’s form grow smaller as she left.
“I think I’m in love,” Lexington sighed softly.
“I think she’s in love, too” Angela grinned slyly.
The rest of us smiled while Lex blushed a deep red which cause his skin to flush a deep brown. The sun rose and we fell asleep.
Next time on "Gargoyles"-- a song fic that will add a twist to the plot line.
