Story Six of The Clan SteelClaw Chronicles: Season Two

Carnival

By Kahreen
Editing (and kicks up the behind) Vashkoda
Artwork: Llewelyn and Silver

Silver heard the balcony door slam shut and jumped. She knew without asking who had departed. Vashkoda had clearly been upset over the decision to have Shaiya lead them in Thaylog and Flynt's absence.  She had left the meeting before they had even been able to discuss the troubling papers Chaz had found that showed that a human was researching the clan.  

Silver didn't like it. None of them should be doing anything alone at the moment. It was as if every time a member of her clan had left the safety of the mansion, they had vanished into thin air. Flynt, Kahreen and now Thaylog. Their places in the clan had been left vacant, and to Silver it seemed as if a void had rushed in to take their place and it was something she wasn't comfortable with.

She sighed and pushed open the door to the room she shared with her son. Chaz was seated on the edge of the old wooden bed, his head buried in a dusty old volume. The gargoyle beast Sirius lay at his feet.

Chaz looked up and smiled as his mother entered the room.

"Hi Mom."

Silver answered him with a smile of her own. "I see you've been keeping yourself busy."

"Yeah."  The child placed the book face-down on the bed covers. "It's a book about myths and legends and stuff. I thought that maybe there would be something in here that would help us find Kahreen and Flynt. The grown-ups won't let me touch the big books, so I asked Llewelyn if there was anything in the library I could look through and she gave me this."

"You left the room?"

The tone of Silvers voice dulled the edges of Chaz's smile. "I'm sorry Mom. But I wanted to help, and I wasn't alone. I promise I wasn't alone."

Silver sighed.  "I know."  She went to her son and sat down beside him. "But with everything that has happened, we have to be very careful. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then promise me you'll let me know before you go wandering off somewhere, ok? I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know, Mom. But the mansion isn't like the outside. It's safe."

"Of course it is," Silver said, ruffling his hair. "Of course it is."

As she closed the door to the room, Silver closed her eyes and sighed. Even though she had told Chaz that the mansion was a safe place to be, she wasn't entirely sure of that fact herself. Of late, the mansion seemed to have become something other than the home of her clan. It had....

Silver gritted her teeth and banished the thought. She had to do something. She had to talk to someone.

*******

"I don't know if I can stand being in this place for much longer."

Llewelyn looked up in surprise. Silver's comment had come completely out of the blue. In fact the half-fae hadn't even realised that her clan sister had entered the room. Llewelyn marked her place in the book and then closed it.

"What do you mean?" She placed the book on the floor and stood. "I know things haven't exactly been hunky dory around here lately but..."

"It's not that." Silver shook her head and folded her arms. "It's just that sometimes, just lately..." her hands moved to her upper arms and began to almost absentmindedly rub them. "I get the feeling that the mansion is haunted."

Llewelyn's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean 'haunted'?"

"It's just that lately, when I'm alone I get the feeling that someone is standing near me; or if I'm down in the training room I think I can hear Flynt's voice. It's only for a moment but-" she moved closer to Llewelyn, "-it's enough. I don't need any more ghosts in my life, Llew." She shuddered, remembering the events of a few weeks ago.

Llewelyn nodded in understanding. "I hear you there." She glanced down at the book she had lain on the floor. It had seemed that over the past few days the clan had done nothing but bicker at each other. Since their leader, their second and another clan member had vanished, the tempers and nerves of the remaining clan members had become increasingly frayed. Something had to be done about that. She looked back up at Silver. "What we need," she said, "is a vacation."

"A what?" Silver sounded shocked. "But this isn't the time to be enjoying ourselves. We have clan missing, we have-"

"Hey calm down there." Llewelyn closed the distance between herself and the crown-horned gargess and placed both her hands on Silver's shoulders. "I'm not talking about an all-expenses-paid trip to Disneyworld. I'm just saying that we need to take a night or two to catch up with ourselves. We're no use to Kah, Flynt, Thay or each other if we all end up in the funny farm."

"I see your point." Silver turned slightly and glanced down the darkened corridor behind her. "It would be good to get Chaz away from all this for a night or so." She turned back to Llewelyn. "But where would we go?"

Llewelyn grinned. "I can think of a place."

******

"New Orleans?" Shaiya frowned slightly. "But that is many, many miles from here."

"I couple of thousand I should think," said Llewelyn. "But the distance isn't important.  What is important is that we get out of here for a couple of days."

"And what if Thaylog should return?" Shaiya folded her arms. "What would he think if he returned to an empty mansion and discovered that his clan had abandoned him?"

"Oh come on, Shaiya, we're doing nothing of the sort!"

"No?"

"What Llewelyn is trying to say is that we're no good to Thaylog in the state we're in now," Silver explained, moving in-between Shaiya and Llewelyn. "We've gone through the library time and time again. There's nothing in there that can help us. But one thing I know about New Orleans is that supernatural things...and human magic, exist there."

"Yeah," Llewelyn nodded. "Zombies and stuff."

"I thought that was in the Caribbean," spoke Sabrina for the first time.

"It happens in New Orleans, too." Llewelyn said. "But the point Silver is making is that maybe we could find some information there that we don't have here."

"I see." Shaiya looked them over. "But we can't all leave this place. I, for one, will not leave."

"I think I'd stay here too," said Sabrina "Thaylog is bound to return, and besides, there's no safer place in this world for us to be than right here."

"What about Vash, then? If we want to get down to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras, we'll have to either leave now or first thing tomorrow night."

"Vashkoda is out pursuing her own line of inquiry. I have no idea when she'll return." Shaiya was silent for a few moments. She looked up as she took in the last part of Llewelyn's sentence. "Why Mardi Gras?"

"Because all the humans will be in fancy dress and with all the festivities that go on, nobody is going to notice a few gargoyles walking about," said Llewelyn. "Just like Halloween!"

"And how do you propose to get down there?"

"There are many overnight freight trains that go down to Louisiana and the South from Pennsylvania and New York," Silver said. "If we leave first thing tomorrow night we can be down near New Orleans before the sun rises." Silver was silent for a moment as a thought occurred to her. "Are there any digital phones we can take with us? I can stay awake during the day, so if Thaylog does return you can let us know."

"That's a good idea!" exclaimed Sabrina. "And if you find something that can help us bring Kah and Flynt back, you can let us know right away as well."

Llewelyn nodded, obviously pleased with the way things were turning out. "Yeah."

"Very well.  But I expect you to be back in three nights. Thaylog needs us here."

Llewelyn and Silver traded smiles. For the first time in a while they had something to look forward to.

******

"You know, it's been a while since I've done anything like this," admitted Llewelyn as she lounged in a pile of cushions she had liberated from some packing crates.

Silver shrugged.  Like Llewelyn, it had been some time since she had traveled in such a fashion, but unlike her clan sister, she wasn't enjoying the journey. Traveling had always made her nervous, and for good reason, too. Every major event in her life had been heralded by a journey of some kind. Her flight from the burning wreckage of her clan home, her exile with Nightangel. For the first time in her life she had become used to the idea of calling a single place home.

Yet here she was, once again on the road.

She sighed and rested her head against the wall of the carriage they were in and attempted to let the hypnotic sound of the train's movement wipe the thoughts from her mind.

It wasn't working.

Abandoning all hope of having any quiet time, Silver stood and stretched. "You know, the people who those cushions belong to aren't going to be very appreciative of the fact that they'll be selling used goods," she said as she worked out the kinks in her back.

"Oh, they won't care. Puff them up a bit and the consumer will never know the difference," Llewelyn said as she waved her hand dismissively. "So how's the scenery kid?" she asked, turning her attention to Chaz. The young gargoyle was perched on a couple of crates at the other end of the carriage. He had found a small window in the upper portion of a door the humans must have used once. The door had now been welded shut and the window boarded over. However, the nails had held no resistance against the curiosity of a child.

"It's dark," Chaz mumbled, obviously disappointed. "And I don't know where we are."

"Somewhere farther south than we were a few minutes ago."

Chaz turned slightly and made a face at Llewelyn. "Very funny," he sighed, and turned back to the window. "This is boring. There isn't even a moon out tonight, and the clouds are making it impossible to see any stars."

"And I seem to have forgotten my Gameboy, too." Llewelyn sat forward. "So what do you want to do till we get to New Orleans then? Tell stories?"

"Sounds good." Chaz turned to Silver. "Can we Mom? I know that you know some good ones."

"It couldn't hurt," Silver said. "But how about you go first Chaz. Let's see what you learned from that book Llewelyn gave you."

Silver missed seeing the startled look appear momentarily across Llewelyn's face, and the mischievous smile the gargess then exchanged with Chaz.

"Okay." The boy sat silently for a few seconds, and then his face lit up as he recalled something. "I know! There was this one legend that..."

Chaz began his tale as the train hurtled on towards its destination, and for a time, everything was all right with the world.

*******

February 2009 Mardi Gras Day.

"Come on, Mom! One more ride! Then we can go home."

Sally Fielding looked down wearily at her young son. Peter had been up since the crack of dawn, and from the moment he had opened his eyes, he hadn't stopped. It was like Christmas day all over again. Except this time, there weren't any computer games or lego construction sets she could have used to keep him occupied for an hour or so. This was Peter full-on all day, and Sally had just about had enough. All she wanted to do was get home, put Peter to bed and then spend an hour doing nothing but having a long soak in the tub.

She sighed. "One more and then we're going home."

With a delighted smile, Peter turned and headed straight towards the Carousel that dominated the small carnival. It was a stroke of luck to find this little attraction, Sally thought. Small, quiet and well away from the noisy and often drunken activities that were taking place along Bourbon Street and in most of the French Quater. The sun dipped behind the roof of the row of shabby houses that backed the small field of grass, and Sally shivered. It didn't matter if Peter threw a tantrum in the middle of the street. There was no way she was going to remain in the streets after the sun went down.

"They're quite a handful at that age, aren't they?"

Sally turned. She hadn't heard the young woman who now stood by her side approach, but then amidst the noise of the slot machines and gaudy carousel music, she wasn't surprised. She afforded the woman one small glance before she turned her attention back to Peter. "Yeah. But the only time I'll have time on my own hands is when this one," she waved to Peter and Peter returned his own enthusiastic response, "is sound asleep." 

"Looks like you could do with a nice relaxing massage." The woman had moved a step closer and warning bells went off in Sally's head. Typical! she thought. She'd managed to avoid all those street 'vendors' all day and it was only now that one had managed to corner her.

"What I need is to get my son and go home."  Her voice had become short and cold. She glanced back at the woman. "Thank you for your concern, but if it's all the same to you, I think I'll take my chances on a bath."

The woman shrugged and held up her hands in a 'you win' gesture. As she brought her hand down again the tips of her fingers brushed Sally's shoulder. "True. But you do seem as if you need some time out; a long, well deserved rest." The woman paused as Sally turned towards her. Behind them the Carousel had made another rotation. Peter came into view, waved at his mother and was soon out of sight again. The woman and Sally were now face to face. "And a well deserved rest is something I can give to you," the woman smiled. "I promise."

*******

Peter was having a great time in his own imagination. The carousel horse he rode was in fact a huge black charger. He was a Knight, off to slay the dragon that had been menacing his king's people. He imagined that his mother had been a great Queen and he now carried one of her silk ribbons tied to his lance. After a few minutes the ride had slowed down and Peter had noted with some disappointment that the fantasy world he had spent the past few minutes living in had also come to an end. As the ride came to a stop, Peter scrambled from his plastic saddle almost as enthusiastically as her had climbed into it. He couldn't wait to tell his mother all about the ride. Perhaps if the carnival was still here tomorrow she could bring him back! With thoughts of yet another campaign, Peter rushed to where his mother had been standing.

He pulled up short when he realised that she wasn't there. Her bag was still where she had placed it--on the ground--which was now becoming increasingly muddy. Peter walked up to it and picked it up, cradling it to his chest. The fact that it hadn't been stolen or picked up by some stranger never occurred to him. There was a much more urgent thought that had total control of Peters mind.

"Mom?"

*******

"Yes Chaz?"

"Why are there so many funny looking humans out tonight?"

"Because the humans are having a party which we, my fine young friend, are going to crash," Llewelyn smiled, interrupting Silver before she could get word out.

"I thought we were going to go look for some more magic shops?"

"Err yeah, that too," the gargoyle winced as she caught a glimpse of the look Silver was giving her. Someone was going to get an earful later, and Llewelyn had a feeling that it wasn't going to be Chaz. "We'll have ourselves some well earned fun after we look through the magic shops."

"Are we Mom?" Chaz looked up at his mother. Silver had changed into her human form, but for some reason, amongst the throngs of colourfully dressed humans, she seemed more out of place than her son and clan sister.

"We'll see," she said, her attention on a group of drunken revellers who had just sprawled out of a bar. All these people were making her nervous, and she didn't want Llewelyn, Chaz and herself to stay in one spot long enough for the few people who weren't under the influence of alcohol to take a good look at the trio and decide that two of them weren't wearing costumes. She had half hoped that by one AM the number of people on the streets would have thinned out enough for her to feel comfortable. She checked the cheap watch she had strapped to her wrist. A quarter to twelve and the streets showed no sign of slowing down or emptying. In fact, for every group of humans that left to go to their homes or motels, another seemed to magically appear from a bar.

She looked at her son and Llewelyn. "It's not long till midnight and I think we've exhausted all the shops in the French quarter. I think the likelihood of us finding another one open beyond midnight is slim."

"Yeah, and besides, in this place a lot of the books are in French. I don't know about you but I can't understand a word of it." Llewelyn stepped aside as a drunken couple weaved their way past the trio. Her eyes followed then until the young man suddenly doubled over and then unceremoniously threw up into the gutter. Llewelyn made a face. "Humans can be such charming creatures at times, can't they?"

Chaz's response was tempered by curiosity as he tried to peak around Silver for a glimpse of the human who was now on all fours. "Ewww."

"And you wonder why Flynt never let you touch alcohol, Llew," said Silver, her smile slowly fading as the mention of one of their missing clanmates brought forth feelings that weren't that pleasant. For Silver, that settled it. "Ok. I don't think we'll find anything more...let's get out of here."

Llewelyn nodded.  For her, the mention of Flynt had taken some of the shine from the night. "We've got seven hours until the sun comes up. What are we going to do till then?"

"I don't care," said Silver as she started forward. "As long as it's away from here."

"I saw a place," said Llew. "We passed it just before we came into the French Quarter." She followed Silver as the gargess ducked into an alleyway, ignoring the snores of some of the winos who had chosen that alleyway to pass the time between their last drink and the next. During the journey from one end of the alleyway to the other, Silver had transformed back into her gargoyle form.

She halted for a few moments, the pain of the transformation evident on her face. In a moment the expression passed and she slowly turned back to Llewelyn. "How far?"

"Not far at all. Five minutes or less gliding."

"What is it?"

"A small Carnival. It looked like most of the big rides had closed down for the night, but I think the small side stalls were open till the wee morning hours."

"And how do you know that?"

"Errr, there was a sign?"

"Really?" Silver turned and began to scale the wall. Chaz and Llewelyn followed soon after. Within a few moments they had caught the breeze and were airborne. "You couldn't have seen a sign from up here."

"I didn't," Llewelyn called back. "There were a few posters pasted to some of the lampposts in Bourbon Street. It sounded like the same place we glided over on the way here."

In her mind Silver tried to recall the place Llewelyn was talking about. A small field, some houses, no bars or nightclubs that she could remember. It had seemed quiet compared to the revelry on Bourbon street. "Fine," she said. "We'll go there." It seemed safe enough, she thought. At least it would be a change from the human madness they had left behind.

*******

Upon the rooftops elsewhere in New Orleans someone was amused.

The grey-skinned female brushed a strand of dark hair from her eyes and surveyed the street below. She had chosen the roof of this old colonial style mansion in the French Quarter as their meeting place. The owner, it seemed, had an obsession for statues. They were everywhere. On the lawn, on balconies, and one or two on the roof. In all it made the place a perfect point to sit and watch. From time to time she let her gaze wander over to the graveyard that lay beyond a high wall on the other side of the road. Now and again her sharp eyes caught glimpses of dark figures moving amongst the gravestones. There was no mystery about who those figures were, she thought as a smirk crossed her lips and revealed the points of her sharp canines.

She couldn't help but laugh at the human wannabe vampires that swarmed over this part of the United States. And all drawn here because of some graveyards and a human writer who spent her days writing about witches and vampires. She turned her back on the graveyard and turned her attention to the alleyways and other dark places. Those were the locations where the richest pickings were to be found. A soft fluttering of wings announced the arrival of her companion.

The newcomer quickly joined her in the vigil over the alleyways. Her extra limbs made her look like she had stepped straight out of Hindu mythology, although her thickly accented voice pointed to an origin somewhere in South America. Her extra limbs clutched at the guttering as she leaned forward and peered into the darkness below. "I wonder if the hunting will be good tonight?"

"Hey," said the grey skinned female as she stood and flexed her wings. "This is New Orleans--they're famous for their food. Lets go."

With that she launched herself into the night, her companion followed moments later.

********

Blue lights reflected off the gaudy poster at the entrance to the carnival. The painted clown's face--once a bright and cheerful yellow and red--had been transformed into demonic shades of blue and black, the only contrast being the white of the clown's eyes and smile.

The police officer who sat in the cruiser at the entrance chose not to look at it. This night had been crazy enough without adding demon clowns into the equation. Lifting his wrist and turning it slightly so that he could see the face of the watch he wore, the officer pushed a small button on the side of it. The display glowed briefly and the officer took note of the time. Half past midnight. They had been at this forgotten part of New Orleans for four hours now. At around 7.15 pm the dispatcher had contacted him and his partner to report that a young child had been found wandering the carnival looking for his mother. So what, the officer had thought. Children always had a habit of running off from their parents in these places. It was more serious than a lost child, the dispatcher said. It seemed that the mother of the child had vanished. Her car still remained in the temporary parking lot of the carnival. The child had his mother's purse, ID, car keys, social security card--everything that was of value to the woman was still accounted for.

Everything about the woman, her car, her child, her belongings.... Everything save the woman herself.

The child had said that he last saw his mother talking to a dark-haired woman. The child couldn't remember anything more. His father arrived at eight, still dressed for the office. There had been the usual questions, the usual confused and emotional answers. Soon afterwards father and son had left with assurances from the officers present that they would do all they could to locate the mother.

Hours later and they were still left with that promise and very little else. If the statements taken from the carnival organisers and the operators of the rides and stalls were anything to go by, then the woman had vanished into thin air, pip, gone.

Twenty-four hours and then they would come back and search the place.

Perhaps daylight would give them answers.

******

Silver turned from the carnival in disgust. What kind of mother would leave her child alone like that? It was incomprehensible to her that any mother, even a human one, would willingly abandon her son like that. "Something took her away from her child," she said, more to herself than to either Llewelyn or her own son who now perched on the rooftop to either side of her .

They had arrived at the carnival minutes ago, and to the trio's dismay they discovered that they had only moved from one form of human madness to another. However this distress of a family, the loss of a loved one, had struck a cord deep within all of them. Silver drew Chaz close to her and then began to walk away.

"We should go. There's nothing we can do here."

"But..." Llewelyn looked up in surprise. "...shouldn't we at least try to help? I mean we can see things from the air that the humans wouldn't notice. We might come across something important."

"Llew, we came here to get away from such things for a while, please. The humans are more than capable..." Silver trailed off as she caught the look in Chaz's eyes. It was a familiar expression. The faint I want look to his eyes that she had seen before. However never before had she seen the sadness that accompanied the look. She closed her eyes and exhaled. "You want to help too, don't you?"

Chaz nodded. "So do you mom."

This statement was stark in it's simpleness as it was in it's truth.

Silver sighed and turned back in the direction of the carnival. "Then let's see what we can do."

The smiles on Chaz's and Llewelyn's faces were all the confirmation that Silver needed to assure her that she had made the right decision.

******

"Damn, something stinks around here." Gigi wrinkled her nose in disgust. The smell that came from the small outhouse was putrid. There were some things that were distasteful, even to the sensitive nose of a vampire.

And there was nothing more distasteful that good blood that had gone to waste. That was something they had learned earlier this night.

Their hunt had been partially successful. The homeless man had been an easy prey, however there was something in his blood, something that tainted the warmth that gushed down their throats. They had left the man to succumb to his own blood loss and went off in search of something with a more pleasant taste.

Two hours later and they had still not found an opportune moment to strike. There had been times when the hunt itself had seemed promising but then the prey had an annoying habit of wandering out of the dark alleyways and into the well lit, populated street. Then the night air had brought the faint smell of death to them and like moths to a flame they were drawn in.

"This place again?" Ansalong's hands were placed firmly on her hips, her brow ridges brought together in a look of annoyance. "Have these morons got any intelligence in their small heads? You'd think dumping one corpse here would be enough but they do it again and again. And all that wasted blood. I tell you Gigi it damn near pisses me off."

Gigi in the meantime had wandered over to the outhouse and quickly made short work of the new padlock on the door. She opened the door and peered in. "There's four of them in here, Ans. It looks like they've made a visit we didn't know about."

Ansalong barged past and walked straight into the outhouse. "Just the same as the others," she said, wandering over to the nearest--and latest--corpse. "Fools just let themselves die from either thirst or starvation."

Gigi joined her. "Are you sure they let this happen willingly?"

Ansalong shrugged. "Ah, who cares. It all ends up being the same. They lie around here, stinking the place up. In fact they..."

"Hey!"

Gigi and Ansalong swung around and found themselves staring straight into the powerful beam of a high voltage flashlight. They didn't have time to wonder who it was. The light had already hurt their sensitive eyes and now only one thought filled their minds.

Escape, get away. They couldn't hunt another night if they were caught and destroyed. They barged past the man at the door and sped off into the night.

Back at the outhouse the man kept the beam trained on their retreating forms as he dug into his coat pocket and brought out a cell phone. He pressed a button and held the phone up to his ear as he waited for the click that signalled that his call had been answered.

Click.

"Marie? This is Dorgan. I'm at the outhouse. It seems that we've got a gargoyle infestation problem here." He held the phone away from his ear until the vulgarities on the other end subsided. "Yeah, I know it's a bitch but we're going to have to find a new location for the by-product of tonight's transaction." He listened for a few moments more. "Well that's your problem. I've got an infestation to take care of." The conversation was terminated and the phone returned to his product. Dorgan had suddenly found himself with a situation to clear up and there were still a few hours left until dawn.

That wasn't a problem at all. Not in this town.

*******

The phone was slammed down onto its receiver with more force than was necessary. The dark haired woman snarled something under her breath and then turned to the others in the room.

"You all heard that?"

The four men in the room nodded, a fifth covered in heavy robes merely lowered his hood for a fraction to signal his understanding.

"Marcus, Adam. Go and assist Dorgan. We can't have any loose ends no matter what. Take care of it," she ordered, pointing to two heavyset men. They nodded and left the room.

The woman turned and looked at the crumpled form in the middle of the floor. Around it the furniture had been pushed aside, leaving a large empty space in the middle of the floor. Empty save for a few curious markings which had been drawn in a circle around the body. For a few more moments the woman's gaze was drawn there until she looked up.

"John?"

"Yes Ms Pascoe?"

"This hotel is heated by a furnace is it not?"

"Yes Ms Pascoe."

"See to it that it will be available for our use in two hours time."

John's gaze wandered over to the body and then back to the woman. "But wouldn't that be risky? We-"

"You are not paid to think John." The woman's eyes narrowed and the blackness of her pupils glowed green for a moment. "You are paid to do." She watched in satisfaction as John, almost twice her size backed away. "So do."

John lowered his head and then left the room, grateful to get away. As the door closed behind him the robed figure laughed.

"You should give your little boys a break Marie. They won't do much work for you if you give them cause to change their pants every few hours."

Marie Pascoe smiled. "Humans such as they need to be kept on their toes, otherwise they become soft." She glanced at her wristwatch. "You had better start soon. My control over this one will only last until the sun rises and we want to make sure that the transaction goes through without any resistance."

The figure nodded. "And we may need to consider finding a new location for this business in the months ahead. From what I hear, locations such as these will be needed for other purposes."

"When I receive a memo regarding such things, I'll believe it. Till then we carry on as if nothing will change." Marie turned from the figure and walked over to a nearby table. It was covered in candles and one or two talismans. However also on this table were five glass spheres, richly decorated in runes which had been carved into the glass surface. Within four of these something moved; at some moments it seemed to be a small pinprick of light, at others it seems as if the sphere was filled with a mist. The fifth was was empty. Marie picked this one up and cradling it gently in both hands turned back to the figure. "I suggest we begin."

In the middle of the floor, Sally Fielding lay trapped within a sleep that was not of her own making.

******

Silver tried to ignore the nagging ache that seemed to have settled into her limbs. Doing three transformations in such a short space of time was beginning to wear on her. However she hadn't told the others of this.  She didn't want to burden them. There were other, more important things to worry about.

Like the woman in the photograph. According to the police officer Silver had spoken to moments earlier, her name was Sally Fielding. Mother, wife and part-time worker at a local daycare centre. No enemies. No knowledge of anyone who would wish to harm her. Silver refused to believe the whispered rumours that had been circulating the carnival that the mother had simply abandoned her child and had run off with some other man. There were also whispers of things darker than that, and although Silver didn't want to hear what was being said, she listened nonetheless. The things humans thought each other capable of doing...things that spoke of a sickness that Silver knew was not limited to humanity alone.

"We should have stayed at the mansion," she said to herself as she turned towards the alleyway where Llewelyn and Chaz were waiting.

********

"Do you think we've lost him?" Ansalong asked from her hiding place behind a dumpster.

"I don't know," Gigi whispered back. She had taken to lurking on the upper landings of a stairwell that spiralled down into the alley the two gargoyles had taken to hiding in. Over the course of the past hour they had been forced to flee from one hiding spot to another, and with the approach of dawn they were rapidly running out of places to hide.

"I can't see him; can't smell him either."

"So what?" Ansalong hissed back. "I remember you said that the last two times and he still managed to pop up from the woodwork like some freaking jack-in-the-box."

"Maybe if we split up?"

"Hell no. The next time he shows up I say we take him down."

Gigi chuckled. "Is all this exercise giving you an appetite, Ansalong dear?"

"Damn straight it is. And besides, he's just one human. How difficult can it be? We're supposed to be the hunters here."

"Are you sure about that?"

The two vampires turned as one. There at the other end of the alleyway, a dead end, stood the man who had been pursuing them for the past hour. And this time he wasn't alone. To either side of him stood two heavy-set men. Each carried a wicked looking blade in their hands.

Ansalong stood. "Awww crap!" She turned and bolted into the street. Close behind her was Gigi. Within moments they had disappeared into another darkened alleyway.

Dorgan smiled as he watched the pair swallowed by the shadows. He knew where the alleyway led. A bit too close to home, but at least it was territory he was familiar with. With a gesture he motioned to the rooftops. "Make sure they don't take to the air, will you please gentlemen?"

With the barest hint of movement the two men who had joined him had vanished. Still smiling, Dorgan sheathed his own blade and walked across the street, following in the wake of the two vampires. Now that he knew what they were, from their scent, their actions, and their words, dealing with these two had become much easier.

*******

"So we know what she looks like, but we don't know what happened to her?"

From her position on the ground, Silver nodded. She had taken the opportunity to sit on the ground while she told Llewelyn everything she knew. She was exhausted and knew she couldn't hide it from either of the concerned faces that hovered above her. "I also got this." She reached into her belt and pulled out a small plastic evidence bag which contained a handkerchief. "I think it belonged to her."

Llewelyn glanced down the alleyway to where it opened into the street. "Do you think we'd be able to pick up any scent out there? I mean we're not Sirius."

"But it will help," Chaz said as he sat down next to his mother.

"Yeah I guess it will," Llewelyn nodded as she tucked the bag into her belt. "Ok then, it's my turn to play detective. Alone," she added as Chaz got to his feet. "You'd better stay here and protect your mom while she recovers."

Silver looked up and frowned. "I'm fine, Llewelyn."

"Of course you are, Silver. I guess the fact that you look like you've just run a marathon is only my imagination."

"I am a little tired," she admitted.

"Which is why you can rest up for half an hour. I won't be going far."

Silver sighed. "Fine. But if you're not back in that time we're coming after you."

"Sure!" Llewelyn agreed. "But I'll be back long before then. You know nothing escapes these eyes."

"Especially not it it's chocolate-coated," Chaz grinned.

Llewelyn stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll be back soon," she assured them, and with those words the horned female vanished in a ball of flame.

Chaz's smile faded. "Do you think she'll be alright, Mom?"

"Llewelyn?" Silver gave her son a reassuring smile. "She'll either cause trouble or get into trouble. But in the end she'll be fine."

"Mmm." Chaz frowned and then spoke, "Are we going to be ok?"

"Of course we are," Silver said as she drew Chaz into an embrace. "I've got you to protect me. What have we got to worry about?"

*******

"How the hell is he keeping up with us?" Ansalong said as she risked a furtive glance over her shoulder."

"I have no idea," Gigi replied as the pair rounded a corner. "But if this keeps up we're going to be attracting extra unwanted attention."

"What?"

"Oh don't tell me you didn't notice the surprised looks on those humans faces when we ran across the street?"

"Ah." Ansalong was silent for a few seconds longer. "Damn."

"Are those guys still on the rooftops?"

"Probably."

"Then we need to go down," Gigi said as she vaulted over a wall. She halted for a few moments as Ansalong caught up to her.

"You what?"

"Down. Into the sewers."

"But it stinks like crap down there!"

"You want to die again?"

"Good point."

"We have to split up. Find the nearest manhole and then take a dive. If we survive till tomorrow night, I'll meet you at the usual place."

"That's a big if."

"Yeah." Gigi's ears perked up as she heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. "Go!"

******

Dorgan watched as the two vampires bolted from their hidey-hole and then headed in different directions. With one gesture he sent the two men who lurked on the rooftops above to pursue the grey female. He waited for a few seconds and then began to stalk the green one.

******

Silver looked at her watch. It had been fifteen minutes since Llewelyn had vanished. Fifteen minutes more and then they would go looking for her. She slowly stood, wincing at the aches and stiffness that now had a firm grip on her. A long stone sleep was definitely in order. She arched her back and indulged herself in a luxurious stretch as she tried to work out how many hours were left until dawn.

"Mom?"

She halted mid-stretch and turned to where Chaz stood. The youngster had moved away from his mother and stood further down the alleyway, his posture alert.

"What is it?"

"I hear people coming."

As she listened it was obvious that Chaz was correct. Someone was running towards the alleyway.

"Chaz. Get behind me now," Silver whispered. The boy, used to obeying his mother in such situations, did exactly as she asked. Slowly the pair backed further into the shadows of the alley. The only other thing there was a small dumpster. Too small for her to hide in...but for Chaz? Silver faced the alley entrance and hoped against hope that whoever was running up the street would pass the alley by.

For that moment in time hope was not with her.

She had expected to come face to face with a human, perhaps one who was running from the law.

What she did not expect to see was the face of a desperate green female gargoyle.

******

What the-? Gigi pulled up short, almost running into the surprised female gargoyle who stood baring her escape through the alley.

"Get the hell out of my way!" Gigi screamed at her. All the female did in response was turn away from her and violently push the youngster behind her into a dumpster. Gigi had time to register the shocked look on the child's face as the female told him to be quiet and that she loved him before she closed the lid of the dumpster.

"Didn't you hear me?" Gigi shouted running forward. "I said..." she trailed off as she realised that the female's attention was not focused on her. She saw her eyes widen, the pupils contract as the light at the entrance to the alley was blocked.

Dorgan had them cornered.

There was only one thing to do now. Gigi snarled at the female, and then turning on her heels, launched herself at Dorgan. There was a chance that she could surprise him, confuse him long enough to give her a chance of escape.

No such luck. As Gigi bore down on him, fangs bared and eyes blazing, Dorgan extended his hand towards her in a fist. As she leapt at him, he opened his hand and bolts of electricity leapt from his fingers. Gigi screamed in pain and then collapsed in a heap at Dorgan's feet.

For a few silent moments, Dorgan watched the smoke curl up from the scorch marks on Gigi's body. Then he looked back up. This was a surprise. He hadn't expected to come across another gargoyle in this game of cat and mouse. Still, unexpected or not, this was a situation that had to be dealt with. The female was backing away, her eyes locked on Dorgan. She hissed at him as her eyes glowed green. Another surprise.

Dorgan held out his arm and curled his hand into a fist. "I should really thank you for helping me like, that but unfortunately with things being the way they are, I can't let you go free. Who knows who you'd tell?"

"I've done nothing to you," the female growled. Her back was against the wall and she now crouched down, her hands groped on the ground for anything she could use as a weapon. Her eyes remained locked on his.

"You have eyes, you have a memory," Dorgan said as he slowly walked towards her. Halfway down the alleyway he stopped. "That's enough." 

A smile crossed his lips as he brought down his second gargoyle of the night.

Satisfied that neither female was conscious, he reached into his pocket and brought out his cell phone.

"John? Yeah, it's me. Marie's occupied?" Dorgan snorted. "Fine just get the van and bring it down to my location. What do you mean where am I? Aren't you using the trackers?" He shook his head in disbelief. "I've got two gargoyles to haul back to base. And hurry. These two won't be out for long and they won't be in a pretty mood when they wake up."

Dorgan put the phone back in his pocket and, muttering to himself, began to drag the brown female over to where the green female lay.

He never noticed the pair of a frightened child's eyes that watched him from the raised lid of the dumpster.

******

Llewelyn scanned the ground as she made her way back to the alley where her clanmates were waiting for her. Her search had proved to be as fruitless as Silver's had been.

"Man this sucks," she said to herself. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so boastful before leaving. Between herself and Silver, she knew the brown female was the better tracker. And if Silver couldn't find anything, then what hope did she have? She landed on the rooftop of the building that overlooked the alley where she had left Chaz and Silver. Perhaps Silver had been right. Perhaps the humans were better at sorting this sort of thing out. What help could a clan of gargoyles who couldn't even find their own be to them? Llewelyn moved silently to the edge of the roof and looked down into the alleyway.

It was empty.  As Llewelyn's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she caught sight of the scorch marks. More importantly, she noticed the absence of her clan mates.

"This really sucks," she moaned

"Llewelyn!"

She turned and managed to put enough distance between herself and the edge of the roof so that when Chaz landed and rushed straight into her arms, they weren't both sent headlong into the street below.

"Whoa kid! Where's the...fire?" Llewelyn trailed off as Chaz turned his tear streaked face up to hers. She crouched down till she was face to face with him. "What happened?"

"We have to help mother! A man came and attacked us in the alleyway. He was after this green gargoyle and then he hurt her, Llewelyn.  He hurt my mom!"

Llewelyn's eyes widened and she pulled Chaz close to her. "We'll help your mom, kid. Where are they?"

Chaz pulled back and then pointed towards the just visible rooftop of a hotel. "Over there. I followed them. I couldn't protect her, Llew. She always protects me and I couldn't do the same for her." His bottom lip trembled and he turned his face towards Llewelyn.

Not knowing what else to do, Llewelyn pulled him close to her and hugged him. "Hey, you were very brave following them. And very smart too. Your mom will be so proud of you when we get her back from the hotel."

"We will?"

"Yup, you and me. Those goons won't know what hit them." She stood and held out her hand. Chaz took it. "We'll show them what happens when you mess with a member of our clan."

"Like the Lone Ranger in Space?"

Llewelyn couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah, like the Lone Ranger in Space." She moved closer to him. Now that she knew where she was going there was a much faster way of getting to Silver. "Hold on," she said as she wrapped her wings around herself and Chaz and both gargoyles vanished in a ball of flames.

******

He was sure that somewhere above him he was being watched. When moments passed and nothing happened, no flash of the burning eyes of a gargoyle, no gunshot, no nothing, Dorgan realized that nothing would happen. Perhaps there was no one there, or perhaps there was. To Dorgan it didn't make the slightest difference if they didn't act. Dismissing the feeling to the back of his mind, he turned to the man, one of Marie's assistants, who had ferried himself and his captives from the alley three streets away. "Has there been any word from Marcus and Adam?"

John shook his head. "No, nothing yet. I guess they must be still out chasing the other gargoyle. Speaking of which-" he said, nudging Gigi's unconscious form with his foot, "What are we going to do with these ones? I thought you were only after two?"

Dorgan shrugged as he closed the door of the van behind him. "Must be a clan of them out there. I don't know, don't care either. I'm just making sure we don't have any eyewitnesses to this."

"Then why not just kill them out there?"

"Did you even get past the first grade?" Dorgan walked over to a set of elevator doors and pressed the button that called the car down to them. "Bodies have an annoying habit of being found around here. And if someone found a couple of gargoyle corpses, we'd have every biologist and fruit cake swarming all over the place. Very bad for business, my friend."

"So what do we do with these?"

Dorgan smiled. "Ask Marie. They're her problem now."

"Marie?" John made a face and glanced down at Silver and Gigi. "Poor creatures."

"Exactly," said Dorgan as he picked up Silver. "Now grab the other one and let's get them upstairs. The night's getting old and I've still got some unfinished business out there."

******

The object of Dorgan's 'unfinished business' was currently crouched behind a pile of packing crates at the rear of the hotel. Ansalong had managed to give her pursuers the slip, but for the moment her escape route had been cut off by a large black van which had seemed to fill the entire alleyway. But that wasn't the problem that Ansalong now faced.

It had been the moment when the back of the van had opened and the man who had been chasing her all night had jumped out into the alley. It had become a problem when another man who was in the back of the van had handed him Gigi's unconscious form.

For Ansalong this presented a problem and two options. She could either stay where she was and then, once the two men had gone, make her bid for freedom. But that meant that she would be leaving Gigi to an almost certain, permanent demise. Her second option was one she had never really found herself considering until now. She could break into the hotel, maybe rip out the throat of the jackass who had been playing hide and seek with them all night, and then rescue Gigi. Of course if she was doing this by herself, she would probably only get two feet past the back door before she met her own messy demise.

Escape and continue to thrive, or attempt to rescue Gigi and risk a permanent end? As these two options conflicted with each other in Ansalong's mind, the two men carried Gigi and another, dark-skinned gargess that Ansalong didn't recognise, into the hotel. As the door closed behind them and darkness grasped the alley, Ansalong still hadn't come to a decision.

Suddenly movement on the roof ledges above her caught Ansalong's attention. In a blur of blue, a young gargoyle, no more than a child, leapt from the hotel rooftop to that of a neighbouring building. A predatory grin crossed Ansalong's face.

There was always a third option.

Moving quickly, Ansalong scaled the wall of the hotel and scanned the rooftops for the child. She spotted him in moments; the scent of young life carried back to her on the wind. He hadn't gone far, only a few buildings away, and unfortunately Ansalong noted with a hiss of frustration he wasn't alone. She watched as he ran to and embraced a young gargess, one who was barely out of childhood herself. The boy was telling this other gargoyle something, his gestures speaking volumes to Ansalong. He was afraid of something, or for someone. Then Ansalong remembered the other gargess that the men had dragged out of the van. She must have been a clan member, family to these other two.

The boy suddenly turned and pointed back towards the hotel. Ansalong dove behind the rooftop stairwell and watched in disbelief as the older female embraced the boy and then both gargoyles vanished in a ball of flame. That was something Ansalong had definitely not expected to see. Neither were the events that followed moments afterward.

The fireball exploded into existence a meter above Ansalong's head, and the vampire had to dive out of the way to avoid being burnt.

"Who are you?"

Ansalong picked herself up and turned to glare at the owner of the voice.

"None of your damn business," she hissed at Llewelyn. "Go and burn down a church or something."

Llewelyn made a face. The first new gargoyle she had come across in recent months and she happened to have an attitude. And that last comment...who did this grey female think she was? "Hey I 'm sorry, ok? I didn't see you there. It's not as if I'm psychic or something!"

"That's obvious," Ansalong sneered. "Stuff like that would actually require you to have a brain."

Llewelyn blinked. If the night hadn't gone to pot already, here was another ray of sunshine to add icing to the cake. In her life there had been very few people, especially other gargoyles, that she had taken an instant dislike to. It seemed as if there was a first time for everything. Llewelyn took a step forward, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "Just who-"

There was a tug at her wing and a small "Llewelyn?"

The gargess looked down. In those brief seconds of her argument with this newcomer, she had all but forgotten Chaz. She winced. "I'm sorry kid, but I..."

"I know." Chaz looked from her to Ansalong and glared at the vampire. "She's mean."

Ansalong took a step forward. "Hey kid, if you want to know what ~mean~ really is, just come over here." She leaned slightly forward and gave the boy a good view of her sharp canines.

"If you're going to just waste our time, then get lost!" Llewelyn snarled, stepping in between Ansalong and Chaz. "And if you even think of laying a finger on him I'll..."

Ansalong laughed. "What? You'll kill me? Sorry honey, but someone already beat you to that little privilege."

Llewelyn frowned, puzzled by that comment. "Ah forget it." She turned her back on Ansalong. "We have more important things to do."

"What? Like rescue that clan member of yours they have in there?" Ansalong watched in delight as Llewelyn pulled up and spun on her heels to face the vampire once again. Well well, so that assumption about the brown female had been correct. Perhaps she wouldn't have to go and rescue Gigi alone. "Thought that might get your attention."

"What do you know about Silver?" Llewelyn's brow ridges drew together and her eyes narrowed. "Are you helping them?"

"Me? Get real!" Ansalong moved towards Llewelyn and Chaz. "I've got more self respect than to be a human's lackey. And besides, those charmers have been chasing Gigi and I-"

"You have a clan sister?" Chaz said.

"What?" Ansalong faltered for a moment, no one had used the word 'clan' in association with her for many years. "No, she's an associate of mine, she helps me hunt. But that's besides the point. They-" she said, pointing at the hotel, "have her."

"They have my mother too." He had moved out from behind Llewelyn, although he still stayed close to her. He looked up at Llewelyn. "We could..."

"Help each other," Ansalong finished.

"Fine," snapped Llewelyn. "But just for the record..."

"You don't trust me, yeah fine. I'm heartbroken," Ansalong said as she pointed once more at the hotel. "Now stop whining and lets go get them." Without waiting for an answer, the vampire made a running leap onto the hotel roof.

"But if we go in like that they'll see us!" Chaz exclaimed as Ansalong landed with a very audible thump. "Llewelyn, what do we do now?"

She walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. The alleyway was empty and it seemed that the back door was the only other entrance to the hotel. She looked back up at Ansalong, who now was pacing impatiently on the hotel roof. Behind her, smoke curled out of a chimney stack. Llewelyn grinned and turned back to Chaz.

"Wait there. I've got an idea on how to get in and out without them seeing us." She pointed to the chimney and smiled as Chaz's small "oh" signalled his understanding.

"Compared to getting into the Dominion base, this is going to be a walk in the park," she assured him.

"What do I do?"

"Stay here and keep watch. Once I find your Mom, we'll be out of here in a flash." She pointed to the stairwell of the building. "You can hide there and keep watch at the same time."

"But-"

"Exactly. That's what part of me your mom is going to be kicking if anything happens to you. So please? For me?"

Chaz's shoulders slumped. "Ok, I'll keep watch."

"Good boy." She ruffled his hair. "I'll be back soon with your mom."

"What about them?" he asked, pointing at Ansalong, who seemed to be mouthing some very rude words in Llewelyn's direction.

Llew frowned. "They can take care of themselves. The sooner we get out of here the better."

"Llewelyn?"

"Yeah?"

"Bring my mom back."

Llewelyn smiled. "No problem. See you soon." She waved at him as she vanished, only to reappear on the hotel roof right next to Ansalong. Chaz couldn't hear what the two gargesses were saying to each other, but he could lip read well enough to know that some of the words they were using were something his mother definitely wouldn't approve of.

For the moment, thoughts of another young boy's mother were all but completely pushed from the young gargoyles mind.

*******

Dorgan didn't even get as far as the large wooden doors where Marie and her 'associate' were carrying out whatever ritual they did in there before being halted in his tracks by Marie's voice.

"What do you think you are doing? Bringing two gargoyles up here?"

"Nice to see you too, Marie. Finished in there, are you?" he asked, looking past her and through the partially opened door. His view was almost immediately blocked as Marie moved to stand in front of him.

"Yes," she snapped. "And you can remove the shell when we're good and ready. But don't dodge the subject," she said, poking him in the chest. "What-"

"Hey, we couldn't just kill 'em and leave them lying in the street. Besides," he smiled at her, a gesture that for some reason really set Marie on edge. "I'm sure that our bosses could find some interesting uses for a couple of gargoyles."

Marie looked at the two gargesses who lay half in and half out of the stairwell for a moment, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. "Perhaps."

"There was something else."

"What?"

Dorgan rummaged in his pocket and brought out a small cell phone. "The brown female had that tucked into her belt. There was only one number saved in the memory banks."

"Local?"

"Nope." Dorgan shook his head. "Pennsylvania."

"Hmm." Marie turned the phone over in her hands for a few moments before transferring it to her own pocket. "I'll let the bosses know about that." She gestured to the two gargesses. "Take them and put them in the middle of the circle. At least that will keep them quiet until we can decide what to do with them." She turned and walked back towards the room, only pausing to look over her shoulder at Dorgan. "And then you can get rid of the shell."

"Furnace?"

Marie nodded.

Dorgan chuckled to himself. "Good thing we're the only 'guests' in this place. The others would probably have something to say about the lovely aroma of barbequed human."

"Dorgan?"

"Yup?"

"Just shut up and do what you're told."

Dorgan mock saluted her before turning to pick up Silver. Marie was already making her way into the next room. He glared at her retreating back. "Effing stuck up little..."

The door to the end bedroom slammed shut as Dorgan crossed the threshold into the main room. "...halfbreed," he finished.

The air in the room was heavy with an unpleasant purple tinge to it. This was the part of his job Dorgan didn't like. After each of these 'soul removal' spells, he had always been called upon to take away the still-living shells of the unfortunate humans they had brought here. Alive, but without the spark that made a person think, smile, feel emotions--the spark that made people live. Dorgan didn't have a problem with disposing of dead bodies, didn't have much of a problem with killing people either. But this, this was something he did have problem with. Kill a person and that was the start and finish of your association with them. Take their souls, and it felt as if the association would never be ended. Still, the job paid well, and it was that amount that had put an end to any moral dilemma Dorgan may have had.

He dumped Silver's unconscious form in the middle of the circle and got out of there as fast as he could, only pausing long enough to pick up Sally Fielding's empty shell. Only when he was clear of the room, with the door safely shut behind him, did he take a look at Sally's face. Not bad looking, this one, he decided. On the surface it seemed as if she was asleep. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow but regular. The lights were on but nobody was home, and in a few minutes there wouldn't even be a home for that somebody to come back to. Dorgan's morals rose for a brief battle with the rest of his mind, and like always the battle was over long before it began.

As he waited for the elevator to return to his floor, there came the all-too-audible thump of something landing on the hotel roof. His eyes caught those of John who had just left the main room. He dropped Sally on the ground. "Take care of that," he said, pointing to the woman.

John cringed. "Not a chance, I..."

"Take care of it or when I come back I'm going to rip your throat out." Dorgan moved so rapidly that John didn't have a chance to do anything before Dorgan's face was mere centimetres away from his own. "Is that understood?"

What John understood was that he was at the bottom of a very complicated hierarchy. At times it had seemed that the rats that infested the hotel were higher up the corporate food chain than he. So he didn't answer Dorgan with anything more than an affirmative nod, and when the tall human had disappeared up the stairs that led to the hotel attic, he pushed the obscenities that clamoured to be spoken to the back of his mind.  Half picking Sally up, finding the mere touch of her empty shell repulsive, he dragged her to the elevators, towards the burning heat of the furnace that waited for her five floors below.

Had he known what was awaiting him once he reached his destination, Dorgan's promise to him may seemed to have been the more attractive option.

******

"Ok. I'm not going to even ask how the hell we got down here," Ansalong muttered as she suddenly found herself standing in a flame-lit basement when moments ago, she had been on the roof, trying her best to wrench the stairwell door off it's hinges.

Her new companion, the gargess named Llewelyn, ignored her. She had already started towards the elevator.

Ansalong was not used to being ignored. "I said..."

"I heard you." Llewelyn still had her back to the vampire and for a moment, Ansalong entertained a thought of creeping up on her grabbing her neck and...

"With all the noise you were making up there, just about every goon in the place will be on the roof looking for us. But here," she extended her arm and waved her hand about. "They won't think to look for us. It gives us some time."

"All right, Einstein. I'll give you that one. But," Ansalong looked up and Llewelyn followed her gaze. There above the doors to the elevator were a series of lights, and below each light a number was scrawled in a dark marker pen. One by one the lights flashed on and off in a pattern that could mean only one thing.

...4...3...2...

"Oh hell they're coming down here!" Llewelyn swore and as the light passed '1' and flicked off, both gargesses dived for cover. Ansalong hid behind some crates close to the elevator doors while Llewelyn was forced to go further afield for cover, finding her hiding place just as the light above 'b' was illuminated and the elevator doors slid open.

******

Chaz slunk further into the shadows of the stairwell as the door that opened out onto the hotels roof flew back on it's hinges and the human he remembered seeing carrying his mother into the hotel emerged alone. It was obvious that the human had expected to find something on the roof, but Chaz knew he would find nothing. Llewelyn and the grey female had vanished in Llewelyn's trademark ball of fire moments before the human arrived.

By now, Llewelyn and the other female were searching the hotel, looking for his mother. And what was he doing? Sitting and hiding while the others of his clan risked their lives. He knew they wanted to keep him safe. Knew it and understood it. When the clan had gone off to defeat the aliens at Dominion Enterprises, he had been left behind.  When his mother and other clan members had been possessed by spirits, he had not been able to do anything to help them.  When this human had hurt his mother, he had not been able to protect her. And now another member of his clan was risking her life to rescue his mother from the humans within the hotel.

So what was he doing?

"I've got you to protect me..."

Was hiding on a stairwell protecting his mother? Was staying here, while the human responsible for hurting her roamed free, helping her? He knew he was a child...

“He’s a child, not part of the clan.”

But he still heard things, even when his mother had thought she had made sure that he was out of earshot. Heard and absorbed every little piece of information. He looked up. The human had moved to the far side of the roof.

He could help, he could be useful.

He could be part of the clan.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Chaz found himself on the hotel roof.  The human turned in surprise as the young gargoyle quickly closed the distance between them and threw himself at him.  Chaz hardly had time to note the look of surprise on the human's face as the force of the weight of his small body sent the man tumbling towards the roof 's edge.

He paused long enough to watch as the human grabbed at a small railing and saved himself from going over the edge. But that was all. By the time the human had gotten back on his feet, Chaz was already racing down the stairs that led into the hotel .

"Get back here!"

Chaz could hear him, but he didn't stop. At the bottom of the stairs the familiar scent of his mother came to him. She was here somewhere. He looked to his right. At the end of the short corridor there lay a pair of heavy double doors. He ran towards them, Silver's scent becoming stronger. She was in there! Behind him he heard the heavy footsteps of the human. He was coming and Chaz was afraid. What had he done? Fear spurred him on towards the double doors and through them.

He was a child, afraid and alone and the only thing he wanted...

...was right in front of him.

He shouted to her, ran towards her and only stopped when he ran straight into a barrier he couldn't see. He fell to the floor, the wind temporarily knocked out of him. It was then that he became aware of his surroundings, became aware of them. A dark haired woman stood to his left, a robed man straight ahead of him and behind him...

Dorgan, the human was behind, closing and locking the double doors behind him as soon as he entered the room.

Trapped

To his right, against the wall stood a large table which was covered with objects Chaz didn't recognize. As Dorgan advanced on him and the woman screamed at both Dorgan and himself, he ran towards the table. Once there, he turned and groped behind him, his hand coming into contact with some kind of glass bauble. Now the woman was really screaming, a look of pure alarm on her face. Not that Chaz saw this--his own vision was blurred by tears. As Dorgan reached for him, Chaz threw the bauble at him and screamed at him to let his mother go.

The last thing he saw was the look of horror on Dorgan's face as the glass bauble shattered at his feet and a tiny pinprick of light leapt from it. Then Chaz felt a hand on his shoulder and as his vision began to fade he turned and found himself looking at the imposing figure of the robed human.

Then he saw nothing at all.

******

Llewelyn flattened herself against the wall and peered around the corner at the man who had exited the elevator. They couldn't have known that she was down here--they couldn't have! She frowned as the man moved past Ansalong's hiding place. He still had his back to her and was busy dragging something across the basement floor. As he moved closer to her and finally let his burden fall to the floor, Llewelyn finally got a look at what it was that he had brought down here. Her thoughts flashed back to the photograph that Silver had shown her earlier this evening. Though her hair was dishevelled  and her face dirty, there was no mistaking it. At the most unexpected moment she had found the woman that they had been looking for.

But what was that man doing with her?

Llewelyn moved forward.  The man hadn't seen her--he was too busy fiddling with the door of the furnace. As he managed to open the door with a grunt, Llewelyn realised with growing horror and rage what he meant to do.

"No!" She was already running towards him, even as the human turned in surprise at the sound of her voice. His hand was now reaching for the gun at his side. Time ran into treacle as she crossed the distance between them, hoping against hope that she could reach him before he was able to aim the gun at her. However in a blur of grey the human vanished from Llewelyn's line of vision.

The sound of the human's gun hitting the ground returned normal time to her. Momentum carried her the few steps forward that it took to reach the woman. For a moment all else was forgotten; the sounds of the scuffle between Ansalong and the human or the heat that spilled out from the furnace--for a few seconds they didn't register in Llewelyn's mind. There was only one thing that did. Was the man going to throw Sally into the furnace because she was...

A pulse, faint but steady, answered her questing fingers and Llewelyn let out a sigh of relief. She was alive. With one question answered another rose to take it's place. What kind of human would willingly throw another into a furnace? She looked up, anger building from a memory she buried deep beneath her carefree exterior.

What kind of being would burn another?

Her eyes glowed red and a growl erupted from deep within her throat. A few feet away, Ansalong sat with her back to Llewelyn and Sally, the human male cradled in her lap. She was bent over him, one hand was holding his head while the other...

"What are you doing?" The glow had faded in Llewelyn's eyes and was now being replied by a horrible certainty that sent Llewelyn's spirits sinking.

Ansalong's head moved slightly, her back straightening. "Mind your own business," she mumbled.

"No I won't!" Llewelyn stood, manoeuvring herself between Sally and Ansalong. "What are you...doing?" Llewelyn's voice trailed off as Ansalong turned her face towards her. She saw Ansalong's overly bright eyes glowering at her beneath  her long bangs, saw her nose wrinkle up as her mouth melted into a snarl. But most of all she saw the blood.

It was smeared across Ansalong's mouth, down her chin, over her clothes, on the humans neck. It was everywhere.

"Why?"

Ansalong rolled her eyes and turned away. "I was hungry."

Words, small phrases this newcomer had used since they had met her suddenly found new meaning in the blood on her face. "You're...you're  a vampire."

Ansalong stood rapidly, the human fell to the floor with a loud thump. "No shit, Sherlock!" She stepped over the man, ignoring the soft moans that came from him.

"But..."

"He deserves it! For crying out loud! He was going to throw that woman into the furnace! He's evil!"

"So are you!" Llewelyn snarled at her, her eyes blazing.

"I'm surviving. There's a difference."

"Is there?"

"Haven't you got a clan sister who needs you?" 

This statement, this change in the direction of their confrontation, threw Llewelyn's anger aside and replaced it with confusion.

Ansalong walked towards her. "If these humans," she said, wiping some of the blood from her face with the back of her hand, "are prepared to murder their own by burning them alive, then what do you think they're going to do to your clan sister? I mean, she could be dead or worse. What are your priorities, sister? Your morals, or your clan?"

"Don't call me that. You're not even a gargoyle."

"Yeah, whatever. But you haven't answered my question." Ansalong said, a grin revealing the points of her canines. "What's your priority?"

******

Voices danced on the edge of the darkness Chaz lay in. Bit by bit those voices became clearer, until their words had meaning.

"Where the hell were you, Dorgan? I thought you were taking care of the gargoyles?"

"Hey, I haven't got eyes in the back of my head, lady! Where were your almighty powers? Didn't you pick up the fact that there were others around from their minds?"

"Me? Touch minds with them?" A woman's voice. "Don't be vulgar."

"Oh yeah. I forget. You're the one who doesn't like to get your hands dirty."

"Don't mock what you know nothing of, Dorgan."

"Whatever." There came the sound of footsteps, of a bolt being pulled back and a door opened. "Mouth off to someone else, Marie. I don't want to hear it. I have a job to do." There then came the sound of a door being closed and bolted again.

"Idiot." There came the sound of heeled shoes pacing the floor. "What did we lose?"

A third voice. "The mother."

A hiss of frustration. "We need a replacement. I'll go out tomorrow night and..."

"Why?"

The pacing stopped. "What do you mean?"

"Why go out tomorrow night for a replacement when we have one right here?"

There was a pause. "The gargoyle?"

Chaz's eyes snapped open.

"What do you say young one?"

Chaz lifted his head off the floor and looked in the direction of the voice. There, a few feet away, stood the robed figure. But there, slightly to his left, lay the unconscious form of his mother. He turned away from the figure and went to his mother and cradled her head in his lap.

"Look at me."

Against his will Chaz lifted his head and stared at the figure. "You're not going to hurt my mom any more!"

"Oh we wouldn't dream of doing that." The figure pulled back his hood and looked down at Chaz. "Do you know what I am?"

"You look like a gargoyle but you're not." Chaz said, noting the brow ridges, pointed ears and pale skin of the figure.

He laughed. "Trust a child to point out the obvious truth. I am what I am. There are none like me."

Chaz wrapped his wings around Silver, trying as best he could to shield her from the eyes of this creature. "I don't care. Let us go or my clan will make you sorry."

"Oh my dear child, I'm sure that in time it will be your clan who are the sorry ones. You could have been left alone, but you had to go interfere." The figure took a step forward, halting as he reached the edge of the circle Chaz, his mother and the green gargess lay in. "And now you have to pay. You see, we needed that soul and you, child, had to go and set it free."

Chaz frowned. He didn't understand what this creature was talking about, but the tone of his voice and the predatory look of the woman standing next to him sent shivers down his spine. Every movement, every word these two made spoke of a danger to his mother, this other gargoyle, and himself.

"And so we need a replacement," the figure smiled. "And since it was you who freed the human soul, it should be you...or your mother, who pays the price."

"No!"

"Oh yes."

"Didn't your mother teach you about taking responsibility for your actions child?" the woman asked.

"You're not taking my mother away from me!"

"Perhaps we can find a buyer for your soul too, child. I wonder what price it would bring?" 

Chaz backed away from them , trying his best to keep his mother away from these two. Where was Llewelyn? Where was the other female? Why wasn't anyone helping him?

"You can scream and cry if you wish child," said the figure, as if reading Chaz's thoughts. "No one is coming." He turned to the woman. "Do you want to do this now or wait till tomorrow?"

"Now," the woman said. "We don't have the time to waste."

The figure nodded. "Very well then..." he trailed off, his attention becoming focused on the double wooden doors. He frowned, "What the-?"

Chaz turned to see what the figure was looking at, and his heart soared at the sight of smoke curling up from across the surface of the door. Seconds later it burst into flames.

"Llewelyn!" Chaz cried in joy at the sight of the figure that stood on the other side of the burning wreckage.

"Chaz?" Llewelyn walked forward, the flames around her parting to allow her passage. "I thought I told you to..."

"You've got to stop them! They want to take Moms soul from her!"

"They what?" her eyes widened before they glowed red in anger and she turned her full attention to the two figures outside the circle. "Who are you?"

Marie ignored her. "Where the hell is Dorgan?" she screamed at the robed figure. 

"He's otherwise engaged," said a voice from behind Llewelyn. 

Chaz watched in surprise as the horned gargess winced and then stood aside to allow the grey female into the room. Around them the flames from the burning door began to ignite other objects around them.

The grey female smiled and folded her arms "Say, it's getting a bit toasty in here, isn't it? I expect you'll be wanting to move along now."

"Two against two. I'd say the odds are against you," Llewelyn said, moving further into the room.

Marie, in response, took two steps backwards. "What do you mean? You can't possibly think that..."

In answer, Llewelyn's eyes glowed red and she lifted her right arm and made a throwing motion. In response, flames leapt from the doorway and raced towards Marie. Moments before they impacted on her, the flames split apart and ignited the heavy drapes behind her.

"Believe me, I'm thinking of that and a whole lot more besides. I don't know what you're doing here. All I know is it's evil. It has to be stopped. And you," she said raising her arm and pointing a finger at Marie, "have to let my clanmates go."

"I will not!" Marie screamed at her. "Do you have any idea who you are dealing with? Do you think your limited pyrotechnic abilities have any effect on me?"

"They may not, Marie, dear," spoke the robed figure. "But they will have an effect on our merchandise." He held out a metallic looking box. "We should cut our losses.  They," he said, indicating the gargoyles with a tilt of his head, "will keep."

Maries eyes narrowed and glowed green, the glow spreading until it encompassed her entire body. "Fine," she snarled, and turned to the figure and in a blinding flash of light they both vanished.

"Llewelyn!" Chaz's panicked cry brought the halfling's attention back to the real reason she had come here, the real reason why she had accepted the vampire's help.

Her clan.

"We can't get out of the circle! There some sort of barrier around the edge!"

"The kid is right," said Ansalong as she placed her hand against the 'barrier' that Chaz spoke of. "You might want to put the fire out now, otherwise we all get barbequed. You think you can handle an entire building on fire?"

"I don't need to," said Llewelyn as she crouched down at the edge of the circle. "I think this barrier is created by these symbols," she pointed to one of the marks on the floor. "Remove them and you get a door out of there."

"Well hurry and do it then! Jeeze, you'd sit there giving us an explanation while the whole place burns down around our ears!"

"Done," Llewelyn said as she wiped away the markings.  "And besides, what fire were you talking about?"?

"Oh so now you're blind," said Ansalong, ignoring the snickering that came from Chaz.

"Most of the fire here is an illusion," Llewelyn said, snapping her fingers, and immediately in response many of the flames that danced around the room vanished. The ones that remained, burning in the doorway, were easily subdued and extinguished. "Did you actually think I'd burn this place down with us standing inside it? Now," she said as she entered the circle and embraced Chaz. "Lets get out of here before they work out it's all an illusion." She then picked up Silver as Ansalong crossed the boundary of the circle and picked up Gigi. Without another word, Llewelyn used her powers one final time that night; transporting the small group out of the hotel. 

******

An hour later, the small band of gargoyles had made their way across New Orleans to the place Ansalong and Gigi used as their meeting spot. Llewelyn was close to exhaustion, but  she refused to rest; refused to let her guard down around Ansalong for even a moment.

"You still aren't going to trust me, are you?"

"No."

"Probably a good thing," Ansalong replied as she stood and helped a groggy Gigi to her feet. "Look, it's been interesting and all, but she really needs to have something to drink before the night is over."

"Bye then."

Ansalong shrugged, turning her back on the small band as she helped Gigi walk to the edge of the roof. She would have left without another word if it wasn't for one simple request.

"Wait."

Ansalong turned and discovered that the owner of the voice was the crowned gargess she had helped.

"This had better be quick. There's not much time before the sun comes up."

"I just wanted to thank you for helping Llewelyn rescue my son and I."

Ansalong shrugged. "I was there for Gigi.  You don't know how hard it is to find a good hunting partner in this city."

"And now that those people know you are here, how easy do you think 'hunting and surviving' will be for you?"

"She has a point there, Ans," spoke Gigi weakly. "True, she did mess up my escape and get us into this predicament in the fist place, but she does have a point."

Silver scowled. It would be so easy to rise to the comment--to get in a full scale argument--but she didn't have the energy or the time for that. "We are returning to our clan in Pennsylvania. Perhaps you would consider travelling with us that far. After that you can go your own way."

Ansalong shook her head. "It's colder there, and I can't stand the cold."

"Oh forget it Silver, I'm sure these creatures would rather stay here and 'face the heat' for tonight's rescue," Llewelyn wittily replied. "We don't need them to travel with us."

Ansalong and Gigi exchanged looks. "On second thought..."

In the pre-dawn light, Llewelyn sank down on the roof and groaned. 

"Wonderful, just wonderful."

******

As the sun sank below the horizon the following evening, from deep beneath the house in a vaulted cellar, five roars greeted the night. Almost immediately they were on the move, heading towards the train station, eyes constantly looking over their shoulders and watching for any sign of pursuit.

There was none.

Just before they reached the station, Ansalong and Gigi disappeared down an alleyway, returning to the small band a few minutes later. No one asked them what they had been doing, but the look of utter disgust on Llewelyn's face made it clear she had a pretty good idea of what they had left behind in that alleyway.

In time they found a train that was heading towards Newbridge, and quickly concealed themselves in one of the goods carriages. Conversation was sparse, the only meaningful discussion taking place in the early part of the journey.

"I can't believe you actually found her,"  Silver said.

"Yeah. It came as a surprise to me too, but then I think luck was completely on our side last night." Llewelyn frowned and glanced at Ansalong and Gigi. "Well, almost completely."

"And she was reunited with her family?"

Llewelyn nodded. "I think so. I kind of left her outside a police station, that's why I was a bit late coming to your rescue." She gave Silver an apologetic smile.

"Yeah Mom, you should have seen her! Just like in an action movie!"

"And was she ok?"

"Hmm?"

"The human. Was she unharmed?" Silver asked, thinking of what Chaz had told her regarding the small glass baubles.

"What? Oh that...now that was weird. One moment she's dead to the world, and the next thing she's up and screaming about a room full of monsters and shouting about being trapped." Llewelyn shrugged. "I kind of had to make a quick exit after that."

"So she found herself," Silver smiled. "That's good.

"Found herself?" Llewelyn frowned. "I don't understand what you mean."

"Now there's a surprise," chuckled Ansalong. Llewelyn shot her a dirty look.

"I'm not sure I understand it fully myself, but this is what Chaz told me," Silver said as she drew her son close to her and began to relate her own thoughts on events. As she did so, the train hurtled onwards, returning the members of clan Steelclaw and their new companions towards home and safety.

At least that's what they believed. The truth was a whole different animal.

to be continued....

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