Chapter 14
Her stomach full of nervous fluttering, Demona made her decision. "I accept your tasks; I will become your chosen Ancient One."
"I will not betray your trust in me," the great stag assured her gently.
The stag's intuition dumfounded Demona before she remembered an essential characteristic of the spirit realm, the object of one's emotions felt them. The Irish Elk spirit had known of her fear all along and had done what he could to allay it.
"There are certain preparations I need to make and I need to visit the human bound to you. Return to the others and I will join you when I am ready," the stag said before turning and walking into the forest where he disappeared into the mists that swirled everywhere beyond fifty or so feet.
The gargoyle retraced her steps through the shadowy forest staring musingly into the fog like mist that coalesced into the shadowy reflection of the living world as she walked along. Kendra's words by the stream earlier in the day came back to her and she paused to reflect upon them. Change, everything was in a constant state of change, and right now her life was certainly an example of that. It was unfortunate that she had not met Kendra and gotten kidnapped and dumped in the wilds of Canada weeks ago before her plans with the Assassin had ever been conceived, Demona thought with a sad smile. Given her daughter's last angry words, Angela would see anything Demona told her now as another performance, a lie designed to manipulate her into forgiving her mother. She could only hope that with time Angela would see that she had changed, that her daughter would come to her and ask why and give her a chance to explain about the Archmage and the Weird Sisters and what they had done to her. Demona gave a resigned sigh and started walking towards where she had left the others once again.
"Make the fingers thicker?" Demona heard Rachael say though she could not yet see the camp.
"I'll have to, otherwise there's not room for the claws to sheath like their supposed to," the gargoyle heard her lover say.
Curious as to what they were discussing Demona picked up her pace, only to halt in surprise as soon as she entered the clearing. The Eagle Owl spirit, Rachael and Kendra were all clustered around the shadowy outline of a humanoid figure. Stepping closer she realized what was happening; Kendra was creating a new shapeshifting form.
"Ugg," Kendra complained, "Now the claws work right, but the hands look deformed."
Demona walked up to the group examining the ghostly figure floating in the middle, in many ways it looked like a mutate, but without wings. She could see the figure was based on Kendra's human form, having the same size, shape and musculature, but the skin was black and covered with a fine coat of black fur. The face was a mutate-like cross between a jaguar and Kendra's features, but closer to human than jaguar and reminding her somewhat of the mutate named Maggie. Jaguar ears pricked out through a thick mane of black hair that matched Kendra's hair.
"Demona?" Kendra regarded the blue-skinned gargoyle inquisitively as soon as she saw her.
The flame-haired gargoyle examined the offending hands of the ghostly figure; the fingers definitely looked out of proportion. "Maybe if you increased the body size until the proportions were right?" she suggested.
Kendra turned back to the figure, "that might work," she agreed after considering it for a moment. She looked back at the gargoyle in concern, "you ok?" she asked quietly.
"He offered me the choice of becoming his chosen," Demona responded just as quietly.
Kendra's blue eyes opened wide, her mouth opened and then closed without a sound; it was obvious that she had no idea of the Irish Elk's plans.
Demona began to chuckle, Kendra's reaction was priceless.
Kendra stared for a moment at the laughing flame-haired gargoyle, and then she smiled. "You can stop laughing now," she mock groused, "and tell me whether or not you accepted!"
The gargoyle glanced at the other's present, the Eagle Owl spirit looked…smug she decided. Rachael on the other hand looked as interested in her answer as Kendra did. "I accepted," was as far as she got before Kendra grabbed her about the waist with a loud whoop and swung her around in a wild circle. Demona clutched wildly at Kendra's shoulders, her wings flaring instinctively at the unexpected movement. When Kendra lowered her to the ground, she stared in astonishment at her lover before a smile spread across her face.
"Congratulations and welcome," Rachael wished her with a warm smile.
Welcome, the word stuck in Demona's head, she was becoming one of them, a shaman. The reality of her acceptance hadn't sunk in; at least it hadn't in this way. What were the shamans to each other? Did they know each other? Did they work together?
"Indeed let me add my welcome to my chosen's, and my promise that I will assist you in whatever way I can with the tasks the Ancient One has given you." The Eagle Owl spirit promised. "I strongly suspect that my several of my chosen will also be interested in assisting as well," she added swiveling her head to look at Rachael who was standing beside her.
"Tasks?" Kendra inquired, looking at Demona curiously.
Demona's first reaction was to feel uncomfortable that they had even been mentioned, the tasks after all were her atonement for her past actions. Then she remembered the great stags words, Kendra and Rachael would be eager to help, he had essentially instructed her to seek their assistance. Mastering her reluctance, she shared the two tasks she had agreed to undertake.
"Challenging and interesting," Kendra commented her eyes bright with her enthusiasm, "I'd love to help if you want some. I've been following some technologies that have just come into commercial production the past two years that might be of interest to you when you start converting Nightstone into a more environmentally friendly company."
"I too would be like to be involved if you wouldn't mind Demona," Rachael offered, "I'd have to do it long distance, but I'd be happy to help especially with any researching. I also know of a Work Life Effectiveness consultant that could help you with your second task, her name is Margaret Jackson and she's one of Bison's chosen. We email each other quite regularly as she is a member of the Comanche Nation, and I happen to know she's wanted to visit New York and go to some of the shows on Broadway."
"Work life effectiveness?" asked Demona blankly, she had never even heard of such a field.
"She helps employers develop job benefits that help their employees balance the demands of their personal lives," Rachael paused to frown reprovingly at the gargoyle.
Demona grimaced, she knew she had been scowling at the idea, she preferred her employees to leave their personal lives at home. That, however, obviously wouldn't work anymore, not if she wanted to fulfill her obligations to the Irish Elk spirit. "Such as," she forced herself to ask without growling the words resentfully.
"As I was saying," Rachael continued, "To balance the demands of their personal and work lives while increasing their work efficiency."
That caught Demona's attention, "What types of benefits?" she asked.
"I don't know all of them, it's not my area but I remember her talking about pre-tax child and elder care accounts?" Rachael frowned as she tried to remember the specifics.
Demona nodded to indicate that she understood, she didn't exactly, but pre-tax anything was definitely a benefit.
"Employee discounts at accredited child and elder care providers, programs to encourage telecommuting, and flexible work hours and schedules. Those are just the ones I remember right now from our emails. I know she works with the companies to determine which benefits will increase employee efficiency the most while working within the company's budget." Rachael finished.
The gargoyle frowned; she couldn't immediately see how such benefits would increase employee efficiency.
"I know that flexible work schedules do increase employee efficiency," Kendra commented, "I was in on the discussion at Murton Electronics when they implemented it." Demona, Rachael and the Owl spirit all focused their attention upon the Jaguar's chosen inquiringly.
"Well," Kendra said, "It does take some more overhead by management, but take for example a family with school age children. The children are in school by 8:00 and then get out at 2:30. If both parents work the standard 9 to 5 then they have to either pay for child care or worry about what their kids are up to for the three hours they aren't home to supervise them. With flexible work scheduling, one parent can go to work early and get off early enough to be home in the afternoon when their children are at home. This benefits the company because the employee is no longer at work worrying about their children and calling to check up on them etcetera because they've already worked their eight hours and have headed home to meet the kids at the door. Consequently you have better employee work efficiency when they are at work because work and their duties as a parent are no longer trying to compete for the same slot of time."
That made sense to Demona she had certainly scowled at enough people in the afternoons for being on the phone trying to control their offspring. Before she had felt that those employees only proved her point about humans breeding like vermin when they were not able to care adequately for their children, but right now she felt she was hardly in a position to judge them. After all, unlike her, at least they were trying to keep their children safe and secure. These self-accusatory thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the Irish Elk spirit appeared out of the mists with the shadowy figure of Macbeth following behind him.
Demona wasn't certain what to think, it was obvious Macbeth wasn't really in the spirit realm, at least not in the same way Rachael, Kendra and she were, they were solid here like the spirits. Macbeth was here as the land and forest were here, an image of the living realm, but not actually present.
She could see the scowl on his face grow as soon as he saw her, "Demona," he growled, "Why are you in my dream and what is this about breaking our bond?"
So that was why he appeared to be a shadow image, Demona realized, he was dreaming. "I can only guess that breaking the bond between us requires both of us to be here," she replied coolly as she caped her wings protectively about herself. Macbeth's angry, hateful look was unsettling enough, but the anger, hatred and unexpectedly the hurt she was feeling from him were much more disturbing.
Demona wasn't certain anymore that he had intended to betray her clan. Knowing what she did now, she was willing to consider that perhaps it had been she who reacted too angrily and hastily. Macbeth after all hadn't said he was going to betray them to the English, only that a good king considered every option. Of course, she wasn't as certain anymore about the true causes of anything over the past thousand years, not after learning that the Weird Sisters controlled not only her but also the Canmores. It left her wondering what else over the centuries they had orchestrated to serve their own ends.
The warmth of Kendra's arm around her shoulders was unexpected, but very welcome. She looked over at her lover, expecting to see a reassuring smile only to realize that Kendra was giving Macbeth a narrow-eyed and rather unfriendly stare. "Kendra," she said sadly, "he has reason to hate me, I treated him very badly not that long ago." Sapphire blue eyes turned her way in surprise, "It was after the events on Avalon when our memories were blocked by the weird sisters. It's a long story for another time, but suffice to say he didn't know I turned into a human during the day, and I used that to pretend to be someone I wasn't." Demona's gaze turned back to Macbeth, "And worse I pretended to love him when I did not. It's something I regret doing now, especially since I'm no longer as certain as I was then that you betrayed me." Demona finished, now speaking directly to Macbeth. "I know you may never forgive me, but I am sorry for what happened in Paris."
Macbeth stared at her, an angry and bewildered expression upon his face, "What trickery is this?" he asked.
Demona stared at him for a second in confusion before she realized what must have happened, "No trickery Macbeth, in this place if you feel something about someone they are able feel it as well."
The great stag spirit interrupted before either Macbeth or Demona could say anything else, "Macbeth was not planning on betraying your clan to the English, but neither would you have betrayed him to Canmore if it were not for the interference of the Weird Sisters to ensure that their version of the future came to pass. However, this is not the night to search for the truth of those events; it is time to break the bond that binds you to one another."
"Yes Ancient One," Demona readily agreed, she had heard the promise in the spirit's words, not tonight, but another. Kendra's arm tightened for a moment around her shoulders and then released her, but Demona still felt the warmth of her nearby, she didn't have to turn to know that her lover was standing protectively behind her.
"Wait!" protested Macbeth, "What do you mean those three old witches ensured their version of the future came to pass?"
Demona glanced over at Macbeth, saw the shock and disbelief on his face. Emotions she was certainly familiar with lately, but unlike Macbeth, she had at least had a day or two to get used to the idea that the Weird Sisters had been more active in her past than she had ever imagined. This was the first time he had heard of this, and she remembered how much it had felt like a hard punch to the stomach. "Ancient One," she requested, "when we explore those events may Macbeth come here again as well? He was affected by the Weird Sisters no less than I was, he should know the truth of their actions as well."
The great stag looked from her to Macbeth, "That is so; however, without a connection between you, such as the fey enchantments that bind you to one another, I cannot bring him here."
"Leave enough between us tonight for him to return and then after we are done remove the remaining enchantments?" offered Demona.
The Irish Elk spirit swung his massive head and regarded Macbeth inquiringly, "Is this acceptable to you?"
Macbeth stared at him suspiciously for a few seconds, then his face become indifferent and he shrugged saying, "Very well, it's not like it matters this is just a dream."
The great stag's ears flipped a few times at this statement, but the spirit didn't say anything so Demona stayed silent as well. Macbeth could think whatever he needed to think to rationalize what was happening she reasoned.
"I will leave the bond that allows both of you to feel the other's pain, that will be sufficient to allow me to bring you here tomorrow night, and tonight I will replace the Weird Sisters enchantment that grants you immortality," decided the giant stag.
Remembering how quickly the spirits could deal with fey enchantments Demona concentrated as she had been taught the previous night. Green strands of energy appeared inside Macbeth and the gargoyle watched as an entwined mass of them, much larger than either of the one she had removed last night from herself, separated out from the remainder of the fey enchantments surrounding them. The single lines that bound the mass to Macbeth began to disappear as the stag spirit dissolved them and within a very short time, the entire mass disappeared. Demona glanced quizzically at the remainder of the enchantments within Macbeth's shadowy figure; all of these were required for them to feel each other's pain?
"More enchantments are there than just the ones that transfer their pain between them," Rachael commented knowledgably.
The Eagle Owl spirit bobbed her head in agreement, "Indeed there are," she commented staring intently at Macbeth.
"What are you talking about?" demanded Macbeth irritably, "and what are you looking at?"
Demona felt a grin tug on her lips, at least someone else was the center of attention this time.
"And what are you smiling about," he growled.
"At least no one's commenting about what a smorgasbord of enchantments you have on you and look there's even some they don't recognize," Demona protested.
Rachael looked down at the Eagle Owl spirit standing beside her, "Wise One you didn't," she half protested, half laughed.
"I did apologize," the owl complained ruffling her feathers.
"You did Wise One, I'm just pointing out to Macbeth that it could be much worse," the flame-haired gargoyle explained glibly.
"Enchantments? What enchantments?" Macbeth demanded, scowling.
Seeing and feeling her old allies annoyance, Demona's brief moment of levity fled, "their talking about the fey enchantments still upon you, hopefully tomorrow will help identify exactly when they were placed and what they do. And even if it doesn't you will still be rid of all of them tomorrow night," she reassured him.
He regarded her suspiciously for few seconds, and then abruptly nodded, "Very well then, if that is all…" he hesitated for a second staring up at the giant stag, "Ancient One."
Demona had the feeling he just wanted to escape this increasingly confusing situation, and she couldn't really blame him. She wondered idly for a moment how he would interpret all this in the morning when he woke. The Irish Elk dipped his head and the figure of Macbeth dissipated and drifted away like smoke upon the wind. Demona stared surprised at where he had stood for a moment longer before returning her attention to the great stag.
"Demona," it was a summons and she stepped forward to stand in front of the Irish Elk spirit. The majestic antlered head rose, and the great stag's gaze shifted from her to behind her, and she got the impression the spirit was surprised. Demona turned around and looked, wondering what was happening that would surprise the spirit.
Kendra was there, her blue eyes warm and proud, and Rachael and the Eagle Owl, but beyond them out of the mists, others were appearing. A great lean bodied wolf, the solidly huge form of a bison, landing among the branches of one of the pines was a keen-eyed eagle; the more she looked the more animals she saw, a fox, a crow, the slender form of a deer. Her gaze was drawn the large black jaguar that padded up beside her lover and sat down regally. The Jaguar spirit's green-eyed gaze examined her and she felt an odd tug of affection for the magnificent cat, it reminded her of Kendra. Her gaze went from the seated cat to the woman standing beside it and met the sapphire gaze, no, as much as she liked the jaguar inside of Kendra, it was definitely the whole woman that was her lover.
A gusty breath through her hair had Demona quickly turning back around to face the Irish Elk spirit. She wasn't quite certain what to think of the audience that was forming, Kendra had never mentioned anything like this happening to her.
"You are the first chosen I have taken, and the first of your race to be chosen," the great stag commented.
Demona stared into the spirits brown eyes; somehow, she hadn't considered that she might be the first gargoyle to be chosen.
"Let us begin," the Irish Elk spirit spoke pulling Demona out of her thoughts. She had a moment to realize that the spirits gaze was focused upon her and then…she was broken into an infinity of pieces and reformed and made whole at the same time…she was a tree and a bird and the land and grass and a deer feeding and an ant following a scent trail home and the swift flow of a stream and the great depths of ocean and the sleek torpedo shape of a shark and she was a gargoyle leaning against the great antlered head of the spirit…she was herself, and yet she was more than she had been only an instant ago.
The only thing preventing her from falling to her knees was the fact that she was leaning so heavily against the stag's head. She stayed there for a few seconds longer reorienting herself after the…Demona was at a loss she had no idea how to even define the experience she had just had, if she didn't know better she would have thought she had a drug-induced hallucination, a very intense one. Finally, she was able to steady herself and pull away from the spirit's support.
"It is done," the great stag sounded rather pleased with himself.
"Demona," Kendra's concerned voice came from immediately behind her, and then a warm body pressed against her back and arms wrapped supportively around her waist. "Are you alright?" she sounded puzzled.
"Yes, I'm fine," Demona assured her, placing her hand on the arms wrapped around her midsection and squeezing them reassuringly, "only not entirely certain what just happened."
"I dissolved all the remaining fey enchantments upon you, linked your life energy to mine to grant you immortality and the power of transformation between a human appearing form and your natural gargoyle form, and attuned you to the energies of nature and life. It was most likely the last that was disorienting to you," the Ancient spirit explained.
Attuned to the energies of life and nature, Demona remembered the strange confusing sensations of being other life forms and even more bewilderingly of being water and land. She remembered the moment when she knew she had been broken and remade as more, now she knew what the more was or at least she thought she did. For a brief moment she felt a bit outraged that the spirit had done this to her without explaining beforehand exactly what the brief comment about giving her the ability to do nature magic meant, then she remembered that whenever she chose she could back out of this agreement and be returned to normal. Something inside her rebelled at the thought, she didn't know exactly what being attuned to nature and life energies meant, but she already knew didn't want to give up whatever it was she had gained.
"Jaguar's chosen," the Irish Elk requested, "Would demonstrate transforming to my chosen?"
"Certainly," Kendra agreed, she briefly squeezed the trim muscular waist her arms were wrapped around before releasing the flame-haired gargoyle. Glancing around she noticed that the assembly of spirits had departed as quickly as they had arrived except for the Jaguar spirit who was sauntering over to look at the half-completed form she had been working on when Demona had returned. "Alright," Kendra paused to order her thoughts and decide exactly how to proceed. "Examine the human and jaguar spirits inside of me; see how the jaguar form is enclosed within the human form right now." Kendra waited as the gargoyle studied her intently for a full minute before Demona nodded her head. "Now watch as I transform," Kendra instructed.
Demona concentrated on watching how Kendra managed the transformation, her lover had told her about this, but watching was much more instructive than any verbal description could be. Kendra pushed the Jaguar form out over her human form and then matched herself to the image. No wonder she always looked over herself to make sure she had made no mistakes, Demona thought as she examined Kendra's jaguar form and saw how now the human form now rested inside of the jaguar. "I believe I understand how you are transforming, it doesn't appear to be that difficult." At least Demona hoped it was as easy as it seemed to be.
Kendra insisted on transforming back and forth a few more times to make sure Demona understood completely before she decided it was finally the gargoyle's turn.
Demona could see within herself the form of her human persona Dominique Destine currently enclosed inside her true gargoyle form. She struggled with the two forms using what Kendra had done for a reference and finally managed to pull her human form out and over her gargoyle form. Once she did so she realized that she had done it, there was no need to hold onto the mental image she had successfully managed the transformation she now appeared human.
Kendra smiled, "You did it, congratulations, now to just master the process."
"Very nicely done, you learned how quicker than I did," Rachael added her complements.
Demona nodded, a smile of pleasure at her accomplishment and praise on her lips, and concentrated on moving back and forth from human to gargoyle, verifying that she had everything correct after each change. She transformed one last time from human to gargoyle and looked inquiringly at the black-haired woman.
Kendra nodded, "You have it. When we get back to the living world you should transform back and forth at least once to make sure there you don't have any problems with the actual process."
"Alright," Demona agreed, wondering how painful the process was going to be. Recalling Kendra's transformations she guessed that there would be little to none going from human to gargoyle and then some pain going from gargoyle to human.
"Chosen," the great stag spoke.
"Ancient One," the gargoyle turned around and looked at the spirit inquiringly.
"There is still time tonight for you to have your first lesson in nature magic. Let us move away from the others so that they may concentrate on the form the young jaguar is building," the Irish Elk suggested. He strode away from the others and Demona followed, they did not go far just far enough for Kendra and the others to disappear in the mists.
The stag stopped and turned to face the gargoyle with surprising grace for his size, "Everything upon this planet possesses nature energy, even those made by man because they too are made from natural materials. The energy that grants you, the young Jaguar and Owl's chosen immortality and the ability to change forms is nature magic. Your first lesson tonight will be in how to see this type of magic."
A short time later, Demona was examining what had replaced the Weird Sister's enchantments. The first thing she noticed was that nature magic was colored differently, fey magic was almost florescent green in color. Nature magic was golden with motes of forest green, brown and stone grey dancing through it. The next thing she noticed was how different the spirit's enchantments looked from the previous ones. The Weird Sisters enchantments had looked just as they were -constricting, immobilizing, almost like parasitic vines wrapped around her. The stag's enchantments looked completely different; the lines of the magic were open, branching reaching outward and upward.
"Life magic flows through every living thing, from the simplest to the largest and is a closely related to nature magic," the Irish Elk continued, "To see life magic specifically you must shift your focus so…"
In a moment Demona was staring at herself in wonder, she had noticed almost a haze of energy around herself when she had been looking at nature energies, now it was as if that haze had been cleared away. Life magic was brilliantly golden, like a beam of sunlight, with motes of a deeper gold color and the same forest green motes she had noticed in nature magic dancing and swirling through it. There was so much of it, lines and lines of it, all interconnected and branching. The only thing remotely like what she was currently seeing was a picture in an anatomy book showing the blood vessels and veins in the human body.
"You can study life and nature magic for a thousand years and still not know but a fraction of all there is to know about it. I have studied both for over a hundred thousand years and I still have much to learn," the stag spirit commented to her. "Now for the last lesson, examine one of the trees around us, these are but shadows of the living realm, however, if you concentrate upon one of them you will be able to see its life energy."
Demona turned to the nearest pine tree, focusing on the shadowy outline of it, concentrating on seeing the life energy within. She started back for a moment when it the trunk in front of her seemingly burst into brilliant lines of energy. Her eyes followed the thick bands of energy upward, looked in awe as they branched out along every branch, every twig, every needle. She stared for a moment at the tree's crown lit in fine lines of brilliant gold, then looked down at the ground. She could see the trees root structure outlined by the life energy in each root, from the thick roots that anchored the tree to the earth to the finest feeder roots.
"Demona," the stag's voice cut through her fascination with what she was seeing, and she had the impression that perhaps the spirit had tried to get her attention more than once. "It is time for you to leave this realm."
She did feel tired and hungry, Demona realized with surprise, she had been so interested in what she was seeing that she hadn't realized. They returned to the clearing, the Owl and Jaguar spirits along with Kendra and Rachael were still clustered around the were-jaguar form Kendra was making. Demona noticed that the figure was now taller and bulkier than Kendra's human form, and that the fingers and hands were now properly proportioned in relation to the rest of the body. Everyone turned at their entrance and Demona got the distinct impression that they had been waiting for them to return.
Kendra and the Jaguar spirit exchanged a long silent glance before the black-haired woman nodded and reached out and touched the were-jaguar form. The form wavered and flowed into Kendra, "Thank you," she said to the Jaguar spirit.
"You are welcome my chosen," the Jaguar spirit replied.
The three women glanced at each other, it wasn't necessary to say anything they were all feeling the strain of too much time spent out of their bodies. In the next instant Demona was back in her body sitting next to Kendra with a sleeping bag wrapped around them both. Rachael was across the fire from then, wrapped within her own sleeping bag, the older Cree woman rose and checked the cooking pot resting by the fire, which had the leftover stew in it, that they had left warming for now. Demona forced herself out of the warm cocoon, rising and going to assist Rachael in putting together a simple meal for them.
A warm bowl of stew and a thick slice of bread improved the three women's energy levels and mood immensely.
"Are you feeling up to changing?" Kendra asked.
"Now I am," Demona commented, she was glad Rachael had thought of making enough stew for two full meals tonight. The gargoyle made a mental note to remember how draining it was to go into the spirit realm for any length of time; once Rachael left, she would need to make sure they had a meal ready for afterward. The gargoyle closed her eyes and relaxed into the trance like state that Kendra had taught her and imagined her gargoyle form shrinking until her human form covered it then willed herself to match the image of her human form. The pain of the transformation was far less than what she was used to from Puck's spell and when Demona opened her eyes she glanced at herself. She had succeeded she was in her human form. She immediately began shivering as the night was very cold and she was wearing her gargoyle clothing.
"Very good, and very quick too," Kendra noted approvingly.
"Very cold," Demona complained, she hated this aspect of being human, she didn't notice it so much in New York, but here, with it being so much further north she definitely noticed the cold when she was human. She hurriedly examined herself to verify that everything was in the right place and without waiting closed her eyes and focused on transforming back into her true form. She was right; the transformation in from human to gargoyle didn't hurt at all, Demona thought, as she shook out her wings and verified that she had the proper gargoyle parts.
As soon as she settled back underneath the sleeping bag with Kendra, Rachael pulled out the bottle of scotch and three small glasses. She poured out three shots worth, and then passed the glasses around. "To our newest and first gargoyle shaman," Rachael proposed her toast.
"To our newest and first gargoyle shaman," Kendra seconded, raising her shot glass in Demona's direction.
The gargoyle raised her own glass to them, taking a moment to admire the amber color of the scotch before taking a sip and letting the smooth fiery liquid burn down her throat.
After recovering from the fiery burn of the amber liquid, Kendra stared into her glass meditatively searching for the right words. Finally, she raised her head and looked at Demona, "The last few days have brought about many changes in your life. May you look back in the years ahead and be as thankful for them as I have been with mine."
"Indeed," Rachael agreed softly. She looked across the fire at the flame-haired gargoyle, "May you be as thankful for them as I have been with mine."
Demona felt her throat tighten with emotion; she knew both Kendra and Rachael would not trade their shamanism and their relationship with their respective spirits for anything. Thinking back to earlier in the evening when she had become the Ancient One's chosen and what he had shown her afterward she replied, "I believe I shall."
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Macbeth splashed cold water on his face and stared into the mirror bleary eyed. Usually he didn't remember his dreams and he was thankful for that, but the strange dream he had last night was stubbornly remaining in his memory. Every detail of the dream was as sharp and fresh in his memory as his memory of waking up fifteen minutes ago. The gigantic stag had come to him and asked if he wanted to be free of his bond with Demona, he hadn't even needed to think about it before vehemently agreeing. They had traveled through mists to arrive in a forest clearing; he remembered how odd everything had looked, as if he were seeing shadowy images.
Demona had been there, along with the woman he had seen on the television reports of the kidnapping, Kendra Canmore. There had been another woman there and beside her had been a Eurasian Eagle Owl. He remembered glaring at Demona, and he remembered Kendra Canmore stepping up behind her and unmistakably giving him a clear warning look that promised painful retribution if he did anything against the gargoyle. Then, as if the idea of a Canmore protecting Demona wasn't shocking enough, the gargoyle had apologized to him for her deception in Paris. Apologized and meant it, he could still remember the sorrow, the regret, and shame he had felt from her.
"Impossible," he growled to his reflection in the mirror, Demona hadn't changed in a thousand years why would she change now.
Still…he thought uneasily about what the stag had said that tonight he and Demona would learn about what the three old witches had done to ensure that their vision of the future came to pass. He remembered their words on that day when he had saved Duncan. He had rejected their prophecy promising Duncan that he had no wish to become King, but he could see that his cousin didn't believe him. And then everything had come to pass as the three old witches had prophesied, he had been King after Duncan and then his son for a tragically short time before Canmore had killed Luach to become King after him.
"I'm no longer as certain as I was then that you betrayed me," Demona had said to him, what was it that she suspected, why had she negotiated for him to come again tonight, and who was the stag to her that she spoke to him with such respect.
"Damn it," he complained to his reflection, "I'm acting as if talking giant stags are real, it was just a dream is all."
Still he felt uneasy as he turned toward the shower to begin his day.
Continued...