Chapter 15
Dominique reluctantly stirred from her sleep not wanting to leave her dream, only to realize that the light teasing touches were wonderfully real. She moaned and spread her legs wider, offering herself to Kendra's touch. "Shh," her lover whispered, even as she slid her fingers home into the tight warm welcoming depths. Warm lips covered the redhead's and swallowed the sighing groan this action elicited. "We don't want to wake Rachael."
Rachael, Dominique's mind struggled for a moment before remembering the Cree woman in the tent on the other side of the fire from theirs. The redhead stifled she moan rising from her throat as her hips arched up to meet the fingers stroking so deeply inside of her. She opened her eyes and looked up into the wickedly smiling face of her lover. Kendra's fingers began doing truly wonderful things as they teased, touched and stroked. "Evil woman," she hissed quietly knowing that the black haired woman was not going to make remaining quiet easy for her.
Kendra leaned closer, nipped at her ear, "Would you want it any other way?" she whispered huskily, sending shivers down Dominique's spine.
Even as she arched into the tenderly tormenting touch and bit on her own lips to keep quiet, Dominique knew the answer to that question, no, she wouldn't want it any other way. Somehow having to remain quiet seemed to make the sensations all the more intense and it wasn't long before the redhead reached the pinnacle of her release with Kendra's lips upon hers swallowing up her pleasured cries as she clutched desperately at her lover.
Her heart rate was still slowing down and her breathing evening out when Kendra moved to hover above her, "bend your leg please," she whispered.
Curious Dominique did as she requested, when Kendra pressed against her thigh and began rocking steadily against it the redhead was tempted to let her continue. After all certain things were within easy reach and looking up into her lovers beautiful face so marked with pleasure as she moved against her was certainly enjoyable. However, there was really no reason for her to deprive herself of one of her favorite experiences and certainly no reason for Kendra to get off, literally, so lightly this morning.
With an amused smirk, she ignored her lover's soft protest as she straightened her leg, "Shh, don't wake Rachael," she whispered as she scooted further down into the sleeping bag. Like dangling ripe fruit, she thought looking up at the dusky skinned breasts, and who was she to resist such temptation, Dominique thought to herself as she pulled Kendra down closer and took one into her mouth. She heard her lover's stifled moan with satisfaction.
A few moments later she pulled away long enough to whisper, "Do you know what I like best about touching you?"
"No?" Kendra whispered back after a second when it became clear the redhead would not continue until she answered.
"Here," Dominique whispered, she ran her hand down her lovers back and around and then down and in between her thighs. Her lover whimpered in response and the redhead smiled in satisfaction, "You feel so soft, so tender here. Hmm…and so very wet for me, I love touching you, running my fingers over you," she kept her whisper barely audible knowing that Kendra's hearing meant that her lover could still hear her, "feeling how sensitive you are." Kendra arched and shuddered in pleasure, "Yes, especially when I touch you there," Dominique whispered letting her fingers circle and tease mercilessly for a long moment, enjoying the way Kendra twitched and shuddered in response to her every touch.
"But as much as I like touching you here though there is one other place I enjoy exploring more," the redhead felt a surge of carnal satisfaction at her lovers bit off cry. "So warm, so yielding to me, and once I'm inside how you clench around fingers as if to resist my leaving." Kendra whimpered above her, "I can't resist doing it over," her actions suited her words, "and over again just to feel how you yield to me so welcomingly and then try to keep me inside you." She could hear Kendra's harsh breathing as her lover attempted to remain quiet as she arched to meet every movement of the redhead's hand. "Sometimes I accept the invitation and stay to explore awhile, as there are such interesting places to occupy my attention," Kendra shuddered and ground herself against Dominique's hand as the redhead's fingers found and caressed a particularly sensitive spot inside her.
"Goddess," Kendra hissed, her lovers whispered words weaving a spell of arousal around her. Kendra hadn't doubted that the redhead enjoyed making love to her, but she hadn't been sure if Demona would have enjoyed it more if she had been male like the rest of the gargoyles past lovers. Her lover's whispered words, however, made it quite clear that Demona was taking pleasure in the fact that she was a woman.
Dominique fell silent as she concentrated on driving her lover over the edge and to completion; she could feel Kendra was close from the way her lover's body was reacting to her touch. She occupied her mouth with what she had been enjoying earlier, lightly nipping and suckling at the dusky swells swaying so temptingly above her. It wasn't long before Dominique was holding Kendra tightly as her lover silently screamed in a long exhale and shuddered in release above her. The black-haired woman collapsed on top of her briefly, before they rolled over to rest side by side. Their lips met, the kisses tender, slow and loving as they entwined together, basking in their closeness and the sensations following their lovemaking.
Dominique rested her head against Kendra's chest listening to the steady beat of her lover's heart. She felt comfortable and relaxed in the warm cocoon of the sleeping bag they shared and was in no immediate hurry to leave it for the chill of the Canadian winter outside their tent. Kendra was both feminine softness and curves, and lithely muscled thighs and arms and very comfortable and soothing to lie against and be held by.
"Are you two ready for breakfast yet?" Rachael's amused voice outside the tent startled both of them out of their comfortable doze.
Kendra stretched, "Sure," she acknowledged the Cree woman. She squeezed the redhead in her arms and brushed a kiss across her forehead. "Do you want to shower first?" she asked Dominique.
Thirty minutes later, they had both showered and were sitting down by the fire. Kendra was slightly embarrassed to learn that they were having the fish Rachael had caught earlier in the morning. Either the Cree woman had actually wanted fish for breakfast or they needed to work on being quieter.
"I need to leave soon," Rachael announced after they finished cleaning up from breakfast, "it's about a four hour journey to my house from here and I need to get back before anyone notices I've been gone. I'll leave the trailer here, there's no reason to haul it back and forth and we can hide it in the woods. In four days, I'll be back to get the supplies and pick you two up. My house is back in the woods away from the other tribe members so you can stay there overnight. We'll say I met you two walking in the next morning, and took you in for showers and fresh clothing before calling the tribal police." She looked at the two of them thoughtfully, "You will need to say that you found two sets of survival gear otherwise there's no way that one of you wouldn't have frostbite from being out in this for ten days. Work out what you want to say to the police about your journey, it will be believable for you to have traveled twenty-five miles a day if you walked for ten to eleven hours a day. Your feet might be hard to explain, but hopefully no one will think to notice that you don't have any blisters like you should from walking that far and that long without proper boots and socks."
"So when we are found on the eleventh day no one should be suspicious about how fast we traveled," Dominique commented.
"That's what I was thinking," Rachael confirmed.
"Do you know what the police know about the kidnapping?" Kendra asked quietly, thinking of her cousin and what the Irish Elk had said about the Canmore's being enchanted. She now wanted a chance to see if Jon had fey magic influencing him before deciding what to do about him, maybe if they broke the enchantment he would decide to give up the hunt. She wasn't going to bet on it, but at least he should be given the chance.
"Oh," Rachael sounded embarrassed, "I can't believe I forgot…We haven't talked at all about that have we. The last I heard just before I left was that they had located the kidnapper's plane where it crashed."
"Wow," Kendra remarked, "I'm surprised they found it that quick, how in the world did they even know to look for up there?"
"The news said something about an eyewitness at the airport in New York seeing you being loaded onto a plane," Rachael explained, "The police traced the plane from there to Alma where they transferred you into the plane that crashed. The Mounties had the flight plan the plane filed in Alma and from there it was probably a simple matter to follow it and find the plane. They are flying search and rescue missions for you now, I'm sure their efforts have been concentrated further north, but they will be moving south following the path they expect you to travel. You might want to be careful in the next few days about staying out in the open," she cautioned them.
Dominique asked, "Is there any way you can find out more information before we allow ourselves to be found?"
Kendra added, "We need to know if they suspect Jon and his Quarrymen yet, if they do their going to ask what connection Dominique Destine has to the gargoyles." She grimaced, "Actually we need to make sure the police don't have any idea that Dominique is Demona or even that a gargoyle was involved."
Dominique nodded, "That would not be a good situation to walk into unprepared," she said grimly.
Kendra reassured her, "At least now that will be an easy one to disprove."
The redhead realized with surprise that Kendra was correct; Dominique Destine didn't have to disappear at sunset anymore. If Jon Canmore tried to claim she turned into a gargoyle at night, all she had to do was appear in her human form after sunset.
Rachael commented, "I should be able to get that information for you; I have a friend or two on the tribal police that I can ask about what the Mounties know. In the American side, the FBI is in charge of the investigation. One of Wolf's chosen works for them; I can ask him if they suspect anything. I noticed that Wolf was there when the Ancient One made you his chosen so all of Wolf's chosen should know about you by now just as all of Owl's chosen know."
The Owl's chosen's expression turned even more solemn than before, "Demona there is something you need to consider in the next few days and let me know as soon as you come to a decision."
"What is it?" Dominique asked, concerned about Rachael's manner.
Rachael looked them both in the eye with a very serious expression on her face as if to impress upon them the importance of whatever she was about to say before beginning to speak. "Most of us chose to share very little about our shamanism with others, only perhaps our immediate families. The spirits both do and don't understand our concerns, to them it was only a short while ago when shamans were honored members of the community and such gifts as we have were accepted by our communities in most parts of the world. In the places where they weren't accepted, such as parts of Europe and America, it was easy to stay out of sight or simply pretend to have eccentric religious beliefs. Things have changed though in the past hundred years, it's become much harder in this age of computers and government record-keeping to hide our abilities, and almost all of us fear that our gifts will bring us unwelcome attention if they become known." She paused to take a breath, "As I said the spirits both do and don't understand our fear, so they don't mandate that we keep our shamanism a secret. Currently it is up to each individual chosen how much, and with whom, they share it. That said, no one knows about my shamanism except for the other chosen and I suspect Kendra has also told very few if any people," Rachael looked inquiringly at Kendra.
"Demona was one of the first people I told even a little about it to, and at first that was only because she noticed it when we were sparing. Of course, I didn't know about the chosen then either, I've just learned about all of this myself recently, but I know don't feel very comfortable with people knowing, it just seems safer for me if they don't," Kendra admitted. "I don't want people hounding me to do stuff just because they think I should, and I really don't want the government knowing about my immortality and ability to heal."
"I suspect you probably wouldn't have even approached me if you knew what you do now," Dominique remarked quietly.
Kendra winced, "I'd have thought about it a lot more," she reluctantly admitted.
Rachael turned back to the redhead, "I know there is a rift between you and the rest of your family because of what happened at Wyvern Castle and your actions since then, and that if you told them something about what has happened to you here might help mend that rift. What I need you to consider is how much, or even if you will share with them, because it will affect how safe it is for the other chosen to openly interact with you."
Dominique did not even have a moment to begin to consider the implications of this before Rachael continued, "Kendra brought up an essential point when she mentioned that it would be easy for you to disprove that you're a gargoyle. With the rest of us, unless someone saw us transform or do something that most humans couldn't it is easy to hide our changed nature. With you, the fact that you can walk around as a human at night is going to indicate that something about you has radically changed. And chances are you will need to do that to protect your dual identity."
The Cree woman held up a restraining hand when it looked like Dominique was about to speak, "Let me discuss just one more rather important concern of mine before you respond." She paused a moment until the redhead nodded for her to continue, "I don't know of any other chosen that had the attention of the Fey before becoming chosen. You are immune to any spells they try to place upon you as they did in the past, but you are not immune to their destructive spells and those have the ability to permanently kill you just as we have the ability to permanently kill them."
Kendra straightened, alarmed, "You mean they might try to kill her if they realize she's broken free from their control?"
Rachael looked grim, "I don't know what they might do, and honestly the more I hear about these three Fey the less I like them. They seem to care even less than most Fey about mortals. Given what they did when working with the Archmage just to get their revenge against the Magus, who knows how they will react to Demona breaking free from their control and becoming a shaman?" She stared into the redhead's green eyes, "As I said I don't know how they will react, but my advice is that you learn as much as you can about protecting yourself from fey attacks before they have a chance to learn that you aren't under their control anymore."
Dominique's green eyes narrowed in concern, "What about Kendra? Doesn't she need to learn how to protect herself as well?"
Kendra answered before Rachael could, "Part of what the priestess taught me was how to resist offensive fey spell casting. I just need to practice my martial arts, my defense will be how fast I can dodge their attacks and close with them to kill or knock them out."
Rachael chuckled wryly, "She's a Jaguar. They have pretty much one way of reacting to any threat."
"Kill them," responded Kendra calmly, "or if I don't deem them a threat, subdue them."
Dominique's smirked at her lover, she commented dryly to Rachael, "I gather then that I'll have somewhat of a more complex or at least varied response?"
"Your learning life and nature magic correct?" Rachael asked. When the redhead nodded she said, "You will have several different ways you can react depending on the situation. I don't want to interfere with whatever training plan the Ancient One and Wise One have for you so I won't say any more, but I don't think you will be disappointed with the depth and variety of your options," the Cree woman's eyes twinkled.
Dominique stared at her wondering exactly what she meant. Whatever it was it sounded like there was quite a lot she had to learn about nature and life magic. "At the very least then I need to keep my shamanism a secret until I can protect myself if need be, do you have any idea how long it will take for me to learn what I need to know?" The gargoyle could see that Rachael was giving her question considerable thought; it was at least a full minute or so before she responded.
"I'd guess at least two or three months if you put some serious effort into it every day, but I'd guess with your company, and," she paused to glance at Kendra, "your new relationship that six months would be a more accurate guess and you would just know enough to survive against those three. With Kendra's help, you would be able to drive them off, perhaps even do some serious damage to them."
The redhead took in a deep breath; she didn't want to neglect either Kendra or Nightstone. They were both important to her, "So six months minimum then." Kendra frowned, but before she could protest Dominique said, "No, I'm not spending every moment away from work studying, I want to spend time with you."
Kendra stared at her for a moment frowningly, and then her face softened, "Alright, I don't really want to not see you for two or three months either," she admitted, "even if it might be safer if you concentrated on your magic." She looked over at Rachael, "I think we need to come up with something the clan would believe about how Demona can be Dominique at night just in case it's needed for whatever reason." She turned back to Dominique, her blue eyes warm, "And even if it isn't needed to protect your dual identity, I'd like to take you out to eat at night or to go see a play or out dancing without having to worry about being seen by someone associated with the clan."
Dominique looked at her in surprise; she hadn't considered remaining in her human form at night just to go out and do things. She smiled, the thought of doing them with Kendra was enticing, "I don't know how to dance," she admitted. It had always seemed like too much of a human thing to learn, but if Kendra wanted to dance with her, she would consider learning how.
"I'd love to teach you," Kendra responded sincerely.
"So something that it's believable that the effect is reusable or permanent," Rachael said with a smile at them. "What about a magical artifact?" she suggested.
"Where would we find one?" asked Dominique nonplused, one simply didn't find powerful magical artifacts lying about. She should know she had spent several hundred years looking for them.
Rachael grinned roguishly, "Why we make one of course, after all it doesn't have to actually do anything; it just has to appear as if it can to anyone with the ability to examine it for magical properties."
Kendra chuckled, "We're making a bogus artifact?"
Rachael's eyes danced, "Let me get some stuff together and we can do it the night you stay with me. We'll have Bogus Artifact Making 101."
Dominique stared at them both in bemusement; it hadn't occurred to her that they could just make something that would appear to be a magical artifact. She had wondered how much the chosen interacted with each other, and what Rachael was offering to do was an example of how they helped one another. Did she want to give this up on the chance that the clan, that Angela, would even believe her? She remembered her thoughts earlier that her daughter would not believe anything she claimed right now, especially if what she said sounded like an excuse for her actions. She could either make it more difficult for the chosen to help her with only the slightest chance that Angela would believe her, or she could do what she had decided to do earlier, let her actions speak for themselves that she had changed and wait for her daughter to come to her. She didn't need to reveal the full truth to Angela, she could tell her daughter that she had finally decided to give up her war with humanity and make some changes in her life. Given enough time, and lack of any plans to destroy humanity on her part, and Angela would eventually believe her.
Did she even want to tell the clan? Demona asked herself. She knew her daughter would never keep the truth to herself, if Goliath asked she would tell him and he would tell the others and Maza and then who knew else they would tell. It would make it almost impossible for the other chosen to feel comfortable or safe in being associated with her when she couldn't even say who would end up knowing that she was a shaman.
With that thought the redhead made her decision, "I already know what my answer is; I'm not going to be telling the clan. Angela won't keep such a secret from her father and clan leader even if she did believe me, and he would tell others. So I won't be able to tell her anyway."
"Are you sure? You might be able to rejoin them," Kendra said softly.
Dominique shook her head resolutely, "I don't want to, once Goliath knew the information would be shared with too many other people, I won't put myself, you, or the other chosen at risk like that. Besides, I was having trouble with Goliath's leadership even before the massacre and them being turned into stone for almost a thousand years. After being a clan leader myself and after being alone as many centuries as I have, I won't go back to following Goliath's leadership. I don't believe in the things he does and frankly I think he's a foolish dreamer whose actions are going to get the clan and my daughter killed." Dominique looked sad, "Angela is more Goliath's daughter than she is mine. She is like him in so many ways. She belongs with the clan, and I," she hesitated briefly before continuing, "I don't fit in there if I ever did."
"You've always been different," Kendra commented thoughtfully, "with wanting to learn how to read and do sorcery."
Dominique stared at her for a long moment before answering, "Yes I guess I have, I've always wanted to know more than my rookery brothers and sisters were interested in learning." She didn't mention that it was more the fact that she craved knowledge because she felt it gave her power, and power wasn't something a gargoyle was supposed to desire, that set her more apart from her rookery brothers and sisters than a craving for knowledge. It was one of the reasons that Nightstone Unlimited meant so much to her, her company gave her the power and control she had always craved.
"I was always different from the rest of my tribe as well," Rachael commented, "it was one of the reasons the tribal shaman picked me to teach. He wasn't a chosen, just wise in the way of our lore and the use of herbs to heal, but I never felt understood until the Wise One chose me. Not even the tribal shaman could understand my hunger for knowledge, only the Owl spirit did."
Dominique's eyes went curiously to Kendra wondering if she too shared this characteristic.
Kendra chuckled, but there was little humor in it, "I think every gay person feels different from their peers. You start realizing it when you're young and it only gets stronger as you grow older and realize that you actually are different from them." She took in an unsteady breath, "My father had just died and my mother was handicapped and in constant pain from her spinal cord injury when I realized I was gay. I never told her, I wasn't sure if she would be able to accept it and I didn't want her to worry about me. I always thought she would get better that there would be time for me to tell her, but then she died in her sleep one night."
Without any conscious decision, Dominique pulled her lover into her arms and held her tightly, she knew how it felt to keep secrets from ones clan because you feared their rejection if they knew the truth about you. She could tell this still hurt Kendra deeply, the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not her mother would have accepted or rejected her.
Kendra wrapped her arms around the redhead and held on to her tightly, after a moment she continued, "It would have been so much harder on me if it hadn't been for the dreams and then the Jaguar spirit merging with me. There was an acceptance of who I was...of everything that I was...that I desperately needed at that time."
"I'm sure she would have accepted you, even if it took her some time. A mother's love for their child is not so easily put aside," Rachael said gently.
Kendra took in a deep breath and nodded, "I know, I don't actually think that she would have rejected me. I just wish I knew for certain, that I had told her." She pulled gently away from Dominique with a sigh and glanced up at the sky, "You need to get going don't you?" she said to Rachael.
"Yes I do," Rachael acknowledged. "As soon as I learn anything I'll try and catch up with one of you in the spirit realm to let you know. I'm assuming you will be there every night working on your were-jaguar shape?"
Kendra stared at her bemused for a moment, "I hadn't actually thought about us being able to do that. Yea, I'll be working on it every night probably unless Demona wants me to go with them tonight." She frowned, "Speaking of Macbeth and keeping things secret, how is that going to work? I know he thinks it's a dream right now, but when he learns more tonight what's to keep him from figuring things out."
Dominique stiffened in alarm; she hadn't considered how Macbeth's involvement and knowledge of what was happening might affect whether or not she could keep her new status as a shaman a secret.
"Just ask the Ancient One to obscure his memories so that he doesn't remember enough about last night and tonight to piece it together," Rachael said, "He will remember the important parts: that he and Demona are no longer bound together and what the Weird Sisters did, but he won't remember much of anything else. If he does suspect it's real, he won't remember it in enough detail to know anything other than the fact that some anonymous spirit decided to help Demona and he break free from the Weird Sisters. I've seen this done before; the Ancient One will take care of it if you let him know that's what you want."
Dominique took in a deep breath in relief, she didn't want Macbeth's knowing about their bond being broken to take the decision of whether or not to keep the fact she was a shaman secret away from her. She also didn't want to regret asking the stag to show both of them the truth tonight. She had no interest anymore in fighting with Macbeth, or having to worry about him attacking her. Her old ally knowing the truth would hopefully mean that they could just ignore one another and finally live their own separate lives.
"Alright," Rachael said looking up at the sun, "I really must get going now. Look for me in the spirit realm each night; I'll let you know what I find out as soon as I learn something."
When Rachael left, Kendra gave her a quick hug and heartfelt thanks for everything she had done for them. Dominique certainly didn't give the Cree woman a hug, but the forearm grasp and the warmness of her thanks told their own tale of the gargoyle's changed perception of the Owl's chosen from just a day ago.
No sooner had the sound of Rachael's ATV faded in the distance than Kendra turned to Dominique with an intent gleam in her sapphire blue eyes.
"Kendra," the redhead said reluctantly, she didn't want to do this, the thought of it chilled her and filled her with dread, but she needed, she had to do this. She had to tell Kendra about her past, she couldn't let herself become any closer to the other woman without knowing whether Kendra would reject her once she knew about her past.
"Demona?" the gleam in her eyes faded as Kendra took in the uncertain, fearful expression on the redhead's face.
"I…" Dominique hesitated, for a moment, took in a determined breath, "I need to tell you..." her voice trailed off…wavered before she firmed it by sheer force of will, "I need to tell you about some of the things I've done in the past."
"You don't have to," Kendra assured her gently, "It's in the past before the enchantments were removed…"
Yes I do," interrupted Dominique before Kendra could say anymore. "If I don't I'm certain the clan will tell you about what I've done the first chance one of them gets," she said bitterly, "and I don't want the possibility hanging between us that I did something you can't…" she looked away glassy eyed as she fought her emotions.
"That I can't forgive?" Kendra filled in softly.
Dominique nodded; she couldn't bring herself to say the words. Images of the frozen stone forms of humans on their way home from work from shopping crushed into rubble by her mace filled her mind. Kendra could have easily been one of those humans that night, trapped by her spell, shattered carelessly as she mocked and laughed in pleasure at the damage she was doing. She found it hard to meet her lovers…her human lover's…blue eyes. What would Kendra think of her; could she forgive her for that night?
"Alright," Kendra acquiesced seeing how serious and upset the gargoyle was about this. "Let me put more wood on the fire and we can get out the sleeping bag and sit by it."
Kendra pulled the sleeping bag around herself, it was cold today, but thankfully the sun was shining warmly and the trees kept the wind down. Dominique sat down beside her and pulled the material of the sleeping bag around herself, looking more as if she were shielding herself than seeking to keep warm. The black-haired woman shifted closer until their knees touched, and reached out to take one of the pale hands that played nervously with the fabric of the sleeping bag. She knew Demona had killed people, and probably a large number of people over the centuries. Even if the gargoyle had only killed one a year that would add up to over nine hundred, and only two nights ago Demona had talked about the years she had pursued what she thought was her vengeance against humanity, only to find out it was all the Archmage's revenge. That indicated that the immortal gargoyle had most likely killed more than one human a year so the number was probably much more than nine hundred.
"Demona," the green eyes finally looked up to meet hers, "I know you've killed people, both the guilty and the innocent, and that you've probably killed more than a thousand of them, but the Ancient One accepted you as his chosen. To me that means that whatever you did is forgivable or that he thought you weren't responsible for your actions. I can see your worried that whatever it is you have to tell me will upset me so much that I won't want to be with you, but I really don't think that will be the case. I'm not inclined to question his judgment in this, he didn't find you unforgivable and I just don't see myself having any valid reason to decide any differently."
Dominique could see the sincerity in Kendra's gaze, and it gave her hope. There was one thing however, that she felt needed immediate clarification. She didn't want Kendra thinking she had been on some type of bloodthirsty rampage for nine centuries. "I wouldn't say that I've killed more than a thousand humans though, the battles we fought when I was allied with Macbeth were very small by today's standards, maybe twenty to forty warriors on each side."
Kendra stared at her for a moment, rather surprised; she had expected a higher number given that Demona had claimed she had been at war with humanity for nine hundred years. Apparently the war had been a very low-key one, or the gargoyle hadn't been as interested in it as she made it sound like she was. "Ok, when you said you were seeking your vengeance against humanity I sort of thought it was a bit more…active than your indicating now," she said puzzled.
Dominique grimaced, "That was before I found out I had a daughter and that she had left Avalon and came to Manhattan to be with her father."
"Ah," the one word had wealth of understanding packed in it. Kendra was starting to see why Demona had dusted off and gotten re-interested in her plans for wiping out humanity. It was that scorched earth form of protecting that the gargoyle needed to learn how to control. She stared at the redhead waiting for her to speak, however Dominique didn't seem very eager to begin. "Demona I already know about the virus and I'm obviously willing to forgive you for trying to kill me and every other human, is what you have to tell me so much worse than that?" Kendra decided not to mention her doubts about whether or not the gargoyle's virus would have been effective or not. After all, for all she knew it might have worked.
"I did a spell to turn everyone in Manhattan to stone at night and then I took the mace I took from a hunter and I used it and a laser rifle to smash the humans I found on the streets," Dominique blurted out suddenly.
"A hunter," Kendra said, feeling sick. She dropped her eyes to the ground remembering what the Owl spirit had confirmed last night. Demona had used a mace on humans that one of her ancestors had used to kill gargoyles, used because of the Weird Sister's compulsion.
Dominique realized where her lover's thoughts had gone with alarm, she hadn't told Kendra about this for her to feel guilty about the actions of the Canmore hunters. She leaned forward and placed her hands on her lover's shoulders to get her attention. When the sapphire blue eyes rose and met hers she said, "Kendra you are not responsible for the hunters, you are nothing like them." She paused and grimaced, "and they weren't even completely responsible for their own actions courtesy of those three damned Fey."
"But if it weren't for the hunters you wouldn't hate humans so much," responded Kendra quietly.
The redhead sighed in frustration, she couldn't disagree with the statement, but the hunters hadn't made her cast that spell. She had spent centuries wrongly blaming the humans for everything, for what happened at Wyvern Castle, Macbeth for what happened to her clan at Moray, she wasn't going to do it anymore. "No, probably not," she agreed, "but the humans I killed that night weren't responsible for any gargoyle deaths either, they didn't deserve to die because of my hatred for the hunters."
Kendra could hear the regret in Dominique's voice, there wasn't a lot of empathy there for her victims, but there was regret. "What did the Ancient One say?" she asked, taking for granted that the stag spirit knew about it.
"That he was there following the Weird Sisters around, and that he could not tell what actions were my responsibility and which where theirs," Dominique answered feeling disappointed that Kendra was not giving her own opinion on her actions, but seeking out the stag spirit's.
Kendra frowned suspiciously, why had those Fey been there, how did they benefit from what had happened. Her thoughts halted when she caught a glance of the gargoyles face, Dominique looked as if she were about to cry. "Demona?" she asked, alarmed.
"You can't forgive me can you?" Dominique whispered desolately.
"What?" Kendra responded, dismayed that the redhead had interpreted her question that way. "I asked because I wanted to know if his opinion mirrored mine."
Dominique looked at her hopefully and Kendra was upset to see the fragileness in those green eyes, "I won't say that I can forget about what you did, the death of innocents is never something that should be forgotten. However, knowing about the enchantments on you and my ancestors, and understanding their and your history, I can forgive you for what you did if you promise never to do anything like that again," the words were stern, but the tone and look in Kendra's blue eyes were not, they were caring and understanding.
"I won't," Dominique promised, acutely relieved. It was an easy promise for to make, after all she had already promised as much to the Ancient One.
"I know," Kendra replied gently, "Come here," she invited the redhead with open arms.
Dominique immediately went into them, and resting her head against Kendra's shoulder enjoying the warmth of the strong arms holding her. She was feeling almost euphoric about Kendra having forgiven her. That night had been the one thing from her past that she felt the clan could try to use to persuade Kendra to leave her. There were still more things she needed to tell Kendra about, but that had been the one she had truly been frightened that the black-haired woman might not be able to forgive.
Kendra always enjoyed holding Dominique, but she was worried about the insecure way the redhead was still acting. "Demona I wish you wouldn't worry so much about this. I'm more interested in what you are doing now and what you will do in the future than in anything that you did in the past." She hugged the redhead in her arms, "You're already such a different person than the prickly, hostile woman I met that first day. I suspect you were already changing when I first met you, and it's only accelerated now that your free from the enchantments those three Fey put on you."
Dominique considered her lover's words, "Have I really changed that much already?" she asked uncertainly, not sure how she felt about the possibility.
"Yes you have," Kendra said gently stroking the long, fiery-red hair, "Is it really so surprising considering what you've found out about your past and what's happened in the past few days?"
Dominique lifted her head to look musingly at her lover as she considered the question, "Perhaps not. I'm no longer just a puppet for the Weird Sisters to pull the strings and make me act according to their whim. And now I know the hunters were just their puppets as well."
The two of them fell silent, Kendra stroking Dominique's red hair and the gargoyle allowing herself to relax and enjoy the attention. Eventually Kendra asked, "What did you mean by the clan would take the first opportunity to tell me about your past?"
The redhead grimaced, "I know that Elisa Maza or Goliath will seek you out once we return to New York and try and persuade you to have nothing to do with me. They will tell you about all the horrible things I've done, and that I'm manipulating you and only keeping you around because I have some use for you. They'll probably warn you that once I have no use for you I might kill you."
Kendra smirked, "Well you do have a use for me, so I guess I'll just have to make sure you don't get tired of me."
Dominique chuckled, "I doubt they will even consider that, as far as I know there's never been a gay gargoyle. It won't ever cross their minds that it's a possibility. I didn't even know that such a thing existed at all until I happened to see two human female's with each other one night."
"I guess any gays would be pretty well closeted back then if they dared act on their feelings at all," Kendra said, "but surely after three years in New York City they must have come across the concept by now."
"Probably," Dominique allowed, "but they still won't consider it, after all you're a human and I'm supposed to hate humans, and you're a Canmore as well."
Kendra shook her head, "Wouldn't they get the idea thought that you don't hate me after we both return to New York alive and well?"
The redhead sighed, "They'll probably just wonder what scheme I'm planning that I'm keeping you alive and around for."
Kendra looked down at the redhead in her lap in disbelief, "Why would they be so determined to think the absolute worst of you?"
Dominique sat up, "I guess I'd better tell you the rest," she said reluctantly.
Continued...