Chapter 2
Kendra paid her bill and wandered out of the restaurant, glancing at a newspaper stand idly as she walked by. The headline had her stopping abruptly in front of it, "Quarryman rally". She pulled out some change and bought the paper curious to see what her cousin was up to now. He was going by the name of John Castaway, she noted reading the article, and he would be at the Quarrymen rally that was taking place in two hours at Central Park. Kendra made a quick decision; she would go watch the rally. Chances were she would be able to talk to Jon and perhaps get some more information about the gargoyles from him.
She returned to her apartment and changed into her bike outfit, which consisted of thick insulated and armored black leather pants, a black turtleneck, black leather armored jacket, and black leather boots. Braiding her hair so that it would fit neatly into her helmet, she went down to the small garage area; besides the Jaguar, she had two Aprilia motorbikes stored here. They were the same models that she had at the estate because she didn't like riding motorbikes between her two residences in the winter. She decided would ride the RSV Mille tonight; it was a single seated sports bike, the other Aprilia, a Futura model, was more of a touring bike and had two seats. She admired for a moment the angular aggressive lines of both bikes; they looked like something Batman would ride, with a triangular body design that made for a very unique look.
She removed her helmet and after checking to make sure the radio was working, started an Enigma CD. She started up the bike and headed out the garage toward Central Park. It was not hard to spot the rally when she got there. She found a spot to park her bike under a street lamp and engaged the bike's anti-theft system then proceeded on foot to a spot that she could overlook and overhear the rally.
Her cousin was there shouting out about how the gargoyles were stealing children, how they were threats to decent humans everywhere. Kendra's eyes narrowed in anger, and she shook her head at the old tired routine, witches, Jews, homosexuals and now gargoyles. The same old lies were trotted out as justification for every round of discrimination and violence against each new target. It was sad that Jon couldn't come up with anything new and original. Then she caught the new twist to the baby stealing, the gargoyles were going to turn human babies into gargoyles. She was puzzled about why he would make such a statement, but had to give him points for pseudo originality though the same accusations had pretty much been made against gays for years. Unless he was implying they would be turned into were-gargoyles. That actually sounded rather interesting to her, it would be cool to have wings and be able to fly.
Jon finally wound down and she worked her way over toward him and took off her bike helmet. He immediately recognized her and with a shocked and hopeful look and shook off his admirers long enough to come over and ask her what she was doing in Manhattan.
"I came to see Jason, I read about this meeting and decided to see what you were up to," Kendra replied with studied casualness. She wanted him to think she was only slightly interested in what he had to say, in the past that had always incited him to try and get her interested in what he was doing. Just as she had hoped, Jon started talking excitedly about his plans to exterminate the gargoyles once and for all, and about how he thought that Xantos was protecting several of the demons. She nodded focusing more on what he was saying and letting more of her interest show, encouraging him to continue talking.
When he finally seemed to be winding down she asked in a low tone, "I want more information about this Demona that Jason mentioned, could you send me an email with what you have?" she asked Jon with a smile. He agreed readily and asked her if she had changed her mind after hearing the Demons plans. Kendra shrugged carelessly, "Let's say I'm interested in finding out more about these gargoyles, I'll decide if I'm interested in your hunt after getting more information about this Demona."
Jon looked pleased, apparently certain that the information would persuade her to join his cause.
After excusing herself, Kendra backed away, letting the Quarrymen nearby regain her cousin's attention. She walked toward the park entrance noticing as she did so that Detective Elisa Maza was standing there with a few other officers watching the rally and watching her in particular. Kendra had already decided that she had no chance with Elisa the woman was definitely straight. Still, there was no reason she couldn't tease the woman some more since Detective Maza's attention she so obviously focused on her at the moment.
She smirked and made her way over toward the Elisa, "Fancy meeting you here Detective, checking up on my cousin as well I see."
Elisa stared at her with searching intentness, "Is that what you are doing? Checking up on him?" she asked.
Kendra smiled at the woman smugly, "Jon likes talk, what he talks about I find interesting." She turned and looked over her shoulder at the remaining Quarrymen for a few moments before looking back to the Detective. She added as if it were an afterthought, "I suspect you know more about these gargoyles than you let on as well." Kendra paused for a moment to let the other woman's tension increase before continuing to tease her, "You tense up just slightly whenever they are mentioned. You need to work on concealing your emotions better if you are trying to hide something." With that, she smirked at the now glaring Elisa Maza and sauntered off towards the lake.
Baiting the Detective was going to be lots of fun, the woman actually had very good control over her emotions, if it weren't for Kendra's jaguar senses she would never have noticed the slight reactions. Elisa was probably nervous now about how much Kendra knew, and what exactly she was up to. Kendra found it amusing to think of how focused the detective was on her, even if there wasn't a chance of Elisa being interested in her in the way Kendra would appreciate.
Kendra waited patiently listening to Elisa and her partner who Elisa called Matt discussed the difficulties the Quarrymen were causing concerning gargoyle - human relations. The two had no idea they were being overheard, Kendra's hearing was very acute even as a human and she was crouched flat along the ground behind a log at least 100 feet away from where they were standing talking together.
Elisa paused and looked around and said in a low voice, "Goliath is really getting depressed about it not being safe for them to patrol, you know how they need to help people. It's been months now and they still can't go out and without fear of being attacked. I know they go out a patrol occasionally anyway, but it's really dangerous for them."
She stopped talking and looked saddened; her partner put a reassuring hand on her arm, "I'm sure the truth about the Quarrymen will be revealed somehow, I don't understand why people believe all these lies."
Bitterly Elisa growled, "Maybe if Demona would stop trying to kill of the human race they would. I can't believe she claims to be trying to save gargoyles when she's single-handily done more to ensure their extinction than anyone else, if it weren't for her these Quarrymen would have never existed."
Matt sighed, "Don't be so bitter around Angela, she's has enough trouble listening to everyone else especially Brooklyn blaming her mother for everything that's wrong."
Elisa nodded, "I try not to, I see how it hurts her, but I wish she would just realize that her mother is truly evil before Demona hurts her even more."
Obviously changing the subject Matt asked, "What's up with Kendra Canmore and the comment she made?"
Elisa sighed, "I think she's just baiting me to get me to react, Jason said something about her enjoying rattling people, and from the way she acted right now and when I saw her earlier in the day it certainly fits." Elisa continued, "He seems pretty certain that she's not interested in the feud at all. She does however; seem to be interested in Demona." Elisa turned toward her partner and dropped her voice further, "She really got interested when Jason told her that Demona was Dominique Destine, seems as if they have had business dealings in the past so Kendra knows of Dominique. What she intends on doing with the information though," the detective shrugged. She glanced at the watch on her wrist, "It's time for our shift to end, let's get back to the station house." With that statement, Elisa and her partner got in their unmarked car and drove off.
Kendra was not that curious about where they were going, she had heard quite enough to make her to want to go to her apartment to see if Jon had sent the information she requested. She wondered if he had any idea that Demona had a daughter, she certainly would not tell him if he didn't, but it certainly was an interesting piece of information.
She scanned the area intently; watching and listening carefully for any indication there was anyone about, then when she was certain she was alone, she rose and walked to her motorcycle. When she arrived at her apartment, the first thing she did was check her email. She smiled in satisfaction at seeing the waiting file in her inbox. Jon had already sent the information she desired, including several pictures of both Demona and Dominique Destine. Dominique Destine she was familiar with, looking at the same face in blue on a gargoyle was intriguing to say the least.
Kendra had been interested in the sleek, haughty and hot-tempered business executive ever since the buy out skirmish; the woman was powerful, beautiful and mysterious. Now she had another reason to be interested in the woman, but how was she going to get close enough to understand Demona? The file contained some historical information, mostly tales of how they had destroyed any gargoyles in stone form they had come across and tales of how the gargoyle named Demona had escaped them time and time again. A lot of the information was already familiar to her, her father had told her about the Canmore families past.
There was not much more information about Demona until Jason, Jon and Robyn had witnessed their father being thrown off the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. The file then repeated what Jason had already told her about Demona being Dominique Destine. A copy of the file Robyn had found was included, and Kendra watched intently as Demona described her plans for destroying the human race and using the Praying Gargoyle to protect herself, her daughter and the surviving gargoyles. The statistical specs at the end were a perfect touch, leaving the one fact that hung glaring in front of her. Demona had certainly not needed to make any such disk for herself, and she certainly should not have brought the company's newest hire down to the lab and opened the safe and displayed everything within it with Robyn there. It just didn't make any sense at all.
However, it now looked like there had been a chance that the virus would have been much deadlier Kendra initially thought. She didn't know whether or not sorcery could have magically spread the virus as Demona had claimed, she didn't even know whether the mix of the carrier agent and cleanser would have actually worked. Scientifically speaking it shouldn't have done anything, but mixed with sorcery? She really didn't know. Demona's reasoning seemed to have been that humanity was a germ that needed to be disinfected from the earth.
Kendra sat back in her chair frowning; there were several things wrong with the entire scenario. Her gaze went to the apartment's kitchen, and she stared at the cabinet doors below the sink. If the gargoyle had just needed a disinfectant why go through the trouble of getting an experimental one? Why not just use a common disinfectant like Lysol or bleach, certainly bleach should have sufficed, it was after all the most commonly used laboratory disinfectant and would kill or denature almost all bacteria and viruses. For that matter why use a disinfectant at all? That part had her completely confused; if the second agent had been a pathogen instead of a disinfectant everything would make so much more sense.
Finally, Kendra shook her head in annoyance. She simply didn't have enough information to judge whether the Demona's plan had any hope of succeeding. Nor was there any information in Jon's file to indicate whether the canister had actually carried an infectious agent or just an uncommonly strong disinfectant bound to a carrier virus that presented little danger to humanity.
The last attached file contained pictures of the other gargoyles in Manhattan. She memorized each and noted what they were doing, a truly huge pale lavender male held and older grizzled male in his arms prepared to leap to safety from the ruins of the clock tower above the police station. From Jason's story, she knew that Robyn had been the one to fire the missiles at an occupied building. Robyn was damn lucky she wasn't up for second-degree murder for that idiocy. A reddish male with a beaked mouth held a smaller greenish male in his arms ready to leap to safety. Next to the reddish male was an overweight blue male that held what looked like some type of gargoyle dog in his arms. Standing behind the two males was a delicate feminine form.
She used her graphical software to enhance the image and stared at the female gargoyle. She was darker shade of lavender than Goliath, and Kendra suspected she must be looking at Demona's daughter, the one the detective had called Angela. Jason had almost killed her, for which at least he had looked properly ashamed at his apartment when he told her earlier. Goliath seemed to fit the huge light lavender male.
Finally, she shrugged and decided to get some sleep; she had a few weeks until she needed to go back to her estate. She needed to figure out the best way to find out more about the gargoyles and Demona in particular. The files had made it obvious that she needed to be careful, Demona certainly didn't like humans, and to top it off Kendra was a Canmore. Still, the gargoyle had never killed a Canmore that wasn't actively hunting her, that at least was something in Kendra's favor.
The next morning she started calling certain business partners of hers to let them know she wanted information about investment opportunities at Nightstone Unlimited. She had always kept up with what Dominique was doing, both out of personal curiosity and out of a desire to protect her business investments. She had done so quietly in the past, not wanting Dominique to be aware of her interest. Kendra grinned to herself after the last phone call, this information gathering was anything but quiet, and it would probably only be a few hours before Dominique Destine was aware that Kendra Canmore was inquiring about investment opportunities at Nightstone.
It did not take long for the information to start arriving in her email, and Kendra spent most of the morning perusing the various investment opportunities available to her at Nightstone. Dominique Destine had a shrewd sense of business and there were several areas that Kendra felt comfortable that she would make a tidy profit by investing some of her money in Nightstone. She sat back and decided to wait a day before seeing if she could arrange a meeting with Dominique Destine, she wanted to make sure that the news got around to her that a Canmore was interested in investing in her company.
In the meantime, she needed something to do this morning. She decided to go practice at the dojo she visited when in Manhattan. They had a Kendo teacher at there and she always took advantage of the chance to improve her sword techniques while he was teaching. She picked up her skates and chose clothing that she could skate in later, and then went to visit her cousin Jason. He had heard she had gone to see Jon and she readily acknowledged it, "He was very helpful in sending me some information I wanted."
Jason looked at her suspiciously, "I don't know what you're up to Kendra but be careful, Jon's dangerous these days and Demona will kill you if she finds out your searching for information on her."
"I know just as much Canmore history as you do Jason, so I rather doubt that," Kendra commented coolly. "Even with all the reasons our family has given her over the years to hate us she's never went after any Canmore that wasn't actively hunting her at the time, providing of course that your right about her having lived for the past thousand years."
Jason opened his mouth and she could tell by the look on his face he was getting ready to disagree with her rather loudly, then a strange expression ghosted across his features and he fell silent.
Kendra nodded, "Can't think of one can you. That's because there never has been one case of her coming after us. It's always been us that initiated the violence Jason, and I'm planning on being very open and peaceful about my intentions."
He tried to persuade her for the next thirty minutes that Demona was much too dangerous for her to attract even the least bit of the gargoyle's attention. Kendra finally managed to leave after reassuring him she would seriously consider what he had said, but she really wanted to go figure skating at the Rockefeller Center tonight. She never mentioned that after her morning phone calls she was certain that Demona was already quite aware of her interest.
It was night by the time she arrived at the Rockefeller Center; she looked at the few skaters on the ice and frowned. She hated trying to skate when it was crowded. Hopefully the ice would free up and she would be able to do a few jumps and flying spins. She started out doing a few basic turns and glides to loosen up then began working on her spins, she was used to ignoring the stares of the other skaters, so it took her a moment to realize that someone not in the rink was watching her. She surveyed the area trying to determine whose gaze disturbed her and was unsurprised to see Detective Maza watching her with a narrow-eyed, suspicious gaze. The woman's partner stood beside her, watching in a much friendlier manner. Jason had most likely told the detective where she would be tonight and the woman was probably making sure she wasn't stalking any gargoyles. She smirked at the thought, she didn't need to go searching for them as she was certain she had seen one flying above the rink earlier.
After about an hour, the rink was beginning to clear out and Kendra took the opportunity to do some of the sit and camel spins that took more room to safely perform. By nine' clock there were only a few skaters remaining upon the ice and Kendra felt she had enough room to practice some jumps. She loved jumping, her inner jaguar gave her an edge in maintaining her balance and she knew that she was very graceful on the ice. When she started doing single and double practice jumps, several of the skaters moved over to the side and watched. She wished she had the rink to herself so that she could really show off but there were still ten or so people skating and she didn't want to risk hurting anyone.
Fifteen minutes before the ice rink was due to close, the few skaters left came over and asked if she would like the ice to herself for the rest of the time. She smiled and thanked them for their courtesy, then waited while they cleared off the ice to the edge. Having plenty of room she decided to show off and go through one of the routines she did at home on the frozen lake on the estate.
Elisa and Matt had been surprised to see that Kendra was still on the ice when they patrolled past that way again. They stopped to watch as the other skaters cleared the ice leaving Kendra on it alone. Then when she began skating using the entire surface of the ice, they both watched awed as she went through what was obviously a practiced routine.
Matt gasped once when she completed a particularly difficult set of jumps and Elisa stared at him as he whispered "She's doing stuff that only the men usually do, good grief she must have some strong legs to manage to do triple axles." Elisa turned to stare at Jason's cousin only seeing that the woman made figure skating look elegant and easy. She shook her head wryly at her partner, not blaming him for his open interest in the woman skating. Not only was Kendra Canmore beautiful, but she was strong and graceful as well, she made Elisa feel almost plain in comparison, not something the detective was not used to at all.
Knowing that the rink was about to close, Kendra thanked those watching for their applause as soon as she finished. She changed back into her bike boots and rode her bike back toward her apartment, before pulling into the garage she paused for a moment and examined the building and the buildings around it carefully. Considering it was nighttime she wasn't taking any chances of and angry gargoyle or anyone else surprising her.
She had spotted a man following her earlier and after cutting off the lights in her apartment, she crept out on the balcony to see if he was still about. It wasn't hard for her to spot him; he was smoking and talking into a cell phone. Idly she wondered whether he was with Jon or with Demona, before going back inside to reviewing her investment plans for her meeting tomorrow at Nightstone.
Demona had indeed heard of the introduction of a new Canmore onto the scene, and of her interest in her company. Kendra Canmore had certainly not attempted to hide her information gathering; rather she seemed to be trying to make sure Dominique would be aware of it. The surveillance tail that she had put on the woman shortly after noon followed her from a dojo to Jason Canmore's apartment and then to Rockefeller Plaza where the woman had figure skated several hours before finally returning home.
It was midnight before Demona's surveillance operative had his initial report ready for delivery. He dropped off the photo's and information he had gathered with the comment that Kendra Canmore was "one fine looking woman" to which she had just snarled through the intercom at him that she was not interested in how attractive he found Canmore. She was curious though after that to see what she looked like; he had never made a comment like that before about anyone else that she had sent him to follow.
The photo on top of the report when she opened it was a close up of Kendra Canmore. Demona was surprised at how different in appearance the woman was from what she had expected. She looked for the information on the human's parents and noted the Brazilian mother. That accounted for the unusually dark skin tone. The sapphire blue eyes were unusual as well, as the Canmore's usually ran to grey or grey-blue eyes from what she remembered. She stared at the picture once again; Kendra Canmore was definitely exotic looking with her dusky olive skin and handsome face.
She flipped through the other pictures and paused to admire a few of Kendra practicing at the dojo. It was difficult to tell from pictures how skilled the human was at martial arts, but she suspected this Canmore was just as skilled at fighting as her other clan members. Next came photo's of Kendra figure skating and though Demona did not know much about the sport she was able to tell from the pictures that this was yet another thing that this Canmore excelled in doing. She picked up the report on Kendra Canmore's history and noted that she had been approached in high school about becoming a member of the U.S. Olympic team for not only figure skating but gymnastics as well, but had turned them down saying that she wanted to enjoy her sports, not have them become work.
The report also included pictures of various women. Demona was puzzled by the inclusion of these pictures until she read the report with them. Rumor had it these women had been romantically involved with Kendra Canmore. Demona glanced, startled, at the pictures of the women again. They were strikingly alike in one way; almost all of the women had variations of red hair. Surely the human wasn't… She picked up the close up of Kendra Canmore and scowled at it, "What are you playing at human?" she asked it.
After a moment, she threw down the picture and picked up a completely different report. This one was on the man known as the Assassin. She had sent her acceptance of his price for the job that she wanted him to do earlier in the evening. She was paying this human well for his silence and his skill; hopefully he would live up to his reputation.
In the still silence of the mansion, its lone occupant smiled imagining herself as the leader of the Manhattan clan once that fool that used to be her mate was finally out of the way. With him gone, she would be able to ensure that her daughter was safe, that her daughter didn't risk herself trying to save humans that would only betray them in the end.
Continued...