Manhattan Skies Series

 

 

 

#1 : The Trials of Cassandra

 

           

            She ducked into the abandoned computer factory with an armload of discarded planks, the cold winter wind chilling her even as she slid the door shut behind her.  Shivering reflexively and wrapping her arms and wings around her chest, she slowly made her way to the steel trash barrel that held her means of heat; fire.  With a heartfelt sigh, she dumped her load in the bin and she sat in the moth-eaten chair nearby, opening the leather-bound book that lay on the arm.  Any other night, she would have dived into the world of Greek myths, Shakespearean plays, and classical literature that made up her life, such as it was.  In the outside world, she was a freakish, nightmare creature who had to sneak around and steal to survive, completely alone.  Even her name was from the books she read.  It was better than Case Study number 51009FV.

           

            Raised in a science lab from her first memory, Cassandra had little idea as to what she was.  All she knew was that she'd been taken from her human mother at birth.  However, now... with all of the commotion from the Quarrymen about gargoyles, she had no choice but to believe that she was at least half, given that her mother had been human.  Part of her wanted to seek them out and see if they would welcome her, but all of the nasty press they were getting held her back.  Explosions, fires, laser guns... wherever they went, tragedy seemed to ensue.  She read tragedy; she didn't want to be it.

           

            Her stomach growled noisily, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in days.  Thanks to these other gargoyles, even sneaking around in back-alleys to fish through garbage cans was too risky.  She'd managed to ration her small surplus of food to its absolute limit and was now beginning to grow weak.  She had no choice, she had to go out and find some food.  She glanced over at her clock, its hands still running faithfully despite its broken face.  Quarter to four in the morning, even for Manhattan it would be as quiet as any other time.  Most humans would be at home, or in clubs and bars... not out on the street.  She hoped.

           

            With another sigh, Cassandra stretched out her bat-like wings their eighteen-foot span and headed to the roof of the factory.  From there she glided out into the night, her long, mahogany-hued hair trailing after her like a satin banner and her pale blue eyes searching the night for signs of food or danger.  Short, blunt horns, like those of a small goat, peeked through the mass of hair on her head.  The bitter cold chilled her golden skin thanks to the cast-off clothing she'd managed to steal from a Salvation Army store.  These consisted of some loose-fitting denim shorts (since she'd never be able to fit her large, taloned feet into any long jeans) and a red, tank top with a sort of "sports bra" design to it, allowing room for her wings.  She'd had to cut the straps and sew some snaps on them for that ability.  Macys, Bloomies, and Saks obviously didn't cater to individuals with bat wings and dinosaur feet. 

           

            There was nothing close by but industrial parks and more abandoned factories like the one she lived in, so she was forced to glide all the way out to the main skyscrapers of Manhattan.  Tired, hungry, and still weak from the latter, she glided to the roof of the tallest building she could find, clinging to its lightening rod like a monkey and panting with exertion.  With keen eyes, she scanned the horizon, dark with pinpoints of light from apartments and office buildings everywhere.  In front of her, the moon shone brightly, casting a silver glow over the lonely halfling.

           

            A cat-like scream behind her made her turn in fright.  Almost immediately, she was knocked off of the building by a heavy body.  It took her a few minutes to realize that she was being attacked by another gargoyle.  The light from nearby brilliant Broadway provided enough illumination for Cassandra to get a competent look at her.  She was much larger than Cassandra, and a bright, Crayola blue in color with shaggy, red hair.  Her powerful wingspan dwarfed Cassandra's and she knew that in her condition, she wouldn't stand a blessed chance in a fight.  Although she loathed it, trying to flee this PMS-ing demon was her only option.  With energy she didn't know she possessed, she dashed to the nearest tower and glided around it, hoping to lose her attacker.

           

            No such luck.  As she glanced around one corner, Cassandra felt a clawed hand close around her ankle and yank her down savagely.

---------          

            Brooklyn's eyelids drooped as he glided gracefully over Manhattan, patrolling and falling asleep at the same time.  Darn rounds, Jerry Springer was on and he'd wanted to watch it, it was one of those teenage vampire ones or some such crap like that.  Humans were pretty funny when they put their minds to it.

            A roar that he knew well broke into his thoughts, making every muscle in his body tense at the sound.  "Demona..." he growled, still furious at Goliath's ex-love for her betrayal so long ago.  Without bothering to wonder why she would be out despite the hostility from the Quarrymen, Brooklyn sped towards the sounds.  He found Demona easily, thoroughly startled to find her beating the crap out of a smaller gargoyle, who was obviously trying her best to get away in one piece.  He'd never seen the smaller one before, but if Demona was after her, then it was up to him to save her.

            The white knight gallops to the damsel's rescue, intent on saving her from the fire-breathing Demona!  He thought gleefully as he raced after the two.  Demona was so immersed in her brutal attack that she never even saw Brooklyn's approach.  With a satisfying thud, his foot smacked against Demona's side, knocking her against the hard concrete of a building ledge.  With a growl, she took grabbed the littler gargoyle by the throat, knowing that Brooklyn wouldn't attack her if she had an innocent hostage.

            "Let her go, Demona!" Brooklyn demanded.

            "So she is one of your petty, little clan members.  Sad choice, Brooklyn... she barely put up a fight." Demona drawled low in her throat.

            "All the more reason to let her go... or have you been reduced to picking on the small?  Too weak to stand up against someone your own size?" Brooklyn grinned, prepared for Demona's fury at such a remark.  He was not to be disappointed.  Demona flung her now-unconscious prey onto the nearest rooftop and proceeded to claw at Brooklyn like an enraged tiger.  They scuffled for several minutes, Brooklyn fervently wishing that he hadn't separated from his brothers to go off alone.  Gunshots rang out, bullets narrowly missing the two fighters as they sprang apart.  Down below, gangs of Quarrymen had spotted them and were trying to shoot them down.

            Demona darted off, smart enough not to tangle with armed Quarrymen just yet.  Brooklyn started after her then remembered his little damsel in distress.  Figuring that it wouldn't be exactly hospitable to leave her unprotected to the Quarrymen, he glided back to where Demona had tossed her.

--------

            Cassandra stared against the blackness of her eyelids, aware only of two things; the pain throbbing at the back of her skull and the sound of some animal whimpering plaintively.  It soon became obvious that the heart-wrenching sound was coming from her own throat.  She was half-sitting up against something and she eventually became aware of a gentle hand stroking her hair out of her face.

            "Hey, wake up.  C'mon, she's gone now... it's safe.  Wake up." a male, slightly throaty voice coaxed.

            She moaned, turning her head against the chest of whomever it was who'd just saved her sorry behind.  She fluttered her eyelashes for a second, then opened them and managed to look up at the face of her rescuer.  Now, he's something you don't see every day. she thought dizzily.  He was bigger than she was, that was for sure; roughly the same size as the one that had attacked her.  Unlike herself, his face curved into some sort of a beak-like projection, yet it was plausible that it was not as inflexible as a bird's.  His skin was a dark brick red and not nearly as soft as her own, but had more of a leathery texture to it and two sharp-looking horns curved back over his ivory-white hair.  His eyes were intelligent and kind, a deep black in color and fixed intently on her.

            "Who... who are you?" she asked, embarrassed at the frightened squeak that emitted from her lips as she began to shake with fear.  This had already been a hectic night and it clearly wasn't over yet.

            "Oh, good.  You're alright.  I was scared you'd hit your head." he smiled, pleased at her recovery.

            "I did." she whimpered, one hand reaching back to massage the nasty bump that was forming.

            "Are you okay?  Can you get up?" he asked, pulling her into a more upright position.

            "You haven't answered my question.  Do you have a name?  Or shall I just call you Sir Knight?" she asked, fighting dizziness to stay where she was.

            "My bad." he grinned. "Brooklyn... my name's Brooklyn.  Do I have to call you Damsel In Distress?"

            "No." she smiled, a note of mock-threat in her voice.  "My name is Cassandra."

            "Cassandra..." he repeated, surprised at the effect that name had on him, a brief flash of warmth spreading through him.  As she finally uncurled from her fetal position to stand up, he was able to get a good look at her.  She was a small little thing; barely five-feet if he figured correctly... at least she was taller than Lex.  Her tanned skin reminded him of burnished gold and her long hair was the color of burgundy, a few shades darker than his skin.  He was duly surprised to find that, unlike all of his clan, her eyes were that of a human, with a ring of pale sapphire blue around the black pupil.  All in all, she gave the impression of being a very fragile creature, what with her small frame and large eyes.

            "What are you staring at?" she jostled him out of his mental meandering with a glare, her eyes glowing slightly with a pale blue glint.

            "Nothing." he said quickly, thinking that if he weren't already red, he'd be blushing.  "So... uh... where do you live?  I've never seen you around before.  Are you new to New York?"

            "No.  I'm from the old industrial park.  I usually hide.  But thanks to you guys starting all this bad publicity, I had to come out to find some food.  Then I get attacked by that... that... bloody Smurf with wings for no reason at all!" she growled.

            "Smurf with wings?  You mean Demona?" Brooklyn nearly choked.  "I like that description.  Although I wouldn't call her that to her face unless I wanted to lose an eyeball." he laughed.

            "I never saw such a violent creature in my life!  Even Queen Hippolyte wasn't as vicious as her!" she exclaimed angrily, shaking her little fist at the sky.  "I hope you get sucked into a jet engine, you harpy!" 

            "Woah... switch to decaf, kid.  Who's Queen Hippopotamus?" he placed a hand on her shoulder carefully.  Delicate-looking though she was, this was obviously no shrinking violet.

            She turned to look at him.  "I'm sorry... Queen Hippolyte was the queen of the Amazons.  In Greek mythology the Amazons were a race of women who were the fiercest warriors, known for sometimes cutting off their right breasts in order to have  better bow accuracy."

            "Ouch." was his solo reply.  "Listen, do you need a place to stay?  I mean the industrial park isn't exactly the safest place in the world, what with the Quarrymen all over the place."

            "Thanks to you." she muttered, shivering as a gale of wind blew over the roof and wrapping her wings around herself.

            "Hey, you think we want these bums chasing after us with hammers?  There was really no way around all this." he sulked.

            "I guess not..." she admitted.  Damn, she'd almost passed judgment on this gargoyle that'd saved her life without even knowing him at all first.  "I'm sorry.  It's just been very hard for me to survive even without all of this bad press... now it's just... impossible."

            "It doesn't have to be." he said, his mouth ahead of his brain as usual.  "There's a whole clan of us living at the castle... you wouldn't have to fend for yourself all of the time."

            "I like fending for myself." she crossed her arms over her chest mutinously.  "I don't need any help."

            "You do from where I'm standing." he shrugged.  "Listen, you said yourself that surviving has gotten impossible since the Quarrymen went loco. Wouldn't you rather be in a place where surviving isn't a chore?"

            "Yes." she admitted. 

            "And I don't think you could make it all the way back to the industrial park in your condition.  Demona packs quite a punch and I'm betting that you're not letting on how hurt you are." Brooklyn grasped her shoulders gently, eyeing another bruise forming on her forehead above her right eye.

            "Very well.  Lead the way to this castle of yours." she finally relented, spreading her wings and preparing to jump off of the building's ledge.

            "Cool.  Let's go."

-------

            Bronx paced impatiently on the balcony, grumbling to himself in irritation.  Hudson was busy watching the TV, Goliath was out with Elisa, and Broadway and Lex were playing a computer game (Lex beating the crap out of Broadway) and Angela was in the library reading, so no one was paying any attention to him.

            A familiar shadow on the three-quarter moon caught the gargoyle-beast's attention and he began barking happily.  At the sight of another shadow close to Brooklyn's, the great creature growled and changed his happiness to threat.  This angry barking brought the other three gargoyles out to see what was wrong.

            "That better not be Demona." Broadway growled.

            "I don't think so... too small." Lex shook his head.

            Brooklyn finally landed on a parapet, his wings hiding their visitor.  "Hey, guys... quiet night?"

            "Who's your little friend there, lad?" Hudson tried to peek around Brooklyn's wing, which was being simultaneously pulled closer to the hider.   With a quick yank, Brooklyn managed to recover his wing and wrap it over his shoulder with the other one.  Cassandra stiffened, quite frightened by her situation.  What if they didn't like her?  What if they wanted to kill her?

            "This is Cassandra.  She's from the industrial park." Brooklyn introduced her, using his tail to edge her forward to meet his clan.

            "Um... hello?" she stuttered, wrapping both wings and arms around herself, succeeding only in making herself look smaller.

            "Welcome to Castle Wyvern, lass." Hudson greeted her warmly. 

            "You must be Hudson." Cassandra smiled shyly.  "Brooklyn told me about you all on the way here.

            "All good, I hope." the old gargoyle grinned.

            "Of course." she nodded, stepping over to the smallest gargoyle.  "Lexington, right?  The computer genius?"

            "Yeah!  That's me!  You like computers?" he asked eagerly.

            "I'd better... I live in an abandoned computer factory.  I even managed to piece together my own computer from spare parts." she shrugged as Lexington's tongue virtually fell on the ground.

            "Broadway, right?  The gourmet chef extrordinaire?"

            "Sure am.  Want something to eat?" he asked, anxious to show off.

            "Was Romeo and Juliet and tragedy?" she grinned, her stomach growling noisily at the mere mention of food.

            "Hi... I'm Angela." Goliath's daughter stepped forward.

            "Ah... the babe." Cassandra grinned craftily.

            "Brooklyn!" Angela exclaimed.

            "What?  You are!" he whined.

            "Well at least he didn't call you Angie." Lex added.

            Cassandra giggled behind her hand.  "Graceful, Brooklyn... very elegant." she chirped sweetly.

            "Let's go get something to eat before anything else happens, please?" Brooklyn tried desperately to take the attention off of himself.

--------

            Cassandra stopped in mid-stride as she entered the huge castle kitchen.  "There's a floating man in the kitchen!" she yelled, startling the others, who had come to take Puck's presence as Alex Xanatos' tutor for-granted.  Puck fell backwards in a somersault at the audio assault, clutching onto Alex.

            "My word, but you have a fine set of lungs there." he commented dryly, wiggling a finger in one of his pointy ears.  "A new friend, Brooklyn?"

            "You could say that."

            "I just did." Puck grinned impishly, floating over to the small gargoyle.  "Hey, we have matching ears, my little halfling!  Want to be my special friend?"

            "No, she doesn't... and no more Animaniacs for you." Brooklyn sighed.

            "No one lets me have any fun." Puck pouted.

            "Who..?  Wha..?  Huh?" Cassandra pointed at the merry faerie with her mouth agape.  "What are you?  Aladdin's genie or something?"

            "Do I look blue to you?" he grinned wryly.

            "Don't mind him.  That's just Puck." Broadway shook his head.

            "Just Puck?" he feigned insult.  "I am not some piece of hockey equipment."

            "Puck?" Cassandra repeated.  "As in A Midsummer Night's Dream?  'And as I am an honest Puck' and all that?"

            "Oo... astute." Puck cocked his head at her cheerfully.  "Does light bend towards you, by any chance?"

            "I am not dense, you floating Buddha.  I've just had an very interesting evening." Cassandra glared at him.

            "Interesting evenings are the fun kind." he smiled, his complacency annoying the hell out of Cassandra.

            "Oh, go bother Oberon." she pouted.

            "I'd rather not... he's not happy with me this century."

            "Is he ever?"

            "No.  But seeing as how my presence is not appreciated, I shall take Alex elsewhere.  Ta-ta!" he disappeared in a cloud of bluish smoke.       

            "This has been a very weird night." Cassandra rubbed her head gingerly. 

            "Get used to it... alot of our nights are weird like that." Lex said wryly, rooting through the pantry and passing things to Broadway.

            "Oh, goody." Cassandra rolled her eyes heavenward, wondering just what in hell she had gotten herself into.

            "So, Cassie... what do you want to eat?" Broadway asked jovially.

            "Cassandra.  And right now, I'd eat about anything.  C'mon... I usually have to burrow through dumpsites for food." she sat cautiously at the table, more than a little surprised to find that the chair and table seemed to be specially made for gargoyle forms.

            "Yuck... in that case I'll make you girls my specialty." Broadway grinned at both Angela and Cassandra.

            "Lasagna! Yeah!" Lex shouted.

            "Brooklyn said you live in the industrial park... all by yourself?" Angela asked kindly, fiddling absently with a fork.

            "Yes... it's only me and a few alley cats.  That's it." Cassandra nodded, trying to be flippant about the crushing loneliness that continually gripped her soul.

            "What happened to your clan?  Did humans destroy them?  Is that why you're all alone?" Brooklyn asked.

            "Clan?  I never had a clan." Cassandra shook her head in confusion.  "My earliest memory is being in a cage in a science lab in Queens.  The scientists there, told me that I was taken from my mother in Ireland at birth."

            "What about rookery brothers and sisters?  There had to be more than one egg." Lex thought aloud.

            "Egg?  What are you talking about?  I was born in a hospital in Dublin.  The scientists sent me to the genetics labs in New York to find out what I was.  Apparently, I'm half human and half gargoyle.  You know, a mutt." Cassandra explained as best she could.

            "A halfling?" Brooklyn said softly.  "But, that's impossible.  Breeding between humans and gargoyles is impossible... two completely different species can't procreate."

            "Apparently, they can." a deep, rumbling voice boomed behind Cassandra.

            She gasped and turned around swiftly, nearly falling off of her stool.  A gigantic gargoyle stood behind her, staring her emotionlessly, almost academically.  "G-G... Goliath, I presume?" she managed to squeak.

            He nodded in agreement and Cassandra, being something of an artist noted the contrast between his coloring and his form.  He was quite obviously the biggest and strongest gargoyle among them, but his skin was light purple in color.  How on earth did he manage to look masculine with that color?

            "Did you know that you're... lavender?" she babbled.

            "Yes."

            "Okay, stupid thing to point out.  Bear with me, I've had a very trying evening.  And you people have to stop sneaking up on me."

            "I'll keep that in mind." Goliath rumbled with a slight smile tugging at his lips.  Then Cassandra noticed the human female standing next to him.  With a startled yelp, she promptly dove under the table.

            "Woah, hey... I don't bite." the human stuck her head under the table.

            "It's not biting I'm worried about." Cassandra quavered.

            "Cassandra... that's Elisa.  I told you about her." Brooklyn said comfortingly.  "She's our friend, remember?"

            "Oh, the detective... that's right... I'm cool... I'm fine... I'm good..."

            "Take it easy... no one here's going to hurt you.  Even if they tried to I wouldn't let them." Brooklyn said, helping her out from under the table.

            "Thank you." she smiled softly at him, unsure why her heart was suddenly doing flip-flops in her chest. 

            "Does anyone have any objections to taking Cassandra in?  I mean, we can't just let her stay where the Quarrymen can get her... right?" Brooklyn looked around at his clan hopefully.

            "Indeed." Goliath nodded, thinking for a moment.  "Since she has no clan of her own, it is our duty to 'adopt' her as it were. What do you all think of this?"

            General agreement among the others ensued, even old Hudson seemed pleased with the idea of another gargoyle in their ranks.  Bronx jumped on the young gargoyle, licking her face happily as she laughed.

            "You guys are serious?  You want me to stay here with you?" she asked in disbelief.

            "Sure... the more the merrier." Broadway nodded.

            "And I need a female gargoyle around here... I'm grossly outnumbered.  No offense, Elisa." Angela added, grasping Cassandra's hand.

            "And we can teach you combat... that way Demona will not be as much of a problem for you.  And you can help us protect the city." Goliath thought out loud.

            "Protect the city?  What for?" Cassandra asked in confusion.  "Seems to me that humans don't want our help, they want our skins."

            "Nevertheless... a gargoyle can no more stop protecting the castle than-"

            "Breathing the air." the trio finished for him, looking very bored.  Angela giggled behind her hand while Hudson sputtered indignantly.

            "Let me guess... his favorite proverb?" Cassandra cocked an eyebrow at Brooklyn.  "When I was your age, I walked to school in the snow, twenty miles, up hill both ways... that kind of thing?"

            "Yup... that's about the size of it." Brooklyn nodded emphatically.

            "It is nearly sunrise." Goliath reminded everyone.  Apparently that was some secret code, as everyone filed out to the nearest balcony.  Each of the gargoyles jumped onto a parapet and assumed a "frozen" position.  Elisa stayed behind as Cassandra, jumped up next to Brooklyn.  The sun peered over the horizon and Cassandra squinted at the bright morning light.

            "What is this?  Some sort of sun-worshipping ritual that I don't know about?" Cassandra began to ask, turning to look at Brooklyn.  "Eek!" she screeched, falling backwards off of the parapet.  Brooklyn had turned to stone!  All of the gargoyles had turned to statues!

            She heard Elisa gasp behind her and turned to face the detective in confusion.

            "You didn't turn to stone!" Elisa exclaimed, taking a step towards the distraught gargoyle.

            "Of course I didn't!  Are you telling me that this happens all the time?" Cassandra rose from her fallen position.

            "Every morning, the sun turns them to stone." Elisa explained.  "I guess since you're only half, you don't."

            "Guess so... doesn't that limit things between you and Goliath?" Cassandra asked, glancing over her shoulder at Brooklyn.

            "How... how did you know that Goliath and I were..?" Elisa blushed.

            "Intuition... want to tell me how you got involved with the batboys?" Cassandra asked, eager to know more about her new friends.

            "Sure... let's get some coffee and some of Broadway's lasagna.  It should be done by now.  I got a feeling that it's gonna be a long morning." Elisa smiled, leading the halfling inside.  "You may want to clean up a bit too... wash those clothes and all."

            "I smell that bad, huh?" Cassandra grimaced.

            "No... but, speaking as someone who has had to stay awake for forty-eight hours straight with no chance to shower, you may want one." Elisa put an arm around Cassandra's shoulders, somewhat surprised to find that she was taller than the little gargoyle.

            "Thanks, Elisa... you're cool... for a human." Cassandra grinned with a wink.

--------

            Elisa yawned as she returned to the castle after a well-deserved five hours of sleep.  She had to be back on-duty at ten and wanted to be there when the guys woke up.  She'd felt a little guilty for leaving Cassandra all alone in a strange place, but she'd had to go home.  Luckily, the young halfling had fallen fast asleep on the couch, exhausted from the events of the past evening. 

            As she entered the "living room", Elisa found Cassandra still asleep, curled into a ball with her wings tucked tightly around her and her tail twisted around one leg like a boa constrictor.  Outside, she heard the telltale roars and cat-like scream of the gargoyles waking up.  Reluctant to wake Cassandra, Elisa left her alone to walk out onto the balcony.

            "Elisa!  Where's Cassandra?" Brooklyn demanded immediately upon seeing her.

            "Hey, calm down." Elisa waved off his fervent concern.  "She's fine.  She fell asleep on the couch.  The poor thing needed it after last night."

            "You mean... she doesn't tun to stone during the day?" Broadway asked.

            "No... an advantage to being a halfling, I guess.  She nearly went into cardiac arrest when you all suddenly turned into big lawn ornaments." Elisa smiled.  "We spent the morning talking and she went to sleep about eleven.  We cleaned her clothes and gave her a much-needed shower, as well."

            "What is your opinion of her?" Goliath asked.

            "She's sweet and kind of unsure of herself, despite this tough-girl attitude.  To my figuring, she's about fifteen or sixteen in gargoyle years.  She's been very lonely for a long time and just needs to be loved.  And, Goliath... she's very trustworthy." Elisa listed, knowing Goliath's general apprehension regarding newcomers.

            "I think Brooklyn could take care of the loving part." Broadway ribbed his brother.

            "Hey, knock it off... I swore of romance remember?  I'm not looking to get my heart stamped on." Brooklyn snapped irritably.

            "Stamped on by who?" Cassandra yawned, stretching as she stepped onto the balcony.

            "Cassandra!" Brooklyn turned sharply, nearly tripping over his own feet.  If he'd thought she was pretty before, she was a sight to see now!  Her skin, scrubbed clean of dirt and grime, was now a lighter shade of gold, making her pale eyes seem bigger and more dramatic.  Her hair, which had been rather limp and dull before, was now a brilliant, burnished mahogany that waved over her shoulders in soft curls.  Her clothes were no longer wrinkled, but flowed over her form nicely, accenting her small breasts, narrow waist, and curvy hips.

            "Hey, you clean up good." Lex voiced what everyone was thinking.

            Cassandra blushed shyly in response to their open-mouthed stares, brushing a lock of her hair away from her eyes.  "Thank you.  Elisa introduced me to the wonderful world of conditioner and washing machines."

            "Good old Elisa." Brooklyn whispered to himself.

            "Listen, I've thought about your offer and, if you still want me around, I'd like to stay." Cassandra asked, twisting her hands nervously.

            "Certainly.  We would be pleased to have you." Goliath nodded.

            "Great!" Cassandra clapped gleefully.  "Now, I do need to return to the factory to get some of my things.  Could one or two of you come with me?"

            "Lex and I could take her!  That way, Broadway and Hudson can start the rounds and you and Elisa can have... quality time." Brooklyn suggested to Goliath immediately.

            Goliath sent him an odd look before nodding in agreement.

            "C'mon, let's go!" Brooklyn exclaimed, seizing Cassandra's hand and virtually diving off of the balcony with her in tow.  Lexington shrugged at the others and glided after them.

            "Warn me next time you're gonna do that, Red Baron!" Cassandra shrieked.  "Do you always get this excited over abandoned factories?"

            "No... just about gliding with pretty girls." Lex added from nearby.

            "Stuff it, Lex." Brooklyn mumbled.  "Do you want to tell me where we're going, Cassandra?"

            "Head for the Empire State... I'll take it from there."

------

The minute they set foot in the old factory, Brooklyn wrinkled his nose.  "Yuck… you live here?" he asked softly.

            "Unfortunately, penthouse apartments are hard to come by when you look like this." she shrugged indifferently.

            "Wow… I bet I could find all kinds of neat parts in here!" Lexington grinned, examining her homemade computer with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old.  "Mind if I take a look around?"

            "Go right ahead." Cassandra nodded, watching the little gargoyle tear off out of sight like a flying squirrel on speed.

            "So, what are we taking with us?" Brooklyn asked. 

            "Lex can carry the computer since he's Mr. Microsoft… and he'll probably insist on it anyway." Cassandra decided, grabbing some large trash bags from their hook on one wall.  "I'll just gather up my books and personal things."

            "Where'd you get all of these?" Brooklyn indicated the book-mountain of Olympic proportions. 

            "Oh, libraries throw them out from time to time, or I'll sneak them from the back of a bookstore.  I can't exactly waltz into Barnes and Noble and ask what the new releases are." She explained uneasily.

            "You stole them?" he asked in disbelief.

            "Well, yeah.  I don't have a detective or a billionaire bringing me food or entertainment.  No offense, though." she countered.

            "None taken.  I just can't picture you as a thief, that's all." he shrugged.

            "I won't have to be now." she reminded him, waving a paperback book in his face as an incentive to get packing.

            With a smile, Brooklyn started placing in books in the bag, pausing occasionally to look at the titles.  The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Greek Myths, Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales, this girl's a regular bookworm!  His hand passed over a very battered paperback with many dog-eared pages and he curiously flipped it over for the title.

            He burst out laughing and Cassandra turned sharply.  "What's so funny?"

            "You read trashy romance novels?" he managed between chuckles.  "Look at this... Deeper Than the Night?  What is this, a vampire/mortal thing?  That's realistic."

            "Oh, and you are?" she narrowed her eyes at him, snatching the book away peevishly.  "I don't have Skinamax here for my entertainment.  Besides, it's the only romance I get."

            "That's not exactly the best way, you know." he mentioned.

            "From where I'm standing, you're not getting any either, Red." she muttered, shoving her paints and canvases into another bag.

            Brooklyn cringed inwardly.  He hated being reminded that he'd been romantically rejected twice already; first Maggie, then Angela.  He'd been attracted to Cassandra from the very first, but seriously doubted that she would feel similarly towards him.  She was half-human and he was the least human looking of the clan, what with his beak and all.  With a self-depreciating sigh, he resumed placing books in the bag.

            Cassandra glanced over at him when she didn't receive any response to her waspish comment.  Oh dear, Brooklyn looked like he wanted to shoot himself.  She immediately felt remorse for her harsh words.

            "Brooklyn... I'm sorry.  I didn't mean it, you know." she apologized softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

            "I know.  It just brought up some painful... thoughts." she sighed, his voice a little raspier than usual. 

            "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently, sensing some deeply buried anguish in her new friend's heart.

            "No.  Please, let's just gather up your stuff and go." he pushed her away gruffly.

            "Brooklyn." she whispered, wondering why her heart panged sharply when he spoke harshly to her, when he rejected her offer of comfort.   "Really, I am sorry."

            He turned to look at her, to see if her eyes matched the feeling in her voice.  She was kneeling at his side, her eyes suspiciously bright, as though she was about to cry.  His heart twisted painfully at the thought of causing her pain and he immediately knelt as well, gingerly grasping her shoulders.

            "I'm know.  I didn't mean to take my anger out on you.  It's just that-" he began.

            She cut him off with a delicately placed talon on the tip of his beak.  "Shh… you don't have to explain.  I think I know.  You've be hurt before, haven't you?"

            Demona, Maggie, and Angela all briefly passed through his mind. "Yeah… I guess so." he said softly.

            "Badly?"

            "Badly."

            "You loved someone… and they didn't love you back?" she asked, her blue eyes wide with wonder, as if she couldn't comprehend such a thing.

            "Yeah, something like that." he shrugged, trying to appear indifferent, but failing miserably. 

            "I guess, maybe you're worse of than I am, then." she mused thoughtfully.  "I've always been completely alone, no one ever cared about me.  But I never cared about anyone else either.  I've never been rejected.  I don't even think I really knew what I was missing until I met your clan.  I mean it's obvious that you all love each other.  My life outside of survival, consisted of reading, writing, drawing and painting, listening to music on an old radio, and watching the stars.  I've never really interacted with others, human or gargoyle… I never thought I would want to either."

            "Hey, you've got a clan now.  We all take care of each other, and we'll take care of you too.  Remember, protection is our job." he whispered gently, his own sorrow forgotten for the time being as he instinctively drew her into a gentle embrace. 

            "You'll protect me?" she asked.

            "Of course we'll protect you." he nodded.

            "But will you protect me?" she said so softly, that he wasn't sure she'd actually said anything at all.  She, meanwhile, mentally slapped herself for saying anything out loud.  What on earth was wrong with her?  All the man was doing was holding her, for Heaven's sake!  Why did her heart start doing triple time and her skin feel unbearably warm despite the drafty room?  What mindless little tricks was her body playing on her?

--------

Demona growled angrily as she watched Brooklyn and that annoying little halfling embrace briefly.  The very idea of a halfling made her want to vomit; how dare any gargoyle lower themselves to lying with a human?  If all gargoyles did such a thing, their entire race would soon be bred out, contaminated with human blood!

            Even with her cunning and power in sorcery, she wasn't naïve enough to think she could stop the entire world from spinning.  However, she could kill that disgusting Cassandra; prevent her from ever spreading her human genes like a plague.  Brooklyn obviously had some minor feelings for the little beast, but she could take care of that easily enough.  She'd led him her way once before and had little reason to think he might not be just as susceptible now.  He'd had a taste of power as leader while Goliath had been traipsed from place to place by Avalon.  He could easily overlook his past decision and listen to her again, thinking himself too good to be swayed by her.  Overconfidence could easily be the path Brooklyn's next downfall and of Cassandra's certain death.

-------

Weeks passed and Cassandra settled into the general routine of life with the other gargoyles.  She would spend the nights involved in their activities. She often played computer games with Lex, or had some juicy girl-talk with Elisa and Angela (who severely needed it!).  Popping in on Broadway from time to time to see what was cooking and watching a TV show or two with Hudson.  She liked playing adopted daughter to Goliath (which usually entailed getting into trouble and then getting out of it with a single innocent look).  And her highlight was exchanging sarcastic jibes with Brooklyn right after having some serious discussion with him. 

            Together, the clan was teaching her to fight and defend herself in the event of a battle against Demona, the remaining Pack members, Thailog, or any other enemies that could show up.  Hudson taught her to use weapons like swords and daggers, which she considered more theatrical than anything else.  Broadway and Goliath were conjointly showing her how to punch and kick, use her tail to trip, and such.  Lexington taught her the mechanics of some of the more modern weapons that Demona commonly used.  And Brooklyn taught her gliding.

            Obviously, she'd known the basics already, mainly how to get from point A to point B without crashing into something.  Brooklyn taught her how to catch the right wind currents for bursts of speed, or to do some rather complicated flips and somersaults that would help her dodge enemy fire.  All in all, she was probably the most impressed with him, not the least reason of which was that she had some feelings for him that weren't exactly the sisterly kind she felt for the others.

            She regularly went on patrol with Brooklyn after suggesting that breaking up into smaller teams rather than one big group might cover more ground, with Hudson and Bronx staying at the castle in case of emergency.  For some unknown reason, Goliath decided that she and Brooklyn were a permanent team, along with Broadway and Angela, and Lex and himself.  Good, old, observant Goliath, she thought secretly.

            One such night, she and Brooklyn landed gracefully on top of a building near the Broadway section of New York.  Cassandra landed and immediately hunched over her knees a little, panting.  The glide over hadn't been an easy one, what with Brooklyn forcing her to do barrel rolls and back-flips like her life depended on it.

            "Hey, you okay?" he asked, noticing her labored breath.

            "Yeah, I'm fine.  Just a little tired." she assured him.

            "Why didn't you tell me I was wearing you out?  I'd have stopped to rest sooner." he asked, coming up behind her and resting a hand on her shaking shoulder.  "You're freezing.  Do you want to go back to the castle?  Goliath won't like it if I keep you out all night and then you go and get sick."

            "I'm fine.  I'll tough it out.  In the heat of battle, there won't be a half-time, you know?" she recited one of Hudson's newer sayings.

            "Alright.  But if you get any colder, you're going to find my wing around you." he smiled, playfully mussing her hair with his talons.  Cassandra repressed the urge to announce that she was much colder, by the way.

            "Whatever, Red." she grinned, using one of the nicknames she'd bestowed upon him.  It was another little quirk of hers, to nickname others.  Goliath was Your Almighty Grumpiness.  Lexington was either Creeper or Frog Boy depending on her mood.  Broadway was Essence of Emeril Junior.  Hudson was O Mighty Ancient One.   Brooklyn was Bird Boy or Red Baron.  Bronx was Regina Steamer Carpet Cleaner.  Angela was either Sweet Stuff or Sandra Dee.  And Elisa was Sherlock Holmes.

            She sighed as she regained her breath slowly.  She still hadn't figured out what was going on with her concerning Brooklyn.  A look from Lex or Broadway had no effect on her whatsoever, but a look from Brooklyn sent her head spinning and turned her heart into a drummer on a sugar high.  She liked him, that much she knew.  Beyond that, she was hopelessly confused.

            The wind picked up suddenly, blowing leaflets and flyers about her ankles fiercely and causing Cassandra to wrap her own wings around herself more tightly.  Her sharp eyes caught sight of a familiar title on one of the flyers and she grabbed it quickly before it could blow away.

 

One Night Only

The Shenendoah Shakespeare Company Presents

A Modern Interpretation of

William Shakespeare's

Hamlet

The Oakbrook Theater

3167 44th Street

 

            Cassandra let out an exasperated sigh.  She adored Hamlet and had always wanted to see it performed on a live stage, especially if they did it in an interesting way, as the flyer suggested.  Lower down, the date read for the next night.  She would dearly love to go…

            "What's that?" Brooklyn asked, noting her preoccupation with the leaflet.

            "It's an advertisement for a Shakespeare Company in town tomorrow night.  They're doing Hamlet." she sighed.

            "And that makes you sad?" he asked, indicating her pathetic expression.

            "I've always wanted to see Shakespeare performed live… but I'll never get to." she shrugged, tossing the flyer into the wind.

            Brooklyn caught it deftly, reading it over.  "Why not?"

            "I don't think they let gargoyles into theaters yet.  They're PC, but not that PC." she explained sourly.

            "What would you say if I told you that I could get you in?" he grinned, realizing that he'd been to the Oakbrook before with no incident.

            "I'd say how?" she crossed her arms, curious.

            "It so happens, that theater has a rooftop door leading right to the rafters.  You perch yourself up there and no one will be the wiser." he explained grandly.

            "And who will go with me?" she smiled, knowing full well the answer.

"Xanatos." he replied sarcastically.  "Me, Pixie."

            "Pixie?" she repeated.  "Is that my nickname?

            "You got it." he smirked.

            Goliath said nothing when Brooklyn said that he and Cassandra were skimping on patrols for one night in order to go to the theater.  He merely nodded with his customary rumble of approval, his gaze drifting from his second-in-command to the blushing halfling.  He was not completely ignorant of Brooklyn's lackluster history with the opposite sex, and sincerely hoped that Cassandra would see what others had chosen to overlook.

            "Have a good time… and be careful." he said finally

            Out of nowhere, Elisa and Angela grabbed Cassandra by the shoulders and hustled her out of sight.

            "We need to borrow her for a sec!" Elisa yelled over her shoulder to a startled Brooklyn.  Meanwhile, Cassandra found herself plunked into a medium-sized room, obviously fixed up to appeal to a young girl.  Not that the walls were Pepto-Bismol pink or anything like that; but it was well-stocked with a vanity of combs, brushes, and makeup, a large bed, two dressers, a state-of-the-art stereo, and other such complimentary things.

            "Ta-dah!" Angela presented in Vanna White fashion.

            "It's for you." Elisa smiled.  "We decided that you need a room of your own and a bed to sleep in.  We put all of your books in that one dresser.  And your computer is out next to Lex's."

            "You guys…" Cassandra smiled, overwhelmed by their kindness.  "Between you all being so nice to me… and Brooklyn…I've never been so happy."

            "Brooklyn?" Angela repeated with a merry twinkle in her eyes. "What's going on between you and Brooklyn?"

            "I'm not sure exactly.  I know that I like him and all.  Hell, I'm all nervous about going to Hamlet with him tomorrow night."

            "A date!" Elisa exclaimed.  "We have to get you ready!"  With that, she sat Cassandra in the vanity chair and rifled through various cosmetics like a seasoned Avon representative. 

            Cassandra looked in the mirror and paled visibly.  Angela stood behind her and slightly to the side so that Cassandra could see her clearly over her own reflection's shoulder.  Brooklyn had once mentioned having a crush on Goliath's daughter, yet another hurt to add to his list, since she loved Broadway.  Looking at Angela now, Cassandra could see why Brooklyn had been, and possibly still was, attracted to her.  She was tall and definitely on the leggy side, with a curvaceous figure and plump breasts.  She had such a sweet face and enviable, raven-black hair.  Angela didn't go around to everyone like Robin Williams on a sarcastic comedy high either… like she did.

            If Brooklyn had once dreamed of having Angela's love, why on earth would he go for her?  She as half human, for God's sake!  Brooklyn wouldn't want an obnoxious, little half-breed for a life-mate.  If Angela was the supermodel of the Gargoyle world, then Cassandra was the high-school nerd.  Brooklyn couldn't love her.

            Why that fact made her heart stop dead with pain, was an even better question.  Unbidden, a single tear slipped its way down Cassandra's golden cheek.  That was followed swiftly by its brethren until she was forced to bow her head into her arms, crying like an abandoned child.

            "Cassandra?  What's wrong?" Elisa asked in startled concern, both she and Angela hovering over the halfling like mother hens.

            "Brooklyn won't care what I look like, why bother?"  Cassandra whimpered brokenly.

            "What are you talking about?" Angela asked, confused.

            "He likes your type, Angela.  You know, sweet, pretty, purebred." She replied tearfully.  "He'll never care about a loud-mouthed baby of a halfling like me."

            "What are you talking about?" Elisa repeated.  "Your part of his clan now, of course he cares about you."

            Cassandra stared blankly into space, dawning realization crossing her petite features although she was barely paying attention to Elisa.  It all made sense!  That's why she was so fluttery around him, so nervous… she was falling in love with him!  Good God, why me?

            "Cassandra, listen to me." Elisa stated after a meaningful look at Angela.  "I've seen how Brooklyn acts around you and I believe that he certainly does care about you.  In fact, I think he likes you.  He's just been hurt before and is reluctant to set himself up for more hurt."

            "He's told me as much… but he won't tell me what happened." Cassandra sighed, resting her elbows on her knees dejectedly.

            "Just unrequited love, as far as I know." Angela supplied.  "Me recently and Maggie."

            "Talon's girlfriend?  Ouch." Cassandra grimaced in sympathy.  "But, I'm so much younger than the rest of you.  He must think me a child… a hatchling, as you say."

            "Then convince him that you're not a baby." Elisa said decisively, rummaging through the cosmetics again.  "You are going to look so gorgeous tomorrow night, Brooklyn won't notice the difference between Hamlet and hamburger."

            "I am?"

            "You are." 

-------

            Are you girls done in there yet?" Brooklyn growled irritably, having already had his fill of teasing from Broadway and Lex about his "hot date".

            Angela and Elisa emerged at last, each one with a huge smiled plastered on her face.  Brooklyn wondered briefly what on earth he'd done to deserve this as he looked expectantly at Cassandra's door.

            "I am not coming out in this thing." Cassandra's voice challenged from within.  "I feel naked, for Heaven's sake!"

            Brooklyn's ears perked up at that.  "C'mon out.  Let's see."

            With an exasperated sigh, Cassandra crept out of her room, clad in an outfit that look suspiciously like one of Angela's, only altered.  It was smaller, to fit Cassandra's frame, and had been dyed black to enhance her skin tone.  It had also been cut into two pieces; the halter-top barely covering enough to deserve the title and the loincloth-like bottom featuring slits on either side that went all the way up to her hips.  The sides of her burnished hair had been pulled back in a French braid, the rest cascading down her back in waves or curling gently around her face in tendrils.

            "Brooklyn… breathe." Elisa grinned, closing his gaping beak with a finger under his chin.

            He tried to do just that and nearly ended up hyperventilating.  Cassandra was just as beautiful as he'd ever imagined, but he'd never quite pictured her this desirable before.

            "Please, say something."  The suspense is killing me." Cassandra pleaded, resisting the impulse to wrap her wings around herself.

            "You-you're beautiful." he managed to say, extremely grateful that, unlike Goliath, he didn't have to carry his date.  If that had been the case, he would've probably crashed into the nearest building.

            Her response was to blush, a deep copper rising to her cheeks to highlight those captivating eyes.  His tail twitched like a cat, the tension in his frame an almost tangible thing.  Trying desperately to keep his hand from trembling, he reached out for her, beckoning her.

            "Let's go." he whispered, fully aware that his voice was suddenly as hoarse as Goliath's.

            With that, he led her outside and dived off of the balcony with her hand enclosed in his.  This time, he didn't yank her arm out of its socket, but gently pulled her along towards the Oakbrook.

            "I mean it, you know." he commented, almost forgetting to watch where he was going as he drank in her beauty for the umpteenth time.

            "Mean what?" she asked.

            "You look gorgeous." he breathed, quite glad that there was no way she could see how aroused he was getting.

            "Thank you." She blushed again, the tip of her wing touching his as if by accident.  That simple touch sent a brief shock of heat through Brooklyn's body, hardening him further.   Jalepenã, he thought once such a thing was plausible.  When we land, I had better stay behind her, or she's going to notice that my loincloth ain't exactly laying flat anymore!

            Cassandra may not have noticed that particular aspect of Brooklyn's dilemma, but that fact that he was unusually silent spoke volumes.  Every time she stole a glance at his face, he would turn his head quickly, as though he didn't want to be caught looking at her.

            "Penny for your thoughts." she smiled, gliding up above him, close enough to run her hand between his shoulder blades, her fingers splayed to the place where his wings joined the rest of his body.

            He tensed and the heat that engulfed his already warm flesh was almost unbearable.  "Cassandra..." he growled in a low, painful voice that made her draw back suddenly.  "Please, don't touch me there."

            "Why?  Did I hurt you?  I don't see how... I was gentle enough." she asked, hurt by his apparent rejection.

            Brooklyn groaned, motioning with a quick tilt of his head that they should land on a building ledge.  He touched down with less grace than usual, Cassandra noted as she landed behind him.  She wanted to place her hands on his back in a gesture of comfort, but refrained, afraid of another rebuke.  Instead, she leaned dispiritedly against the stone wall, her wings cloaking her tightly against the chill, waiting for some sort of explanation.

            Brooklyn hunched over, hands bracing against his knees, trying to control his erratic breathing.  He knew that his response to her touch was not ideal, but when he'd felt her tender fingers rubbing that most sensitive of spots on his body, he'd been nearly unable to control the lust that coursed through him.  Once he was able to speak without sounding like Goliath with a sore throat, he turned to her, dismayed to find diamond tears streaking down her golden cheeks.

            "Cassandra... I'm sorry." he whispered reaching for her hand.  "You didn't hurt me.  You just startled me.  That part of my body is very... vulnerable to touch."

            "What do you mean?" she asked, accepting his answer but curious to know more.  Would touch there on her be as effective?  Or was it merely a purebred gargoyle thing?

            "Here, let me show you." he smiled, opening his arms in a welcoming embrace which she readily accepted.  She could hear his heart beating loud and fast, in an odd triple-beat as opposed to her human double one, and felt his wings wrap around her own. 

            With deliberate slowness, his hands moved along her spine, languidly journeying to where her wings met her back.  She arched back with a shocked gasp, inadvertently pressing her breasts against his chest firmly as a plaintive moan escaped her lips.  Her movements involuntarily pressed her pelvis against his and she realized just how much of an effect she had on him.

            "See what I mean?" he breathed hoarsely.

            "Yes." she replied in a pleasured exhalation of breath, her head still thrown back and her hair caressing the backs of Brooklyn's hands.

            That position allowed Brooklyn an unencumbered view of her barely clad body, particularly the amount of cleavage that the halter top exposed to him.  Her skin shone golden in the starlight and, with one hand still supporting her back, Brooklyn used the other to lightly stroke over her neck, collarbone, and almost to her breasts.  She snapped her head up, her eyes meeting his, midnight black on sky blue.  Her expression was unreadable and Brooklyn drew his hand away from her chest, afraid that he'd frightened her or worse.

            Without any warning whatsoever, she placed her hands on either side of his face and lured his mouth down to hers.  Although the top of his beak was solid, like a bird's, the tip and sides were flexible and soft, like human lips.  Cassandra kissed him innocently at first, a bare brush of her lips against his, but increased her passion hastily.  Before long, she was kissing him deeply, thrusting her tongue into his mouth with fervent intensity.  He responded quickly and heatedly, the hand on her back crushing her against him and the other stealing to her breast.

            A gust of bitter wind startled to two lovers, causing Cassandra to burrow against Brooklyn's chest, seeking shelter from the cold.  He understood her discomfort, despite never experiencing it, and wrapped his wings around her tightly, creating a sort of cocoon for her.

            "We should get going." he suggested reluctantly, aware of how right it felt for Cassandra to be flush against him.  "We're already late."

            "Okay." she nodded against his chest, noting for the first time that his skin felt rather like suede.  "Let's go."

            For the first time in Cassandra's life, seeing a Shakespeare play performed live was the furthest activity from her mind.

--------

            Demona watched the two glide onto the roof of the theater, her tail swinging back and forth like an angry cat's.  She'd seen their passionate encounter earlier and had been hard put to the test not rend them limb from limb right then and there.  How dare he mingle with a dirty halfling like that!  She'd kill both of them now!  When they left the theater, they'd be easy prey, caught up in the spectacle they'd just seen.  Then she would attack and be rid of them for good.

--------

            Brooklyn and Cassandra emerged from the theater, laughing at the antics of the actors they'd seen.  Modern interpretation was right!  The performers had worn casual, every-day garb and made it so easy to understand Shakespeare's difficult prose with their inflections and facial expressions.  Even from the rafters, the two gargoyles had laughed hysterically at times.

            "I never saw Hamlet performed like that before!  That was cool!" Brooklyn exclaimed, glide from roof to roof with Cassandra.

            "We should go see their production of Macbeth next week!" Cassandra agreed.

            "Nah... been there, done that." he grinned, shaking his head and remembering Macbeth's tirade against the play, proclaiming it the Elizabethan version of tabloids.

            "What?  Big, tough Brooklyn is scared of the Weird Sisters or something?" she teased, elbowing him playfully as they landed a few theaters over, somehow reluctant to go back to the castle.

            "Please, don't mention them... every time we do they-" he trailed off as he noticed three women, all lookalikes except for dramatically different hair colors, smiling up at him.  "Show up." he finished, pulling Cassandra away quickly.

            "Hey, let's not go back just yet." Cassandra suggested, tugging him in a different direction.  "Let's hang out for a bit, you know.  People-watch from some building or check out the Statue of Liberty, something like that."

            "Sure.  Let's head for the Ol' Liberty." he agreed, pleased that she wanted to spend more time alone with him.

            As they started off for the huge statue, a laser blast hit Brooklyn square in the back, electrical currents momentarily paralyzing him.  He roared at the shock and pain, before the force of the blast caused him to start falling from the sky. 

            "Brooklyn!" Cassandra screamed, racing after him.  She managed to catch his limp form and barely made it to the nearest rooftop before her strength gave out.  Another blast hit right next to her foot, pinpointing their attacker's location.

            "You!" Cassandra growled at Demona, her eyes starting to glow a bright, blinding blue.  Forgetting that she was smaller, weaker, and basically a novice warrior, she hurled herself at the smug-looking gargoyle with a snarl.  Demona was expecting such a move and easily deflected the pitiful attempt of an assault, using the laser gun she held to knock the little halfling back down to the roof.

            Cassandra dodged the blast that followed; she may have been a pathetic offense player, but defense she was a master at.  Like a jackrabbit fleeing a fox, Cassandra led Demona on a merry chase, flitting from skyscraper to skyscraper.  Demona became angrier and angrier as she hit far more mortar than halfling.

            "That the best you can do, Smurfette?" Cassandra taunted from around the corner of a balcony. 

            "You disgusting, little beast!" Demona snarled, firing off another shot.

            Cassandra disappeared, hiding from Demona's view under a deep ledge.  She could hear Demona land on the very same ledge, searching the skies and surrounding buildings for her.

            "Come on out and fight, coward!" Demona challenged, her voice seething with rage.  Cassandra stayed put; perhaps if she remained hidden, Demona would give up and leave her alone.

            "You know, Brooklyn won't ever care for you.  Once he's had you, he'll push you away like the rubbish you are.  Don't think the rest of his clan will protect you either... they're just playing a little game with you." Demona drawled conversationally.

            Cassandra stiffened, refusing to believe what Demona said, but doubt springing up nonetheless.  Brooklyn had never said or done anything to indicate that he was insincere, why should she believe Demona?  On the other hand, she'd only known Brooklyn and the rest of the clan for a month and half, how did she know?

            "Brooklyn's helpless and vulnerable right now... it would be so easy for me to go back and finish him off.  After all, I've a bone to pick with him.  If you won't fight, then I'll go do that." Demona thought aloud.

            "No!" something in Cassandra snapped, propelling her out from under the ledge and yanking Demona's ankles out from under her.  "You won't touch him!  You leave him alone you conniving bitch!"  Still shrieking like a maniac, Cassandra flung the startled Demona against the opposite tower, aiming so that her back hit the ledge.  Eyes glowing like blue beacons, and screaming like an enraged cougar, Cassandra lunged for Demona, clawing and kicking at her with her talons.  Before Demona even had the chance to fire another shot from the laser gun, Cassandra ripped it from her hands and threw it, only vaguely hearing it land on another rooftop. 

            With a primal roar, Demona leapt at the young halfling, gripping her throat and choking the breath out of her.  Cassandra clawed ineffectually at Demona's hands, desperately attempting to wrench her away, but Demona held fast.

            "You are a disgrace to all gargoyles, young one." Demona sneered, knowing that there was little chance of the halfling releasing herself.  "You are an abomination!  The proof of a union between a gargoyle and an inferior human!  I swear that I will destroy you and any others like you!"

            "You have to deal with us first!" a familiar voice bellowed behind Demona. 

            To Cassandra's great relief, she recognized the shadows of Broadway, Lexington, and Goliath bearing down on Demona.  The renegade gargoyle's grip loosened, allowing Cassandra the opportunity to swing back and kick her full in the stomach, finally free of her grasp.  Both females thought of the same thing at once and raced for the laser gun at top speed; Cassandra was faster and smaller, but Demona was stronger.  The blue gargoyle reached the gun first, grabbing it by the barrel.  Cassandra was hot on her heels, catching the trigger end of it.

            "Let go, you half-breed!" Demona snarled, trying to pull the gun away from Cassandra.

            "And let you shoot me and my friends?  I don't think so?  What sort of moron do you think I am?" Cassandra grunted, all of her energy focused on holding the gun tight without pulling the trigger.

            "Cassandra!  Be careful with that thing!" Lex shouted as they landed behind her.

            That distraction was enough for Demona to swipe Cassandra's feet out from under her with her tail.  The halfling landed painfully on her back, a sickening snap and excruciating pain announcing a newly broken wing.  Barely having time to register that fact, Cassandra found herself being hoisted up by the neck and dangled perilously over the edge of the building, at least twelve stories up.

            "Stop right there." Demona demanded, presumably to Goliath and the others.  "Her left wing is broken, there's no way she can glide.  If I drop her, she'll fall to her death."

            Cassandra chose that moment to try and shake her head.  Don't risk your lives for me!  It's only me she wants to kill!  Demona's grip kept her from voicing such thoughts.  Not being mind-readers, Goliath and his two cohorts backed away from Demona a step or two, their faces betraying only a little of their concern.

            "Demona, your battle is with us... not with a helpless child." Goliath growled, threat obvious in his tone.

            "That's where you're the one who's mistaken.  I have no quarrel with you this time... only with this loathsome halfling." Demona sneered. 

            Silently thanking Goliath for distracting Demona, Cassandra whipped her tail out, knocking the laser gun from Demona's hands and sending it crashing to the street below.  She was rewarded by a tightening around her throat, cutting off her air supply completely and the jarring sensation of Demona shaking her in fury.  Blackness born of pain and lack of air closed in quickly, her last coherent perception that of suddenly being tossed like a used gum wrapper.

--------

Brooklyn lunged for his enemy, ignoring the slight feeling of disorientation from the laser blast he'd received.  All he knew was that Demona was dangling his Cassie over the edge of a building, her wing twisted at such an angle that it had to be broken.  His enraged roar alerted Demona to his attack.  With smug contempt, she forcefully threw the unconscious halfling towards the pavement at a startling speed.

            "No!" Brooklyn thundered, diving for Cassandra's limp form as the others attacked Demona all at once.  He caught her a mere single story from hitting the street below and quickly snared an updraft back up.  She was breathing and he could feel her heart beating steadily.  Thank the gods, she was still alive!  Careful of her broken wing, he secured her on a wide building ledge and sped over to the three-to-one battle.

            Without her laser gun and outnumbered, Demona fought only for a short while before dashing off with a banshee-like howl of outrage.  However, she had certainly left her mark, what with Cassandra's broken wing and bruised neck, Lexington's slashed arm, and Brooklyn's black eye. 

            Still beyond angry, Brooklyn started to give chase.  "Come back here you psychopathic Smurf!" he roared at her departing shadow.  Goliath's heavy hand restrained him from jumping off of the roof after her.

            "Enough.  She is gone." he growled.

            "Cassie!" Brooklyn suddenly remembered, sprinting for the ledge and returning a split second later with her motionless form in his arms.  Her wing was painfully exposed, the delicate bones breaking through her golden flesh and sending trickles of blood down the webbing.  Purple bruises were starting to grow on her throat and several nasty claw marks were also bleeding.

            "Is she alright?" Broadway asked, rushing over with others in concern.  Even Goliath paled a little at the extent of her wounds, the amount of blood she certainly lost, and the knowledge that she had no advantage of stone sleep. 

            "I don't know." Brooklyn panted, both with worry and physical exertion.  "She's still breathing, but it's kind of weak."

            "We've got to get her back to the castle.  It'll be sunrise soon and Xanatos might be able to come up with something.  Maybe he'll get a private doctor to set her wing.  I mean, it's not like we can stroll her into the ER." Lexington suggested.

            "Are you able to carry her, Brooklyn?  Or shall I?" Goliath asked, knowing that his second-in-command was undoubtedly weak himself.

            "I'll do it.  She's not heavy." he replied, already gathering her into his arms.

--------

            Xanatos sighed as he stared at the computer printouts of his companies' annual grosses.  No rest for the weary, especially not the rich and weary.  He could use a diversion that had nothing to do with business right now.

            As if on cue, Lexington sped into he room on all fours, a worried expression on his face.  "We need a doctor!" he shouted.

            "A doctor?" Xanatos repeated.  "What happened to the 'concrete cure-all'?"

            "It's not for one of us... it's for Cassie.  She's a halfling, so she doesn't turn to stone during the day." Lex explained.  "Her wing's broken and she's unconscious."

            "Calm down.  I'll send Owen in to stabilize her and get a doctor who can remain silent here ASAP." Xanatos nodded, making a mental note never to wish for diversions again.

-------

            Brooklyn paced frantically while the doctor and Owen worked on Cassandra's damaged wing, oblivious to the six pairs of eyes watching him; Goliath, Broadway, Hudson, Lexington, Angela, and even Bronx were puzzled by his apparent fury over these events.

            "Hey, calm down." Broadway tried to console his brother.  "Demona's gotten the drop on all of us at least once before.  There was no way you could've known about her attack."

            "I don't care about Demona!  She can elope to Tahiti with Macbeth, for all I care!  That's my Cassie... Cassie in there with a crippled wing!  I just don't like seeing her - anybody- hurting!" he yelled, hoping that his two slips wouldn't be noticed.

            "Hey, guys!" Elisa's voice rang out as she entered.  "Xanatos called me and told me what happened.  Is she okay?"

            "We are not sure yet.  The doctor is in with her now." Goliath replied, his eyes never leaving his distraught second-in-command's pacing form.

            "Brooklyn, are you alright?  You look like you've glided through hell and back." Elisa asked after following Goliath's line of sight.

            "Fine.  I'm just a little concerned!  Is that okay with everyone?" Brooklyn growled rudely, shouldering away.

            Goliath growled deep in his throat, angered by Brooklyn insensitivity.

            "No, Goliath." Elisa shook her head, leading the large gargoyle away.  "He's just very upset.  Doesn't he remind you of someone else right now?"

            "What do you mean?" he inquired.

            "Think about how you feel whenever I fall off a building or get shot." she explained           

            "You mean..?"

            "Yup."

            "Brooklyn is..?"

            "Uh-huh."

            "Jalepenã..." Goliath sighed.  Brooklyn in love again?

            "Welcome to the wonderful world of lovesick teenagers."

            At that moment, Owen and the doctor emerged from Cassie's room, both looking rather tired.

            "She's stable, although that was a nasty break and hollow bones are not very easy to set.  Given that she most likely has a faster healing rate than a human, she should be back to gliding within two or three months.  Until then, however, you'll have to seriously restrict any and all combat lessons.  She's been quite badly beaten, as I'm sure you know." Owen announced, leading the doctor to the door quickly.

            "But will she be alright?  Will she recover?" Brooklyn all but pounced on Owen.

            "She should return to her normal, charming state soon enough.  Now, if you'll excuse me." he raised an eyebrow at Brooklyn's anxiety and left without further comment.

            Before he was even completely out the door, Brooklyn had already dashed into Cassandra's room and was kneeling by her bedside.  She lay on her stomach, one wing half folded in a thin cast around the bony part.  The blood had been cleaned from her skin and hair, but she was still a little pale and her breathing shallow.

            "Cassie?" Brooklyn whispered, stroking her hair gently.

            She moaned softly, slowly coming out of her anesthesia-induced sleep.  "Brooklyn?" she managed to say, turning her head towards the sound of his voice.  "Did anyone get the license number of that eighteen-wheeler that hit me?"

            "You mean the demented Smurf." Brooklyn smiled, satisfied that if she was cracking jokes, she would be okay.

            "Yeah, her too.  She hasn't gotten sucked into a jet engine yet, huh?" she groaned as the numbing medicine wore off.  "What happened?  Is anyone hurt?"

            "No one except you.  Hey, stay down." he insisted as she tried to raise to her hands and knees.

            "Hey, I'm fine.  It's just a broken-" she cringed as a wave of excruciating pain shot through her.  "Good morning, Vietnam... maybe not."

            "Just rest, Cassie.  You got knocked around quite alot tonight.  And Demona is not something you recover from quickly." Brooklyn whispered, helping her settle onto her side, with the injured wing supported by the bed.

            "No, no...I want to get up.  I need to see if anything else is damaged." she asserted, sitting up without pain this time.

            Brooklyn relented, content to help her get to her feet and hobble to the door.

            "Hey, everyone." she smiled wanly at the rest of the clan, determined not to let her pain show on her face.

            "Cassandra!" they all exclaimed, rushing forward as if she were about to keel over.

            "Lass, ye shouldn't be up!" Hudson said, general agreement ensuing.

            "I'm fine , really.  Is everyone else alright?" Cassandra asked, skimming over them all for injuries.

            "Lex, c'mere.  I should tend to the scratch on your arm." she beckoned the little gargoyle forward.

            "Scratch?" he repeated, glancing at the bleeding wound.  "I didn't even notice it."

            "Well, I did." Cassie replied, fetching some gauze and ointment from her room.  "Goliath, you too.  You seem to have a nasty scratch too."

            "It is nothing.  The sun will rise soon." he shook his head.

            "What does that have to do with anything?"

            "Sleep heals all wounds and rejuvenates us."

            "Really?  That's incredible." she wondered aloud, a small wave of pain spreading through her wing.  "Wish I could do that."

            "So do I." Brooklyn whispered under his breath.

--------

            True to Owen's assumption, Cassandra's wing healed quickly and she was back to most of her old tricks within three months.  She could glide with the cast, albeit not as cleverly as without.  There would be no happier gargoyle on earth once Goliath pronounced her capable of resuming her patrols with Brooklyn.  However, as it stood, he had restricted her activities to Hudson's sword-fighting and only short patrols with the entire clan.

            All in all, she found the art of being cared for flattering and slightly distressing all at once.  Living alone for all of the ten years since escaping the laboratories, she had learned how to take care of herself.  Now she was all but showered with love and attention from the entire clan and even the Xanatoses.  Alex worshipped the ground she walked on ever since she'd used her "resting" time to draw him every Disney character he'd ever seen.  Xanatos was even investigating the labs she'd escaped from to see if they were still looking for her.  Hudson had let her steal his TV in order to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, despite the fact that he hated that show.  Bronx spent many a nap next to her bed having his ear scratched, quite pleased that someone was giving him attention. 

            Brooklyn treated her like she was suddenly made of glass, which could break at any second with one wrong touch.  Contrary to the consideration she felt sure that he thought he was conveying, it was driving her insane!  She couldn't stop thinking about their passionate embrace before seeing Hamlet, nor could she forget what Demona had said to her. 

            Disgusting... an abomination... loathsome halfling... disgrace to all gargoyles...  What if she was right?  What if Brooklyn had only kissed her because he felt sorry for her?  What if he really was going to drop her once he'd seduced her.  Not that he'd have to seduce you... you fall on your back for him in a micro-second and you know it, chickie. she told herself cynically as she helped Fox and Elisa wrap Christmas presents.

            Cassandra sighed audibly, gaining Elisa's attention.

            "What's wrong, Cass?  Holiday blues?" she asked, pausing in the act of wrapping a white Furby in holly-speckled paper.

            "Not exactly, Elisa." Cassandra shrugged.  "Demona said something to me... and it's been getting to me alot lately."

            "Never believe what she says to you.  She's the queen of mind play." Elisa suggested, taking Cassandra's wrapped package and handing her another Furby.

            "What the hell are these things?  They look like Mowgais with beaks." Cassandra frowned at the toy.

            "They're called Furbies... this year's hot toy.  Think of them as really advanced GigaPets." Fox sighed.  "David decided he didn't want to wait in line at the toy store for them, so he bought them off of the Internet for $100 each."

            "Why so many?  Alex only needs one, doesn't he?" Elisa asked

            "Only one is for Alex, everybody gets one... even you two." Fox answered with a smile.  "I think David has two set aside for him and me as well."

            "How romantic." Cassie giggled, determined to forget Demona's harsh words.  "How long until Christmas, anyway?"

            "A week and a half." Fox sighed.  "I don't know how I'm going to get everything ready for our annual party."

            "Party?  What party?" Cassandra asked excitedly.

            "Every Christmas Eve, they have a huge party for all of the gargoyles and their friends.  Macbeth wouldn't miss it for all the world.  Talon and his clan and the clones will be here too.  Anyone whose friends with the guys will be here.  By some miracle, Coldstone and Coldfire may show up." Elisa listed happily.

            "Wow.  Talk about your extended family." Cassandra grinned.  "If you need some help, Fox... I'd be glad to."

            "Thanks... I hate to admit it, but I could use some help.  This is sort of your debut, as well.  You'll get to meet everyone, as I'm sure they'll be dying to meet the world's only known halfling." Fox nodded.

            "Should we be charging admission for this?" Cassandra grinned wryly.

            The other two women laughed good-naturedly at her quip.  As their laughter died down, they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

            "Who is it?" Elisa called, quickly throwing a huge Bloomingdales' bag over the rest of the presents.

            "It's Broadway.  It's nearly sunrise." he called from behind the door, opening it only a crack.

            Cassandra pushed the door against him with her tail.  "Get out!  We're wrapping presents, you snoop!"

            "We'll be right out." Elisa called, laughing at Cassie's parent-like protest.  "Are we done, Fox?"

            "For now.  If I know David, he'll be shopping more today and there'll be a new pile for us to wrap tonight." Fox sighed.

            "In that case, I'll join you later." Cassie said to Fox, following Elisa out.

--------

            Elisa and Cassandra looked past their statuesque friends, neither one daring to voice what they each were surely thinking.  Cassandra was the first to break the deafening silence of the early December morning.

            "So… you ever wonder?" she asked with a speculative glance between Elisa and the frozen Goliath.

            "Wonder what?" Elisa prompted carefully.

            "What they look like under those loincloths, especially at moments like these when they're asleep and they'll never know." she shrugged.

            "No." Elisa lied quickly, flushing at the prospect.

            "I'm going to look."

            "No, you're not."

            "Who should I peak at first?"

            "No one!  Get back here!"

            "I can see it now… a PlayGoyle exclusive, the Goliath Chronicles."

            "Stop right there."

            Too late.  Cassandra was already wedging her lithe, little body between Goliath's feet, still favoring her healing wing.  Elisa glanced up at the security camera, very grateful that its little red light was off.  "Get out from under there, this instant!" she whispered urgently.

            "Whew!  Elisa, you are a very lucky woman." Cassandra commented slyly, with raised eyebrows.

            "What?  Why?" Elisa couldn't help but ask, taking an involuntary few steps forward.

            "Now I know why he's called Goliath." she smirked.

            "That's it!  Move!  Let me under there." Elisa relented, never seeing the video camera's light start to blink rapidly.

            In Xanatos' office, Fox rifled through Christmas cards, reading over them with an air of bored contempt.  Her eyes briefly flitted to the many monitors set up, then returned to the papers.  With a startled, little yelp, she dropped the envelopes and cards and looked carefully at one monitor in particular.  On the screen, Elisa Maza and little Cassandra, were snaking their way underneath the other gargoyles, quite obviously looking up their loincloths and enjoying themselves immensely according to their smiles and laughter.

            "I always wanted to do that, too." she commented, a little sorry that there was no tape recording this incident.

            "Do what?" David Xanatos entered with more packages for Christmas in his arms.

            "That, dear." she pointed at the balcony monitor with a grin, which turned into an outright laugh as Xanatos' jaw promptly dropped several inches.

            "I think some one should tell them that they're on candid camera." he shook his head, suppressing laughter himself.

            "I think so too… send Owen out."

            Back outside, Cassandra had extracted herself from under Goliath and was now resting comfortably under Brooklyn.  "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph… all the saints preserve us." she commented rather breathlessly.  "I'm never going to be able to read the term 'rock hard' in a romance novel again."

            "Me neither." Elisa agreed.  "Why do I feel like some sort of way-out wacko?" she asked, her smile dispelling her verbal unease.

            "Because you're gawking at a statue's unmentionables.  Anyone doing that is either a pervert… or an art critic." Cassandra grinned.

            "Art critic has my vote." Elisa giggled.

            "Mine too.  He has fine form, a well-sculpted physique, and is quite life-like; reminiscent of the Renaissance.  Wouldn't you agree, detective?" Cassandra assumed a slightly nasal, upper class voice, much like the art critic for the New York Times.

            "Oh, yes." Elisa agreed. "The sheer magnitude of these masterpieces is astounding.  Everyone should have one in their home."

            "Ladies."

            Both Cassandra and Elisa bolted upright immediately, each banging their head on a stone thigh or tail respectively.  Owen simply looked at them with one eyebrow raised in question.

            "Ow!" both women yelled.  "What?"

            "Mr. Xanatos asked me to inform you that the security cameras are back online." he said emotionlessly.  Also, he wants you to know that he was not recording out here."

With that said, he walked away.

            Elisa's gaze wandered to the smug little camera, her horrified eyes wide with mortification. "Oh, my God…"

            Cassandra, on the other hand, giggled uncontrollably, still rubbing her forehead.  "Oh, man!  That must have sent Xanatos for a loop!  What a sight!"

            Elisa grinned, satisfied that it hadn't been taped at least.  "Not as a good a sight as we got!"

            "Wanna look again?" Cassandra wiggled her eyebrows evilly.

            "Race you!" Elisa challenged before dashing back to her former position.

            That evening, the two women were barely able to control their giggles of embarrassment whenever they tried to look one of the guys in the eyes.  The gargoyles couldn't understand what on earth had gotten into them.

            "What is wrong with you two?" Lexington grumbled after they refused to tell him why he had nothing to worry about.  "Too much time in the sun?"

            "No, we spent most of the day in the shade." Cassandra grinned impishly, looking for all the world like a female puck with wings.  Elisa went into conniptions, nearly falling off of the couch. 

            "What did you do today?" Goliath asked, just as perplexed as everyone else.

            "Nothing much." Elisa managed through her laughter.  "Just some art critiquing."

            Cassandra nearly choked.

--------

            By Christmas Eve, Cassandra's wing was fully healed, snow was falling gently all over New York City, and anyone not in stone sleep was helping decorate the castle to the nines.  Christmas classics boomed over the stereo system, accented by Cassie's sweet soprano singing along with Fox's smoky alto.

 

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Fa la la la la la la la la

'Tis the season to be jolly

Fa la la la la la la la la

 

            "Sing it, Cassie!" Elisa cried, pleased that the little halfling was starting to feel more at home with the clan.  She had always been able to crack jokes, which was probably more of her defense mechanism, but recently she'd been able to show affection for the others.  She'd given Angela some clean love advice, helped Broadway plan a menu for Christmas dinner, played computer games with Lexington, read with Goliath, watched Touched by an Angel with Hudson, and played countless games of tug o' war with Bronx.

            All this and yet, she was tense and jittery around Brooklyn.  It was plain to Elisa's detective's senses that Brooklyn was very much falling in love with Cassie.  Now, Elisa was beginning to suspect that Cassandra was just as quickly falling for him.

            Cassie smiled and began singing with more gusto and vibrato until she ended up sounding like a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Elisa tried to reach up to those standards of vocal prowess, but had to be content with being Miss Piggy's stunt double.  Fox laughed so hard that she nearly fell off of her ladder while hanging garlands of real pine.

            "Ladies, there are cookies and cider in the kitchen, should any of you feel hungry." Owen entered briefly, apparently unimpressed by their antics.

            "Thanks, Owen." Fox acknowledged, her gaze suddenly falling on a recently hung decoration.  "Hey, Owen… you're standing under the mistletoe!"

            He glanced upwards only to find that she was correct.  A sarcastic "Splendid." Was his only reply.

            "Cassie, you're the closest." Elisa nudged the halfling on.

            "Oh fine." Cassandra smiled, strutting over to Owen.  "C'mon, Owen… lighten up a little.  It is Christmas, you know."  With that said, she rose on tiptoes and kissed Owen chastely on the lips, secretly hoping that Brooklyn would stand under the mistletoe later.  Owen stood back a step, a slight blush clear in his cheeks.

            Elisa and Fox both burst into applause, laughing at poor Owen's agitation.  "Way to go, Cass!" Elisa shouted, with a wolf whistle following.

            "I should go see if Mr. Xanatos needs anything done." Owen said with as much dignity as he could muster, looking slightly disheveled for the first time in Cassandra's career with the clan.

            "Looks like you got him good, Cassie." Fox congratulated her.  "I still say that we have got to get him drunk at some point."

            Distant roars filled the air for a split second, even over the music, catching Cassie's attention instantly.  "Sounds like the others are awake.  Shall we, Elisa?" she smiled, her heart skipping a beat briefly at the thought of seeing Brooklyn again.

            "Sure.  Let's go wish them a good evening and merry Christmas." Elisa nodded, fetching her jacket.

            "Merry Christmas!" both women called happily as they came out onto the balcony.  Cassandra immediately began singing It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year and dancing with poor, stumped Lex. 

            "Woah, somebody's redefining Christmas Spirit here." he commented with a chuckle once she released him.

            "I've never had a Christmas before… aren't I entitled to some child-like excitement?" Cassandra asked, stretching her wings out, pleased that her one wing no longer caused her any pain.

            "Of course you are." Brooklyn nodded, smiling at her indulgently and momentarily turning her mind to mush.

            "C'mon, guys.  We're almost done decorating and we girls still have to get dressed for the party.  Talon and his clan should be here soon, too.  Look lively." Elisa grinned, herding Cassandra and Angela both towards Cassie's room.

            "Dressed?" Angela repeated once they were inside.  "We are dressed."

            "This is a party, Angela… we've got to look extra special." Cassie all but dove into her closet for the clothing she and Elisa had picked out from the wonderful world of catalogues.  "Besides, think of Broadway's reaction when he sees you in… this."

            Elisa held out a very short dress of black velvet, featuring a halter-like top that revealed far more than it concealed.  Angela stared at the sexy garment as if it would bite her for a second, then broke into a wide grin.  "The poor boy's eyes will fall out of his head."

            "That's the point.  What will Goliath think of me in this?" Elisa asked, holding a very short, black dress of the same material up against herself.  This one was the traditional tank dress style, but so short that it just barely covered all necessities and had such a deep neckline that Madonna would've gawked.

            "Wow.  You brought out the heavy artillery."  Cassandra wiped her brow.  "Goliath's going to flip over that one."

            "No more than Brooklyn's going to flip over you in this one!" Elisa winked at her, digging out the brand-new dress for Cassie.

            "Gee, I hope he likes black velvet." Cassandra smiled evilly, picturing her beloved's face when he saw her in the low-cut, strapless, figure-hugging outfit.  "He won't remember his own name."

            "Damn straight." Elisa laughed, changing quickly.  "Looks like we're the black velvet triplets tonight."

            "Quadruplets." Fox's voice called from the doorway, indicating her full-length gown of black velvet with accents of turquoise-blue satin.

            "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph." Cassie winked.  "We are going to knock them all dead."

            "Well, if any of them fall off of the building, Cassie and Angela will have to save them." Fox smiled.

--------

            Elisa peeked her head around the corner, glancing briefly into the main ballroom of the party.  Perfect, pretty much everyone had arrived.  Cassandra hid behind her, shaking both with fear and cold.  The dress was substantially more revealing than it had appeared on the hanger, little more than a bustier with a short, attached skirt.  The fact that she was terrified of her impression on the gargoyles' friends didn't help matters.  She couldn't recall ever being so nervous in her life.

            "Looks like word spreads quickly." Elisa commented.  "Everyone's waiting for you."

            "Elisa... I'm scared." Cassandra blurted out, her trembles growing worse.

            "Scared?  Why?" Elisa asked, turning to the young halfling in concern.

            "What if they think I'm a freak?  I belong neither to the human world, nor the gargoyle one.  Demona said that I'm a disgrace and an abomination.  What if they all think so too?" her doubts came rushing out of her mouth in a flood.

            "Calm down, Cass." Elisa shushed her soothingly, giving her a hug.  "Look, first of all, Demona is your basic lunatic.  She'll say anything to hurt you, so never listen to her.  Secondly, you know that the clan loves you.  Their friends will love you too."

            "But Elisa... if just one person decides to hate me, then they might convince Goliath and the others to feel the same.  If it came to a contest between my word and one of their older friends, who do you think will win?" Cassie worried, wringing her hands.

            "Now, you stop that.  You know better.  They would never reject you like that.  Besides, Brooklyn would give his left arm to keep you safe and happy." Elisa stood with her arms crossed in her traditional power stance.

            Cassandra sighed, still shaking a little.  "If you say so.  Can we get this over with, please?  The suspense is killing me."

            "Certainly.  Let's go." Elisa smiled, leading the tense gargoyle out into the crowds of partiers.   Cassandra repressed the urge to cross herself as everyone in the ballroom turned to look at her.  It seemed as though the entire world, rather than all of the room, was scrutinizing her.

            "Cassandra." Goliath saved her from her paralyzing stage fright, taking her hand and leading her over to a slightly odd-looking threesome.  "Since you seem to adore most of Shakespeare's works, I'd like you to meet Macbeth."

            "Good evening, Cassandra." Macbeth dutifully rescued Cassie from her sudden inability to form words. "Goliath's told me a lot about ye."

            "All complimentary, I hope, sir." she smiled, finally able to shake his hand.  She was only a little surprised when, instead of shaking her hand in reciprocation, the immortal Scotsman kissed it instead.

            "Certainly… and I'm pleased to meet ye." he smiled back at her with what she believed was practiced charm.

            "Let me guess, you want to tell me that Shakespeare's tale was all wrong." she grinned up at him without a hint of her usual sarcasm.

            Macbeth laughed, sending Goliath a bemused expression.  "They've all warned ye about me, eh?"

            "Vehemently, sir… but tell me anyway." Cassie pulled him aside to sit on a couch with her.

            In a nutshell, Cassandra was a hit with everyone present at the party.  Macbeth especially was fond of her, finding her quite the apt pupil of his true story.  Coldstone and Cold fire were surprised and pleased at her easy acceptance of his cyber-form.  Even Xanatos coaxed a dance out of her.

            At some point during the evening, Elisa pulled her aside, beckoning a pack of strange-looking gargoyles over.  "Cass, I'd like you to meet my brother, the resident furball, Derek/Talon, and his clan, Maggie, Claw, and the mutates."

            "Pleased to meet you, Cassandra." Talon nodded.

            "Pleasure's all mine." she grinned, shaking his hand and turning to face Maggie.  She remembered that Angela had said that Brooklyn once had a crush on her as well.  With good reason, apparently!  She was about as tall as Elisa and looked generally like a lithe, golden-furred lioness with long hair of dark gold.  Even her eyes were leonine, a coppery orange with a slit for a pupil.  Although somewhat unusual, she was undeniably gorgeous!  Against her will, Cassandra mentally congratulated Brooklyn on his excellent taste in females.  At the same time, a wave of inferiority washed over her; with his track record, why would he ever consider her?

            "You friend?" a rough, but vaguely familiar voice asked behind her.

            Cassie turned and immediately jumped back in surprise.  There stood a complete replica of Goliath's clan; the negative film, to say the least, but Goliath's clan nonetheless!  The one who had called her looked exactly like Brooklyn, only he was an aqua-blue color with similarly green hair. 

            "Uh… yes.  I'm a friend.  My name's Cassandra." she managed to compute and answer his question.  "And you all are..?"

            "These are the mutates.  Thailog and Demona cloned all of them from the guys." Elisa supplied.  "Brentwood, Malibu, Hollywood, Burbank, and Delilah."

            "Um, Elisa… are you aware that… Delilah..?" Cassandra took a good look at the female for the first time.

            "Yes.  Thailog cloned her from both me and Demona." Elisa whispered.

"Wow.  Twilight Zone city." Cassandra whispered to herself. 

            "Tell me about it.  But, be nice to them… Talon was nice enough to take them in since Thailog disappeared."

            "Attention everyone!" Xanatos' voice boomed over the din, sounding like a commander on a ship.  The crowd quieted slowly and Elisa pulled Cassandra to Xanatos' side. 

            "Ah, good.  Here she is." he noted her presence, winking at her.  "For those of you who have not yet met our debutante, here she is.  Cassandra!"

            She wanted to sink into the floor at the title debutante, but forced herself to remain solid and smile at the curious on-lookers.  "Of course, you realize that I'm going to have to kill you in your sleep now." she whispered to Xanatos through her teeth.

            "You have to find a time when I actually do sleep first." he whispered back.  "Enough gawking!  Eat, drink, and be merry, people!" he yelled to the guests.

            "Gotcha covered there!" Cassie heard Broadway's voice call from the side.  Immensely grateful to hear a familiar voice, she released herself from Xanatos' side and all but ran to Broadway's.

            "Hey, buddy.  Gonna share?" she asked sweetly, eyeing the very tempting gingerbread cookies he had on his plate.

            "Sure thing." he grinned, offering her the choice.  She took only one cookie, thinking that the last thing she needed was to get fat as well.

            "Where are the others?  I feel like I'm all alone in a room full of strangers here." she asked, nibbling on the cookie daintily.

            "They're about somewhere.  Lex is probably pestering Reynard.  Goliath's with Elisa.  Angela's with Griff and Arthur.  Hudson's rehashing things with Macbeth, either that or he dragged him into one of those games of chess.  Brooklyn's probably flirting with anything female." Broadway shrugged.

            "Thanks." Cassie nodded before taking off to find said friends.  She found Brooklyn milling in a doorway, basically watching the festivities.

            "Hey, Red." she greeted him softly, fully aware that she was virtually naked in front of him yet again.

            He turned to look at her, the wine he was drinking nearly going down the wrong tube.  Sputtering slightly, he grinned at her.  "A little overwhelmed, huh?"

            "I'll say." she nodded.  "I feel like I'm under a microscope."

            "Ah, don't worry.  Looks like every loves you so far." he commented, his gaze accidentally falling on Maggie and Talon.  Cassandra followed his line of sight and her heart dropped into her stomach.

            "Do you still feel that way about Maggie?" she asked quietly.

            "What?  How'd you know about that?" he demanded, setting his glass down.

            "Angela told me.  She said you had a crush on her too." Cassandra confessed a little uneasily.  "Are you still a little sad over these things?"

            "No.  Well, maybe a little.  But I'm over it.  Maggie's happy with Talon and Angela's happy with Broadway.  I'm not about to make anything complicated." he answered, just as uncomfortably. 

            A nice, long stretch of apprehensive silence followed, during which neither gargoyle could even look at the other.  The music changed abruptly, switching from a swingy Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree with Xanatos singing lead, to a waltz-ified instrumental of Silver Bells.  Elisa popped up out of nowhere, smiling happily.

            "C'mon, you two!  Let's all dance.  There has to be more than two couples out on the floor." she tugged at their shoulders.

            "Dance?  With all of these people around?" Brooklyn cocked an eyebrow at her skeptically.  "No way.  Not me.  No how."

            "I can't dance... I.. um..." Cassandra searched for a probable excuse.  "I have a cookie!"

            "Cass, put down the cookie.  Brooklyn, lose the wine.  You're both dancing. Now."  Elisa ordered in her best officer of the law voice.

            Resigned to fate, Cassie looked for someplace to put her cookie that wouldn't result in a disdainful frown from Owen.  Finding none, she turned back to Brooklyn, her face splitting into a grin.

            "Hey, Red!" she chirped, stamping on his foot hard.  In classic, cartoon fashion, Brooklyn yelped in pain, his beak opening wide enough for Cassandra to stuff the cookie in.  "Enjoy!" she smirked as he sent her the death look while choking and coughing, Elisa all but rolling on the floor with laughter.

            "No more Animaniacs for you either!" he yelled once he was able, then turned to Goliath. "Did you see what she just did to me?!"

            "Yes." Goliath replied. just barely maintaining his composure, a slight smile tugging at his lips nonetheless.  "I am surprised that none of the others ever thought of that before."

            "Oh, you're a big help." Brooklyn mumbled as Cassie led him to the dance floor.  "Let's get this over with."

            "Thanks a lump, Red.  I love you too." Cassie mumbled, praying that her raging hormones wouldn't kick into hyper-drive while they were on the dance floor.

            "Well... I didn't mean that." he fumbled, blushing a deep maroon color.  "It's just I... I.. don't know how to dance."

            Cassandra stopped and looked at him curiously.  "You don't know how to dance?"

            "No." he shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other.  "I never had the... opportunity to dance with anyone before... you know?"

            "Oh, well... it's not that difficult.  You just count the beat.  One-two-three, one-two-three.  Got it?" she smiled gently, positioning his hands, one in her hand and one at her waist.

            "How do I know which way to go?" he asked, a small gleam of fear in his eyes.

            "You don't.  I just follow you." she shrugged, indicating Elisa and Goliath as they danced past, completely oblivious to everyone else in the room.  "Besides," she grinned.  "I stepped on your foot already, so it won't matter if you step on mine."

            A sly grin spread across his face as those words sank in.  "Really?  Well, in that case…" he raised one foot in anticipation of slamming it down on Cassie's.

            "Woah!  Hey!" she yelped, jumping back away from him.  "Accident! Accident!  Look it up!"

            "Just kidding." he shrugged innocently.  "Teach away, O Lordess of the Dance."

            "I shall teach ye the Irish jig later, boyo.  Right now, we waltz." Cassie quipped in her best Irish accent, which was pretty good since she was an Irish native.

            His first attempts were less than stellar, but he caught on quickly and was soon more concerned with looking at Cassandra than with looking at his own feet.  She was smiling happily and he could feel his own spirits rise with her enthusiasm; she was so beautiful in his arms.  He could almost believe that they were mates, what with the way she rested easily in his intimate embrace. 

            Stop that right now, dumb-ass. he sternly told himself, trying to concentrate on his steps and not on Cassie's dress... or lack thereof.  However, the fact that his loincloth wasn't the most concealing garment in the world either didn't exactly help matters much.  Unbidden, the memory of their kisses and embraces before seeing Hamlet enforced itself upon his mind.  Her innocent touch against his shoulder blades, the feel of her body pressed against his, the way that she has taken the initiative and kissed him, everything served to arouse him despite his resolve not to become so.

            "Cassie..." he breathed, wondering whether he actually dared to go on.  "Do you remember the night when Demona attacked us and broke your wing?"

            "Yes." she replied softly, suddenly deathly afraid of where he might be going with this conversation.

            "Do you remember what happened before we got to the theater?" he asked, his voice hushed and hoarse all at once.

            "Say no more." she cut him off, deciding to beat him to the chase and save herself the humiliation.  "That should have never happened.  I was forward and assuming and it was very considerate of you not to dash me off of the roof for being so.  But, please, say no more... I promise it won't happen again.  I won't even mention it." 

            Brooklyn was silent for a moment, pondering her panicked words.  She thought that she was being forward?  She thought that I was offended?  Jalepenã... I can't win can I?

            "Cassandra, that's not what I was going to say." he said carefully, aware that she was nervous on this subject.  "I wasn't put off by anything you did.  In fact, I... I..."

            "Brooklyn, no..." she whimpered, backing away from him slowly.  "I don't want to do this."

            "Do what?  I-" he began.

            "No!" she cried out, turning on her heel and running from the room, not even stopping to apologize to those she bumped into.  No one saw the tears that started to stream down her cheeks.

            It was like a nightmare; everyone in the ballroom stopped and turned to look at Brooklyn, some gazes mildly accusing, a few concerned.  Even the music seemed to have stopped abruptly with Cassie's dramatic exit.  The pitying stares of his clan didn't hurt him so much, it was the reproachful looks from most (if not all) of the females in the room.  Reacting like any jilted, would-be lover, he bolted from the room in the opposite direction.          

            Elisa looked between the two doorways across the room, trying desperately to decide which lovesick teen to go after first.  With a quick look at Goliath to explain her leaving, she swiftly found Angela and sent her after Cassandra.  She assigned herself to the mission of first finding and then comforting Brooklyn.

            Surprisingly, she found him in the first place she looked, up on one of the parapets, gazing out at the Christmas Eve sky with distant eyes.  She'd seen him rejected and depressed before, but this was significantly more serious; rather than just stooping over like Quasimodo, he looked like he was actually trying to sink into the stone.

            "Hey." she announced her presence, trying to sound upbeat.  "What're you doing all the way up here?"

            "Working on my Goliath impression." he replied bitterly without even glancing back at her.  "You know, dark and brooding?"

            "I think you've got it down pat… in fact, you may even be beating him at his own game here.  You want to tell me what happened?" she asked, sitting next to him and placing a compassionate hand on his arm.

            He sighed, almost as rumbling a sound as Goliath's sighs, and shifted slightly for a more comfortable stance.  "I'm not even sure.  Do you really want to hear this?"

            "Of course.  Maybe I can be of some help." she nodded.

--------

"Cassie?  Are you in there?" Angela knocked on her door softly, more than a little startled to hear the young halfling crying from behind the door.

            "Go away!" was Cassie's half-sobbing cry.

            "Cassie, please.  I want to help.  Maybe talking about it will help." Angela suggested hopefully, determined to bring her two friends together somehow.

            The door opened, revealing a distraught Cassie with tear-brightened eyes. 

            "Can I come in?" Angela asked softly.

            "Sure." Cassandra shrugged, sniffling and looking absolutely pitiful.  She opened the door wider, allowing Angela entrance.  Once Angela had made herself comfortable inside, Cassie shut the door and flopped back on her bed, her face buried in the pillows.

            "Did Brooklyn do something to you?  Is that why you're crying?" she asked, carefully plotting how to get her talking.

            "No.  He didn't do anything... not in the way you mean." Cassie shook her head.  "He just... started to say something that I wasn't prepared to hear."

            "I don't understand." Angela prompted.

            "The night that we got into that fight with Demona started out fine.  Remember, you guys dressed me up and all?  Brooklyn and I were sorta late for the performance.  We got a little distracted when we took a... break from gliding there." Cassie said softly, her mind drifting to that night.

            "Meaning?"

            "We kinda made out on a window ledge... or rather I made out with him.  I had accidentally touched him on his back... I didn't know that it was sensitive like that or anything.  But we landed and he explained to me why I shouldn't touch him there.  Then he touched me there and I... lost most of my... restraint." Cassie explained uneasily.

            "What did you do?" Angela asked, not quite sure she wanted to know yet.

            "Nothing bad... well, I... kissed him.  I guess he got kinda carried away too because he didn't push me away or anything immediately.  But he did eventually, saying that we would be late." Cassandra confessed.

            "Wow.  I fail to see the problem, though."

            "No?  He doesn't want me, Angela.  It hasn't happened since and tonight... he tried to tell me that it was a mistake, but I cut him off.  When he tried to continue... I ran.  I didn't know what else to do." Cassie shook her head, starting to cry again with renewed dejection.

            "Wait a minute... you think that he doesn't want you?" Angela could barely believe her ears.  "The poor thing practically drools whenever you walk into the room."

            "No, he doesn't.  You're just trying to make me feel better.  I've observed his, shall we say, track record... you and Maggie.  I look nothing like either of you.  The two of you are gorgeous... the best that can be said of me is cute.  Besides... I'm a halfling." Cassie rose from her bed, her face strangely calm.  "I'm a disgrace to gargoyles everywhere, the child born of a union between a gargoyle and a human, two species never meant to mate.  I'm a freak of nature.  A monstrosity."

            "Where did you get an idea like that from?" Angela managed to ask after a moment of stunned silence.

            "Never mind that.  It's irrelevant.  What matters is that it's true." Cassie shrugged, drifting towards the door and leaving a stunned Angela.

--------

            "Let me get this straight.  You were going to tell her that you love her and you want to marry her... and she cut you off, saying that she'd been mistaken to put her attentions on you." Elisa summarized Brooklyn's tale rather bluntly.

            "I didn't say… well… something like that." Brooklyn sighed heavily.  "Who am I kidding?  She was probably just trying to let me down gently since she knows that I've been rejected before."

            "You don't know that for sure.  I think that she honestly believes you don't want her." Elisa suggested.

            "Why on earth wouldn't I?" he demanded.

            "In her mind, several reasons.  She's younger, she's not as exotic-looking as Angela or Maggie, and she's a halfling." she listed off of her fingers.

              "No way.  One; her age has nothing to do with how I feel.  She's not a hatchling or something like that.  Two: she is just as beautiful as either of those two.  In fact, more so in many ways.  Three; what does her being a halfling have to do with anything?" Brooklyn declared, standing in defiance.

            "I'm not sure." Elisa shrugged.  "She said something the other day about Demona... maybe Demona said something to her about being a halfling.  If that's the case then it makes sense."

            "What could she have possibly said to make Cassie think anything like that?" Brooklyn wondered aloud.

            A semi-broken voice in the night interrupted their thoughts, drawing their attention to a far-off parapet.  Cassandra came into view, silhouetted against the moon, crouched into a huddled position against the still-falling snow.  Her ragged voice was all they could hear above the wind.

            "Is she crying?" Brooklyn asked, intense concern apparent in his voice.

            "I think so." Elisa nodded.  "I sent Angela after her before I came after you.  Guess she didn't have much luck comforting her."  Some gut feeling alerting Elisa to Cassie's intense distress.  "I hope she's not thinking of doing anything stupid."

--------

            Cassie stared down at the city through tear-filled eyes.  Oh, how she wished she could end it all by simply stepping off the edge.  She never should've existed.  Never should've been born.  The world would never miss her.  And Brooklyn...

            Oh, Brooklyn... how I wish you could've loved me.

            "Cassandra?" Brooklyn's voice sounded behind her.

            She gasped in fright, turning to face him guiltily.  He must have sensed her fear, for he quickly took one of her hands in his.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to startle you." he apologized in a low voice.     

             "Startle?  Startle who?  I wasn't startled." she shook her head quickly. "I was just... um... pondering."

            "Were you pondering what I was pondering?" he quipped before he could stop himself, mentally groaning.  This was not the time for smart-ass jokes!

            "I think so, Brooklyn." she said in complete seriousness.  "But this time, why don't you put the trousers on the chimp."

            "Something tells me this is not the time for jokes.  Sorry I started that." he smiled briefly.

            "Actually I think I started it.  I should know better than to use the word ponder around you." she grinned, still hoping to weasel out of this situation.

            "If you think you're getting out of this, then you really are on the same wavelength as Pinky." Brooklyn insisted.

            "OK, no more jokes... until tomorrow night." she nodded begrudgingly.

            "Tomorrow night?  What's tomorrow night?" Brooklyn asked.

            She grinned up at him.

            "Never mind!" he cut her off quickly.  "Don't go there.  We need to talk."

            "I'm leaving now." she whimpered, trying to walk past him.

            "No, wait." he restrained her gently, gripping her shoulders so that she was forced to look at him.  "You have to hear me out."

            "Brooklyn, please, no." she pleaded, managing to pull away completely.  "Whatever you need to tell me, it can wait."

            "Wait for what?" Brooklyn asked quietly, cursing his bad luck as she once again ran away from him.  "Damn."

--------

            Whereas most families consider Christmas morning to be the height of the season, such was not so for the inhabitants of the castle.  Even the Xanatoses waited until sundown for the more intimate festivities of exchanging presents and such.  Cassandra had forced herself to remain busy rather than mope while she waited for her clan to awaken.  She wrapped the last of the gifts, played with Lex's screensaver, watched Ricki Lake, Montel Williams, Sally, and for a little culture, Oprah Winfrey, and somehow managed to fall asleep after watching Histeria.  After what seemed like only a few minutes of semi-sleep, Cassie found herself being shook into wakefulness.

            "Merry Christmas, Sleeping Beauty." Elisa laughed as Cassie did a double take at the nearest clock and realized it was almost sunset.  "C'mon.  Let's go wait for the others."

            "Kay." Cassie yawned, stretching her wings on her way to the balcony.  There, she stopped as she saw Brooklyn's figure frozen in stone.  She knew she'd never quite get over the phenomenon that they all took easily in stride, but that was not what caught her breath in her throat.  More so, it was the sight of his face contorted with emotional pain.  Her heart constricted painfully as she imagined the cause of it.  No doubt her harsh words to him the night before had hurt him.

            Wordlessly, no longer even aware of Elisa's presence, Cassie drifted to his still form, running her hand down his face and over his beak.  Her crystal-blue eyes filled with tears as she bent towards his hunched-over form, placing her lips against the cold stone of his beak in a brief kiss.

            "I love you. Brooklyn." she whispered so softly that even Elisa didn't hear her words.  Cassie took a step back, wondering if she would ever be brave enough to tell Brooklyn of her feelings while he was awake.  Her thoughts were interrupted as the sun sank below the city horizon and the sound of cracking stone shattered the Christmas night air.

            "Presents!" Broadway, Lexington, and Angela all made a beeline for the tree inside, Bronx bounding after them and barking happily.

            "Merry Christmas, big guy." Elisa smiled at Goliath, pulling him down for a brief, sweet kiss.

            Both Brooklyn and Cassandra watched the embrace poignantly from a few steps away, each one wishing fervently for such a love story.  Brooklyn turned his head to look at Cassie, momentarily stunned by her beauty; the moon behind her creating a silvery halo around her head.

            Angel of the night indeed...

            "Brooklyn?" she called softly as Elisa and Goliath wandered inside. "I'm really sorry about the way I treated you last night.  I was just scared that I'd hear something that I didn't want to.  And I'm not brave enough to deal with that yet."

            "I get it.  I know." he nodded gruffly. "You don't have to apologize."

            "But I was mean to you." she insisted, stopping him in the doorway.  "Please, Brooklyn... let's just forget that last night ever happened.  Alright?"

            "Hey!" Lex's voice called, cutting off any reply Brooklyn could have made.  "Cassie's under the mistletoe!"

            "Go ahead, Brooklyn!  It's tradition!" Angela urged him on.

            "Cass... I won't if you don't want me to." Brooklyn whispered, running the back of his hand down her cheek gently.

            "I do want you to." she blushed bronze as his lips sought hers in a tender kiss that still managed to inflame her soul, imprinting his name forever on her affectionate heart.

            "Cassandra..." he breathed as the kiss broke off, his eyes closed and his arms still holding her tight.

            Throwing her immediate caution to the wind, Cassandra drew his face down to hers, eager for another kiss, another taste of him.  Her hands stole to his back, her fingers gently playing over the sensitive spots by his wings, pleased by the fine tremor that swept through him.

            Never one to play the passive receiver, Brooklyn let his hands slide down her sides to rest on her hips, left bare by the high slits of her loincloth-like lower garment.  Subtly, he pulled her closer, pressing his growing hardness against her stomach.  He could feel the heat radiating from her body intensify in response to him.  Exerting tremendous control, he gently pushed her away, suddenly remembering that everyone else was watching them.

            "Somebody get a hose!" Broadway yelled.

            "Should I break out the holy water?" Lexington smirked, his voice jarring Cassie out of her winter wonderland.

            "Not necessary, Rocky." Cassie stuck her tongue out at him, trying to ignore the tingling pressure between her legs.

            "I'm a boxer?"

            "No, the flying squirrel who runs with Bullwinkle, dippy."

            "Don't confuse Lexington… it's not nice." Brooklyn grinned, throwing a candy-cane at him.  "Leave my baby brother alone."

            "Hey, I hatched the same night as you, buster!" he countered.

             "Actually, we hatched in the evening… you took a vacation until about four in the morning." Broadway pointed out.

            "Those shells are tough!  Besides, I didn't have a beak for chipping out!  And Broadway just ate his way through!" Lexington shouted, searching for something to throw at them.

            "C'mon, guys!  Present time!" Elisa saved the clan from civil war.          

--------

            "Cool!  A Furby!" Lexington jumped up and down as he tore through the box like a psychotic five-year-old on a morning full of Lucky Charms.

            "A what?" Goliath stared askance at his own brown-striped Furby.

            "Think of it as an interactive pet." Cassie giggled, trying to decipher her white Furby's silly-sounding Furbish. 

            "Um… perhaps this isn't the most appreciative comment in the world… but little fuzzy toys don't exactly go with Harley Davidson motorcycles and leather jackets." Brooklyn held up his black Furby like it was contagious.

            "I can fix that!" Cassie squealed, grabbing the toy from him and turning away.  When she turned back, the Furby was wearing a tiny leather jacket and had a motorcycle-helmet on.  "Better?"

            "Much." he grinned at her, shaking his head.  "Cassie, you're insane."

            "Merry Christmas to you too." she smiled, sticking her tongue out at him.

            "I was under the impression that we had a pet." Goliath commented, still apprehensive of the toy, especially after it spoke to him in Furbish.

            "Yeah, but this one doesn't leave presents in the corner or drool all over your leg." Cassie explained.

            Bronx whined in protest then growled at one of the Furbies as it batted its eyelashes at him and flapped its ears.           

            "Aw… sorry, Bronx." Cassie cooed at the gar-dog, scratching him behind the ears affectionately.  "We still love you too.  Don't we, Angela?"

            "Of course we do." Angela followed suit, hugging the great beast about the shoulders.  "Poor Bronx."

            He gave each of the girls a playful nudge of his head, groaning with delight at the unexpected attention as they pet him and fussed over him.  Brooklyn and Broadway both cleared their throats at the same time, unwilling to admit that they were jealous of Bronx!  The girls giggled in complete knowledge and returned to the Christmas tree.

            "Wow!  Might and Magic 6 and Balder's Gate!"  Lex exclaimed.  "Thanks a million, Elisa!"

            A book of Shakespeare's sonnets!  And a tape from Beauty and the Beast!" Cassie cried.  "Thank you, Brooklyn!"

            "A teddy-bear!  You're so sweet, Broadway!" Angela squealed, hugging the blushing gargoyle.

            "A new jacket… is this a hint, Cassie?" Elisa asked, holding up the black denim jacket curiously.

            "Yes." Cassie nodded immediately.

            "Braveheart.  Good choice, lads." Hudson nodded at the trio.

            "Martha Stewart's Cookbook?  Okay, who's the wise guy?" Broadway laughed as Brooklyn tried his best to look sweet and innocent.

            "A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens." Goliath read the title of his current present aloud.

            "It was the only Dickens novel missing from the shelves… I thought it appropriate." Cassie shrugged.  "Is it okay?"

            "Yes..." he nodded, offering her one of his rare smiles.  "It's perfect."

            Elisa offered golf claps to Cassie. "Well done, Cassie.  You've gotta teach me to get him to do that more often."

            "Woah!" Brooklyn burst out.  "A black leather jacket!  Who did this?"

            "I did." Cassie admitted shyly.  "See… I cut holes in the back and sewed silver tabs on the shoulders so that you can fit it over your wings.  Not quite as cool as simply throwing it on, but… you know.  Do you like it?"

            "Do I ever!  It's great!  Thanks, Cass!" he smiled at her, nearly melting her heart and sending her brain on a one-way trip to the outer asteroids.

            "You're welcome.  Merry Christmas, Red." she smiled back, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

            Elisa paused on her way to the kitchen, her gaze caught by the message scrolling across Lexington's monitor.  Like someone about to choke, she covered her mouth and silently beckoned Brooklyn and Cassie over with her hand.  Brooklyn took one look at the screen and nearly died laughing as Cassie hung on his shoulder giggling uncontrollably.  Wondering what drugs they were on, Broadway and Angela came over and immediately followed their example as Goliath and Hudson looked on quizzically.

            "What's so funny?" Lexington asked, reluctantly leaving his Furby.  "What are you all… looking… at..?  Who did that?!?!"

            Across the screen in bold, all-capital, Comic Sans MS font scrolled "I AM LEXINGTON… THE FLYING SQUIRREL OF DOOM!"

            "Cassandra!" he lunged for her, intent on ripping her to shreds.  "I'll get you for that, you Spawn of Jabba!"

            "I am NOT fat!" she declared.

            "Not at present, but you're really pushing maximum density." he said brazenly, forgetting that Brooklyn was standing right behind him.

            "Shut up, you anorexic-looking flying squirrel!" Cassandra pounced on him, dragging him out onto the snowy balcony and throwing him head-first into the nearest drift. 

"Snowball fight!" he declared, throwing a well-aimed snowball right at Cassandra's burnished head.

            "Alright!" Broadway, Brooklyn, Angela, and Bronx all joined in, throwing snowballs at anyone and everyone.  Cassandra and Lexington were the quickest and managed to avoid the snowballs from everyone except each other.  However, they were also the smallest, and when captured, each one ended up getting thrown into various snow-banks.  Owen appeared only briefly to offer his season's greetings, only to retreat hastily with a significant amount of snow down the back of his shirt.

            "Enough.  You are warriors, not hatchlings." Goliath finally tired of their juvenile games. 

            "I think someone needs a snowball down their loincloth, don't you guys?" Elisa grinned evilly, gathering some snow in her hands.  Five additional pairs of eyes lit up at the prospect and they all began advancing on him.

            "You wouldn't dare." Goliath commented, backing up nonetheless.  When they did not retreat, he did what any sensible warrior would do when outnumbered six-to-one with multiple snowballs… he turned and bolted inside.

            "Wewease da secwet weapon!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, sprinting after Goliath with the other hot on her heels. 

            Aware that his clan didn't believe in the boundaries of doorways against snowballs, Goliath headed directly for Hudson, who was settled in his chair and watching It's A Wonderful Life.  He ducked strategically and just missed getting several snowballs in the back of his head.  Instead, they all crashed against Hudson, who jumped up like he'd been shocked with electricity.

            "Och!  What in the name of-?" he exclaimed, eyeing the approaching six in annoyance.

            "Sorry, Hudson.  We were aiming for Goliath." Brooklyn laughed.

            "In case ye haven't noticed… I'm not lavender." Hudson grumbled.

            "You've caught me." Goliath acceded.  "However, you appear to be out of ammunition."

            "Rats." Elisa pouted.

            "Not quite." Cassie grinned from behind Goliath, a snowball in either hand.  Without warning, one particularly wet and cold one found its mark on Goliath's head, covering him with melting snow.  She jumped out of reach quickly as he swiped at her with his tail, trying to trip her up.

            "You little…" he started, unable to come up with a vehement-enough name for her as she smiled up at him innocently from behind Brooklyn's wing.

            "Merry Christmas!" she chirped.

            Goliath sighed, shaking his head indulgently.  "Good plan of attack, I must admit.  But next time, use it against someone else."

            "Yessir." Cassie gave him a military salute.

            Brooklyn turned to look at her curiously.  "Wewease da secwet weapon?" he repeated her earlier words.

            "You know.  Amewican Tail?" she grinned.  "We must have a wowie!"

            "A wowie?  What's a wowie?"

            "A warge gadewing of gawgoyles for a weason."

            "A rally?"

            "Dats whad I said... a wowie."

            "OK.  Whatever.  Just wait here until the men in the white lab coats come to get you, OK?  With the pretty jacket with really long sleeves?" he smirked, leading her to the couch.

            "Oh, stuff it." she slapped at him playfully.

            "There's just too much I could say to that, Cass." he reminded her.

            "I withdraw the phrase then." she blushed, realizing the implications.

            "Intelligent child." he muttered, completely unprepared for the snowball that promptly shoved itself down his beak.

            "Never call me 'child' when I'm armed." she smiled innocently.

--------

              Cassandra was quite the relieved one when Goliath announced that he was going to mix up the patrols a bit, assigning her to glide with Lexington the next night.  Not that she didn't adore Brooklyn, but their friendship was strained by some deeper feelings that she was not prepared to answer to yet.  Perhaps staying away from him for a little while would help loosen things up.  Perhaps if she didn't spend so much time with him, she could sort out what was going on between them.

            "Cass, you okay?" Lex asked, landing gracefully on the antennae of huge skyscraper, his tail wrapping around the base for balance.

            "What?  Oh, yes... I'm fine." she sighed, a little irritated at having been interrupted from her daydreams.  "Just a little spacey tonight."

            "I'll say." Lex muttered.  "You've said about three sentences since we left, and all three of them were about Brooklyn."

            "They were?" she frowned.  "Damn... I'm supposed to be forgetting about him."

            "Why?  I thought you two were friends."

            "It's rather complicated, Lex.  Things aren't quite the same between us since Christmas Eve." she bowed her head, still ashamed of the way she'd treated him.

            "You seemed fine the next night." he insisted, climbing down from his wired perch to stand in front of her questioningly.

            "I know.  Call it a fluke." she shrugged, reluctant to talk about her problems, about Brooklyn or otherwise.

            "Well, we'd better get back in the skies.  We got a city to protect." he released her from his inquisition, gliding off of the roof.  "Let's go downtown."

            "All right." she agreed, doing a fancy flip off of the roof and into the air.  "Wanna head for 44th Street?"

            "The Broadway district?  Sure.  Lots of crime there what with all the tourists." he nodded, turning westward from where they were.

            "There it is... the Oakbrook." Cassandra mumbled, glancing to the barely visible building nearby where she and Brooklyn had first shared some intimacy.

            "The Oakbrook?  What's so special about it?" Lex asked, puzzled by her sudden tendency towards vagueness.

            "That's where... Brooklyn and I saw Hamlet." she remembered quickly, blushing at her true memories.  "It was a really good show."

            "Wasn't that the night Demona broke your wing?"

            "Yes.  But Brooklyn saved me when she dropped me off of the roof.  What a guy, huh?" she smiled, a little on the dreamy side.

            "Cassie, do me a favor?"

            "What?"

            "Stop talking about Brooklyn."

            "I wasn't!" she stopped to think a second.  "Wait... yes, I was.  Damn."

--------

            By the end of the next week, none of the guys wanted to fly with Cassie, for all she would talk about was Brooklyn this and Brooklyn that.  The task of dealing with the nightly Brooklyn-a-thon was left to Angela, who didn't seem to mind.  In her mind, she babbled just as much about Broadway, so it was all even.  It soon became the Brookyn-and-Broadway-a-thon every night.  All they needed now was for Elisa to come along and make it the Goliath-a-thon as well.

            "Did you and Broadway ever... get serious?" Cassie asked one night, finally deciding to seek advice from her older "sister".

            "Well..." Angela blushed violet.  "A little more than you and Brooklyn under the mistletoe."

            "Did he ever seem distant afterwards?  Brooklyn seems to want to forget it happened half the time.  And the other half, he wants it to go further.  I can't get any consistent clues from him as to whether to proceed or step back." Cassandra sighed.

            "No, Broadway's always been constantly affectionate.  I think maybe Brooklyn's just a little confused as to how to proceed himself." Angela suggested.  "Your not giving him uniform signs of interest either.  One minute you're making sarcastic comments to him, the next you're sitting in a corner drooling at the sight of him.  You know what I mean?"

            "Yeah.  I guess so.  So what do I do?  Bowl him over with a kiss during Baywatch?" Cassandra asked semi-seriously.

            "I wouldn't.  He might get angry at having his "babe-watching" interrupted." Angela grinned, jibing Cassie in the arm. 

            "Jeez, have you ever noticed how large their eyes get when that show's on?  I mean, Lex has large eyes to begin with and it's a little scary when they get bigger." Cassie laughed.

            "I know... and Broadway only drools more over Chinese food." Angela added, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

            "I don't know... I think he drools more over you." Cassie amended, raising her eyebrows at Angela as she blushed a deeper violet.

            "No, I don't... really?" she grinned shyly.

            "Hell, yeah.  I only wish Brooklyn was as obvious over me."

            "Someone hasn't been paying any attention here.  The guy's eyes roll across the floor when you're around.  He'd be putty in your hands if you asked." Angela insisted.

            "You think?"

            "I don't think.  I know."

            "I don't think you know either."

            "I think I know that you've been hanging around him way too much.  You're starting to sound like him."

            "No, I've always been a smart-ass, I just never had anyone to play off of before."

--------

            Cassandra sighed as she glanced around the boringly quiet living room.  It was three in the afternoon, Elisa was on day shift for the first time since Cassandra had met her and the others wouldn't wake up for a while yet.  Bored, bored. bored! her mind screamed in a crazy mantra.  Her eyes eventually caught sight of her manuscript, spread out invitingly next to her computer. 

            Well. she reasoned, gathering up the many notebooks.  I might as well get some work done on this.  The online fans are going to kill me if I don't write some smut soon.

--------

            "Look out!  Cassie's sprawled out on the floor again!" Lexington warned the others as he hopped over Cassandra's reclining figure.

            "Hey, looks like she fell asleep over whatever it is she's working on." Broadway announced, noting the stuffed notebooks under her chin and hand as he bounded of for the kitchen with Bronx hot on his tail.

            "She sleeps?" Brooklyn shook his head, as the rest went off on their separate evening rituals.  Bereaved of an audience, Brooklyn paused to look at Cassandra's sleeping face.  Without her tough-girl mask firmly in place, she seemed so vulnerable and innocent, sending Brooklyn's innate instinct to protect into overdrive.  She shifted slightly in her slumber, her hand slipping off of one severely written in notebook.  Out of curiosity, Brooklyn picked up the notebook, telling himself that he was only preventing any pages from being swept away by the nonexistent wind.  He briefly flipped through a few pages, his keen eyes scanning the pages and indiscriminately catching words here and there.

            Black velvet... Erik... Jenny... Paris... Phantom... corsets... With a quick glance into his eyes, to ascertain that he approved her course of action, she wrapped her hand around the ardent proof of his desire for her.

            He nearly dropped the page and took a good look at the gargoyle whom, not ten seconds ago, he'd thought looked so innocent and sweet.  With a sly smile, he decided that he should take this masterpiece into another room to read more thoroughly.

            Cassandra awoke sometime later and immediately realized that her one notebook was missing.  Panicking, she stormed into the living room with a terrified expression on her face.  "Has anyone seen my notebook?" she demanded, fearful that it had somehow been blown off of the balcony.

            "What color was it, lassie?" Hudson inquired without taking his eyes off the TV.

            "For the last time, Hudson... I am not a blinking dog!  And it was red."

            "I saw Brooklyn with a red notebook a while ago.  I think he went into your room with it." Lex offered from his computer, somehow managing to talk and type at the same time.

            Shrill alarms went off in Cassandra's head as she pondered the implications, dashing to her room with commendable speed and virtually ripping the door off of its hinges.          

            "Stop right there!" she screeched upon seeing Brooklyn lying on her bed with her precious manuscript suspended above his face.

            "Oh, hi there." he greeted her without the slightest hint of shock at her arrival, nor remorse for reading her soul uninvited.

            "Brooklyn, please stop reading!" she pleaded desperately.

            "Oh, it's too late for that.  I finished over half an hour ago." he continued blithely, sitting up and grinning at her.  "You know, I never figured you for a smut writer."

            She froze, a small whimper escaping her throat.  "You read it?"

            "Uh-huh."

            "All of it?"

            "Yup." 

            "Chapter sixteen and seventeen too?"

            "You bet.  Every last word." he nodded, a wide grin on his face. "Quite informative there, Cassie.  Do you do this alot?"

            "I have a very active imagination.  Is that all right with you?" she demanded, grabbing for the book and missing as he yanked it away.

            "Of course... that's fine with me.  In fact, I rather like it." he commented.

            "The smut or the actual story?" she asked haltingly.       

            "Well, both actually.  But the smut was really good... especially that part on page 147, where Erik-"

            "I'm leaving now." Cassandra whined, remaining frozen to her spot nonetheless.

            "I wonder if that would work with talons." he wondered aloud.

            "I'm really leaving now!" she seethed.  "Wait a sec!  This is my room!  You leave!" she pointed to the door emphatically.

            He leaned against her bedpost casually, his gaze complacent.  "I'd really rather stay, if it's all the same."          

            "All right!  That's it!  Get it out of your system!  Tease me!  Torment me!  Take me to your government labs and cut me into wafer thin sections!" she wailed, sounding for all the world like a prisoner on death row.

            "But I liked it." he smiled down on her gently.

            "What?" she replied intelligently.

            "I liked it... it was a good story." he repeated.

            "But guys don't like that mushy stuff and last I checked, you were most definitely a guy!" she snapped her mouth shut quickly, remembering the last time she actually had checked.

            "And when exactly have you checked?" he asked, sensing a good laugh forth-coming.

            "Um... nothing.  Haven't you embarrassed me enough for one evening?" she asked plaintively.

            "Not remotely."

            "Oh, lucky me.  Give me back my notebook, you over-sized lawn ornament!" she grabbed and missed again.

            "Not until you tell me when you last inspected my... what's the word?  Manhood?" he suggested with an evil gleam in his eyes.

            She cringed.  "Please, don't say that word."

            "Oh, you don't like that one, huh?  How about..." he paused, thumbing through her book.  "Hard staff?"

            She cringed further if such a thing were physically possible, a strangled whimper begging him to stop.

            "Ilookedunderyourloinclothwhileyouwereturnedtostoneokay!" she scrambled through her words at sonic speed.

            "Could you rewind that and play it back at normal speed?" he asked, flipping through the book suggestively.

            She sighed and repeated herself at a more understandable tempo. "I looked under you loincloth one time while you were in stone sleep.  Happy?" she sulked, plopping herself down on the floor.

            He paused for a moment, gathering that information.  "Is that why you crossed out all of the 'rock hard' references in your story?"

            "Um, yeah." she nodded meekly.

            "Wait a minute... did you just look at me?"

            "Um, no."

            "You looked at all of us?  Hudson too?"           

            "No! Hudson's wearing leggings, you dope!"

            "You mean you would've?"      

            "No comment.  Why do you think we couldn't look any of you guys in the eyes?"

            "Wait a minute... we?"

            "Oh shit... Elisa's gonna kill me." she muttered.

            "ELISA?"

            "SHH!" Cassandra clamped his beak shut quickly.  "Lower your voice!  You want to get me killed?  I thought you liked me!"

            "Let me get this straight... you and Elisa... spent the entire day gawking up our loincloths?" he demanded.

            "Not the entire day... just most of the day.  Why do you think we told Lex he had nothing to worry about?"

            "I did not need to know that, Cassie." he grimaced.

            "You have nothing to worry about either." she said, instantly wishing her words back into her throat.

            "Say what?"

            "Nothing."

            "Are you implying that I meet your-" he glanced at her manuscript meaningfully. "-mind-numbingly high standards?"

            "Can I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it's against my religion?"

            "No."

            "Plead the fifth?"          

            "You don't legally exist, so you're not an American citizen."

            "Surpassed, actually."  she breathed unable to meet his gaze. "I'm leaving now."

            "No, you're not.  Not without your book." he waved it enticingly.

            Resigned, she rose stand in front of him.  "Please, can I have it back, Brooklyn?"

            "Sure." he nonchalantly handed it over.

            She stared at the book for a split second before throwing it aside and pouncing on Brooklyn, shrieking obscenities he didn't think she knew.

            "You son of a motherless goat!" she screamed.  He paused just long enough for her to land a solid punch on his jaw, propelling him backward onto her bed.  She jumped on top of him and he recovered just in time to seize her wrists, preventing her from scratching his eyes out with one fell swipe.

            "Let go of me, you bloody pervert.!" she yelled.

            "Pervert?  I'm not the one writing smut here, Pixie."

            "Oh, shut the hell up!"

            "Do you realize the position we're in?"

            She froze.  "I'm leaving now."

            "No, you're not, Cassandra." he drawled, pulling her wrists down to the mattress to rest on either side of his chest.

            She turned her head to look at him, ceasing her struggles, her attention caught by the sudden huskiness in his voice.  "What?"

            "Don't leave." he said softly, the look in his eyes plainly saying that he was done with teasing her.  Cassandra caught her breath, suddenly aware of a hard bulge pressed against her stomach.

            "Let me go... Brooklyn, please..." she whimpered, ashamed of her own reactions to such knowledge; her skin starting to tingle and grow hot, her own secret parts growing moist.

            "Only if you tell me that you don't want this." he breathed in a hoarse whisper, the feel of her weight on top of him intoxicating.

            "Want what?  I don't know what you mean." she choked out, fully aware of his hard body under hers and how exquisite it felt.

            "Yes, you do." he smiled at her, drawing one of her hands to the belt of his loincloth.  "Tell me that you don't want me and I'll stop."

            "I-" she moaned as he drew her hand lower and pressed his aching hardness against it, causing a responsive twinge in her own sex, despite the barrier of wool between them.  "I can't"

            "Do you want me, Cassandra?" he asked, his voice so strained, she almost thought him in considerable pain.

            "Yes." she nodded, her eyes closed at the admission.  "But we can't. Brooklyn... the others... won't they hear us if we...?"

            "Hmm..." he sighed, knowing her to be correct.  "Yes, they will.  I'm glad one of us had the foresight to think of that."

            Despite her protests, Cassandra slowly laid her head down on Brooklyn's left shoulder, her forehead pressed against his neck and her lips against his collarbone.  Without thinking, she leaned closer, kissing his neck with gentle passion.

            Not having the faintest clue what possessed her, she moved so that her lips were against his ear.  With a breathlessness worthy of her own romance heroine, she whispered, "I love you, Brooklyn."

            He stiffened in response to both her words and the sensation of her breath caressing his ear.  "Cassandra…" he gasped lightly, his hands automatically straying to where her wings joined her back.  "I-" he started, only to be silenced quickly by Cassandra's mouth descending upon his, kissing him with fierce passion.

            "Shh..." she interspersed, in-between kisses.  God, she shouldn't have said that so soon!  Now he would be scared off by her affections, or worse... laugh at her.  God above, if Brooklyn ever laughed at her in such a way, she would be crushed.  But, you do love him... what's so wrong with admitting it?  She wondered briefly, before losing herself to a brutal kiss of Brooklyn's own.  Such fire, such emotion, why on earth should he waste any of it on her?

            This time, it was Brooklyn who pulled back reluctantly, knowing that if they pushed any further, they risked the entire castle hearing a very interesting mating.  With gentle purpose, he lifted Cassandra off of him, only to settle her back down next to him on her narrow bed.  She cuddled next to him, one hand delicately stroking his chest and her breath tickling against his neck.  They remained thus for some time, content to lay motionless in each other's arms.

            A well-timed hunger pang reminded Brooklyn that he hadn't eaten yet and neither had Cassandra, in all probability.  He sat up, a little light-headed although whether from lack of food or Cassandra's earlier words, he didn't know.

            "Hungry, Cassie?" he asked when she looked at him questioningly.

            She smiled, clearly pleased by his concern.  "Famished." she answered, standing up and stretching her wings from their cramped position.  With the finesse of a preening bird, she ran her talons carefully through her hair, wincing when they caught on a knot.  "Just let me run a brush through my hair."

            He waited patiently, watching her little ritual with a fascination usually reserved for alien races.  Her hair shone brilliantly in the dim lamplight as the brush pulled strands taut, flashes of deep red against the gold of her skin.  Another surge of desire swept through him, prompting him to look away before he lost control. 

            "C'mon... let's go see what Broadway left us to eat." he reached out to take her hand, leading her to the door.  They emerged from her room to find the entire clan congregating just outside the door, pretending to be very interested in an infomercial for a Topsy-tail.

            "Is there any particular reason why you all are spying on us?" Cassandra greeted them smugly, hands on hips.

            A chorus of "no" and "no reason" and "why do you think that" ensued, every single gargoyle shaking his or her head quickly.  Hudson remained silent, eyeing Cassandra's slightly askew halter top and Brooklyn's similarly disarranged loincloth meaningfully.

            "We'll be leaving now." Brooklyn quickly escorted Cassandra to the kitchen, followed by the telltale sounds of muffled laughter.

            "Oh man, they are never going to let me live this one down." Brooklyn breathed once they were out of earshot.

            "Live what down?  We didn't do anything." Cassandra asked, calmly pulling plates out of the pantry.

            "Think about it, Cassie.  They must've heard you shrieking at me, followed by a nice, long silence.  What would you think, if you were them?" Brooklyn explained.

            "That I killed you." she replied.

            "Well, yes... there's that.  But then we come out with our clothes a little, shall we say, awry and your hair freshly brushed.  Now, what do you think?" he sighed.

            "That we just finished...um... finished..." she searched for the correct word.

            "Mating." Brooklyn finished for her.

            Cassandra remained silent for a minute, pondering those indications.  Obviously she had been mistaken to throw her love upon him so soon.  Why else would he be adverse to the others thinking such a thing?  For a brief minute, she'd actually thought that he...  Oh, but that was ridiculous!  Demona had proclaimed her an abomination once... and more and more, Cassandra was coming to believe her.

            "Oh..." she sighed, suddenly chagrined.  "I'm sorry... I never meant to shame you."

            He looked up, startled.  "I never said that."

            "Well... why else would you be upset if they thought that?  I know very well that I'm not one of you.  I'm not even a true gargoyle.  I'm a side-show freak at best." she muttered softly, more pain welling in her heart.  Perhaps she was truly destined to remain alone for all time, as she'd always assumed.

            "What are talking about?  No one ever said that." he sputtered, quite disturbed that she even thought such things of herself.

            "You were unconscious at the time." she shrugged, as if it were unimportant.

            "You mean Demona said that?" he grasped her meaning.  "What else did she say?"

            "I am a disgrace to all gargoyles... an abomination.  The proof of a union between a gargoyle and a human.  She vowed to destroy me." Cassandra whispered in a pain-filled voice.  "Demona isn't quite all there, granted... but what she says makes sense.  If I'm the only one of my kind, wouldn't that suggest that I shouldn't exist in the first place?  It's logical."

            "No, it's not!  Look... I know Demona's words may sound true, but they're not!  That's like saying the first rose shouldn't exist, just because it's the first.  You have a kind heart, a good sense of humor, and lots of talents.  Give me one good reason why you shouldn't be around."

            "Because I don't belong anywhere!  I can't live among humans because I'm half gargoyle and I can't live among gargoyles because I'm half-human!  Don't you see a problem here?" she cried, starting to get angry.

            "No, I don't!  You belong with your clan!" he countered back.

            "I don't have a clan!  Brooklyn, I think the light is starting to bend towards you!" she muttered scathingly, her eyes narrowing like a cat's.

            "Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black!" he snapped, his beak scant inches from her nose. "You do so have a clan!  What do you call me?  Or Goliath?  Or Angela?  What do you think we are?  We are your clan, Cassandra!"

            "You've been beyond kind to me these past months." she admitted, some of her anger draining.  "But I'm not of your clan, Brooklyn.  I'm just an outsider you took in, an outcast even among you.  I'm not as strong as you... I'm not as fast... I'm not even as noble... And I'm causing problems."

            "Problems?  What are you talking about?' he asked, quieting as well.

            "Demona for one.  She's determined to kill me because I represent what she fears most; a possible reconciliation between humans and gargoyles.  She will stop at nothing to see me dead and I refuse to let her kill you all as well." Cassie shivered, drawing her wings tighter about herself, cold at the thought of fighting Demona alone.

            "We've handled Demona before!  She'll never get to you!" Brooklyn asserted, grasping her shoulders firmly.

            "She will, Brooklyn.  What if she attacked outright?  You know that she could kill you all if she really put her mind to it and you were all distracted by me." she paused, her heart nearly breaking at her next thought.  "I couldn't bear to see you harmed, let alone killed."

            "Cassie, please... tell me you're not saying what I think you are." Brooklyn pleaded gently, a step away from drawing her into his arms.

            "I'm afraid for you all... it would probably be best if I leave... for good." she choked past the lump in her throat, tears filling her eyes.

            "I'm afraid that I will be forced to disagree." Goliath's deep voice sounded from the open doorway.  "You belong with us.  You are clan, Cassandra."

            "But, Goliath..." Cassandra turned as he entered the kitchen, her eyes spilling over at last.  "She could well destroy all of you."

            "Demona could well destroy all of us regardless of your presence.  Her hatred for our clan is no secret.  If she despises you as well, then that is all the more reason for you to stay with us." Goliath explained patiently.

            "That's right!" Brooklyn agreed whole-heartedly.  "You're clan, Cass... our family.  And we stick together no matter what happens." 

            This time he refused to fight his impulses and did pull her close to him, wrapping his wings about her to keep her against him.  "You are not alone, Cass... you are stuck with us and we're not letting you go." he whispered hoarsely.

            "Promise?"

--------

            Cassandra giggled delightedly as the wind whipped around her hair and brushed over her face roughly.  While still slightly tense around each other in the presence of the rest of the clan, she and Brooklyn were slowly growing more intimate in private, sharing a few passionate kisses and caresses.  Slowly, she was growing convinced that Demona's words truly were those of a lunatic, that it really didn't matter to Brooklyn or the others that she was a halfling.  After all, Goliath was all but engaged to Elisa and the trio practically drooled over every scantily-clad human female on the television.  Why on earth should it matter anyway?  She was doing her utmost to live life as they did and protect all of Manhattan as best she could. 

            She was one of them.

            She was a gargoyle.

            Even her clothes were more in tune with the others'.  Gone were the cast-off jeans and tank top; now she wore an outfit somewhat like Angela's.  However, the slits at the sides did not go up to her waist, but only about an inch away from her hips.  And the top portion was not a strappy bodice or the like, but had long sleeves that fitted to her like a second skin.  The back was deep and open so that her wings weren't hindered and the neckline was a low-curving V, exposing just enough of her form to make her feel feminine but not trashy.  Like the others' clothes, Cassie had fashioned the garment out of burgundy-colored wool, thankful that it was far warmer than her previous outfit. 

            "Hey, guys!  Time for a midnight snack, don't you think?" she yelled over the wind to the rest of her clan.

            "Alright!" Broadway cheered, as Cassie'd known he would.

            "I vote for hotdogs!" Brooklyn called from directly behind her, playfully pulling at her tail.  She pulled her tail out of his grasp and promptly whapped him across the face with it, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

            "Cool it, Red Baron." she growled without any real threat in her voice.

            "C'mon down here and make me." he challenged with an equally unconvincing tone of voice.

            "I think I will." Cassie pondered a split second before doing a backflip and bringing her feet down against the backs of the his thighs, sending him for quite the tail spin.

            "Hey!" he cried out in shock, somehow managing to pull himself out of the spin.  "I'll get you for that, Pixie."

            "Let's see ya… c'mon, buster!" she egged him on in her best New York accent, sounding for all of the world like a born and bred taxi driver.

            He lunged for her, catching her around the middle and charging for the nearest wall.  A nanosecond before impact, Cassie used all of her strength to flip around so that it was Brooklyn that wound up plastered to the concrete.

            "Urgh.." he groaned in fake mortal pain once he'd peeled himself off of the wall.  "You are just too quick." he grinned up at Cassandra with an affectionate mixture of admiration and indulgence.

            "I try.  Food?"

            "Let's head for the park… the vendor near the Met has the best hot dogs!" Broadway suggested, already gliding in that direction with Angela by his side.

            "Hey, wait up!" Lex called, speeding after them.

            Goliath looked over his shoulder to find Cassie and Brooklyn smiling at each other like lovesick puppies, despite the fact that she had just cannoned him against brick.

            "Coming?" he alerted them to his remaining presence with a single word.

            "Hmm?" Brooklyn jumped ever so slightly.  "Oh… yeah.  We'll catch up, Goliath.  Go on ahead… if you don't mind."

            With only a nod of agreement, Goliath glided off, following the retreating shadows of the other three and shaking his head.  Hatchlings…

            "Hey… let's land over there for a sec, okay?" Brooklyn pointed out an empty clearing in the trees of Central Park where a deserted playground stood in the moonlight. 

            "Sure." Cassandra agreed, curious as to his motives but too happy to be alone with him to truly care.

            "We've got to talk, Cass… and this time, no running off on me, okay?" Brooklyn stated once they'd touched down and she rested safely within his arms.

            "Um… okay." she whispered, that knot of fear quickly growing in her heart.  Please God, not that… anything but that.

            "We've been getting awfully close, Cass… more so than I ever expected.  But I have to know something here.  You said once that you loved me… did you mean it?" Brooklyn asked, his voice betraying his anxiety.

            "Well… yes.  I did… I do mean it." she nodded slightly, her eyes squeezing shut in denial.

            "Why?" was his simple reply to her confession.  "Why me?  I'm not exactly a Backstreet Boy, you know?"

            "I don't even like the Backstreet Boys, Brooklyn.  What are you getting at?" she opened her eyes to look at him curiously, startled to find genuine fear in his eyes.

            "This… actually." he gestured his beak with a long, sweeping motion of one hand.  "It's nowhere near human… and I always thought it scared girls off.  Of the three of us, Angela did choose the most human-looking.  I'd never even been kissed before you and I seriously doubted I would be.  Even when we played mates as hatchlings, the girls were kinda put off by me."

            "Brooklyn, you're babbling." she silenced him with a talon on the tip of his beak.  "Slow down… now, I think you're quite handsome."

            "You're kidding.  With this beak?" he laughed humorlessly.

            "Yes, with this beak." she repeated, gently running her fingers down his face.  "I love you, Brooklyn… I can't really explain why.  You're sweet and funny and brave.  You're Goliath's second-in-command, which means you're responsible and smart.  You like Shakespeare and classical music along with rock and Jackie Chan movies.  You've saved my life twice so far.  You didn't laugh at my stories."

            "Now you're babbling." he pointed out, blushing at her praise nonetheless.  "Why are you so nervous?"

            "Because… I've thought for the longest time that you couldn't care for me… I'm a halfling, I'm young, and I'm not even close to being any kind of an effective warrior for the clan.  As far as I can see, I'm the last candidate for your affections." she sighed.

            "That's not the case at all." Brooklyn insisted, drawing Cassandra into his arms.  "I think that you're the leading contender in that matter."

            "But-" she began as Brooklyn abruptly cut her off with a passionate kiss, hoping to put his intense feelings into, not words but action.  For some unfathomable reason, despite knowing her feelings for him, he could not bring himself to tell her that he truly loved her as well.  She didn't protest to his sudden onslaught of desire, but encouraged him further by letting her hands slide up his back to where his wings met his back.  Even as he continued to kiss her, she could hear his low-throated growl of pleasure and couldn't help but moan her own sultry need as he reciprocated, his hands sliding down her sides to pull her hips against him firmly.

            Oh, he definitely wanted her... that much was fairly obvious. 

            "Brooklyn..." she whimpered as he lowered his mouth from her lips to her neck, pausing to run his lips over her exposed collarbone.  Encouraged by his passionate advances, Cassandra followed suit and brushed her lips over his brow ridges before briefly running her tongue over the same path.  Brooklyn drew in a deep, shuddering breath and clutched Cassie tighter about her waist.

            He looked up at her, his eyes glowing a bright white in his excitement, overjoyed to find that her eyes also shone their light blue light.  She was trembling within his embrace and seemed unable to separate herself from his touch, as though she cherished it.

            "Cassandra... we can't... not in the open like this.  Someone may see... or hear..." he panted even as one of his hands slid up to cup and squeeze one soft breast through the wool of her tunic.

            "Let's go... back to the castle... it's not too far..." she breathed unevenly, letting her head lay back against the air in sensual abandon.

            "Hope Hudson doesn't mind." Brooklyn joked weakly as he disentangled himself reluctantly from her grasp.

            Their flight to the castle was the longest Brooklyn had ever endured, despite its short distance away.  All the while, he and Cassandra stayed within an arm's reach of each other, her hands frequently caressing his back as they had that night so long ago, when they had first shared similar intimacies. 

            The instant his feet touched the nearest balcony, Brooklyn swept Cassie into his arms, hungrily plunging his velvet tongue into her willing mouth.  The TV was blaring nearby, evidence of Hudson's presence, and he quickly snuck both of them to Cassie's room.  She gasped as her tunic was suddenly slid down by his gentle hands, passing over her shoulders and catching on the upper curve of her breasts.  As impatient as he was to feel flesh against flesh, Cassandra pushed the garment past and pressed her now bared breasts against Brooklyn's hard chest, letting her dress bunch up around her waist.

            Brooklyn's hands trailed urgently up her sides and to her back, stroking where her wings met her back and earning a strangled cry from Cassie as she arched against him.  With one hand holding her steady between her shoulder blades, Brooklyn used the other to slide sensuously down Cassandra's neck and trace a path between her breasts before cupping one soft mound and squeezing it gently.  Almost immediately, she drew his face to hers, rubbing her fingers over his brow ridges and beak before covering his mouth with hers.

            "Cassandra..." he growled, eyes still burning white.  "If you're going to stop me... you'd better do it now."

            "I don't want you to stop, Brooklyn." she replied breathlessly, too impassioned to resist what she wanted most anymore.  "I want you... you know that.  Do you... not want me?"

            With a groan, Brooklyn seized one of her hands as he had once before and led it to the front flap of his loincloth, directly over the throbbing hardness it barely concealed.  With meaning, he briefly thrust his hips forward, thereby pushing his desire firmly into her hand.

            "Does that feel like I don't want you?" he hissed through clenched teeth as she ran her hand up and down, causing friction between himself and the wool of his loincloth.

            Cassie smiled to herself, pleased at the knowledge that she could indeed arouse Brooklyn to such a state.  In a movement of boldness, she undid the belt holding the loincloth in place and tossed both aside so that he stood naked in front of her, his tuscan-red skin gleaming dully like the leather it felt like.  Feeling a bit like the heroine of a Skinamax, late-night movie, Cassie stepped back a pace and pushed her own garment down past her hips and onto the floor, kicking it aside.

            Brooklyn took a deep breath, exerting a warrior's control.  She was stunningly beautiful in the dim light, her golden skin contrasting delightfully with her mahogany-hued hair and her lithe curves beckoning his touch.  He reached for her, leading her to the bed and laying her down in its covers almost reverently,  his hands running over the contours of her shape with inexpressible gentleness.  He'd never mated before and gargoyles generally didn't have the luxury of beds either, but he'd read her stories countless times and had decided to follow her unspoken fantasies to the best of his abilities.

            "Cassandra..." he whispered roughly against her ear, letting his hot breath caress her and delighting in the shiver that swept through her body.  "Do you want me to mate you?"

            "Yes!" she all but cried, her hands attempting to pull Brooklyn down on top of her.  He waited for his own surge of lust to subside within controllable limits, before positioning himself between Cassandra's slim thighs.  With deliberate slowness, he ran the tip of his beak from her stomach up her neck, interspersing the light scratching with kisses or the occasional pass of his tongue, rubbing his head and brow ridges against her body almost like a cat marking its territory.

            A mere step away from losing her mind, Cassie ran her hands up Brooklyn's sides, to the outside of his shoulder blades, skimming the leathery skin of his wings.  His mouth abruptly left her skin as he arched back and growled deep in his throat, an almost feral sound, as his eyes briefly shone a brighter white than usual.  To most others, the sight and sound would have been frightening coming from Brooklyn, but to Cassie it was as arousing as his touches and kisses.

            Still recovering from her seducing touch, Brooklyn spread her thighs wider to allow himself access and slowly entered her moist passage, fighting valiantly at the new sensations that threatened to destroy his control.  Cassandra arched, surprised at the feel of Brooklyn's hardness inside of her, the feeling of fullness and increasing lust.  A startled, but pleasured gasp escaped her lips in the form of his name as he added a new dimension by suckling briefly on one peaked nipple and thrusting further into her at once.

            Cassandra felt her virginity give way under Brooklyn's desired assault, but couldn't feel any of the pain beyond the pleasure as she felt him slide completely within her, burying himself deep.  She writhed under his unyielding body, thrusting her hips to meet his and moaning with little restraint.  Her eyes glowed a brilliant light blue as she clung to his perspiring body, her hands knowingly running over his shoulder blades with urgent need.

            Spurred on by his own fervent need and by Cassie's passionate cries, Brooklyn gave up his control and thrust his hips back and forth furiously.  He could feel her soft, wet flesh convulsing around him, could hear her moans turns to near-shrieks of climax.  With a loud growl of abandon, he gave himself over to his own completion, lifting Cassie with one arm so that he was kneeling on the bed with her straddling his lap.  A roar that echoed like it could shake the castle down to rubble issued from Brooklyn's throat as he poured himself into her, the sound mixing well with her cougar-like scream.

            Cassandra went as limp as a ragdoll in Brooklyn's arms, too exhausted to even hold herself upright any longer.  With extreme care, he laid her back down on the bed and settled himself beside her, pulling the blankets over them before virtually collapsing as well.

            "I love you, Cassandra." he breathed huskily, one arm draping over her shoulders protectively along with his wing.

            "I love you, too." she smiled sleepily.

            "One question."

            "What?"

            "How are we going to explain to Goliath why we didn't meet up with them?" 

--------

            Cassandra growled to no one in particular, glaring at the offending blob of paint on her canvas.  Spam it all to heck!  No more Monty Python for me!  Spam you, Brooklyn for making watch it!   The brush she was using was far too large for the delicate work she was doing on these two paintings!  Why on earth hadn't she stopped to check that she'd had everything before she'd left the factory?  Still mumbling obscenities to herself, she quickly wiped away the stone-gray mass of color partially obscuring Goliath's face.  Without her fine-haired brushes, she'd never be able to get it right.  These two paintings had to be perfect if she was ever going to show them to anyone.

            With a sigh, she stood back to look at them critically.  The one painting, a scene of all six of the gargoyles during the day, frozen in various fierce positions, wasn't coming along too badly, just some refining with the smallest brush was needed.  The other, a portrait of her beloved Brooklyn, was really ticking her off.  Never again would she attempt a detailed close-up as such without the right tools again.  It was recognizable at least, just not nearly as precise as she would've liked. 

            Moving forward again, Cassie carefully pulled the sheet used to conceal them down, avoiding the damp paint.  It was broad daylight out… the Quarrymen thought all gargoyles were stone by day… Elisa was probably either sleeping or on duty… what could it hurt for her to make a quick run for the factory and fetch her brushes?  She'd be back long before sunset.  What could possibly happen?

            With those optimistic thoughts in mind, Cassandra strolled out to the snow-covered balcony, stretching her wings wide, thankful that she'd discarded her old clothes for something more "gargoylesque" as she put it.  The bright sunlight glinted off of her hair as she dove off of the balcony, gracefully heading for her old home, showing off just a tad for Xanatos' security cameras with a mid-air somersault.  Grinning she sped for the factory at top speed, just to see how fast she could go.  Within minutes, she was across town in the industrial park and landing on the roof of her old home.

            "Whew... this place does stink." she wrinkled her nose, remembering Brooklyn's similar reaction previously.

            With die-hard habit, she slipped into the old emergency exit and climbed down the ladder to the rooms where her abandoned belongings were.  Somewhere in the adjoining room, a cat yowled and the sound of a rolling tin can pulled at Cassie's instincts.  She ignored it, despite the alarms going off in the back of her head.

            The silly cat probably just knocked it over... I'm only here to pick up a few paintbrushes and then I'm leaving. she thought, hurrying for her former art table nonetheless.  On the way out of the second doorway, she felt something blunt hit her over the head with tremendous force, knocking her to the dirty floor.  She lost her grip on the brushes and her flailing form overturned a barely-shut can of red paint on the floor.  For a split second, she thought she was covered in blood.

            Disoriented and heartily confused, she tried to rise and barely managed to stagger to her feet.  Her eyes focused gradually on the eight humans surrounding her, each one of them looking like WWF wrestlers who'd been suspended for excessive violence.  A heavy hand weighed on her shoulder, all but forcing her to her knees in pain.

            "Who are you?  What do you want?" she demanded in a frightened cry, noticing in despair that sunset was a long way off.

            "We're not paid to answer the questions of the prey." their apparent leader grinned sarcastically, which was not at all an assuring sight.

            In a desperate and somewhat hopeless attempt, Cassie spread her wings suddenly with a cougar-like roar, succeeding in knocking two of the thugs over, and made a break for the door.  Another grabbed for her tail and she quickly pulled it out of reach and lashed out with it, whipping him across the face.  Ten feet to the door!  She could make it!

            Luck ran out at the threshhold, a ninth goon appeared out of nowhere, catching the fleeing halfling around the waist and throwing her to the ground.  A tenth followed shortly with a tranquilizer gun in his hands.

            "No!" Cassie cried out as she felt the prick of the dart in her shoulder.  Blackness started to seep in immediately, clouding her vision with dark mist.

            "No..." she moaned, quickly losing consciousness.  "Brooklyn..."

            Her last sight was that of the thugs grinning over a job well done.

--------

Elisa stretched as she came out on the balcony, yawning off the last of the day's rest.  Sunset was still a little while off, so she decided to find Cassie and see what she was up to.

            "Cass, you in there?" Elisa knocked on her door, calling to her.

            No answer. 

            Despite the seeming innocence of the silence behind the door, Elisa's detective instincts kicked in and she opened the door without invitation. 

            No Cassandra… just the two canvases she'd been working on the past few days and some brushes. 

            Elisa had already been through the kitchen and living room and she ran to check the library, unsure of why she was suddenly so concerned.  The hair rose on the back of her neck when she discovered the library empty.  Where was she?  It wasn't like Cassandra to leave the castle without one of the others with her… to Elisa's knowledge, she never left during the day.

            The security cameras!  They would show her if Cassie had left on her own or something.  However, the guys would wake up in less than a minute.  Elisa sprinted back to the balcony, scared to death despite her constant assurances that she was merely overreacting.  Roars greeted her approach and she immediately pounced on Goliath.

            "I can't find Cassandra!" she offered in explanation when the entire clan looked at her strangely.

            "What?" Brooklyn demanded, looking frozen to his spot.

            "I can't find her anywhere and I've got this nagging feeling that something's wrong.  I want to look at today's surveillance videos to see if she left." Elisa got right down to business.

            "Where would she go?  It's too dangerous for her to be alone and she knows that!" Brooklyn fumed, both angry and worried.

            "Let's go find out." Lexington prompted, scampering off to the security room where all of the monitors were kept.

            Together, they figured out how to fast forward through the entire day's surveillance of the balconies, easily finding the golden flash that was Cassandra taking off at about noon.  She did a quick somersault at the camera and then disappeared into the distance.

            "Well, she left of her own free will.  But where on earth would she go in broad daylight, and what would keep her for over six hours?" Lex wondered aloud for everyone, rewinding the clip and watching it again.

            "Hmm…" Elisa's brow furrowed slightly as she remembered something Cassie had said a few days ago.  "She's been working on some paintings for the past week or two… she mentioned to me that she had inadvertently left some of her paintbrushes back at the factory and that she would have to get some more.  Maybe she was impatient and went to go fetch them."

            "Then why isn't she back yet?  It's barely a ten-minute glide to the industrial lot.  Something must have happened to her." Brooklyn paced nervously before dashing back to the balcony with the others hot on his trail. 

The entire clan raced to the abandoned factories, Brooklyn leading the way.  In record time, Brooklyn touched down on the roof and headed for the narrow fire escape that served as Cassie's front door previously.  Lex and Elisa followed while the others waited expectantly on the roof.

"Cassie?  You here?" Brooklyn called, his ears pricked for any sign of her presence. 

Lex took up the call as well.  "Cass!  Where are you?"

Silence was the only answer to their calls and Elisa felt distinctly nervous, despite the seemingly peaceful surroundings.  Her cop's instincts kicked in and she laid her hand reassuringly on the butt of her gun.  "Something's not right here." She whispered.

"You're right." Brooklyn agreed, his face worried.  "I'm not sure what though."

"Hey, this wasn't here last time." Lex piped up from an adjoining room.  "Someone made one hell of a mess."

Elisa and Brooklyn joined him, staring at the remnants of what had once been Cassie's makeshift studio.  Old easels and tubes of paint were flung everywhere and an entire bucket of acrylic paint had spilled, covering most of the floor in red.  Brooklyn had the disturbing thought that it looked a little too much like blood to him. 

"Look!  The brushes, she'd wanted!" Lex cried, holding up the red-smeared articles to Elisa, who looked at them carefully.

"Those look like they could be Cassie's fingerprints.  I'm pretty sure she was here today… and it's obvious there was a struggle here." Elisa admitted, a hollow forming in the pit of her stomach.

"The Quarrymen?" Brooklyn asked, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly in his agitation and terror.

"Doubt it.  They wouldn't waste time searching a factory in the daytime for a live gargoyle.  They don't even know she exists." Elisa sighed and shook her head.

"Then who?  The Pack?" Lex asked, his voice turning into that of a twelve-year-old waking up from a nightmare.

"I don't know."

--------

Cassie moaned softly, her head pounding furiously and a pricking pain in her arm coaxing her towards consciousness.  She tried to raise a weak hand to her forehead and found she couldn't, some restraint holding her down.  She could feel leather straps harnessing her tail, ankles, wrists, waist, and neck before she opened her eyes.   Just leather, if she struggled enough, she might be able to get free.

            "Here now, little one… that will get you nowhere." A voice she thought she recognized purred smugly.

            "What's going on?  Where am I?  Who are you?" Cassandra demanded, realizing now that not only was she bound, but she was blindfolded as well.

            "You certainly are demanding, particularly since you are in no position to be so.  No matter, the sedative I just gave you, should calm you down soon enough.  It will make it impossible for to break those straps too." The voice continued and Cassandra recognized it finally.

            "Demona!" she seethed.

            "Oh, we are quick-witted tonight, aren't we?" Demona sneered, roughly pulling the blindfold from Cassie's dazzled eyes, the pressure forcing the leather at her neck to close off her windpipe for moment.

            "Let me go!" Cassandra growled in a feral fashion, her eyes burning bright blue as she continued to strain against her bonds.

            "That's interesting." Demona noted academically, writing something down in a notebook.  "Subject's eyes glow a complimentary hue when angered."

            "Subject?  What am I, you're science project?" Cassie sneered, trying to ignore the rapid beating of her heart.  Not since her childhood in the genetics labs had she been so afraid for her life.  Demona, like the humans who had tested her then, held no concern for her well being or sanity.  She was merely an oddity to be studied to the humans however, whereas to Demona, she was something to be destroyed.

            Demona laughed low in her throat, coming to stand by Cassie's bedside.  "How perceptive of you.  I can't conduct experiment on actual gargoyles… that would be heartless of me.  But you, my dear, are close enough to our actual species to be useful to me… and I won't have to worry about animal cruelty."

            "Wha… what are you going to do to me?" Cassie's show of bravery evaporated like mist at Demona's frank explanation.

            "Oh, nothing too pleasant.  Drug testing, seeing what effect certain diseases and such have on you, that sort of thing.  We've already started with the morphine tests… then we'll see what withdrawal does to you." Demona smiled so that she truly deserved her evil name.

            "You won't get away with this!" Cassie declared desperately.  "My clan will find me and they'll come for me!"

            "Your what?" Demona looked at her incredulously.  "My word, but you do have the most misplaced loyalties.  Do you honestly believe that Goliath would risk what remains of his pitiful clan just to search for a wretched halfling like you?"

            "But he said that I was part of the clan… I'm one of them." Cassie protested, clinging to her last attempt at confidence.

            "No, halfling… you are not.  You're not even a true gargoyle!  Look at you!  No brow ridges!  No talons!  No fangs!  Your eyes don't even glow the right color!" Demona growled at Cassie's presumptions.

            "My clan doesn't care that I'm half and half.  They'll come after me!  And even if Goliath doesn't send the whole clan, Brooklyn will find me!" Cassie cried, her heart trembling under Demona's powers of persuasion.

            "Brooklyn?  Oh yes, that's right… the two of you have been getting close haven't you?  You think he loves you, don't you?" Demona looked about the laugh again.

            "Brooklyn does love me!  He said so!" Cassie roared.

            "Of course he did.  A male will say anything in order to get what he wants.  Am I right in assuming that the two of you mated… and then he said he loved you?  Oh, my dear halfling… they all say that." Demona smiled condescendingly.  "Brooklyn won't come for you… he'll be too busy thanking the gods that I took you off of his hands before you came to bother him again."

            Cassie's shocked and hurt face was more of a reward than Demona might have ever thought it would be.  The creature looked completely crushed by her words.  Perfect.  A broken spirit would make her an easier subject by far.  Without any further words to ruin her absolute victory, Demona turned and left the lab, leaving Cassandra to ponder her fate in the darkness.

            Once the blue-skinned gargoyle had disappeared from sight, turning off the power switch as she went, Cassandra allowed herself the luxury of crying in abject terror and pain.  She couldn't allow Demona's twisted words to get to her!  She couldn't!  She refused!  But… but what if she was right?  What if Goliath and the others couldn't find her?  What if they didn't even look? 

            The powerful drug that Demona had pumped her with took effect quickly, dragging Cassandra into a deep, fitful sleep.  She never stopped to ponder the significance of the fact that she had referred to them as the others and not as "her clan".

            Only one word slipped from her fevered lips throughout that night. One word that she clung to as stubbornly as a drowning woman to a buoy.  One word that she counted on to sustain through whatever atrocities lie ahead.

            "Brooklyn…"

------

            “Brooklyn!  Slow down!” Broadway shouted after his rookery brother as they sped from point to point, searching everyplace they knew for their adopted rookery sister.

            “We’ve got to find her!  I will not slow down until I know where she is!” Brooklyn shouted back over his shoulder, the movement itself slowing him down enough for Broadway to catch up.

            “Where are we even headed?”

            “If I knew that, do you think I’d be in such a hurry?”

            “That’s it!  Stop a minute!” Broadway shouted in frustration, landing on the nearest rooftop and waiting for his headstrong brother to follow.

            “What do you think you’re doing?” Brooklyn demanded.  “We’ve got to find Cassie and you’re bull-shitting around on a roof!”

            “Get a grip, Brooklyn!  We have to go about this with some sort of plan in mind… not just glide around aimlessly, hoping we’ll find her.” Broadway was a step away from socking Brooklyn right in the beak.

            Brooklyn sighed, calming slightly at last.  “I can’t help it!  How would you feel if Angela had disappeared without a trace?”

            “Bad.  But listen, we’ve gotta think clearly.  We know that she was probably taken somewhere by force, but we’ve ruled out the Pack and the Quarrymen, right?”

            “Yeah… so who’s that leave?” Brooklyn nodded, trying to think past the panic setting up shop in his heart and mind.

            “Well, the only other person who might want to hurt Cassie is Demona… should we assume that she’s our culprit?” Broadway suggested.

            “Demona!” Brooklyn growled with feral viciousness, his eyes instantly glowing a bright white.  “If she’s behind this, I’ll rip her wings out!”

            “Um, Brook… I think you’re forgetting something.” Broadway amended.  “Demona is human during the day and even Cassie could take Demona as a human.  Demona’s a potential suspect, but let’s not jump to any conclusions.”

            “Since when did you get so smart about kidnappings?” Brooklyn asked.

            “It’s called The Practice and NYPD Blue.  Now, it’s almost dawn… we’d better get back and resume the search tomorrow night.” Broadway offered.

            “Man… if I could lose sleep over this, I would.” Brooklyn muttered to himself as he sped past Broadway towards the castle.

            The others were all gathered on the balcony as the two landed.  Brooklyn barely waited for his feet to touch ground before all but pouncing on Goliath.

            “Anything?” he asked quickly.

            “No.” Goliath shook his head gravely.  “Talon and the other mutates haven’t heard from her at all… neither has Macbeth.  Xanatos has nothing to offer us other than the security tape we’ve already seen.  We will have to resume our search tomorrow night.”

            Brooklyn growled low in his throat, frustrated at the lack of clues, and climbed woefully up to his perch, his heart heavy.  What were they missing?  All they knew was that Cassandra had originally left of her own will and gone back to the factory, had a struggle and was now nowhere to be found.  Who could attack and capture her during the day? 

            Elisa watched with a frown as the gargoyles went through heir daily ritual of turning to stone before her eyes.  Normally, she would have been as fascinated as always, trying to catch the moment of conversion from flesh to stone.  However, due to Cassandra’s mysterious disappearance, she had more important things on her mind.  Cassie, though a gargoyle in every aspect of the word that mattered, was not a fighter.  Any random thug on the street could’ve knocked her out and dragged her away, hoping to make a buck by toting her to a freak show, or taking pictures for the Daily Tattler… or selling her to a lab.

            A laboratory!  Elisa smacked her forehead and dashed to Xanatos’ office, hoping that he was already there for the day.

            “Can I help you, Detective?” Owen’s cool voice greeted her at the door. 

            “I just had an idea about where Cassie may be.” She met his cold gaze evenly, making sure that her voice carried beyond the cracked door.

            “An idea?” Fox’s voice repeated from behind the door, opening it further and allowing Elisa past Owen.  “What sort of idea?”

            “Cassie’s always talked about how she was an experiment in lab before she came here.  Maybe the scientists who had her managed to find her and they have her now.  Isn’t Xanatos checking to see if he can find which lab see was in?” Elisa explained in rapid succession.

            “Yeah, but the lab that Cassie came from closed years ago.  David found that out yesterday… I guess with all of the excitement, he forgot to tell you all.  But you pose a plausible theory.  It may not have been the same lab… could have been another.  For all we know, Sevarius is still out there… not to mention Thailog.”  Fox thought aloud.

            “Right… so we need Xanatos to check all of the labs with shady dealings.  I’m sure he knows which ones they are.” Elisa added with an edge.

            “Probably.” Fox agreed without batting an eyelash. “I’ll get him right on it.”

------

Cassie drifted between dark consciousness and reality-troubled sleep induced by the drugs that Demona routinely pumped her up with.  She didn’t know how long she’d been in the lab, but the persistent and increasingly painful sore spots where she was strapped to the table said that it had been at least a few days, probably more.  The incessant beeping of the machine she was hooked up to was her only clue that she was truly awake and she grew to hate the placid, evenly-timed sound more than anything else.

She was actually grateful for the drugs… they kept her from the one revolving fact that had swirled in her mind since her first night in Demona’s clutches.

Her clan had not come for her…

Had they even searched?  There was no way to know.  But they had a top detective, a multi-millionaire, and one powerful fairy on their side… if they had really wanted to find her… surely they would have by now.

They didn’t care..

Brooklyn didn’t care…

 

 

(To Be Continued!)

 

 

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