In Her Father’s Shadow – By Princess Alexandria

Day 11

Demona glanced around the room and Trini noticed that even though her friendly expression didn’t change, she stared into Trini’s eyes after she’d seen Erik and the few gargoyles around him quietly talking. Trini widened her eyes and glanced at the restraining hand that Alexandria had placed on her shoulder. Demona nodded and turned back to the conversation. Trini glanced at Alexandria to see her staring at Trini. “You brought that killer here?” Alexandria hissed at her.

Trini took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She could see Demona casually wandering towards the exit. She wouldn’t make it. Trini could see that. The three gargoyles that Erik had talked with moved toward Trini and the exit. Erik stood up straighter. “Well, it looks like we’ve been had. This female is Demona.” Everyones glowing eyes turned toward Demona, and she amazingly didn’t look afraid. Trini was terrified. “We sent a picture to the Wyvern clan… she was identified. I told them that we would capture the female.” He turned to Demona, “I don’t know what you had planned, but no one makes a fool of me or endangers my clan.” Wearily he added, “Grab her and lock her up in the back cave. Get her human too.” The grip on Trini’s shoulder got stronger as four gargoyle’s approached Demona to obey. Demona got into a fighting stance and her face took on a gleeful expression. It seemed to make the four hesitate for a moment before moving in again. Trini could see that Demona was carefully concentrating, so she didn’t yell out to her when one of the males charged her. She wasn’t going to distract her. She watched as Demona easily swept the pink male out of the air and into the wall behind her. He hit so hard that Trini could hear one of his bones crack. He lost consciousness. Trini glanced around her and noticed that everyone was paying attention to Demona and ignoring her. Alexandria wasn’t ignoring her though, because she knew that Trini wasn’t really human.

“She isn’t like the Wyvern clan said she is. She isn’t. They don’t know her like I do.” Trini pleaded with Alexandria while watching Demona take a hit to the stomach. The blue gargoyle managed to claw that attacker hard across the face. He started to scream in pain. While Trini had been assessing Alexandria Demona had managed to dispatch another gargoyle. “Just let us out of here.”

“No… I’m not listening to anymore of your lies. You were working for her the entire time. We already lost half our clan… we aren’t going to wait around for that bitch to kill off the rest of us.” Alexandria’s hand on Trini’s shoulder became more painful. Trini stared at Demona… She was a great fighter, but there were just too many of them.

“If you didn’t attack her she wouldn’t do that.” Trini mumbled to herself as she watched Demona fight. It was truly beautiful. Her grace and strength were amazing. Trini was beginning to think that it would take an entire clan to stop her, when any single gargoyle approached her they were quickly dealt with. The ground had a few injured gargoyles littering it, and no one had really managed to really injure Demona yet. She felt Alexandria bring a talon up to her neck.

“We’ll see if she cares about you as much as you say you care about her.” Alexandria muttered quietly, and Trini’s eyes widened. She wasn’t going to let anyone use her against Demona… not after that time those men used her death like that. She growled and spun around to hit Alexandria as hard as she could in the stomach, doubling the gargoyle over.

“You were my father’s friend. I could have killed you with that, but I didn’t. Don’t forget that.” Trini growled out. She really could have if she had changed her hands to talon’s first. All the gargoyles were focused on Demona, so no one noticed that Trini was now fighting back. When Alexandria straightened up and glared at her Trini changed her hands right in front of the gargoyle. “I’m a lot more gargoyle than I look.” She stared at the orange female waiting to see what she’d do. She didn’t want to attack her if she didn’t have to. She didn’t honestly think she could win that fight, but she would do her best. She was careful to keep any fear off of her face, she wanted to look like she might actually be able to fight. Alexandria decided to attack. Her swings were less controlled than Demona’s, she was obviously not as good a warrior as the blue gargoyle that had been working on training Trini. Trini blocked the punches, noticing that Alexandria was doing this talons out, she was trying to do some real damage. The strength that Alexandria was using against Trini was wearing Trini down fast. She had to work very hard to block, and none of her punches were connecting. Trini’s eyes began to burn when Alexandria managed to land one set of deep cuts to Trini’s arm. There was a ripping sound and Trini spun, knocking Alexandria down with her tail. She’d ripped it right out of her pants to do that move. Before Alexandria could move Trini hit her hard in the face, knocking her out. She then spun around to see how Demona was doing.

The gargoyles had reached the same conclusion that Trini had, they were no longer attacking one at a time. Trini’s eyes widened when she saw Ben lift up a huge boulder and toss it at Demona’s back. Demona was so busy fighting off the three gargoyles in front of her, that she didn’t see it coming. Trini growled loudly and held up her hand… she was amazed when a green bolt flew out of it and hit the boulder in mid air, shattering it. Several eyes turned to her and she quickly covered up her shock, pretending that she’d meant to do that. She had everyone’s attention now, she took a deep breath and decided to take advantage of it.

“I’m Trinity… Raven’s daughter.” She said loudly. She might as well admit it now, she was all but banished anyhow and her pant leg was ripped, exposing her tail. She lashed her tail around to emphasis that she was gargoyle. “I came to see this great clan my father came from… I must say I’m disappointed.” Demona started to walk towards her. When Ben moved to stop Demona Trini moved her hand and pointed at him. “Don’t even think about it!” She hissed. She was grateful when he looked at her with wide eyes and took a step back. They thought she could shoot those bolts on purpose. She was going to use that as long as she could. Demona glanced at Trini’s glowing green hand with a question in her eyes. Trini ignored it for now.

When Demona got right next to her she whispered, “Can you control that?”

“No.” Trini said even more quietly. She turned to Erik. “Alexandria told me that you banished my father.” Let Alexandria live that one down she thought bitterly. “just because he survived and your mate didn’t. You are so blind. We didn’t need to come here to make a fool of you, you always were one.” His eyes started to burn. “My father was half Fey… he didn’t need hunters to kill you all, he could have easily done it himself.” She had no idea if that was true, but she wanted these gargoyles to fear the Fey right now.

“So did you come here to finish killing his clan off for him!” Erik took a few steps closer, but Trini kept her hand aimed at Ben. Demona could take Erik if she had to, but Trini didn’t want the large male anywhere near them.

Trini’s tone became very condescending, almost like Domi was when talking with her employees. “No, you idiot… I came here to pick up some of his belongings. I’m moving away from the area.” With her Fey magic right on the surface she could feel that the amulet was charging up with her magic, feeding off of her. She struggled to maintain the green glow, it was getting harder to do. She was going to have to stand down. “Now, if you are willing to listen to reason, I won’t need to kill anyone… and it would be a shame if one of your females got in the way… what with the shortage and all.” She glanced down at Alexandria’s motionless form meaningfully. She felt horrid playing this game of threats but she needed to protect them both. She could see Demona staring out at the assembled gargoyles smugly, with her arms crossed in front of her like she had nothing to worry about. Trini wished that they could just run, but Demona wouldn’t be able to out glide the entire clan while carrying her. They had to stay and face them.

Erik motioned for his clan to back away. She had them cowed, good. She nodded regally to him and allowed the green glow to fade. They stayed away. “What are you after?” Erik was starting to sound like a hostage negotiator.

“He left some of his mothers things here. I want access to the place to search for them, and then I’ll leave.” She glanced around at the clan, “I assume that you’d like me out of here before you’re all helpless and stone?” Quite a few eyes widened with that. “If anyone knows about these items father left for me they might want to say something or the search might take a long time.” She grinned evilly at the group, but was amazed that she could be such a bitch. She was threatening to kill them all, she had no intention of following through with that, but they believed her. She could see that they believed her. She could see that Demona was studying her. She probably didn’t think Trini could be so heartless either. It made Trini feel guiltier. When no one answered her she hissed, “Fine.” She could feel that the amulet was getting too hot, it felt like it was burning her skin, so she pulled it out of her shirt.

“You really are that half-breed’s offspring. Figures you’d be like this. Apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” Erik hissed at her. Trini’s eyes began to burn green, surprising him.

“Don’t push me gargoyle.” Trini said absently, she could feel the amulet pulling at her again. Suddenly there was a flash of green light and Raven stood in the middle of the room. He was transparent like before, and didn’t acknowledge the clan.

“Trinity… I’m glad you found the clan.” His deep voice filled the now silent room. A map appeared. It was clearly these caves. An area was highlighted. “What you seek is here.” He then froze unnaturally. Trini could hear the quiet murmurs of the gargoyles, and decided to take control again.

“So, who recognizes where he said that was?” She addressed the group demandingly. A few hesitant hands went up, which caused Erik to turn and glare at them. “Okay… you.” Trini pointed at a female with green skin and black hair, “What’s your name?”

“Alice.” She glared at Trini defiantly. She wasn’t the ideal hostage, but she was small and female. This clan wouldn’t endanger a female.

“Well, Alice… you know where my stuff is, so you are going with Blue to find it.” Trini turned and looked at Demona. She’d apologize later for ordering her around. “And if I have any trouble with the clan while you are gone… aside from losing Alexandria… they’ll lose you too.”

Trini took deep breaths occasionally to keep herself from getting too nervous while she waited for Demona and Alice to return. The clan glared at her as she sat beside the now awake but effectively tied up Alexandria. “I didn’t want to have to do it this way.” She told the orange female. “I really wanted to do this peacefully, but I won’t allow anyone to hurt Blue.” She felt the need to explain herself to Alexandria.

“Of course you didn’t want your mate hurt.” Alexandria hissed, “You damn dyke!”

“Mate!” Zack’s voice rose. “Your mate?!” Trini sighed as the male looked outraged. “You are more of a freak than I thought!” He turned to Erik, “She’s probably using her magic to make Demona do all sorts of disgusting things to her. No decent gargoyle would touch a freak like her! Demona may be a murderer… but she can still breed.” Trini’s eyes widened as she realized that Zack would keep Demona just to make her breed… just to force her, like those humans had. She growled deeply and was considering attacking the bastard, even without her magic, which had seemed to abandon her after her father’s appearance. The other gargoyle’s were muttering angrily, also outraged that she had Demona.

“I have it.” Demona’s voice stopped Trini from making that second step towards Zack. She glanced at the doorway and saw that Demona was carrying a small box. Alice also looked a little more bruised than she had when they left. Trini felt for the sun and could tell that sunrise wasn’t too far off. It had taken Demona and Alice a long time to find that box. Whatever her father had her come for had better be good, because this was… just horrible. She hated who she had to pretend to be just to get that damned thing.

Trini squatted down beside Alexandria again. She spoke quietly so that the gargoyles on the other side of the room wouldn’t hear her. “I am sorry about this. I know you don’t believe me, but I am. I really wanted this to go differently.” Trini sighed as she got back up. Alexandria was staring at her… like she almost believed that Trini was telling her the truth. She looked surprise at the remorse in Trini’s eyes. “You won’t see me again. I won’t bother your clan… I have what I came for.”

With wide eyes Alexandria spoke, “You don’t have it. You really came here for a clan didn’t you?”

Trini gave her a sad smile, “We don’t always get what we want.” She paused, “Maybe I’ll have more luck with the Fey.” She glanced across the angry gargoyle faces, “This clan never will accept me. You told me that in the beginning before I did this to them.” She gave Alexandria a studying look, after all this it looked like Alexandria was finally beginning to see her as a person, not her father’s mistake and not some freak. The expression on Alexandria’s face was… concern. She hadn’t expected that tying her up and threatening her clan would result in some sort of acceptance. “I’m going to ask a favor of you. I know you probably won’t do it… but I don’t want the New York clan to know I was here. They just might accept me, but not if they knew about this.”

“You know them don’t you?” Alexandria’s eyes narrowed at that. Trini could see that Demona was getting impatient.

“Yes, I do. They don’t know about Demona. They wouldn’t take it well.” Trini got up and turned to leave. She spoke louder, addressing the whole group. “We’re leaving. It’s almost sunrise, so following us would be suicide. You know that… don’t be stupid.” As they marched out of there Trini thought about what she’d told Alexandria. Well, they would have told the New York clan about her regardless, she’d been with Demona. Anyone traveling with Demona was news. She really needed to talk with Fox before she heard about this from someone else.

Trini held the box as Demona glided as fast as she could back to the cabin. They really were cutting it close. Trini could feel the sunrise was almost there. She stared at the box. It was the size of a jewelry box. “Should we land and walk the rest of the way?” Trini asked when she felt the sun was almost on them.

“No… I can make it.” Demona replied tensely. Trini looked into the gargoyles eyes… she was racing. Trini looked back to see that they were being followed. Zack was coming up strong.

“That idiot better land or he’ll fall.” Trini muttered. She wasn’t afraid, because he only had minutes. She glared at him, this was the one that was willing to take an unwilling mate just to breed. She didn’t think that gargoyles were like that, but she was wrong. He would have raped Demona if he could. Her friend had been hurt enough for a few lifetimes. Trini raised her hand and pointed at him. She grinned when he quickly backed off. She didn’t feel like she could do another blast like the one she did in the cave, she had no idea how she did that. It was nice that he didn’t know that.

“Threatening the poor male are you?” Demona chuckled.

“Yeah… with an empty gun too. I don’t think I can do that again, I don’t know what the hell it was.” Trini sighed. She glanced down and saw their cabin. They landed quickly and rushed inside. The change took a hold of Demona seconds after Trini shut the door.

“Domi, I really think it would be a good idea for us not to be here tonight.” Trini glanced out the glass door nervously.

“Good.” Domi grinned at her, “We can pack up after we get up.” She looked down at her body, “I need a shower.” She had dirt and blood on her. “Join me?”

Trini was just standing under the shower letting the water run over her. She couldn’t believe that they had managed to get out of there. “You did really well. I told you that you knew how to act.” Domi grinned at her. Trini gave her a weak grin back, she wasn’t all that proud of being like that.

“I’m sorry I ordered you around.” Trini moved closer to Domi and started to help her with her back. “I’m sorry I got you involved in that at all.” As she soaped up Domi’s back she realized that she’d never done this with her in this form. Domi seemed to tense up with her touch. She didn’t do that in her other form. Trini pulled back and went back to washing her hair, pretending that she was done. Domi had a problem with this type of intimacy in that form. Trini puzzled over that for a while. She was surprised when soft soapy hands started to caress her back.

“I would normally be upset with anyone telling me what to do. You didn’t mean it that way… I know that.” Domi stopped the light caress, “There is nothing to forgive Trini.” Trini watched Domi get out of the shower. “I’m going to bed. You sleep as long as you want, I’ll pack up the car when I get up.”

Trini came into the bedroom to see Domi turning Trini’s box in her hands curiously. “What do you think is in here?” Domi asked her absently.

“No idea.” Trini moved to gently take it from Domi’s hands and study it herself. When she tried to open it she found it was locked, but there wasn’t any lock on the outside. “Won’t open.” She yawned and then set the box down. “Let’s get some sleep.”

Trini slept as long as she could, but even though Domi was obviously trying to pack up quietly, her hearing made that next to impossible for the redhead to do. She got up and got dressed after about five hours of sleep. They were almost done packing when Trini’s phone rang. “Hello?”

“Trini… Thank god you’re okay.” Fox sounded so relieved. “I was worried that last night wouldn’t go too well.”

“Fox.” Trini said that just so Domi would know who she was talking with. “It didn’t go so well. I had to threaten them to get what I wanted, and I’m definitely not welcome back.”

“You threatened them? How?” Fox sounded surprised the Trini was capable of that.

“I didn’t know that I could shoot bolts out of my hands. I was pretty pissed, and they were properly impressed.” Trini sat down on the couch.

“You did magic?” Fox’s voice rose.

“Yes… then I told them that I’d start killing them if they didn’t do what I ask. Not one of my proudest moments. I threatened my father’s clan.” Trini’s disgust with herself was very easy to hear. “Now I’m packing up and trying to get the hell out of town before they wake up.”

Fox was quiet for an uncomfortably long time. “So what did you get?”

“Some sort of jewelry box. It’s locked, so I’ll need to figure out how to open it. I thought it might be a good idea to have Owen look at it first.” Trini didn’t want to open without some backup. She was still apprehensive about magic.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Fox agreed easily and seemed to relax when she heard that Trini wasn’t rushing to play with the magic. Trini knew that there was magic in the box, she could feel it.

“Fox… I love you.” Trini sighed. Domi came back in quietly to grab another bag, giving Trini privacy to talk with Fox. In a lower voice Trini added, “Things went really badly here. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention I was ever in Oregon. Maybe I’ll get lucky and this clan won’t tell Goliath and them what happened. If they knew everything that happened here, I really don’t see that they’d forgive me.” She glanced out the window at Domi loading up the car. She was almost ready to go.

Fox sounded a little depressed for Trini, “I’m sorry you had such a tough time, and I’m sorry you had to do that alone.”

Trini took a deep breath, preparing to tell Fox that she wasn’t alone. Fox was going to figure it out if the gargoyles mentioned that Demona was spotted in Oregon. Instead, all she said was, “It’s okay. I’ll see you in a few days. We can check out the box and talk about everything then.” After they hung up she sat there, worrying that the Manhattan clan would talk about Demona’s visit here. There was a chance they might not, since they didn’t like Fox… but Trini was taking a really big gamble. Fox was getting home days before her. She really felt that this sort of news was better delivered in person… she hoped that she would be the one to deliver it.

Trini was still pretty tired when they took off for Portland again, so when Domi offered to drive she took it. They left the cabin at noon, and Trini waited in the car when Domi went in to deal with the bill at the office… the damage she’d done to her room probably was going to cost her. The redhead didn’t look too pleased when she came back out. Yep… it really cost her.

Trini fell asleep shortly after they got going. She was half awake when she felt the caress on her tail. Domi was running her hand up and down the coiled tail gently, almost distractedly. Desire was slowly simmering in Trini’s body at the slow steady caress. Trini didn’t want it to stop, she was awake, but not moving. She cracked open her eyes to see that they were traveling on a long deserted highway. Domi ran her hand up to a higher coil, that was wrapped around Trini’s upper thigh. It felt so good. Trini’s breathing was becoming hard to control. “Domi, do you have any idea what that does to me?” She had to know. Domi had been caressing her like that during the entire trip.

She could see a wicked grin on Domi’s face. “What does it do to you?” That woman already knew, Trini could tell.

“You like teasing me like this don’t you?” Trini opened her eyes a sat up. She studied Domi as she waited for an answer. “Do you want me? Or are you just teasing me like you teased Erik?” She suddenly felt vulnerable and insecure. She knew Domi loved her, but maybe she didn’t want sex. Maybe a real gargoyle wouldn’t want her, like Zack had said. She did look a lot like a human.

“Trini…” Domi was staring into her eyes for a moment before having to turn back to the road and instant Trini could see some pain in them. “I’m not teasing you like I did with Erik. I wouldn’t do that to you.” Domi went silent after that. She also seemed to look a little sad. Trini felt bad for bringing it up now.

“I’m sorry. I just let some of the crap Zack said get to me.” Trini suddenly remembered that Domi didn’t know that Alexandria had outed them “Alexandria told the clan we were mates.” She watched as Domi’s eyes widened in shock. “He said some rather nasty things about me after that.”

“They talk to Angela’s clan.” Domi muttered quietly, and suddenly Trini understood what was bothering her. Her daughter might hear about this tonight. Trini didn’t feel like Domi’s dark secret, she could understand this reluctance to have her daughter find out like this. They hadn’t ever had sex, weren’t really mates like that. It wasn’t like when Elisa wouldn’t tell her brother. She reached out and rested her hand on Domi’s leg. Domi took her hand and held it. “This is about to get really awkward. It’s going to affect you the most if the clan hears about this,” Domi glanced at her, “I told you that Goliath and Brooklyn would hold our friendship against you.” Trini could hear the nervousness in Domi’s voice.

“And I told you that if I have to choose between you and that clan I’d choose you. I still mean that, but if you don’t want to…” Trini felt her heart beating painfully.

“No… I will not abandon you just because my daughter might have a problem with it.” Trini could see Domi’s knuckles getting white around the steering wheel. “She doesn’t even talk to me anymore. You’d be the only one that knew if she was upset.” Oh God… If Angela was hostile when she thought Trini might be interested in Broadway, how the hell would she be if she knew that Trini was interested in her mother.

Trini’s heart started to beat faster when she recognized the road that they were on. Her face became white as all the blood drained from it. In a very small voice she said, “Be careful on this road.” Domi glanced over at her and her eyes widened. She pulled over immediately and Trini darted out of the car to throw up on the side of the road. She could still see the charred trees down the very steep hill. That was where her mother died… and where she realized that she couldn’t. She had started to sweat and her breathing was labored.

Domi turned off the car and jumped out. “What’s wrong?” Trini glanced over at her friend and then back at the charred trees.

“That’s where my mother died.” She pointed to the trees. “It was a rainy day and she was driving…” she glanced back at Domi, “the car burst into flames shortly after we stopped falling. I… I wasn’t as strong back then. I think she was already dead, I hope she was already dead.” Domi came up and put her hand on Trini’s shoulder while she stared at the place that changed Trini’s life. “I was burned pretty badly on half of my body. That was the first time I knew that I should have died, but I didn’t. I managed to get out of the car and get away before the cops came.” Trini was staring at the area as if she could see what she was talking about happening right now. “I hid in that cave.” She pointed to a cave further down the hill. “I had to hide for over a day. The investigation took a while, and I… I was really messed up.” She glanced across to the other side of a street. “I stole some clothes from a house over there. I still had my wallet, so I took a cab home and pretended to not know that she was dead when they called me.” Trini stared into Domi’s anxious eyes, “I pretended that we had argued and I had gotten out of the car before it happened. That I had left her in Portland.” Trini stared into space, “She said she was taking me to see family. Oh God… she was taking me to this clan. She was finally changing…” The thought that her mother was planning to introduce her to the clan, was going to let her know about gargoyles was painful. She’d spent so much time hating her, and just as she was changing… becoming the mother she needed… this happened. Domi moved to pull Trini into a hug. Trini clung to her tightly. Domi petted her hair gently and murmured comforting sounds as Trini cried. After Trini finally was able to pull herself together Domi let her go and stared down at the blackened trees.

“I first died in Scotland” She told Trini. “about nine hundred years ago. When these things happen to me I actually die and then come back to life.” Demona was probably the only person that could understand what she was going through. She left Trini and got a bottle of water out of the car for her. “Do you feel up to stopping for a late lunch? We should hit the town soon.”

Lunch was a rather somber affair. They found a small family restaurant in the small town. Trini was quiet and just stared at her plate as memories of her mother haunted her. She remembered that her mother had claimed that she had her wings removed to protect her. She remembered the threats when she did things a human couldn’t do, like how well she could climb trees. She’d known about the hunters. That’s why she treated Trini so badly, yelled at her, hit her. She was trying to make her fit in so that the hunters wouldn’t come. She didn’t hate Trini, she was just scared and didn’t know what to do. “I wish she’d just told me, instead of yelling at me and hitting me whenever I acted… different.” Trini mumbled to Domi. They were seated a few booths away from the nearest group of people. “She knew… she used to say that the hunters would get me if I didn’t behave. She knew.”

Domi reached across the table to take Trini’s hand. “She had no right to treat you like that, regardless of her reasons.” Trini gripped Domi’s hand gratefully.

They reached the hotel in Eugene Oregon shortly after five. Trini felt a little strange letting a stranger unload their belongings and bring them up to the room, but that’s what they did here. They unpacked, because they were going to be here a couple nights. It was Saturday and Domi was planning to visit her company early on Monday. Trini noticed right away that Domi got them a one bedroom hotel room. It was nice. It had a living room with a fireplace, a luxurious bathroom, and a balcony. “I decided to stop wasting my money on two bedrooms when we know that we will end up in one.” Domi grinned.

“Good, I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.” Trini grinned at her and ducked the mock punch aimed at her head. “What…” Trini gave Domi an innocent look, “I just mean that you are actually older than dirt. Did you meet the guy that invented the wheel?” Trini loved teasing Domi like this… rarely were age jokes this funny. The redhead was over a thousand years old! It baffled the mind. Trini started to retreat when she saw the look in Domi’s eyes. She quickly spun and dove for the safety of the bedroom. Domi tackled her to the ground and started to tickle her sides for a moment before just staring down at her with a playful expression.

“Look… child. They were on the third version of the wheel when I was a hatchling!” Domi grinned down at her. “They had it down to an oval. These new round ones are very modern.”

They went out to a nice restaurant for dinner around seven. Trini was slowly getting over her problem with having Domi pay for everything. She still had some of the money that David had given her, but she somehow didn’t think Fox would appreciate her using it to date Domi. This dinner really felt like a date. Domi was wearing nice black pantsuit and a red silk shirt. Her hair was down and wild. Trini was wearing a dark grey pantsuit with a royal blue shell.

After they were done eating dinner Domi took a deep breath and started to speak. “I know that we always argue when I bring this up, but I’m going to do it again.” Trini knew what it was as she watched Domi’s face. “I want you to work for me, and I want you to do it…” Domi paused for a moment before deciding to continue, “because it would give me at least some time that I could be with you. Time that was my own and you wouldn’t need to sneak out. If you have a job somewhere else, spend the nights with the clan and Fox… I can’t see you having time to see me.” Domi went silent and studied Trini. Trini could feel her gaze as she stared down at the table trying to think. That was a really good reason… she hadn’t even started to think of that. If she worked a nine to five… had dinner with Fox… and spent a few hours with the clan… she wouldn’t even have enough time to sleep, let alone visit Domi. She’d never have time to write. How much did she need to work? If they managed to get her mother’s money from Travis she’d be out of debt. She could pay off her student loans in one payment. There was no rent for her room, and Fox wanted to buy her clothes… she couldn’t stop that woman if she tried. Her eyes widened as she realized that she didn’t NEED to work, she just wanted her own money for lunches and other little things, maybe her own money to treat others out to the movies or something once in a while. She had never really realized that she was going to be this well off because she lived with Fox… and because Domi was taking care of her mother’s estate issues. If she just didn’t work she’d feel weird about it, and she’d need to come up with a good excuse for leaving to see Domi every time. She wouldn’t be living alone; she’d need to let other’s know where she was. The way the Fox and Elisa had panicked when she went to see Domi and forgot to tell them that she’d be home late was a good example of that.

Trini looked up and stared at Domi. The redhead seemed to be waiting calmly for her answer, but she knew her better… she could see the hope in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine going a week, let along weeks without seeing her. She still wanted to be included in the patrols that the clan did once in a while, and she rarely fell asleep before three am. “Do you ever hire people part time?” She would be able to have her life the way she needed it if she didn’t start work until noon or one. She’d be able to stay up with the clan and still get enough sleep. She almost grinned when Domi’s eyes seemed to light up.

“I haven’t in the past… but this position is more flexible.” Domi was starting to speak in her more business like voice. “I would want you available for some evening work occasionally, but I know how hard mornings are on you.” She grinned at Trini, and Trini knew what she was talking about. If she woke up by ten it was early for her. “I’d like it if you were sometimes able to go on business trips with me, but I won’t make it a requirement of the position.”

“What exactly will this position be? What would I be doing?” Trini had almost made up her mind. Taking this job would solve a lot of problems. She was learning how to deal with Domi’s human hating attitude… maybe more exposure to her would help with that. Not working for Domi wouldn’t keep the redhead from killing off the human race, so it was stupid to not work there because of it. These things were going to happen whether or not she was there, but if she was there she might be able to affect them.

Domi gave Trini a small smile. “I’m open to finding out what you are good at, but I was thinking that as my personal assistant you could help me with company visits, oversee some of my employees, assist with research, come with me on negotiation deals. I’m sure that there are other things you could do as well. Your ability to work nights… would be invaluable during times that I have deadlines I’m having trouble meeting. I’ve had to stay almost all night sometimes to finish things up because the humans can’t stay with me at night.” She paused, “I can pay you very well.”

Trini smiled at her softly, “We both know that this isn’t about money.”

“I know… I could never pay for the kind of loyalty you have. There just isn’t enough money for that.” Domi reached over and took her hand. “Will you take it?”

Trini stared down at their hands for a moment. “You know what my limits are. I don’t want to get into illegal things.” She looked up into Domi’s eyes, “As long as you respect my limits… yes.” She smiled at the slowly growing grin on Domi’s face.

“I can get the paperwork started tonight.” Domi looked thoughtful for a moment.

They went back to the hotel room and Domi immediately printed out some forms for Trini to fill out. She worked for NightStone Unlimited now. She really did like the name of that company. Even though she knew she had the job she spent the time to carefully fill everything out. It was odd to do the interview first, but if anyone ever looked at her paperwork she wanted it to look like she was qualified. When she got to the form about previous criminal records she held it up for Demona to see. “Do I loose points because I never did any time in jail?” She smirked at the gargoyle.

“Oh… you’re going to be fun to work with.” Demona said flatly, but then grinned at her.

Trini finished all the paperwork along with her resume and cover letter in a few hours. Demona spent that time working. When she was done she handed the pile of papers to Demona. “When should I start? I was thinking that I shouldn’t start right away, because then people would wonder how I managed to get a job while out of town.” She reached into the fridge on the other side of the room for a bottle of water. “If you don’t mind erratic hours… I could claim that I was job hunting for a few days and then got an offer.”

Demona’s voice was a little depressed, “Well, we still need to undo that spell. I’d like it if you didn’t start until that is taken care of.” Trini looked at Demona with concern. “I want to make sure you can still handle being around me after that.” She said so softly that if Trini didn’t have a gargoyles hearing, she would never have heard it. She wasn’t supposed to hear it from the look on Demona’s face as she stared out the window. Why would Demona think that she would abandon her after remembering her rape?

“I love you.” Trini told her as she moved to wrap her arms around Demona’s shoulders in a hug. “You know I love you , right?”

Demona gave her a weak smile. “Yes… you tell me all the time.” The gargoyle sighed, “I love you too.” Trini should have been glad to finally hear it, but something in the way Demona said it made it sound… like a problem. Trini started to realize that Demona was afraid that she’d abandon her, really afraid.

Day 12

Trini was relaxing in front of the TV when her phone rang. She glanced over at the gargoyle on her computer. “Hello?”

“Trini, I wanted to warn you that Demona is on the West Coast.” Delilah said quickly.

Trini’s eyes widened as she realized that she’d need to do some acting now. “Where is she? Do you know?” Her body was tensing up as she prepared for the lies that she may need to tell her friend. Delilah was actually more like her sister.

“She was spotted in Oregon. She tried to infiltrate the Oregon clan.” Trini gratefully noticed that there was no mention of her being there.

“What happened?!” Trini’s voice rose a little. She made herself sound concerned for that clan.

“They say that she and some other female stole some magical artifacts from them. They don’t know what they do, but the leader is concerned.” Delilah sounded puzzled, “The clan is just stunned that Demona had anyone with her.” How could that bastard claim she stole that? It was hers!

“Do we know anything about the female?” Trini was careful to not sound too interested.

“Well… not really. Alexandria… that clan’s second… said she was the offspring of someone that had been banished a long time ago. We figured it was a revenge thing.” Trini slumped a little in relief… thank you Alexandria! “Goliath is really concerned about what she took. Demona and magic are a dangerous combination.”

“Well, what are they going to do?” If they planned to attack Demona for stealing, when no actual stealing occurred she wanted to warn her.

“They don’t know. They have no idea what she has or what it does.” Delilah sighed, “They’re trying to figure that out… but the clan had absolutely no idea what it was.” And they shouldn’t… they didn’t even know they had it.

“Thank you for calling me. Oregon isn’t that close to Seattle. I don’t think we need to worry about Demona attacking me.” All truths. Trini didn’t lie once. She also remembered to call her Demona… even though she never did that.

Delilah sounded a little relieved, “I wasn’t sure. You’ll be home soon?”

“I’ll be back on the fourteenth, but I might lay low that night. I need to spend some time with Fox.” Insinuating something much more pleasant than what she expected was going to happen. “I don’t want to deal with the clan right away. Elisa thinks they plan to ambush me and try and get dates. I’m just so tired of that.”

“They are planning to do that. It’s so obvious.” Delilah sounded so hopeful, “I’d like to spend some time with you. We could rent a movie.”

“That sounds good. Sometime this week we can do that.” Trini wanted to be able to give Delilah a definite time, but things with Domi and Fox were going to be really complicated. “We’ll get pizza and watch movies. It’ll be fun.”

Once she was done hearing the gossip she hung up. “So… it looks like Alexandria kept my name out of it. Everyone is completely baffled that you had an accomplice.” Trini turned to Demona. “Erik is claiming we stole my box. He’s such an asshole.” Demona nodded in agreement to that. “The clan is thinking you stole it, and… well… you might need to watch your back. I am so sorry.” Trini gave Demona a sad and guilty look. “I guess I’m not done getting you into trouble.”

“Oh, Trini.” Demona smiled at her softly, “don’t worry about it. When I don’t cast any horrible spells for a while they’ll forget about it.” She glanced outside. “Do you want to go gliding?”

Demona carried Trini as they glided over the city. The gargoyle made a point to glide over the company that they’d be visiting on Monday. “Trini, do you want to try something?” Demona grinned at her mischievously.

“What do you have in mind?” Trini felt a little caution was a good idea with Demona wearing that expression.

“You can ride on my back. I just want to see if it’s possible.” Trini looked at Demona’s back… it was all wing space, she’d be in the way.

“How, you need to be able to move your wings?” Trini was really puzzled, but maybe Demona’s arms got tired carrying her all the time.

“I was thinking you could wrap your legs around my waist and sit on my rear.” Demona managed to say it in a matter of fact way, but Trini’s eyes widened. Demona wanted her to ride her like a horse? That pose didn’t seem dignified enough for the blue female. “Having my arms free when we glide sometimes might be important. If Zack had caught up to us last night, I wouldn’t have been able to fight.” So the reason came out.

“You want to learn how to fight with me? As in us working together?” Trini was a little surprised. She wasn’t a very good warrior. If she hadn’t taken Alexandria by surprise with her tail she’d have never beaten that gargoyle.

“I think that we should know how. We may never need to, but… we have time and it might be fun.” Demona smirked at her, “You can see if you can stay on.”

When they took off from the building again, Trini was pretty scared. She had her legs wrapped around Demona’s upper thighs, and her hands resting on Demona’s shoulders, so that she didn’t slide off. She released a breath when they managed to catch the wind and glide. She sat at a bit of an angle so that the wind didn’t knock her off Demona’s back. “Are you doing okay?” Demona called back to her.

“Yes.” Trini sighed. Demona started to take turns in the air, and Trini had to learn how to hold on with her legs to stay on. She started to slide once, and Demona quickly straightened up.

“I’m this high so that I can catch you if you fall. I won’t let you fall.” Demona told her. Trini already knew that, Demona would probably plow herself into the ground trying to save her. Trini reached down and caressed Demona’s low back affectionately. “I want to try some trickier stuff, are you okay with that?”

“Sure. No problem.” Trini grinned when Demona started to turn tighter, to do small dives and climbs, she was capable of much rougher but she was letting Trini get used to how she needed to hold on. Trini’s legs were going to be sore when they were done, but Demona wasn’t complaining about being held too tightly.

Demona was climbing very sharply when Trini slipped off of her and started to fall. Trini’s heart started to pound in her chest and the wind whipping by made breathing difficult but she didn’t scream. She was very high up… very, very high. She watched as Demona spun around and dove after her frantically. It reminded Trini of the last time Demona had dove after her. Demona caught up to her quickly and wrapped her arms around Trini. “I have you. I won’t let you fall. Never let you fall.” Demona muttered as she hugged Trini tightly to her.

Trini wrapped her arms around Demona’s neck. “I know.” She said softly and leaned forward to kiss Demona’s cheek. “I trust you. It’s okay.” They started again, and this time Trini didn’t fall off. They were outside practicing this new form of gliding until a few hours before sunrise.

When they landed in the hotel room, Trini’s legs were shaky from all the exercise. She sat down on the couch quickly. “Come here.” She waved Demona over. The gargoyle complied with a smirk on her face and Trini pulled her closer to make sure she didn’t bruise her with her legs. She carefully investigated Demona’s hips and thighs… more carefully than was really needed. Riding Demona like that had been so… Trini leaned forward and kissed the gargoyles hip slowly… she wanted to brush that loincloth away and taste her. “I want you.” She whispered then she started to kiss Demona’s stomach. “I need you.” Her hand slid behind Demona and she started to caress the base of the gargoyles tail. Her breathing was ragged. Demona reached out and caressed Trini’s hair softly.

“I… I can’t. I’m sorry.” Trini could hear the desperate tone, the fear. Trini pulled her arms away and sat back… she’d been so stupid pushing her like that. She could see that Demona was upset. The gargoyle stepped out of her reach and wrapped her arms around herself as she caped her wings. Trini could see that she wanted to run… like she ran at the cabin.

“I’m sorry Blue. I…” Trini felt like kicking herself for being so weak. “I won’t do that to you again. I’m sorry.” Demona’s fear chased away all of Trini’s desire. “I love you. Even if we never… I love you.” Trini told her softly.

Demona stepped closer and reached out to caress Trini’s cheek carefully. She moved to sit on the end of the couch. Trini slowly moved to lay her head in Demona’s lap as she stared at the blank TV. The gargoyle started to lightly caress Trini’s hair. Trini snuggled against Demona. “Feels nice.” She murmured. She felt Demona start to relax underneath her. The caresses became more confident, and then Trini felt Demona lightly caressing the points of her ears. She’d told Demona about how sensitive those where. She arched her head into the caress, and said nothing. It felt so nice. She could feel tingling all the way down her neck. Demona started to lightly caress her back, right around her scars. She gave a light moan of pleasure, and Demona paused for a moment, but continued with the caresses. The mixed messages that she was getting from Demona were confusing her, but she would take whatever the gargoyle wanted to give. The caresses became more relaxing as Demona abandoned the erogenous zones… and Trini never noticed when she fell asleep.

Trini felt pretty disoriented when she woke up in the bed. She glanced around to see what had woken her up and she noticed that the sun had just come up. She wished she could do something about that pain for Domi. She watched as Domi came into the room and she averted her eyes when Domi started to undress. Trini was relieved when Domi snuggled up to her when she got into the bed, and pulled her closer with a happy moan. “Nice… I like sleeping with you.” Trini muttered tiredly and fell asleep again with a small smile on her face. The nightmares that Domi had were a little less frequent than they’d been in the beginning… and the warm body of the redhead more than made up for the lack of sleep that her being there caused. Trini didn’t notice Domi snuggle closer.

“I’m going to miss this.” Domi said very softly, but Trini was already asleep.

“Wake up already!” Domi spoke loudly into the bedroom, startling Trini awake. Trini blinked and stared at the redhead trying to figure out what she was doing awake… she obviously wasn’t very awake.

“Huh?” She muttered as she tried to get her eyes to focus on the redhead. “What time is it?”

Domi grinned evilly at her, “It’s nine.” Nine? She never woke up this early. “I want to go out to eat, so get your lazy ass out of bed and get ready!”

Trini jumped into the shower shortly after her wake up call. She cautiously reached around to her tail and felt for that pheromone duct that Domi had showed her was there. She ran her fingers along it and her eyes rolled up as her breathing became labored. Oh… that was nice. She started to lightly stroke the skin above it, whimpering with the feelings that it caused to course through her. She was so intent on the pleasure that she didn’t hear the bathroom door or the shower door open. She let out a low moan… and then yelped when she noticed that Domi was standing at the shower door, looking a little stunned.

“I… uh… just wanted to make you hurry up.” Domi was staring at Trini’s tail. “I’m sorry… take as long as you need.” Trini’s entire body blushed as she stared with wide eyes at the redhead. She really wished that she were invisible right now. Domi turned to leave, “If you run your thumb over one side and your finger over the other it will feel even better.” She murmured as she left. Trini got out of the shower and got dressed quickly, she couldn’t relax enough now. She couldn’t believe that Domi had caught her masturbating!

When she came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to leave she could see Domi blush. She gritted her teeth and tried to act not embarrassed even though she had a strong blush of her own. “So… breakfast?”

It didn’t take long for them to get over the awkwardness of the shower and get on with breakfast. They walked to a nice restaurant a few blocks away. Trini had gotten up to go to the bathroom before they ordered, and when she got back she saw some man in her seat. Domi looked tense, and she caught Trini’s eyes… Trini could see that she didn’t want her to come back to the table. Trini slid into a small table that had a view of Domi and the man so that if she needed to move she could. She couldn’t see him very well, since he was facing away from her. He appeared older looking and had white hair. He was in really good shape for an older guy. She noticed that Domi paid no attention to her now, probably so as not to draw attention to her. The man’s body was tense and he seemed a bit angry. She strained to hear them above the clamor of other customers.

“You’re doing it again aren’t you? That woman with the black hair… who is she? Are you pretending to love her to get something out of her or is she already dead? I’m surprised that you’ve taken to human females Demona…” Trini’s eyes widened. He knew her name, and he seemed to have a bit of a history with Domi. “What do you tell her you do at night?” He was pissed.

The waiter startled Trini. She ordered an orange juice so that she could stay there and blend in.

“This scene doesn’t serve any purpose. Now unless you plan to try something, and we both know how useless that is… you should go.” Domi told him firmly.

Trini grabbed the menu and avoided eye contact as he got up and left their table. She stayed where she was, because Domi hadn’t wanted her to be spotted with her. She waited until Domi got up and came over to her. Domi sat down across from her, looking a little weary. “That was MacBeth.” Trini was glad she hadn’t known that at the time… because just hearing that he’d been near Domi scared her. “You heard some of that didn’t you?”

“Some.” Trini was a little pale. She reached over and took Domi’s hand. “Are you okay? If I’d known it was him…” What… what could she have done against him? She couldn’t hurt him or she’d hurt Domi. She gave Domi a concerned looked. “There really isn’t a lot I can do against him, is there? Not without hurting you.”

Domi glanced around. “Let’s get out of here. I want to talk with you alone. We can get the meals to go.”

The trip back was a little tense. Trini could tell that Domi’s casual glances around weren’t. She was looking for MacBeth. Once they were in the hotel room Trini felt she could relax. She set out their breakfast and they both sat down in the living room. “What did you hear?” Domi looked at Trini intently.

“He thinks you are pretending to love me to get something out of me, or that you’ve killed me.” Trini could see that Domi was concerned about that. “I know you aren’t pretending. And I don’t have anything worth having if you were.” Trini smirked at her.

“I’m not pretending.” Domi told her softly. “After I had the spell to become human placed on me… I married him, to get to his money.” She glanced up from her breakfast. “He actually didn’t recognize me and he’s known me for almost a thousand years. I was surprised that it was so easy to fool him.” Trini felt a wave of jealousy again. Domi must have been able to read it plainly on her face. More quietly she added, “I didn’t have sex with him.”

Trini smiled guiltily, “I’m that transparent?”

Domi smiled softly, “You’re jealous… you didn’t like my flirting with Erik and you didn’t like the idea that MacBeth might have had me.” Domi moved a little closer to Trini on the couch and lightly caressed Trini’s tail. “I like knowing you care.” She stopped the caress. “You said something at the restaurant that got me thinking. He is the only person that can kill me.” Domi looked intense in thought. “If it ever looks like he may succeed in that… I’d like you to try and kill me first. I won’t fight you.” Trini slumped in shock.

“I can’t hurt you Domi…” Trini spoke softly.

“Trini… you’d be saving me.” Domi brushed Trini’s hair out of her eyes. “I’d only be dead for a little while… I wouldn’t be mad at you.” Trini looked into Domi’s face with pain filled eyes. Domi suddenly looked a bit remorseful. “I’m sorry I asked… don’t worry about it. He won’t try anything. I’ve fought him off all these years, I’m more than capable of doing it.”

“Why does he try to kill you if he’ll die?” Trini turned to face Domi completely.

Domi sighed, “We’ve been alive a very long time. Sometimes that gets to be tiring or painful. I’ve tried to kill him a few times as well. He is a good warrior.” She smirked to herself, but Trini wasn’t seeing any humor in this. “Living even a few hundred years can be tiring.”

Quietly Trini spoke, “I might live a long time like that.” She hated to think that life would become so unbearable that she’d seek out iron to kill herself.

“I hope you do. I’d like to have someone… living that long would have been easier if I’d had someone.” Domi lifted Trini’s chin. “I only tried to kill us after horrible things happened. This time, after Canada… I didn’t even feel the desire to die. I have you… and I have Angela.”

“Humans have hurt you like that before, haven’t they?” Trini asked softly, not fully expecting an answer.

Domi sat up straighter, obviously surprised at the turn in the conversation. She stared at Trini and then started to speak with some pain in her voice. “I’m a strong warrior, but… there have been times that it wasn’t enough.” Domi took a breath, “I’ve been abused, tortured, starved, experimented on, hunted, and seen gargoyles I cared for killed… I’ve been raped before too.” Trini suddenly reached out and pulled Domi into her lap and held her tightly.

“I wish I could protect you from all your pain. I wish I could go back in time and protect you from all of that.” Trini said tearfully.

Trini could see tears in Domi’s eyes, “I’ve never told anyone… about any of that.”

“If you ever want to talk about anything… you can talk to me.” She caressed Domi’s hair. “You have too much pain bottled up inside.” She whispered, “You aren’t alone anymore.”

Domi was quiet for a while. “Thank you, but it won’t be necessary.” Domi told her gently. Trini didn’t push it, the offer still stood, and Domi knew that. Domi made a motion to let Trini know that she wanted out of Trini’s lap. Trini let go and let her get up and move back to her seat to eat.

As they were eating Domi looked up, “Do you tell people about your pain? The abuse you suffered?”

“You know more than anyone else. Fox knows some of it.” Trini felt a little uncomfortable having the focus switched to her. “I just felt you would understand. I don’t want pity… you don’t give me pity.” She sighed. She could see that Domi was surprised that she would know more than Fox. “It hurt to talk with you about it… but it felt better to have done it.” Demona nodded thoughtfully, and Trini knew that she was considering her offer to listen.

Trini stared at the working redhead. It was almost lunchtime. “Can we go to the movies?” She didn’t know what was playing, but the TV was so boring. There was never anything good on the TV on Sunday. She’d offered to help Domi with her work, but it wasn’t something that she could help with. “Maybe get some food and go to a movie?”

“Bored?” Domi closed her laptop. “I don’t see why not.” She smiled at Trini softly.

Trini was surprised when Domi decided that a picnic would be nice. They went and got the food and then found a relatively deserted area of a park and sat in the grass to eat. It was a nice day. Trini realized why Domi wanted the picnic halfway through eating. “There are a lot of birds here.” Domi glanced over to the water fountain and Trini followed her gaze to see that there were several different types of birds hanging around. She watched them longingly for a moment before looking down at her sandwich guiltily. “Trini?” Domi’s voice drew Trini’s eyes to her. The redhead looked troubled. “There is nothing wrong with watching the birds fly… or the gargoyles glide. You don’t need to live by her rules anymore.” Trini knew that… she just… had a problem accepting it. “Trini, my offer to find those doctors that did this to you still stands. I’d need information from you… but I would like to make them pay for hurting you.” Trini looked up with wide eyes to see a knowing look on Domi’s face, “They did more than remove your wings, didn’t they?”

“Yes…” Trini stared over at the water fountain. “They did experiments on my wings for days before they removed them. Painful ones. They had me for a long time, I don’t know how long.” She whispered, “It felt like forever.” Trini looked up sadly, “I could probably show you a hundred ways to cause excruciating pain to a gargoyle just using the wings.” She glanced at the sky and sighed.

Domi reached over and took Trini’s hand, “That’s what I thought.” She stared at Trini with pain in her eyes. “That you were able to endure that at such a young age is amazing. It would have broken a lesser person.” She tilted her head and appeared to be studying Trini, “We could find them, if they’re still alive. We could get vengeance for you.”

“I don’t want to remind them that I’m alive.” Trini’s eyes were a little glassy, “I don’t want to risk it backfiring… I don’t know if I could survive that again. They’d have my immortality to play with now. I didn’t have that then.” Trini saw Domi flinch and her eyes widened… Domi said she’d been experimented on. “Oh God… someone did that to you?”

Domi sighed, “I don’t really want to talk about that now.” That was all the confirmation Trini needed.

Trini was feeling pretty depressed when they finally got to the movie theater. She was able to see why Domi would hate humans so much. If she’d lived even a hundred years of Domi’s life… she might be like that too.

They sat in the back of the nearly empty theater. When the previews started and the lights dimmed, Domi reached over and started to caress her tail. She’d wondered why the redhead had them switch seats, she’d wanted to be next to the leg Trini had curled her tail around today. The tingling and throbbing of her sex made it impossible to remember what she was seeing on the screen. When the movie started the caresses slowed and then stopped. Trini sat in her seat panting lightly as she glanced over to Domi to see a satisfied smirk on her lips. “This a new form of torture?” She whispered to the redhead.

Domi glanced at her, “If you want me to stop doing things like that, I will.” She arched her eyebrow at Trini waiting for a response to that.

Trini stared at her dumbly for a moment, “No… I like it.” She felt a blush cover her face at having to admit that, but she didn’t want Domi to stop touching her like that.

After the movie, which Trini had trouble following because she kept finding her eyes traveling to the woman beside her, they took a walk through the park that they’d had lunch in earlier on the way back to the hotel. It was almost dinner time, but they had a late lunch, so that meant that they’d have a late dinner. They were idly talking about the movie when Trini thought she heard something. She went quiet and concentrated on listening, Domi noticed this and went quiet. “Broad fucking daylight! I don’t believe these assholes!” Trini hissed as she leapt off the path and started into the wooded area, without even glancing at Domi. Domi stared after her for a moment before moving to follow. Trini moved quickly towards the voices and when she got to the clearing she hissed.

A mid thirties man held a five year old boy at knife-point and was dragging him towards a car. Trini’s eyes flashed red as she quietly leapt out of the brush and tackled him. The boy stood frozen in fear… Trini had hoped that he’d run away. Trini gripped the man’s wrists painfully hard, making him scream out and drop the knife. She also kneed him hard in the crouch. He was turning red. She didn’t notice the other man sneaking up behind her as she fought with the desire to really beat this man unconscious. The loud groan as a body fell to the ground made her spin her head around in time to see Domi grinning evilly at the unconscious man on the ground. “Thanks.” Trini nodded at the redhead and then hit her man hard enough to knock him out as well. Two men were after one child? She had to take several calming breaths to change her eyes back so she could go talk to the frightened child.

“What’s your name honey?” Trini asked in a soothing voice that she’d heard Elisa use.

“Sean.” He said absently while staring at the man Trini had attacked.

“Do you have anyone here with you Sean? Someone we could take you too?” Trini worked hard to establish some eye contact with the kid and get his attention.

“I… I… my mom.” He looked completely shaken up. He had all the right in the world to be.

Trini suppressed a sigh at how hard it was to get information out of him, “Where is your mom?”

He looked about ready to cry. “I don’t know! She was here with me, and… I don’t know!” Oh, great…

Trini turned to see Domi staring down at one of the attackers. “We need to get him to his mom…” She glanced down at the men angrily, “and I don’t want these…” She bit down to stop herself from swearing. She was with a child. “people… getting away.” She asked more quietly, “Will you help me?”

Domi stared into her eyes for a moment. “I’ve got it here. Don’t take too long.” Trini could see Domi had a lot more she wanted to say, but held back because of Sean. Trini reluctantly took her eyes off of Domi and reached out to take Sean’s hand.

Her and Sean walked out onto the main paths and it didn’t take long for her ears to pick up the sound of a worried woman calling the boys name. Sean was unusually quiet, and Trini didn’t know what to do about that. She knew it wasn’t right. He was going to need some help to deal with this. As soon as he saw his mother he took off running for her and the tears started to fall. Trini followed him to the confused and concerned mother while taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. She needed to know what happened, and the child might not be able to explain it.

The mother took her son home quickly after she realized what had happened. Trini found out that the man had lured the child into the woods to find his supposedly lost puppy. When the kid fell for it he took him as far as the child was willing to go away from his mother and then pulled out the knife. The boy had no idea why the man was taking him. Trini had the mother give her their phone number and told her she’d take care of things. She still didn’t know how she was going to do that… but she was pissed! The cops might not be called for a little while. It would give Sean some time to calm down before the cops called him. She knew she wasn’t doing this the way the police would like, but she really didn’t care.

When she got back to Domi she was surprised to see the men were tied up and gagged. “Well, it looks like they are into stealing children and selling them.” Domi told her. Trini glanced at the men again and could see that they were more beat up than when she left. Good…

“What should we do now?” Trini looked at Domi. She had no idea what to do with these men. She didn’t want to let anyone know she was involved in catching them.

“Well…” Domi looked thoughtful. “The clan usually ties the criminals up. We could just leave a note for the police.” That when Trini noticed that Domi had already pinned a note to one of the men. She grinned at the embarrassed looking redhead.

“Okay, so we put in a call and let these bastards sit here until the police arrive. Sounds good.” They found a pay phone, so that they weren’t traced, because spending the night talking with the police wouldn’t be good for either of them. Domi was going to be changing forms and Trini didn’t want any record of her being in Oregon. Right now only Fox knew about that, and now that Demona’s crashing the Oregon Clan was big news… it was better if it remained that way.

They arrived back at the hotel room shortly after seven. Trini didn’t mention that Domi had now helped her save yet another human child, she didn’t think it would go over well. Still, she was very proud of her gargoyle. They decided to stay in for dinner. Trini just figured that was safer, since both of the earlier meals lead to something going wrong. Today was just a bad day for going out to eat.

Day 13

Domi woke Trini up at six, it was so early that Trini just stopped herself from begging for more sleep. Not the best way to impress the boss. She smirked at that thought and rolled out of bed gracelessly. She looked outside and noticed it was an ugly gray day. Perfect for a Monday. They ate in the room and then packed up and left. Domi rented another limo, so they left the car in the hotel parking lot and rode to the company. Trini was doing her best to wake herself up.

“Yes… I think you should definitely avoid working mornings.” Domi grinned at her. “What did you do before?”

“I was tired most of the time when I worked at the UW. Lucky to get six hours a night… and I really need eight.” Trini sighed. “Thanks for working with me on the hours.”

“I’m just glad I finally convinced you to sign on.” Domi smiled at her softly. When they pulled up to the building Trini could actually see the boss mask come on. Domi’s friendliness disappeared and was replaced with a cold calculating expression. Trini took a deep breath and got into her own character, the one that Domi had her create. Her face lost the affection and friendliness it normally had around the redhead and her body became more rigid. They got out and marched into the building. Trini had her sunglasses in her pocket, just in case. She carried them with her everywhere now, so that if she got upset or angry she could cover it. Domi never suggested that she wear them today.

Trini noticed that she was getting a few more stares than she really warranted as they did the walk through. She wasn’t even wearing the sunglasses, so she should just blend in. Domi went into a meeting with the management and asked her to get copies of some records and budgets for her. While she was standing by the front desk waiting for the staff to supply these records, some people walked up to her. She looked at them without any of the friendliness that she would normally show.

“You work with Ms. Destine?” The braver of the assembled three office workers asked.

“Yes.” Trini kept her answer brief, but was really curious as to what made them approach her.

“What’s she like?” He asked. “I heard that she’s a real bitch to work with. My friend at the New York office says that she actually hit an employee once.” Trini didn’t appreciate him saying those things about Domi, even though she was pretty sure that they were all true. Domi’s temper was pretty bad, she might have hit an employee. Probably hit several.

One of the women added, “I heard that she can’t keep a receptionist for more than two weeks.”

“I have no problems working for her. I do my job… You however are busy gossiping during work hours and I really doubt you are on break this early in the day.” She said flatly, startling the three gossips. “I would encourage you to not talk about her when she is actually in the building, she has a way of sneaking up on people.”

Domi’s meeting with the managers ran long, so Trini went outside to let the limo driver know that they’d be leaving late. She bumped into an older man with white hair, but no damage. He apologized very politely and Trini didn’t see the measuring glance he gave her as she continued to walk to the limo. She wasn’t really needed in this meeting, so she didn’t rush. “Ms. Destine is running a little late.” She grinned at the limo driver, he didn’t work at the company, so she felt she could be a bit friendly. The poor man was just standing out here waiting for them, that had to be boring. “I’m sorry we are throwing off your schedule.”

The twenty-something man smiled at her, “It’s fine. I’m not really driving for anyone else today.” He took his hat off and ran a hand threw his blond hair. “So… you work for her? What do you do?”

“Personal Assistant.” She sighed, “As far as I can tell I do a little bit of everything.” She leaned up against the wall as they talked. “I just got hired recently. How do you like what you do?” She imagined that he’d hate that job. She would.

“It’s fine. I get to meet all sorts of interesting people.” He smiled flirtatiously at her, “Sometimes they’re lovely as well.”

Trini laughed. “Yeah, right.”

“What are you laughing at?” He smiled at her, “You could easily be a model, you are gorgeous.” He was laying it on really thick, Trini thought to herself.

He pulled out a business card from his pocket, “If you’re in town for a while maybe you could call and we could do something?” He held out the card to her, she reached out to take it to be polite, but it was ripped out of his hand. Trini turned to see an irate redhead glaring at the man.

“WE will be leaving town today, so I don’t think Trini will have time to go out with you.” Domi hissed at him. Trini was shocked that Domi had just snuck up on her like that. She watched the clenched fists and realized that Domi was extremely upset with the man hitting on her.

He handled it pretty well, after a moment of shock he spoke, “Of course Ms. Destine.” He then moved to open the door for both of them. The ride back to the hotel was tense, because Domi was glaring at the driver and wouldn’t say much to Trini.

Once the limo drove off, leaving them outside of Trini’s car Domi decided she had some things to say. “I come out of that meeting to find you picking up some guy?!” Her voice was rising.

Trini’s eyes widened angrily at the accusation. She, however kept her voice low, “I was not picking him up. We were talking and he tried to ask me out.”

“I saw you reaching for that card.” Domi hissed at her. She was jealous… really jealous.

“That’s what I do when guys hit on me… I take the number and dump it later. Hello… I’m a lesbian!” Trini pulled her sunglasses out and put them on, because if Domi continued with this she was going to be pretty angry. She yanked open her drivers side door. “Get in!” She ordered the redhead, and Domi’s eyes probably would have glowed if it were night. As it was the glare was powerful, but Trini ignored it and got into her car.

She started the car and Domi was still not in it. She was glaring at the driver’s side window stubbornly. Trini’s lips thinned. She rolled down the window. “Do you want me to stand in the middle of the parking lot and scream that I don’t do men, because if that will make a difference I’ll do it!” She growled, “You are so fucking wrong and you can’t admit it can you?!” Trini glanced meaningfully at the group of people now staring at them. “Do you want to do this here, or do you want to get in the car?” That did it, Domi marched angrily around the car and got in, slamming the door so hard Trini wondered if it would fall off.

They drove in uncomfortable silence until they reached the freeway. Trini could see that Domi was still pissed, and she realized that she’d ordered Domi into the car. That alone had should have sent her into a screaming fit. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I yelled at you, and I’m sorry that you thought I would just pick someone up like that.” Trini said it quietly. “I’m not that big a slut. It hurt that you thought I was.” Trini stared out the windshield. Her throat hurt with the tension and the pain that Domi would think that little of her. She was blinking away tears quietly. She respected Domi, loved her… and the woman thought she was a slut.

They sat in silence again. “Trini… I don’t think that.” Domi said softly and reached out to wipe the tears off Trini’s cheek. “Your not a slut. I just… was upset to see him hitting on you.” She looked at Trini for a moment, and Trini could feel the eyes on her. “Pull over.” Trini sighed and did that. The traffic on this part of the freeway was pretty light. Once Trini put the car into park on the shoulder, Domi reached over and pulled Trini’s face to her. “I’m sorry.” She whispered and leaned forward to kiss Trini gently on the lips. She then kissed the tears on her cheeks away. Trini felt the tension in her body melt away. Domi pulled back and Trini could see tenderness and love in her face. It made her so beautiful. “Are we okay?” Trini nodded that Domi was forgiven. “We should get moving.” She told Trini softly.

They pulled over for lunch in Portland. Trini grinned at her in the restaurant, “Do you want to stop by that company again? I can guarantee it would be a surprise visit now.” Domi laughed at that.

When they left the restaurant to walk to the car they went past a bookstore. Trini looked into it from the window, she wanted to go in. “Domi, would you mind if we just look around a little while?” It was a large bookstore, and Trini hadn’t been able to buy books in a long time.

“Okay, maybe for a while.” Domi said and Trini smiled and opened the door for her.

“You’ve got a decent size pile there.” Domi looked at Trini over the table.

Trini looked down at the seven books in her arms, this was going to be pretty expensive. “I haven’t been able to buy books in a long time.” She felt a little guilty doing it now. She was so used to struggling for money. Some of these books were even hardback. She didn’t ever buy those, but she had money left from what David gave her, because Domi was paying for everything.

“Why not?” Domi asked, so Trini rested the books on the table in front of her.

“I’ve been saving every dime for a year to go to New York. The plane ticket alone…” Trini shook her head, she’d been shocked at how much that cost her. She hadn’t had a lot of warning that she had a place to go so she bought the ticket at the last minute. “I haven’t been to movies, bought books, done anything. I cancelled cable… the only luxury I kept was the Internet, and that was only because I needed it for school.” She grinned at Domi, “That’s why my furniture was so crappy. I bought it for very cheap. I really do have better taste than that.”

“Oh…” Domi smirked, “I think your money troubles are over.” She glanced at the pile. “Can I see what you have?” Trini wondered why she was interested, and it must have shown on her face. Domi looked into her eyes tenderly, “I just want to know what interests you.” Oh… Trini felt a wave of love for the redhead at that moment. She was trying to get to know her better.

“Okay. Well” Trini held up two paperbacks. “She’s one of my favorite authors.” She handed the books to Domi to inspect.

“Vampires?” Domi looked at her with a slight smirk.

Trini glanced Domi up and down suggestively, “I’ve always had a weakness for creatures of the night.” Domi’s smirk grew a little. She reached over to pull the next book to her.

“Plot Ideas?” Domi flipped the book open and glanced at the table of content.

“I’ve been having trouble coming up with my own ideas for a novel. I thought I’d try and see if this could help.” She reddened a little. This was a sensitive subject for her. Domi nodded and put the book in the pile growing near her of Trini’s books. When Trini looked down to see the next book her eyes widened. She’d forgotten it was there. It was too late to cover it up, Domi’s hand was already on it.

Domi showed her lack of modesty by openly flipping through the lesbian sex book Trini planned to buy. “They have books on sex?” Domi glanced up at Trini.

Trini mumbled quietly, “Yes. There are all sorts of books on sex.”

“I didn’t see those.” Domi set the book down, Trini felt it was because she could see how embarrassed it was making Trini. This wasn’t a gay bookstore, they just had some gay books. She was uncomfortable bringing attention to her book selection here. “I’d like to get a book on the human female reproductive system.”

Trini piled her books up and showed Domi to the section that had that. While Domi glanced at the informative books trying to pick one out Trini noticed a book she hadn’t seen on her first pass through. She subtly slipped it off the shelf and into the middle of her pile of books. She didn’t want Domi to know she was interested in B & D. Fox just seemed like the type to go for that sort of thing and she thought she should learn about it before the woman brought it up. She shook her head at her thoughts, she couldn’t even be honest with herself… she really wanted Fox to do that to her.

Trini managed to buy the books in her arms when Domi was busy picking up a business magazine. They left with Trini over two hundred dollars poorer. Those history books were expensive, but she wanted to know a little more about the last thousand years. She hadn’t paid that much attention to history when she went to school. She just did what she needed to in order to pass. Now she was interested.

Domi was glancing through one of the books she bought as Trini drove. “Do you menstruate?” She asked out of the blue, causing Trini to start coughing on the water that she’d been drinking.

Once Trini was able to talk she answered, “No… I never started.” She paused. “Do you?”

She could see Domi grinning out of the corner of her eye, “No, gargoyles don’t do that.” The redhead paused, “I’d say your reproductive system is more gargoyle than human, but I’d need to see more to know for sure. Maybe we could have some tests done.”

“Why does it matter?” Trini said a little harshly, she was starting to feel that Domi was trying to prove to herself that Trini wasn’t human, and that wasn’t a good feeling. She was part human, and didn’t want to ignore that part of herself. “I won’t be breeding.”

She could see Domi was a little surprised at her reluctance. “I just thought you’d like to know.”

“I’m sorry.” Trini felt bad for the hostility she’d shown. “I just… nevermind.” She said softly. She decided to drop it because it would probably cause another argument.

“If you don’t want to find out, I won’t push it.” Domi paused, “But I really think that it would be a good idea to know before you go into season.”

After Domi finished with her book she reached into Trini’s bag and pulled out the Lesbian Sex book. Trini was just glad she hadn’t grabbed the other one in the bag. She didn’t even notice it. They were passing through Tacoma when more awkward questions came Trini’s way. “Why’d you buy this book?”

Trini sighed. “I haven’t had sex very often. I just… thought it might be…” Helpful, informative, inspiring. Trini left all of that unsaid because Domi had latched onto the first sentence.

“You haven’t had sex often?” Domi was watching her now Trini could feel it.

“No. I can count the number of times I’ve had sex on one hand.” She was embarrassed telling Domi that, but she felt compelled to be honest about her sexuality because she wanted to share it with the redhead. Domi went quiet for a little while.

“I would have thought that Fox would be more voracious than that.” Domi said quietly.

“She is… but we haven’t been together long. She’s been distracted with other things lately.” They both knew that Fox was working on keeping Trini out of jail.

“Oh.” Domi said quietly and went back to looking at her book. Trini could tell that she wasn’t actually reading when she didn’t hear a page turn for a long time. She wished she could read Domi’s mind and know what she was thinking.

They got to the hotel shortly before dinnertime. Domi made a few phone calls while Trini brought their bags in. She didn’t bring everything in, because she was once again going to have to wake up obscenely early. Domi needed to catch an early flight so that she got to New York before it was dark. The time difference worked against her when she flew back. It was later in New York. “Trini…” Domi gave her a slow grin, “I heard that they served your stepfather with the legal papers today.”

“Do you really think we have a chance?” Trini was worried that she’d get her hopes up and Travis would still keep everything.

“We have more than a chance. The lawyers I hired for you have looked into it. You really should have gotten at least half of your mother’s estate. I’m going to try and get it all for you. You could sell the house for extra money, it seems to be worth a decent amount.” Her voice got softer, “Your mother wanted you to have the money. They found that her will was completely ignored in that regard.” Trini didn’t even know her mother had a will. Travis had intentionally kept her in the dark so that he could take the money. “Trini… did you know that she’d filed for divorce?”

Trini was stunned, she didn’t even know that they had been having problems. “No… she never told me.”

“Well, she did. It strengthens your case. If she’d died a few months later you would have gotten everything automatically.” Domi told her gently. "You probably won’t see any of this money for a while. Legal things take time.” Trini nodded, she had expected that.

They had a nice dinner, and Trini felt a pang of loss. They probably wouldn’t be able to go out like this too much in New York. She could just imagine what Elisa would do if she found her hanging out with Domi… not a pretty scene. She planned to tell Fox about Domi, but they should really keep it from everyone else. Aside from being ostracized for it, Trini needed everyone to believe her version of what happened in Canada. If doubt was placed on that, someone might start to piece together the truth.

Trini received a phone call shortly after they got back to the hotel room. She glanced at the number and saw it was Fox. “Hello?” Silence. Trini’s eyes widened. “Fox?”

“Where are you now?” Fox spoke a little coldly. Trini’s heart began to beat faster and she turned wide eyes to Domi. The redhead looked at her with concern.

“Seattle.” Trini answered cautiously.

“Where’s Demona?” Fox asked in that same controlled voice.

Trini sighed, “She’s in Seattle” She had gambled that the clan wouldn’t mentioned Demona’s visit to Oregon… and she lost. “with me.”

Trini was impressed, if it had been Elisa she’d be deaf from yelling right now… Fox kept her deceptively calm voice going. “What are you doing with Demona?”

“She helped me get my father’s box.” Trini sat down on the couch. “I had really hoped to be able to come home and tell you about that in person.”

“So you were planning on telling me about this?” Trini could hear some of the calm melting away. Fox might actually yell after all.

“Yes… I was going to tell you everything when I got home.” Trini felt so nervous. She got up and walked into the bedroom closing the door. If this was going to get bad she didn’t want to make Domi feel bad about it.

“She’s a killer Trini!” Fox spoke loudly.

“So am I.” Trini said quietly. “She’s my friend Fox. I didn’t want to tell anyone because they’d try and make me choose.” She took a shuddering breath. “Can we please talk about this when I get home? I really don’t want to have this conversation on the phone.” There was tense silence.

“Where is she?” Fox asked edgily.

“In the other room.” No sense in lying about that now.

“I want to talk to her.” Fox sounded very firm about that.

Trini knew that would be a bad idea. “I love you Fox… but no. You don’t want to talk you want to yell. You’ll piss her off and then I’ll end up spending all night trying to make up for it.” The sunset hit and Domi changed. Trini felt like she could actually feel the concern Fox had when she heard the scream. “She’s not going to hurt me.”

“I want to talk to that bitch!” Fox’s voice was much louder.

“Fox… I love you, God I love you… I need to talk to you about a lot… but not now. Please not now. Just wait until tomorrow night.” Trini pleaded with her.

Fox was silent for a moment. “I’m going to have Owen pick you up. I have some things I need to do.” She sighed, “God Dammit Trini… I can’t believe you’re hanging out with her. Make sure she doesn’t steal your father’s box.” More quietly she added, “She’s playing you Trini… don’t trust her.”

“She’s not doing that.” Trini felt herself calming as Fox did. “I miss you. I… really miss you.” She didn’t know what to say now. She needed to wait until she was with Fox to tell her about everything.

“I miss you too.” Fox sounded pretty angry still. “David’s coming, I have to go.” She almost growled, “Hanging around her won’t endear you to the clan, and they already know she was in Oregon. Hell, they’re trying to figure out how to get your father’s box away from her.” She hung up and Trini sat still with the phone to her ear for a while. She felt exhausted… but she bought some time.

Demona opened the bedroom door slowly and poked her head in. “I left my clothes in here.” She said softly to Trini, who moved the phone away from her ear.

“Come on in.” Trini took a shuddering breath. “Fox knows I’m with you.” Demona came into the bedroom naked and sat beside Trini on the bed. “I managed to put off explaining myself until tomorrow night. God… tomorrow night is going to suck.” Trini finally noticed Demona’s lack of clothes.

Demona gave her a small smile, “I liked those clothes, so I took them off before the change. I didn’t want to interrupt your phone call.” She got up to get dressed. Trini just stared at her this time.

“You don’t have any pubic hair. Do you shave or don’t gargoyles have that?” Trini asked without any embarrassment. Demona had been asking her some pretty personal questions today too.

“Gargoyles don’t have that. I don’t have it in my human form either.” Trini knew that, she’d seen Demona naked often enough, she just never asked about it. Once Demona was dressed again she moved to sit beside Trini again. “Do you want to go gliding, get your mind off of things for a little while?”

“Sure.” Trini set the phone down and stood up.

“We can practice some more.” Demona started to walk out of the bedroom. “I’d like for us to figure out a way to get you from my arms to my back in the air.” Great… that sounds like Trini was going to do a lot of falling through the air tonight. She glanced at the phone, if Fox knew how much Trini was trusting Demona she’d completely freak out.

Day 14

Trini was falling yet again. She was almost getting used to being saved like this. Demona dove after her and caught her easily. "Sorry." Grinning guiltily Trini hugged Demona while the gargoyle flew with her in her arms. "I slipped." She'd been tossed back, to theoretically land on Demona's back... they'd tried it ten times and Trini had only made it twice. She was trying to be so careful about not hurting Demona's wings as she was swung back that she was missing the point when she needed to lift one leg and straddle the blue female.

Demona glided over to a rooftop and set Trini down. Trini noticed that she seemed a little sore. "How's your back?" This maneuver wasn't really good on the gargoyle's back. If it worked she suddenly had Trini slamming into her lower back, and if it didn't she was sometimes kicked in the side. Then there were times like this one where Trini slammed into her back and then slid off.

Demona reached back to rub it, "I'll heal." Trini moved behind her to take over for her, gently rubbing her sore back.

"I'd like to take you home and give you a backrub." Trini felt pretty bad about that. She stared at a fading bruise on the gargoyles side. "I'm so sorry I hurt you Domi."

Demona turned to face her, "You always call me Blue in this form." She was looking into Trini's eyes a little too intently for that minor slip up.

"Uhh.. sorry." Trini continued the caress to Demona's back.

The gargoyle suddenly tensed up. "Hide, now!" Trini's eyes widened, but she quickly ducked behind the A/C unit on the roof. She then heard a jet pack, and she glanced around to see a white haired man landing on the roof. That had to be MacBeth.

"What the hell have you been up to woman? Someone's been pounding on you steadily for over an hour." He looked a little sore himself as he walked... had to be MacBeth.

"What are you doing here?" Demona stood taller and he winced in pain. Trini must have really hurt Demona's back, and she was covering so as to not hurt her feelings. "You feel like trying to die? I will not be doing that anytime soon." Trini was afraid that he'd try to hurt her. She slowly opened her fannypack. She'd taken to always having it when she went out at night on patrol, and this may not have been a patrol, but she was prepared. She had a few rocks that she really didn't want to toss, because it would hurt Demona as well.

"I saw your Personal Assistant today. Planted a homing device on her so I could follow you here." His voice was so conversational and non-threatening Trini began to think that they'd be okay. She looked more carefully at his face and her eyes widened, it was the clumsy man outside of the building that she ran into before getting hit on by the limo driver. "You only got one hotel room... Demona, so where is the girl? You have the homing device... I followed you here. Are you just trying to taunt me by killing her now?" What was he talking about? Trini looked at her clothes, she hadn't changed since this morning. That device was somewhere on her clothes. She tried to remember if he had touched her anywhere when he ran into her. She ran her hands quickly over all the possible placed and found it, a small bump. She pulled it off of her clothes a bit angrily... she fell for that and Demona was in trouble. She could see he was angry and her eyes widened when he pulled out a very odd looking gun. "Every day I let you live and you kill someone..." Demona's eyes went red. "It just isn't worth it anymore."

Demona kicked hard at his arm, and Trini winced as she saw that when he dropped the weapon, Demona hissed in pain. How the hell can they fight like this? Trini's heart was pounding, she desperately wanted to help Demona, to pound that man into the roof for even trying to hurt her... but that damned connection! Why did they have to share pain?! It made it so hard for Trini to watch as they fought, but she didn't want to look away, because if that man looked like he was winning... God, Trini didn't even want to consider it. She was not loosing Demona, she just wasn't. It dawned on her that he was fighting because he thought that Demona had killed her, and Demona was staying to fight because she wouldn't leave Trini. She stood up, her heart beating painfully and walked around the A/C to stand in plain sight. Demona saw her and her eyes widened, she obviously didn't approve of this. Trini's heart stopped as Demona punched him hard, actually connecting... and knocked them both out. She'd done that to keep him from seeing Trini. The desperation in her eyes when she saw that Trini was out of hiding... Trini ran to Demona's side and checked for damage. She was unconscious, but breathing... thank god. If she'd killed MacBeth to protect her... Trini shuddered at that thought.

Trini glanced at the man. He could rot here for all she cared. Trini wanted Demona far away from him when he regained consciousness. They were miles from the hotel, which wasn't safe... because he knew they were there. She couldn't carry Demona and climb. She looked at the beautiful blue female. If only she looked a little more human... Trini grinned as she looked over at MacBeth again. He was pretty large, but...

Trini kneeled over the man and started to undo his jet pack. She had no idea how to operate the damn thing so she set it aside to be destroyed. He wouldn't be using it either, she didn't want to leave him any advantages. She started to quickly undo his shirt. His movement startled her, he was regaining consciousness... she glanced helplessly over at Demona and whispered, "I'm sorry." She glared at him and hit him hard, knocking him completely unconscious again. She flinched when she heard Demona groan in pain. She finished undoing his shirt and laid it aside. She then unlaced his shoes and tossed them off the side of the building. Demona wouldn't be able to wear them and not having them might slow him down. She unbuttoned his pants and quickly tugged them down. She was getting up to take the pile of clothes to Demona for camouflage, when she glanced down at his underwear and t-shirt. She got a steely look in her eyes and she kneeled down again. "I don't think the police would let a naked man wander the streets, do you?" she muttered. She changed her hand to a talon and ripped his underwear off of him and tossed the shredded cloth over the edge of the building. His t-shirt followed shortly after, along with his socks. Trini couldn't beat him, because that would hurt Demona, she really wanted to hurt him for trying to hurt Demona, but she could embarrass the asshole. That wouldn't affect Demona at all. She glanced down at his penis... she'd never seen one in person before. No big loss there.

When she was carefully dressing Demona in his clothes she heard him waking again. She bit her lip gently and reluctantly hit Demona in the face. She felt sick doing that, but she didn't want him to wake up enough to see her. Demona had obviously not wanted him to see her. She gently wiped the blood off of Demona's lip and then continued to quickly button up the shirt. She was glad that he had long sleeves, she was able to use the sleeve to cover up Demona's talons. She gently and quickly wrapped Demona's tail around her leg, like Trini had her own. She then had to very carefully put the pants on so that her talons on her feet didn't rip them. She noticed that his wallet was in the pants pocket, she checked it and found more than enough money to take a cab back to the hotel. Finally Trini took off Demona's tiara and gently placed it in her fanny pack and then took the hat off of her head and put it on Demona's. Her face was still blue, there was no covering that up, so Trini decided to do something really risky. One blue faced female with odd bumps on her forehead would stand out. But if she was accompanied by a female with Vulcan type ears that talked about Star Trek to anyone that would listen... people would assume that they were convention goers. If anyone asked she'd just tell people that Demona had a better costume than her, but it had been too revealing for the city streets so she borrow some clothes to take her drunk friend home in. There was a slim chance that anyone would know that there was no convention going on.

She just picked Demona up to carry her to the roof access door. She'd have to just support her from the side when they had witnesses, but for now she was eager to get away. As she walked past the jet pack she kicked it off the side of the building as well. She smirked at the naked man as she passed him. He was going to be pretty pissed when he came too, she wished that she could watch. The door was locked so Trini broke it open and quickly carried Demona inside. She then closed the door and pulled the metal railing along the wall out so that if someone pushed on the door it would be blocked. She smirked evilly as she lifted up her friend and went down the stairs.

When Trini and Demona got to the street the gargoyle was starting to move a little, on her way to regaining consciousness. Trini hung up the phone. The police were on the way to investigate the report of a flasher. Trini chuckled as she helped Demona into the waiting cab. "Do you ever watch Star Trek?" She asked the driver animatedly. She could see him roll his eyes at the two of them as he pulled into the road.

The hotel wasn't far away by taxi, but pretending to have trouble supporting Demona the whole way would have taken forever. She paid the man with MacBeth's money and had him drop them off next to her car. She quickly dragged Demona over to her car and then set her in the backseat. She then ran up to the hotel room, grabbing a luggage cart on the way and grabbed all their luggage at an inhuman speed. When she brought them out to the car she could see that Demona was awake and sitting up, looking confused. She opened the trunk and started piling their luggage in. "You knocked him unconscious. I brought you back here."

"What am I wearing." Demona looked down at the clothes.

"We needed to take a cab, so... we took his clothes." Trini smirked, "Whatever you couldn't use I tossed off the building. He's buck naked and trapped on the roof." She grinned evilly, "Of course I called the cops to help him."

Demona laughed, loudly and uncontrollably. "You did that?!"

Trini held up his wallet, "I stole his wallet too." Demona reached out a hand, so Trini handed it to her in the backseat and closed the station wagons trunk to get into the drivers seat. "I thought a hotel change might be good."

Demona looked at her more seriously, "Good idea." She felt for her tiara, so Trini reached into her fanny pack and gave it too her.

"Sorry I had to take that, but it looked too real. I didn't want to deal with muggers as well." Trini glanced in the rearview mirror to look at her.

"It's okay." Demona looked up at her, and Trini could see that she was proud of how she handled that. It made her smile, and her heart skip a beat.

Trini paid with the money that David had given her. She figured it was safer to pay cash and use a false name. MacBeth might manage to get away from the police and she didn't want to wake up with him in the room. They managed to sneak Demona in easily.

When Demona came out of the shower Trini had the covers of the bed pulled back and was in her pajamas. "Lay down, I want to look at your back." She could see the reluctance in Demona's face. "Blue... I just want to do this for you, please." Trini said more softly. They still had a few hours of night left, and Demona seemed more comfortable having Trini touch this form.

"It isn't necessary, I've already healed." Demona told her gently. Trini walked up to the gargoyle and put her arms around her in a hug.

"Please." Trini looked into the gargoyles eyes and found herself drawn in. "I love you, let me take care of you." She pulled Demona into a tighter hug, enjoying the closeness. "I know I hurt you more than you let on." Demona started to lightly caress Trini's hair.

"If it means that much to you." Demona pulled back and then moved to crawl onto the bed, laying down on her stomach and spreading her wings across the bed.

Trini said softly as she sat beside Demona and started to rub her lower back, "Tell me if I hurt you or anything." She started low on Demona's back and massaged her the way that Fox had massaged Trini, minus the oils that she just didn't have. Demona's pleased moan sped Trini's heart up but she was careful to not start sexualizing the massage. Even so, her body ached to touch the blue female more intimately, to kiss her. Once she felt that her massage had relaxed Demona she slowly stopped. She just looked down at the gorgeous female on the bed and smiled. "I love you."

"Mmm... I love you too." Demona said with a lazy smile on her lips. "You need at least some sleep." Demona sat up and moved her wings so she could lie on her side. "Come here." She motioned for Trini to crawl into the bed in front of her. Trini's eyebrows rose at the invitation being offered while she was in gargoyle form. She crawled onto the bed and moved to allow Demona to hold her from behind. The wing that moved to cover her was warm, she felt so safe and so loved. She had to force her mind away from her worries about how Fox was going to take this. She wasn't giving Demona up... but she didn't want to lose Fox because of that.

They both woke up at sunrise to get ready to go. Trini felt exhausted, but she didn't complain once. She even managed to fake being awake better than she had the day before. After they were dressed and the few bags that they'd actually brought in where packed up, Domi reached to grab one to take out to the care.

"Domi." Trini moved forward to make the executive put the bag down. She reached out and hugged Domi to her, relishing the closeness. "I... I just need to hold you. I don't know when I'm going to be able to do that again." She whispered. She felt like crying. She didn't want to give up the closeness they had. Domi reached around her to return the hug.

Domi started to pet Trini's hair. "You plan to work for me, we'll see each other every day." She pulled away from Trini to look into her face. "Maybe... maybe you shouldn't mention the job to anyone." Domi looked pretty deep in thought, "I don't think Fox will want you anywhere near me. What will you do if she tells you to stay away?"

This was what Trini was afraid of. She looked down, "God... I can't stay away, but I don't want to loose her either." She looked up quickly when she realizes that she'd said that. She didn't want to hurt Domi by talking about her relationship with Fox. She saw a look of hurt being covered up quickly. "I won't abandon you." Trini took a deep breath, "Maybe I won't mention the job right away. If I can't make her understand..." She'd lie, but she couldn't cheat. Her and Domi wouldn't go the next step, they'd have to just keep things like they are now. Domi wasn't seeming too interested in having sex anyway. She liked to tease, but she was too traumatized from the rape to go further.

Domi stepped out of Trini's arms. "The spell..." the redhead looked very serious and Trini unconsciously straightened her posture. "We should undo it this Friday. I want to catch them quickly..." Domi wrapped her arms around herself. "I'd just feel better knowing that they were gone." She stared into Trini's eyes with concern, "You should stay the night, because... you'll have nightmares." Domi sighed. "I may need to give you something to keep you asleep, because you need to see it all."

Trini reached out to caress Domi's cheek, "You already told me that this wasn't going to be easy. I'd do anything to keep you safe and I don't like them being free either." She kissed Domi gently, "I'll be there on Friday. What time do you want me?"

Domi looked resigned, "Show up at the house at six. We can have dinner and I'll uncast the spell later." She reached down and picked up the luggage by her feet. "Thank you for doing this for me." She said quietly and they both left for the car.

Trini drove Domi up to the drop off area at the airport and helped her put her luggage on the cart. Domi had a seven am flight, but Trini's wasn't until ten am. She still had a few things to do before she left. Once she'd dropped the redhead off she drove into SeaTac to find a place that she could mail something off. She looked at MacBeth's license... it had a different name on it, but the picture was definitely him. She got a small box and mailed his wallet back to him, with the rest of his money still intact. She'd been very angry, but... he had done it because he thought Demona had killed her. She hated to admit it, but he wasn't a bad guy. Still, she wouldn't hesitate to stop him from hurting Demona... no matter what she needed to do. She wished she could hear about how the rest of his night went, she grinned at some imagined scenerios.

Trini met her old neighbor at the local Shari's and had him go with her to the airport. She'd arranged for him to buy her car right when she got back from New York. Once she was done removing her luggage he handed her the cash and she handed over the keys. She was only getting about half of what that car was worth, but she didn't have the time to sell it for more. He got lucky. Now she was free to leave. All ties to Seattle were severed and all of her belongs were in New York or gone.

Trini finished one of the novels she'd bought in Portland by the time the plane landed in New York. She was glad that she had a book, because otherwise she would have just worried about the conversation she was about to have with Fox. She was plain exhausted, but she couldn't sleep on the plane. It was too noisy.

Once she was allowed to get out of the plane she grabbed her laptop bag and her carry on, which had the box her and Demona had liberated from the Oregon clan. After all the trouble they went through to get it she wasn't going to risk it getting lost. She glanced out the window and noticed that it was already dark. Domi would never have been able to take her flight. Domi must have a real problem getting around in the winter, when the days are so short.

Owen was waiting stiffly for her once she got into the airport. Why couldn't Fox come? "Hey Owen." Trini walked up to him.

"I hope you had a good flight." Owen said while reaching for one of her bags. Trini let him have the laptop, she didn't want to part with the box just yet.

"Fine..." Trini sighed, "I have a few bags at baggage claim."

It took them twenty minutes to get all of Trini's bags and get into the limo. It was twenty minutes full of awkward silence. Owen wasn't the easiest person to chat with. "Mrs. Xanatos said that you had something you wanted me to look at." Owen said after the privacy divider came up between the driver and them. "You have it on you, don't you?"

Trini reached into her bag and pulled out the box. "My father left this for me." She looked at him carefully. "It's mine." She didn't want anyone trying to take it and give it to that Oregon clan. Erik was a liar... it was never theirs. "I don't know how to open it, but... I don't really want to try if I don't have some back up around. Even I can feel the magic coming off of this thing." She handed it over to him slowly.

Owen took the box and carefully examined the outside. There were no locks, and no visible hinges. It had some carvings on it, which he paid particular attention to. "Do you know what your father was doing with this?" He asked as he stared at a few of the carvings.

"He was keeping it for me. His mother was a full Fey and she left it with him to give to me." Trini reached into her shirt and brought out the amulet. "I found this when I was going through my mother's things. It had a spell... it showed my father and he told me about the box." She only knew of one full Fey... Owen. She needed his help, because she really wanted to know what she had. "He seemed to think that it was important for me to have this." She sighed heavily, "It wasn't easy to get a hold of."

"Yes." He glanced at her and pushed up his glasses. "I heard that Demona had stolen something that looks remarkably like this from the Oregon clan." Trini felt surprised, even though she shouldn't be. The clan would have talked to him if they talked to Fox. He wasn't stupid... he was being asked to identify a magical box days after one was taken from Oregon. Even a child could figure that one out.

"It wasn't stolen, it was mine." Trini said quietly. Owen knew, he probably knew before he came to get her. "I don't think this clan needs to know about this, do you?"

"No... I don't suppose they do need to know." Owen almost smirked... almost. "We'll just add this to all the other secrets being kept from them now." Trini felt her body relax when he said that.

"Thank you." She glanced at the box. "Will you be able to figure out what it does? Who it came from?" She looked into his eyes. "I'd like to know who my grandmother is." More quietly she added, "and if she's still alive."

"The Fey don't age like humans do. She's probably still alive." Owen added with a little compassion, "It'll take a little while to uncover what this does and who made it. I'll get you the results as soon as I can." He held up the box, "I'll need to hold on to this so I can check into it."

"Okay." Trini smiled at him. "Thank you for doing this."

"Your Welcome Ms. Stephens."

They pulled up in front of the Eyrie building at eleven thirty. "Home." Trini muttered quietly to herself. "It actually feels like home."

"It is your home now." Owen slid the box into a bag of his own. He looked at her seriously. "I had all your boxes put in your room, but left them alone."

"Thank you." Trini glanced skywards. "I don't want to talk to the gargoyles today. I heard that Lex and Brooklyn are planning to ambush me."

"I'll inform them that you are too tired to talk today. You do look rather tired." Owen glanced at her.

"Didn't sleep much last night." Trini left it at that.

"Mrs. Xanatos is waiting to see you in your rooms." Owen informed her as he opened the door. Trini got out after him. "I'll have your bags taken up for you, if you want to just go up now."