Gargoyles: After the hunt

Chapter 3: The Next Step

Jon could not stop his mind from reeling everywhere at once. Anyone who looks at him can see a broken mind, plagued with anger and paranoia. He rubs his temples to clear his head and try to think straight.

"Urg! They'll all pay for what they did. For Jason, for our family, the demon will die, along with the rest for their monstrous race." He looks over some schematics for the Nightstone Unlimited building, as well as the castle atop the eyrie building. Xanatos has allied with the gargoyles before, and with the clock tower destroyed, that's the most likely place they'd run. He's trying to recall everything he could about Demona and all that has been learned about her from his family over the centuries.

"There is a way to end this game, I just need to figure it out. Dominique Destine is a human at dawn and a gargoyle at night. Robyn found this out while working in Nightstone Unlimited. She's been alive for over 10 centuries because of a magic that binds her to Macbeth." He pulls out a picture of Lennox Macduff, who he now knows is one of his aliases.

"If you hurt one, the other feels it. But they can't be killed except by each other's hands. I know this from the journals passed down from the previous hunters in our quest. Gah!" He slams his fists into his desk in anger.

"There has to be a way!" His eyes catch on an old picture of him and his siblings when they were young, before their father died. His face turns darker, more furious remembering what he doesn't want too. He slams the picture face down.

"There must be some way to get her, a weakness, something she wants." He thinks out loud. He rubs his head as he thinks. His body freezes as he comes up with something, something different. He turns back and picks up his family photo again. Looking at the faces of those he loved... loves? Something to think about another time. He shakes his head and re-focuses. Gargoyles are a close group, maybe he can use that. Right now, he has a plan to enact. A cruel and twisted smile crawls onto his face.
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Castle Wyvern on top of the Eyrie building had a tense atmosphere this afternoon, but David Xanatos couldn't care for it at the moment. His wife was entertaining their son Alex, and he couldn't take his eyes off them if he tried. Fox looks from her giggling son to her smiling husband. Most people couldn't see what they saw in each other, or how their marriage could be anything but unhealthy, she's heard all the gossip. But even giving David's history of taking advantage of people, she could only admire him for his work. And he's proven more than enough times in private what she and Alex mean to him. Not to mention if he ever did decide he'd had enough of them, she had more than one counter trap and plot to get him back. When he found out about it, he could only be happy about the planning and ability to keep secrets of his wife.

"A lot has changed recently, the gargoyles are back and you're not trying to enslave, manipulate or dissect them. What are your next plans my love?" Fox asks while Alex giggled at his mother.

"Well, I made a deal with Goliath, and one thing I pride myself on not being, is a liar. I said that I'd return them to their home with no ulterior motives and I meant it. Though my end goals have not and won't change, now I just need to take them into consideration without using them." Xanatos answers honestly.

"After all, the gargoyles helped save you and Alex more than once, and that's more than enough for me to help them if I can." As he says this, Alex begins to crawl over to his father, still with a big smile on his little face. Fox smiles at her husband's answer, she knew he'd say something like that.

"Very true. So these so-called quarrymen, do you think they may be a problem for us?" Fox enquiries about the possible new threat.

"In terms of their capabilities, they are normal people who are stuck in group hysteria under a psychotic leader. And that leader is slowly losing whatever control is left after refusing to accept reality. Only thing that is certain is that he won't stop till someone either beats some sense into him, or kills him." He explains with certainty in his voice.