Out of the Clear Blue Skye

Author's Note/Disclaimer:

This was my first published work of fan fiction and is still archived at http://www.gargoyles-fans.org/ in a slightly less graphic version. The other archive required text format files, so I am having to do a little tweaking to repost here.

As you can see from the summary warnings, I will be going to some dark places in this story. However, this first part is pretty tame. I hope you will enjoy it.

Warnings: This chapter includes step-parent incest described in the past tense.

Part 1: The Becoming

Detective Elisa Maza sat in the driver's seat of her Fairlane, munching a powdered donut and reading the morning paper. Her eyes widened and she burst into a paroxysm of coughing, having breathed mid-bite. She was still wheezing when her partner, Matt Bluestone opened the passenger door.

"Hey Maza! You O.K.?"

She shoved the paper at him, jabbing a sugar coated finger at the story that had caused her so much grief. He raised an eyebrow as he took the paper and plopped down into the passenger seat. He began to read:

BUSINESS WOMAN TURNS PHILANTHROPIST

Dominique Destine, CEO of Nightstone Unlimited has used
her private fortune to fund a shelter for runaway teens. Aptly
named "Last Hope" the shelter is a state of the art facility
headed by renowned psychologist Dr. Leonard Thompson. The
shelter was opened with much fanfare, but representatives of
the shelter were strangely silent about their benefactor, Ms.
Destine.

When asked to comment on her involvement with the
shelter Ms. Destine said "I did not wish to draw attention away
from the purpose of the shelter. The focus should be on those
children in need, not on myself or on Nightstone Unlimited."


Matt goggled at the print before him. He read it twice more before looking at Elisa. "I can't believe it. She must have something up her sleeve."

Elisa nodded in agreement. "And I intend to find out what it is."

That night Elisa greeted the clan with newspaper in hand. She waited impatiently as they passed it around. Goliath scowled.

"I find this hard to believe."

"It's legit. I checked it out today. There's a real shelter full of real kids. I even checked out some of the staff. They're clean."

"I suppose it's too much to hope she's changed her ways." Angela's tone was doubtful.

"I'm afraid there's little chance of that lass." Hudson shook his head.

"Perhaps there's another explanation, Detective." David Xanatos arrived, his own copy of the paper in hand. "Charity work is good PR"

"You mean she did it just to make her look good?" Lexington was skeptical. "I don't think Demona cares about what people think of her."

"No. But, the buying public has a fondness for do-gooders. Good for business."

"Nevertheless, I think this shelter bears watching. We shall make it a part of our patrols." Goliath made his judgment.

"And I'll keep digging." Elisa added.

After several weeks of watching and waiting, nothing happened. Eventually more pressing concerns demanded their attention. The matter was forgotten.

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The red-haired woman looked up as her secretary ushered in a man in a grey suit. The man took his time in taking a seat and opening his briefcase. One by one he removed a stack of manila folders. She watched the light play off his salt and pepper hair as he opened each folder, glanced at the first page of its contents and placed it neatly on her desk. When she had counted to five, he closed his briefcase with an audible snap and then slid the stack of folders across the desk.

"These are the five candidates most likely to meet your needs." His voice was a soothing baritone. He sat back and waited patiently as she leafed through the folders. She considered him one of her most valuable acquisitions. His skill as Nightstone Unlimited's head psychologist had kept her employees working at peak efficiency, with very little turnover. Now he ran the shelter for her. Dr. Leonard Thompson was one of the few humans to know of her gargoyle nature and live.

Each thick folder contained a detailed description of a young girl's health, background, and psychological profile. It also held photos, some of which were obviously taken without the subject's knowledge. Each girl was young, attractive, healthy, and without close ties to friends or family. A porcelain-skinned Asian girl, a striking young black woman, a voluptuous female with islander features and bronze skin, and flame-haired beauty with the figure of a model topped the stack. They all fit a very precise psychological profile, developed by the man sitting across the desk.

She opened the last folder in the stack to reveal a pair of luminous grey eyes set in a face of sensuous beauty. Long dark hair fell parted down the center. She wore three tiny braids tied with thin blue ribbons. The girl was dressed in baggy, nondescript clothing, but other pictures -- taken by hidden cameras at the shelter -- showed that her figure was just as exceptional as her face.

The psychological profile showed the girl to be completely isolated from friends and family. At sixteen she was still relatively innocent and malleable. The background information indicated that her good looks had attracted the attention of her new stepfather. The girl had fled to avoid his advances. The mother had refused to believe the allegations. Refusing to give any identifying information, the girl called herself "Skye."

In a word, she was perfect. Dominique turned the folder around to show the photo to the doctor and tapped it with a red-lacquered nail. "This one."

The doctor nodded, unsurprised. "A good choice, but perhaps we should keep one of the others in mind. Just in case."

Dominique selected two of the remaining folders. The red-head and the black girl were added to the stack. She slid them back across the desk. "These two."

"Very good."

"I wish to meet all five of them. I have arranged a publicity event at Nightstone Unlimited. The company will show its support of the shelter by offering internships to some of Last Hope's clients."


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Dominique was exhausted. Personally interviewing twenty half-grown humans had been more trying than she had expected. She was happy to see the last of them go. Yes, Skye was still the best choice. The girl had a certain charm. Her naiveté reminded Dominique of Angela.

Over the next few weeks, Dominique discreetly courted a sisterly relationship with young Skye. She explained the secrecy as a guard against accusations of favoritism. She also began to drop hints. By the time she revealed her gargoyle nature, the girl would be begging for the truth.

"Well Skye, you know that I have a secret, something no one else knows about me. I'd like to share it with you, but you must swear not to betray me."

"I would never do that. You've been so wonderful. I almost wish you really were my sister, or maybe my mother." The girl's face darkened for a moment. She rarely spoke of her mother.

"Are you sure you don't want to contact your mother? Surely she misses you." Dominique held her breath. If the girl was going to run home, better it was now. The thought of killing the child was distasteful. She liked to think that this is how it could be with Angela...

"You will stay with me tonight. Dr. Thompson will arrange to have your things sent to my home. You won't be going back to the shelter."

"I thought you didn't..." Skye trailed off, uncertain how to phrase this diplomatically.

"I don't usually socialize after sunset."

"Yeah, I guess that's what I mean."

"Well, tonight I will have your company. Unless you've changed your mind?"

"Oh no! I'll go. You've been so good to me, how could I say no?"

"I hope you still say the same after sunset..." Dominique watched the girl's reaction from the corner of her eye.

"Why wouldn't I? Why can't you just tell me what the big deal is?"

"Tonight I will show you. Whatever happens, do not be afraid." With that she left the girl. Shaking her head, Skye returned to the stack of papers she had been filing.

Late that afternoon, Dr. Thompson delivered Skye to Dominique's mansion in time for dinner. Dominique greeted them at the door and ushered Skye inside. The house was empty except for the two of them and a sumptuous dinner spread out on the dining room table. The last rays of the sun played across the crystal glasses as they finished their meal. Rising, Dominique beckoned the girl to follow her. She led Skye to an interior room, a library. Wordlessly, the woman began to remove her clothing. Nervous, Skye shifted from foot to foot. This was starting to look like one of her step-fathers "secrets." When Dominique finished shedding the red power suit she had been wearing, she was clad only in an archaic looking halter top and split skirt. She produced a gold headband from a pouch at her waist and put it on.

"Watch. Do not be frightened."

Suddenly Dominique moaned and doubled over. She seemed to ripple and writhe in impossible ways. Her skin darkened to a deep, midnight blue. Leathery wings sprouted from her back. Skye backed away, pressing against a bookcase, not feeling the shelves digging into her flesh. Wide-eyed she watched the change. Demona struggled to contain the scream that threatened to burst from her throat. She clenched her eyelids shut to hide the red glow. She must not frighten the girl out of her wits. A brief moment of agony, then it was over.

She slowly straightened and looked at the girl. Skye's expression was a strange mix of fear and concern.

"D..Dominique? Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. The change is... painful. But, I am accustomed to it. In this form I am called 'Demona.'"

"Demona." The girl's eyes darkened with thought. "You're a gargoyle. I thought they were just stories."

"No we are quite real. Most gargoyles turn to stone by day, but a Child of Oberon, a magical creature, cast a spell on me that causes me to change each day at sunrise and sunset."

"Wow! Gargoyles are real. Magic is real. I wonder what else is real... Now a lot of things make sense. Like why no one ever sees you after dark."

Demona smiled. The child was taking all of this much better than she had expected. Demona settled the girl into a chair and joined her. She told the girl the story of her life, edited only slightly to downplay her hatred of humans. She professed a change of heart and a desire to reunite with her daughter, Angela. She also spoke of how close her species was to extinction. Demona confessed to irreconcilable difference with her former mate, Goliath. She spoke of regrets over having burned her bridges with the clan. Some of what she said was heartfelt and it lent sincerity to her tale. Skye was receptive and sympathetic, having known only the kindly Dominique. Finally, Demona made a proposal that left the human speechless.

"I have found a spell that will allow me to change a human into a gargoyle. Of all the humans I have met in a thousand years, I find you the most worthy of becoming a gargoyle." She gauged the girl's reaction.

"Think on it a few days. Goliath's clan has only one female, my daughter, Angela. Even if they would accept me after all that I have done, the spell that causes me to change also makes it impossible for me to carry eggs safely."

"You could be a queen among gargoyles, with your choice of mates. They would welcome you as they would never welcome me. My daughter could use a clan-sister and I could use a friend in the clan."

"But, you must be certain that this is what you want. Once you become a gargoyle, I cannot change you back. To cast the spell twice on the same individual would almost certainly be fatal."

"I'll think about it. This is a lot to take in all at once." Demona's offer was seductive. Skye had been searching for a new life, somewhere out of reach of her past. The closeness of a clan was attractive. As a single mother, her mother had been too busy working double shifts as a nurse to create much of a family life. Her father was a mystery, having had only a casual affair with her mother. He was long gone by the time the pregnancy was discovered.

Skye remembered how much of a shock it was when her mother came home from her "weekend in the mountains." She had gone away for a rare weekend with "some friends" -- actually with her current boyfriend, Gary.

"Lindsay! Hi honey! I've got such wonderful news. You know Gary and I have been seeing each other for a while. Well, this weekend he proposed. We decided since this weekend was probably the only time off we would have for quite a while, we'd go ahead and get married. So we did. I know you probably would have wanted to be there, but it was just a civil ceremony -- mostly paperwork. We'll have a party later to celebrate."

Obviously, Gary had been waiting just outside the door to let her mother break the news first. Skye was stunned. She'd had no idea her mother was serious about this guy. She barely knew him, and now she had to live with him. She was fifteen, almost grown up; she tried to be mature about it. "Umm... Congratulations. Welcome to the family."

"Thanks Lindsay. I'd like to say your Mom is a wonderful woman and I am really looking forward to getting to know you better." He couldn't possibly be hitting on her right in front of her mother... eeewww!

"Is it O.K. if I call you 'Gary,' Gary? Just call me Skye and we'll get along great. You moving in here or are we moving in with you?"

"Actually, I just closed out my apartment last month. Not much to move but me and my two suitcases." It took Skye less than three days to find out that meant "I got evicted." Phrases like "between jobs" and "in transition" tripped off his tongue rather frequently. It didn't take long to figure out that this was a marriage of convenience -- at least on his part. Mom had been totally flimflammed by this guy.

At fifteen, Skye was already good looking enough that people approached her in public places to recruit her for modeling agencies. She was uncomfortable with the attention, especially from her new step-father, Gary. His attentions were far from fatherly. At first it was just innuendoes, words that by themselves meant nothing. It was the way he said them that made her skin crawl. Then he became more blunt, more demanding, cooking up schemes to get her alone with him. If she wanted to go anywhere, he immediately volunteered to drive her there. If she was home sick from school he took off from work (when he was actually employed) to "keep an eye on her so you don't have to worry sweetheart." There were "accidental" touches. Then one day he had grabbed her in the hall. His groping hands made her feel dirty, when he tried to kiss her she slapped him hard.

This time he'd gone too far. She waited for her mother to come home, then told her the whole tale. Gary denied all of it, claiming that he'd tried to get along with her, but she had been jealous of the attention her mother gave him. He said he was sure that Skye had cooked up this story because he let it slip that her mother was pregnant. With a new baby on the way she was even more jealous.

Skye's mother had believed him. She didn't believe that Skye would have kept quiet for so long. So she grounded her for a month. That was too much. Since her mother still worked overtime every week that meant she'd be spending a lot of time at home alone with Gary.

That night, after her mother and stepfather had gone to bed, Skye took all the money she had saved and all the cash from both adults' wallets. She sneaked out of the house and then got a friend to drive her to the bus station. There she bought a ticket that took her as far from home as she could get. She wound up in New York where her money quickly ran out.

After several nights of dodging pimps, muggers, and drug pushers, she wound up at the shelter. She'd had to share a room with another girl but that wasn't too bad. The people at the shelter were pretty cool. They let her in even though she wouldn't give her real name. They encouraged her to contact her mother, but didn't push her. Dr. Thompson had been so nice. Too bad her mother hadn't married someone like him. She hoped her mother would wise up someday, but she wasn't going back to be that jerk's sex toy.

She thought long and hard about Demona's offer. Demona and Dominique seemed to be the same person, so presumably the change would be just physical. But, how would she feel as a gargoyle? What would it be like not to be human anymore? Would she fit in with the clan? Would flying be as good as her dreams? Maybe better?
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Demona tried to control her impatience. The girl was in the library talking with Dr. Thompson. Skye had promised to make a decision tonight and was seeking the psychologist's advice. The doctor had been ready to manipulate her into making the desired choice, but Demona forbade it. The nature of the spell was such that it would fail if the girl was not whole-hearted in her desire to become a gargoyle. The girl would also need to act on her own once she was cut loose. For these reasons, her free will must remain intact.

Demona tried to occupy her mind with the next step of her plan. Presuming everything went according to plan, the first few weeks after the change would be spent teaching the girl how to be a gargoyle. Chances were that she would be awkward as a hatchling until she got used to her new form. Flight lessons would also be necessary. The final stage would be to teach the girl the "social graces" of being a gargoyle. Specifically she would need to know how to handle the attention of the males; this was the heart of Demona's plan....

The door opened behind her and Demona turned. Skye's posture spoke of decision. Which would it be?

"Let's do it."

Demona/Dominique spent three days and nights preparing for the spell. A variety of rare herbs, oils, and powders were used in a series of ritual baths and fasting. She indulged the girl, allowing a photographer to create a portrait of the girl against a neutral background. One copy of the picture was enclosed with a brief letter to Skye's mother and routed through Nightstone Unlimited to a cousin of a friend, who would ultimately deliver the letter. Even now, Skye would not reveal her name or her mother's address. Copies of the photo were given to Dominique and Dr. Thompson. Skye kept one copy for herself.

At dusk on the fourth day, Dominique began casting the spell. Skye stood within an intricate circular diagram filled with arcane symbols. Dominique chanted in Latin as the last rays of the sun played across them both. She didn't miss a beat as the change overtook her. Throwing herbs onto a brazier she raised her arms and her voice. Skye stood still, eyes closed in concentration, imagining herself as a gargoyle. Imagining herself part of a clan.

Demona's voice became louder, more urgent. Tension built and the girl trembled. She seemed frozen in place even as she vibrated with energy. Skye had expected pain, like that Dominique/Demona suffered. Instead she felt a delicious stretching, as if she had just risen from a perfect night's sleep. She could feel her wings and tail stretching, growing. She moved them gently, enjoying the sensation. Demona's chant trailed off into a reverent whisper. Skye opened her eyes and grinned.

Eager to see her new form, the new-born gargoyle walked quickly to the full length mirror that had been brought just for this purpose. As she examined her reflection, her grin widened to an expression of delight. Her face and figure were still hers, much as Dominique resembled Demona. Her new gargoyle feet with their high arches added inches to her height. Each of her hands ended in four taloned fingers rather than five. Her canines had grown long and sharp, making her smile somewhat menacing. Except for the hair on her head, she was completely hairless. Her eyebrows were now slight bony ridges. The color of her skin had changed to a brilliant sky blue, her favorite color.

Turning this way and that she examined her wings. They were subtly different from Demona's, having a more delicate appearance. Her wingspan was impressive, perhaps a foot greater than the other female's even though she was several inches shorter. The wing struts had a faint silvery shimmer and the membranes were slightly paler than her body. Her tail was long and sinuous. Peering closer she could see that her ears had changed, becoming pointed. Two tiny blue horns peeked through the hair on her forehead.

She turned to Demona, still grinning. "I love it! This is even better than I expected!" Skye's enthusiasm was infectious. At the girl's urging, Demona took several pictures of her new form. It wasn't until the second time that Demona tripped over the younger gargoyle's wandering tail that she got down to business.

For the rest of the night, Demona led Skye in a series of exercises, the same ones she had used to teach hatchlings how to use their bodies properly so many centuries ago. Skye progressed through the exercises at breath-taking speed. At this rate she would be ready for gliding lessons in a matter of days rather than weeks. Demona was pleased.

When morning had brought Skye's first day of stone sleep, Dominique sought out the doctor.

"Ms. Destine? I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon. Is something wrong?"

"Actually, something is right. Skye's physical adaptation is moving so rapidly that I think we should start with the final phase as soon as possible."

"I take it the spell was a success?" He raised his eyebrows in question.

"She exceeds my expectations."

"Excellent. This is how we will proceed...."

Once her audience with the doctor was over, Dominique returned to her workroom. From a small, silk-lined chest she took a simple silver armband. She would give this to Skye as graduation gift at the conclusion of her training. Its true nature would take some time to make itself known.

To be continued...