{
  "submission_id": "1550346",
  "keywords": [
    {
      "keyword_id": "85",
      "keyword_name": "anal",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "132406"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "1007",
      "keyword_name": "blood",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "21705"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "8553",
      "keyword_name": "brooklyn",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "350"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "21442",
      "keyword_name": "character development",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "1352"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "932",
      "keyword_name": "death",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "12713"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "398",
      "keyword_name": "demon",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "40717"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "2968",
      "keyword_name": "fighting",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "4948"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "26783",
      "keyword_name": "firebrand",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "135"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "1036",
      "keyword_name": "gargoyle",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "1428"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "236",
      "keyword_name": "gay",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "152925"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "964",
      "keyword_name": "love",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "24202"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "165",
      "keyword_name": "male",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "1219044"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "58",
      "keyword_name": "nude",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "214353"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "76",
      "keyword_name": "sex",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "135634"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "3012",
      "keyword_name": "story series",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "1986"
    },
    {
      "keyword_id": "969",
      "keyword_name": "violence",
      "contributed": "f",
      "submissions_count": "4514"
    }
  ],
  "hidden": "f",
  "scraps": "t",
  "favorite": "f",
  "favorites_count": "31",
  "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 20:01:10.945276+00",
  "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 21:01 CET",
  "last_file_update_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:53:06.205469+00",
  "last_file_update_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:53 CET",
  "username": "kaleemmcintyre",
  "user_id": "8997",
  "user_icon_file_name": "359320_kaleemmcintyre_meelak_-_2.png",
  "user_icon_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/359/359320_kaleemmcintyre_meelak_-_2.png",
  "user_icon_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/359/359320_kaleemmcintyre_meelak_-_2.png",
  "user_icon_url_small": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/359/359320_kaleemmcintyre_meelak_-_2.png",
  "file_name": "2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.png",
  "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.png",
  "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.png",
  "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
  "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
  "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
  "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
  "thumb_huge_x": "300",
  "thumb_huge_y": "200",
  "thumb_large_x": "200",
  "thumb_large_y": "133",
  "thumb_medium_x": "120",
  "thumb_medium_y": "80",
  "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
  "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1_noncustom.jpg",
  "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1_noncustom.jpg",
  "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "120",
  "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "80",
  "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "200",
  "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "133",
  "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "300",
  "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "200",
  "files": [
    {
      "file_id": "2199261",
      "file_name": "2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "0",
      "full_size_x": "800",
      "full_size_y": "533",
      "screen_size_x": "800",
      "screen_size_y": "533",
      "preview_size_x": "300",
      "preview_size_y": "200",
      "initial_file_md5": "b6a1a5334bbca50a33f3bea7fdf0cac4",
      "full_file_md5": "7a94491a156ca8ed9fee7e2fcecbf9ff",
      "large_file_md5": "7a94491a156ca8ed9fee7e2fcecbf9ff",
      "small_file_md5": "69d54fd4a372a1dd3430bafa021506ac",
      "thumbnail_md5": "91167e9ea4090b76eae0130049a9669b",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:16:39.734687+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:16 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_y": "200",
      "thumb_large_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_y": "133",
      "thumb_medium_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_y": "80",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199261_kaleemmcintyre_1_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "80",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "133",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "200"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199280",
      "file_name": "2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "1",
      "full_size_x": "800",
      "full_size_y": "533",
      "screen_size_x": "800",
      "screen_size_y": "533",
      "preview_size_x": "300",
      "preview_size_y": "200",
      "initial_file_md5": "09324d7c675f9cc39b693f570dd8ec0a",
      "full_file_md5": "8bb259bcaf8e9d7fd861ca3f55e266f7",
      "large_file_md5": "8bb259bcaf8e9d7fd861ca3f55e266f7",
      "small_file_md5": "576daadcd01b59c8fddf5cb9928aaaac",
      "thumbnail_md5": "d45312d7a0efd872152f2bd01c8f404e",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:49:54.680565+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:49 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_y": "200",
      "thumb_large_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_y": "133",
      "thumb_medium_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_y": "80",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199280_kaleemmcintyre_2_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "80",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "133",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "200"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199281",
      "file_name": "2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/jpeg",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "2",
      "full_size_x": "800",
      "full_size_y": "533",
      "screen_size_x": "800",
      "screen_size_y": "533",
      "preview_size_x": "300",
      "preview_size_y": "200",
      "initial_file_md5": "5c183b977ce289d3c0dc6bee8809cbe9",
      "full_file_md5": "57e1fe52c0a03748545e26bf2cac32f4",
      "large_file_md5": "69563562462f7eeba7ed327a2cfdc261",
      "small_file_md5": "0f1fb9f101d1031f30d5828bd57c0c18",
      "thumbnail_md5": "d22d4f6b48ced08c6cd6b5e4b39292c3",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:50:22.174887+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:50 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_y": "200",
      "thumb_large_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_y": "133",
      "thumb_medium_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_y": "80",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199281_kaleemmcintyre_3_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "80",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "133",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "200"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199282",
      "file_name": "2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "3",
      "full_size_x": "533",
      "full_size_y": "800",
      "screen_size_x": "533",
      "screen_size_y": "800",
      "preview_size_x": "200",
      "preview_size_y": "300",
      "initial_file_md5": "72cc8a37d76c56ed89aa1f426de804c8",
      "full_file_md5": "68b7eab06f6b1b7bdb99dd8330192fe2",
      "large_file_md5": "68b7eab06f6b1b7bdb99dd8330192fe2",
      "small_file_md5": "3976b7f65d6a411970b96a6e1ee026ff",
      "thumbnail_md5": "0d076ac5c6ec87cbfc5b523f87ec467e",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:50:41.589161+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:50 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_y": "300",
      "thumb_large_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_y": "200",
      "thumb_medium_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_y": "120",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199282_kaleemmcintyre_4_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199283",
      "file_name": "2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "4",
      "full_size_x": "800",
      "full_size_y": "533",
      "screen_size_x": "800",
      "screen_size_y": "533",
      "preview_size_x": "300",
      "preview_size_y": "200",
      "initial_file_md5": "23b46a768d98a8c4d14097897e4d3126",
      "full_file_md5": "0e2b22ca6084bbe0e317a7579b11506b",
      "large_file_md5": "0e2b22ca6084bbe0e317a7579b11506b",
      "small_file_md5": "911946e6793792712ba4b77e17f42d32",
      "thumbnail_md5": "75deedc1b1dc15641ae500d10d5349a8",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:52:03.501276+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:52 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_y": "200",
      "thumb_large_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_y": "133",
      "thumb_medium_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_y": "80",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199283_kaleemmcintyre_5_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "120",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "80",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "133",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "300",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "200"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199284",
      "file_name": "2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "5",
      "full_size_x": "533",
      "full_size_y": "800",
      "screen_size_x": "533",
      "screen_size_y": "800",
      "preview_size_x": "200",
      "preview_size_y": "300",
      "initial_file_md5": "e992dbf826583d639ce5181bfa05ac67",
      "full_file_md5": "dcd168dc65d8bb79f1b33675390a160d",
      "large_file_md5": "dcd168dc65d8bb79f1b33675390a160d",
      "small_file_md5": "03bbc74f4b41431436b878b574cebf46",
      "thumbnail_md5": "cab98f3d82a66dd5006a9eb4caf27cdd",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:52:26.917358+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:52 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_y": "300",
      "thumb_large_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_y": "200",
      "thumb_medium_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_y": "120",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199284_kaleemmcintyre_6_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199285",
      "file_name": "2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "6",
      "full_size_x": "533",
      "full_size_y": "800",
      "screen_size_x": "533",
      "screen_size_y": "800",
      "preview_size_x": "200",
      "preview_size_y": "300",
      "initial_file_md5": "04a13c9e8ebad725d690ebac0a11413d",
      "full_file_md5": "8669c1d5d918c753e4e884a64afd1ed1",
      "large_file_md5": "8669c1d5d918c753e4e884a64afd1ed1",
      "small_file_md5": "2f537ca28e0e1e6434aa9ceaeb9d343f",
      "thumbnail_md5": "f72b84b5de3b79ffd43dea23b2ee89ad",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:52:47.211514+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:52 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_y": "300",
      "thumb_large_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_y": "200",
      "thumb_medium_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_y": "120",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199285_kaleemmcintyre_7_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300"
    },
    {
      "file_id": "2199287",
      "file_name": "2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.png",
      "file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.png",
      "file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.png",
      "file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
      "mimetype": "image/png",
      "submission_id": "1550346",
      "user_id": "8997",
      "submission_file_order": "7",
      "full_size_x": "533",
      "full_size_y": "800",
      "screen_size_x": "533",
      "screen_size_y": "800",
      "preview_size_x": "200",
      "preview_size_y": "300",
      "initial_file_md5": "58b60a69b5818f7e39fbfd44b566de3f",
      "full_file_md5": "09216c709e9bcb6b2fc2d49cf13b670f",
      "large_file_md5": "09216c709e9bcb6b2fc2d49cf13b670f",
      "small_file_md5": "cb68e43ff96829159d3c7a8bc1d98d90",
      "thumbnail_md5": "f55b12cb2f92ec7a7669170ab563f6f7",
      "deleted": "f",
      "create_datetime": "2018-02-23 19:53:06.205469+00",
      "create_datetime_usertime": "23 Feb 2018 20:53 CET",
      "thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
      "thumb_huge_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_y": "300",
      "thumb_large_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_y": "200",
      "thumb_medium_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_y": "120",
      "thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8_noncustom.jpg",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "80",
      "thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_x": "133",
      "thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "200",
      "thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300"
    }
  ],
  "pools": [],
  "description": "[b]1.[/b] It began with a series of rash murders occurring throughout the city of Manhattan. Though quiet at first the gargoyles quickly become aware of the situation after Detective Elisa Maza informed them of the strange pattern which seemed to point to some kind of 'monster' being responsible for the heinous crimes, as no human could do what had been done to the victims in question. While the rest of the city, and thus the world, had become somewhat aware of New York's midnight protectors, there were more than a few who placed little to no faith in the gargoyles. With this in mind, Goliath, the leader of the clan, had the group go out in pairs for their nightly patrol; his hope that their unified togetherness would deter any violence towards them, while at the same time give them the extra edge they needed to potentially flush out whoever or whatever was responsible for the grisly killings.\n\n\"Take care, you two.\" Brooklyn said as he watched Angela, Goliath's daughter, and Broadway, her lover, smile and wave to the rust colored second-in-command of the clan before turning together and then unfurling their wings. Watching as the pair dove off the edge of their castle home to head off towards the east Brooklyn could say nothing as he felt a little piece of himself die all over again.\n\n\"She's still on your mind, huh?\" Lexington, the small pale green gargoyle, asked while looking to his crestfallen\nrookery brother.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"You know, you're not a good lair.\" Lexington stated honestly. For his remark however Brooklyn merely turned his head to cast an evil glare at the smaller male. \"I'm just saying, if I can see it, they can probably see it.\"\n\nBrooklyn grunted before turning his head back to the midnight sky with a sigh. The cool wind of the night blew through his white mane of hair making him appear as a ghostly figure as the crying moon shown down sadly upon his slim figure. \"Come on, let's go.\" Brooklyn didn't wait as he hopped up onto the edge of the stones and then unbuckled his own wings from where they were clasped together around his shoulder blades. Jumping off and into the night it took the rust colored gargoyle several seconds to spread his wings, his mind silently pondering something best left unspoken, before he caught a much needed updraft.\n\nWatching his rookery brother's ascent Lexington followed behind Brooklyn a few moments later.\n\n- - - - - -\n\nOver the following few weeks the Manhattan Clan spread their patrol far and wide around the city to try and locate the source behind the murders, which seemed to be escalating in both violence and ferocity, however, even with Elisa and the others in the police force who knew of their existence helping with the search the elusive killer remained hidden to them all. As expected, the 'good citizens' of Manhattan quickly went from being fearful of the unknown perpetrator to angrily suspicious of the gargoyles to finally outright demanding that the 'monsters' living within the city be brought to justice for the crimes which had been committed. The police were easily able to play ignorant over their knowledge of where the gargoyles might be and David Xanatos, the billionaire responsible for bringing the gargoyles from the Scottish home into the city, used what pull he could manage to get the media's attention away from himself and his castle home so as to dissuade any 'volatile groups' from attacking his skyscraper home. Of course, everyone knew that if the killer was not found soon enough then it would only be a matter of time before trouble found its way to the Manhattan Clan's doorstep.\n\n\"Maybe we should try and ask Macbeth for help?\" Brooklyn openly inquired a few hours after the clan had awakened from their stone slumber. \"He probably has some contacts in the magical world that Xanatos doesn't, and right now that's probably what we need, since whoever is doing this isn't using any local means to perpetrate these killings.\"\n\n\"Mmm, perhaps, but I wonder...\" Goliath asked while hugging his arms across his massive purple chest, one clawed hand rubbing at the crook of his chin.\n\n\"If we get him involved will Demona follow suit?\" Brooklyn asked, knowing well what his leader was thinking. One eye turned to the side to watch as Angela flinched at the mention of her mother's name.\n\n\"I'm surprised that this isn't her doing.\" Lexington said before getting a scowl from Brooklyn. The pale green gargoyle cocked an eye before turning to the direction Brooklyn gently pointed his beak towards. A groan met the air as the smaller male watched Broadway curl an arm around his mate's slim shoulders.\n\n\"No, this isn't something she would do. It's too...chaotic. Too unfocused.\" Goliath said while looking out towards the full moon above.\n\n\"Unfocused or not, they just struck again.\" Everyone turned to watch as Elisa Maza stepped out into the courtyard of the castle followed by both David Xanatos and his blonde haired butler, Owen Burnett.\n\n\"Dare we ask who was the victim this time, lass?\" Hudson, the oldest member of the clan inquired while turning his one good eye towards the humans.\n\n\"A young woman walking their dog.\" A deep murmur of pity went through the gargoyles as they registered this news. \"Now the city is in a real uproar because the woman in question happened to be the daughter of the city councilman, who just recently got married.\"\n\n\"There's no way that the media isn't going to cover this.\" Owen said in his monotone voice that revealed nothing of his true emotions.\n\n\"Which is why I think that you should keep close to the castle for a while.\" David advised while stepping up and over to where Goliath stood. \"It won't be long before we have uninvited 'guests ' coming here to the castle, and I while my my security is top of line, I don't fully trust it protect my investments.\" It was the nicest way that the billionaire could admit to his concern over the gargoyles' safety without sounding like he actually cared.\n\n\"We can't just not protect the city.\" Angela said while pulling herself away from Broadway just a touch. \"There are people out there who need us.\"\n\n\"True lass, but we are very few in number, and there's no doubt in my mind that the 'bad elements' out there will be gunning for us because of this new development.\" Hudson grumbled tiredly.\n\n\"Why don't we rotate who goes out tonight?\" Everyone turned to look at Brooklyn. \"Elisa, tonight's your light duty shift, right?\" The young woman nodded. \"In that case, Goliath, why not stay with Elisa while Lex and I go out towards the east side for a few hours. Once we come back Angela and Broadway can head out over the west side for a few hours. Tomorrow night, if you're up to it Hudson, you can take Bronx with you to the north, and then we just switch who goes where after that.\" The others of the group murmured as they thought over what the clan's second-in-command had suggested, obvious concern over the safety of such a small group filling everyone present with trepidation. \"Elisa, do you think you can get a couple of your friends on the force to shadow us, that way we've got eyes on the ground and sky to cover us while were out?\" Brooklyn said in an attempt to sweeten the pot just a bit.\n\n\"I think so. Bluestone and a couple of the others are working the east side tonight. I'll give them a call and let them know what's going on.\" The female detective didn't make a move to go however, as all eyes turned to Goliath for unspoken permission over the matter.\n\n\"I don't see fault with this plan, but be careful out there.\" The larger male advise while looking over his clanmates and then to Elisa.\n\n- - - - - - -\n\nIt was two nights later when things had politely turn to shit.\n\nWhile making a sweep over the south side of the city Lexington had been spotted by a group of self-proclaimed 'monster hunters' while helping a young couple get away from a group of muggers. The gun that had fired into Lex's shoulder had made the smaller gargoyle scream out loud, alerting Brooklyn to what had just happened. Enraged, the rust colored gargoyle ordered Lex to return home while charging onto all fours at the group of masked humans. In panic Lex had done as he had been told, climbing up the wall of a nearby building while Brooklyn took on hunters with fist, claw, and tail.\n\nIt took ten minutes to put the humans flat on their back, a bellowing roar having sent the others scurrying away, yet by the time he was through Brooklyn found himself a little worse for wear. Rolling his shoulder blade while making his way into the shadows of two adjacent buildings, the rust colored forcibly popped his shoulder back into place from where a well placed metal pipe had slammed into it. Groaning as he clawed his way up the walls of one of the buildings the rust colored gargoyle made his way to the top and then prepared to set off for home when something sent a trail of lightning across the edge of his senses.\n\nTurning his beaked snout this way and that as he looked throughout the darkness of the night, the young gargoyle searched for the source of whatever it was that had made the hairs on the back of his head stand up, but from what he could tell there was nothing...\n\nTHERE!!!\n\nFlipping his head to the left Brooklyn watched as something darted through the shadows.\n\nInstincts blazing with the need to give chase, the rust colored gargoyle snapped open his wings and then dove off after...whatever it was.\n\nFor minutes on end Brooklyn soared after the thing, the darkness keeping much of the unknown creature hidden from view as it carefully hid itself from his sights, however, in narrowing his vision he was able to make out the key aspects of the figure in question.\n\nWhen his mind began to put together exactly what it was that he was seeing Brooklyn almost plummeted from out of the sky.\n\n\"Hold on! I'm not your enemy!\" He said causing the figure to turn its head to look back at him.\n\nThe pair looked to one another for several seconds before the one being chased turned within the air to head for a nearby building. Brooklyn followed suit.\n\nThe sounds of wings cutting through the air met the night as the pair finally set themselves down. Folding his wings behind himself, Brooklyn hesitantly watched as the other creature curled its own wings onto it's side and then slowly turned to stare at him. The figure of the other made Brooklyn gap a bit as it reminded him so much of himself now that he could see it clearly.\n\nRed in form like that of a bright cherry, with a compact body built for both strength and speed, the figure in question was another gargoyle, yet there was something...different about the other. Something...menacing. A feeling of intense trepidation filled Brooklyn's mind as he watched the black boned wings of the other flex and twitch while blank golden eyes looked back at him curiously.\n\n\"Who are you?\" Brooklyn asked, his mind still processing the fact that he was looking at another gargoyle who he was sure he had never seen or met before.\n\nHis answer came in a rough series of barking chirps, the likes of which reminded Brooklyn of a dog choking on a bone.\n\n\"I...wha? I don't understand.\" the other gargoyle barked again, obviously trying to get a point across to the other, however, Brooklyn continued to fail to understand the smaller creature. \"Hey, if you're lost you can come with me to my home. I have a clan there. We can help you if your lost.\" Brooklyn gently offered while still feeling that strange malice literally oozing from off of the other. The creature merely hissed in response, it's eyes narrowing dangerously. \"I take it that you're interested in help, are you?\" The smaller figure chose not to respond verbally and instead pulled itself into an obvious fighting position while raising up it's manacle covered fists menacingly.\n\n\"So that's how it's gonna be?\" Brooklyn said while growling, his instincts roaring at him to prepare himself for the inevitable. A cruel smile was the response the creature gave. \"Fine with me!\" Brooklyn shouted while drawing himself into a counter stance.\n\n=========\n\n[b]2.[/b] In hindsight Brooklyn should have known that something was going to go wrong; she was pretty, and in recent memory that usually spelt trouble for him.\n\nOf course it had all been a trap, what with her having been attempted to be mugged by a bunch of hoodlums in a part of town that 'coincidentally' happened to be a hot spot of self-proclaimed monster hunters. Brooklyn groaned as he looked up from where he lay on the trash covered ground, blood streaming into his ears from the various weapons that had battered across his body, to find the that the woman who had clubbed him was shakily whimpering and backing away from the crowd of other humans who were now looming over him. Brooklyn knew that even in the midst of the pain he was feeling he would have tried to say something to the girl to reassure her however when a steel-toed boot ground itself into his chest the rust colored gargoyle could say nothing as the very breath in his lungs decided to audibly vacate itself from out of his body.\n\nThe beating that he endured gave the Manhattan clan gargoyle a chance to reflect, as his mind seemed to pull itself from his body to look back on the night's events that had led him there.\n\n- - - - -\n\nMere moments after waking from stone slumber Brooklyn's attention had been seized by Golitah as the older gargoyle attempted to question him about his strange behavior as of late. Brooklyn of course denied anything being wrong.\n\n\"I just have something on my mind.\" he has said while looking into the eyes of the older male.\n\n\"Yes, and that's what's bothering me.\" Goliath replied with an fear that was masked by years of carefully honed control.\n\n\"It's nothing. I promise!\" Brooklyn grumbled while turning himself away from his clan leader.\n\n\"Brooklyn, ever since you encountered that demon you've been acting very distant towards us.\" Angela gently reproached. \"It has us all worried.\"\n\nWhile the soft spoken words from the female gargoyle would have usually been a balm to his senses, at that time and moment them seemed to oddly enough aggravate Brooklyn. \"Like I said, I just...have a lot on my mind.\" he mentally patted himself onto the back for not letting his inner feelings show onto his face as he gave a shaky smile to Angela.\n\n\"Are ye sure lad?\" Hudson inquired carefully. Brooklyn nodded and then turned from where he stood on the edge of the castle. \"I'm going out alone tonight.\"\n\n\"No!\" Goliath shouted, the worry now very easy to hear in his voice, yet it was lost on Brooklyn as he dove from off of the castle, his rust colored wings snapping open behind him to catch an updraft.\n\nBrooklyn was sure that he heard the others trying to call out to him but he ignored them. He would apologize later, of course, but for now he needed space to think. Specifically about the demon. While caught within the dreamless sleep of his people Brooklyn was sure that he had seen the demon's visage dance within his mind's eye as he dreamt within the darkness. A growl touched the edge of Brooklyn's lips as he tried to mentally remove the other from his mind, yet it was no use. The demon's smirking face and barking voice seemed to haunt him like a curse as he flew throughout the night sky.\n\nScanning the skyline Brooklyn peeled his eyes force any sight of the other, quite sure that the demon was still somewhere here within the city. 'Where are you?' The obsession overtaking Brooklyn might have seemed odd to some, however, for him it was nothing short of a necessary need as he mentally tried to figure out the rhyme and reason behind the actions of the other, specifically the fact of why the demon had allowed him to live after their fight a few nights prior.\n\nTheir battle had been intense; the feeling of the manacle wearing creature's fist hitting him across the face and chest brought with it an explosion of sensation that Brooklyn had never experienced before, the likes of which still left him with phantom pains even now. The memory of the rush of adrenaline he had felt as he dodged and weaved around the other was like a fine liquor to the young gargoyle senses, and yet it was nothing compared to the almost rapture he had felt when his own fist had smashed itself into the demon's flesh. The barking sound of the other crying out in pain had made something inside of Brooklyn rumble in a way that had left the rust colored gargoyle somewhat unnerved as he thought back about it. Like the potent aftereffects of a strong drug Brooklyn relished in reliving the experience of the fight between himself as the other gargoyle. However, what truly left his mind in a whirl was him waking up from his stone slumber and realizing that he was still alive.\n\nThe fight between the pair had been a long and drawn out one, the demon having given just as good as he got while the two of them danced atop the building they had been on, yet time proved to be the creature's ally with the first rays of dawn coated themselves across Brooklyn's panting form quickly turning his flesh to stone as he was forced to sleep in dreamless slumber. What had happened while he slept was a mystery wrapped within an enigma that only the demon could answer. Awaking the next evening found Brooklyn disoriented as always, memory slow to return as he tried to figure out just exactly where he was, though when his brain finally caught up with itself Brooklyn immediately put himself into a crouched position, expecting the other to come from the shadows to assault him.\n\nYet the demon never showed.\n\nIt took Brooklyn nearly and hour to understand what was going on, yet once he did he quickly took wing back home to the castle, his mind berating him for letting the creature distract him from returning to check on Lexington. Thankfully his rookery brother was well enough, his stone slumber having healed the wound he had taken from the human's bullet. Explaining things to the others had gotten Brooklyn various frowns and words of condemnation before he was verbally enfolded in murmurs of joy for having returned to the clan safely. He shad been forced to stay at the castle that night, Goliath having wanting him to give full details of the demon to both himself and Xanatos, yet on the next night to come the rust gargoyle found himself...restless for some reason.\n\nNow as he flew across the darkened skies of the city Brooklyn began to realize just exactly what the stirring feeling inside of him was.\n\nHe was hungry.\n\nAnd not for food.\n\nThe rush he had received from fighting the demon made the blood inside of his body thrum with a dangerous thrill that nearly made him swoon. The demon...there was something about it. Maybe it was that superior look on it's blank golden stare as it looked upon Brooklyn that made him want punch the other in the face again. Or perhaps it was the air of malice surrounding the other that spurred a want within him to beat the other. The thought of knocking the haughty creature that had thought to enter into HIS home down made Brooklyn shiver in excitement. He slowly realized that he wanted to find the other again. Wanted to taste the pain that would come from his victory over the other gargoyle. He wanted...no...he needed to fight the other once more. To know that it hadn't just been an idle mercy that had kept the other from destroying him while he was at his most vulnerable. He couldn't just let the demon have such an easy victory over him! The other would always look down on him if he...\n\nA scream tore through his musings.\n\nDropping his head down Brooklyn found the sight of a young brunette being chased by several men filling his vision. Turning within the air he dove down without thought.\n\n- - - - -\n\nThe woman had seemed so innocent while thanking him for his timely rescue. Brooklyn should have known then that something was wrong, but for a split second he had wanted to believe that she...maybe liked him. It was such a stupid concept, he knew, but when looking into her pretty green eyes he felt that maybe...just maybe...\n\nOf course he hadn't been thinking that she would club him when he turned away from her to head about his way. Why would he? After all, what kind of person would return one's kindness with a venom laced kiss?\n\nHumans, that's who.\n\nThe strike had come just as he was walking towards an alleyway. Where the woman had gotten the baseball bat she had been holding onto he'd never know but in turning onto his side to look at her after he had fallen to the ground Brooklyn had maybe three seconds to swear a curse at the woman before the men he had chased away earlier had returned. One of them had thanked the brunette for her help in luring down the 'monster' that had been responsible for the killings for them right before money was exchanged. Once the crumpled bills were handed over the men then began to surround him.\n\nThe beating had began just as Brooklyn reared up his head to snarl at the group.\n\nThe first strike had been at his shoulder, the sound of metal hitting bone rang out into the night followed by his unabashed yelp of pain. The second had come across his face with blood flying onto the wall next to him from as his mouth as his beak was drawn to the side from the force of the assault. The third hit his gut and it took everything in Brooklyn not to puke all over himself. After that pain blurred time for the rust colored gargoyle as the humans belted him over and over again into submission. He would have cried out for help but the blows rain down on him too quickly for him to do so, so in stead he remained silent as his body was broken down by the men who sought his life.\n\nOnce they had finally stopped Brooklyn's consciousness seemed to suck itself back into his body. The pain racking itself across his body was so intense however that it was a surprise that he was even able to crack open a swollen eye to glare up at the others.\n\nThen the sound of a cocking gun chilled the night.\n\nBrooklyn watched in muted horror as the muzzle of a revolver was pointed at his bloody face. Eye going wide with terror Brooklyn fought with himself to try and stand up but it was just no use. He was broken. It would be a miracle in and of itself if he could even make it to his stone sleep come morning, yet as the finger on the trigger of the gun pulled itself back the bloodsoaked gargoyle had the queerest feeling that he wasn't even going to make it to the next ten minutes. Closing his eyes Brooklyn submitted to the inevitable.\n\nThe sound of the gun going off filled the night with an audible burst that it drew silence over the neighborhood.\n\nHowever, what followed after made the entire street buzz with panic.\n\nA scream made Brooklyn hesitantly open his eyes.\n\nWhat he saw made him gape in awe.\n\nThe man who had been pointing the gun at him howled in pain as he clutched his now bloody stump of an arm against his chest. The perpetrator of the gruesome decapitation roared in anger as it tossed the twitching limb away into the darkness of the alley. Black boned wings raised up in a show of feral anger as their owner knelt over the fallen gargoyle, the cherry skinned creature rearing its head back as its throat seemed to balloon somewhat comically.\n\nThe men didn't have time to register what was going on because in the seconds that followed scalding hot crimson flames soaked themselves throughout the alleyway. Those caught within the deluge of fire were quickly charred into dust, while those who were not screamed in desperate panic as it finally registered what exactly was happening. The next few moments were filled with the sounds of the humans clumsily falling over one another as they tried to escape the hellspawn that came down from the sky up above. Another plume of fire burnt those who were not lucky enough to get away quickly across the back and legs, which in turn made them drop to the ground as their backsides were literally charred, the fluids within having no time to evaporate as they were literally reduced to nothing thanks to the intense the heat of the demon's fiery breath.\n\nSeeing that some of his prey were still alive the cherry skinned creature slowly slunk away from the wounded Brooklyn to go over to the twitching and blubbering masses of humanity. Standing up to his full height over the humans the demon growled at the two who were left before looking up to where the others were still running away in their pathetic attempts to escape. It would be easy enough to slip into the shadows to find, follow, and kill the rest, but there was something more important that needed to be done right now. A raised foot quickly slammed down onto one of the men's spine, easily cracking like a walnut, while a clawed hand reached down to pick the other up. Bringing the other up to his face the demon let out a cruel chuckle as he listened to the other babble out prayer of forgiveness. Drawing his lips into a demonic smirk the demon smashed the man into the hard asphalt over and over again, scrambling whatever was left inside of the human's head out onto the ground as his skull finally cracked open. Once it was clear that the human were dead, the last few twitches symbolizing only the death throes of a corpse, the monster tossed the broken rag doll away. Turning on its taloned feet, the creature then stalked over to where Brooklyn still lay bleeding onto the ground.\n\nA sneer of hate kissed the blood covered demon's face as it look down upon the near dead rust colored gargoyle. Brooklyn couldn't even muster the energy to snarl back as his body was just that broken.\n\nWhen a blood covered hand reached down for him Brooklyn sighed and then once again closed his tired eyes, his mind more than ready enough to submit itself to the inevitable once again.\n\n=========\n\n[b]3.[/b] They say that if you knock on any wall hard and long enough that eventually it will come down. Brooklyn could attest to this fact as he found himself, once again, growling at the cherry skinned demon that seemed to be trying to drive him slowly insane with its incessant attempts at seduction.\n\nThree weeks.\n\nThat's how long it had been since the night when Brooklyn had almost lost his life to the humans in that alleyway in downtown Manhattan. The gargoyle, while happy to have survived the assault, was now questioning just how 'lucky' he had been to have the demon pull him from where he had been dying on the ground to a local cemetery so that he could rest and heal his wounds. The demon had done what it could to aid him by licking his wounds clean, something Brooklyn had been mildly grossed out about but too exhausted to make complaint of. The fiery licks had soothed the tears littered across his body with a burning heat that had almost been painful, and yet once the demon had finished with him the rust colored gargoyle had almost whimpered for him to continue. The other didn't leave his side until morning came, or at least Brooklyn didn't think he did as the sun's rays petrified his thoughts as it drug him down into his stone sleep.\n\nWaking the next evening had found the demon watching him from underneath the shadow of a nearby mausoleum. Pale golden eyes watched the other curiously as Brooklyn rose up from the ground to stretch and then wipe down the last of his stone skin from off his perfectly healed body. Acknowledging one another after their eyes locked with a simple nod Brooklyn had prepared to return home for the evening but before he could the demon rose and then stalked towards him. The rust colored gargoyle could feel the aggression pulsing from off the other and made move to crouch down into a defensive position to prepare himself for what was to come.\n\nHours later Brooklyn returned home to the castle with enough wounds to make him almost regret being saved by the other. His clan mates had of course swarmed him upon his return and with only minimal editing to the events prior he had told them what had occurred the night before up until then. Chastised and then sent to rest for the evening Brooklyn put aside the thought over the fact that the demon had saved him.\n\nIt had to have been a fluke, right?\n\nAfter all, why would a demon help him and then beat the stuffing out of him? It didn't make any sense, which is why Brooklyn put the entire affair out of his mind after curling up onto the extra couch inside of Hudson's room. Bronx had been a great boon to his senses as the gargoyle beast curled up to him while he watched the news blather on.\n\nBut two nights after that the demon had begun to behave differently around him.\n\nOn a flight around town with Broadway Brooklyn had 'sensed' that the pair of them were being watch and who should so happen to have been tailing them but the demon. Alerting Broadway to this fact had been a mistake as when the pair of them had curled their wings in order to take point on either side of the demon the cherry skinned creature had spat a gout of flame at the tubbier gargoyle nicking him on the shoulder. Brooklyn had ordered Broadway to return to the castle while he took care of the other, something he was sure that he would have been able to do on his own at the time. His rookery brother hadn't liked the order but had followed through with it.\n\nSwooping throughout the skyline of the city Brooklyn and the demon swerved this way and that until they got to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. A fitting locale for as soon as the two touched down both Brooklyn and the demon had charged at one another. Hours of bloody fighting ended when the demon had suddenly backed away. Cautious, Brooklyn had pulled himself back to prepare for whatever came next...but he was not prepared for the demon's next tactic.\n\nStartled beyond belief the rust colored gargoyle had quickly took flight back home, his beaked face a darker red than the blood which covered the light scratches on his chest and torso. He said nothing when asked about the demon, merely stammering that it had gotten away from him before going about his way to one of the castle bathrooms to clean himself up. The next night had been something of the same, just this time with both Goliath and Lexington flanking him. Once again, trying to corner the demon had been a folly as the creature sent two bursts of flame at the other gargoyles in an attempt to shoo them away. Pulling back the clan leader and Lex had left Brooklyn to deal with the creature, in turn abandoning him to the whims of the demon. Which again were the stuff of lewd nightmares as the next fight ended with the demon on top of him, its face looming dangerously close to his own as it rutted its body across Brooklyn's. The rust colored gargoyle had gasped at the feel of a burning tongue sweeping across his flesh, his body completely unprepared for what was happening to it.\n\nThe demon seemed to take perverse delight in this because after the Manhattan gargoyle was panting in a heated daze of twisted ecstasy it pulled itself back to stand away from the other. It took him a minute to collect his thoughts but once he did Brooklyn lifted his head from off the grass of the park the pair had stumbled into to look at the other. The demon was far from abashed as it stroked itself for the enjoyment of its solo audience member, its mannerism the stuff of carnal delight as a four fingered hand rolled across the shaft which had grown from out in between its legs.\n\nBrooklyn had done nothing to rebuke the other, save for hesitantly getting up to fly off about his way.\n\nThe next night though he found himself snarling at the other to stop when it had nipped him on the shoulder blade after getting him into a wrestling hold.\n\nThe night after that he had growled while holding the other down against the ground, his burning white eyes hotter than the sun as he glowered at the creature that smirked up at him tauntingly.\n\nOn and on and on it had went with the two of them exchanging blows and then strange affections with one another until finally...\n\n\"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, DEMON!!!\" Brooklyn shouted right before turning to dart away on all fours like a scared house cat.\n\nThe demon seemed not to mind the outburst, its pale gold eyes watched as the other gargoyle loped away as fast as it could into the darkness. Reaching down to stroke itself frighteningly demonic looking cock with a four clawed hand, the black winged imp chuckled knowingly.\n\nBrooklyn ran as fast as he could, his mind desperate to get away from the other, yet all the while he couldn't stop thinking about the demon.\n\nGetting back to the others an hour and a half later found Brooklyn's mind spinning in a whirlwind of confusion, disbelief, frustration, and worst of all, curiosity. That was the one feeling that made all of his other emotions pale in comparison.\n\n'What would it be like to become intimate with the demon?'\n\nThe notion that this thought was something his brain was even entertaining forced a growl from out of Brooklyn's maw. It was a DEMON!!! The very idea alone should have been enough to have him trying to punch the smug looking imp right in its beaked snout, and yet...there was something there. Some...unintelligible feeling that made Brooklyn want to know what the other's breath would feel like ghosting across his skin as they mated together.\n\n'Would it hurt or would it feel good?' he wondered silently while getting onto his perch to wait for dawn's light.\n\nBrooklyn had never had sex with another before. Not to say that his celibacy had been by choice! It was just the fact that the people he had chosen to offer himself to had...quite literally rejected him. And as he thought over the three figures whom he had wanted to give both his heart and soul to Brooklyn found himself lowering his gaze in anger.\n\nWhile he would never admit it to himself Brooklyn knew that deep in his heart Demona had been his first love. She was everything that any young gargoyle male should want in a mate. Of course being Goliath's chosen had put her out of bounds for him, that much was obvious, yet in seeing her after she had returned from her fall from the castle...it had made a black desire rise from within Brooklyn's mind. He had wanted to trust her after she had shown him around their new home, had wanted to believe her about the humans upon seeing their hatred and bigotry towards one another. It should have been so easy for them to become allies, him her loyal companion while the two of them helped to show Goliath that he was wrong to put so much trust in Elisa. But then she had betrayed him. The knowledge that he had hurt his own clan to help her still pained him to this very day, and it was the fuel behind his the anger that burned inside of him towards anger towards her. In a sick way Brooklyn could admit that he still held a passion towards her, only this time it was a bloodsoaked one that would only be quenched once he had his hands wrapped around her throat as the last of her life faded from her treacherous eyes.\n\nThen there had been Maggie.\n\nBrooklyn was mature enough by this point to realize that she had been a mistake. The young runaway had been scared out of her mind after her transformation and his trying to help her, no matter how good the intention was, was wrong. She needed more than he could give her. She had needed to suffer through the choice between life and death to determine which path was better. She had chosen to live, but at the price of knowing that she would never be human, never be accepted by her people ever again. And thus, she had found strength and solace within Derek's arms. Brooklyn couldn't blame the young mutant. Derek was a good man. Being just as headstrong and stubborn as his older sister Elisa made it so that only Hell and high water would take Maggie away from him. Especially now so since she was pregnant with his...cub he guessed.\n\nAnd then Angela had come along.\n\nLike the ghost of what could have been coming to torture him the beautiful young gargoyle had shown up at the clan's door and once again Brooklyn's heart had leapt within his throat at the thought of FINALLY getting a chance to have a mate for himself. Of course there had been competition from his rookery brothers, as was expected with only one viable female amongst a group of many, but Brooklyn had been sure that he was going to win her over. He was strong of body, sharp of mind, he had position next to the clan leader, and would offer her anything she desired...\n\nSo why the hell had she chosen Broadway???!?!\n\nThis was something that constantly ate away at Brooklyn's mind as he thought over his chubby blue skinned rookery brother. He would never say that the other was a bad choice for Angela, he had way too much respect for Broadway to do something like that, but Oberon be damned!!! It was almost like the gods were conspiring against him at this point. Seeing the young female grow closer to Broadway, the look on her face whenever her eyes lit up whenever she saw him, was like a knife going through his heart and then spinning around for good measure just to make sure he knew it was there.\n\nHow the hell could lose out three times?!?!\n\nIt wasn't fair!!\n\nHe did not do anything to deserve this kind of pain!!!\n\nAnd then his mind quieted itself with thoughts of the demon. Of it's strong body and thick cock. Of its rough hands and hot breath. Of the pale golden eyes which looked down at him in want and desire.\n\nBrooklyn's eyes narrowed as a black pool forbidden desire welled up within his soul at the thoughts of what the other kept offering to him.\n\n=========\n\n[b]4.[/b] The first thrust was so good that Brooklyn found his breath stolen away. The second made him see stars. The next few drove breathless words from his throat, while those that followed forced his cock to spill small spurts of liquid out onto the floor. The rust colored gargoyle never knew that mating could feel this good, especially not with another male but as the demon drove his hips forward into his rump Brooklyn could admit that he had been denying himself some great pleasure by making the other wait for him for those extra few weeks he had been playing keep away.\n\nTwo months.\n\nThat was how long it took before Brooklyn's resolve finally broke down and he returned the other gargoyle's affection with a very haphazardous kiss. To say that the cherry skinned gargoyle was surprised would have been a serious understatement as pale gold eyes went wide even as the creature's beaked maw opened to reciprocate the unexpected gesture. The two had been in an empty warehouse when Brooklyn had initiated the show of affection, the demon having been on his back while the rust colored gargoyle held him down within a secure pin against the concrete floor. Looking down at the other's sweat soaked and panting form Brooklyn hadn't consciously thought about what he was doing when he leaned down to press his beak against the demon's. Oddly enough even during the shared exchange of breath and tongue the Manhattan gargoyle had found his conscious mind taking a backseat as he rolled his body against the demon's form.\n\nPulling back from the other, a string of saliva connecting them together like a silver ribbon, Brooklyn had found himself horribly embarrassed by his sudden intimate gesture and lost control over his hold. The demon was quick to take advantage of this because soon he found himself on his back with the other on top of him grunting and moaning as it rutted its overly warm hips across his body like a dog in heat. Brooklyn didn't struggle. Instead he laid down against the warmed concrete, his thighs spreading lightly as something hot, hard, and heavy began to slip underneath his loincloth to caress his quivering sheath. It was the sound of a police car's brakes squealing within the distance that made the demon stop and then pull its head head up. A growl of utter hatred covered the cherry skinned creature's face as it looked to where the sounds of humans could be heard just outside the rolling door of the warehouse. When a flicker of flame sparked from within its muzzle Brooklyn snapped himself out of his daze and then forced the demon from off of him.\n\nThe hurt look on the demon's face as it stared at him was one that made a twisting pain claw deep within Brooklyn chest, but at the time he chose not to assess the other's feelings and instead grabbed the demon and then forced it out the backside of the building just as the police jimmied open the front door of the warehouse. The two quickly scaled up the side of the brick building to the roof and then took flight into the dawning skyline on about their way. Nothing was said between the pair as they flew off together, though both share side looks between each other that spoke of their true feelings. The brightening sky made Brooklyn alter his course towards the castle, yet before he did so he shared a nervous smile with the demon. The other let out a series of barking noises that the rust colored gargoyle assumed was an affirmation of his departure but Brooklyn couldn't be sure. All he knew was that by the time he was halfway home his heart was hammering within his chest loud enough to drown out the nattering words brought about by his mind wondering what the hell he thought he was doing.\n\nThere was no time for anyone to question him as minutes later the sun rose freezing all thought and concern of Brooklyn's whereabouts for the evening in cold stone.\n\nIt was a several nights later before Brooklyn found the demon again. To say that he was...anxious to see the other would have been a boldfaced lie as by now the Manhattan gargoyle found himself literally searching for the demon, his need to understand the feelings that were swirling within his mind and heart so chaotic that he barely understood why he was doing what he was doing anymore. The demon seemed to have purposefully kept him on the edge of madness as it watched and waited within the shadows before pulling itself next to the rust colored gargoyle as the other was flying through the warehouse district of the city once again. The sight of the demon filled Brooklyn with a jubilation that he hadn't expected to feel, and yet, this feeling was muted when the other directed their flight down though the darker parts of the warehouses to one unlit building that seemed to literally ooze malice. Landing onto the ground in silence the demon made a mark on the beaten and battered wood door leading inside of the boarded up structure and then carefully opened the door to reveal an interior that seemed to be darker than the outside, if that was even possible.\n\nTurning to stare at Brooklyn, the cherry skinned demon said nothing as it watched Brooklyn for several seconds, golden eyes empty with something that could never be spoken, and then turned to slip itself inside of the void, leaving the door behind it wide open in invitation.\n\nNow Brooklyn was a smart creature. Some would say the brightest amongst the Manhattan clan, at least in terms of common sense. Couple that with his knowledge of mysticism and his sixth sense for danger it was easy enough for the rust colored gargoyle to tell that something was definitely not right with what was going on there. Moving forward to stand right before the door he reached out into the darkness and drew back as if burned. The cloying gloom that stood before him was like a living thing as it caressed his arm. The feel of the darkness actually tugging on him, embracing his hand while holding him tightly but gently, made Brooklyn acutely aware of the fact that the demon had done something to make the void beyond do as such. What magic the other had used was beyond his field of expertise, and yet Brooklyn was very aware of the fact that by stepping over the threshold he would be entering into the womb of something for which would forever taint him.\n\nThe question then became, why was he still there then if he knew such a thing?\n\nWell the answer to that was simple.\n\nWhat did he have to gain by staying in a world that had showed him that he was unnecessary?\n\nNone of the clan needed him and no one really cared about his happiness as an individual.\n\nWhile the clan was family, they were all different entities that had their own goals, ideals, and wants that went outside of Brooklyn's needs and desires.\n\nGoliath had Elisa.\n\nBroadway had Angela.\n\nLexington had his computers.\n\nBronx had Hudson.\n\nHudson had his television.\n\nEveryone had something or someone to make them happy, but not him.\n\nAnd why not?\n\nBecause every choice he had tried to make to get him a bit of happiness had been stripped from him by someone else's volition.\n\nDemona had made her choice to betray him knowingly.\n\nMaggie had willingly chosen to be with Derek over him.\n\nAngela had decided that Broadway was the better gargoyle than him to take as a mate.\n\nEvery time he had tried to reach out and offer himself to someone whom he thought would understand him, want him, need him, they had made it plainly clear that he just wasn't good enough for them.\n\nBut right here and right now was someone choosing him over everything else.\n\nOf course he shouldn't trust the demon, he didn't even understand the language the other spoke, nor knew its intentions, but the other had shown interest in him. Had saved him. Had tasted his flesh and blood and found that it was more interested in sampling all that he was over and over again rather than taking his life, as would have been so easy for it to do with all the opportunity that it had.\n\nTurning to look back at where the castle was, Brooklyn found his conscious mind rather silent as he thought about what he would be giving up in order to go back to the life he knew.\n\nShifting around to look into the doorway once more there was a certain determination within Brooklyn's steps as he moved forward into the darkness. The shadows within caressed him like an old friend as he followed an unknown path towards where the demon would be waiting for him. The sound of the door closing behind him barely caused Brooklyn to take pause as he marched through narrow unseen hallways down into the depths of the yawning void. He may have walked for minutes, or maybe even hours, it was hard to tell as time seemed to have repealed its hold over this strange space, but once he finally got to where the demon was waiting Brooklyn found himself feeling a sense of belonging, the likes of which he had NEVER felt before, overtaking his mind and soul.\n\nThe demon seemed to know this as he stood within a bloodsoaked pentagram cast onto the floor, the light of the candles surrounding him stroking along the cherry skin flesh like roving hands all the while shadows dance across the creature's body almost sensually. The other knelt down onto its knees, a knowing smirk painted finely across its face as it waited for Brooklyn to take the steps inside.\n\nBrooklyn did so without hesitation, his body more than ready for what was to come, even as a electrical pulse flared throughout his mind as he crossed the circle to where the demon awaited him. Lacing his fingers with the other and then sharing his breath with the demon in a kiss, Brooklyn was very well aware of whispers coming from the walls as he and the other gargoyle began to share body and soul with one another while there on the floor. The demon proved itself to be a master in the art of sensuality as its four fingered hands caressed Brooklyn across all the right spots to makes his flesh quiver and his cock grow hard. A flick of a claw sent the offending loincloth blocking the demon's access to his sheath out into the void where it seemed to be swallowed up almost hungrily so. Once free of the restrictive cloth a sigh filled the gloom as Brooklyn spread his legs to allow the demon to stroke along the plump pouch which contained his peeking erection.\n\nA play on tongue and barking words across his chest made Brooklyn almost putty within the other's hands, so when it came as little surprise to him when he was turned around and then lanced upon the other's steel hard erection.\n\nTime had no meaning as the two danced together in an ritual older than time, and yet there was some feeling within Brooklyn, some unknowable understanding happening inside of him as he felt a strange black heat encompass his chest while the demon fucked him slow and tenderly. His eyes glowed white as the demon rubbed its hand across his chest, its claws almost sinking into chest as its cock spread the deepest parts of him open with every other thrust of its hips. Climax came who knew how much later but when it did Brooklyn felt something leave from out of him as he spilled his seed out from his body while the demon filled him with itself as his rippling flesh caressed its nub covered erection. The glow of the pentagram underneath the pair was not missed by Brooklyn, his eyes very well aware of some kind of magic being fed by his orgasm, yet the rust colored gargoyle felt no fear.\n\nHe was safe there within the arms of the demon, as strange as that thought may be.\n\nThe pale golden eyes of the other promised things that he had never felt before and in leaning back to swipe his tongue across the other's beak Brooklyn realized that everything would be alright.\n\nFlying home naked was somewhat surreal for Brooklyn but was a necessity since his loincloth seemed to have all but disintegrated within the darkness. Thankfully he was able to wave the concern of the other gargoyles away with a few choice words while the sun's light brought with it an end to the question of why he looked and smelled as though he had just come from a brothel, something for which Brooklyn was eternally grateful for.\n\nThe day shifted to dusk as it normally did with nothing out of the ordinary for those of the Manhattan clan, however, the moment when the moon began to lift itself up into the sky strange phenomena took place with Brooklyn's sleeping form. As the half moon continued to rise rose Brooklyn's form gently warbled and shifted out of sight until soon it faded from existence, as though it had never been. This was a very curious for David Xanatos who was watching from his monitor room, the billionaire arching an eyebrow as he wondered what strange new development was taking place within his home. By the time the others of the clan had fully awakened from their stone slumber all were in a frenzied uproar as they noticed the missing member of their clan.\n\nDavid Xanatos was quite curious as well as he played over the recording capturing Brooklyn's disappearing act, the billionaire found himself astonished as all of the power within his skyscraper suddenly switched off.\n\n=========\n[b]5. [/b] The sensation of coming awake was nothing new for Brooklyn, the rust colored gargoyle had been doing so for dozens of years now without a problem, but in waking to find himself plummeting from within the sky was a surreal experience, the likes of which kick-started Brooklyn's brain into snapping open his wings to catch an updraft of air right before he could fall smack-dab onto the red stone ground. Thankfully fortune was with him as burning hot air rushed beneath his wings helping the young gargoyle to climb back up into the clouds before his lean form could splatter all across the rocks. Once he was safely within the sky once more Brooklyn choked out a cough as the sulfuric taste of brimstone burned across the back of his throat.\n\nBleary eyes blinked as Brooklyn tried to focus his vision on the trembling and bubbling earth which sat below him. When his brain finally caught up to what exactly it was that he was gazing down at Brooklyn felt a strange cold chill creep into his heart. Like a scene out of a nightmare the Manhattan gargoyle found himself in terrified awe as he looked all across the grotesque landscape surrounding himself; like a scene from out of a waking nightmare Brooklyn found that the world that he knew had been replaced with a crimson and onyx visage of broken mountains and endless pools of spurting magma, the likes of which made him wonder if he were actually within the thing Elisa called Hell.\n\nA tremor ran throughout his quivering naked being.\n\n\"Goliath!\"\n\n\"Hudson!!\"\n\nCalling out to the others yielded little in the way of help as he trailed across the ash covered sky that was this unknown place. With no one around to explain to him exactly what it was that was going on here now Brooklyn found him fear soaked mind spinning in confusion as he wondered over the how and why that he had come to be in such a place. Magic was the obvious answer, of course, but what sort of power had he incurred that could do such a thing to him. It was in thinking over this quandary that the rust colored gargoyle found the heat of the air brushing over his naked rump. A blush formed on Brooklyn's face as he remember the night before.\n\nThe hands that had grasped his body.\n\nThe claws which had dug deep into his skin.\n\nThe eyes that had pierced his soul.\n\nAnd the...\n\nA familiar heat welled within his chest as he thought over his...lover? Or perhaps it would have been better to say his mate. The demonic gargoyle had shared with him breath and seed, had taken him to the heights of pleasure while dragging him down to the depths of depravity. It only made sense then that he would somehow have come to the place that the other more than likely called home. But if that was the case...where was the other?\n\nA strange pulsation grew within Brooklyn's mind suddenly like a sixth sense gone into overdrive.\n\nIt was a screech from behind him that made Brooklyn tuck his wings and then roll to the side just in time to avoid a set of razor sharp talons careening towards his backside. The creature attached to said talons cawed in anger for having missed its mark. A steady flap of feathered wings later found the beast turning within the air to engage Brooklyn in an obvious head on head collision.\n\nTo say that Brooklyn was in shock about what he was seeing would have been a very big understatement, having never before seen such a massive creature in his life until that day. Mounds of grotesque looking muscles filled the young gargoyle's sight as he watched bulky arms beat into the air to give the creature's wings the needed air to allow the other the height it needed to make its next attack. Empty eyes filled with bestial anger drew narrow at the monster gazed upon the much smaller creature which had entered into its territory unknowingly. When a cavern like maw opened to revealed jagged incisors within the beast's maw Brooklyn realized right then that he was in some serious trouble.\n\n'Wait! Stop!!\" Brooklyn cried out in a feeble attempt to try and halt the creature's forward dive. To no avail though, the monstrous form of the feathered beast seemed intent on its relentless attack as it dove for the gargoyle once more, the twin horns upon its head almost gleaming within the crimson light of the sky as it charged forward to skewer the rust colored gargoyle.\n\nBrooklyn didn't think as he moved to dodge the beast once again; folding his wings tightly around himself as he dropped from his current altitude in order to avoid another strike, Brooklyn's frantic mind tried to think up anyway that he could reason to the monster that he was not its enemy.\n\nHowever, some unspoken instinct told him that the other was not going to be so forgiving to him for having brought himself here. The creature sought blood for his transgressions and would not be satisfied until Brooklyn torn upon its claws, his life pooling underneath himself as the other tore apart his insides in a show of feral victory. It was in coming to understand this that Brooklyn found his own eyes narrowing.\n\nHe was not food.\n\nWhen the monster sailed past him for a second time Brooklyn didn't wait to see what it would do and instead looked around for the nearest flat piece of landscape it could find. Seeing a dilapidated castle-like structure very close by the rust colored gargoyle spread his wings and then beat a hasty path towards his salvation. As expected the squawking monster wasted no time in pulling around and then gave chase. Brooklyn barely spared a glance backwards, his brain too focused on the hazardous plan forming within the darkness of his mind.\n\nGetting to the castle Brooklyn tucked his wings in close and then waited for the beast to come at him.\n\nDiving bombing down at him like a jet fighter the much larger creature was caught somewhat unawares when Brooklyn flipped out of the way to let it crash into the stones below. The heavy gait of the monster made the entire structure rumble, not that Brooklyn spared the time to find amusement in this, as he instead turned to leap at the creature. With his own eyes glowing white hot with his own rage Brooklyn didn't think as he tore his claws into the left arm of the creature, ripping away it cerulean feathers as it attempted to limit the other's flying capabilities. Blood rained across the space between them soaking both the rust colored gargoyle and the monster at the same time a piercing cry echoed throughout the sky. The two struggled for a time with the unknown monster snapping and shrieking a terrible call of battle as it tried to bite the smaller gargoyle in half with its beak-like maw, Brooklyn took little notice of the other's shrieks as his adrenaline soaked body held fast onto the creature.\n\nHe knew that it wouldn't be long before his strength failed him, what with his own body being almost half as big as the monster's own disproportionate bulk and it was because of this logic that Brooklyn knew that he had only one choice to survive this encounter.\n\nHe would have to kill the other.\n\n=========\n[b]6.[/b] The weight of death hung heavy on Brooklyn as he flew through the hellish landscape that was this unknown place for which he had been mysteriously thrust into. The feeling of the blood of the creature whose neck he had managed to crush felt like chains covering him from head to toe, the knowledge of what he had done pulling at him like iron balls. Gliding throughout the air the Manhattan gargoyle tried to find some place where he could settle himself in order to come to grips with the consequences of his actions, yet no place seemed to be safe enough. Everywhere he looked danger seemed to lurk like a living shadow, its claws more than ready to reach out to drag him down to some uncertain death.\n\nGrunting and flapping his wings Brooklyn struggled to push his tired body onward.\n\nSo many questions plagued the gargoyle's mind.\n\nWhere in the fuck was he?\n\nHow did he get there even though he had been asleep?\n\nAnd why did he find himself not all scared out of his mind at being so very far away from his clan?\n\nThe last question was the one the seemed to plague Brooklyn more than anything as he flew above a group of skeletal birds which squawked irritably.\n\nEven though he knew that he was very far away from the others...Brooklyn didn't feel all that fearful of being out there alone. In a strange way the silence he felt surrounding him as he flew about his way was comforting.\n\nOf course this comfort was not to last as a familiar presence tugged at his subconscious.\n\nTurning to look behind himself Brooklyn caught sight of familiar pale golden eyes watching him. A shaky smile covered the rust colored gargoyle's face as he tucked his wings just enough to slow down his forward flight. The cherry colored gargoyle was easily able to catch up with him at that point and soon the pair were flying together through the ash laden sky in silent revelry at being together once again. For how long the two gargoyle's flew neither knew or cared, the simple joy of being together was enough to comfort both of them, Brooklyn more so perhaps because of the weight that still covered his heart and mind. It also probably helped that the burning air rushing past him removed the blood from his body, and thus helped to lift the weight of his first murder up from off his consciousness.\n\nSilence filled the space between the two gargoyles as they traveled across black leaved forests, blue frozen wastelands, glowing crimson volcanoes, and grey dilapidated cities, however everything suddenly changed when the smaller demon made a barking chirp which caught Brooklyn's attention. The Manhattan gargoyle watched as his partner turned within the air and, not thinking of the why this was, he quickly followed suit after the other. It wasn't long before Brooklyn understood where the two of them were headed, the sight of a sprawling castle reaching up to the sky soon overtook the rust colored gargoyle's vision followed by the images of several other lookalike copies of the demon which he had had...interactions with.\n\nTurning to look to the other Brooklyn found his companion smirking cheekily at him before the other pushed more air into his wings in order to fly directly through the throng of the other demons without hesitation. It was easy enough for Brooklyn to tell that this was some kind of dare, or rather some unspoken challenge the demon was putting before him in an effort to test him. A feral sense of amusement called to Brooklyn to follow behind the other, his acknowledgement of the other demons barely more than a passing nod as he sought to keep up with his companion. Flying into the castle Brooklyn watched as the smaller demon came to a stop next of a large wooden door, the other then turned to look at him. Brooklyn pulled himself to a stop beside the cherry gargoyle, his wings curling around his backside as he wondered what was going to happen next.\n\nThe demon made several barking noises at Brooklyn before turning and then rasping on the door. The heavy wooden barrier swung inwards allowing entrance into the depths of well lit castle. Giving no instruction the demon made his way forward, it's compact body seeming to twitch for some odd reason as it folded its wings as best it could to avoid hitting the outer edges of the door frame. Brooklyn wasted no time in following after the other, though he did spare a glance backwards to see if any other demons were going to follow after them. None seemed to make their way to do so even after the wood door closed behind him. Turning his head to watch the path his companion took on through the winding castle, which housed several corpses along the walls, oddly colored flags with emblems and insignia he had never seen before, and torches filled with crimson flames, Brooklyn's mind began to wondered if this was not the other's home. While it seemed the obvious answer there was a strange unfriendliness about the castle that made Brooklyn move close to the smaller demon, something the other chirped at mockingly. The rust colored gargoyle growled in annoyance but didn't miss how his companion's wing curled around his body, not touching but very obviously close.\n\nNothing was said between the pair until they came to a stone doorway which held two chains on it and nothing else. The cherry colored gargoyle turned to look Brooklyn at that point, his black wing removing itself from around the earth born gargoyle as he did so. Brooklyn blinked and then cocked his head to the side. The smaller creature said nothing. Quickly guessing that the other wanted him to take the chains and open the unseen door Brooklyn walked forward to grab the silver metal. The instance his hand touched the chains he drew back. Looking down the rust colored gargoyle looked to find that his hands were were hissing slightly. Whipping his head back at the other for an explanation Brooklyn found that the demon's face was as impassive as the stones around him. Drawing his attention back to the chains Brooklyn watched the silver wink within the light of the torches which lined the outside of the doorway.\n\nA snarl curled at the edge of Brooklyn's lips after he realized that there was only one way to pass this test.\n\nUnfolding his wings and then reaching for the chains again the rust colored gargoyle swallowed down a yell as he grabbed the metal handles and then pulled. Black smoke hissed from his hand as pain filled the inside of his being with the same intensity of a thunderbolt. Not giving it any thought Brooklyn pulled as hard as he could, his eyes glowing white as he did so. The door seemed to reject his attempts to open at first but as the young gargoyle dug his heels into the stone floor a creaking sound like churning gears could be heard throughout the area. A feral sense of victory overcame him as he realized that the path was opening before him. With nothing standing in his mind save for conquering this pathetic challenge Brooklyn heaved as hard as he could, his muscles strained with veins growling across his biceps like thick worms as he sought to prove to the other gargoyle of his worth,.\n\nThe door yawned open like a crying child as the path forward bloomed open, behind him the demon smirked but kept silent as it continued to watch the other.\n\nOnce the doorway was completely open Brooklyn threw down the chains and then let out a resounding cry, something inside of him finally giving up the ghost as the restrained pain overcame him in ways that he had never known were feasible before. How long he coughed out his suffering the other couldn't be sure but once the last cry has been drawn from him Brooklyn a hand curled around his shoulder making him flip his head around.\n\nPale golden eyes seemed for a moment sympathetic before the hand gripped at his shoulder in order to hoist him back up onto his feet.\n\nBrooklyn wobbled as he was forced to stand but soon found his footing. The demon waste little time concerning himself with his companion as he made his way into the previously shut off room. Following after the other Brooklyn found that the room in question was actually what looked like an armory of some sort, the entire expanse was covered in various pieces of weaponry and/or armor. Brooklyn, even with his limited magical experience, could feel the dark power pulsating from off of these armaments surrounding him; all of these items had been forged y experienced hands for the express purpose of unabashed malice and violence. Those who would take these weapons in hand...they weren't just warriors. They were killers. Elites at that. Creatures who understood what it meant to live and die on the battlefield, who knew the joy of murder and the consequence of death. It was in looking at a massive halberd whose heads held jagged edges and pikes which glinted in the darkness despite being made from solid black stone that Brooklyn turned to survey his companion.\n\nIt was in looking the other over that he began to notice several things about the smaller demon that he had blindly chosen to overlook before. The muscles of the creature in question were honed like polished steel, yet along his skin were old marks. No. Old wounds that had been healed with time and fire. Scanning the hellion more the Manhattan gargoyle took stock of healed patches on skin on the other's black wings, hard to notice in the low light of the room but easily able to be seen when he focused his vision on them. The demon had seen war before. It was clear to tell in the way he held himself.\n\nHe movements were controlled. Calculated. Not one movement was taken that wasn't for a purpose.\n\nAs he studied the other Brooklyn noted how the demon's shoulders were twitching slightly.\n\nThe other knew he was being watched.\n\nDid that mean that...\n\nThe Manhattan gargoyle turned his head to gaze up to a flag with a bat winged crest and, as he expected, out of the corner of his eye he could see that his companion's muscles had relaxed... but only slightly.\n\nBrooklyn's mind began to whirl as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing in his companion.\n\nDid the other let him win their earlier fights? Surely he couldn't have really held his own against an elite warrior like this? But in thinking back Brooklyn realized that the other hadn't been pulling punches. Yes, he hadn't used his fire breath to cook him but that was because the other was at an obvious advantage in the area of magic. So if only putting that advantage to the side, then it meant that he had been able to keep up with the demon. Or at least had been able to prove to the that he was not someone easily smacked to the side.\n\nCould that mean that the demon...\n\nBefore he could try to assess more of mental evidence Brooklyn noted the other stopping to pick something up from off of a nearby wall. Manacles. Just like what he was wearing. That brought a bit of confusion to Brooklyn, that was until the other entered into a dark room that held a brazier within it and nothing else. The demon barked out something to which Brooklyn stopped and then watched as the other moved around the metal container. Opening its muzzle the cherry gargoyle spat out a gout of fire onto the black coals the brazier came alive by way of a towering crimson flame. Brooklyn covered his face with an arm to shield himself from the heat but once the fire died down to a manageable level he found himself blinking as he took stock of the room around him.\n\nLittering the area he had once thought was empty were numerous remains of bones, the likes of which bore a scary similarity to the demon before him.\n\nCaution made Brooklyn take a step back but when he looked into the demon's pale gold eyes a voice whispered within him to stop.\n\nListening to the voiceless murmurs he realized...\n\nHe was in no danger.\n\nHere he was safe.\n\nBecause this was the room of the worthy.\n\nAnd he was worthy.\n\nThere was nothing to fear.\n\nThe voice echoed these words over and over until soon Brooklyn found his fear having dampened enough that he no longer felt the need to bolt back out of the room.\n\nLooking to the demon the rust colored gargoyle found his companion nodding for him to come and join him. Brooklyn didn't hesitate. Walking around the brazier the Manhattan gargoyle wondered exactly what was going to happened next, his answer came when the demon took one of his arms and then drew it close to the fire. The sound of his cries met the air for a second time that day as Brooklyn unconsciously drew his hand into the burning flame, the demon having released him just before his fingers touched the lapping fire. The clamp of metal around his scorched wrist made an unknown energy overtake Brooklyn's body seconds later, the mind numbing feeling of being burned alive quickly beginning to abate as the metal sealed itself. Pulling his hand back a second later Brooklyn looked the shimmering silver metal encircling a part of himself, his eyes narrowed as he took stock of hidden runes which glittered around the metal, unseen by all but those who could stand to be branded by this strange right of passage.\n\nAnd then suddenly his mind soon began to fill with knowledge...and power, the likes of which put anything the Grimorum Arcanorum to shame.\n\nThe history of an entire race shot through Brooklyn's psyche. The memory of countless wars. Of the ruination and rebirth of demonic countries all taking place within his mind in the seconds it took him to blink. Turning his head to look at the demon, the red arremer he corrected himself, he knew what the other was now, Brooklyn realized something else.\n\nThis was real power.\n\nThis was the thing that tempted mortals to sin. Made men betray their allies and drove leaders to war.\n\nThe energy of the demonic realm became one with Brooklyn and this became quickly evident as the rust colored gargoyle's body began to expand outwards, muscles filling with raw energy as his body bulked in ways that would have been impossible with all the physical training his long life could have ever allowed. Tail elongating, beak sharpening, eyes darkened, Brooklyn found his entire being slowly being eroded and then changed the same as what would happen to a river being overtaken by tidal wave. A sudden snarl pulled at the edge of Brooklyn's lips as he felt his sheath and balls fill, a rampant need for sex becoming his sole focus for before he wrestled the need down.\n\nNow was not the time.\n\nNot when his mate was speaking within his ears, whispering to him his joy at the earth born gargoyle becoming one with their people.\n\nBrooklyn hissed when the second manacle was wrapped around his naked wrist, the fire of the brazier sealing it in place as the more power swept throughout his being.\n\nThe leg manacles were burned into place by his mate's fire breath but instead of hurting the feeling of the fire overcoming was more akin to the heat of a sauna caressing his body. Brooklyn didn't hold back his purr of pleasure as he felt his calves and legs thicken, his feet growing wider forcing his stance to shift.\n\nIt took time for the magic laced metal to do its job but once the last of the energy became a part of him Brooklyn found himself drawing himself back away from the fire tiredly, his larger form almost useless to him, however Firebrand caught him before he could fall to the ground.\n\nFirebrand?\n\n...yes. That was the other's name.\n\nTurning to look at the demon Brooklyn found that no words were needed between the two. The two demons were able to understand one another better than anything they could have said.\n\nDemons?\n\n...yes. That's what Brooklyn was now.\n\nHis earthling heritage had been replaced by the mark of Hell, or rather Makai, now that he had those manacles were attached to himself. Never would he be able to remove them, for they had become one with his being, and with that the Manhattan gargoyle realized that he would never be able to return him to his clan.\n\nYet that didn't bother him.\n\nAfter all why should it?\n\nAfter all, he was right where he belonged here within his mate's embrace.\n\nStanding back up onto his own feet Brooklyn gave the smaller male a shaky smile before he leaned down to exchange his breath with his mate.\n\nFirebrand didn't resist the intimate gesture, the demon more than ready to share himself with the larger demon, as evident by his sex swelling from in between his legs.\n\n=========\n[b]7.[/b] Life in the demon world was not as bad as humans made it out to seem. There were hard days where Brooklyn found himself dragging his bruised and broken body to rest in the room he and his mate had claimed for one another, an experience for which the rust colored gargoyle found himself quickly growing used to, seeing as his stone slumber had been nullified by the power of the demonic accessories he now wore. However there were just as many good days as there were hard one. During those times Brooklyn found himself surrounded by an orgy of red skinned hellions who treated him as one of their own as he threw sweet mead down his throat while laughing and cajoling with them. Most days though were fairly neutral, with him and the others flying throughout the territory cleaning up 'disturbances' which crossed their leader's attention.\n\nAll in all it was a good life.\n\nYet Brooklyn's knew that his perspective on things were shaped by the fact that he was a tainted soul here within the depths of Makai. If he were as he had once been before his mate had laid the mark of demonhood within Brooklyn he never would have thought that the scenes of familiarity and camaraderie between the red arremers were anything more than some twisted form of debauchery and depravity, the likes of which would have made him reel back in horror had he been privy to them earlier on. Now that he was bound to his brethren tighter than the vows of love and loyalty that they so often cherished he understood what was left unspoken by the rest.\n\nOf course there was little time for such mental musings, not when he and his mate were surrounded by a throng of demons and mages who sought their lives.\n\nIt seemed that some demon in a territory not that far away had grown in enough power that he was able to command a small army to surge against the castle where Brooklyn and the other red arremers lived. That wasn't a problem, as demons often fought for control over various lands with tooth and claw in order to grow their own powers. And while Brooklyn did't feel the same kind of attachment to his new home as he once did his old one, this place belonged to him and his brethren. It was for that reason and that reason alone that he would fight and kill.\n\nNo other.\n\nGrowling at one of the demons who thought to try and pull free from the herd Brooklyn let a nasty smile curl across his beaked muzzle when the foolish demon jumped back into a defensive position.\n\n'Idiot.' the rust colored gargoyle thought in annoyance before he spared a glance to Fireband.\n\nThe smaller gargoyle seemed to be nothing short of amused as he looked upon the group in question, his pale gold eyes filled with a dark giddiness, the likes of which were reminiscent of a child getting to go on a fun ride at a carnival.\n\n\"I still say that it would have been better to not have let them come so close to the castle.\" the cherry colored gargoyle spared a glance at the taller male, his eye ridge lifting in curiosity.\n\n\"It was an order.\" the other barked in the strange language of their people. Brooklyn still couldn't make those noises, and yet, thanks to the armbands, he was able to communicate with his mate just fine.\n\n\"That's fine, but this is gonna get messy.\" the rust colored gargoyle was more than well aware of the fact that neither he nor Firebrand were going to come out of this one unscathed. There were just too many here for that to be feasible.\n\nThe black winged demon chuckled at those words.\n\n\"So, ready to go back home?\" Firebrand cackled while bumping his shoulder against the taller demon.\n\nBrooklyn snorted.\n\nIt was a common joke shared between the two of them, the cherry colored demon loving to tease his mate about his new status as a demon. At first Brooklyn had been somewhat taken aback by the thought over the fact that he could never go back to the earth, the demonic magic within the armbands and ankle bands would forever tug him back down to the demon world no matter how far he traveled, but now the quip barely even registered as anything more than an annoyance to the rust colored gargoyle.\n\n\"I am home. Now let's kill these guys so we can go help the others.\" Brooklyn growled as his eyes turned white hot with the thoughts of the battle to come.\n\n\"Hehehe, the one who kills the most gets to have fun with the other once this is all over with!\" Firebrand cackled right before he opened his maw to release a gout of flames at the enclave of enemies.\n\nThe screams and wails that were exuded from those touched by the demonic hellfire filled Brooklyn with a perverse sense of joy as he drew down and then surged forward, claws extended, into his first opponent.\n- - - - - \nTo say that the battle had gone badly would have been a lie, but to say that it had gone exceptionally well would have also been a lie. The rebel demons that had tried to march upon Brooklyn's new home had outnumbered the other demon's five to one, and though the group was mostly made up of ghouls and skeletal corpses their sheer number had dragged the fight out for longer than the earth born gargoyle would have liked. Thankfully the red arremer were more than experienced enough to be able to take on the marauders, the flying demons had culled the thousand plus demons within an hour until soon the remaining numbers had been on full retreat, however there was no escape for them. One didn't assault another demon's territory without severe repercussions after all, and while Brooklyn couldn't be sure at the moment, something inside of him told him that the instigator of the little assault had been taken care of.\n\nA feral smirk covered the rust colored demon's muzzle as he thought about the fool's head being tore free from his shoulders for this little stunt. Yet the animal delight was soon replaced by deep concern when the body held within Brooklyn's arms hissed in discomfort. The earth born gargoyle relaxed the hold he kept on his mate, not wanting to aggravate the other's injuries any more than necessary as he kept the smaller male pressed securely against his chest. Firebrand squawked at him in anger at being so restrained but Brooklyn wasn't going to release the other until he was sure that the older demon was in no danger of dying on him.\n\n\"Don't ever do that again.\" Brooklyn whispered as he rolled his tongue across the bleeding flesh of Firebrand's shoulder. \"I don't appreciate you nearly getting yourself killed for me.\" the rust colored gargoyle realized that what he was saying was kind of shitty thing to say to someone who had nearly gotten themself killed for him, but in accepting the nature of being a demon he found that his internal thoughts often made themselves external without his meaning for them to.\n\nThankfully the hellborn demon found his mate's words rather amusing as he resigned himself to being taken care of by the younger male.\n\n\"These wounds aren't that bad,\" the barked words of the smaller gargoyle made Brooklyn pull himself back to glare at the other. Nonplussed by the seething anger rising onto the other's face, the shorter demon continued with, \"I've had worse before.\" The earth born gargoyle's beak only drew down further at this statement.\n\nBefore the other could say anything more to aggravate him Brooklyn covered the pale eyed gargoyle's maw with his own. The smaller demon, totally caught off guard by the move, opened his lips in surprise which gave the rust colored gargoyle the perfect opportunity to exchange breath with him.\n\nThe two sat on the charred ground for several minutes exchanging wordless affections with one another, neither one seeming to care that they were surrounded by the evidence of the battle that had just ended not more than ten minute prior. The fight between the rouge demons had been quick but brutal, the interlopers had fought with all of the passion of an army desperate to claim victory, however, their efforts were for naught against the red arremer clan. Brooklyn and his brothers had been coldly efficient in taking the thousand plus demons apart, yet it wasn't without causalities. Of the two hundred red arremer who had gone into battle at least twenty had fallen.\n\nThere were no tears shed for the dead though, for that was not the demon way.\n\nInstead those who had survived took the arm bands and skeletal remains of their brothers back to the room where Brooklyn had been initiated to lay with the rest.\n\nBrooklyn...didn't know exactly how to feel.\n\nOn the one hand, now that he had the soul of a demon burning within him he understood logically that this was the price to be paid for being a what he was; there was no true glory to be found in what he and the others had to do in order to protect their home, only sweet victory or utter defeat. Every day was a celebration to be had because tomorrow was never promised, as evident by how the fallen on both sides were dispassionately trampled over by the rebel demons as they continued marching on towards their goal.\n\nYet on the other hand as he held his mate close, the cherry gargoyle purring into their share kiss, Brooklyn realized that he didn't like the thought of his mate dying. Not at all. Actually, the more the rust colored gargoyle thought about it the quicker he came to realization that he held more loyalty towards the smaller demon within his arms than he did to all of his new brothers combined. Pulling back to lick his lips free from the drool which he could feel dripping along the edge of his maw, Brooklyn stared down at Firebrand with a gaze that caused the older demon to chirp and raise an eye ridge at him curiously.\n\nLeaning down to resume cleaning off the other's bloodied shoulder Brooklyn whispered, \"Don't ever try and protect me again. I'm not worth your life.\"\n\nFirebrand chuckled and then closed his eyes. Without thought the smaller demon leaned into the taller gargoyle's muscular frame as a wave of fatigue and arousal suddenly overcame him. \"Your life is mine. I will not lose it.\" Those words made Brooklyn's eyes narrow in determination.\n\nIt took nearly twenty minutes to clean the other demon free from the blood which had coated him but once the other was once again presentable Brooklyn stood up and offered a hand to the other. Firebrand smirked and then shakily stood up on his own.\n\n\"I'm fine.\" Firebrand barked out before rolled his shoulders and flapping his wings. The black leathered appendages had suffered a bit in the fight but in a couple of days he knew that they would be back to tip top shape. \"By the way, I think I won our bet.\" Brooklyn blinked before understanding dawned onto him.\n\n\"So you did.\" there was no use in trying to whine over the fact that the older demon had a big advantage in the fact that his fire breath had cleaved apart more demons than Brooklyn's claws could. The fact of the matter was that the other had used his natural talents to his full advantage and so won the rights to the taller male's ass. \"But how about we hold on you claiming your reward until we get back to the castle? I don't want to take the chance of getting ambushed by any stragglers that might have survived out here.\" Brooklyn looked over the carcass strewn landscape and then realized that there were less bodies surrounding the two of them than had been before.\n\n\"You may have a point, but we can just wait for a little longer for things to get cleaned up here before having some fun.\" Firebrand cackled as his taller lover stared at him in puzzlement. The shorter demon then pointed a claw to one of the fallen rebels. It was the sight of one of the dead creatures literally melting into the ground that made the earth born gargoyle's eyes widen in awe.\n\n\"How...?!\" Brooklyn asked in awe.\n\n\"It's what happens to those whose remains are not taken; the demon world takes back what it gives.\" the cherry colored gargoyle answered nonchalantly.\n\n\"Does that mean that you and I would also...?\" Brooklyn whispered more to himself than to his mate.\n\nFirebrand didn't bother to say anything, instead he gestured for the taller demon to look down at where his blood had coated the blackened earth. When the rust colored gargoyle gazed down he realized that the ground was completely dry, even though minutes ago it had been stained red.\n\nIt was this sight that made a strange rage burn within Brooklyn's blackened soul, and soon the younger demon's mind was spinning with thoughts that were best left unspoken for the moment.\n\n========\n[b]8.[/b] To say that the battle had gone badly would have been a lie, but to say that it had gone exceptionally well would have also been a lie. The rebel demons that had tried to march upon Brooklyn's new home had outnumbered the other demon's five to one, and though the group was mostly made up of ghouls and skeletal corpses their sheer number had dragged the fight out for longer than the earth born gargoyle would have liked. Thankfully the red arremer were more than experienced enough to be able to take on the marauders, the flying demons had culled the thousand plus demons within an hour until soon the remaining numbers had been on full retreat, however there was no escape for them. One didn't assault another demon's territory without severe repercussions after all, and while Brooklyn couldn't be sure at the moment, something inside of him told him that the instigator of the little assault had been taken care of.\n\nA feral smirk covered the rust colored demon's muzzle as he thought about the fool's head being tore free from his shoulders for this little stunt. Yet the animal delight was soon replaced by deep concern when the body held within Brooklyn's arms hissed in discomfort. The earth born gargoyle relaxed the hold he kept on his mate, not wanting to aggravate the other's injuries any more than necessary as he kept the smaller male pressed securely against his chest. Firebrand squawked at him in anger at being so restrained but Brooklyn wasn't going to release the other until he was sure that the older demon was in no danger of dying on him.\n\n\"Don't ever do that again.\" Brooklyn whispered as he rolled his tongue across the bleeding flesh of Firebrand's shoulder. \"I don't appreciate you nearly getting yourself killed for me.\" the rust colored gargoyle realized that what he was saying was kind of shitty thing to say to someone who had nearly gotten themself killed for him, but in accepting the nature of being a demon he found that his internal thoughts often made themselves external without his meaning for them to.\n\nThankfully the hellborn demon found his mate's words rather amusing as he resigned himself to being taken care of by the younger male.\n\n\"These wounds aren't that bad,\" the barked words of the smaller gargoyle made Brooklyn pull himself back to glare at the other. Nonplussed by the seething anger rising onto the other's face, the shorter demon continued with, \"I've had worse before.\" The earth born gargoyle's beak only drew down further at this statement.\n\nBefore the other could say anything more to aggravate him Brooklyn covered the pale eyed gargoyle's maw with his own. The smaller demon, totally caught off guard by the move, opened his lips in surprise which gave the rust colored gargoyle the perfect opportunity to exchange breath with him.\n\nThe two sat on the charred ground for several minutes exchanging wordless affections with one another, neither one seeming to care that they were surrounded by the evidence of the battle that had just ended not more than ten minute prior. The fight between the rouge demons had been quick but brutal, the interlopers had fought with all of the passion of an army desperate to claim victory, however, their efforts were for naught against the red arremer clan. Brooklyn and his brothers had been coldly efficient in taking the thousand plus demons apart, yet it wasn't without causalities. Of the two hundred red arremer who had gone into battle at least twenty had fallen.\n\nThere were no tears shed for the dead though, for that was not the demon way.\n\nInstead those who had survived took the arm bands and skeletal remains of their brothers back to the room where Brooklyn had been initiated to lay with the rest.\n\nBrooklyn...didn't know exactly how to feel.\n\nOn the one hand, now that he had the soul of a demon burning within him he understood logically that this was the price to be paid for being a what he was; there was no true glory to be found in what he and the others had to do in order to protect their home, only sweet victory or utter defeat. Every day was a celebration to be had because tomorrow was never promised, as evident by how the fallen on both sides were dispassionately trampled over by the rebel demons as they continued marching on towards their goal.\n\nYet on the other hand as he held his mate close, the cherry gargoyle purring into their share kiss, Brooklyn realized that he didn't like the thought of his mate dying. Not at all. Actually, the more the rust colored gargoyle thought about it the quicker he came to realization that he held more loyalty towards the smaller demon within his arms than he did to all of his new brothers combined. Pulling back to lick his lips free from the drool which he could feel dripping along the edge of his maw, Brooklyn stared down at Firebrand with a gaze that caused the older demon to chirp and raise an eye ridge at him curiously.\n\nLeaning down to resume cleaning off the other's bloodied shoulder Brooklyn whispered, \"Don't ever try and protect me again. I'm not worth your life.\"\n\nFirebrand chuckled and then closed his eyes. Without thought the smaller demon leaned into the taller gargoyle's muscular frame as a wave of fatigue and arousal suddenly overcame him. \"Your life is mine. I will not lose it.\" Those words made Brooklyn's eyes narrow in determination.\n\nIt took nearly twenty minutes to clean the other demon free from the blood which had coated him but once the other was once again presentable Brooklyn stood up and offered a hand to the other. Firebrand smirked and then shakily stood up on his own.\n\n\"I'm fine.\" Firebrand barked out before rolled his shoulders and flapping his wings. The black leathered appendages had suffered a bit in the fight but in a couple of days he knew that they would be back to tip top shape. \"By the way, I think I won our bet.\" Brooklyn blinked before understanding dawned onto him.\n\n\"So you did.\" there was no use in trying to whine over the fact that the older demon had a big advantage in the fact that his fire breath had cleaved apart more demons than Brooklyn's claws could. The fact of the matter was that the other had used his natural talents to his full advantage and so won the rights to the taller male's ass. \"But how about we hold on you claiming your reward until we get back to the castle? I don't want to take the chance of getting ambushed by any stragglers that might have survived out here.\" Brooklyn looked over the carcass strewn landscape and then realized that there were less bodies surrounding the two of them than had been before.\n\n\"You may have a point, but we can just wait for a little longer for things to get cleaned up here before having some fun.\" Firebrand cackled as his taller lover stared at him in puzzlement. The shorter demon then pointed a claw to one of the fallen rebels. It was the sight of one of the dead creatures literally melting into the ground that made the earth born gargoyle's eyes widen in awe.\n\n\"How...?!\" Brooklyn asked in awe.\n\n\"It's what happens to those whose remains are not taken; the demon world takes back what it gives.\" the cherry colored gargoyle answered nonchalantly.\n\n\"Does that mean that you and I would also...?\" Brooklyn whispered more to himself than to his mate.\n\nFirebrand didn't bother to say anything, instead he gestured for the taller demon to look down at where his blood had coated the blackened earth. When the rust colored gargoyle gazed down he realized that the ground was completely dry, even though minutes ago it had been stained red.\n\nIt was this sight that made a strange rage burn within Brooklyn's blackened soul, and soon the younger demon's mind was spinning with thoughts that were best left unspoken for the moment.\n\n= = = = = = =\nCharacter: Capcom & Greg Wiessman\nArt: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/beezlebumawoken/",
  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><strong>1.</strong> It began with a series of rash murders occurring throughout the city of Manhattan. Though quiet at first the gargoyles quickly become aware of the situation after Detective Elisa Maza informed them of the strange pattern which seemed to point to some kind of &#039;monster&#039; being responsible for the heinous crimes, as no human could do what had been done to the victims in question. While the rest of the city, and thus the world, had become somewhat aware of New York&#039;s midnight protectors, there were more than a few who placed little to no faith in the gargoyles. With this in mind, Goliath, the leader of the clan, had the group go out in pairs for their nightly patrol; his hope that their unified togetherness would deter any violence towards them, while at the same time give them the extra edge they needed to potentially flush out whoever or whatever was responsible for the grisly killings.<br /><br />&quot;Take care, you two.&quot; Brooklyn said as he watched Angela, Goliath&#039;s daughter, and Broadway, her lover, smile and wave to the rust colored second-in-command of the clan before turning together and then unfurling their wings. Watching as the pair dove off the edge of their castle home to head off towards the east Brooklyn could say nothing as he felt a little piece of himself die all over again.<br /><br />&quot;She&#039;s still on your mind, huh?&quot; Lexington, the small pale green gargoyle, asked while looking to his crestfallen<br />rookery brother.<br /><br />&quot;No.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;You know, you&#039;re not a good lair.&quot; Lexington stated honestly. For his remark however Brooklyn merely turned his head to cast an evil glare at the smaller male. &quot;I&#039;m just saying, if I can see it, they can probably see it.&quot;<br /><br />Brooklyn grunted before turning his head back to the midnight sky with a sigh. The cool wind of the night blew through his white mane of hair making him appear as a ghostly figure as the crying moon shown down sadly upon his slim figure. &quot;Come on, let&#039;s go.&quot; Brooklyn didn&#039;t wait as he hopped up onto the edge of the stones and then unbuckled his own wings from where they were clasped together around his shoulder blades. Jumping off and into the night it took the rust colored gargoyle several seconds to spread his wings, his mind silently pondering something best left unspoken, before he caught a much needed updraft.<br /><br />Watching his rookery brother&#039;s ascent Lexington followed behind Brooklyn a few moments later.<br /><br />- - - - - -<br /><br />Over the following few weeks the Manhattan Clan spread their patrol far and wide around the city to try and locate the source behind the murders, which seemed to be escalating in both violence and ferocity, however, even with Elisa and the others in the police force who knew of their existence helping with the search the elusive killer remained hidden to them all. As expected, the &#039;good citizens&#039; of Manhattan quickly went from being fearful of the unknown perpetrator to angrily suspicious of the gargoyles to finally outright demanding that the &#039;monsters&#039; living within the city be brought to justice for the crimes which had been committed. The police were easily able to play ignorant over their knowledge of where the gargoyles might be and David Xanatos, the billionaire responsible for bringing the gargoyles from the Scottish home into the city, used what pull he could manage to get the media&#039;s attention away from himself and his castle home so as to dissuade any &#039;volatile groups&#039; from attacking his skyscraper home. Of course, everyone knew that if the killer was not found soon enough then it would only be a matter of time before trouble found its way to the Manhattan Clan&#039;s doorstep.<br /><br />&quot;Maybe we should try and ask Macbeth for help?&quot; Brooklyn openly inquired a few hours after the clan had awakened from their stone slumber. &quot;He probably has some contacts in the magical world that Xanatos doesn&#039;t, and right now that&#039;s probably what we need, since whoever is doing this isn&#039;t using any local means to perpetrate these killings.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Mmm, perhaps, but I wonder...&quot; Goliath asked while hugging his arms across his massive purple chest, one clawed hand rubbing at the crook of his chin.<br /><br />&quot;If we get him involved will Demona follow suit?&quot; Brooklyn asked, knowing well what his leader was thinking. One eye turned to the side to watch as Angela flinched at the mention of her mother&#039;s name.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m surprised that this isn&#039;t her doing.&quot; Lexington said before getting a scowl from Brooklyn. The pale green gargoyle cocked an eye before turning to the direction Brooklyn gently pointed his beak towards. A groan met the air as the smaller male watched Broadway curl an arm around his mate&#039;s slim shoulders.<br /><br />&quot;No, this isn&#039;t something she would do. It&#039;s too...chaotic. Too unfocused.&quot; Goliath said while looking out towards the full moon above.<br /><br />&quot;Unfocused or not, they just struck again.&quot; Everyone turned to watch as Elisa Maza stepped out into the courtyard of the castle followed by both David Xanatos and his blonde haired butler, Owen Burnett.<br /><br />&quot;Dare we ask who was the victim this time, lass?&quot; Hudson, the oldest member of the clan inquired while turning his one good eye towards the humans.<br /><br />&quot;A young woman walking their dog.&quot; A deep murmur of pity went through the gargoyles as they registered this news. &quot;Now the city is in a real uproar because the woman in question happened to be the daughter of the city councilman, who just recently got married.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;There&#039;s no way that the media isn&#039;t going to cover this.&quot; Owen said in his monotone voice that revealed nothing of his true emotions.<br /><br />&quot;Which is why I think that you should keep close to the castle for a while.&quot; David advised while stepping up and over to where Goliath stood. &quot;It won&#039;t be long before we have uninvited &#039;guests &#039; coming here to the castle, and I while my my security is top of line, I don&#039;t fully trust it protect my investments.&quot; It was the nicest way that the billionaire could admit to his concern over the gargoyles&#039; safety without sounding like he actually cared.<br /><br />&quot;We can&#039;t just not protect the city.&quot; Angela said while pulling herself away from Broadway just a touch. &quot;There are people out there who need us.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;True lass, but we are very few in number, and there&#039;s no doubt in my mind that the &#039;bad elements&#039; out there will be gunning for us because of this new development.&quot; Hudson grumbled tiredly.<br /><br />&quot;Why don&#039;t we rotate who goes out tonight?&quot; Everyone turned to look at Brooklyn. &quot;Elisa, tonight&#039;s your light duty shift, right?&quot; The young woman nodded. &quot;In that case, Goliath, why not stay with Elisa while Lex and I go out towards the east side for a few hours. Once we come back Angela and Broadway can head out over the west side for a few hours. Tomorrow night, if you&#039;re up to it Hudson, you can take Bronx with you to the north, and then we just switch who goes where after that.&quot; The others of the group murmured as they thought over what the clan&#039;s second-in-command had suggested, obvious concern over the safety of such a small group filling everyone present with trepidation. &quot;Elisa, do you think you can get a couple of your friends on the force to shadow us, that way we&#039;ve got eyes on the ground and sky to cover us while were out?&quot; Brooklyn said in an attempt to sweeten the pot just a bit.<br /><br />&quot;I think so. Bluestone and a couple of the others are working the east side tonight. I&#039;ll give them a call and let them know what&#039;s going on.&quot; The female detective didn&#039;t make a move to go however, as all eyes turned to Goliath for unspoken permission over the matter.<br /><br />&quot;I don&#039;t see fault with this plan, but be careful out there.&quot; The larger male advise while looking over his clanmates and then to Elisa.<br /><br />- - - - - - -<br /><br />It was two nights later when things had politely turn to shit.<br /><br />While making a sweep over the south side of the city Lexington had been spotted by a group of self-proclaimed &#039;monster hunters&#039; while helping a young couple get away from a group of muggers. The gun that had fired into Lex&#039;s shoulder had made the smaller gargoyle scream out loud, alerting Brooklyn to what had just happened. Enraged, the rust colored gargoyle ordered Lex to return home while charging onto all fours at the group of masked humans. In panic Lex had done as he had been told, climbing up the wall of a nearby building while Brooklyn took on hunters with fist, claw, and tail.<br /><br />It took ten minutes to put the humans flat on their back, a bellowing roar having sent the others scurrying away, yet by the time he was through Brooklyn found himself a little worse for wear. Rolling his shoulder blade while making his way into the shadows of two adjacent buildings, the rust colored forcibly popped his shoulder back into place from where a well placed metal pipe had slammed into it. Groaning as he clawed his way up the walls of one of the buildings the rust colored gargoyle made his way to the top and then prepared to set off for home when something sent a trail of lightning across the edge of his senses.<br /><br />Turning his beaked snout this way and that as he looked throughout the darkness of the night, the young gargoyle searched for the source of whatever it was that had made the hairs on the back of his head stand up, but from what he could tell there was nothing...<br /><br />THERE!!!<br /><br />Flipping his head to the left Brooklyn watched as something darted through the shadows.<br /><br />Instincts blazing with the need to give chase, the rust colored gargoyle snapped open his wings and then dove off after...whatever it was.<br /><br />For minutes on end Brooklyn soared after the thing, the darkness keeping much of the unknown creature hidden from view as it carefully hid itself from his sights, however, in narrowing his vision he was able to make out the key aspects of the figure in question.<br /><br />When his mind began to put together exactly what it was that he was seeing Brooklyn almost plummeted from out of the sky.<br /><br />&quot;Hold on! I&#039;m not your enemy!&quot; He said causing the figure to turn its head to look back at him.<br /><br />The pair looked to one another for several seconds before the one being chased turned within the air to head for a nearby building. Brooklyn followed suit.<br /><br />The sounds of wings cutting through the air met the night as the pair finally set themselves down. Folding his wings behind himself, Brooklyn hesitantly watched as the other creature curled its own wings onto it&#039;s side and then slowly turned to stare at him. The figure of the other made Brooklyn gap a bit as it reminded him so much of himself now that he could see it clearly.<br /><br />Red in form like that of a bright cherry, with a compact body built for both strength and speed, the figure in question was another gargoyle, yet there was something...different about the other. Something...menacing. A feeling of intense trepidation filled Brooklyn&#039;s mind as he watched the black boned wings of the other flex and twitch while blank golden eyes looked back at him curiously.<br /><br />&quot;Who are you?&quot; Brooklyn asked, his mind still processing the fact that he was looking at another gargoyle who he was sure he had never seen or met before.<br /><br />His answer came in a rough series of barking chirps, the likes of which reminded Brooklyn of a dog choking on a bone.<br /><br />&quot;I...wha? I don&#039;t understand.&quot; the other gargoyle barked again, obviously trying to get a point across to the other, however, Brooklyn continued to fail to understand the smaller creature. &quot;Hey, if you&#039;re lost you can come with me to my home. I have a clan there. We can help you if your lost.&quot; Brooklyn gently offered while still feeling that strange malice literally oozing from off of the other. The creature merely hissed in response, it&#039;s eyes narrowing dangerously. &quot;I take it that you&#039;re interested in help, are you?&quot; The smaller figure chose not to respond verbally and instead pulled itself into an obvious fighting position while raising up it&#039;s manacle covered fists menacingly.<br /><br />&quot;So that&#039;s how it&#039;s gonna be?&quot; Brooklyn said while growling, his instincts roaring at him to prepare himself for the inevitable. A cruel smile was the response the creature gave. &quot;Fine with me!&quot; Brooklyn shouted while drawing himself into a counter stance.<br /><br />=========<br /><br /><strong>2.</strong> In hindsight Brooklyn should have known that something was going to go wrong; she was pretty, and in recent memory that usually spelt trouble for him.<br /><br />Of course it had all been a trap, what with her having been attempted to be mugged by a bunch of hoodlums in a part of town that &#039;coincidentally&#039; happened to be a hot spot of self-proclaimed monster hunters. Brooklyn groaned as he looked up from where he lay on the trash covered ground, blood streaming into his ears from the various weapons that had battered across his body, to find the that the woman who had clubbed him was shakily whimpering and backing away from the crowd of other humans who were now looming over him. Brooklyn knew that even in the midst of the pain he was feeling he would have tried to say something to the girl to reassure her however when a steel-toed boot ground itself into his chest the rust colored gargoyle could say nothing as the very breath in his lungs decided to audibly vacate itself from out of his body.<br /><br />The beating that he endured gave the Manhattan clan gargoyle a chance to reflect, as his mind seemed to pull itself from his body to look back on the night&#039;s events that had led him there.<br /><br />- - - - -<br /><br />Mere moments after waking from stone slumber Brooklyn&#039;s attention had been seized by Golitah as the older gargoyle attempted to question him about his strange behavior as of late. Brooklyn of course denied anything being wrong.<br /><br />&quot;I just have something on my mind.&quot; he has said while looking into the eyes of the older male.<br /><br />&quot;Yes, and that&#039;s what&#039;s bothering me.&quot; Goliath replied with an fear that was masked by years of carefully honed control.<br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s nothing. I promise!&quot; Brooklyn grumbled while turning himself away from his clan leader.<br /><br />&quot;Brooklyn, ever since you encountered that demon you&#039;ve been acting very distant towards us.&quot; Angela gently reproached. &quot;It has us all worried.&quot;<br /><br />While the soft spoken words from the female gargoyle would have usually been a balm to his senses, at that time and moment them seemed to oddly enough aggravate Brooklyn. &quot;Like I said, I just...have a lot on my mind.&quot; he mentally patted himself onto the back for not letting his inner feelings show onto his face as he gave a shaky smile to Angela.<br /><br />&quot;Are ye sure lad?&quot; Hudson inquired carefully. Brooklyn nodded and then turned from where he stood on the edge of the castle. &quot;I&#039;m going out alone tonight.&quot;<br /><br />&quot;No!&quot; Goliath shouted, the worry now very easy to hear in his voice, yet it was lost on Brooklyn as he dove from off of the castle, his rust colored wings snapping open behind him to catch an updraft.<br /><br />Brooklyn was sure that he heard the others trying to call out to him but he ignored them. He would apologize later, of course, but for now he needed space to think. Specifically about the demon. While caught within the dreamless sleep of his people Brooklyn was sure that he had seen the demon&#039;s visage dance within his mind&#039;s eye as he dreamt within the darkness. A growl touched the edge of Brooklyn&#039;s lips as he tried to mentally remove the other from his mind, yet it was no use. The demon&#039;s smirking face and barking voice seemed to haunt him like a curse as he flew throughout the night sky.<br /><br />Scanning the skyline Brooklyn peeled his eyes force any sight of the other, quite sure that the demon was still somewhere here within the city. &#039;Where are you?&#039; The obsession overtaking Brooklyn might have seemed odd to some, however, for him it was nothing short of a necessary need as he mentally tried to figure out the rhyme and reason behind the actions of the other, specifically the fact of why the demon had allowed him to live after their fight a few nights prior.<br /><br />Their battle had been intense; the feeling of the manacle wearing creature&#039;s fist hitting him across the face and chest brought with it an explosion of sensation that Brooklyn had never experienced before, the likes of which still left him with phantom pains even now. The memory of the rush of adrenaline he had felt as he dodged and weaved around the other was like a fine liquor to the young gargoyle senses, and yet it was nothing compared to the almost rapture he had felt when his own fist had smashed itself into the demon&#039;s flesh. The barking sound of the other crying out in pain had made something inside of Brooklyn rumble in a way that had left the rust colored gargoyle somewhat unnerved as he thought back about it. Like the potent aftereffects of a strong drug Brooklyn relished in reliving the experience of the fight between himself as the other gargoyle. However, what truly left his mind in a whirl was him waking up from his stone slumber and realizing that he was still alive.<br /><br />The fight between the pair had been a long and drawn out one, the demon having given just as good as he got while the two of them danced atop the building they had been on, yet time proved to be the creature&#039;s ally with the first rays of dawn coated themselves across Brooklyn&#039;s panting form quickly turning his flesh to stone as he was forced to sleep in dreamless slumber. What had happened while he slept was a mystery wrapped within an enigma that only the demon could answer. Awaking the next evening found Brooklyn disoriented as always, memory slow to return as he tried to figure out just exactly where he was, though when his brain finally caught up with itself Brooklyn immediately put himself into a crouched position, expecting the other to come from the shadows to assault him.<br /><br />Yet the demon never showed.<br /><br />It took Brooklyn nearly and hour to understand what was going on, yet once he did he quickly took wing back home to the castle, his mind berating him for letting the creature distract him from returning to check on Lexington. Thankfully his rookery brother was well enough, his stone slumber having healed the wound he had taken from the human&#039;s bullet. Explaining things to the others had gotten Brooklyn various frowns and words of condemnation before he was verbally enfolded in murmurs of joy for having returned to the clan safely. He shad been forced to stay at the castle that night, Goliath having wanting him to give full details of the demon to both himself and Xanatos, yet on the next night to come the rust gargoyle found himself...restless for some reason.<br /><br />Now as he flew across the darkened skies of the city Brooklyn began to realize just exactly what the stirring feeling inside of him was.<br /><br />He was hungry.<br /><br />And not for food.<br /><br />The rush he had received from fighting the demon made the blood inside of his body thrum with a dangerous thrill that nearly made him swoon. The demon...there was something about it. Maybe it was that superior look on it&#039;s blank golden stare as it looked upon Brooklyn that made him want punch the other in the face again. Or perhaps it was the air of malice surrounding the other that spurred a want within him to beat the other. The thought of knocking the haughty creature that had thought to enter into HIS home down made Brooklyn shiver in excitement. He slowly realized that he wanted to find the other again. Wanted to taste the pain that would come from his victory over the other gargoyle. He wanted...no...he needed to fight the other once more. To know that it hadn&#039;t just been an idle mercy that had kept the other from destroying him while he was at his most vulnerable. He couldn&#039;t just let the demon have such an easy victory over him! The other would always look down on him if he...<br /><br />A scream tore through his musings.<br /><br />Dropping his head down Brooklyn found the sight of a young brunette being chased by several men filling his vision. Turning within the air he dove down without thought.<br /><br />- - - - -<br /><br />The woman had seemed so innocent while thanking him for his timely rescue. Brooklyn should have known then that something was wrong, but for a split second he had wanted to believe that she...maybe liked him. It was such a stupid concept, he knew, but when looking into her pretty green eyes he felt that maybe...just maybe...<br /><br />Of course he hadn&#039;t been thinking that she would club him when he turned away from her to head about his way. Why would he? After all, what kind of person would return one&#039;s kindness with a venom laced kiss?<br /><br />Humans, that&#039;s who.<br /><br />The strike had come just as he was walking towards an alleyway. Where the woman had gotten the baseball bat she had been holding onto he&#039;d never know but in turning onto his side to look at her after he had fallen to the ground Brooklyn had maybe three seconds to swear a curse at the woman before the men he had chased away earlier had returned. One of them had thanked the brunette for her help in luring down the &#039;monster&#039; that had been responsible for the killings for them right before money was exchanged. Once the crumpled bills were handed over the men then began to surround him.<br /><br />The beating had began just as Brooklyn reared up his head to snarl at the group.<br /><br />The first strike had been at his shoulder, the sound of metal hitting bone rang out into the night followed by his unabashed yelp of pain. The second had come across his face with blood flying onto the wall next to him from as his mouth as his beak was drawn to the side from the force of the assault. The third hit his gut and it took everything in Brooklyn not to puke all over himself. After that pain blurred time for the rust colored gargoyle as the humans belted him over and over again into submission. He would have cried out for help but the blows rain down on him too quickly for him to do so, so in stead he remained silent as his body was broken down by the men who sought his life.<br /><br />Once they had finally stopped Brooklyn&#039;s consciousness seemed to suck itself back into his body. The pain racking itself across his body was so intense however that it was a surprise that he was even able to crack open a swollen eye to glare up at the others.<br /><br />Then the sound of a cocking gun chilled the night.<br /><br />Brooklyn watched in muted horror as the muzzle of a revolver was pointed at his bloody face. Eye going wide with terror Brooklyn fought with himself to try and stand up but it was just no use. He was broken. It would be a miracle in and of itself if he could even make it to his stone sleep come morning, yet as the finger on the trigger of the gun pulled itself back the bloodsoaked gargoyle had the queerest feeling that he wasn&#039;t even going to make it to the next ten minutes. Closing his eyes Brooklyn submitted to the inevitable.<br /><br />The sound of the gun going off filled the night with an audible burst that it drew silence over the neighborhood.<br /><br />However, what followed after made the entire street buzz with panic.<br /><br />A scream made Brooklyn hesitantly open his eyes.<br /><br />What he saw made him gape in awe.<br /><br />The man who had been pointing the gun at him howled in pain as he clutched his now bloody stump of an arm against his chest. The perpetrator of the gruesome decapitation roared in anger as it tossed the twitching limb away into the darkness of the alley. Black boned wings raised up in a show of feral anger as their owner knelt over the fallen gargoyle, the cherry skinned creature rearing its head back as its throat seemed to balloon somewhat comically.<br /><br />The men didn&#039;t have time to register what was going on because in the seconds that followed scalding hot crimson flames soaked themselves throughout the alleyway. Those caught within the deluge of fire were quickly charred into dust, while those who were not screamed in desperate panic as it finally registered what exactly was happening. The next few moments were filled with the sounds of the humans clumsily falling over one another as they tried to escape the hellspawn that came down from the sky up above. Another plume of fire burnt those who were not lucky enough to get away quickly across the back and legs, which in turn made them drop to the ground as their backsides were literally charred, the fluids within having no time to evaporate as they were literally reduced to nothing thanks to the intense the heat of the demon&#039;s fiery breath.<br /><br />Seeing that some of his prey were still alive the cherry skinned creature slowly slunk away from the wounded Brooklyn to go over to the twitching and blubbering masses of humanity. Standing up to his full height over the humans the demon growled at the two who were left before looking up to where the others were still running away in their pathetic attempts to escape. It would be easy enough to slip into the shadows to find, follow, and kill the rest, but there was something more important that needed to be done right now. A raised foot quickly slammed down onto one of the men&#039;s spine, easily cracking like a walnut, while a clawed hand reached down to pick the other up. Bringing the other up to his face the demon let out a cruel chuckle as he listened to the other babble out prayer of forgiveness. Drawing his lips into a demonic smirk the demon smashed the man into the hard asphalt over and over again, scrambling whatever was left inside of the human&#039;s head out onto the ground as his skull finally cracked open. Once it was clear that the human were dead, the last few twitches symbolizing only the death throes of a corpse, the monster tossed the broken rag doll away. Turning on its taloned feet, the creature then stalked over to where Brooklyn still lay bleeding onto the ground.<br /><br />A sneer of hate kissed the blood covered demon&#039;s face as it look down upon the near dead rust colored gargoyle. Brooklyn couldn&#039;t even muster the energy to snarl back as his body was just that broken.<br /><br />When a blood covered hand reached down for him Brooklyn sighed and then once again closed his tired eyes, his mind more than ready enough to submit itself to the inevitable once again.<br /><br />=========<br /><br /><strong>3.</strong> They say that if you knock on any wall hard and long enough that eventually it will come down. Brooklyn could attest to this fact as he found himself, once again, growling at the cherry skinned demon that seemed to be trying to drive him slowly insane with its incessant attempts at seduction.<br /><br />Three weeks.<br /><br />That&#039;s how long it had been since the night when Brooklyn had almost lost his life to the humans in that alleyway in downtown Manhattan. The gargoyle, while happy to have survived the assault, was now questioning just how &#039;lucky&#039; he had been to have the demon pull him from where he had been dying on the ground to a local cemetery so that he could rest and heal his wounds. The demon had done what it could to aid him by licking his wounds clean, something Brooklyn had been mildly grossed out about but too exhausted to make complaint of. The fiery licks had soothed the tears littered across his body with a burning heat that had almost been painful, and yet once the demon had finished with him the rust colored gargoyle had almost whimpered for him to continue. The other didn&#039;t leave his side until morning came, or at least Brooklyn didn&#039;t think he did as the sun&#039;s rays petrified his thoughts as it drug him down into his stone sleep.<br /><br />Waking the next evening had found the demon watching him from underneath the shadow of a nearby mausoleum. Pale golden eyes watched the other curiously as Brooklyn rose up from the ground to stretch and then wipe down the last of his stone skin from off his perfectly healed body. Acknowledging one another after their eyes locked with a simple nod Brooklyn had prepared to return home for the evening but before he could the demon rose and then stalked towards him. The rust colored gargoyle could feel the aggression pulsing from off the other and made move to crouch down into a defensive position to prepare himself for what was to come.<br /><br />Hours later Brooklyn returned home to the castle with enough wounds to make him almost regret being saved by the other. His clan mates had of course swarmed him upon his return and with only minimal editing to the events prior he had told them what had occurred the night before up until then. Chastised and then sent to rest for the evening Brooklyn put aside the thought over the fact that the demon had saved him.<br /><br />It had to have been a fluke, right?<br /><br />After all, why would a demon help him and then beat the stuffing out of him? It didn&#039;t make any sense, which is why Brooklyn put the entire affair out of his mind after curling up onto the extra couch inside of Hudson&#039;s room. Bronx had been a great boon to his senses as the gargoyle beast curled up to him while he watched the news blather on.<br /><br />But two nights after that the demon had begun to behave differently around him.<br /><br />On a flight around town with Broadway Brooklyn had &#039;sensed&#039; that the pair of them were being watch and who should so happen to have been tailing them but the demon. Alerting Broadway to this fact had been a mistake as when the pair of them had curled their wings in order to take point on either side of the demon the cherry skinned creature had spat a gout of flame at the tubbier gargoyle nicking him on the shoulder. Brooklyn had ordered Broadway to return to the castle while he took care of the other, something he was sure that he would have been able to do on his own at the time. His rookery brother hadn&#039;t liked the order but had followed through with it.<br /><br />Swooping throughout the skyline of the city Brooklyn and the demon swerved this way and that until they got to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. A fitting locale for as soon as the two touched down both Brooklyn and the demon had charged at one another. Hours of bloody fighting ended when the demon had suddenly backed away. Cautious, Brooklyn had pulled himself back to prepare for whatever came next...but he was not prepared for the demon&#039;s next tactic.<br /><br />Startled beyond belief the rust colored gargoyle had quickly took flight back home, his beaked face a darker red than the blood which covered the light scratches on his chest and torso. He said nothing when asked about the demon, merely stammering that it had gotten away from him before going about his way to one of the castle bathrooms to clean himself up. The next night had been something of the same, just this time with both Goliath and Lexington flanking him. Once again, trying to corner the demon had been a folly as the creature sent two bursts of flame at the other gargoyles in an attempt to shoo them away. Pulling back the clan leader and Lex had left Brooklyn to deal with the creature, in turn abandoning him to the whims of the demon. Which again were the stuff of lewd nightmares as the next fight ended with the demon on top of him, its face looming dangerously close to his own as it rutted its body across Brooklyn&#039;s. The rust colored gargoyle had gasped at the feel of a burning tongue sweeping across his flesh, his body completely unprepared for what was happening to it.<br /><br />The demon seemed to take perverse delight in this because after the Manhattan gargoyle was panting in a heated daze of twisted ecstasy it pulled itself back to stand away from the other. It took him a minute to collect his thoughts but once he did Brooklyn lifted his head from off the grass of the park the pair had stumbled into to look at the other. The demon was far from abashed as it stroked itself for the enjoyment of its solo audience member, its mannerism the stuff of carnal delight as a four fingered hand rolled across the shaft which had grown from out in between its legs.<br /><br />Brooklyn had done nothing to rebuke the other, save for hesitantly getting up to fly off about his way.<br /><br />The next night though he found himself snarling at the other to stop when it had nipped him on the shoulder blade after getting him into a wrestling hold.<br /><br />The night after that he had growled while holding the other down against the ground, his burning white eyes hotter than the sun as he glowered at the creature that smirked up at him tauntingly.<br /><br />On and on and on it had went with the two of them exchanging blows and then strange affections with one another until finally...<br /><br />&quot;STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, DEMON!!!&quot; Brooklyn shouted right before turning to dart away on all fours like a scared house cat.<br /><br />The demon seemed not to mind the outburst, its pale gold eyes watched as the other gargoyle loped away as fast as it could into the darkness. Reaching down to stroke itself frighteningly demonic looking cock with a four clawed hand, the black winged imp chuckled knowingly.<br /><br />Brooklyn ran as fast as he could, his mind desperate to get away from the other, yet all the while he couldn&#039;t stop thinking about the demon.<br /><br />Getting back to the others an hour and a half later found Brooklyn&#039;s mind spinning in a whirlwind of confusion, disbelief, frustration, and worst of all, curiosity. That was the one feeling that made all of his other emotions pale in comparison.<br /><br />&#039;What would it be like to become intimate with the demon?&#039;<br /><br />The notion that this thought was something his brain was even entertaining forced a growl from out of Brooklyn&#039;s maw. It was a DEMON!!! The very idea alone should have been enough to have him trying to punch the smug looking imp right in its beaked snout, and yet...there was something there. Some...unintelligible feeling that made Brooklyn want to know what the other&#039;s breath would feel like ghosting across his skin as they mated together.<br /><br />&#039;Would it hurt or would it feel good?&#039; he wondered silently while getting onto his perch to wait for dawn&#039;s light.<br /><br />Brooklyn had never had sex with another before. Not to say that his celibacy had been by choice! It was just the fact that the people he had chosen to offer himself to had...quite literally rejected him. And as he thought over the three figures whom he had wanted to give both his heart and soul to Brooklyn found himself lowering his gaze in anger.<br /><br />While he would never admit it to himself Brooklyn knew that deep in his heart Demona had been his first love. She was everything that any young gargoyle male should want in a mate. Of course being Goliath&#039;s chosen had put her out of bounds for him, that much was obvious, yet in seeing her after she had returned from her fall from the castle...it had made a black desire rise from within Brooklyn&#039;s mind. He had wanted to trust her after she had shown him around their new home, had wanted to believe her about the humans upon seeing their hatred and bigotry towards one another. It should have been so easy for them to become allies, him her loyal companion while the two of them helped to show Goliath that he was wrong to put so much trust in Elisa. But then she had betrayed him. The knowledge that he had hurt his own clan to help her still pained him to this very day, and it was the fuel behind his the anger that burned inside of him towards anger towards her. In a sick way Brooklyn could admit that he still held a passion towards her, only this time it was a bloodsoaked one that would only be quenched once he had his hands wrapped around her throat as the last of her life faded from her treacherous eyes.<br /><br />Then there had been Maggie.<br /><br />Brooklyn was mature enough by this point to realize that she had been a mistake. The young runaway had been scared out of her mind after her transformation and his trying to help her, no matter how good the intention was, was wrong. She needed more than he could give her. She had needed to suffer through the choice between life and death to determine which path was better. She had chosen to live, but at the price of knowing that she would never be human, never be accepted by her people ever again. And thus, she had found strength and solace within Derek&#039;s arms. Brooklyn couldn&#039;t blame the young mutant. Derek was a good man. Being just as headstrong and stubborn as his older sister Elisa made it so that only Hell and high water would take Maggie away from him. Especially now so since she was pregnant with his...cub he guessed.<br /><br />And then Angela had come along.<br /><br />Like the ghost of what could have been coming to torture him the beautiful young gargoyle had shown up at the clan&#039;s door and once again Brooklyn&#039;s heart had leapt within his throat at the thought of FINALLY getting a chance to have a mate for himself. Of course there had been competition from his rookery brothers, as was expected with only one viable female amongst a group of many, but Brooklyn had been sure that he was going to win her over. He was strong of body, sharp of mind, he had position next to the clan leader, and would offer her anything she desired...<br /><br />So why the hell had she chosen Broadway???!?!<br /><br />This was something that constantly ate away at Brooklyn&#039;s mind as he thought over his chubby blue skinned rookery brother. He would never say that the other was a bad choice for Angela, he had way too much respect for Broadway to do something like that, but Oberon be damned!!! It was almost like the gods were conspiring against him at this point. Seeing the young female grow closer to Broadway, the look on her face whenever her eyes lit up whenever she saw him, was like a knife going through his heart and then spinning around for good measure just to make sure he knew it was there.<br /><br />How the hell could lose out three times?!?!<br /><br />It wasn&#039;t fair!!<br /><br />He did not do anything to deserve this kind of pain!!!<br /><br />And then his mind quieted itself with thoughts of the demon. Of it&#039;s strong body and thick cock. Of its rough hands and hot breath. Of the pale golden eyes which looked down at him in want and desire.<br /><br />Brooklyn&#039;s eyes narrowed as a black pool forbidden desire welled up within his soul at the thoughts of what the other kept offering to him.<br /><br />=========<br /><br /><strong>4.</strong> The first thrust was so good that Brooklyn found his breath stolen away. The second made him see stars. The next few drove breathless words from his throat, while those that followed forced his cock to spill small spurts of liquid out onto the floor. The rust colored gargoyle never knew that mating could feel this good, especially not with another male but as the demon drove his hips forward into his rump Brooklyn could admit that he had been denying himself some great pleasure by making the other wait for him for those extra few weeks he had been playing keep away.<br /><br />Two months.<br /><br />That was how long it took before Brooklyn&#039;s resolve finally broke down and he returned the other gargoyle&#039;s affection with a very haphazardous kiss. To say that the cherry skinned gargoyle was surprised would have been a serious understatement as pale gold eyes went wide even as the creature&#039;s beaked maw opened to reciprocate the unexpected gesture. The two had been in an empty warehouse when Brooklyn had initiated the show of affection, the demon having been on his back while the rust colored gargoyle held him down within a secure pin against the concrete floor. Looking down at the other&#039;s sweat soaked and panting form Brooklyn hadn&#039;t consciously thought about what he was doing when he leaned down to press his beak against the demon&#039;s. Oddly enough even during the shared exchange of breath and tongue the Manhattan gargoyle had found his conscious mind taking a backseat as he rolled his body against the demon&#039;s form.<br /><br />Pulling back from the other, a string of saliva connecting them together like a silver ribbon, Brooklyn had found himself horribly embarrassed by his sudden intimate gesture and lost control over his hold. The demon was quick to take advantage of this because soon he found himself on his back with the other on top of him grunting and moaning as it rutted its overly warm hips across his body like a dog in heat. Brooklyn didn&#039;t struggle. Instead he laid down against the warmed concrete, his thighs spreading lightly as something hot, hard, and heavy began to slip underneath his loincloth to caress his quivering sheath. It was the sound of a police car&#039;s brakes squealing within the distance that made the demon stop and then pull its head head up. A growl of utter hatred covered the cherry skinned creature&#039;s face as it looked to where the sounds of humans could be heard just outside the rolling door of the warehouse. When a flicker of flame sparked from within its muzzle Brooklyn snapped himself out of his daze and then forced the demon from off of him.<br /><br />The hurt look on the demon&#039;s face as it stared at him was one that made a twisting pain claw deep within Brooklyn chest, but at the time he chose not to assess the other&#039;s feelings and instead grabbed the demon and then forced it out the backside of the building just as the police jimmied open the front door of the warehouse. The two quickly scaled up the side of the brick building to the roof and then took flight into the dawning skyline on about their way. Nothing was said between the pair as they flew off together, though both share side looks between each other that spoke of their true feelings. The brightening sky made Brooklyn alter his course towards the castle, yet before he did so he shared a nervous smile with the demon. The other let out a series of barking noises that the rust colored gargoyle assumed was an affirmation of his departure but Brooklyn couldn&#039;t be sure. All he knew was that by the time he was halfway home his heart was hammering within his chest loud enough to drown out the nattering words brought about by his mind wondering what the hell he thought he was doing.<br /><br />There was no time for anyone to question him as minutes later the sun rose freezing all thought and concern of Brooklyn&#039;s whereabouts for the evening in cold stone.<br /><br />It was a several nights later before Brooklyn found the demon again. To say that he was...anxious to see the other would have been a boldfaced lie as by now the Manhattan gargoyle found himself literally searching for the demon, his need to understand the feelings that were swirling within his mind and heart so chaotic that he barely understood why he was doing what he was doing anymore. The demon seemed to have purposefully kept him on the edge of madness as it watched and waited within the shadows before pulling itself next to the rust colored gargoyle as the other was flying through the warehouse district of the city once again. The sight of the demon filled Brooklyn with a jubilation that he hadn&#039;t expected to feel, and yet, this feeling was muted when the other directed their flight down though the darker parts of the warehouses to one unlit building that seemed to literally ooze malice. Landing onto the ground in silence the demon made a mark on the beaten and battered wood door leading inside of the boarded up structure and then carefully opened the door to reveal an interior that seemed to be darker than the outside, if that was even possible.<br /><br />Turning to stare at Brooklyn, the cherry skinned demon said nothing as it watched Brooklyn for several seconds, golden eyes empty with something that could never be spoken, and then turned to slip itself inside of the void, leaving the door behind it wide open in invitation.<br /><br />Now Brooklyn was a smart creature. Some would say the brightest amongst the Manhattan clan, at least in terms of common sense. Couple that with his knowledge of mysticism and his sixth sense for danger it was easy enough for the rust colored gargoyle to tell that something was definitely not right with what was going on there. Moving forward to stand right before the door he reached out into the darkness and drew back as if burned. The cloying gloom that stood before him was like a living thing as it caressed his arm. The feel of the darkness actually tugging on him, embracing his hand while holding him tightly but gently, made Brooklyn acutely aware of the fact that the demon had done something to make the void beyond do as such. What magic the other had used was beyond his field of expertise, and yet Brooklyn was very aware of the fact that by stepping over the threshold he would be entering into the womb of something for which would forever taint him.<br /><br />The question then became, why was he still there then if he knew such a thing?<br /><br />Well the answer to that was simple.<br /><br />What did he have to gain by staying in a world that had showed him that he was unnecessary?<br /><br />None of the clan needed him and no one really cared about his happiness as an individual.<br /><br />While the clan was family, they were all different entities that had their own goals, ideals, and wants that went outside of Brooklyn&#039;s needs and desires.<br /><br />Goliath had Elisa.<br /><br />Broadway had Angela.<br /><br />Lexington had his computers.<br /><br />Bronx had Hudson.<br /><br />Hudson had his television.<br /><br />Everyone had something or someone to make them happy, but not him.<br /><br />And why not?<br /><br />Because every choice he had tried to make to get him a bit of happiness had been stripped from him by someone else&#039;s volition.<br /><br />Demona had made her choice to betray him knowingly.<br /><br />Maggie had willingly chosen to be with Derek over him.<br /><br />Angela had decided that Broadway was the better gargoyle than him to take as a mate.<br /><br />Every time he had tried to reach out and offer himself to someone whom he thought would understand him, want him, need him, they had made it plainly clear that he just wasn&#039;t good enough for them.<br /><br />But right here and right now was someone choosing him over everything else.<br /><br />Of course he shouldn&#039;t trust the demon, he didn&#039;t even understand the language the other spoke, nor knew its intentions, but the other had shown interest in him. Had saved him. Had tasted his flesh and blood and found that it was more interested in sampling all that he was over and over again rather than taking his life, as would have been so easy for it to do with all the opportunity that it had.<br /><br />Turning to look back at where the castle was, Brooklyn found his conscious mind rather silent as he thought about what he would be giving up in order to go back to the life he knew.<br /><br />Shifting around to look into the doorway once more there was a certain determination within Brooklyn&#039;s steps as he moved forward into the darkness. The shadows within caressed him like an old friend as he followed an unknown path towards where the demon would be waiting for him. The sound of the door closing behind him barely caused Brooklyn to take pause as he marched through narrow unseen hallways down into the depths of the yawning void. He may have walked for minutes, or maybe even hours, it was hard to tell as time seemed to have repealed its hold over this strange space, but once he finally got to where the demon was waiting Brooklyn found himself feeling a sense of belonging, the likes of which he had NEVER felt before, overtaking his mind and soul.<br /><br />The demon seemed to know this as he stood within a bloodsoaked pentagram cast onto the floor, the light of the candles surrounding him stroking along the cherry skin flesh like roving hands all the while shadows dance across the creature&#039;s body almost sensually. The other knelt down onto its knees, a knowing smirk painted finely across its face as it waited for Brooklyn to take the steps inside.<br /><br />Brooklyn did so without hesitation, his body more than ready for what was to come, even as a electrical pulse flared throughout his mind as he crossed the circle to where the demon awaited him. Lacing his fingers with the other and then sharing his breath with the demon in a kiss, Brooklyn was very well aware of whispers coming from the walls as he and the other gargoyle began to share body and soul with one another while there on the floor. The demon proved itself to be a master in the art of sensuality as its four fingered hands caressed Brooklyn across all the right spots to makes his flesh quiver and his cock grow hard. A flick of a claw sent the offending loincloth blocking the demon&#039;s access to his sheath out into the void where it seemed to be swallowed up almost hungrily so. Once free of the restrictive cloth a sigh filled the gloom as Brooklyn spread his legs to allow the demon to stroke along the plump pouch which contained his peeking erection.<br /><br />A play on tongue and barking words across his chest made Brooklyn almost putty within the other&#039;s hands, so when it came as little surprise to him when he was turned around and then lanced upon the other&#039;s steel hard erection.<br /><br />Time had no meaning as the two danced together in an ritual older than time, and yet there was some feeling within Brooklyn, some unknowable understanding happening inside of him as he felt a strange black heat encompass his chest while the demon fucked him slow and tenderly. His eyes glowed white as the demon rubbed its hand across his chest, its claws almost sinking into chest as its cock spread the deepest parts of him open with every other thrust of its hips. Climax came who knew how much later but when it did Brooklyn felt something leave from out of him as he spilled his seed out from his body while the demon filled him with itself as his rippling flesh caressed its nub covered erection. The glow of the pentagram underneath the pair was not missed by Brooklyn, his eyes very well aware of some kind of magic being fed by his orgasm, yet the rust colored gargoyle felt no fear.<br /><br />He was safe there within the arms of the demon, as strange as that thought may be.<br /><br />The pale golden eyes of the other promised things that he had never felt before and in leaning back to swipe his tongue across the other&#039;s beak Brooklyn realized that everything would be alright.<br /><br />Flying home naked was somewhat surreal for Brooklyn but was a necessity since his loincloth seemed to have all but disintegrated within the darkness. Thankfully he was able to wave the concern of the other gargoyles away with a few choice words while the sun&#039;s light brought with it an end to the question of why he looked and smelled as though he had just come from a brothel, something for which Brooklyn was eternally grateful for.<br /><br />The day shifted to dusk as it normally did with nothing out of the ordinary for those of the Manhattan clan, however, the moment when the moon began to lift itself up into the sky strange phenomena took place with Brooklyn&#039;s sleeping form. As the half moon continued to rise rose Brooklyn&#039;s form gently warbled and shifted out of sight until soon it faded from existence, as though it had never been. This was a very curious for David Xanatos who was watching from his monitor room, the billionaire arching an eyebrow as he wondered what strange new development was taking place within his home. By the time the others of the clan had fully awakened from their stone slumber all were in a frenzied uproar as they noticed the missing member of their clan.<br /><br />David Xanatos was quite curious as well as he played over the recording capturing Brooklyn&#039;s disappearing act, the billionaire found himself astonished as all of the power within his skyscraper suddenly switched off.<br /><br />=========<br /><strong>5. </strong> The sensation of coming awake was nothing new for Brooklyn, the rust colored gargoyle had been doing so for dozens of years now without a problem, but in waking to find himself plummeting from within the sky was a surreal experience, the likes of which kick-started Brooklyn&#039;s brain into snapping open his wings to catch an updraft of air right before he could fall smack-dab onto the red stone ground. Thankfully fortune was with him as burning hot air rushed beneath his wings helping the young gargoyle to climb back up into the clouds before his lean form could splatter all across the rocks. Once he was safely within the sky once more Brooklyn choked out a cough as the sulfuric taste of brimstone burned across the back of his throat.<br /><br />Bleary eyes blinked as Brooklyn tried to focus his vision on the trembling and bubbling earth which sat below him. When his brain finally caught up to what exactly it was that he was gazing down at Brooklyn felt a strange cold chill creep into his heart. Like a scene out of a nightmare the Manhattan gargoyle found himself in terrified awe as he looked all across the grotesque landscape surrounding himself; like a scene from out of a waking nightmare Brooklyn found that the world that he knew had been replaced with a crimson and onyx visage of broken mountains and endless pools of spurting magma, the likes of which made him wonder if he were actually within the thing Elisa called Hell.<br /><br />A tremor ran throughout his quivering naked being.<br /><br />&quot;Goliath!&quot;<br /><br />&quot;Hudson!!&quot;<br /><br />Calling out to the others yielded little in the way of help as he trailed across the ash covered sky that was this unknown place. With no one around to explain to him exactly what it was that was going on here now Brooklyn found him fear soaked mind spinning in confusion as he wondered over the how and why that he had come to be in such a place. Magic was the obvious answer, of course, but what sort of power had he incurred that could do such a thing to him. It was in thinking over this quandary that the rust colored gargoyle found the heat of the air brushing over his naked rump. A blush formed on Brooklyn&#039;s face as he remember the night before.<br /><br />The hands that had grasped his body.<br /><br />The claws which had dug deep into his skin.<br /><br />The eyes that had pierced his soul.<br /><br />And the...<br /><br />A familiar heat welled within his chest as he thought over his...lover? Or perhaps it would have been better to say his mate. The demonic gargoyle had shared with him breath and seed, had taken him to the heights of pleasure while dragging him down to the depths of depravity. It only made sense then that he would somehow have come to the place that the other more than likely called home. But if that was the case...where was the other?<br /><br />A strange pulsation grew within Brooklyn&#039;s mind suddenly like a sixth sense gone into overdrive.<br /><br />It was a screech from behind him that made Brooklyn tuck his wings and then roll to the side just in time to avoid a set of razor sharp talons careening towards his backside. The creature attached to said talons cawed in anger for having missed its mark. A steady flap of feathered wings later found the beast turning within the air to engage Brooklyn in an obvious head on head collision.<br /><br />To say that Brooklyn was in shock about what he was seeing would have been a very big understatement, having never before seen such a massive creature in his life until that day. Mounds of grotesque looking muscles filled the young gargoyle&#039;s sight as he watched bulky arms beat into the air to give the creature&#039;s wings the needed air to allow the other the height it needed to make its next attack. Empty eyes filled with bestial anger drew narrow at the monster gazed upon the much smaller creature which had entered into its territory unknowingly. When a cavern like maw opened to revealed jagged incisors within the beast&#039;s maw Brooklyn realized right then that he was in some serious trouble.<br /><br />&#039;Wait! Stop!!&quot; Brooklyn cried out in a feeble attempt to try and halt the creature&#039;s forward dive. To no avail though, the monstrous form of the feathered beast seemed intent on its relentless attack as it dove for the gargoyle once more, the twin horns upon its head almost gleaming within the crimson light of the sky as it charged forward to skewer the rust colored gargoyle.<br /><br />Brooklyn didn&#039;t think as he moved to dodge the beast once again; folding his wings tightly around himself as he dropped from his current altitude in order to avoid another strike, Brooklyn&#039;s frantic mind tried to think up anyway that he could reason to the monster that he was not its enemy.<br /><br />However, some unspoken instinct told him that the other was not going to be so forgiving to him for having brought himself here. The creature sought blood for his transgressions and would not be satisfied until Brooklyn torn upon its claws, his life pooling underneath himself as the other tore apart his insides in a show of feral victory. It was in coming to understand this that Brooklyn found his own eyes narrowing.<br /><br />He was not food.<br /><br />When the monster sailed past him for a second time Brooklyn didn&#039;t wait to see what it would do and instead looked around for the nearest flat piece of landscape it could find. Seeing a dilapidated castle-like structure very close by the rust colored gargoyle spread his wings and then beat a hasty path towards his salvation. As expected the squawking monster wasted no time in pulling around and then gave chase. Brooklyn barely spared a glance backwards, his brain too focused on the hazardous plan forming within the darkness of his mind.<br /><br />Getting to the castle Brooklyn tucked his wings in close and then waited for the beast to come at him.<br /><br />Diving bombing down at him like a jet fighter the much larger creature was caught somewhat unawares when Brooklyn flipped out of the way to let it crash into the stones below. The heavy gait of the monster made the entire structure rumble, not that Brooklyn spared the time to find amusement in this, as he instead turned to leap at the creature. With his own eyes glowing white hot with his own rage Brooklyn didn&#039;t think as he tore his claws into the left arm of the creature, ripping away it cerulean feathers as it attempted to limit the other&#039;s flying capabilities. Blood rained across the space between them soaking both the rust colored gargoyle and the monster at the same time a piercing cry echoed throughout the sky. The two struggled for a time with the unknown monster snapping and shrieking a terrible call of battle as it tried to bite the smaller gargoyle in half with its beak-like maw, Brooklyn took little notice of the other&#039;s shrieks as his adrenaline soaked body held fast onto the creature.<br /><br />He knew that it wouldn&#039;t be long before his strength failed him, what with his own body being almost half as big as the monster&#039;s own disproportionate bulk and it was because of this logic that Brooklyn knew that he had only one choice to survive this encounter.<br /><br />He would have to kill the other.<br /><br />=========<br /><strong>6.</strong> The weight of death hung heavy on Brooklyn as he flew through the hellish landscape that was this unknown place for which he had been mysteriously thrust into. The feeling of the blood of the creature whose neck he had managed to crush felt like chains covering him from head to toe, the knowledge of what he had done pulling at him like iron balls. Gliding throughout the air the Manhattan gargoyle tried to find some place where he could settle himself in order to come to grips with the consequences of his actions, yet no place seemed to be safe enough. Everywhere he looked danger seemed to lurk like a living shadow, its claws more than ready to reach out to drag him down to some uncertain death.<br /><br />Grunting and flapping his wings Brooklyn struggled to push his tired body onward.<br /><br />So many questions plagued the gargoyle&#039;s mind.<br /><br />Where in the fuck was he?<br /><br />How did he get there even though he had been asleep?<br /><br />And why did he find himself not all scared out of his mind at being so very far away from his clan?<br /><br />The last question was the one the seemed to plague Brooklyn more than anything as he flew above a group of skeletal birds which squawked irritably.<br /><br />Even though he knew that he was very far away from the others...Brooklyn didn&#039;t feel all that fearful of being out there alone. In a strange way the silence he felt surrounding him as he flew about his way was comforting.<br /><br />Of course this comfort was not to last as a familiar presence tugged at his subconscious.<br /><br />Turning to look behind himself Brooklyn caught sight of familiar pale golden eyes watching him. A shaky smile covered the rust colored gargoyle&#039;s face as he tucked his wings just enough to slow down his forward flight. The cherry colored gargoyle was easily able to catch up with him at that point and soon the pair were flying together through the ash laden sky in silent revelry at being together once again. For how long the two gargoyle&#039;s flew neither knew or cared, the simple joy of being together was enough to comfort both of them, Brooklyn more so perhaps because of the weight that still covered his heart and mind. It also probably helped that the burning air rushing past him removed the blood from his body, and thus helped to lift the weight of his first murder up from off his consciousness.<br /><br />Silence filled the space between the two gargoyles as they traveled across black leaved forests, blue frozen wastelands, glowing crimson volcanoes, and grey dilapidated cities, however everything suddenly changed when the smaller demon made a barking chirp which caught Brooklyn&#039;s attention. The Manhattan gargoyle watched as his partner turned within the air and, not thinking of the why this was, he quickly followed suit after the other. It wasn&#039;t long before Brooklyn understood where the two of them were headed, the sight of a sprawling castle reaching up to the sky soon overtook the rust colored gargoyle&#039;s vision followed by the images of several other lookalike copies of the demon which he had had...interactions with.<br /><br />Turning to look to the other Brooklyn found his companion smirking cheekily at him before the other pushed more air into his wings in order to fly directly through the throng of the other demons without hesitation. It was easy enough for Brooklyn to tell that this was some kind of dare, or rather some unspoken challenge the demon was putting before him in an effort to test him. A feral sense of amusement called to Brooklyn to follow behind the other, his acknowledgement of the other demons barely more than a passing nod as he sought to keep up with his companion. Flying into the castle Brooklyn watched as the smaller demon came to a stop next of a large wooden door, the other then turned to look at him. Brooklyn pulled himself to a stop beside the cherry gargoyle, his wings curling around his backside as he wondered what was going to happen next.<br /><br />The demon made several barking noises at Brooklyn before turning and then rasping on the door. The heavy wooden barrier swung inwards allowing entrance into the depths of well lit castle. Giving no instruction the demon made his way forward, it&#039;s compact body seeming to twitch for some odd reason as it folded its wings as best it could to avoid hitting the outer edges of the door frame. Brooklyn wasted no time in following after the other, though he did spare a glance backwards to see if any other demons were going to follow after them. None seemed to make their way to do so even after the wood door closed behind him. Turning his head to watch the path his companion took on through the winding castle, which housed several corpses along the walls, oddly colored flags with emblems and insignia he had never seen before, and torches filled with crimson flames, Brooklyn&#039;s mind began to wondered if this was not the other&#039;s home. While it seemed the obvious answer there was a strange unfriendliness about the castle that made Brooklyn move close to the smaller demon, something the other chirped at mockingly. The rust colored gargoyle growled in annoyance but didn&#039;t miss how his companion&#039;s wing curled around his body, not touching but very obviously close.<br /><br />Nothing was said between the pair until they came to a stone doorway which held two chains on it and nothing else. The cherry colored gargoyle turned to look Brooklyn at that point, his black wing removing itself from around the earth born gargoyle as he did so. Brooklyn blinked and then cocked his head to the side. The smaller creature said nothing. Quickly guessing that the other wanted him to take the chains and open the unseen door Brooklyn walked forward to grab the silver metal. The instance his hand touched the chains he drew back. Looking down the rust colored gargoyle looked to find that his hands were were hissing slightly. Whipping his head back at the other for an explanation Brooklyn found that the demon&#039;s face was as impassive as the stones around him. Drawing his attention back to the chains Brooklyn watched the silver wink within the light of the torches which lined the outside of the doorway.<br /><br />A snarl curled at the edge of Brooklyn&#039;s lips after he realized that there was only one way to pass this test.<br /><br />Unfolding his wings and then reaching for the chains again the rust colored gargoyle swallowed down a yell as he grabbed the metal handles and then pulled. Black smoke hissed from his hand as pain filled the inside of his being with the same intensity of a thunderbolt. Not giving it any thought Brooklyn pulled as hard as he could, his eyes glowing white as he did so. The door seemed to reject his attempts to open at first but as the young gargoyle dug his heels into the stone floor a creaking sound like churning gears could be heard throughout the area. A feral sense of victory overcame him as he realized that the path was opening before him. With nothing standing in his mind save for conquering this pathetic challenge Brooklyn heaved as hard as he could, his muscles strained with veins growling across his biceps like thick worms as he sought to prove to the other gargoyle of his worth,.<br /><br />The door yawned open like a crying child as the path forward bloomed open, behind him the demon smirked but kept silent as it continued to watch the other.<br /><br />Once the doorway was completely open Brooklyn threw down the chains and then let out a resounding cry, something inside of him finally giving up the ghost as the restrained pain overcame him in ways that he had never known were feasible before. How long he coughed out his suffering the other couldn&#039;t be sure but once the last cry has been drawn from him Brooklyn a hand curled around his shoulder making him flip his head around.<br /><br />Pale golden eyes seemed for a moment sympathetic before the hand gripped at his shoulder in order to hoist him back up onto his feet.<br /><br />Brooklyn wobbled as he was forced to stand but soon found his footing. The demon waste little time concerning himself with his companion as he made his way into the previously shut off room. Following after the other Brooklyn found that the room in question was actually what looked like an armory of some sort, the entire expanse was covered in various pieces of weaponry and/or armor. Brooklyn, even with his limited magical experience, could feel the dark power pulsating from off of these armaments surrounding him; all of these items had been forged y experienced hands for the express purpose of unabashed malice and violence. Those who would take these weapons in hand...they weren&#039;t just warriors. They were killers. Elites at that. Creatures who understood what it meant to live and die on the battlefield, who knew the joy of murder and the consequence of death. It was in looking at a massive halberd whose heads held jagged edges and pikes which glinted in the darkness despite being made from solid black stone that Brooklyn turned to survey his companion.<br /><br />It was in looking the other over that he began to notice several things about the smaller demon that he had blindly chosen to overlook before. The muscles of the creature in question were honed like polished steel, yet along his skin were old marks. No. Old wounds that had been healed with time and fire. Scanning the hellion more the Manhattan gargoyle took stock of healed patches on skin on the other&#039;s black wings, hard to notice in the low light of the room but easily able to be seen when he focused his vision on them. The demon had seen war before. It was clear to tell in the way he held himself.<br /><br />He movements were controlled. Calculated. Not one movement was taken that wasn&#039;t for a purpose.<br /><br />As he studied the other Brooklyn noted how the demon&#039;s shoulders were twitching slightly.<br /><br />The other knew he was being watched.<br /><br />Did that mean that...<br /><br />The Manhattan gargoyle turned his head to gaze up to a flag with a bat winged crest and, as he expected, out of the corner of his eye he could see that his companion&#039;s muscles had relaxed... but only slightly.<br /><br />Brooklyn&#039;s mind began to whirl as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing in his companion.<br /><br />Did the other let him win their earlier fights? Surely he couldn&#039;t have really held his own against an elite warrior like this? But in thinking back Brooklyn realized that the other hadn&#039;t been pulling punches. Yes, he hadn&#039;t used his fire breath to cook him but that was because the other was at an obvious advantage in the area of magic. So if only putting that advantage to the side, then it meant that he had been able to keep up with the demon. Or at least had been able to prove to the that he was not someone easily smacked to the side.<br /><br />Could that mean that the demon...<br /><br />Before he could try to assess more of mental evidence Brooklyn noted the other stopping to pick something up from off of a nearby wall. Manacles. Just like what he was wearing. That brought a bit of confusion to Brooklyn, that was until the other entered into a dark room that held a brazier within it and nothing else. The demon barked out something to which Brooklyn stopped and then watched as the other moved around the metal container. Opening its muzzle the cherry gargoyle spat out a gout of fire onto the black coals the brazier came alive by way of a towering crimson flame. Brooklyn covered his face with an arm to shield himself from the heat but once the fire died down to a manageable level he found himself blinking as he took stock of the room around him.<br /><br />Littering the area he had once thought was empty were numerous remains of bones, the likes of which bore a scary similarity to the demon before him.<br /><br />Caution made Brooklyn take a step back but when he looked into the demon&#039;s pale gold eyes a voice whispered within him to stop.<br /><br />Listening to the voiceless murmurs he realized...<br /><br />He was in no danger.<br /><br />Here he was safe.<br /><br />Because this was the room of the worthy.<br /><br />And he was worthy.<br /><br />There was nothing to fear.<br /><br />The voice echoed these words over and over until soon Brooklyn found his fear having dampened enough that he no longer felt the need to bolt back out of the room.<br /><br />Looking to the demon the rust colored gargoyle found his companion nodding for him to come and join him. Brooklyn didn&#039;t hesitate. Walking around the brazier the Manhattan gargoyle wondered exactly what was going to happened next, his answer came when the demon took one of his arms and then drew it close to the fire. The sound of his cries met the air for a second time that day as Brooklyn unconsciously drew his hand into the burning flame, the demon having released him just before his fingers touched the lapping fire. The clamp of metal around his scorched wrist made an unknown energy overtake Brooklyn&#039;s body seconds later, the mind numbing feeling of being burned alive quickly beginning to abate as the metal sealed itself. Pulling his hand back a second later Brooklyn looked the shimmering silver metal encircling a part of himself, his eyes narrowed as he took stock of hidden runes which glittered around the metal, unseen by all but those who could stand to be branded by this strange right of passage.<br /><br />And then suddenly his mind soon began to fill with knowledge...and power, the likes of which put anything the Grimorum Arcanorum to shame.<br /><br />The history of an entire race shot through Brooklyn&#039;s psyche. The memory of countless wars. Of the ruination and rebirth of demonic countries all taking place within his mind in the seconds it took him to blink. Turning his head to look at the demon, the red arremer he corrected himself, he knew what the other was now, Brooklyn realized something else.<br /><br />This was real power.<br /><br />This was the thing that tempted mortals to sin. Made men betray their allies and drove leaders to war.<br /><br />The energy of the demonic realm became one with Brooklyn and this became quickly evident as the rust colored gargoyle&#039;s body began to expand outwards, muscles filling with raw energy as his body bulked in ways that would have been impossible with all the physical training his long life could have ever allowed. Tail elongating, beak sharpening, eyes darkened, Brooklyn found his entire being slowly being eroded and then changed the same as what would happen to a river being overtaken by tidal wave. A sudden snarl pulled at the edge of Brooklyn&#039;s lips as he felt his sheath and balls fill, a rampant need for sex becoming his sole focus for before he wrestled the need down.<br /><br />Now was not the time.<br /><br />Not when his mate was speaking within his ears, whispering to him his joy at the earth born gargoyle becoming one with their people.<br /><br />Brooklyn hissed when the second manacle was wrapped around his naked wrist, the fire of the brazier sealing it in place as the more power swept throughout his being.<br /><br />The leg manacles were burned into place by his mate&#039;s fire breath but instead of hurting the feeling of the fire overcoming was more akin to the heat of a sauna caressing his body. Brooklyn didn&#039;t hold back his purr of pleasure as he felt his calves and legs thicken, his feet growing wider forcing his stance to shift.<br /><br />It took time for the magic laced metal to do its job but once the last of the energy became a part of him Brooklyn found himself drawing himself back away from the fire tiredly, his larger form almost useless to him, however Firebrand caught him before he could fall to the ground.<br /><br />Firebrand?<br /><br />...yes. That was the other&#039;s name.<br /><br />Turning to look at the demon Brooklyn found that no words were needed between the two. The two demons were able to understand one another better than anything they could have said.<br /><br />Demons?<br /><br />...yes. That&#039;s what Brooklyn was now.<br /><br />His earthling heritage had been replaced by the mark of Hell, or rather Makai, now that he had those manacles were attached to himself. Never would he be able to remove them, for they had become one with his being, and with that the Manhattan gargoyle realized that he would never be able to return him to his clan.<br /><br />Yet that didn&#039;t bother him.<br /><br />After all why should it?<br /><br />After all, he was right where he belonged here within his mate&#039;s embrace.<br /><br />Standing back up onto his own feet Brooklyn gave the smaller male a shaky smile before he leaned down to exchange his breath with his mate.<br /><br />Firebrand didn&#039;t resist the intimate gesture, the demon more than ready to share himself with the larger demon, as evident by his sex swelling from in between his legs.<br /><br />=========<br /><strong>7.</strong> Life in the demon world was not as bad as humans made it out to seem. There were hard days where Brooklyn found himself dragging his bruised and broken body to rest in the room he and his mate had claimed for one another, an experience for which the rust colored gargoyle found himself quickly growing used to, seeing as his stone slumber had been nullified by the power of the demonic accessories he now wore. However there were just as many good days as there were hard one. During those times Brooklyn found himself surrounded by an orgy of red skinned hellions who treated him as one of their own as he threw sweet mead down his throat while laughing and cajoling with them. Most days though were fairly neutral, with him and the others flying throughout the territory cleaning up &#039;disturbances&#039; which crossed their leader&#039;s attention.<br /><br />All in all it was a good life.<br /><br />Yet Brooklyn&#039;s knew that his perspective on things were shaped by the fact that he was a tainted soul here within the depths of Makai. If he were as he had once been before his mate had laid the mark of demonhood within Brooklyn he never would have thought that the scenes of familiarity and camaraderie between the red arremers were anything more than some twisted form of debauchery and depravity, the likes of which would have made him reel back in horror had he been privy to them earlier on. Now that he was bound to his brethren tighter than the vows of love and loyalty that they so often cherished he understood what was left unspoken by the rest.<br /><br />Of course there was little time for such mental musings, not when he and his mate were surrounded by a throng of demons and mages who sought their lives.<br /><br />It seemed that some demon in a territory not that far away had grown in enough power that he was able to command a small army to surge against the castle where Brooklyn and the other red arremers lived. That wasn&#039;t a problem, as demons often fought for control over various lands with tooth and claw in order to grow their own powers. And while Brooklyn did&#039;t feel the same kind of attachment to his new home as he once did his old one, this place belonged to him and his brethren. It was for that reason and that reason alone that he would fight and kill.<br /><br />No other.<br /><br />Growling at one of the demons who thought to try and pull free from the herd Brooklyn let a nasty smile curl across his beaked muzzle when the foolish demon jumped back into a defensive position.<br /><br />&#039;Idiot.&#039; the rust colored gargoyle thought in annoyance before he spared a glance to Fireband.<br /><br />The smaller gargoyle seemed to be nothing short of amused as he looked upon the group in question, his pale gold eyes filled with a dark giddiness, the likes of which were reminiscent of a child getting to go on a fun ride at a carnival.<br /><br />&quot;I still say that it would have been better to not have let them come so close to the castle.&quot; the cherry colored gargoyle spared a glance at the taller male, his eye ridge lifting in curiosity.<br /><br />&quot;It was an order.&quot; the other barked in the strange language of their people. Brooklyn still couldn&#039;t make those noises, and yet, thanks to the armbands, he was able to communicate with his mate just fine.<br /><br />&quot;That&#039;s fine, but this is gonna get messy.&quot; the rust colored gargoyle was more than well aware of the fact that neither he nor Firebrand were going to come out of this one unscathed. There were just too many here for that to be feasible.<br /><br />The black winged demon chuckled at those words.<br /><br />&quot;So, ready to go back home?&quot; Firebrand cackled while bumping his shoulder against the taller demon.<br /><br />Brooklyn snorted.<br /><br />It was a common joke shared between the two of them, the cherry colored demon loving to tease his mate about his new status as a demon. At first Brooklyn had been somewhat taken aback by the thought over the fact that he could never go back to the earth, the demonic magic within the armbands and ankle bands would forever tug him back down to the demon world no matter how far he traveled, but now the quip barely even registered as anything more than an annoyance to the rust colored gargoyle.<br /><br />&quot;I am home. Now let&#039;s kill these guys so we can go help the others.&quot; Brooklyn growled as his eyes turned white hot with the thoughts of the battle to come.<br /><br />&quot;Hehehe, the one who kills the most gets to have fun with the other once this is all over with!&quot; Firebrand cackled right before he opened his maw to release a gout of flames at the enclave of enemies.<br /><br />The screams and wails that were exuded from those touched by the demonic hellfire filled Brooklyn with a perverse sense of joy as he drew down and then surged forward, claws extended, into his first opponent.<br />- - - - - <br />To say that the battle had gone badly would have been a lie, but to say that it had gone exceptionally well would have also been a lie. The rebel demons that had tried to march upon Brooklyn&#039;s new home had outnumbered the other demon&#039;s five to one, and though the group was mostly made up of ghouls and skeletal corpses their sheer number had dragged the fight out for longer than the earth born gargoyle would have liked. Thankfully the red arremer were more than experienced enough to be able to take on the marauders, the flying demons had culled the thousand plus demons within an hour until soon the remaining numbers had been on full retreat, however there was no escape for them. One didn&#039;t assault another demon&#039;s territory without severe repercussions after all, and while Brooklyn couldn&#039;t be sure at the moment, something inside of him told him that the instigator of the little assault had been taken care of.<br /><br />A feral smirk covered the rust colored demon&#039;s muzzle as he thought about the fool&#039;s head being tore free from his shoulders for this little stunt. Yet the animal delight was soon replaced by deep concern when the body held within Brooklyn&#039;s arms hissed in discomfort. The earth born gargoyle relaxed the hold he kept on his mate, not wanting to aggravate the other&#039;s injuries any more than necessary as he kept the smaller male pressed securely against his chest. Firebrand squawked at him in anger at being so restrained but Brooklyn wasn&#039;t going to release the other until he was sure that the older demon was in no danger of dying on him.<br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t ever do that again.&quot; Brooklyn whispered as he rolled his tongue across the bleeding flesh of Firebrand&#039;s shoulder. &quot;I don&#039;t appreciate you nearly getting yourself killed for me.&quot; the rust colored gargoyle realized that what he was saying was kind of shitty thing to say to someone who had nearly gotten themself killed for him, but in accepting the nature of being a demon he found that his internal thoughts often made themselves external without his meaning for them to.<br /><br />Thankfully the hellborn demon found his mate&#039;s words rather amusing as he resigned himself to being taken care of by the younger male.<br /><br />&quot;These wounds aren&#039;t that bad,&quot; the barked words of the smaller gargoyle made Brooklyn pull himself back to glare at the other. Nonplussed by the seething anger rising onto the other&#039;s face, the shorter demon continued with, &quot;I&#039;ve had worse before.&quot; The earth born gargoyle&#039;s beak only drew down further at this statement.<br /><br />Before the other could say anything more to aggravate him Brooklyn covered the pale eyed gargoyle&#039;s maw with his own. The smaller demon, totally caught off guard by the move, opened his lips in surprise which gave the rust colored gargoyle the perfect opportunity to exchange breath with him.<br /><br />The two sat on the charred ground for several minutes exchanging wordless affections with one another, neither one seeming to care that they were surrounded by the evidence of the battle that had just ended not more than ten minute prior. The fight between the rouge demons had been quick but brutal, the interlopers had fought with all of the passion of an army desperate to claim victory, however, their efforts were for naught against the red arremer clan. Brooklyn and his brothers had been coldly efficient in taking the thousand plus demons apart, yet it wasn&#039;t without causalities. Of the two hundred red arremer who had gone into battle at least twenty had fallen.<br /><br />There were no tears shed for the dead though, for that was not the demon way.<br /><br />Instead those who had survived took the arm bands and skeletal remains of their brothers back to the room where Brooklyn had been initiated to lay with the rest.<br /><br />Brooklyn...didn&#039;t know exactly how to feel.<br /><br />On the one hand, now that he had the soul of a demon burning within him he understood logically that this was the price to be paid for being a what he was; there was no true glory to be found in what he and the others had to do in order to protect their home, only sweet victory or utter defeat. Every day was a celebration to be had because tomorrow was never promised, as evident by how the fallen on both sides were dispassionately trampled over by the rebel demons as they continued marching on towards their goal.<br /><br />Yet on the other hand as he held his mate close, the cherry gargoyle purring into their share kiss, Brooklyn realized that he didn&#039;t like the thought of his mate dying. Not at all. Actually, the more the rust colored gargoyle thought about it the quicker he came to realization that he held more loyalty towards the smaller demon within his arms than he did to all of his new brothers combined. Pulling back to lick his lips free from the drool which he could feel dripping along the edge of his maw, Brooklyn stared down at Firebrand with a gaze that caused the older demon to chirp and raise an eye ridge at him curiously.<br /><br />Leaning down to resume cleaning off the other&#039;s bloodied shoulder Brooklyn whispered, &quot;Don&#039;t ever try and protect me again. I&#039;m not worth your life.&quot;<br /><br />Firebrand chuckled and then closed his eyes. Without thought the smaller demon leaned into the taller gargoyle&#039;s muscular frame as a wave of fatigue and arousal suddenly overcame him. &quot;Your life is mine. I will not lose it.&quot; Those words made Brooklyn&#039;s eyes narrow in determination.<br /><br />It took nearly twenty minutes to clean the other demon free from the blood which had coated him but once the other was once again presentable Brooklyn stood up and offered a hand to the other. Firebrand smirked and then shakily stood up on his own.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m fine.&quot; Firebrand barked out before rolled his shoulders and flapping his wings. The black leathered appendages had suffered a bit in the fight but in a couple of days he knew that they would be back to tip top shape. &quot;By the way, I think I won our bet.&quot; Brooklyn blinked before understanding dawned onto him.<br /><br />&quot;So you did.&quot; there was no use in trying to whine over the fact that the older demon had a big advantage in the fact that his fire breath had cleaved apart more demons than Brooklyn&#039;s claws could. The fact of the matter was that the other had used his natural talents to his full advantage and so won the rights to the taller male&#039;s ass. &quot;But how about we hold on you claiming your reward until we get back to the castle? I don&#039;t want to take the chance of getting ambushed by any stragglers that might have survived out here.&quot; Brooklyn looked over the carcass strewn landscape and then realized that there were less bodies surrounding the two of them than had been before.<br /><br />&quot;You may have a point, but we can just wait for a little longer for things to get cleaned up here before having some fun.&quot; Firebrand cackled as his taller lover stared at him in puzzlement. The shorter demon then pointed a claw to one of the fallen rebels. It was the sight of one of the dead creatures literally melting into the ground that made the earth born gargoyle&#039;s eyes widen in awe.<br /><br />&quot;How...?!&quot; Brooklyn asked in awe.<br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s what happens to those whose remains are not taken; the demon world takes back what it gives.&quot; the cherry colored gargoyle answered nonchalantly.<br /><br />&quot;Does that mean that you and I would also...?&quot; Brooklyn whispered more to himself than to his mate.<br /><br />Firebrand didn&#039;t bother to say anything, instead he gestured for the taller demon to look down at where his blood had coated the blackened earth. When the rust colored gargoyle gazed down he realized that the ground was completely dry, even though minutes ago it had been stained red.<br /><br />It was this sight that made a strange rage burn within Brooklyn&#039;s blackened soul, and soon the younger demon&#039;s mind was spinning with thoughts that were best left unspoken for the moment.<br /><br />========<br /><strong>8.</strong> To say that the battle had gone badly would have been a lie, but to say that it had gone exceptionally well would have also been a lie. The rebel demons that had tried to march upon Brooklyn&#039;s new home had outnumbered the other demon&#039;s five to one, and though the group was mostly made up of ghouls and skeletal corpses their sheer number had dragged the fight out for longer than the earth born gargoyle would have liked. Thankfully the red arremer were more than experienced enough to be able to take on the marauders, the flying demons had culled the thousand plus demons within an hour until soon the remaining numbers had been on full retreat, however there was no escape for them. One didn&#039;t assault another demon&#039;s territory without severe repercussions after all, and while Brooklyn couldn&#039;t be sure at the moment, something inside of him told him that the instigator of the little assault had been taken care of.<br /><br />A feral smirk covered the rust colored demon&#039;s muzzle as he thought about the fool&#039;s head being tore free from his shoulders for this little stunt. Yet the animal delight was soon replaced by deep concern when the body held within Brooklyn&#039;s arms hissed in discomfort. The earth born gargoyle relaxed the hold he kept on his mate, not wanting to aggravate the other&#039;s injuries any more than necessary as he kept the smaller male pressed securely against his chest. Firebrand squawked at him in anger at being so restrained but Brooklyn wasn&#039;t going to release the other until he was sure that the older demon was in no danger of dying on him.<br /><br />&quot;Don&#039;t ever do that again.&quot; Brooklyn whispered as he rolled his tongue across the bleeding flesh of Firebrand&#039;s shoulder. &quot;I don&#039;t appreciate you nearly getting yourself killed for me.&quot; the rust colored gargoyle realized that what he was saying was kind of shitty thing to say to someone who had nearly gotten themself killed for him, but in accepting the nature of being a demon he found that his internal thoughts often made themselves external without his meaning for them to.<br /><br />Thankfully the hellborn demon found his mate&#039;s words rather amusing as he resigned himself to being taken care of by the younger male.<br /><br />&quot;These wounds aren&#039;t that bad,&quot; the barked words of the smaller gargoyle made Brooklyn pull himself back to glare at the other. Nonplussed by the seething anger rising onto the other&#039;s face, the shorter demon continued with, &quot;I&#039;ve had worse before.&quot; The earth born gargoyle&#039;s beak only drew down further at this statement.<br /><br />Before the other could say anything more to aggravate him Brooklyn covered the pale eyed gargoyle&#039;s maw with his own. The smaller demon, totally caught off guard by the move, opened his lips in surprise which gave the rust colored gargoyle the perfect opportunity to exchange breath with him.<br /><br />The two sat on the charred ground for several minutes exchanging wordless affections with one another, neither one seeming to care that they were surrounded by the evidence of the battle that had just ended not more than ten minute prior. The fight between the rouge demons had been quick but brutal, the interlopers had fought with all of the passion of an army desperate to claim victory, however, their efforts were for naught against the red arremer clan. Brooklyn and his brothers had been coldly efficient in taking the thousand plus demons apart, yet it wasn&#039;t without causalities. Of the two hundred red arremer who had gone into battle at least twenty had fallen.<br /><br />There were no tears shed for the dead though, for that was not the demon way.<br /><br />Instead those who had survived took the arm bands and skeletal remains of their brothers back to the room where Brooklyn had been initiated to lay with the rest.<br /><br />Brooklyn...didn&#039;t know exactly how to feel.<br /><br />On the one hand, now that he had the soul of a demon burning within him he understood logically that this was the price to be paid for being a what he was; there was no true glory to be found in what he and the others had to do in order to protect their home, only sweet victory or utter defeat. Every day was a celebration to be had because tomorrow was never promised, as evident by how the fallen on both sides were dispassionately trampled over by the rebel demons as they continued marching on towards their goal.<br /><br />Yet on the other hand as he held his mate close, the cherry gargoyle purring into their share kiss, Brooklyn realized that he didn&#039;t like the thought of his mate dying. Not at all. Actually, the more the rust colored gargoyle thought about it the quicker he came to realization that he held more loyalty towards the smaller demon within his arms than he did to all of his new brothers combined. Pulling back to lick his lips free from the drool which he could feel dripping along the edge of his maw, Brooklyn stared down at Firebrand with a gaze that caused the older demon to chirp and raise an eye ridge at him curiously.<br /><br />Leaning down to resume cleaning off the other&#039;s bloodied shoulder Brooklyn whispered, &quot;Don&#039;t ever try and protect me again. I&#039;m not worth your life.&quot;<br /><br />Firebrand chuckled and then closed his eyes. Without thought the smaller demon leaned into the taller gargoyle&#039;s muscular frame as a wave of fatigue and arousal suddenly overcame him. &quot;Your life is mine. I will not lose it.&quot; Those words made Brooklyn&#039;s eyes narrow in determination.<br /><br />It took nearly twenty minutes to clean the other demon free from the blood which had coated him but once the other was once again presentable Brooklyn stood up and offered a hand to the other. Firebrand smirked and then shakily stood up on his own.<br /><br />&quot;I&#039;m fine.&quot; Firebrand barked out before rolled his shoulders and flapping his wings. The black leathered appendages had suffered a bit in the fight but in a couple of days he knew that they would be back to tip top shape. &quot;By the way, I think I won our bet.&quot; Brooklyn blinked before understanding dawned onto him.<br /><br />&quot;So you did.&quot; there was no use in trying to whine over the fact that the older demon had a big advantage in the fact that his fire breath had cleaved apart more demons than Brooklyn&#039;s claws could. The fact of the matter was that the other had used his natural talents to his full advantage and so won the rights to the taller male&#039;s ass. &quot;But how about we hold on you claiming your reward until we get back to the castle? I don&#039;t want to take the chance of getting ambushed by any stragglers that might have survived out here.&quot; Brooklyn looked over the carcass strewn landscape and then realized that there were less bodies surrounding the two of them than had been before.<br /><br />&quot;You may have a point, but we can just wait for a little longer for things to get cleaned up here before having some fun.&quot; Firebrand cackled as his taller lover stared at him in puzzlement. The shorter demon then pointed a claw to one of the fallen rebels. It was the sight of one of the dead creatures literally melting into the ground that made the earth born gargoyle&#039;s eyes widen in awe.<br /><br />&quot;How...?!&quot; Brooklyn asked in awe.<br /><br />&quot;It&#039;s what happens to those whose remains are not taken; the demon world takes back what it gives.&quot; the cherry colored gargoyle answered nonchalantly.<br /><br />&quot;Does that mean that you and I would also...?&quot; Brooklyn whispered more to himself than to his mate.<br /><br />Firebrand didn&#039;t bother to say anything, instead he gestured for the taller demon to look down at where his blood had coated the blackened earth. When the rust colored gargoyle gazed down he realized that the ground was completely dry, even though minutes ago it had been stained red.<br /><br />It was this sight that made a strange rage burn within Brooklyn&#039;s blackened soul, and soon the younger demon&#039;s mind was spinning with thoughts that were best left unspoken for the moment.<br /><br />= = = = = = =<br />Character: Capcom &amp; Greg Wiessman<br />Art: <a href=\"http://www.furaffinity.net/user/beezlebumawoken/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.furaffinity.net/user/beezlebumawoken/</a></span>",
  "writing": "",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'></span>",
  "pools_count": 0,
  "title": "Falling From Grace",
  "deleted": "f",
  "public": "t",
  "mimetype": "image/png",
  "pagecount": "8",
  "rating_id": "2",
  "rating_name": "Adult",
  "ratings": [
    {
      "content_tag_id": "4",
      "name": "Sexual Themes",
      "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal",
      "rating_id": "2"
    },
    {
      "content_tag_id": "5",
      "name": "Strong Violence",
      "description": "Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death",
      "rating_id": "2"
    }
  ],
  "submission_type_id": "1",
  "type_name": "Picture/Pinup",
  "guest_block": "t",
  "friends_only": "f",
  "comments_count": "3",
  "views": "492",
  "latest_file_name": "2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.png",
  "latest_mimetype": "image/png",
  "latest_file_url_full": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.png",
  "latest_file_url_screen": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.png",
  "latest_file_url_preview": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
  "latest_thumbnail_url_huge": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/huge/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
  "latest_thumbnail_url_large": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
  "latest_thumbnail_url_medium": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
  "latest_thumb_huge_x": "200",
  "latest_thumb_huge_y": "300",
  "latest_thumb_large_x": "133",
  "latest_thumb_large_y": "200",
  "latest_thumb_medium_x": "80",
  "latest_thumb_medium_y": "120",
  "latest_thumbnail_url_huge_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8.jpg",
  "latest_thumbnail_url_large_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/large/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8_noncustom.jpg",
  "latest_thumbnail_url_medium_noncustom": "https://nl1.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/2199/2199287_kaleemmcintyre_8_noncustom.jpg",
  "latest_thumb_medium_noncustom_x": "80",
  "latest_thumb_medium_noncustom_y": "120",
  "latest_thumb_large_noncustom_x": "133",
  "latest_thumb_large_noncustom_y": "200",
  "latest_thumb_huge_noncustom_x": "200",
  "latest_thumb_huge_noncustom_y": "300"
}