by: Spacebabie

Email:LadyAndromeda@smstars.zzn.com

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Project Seneca

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Previously on Gargoyles

"He just misses having female relatives. I was so busy and Seneca is in boarding school." ~Kitty Masterson

"Seneca?"~Goliath

"His daughter, my cousin."~Kitty Masterson, Irresistible

"You are still an heir, part of the company will belong to you, but you will never be in charge. Clean out your desk now."~Ambrosia Leahs Confrontations

"We are still at the wait and see mode. Don’t forget we have yet to officially join."~ Reggie Leahs Enemies

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A white ford mustang slowly took the bend of a narrow road. The slightly aged tires churned through the deep puddles made by the rain. Inside the woman sat back against the pale silver colored upholstery. Her delicate facial features were framed by light brown hair. She closed her deep brown eyes and listened to the combined sounds of wipers against the windshield and Cheap Trick coming through the speakers.

"Anton," She said softly. "When we get home I want to have a bubble bath." One eye opened and she let focused the gaze of her eye on him. "And I want you to join me."

The mouth on her husband, a well chiseled, angular faced man twitched up into a slight smile.

"Is that all my pet?" Anton asked with his rich and natraul German accent.

"Well not all," she said after she closed her eye. "My mother called the other day. She ants to know when she will get some grandchildren." Anton’s smiled grew even wider. Any reason to spend with his beautiful wife he would be happy to accept it.

"Want me to adjust the air?" He asked when the weather eased up a bit.

"Sure," she adjusted the chair so that she could lean back even further. The cool air plus the gentle sounds caused her to become drowsy. She placed her against the pulled back backrest.

"Rest well Kara," Anton smiled . Just another turn around the corner and then the would pull into the street they lived on. After five minutes Kara’s breathing had changed to a slower smoother beat.

She had just dozed off when she heard Anton’s frantic shouting.

"What is that dumcouf driver doing?" Kara sat up and stared out the windshield and into the blaring lights of the car that kept driving towards them. Anton’s foot slammed down on top ob the brake while he steered to the side to avoid the oncoming car but the road was not wide enough. The other car struck them striking mostly at the front left bumper. The force caused the car to tilt over and land in the deep ditch that was on the side of the road.

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Despite the pain that he felt Dr. Sevarius exited his hospital room and walked through the cries clean hospital halls. Walked was not the best word to describe his movement, more like limped. He positioned his weight on his good leg and walking cane. The driver in the car that had hit them was intoxicated. Anton had ended up with a bruised and bleeding face. His right knee was wrenched with torn ligaments. Both arms had sutures and were covered up with gauze pads.

The most terrible pain was in his heart. He had fared much better than Kara. Despite all the work and great care the doctors performed on her Kara had died two nights before. He had to make sure they honored her words. He couldn’t slow down from some mere pain. He had to keep on going.

"Dr. Sevarius," one of the nurses had caught him. "What are you doing out of your room?" Sevarius turned to face her.

"I have to make sure they don’t cut Kara up," Anton said. "Not until they have read her post death wishes."

"They will." She took his arm into hers. "Now you get back to your room." He furrowed up his brow at her.

"I swear," Anton’s teeth were clenched. "If you don’t honor her wishes I will sue this hospital for every penny it has." The nurse nodded as she continued to lead him down the hall back to his room.

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The mortician slipped on a new clean pair of latex gloves as his assistant walked over to one of the storage lockers.

"Who do we have?" The mortician asked.

"Last name Sevarius, first name Kara," that was a pretty name and when he peered at her ice blue body he thought she was pretty. With a small count of three he and his assistant hefted her up to the table.

"Cause of death?" The assistant stared up at him with Un blinking eyes. He stared down at the clip board.

"Head trauma from head on collision in car," he read off before sighing. "The drive in the other car was intoxicated." He shook his head sadly before counting off his tools.

"Wait!" he jumped up from his assistant’s shout. "There is written list of requests."

"Let me see that," the mortician reached out and took the clip board. His lips mouthed the words until he came to what his assistant had discovered.

If Kara Sevarius should die before every having a child then her ova shall be removed and frozen until her husband Anton Sevarius requests them. After reading he flipped the pages back to the beginning where it listed Kara’s family. She had no children.

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Sevarius checked the gate number on the intenerary. Gate number 85. Anton blinked and checked his watch. He was right on time. Seneca’s flight should be landing in five minutes. His pace picked up as he headed from the main terminal lobby too the gates. He went through the metal detectors with out a glitch and journeyed through the long row of gates passing by various shops and shops. If Seneca was hungry they could stop at one before they would drive home.

To his bewilderment the group of chairs near gate 85 was nearly empty. There was a woman behind the desk next to the gate and a member of the cleaning crew vacuuming up the carpet. Still puzzled Anton walked over to the woman bend the gate. Her mouse brown hair in a bun, high cheekbones coated in too much blush. She wore the standard deep navy suit, but her shoulders appeared to be too large for her frame. He speculated that she also wore those dark tights that would make her Caucasian legs appear gray.

"Excuse me miss," Anton addressed her after he placed a hand on the desk. "Can you tell me when flight 409 is due to arrive?" Her silver shadowed lids rose three quarters of a way up.

"Sir?" She addressed him in a quizzical fashion. "Flight 409 arrived thirty minutes ago." Confusement followed by fear and concern for his daughter’s safety settled in.

"It has? but my daughter told me it would be arriving-" he paused to check his watch. "Right about now."

"I don’t know what to say sir," her glance danced back to her screen. "Was your daughter on the flight?"

"Yes she was."

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen."

"She’s probably in luggage claim, or perhaps standing outside along the benches." Anton thanked her before he made jog back through the terminal to the baggage claim. He checked and found the claim area of Continental and checked the overhead boards for flight numbers till he came to hers. The area was nearly as empty as the gate. Now frantic, Anton raced around searching for his daughter. She was no where to be found.

He raced outside and stopped security asking them if the saw a fifteen year old girl with hair the same color as his. He even pulled out a picture that was taken last summer. No one had saw her.

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Elisa tried to keep her emotions under control, but considering the assignment she and Matt had just received it was going to be near impossible to try. Her eyes were not narrowed but her eyebrows were slightly lowered. She held on to the steering wheel with a firm death grip. Her mouth was only slightly pursed. She drove at her normal speed, not slowing down out of spite, but she was thankful for every time there was a red light or even the hint of traffic, but they were gradually getting closer to their destination.

"I know you despise the man," her partner, Matt Bluestone, said from the passenger side." but well," he gave a slight shrug. "sometimes you have got to grin and bear it." Elisa didn’t respond. After near five minutes of silence Matt spoke again. "I still hate him for what he did to your brother, helping in crafting the carrier virus, creating Thailog and making Eleanor born to be extremely sexual."

"He was also partly responsible for turning you into a weregoyle." Elisa said in a neutral tone before wanting to bite her tongue. "Except that you like being a weregoyle."

"It’s what I am now. Sometimes I think Demona is right that there was something inside me. A part of me that was always gargoyle." He blinked before staring at Elisa. "I think there is part of you as well." Elisa shrugged.

"I guess its true. I do remember the time Puck turned me into a gargoyle."

"Me too," Elisa stared at him strangely for a second. "I mean myself. It only happened as a reoccurring dream, but after I became a weregoyle it became more vivid. I was going through paper work while you went under cover at that museum that night. In my dreams there was a bright light and the next thing I knew I and everyone else were gargoyles. I didn’t notice at the time though."

"Cause you thought you were always a gargoyle." Elisa smiled. Matt nodded.

"All I was thinking of was finishing my assignment, trying to expose the illuminati and learn the truth about the humans." Elisa laughed slightly while Matt smiled. "I guess it was good that Puck made it that nobody would notice. Besides panicking and rioting some would have attempted to glide on their wings, and they might have been in the air when Puck returned things to normal and they would have fallen to their deaths" Elias agreed as she turned her car into the driveway of a building that was too small to be a mansion, but too large too be considered a house. To her chagrin Anton Sevarius was outside waiting for them, dancing frantically.

"Looks like somebody put way too much wassabi on their sushi before placing it in their mouth," Matt commented. Elisa closed her eyes and breathed deeply five times before stepping out of her car. In the corner of her eye she could detect the mad scientist still bobbing on his ankles but she decided to ignore him until she slammed her door shut and waited for her partner too close his door. She turned around slowly and glared at the doctor.

Anton let out a deep relieved sigh before he spoke.

"Good. You’re here. I really need your help," he ran part way back to his mini mansion and paused halfway and spun around. "Can I get you any refreshments, no-" he crinkled his brows while placing a finger under his mouth. "I offer after I welcome you into my house." His eyes widened and e nodded. "Yes that’s it." He smiled at the two detectives. "Please come inside and don’t forget to wipe your feet."

Matt entered the house before Elisa did. Both detectives did not bother to wipe their feet. They followed Sevarius down the wood paneled entrance hall and entered the a room with a deep ocean blue carpet. The television and stereo system in the large room suggested this was where Anton hung out for entertainment.

"Have a seat." he indicated the sand stone couch covered in plastic. Like with entering the house Matt sat down first. Once both were seated Anton clasped his hands together. "Now what can I get you to drink?"

"Cut the crap Sevarius," Elisa nipped while she kept her glare on the scientist. She felt a temporary ping of joy when she saw him swallow from discomfort. "We were called here because you reported a kidnapping." Her eyes became simmering amber slits. "So what escaped from your lab now?" Sevarius licked his lips.

"I did not miss a report, I mean I did not nap a missing," he bit his lips to keep from tripping over his words. "I did not report a kid napping. I just called in that my daughter is missing."

"Daughter," Elisa snarled. "I’m sure you refereed to all your female experiments as daughter?"

"Elisa?" Matt’s voice cut through the air dryly. "Kitty mentioned that he did have a daughter." His partner’s eye widened slightly and gave the scientist a strange glance.

"A real daughter?" Elisa blinked. "As in a human child that you raised with your wife and not created in a lab?"

"Kara," Sevarius whispered in a voice that was softer than the sound of a feather falling before closing his eyes and sighing. "Seneca’s mother, my wife," he sighed again. "She died before Seneca was born. Technically my daughter was created in a lab." He began to pace around the room. "My wife was taken from me by a careless driver who decided to knock back a few before taking the wheel. We talked about having a child. Corvus if a son and Seneca if a girl. She signed a will that if she died before giving birth to a child that her eggs would have been frozen." He didn’t turn around to meet their expressions. He didn’t allow them to see the single tear that tumbled down the side of his face.

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It took him years to get the chamber prepared as well as enough time to prepare the right kind of solutions. The chamber, or the artificial womb, was four feet tall and roughly the shape of an egg. It was mostly black with a glass window/door and filled with a fluid that was made of different protein chains that made it similar to amniotic fluid. What was floating in the middle was a nine month old fetus. Small wires and tubes were connected to her head and heart, monitoring the activities. A tube was connected to her abdomen providing her with the right amount of sustenance.

Anton checked her levels. Good. Everything was perfect. Cautiously he typed up a few commands. The fluid in the chamber slowly filtered out while the infant slowly sank till she was at the bottom. Not wasting any time Anton opened the glass door. With gloved hands he reached inside and used careful precision to removed the wires and feeding tube before he pulled the infant out. Holding her steady he gave her small behind a gentele smack. The ear piercing wail of an infant’s first cry cut through the air.

"Shhh," Sevarius whispered trying to calm down the baby. His and Kara’s baby. He had used one of her frozen ovaries and some of his sperm to create the child that he held. "It’s all right little one. Daddy is here." He carried her over to a nearby table where he cleaned her up and placed a diaper on her while she continued to cry. He tried to pacify her while he wrapped her up in a blanket. Still carrying her he made his way over to where he had a bottle of formula kept warm by hot water bottles.

"Drinking up little one," he whispered while he guided the rubbery end of the nipple into her mouth. "Little one? Ah we have to give you a better name, and since you’re a girl I guess I will call you Seneca." He watched as his newborn daughter clutch on to the end of the bottle with her tiny hands as she nursed. "When you are done we are going to the hospital." Seneca needed to be checked by an OBGYN and have her vitamin K shot and have a PKU test.

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Elisa’s glower was still present but had softened a bit while he partner seemed to have a bit of a sympathetic expression on his face.

"Not an experiment like the clones or mutates," Matt began. "But more of a test tube baby?" Anton turned and nodded his head.

"It still sounds wrong," Elisa said while she uncrossed her legs. "Using the eggs from your dead wife?" She crinkled her nose in disgust.

"I knew you would be disgusted," Anton said sadly. "but it’s true, and she’s my only family, besides my sister Gretchen and her children."

"Which I’m sure you have alienated when you created Eleanor." Elisa stood up. "I wouldn’t blame them if they never speak to you again" She felt like storming out of the house and not stopping until she was inside her car, but she didn’t. She noticed they way her partner stared at her and sat down.

"I know that you hate me," Sevarius glanced at her. "but don’t take your anger out on my daughter."

"When did you notice Seneca was missing?" Matt asked trying to be the peacemaker for once.

"I went to pick her up from the airport. She goes to boarding school in Germany. Well either I got the time wrong or it arrive early. When I arrived at her gate the plane had been on the ground for a whole half hour. I went to luggage claim to see if she was there. She was not., nor was she outside."

"So you went home?" Matt stared at him quizzically. Anton shrugged.

"They had security searching every square inch for her. You don’t really know my Seneca she is wise beyond her years. The last place I thought she would be was here." He held out his hand to demonstrate that here was his home. "She might have taken a cab back here, but seeing that she hadn’t, well I called the proper authorities." Matt noticed his partner was boiling. he held up his hand to prevent any outburst that was brewing inside her to explode form her.

"Nice to see you have some sort of faith in us," the weregoyle smiled.

"You are my last hope. I don’t know where my little girl could be." His hands clenched as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "She is somewhere in this city."

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The lavender and silver matching luggage occupied one corner of the hotel room. They were UN opened and still full of the contents they had arrived in. It wasn’t an expensive room. Cheap and pretty much bland with its beige and white lamps. Beige framed paintings of pastel swirled whatever that hung on clean white walls. The chairs were deep blue as was the bed covers. the rest of the furniture was beige wood, even the TV stand. The young owner of the luggage lied back on her bed with the blue receiver in her hand. Her rust colored hair was gathered in a pony tail with a few wisps that curled down the sides of her oval shaped face. She had high strong cheekbones, but the rest of her features were delicate. Her chin was small, her nose was more like button.

She was dressed moderately: light blue jeans, yellow shirt and a flannel zip up jacket that was open half way.

"Yes I like to order a small pizza," the teenage girl commanded as she twirled a red lock of her hair around her finger. "Thin crust with mushrooms, peppers, pepperoni-" she reached for the pizza menu and grinned slightly. "and what the hey pineapple. I’m in room 241. Thank you." She placed the phone back in it’s crook before replacing the menu. She reached down for her purse and pulled out a wallet. She unfolded it to remove a credit card and a buisness card.

"This counts as an emergency. Daddy won’t mind if he as to pay for my room and food," she said while she grabbed the phone again and dialed the number on the business card. "He doesn’t want me to starve and he wants to make sure there is some sort of roof over my head." She thumbed her card, rubbing it over the deeply engraved words that spelled out SEVARIUS, SENECA.

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Like she originally thought she might as well get the whole thing over with. Elisa pulled out a note pad and began to take down facts.

"Where would she go?"

"She likes wild animals. The zoo or an aquarium," Sevarius answered. He noticed Detective Bluestone was staring at the rows of framed photographs that were resting on the mantle. The red headed detective reached for one before walking up to him.

"Is this her?" He asked while pointing at the picture that he held. The photo was of a younger Sevarius with a girl about five riding on his shoulders. Her hair that hung in twin braids was the same color as his.

"That’s her," Anton smiled. He stared at the picture and remembered and back to when Seneca was that age.

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The small ding radiated through the air to let Seneca know that not only her Easy Bake cupcakes were cooked but cool enough to remove from the oven. One by one she placed them on the plate before she spread the frosting made from the chocolate powder pack and water onto them. With sticky face smiling in triumph she picked up the plate and brought it over to where her father was in the middle of a discussion with her "Big Cousin."

"Are you sure business?" Anton asked before taking another sip from his coffee. "I mean you just started college." Kitrina Masterson just hunched her shoulders as she shuffled her feet.

"It sounds like something I want to do Uncle Anton," Kitrina said. "I’ll be able to make sure I can pay the rent, utilities and keep myself and possible future family fed."

"Why do I have the feeling you only chose that major because of him." Anton pointed at his uses of TIME. The image of David Xanatos smiled back. "Kitrina honey the fact that he rose so fast to be where he is today is because of luck."

"I’m sure it’s also because he is a good business man as well."

"What ever happened to being an actress? You wanted to be one for as long as I can remember. When you were only Seneca’s age you gave your pretend thank you speech for the Academy while you accepted a pepper shaker as your award." She placed her elbows onto the table before placing her head into her hands.

"I just don’t think I could be successful."

"That I don’t believe. I have seen all your school plays."

"Fine," Kitrina gave a defeatist sigh. "I’ll minor in acting and try out for college plays."

"That’s my niece."

"So what is new with you and this bio engineering career that you are pursuing?"

"Cloning."

"Cloning?" Kitty lifted her head from her hands. "You mean making genetic copies of living creatures? Isn’t that science fiction?"

"Now Kitrina," Anton raised a finger at her and smirked. "The works of Jules Vern was once considered science fiction and it is now pure science fact. I have made copies. I started with very simple things such as plants and starfish and then I moved up to butterflies and lobsters to chickens." They both paused in their discussion when they noticed that Seneca was standing next to the table with a plate of miniature cupcakes.

"I made you cupcakes," Seneca said as she stared them with sparkling eyes and a wide smile. Both Sevarius and Kitrina smiled back at her.

"That’s my little girl," Anton beamed. "Already becoming quite a baker. Let me get some milk." He rose up from his chair and walked to the kitchen.

"Let me take care of these for you," Kitty offered as she accepted the plate from Seneca’s hands and placed them on the table. The child climbed into the chair next to her cousin.

"Now where were we?" Anton asked when he returned with three glasses of milk on a tray.

"You had just mentioned the part of cloning that included Chickens." Kitty bit into a cup cake. "Yummy."

"Thank you," Seneca smiled before reaching for a glass of milk. Kitty handed it to her.

"Ah yes I did mention that. With the funding provided by Halcyon Renard I may be able to clone my first mammal soon."

"I can see where cloning can be beneficial," Kitty blinked before taking a sip from her glass. "Your research and development could bring back endangered animals from the brink of extinction, and with chickens it can help fight world hunger. I’m not too sure about squirrels though."

"There are many mammals on the endangered list."

"True but where will it stop?" Anton’s eyes widened at his niece’s suggestion.

"Don’t you worry," the scientist smiled. "I would never try to clone humans. I do have ethics."

"Daddy?" Seneca asked once the treats were eaten. "Can I read you and Kitty a story?" Anton walked over to his daughter and picked her up.

"Sure you can, but first we need to get you cleaned up." He entered the kitchen and placed the little girl on to the counter before he approached the sink. After he drenched a wash cloth with warm water and added a bit of anti bacteria soap he scrubbed her face. He removed the cake mix and frosting stains from her chubby checks and mouth despite her giggling and handed her the wash cloth so that she could wash her hands. Anton turned around to take of her the dishes only to see that his niece had entered the kitchen with the large plate, tray and glasses.

Once the dishes were cleaned Anton and Kitty sat on the love seat. Seneca sat in-between them with a copy of The Little Train That Could and opened it up.

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Matt stared from Anton’s proud and wistful face to his partner’s glowering one.

"That’s nice," Elisa said bitterly. "You can remember all the fun times that you had with your daughter, but it isn’t all fun and games is it? Who did you pay to take care of her?"

"No one," Anton snapped back to attention. "I took care of her. I changed her diapers and spoon fed her baby food that I warmed up. There were times when I woke up in the middle of the night cause I knew something was wrong and raced to her room to find out she had a fever. I made her sandwiches. Played dress up with her, encouraged her to make friends. I taught the alphabet and her shapes and colors. I taped up her crayon art on the refrigerator and taught her to ride a bicycle. I helped her work on diorama’s and science projects. I took her on picnics and to the beach." Elisa still looked unconvinced.

"I believe him." Matt said. "Elisa I know how much you hate him. I feel the same way, but I can tell that he cares for his daughter, and we can’t risk her life because of our hate." Elisa let out a deep sigh.

"Fine."

"I am a bit curious," Matt stared at Anton. "How old was she when she started to read?"

"shortly after her fourth birthday," Sevarius beamed. "She’s a gifted girl. Skipped a few grades as well."

"Was she born that way?" Elisa asked. "Or was she created to be gifted."

"I learned how to do genetic programming years after Seneca was born. She’s a natraul genius, always curious," he paused to sigh. "Except I feel that her curiosity was the cause of her strange behavior."

"What strange behavior?" Matt asked. Sevarius exited the room into one of the halls and returned a few more minutes with a different picture. In it the young girl from the previous picture had developed into a child of nine years. She had her hair tied into a pony tail and wore a long sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Her hands were encased in gloves and she wore boots on her feet. A lavender backpack was strapped to her back.

"Looks like she’s ready to go hiking," Elisa noticed.

"If that was the only case," Sevarius shook his head and sighed.

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Anton Sevarius stared up at one of the large sycamore trees as he held a clip board in hand. He loved doing field research Especially when it involved some of his creations. The tree he stared at had grown taller than the other trees. It had also grown faster. All thanks to his research and genetic development. So many of his creations lived in this forest, and now he could create more by working for David Xanatos. Renard was a good man, but Xanatos paid more Renard also got morally hung up when Anton wanted to begin human cloning. It wasn’t like he was trying to create an army of himself. He wanted to make copies of children who died from a horrible illness, rid their genes of the illness before they were reborn and let them live the lives they were meant to live. Seneca had said that God let the children’s souls leave Heaven to be in their fixed up bodies. She said such adorable things.

"Daddy!" his daughter’s voice derailed his train of thought. "Daddy look what I got." Seneca usually insists she come along with him when he did his field research. she would often take samples, such as leaves and rocks, and bugs and take them home to examine and observe.

"What is it?" Anton bent forward so he could be at eye level with his nine year old daughter. Despite her hair being in a pony tail there were a few hairs that were loose. Some of them fluttered with each cool breeze and some were plastered to her forehead. The knees of her jeans were covered with dirt and there were streaks of more dirt spread on other parts of her pants where she wiped her gloves. She held out a large red plastic bucket that she brought along with her. Anton smiled at her before he stood up and walked closer. What he saw inside caused his pale skin to become even whiter and his to widened to the size of golf balls. The bucket was filled with copperhead snakes, writhing over each other.

"Seneca," Anton whispered slowly and steadily. "Put down that bucket and step back."

"Why?" Seneca blinked as if she had done something wrong.

"Those snakes are poisonous." After hearing his response Seneca placed the bucket on the ground and stepped back a few feet. Sevarius wasted no time in racing forward, picking up his daughter and continued running.

"Did they bite you?" Anton asked after they had ran several yards.

"They bit my boots and one bit my hand." The scientist nearly tore of the glove off the hand she held out. The fangs did not penetrate through the skin. He pulled off her boots and saw no marks on her legs.

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"I would have done the same," Matt when Sevarius finished talking about Seneca’s encounter with the copperheads. "You do have a brave kid. Even I wouldn’t want to pick up a snake."

"I’m a little curious." Elisa tone was normal. Her face was expressionless. "Did she not know that copperheads were poisonous."

"She knew the names of the four venomous snakes found in the states," Anton shrugged. "She didn’t know what they all looked like except for coral and rattlers, and yes I thought her about red on yellow and red on black."

"At least she learned from her lesson." Matt said.

"Not quite," Sevarius closed his eyes and hung his head.

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Sevarius had been paid to clone all sorts of creatures, he had also done a few of his own free will, but cloning a gargoyle was something he would never have imagined. Well he didn’t know about living breathing gargoyles until Xanatos had given him the video tapes via Owen Burnet. The same dull man had given him a blood sample of a gargoyle called Goliath and was asked to clone him to his prime as fast as possible.

That was no easy task. It took him six months to clone a human until they were they age of fourteen at most. He did not know how long it would take to clone a gargoyle and age it to it’s prime, but never the less he had set up his chamber and placed the DNA sample inside. The process had begun.

Burnet has assured him his boss will pay him once he got out of prison. Well that will be nice, but he had a daughter to take care of.

After he stepped out of his car Sevarius approached his mailbox. He thought of ordering pizza for himself and Seneca. The girl sure did like strange stuff on her pizza, pineapple? Well to each their own he guessed. With his handful of mail Anton walked up the long path to his house. He nearly dropped the letters when he saw his daughter sitting on the front step.

She was wearing her thick pair of nature gloves. At her feet rested a label gun and an empty aquarium. In her right hand was a glass jar with a rubber sheet on top held down by a rubber band. She held a copperhead in her left hand by it’s neck, inches behind it’s head. As Anton slowly approached her he could hear Seneca humming. The song was cold and distant. She kept humming as she lowered the snake to a jar and gave it a slight squeeze. The snake opened it’s mouth and she forced it’s fangs into the rubber. Sevarius paused in his footsteps as he watched the jar fill with amber fluid. When it was nearly full Seneca pulled the snake up and set the jar down. She placed the snake back into the aquarium and secured the top. She was reaching for her jar when she caught sight of her father.

"Hello father," her voice was thin and soft. "Did you have a good day at work?"

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Matt blinked a few times after Sevarius finished his story. He ran his tongue along his teeth a full minute before he spoke.

"I guess that would be frightening." He said.

"That was only the beginning," Sevarius said while giving him a pain filled look. "There were more instances where she-" Elisa cut him off

"We’ll talk more," Matt’s partner said. "but out shift is nearly over." She feigned a polite smile and pulled Matt closer to her. "You don’t want to change during the car ride home do you?" Matt smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

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Seneca wiped her mouth with one of the napkins that came with her pizza before taking another slice of the pie. She pulled the piece of pineapple that was in the center of her slice off , taking a long string of cheese with it. She placed it in her mouth and bit of the cheese. The hotel was a relief from her boring dorm room. Not only could she order pizza but also watch as much TV as she wants. Seneca placed down the slice before she poured more Dr. Pepper into her ice filled glass.

She won’t be going hungry or thirsty anytime soon, but being in a hotel by herself was not the reason she lied to her father about her flight or checked in. She had contacted the man on the business card and waited patiently for him to arrive.

Her dinner was half eaten when she heard the knock.

"I’ll be right with you," Seneca said before she wiped her mouth and her hands. She paused in front of the door and took a glance through the peep hole. The man who stood behind the door appeared to be 22 or 23. He stood about 5’11" and had chestnut colored hair and intense eyes that were brilliant blue with a tint of purple. It was the man who sent her the card.

"So, you are looking for a genius?" she asked slyly as she opened the door. "There’s pizza on one of the beds. What kind of soda do you prefer?"

"Just get me a Coke," Reginald Leahs said as he sat down on the bed and watched what was on the screen. That no talent dick, Carson Daily, was just ending that stupid Total Request Live. He remembered back when MTV didn’t live for Teeny boppers. When TRL was once called Dial MTV, back even before that insipid Real World.

When I was your age they actually played videos on this channel," Reggie commented when Seneca handed him an ice cold can of Coke.

"When were you fifteen?" Seneca gave him a half rolled eye look as she sat down on her bed.

" Back in 1991," Reggie bent the ring tab forward causing his soda to hiss. "A lot can happen in eight years. Thank you by the way."

"No problem," Seneca smiled and held out the pizza box. "Hungry?" Reggie thanked her again before he took a slice.

"I’m asking you to join me." He said after he swallowed his first bite. "You are prodigy, a young genius. You are graduating around the time of your sixteenth birthday?"

"Yeah, so?"

"With your mind and my business skills we could make quite a team." His eyes glinted. "Of course we can’t do it here. You’re father is searching for you, my mother fired me-" Seneca interrupted.

"Your own mother fired you?" She blinked. "Jeez that royally sucks." He nearly stared at her after the remark but didn’t. She was gifted, but she was also a teenager. Reggie nodded his head in agreement.

"My own mother fired me, and over a month ago I was nearly killed by a disgruntled co worker." He lowered his handsome head and sighed. "It’s by the love of my own my brothers that I’m alive today."

"So where do you plan on going?" Reggie sat up and smiled.

___________________________________________________________________________

Anton knew he couldn’t keep on pacing forever. There was not much else he could do. The police were out searching for Seneca. He would have to keep calm. He must not think of the worst.

The worst? Dear lord his only daughter could have been at a rave smoking marijuana or taking that drug that was new rage with all the kids these days. What was it? Ecstasy. Or she could be crying in some alley because a large slob was forcing himself on to her.

The sound of the three large beings landing in his front yard snapped him out of his worry trance.

Sevarius raced through the kitchen towards his reading room. He quickly pulled out a large dictionary and opened it up. The pages were cut out to make room for a gun. With weapon in hand he approached his front door . He grabbed on to the knob just as he heard someone knock on the door.

"W-who is it?" Anton’s mouth felt dry.

"Detective Bluestone," Matt answered from the other side of the door. "And some friends." The large pain of worry that Anton felt riding his shoulders slid off when he heard Matt.

"Thank god how is-" Anton paused after he opened the door and stared at the face of the golden gargoyle. He pulled out the gun from his pocket and remembered.

"That’s right. When I worked for Dominique Destine she paid me to use some of her DNA to create a serum that would make humans into creatures like her." He lowered the gun and stepped back to let Matt in. "I nearly forgot."

"Have you forgotten all your experiments?" The deep voiced caused Anton to jump. The large light purple gargoyle, Goliath entered the house behind Bluestone. The portly aqua gargoyle, Broadway was it? followed. The corpulent gargoyle glowered at the gun in the scientist’s hand.

"I have a permit to own it," Sevarius said before turning to Goliath. "No I haven’t. It’s just with my only daughter missing my mind is only focused on one thing."

"I understand." Goliath said. "I know the police are searching for her, and even though we have been enemies in the past I want to let you know the clan is searching for her too."

"We just need some pictures of Seneca to take back to Wyvern," Matt said. "Do you have any recent ones?"

"They are in the envelope inside the coffee table," Sevarius said while he kept staring at the detective. "I’d marvel your transformation , but I would rather marvel with my daughter by my side." Matt nodded he opened the coffee table and pulled out the large envelope.

"You don’t mind if we take these?"

"Go ahead, do what ever you-just bring her back safe and sound."

"Sevarius," Goliath placed a hand on the scientist’s shoulders. "We will do everything possible to find her, but you need to stay calm."

"Calm?" Anton narrowed his eyes at the clan leader. "Calm? My daughter is missing and all you can do is ask me to stay calm."

"If your so worried why did you send her away?" Broadway asked. He blinked when he noticed the scientist clench and unclench his fists.

"Believe me I didn’t want to, but I felt that I had too."

__________________________________________________________________________

He was developing nicely. Sevarius stood in front of the clear tube shaped chamber that had a deep bluish black gargoyle floating in the middle of the amniotic like fluid. Wires and tubes were connected to the body. If he were human he would have been considered fourteen years old, but he was not human. He was a gargoyle that had his age sped up to twenty eight years.

"How is sleeping beauty?" The smooth voice of his employer caused him to early jump.

"Mr. Xanatos," Sevarius said as he turned around. "I was just checking on his vitals."

"And?" Xanatos arched an eyebrow as he stepped closer to the chamber.

"Well he wouldn’t be fully aged to his prime in six more months," Sevarius answered. "He’s going to need some programming. I would suggest giving him an education first."

"Excellent notion, I also thought of a name."

"Oh?" Anton turned to him.

"I was thinking of calling him Thailog."

"Ah Goliath backwards." Both men stared at the developing gargoyle, now named Thailog for a few minutes.

"Well, I guess I’ll check up on our creation in a months," Xanatos turned to leave. "Is it possible-" the sound of shuffling from a far corner of the lab caused him to pause. "What was that?"

"I better not have a rat."

"I’m sure you’ll take care of it. As I asked before is it possible to begin his education now?"

"Of course it’s possible if you want. I’ll plug in grades K through five before I leave for the day." Xanatos nodded and said his good bye. The scientist waited five minutes before he turned around and spoke up.

"You can come out now." He stared at the direction the shuffling sound came from for a whole minute before a young girl with auburn colored hair walked around from behind a stack of neatly organized lab equipment.

"I’m not a rat," Seneca pouted. "You called me one."

"I’m sorry poppit, but you said yourself you don’t want to meet Mr. Xanatos, because you don’t like him."

"That is not correct," her eyes narrowed. "I hate him daddy."

"Why?"

"You work hard for him, and you are not rich. He hardly works and his rich." Sevarius approached his daughter to pick her up, but she took a step back.

"That’s not true. You just don’t see him work."

"I hate him, and I hate that thing you are making for him." Her glare traveled over to Thailog’s chamber.

"You don’t even know Thailog."

"All I know is that you are making that thing for the man that I hate." She walked right towards the glass and smacked it. "I want to pull the plug on it!"

___________________________________________________________________________

"You know," Matt spoke up when Sevarius had finished. "It might not have been so bad if Thailog had died." Broadway nodded in agreement but both Goliath and Sevarius frowned at him.

"Thailog has caused us great pain in the past," Goliath said. "But even he deserved to have been born."

"Was this why you had her sent away?" Broadway asked.

"That plus what you told Elisa and I earlier?" Matt added. Sevarius nodded.

"That wasn’t the only time with the poisons. When she was at school I went into her room. My god. She had many glass aquariums with various poisonous snakes. There were other aquariums as well. They had other creatures."

"Other creatures?" Goliath raised a brow ridge.

"Small ones with black widows, brown recluses, and scorpions. A large one that contained a hornet’s nest. Medium sized ones that had those colorful frogs from the rain forest and aquatic aquariums that contained poisonous octopi, lion fish and stinging cones. She had a small bookcase filled with baby jars that were filled with various venom. Each jar was labeled. What was worse were the pictures that I found."

"Pictures?" Broadway asked. "Like pictures that she drew?" Sevarius nodded again.

"These weren’t pictures that a young girl drew. The were detailed sketches of plans on how she was going to kill both Thailog and Xanatos. With Thailog it was mostly of how she was going to cut the power. With Xanatos-" he paused to sigh. "There was one of where she would place tiny glass marbles on smooth hard floor. Xanatos would trip on it fall backwards and," he sighed again. "I guess the most disturbing part of that image was of the way she drew Xanatos’s cracked skull."

"You thought she was a risk, to both Thailog and Xanatos’s lives," Goliath said. "That is why you sent her to this boarding school."

"This may sound like a stupid question," Matt said. "but why didn’t you put her in therapy first?" Sevarius shook his head.

"Tried it and it did n’t work." They were silent for a few minutes before Goliath unfolded his wings.

"We better begin our search," The large gargoyle said. He paused by the scientist on the way to the door and turned to him. "I may be repeating myself but even though we are enemies I hope that the police or my clan will find your daughter safe and sound. As a father I know what you must go through. If my own daughter was missing I would be in the state of worry you are in."

____________________________________________________________________________

Seneca finished the remains of her donut before she wrote down her signature. Her letter was complete. Satisfied she placed it in an envelope and sealed it. She placed the letter inside her purse before she grabbed her luggage.

Lugging around the matching suitcases made the fifteen year old wish that she had made a request for a bell hop. No matter, she made it downstairs to the lobby. Reggie was supposed to met her down there. She slowly spun around searching for him. Her silver eyes did not miss a single detail.

She found him sitting in one of the flora printed lobby chairs. The young handsome man was reading the newspaper while sipping coffee from a styrofoam cup that had the Starbuck’s logo printed on it.

Seneca returned the keys to the counter and waited for the man behind the desk to finish typing up the information that he nodded before she was officially signed out.

‘Okay," he said in a rather eager tone. "We are all done. Thank you for staying at the Hotel Easter. I hope you would consider staying with us in the future." Seneca smiled while she thanked him before she approached Reggie’s chair.

"Mr. Leahs," Seneca said causing Reggie to lower his paper. "I’m ready."

"My car is parked in the garage in front of the building." Reggie rolled the paper and placed in under his arm. He drained the remains from his cup and placed in the trash.

"Where is this messenger?" She asked while Reggie picked up two of her suitcases.

"Right outside."

True to his word a young Asian boy wearing a Mets jacket stood outside with a bright red bicycle leaning against him. Seneca handed him the letter along with a couple of twenty dollar bills.

___________________________________________________________________________

Anton rolled over to his side and fell of the couch. He breathed a curse the second he came in contact with the floor. How long has he been asleep? He remembered it was well after midnight when he sat on the couch with the cordless phone by his side. No phone calls woked him up. No news of Seneca. That was it. He’s going to drive through the damn city himself to search for his daughter.

His hand had clasped around the egg shaped door knob when he heard the doorbell ring, playing a few bars from "Sgt. Pepper." With a sigh of relief Anton opened the door, and felt his face fall again.

He knew he must have looked like crap. He hadn’t showered or shaved yet. Who cares? All that mattered to him was that he wanted to see his daughter safe and sound.

"I have a letter for you." The boy handed him an envelope.

"Wait here," Sevarius raced back into his house and reemerged with his wallet in his hand. He removed a twenty and a ten and handed them to the boy. The boy smiled widely and thanked him as they made their exchange. The child was getting onto his bicycle when Anton shouted.

"Young man where did you get this?" The mad doctor held up the letter.

"From a girl," The boy said as he supported the weight of both him and his bike on his right leg.

"Did she look fifteen have reddish brown hair and silver eyes?"

"Yes."

"Where was she?" Anton’s breathing became hard.

"Outside the Hotel Easter." The boy didn’t even finish his sentence before Anton raced inside his house. Sevarius pounced on the phone that was still resting on the arm of the couch and called the police.

"This is Anton Sevarius," he spoke as he opened the envelope. "I just received some important information regarding where my missing daughter is, so I hope you will put me through with Captain Chavez." He pulled out the letter and read it while Maria asked him about the news that he received. "Yes Seneca was recently seen outside the Hotel Easter." His eyes traveled over the letter. "My God! You have to get there now!"

___________________________________________________________________________

Winter’s white claw’s flew over the keyboard typing up the revenue that her clan had earned. There money was accumulating and with word of mouth they had a successful business. She only wished Fang would return. The young gargoyle from Avalon, Gawain had told her that Avalon sends a person where they need to be, but she need him to be with her. Winter stepped out of her chair when she heard the knock at the door.

"I’ll get it," Felicia volunteered. The mutate silently thanked her before going back to paper work. Should really call it that? She was using a computer not paper and a pen.

"Hey Winter!" Felicia shouted back to her. "Guess who is here?" The mutate’s eyes lit up.

"Fang has returned?" Despite the fact she was slightly showing she managed to race to the front door. Her joy was fractured into several pieces when she saw that it wasn’t Fang. "Oh," her voice betrayed her emotion. "Hello Mr. Leahs. Welcome back."

"Thank you miss Winter," Reggie smiled at her as he entered hauling several pieces of luggage.

"Is the Pack with you?"

"Nope just me and Seneca."

"Seneca?" Felicia asked as she left the center and headed for his car. A teen age girl with braided reddish brown hair walked right up to her. Like Reggie she was also hauling a load of suitcases.

"There are three more in the car." The girl said as she headed inside. Felicia frowned. Another normal human girl? What the hell was Reggie thinking? Begrudedgly she grabbed the remaining suitcases and brought them in.

Felicia had set down the Samsonite next to the pile while the others were talking.

"Seneca is a genius," Reggie said. "She’s going to be graduating in June of 2000 and then-"

"And then?" Felicia walked up stiff legged. She placed her hands on her hips. "Well and then?"

"Then I’m going to Princeton," Seneca smiled. "But if you guys want me for my skills I’m going to have to be up front and honest. I’m going to need a lab."

"Aw you want a puppy?" Felicia asked in a tone that she used when she wanted to make fun of someone. The other human girl blinked and curled up her mouth into a sneer.

"No a laboratory. One with tables. Aquariums, sinks, storage cabinets for chemicals, a computer and some large glass chambers, like the kind I was developed in, but first I think I should call daddy and let him know that I’m safe and sound." Winter took the girl’s hand and led her to the nearest phone.

She was developed in a glass chamber? Felicia blinked and stared at the girl. Maybe she wasn’t so normal after all.