Here's a redo of Project Ebony. I've made some major changes, but kept the main idea, namely Xanatos being a gargoyle. The setting is between "Runaways" and "The Dying of the Light." I don't own Gargoyles, they are owned by Buena Vista and Disney.

Chapter One- A Spell Gone Awry

David Xanatos scrawled his signature to yet another contract before putting it aside and grabbing another one. It was a surprisingly dull evening at Castle Wyvern. Surprising as there was usually something happening within those stone walls. But, the evening was also a blessing. He had time to look through the contracts that had piled up since Goliath and the others had returned to the castle.

Xanatos lowered the contract he was reading. The whole business with the Hunters had been a messy one and he was glad it was over. However, the gargoyles' troubles were just beginning. First off, their existence had been revealed to all of Manhattan. The second problem was a vigilante group called The Quarrymen. It was headed by a man called Jon Castaway whom he suspected was Jon Canmore, the last of the Hunters.

Of course, the Quarrymen were of no concern to Xanatos. They only sought to destroy gargoyles and no one suspected him of giving the gargoyles safe haven. He could just go about his business without anything disrupting it.

&&&&

Demona smiled evilly at the setup. It had taken some time to get the necessary equipment for this spell, but it would be worth it. Her botched attempt to destroy humanity still weighed heavily on her mind. The spell she was about to cast was on a much smaller scale then her carrier virus. It was much smaller, in that it would only kill one person per month. Demona was too impatient to use it on all of humanity plus it was too inefficient to use it for that purpose.

She already had the spell's victim chosen: David Xanatos. The industrialist had originally been her financer, but now she had her own company and thus he had outlived his usefulness to her. Choosing Xanatos over Elisa had been easy. Xanatos wasn't a true enemy like Elisa was and she enjoyed torturing her enemies. She always imagined herself slowly killing Elisa with Goliath watching, powerless to stop her.

She pulled herself from her thoughts and began to put the spell together. The ingredients she had gathered had cost a good deal of her company's money and were difficult to come by as well. That was another reason for not using the spell: too costly.

"This is for you Xanatos," Demona said in a low voice. "Rest in hell." Demona began to chant in Latin. Smoke slowly filled the room and began to pulse with a pale blue light. The smoke soon became light and streaked out of her house and towards its target.

&&&&

"Come one, Alex. One more spell and then we can end the lesson and go to bed," Puck pleaded with the boy. Alex was getting sleepy from all the spells he had been learning and Puck wanted to teach one more before calling it a night.

Alex yawned and forced himself to sit up and grin at his teacher.

"Atta boy! Okay, this spell is rather simple: A changing spell. Watch." Puck materialized an orange and held it up. He focused his gaze on the fruit before a green light from his eyes shot out and struck the orange, changing it into an apple.

Alex giggled and clapped as Puck floated behind him and held the apple in front of the youngster. "Now Alex, try to change it back into an orange. Focus," Puck instructed.

Alex followed Puck's instructions and focused on the apple in front of him. A green light came from a palm and the apple became an orange again.

"Excellent, my boy, excellent," the fay praised. He glanced around the room, looking for something else to practice on before he spied a vanity mirror on a dresser. Perfect!

"Okay, Alex. I want you to change that mirror into wood." He gestured at his student's target.

Alex clapped and laughed as he held out a hand. Magic gathered in his palm, which he aimed at the mirror, still giggling.

"Focus, my boy, focus," Puck reprimanded- a little too late.

The beam of light shot out and struck the mirror before bouncing off and ricocheting around the room. Puck shielded Alex with his body to protect him from the wayward spell. The light headed for the doorway and out into the hall just as a beam of blue light was passing their room.

There was a brief white flash as the two spells collided. Once the flash subsided, Puck saw Alex's spell circling the foreign spell before mingling with it to form a new spell of blue-green light that continued on the path the blue light had been going.

"Oh, dear," Puck murmured.

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Xanatos had just finished signing another contract when his office doors flew open. He looked up, expecting to see his wife, Elisa, or one of the gargoyles. There was no one there. He mentally shrugged as he got up to close the doors. It must have been a stray gust that came in through one of the castle windows.

He was halfway across the room when a beam of light cut through the air and engulfed him.

He screamed as pain seemed to shoot through every pore of his body. His skin felt like it was on fire and his bones felt as if they were re-shaping themselves and forming new bones as the same time. His nerves, tissues, and muscles were aflame with an agony he had never known before. It was so unbearable that he passed out on the office floor.

Uh-oh. Another spell mix-up. I think you can guess what happened as a result. Stay tuned and let me know how this version is working so far.