Chapter Two
There's always room here for the lonely
To watch your broken dreams
dance in and out of the beams
of a neon moon
Neon Moon - Brooks and Dunn
Angel looked out the necro-tempered windows at the bright orb of the sun, wondering why it never seemed to warm him. Warm or not, some days the view seemed like the best part of the deal he'd made with Wolfram and Hart. He, Fred, Gunn and Lorne were still working for the law firm. Wes had accepted the Watchers' offer to return to the fold and rebuild.
Angel wondered if Wes would have gone if not for the unique circumstances; hundreds of new Slayers needing training; the Watchers' desire to rebuild in a less centralized way; the nagging feeling that Wolfram and Hart were up to something evil, though it had yet to manifest whatever the reason. Now Wesley was Faith's Watcher in Cleveland.
Spike was with them. In a manner similar to how hell had spat Angel back to earth for no known reason, Spike had also been returned, utterly human. Wes felt fairly sure it wasn't Shanshu, believing other prophecies still indicated that was Angel's destiny. At this point, Angel wasn't sure he cared. Buffy was already in her mid-thirties. Knowing the Powers that Be, they'd make him human in time for her eightieth birthday.
Spike stayed with Angel for a year, perhaps a little more, before it was obvious someone was going to be torn into bloody shreds or left as dust in the wind. Spike headed to Cleveland and became a de facto Watcher. "Of all bloody things," Angel said to no one, doing his best Spike imitation.
Angel watched a cloud sail over the face of the sun, blotting it and taking on a golden glow. Where had the last decade gone? Of course, as a vampire, time tended to fly by and stand still at the same time. How could Connor have been gone from his life for so long? He had lost track of his child once Connor had left for school. He had wanted to follow him there, just to check up on him but life, as it so often did, got in the way, and then it became less painful not to torture himself with something he couldn't have. His faith that Connor finally had all the chances to be happy that his former life had denied him is what kept Angel going.
During those ten years, life had gone on, and very eventfully at that. Buffy had found herself like she wanted to and returned to L.A. She and Giles headed the West Coast Watchers' Council. It had the largest training school for the new Slayers in America. It purported to be an exclusive all-girl academy. They felt it was better to have the school here away from the Hellmouth. They even had an off-campus satellite college prep school for normal girls, to keep down suspicions and to generate more money. Sanctuary spells kept the schools safe. Buffy still occasionally kidded him as to what it was that he had done to keep the Sisters sighing his name and giggling. He still dreaded not being able to keep Buffy away when the spell was being cast.
Dawn had gone to art college in New York. On the surface, she was a teacher for the Slayer School, Brisbane Academy, but in truth, she was a Watcher like Willow and Xander. Robin had recovered from his injuries and was now the principal of Brisbane. Xander was a front man for the school. He had a way with people, friendly and affable. He did the bulk of the fund-raising. Willow had gone back to college, and had just finished her residency, becoming a doctor for the Council.
Angel was grateful to have them back in LA. They all lived in the Hyperion, which had been made into housing for the Watchers and a hotel for incoming students after it had been shored up and renovated. The penthouse had been turned into his and Buffy's home.
She had come to a decision during her journey to self; she still wanted him. He was beyond gratified for that but he was well aware she knew something was wrong in their relationship. He had told her about the curse only working when he was truly happy. Sex alone wouldn't do it, he needed a moment of bliss. She had asked how he knew and why he was clarifying the point, and hadn't been pleased over the announcement that he had slept with Darla and that things in his life were so grim now he couldn't possibly be entirely happy, not even with her.
He'd expected verbal battles to be waged over this and over him keeping secrets, him not telling Buffy why he was so unhappy and those battles were fought. They hurt. He feared he'd lose her, but he couldn't tell Buffy about the source of his pain: Connor. Eventually she forgave that and the inevitable happened just as they both knew it would. Buffy had returned to LA expecting it.
Love, unhindered by the curse, drew them together again. Angel felt guilty about the secrets, about only being able to offer her a profoundly unhappy man. What a cruel twist of fate that he could circumvent the curse and be with the woman he loved but only so long as he was miserable. He thought she deserved more and she should go find it, even falling on the sword and suggesting Spike now that he was human. Buffy told him that if he didn't let her make her own decisions on what was best for her, she would leave and never return. He knew it wasn't an idle threat. She was in California for him. Giles didn't need her to teach at the school. That was just icing on the cake.
So, Angel stopped telling Buffy how to live her life, and they were relatively content. Happy enough but not so happy as to be a threat. Angel wondered if she felt the hollowness inside him when they made love. Sometimes she asked what had happened to him to make him so sad, as if she could sense the Connor-sized rent in his soul. His answer was always the same he had to keep it secret. He knew it hurt her. He hated it but there was no way to do it without risking exposing the spell. Maybe he should trust Buffy. Maybe one day he would.
A sharp, almost perky, rap sounded on the door preceding Cordelia's entrance. Angel never stopped being stunned by how beautiful she was. Her hair fell in walnut waves to her waist and the green of her dress highlighted her olive skin. Angel took it as a sign of Buffy's new maturity that she handled Cordelia's presence remarkably well, even knowing what Cordelia had meant to him. It might have to do with pity but he preferred to think it was more that Buffy trusted him. He knew she understood that it was over between he and Cordelia just like it was between her and Spike.
Still, even Angel had trouble exorcizing all pity in regards to Cordelia. By just looking at her, it wasn't apparent that anything was wrong but once anyone started talking to Cordelia it was easy to tell she hadn't escaped giving birth to Jasmine unscathed. In his day, they would have called her simple. Cordelia came out of her coma with her mental processes and abilities trapped at an adolescent level, and she tended to forget the new things taught to her, not uncommon for people suffering head trauma.
Angel promised to care for her as long as necessary, especially since her family deserted her. At the office, she was his personal assistant, and she was very good at helping Xander with the public functions for Brisbane. Unfortunately, the visions still plagued her. The demon aspect allowed them to come painlessly but they frightened her now, sometimes to the point of hysteria. Listening to horrible things in meetings wasn't the same as the terror of grisly sights splashing across the mind's eye, the stench filling her nose or the sounds and touches that the visions imparted.
Cordelia's pretty face was pinched, however, and he had to wonder what was wrong. So long as she didn't get too far afield from her daily routine, Cordy functioned so well he almost forgot her handicaps but throw in something unusual and she could get flustered. It made her useless to them in the field so she no longer came along on missions, even though she did remember doing it in the past. Most of her memory had been wiped as far as the last few years before becoming pregnant. She remembered most of Sunnydale, and she remembered her friends in Angel Investigations but only in a vague way. Those friendships had to be reforged.
She had forgotten the threat Wolfram and Hart had once been, and he couldn't decide if that was good or bad. She had no memories at all of Jasmine or the Beast, which was just as well. Of course, most people in LA only had vague memories of Jasmine and tended to think of her as a flash in the pan TV cult personality. Only Lilah and those in Angel Investigations had clear memories. In the end, they told Cordelia she had been in a bad car wreck and that's what had affected her memory and made it hard for her to learn new things.
"Is something wrong, Cordy?" he asked, getting up and going to her.
"Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander are on their way up," she said. "Something bad happened."
Angel gritted his teeth. For all four of them to show up unannounced when they should be at the school didn't bode well. "You don't have to stay and listen, Cordy." He routinely tried to shield her as much as possible but often she preferred to stay and do what she could to help. Sometimes she had good insights, or at least saw things from a different angle. Giles and Willow tended to overcomplicate things.
"I'll stay."
Angel nodded toward one of the comfortable overstuffed chairs and Cordelia sat. He didn't have time to prepare for disaster when Buffy strode in with Willow right on her heels, a study in light and fire. Buffy's blonde locks brushed her shoulders and Willow's hair had been clipped short like a fiery halo, streaked with a witch's lock of white. Xander came in with Giles. Angel wondered if the younger man knew how lucky he was to have three such lovely women as friends, five counting Dawn and Fred. Angel knew Giles appreciated his situation, as he himself did.
"What happened?" he asked.
"We lost one of the Slayers last night." Buffy sat on the edge of his desk, her face dark with anger.
"Who?" Cordelia asked, her brown eyes wide.
"I didn't realize you had any of the girls out last night," Angel said at the same time, settling back down.
"We didn't. We don't know why Amaya Mitsu was out. She shouldn't have been. She was supposed to be home with her parents," Willow said.
"She might not even been on patrol," Buffy said. "She was nineteen. She could have just been out."
"She liked to party," Xander added, sitting next to Cordelia, leaving the chair closest to the desk for Giles.
"They found her in an abandoned church with another young girl. Whoever called 911 identified them as Lian and Night Rain. I've informed the police that I believe that Amaya was Night Rain as that is the direct translation of her name from the Japanese," Giles said, scrubbing a strong hand through his completely ashen, thin hair.
"We got lucky. Kate caught this case," Buffy added.
Angel nodded. Kate had returned to LA Homicide four years ago. Angel found that after she had left, she had transferred to Special Victims but had grown tired of endless rape cases. "Good, she'll work with us."
"I'm listed as Amaya's doctor," Willow said, "and the medical examiner asked me some questions. Doing Amaya's autopsy this afternoon, he sent off her blood for analysis and they found ecstasy in her system so I'm thinking Xander's 'she went out to party' theory is pretty likely."
"Kate did say they believed there had been a rave at the church," Buffy said. "Found lots of drugs, I guess. I had no idea Amaya was into that. I mean, she always came across as the spoiled little rich girl." She shot Cordelia an apologetic look. "So I guess maybe I shouldn't be shocked."
Angel nodded. He had met Amaya once. She reminded him of a young Cordelia or Kennedy. He wasn't surprised that she had come to an early end. "I'm sorry to hear it."
"There's more," Willow said. "I shouldn't be saying but it might be important if we're going to find out who killed her. She had pubic lice, you know, crabs. It's the one STD condoms won't help with since they're on the hairs. The medical examiner tested her for other STD's but we won't know about them until later. There didn't seem to be any evidence of sexual activity on Amaya's part last night. The thing is, crabs usually come from dirty conditions. We're talking a rich girl in a very clean school, so where did she pick them up?"
"Probably someone she met at the rave. It's possible the medical examiner could miss consensual sex, right? It's not like it always leaves bruises. That someone might have killed her," Buffy mumbled. "Dawn is talking to some of Amaya's friends with Robin and Kate, who promises to drop by tonight with pictures we might like to see of the crime scene."
"Good. Do you know anything about how she died?" Angel asked.
"Torn apart. Kate and the medical examiner both said it was like a wild animal got them. I think they're even looking for pit bulls that escaped a fight ring," Willow answered.
"Xander and I have to meet with her parents to express our condolences and to see if they know anything," Giles said wearily, dread in his blue eyes. "I remember how proud her father was when we recruited Amaya."
"Is he even here?" Cordelia asked. "Doesn't he work in Tokyo?"
Angel lifted an eyebrow. He was surprised Cordelia remembered that but in her reversion to her younger mind set, she did have a sharp mind for fashion and money and Mitsu obviously had that.
"Yeah, Amaya's a parachute kid," Buffy said then off Angel's confused look added, "That's what they call Asian kids whose parents have lots of money and power in their homelands and who send their kids here to live alone. Amaya's parents are only in their L.A. home a few months out of the year."
"As bad as it sounds, I guess we were lucky that her parents were here for a two-week visit when this happened. They can't blame the school for her sneaking out since she wasn't with us at the time," Xander said, sounding very apologetic for thinking it.
"Good point. Do you just want to meet back here tonight when Kate gets free? I'll have Gunn and Fred meet us or would you rather have Kate go to the Hyperion?" Angel asked.
"No offense, but this place just gives me the creeps," Buffy said, waving her hands at his office's walls.
"The Hyperion it is." Angel felt relieved. He had his reservations about doing non-Wolfram and Hart related business in the building. He still did not completely trust them. "I'll call Kate and let her know."
"Thanks. I'm going to meet up with Dawn and go talk to the girls, just to be sure Amaya wasn't sneaking out to do a little slaying and got in over her head," Buffy said.
Angel knew that after the disaster with Kennedy, the Watchers had taken a slightly different approach to the whole Slayer issue. A year after Buffy had done her bit with the First and spread the Slayer powers out around the world, Kennedy and some of the younger Slayers had insisted on not waiting for back-up in Cleveland, Kennedy confident she could handle anything. They disappeared into the Hellmouth, never to be seen again. Given how many Slayers they had to work with, the Watchers went conservative and took more time to properly train them and no one was supposed to go out until she officially graduated from the training schools and was assigned a Watcher. They had even put off contacting the very youngest of the girls until they were a bit older and able to make the most of their training. "Good luck with that."
Giles got up and headed out with Xander and Willow following. Cordy went with them. Angel watched the dynamics of the younger trio. He wondered if Xander would finally hook up with Cordelia. A blind man could see she was interested though for the death of him Angel couldn't figure out why. He knew Xander was still fond of Cordelia, highly protective of her, but seemed to see anyone's interest in her as taking advantage of her state. Angel didn't know why he was even thinking about it except maybe because it concerned Buffy, and she talked about it a lot.
Buffy lingered in his office and gave him a kiss once everyone was gone. "I really hate the senseless, you know."
He nodded, putting his arms around her. "I know. Slayers are expected to die young."
"In battle." Buffy rested her head back against his chest. "Not at a rave and high on drugs."
"It's not your fault."
She pulled away from him. "I know but it feels like it is. What if we just left her and all the other girls alone, don't train them, don't delude them into thinking they might be stronger than they are?'
"Then she'd be just as dead. You said so yourself. Amaya being a Slayer might not have had a thing to do with why she died," Angel argued. "And you know you have to find these girls. They're too strong. They're a danger to others if they aren't trained. Waiting as long as the Council decided to do is risky enough."
Buffy nodded. "I can't help feeling responsible, though. And now there's a new Slayer out there who doesn't even know it yet." The Slayer power had gone strange after the First. All the Potentials had become Slayers and the Council had wondered when they died would the power just dissipate or go into infants. It turned out that it was still going to girls, but ones who hadn't had enough potential the first time around to have been gifted. No one knew what the power going to second stringers meant. Buffy sighed. "I'd better go. I'll see you tonight."
She kissed him again and was gone. Angel sat back down heavily. Mr. Mitsu had to feel horrible, knowing his child was gone forever. Angel knew just how he felt.
X X X
"Dinner," Cordelia said, paying the off the pizza man who arrived on Kate's heels.
"I'll get the plates," Xander said, heading into the Hyperion's kitchen.
Helping Cordy with the boxes, Angel glanced around at his collection of friends. Gunn had gone upstairs with Fred at the moment to help put their seven-year-old son to bed. Joshua had a penchant for staying up late. Lorne couldn't make it, busy as ever with the latest reincarnation of Caritas but most everyone else was there. Dawn, Willow, Xander and Giles were the only Watchers present. Although the Hyperion was used for housing, only four Watchers outside of the inner core chose to take advantage. Angel knew it was hard to live with people you worked with.
Willow and Dawn sat with Buffy who looked tired. Angel had grown used to seeing her that way. He didn't like it but long ago decided it was inevitable. Kate sat with them, waiting for Willow to finish setting up her laptop so she could download her digital pictures into it. Kate, like a lot of police, took her own crime scene photos to accompany those of CSU.
"Do we want to eat or look at the pictures first?" Dawn asked.
"Gruesome either way," Kate assured her, shoving a stray blonde lock back into her pony tail. "Your Ms. Mitsu is the fifth girl to die in a similar manner in the last week."
"Why haven't we heard about it until now?" Fred asked as she came downstair with Gunn.
Kate glanced up at her. "Until Mitsu, they were all street kids."
"In other words, no one gave a damn," Gunn said, his face a cold mask.
"Exactly. But L.A. isn't going to let a wealthy young lady's death go unnoticed," Kate said, hitting the button to begin uploading.
The crew got their pizza, too jaded to be grossed out by crime scene photos, or so they thought. They mostly picked at their meals after seeing how Amaya and her companion had been torn apart.
"They look like they've been eaten. The ME says that the disemboweling could have been from claws and there are bite marks on the bones. Both hearts are gone. Given what I know about demon life in this city, I'm not betting this is the work of a pack of pit bulls like the rest of my colleagues are," Kate said.
"It's possible it's a werewolf," Willow said.
"They're not the only thing that eats their prey," Cordy stated the obvious.
"Not by a long shot," Angel replied.
"We don't have enough to go on just from these pictures," Giles said. "Do you remember any smells, Kate? Anything odd that might help?"
Kate shook her head. "Only the smells of someone lying dead for several hours. No slime, or scales or anything to suggest it was a demon. Only this." She tapped the keys and brought up a picture of bloody footprints. "Is it me or does that look like an animal print turning into a human's?"
"It's not a full moon. Are there werewolves who can control their change in spite of that? I mean outside of Oz." Xander stuffed the end of the pizza slice into his mouth.
"Oz was a special case but there could be others," Giles replied. "Still, this is helpful. There are other types of shape shifters."
"If I knew where Oz was, I could ask him," Willow said.
"Do we know who the street girl with Amaya was?" Buffy asked.
"Lian, just like the 911 caller said. I checked with the gang task force. They know a lot of the street kids, too, use some as confidential informants. Lian was never arrested that I could find but Ivanovich with the task force knew her picture. Lian was very young when she slipped out of juvenile hall when they were trying to find her family. Ivanovich said Lian's dai lo was Angelboy," Kate said. Everyone cast a look Angel's way, and he shrugged as if to say, 'my name's hardly unique.'
"Her what?" Dawn asked.
"Dai lo, it's Chinese for 'older brother.' It's also used as a gang term for the older gang members who recruit and use the younger members," Kate explained.
"So Angelboy's a Chinese gang member? Gangs do get involved in dog fighting." Gunn's face took on a smoldering angry look. "There's probably lots of money to be made in watching humans get pulled apart in a ring."
"Disgusting but true," Kate said. "But no, I asked. Angelboy's Caucasian. Ivanovich thinks Lian called him her dai lo because Angelboy is the House Nazi. That means he's the head of the squat. He takes care of the runaways who live in his home. From everything Ivanovich knows, Angelboy is known to take good care of his kids and protects them from the users out there. That's how he got the name. He's also a junkie. Ivanovich thinks Angelboy might have been the 911 caller, but she can't be sure from the tape."
"So now what?" Buffy asked.
"Now I tell you that this is official police business and leave the investigating to us." Kate clapped her hands together. "But since I know that's not going to take, you guys concentrate on the demon aspects and I'll take the more mundane route. I'll leave the pictures on Willow's hard drive and hope to hell no one catches me. Then I'm going to help myself to more pizza because I pulled a double shift working on this and I'm starving."
Angel pushed the box closer to her. "Do you think this Angelboy is involved in the girls' deaths?"
"Ivanovich doubted it. I haven't had time to get Angelboy's pedigree yet so I don't know what all he's into. I was thinking of reaching out to him and see what he knows. Four of the victims were street kids like him," Kate said. "And I was hoping you could help with that, Angel."
"How so?"
"If I bring Angelboy into a police station, he'll give me nothing even if he wants to help find Lian's killer. That's the nature of the beast. No junkie street kid is going to trust a cop. I was hoping to put it out there that Angel Investigators are looking to talk to him."
"Why would he trust me any more than he would a cop?" Angel asked.
"For one, you can't arrest him," Kate said. "And if you offer a sit down for, let's say lunch at your office, he might feel more at ease."
"He might think you're respecting him, Angel. I've known gang leaders to go in for that in a big way," Gunn said. "Street kids make their own rules but when I was out there, they wanted respect for their ways. You ask him to meet you like an equal, and it could go over good."
"All right but who's going to talk to him? We all can't be there. That would overwhelm anyone," Angel said.
"I'll be there," Kate said. "I don't know Angelboy so there's every reason to think he doesn't know me. L.A.'s too big for him to know every cop. Gunn should be there, too. It's been a while since he was hanging with a gang, as odd of a one as it was, but he had a better feel for the way it works. You'll be there, of course, Angel. And I think Buffy and Willow. Giles might be mistaken for a detective but Willow knows all the demony stuff."
"Think I might be an asset?" Dawn asked. "I did my photography thesis on the...uh more unusual areas of New York City so I've talked with a very strange section of society including street kids, and I know all the demony stuff, too."
Kate nodded. "Fine, but that's it. Too many people and he's likely to spook."
"Get the word out there. We'll be ready." Angel scowled. "Lilah's around again. She takes an interest in anything I do in the office."
"Doesn't she have the good sense to stay dead?" Kate asked.
"Some people have no manners," Willow dead panned.
"In Lilah's defense, and I never thought I'd say that, I don't think she gets to pick when Wolfram and Hart will ask her back to work. But I can guarantee, she sees all of us there having a meeting and she'll want to know why," Angel replied.
"Tell her you're meeting a stinky drug addict for lunch and ask if you could use her office to set up the monster sub sandwich," Fred offered, twisting her hair around her finger playfully.
Angel smirked. "I'll do that."
"Don't hit me for jinxing things, but am I the only one who thinks this is going to get really bad?" Xander asked then scrunched in on himself as Dawn, Willow and Buffy simultaneously
pinched him. Giles just rolled his eyes and had another slice of pizza. No one said anything. They were all thinking the same thing.