Trouble
"It's addressed to Angel," said Fred. "It has a New York postmark."
"Does it say who it's from?" asked Wesley.
"No," said Fred.
"It's big whatever it is," added Gunn. "Do you think we should open it?"
"Well it does belong to Angel," said Fred. "Who knows, it might contain something private that he wouldn't want us to see."
"Then we definitely need to open it," said Gunn.
"Open what?" asked Angel as he and Cordelia walked in through the front door.
"Oh," said Fred sheepishly. "There's a package here for you."
"Me?" said Angel. "Who's it from?"
"It doesn't say," said Fred sadly. "We weren't going to open it without you!"
"Of course," said Angel with a slight smile. Then he turned his attention to the package. "Fred, can you get me something to open this with?"
"Uh, sure," said Fred sheepishly before going back behind the main desk to rummage around.
Cordelia walked towards the package and stood next to Angel and simply stared at it. Wesley was the first to notice that something was amiss. "Cordelia?" he asked but was ignored by Cordelia. "Cordelia, is something the matter?"
Cordelia still said nothing. Instead she moved towards the package. Gunn moved forward to try and intercept her, but Angel just motioned him back. Clearly Cordelia sensed something and he wanted to know what it was. Cordelia seemed in a trance as she put her hands upon the package. As soon as she did so, her mind was instantly filled with terrible visions of death and blood. At the center of the visions was something gold that she couldn't quite make out. She was then vaguely aware of an individual wearing a mask breaking into the hotel and killing everyone in the hotel with a pair of elaborate swords. She saw nothing else beyond that as she was suddenly and breathlessly jolted back to reality. "We need to get whatever this is out of the city," she said with certainty.
"What did you see?" asked Wesley.
"Everyone dying," said Cordelia with tears in her eyes. Upon seeing that, Angel tried awkwardly to comfort her by putting his arm around her to give her a hug.
"Are we in trouble?" asked Fred as she handed Angel a pair of scissors.
"Chances are good on that one," said Gunn. Angel said nothing and handed Gunn the scissors. Letting out a low sigh, Gunn set about opening the package.
"We don't want to open that," warned Cordelia.
"I know," said Gunn. "But I'm getting used to doing things I don't want to."
It only took Gunn a few moments to completely open the package. What he revealed was a large and very ornate box that was stained a dark crimson and covered with runes made of gold. Angel got even paler than he already was. "Wesley," he said. "Translate the inscription. I think Cordy's right."
Wesley adjusted his glasses as he walked over to the box. For a few silent moments he studied the runes. "The Dark Zodiac," he said at last.
"We are in trouble," said Angel.
To be continued…