Chapter Twenty-Nine
We're going down, down in an earlier round
And Sugar, we're going down swinging
I'll be your number one with a bullet
A loaded God complex, cock it and pull it
Sugar, We're going down swinging – Fall Out Boy
"No offense, but I'd feel better with a few more of the others close by," Gunn said, lounging in an office chair in Matura Hall, a building off-campus that the Slayer School used as a small Watcher's library. It was a place that Gunn went to regularly enough. It was isolate and mostly empty. It made for a good place to lure the demoness where there would be less collateral damage.
Connor eyed him. "Me, too. I'm stronger than I was if that helps."
"Some." Gunn ran a hand over his shaved head. "I know there's a chance Leda told Caha-Paluma who we all were, except you since she had no idea about you."
Connor stared at the ceiling. "At least the others are up in the attic. Think she can smell them from here? I can't."
"Gross. I'm more concerned about what happens if you're not enough to stop her." Gunn lounged on a couch by a fireplace that Connor wasn't sure would ever be needed in southern California.
"Sounds like you're going to have demon sex whether you want to or not.
Gunn shot him a lemony look. "And this is why Connor has no friends."
Connor snorted. "Take it from someone who has had to suffer through demon sex he didn't want, it's easier to just let it happen."
"I swear to god, if that's the last image in my head when she kills me, I'm haunting you." Gunn stabbed a finger at him.
"That's reassuring." Rolling his eyes, Connor flopped down at a desk. He didn't like the idea of sitting around all day like bait. They'd be here until dark. Caha-Paluma had attacked in the day before so it was difficult to decide when and where to set up the whole idea of bait. Buffy and Faith along with Willow were upstairs waiting, hopefully hidden from the demoness's sense of smell. Connor hoped to hell they could get down to Gunn fast if necessary.
"I debated telling you this," Gunn said suddenly. "Maybe it's a mistake but like you said about that girl, there's nothing left to even prove something criminal happened."
"Are you sure you want to tell me whatever this is?" Connor wasn't sure he was ready to hear this, but he was hungry for any sign Gunn might be ready to trust him.
"Not really but Faith was right about the whole sick support group thing. In my case, he wasn't exactly innocent, but he was human. He'd have killed Fred, and she was prepared to kill him first." Gunn's chest heaved as he dragged in a deep breath. "I couldn't let her do that. Do you understand me?"
"You wanted to protect her from having to live with that."
Gunn gave him a sharp nod. "I didn't though. Yeah, I killed him but we both suffered the consequences of that for years." He pounded a fist against the desk. "It was never the same."
"Maybe it's not meant to be once that line is crossed." Connor pulled his ponytail tighter. Maybe he should cut it off but he still wasn't ready. He wanted to retain part of Angelboy because not everything about him had been bad. "If it was the same, wouldn't that mean we're psychos?"
"Probably."
"Thanks for telling me though. In a weird way, knowing I'm not the only one seems to help." He scratched his arm, unable to sit still.
"Are you all right?"
"Not really but better than I could hope for." Truth was, he desperately wanted to be high right now. He was coming out of his skin with desire for just another taste of heroin. "Better than I was that night. I really am sorry, Gunn."
"I believe you. Mostly I don't blame you but a part of me does." He narrowed his eyes. "It's far too soon to work past that."
Connor shook his head. "I don't expect you to. You and I never got along that great to begin with."
"You like to butt heads with alpha males."
Connor wondered if Gunn considered himself one. No, obviously he did, but was he? Close enough, Connor decided. Maybe he was as well. Certainly, in Quor-Toth he had been, but things changed. He hadn't known this world and lost some of his confidence. "It's what I do. Probably ought to find better way of spending my time."
"Speaking of that, if you're not getting crapped out of a cat demon by the end of the day, what are you planning to do?"
"I wish I knew. For now, I guess I'll be staying around. Angel's not going to let me go, not all messed up like I am. I like Lorelei, and I think she can help me. Once I get my head on straight and feel like I can stay sober, then I don't know. I'm still trying to sort out what's me and what's left over from that big spell."
"Angel really wanted to help you, nothing else but that," Gunn said, a protective gleam in his eye. "I'm not exactly happy about it, but I get it. Believe me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for my own son."
"I believe that. I really do but that doesn't change the fact my brain is a mess of memories, some real some not. I have no doubts me being a lawyer was Wolfram and Hart getting a little payback for the spell. I'd have been working for them, earning them a fortune probably. I suppose I could join you in the lawyer pool there but I'm not sure I want to." Connor got to his feet, starting to pace.
"I can't say that I blame you."
"Will you and Joshua stay now?"
"I have no clue. I doubt Wolfram and Hart would just let me go."
"But you could just be a lawyer, live somewhere else in L.A. and be safer if they did let you go." Connor paused, eying Gunn. "But I have trouble seeing you sitting out of the action."
Sighing, Gunn nodded. "I know, same here but I have to do what's best for Joshua. I'm just not ready to pull the trigger on any of that."
"He's safe enough with his grandparents for now. You don't have to make an instantaneous decision."
"I know." Gunn grunted. "You've grown up a lot."
"I should hope. I'm like nearly thirty, right?" Connor smirked.
"It's hard to imagine it."
"Tell me about it." He resumed pacing. "When I was in the park, I thought 'I really like being in the woods.' I thought about moving up to Portland or Seattle or something. I think that's all me and not something that got implanted. I'd probably have a burning desire to move to Ireland in that case or something. Granted, it's beautiful there. I couldn't complain about life if I were somewhere in Eire."
"Does Angel know you've been there?"
"Not that I know of. I'll tell him. He'll get a kick out of that. But at the end of the day, I just don't know. I can be useful here with the Watchers and Dad and the rest of you."
"They have outposts like ours all over, so you could do that if you wanted to separate yourself from Angel for a while."
Connor nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." He tossed himself back in the chair. "I am so bored."
"Tell me about it. This is going to be a very long day."
Gunn wasn't wrong. He and Connor hung out in the library until dinner time. At least they had it better than the women did – or so Connor assumed – having turned on a radio down low and they had books they could sort through and read. The ladies were stuck up in the attic, which he pictured as dusty, hot and filled with miscellaneous crap. Given how short tempered they were when they came downstairs, Connor assumed he was right. At least they were willing to drive to the hospital, so he could visit with Darts and Tin Man. They planned on picking up a dinner and retreating to the hotel to see if Caha-Paluma would show up there again. Connor wanted to spend another night at the hospital but maybe, given he'd just spent the day as bait, it wasn't wise.
"I hated leaving Niklas here alone," he muttered as they trudged inside.
"Angel's been here," Buffy said. "Keeping an eye out."
Connor glanced up at the sun. "Really?"
"In the morgue's office. We put a bed down there," Willow said.
"Oh, well thanks."
"Wes and Spike should be here by now too," Buffy added. "We decided to keep Xander with Cordy at the school until this over. Dawn, Lorelei and Giles are there doing some work at the moment. They should be safest there. I doubt she'd attack the school. If Leda told her anything about the Slayers, she'd know that it would be a bad idea to look for Gunn at the academy."
"True. I won't be long." Connor went to Darts's room first, but nothing had changed. He talked to her for a few minutes before trekking over to Tin Man's room. Angel caught up with him in the hall. Connor paused, looking at him surprised.
"I know you know the sun's still out there."
"The hallways are windowless. I wanted to see how you were doing," his father replied.
"Uneaten, itchy and restless and bored and wanting to be high but otherwise fine." Connor peered into Tin Man's room. He was sleeping but the curtains were open. "If you want more info, I'll have to go pull the curtains."
Angel waved him in. Connor pulled the curtains but that woke up Tin Man. He smiled at Connor but pain lurked in his eyes.
"You came back."
"I promised I would." Connor pulled a chair closer to the bed, and then gestured at Angel. "You remember my brother."
"Yeah," Tin Man watched Angel warily before turning his attention back to Connor. "I hurt all over. Why did they do this to us? I don't understand why Darts pulled me out of Anne's. We were safe there."
Connor reached over and took Tin Man's hand. "I wish I had an answer. I'll talk to Dr. Rosenberg and see if she can give you something for the pain."
Tin Man eyed him. "I swore I saw you catch an arrow before I completely blacked out."
"You dreamed that," Connor said uneasily.
As a nurse walked in, Angel squinted at her and Connor did the same. Something was wrong, something musty in her scent.
"Who are you?" Angel asked. "I don't remember ever seeing you here before."
"I'm new," she said. "I need to work on our young man here."
Connor got to his feet. "What does he need?" He knew he wouldn't like the answer. There was no way this was kosher.
"For starters," She crossed the room in a flash. She grabbed the curtains, yanking them back open. Angel fell back with a bellow, smoking all over. "A little sunlight will help."
Tin Man shrieked seeing Angel's vampiric face as Angel scuttled back to the shadows, and then out the door because he would be of no help in this room. Connor hoped to hell he was getting Buffy and the other Slayers.
"Now you and the boy will come with me. Caha-Paluma would like to speak to you."
Connor offered her a flat smile. "Yeah, that's definitely not what she wants." Without taking his eyes off her, he added, "Niklas! Shh, I'm not going to let her hurt you. I know it hurts but if you can get out of bed get out of here."
Niklas shut up but Connor didn't hear him leave.
"And you think I'm going to allow that?"
"Connor, this is a sanctuary, remember?" Angel's pain-filled voice echoed from the hallway.
"Got it." Great, now he couldn't fight but at least she didn't seem in a hurry to push him into it. A plan formed in his head. "You a mage or a demon?"
"Like I'd tell you. Now, you're coming with me. Don't make me repeat myself."
He took a deep breath, drinking in her scent. "Betting demon. What did Caha-Paluma tell you about me?"
She shrugged. "Nothing. Leda said you were a junkie. What does it matter? You think you can delay me until a Slayer arrives?"
"Nah. I'm just looking to see if you'd be willing to settle for me and let the kid go. He has nothing to do with it."
"No can do."
"Okay, worth a try." He jumped, not at her but at the window she stood next too. The glass shattered as he went through. He hooked an arm around her.
The spell sensed that as violent, propelling them apart but not before he managed to drag her into free fall with him. Connor sort of loved this part, the feeling of weightlessness as he fell. His knees and hips all but screamed as he landed. He stumbled forward, and the faux nurse struck ground like a sack of potatoes. He still had the knife in his pocket he'd been carrying around all day, so he pulled it free.
She raised her head, no longer looking human. Long, bull-like horns framed her face and wicked blunt fangs protruded from her lips. A purplish ichor dripped from the cuts she'd sustained. Blood ran down his own legs but not a lot. He hadn't torn out an artery with the window glass.
"What the hell are you?" her voice sounding rough and yet somehow lisping around her big teeth.
"Someone who's getting tired of being asked that. Guess now we dance." He grinned.
"Gladly." She tossed herself up to her feet just as someone screamed 'sister!'
Connor glanced around and saw another demoness who matched the one he faced off with. "Perfect."
He slashed at the one he'd dragged out the window, but she proved faster than he expected for something that had crashed landed from four stories. She charged him as the other demoness thundered across the hospital grounds.
He was too out of practice. When he was the Destroyer, two demons would barely make him blink. Now he sweated and tried to hurry the kill so not to have to take them on together.
"Connor!"
Buffy's voice startled him, and the demoness slipped under his guard. He grunted as her horn dug into his belly. He kicked her back.
"My gut has had enough of this impaling shit," he growled, seeing Buffy and a twenty-something tall African-American woman racing across the grounds. "Buffy, they were inside Tin Man's room. There could be more."
"I'll check," the Slayer he didn't know said, doubling back. Boy, he hoped she was a Slayer or a mage at least.
Buffy closed the distance between her, him and the two demons. She had a small axe that he coveted at the moment. He kicked one of the sisters her way.
"Don't you touch my sister!" the one he'd defenestrated screamed.
She charged him. Connor grabbed her by the horns, flipping over her like a bull dancer from Haven's art history class, featuring the Etruscans. Keeping a grip on her horn with one hand, Connor slashed her neck with his knife. Purple blood sprayed out, and he cut deeper silencing her as he bisected her windpipe. He stumbled as her head came off in his hand.
Her headless body flailed about, and then convulsed in and out as if breathing with its whole being. She exploded, covering him with purple goo and splashing Buffy who fought nearby. Shuddering, she took the other sister's head off with the axe, swinging it like she was trying to hit a homerun. Even more goo swamped them.
"Oh god, what fresh hell is this?" he muttered, taking off for the hospital entrance.
"Grossest demon ever?" she questioned, pacing him.
"Agreed. By the way, Dad got smoked a little. He's alive but I'm betting he's pretty burnt and pissed off."
"Lovely. What did they want?"
"Me and Tin Man. Maybe Darts, I don't know. I wasn't in her room," Connor said, hating he had no idea if she were safe. "I guess we were going to be bait to lure Gunn out. They think we're friends."
"Aren't you?"
"It's way more complicated than that."
Connor slid to a stop in the lobby seeing Tin Man trying to painfully jog and hold his hospital gown closed at the same time. Panic had his eyes rolling and his body shaking.
"Tin Man, it's okay now. You don't have to run anymore," Connor said but he didn't stop. "Niklas, please, stop. It's safe."
"You're covered in…are those purple gut chunks?" Niklas backpedaled, losing the hold on his gown.
"I'm not even sure at this point." Connor tugged at his shirt. "Whatever it is, it's stiffening up. I really want to take a shower, and then you and I can talk. I promise."
"Your brother looked like a vampire!" Niklas shrilled.
"Yeah, I'll explain about that too. I promise. I'll go back to your room with you, shower there, be sure no one hurts you."
Niklas edged further down the hall. "How you gonna do that if you're in the shower?"
"I'm betting Buffy here has someone who can keep an eye out." He nodded to Buffy who looked as disgusted as he felt with the drying demon guts all over them.
"We can do that," Wes said, appearing from one of the side corridors. Spike was behind him.
"See? It'll be okay," Connor said.
Niklas shook his head violently. "There are monsters here!"
"They're dead now," Connor replied, flatly as he tried to get closer to his young charge. "I will keep you safe. Have I ever lied to you, Niklas?" The irony was, he could be lying now.
"You jumped out of a four-story building, and you're not hurt. What are you?" Niklas said, backing away even further.
Tired of that question, Connor thought. "I'm special, and I swear, if you go back to your room and go back to bed, I'll answer all your questions. I don't want you to hurt yourself more, and I have to check on Darts, too."
"Willow's with her," Faith said, coming up behind Spike and Wes.
"Niklas, that's Faith. She'll stay with you in your room unless there's still a danger running around here but I'm betting not if she's here. Trust me when I say the monsters are no match for her."
Niklas eyed her, still shaking. "Okay but I don't want all that smelly stuff in my room." He gestured to Connor's clothing.
"I'll shower elsewhere. Give me ten minutes."
"Okay," Niklas whispered.
Wes put a hand on Niklas' shoulder, tugging the gown shut better. "I'll go with you too."
Faith led the way, and Connor watched them go as he beckoned Spike closer. "Were there more?"
"A witch. Willow and Pam stopped her," he replied. "You're bleeding."
"It's been a crappy half hour. Where did Angel go?"
"Basement," Spike said. "Your other friend wasn't hurt."
"Thanks. Can you send Willow to Niklas's room? He's probably going to need a sedative or something. And something for pain too since he's running around with broken bones. I'll be there as soon as I can."
As Spike nodded, Buffy tapped Connor's shoulder. "Follow me. We can shower in the doctor's changing room and grab some scrubs from there."
"And we should check the staff anyhow. That bitch had to steal the scrubs she had on somewhere."
No one was in the changing rooms, no demons, no bodies. He retreated to the men's room, showered until his skin burned from the scrubbing. It seemed to take forever to get the clotted crap out of his hair. Maybe it was time to cut it off, but he was oddly reluctant to even think about it. His belly bled heavily but seemed to be trying to clot. He jammed a towel against it before he dressed and headed upstairs.
Niklas sat on the edge of a bed in a different room than before. He hadn't thought about the fact that Niklas's room was minus one window pane. Willow was trying to talk him into lying down. Niklas popped off the bed when he spotted Connor.
"I don't want to be here," he cried.
"I know but you're safe here. The monsters can't fight inside the hospital." Connor went to put his hands on Niklas's shoulders, but he flinched away, breaking Connor's heart. "I won't hurt you, Niklas. You know me. I have always looked out for you."
"I didn't know you could walk off a fall like that. That's not normal."
Connor sat on Niklas's bed, patting the mattress. "Sit and we'll talk."
Reluctantly, obviously terrified Connor would attack him, Niklas sat down. "You pulled a woman out of the window. Why did you kill her?"
"That purple goo, that was demon blood. She was the real monster. What I am is someone who fights the monsters," Connor said, trying to ignore the skeptical look Niklas flung his way. "I forgot that for many years. Drugs will do that to you, magic too. Not all magic is bad, and there are things in this world that look evil but aren't. There are things that look angelic who are the exact opposite. I know that's terrifying and heavy but me and all my friends here, we're the best defense against the evil."
"She wanted to take us away," Niklas said softly.
"To be bait for another demon but they can't fight inside this building so I had to get her away from you," Connor said, not about to mention he was too demonic to do battle inside a sanctuary spell. "She was trying to take us to the same demon that killed Pan, Howler and Misty." He shuddered at the memory, and Niklas curled in on himself crying out softly as his broken bones reminded him that was a bad idea. "Shh, Niklas, it'll be okay."
"You didn't know she was a demon then," Niklas reminded him.
"I didn't know myself then, because of some bad magic but now I do. I wish you hadn't seen what you did. I would love for you to be blissfully unaware of the true horrors that are out there, but we can't undo it," Connor said, figuring there was probably a half dozen spells that could, but he wasn't about to let magic warp Niklas's mind unless there was no other way to bring him back to peace. "So instead I'm telling you the ugly truth."
"And your brother's face? Why did he look like a vampire?"
Connor sighed. Before he could answer, he heard from the hall, "Connor, are you okay?"
Angel peeked around the corner, his face blistered. Niklas gasped, bumping up against Connor. He put an arm around Niklas. Buffy and Gunn moved around Angel to stand against the wall. There were too many people in this room, and he wanted to yell at them all to get out, but they probably wanted to know what he was going to say.
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding," Niklas held up his hand, rogued with Connor's blood.
He glanced down to see he'd bled through the towel and scrub shirt. It had leaked down the front of his pants. "It's a little hole. I'll be fine."
Willow pulled him away from Niklas with surprising strength. She yanked up his scrub shirt and eased the towel away to expose the hole in his belly. She narrowed her eyes at him. "What is your definition of little?"
"I promised to talk to Niklas. You can patch it up," he replied, noticing Niklas had gone green. He should have realized it would upset Niklas.
Sighing, Willow dropped the hem of his shirt and stalked out of the room. Buffy helped Niklas to his feet and escorted him to the bathroom to wash off his hands.
"I saw the blisters on your brother's face," Niklas called. "Sunlight did that. He is a vampire!" He stumbled back into the room and sat next to Connor again.
"Well, first, he's not really my brother. You know how your father is a cruel homophobe? Well mine's a vampire." Connor swept a hand to Angel.
Niklas's eyes widened. "Really? That would make you a dhampir."
"I guess so."
Niklas grinned. "You're like a super White Blade!"
Connor mulled that over and laughed as Willow came back with some gauze pads that she slapped to his gut and taped into place. "Yes, I am like a super White Blade."
"Are you talking nonsense? Did you hit your head in the fall?" Angel asked.
"How many Wesley Snipes Blade movies have there been?" Connor asked. "How could you have missed them?"
"And all the comic books," Niklas said. "I really liked those, but it was hard to get them even before Dad kicked me out. He thought comic books were evil."
"Blade is a half human, half vampire….well vampire slayer really. As for Angel over there, he's an exception to the rule. He's an actually good vampire but for the most part they are terrible creatures," Connor said.
"Are you saying he's good because he's your dad?"
"No, I don't even get along with him much but it's true."
"I know you can go out in the sun, but do you drink blood too?"
Connor curled his lip. "No! I'm not vampiric in any way…other than the 'I can jump four stories' sort of thing," he ended sheepishly.
"Here, take this," Willow gave Niklas a pill and a glass of water. "It'll help. You've had far too much excitement."
Niklas took it obediently. Connor figured it was a sedative.
"So now you know, Niklas. I hope you're not afraid of me."
Niklas tossed his arms around Connor, hugging him tight. They both grunted in pain. "You don't scare me. You're a hero."
"Not always but I'm glad you think so." Connor patted the mattress. "Why don't you just rest? We can talk more tomorrow. I want you to promise me you won't leave here until I say it's okay. They're looking for me and you, so they can lure him out." He pointed to Gunn. "If that happens, he could get killed, or we could or both. So, promise me you'll stay."
"I'll stay." Niklas yawned. It must have been one hell of a sedative Willow had given him. He stretched out on the bed. Connor got off the mattress and covered Niklas up. "Wouldn't it be fun to go to Comicon? You can't go as Blade, but we could find someone to dress up as."
"I will try to make that happen," Connor's voice shook as he told that bold faced lie. He wouldn't get that chance. Social services would take Niklas away from him. "Get some sleep. Someone will be around to help keep you safe."
"Okay," Niklas replied blearily.
Willow took Connor's arm, hustling him out of the room. "Now that you've settled him, you're getting your skinny butt down to the OR. Little hole my eye."
"I can smell that it's still bleeding," Angel said, following them.
"Okay I got gored a little, but it'll heal," he protested.
"Son, don't argue with Willow. You're not likely to win."
"I'm not arguing. I would love to have it fixed up a little, and I'd about kill for something for the pain, but I know that's not going to happen." He sighed.
"I'll give you an aspirin," she replied. "You told him everything."
"Hope that won't be a problem…or a mistake."
"We're going to meet up here and talk about what happened. You and Willow can join us later," Angel said.
"Sounds good." Connor wondered if Willow would give him one of those sedatives. He could deal with that right about now. He wasn't up for another strategy session but if it protected his kids, he could suck up all this pain and deal.
