Descent - 8/16
The prophecy was written in Latin.
"Wesley?" Kate nudged him with her elbow. "Help us out here? What does it say?"
Wesley picked up the book and translated smoothly:
from the edges of the known world
drawn by evil mask'd as right
three lost souls will come and wait
in the dwelling place of angels
at the birth of centuries
blood will out but will not sate
as the prophecy predicts it
when the time of birth-death comes
life regained can be his fate
while eternity is watching
visions of mortality
kindred can open the gate
from the threesome he must take of
that which he cannot return
restore life and death abate
"OK, wrong question." said Kate. "What does it mean?"
"First things first." Wesley turned to Angel. The vampire had not moved, and paid no attention to the prophecy. He was clutching the tattered newspaper to his chest. "Are things making any more sense now? Can you tell us any more about the victims?"
Angel spoke heavily, as if slightly drunk. "I think so." He held the crumpled page against him with one hand, as if he didn't want to let it go. His other hand smoothed it out with long strokes, as if it were something precious.
Kate approached him cautiously and stretched out a hand. "Can we see?"
When laid on the table, the page showed the results of Shawna Copeland's hobby. Where the newspaper had gleaned the information wasn't clear, but the writers must have had a good source or vivid imaginations, because they had constructed a family tree going back nearly three centuries.
"Angel? Which is the important part? What do we need to understand?"
Angel was unresponsive. He wandered away from them to slump in the chair Kate had vacated an hour before, and covered his face with his hands.
"What's his deal?" Cordy hissed.
Wesley shook his head at her. "I think he's probably in shock."
"Why?"
"He's just found out about the death of a relative."
"Wesley! Cryptic much?"
Wesley pointed at a particular branch of the tree. "If I'm reading this correctly, Shawna Copeland believed she was descended from the illegitimate child of an English aristocrat. One Anne Russell. That lady gave birth secretly, in 1752, nearly a year after she left England to visit her sister, who'd married into Irish nobility. The family seat of this new alliance was in Galway. Once born, the child was given to servants of the family who both acted as wet-nurse and raised him as their own."
"Oh my word." Cordy gaped. "Angel's baby?"
"Looking at his reaction, I'd say so, wouldn't you? And if I'm not much mistaken," Wesley whispered, "we'd find a similar connection with Eddie Brown. Presumably the news given to each victim by Wolfram & Hart was that Angel was their long-lost relative. They weren't looking for family history at all. They were looking for family."
They glanced over towards Angel. He was making small rocking movements in the chair.
"Do you think he'll be all right?" Kate looked from Cordelia to Wesley and back again.
Wesley shook his head. "I have no idea."
Kate crept over and crouched in front of the swaying Angel. "Hey... how are you doing in there."
For a moment there was no response, then, just as she was about to try again, he started blurting out short, staccato sentences. "Funny thing. Even then I was bad news. Started ruining lives early on. Obviously didn't need to be a vampire."
"Angel... you don't know that. He might have had a very comfortable life. He probably did, growing up in a big house. Compared with most children, he would have been warm and well-fed and..."
With an effort, Angel forced a deliberately coherent sentence out. "What happened to her?"
Wesley looked back at the newsprint. "She... ah, well. It looks as if..." He sighed. "She died in the same year as giving birth."
"See? I killed her. Women died in childbirth then. They died all the time."
"Or it could be a coincidence." Kate said gently. "People died of lots of things then. Lots of diseases that no-one dies of now. You know that. You were there. Wesley?"
"I'm sorry. The note here says her death was probably caused by puerperal fever. I don't know how they know that. It could be a guess."
Angel grimaced. "Plus ca change... Seems like people are still dying because of me. Just like they always have. Anne, Shawna..."
"No!" Kate gripped him by the arms and shook him. "You don't kill people any more. You didn't kill Shawna. This... isn't your fault."
"I never even got to meet her."
"Angel..." Kate threw Wesley and Cordelia an agonised look, and they came over and gathered around him. After a moment, he started up, eagerly.
"Can I see it? Can I have the file again?"
"Of course... here."
Leaving Angel with the news clippings, the others repaired to the kitchen, under the pretence they were going to make more coffee. Kate shut the door quietly behind them.
"OK. Now what?"
Wesley rubbed his face with both hands wearily. "He doesn't look good."
"Good or not," Cordy said, "If Kate was right, if we've found the link between the victims, Angel must know something that will help us identify the third."
"Maybe." Kate mused, "But maybe Wolfram & Hart could help us more. They might already know who their third victim will be. There wasn't much of a gap between the first and second murders. Perhaps they're already luring him or her here."
They fell silent for a moment, then Cordy said. "Can I make a suggestion? We actually make some coffee and just ask him? If he's not up to telling us, we can go after the information elsewhere."
Angel was pouring over the news clippings. He looked up when they came in. "It says the family emigrated to Australia from England in the nineteen-fifties. Like, no-one was transported or anything."
Wesley smiled, "Good. That's a load off all our minds."
"Angel?" Cordy began, tentatively, "Do you think, well, perhaps there were others?"
"His name was Will. It's a nice name. Not a family name, but I like it." His finger traced the name on the page, then he frowned. "Others?"
"Other children. Maybe ones you didn't know about. Back when you were human."
"I don't know."
"Well, could there have been? I mean, is it even possible?"
He looked blank.
"I think what Cordelia is trying to get at," Wesley said, "is - did you have that kind of relationship with any other women. At the time."
"Yes."
"Who were they? Can you tell us?"
"I... I..." Angel stammered.
"We're just trying to help Angel," Kate assured him, "If you can remember, it might help us save a life."
He looked hopelessly at them all. "I can't help you."
"Why not?"
"There were lots. Most of them I never saw again."
"Lots?"
"Some of them didn't even have names. I mean, I didn't ask. I don't know how many."
Cordelia gaped. "You slept with women and you didn't even ask their names?"
Angel nodded. "I wouldn't know where to start."
