Chapter 2 - Emily

1 Three weeks earlier.

She was running.

She was running faster than she'd ever run in her entire life.

Breathless.

Fearful.

The sound of her reckless feet hitting the ground resounded in her ears as she occasionally looked over her shoulder with eyes that pierced the night with fear. She was out of breath, but she didn't care. She was exhausted, but she didn't dare stop running. She couldn't.

Her long dark hair flew as she hurried on the sidewalk, never slowing down.

She ran as if something chased her.

A young teenager, she was.

Only a teenager. Why was she running so fast? What was she running from?

Suddenly, the young girl screamed in pain and fell to her knees, bringing her escape to a serious halt. Her agonizing cry resounded in the L.A. night. Her palms violently hit the ground as she struggled to get back up on her feet. But it was too strong. The force was too powerful. She lifted her eyes and saw half of the moon dancing above her head, and as her eyes filled with invisible tears, she pushed herself up, struggled to regain her balance and looked over her shoulder one more time.

Drops of sweat sparkled on her forehead as she managed to capture her breath. She brought her hands to her chest in pain, shaking her head, and mumbling something incomprehensible.

"I got it.Got it, okay." were the words that she let out repeatedly before starting to run again.

This was getting worse.

Much worse.

--

The Hyperion Hotel bathed in profound silence and emptiness, until the loud ringing of the phone broke the tranquility.

It rang..again and again.until the machine picked up. Cordelia's voice was heard, telling whoever had called to leave a message after the beep.

"Cordelia?" the familiar voice asked in a surprisingly worried tone. "Cordelia, if you're there, please pick up." after a while, Buffy took a deep breath. "Look, this morning, I got a visit from your cousin, Emily. She was looking for you.it seemed very urgent. I don't know what's wrong but she sounded very desperate to find you. I gave her the address of Angel Investigations, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was on her way right now." Buffy explained, still with that concern in her voice. "Cordelia, something's wrong with her. She sounded very strange when I spoke to her. I don't know, maybe it's nothing and I've just been out of the loop for too long.Anyway, her parents came barging in just now because she's disappeared from the hospital.I didn't tell them I had seen her, but I really think something's up here.just.juts wanted to let you know." Buffy finished, before hanging up.

Right as her voice faded, the Hotel became silent once again.

Too silent.

--

She began running again, as fast as she could until she saw it.

Its roof, its darkness, its grandeur. She couldn't be wrong. It had to be it. She ran towards it as if her life depended on that one last sprint towards the door. She reached the large door of the Hyperion and banged on it, opening her mouth to speak but no words would come out.

"Cor." she began but it only came out as a whisper.

No answer.

Nothing.

Nobody.

She paused to take her breath and examine her surroundings when an invisible forced pushed her against the door violently. She closed her eyes in pain and fell to the ground, right in front of the door.

--

2 Later that same night.

"I'm okay, I can still walk." Cordelia's voice was heard from a distance.

"They are getting worse and worse.this is not good Cordy, and you are not okay." Angel insisted in a low voice.

Gunn and Angel helped Cordelia get out of the car and wrapped her arms around their shoulders.

"You guys are complete mysteries to the female kind, you know that?" she mused as they helped her walk towards the door. "Big muscles and all..while big, dorky softies underneath." She said looking back and forth between Gunn and Angel, managing a tired smile.

She coughed once or twice on their way to the door.

Angel's eyes rested on her face.

Tired.

Brave, but tired.

These visions were definitely taking their toll on her and he could see it.

Cordelia turned her head slightly enough to catch a glimpse of his stare. Forcing a smile that went to her eyes, she managed to ease down the hidden fears she'd seen plastered on Angel's face.

Wesley walked in front of them, going to open the door, when he stopped in his tracks.

They all followed his motion, slightly confused, slightly fearful.

"Oh my." Wesley began and then rushed to the door.

There.

Lying on the ground, was a young girl's body.

Cordelia let go of Gunn and Angel as their eyes landed on the bloody, motionless - not to mention unconscious - body. The two men rushed to Wesley's side, never realising the look of horror on Cordelia's face. Fred stood behind Cordelia.

She froze.

She found herself unable to move.

Cordelia's eyes were fixated on the girl.

Angel, Wesley and Gunn turned to face her when they heard her voice and they saw the shock on her face.

"Oh my God.Emily." she spoke again as she rushed towards the young girl and knelt on the floor beside her.

"You know her?" Fred asked, as she seemed oblivious to anything and everything else around her.

Cordelia went to touch Emily's face but the blood stopped her.

So much blood.

A long and painful silence befell them.

A haunting silence.

A dreadful silence.

"She's my cousin." Cordelia finally managed to let out.

Angel, Wesley and Gunn all stared at her momentarily, a bit stunned by Cordelia's words.

"We need to get her inside, right now." Angel said, reaching for the girl's hand.

As soon as his fingers brushed against Emily's hands, Angel gasped in pain and fell backwards.

It burned.

His fingers felt as if they were burning.

Cordelia turned and saw him grab his hand painfully and fear spread across her face. She tore her eyes away from Angel and looked back down at young Emily's motionless body. Never mind the fear. Never mind the doubts, or the danger. Cordy grabbed her cousin's arms and tried to lift her up. Her lack of strength was not helping the case here and she knew that.

She didn't care.

The feel of the warm, wet blood on her hands made her shiver initially.

Right then, Emily began to move, and she slowly opened her eyes, grimacing in pain.

"Cordy." her voice was shaky and her words simply wavered out of her mouth.

"It's okay.it's okay." Cordy whispered, desperately trying to reassure the young teenager.

Gunn, overcoming the initial shock of Angel's fall, grabbed the young girl and lifted her in his arms.

"Careful." Wesley said, pushing the door open as they all walking hurriedly.

--

She barely moved while Cordelia bandaged her arm, carefully. She barely spoke.

Such fear and worry filled everyone's eyes.

If they only knew.

"There you go." Cordy said, giving Emily a tiny smile and sitting down beside her.

"Thanks." Emily managed to say.

By the time Cordelia had been done with helping Emily, Lorne had arrived at the Hyperion. His initial reaction to seeing young Emily had been a confusing one.

The look on his face.

His long silence.

His staring.

For some reasons - inexplicable ones - Lorne had been taken aback by the sight of the strong female teenager. The look they had exchanged had not only piqued Cordelia's curiosity, but it had also worried her.

"What happened to you??" Cordelia asked, concern in her voice as she took a seat beside her cousin.

Angel and Wesley sat nearby, while Fred and Lorne sat around the counter in utter silence. All eyes were riveted on Emily.

"Nothing.I'm fine." Emily spoke.

Her voice. There was a warning in her voice.

She hadn't arrived on their doorstep by chance.

Her eyes shot Cordelia one of those looks - those same looks Cordy could throw at them sometimes.

"I need to talk to you." Emily said in a low voice as she faced Cordelia.

Such darkness in her eyes. Yet, there was this youth, this lively sparkle of hope.

"Emily, you show up here covered with blood, I think I have the right to know what happened to you first." Cordelia insisted.

"Were you attacked?" Wesley inquired, looking as thoughtful as ever.

"No." Emily said, shaking her head.

What else was she to say? Nothing else except for a simple no came to mind.

None of them seemed too convinced by her rather short answer.

"Oh sure, I end up on people's doorsteps with cuts and bruises all the time too." Cordy sarcastically said before shooting Emily a warning look. "You might as well tell us because we'll find out anyway."

"You can tell us if you were attacked." Wesley said trying to reassure the young girl.

"Was it weird? Did it have weird features and all." Cordelia tried to subtly get something out of her cousin's mouth.

Emily rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

"It wasn't a demon Cordelia." She said in a tone that made it pretty clear to everyone she knew what she was talking about.

"You know about demons.?" Angel finally spoke up.

"Uhm.hello.I am from SunnyHell. If you don't know about demons, you're a hermit or you're screwed, whichever you like best." Emily said in a typically Chase tone.

A short silence invaded the room after those words were spoken.

"You must be Angel." Emily softly spoke as she looked into Angel's eyes.

Those eyes. They seem so familiar. She looked at him as if she knew him already.

"Do I know you?" Angel inquired slowly.

A small smile crept on Emily's face and she lowered her head.

"No." she responded after a short pause.

Cordelia looked back and forth between Emily and Angel. There was something she couldn't put her finger on in the way Emily looked at Angel. It was calm and peaceful.it was familiar. All of a sudden, Emily looked calm.

Very calm.

"Emily." Cordelia spoke, not knowing exactly where to start. "What are you doing here?" she then asked with a frown.

"Just wanted to visit my favorite cousin." Emily smiled.

Cordy stared at her, unconvinced.

"Emily, what happened to you out there?" Cordelia asked in a concerned, low voice.

There was a long silence.

Emily stared at her cousin's eyes and stayed silent for a while.

"You should tell her doll." Lorne finally spoke up from the other side of the room.

Emily simply stared at him, still not making a sound.

Cordelia glanced over at Lorne and then back to Emily.

"Tell me what? What's going on?" Cordelia asked, but didn't let Emily answer. "It was a demon, wasn't it?" she blurted out.

"No.It was nothing demon-y.well, not technically." Emily said, pausing for a moment. "It's complicated."

"I've got time." Cordelia pressed her.

"Well." Emily started and then thought for a second. "God this is going to sound really cheesy, and I really don't want to steal Haley Joel Osment's thunder here, but, hum," she began and then leaned forward closer to Cordelia's face. "I see dead people." Emily finally spoke in a soft, low voice.