Dealing with Demons

Disclaimer: Characters and Premise are borrowed from the show "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer."

I have to admit, meeting Angel has been educational. Vampires, demons, other things that go bump in the night are real. Who would have guessed?

I thought I was dealing with that little fact fairly well. Angel's secretary… partner… assistant… actually I'm not quite sure what position she holds, anyway, Cordelia Chase thinks I could do a lot better.

I had a case with some bizarre aspects. Before Angel's little revelation I probably wouldn't have even noticed them. Now it's like my eyes have been pried open and I have no choice but to see the evidence that the world is a different place than I was lead to believe. I decided an expert opinion on weird would be helpful, so I called Angel.

I noticed Angel sounded distracted when I called and when he showed up, Chase was in tow. She was definitely hovering about him. I probably should have asked what was wrong, but I figured it was probably something demonic that I didn't really want to know about, so I didn't.

Normally Angel is very good at what he does, a real professional. That's why I haven't said anything about his lack of a detective's license. That night, however, was different. Angel just wasn't focused on what he was doing. Every time a pager or cell phone went off he'd jump. As far as I was concerned the last straw was when he touched a piece of evidence before we had a chance to fingerprint it.

I balled him out for it, still at that point I don't think I'd said anything I wouldn't have said to a human who had made the same mistake. Then his cell phone rang. He answered it, listened awhile, and then asked if he should come. After that he handed the phone to Chase and started walking off.

That's when I lost my temper. He just walked off in the middle of an investigation without one word of explanation. I grabbed his shoulder, tried to force him to stop, I forgot he's stronger than a human.

At that point I started screaming at him. Among other things I called him a vampire at the top of my lungs. That's when Chase stepped in. Her tirade started by asking me if I wanted to get Angel killed.

I didn't know what she meant. She pointed out that most people know how to kill a vampire and Angel didn't need to deal with a bunch of Van Helsing wannabes.

After that she moved on to a more general lecture, on how Angel has feelings and I should act like he doesn't. She was furious about my calling demons "evil things". I had no idea Doyle was a demon, or that Cordelia Chase had admitted to being in love with him. She also reminded me that whatever Angel was now, he had been human once and he did understand what that meant. Apparently Angel had been bothered enough by my comments to the contrary that he'd mentioned them to Cordelia.

Finally she told me what was going on. It turns out there was this girl in Sunnydale. Cordelia described her relationship with Angel as a real Romeo and Juliet thing. Only Angel decided to end things before the final act. Well this girl was some sort of a demon hunter, and she'd gotten hurt. That was why Angel had been so jumpy. He and Cordelia were waiting for her to get out of surgery. That's what the call had been about. The girl had survived surgery, but was still in critical condition. Angel wanted to go to her, but her friends thought it would be better for her if he didn't.

This girl might die, Angel won't ever get to say goodbye to her. Cordelia's furious about that too. She says their friends in Sunnydale have no right to tell Angel to stay away.

Until that night I never recognized how close Angel and Cordelia have become. They're almost like siblings, the type that would never admit to liking each other but would protect the other to the death.

I wonder how they met. Angel's a, well a what he is, on top of that he's reserved and awkward around people. Almost shy if he's not involved in a case. Cordelia on the other hand is an aspiring actress and a former debutant. They just don't seem to have anything in common, but the bond they share is real.

I wonder how Cordelia can feel friendship for Angel. She had to know at least as much as I do about his past, and all I can see when I look at him is a monster disguised as a human being. Cordelia sees a person she cares about. I can't understand that.

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