Notes: I brought back Doyle because I really like his character. Don't know if there'll be romance or not. Maybe a bit of Spike and Buffy later. This is a sequel to my story "Visit of the Slayer." This time Katherine visits Buffy's universe to search for the missing Angel.
Disclaimer: Angel and Buffy characters do not belong to me, they belong to Joss and Company.
Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is very welcome. You can e-mail me at tyrapendragon@yahoo.com.
I got the call around midnight. I was in my office doing some paperwork for my latest client. It was for a guy who was convinced his wife was having an affair. He traveled a lot for work and I was thinking maybe he felt guilty leaving her alone so much. He asked me to follow her around during one of his business trips. It turned out the truth was even stranger than he thought. She was studying Voodoo with a Haitian Priestess. So there I was typing up a report on the rooster sacrifice I had seen and taken pictures of when the phone rang.
"Drummond Investigations, Katherine here," I said as I picked up the phone.
The voice on the other line sounded really nervous, "Uh, someone wants to talk to you."
"OK, put them on the phone, then."
"No, you have to come here. You have to talk to this person in person."
"I don¹t usually make house calls. Is there a good reason for me to come visit this person at midnight?"
"Yeah, he's in the circle. We're not going to let him out. We were trying to summon a demon and we got this guy. He says he needs to talk to Katherine Drummond, a detective. That¹s you right? You got to come help us."
Demons are one thing I haven't dealt with. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, sure, but no demons. And this one wanted to talk to me. Just Great, I thought.
Sometimes there are disadvantages to being a private detective with supernatural connections. I bet if I was normal, this demon wouldn¹t have ever heard of me.
"All right, give me your address and I¹ll be there as soon as I can," I said.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the guy said.
He gave me an address in the International District, Seattle¹s version of China Town. Apparently it was at a business called Chang¹s Import Export. Perhaps it was a warehouse. Then I had to decide whether I wanted to go fly there or drive my Honda Civic. I'd get there faster if I flew, but if this guy was just crazy, it might be best to take him somewhere in my car. I guess it would have to be the emergency room at this time of night.
I headed south. My office is right down town near the Pike Place Market, so it wasn¹t a long drive. I found a parking space and headed for Chang¹s. It was a wholesale place and there was a young man with short blonde hair and freckles standing outside smoking a clove cigarette. He was wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt and dark brown Doc Martins. I assumed this was the caller. I walked up to him. I tend to move very quietly. He dropped his cigarette and started shaking when he finally noticed me.
"I'm Katherine Drummond, you the one who called?" I asked.
"Nope, that was Jimmy. He's still inside with the demon. I'm Toby," he said and offered me his hand to shake.
I ignored it and said, "Well, show the way. The night's not getting any younger."
Toby nodded and opened the door he had been standing in front of. He led the way down a dark hallway past a door that probably led to the office and an open door to the bathroom. We got to the end of the hall and he opened the door. He gestured for me to go in.
"Aren't you coming in as well?" I asked.
"No, I don't want to be in there when you talk to the demon," Toby said.
"What's this demon look like anyway?"
"You'll see."
I shrugged and went through the door. Toby closed it behind me and I heard the lock being turned. On the other side was a large room filled with boxes and crates. It was dark except for the flickering of what had to be candles, which I could see through the cracks in some of the crates. I headed for the light and found myself in an open area. A chalk circle was drawn on the cement floor, with a pentagram in the center. There was a white candle lit at each point of the star. A young man was standing outside the circle, with his back to it. He was tall and skinny with long dark hair in a pony tail. He was listening to something on a walkman.
In the center of the circle was the "demon." He was a man who seemed to be thirty or so with short black hair. He was wearing dark pants, a light shirt, and a leather jacket. He looked at me and smiled. I stepped into the light of the candles. The man outside the circle, who I assumed was Jimmy saw me and looked like he was going to make a run for it. I grabbed his wrist with one hand and pulled his head phones off with the other.
"What kind of sucker do you guys take me for? That's no demon. Why did you get your friend to stand in the circle and make a fool of himself and me?" I demanded.
"It's not a joke. He has to be a demon. Toby and I found this book at this antique store near here. It's in Latin, but I learned how to read Latin from my Grandpa. He was a Latin Major in college. There was a spell for summoning demons and making them grant you your wish. We came here because my girlfriend's father owns the place and she gave me the key. We did everything the book said. We said the spell right at midnight. The candles flickered and this guy appeared in the center of the Pentagram. You don't think demons would come to this plane in their true forms, do you? If we saw them that way, we¹d lose our minds."
I don't like to use my mental powers unless it's absolutely necessary, but I could tell Jimmy believed what he told me. I let go of him and walked to the edge of the circle. The man inside was still smiling at me.
"So you're a demon?" I asked.
"I'm half demon, half human," the man said. He had an Irish accent. "Let me demonstrate."
Suddenly his face changed. It went blue and spiky for a moment and then back to normal. I blinked and heard Jimmy running away. Obviously the demonstration was too much for him.
"Jimmy said you want to talk to me," I said in as calm a voice as I could manage.
"I need to talk to you, do you think you could let me out of this circle," he said.
"Why should I do that? If I let you out of the circle you could kill me and then go on a rampage."
"I know who you are, Katherine. I know all about how you met Buffy Summers and chased Spike and Drusilla in London. I've been sent to bring you to Buffy's world. You're needed there. The powers that be sent me."
From what I know of demons they aren't omniscient. So how could this guy know all of this? No one in this world except for the participants knew about that incident and I couldn¹t see any of them telling a demon about it. I decided I¹d let the guy out of the circle. If worse came to worse, I'd have to find a way to banish him anyway. Again my talent at reading people was telling me he wasn't lying. I erased part of the circle with my foot and braced myself for an attack. He stepped out of the circle and offered me his hand.
"I'm Doyle," he said.
