"I know you were looking for me," she said. "Well, whatever it is you
wanted me for, here I am."
Connor turned around to see the girl, a slight smile of amusement on her face. Before he responded to her statement, he looked around at his surroundings. He stood in the lobby of the hotel, faintly realizing that he had no recollection of how he got there.
"How did you get here?" Connor asked. "Why are you here?"
"You know how I got here, Connor. As for why I'm here. . . I need your help."
Connor was stunned and didn't try to hide his puzzled expression. "Then why did you try to kill me?"
The girl laughed loud and hard, almost hysterically, Connor thought. The girl answered, "I didn't try to kill you, Connor. I had to see if you'd be strong enough."
"Strong enough for what?" he asked, but in the instant he's blinked, the girl disappeared.
"Isn't that obvious, Connor?" He heard the voice from behind him, and when Connor turned around, he saw Cordelia walking slowly toward him, too slowly, as she purposely moved in a way that was sure to get his attention. "I need a strong man, Connor," Cordelia said. "I need a man who will fight for me and maybe even sometimes fight with me. . .but only if I get to fight with him first."
Cordelia reached out and punched Connor in the jaw so unexpectedly that he reeled sideways and fell onto his stomach. When Connor opened his eyes he saw the dirty floor of his loft. Confused, Connor looked around. Cordelia wasn't there and neither was the girl; the sun was up and Connor realized that it was just a dream.
But it had seemed so real! Connor reached up and felt his jaw where Cordelia had punched him. It was a little sore, and the only explanation that Connor could think of was that he'd hit his face when he'd fallen to the floor.
"All a dream," he muttered to himself, exasperated, before he got up and got dressed
~~~
"Where'd you go last night?" Fred asked Angel when he'd finally gotten up. "You just sort of left without saying anything."
"I went to find Connor," he answered, taking a sip from the pig's blood he'd just gotten himself.
"What'd he say about that freaky cat chick?" Gunn asked. "He left almost as abruptly as he did."
"He didn't say much, but he did know her in Quor-Toth. He wouldn't say anything about it. But he did sort of indirectly say that she was who the demons are after."
"If he knew her, then she should be able to find her more easily. And since she keeps coming to Connor, it should be a lot easier still," put in Cordelia.
"Not quite, Cordy," Angel answered, depression and disappointment being represented more than sarcasm.
"Why not?" Cordelia asked.
"Connor is about this far away," said Angel, squeezing together his thumb and forefinger, "from feeding that girl to the demons himself."
"And who would like to guess why?" the group heard from behind them.
"Wesley?" Everyone was about as surprised as Fred had sounded.
"What do you know?" Angel asked, trying to keep impatience from his voice.
"A lot more than you, it would seem," replied Wesley lightly. Wesley walked further into the hotel before continuing to say what the others were waiting to here. "You already know that Connor knew the girl before. But he knew her a lot better than you think. It turns out that they used to be - really - good friends in Quor-Toth, which, I suppose, is not surprising, given the amount of actual humans who reside there."
"So what happened?" asked Gunn curiously, but not without impatience. "If they were so close, why's she beating the hell out of him? And why is he being so cold to her?"
Ignoring the interruption, Wesley answered Gunn's questions calmly. "It seems they had a falling out right before Connor returned. She pissed him off, and you know Connor's temper. I'm still not sure about what happened or why, but I have some speculation as to how she got here."
"I can give you more than speculation," they all heard from the door. The girl was there, still wearing the black clothes but bare of the mask. Even the girl appeared to be completely non-hostile, Angel straightened where he stood, ready to defend himself if necessary.
"First let's get some things straight. I suppose one of the first things we want to know is, who are you?"
"My name is Regan Bale," the girl answered Angel without hesitation.
Cordelia exchanged curious glances with Fred before Angel asked Regan how she got to this dimension from Quor-Toth.
"I had two reasons for leaving Quor-Toth," she answered, still standing in front of the doors. "The first one was that I needed to get to Connor. The second was that I had to get away from the demons."
"The Greerimeen demons?" asked Gunn.
"Yes," Regan replied before continuing with the previous question. "I knew how dangerous it would be to come directly here from Quor-Toth, so I went to a different dimension, one that didn't have a high probability of releasing hell throughout the universes. From there I travelled through about ten different dimensions trying to get rid of the demons before I came here. Unfortunately they aren't as easy to lose as I had hoped," she finished, a hint of regret in her voice.
"So, how did you find Connor?" asked Cordelia. "How did you know he here? In L.A.?"
"Process of elimination," Regan replied reluctantly with a sigh. "How many other vampire children do you know around here? It's - a long story," she added when everyone maintained a look of slight confusion.
"The map," Lorne said into the silence. "The map of the city. The marked areas were all where Connor usually is at some time during the day."
"You're very perceptive, Lorne," Regan replied with a smile. "I also marked the known hideouts of the demons in purple."
"How did you know his name?" Angel asked, suddenly suspicious.
"It's not like I haven't watched you guys. Look, I'll explain later. Are there any more questions you'd like to ask me before I ask you one?"
"There are a few," Angel said. "If you and Connor were so close in Quor- Toth, why did you come after him like you did when you got here?"
"I had to see if he'd strong enough," she answered simply. "That's why I've been watching you: to see if you'd be strong enough."
~~~
Connor stood in the shadows on the second floor of the Hyperion watching as his father questioned Regan. It was all very easy to understand, as it was mostly things that he already knew. When Regan spoke the phrase that was in his dream, though, Connor knew it was more a coincidence. Regan had been influencing his dream last night.
Gunn asked Regan why the Greeimeens were after her and Connor barely listened to her response. "Because of a very large misunderstanding," she said. It was a misunderstanding, all right. How she could agree to that, Connor had no idea. So life with him wasn't perfect - how could it be? - but life with them. . . There would have been no competition if he had had to choose.
The questioning continued, but Connor didn't stay around to listen.
~~~
"You said that you had a question," Angel said to Regan when most of the question he'd had evaded him for the moment.
"Yes, I did, but I think now I'll ask another. How often does Connor stand in the shadows and listen to you guys without actually saying anything?" Angel and the others looked to where Regan had gestured and saw nothing. "He's gone now," she informed them.
"How did you know he was there?" Cordelia asked, sounding disbelieving.
"That is another long story," Regan answered. Then, after a slight hesitation, she said, "I came here today for a reason. I need your help."
~~~
Connor wandered around the city, not doing anything in particular, enjoying the sunlight for once in his life. Having spent most of his time in the darkness, Connor was slightly surprised to find that he enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face that day.
Feeling proud of himself for not having thought of Regan while he wandered, Connor made his way back to his apartment. His plan was to get some sleep before he went out that night hunting. Unfortunately that plan hit a small snag. Regan was waiting for Connor when he got home.
"You've certainly developed a habit of showing up where you're not wanted," Connor stated flatly and coldly when he saw Regan at the windowsill.
"They agreed to help me," she replied, "whether you do or not."
"Well, good for them. I don't want anything to do with it."
"Connor. . ." Regan got off the windowsill and walked slowly toward him, her manner suggesting vulnerability. "Connor, please. Why can't you just listen to what I have to say? You never gave me the chance to explain-"
"Explain what?" shouted Connor, feeling the rage swell inside of him. "How do you explain betraying me and letting those monsters touch you?"
"Connor, I-"
"No! There's no explanation. I don't care why you're here, but if you ever come around again, the Greerimeens won't be the only ones you should be afraid of."
~~~
"Angel, how do you intend to help this girl?" Cordelia asked later that night. Things hadn't been the same since Cordelia and Connor had had sex. Cordelia had to prove many things to Angel before he allowed her to remain with them. He was angry and hurt, and Cordelia still lived with the guilt. She loved Angel, and still did. Now all she had to do was convince Angel that he still loved her, too.
"I don't know," responded Angel. "She seems to know how to kill this thing, but it wont be easy. We don't even know when it'll be here. I think all we can do for now is protect her from the Greerimeen demons and hope that Connor will listen. No matter what that girl did, she doesn't deserve to have to pay with her life."
"I agree, but Connor can be very stubborn. . . like his father," Cordelia responded, not entirely sure which emotions she should be expressing at that point in time. "But is she really in that much danger of those guys? I mean, we haven't asked her yet how she managed to kill half a dozen of them on her own."
"I know," Angel replied with a heavy sigh. "But I still think it's the right thing to do. She came to us for help. I can't just turn her away."
"How can you be sure she's being honest with us?" Cordelia asked. She continued when Angel gave her a sceptical look. "I'm serious, Angel. If she could hurt Connor like hat before, what makes you think that she's all nice now? She could be here just to hurt Connor some more, and by letting her stay here, its just like hanging a huge yellow 'kick me' sign around Connor's neck."
"I understand that you're worried about him," replied Angel shortly. "But I think this is a chance that we're just going to have to take."
"I hope you're right," muttered Cordelia, right before a long scream shattered the pending silence of the lobby of the hotel.
Connor turned around to see the girl, a slight smile of amusement on her face. Before he responded to her statement, he looked around at his surroundings. He stood in the lobby of the hotel, faintly realizing that he had no recollection of how he got there.
"How did you get here?" Connor asked. "Why are you here?"
"You know how I got here, Connor. As for why I'm here. . . I need your help."
Connor was stunned and didn't try to hide his puzzled expression. "Then why did you try to kill me?"
The girl laughed loud and hard, almost hysterically, Connor thought. The girl answered, "I didn't try to kill you, Connor. I had to see if you'd be strong enough."
"Strong enough for what?" he asked, but in the instant he's blinked, the girl disappeared.
"Isn't that obvious, Connor?" He heard the voice from behind him, and when Connor turned around, he saw Cordelia walking slowly toward him, too slowly, as she purposely moved in a way that was sure to get his attention. "I need a strong man, Connor," Cordelia said. "I need a man who will fight for me and maybe even sometimes fight with me. . .but only if I get to fight with him first."
Cordelia reached out and punched Connor in the jaw so unexpectedly that he reeled sideways and fell onto his stomach. When Connor opened his eyes he saw the dirty floor of his loft. Confused, Connor looked around. Cordelia wasn't there and neither was the girl; the sun was up and Connor realized that it was just a dream.
But it had seemed so real! Connor reached up and felt his jaw where Cordelia had punched him. It was a little sore, and the only explanation that Connor could think of was that he'd hit his face when he'd fallen to the floor.
"All a dream," he muttered to himself, exasperated, before he got up and got dressed
~~~
"Where'd you go last night?" Fred asked Angel when he'd finally gotten up. "You just sort of left without saying anything."
"I went to find Connor," he answered, taking a sip from the pig's blood he'd just gotten himself.
"What'd he say about that freaky cat chick?" Gunn asked. "He left almost as abruptly as he did."
"He didn't say much, but he did know her in Quor-Toth. He wouldn't say anything about it. But he did sort of indirectly say that she was who the demons are after."
"If he knew her, then she should be able to find her more easily. And since she keeps coming to Connor, it should be a lot easier still," put in Cordelia.
"Not quite, Cordy," Angel answered, depression and disappointment being represented more than sarcasm.
"Why not?" Cordelia asked.
"Connor is about this far away," said Angel, squeezing together his thumb and forefinger, "from feeding that girl to the demons himself."
"And who would like to guess why?" the group heard from behind them.
"Wesley?" Everyone was about as surprised as Fred had sounded.
"What do you know?" Angel asked, trying to keep impatience from his voice.
"A lot more than you, it would seem," replied Wesley lightly. Wesley walked further into the hotel before continuing to say what the others were waiting to here. "You already know that Connor knew the girl before. But he knew her a lot better than you think. It turns out that they used to be - really - good friends in Quor-Toth, which, I suppose, is not surprising, given the amount of actual humans who reside there."
"So what happened?" asked Gunn curiously, but not without impatience. "If they were so close, why's she beating the hell out of him? And why is he being so cold to her?"
Ignoring the interruption, Wesley answered Gunn's questions calmly. "It seems they had a falling out right before Connor returned. She pissed him off, and you know Connor's temper. I'm still not sure about what happened or why, but I have some speculation as to how she got here."
"I can give you more than speculation," they all heard from the door. The girl was there, still wearing the black clothes but bare of the mask. Even the girl appeared to be completely non-hostile, Angel straightened where he stood, ready to defend himself if necessary.
"First let's get some things straight. I suppose one of the first things we want to know is, who are you?"
"My name is Regan Bale," the girl answered Angel without hesitation.
Cordelia exchanged curious glances with Fred before Angel asked Regan how she got to this dimension from Quor-Toth.
"I had two reasons for leaving Quor-Toth," she answered, still standing in front of the doors. "The first one was that I needed to get to Connor. The second was that I had to get away from the demons."
"The Greerimeen demons?" asked Gunn.
"Yes," Regan replied before continuing with the previous question. "I knew how dangerous it would be to come directly here from Quor-Toth, so I went to a different dimension, one that didn't have a high probability of releasing hell throughout the universes. From there I travelled through about ten different dimensions trying to get rid of the demons before I came here. Unfortunately they aren't as easy to lose as I had hoped," she finished, a hint of regret in her voice.
"So, how did you find Connor?" asked Cordelia. "How did you know he here? In L.A.?"
"Process of elimination," Regan replied reluctantly with a sigh. "How many other vampire children do you know around here? It's - a long story," she added when everyone maintained a look of slight confusion.
"The map," Lorne said into the silence. "The map of the city. The marked areas were all where Connor usually is at some time during the day."
"You're very perceptive, Lorne," Regan replied with a smile. "I also marked the known hideouts of the demons in purple."
"How did you know his name?" Angel asked, suddenly suspicious.
"It's not like I haven't watched you guys. Look, I'll explain later. Are there any more questions you'd like to ask me before I ask you one?"
"There are a few," Angel said. "If you and Connor were so close in Quor- Toth, why did you come after him like you did when you got here?"
"I had to see if he'd strong enough," she answered simply. "That's why I've been watching you: to see if you'd be strong enough."
~~~
Connor stood in the shadows on the second floor of the Hyperion watching as his father questioned Regan. It was all very easy to understand, as it was mostly things that he already knew. When Regan spoke the phrase that was in his dream, though, Connor knew it was more a coincidence. Regan had been influencing his dream last night.
Gunn asked Regan why the Greeimeens were after her and Connor barely listened to her response. "Because of a very large misunderstanding," she said. It was a misunderstanding, all right. How she could agree to that, Connor had no idea. So life with him wasn't perfect - how could it be? - but life with them. . . There would have been no competition if he had had to choose.
The questioning continued, but Connor didn't stay around to listen.
~~~
"You said that you had a question," Angel said to Regan when most of the question he'd had evaded him for the moment.
"Yes, I did, but I think now I'll ask another. How often does Connor stand in the shadows and listen to you guys without actually saying anything?" Angel and the others looked to where Regan had gestured and saw nothing. "He's gone now," she informed them.
"How did you know he was there?" Cordelia asked, sounding disbelieving.
"That is another long story," Regan answered. Then, after a slight hesitation, she said, "I came here today for a reason. I need your help."
~~~
Connor wandered around the city, not doing anything in particular, enjoying the sunlight for once in his life. Having spent most of his time in the darkness, Connor was slightly surprised to find that he enjoyed the feel of the sun on his face that day.
Feeling proud of himself for not having thought of Regan while he wandered, Connor made his way back to his apartment. His plan was to get some sleep before he went out that night hunting. Unfortunately that plan hit a small snag. Regan was waiting for Connor when he got home.
"You've certainly developed a habit of showing up where you're not wanted," Connor stated flatly and coldly when he saw Regan at the windowsill.
"They agreed to help me," she replied, "whether you do or not."
"Well, good for them. I don't want anything to do with it."
"Connor. . ." Regan got off the windowsill and walked slowly toward him, her manner suggesting vulnerability. "Connor, please. Why can't you just listen to what I have to say? You never gave me the chance to explain-"
"Explain what?" shouted Connor, feeling the rage swell inside of him. "How do you explain betraying me and letting those monsters touch you?"
"Connor, I-"
"No! There's no explanation. I don't care why you're here, but if you ever come around again, the Greerimeens won't be the only ones you should be afraid of."
~~~
"Angel, how do you intend to help this girl?" Cordelia asked later that night. Things hadn't been the same since Cordelia and Connor had had sex. Cordelia had to prove many things to Angel before he allowed her to remain with them. He was angry and hurt, and Cordelia still lived with the guilt. She loved Angel, and still did. Now all she had to do was convince Angel that he still loved her, too.
"I don't know," responded Angel. "She seems to know how to kill this thing, but it wont be easy. We don't even know when it'll be here. I think all we can do for now is protect her from the Greerimeen demons and hope that Connor will listen. No matter what that girl did, she doesn't deserve to have to pay with her life."
"I agree, but Connor can be very stubborn. . . like his father," Cordelia responded, not entirely sure which emotions she should be expressing at that point in time. "But is she really in that much danger of those guys? I mean, we haven't asked her yet how she managed to kill half a dozen of them on her own."
"I know," Angel replied with a heavy sigh. "But I still think it's the right thing to do. She came to us for help. I can't just turn her away."
"How can you be sure she's being honest with us?" Cordelia asked. She continued when Angel gave her a sceptical look. "I'm serious, Angel. If she could hurt Connor like hat before, what makes you think that she's all nice now? She could be here just to hurt Connor some more, and by letting her stay here, its just like hanging a huge yellow 'kick me' sign around Connor's neck."
"I understand that you're worried about him," replied Angel shortly. "But I think this is a chance that we're just going to have to take."
"I hope you're right," muttered Cordelia, right before a long scream shattered the pending silence of the lobby of the hotel.