CHAPTER FOUR
It's storming broken glass, corpses left in piles
Ungracious bludgeonment that breaks the earth for miles
Nothing can stop it, the day has come,
from below it's catastrophic
Freezing, there's no healing families are dying
This world is shattered... all shattered
Life crushing turbulence, this wrath can't be denied
Wishing you could help your friends,
standing where they died
Echoes haunting, a hollow planet,
lacerations, dissected nation
Shattered -Pantera
Connor looked around the Hyperion's lobby. It was barely past dawn but since the world hadn't ended, he and Cordy had agreed they'd better check on the others. As a team they seemed intact but beaten. Angel's face was bruised and an angry wound marred his thick neck. Gunn was propped up on the couch with a dazed, pain-filled look etched into his face. Fred, arms wrapped protectively around her lover, seemed to have escaped harm. Even Lorne had sustained some damage but Connor really didn't care. He was a demon and beneath notice. Wesley was in relatively better shape than the rest.
Seeing how slowly both Connor and Cordy were moving, Angel turned to them, worry in his dark eyes. "Thank God you're alive. Are you two all right?"
"I'm sore," Cordy replied, her fingers trailing to her bruised neck. "And Connor has broken ribs."
Connor tried not to stiffen as his father came to him, gently touching his shoulder. The anxiety in the vampire's eyes trebled. For his part, Connor had been horrified to find he had left Cordelia aching. She assured him that it was all right, a small price to pay. He knew how strong he was but reining it in when his mind was totally consumed with lust had been too much for him.
"Are you…" Angel started to say, a strange expression on his battered face.
"Fine," Connor jerked out of his grasp. His father would be able to smell Cordelia on him despite the bath. Part of him actually cared that it would hurt Angel. He was so weak. His father…Holtz would have been so ashamed of him.
"If something actually hurt you, Connor, I'm just gonna assume it was the ugly sucker we ran into," Gunn said, talking seeming to drain him further.
"If it looked like Darkness' stunt double, that's the one," Cordy said, collapsing on the couch.
"What?" Wesley's perplexed look mirrored the others.
"Darkness from the movie Legend?" Seeing no comprehension, Cordy rolled her eyes. "It's a Tom Cruise movie."
"We saw the thing with hooves and horns," Connor broke in. "It's all my fault."
Cordy flinched, hearing his pain. She got back up and went to him. "Baby, we've talked about this. It has nothing to do with you." She brushed his bangs back.
Connor saw the hurt look in his father's eyes and the curiosity playing across Fred's wan face but he didn't care. It was unimportant in the grand scheme of things. "It does."
"What did you do this time?" Gunn snarled, and Connor's shoulders hunched in.
"He didn't do anything," Cordy said, looping a protective arm around Connor.
Connor pulled away from her. "It's connected to me. That thing came through in the alley I was born in."
"What?" Angel drew the word out in shock.
"I was trying to get a handle on a vision…maybe more a remembrance of my time on the higher plane. Connor went with me. I didn't want to talk to you until I knew something more than a big brewin' evil was headed our way," Cordy said. "We saw it enter this world in the alley Darla died in."
"Do you know why?" Connor turned to Wesley. "Do your books say?"
"I haven't…" Wesley looked into the young man's hard eyes. "There has been so much wrong and misinterpreted in the prophecies concerning you, Connor, that I wouldn't want to guess. But I'm thinking no one saw this coming."
"It's here because of me." Connor turned away from Wesley and sagged to the floor. His body quivered with rage and fear. Everyone froze, not expecting this.
"It's not your fault," Wesley said. "But it cannot be a coincidence."
"Wesley," Angel hissed but the ex-Watcher refused to look apologetic.
"I was never meant to be." Connor didn't even care there were tears streaking down his face, dripping to the floor. Cordy took a step toward him but froze at the look in his eyes.
"No, quite the opposite, I would say. Your mother did everything she could to abort you," Wesley said.
"Wesley!" This time Angel made the name a curse.
"Now is not the time to keep things hidden, Angel. You were meant to be, Connor. Your birth was protected so much so that your mother was willing to give her life for yours. A demon who probably never had a selfless thought in her life was so moved by the beauty of your life force's brilliance that she threw away immortality," Wesley said softly and Connor sobbed loudly, putting a trembling hand over his mouth.
"She said Connor was the only good thing she and I had ever done together," Angel whispered. "She wasn't wrong."
A harsh laugh tore out of Connor. "Was wrong. I've brought the evil with me."
"It doesn't matter, Connor. Unless you were out there summoning it up this isn't on you and I don't believe you called this thing," Wesley said. "No one had a clue this was coming. There is an apocalypse planned but this isn't it. Trust me, I'm in the position to know."
"I wasn't strong enough to fight it. I should have been able to," Connor said, dragging an angry hand over his wet face. "I nearly got us killed. It broke me. Nothing has ever done that before."
"We didn't do any better," Angel said, starting to pace like he usually did when angry or nervous. "Our weapons had no effect. We're only alive because it chose not to kill us."
"This had to be what Wolfram and Hart pulled out of Lorne's head," Cordelia said, glancing over at the demon apologetically.
"Glad it's gone," Lorne muttered, sipping at the glass of milk he had in hand.
"Since it's killing anyone trying to analyse it, you getting your head drilled was a good thing," Angel said, his pacing looping him past the seer.
"Do we have any idea what that thing is and how to handle it?" Fred asked, tightening her arms around Gunn.
"No," Angel said with a whole world of horror sunk into that one simple word.
"Given what's happening to the psychics trying to puzzle out what Lorne saw, Cordelia's own overwhelming sense of dread in regards to this, the manner of its entry into this plane, the signs of impending doom swamping L.A. and the fact it tore through us easier than we care to admit, I'm thinking we're going to need to tap all sorts of courses for help on this whether we want to or not," Wesley said, falling back into his Watcher-bred knack for exposition.
"You should call her, Angel," Cordy said, fear in her dark eyes.
There was no need to explain. "Contacting Buffy is the first thing on my list." The vampire sagged a little then his face hardened. "Wesley, I know you aren't exactly on good terms with the Watcher's Council anymore…"
"I'll call them immediately."
"Until we know what is going on and we have a handle on how to handle this, I think we should all stay here at the hotel," Angel said, sweeping his arm out wide to indicate them all.
"No." Connor's blue eyes went to slits.
"Connor, don't argue. We all need to work together," Angel said gently, trying his best not to seem threatening. His son was squirrelly enough normally and now he looked already to come out of his skin.
"Safety in numbers," Fred put in.
"Better target," Connor argued. "Gets us all at once."
"That's true but just for now we have to risk it," Angel said, taking a few cautious steps closer to his son.
Backing away, Connor glanced over at Cordy and she nodded. He tensed but said, "Okay. For now."
"Lorne, you have vast contacts in the demon worlds, draw on that. On the rooftop that demon was performing a summoning. I can almost guarantee he won't be the only evil we'll be facing," Wesley said.
"I've had happier thoughts but consider it done," Lorne said, his usual effervescence gone.
"Gunn, Connor, do you two feel up to making sure all the weapons are in working order and stockpiling more if need be?" Angel asked.
"I'm fine," Connor said.
"I'll reach out to my old crew. They ain't happy with me but with the city on fire they might see throwing in with us is a good thing," Gunn said.
"Good. Fred, you can help Wes with the research. Cordy, come with me. Giles and Buffy will want to hear your vision." Angel waved her on.
Cordy followed him into his office while the others disperse to start their duties. Angel sat and picked up the phone. His finger hovered over the buttons.
"And Cordelia, when we beat this thing and save the world again we'll talk about what you did to my son."
Angel's dark eyes met hers. Cordy paled and said nothing while he placed his call.
* * *
Angel fought to keep from gulping down the blood in his mug. He needed it. He had to heal but he also didn't want to use up all his supply at once. Whatever was happening wasn't confined to L.A. and blood, while not scarce since he expected it to flow in rivers, might be a luxury he wouldn't have time to sample in the near future. He wanted to rest. The others all sleeping were except Wesley and perhaps Connor. He hadn't seen his son since he and Gunn had called it a day, the weapons as ready as they'd get. Connor hadn't reclaimed his old room. Angel suspected he was hiding in the hotel. He honestly believed Connor felt safer that way. He could image his child and Holtz moving their sleeping areas every few days on Quar-toth so nothing could find them. Heaven knew he, Darla, Spike and Dru had done so from time to time back in the day. All too often they overheated the pot and had to run before the mob got them.
"Are you all right, Angel?" Wesley asked, scribbling in a journal of some sort.
Angel snorted. "Nothing's too badly broken. The Hellmouth is opening again, so we won't be getting any help from Sunnydale." Angel paused, then added softly, "I wish I could be there to help her."
Wesley nodded. "If only it were just confined to California but it's not. There's killer fog in London, toxic river monsters in Cleveland and Pittsburgh was just overrun with carnivorous rabbits. Demons are flocking to L.A."
"You know this how?"
"Lorne…and Lilah. She called me." Wesley's dark eyes studied Angel very carefully, as if the ex-Watcher expected to have to run for his life.
Angel merely scrubbed a weary hand over his hair. "I expected she would. I don't want to know what's between you two. It's none of my business and as much as I hate to admit it, if it's a link to the vast sources of Wolfram and Hart then I'm willing to use it."
Wesley's lips curled, taking a step back as Angel started pacing again. "Use me…not surprised really and I think it's possible, using Wolfram and Hart. Like I said, this isn't their apocalypse and they're very upset by all of it."
"Did you know Giles is no longer in Sunnydale? That's he's more or less retired?" Angel sighed, his agitation showing plainly in his face. "I didn't realize how out of touch I was with…things that used to be so damned important. And now he's missing, maybe dead and I know we all need his knowledge at this point."
"I'll be the first to agree. He's been at this longer than me, knows more rocks to turn over. And he has the Slayer at his side but so could we," Wesley said.
"I just told you that Buffy…oh, Faith." Angel looked at him, suddenly alert. "Do you think it's possible to get her out? That she'd even help us?"
"From all you've told me from your visits that she wants to make amends. This would go a long way to doing that. I could speak to Lilah and see if there's a legal way to spring her early. If not, I think we can manage a jail break."
"Are you willing to work with her after what she did to you?" Angel asked cautiously.
Wesley's eyes hooded. "Is it any worse than what this crew has already done to me? Or what I did to you? My pride has no place here. I can't put it before saving the world and that's what we're trying to do. There's no doubt these disturbances are world-wide."
Angel came to roost, resting his weight against the bookcase. "I wish there was a way to keep Connor from trying to shoulder all that. No matter what we say, he's going to feel like he's to blame."
"There's nothing you can do about that, Angel. Just try to help him channel those feelings into something positive, like the desire to destroy this thing."
Angel wagged his head. "He's already there, too much so. He's going to get himself killed."
"Don't worry. I can handle myself."
Both older men twisted to see Connor standing in the doorway. The boy looked ready to topple over.
"Connor, you should be getting some rest," Angel said.
"Can't sleep. Too much to do."
"We've done all we can. We're useless if we're too tired to fight." Angel went to him, shocked when Connor let him get close.
Connor's eyes fixed on his father, far too much age and pain in their deep blue depths. "Does it matter? 'And I beheld that when he opened the sixth seal...there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places'."
Angel merely stared at his son. That was probably the most he had ever heard Connor say. Trust Holtz to have burned the Bible into the boy's brain. After all, Holtz was a man of the eighteenth century and as a product of that time would have known all about the things to fear in Revelations. "I'm not going to lie, this certainly has that apocalyptic feel to it but I've been through things that were supposed to end the world." He paused, guilt flooding into his broad face. "I even tried to cause it once…and evil has always been stopped."
"And that prophecy does suggest evil will lose…eventually, leaving us with a man to rule the world with an iron rod." Wesley scowled. "Or maybe that means evil wins. Either way, it doesn't matter, we fight it until we win or we die. That's what we do."
Connor's lips skinned back in a rather maniacal smile. "Easier that way."
"I just wish…" Angel trailed off. "I'm so afraid of losing any of you that it's making it hard to think. Times like these I wish I were still Angelus. He wouldn't care about the cost of the battle."
"And he's more likely to throw in with whatever that was the came into the world last night," Wesley said and Angel nodded.
"I like how you talk about him as if Angelus was a different person than you," Connor said, his blue eyes flat and ugly.
Angel touched his son's shoulder and this time Connor did flinch away. "He is. One day you'll understand that. Wesley, grab some rest. You, too, Connor. I'm going to try to do the same."
Angel headed for the stairs. He wanted to see where Connor went, just to know where his son was but the boy didn't leave the ground floor. He was obviously determined to remain secretive. Angel was too exhausted to fight over it. He just headed for his room, wondering if it would just be better if he did give in to his demon, to cut himself off from the worry and just let go of his strength, for better or for worse.
Author's Note: Connor quoted the Book of Revelations 6:12-14