Connor blearily opened his eyes and groaned quietly at the thought of waking up. Even during his eighteen-year stint in hell itself, he was certain his mouth had never been so dry; he doubted he had ever been this dehydrated before. It didn't take him long to realise that he was alone; Allie must have slipped away from his side while he was sleeping. He grinned widely at the thought of the night before, he couldn't recall much of their earlier part of the evening but the memory of Allie was fresh in his mind. She had been completely different to Cordelia in every way, and despite having no feelings for her; it had somehow been more enjoyable. He lay back in silence, pulling the blanket closer to his naked body and allowing the wealth of new emotions to wash over him. He could hear whispering at the back of the room, with his abnormal hearing skills it was easy to make out Allie and Frankie's voices as well as what they were saying. Connor closed his eyes and lay back, listening.
"It was amazing, Frankie. He's so sweet and so naïve and innocent, I never thought it could be like that,"
"Oh God Allie, not again. How many times do I have to remind you not to get attached to these random guys?"
"I know, but I really like this one and I'm getting tired of waiting,"
"I hope you're kidding. You know the way this works; I'm getting sick of your damn humanity getting in the way of our mission. The time is right for Machor's return but it's all up to you,"
"I just don't understand why you always do what you do,"
"It's who I am, Allie. You keep your part of the prophecy and I'll keep mine. You better get back to him before he wakes up, oh and Allie… don't screw this up,"
Connor turned over and pretended to be asleep, he had never heard of Machor but he understood perfectly that the sisters were intent on raising him. He just didn't understand what his part was in their 'mission'. He felt Allie climb onto the sofa next to him and drape her arm over his shoulder, resting her hand on his chest.
"You awake?" she whispered in his ear, Connor yawned and turned to face her, hoping that she couldn't tell he'd been awake for a while already. "Well, hello there Mr. Man,"
"Morning missy," he grinned back, her smile seemed forced but her bright eyes sparkled even though it was relatively dark. Connor could hear Frankie moving about angrily but ignored her; if he was going to get information from either of them it would be Allie. Frankie had mentioned her 'humanity' and he knew that was the angle he had to play. "Thank you for last night, Allie. I haven't had that much fun in a long time; it was my first real party too,"
"No way! How old are you?"
"Eighteen,"
"Wow, really? I thought you were older for some reason. Look, Connor, Frankie's in a weird mood this morning so promise me you'll stay out of her way," said Allie, Connor looked at her with a smirk but she suddenly became very serious. "I mean it; you should just stay away from her when she's like this,"
"Allie, what's wrong?" he asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, Allie looked away. "What did she do to upset you?"
"Nothing," faltered Allie. Connor smiled at her hesitation, cracking Allie was going to be easy. He drew her into his arms and kissed her neck, she responded hungrily and soon they were kissing passionately again.
Wesley was the first one to wake up again and after a cup of strong, sweet tea he was ready to start reading through the pile of ancient texts Lorne had somehow procured from a Ranash demon. He was just settling down to the first volume when the telephone began to ring, he sighed and picked it up.
"Angel Investigations,"
"Hey Wes, it's me," said Connor, Wesley was glad to hear a friendly voice and not the whine of another terrified customer.
"Connor, do you want Angel?"
"No, I need your help actually. Have you heard of Machor?"
"Machor? He's a demon of balance, he's never been found in corporeal form so he's not generally considered to be dangerous. Why?"
"What else do you know about him? How is he raised?" asked Connor, his voice rushed. Wesley could tell that he wanted the information and then he was going, this wasn't a casual call.
"Okay, he has two daughters who represent Birth and Death, they're supposedly quite dangerous. To raise Machor, one of the daughters must conceive a child with a warrior who is then slain by the other, Machor is then given birth to after a gestation period of only a month," reported Wesley.
"Okay, so if the daughters are dead then no Machor, right?"
"The legend claims that the sisters are inextricably linked, if even one of them dies then the prophecy is void and Machor cannot rise,"
"That's great, Wes. See you later," said Connor and left Wesley to say goodbye to a dial tone. He replaced the receiver and marvelled at Connor's bizarre information request, he smiled to himself as he realised that Connor was no normal eighteen year old. Bizarre was always going to follow him no matter what. Wesley's problem now was whether to tell Angel that his son was more than likely caught up in the raising of an ancient demon or just leave it and assume that Connor could take care of himself. Angel certainly had enough to worry about without his son being in danger.
Connor stood in the phone-box with his hand over the replaced receiver and his mind racing with all the different courses of action he could take. After talking to Wesley, it was quite clear that Frankie would attempt to kill him now that he had slept with Allie. The only other question was if Connor was enough of a warrior to bring about his rising. He turned to leave the phone-box and came face to face with Allie, he sighed as he realised she must have followed him when he thought he had left her sleeping.
"Hey Allie," he smiled, hoping that she hadn't heard enough of his conversation to realise he knew everything. "I thought you were asleep, I just wanted to call my father,"
"Connor," said Allie, her voice grave and ominous. "I heard you; you weren't talking to your father. You know about me and Frankie, don't you?"
"What? I don't know what you mean?" Connor winced as he said the words; one thing he hadn't quite mastered yet was lying. Allie sighed and walked towards him, placing her hand on his arm.
"I'm not pregnant. The prophecy says I would feel it right away but I can't feel anything," she said, Connor looked at her intently, wondering what was coming next. "Look, I'm not carrying Machor so I'm not a danger. If we kill Frankie then it's all over and I don't have to go through this anymore,"
"What?" said Connor, reeling with shock at the situation and the conversation he was having.
"Connor, please just listen to me. You obviously know that demons are real and you don't care so just believe me. Frankie will kill you, that's her job but if I'm not carrying Machor and she dies then I can't conceive him. We're in this together; if one of us dies then the other is powerless,"
"Allie, it sounds nice in theory but how the hell do I know that you're not pregnant? You could just be hiding it from me and you just want Frankie out of the way so you get all the power when Daddy dearest comes back," asked Connor, pushing her away from him, Allie's eyes had filled with tears and she was obviously fighting back the urge to cry.
"I'm not lying. I hate Frankie; I never wanted to do this. I mean, why should we bring him back? He hasn't lived in a millennia but she's obsessed with raising him. I don't want to be a vessel for evil, Connor, I want her dead so I can have a normal life," she sniffed; Connor looked at her with suspicion. "Look, I'll kill her myself if you promise to spare me,"
"We need a doctor," said Connor, Allie frowned with confusion. "You're having a pregnancy test now. I know that it only takes a month before Machor is born so the test would be positive now, right?"
"I guess so, I mean, as much as I understand it the whole pregnancy is condensed into a month so if I was pregnant, it would show up on a test. We can buy one of those at the chemist," she smiled; Connor nodded and pushed Allie into the direction of the shops. He followed her closely, not really sure why he believed her when she told him she wanted Frankie dead and the hell she had been living in over. He understood what it was like to be born into something; he had never been given a choice either. Raised in Quor-Toth, which might as well have been Hell itself; battling demons from an early age, the bastard son of two vampires, what other life could he have ever had? Maybe that's why he believed her, because if he could give the daughter of a demon a normal life then maybe one day, the son of a demon could have one too.