Chapter Four

It didn't take long to rouse the hotel, nobody slept soundly anymore. Gunn was anxiously waiting to get out on the streets and start kicking some ass but Wesley and Angel were discussing battle tactics while Connor bandaged Allie's side. Fred watched him from her usual seat behind reception, smiling softly at Connor's tenderness towards Allie. Cordelia wandered around the room, her arms folded and her face angry; she thought the Powers would have given her some kind of sign that Connor and Allie would be in danger but she had felt nothing.

"I'll be down in a minute," announced Connor, standing to help Allie get up and climb the staircase. She moved slowly with her hand cradling her injured side but Connor supported her weight and helped her to their room.

"I feel fine, I'd rather come with you," she sighed as Connor pulled the sheets over her. "I don't need to go to bed,"

"You're injured, I don't want you out there," said Connor softly. "I can't protect you against those guys,"

"I don't need you to protect me," said Allie, sitting up and ignoring the pain shooting up her body as she pushed the sheets back.

"Tell that to your bleeding wound," he said sharply, pushing Allie's shoulder until she had to lie back down. "Just stay here and heal,"

"You can't tell me what to do, Connor. You're not my father,"

"Allie, just shut up and listen for once. You are too hurt to go back out there, just stay here and get some rest," he snapped, shouting angrily. Allie glared at him, feeling the tears springing to her eyes. She rolled over and blinked them away angrily, Connor sighed guiltily and walked over to the bed, stroking her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her but it was too late.

"Just get out," she hissed, crying even more as Connor slammed the door behind him.

"How is she?" asked Cordelia as Connor ran down the staircase and into the gang.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing Allie's axe and ignoring Cordelia's question. Nobody needed telling twice, the entire team walked out of the hotel leaving Lorne to care for Allie with songs and a Sea Breeze.

Connor picked up the monks' trail almost immediately with help from Angel. They were heading towards a large disused building in the Chinese quarter; an area not unknown for its mystical links but Angel was surprised that the monks would have chosen this part of LA as their hiding place. The Chinese quarter was renowned for its lack of tolerance when it came to violence; especially demonic violence that could be avoided by a charm. Angel decided that he could deal with the Chinese later; he needed to find the Mishu before they found Connor but the closer they got to the huge, dark building, the more Cordelia was feeling sick to her stomach. Gunn stopped outside the building despite every fibre of his being wanting to break through the front door and start slicing.

"What is it, Cordy?" asked Fred, sitting down next to her on the steps of the building.

"Danger," breathed Cordelia. "All I can see is danger,"

"I have to go in, Cordy. I want these guys," said Connor, stepping up to Gunn's side.

"Then go," she sighed. "Just be careful," Connor nodded and without a thought, kicked the front door down.

"Fred, Cordy; you stay here. If any monks run out then do what you can," smiled Angel, Fred nodded and lifted her sword slightly as if to punctuate his point.

Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Connor walked slowly and silently up the corridor, listening for movement and looking for any light. The house was as black as the night outside but each of them had grown accustomed to hunting in the dark and as far as they were concerned, they had the upper hand right now. As they headed towards the back of the building, Angel's vampire senses kicked in and he heard voices; he looked to Connor to back him up, making sure he wasn't the only one.

"Chanting?" whispered Angel, Connor nodded and pointed upwards. Gunn and Wesley looked up but neither of them could hear anything, knowing better than to question Angel's preternatural senses they headed for the dilapidated staircase. A flicker of candlelight was clearly visible through an open door at the top of the stairs, the gang spared no time as they charged up and into the room to begin the attack.

The monks were sitting in a circle around the three lit candles but on the gang's entry to the room, they all flew up into the air landing on their feet. Gunn looked across at Angel; this fight was going to be a tough one, he launched across the room brandishing his axe and began to fight the nearest monk. The others followed suit and soon the room was filled with the sound of battle; punches and kicks were landed with perfect precision while Gunn and Connor slashed at their enemy with the axes they carried. Angel grabbed one of the monks and lifted him into the air, slamming in down onto the candles; his robes caught fire almost immediately and everyone watched in shock as the burning monk ran for the window and threw himself out of it. There wasn't any time to ask questions, Angel headed for the next one and punched him hard in the face. Wesley had drawn his knife from his belt and had begun slashing at anyone who came near him; he was slightly confused, they had killed quite a few of the monks now but there seemed to be more than when they had barged into the room. He looked around for Gunn and Angel but both were caught up with their own fights; Gunn was in a fist fight with one while Angel and another monk were showing off their martial arts technique, Wesley looked around the room again but he couldn't see Connor anywhere. He reasoned that he must have ran after a few monks that had escaped the room but something was wrong and he knew it, there was no time for conjecture though and he returned to his slicing and dicing of evil.

A low, deep sound filled the room at that moment and everyone stopped fighting, looking up and around for the source of the sound. One of the monks began to laugh, a deep throaty sound and suddenly, the room was filled with a thick black smoke. Angel couldn't see through it, he reached out vainly for anything to hold on to but there was nothing there.

"Wes?" he called.

"I'm here, I can't see anything," he called back. "I think it's clearing though,"

They stood in silence for a few minutes and as quickly as it had appeared, the smoke was gone and Angel, Wesley and Gunn stood alone in the room.

"Where the hell did they go?" asked Gunn.

"Where the hell is Connor?" growled Angel.

Lorne and Allie were playing card games on the reception desk when the heroes returned; Lorne was the first the notice the downtrodden look on everyone's face but it was Allie who noticed that they had returned minus Connor. She stood up slowly and walked over to Angel; he looked down at her with a deep sadness in his eyes and stroked her face before walking into his office and slamming the door shut behind him.

"Where is he?" asked Allie, tears threateningly close. Cordelia sighed, her eyes were already red-rimmed with crying and she sat exhaustedly on the sofa. Fred put her arm around Allie and tried to hold her close but Allie pushed her off. "Where is he?"

"We don't know, he was taken by the Mishu Order. We didn't even realise until it was all over," said Wesley, staring at the floor and unable to meet Allie's questioning glare.

"This is wrong; you can't have just left him with a bunch of demons, why would you do that?" screamed Allie, Fred moved forward to comfort her again but Allie spun away from her. "How could you do this to me? Connor was the only thing I had left; everything I love is gone, everything!"

"Allie, calm down. We'll get him back," soothed Fred, Gunn looked worriedly at Wesley; they hadn't even thought that far ahead yet.

"How can I calm down? Everyone I love is taken away from me; first Frankie and now Connor. What did I do?" she cried, falling to the floor in a flood of tears. Fred and Cordelia both rushed to their knees to comfort her and help her up the stairs to her room.

"She's right," said Wesley. "How could we not even notice that he had gone?"

"Because we were fighting for our lives," said Angel, appearing in his office doorway, his eyes blazing with anger. "But now, we're going to make sure the evil sons of bitches that took my son are going to die a slow, bloody death,"