PART 5.
Angel could smell the fear.
He and Gunn had driven through the streets of downtown LA to the area Cordelia had directed them to. She hadn't given them a precise location, saying that the vision was vague and that she couldn't be sure. All they knew was that something was happening in an alley behind a club. A club with a big, blue neon sign. Well that was helpful.
Despite the odds being against them, they had found the alley almost straight away. Dusk was falling, so they had kept the soft top of Angel's convertible down, allowing him to take full advantage of his vampire senses. Having coasted past several clubs, he had picked up a scent from quite a distance away, leading them straight to a place called 'The Ocean Inn'.
Whatever was happening, it involved more than one person. The fear was flowing out of this place in waves. Gunn pulled up at the entrance to the alleyway, (having insisted on driving), and Angel leapt over the side in one, smooth movement.
He could hear muffled screams drifting up from the shadows at the far end, but it was too gloomy to discern any shapes past the dumpsters and the general classic LA mist. He cautiously stepped along in 'stalk mode', avoiding the puddles and clusters of discarded soda cups and making as little noise as possible. He wanted to catch this demon of guard, if he could, having heeded Cordelia's warning about the guy's magical ability.
He was getting close. Blood had been spilled, and its potent aroma was intoxicating. Emerging from the side of a pile of wooden crates, Angel assessed the situation before him.
To his surprise, he found that 'Mr. Harris', if that was his name, was engaged in a brawl with a gang of considerably rough looking guys, and certainly not the 'hopeless victims' he was expecting. It looked as though they had been quite capable of handling themselves, judging from the various crude weapons being wielded by some of the men, and by those who were currently littering the floor in a now not so healthy state.
Whatever may have taken place before now, the tables had obviously turned. The remaining few men who had been unable to escape were now cowering against a wall, begging for mercy. Some of their more unfortunate comrades had been reduced to nothing but smouldering heaps in front of them, and they were now terrified for their lives.
The demon, meanwhile, was standing, quite calmly, with his back to Angel. He hadn't seemed to have noticed him approach. Angel readied himself for a lunge forward, when he heard hurried footsteps behind him. Not wanting to be crept up on, he turned to see Gunn coming to join him, axe in hand. Unfortunately for them both, the demon had noticed him too.
"Damn it, Gunn!" Angel cursed, just as the demon sprang to the side, landing on top of the crates. So much for the element of surprise.
Not letting Angel's displeasure faze him, Gunn whirled to face the demon, even if he was unreachable above them.
Angel stooped to pick up a plank of wood that was lying nearby, and called out to the group of men.
"You, get out of here! Go!" They didn't need to be told twice.
This only seemed to anger Harris further, and his pink eyes burned with fury. He hissed at Angel and ripped a particularly sharp splinter of wood from his platform.
Angel wasn't going to give him the chance to use it. He put on his game face and followed him up, bringing down his own club down on him as he did so.
The demon anticipated the move, and dodged Angel's attempt, letting him slam himself into the wall.
Gunn, being unable to do anything from where he was and fearing what was to come, buried his axe into the side of the stack, trying to topple it over. Distracted from his main target for the moment, the demon glared down at Gunn and brought his hands to his chest. He pushed them away suddenly in Gunn's direction, producing a ball of fire that flew towards his head.
Ducking only just in time, Gunn rolled to the side and shouted a warning to Angel, being careful not to impale himself with his own axe.
Angel was already preparing himself for his next move. He dived for Harris' legs with such force that both of them fell head first from the stack, landing in a sprawl on the cold floor. Struggling through the pain, Angel quickly grappled his way on top of the demon and delivered several sound punches to his face. Harris fought back, however, and grasped Angel's neck, pushing him away and flipping him over.
The demon reached over for his improvised stake and raised it above his head, getting ready to - * clunk *
The base of Gunn's axe sent Harris spinning to the side, falling into a crumpled and unmoving heap against the wall.
Gunn extended a hand to Angel, pulling him upright again.
"Thanks", Angel said reluctantly, "But next time, when I tell you to wait in the car, I mean it."
Gunn grinned and gave him a shrug; clearly not at all sorry he had decided to come along anyway. If there was a good fight to be had, he would be the last one to miss it.
He turned and looked at their albino friend. "What are we gonna do with him? Want me to chop him?"
"No", Angel said before Gunn got too carried away, " I want to get some answers out of him first. We'd better get him out of here before someone spots us."
"But where're we gonna go? We can't take him back to the hotel, Cordy would freak, not to mention Wesley…"
"No, it wouldn't be safe. Besides, I've got a better idea."
* * *
Angel's sudden appearance into the room had broken the mood, and having to explain the details of her vision had allowed Wesley time to build up some barriers. Cordelia was worried that now it would be too hard to try and get him to talk.
When Angel and Gunn had left to pursue their creepy little client, she had tried to break the ice by offering to order some food. If she could just soften him up a little bit first, it might be easier to get him to open up.
Her plan wasn't working very well.
She'd had Wesley's favourite Chinese restaurant deliver some food, and they were sat at the reception counter eating it. Well, she was, anyway.
Wesley was picking around at it with his chopsticks, staring blankly into the take-away box. He'd not said a word to her since the others had left, and hadn't even acknowledged Lorne when he had said his goodbyes. This just wasn't like him. Sure, he was a big thinker, but brooding was strictly Angel's department.
"What's the matter, don't you like it? I thought you always had chow mien."
He looked up and smiled at her weakly. "I'm just not that hungry."
How could he not be hungry after all this time eating nothing? She was ravenous, not to mention dying of exhaustion and in desperate need of a shower. She wanted so much to go home and change her clothes. She was willing to bet that Wesley wanted to go home too, but they couldn't risk leaving the hotel until all this was cleared up. They still had no idea what the spell had done, or why the demon had tricked them into casting it in the first place.
They had to sit tight. As difficult as it was, she would just have to try to bring a little normality back to the place by herself. Here goes.
"Wesley, what was it that you were going to say earlier, you know, before Angel came barging in? The curiosity is killing me!" A bit of light humour, that ought to work.
He fidgeted on his seat and avoided looking her in the eyes.
"Nothing."
Pfft. Yeah, right.
"It's just, well, you've been really quiet since this happened, and… I know there's something wrong. You need to talk to me, Wesley, I want to help."
He finally stopped fiddling with his food and leant back, taking a deep breath. He would have to say something eventually. He'd prepared himself for this moment. Might as well get it over and done with now, but where to start?
"It was so strange, what happened. I've never been in such a lonely place. Before I woke up earlier, it was like I wasn't real, I didn't exist. I couldn't concentrate on anything, I couldn't think. But I had these dreams; at least, that's what I think they were. They were so vivid, they felt real. They brought up some bad memories that I thought I had forgotten. I thought I had put my past behind me, but I was wrong. I'd just repressed it. And now, I feel… different. Like someone else. Something's changed in me and I don't know what it is. And if Lorne is right, if the spell has done something to me, I'm afraid of… of what I might do…"
"Wesley…"
"I didn't mean to hurt you before, I'm sorry, I couldn't help it…" That frantic look was back. Cordelia could see it in his eyes and it scared her.
"What are you talking about? You didn't do anything to me, you've been too sick to even move! I think you must be getting mixed up with something you dreamt. I'm fine!"
"But the vase, I think that was me."
Whoa. She wasn't ready for that one. Come to think of it, why hadn't it occurred to her before? That weird sensation she had felt, it was the same energy she had felt from the spell. This was just too unbelievable, she couldn't contain her excitement.
"OK, first of all, the vase never even touched me, and second of all, WOW! Wesley, don't you see what this means? You totally have some kind of magical mojo thing going on! This is great!"
"It is?"
"Well sure! Think of all the amazing things you could do, I mean, how handy is this gonna be! I can't believe you were worrying about this the whole time. Why didn't you say something if you thought you knew what had happened? The whole time, we thought it had messed up your head or something. We were really worried. Now it just turns out that, not only are you OK and the spell worked as it should have, but you have a power!"
"I just don't know if I'm cut out for this, I mean, what if I can't control it? Like when you had the vision –"
"That was you? Wow, that's really cool."
"Yes but, I didn't choose for it to happen, it just sort of did."
"Oh, I see. So you were actually hoping for me to crash to the ground, huh?"
"You know what I mean. I'm trying to say that I don't think this is a good idea. We've got to try and find a way to reverse the spell."
Cordelia couldn't help her shocked expression. It was just like Wesley, trying to be the responsible one. She knew that, if it were up to her, she would be loath to pass up an opportunity like this. Besides, after what happened last time, she wasn't so sure that more spell casting should be attempted too soon.
"Don't you at least think that we should research a bit more into this?" she asked hopefully, "I mean, think of the potential."
He relented in his serious look a little and sighed.
"I suppose you're right. It would be foolish to rush into anything."
Cordelia couldn't help a little smirk. How could he resist a chance to look through his beloved books? He would always trust them above his own judgement, something that Cordelia often found a little sad.
"Besides", she chirped, trying to lighten the mood, "I want to see Angel's face when we tell him. Hey, could you move some of that stuff over there? Come on, give it a try!"
"Cordelia."
"OK, OK, sorry."
She pushed her empty boxes to one side and pointed to Wesley's with her fork.
"You gonna eat that?"
He shook his head and passed it to her. He couldn't quite believe how well she had just taken that. It had worried the hell out of him. Her confidence inspired him a little, and he tried to relax a bit more. At least now everything was out in the open. A problem shared is a problem halved, isn't that what they say? If only Angel and Gunn would get back now, they might have some more answers, and they could really get stuck into some research. As much as he wanted to know, he didn't feel quite up to doing anything right now. He was still a little tired, and his depressed mood wasn't going to go away just yet.
He drifted back into a daydream, unaware that Cordelia was silently congratulating herself for finally getting him on his way back to normal. Or at least, as normal as you could be after finding out you could move objects around with magic.
Happily finishing off Wesley's portion, Cordelia turned around on her seat when she heard the front doors opening, ready to greet Angel and Gunn with the news. She was disappointed, however, to find that the person responsible for the noise was a stranger.
Wiping sauce from her chin and rising from her seat, she took it upon herself to address the new client, seeing as Wesley seemed to be off again in a world of his own.
"Hi, this is Angel Investigations. Can I help you?"
The man approached her and smiled, putting his hand into his inside jacket pocket.
"You must be Cordelia, right?" he asked, a strange air of confidence in his voice.
Cordelia didn't like the way he sounded. "Yes, that's right, how did you – oh my God…"
Wesley jerked his head up at Cordelia's comment to see the man draw a small firearm out of his coat. Cordelia had stopped dead in the middle of the lobby, staring at the man in horror. Before Wesley could move or say a word, the man raised his gun and fired in her direction.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion fro that point on. He jumped to his feet and shouted 'No!' as a small dart hit Cordelia in the neck. She quickly moved her hand up and pulled it out, dropping it to the floor. She swayed and lurched herself back towards the counter, just managing to catch hold of the edge before she collapsed to the floor.
Wesley had run out from behind it and threw himself at the man, sending them both skidding across the floor. He tried to pull the gun out of the man's hands, but his grip was too strong and he was fighting hard to get up. He head butted Wesley, stunning him for a second, and got to his feet fast. He held the weapon at Wesley and pulled the trigger, sending a second dart flying out. Only this time, it didn't hit anything.
It floated in mid air, just inches away from Wesley's skin, and the man stared at it, more in annoyance than shock, which is what Wesley would have expected. Taking the opportunity, Wesley sprang to his feet and lunged at the man again, the dart dropping to the floor behind him.
The man saw him coming but wasn't ready for the attack, and Wesley's punch sent him reeling back to where he had come from.
Wesley didn't have time to think, and catching a glimpse of Cordelia's unconscious form in the corner of his eye only heightened his anger. Before he knew what was happening, a large book that was resting on the lobby sofa hurled itself at the man's head, hitting him hard. Wesley halted abruptly, realising what he had done.
The man took advantage of Wesley's pause, lifting the gun, and, this time, succeeding in hitting his prey. The man got up and walked over to where Wesley was standing, a stunned look on his face. Wesley just had time to see the man's mocking grin as he sank to the ground, unable to fight the darkness creeping over him again.
