Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be, please don't sue.
Feedback: Yay! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, you guys are the best. As for the suggestions, I really really don't watch Buffy so I wouldn't know where to start including the characters, I'm really sorry! And Lindsey, well, I was thinking about maybe finding a way to put him somewhere, but I can't promise anything. I'll see what I can do. Ooh, and I'll also try to update a bit faster. I've been distracted over the last couple of days, so the chapters have been coming slow. I didn't mean to keep you all waiting! Anyway, here's the next instalment. Enjoy! :)
PART 6.
Angel and Gunn had managed, somehow, to carry the demon back to the car without being seen. It was a busy night, so they were lucky that no more of the nightclub's patrons had decided to go for a breath of fresh air. Angel was right, they needed to take him somewhere more isolated, and Gunn trusted him when he said he knew where they could go.
Under Angel's instructions, Gunn had driven back towards the hotel, but stopped at a deserted street corner where Angel knew there was a particular entrance to the sewers. Together, they had dragged Harris down there and Angel had proceeded to bind his hands and secure him to some kind of improvised pulley. The demon now hung, still unconscious, neck deep in water over a sewer well.
"You've done this before, haven't you?" Gunn asked Angel with half-amused suspicion.
"Oh, no, nothing like this… exactly…" Angel tailed off and scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, "I just thought that, maybe, we should use water to our advantage, since this guy is all with the fire balls, you know…"
"Yeah, whatever", Gunn replied with a knowing smile.
Angel only had to endure the following awkward silence for a few more seconds before their client began to show signs of life. He groaned and tried to move, wriggling around like a worm on a hook when he realised that he was tied up. Seeing Angel and Gunn approach him from the darkness and stand over him, arms crossed, he began to visibly quake with fear, sobs of terror betraying his once fierce appearance.
Gunn gave Angel a look that he returned, revealing that neither of them had expected this kind of reaction. Hissing and cursing, maybe, but absolute submission? This was going to be too easy.
Angel crouched down and met the demon face to face, shaking his head slowly and tutting. The demon refused to look him in the eyes and became even more frightened.
"Oh God, oh God, you're going to kill me aren't you? Oh God, please, I didn't mean… don't hurt me! Please, let me go!"
Angel held his ground and only hardened his steely glare. With a cold edge to his voice that unnerved even Gunn, he began his questioning with the precision of a practiced artist.
"What's wrong? Scared now that you can't use your fancy fire powers on us? Or maybe you think you can stall us by putting on the innocent act. What happened, Harris? Did you think you could trick us into helping you out and then get away with something like this? Did the power go to your head? You thought you were untouchable, that you could do anything you wanted, maybe give some people what was coming to them, is that how it was?"
Harris continued to sob and spluttered when he spoke. "No, no! You've got it all wrong! It wasn't like that at all…what have I done?"
"I'll tell you what happened, Harris, you attacked those people in the alley and nearly killed them all because you're a lying, conniving murderer…"
"NO! You have to understand, they attacked me first! I was on my way home when they cornered me and tried to kill me… they knew I wasn't human and they wanted me dead… I tried to explain to them, but they wouldn't listen. Before I could stop myself I… the power… it overwhelmed me and I couldn't – I didn't mean to kill anybody, but I was just so angry…"
"Oh, right, so when you saw us you thought you'd give us a good bashing, just to let us know how happy you were to see us there", Gunn chipped in, not believing this story for a second.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, it's the truth! Heightened emotion allows for easier access to the energies for the untrained user, and in extreme circumstances, the temptation of all that power, it just, it takes over and you can't make it stop. All the anger and the fear, it just builds up until you can't take it any more… I didn't mean for any of this to happen, you have to believe me. They forced me to do it, but I didn't want for your friend to get hurt –"
Angel lunged forward and grabbed the demon by the neck, surprising both him and Gunn with his speed.
"Just what do you know about it?" Angel spat, his voice dripping with venom.
Harris' voice seemed to raise an octave or two higher as he pleaded for Angel's mercy, occasionally glancing at Gunn in the hope of intervention. Gunn wasn't about to let himself be fooled, but something was niggling at him in the back of his mind, telling him that something wasn't right. The thought disturbed him, and he began to have doubts about Angel's methods in this particular situation.
He studied the demon more closely and noticed the way in which he kept closing eyes and turning away, desperate to pretend that none of this was happening. Angel continued to shake him and shout at him, demanding answers, but the demon didn't dare to speak another word. It was like he was trying to contain himself, shaking with the effort rather than simply trembling with fear.
"Angel…" Gunn warned, stepping up behind him and tapping his shoulder. Angel drew back a little bit when he realised what Gunn was referring to, having previously been too blinded by hatred to consider the effect he was having. The demon wasn't coping too well with this treatment, so they would need a change of tactics.
Harris managed to calm himself down and looked up at them, risking a few words of advice for the sake of some understanding.
"Look, I really don' t want to hurt you, but I won't be able to help myself if you keep this up, please, I'll talk, just don't… don't hurt me…"
"Fine", Angel said, getting closer again, "I'm up for that, what do you think, Gunn? Now, why don't you try telling us what exactly it is that you did mean to do, instead of insisting that none of this was your fault, hmm?"
Harris took a deep breath and tried to put the cold out of his mind.
"OK, it's like this. I wasn't lying when I told you about my family history, all that was true. It's just, I'm not the head of the family, or at least, I wasn't, my brother is. He never had any children, so I was next in line to inherit the business and the powers when he died. I never to have to take up the position, I mean, my kind live for centuries, and there was plenty of time left for him to start a family. Anyway, he didn't die of old age. He got mixed up with this law firm, Wolfram and Hart, have you heard of them?"
Angel and Gunn gave each other that look again. This was not going to be good. If they were involved, there was no doubt about why any of this had happened. They had always wanted to get to Angel, by whatever means, and this kind of thing was right up their street.
"I guess you have. Well, when my brother refused to use his powers to help them, they had him killed, knowing that the gift would pass to me. They knew that I wasn't exactly on speaking terms with him when he died, so they thought they could persuade me that they had done me this big favour and that I owed them or something. I never asked for it to happen, I wasn't ready, and I didn't like the idea of mixing with the likes of them, so I freaked out. I told them I would never work for the people who had murdered my brother, and that they'd have to kill me."
"Ha!" Angel laughed, "That doesn't sound very much like you! You were begging us for your life not two minutes ago."
The demon frowned and thrust out his chin indignantly. "You must know very little of family honour then, Mr. Angel. I may be a coward, but I would never dishonour my late brother's good name."
Angel looked as though he was going to say something at this, but decided against it. "It's just Angel", he said instead.
"Anyway, they didn't much appreciate being refused again, so they took away my powers and told me that they would kill every single person my brother's company had protected if I didn't help them do something. I didn't want to, but they said that it would bring back the gift and I would be free to carry on helping those people. With so many lives at stake, I had no choice."
"OK, so they sent you to us to have the spell performed, but why? They must have told you something. Well?" Angel's more relaxed tone must have reassured Harris somewhat, as now he was quite prepared to withhold information.
"I can't tell you, they'll kill me if they find out, or worse. You can't hide form them, they find you."
"And what do you think I'm going to do to you if you don't tell us everything we want to know?" Angel asked menacingly. The 'subtle' hint seemed to encourage to demon to speak, his eyes widening with fear.
"OK, OK, but you have to help me…"
"I wouldn't push your luck if I were you", Gunn advised, seeing the scowl on Angel's face.
"Look, all I know is that they wanted to get to someone in your group. They said they had files on all of you, and that they'd recently acquired some information from an unusual source about one of you that they could use to their advantage. All they told me to do was to make sure that you were all present when the spell took place. I think that they must have known it would affect your friend, to what end I can only imagine. They said it wouldn't harm him permanently, so I figured it was a fair trade off for the lives of many others. They never told me their purpose in all this; they said I didn't need to know. I was just to make myself scarce after it happened, and not tell you what was going on. Looks like I failed in that respect."
Angel took a while to consider everything that had been said, and seemed satisfied when he found no inconsistencies in the story. He stood to face Gunn, ready to discuss their next move, when something occurred to him. If he had any colour to begin with, it would have drained from his face.
"What?" Gunn asked, seeing the grim look in Angel's eyes.
"Cordy and Wes, we left them alone in the hotel."
Gunn understood. "We'd better get back. What are we going to do with him?"
Angel approached Harris again and put his hand on the rope that was suspending him in the water.
"How do I know that when I pull you out of here, you're not going to set us alight?"
The demon looked slightly worried at the distrust, knowing that he was now in a very bad position.
"I told you, I was never prepared for this inheritance. My brother was trained in self-control from an early age, ready for when he came in possession of the gift. I have no such control, so I can't use my power at will, only under extreme emotional circumstances, and even then, it's unpredictable. I know I don't deserve your understanding, but that's all I can tell you to make you trust me. I don't have any other proof, just my word that I won't harm you…"
Angel looked him in the eyes. He seemed sincere, but he couldn't be sure. He wanted to take Harris along with them to the hotel. He seemed to know a lot more about this situation than they did, and he may be able to help them. Still, could he be trusted? Whatever they did, they would have to be very careful. He leaned forward until he was almost touching the demon's white skin, and whispered harshly in his ear.
"If I find you have been lying, or bending the truth, or withholding so much as a word of information about any of this, I will personally see to it that you do not live out your otherwise long years, got it?"
The demon swallowed hard and nodded.
* * *
Angel had hauled the demon out of the well, but left his hands tied. He was now sitting, wet and cold, in the back seat of Angel's car with Gunn sitting next to him, a crossbow aimed at his head. Gunn had been sure to put down some old rugs Angel kept in the trunk for lighter days after he had been instructed not to let the demon drip all over the leather. Some things never change.
Angel was driving them back to the hotel as quickly as he could, despite the heavy traffic. It gave Gunn the chance t ask some questions of his own.
"So", he began, shattering the silence, "How come you can do the pretty fireworks when your brother did shields and stuff?"
"It depends on the individual as to what power they are prone to. I was always something of a black sheep in my family and a bit of a loner. Us Neshtu demons are not particularly strong, so when I came across certain dangerous situations in my wanderings, I always wished that there was more I could do, you know, bring a little justice for the victims. I wasn't like my brother, I didn't want to just protect people, I wanted to punish the ones who caused all the problems in the first place."
"So that's why some of those guys in that alley ended up as piles of ash then, huh?"
The demon looked away and hung his head in guilt.
"I didn't mean for that to happen. It's easy to get…carried away."
Gunn decided it was best to drop that line of conversation and change the subject.
"What I still don't get is, why Wes? Like Angel said before, we were all there, so why aren't we all super heroes now? That would be cool…"
"It doesn't work like that. I'm not to familiar with the way that human society functions when it comes o the mystical forces, but, as I understand it, there are a certain few individuals born to each generation worldwide who posses the gift. It's usually identified at an early age, and potentials are often taken for integration into whichever particular magic council discovers them first. I don't know how, but your friend must have been denied use of the energies a long time ago. He probably didn't even know about it. Wolfram and Hart seem to though."
This worried Gunn more than he would say. If the evil law firm could find this out about a person, he wondered what else they knew, about all of them. And as for their purpose, it couldn't be good. He knew of the extent they would go to if it meant turning Angel dark. He had witnesses it first hand during the Darla saga. He was not keen to go through that again, and he prayed that it wouldn't come to that.
They finally pulled up in front of the Hyperion, and Gunn pushed the demon out of the car, using the end of his crossbow as a guide. He just hoped that Cordelia and Wesley wouldn't object too much to having the guy who has caused all the trouble join them in the hotel, especially after what Cordelia had seen in her vision. Angel led the way and held the door open for them both before walking in himself.
"Cordelia?" He called as he came down the steps. He was about to call again when he noticed the strange scent hanging in the lobby. It didn't smell like anyone he knew, but someone had definitely been in here, and they'd been active. As much as he didn't like to admit it, Angel had a nose for sweat.
He walked around the centre sofa that had been moved during their last research sessions and stopped dead at what he saw. Cordelia's huddled form had come into view, slumped against the side of the reception counter. He ran to her side in panic, calling for Gunn's help.
He moved her into a sitting position and shook her lightly, repeating her name. He could hear her heartbeat and her breathing, so he knew she was alive, thankfully. Gunn joined him, a small dart in the palm of his hand.
"I found this on the floor over there", he said, the concern evident in his voice. He reached behind him and picked up another that was lying just inches from Cordelia's feet. Finding a small mark on her neck, Angel realised what had happened.
"Try some water", came a suggestion from the lobby doors. Harris had stayed where he was, unwilling to be on the receiving end of an angry vampire again.
Gunn got up to fetch some, deciding it was as good an idea as any. He handed the glass of cold water he had filled to Angel, and he in return splashed it on Cordelia's face, hoping for the best. She moved slightly and spluttered, trying to escape Angel's grip. He held her fast and called her name again.
"Cordelia, wake up, come on…"
She moaned and lolled her head, unwilling to shake off the pleasant sleepy feeling.
"Go away, Angel, I'm not ready to get up yet", she slurred, not really realising where she was. Angel shook her again until she opened her eyes.
"Cordelia, you need to tell us what happened here, where's Wesley?"
She looked at him for a moment slightly confused. Then she remembered. Her eyes widened and she grasped Angel's arms.
"Oh, God, the guy, he…there was a man with a gun, he shot me! I couldn't stop him, he was too fast… but Wesley, he tried to fight him off, I think, I don't really remember, everything went black. He must have got him too…"
Gunn came back from his patrol of the hotel. "He's not here, I looked everywhere, but there's nothing."
Cordelia gave Angel a worried look, still not quite believing that this had happened.
"But who would do this?" she asked, "Who would want to take Wesley?"
"Wolfram and Hart", Angel answered.
To be continued…
