Connor strolled the streets casually. It felt good to just be out on your own with no particular big bad to chase and no one on his trail. He hated being followed.

****'

"Here's more." Wesley came to the table with a new book in his hand. "Order of Peratius. They live outside of this dimension, although some of them nest in our world. They live for nothing but the kill. Ancient warriors. Huh, this was intersting." Wesley took a seat and then looked at the others.

"They can transform themselves."

The AI team seemed dumbfounded and he continued. "Meaning they can look almost like anything. As long as it's something that's alive. Myths say they were created to protect the gates to Hell."

"Wait." Gunn leaned over the table confused. "There are gates to hell?"

"Portals." Angel said. "But they're closed. Otherwise the dimensions would collide."

Fred nodded. "But you can open them right? I mean we've all seen it happen."

Wesley nodded thoughtfully removing his glasses. "They transform themselves when wounded. The lower ones..."

"Wait, again." Cordy interrupted. "Lower ones? I'm sorry but I'm lost."

"It's like an army. There are different ranks of the warriors." Gunn explained and Wesley nodded again.

"Yes, there's a very descriptive text here on how their worthies ascend to becoming higher rank." He did a face. "It's not very pretty."

"Again with the worthy." Gunn muttered standing up and starting to pace. He wanted to get the encountering with these big bads out of the world now. He hated waiting. He glanced at Fred and seeing how scared she looked he put a protecting hand on her shoulder. He wished he could keep her safe from the world.

"But what were you saying about the lower ones." Angel steered the conversation on it's right track again and his british friend put on his glasses again to read some more.

"Yes. I was trying to say that ..." He got quiet. Then he looked at them with a face so full of seriousness the others got worried. "Only the lower ones can be killed."

"What do you mean?" Cordy asked afraid even though she understood very well what he was implying.

"The ones of low rank can be killed but the higher ones, are immortals. No human or demon can kill them." Wesley further explained. "The lower ones are the footmen. Expendable. Angel..."

The vampire stood up. "This is worse then we thought. These guys are after Connor? I bet the next thing you're gonna tell me is that I can't stop them from coming either. That there's an enomrous amount of them."

Wesley merely nodded, reluctant to say the words. "Yes." He mumbled standing up to get himself a cup of tea. He was exhausted.

"But they're not here to destroy the world? Right?" Cordelia asked when he came back and he sighed.

"Depends on what the wish is of the one that summoned them." Wesley said and the others exchanged glances.

"Any chances of finding out who that is?" Gunn asked as a loud thud made them all stare at the entrance.

"What was that?" Fred's voice trembled slightly.

"I don't know. But I don't like it." Angel moved towards the doors. "Gunn." He paused his steps and nodded at his friend who immediatley joined him. They didn't get long before three big green demons rushed into the hotel.

Cordy screamed standing up, distracting Angel for a second and one of the demons hit him forcing his game face to come out. They went into battle immediatley.

"Break their necks." Angel screamed at Gunn when his friend tried to pierce the scaled demon with a knife. Angel had seen them before. It had been that same sort that had attacked him in that alley. A Karaktus demon.

Wesley came to help with a reaper in his hands. Angel screamed the same thing to him but noticed how useful the weapon could be when the former watcher cut of one of the demons arms.

Cordelia and Fred help as well as they could but the demons were far to strong. Gunn snapped the neck of one them and helped Wesley with his. Wesley managed to decapitate the demon just as the third one fell dead down by Angel's feet.

"What the hell was that?" Cordelia asked staring down at the three, green scaled beasts.

"The second time I see them. And they live in the woods. This doesn't make sense. They're acting under someones lead." Angel said and Fred looked scared.

"Are you saying somebody is hiring a whole bunch of different demons sending them after us?" She asked and he nodded thoughtfully.

"It would appear to be so. Where's Connor?"

***

Connor was back at the place she'd taken him to the other night. It had taken him a while to get back there. But it didn't matter now coz it was empty anyway. Not a trace of her.

The furniture was still there but it didn't seem as clean as before. Maybe it was just because the sun was coming down and the place got rather dark from it. He sighed and headed out on the streets again.

Strolling back towards the Hyperion he heard a growel behind him and slowly turned around. Was it a vampire? He could use some violence.

"You might as well come out. I can hear you." He said loudly to the shadows and a boy not much older then himself stepped out from the darkness.

"You're the growler? All that suspense for nothing." Connor said before rapidly making his advance in the fight. They traded a couple of blows before Connor threw the boy into the wall. The boy grunted kneeling down on the ground glaring up at him.

Connor was surprised and frowned terrified when the eyes staring at him turned yellow and cat like. But not like a vampire. When he focused his eyes he saw that also the rest of the boy had turned. Into an actually big black panther.

"What the hell?" Connor mumbled taking a few steps back as the animal growled at him. He looked around for a useful weapon but didn't spot one. He didn't carry anything.

The cat jumped at him but in a swift move he manged to avoid it and rolled down on the ground reaching for the iron pipe he'd spotted. The cat came closer to him and he jumped up hitting the animal with no hesitation. He forced it down on the ground with a big moan.

He threw the pipe a way from himself staring at the animal. Something very strange was going on.