A.N: Well didn't that last chapter leave off on a high note? So cheery! Anyway this chapter is what Connor was doing while Angel was searching for Cordelia. Enjoy! And please tell me what you think of this chapter... is it a good story turn? And what do you think of Amber?
Chapter 5:
The loud clang of metal rubbish bins split the quiet midnight air of downtown Los Angeles; though most people wouldn't hear it nothing could hide from Connor's supernatural hearing. He listened closely for other indications of the noise's origin and the fast sound of footsteps came after, followed closely by a frightened scream.
It almost felt good to hear a human voice again, if it weren't for the horrible circumstance. It had only been a day since Connor had left the Hyperion and he had avoided all human contact since then, but the noise of fear helped Connor regain his focus and gain sight of the one thing he had been doing his whole life: hunting.
Though Connor wasn't sure exactly what was chasing the girl, it was quite likely it was a vampire, this area wasn't exactly void of them, so he had learnt while patrolling with Gunn. Connor continued to run towards the woman's frightened scream and the face noise of her footsteps as the attacker chased her viciously.
Traveling by rooftop had served Connor well and he could tell he was close to the chase; he paused for a moment regaining the focus of his hearing, noticing it was very close and he had been heading in the right direction. Connor took in the view of the surrounding area, his eyes searching for alleys or other places where vampires led the prey to die. Connor so just the spot, and not too far away were to loud footsteps of the frightened woman running to her death.
The building Connor stood on was not too high, so he jumped off the side into the alley where the girl ran towards her at high speeds. Connor finally got a view of her pursuer seeing a tall vicious looking vampire, seeing it's hideous appearance Connor could hardly blame the girl for screaming, but he would fight it, it was what he did and he was good at it.
"No!' the frightened girl let out a scream upon seeing Connor in a battle pose standing in front of her looking ready to attack. Her eyes shot back and forth from Connor to the vampire then back again, she looked ready to give up leaving her as easy prey for the hungry vampire, but Connor wouldn't let that happen.
"Run!" Connor warned stepping around the girl to guard her from the undead attacker, much larger than Connor the demon must have seen him as a joke, not knowing of his immense abilities. Connor was ready for the nasty demo, and he was almost happy to be fighting again.
The vampire let out a loud grunt, shooting its over side shoulder a Connor's in a vicious ram, unfortunately for the beast Connor was faster than any human it had seen before moving out of the way with complete ease and kicking the demon hard knocking into one of the surrounding buildings. Its eyes lit up in fury as it launched itself at Connor shooting its over sized fist at Connor's face, but Connor ducked and the large vampire's fast driven fist hit the wall with a loud thud.
Connor had the beast right where he wanted it, ready for the take down Connor punched the creature, with all his energy, in the kidney shooting pain through its oversized body, before he kicked it hard in the back of the knees eliminating its balance and leaving it open for the staking, and without pause Connor pulled a stake from his belt and stabbed the vampire hard, smiling as it turned to dust.
Heavy breathing still came from the attacked woman as she watched Connor in amazement, he moved so skillfully it was like nothing she had ever seen, she got to her feet from her meek, frightened crouching position and walked softly to Connor, her rescuer.
Connor looked over the woman whose face quickly calmed after her rush with death, when Connor had heard her frightened cries he had quickly assumed she was in trouble and hadn't paid much attention to her when fighting, but only closer inspection there seemed to be something off about this girl.
"Thank you so much," the girl said in a soft tone, her hand moved from her side and onto Connor's chest in an overly thankful gesture, her hands caressed the black material pressed close to Connor's chest as her other hands headed for his jeans.
Connor looked into the woman's eyes suddenly noticing what was off about her, Connor pulled away from her touch as her vampiric feature's revealed and she lunged at him, Connor launched his fist into her face knocking her away as he took a long step back ready for another fight.
"Ha, ha," the girl laughed regaining her balance. "You weren't the demons hunter we were looking for but I imagine the world will be a better place without you."
The word 'we' set chills up Connor's spine and made the tiny hair on the back of his next stand up to the height of his incredibly short hair. It soon became clear to Connor that vampires surrounded him.
The odds were not in his favor but Connor still had at least a mild enough amount of confidence that would aid him out of the situation, still back up wouldn't exactly be unhelpful.
Circling him, Connor could feel hunger emanating from each vampire, each pure in its ferocity ready to attack. Connor felt a brief sensation of dread before his senses were distracted by the sudden sound of an approaching motorcycle. The vampires had been as distracted as Connor and only just noticed the approaching motorcycle, coming towards them quickly.
A sword shot out from the rider of the loud motorcycle and one of the attacking vampires turned to dust in and instant as the others prepared to fight this intruder, interrupting their meal. Connor used this distraction to make his move, he ran toward a near by dumpster and used to kick off his foot going through the air and colliding with the heads of three vampires.
Connor's fist and feet flew rapidly, knocking back attacking vampire's giving him the chance to counter another onslaught, while the rider of the motorcycle had got off his bike ad began fighting the other vampires, and to Connor's surprise the dark skinned man fought the vampire's with a mild amount of ease.
Just as Connor and the fellow demon hunter appear to be forced back into a corner three more demon hunters, two male, one female, emerge into the alley and begin to join the fight. Finally with the odds more even Connor takes a stand, retrieving his stake and turning two vampires, quickly, to dust.
Connor notices the female vampire hunting losing ground to her two vampiric opponents, he instantly runs to her side, kicking on of her attackers in the stomach, and then knocking it back with his fist. The girl uses her sword to stab the other vampire in the stomach giving Connor an opening to stake it.
The girl paused for a moment to look at Connor, just as he turned to look at her, despite her hair being slightly messy from fighting this girl was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, living his life in a demon dimension with only one other human in it. Her eyes shone a bright green while her black hair fell in small strands over her beautiful pale face while most of the rest was tied back into a small ponytail. To Connor's shock the girl expression suddenly turned sour as she swung her sword towards Connor's neck, he ducked quickly in defense only then noticing that she had been going for the vampire behind him.
Standing from his ducking position Connor felt he could maybe spend a few hours admiring the girl's eyes, but the vampires were the most important issues at hand. He turned away from her taking his stake to arm and continuing the battle, along side his fellow demon hunters.
Once again Connor's fist flung wildly as he scanned the crowd to see if any other the other, all too human, demon hunters were in danger, across the battle Connor noticed one of the male fighters about to be bitten and Connor threw his stake madly through the battle piercing the vampire's heart.
The battle raged on for only another few minutes 'til all but two vampires remained, quickly retreating noticing how out numbered they were. One of the vampire hunters began to chase after him but Connor put his hand out in the way to stop him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man asked, reminding Connor more of Gunn than he ad originally thought.
"It's a trap," Connor said turning his head. "They're trying to lure us back to their nest."
"So who the hell are you anyway?" asked the original, motorcycle riding demon hunter. "I've never seen you round here before. But you look like you've been doing this for a while." He queried while looking Connor over.
"My name's Connor," Connor said moving to the side of the alley and retrieving his stake, one of the only ones he had since leaving the Hyperion. "Thank you."
"That's alight," the man said reaching out his hand to Connor. "Name's Mike." He said with a casual smile.
Connor took the man's hand returning the smile, happy to meet some friendly people in this part of town.
"So how long you been fightin' demons for Connor?" Mike asked curiously.
"Along time... all my life," Connor replied unsure whether to explain it or not.
"We know all about that," the only white male in the group spoke up from the sidelines.
"Oh sorry," Mike said gesturing with his hand. "This is James," he signaled to the man who had spoken up. "This guy here's Nick," he pointed to the other male of the group. "And this here is Amber." That was a name that would stick in Connor's head for a while; forever Connor would associate that name with beauty.
"And you hunt vampires?" Connor asked, clearing his mind of pointless thoughts, hunting vampires was his business he didn't need any distractions.
"All the time bro," Mike said patting Connor on the shoulder. "Growing up in a place like this you gotta."
"Yeah I know a bit about that," Connor said, his mind going back to Quortoth when he had to fight to stay alive. And even here in Los Angeles it was still his life. "Well I'm glad you showed up when you did."
"We should be thanking you," Mike said thankfully. "Weren't for you those vamps would've had us."
"Alright," Nick took a step between the two. "I'd hate to interrupt this moment or whatever but maybe we should be heading back to base."
Mike rolled his eyes at Nick's instant rejection of Connor but also recognizing that he had a point. He turned to the other's seeing impatience on both Nick and James' face while Amber carried her usual shy and depressed expression, full of loneliness.
"Well Connor, nice meetin' you but we gotta be heading off." Mike turned back to his companions and began to walk back to his motorcycle, Connor only just noticing the trashed car the other's had arrived in.
Connor tried t hide is disappointed expression as he said a quick goodbye and turned away.
After grabbing his sword, Mike hopped on his bike as Nick and James hopped into their car, and he noticed Amber staring at the ground deep in thought, her quietness worried him sometimes, he halted putting on his helmet and walked to her side.
"Amber?" he asked, causing her eyes to look back at his. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I..." Amber began to make an excuse before looking into Mike's caring eyes.
"You can ride back with me," he said sensing she wasn't in the mood for the company of Nick or James.
Amber began to follow Mike then turned back to Connor who was walking away slowly.
"Connor!" All eyes turned to Jade, in all the years they had known her none of her friends recalled her ever yelling, and to even speak to someone she had just met was odd enough. "Do you have a place to stay?"
Mike couldn't help but let a small smirk come across his face, Amber was a shy girl who could barely though anyone, hence the covering from head to foot, and she wasn't big on human contact, but for her to speak and call out to someone she had just met was the strangest thing he had ever seen. Maybe she likes him.
For the first time Jade seemed to have made a brief connection to someone, Connor walked back to the rest of the demon fighting crew and graciously excepted Amber's offer. Connor did have a place to say but he figured it wasn't safe to walk home with this new vampire family on his trail.
*****************
The ride back had been quiet, though Nick and James had exchanged a few words Connor and Amber had spent the trip in complete silence, each staring out opposite windows.
On arriving back at their headquarters Connor was impressed by the set up they had, it was a small, abandoned apartment unit with a few messed up rooms for the people who lived there, it seemed like some of the occupants shared rooms. Though most the lights were out and many of the rooms closed, there was still a fair amount of people in the hallways talking and training, it was like a large family which was something Connor didn't know a lot about, but he felt safe here and that was all he needed for now.
While Amber headed down the hall without a word to her companions Nick and James headed to some of their training colleagues while Mike signaled for Connor to follow him.
"You ca get the rest of you stuff in the morning I figure," Mike said leading him into a small dark room dimly lit by a few candles, like the rest of the place. "Electricity's out again, it'll probably back on in a few days. This is my room, looks like no one but Amber had a room to themselves anymore."
Connor felt there was a reason no one shared a room with Amber, though most of the people here seemed to be male he had seen two females in the hallway talking, so it had nothing to do with that. It wasn't any of Connor's business anyway.
"Well I'm gonna tell the troops to wind down for the night, then I'll be joining you." Nick said walking out the room before turning back to a tired looking Connor. "G'night bro."
Connor lay on the floor only for a few minutes before he drifted off, he hadn't slept in a few says and it was finally catching up with him. He'd work things out in the morning.
Chapter 5:
The loud clang of metal rubbish bins split the quiet midnight air of downtown Los Angeles; though most people wouldn't hear it nothing could hide from Connor's supernatural hearing. He listened closely for other indications of the noise's origin and the fast sound of footsteps came after, followed closely by a frightened scream.
It almost felt good to hear a human voice again, if it weren't for the horrible circumstance. It had only been a day since Connor had left the Hyperion and he had avoided all human contact since then, but the noise of fear helped Connor regain his focus and gain sight of the one thing he had been doing his whole life: hunting.
Though Connor wasn't sure exactly what was chasing the girl, it was quite likely it was a vampire, this area wasn't exactly void of them, so he had learnt while patrolling with Gunn. Connor continued to run towards the woman's frightened scream and the face noise of her footsteps as the attacker chased her viciously.
Traveling by rooftop had served Connor well and he could tell he was close to the chase; he paused for a moment regaining the focus of his hearing, noticing it was very close and he had been heading in the right direction. Connor took in the view of the surrounding area, his eyes searching for alleys or other places where vampires led the prey to die. Connor so just the spot, and not too far away were to loud footsteps of the frightened woman running to her death.
The building Connor stood on was not too high, so he jumped off the side into the alley where the girl ran towards her at high speeds. Connor finally got a view of her pursuer seeing a tall vicious looking vampire, seeing it's hideous appearance Connor could hardly blame the girl for screaming, but he would fight it, it was what he did and he was good at it.
"No!' the frightened girl let out a scream upon seeing Connor in a battle pose standing in front of her looking ready to attack. Her eyes shot back and forth from Connor to the vampire then back again, she looked ready to give up leaving her as easy prey for the hungry vampire, but Connor wouldn't let that happen.
"Run!" Connor warned stepping around the girl to guard her from the undead attacker, much larger than Connor the demon must have seen him as a joke, not knowing of his immense abilities. Connor was ready for the nasty demo, and he was almost happy to be fighting again.
The vampire let out a loud grunt, shooting its over side shoulder a Connor's in a vicious ram, unfortunately for the beast Connor was faster than any human it had seen before moving out of the way with complete ease and kicking the demon hard knocking into one of the surrounding buildings. Its eyes lit up in fury as it launched itself at Connor shooting its over sized fist at Connor's face, but Connor ducked and the large vampire's fast driven fist hit the wall with a loud thud.
Connor had the beast right where he wanted it, ready for the take down Connor punched the creature, with all his energy, in the kidney shooting pain through its oversized body, before he kicked it hard in the back of the knees eliminating its balance and leaving it open for the staking, and without pause Connor pulled a stake from his belt and stabbed the vampire hard, smiling as it turned to dust.
Heavy breathing still came from the attacked woman as she watched Connor in amazement, he moved so skillfully it was like nothing she had ever seen, she got to her feet from her meek, frightened crouching position and walked softly to Connor, her rescuer.
Connor looked over the woman whose face quickly calmed after her rush with death, when Connor had heard her frightened cries he had quickly assumed she was in trouble and hadn't paid much attention to her when fighting, but only closer inspection there seemed to be something off about this girl.
"Thank you so much," the girl said in a soft tone, her hand moved from her side and onto Connor's chest in an overly thankful gesture, her hands caressed the black material pressed close to Connor's chest as her other hands headed for his jeans.
Connor looked into the woman's eyes suddenly noticing what was off about her, Connor pulled away from her touch as her vampiric feature's revealed and she lunged at him, Connor launched his fist into her face knocking her away as he took a long step back ready for another fight.
"Ha, ha," the girl laughed regaining her balance. "You weren't the demons hunter we were looking for but I imagine the world will be a better place without you."
The word 'we' set chills up Connor's spine and made the tiny hair on the back of his next stand up to the height of his incredibly short hair. It soon became clear to Connor that vampires surrounded him.
The odds were not in his favor but Connor still had at least a mild enough amount of confidence that would aid him out of the situation, still back up wouldn't exactly be unhelpful.
Circling him, Connor could feel hunger emanating from each vampire, each pure in its ferocity ready to attack. Connor felt a brief sensation of dread before his senses were distracted by the sudden sound of an approaching motorcycle. The vampires had been as distracted as Connor and only just noticed the approaching motorcycle, coming towards them quickly.
A sword shot out from the rider of the loud motorcycle and one of the attacking vampires turned to dust in and instant as the others prepared to fight this intruder, interrupting their meal. Connor used this distraction to make his move, he ran toward a near by dumpster and used to kick off his foot going through the air and colliding with the heads of three vampires.
Connor's fist and feet flew rapidly, knocking back attacking vampire's giving him the chance to counter another onslaught, while the rider of the motorcycle had got off his bike ad began fighting the other vampires, and to Connor's surprise the dark skinned man fought the vampire's with a mild amount of ease.
Just as Connor and the fellow demon hunter appear to be forced back into a corner three more demon hunters, two male, one female, emerge into the alley and begin to join the fight. Finally with the odds more even Connor takes a stand, retrieving his stake and turning two vampires, quickly, to dust.
Connor notices the female vampire hunting losing ground to her two vampiric opponents, he instantly runs to her side, kicking on of her attackers in the stomach, and then knocking it back with his fist. The girl uses her sword to stab the other vampire in the stomach giving Connor an opening to stake it.
The girl paused for a moment to look at Connor, just as he turned to look at her, despite her hair being slightly messy from fighting this girl was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, living his life in a demon dimension with only one other human in it. Her eyes shone a bright green while her black hair fell in small strands over her beautiful pale face while most of the rest was tied back into a small ponytail. To Connor's shock the girl expression suddenly turned sour as she swung her sword towards Connor's neck, he ducked quickly in defense only then noticing that she had been going for the vampire behind him.
Standing from his ducking position Connor felt he could maybe spend a few hours admiring the girl's eyes, but the vampires were the most important issues at hand. He turned away from her taking his stake to arm and continuing the battle, along side his fellow demon hunters.
Once again Connor's fist flung wildly as he scanned the crowd to see if any other the other, all too human, demon hunters were in danger, across the battle Connor noticed one of the male fighters about to be bitten and Connor threw his stake madly through the battle piercing the vampire's heart.
The battle raged on for only another few minutes 'til all but two vampires remained, quickly retreating noticing how out numbered they were. One of the vampire hunters began to chase after him but Connor put his hand out in the way to stop him.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man asked, reminding Connor more of Gunn than he ad originally thought.
"It's a trap," Connor said turning his head. "They're trying to lure us back to their nest."
"So who the hell are you anyway?" asked the original, motorcycle riding demon hunter. "I've never seen you round here before. But you look like you've been doing this for a while." He queried while looking Connor over.
"My name's Connor," Connor said moving to the side of the alley and retrieving his stake, one of the only ones he had since leaving the Hyperion. "Thank you."
"That's alight," the man said reaching out his hand to Connor. "Name's Mike." He said with a casual smile.
Connor took the man's hand returning the smile, happy to meet some friendly people in this part of town.
"So how long you been fightin' demons for Connor?" Mike asked curiously.
"Along time... all my life," Connor replied unsure whether to explain it or not.
"We know all about that," the only white male in the group spoke up from the sidelines.
"Oh sorry," Mike said gesturing with his hand. "This is James," he signaled to the man who had spoken up. "This guy here's Nick," he pointed to the other male of the group. "And this here is Amber." That was a name that would stick in Connor's head for a while; forever Connor would associate that name with beauty.
"And you hunt vampires?" Connor asked, clearing his mind of pointless thoughts, hunting vampires was his business he didn't need any distractions.
"All the time bro," Mike said patting Connor on the shoulder. "Growing up in a place like this you gotta."
"Yeah I know a bit about that," Connor said, his mind going back to Quortoth when he had to fight to stay alive. And even here in Los Angeles it was still his life. "Well I'm glad you showed up when you did."
"We should be thanking you," Mike said thankfully. "Weren't for you those vamps would've had us."
"Alright," Nick took a step between the two. "I'd hate to interrupt this moment or whatever but maybe we should be heading back to base."
Mike rolled his eyes at Nick's instant rejection of Connor but also recognizing that he had a point. He turned to the other's seeing impatience on both Nick and James' face while Amber carried her usual shy and depressed expression, full of loneliness.
"Well Connor, nice meetin' you but we gotta be heading off." Mike turned back to his companions and began to walk back to his motorcycle, Connor only just noticing the trashed car the other's had arrived in.
Connor tried t hide is disappointed expression as he said a quick goodbye and turned away.
After grabbing his sword, Mike hopped on his bike as Nick and James hopped into their car, and he noticed Amber staring at the ground deep in thought, her quietness worried him sometimes, he halted putting on his helmet and walked to her side.
"Amber?" he asked, causing her eyes to look back at his. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah I..." Amber began to make an excuse before looking into Mike's caring eyes.
"You can ride back with me," he said sensing she wasn't in the mood for the company of Nick or James.
Amber began to follow Mike then turned back to Connor who was walking away slowly.
"Connor!" All eyes turned to Jade, in all the years they had known her none of her friends recalled her ever yelling, and to even speak to someone she had just met was odd enough. "Do you have a place to stay?"
Mike couldn't help but let a small smirk come across his face, Amber was a shy girl who could barely though anyone, hence the covering from head to foot, and she wasn't big on human contact, but for her to speak and call out to someone she had just met was the strangest thing he had ever seen. Maybe she likes him.
For the first time Jade seemed to have made a brief connection to someone, Connor walked back to the rest of the demon fighting crew and graciously excepted Amber's offer. Connor did have a place to say but he figured it wasn't safe to walk home with this new vampire family on his trail.
*****************
The ride back had been quiet, though Nick and James had exchanged a few words Connor and Amber had spent the trip in complete silence, each staring out opposite windows.
On arriving back at their headquarters Connor was impressed by the set up they had, it was a small, abandoned apartment unit with a few messed up rooms for the people who lived there, it seemed like some of the occupants shared rooms. Though most the lights were out and many of the rooms closed, there was still a fair amount of people in the hallways talking and training, it was like a large family which was something Connor didn't know a lot about, but he felt safe here and that was all he needed for now.
While Amber headed down the hall without a word to her companions Nick and James headed to some of their training colleagues while Mike signaled for Connor to follow him.
"You ca get the rest of you stuff in the morning I figure," Mike said leading him into a small dark room dimly lit by a few candles, like the rest of the place. "Electricity's out again, it'll probably back on in a few days. This is my room, looks like no one but Amber had a room to themselves anymore."
Connor felt there was a reason no one shared a room with Amber, though most of the people here seemed to be male he had seen two females in the hallway talking, so it had nothing to do with that. It wasn't any of Connor's business anyway.
"Well I'm gonna tell the troops to wind down for the night, then I'll be joining you." Nick said walking out the room before turning back to a tired looking Connor. "G'night bro."
Connor lay on the floor only for a few minutes before he drifted off, he hadn't slept in a few says and it was finally catching up with him. He'd work things out in the morning.