It was working out better than Angel had expected. He didn't know if
Wesley and Gunn actually supported Fred's idea or if they were just
competing for her attention, but both of them immediately jumped on the
Cordelia Imposter bandwagon. Wesley started looking up ascension
prophecies and Gunn started listing the weird things Cordelia had been
doing lately.
"And at the top of the list is doing the kid. That ain't Barbie's
style." Gunn cast a sympathetic glance at Angel. "Sorry, man."
"Just because we don't like it, that doesn't mean it's not her." Angel
had decided his best position was to play devil's advocate. The truth
would become even more clearer to them as they tried to convince him
of it.
"Exactly, I agree with Angel." Lorne stepped into the discussion. He
had looked increasingly worried and distraught ever since Fred had
posed her question. "I read Cordelia...."
"Yeah, and you also read Angelus and told us he was Angel." Gunn
dismissed Lorne's reasoning with a grimace. "I think your reader is
on the fritz."
"I wish." Lorne shook his head sadly. "I'm a little low on the
details since Wolfram and Hart gave me the ol' mind suck, but I know
how I felt. What I saw wasn't just plain everyday evil, it was deep
and dark. It made Angelus look like a choirboy." Lorne shuddered and
looked at Angel desperation making his eyes redder and his skin a pale
green. "That can't be our sweet Brown Eyes, Angel, it can't."
"If Fred is right than it isn't." Wesley set down his book. It wasn't
helping anyway. The ascension of mortal half demons was obviously
rare, if not heard of before, occurrence. "Our Cordelia would still be
a divine being on a higher plane."
"But I read her," Lorne insisted. "Cordelia was there. If this some
kind of an evil switcheroo than our imposter is using the real thing's
body. And if it's purpose was to bring perpetual darkness and Angelus
to L. A., then it failed. Why hasn't it left or killed us off?"
"Maybe the Beast and perpetual darkness were a distraction and Angelus
just a bonus," Angel commented quietly. "Maybe its purpose is the
baby." He wanted to leave the room and wallow some more. He should be
happy that the others were on his side, but he hadn't thought it
through. It hadn't occurred to him that she could actually be using
Cordelia's body. He had thought that once he had brought the others
around to his line of thinking, he could just kill her.
"What about my baby, Angel?" She glared at him from the doorway where
she and Connor were standing. Angel wondered how much they had heard.
She turned her gaze to the rest of the group and smiled. "I know you
guys have been worried about what he's going to be, but you don't have
to. The Powers sent me a vision and our baby is going to be a blessing
for everyone." She hugged Connor to her side.
Gunn snorted and looked away. "So you say."
"You've never questioned my visions before." Her eyes had narrowed to
dangerous slits.
"I never questioned Cordy's visions." Gunn's stubborn glare was just
as hard. He still remembered that night Cordy had tagged along to
'protect' him. It galled him that he wasn't there to protect her when
she had needed him, that he had allowed this thing to take her place.
"Oh, so that's it." She smiled. It was Cordelia's smile - big,
bright, and inviting. When she looked at Angel it twisted into
something cruel. "Angel has been telling you his delusional fantasy
that I'm not me."
"Actually, it was Fred who suggested it." Wesley watched Cordelia
closely. Not that the idea had been present, he could see differences
in her personality. She did seem colder. His eyes landed on her hand
on Connor's arm. She was very possessive of Connor, monopolizing his
time and keeping him away from the rest of them, specifically Angel.
Their Cordelia believed they were family, she took betrayal hard. She
would be trying to unite father and son, not tear them apart. "I
believe she has a valid point."
Her eyes swept over them with a calculating gleam. Their varying
hostile, sad, worried, and blank looks did not bode well. The damn
vampire had actually done it. They suspected her of not being their
wannabe saint. She turned to stand in front of Connor, demanding his
attention. "I told you he would do this. I told you Angel would say
anything to get rid of our baby and destroy of family. He hates us."
"Lordy, our little brain trust was right." Lorne shook his head in
disbelief, his mouth hanging open. There was no way their Cordelia
would say something like that, not even while hopped up on baby
hormones.
"Connor, don't listen to them." The boy was the important one. It
would have been easier if the other imbeciles had continued to believe
her pretense - just like it would have been easier if Angelus hadn't
killed the Beast and that damn interfering witch hadn't resouled
Angel - but it wasn't necessary. All she needed was for the boy to
protect her until the baby was born. "They've never accepted us or our
baby. We should leave." She started to push the boy back.
"No." Angel met his son's eyes over her shoulder. "Think, Connor,
about when you first arrived in this dimension and met Cordelia. She's
not her. We can prove it." This was it, either his son trusted him
or not.
"What are you talking about?" Connor spoke for the first time. It
wasn't difficult to think back to when he had first arrived from
Quor-toth, he was just as confused.
"She is not Cordelia," Gunn said the words slowly for the boy's
benefit. "And Angel can prove it."
"He can not." She turned around with a sneer. "You can't have
proof...." Her gaze skated to Connor. Damn! He actually looked like
he was thinking. "Because there is nothing to prove."
"Skip." Angel didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. "We
have a demon calling spell, don't we, Wesley? Why don't we call up
Skip and see what he has to say about Cordelia returning?"
"No, Skip is busy," her voice was high with panic. They had her
cornered. If they called the real Skip then they would know that
Cordelia hadn't ascended at all. Her partner wouldn't be very pleased
if that happened. She had to shut the vampire up. She hid her hand in
the folds of her maternity gown and grasped a stake that she kept in
one of the many voluminous pockets. "Connor, let's leave."
This time Connor resisted the tug on his arm. He remembered Cordelia.
He remembered how she had drained the darkness from him when he had
attacked her to hurt his father. She had held him after and comforted
him, like a mother. Like she loved him. He had once asked Holtz about
his mother and had received a severe beating as an answer. His mother
was a demon whore. His mother deserved to be spit upon for the
abominations she had brought into the world. His mother had no love in
her heart for a son and never would so she was best forgotten. He
remembered how Cordelia had looked at his father with so much love.
"I just...I wanted you to love me."
"I do love you." She touched the boy's cheek. He was hers.
Connor remembered how she had looked at him the night fire fell from
the sky. Finally she had loved him, but it hadn't been right. He knew
that even if he didn't want to accept it. He looked up at his father.
He had never trusted him. Never. Why should he start now? Holtz had
always told him that the vampire would twist things with lies and a
false face. He had loved Cordelia and she had rejected him, wouldn't
he lie to break them apart and hurt their baby? But he had learned
things since his time with Holtz. He had learned that these people did
fight evil and that Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia hadn't just been
fools deluded by a killer. They did protect the innocent and so did
his father.
He had also met Angelus, the vampire who had killed Holtz's family. He
could see the differences. When Angelus had looked at him, there had
been nothing in his eyes - no connection, no pride, no love. He could
see those things in his father's eyes right now. He could also see
sadness and desperation. Connor focused on the soft, beating heart of
the baby. He was a father now. He had to protect his family. He
reached for Cordelia's hand and instead he grasped the smooth wood of a
stake. She wanted him to kill his father. He frowned at her. There
was no threat to their baby's life. They could just leave. There
hadn't been a threat the last time she had asked him to kill his father
either. Connor gripped the stake, taking it from her. She smiled, but
it didn't reach her eyes. There was nothing in her eyes. She was like
Angelus.
"You don't love me." Before he realized it, the stake was embedded in
her stomach. The fluttering of the baby's heart faltered and died.
His wasn't lying, the demon beside him wasn't Cordelia and their baby
would have been something terrible. They were special. She had said
that over and over again. They were also demons and Holtz had taught
him to destroy demons. Cordelia was dead, the one who had loved his
father and could have been his mother. A mother that could love him
and be proud of him. The bleeding demon beside him had taken away his
chance at having a family. "I don't want your love," Connor yelled
through his sobs. He yanked the stake out of her. They were both
special.
*****
"No!" Nathaniel watched the screen with horror as the boy staked the
demon growing inside of Cordelia's womb. It was dead. Only the
child's father was capable of killing it and he did.
Cordelia heard Angel echo Nathaniel's protest. She watched as he
rushed toward Connor and knocked the stake out of his hand before he
could turn it on himself. She saw his indecision - comfort Connor or
keep her body alive. "Let me go, Angel," Cordelia urged quietly. She
wanted so badly to touch him - to hug him and hold his hand while they
discussed how he could help his son get through this latest trauma in
his young life. She watched as Wesley and Gunn knelt beside her body
and tried to stop the bleeding. She wished she could have the chance
to say good-bye to all of them.
"It's not over yet, Saint Cordelia." Nathaniel sneered. He knew what
she was thinking. Once her body died, her soul would no longer be
trapped by his spell and then she probably would become a higher being.
Then she could watch over her dear asinine friends and pathetic beloved
Angel. It wasn't going to happen. As long as he had her, he had
control over the vampire. The mystical child of the Destroyer and the
PTB Seer was supposed to have been his key to controlling all demon
activity on the West Coast. It would have gotten rid of The First,
the Slayer, and opened the Hellmouth for him. Now Angel would have to
do it. "Reverti."
On screen, the demon that possessed the body of Cordelia Chase started
to scream. Wes and Gunn backed away as angry red flames consumed her
and she disappeared. In Nathaniel's hidden room, an empty fireplace
flared to life. The flames spit out Cordelia's body and with it.
Sudden, searing pain slammed into Cordelia's astral self. Her body
pulled at her, but the purple fire that surrounded her separated them.
"Thank you." The demon controlling Cordelia's body smiled. She
struggled to her feet, reaching a hand down to her still bleeding
belly. "That bastard kid ruined everything. What's our next move?"
"You ruined everything." Nathaniel picked up a sharp black handled
knife, runic etchings decorated the hilt and the blade. He pointed it
at Cordelia's forehead. The writings on the side started to glow and
a strangled gasp issued from Cordelia's throat. Slowly, thick strings
of inky black seeped out of her mouth and wrapped around the blade.
"First you let Angelus kill the Beast. Then you let that meddling
witch re-soul Angel. Finally, you failed to secure the vampire spawn's
loyalty and allowed him to murder his child. Your next move is go back
to Hell and stay there!" The last of the black left Cordelia's body
and it fell limply to the floor. Nathaniel tossed the knife into the
fireplace where it screeched and burned and finally disappeared.
The pain was intense. Cordelia felt her astral self being pulled
through the magical purple fire of her cell and drawn to her body.
Now that nothing else possessed its place, her soul sought out its home
and no magic could hold it back. Her eyes opened and she stared at
Nathaniel Elias in shock. She felt woozy and sick and her heart
struggled to beat and move around what little blood was left in her
body. She was going to die.
*****
The night was unusually quiet. Daredevil paced along the roof of an
office building and listened for any sign of unrest. It was a weird
quiet - not even the rats were scurrying around in search of food and
things to gnaw on. He didn't like it. He had a feeling that something
was cloaking itself in the calm and when it decided it was time to
wreck havoc, Daredevil wasn't sure he would be able to protect his
city. Especially since he had no idea what the hell was a possible
threat to it.
The sound of the scrape of a dumpster being moved on the pavement came
from the alley below Daredevil. He leaned over the building's ledge
and looked down. Something moved. It skulked down the alley and out
into the street. It took a moment before Daredevil followed. He had
seen it. He hadn't heard it move. He hadn't seen its outline in the
vibrations of his radar sense. He could see its dark shadow shape with
a dull grey aura around it. It moved too quickly to be human. Good
thing he moved quickly as well.
As he followed the unusual figure, staying out of its sight by keeping
above it, Daredevil tried to use his other senses to gather information
on who or what it was. It moved with very little sound - stealthy like
a predator - but what was really disconcerting was that he couldn't
hear it breath or its heart beating. It emitted a low level sound that
Daredevil was sure only he and animals with extremely good hearing
could hear. It smelled. The fresh sharp, tangy scent of blood clung
to it and underneath was the older stale odor of dried blood. Whatever
it was, Daredevil didn't like it.
The thing went into an old apartment building that had recently been
renovated in an effort to attract more affluent tenants to the area.
Daredevil knew where they were. He knew every inch of his city by the
sounds and smells and the feeling of the urban landscape under his
feet. The owner of the building was Nathaniel Elias, a former lawyer
turned wealthy business man. He had taken over a lot of Nikolas
Natchios' holdings when they had been sold after Elektra's death.
Daredevil had been keeping an eye on him in case he decided to take
over some things from the Kingpin as well. Daredevil stopped on the
roof of the building across the street. A lot of the buildings on this
block were empty due to 'renovations.' They were owned by Elias too.
There was nothing outwardly suspicious going on, but there had to be a
reason that Elias wanted the buildings around his home empty.
A woman's screams coming from the penthouse apartment was reason enough
for Daredevil. He threw out his grappling hook, which caught on the
wrought iron guard rail of the balcony, and he swung across. The
screaming stopped as he landed. He let himself into the apartment
through the unlocked balcony doors and stepped inside. Elias certainly
wasn't afraid of burglars. It was a study, Daredevil could smell the
dusty aroma of old books and the heavy scent of cedar. He could hear
a voice, but it wasn't in this room. It was behind a bookcase. A few
well-placed taps and his radar sense showed him the opening mechanism
for the hidden door.
Nothing could have prepared Daredevil for what was in Elias' secret
room. The bookcase glided open and Daredevil's blind eyes were
immediately assaulted by a bright white light. The unnatural hum that
the other being had emitted sang louder in the air, driving his radar
sense nuts. Daredevil closed his eyes and covered his ears until he
could orientate himself to the new sensory input. When he did open his
eyes, he saw two people. A woman bathed in glowing white lay on the
floor while a man stood above her. Crackling blue energy discharged
from the man's hands, but it seemed to be rebuffed by the radiance
engulfing the woman.
"You can't keep this up," the man warned. It was Nathaniel Elias. The
blue color intensified and the white glow started to wane. "If you
give up now then I might be lenient on the others. I'll just use the
vampire. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself."
"Angel," the woman gasped. The white glow was flickering and the blue
energy snaked in and zapped at her body. Daredevil didn't understand
exactly what was going on, but she was in trouble. He unsheathed his
billy club and threw the baton at the man. It hit him in the head at
his temple and knocked him to the floor. The unnatural light given
off by the blue energy and the white glow ceased.
"Are you okay?" Daredevil crossed the room to the woman. He could
smell blood. She was hurt. He knelt down beside her and picked her
up. "You're safe now. I'll get you out of here." Nathaniel Elias'
heart was still beating, he was alive, but Daredevil really didn't care
at that moment. His concern was for the woman. He would take care of
Elias later.
To be continued....
Wesley and Gunn actually supported Fred's idea or if they were just
competing for her attention, but both of them immediately jumped on the
Cordelia Imposter bandwagon. Wesley started looking up ascension
prophecies and Gunn started listing the weird things Cordelia had been
doing lately.
"And at the top of the list is doing the kid. That ain't Barbie's
style." Gunn cast a sympathetic glance at Angel. "Sorry, man."
"Just because we don't like it, that doesn't mean it's not her." Angel
had decided his best position was to play devil's advocate. The truth
would become even more clearer to them as they tried to convince him
of it.
"Exactly, I agree with Angel." Lorne stepped into the discussion. He
had looked increasingly worried and distraught ever since Fred had
posed her question. "I read Cordelia...."
"Yeah, and you also read Angelus and told us he was Angel." Gunn
dismissed Lorne's reasoning with a grimace. "I think your reader is
on the fritz."
"I wish." Lorne shook his head sadly. "I'm a little low on the
details since Wolfram and Hart gave me the ol' mind suck, but I know
how I felt. What I saw wasn't just plain everyday evil, it was deep
and dark. It made Angelus look like a choirboy." Lorne shuddered and
looked at Angel desperation making his eyes redder and his skin a pale
green. "That can't be our sweet Brown Eyes, Angel, it can't."
"If Fred is right than it isn't." Wesley set down his book. It wasn't
helping anyway. The ascension of mortal half demons was obviously
rare, if not heard of before, occurrence. "Our Cordelia would still be
a divine being on a higher plane."
"But I read her," Lorne insisted. "Cordelia was there. If this some
kind of an evil switcheroo than our imposter is using the real thing's
body. And if it's purpose was to bring perpetual darkness and Angelus
to L. A., then it failed. Why hasn't it left or killed us off?"
"Maybe the Beast and perpetual darkness were a distraction and Angelus
just a bonus," Angel commented quietly. "Maybe its purpose is the
baby." He wanted to leave the room and wallow some more. He should be
happy that the others were on his side, but he hadn't thought it
through. It hadn't occurred to him that she could actually be using
Cordelia's body. He had thought that once he had brought the others
around to his line of thinking, he could just kill her.
"What about my baby, Angel?" She glared at him from the doorway where
she and Connor were standing. Angel wondered how much they had heard.
She turned her gaze to the rest of the group and smiled. "I know you
guys have been worried about what he's going to be, but you don't have
to. The Powers sent me a vision and our baby is going to be a blessing
for everyone." She hugged Connor to her side.
Gunn snorted and looked away. "So you say."
"You've never questioned my visions before." Her eyes had narrowed to
dangerous slits.
"I never questioned Cordy's visions." Gunn's stubborn glare was just
as hard. He still remembered that night Cordy had tagged along to
'protect' him. It galled him that he wasn't there to protect her when
she had needed him, that he had allowed this thing to take her place.
"Oh, so that's it." She smiled. It was Cordelia's smile - big,
bright, and inviting. When she looked at Angel it twisted into
something cruel. "Angel has been telling you his delusional fantasy
that I'm not me."
"Actually, it was Fred who suggested it." Wesley watched Cordelia
closely. Not that the idea had been present, he could see differences
in her personality. She did seem colder. His eyes landed on her hand
on Connor's arm. She was very possessive of Connor, monopolizing his
time and keeping him away from the rest of them, specifically Angel.
Their Cordelia believed they were family, she took betrayal hard. She
would be trying to unite father and son, not tear them apart. "I
believe she has a valid point."
Her eyes swept over them with a calculating gleam. Their varying
hostile, sad, worried, and blank looks did not bode well. The damn
vampire had actually done it. They suspected her of not being their
wannabe saint. She turned to stand in front of Connor, demanding his
attention. "I told you he would do this. I told you Angel would say
anything to get rid of our baby and destroy of family. He hates us."
"Lordy, our little brain trust was right." Lorne shook his head in
disbelief, his mouth hanging open. There was no way their Cordelia
would say something like that, not even while hopped up on baby
hormones.
"Connor, don't listen to them." The boy was the important one. It
would have been easier if the other imbeciles had continued to believe
her pretense - just like it would have been easier if Angelus hadn't
killed the Beast and that damn interfering witch hadn't resouled
Angel - but it wasn't necessary. All she needed was for the boy to
protect her until the baby was born. "They've never accepted us or our
baby. We should leave." She started to push the boy back.
"No." Angel met his son's eyes over her shoulder. "Think, Connor,
about when you first arrived in this dimension and met Cordelia. She's
not her. We can prove it." This was it, either his son trusted him
or not.
"What are you talking about?" Connor spoke for the first time. It
wasn't difficult to think back to when he had first arrived from
Quor-toth, he was just as confused.
"She is not Cordelia," Gunn said the words slowly for the boy's
benefit. "And Angel can prove it."
"He can not." She turned around with a sneer. "You can't have
proof...." Her gaze skated to Connor. Damn! He actually looked like
he was thinking. "Because there is nothing to prove."
"Skip." Angel didn't know why he hadn't thought of it before. "We
have a demon calling spell, don't we, Wesley? Why don't we call up
Skip and see what he has to say about Cordelia returning?"
"No, Skip is busy," her voice was high with panic. They had her
cornered. If they called the real Skip then they would know that
Cordelia hadn't ascended at all. Her partner wouldn't be very pleased
if that happened. She had to shut the vampire up. She hid her hand in
the folds of her maternity gown and grasped a stake that she kept in
one of the many voluminous pockets. "Connor, let's leave."
This time Connor resisted the tug on his arm. He remembered Cordelia.
He remembered how she had drained the darkness from him when he had
attacked her to hurt his father. She had held him after and comforted
him, like a mother. Like she loved him. He had once asked Holtz about
his mother and had received a severe beating as an answer. His mother
was a demon whore. His mother deserved to be spit upon for the
abominations she had brought into the world. His mother had no love in
her heart for a son and never would so she was best forgotten. He
remembered how Cordelia had looked at his father with so much love.
"I just...I wanted you to love me."
"I do love you." She touched the boy's cheek. He was hers.
Connor remembered how she had looked at him the night fire fell from
the sky. Finally she had loved him, but it hadn't been right. He knew
that even if he didn't want to accept it. He looked up at his father.
He had never trusted him. Never. Why should he start now? Holtz had
always told him that the vampire would twist things with lies and a
false face. He had loved Cordelia and she had rejected him, wouldn't
he lie to break them apart and hurt their baby? But he had learned
things since his time with Holtz. He had learned that these people did
fight evil and that Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia hadn't just been
fools deluded by a killer. They did protect the innocent and so did
his father.
He had also met Angelus, the vampire who had killed Holtz's family. He
could see the differences. When Angelus had looked at him, there had
been nothing in his eyes - no connection, no pride, no love. He could
see those things in his father's eyes right now. He could also see
sadness and desperation. Connor focused on the soft, beating heart of
the baby. He was a father now. He had to protect his family. He
reached for Cordelia's hand and instead he grasped the smooth wood of a
stake. She wanted him to kill his father. He frowned at her. There
was no threat to their baby's life. They could just leave. There
hadn't been a threat the last time she had asked him to kill his father
either. Connor gripped the stake, taking it from her. She smiled, but
it didn't reach her eyes. There was nothing in her eyes. She was like
Angelus.
"You don't love me." Before he realized it, the stake was embedded in
her stomach. The fluttering of the baby's heart faltered and died.
His wasn't lying, the demon beside him wasn't Cordelia and their baby
would have been something terrible. They were special. She had said
that over and over again. They were also demons and Holtz had taught
him to destroy demons. Cordelia was dead, the one who had loved his
father and could have been his mother. A mother that could love him
and be proud of him. The bleeding demon beside him had taken away his
chance at having a family. "I don't want your love," Connor yelled
through his sobs. He yanked the stake out of her. They were both
special.
*****
"No!" Nathaniel watched the screen with horror as the boy staked the
demon growing inside of Cordelia's womb. It was dead. Only the
child's father was capable of killing it and he did.
Cordelia heard Angel echo Nathaniel's protest. She watched as he
rushed toward Connor and knocked the stake out of his hand before he
could turn it on himself. She saw his indecision - comfort Connor or
keep her body alive. "Let me go, Angel," Cordelia urged quietly. She
wanted so badly to touch him - to hug him and hold his hand while they
discussed how he could help his son get through this latest trauma in
his young life. She watched as Wesley and Gunn knelt beside her body
and tried to stop the bleeding. She wished she could have the chance
to say good-bye to all of them.
"It's not over yet, Saint Cordelia." Nathaniel sneered. He knew what
she was thinking. Once her body died, her soul would no longer be
trapped by his spell and then she probably would become a higher being.
Then she could watch over her dear asinine friends and pathetic beloved
Angel. It wasn't going to happen. As long as he had her, he had
control over the vampire. The mystical child of the Destroyer and the
PTB Seer was supposed to have been his key to controlling all demon
activity on the West Coast. It would have gotten rid of The First,
the Slayer, and opened the Hellmouth for him. Now Angel would have to
do it. "Reverti."
On screen, the demon that possessed the body of Cordelia Chase started
to scream. Wes and Gunn backed away as angry red flames consumed her
and she disappeared. In Nathaniel's hidden room, an empty fireplace
flared to life. The flames spit out Cordelia's body and with it.
Sudden, searing pain slammed into Cordelia's astral self. Her body
pulled at her, but the purple fire that surrounded her separated them.
"Thank you." The demon controlling Cordelia's body smiled. She
struggled to her feet, reaching a hand down to her still bleeding
belly. "That bastard kid ruined everything. What's our next move?"
"You ruined everything." Nathaniel picked up a sharp black handled
knife, runic etchings decorated the hilt and the blade. He pointed it
at Cordelia's forehead. The writings on the side started to glow and
a strangled gasp issued from Cordelia's throat. Slowly, thick strings
of inky black seeped out of her mouth and wrapped around the blade.
"First you let Angelus kill the Beast. Then you let that meddling
witch re-soul Angel. Finally, you failed to secure the vampire spawn's
loyalty and allowed him to murder his child. Your next move is go back
to Hell and stay there!" The last of the black left Cordelia's body
and it fell limply to the floor. Nathaniel tossed the knife into the
fireplace where it screeched and burned and finally disappeared.
The pain was intense. Cordelia felt her astral self being pulled
through the magical purple fire of her cell and drawn to her body.
Now that nothing else possessed its place, her soul sought out its home
and no magic could hold it back. Her eyes opened and she stared at
Nathaniel Elias in shock. She felt woozy and sick and her heart
struggled to beat and move around what little blood was left in her
body. She was going to die.
*****
The night was unusually quiet. Daredevil paced along the roof of an
office building and listened for any sign of unrest. It was a weird
quiet - not even the rats were scurrying around in search of food and
things to gnaw on. He didn't like it. He had a feeling that something
was cloaking itself in the calm and when it decided it was time to
wreck havoc, Daredevil wasn't sure he would be able to protect his
city. Especially since he had no idea what the hell was a possible
threat to it.
The sound of the scrape of a dumpster being moved on the pavement came
from the alley below Daredevil. He leaned over the building's ledge
and looked down. Something moved. It skulked down the alley and out
into the street. It took a moment before Daredevil followed. He had
seen it. He hadn't heard it move. He hadn't seen its outline in the
vibrations of his radar sense. He could see its dark shadow shape with
a dull grey aura around it. It moved too quickly to be human. Good
thing he moved quickly as well.
As he followed the unusual figure, staying out of its sight by keeping
above it, Daredevil tried to use his other senses to gather information
on who or what it was. It moved with very little sound - stealthy like
a predator - but what was really disconcerting was that he couldn't
hear it breath or its heart beating. It emitted a low level sound that
Daredevil was sure only he and animals with extremely good hearing
could hear. It smelled. The fresh sharp, tangy scent of blood clung
to it and underneath was the older stale odor of dried blood. Whatever
it was, Daredevil didn't like it.
The thing went into an old apartment building that had recently been
renovated in an effort to attract more affluent tenants to the area.
Daredevil knew where they were. He knew every inch of his city by the
sounds and smells and the feeling of the urban landscape under his
feet. The owner of the building was Nathaniel Elias, a former lawyer
turned wealthy business man. He had taken over a lot of Nikolas
Natchios' holdings when they had been sold after Elektra's death.
Daredevil had been keeping an eye on him in case he decided to take
over some things from the Kingpin as well. Daredevil stopped on the
roof of the building across the street. A lot of the buildings on this
block were empty due to 'renovations.' They were owned by Elias too.
There was nothing outwardly suspicious going on, but there had to be a
reason that Elias wanted the buildings around his home empty.
A woman's screams coming from the penthouse apartment was reason enough
for Daredevil. He threw out his grappling hook, which caught on the
wrought iron guard rail of the balcony, and he swung across. The
screaming stopped as he landed. He let himself into the apartment
through the unlocked balcony doors and stepped inside. Elias certainly
wasn't afraid of burglars. It was a study, Daredevil could smell the
dusty aroma of old books and the heavy scent of cedar. He could hear
a voice, but it wasn't in this room. It was behind a bookcase. A few
well-placed taps and his radar sense showed him the opening mechanism
for the hidden door.
Nothing could have prepared Daredevil for what was in Elias' secret
room. The bookcase glided open and Daredevil's blind eyes were
immediately assaulted by a bright white light. The unnatural hum that
the other being had emitted sang louder in the air, driving his radar
sense nuts. Daredevil closed his eyes and covered his ears until he
could orientate himself to the new sensory input. When he did open his
eyes, he saw two people. A woman bathed in glowing white lay on the
floor while a man stood above her. Crackling blue energy discharged
from the man's hands, but it seemed to be rebuffed by the radiance
engulfing the woman.
"You can't keep this up," the man warned. It was Nathaniel Elias. The
blue color intensified and the white glow started to wane. "If you
give up now then I might be lenient on the others. I'll just use the
vampire. He's a big boy, he can take care of himself."
"Angel," the woman gasped. The white glow was flickering and the blue
energy snaked in and zapped at her body. Daredevil didn't understand
exactly what was going on, but she was in trouble. He unsheathed his
billy club and threw the baton at the man. It hit him in the head at
his temple and knocked him to the floor. The unnatural light given
off by the blue energy and the white glow ceased.
"Are you okay?" Daredevil crossed the room to the woman. He could
smell blood. She was hurt. He knelt down beside her and picked her
up. "You're safe now. I'll get you out of here." Nathaniel Elias'
heart was still beating, he was alive, but Daredevil really didn't care
at that moment. His concern was for the woman. He would take care of
Elias later.
To be continued....