Chapter 4.…… Beginning of the Year of Darkness…….

L.A. CA……….. 12/29/02.……

The Beast stood on top a high building, looking around the city as it rained fire, and also as parts of the city burned. The Beast shook its head and muttered, "City of Angels, " it laughed. "in a few days time it will become the City of the Dead." It then laughed again.

Unknown to the Beast, but standing several feet behind him was a dark shadow. It then cleared its throat. When the Beast turned it saw who was behind it and it suddenly dropped to its knees and bowed deeply. The Beast then said, "Master."

The Shadow smirked and then asked, "Have you killed the four yet?"

The Beast dropped its head and said, "I am sorry. But not yet."

The Shadow growled and then said, "Get it done. It is only two more days before the beginning of the new year. Now go."

The Beast nodded and said, "Yes Master." The Beast quickly left to do its Master's bidding.

The Shadow shook its head and muttered, "Why do I always get the simple demons?"

A voice behind him said, "Because they like working for you, Jason."

Jason, turned and looked at the tall, dark, women that was now standing behind him. He then said, "Jasmine, what are you doing in this realm. You are supposed to be in that other one."

Jasmine smiled and said, "Just waiting for my body there. And you do mean the one without that nasty little Katel, guy right?"

Jason nodded and said, "Yes. But you still might want to be careful if my former brother is there also."

Jasmine turned her head to side and asked, "Why?"

Jason said, "Because he may not be Katel there, but he would still be a nuisance, if the Slayer ever found out that she and her bratty little sister had a brother in England. And one that is also related to Angelus."

Jasmine smiled and then said, "You don't have worry about me, Even there I will still be a Old One." She tilted her head and then said, "I must be going." She smiled one last time, before she started to glow. Then she disappeared.

Jason shook his head after she disappeared and then said under his breath, "She's going to die."

Later…….. L.A.

The Beast was stalking the last of the four. He already had the artifacts from the other three. But this last one was very elusive. Its prey then stopped. The Beast walked up to and then proceeded to kill the prey. It then rooted around inside the body for a bit before finding the last of the artifacts it needed for its ritual. It then made its way to its hideout.

Hyperion Hotel………….. 12/30/02.……….

Angel and the others sat around the lobby, still researching trying to find anything on the Beast. They did not find anything yet. Angel looked up as the front doors opened up and in walked Lorne, after another fact finding mission.

Lorne looked around at the other members of Angel Investigations. He then said, "I have some bad news." Lorne stopped and then looked over his shoulder at the front door. He then continued, "That will only add to the rest of the bad news we have going on right now."

Angel stood up and walked over to Lorne. He then asked, "What did you find?"

Lorne shook his head and then handed Angel a piece of paper. He then asked, "Have you ever seen those four symbols before?"

Angel looked down at the paper and noticed the four symbols; A eye, A lighting bolt, A Greek letter Z, and a sword and axe. Angel recognized all four symbols. Angel looked at Lorne and asked, "Where did these come from?"

Lorne shook his head sadly. He then said, "Demons are saying the head of each of those orders were killed yesterday by the Beast. They also said that he took a item from each of them, but they didn't know what they were."

Wesley, Cordelia, Fred, and Gunn crowded around Angel to get a look at the symbols on the piece of paper.

Fred looked at it for a minute before asking, "What do these symbols mean and what orders are you two talking about?"

Wesley answered for Angel and Lorne, when he said, "Each symbol represents a different order, to a different ancient god. The Eye, for the Egyptian god Ra. The Lighting Bolt, for the Norse god Thor. The Greek letter Z, for the Greek god Zeus. And, the sword and axe, for the Roman god, Mars."

Angel looked at the others and said, "Whatever the Beast took from them means bad news. We need to find him and stop him."

The next day……… Connors Apartment hideout……….. 12/31/02

Connor was sitting in his hideout wondering if and when Cordy would come back. Connor was thinking, about what it might take to defeat the beast. There had to be a reason that the Beast rose right were Connor was born. Connor shook his head decided to go take a walk around the city.

A apartment somewhere in the city…………

A figure was standing at a window and staring out watching as it rained fire and parts that he could see from the window burning. He shook his head and then turned around. After he turned around he saw a shadowy form standing a feet away from it.

When he saw it he asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"

The demon smirked a evil smirk and said, "My master sent me to kill you. You should have left when the others did. Because now it is to late."

The man looked at the demon and his eyes got big. But before he could reach the table where a pistol was laying, the demon leaped and jumped onto him. They briefly fought before the demon finally stabbed the guy with its claws. After the guy was dead the demon pulled its claws out and then licked them clean of the blood that was on them. It then smiled and then disappeared into the shadows.

Shortly……….. A cave below the city……..

Jason was pacing around the cave waiting for his servants to get back. After a moment, several demons appeared. Jason looked at them and said, "Report my little shadow demons."

One of the shadow demons bowed and said, "Master, all of the angels that remained in the city, are now dead."

Jason smiled and said, "Good. Now go forth and continue the good work around the rest of the world."

All of the shadow demons bowed and the disappeared into the shadows from were they come from.

Hyperion Hotel……….. 7:00 p.m. ……….

Wesley walked into the hotel still shaking his head, over what he had found when he visited an old friend of his that was living in the city. When he had arrived at the apartment he thought that it was to quiet. When he entered, he found Gregory, laying dead on the floor, with four stab wounds in his chest. When he checked out the apartment, but nothing was missing. Wesley then decided to head back to the hotel.

Wesley looked around the lobby, and saw that Angel was in his office, so he walked over to the office and went inside.

As Wesley walked into the office, Angel looked up him and asked, "How did it go?"

Wesley shook his head and said, "When I got there, Gregory was all ready dead. He had been stabbed through the heart four times. Also there was nothing missing from the apartment. I think a demon had killed him."

Angel nodded and said, "That was not good."

Wesley nodded agreeing with Angel. Wesley then said, "And something else that was weird was their was white feathers all around the body."

Angel looked at Wesley before shaking his head.

Hyperion Hotel………… 9:00

Fred was reading through an old book when she came across a passage, that mentioned the beginning of the new year and a coming darkness. She quickly got up and went looking for Angel and the others.

Connor's hideout……… 12:00 p.m.

Connor was sitting in his hideout eating some food he had stolen earlier. He jerked his head up when he heard a thud at the door. He quickly grabbed his sword, that he used to kill demons and got ready for what ever was at the door. Just then the door came flying into the room, and standing in the doorway was the Beast.

The Beast stepped into the room and looked at Connor. He then said, "Connor, do you really believe that a small sword could harm me. Because I don't think so."

Connor remained silent and then attacked. He raised the sword and brought it down across the Beast's chest. When the sword hit the chest, the sword shattered. Then Connor tried to punch the Beast but the Beast slammed his fist into Connor's stomach, knocking the air out if his lungs.

The Beast then picked up Connor and then walked over to the window and then threw Connor through the widow. Connor flew out the window and landed out on the street below.

Back inside the room, the Beast started his spell.

Outside Connor's Hideout……….. 10 min before sunrise…. 1/1/03

Angel and the others pulled up in Angel's car, at Connor's hideout. As they piled out of the car, Fred and Cordelia saw something laying in the middle of the road. As they walked up to it, they saw that it was Connor.

As they crowded around Connor, he woke up and looked around slowly. He saw Angel and he said to him, "The Beast is up there."

Angel nodded while he was looking at the window Connor had came flying through hours earlier. He then turned to the others and said, "Cordy, Fred, Lorne, you three stay here with Connor. Wesley, Gunn, lets go."

Wesley, Angel, and Gunn then made their way into the building.

Connor's Apartment………….. 5 min before sunrise……..

The Beast looks up from the artifacts, and the completed spell, to see Angel, Wesley, and Gunn standing in the doorway. The Beast laughed and then said, "Angelus, sorry but your to late. I have already completed the spell. It is a little present from me to you. Because one of the things you and your kind fear is now gone."

Gunn took his eyes off of the Beast and looked at Angel. He then asked, "What is he talking about?"

Before Angel could answer, the Beast chuckled and then indicated the window. The Beast then disappeared.

Angel, Wesley, and Gunn, got to the window just in time to see something that would not only affect them, and the rest of the city, but also the entire world. They saw the sun rise.

Outside………… Sunrise………..

Lorne, Cordy, Fred, and Connor, all look up at the sky as the sun begins to rise. But the thing that shocks them the most is that the sun is not giving off any light. As they are staring at the sky, Angel, Wesley, and Gunn join them outside. All of them then proceeded to stare up at the darkened sun. Angel knows and fears, that things just got a whole lot worse.

Heaven……… Doyle's Place……….

Doyle is pacing around his luxurious living room, muttering to himself. He looks up when he hears a noise. He shakes his head. Its just his half-brother, Whistler.

Whistler looked at Doyle and said, "You know you can not go back down there."

Doyle shook his head and said, "I do know that. But Angel's going to need help."

Whistler nodded and said, "Don't worry. Soon Angel, and even Buffy will find something that will help them in the fight ahead."

Doyle nodded and said, "Fine. But I will continue to watch and cheer on the good guys."

Whistler nodded again. He then said, "Hey have you heard about that one realm that now has a whole slew of slayers. I just hope they know that is so not going to go well.

Nowhere……. Anywhere……….. Prophet of Time's cell…….

Jason paced the small cell, every once in a while, glancing over at the Prophet of Time. He then said, "Well, the Year of Darkness has begin. And soon I will rule this world. Well all of the worlds that is." He then started to laugh.

Devnor shook his head and thought. it's a good thing that he can't see the future. Because it isn't going to be him that will rule this world. The one that will rule this world will be known as the Immortal King.

TBC……………..