A.N. Sorry about the lack of updating. Fanfic wouldn't let me upload anything from home, and school was being dumb about letting us online until they checked all of our computers for anti-virus crap. Of course my dorm was the last on the list. Anyway, there are a few new chapters up and I'm already working on the next.

p.s. thanks for all the reviews!


Chapter 15 Time for Plan B

"Angel?" Cordelia called into the silent office. She had decided to drop by after leaving Katie at the park. She was about to check down in Angel's basement apartment when she heard someone clear his throat in the dim lighting.

"What are you doing here at this hour?" Angel asked, looking up from his antique novel. He sat up in his leather desk chair and pulled his feet off of the desktop. "Did you have a vision?"

"No," Cordelia shook her head. "More like a confession."

"Huh?"

"I saw Katie tonight…" Cordelia started.

"WHAT?! Where?"

"At my apartment after we come back from Wolfram & Hart. She was sitting there when I walked through the door."

Angel jumped up while throwing his book down on the desk and rushed over to Codry's side. "Are you ok? Did she hurt you? Or even threaten you?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I knew she was bad news. I should have staked her when I had the chance," Angel said as if to himself. He leaned against the desk with his arms crossed and shook his head.

"Angel, Katie is not the problem here. You are."

Angel looked up shocked. "What?"

"You only see the bad side in your sister. She wasn't there to threaten me. She was there because she needed a friend and had no one else to turn to."

"But she's a…"

"Vampire? Yeah, I got that memo already. She even trusted Denis enough to offer him a stake just in case something happened, to protect me from herself."

"But what she tried to do to Wes, what she could do to you…Cordelia, we can't trust her!"

"Angel, she told me the whole story about what happened here. You couldn't possibly understand how sorry she is for the whole incident."

The vampire stood with his usual expressionless face.

"Angel, talk to her!" Cordelia pleaded. "You have to talk to her and let her explain. She's scared enough of you as it is."

"I guess I could if she comes to me…"

"You have to go to her. I mean, you threatened to dust her if you ever saw her again. That isn't exactly a 'welcome home, I'm here to talk anytime' invitation. She looked like I had told her to walk down the road at noon when I said she needed to see you."

"And how do you know that she's not just playing you? Darla used to be very good at that," Angel said cautiously.

"Because she loves you. You are her brother and sire. You are the only family she has left. I believe Katie wants to do good in the world, especially if it wins your approval. That girl would walk through fire for you, Angel. I could see it in her eyes."

Angel stood in silence and looked the seer in the eyes. Cordelia really did believe what she had just argued. They shared a moment of quiet understanding until pain flashed across Cordelia's face.

"AAGHHHH!" She screamed as Angel caught her and sat her down on the desktop.

"Easy, easy, shhh," he said as he rocked the quivering brunette back and forth. She finally took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"Oh my god, Angel," Cordelia said looking into his chocolate intense eyes. "It's them again."

"Who is?"

"Those demons. The Thermopoli demons, and Simon is still with them. It looked like they where conducting a ritual or something. He was tied to a strange-looking alter. Angel, you have to hurry!"

"I'll go call Wesley."

"No time for that! I'll go with you," Cordelia made a valiant attempt to get up, but dizziness and a pounding migraine forced her to sit back down.

Angel grabbed a few weapons and bounded for the door when he nearly collided with his sister.

"Angel, we need to talk, right now," Katie said with an air of summoned courage.

"Not now, I have to go."

"Where's Wesley?" She asked noticing that Angel and Cordelia were alone. She could tell that Cordy wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Not here. I don't know," Angel said sidestepping around Katie and into the hall.

"Then I'm coming with you!" In a flash almost took quick for Cordelia to see, Katie grabbed a pair of Sias (three-pronged daggers) which she shoved in the side belt loops of her jeans, picked up a short sword and followed Angel.

"No no," Angel said as he jumped in the car. "You can come, but there's no way I'm letting you fight!"

"Seeing that you're all alone, I don't think you'll have much of a choice, bro," Katie replied with a mischievous grin. "Now tell me, who or what are we fighting?"


"How many do you see?" Angel mouthed to Katie who had crept up to the rafters of the old warehouse. She held up two open hands to indicate 'ten'. Angel nodded and turned his attention back to scene in front of him. They did indeed seem to be conducting a ritual with the same man, Simon, appearing to be a sacrifice. He was standing next to the breaker box and cut the power. Just as before, the Thermopoli demons would not be able to see the two vampires in the dark. Unfortunately, they seemed to have learned from their past mistake. The lights cut out for only a second and then came back on along with the sound of a generator. Damn it, Angel thought to himself. Both their element of surprise and darkness advantages were gone. Not to mention that they were outnumbered five to one. If we abort, they will still catch us. This is going to be a tough fight.

"You're smart, but let's see how fast you are!" Angel shouted as he bolted from his hiding spot and took out the closest demon. They were very fast. In an instant, the nine remaining demons were on top of him. Angel struggled to free his arms so he could use his weapons, but he was near powerless as the demons continued to dog pile on top of him.

Katie sat motionless on her perch high above the scene. The plan was for her to rescue Simon while the demons were focused on Angel. She looked over at the man who suddenly disappeared in a silver mist. Angel, on the other hand, looked like he was in serious trouble. I guess it's time for Plan B, she thought, although, I have no clue what Plan B is. She had left the sword at the door since she couldn't climb with it, so Katie moved her hands to her hips, took a deep breath for focus, and launched herself off of the beam. She landed on top of the demon heap and started hacking away. She lost grip on one sia and lost it in one demon's chest. She continued slicing demon flesh with the other while throwing demons off of her brother with her empty hand.

Angel, stunned to find himself free, pulled a dagger from the sheath taped to his ankle and joined in the fight. The demons were amazingly resilient and were still fighting strong with six left. Angel and Katie found themselves separated and their backs to the wall with four against Angel and two against the young vampire. Angel was able to bury his ax in one demon's skull, but it was pulled away from his grasp as the three remaining demons pinned him to the wall. He knocked one away with a swift kick, but still found himself quite immobile.

Katie darted around the clutches of the demon pair and towards Angel. She picked up his dropped dagger and stuck it in the throat of the demon that came up behind her. She then threw her last sia and gave the second demon a new third eye. Both of her demons had been taken care of, but a groan from the other side of the warehouse proved the Angel was still struggling. One of the demons had pulled out a wooden stake and was ready to drive it home into Angel's chest. Katie grabbed Angel's ax out of a demon corpse, but she knew that even she would be unable to clear the distance before the demon staked her brother. She spied a chunk of concrete lying on the floor. She ran over and flipped the head of the ax to the floor.

"Yo Rhinoface! You suck at being goalie!" The girl shouted as she dribbled the block like a puck. The demon turned his head slightly in surprise. One, two, three. She swept back and made a slap shot that imbedded the chunk into the side of the demon's head. It dropped the stake and collapsed to the floor. The other two demons decided to take off running. Angel just stared at Katie, dumbfounded.

"What?" She said with a laugh. "I played a little hockey in my day!"

They shared a smile and then took off after the escaping demons. Angel easily snapped the neck of one and Katie took a mighty swing with the ax towards the last one. Its head rolled across the floor into the shadows. Angel and Katie picked up their scattered weapons and surveyed the damage around them.

"Simon disappeared," Katie finally said. "I don't know what happened."

"It doesn't matter now. You, on the other hand…I am impressed," Angel said, watching as his sister wiped off her daggers and returned them to her belt loops. "Where did you learn to fight with sias like that?"

Katie looked at the ground and a hint of pink crossed her pale cheeks. "I think I watched Daredevil too many times. I would practice the fighting scenes with Elektra over and over again."

Angel gave a chuckle and put his arm around his sister. "You really are full of surprises, aren't you?"

"Yup," Katie smiled up at her big brother and gave his waist a squeeze.