Doyle tapped quietly on the door before not so quietly breaking in.
"Well at least she can't say I didn't knock." He muttered to himself as he brushed glass off of his coat. He started to walk towards the corridor Angel had told him led to Darcy's bedroom and tripped over a small grey and white cat. He stared into the cat's electric blue eyes and it hissed vindictively at him before streaking down the hall and into a room.
Jumping up onto Darcy's bed, Basil batted her cheek. Come on Darcy, wake up!
In desperation he let his claws slide gracefully out of his paws and scratched her bare shoulder as the intruder walked into the room and crouched beside her. Basil spat at him again as Darcy stirred and began to breathe again. Beneath him, Basil could feel her heart kick starting up. He yowled and prayed that would finally stir her from her extremely deep sleep.
Darcy's eyes fluttered and she smiled dreamily as she stretched. Her left shoulder smarted vaguely and she opened her eyes and looked into Basil's eyes. He looked worried she thought as she rubbed his ears. And registered the presence of a third person in the room.
Jack-knifing into a sitting position she declared, "You're not welcome in my home." And waited for him to be forced out. He stood up. Okay, obviously not a vampire. She cleared her mind and waited for her extra senses to help her out. She realised he was a half-demon, in some ways, a lot like her.
"What do you want?" She asked cautiously, she had learnt the hard way that not all semi-demons were nice, but on the other hand, not all demons were evil, apparently.
"To know what you are." The intruder answered.
"Don't you know?" She asked. "I would have thought a half-breed like yourself would recognise those qualities in another." She laughed bitterly. "But then, the existence of my kind is denied, disbelieved." She shrugged. "Unlike you."
"So you're half-demon?"
"Yes…no! Oh! It's a bit abstruse." Serious, she asked, "Why are you here?"
"You threw a vampire out of your home earlier, I'm here on his behalf." The demon threw up his hands to ward her off as she got out of bed and into a fighting stance. "I'm not here to fight." He told her. "I'm here to help you."
"You work for a vampire." Darcy pointed out logically.
"Well yeah, but he's a good vampire."
"Nice try." She said derisively, shifting a little to the left.
"It's true!" The Irishman protested.
"You should listen to him." Said a third, female voice. Darcy glanced at her. Human, tall, dark hair, perfectly made up, American. The female walked into the room and continued speaking.
"He may look like a spaz but occasionally Doyle is quite lucid." She tipped her head slightly to one side. "You're shorter than I thought you'd be."
"Cordy," Said the first intruder. " I thought I told you to stay in the car."
"Yeah well, lucky for you I turned up, 'cause you were about to get your butt kicked by a dwarf." The woman examined her nails then turned to the mildly offended Darcy. "Please continue." She said. "Should be fun to watch."
Fascinated by the inter-play, Darcy warily dropped her fighting stance.
"That's better." Said the guy, with a sigh of relief.
"I'm Cordelia and this badly dressed wimp is Doyle." Said the woman, offering her perfectly manicured hand to Darcy. "And as you just said, we work for a vampire." She raised her eyebrows and let her hand drop back down to her side when Darcy ignored it.
"But not just any vampire." Doyle butted in. "Angel." Cordelia elbowed him as the blood began to drain from Darcy's face.
She gasped, "Not Angelus!"
"Well, yeah." Cordelia said brightly.
"You mean... Angelus was in my home? And I survived?" Darcy began to hyperventilate and ran from the room. Cordelia and Doyle found her scrabbling through a drawer in the small kitchen. She pulled out a paper bag and began to breathe deeply, her wide grey eyes staring wildly at them.
"It's okay." Cordelia said reassuringly. Darcy stared at her disbelievingly. "He's not an evil vamp anymore. He has a soul. He's atoning for his sins." She nodded at Doyle, "That's why he's stuck with gimboid. Are you okay?" Darcy nodded absently, interested despite herself. "Good, Angel doesn't get paid if you die."
Darcy's mind froze with terror. "Who's he working for?" She choked out. "My father?"
"No-one." Doyle said, glaring at Cordelia. "I get visions of people in need, Angel charges in to help. Sometimes they pay him…"
"Usually they don't." Cordelia muttered.
Darcy lowered the bag and looked directly at them. "So why are you here?"
"He saw you and we came." Cordelia said as if she was talking to a three-year-old.
"Gee, thanks." Darcy said sarcastically. "But I don't need any help." She tidied the paper bag away.
"At least meet him." Doyle said.
Darcy quickly calculated the pros and cons. "Okay. Seven o'clock tomorrow night, by the harbour wall opposite The Mermaid pub." She paused. "You realise I'll be bringing protection." She added significantly.
"Oh, you don't need to bother with that," Cordelia walked towards Darcy's battered front door. "Angel's been defanged."
Doyle smiled at Darcy, "Bye." The door banged as they left.
"We'll see about that." Darcy said with a steely glint in her grey eyes. Basil meowed plaintively.