Angel, Doyle, and Cordelia walked through the endless passageways of the sewers underneath the city of Los Angelus. Doyle had a vision of a boy being attacked by a demon. Doyle had told him that the boy's name was Max and he was fifteen years old. Angel was equipped with a sword; Doyle with an ax; and Cordelia with a crossbow.
Angel followed the boy's scent through the tunnels until they reached the demons lair. Max was on the floor hiding under a table. The demon did not seem to notice or even care for that matter. He was too busy feeding his kittens. He had a cage with about twenty kittens sitting in a basket. Suddenly six vampires came out of nowhere. They surrounded the demon and battered him with punches. It retaliated by sending two of them into the air. Angel and the gang quickly joined the battle.
"Doyle, Go get Max." Angel yelled.
Doyle crouched down to avoid being seen and made his way to the child.
"Hey kid, come on." Doyle said with no response from Max, who was frozen in fear. Doyle then got knocked back by a vampire. He sailed through the air knocking into Angel. One vampire got behind the demon and broke its neck. Then they turned their attention towards the boy. Angel jumped in knocking two down. Cordelia fired her crossbow killing one vampire running towards Max. One vampire headed towards Angel as he did a back flip and staked the demon in the heart from behind. His face changed to show the demon within. Cordelia quickly reloaded, shot again and missed hitting one in the leg. This gave Angel the time to kill him. The leader of the group of vampires grabbed Max and started backing up.
"You move any closer I'll kill him." He said as he back over Doyle's body and fell on top of a wooden table. It shattered into pieces and one lodged into the vampire's heart and reduced him to ashes. Max then saw Angel's vamped out face and ran away in terror. Angel got Doyle back on his feet. Doyle looked around and noticed that all the demons were dead.
"Well looks like mission accomplished then. Good fight." Doyle said.
"Yes I was very impressed with you being knocked out on the floor." Cordelia said as she walked towards the demon's corpse.
It was covered with thick blue fur and had two small horns protruding from each side of its chin.
"So what should we put him down as in our case files since I couldn't find him on the website?" Cordelia asked.
"Well he is big, blue and furry." Doyle said.
"Ok, so Big Blue Furry thing, we all agree then?" Cordelia asked looking around at her friends in silence.
"Let's go." Angel commanded.
"Wait, I kind of feel bad for him. He had cats and took good care of them. That can't make him all bad. Maybe under that gross exterior lies a soft kind heart. That makes him a lot like you, Angel." Cordelia said.
"Cordelia, did you just compare me to a Big, Blue Furry thing?"
"Well she does have a point man. Usually when people first meet you, the whole Grrrrrr thing scares them off but if someone really gets to know you, you're just a big softie." Doyle said.
"I don't Grrrrrrr and besides I don't think he was keeping the cats as pets. Angel said as he gestured over to a pile of cat bones. Cordelia looked down at them in horror.
"CATS? He ate cats? And to think I was feeling sorry for him.
Doyle looked down on the table and found a deck of playing cards. He realized exactly was the cats were for.
"Kitten Poker." Doyle said.
"What?" Cordelia asked.
"Instead of playing for money they play for kittens and then usually eat their winnings."
"That's horrible. How do you know about this anyway?" Cordelia asked.
"Well back before I got the visions I did odd jobs, any job I could find. I delivered a box of kittens to a bar one time the bartender took them into the back. I followed him and saw demons playing for them." Doyle explained.
"Doyle!!!! I can't believe you would do that."
"You know it's more of a roar really, definitely not a grrrrrr." Angel said.
"I really need new friends!" Cordelia said with a sigh.
"And leave us to do all the fighting?" Doyle asked.
"You didn't even do any fighting! You just laid there." Cordelia rebutted.
"Hey I'll have you know that I strategically planned getting knocked out."
"Guys can you stop fighting we really should look for Max he could still be in danger." Angel said.
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Max ran as fast as he could down the streets of L.A. He kept seeing the faces in his head, the faces of the vampires that attacked him. It brought back memories of his parent's deaths. He was just eleven years old when vampires murdered his Mom and Dad. He had just barely escaped getting killed that night. Max turned into a dark alley when he was halfway to his place. A noise from behind caught his attention. He looked to see a man dressed all in black walking behind him.
"Hello, Max." The stranger said.
"How do you know my name?" Max said with caution.
"I know a lot about you. About your parents, how for four years you have been trying to understand with they were taken from you. I can help you understand, Max."
"What do you know about them?" Max yelled.
"I will tell you in time, just take my hand."
"No, I'm not going anywhere with you."
Vampires came from behind Max and grabbed him. The Man dressed in black began to lead them through the streets.
"Where are you taking me?" Max said as loud as he could.
"Home."