Title: Daughters of the Unnatural
Part: Blood Smells Like…
Author: Liayso
Disclaimer: The characters of Angel and Buffy are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for this story. I do own the characters D.J. and Abby.
Summary: The daughter of The Key and The Destroyer sure has her hands full. Her twin sister wants to kill her and now she's stuck in the past. Can she possibly calm her raging sister down and get back to her own time? Lame summary, I know.
Rating: PG-13 for swearing and violence
Spoilers: Everything I guess. This story is set a couple of months after Angel's series finale.
A/N: Again, "Thank you" to the people that reviewed. Feedback is always appreciated. Also, in chapter two, two different types of demons were fought. In my story Angel, Spike, and Illyria fought a Hacklar demon in the sewers, while the others went to look for Abby. The Hacklar was a demon that wasn't shown on the show, but it was mentioned. Angel, Wes, and Gunn fought it around the end of Season 2, right before they fought that Drokken thing and Cordy was sucked into Pylea. Back to the story, later that night, they fought a different demon called Halaman. The Halaman demon is a demon that I made up. Halaman is Tagalog for plant, at least that's what my Filipino-English dictionary said; I'm not fluent in it. I hope that cleared everything up.
It had been a slow day. No one had called in for help. So to occupy their time Angel, Gunn and Spike played poker while Illyria watched them. Connor was still in bed, and D.J. and Dawn were trying the locating spell for Abby once again.
"I don't get it." Dawn said as the yellow orb disappeared in front of her. She looked to D.J. "I thought you said I was good at this."
"You are. Abby must have cast a cloaking spell to block it. She doesn't want us to find her." D.J. let out a disappointed sigh.
"Bloody hell."
D.J. and Dawn turned their heads to the poker game. Spike angrily threw down his cards. He had lost again.
"What is the purpose of this game?" Illyria asked. "Why do you play it?"
"Well, normally we'd be playing for money, but since none of us have money, we play to humiliate Spike." Gunn said with a smirk.
"Teach it to me." The Old One replied.
"Ha ha." Spike said sarcastically. "How 'bout we play Rummy 'stead?" He looked to the two girls. "Do you girls want to play?"
"Sure." Dawn sat down next to Spike.
"Deal me in. Just let me get a drink first." D.J. got up and headed to the kitchen. As Spike dealt the cards out, the phone rang. Gunn got up to answer it.
"Angel Investigations. How may I help you? Oh, hey Rondell. How have you been doin'?" Pause. "That's cool." Another pause. "Really?" Pause. "Sure, we'll be right over there in about fifteen minutes. You know I got your back bro. See ya man." Gunn put down the receiver. "Yo Angel!"
"Yeah?"
"That was Rondell. He said he found a vamp nest and asked if we could back him up. I told him we would help take them out."
"'Bout time we got some action." Spike stood up.
"All right. Everyone, suit up." Angel said.
"Even me?" Dawn asked surprised.
"Well, yeah. You can slay vampires, right?"
"Please. I grew up in Sunnydale. I was just surprised that you didn't tell me to stay home." Dawn walked over to the weapons chest and pulled out a crossbow.
D.J. came back with a soda can in her hand. She saw everyone arming themselves with weapons. She placed her drink on the lobby counter. "What's going on?"
Gunn picked up an axe. "We found a vamp nest. Want to come?" He held out a stake to her.
"Sure." D.J. smiled and took the stake. She was glad that she wasn't being treated like a baby, like the way she was in the future.
"What about me?"
They all turned to see Connor coming down the stairs.
"Are you sure you're up for it, son?" Angel asked. "The poison…"
"Is out of me. I can handle a few vampires."
"I don't know. I think you should sit this one out."
"Why? I feel perfectly fine."
As to prove a point, Angle launched a punch to Connor's gut. Still a bit sluggish from the poison, Connor was unable to dodge the blow. D.J. flinched when he fell to the floor.
"That's it. You're staying here. D.J., Dawn, I want you two to stay here and keep an eye on him."
"That's not fair Dad!" Connor growled at him. He stood up to glare at his father.
Angel ignored him. "Let's head out."
They left D.J., Dawn and Connor standing in the lobby. Connor let out an irritated growl and then stomped off to the basement. D.J. and Dawn didn't know what to do. Dawn then proceeded to put away the crossbow she had picked up. D.J. turned to her.
"Shouldn't we, you know, go talk to him?"
"I don't know. I really don't want to be mixed up in the whole father-son thing. Besides, he seemed really angry."
"That's why we should go talk to him!"
D.J. ran to the basement. She found her father punching the punching bag. She slowly descended the basement steps, watching her father vent out his frustration. When she reached the last step, he took hold of the punching bag and looked at her.
"What do you want?"
D.J. shrunk back at his angry tone. She wasn't used to him being mad at her.
"I just wanted to see if you were all right."
"I'm fine." He resumed to beating the crap out of the punching bag.
"That's a load of bull. In the future you always come down here when something's bothering you and I always come down to talk to you about it."
Connor stopped punching and raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What are you, my shrink?"
"In a way, yeah"
Connor paused. "Does it help? Talking to you?"
"Most of the time. So talk." D.J. sat down on the training bench.
Connor let out a frustrated sigh. "It's just my father. I hate it when he gets all overprotective of me. It's annoying."
"Well, he's your father. It's kind of his job to be over protective of you. He just wants you to be safe. Plus, I think he's making up for lost time for when you grew up in Quar'toth."
Connor looked at the ground. D.J. continued.
"Also, I think it's inevitable for fathers to be overprotective of their children. I mean, you're way overprotective."
Connor immediately looked up at her. D.J. realized her slip up.
"Oh crap."
"I have kids? In the future, I have kids?"
"I didn't say that!" D.J. stood up.
"But you implied it!" He pointed at her then turned around in disbelief. "I can't I have kids!"
"Well duh. It's twenty years into the future. You were bound to marry the woman of your dreams and have kids." D.J. rolled her eyes.
Connor turned back to her. "Who do I marry? What is she like? What are my kids' names?"
Connor let loose question after question onto the poor girl. D.J. looked like a deer caught in a car's headlights.
"This is exactly why I didn't want to reveal the future to you guys! Too many questions!" She held her head with her hands.
"I'm sorry." Connor backed off her. "I guess I got carried away. It's just…wow." He smiled. "Couldn't you just tell me a bit more?" He pleaded.
"No! Connor, I've never lied to you before. I don't want to have to start now. Please, don't press it any further." D.J. gave him a stern look. She hated lying to her father.
"All right. But just tell me this one thing."
D.J. shifted the weight in her feet, waiting for his question.
"Am I a good father this time?" He said, remembering the whole Jasmine ordeal.
D.J.'s features softened. She then smiled. "Yeah. I know for a fact that one of your kids loves you very much."
Connor smiled back at her. He then went up the basement steps. At the top, he turned and looked down at D.J.
"Thank you, D.J." He turned again and left the basement.
"You're welcome!" She called out to him. Then in a soft whisper she added, "Dad."
D.J. slightly punched the punching bag.
Angel ducked a punch from the vampire in front of him and kicked him in the gut. The vampire stumbled back and growled. Angel swung his sword at his neck. In a swift motion, the vampire was decapitated and turned to dust.
The vampire nest was packed. There were about twenty vamps there, maybe even more. Angel almost regretted not taking Connor, Dawn and D.J. with them. Distracted by his thoughts, Angel failed to sense the vampire behind him. He grabbed Angel from behind and held him in a bear hug. Angel's sword fell to the floor with a steel clatter. He struggled to break free. Then suddenly the grip was gone and there was only dust.
Angel turned around to see Abby holding up a stake in her hand. She straightened herself and turned her chin up a bit at him. Angel shuddered. The look on her face reminded him of Connor when he first came out of Quar'toth. Abby then spun around and staked the vamp coming from behind her. Angel snapped back to attention, realizing that they were still in the middle of a fight. He reached down and grabbed his fallen sword.
With Abby's help, the fight went much easier and smoother for the gang. The vamps didn't stand a chance. Angel watched Abby move. Her fighting style was a combination of his, Connor's, Gunn's, and Spike's.
So we really did teach her. Angel thought.
Two vampires tried double-teaming the brunette. One grabbed her arms and held her from behind while the other tried to rush her. Abby used both her feet to kick the oncoming vamp away from her and into the path of Angel's sword. He lopped off his head easily. Abby slipped away from the vampire holding her and sent a swift kick to his head, knocking him down. She quickly knelt down to stake him. The battle was won. All un-souled vampires were dust.
"Stupid blood-suckers." Abby muttered as she brushed the dust off herself. "At least they don't leave blood when they die. It's such a bitch to get out of clothing."
Angel took a step towards her. "Abby, right?"
Abby looked up at him. She nodded. Angel didn't know what to expect from the girl. She had attacked Connor and Gunn without reserve. He held up a hand in a peaceful gesture.
"Your sister, D.J., she's looking for you. She's worried about you."
"Like I give a damn about her."
Angel flinched at the ice in her words. It all seemed so vaguely familiar. Abby turned to leave, but Angel called out to her.
"Wait!"
"Don't try to stop me!" She yelled at him. "I didn't come here for one of your soul-filled chats. I came here to dust me some vamps and I've done that. So I'm going to split. Oh, and tell my bitch of a little sister that I have a score to settle with her."
Abby took off. Gunn stepped next to Angel.
"What a brat." He simply said.
The four piled into the hotel to be greeted by Dawn and D.J.
"Hey, how did the vampire slaying go?" Dawn asked.
"It went well." Angel looked to D.J. "We saw your sister. She helped us out."
D.J. blinked. "She did? What did she say?"
Angel's silence told her that it wasn't anything good. D.J. sat herself onto the couch and slouched into it, entering broody mode.
"She's still mad at me, huh?"
She let out a sigh and looked down at her feet. Yup, she was in full brood mode now. Angel looked around.
"Where's Connor?"
"Oh, he's up in his room." Dawn said.
"And you're sure he hasn't snuck out through the windows or something?" Angel asked.
"I'm the one that sneaks out windows, Angel." Dawn shook her head at the old memories.
"Yeah, well, Connor's gone through a lot of windows too." He remembered when the Beast threw him from his loft.
"Don't worry. He's still in his room. I talked to him and calmed him down a bit. He's still a little peeved at you though. You should go talk to him." D.J. sat up.
"I think I will."
Angel went upstairs on knocked on Connor's door. A muffled "Come in." was heard from the other side. Angel opened the door to find Connor on his bed reading a book.
"Hey."
"Hey." Connor set his book down.
"Look, I'm sorry for being harsh on you earlier. I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"I know. You were only trying to protect me. That's what D.J. said. How was the hunt?"
"It was good. D.J.'s sister, Abby, was there. You were right; she's a really strong fighter. Makes me wonder what D.J.'s capable of."
"Not much. She was really clumsy in the battle against the Halaman demon. She said she only started her training a year a go. But she held her own."
"Abby was really graceful in her moves. There's no way she could have mastered fighting in a year." Angel paused after a beat. "How did this conversation go from an apology to about the twin daughters of destruction?"
Connor realized it too. "I don't know."
Suddenly, a loud crash was heard from downstairs.
"Angel!"
Both Angel and Connor looked at each other before sprinting out the door. Downstairs, Gunn was sprawled over a now broken coffee table with a demon hovering over him. Illyria grabbed hold of the demon and threw it off him to the other side of the lobby. It landed nimbly on its feet and let out a small snarl. Angel jumped down to the first floor.
"What's going on?"
"Well, apparently, the Hacklar we killed the other night had a baby." Spike said, gripping his sword tight.
"It seeks vengeance upon us." Illyria said, helping Gunn up.
Dawn aimed her crossbow at the demon and shot at it. The demon dodged the arrow and lunged at her. Angel tackled the demon before it reached Dawn as she struggled to reload her gun. The demon managed to pin Angel to the wall. He did his best to keep the snarling teeth and razor sharp claws away from him. Suddenly the demon stopped struggling and slumped to the floor, dead. An axe was embedded in its back. Angel looked straight ahead to see a very shocked looking D.J.
"Wow…I actually got it."
Everyone stared in amusement at the girl. She was bouncing up and down in excitement. Connor came down the steps.
Definitely not used to the slaying biz. He thought.
Angel finished his thoughts. And so unlike her sister.
The next day, Angel was looking through papers of recent cases. He closed the manila folder and got up from his desk. He proceeded to the filing cabinet, thumbed through the tabs, and placed the folder where it belonged. He turned around to see D.J. in front of him. He let out a small yelp and jumped back into the cabinet.
"Did I startle ya?" D.J. asked.
"Where did you come from?" He asked back.
"Sorry, I kind of do that sometimes. The whole appearing-out-of nowhere thing." She turned around and walked to the lobby counter. She started looking through the papers on it.
Angel straightened his self out. "Yeah, I do that too. Is there something you wanted?"
D.J. looked over her shoulder at him. "No. I was just wondering where everyone is."
"Oh. Gunn, Connor, and Dawn went out to get some food, and Illyria and Spike are in the basement, sparring."
D.J. turned back to the papers. "I thought so. I can hear Spike cursing from down there." She said with a chuckle.
Angel frowned. She has super hearing too? He eyed the girl curiously. "Hey, Connor's told me that you've only been training for only a year. Is that right?"
She looked at him again. "That's right."
"Well, how would you like me to train you some more? I mean, I can tell you have a lot of potential to become an excellent fighter from what I've seen from you and Abby."
"Really?" Her blue eyes lit up and her face broke into a grin. "I would love to!"
"All right then." They both exited the office and headed to where all the weapons lay. "So what exactly do you know?"
"Uh, basic hand to hand combat."
"What about weapons? Do you even know how to handle a sword?" He asked as she picked up a long sword.
"Yeah." D.J. placed her fingertip onto the tip of the blade. "Pointy end goes into the demon." She said with a smile.
Angel stared at her with an incredulous look.
"Kidding. Swords and stakes are what I'm comfortable with." She put the sword down. "It's everything else that I'm a bit shabby with."
"All right then. How about we start with the crossbow?" He placed a crossbow in her hands. "This is how to load it." He guided her fingers to load the arrow in. Then he placed her fingers on the trigger and let go. "All right. You want to hold it tight. When you aim, keep--"
Swish.
An arrow shot out and hit the wall…inches away from Spike's face.
"Oops." D.J. said. She lowered the crossbow.
"Bloody hell, bit! Watch where you aim that thing!" He yelled as he pulled the arrow out of the wall.
"Sorry." She said sheepishly.
"It's okay, D.J." Angel smiled, taking the crossbow from her. "You did well."
She looked up at him. "You're only saying that because I almost hit Spike."
They both chuckled. Spike growled at them. The Hyperion doors opened and closed. Through them came Connor, Dawn and Gunn, each holding a bag of food.
"We brought yummy unhealthy junk food goodness!" Dawn called out to them.
D.J. looked up at Angel. "Can we take a break?"
"Sure."
She bounced over to Dawn. Angel watched the girl curiously. The vibe she was giving him was too familiar.
It was nighttime. That meant it was time to slay. The whole gang was down by the loading docks fighting some large cat-like demons. They were all fairing pretty well, even D.J. and Dawn, who were the least experienced. More so, in D.J's case, but she at least had super strength. She managed to take down one of the cat demons on her own.
Dawn shot two arrows at one's leg, immobilizing it. Gunn finished it off, stabbing it in the gut. He moved onto another one. Dawn tried reloading her crossbow with her last arrow as another cat lunged at her. Luckily, for her, Connor tackled it down and stabbed it.
"Thanks."
Connor wiped the blood from his forehead. "No problem."
Dawn smiled at him then her eyes widened. She aimed her crossbow and the arrow whizzed past Connor's head into the mouth of an oncoming demon. It pierced its throat. Connor quickly spun around to see the demon fall down dead.
"Thanks." He said.
"No problem."
They both smiled at each other. Out of arrows, Dawn tossed her crossbow aside and took out a long knife from her belt. She and Connor decided to team up.
D.J. was struggling with one of the demons. It had her sword in its mouth and she struggled to break it free from it's jaws. She kicked its midsection and demon let go. It stumbled back a bit and let out a growl. D.J. backed up a bit as well, and then she realized she was on the edge of the platform they were on. The demon lunged at her and tackled her off the platform. She screamed as she fell. Angel saw the whole thing.
"D.J.!" He tried to get to her, but two more demons kept him occupied.
D.J. struggled to get up. She had lost her sword when she fell. The demon swatted one of its clawed paws at her. She screamed out in pain as the claws ripped into the flesh of her left arm. With her right hand she gripped her wound, wincing. The demon jumped back then head rushed her in the stomach, knocking D.J. into a corner. It jumped back again. With nowhere to run, D.J. closed her eyes.
I'm going to die.
She anticipated fangs digging into her, but it never came. Instead she heard a loud, pain filled roar. D.J. opened her eyes to see the demon fall down. She saw Abby with her sword.
"Pathetic. There's no point in having the power if you don't have the skill to use it." She flicked the sword of its blood. A loud thud was heard behind her. Abby turned to see Angel.
"So the champion finally comes to save the damsel in distress." Abby looked to D.J. huddled in the corner. "You suck at being the hero. Stay a helpless damsel. You're good at that." And with those words, she took off.
Angel walked over to the somber girl. He held out a hand to her and D.J. grabbed it with her blood-covered right hand.
"Are you all right?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She looked at her arm. "It's just a flesh wound." She walked away from Angel.
Angel watched the girl. Then he looked at his hand. D.J.'s blood. He smelt it and his eyes widened.
D.J. sent a kick to the punching bag. It swung on its chain. She took a hold of it to stop it from swaying and leaned her forehead against it. She closed her eyes. She wanted to cry. Her left arm was bandaged up. She was down in the basement, all by herself. At least, she was.
Angel stared at the girl. He then coughed to get her attention. She looked up.
"Hey." She said, somberly.
"Hey. How's your arm?"
"All right." D.J. took off the bandages. The wound now showed up as shallow cuts. "Almost all healed up." She wrapped the bandage around her arm again.
"Quick healing sure is useful."
They were silent for a minute.
"Did you want something, Angel?" D.J. asked.
"Yeah, an answer."
"What's the question?"
Angel stepped towards her. "Why does your blood smell so similar to Connor's and mine?"
D.J.'s eyes widened. "W-why do you think it smells similar?" She stuttered among her words.
"What are you?"
"A healthy girl with enhanced abilities?" She gulped out.
Angel stared her down, hard. D.J. let out a loud sigh. There's no point in hiding it from him anymore.
"He's my father." She said softly. "Connor is my father."
Angel had expected something like this, but it was still quite a shock to actually have it said aloud for him. He stared at the girl in front of him. He remained silent, letting everything sink into him. D.J. felt uncomfortable by his lack of reaction.
"Can you say something? You're kind of freaking me out."
"Oh my god!" Suddenly Angel smiled and pulled the girl into a tight hug. He picked her up, spun her around, and then set her down.
"Well, that was something." D.J. said, blinking. He's going to have one of those rare goofy moments, isn't he?
"Oh my god." Angel repeated. "Connor is your father? You're Connor's daughter? I'm your grandfather? You're my granddaughter?" He gripped her shoulders lightly.
"That's kind of how it works."
"Oh my god." Angel repeated once again. His brow furrowed. "Who's your mother?"
"Dawn."
Angel's eyes widened. "Dawn? My son and Buffy's little sister?"
"Um, yeah."
Angel let go of D.J.'s shoulders. "Wow. I didn't see that coming." He paused. "I can't believe I have a granddaughter." He smiled
"Granddaughters," D.J. corrected him. "Don't forget about Abby."
Angel's smile disappeared. "Abby…" Great, my line produces yet again, another angry teenager. He sat down on the bench. "What are we going to do about her?"
D.J. sat next to him and pulled her knees to her chin. She wrapped her arms around her legs. "I'm not sure." She paused. "But if you even think about doing that memory-mind wipe thing, I will have to sink you to the bottom of the ocean."
"Ah, so you know the family history."
"I've had some interesting bedtime stories." D.J paused and looked up at Angel. "But seriously, just let me handle it. I think I can still reach her. She did save my life tonight."
"All right. You want to tell me the whole story now that I know your secret?" He looked down at the girl.
"Everything that I've told you so far has been true, but I guess I should give you some back story." D.J. set her legs down and gripped the edge of the bench. "You see, I might have started my training a year ago, but Abby's been training practically her whole life. She killed her first demon when she was only six. After that day, you guys trained her extensively."
"And you?"
"I was so terrified that day. I refused to take part in any demon fighting or training. I grew up to be a book girl." She stared at her feet.
"And?"
"And since I refused to train, I became the target to be kidnapped."
"You? But your super strength-"
"What Abby said was right. There's no point in having the power if you don't have the skill." She tucked her knees back under her chin again. "I grew tired of it, being the damsel in distress. So when I turned fourteen, I asked Illyria to train me in secret."
"Illyria? Why didn't you come to me? Or Connor?"
D.J. blushed. "I was kind of embarrassed to. For years, I refused your training. I thought you would be all 'Oh, so now you want to learn how to fight'. Plus, I like Illyria's style of fighting and I wanted it to be a surprise."
"You still could have come to me." He was hurt that his own granddaughter didn't come to him for help.
"I know. I'm sorry." She paused and hugged her legs closer to herself. "You guys found out a couple of nights before the prophecy took place. We were grabbing a bite to eat for dinner and were attacked by some vampires when we were heading home. You guys were so surprised when I managed to take out a couple of the vamps." D.J. shook her head at the memory, smiling. But then that smile faded away. "Then that prophecy had to happen."
"And that's when Abby…"
"Yeah. It's understandable. I went from being the team mascot to the starting quarterback in a couple of nights. I would be insulted and jealous too. Fighting was like her whole life."
The two were silent for a moment. Then Angel spoke up.
"Your name, what does it stand for?"
"Oh. My full name is Darla-Joyce." She said with a small smile.
"Oh. That's nice." Angel was somewhat disappointed that his son didn't name one of his kids after him. Angel was a really feminine name.
"Abby's named after you." D.J. said, almost sensing his thoughts.
"Huh? I don't see the connection."
"Her full name is Angela-Buffy. A.B. Abby."
Angel smiled. "So one is named after the mothers and the other is named after the champions."
"Yeah." D.J. paused. "You're not going to tell them, are you, Gramps?"
Angel looked at her. "No, I won't tell them." He paused. "Did you just call me 'Gramps'?" He frowned at how he was referred to.
"Uh, yeah." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Spike got us saying it. We were only two. It was hard for us to say 'Grandfather' so Spike told us to just call you 'Gramps'." D.J. paused. "He wanted us to call you some other things too, you know." She chuckled.
Angel shook his head at her. "So why don't you want me to tell them?"
"It would be too awkward. Especially for mom and dad. I mean, how would you feel if some teenager popped out of nowhere and said, 'Hi mom. Hi dad.'?"
Angel gave her a look that said 'You got to be kidding me.'
"Oh. Right." D.J. turned away. "Never mind."
The two of them sat in silence for a while. Then D.J. reached up and wrapped her arms around her grandfather.
"I missed this, hugging you. You're so much fun to hug 'cuz you're all big and fat. Like a teddy bear, only with fangs." She smiled into his chest.
Angel frowned. "I'm not fat."
D.J. just smiled and hugged him tighter. Angel returned the hug and gently stroked her hair. He smiled down at his granddaughter.
TBC…
A/N: Aww, isn't that cute? Review please! I hope I'm not making D.J. and Abby seem too Mary-Sue-ish. Please tell me if I am. Thank you!