Title: New Friends, Old Places

Disclaimer: See prologue.

Rating: PG-13

Author: Supergurl15

Author's Note: Sorry it took me a long time to update. AP Literature sucks. Who knew I would have this much work to do over the summer. My summer's completely booked. It really sucks… how do they (teachers) expect us to do all of this crap that they call work? I mean, I've got a million other things to do this summer other than this crap. Who can possible read six novels in eight weeks… and they're thick novels!!! Anywho…

Imzadi- Lol. Cute rhyme thing. I certainly can't make promises for this one… I'm really not sure how this plot is going to turn out. Really.

Princess Lollipop- Thanks for the review. Don't worry… the updates will continue.

Peets96- I'm not sure how this story is going to turn out. I hadn't originally planned on any pairings, but who knows now.

Oh and another thing, I dunno what I was thinking… forgetting about the visions. Don't worry there's a vision or two in this chapter.

Just as a reminder, I own nothing... just the plot idea.

Takes place around season two of Angel.

Thoughts and sometimes titles are in italics.

Chapter 6

The smoldering heat of the golden Kansas sun was the first thing she noticed as she stepped outside the quaint little diner. Not that she wasn't used to the suffocating sunlight of Kansas or California for that matter; she just wasn't expecting it too be hot, as in heat wave hot, as in you can't even squint your eyes open without them hurting hot.

There was about a penguin's chance in the Sahara that Angel was out touring the town with Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley.

That meant he was either sitting at the hotel, blinds drawn, curtains closed, and in one of his "I'm the King of Brood" modes; or sulking with the blinds drawn, curtains closed, reading some sixteenth or seventeenth century novel and listening to classical music, or Barry Manilow.

God, she really knew him too well.

The green light at the crosswalk indicated that it was safe to walk across the busy street. Even though she was seriously annoyed at Pete, he had been right about one thing, nothing had changed in their leafy little hamlet. Well, there was a new stop sign to replace the one that had been run over by a wayward dairy truck a couple of years back, but there weren't any big changes, like a three story mall with a parking garage.

The heat only grew more intensifying as she rounded the corner to the Five Star Hotel. Yes, that was actually the hotel's name, though she couldn't help but wonder if the fact that the hotel was one of the ritziest in Smallville had anything to do with the hotel's less than original title.

Once she was within three feet of the door, she halted mid stride. With a realizing smirk she spun around completely and headed in the opposite direction.

Gentle yet demanding knocking at the hotel door was what abruptly jolted Angel from his thoughts.

Setting a glass containing a deep red liquid on the cherry oak table he got up from the regal looking high backed chair and went to answer the door.

"Chloe?"

Why is everyone saying my name like it's the newest replacement for "What?!"?

"Hey. I thought you were pretty bored up here. Sitting in a dark room all alone…"

She held up the F.Y.E. bag lightheartedly as she walked into the room uninvited, and sat in the overstuffed chair Angel had been sitting in a few minutes prior.

"Sure, go ahead Chloe, make yourself at home." He murmured to himself sardonically.

"Thanks." She said, continuing to sift through the bag, "Oh. Found it!"

"What did you find exactly?" Closing the door Angel returned to his now occupied chair, only to find the unexpected guest sitting in his seat. "I was sitting there…"

Ignoring him she continued, "The movie I bought, one of them anyway."

"Interview with a Vampire?" His coffee brown eyes grazed over the cover of the DVD. Why did that title seem so familiar to him?

"Yeah, I remember you told me you hadn't seen it yet. And being the good natured person that I am, I couldn't resist buying one of the best movies that the twentieth century had to offer. Full of angst, suspense, dark themes, and violence, which is really something that I need right now. I guess the traumatizing experience of running into Lindsey at the local diner will do that to a person."

"Lindsey?"

"Yeah." Getting up from the unusually comfortable stiff backed chair, she walked across the room to the TV and built in DVD player. Five star hotels, what didn't they have?

"As in Lindsey McDonald?"

Putting the DVD in the player she pressed the play button and stepped backwards to observe her work, "There."

She whirled back around, facing the ensouled vampire and for the first time she noticed the light free room. There was nothing 'light' about it. "Ya know, this room definitely suits you." Her bright green eyes flickered about the room, taking in the room's depressing tone. Everything, from the color of the curtains to the color of the carpet looked like it had been especially custom ordered for a dark, semi-ominous creature of the night.

A less than vibrant blend of browns and reds and blacks did nothing to improve the overall eye catching factor of the room but it create a sort of spooky, menacing look. Apollo and his sphere of golden goodness wasn't going to get anywhere within the secluded room, not with the thick velvety blood red curtains obscuring the sun's piercing and for some, harmful glare. Five star hotels… some things were better left unasked.

Shrugging she pocketed her previous thoughts and sat down heavily on the chair with the remote.

She couldn't help but smile triumphantly at Angel's irritated expression. It was already bad that she had walked in uninvited, but now she was purposefully ignoring him. It was almost hilarious.

"Angel, I only know one 'Lindsey McDonald', who's a guy, and I only know one Lindsey who's a lawyer at Wolfram and Hart."

"Lindsey's here? In Sandhill?"

"It's actually pronounced Smallville." Chloe smiled at his moment of senility.

"Smallville. Sandhill. Once you've visited one small town, you've basically visited them all. There's always the same rat infested exit in a narrow alley."

"Would the narrow escape route be before or after the bout with the pitchforks in Ireland?" Chloe taunted, the laughing tone never disappearing from her voice.

"You're hilarious…" He commented dryly.

"You know, I've been hearing that phrase a lot lately. It's starting to lose its effect."

Angel rolled his eyes none to conspicuously at her sarcasm when she got up to situate her messenger bag near the window.

"Saw that…"

"Can we get back to what you were saying?"

"Someone sure is irritable..." She commented, still ignoring him. "I would blame it on the lack of light in this room… but we can't really do anything about that."

"Chloe…" He said, frustration evident in his voice.

"Um… yeah." I guess some people are just not easily fooled by the ageless topic change detour. Her eyes searched the room, as she tried to recall this morning's events without mentioning why she was at the diner in the first place. Needless to say she didn't have to think very hard. "Lindsey was here at this diner called, well, Pete's Diner. I stopped there for a cup of coffee this morning and coincidentally ran into him, literally."

Angel sat on the other side of the oak table, his eyes never leaving the portrait of a dark haired girl with haunting green eyes hanging above the entertainment center. "What would Lindsey be doing in Small… ville?"

Chloe had almost thought that he was spacing out… again. He had actually only did it once when she was talking to him, but it was uh, weird. Try to explain something important to a guy and they suddenly get all gloomy and pensive.

"By George, I think he's got it." She smirked using her best British accent. "I dunno… brushing up on his agricultural skills?"

"Chloe…"

"Angel…" She said, mimicking his depressed nature.

He sat back in the chair, like a child who was upset at their father for being placed on punishment.

"Okay. I promise." She held up her right hand in mock resignation, "Less irony, more seriousness. You just don't understand how hard it is to refrain from using sarcasm. It's like second nature to me."

"Drinking six cups of coffee every morning is 'second nature' to you." He replied, grinning impishly.

"You're using my own words against me?" It was her turn to sit back in the opposite chair, ignoring him. "It was more like four cups of coffee, and it was only that one time."

"Right." He said, not flinching from the chair.

After a moment or two of not saying anything, it was Chloe who finally broke the feigned silence. "Lindsey didn't seem like he was up to any vacationing any time soon. It was like, he was, up to another one of his 'faultless, one hundred percent guaranteed to work or your money back' plans." Most which never actually worked a good majority of the time. Not with everyone's favorite crime fighting team working twenty four seven to keep the City of Angels safe.

"What if he's here for the same reason that we are…"

"To kill the demon?" Angel mused, a bit sarcastically that was completely overlooked by Chloe.

"No… to befriend it." Chloe continued, her voice raising an octave as if she had just made a discovery almost as important as the wheel.

"I know. I was being… nevermind."

Without so much as looking in his direction she continued, "But why would Wolfram and Hart want an unabashed killer? Wait, this is Wolfram and Hart that we're talking about. I'm pretty sure 'unabashed' isn't even in their guidebook to better morals. If they even have morals."

"What are you-?" He had hardly gotten those three little words out before Chloe started speaking again.

"They think we won't expect them. It's not everyday that a law firm decides to follow up on the strange aspects of a small town. Then, they plan on using it against us, but they won't expect us to be expecting them."

Angel watched the ranting girl for a few seconds longer. The best thing to do when she was stuck on one of her Sherlock Holmes ruts was to let her burn out. Sort of like a candle, after a while she would run out of scenarios and observations and give up.

Chloe turned the remote over in her hands before it was placed on the oak table, "We only have to find out what's doing the attacking before Wolfram and Hart does."

Lana Lang stood only a few yards away from the once deserted coffee house. Police cars, ambulances, and even a few fire trucks swarmed the street facing the Talon that was scheduled to open only a few hours later.

Lana wasted no time in walking, or more like running to the scene but was stopped by a rather stocky policeman who was doing a fairly good job at keeping bystanders away.

"It's all right Paul, she's the manager."

The man, Paul, instantly stepped aside at Sheriff Nancy Adam's command, allowing Lana to approach the scene.

"Sheriff Adams, what's going on?" A look of uncertainty swept over Lana's face. Granted she only came once a week to 'manage' the Talon, but she was still the manager.

"One of your employees couldn't open the store this morning, there was a body blocking the door of the Talon from the inside."

Lana gasped audibly halfway through the sheriff's synopsis of the morning's events, but allowed the sheriff to finish her statement. "Oh my God…"

One hand came to rest on her mouth and she gritted under it. "Do you know who it was?"

"According to the employee that found her…" Sheriff Adams turned around to gesture at a short, blond haired girl who was talking to a nearby police officer.

Karen? Her eyes were blood shot red, and Lana could tell that she had been crying, hard. Her head was bowed sullenly and Lana found tears forming at her eyes as well.

But it was the sheriff's next words that would forever haunt her thoughts, "… Melody Green."

"Melody?" Lana nearly choked on her own words; the news hit her head on like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, not fully aware of what was going on until it was too late.

I only saw her yesterday. Talked to her… God. Not Melody. She didn't deserve this.

"Right now we're waiting for the detective and the medical examiner to get here." The sheriff paused, watching the girl's saddened demeanor. "I can't tell you how long it'll be before you can get this place fully up and running again. It may take days, months, sometimes years. It just depends on how much we find out."

Lana nodded absentmindedly, still trying to come to terms with Melody's death. "As long as it takes…"

"That was fun. We should all do this again sometime, but next time we drag Chloe and Angel along." Cordelia said, turning around every so often to make sure that Gunn and Wesley were keeping up.

They had been 'touring' the little town most of the morning, stopping only to do a little shopping at a nearby plaza. By the end of the day both Gunn and Wesley were carrying an armload of assorted bags and boxes as Cordelia led the trio to the next shop.

"Who knew these small towns kept up with the latest fashion trends? Angel and Chloe really missed out. A whole day of shopping, and at really good price. What could be better?"

"I didn't, if I did I sure as hell wouldn't have come along. 'A tour.' Right." Gunn muttered once he was sure Cordelia was out of hearing range.

"I could think of a couple of things." Wesley commented under his breath, shifting one of the bags to another arm.

"Did you guys say something?" Cordelia turned around, raising an eyebrow questionably. Not that they could actually see her over the pile of merchandise that they were carrying.

"No, nothing at all."

"Why would you think something like that?"

They both said simultaneously, somehow still managing to keep up with Cordelia.

She nodded, turning back around. "Hey, isn't that the little coffee shop we passed this morning?"

Cordelia glanced at the now occupied parking lot that had been relatively vacant only six hours before.

"I wonder what happened…" She frowned thoughtfully before speaking again, "Hey, do you guys think-"

Gunn and Wesley both dropped the bags that they were carrying, running over to Cordelia as if their very lives depended on it.

Cordelia swayed a little, her hands pressed tightly to her head in agony. Both men rushed to catch her before she fell.

"It's all right, she suffers from terrible migraines." Wesley tried to reassure the growing crowd that was gathering across the street from them. Trust the Powers that Be to send Cordelia a vision at the most inappropriate time.

Working together they managed to guide her over to the nearest park bench. As the effects of the vision began to subside, so did the crowd. It wasn't long before the curious onlookers had resumed shopping and forgotten about the woman with the horrible migraines.

"I'm okay." Cordelia leaned back on the bench, answering the question she knew that either one of them was bound to ask. Of course they weren't as overprotective as Angel, but they were still… overprotective.

"I saw our mystery killer… I expected him to be gross, scaly, and big scary. But he was actually pretty cute; blond hair, blue eyes, everything. I mean, for a bloody thirsty killer." She paused, considering her choice of words. "It's no wonder he's killing so many girls. I bet they just flock over to him."

"Could we get back to the point?" Gunn said, ending Cordelia's swooning over the sadistic killer. Somehow, that just seemed wrong.

"Sorry. But you can't expect me to keep getting these visions without some sort of 'compensation'." At Gunn and Wesley's puzzled ogling she continued as if nothing had happened. "It was dark, and there was a field… a farm! With a… a… windmill. There was this girl; she was crawling into a hole or something…"

"We should probably tell Angel about this." Wesley had already whipped out his cell phone and began punching in the numbers to the hotel.

Cordelia nodded as Gunn helped her to stand, she shrieked once she saw her precious bags and boxes that had been flung onto the pavement in an almost uncaring manner.

Gunn and Wesley turned around hurriedly, prepared to fight a demon if need be.

"You guys dropped the clothes?!"

In another hotel room across town someone else was using their cell phone.

"Yeah. It's Lindsey. You'll never guess who I ran into."