Connor watched Anne eat with fascination. She ate politely, with surprisingly good table manners for someone as brash as her, but what fascinated him was how much she ate. She was small, barely over five feet tall, with a build that made Connor wonder if it were possible for her to blow away in a strong wind. Yet she ate enough to satisfy someone three times her size. "You're not a binge eater, are you?" he asked suddenly.
Anne rolled her eyes. "Afraid I'm going to throw up all over your house?"
"I…where do you keep it?"
"Hollow leg." At Connor's dirty look, Anne giggled. "I have a really fast metabolism. Besides, you starved me."
"Remind me not to do that again."
"I will. Loudly and often."
"I have no doubt that you will."
A silence followed as Anne finished eating before speaking again. "Have you heard anything from your father?"
"No. But it'll be tonight before he goes looking for whoever's after you. He's got that problem with sunlight and all."
"If he even looks," Anne said, rolling her eyes.
"He will. Your parents wanted him to help you, didn't they?"
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean he will. He's already pawned me off on you, and seeing as those things haven't shown up since I left England, I doubt he'll be in all that much of a rush to search for them in the LA area."
"But he said there was reason to believe they'd tracked you to Los Angeles. He'll keep his eyes open and get word out if there's trouble."
"You have a lot of faith in a man that, rumor has it, you don't much like."
"He's my father," Connor answered simply.
"Is he why you stayed in LA? Or I guess I should say, why you came back. Although even when you left, you went to Ireland, so I suppose you were trying to keep a connection with him in one way or another."
Connor looked at her with surprise. "How did you know I went to Ireland? That was years ago, before I even met Laura. You'd have been a child then."
"I wasn't even born when you left. But I was four when you stopped off in England for a bit before coming back here."
Connor was confused for only a moment before realization began to sink in and it all clicked into place. Suddenly, the answers to all his questions concerning the woman in front of him were so blindingly obvious that he felt like an idiot for not knowing who she was immediately. "You're Anne Summers. You're Buffy's daughter."
"And you finally caught on. Looks like your mental capacity is about as large as your father's."
Connor didn't respond to Anne's bit of snark, his mind turning too fast. It made sense now, why Angel was so eager to get Anne away from him. Looking at her now that he realized who she was, Connor could see a good bit of her mother in her features. Angel hadn't been able to look at her, hadn't been able to have such a tangible reminder of how things had turned out for him almost twenty years earlier.
And then there was Connor's attraction to Anne and what that meant in all of this. She was the same age now as Buffy had been when she'd first met Angel. Was he more like his father than he'd known? Was he somehow genetically programmed to enter into a tragic, doomed relationship with this woman? He stood up, running his hands through his hair.
"Um, Connor. Are you still in there?"
"Sorry, I was just…This is…you're…wow."
"Tell me about it, sparky."
"And this thing between us, it's…"
Anne quirked an eyebrow. "There's a 'thing' between us?"
"You know what I mean," Connor said with a frown.
Anne crossed her arms in front of her. "'Fraid I don't. Care to enlighten me?"
"You were there for that kiss, too."
Anne got up from the table then and walked over to Connor, placing her hands against his chest. "Maybe you need to refresh my memory?"
Connor reacted how Anne knew he would. He jumped back from her, despite the fact she could practically taste his desire it was rolling off of him so strongly. "Don't play these games with me," he said as he backed away. "You know what's happened here as well as I do. But you also have to know that this is very, very wrong."
Anne shrugged. "Wrong's never stopped me before."
"Well, it should, dammit! There are certain lines that shouldn't be crossed, things that shouldn't be done."
"Oh, that is bloody rich, coming from a man with your history."
"But that's what it is, Anne—history. I've made mistakes like the one you and I would be making, and I've learned what can happen. What will happen. I'm not going to blow everything I've worked so hard for because some little girl turns my head."
At that, Anne's blue eyes narrowed to an angry gaze. "I'm not a little girl, Connor. Don't you even try to pull this with me. I know you're not happy like this. I know you haven't found inner peace, or whatever the hell you claim this is. You're just trapped in a self-made cage."
Connor took a step towards her, the glint in his eyes becoming dangerously close to Anne's own. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"There's a demon inside you, Connor. No point in denying it—not to me. Wanna know why? Because it's in me, too. I can hear it howling every time you're near. When I'm away from you, I can push it back, but then I'm with you and…" Anne looked down for only a moment before locking her eyes with his again. "I know this is wrong. I'm not a complete idiot. You're married. You're older than me. You're Angel's son. I get all that. But I also know that when I'm with you, none of that matters. Everything gets crazy and makes sense at the same time. You're what makes me feel all jumbled, and you're what makes the pieces fit. And don't you dare try to tell me you don't feel the same way, because I know. That beast inside you, it screams every time we're near each other, same as mine does. Stop fighting it. There's no use anyway."
"I can't! Dammit, why can't you get that? I know I have a dark side, but I also know what it can do. I know what I'm capable of, what I could become. So what if I want to let myself go, to let myself out of this 'cage,' as you put it. So what if I want to grab you right now and fuck you against that table until you can't remember your own name? None of that matters, because if I let myself go, if I give into that beast, someone is going to get hurt."
"Connor, you're not Angelus."
"No. But I could be."
"No, you couldn't! You're not like him!"
"How do you know?"
"Because if you were, you wouldn't care! Because if you were, you wouldn't fight so damn hard to keep yourself in check! Letting yourself be what you are, embracing both sides of your nature, won't make you a monster."
"No? Then tell me this. Who but a monster takes an innocent girl off the street to slaughter? Who but a monster is willing to take the lives of strangers just so someone else feels his pain? Who but a monster would want to torture his own father? I've done those things. Those and more. If I'm not a monster, then I don't know what is."
"I do. And it isn't you." Anne's expression softened, and she tentatively moved closer to him. "I've seen monsters, Connor. I've looked into the face of true evil. That's not what I see what I look at you. What you've done in the past, those were mistakes. You were hurting, and you let that hurt drive you. But what you've done now hasn't healed any of that. All you've done is covered it up, like trying to use a Band-Aid to cover a chasm. And until you embrace your true nature, then…"
"No!" Connor held up his hand. "That part of me is buried, where it belongs. Stop trying to make that any different!"
"Connor, please, listen to me! I know…"
Before Anne could finish, the kitchen window crashed in, five large demons falling in behind the broken glass. "That's them," Anne said, hurrying to stand at Connor's side. "Those are the demons that have been after me."
"Right," Connor replied, looking over the large, scaly beasts now standing in his kitchen. "Guess we're going to have to kill them."
"Destroy the vessel," the demon in front said in a deep, guttural voice. He paused for a second, regarding Connor before showing off his fangs in a disgusting parody of a smile. "And her…mate."
Connor and Anne had time to share only a glance before the demons attacked. They both responded quickly, turning so they stood back to back, able to fend off an attack from either side. Although neither Anne nor Connor said a word, they seemed to know each other's every move, their actions flowing together like a choreographed dance.
As one of the demons lunged, Anne turned slightly, causing the creature to stumble right into the waiting Connor. He grabbed the demon, wrenching its head, then allowing himself a moment to relish the satisfying crack of its neck. The four other demons looked down at their fallen comrade, stopping for only a second before renewing their attack.
Anne kicked one hard, sending it flying. She was sure they could break all of their necks, but she also knew it would be easier if they were armed. She moved so she could catch Connor's eye, and he gave a small nod towards a set of kitchen knives on the counter. Anne crouched down before springing up, flipping over the head of the demon in front of her, and landing at the counter. She grabbed a knife and spun around in one motion, burying it deep in the demon's flesh, twisting until she knew she'd done the job. She pulled the knife from its back before pulling out a second one, this time throwing it to Connor. He caught the knife with ease, bringing it down to slice the demon he'd been battling. He pulled back and thrust, sending the creature lifeless to the ground.
With their three companions dead within a matter of minutes, the remaining demons knew they were in trouble. They started to back away, but both Anne and Connor moved with superhuman speed, killing the last of their foes in synch.
As the bodies fell, Anne and Connor turned to look at each other, the fire of the battle still burning in their eyes. Connor snarled as he crossed the room to her, grabbing Anne and pinning her against the counter. His mouth descended on hers violently, and the blood he could taste on her lips only fueled his desire.
Anne's mind was a haze of lust, both of blood and sex. She growled deep in her throat, wrapping her legs around Connor's waist, knowing there was no turning back now.
Connor sat next to Anne on the kitchen floor, close, but not touching her. As he came back to himself, the reality of what had just happened sunk in. He had cheated on his wife. He'd cheated on his wife with a sixteen year old girl. A sixteen year old girl who just happened to be the child of two people who would be less than thrilled to see her with Angel's son.
And the sex itself… He'd never been like that before. He'd been wild, no thoughts but an overwhelming desire to be inside her. And then he'd… Connor's eyes grew wide at the memory. "I bit you."
Anne glanced over at him. "And? I bit you, too."
Connor reached up and touched his neck, then pulled his hand back to see blood on his fingers. "Oh."
Anne leaned in. "Don't tell me you didn't like it," she whispered against his ear before giving the neck wound a long, slow lick.
Connor moved quickly away from her. "Don't," he snapped.
"Don't be such a baby. So we bit each other in the heat of passion. Not like it's a big deal."
"Not a big deal! That's not something humans are supposed to do."
"Maybe not the prude you're married to, but drawing blood during sex isn't only a demon thing. Besides, even if it were, neither one of us is exactly pure human."
"I'm not a vampire."
"Well, no, because there's sort of a corpse requirement for that. But the fact that you get off on biting isn't all that shocking."
"It's wrong."
"No, it isn't. You didn't hurt me—in a bad way at least—and it wasn't anything I didn't want."
"It doesn't matter. I acted like an animal. And you're only a sixteen year old girl."
Anne rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever." She patted his leg. "Well, since you're obviously in too deep of a morality crisis for another round, I'm going to put on some clothes that aren't torn to bits."
Connor nodded, then tried not to stare as Anne walked out of the room. Despite the whirlwind of panic in his mind, his body felt more relaxed than it had in ages. After the good fight and the good… Well, a lot of the physical tension had been drained from his body.
But the guilt kept him from relaxing the way he really wanted to. He cursed himself for being that weak. And now…
His train of self-berating derailed sharply as he realized something from the fight. He got up and went to the guest room, not sure if he was relieved or disappointed to find Anne clothed again. "Didn't you say those demons only attacked you?"
She looked up from where she was sitting on the bed. "Usually. But today…"
"They were after me, too."
Anne nodded. They'd also called Connor her "mate," and she wondered if he'd even noticed. But if that latest attack was any indication, then Connor had a part in this as well.
"We should go to my father's," Connor said. "We're not safe here, and other than the kitchen knives, I don't really have any weapons."
"You don't? That's bloody stupid."
"Laura doesn't like them in the house."
"I guess they don't match the doilies."
"Just get your stuff together."
Anne sighed and stood up. When Connor started to walk out of the room, she said, "I'm not going to let you get away with this for long, you know."
Connor turned back around. "Get away with what?"
"Avoiding having a conversation about what happened in the kitchen. You're putting your focus on the bites or the attack, not all the emotional issues that stirred up."
"There are no emotional issues. We had sex. It was a huge mistake. End of story."
"No. That's not what that was, and you know it. It wasn't mistake sex. I've had mistake sex, and that was not it."
"Anne, I'm an older, married man. Sex between us could never be anything but a mistake."
"Fine. You want to tell yourself that, go right ahead. But we both know it isn't true. What happened in there was beyond either of us. We couldn't stop it then, and we won't be able to stop it from ever happening again."
"I'm calling Angel and then getting some things together. Be ready to leave when I come back."
Anne rolled her eyes. "Okay. You go live in denial."
Connor turned again and walked out of the room.
Again, sorry for the break in updates. I had a recent death in the family, and that impeded on my ability to write for a while. I'm hoping that my muse is back now, and that I will be able to work on this fic at a steadier pace. However, I really need to see some reviews. This story is one of five works in progress that I currently have, and if I think that nobody's really reading it, then I won't give it the priority that I do my other stories. So if you want more regular updates, please review. Thank you very much to the people who have reviewed so far. You're keeping this story alive.
Also, this fic is part of a series of Post-"Chosen"/Post-"Not Fade Away" fics that I am currently working on putting together. While most of the stories work as stand alones, I will from time to time be referring to events from other stories. It is possible to follow the plot of this fic without reading the others, but if you're curious to see the others that I've started, there's a link on my profile. There is also a link on that page to the unedited version of this fic.
