Angel and I enter the hotel carrying the ax and a paper bag.
I notice that the lobby is deserted.
A door closes and we looks around at the door but there's no one there.
"Where is everyone?" I ask.
Angel shrugs.
"C'mon," he growls.
We walk to the elevator and get in.
The elevator takes us up to our floor and we step out of the elevator.
The far hallway end is full of angry people clustered around Judy.
"What's going...?" I begin but Angel quiets me.
He looks down the hall intently.
"What gives you the right to hide out up here?" an old man asks.
"Please stop it, you're hurting me," Judy cries trying to wiggle free of their grip.
"We're gonna do more than that if you don't start telling us everything," a woman, I think she's an actress, sneers.
"We know about you, missy," a guy who I think is an actor says.
"The name you registered under is a fake! We have proof!" the manager shouts.
Angel and I walk toward them slowly, passing two guys leaning against the walls of the hallway.
"Who knows what else she's lied about, the little slut!" the actress says.
"I didn't mean anything, please, I'm sorry!" Judy sobs.
"Now you're sorry! I thought you didn't have anything to be sorry for!" the old man shouts.
Angel drops the ax and I drop the bag and we start walking faster as the commotion escalates.
I don't want Angel to be fighting this group alone.
Because I know that's what he's going to do.
"Stop lying!" the actress shouts.
"Come on!" the manager shouts.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Judy sobs.
She sees us and breaks free of the mob, tears streaming down her face.
She takes a couple of running steps towards us.
"It was them!" she sobs.
We stop dead.
"Look in their room!" Judy continues. "Go ahead, look! They've got blood! They've monsters!"
Everyone goes silent staring at us.
I inch closer to Angel.
The bellhop and the PI come up behind us.
The bellhop has our bag and the PI has our ax.
"What kind of maniacs are you?" the PI asks.
As Angel turns to look at him he hits Angel in the chin with the handle of the ax then smashes it into his back, knocking him down.
"Angel!" I scream trying to get to him.
Someone grabs me and pins my arms behind my back.
"No!" I scream struggling against whoever it is. "Angel! Daddy! Daddy! Do something! Fight them! Kill them! Kill them all!"
The person holding me throws me to the floor beside Angel.
Everyone jumps on us, hitting us and screaming at us while Judy stands there, staring, her face wet with tears.
What're you crying for? I think angrily. It's not as if they're hitting you now is it!
Angel and I make no attempt to fight back. I would except I know I can't beat them on my own.
Angel just looks at Judy.
I look too but I'm fuming and I know she knows it.
Then her form slowly blurs before my eyes as the mob continues to beat on me.
The mob is still in a frenzy as they drag Angel and I out onto the hallway above the back of the lobby.
They push us up against the railing.
Something about this scares me and I start to cry.
"Daddy!" I sob looking helplessly up at Angel. "Daddy! Daddy please...please make them stop! Before they find Dru and Spike!"
I choke down another sob as I realize I'm thinking of another mob.
Back before Angel got his soul.
Back when he was still Angelus.
He, Darla, and I had been captured by a mob.
I was still very young then so the fire and shouting and ropes had scared me.
I shake my head.
They don't have any... I think but the thought trails off when I see someone with two ropes.
The bellhop hurries halfway down the steps to get a better view.
"Get them over there!" the manager shouts.
The bellhop laughs.
"We got you now!" he shouts slapping the banister. "Come on! String 'em up! String 'em up!"
Somebody throws the ropes over a rafter and slips the noose at one end around Angel's throat.
Then they take the other one and put it around my throat.
Then they tie the other ends to the railing.
The whole crowd keeps screaming encouragement.
Angel looks over at Judy, who is still sobbing as the others yell and scream for our deaths.
They set us on top of the railing.
"Daddy..." I moan.
Angel looks over at me.
"No more crying," he whispers. "Don't let them see you cry anymore."
I nod and blink to stop the tears.
I'm not going to die from this. I'm already dead for God's sake!
"Good. Push 'em!" the bellhop shouts. "Come on! Push 'em out! Push 'em out!"
The PI and the old man push Angel off the banister while the actress and the actor push me.
We drop until we hit the end of the ropes.
Judy lets out a scream while the mob cheers and the bellhop laughs.
Suddenly they all fall silent, staring.
Judy keeps sobbing.
"Yeah! Swing, you freaks!" the bellhop laughs. "Yeah, that's right, you had that coming!"
The crowd silently and quickly melts away as the ropes with Angel and I with oureyes closed, at the ends of them slowly stop swinging.
The manager leans over the railing.
"Oh, my lord," he whispers. "What have we done?"
"What?" the bellhop asks still chewing his gum.
Judy turns and walks away, still sobbing.
"What's wrong?" the bellhop calls hurrying up the stairs. "I don't get it. Come on!"
He stands next to the manager, who's still staring down at us.
"Where is everybody going? Come on!"
The bellhop looks down at us as the manager walks off.
"It's just a..." he stammers. "What do you call..."
He looks around and sees that he's alone and then runs off.
As soon as he is gone my eyes snap open.
I take a hold of the rope above my head and pull myself up, pull the noose from around my neck and drop down to the lobby floor, catching myself on my hands.
Angel lands beside me and I rush into him, almost knocking me over.
"I hate mobs," I whimper.
Angel puts a hand on the back of my head.
"You're all right," he whispers.
As we straighten up the air on the stairs begins to shiver and bulge and the Thesulac becomes corporeal.
It's an ugly gray faced demon in a long hooded cape with tentacles sticking out from under it like a fringe.