Chapter 15

Fred was trying to keep herself together. Who had she married? She realized she had been sleeping with a stranger. Looking in the rearview mirror, she watched her sleeping infant in the back seat for a split second before returning her attention to the road.

She remembered Connor as a baby. He had been so cute. He had been the light of Angel's life, she thought. Connor was the lifeline that tethered him to humanity more so than any other person. When he had lost his son, when Wesley had stolen him, and then lost him to Holtz, she corrected herself, he had gone off the deep end. She had been so scared in those days. When she watched Gunn and half a dozen orderlies drag Angel away from Wesley's prone form and down the hall, she had felt her soul shake. The pain in his screams had been almost unbearable to hear.

And now, Wesley had made a deal with the devil. He hadn't meant to, but that was how it seemed it was going to work out. She was almost across the city, and the traffic was getting lighter as the day wore on. She could be out of California reasonably fast, she thought.

Getting her and her daughter to safety were the only things on her mind. They were the last things on her mind, as she stopped at a red light, and unconsciousness hit her like a sledgehammer.

When she was able to open her eyes again, it was dark. The room was dry and warm and dark. The floors felt tiled, but there were no seems. As she picked herself up and examined the walls to keep from panicking entirely, she found that were no seems anywhere. This was not a room made by the hands of men.

That was when she panicked. Her breath quickened, and before she could stop herself, she was throwing her fists into the wall with all her might, screaming at the top of her lungs while she did so.

The lights blinded her when they came on. It took her second to realize the lights didn't come on, there were no lights in the ceiling. The light was created by the man now standing in front of her. She lunged at him with all her might. She hit the ground hard and turned to realize that she had gone right through him.

"That won't work, I'm afraid. Behave now or I'll have to kill you."

She sat silently for a few minutes trying to get her breathing under control, and then stood slowly and looked at this man in front of her.

He was wearing dark blue robes. His hair was stringy and a dingy brownish color. The skin she could see on his face and hands was a gray, flaking skin. He looked like he was halfway through decomposing. His eyes were almost falling from their sockets, and yet they held a level of intelligence there that scared her. His was not a benevolent intelligence.

"Be quiet now. Do not make me have to hurt you."

Sensing he was about to disappear, she jumped to speak. "Where is my baby? Is she okay?"

"She is for now. Her purpose is of great importance; she will soon help to bring the true one into this world. Do not worry; you will have the highest honor, being the mother to the bringer of the lord of this dimension."

Before she could speak again, he was gone and it was dark again. She fell to the floor, racking sobs shaking her body. She beat her fists on the floor, begging whatever powers would listen to protect her baby.