That's A Demon

Hermione was standing outside of the hotel and waiting for Spike to come and get her like Cordelia said he was going to. Her eyes kept flittering up to the window that she knew led into her room, and she couldn't believe her luck. Her parents made up the whole excuse of coming to the states to give her a rest from the whole wizarding world thing and abnormal things, but they allowed her to hang out with vampires, slayers, Seers, and the Sons all the time now. Most normal parents would consider their daughter mental if she came out of her room somewhat dressed at ten at night and claimed they were being picked up by a 130 year old vampire, but they only waved her out and told her to have fun and be safe.

"Why the bloody hell are you waiting outside for, eh?"

Turning around to the familiar British tone that Hermione had learned to love already, she had a smile on her face, "Well hullo to you too William," her greeting was followed by a yawn.

Raising an eyebrow, Spike took in the girl's outfit; long black and green checkered pajama pants were tucked into black furred boots while she wore a green colored jumper that reached her thighs over a plain white baby tee. "Your hair's a mess."

Rolling her eyes, Hermione ignored him. She knew it was a mess; it was bushy and tucked into a ponytail, "Well I wasn't exactly planning on going anywhere tonight."

"Touché."

Following Spike down the street, Hermione yawned again. "So what's going on? Cordelia didn't tell me anything really."

"One of your lot is working with one of our lot," was all Spike told her. "What about your mates eh, Scarlet, are they meeting us as well? Cordy said something about asking you to call them up as well."

Nodding her head, Hermione squinted her eyes to get a better look around where they were. She didn't see them yet. "We should run into them somewhere along the path. I called them up and they said they were leaving their hotel already."

"So you talk to anybody from back home?"

"Harry and Ron," Hermione nodded her head, yawning again. "They wrote to me two days ago, and I replied back. I just got their owls again when Cordelia called me."

"Is everything alright?"

"Harry's cousin is on a diet so his aunt and uncle are forcing him on a diet as well," Hermione snorted. "So he asked for food, and Ron was telling me his dad got us all tickets to the World Cup at the end of the holidays."

"World cup?" Spike cocked an eyebrow. "It isn't happening yet."

Realizing that Spike thought she was talking about football, Hermione laughed, "No William, not the football world cup. Ron is a pureblood; his family doesn't know anything about muggles. This is the Quidditch World Cup. It happens every four years, and this is the first one Harry and I are going to. I mean we didn't even know what Quidditch was until we got to Hogwarts."

"Oh," Spike said, bunching up his face to think about it, "That sounds nice."

Faith was rolling her eyes at Cordelia who was still trying to pat down her hair; she's been fussing about her makeup and hair from the moment Hermione entered the office with Spike and her friends all following after her – even Angel was snickering at Cordelia's reaction. Like Hermione, the brothers were all still somewhat dressed for bed. Tyler and Reid were both wearing sweatpants, one black and the other grey, whereas Pogue wore black and red pants matching to Hermione's, and Caleb wore long black jeans. Pogue wore a giant grey hoody over what he told Hermione was nothing, and Caleb wore a plain white t-shirt. Tyler had on a long sleeved plain white t-shirt, and Reid wore a plain black long sleeved t-shirt. You could tell which ones just rolled out of bed by their tussled hair and bed clothes versus Angel's team who was still dressed from earlier and still somewhat neater looking.

Angel was wearing his usual buttoned down black dress shirt and long blue jeans while Spike also wore his usual leather pants, tight shirt, and leather coat. Cordelia was more flashy –she wouldn't be Cordelia if she wasn't – and wore a black pencil skirt with a slit that went up to her thighs and a yellow crop top. Her bangs were bumped up to look like a rooster and her makeup was superb; she even had her spiked heels on. Faith also looked like herself, which had Hermione grinning. She wanted to dress like Faith just once and see how everyone from home reacts to that – dark blue makeup with her hair all crimped, and tight-tight leather pants with an even tighter white t-shirt that has the bottom end of a boot on it; looking as if the shirt were kicking someone.

"Hermione," Cordelia whispered, continuing to bat her eyelashes at Reid who was oblivious to all of it, "Why are we only meeting your friends now?"

"They're shy," Hermione shrugged her shoulders, trying to hold in her laughter.

Standing up from where she was sitting, Faith walked over to the four Sons and examined each of them. "Nice," she said, finally. "Good work Doll Face."

"Doll Face?" Tyler began to snicker, looking over at Hermione.

Glaring at him, Hermione said, "Shut it, Tyler."

"Don't mind him, Sweetheart," Reid told Hermione with a chuckle, "Tyler's just jealous because this girl, Hannah, doesn't call him that anymore."

"Sweetheart?" Cordelia grunted, looking between Hermione and Reid. Then she saw his hair and slumped deeper into her chair. "So you're the blonde's brother?"

"Don't mind her," Faith winked up at Reid, "She hasn't been laid in a while."

"Well we can't all just lie on our backs every second now can we, Faith?" Cordelia said with a scowl at the smirking slayer.

Rolling his eyes, Angel looked apologetically at Reid who was now raising an eyebrow at the smirking Faith and the other three who were laughing hard. "Enough!" he shouted at his two girls then groaned, "We have a child with us."

Looking down at Hermione, Spike smirked now, "Yes, let's not give Scarlet here any ideas for when she runs into the mini me, eh."

"She's blushing," teased Pogue.

"Shut up Pogue, you too William," Hermione threatened them both with her eyes then turned back to Angel. "So what's going on? Cordelia said something about a wizard that you guys need my help with, and something about asking Reid them for help too."

"Faith was running patrols," Angel began explaining to them, "And while at the cemetery she ran into-"

"Wait-" Caleb said, holding up his hands, "You patrol at a cemetery?"

"I'm a vampire slayer," Faith reminded him, looking at him as if he were insane, "Where else would I patrol? The beach?"

Snickering, Reid playfully shoved Caleb's arm then looked down at Faith, "What happened while you were patrolling?"

"I was kicking ass," Faith shrugged her shoulders, "But then suddenly I flew into the air. It was the same way Doll Face made that stalker fly up into the air."

"How'd you get away?" Tyler questioned.

"I flew my stake at him and knocked out his wand then ran," there was a blush on Faith's cheeks that showed she was ashamed of what she did.

"Did you see what he looked like?"

"Long black cloak and a silly looking mask-"

Reid gasped and Hermione turned to him, "What is it Reid?"

"Death Eaters," when everyone continued to look at him funny, Reid said, "Followers of the Dark Lord. I told you all about them, Sweetheart."

Hermione collapsed onto the couch nearest to her, and both vampires could sense the fear coursing through her veins. Rubbing at her now shut eyes, Hermione released a loud sound that crossed between a scream and a grunt. The brothers all looked at each other awkwardly then back at her while the two vampires only stared at each other. Raising an eyebrow, Faith walked over to the couch and poked Hermione with her stake until the girl opened her eyes and narrowed her eyes into a glare that would have made both Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall proud.

"You wanna tell us what's got you all shook up, Scarlet?"

Groaning, Hermione sat up straight, but continued to sit nonetheless. "There was this guy last week who approached me when I was walking home after we killed the stalker," she told them. "He seemed to be waiting for me about half a mile away from my hotel. Real hot looking guy-" Hermione heard all the guys in the office scoff – even Angel, "From some law firm-"

"Lindsey?" Cordelia jumped up. When everyone turned to her, she rolled her eyes, "What? He fits the description."

"I don't remember hearing slimy, evil, soulless, bastard, evil…"

"We get the point," Spike interrupted Angel's usual rant.

Grinning widely, Faith threw herself down onto the couch next to Hermione and played with her stake like she always did. "No, but Doll Face did mention he was hot. Hot lawyer? Who else could she be talking about?"

"Also," added Spike, looking at Angel, "He was waiting for her half a mile away from her hotel late at night – that sounds like something the prat would do."

Frowning at the idea of a creep waiting for Hermione late at night, Reid scratched his forehead. "Who is this Lindsey guy? Another vampire?"

"No," Cordelia shook her head. "Lindsey McDonald; he's a lawyer for Wolfram and Hart. They-"

"-Represent demons and vampires and even Death Eaters," Reid nodded his head, letting them know that he already knew about Wolfram and Hart. "I remember hearing about them," turning to Hermione, he folded his arms over his chest. "What exactly did this guy tell you?"

Thinking back to the lawyer's words, Hermione realized she would most likely get yelled at now for keeping this a secret. "Well," she started, "There was something about offering me his protection because I'm a child and he doesn't condone in children being threatened and whatnot. He told me that the stalker was his client, but he didn't care that we killed him because… well because the vampire was stalking me. Then he said something about his firm working for Death Eaters and about how they wanted to kill me more than they want to kill Harry. Pretty much the same as what the stalker told us."

"No," Spike groaned, hitting his head with his hand, "That's not pretty much the same. Pretty Boy offered you protection, Scarlet, which means that something bad is going to happen to you."

"Spike is right Hermione," Angel growled softly. "We've dealt with Lindsey many times before. I actually really want to kill him, but if he wants to protect you then you need to take him seriously. He wouldn't protect someone unless they were truly in danger."

Rolling her eyes at the darkness that took over the four Sons' eyes at Angel's words, Hermione said, "Oh come on, you guys. This is nothing new to me; I'm always having brushes with death."

"Not necessarily," Cordelia reminded her. "They've always been going for Harry, and you've just been in the way."

"It doesn't matter," Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "I've been in a class with Voldemort for a whole year and even spent a couple of hours alone with him. I've been targeted and petrified by a basilisk that was trained to kill muggle-born witches and wizards, and I've faced off with a werewolf while spending an entire year thinking I was protecting my best friend from an escaped murderer, but in actuality I was living with the murderer and petting him for the past three years. So trust me guys, Lindsey's words didn't frighten me."

"Yet once Reid mentioned that the hooded wizard who attacked Faith was a Death Eater, you got all panicky," Spike told her then tapped his forehead, "Vampire senses remember, Scarlet."

"Well I am only a thirteen year old girl," Hermione rolled her eyes again. "I mean I did vomit when I found out I was alone with Voldemort for a couple hours while sitting in a classroom with him all year. I was scared that seeing the basilisk through that mirror would be the last sight I ever saw, and I did scream when Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf. I mean I'm not completely daft."

"Well at least you have enough common sense to know that you should be a little on edge," Tyler sighed then turned to look at Reid. "Reid, can you find out who it is?"

Shaking his head, Reid saw Faith watching him curiously and he ended up rubbing his face with both hands. "I don't have any contacts back in that world. Hermione's the only one from the wizarding world that I've actually spoken to since I left."

"What about you Hermione?" Caleb asked her, "Do you think you can ask Si-"

"Shush," Hermione hissed, quickly jumping up and jumping on him until her hands were muffling his mouth. "Shh… what is the matter with you? They just said that a Death Eater is in LA and you say his name? He's still wanted for murder, and it's the Death Eaters that framed him in the first place. If they find out that any of you know about him, they'll kill you without hesitation."

Nodding his head to show her that he understood what she meant, Caleb massaged his jaw once she removed her hands, "Ouch. For a thirteen year old, you've got a pretty strong grip."

"That's my girl," Faith grinned.

Blushing, Hermione looked up at him, "Sorry; it's just that from now on we can't say his name. For all we know, they could be keeping an eye on me already. I need to protect my friends back home and you guys as well. But if you guys see a rat then by all means please kill it."

"Yuck!" Cordelia shuddered, "I'll leave that to Angel."

"Oh joy," Angel said sarcastically.

"So Sweetheart," Reid turned back to Hermione, "What do we refer to him as then?"

Thinking about it for a couple of seconds then grinning like an insane woman, Hermione started to snicker, "Snuffles," it wasn't as if they could use the name Padfoot anymore, seeing as how all of the Death Eaters most likely knew that was Sirius's nickname.

Hermione was packed between Tyler and Spike, while Caleb stayed back at the office with Cordelia, and Pogue searched the sewers with Angel. Faith and Reid searched the demon bars, looking to see if any of them heard about Death Eaters in LA. The trio was in charge of patrolling the cemetery. Reid was a little iffy about even allowing Hermione out of the office, but soon realized that she would be the safest one right now – she had a vampire and one of the Sons of Ipswich with her; plus she herself is a bright witch.

"What exactly do we do if we find one?" Tyler asked Spike.

Pointing to the stake in Tyler's hand, Spike said, "Stick them with the pointy end." (a/n: can anybody guess what this is from?)

"Got it," Tyler nodded his head. Attempting to twirl the stake in his hands the same way Faith always does, he looked over at Hermione who was chewing on her bottom lip while staring into nothing, "You alright there, Hermione?"

Turning to Hermione once he heard Tyler ask her if she was alright, Spike said, "What is it, Scarlet?"

"I'm just thinking," Hermione frowned. "Why on earth would there be a Death Eater in LA?"

"They probably knew that you would be here," Tyler shrugged his shoulders.

"But how?" Hermione asked him. "I mean, I didn't even know I was going to be here until the day I got back home from school. But there was my stalker and then Lindsey. Now there's a Death Eater?"

"It is a little fishy," Spike nodded his head in agreement. "Do you want to owl Snuffles?"

"No," Hermione quickly shook her head, "I don't want anyone from home knowing about this. I have a feeling that that's what the Death Eaters want. If I tell Snuffles, he'll come out here and so would Remus, and if they come out here then Harry will be on his own. Pettigrew most likely told them everything he knows about Harry and he knows a lot since we always talked around him thinking he was just a rat."

"Do you think this could all be a setup just to separate you guys?" Tyler asked.

Faith expected Reid to be a little freaked out once they entered their first demon bar, but instead he seemed intrigued by everything. The demons were all scattered around, and to his surprise they weren't the only humans in the bar. Feeling Faith tugging on his hand, Reid raised an eyebrow at the warmth circling him, but he didn't say anything about it and remained silent while she led him over to a green demon. The demon's eyes were red; he had cut down red horns on his forehead, and short, shaggy highlighted hair. Wearing a suit, this demon seemed to be the life of the party.

"Well if it isn't the heavens' Faith," the demon greeted them warmly, pulling Faith into a welcoming hug.

Grinning, Faith hugged him back then pulled away, "Lorne, this is Reid."

Turning to the watchful blonde, Lorne nodded his head then bowed just a little. "Reid Garwin – it's an honor to meet a Son."

"You know who I am?" Reid suspiciously asked.

"Lorne is an Empathy demon," Faith explained. "He can get auras off of people and tell when you're lying and whatnot. He can also tell your future when you sing for him."

"I'm not singing."

"Of course you're not, Poodle Cakes," Lorne rubbed Reid's shoulders before giving them a quick squeeze then grinning. "Come on now. I think I might have answers for your questions."

"Poodle Cakes?" Reid whispered to Faith who seemed to be trying to hold in her laughter. Shaking his head, he allowed Faith to walk in front of him while he followed them. "That's a demon?"

Angel was proud of the way Pogue handled his first vampire. They hadn't even gotten too far in the sewers when they were attacked. The vampire lunged directly for Pogue and tackled him into the disgusting water. Instead of being grossed out or panicking though, Pogue called on his powers and flew the vampire off of him – jumping up, he then punched the vampire while Angel stood on the sidelines and watched him, waiting for the moment when he would need to jump in and save the night. The moment never came though… Pogue reached into his pocket and pulled out the stake. Within seconds the vampire was dust.

"So what is it that you do exactly?" Caleb asked Cordelia. He was a little annoyed that he was casted for babysitting duty, but he also understood that he was going to be the first one who ascended, and seeing as how Cordelia couldn't really leave the office, he would be the first choice to stay back and protect her. His powers alone should hopefully be enough for any vampires or demons that try to attack them here.

"Well I was once just the sarcastic bitch," Cordelia informed him while filing her nails and not looking away from her 'work,' "But after Doyle kissed me before killing himself, I became the Seer. I occasionally get visions that lead us to where people need saving."

Not wanting to get into an explanation about who Doyle was or what she meant by the kiss passing on his powers to her, Caleb nodded his head then looked around. "So you don't go out on the hunts?"

"I do sometimes," Cordelia shrugged her shoulders. "Most of the time I do, but nights like this when it's an army of our people, I stay back. When I get a vision I tend to scream out in agony then hold onto something and sometimes fall. I don't like getting a vision in the middle of fighting because everyone forgets about saving their own asses and they run over to make sure I'm alright, and the higher our group is – the higher the chances are of me getting a vision."

"Oh..."

Tyler ran across the three headstones and reached out to block Hermione. Spike was in a battle with three vampires at once and Hermione was firing spells at the five who were aiming for her. Covered in dust from his own kills, and blood from where he got bit, Tyler tried to help Hermione out, but before he could reach her he was flown into a headstone. Somebody screamed his name; it was a British accent. Another British accent called out Hermione's name –no… they didn't call her Hermione, they called her, Scarlet. Good, Tyler thought to himself as everything turned black, Spike's with her.

"Scarlet!" Spike shouted.

Turning around, Hermione let out a scream as all the vampires surrounding her moved on the side for her. Not bothering to watch as Spike killed off his own enemies, Hermione watched in fear as the familiar piercing blue eyes peered down at her while a smooth pale hand brushed away the long pale blonde hair over his shoulders. Like always, he held the stupid dragon cane in his hands while moving closer to her. "Lucius Malfoy," she hissed out.

"Miss Granger," he sneered then did a little mocking curtsy, "What a pleasant surprise."

"I highly doubt this is a surprise," Hermione sneered back. "What's the matter, Lucius? Tired of sitting on the sidelines while your boss fails to kill one child so you decided to kill another one?"

Spike shook his head and scratched at both his ears. "Scarlet – now is not the time to antagonize the man trying to kill you."

"You guys do it," Hermione shrugged her shoulders with a smirk before glaring at the confused Lucius. "I'm not scared of you."

"You should be, little girl."

"I am not little," Hermione frowned, "I'm thirteen. You know, just the same age as your son, and I highly doubt you consider him as a little boy. Well then again, maybe you call him a little girl too? I know I did right after I slapped him last year."

Spike snarled and tried to lunge forward but he was held back by an invisible force, as the back of Lucius's hand connected to Hermione's cheek, "How dare you speak of my son, you filthy Mudblood."

"That's funny," Hermione snorted, holding her throbbing cheek and spitting blood out by Lucius's feet, "That's what he called me too right before he cried as I slapped him."

Hermione didn't think it was possible for eyes to become that tiny, but Lucius proved her wrong as he glared down at her. "I'm going to kill you."

Laughing, Hermione felt the thrill coursing through her body. Now she understood why Faith liked to play with the vampires before she killed them. This was exciting, fun – it chilled her blood and made her fingers twitch. Instead of becoming frightened like she normally would be right now, Hermione found herself looking forward to being attacked by a full grown wizard. This was exciting. "How original," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Isn't that the same thing Voldemort once told Harry?" tilting her head as Lucius released a loud growl from his throat while pressing his cane against her chest, Hermione nodded her head, "Yes, I believe that is. I believe he told Harry the same line about three times. But as we both know, it never worked out that way… now did it?"

Reid tapped his fingers on the table while Lorne made him and Faith wait for him. Something was wrong. He felt antsy, and he felt nauseous. One of his brothers was hurting, but he didn't know which one. And they weren't hurt too badly. Thinking that one of them probably just got knocked out while fighting, Reid wanted to leave and find them, but Faith told him that they needed to talk to Lorne. She told him that Lorne is the one they go to when they need to find somebody. They normally make Angel or Cordelia sing for him, and she even sang for him a couple of times before as well, but Lorne seemed to already know what they were there for. If he saw them coming before any of them sang, then it meant the person they were looking for came to see him already.

"Will you stop fidgeting?"

"Something's wrong," Reid told Faith, shaking his head. "I can feel it; one of my brothers is hurt."

Sitting up straight, Reid watched as the amusement left Faith's eyes, and for the first time he was able to see her as the slayer. She was serious now; concerned for someone she made it a point to protect. "Which one is it? Is it serious? Can you find out where they are?"

"I don't know," Reid shook his head. "A couple of minutes ago though, I felt like I lost the connection to one of them. He isn't dead," he saw Faith release a huge sigh of relief once he said that, "But it's like he's sleeping."

"And you can't figure out which one it is?" Faith asked him.

Reid shook his head again, "No."

"Should we leave then?" she asked him.

Thinking about it, Reid admired Faith right now. She was just telling him how important it is that they wait for however long Lorne needed them to so they could find out where the Death Eater is and how this will all turn out, but now she's willing to leave behind the way she's used to working because of his senses. "No," Reid finally shook his head, "It's alright – you said that we need to talk to Lorne, and he might know something that we don't. I'm sure I'm just paranoid right now."

Spike tried to fight against the invisible forces holding him back. He looked over at Tyler every now and then and kept releasing breaths that he didn't have; the Son was still alive. The spell that he was hit with just put him to sleep for now. What shocked Spike though was that it was Hermione who hit Tyler with the spell, not the Death Eater. Spike tried to shout out for Hermione, but his voice was gone. Hermione also placed a silencing spell on him. It was the Death Eater – who he learned was the mini me's father – that paralyzed him, but it was the young witch who silenced him. Spike was confused. Why did Hermione knock out Tyler and silence him? The whole point of them being with her was to protect her.

"Crucio!"

Shouting out in agony as she felt every bone in her body writhe around in pain while her blood was being set on fire, Hermione tried to blank out her mind. She told herself that she would be fine. Draco lived through this. Reid lived through this. She would live through this as well. "Ex-Ex…" groaning, Hermione tried to sit up, but the curse was still being thrown onto her, "Expelliarmus!"

"Foolish Mudblood!" Lucius shouted at her as his wand flew from his hand and into Hermione's.

Spike watched with widened eyes, while he made a self-promise to rip Lucius and every one of his blood members to tiny little pieces, as he witnessed the young girl struggle against the bloodcurdling curse then force herself to stand up with wobbly knees. "Voldemort was defeated once, Lucius," Hermione sneered at the stunned blonde wizard in front of her, her voice just as shaky as her body, "He'll be defeated again. But this time, it won't just be Harry who kills him for good," pointing her wand at Lucius, Hermione shouted; "Petrificus Totalus!" making sure that Lucius fell to the ground as she hit him with the full body binding curse, Hermione turned her wand onto Tyler then Spike, "Finite Incantatem!"

Feeling his body being released by whatever spell just released him, Spike reached Hermione just as she hit the ground, "Scar-"

"Don't…" Hermione's voice was low and quivering. Her pulse was slowing down, "He… up… hear… listen… shh…"

Picking Hermione up and making sure that he had both wands in his pocket, Spike walked over to where Tyler was groaning and just waking up. In his arms, Hermione was unconscious, but Spike caught enough of whatever it was she was trying to tell him. The Death Eater was still alive and awake – he could hear everything that was being said. Hermione silenced him and knocked out Tyler for a reason. Telling Tyler to keep his mouth shut and not say anything, Spike knew that he had to get Hermione out of there and to safety before the spell wore off and the Death Eater woke up. Getting Hermione to safety was the only thing that was preventing him from running over there and killing the Death Eater while he still had the chance.

I know that Angel is based in the late 90's and early 00's and right now Harry Potter would be around 1993, but in my mind it's all based in 2010. It just makes things so much easier for me. Or even if they don't have a year; it's all just spoken of by months and days, but they don't mention the year – that works too.

** has anyone else been having a hard time logging in to their accounts? I've been trying to log in and upload this since yesterday.