Chapter 2
Thank you for the reviews.
This is a shorter chapter as Chapter 1 was something of a monster to try and get everything in that I wanted to say and I got rather carried away!
It was the first time I saw the vampire in Angel. His face changed and I glimpsed the demon within him for a fleeting second.
He saw the startled look on my face and immediately reverted back to Angel.
"I will make sure they do not trouble you, don't worry. I know some very clever people who can make sure you, your family and your home are protected."
"I wasn't going to worry. Sometimes ignorance is bliss."
"Too true."
I packed and we had afternoon tea together. I had ordered the taxi and turned to say goodbye to Angel. It was much, much harder than I thought it was going to be. I didn't want to leave him. We actually didn't say anything we just held on to each other for a great deal of time – until the reception rang to say the taxi was waiting.
"Love you, keep safe." I said kissing him on the cheek.
" I love you too, Clare, and I will."
The drive to the airport was really sad as was getting on the plane. I was looking forward to seeing the family, but I was so sad to leave Angel. I was wearing my silver locket and held onto it as I fell asleep.
The decent of the plane into Birmingham and travelling through customs dragged as I wanted to see David and the children again. They were waiting and there was much hugging and jollity on the way home. When we arrived, Beth put the kettle on and I unpacked presents that the children were expecting and then the presents from Angel. Everyone was very pleased with the gifts and the thought behind them. Beth had a pendant that had a Celtic pattern on it but when you looked at the light rainbow colours danced through the glass. Kate had a black Baden basketball and Liam had a Spalding Lakers basketball. Connor had a very, very early Batman comic They wanted to know about Angel. I told them where he lived and what he did leaving out the bit about fighting demons for a while.
"So," said Beth, "how did you know he was family?"
"Well he looks so like Liam, and his name is actually Liam."
"Must be good looking then." added Liam.
"Yes he is, just like you sweetie." and I kissed him on the nose.
"Mum ugh." he responded.
"You can kiss me." piped up Finn.
"Thank you darling." And I did.
"So how did you know he was family?" repeated Beth.
"OK here goes," I said taking a deep breath. "You know the silver locket that was Clare O'Malley's?"
"Yes," several voices answered.
"Well Angel gave it to her."
Silence.
"You mean in 1745?" asked David.
"Yes." My voice sounded slightly higher than normal.
Silence again. After a little while I continued.
"Because you remember the story of how there was a plague in the village in Galway, well," I took another deep breath, "it wasn't a plague, people were being bitten by a vampire, and that vampire was Angelus, who later got his soul back and became Angel, whom I met in LA three days ago."
"So Liam became a vampire?" asked Liam.
Silence for about two minutes and then there was a chorus of, "That's so cool!" from my four children who then all started speaking at once.
"So we have a cousin who is a vampire?"
"Yes."
"How did he prove it?"
"By standing in front of me in a mirror, he has no reflection."
"How old is he?"
"Two hundred and seventy seven – I think."
"Did he bite you?"
"No!"
"Did you see any other vampires or demons?"
"Well yes, I saw Lorne who is a green skinned demon with horns from another dimension but he is so lovely and he owns a bar that has Karaoke and he sings really well and the demons really liked it when I sang 'Matty Groves,'"
"You sang Karaoke in a bar for demons?"
"Well, yes..." my voice trailed off.
I looked at David. He was sitting quite still holding onto the malt whiskey that Angel had bought him. He stood up and walked out of the room and went upstairs to our bedroom.
"You can ask him all those questions yourselves when we call him later on, but now I have to go and talk to your father."
I walked upstairs and into our room, David was looking at our wedding photo.
"David I know that this sounds really strange but..."
He turned round to face me.
"Clare I believe you. When you told me about the locket and your family history, I was fascinated and did some investigating. And after a great deal of negotiation, bribery and pure determination over many years I finally contacted an organisation called the Watcher's Council."
"As in Watchers of Vampire Slayers?" I interrupted
It was his turn to look shocked.
"Yes, how did you know?"
"I met an ex-watcher called Wesley when I was at the hotel with Angel. He is part of Angel's team."
"Wesley Wyndham Price?"
"Yes!"
"That's who I spoke to!"
"Wow. What did he say?"
"He told me about the story of Angel and Angelus."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to upset you. The stories about Angelus are horrendous and I wanted to keep you safe in not knowing about a member of your family."
"David, I love you."
"I love you too Clare and more than anything I want to keep you and the children safe."
"I know, that's how Angel feels."
"But he is a vampire."
I found it amazing that I was having this conversation with my husband after twenty eight years of marriage.
"How long have you known?" I asked.
"About fifteen years."
"What! All those years! How did you keep it too yourself?"
"Because I'm not you Clare." It was true I couldn't keep a secret to save my life. I sometimes embellished the truth but secrets – ha what were they about!
"It was so strange," he mused, "I almost expected you to meet him when you went over to L.A. It must have been fate."
I was quite taken aback finding an aspect of my husband that I didn't know existed until now. I continued with what I thought was my sales pitch to go over and visit Angel.
"You should meet him. He has changed. He only tries to help people now. I promise. The Wesley Wyndham-Price you spoke to will also have changed, I think that over the past few years he has seen a lot of action in the field instead of staying in some stuffy office at the Watcher's Council. He also knows Angel personally and I'm sure that a lot has passed between them. I know he thinks very highly of him."
"Well we are going in August aren't we, so I can make my own judgements then?"
"You mean we can go?"
"Well the children would never forgive us and I think they should meet Angel. He is part of their family. It's not often you get to meet your ancestor face to face. I think Angel must be your great, great, great, great, great uncle give or take a great."
"Was that a joke?"
He smiled at me. I loved the fact that David was so protective but also willing to go to America to meet Angel because that's what I so desperately wanted him to do.
"But we need to be really careful Clare, promise me that."
"Of course."
I was still amazed at having a conversation with my totally normal and ultra sensible husband about vampires in the family and Watchers and Slayers.
Later that night we received a call from Angel. We did a party call so four of us could talk to him at once. The children took over the call and bombarded him with questions which he patiently answered. At the end of the call David asked to speak to him on his own. I don't know what David actually said, but I was so sure it was to do with our safety when we went over. I also know that Angel gave David Wesley's mobile number so that David could talk to Wesley direct.
We started planning the trip. Beth returned to her final term at University for her finals and Kate was busy revising for her GCSE's, Liam and Finn were doing their SATs and had chosen their options for their GCSE's. As the Basketball season was now over, visits to athletic meets took over our lives as Kate did discus, Finn the javelin and Liam ran the 800m. They were also in the school cricket team and the college rounders team. School was busy and by the time it came to Beth's graduation we were all pleased to have a long weekend in Wales.
We kept in touch with Angel on a regular basis and when Beth and Kate received 'Good Luck' cards for their exams from Team Angel they were both really pleased. We sent photos of Beth's graduation and her leaver's ball, Kate's prom and sports photos and awards ceremony photos for Liam and Finn from the cricket club and athletics schools final.
And then it was the summer holiday and our count down for the trip to L.A.
"Clare, they have shops in L.A." explained my long suffering husband, "you don't need to take the chemist shop as well."
After a mad panic last minute crisis of losing Beth's passport (again!) and the tickets we finally were on our way.
The Kerrigan family outings were something like the trips from 'Home Alone' except we always managed to keep our children and never lose one. In what seemed a miracle journey we were all sitting on the plane having lunch and watching our desired choice of film. I was so surprised that there was no, "Are we there yet?" But thankfully technology had taken over. We had arranged to have a taxi take us from the airport to the Hyperion as it would be easier. When we finally got through immigration after warning Liam and Finn not to make any wise crack comments we pulled our luggage along, found the taxi and we were on our way. The sun was just going down and so the lights of the city were slowly being turned on.
No one said a word as everyone was mesmerised by the size of the city, and roads leading to it. We drew up outside the Hyperion and found Angel, Wesley, Cordy, Gunn and Fred waiting for us. David paid the taxi and we all fell out with our luggage.
The Kerrigans stood in a row facing Team Angel.