Q & A 3
Flashback
"And the demon you were tracking was going to tell you where the cat's eye is hidden?" Wesley asked from where he was perched on the corner of Cordelia's desk. Quinn shot a set blue daggers in the direction of Angel.
"He would have if I hadn't been so rudely interrupted by your boss over there." She pointed her thumb in the direction of the tall dark brooding vampire in the shadowed corner of his office. Cordelia shyly raised a finger drawing Quinn's attention.
"That may have been my fault." She laughed nervously. "I don't exactly have control over these visions, perception is…sometimes wrong." Her explanation didn't make the whole situation any better.
"Do you know what type of demon he was? Perhaps we could find him." Wesley asked.
"He's not a vampire, but he might as well be. There's a watering hole he likes to frequent in town." With no other description not that the one she gave was of any help in looking up the demon, she walked out of the office gliding down a flight of stairs and onto the street. Angel materialized beside her. She glanced to the side. "What are you doing?" She asked irritation scratching her throat.
"I'm not letting you walk into a demon frequented bar alone." He responded. How…protective of him. She sighed angrily he was going to slow her down.
"Wouldn't be the first time." She responded cutting the corner without missing a stride he was there.
"Cordelia had a vison and it brought me to you. Meaning if I wasn't meant to kill you I am meant to save you from something. You aren't going into that bar alone." She figured her efforts would be futile should she choose to continue arguing. She got the sense once he made up his mind there was no swaying it. She stepped up on the small wooden porch of the bar hearing it creak and split beneath her weight. Mmm wonderful…She pulled open the door and strode in the glares from various demons did nothing to break her stride towards the bar. Demon bar human bar it didn't matter they were all pretty much the same. There was thick layer of smoke clinging to the air. The lights were turned down and there was a game of pool going on in the far back corner. Quinn could hear the complaints of one of the players. Sucker. She knew he was being hustled.
"You know you aren't supposed to be in here." The bar tender leaned across the table warning. He skin was quite oily his pores secreted a copious amount of it. She wondered how much of that oil ended up in a demon margarita. Quinn shrugged her shoulders reaching across the bar gripping the bar tender by the back of his neck and slammed his "Its cozy in here I think I might stay." She was bent over the bar inches from his face.
"Come on Quinn. I don't want any trouble." He had his palms up in a white flag manner. Quinn pursed her lips.
"Ohh poor buddy." She cooed. "Tell me what I want and I'll leave peacefully…" She paused. "Maybe." She continued. Quinn felt a hand on her shoulder she turned her head but didn't lesson her grip on the bar tender. It wasn't Angel.
"I wouldn't do that." Angel warned from behind them. The demon laughed and looked around there was easily ten others in the bar.
"Really? Seems to me odds are in our favor." He laughed. The pressure on her shoulder increased. She slammed the bar tender into the bar again and tossed him away. He slammed into the wall behind him breaking shelves before falling to the ground. A hail of liquor bottles accompanying him. She turned to fight the demon that had just been touching her she realized he was no longer next to her but was on the ground several feet away with Angel standing over him throwing punches to the guys face. The others that were in the bar surged forward throwing blows at Quinn. She dodged and offensively struck back. She could see Angel in her peripheral vision trading blows with a demon with horns sticking out of each side of his head.
"All I'm tryin to do is find Tyrone. You seen him?" Quinn asking ducking underneath a roundhouse. A sidekick caught her in the ribs she fell back a few steps. That would be a very large unattractive bruise for the next few days. The ones stalking toward her sneered.
"Such a pitty. A hybrid accepted by no one. Not even us. What's worse is being the child of a once revered vampire who was maimed by the one person he was supposed to kill." Quinn's lips turned up in a snarl. She drew the twin daggers from her boots and she danced. Twirling and dodging like a whirlwind.
"Everyone has an off day." She replied sticking one of the daggers into the chest of a demon that was green and reptile looking. He fell of her blade and onto the floor. Others were coiled to lunge seconds away when a shot rang out through the confined space. Everyone looked up to see the bar tender holding a shot gun the end of the barrel smoking.
"Enough!" He yelled out. "You leave and I'll tell you what you want." Quinn nodded holding her hands up palms out. "Tyrone has a place a few miles outside of LA called the Flats. He doesn't go to many places you'll most likely find him there." He waved the barrel of the shot gun motioning toward the door. Quinn didn't need any further hints she turned and disappeared outside. Outside she tore a pieces of cloth from the bottom of her shirt and used it to dab the cut on her lip that decided to start bleeding. Thankfully she wasn't prone to bleeding a lot.
"What were they saying about the man who sired you?" Angel asked turning a curious eye towards her. She shrugged.
"He used to be a bad ass vamp that killed two slayers and went for a third but didn't kill her." She said.
"Two slayers huh." Angel spoke. He was beginning to piece together part of Quinn's history and he hoped the pieces that he had were not the correct ones. "What's his name?" He asked. "Maybe I know him."
"I doubt it, he's pretty old." She replied. "He was known by something else back home but he goes by Spike now." She went on trudging through a puddle of rain water. She didn't notice when Angel tripped up.
"Hmmm." He breathed out opening the car door of his Oldsmobile and climbed in she was already seated. The drove outside the city of Los Angeles happening onto a rundown complex the bartender had named as the Flats. He pulled over and parked on the curb. They walked up onto the side walk and strode into the building. The receptionist there looked up. It's a run-down complex what is there a needed for…The question went unanswered. "Excuse me, we are looking for Tyrone." Angel smiled leaning on the counter probably not something he should have done. No telling what kind of stuff was dried on there.
"I'm sorry, we have a certain clientele." She said looking Angel over. He nodded and looked aside.
"Ah, something like this then?" His eyes glowed yellow and his canines were enlarged. The woman's eyes widened and she shrank back. She lifted her hand and pointed to one of the doors across from the desk. "That's what I thought." He turned away. The door opened and the demon that Quinn had been speaking with in an alley earlier stepped out and looked up. Angel shoved him back into the room. "Going out?" He asked.
"I don't know you!" He yelled receding back into the apartment. Quinn stepped around him into the light of the room. His head jerked in her direction. "You!" He pointed. Quinn nodded folding her hands in front of her.
"Me." She answered. "We never got to finish what we started earlier today." She spoke backing him into a corner. "I want the cat's eye where is it?" She asked.
"Please. I don't know." He put his hands up defensively. She jumped and front kicked him into the rear wall. "Please you don't know what it is you're asking for. They'll kill me if I tell anyone." Quinn leaned in her face a couple of inches from his.
"And you think we won't?" She whispered softly into his ear.
"Please. You don't have any idea what it does to the person who has it." He whimpered.
"Who says we want to use it?" Quinn spoke. The demon looked at her with a wary eye.
"What do you want it for?" He asked. Angel moved in ducking his head on the other side whispering into his other ear.
"We're looking to destroy it." He answered. The demon ducked out from between them looking at them as if they had lost their minds.
"Destroy it? Do you know what the cat's eye can do?" He asked his voice cracking. Both of the others nodded.
"Yes. We know what it's capable of that's why we are looking for it." Angel stepped forward.
"It's not going to be easy to get to…" He began. Angel turned a cold eye toward him. "Ok, ok it's being guarded by a demon they call Nazari. He's down in the sewers behind Clark's Restaurant you can gain access through the mantel in the alley behind." Angel and Quinn both unhanded him and turned. "Be wary of the gem. It enhances powers you already possess." With that they disappeared outside onto the street. Quinn shrugged her shoulders trying to rid herself of the hot tingling sensation felt down her spin. Angel watched her from his side of the car.
"You ok?" He asked.
"Sun is about to rise." She answered. They got into the car and drove back to the office. Not ten minutes after they walked into the office the sun started rising.
"Cutting it awfully close don't you think?" Cordelia asked standing next to a coffee maker brewing yesterday's grounds.
"I'll be more careful next time mom. I promise." Quinn could hear the thick sarcasm. Across the room there was a chuckle she turned her head seeing Westley.
"You get incinerated I don't get paid." She explained simply.
"What were you able to find out?" He asked.
"The demon Quinn was tracking said that it can be found in the sewer behind Clark's and is being guarded by something called Nazari." Behind them she heard Westley murmuring to himself and flipping sporadically through his backs.
"What's the plan?" Cordelia asked taking a sip of the old coffee.
"We're going to wait for tomorrow's nightfall." Angel stepped into the elevator shutting the door behind and descended below into his small neat apartment. Cordelia looked at Westley who was noise deep in a pile of musty old books.
"So..." Quinn turned away and descended down in into the apartment via the stairs. "Have you noticed she acts a lot like Angel?" Cordelia said.
"Hmm." Westley responded.
"She's very…broody." She answered.
Angel looked up to see Quinn leaning against the wall at the bottom of the steps his fingers paused where they were on his shirt button midway down his shirt. "Something wrong?" Angel asked. She fiddled for a second.
"You have anything to drink?" She asked. He walked over to the fridge and yanked it open. Packets of O+ were lying on the first shelf. He took one and squeezed it into a glass handing it to her.
"I hope you weren't looking for a soda." He took a seat in one of the dining room chairs in the middle of his small kitchen. He watched her as she took the glass looking for any type of reactions. He got none even as she took the first sip. Her nose didn't crinkle. Her eyes didn't twitch. She curled her wrist the glass resting against her shoulder. She stood allowing the cool blood coat her tongue and caress her throat as it went. It would have gone down smoother if it were fresh. But she wasn't going to complain.
"About earlier…" He began. She waved him off with a small smile.
"You didn't know."
"Does that taste ok?" he asked.
"Better than a bag of nacho cheese Doritos." She took another swig. He nodded sitting back in his seat folding his arms across his chest. "I…" She cleared her throat. He looked up at her expectantly. "Um…"
"Dad!" Angel's eyes shot toward the stairs where his son was pounding down them his long brown hair bouncing around as he went.
"Conor." Angel acknowledged his eyes flicking momentarily to where Quinn stood awkwardly off to the side. "Quinn this is my son Connor, Connor this is Quinn. She's like you." Angel explained. The kid looked over to Quinn and waved.
"Cool. Hi. Kind of thought I was the only one." He continued. She smiled slightly.
"So did I." Her entire existence was impossible. She didn't understand how she was here and yet here she was and here Connor was. Another impossibility come to life. Her mind went from the compact neurological organ that it was to a tangled mess of cooked spaghetti. Connor motioned toward the stairs with an impatient temperament.
"I found a nest of vamps a few blocks from here and they're getting ready to hunt." He bounded toward the stairs and disappeared expecting that his father and Quinn would follow. Angel had put a pause to the advances of the others. Westley adjusted the black wired glasses sitting on the bride of his nose.
"No I suppose with the three of you, you won't need the extra man power." He said almost sadly. "All's well I must research further the cats eye. Do be careful." With that he turned and took up his previous position behind the desk in the decently sized office. Needing nothing further Angel turned walking out into the just setting sun. Connor pulled ahead leading the way on foot.
"From what I was able to see there were at least a dozen." A small smile crept at the corners of Quinn's mouth. Not at all worrisome…just enough to break a light sweat. Quinn inhaled a deep sweet cool breath of anticipation and her eyes widened as the familiar sensation of a premonition claimed her body and a vision erupted in her mind.
"Stop!" Quinn yelled surging forward Connor's foot hovered mere inches away from the threshold of the vampires nest. Connor turned back a look of puzzlement wrinkling his smooth porcelain features.
"Look." Angel pointed, they all look down to see where Conor's foot hung a few inches over a thin gray wire. Had Conor been anything but what he was his foot would have landed on that wire and they would all be thrown yards away in an explosion. At either side of the door attached to the wires were hand grenades the wires looped around the clips. Any pressure to the wire would pull the clips and detonate the grenades. Conor stepped over the wire treading deeper inside the nest. There were no bright colors noting that made the place feel lively. Everything was in tatters. The carpet was holy and fraught with dirt and dried blood in some areas. The furniture from what Quinn could tell used to be cotton with a pin stripe pattern. She couldn't come up with any other word but dirty.
"They aren't here they've already moved out." Conor yelled from one of the back rooms. That was obviously apparent with the un normal silence. "They haven't been gone long." With that he disappeared out the back. With a shrug she departed following after Conor. She found him a few moments later but he wasn't alone. On all sides were vampires teeth bared snarling. Their eyes flicked from Conor to where Quinn stood her arms crossed toes tapping.
"I'd get out of here missy. We want the boy." One of them growled. She turned her head toward them with a sneer of her own. She could feel her canines enlarge as she phased. Their mouths dropped. "What are you?" They asked.
"A vampire, just prettier than the rest of you." Wasting no more time she lunged taking one out at the knees. In the seconds that followed as they fell through the air she pulled a stake from the waistband of her pants and pierced the heart of the vamp beneath her. With an expression of shock and then pain he puffed and dust swirled around in the air.
"I can handle this." Connor whispered as she was backed up next to him. She rolled her eyes.
"Oh I'm sure you can. But as seeing as I'm here best not to horde the work." Beyond the six in front of them she saw Angel battling with his own four. One of them looked toward her.
"Your physical appearance may be different but you are one of us. Why do you fight your own?" She doubted they really cared either way.
"Well you see I really don't like you killing my friends. And I have a soul. Something I'm afraid you don't have." She responded striking forward and back handing him across the face. With that signal Conor moved forward in a fray of punches and sidekicks driving the demons back. Quinn tossed her stake and it landed in Connor's hand a moment before he plunged into the chest cavity of another vampire. A few feet away Quinn spotted a wood pallet next to a serve all dumpster. She spun round housing the nearest vamp in the side of the face. She dove for the crate one of them followed her and as she came to her feet she broke off one of the pieces of wood and the unsuspecting vamp impaled himself. Quinn stood watching as two vampires approached Connor from either side Quinn was about to launch herself when Conor threw his arms stakes sprang out from the sleeves of his shirt and punched the vampire in the chest both of them were reduced to smoldering piles of ash as his feet. Quinn smiled slightly.
"I need to get one of those, that's pretty sweet." Quinn commented as she approached Connor.
"They're Angel's." Speaking of him the both turned their heads to see one of the last ones sitting atop Angel a stake between them. Being only a few feet away Quinn looked at the stake Conor held in his hand.
"Can I see that?" He handed it to her she tossed it up in the air and caught it by the pointy end and chucked it , like a dart embedding into a dart board, the stake entered the vamp between two ribs puncturing the heart. Some of the ash blew away in the wind some of it settled on Angel.