Q & A 4
Quinn sank into the cushion of the well-furnished chair she sat in her head held up by the palms of her hands. Cordelia looked up from where her face had been buried in a Hollywood celebs magazine she touched the tip of her finger to her tongue and turned the page. Hearing a sigh from across the desk she sat at she looked up again. "Are you bored or something? Nothing for you to go kill?" The question was laced with annoyance. Quinn perked up.
"Angel took Connor and Gunn they didn't need me to go with them." She lazily rose to her feet and walked the few feet to the desk and sat on the far left corner. Cordelia yanked the magazine from underneath Quinn and moved off to the side a few inches.
"Uh huh and that's why you're over there making the sounds of a depressed person?" She asked.
"I'm not depressed…I'm might be a little flustered." Cordelia leaned forward slightly and clasped her hands together.
"Not that I care. But I'll humor you. Why are you flustered?" She asked.
"Angel." Cordelia closed the magazine and slid it off to the side.
"Oh no no no. You need to take your Angel frustration and throw it away because that ain't happening…EVER."
"Why?" Cordelia came around from behind the wide oak desk coated with a nice shiny coat of polish to sit on the rounded corner. No one wanted the boss man impaling himself on his own desk. Cordelia crossed her arms and leaned toward Quinn like she was about to spread the latest gossip on the hottest celeb in town. Which in a way she kind of was only it wasn't the latest and greatest or on the hottest celeb…Or maybe…Cordelia shook her head out of completing the train of thought that it was currently on.
"Because he had a girlfriend once it made him super happy and he became the vampire no one likes and everyone wants to kill. Not happening."
"Uh huh." Feeling a sudden gust of air Quinn turned to see Angel strutting through the double wood doors closing behind him his black blazer tautly pulled across his broad muscular shoulders. Cordelia caught her staring.
"Psst. NOT HAPPENING!" She growled. Angel looked to her setting the bloodied axe on the desk.
"Hey, I just cleaned there!" Cordelia complained. Angel lifted an eyebrow and looked over to the Hollywood Illustrated sitting on the far corner.
"With the magazine?" He asked.
"Ok, maybe I was just…" Cordelia stopped midsentence she took her eyes off Angel to stare off into the empty space between them or at least her own personal metal screening of the latest and greatest gruesome death scene.
"What is it Cordelia, what do you see?" Wesley came behind them a book, unsurprisingly in hand.
"There's blood. So much blood…They're all dead she's the only one left." Cordelia stood and strode away from the corner of the desk where she had been perched. She turned around to meet Wesley's question.
"Where?" He asked.
"Her house it's outside of town its. A community called Summit."
"Good Cordy. You did well." Wesley placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at the man power available. He had two important quests he needed to conquer. "Gunn go with Angel find the girl. Conor and I will go after the gem. What did the demon look like so we can look up how to dispatch it."
"There wasn't one."
"What do you mean there wasn't one? He was invisible?" Wesley pressed.
"No as in it was just the girl and the dead people I didn't see anyone else. Wesley you have to go it's going to happen soon." The sense of urgency was apparent. Quinn crossed her arms where she stood.
"What do you want me to do?" She asked irritated a little herself.
"Stay here with Cordelia." She didn't even get the chance to protest because they were all walking out the door when she opened her mouth to argue. She went and sat on the desk where Cordelia was resting. She crossed her arms and huffed glaring at the doors that had just closed.
"Why am I being sidelined? What did I do? Was I not supposed to slay those vampires? Do I smell? What?" She questioned lifting her arm to her nose. No she didn't smell. Cordelia looked up. "I came here for the gem. I don't need any of you." She pushed off the desk and strode threw the doors. Wesley wasn't her boss she could do what she wanted. She questioned why she had even stayed as long as she had.
Angel steered his car into the Summit housing addition. Just outside the city actually meant fifty miles outside the city. Feeling a little over whelmed Gun looked from one row of houses to the next. "How are we supposed to find the right one? There has to be like sixty-five houses here." He gripped the battle axe resting in his lap tightly.
"Look for anything out of the ordinary. There's got to be something that doesn't fit." Angel answered. Gun turned his head.
"That's real helpful." They drove for fifteen minutes looking for something anything that could be classified as unusual. "Do you see anything?"
"Nothing." Angel scanned from side to side.
"What do you think we're dealing with?" Gunn inquired.
"Not sure."
"Awesome. Nothing like fighting blind." Gunn glanced to the side and blew out a breath of frustration. He punched Angel in the arm. "Hey, hey over there." He pointed to a house across the street. "Would that be classified as unusual?" There was a rusted out car with duct tape pulled tautly over one of the broken windows. The house at which it was parked was high quality real state something an overly compensated actor might call his home away from home a place to take his mistress so the wife doesn't find out.
"That could be categorized as such." Angel pulled over to the side and cut the engine. Needing no instruction Gun led the way silently approaching the side of the house. There was a small window on the side of the house at least five feet off the ground. Standing off to the side Gunn peered inside. It was the kitchen. There was no one inside it was dark and hard to see anything else other than the white refrigerator and the silver sink.
"Clean here." He whispered to Angel who was peering into another window half a dozen feet away.
"Clear." Angel called back disappearing around the back of the house. Gunn turned the corner in time to see Angel's shadow enter the house through an open second story window.
"I'll just walk in through the front door then." He spun around on his heel making strides back toward the front door. He grabbed hold of the door and turned the knob only to find it was locked. He pulled out a kit from his jacket and lowered himself so that he could see the knob he pulled out a needle like tool and put it into the lock just as he was about to Jimmie the lock the knob turned. Gunn looked up to see Angel's pale face illuminated in the darkness.
"What are you doing?"
"Tryin' to break in." Gunn rose to his feet and entered the house taking a second he eyed Angel suspiciously raising a finger to point. "Wait, if you are in here that means…" Angel cut him off.
"No one's lived here for a while. House is pretty much empty." Gunn stepped further into the house taking a second to look around for himself. Angel was right the house was pretty much a ghost town. There was a dresser just inside the door but there was nothing but a thin layer of dust covering it. There was a coffee table in the living room but there was nothing on it except for dust bunnies.
"Why would Cordelia send us to an empty house?" Gunn questioned. The second the last word was spoken a loud shrill scream rang throughout breaking the silence in the house. The sound bounced off the walls nearly deafening them. They took off running toward the sound coming upon a door in the kitchen. Angel open the door motioning for Gun to go first. "Nuh uh I don't think so. You're the unkillable one you first." Gunn motioned for him to walk down into the deep dark scariness of the basement.
"Baby." Angel whispered trudging into the basement his axe ready in hand. What met Angel at the bottom of the steps he wasn't prepared for. A young woman barely out of her twenties sat in the middle of the room with a shot gun beneath her chin her finger hoovering over the trigger. "Hey, hey what's wrong?" Mascara was smeared down her face from her crying.
"They're dead!" She cried. "They're all dead!" She screamed. Angel slowly handed his axe back to Gun who was standing behind him. He shuffled forward silently.
"Who's all dead?" He asked. She looked at him.
"My family, they're all right here can't you see them!" She looked around the room. "There's so much blood. I didn't know there would be so much blood." She cried harder now. Angel moved closer kneeling before the girl.
"There's no one here but us." He said softly.
"You lie! They're all here, they're all dead." She cried again.
"No one else is here. Why don't you give me the shot gun? Talk to me." He repeated reaching for the shot gun. She jerked away jumping to her feet. Angel could feel the fear rolling off her in waves. Fear of what?
"There's nothing here, what is she afraid of?" Gunn whispered behind them.
"She's afraid of her family dying, of being the only one left. Something is showing it to her." He turned back to her. "Jada, what you are seeing isn't real. Your family isn't here. I know it feels like it's real but it isn't. Hand me the gun focus on me. Listen to me no one else." He kept talking low and smooth. She looked at him and slowly she handed over the gun. Her eyes fluttered as she looked around wildly. She saw Angel and Gun and backed up.
"Who, who are you? Where am I? My family?"
"Why did you bench Quinn, we could have used the extra muscle." Connor asked sludging through a puddle of sewer water.
"I don't feel as though she's gained our trust quite yet." Connor felt no weight in the words they had let people tag along who they knew weren't trust worthy and ended up proving so.
"Ok, what's so important about this gem? I get that it enhances powers." He asked following closely after Wesley looking down T intersections in the tunnel for anything that was worthy of a beat down. To his sadness there hadn't been anything so far. To Wesley that just meant they weren't close enough.
"It enhances the powers a person may possess naturally, abilities such as strength, immunity, perception, empathy, etc. This makes it extremely unpredictable and thus dangerous. Especially if it ends up in the hands of someone who already possesses certain supernatural abilities." He cut to the side down one of the intersections the dark dank tunnels grew lighter the further they emerged and not because of the daylight. "I don't know how many demons will be guarding the gem however a positive is that there is only one specific type of demon charged with the duty so they all are killed in the same manner."
"Which is?" Connor asked.
"I'll let you know when I identify the type of demon." Connor heaved a loud sigh. After a few quiet footfalls Wesley haulted him after looking around the corner of the last turn. The turn dropped off deeper into the underground. Wesley caught sight of the demons milling around standing guard. He sighed if Connor wasn't able to hold them off long enough to do what needed to be done they were all in a world of hurt. Perhaps he shouldn't have benched Quinn.
"What?" Connor asked.
"We're here. The gem is being guarded by vampires known as Turok-Han." Connor stepped forward far more eagerly than he should be. Wesley heeded him.
"They're vampires I already know how to kill them." He answered simply. Wesley shook his head.
"True, but they aren't your standard garden variety vampires. They are older, stronger, and denser than the ones you have faced." Before Wesley could make sure that his warning had gotten across Connor jumped into the hole starting the party. Wesley emerged into the hole quietly hearing the hisses of the Turok-Han as Connor drew their attention away from him. He only hoped that his plan didn't end up in their untimely demises. Sticking as close to the shadows as possible Wesley made his way to the center of the layer. The gem glittered refracting light all over the dank underground. Wesley found himself in awe the cat's eye gem was beautiful. As he knelt closer he only realized the light was coming from itself because there was no light to refract in the darkness of the hole they had plunged themselves in. Wesley looked over in time to see Connor being backhanded across the face by one of the old ones. The blow alone sent him hurling into one of the dirt walls. Connor dropped seconds passed before he slowly picked himself up. Wesley winced slightly when he saw the blood streaming from a gash on his forehead and from the cut on his lip. He knew that if that had been him he probably wouldn't be getting up. He needed to hurry Connor was strong but he wasn't strong enough to hold off all of them for much longer. Content that Connor was occupied he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small draw string bag he lifted the gem and slipped it securely inside his pocket setting the bag in its place. Whispering words not of his native tongue Wesley invoked powers much greater than he. The simple light show he was about to conduct was about to be spectacular. A simple but effective ruse. He couldn't destroy the gem so he would fake it. He reached over and picked up a rather large rock and smashed the sack. A small shock wave of blue, green, and red light emitted from the back sending everyone living or otherwise sprawling. "It's done. We have to go now!" Wesley got to his feet sprinting over and pulled Connor to his. The clambered to the surface of the tunnels and quickly into the daylight where the old ones couldn't follow.
"You destroyed it." Connor breathed pulling a strand of cloth from the end of his shirt and applied it to the gash on his forehead in an attempt to slow the bleeding enough to give it the chance to heal. Wesley reached inside his pocket feeling the hard sharpness of the gem.
"It's done."