Part 3
“Mommy?”
The small blonde child cried softly. “Mommy? Wake up. Please Mommy.” The child stepped hesitantly towards her mother. The woman was lying prone on the bed as blood seeped from a vicious cut across her neck. Vacant blue eyes stared at the ceiling.
“Mommy!” the child cried louder. “Please Mommy! Wake up!” The little girl clutched at her mother’s cold hand.
“Jordy,” a small voice called from behind her. A small brown haired boy stood there. He looked slightly older than the girl.
“Joshua,” she cried. “Why won’t mommy wake up?”
Joshua approached Jordan slowly, his face showing his attempt to be stoic. “I don’t think mom is going to wake up.” Jordan clung to her brother fiercely. Joshua just stood there as he continued to stare at their mother.
A loud crash sounded in the living room. Joshua shooed his sister into the closet and shut the door. Moments later, the intruder entered the bedroom. The little boy stared bravely, but the quiver in his voice betrayed his true emotions.
“Why?” he shouted. “Why did you do it?”
Jordan shot awake. She was trembling violently and tears flowed down her face. In moments Joshua was by her side to wrap her in his arms.
“Ssh,” he soothed. “It’s okay Jordy.” His baby sister held onto him tightly, refusing to let go.
“I had the dream again,” she sniffled. “The one where we found mommy. When we found her…” Jordan couldn’t even say the word.
“I know, Jordy, I have it too. I want you to look at me.” Joshua tilted her head up so that she was forced to look in his eyes. “I promise you. We will have our revenge. We will make him suffer what he did to us and to our mother. I promise you.”
Jordan smiled softly and buried her head in his chest. “I know, Joshua. You always keep your promises.” Joshua stroked her hair softly, urging her to fall back asleep.
He continued to hold on long after she did.
***
Angel stared intently at the newspaper clippings and printouts. These were some incredibly vicious killings. The first five all had their throats slit in their homes.
This final one was an absolute anomaly. It was completely different from the others.
“Angel?”
The vampire looked up from the papers to find the group staring at him. Slightly unnerved, he directed his focus on Giles. “Yeah?”
“Why was Cordelia in Sunnydale? And who is this man she was with?”
“Peter Marks is…was…her cousin. He was about the only relative that she could actually stand. He was a graduate student at the University of Missouri. He was in town on break. Cordelia decided to visit.” He turned his focus back on the papers. “These are very strange.”
“Indeed,” Giles agreed. “In the past two weeks, five women have been found dead in their homes with throats cut and lying in bed. As I’m sure you have read, the only connection with this last killing was the handwriting. I’ve researched every volume of demon methodology I have and cannot determine what is doing this.”
“What about these messages?” Angel asked.
Willow began to furiously type away on her laptop. She pulled up several files and turned the screen around for Angel to focus on. “I managed to hack into the police database and found photos.”
“Seems the last message really struck home, eh mate?” Spike asked. Angel ignored his grandchilde. Buffy didn’t.
“It doesn’t say anything about Angel,” she stated.
“No,” Angel said quietly. “But it does say Liam.” All but Spike looked at him in puzzlement. “I haven’t used that name in several centuries. Not since I was human.”
He glanced at the computer screen. “They all say about the same thing. Somebody blames me for something.”
“Really?” Xander drawled. “Strange. I’ve never known you to do anything wrong.”
“Suck me, Xander,” Angel snapped. “I’m trying to figure out who hurt Cordelia. If you want to be a little dick, just test my resolve a little bit further and see where it gets you.”
“Now that is it!” Buffy shouted. “You have been acting bizarre ever since you arrived here. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Angel’s temper was being severely tested. He didn’t need nor want to deal with Buffy and her group, but circumstances warranted it. Through clenched teeth he said, “Somebody that I care for very much is hurt. I just want to find whomever or whatever did it, and I want to kill them. Now I suggest you stop riding my ass, Slayer, or you will find that I can get extremely unpleasant.”
“Listen, I don’t…” Giles shot a look towards Buffy that immediately silenced her.
“Buffy, may I speak with you a moment in private?” Buffy wanted to argue but Giles literally jerked her from the seat and dragged her to the back room. As soon as the door closed he snapped at her. “What the hell are you doing, Buffy?”
“What am I doing?” she answered incredulously. “What the hell is Angel doing? He’s acting totally insane! You and I both know Angel, and that is not the way he acts! He is acting like a nut cake over Cordelia!”
“That is not our cause to question!” Giles said harshly. “Yes, it is true that Angel is acting bizarre from our perspective, but how many times in the past four years have we seen him? Who knows how he has changed since his days in Sunnydale?”
Buffy stared at him as if he had grown a second head. “Giles, please. For one hundred years he was a brooding and morose vampire. The only thing four years with Cordelia might change is adding insane to the list. Oh wait, it already has been added.”
“You’re not understanding what I am saying,” Giles sighed. “Angel seems very protective of Cordelia. Like you were here in Sunnydale, Cordelia is the main woman in his life in Los Angeles. It only seems natural that he might transfer those protective impulses to her.”
“Good save, because for a minute there I thought you might say Angel actually had feelings for her.” She didn’t notice the slightly nervous look that came to his face.
The thought had occurred to him.
“All I am asking is that you behave yourself. Don’t press him. This seems incredibly important to Angel, so leave him be. Keep any and all inappropriate comments to yourself. I don’t want him distancing himself from us. I could really use his perspective on this case, because frankly, I am out of ideas.”
Buffy considered his words. She didn’t like it, she didn’t like it one bit. One thing that always comforted her about Angel was that he was predictable. But this Angel certainly wasn’t predictable. He was openly hostile to her and the group, and seemingly ferocious in his protection of Cordelia. But still, she figured she better listen to Giles.
“Fine, I’ll play nice, but this still isn’t normal.”
“I totally agree, but again, who knows how he has adapted to the circumstances of the past few years. Just be careful what you say around him.”
Buffy once more nodded her agreement. The pair exited the backroom and rejoined the table. Angel growled inaudibly when Buffy sat down. Vampire hearing truly was amazing. He did not like at all how Buffy spoke of Cordelia back there.
He would let it slide for the moment.
“You can cancel vampires off your list of possible suspects,” Angel spoke. “The first five murders occurred in peoples homes, which means an invite is needed. Convincing a person to invite them inside has never been a modus operandi for vampires.”
“The women all had children,” Giles reminded. “Isn’t it possible that a child invited them inside?”
“In Sunnydale?” Angel quipped. “Not bloody likely. Some other place maybe, but with all the scary monsters in this town, people will teach their children to be extra paranoid. That means they don’t take candy from strangers, nor do they take rides from them, and most importantly, they don’t invite them inside.”
“My parents never took any extra precautions with me,” Xander stated.
“Maybe they wanted you to take a ride with a stranger,” Spike observed. The grunting coming from Angel’s direction sounded distinctly like someone trying to keep from laughing.
“Bite me, Spike!”
“Would if I could, mate.”
“And we will get back to the discussion at hand,” Buffy warned.
“The bodies weren’t mutilated,” Angel continued, a trace of laughter still in his voice. “All very simple. Slit throat. No organs missing. No symbols. No magical residue. Nothing. If a demon kills, they do it for a reason. Hunger, sacrifice, rage.”
“Big help,” Buffy muttered.
Angel shut the folder and gave Buffy a cold look. “I’m going to the hospital for a bit. If you want, I can come by tonight and we can hit the streets. Maybe something will come up.”
Spike reached behind the counter and grabbed a thick blanket. He tossed it to Angel and said, “There you are, Angelus. Wouldn’t want your chit to wake up and find out her vamp dusted himself.”
Angel caught the blanket and glared at Spike a moment. His gaze softened somewhat as he said thanks.
Without another look, Angel wrapped the blanket around his head as he sprinted out the door to his car.
***
“Deanna,” Angel called as he entered the ICU. The lovely young nurse turned and smiled at him. “How’s my girl doing?”
“Just fine. Oh, and Cordelia is doing better as well.” Angel chuckled at her light flirtation. “She woke up a couple times while you were away. Not long, just a few minutes.”
“But that’s something,” Angel said excitedly. The nurse nodded in agreement. “Can I see her?”
“Of course. You’ve got free reign.”
Angel smiled at Deanna as he trotted to Cordelia’s room. Carefully he crossed over to the window and closed the blinds. Like Spike said, it wouldn’t do to turn himself into dust. He then stepped over to the bed and stroked her hair.
He was slightly shocked when she opened her eyes.
“Angel?” she whispered.
“I’m here, baby.” He leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. “How’s my girl doing?”
“Hurt,” Cordelia moaned softly. “Peter. God.” Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes. Soon after, Angel felt tears slipping down his cheek.
“I’m so sorry, Cordelia. I promise you, I will find who did it.”
“Two,” she whispered.
Angel frowned in confusion. “Two what, baby?”’
“Killers.”
Angel gazed at her intently. Two killers? “Two demons killed Peter?”
Angel almost missed the slight shaking of her head. “No. Human.”
The vampire continued to gaze at her. There was absolutely no shock with that confession. Angel had basically reached that conclusion at the Magic Box.
Everything about the case screamed towards a human culprit. It was the two that surprised him.
“Stay? Please?” Cordelia asked. Angel simply nodded, and once again, he slipped gently into the bed next to her. “Sing?” Angel smiled as he kissed her cheek. He obliged and began to sing softly.
“I find myself in a strange situation
and I don’t know how.
What seemed to be an infatuation
is so different now. I can’t get by if we’re not together.
Oh, can’t you see?
Girl, I want you now and forever
Close to me.”
