Part 2<\/b><\/p>\n
After months of working, it felt like she had finally gotten to where she felt like she should be.<\/p>\n
In a seat.<\/p>\n
With her feet up.<\/p>\n
This,<\/i>\u00a0thought Cordelia Chase with a smile,\u00a0Is perfect bliss. Complete and total bliss<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Of course, the chances were, someone was about to come in and tell Cordelia that there was some crisis waiting with her Higher Being name on it.<\/p>\n
Occasionally, her thoughts drifted to her friends. Angel\u2026 A deep sigh escaped her lips and she picked up the glass of ice water on her table. Her home quarters had been modified to remind her of home, everything in there but Phantom Dennis, the spook she missed like an arm, or maybe a leg.<\/p>\n
And Angel.<\/p>\n
Would she ever stop missing him? Ever stop wondering what would have happened if she\u2019d gotten there that night? If she\u2019d have told him that she loved him. Would they be together now? Maybe, since they\u2019d found a potion for her and Groo – they could\u2019ve found one for her and Angel.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d never know.<\/p>\n
Swallowing a lump the size of Sunnydale in her throat, Cordelia looked up in time to see Skip steaming through the doors – wait, steaming wasn\u2019t the right word. Could demons steam? She knew she could, but she was still half-human and Skip was definitely all demon, right down to his – let\u2019s not go there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkip?\u201d Cordelia stood. The look on his face wasn\u2019t one Cordelia was sure she liked. \u201cWhat\u2019s happened? What\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re needed, Cordelia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNeeded?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Powers That Be screwed up, Cordelia. It\u2019s time for you to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skip raised his hand and pressed it to her forehead, a bright light skimming from beneath his fingers…<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the other guy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a bad way, Sir, he was taken to LA General about ten minutes ago. Kept mumbling something about angels and employees and\u2026 He was pretty delirious.\u201d The police officer frowned, \u201cWe found Robertson, Detective Thomas. He\u2019s dead.\u201d Respectively, he cast his eyes downward. Robertson had worked on the force for most of his natural life, like his father before him and his father before that.<\/p>\n
Being a cop meant you dealt with death every day. Some bad, some not deserved – and occasionally some scum-sucking bastard would put a bullet through the stomach of one of the best cops around and finish his career in an instant.<\/p>\n
Robertson was the result of one of those guys. He\u2019d been one of the best in his field until a drugs bust a few years ago had gone wrong. He\u2019d winded up finishing up his career in the lobby of some law firm, making minimal waves as a security guard.<\/p>\n
Resisting the urge to throw his fist through the wall, Det. Thomas looked at the police officer in charge of the scene, \u201cThanks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fallen body of the other man had been covered with a sheet, preventing onlookers from seeing what had happened. When police had infiltrated the building, the man had fled – ensuing in a police chase that ended two blocks over with a bullet through the head.<\/p>\n
No identification, no nothing. They had no idea who this guy was or even what he wanted with Lindsey McDonald. By all accounts, the man\u2019s previous working life hadn\u2019t exactly been a good one. Things got leaked to the LAPD, he hadn\u2019t been a cop for twenty years without noticing that things went on – otherworldly, pretty darned scary stuff. At the bottom of it? Usually Wolfram and Hart – beloved law firm and trouble makers. They had offices everywhere. Los Angeles, London, Paris – and most recently, New York. Right on the cusp of the Big Apple for your general wheeling and dealing.<\/p>\n
Thomas frowned, perhaps that was why the guy had been attacked – his unsavoury connections with Wolfram and Hart. They\u2019d know soon enough.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going home,\u201d Called Anna softly, turning to meet Jack\u2019s eyes. He gave a nod and a wave in her direction, dealing with a drunk at the other end of the counter.<\/p>\n
Anna walked forward, looking for her money to get home in the bottom of her bag. She didn\u2019t see the guy standing in front of her, waiting. Just\u2026 Waiting. As if his whole life, or someone else\u2019s, depended on it. \u201cOh! Sorry!\u201d She whispered nervously, glancing up.<\/p>\n
It was the guy from on stage. The one that sang and looked kinda like a demon but not really. Not that she had any\u00a0real<\/b>\u00a0evidence to base her theory on, of course, but still – he didn\u2019t look authentic enough. \u201cI-I\u2019m sorry\u2026 I just, got a little dazed was all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lorne smiled, \u201cThat\u2019s okay, seems like there\u2019s a lot of that going round in a big city like this, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna dipped her head and went to move away from him, succeeding in getting a few feet before his words stopped her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s real. It\u2019s all real – everything you see at night, the things you dream. You\u2019re not crazy\u2026 You just believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna stopped and shook her head, trying to battle away the thoughts that flew at her\u2026 Thoughts of a family, of people who loved her and needed her, not for what she could give them but just because.<\/p>\n
Just because.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease\u2026\u201d She whispered, \u201cPlease don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can prove it,\u201d Lorne stepped closer to Anna and placed a hand on her arm, \u201cSing that song you were singing and I\u2019ll prove it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Tears appeared in the corners of Anna\u2019s eyes, before slipping the length of her cheeks. Her voice small, choked, Anna began to sing\u2026<\/p>\n
I’m under your spell
\nHow else could it be
\nAnyone would notice me?
\nIt’s magic I can tell
\nHow you set me free
\nBrought me out so easily…<\/i><\/p>\n
She squeezed her eyes shut, not expecting proof, not expecting anything\u2026<\/p>\n
Each and every night for the past God knew how long, Anna had heard Lorne sing. He had a really powerful voice, one that at the best of times struck Anna to her very soul. But when he sang again, he made Anna sob. Fully – she cried for all the times she\u2019d woken up terrified that it was all just a dream. She cried because Lorne was singing that wonderful second verse that meant he held her world in his hands, the world where she was loved and appreciated and not shunted aside, like yesterday\u2019s news\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019m under your spell
\nNothing I can do
\nYou just took my soul with you
\nYou worked your charms so well
\nFinally, I knew
\nEverything I dreamed was true
\nYou made me believe<\/i><\/p>\n
Lorne paused and looked down at Anna, almost breathless from singing something so heartfelt, so\u2026 So\u2026 Not forced. The song had been born out of love, out of a demon up to no good, if he read rightly, but out of love. \u201cSomeone really did take your soul, didn\u2019t they sweetie? No charms, no mystical forces – everything you believed, everything you dreamed was true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna looked up at him, \u201cHelp me?\u201d She whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I do.\u201d Replied Lorne with a smile, \u201cC\u2019mon, let\u2019s get you back where you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
*THUD*<\/p>\n
Cordelia yelped as she was dropped, non-too-gently, back on the face of the planet again. Of course, it would happen like this (although it could have been worse, she might have been naked) but as it were, having cars whizzing past you left, right and centre was NOT her idea of a good time.<\/p>\n
\u201cDAMNIT SKIP!\u201d She squealed as a truck roared past her, skimming her by an inch. She was going to die here, right in the very place she\u2019d been taken from to become a higher being – fat lot of good that had done.<\/p>\n
Spinning out of the way, Cordelia yelped, thrown right into the path of an oncoming limousine. It stopped, inches away from where she stood.<\/p>\n
Cordelia gasped and leaned heavily on the hood of the car as the passenger got out.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss, are you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n
She breathed deeply before nodding, \u201cYeah I\u2019m\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
When she looked up, the man was standing, arms folded across his chest, a smug look on his face. \u201cCordelia Chase, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I know you?\u201d She whispered, breathlessly. He was cute in a smug \u2018I know everything kind of way\u2019 \u2013 not her type. She liked two kinds of men, dorks or brooders.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty soon, you won\u2019t know yourself. I shouldn\u2019t worry.\u201d He shrugged, waving a hand slightly in the air.<\/p>\n
Three demons surrounded her, two grabbing her by the arms, the other there merely for back up. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening?\u201d Before Cordelia knew what was happening, or even had the chance to look, a needle was being jabbed into her neck, her scream filtering and dying in the din of all the cars whizzing past.<\/p>\n
Nobody stopped.<\/p>\n
A second later, Cordelia was slumped in the back of the limousine.<\/p>\n
The man smirked and hit speed dial #1 in his cell phone<\/p>\n
\u201cWolfram and Hart, how may I direct your call?\u201d<\/p>\n