Faith stepped through the main doors of Wolfram and Hart. The ground floor lobby was uncharacteristically quiet as she made her way across the marble floor towards the elevators. There was no one at reception, which was weird as it was generally manned 24/7. Even Carl the doorman was nowhere to be seen. But despite that, or maybe because of it, the lifts were all in use, all heading up to or paused on the eighth floor.
She hadn’t had an exhaustive tour of the building, but she’d seen enough of it to be able to find her way around fairly comfortably. And from what she remembered, the eighth floor was the level below Angel’s offices and contained the H.R. department, a bank of offices and the café. The elevator opened onto a large lobby, a replica of the entrance level. She wondered what was going on there tonight. One of the lifts dinged and opened in front of her. She reached out and pushed the ‘8’ button, figuring she may as well check out the action for herself. She could always say she’d got off on the wrong stop by accident and use the stairs up to Angel’s floor if anyone asked questions.
She hadn’t checked up on (or ‘caught up with’) Angel in over a month. They usually met up once every two or three weeks, and she’d launch into the same old formulaic conversation; “How are you, how’s Evil Incorporated doing, what’s the latest Big Bad up to, how about that Cyvus Vail huh?” He’d nod and smile, take a sip of his blood and chip in with an ever so illuminating, “Good, good, nothing much, no comment.” It was utterly frustrating and a waste of her time and his.
Sometimes she wished they could just put all the work bullshit aside, meet up at some little bar, have dinner and drinks, flirt a little, laugh a lot and just chat and hang out like two old friends. Yeah, like that was ever gonna happen. For a start she and Angel hadn’t ever really been friends. Sure, there’d always been a bit of sizzle between them but she could never read him, never really trust him. And that was true now, more than ever.
Who knew what his prime directive was as boss of this big, fucking evil conglomerate. She wondered if he even knew himself. If he did, he wasn’t saying. And Faith was getting mighty sick of his terse little smiles and silent treatment.
But now she was on a little mission. Giles had rung the previous week asking about a son that he reckoned Angel had. It was news to her, although something about the name ‘Connor’ seemed to stir something in her gut. Faith had no idea what though. As far as she was aware, Angel didn’t have a son, unless you counted any kids he’d sired during his spells as Angelus. Briefly she wondered if his souled up version had ever turned anyone. It seemed pretty far-fetched given how goody two shoes, holier than thou he was most of the time, but there was no saying what he might do if he slipped.
Faith’s thoughts were interrupted by the ding of the lift announcing she’d reached the eighth floor and she stepped forward as the doors began to open.
Immediately, she was assaulted by a cacophony of sound and colour, loud voices and laughter ringing out over the top of what sounded like disco music. She took a few steps forward and peered out through the lift doors, settling her hand against the side to prevent the door from closing. A mass of bodies filled the lobby, human and demon. They seemed to be decked out in either evening wear or a range of costumes. Most were simply standing round the edges talking and drinking, some were over by a table in the corner eating and a few brave souls were even in the middle of the room dancing, including Carl the doorman and that vapid looking blonde chick that called herself Angel’s receptionist, all dolled up in a sparkly pink number.
Cautiously, Faith took another few steps forward and dropped her arms by her sides. Light reflecting off a huge disco ball hanging from the ceiling hit her in the eyes, blinding her momentarily. She blinked, sure that when she focused again the apocalyptic vision would have disappeared. Sadly, no such luck. It looked like, fuck she couldn’t believe it, but it looked like Angel was throwing a party and he’d invited the finest evil L.A. could offer.
Mind you, the big guy himself was nowhere in sight. Funnily enough she couldn’t spot any of his crew either, Wes or that chick Fred or the hot black dude. Even the big green guy, Lorne, was nowhere to be seen and he looked like a regular party animal. As she searched the room for a familiar face, she heard a whoosh and felt a swish of air behind her. She sighed as she realised the lift door had closed, trapping her in the party from hell. Oh well, Faith was nothing if not a rager. She’d just slip in undercover and mix and mingle, see if she could find out what was going on.
The room was certainly done up festively. Strings of red party lights were wreathed around the pillars and draped over the balcony railings. Scattered around the room were several of those cheap paper lantern lightshades in either yellow or orange. Everyone seemed to be chatting happily, a bunch of suits standing together on one said of the room and a group of demons on the other, including a trio of bald, grey skinned guys in serious need of some moisturiser and another small group with pointed ears and goat horns. One of the demons in this group, a small, pale, skinny dude was dressed only in a pair of speedos and a slave collar. Poor little bastard looked pathetic.
Faith shook her head in disbelief as she suddenly recalled what the date was and put two and two together. Shit, Wolfram & Hart were having a damned mixed species Halloween party. Talk about freaky. Buffy had always maintained that Halloween was a quiet time slaywise. Maybe this was why; the demons were all busy shaking their booties!
As she edged her way around he room, slowly heading towards the staircase that overlooked the lobby, Faith could see there was some sort of serious discussion taking place amongst the dudes with the goat horns. The demon with the longest horns, no doubt the head honcho, seemed to be ordering two of his minions around, then all three of them headed towards the stairs, dragging the little runt behind them.
Faith figured she may as well just tail them inconspicuously, which was easier said than done considering she had to avoid a drunken conga line. By the time she made it to the foot of the stairs, she could see the Billy Goats Gruff disappearing through the double doors and turning right, heading interestingly enough, in the direction of Angel’s office.
She dashed up the stairs and made for the door, pausing just long enough to snag herself a beer off a passing waiter’s tray and take a decent swallow. She figured if everyone else was getting down, she may as well get her party on too. Beer in hand, Faith opened the door quietly and headed down the corridor, past the unattended reception desk, towards Angel’s office.
The door was open, and the demons were standing just beyond the threshold. The Big Billy Goat was talking, making all sorts of threats and waving around the weapon he was brandishing. Quietly, she slipped into the room.
“Hey there everyone,” she started, “Is this where all the action…?” The remainder of Faith’s question stuck in her throat as she finally caught sight of Angel. He stood behind his office couch butt naked, a cushion clutched in front of his fun bits. And by the looks of things he’d been having fun all right, the chick standing next to him was dressed in Angel’s suit jacket and likely stuff all else.
“What is this vampire?” Goat boy interrupted Faith’s musings, “You dare to invite a Slayer to your pathetic little gathering? I had imagined that you had murdered Artode yourself, but perhaps your little Slayer friend did it for you.”
“I didn't murder anyone,” Faith and Angel both said at the same time.
“Well someone certainly did, and I am prepared to hold you personally responsible Angel. Dress yourself, you have a public execution to attend,” the demon stated.
“You’re making a big mistake Sebassis,” Angel said as he pulled his pants on.
“Damn, Angel,” Faith said, having finally been jolted out of her stunned shock. “What the hell is going on? Have you always been into exhibitionism or is this just a new habit you’ve developed since joining Team Evil? Not that I’m a prude or anything, far from it. And while we’re at it who the hell is this skank?”
“Faith,” Angel sighed as he slipped his shirt on and made his way around the couch. “Can we not do this at the moment? In case you’ve somehow missed it, the Archduke Sebassis is requesting the pleasure of our company.”
Faith glanced at the ‘Archduke’ who waved his mini crossbow at her and Angel before stepping back to allow the pair of them to precede him out the door. Faith swung her hips and sauntered ahead of Angel who was still buttoning his shirt. Lorne and the half naked skank followed and Sebassis’ gang brought up the rear. As they all reached the corridor, the sound of a woman’s scream carried up from the lobby.
“Move!” Sebassis yelled at them, waving his weapon about once more.
Angel pushed past Faith and quickly led the group back to the stairs and down to the lobby, following the sound of the woman’s horrified moans. They ended up at the buffet table, where a demon lay sprawled across the surface. He was oddly dressed in a long sleeved shirt and argyle sweater vest, with a weird, and horrifyingly realistic looking human mask stretched over his head. He was dead.
“Another victim of yours?” Sebassis stated.
“OK, Sebassis,” Angel said, “I don't know what's going on here, but we are not behind it.”
“Enough lies, vampire,” Sebassis growled threateningly, pointing his weapon at Angel.
“OK, everybody, OK,” Lorne interrupted, “Yes, the party's taking an unfortunate turn momentarily. But let's not … fight”
Sebassis and his henchmen ignored Lorne’s reasoning and cocked their Angel-directed crossbows.
“Wait! Please, wait.” Lorne interjected once again. “I think maybe I'm doing this. It's me. I mean, it's not me. But I haven't been myself lately. Somehow, I'm making people do things and I'm controlling them.”
Sebassis frowned and turned towards Lorne, pointing his loaded weapon at the nervous demon.
“Whoa.” Lorne said quickly, raising his hands above his head. “Lets not be hasty here. Its all just a misunderstanding.”
Sebassis was about to respond, when a loud roar, which came from the balcony that overlooked the lobby, interrupted them. They turned towards the sound in time to spot a suited up version of the incredible hulk jumping from the railing to the floor, straight towards the Archduke. As he sailed through the air they realized that the demon’s red eyes, small forehead horns and facial markings betrayed his Pylean heritage, while the cut and colour of his outfit had them looking back and forth between Lorne and his seeming alter ego. The creature’s menacing growl drew a sudden gasp from the Empath demon.
“Oh my, its … me!”
“Or at least a bigger, angrier version of you Dr Banner,” Faith said, addressing Lorne. “But he definitely doesn’t rock that suit like you do mate. Okay, action time,” she shouted, getting into a fighting stance as Lorne Hulk moved towards Sebassis. One of the Archduke’s men moved to stand protectively in front of his boss, but the creature knocked him aside without so much as a glance.
Sebassis immediately fired his dart into the Hulk’s chest, but the poison seemed to have no effect on him at all. Lorne rushed forward in a desperate attempt to appeal to his doppelgänger, but the behemoth simply knocked him aside, still intent on attacking the Archduke.
Angel pushed Sebassis behind him, telling him to run. Thwarted, the Hulk roared and delivered a backhand swipe to the vampire, sending him flying across the room. Faith grabbed a statue from the base of the stairs and swung it at the creature’s head. The blow connected but was partly deflected by the monster’s arm. Roaring again, he charged into Faith, shoulder charging her and propelling her across the floor until she ended up sprawled next to Lorne.
“Oh Faith,” Lorne stuttered, “I’m sorry I, I mean he, I mean, … sorry about that!”
“Five by five big guy,” Faith said as she leaped back to her feet and charged towards Lorne’s dark half. Angel was there before her, throwing punch after punch at the Hulk, but they seemed to have no more effect than a gnat would. Faith joined in, punching the monster repeatedly in the chest and gut, while Angel set about his head and shoulders. This infuriated the beast, who began returning their punches in equal measure, knocking Faith and Angel about viciously.
The Lorne Hulk had just managed to flatten the Slayer and the souled vamp with a brutal one two combination when, from her vantage point on the floor, Faith noticed two pairs of feet approaching from the elevators. She lifted her head and spotted Wes and Fred, both wearing dopey grins, heading their way. Fred had a gun shaped device in her hand and had it trained on the Angel-bashing hulk. She’d readied herself to pull the trigger when suddenly she spun round, took aim at Lorne and fired.
“Oh. Ohh! Ohh!” Lorne groaned as he collapsed onto the ground.
“Whoa, harsh payback,” Faith said, leaping back to her feet.
“No. I'm OK,” Lorne reassured them, “I’m just gonna rest my eyes a little bit.”
Within seconds he was snoring and at that very instant, the Hulk, who was about to pummel a horizontal Angel, disappeared in a little puff of blue smoke.
Everyone stood there open mouthed. Angel scrambled to his feet, and his little ho bag pulled his jacket more tightly around herself as she bit her bottom lip and actually blushed. In the background, Sebassis and his men were picking themselves up and dusting themselves off.
“What happened here?” Angel asked Wesley.
“It seems that Lorne’s extended sleeplessness impacted hugely on his empathetic abilities,” Wes explained, “Under normal conditions he can read people's destinies. But the lack of sleep resulted in him being able to create them.”
“Sort of like transmitting instead of receiving,” Fred added.
“Hence the drunkenness and peeing,” Angel said.
“And the inappropriate sluttishness,” countered Gunn.
“Yes, quite. As the days passed, the exhaustion allowed the veil between his conscious and subconscious selves to tear,” Wes said, “so that eventually his subconscious, his Id, manifested itself and was able to break out of Lorne’s psyche and into the real world.”
“Where it tried to kill everyone,” Faith ventured.
“Not necessarily,” Wes said, “It may have just been processing the conflicts that Lorne normally deals with in his sleep, and acting out the emotional responses he had to the people around him.”
Sebassis smiled darkly as he strode towards the group, his guards lined up either side of him. “How fascinating,” he purred. “Given how dogged his dark half’s attacks were, I can only assume that Lorne’s contempt for me was rather deep-seated.”
The tension in the room ratcheted up by several notches and Faith clenched her fists, preparing herself for another physical confrontation. Angel’s crew and Sebassis’ men eyed one another warily, both sides waiting for a signal from their leader. Faith guessed the Archduke was waiting for the vampire to start grovelling and apologising. If that was the case, he was about to found out how long a wait he’d have.
“I guess you’re right Sebassis,” Angel sneered. “Lorne obviously really, really can’t stand you. Can’t say I’m surprised.”
Apart from a sharp intake of breath from the humans, the room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Suddenly, Sebassis broke into an amused chuckle.
“Well, well,” he said. “So, you do have balls after all vampire. Maybe there’s a bit of Angelus left in you yet. Ah well, no harm done. I think on the whole I quite enjoyed your little celebration. The violence was … invigorating.”
“Oh, okay,” Angel replied, nonplussed. “Glad you could make it. Um, sorry about Artode.”
“Ah,” Sebassis waved his hand. “You’ve undoubtedly done me a favour. He was getting dangerously above himself anyway. Time for fresh blood. Speaking of which, if you come across my little blood bag, I’d appreciate his safe return.”
Faith glanced at the space either side of the Archduke, only just noticing that the little speedo slave was missing. He must have stolen away during the fighting. The slayer couldn’t help but do a little fist pump inside her head.
“Well as fascinating as all of this has been, we must be on our way,” Sebassis said, and immediately he turned on his heel and strode off towards the lifts, his guards trailing behind him.
Angel barked out a few orders and the Wolfram and Hart crew eased back a few steps, waiting until the lift doors slid closed before laughing off the tension and absurdity of the night’s events.
“Well, this has been an, ah … interesting evening,” Wesley said.
“Yeah, you sure know how to throw a party,” Faith added. “I don’t know who was more cringe-worthy, the demons or you guys.”
Wes and Fred blushed and Gunn glanced about the room awkwardly. The skank shrugged nonchalantly, pulled Angel’s jacket more firmly around herself and marched off, presumably to find her clothes. Angel just sighed and looked more put out than ever. ‘Boring!’ Faith thought.
The brooding vampire called Carl over and organised for he and Gunn to carry Lorne up to his apartment. Wes trailed after Fred as she began flitting around the room, picking up glasses and empty bottles. Angel turned on his heel and began to head back to his office. Faith shook herself and took off after him, catching him at the top of the stairs.
He turned to glance at her, but didn’t stop or even slow down.
“It’s been a long night, Faith,” he sighed. “And I’m tired. Whatever it is you wanted to see me about will have to wait for another day.”
“Sure,” she said perkily, “Just one question before I go. Giles and the gang were wondering, who’s Connor?”
Angel stopped so suddenly that Faith almost ploughed into the back of him. He swung around to face her and reached out one hand to grab her arm. His mouth was opening and closing, but nothing was coming out. Faith frowned. If it was possible for a vampire to blanch paler than normal, Angel was the perfect case in point. To say he looked shocked was an understatement. In fact, if Faith didn’t know better, she would have said he looked scared. Jerking, he looked around them, then dragged her into his office, slammed the doors shut and turned the lock.
“What?” he started, “Fuck! What do you know about Connor?”
Faith shrugged. “Just that he’s supposed to be your son. Which seems pretty wack if you ask me.”
Angel just stared at her hard, as if his intense gaze could somehow reveal all she knew, and how she’d found out. Suddenly he spun around and dashed across the room to his desk and picked up the phone. He punched in a series of numbers and stood there, running his fingers through his hair distractedly as he waited for the recipient to pick up. Finally, someone must have answered at the other end.
“Vail,” he growled, “I don’t care what the fucking time is. What have you done?”
He stood glowering while the sorcerer replied. “Well you must have done something you old bastard. I’m getting questions I shouldn’t be getting and I can’t help thinking you’re the only one who could let info like that slip.” There was another shorter pause and Angel weighed in again. “Yeah, not my lot, but some … associates shall we say.” Silence, then, “Well check the damned Window.” And finally, “Alright, yeah. Let me know.”
He slammed the handset down and kicked the desk before turning around to lean against it. Another deep, weary sigh followed. Suddenly Angel’s head popped up and he peered over at the couch. Moving at vamp speed, he flew across the room and reached down. In the blink of an eye he was upright again, his hand around the throat of the skank from earlier, now fully dressed in a little strappy cocktail dress and heels. He had her up against the wall, her feet dangling about six inches above the carpet.
They weren’t dangling for long, she immediately started thrashing about, slapping, clawing, throwing wild punches and delivering kicks with her pointy little shoes. Because of the length of Angel’s arms, her slaps and punches were pretty ineffective, but the kicks were hitting the target accurately if not forcefully, her sharp toes striking the bony ridges of his shins repeatedly.
Eventually he must have had enough, because he swung her around and launched her lightly into the air, so that she landed ass first on the soft carpet with a thud. The expression on her face was one of anger rather than fear and she scrambled to her feet defiantly as Angel started yelling.
“Eve, you little bitch, what the hell are you doing in here? No doubt spying on me for your precious daddies.”
“Oh for God’s sake Angel,” the girl, Eve, spat out, her voice rather hoarse from the damage Angel had inflicted. “Everything isn’t always about you every minute of the day. I just happened to be in here getting dressed.”
“If you breathe a word of what you’ve heard I’ll …”
“Oh you great big drama queen. Like its news to me! Did you really think Vail’s pathetic little memory spell would have any effect on me? After all, the Senior Partners can fill me in on anything they wish to. Connor’s existence and the deal you cut were all part of my original dossier.”
“Ok. But then why am I getting questions about Connor’s existence now? The senior partners and I had a deal,” Angel said.
“Yes, you did. They took your son, your raging psychopathic son I might add, and gave him a new family, changed his memories, changed everyone's memories actually, in order to give him a new life, a normal life.”
“And in return, I came to work here!”
“And we couldn't be happier. The senior partners honor their deals. And believe me, they have no desire to upset such a...profitable partnership,” Eve said.
“So how did we end up with a breach in the protocol?”
“I have no idea,” Eve said, striding towards the doors, “All I know is that the senior partners weren't behind it. You’ll have to work the rest out for yourself.” The girl threw Angel a malicious smile and gave Faith a little finger wave before unlocking and opening the office doors and stepping through them.
Angel rushed over and slammed the doors shut and locked them again, then turned and leaned against them.
“Fuck,” he said, “What a mess!”
“Actually Angel, maybe it’s time to sit down calmly and have a discussion with me,” Faith said. “You know, about what I might know about the situation.”
Angel looked up and stared at Faith in a daze, as if he’d forgotten she was even present. He nodded wearily and waved his hand towards the couch, before moving in that direction himself. Faith looked at the couch, then looked at Angel, then back at the couch before folding her arms and tapping her right foot on the ground.
“What?” said Angel.
“I’m not sitting on that couch if you and Eve did the nasty on it,” she said. “I’m not looking to wear either of your bodily fluids big guy.”
He shrugged as he sat down himself and said, “Suit yourself,” but at least he had the grace to looked slightly embarrassed.
“So where did Giles hear about Connor?”
“I don’t know a lot of detail, but apparently Willow’s little witchy girlfriend Tara’s back from the Great Beyond. She’s some kind of guardian angel now apparently, with all the right contacts upstairs. Sounds like Tara was able to break through Willow’s memory block, cos suddenly she was all with the Connor reminiscence. None of the others have any memories or knowledge of him but Will’s are crystal clear.”
“None of the others had ever actually met Connor. I’m not sure if they were even aware of his existence. I certainly never let it slip,” Angel bemoaned.
“So what’s the big deal anyway? Well apart from the whole how the fuck does a vampire father a child scenario, which I guess Buffy and Spike are contending with as well. I’m guessing your kid’s just a toddler. Giles seems to think he would have been conceived sometime after Dawn was magicked into being. So what’s the deal with Eve calling him raging and psychopathic?”
“No he’s not a toddler. Connor was born almost two years ago.” Angel sighed “In fact it’s his birthday in three weeks time. But when he was only a few months old, he was kidnapped by an old enemy of mine and taken to a demon dimension where he spent the next eighteen years. Time moved faster in Quor’toth than on earth, and when he came back, only six weeks had passed here.”
“Wow, that’s harsh dude. And I take it from Eve’s comments that the family reunion wasn’t exactly a Hallmark moment.”
“He’d been brought up to hunt vampires, to hate them, me in particular. All he wanted to do was kill me from the moment he got back. And considering the added abilities he has, being the son of two vampires, he made some pretty good attempts.” Angel heaved another deep sigh. “And that was before things got really bad.”
“How bad?” Faith asked quietly, the vampire’s obvious pain softening even her usual hard ass attitude.
“There were a few dramas,” he chuckled wryly. “He tried to get rid of me by sealing me up in a metal box and sinking me to the bottom of the ocean, he slept with Cordy and got her pregnant, he sided with a bitch Goddess who was trying to take over the world, and then tried to blow himself and a building full of innocent people up. His life was fucked basically, and Eve was right, ‘raging and psychopathic’ pretty much sums up where he was at after all that.”
“Shit, I’m sorry Angel, that really sucks. So what, you cut the deal with Wolfram and Hart?”
“Yeah, because despite everything he did I love my son, more than I’ve loved anything or anyone in my sorry existence. He was an innocent; he didn’t ask to live the life he was forced to live. He’s been used and manipulated by almost everyone he’s ever loved and trusted. I wanted to spare him the mental anguish and damage that had been done to him.”
“So in return for becoming Evil Inc’s little bitch you got … what?”
“A new life for Connor, a normal life. Minus the memories of his real life, minus the violence and trauma and angst.”
“And minus his real Dad!”
“Yeah,” Angel looked at her beseechingly, his eyes glittering with barely suppressed emotions and unshed tears. “Yeah, that’s the real sacrifice. I don’t give a fuck about having to work here, being forced to eke out my existence in the belly of the beast. But to never see his smiling face again, to never hear him call me ‘Dad’, that was a price almost too much to bear. Still, I paid it gladly in return for his safety, his happiness.”
“So I guess when you replaced his memories, you also wiped Connor off the radar of anyone that knew him?”
“Yeah. The Senior Partners got Vail to do the mojo. He’s got everyone’s real memories tucked away neatly in that little glowing cube of his, you know, the Orlon Window?”
“Fuck dude, no wonder you were whiter than a ghost when Buffy was waving it around in her hand like Pandora’s Box. It’s all starting to make sense now. So me asking about Connor must have freaked you out big time.”
“Yeah, I thought the spell had failed, that you’d remembered him.”
“So I have met Junior before. I wondered if I had.” Faith paused, frowning. “Don’t know if I like the thought that you’ve messed around with my mind. I can see why you did it, doesn’t make it right though.”
“Shit, I know, I know. Don’t you think I’ve regretted it too? In a way I’ve lost everyone, not just Connor. There are so many shared memories, good and bad that have just disappeared. And all the time, I have to watch what I say in case I slip up. I’ve made a nice little hell for myself.”
“Well you know what they say, you reap what you sow.” Faith stared hard at the couch cushions then shrugged and sat down gingerly before turning to Angel with a glint in her eye. “So what did Connor think of me?”
Angel rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Well I was short a soul at the time, but according to the others, yeah, he thought you were hot.”
“Ye-ah, strike! Still got it.” Faith settled back down as she steered the conversation back to Giles’ revelation. “Look Angel, maybe Connor’s living Richie Cunningham’s life right now, but we’ve got another problem. I don’t know the details, but turns out your son’s part of some big prophecy.”
“Whoopee! As far as Connor and prophecies go, been there, done that, got the t-shirt to prove we’re all still alive. For what it’s worth.”
“Well, I’m obviously missing your references there big guy but I’m guessing the boy wonder’s been the subject of prophecies before,” Faith said.
“Past and present Faith, meaning current,” Angel said, more than a little aggression coming through in his voice.
“Ok, down boy,” Faith said, holding her hands up. “Don’t bite the mail girl okay? If you wanna get the ten four, just give Giles a call, but from what I understand the kid’s gonna play a starring role in a new group of super babes. Or babies. Something like that.”
Angel sighed! Again! There had a truckload of sighing for a guy that didn’t even need to breathe.
“Alright, I’ll contact Giles. But if what you’re saying is correct, then he’s probably going to need to have his abilities intact and remember how to use them. Which means he’s going to have to have his old memories restored. Which means all of this has been for nothing!”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe you could negotiate some sort of delayed time frame with Giles. Give Connor a few more months and you a bit more breathing space. So to speak.”
“That might work with Giles, but I’ve got another problem on my hands. One of the other prophecies Connor stars in says that only he can kill the time-shifting demon Sahjhan, who’s currently residing in that urn that I caught at Vail’s during the fight for the amulet. Sahjhan is a long-standing enemy of Vail’s and has tried to kill him many times, so the old sorcerer’s solution to getting rid of the demon is to sic Connor on him. But of course, he thinks Connor would only succeed with his memories intact.”
“So Vail wants to break the reality shift?” Faith asked.
“Yeah, and he’s getting very impatient. He’s already sent his Kith’harn demons to harass Connor and his family. The bastard didn’t even warn me that he was going to do it. So imagine my shock when the Reilly’s, including my boy, turned up in my office looking for help.”
“Shit, no wonder you’re so highly strung lately. So you’ve actually seen him, talked to him?”
“Yeah, initially with his parents present. But since then on his own, at least once a week for the last two months, under the pretence that I’m training him to fight Sahjhan. Well actually its not pretence, the boy might be strong, but he’s forgotten every move he’s ever learnt. He’s pretty hopeless; clumsy, timid, falls over his own feet. Now and again I’ve seen a flash of brilliance, a show of strength, but not enough to survive against Sahjhan I’m afraid. I’m going to have to have his memories returned, and ruin his life all over again.”
“But in the meantime Vail’s just happy to wait?” Faith asked.
“Not at all. I’ve been living week to week, heading round to see Vail every Friday, begging and scraping just to worm another’s seven day’s grace out of him. I think I’ve reached the end of the line.”
“Ok, so if we’re gonna do this, we’ve gotta do it soon,” the Slayer said.
“What do you mean we?” Angel was confused.
“I’ll go with you and Connor for back up. Less chance of the old bastard double crossing you if he’s got three superbeings in his face.”
“Are you sure? This isn’t really your fight.”
“Maybe not,” Faith admitted, “But you’ll probably get less grief from me than from any of your team when and if the spell goes all Total Recall on them.”
Angel winced and shook his head. “It isn’t going to be pretty. I’ll be lucky if I end up with any friends at all after this goes down. And as for Connor, once the veil of lies is torn away, the best that I can hope for is that he hates my guts and never wants to see me again. What really worries me is how stable he’ll be when his memories return.”
“Well it’s a risk we’ll have to take!” Faith said firmly.
“God, you don’t know how good it feels to hear you saying ‘we’. It’s been ‘me’ on my own since this whole bloody mess began. Just to have someone to talk to, someone to share with means more than you could ever know. Thanks Faith, really, I mean it most sincerely,”
“Alright big guy, its five by five. Don’t get all maudlin and broody on me now. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got a demon to kill and a wrinkly old sorcerer to get off your back.”
“Right then. I’ll get hold of Giles and find out what he knows about this new prophecy and I’ll get Wes to find out as much as possible about Sahjhan so that Connor has a fair shot at defeating him. In the meantime, we both need to get some rest. Meet me back here tomorrow Faith, and we’ll work out how to kick the old bastard’s ass.”
“Ha, that’s the vampire I know and love. Okay, I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.” Faith stood up and made her way to the door. “And just a suggestion, but I’d feel much more comfortable walking back into this room knowing that the carpets and furniture have been freshly cleaned. You have janitorial staff Angel; give them a call. Like now.”
With that she waltzed out, leaving Angel shaking his head as he reached for the phone. He’d been given his marching orders; so he guessed he’d better get to it. Tomorrow would be here before he knew it.