This night had been anything but normal.
After Wesley had sent them off, Angel and Cordelia had continued to patrol, being sure to give the Hyperion a wide berth. They had seen some interesting things. It wasn't every night that the underworld panicked. The sudden onslaught of souls was bringing out some of the darkest demons, and reducing hordes of vampires to quivering balls of fear, lest they be next.
Chaos didn't come close.
Cordelia's cell phone rang, and she answered it. Angel heard half the conversation, and then took the phone when she held it out to him.
"Wesley," she informed him.
"Yes?" Angel said into the phone.
"Hannah was attacked," Wes' voice informed him. "It was a demon named Nihura. She's one of a kind, a soul sucker."
"Charming. What happened?"
"Hannah managed to drive her off somehow. It was probably a reflex."
"All right, what now? The sun'll be up soon."
"There's a warehouse in Gunn's old neighbourhood. He says you know it."
"I remember it, yeah."
"Right. Go there. Gunn and Lorne will meet you. They're bringing Hannah."
"What?!" Angel exclaimed.
"We need to lure Nihura to you. If what happened here is any indication, Hannah should lead her right to you. According to my research, you're the only one who can kill it; 'Neither the living nor the dead shall vanquish her'. It isn't the best grammar, but I'm a bit pressed for time."
"But won't Hannah, well, you know. . ."
"It's a risk," Wesley admitted. "Fred is going to give her something that should still attract the demon, but not be to tempting to you. We're working on the dosage."
"Tell Gunn and Lorne to bring crossbows."
"They know," Wes said quietly.
"Let's do this then." Angel turned off the phone and handed it back to the expectant Cordelia.
"Well, what's the big plan?"
Angel handed her the extra crossbow bolts he was carrying in his pocket and began to give her the outline as the walked.
{Nihura howls. A vampire dusts himself. Angel flips a cell phone closed.}
"I don't like it Wes," Fred said, looking up from the microscope.
"I don't much either," Wesley put down the book he was reading, and pulled off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "But it's either drugs or madness, and Angel needs to get close enough to kill the demon. We have to restore equilibrium."
"But what about after the demon's dead?"
"That will replace the souls. She'll still be mad, and not everyone can cure their own madness with four walls and a magic marker."
"I had good friends," Fred smiled. "That helped."
"And it will help Hannah," Wesley said. "And maybe some day, with practice, the meditations that Giles found will help too. Until then, she's going to need the drug, which means she's going to need you."
"You should have gone into motivational speaking Wesley."
Wesley shrugged and handed Fred another slide. She looked over her notes, got an eye dropper and perused the various chemicals in front of her. Wesley went back to his book.
"It's addictive, Wes," Fred said quietly. "There's no getting around it."
"I know," He didn't look up.
{LA skyline at dawn. Zoom in on a warehouse.}
Angel did one last sweep of the warehouse floor. He knew where all the booby traps were, and how to set them off without immolating himself in the process. He had posted Cordelia on the catwalk, and given her both of the crossbows. Gunn was bringing him an axe.
A door opened, and Gunn called out to indicate that he wasn't the demon. He held the door for Lorne, who had insisted on carrying Hannah in from the truck. The drug had rendered her unconscious, and her awakening would be Angel's signal that he was running out of time.
Gunn handed Angel the axe, keeping the crossbow for himself. Lorne sat down in the approximate middle of the warehouse floor, unarmed, with Hannah in his lap. He looked at Angel and set his jaw in a clear refusal to move. Angel nodded and directed Gunn to the catwalk opposite Cordelia. On the floor, Angel took the axe in both hands and retreated to the corner to wait.
He didn't have to wait long.
Nihura crashed through a window on the north side of the warehouse. Angel thanked his lucky stars that the demon had followed exactly the trail Wesley hoped it would. If she had come in through a window that faced southeast, there might have been problems. The demon looked quickly around the warehouse and spotted Lorne and Hannah. Roaring in victory, she made a beeline for them. Angel followed, trying not to think about what the demon might do to his friends, but then stopped when Nihura ran into Hannah's ward, and ceased moving forward.
Taking advantage of her motionless and turned back, Angel leapt at her, hacking with the axe. It bit deeply into her body and she screamed. Angel felt a pull, and he unconsciously vamped out. He was too close to Hannah. Retrieving the axe, he ran behind some boxes and tried to control himself.
Nihura roared again, this time in rage and pain, and Angel could sense the hunger in her call. She needed a soul, she needed to feed, but the ward wouldn't let her at her target. But she could smell another close at hand. She knew that the creature's grip on its soul was tenuous and fading fast. Snarling, Nihura began to stalk Angel through the warehouse.
Hannah stirred in Lorne's arms, moaning unintelligibly. He tightened his hold. "It's wearing off, Angelcakes," he warned.
Angel led Nihura through the gauntlet of traps that Gunn's crew had spent so much time building. He tripped wires, pulled levers, and cut fasteners, bombarding the demon behind him with stakes, old mattresses and heavy objects designed to confuse, confound and enrage while he dodged out of the way, unharmed. Her pace was slowing, but her hunger, her need was still strong. Angel leapt atop an old conveyor belt, making his head level with hers.
He vamped out again, unable to control the demon inside him any longer. Nihura's terrible face gloated at his incipient loss, and she opened her mouth to take his soul. Angel set his teeth, his elongated incisors accidentally piercing his lip, and made good of one last swing.
The air whistled, and then there was a sickening thud as the demon's head went flying and her body slumped to the ground. Angel fell to his knees, his head in his hands, unable even to get off of the belt.
"I'm still me!" he shouted to the catwalks. "I'm still Angel!"
Hannah was thrashing now, twitching and jerking. Nihura's decapitated body suddenly exploded, emitting thousands of rays of light, which immediately homed in on Hannah. They surrounded her, knocking Lorne away, and infused her body with light. She screamed once, as they drew her to her feet, and then she collapsed back on the concrete, moaning.
"We have to get her to Wesley," Lorne said, somewhat breathlessly.
"I know," said Angel, turning to Gunn who had climbed down. "Take them. Cordy and I will walk back through the sewer."
"We're gone."
Angel turned to Cordelia, who still had her crossbow trained on him. He rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I've seen Angelus," she said defensively. "Can't blame a girl for being cautious."
"No, I guess I can't."
{Angel hacking at Nihura. Lorne staring down the demon. Nihura's head flying. Hannah collapsing to the floor.}
Gunn was seriously considering tying Lorne to a chair. Ever since they had got Hannah back to the hotel and handed her over to Wesley, Lorne had been pacing up and down the hallway. The demon's skin colour, added to the bright clothes he wore and the speed at which he moved was giving Gunn a headache.
"Man, she'll be fine." Gunn had lost track of how many times he'd said that. "English and Fred can handle it."
There was a flash of light from under the door and Lorne made a move for it.
"No way, Lorne," Gunn said, catching him and pulling him back. "We don't want to mess around. Angel and Cordy should be back soon. Why don't we go downstairs and. . ."
"No!" snapped Lorne. "I am not leaving her again."
Gunn's eyes widened as he understood.
"It wasn't your fault, Lorne."
The demon looked at him through pain-filled eyes, but his answer was cut off by the opening of the door. Lorne spun to face it, and Fred and Wesley barely had enough time to get out of his way.
"Are you guys up there?" Cordelia called up the corridor from the lobby.
"We'll be right down," Wes called back, still in the door frame. He began to shepherd Fred and Gunn down the hall, closing the door to Hannah's room as he left.
{Light flashing beneath a door. Red rimmed eyes. Wesley closing the door.}
He'd had every intention of dashing into the room, sweeping her up in his arms and never letting go. But something stopped him in his tracks half- way across the floor. He tried to tell himself that it was because she was still recovering, but he knew in his heart of hearts that it was because of his guilt. So, he hesitated.
Hannah watched Wesley pull the door shut without looking over his shoulder, and turned to face Lorne.
"I wasn't really unconscious, you know," she said, almost out of the blue. "I couldn't do anything, of course, but I knew more or less exactly what was going on."
He came a few steps closer and sat on the end of the bed.
"That was brave of you, to stay on the floor with me. And really stupid. You could at least have taken a knife. But it ended well."
He realized, absently, that he was holding his breath.
"Thank you. It made me feel. . .safe."
"It was the least I could do after abandoning you earlier," he pointed out.
"Lorne, I saw what happened to the idiot that started this whole chain of events. I'm glad you weren't here."
"I just. . .I mean. . .I can't bear the thought of something happening to you, of someone taking you away from. . ." he cut himself off and looked up at her. "I love you."
She stared at him.
"But I was afraid it was for the wrong reasons," he babbled on. "I mean, when you sing, I see the most beautiful thing ever, but I wasn't sure that it was you. And then I realized that I can see it even when you aren't singing -- I just had to learn where to look, and I, I'm not even sure what 'it' is."
"I think that's the way it usually works." Hannah said quietly, her smile returning. She sat up and wobbled slightly. He instinctively reached out to steady her.
"Are you supposed to sit up?"
"Yes," came the answer. One didn't have to be anagogic to realize that wasn't quite the truth.
He shifted under her scrutiny, unable to think for the life of him what she wanted, and knowing somehow that he couldn't cheat by asking her to sing. Hannah sighed in exasperation.
"Are you planning on sitting there all day, or are you going to kiss me?"
His eyes snapped up to find her smiling sweetly at him, her face about a foot away from his. That suddenly seemed an intolerably large distance. He stretched out a hand and tucked a few errant strands of hair behind her ear.
She didn't have to ask him twice.