The Paragon Of Animals
Parts 4 - 6
Lindsey made sure his office door was locked and the window blinds closed against the blindingly harsh rays of the sun before he sat down at his desk and started tearing through his illegal copies of classified files.
He kept them as a 'saftey cushion',in case Wolfram and Hart ever decided that he was expendable,but usually in a safe deposit box under an assumed name-never where they could be found with him,and potentially used against him (and destroyed with his body).But after what happened last night,he needed some answers,because he had the sinking feeling that everything he had ever done was quickly becoming irrelevant.
He didn't take them all-just dropped by the bank this morning on his way to work and took the ones that might pertain,in one fashion or another,to whatever the hell was going on.He hid them in the false bottom of his briefcase,which wasn't a precaution more than it was a mandated necessity working for Wolfram and Hart.
Nathan Reed himself told him he was doing a great job,and this would be the firm's biggest triumph,as well as an end to any Angel problems once and for all.And that should have been reassuring-Lindsey kept telling himself that should have been the answers to his prayers.
But it wasn't.He was afraid a hell of a lot more people would be going down,not just Angel.And he couldn't completely rule himself out as a possible victim.
Last night,he was in such a hurry to get rid of Dru and the goddamn package he actually didn't pay much attention to what was going on around him.Also,he may have hit the mini-bar in the limo a bit too hard,but that was Dru's fault:she wouldn't stop the singing,the childish,whispered singsong that made him sorry his fake hand wasn't made of wood,because if it had been,he'd have gladly ripped it off and staked the bitch just so she'd shut the hell up.It was like the song lodged in his head and was eating outward,tearing up his frontal lobes until touching the box almost seemed like a good idea.
But he didn't.He was neither that drunk or that stupid.
Finally,the limo glided into the secret hospital entrance,hidden away in a distant part of the 'regular' hospital's underground parking garage.Wolfram and Hart had their own wing,but it was not known to the public,nor was it known to them.It was for the firm and its 'special' clients alone.
Otherwise,it was a normal hospital wing,all white with colored lines along the floor to lead the lost to various destinations;but the regular hospital didn't have a special demarcated for Slime demons,did they?
He expected Caliban,the warlock,to be there-but he had not expected Nathan Reed himself to be there.If he had,he may have stopped at one vodka in the limo.
And what a pair they were:the stocky yet solidly built warlock,who looked like a man in his sixties,with thinning silver hair and a neatly trimmed snow white beard,and eyes so clear and pale they were almost colorless,like egg whites.But he was actually in his hundreds-how far in he wasn't sure;they left it off the bio,but only in the ones-and the intelligence in his eyes and the power exuding off him in nearly palpable waves let you know this was no anile grandpa let loose from the nursing home on a day pass.And he had a vague yet still uncanny resemblance to Sean Connery that bothered Lindsey for no reason he could pinpoint.
And standing shoulder to shoulder with him was the tall,knifeblade thin figure of Nathan Reed,the florescent lights of the hall gleaming off his bald dome of a scalp,his eyes so very human and yet so eeriely dead it could make a man unprepared for it piss his pants.The Elvis Costello-ish glasses he wore should have been a true comic touch,and in a way it was,but mostly it just made him seem that much more inhuman.
They led the way to a room in the i.c.u. area,where a demon he never expected to see again laid unconscious in a deep and irreversable coma,in a hospital bed surrounded by various high tech,beeping machines that were doing nothing but keeping an unwilling body going.
She and her friend,a truly ugly Fungus demon with the unfortunate name of Fredd-Gis,had been part of the 'chaos' team,set with the mission of introducing spores of a turned toxic Fredd-Gis to the L.A. water supply,but Angel cut them off,apparently,as the 'seer' hadn't been 'neutralized' yet (what that meant he had no idea-when he asked Reed,he told him it was a 'shut case'.But he knew Cordelia wasn't dead,and for some reason,he felt relieved.Maybe it was because he wanted Angel dead for good,not her:she'd never hurt him personally.Although she was the reason he got his hand cut off,wasn't she?),and somehow it all ended in a rooftop fight.Fredd-Gis was reduced to a puddle of goo (and non-toxic goo at that),and Marla,a Liigon hybrid (she had some Belial in her family tree) was found in a dumpster beside the building,presumably thrown off the roof.
But she had been very lucky-if she had hit the pavement,her skull would have busted open like a watermelon.The garbage,while slightly smelly,was cushioning,and saved her life.Well,in a manner of speaking.She had suffered enough internal and head injuries to be rendered little better than a vegetable:she'd never be getting out of her hospital bed,not on her own two feet.
It made Lindsey wonder why W&H were even footing the bill to keep her on life support:she was never a client,and had in fact been a stranger to them all until the day before her ill-fated battle with Angel.Why save her?They let itinerant and mercenary demons die by the truckload.
But his question was tacitly answered when Reed gently instructed Dru to take the case to the woman's bed,and open it.Dru,who seemed to have a certain fascination for Nathan ("Ooh,your head is so shiny,"she cooed,and Lindsey had to bite the inside of his cheek until it bled to keep from laughing),did as she was told,twirling to the demon woman's bedside like a ballet dancer practicing pirouettes,the case held as gently to her as an infant.
The case was locked,but Dru,having more strength than your average human,was able to force it open,the lock snapping so violently the metal hasp flew across the room,and ricocheted off the far wall before clattering across the floor.
Lindsey blamed his slightly inebriated state,but part of him cringed when she threw the case open,expecting something to come out-maybe a flesh melting spirits,ala 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark'.And he was disappointed-and feeling foolish-when the interior of the case appeared to hold nothing more than dust and a...rock?
The dust made it look like a rock roughly the size of a grapefruit,but flat on the bottom,so it curved upwards like a hideous growth.Because of all that dust,he thought it was black,but he wasn't sure.
Dru started dancing again,to music only she could hear,pausing only to say,"She's hungry,"and laugh in that crow like cackle again,deeply pleased with herself.
Reed told her to put it in Marla's hands,but he had to tell her twice as she was so wrapped up in the music of the stone,and when she picked it up,throwing the case to the floor (where it shattered like it was made of crystal),she blew a layer of dust off of it,and Lindsey could see it was such a deep green it was almost black...and did he see something inside it?It was furtive and quick,but they were like tiny electrical sparks deep inside of it,crackling like neurons inside a brain.
Dru folded Marla's limp hands over it,and said,presumably to the stone,"Time to come out and play."
For some reason,Lindsey felt suddenly cold,as if his spine had been doused with ice water.He didn't want to see who was 'coming out to play'.
But he stood near the door,dumbstruck,as Caliban said something in Latin,a spell,and a red spark seemed to shoot from his upraised hand and hit the stone in Marla's hand.
And for a moment,nothing happened.But nothing didn't happen nearly long enough.
The stone cracked with a sound like shattering glass,and something seemed to flow out of it:for a second,Lindsey thought they were a billion electric blue mites moving in unison,until they coalesced and formed a misty wave that seemed to envelope Marla's insensate body before disappearing into every facial orifice-eyes,mouth,nose,ears-as if the mist was trying to hide.
And then all the machines exploded.
They erupted into orange flames with an almost deafening roar and blew shrapnel all over the room,although Lindsey was the only one who ducked and covered his head as it whizzed by at the speed of bullets,the self-destructing life support machines vomiting a cascade of yellow and blue sparks over the white tiled floor.
Dru never stopped dancing,and Reed and Caliban were calm and motionless off to the right side of the room,as if they expected nothing less,and were safe above it all.
The harsh white lights of the room flickered briefly,the darkness making the destruction look like a fireworks display,until they came up full and strong again. Lindsey almost wished they hadn't.
Marla sat up,and when she opened her eyes,they were not Liigon pink,but a violent electric blue,just like the wave that had covered her,and for a second he thought he could see all the veins of her body lit up beneath her ashen flesh in that same neon blue,making her look like some grotesque anatomical model in a doctor's office display.
But then those tracings of blue fire were gone,although it remained in her eyes,flaring like an unquenchable hate,and as those eyes passed over him,Lindsey swore he felt himself pulled like metal towards a magnet.He kept his ground,but only because she looked away,towards Reed and Caliban,who remained unmoved by this spectacle.
"You brought me back-why?"Marla asked,but her voice sounded as rusty as a neglected hinge...or like the thing using her vocal cords wasn't used to them yet.
It was then that Reed turned to him and told him to take Drusilla back to the 'safe' house.Lindsey couldn't quite believe it-after all this they wanted him to just leave?-but in all honesty he was grateful to do so.The power coming from that thing was incredible:it was like a malevolent black hole in the form of a human,and he knew if he got too close he would be lost forever.
Dru didn't want to leave,she pouted and stamped her foot like a thwarted child,but Reed assured her she'd get to 'play' later,and somewhat placated,Lindsey was able to grab her arm and hustle her out of the hospital room,where the air seemed so charged and ionized he was surprised the entire room didn't explode into flame as soon as he opened the door.It was cowardly he knew,but he never wanted to see that thing-whatever it was-again.
But he would,wouldn't he?That had to be the 'secret weapon' there had been rumors about,and not Caliban's 'payment' for all the random chaos he was inflicting on pockets of the city.But what kind of 'weapon' was she?What was she?
He spread all the documents he had on Caliban and several ongoing projects over the surface of his desk,and as he scoured them hastily,waiting to glimpse key words that would make the pages worth reading,he wondered if this had anything to do with the curious memo he'd found on his desk this morning.It was from Nathan himself,in his handwriting,although he believed it was a copy of the original.
It had only a single,unexplained sentence:'Under no circumstances should you watch the noon or six o'clock news on channel seven today'.
The firm had never given dictates on what they should or shouldn't watch before,so the timing was truly odd-and since he didn't believe in coincidences anymore,he was sure it was connected.
But he glanced up at his Rolex,and saw it was one second to noon.
He wondered what was going to happen,and if he'd be around later to care.
Angel threw back an elbow,aiming for Bob's face,but he hit nothing but air and almost tripped over his chair as his own momentum turned him around,and he saw Bob now off to the right side of the room,in front of the overstuffed bookshelves.And he was laughing like the smug bastard he was.
"Yeah,I'm a wimpy little Belial you can bully all you want,Vlad.Gotta be quicker than that."He tossed the ballpoint pen he must have stolen back on the desk...right next to a pencil he could have taken instead.Killed by a pencil-now that would have been embarrassing.
"When I said no screwing around with anyone's mind,I meant mine too,"he growled,angry but mostly annoyed with himself.He should never have let a Belial get the drop on him,no matter how old he was.But that brought up a good point:how old was he?
Belials could do nothing but lie really persuasively,at least for the first forty years of their life or so:they had some psychic powers,but they were mostly limited to a sort of low grade 'empathy' that allowed them to 'read' what other people (victims) really wanted to hear,so they could tailor their lies accordingly.But,unlike most beings,the older they got,the stronger they got,at least psychically,with the corollary that the increasing strength of their powers usually made them completely mental.Belials could live for a very long time,but the consumptive energy of their psychic powers usually put them in the grave before two hundred years passed.And Bob was well past that mark,wasn't he?
But he wasn't crazy,or at least he didn't seem that way:being a complete asshole just made you a bastard,not insane.Yet.But to have used his power so easily on him-and Angel never even felt it:he should have felt the power,he should have felt reality slip around him-Bob had to be near three hundred years old,older than him.And maybe even older than that.Because most Belials died by the time they developed any powers of note,the upper limit of their powers was unknown.
He had always known Maximum Bob was a dangerous man,but never precisely how dangerous until now.
"I'd think you'd work for Wolfram and Hart,"he muttered,sitting back down and attempting to regain some semblance of dignity.He might as well hear him out,at least for a little while.Lulled into a false sense of security,he'd be easier to get the drop on.
Bob scoffed,plopping back down in his chair."I hate lawyers-even ones who don't serve demon overlords."
"You don't have much use for the law at all,do you?"
Bob grinned in a way he must have thought was charming."Let's just say we rarely see eye to eye."
"So why are you going after Wolfram and Hart now?"
"Well,they stole something from me."
Angel stared at him blankly,waiting for the punchline,and then he realized that was it."They ripped you off in a business transaction?"He exclaimed,laughing darkly."That's what all this is all about?They shortchanged you,and now you want my help in giving them a jumbo wedgie?"
Bob smirked bitterly."I'd never do business with those lyin' scumbags-and yes,I am aware of that irony-but business doesn't come into it.I had a shipment coming in from Japan last night,and they killed my couriers and hijacked it.And while that's bad in and of itself,it's what they took that bothers me."
"What did they take?"
"Bellara."
Angel still couldn't shake the feeling Bob was just toying him,playing some stupid game,in spite of the seriously grim look on his face."A person?You had a person brought in as a 'shipment'?"
"Not a person...well,not anymore."
Angel sat back,frowning,crossing his arms over his chest."I'm waiting for that explanation,and it better be good."
"She was the oldest Belial in known existence-she lived to six hundred or so.Of course,she was nuttier than a squirrel in a nutlog factory,and so psychically powerful she scared the piss out of everyone,including fellow Belials,especially when she began killing indiscriminately.Hate us or not,Angel,you know Belials want nothing more than to live in peaceful coexistence with Humans.So someone-the argument continues over whom-approached a powerful coven of witches,and asked them to kill her.They refused,on the grounds that they didn't kill,but after seeing what Bellara had down to an entire town,they agreed to imprison her,so she'd be unable to hurt anyone again.They did it,imprisoning her 'psychic energy' in a lump of 'green' amber,but most of the coven died in the process.Still,the stone was cased up,a spell put on it so no one crazy enough to look for it would find it,and buried seven feet deep in a forest in China."
Squirrel in a nutlog factory?Sometimes,it was best not to ask."When?"
"Did it happen?A little before our time-around the twelfth century or so."
Angel sat forward,frowning in thought,folding his hands in front of him on the desk."Wait-isn't that a myth?"
"Well,that's what we wanted you to believe.If people thought it was true,they might try and look for the stone,right?"
"So why did you?"
"I didn't!"He protested,looking a little too innocent to be believed."Remember that big earthquake they had in China not too long ago?Well,apparently,the ground churned the case containing Bellara's energy closer to the surface,and the protection/cloaking spell either didn't work,or had a finite shelf life,'cause it caused a strange 'dead' area in the forest-anything that stepped on a two foot circle of ground around the box fell instantly dead.Dead animals were just heaped on the thing,but even the insects that tried to feed on them died.The locals had always considered the ground cursed and avoided it,although one foreigner who didn't believe in such 'silly superstitions' was the first Human victim."
"Why?Why did they drop dead?"
"See,that's the thing-the coven figured,once she was imprisoned in the amber,her psychic energy would dissipate:she'd die,but it would take such a long time it gave them less of a guilty feeling about it.But that didn't happen.Somehow,she kept it together.And,even while trapped in amber,she needed to feed on something to keep her energy level up."
"She fed on lives,"Angel said,thinking aloud.
Bob nodded."Or,at least the energy contained in living things,from plants and insects to Humans.I assume her appetite is insatiable,considering how powerful she's supposed to be.Anyhow,I have a business associate in Asia-a vampire,yeah,but a shrewd businesswoman-who went to the site and dug it up.It was only two feet down,and,being already dead,she was immune to Bellara.She tested it,figured out it was the genuine stone of Bellara,and,considering our relationship,gave me a head's up.She intended to put it on the auction block,but since we had been so close in the past,she offered me the first bid for it.I instantly wired her a million dollars and she sent the case,with a vampire courier,to Japan,where I had sent a vampire courier to intercept him and bring them back here."
It took Angel a second to realize he had actually said a million dollars-he'd dropped the term so casually it was like saying he had loaned someone twenty bucks.How wealthy was he?"Why did you the courier she sent need to come too?"
"Because she had given him instructions-to be told to me-about how to safely destroy the thing.She didn't want to tell me over the phone or email because she was afraid she had a leak in her organization-word was getting out about the Bellara stone,even though she hadn't publicized it yet-and if it was known it existed and I intended to destroy it,well,hell would probably break loose.And I agreed,because I figured 'radio silence',so to speak,was best when dealing with a hot potato like this."
"But the news got leaked to Wolfram and Hart."
"Apparently so.I sent another courier to the docks to make sure they arrived okay,but the ship docked a bit ahead of schedule,and by the time she got there,she found nothing but piles of dusts on the deck,and there was no sign of the case or the stone."
"So why do you think Wolfram and Hart are responsible?You could have simply been double crossed by your 'friend'.
Bob sat forward with a weary sigh,and gave him a look that seemed to say he was the stupidest person he had ever met."Because Jiang is not and was never like that,even as a Human.And Heather,the other courier I sent,did note one strange thing as she she pulled up beyond the docks:a limo pulling away.How many people drive limos down to the worst part of the Santa Monica pier at two o'clock in the morning?"
Angel grimaced:if he was telling the truth,he had a point."Why would they want it?"
"Oh,I don't know,"he sighed,throwing his hands up as he slumped back in his chair."What could they do with an all powerful demoness with a huge grudge against humanity?It boggles the mind."
Angel had to admit this sounded pretty damn bad.But how could he trust Bob?He'd just proved how untrustworthy he was by entrancing Cordelia,and by playing mind games with him."Is that why you wanted the stone,Bob?Did Wolfram and Hart take that from you too?"
Bob scowled at him,eyes narrowing to slits as an angry crease formed between his brows."I wanted to put Bellara in the ground,or ether,or wherever the hell once and for all.I don't care if you believe me or not,Angel,but maybe you can believe this-I ain't Bellara,but I'm strong enough to hurt people if I want,and hurt 'em pretty bad.But I don't,because I don't have a grudge against Humanity.Do I hate certain people?Yeah,sure,but they're not all Humans.The world is too big for me to want,and I've seen enough death to last me another two lifetimes.Believe it or not-and I really don't care if you do-but we need to get the stone before they let her out,although it's probably too late for that.In that case,I need your help in trying to figure out how to kill her,because I'm at a loss."
"Why not call your friend Jiang and ask for the instructions?"
"I tried-she's missing,and I fear the worst."For a moment,a shadow of sorrow crossed his face,but Angel presumed it was part of the act."Wolfram and Hart have even more connections than I do.I really didn't think that was possible."
Angel sat back and sighed,running a hand through his sopping hair as he considered the possibility Bob was mostly telling the truth.A slim possibility,but still within the realms of probability."She's non-corporeal,right?And since she feeds on the energy of living beings,she can't really possess people without killing them."
"She can possess the right kind of body."
Angel almost asked what he meant,but figured it out himself."Belial."
Bob nodded somberly."If we're lucky,they picked someone young-that might inhibit her abilities somewhat.But,knowing Wolfram and Hart,they were more on the ball than that." Angel nodded in agreement himself:the bastards always did their homework."What are her abilities exactly?"
He presumed they were like Bob's,but hell...if she was six hundred when imprisoned,and kept a rudimentary form of consciousness even while trapped in the stone...that made her technically what,fourteen hundred years old?Angel knew if he was still capable of shuddering,he would have.
"Remember that village that convinced the coven to take her out of the game?"He said grimly,sitting forward and resting his hands on his knees.
"What had she done to it?"
"She had enslaved the entire populace.A few hundred people,reduced to an army of automatons,who existed only to do her bidding,including kill each other off on her whim.Just think what she could do now."
A sudden knock on the door made Angel start slightly,as the door opened and a very harried looking Wesley poked his head inside his office.His blue eyes scudded over Bob first,making the ex-Watcher frown,but when he looked at Angel,he just looked grim."You'd better come out here,Angel-there's something very strange going on outside."
"What?"He wondered,his stomach clenching in a sudden rush of a very bad feeling as he got to his feet.
Wesley just shook his head,worry lines wrinkling his brow."You'll have to see for yourself."
"She's started,"Bob proclaimed,his tone somewhere between reluctant acceptance and angry remorse.
And Angel wondered if he was right as he went out to the lobby to see what was going on.
Wesley knew there was something wrong when he re-entered the Hyperion and found Cordelia sitting at her desk,pretending she wasn't trying to eavesdrop on a conversation going on in his office,all the while cradling a hand held battle axe in her lap. And to top it off,all the chocolate doughnuts were gone.
As he put down the volume on Chaos demons he had run back home to get,Cordelia told a slightly confusing tale of what of had happened,but the gist of it was Angel was in his office,talking to Maximum Bob.
Now there was a name he'd hoped to never hear again.As if it wasn't bad enough he wasn't a black marketeer and an all around scoundrel,smart and slippery enough to straddle the line between mostly harmless and repugnantly evil to avoid being caught up in something truly foul,Angel was apparently 'indebted' to him.
He helped Angel kill the Executioner a couple months back,when Wolfram and Hart made an ill advised attempt to raise him,and all for the price of Angel's word that he 'owed' him.A terrible deal,although Wesley could sympathize with my why Angel had made it-at the time,the Executioner,who had already nearly killed him,was hot on his heels (although Wesley still didn't know why Angel just didn't call him.No,he couldn't physically take on the Executioner,but maybe he could have come up with a spell to weaken him,or send him back home).But since Angel had told him about it,he had a bad feeling this would all come back to haunt him;to haunt them all.
He had to hand it to Bob,though-he was very clever.And that's what bothered him the most.Well,that and his age:old Belials could not only be quite psychically powerful,but there sanity alway remained an open question.
Wesley picked up the book of spells he had left on the counter earlier and pretended to shelve it,attempting to hear what they were discussing in his office,but they were speaking too low to really make out:he could hear their voices,but not the words.Judging from the tone of their voices,though,their conversation was quite serious.
Since he wasn't really paying attention,it took him a minute to realize Cordy had just answered the question of why she was holding the axe."He did what?"He exclaimed,horrified,hoping he had heard her wrong.
"Did his mojo thing;'mesmerized' me,"she explained,gripping the axe handle tightly in both hands."He just took off his sunglasses and it was like...wham.I couldn't even control myself-it was like his puppet or something.It was way creepy."She shuddered in memory.
Wesley felt his jaw drop at such a hideous thought,and was glad Bob wasn't out here right now,because he'd be tempted to beat him to a bloody pulp."What did he make you do?"
"Well...nothing really.He just wanted me to grab his hand." "His hand?"He repeated warily.He had expected a lot worse,and was sort of relieved,although confused."Why?"
"I don't know,"she admitted with a shrug."Although he said I was 'blocked',whatever that means."
"Blocked?"He was starting to feel like a parrot.But it was only noon,and already the day had been more puzzling than he would have liked."Psychically?Did he say how?"
"No.But Angel seemed to think he was full of shit."
"With a Belial,that's always a safe assumption."But why would he choose that particular lie?And what was his intentions when he mesmerized her?Of course,he could guess the ultimate intention,but why would he want her to grab his hand?What was that supposed to do?
He didn't have long to ponder that before they heard the crash outside.
Muffled by the walls,the crunch of metal on metal was still audible,the sound of glass breaking almost as soft a sound as rain on the pavement.There were several loud blats of a car horn,but they sounded like they were from at least two different cars.A car accident?
He exchanged a curious look with Cordelia,and then they both headed outside to have a look,Cordy remembering to leave the axe behind at the last second.
The day was so clear and bright Wesley's eyes stung as soon as they left the hotel,and he had to shade his eyes until they adjusted to the sunlight,making him muse that at least he was not a vampire:they'd do a hell of a lot more than water then.
"What the hell..?"Cordy wondered aloud behind him,and he had to admit,that was his thought as well as soon as he clearly saw what was going on before them The crashing noise they had heard was indeed a car accident-at the head of the street,a BMW parked next to the curb had been 't-boned' by a large black Mercedes.A Mercedes that backed up as they watched,and deliberately smashed into another parked car on the other side of the street.This time it was a small blue Honda,and the force of impact not only crumpled the car inward but sent it up onto the sidewalk,where it tumbled right through the window of a small convenience store,the glass shattering explosively as part of the front facade collapsed.The Mercedes backed up onto the road again,front bumper now hanging on by a single bolt,steam from the punctured radiator spewing from the seams of the hood like dragon's breath.
There were few pedestrians,but those that were near didn't scatter,or even seem to notice the bizarre scene going on around them.In fact,they all seemed to have the stiff walk and glazed stare of somnambulists,their faces unusually slack and stripped of any expression at all.
There was a heavy metallic thunk at the opposite end of the street,and Wesley had to edge farther out on the sidewalk to see what was happening,although he had a sudden spasm of great reluctance to do so.Still,he did,Cordy grabbing his arm and looking past him,all the while making sure he was still in front of her like a human shield.
There was a middle aged woman in a fuzzy blue bathrobe and pink bunny slippers smashing a plumber's wrench against the top bolt of the fire hydrant at the end of the block,obviously trying to break it open.People walked around her,not even seeming to notice either her attire or what she was trying to do.In fact,it looked like a rag tag group of people were dismantling a building on the corner past her,their fingers bloody from digging out the bricks from the solid mortar,one piece at a time.
There was a harsh noise,metal scraping on concrete,and Wesley looked back in time to see the Mercedes,half its front end accordioned in,the bumper rasping against the blacktop and causing sparks to trail beneath the car as it limped along,aim towards a light post across the street from them and swerve into it as violently as possible,snapping the metal street light's post in half on impact.It fell across the hood of the car as the light smashed down into the road,and the hood,crumpled up like a tin can,began venting steam like a volcano.
Cordy's fingers were digging so hard into his bicep they felt like claws,and the man in the Mercedes,wearing a very expensive Versace suit that almost matched his car,looked like he was trying to back up again and have another go,even though blood was gushing down his face from a visible,nasty gash on his forehead.
Cordy was trying to pull him back into the Hyperion,and he let her,feeling remarkably cold for such a sunny,warm day.
"Okay,can you say 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'?"Cordelia commented,once they were safely ensconced inside the hotel.She was trying to sound flippant,but he could hear the tiny edge of fear in her voice."Think there was a mass escape from the insane asylum we didn't hear about?"
He looked at her,and saw a sort of hopeful curiosity in her hazel eyes that seemed to say 'You were the Watcher-so what's the deal here'.But he didn't know,although he had several possibilities in mind.Absolutely none of them good,but that was a given.
They were standing close enough to the door to hear another crunch of metal and crash of glass-Mercedes man must have gotten his car started again.
"Lock the doors,"he told her,even though such a measure would only work against people on foot,not people using cars as battering rams,and went to get Angel.
It looked like the rampant chaos problem had finally spread to people as well.But what had happened to their minds?When it hit the demons,they appeared out of their minds,yes,but not blank:there was an intelligence there,just skewed.
But he had seen their eyes,and the people out there were hollow,empty.
Gone.
