Somnambulist
(LA Street – Night)
(A girl is running for her life, terrified of whatever is chasing her. Rounds a corner and runs right into a man. He grabs her, lays a metal tipped finger against her lips. We get a glimpse of fangs. He draws a mark on her cheek, bites and drains her. Camera pans overhead as her lifeless body slips to the ground. There are police sirens in the background. The vampire looks up at the camera, and its Angel in vamp face.)
(Angel’s Apartment)
(We get a close up of his face as he morphs back into human face and we see him gasping for breath. He’s sitting up on his bed fully dressed and clearly wigged.)
(LA Street)
(Kate drives up to a crime scene in a police car.)
Kate: Where?
Officer: Over there detective.
(Kate bends down to look at the victim. It’s the girl from Angel’s dream. There are bite marks on her neck and a cross has been scratched on her left cheek.)
Kate: It’s the same guy. This makes three. He’s just getting started.
(Angel Investigations)
(Cordelia sits behind Angel’s desk.)
Cordelia: I believe in Los Angeles. It’s the city of dreams, a mystical oasis, built from a dessert. (Gets up and plays with the blinds.) But even sunny blond LA has its trashy dark roots, and you’ve learned that the hard way, haven’t you? (Walks around her desk and leans over an empty chair.) You’ve taken your problem to the police, they can’t help you, so you’ve come to us.
(Office door opens to admit Wesley carrying a newspaper and some letters in his hand.)
Wesley: I think it’s about to speak.
Cordelia: (straightens up) Nobody likes a smart-ass, rogue demon hunter. What do you want, Wesley?
Wesley: Just thought I’d pop round so we might compare battle plans from our respective fronts.
Cordelia: Oh, I thought you worked alone?
Wesley: Well, even a solitary soldier, such as myself, recognizes that a free exchange of intelligence benefits the common struggle. - Also, I brought in your mail and newspaper.
Cordelia: (takes the mail) Oh, thanks. So what have you got?
Wesley: Got?
Cordelia: You wanted to compare skinnies on the current ‘evil happenings’.
Wesley: Yes. Skinnies. Precisely. - Uh, right, well... Everything *seems* quiet.
Cordelia: Okay. Well, - thanks for stopping by.
(Wesley sits down across form Cordelia’s desk.)
Wesley: And you? - How go things on your end of the good fight?
Cordelia: I’ve been giving the hard sell to an empty chair. What do you think?
Wesley: Quiet all around then. (Cordelia looks at the paper and mail he brought in.) Well, I’ll keep myself available. The situation can only escalate. We made a most effective team, I felt. Vanquishing that empathy demon in such short order.
Cordelia: Yeah, well, nobody gauged out my eyes, so I’m happy.
Wesley: Yes, most effective. Your cryptic visions, Angel’s brawn, my *highly* developed powers of deduction rounding out...
(Cordelia hands the mail back to him.)
Cordelia: This isn’t our mail.
Wesley: Sorry?
Cordelia: (points to one of the letters) See here? The dentist office - next door.
Wesley: (takes the mail) Oh, I see. I didn’t... (Sees something on the front page of the paper) realize...
Cordelia: Something wrong? You stopped yammering.
(Wesley takes a deep breath and gets up.)
Wesley: I, ah, I suppose I should return these items to their proper owner.
(Wesley leaves just as Angel comes out of the elevator, slamming the grate open, and walks into the office.)
Angel: Who were you talking to?
Cordelia: (frowns at him) Nobody. And Wesley. Uhm, so, you remember that license plate we got on that runaway case?
(Angel pours himself some coffee.)
Angel: I remember *you* were going to follow up on it.
Cordelia: No go. The BMV is totally stalker-phobic. And wow! You look half-dead. (Angel looks at her) Which for someone, who’s completely dead, would be - kind of neat?
(Angel walks over to her desk and holds out a hand.)
Angel: License plate, Cordelia.
Cordelia: (hands him the paper) Uh, right. I thought maybe you could have police woman run it for us on the Q.T.?
Angel: Kate.
Cordelia: Are you sure you’re okay? I mean for a guy who’s 200 plus, you’re not usually (points at her eyes) with the bags.
Angel: (walks towards the door) I’ll do this now.
Cordelia: (stares after him) Hey...
Angel: (looks back, irritated) Look, I’m fine Cordelia. All right?
Cordelia: All right.
(Angel walks out the door and right into a patch of sunlight. Jerks back, hissing with pain and turns back into the office.)
Angel: I’ll take the tunnels.
(Cordelia gets up and shuts the office door. Camera pans over to show Wesley lurking in the foyer, mail still in hand. He looks at the closed door then sneaks towards the exit.)
(Police Station)
(Kate walks in with Angel following her.)
Kate: You know I’m not supposed to release that kind of information to a civilian, Angel.
Angel: I know.
Kate: If it were anyone else...
Angel: I appreciate it, Kate.
Kate: (sits down at her desk) I know you do. So I don’t mind. I’ll run it myself, have it for you by morning.
Angel: No rush. Late afternoon, evening will be fine, actually.
Kate: To be honest, I won’t mind getting my head out of this case. Even for a minute.
Angel: Tough one?
(Kate looks down at a picture of an older man.)
Kate: The first victim, Reggie Sparks, volunteered as a crossing-guard. (Pulls over another photo as Angel walks around to look over her shoulder.) Jinny Markem, she just started the tenth grade, and Jessica Halpren, 25, worked as a waitress. (Looks up at Angel.) And do you know what they all have in common? - What he did to them. That’s all.
Angel: That’s not all. They have you.
(An officer hands a folder to Kate.)
Officer: Here are the crime scene photos you wanted.
Kate: Thanks. (Opens the folder to look at the photos.) Look, why don’t you stop by tomorrow? By then I’ll have invaded a citizen’s right to privacy for you, and you can... (Looks up at Angel, who’s staring at the photos. Flash to the scene from his dream.) Yeah, it’s pretty grim, isn’t it? I’ve spent the last 48 hours putting together a suspect profile, and believe me, being inside this guy’s head hasn’t been a whole lot of fun. - The tabloids are calling him ‘the pope’. Probably thinks he’s doing God’s work.
Angel: (still staring) No. Just the opposite. This is about mocking God. (Sees her looking at him.) That’s my guess.
Officer: (to Kate) Detective? They’re ready for you now.
Kate: Yeah, okay. Looks like it’s show... (She looks back at Angel and sees that he is halfway out of the office already.) ...time.
(Police Briefing)
Kate: Our suspect will be a white male. To the observer he will not seem a monster. His victims put up little or no struggle, so it’s likely that he is charming, attractive, (blends into footage of Angel walking down a crowded street at night) but at his core he is a loner. Possibly a dual personality, who once the crime has been committed, retains no memory of the act. (Blend back to Kate giving the briefing) He will not view his victims as subhuman, rather it’s himself that he views as something other than human, more than human, a superior species. (Blend to Angel) Stalking his prey, getting to know them. (Back to Kate) It’s unlikely that he’ll be married though he may have recently come off a long-term relationship that ended badly. We look for a precipitating event in cases such as this, and a painful breakup is always at the top of the list. (Blend back to Angel. He spots a blonde talking to some friends, her back to him) Prior to failing this relationship may have marked an inactive period in our suspects life. He would have regarded it as a lifeline, his salvation, (The blonde turns and it’s not Buffy. Angel walks on.) but once ended, it resulted in his recidivism. - What is not in question is his experience. He’s been doing this for a very long time, (blend back to Kate) and he will do it again.
(Angel Investigations)
(Cordelia is getting ready to leave the office. She opens the door and Wesley is just outside. They both gasp.)
Cordelia: Jeez, Wesley! Hover much?
(Wesley comes in and closes the door.)
Wesley: Where is he? Where is Angel?
Cordelia: Not here. (Sees the stake in Wesley’s hand.) What is that?
Wesley: Just what it looks like.
Cordelia: Kind of rude coming into a vampire’s place of business with one of those things, don’t you think? Could be misinterpreted?
(Wesley puts down his bag and pulls out a newspaper clipping.)
Wesley: You recall earlier this morning that mix-up with the dentists mail and newspaper? (Shows her the clipping) That’s when I saw this.
Cordelia: (looks at it) Oh, my God! You cut up Dr. Folger’s newspaper? You’re going to get us kicked out of this building.
Wesley: What? No, Cordelia, the clipping!
Cordelia: (takes it) Third body found in alley. So? Not exactly front-page news.
Wesley: Actually that is the front-page, but still, note the modus operandi? The mutilation of the corpse with a religious icon?
Cordelia: I’m against it?
(Wesley sighs and takes the clipping back.)
Wesley: I think you better sit down. (Cordelia goes to sit on the couch with a big sigh.) While executing my duties as Watcher in Sunnydale, (pulls a folder out of his bag) I did extensive research. Specifically on Angel, given his uncomfortable proximity to the Slayer.
Cordelia: He looked pretty comfortable to me.
Wesley: (shows her the folder) When I saw this story today it rang chillingly familiar. So I reacquainted myself with certain facts, confirming, I’m sorry to say, my grim suspicions. In the late 1700s it was Angelus’ custom to ‘sign’ his victims by carving a Christian cross into their left cheek. (Cordelia flips through the folder.) He liked to let people know he’d been there.
(Cordelia hands the folder back to him.)
Cordelia: Okay, you get to leave now. You’re not gonna come in here and accuse Angel like this.
Wesley: Cordelia.
Cordelia: (gets up) No! I don’t care how many files you have on all the horrible things he did back in the powdered wig days! He is good now. And he’s my friend. And nothing you or anyone else can say will make me turn on a friend!
Angel: Cordelia. (Wesley spins around) He’s right.
Cordelia: (to Wesley) You’ll stake him and I’ll cut his head off.
(Angel walks forward and Wesley threatens him with a cross.)
Wesley: Come no closer!
(Angel turns his head away from the cross.)
Angel: I’m not going to hurt you.
Cordelia: Oh, is that what you told Miss ‘third body found in alley’?
Wesley: Why should we believe a word you say?
(Angel laughs, grabs Wesley’s arm and spins him around to grab him by the neck.)
Angel: Because this is how fast I could take you if I wanted to.
Wesley: All right. We’re listening.
(Angel pushes him away.)
Angel: I have no memory of doing any of these things.
Cordelia: Not exactly the confidence inspiring denial I was looking for.
(Angel goes to sit on the edge of the desk.)
Angel: I’ve been having dreams.
Wesley: Dreams?
Angel: Killing dreams. Always the same. (Swallows) I-I stalk them, toy with them, mark them while they are still alive. And before they can die from their fear, I feed on them.
Cordelia: Okay. So you’ve been having nightmares, it doesn’t mean you...
Angel: They’re not nightmares. I’ve enjoyed them.
Cordelia: Oh.
Wesley: And you fear that these may be more than just dreams, that you are acting them out in some sort of hypnogogic state.
Cordelia: Hypnowhatic?
Wesley: Sleepwalking.
Cordelia: Vampires can’t sleepwalk. He’d take one step out of the front door and his pj’s would burst into flame!
Wesley: Unless it were happening in the pre-dawn hours. Which is when all these murders took place.
Angel: There is only one way to be sure.
(Angel’s Apartment)
(Wesley and Cordelia chain Angel to his bed.)
Wesley: (to Cordelia) You’ve got to make it tight.
Cordelia: (huffs) Like I need instructions from you. My glamorous LA life, I get to make the coffee and chain the boss to the bed. I’ve got to join a union.
Angel: Cordelia, I think that’s tight enough.
(Cordelia pulls on the chain one more time.)
Cordelia: And if it turns out that we’re back on the liquid lunch, better safe than cocktails!
(Angel sighs.)
Wesley: Well, all we can do now is wait.
Cordelia: (sighs) Yeah. And no offense Angel, but maybe you are committing those horrible crimes just in your dreams, but even so, I don’t want to stick around for your nocturnal commissions.
Angel: I understand.
Cordelia: Okay. Well, pleasant... ah, I mean, sleep tight.
Angel: That’s pretty much a given.
(1700’s)
(A girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes and a white bonnet running down a cobble street at night. She knocks on a locked door. A guy grabs her and lays a metal tipped finger on her lips. He marks her left cheek with a cross, then feeds off her. She falls dead to the ground. Cut to Angel with shoulder length hair, wearing old-fashioned clothes, looking down.)
Angel: There now, isn’t that better?
(Angel’s Apartment)
(Angel wakes with a gasp, still chained to the bed. Cordelia comes in carrying a newspaper.)
Cordelia: Wakie, wakie!
(Wesley gets up from a chair at the foot of Angel’s bed.)
Wesley: We made it.
Cordelia: Great news, sport’s fans, there has been another killing. Well, maybe not so great news for the - you know, dead person, but at least now we know that Mr. ‘I’m so tortured’ didn’t do it.
(Wesley beds down to undo Angel’s shackles, but stops when Angel speaks.)
Angel: Yes, I did.
(1700’s)
(The girl is laying dead on the ground. Angelus looks down.)
Angelus: There now, isn’t that better?
Penn: (straightens up) Better. (Morphs into human face.)
Angelus: First kill. Aptly done.
Penn: (smiles) It’s strange. She was my sister.
Angelus: And yet you feel nothing.
Penn: No, I feel hungry.
Angelus: Ah, you do learn very quickly.
Penn: My father would disagree.
Angelus: Ah, then perhaps it’s time you shared with him just what a fine student you’ve become.
Penn: My father, yes. - They’ll all be sitting down to dinner now.
Angelus: A feast. Excellent. When they invite you in, savor it, Penn. You’ll not recapture the moment. Family blood is always the sweetest.
(Present Day)
(Penn is looking at the latest newspaper article. He has a short goat-tee, short hair, styled somewhat like Angel’s, and is wearing glasses. Newspaper clippings are stuck on one wall. He adds the new clipping.)
(Angel’s Apartment)
(Angel goes to sit down on a chair.)
Angel: I taught him well.
Cordelia: A real psycho-wan-kenobi.
Wesley: 200 years practice. I imagine he has it down by now.
Cordelia: No lie. Gallagher’s changed his act more often than this dude has in the last two centuries. Why do you think he’s still doing the same old schtick?
Wesley: Well, I mean, it’s a classic, isn’t it? (Smiles) Every time he smashes that watermelon with a sledgehammer I just...
(Angel and Cordelia look at him.)
Angel: I don’t know why.
Wesley: You don’t suppose it’s his way of trying to draw you out? That he knows you’re here. That might explain the dreams.
Angel: No. I used to have a connection with those I sired. It just means he’s close, that’s all.
Cordelia: Neat. We can’t find him and the cops stand absolutely zero chance of stopping him.
Angel: (gets up to leave) Kate.
Wesley: What are you doing?
Angel: She doesn’t know what she’s dealing with, what she’s up against.
Wesley: And you’re not going to tell her. - Think about it. You can’t walk into a police precinct with intimate knowledge about these murders and claim a 200 year-old Puritan is responsible. You’d be locked up faster than Lady Hamilton’s virtue! (Looks over at Cordelia) My apologies.
Cordelia: That’s okay. I-I don’t know what that meant.
Angel: She’s a good cop. She has resources we don’t. Eventually she *will* find him.
Cordelia: Bad for her then.
Angel: (beat) Or good for us.
(Police Station)
(Angel walks into the police station playing with a piece of paper in his hands.)
Kate: Hey. I have the info on your license plate. (He swallows and looks around.) Angel, are you okay? Not that the ‘brooding man of mystery’ thing isn’t working for you. I mean it is. A lot.
Angel: Can we talk somewhere in private?
Kate: Sure, of course. (She leads him into the briefing room.) What is it?
Angel: Ah... (Closes the door and goes to look at the crime photos pinned on a cork board.) How’s the investigation?
Kate: It’s nowhere. (Pulls out her necklace and plays with the cross on it.) Some of your more inconsiderate serial killers often fail to leave us any clues. (Angel stares at the pictures.) Angel?
(Angel looks from picture to picture, matching them up to flashes of Penn’s dead family.)
Angel: He’s reliving it.
Kate: What’s going on?
(Angel turns around and sees the cross held between her fingers.)
Angel: It’s complicated.
Kate: So make it simple.
Angel: Kate, do you trust me?
Kate: You know I do.
(Angel unfolds the paper in his hands and pins the drawing of a face to the corkboard.)
Angel: Trust me when I tell you - this is the man you’re looking for.
Kate: Where did you get that? How could you possibly...
Angel: Do you trust me?
Kate: I don’t understand. Are you protecting a source? (Angel just looks at her) Yes, I trust you.
Angel: His next victim will be a white male, adolescent. He’ll take him off the streets in a low rent neighborhood. Probably near a bar or liquor store and he’ll kill him just like he did these others. Unless you use every resource this department has to make sure he is not successful this time.
(Parking Garage)
(Angel walks through the police garage to his car. Wesley is sitting in the passenger seat.)
Wesley: (looks at his watch) So, I take it you told her everything.
Angel: Just enough to get her killed.
Wesley: Well, we’ll just have to see that doesn’t happen.
Angel: Exactly. (Hands him a police scanner.) Once you hook this up, she finds something, we’ll know about it.
Wesley: Where did you get the police radio?
Angel: Police car.
Wesley: Oh dear!
(Police Briefing)
(Kate is briefing her officers with the help of a city map.)
Kate: So lets set up patrols here and here. Anything matching the profile gets reported.
(Liquor Store)
(A young kid is accosting people in front of the store.)
Kid: Excuse me, Sir, could you buy me some beer. I left my I.D at home and I can’t... (Man ignores him and enters the store) Wipe. (He sees a woman heading towards the store.) Ma’am, ma’am, could you possibly pick me up some beer? It’s for my mother, she needs... (The woman ignores him, and the kid turns away frustrated to spot a guy watching him.) Hey dude, are you old enough to buy beer?
(Penn smiles at him.)
(Cut to a cop car pulling up. They have a copy of Angel’s drawing and watch as Penn leads the kid away.)
(Street)
(Penn and the kid walk down a deserted street.)
Kid: Are you sure about this man? I don’t think there is any discount liquor store over here.
Penn: You know you remind me of a brother I once had.
Kid: Yeah, whatever. I think we’re going nowhere here.
Penn: Good point.
(Kid turns around and Penn, in vamp face grabs and bites him, just as a bunch of police cars are closing in from all sides. Penn looks up, blood on his mouth.)
Officer: You! Right there, hold it!
(Penn drops the kid, runs and jumps through the boarded up second story window into a warehouse, while the cop stares in disbelief.)
(Angel’s Car)
Police scanner: All units. Backup requested at 3336 Channel Avenue. Use caution. Multiple homicide suspect believed to be on the location.
(Street – Crime Scene)
(Angel and Wesley arrive)
Officer: (to Kate) Search teams are on their way now. He went in through there. We’ve sealed the exits. The place is big, but we’ll find him.
(The kid is being wheeled away on a stretcher, shaken but alive.)
Kate: (pulls her gun) I’m going in.
(Angel spots a drain pipe on the side of the building and backs up to park the car. He and Wesley get out.)
Angel: Meet you back here.
(He takes a hold of the pipe and scales up it as if it were nothing.)
(Warehouse – Inside)
(Kate is slowly walking up some stairs, enters a big room. She hears footsteps and aims her gun at Penn who is coming down some wooden steps.)
Kate: Don’t move! – Do not move, I will fire!
(Penn keeps walking and she shoots him three times in the chest. He falls to land motionless at the bottom of the stairs. Kate slowly walks over to him, her gun trained on his chest, and reaches down one hand to check for a pulse. When she doesn’t find one she holsters her gun and takes out her radio to report in.
Penn reaches up and grabs her by the front of her shirt.)
Penn: Ouch.
(He throws her across the room. She tries to pick herself up as he slowly saunters towards her. Suddenly a figure drops through the floor above to land between them in a cloud of dust. Angel briefly looks to make sure Kate is all right then turns to face Penn.)
Penn: Angelus? (Laughs) Angelus! (Claps him on the arms) My God! It’s been a life time!
Angel: At least.
Penn: We were to meet in Italy, remember?
Angel: I remember.
Penn: (smiles) Well, I waited. (Kate crawls towards her radio.) Hell, I waited until the 19th century. What happened?
Angel: Got held up in Romania.
Penn: Romania. What’s in Romania?
Angel: Gypsies.
Kate: (quietly into radio) Request assistance. Full tactical units. Second floor, southwest corner.
(Penn claps Angel on the shoulder and motions towards Kate.)
Penn: Hmm. Join me for a drink.
Angel: That’s not why I’m here.
Kate: (into radio) Request assistance, suspect sighted...
Penn: Yeah, why are you here?
(Angel morphs into vamp face as Kate stares in disbelief.)
Angel: To kill you.
(They fight, both in vamp face, and it is one doozy of a fight. Kate scoots back against the wall while they throw each other around, watching speechless. Angel throws Penn through a plaster wall and turns to yell at Kate.)
Angel: Go, Kate! Get out of here! - Kate, go!
(Penn comes shooting back through the hole and tackles Angel. Both roll quickly back to their feet.)
Penn: You know its name? Angelus, what happened to you?
(Angel swings at Penn, but he ducks, grabs Angel’s arm and twists it behind his back.)
Angel: People change.
Penn: We’re not people!
(Penn throws Angel into Kate, who has her gun aimed at them. By the time Angel gets back up, Penn has disappeared. Kate stares up at his vamp face.)
Radio: Lockley. Lockley, where are you?
(Later)
(Angel is back in human face. There are officers combing the warehouse.)
Kate: I shot him three times. I know I did. And he got up. (Angel steps towards her and she pulls her gun and aims it point blank at his chest.) If I pull this trigger, are you going to get up, too? (Angel just looks at her.) What are you?
Angel: You already know the answer, Kate. (She slowly puts her gun down and Angel walks past her.) Details have been left out of the press reports. Something you held back. Isn’t that right?
Kate: What do you know about it?
Angel: Puncture wounds. The victims have all been drained of their blood, haven’t they?
Kate: And should I trust you more, or less because you happen to know that?
Angel: You’re not going to stop him, Kate, not like this.
Kate: What do you mean?
Angel: It’s going to take direct sunlight, decapitation, - or a stake through the heart.
Kate: (turns away) You’re telling me children’s stories.
Angel: I’m telling you the truth.
Kate: (turns back) No. I don’t believe you.
Angel: I know you don’t. Even after what you saw you won’t let yourself, which is why you’ll lose.
Kate: I’ve heard enough.
(Angel closes his fist around the cross dangling from her necklace and she gasps at the sound of his flesh sizzling.)
Angel: No, you haven’t heard a word, and you won’t. Not now, not yet. (She looks down at the smoke rising from his fist.) Because there are some things in this world you’re just not ready to face.
(Angel walks off and she stares after him.)
(Police Station)
(Kate sits in the briefing room, staring at the picture on the wall. An officer brings in some old records.)
Officer: Here is everything with that MO dating back as far as I could find. So, you think this guy is a copy-cat and a history buff?
Kate: Something like that.
(Kate looks at some old newspaper headlines. One of them reads ‘Vampire Killer Strikes Again in Garment District’.)
(Angel Investigations)
(Cordelia gets up from her desk.)
Cordelia: So, you’ve discovered the seamy underbelly of the candy coated America, have you? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Here at Angel Investigations we won’t judge, but we will charge. Now, if you only tell me how you heard of us.
Penn: From the police actually.
Cordelia: Really?
Penn: Yeah. The Detective I spoke with was very enthusiastic. For the truly human touch, she said, (Gets up from his chair) I should come to you.
Cordelia: Oh good. (Frowns as she sees the dark overcoat hanging over the back of his chair.) Is it cold out there?
Penn: I’m trying to remember her name. What – what was it? She is about yea tall, attractive, natural blonde?
Cordelia: Oh yeah, Kate! Detective Lockley.
Penn: Lockley. - Yes, that’s it.
Cordelia: Yeah, she and Angel are totally tight.
Penn: So, she is more than just a professional relationship then. He cares for her.
Cordelia: Oh, yeah. More than he knows. But that’s our Angel, dour, sure, but not afraid to get personally involved in his work. And you’re totally pumping me for information, aren’t you?
Penn: Yeah.
Cordelia: Oh crap. You’re him. He. The guy. Apt pupil boy.
Penn: You realize you’ll never make it to the exit before I...
(Cordelia pulls up the blinds and Penn has to dodge away from the direct sunlight streaming in.)
Cordelia: Go up like a match?
(Angel walks in and sees Penn, but he is separated from him by the swath of sun shining in through the window.)
Penn: Well. (Laughs) Look who’s back from his ‘up with people’ meeting.
Angel: (not looking away from Penn) Give me a stake.
Cordelia: It’s like 8 in the morning. Oh, you mean like (makes a stabbing motion), okay.
(Cordelia leaves to get a stake.)
Penn: What? You don’t drink, so now no one gets to?
Angel: I don’t expect you to understand.
Penn: Oh, I – I understand. I was a Puritan, remember?
Angel: It’s gotta end.
Penn: Why? Because you say so? And how does that work exactly? You just wake up one morning and decide ‘Okay, now I’m good!’ (Laughs) No, Angelus, it doesn’t end. It never, ever ends. It just goes on and on.
Cordelia: (comes back with a stake) That’s not the only thing that goes on and on. (Hands the stake to Angel) Here, dust him.
Angel: I’m sorry for what I did to you, Penn, for what I turned you into.
Penn: First class killer? An artist? A bold re-interpreter of the form?
Angel: Try cheesy hack. Look at you. You’ve been getting back at your father for over 200 years. It’s pathetic and cliched. Probably got a killer shrine on your wall, huh? News clippings, magazine articles, maybe a few candles? Oh, you are so prosaic.
(Penn slowly retreats towards the door when it opens and Wesley walks in not seeing Penn.)
Wesley: Nothing on the streets about a new vampire in town.
(Cordelia tries to warn him, but Penn has already grabbed Wesley from behind. Angel steps forward, but is again stopped by the sunlight streaming in through the window.)
Wesley: (in a choked voice) Which is maybe because he’s here – and has me by the throat.
Angel: Let him go!
Penn: You’re right Angelus, my work was getting stale. I appreciate the critique. So look for something new, innovative, something shockingly original. Just think of the worst possible thing you can imagine, and I’ll see you there.
(Penn throws Wesley at Angel, grabs his coat, covers his head with it and runs out.)
(Bookstore)
(Kate is looking through the shelves.)
(Street – Night)
(Angel walks alone.)
(Penn’s Apartment)
(Penn contemplates his next move.)
(Kate’s Apartment)
(Kate is making notes when there is a knock at the door.)
Angel: Hi. Can I come in?
Kate: Oh, that’s right. You have to be invited in, don’t you?
Angel: You’ve been doing your homework.
Kate: Want to quiz me? I’m just full of fun facts. For instance, I learned that your friend has been in LA before, did you know that? Yeah, at least twice. Once in 1929 and again in 1963. Oh and there is something in Boston in 1908. I think he was there, too.
Angel: So you believe me?
Kate: Yes, I believe you.
Angel: Good, because he is planning something...
Kate: Angelus. Isn’t that what he called you? Angelus? I looked it up. It’s all right there. The demon with the face of an angel. A particularly brutal bastard by all accounts. Oh, and no, you can’t come in.
Angel: I can’t make up for the past, Kate, I know that.
Kate: No you can’t. In fact all of this what’s happening now, is really because of you. You made him, didn’t you?
Angel: (quietly) Let me help end it, please?
Kate: Please. Now there is a word I imagine you heard quite a lot in your time. Please... no... don’t? Thanks for the offer, but I don’t *need* your help. I know what to do. Drive a stake right through the son of a bitch’s heart. And when that happens I suggest you don’t be there. Because the next time we meet I’ll do the same to you.
(She slams the door in his face.)
(Angel Investigations)
(Cordelia is looking stuff up on the computer.)
Cordelia: Ha, here it is! Los Angeles Globe, 1929. ‘The Regent Gardens Hotel manager said, that the suspect seemed like a quiet, normal type. The search is ongoing.’ No kidding. What are we looking for exactly?
Angel: I don’t know yet.
Wesley: (reading from an old newspaper book) In 1963 the police tracked the killer to a residential hotel called the Clover Wood Apartments. By the time they made their move, he’d already fled. (He shows them the picture in the paper.) They never caught him.
(Cordelia looks from the picture on the computer to the picture in the book.)
Cordelia: It’s the same place. New name and a face lift. Not the first time that’s happened in this town.
Angel: Huh, good old predictable Penn.
(Penn’s Apartment)
(Wesley and Angel enter. Wesley jumps in with a stake in his hand while Angel just walks in.)
Wesley: Oh, I invite you in.
Angel: Relax. That’s only for humans. Breaking and entering another vampire’s lair isn’t a problem.
Wesley: Oh. Right.
Angel: (looks around) He’s not here.
Wesley: (sighs) So what then, we wait? Raid the icebox and try to think of the worst possible thing we can imagine?
(Angel picks up some photos of a school bus from the table.)
Angel: Stop imagining.
(Wesley comes over, sees the photos, the bus route traced on a map and a Parker Middle School Fall Bus schedule laying on the table.)
Wesley: Good Lord. All those school children.
Angel: He’s finally changing his act.
(Police Station – Briefing Room)
Kate: All right, listen up. (Holds up a copy of Angel’s drawing of Penn.) You’ve all received one of these in your briefing packets. This is the man that we’re looking for. (Holds up two pictures of Angel taking by the security cameras during Sense and Sensitivity.). And this man is how we’re going to find him. He’s the way to our killer. His name is Angel and he’s a local private detective. We have reason to believe that our suspect will make an attempt to contact Angel, possibly as his next target.
Detective: So we are going to stake out Angel’s place? How many men do you want?
Kate: Lots. We’ll be working in rotating teams...
Penn: This is a terrible likeness of me. (Kate stares as he walks into the room.) Uh, the mouth, it’s all wrong!
(Two detective jump him.)
Kate: No!
(Penn throws the two men across the room as if they were puppets. Kate scrambles to get a stake out of her purse while we see just how much faster a vampire’s reactions are than those of regular people. Penn sweeps through the room easily taking out two cops on his way towards Kate. Kate’s stake drops useless on the floor as he grabs her and leaves the room using her as a shield.)
(Parking Garage)
(Wesley drives Angel’s car into the underground garage of the police station. The place is humming with activity.)
Wesley: We’re in. (Angel throws aside the blanket he was hiding under.) I don’t understand. What about the school children? Shouldn’t we be...
(A cop slaps his hand on the hood of their car.)
Cop: Hold it right there!
(He then waves some police cars on to drive past them.)
Angel: He’s here. (Gets out of the car.)
Police scanner: Dragnet in progress. Suspect is believed to be in the vicinity of the 12th street station. Secure area. Use caution.
(Angel runs in between the police cars to a sewer cover that’s partially open.)
(Sewer Tunnel)
(Penn drags Kate through the sewer tunnels.)
Kate: What are you going to do?
Penn: Well, first I thought I’d stop everything and tell you my plan. Or better yet (throws her against a wall) why don’t I just show you? (Morphs into his vamp face, saunters up to her, grabs her by the neck and sniffs her cheek.) Ah, smell that fear. (Laughs) Makes the blood sweeter. You know who taught me that?
Kate: I’m not afraid to die.
Penn: Oh, I’m not going to kill you. But when I’m finished, Angel will.
Angel: Bus full of school children, Penn? You really thought I was gonna fall for that?
(Kate reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a glass bottle as Penn’s attention is on Angel.)
Penn: Well, you could have.
Angel: Nah, - too original.
(Kate splashes some Holy Water into Penn’s face. He screams and throws her to the side. The left side of his face is a mass of angry red burns.)
Penn: Well, you were right about one thing, Angelus. The last 200 years has been about me sticking it to my father. But I’ve come to realize something – it’s you! (He jumps up and kicks Angel in the stomach.) You made me! (Kicks him in the face, then double fists him a couple of times.) You taught me! (Angel drops to the floor and Penn jumps on his back.) You approved of me in ways my mortal father never did! You are my real father, Angelus.
(Angel gets up, holding Penn up above his head.)
Angel: Fine! (Slams him into the ground.) You’re grounded.
(They fight on (and there are some nifty moves going on) while Kate looks around for a weapon to use. She picks up a broken board, but Penn kicks it out of her hand, then hits her in the face. Before he can do more, Angel pulls him off Kate. They continue fighting, while Kate reclaims her piece of wood. Penn walks up one wall with Angel holding him from behind, flips over Angel’s head and lands behind him, holding him in a double nelson.)
Penn: You forget your own lessons, old teacher: Never give up the advantage, remember? (Angel looks at Kate standing in front of them with a long piece of wood in her hands.) Living among them has made you weak! (Angel keeps looking at Kate, not even trying to break free.) It sickens me to think that there was a time where you would have done whatever was necessary.
(We get a close up of Angel’s face, a close up of the tip of the piece of wood, panning up to Kate’s face, close up of Angel’s eyes, close on Kate’s face, back on Angel’s eyes. Then we see Kate ram the piece of wood through Angel’s stomach and up into Penn’s heart. Angel gasps in pain while Penn turns to dust. Angel gasps and stares at the half of the board still sticking out of his stomach.)
Angel: You missed.
Kate: No I didn’t.
(She grabs the board and pulls it back out and Angel collapses cradling his stomach and gasping from the pain. Kate sinks down to the floor a few feet away from him.)
(Angel Investigations – Roof)
(Angel sits on the roof of their building looking out over the lights of the city. Cordelia walks up to him wearing a wool poncho and leans on the embrasure next to him.)
Cordelia: If your wondering why this vein on my temple is doing the cha-cha, it’s because I just had one of those bone-crunching, mind-splitting vision headaches. (Angel looks at her then back away. Cordelia hands him a piece of paper) New job.
Angel: (takes it) I was just thinking about how much this place is like where I grew up.
Cordelia: (looks out at the city) Right. Yeah. I could see that, except for the cars, and the buildings and the, you know, everything else.
Angel: It’s not so different. People moving through their lives. I wonder if anything ever really changes.
Cordelia: Sure it does. They do. (Looks over at him) You have. They were just dreams, Angel. They weren’t even your dreams. They didn’t mean anything.
Angel: But I enjoyed it.
Cordelia: It’d probably be okay if you never mentioned that part ever again.
Angel: It’s still in me, Cordelia.
Cordelia: Sure it’s in you. We all have *something*. But it’s not the only thing that’s in you. You’re not him, Angel. Not anymore. The name I got in my vision, the message didn’t come for Angelus, it came for you. Angel. And you have to trust that whoever that The Powers That Be be, - are, - is.. anyway, - they know the difference.
Angel: Yeah.
Cordelia: People really *do* change.
Angel: Yes they do. (Gets off the embrasure and stands next to Cordelia) And sometimes they change back. If the day ever comes that I...
Cordelia: Oh, I’ll kill you dead!
Angel: (blinks) Thanks.
Cordelia: (turns to go) What are friends for?
(Angel follows her a half-smile on his face.)
Season One Guide