Written by: Tim Minear
Directed by: Winrich Kolbe

Cast: David Boreanaz as Angel, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce.

Guest Stars: Elisabeth Rohm as Detective Kate Lockley, Jeremy Renner as Penn.

Original Air Date: January 18, 2000

It’s a dark LA night and a young girl is running away from something terrifying her. She rounds a corner and runs right into a man. He grabs her and lays a metal tipped finger against her lips. Then he draws a mark on her cheek, bites and drains her. She falls to the ground as police sirens sound off in the background. The vampire looks up and it turns out to be Angel. He morphs back into his human face and starts gasping for air. The camera pans out and we see him sitting in his bed.

Meanwhile, Kate arrives at the scene of a crime. She looks over at the victim and it’s the girl from Angel’s dream. Kate sees the bite marks on her neck and the cross on her left cheek and tells the other officer it’s the same guy and this makes three so far. “He’s just getting started,” she says.

The next day, Cordy sits in the office and talks to herself. Wesley comes in, carrying the mail, and says he thought they could compare battle plans. He says everything’s been quiet for him and Cordy says it’s been the same for them. Cordy occupies herself by looking through the mail he brought in and Wesley tells her he thought they made a most effective team. She says she’s happy that she didn’t get her eyes poked out and hands the mail back to Wesley. “This isn’t our mail,” she says and Wesley says he should return it to its proper owner. He leaves and Angel comes walking out of the elevator. Cordy says he looks half-dead, which is neat for someone who’s completely dead. Angel pours himself a cup of coffee and then walks over to her desk, and asks her for the license plate information. Apparently she was supposed to run a check on it, but she thought he could have Kate do it instead. He says he’ll take care of it now. He’s being unusually snippy with Cordy so she asks if he’s okay. He gets irritated with her and says he’s fine just as he steps out the door and into a patch of sunlight. He jerks back in pain, turns back into the office and says he’ll take the tunnels. Cordy gets up and shuts the door, but she doesn’t see Wesley lurking in the foyer. He looks at the closed door and then sneaks to the exit.

At the police station, Angel convinces Kate to look into the license plate number for him. She tells him she’ll have it for him in the morning, but he says late afternoon – evening would be better. She says she’ll be glad to get her head out of this case, even for a minute and she tells Angel a bit about it. She says the tabloids are calling the guy “the pope” and he probably thinks he’s doing God’s work. Angel says it’s just the opposite – at least that’s his guess. A detective comes over and tells Kate they’re ready to start the briefing now and she turn to tell Angel goodbye, but he’s already gone.

In the briefing, Kate says, “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, (flash to Angel walking down a crowded street at night) but at his core he is a loner. Possibly a dual-personality and once the crime has been committed, he retains no memory of the act. (Flash back to Kate) He will not view his victims as sub-human, rather it’s himself that he views as something other than human, more than human, a superior species. (Flash back to Angel) Stalking his prey, getting to know them. (Flash 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. (Flash to Angel. He sees a blonde talking to some friends. She has 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 - 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, (Flash back to Kate) and he will do it again.”

Back at AI, Cordy is getting ready to leave the office. She opens the door and Wesley is standing there. “Hover much,” she asks and he asks her where Angel is. Cordy says he isn’t there and then she notices the stake in Wesley’s hand. She asks why he has it and he shows her a newspaper clipping. “Third body found in the alley,” she reads and says it isn’t exactly front-page news. Wesley takes the clipping back and tells her she’d better sit down. He explains to her that while he was executing his duties as Watcher in Sunnydale, he did extensive research on Angel because he was close to Buffy. He says the story in the newspaper was chillingly familiar to him because Angelus used to “sign” his victims by carving a Christian cross in their left cheek. Cordy flips through the folder and then hands it back to Wesley. She says he has to leave now because she isn’t going to let him come in there and accuse Angel like this. She says he’s her friend and nothing he, or anyone else, can say will make her turn on him. Angel walks in and says, “Cordelia, he’s right.” She looks over at Wesley and says, “You’ll stake him and I’ll cut his head off.” Angel walks toward them and Wesley pulls out a cross. He tells them he won’t hurt them, but Wesley wants to know what assurances they have of that. Angel laughs, grabs his arm and spins him around to grab his neck. “Because this is how fast I could grab you if I wanted to,” he says. Wesley says okay, they’re listening and Angel starts telling them about his dreams. “Killing dreams - always the same. 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.” Cordy says he’s just having nightmares but Angel says they aren’t because he enjoyed them. Wesley thinks he may be sleepwalking, but there is only one way to be sure.

That night, Wesley and Cordy shackle Angel to his bed. Wesley is going to watch over him while he sleeps to make sure he doesn’t do any sleepwalking, so Cordy heads home. In his sleep, Angel dreams of a girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes. It’s dark outside and she’s running down a cobbled street. She runs up to a door and knocks but a guy grabs her from behind and lays a metal tipped finger on her lips. He marks her check with the cross and then feeds off her. She falls to the ground. “There now, isn’t that better,” he asks her lifeless body. Angel wakes up gasping just as Cordy comes in carrying a newspaper. Wesley says it looks like they made it and Cordy says since there was another killing last night, that means Angel wasn’t the one doing it. Wesley bends down to remove his shackles, but stops when Angel says, “Yes I did.”

(Flashback to girl lying on the ground. Angelus looks down and says, “There now, isn’t that better?” Another vampire stands up and says it’s much better. Angelus congratulates him on his first kill and the other vamp smiles at him and says it’s strange because she was his sister. “And yet you feel nothing,” Angelus says, but the vamp replies that he feels hungry. Angelus says he learns very quickly and the vamp says his father would disagree. Angelus then tells him it might be time to show his father what a fine student he really is. He says yes, they’ll all be sitting down to dinner about now. “A feast. Excellent. When they invite you in, savor it, Penn. You’ll not recapture the moment. Family blood is always the sweetest.”)

Back in the present day, we see Penn looking at the latest newspaper article. He takes the clip and adds it to the others on the wall.

In his apartment, Angel tells Cordy and Wes about Penn. Wesley thinks Penn probably has his form down well after 200 years of practice. Cordy wonders why he would still be doing the same old routine after all these years, but Angel doesn’t know. Wesley asks if he thinks he’s trying to draw him out, but Angel says he doesn’t think so. He used to have a connection with those he sired and this just means he’s close. He says he has to go tell Kate what she’s dealing with because she’s a good cop and eventually she’ll find him. Cordy says that’s bad for her then. “Or good for us,” Angel replies.

Arriving at the police station, Angel asks Kate if they can talk in private. They go into the briefing room and he asks her how the investigation is going. “Nowhere,” she replies as she dangles with the cross on her necklace. Angel looks at the pictures lying there and realizes Penn is reliving the death of his family. He asks Kate if she trusts him and then pins a drawing of a face on the board. Kate says she does and Angel tells her this is the man she’s looking for and who his next victim will be. He heads back out into the garage where Wesley is waiting in the car and hands him a police scanner. Wesley asks him where it came from and Angel tells him a police car. “Oh dear,” Wesley says.

In the meantime, Kate briefs the other officers and tells them that anything matching the profile gets reported. A while later, a cop car pulls up outside a liquor store and watch as a man fitting the description walks away with a boy. They’re on a deserted street when Penn vamps out and bites him. Police cars come in from every side and Penn looks up with blood on his mouth. The cops tell him to hold it right there, but he drops the kid and goes into a warehouse. An officer tells Kate the search teams are on their way now and the boy gets taken to the hospital. Angel and Wesley, having heard what was happening on the scanner, arrive on the scene and Angel sneaks into the building.

Inside, Kate finds Penn and shoots him three times. She goes over and feels for a pulse but finds none. Thinking he’s dead, she puts her gun away and takes out her radio to call it in. Penn reaches up and grabs her then throws her across the room. She tries to get up as Penn comes toward her, but someone drops through the ceiling and lands in between them. It’s Angel. He looks over at Kate and then back at Penn. Penn, thinking he’s Angelus, is genuinely glad to see him and says it’s been a lifetime since they’ve seen each other. He mentions a meeting they were supposed to have in Italy and wonders why he never showed up. Angel says he got held up in Romania. “Romania? What’s in Romania,” he asks. “Gypsies,” Angel replies. Kate sneaks over to her radio and calls for assistance. Penn invites Angel to join him for a drink but Angel says that’s not why he’s here. He vamps out and says he’s there to kill him. Kate sits and stares in disbelief as she watches the two vamps fight. Penn grabs Angel’s arm and throws him into Kate. He’s gone by the time Angel gets up. Someone is trying to reach Kate on her radio but all she can do is stare at Angel’s face.

A little later, Angel is back in his human face and officers are searching for Penn in the warehouse. Kate says she shot him three times and he got up. As Angel walks toward her, she aims her gun at his chest and asks if she pulls the trigger, will he get up too? Then she asks him what he is and he says she already knows the answer. She puts the gun down and Angel walks past her saying there is more to the story than what has appeared in the press reports. She asks him what he knows about it and he says there were puncture wounds and all of the victims have been drained of their blood. Kate isn’t sure if she should trust him more or less for knowing that information. Angel says she can’t stop him like this. He says she’ll need direct sunlight, decapitation or a stake through the heart. Kate accuses him of telling her children’s stories, but Angel tells her it’s the truth. She still doesn’t believe him so Angel steps up and closes his fist around the cross on her necklace. She gasps as his skin begins to sizzle and smoke starts to filter through. He tells her she hasn’t heard a word he’s saying because there are some things in this world she isn’t ready to face. She stares after him as he walks away.

At the office, Cordy is unaware the man she’s talking to is Penn. He asks her about Angel’s relationship with Kate and Cordy says he cares for her more than he knows. Then she realizes who he is and starts to move away. He says she’ll never make it to the exit, but she pulls the blinds up and he moves out of the way. Angel comes in and sees Penn, but the sunlight is beaming between them. He tells Cordy to get him a stake and then tells Penn this has to end. Angel apologizes to him for what he turned him into and Penn starts backing toward the door. It opens and Wesley walks in. Penn grabs him, thanks Angelus for the critique on his work and heads out the door with a coat over his head.

At her apartment, Kate is taking notes from a book she’s reading, but a knock on the door interrupts her. She opens the door to find Angel in the hallway. He asks if she comes in, but she won’t invite him. She’s been doing her homework and rattles off some dates when Penn had been in LA before. Angel asks her if she believes him now and she says she does. He tells her that’s good because Penn is planning something else. “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,” she says. Angel tells her he knows he can’t make up for the past and she tells him what’s happening now is because of him. He quietly asks her to let him help end it, but she taunts him and says she doesn’t need his help. She says she’ll drive a stake through Penn’s heart and the next time they meet, she’ll do the same to him.

In the meantime, Angel heads back to the office and he, Cordy and Wesley do a little research and they discover where Penn is staying. Wesley and Angel go to his hotel room, but he isn’t there. Angel finds some pictures of a school bus and a map with the bus route traced on it. Angel says it looks like he’s finally changing his act.

At the police station, Kate gives the officers another briefing, only this time she adds Angel to the mix. She thinks he may be Penn’s next target, but Penn surprises her by walking into the room and taking her out. Angel and Wesley arrive in the station garage and Angel avoids the cops by jumping down into a sewer tunnel, where he finds Kate and Penn. Penn starts talking to Angel and Kate takes the opportunity to splash Holy Water on his face. He screams and releases her. He tells Angel he was right – he has spent the last 200 years trying to stick it to his father, but he’s come to realize that he is his father. He made him and approved of him in ways his mortal father never did. “You are my real father Angelus,” Penn says. Angel grabs him and holds him above his head and says, “Fine,” as he slams him to the ground. “You’re grounded.” They fight and Penn grabs Angel from behind. Angel looks up to see Kate standing in front of them with a long piece of wood in her hands. He stops struggling to get free and then Kate rams the piece of wood through Angel’s stomach and into Penn’s heart. Penn turns to dust and Angel looks down at the wood sticking out of his stomach and tells Kate she missed. She reaches over and pulls the board out of him and says she didn’t. Angel falls to the floor in pain and Kate sinks down to the floor across from him.

That night, Angel sits on the roof of the building and looks out over the lights of LA. Cordy walks up beside him and hands him a piece of paper with the notes from the vision she just had. Angel takes it and tells her how much LA reminds him of the place where he grew up. Cordy says she could see that if it weren’t for the cars, the buildings and everything else. Angel says it isn’t so different – people are just moving through their lives. He wonders if anything ever really changes. Cordy says they do – he has. He says it’s still in him though and she agrees. “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 TPTB know the difference.” Angel hops down and stands next to her. “If the day ever comes that I…” Cordy tells him she’ll kill him dead. He thanks her, they go to leave and she says, “What are friends for?”