The Past Is My Present: Windmills
by faith_slayer89
Chapter Five: Windmills
"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless. ...You're cat? Uh, no, sorry...you might want to call the fire department for that. ...Angel Investigations, we help the helpless. ...Garden dug up? ...Well, it might be jumping to conclusions to assume that it's a demon, but I- red stuff? Well, that wouldn't happen to be blood now, would it? ...Oh, it's eating through the floor. Wait, that's from the garden? ...No, from the growling noises in the attic. Okay, someone will definitely come to check things out. If you could just give me your address? ...Uh huh...uh huh...okay, thanks a lot. ...Angel Investigations, we help the helpless." Katherine was on the brink of exhaustion. All day long, calls had been coming in like crazy, and she was the only one left in the hotel after sending everyone out on various cases.
"Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."
"Sounds like you could use some right about now."
"Hi, Angel." She still hadn't gotten used to calling him 'Dad'. She hadn't even called William -Spike- 'Dad', though he had certainly filled the role. "What's with the influx of demonic activity all of a sudden?"
"'Influx of demonic activity'? Have you been researching with Wesley again?"
"Actually, he left like, five minutes ago. Some woman called in about her dog growing several extra heads."
"See, this is why I never had a dog. ...Unless you like dogs?"
Katherine smiled to herself. "Actually, I'm more of a cat person. But the fur. Deathly allergic."
"Great. Gotta remember that. Anyway, I bet I'm tying up the line-"
"Oh, please, carry on. I don't mind."
Angel chuckled. "I bet you don't. I just called to get my next assignment."
Katherine sighed. "Um...hey, you can take the Garden Lady."
"'Garden Lady'? Why am I not liking the sound of this?"
"Some lady called in about demons digging up her garden. Then she decides to mention about the acidic, red stuff that's eating through her floor and growling noises from the attic."
"Oh, great. ...Wait. It's nearly midnight. People are still calling?"
"The phones haven't stopped ringing," she moaned.
"Poor girl. How 'bout I take you out for ice-cream later?"
"Ooh, I love ice-cream! ...Can you eat ice-cream?"
"Yeah. But I can't really savour the taste."
"Well, that sucks. There's this one really great flavour-"
"Cookie dough fudge mint chip?"
"Yeah. How'd you know? Wait, scratch that. I can take a guess. Want me to give you the address?" She asked, avoiding the subject of Buffy that was painful for them both.
"Hold on. ...Okay, shoot."
"Um...okay...it's a house on the corner of Seventh and Broadway...look for the giant pink flamingoes in the yard."
"Pink flamingoes?"
"That's what Garden Lady -uh, Mrs. Averan- said. Giant pink flamingoes."
"These flamingoes real?"
"Hmm. I dunno. That's a good question..."
"Funny. I'm gonna go check out Garden Lady's place. I might not be home till late..er," he added, realizing how late it was already. "Don't wait up."
"Nah, it's cool. I wanna hear about the flamingoes."
Angel laughed. "Bye."
"Bye-bye." As soon as she hung up, the phone rang again. "Damn it! ...Angel Investigations," she chirped brightly, "we help the helpless."
"Cryptic Girl! What's up?"
"You're tying up the line," Katherine replied casually. "And my name's Katherine, remember?"
"Right. So, Cryptic Girl, what're you doing?"
"Scuba-diving."
"There's that wit of yours."
"If you only called to annoy me, congratulations, it's working. But I have a job to do."
"Play receptionist?"
"Bye," she retorted, moving to hang up the phone.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Grey shouted. "I called for a reason."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I've got a case for you. Vampires. The Basement."
"Who's basement?"
"No, The Basement. It's a club."
"And there's vamps there?"
"About a dozen just went in."
"What's the address?"
"It's on Sunset."
"Bit more specific?"
"How 'bout I come pick you up and I'll take you there?"
"How 'bout you not? I'm sending over one of the others. ...Where are you calling from?"
"Cell phone."
"What's your number?"
"555-3768. Why?"
"No reason," she replied easily. "We appreciate your business. Have a nice day."
"It's night."
"Same thing." Katherine hung up and called her father again, but his cell was ringing out. Then she tried Gunn, then Wesley, and then Cordelia, but all of them either had their phones off or were otherwise preoccupied. Sighing, she picked up the phone and dialed Grey's cell number.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"You."
"Me."
"What's wrong? You miss me already?"
"Hardly. I can't reach anyone else, so I'm gonna have to be the one to come."
"Want me to come pick you up?"
"Please."
"No problem. Oh," he added before hanging up, "make sure you dress to blend in."
"Suggestions?"
"Think slutty."
"I don't think so."
"You're call."
"And I say no way."
"I still think-
"Fifteen minutes, meet me outside the Hyperion. You're not there, I'm calling a cab."
"Why don't you just call a cab now?"
Katherine paused. "Fifteen minutes," she repeated, before hanging up. The day before, Cordelia had taken her shopping and had bought her enough clothes for the next ten years. There had to be something club-worthy.
Ten minutes later, Grey parked his BMW on the curb outside the Hyperion. Three minutes after that, Katherine came to meet him.
"You're early."
He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a once-over. "I see you took my advice."
"I look slutty? Really? Maybe I should change." She had opted for a pair of knee-high black boots with low heels, a short black dress with spaghetti-straps that reached to mid-thigh, and her leather jacket. Her hair was down and she wore no make-up, save for some lip balm.
"You look fine. Hot," he added, grinning. "Hey, I made you blush."
"I'm not blushing," she retorted, her face growing warmer. "Here," she continued, handing him several stakes.
"What's this for?"
"You stick them in the vampires, then the vampires go poof," she explained, talking slowly as if he were a child.
"I know that. But I thought you were the one who-"
"Last time I took on vampires by myself, I almost got killed. So, you're going to help me."
"Anyone who says you're pushy has no idea what they're talking about," he muttered sarcastically, opening the passenger door for her.
"Thanks," she replied, getting in. "Nice car, by the way."
Grey slid into the driver's side. "I know," he smirked.
Katherine shook her head. "Just drive."
She could hear the music before she could see the place. Pulsing rhythms accompanied by deafening beats made her temporarily forget the fact that she couldn't dance.
"Let's go stake us some vampires," Grey grinned, eyeing Katherine.
"Look at me like that again, and the next time you flashing that charming smile of yours will be in the hospital," she replied pleasantly, making sure her stakes were in her jacket before jumping out.
"I have a charming smile?"
"Don't push it. Now let's do this and get out of here. I've got a date with some ice-cream."
"Rocky road?" Grey yelled over the blaring of the music.
"Cookie dough fudge mint chip," she yelled back, smiling.
He winked, then looped an arm around her waist and went up to the bouncer. "Hey, Jordan!"
"Grey! What's up, man? Haven't seen you here in a while."
"I've been busy," he replied, pulling Katherine closer to him.
"That your girlfriend?" Jordan asked, eyeing her.
"No," she replied, at the same time Grey said, "Yes."
"Well, if she ain't, can I take her home with me tonight?" Katherine widened her eyes, outraged.
Seeing that she was probably on the verge of decking Jordan, Grey pulled her even tighter, pinning her arms to her sides. "C'mon, sweetheart. Let's go."
"Wait a minute," Jordan began, remembering that he should be doing his job instead of leering at young girls. "How old is she?"
"Why?" Katherine asked coldy.
"It's an over-eighteen club," Grey told her. "She's eighteen," he said to Jordan. "Same as me. Now let us in."
"ID."
"Sorry, I don't have any...on me," she said, shurgging her shoulders helplessly.
"No ID, you don't get in."
"Since when did you get all moral? You were hitting on a minor two minutes ago."
"Though you said she was eighteen."
"She will be in three months." Katherine blinked. "Same thing. Let us in."
"No way. She's underage."
"For God's sake! There are lives at stake! Just let us in! ...Or," she added, realizing something, "how 'bout you just go poof?"
"'Poof'?" Grey echoed. He looked from Katherine to Jordan.
"Slayer," Jordan muttered.
"Why," she began, jamming the stake into the vampire's heart, "does everyone think that?"
"I don't know," he replied, amused, pushing the door open.
Katherine thought a bomb had gone off. The music was ten times louder inside the club than it was on the streets and the lights were dazzling her.
"How'd you know he was a vampire?" Grey yelled.
"How'd you know my birthday's in three months?" She countered.
"I'm psychic."
"Me, too." Shaking his head, he led her across the dance floor to the bar.
"What d'you want?"
"Sprite?"
"Okay. Hey," he called to the bartender, "two Sprites."
Rolling his eyes, the bartender put two cans of Sprite on the table. "Bloody Americans," he muttered.
"Well, he certainly seems anti-social," Katherine remarked, opening the can. She took a swig of the cool, fizzy beverage and eyed the dance floor for vampires.
"Is that one?" Grey asked, pointing to somewhere in the middle of the crowd.
"Where?" She turned in the direction he was indicating, but didn't see anything suspicious.
"Never mind." Katherine shrugged and took another gulp of her soda.
"C'mon," Grey said suddenly, pulling her up and leading her to the dance floor.
"I can't dance," she protested as he put his hands on her hips. "Besides, aren't there supposed to be a bunch of hungry vampires?"
"Think you dusted the one," he murmured into her ear.
"There were no vampires," she said slowly. "You said you saw vampires come into here, then you get to Hyperion in one-third the time it took us to get here. ...Why? And-and how did you even know I was going to be able to take this 'case', that the others were busy?" There was suspicion and hurt in her eyes, with some good old-fashioned anger thrown in for good measure.
"Because," he said quietly, moving around behind her, "I knew I wouldn't get you alone unless you had the chance to kill something. I like you, Katherine," he added, pulling her hair away from her shoulder. He put his arms around her waist and they swayed to the slow, hypnotic music. Katherine didn't know if it was the music or lights, but she began to feel strange. She leaned against Grey and he held her tighter. "I really do like you. A lot. Which is why I'm so sorry." Then she blacked out.
"Odd," Wesley remarked, entering the empty hotel lobby. "I thought for sure-"
"Katherine?"
"Angel?" He asked, looking up at the second floor. Angel stood, leaning on the railing.
"Wes? Sorry, I thought you were Katherine. It's strange. I can't find her."
"Well, have you checked-?"
"She's not outside," Cordelia reported, coming in from the kitchens. "Gunn's still checking some of the back rooms, but, so far? No dice."
"I don't get it," Angel said, frustrated. He thumped down the stairs and kept peering at the door every five seconds. "Where is she? Where could she have gone? She's not in her room, she's not downstairs, she's not anywhere in this goddamn hotel..."
"Angel, calm down," Cordelia said softly. "Maybe she had the munchies, went to grab some donuts or something."
"At two in the morning?"
"Well..."
"When I find her...oh, she is so grounded!"
"She's not in back," Gunn said, joining the group. "But I guess you kinda figured that out, so..."
"Think I solved the mystery," Cordelia piped up, pointing to the notepad on the counter.
"Grey...The Basement..." Angel slammed down the notepad, extremely pissed off. "I don't believe this! I bring her home cookie dough fudge mint chip, and where is she? At a club. With a boy. When did she even get the time to meet a boy?"
Wesley suddenly became interested in the stitching on his jacket, though Angel was too preoccupied to notice.
"I'm going to kill her...well, not literally," he added off everyone's stares. "'Cause with the soul-having and the whole not-murdering-people thing..."
"Angel, why don't you simply call this boy and have her come home?"
"Yeah, yeah, good idea..." Angel grabbed the phone and began to punch dial the numbers with such vigour, it was like he was trying to crush the buttons.
"Let me do it, Sparky," Cordelia sighed, taking the phone from him. "I think you're a little too upset right now. ...Hello? Who is this?"
"Grey Eros. Who's this?"
"I'm Cordelia Chase," she replied in her no-nonsense-Queen-Bitch tone. "Where's Katherine? Tell her to get her ass back to the Hyperion if she -hey! He hung up on me! He hung up on me!" She said to the others, outraged.
"Well, what'd he say?" Angel growled.
"Well, I said, 'Hello, who's this?' And he said, 'Grey Eros, who's this?'" Cordelia replied, deepening her voice to mimic Grey's.
"Eros? I've heard of that name...somewhere..." Wesley wandered into his office at sat down in front of one particularly large tome, flipping the pages in earnest.
"My daughter goes missing, he decides to catch up on his reading," Angel muttered. "Unbelievable." He gripped his stake so hard, it bit into his flesh and blood began to drip onto the floor.
"Um, Angel?"
"What?"
She pointed to the small puddle of his blood. "You might wanna take it easy there."
"Hope he found whatever the hell he was looking for," Angel muttered upon hearing Wesley's shout of victory.
"Angel," he said excitedly, coming out of his office with the book in his hand, "don't you think it a bit odd that Katherine would just run off like that?"
"Well-"
"I believe she was under the influence."
"She was drunk? ...You mean she's been drinking, too?!"
"Angel, for the love of God, shut up and listen! I meant under the influence of magick. I knew the name 'Eros' sounded familiar. When I was looking up the prophecy Katherine told us about, I came across a demon class." He gave Angel the book and pointed out the text. "Eros is actually very widely known, more often as Cupid."
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Wesley pointed to the text again. "'Eros demons possess irresistile love-inducing abilities'," Angel read. "'They often appear as young and handsome to entice young mortals, and are mischievous and fond of romantic intrigues.' So, some demon's got my daughter? Let's go kill every inch of it dead."
"Angel, it's not that simple. Eros demons may be mischievous, yes, but they're a generally peaceful people. And Katherine isn't full human. She does have some vampire blood in her, and an Eros demon would pick up on that."
"Wes, get to the point. In case you didn't notice, I'm getting kind of impatient."
"I think what English is takin' forever here to say is that these demons are workin' for someone," Gunn offered.
Angel didn't need to think about the answer to the unspoken question. "Wolfram and Hart have my daughter?" He vamped out. "Then I'm going to get her back."
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