“Connor,” Emily whispered. “They already smell like food.”
Connor turned to Rosie and Bobby. “Get to the roof! Now!”
“What?” Bobby asked as Rosie grabbed his arm and pulled him away. “How’re we going to get to the roof?”
“We can . . .” Rosie panicked, looking up.
“Connor, hurry,” Emily said.
Connor nodded. He stepped away from Emily and picked up Bobby. “Don’t try to kiss me, now.” He jumped up, crashing through the skylight, and landed on the roof. Connor set Bobby down. “Any cuts?”
“Nothing too bad.”
Connor jumped back into the metal shop and jumped back onto the roof with Rosie. Below, he could hear the door from the hallway into the shop giving way. “Damn.”
“What now?” Rosie asked.
“The zombies. I can hear them. They’re coming out of the school and surrounding the building.”
It wasn’t long before a chorus of moans rose from around the school. Moans and grunting could also be heard in the metal shop below.
“Looks like we’re not jumping off and running then,” Rosie said.
A great howl ripped through the night. Connor looked down to see that Emily had completed her transformation. She began frantically scratching at the wall and slamming against the door. The zombies ceased moaning, as if confused by this turn of events.
Bobby peered through the skylight. “She’s a werewolf? Zombies and werewolves in the same day? This isn’t fair. I mean, I never dropped acid or nothing!”
Without warning, a howling Emily jumped from the room below, landing on the roof.
“Get back,” Connor yelled to Bobby and Rosie, holding out his arms. “Stay behind me! She won’t hurt me.”
Emily howled angrily, then quickly swiped her arm. She slammed Connor in the head, knocking him out of the way. The wolf knew it cared for Connor. It also knew it hadn’t eaten for over twelve hours.
Connor got to his feet. “Em, no!”
Emily howled again and pounced on Rosie. Connor jumped on Emily’s back and pulled her head back, trying to keep her from getting her teeth into Rosie. Suddenly, a burst of yellow light hit Connor hard. It stung like being hit by a handball. His grip on Emily slipped off and Emily lowered her head to bite. Connor looked up, trying to see where the burst of light had come from. Was it Steven Radinsky? How could Connor fight Steven and stop Emily? The second question was answered when Emily yelped and went limp. The first was answered when Willow floated onto the roof.
“Sorry about that light beam. It was the fastest was to find you.”
Connor looked around. “You left Dawn alone with the Yosemite werewolf?”
“No,” Willow said, offended. “She’s down in the car.”
“You left Dawn alone in a car surrounded b zombies?”
“No! Kennedy met up with us.”
“You left Dawn alone with a hot lesbian slayer!”
Willow gritted her teeth. “I am so about to throw you off this roof.”
Connor smiled. “Oh, come on! I was joking. Do we have a way to get them up here or us down to them?”
Willow looked at Bobby and Rosie. “I had a plan to get you to them. It involved you running really, really fast.”
“Good plan.”
Willow pulled out her cell phone.
“Won’t work,” Connor said. “Steven’s blocking it.”
“Steven?” Willow’s face darkened as realization overcame her. “Radinsky.” She shook her head. “Why can’t that kid just leave us alone?”
“He has a legitimate beef,” Connor said.
“Wait a minute,” Willow said. “You said Steven’s blocking cell phone signals. That means he’s got to have some major mojo running. And that means I can find him.”
“Then what?” Connor asked, shuddering slightly.
Willow frowned, knowing what Connor was thinking. “We try to help him.”
“And if he doesn’t want to be helped?”
“He will,” Rosie said desperately. “He’s not a bad person.”
“He just killed an entire town,” Willow said.
“You don’t know him.”
“I know he killed an entire town,” Willow insisted.
“He’s mad with guilt and anger,” Connor said. “It’s driving him to destroy. You know how that feels, Willow. I know you do.”
“And I know you do, too,” Willow said, looking sadly at Connor. “But that doesn’t change our situation.” Willow sat down. “I need you to help me.”
**
“Hello kindred spirit,” Willow said.
Steven jumped and turned with a start. “Who the hell are you?”
“Someone like you.”
“There is no one like me.”
“Sure there are.” Willow looked around the room. She appeared to be in some kind of barn. She began slowly backing out of the room.
“How did you get in here?” Steven asked. “How’d you get past my guards?”
Willow was still looking around. “Um, why don’t we go outside and ask your guards?”
“They’re zombies. They don’t talk.”
Willow looked back to Steven as she finally backed out of the door. “Steven, you have to stop the zombies.”
“What? How do you know my name?”
“I know more than that. I know how to stop your zombies if you don’t. If you don’t stop them, this will end badly.”
“Kill her!” Steven shouted loudly.
Willow looked outside to see a large silo in the background. Two zombies walked right through her and looked around, unsure who their master wanted them to kill.
“You have about fifteen minutes to end this spell before we end it for you.” Willow waved at him and vanished.
On the rooftop, Willow’s eyes shot open and she gasped for breath. Connor quickly tried to help her to her feet, but she pulled away. She wanted to lie down and rest. Astral projection can take a lot out of a witch. Willow had pushed the limit of the spell to get as much information as possible.
“Barn,” she gasped, trying to get out as much info as possible. “Near a silo.”
“Grain or corn?” Rosie asked.
Willow looked at Rosie with an annoyed glare.
“Corn looks like corn. Grain looks like grain. What was in the silo?”
“She was in the barn, not the silo,” Connor cut in. “Willow, what was in the barn?”
Willow was still gasping for breath. “Hay. Two level barn. Tractor with . . .” Willow concentrated. “Wheat.”
Connor turned quickly to Rosie. “I need directions from here to the wheat silo.”
Rosie spat the directions out quickly.
“Connor,” Willow said desperately, barely having caught her breath. “There’s one more thing. If he won’t end the spell, you’ll have to . . . I’m sorry, Connor.”
Connor gritted his teeth. “I understand.”
“You should take Dawn and Kennedy. They’re parked off the highway, so they’re on the way to the barn. They can help.”
Connor nodded. “Okay.”
“But, Connor, if . . . if it’s possible . . .” She didn’t know how to ask what she wanted to ask. But it was okay.
“I understand. If I can help it . . . I’ll make sure Dawn and Kennedy won’t be like us.”
Willow smiled sadly, her teary eyes expressing her gratitude. Connor ran and jumped from the roof.
***
“This is a lot easier with swords,” Connor said happily as he sliced the head of a zombie. Either the scent of fresh meat had gotten into the air or Steven knew where to send his zombies.
“Ain’t it though,” Kennedy answered. “Is that our barn?”
“That it is.”
Dawn followed quietly, occasionally swinging her own sword.
Connor and Kennedy charged the door. Steven appeared in the doorway, smiling. He raised his hand and a white bolt shot from his hand. Connor and Kennedy were more surprised when a blue bolt shot from behind them and destroyed Steven’s white bolt.
Kennedy turned and looked at Dawn. “Buffy told you to stay away from Willow’s books.”
“Buffy tells me not to do a lot of things,” Dawn said.
The zombies began closing in on them. Connor slammed into Steven, knocking him into the barn. Kennedy and Dawn followed quickly.
“Board us in,” Connor shouted. The command was unnecessary. Kennedy and Dawn were already frantically locking them in.
“Stop the zombies,” Connor said.
“Go to hell,” Steven shouted, spitting in Connor’s face.
Connor shoved Steven down and placed the blade of his sword at Steven’s ear. “I grew up in hell. Tell me how to stop the zombies or I’ll start hurting you.”
“You already hurt me! You killed my baby brother!”
“You had as much to do with that as I did! If you hadn’t taught him to summon zombies, all of this could have been avoided.”
The zombies were pounding on the door. “Connor!” Kennedy yelled.
“Stop them,” Connor said.
“Fu-- Aghhh”
Connor quickly sliced off Steven’s ear lobe and held the sword to the warlock’s eye.
A zombies’ fist punched through the door and groped at Dawn and Kennedy. Kennedy quickly hacked its hand off with her sword.
“Dying won’t bring your brother back,” Connor said angrily.
“I hate you!” Steven said. The barn door was smashed in and zombies flooded into the barn.
“And I hate you,” Connor hissed. “I hate you for making me do this.” Connor thrust forward, driving the blade of his sword through Steven’s eye and into his brain. Steven slumped to the floor, dead. The zombies did the same.
Kennedy turned back to see Connor over Steven’s dead body. “Way to go, kid! I knew you could do it.”
Connor didn’t look at her. He dropped his sword and walked out of the barn.
Kennedy frowned. “I compliment him and he gets pissy?”
Dawn gently gripped Kennedy’s shoulder. “It wasn’t a compliment.”
***
Connor and Emily came out of the Treehouse, a restaurant on Stanford’s campus.
“So you can come?” Connor asked. Being back at Stanford was nice. It made his life seem normal again.
“After Christmas, yeah. Of course, my parents don’t know I’m going with a boy.”
“You’ll like Angel. Hopefully you will, anyway. When I first met him . . . well, I tried to kill him. Long story.”
“Before you knew the details, it must have felt like he abandoned you.” For now, Emily was still on the official story of Angel being Connor’s biological father.
“Connor!” Megan called ecstatically as she quickly walked up to Connor and hugged him.
Connor was surprised at first, then smiled and quickly hugged back. “Hey, Megs,” Connor smiled, happy to see a familiar face from a simpler time in his life. He laughed internally. The idea that his freshman year in college being a simpler time was amusing. Tracy’s “Let’s see other people” and the will-they-or-won’t-they hook up dance between him and Megan had made life excruciatingly complicated at the time. Now, Connor longed for the relative simplicity of those days.
Megan was a tall, thin, and very attractive sprinter on the track team. Her dirty blonde hair had been long when Connor dated her the previous year, but it was cut short now. Still, she looked gorgeous. Emily’s glare showed the younger girl was clearly jealous.
“Megan, this is my girlfriend Emily,” Connor said, picking up on the jealous vibe. “Em, this is Megan Coleman. She’s on the girl’s track team.”
“And you used to date,” Emily added.
“Yeah,” Megan said, a look of slight adoration on her face. “But now he’s moved on to nicer and cuter girls. Better be careful, Con. Some one might try to steal her away.”
Connor smiled. “Speaking of which, how’re things going with you?”
“Slowly,” Megan answered, understanding what Connor was really asking. “But they’re going.”
“That’s good. Let me know if you need to talk or anything.”
Megan suppressed a laugh. Connor and Megan usually spoke at least once a week. But Megan too felt Emily’s jealous vibe and figured it better to play along. “Thanks. I’m off to a final. The three of us should get together some time after the break.”
“Sounds great,” Connor said, wrapping his arms around Emily from behind. “I’ll call you.”
As Megan walked off, Emily turned and looked at Connor, her jaw dropping. “She looks like a model.”
“Yeah, she does!” Connor said as if noticing for the first time. “Man! Why did I break up with her?”
“Not funny!”
“It’s a little funny,” Connor laughed, walking forward, still with his arms wrapped around Emily from behind. “Didn’t you see how I mentioned you were my girlfriend?” Connor kissed the back of Emily’s head. “Don’t act jealous. Everyone knows you’re my girl.”
“No, you’re my boy.”
“That too.”
****
“I can tell something’s wrong,” Dawn said. “So don’t tell me it’s nothing.”
“But it is nothing,” Emily said. “And it’s really stupid.”
“Then tell me about it.”
“Connor has this ex-girlfriend Megan. And she’s on the track team. The two of them talk on the phone and hang out and . . . I don’t know . . .”
Dawn nodded sympathetically. “Sounds like one of them took the let’s-just-be-friends line a little too seriously.”
“Exactly! I don’t know why I’m so jealous. I mean, I’m the one spending New Year’s in New York with him and his father.”
“So you’re going?” Dawn seemed to be nearing a state where she could be happy for Connor and Emily. “You said this girl’s name is Megan and she’s on the track team?”
“Yeah. And you should see her. She should be on the cover of a magazine or something.”
“Cuz you’re such a dog,” Dawn said sarcastically. “Look, after you and Connor leave, I can go be spy girl. I have experience in such matters.”
Emily laughed at Dawn’s joking tone. “No, it’s okay.”
“It’s no problem. Honestly, I want to try to figure out why all these hot chicks have such a crush on him. I mean, he’s kind of cute, but come on.”
*****
The next day, Dawn “bumped into” Megan Coleman outside one of the runner’s finals. “Whoa,” Dawn said louder than she intended.”
“Pardon?” Megan asked, looking at Dawn awkwardly. For the way Dawn was looking at her, Megan felt she should know the girl. But she was drawing a complete blank. Thus the awkwardness.
“Sorry. I heard you were gorgeous, but . . .”
“Um, thanks?” Megan pushed her short hair back. It was a nervous habit she developed when she had long hair that surfaced whenever she felt awkward. “Um . . . you heard I was gorgeous?”
Dawn immediately blushed. “Yeah, sorry. I’m a friend of, um, Connor Reilly.”
“”Oh, wow,” Megan said nervously pushing her hair back again. “Connor. Yeah.” She was smiling knowingly. The mention of Connor’s name seemed to make her glow. Although Megan still seemed uncomfortable, Dawn felt as if Megan were now uncomfortable for some different reason. “So, Connor thinks I’m gorgeous?”
“Yeah. It’s really cool how you two are still friends after um . . . well you dated, right? And you’re still friends. That’s cool.”
“Well, Connor’s cool. Shouldn’t surprise you that he does cool stuff.” Megan and Dawn stared at each other nervously, each waiting for the other to speak. “So, um . . . you want to get together and hang out some time?” Megan finally asked in a blurt, as if she were afraid to ask. “I’m leaving for the winter break today, but I get back in town right after Christmas. The campus will be dead. It’d be cool to have someone to hang with.”
Dawn was slightly taken aback. Still, Dawn was intrigued by the idea of getting the inside scoop on her roommate’s boyfriend and her own crush. Still, the crush was waning now. The last thing Dawn needed was more fuel for her own personal torch.
Megan could see the hesitance in Dawn’s eye. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be intrusive or forward or anything.”
“No, no. It’s cool. I actually live in the area, so . . . so, yeah. We could hang out.”
“Have you ever been to the Stanford Theater? It’s an old fashioned movie theater that shows films from the thirties, complete with organist, balcony, and cheap popcorn.”
“I didn’t know runners could eat popcorn.”
“Only after the season ends,” Megan laughed.
******
Christmas break passed in a blur and soon the Reilly’s were taking Connor to SFO. Connor had thought of making up a lie about who he was visiting. His father would’ve been fooled, but his mother had a sixth sense, that lit up whenever her son fibbed. Connor had, of course, omitted the fact that Emily was coming.
“So . . . I was thinking,” Laurence said as he took Connor’s bags out of the trunk. “Angel should come and visit some time. I know it’d be awkward, at least at first but . . . well, he’s a part of your life. That makes him part of our life.”
Connor smiled and nodded. “Maybe he could come up for part of Spring Break.”
“You mean you’re not running off to spend Spring Break with your girlfriend as well?” Colleen asked.
“Does that sixth sense of yours miss anything I lie about?” Connor asked.
“Of course. Luckily I’ve got that seventh sense, too.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Laurence said. “Emily’s going to be there? I’m not sure how I feel about you spending a week’s vacation with a girl your mother and I haven’t even met.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake Laurence,” Colleen laughed. “They go to college together. For all you know, they already have a kid together.”
Laurence went pale. “You don’t, do you?”
“Of course not,” Colleen said. “The seventh sense would’ve picked that up for sure.”
Connor left his perfectly happy family on a Jet Blue flight to New York. As he got closer to his biological father, his mind strayed from his happy home life and reflected on the Radinsky’s. He wondered about their parents. Then he wondered about the parents of the girl he kidnapped for Cordelia. He opened his very worn copy of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. It had been his favorite book throughout his fake life, but only now could he actually feel the madness and guilt that tortured Raskolnikov.
Briefly after the plane landed, Connor and Angel found themselves staring at each other uncomfortably. Eventually, they gave each other a quick yet awkward hug and grabbed his bags.
“Emily’s flight arrives in an hour,” Angel said as they sat in the vampire’s black Mustang convertible. “I figured we’d wait, then get some dinner. Nina has a late shift, but she’ll catch up with us.”
“Okay,” Connor said.
A moment of silence passed. “So, son--”
“Let me guess. Willow called you.”
“She was worried about you.”
“And she told you what happened in Del Rey,” Connor said matter-of-factly. Del Rey was the town outside Fresno where Connor had encountered Steve Radinsky for the last time.
“Yes. She told me what happened.”
Connor was looking down at his hands. He noticed how the crucifix necklace he wore caused a bump in his shirt. “I always wear this. Sometimes I wear it because my parents raised me Catholic. Other items, because of vampires.”
“Both good reasons.”
“But it’s never both at the same time. At any given moment, it’s one or the other.” Connor looked out the window at the sky. Lights passed quickly as planes took off and landed. “I had a Fluid Mechanics last week. The day after I killed one of my classmates. Wednesday night, kill a guy. Thursday morning, take a final. The next night, chain up my girlfriend and watch her become a wolf. The morning after that . . . I forget. I think I took her to Hobee’s for breakfast.”
“Is that what you want?”
“No. I want to be a normal kid. Play foosball. Buy beer with a fake ID. Date a werewolf. You know, normal stuff.”
Angel and Connor laughed. The vampire set a hand on his son’s shoulder. “It’s good to know you can still do that.”
“It’s good to know you can still do that.” Connor looked away again. “Do you think . . . if god exists . . . do you think he’ll ever forgive us for the things we’ve done.”
Angel had so many things he wanted to say, but all of them were just to skirt the real issue. Connor had made the right choice by killing Todd at Stanford and Steven in Del Rey. But Connor wasn’t only thinking of them. There was the girl in the warehouse, the people in the sporting goods store, and dozens killed by Jasmine.
But before Jasmine, Connor had been a warrior for good. He’d been a champion that protected the innocent on the streets of L.A. while Angel was dealing with personal issues. The wrong personal issues. Angel had abandoned Connor to a world the boy didn’t understand. In the end, Angel felt that Connor’s crimes were his crimes. A few dozen more lives tacked on to Angelus’ tab.
“I don’t know,” Angel answered. “I know you deserve to be forgiven. But I don’t know if you ever will be.”
*******
The Stanford Theater had shown a Hitchcock double feature. When the films were over, Dawn and Megan got ice cream from Swenson’s and checked out book the used book store on Emerson. The building was an old one with two stories of books accessible by a ladder. It looked like the wand store in the first Harry Potter film. There, they’d compared notes on favorite films, books, and music.
When the store closed, Megan and Dawn headed back toward campus. They were discussing their mutual acquaintance.
“I’m from Nebraska,” Megan explained. “So my parents . . . I don’t know. They love me, but they’re really old fashioned. Connor was kind of my support network when there was static with them.”
“I know how that is. My sister and I are always arguing, but her friend Willow is always helping to sort out the differences. During most of my breaks, I live with Willow and her partner, Kennedy.”
“That’s so cool. No wonder you’re so . . . cool. I really need a different adjective there.”
“No,” Dawn laughed. “Cool is good. I like cool.”
“But I have others.” Megan smiled. “You know, I was nervous about this at first. And I kind of resented Connor for pushing me. But I’m really glad he set us up.”
“Yeah. It was . . . what? Wait, what? I mean . . . you don’t mean . . . set up like set up?”
Megan looked at Dawn nervously. “Well, no, I mean. Not necessarily set up. I mean, we could just be like a support network. For each other. He always said I should go to the LGBSU, but I don’t know if I’m ready to come out to that many people. But with one, it’s just easier, you know?”
Megan stared at Dawn who in turn stared blankly at Megan. “You don’t know, do you? Because you’re . . . you’re not gay.”
Dawn gulped. “Well, uh, no. But you know, you’re still . . . like if I were gay, I would so totally date you. Or at least hook up. And, you know, I know why Connor must’ve thought I was gay. So, like, don’t be angry with him. Be angry with me because I’m so clueless.”
And a liar Dawn added silently to herself. She could see Megan was freaked. “Look, just . . . just, do me two favors. First, don’t tell Connor about this. And . . . and second . . . come over to Willow’s place for dinner some time.”
Megan looked at her oddly.
Dawn smiled. “Coming out to two people can’t be much harder than coming out to one. And they’ve been through this. Willow came out to all her friends in college and Kennedy’s from a pretty conservative family. Maybe they can help.”
********
“He’s coming back, right?” Erin asked.
“Of course he is,” Laurence said.
Colleen gave a derisive snort.
“What was that?” Laurence asked.
“Nothing. Erin, weren’t you going to Barbara’s to sleep over?”
“No. But if you need the house to yourself for . . . he-hem . . . personal reasons--”
Laurence winced. “I was hoping you’d make it a couple more years before the bad influence of your mother and brother had you making dirty jokes.”
“Kids,” Erin said sarcastically. “You think you can protect them. But you can’t.”
Colleen made another derisive snort.
“I think I need to fix that kitchen chair I have in the garage,” Laurence said, heading for the garage.
“I think I’ll help,” Colleen added, following Laurence.
“I know you’re going out there to argue,” Erin said.
“Yeah, but we still don’t want you hearing,” Colleen said.
“And the sound of the saw should take care of that,” Laurence added.
Erin rolled her eyed. “Only you two would think it’s a good idea to turn on a power saw before starting and argument.”
“Okay, Colleen, what’s with the noises?” Laurence said once they were alone.
“I can’t believe we let him go there.”
“He has to grow up some time. And when that happens--”
“Connor’s going to move away from us, yes. And I can accept that. What I can’t accept is that Connor moving away from us means moving toward him.”
Laurence sat on the aforementioned broken kitchen chair. It had been fixed for at least a month. “Coll, we always knew this day would come. We knew Connor would find out he was adopted and become curious about his biological parents.”
“That, I knew. What I didn’t know was that his biological father would be a superhero trying to pull my son into his very dangerous family business.”
“Connor is very special. He has special abilities.”
“He’s special without those abilities!” Colleen yelled. “He’s brilliant and sweet and funny and kind! That is what makes him special!”
“To us. But not to the world.”
“You actually want your son putting his life in danger?”
“No. But I understand that we raised a son who helps people in trouble when he can. And I’m sorry, Colleen, if I can’t help but be a little proud of that. It scares me. And I hate what it means that he can't walk away from people in trouble. But at the same time, I'm proud of it.”
“I . . . I guess I am, too,” Colleen said grudgingly. “But I still wish it didn’t have to be Connor.”
*********
Connor sat in a huge leather chair by the fireplace. Emily sat on his lap perpendicular to him and they were talking quietly to each other. Ever since her arrival in New York, Connor had been a different person. No longer morose and loathing himself, Connor became outgoing and happy.
“They look happy together,” Nina said lying next to Angel on the couch.
Angel looked at his son. “Yeah.” After so much trouble, it was nice to see his son happy. Angel smiled, feeling happy himself. “They look happy.”
Angel leaned back and sighed contently. He closed his eyes and began drifting off to sleep, thinking of his son and the bright future the boy would have, possibly even with Emily. Suddenly, he let out a loud shout of pain.
“Angel?” Nina said in an alarmed voice.
It took Connor a moment to realize what was going on. He quickly but gently set Emily on her feet and stood. “Nina, get away from him,” he said urgently.
Nina looked confused. “Connor, what’s . . .” She looked at Angel and quickly moved behind Connor.
“Smart boy,” Angelus said, looking up at Connor. “Smart boy.”
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