Alexander

“Where are we and why are we here?” Alex asked as he followed Angel, Wesley and Gunn into a dingy little apartment.

Spike and Xander had gone to Sunnydale after a call from Giles had asked for help… apparently Willow had managed to raise Buffy from the dead, and the Slayer needed help for a while before she got back to normal. So Spike and Xander had gone to Sunnydale, leaving Alex and Angel in LA

“That,” Wesley said, pointing to a sort of yellow goo that was smeared on the wall, “is what is left of Merl, a demon who would provide us with information form time to time.”

“So why are Gunn and I here?” Alex asked, looking around for someone to sit that wasn’t disgusting.

“Merl was harmless… if someone is killing harmless demons then it’s only a bit away from killing the good ones.” Angel explained.

“Like you and Spike?” Gunn asked, looking around the room.

“But why am I here?” Alex sighed.

“I’m guessing it’s because Xander and Spike are gone and Angel dons’t want to leave you alone.” Gunn smirked and Alex blushed before turning away to start helping Wesley.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After a few hours Angel Investigations had created a list of people (and demons) who would have wanted Merl dead… and then they had quickly found out that the demons on the list were being killed off in an extremely brutal fashion.

Meanwhile Alex had noticed that something wasn’t quite right with Gunn, and was trying to figure out what had happened to the young man… which had lead to uninteresting conversation.

“These guys… they were demons.” Gun had stated, gesturing to the list which was growing shorter and shorter. “Why are we so worried?”

“Gunn…” Alex sighed, leaning back in his chair. “It’s not always as simple as going out and slaying the big, bad ugly. There are shades of gray… and if someone does go around taking down the truly, irredeemably evil, then I’m all for that.” Alex stood and grabbed the list, point to several names. “These three would be called evil. But the seven other ones aren’t! Most of them are like Merl, petty crimes but no danger.” Alex frowned. “A few are fully assimilated, no history of violence, no threat to anyone!”

“So what are you saying?” Gunn asked the young man.

“Whoever or whatever is responsible for these attacks isn’t making any distinctions. It’s just killing any demon it comes across.”

Angel walked into the room, looking extremely angry. “It happened again.” he announced.

“When?” Alex asked, sitting up straighter in his chair.

“Late last night.” Angel replied, sitting down next to Alex and drawing the mortal into his arms in a gentle hug that seemed to be more for Angel’s benefit then for Alex’s. “A Yarbnie was eviscerated in the sewers.”

Alex gasped in denial as Gunn’s brow twisted in confusion. “What’s a Yarbie?”

“Yarbnie.” Alex corrected. “It’s a balancing entity. They tend to next in urban areas under roadways. They’re a little… well odd looking, but they’re utterly non-violent… in fact they often help the Powers that Be, like we do.”

Gunn went pale as he looked over the pieces of evidence that Wesley and Angel had collected. “I’ve seen this before.” He whispered, pointing to an arrow head. “I used to have a crossbow that’s arrows were like this… my old gang’s using it now.”

“You think they could have done this?”

“There’s a new guy named Gino, from Florida.” Gunn sighed and stood up. “Let me talk to them, before we do anything…”

Angel nodded and Gunn walked out of the hotel, heading towards the seedier section of town. Angel held Alex closer to him, nuzzling at the nape of the mortal’s neck. “Wesley thinks these crimes were random… but I’m starting to think otherwise.” Angel told his young mate.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, leaning back in Angel’s arms.

“I know the pattern…the seeming randomness of it, the chaos.” Angel sighed. “There’s a larger purpose behind every move.”

“What sort of purpose?” Alex asked, turning slightly so he could look at the dark haired vampire.

“To have fun.” Angel whispered, before leaning forward to gently kiss. “I used to do it…when I was Angelus.”

“You’ve repented, you’re not that man anymore.” Alex replied, before standing and pulling Angel along with him. “Come on, let’s go to Caritas, maybe Lorne can help us out.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel, Alex, Wesley, Gunn and Fred had ended up going to Caritas and simply enjoying the variety of demons. They were watching as Fred sang, to the enjoyment of the demons in the bar.

Fred was in the middle of singing when the door to the club burst open, and several men with machine guns ran down the stairs and opened fire on the demon clientele.

Gunn and Loren practically dove behind the bar as Angel helped Alex and Fred take cover behind some tables, Wesley doing the same not too far away.

“I thought violence was impossible in here!” Fred whimpered as Alex and Fred cowered next to Angel.

“Those aren’t demons.” Angel replied. “They’re humans.”

At that moment the men forced Gunn to come out, all the while keeping their guns pointed at the man.

“G-man?” One of the men asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Come on!” the “leader” who had a sawed off shotgun laughed. “Tell him! Tell him how you’ve been here for months tossing back drinks with your demon buddies!” Gunn stayed silent as his old gang stared at him. “His best friend’s a vampire!”

“Least I don’t kill people for fun.” Angel growled, standing up so that the gang could see him.

“See, even vamps like karaoke!” Gio laughed and hummed a little bit from “Wind Beneath My Wings” as he moved closer to Angel. No one had noticed Fred and Alex, and Angel was planning on keeping it that way.

“Miami.” Lorne suddenly said, crossing his arms.

“Did you say something to me green boy?” Gio sneered, turning to look at the Host.

“It was three thousand miles really far enough, I wonder?” Lorne asked, leaning forward slightly. “I know why you left.”

Lorne tensed slightly as two men cocked their guns at him, but were stopped by Gio.

“Why you ran… You couldn’t stay there, could you?” Lorne glared at Gio. “After what you did… she trusted you.”

“Shut up.” Gio whispered, glaring at Lorne.

“Right up until the end she trusted you…did you know that?” Lorne asked.

In seconds Gio was across the room and had hit Lorne hard enough to draw blood. Lorne kept staring at Gio, a smile on his face as Gio backed up a step.

“Looks like there’s a lot of different monsters in this room.” Gunn replied, earning him a glare from Gio.

“Here.” Gio said, holding out a stake for Gunn to take. “Prove to everyone here that…” Gio glared at Angel. “That thing ain’t no friend to you.”

“This is madness.” Wesley shouted. “Angel has a soul!”

“He’s a vampire.” Gio replied.

“With a soul!” Wesley repeated, looking over at Gunn.

“And that makes him the same as us?” Gio laughed.

“No. Better.” Wesley spat out. “Better then you, anyway. When he did his pleasure killing he had no soul… you can make no such claim.”

“Here, Charles…” Angel stepped forward. “Let me make it simple for you.” He morphed into his vampire face. “Take a look, this is what I am. Deal with it or don’t… but make a damn choice.”

Gunn smiled. “That’s not going to happen.” With that he dropped the stake, drawing gasps from the men he’d run with in the past.

As if Gunn’s response had been some sort of signal, Fred raced over to Wesley’s side and hid behind a table as Alex stood up, his eyes white.

Gio had fired a shot at Fred, but the bullet stopped in mid air, before falling to the ground. Before Gio could make a sound the guns were ripped out of the men’s hands and were literally disassembled in midair. Once they were in pieces the guns fell to the floor as Alex stepped forward to stand next to Angel.

“You.” Alex pointed at Gio. “You say you fight monsters, but in reality you kill for the fun of it. You are the worst monster I have yet to encounter.”

Gio stared at Alex. “What’s this, some new kind of demon that looks normal?” He laughed, looking back at the group.

“Actually Alex is as one hundred percent human.” Angel replied, placing a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, what do you want me to do?”

“I’ll do it.” Alex whispered. “I’ll turn him into a demon, a harmless but ugly one.”

“Good idea.” Wesley smirked. “He’ll become the thing he likes to kill… hopefully he’ll live a long long time.”

TBC