ALL THINGS NEW - PART 7
Part VII: Los Angeles, November 24 1999
In the offices of Angel Investigations, Cordelia and Doyle were watching their boss prowl around his private room. The Irishman thought the vampire was fine after returning from the Hellmouth, but Cordelia Chase wasn’t convinced of that at all.
A bit later they both rushed in, convinced Angel was about to kill himself, even though he was just planning to level his desk with a stake. The dark-haired Irish undead then said with a smirk, “You two thought...”
Cordy was quick to interrupt, “Doyle did. You know how he jumps to conclusions – 'cause you saw Buffy.”
The souled vampire tried to explain his feelings. “Look, Buffy will always be a part of me, and that’s never going to change. But she’s human and I’m – not. And that’s also never going to change. We said our goodbyes, so no need to stir any of that up again.”
Again the brunette girl didn’t buy it for a second. “You don’t want to ‘stir’, but if my ex came to town and was all stalking me in the shadows and then left and didn’t even say “hello”, I’d be...”
“What?” asked Doyle in concern.
“Well, upset for one thing! I mean Xander Harris was like the poster boy for ‘Losers 'R Us’, but I kinda doubt he’d sink that low...”
The half-Brachen demon’s heart sank, as it always did when his beloved Cordy talked about past and present boyfriends. He was about to say something, when Angel shooed them out of his office.
A few minutes later, a green-skinned Mohra demon with a curved sword and a red jewel in its forehead crashed through the window behind the vampire, and attacked him. After a short battle whereupon the demon was wounded, it ran away, so Angel and Doyle quickly went after it.
The two men soon split up, and Angel eventually found the soldier of darkness. They fought; the vampire was cut by the Mohra’s sword, but eventually killed the demon. But as it died, some of its green blood flowed into Angel’s red wound.
The feelings he had were indescribable. The inner vampire demon was killed, and Angel’s original human physiology was also restored by the so-called ‘blood of eternity’.
The man once called Liam stared at himself in disbelief. “I’m alive...”
~~~~~~
The reborn human soon arrived back at the office, and needless to say both Doyle and Cordy were stunned at his new situation. Angel’s two helpers were all for going out to celebrate, but the ex-vampire wanted to investigate what had happened first.
“I need to know about this. Is this permanent? Am I – am I Joe Normal now? Can I have a normal life? Maybe I should speak to the Powers That Be...”
Doyle was quick to veto that idea. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s easier said than done, bud. The Powers That Be don’t live in our reality. You have to approach them through channels. Dangerous channels.”
Angel looked annoyed. “Yeah, you know what? Let’s start approaching!”
The half-demon shrugged, “All right, all right. Maybe we can try the Oracles. But hey, if they turn you into a toad – don’t say I didn’t warn you...”
Later Angel had entered the ‘The Gateway for Lost Souls’ and started interrogating the male and female Oracles, who were brother and sister. He learned that his becoming mortal had had nothing to do with the Powers, but still wasn’t happy. “My life as a human. I’m not poisoned, or under some spell?”
The female Oracle said, “The Auguries say no. If it has happened, it was meant to be.”
The male Oracle added, “From this day, you will live and die as any mortal man.”
“Privy to all the attendant pains – and pleasures,” the sister injected.
The brother looked at Angel dismissively. “That which we serve, is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty.”
As the woman and man walked away form him, Angel asked, “That’s it? I’m free?”
There was no reply, apart from the newly restored human being getting blasted out of the temple. Angel landed on top of Doyle, and quickly told him the situation; and the Irishman just congratulated the ex-vamp on his good luck.
The rest of the day, Angel walked around in a semi-daze, letting his two friends take him out in the sunlight to celebrate. The 246-year-old man had a whole new life before him, and didn’t know how to begin living it.
Interestingly however, the Powers That Be had something to fix that little problem.
At a restaurant, the half-demon seer was thinking happy thoughts. < I wonder, does this mean I’m off the hook with the Powers? Well, whatever happens from hereon out, at least I’ll be able to say good-bye to them bone-crushin’, head-wrenchin’, mind-numbin’ visions... >
Then he half-screamed, half-groaned as blurry pictures of the Mohra demon attacking Angel flashed through his brain.
The former vamp asked concernedly, “Doyle? What is it?”
The man in question looked at his friend, after taking a long gulp of alcohol to dull the pain. “We got trouble...”
After learning that the Mohra demon had regenerated itself and come back bigger, stronger, and angrier than ever, Angel decided to go after it – unable to let it just roam free and kill people. He and Doyle eventually tracked it down to a saline plant in Redondo, despite the danger...
The demon assassin soon attacked them, injuring both of the good guys badly, and Doyle had to revert to his demon form to be strong enough just to keep up. Angel eventually had an epiphany on how to kill the creature, from the passages of a book Doyle had read; “The light of a thousand eyes...the jewel in its forehead! You have to smash the jewel!”
Doyle had no weapon, and even though it was suicide, did the only thing he could to save his friend’s life. Angel saw what he was going to do and yelled out, “Doyle! No!”
But it was too late. The spiky-faced Irishman head-butted the Mohra demon, smashing the jewel, even as the evil creature stabbed him with its sword – before it vanished with a scream, in a burst of light.
Mortally wounded, Doyle crawled towards Angel as he resumed his human shape. The ex-vampire grabbed hold of the half-demon’s hand as his best friend whispered, “We fought the good fight, right? Made a difference...”
“Yeah,” Angel replied softly.
“Take care, man...” the guy muttered, just before he died.
As soon as that happened though, the visions were transferred to the closest other demon – a Karaoke-singing entertainer named Lorne, who was on his way home from an aura reading.
And all the new messenger for the Powers could say was, “Oh, boy...”
~~~~~~
At St. Matthew’s hospital, Buffy and Giles stepped out of Xander’s room to go get the young man some refreshments, when they bumped into a grieving Cordelia.
“Cordy? What are you doing here?” asked Buffy in surprise.
The young brunette quickly told them how Angel was human now, and lying injured in the room down the hall after fighting a demon. In between her tears, the girl also told them how their friend Doyle had died.
Buffy couldn’t believe it, as Giles quickly told her why they were here. And so the former cheerleader decided to go see Xander, while Buffy and Giles went to visit Angel.
After the shock of seeing him alive had passed, the Slayer went up to talk to her ex-boyfriend. “Hey...”
Angel looked at her, not sure if he was dreaming. “Buffy?”
The Chosen One smiled through her tears, happy that he would be all right – and furious that she might have lost her former love, and never even known it. “Yeah, you just rest there and get better. Then I’m taking you home...”
Angel tried to say something while Buffy finished up, “...to Sunnydale.”
~~~~~~
Interlude III (1999 – 2000)
The following months passed by very quickly. More and more things changed, becoming new, different from what they had been and should have been.
Buffy quickly made good on her threat to take Angel home with her, despite the former vampire’s misgivings over how he would fit into her life now. Basically, the Slayer just would not take ‘no’ for an answer – and since the guy still loved her, eventually he caved in to her demands.
The only thing the ex-vamp regretted about leaving L.A. was not being able to persuade Cordelia to accompany them – but the former Queen C was adamant about her decision, there was no way she was going back to the Hellmouth, thankyouverymuch.
Angel soon got a job at Joyce’s gallery, since he had some artistic leanings and basically nowhere else to apply to. And despite the middle-aged woman’s misgivings about it, Buffy and Angel inevitably started sleeping together again.
This changed the destiny of the man called Riley Finn, a lot.
The bottom line was, the blonde Slayer completely forgot about any romantic feelings she might have had for him, and so they never got together. And when the creatures known as the Gentlemen showed up, he never learned who the Slayer was – as Buffy and Angel took them out, before he ever came into the picture.
Curiously enough, Willow and Oz made up briefly during this time, as they didn’t want to die angry at each other – but their basic problems remained unresolved, and so they soon broke up again.
Finally the Big Bad of the year arrived on the scene, courtesy of the Initiative; the cyber-demonoid known as ADAM. But eventually of course, he was no match for the Scoobies, and got his ass kicked but gooood.
Too bad for a woman named Sam that Riley Finn ended up a cyber-demonoid himself, and Angel had to kill him.
~~~~~~
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