"Cycles"

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Angel

Cordelia Chase

Various Demons

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LOCATION:  L.A.

TIME:  Late night

Cycles.  Circular roads that led one right back to their beginnings if one traveled life's road long enough... or was that unlife?  Did it even matter any more the labels one put on it?  It was the same personal hell no matter what one called it, right?  Or did renaming it somehow redefine it and make it easier to deal with?

Not in Angel's experience.  It was always the same.  A world of darkness and pain from which there seemed to be no true redemption or escape.  People came and went through his doors and his life - unlife, he reminded himself - each bringing something good with them and taking it with them when they were gone.  And somehow, the more he tried to stay on the outer fringes, the more they dragged him in.

It had been like that with Cordy and Doyle in the beginning.  She'd followed him here to Los Angeles - now there was an irony in and of itself, the name of the city he chose to reside in - and Doyle had come to them shortly thereafter.  And each had brought with them friendship.  They'd forged a bond that went beyond Angel Investigations - which they also forged together - to friendship.

And then Doyle had gone from that circle.  Yes, he had died in the protection not only of Angel himself and Cordelia, but of the Lister demons they'd been helping and the city as a whole; but that did not take the ache from his soul.  The loss of a friend tore through him.  But as he always had, he kept it to himself, kept himself locked away within himself, mourning his own way.  Even though, to her credit, Cordy had tried to get him to talk to her about it.

That had been three years ago - holy hell had it really been that long!?  Now, impossibly, Doyle had returned, bringing with him all those old emotions, and new ones.  How was Angel supposed to take this?  How was he supposed to react to the sudden reappearance of a friend whom he'd watched die saving him?  How had he always dealt with things?

Silent and strong.  Those seemed to be his watchwords.  So here he was again, hiding away what he felt and simply trying to move forward.

The problem was that Doyle wasn't the only being to crop up recently.  Now Angel had a whole new set of demons to deal with as well.  Nasty buggers, six of whom were staring him  down right now.  Okay, well, he was staring them down, but the end result was the same.

One of them moved, an attack, one clawed appendage striking out at the vampire before it.  Only one?  Angel growled and dropped his upper body beneath the blow, grabbing the appendage and twisting it hard, dragging the demon toward him as he did.  It yelped in obvious pain, and one of its fellows moved then to take advantage of Angel's distraction with its companion.

Angel was not distracted.

The second demon met his buddy's claws... hard as Angel spun, dragging the still-whining demon he held with him.  The second yowled in agony as his companion's claws tore into him and fell back hissing.  The first, Angel tossed at the second, the two going down in a pile of limbs, claws, and hissing.

The other four looked at their comrades then at the vampire then back.  What followed was a frenzy of death and demon parts.  And when it was finished, Angel stood at the center of all the death, gathering himself.  He'd have to remember to have Cordelia look up these bad boys when he got back; but for now, he stalked to the one he'd gouged with the other's claws.  Squatting, he grabbed the demon by the bony protrusions at its chest and raised it into the air, off the ground, so he was on eye level with it - they weren't all that big, but they were srappy.

"Who sent you?"  He growled in its face, a low growl that promised much pain if the little demon didn't cooperate.

It chose badly, trying to claw its way free of Angel's grip.  He only tightened his grip and hissed right in its face.  It cringed but protested.  "But they'll kill me!"

"And you think I won't?"

It squirmed some more, then without warning, went limp in his grip.  Momentarily startled, Angel glared at the now-dead demon.  Then he tossed it on top of its comrades in disgust and looked for the source of its death - he hadn’t had that tight a grip on it.

Nothing.

Disgusted and somewhat tired, he sighed and spun away, heading back to the Hyperion.  Great!  Just what he needed!  A new player in town!  But it figured, didn't it?  Just when something likely good came his way, something equally evil had to as well.  And there was the cycle.  Repeated over and over.

The doors of the old hotel-turned-headquarters slammed shut behind him, and he stalked past everyone to his office.  He needed a drink and a good long think.  But only one of those was forthcoming, and it wasn't the second.  Cordy followed him in and closed the door.

"So did you find what you were looking for?"  She asked, bluntly.  That was Cordy, blunt.

Angel looked up at her from his glass.  "Don't you ever knock?"  He grumbled, though he wasn't entirely displeased with her presence.

She shrugged and flopped into one of the other chairs.  "Sometimes, but you didn't answer my question."

He sighed, setting down the glass.  "No.  But I found something else."  He stood up and began to pace as he talked.  "There's a new player, and a whole new set of demons, in town."

Cordy frowned.  "So?  We'll deal with them."  She asserted.  "We always do.  That's not what's bothering you though, is it?"

He sighed and shook his head.  Not in answer so much as in refusal.  "Not now."  Was all he said.  "Now we need to find this new threat."

Cordy frowned but let it be... for now.  If there was one thing she'd learned in four years of working with Angel, it was that he didn't talk unless he was damned good and ready to.  And no amount of coaxing, cajoling, or prodding would make him.  In fact, that stuff only drove him further into his shell.  So she relinquished the question for now and focused on the demons as asked.  "Ok, what did they look like?"

Angel sat back down and closed his eyes.  Good, she'd taken the hint.  Cordy had learned not to push him when he said no.  At least not immediately.  Opening his eyes again, he took a drink and began to describe the demons to her...

<TBC>