Sunday night, Hyperion
Angela curled up in a chair behind the front desk at the Hyperion and shut her eyes. After a week of research, the group in Los Angeles finally knew as much as they could find out about the murders -- and about Penn, the likely perpetrator.
But he had stayed one step ahead of them, and more people had died. The thought made Angela shiver, and she wrapped a sweater around her in spite of the warm June night.
Now, Angel and Marty were off chasing leads while Logan tried to get somewhere with the police. Shaking her head and opening her eyes, she settled in to read the case reports one more time, hoping she might find a detail everyone had overlooked.
A well dressed young man came in. "Excuse me, is this Angel Investigations?"
Angela frowned slightly. Something felt wrong.
Maybe it was just they didn't get many walk-ins.
"It is," she said, reaching for a pen. "I don't really, like, work here? But I can take a message."
"You're not the one who works here?" he asked. "I'm sorry. It's just that I was told that Angel had a very trustworthy employee. That isn't you?"
Angela snorted, unable to help herself. "Reliable is not exactly how I would describe his normal employee."
"I'm visiting, so I'm just filling in today," she explained. "I can usually manage a message, though."
"I see," the man said. He came forward. "I have a very delicate matter that needs to be taken care of. I shouldn't trust that to - "
He paused, snapping his fingers. He gave Angela a grin. "Can you believe I've already forgotten his name?"
"Logan Echolls?" Angela suggested, letting her guard drop a little.
Then she felt guilty. "I'm sure he'd be fine. I just know him from school."
The man smiled. "Logan. That's right. The very young man I was thinking of. Where is he now?"
"I'm not sure," Angela said thoughtfully. "He's supposed to be talking to the police. Should be back anytime. But you could just leave a message and Angel will call you. Eventually. If someone makes him."
"Perhaps I'll wait," he said, taking a seat. "And you? You're Logan's girlfriend, I take it?"
Apparently that was one of the funniest ideas ever, given by the shocked gasp of laughter it caused. "Logan's - no," Angela said. "Really. No."
"I'm Angela. My boyfriend and I know them both from school and we decided to come to L.A. as part of our vacation," she explained.
"Ah," he said. "So you're both friends of Angel's? You and Logan?"
"He's a good guy," Angela nodded.
She squinted at the notepad. "Seriously, should I take a message? Or do you want a magazine or something?"
He seemed to quirk an eyebrow at Angela's description of Angel, but aloud all he said was, "I can wait."
Logan strode into the Hyperion. "Police have worked up a psych profile for the killer," he said. "Looks like they left out the 'vampire' bit, though."
Angela raised her eyebrows at that, Penn receding from her mind as he slipped into the shadows of the lobby. "Hey, Logan. Can I see?"
"Yeah, sure," Logan said, handing over the notes he'd made. He glanced at Penn. "Hey. You need some help?"
"Mr. Echolls," he said. He indicated Angela. "Your friend was just telling me all about you."
"Yeah?" Logan glanced at Angela. "Don't believe everything you hear."
"She said you were good friends with Angel," he said. Somebody listening carefully would've heard a hesitation, as though "Angel" hadn't been what he was about to say.
Angela glanced up from the notes with a look of unease on her face. "He said he had a case," she told Logan.
"What can we do for you?" Logan asked. He turned to face Penn.
"It's a personal, family matter," Penn said. He stepped forward, keeping his eyes on Logan. "I believe you can most certainly help me with it."
"Sure," Logan said. He grabbed a notebook off the hotel desk. "Tell me everything."
Angel came in, his own eyes focused on a report. "There's been another murder."
"Damn it." Logan turned to face Angel as he came in.
Penn immediately took advantage of the distraction to grab Logan vamp-quick and hold him by the throat. "Angelus."
Angel stared at the tableau in front of him, the report immediately forgotten. "Penn."
Angela's mouth dropped open. "Penn?" she asked. Then she matched his face with the drawings she had seen. "Penn."
Helpless and frozen, she watched Angel for a clue on what to do.
Logan jammed his elbow backwards and tried to break free.
"A fiesty one," Penn said, keeping a vampire-strong grip on him. "Is that why you befriended him, Angelus? Tell me, was he to be family or food?"
"Let him go," Angel said, in a tone which made it absolutely clear it would not be a smart idea to fuck with him.
Angela watched the confrontation; as far as she could tell, no one was paying much attention to her.
She slowly began to sidle over to the weapons cabinet, moving as carefully and silently as she could manage.
Penn was too focused on Angel to notice anything Angela was doing. Still keeping his hold on Logan, he said, "Why should I? Tell me, is it that you've really decided that you want to be good, or is it that you can't stand the idea that I might do something first?"
Angel, however, had noticed Angela, so he was more than happy to keep Penn's attention away from her by saying, "The day you get an original idea is the day I - actually no, that's never going to happen."
Seeing Angela sneak up behind Penn with a stake, Angel smirked. "So why don't you shut up, get some therapy, get over the daddy issues or better yet - "
The stake felt strangely right in Angela's hand, solid and sturdy.
Which was good, because the rest of this felt very odd indeed. But it wasn't the time for self-doubt. Wasn't the time for thought, really.
"Get out of town," she interrupted Angel.
Then she slammed the stake home, hitting Penn's back right over where his heart should be.
Penn had just time enough for a surprised defensive shift into game face before disintigrating into dust.
Logan brushed off the dust and coughed a little. "Took you guys long enough," he said, rubbing his throat.
Angel looked at Logan with concern - and if anybody knew him well they'd tell he was tempted to go to him - but he forced himself to stay where he was. "Nice job, Angela."
Angela was overwhelmed, rooted to the spot.
"Um, thanks," she said, blinking back tears. "So he's -- gone."
"Yep," Angel said, looking fairly stoic now. He came closer to her and Logan both, though now he was looking at her. "You okay?"
"Fine," Angela said, not sounding it. Uneasily, she dropped the stake. "Never killed anything except a zombie and a snow monster before. This was -- different."
She rubbed her chin. "Are you okay?" she asked Angel.
"I'm fine," Angel assured her. "Do you, uh, need a hug? Or a drink?"
Angela thought for a second, and a very brief smile graced her lips. "A drink," she said. "I'm guessing you have the good tequila."
"I think I can dig up some of that," Logan smiled. He dug behind the front desk and came up with a half-empty bottle and three glasses.
"This is how he earns his paycheck," Angel said.
Angela gratefully reached her hand out for one of the glasses. "Whatever you pay him, it's not enough," she said, a little dully.
"That's what I've been saying," Logan said.
Marty walks in carrying a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. "I got nothing on this guy. So I brought some doughnuts for the burning of oil at midnight."
Angela kind of ignored the donuts and went for a hug. "You missed it," she said into the folds of his shirt.
"Missed what?" Marty said looking confused. "Something happen while I was gone?"
Angela let go of him long enough to gesture at the dust on the floor. "Penn was here. He had Logan. He's -" she swallowed "not a problem any more."
If Marty looked carefully, he might notice the stake stowed in her skirt pocket.
"You should be proud of Angela," Angel said. "She's the hero of the day."
A worried look washed over Marty's face and then he saw the stake. "Is everyone all right?"
"We are now," Angela said, rubbing her eyes. She went to get the tequila and a fourth glass, and poured Marty a generous splash. "And it's over. That's the best part."
"It's over."