Cordelia pays a horrible price for her "gift" of precognition when the visions begin taking a steep toll on her body on the Oct. 1 episode of WB's Angel. "Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) gets these visions, which will be getting harder and tougher for her. In fact, it nearly kills her," teases co-creator and executive producer David Greenwalt. "She gets a stigmata that actually starts exhibiting on her body."

The changes in Cordelia's powers -- she used to just get a headache -- are all part of the growing process for the former Sunnydale teen queen. "Her character is really deepening," greenwalt says. "Think about the snotty cheerleader that she began as on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Then, when she and Xander got together, she became more and more human. She will always be the Cordelia who always speaks her mind and that big, bright, wonderful creature that she is, but she is getting deeper and deeper. She's becoming kind of a superhero," he notes.

"I think that she has lost the will to go on auditions and be an actress, and go out with agents, like in her previous shallow life, because she has these mind-numbing visions from The Powers That Be," he explains. "She has suffered, and she has felt the pain of so many people, and helped so many people in trouble. She realizes that she has a purpose and a mission, even though that purpose and mission are killing her. She is becoming a much deeper character."

That episode of Angel airs Monday Oct. 1 at 8pm EDT on the WB. Check local listings.