The water runs over her body as she stands still as death under the onslaught. Head bowed, hair in a slick, streaming curtain. The shower spray is hot enough to burn, yet she doesn't move to make it colder. Simply stands there, feeling it slip over her skin, liking the sting of pink flesh it leaves behind. Perhaps her body will melt, like wax on a heated candle, stripping her away until she is nothing.

Even Faith doesn't know if there are tears mixed with the water.

~~~~

She was not the only one in quiet contemplation that night. Somewhere, not so far away in the scope of the world, a dark figure was doing what he did best. Brooding.

"It's helping the helpless, technically." Cordelia pointed out, looking down at the slip of paper in the mail. "Not as if you're the only one who can play hero once in a while. It might be good for me, toughen my coping mechanism."

"What exactly needs coping with?" Wesley asked, bent over a translation. Not because it needed translating, really, but it was the closest that Angel Investigations had to busywork. And he needed the overtime.

"Hello? My budget for the evening will not even be the rest of the guests' spare change. That takes a lot of coping." Cordelia looked offended that her dilemma hadn't been blatantly obvious.

"I'll lend you money for a dress." Angel said, breaking the silence he'd been in for hours. Cordelia looked like a little girl at Christmas. The invitation for her to accompany David to a dinner had managed to excite and depress her at the same time.

Lapsing back into silence, Angel was more like 'Mr Billowy Coat King of Pain' then Cordy and Wes had seen him in a while. They didn't know what to say, trusting that he was comfortable enough with them to speak up when he was ready.

Until that happened, there wasn't much they could do.

There was another envelope, unmarked. Cordelia looked at it carefully, letters without any writing on them weren't something she took lightly after some of the things she'd found in the mail. But it was too small to be a heart, too light to be plague-spreading dust. She tore the end of the white paper triangle open. There was a photograph inside.

"Angel..." she said, looking down at the image. "You better come look at this."

Breaking his quiet for the second time, Angel looked over, standing and plucking the photo out of Cordelia's hands. It had been taken outside their door, two pale forms on the dark background. Spike had his arms crossed, looking at the camera as if he didn't care very much about it but knew he'd look amazing anyway. Darla was wearing cat-eye sunglasses, posing like a starlet with her back to the camera, looking over one shoulder.

"Darla." Angel turned the photograph over. He didn't understand what was going on, but he was going to find out.

'Hey Dad! I had the bestest day today. Grandma took me to the fair and we had candyfloss sellers to eat!' Spike's handwriting, Spike mocking Angelus' sense of humor. Angel's jaw clenched, outside thunder cracked. It never rains but it pours.

~~~~

"What's up girl? You look like death warmed over." Gunn said, concerned. Faith shrugged and put another box on his truck.

"I'm coping." It was a truth she'd like to have believed.

"Something happen?" he noticed that her little gold cross was gone. Faith's eyes misted up without her meaning them to and she nodded. Gunn put his hand out and touched her arm comfortingly. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No." Faith shook her head and went to get another box. "I'm five by five. Give me two weeks and I'll be so chipper you'll think I'm snorting prozac."

"Did you take out the vamps?" Gunn didn't want to press her but got the feeling Faith wanted to talk.

"Can't. They work for that -" Faith put down a box, hard, the loud crash obscuring her words. "-ing law firm." she hated Wolfram and Hart. They had power over her. She killed Spike and Darla, and they would hurt Lindsey.

"So? That place aint so hard to get into. Easy to crash their party."

"I just can't, ok?" Faith had finished loading the boxes. She moved to go back inside the kitchen.

Gunn watched her leave, contemplated following her, decided it wouldn't do any good.

~~~~

Somebody, at least, was enjoying the night. Darla had lost Spike hours ago in some club or another, she'd shrugged it off and found herself a new companion. When her new friend had finally died, she'd found another. Darla thought this was great fun.

Going to hell is not the same for demons as it is for people. The only comparison that could be successfully made was that of being locked in an amusement park. Sure, it's annoying that you can't leave, and that for all intents and purposes you're trapped in a prison, but it's not the end of the world. There had been lots of fun down there too. But Darla had a soft spot for this, the hunt, the chase, the kill.

She missed her Angel. Not that simpering thing he'd been lately, but the one she'd pillaged Budapest with. Spike had heard through the grapevine – talk about an obscure mixed metaphor there – that Penn was dead. Darla felt like a faded prom queen, crossing out more names in the yearbook as time dragged by. It was a little depressing. The Master was long dead, Drusilla was missing in action, Penn was gone, Angel had turned all Jedi. At least there was still this. The kill. The feed.

Oh, and Spike. She'd forgotten about him for a moment.

This boy she was playing with was boring her. Darla thought she might get a girl next. They were softer on the tastebuds, usually. Blood in LA tasted different to the rest of the world. More chemicals. She needed something to happen. Vampires were very good at killing time, less good at waiting.

If you need something done, best to do it yourself, Darla decided as the hapless young man she'd been dancing with fell to the ground.

~~~~

"Hey, Faith."

She looked up from the deep fryer, her face distrustful. "What now?"

"You finish work at ten, don't you?" Gunn grabbed a corn chip from the stainless steel counter beside the girl and bit into it. It was a little limp, soggy from the moisture in the air.

"Yes. I am going to go home after that. I am not going to go kill vampires, I am not going to fight the good fight. I am going to go home, relax in a bubble bath, and possibly read a comic book." Faith pushed her hair out of her eyes.

"And that'll make you feel better, will it?" Gunn pressed. Faith sighed.

"What do you care anyway?"

"Well it's just that I know what'll make you feel better and you're not even gonna entertain the idea."

Faith looked down at the hot grease of the kitchen appliances. Thought about a lot of things, none of which were sunny or happy. Then she looked back up.

"Pick me up around the back?"

~~~~

Spike was loitering. It was what he did best. Currently, he was leaning against the wall of a pornography store, his feet on the dirty sidewalk. Some street kids were arguing over whether to buy coffee or a hot dog a little further down the street. If he turned his head, he could look at the ample airbrushed chest of a painted actress on a mural, advertising a film with a silly title. A 36DD reminder of what happened to starlets that never got a break.

One of the street kids got to her feet. She would have been pretty, if things had been different. She had nice eyes, and a strong chin. She walked over to Spike, desperation making her bold.

"Can I have a dollar?" she asked him. Well spoken, good diction. A fallen rich girl then, like Cordelia. This one just hadn't had a dark avenger to catch her when she tumbled.

"I don't know. Can you?" Spike asked. He was out of smokes. When he was done with this guttersnipe he'd go buy some.

"I think you'll give me one." the girl reached into his jacket pocket and felt around for his wallet. Spike didn't move, letting her rummage. The girl had spirit, he had to give her credit for that.

Her hand came back out clutching a crumpled bill, the only money Spike had on him. A twenty.

"I don't suppose you have change for that?" Spike asked with a smirk. This was fun.

"Nope." she smiled. "But if you come round the corner I'll make it worth your while."

Oh, this was just too easy. Spike loved it when the food served itself up.

Standing up from where he had been leaning, Spike followed her around the side of the building. The drawing of the adult film star stared blankly at the street. Nobody was close enough to hear the screams.

~~~~

Lindsey McDonald, the only person in the entire city for whom 'vampire lawyer' wasn't just a tautology, was annoyed. He hated it when Holland made him work with any of the others, and when that other was Lilah he hated it even more. The woman was a leech.

Lindsey wondered if there was a spell that could make her that literally. The thought of the woman as a slimy little creature to squelch underfoot was a comforting one. Lilah caught his distracted smile and glared.

"Are you listening to me?" she snapped.

"Yes." Lindsey sighed. "You want me to do the case outline, while you check prophecies."

"Glad to see you're paying attention." Lilah said grudgingly.

Lindsey hated it when he had to work with slimy little creatures. It occurred to him that, knowing this, working at Wolfram and Hart probably wasn't the best career choice.

~~~~

Darla and Spike met up again as midnight ticked by. Neither of them apologised for losing the other, because neither were sorry for doing so. They decided to find some nests, see who else was in town. Having each other, and some lawyers, as company was wearing very thin.

They were only on the second abandoned building when they ran into company.

~~~~

Faith was having a great time. The vamps in LA were as vapid as most of the daytime citizens. It was easy, fun slaying. Her hair was matted with the combination of sweat and dust. She hadn't felt this alive in a long time. It was what she was made for, why she had been born at all.

"You're damn good, girl." a young man with a baseball cap and a scar on his cheek complimented her. Faith grinned, her body pumping with adrenalin. She turned on her heel and dusted a charging attacker.

"I should have persuaded you to come along a long time ago." Gunn told Faith when they hit a lull between packs of vampires. "I've never seen any human that fast."

"I'm hungry." Faith didn't take praise very well. She got up and stretched her legs. "Got any food?"

"Low-fat yoghurt." a girl with light brown hair offered. Faith laughed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just knew somebody once who liked low-fat yoghurt as a follower to vamp slayage." she explained. "And I was imagining her here. It was a funny image."

"You're insane." the man with the scar told her. Faith shrugged.

"Yeah, for some reason I get that a lot."

~~~~

Faith and Gunn heard the screams as she walked him home. He hadn't wanted her to, but Faith took 'no' for an answer even less well then she took praise. With stakes in hand, they ran in.

This was what she was built for.

There were fourteen demons, huge great ugly things with all kinds of bad smell coming off them. There skin was a grey-green color that turned the stomach even without the smell to go along. They were hard to kill, too, Faith got goop all over her before the first went down.

"Get them to safety!" Gunn called to her as he fought off two more, flicking his head towards two human-sized figures crouching in the corner. Faith nodded and ran over.

She saw who they were same time they saw who she was. Darla made a break for it, Faith ignored her. She hated Spike more, although not by much. Pinning him against the wall, Faith leant in close.

"You think I won't kill you, Spike? Think you're too important? Nobody can see me right now. Nobody knows where I am." Spike was reminded of when Buffy had similarily pinned him in the Bronze. Slayers were maniacs, that had to be the explination. "And the homing beacon they put in you to keep you safe is currently recording you as trapped in the middle of a fight between some demons and some people who like to kill vampires. Nobody is going to avenge you."

"You don't have it in you." Spike said, swallowing nervously. His feet weren't even touching the ground, Faith had him suspended, her hands on his shoulders. She laughed mirthlessly.

"If you don't think I have it in me, you've obviously never met me." Faith let him drop and kicked him, hard. "By the time I stake you, you're gonna wish I'd just gotten it over with. You think I'm nice, Spike? You think I'm sweet little Faith?" She brought her booted foot in against his ribs, over and over. "I've tortured people who never did anything to me except get in my way." One rib cracked under the assault, then another. "And you think I don't have it in me to get you back?"

"Backup! Finally!" Faith whirled at Gunn's cry. A familiar silhouette was standing in the doorway, sword in hand. There were still seven of the demons left alive, Faith had completely forgotten where she was.

She ran for it, vowing to herself that next time she'd skip the Doctor Evil impression and just stake the peroxided vampire before her other problems could intrude. No way in hell she was hanging around for a reunion with Angel.

Darla watched in the shadows as Faith dashed past, then as Angel and Gunn made short work of the demon horde – well, hordette, less then twenty wasn't enough to count as an entire horde. She watched as Angel noticed Spike in the corner, looked down at his sword, stained with thick black demon blood already, and turned away from the beaten vampire to talk to Gunn in hushed tones.

Darla grinned. Angel, unlike Faith, really didn't have it in him to kill Spike. It was likely he wouldn't kill Darla again either. And that meant they had power over him.

~~~~

Not so far away, in a basement, Xander was contemplating painting the walls a lighter shade. Wasn't that supposed to give an illusion of space?

"I'm thinking of getting back into vengence." Anya spoke up from the bed. She always claimed the bed when she was visiting, holding the belief that beanbags weren't a sensible invention. Xander broke out of his idle thoughts.

"I told you before, I don't want you going back into that stuff."

"When did you tell me? We've never discussed this before." Anya looked annoyed. Xander blinked.

"Oh, in a dream. I must have dreamt you said that."

"You dream about me?" the annoyance crumbled away. "That's so... disturbing. And you don't have a say in what I do. You're just the boyfriend. You don't own me." Anya got up and stalked up the stairs. Xander sighed and leaned back against the beanbag.

"That's me. Just the boyfriend." he muttered. "Just Xander."

~~~~

"I was thinking today." Faith looked up at Lindsey. She was half-lying, half-sitting on his lap, her legs stretched out on his couch as he sat at one end. He was playing with her freshly washed hair. Vampire Slayers learn fast which shampoos get dust out best.

"What about?"

"You're dead, but you might as well be alive. When I was in the coma, I was alive, but I might as well have been dead."

Lindsey smiled, tracing his fingers down her smooth cheek. Faith pretended to chomp at the fingers.

"Heyyy, careful there, I don't have enough to spare any." Lindsey joked.

"B's not the only one anymore." Faith said to herself, before remembering Lindsey couldn't hear the thoughts she didn't vocalise. Sometimes she forgot that, he seemed to follow her sometimes erratic wavelength very well. "She's not the only Slayer who's boinked the undead."

"Have you talked to her lately?" Lindsey went back to twining his fingers through her damp locks.

"I think Buffy and I have parted ways." Faith shrugged, no mean feat when lying down. "I can't imagine how we'll end up seeing each other again."

"Life takes odd turns sometimes." Lindsey pointed out. Faith had to agree.

~~~~

"Faith was there."

Wes and Cordy exchanged a look. When Angel was in silent moping mode, anything he did end up saying was likely to be of the despressing. After a beat Cordelia finally gave in and replied.

"Where?"

"Tonight. When the demons attacked Spike, and Darla I'm guessing. Faith was there. She ran off when I arrived."

"Working with the demons or working with Spike?" Wesley was interested now. He wasn't looking forward to another run-in with Faith, the last two times he'd seen her had proved to be ... memorable.

"I don't know." Angel's brow furrowed. "Somehow I think we're going to find out."

~~~~

Spike was tied to a chair. He wasn't happy about this. Frankly, he was really tired of being restrained with ropes and the like.

"Uh, Darla, pet, feel like explaining what the hell is going on now?"

She was bent over a small fire, throwing herbs into the flame. Spike was very cold, the warehouse they were currently in was drafty. Darla looked over.

"You gave me an idea. The girl wants revenge? Who better to educate us on exactly what that means then a vengence demon?"

Spike relaxed. Would it really have been so hard of Darla to tell him that twenty minutes ago?

"Good luck. I know the bint who used to do that. She's very retired."

"We'll see about that." Darla chanted an incantation. A thin female form stepped out of the shadows.

"You called?"

Spike's eyebrows shot up. "Harmony?!?"

Darla flicked her head towards the restrained Spike. "He rejected me. I demand revenge. You have to give me a wish."

"Oh goody." the blonde girl looked very happy. "I was hoping somebody would ask me to do something to him."

"You're a vengence demon now? When did this happen?" Spike asked. Harmony ignored him. Darla smiled at the ex-human, ex-vampire teenager, who unclasped a silver-and-blue necklace that was hanging around her thin throat.

"You have to put this on." she explained to Darla. "Isn't it beautiful? It reminds me of the one from Titanic. I bet the guy in that movie never would have cheated on his girlfriend, or staked her when she wasn't expecting it." Harmony glared over at Spike. He tried to look charming and inoffensive. "Did you ever see Titanic?" she asked, turning back to Darla.

"No. I was... away when it was released." Darla said, touching the large, dark stone lightly. "So what do I do now?"

"Just wish." Harmony shrugged. "You only get one, though, sorry. Time budgeting and all."

"I only need one." Darla smiled, her evil-yet-innocent grin. "I wish Angelus was free."

~~~~

"Cordelia!" Angel cried – it was more a scream then anything else, but she just couldn't think of Angel screaming. That didn't happen, just like bunnies with fangs and her father with no money.

Cordelia ignored the part of her brain pointing out she'd seen both of those things.

Looking up from her fashion magazine, Cordelia crossed her fingers that he had just noticed the not-very-subtle hints for a raise she'd put in the margins of the account book, and was angry at her. That was a best-case scenario.

"Cordelia!" he screamed again from the other room. "Run!"

Ok, no longer in the realms of best-case scenario. Cordelia didn't have to be told twice. Kicking her high-heels off, she ran with the determination that only comes out of sheer mortal terror. Wesley was at the library. She'd go find him.

Crying from fear and exhaustion, Cordelia ran until her feet felt like they were bleeding. It had to be Angelus. Somehow, Angelus was free.

The corner of Cordelia's mind that was still sixteen years old decided she really, really didn't want to know what Angel had been up to that might have freed Angelus. The rest of her mind was too busy getting her as far away as possible to comment at all.

~~~~

"Did you hear something?" Lindsey looked up from the legal brief he was reading. Faith shook her head.

"What do you think it was?"

"Probably nothing." Lindsey looked back down. Faith shrugged and went back to painting her nails.

~~~~

Darla and Spike sat in her apartment and waited. They were both getting a little bored, and planned to go kill some time (among other things) if something didn't happen soon.

A clock ticked.

"Read any good books lately?" Spike asked Darla. She shot him a death-stare. He took the hint and shut up.

The clock continued to tick.

The door burst off its hinges, both Angel and Angelus were fond of dramatic entrances.

"Honey, I'm home."

~~~~

Wesley had a crossbow. Cordelia had a stake. They both had crosses. They were both very afraid.

The front room looked fairly undamged. A pile of papers was fanned across the floor, but Cordy thought she might have done that during her escape. There was a smell of burnt meat. Wesley thought he might well throw up, once they were out of danger.

Motioning for the young woman to stay back, Wesley very, very carefully moved towards the half-open door, pushing the gap wider with his crossbow. He tensed. Cordelia raised her stake, ready to kill anything that jumped out.

"Angel?" Wesley sounded surprised. "Cordelia said that…"

The woman herself pushed past him and into the room. Angel was sitting against the wall, a dark bruise blooming under one eye. His breathing was shallow.

Hang on… breathing?

Cordelia moved closer slowly, hesitantly. "Angel, are you ok? What happened?"

"He's free." the words were barely through his lips before the fight to stay conscious ended and he slumped down.

~~~~

Faith was asleep. She looked so fragile, so young, when her eyes were closed. Lindsey could have watched her sleep for hours.

The smell of blood made him move, however. Not just a little blood, a lot of blood. From downstairs.

He contemplated waking Faith. She was the Slayer, after all, and this was no doubt related to vampire activity. He just couldn't bring himself to wake her. This must be what people meant about love being the most irrational emotion. Letting a vampire Slayer sleep through a vampire attack was fairly high on the stupidity meter.

Instead he went down on his own, ready to put on his own game face if he needed to. He disliked it, it felt like being inside someone else's skin. Feeling out of place behind your own expression is an odd sensation. Darla, Spike and Angel – no, Angelus – were making a mess out of the seer from one of the other apartments. A big mess.

They all sensed him at the same moment, looking over. It took a lot of strength of will not to run. Away from, or towards, the group, Lindsey wasn't sure, but he didn't do either.

"Four is a much better number for a coven then three, wouldn't you agree?" Angelus asked him conversationally, sauntering over. Lindsey wondered at how differently Angelus carried himself to Angel. As if he didn't have a care in the world. Which, Lindsey supposed, he didn't. "What were you planning to do with that stake, Lindsey?"

He hadn't even realised that he'd hidden the short piece of wood behind his back. His hand clenched around it.

"You can't kill me." Angelus was in close now, speaking softly into Lindsey's ear. Lindsey couldn't move. He thought for a moment about the last time Angel had been this close to him. Could Angelus smell his fear like Angel had? "I saved your life."

"Angel saved my life." Lindsey said, finally finding his voice. He didn't think much of the soul-ridden version of the vampire, pretty much hated him, but credit where credit was due.

"You really believe that?" Angelus' lips were almost touching his ear now. Lindsey could smell the blood on them. "I don't think you do. I think you know, deep down, that it was me. I think you want to come with us more then you know how to say."

Lindsey closed his eyes. Yes, yes it was true. The thing inside him that had clawed for release since he'd opened his eyes with Angel's blood on his tongue was screaming now. It would be bliss to give in, to let the game face become his true face.

But Faith was asleep upstairs. She didn't have the faintest notion of all that was good about her. And she would never believe it from anyone ever again if Lindsey left her now.

So he turned his face away and walked back towards the elevator. He couldn't kill Angelus, and didn't really want to analyse the reasons for that. But he could walk away.

He went to wake Faith. Wesley and Cordelia probably needed their help. If they were still alive at all.

~~~~

Buffy felt good. She was wearing new shoes, something that had always given her a buzz as a child. The charm had never really faded from it, and she still got a little thrill. Joydrop were gonna be at the bronze, their CD had only been like the soundtrack to her life lately. All in all, things were on a pretty even keel for a change.

She knocked on Tara's door. Buffy was doing her utmost to get to know the other student, someone that important to Willow should at least fit somewhere into Buffy's life. The three of them were going to go out to the show tonight, kind of a girl-bonding thing. But not in a gay way. Well, not entirely. Buffy was kind of the odd one out in that respect. Even if Riley had been in the area, bringing a boyfriend along defeated the purpose of girl night. At least this time she had a reason for going solo.

The fairy lights in Tara's room always reminded Buffy of the ones Faith had put up in her motel room for Christmas. "'Tis the season – whatever that means". The memory made Buffy think for a moment, try to imagine what her own personal Tyler Durden was getting up to. That had been the Christmas when it snowed. She and Angel had been together then – or had that been when they were on the break? Between Riley being of the not here and memories of Angel, Buffy was really starting to feel like a third wheel for the girl night outing.

Oh well. She'd give Faith a call sometime soon, for sure. And at least there were the new shoes.

~~~~

"The prophecy must have been sooner then we expected." Wesley volunteered. Cordelia and Angel both gave him a look. He sighed and slipped his glasses back up his nose. "All right, so it was reaching. What else could have caused it?"

"Perhaps a spell Darla and Spike did." Angel said, resting his head in his hands. He'd forgotten how exhausting being mortal could be.

"Yes, yes, you could be right." Wesley nodded. "I'd have to check some books, but –"

"Well we don't have time to check books, Wes. Angelus is free." Angel said, trying to stand. Cordelia pushed him back down. His whole body hurt. Angelus hadn't hung around long, but it had still been long enough to leave his good side a lot worse for wear.

"That's it! He's free. Literally." Wesley said, nodding as the theory solidified in his mind. Cordelia sighed.

"Sorry to interrupt the really fascinating exposition and everything, but ok, we know he's free. Now what? How are we going to find him?"

"I know how he thinks." Angel said, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles and trying to clear his head. "I can probably track him."

"So if you were Angelus, where would you be heading?" Wesley said, his expression shaping into 'time to play rogue demon hunter'.

Cordelia and Angel look at each other silently for a beat, each one seeing the fear there. Then they both turned to Wesley.

"Sunnydale."

~~~~

They ran into Faith and Lindsey outside the building.

"What the hell is going on?" Faith was vocal about her confusion.

"Long story." Angel said, resting on Cordelia and Wesley as they walked to the car.

"Angel and Angelus have seperated." Wesley explained.

"Ok, maybe not that long."

"Where are you going?" Lindsey asked, the two of them following after the three members of Angel Investigations.

"Sunnydale." Cordelia turned to look at them, then sighed pragmatically. "I just know I'm going to regret this, but you wanna come along?"

"This is wicked weird." Faith said, in a shining example of stating the obvious. When they were on the road, squished in as five adults will always be in a normal sized car, she turned to Lindsey.

"Hey, Lind, gimme your phone. I'll give B the heads up on what's coming her way."

~~~~

The concert had been just what Buffy needed, fun. She'd still been talking about it with Willow when they got back to her house, which was quiet.

"Hmm. Mom must be out." Buffy said with a shrug, taking her coat off. It was almost disturbing to think of her mother as having a life. The answering machine light was blinking. Two new messages.

Beep.

"B, I really really really hope you get this message. Get the hell out of your house. Get to somewhere Angel's never been invited into. I'm on my way there with Cordelia and Wesley and Lindsey and Angel but until I'm there, if you see Angel then don't go up to him. Stab him with something pointy. I know this is making no sense but you gotta trust me. Get out of the house right now."

Beep.

Buffy and Willow both turned to leave the house, grabbing their just-discarded coats. There would be time to ask questions when they were somewhere safe.

The second message began and Buffy turned back to look at the small white box next to her phone, an expression of something between dread and grief on her face.

"Hey Buff. Can't wait to see you again. Miss me?" a pause, a lack of sound crowded with a million subtle variations on the theme of terror. "If Lindsey's listening to this message, I'd just like him to know that unfortunately we've found another applicant to fill the vacancy."

~~~~

The trip was intense. Lindsey didn't speak to Angel, Angel didn't speak to Lindsey, Faith didn't speak to anybody.

"You know what this means, right?" Cordelia and Wesley were in the front, partly because Queen C would never, ever squash into a crowded back seat, but mostly because the two of them wanted to be as far away from the bad vibes as possible. It was like the family car ride from hell, while the vampires they were chasing were the family from hell. "It means that when we've gotten rid of Angelus and everyone that you and Buffy can actually be together, without you losing your soul or turning back time or anything."

"She's got a boyfriend, Cordelia." Angel said quietly. "I just want to make sure she's safe, then I'll get out of her life again."

"Oh give me a little credit here!" Cordelia turned in her seat so she could look at Angel. "How many times have you 'just made sure she's safe'? Seriously? Anyway, it's like fries and burgers."

"Either that was an obscure insult I'll need to have explained to me or you've had too many visions and lost your mind."

"Well, ok, it's like this. You know how you go to Burger King and they tell you you'll have a five minute wait on your burger because they don't have any without gherkins and there's no way you're going anywhere near something that contains a pickle dipped in vinegar?" Cordelia asked. Angel remained silent. "Ok, so I guess you don't know much about that. But anyway, they give you the french fries and the drink, to start on while you're waiting. And you like the fries, you really do. They're yummy, even with all the grease and the fat. Then you get your burger and, pfft, forget the fries. You get my point?"

"Uh, no."

"You're the burger! Whoever Buffy's doing the mambo with is just french fries."

"I never thought being compared to a slab of cowflesh would be so comforting."

~~~~

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all." Anya vocalised the only thought any of them could form. "I want this to stop now please."

"Couldn't he be somewhere else? Hiding out perhaps?" Giles tried, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. They were all in his living room, Willow and Tara had reversed any invitation Angel had there.

"And I fought with him. I walked away. I didn't know I was never going to see him again." Anya was wringing her hands. Willow glared at her.

"Don't say that. We're going to see him again."

"Yes, but he'll be dead, and I can't be in love with a dead person because it would smell."

"We don't know Xander's dead." Buffy was pacing. She always paced when she was trying to solve a problem that was too big to address sitting down.

"Yes we do. You all wanted him to babysit Spike, so the basement wouldn't have been safe. They came in and killed him and hid the body and now I don't have a boyfriend."

"Anya, can you do something other then worry?" Buffy didn't ask so much as order."Will, can you get an orb of Thessula, just in case?" her voice was calm, but the calm had a dangerously ragged edge.

"Ok, sure. I'll go to the magic shop and pick one up."

"No, he knows you. I'll go." Tara spoke up. Buffy nodded.

"Right." It was early in the day, the heat of the sun making them all just that little more stressed, on top of everything else. "Make it two."

Tara nodded and left, her footsteps fading into the distance fast as she hurried.

The silence fell like muddy water, choking any words they might have said to reassure each other. Angelus, who had haunted their nightmares for years, was back. Xander was gone. There was nothing to say.

~~~~

Buffy opened the door, stake in hand. Faith was standing there, holding her own Mr Pointy up in a mirror image of Buffy's pose. They exchanged a tight smile at that, then Buffy stepped aside to allow the congregation outside entry. Wesley, looking exhausted from driving, Cordelia, looking much as Cordelia always looked.

"Come in Lind." Faith said, standing by the door. Buffy had to jump out of the way as a blanket with a person under it came through the door quickly.

"Is there time for an explination?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow at the man she'd last seen as a human.

"Spike and Darla have been busy." Lindsey said, trying his best to look non-undead.

"Darla is way dead. I saw her shuffle off this mortal coil, oh, quite a while ago. And you told me you dusted Spike." Buffy said, turning to Faith. Lindsey saved his girlfriend from a potentially horrible situation.

"The law firm I worked for can raise beings from hell. I lost my hand when Darla was brought back." No reason to go into specifics on that one. Abridgement for the sake of brevity.

"Angelus is free. But I suppose you knew that already." Willow came over. Faith did her best not to shrink away from the redhead's gaze. Wesley nodded in reply.

"I'll be back in a minute." Cordelia smiled at the Scoobies, walking back out into the courtyard area. Her voice drifted back inside on the breeze. "Will you just come in already? Oh please don't tell me you're still going to brood. Get in here or.. or.. just get in!"

She walked back to the door, dragging an unwilling companion with her. Buffy, already feeling dazed from everything else that had happened, felt that she might faint.

"Angel?"

Before she could do anything, though, the phone rang. Anya picked it up hesitantly.

"Hello?"

"Isn't it just heartwarming? The gang's all together again."

Buffy picked up the extension as the voice continued.

"Oh, the gang's not all there, are they? Now who could be missing..."

Buffy looked in incomprehension between the telephone and Angel, who was explainging what had happened to Giles. Angelus continued to speak.

"Like this game, Buff? Who should I make the next contestant? How about Rupert... oh wait, I've already tortured him. Your little witch, perhaps?"

Buffy stayed silent, praying Angelus would let something slip.

"You want a clue? I know you do. I've been inside your dreams, your body. I'm kind of like Faith, when you think about it. I've been wondering if I was picking on the wrong Slayer the whole time."

The line went dead.

Buffy turned back to the others.

"I want an explination and I want it right now."

~~~~

"We'll do a sweep of all the places they might be." Buffy said, glad to get into attack mode. Attack mode was clear, with no confusion. Fight, kill, celebrate victory. The rest of her life at that moment was anything but clear. Clarity was needed. Killing some vampires was a ticket to clarity.

"Wait, Buffy. Angelus mentioned Faith. She might be a spy for him." Willow said with a glare towards the dark haired Slayer.

"We don't have time to be suspicious." Lindsey snapped. "Some of us don't like each other. We'll quarrel later. For now, what's the plan?"

"Who are you to talk? What do we know about you, Lindsey?" Willow was on a roll. "I'm not big on the vampire trustin'. Plus you're with this skanky evil person."

"Willow, I'm on your side. If you don't want me to help Xander, fine." Faith was getting irritated.

"Angelus has a point. You're a lot like him. He tortured a Watcher… what have your hobbies been lately, that we know about? Hmm... well I'll be darned, torturing a Watcher."

"Will, this isn't helping." Buffy sighed.

"I'm just saying, her past sets a precedence for trying to raise Angelus, and she's like a female version of him anyway. Trying to kill Xander used to be a feature of her personality. Why on earth are we trusting her?"

"She's being more helpful then you are right now!" Buffy snapped, turning back to her notepad, scribbling out a plan of attack. Willow shut up.

"Hang on. Why did he mention me anyway?" Faith wondered.

"To make us fight." Buffy pushed her hair behind her ears. It fell back down. She scraped it back into a ponytail.

"No, he'd assume we'd do that anyway. There had to be another reason." Faith was silent for a moment. "I think they might be at my old apartment."

"Wouldn't they have to be invited in there?" Buffy asked. Faith shook her head.

"It's not a dwelling place for the living anymore. It's abandoned."

"We'll try there then." Buffy stood up. "Lindsey, Faith and I are going to check it out. Willow, when Tara gets back I want you two to get ready to cast a re-souling. Nobody leaves, and nobody comes in unless it's with one of us. Agreed?"

They all nodded. Buffy picked out a few pieces from the weapons pile and headed towards the door. As she passed Angel she stopped and turned to him, kissing him hard. It was the first time she'd touched him since he'd come through the door. It was all too confusing.

"We'll be back as soon as we can." she promised.

~~~~

Faith had been right. They were hiding out in her old apartment. They could see the lights on from street level, the ragged, rotted remains of curtains drifting through the broken window. Faith shivered.

"Assuming Xander's alive, it'll be one on one." Buffy felt better when she was in charge. Faith and Lindsey nodded.

"I'll take Spike." Faith volunteered. She had one helluva score to settle. Buffy nodded once.

"Lindsey, you take Darla. I'll get Angelus."

Lindsey shook his head.

"He's got a personal score against you. Darla's got one against me. It makes sense not to play their enemies right into their hands. You can take Darla easily and then come fight Angelus with me... I don't think he'll kill me before that."

"All right."

"What if Xander's not ok?" Faith asked. It was a thought almost too strange to vocalise. The Xanders of the world weren't supposed to die.

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." Buffy said, looking up once more at the spill of light and then walking towards the entrance.

~~~~

Giles was pouring himself a brandy. Willow startled him.

"Willow, you startled me!" Giles jumped, then looked down with annoyance at the spilled alcoholic beverage.

"Sorry." she was whispering. "Giles, this isn't an orb of Thessula. I don't know what this is. Tara brought it."

"Well perhaps she was mistaken at the magic shop. All these little devices, they all look similar."

"No, because they keep them behind the counter. She would have had to ask." Willow looked down, her eyebrows doing their best to meet in the middle of her forehead. The little sphere of bubbled glass looked somehow tainted, the refracted light wrong in an undefined way.

"Well, don't do anything with it, give it back to her. We'll wait and see how Buffy manages and then think about this later."

Willow nodded, still looking confused and betrayed.

~~~~

The three vampires turned at the sound of the door opening. Xander was lying on the bed, his condition making Faith's memory flash the sight of Lindsey when Darla and Spike had finished across her mind. His coloring was a little better then Lindsey's, which gave her hope.

Darla went one way, Spike the other. Buffy and Faith charged off, light and dark blurs of speed as they followed their quarries.

"They're so stupid." Angelus said derogatorily. "Even animals know that a pack is stronger and safer then fighting alone. You here to fight me, Lindsey?"

Lindsey gave him a nod, staying by the doorway. Sounds of fighting came from outside and from the left. Spike had jumped through the window, Faith diving after him like a ballet dancer. But in here, there was no fighting, not yet. A standoff.

"Then I guess you're as stupid as Darla and Spike." Angelus's features vamped out unexpectedly. Lindsey debated whether to shift his own features and decided to remain in human form for now. "You've gone good then? I'm so disappointed. You could have been like a son to me."

Angelus prowled in closer. Lindsey held his ground. A good lawyer knows when to attack and when to let the opposition become secure. Lindsey was a damn good lawyer. Whether he could hold his own as a vampire was yet to be seen.

"Nobody said I'd gone good."

"Sure you have, Lindsey." Angelus said conversationally. "You and Faith probably go to 'I tried to be evil and just didn't have the balls' anonymous meetings. I wonder if they have those in LA."

"Just because I haven't done anything recently doesn't –"

"If you're not part of the problem, Lindsey." Angelus cut him off. He was up close to Lindsey now, intimidating his fledgling. Letting him smell Xander's blood all over his clothes. "You're part of the solution."

~~~~

Spike was no match for a vampire Slayer. He knew that already, but his sense of pride wouldn't let him admit it. Slayers had a tendency to whop his ass.

Faith was pummeling three kinds of bruise all over his body. Spike was beginning to understand what she'd meant by him wishing she'd just get it over with. Being pinned to the ground while an insane young woman beat you senseless wasn't much fun.

"I just wanted to have a normal life for a change. I just wanted to live quietly, one day die quietly, and have a long nice nap in my nice QUIET grave." Faith punctuated every few words with a punch. Currently she was working on his left leg. The feeling was almost entirely gone from the limb.

"To be fair, Slayer, you came looking for me."

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Punch punch punch punch punch punch. Spike really regretted opening his mouth.

"You're not reformed and you're never going to be. Evil's in your blood, you stupid cow." Spike dodged a kick to his head.

"Shut up!" Faith screamed, moving on and attacking the already-painful skin on Spike's torso. Raising her stake, she brought it down into his chest with a Slayer's force behind the blow.

"You missed." Spike grinned. Faith smirked.

"Meant to."

~~~~

Buffy was getting bored. Darla was the kind of vampire she hated most – stupid, mouthy and brutish. Usually she killed them right away, but Darla was faster then that type usually were. Parry, dodge, kick, punch, jump back, kick, parry. It was challenging, and made Buffy's head clear a little, but she just wanted to dust Darla and get it over with.

Darla jumped at her and Buffy sidestepped. Buffy dropped into a low roundhouse kick and Darla kicked her in the chin. Buffy punched up and clipped Darla's cheek. Same old, same old.

Somehow the female demon managed to get a hold of Buffy's stake, disarming her.

"Now who's got the power, Buffy?" Darla taunted, stepping out of range of the punch Buffy aimed at her. "I've got the big stick and you're just a helpless little girl."

"Oh, please. I took psych, and I know for sure that my stake is not some kind of Freudian symbol for a phallus." Buffy put her hands on her hips. "Therefore, to be denied my stake does not castrate my power." she jumped up in a high kick, knocking Darla back. She stumbled but regained her footing, grinning at Buffy.

"Yes, but it's much harder to kill me without it, isn't it?"

"Whatever. You bore me." Buffy jumped again and Darla stepped back, expecting another high kick. Instead, Buffy put one ankle either side of Darla's neck and twisted to the right, snapping the vampire's neck. She crumbled into dust.

"Flake." Buffy said, brushing dust off her sleeves. "Honestly, I could teach the world a thing or two about Girl Power. Stake as phallus. What a crock."

She ran off to help Lindsey, hoping he was doing ok on his own.

~~~~

"You told me once about your childhood." Angelus whispered into his ear. Lindsey's hand tightened around the stake in his pocket. It was small, and sharp, and made him nervous. Angelus could just as easily use it against him. "Angel pretended to sleep, but I was listening. I was always listening when you spoke."

Lindsey turned his head to look at Angelus. "Is that a fact?"

"Don't you believe me?"

"I'm not sure trust is something I should consider right now."

Angelus laughed. It was a chilling sound. "You're smart. Sorry that I called you stupid before. And sorry about the hand. Angel gets so testy when people hurt his friends. It's really out of my control... well, it used to be." his was just like the serpent's must have been when Adam bit the apple in Eden.

"So now that you're free, why not just leave and forget about them all?"

"Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey. I would have thought someone like you would understand the concept of revenge."

"Maybe I do." Lindsey said shortly. Angelus laughed again.

~~~~

Spike screamed again. Faith's mouth was set in an expression somewhere between a grin and a wince. Her legs were getting pins and needles, the pressure of Spike's body across them. She'd been playing this little piggy.

"And this little piggy-" Crack. "had roast beef."

"Get it over with you stupid bint." Spike howled as she broke another of his fingers.

"Sorry William old chum. I guess that pesky evil you kept saying I had in me is shining through. I'd forgotten how much fun torture could be."

"Argh!" Spike hated Faith. He hated Buffy. He hated Darla, he hated Angel, he hated Angelus. He hoped Dru had inadvertantly met her end somewhere along the line so that he could patch things up with her when this horrible girl let him die and go to hell to lick his wounds. "Stop. For the love of God stop."

"Love of God? Doesn't it hurt for you to say blasphemy like that?" Faith laughed, snapping his last finger, standing, and reaching into her back pocket, drawing out a flick knife. Spike whimpered.

"Did you know, Spike," Faith said conversationally."That the people of Sparta used to put girl babies outside to kill them? And if they survived a night out in the cold, they would be kept? It sure would suck being a girl Spartan. I bet they grew up to have all sorts of issues."

"I thought they did that to all babies." Spike thought his lung might be bleeding. Kind of a moot point, since he'd be dead soon. Not soon enough though.

Faith shrugged. "Whatever. I gotta do some more reading. Anyway, I was just thinking. The Greeks, they were real big on revenge. I figure I should leave you with something to remember what happens when you hurt people I care about."

Leave him with something? So she was going to let him live?

"Now, which arm was it they put the neutralising chip in?" Faith asked, her tone nonchalant. Spike tried to scoot away from her. Faith smiled and stepped in closer.

~~~~

Wesley looked up from the copy of the New Yorker he'd been pretending to read. "That's it!"

"Do you realise how annoying it is when people say that?" Cordelia asked.

"Angel's not the vampire with a soul in the prophecies."

Angel looked over at his friends. "What do you mean, Wes?"

"He can't be. His human soul is, well, human now, and Angelus is a vampire without a soul, just like all the others. But there is another vampire fighting for good."

"Lindsey." Angel caught where Wesley's train of thought was heading.

"He's bad though, right?" Cordelia asked. "And if he's a vampire, then how'd he get a soul?"

"Perhaps being turned by Angel is different to being turned by a vampire without a soul." Giles speculated, joining in the conversation. It beat listening to Anya rant and rave or watch Willow sit and look at Tara as if Willow was a puppy who'd been kicked.

"No. I don't buy it." Cordelia shook her head. "Even if lawyer guy had been turned into a vampire with a soul, I'm guessing Faith is not an example of abstinence. He'd have long lost it. Trust me, Lindsey's gonna turn out to be a big bunch of bad news in a suit."

~~~~

Lindsey's features vamped out and he growled, low in his throat, at Angelus.

"Smells like Faith's doing some serious damage out there to your friend Spike."

Angelus shrugged. "You want to go help her? You've never killed, have you Lindsey?"

"Not since I was a vampire." he admitted with a shrug. Angelus patted him on the shoulder.

"That's the kind of thing I like to hear."

Lindsey's head movements were small and quick as he kept his eyes on Angelus. A good lawyer always knows exactly where the opposition is going to go next.

This was the way the world ends. Not with a bang, not with a whimper. With a choice. No matter which way he went at this moment, a world would end.

It was just a matter of which world.

The future stretched out in front of him. Hot, wet, and red. Fearless. With Angelus, there would be no intimidation. He would be a winner. Nobody to take away his house. Nobody to read his thoughts and check for treason. No death, that horrible, incomprehensible fact of life that had come steal his big brother, the one he'd hoped to grow up to be just like when they were kids, playing under the apple tree out back.

No Faith.

His sole hand slipped out of his jacket pocket, the tiny stake (no more then a splinter really) concealed in his hand. He put his hand against Angelus' chest and for a fraction of a second the vampire's eyes flashed in triumph. Then the wood connected with the muscle that was his heart.

"I really, really don't like you, evil or not." Lindsey snapped, his face smoothing back into normal lines as Angelus crumbled.

~~~~

"Xander! Are you ok?"

"Hey, Buffy, I was wondering where you'd show." Even in this state, he could still joke. Angelus, Darla and Spike had obviously had their fun, but hadn't yet gotten around to turning the young man.

Xander looked at the two figures behind Buffy.

"Ok, please tell me Faith's good or we have a problem right now."

"It's ok Xander." Faith was covered in blood. It made her look like an accident in a ketchup factory.

"Oh good. When you're bad, I fear you... I feel I should point out that anything I say is a result of blood loss and exhaustion." Xander mumbled. Buffy smiled.

"Ok, Xander Harris, time to get you some rest."

"Not arguing with that."