"Is he still in there?" Buffy whispered as she crouched down.

"Yep." Xander answered quietly.

"And you've never seen him before?"

Xander shook his head and peered around the bushes toward Giles's apartment. "Nope... never. He's a tall, grundgy lookin' guy and he used a key to go in. Like I said, I was on my way home from work and thought I would swing past here and check on things and I saw him just go in like he owned the place."

"That's weird."

"Sure is. Hey, maybe he's a friend of Giles? He was carrying two six-packs."

"Oh yeah.. Giles has a bunch of beer-drinking buddies." Buffy snotted. "They just always stop over here every Friday night to play poker, right after they're done bowling."

Xander grimaced at the sarcasm. "So how we going to do this?"

Buffy stood and smiled. "We're just going to bust in and get the answers."

With that she took off in a run straight for Rupert's apartment door, her momentum barely slowing as she kicked it open and charged in.

The man at the desk merely took another swig of beer and with a wave of the bottle flatly noted. "And I'd wager you're Buffy." Two seconds later Xander came thorough the remains of the door. "And I'd also wager that you be one of her vampire fighting friends. Eemey, meeny, mineey, moe. Which one though, I do not know."

Buffy was not amused. She took a quick glance at the mirror, noted that this jerk had a reflection then came toward him demanding. "Who are you and what are you doing in Giles' apartment?!"

"I told the landlord a bald-faced lie that I was his cousin and would be staying here until he returned." The man lit a cigarette and leaned back in the chair. "I'm Tom Rees, your very own unofficial Watcher. Want a beer? Or should I say do you want some of that weasel water that's marketed as beer around here."

Buffy leaned over into his face. "Helll-loooo! When are you guys going to catch a clue that I don't work for you anymore?" She flung her hands up in the air and turned back toward Harris. "It's another Watcher!"

"Yeah, and I don't think this one was in the top ten in his class."

Rees threw back his head and laughed. "If the truth be known, lad - I wasn't in any ten. They tossed me out on my arse about three months before the end of training."

Xander rubbed his hands together then pointed at Tom. "Let me guess, conduct unbecoming of a Watcher?"

"How did you know?" Rees questioned in false affront.

"Lucky guess." Xander answered through a twisted grin. "Now let me try again, you were messing with magic?"

"Damn! You must have read my sodding file."

"So you're not really a Watcher?" Buffy snotted.

"Remember, I said 'unofficial'." Tom took another puff off his smoke and shook his head. "I believe they sent me here because they didn't want another good one to go belly up. Face it Pet, you're 'ell on Watchers."

"Get out!" Buffy growled. "Get the hell out of here and tell those pricks on the Council that if I ever even..."

"I'm not going anywhere Pet, so just retract your claws and.."

"QUIT CALLING ME THAT!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Time Out!" Xander shouted above both of them as he slid between Tom and Buffy. "How about you tell us what's going on 'cause this 'unofficial' thing has me a little confused."

"I don't give a shit what his story is!" Buffy shouted.

"You better, because your life depends on it."

Both Buffy and Xander turned toward him.

"Now that I got your attention, sit down and I'll tell you the tale." Rees stubbed out the butt of his smoke and reached down beside his chair coming up with two bottles of beer. He sat them down in front of Xander and Buffy. "You'll be needing these."

"Great." Xander muttered under his breath as he pushed a chair up to the desk. He paused to exchange a look with Buffy as she dragged her own seat over beside his. As they both plopped down Rees began:

"Once upon a time there was a Watcher named Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. I knew him, we were in the same group but I never chummed around with him because he was a Lombard."

"A what?" Buffy interrupted.

"Lots of money but a right dickhead." Rees translated. "Anyway this Watcher gets the plum assignment of supervising the one and only Slayer. He doesn't last long before he comes running back to England with his tail between his legs. He is then promptly and without any remorse fired from the position that he had worked all his life for."

"Then he vanishes and we don't hear another word about him until five months ago. That is when another disgraced Watcher by the name of Rupert Giles contacts us with the news that Wesley has been turned. The report was duly noted in the minutes and then filed away in a dusty shoebox."

Tom drained his beer then changed his tone to one of dead seriousness. "Three weeks ago yesterday, Wesley and his Mistress slaughtered his family as they gathered for a birthday dinner. Father, Mother, oldest Sister and her husband and two children along with one future brother-in-law. The second sister managed to escape and flag down a passing lorry." He jaw tightened and spit out the remaining words. "They were never warned! They had not the first goddamned clue that he had been turned!"

"And they invited him in." Buffy whispered.

Xander decided that it was time to open his beer. "Why didn't they tell them?"

"The same reason that they did not inform any of you about his rampage. That is - once someone leaves the fold they are considered persona non grata as are all others in their circle. As far as the Council is concerned they got only what was coming to them."

Buffy inhaled sharply through her clenched teeth. "That's sick."

Rees nodded. "I agree."

"Wait a minute." Xander pointed at Tom and raised an eyebrow. "You said you are in the 'kicked out, don't let the door hit 'ya in the ass' club. So if this is the case why did they send you?"

Tom looked away for a moment then lit another cigarette. "The Council is in the middle of a revolt at the moment. It's been simmering under the surface for years but it came to a head last week when Quentin Travers had a stroke."

"Dead guy?" Buffy asked in a cold tone.

"Not yet." Rees answered just as coldly while making a rotating motion with a down pointing finger. "But last I heard the old sod is circling the drain."

"So there is a bright spot in all this." Buffy sneered.

"You could say that." Tom agreed. "But here's where it gets tricky. I don't know if you realize this Pet, but you have been quite the pain in the arse."

"She knows it." Xander answered.

Tom's shoulders jiggled as he snorted. "Hurrump! I have to tell you, when you quit about one third of the Council wanted to send a wet team to put a bullet in you."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "There's a surprise."

"Another third wanted to just leave you here to die because, since you no longer had a competent Watcher, sooner or later you would make a mistake." Tom flicked an ash into the makeshift ashtray and held up three fingers. "Then about a third thought that you should be kidnapped and dragged back to the Council estate for deprogramming and reprogramming. They even hired this man who used to work in South Africa. Nasty bugger, pro at sleep depravation."

Buffy blinked. "No thanks."

"Then about a third wanted..."

Xander held up four fingers. "Uh... that's four thirds."

"Well, there was some overlap." Tom said with a shrug. "So the final third came to the conclusion that you are doing one 'ell of a job and that you are on the right track. That is, it's about bleedin' time that we caught up with the times. You were the breath of fresh air that blew the dust out of the Council chambers." He leaned over the desk. "Those are the ones who sent me. They couldn't very well enlist a certified Watcher for this because they couldn't trust them." His expression softened a bit. "I know you don't trust the Council, but I'm telling you gospel here - you have to trust me. With any luck, the forward looking members of the Council will win this coup d' état and you will be vindicated."

Buffy shifted in her seat. "And if the good guys don't win?"

Rees shrugged. "Well that wasn't in the handbill. But I promise, I'm here until either you or I die." His mood then darkened considerably. "Which brings us back full circle to Wyndam-Pryce because both my handlers and I believe that he is behind the disappearance and death of both Mr. Giles and Miss Ros..."

"THEY'RE NOT DEAD!" Buffy shouted.

Tom grimaced and shook his head at her outburst. "Why do you believe this?" He asked softly.

"Because they can't be."

"Did Mr. Giles tell you about the vampire that turned Wesley?"

Buffy's brow furrowed at this unexpected question. "Yeah, he said she was some artist vamp who had been around for awhile. So what?"

"'Around for awhile' is a bit of an understatement. We think that she has been around for 2,000 to 2,500 years." Tom said as he stood and went over to Rupert's bookcase. He ran his fingers over the titles, pulled one free and began to leaf through it. "That is if Mr. Giles was correct in his identification, and I believe he was, then our friend Wesley was turned by a Guide who now calls herself Rita."

"So?" Buffy grumped. "I'm telling you vamps did not take them. I know the drill, whenever a vamp or something else does a nasty they have to come around an rub my face in it. That's why I know they are not dead."

"That's standard, for a run of the mill vampire." Tom agreed. "It's one of the weapons we have to fight them, that tendency to come back around and brag." He reseated himself and pushed the book across the desk to Buffy. "But this is not a 'standard' vampire and neither is her student."

Both Xander and Buffy leaned forward and stared at the open page.

"Yeah, Giles showed this to us. He said that there are only three of these Guide things still around." Xander crinkled up his forehead and thought for a second. "And it had him really nervous that Wes was hanging with her."

"Right, he said that between the two of them they would know all the tricks." Buffy added.

Rees rubbed his face and sighed. "Listen to me, and please hear me out. Your friends are dead." He waved a hand at Buffy as she opened her mouth. "I said 'hear me out'!" After a few seconds of 'stare-down' Buffy gave her head a sharp nod and Tom continued.

"Firstly, I have read both men's additions to the Watcher Diaries and I know... as well as you do, the bond that you had with Mr. Giles. There is no way in 'ell that he would have deserted you of his own free will and the same cold, hard fact also applies to your friend Miss Rosenberg."

Buffy bowed her head at what she knew was the truth.

"Secondly, this Guide is not a creature to be taken lightly. I can guarantee you that she is more evil and powerful than any vampire you have ever faced. A vampire becomes a Guide only after a millennium of existence and then only if they are strong enough to control their demon. Most old, old vampires become gnarled and ugly as the sin within them. But not Guides, no Pet... they stay fresh, they keep with the times, they never stop learning and yes, they know every trick in the book because they wrote the book."

"Which leads me to number three. If you had found the torn corpses of your friend and your mentor on the town green you would have been devastated, but you would have someday been able to move on. In the same way if they would have appeared to you as vampires, you could have dealt with this horrific turn of events and eventually would have come to grips with it. But this way is the most ghastly, because you don't know what has happened. Are they imprisoned? Are they being tortured? Are their bodies rotting away in an unmarked grave?"

"I think we got the idea!" Xander interrupted.

"Well then, I'll wrap it up and tie the ribbon." Tom shot back. "Wesley did this to get to you Buffy. Your unshakable support system is what got him fired and I can't see that it is a coincidence that these two vanished on the one year anniversary of that event. He killed them both then stepped away to let you suffer with never knowing what really happened."

Xander let out a long exhale and reached over to take Buffy's hand. She tightened her hand around his and fought back tears. The last ten days had been living hell on her and the others. Angel had come up for a week to help look as had Cordelia. Xander and Anya had searched, Tara had cast spells, even Oz returned to try to quite literally sniff out their whereabouts. Riley had been her rock, patrolling with her as they searched farther and farther afield each day and night.

But they had found not a clue.

She knew the others had whispered among themselves that Willow and Giles were dead but none dared voice this in front of her... until now.

"Buffy?" Xander's whisper brought her back from her thoughts.

"Yeah... I'm okay." She lied, putting her hands up to rub the tears back into her eyes. "So tell me Rees, do you think he turned them?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it. Most likely he took them somewhere and cut them up. I saw the pictures from his kills in London... he's into slaughter."

Buffy's face went to stone. "When I find him, I'll show you 'slaughter'."

(Seven months after "The Risen")

He enjoyed being a predator. For all intents and purposes you could surmise that he was born that way. His teen years were ones of rage as he did what he damn well pleased. Then a watershed event in his early adulthood came so close to casting him into the hell of prison that he realized he must change his tactics.

But the desire to make 'them' pay never left and now, here in a faceless city, away from the small town of his former life, he could act out his bloodlust.

He slipped back into the shadows and watched the drunk stagger toward the bus stop. This one was dressed a little nicer than the usual denizens of this neighborhood. Expensive jeans and what looked like a designer shirt. A lost tourist? Maybe a businessman from hell and gone Kansas? Who knows, who cares... he should have stayed six blocks away in the nightclub district because now he's dead where he stands.

Guess he should have worn something cheap because that eighty dollar shirt was about to become trash.

He let out a long hiss as the thrill of the hunt coursed through him. This reminded him of a kill from ten weeks before. That one had begged... offered up his wallet pictures... a photo series of his smiling brats as proof that he must live.

An uncontrollable smirk arose to his lips at the memory of that one's face as he heard his death sentence in the sarcastic response to his pleas: "So your dick works. Congratulations."

Now what's this? Damn it... why do whores only show up when you don't want them to? He focused in on the scene a half block up. She was circling the drunk, pawing at his crotch...

...Wonderful.

Well maybe it is 'wonderful'. He could take them both. Not exactly what he had planned, but it had been awhile since he had a double header. There they go, back into that alley for a quick blow job - perfect.

Silently he moved in for the kill, pausing at the end of the alley to get his bearings before slipping forward. He heard her murmur something from the far side of a dumpster which was his cue to make the move, for it told him that they were 'occupied'.

His hands went to a pouch sewn inside his jacket and he pulled out a latex Halloween mask in the form of a red devil. He tugged it over his own features and then reached into his pocket for his gun.

Mentally he counted down - three... two... one... and he came around the dumpster with what he perceived as a demon howl.

"Oh baby... don't stop... ooooooo honey you are gooooood." Willow moaned as she sat alone on a stack of pallets filing her blood red nails. She looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Was that suppose to be scary?"

"Well, I certainly am terrified." Rupert deadpanned as he came out of the shadows to the left of the gunman.

"Get over there with the hooker and shutup, asshole!"

Giles ignored him but raised one finger in the air and addressed Willow. "I'll be damned! This must be that... ummmm.. oh what do the tabloids call him? Oh yes! The Satan Serial Slayer."

"Yeah. He shoots them then carves a fake magic sign on their chest... how boring." Willow answered as she slid off the pallets. "So lover, you think he'll be a screamer, a runner, or just stand there and piss himself?

"I think he will be a 'runner'." Rupert dryly offered as he approached.

He couldn't decide if these two were high or just brain dead. The possibility that they were undercover flickered in his head. No... if they had been cops they would have I.D.'ed themselves as soon as he had made his move. This was pissing him off. They were suppose to beg and cry and fall to their knees before they died. He leveled off his gun toward Willow. "Shut the fuck up ho and get back before I..."

Willow licked her lips and finished the sentence. "...kill me? Too late. Been there, done that."

"You fuckers have some kind of death wis.... DAMN!" He spun halfway around as Giles unexpectedly slapped the gun from his hand with a bone breaking strength. Before he could straighten up Rupert took him by the scruff of the neck and tossed him face first into the corner made by the dumpster and the alley wall.

His mind screamed out it's rage, ordering him to kill as he regained his footing. He fumbled in his pants pocket for his switchblade and whirled around to follow the command but there, not six feet away, stood this couple locked in a deep kiss. A trickle of fear went up his spine as they parted and turned toward him for he realized by their stance and the hungry look in their eyes that these two were the true predators.

"I love this part." Willow chirped with a twisted smile.

His blade clattered on the ground and fueled by a sudden adrenaline surge, he tried to scramble up and over the dumpster. Accompanied by a dark laugh Giles yanked him back down and with a crushing force locked his arms behind his back and offered him to Willow.

"Here you go Luv." He said wickedly. "Bon appétit."

Willow reached over and roughly yanked to mask off. With a laugh she tossed it over her shoulder. "Let me show you my 'gurrrrr' face, it's scarier than yours." She gave her head a small shake and morphed.

"I suppose I should also dress for dinner." Rupert dryly noted as he put on his game face. He brought his visage around into the man's line of sight and bared his fangs.

They both lunged for his neck cutting off the scream before it left the throat. He quickly drained, dead before his brain knew it, still quivering with involuntary reflex long after his soul had landed in hell.

"He wasn't very sweet." Willow pouted as she finally stepped away.

Giles withdrew his razored incisors and smacked his lips, savoring the taste. "True, but those who we draw in with this ploy are never innocent." He pushed the corpse to the side, letting it fall into the pallets. "I will say we got quite the prize this time. Perhaps the fine citizens of Los Angeles will give us some sort of certificate of appreciation for taking this one off of the mean streets."

"I'd rather have them bring us a virgin every night." Willow purred as she came up to Giles, rubbing her hands up his chest and draping them over his shoulders. "We could, you know.. make it not a virgin anymore then kill it."

"I like your fantasies." Rupert growled as his own hands swept down her back to cup her buttocks and bring her frame hard up against his. "Tell me more."

"What'cha want me to tell you?" She teased, grinding her body back and forth across him. "Or maybe we can go back to our lair and I'll 'show' you instead of 'telling' you."

"That sounds like a splendid idea." Giles agreed as he lifted her head up for another searching kiss. Both murmured out their rising lust as Willow tightened her arms around his shoulders and pulled herself up onto him.

Breaking free of the kiss, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pushed herself even higher bringing her breasts into his face. Her short skirt rode up to her hips and Rupert's hands locked together under her bare rump as he leaned back to brace himself against the dumpster.

Giles lowered his face into the cleavage. "Mmmmm....Vixen."

Willow rubbed her cheek through his hair. "We could do it here."

"Tease..."

"Complaining or asking?"

He bent over and released his hold around her bottom as a sign that she should let go. Giles turned her around and slid his hands under her arms and fondled the underside of her breasts. "Does this feel like I have a 'complaint'?" He asked as he ground the bulge of his erection into her back.

"Then you must be 'asking'." Willow purred. She wiggled out of his grasp and scanned the alleyway for a brief moment. "You're gonna have to move." She told the corpse while pushing it off the pallet stack.

As she reached around to unzip her skirt Giles stopped her motion. "Leave it on."

Willow's expression went to a dark pout. "I though that we..."

Giles cut her off with a biting kiss that came in tandem with his picking her up and slamming her down onto the pallets. He pushed her back flat and stood licking his lips as his hands went to his fly.

With a wicked laugh Willow braced her spike heels on the edge of the skid and let her legs drift apart and then back together offering and then denying him a glimpse of herself.

Giles pushed his jeans off his hips releasing his cock. He took the half step forward that separated them, slid his arms under the crook of her knees, pulled her upward to his level and rammed into her.

The pleasure of that first thrust caused both to groan as they drew in and gasped out unneeded breath. Giles moved both of her legs to one shoulder, turning her ever so slightly and paused to rub his free hand down her leg from ankle to hip, stopping to play with the elastic on her thigh high hose.

"Now who's teasing?" Willow hissed, gyrating her hips to drive him deeper into her.

"I am." Giles hissed as he started to slowly pump. But both knew this was an idle boast as their desire for gratification squared with each passing second. The pace quickened and Willow began to moan, her hands pulling her top up to reveal her breasts spilling out of the black lace bra.

Giles morphed and hissed with raw emotion as Willow began to stroke and tweak her own nipples whose outlines were visible through the thin material. She abandoned her breasts and walked the fingers of one hand down her body and began to torment her clitoris while bringing the fingers of her other hand to her lips. Giles groaned as he watched her suck and lick each finger in turn mimicking the motions of oral sex.

He felt her approaching release as she began to throb and tighten around his shaft. She was on the edge, her guttural cries echoed in his ears and he met each thrust oh her hips with a countering stroke driving her pleasure to the point of no return.

Willow's hard come sent his senses reeling. He tried to keep the cadence going to extend his pleasure but the full sensory overload was overwhelming: The taste of blood still in his mouth, the sight and the feel of her writhing before him, and the scent and sound of sex which permeated the air. He screamed out his own orgasm as he flooded her with his stream of cold semen.

As they slowly came down from the plateau Willow pulled her legs free of his grasp and sat up. "You know what?" She cooed, watching as he pulled his jeans back up.

"What, Luv?"

"I could kick myself for not jumping on you years ago." She gave her hair a toss. "But we all thought that, you know... you were so full of that Watcher thing that you would never do it."

"Are you saying that my ability to have a good fuck was discussed?"

"Yeah.. kinda." Willow said with a shrug. "Buffy and I talked about it when you were seeing Jenny."

Rupert lit a cigarette and frowned. "And the two of you decided that I would be a worthless screw?"

"Who knows what she was thinking." Willow slid off the pallets, took the smoke from his hand and had a drag. "But it got me thinking about how sexy you were." She handed his cig back to him and smiled innocently. "But I had that thing going with Oz and I was a good girl back then."

"I see." Giles muttered. He tried to avoid thinking about Sunnydale and the living souls who still occupied its borders. Not because of any homesickness or desire to return to his old life, but instead he simply despised them all for what they stood for - light, righteousness, conscience and the 'good fight' against the darkness. How infuriatingly absurd, the way they continued on with their pitiful little lives preoccupied with the things that go "bump" in the Sunnydale night.

"Ever wonder what Buffy's doing? It was kinda strange that she never came looking for us."

Rupert's eyes found the dropped switchblade and with a grunt he snatched it up from the ground.

"What's the matter, Lover?" Willow asked as he moved like a storm cloud toward the empty vessel.

"I'd wager she forgot about us within a fortnight..."

"Huh?"

"...now and it's time to jog her memory."

He slid the knife under the corpse's shirt and slit the material from hem to collar. "Let's see... it must be something simple... a message that even 'she' would understand."

"How about 'Hi Buffy!'?" Willow snickered.

The corner of Rupert's lip curled upward into a sneering smile. "I was considering just signing our work 'Thinking of you' and our initials."

"Do both." Willow said wickedly. "Then we'll drive up to Sunnydale and dump this guy in her front yard."

Giles began to carve the words into the man's chest. "Too overt, I'm not foolish enough to believe that we are strong enough to face her.. yet. Instead we will let this filter back to her via that policewoman and our friend Angel. Remember what Mistress said - better to be patient and just occasionally fray their nerves while waiting for the proper time."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause we have more 'time' than they do. I'm just getting tired of all this waiting around crap. I wanna go back to Sunnydale and make them scream... now, not ten years from now."

"I agree." Rupert confessed. "But for the foreseeable future we have to honor our position down here."

"All right.... damn. Guess we'll have to just be happy with rattling her cage. That's cool." Willow leaned up against the alley wall and watched Giles finish his handiwork. "So we gonna go 'nightclubbing party' or we gonna go back home and 'naked party'?"

"Naked party." Rupert answered with an air kiss in her direction. He plunged the knife to the hilt into the man's stomach to punctuate his message. "Now for those nasty fingerprints." He mumbled taking his handkerchief out and wiping down the handle. "There Luv, a work of art if must say so myself."

Arm in arm the two made their way back to their car, pausing occasionally to kiss and touch and inflame each other with vivid descriptions of what the rest of the night would bring. They continued the titillation for the entire thirty minute trip back to their lair and by the time they reached the door to their flat in the Wolfram Building, both were shaking with unbridled lust.

Rupert swung Willow through the door and pinned her against the wall with a kiss. She responded by grinding into his body and reaching around to pull his shirt free.

"Oh don't mine me..."

Rupert turned around and glared at Wesley who sat in an easy chair taking in the scene with obvious amusement.

"...I have a minute or so to spare, so Mr. Giles, feel free to go ahead and finish up." Wesley laughed at his insinuation then took it a step further. "Oh what the hell, try to last a full three before you pop."

"Get... out!" Giles snarled as his vampire face bloomed.

"That is not a very mannerly greeting."

"A thousand pardons..." Rupert snotted, coming across the room. "...I will make sure I throw you through that wall in a 'mannerly' fashion."

Wesley didn't move an inch. "Are we a little grumpy this evening?" He cocked his head and looked around Giles toward Willow. "Hello, my dear. How have you been?"

"Okay. We just went out to eat." Willow grumbled. "Then we came back here to get horizontal but you messed that up."

"What a shame." Wesley said flatly. "But I have a much more interesting diversion for you."

Rupert stopped his advance and scowled at Wesley. "What do you want?!"

"Willow...." Wesley answered in a suggestive tone. He paused as Giles drew in a hiss then continued. "...and you Rupert, so relax. I'm here for business not pleasure."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Like what?"

"It's time to bring Angelus back into the fold."

Both Giles and Willow arched an eyebrow.

Wesley leaned forward and began to clean his glasses. "I see I got your attention."

Giles nodded faintly as his game face faded. "Somewhat."

"I've been giving this a lot of thought and I believe that I've come up with a splendid plan. Would you care to hear it?"

"What plan?" Willow snotted as she came across the room and draped herself into the love seat. "We don't need a plan... we know what will change him. He gets the big happy and.." She raised her hand and waved good-bye. "...bye-bye Mr. Soulful, hello Mr. Bad Boy." Then with a pat on the arm of the divan she cooed to Rupert. "Speaking of 'bad boys'... come her and sit with me."

"As long as he just 'sits'." Wesley spit.

Rupert shot Wesley a look and sat down beside Willow. "I'll do as I damn well please." He challenged, drawing her into his lap.

Wesley drew in a deep breath just to hiss it back out in exasperation as Rupert began to nibble on Willow's neck. "Yes.. yes.. your lair, your female, your usual vexing logic. But may I point out that you owe it all to Mistress Rita's generosity. If it was not for her you would be living in the sewer, pimping out Willow for your cigarette money."

Rupert raised his head and sneered. "Guess that makes me the luckiest sod on the planet."

"May we get back to business?"

"What business? There isn't any 'business'." Giles grumbled as he slid Willow back off his lap and reached into his shirt pocket for his smokes and fire. "Angel cannot lose his soul without Buffy and.." He flicked his lighter into life, lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. "...and I can't see Buffy laying down for him."

"Forget the soul, forget Buffy."

With a small shake of his head Giles leaned back into the couch and made a motion for Wesley to continue.

"The soul has nothing to do with it." Wesley said with a twisted smile. "Like I stated, before I was so rudely interrupted; I've been giving this a lot of thought and have come to the conclusion that having a soul will make him even more wicked, because when he turns to evil it will be of his own free will."

"Think about it. Just in the last twenty-five years we have had the genocide of Rwanda, The Balkans, Cambodia, and East Timor, just to name a few. These events can all be iced with the violence of random terrorism against the innocent as jetliners come falling from the sky into sleepy villages, car bombs in the marketplace, children burned to death in their beds because their family lives in the wrong end of town...."

"So? Get to the point." Giles interrupted as he flicked an ash off into the pot of the silk fig tree beside him.

Willow frowned and gave him a poke with her elbow. "Don't do that!"

"Then get me an ashtray." Rupert muttered. "Or two.. since this seems to be heading into one of Wesley's endless dissertations."

"May I continue?!" Wesley snapped. "The 'point' is that all the perpetrators of these actions had souls and were also endowed with that 'still small voice' which told them right from wrong." He stood and began to pace. "This came to me a few weeks ago and it makes sense. It's not the soul that controls Angel, it's his fear of further damnation and that fear is what gives him the strength to control his demon."

Giles rubbed his chin and gave the idea a grudging consideration. "It has been theorized that human good springs not so much from the desire to be virtuous, but rather it is fueled by the fear of getting caught by the lawgivers."

"That's what kept me on that old straight, narrow and boring path." Willow admitted, handing off the ashtray to Giles.

Wesley nodded. "As it is for the lion's share of humanity. But what is it that makes a person step over the line? Why would a man suddenly quit patching his roof and instead use the hammer to bash out his neighbor's brains, just because this unfortunate was of a different tribe? What causes a woman to betray her sister-in-law of twenty years and laugh as she is being dragged away, her only crime being she calls God by a different name?"

"A lot of factors. Mob mentality, jealousy, spite.. these could all be the trigger." Giles said with rising interest in the track the conversation was taking.

"And underneath it all is the feeling that one is an outsider, condemned to stand on the sidelines and watch as 'they' get the brass ring." Wesley rubbed his hands together. "Angel will never get the brass ring. He will never be totally a part of the group. He will never be human. It's a cold hard fact that no matter how many honorable deeds he places on the ledger, he still craves warm human blood. And I can tell you as a fact he still enjoys the kill, for I have personally seen the pleasure in his eyes when he dispatches a kinsman to hell."

Giles went over to the bookcase and scanned the titles. "So we show him the folly of his ways." He picked a book out and began to leaf through it. "Mmmmm.... redirect his murderous instinct back to where it belongs."

"Correct. We just need to push him over the edge once and then his demon will again be in command. That's why I'm here." Wesley motioned toward the books and then toward Willow's computer. "The two of you have both the resources and the skill to do this job. Mistress and I have heard what fine work you have been doing for Karl, he reported to us that he doesn't know how he ever functioned without your magics."

Giles dismissed the overblown compliment. "That goes without saying." He handed Willow the book and tapped at a page. "Truth Manes. These could be just what we are looking for."

Willow pursed her lips. "I like that, Lover. We could send them to him in a dream." With a giggle she ran her finger down the words. "Piss him off by showing him all the stuff he doesn't like to think about, like Buffy screwing Riley."

"And all the people who have died because of his failures." Giles added.

"And everything he cannot have." Wesley interjected. "Love, sun, family and friends to grow old with... all the joys that he will never taste for he is an outsider in the world of the breathers."

"Yessssss... breathers." Giles hissed. "Add a spell to make his senses even sharper. Let him hear and feel and taste how different he is from all those around him. Use the heartbeats of all those within a block of him to hammer home the actuality of his alien status."

Willow morphed, her eyes glowing yellow in anticipation of the evil she was about to put into motion. "Coooool! Let's do it now!"

* * * * *

"Mission accomplished, Mistress, and how did your endeavors fare?"

Rita straightened up from the boardwalk railing and greeted her apprentice with a nod. "Very good and very well." With a wave of her hand she motioned toward a cruise ship being escorted into the Port of Los Angeles. "We will have good hunting for the next two nights. I can see right now that a pair of young, tender stewards will not be returning to their stations."

"Blast!" Wesley spit, settling in beside her. "I already fed. Took advantage of a quick and easy kill on the way back."

"Ummm... that's a shame." She said with mock lament while rubbing her hands up his body in a slow, sinuous motion bringing them up to cup the back of his head and draw him downward for a searching kiss.

A full minute passed before she pulled away with a wordless murmur, pausing to flick the end of her tongue across his lips. "The taste of blood is still on your lips." Rita lowered her head and brushed her face across his chest. "And all over you is the scent of sorcery... and the bouquet of her... and the aroma of him." She ran a finger down his cheek. "A little ménage à trois for the afternoon?"

"That's being a tad bit too proper." Wesley smirked. "A more apt description would be a full blown Roman orgy in celebration of a successful casting."

"Tell me acolyte, what wicked things did the three of you do?" She purred.

Wesley caught her hand and gave the fingers a nibbling kiss. "In regard to the sorcery or the orgy?"

"Sorcery... for now."

"Truth manes." Wesley said with a devilish air. "They will haunt our friend Angel in both his dreams and his days, picking away at his veneer of righteousness, showing him that no matter what he does he is still a failure as both a man and as a vampire."

As if he was relating an amusing tale he paused to chuckle under his breath before continuing.

"That was the first wave which hit him in the predawn. Then, a few hours later, Rupert and Willow conjured up a bodiless imp to hover behind him. This spirit was commissioned to whisper into his ear the most unnerving commentary in regard to the scenes which are passing before his eyes. It will murmur such things as: Why go on this way - would taking one be such a crime? They used you, no reason to morn them for they deserved to die. And my personal favorite - Remember the pleasure of the kill? Admit it... you crave.. you need... you lust for the release that comes with the taste of hot blood. You confessed it to 'them' once before so why live a lie?"

Rita's dark laugh cut through the air. "Perfect! To stay sane he will have to send his conscience packing and give his demon free rein."

"Or stand on the rooftop to watch the sunrise." Wesley considered. "Either way Angel Investigations will be out of business. We should know by tomorrow which way he will go, for tonight the coup de grace will present itself in the form of a pair of malevolent jinn."

"Which will do what?"

Wesley rubbed his hands together. "One will show him bitter lies with just enough of a touch of truth in them that he will become increasing distraught. The other will magnify his senses to the point that he feels the need to hide in a dark tomb away from the overwhelming sound, scent and taste of the living."

Rita pursed her lips and made a ticking noise. "That might be a bit over the top. When that happens he will know that he's being hexed rather than just losing his mind. Cancel that last bit of torment."

"Mmmmm... there might be a problem with that."

"Why?" Rita asked in an annoyed tone.

"Well Mistress, the deed has already been done." Wesley sighed and prepared himself for his mentor's censure.

"Fix it." She snapped.

"Begging Mistress's pardon, but to attempt that would muddle the everything up." Wesley countered. "You see, all the components of this casting were layered upon each other then cloaked by putting them under the guardianship of a demon called Infusco. At this stage of the game we would have to resummon Infusco who would politely dump the whole thing into the rubbish and then we would be back to square one."

"Are your identities are well hidden?" Rita questioned in a growl.

"Absolutely."

"We cannot let them know that we have returned. That was my mandate from the beginning - 'they stay in the dark until we are finished here'." Her eyes narrowed. "Could he breach this spell? Does he have access to another sorcerer?"

Wesley shook his head. "No Mistress. I am aware of Angel's talents and rest assured is no way that he could break through our shield." He licked his lips and smiled. "And remember, we have taken their conjurers as our own."

"Not all of them, or have you forgotten about the clairvoyant?" Rita pointed out. "She was the one who set them on our trail a year ago."

"Even 'if' she would have a vision, Cordelia would not see the entire conspiracy laid out before her." Wesley huffed.

"Are you sure?"

Wesley shifted on his feet as a small bit of doubt nagged at him. He leaned on the rail and considered the likelihood of the plan going sour due to one of Cordelia's visions. "Mistress I appreciate your council, and I must confess that while planning this scheme I dismissed Cordelia's so called 'gift' as not worthy of much more than a passing thought."

Rita met this statement with a glare. "And how do you plan on rectifying this?"

Wesley bit his lip for a moment then returned her gaze. "I will take her out of the equation, posthaste. Burn her out of her flat in the wee hours. I guarantee you Mistress Rita, Cordelia Chase will be dead by morning."

"I will hold you to that." Rita said with not a small amount of threat. She motioned for him to follow and began her way down the waterfront toward the freighter which was both their lair and mode of travel in the past year. "We are attending a meeting tonight at 8:30 with the representatives from the Si-Fi Convention."

Wesley fell in step with her, grateful for both the veiled permission to carry through with his plans and the change in topic. "I take it they were pleased at your offer?"

Rita's mood lightened. "They did handstands over my choice of using their venue for my farewell appearance." She gave him a sly glance. "The painting? I'm auctioning it off with all proceeds to go to the Red Cross Blood Bank."

"You always were one to give back to the community." Wesley deadpanned sending his dark Guide into a snickering laugh as they went up the gangplank of the freighter.

"Last Call." Rita smirked out the title of her final work. "If they only knew that those portrayed in this have taken more blood than they have ever collected."

Wesley opened the door to their suite and stepped back for her to enter. "We shall keep it our little secret, Mistress."

"Where is he?!"

Cordelia theatrically shrugged.

Kate came into Angel's inner office, tapping a manila envelope in her palm. "I need to see him... now."

"He's down in the sewer somewhere PMS'ing, at least for a few more minutes then he can go sit on a park bench and be pissy." Cordelia spit. "Go look yourself because I'm not going to go get my head bit off again." She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a stake. "Here, you might need this."

"Are you joking?" Kate asked with a touch of suspicion.

"Yeah, I'm kidding. But not by much. He came upstairs late this morning looking like death warmed over... but that's normal because he's like 'duh' dead every morning, and when I said 'Hi' he grouched at me." Cordelia fiddled with the stake for a moment and then tossed it back into the drawer. "And he was a bear all day. Like, we have three jobs that he should be working on but 'noooooo' he'd rather hang around here doing the big sulk. I pointed this out to him and it really went downhill from there. He went stomping out about three hours ago when I told him that I was going to grind up some prozac and put it in his supper sippy-cup."

Kate kept her composure. "What do you think is wrong with him?"

"How should I know? Maybe he got up on the wrong side of the coffin." Cordy offered with a wave of her hand as she stood.

"Was he acting odd yesterday?" Kate inquired offhandedly.

Cordelia's brow furrowed as she thought. "Nope, yesterday he acted like a normal two hundred year and thirty year old vampire. Maybe he's having a mid-life crisis thing."

"Did you go out with him last night..."

"Like I'm going to date my undead, unwealthy boss? Right. Come on Kate, I have better taste than that." Cordy interrupted.

Kate rolled her eyes. "I mean.. did you go out to help him with a job or was he alone?"

"I left at 5:00 because 'I' have a life. But he went out to try to find this con man who took some old lady's money."

Lockley nodded slightly. "So did he find this guy?"

"Don't think so."

"So maybe something happened overnight?" The detective needled.

Cordelia let out an exasperated puff of air which blew her bangs straight up. "Something happens to him every night. He's a 'something weird happens' magnet."

"I'm going to check downstairs." Lockley announced.

Cordelia stood and flipped her hair. "Suit yourself. I'm going home. Just answer the phone in case someone else wants to hire us to do nothing." This said she swept past Kate and headed to her desk to retrieve her purse. Something clicked in her mind and she took a glance up at the detective who seemed to be waiting on her to leave. "Ah... did you just give me the third degree?"

The faintest smile flickered across Kate's face as she held up the manila envelope. "Could be."

"Uh... why?" Cordelia asked, tossing her purse back down. "Duh! You know that I'd tell..."

"Do you know a 'Buffy'?"

Cordelia made a squeaking noise.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"Yes... no.. yes... ah..." Cordelia hedged as her attention focused in to the envelope. "You know, every time you show up with one of those there's a picture of an extremely dead guy in it."

Kate tapped the envelope in her palm.

"Holes in the neck kind of dead guy." Cordy gulped.

The silence was deafening.

Kate ran her finger down the side of the envelope. "Do you know someone with the initials, 'R. G. W.'?"

"No." Cordelia said truthfully. "What's going on? Why did you ask about Buffy? Is that a picture of.. OhmyGod! Buffy's been... oh shit... Angel will go ballistic!"

As Cordy stammered Kate opened the envelope and laid three pictures out on her desk. "Is this man a client of yours?"

"Oh good... back to dead guy, not dead Buffy." Cordelia cocked her head to one side and wrinkled her nose. "Somebody got our logo all wrong. Ick."

"Your logo is only part of the note, carved there in lieu of Angel's name." Kate said in a frosty voice while pointing at the same sliced into the cadaver's chest. She drew her finger downward. "I'll read you the message Miss Chase and then you tell me what it means. 'To Buffy and 'Angel' - A bonus - Hell's advance guard - Love, R.G.W.'." Her eyes narrowed. "Plus two sets of puncture wounds."

Cordelia sat down.

"Any of Angel's creations back in town?"

"Now that you mention it, he... he is acting weird... just like when that Penn guy showed up." Cordelia muttered under her breath.

"So who's R.G.W.?" Kate hissed.

"I don't know... Angel was like really into killing people for the first 130 years." Cordelia shrugged. "It's not like he's made a list." She grimaced and gave Kate a sheepish sidelong glance. "I probably shouldn't have mentioned that, huh?"

"I already knew it."

The voice whispered into Angel's mind. "See? She's just as bad as you are, letting a murderer like yourself run free. What hypocrisy. She's just using you..."

Angel gave his head a hard shake and stepped out of the stairwell. "Well, in answer to your question Kate, just off the top of my head there was a Roger Whitehead, a Ralph Weitendorf and a Raymond Wolaver." He paused and rubbed his forehead. "I can't remember what their middle names were, it probably never came up in the conversation. But unfortunately there were more 'Roberts' then you could count and the same with 'Richards'. Just too many possibilities to go with the first initial of 'R', too bad it's not Z.G.W."

"Are you trying to be funny?" Kate snapped. "Because if you are I can tell you now, I'm not seeing any humor in it."

"I can see your tail's not wagging." He snotted while coming across the room.

The sarcastic tone caused Cordy and Kate to exchange glances. As covertly as possible Cordelia opened her desk drawer and pulled out a wooden cross.

Angel caught the motion. "Put that thing back." He growled as the taunting voice said. "She really doesn't trust you. You know one of these days she's going to stake you while you are at rest."

"Angel? Are you okay?" Cordelia said with a gulp.

Faces began to flash in front of his eyes of those he murdered during his Sunnydale incarnation of Angelus. "But why should she trust you? You are a killer." The sprite murmured into the edge of his consciousness.

"And so are those you turned, and so are those you failed." Another voice added as a jinn offered a misleading vision of Wyndam-Pryce heaving Rupert's bloody corpse into a dry well. "At least someone has a handle on the torture. You could not break him but Wesley could. He sang like a bird... gave up all his secrets.. died screaming for mercy."

Angel began to weave on his feet. "Chain me up. Not the bed this time, something more solid."

Kate took an instinctive step back. "What's going on?"

"I don't know... something's.... something's trying to possess..." Like a breaking wave the sound of the two woman's heartbeats filled the room. Angel covered his ears and morphed. "DO IT NOW!" He screamed.

"The elevator!" Cordelia shouted. "Get in there and don't do anything vampy!"

Within him the demon raged, demanding a tribute of warm blood while his conscience struggled to regain control. A choir of voices swirled through his head, each offering another reason as to why he should just give up and accept his true nature. Angel bent double and pressed his hands tighter over his ears trying to block out the clamor. "Shut up.. SHUT UP... SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Kate and Cordelia froze in their tracks as the vampire battled his demon, his nature zigzagging back and forth between Angel and Angelus. Again he shrieked out a profanity laced command, ordering the bedlam within him to cease. He doubled up a fist and slammed it into the wall... once, twice and then a third time beating completely through the inner and outer walls.

The pain from his broken and torn hand shot through him, momentarily pushing aside the battle for his being . Angel whirled around and staggered toward the elevator. "Get the chains... hurry." He groaned, latching on to this moment of internal respite.

Cordy was off like a shot toward the stairwell. "Meet you downstairs! Kate! Give me a hand!"

By the time the elevator hit its terminus in Angel's lair Cordelia was there with a box of restraints. She took a deep breath, shoved the latticework grate back and stared at Angel. The vampire lowered himself into the corner and gripped the mesh of steel which comprised the elevator cage. "Use everything we've got. Wrap it around my body, padlock it at the crosspoints, don't give me any slack in the bindings."

"The usual." Cordelia muttered.

Kate dropped another half dozen chains onto the floor of the elevator. "The 'usual'? I take it you've done this before."

"Yeah... I'm getting real good at boss bondage. This one is new though, the other times we did it to him in bed. How's that for a resume item?" Cordelia said as a matter of fact while she snapped a shackle around Angel's wrist and wove the chain through the grating and back around his body. "Hand me a padlock out of that box."

"You will be helpless... they will destroy you... fight while you can." The imp whispered.

Angel tightened his hold on the grate, growling in response to the spasms of pain which shot out of his abused hand.

"You did a number on that." Lockley noted with a nod toward the self-inflicted injuries. She pulled her handcuffs out of her jacket pocket and gingerly snapped it around his wrist. "These will..."

"No!" Angel pulled his hand back. "I can break those.. damnit! I need the wide manacle you stupid..." He turned away from her, hissing through clenched his teeth as he swallowed the insult.

"Bitch." The jinn said filling in the missing slur. "You should have said it... it fits. She's a cur. Smell her fear, listen to her heart race. She is afraid of you.. a pitiful little cur bitch and you are submitting to her? But you have a history of being pussy-whipped."

An apparition began to form in Angel's mind of Buffy's face as her features twisted into a picture of rapture. The vision solidified to show her head tossing back and forth on a pillow as a man's hands pulled her upward, drowning out her orgasmic cries with a kiss.

"She doesn't even think of you anymore." The creature mocked. "You should have drained her dry when you had the chance."

Angel's voice became a whimper. "Hurry.... for God's sake.... hurry..."

"This exit." Buffy yawned. "Then turn right."

"Glad you know where we're going." Rees acknowledged, giving the turn signal a flip. "And doubly glad you stayed awake to navigate." He gave his head a toss toward the backseat. "Unlike the three little kittens back there."

Despite her frame of mind Buffy laughed at the observation. She turned halfway around in her seat and took in the sight of Xander, Anya and Riley using each other as a pillow as they snoozed away.

"Yes, pet. They are quite the fighting machine, providing they get their nap time in." Tom said as he stretched a bit while they waited out the light at the end of the ramp. "They will be so rested up that we'll be able to sit back and have a pint or two while they take care of this mess."

As they began moving again Buffy shifted in her seat as the reason for their middle of the night dash to Los Angeles came roaring back. "Can you really break this spell?" She questioned. "It sounds like a bad one, it had Cordelia really wigging out."

"Black magic is my specialty."

"Yeah, I know that's what got you thrown out of Watcher school, but..." She stopped and shook her head.

"But what? Finish your sentences pet. I'm a sorcerer not a psychic."

"Would you quit calling me that?" Buffy asked for the millionth time in seven months.

"As you wish, pet." Tom grinned. "Now, as you were saying?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Mmmmmmm?"

"All right, all right.... 'but' Tara says that you need to think things through a little better."

"Oh what's she know?" Tom said, dismissing the comment with a wave of his hand. "Tara is afraid to take a chance." He grunted out a syllable or two to show his annoyance. "If we would have continued on for just another sodding minute we could have broken through that barrier and found out what Wyndam-Pryce did to Giles and Rosenberg. But, hell no... one little rotting corpse appears and she backs out."

"Right... one little corpse, darn her anyway." Buffy sniped.

Tom let out a huge sigh. "Oh well, water under the bridge. So how much further?"

"Long ways. We have another twenty-five - thirty minutes so just keep driving. Hope we aren't too late."

Rees checked the dashboard clock. "We've made good time, look... four is barely gone."

"Will you hurry up? We have wasted too much time already or haven't you noticed that four is gone?"

Rupert leaned up against the tunnel wall, flicked the spent match toward Wesley and took a deep drag off his cigarette. "Don't go into one on me." He said through the smoke before straightening up and continuing down the passageway. "So relax, we have plenty of time."

"Plenty of time for it to go tits up." Wesley growled. "Cordelia did not go home so consequently she is still at the office 'and' if she is still at the office at this time of night it can only mean that she is immersed in research to..."

"Or it means that our long lost acquaintance Angelus has come back and she's currently slumped across her desk with a broken neck." Giles interrupted.

"You're just trying to cheer me up." Wesley said dryly.

The corner of Rupert's lips curled upward into a thin smile, his amusement springing half from the response and half from the fact that Wesley had come to him for assistance. Oh, this was one favor that he would hold over 'The Acolyte's' head for a long time. He took a sidelong glance at his companion, wondering why on earth he was so driven to kill Cordelia. Twenty-four hours earlier her name had not even come up, but now she was the number one focus.

"We are getting close, so put that thing out." Wesley ordered.

"As you wish... 'Acolyte'." Giles said mockingly, flicking the cigarette away.

Wesley's eyes narrowed. "Watch your tone."

"A thousand pardons.... sire." Giles said without sincerity. "But maybe, just maybe I would be more enthusiastic if you would tell me what brought about this evening's crusade."

"Mistress Rita wants Cordelia dead, I told you that already." Wesley stated flatly.

"And what Mistress wants, Mistress gets." Giles added wickedly. "So I take it she just got up from her rest this evening and decided this. No warning. No reason. No unforeseen circumstances." He twisted up a smile. "Or as that corporate slogan states 'just do it'."

Wesley suddenly stopped and pointed down a cross tunnel toward a faint beam of light emitting from the ceiling. "There it is. Now if you are finished being an unbearable ass may we get on with our duty?"

Giles let out a low chuckle. "You forgot about her visions, didn't you?"

"No... I... did... not." Wesley ground out each word in a display of barely controlled anger. "The subject is now closed. Have I made myself clear, minion?"

"Minion." Giles echoed. He worked his jaw and glared at Wyndam-Pryce. "Pulling rank I see."

"If that is what it takes to get you back on track, yes I am." Wesley snapped.

"Now that 'that' is settled." Rupert hissed under his breath, leaving the rest of the statement to hang in the air as he moved past Wesley toward the shaft of light. He grabbed the ladder and climbed up toward the heavy cast iron grating.

Angel's angry voice exploded from above as he battled the inner demon.

Rupert's eyes lit up at the sound for in it he found proof that he and Willow's casting had been successful. He gave the grate a push, silently moving it upward a fraction of an inch before the bolt wedged in the hasp stopped the progress. Moving to the side of the ladder he hung there by one arm, braced by one foot on a rung and motioned for Wesley to join him.

"It's latched tight, just like you predicted." Giles reported in a bare whisper. "But listen to that bugger. He's going through living hell."

Wesley nodded and moved up another rung mumbling. "Of course, on both counts."

Rupert put his palm on the grate and tested its weight. "I believe that between the two of us we could force it. It would make a terrible racket, but with what is going on up there we would be on them before they could counteract."

"Perhaps." Wesley said softly. He cocked his head to one side and put his finger to his lips. "Things are settling down, so first a bit of reconnaissance to find out what's going on."

The simmering rivalry in their natures ebbed, replaced by the dark thrill of the hunt. Side by side they hung there like a pair of bats listening to the conversation which came down from above.

Angel shuddered, sending his chains rattling. "I'm in control again, for now." He groaned.

"If you say so." Cordelia commented. "But how would we know?"

"You wouldn't, you can't."

"Thank you for that great big confidence booster." Cordy shot back.

Wesley bared his human teeth and moved downward a rung. "They have him chained and from the sound of it he's somewhere in the living area. Damn it to the pit, this entrance is to close to them for a blitz attack."

Rupert mirrored the evil expression. "They would run straight up the stairs."

"So where are they?" Kate grumbled. "They said they would be here by 4:00."

"Who knows?!" Cordelia sighed, plopping down in a chair. "Maybe they had to stop at the twenty-four hour voodoo outlet."

Wesley and Rupert exchanged dark glances.

"Have you ever met this Rees?" Kate asked.

"Nope... all I know is what Buffy told me on the phone. She said that he's way into this magic crap, even more than Giles was." She leaned back onto the couch. "Angel's talked to him a bunch of times and met with him once. But like he would tell me what it was about?" She raised her hand and examined a nail. "Nope, I just answer the phone and transfer the call."

"All right." Angel groused. "First time he called me to find out... ask where I stood with Buffy. Then he called a few times to discuss demonic behavior." He paused and growled as the hex hit him with visions of Buffy and taunting voices danced through his mind.

Wesley leaned toward Giles. "This bodes ill. Who is this Rees?"

Giles shook his head.

Through gritted teeth Angel answered the unheard question. Two months ago I went up to Sunnydale to meet with him. He and Buffy had been called to London for a shakedown meeting before the Council and he wanted to get all the details."

Wesley frowned. "Rees. There was a Rees in my group but he was defrocked and sent packing."

"As if that's never happened before." Giles sneered.

"He's competent, a little on the rough side but that's a plus." Angel twisted against his bounds and laughed a bit. "I've got the feeling he got in their faces and told them how it was going to be. Whatever he did, it worked because things have been running like clockwork since they got back. Buffy and Tom are officially back in the fold and have been authorized to do as they see fit."

"Yeah, too bad Giles and Wesley didn't stand up to those jerks." Cordelia added.

As one, both vampires morphed and bared their fangs.

"They couldn't." Angel countered.

Kate shrugged. "From what I've heard it sounds like they didn't try."

While mouthing silent damnation upon the quick and the dead above them, Wesley ran his finger up through the grate feeling for the bolt which stood between life and death.

Rupert grabbed his compatriot's wrist and drew it back down, making a motion for Wesley to stand aside. He held up one finger and pointed toward the hidden bolt all the while focusing his rage into a white hot spear of magics within his being. Angel's demon felt the sorcery and surged forward, sending the vampire slamming to the end of his tether, commandeering Angel's voice to howl in delight...

...and masking the sounds of the bolt popping free of the latch, sliding across the grate and falling into the tunnel below.

"Now that was sweet. Well done, Rupert." Wesley begrudgingly acknowledged. He reached upward and tested the grate by moving it upward a bit.

"Shall we kill them both in one fell swoop or toy with them?"

"I will kill the policewoman." Wesley hissed. "And then I will offer Angel Cordelia's throat. If he feeds he remains in the flesh, if not he's hellbound."

Rupert's expression became even more hate-filled. "And I stand and watch? Thank you."

Wesley made a sharp motion to his left. "I'll give you five minutes to get around and come in the front door. You will position yourself at the head of the stairs to keep both an eye out for the Sunnydale auxiliary brigade and to prevent either woman from fleeing. When you hear me attack, please feel free to stroll on down and join the party."

Giles curled his lip.

"Damn your eyes! Go!" Wesley seethed.

With a snap Rupert descended the ladder and made his way down the tunnel, but not before he stopped once to light a smoke and offer a sarcastic salute back toward Wesley.

As the minutes ticked by Wesley prepared himself for the attack, drawing upon the instinctive hatred of the undead toward those who still walked in the sun. His eyes glowed yellow as he felt that the allotted time had passed. He coiled his body up under the grate and with all his strength set it crashing free from its frame.

Cordelia and Kate whirled around as the heavy clang of metal on cement shot through the room. Freezing in their tracks they could only stare in wide-eyed horror as from the opening a figure emerged arrayed in full vampire threat.

Wesley had learned well under the tutelage of his Mistress. He paused, not to say a cocky remark or to point out the obvious, but to merely take in the scene before him and instantly configure his attack.

It all happened in the same heartbeat. Wesley's appearance, Cordelia's scream, Angel's shouted command for someone to unshackle him and Kate's dive for the ring of padlock keys on the table.

The scream came reverberating up the stairs causing all to drop their bags in the doorway and race in a mad dash toward the stairwell.

Giles came down and around from his hiding place on the landing and stood in the hall. With a corrupt grin he considered Wyndam-Pryce's plight and related his conclusions to the empty corridor. "Wesley, with or without a soul you are the unluckiest bugger in any realm." He stepped over the abandoned baggage and listened to the sounds from down below. "Hummm... sounds like the hounds are on the trail of the fox. Oh well, poor fox." Bending down he ground his cigarette out on Buffy's garment bag and then made his way toward Angel's office with the intent of stealing any volume or artifact that might catch is interest.

Up the elevator shaft came the echoing curses of an enraged Angel as he swore vengeance on Wesley, Rita and all their followers.

Cat-like Rupert stalked over toward the shaft and craned his neck to peer downward through the bars at Angel. Disgust turned to hatred which bloomed into a malevolent thirst for revenge. He backed away and his gaze traveled through the adjoining rooms until it focused upon Angel's desk. "Top, right-hand drawer." He muttered to himself.

Without hesitation Rupert went straight to the desk and opened the drawer. He snatched up a stake and paced back to the elevator where he hit the call button.

The ancient machinery cranked into life and the elevator began to rise. Cordelia dropped the padlock keys and lurched backwards out of the cage. "Angel! What do you think you're doi..."

"I didn't!" He shouted, cutting her off mid-word. Then the cold realization of what was happening hit him. "HE'S UPSTAIRS! RUN! GET THE OTHERS!"

"ANGEL!!" Cordy screamed, scrambling to her feet.

"HURRY!" Angel yelled back as he vanished from sight.

"You're on your way to hell." The imp heckled as the manes flashed the visions of torment he knew only too well. "Hell, hell, hell."

The jinn's chimed in. "Become yourself... accept your nature... save your life."

With all his being Angel answered the demons with an unconditional "NO!"

The elevator jarred to a stop and a black clad figure flung the latticework shield open.

Angel hissed out the name. "Giles."

Rupert's face was a stone mask.

"I don't care what you do to me, I'll never betray them."

Rupert's grip tightened on the stake.

"You bastards can do your damnedest, but you will not break me."

The faintest smile flickered across Rupert's lips. "You seem to be under the mistaken assumption that I give a shit."

The words barely had time to register before the stake tore through Angel's heart.

Giles dropped the stake to the cage floor, stepped out and hit the down button.

Below Cordelia and Kate scrambled to arm themselves as Anya bent over the hatchway shouting for the others to return. Precious seconds slipped through their fingers as they searched for the bolts for the crossbow.

"Screw it!" Kate shouted, grabbing a double headed ax off the wall.

The elevator hit bottom.

Kate raised her ax and slowly approached. She blinked and nervously licked her lips before half turning back to the others. "He's gone."

Cordy came forward holding a sword straight out in front of her. "What do you mean 'he's gone'. He was still chained up. I only got the first layer.. of..." Her voice faded out as she saw the stake.

"Buffy and Riley are coming back!" Anya reported.

"Oh no." Cordelia moaned.

The ex-demon stood and gave Cordelia a confused look. "Huh? You told me to yell for them to come back and now they're coming back. So now you want me to tell them to go away again?"

Lockley took a few hesitant steps forward and stared at the grit which covered the cage. "I think..."

Cordelia looked aghast. "Don't say it."

Anya circled around Kate and shrugged. "Yeah, that's vampire dust."

Riley came scrambling up out of the hole. "Vampire dust?" He questioned. As Anya nodded her affirmative he reached down and gave Buffy a hand up. "Good news, they got him."

Her sword fell to the ground as Cordelia began to waver on her feet. "Oh God... no, No, NO!!"

"What's happened?!" Buffy questioned running toward the room.

Anya pointed toward the elevator.

"My, my... what an interesting pair."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere, yet nowhere as it resonated through the pitch black section of tunnel.

"Oh shit." Xander spit.

"Took the words out of my mouth." Rees said under his breath. "All right, back to back, try to pinpoint the bastard and hope like hell our torches don't give out."

Xander pressed hard up against Rees shined his flashlight down the tunnel. "You forgot the part about staking him."

"I assumed you knew that we were not going to take him out for a pint." Rees answered in a dry tone. He let out an exasperated puff of air and gave Xander a sharp backward jab with his elbow. "Back off a step before I feel obligated to kiss you."

Xander took a step forward. "You said 'back to back'."

"Sorry Harris, it wasn't a proposal." Tom deadpanned as held his crossbow up in a one handed aim which followed his light beam back and forth across the width of the tunnel. "Come out, come out wherever you are. Haven't seen you for ages Wes. So how about it mate... let's have a chat."

"About what, may I ask?" The disembodied voice questioned. "I'd just rather offer my condolences and leave."

"Condolences?" Tom shot back. "Condolences over what?"

"Your assignment. Mark my words, she will suck the life out of you also."

"I think that sucking thing's your gig." Xander sniped.

Silence.

Rees mouthed a few choice words then bellowed. "Show yourself you little prick!"

Nothing.

Xander made a clicking noise, mimicking the ticking of a clock. "I think he bailed and is now getting away."

"I think you're right."

From down the passage came the clatter-bang of a manhole cover being pushed away which sent them sprinting toward the sound, unconcerned as to what might lay ahead. In their headlong rush they almost passed the intersecting tunnel thirty yards from their starting point.

"THIS WAY!" Rees yelled as he caught in his peripheral an arrow of streetlight slicing down through an open manhole.

In the same second that both men hit the cross tunnel from the street above came the sound of a motorcycle rumbling into life.

Xander threw his flashlight away and hit the ladder full tilt, ascending in a mad dash which landed him on his hands and knees in the middle of the street. "FUCK!" He shouted in exasperation.

"That... sums it... up... nicely." Tom panted as emerged from the manhole and watched two silhouettes disappear around the corner three blocks up. He pulled himself up and out of the sewer and went over to sit down on the curb. An expression of deep concentration settled across his face as he stared down the street toward the spot where their quarry had vanished from view.

After a minute Xander broke the silence. "So what'da think? You got any ideas Watcher man?"

Rees stood and shrugged. "Sounded like a Harley to me."

"You think?"

"Looked like one too." Tom rubbed his face and sighed. "Well, let's get back to the others. It's going to be a long day."

* * * * *

It was a mirage she had noticed the first time that they had used the love candle, the way the flickering light danced across his chest creating the illusion that he was breathing. Willow lay there contemplating the candlelit scene, leaning her head into her hand and watching him drift of into rest.

Half slumbering, Rupert stirred a bit and reached down to pull the coverlet up over his naked body.

Willow ran a fingertip along his jaw. "Why did you do that?"

"Mmmmm... do what?"

"Cover up. It's not like it will make you warm."

Rupert turned his head toward her touch. "Habit, I suppose." He murmured opening his eyes to meet hers. "Go to sleep."

"It's not really 'sleep', is it?" Willow said as a half question, half statement. "It's more like, I don't know... unconscious."

"When our demon rests we shut down."

"Hummm.. okay." She raised up, plumped a pillow into a backrest and sat up in bed.

Giles was rapidly waking up, which was something that he did not want to do. "Willlooow..." He grumbled. "...it's time to sleep."

"So our demon controls us, right?"

"Yes."

Willow grinned wickedly. "Demon bad."

"That goes without saying." Rupert sighed. "Where is this discussion going?"

"I'm just trying to figure it out, Lover."

"Figure out what?"

"This." She said giving her hand a wave around their bedroom. "That." She added pointing to the candle. "Us." She finished, her finger fluttering back and forth between them. "We shouldn't want any of this. We shouldn't give a damn. But.."

"But you're content with the arrangements." Rupert interrupted. "And so am I, so..."

Willow cut him off. "Way past 'content'. I'm... uh... happy."

Giles rolled his eyes. "Very good, may we rest now?"

"But you're just 'content'?"

He could see that this was going to be a long conversation. With a "cluck" noise he raised up and retrieved his cigarettes and lighter from the nightstand. He blew out a stream of smoke toward the ceiling and gave his answer to everything. "You're female."

Willow blinked. "You noticed."

Giles gave her a Ripper grin. "We no longer have to suppress our base instincts. Have you noticed that also?"

"Ummm... you could say that." She answered, punctuating the words with a flick of her tongue across her lips.

"So you instinctively covet the luxury and security of lair, mate and comfort." He stretched out and gave his hand a toss. "Being male I enjoy it also, but it's not that important to me."

Willow stiffened. "So I'm not that important, huh?"

Giles sat up. "I didn't say that! I merely pointed out that the accumulation of material comforts is not high on my list."

"Fuck you."

"What did you just say? I don't think I heard you?" Rupert growled.

"Yeah you heard it." Willow snapped. "But maybe I should have said if you don't like it you can go fuck Wesley again!"

"If you're ever off his cock, I just might do that!"

Willow morphed. "Like I have a choice! He's my sire remember?"

Rupert tossed the coverlet back and stormed out of the bed. "As if I'm not reminded of that fact every goddamned time he darkens my door!"

"So what's your excuse?!" Willow shouted as she crawled down to the foot of the bed. "Why do ya let him? How come ya don't just break his neck and stake him?"

"Because of THIS!" Giles thundered sweeping his arm across the top of the dresser sending their trinkets crashing across the room. "And THIS!" He spit as a floor lamp became a javelin. "And every other..." The dresser came tumbling over. "...piece of fucking shit I'm ALLOWED to possess! All courtesy of Mistress Rita... all hinged on allowing her Acolyte to toy with me!" He slammed a fist into his palm. "My occupation! My lair! My belongings! My existence!"

"You really got this 'me-me-me' thing going."

" 'My' female."

Willow's lips formed into a soundless snarl. "So I'm just... what? Right up there with your blue shirt and your CD player?" She leaned over the side of the bed and began to collect her clothes. "Which, by the way you said you 'males' don't care about so I guess that tells me where I stand."

"Now where do you think you're going?" Giles barked.

"I'm gonna go kill something."

"Don't be an idiot! It's midmorning for Christ's sake!"

"S-s-s-ssoooo?!" She boiled out.

"Well, there's always that risk of you becoming a blazing, red headed torch." Giles sniped.

"What do you care?"

"I... I..." Giles stopped and turned away as the anger ebbed, replaced by the empty void within him. "...damn it!"

Willow pulled her jeans on and shot him 'the look', vampire style. "You can't even say it, can you?"

"You're mine!"

"Here we go again."

Rupert's eyes darted back and forth between Willow and the destruction he had wrought. "I can't 'care'... but neither can you." His gaze settled on Willow. "We do not have true 'care' in us anymore than we have or 'love' or 'life' or 'tenderness'. We only have the peculiar equivalent of these emotions that hell allows us."

The words cut into Willow. "So you don't give a damn about me? You don't love me." Her vampire nature dissolved and an expression of painful confusion appeared on her face. "Why? I thought that we were.. we had.."

"I want you. I crave you. Your companionship is my anchor, the pleasure you give me is infinite and because of these things I prostitute my pride to keep you content." He declared coming toward her. "These are selfish emotions justified by selfish reason, but we are selfish creatures." Rupert took her face within his hands and drew her eyes upward to his. "Search within yourself and tell me... tell me the truth - do you feel the same?"

Willow neither pulled away from his grasp or looked aside from his searching gaze as she weighed her feelings. Was it love or lust, care or covet, the desire to give freely or simple self preservation?

..."Hear me Willow, if you want to survive you must accept everything for what it is now, not for what you remember it to be."...

Mistress Rita's warning from months ago whispered through Willow's mind and jelled into comprehension. It shattered the illusion she held of their pairing but then took the shards and reforged them in the furnace of her turned nature. There was no heart, no heat, no altruism - nothing but the driving desire to keep what she called her own..

And if this was the vampire version of love.. so be it. He was hers.

"You're mine." She growled pressing up against him. "And you're never leaving me."

Giles swung her back onto the bed. "That's right babe. We're going together, just the two of us. Fuck this servitude! Name the place and we leave tonight right after Mistress's soiree."

"Vancouver. Always wanted to go to Vancouver." Willow said as she wiggled back out of her jeans. Her demeanor went to one of pure seduction as she patted the bed beside her. "Speaking of travel... lay down Lover. I wanna take a ride."

"I thought Buffy made you quit."

"I'm thinking." Came Rees's non-answer as he sat leafing through one of Angel's sorcery reference books.

Riley came through the doorway rubbing his chin. "What? A whole carton's worth of thinking? You can cut the smoke with a knife in here." He wrinkled his nose. "Nice ashtray. Remind me not to eat here."

Rees flicked an ash into the butt filled salad bowl at his elbow. "How's Buffy?"

"She cried herself to sleep." Riley said as he sat down across from Tom. "She finally laid down, curled up with her back to me and cried." He reached over and opened Angel's bulging file on Rita & Wesley. "We've been together almost two years and I've never seen her cry..."

"It's good that she's not holding it in."

"...Not when Willow and Rupert vanished. Not when her mom nearly died in that car wreck. So what gives? I thought that she and Angel were ancient history."

"Put a lid on it mate." Rees muttered. "Some things are never 'history'."

Riley flipped the file closed with a snap. "Has she told me everything?"

"I doubt it." Rees answered with an exasperated snort. He straightened up in his chair and gave his finger a sharp jab toward Riley. "And I'm not betraying the trust, so don't ask."

"I'm not asking you to." Riley bristled.

"And you do have enough brains to realize this is not the time to ask her?"

"What kind of an idiot do you think I am?"

Rees wrinkled his brow as if in thought. "I'll have to think about that one for awhile, then go find a decent thesaurus. But in the meantime, hand me that folder."

"Xander's right, you are a smartass." Riley said without any humor, as he gave the folder a slide.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black." Rees quickly noted. "Now.. I am glad you're finally up and moving. You have any thoughts about what we discussed?"

"The strike on that distributing place?" Riley questioned, pausing as Tom nodded his affirmative. "Well, I still think we should do the recon tonight and then hit it tomorrow night."

Tom dumped the folder's contents across the desk. "I agree, but damn it... I wish we had some more to go on than these scrawled bits and pieces." He began to paw through the papers looking for Angel's report from the year before. "Here we go: Westfall Distributing, 907 Commons Street, West. Hummmm... it might do us well if a pair of young, strapping fellows went there looking for work this afternoon."

"Yeah, Xander and I can go over there and fill out an app." Riley speculated. "Maybe go before noon, that way we could wander back to the dock area around lunchtime and talk to the employees, that way we could get a feel for the place."

"That would help and hopefully Lockley will get back with us today on what she could find out about these people down at the cop shop." Rees added. He shook his head and spread out the three crime scene photos Kate had left there. "Too bad that Angel wasted time speculating as to who or what 'R.G.W.' was. "

"I still think it looks like a 'G' not an ampersand."

Rees shook his head. "No, it reads 'R and W' - Rita and Wesley, hindsight is twenty-twenty. This was their little message proclaiming to all that a strike was in the cards." He began the shuffle more papers.

"A strike against his old boss." Riley muttered, reaching over and pulling a large envelope out of the pile. "First magic to make him an easy mark then they stake him... what's this?"

"The rest of Rita's drawings which Angel and Rupert found in her lair." Rees answered, unfolding the previously chosen portrait of Wyndam-Pryce. "I took this one out to show you and Anya what he looks like in human visage, the others were not needed."

Riley coolly assessed the remaining drawings. "He woke up, tore that guy's throat out then got it on.... that's vampires for you."

"He did the same thing back in London when he massacred the greater part of the Wyndam-Pryce clan." Then within his mind, something began to nag at Rees. "Let me see those again."

Riley handed them over.

"Mmmmmm..."

"What?"

Tom's eyes darted back and forth between the drawings and the crime scene photos. "Mmmmmm..." He sounded again as he realized that something was not fitting. He remembered that Mr. Giles had reported that Wesley was a "J" cutter and that fact was clearly shown on the drawing of the first kill but not the photos. Wesley could have taught himself control, that was a definite possibility - but again... His forehead wrinkled up as he made a motion to Riley. "...stand up."

"I can hear the wheels turning, what are you thinking?" Riley questioned as he stood.

With a frown still on his face, Rees came around the desk. "At this point I'm just speculating, but..." He turned to the sound of someone coming up the stairs and shouted through the door. "Whoever is out there... come in here for a minute."

Xander stuck his head in and was immediately taken by the shoulder and led over to stand beside Riley. He blinked a couple of times and gave Riley a questioning look."

Riley tossed a hand in the air. "Hell if I know."

Rees scanned the images on the desk. "All right mates.. we're going to do a little play acting here. Riley put your arms behind your back, Xander you stand to his left."

"Sure." Xander shrugged.

"First we will assume that the male contained the victim." Rees said, coming up off center behind Riley, locking his arms behind his back and bending him forward. "All right.. luckless bugger contained and then, being the gentleman that he is, we'll also assume he bent the vessel forward to offer the lady the first bite."

"Makes sense. But what are you getting at?" Riley asked.

"Xander, grab him and bite him on the neck."

Harris took a step away. "Huh?!"

"Oh for God's sake... just pretend that you're the female vampire. I want to see the bite angle!" Rees barked.

"It's been fun, but I gotta go." Xander said with a bye-bye wave.

"HARRIS!"

At Tom's bellow, Xander grumbled something extremely vile under his breath and came back into position. "The crap I do... okay Riley... prepare to get bit!" He stopped mid-motion.. "And, I must point out that if either of you every mention this to anybody, living or dead I'm going to have to..."

Rees glared almost maniacally.

Riley sighed and shot Xander a 'hurry up' look.

"Biting." Xander backpedaled, leaning over and going through the motions of a vamp attack.

Tom noted the angle and repositioned himself against Riley. "Mmmmmm... bend your knees, make yourself shorter and try again." He smiled as Xander hunkered down and again took a snap at Riley's throat. "Very good. Now it seems that the male came around like this." He came around and down to take a mock mouthful.

"Cool. I've read about this." Anya chirped from her spot in the doorway. "There was this movie too, but Xander wouldn't let me rent it. Instead we got 'Red Hot Chain Gang Slu..."

"ANYA!" Xander interrupted.

"So can I watch?" She asked coming across the room and hopping up on the desk.

"There's nothing to watch." Rees said with a snort. "We're done... in more ways than one."

Anya looked disappointed. "So I missed it?"

Xander wrung out a nervous, high pitched laugh. "Hee, hee. Ah.. there was nothing to miss. Get that straight right now Anya, you missed nothing. We were just.. ah... we were.. okay Rees, what were we doing?"

Riley sat back down. "And what do you mean 'we're done in more ways than one'?"

Rees went back to the desk and handed Riley the photo of the neck wounds. "To get that angle on the left hand wound the female had to be petite." He then pointed toward the erotic rendering of Wesley's domination by Rita. "That shows her as a woman of average height, maybe a bit taller than average."

"Hey! We did this too." Anya volunteered much to Xander's dismay. "Except for the ripped clothes and.."

"That's wonderful news, when we get back to Sunnydale I'll have to see the home video." Rees interrupted. "Now back to the vampires. Not only is the female's mark wrong, but according to all we have seen and all that has been reported, this is not Wesley's style of attack either."

Riley braced his elbows on the desk and laid his forehead on his clasped hands. "So you're saying that 'R and W' does not mean Rita and Wesley?" He straightened up and hissed out a breath. "Come on Rees... they know Buffy, they knew Angel... who else would it be?"

With a grim expression Rees surmised. "Rupert and Willow."

Xander shook his head. "But Wesley was the one that came here this morning and then he rode off with that Rita vamp after she.. she staked... oh, you know." He clenched his fists. "Anyway it can't be Giles and Will, they weren't turned."

"Out of all that, the only thing we know for a undeniable fact is that Wesley was here this morning." Rees responded. He picked up his own sorcery book. "And not only does the initials on the 'calling card' fit but so does the casting which Angel was subjected too. He was tormented by apparitions and voices and this is not something just anybody can conjure..."

"Oh yeah!" Anya shouted. "That vision thing..."

"What now?!" Rees gritted out.

"That's why I came up here. Cordelia woke up with one of those and she sent me up here to get you guys."

Tom headed out the door, followed by Riley and Xander on his heels. "Why didn't you say something!"

"I forgot. Oh and she said she wants the aspirin out of the desk drawer." Anya explained to the empty office.

"About time... did you bring the aspirin?" Cordy whined as the three appeared downstairs.

"What happened?! What did you see?!" Tom asked at an uncomfortable decibel level.

"Aspirin." She muttered holding her hand out with the palm raised.

"What kind of vision?!" Riley also shouted.

Cordy came close to baring her teeth. "Of me going after all of you with a battle ax if you don't stop yelling and bring me something for my head."

"It won't open. Can I use the ax when you're done, 'cause this lid is on tight?" Anya said, coming down the stairs struggling with the child proof cap.

"Just give it to me." Cordelia groused. She snatched the bottle from Anya and poured two, then a third pill out and swallowed them dry.

Xander wrinkled his nose. "You want some water with that."

"Would that be too much to ask?" She shuddered back as the taste came back up her dry throat. She sat there for a long moment rubbing her hands back through her disheveled hair. "A painting again, just like last year. Flashes. There was a man locking the door and a bunch people partying."

The four exchanged glances.

"Well, that helps." Xander deadpanned handing Cordelia the glass of water.

"And a guy playing the piano with some ho wrapped around him."

"Did you recognize this place?" Tom asked softly.

"Ferns, lots of ferns and a black bar." Cordelia added. "It looked like an old gangster movie."

Riley came over and knelt beside her. "Old movie? Like an Al Capone flick?"

"And that guy playing the piano was in a tux and his clinging friend was wearing one of those flipper costumes."

Xander arched an eyebrow. "Flipper? She was dressed like a dolphin?"

"Flapper... 1920's flapper." Tom corrected.

"What-EV-er!" Cordy said sharply through her headache. "There was a bunch of people and some of them looked really, you know.. wicked and some of them looked like they were about half blasted and there was this little fingernail moon pattern on the carpet and the piano player was watching..." Her eyes got wide and she drew in a harsh, ragged breath.

Rees came quickly to her side. "Cordelia?"

Her breath came back out in a plea as the vision blasted through her denial. "Oh no... no, no-no-no-no-nooooo. The piano guy was Giles and the.. the... the..."

"Woman was Willow." Rees finished.

"Yeah." She whimpered. "And Wesley was there too. He and this dark haired woman were the ones telling the doorman to lock it up." She shook her head to clear it. "Last Call."

Anya cocked her head to one side. "Last huh?"

"The bar is closing and if you want another round it's your last chance." Xander explained.

Riley stood up. "But what's that go to do with anything?"

"I just get them, I don't translate them!" Cordy said too loudly for her head. "I mean, what is it with this Rita bitch? All I see is her stupid pictures!"

"She's a Guide." Rees answered with a shrug. "Protected and feted by all that is unholy. My guess is that her activities are cloaked by the old scratch himself."

Xander rubbed his hands together in false glee. "Oh, that's good. Any other happy ideas you want to share?"

"What's going on." Buffy asked from the bedroom archway.

Anya pointed toward Cordy. "Cordelia just had a vision of Giles and Willow in league with the devil. You want some lunch?"

Buffy's jaw dropped. "Say WHAT?!"

"Lunch, or would that be brunch?" Anya said with a blink. "It's after 11:00 you know."

"Oh for God's sake Anya!" Rees spit. He clenched his teeth and looked heavenward as if asking for deliverance before catching Buffy's eye. "Come in here and I'll clarify. In a nutshell pet, it's bad."

The next thirty minutes were spent in a high volume cussing and discussing of the theories, visions and possibilities. Buffy finally ended the conversation with a shouted. "I'll believe it when I see it!"

Tom stood and with a heavy sigh said. "Well pet, let's go see it then. Last year Cordelia's visions led them to a shop which sells Rita's artwork. So lets' say that you, me and Miss Chase go on over there and see if this is again the case."

"Dragon's Blood." Cordy confirmed. "Tacky little place that sells all that Gothic crap. That Dave guy that runs the place loaned Angel a book about that stuff Rita paints." She smiled a twisted smile. "He thinks I'm a demon and Angel flashed fang at him, so he's kinda scared of us."

"Splendid!" Rees interjected.

"I'm going too." Riley stated.

"No." Tom disagreed. "I need the three of you to start looking through everything that Angel has..." He stopped and cleared his throat before correcting himself. "...Angel had in his library. This Rita, this whore of Lucifer has to have an Achilles' heel and we need to find it. Any questions?" Rees then asked as he pulled his car keys out.

Buffy was already halfway up the stairs. "Let's go."

"Hey man, there's some people here to see ya."

Dave didn't even look up from his paper. "Tell 'em I'm busy, I'll get back to 'em later."

"I think you can fit us in." Rees said with a bit of threat in his voice.

"Hi Dave, remember me?" Cordy added with understated wickedness.

Buffy crossed her arms and looked around the office offering her two cents. "Nice sheep skull, you want a shepherd's to go with it?."

"Hey!" The clerk began only to have his boss wave him away. "Uh... it's okay Whiz, you wanna shut the door because.. uh... uh... hi guys..."

Cordy used the tip of her finger to clear a pile of papers from the only unoccupied chair in the room. "Ick! What's all over this chair? Like I'm going to sit in this thing." She said with disgust, then tossed her head toward Tom and Buffy. "These are my friends from out of town and they want to talk to you."

For a moment Dave stayed stuck in stammer mode. "Uh... uh... uh..." He cleared his throat and regrouped. "Eeee... where's your boss?"

The three stared at him.

Dave nervously folded his paper. "Oh yeah, it's daytime. I forgot that he's not too big on coming out in daytime. So what do you need and are your friends demons too?" He gave up a thin smile. "Just, you know out of curiosity 'cause I'm one curious dude."

Rees showed his teeth with a too broad grin. "Of course we are. I for one, am a Watcher demon. I like to watch humans get turned inside out and my friend here is a Slayer." He leaned toward Dave and winked. "And I'm sure I don't need to tell you what that means."

"Hi." Buffy deadpanned.

"Cool." Dave said just to say something. "Ah, you know this is really weird. I was going to call your boss tonight."

Tom's eyes narrowed. "Angel is no more. He was destroyed this morning by one of Rita's demonic minions."

"And that really has us pissed off." Buffy literally growled. "So talk fast. You got any info on this bitch?"

"M-m-mi-minion? Like she has.. you mean she is... like she's a... you know, a..."

Cordy filled in the blank. "Vampire. Real old one, like 2,000 years old, old. So you know anything about her new stuff?"

Dave nodded.

"SPEAK UP!" Rees commanded as he hit the desk with his fist.

The floodgates opened as Dave began to spill everything he knew. "I got a call yesterday from a friend of mine Flamer, he's on this committee that's putting on the Si-Fi Convention and he said that Rita's lawyer called them and said that Rita is going to be there if they didn't mind and of course..." He stopped to wheeze in a second breath. "...they said cool that would be great and then last night they met with her and she said that she's retiring but wanted to come and say adios to the fans."

Tom rubbed a fist into his palm. "When, where?"

"The Con starts tomorrow at the Convention Center but they are having this party tonight at 8:00 at the Hotel Inter-Continental for all the exhibitors that are in town." Dave pulled at his T-shit collar. "Flamer asked me if I wanted to go 'cause he owes me one from the time I... uh, never mind. I said 'sure man', but now I don't think I want to go if there are going to be real vampires there."

"They won't be there for long." Buffy declared she pulled a stake from her inner jacket pocket. "After I get there they are dust."

"How many tickets did your friend offer you?" Rees questioned.

Dave did not take his eyes off of Mr. Pointy. "Two."

"Call him back, get as many passes as you can out of him." Tom ordered. "We will be around to pick them up at 7:30."

"And find out what we should wear." Cordy piped in. "Is this dressy or formal or a 'come as you' are thing."

"One more item of note." Rees said, leaning over the desk. "If you even 'think' about betraying us I will take it quite personally. Is that clear?"

Dave nodded.

Buffy opened the door. "Let's get outta here."

As they left Dave raised a hand and weakly waved his fingers. "Bye."

Xander ran his fingers down the handout. "Wow! There's some real celebrities here. Si-Fi writers, movie-make up guys, artist types, actresses..." He arched both eyebrows. "Hey Riley, that blonde hottie from 'Terry, Vampire Assassin' is going to speak on Sunday. Maybe we can hang around and see her!"

Riley's head began to swivel around. "You think she's here now? Did you see last week's episode where she was wearing that see through red outfit and she had to jump..."

"Ahem!"

"..because I wasn't really watching it and I'd kinda like to know what happened." Riley hedged as Buffy tried to work up a glare. "You see, I was just channel surfing and happened to catch that one little part of it. Then I went on up thorough the channels to Headline News."

Buffy reached out and patted him on the shoulder. "S-s-s-sure you did."

"So now we know the truth!" Xander laughed. "Riley also appreciates that soft blue glow of mindless entertainment."

"Busted." Riley muttered.

"Entertainment?" Anya asked from her perch on a large suitcase. "You told me we watch it for 'research'."

"Entertaining research?"" Xander offered.

"Yeah, right." Buffy snickered. "We should call them up and tell them how it really is."

"Or maybe you should start slaying in a bikini." Riley said with as innocent of an expression as he could muster. "Terry does that.. or so I've 'heard'."

"Rita's not here, but they expect her to be fashionably late within the hour. Not as if that is a surprise, the sun is barely down." Tom announced as he and Cordelia came up to the group. He looked back and forth at his snickering crew. "Did we miss something?"

"Naaaa!" Buffy said with a shake of her head. "Except for the fact that Riley is into T & A TV."

"Well of course! Come on Buffy, he's a guy!" Cordy pointed out.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Next thing we know he'll be watching naked celebrity mud wrestling."

A flash of hopeful relief went through Rees as he listened to the exchange. Maybe Buffy was finally past the initial shock of Angel's destruction. He had been hesitant in bringing her along tonight for he was worried that she would lose control. But she had promised that she would be cool and this was, well he would take it as a good sign so he arched both eyebrows and worked up a grin. "Naked mud wrestling? Is there a problem with that, pet?"

"Quit calling me that." Buffy responded automatically.

Riley puffed out an impatient breath and brought the matter at hand back into play. "So we split up and wait on her?"

"Yes." Tom confirmed, as he leaned on the balcony railing. He unfolded a small map they had printed out from the hotel's web site and oriented it to match their position. "All right troops, if this is correct chances are that they will make their grand entrance through the front doors..."

As one they glanced over the railing into the lobby below.

"...Then they will continue through the lobby and most likely use the stairs. Rita is too cautious to allow herself to be trapped in an elevator."

"Too bad." Cordelia snotted. "If she did Buffy could just sit on top of the elevator and drop that icky bone thing on her."

Tom whirled around. "A Holy Relic is not a 'thing'!" He snapped. "Do you understand that concept Miss Chase? That Sister let us hold it, let alone take it with us, was a phenomenal indulgence! Is that clear?!"

Everyone shifted a bit on their feet.

"Uh.. not so loud Rees." Buffy hissed.

"I'll be as loud as I da..." Rees mouthed the rest of the statement and took a deep, controlled breath. From his jacket pocket he pulled a simple gold box embossed with the image of a pair of crossed candles and reverently held it up. "Saint Blaise, Patron of throat ailments; healer of man and beast; called on to intercede for protection against the wild creatures of the realm."

"Throats, beasts, creatures, it sure fits." Xander whispered. "But will it work? I mean, Angel had to see that text too and he never mentioned it in his notes."

"Angel didn't have this option." Rees flatly stated. "He wouldn't have been able to get within three meters of the reliquary much less hold the relic box." He re-pocketed the case and shut his eyes to offer a simple a thanksgiving prayer. "Thank you for the generosity of hundred year old Nuns."

Riley frowned as a thought hit him. "So Rita and her vamp entourage will be able to sense that you've got this on you?"

Anya wrinkled her nose. "I can feel it and I'm not demon anymore."

"That's weird." Buffy observed.

Cordelia counted off the facts on her fingers. "Anya, weird, duh."

"Yes they will sense it." Rees answered, ignoring the extraneous commentary. "That is why I will have to hide across the hotel until we have them cornered. The lesser minions should flee at the first inkling of its presence. But Rita, on the other hand, should find herself momentarily frozen by a Blessed power which is equal to her Infernal strength."

"And we touch her with it and 'snap, crackle, poof''! Bye-bye Guide!" Xander said with a triple snap of his fingers.

"So let's get into position." Rees began as he handed out the four gala tickets to Anya, Buffy, Cordelia and Riley. "Anya, you go back down to the lobby and find a spot where you can surreptitiously observe the arriving guests. Remember, the whole bleeding front of the place is glass so be careful. When you see them coming up the path I want you to simply walk back up here and join Buffy and Cordelia in the ballroom."

"So we go in and what, mingle?" Buffy asked through a curled lip.

"Yes pet, mingle. Be sociable. Pretend that you are into this subculture and find out anything else you can about Rita's business ventures."

"All right." Buffy said with a sigh. "Come on Cordy, let's be social."

Cordelia held up her hand as if asking to be called on in class. "Where are you guys going to be?"

"Riley and Xander will wait here for them to arrive. Then, if all seems to be going well I want Riley also to go on into the ballroom." Rees pointed at the map. "Xander.. I will be here in what is called the Rose Room. Come and get me and we will then make our way into the hallway beside the ballroom."

He pointed in turn at Cordy, Buffy, Riley and Anya. "Give them about three to five minutes to settle into the room and start to disperse. Then you will announce your presence to them. I want you to raise living hell - cause a commotion. That will be our signal to come running in with the weapons. Destroy her followers as the opportunity presents itself, but remember our main target is Rita."

"I'm impressed, Rees." Riley sniped only half in jest. "We might actually have a solid plan this time around."

"Just go. All of you, go." Tom said with a dismissing motion.

Xander leaned on the railing and called out to the departing Buffy and Cordy. "If Terry the Vamp Assassin is in there get me her autograph."

Anya stood and slid the suitcase full of weaponry toward the Watcher. "This is going to be fun!"

"Deliver me!" Tom groused heavenward as he turned and left. "Why didn't I become a grocer or a rugby player or a bricklayer? Hell no.. just had to sign up for this pack of...."

Riley laughed under his breath as Tom's commentary faded away with his footsteps. "He's something else. What I'm not sure, but definitely 'something else'."

"Welll.. he's not as smart as Giles was or as organized as Wesley, but he's okay." Xander appraised.

"Yeah, I never knew that Wesley but... I'm telling you man, I wish we had Giles up here with us and Rees coming in with the bad guys."

Xander nodded in agreement. "You got that right, pal. I don't know about you, but I'm man enough to say that the idea of Giles and Wes as vamps sends a bead of cold sweat right down the crack of my ass."

"What worries me more is the 'shoulds', 'ifs' and 'maybes' in this plan." Riley said with a frown. "We're going on one paragraph written 500 years ago by some alchemist guy who heard it all through the grapevine. Not the kind of intelligence report I like to stake everything on."

"Don't worry, if it goes sour we'll just punt - like we always do." Xander grinned. "It's our standard, plan 'B', works every time."

"I don't like playing it by ear because that's a good way to get killed." Riley huffed. The frown deepened on his face, he leaned over the railing and pointed toward Anya down below. "What's she doing?"

Xander took a look-see and grimaced at the sight of the ex-demon window shopping at the gift shop. "Oh Anya.. for crying out loud."

"Come on!" Riley hissed. "Position.. get into position!"

"I'll go get her." Xander sighed as he headed off in a trot down the stairs.

From the balcony Riley watched as Harris went up and tapped his companion on the shoulder. "She was the avenging scourge of man for how long?" He questioned dryly as Anya wasted time pointing at a pile of chic stuffed animals. Xander turned around and looked up at him with a exasperated toss of his hands.

At this, Riley was two seconds away from shouting something along the lines of "just buy her a goddamn bear" when he saw Xander grab her and whisk her through the gift shop doorway. Harris reappeared for a split second and pointed toward the lobby doors before sliding back into the shop.

"Damn." Was the only thought that crossed the ex-commando's mind as he glimpsed Rupert and Willow coming through the inner door. He dropped down to allegedly tie his shoe and counted off five seconds before risking a second look. No vampires - time to make a dash for the ballroom, but Xander was now a bare step inside the shop doorway making pointing and rising motions with his hands.

Riley pointed first toward his own chest then toward the ballroom.

Xander shook his head 'no' and again stepped out of view.

"What the hell?" Riley thought as Xander was slid out of the gift shop and motioned for him to come down to the lobby. He gritted his teeth and headed for the staircase.

Xander's greeting was completely unenlightening. "Give it about ten more seconds."

"What?!" Came Riley's condensed inquiry.

"They headed for the elevators." Xander said rapidly. "Just the two of them came up the sidewalk from out of nowhere and went straight for the elevators. It's a miracle they didn't see us."

"So much for all of them coming in as a pack." Riley spit. "So it goes to hell right off the bat.... Anya!"

Anya had moved away and was peeking around the corner toward the lift grouping. "It's okay.. they're gone. But two elevators are going up."

The three hustled around the corner and watched the indicator display. "Tenth floor, woman's fashions and broadswords.... a-a-a-nd fourteenth floor bowling accessories and lair decor." Xander joked. He jammed his hands in his back pockets. "Now what Kemosaube?."

"A fast recon." Riley answered. "You go up to the tenth, I'll go up to the fourteenth. Anya, go get Rees and tell him that something is going hinkey because they are not going to the ballroom. We'll meet him back at the top of the staircase in ten minutes."

Xander hit the call button. "We'll just do one sweep of the floors, look for room service deliveries of real bloody marys."

As the elevator doors opened, Anya nodded and left to find Tom. Xander and Riley stepped in and exchanged glances. "Do you have any?" Xander asked making a staking motion.

"No, it's all in the suitcase." Riley said in a worried tone. "We're just checking things out, be covert, avoid all confrontations."

The door prompt chimed, announcing the tenth floor. Xander held his hand up and Riley gave it a slap. "See 'ya in ten pal."

"Keep cool."

"You too."

The elevator purred upward another four stories. The door opened and Riley stepped out into the empty hall. He scanned around, to his left and right the short elevator access corridor ended in a "T" which led to the accommodations of the fourteenth floor. He licked his lips, picked the right hand path, crept over and took a quick glance around the corner.

"Hi!" Willow chirped with a sweet Willow smile.

"Hail, hail.. the gang's all here." Rupert ground out as he appeared from the other intersecting hallway. "I was expecting Xander, but this is fine."

"Shit."

"Aaaahhh Lover, he's not happy to see us." Willow said with sham sadness. Her eyes flashed as her attitude did a 180 to pure threat and she abruptly morphed. "That kinda pisses me off."

Riley hit her with all his strength, sending Willow spinning out of his space. He ran, hoping like hell that the fire stairs door at the end of the corridor would be his salvation, cursing his own stupidity for tracking vampires sans the first weapon.

The split second delay it took him to fling the door open was all it took for Giles to be on him, shoving him through the doorway and into the stairwell. Riley came around, his fist making contact with Rupert's jaw. It was like hitting a brick wall and had about the same result. Now Willow was on him, crawling up his back like a red headed banshee. Riley reached around, grabbed her by the hair and yanked her off his body then came around to face off to Giles.

This was not the haphazard, lunatic attack of the newly risen, but instead Willow and Giles worked like a well oiled machine grinding Riley down. In the cramped confines of the stairwell they began to circle him in a scene reminiscent of a wolf pack closing around a cornered but still dangerous bull elk. They eluded his blows staying just inches out of his reach, they blocked his escape, they toyed with him in a macabre game of cat and mouse waiting for his inevitable misstep.

Out of the corner of his eye Riley saw Willow come in for the kill. He kicked toward the movement with the intention of knocking her down the fire stairs. This was his misstep, for it took him off balance enough for Rupert to grab his wrist in a bonebreaking hold and swing him into the wall.

Riley hit the cement surface so hard that his vision exploded into a white hot starburst. His knees buckled and he struggled to remain conscious as he felt Rupert lock his arms roughly behind his back and bend him forward to offer his throat to Willow. His vision cleared to reveal the dreadful sight of Willow coming for him. He braced against Giles and kicked forward with both feet which resulted in him getting his head knocked into the wall a second time.

Willow came around to his side and cupped her cold hand under his jaw. "Why isn't he screaming? That takes all the fun out of it." She pursed her lips into a pout and turned his face toward her.

"Some people are just inconsiderate." Giles answered as he increased the backward pressure on Riley's arms. "If you would like, I will dislocated both of his shoulders. That will make him squeal."

Willow began to purr. "Maybe. But I'd like to try something first." She licked her lips and regained her human face. "I've been practicing on stray dogs, and this is about the same thing."

"Buffy was always good at picking up strays." Giles sniped into his captive's ear.

"Blow me!" Riley spit.

"I'd say he's feeling a little testy." Rupert smiled a short-lived smirk and then his expression hardened as he gave Willow a nod. "Hurry up and try whatever it is you want to do. We're running late and we don't want to annoy Mistress Rita."

She brought her lips to Riley's neck, licking the sweat off and caressing his skin with her cool exhales.

Confusion welled up within Riley as he both was both revolted and excited by her touch.

"Look at me." She murmured, pulling away and staring straight into his eyes. "Be a good boy and give me your fear. We're not going to hurt you, we're not going to hurt you..."

Riley tried to look away but he found himself mesmerized by her gaze. He tried to ignore the soothing words that danced within his brain but they crept in like a gentle fog that dulled his senses.

"...You're our little bird. Fly away, fly away, fly away...."

"Yes." Riley found himself agreeing with the words as his body relaxed. To his horror one tiny part of his being screamed out a warning but was unable to stop the process. He was no longer in control of his body.

"...Sail away on the wind. Fly Riley. Fly away, feel the wind, be free as a the bird you are..."

Rupert released his captive and took a step back. "Amazing." He whispered to himself as he stood in awe of Willow's sorcery. This was neither the unhinged, vision induced power used by Drusilla or his own bookish magics. This was pure, natural gift magnified by the demon within.

Willow stepped forward and kissed Riley on the lips. "Go fly." She cooed sweeping her hand toward the stairs.

Like a sleepwalker Riley ascended to the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth floor passing the final exit and continuing on to the locked door which led to the roof. He pulled and twisted on the knob, driven by the self-destructive compulsion to "fly". Time stood still as he rattled the door, his anxiety growing in tandem with his need to continue upward until he began to beat on the unyielding barrier as he screamed for it to let him pass.

"What the hell is going on now?" The room service waiter grumbled as he came up the stairs drawn by the discord, coming to a halt a dozen feet from Riley. "HEY!"

Riley ignored the shout.

"HEY! You can't go out there!" Vic repeated as he came up the final leg of the stairs. He stopped and took in Riley's wild look. "Uh... you okay man?"

"I have to get high."

"I think you already are." Vic deadpanned giving his thumb a toss downward. "Move it pal, seventeenth floor is the end of the road."

"I can't get higher?"

"Are you a guest of the hotel or are you one of those Si-Fi oddballs?" The waiter jumped back as Riley rushed past him and went out onto the seventeenth floor. "HEY! WATCH IT!" Vic shouted, then puffed out obscenity or two and ran after this wild man. "I'm calling the cops!" He shouted as he hit the exit in the same blink as the "clatter-bang" of a serving cart being swept clean reverberated down the hall.

Riley picked up the cart and heaved it through the corridor window. The breeze... he felt the breeze calling to him from through the shattered panes. He stepped up onto the sill and looked out over the cityscape.

With his hands raised in a trembling "calm down" motion Vic approached. "Oh man.. oh man.. come on.. get out of there buddy.. before.. oh shit..."

For a second the tiny shard of his being broke through the spell allowing Riley to look back over his shoulder at Vic and try to explain. "I can't, she hexed me. The vampire witch hexed me."

Then the light of free will extinguished from his eyes. He released his hold on the window casing and jumped.

The repulsive tingling drew closer, peaked then faded all in the span of ten seconds. Simultaneously Willow and Rupert unclutched and growled toward what they felt but could not see in the adjoining elevator.

"What the hell was that?!" Rupert snapped, casting a suspicious eye toward the ceiling of the lift.

"Something very good." Willow said uneasily.

"Or very bad, depending on your perspective." Giles hissed. He gave the floor indicator a glance. "We were passing the ninth, tenth floor at the time. The rest of them must be working their way upward with some kind of 'power' in their possession."

"That's uncool."

Rupert's features twisted into a malevolent sneer. "Has our little bird flown yet?"

Willow shut her eyes and searched for the connection. "Not yet, but he's trying to get on the roof."

The doors opened and they stepped out into the lobby. Giles took a look around and coolly offered Willow his arm. "Shall we now make our grand entrance?" He said sarcastically. "That is if our host and hostess have not already been discovered and staked."

"Hummm.. don't think we're that lucky. It seems pretty calm around here." She slowed down and laughed as she caught sight of their destination. "Angel's Flight Lounge? That's sooooo weird!"

"Ironic is it not?" Giles said as he joined in her laughter.

"About time." Wesley grumbled as he caught sight of the pair entering the lounge.

Karl Wolfram sat his drink down. "We should get on upstairs Mistress. Your adoring public awaits."

"I want to have a few words with them first." Rita pledged in a frost tinged tone. With pursed lips she motioned for them to come over to their corner booth and be seated, acknowledging them with a curt. "You're late."

"You are fortunate we are tardy, Mistress Rita." Rupert hinted as he and Willow slid across the leather seat.

The Guide's face darkened. "And why is that?"

"Our ex-associates were waiting on us in the lobby." Rupert paused for effect as he returned Rita's gaze. "We lured one of them up onto the fourteenth floor and..."

"He just did it!" Willow interrupted as the connection between her and Riley severed.

Giles chuckled darkly at the revelation. "...and Willow mesmerized him into performing a swan dive off the roof."

Karl leaned forward. "Which one is dead and where are the others?"

"Riley, the soldier boy has answered his last roll call." Giles stated as a cold elegy. "As for Xander and his nymphomaniac companion, I assume they are searching the upper floors for their friend." His eyes then narrowed. "They have 'something' to use against us. We felt its power as our elevators passed."

"It was strong." Willow frowned. "Scary strong."

"That bodes ill." Wesley said as he swirled his drink. "What about Buffy and Rees, did you see them?"

"Unfortunately, no." Giles said with a glance over his shoulder. "We did not see either those two or Cordelia, but it's a given that they are here also."

"How?!" Rita spit. "How did they ferret me out again?!"

Rupert kept a straight face but his eyes sparkled with undeniable amusement at his educated guess. "I would have to speculate that Cordelia had a vision of this place." His statement directed more toward Wesley than Rita.

Wesley involuntarily flinched at the sinister tone in Rita's response. "Oh yes, she is 'still' alive now isn't she?"

"Mistress." Wolfram interrupted. "The question of how this came to be is not the issue at the moment. I believe that you should leave before the Slayer comes through the door and causes 'problems'." He stood and offered Rita his hand. "And if I may continue to be so bold, I also believe that you should not stay on the 'Westfall Blue' for the duration of your visit. It would put my mind at ease if you would honor me with your presence in my humble home."

"Please Karl, a little less of the prose." Rita grumbled. "I do not flatter easily and I'm acutely aware of the danger." She took his hand and stood. "Wesley and I will stay with you until the 'Westfall B.' is ready to leave port."

"I'll put extra security on duty." Karl added, pulling out his cell phone.

"We'll be there in a couple of hours." Rita said giving her other three followers a motion to rise. "Wesley and I are going back to the ship to collect our personal effects."

Rupert nodded. "Willow and I will go back to our lair and try to find out what this 'thing' is that made us so uneasy."

"No. You're going with us." Rita ordered. "You will stand guard and then help us load the car."

"As you wish." Giles answered evenly, his annoyance at being spoken to in such a manner soothed by the knowledge that he and Willow would soon be on their way North.

"And one more thing." Rita added to Karl as he snapped his cell phone shut. "Go and tell the convention organizers that I'm canceling my appearances - both tonight's and tomorrow's" She took a final glance around her and then with a sharp nod turned and headed for the street door of the lounge.

"You guys are with National Geographic? I though they did stories about lions and mountain climbers and naked natives."

Buffy shot Cordy a perfect "I'm gonna kill you" look and then scrambled to keep the ball in play. "Yeah, we do that. But we also do stories on.. uh... cultures. And subcultures like you guys who are really into this Si-Fi thing." She shifted a bit on her feet and sat her glass of punch down on a table. "We met your friend Dave down at his shop and he told us that we should be here tonight if we really wanted to, you know, get a feel for it."

Flamer thought for a minute and then nodded in agreement. "Well, tonight's thing is really just for major sucking up. You know, get all the talent together in one room and tell them how great they are." He uncrossed his arm, eyed both women and did a topic change. "I'll have to tell 'ya, I'm kinda glad Daveo gave you two his passes. So you ladies like to party?"

"Well, you know Dave...'O'." Cordelia said through her forced smile. "Underneath that unwashed, sloppy, half shaved, styleless, tattooed pierced and uneducated exterior there's a real... ah, nice guy."

Buffy blinked at Cordelia's left handed praise. "Yeah, not everybody can decorate with a sheep skull and get away with it." She cocked her head to one side and batted her eyes a bit. "So Flamer, you're in charge of this, right? At least that's what Dave told us."

"Naaa... I'm not in charge, the suits are in charge." Flamer confessed. "I'm the guy who designed the cover for the program."

Cordy's ironed on smile never moved. "Oh really? I saw that. With that woman robot. So what's with the cleavage on a robot?"

"Artist, huh?" Buffy butted in. "So you got to go meet Rita last night? How cool was that?"

"Majorly!" Flamer answered enthusiastically. "I just kinda lucked out. Was over at the Con Center when her lawyer called and said she wanted to come and I overheard where the meeting was." He grinned and nudged Buffy with his elbow. "So I just kinda showed up too."

"Cool." Buffy answered, taking a step away. "So details Flamer, details. Where does a person like Rita live? Some big mansion in the hills?"

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you."

"Try me." Buffy deadpanned.

Flamer lowered his voice. "A freighter. She lives on a freighter down at the Port."

Cordelia lost her smile. "Ick."

"No 'ick'!" Flamer countered while giving his hand a wave around the ballroom. "We're not talking some rust bucket. The 'Westfall Blue' was nicer this place. First class, five star all the way." He slid a bit closer to Cordelia. "I can take you there and show you."

"Oh let me think about this." She said sarcastically. "Get in a car and drive down to the docks with a total stranger? What an offer!"

"You don't need to be that way about it. I'm just trying to get you an interview."

Buffy's Slayer sense began to tingle causing her to turn away from the conversation and focus in on a man who had just entered the room. She watched as he went directly up to a group of Convention organizers, tell them something and then turn on his heel and leave.

After a few seconds of obviously unhappy conversation, one of the organizers went up to the microphone and made a short announcement:

"Due to a death in the family, Rita has canceled. Also she has postponed the charity raffle of 'Last Call'. It will be rescheduled at a later time as an Internet auction. Thank you."

"We gotta go." Buffy said grabbing Cordy by the arm. "Something's up... something bad. I can feel it."

Flamer stepped up between them and draped an arm around each one's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. These people back out all the time. I can introduce you to..."

Buffy pulled away with a snarl. "Touch me again and I'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them!"

"Okay Buffy.. that was sooo 'social'." Cordy said with a roll of her eyes. "Now think.. what are we suppose to be doing in here?"

"Change in plan." She snapped back.

"What's going on?" Flamer suspiciously asked.

Buffy pulled Cordy away. "Come on... we gotta find the others."

With Cordy protesting every step of the way they made their way through the crowd and out into the hall. As they approached the balcony overlooking the lobby the throng of humanity thickened as rubberneckers stood three deep along the railing. Buffy's stomach tightened into a knot as she caught bits and pieces of apathetic conversations and commentary.

"...did this big half gainer off..."

"...dead guy..."

"...cart just missed a taxi..."

"...like they need that ambo..."

"...gross..."

"...on some bad-ass shit..."

"Buffy, Cordelia."

Rees's pain filled voice stopped them both in their tracks.

"Come with me."

Buffy's voice cracked. "What happened?"

Tightlipped, Rees just shook his head and motioned for them to follow him back to the vacant Rose Room.

"Rees?" Cordy gulped.

"Not here." Tom said quietly. "Please... come, come with me."

As they followed both Buffy and Cordelia knew a requiem was at hand which made each step akin to walking on a razor as they proceed down the hall. Tom stopped in the doorway, ushered them in and softly closed the door.

Xander sat mute in a folding chair with a thousand yard stare on his face.

Anya sat on the floor beside him wiping her face, trying to comprehend the appearance of the human tears which had generated in her eyes.

Tom took a deep breath. "Buffy, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but..."

"Oh God." She moaned.

"...Giles and Rosenberg came in alone and went up the elevator to either the tenth or the fourteenth floor. Riley and Xander followed them to gather intelligence..."

"No."

"...Anya came and got me and we joined Xander on the tenth floor..."

Cordy wrapped her arms around Buffy as she began to weave on her feet.

"...the three of us searched each floor between the tenth and the fourteenth but we found nothing." Rees stopped to collect his thoughts as Buffy's sobs cut him like a knife. "We, we went on up, checking each floor. On the seventeenth floor we found a panicked hotel employee who told us that a man had just committed suicide. Leaped out the window because... because the 'vampire witch had hexed him'." He came over and placed his hands on Buffy's shoulders before saying the words. "Buffy, Riley is dead."

A stab of unbearable pain then a strange silent emptiness filled Buffy.

"Please understa