Chapter I

The Barrier

Three weeks ago:

Everyday and every night, he would yell, scream and rant. He was always in the back of his head, always infiltrating his thoughts and dreams with his harsh and hateful words. "LET ME OUT!" he was constantly demanding. Demanding to be set free so that he wouldn't have to feel or hear the goodness he saw and heard from every person he met. He wanted to be set free. Constantly he took a sledge hammer to the wall that barred him from taking control of the body. Every smashing blow wouldn't even dent it. The soul was too firmly in control. Too strong. But, the one thing he couldn't block out was…ridicule! He would shout and scream, take God's name in vain, make fun of every human being he had ever killed. Going into great detail as to how he had made the person suffer and die.

When this got too much, Angel had a weapon to fight back with. Whenever Angelus would become too loud, Angel walked to his vast library, sat down and started reading. Angel would begin: "In the beginning there was the word…"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Angel laughed with the knowledge that even the strongest demons like Angelus could not stand up to the Bible. After awhile, Angel had to put the book down. He was not worthy to read those pages. And he could feel the pain that the words caused. Plus, his hands smoked so much that they threatened to burn the book. As soon as the feelings of guilt arose, Angelus pounced on them. Taking them as renewed energy and vigor to continue his battle with the soul. "I will escape!" Angelus shouted through the corridors of Angel's mind. Angel walked to the door, "No, you won't!" he said to himself as he left.

Cordelia looked up from the front desk as Fred came rushing in, a giant smile on her face. "Hey! Look whose back." Cordelia said with a giant smile.

"Hi, Cordy." Fred hastily set down her purse and things on the main desk. Cordelia leaned over at the bundle of things that were in her friend's possession.

"So how was New York? What was it like?" Fred's smile became expanded as she laughed a little. "Oh my God! It was spectacular. Nothing like here. There were bright lights everywhere when it got dark. I loved it!" Cordelia saw the number of things that Fred had brought from her trip. Gifts, yippee!!! Cordelia's inner child squeaked. "What did you and your parents do while you were there?"

"I saw only what I now consider to be the greatest play in history!"

"Which one did you see?" Cordelia asked with anticipation.

"My parents and I won a contest from a local radio station. We won tickets to see the musical Jekyll and Hyde!"

"How was it?" Cordeila asked.

"Fabulous! I loved it so much I got the CD and bought the book."

Cordelia shot a smile, "Jekyll and Hyde! I've always wanted to see that play. I want to hear it. Come on, Angel actually broke down and bought a CD player last week." Cordelia took Fred's hand, like she was a high school kid, and they both ran into the opposite room to play the CD.

Angel opened his eyes and lifted his head off the pillow. "Evening soul boy." Angelus said mockingly. Angel scrunched his eyes and rubbed them. Angelus had become more vocal of late. He always had heard him before. But, he seemed more loud and boisterous. It was like a voice echoing through a cave. Angel got up and headed for the closet. "Hey, I got an idea for tonight." Angelus began. "Let's go get smashed tonight, find a beautiful woman and have a fun, happy time with her."

"Shut up, Angelus!" Angel said through his mind. Almost on cue Angelus began to rant. "YOU DAMNED LITTLE SON OF A BITCH! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOUR PATHETIC, WEAK SOUL! LET ME OUT!" Angel smiled cynically as he chose what he would wear for the night. He loved ignoring Angelus. It always drove him crazy. "Do I have to start reading The Bible again?" Angel said slipping on his clothes and shoes.

"Let me out!" Angelus demanded; seething in anger. "Let me out! Or, I'll go into great detail again how I killed your sister! Again."

"Rot in Hell!" Angel said opening his bedroom door and walking out.

"We did that already. Remember?"

Angel walked down the stairs. To his surprise, he could hear music blasting from one of the rooms. He knew he shouldn't have gotten that CD player. Cordelia would disturb his silence with her playing the Hell out of it.

"Animals trapped behind bars at the zoo. Need to run rampant and free! Predators live by the prey they pursue. This time the predator's ME!" Angel walked to what was dubbed the "Entertainment Room" in the hotel. He walked in and saw Cordelia with a blanket thrown over her shoulders. She held it around her face like she was Bela Lugosi playing Dracula. Fred pretended to look like she was afraid; the whole time with a huge smile on her face. A smile appeared on Angel's face as he laughed at the situation.

"Damn they are so hot! But they'll never equal up to Buffy."

"Shut your mouth Angelus!" Angel yelled in his mind

Cordelia saw Angel out of the corner of her eye and shrieked with laughter. "What?" She yelled with laughter. Fred turned and shrieked as well, giggling. Cordelia pressed the pause button on the CD player. "Angel. Hi, didn't see you there." Cordelia said laughing. Angel smiled at her and Fred. "Glad to see that you're back, Fred. How was your trip?" Angel inquired. Fred looked away shyly and embarrassed. She gave Angel a huge smile. "It was great!" She replied while sitting down on a small couch.

Angel walked further into the room nearing where Fred was sitting, "What were you guys listening to? It sounded thrilling." Fred handed him the CD case. "Jekyll and Hyde." Angel said reading the title, "This was an excellent book. It's one of my favorites." The music suddenly blared again very loudly. "Whoops!" Cordelia yelled. "Must have put it on a slight pause delay."

"Humans trapped behind bars at the zoo! I love it too!" Angelus said as he suddenly injected into Angel's thoughts his most detailed and gruesome memories of men and women that he brutally and slowly tortured to death for a month during a short incursion into Poland. Angel almost gasped, but his exterior features revealed nothing to his two friends.

"Quiet!" Angel shouted back in his mind. Angel walked out of the room, just as the music was stopped and picked up his coat. "Sorry about that." Cordelia said.

"What's on tap for tonight, Angel?" Fred asked coming out of the entertainment room.

"Hunting for Drusilla and Darla." Angel replied while slipping the coat on.

"Oh Hell! Not again. Do we have to keep doing this?" Angelus complained as he attacked the soul barrier again. As Angel headed for the doors, the echoes of Angelus' ranting reverberated down the corridors of his mind.

***

"Where are they?" Angel shouted at the vampire.

"Won't tell you! Don't trust you!" the vampire replied. This was the third vampire tonight that Angel had tracked down. The vampire no longer had a face and both his legs were broken. But he still hadn't cracked yet. Angel pushed the vampire's arm up behind his back. He pushed until the vampire's arm broke. The snap of the bone echoed through the ally way.

"Come on Lenny! Don't make me break your right arm again!" Angel threatened.

"Stake me! I won't tell you a thing! I will not betray the mistresses!" Angel's stake popped out of the sleeve of his jacket. "Have it your way!" Angel replied as he stuck the stake right into Lenny's back. The vampire screamed and exploded into dust. Angel brushed the remains of the vampire off of himself.

"Hey! You didn't try any of the other torture tips I gave you!" Angelus said to Angel.

"Shut Up Angelus!"

"No! You drag me a long and expect me to sit around and do nothing. Come on soul boy, we're a team."

"No we're not. Just shut up."

"You almost had the bastard. And you stake him instead of breaking all of his bones. You could have ripped out some arteries if he didn't break after that."

"SHUT UP ANGELUS!!" Angel screamed out loud.

"Starting to talk to yourself, Angelus?" Angel whirled around and looked into the darkness. In the pale moonlight, Angel could see the sultry walk of Darla, moving ever so slowly in the night. She was graceful and beautiful, an enticing woman who could lure any man. Her clothes, her words and actions were a greater temptation then Eve's. But, underneath, lay a predator who was calculating and patient. Darla, a serpent disguised as a goddess. Behind her, moving ever so slowly was Drusilla. Her head raised high; her stride filled with pride, dominance, forbidden knowledge and power. They stopped. Drusilla walked forward, like she was dancing with each step she took. "Daddy must be going crazy. Have you started to hear voices in your head? They can be quite entertaining. Just watch out for them in your dreams." Drusilla took Darla's hand and began to circle around her the way a dance partner would circle their partner. "Have you finally started to lose your mind, Angelus?" Darla asked teasingly, "Crazy enough for another round with me in the sack?" Angel began to circle the dark vampires. "It ends tonight, Darla."

"Oh, but, precious, you say that every night. Getting tired of being on the couch?" Darla said insultingly.

"Enough of your prattling, Darla!" Angel commanded.

Darla replied with her confident smile, ear to ear, evil and seductively. "Very well, Angelus, dear. Drusilla." The dark brunette turned to Darla.

"Can I show him my new toy, mummy?" Drusilla said innocently.

"Of course my dear." Darla replied. Drusilla laughed and clapped her hands together. Then, she looked at Angel with a crazed sadistic smile. Angel stood his ground; prepared to face whatever Drusilla had to throw at him. Drusilla's face changed to her vampire features. Angel concentrated on her eyes, waiting. Without even making a move, Angel was suddenly thrown back into a wall. He then felt himself propelled forward into the sky and thrown against another wall. He suddenly felt gravity take hold of him and he fell to the ground. Angel wasn't sure if he felt the pavement crack under him. What he could tell was that his arm was broken, along with his back and shoulders. He also felt a crack in his skull. Normally, ordinary wounds like this would kill a human being. Being the undead he instead felt the excruciating pain. It would take a while for his vampire powers to heal the injuries. For the moment he was at Darla's and Drusilla's mercy.

"Do you like Drusilla's new trick?" Darla asked. Darla smiled at Drusilla. "She's been developing it for some time now. Telekinetic powers: the ability to lift things with your mind. Who ever thought Drusilla's ability to see into the future would lead to her discovering that kind of power?"

"Did my angel enjoy his surprise?" Drusilla asked insanely. Angel could not move, nor could he speak.

"Nothing more to say, Angelus? Then I guess the game continues for another day. Until then." She bent down and lustfully kissed his lips. She then signaled with her head for Drusilla to follow her. "Tell that son of ours I said hello." Darla said. The two vampires left the broken Angel in the ally way.

"Bitch." Angelus cursed. He turned his thoughts toward Angel. "Well, that was interesting." Angelus declared to Angel.

"Shut the Hell up!" Angel replied in his mind.

"Is that all you've got? Just remember who does all the healing around here."

"Guess who doesn't have a choice." Angelus' consciousness turned to the problem of healing and mending the broken body. Angel's teeth gripped with the tightening of broken bones snapping back into place. Angelus knew this would distract the soul's thoughts. "I know something you don't know." he said to himself, beyond the abilities of the soul to hear.