A/N:Well hi again. Here's chapter six. Sorry it took longer than usual to post. But I guarentee its definitely worth the wait. Any typos, just tell me. As usual, feedback is very much appreciated. Actually I'd be overjoyed if you left a review. I really like hearing back from people, telling my that they like what I'm doing and what I could do better. So feel free to drop a review even if its a quick one. Anyway, Enjoy.


Carpe Noctum

Chapter 6

Faith grunts as she rolls to the ground, Gunn standing over her, fist poised. She swings her legs around and knocks his feet from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Alright, alright. I give. But just this once because I cant let it get around I got beat by a girl." Gunn jokes as he starts to get up. Faith extends her arm and he gladly takes it. Faith laughs and shakes her head.

"Your secret's safe with me." she promises mockingly, punching him in his arm lightly as they make their way to the Hyperion's makeshift kitchen.

"But damn girl, I gotta say, you got some killer moves." he praises, as he starts to whip up something for them to eat.

"Yeah, comes with the gig, I guess." Faith shrugs before gesturing to Gunn as he takes out a pan and starts to make them omelets. "Huh, so a good fighter and a good cook. Well aren't you just full of surprises." Faith points out, a wicked grin on her features. He just shrugs and smiles back. "what else don't I know about you?" she wonders and his gaze suddenly darkens as he remembers his past deeds. Mainly one.

"Maybe that you and Angel aren't the only ones who've killed someone and regret it." he says deeply before turning back to the eggs. Faith feels her heart swell with sympathy and understanding. She seems to be getting a lot of that lately. She supposes its not that bad, she could be on a murderous rampage. But she's glad she's on the right side. She's also glad Gunn decided to make eggs because as soon as they're done they both eat and fall back into that comfortable banter that keeps her mind off what's to come, if only for a few minutes.

xxxxxxx

Xander groans holding his aching stomach as he polishes off another fish sandwich he just retrieved from the kitchen a few minutes earlier. Its not exactly his choice meal but its food and that's good enough for him. Everything is so tense in the Hyperion and with everything about to go down he found himself outside bathing in the sunlight. Cordelia is sitting beside him out in the garden the sun shining down on them. He isn't sure how he got her to come outside, she's been cooped up in her room for days, but here they are laughing and joking as if things hadn't happened the way they did back in Sunnydale almost 3 years ago. Xander grabs Cordelia's hips and she shrieks and squirms against him.

"Ew! You have fish hands!" she squeals, as he pokes her sides, childishly. He stops once she's positioned on his lap and that electric charge that used to spark between them makes itself known again. They move closer and closer until each of them can feel the others breath fanning across their faces. Anya is nothing but a distant memory to Xander as he cups Cordelia's cheek and gives her a bruising, passionate kiss. At first she's unresponsive, almost pulling away from him in disgust, but then something, the real Cordy takes over, and she's kissing him back with everything she can muster from the small corner of her body she's kept hidden in. Their impromptu make out session goes on for a few minutes until Cordelia pulls away and rubs a hand across her mouth.

"I…" she takes off before Xander can get a word in edgewise. Leaving him alone, immensely confused and suddenly craving something other than food. Something in the form of a headstrong brunette with amazing curves, who's name happens to rhyme with Schmordelia.

xxxxxxx

Buffy and Faith round the corner of a tall bookshelf to find Wesley facing off with Angelus. He cocks his gun and fires a round directly at Angelus' chest but he's too quick and ducks just in time.

"Gotta do better than that, Wes." Angelus taunts, shoving Wesley through a window and snatching his gun away from him, turning to Buffy and Faith menacingly.

"Uh-oh." Angelus laughs. "Vampire with a gun." he says as Buffy and Faith take off in opposite directions. "I see why he likes this thing." Angelus observes as he takes off after Faith. He finally catches up with her, pointing the barrel to Faith's face. "You really have gone soft now, haven't you? Hey, you remember that time you tried to get Angel to kill you because you felt all weepy over being such a bad girl?" No reply. "Do you still feel that way?" Angelus asks and Faith looks away, waiting for Buffy to spring. "Do you still wanna die?" Angelus questions and Faith replies softly.

"No."

"What's that?" the vampire shouts.

"No." she say, firmly.

"I cant hear you."

"No!" she screams and he smirks at her.

"Too bad, because you're gonna." he pulls the trigger again and again, only he realizes its empty. "But not like this."

"Damn right." Buffy tells him, kicking him in the back and sending him sprawling to the floor. He quickly picks himself up and turns to her with a smile.

"Looks like we got a live one." Angelus announces as he punches her in the face with as much force as he can muster. "For now." he adds as Buffy stumbles backward. He jabs her in the ribs and she grunts as she tries to regain her footing. "A little tired sweetie? You wanna take a break?" Angelus kicks her in the stomach and Buffy rolls onto the ground. Before she can even get up, he's at her side kicking her again. "Now this is just disappointing. You never used to bleed so easy."

"Screw you." she says through clenched teeth and a familiar glint comes into his eyes.

"Maybe after. I like my girls to lie still." Angelus winks before calling out to Wesley. "Hey buddy, how's it going in there?" Angelus lets out a bark of laughter when the ex watcher doesn't reply. "Good old Wes. Always count on him to tackle a bad situation and make it worse. I mean, hey, look how you turned out. After Giles failed miserably at being your watcher they sent someone else and he couldn't even get the job done. But then again, I guess he didn't really have much to work with now, did he?"

Faith delivers a roundhouse kick to Angelus' head and he falls unceremoniously.

"Save the head trip, GQ. Wes told me about this and Buffy knows better then to let you get under her skin. Gave us what we needed to scratch you out." Faith retorts confidently as Buffy rolls to her feet.

"Oh ho. Don't tell me. The rousing stiff upper lip speech. Rah rah. Good over evil. Do what must be done. Hang in there kitten its almost Friday. Is that what the scraggly little ponce armed you with to fight the big bad boogey man?" Angelus wonders as Buffy smiles mischievously at him.

"Yeah, and this." Buffy quips, whipping out a knife and shoving it into his chest.

"There's me girl. I knew she was in there somewhere, dying to come out and play." he chokes out as she pulls the blade out and stabs him again.

Buffy takes it out again and throws it up into the air, pounding on him until it comes back down and she plunges it back into his chest. This time Angelus knocks her backward with a wave of his hand and Faith moves in on him. She starts to pound on him furiously before he kicks her in the crotch and disappears onto the scaffolding in one smooth move. She scours the place looking for him.

"That hurt baby? Kinda liked it. There's all that anger you've been bottling it up. Don't be afraid to let it out dearie."

"Shut up." Faith spits as she looks to Buffy who is trying to get up from her place behind the bookshelf.

"Come on Faith, you're not even trying. Or is that why you really came back, huh? Not enough to punish yourself in prison? Is that it? Still looking for someone to beat the bad out of you?" Angelus punches her and she tumbles to the ground, but she quickly regroups and gets on her feet. "You know what the funny thing is darling? I could beat you to death and it wouldn't make a difference." Angelus explains, punching her so hard she hurls backward toward the bookshelf where Buffy is.

"Nothing will ever change who you are, Faith. You're just like me." Angelus laughs and Faith runs out from behind the bookcase and launches herself at him. She sends a series of kicks and punches the vampires way. Angelus merely smiles. Faith gets off him and shakes her head violently.

"No! You're wrong. I'm different now. I'm not like you." she says, more to herself then to him. She wont let herself be like him.

Angelus kicks Faith's feet from under her and sends her falling to the bookstore's carpeted floor. He snatches her before she has a chance to get up and vamps out.

"You will be." he says through his teeth before pulling back to sink his teeth into Faith's neck. His fangs are barely even a centimeter away when Buffy knocks Angelus to the ground and steps in front of Faith, making sure Angelus doesn't get the chance to even graze her skin with his sharp teeth.

"Aw, how sweet. Standing up for your fellow slayer. Very noble of you, Buff. That's okay. You taste better anyway." he confesses, grabbing Buffy by the shoulders and sinking his fangs into the same place his counterpart did all those years ago. He smiles blissfully against her neck until her blood finally flows down his throat. He coughs and extracts his fangs from her neck, wiping his mouth and looking toward Buffy, his eyes wide with fear.

"What... did you do?"

"You got to do better than that, Wes." Angelus teases and Buffy and Faith crouch down behind a bookcase. Faith pulls out the syringe from her boot and poises to inject it when Buffy snatches it away.

"What are you doing, B?" Faith demands in an angry whisper. She was ready to go. Yeah, Gunn was nice but he could never make her forget. Besides, she figures Buffy deserves to live way more then she does anyway. Fair's fair. Buffy ignores her and plunges the syringe into her arm. This is her time. Angel gets his soul, his son and his life back. She gets dead. It's a win win.

"Come on, I'll give you one more." Angelus offers Wes and the drugs flow freely into Buffy's blood.

"Strike three." Angelus laughs, the sound of shattering glass sounding around them. Buffy and Faith round the corner of a tall bookcase just as Wesley falls through the window.

"You—you sp— You spiked…" Angelus stammers before passing out at Faith's feet.

"You two all right?" Wesley asks in concern as he finds his way back into the room and both slayers nod.

"Yeah, I'm—" Buffy slurs before falling to the ground. Wesley looks over to Faith in confusion and her arms fly up as her face portrays her own bewilderment. Wesley bends down and pulls Buffy into his arms while Faith drags Angel's body to the car, the ex watcher still unclear and uneasy about what happened while he was out of commission. He sighs as he lays Buffy's body next to Angel's in the backseat and marvels at how they immediately find one another, leaning into each other as if it were a natural occurrence. How even as Angelus they're connection is strong and they are still drawn to one another. Polar opposites, negative and positive. He's mesmerized by it.

"Wes. We gotta go." Faith grunts from the passengers side, snapping Wesley out of his reverie. He slams the car door shut and trots over to the drivers side. Ready to punch the gas and get to the Hyperion as fast as he can.

xxxxxxx

Fred sighs as she flips through yet another useless book on rituals and incantations involving human essences and souls. Her and Willow have been researching at the front desk all day and they haven't found a single shred of information that can help them retrieve Angel's soul from whatever is keeping it out of the ether.

"So I never got a chance to ask, though I don't think you would have kept quiet about it, did the locater spell work?" Fred asks as she plops down at her desk and puts a pile of dusty books near her tranq gun and refills. So yeah, she's overcompensating a bit. Its not likely Angelus will show up again, but its better to be safe than sorry.

"Nah, something is blocking the way. I'm trying to come up with some sort of solution or way around it, although its kinda hard." Willow shrugs. "But I'll get it eventually. How about you? How are you?"

"Oh you know, just dandy, besides the fact I totally let Angelus get away."

"Not your fault."

"I should have had him."

"Fred, you got out alive, so—"

"Because he let me. Why not? All the little mouse could do was squeak at him." Fred sighs, looking down at her feet.

"Then next time Minnie'll take a chunk out of his cheese. Look, if you really think you did something wrong, don't do it again. That simple." Willow smiles reassuringly.

"Is it?" Fred questions and Willow thinks about her struggle with magic and how complicated things can get at times, before rethinking her answer. She can see where Fred is coming from.

"Sometimes." Willow says quietly, attempting to close herself off and Fred catches on to her change in mood.

"All we ever do is turn away. I wonder how any of us ever communicate with each other." Fred's brows furrow and Willow finds herself agreeing. Fred sighs as she thinks about their situation. She wishes maybe that those powers that be Angel's always talking about would just cut them a break for once. Lord, knows they need it.

She thinks maybe the PTB might have come through as soon as she sees Gunn and Xander come through the Hyperion's doors, a passed out Angelus, dead weight in their arms.

"Connor!" Gunn calls out as him and Xander carry Angelus to the middle of the lobby, Fred and Willow trialing behind them. "Pick up your tranq gun. I don't know how much time we have. Connor!" Gunn shouts again as Fred steadily holds the tranquilizer gun at the ready and pointed at Angelus' limp body.

"What happened?" Willow asks as Xander and Gunn deposit Angelus on the floor. She finds it highly ironic how corpse like the vamp looks.

"Wes called, we went." Gunn replies simply.

"Where is he? Where's Buffy and Faith?" Fred questions looking back up toward the door.

"Gimme steel shackles." Gunn requests, Willow grabs the shackles from Fred and hands them to him. "All I had was rope in the truck."

"And rope just isn't what it used to be." Xander quips as he helps clamp the shackles onto Angel's wrists gingerly.

"What's going on?" Conner asks as him and Dawn emerge on the balcony.

"Get down here now." Gunn orders before turning back to Fred. "Leg irons too."

"They found him." Conner says to Dawn as he hustles down the stairs, Dawn in tow.

"Well, what is all the—- oh god, you got Angelus. Bravo or should I say Brava? Wesley, Buffy, and Faith. Where are they?" Lorne asks, his head swiveling to look for them. His mojo may be a little messed up but them not being present, definitely sending off warning signals. Dawn seems to pick up on his silent panic and looks to Xander, who looks away and continues to help chain Angelus up.

"Get him downstairs." Wesley commands as him and Faith support Buffy's weight.

"What happened to Buffy?" Conner asks in confusion, his worry radar shooting up against his own request. He blames Dawn. Her and her compelling stories.

"She captured Angel." is Faith's bitter reply and everyone can tell something isn't right.

"God, what did he do to her?" Fred asks as she notices the blood dripping down the side of her neck.

"Is she going to be okay?" Dawn asks frantically, tears welling up in her eyes. Conner grabs her hand comfortingly and Lorne rubs soothing circles on her back. Conner can tell that Dawn loves her sister more than anything in the world, even without the stories she's told and the reverent tone she used to tell them. Its clear on the young girls face. The worry, the fear. All obvious and plain on her beautiful face.

"Gunn?" Wes raises and Gunn nods.

"We got it." Gunn confirms.

"She looks not well." Lorne points out and Conner stares at Buffy's unconscious form with sadness.

"She gonna be—"

"Wake up, kid. I need you here." Gunn grunts at Conner as him and Xander start to lug Angelus down to the basement. Conner nods and engulfs Dawn in a hug before taking off behind them.

"Find somewhere we can put her." Wes tells the others as he sweeps Buffy into his arms in one quick motion and follows Lorne up the stairs. He carries Buffy down the hall to an empty room. Willow, Faith, Dawn, Fred and Lorne accompany him as he sets Buffy's limp body down gently on the bed.

Lorne brushes a few strands away from Buffy's sweating forehead before he sees her arm and the discolored area where she injected herself with the needle. Lorne turns to Wesley for an explanation but the ex-watcher simply stares straight ahead at Buffy lying in the bed motionlessly. He knows what happened. Faith told him what she did. That doesn't mean he likes it or wants to be the one to explain it to everyone.

Dawn is sitting in the corner, tears dripping down from her eyes as Willow and Xander try to comfort her and keep themselves from breaking down at the same time.

Fred brings in a bowl of fresh water and a dry towel before sitting down on the edge of the bed. She slowly dips the towel into the basin and carefully wipes away the crimson colored blood stained on Buffy's skin. Fred winces as she dabs at the two puncture holes in Buffy's neck, the ones that seem to over lap two other bite marks that are scarred on the curve of her neck. She wonders how many vampires have taken a bite out of the young slayer and how she's still alive with all the blood loss. She hopes she's able to ask her about it some day. Because she may not know Buffy that well, but even she can tell that the world without her in it will be a dark and dismal place.

xxxxxxx

Conner and Gunn do their best to secure Angelus in his cage as Xander stands by with his tranq gun and Conner glares at Angelus' unconscious form.

"He fed from her. There's blood on his breath." he whispers in disgust, anger boiling in the pit of his stomach. Xander's features harden and he now can see that he was serious about everyone wanting to kill his father at one time, because the deep hatred he sees on Xander's face could only have been constructed with time and effort.

Xander clenches his fist and does his best to keep himself from beating Angel to a pulp. Not that anyone would really object right now, and he would totally do it… if only Buffy would allow it. But he knows that when, and he refuses to say if because Buffy not waking up, no he cant fathom it. When Buffy wakes up she'll be majorly pissed at him for beating Angel up when he wasn't conscious, especially since he's already in under their control and about to be re-ensouled.

Angelus twitches and starts to mutter under his breath causing Gunn, Xander, and Conner to jump back.

"Kill you...kill...you…" Angelus mumbles. They take a few careful steps back, their tranquilizer guns aimed at Angelus' chest.

xxxxxxx

Fred unwraps a bandage and begins to carefully press it on Buffy's wound when she twitches and starts to mumble.

"Get you out.…" she mutters and Fred, Wes, Lorne, Dawn, Faith, and Willow look at her helplessly.

"She's not making any sense." Faith sighs sitting down on Buffy's other side.

"And speaking of sense, have you gone on permanent sabbatical from yours? Tell me you did not shoot that girl full of junk, and then feed her to Angelus." Lorne accuses, his voice thick with anger, a rarity in the usually pleasant demon.

"You let her do what?" Dawn demands reproachfully, turning to Faith fully ready to place the blame.

"Don't look at me I was supposed to do it but B, she took the syringe from me." Faith tells them sadly, shaking her head and mentally chastising herself. If only she'd been quicker.

"It was her choice. Buffy knew the risks." Wesley says emotionally as he tries to keep a cool head. Dawn starts to sob harder and even Willow lets out a strangled cry. She had fooled them all.

"Aw, she couldn't! Wesley, I know what that drug does to people. Especially when they super-size the doses to make sure they really get the job done. And you damn well know it too." Lorne growls halfheartedly, his attention now focused on the girl laying unconscious in her bed.

xxxxxxx

"A coma you said?" Cordelia attempts to confirm. If Buffy is down for the count that leaves one less bitch to deal with. Down side: she still has Faith and Willow to worry about.

"Yeah, that's what it looked like when Wesley and Faith brought her in." Conner says distractedly as he fights with himself internally. Stay with Cordelia or go and comfort Dawn, he's really leaning toward the ladder.

"Like one slayer hasn't pulled that one before." Cordelia accuses, crossing her arms and chuckling evilly. It is true. But Cordy's smile falters and she wonders how Xander is taking the downfall of his beloved Buffy. She almost wants to go comfort him, but thinks better of it.

"I don't think she was faking." Conner insists, interrupting Cordelia's mental lapse of judgment. She shakes her head and focuses on the task at hand.

"So the slayer snagged Angelus? He's in the hotel? Is he locked up tight in the cage?"

"Don't worry, Cordy. I'll protect our family." Conner tells her as he's assaulted with the face of an named child and Dawn's beautiful blue eyes. He'll do anything to protect her.

"That's sweet." Cordelia coos, before getting serious. "Is he guarded?

"Buffy really did a number on him. Dawn's really upset the whole thing." Conner says with sympathy slightly leaning toward the door.

"What the hell is it with you and Dawn! As if I didn't see the way you looked at her. She whipped out the tears and you were practically in her badly dressed lap!" Cordelia snarls as she punches him and pushes him to the ground.

"No, I wasn't? And how'd you do that, anyway? What about the anti-demon spell?" Conner questions as he gets back up on his feet.

"I told you, Connor, we're different. Me and your baby. But I guess you can't even be loyal to our bed, let alone our little family. I thought you were gonna be a better father than Angel was to you." Cordelia smiles mischievously with her back turned, she knows if anything being a better father than Angel will be his number one priority.

"And I will be. I would do anything for our baby." Conner says fiercely, staring down at Cordelia's stomach.

"Wow. Are my hormones out of whack, or what? Hello, crazy pregnant lady, out of line! Whoo! Why don't you go see how Buffy is doing? Go on. I'm concerned. I want to know—" she tells Conner and he nods before practically running to Buffy's room and standing against the wall.

Connor stares at Dawn as she stares sadly at Buffy. He wants to go to her. He wants to gather her up in his arms and never let anyone hurt her but he's afraid he wont be able to say the right thing so he stays rooted to the spot. Wesley's in the corner holding an ice pack to his bruised head while Fred, Xander, Willow, Faith and Lorne stand near the bed where Buffy's resting.

"What's going to happen to her?" Conner bravely speaks up, his voice more even then he would have expected as he breaks the heavily laden tension in the air . Fred crosses her arms, turning to Wesley.

"Actually, I'd like to start with exactly was it, Wesley?" she questions, that tone of voice a woman gets when she wants answers.

"Orpheus." Lorne replies for him.

"Orpheus?" Dawn and Conner ask in unison, quickly looking at each other then away.

"Some kind of opiate?" Fred wonders in befuddlement.

"Mystical variety." Willow explains grimly. Her mind flitting to past memories.

"Humans inject it. Vampires feed off the humans. Folks tried to deal it at Caritas—only folks I ever banned from my club." Lorne shakes his head.

"The 'vention." Buffy mumbles almost inaudibly and Dawn wipes another tear.

"So, if ordinary humans do this junk, slayers are all super, right?" Fred figures and Lorne nods.

"That's what makes it so dangerous. Orpheus isn't entirely physical. It's an enchanted drug." Willow tells them, rehashing her own brief encounter with enchanted drugs. Sometimes they could feel good, other times… not so much. But the bottom line is any type of enchanted drug has the capacity to really do a number on you. Permanently.

"Magic. This is what it gets you." Dawn spits bitterly and Conner nods resolutely in agreement. Yet another thing they seem to have in common.

"That, plus the biting, makes for some serious psychic psychedelia. And the more you take, the deeper you sink." Lorne tells them morosely, pity penetrating his tone. Wesley looks toward Willow perplexed as he tries to figure out why she knows so much, before comprehension dawns on him. Enchanted drugs. The magic. She knew of this stuff because she'd experienced it. Maybe not this particular drug, most likely something much more sinister. Willow hangs her head before making a hasty exit so she can collect her thoughts.

"It leads you down to hell…" Wesley sighs, removing the ice pack from his head and staring regretfully at Buffy's still form. "And leaves you there."