AN: Sorry for the ridiculously long delay. Between the busyness of the holidays, starting back up with school, thinking up plot ideas, etc., I haven't been as faithful with this story as I had hoped to be.

Chapter Ten: On the Team

However, Newkirk could only shift his glance in Carter's and Hogan's direction quickly, before turning his attention back on his friend. "That's the main problem, Angel. We 'onestly 'ave no idea where she might be. I'm assuming that she's someplace in Germany, but if 'er magick is strong enough, she could be in Poland or even England for all we know."

"Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case though. Or rather, unfortunately as the case may be," Hogan said while sighing, no hint of the usual twinkle in his eye. For a brief moment, his expression was just as brooding as Newkirk's friend's was.

Angel was about to continue the conversation, but a sight had stopped him in his tracks. Turning his attention away from Hogan and back onto Newkirk, he knew immediately what had caught his eye. The corporal realized what his friend was thinking, so he could only shake his head sadly. "I know you were 'oping that what I 'ad to say wasn't the truth, but it is. Gretel really 'as stolen Carter and me fangs. You know 'ow powerless we are as vampires without them."

"I know. Before I had planned to visit Anne recently, we had a long conversation by telephone, and she thought it might be best to fill me in on what's been going on in your life since we last saw each other. She had the feeling that something was wrong, but she didn't know exactly what," Angel replied.

"Well, she should have known!" LeBeau suddenly said, jumping into the conversation. "If she knew, then maybe she would have been able to help mes amis before this whole incident started!" he shouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Newkirk could only sigh, before quickly looking at his close friend in an annoyed manner. A couple of weeks ago, Anne had given Carter and Newkirk permission to disclose some basic information about her and The Angels, such as who they were, what they were fighting for, and even the fact that Newkirk had become a POW willingly. Naturally, Kinch and LeBeau were just as surprised learning about her as Hogan had been in the beginning. "After all, a group of vampiric espionage and sabotage agents isn't something that you come across every day," Kinch said upon initially hearing the news. "I don't suppose there are any shapeshifters working for her, are there?"

Newkirk had actually been slightly surprised by Kinch's question. While he had been aware of the existence of werewolves and shape shifters for decades, he had never thought very much about them. Kinch and LeBeau were the first shape shifters that he could remember meeting in person, and to the best of his knowledge, none of them served in Anne's secret organization. "No, but if you want, I could always recommend you to 'er. Unfortunately, some of 'er agents were… compromised… when their names were leaked," Newkirk had sadly replied. Before Newkirk had decided to come to Stalag 13, and after he had escaped from Angel and the others, he had spent that period of time with Mavis only. After he had been tricked by Angelus, Spike, Darla and Drusilla, not to mention the innocent humans that he had killed, he had never fully trusted himself to be around either kind of person. True to his nature, he couldn't help but be sarcastic, sneaky and even slightly uncomfortable when he had first come to the Stalag. He had never really spent enough time with his RAF squadron to form any lasting friendships, and even if he had, relationships of that sort had never really interested him. Though, he had spent a great deal with Anne's youngest vampire recruits, teaching them about their new lives as vampires, especially how to overcome any darkness, before Anne had sent them on their way. He remembered one young vampire in particular, David Smith, a name he had decided to keep in death, and who was practically a fledging. He had only been in his young 20s when he had been changed, and he had only been a vampire for a little over a year. Newkirk remembered how saddened he had been to learn of Smith's demise at the hands of a Hunter when her organization had first been uncovered, which made him want to stick to his original vow even closer: Only become as close as is necessary to helping the Colonel carry out his missions. He had never expected that some people by the names of Robert Hogan, Andrew Carter, Louis LeBeau, and James Kinch, as well as Marie Monet and Wilhelm Klink, would help him discover that friendship was important after all, no matter how much he had tried to keep to himself.

Shaking his mind clear of his rapid reminiscences, Newkirk could only turn to face his friend. "Louis, it's like I told you earlier. Just because some vampires can see into the future doesn't mean that it's a completely reliable power of ours."

LeBeau could only sigh, while letting his hands fall to his side. "Oui, I know. It's just that I hate the idea of Gretel having so much power over you whenever she wants to. If it wasn't for Wilson earlier—"

Inadvertently cutting into the conversation, Angel quickly glanced between LeBeau and Newkirk. "Who's Wilson?" he asked simply.

"He's our resident medic, and apparently our resident warlock as well," Hogan said, speaking very directly and as a matter-of-fact. "He helped Newkirk out earlier, because" the Colonel glanced quickly at Newkirk, who gave him permission to finish his sentence, "Gretel had tricked him into attacking me. If it wasn't for his knowledge of magickal plants, Newkirk would have committed an act that he would never be able to forgive himself for."

"He would have killed you," Angel said simply. "You're talking to the one vampire who understands what that means, to take an innocent person's life. If it wasn't for the fact that I've been cursed with a soul, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you."

Up until that point in time, Kinch had remained silent, carefully listening into the conversation that was flowing between his friends and this newcomer. Thus, one word in Angel's last sentence had left him slightly bothered. "What do you mean, 'cursed.' Don't you feel blessed now that you have a soul?"

"Kinch, right? You're a werewolf, and it's my understanding that you've always had your soul. So, you've always had a conscience. You can't possibly imagine what it's like to have one suddenly planted into your body; to suddenly feel this horrible, wrenching and overpowering guilt for the countless people that you've killed, just to have a drink of blood. I don't exactly enjoy knowing that this guilt will always be with me, that it will always be a part of who and what I am. Of course I wouldn't want to go back to being a serial killer of sorts, but if only this guilt could go away!" he shouted. For the first time, his brooding, impassive expression had registered emotion, and he lowered his head before raising it again.

Hogan placed a hand on Angel's shoulders, which prompted him to look the colonel in the face. "Angel, you have to trust me when I say I know what you're going through. It might have been a while since Carter and Newkirk last killed somebody, but that isn't the case for me. I was tricked by a ruddy group of evil vampires, which caused me to kill two innocent Underground agents. I can't tell you how conflicted my emotions were that night—one minute I was enjoying every ounce of warm blood that passed through my lips, and the next your friend had to stop me from killing myself. It was a complete and bloody nightmare, boy!"

"'Ruddy? Bloody? I think I might have been mistaken about you, Colonel. Your accent is definitely American, but you use words that only a true British citizen would use," Angel replied, looking at Hogan in a quizzical manner.

"That's because of the psychic link between myself and my two vampiric men. Doesn't your kind of vampire have that same link?"

Angel could only shake his head back-and-forth. "I'm afraid there are quite a number of differences between your kind of vampire and mine. We don't have a 'psychic link,' or wings, or that horrible Scream of Death either." Besides, why would we want to? From what Anne told me about it, Newkirk's Scream of Death sounds like it can cause more harm than good. I wonder how he can live with it?

"'Ey, I 'eard that!" Newkirk replied, though in a manner that was more sarcastic than truly angry. "It's true—me Scream of Death isn't always the easiest thing to control. But, it did cause us to finish off those bloody vampires once and for all. Though, we 'ave a new battle on the 'orizon, and I need to know if you're in or out."

"If it was anybody else, you know I wouldn't even have bothered coming here tonight. I'm still not entirely certain that this is what I should be doing, but it's better than lying around and feeling sorry for myself. Like you told me earlier, I need to complete a good deed, to help me deal with my conscience. I'm in," Angel said, while even daring to smile.

With that, Hogan held out his hand for the newest member of the team to shake it, which Angel did. While snapping off a crisp salute, Hogan could only reply, "Welcome to the team, Angel. It's good to have you on our side."