Part Two

Doyle and Cordy stood side by side in the elevator as it took them up to the lobby. Music tinkled in the background. 'Well - that was embarrassin',' Doyle said, breaking the silence.

'What? There are evil people here - I wanted to take precautions.'

'Uhuh - so I get the frisky end of some security guy's probe just 'cause you've got a throwing star stashed in your underwear. That's fair.'

She giggled, 'well nobody ever suspects the little girl, Doyle - you look way more shifty than me. And look on the bright side - you might be sore, but I'm still armed. Which is good - because who knows what manner of evil we're about to face out there.'

The bell dinged and the door slid open - Cordy took a deep breath preparing herself for whatever horror was coming her way … only to find that the place was dead. Pretty much completely dead - the dance floor was empty, apart from one blonde girl twirling away under the glitterball, and a group of surly looking lawyers hung around the edges, drinking beers.

'This is it?' Cordelia asked. 'This is … I was expecting something … You know - more.'

'Ah-' Doyle wrapped his arm around her and ushered her out of the elevator and towards the drinks table. 'Halloween's always dead, no self respectin' creature of evil goes out on Halloween. But you know - we should probably do a quick sweep, show our faces, drop in and say 'hey' to Angel - then head home.'

'You can be all relaxed about this if you like, little Irish man,' she said to him, 'but I, for one, am gonna stay on my toes - alert for any sign of…' she was cut off as she was suddenly engulfed in a pair of arms, a glittery dress and a mountain of blonde hair. 'Oh my god oh my god oh my god!' she heard a familiar voice squeal. 'Oh my god, Cordy! It is so great to see you!'

'Har - Harmony?' she choked out, in surprise. 'This is … last time I saw you you tried to kill me. What is this?'

Harmony pulled away from her, her grin big and wide. 'Duh - I'm a working gal trying to make it in the big city!' she told her former best friend. 'I'm Angel's personal assistant. I'm like his right arm.'

'Huh - Angel never told me his right arm was evil,' Doyle said. Harmony glanced over at him, her smile faltered, but she fought to keep it in place. 'And you're still with Doily?' she said to Cordelia. 'Well - that's just … great.'

'Doyle,' Cordelia corrected her. 'A doily is something lacy you put under cups.'

'Right…' Harmony nodded. 'Well - Cordy you - you look great,' she said, motioning to Cordy's black dress. Cordy glanced down at herself. 'Oh thanks - you too. I guess … working here is really working out for you, huh?'

'Well - the dental is great. And the magic windows that stop us vampires burning up. But it has its downsides - too. Bossy the cow, for one. He's so crabby all the time. I tried to dress Connor up in a little pumpkin outfit specially for tonight - he yelled at me and told me the party was past Connor's bedtime. I mean - what is that even about? It's only Halloween once a year. I'm just gonna avoid like the plaque when it gets to Christmas.'

'Plague,' Doyle corrected her.

'What?'

'Nothin…' he shook his head, 'so - uh - Angel's actin' a bit grumpy is he?'

'Does he ever act any other way?'

Cordelia laughed. 'She has you there, Doily.' She looked around the lobby. 'I kinda expected it to be - I don't know - a bit busier, maybe?' she said. Harmony scoffed. 'Would you got to a party if you thought the host was only throwing it so he could slice your head off or bury an axe in your back? I tell you - things have been rough since Angel took over. But anyway- ' she went back to her big, bright grin, 'I'm gonna go and dance - you coming Cordy?'

'Maybe later - I'm just gonna hang here with Doily for a bit … get the lay of the land.'

'Whatever - see you out there,' she gave a cheery wave and headed back under the glitterball. The young couple watched her go. 'Well, that was interestin',' Doyle said.

'Which part?' She laughed, sounding unbelieving.

'No I mean it. We knew Angel wasn't settlin' in well, all his late night visits to the office told us that. But it's a two way street. There's unease on The Senior Partner's side o' the block, as well. A lot o' mistrust on both sides. That's … interestin'.'

A couple of lawyers stood not that far away from the slayer and her boyfriend - and they were talking to a newcomer. 'What brings you here?' one of them asked, wondering why the D.A's office were now attending Wolfram and Hart shindigs. The public servants, as a general rule, did not get along with the shadiest and most corrupt of the private law firms.

Lindsey shrugged, 'used to work for the old firm,' he gave them his most charming smile, 'I remember what these parties were like in the old days, under Holland Manners. Guess I was just curious as to how things were faring under the much lauded new regime.' He raised his beer in a toast.

The Wolfram and Hart lawyer snorted in disgust. 'Well take a good look round,' he said. 'This is lame - and this is it. I mean, where's the ritual sacrifice? How do you get the ball rolling without a ritual sacrifice?'

'Beats me,' Lindsey smiled, his expression giving nothing away.

Lorne approached the little group. He clapped Lindsey on the shoulder. 'Lindsey - you look fabulous - great to see you, how ya doing?' and then turned to the cadre of firm lawyers, without waiting for an answer. 'Guys, come on, you're representing our glorious firm, here.'

'Dude, this is our night off.'

'No. This is your night ON.' He yelled the last word and his eyes and expression became hard. 'Now mingle. Mingle mingle mingle mingle mingle.' The lawyers hurried off, grumbling - and Lorne was called away to greet a guest.

...

Lindsey was left alone. He took a swig of his beer and looked around at the party - noting Doyle and Cordelia lurking in a corner and looking uncomfortable, noting the quiet of the dance floor and the emptiness of the space - though the lawyers were now working the room - and most of all, noticing that Angel, himself, was nowhere to be seen. He took another swig of his beer and nodded thoughtfully.

'Lorne!' a large demon, with an uneven gait, lumbered over to the empath. He was wearing an argyle sweater and had something thin and flesh coloured stuck, masklike, across his own bumpy face. 'Hey Devlin,' Lorne shook his hand, 'what are you supposed to be?'

'You not get? I Human Bean,' the demon told him. 'Watch I do Human Bean … I very proud of my honour roll student.' He began to laugh at his own impression, Lorne smiled and laughed along with him, politely. 'Oh right - that's - uh … yeah. So tell me, that mask,' he raked his eyes over the human face stretched taught over the demon's own, 'it is rubber right?'

But the demon only answered with another impression. 'My other car is Lamborghini,' he said - and laughed uproariously, again.

'OK, so - uh - well, you be good and everything.' He dropped the demon's hand and walked away.

...

He walked over to where Cordelia and Doyle were standing. 'Ciao bella, bellissimo! Cordy you look divine!' He gave her a hug and kissed her cheek and then shook Doyle's hand. 'It's great to see you both. So glad you could make it.'

They both shuffled awkwardly and glanced at each other, 'well - you know - we didn't wanna miss your soiree,' Doyle told him, forcing a smile. 'Though - uh - it is a little quieter than I expected, yeah?'

'Well it's gonna be if everyone clings to the corners like you, Mr. life of the party.' Lorne's smile was wide - but that edge was still present in his tone. 'You should get out there and dance - start a trend. Go on Michael Flatley - show 'em what you've got.'

Cordy and Doyle exchanged another awkward glance. 'Maybe later,' she said. 'We're just - you know … we don't know that many people here and what we do know is … everyone's evil. It's just - you know - the corner is good. For now. We're good here.'

'Would you relax!' Lorne said to her laughing. 'You just need to let those walls down, forget everyone here is evil and just concentrate on having a good time. I've never known you not to enjoy a party, Cara Mia - don't start now.'

The couple exchanged a third glance. But Lorne was already off and away - going to mingle with other people, 'toodles,' he called over his shoulder, throwing them a wave and disappearing across the lobby.

...

He appeared over by the hors d'oeuvres table, where Fred and Wesley were stood together, uncomfortably, discussing how much they didn't really like parties. 'Hey there wallflowers!' he greeted them, cheerily. They glanced at each other, dismayed. 'I need you to give me a hand,' he said to them. 'Help light the fuse on this powder keg? Look at that Dance floor. The only people on it are Harmony and Doyle.'

The pair of them glanced over that the centre of the lobby, where Harmony was shimmying away and Doyle was throwing down some shapes, underneath the glitterball. 'Well, he seems to be enjoying himself,' Wesley said, 'he hasn't even said hello.'

'Yeah - I didn't know he could move like that…' Fred frowned, watching the Irishman twist himself into convoluted knots in time to the music. 'he might hurt something … is Cordy here?' She looked around hopefully.

'Hey hey,' Lorne snapped at them, and they tore their eyes away from the wildly flailing Doyle and looked back at the anagogic demon. 'We are not here to spend the whole night huddling in corners and talking to nobody outside the family. I need you out there - pushing that envelope.'

'I'm afraid this really isn't our element, Lorne,' Wesley told him.

'Yep - we're wall flowers,' Fred chimed in. She sounded a little hurt by the demon's earlier categorisation of her. He immediately worked to make amends. 'No no no, sweetie. You're the young, the beautiful, the ready to …' he glanced at their hands and realised they were empty. 'Oh - well here's one problem. You're completely sober!' He sounded quite annoyed by this discovery. 'It's Halloween. You should be three sheets to the wind already. Now try and get into the spirit of things, OK?'

...

His next stop was Angel's office - where the big guy himself was sat behind his desk, his face like a block of wood; absolutely, steadfastly refusing to come out into the lobby and join in the party. 'Angel, it's a graveyard out there,' Lorne jerked his thumb in the direction of the door, indicating the party. 'And all the guests wanna meet the new guy in charge.'

'Look, Lorne… I - I I have things…' but Lorne just glared at him. 'I'm busy,' he tried again. That didn't seem to work any better. 'I'm brooding,' he finished up. But Lorne wasn't fooled. He looked around the room and saw the actual point of Angel's focus - the widescreen, wall mounted t.v across the room. 'You're watching hockey?' he yelled in disbelief.

'Yeah - but my team is losing.'

Lorne grit his teeth. 'Get up off your keister and get out there! I can't steer this ship of fools on my lonesome. I just can't do it! I…' he cut himself as he felt the pressure mounting inside of him, ready to erupt. He put his head in his hands and started to massage his temples, groaning.

Angel watched him, feeling flickers of concern as he started to realise something was seriously off with his friend. 'Lorne?' he said gently. But- just like that - Lorne's head snapped up again, the manic grin back on his face, the cheer and bonhomie in place once more. 'Let's boogie, sweet tart.' He clapped his hands.

Cordelia grabbed another handful of pretzels and turned her brightest smile on the demon she was talking to. 'You know - it's funny,' she told it, 'I was really worried about coming here - but for the life of me I can't remember why.'

'My master fears this is a trap. That Angelus has lured us all here to kill us.'

Cordy laughed, 'he actually goes by Angel, now.' she said, 'none evil twin variety. And that isn't why you've been invited. I can guarantee, broody boy will be locked away in his office refusing to come out.' She smiled again. 'So - who do you work for?'

The demon - who had large, curling rams horns and green eyes - looked surprised. 'I am an acolyte of Lord D'hakmarth,' he told her - as if this should mean something. She paused and thought for a moment, wrinkling up her nose and then laughing again. 'Nope - don't know him.'

'You are not connected to the underworld? His name rattles the very souls of humanity in their eternal torment. It causes the walls of hell itself to tremble.'

There was another pause, whilst Cordy considered this. 'Wow,' she said at last. 'That's so neat. But no - I don't know that much about the underworld, if I'm honest. My fiance and I work for The Powers that Be. He has the pure sight - he gets these visions of folks in trouble, or demons that need squishing.'

'I hear that's a very rare gift,' the demon said, sounding interested. She nodded her head and took another mouthful of pretzels. 'Uhuh - he's the only one of his kind I've ever met - and I've been fighting evil for seven years now.'

'You are an evil fighter?' The demon looked her up and down, looking surprised. 'And what is your gift that allows you to serve the higher powers?'

'I'm a vampire slayer,' she told him, blithely, munching down on her salty snacks.

'You are the slayer?' he sounded even more surprised.

'A slayer,' she corrected him, nodding her head. 'Uhuh - there's hundreds of us now - maybe thousands. We all got called at the same time, over the summer. It's been pretty wild.' Their conversation fell into a lull, and she looked around at the room. Her smile grew wider still. 'This is such a great party,' she said to the acolyte of Lord D'hakmarth. 'Everyone here is just so nice - don't you just think everybody here is absolutely wonderful?'

Doyle was in the middle of the dance floor, right underneath the glitterball - pulling out all his best moves. He did the snake - waving his arms and rolling his head - stepping from side to side. Then as the music became more fast paced, he planted his feet down firmly and held his left arm out, pulled his right arm back and then snapped it forward, like he were firing an arrow from a bow, He moved round in a circle - firing his invisible arrow in time to the music.

Harmony was dancing alongside of him, and more and more people were starting to enter the dance floor. He knew he should want Cordy there to dance with him, or that he should be going to talk to Angel and check he was OK - but he was having such a good time just cutting loose, he barely had time to think about all that.

As the dance floor became even more crowded, he dropped to the ground and did the worm, as the other dancers gathered round him in a circle, clapping their hands.

Lilah stood on the edge of the dance floor, ignoring the little leprechaun Lord of the Dance in the middle of it, and instead narrowing her eyes as she watched Wesley. He seemed to be having a good time, moving through the party - laughing away. She bet he was having a good time. He had spent the whole evening glued to Fred's side. He hadn't spoken to anyone else all night. She narrowed her eyes even further - and tried to ignore the pang of jealousy in the pit of her stomach.

Lorne dragged Angel out of his office. The vampire looked around at the packed lobby, blinking in the flashing lights and trying to block out the sound of the overbearing music. He squinted - was that Doyle - in the middle of the dance floor, body popping? And Lindsey right next to him - laughing ? Why were all these people here?

But Lorne gave him no time to go and investigate. 'So over there we have the Britzai representatives. We can get to them later. Oh - and there's an elder of the Fell brotherhood. Come on - let's go say hi,' and he dragged the protesting vampire off to greet some of his more important guests.

Harmony spotted Spike standing, lurking, on the edge of the dance floor - and abandoned Lindsey and Doyle to go and beg her blondie bear to dance with her. 'Come on, Spikey, come dance with me,' she shouted to him over the loud music, gyrating even as she talked.

Spike looked monumentally unimpressed. 'You have got to be kidding.'

'Oh come on,' she pleaded, fluttering her eyelashes. 'Don't leave me to Cordelia's silly little boyfriend, come dance with me.'

But Spike remained stony-faced. 'Listen, chippie, you can gyrate all you like but I'll go to hell before these ghost shoes touch that dance floor.'

'Oh blondie bear, where is your Halloween spirit?' She pouted.

'Dearly departed,' he told her. He stared around at the dancing crowds and the decorations in distaste. 'All this claptrap for a bit of dusty old druid nonsense,' he snorted. 'The whole silly lot of you can get hung, if you ask me.'

'So what are you doing here, then?' she asked him, as she headed back to the dance floor. He looked around, irritated. What was he doing here? He turned and began to stride away from the dance floor, but immediately bumped into Angel and Lorne. 'Spike, I thought you hated these things,' Angel said, looking surprised to see him there. Spike raised a sardonic eyebrow, 'I would have thought the same of you,' he said, pointedly.

'Oh no,' Lorne was grinning, and he clapped Angel on the shoulder. 'He's doing great,' he assured Spike. 'He's already not killed, like, 100 guests.'

'He doesn't have to - this party's dead already.'

The grin snapped off Lorne's face. 'Oh really, Spike, would it kill you to be a bit more positive? Hmmm?'

Cordy had grabbed herself a cocktail, now, and found herself up on the landing above the lobby chatting with Gunn. She was having such a fantastic time. She could see - down in the lobby below - Doyle hopping across the dancefloor playing the guitar on his left leg, whilst all the other dancers cleared a hasty path. She should probably be embarrassed by him, but she was having far too good a time to care. And anyway, Harmony and Lindsey were down there with him, in case he pulled anything - they'd get him off the dance floor OK. She wiggled along in time to the music, and leaned in closer to hear what Gunn had to say.

'Things have been crazy round here,' he was telling her, 'just last week we had to stop some centuries old serial killer ghost from pulling Spike into hell. And before that we had a werewolf scare. It's been pretty full on.'

'Yeah - and how's your new brain upgrade working out?' she shouted over the music.

'Pretty sweet - not gonna lie. How's things your end?'

'We've been crazy busy too,' she told him - and launched into all the details of the demons they were finding dead, and how the PTB were sending Doyle visions after the fact, 'so he's totally wigging out. You know chicken little - he thinks everything's his fault,' she said. Then she told him about the seance they had held the previous week, and how they managed to speak to the spirit of one of the murdered demons. 'But it was a total bust. He was killed by an army - but we don't know what, or how to stop them. But there's something nasty out there and it's getting everybody's tail twitching.'

'That's so weird,' Gunn yelled at her, as the music rose to a particularly loud crescendo, 'I've not heard anything about this.'

'Well you're here - fighting the good fight your way - all up in the law.' She grinned around at her surroundings. 'You know, this really is a fantastic party - everyone here is so wonderful. Hey - did I tell you Doyle got a letter from the department of immigration the other week?'

As Angel and Lorne turned away from Spike, a booming voice sounded across the party, announcing an important arrival. 'The Archduke Sebassis!' Lorne twisted to look and - sure enough, there was the Archduke and his entourage sweeping into the lobby. The anagogic demon clapped Angel on the shoulder, once more. 'Mmm OK, come on, sport, you're on. And please, for me, can you try to be nice to him? Just this once, huh?'

They headed over to where the Archduke was standing. Demons had crowded around him, some kneeling before him, reaching out to kiss his hand. He stared down at them in disdain. 'Yes. Fine. sycophants. Worms. Don't writhe all at once, it's sickening.'

Lorne gave Angel a shove, and the vampire stumbled forward and gripped Sebassis' outstretched hand, a wide - and not unsycophantic - grin on his face. 'Archduke Sebassis,' he said, shaking hands, vigorously, and grinning the whole time. 'Thanks so much for coming. Really really thrilled that you're here.'

...

As the vampire greeted the Archduke, Lorne turned to welcome his entourage - greeting Artode and admiring the green, leathery looking jacket he was wearing. 'It's Pylean,' Artode told him.

'Made in Pylea,' Lorne said - with fake enthusiasm. He hated any mention of home. 'My home dimension.'

'Not made in, made from,' Artode corrected. 'I skinned it myself. Anybody you know?'

The fake smile faltered on Lorne's face.

...

Meanwhile, Angel was still working on buttering up the Archduke. He was still shaking his hand and was now complimenting him on the way he looked. 'Well I don't have to tell you how awesome you look,' … the Archduke regarded the rambling vampire with a cool detachment. Angel rambled on. 'You know how awesome you look.' He turned to the group of sycophants for support, 'he knows how awesome he looks, right?'

Lorne decided enough was enough. Angel had tried his best - but his best wasn't very good. He just wasn't a people person. 'Angel, hey,' he detached Angel's hand from Sebassis'. 'We don't wanna be greedy with his eminence.' He nodded at the Archduke, 'thank you, your lordship.'

Angel stumbled away, backwards - still grinning at the demon prince. 'Absolutely, really. Thrilled to have you here.'

Lorne pushed him further away. 'Okey dokey! OK that'll do. Thank you. Come on.'

Fred and Wesley stumbled their way through the party, their arms linked for support. Fred was having trouble balancing and she was lurching around on her tippy toes as she told Wesley her story. '... so for 8 years straight I went out dressed as Raggedy Ann,' she slurred and then giggled.

Wesley was concentrating very hard on keeping himself upright - his back was very stiff and straight - but he couldn't stop the way he was lurching around. 'Sounds like fun, I suppose' he mumbled to Fred. As he struggled to make his words make sense - and hide how fuzzy his head was - his voice became more proper and his accent more pronounced. 'We never really celebrated Halloween in England.'

Fred made a sound like a mewling kitten in pain, 'that's so sad,' she said, her big, brown eyes looking sorrowful. He nodded, seriously. 'Yes, yes … very sad. Though we do have Guy Fawkes a few days later… that's always good for a…'

But Fred wasn't listening, 'look!' she pointed towards the hors d'oeuvres table and pulled him towards it, he stumbled after. 'Potstickers!'

'Watch your step guys,' Harmony told them, heading away from the trestle table and back to the dance floor. 'Somebody peed all over there.'

Fred tripped over her feet and came to a stop. 'Well that's just - huh…' she struggled to find the word in her dizzy brain. 'That's just … wrong.'

'Revolting,' Wesley agreed, nodding seriously once more - sure he was hiding, very cunningly, just how tipsy he felt.

Lorne walked up the stairs, shouting out greetings to everyone he passed - and then ordered a seabreeze from the bartender. His voice was weary - he needed the pickmeup. Up the stairs, Gunn was now talking with a client - shouting over the music about making an appointment next week to get his legal problems untangled, he was sure they could do it - no trouble at all. He turned to the demon, grinning. 'Looks like this things gonna work out,' he yelled.

Down beneath them, the dance floor was more packed than ever, Cordelia had joined Harmony there. Doyle was so busy vogue-ing that she couldn't get near him, but she was having a great time dancing with her old best friend and with Lindsey, who was spinning her around.

Lorne watched them for a moment, glad that at least some people were putting on a decent show of having a good time - even if Angel was still a work in progress.

'Man,' Gunn shouted to him, 'I wish I had a tenth of your energy - how do you do it?'

'I'll let you in on a little secret,' he leaned closer so he could be heard over the repetitive beat, 'I had my sleep removed. Little procedure they have here in the company.' He saw Gunn's surprised expression. 'Yeah - well, you know - I haven't slept a wink in, oh, about a month.'

'You had Wolfram and Hart remove your sleep?' Gunn asked, sounding dumbfounded. Lorne nodded. 'Lorne that's ...great!'

The green demon grinned. It was a quick procedure, he explained. In and out in about 20 minutes - no scarring. 'I tell ya,' he said to Gunn, 'you might wanna think about it. It'll go great with that new legal upgrade of yours.'

'Yeah, yeah - I'll look into it,' Gunn promised, nodding enthusiastically. Lorne took his seabreeze from the bartender, waved goodbye and headed back into the party.

In a dark corner of the lobby, Archduke Sebassis watched the party going on around him, with very grave suspicion. The vampire must be setting his trap - but their anti-detection spells had worked perfectly, no one one would realise that his entourage were armed.

'What if tries something?' Artode asked him.

'Kill them all!'

Artode nodded and asked to be excused. At the end of his long chain, the tiny little slave demon reached out and picked a berry off a plant, cramming it into his mouth.

Angel stood at the side of the dance floor, watching Cordy spin around with Lindsey. He supposed he should be glad that at least he wasn't watching her dance with Doyle, wasn't having to see just how happy they were … but for some reason Doyle was dancing the macarena all by himself. The macarena wasn't even playing.

'It hurts doesn't it?' he glanced around. Lilah had sidled up to him. She nodded at the dance floor. 'You're still in love with her. That much is obvious. It hurts to watch her - knowing you can't have her.'

'Well - you'd know all about that, Lilah,' he said drily. They both scanned the room, and found Wesley - still stumbling along with Fred, clutching each other and laughing hysterically. 'I've never seen him like that,' she said.

'I guess he never let his guard down around you.'

'Maybe once or twice,' she smirked, reminiscing. But then her face fell as she watched him with Fred. 'I guess they're the lucky ones - anyhow,' she said, taking a sip of her drink. 'They get to move on.'

'Would you guys lighten up?' Lorne had come across them, brooding. 'I get it,' he told them - watching them watch Wesley and Cordy, 'you both love someone who doesn't love you back. The course of true love never did run smooth. But it's better to have loved and lost yada yada yada. Now see here, twinkies, you are both incredibly beautiful people. You're both immortal. That's an amazing hand the universe dealt you both right there - and you should both be enjoying it to its full extent. It's nice to see you guys commiserating, but let's speed things up, huh? Both of you - put your heads together and find a way to move the heck on, if you know what I mean...'

...

Lilah and Angel burst through the office door, their arms wrapped around each other- kissing passionately. 'Isn't this a little sudden?' Angel murmured between kisses.

'It's been four years in the making,' she replied, her mouth still pressed against his - and she dragged him down onto the sofa.

Artode sat in the bathroom stall, reading a comic. He heard the door open, but he ignored it - until the door of his own stall rattled. 'Excuse me,' he called out, trying to let them know there was already someone in there. The door rattled again. 'Occupado,' he shouted. But then the door was ripped off its hinges. Artode was pulled out and smashed against the far wall. There was a sickening crunching sound - and then his blood splattered everywhere.