Part Two

Cordelia had arrived home and the two of them were now snuggled up on the sofa, the lights dimmed, with a glass of wine and a pizza - Tandoori Chicken and pineapple, though Doyle was assiduously picking the pineapple off his and Cordy was taking his discarded chunks and putting them onto her own slices. 'Yum, more for me.'

'You're disgustin',' he told her, seriously.

'What? It's fruit. Fruit is good for you - you could do with eating more of it, little Irish man.'

'I eat fruit!'

She laughed. 'I know they make vodka out of potatoes, but I really don't think that counts as one of your five a day.'

'Hey!'

She only laughed again - and took a big pineapple laden bite out of her slice. Doyle watched her as she chewed. 'So how was today?' he asked her. She nodded her head and swallowed before she could answer, 'good - it was just a mail order thing, beauty products this time, they took lots of close ups of bits of my face. But there should be something there that I can add to my portfolio.'

'That's really good - and uh -' he wriggled a little uncomfortably, 'did they pay y' yet?'

She turned to him, one eyebrow raised, 'why?'

'I gotta meet a contact tomorrow,' he told her. He told her all about the prophecy he'd read and how he'd worked out that it referred in passing to the Fluggler demons. 'So I was hopin' they might have some prophecies o' their own. I got talkin' to one of them and it turns out - they do. I'm meetin' him tomorrow mornin' in some underground car park - I could do with some cash to sweeten the deal.'

'We can afford it,' she told him, taking another bite of her pizza, and then licking some of the cheese and sauce residue from her fingers, 'we've got enough in the bank. You did really well today, finding all that out. You want me to go with you tomorrow?'

But he shook his head, 'Vito says these guys are pretty nervy, might spook 'em if they're just expectin' some demon halfbreed, and I show up with a slayer in tow. I can manage by myself. It shouldn't be dangerous.'

'Well, they're famous last words if ever I heard them,' she retorted.

'I'll be OK.' He took another sip of wine and went quiet. Cordelia watched him for a moment. 'What's wrong?' she asked, when he hadn't moved or spoken for nearly a minute.

He shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts, and drunk some more of his wine. 'Uh … the Fluggler demons weren't the only massacre mentioned in the prophecy,' he told her.

'No?' She kept on watching him. He shook his head again. 'No - it mentioned the massacre of the Brachen demons as well.'

'The one from when you…?'

'Well I think that's the only massacre they were ever subjected to so yeah!'

'Oh Doyle - I'm sorry.'

'The prophecy was written in 1792,' he told her quietly. 'It was foretold I was gonna let all those demons die two hundred years ago. I was destined to screw up two centuries before I was even born.'

'Hey…' she put down her pizza and reached out, stroking his face gently. 'Did it say that?' she asked, her voice was soft and her expression was concerned. 'Did it mention you?'

He shook his head, again. 'No - but that's how it happened. And apparently it was already known it was gonna happen so …'

'So nothing,' she snuggled closer to him on the couch. 'Maybe the universe - or the powers - or whatever - did know, all that time ago, who you were and what you were going to do - but all that means is it's not your fault. They knew already. They could have stopped it if they wanted to. They didn't. That's on them - not you. If they wanted you to let those demons die then … there wasn't anything you could do about it.'

'Prophecies get changed all the time. I could have stopped it - if I'd just known, if I'd understood…'

'But you didn't,' she said, her voice still gentle. 'And there was no way you could have. Everything that's happened - every decision, no matter how lousy at the time - has led us to where we are today. And that's what matters. Now you can beat yourself up about all the things you did wrong in the past - but you can't change it, can't make it right just by holding onto it.' She increased the pressure of her hand, rubbing her thumb softly against the skin of his jaw, and leaned in closer. 'But you can make the future right,' she told him, '- make it better. And that's what you're gonna do. Both of us. We're gonna stop The Scourge once and for all - and the world will be that little bit safer, that little bit better - just because we were here to make it that way. And no 200 year old prophecy can change that.'

'I just feel like I never had a chance, you know? I've done some really terrible stuff in my past and now I feel … like the universe wanted me to do 'em, decided I had to do 'em. That it created me specifically to suffer in ways that suited it, just so that some people would die and some people would live at the right time.'

She nodded her head slowly, and dropped her hand from his face. 'Well I guess it had to happen - it was pretty much inevitable.'

He looked confused, 'what was?'

'Well - being called 'The Promised One' - destined to die so that others could live. But then surviving. And then being called the 'messiah' in Pylea … it was only a matter of time before your head swelled up and you developed a Jesus complex.' She burst out laughing.

He gave her a dark look. 'I don't think I'm Jesus,' he told her.

'Oh, I think you think you are,' she chuckled, 'little bit. Jesus Doyle Christ, our lord and saviour.'

Even he was beginning to laugh now. 'I don't think I'm Jesus!' he protested again.

'Well you better not start wearing his sandals - else the engagement is off - that's all I'm saying.'

'I'll start wearing sandals if I want to. With socks.'

'You wouldn't dare!'

'Keep talkin' and try me, woman.'

'I'll kiss you instead.' She leaned forward, still giggling and brushed her lips against his - but he pulled away from her. 'What?' she asked, a crease appearing between her eyebrows as she frowned at him.

'You taste like pineapple. It's disgustin'!'

She pulled away in mock fury, as he laughed at her. She punched him in the arm and he stopped laughing. 'Ow!'

Piano music tinkled in the background of the bar Harmony had brought Fred to - it was high up, called the 'Sky Bar' and was very high end. They had ordered cocktails with straws and umbrellas and swizzel sticks, and were talking as they drank them. '... and the worst part is I can't even quit, 'cause I don't have anywhere else to go,' Harmony finished up her tale of woe and then sucked on her straw.

'I'm sure that's not … really?'

She shrugged. 'I tried being out on my own, all independent and evil. I'm just no good at it.'

'Well - that's good isn't it?' Fred asked, 'that's a good thing.'

But Harmony only shrugged - it wasn't like everything was so great now. Fred had heard Angel, Harmony was useless…

'Harmony, that was one mistake,' Fred told her comfortingly, she sucked on her straw, drinking some of her bright green cocktail, and thought about Angel. He was terminally grumpy these days - you just had to take it on the chin. 'He has a lot on his mind,' she tried to excuse his cranky behaviour.

Harmony sighed, 'I just wish I could be more like you,' she said. Fred smiled - pleased. '... Except for that part of being all into science. And not having a lot upfront.' Fred's smile faltered. Harmony didn't notice. 'I mean, you have two hot guys after you.'

'I do?'

'All the girls think it's Gunn and Knox,' she made a scornful noise in the back of her throat, 'but I know it's Knox and Wesley. Not that they listen to me… it is Knox and Wes, right?' she suddenly checked.

Fred nodded - and then immediately shook her head. No that wasn't what she meant. They all worked together - there was baggage … 'why am I telling you all this?' she giggled.

'Because we're totally bonding,' Harmony said in delight. 'It's like we're gal pals. This is great - you can teach me all about life and stuff and I can teach you to dress better.'

Again, Fred's smile faltered - but then she grinned again and got back on subject. 'They are cute, aren't they? Knox and Wes? I… wait, why is everybody at the office so interested in who I might be dating?'

Harmony rolled her eyes. 'Because you're at the top! People wanna know what's happening with the big wigs. You'd think they'd ask me but …' she trailed off.

'Why don't they ask you … Harmony, do you not have many friends at work?'

Harmony shook her head. She didn't get it - she'd been way popular in high school. Once Cordelia had started dating Xander Harris and slid out of the cool zone, Harmony had been the queen bee herself, She'd had her own Cordettes - Harmonettes. But then, once she'd been vamped at her graduation, she'd just had trouble connecting with people.

'Well maybe you should try putting yourself out there more,' Fred suggested. 'There's lots of people from work here. You should mingle.'

Harmony twisted in her seat and scanned the room, eyeing up all the Wolfram and Hart employees hanging out there. There was the two women from the staff room, Dan, the woman she'd spilled coffee on earlier … she'd had zero luck with the lot of 'em. 'They're all straight,' she told Fred. 'human,' she clarified, when she saw Fred's confused face. 'I tend to gravitate towards the undead variety.'

'Well maybe that's your problem!' Fred said, 'the undead are not exactly givers. I bet there's tons of … straight guys who'd just love to meet you.'

'Well - there is one at the bar,' Harmony whispered. Fred turned to look and Harmony immediately flapped her arms and made her stop. 'Don't look!' she hissed. 'I think he's checking me out.'

'You should go talk to him.'

'Oh no. I couldn't. I'm hanging with my gal pal. I would never do that to you.'

'Really, I'll be fine.'

'OK, bye,' she sprang to her feet. Fred looked taken aback at how quickly she'd been ditched. Then Harmony turned back to her, 'what do I say?' she asked.

'Um - just say hi and introduce yourself. I bet he takes it from there.'

'What if he doesn't - take it?'

'Well, questions are always good - ask him where he's from and what he does for a living.'

'Right, cover the boring stuff,' Harmony said brightly.

'Only maybe act like it's not. Boring.'

'I can do that.' She headed on over to the bar. Fred sat alone at the table, playing with her straw uncomfortably. 'Well, um.. I'll just … go.'

...

Harmony approached the guy and sat down next to him at the bar. 'Hi - I'm Harmony,' she said.

'Well, hi Harmony, it's nice to meet…'

'Where are you from?' she said quickly.

'Originally from the bay area but…'

'Uhuh. interesting, what do you do for a living?'

The man smiled - and didn't answer her question. 'Why don't I get you a drink?' he asked, 'you look thirsty.'

Harmony smiled back.

The time on the clock rolled over from 6:59 to 7:00 and the alarm went off. Harmony's hand snaked out from under the covers and switched it off, then she rolled over - and found the guy from the night before lying in her bed. He was face down on the pillow. She gasped - she didn't remember bringing him home, she didn't get what he was doing … a suspicion crossed her mind and she peeked beneath the covers and gasped again, clutching them against herself. She was naked - and so was he. They must have… She put her head in her hands. 'Uh Tim? … Trevor? George? Apparently you and I … and I'm sure I rocked your world and all, but I need to go to work so ... ' he didn't respond. 'Hello!' She grabbed him by the shoulder and rolled him over. And that's when she saw how ashen his skin was, the dark circles under his eyes - and the big red bite mark on the right side of his neck. 'Oops!'

The alarm on Doyle's cell phone started to beep. He'd stashed it under his pillow the night before so as not to wake Cordy when it went off. He was getting up early, to meet his contact, and there was no need for her to be disturbed. He rolled onto his stomach and stuck his head under the pillow so he could see what he was doing to switch it off.

Then he crawled out of the bed and padded silently towards the bathroom. Showered and teeth brushed he towelled off, still in the bathroom, and then snuck back into the bedroom to grab his clothes. Cordy was still sleeping, he hadn't disturbed her. She'd rolled onto her back - since his half of the bed had become vacant - and was starfished in the middle, snoring.

He pulled his clothes on, grabbed his keys, checked his wallet for the cash he was going to give to his new contact and then planted a kiss on the still sleeping Cordelia's forehead, before leaving via the door to the underground garage.

...

This early in the morning, the roads were still quiet and the breeze was fresh and cool as he cruised along the streets. The Fluggler demon, Sammael, had wanted to meet on neutral territory. Vito hadn't been exaggerating when he described this species as 'nervy', it had taken a long time - during yesterday's phone conversation - just for Doyle to get Sammael to admit that yes he was a Fluggler demon and yes his clan had been massacred by The Scourge. It had taken a further ten minutes to get any confirmation on whether or not the Fluggler clan had any prophetic writings of their own - and then had come the hard part.

But he'd managed it, Doyle could be pretty persuasive when he needed to be. He'd explained the situation, as far as it was safe too, explaining that The Scourge were active in L.A and targeting demons once more and that he was researching them in the hope of finding a way to bring their reign of terror to an end. He had left out the information about the Lister demons, or his own destiny as The Promised One; if Sammael was as nervy as all that - and he ever got captured by The Scourge - then having him know too much information would not go well for the good guys. But, even with the redacted version of events he gave, he had been able to - eventually - convince Sammael to meet him, and bring his prophecy books with.

However, Sammael had point blank refused to meet Doyle at his own home, refused to tell him where he lived. And that was fair enough. Doyle was just a disembodied voice at the end of the line, to this guy, there was no reason he should entirely trust that any stranger who happened to seek him out would be entirely on the up and up. He'd also refused to come on down to the office and speak with Doyle there - and again, maybe that was a wise precaution, it could be a trap. Instead, Sammael had insisted on meeting at a location of his own choosing, somewhere quiet and out of the way, and that was where Doyle was headed now.

...

He pulled into the underground parking lot that was his destination and switched off the engine and got out of the car. Across the garage, he saw a dark shape bobbing about uncertainly behind the dumpster. 'Sammael?' he called out.

'Shhh!'

'Sorry,' he lowered his voice to a whisper and walked over to the lurking demon. 'Are you Sammael of the Fluggler clan?'

'You Doyle?' the demon asked nervously.

'That's me.'

'You look human.'

'Half,' Doyle morphed into his spikes, if that would make this demon more comfortable, 'see? Did you bring the prophecies?'

The Fluggler demon came out from behind the dumpster then and Doyle got his first good look at him. He was big - twice the size of Doyle - but his size didn't seem to make him feel any safer. Like in the picture, his hands were like the paws of a mole - shaped like shovels for digging, and his eyes were small and screwed up tightly like a mole's as well. Doyle got the impression that maybe Fluggler demons couldn't see very well above ground.

'Hey, man,' he said to Sammael, 'I really appreciate you agreein' to meet me and all - this could be really important.'

Harmony had got showered and dressed in record time, trying to keep her eyes averted from the extreme dead person in her bed the whole time. Once she'd coiffed her hair, put on her makeup and put on her most capable looking ensemble - so she looked ready to face the world outside, even if she was quaking internally - she opened her front door the barest smidgen of a crack and peered round. The corridor seemed clear- right.

Slowly, slowly, she edged round the door - ready to bolt back inside at a moment's notice - lugging her suspiciously heavy pastel laundry bag behind her. Well she didn't know how else she was supposed to get rid of the stiff! But he needed to not be in her apartment. If Angel ever found out about this … he'd chop her head off. With an axe. Like poor old Eli.

Her first thought was to take him down in the elevator with her, but the distant barking of a dog told her Mrs. Jacobi must be headed that way - so she scuttled over to the garbage chute instead.

Grateful for her super strength, she hoiked the unwieldy dead weight up and into the opening of the disposal unit, but it was bulky and awkward and wouldn't fit. It was stuck! She tried to shove it into the hole but various … parts were jamming. Maybe it was a rigor mortis thing. Then she heard footfalls behind her, and the yapping that signified the presence of the schnauzer. Immediately, she jumped round, so she was facing the hallway and tried to block the view of the laundry bag with her body. 'Hi Mrs. Jacobi,' she waved, smiling brightly as the grumpy old woman walked past her.

As always, the dog growled at her and the old woman ignored her - though today that was definitely a good thing. The lady and her pet came to a stop by the elevator and waited for it. Harmony stayed still, still smiling and hiding the dead body, until the elevator door opened and the old lady and her dog disappeared inside. She would have breathed a sigh of relief - except for the obvious reason - so instead she went back to shoving the body down the hole. After a bit of wriggling and grunting, something came unstuck and the laundry bag toppled down the chute.

But it wasn't Harmony's morning, as she peered down the chute, watching the body disappear - she saw it hit the side of the dumpster and bounce off, landing on the ground instead. 'Oh crap!'

Doyle had finally got Sammael to relax a little, to tell him about his people's prophecies and what had happened to them when The Scourge came. It was much the same as happened to all demons when the army of purebloods came for them and Doyle shared his own story of finding his own clan slaughtered, though he glossed over his role in it. Sammael had just handed over a copy of the Fluggler demons' holy texts, when a suspiciously heavy, pastel striped laundry bag came hurtling out of the garbage chute, bounced off the dumpster and fell at their feet.

'What the…' Doyle tilted his head, there was something about the bag - about what was inside it - that didn't sit right with him. He knelt on the ground and started to tug on the drawstring, trying to open the bag up and look inside.

'What are you doing?' Sammael asked him, looking around nervously.

'I'm just .,.' he finally succeeded in pulling the strings apart - whoever had tied them must have had super strength or something - and began to peer in. A human arm fell out. 'Jesus!' Doyle jumped away in alarm - and the sound of running feet told him that this had been too much for the nervy Fluggler, and he was now alone.

Behind him, he heard the elevator bell ring - and he hastily stuffed the arm back inside the laundry bag and scrambled back to his feet, switching back to his human face before he could be seen in his spikes. An old woman and a schnauzer walked past him. He smiled at her, his most affable grin, 'mornin' ma'am,' but she ignored him and the dog only growled.

Once she was gone, he breathed a sigh of relief and then got back to investigating, pulling the laundry bag away from the body so that more of it came into view. It was a man - his skin was pallid, there were dark circles around his eyes and he had a big, red bitemark on the right side of his neck. 'Guess a vampire got you, bud,' he said, sadly, 'but why would a vampire try an' throw you down the garbage chute?'

He was cut off from his musings by the sound of the door to the staircase being pushed open and the clacking of high heels hurrying across the asphalt. Once more, he looked up in alarm - only to find himself face to face with a young woman who looked equally horrified. And then Harmony burst into tears.

Angel got up early so he could have breakfast with Connor before he sent his son down to company day care and he got on with the day ahead. He made the little boy some toast and gave him a glass of milk and then sat at the table with him, watching him eat. 'What are you going to do today, little buddy?' he asked.

'Mewsum,' Connor told him, chewing his toast and not really paying attention.

'What's that?'

'Mewsum trip. Mewsum - you know, Daddy. Grrr.' He made his hands into claws and growled.

'Oh right, yeah - the Natural History Museum.' The Au Pairs had arranged to take some of their more human looking charges out to the Natural History Museum - the one the team had once broken into - for the day. Connor had been talking about the dinosaurs and the wild animals he would see for days now. 'Guess it's a big day for you, huh?' He watched his little boy carefully eating his toast and licking his fingers, and thought of his own day ahead and felt his heart sink. 'Yeah - me too.'

'Harmony?' Doyle asked in surprise. He looked down at the dead guy at his feet, 'Harmony, did you…?' He began to back away, thinking maybe it would have been better to bring his slayer girlfriend along with him for the ride after all.

'I don't remember!' Harmony choked out, between her sobs. 'I met this guy at the bar last night - and when I woke up he was in my bed. Dead! And that's it, I swear - I don't remember killing him. And if Angel finds out he'll kill me - it's not fair!'

Her last three words struck a chord with him. Nothing ever was. He was still glancing between her and the body, 'why do you think Angel will kill you?' he asked.

'Because … that's what he does. He has a zero tolerance policy on killing humans - and I wake up with a dead guy in my bed and I don't know how he got there and Angel, you know him, he isn't the type to listen - he's so crabby all the time. Chop first, questions later.'

Doyle watched her, standing there, crying. She was a soulless killer with super strength, but right now she just seemed so hopeless - the type he was supposed to help. And Cordelia would want him to help her old friend, he was sure of it - she had such a big heart. And - when it came down to it - Doyle actually believed the story Harmony was telling him. She wasn't one of nature's big thinkers, he really didn't think she had it in her to come up with a cover story. And if she really had killed this guy - then there was nothing stopping her from killing Doyle either. But she wasn't - she was just standing there. Crying. Which meant she was probably telling the truth.

But above all else, it was her call to the unfairness of her situation that got to him. Yep - life had a way of dropping on you from a great height, and just when things seemed to be going well, as well. That was when the universe liked to drop its heaviest bombshells - and all the little people could do was try and cope. Everything that had happened to him, pretty much since his 21st birthday had been one, giant, cosmic unfairness after another - and he had needed a lot of help from his friends to stay the course, and had still lost his way more than a few times. And now the universe had dropped on Harmony - and he wanted to help her, wanted to have this put right. Maybe her situation was salvageable - though he doubted the same was true for his own - and if it were possible, he wanted to make this little bit of unfairness go away. It would feel like getting his own back on the universe.

'OK, Harmony, calm down,' he said, soothingly - stepping over the body and taking a step towards her. 'I won't tell Angel. I believe y' - and I'm gonna help y'.'

'How?' she tried to bite back her sobs and brought her hands up to wipe away her tears - carefully so as not to smudge her mascara.

'Well - first off, what can y' tell me about this guy?'

'Nothing!' she cried, 'I met him in a bar - I don't even know his name. Oh! He's an astronaut!' She said, as she had a sudden flash of the boring stuff Fred had told her to cover in conversation.

'Really?' Doyle glanced over at the body, 'y'sure about that?'

'It's what he said.'

'Right - well if he's an astronaut he'll have his pass to Coco Beach on him - so why don't you stand guard, and I'll check him for id.'

'Good thinking.'

He knelt down on the hard ground and pulled the rest of the laundry bag away from the dead body, then he frowned. 'Was he dressed when you found him in the bed, darlin'?'

'No - I guess we must have … you must think I'm a total slut.'

'That's not what I'm thinkin', no - so did you put his clothes back on him?'

'Well - duh - I don't want any evidence left in my apartment, what would you have done?'

'I think I might have just stuffed 'em into the laundry bag with him.'

'Oh - right. I didn't think of that.'

'No.' He had his hands shoved inside the dead guy's pockets. The fingers of his left hand brushed against something small, square and cardboard - like a business card. 'Ouch,' he hastily retracted his hand and sucked on his thumb. 'Papercut,' he said, when he saw Harmony turn to look at him. Still sucking his left thumb, to stem the blood, he fished into the guy's jacket pocket with his right hand. 'Aha, wallet,' he said. He brought the wallet out and opened it up.

'Anything?' Harmony asked him - still standing guard - scanning the whole parking garage in case someone suddenly sprang out of the shadows and threatened to denounce them to Angel.

'Uhuh - I think he was lyin' about the whole astronaut thing, love. His name's Tobias Dupree - works here in town, there's an address for him.'

'So what now?'

Doyle got back to his feet, brushing off his hands as he stood back up. 'OK - now, you go into work, act like everythin's totally normal and don't say nothin' to anyone - least of all Angel.' He handed her his business card, 'if you do get into trouble, or y' remember anythin' - just give me a call, yeah? Meanwhile - me and Cordy will go to this guy's place of work, see what we can find out about him. See if he was shady.'

'Why do you think he might be shady?'

He gave her a sympathetic look. 'You have no recollection of what happened last night, but you think you must have slept with him - I think you were drugged, darlin', and if that's the case - someone gave you that drug. Might have been him.'

'Uhuh - and what do we do with the body?'

Doyle scanned around the parking lot - it wasn't so early in the morning anymore, people would be leaving for work, the roads would be busier. 'Actually - I think your first plan is probably our best bet.'

'The garbage?'

He nodded, 'they'll find him at the dump, the authorities will take him, his family will be informed - it'll be fine. But most importantly - there'll be no way of tracing it back to you… your name isn't on the laundry bag is it?'

She shook her head - and together they fought the stiff body back into the laundry bag and then heaved him up into the dumpster. Then Doyle walked Harmony to her car. 'Good luck,' he said to her, as she climbed in, 'and don't panic - I'll ring y' when I know somethin'.'

Harmony rode the elevator up to the lobby. Her chest felt weirdly empty where her heart should be pounding, she was so nervous. The bell rang, the doors slid open - and she peered out nervously, reluctant to leave the confined safety of the lift. 'OK…' she said to herself, remembering Doyle's advice, 'just act normal.'

She stepped out of the elevator and nearly bumped into someone, she laughed - too long and too loud. 'Hi,' she said, brightly - too brightly, 'how's it hanging? Love the … pocket square.' She gave him a roguish wink. He gave her a strange look - and got into the elevator. The smile drained from her face and she scurried over to her desk; settling into her cubicle much quicker than usual.

Across the lobby, she noticed Rudy - the blood technician - stopping other demon workers to take samples. She sank down in her chair as low as she could go, so her forehead was barely visible behind the desk.

'Blood!' Angel slammed his hand down on the front desk. Harmony jumped, in alarm, 'where?' she checked herself over for the incriminating evidence.

'That's what I'd like to know,' he told her, 'where's my blood? Harmony, I got the demon summit today and you're late and ...' he finally noticed how low she was sitting in her chair, 'what are you doing?'

'Desk crunches,' she improvised wildly, putting her hands to her head and miming sit ups. 'Get fit whilst you sit,' she laughed - slightly unhinged and wild. 'You should see my abs, you wanna?' Angel's face remained stony - and she stopped her little work out demo and picked up his mug. 'Mug o' blood coming right up, boss,' and she scurried away from her desk.

'Harmony.'

She turned back, nervously.

'I can't afford for anything to go wrong today.'

She choked down a whimper, 'what could possibly go wrong?' she gave a false smile - and then she ran for the staffroom.

...

She opened the microwave door and took out the blue bowl of oatmeal that was cooking inside and replaced it with Angel's mug o' blood. 'Act normal,' she said to herself - her voice was unnaturally high - even for Harmony. 'That's easy for Doily to say. He's not the one working for Mr. Axe Happy whilst a couple of quarts of human blood swirl through his syst-'

'You did it again!' an angry voice cut through her ramblings. She turned round, hastily. 'It's not my fault!' she blurted out. Dan, Lorne's assistant, was glowering at her. But his face became confused at her reaction. 'What?'

'Uh…' behind her the microwave beeped. 'You can't blame me that Angel gets grumpy when he's hungry,' she covered for herself, turning back round and taking the cup from the microwave.

She left the mug on the side and went to the fridge, taking out her own unicorn covered thermos and began to drink. It tasted so good - it was just what she needed right now and suddenly she couldn't get enough of it - and began guzzling it down, moaning as she did. Then she became aware of everyone in the staff room staring at her. She lowered the thermos and laughed sheepishly. 'Stress eating,' she explained. 'Angel's all… about the summit. And I'm his right arm so, the stress, and … the …' she gave up trying to explain and went back to guzzling her blood.

Then her phone rang. It was Angel, demanding to know where she was.

'So you got the prophecy book?'

Doyle nodded. He had driven back to the office and picked up Cordelia and now they were headed out to the address he had found on Dupree's body. 'Uhuh - but then the body dropped on top of us and my contact ran away before I could even pay him. I hope this book contains everythin' we need to know that the Flugglers can tell us, 'cause I got a feelin' that line of enquiry is well and truly closed to us.'

'And the body was dropped on you by Harmony? She killed him?' Cordelia sounded like she wasn't entirely sure why they were abandoning their hunt for The Scourge in order to deal with Harmony's problem.

'She doesn't remember killin' him. She doesn't remember anythin' at all - I think he drugged her - so we're goin' to look into him.'

'And once we've proved he's a date rapist - then what?'

'Then Harmony can tell Angel all about it and not have to live in fear of Captain Forehead swinging his mighty battleaxe at her neck.'

'Just seems like a lot of trouble to go to for Harmony.'

Doyle cast her a reproving look, she flung her hands up in the air as if to defend her point. 'Look - all I'm saying is, she did try to kill us that one time. And we do have bigger problems to be worrying about.'

'And she's your oldest friend - and she's in trouble.'

'Well when you put it like that,' Cordy folded her arms and looked sulky. Doyle smiled across at her. 'It won't take long, Princess,' he assured her, 'and then we can go back to all the fun o' wadin' through the cryptic prophecies.'

'At least tell me she's paying us.'

The reproving look appeared on Doyle's face.

'Kidding!' she flung her hands in the air again. Doyle wasn't sure she was kidding.

...

They arrived at the address Doyle had found in Dupree's wallet and pulled up outside. It was a small office, not unlike their own, which opened straight onto the street. It didn't have a sign above the building or a name on the door. 'What is this place?' Cordy asked, 'seems a pretty crappy way to run a business if you don't advertise - how does anyone find them?'

'Let's find out.' He opened the door and they stepped inside.

It was dim inside, and cool. There was a woman standing behind a desk across the office, her back was to them as she rooted through a filing cabinet. 'Be with you in a minute,' she called out to the couple, without looking up.

'No hurry,' Cordelia said to her. Doyle said nothing. He had frozen at the sound of her voice.

The woman must have found what she was looking for because she straightened up. She was petite and had curly hair. Doyle glanced longingly at the door - wondering if there was still time before … she turned round - and came to a startled stop.

Doyle swallowed, nervously. 'Hi, Harri,' he said.