"Where did you sneak off too?" Spike asked Angel as they were heading back toward the foyer. Spike felt unexpectedly buoyant as though being an active participant in this kind of situation was exactly what he had been missing.

"Daniel took me to Ariane's room." Angel replied, still running through their conversation in his mind. He shook off the pessimistic vibes the exchange had left him with, "What did you find out?" He asked changing the subject.

Spike noticed the redirection but let it go without comment. "Lindsey was right, the fat prick was called to Savage Associates this morning just after "rising" she said. I'll tell you, Angel, she might be real hot to look at, but talk about high maintenance. If you weren't showering her with compliments every couple of minutes she got all moody. Then again maybe you should have picked her, she would have suited you down to the ground."

"Stick to the subject, Spike. What else did she say?" Angel was in no mood to be distracted by Spike's usual snide banter.

"She said he was in really good spirits last night, I guess they spent the night together. Ugh, Christ, what a bloody thought, that prime bit of skirt and the fat ponce, bumping uglies." Spike made disgusted, retching noises.

"Spike."

"Okay, okay, I'll get to the point. She said he was talking about Ari's ultimate disgrace and his final triumph. Something about Ariane thinking she had escaped and how he could still make her life hell, or words to that effect at least."

"Do you think she was working with him?"

"Who, Morven? I wouldn't put it passed her." Spike shrugged.

"Not, Morven. Hell, Spike, sometimes you're dense." Angel yelled at Spike as he climbed back into his car.

"Say what you mean why don't you, it's not like I've got feelings or anything." Spike grumbled as he came through the closed car door. "Bloody twat. You would have got bugger all if it hadn't been for me smooth talking the blonde bint back there." He yelled back.

Angel sighed, "You're right, Spike, I'm sorry. You did a good job." He muttered grudgingly.

"Yeah, right, em, thanks." Spike rubbed at the back of his head, embarrassed. He could handle it when Angel and he were trading insults, but he had a really hard time dealing with Angel being nice to him. Thank God it didn't happen often.

"Do you think she was working with him?" Angel asked again.

"No way. Not knowingly at least. He didn't want Ariane to know, he wanted her self-respect Angel, he was trying to break her."

"What did she do to him, to make him hate her so much?" Angel voiced his thoughts without realising.

"Damned if I know, I guess she didn't tell me everything." Spike replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She came round slowly, like walking out of a thick fog. She groaned as the pain returned, hot, remorseless pain, not only in the physical sense.

"Ah the thought thief awakens. How are you feeling my sweet little pest?" Savage cooed close to her ear. She turned her head away from him, the motion causing more discomfort.

"Don't feel like talking yet? That's understandable, you've had a busy day." Sarcasm oozed from every word.

"What do you want of me?" She whispered, her voice barley audible.

"Can't you tell, why don't you read my thoughts? That is what you do isn't it?"

"Your mind is shielded." She replied, she tried to find a way around his defence but she was too weak.

"Yes, a nice little trick. It comes in very handy sometimes." He was filled with his own devious power, she could feel brutality radiating from him like a fever.

"What do I want from you?" He pretended to ponder the question, pacing the room around her. "You are nothing more than an amusement now, though I mean to make you pay dearly for your meddling. As your own Lord has already paid. I will enjoy watching you suffer."

"Angel?" Savage smiled cynically at her confusion, he could use this to his advantage. Make her believe Angel had perished and she had assisted in his murder.

"Yes, at last he is gone. Your futile efforts were in vain little one, my plan was flawless. Even your hopeless act of repentance could not prevent my ascension." He heard her sob, the sound releasing with it a hideous power.

"Angel." She cried, "Dear God, what have I done?" She sobbed again.

"I should have . if I had only .. No, no more deception, Ariane. You knew what was happening, you sensed it! Each time you gave, they gave more. Every time you released your feelings they opened themselves to you. You were aware of this and you chose to ignore it. You wanted to believe their feelings were genuine, so you convinced yourself it was true. Well look at the hell you have created, is it any wonder Lord Meenotuk caged you like an animal. You are nothing better than a parasite who feeds on the emotions of others. You cry, Ariane but who are your tears for I wonder? Angel, the man you swore to serve with your last breath, or are they for yourself?" Her thoughts tumbled around in her distraught mind.

She sank into despair, replaying all the events leading up to this madness. "Fred and Harmony in the ladies room; Angel after the party; Spike on the steps; Lorne at home; Gunn at the movies. Was any of it untainted?" She questioned herself.

Mark Savage stood rooted to the spot his nerve endings on fire. This small girl was filled with such unbelievable force. Lord Meenotuk had told him she was an emotional conduit, that her feelings could pass on their strength to another but he had no idea the act itself was so intoxicating. Her grief and self loathing were like a psychic flare, a supernatural revitalization, washing over him like a regenerating tide. He uttered a grunt of pure pleasure, the sound almost sexual. He caught himself before he gave up completely to the ecstasy.

"Now I understand why Lord Meenotuk was so reluctant to let her go." Savage thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So which one is he again?" Cordelia asked, holding a glossy magazine Wesley had left on his desk.

"The one shaking hands with the President, Cordelia." He replied, sighing in exasperation but not taking his eyes from the computer monitor.

"The cute one, with the blonde hair?"

"Yes, Cordelia, the cute, blonde one, who tried to kill Angel, remember." Wesley snatched the magazine and put it back on his desk then returned his attention to the monitor again.

"Have we decided on a reason for him trying to kill Angel?"

"I could give you a few, off the top of my head." Lindsey replied, looking over Wesley's shoulder at the screen.

"I was looking for "his" reasons though, not yours." She quipped.

"Savage wants the top spot, Cordelia. He assumed that by taking Angel out of the equation, he would create bedlam in Wolfram and Hart and it would give him his chance to step in. It's as simple as that."

"I doubt what Mark Savage had in mind was simple." Lindsey muttered, stretching over Wesley to use the keyboard. "He's a power hungry lunatic, who has a fixation with coming second. Mark Savage is an irrational over- achiever from a long line of irrational over-achievers. He'll stop at nothing, and I mean nothing, to get what he wants. And what he wants more than anything else is to be the number one, in everything. He was top of his class at law school but only after he had two other students driven insane. He killed his father in order to gain control of their company. Killing Angel would be a walk in the park to this guy."

"And he only made one mistake, he gave you the gun. How many times have you tried to kill me now, Lindsey, I've lost count?" Angel wandered into the office and sat casually in a chair.

"Did you manage to find anything, Angel." Wesley asked coming between the two again.

"Meenotuk's gone. Probably dead. So that means there's an opening for a sleazy, lowlife, scumbag who has a thing for pretty blonde's. Why don't you send them your resume, Lindsey." Angel commented dryly, his demeanour mockingly relaxed.

Spike sniggered and Angel shot him a self-satisfied grin. Gunn and Fred entered the frosty room moments later, catching only the very end of the conversation.

"Nice to see we're all still acting like adults." Gunn smirked knowingly. He threw a number of black and white photographs onto Wesley's crowded desk. Angel snatched one of them and sat studying it closely, Wesley and Cordelia followed suit.

"Those two guy's were the one's who took Ariane. The nurse on duty said the blonde guy on the left did all the talking." Gunn informed Angel, pointing at the figure in question. "She said he was ultra polite, but that there was something creepy about him. The fact that he didn't seem to give a crap that moving Ariane would probably kill her seemed to re-enforce her opinion."

"Any paperwork?" Lindsey enquired.

"There was, but it seems there was a fire in the office seconds after they left. Surprisingly the only file destroyed was Ariane's, damned convenient if you ask me."

"Convenient for both of them." Cordelia added.

"I don't follow." Gunn stated.

"Well, there's no proof he took her, and now there's no proof she was even there at all. Mark Savage gets his partner in crime back and Ariane gets to pull a Houdini."

"She makes a good point, Angel. If Ariane was involved then leaving her in the hospital leaves her wide open to us. Taking her means she doesn't have to answer any questions." Fred suggested.

They all sat in quiet contemplation of the subject until everyone jumped when the telephone rang, Wesley grabbed it quickly then looked toward Angel.

"It's for you." He stated simply, offering the other man the receiver.

Angel held the phone to his ear, but said nothing.

"We have something to discuss." A cold emotionless voice informed him.

"Do we?"

"I believe I have something of yours. She's a rather pretty little trinket, although in her current state her appeal is more, shall we say, ornamental than recreational." He chuckled maliciously, the sound producing a skin prickling feeling, like fingernails on a chalkboard.

"What makes you think I'm interested?" Angel sneered, trying to sound convincing.

"Come now, Mr Angel. If you were not interested in the safety of this girl would you have sent your little chum's scurrying around to search for her? No, you are a creature of habit and your habits betray you. You don't like it when something of yours is taken without your consent."

"Forgive me if I don't take personality tips from the man who tried to have me killed. Let's cut to the chase shall we, where and when, Savage?"

"Ah, I like a man who dispenses with time wasting preamble. In different circumstances we might have been friends."

"In different circumstances I might rip your throat out. Where and when?"

"At my offices, at midnight. I always liked midnight so much better than "high noon". It's so much more sinister, don't you think?" Angel hung up without replying.

Wesley snatched up the phone the second Angel's hand released it, he dialled a number and looked toward Angel for details. "Yes, we need an ops unit.."

Angel took the phone from Wesley's ear and stated coldly, "Cancel that order." He hung up the phone again this time keeping his hand on the receiver.

"What are you doing?" Wesley asked astonished.

"No ops unit, the more people who know about this the bigger the risk of something going wrong. At least everyone in this room can be trusted, well almost." Angel drew daggers at Lindsey, who willingly shot back some of his own.

"What did he say? Is she alive?" Spike enquired, drawing Angel's attention.

"I'm meeting with him tonight at midnight, his offices. As for your second question, I don't know."

"You didn't bloody well ask him?" Spike shrieked, flapping his arms.

"You know what, you're right, Spike, I didn't ask him, how about I call him back and get the details?"

"How about we go outside and finish this you big poof."

"This isn't going to help anyone." Wesley, the eternal mediator, attempted to cool another Angel, Spike spat, "Really, this constant bickering is very tiresome."

"Here, here." Lindsey smirked as the watcher scolded the two vampires. They both turned on him together and he backed off, palms facing outward in a gesture of surrender.

"Okay, fine, Mr I'm in charge, what's the plan?" Spike scowled at Angel and waited, the others gathering round to listen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so I fibbed, but I didn't think I'd have it finished before Christmas. Anyway I wanted to leave you with a trademark cliffhanger!!

Gidgetgirl: Please step out of my head, there's barley enough room for me in there.

Kate: Must remember to pay Celtic Cat her 10%.

Imzadi: Dear God, your appetite is insatiable.

MysticWolf1: Merry Christmas again.

Tariq: I don't think there will be any more info on Meenotuk.

CelticCat: What can I say, credit where credit is due. Loving Fume of Sighs by the way.