PROLOGUE

"I can't do this anymore," Angel said tiredly, falling into his easychair. The bloodcaked weapons used in their latest battle were lying forgotten on the floor.

"Sometimes I really wish there were two of me," he said. Cordelia and Wesley, sprawled on his couch, just looked at him. They were too tired and sore to even blink, much less form an answer.

********************

"Did you get what you need to work the spell?"

Lindsey McDonald was standing at the feet of what appeared to be a mass of disemboweled goo. Slowly, the non-as-dead-as-it-appeared demon started pulling all its little parts together, rising to its full height of 7 feet.

"Yes. More than enough." It spoke in a low thundering voice. Lindsey could hear the evil anticipation in that voice. This demon was going to enjoy the job handed to him by Wolfram & Hart's Senior Partners.

"That's good. The Senior Partners expect results. And fast. Preparations have already begun, and Angel can't be allowed to interfere." Lindsey masked his trembling nerves with urgency. His fear of the Senior Partners was definitely greater than his fear of this massive thing with a voice like nails scraping the bottom of Hell itself.

Ma'hlak turned his back to the lawyer and, walking away into the dark, said, "Angel won't interfere. Ever again."

********************

1

"So that thing's dead for good, right?" Cordelia asked the others. "Because I really don't want to be doing this again soon," she grimaced as she pinched a piece of intestine off the axe blade she was cleaning with her thumb and forefinger, dropping it on the pile of rags and guts growing on the floor.

Wesley and Angel looked up from their own cleaning.

"Don't worry. It won't be bothering us again," Wesley said. "Gunn's performing the burial rituals as we speak."

Angel didn't say anything. He just went back to scrubbing at the blood still staining his sword's blade, thinking of the previous night's battle. Something bugged him. He just didn't know what. And that bugged him even more. He frowned.

"Oh, no! Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it!" Cordelia said. Angel looked up, surprised. "I know you, and when you frown like that, it usually means trouble. And if that trouble has anything to do with this," she motions with a sticky piece of flesh, dropping it with a wet sucking sound on the heap, "I don't want to hear it."

"What? No, … it's just… It's nothing." Angel shook his head, trying to dislodge this feeling of ….. something, but the little voice at the base of his spine wouldn't stop whispering its doubts.

"Angel, it was a brutal fight, but you won. The demon's dead. You don't have to doubt that," Wesley said in his most logical Watcher voice.

"I know…" Angel faltered. He shook his head again, and said more assuredly, "I know. You're right. It was just such a hard battle. I guess I'm having trouble believing something that tough is actually dead."

But Angel knew even as he said it that he didn't believe a single word he just spoke. There was something very wrong, and he knew that for a fact. And his instinct was never wrong.

As if to prove his point, the phone rang. It was Gunn. Angel listened in silence, his hand clenching the phone tighter and tighter as the seconds passed. "I understand," he said and hung up the phone.

"That was Gunn," he said, not turning to face his friends. "We have a problem."

Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other, the worry clearly marked on their faces. They both knew that tone. The shit has very clearly just hit the fan in a big way.

"The body's missing," Angel said.

"Did Gunn go to the right place? I mean, he could have gotten the addresses mixed up, couldn't he?" Cordy asked, alarmed.

"He said it was the place. He could tell from the blood and guts splattered everywhere. But no body." Angel scratched his head. Why would anyone steal a 7-foot Raz'lah demon's body? It didn't make sense!

"The demon's body was stolen? Why?" Wesley asked, giving voice to Angel's thoughts. "It doesn't make any sense. Raz'lah demons can't be restored."

Angel glanced at his watch. Yes, his internal sense is still spot-on. "Sunset's in a few minutes. I'm going down there to have a look for myself," he said, grabbing his duster with one hand and his sword with the other.

Wesley got up and gathered his things. "I'm coming with you."

"No." Angel raised his hand to stop Wesley. "I need you and Cordy to go through the books, find anything and everything on Raz'lah demons and what their corpses could be used for."

"But…" Wesley started to protest, but it was too late. Angel was already out the door.

"I'll call when I get there!" he called as the door slammed behind him.

*********************

The black GTX roared in next to Gunn's pickup truck. Angel jumped out and crossed the distance between him and Gunn in an instant.

"You find anything?" Angel asked.

"You mean like a dead, and by the looks of things seriously damaged, demon? No, sorry. Didn't find Waldo either. Not my night I guess," Gunn replied. Angel glared irritably down at Gunn.

Slowly he made the rounds of the grounds. The battle took place in a clearing just outside the city limits. No interruptions from nosy cops. The ground was covered in claw marks, some of them the missing demon's and some Angel's. Blood splatter patterns covered the rocks and shrubbery. Where the demon's blood touched the plant life, the leaves had turned black and dead. Powerful blood. Something that looked like cloth dangled from a jutting branch, but Angel could identify it as skin, his skin, from its smell. Both demons gave as good as they got.

"Must have been some party," Gunn remarked, also staring at the skin lightly flapping in the wind.

"There's no drag marks."

"Huh?" Gunn sounded confused.

"Drag marks. In the dirt. And if you were going to move a body 7 feet long, wouldn't you have brought some transportation? There's no tyre marks. How did they, whoever 'they' are, move him?" Angel started to pace up and down the outside rim of the damage zone, looking for any indication that someone other than him or Gunn has been there.

"The only tracks I saw were those over there, but…" Gunn started.

"Where? Show me," Angel interrupted.

Gunn led him over to the furthest corner of the clearing. There they found a path leading into the brush. Gunn took out his flashlight to illuminate the tracks, but that wasn't necessary. Angel's vampiric nightvision enabled him to see quite well in the deepest of night. And tonight was a full moon.

"These aren't human," he said, bending down to inspect the footprints closer. "But they were made by only one creature. Although, guessing by the size of the print, it wouldn't have had any trouble with a really big body."

Gunn bent down beside him and shone the light over them. Angel squinted at the sudden flare of light.

"Sorry, but us humans need a little extra help seeing in the dark," he said and turned his attention back to the print. "I'm no expert tracker or anything, but these don't seem deep enough for a really big demon carrying another really big dead demon. I mean, wouldn't the prints be deeper if you had to carry the dead weight of something over 7 feet?"

Angel rose, nodding, "You're right. The tracks aren't deep enough. And…" Angel trailed off, his attention diverted by something else only he can see in the dim light. He walked over to investigate, with Gunn trailing behind.

"These, however, are very much human," Angel said, bending down to inspect the new set of tracks he spotted. He pinched some dirt between his fingers and sniffed it. "Terrified human, at that."

Gunn turned to look at the clearing again. Not even the falling night could hide the savagery of the fight that took place there. "I can believe that."

"So why would a human come here?" Angel mused. He rose, turning to scan the scene from their mystery guest's point of view.

"Gawker?" Gunn offered. "You get some pretty warped people out there who's into this kind of scene."

"No. The only humans here last night were Cordy and Wesley. I would have known if we had spectators."

"So he raised the demon then. We are missing a demon's body and a demon did walk away from here. Could be your dead demon is the owner of the tracks?"

Again, Angel shook his head. "Raz'lah demons can't be raised. If they're dead, they stay dead. That's why they're so hard to kill. No, we're looking at something different here. I just can't see it!"

Gunn held up his hand to calm the tensing vampire. "Chill! We'll figure it out. No need to get all postal."

Angel hadn't even realized that he morphed into his true demon face until he saw the glimmer of fear in his companion's eyes, and took a deep cleansing breath, morphing back into his human face. Calm down, he thought. "Sorry," he said. "There's nothing more you can do here. Take these samples to Wesley. Tell him to every possible test on them. I want to know what species we're dealing with here. I'm going to see if I can find where those tracks lead to."

Angel handed Gunn the samples he'd been taking and walked to the hidden path, the dark swallowing him up.

"Okay, boss," Gunn said. "Tense guy." Shaking his head, Gunn left.

Angel didn't hear Gunn leave. He was concentrating all his senses on finding and following the mystery demon's tracks.

The night had gotten very dark very fast as black clouds covered the moon's luminescence. Angel caught a whiff of ozone in the air, but wrote it off to the building storm. Thunder clapped, but fell on deaf ears as Angel followed the path glowing faintly before him. Powerful demon, he thought to himself. Only the most powerful of magicks can leave a visible line in the wake of the caster.

The glow led him into another small clearing. He was so intent on not losing the trail that was fast disappearing that he never noticed the pentagram he stepped in. He saw the flash an instant before it hit him. And by then it was too late.

The lightning bolt threw him to the ground with a bone jarring crash. He groaned, pulling himself painfully to his hands and knees, trying to get his feet under him without falling down. Every nerve ending tingled and zinged from the blast, but luckily electrocution is not very effective when it comes to killing the undead.

"Oh boy, that was fun," he groaned to the night sky. Angel got up slowly. "Not your normal, natural weather pattern, I guess. Maybe Wesley…"

Angel cried and doubled over. He sank down to his knees as the pain ripped through his very being.

"What…?" Angel tried to get up, tried to draw breath into aching lungs. But the pain ripped through him again, worse this time. He screamed. The last time he felt pain like this was right after Buffy, when he lost his soul.

"This can't be happening," he cried. "Not again! Aaaarrrrrggghhh!!!!"

The pain was so intense. The last time was a piece of cake compared to this. Angel felt the darkness crawling into his line of vision. He tried to fight it, but unconsciousness claimed him.

Ma'hlak, flashing a pleased smile that transformed his already hideous face into a nightmare, stepped out of the dark brush.

"It is done," he said, and laughed as the magical clouds parted, the moon shining its faint glow on the prone body lying in the center of the pentagram.

2

"Hmmm… This is interesting," Wesley mumbled.

Gunn had arrived a few hours ago with the samples Angel wanted checked out. It was slow going, but finally Wesley had some results.

"Finally! What's interesting?" Cordelia asked. She handed Gunn and Wesley some coffee and sat down.

Wesley pulled off his latex gloves and stretched his back. He winced as his spine cracked back into place. "These samples were taken from the battle zone?" Wesley asked Gunn.

"Yeah. From the rocks that got splattered the worst, and from the dead plants. Why?"

Wesley frowned. "It seems the demon Angel killed last night wasn't a Raz'lah. Or not totally."

"What do you mean 'not totally'? Angel identified it himself. He generally likes to know what he kills before he kills it," Cordelia said.

"Yes, well, Angel wasn't wrong this time either. And he was. Our Raz'lah was of a mixed breed. I just don't know with what it was mixed yet." Wesley rubbed his hand over his face. He was tired, but Angel counted on him. "Maybe it would be a good idea to see if there are reports of a mixed breed Raz'lah on record. If there was, we could get a name on who and what it was. And how to deal with it if it's not dead yet."

"Research mode," Cordelia said with a sigh and got up. This was going to be a very long night.

Gunn also got out of his chair, but didn't follow Cordelia to the library. "Shouldn't we warn Angel that his demon might not be entirely dead? He could be off tracking this thing right now. And I'll say it's a fair bet this mixed breed thing will not be happy to see Angel."

Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other and then at the clock's face, realizing that they haven't heard from Angel since he left. Five hours ago.

"I'll call him on the cell," Cordy said, already dialing. She let the phone ring for a full sixty seconds, the worry creeping deeper into her eyes with every unanswered ring. "No answer," she said. "I don't like this. I've been having a bad feeling all day long, and it's getting worse. Something's wrong."

"Come on," Gunn said, grabbing his coat and keys.

The three arrived at the clearing, parking next to the black convertible.

"His car is still here. Maybe he's still around too," Cordy said hopefully. "Or maybe the fact that his car is still here is a bad sign. Angel!"

The others jumped when she called Angel's name. But only the echoes answered her.

"Where was this trail Angel wanted to check out?" Wesley asked.

"Over here," Gunn said and started walking, not looking back if the others were following him. He was starting to have a really bad feeling too.

Angel's passage down the dim track cleared the path out some and Gunn found his way easily. The night was starting to lighten. They knew they had to hurry. Sunrise was coming fast.

"I can see a clearing ahead," Gunn called and picked up his pace. He was the first out of the brush, and the first to see the body.

"Angel!" he called, rushing to the still figure. Gunn turned Angel's body over, checking for damage.

Cordelia and Wesley knelt down on Angel's other side, also touching him, shaking him, trying to revive him.

"We have to get him under cover. The sun will be up soon," Wesley said urgently. He grabbed Angel's right arm, with Gunn taking up the left and Cordelia helping to lift his shoulders.

"Boy, he's heavy," she grunted. "Talk about your dead weight."

********************

A red tinge crept into the perfect darkness behind Angel's eyes. He could hear voices, but they were far away, like they were travelling to his ears through sludgy water. He tried to lift his eyelids, but the muscles wouldn't follow his mind's commands at first. His head throbbed in rhythm with the red behind his eyes, every throb making the light sparks brighter. Slowly, painfully, Angel lifted his hand to his head.

"At least it's still attached," he thought.

Cordelia's amplified voice sliced through that thought. "You guys! He's awake!"

"Man, I wish it wasn't," he grimaced and croaked out, "Cordelia, please…"

Angel managed to pull himself into a sitting position on his bed, opening his eyes carefully. The room was pleasantly devoid of light.

"What happened?" he asked when Wesley and Gunn entered the room.

"What do you remember?" Wesley countered, examining Angel. Angel sucked in his breath when Wesley accidentally touched a tender spot on Angel's chest.

"I remember tracking something through the brush," he said, voice straining around the abating pain in his chest. "I remember…. Clouds covering the moon? Lightning. It hit me." He gingerly touched the black mark on his chest. "I fell, and then…." The memory of intense pain returned, making his face distort again. "The pain… I don't know… I blacked out."

The 3 people standing around Angel's bed looked at each other, and the same thought could be read in all their faces. What could have been bad enough to make Angel, who survived the pain and torment of Hell itself, black out for five hours?

"Wesley, did you find anything in those samples?" Angel asked. He tried to get up, but when the world started spinning, he thought better of it and sank back into the pillows.

"That can wait for now," Wesley said. He knew if he reported what he found, Angel would never stay in bed. Angel may be undead, but he is seriously hurt and needs to recuperate.

Angel gave Wesley an irritated look. "Wesley. Tell me. Now."

The Brit sighed. His boss can be aggrevatingly insistent sometimes. "It wasn't a Raz'lah," he began. "It was a mixed breed. We're still trying to identify who and what it was."

"So you have no reason to get out of that bed until you're healed," Cordelia chipped in. "We'll keep you updated, but you can't do anything right now, in any case. Just stay put."

Gunn grinned. Only Cordelia could get away with ordering the vampire around like he worked for her, instead of the other way around.

Angel grinned too, and said, "Okay, alright. I'll stay put. Tell me when you find our demon's identity. I need to be better prepared for when I see him again."

*********************

A loud crash reverberated through the dark hallway. Ma'hlak looked up from his spellbook and grinned. His guest was finally awake.

"Hey!" The call was followed by another crash. "Where the fuck am I?! If you know what's fucking good for you…!" Another crash. "you'll let me out of this fucking cage! NOW!!!"

Ma'hlak laughed. There couldn't be much more in the room that could be broken, but he decided it was wiser to calm his guest down before his guest ripped the walls down.

He opened the looking hole in the cast iron door. The man inside was pacing the floor with the grace and pent-up rage of a caged tiger. He looked up the sound of the looking hole's latch being opened and snarled at the face that appeared.

Ma'hlak reveled in the murderous glare radiating from the golden eyes. The light reflected off bared fangs, the growl emanating from his guest's throat like rolling thunder.

"Let me out!" his voice thundered.

"Now, now. Is that any way to behave as a guest in my home?" Ma'hlak chided, casting his eyes over the debris cluttering up the floor. He pulled back just in time to miss the hand flashing out through the looking hole, grabbing for his throat. He's fast, Ma'hlak thought, shocked. He hadn't even seen the dark figure move until it was almost too late.

The man, having missed his intended target, uttered a ferocious growling scream and, grabbing the edge of the hole, yanked at the door with all his strength. Ma'hlak stepped back, unable to hide his shock this time when the door buckled.

An evil grin of satisfaction lit on the man's face, baring his fangs even further. "You'd be wise to let me out of here. If I have to break out on my own, I might not be in such a good, forgiving mood."

Ma'hlak blinked, and laughed. "Yes. Oh yes, you will be perfect," he laughed as he opened the door. "Come! We have a lot to talk about!"

The golden eyes turned the blackest brown. The man uttered a chilling laugh, the deadly fangs hidden behind perfect human teeth. He didn't say a word, but the glint in his eyes, the raw power flowing through his body as he strode out the door promised death to the laughing demon if he so much as thought the wrong thing.

He looked around him. "This your place?" he asked, but Ma'hlak knew what was actually said.

"Consider this your home. What is mine, is yours to do with as you see fit. Lord Angelus."

3

Lindsey sat in the deep armchair, sipping slowly from his brandy. He looked around the room with pleasure and envy. This upstairs living area was as luxurious as every other room in the colossal mansion. Russell Winters, very rich undead client of Wolfram & Hart, had taste, Lindsey thought with a little smile. Good for us that Angel killed him.

He thought back to that day in Winters' conference room when he first saw Angel. The vampire looked so sure of himself. And the amusement that shone from his dark eyes as he just shrugged off Lindsey's threats after tossing Winters out the window, into the deadly sunlight. Lindsey hated Angel for all the trouble he's caused him and Wolfram & Hart. But Lindsey hated Angel more for making him feel envious. That damned creature made him feel worthless with every glance and gesture. It's been his mission to bring "His High-and-Mightiness" down a peg or two, and he's finally succeeded.

"Of course. Who else but the little badboy wannabe lawyer," a familiar voice said from the doorway, shaking Lindsey from his musings.

He got up out and put his drink on the mantle over the fire, before turning to face the voice's owner.

"Angel," he started to say, but was cut off by a very cold, very powerful hand closing around his throat.

"Don't ever address me by that weakling's name. Ever!" Angelus spat in Lindsey's face.

Lindsey struggled to pull air into his lungs, but the tightening fingers holding him off the floor by his neck wouldn't allow it. Angelus smiled visciously at the feeling of the mortal's heart hammering into the palm of his hand, and squeezed just a little more. Lindsey's eyes bulged out of their sockets at the added pressure.

He nearly passed out when Angelus suddenly let go, dropping him on legs that couldn't hold his weight. Coughing and gulping air alternatively, Lindsey looked up at the man towering over his kneeling form. For the first time a tiny glimmer of doubt entered his mind. This was not Angel. This man – no, this creature was something completely different. How was he going to control him?

Angelus laughed when he tried to get up, falling back to his knees when his legs buckled under him again.

"Get him up," Angelus ordered Ma'hlak. "And where's my dinner? I feel like I haven't fed in ages." Angelus eyed the kneeling, gasping man, breathing in the terror pouring off him. He was getting very hungry.

Lindsey watched with creeping fear as Ma'hlak, a fierce and deadly warrior (Oh, and huge. Can't forget huge.), jumped to do the vampire's bidding.

Ma'hlak picked Lindsey up and dumped him unceremoniously back into the armchair he was sitting in. He quickly left the room and came back, leading a young girl by the arm.

The girl, dark-haired and fairskinned, had a vacant look in her eyes, like the lights were on but nobody was home. "Drugged. Too bad. Fear makes the blood so very sweet," Angelus thought as he ripped open her throat with a guttural growl.

She died quickly, but Angelus didn't mind. She wasn't sport. She was merely a meal to still the hunger. There would be time enough for a proper hunt, for a feast. Cordelia's face flashed before his mind's eye and he grinned as it was replaced by Wesley, Gunn, Kate and, inevitably, the blonde Slayer's. Oh yes, a feast indeed.

*********************

Angel jerked awake from the fevered dream gripping him. He rubbed his hand over his face to get rid of the remnant images still clinging to him, and was shocked to feel the extended ridge over his brow. His tongue darted over his teeth, confirming the presence of elongated canines, and quickly fought the demon inside him back behind his human features.

He slowly rose from the bed. His body was still sore and stiff (probably will be for another week by the feel of it), but he was healing fast. Advantage to being a vampire, he thought.

Cordelia looked up from an ancient volume open before her. "Why aren't you in bed?" she chided.

Angel shrugged and carefully sank down onto the couch in their front entrance. "I had a weird dream," he said.

"Oh, still dreaming about Darla?" Cordelia asked.

"Actually, I dreamt I ate you all," Angel answered matter-of-factly.

He heard Cordelia choke on the bite of doughnut, and rolled his head to look at her. Her face was pale and brown saucers were where her eyes should be.

"You're just kidding, right?" she croaked around the wedge of dough still trying to get down her windpipe and swallowed hard.

He smiled sweetly and said, "Don't worry. If I ate you, you'd probably come back to give me terminal indigestion. Besides, I don't eat my friends. Not anymore, that is. The dream was probably just symbolic of some coming danger or something."

"Well, just as long as we're clear on the eating-your-friends-is-bad concept." Cordelia grabbed the book and walked over to Angel. "Here. I think I may have found something on that demon."

Angel took the book from her, and made room for her on the arm of the couch. He followed as Cordelia paraphrased, "Ma'hlak was the spawn of a shapeshifter and a Raz'lah demon. Apparently, outwardly he looks like your average Raz'lah, but the shapeshifter in him made him more… durable. He can basically pull himself together again. Think that guy in Terminator 2. No matter how many times you blew him up, he just kept melting together and coming."

"Like the demon world's version of the Energizer bunny then?"

"Sure. If the Energizer bunny was over 7 feet tall with claws, teeth and slime." Cordelia shook her head at that mental image and continued, "Ma'hlak is also supposed to be very big in magic circles."

"He can increase his size with magic?" Angel asked, confused.

"No. He's a wizard… warlock… whatever. He can do some very serious magic," Cordelia answered, the look on her face saying 'you ask a stupid question, expect a stupid answer'.

"That would explain the pentagram we found you in," Wesley said, entering the room from the lab. "From the genetic breakdown on the sample cells, I can confirm that our Raz'lah is part shapeshifter."

"So now I know who I'm looking for," Angel said, studying the etching of Ma'hlak in the book. He frowned and asked, "What pentagram?"

Wesley pushed his glasses back up his nose, frowning, "You didn't notice the pentagram? That's not like you."

"You were lying in the centre of a pentagram scratched in the dirt when we found you," Cordelia offered. She made herself comfortable in the armchair opposite Angel. "Why are you frowning like that?"

Angel ignored Cordelia's question and turned his attention to Wesley, "Can you find out what spell was cast there?"

"Maybe. The placing of the stones and carvings seemed very specific. If I can find the spell that corresponds with that particular layout, I can probably narrow the possible castings down to a few possibilities. But it will take time. I don't have any basis of comparison to begin with. For all we know, they could have been trying to conjure up the Teletubbies."

Cordelia's face lit up with understanding, "Oh! This is about your dream!"

Wesley looked at Cordelia questioningly.

Cordelia answered his look, "Angel dreamt he ate us all." Her face fell and worry clouded her hazel eyes. "Oh. This is about your dream."

"Angel?" Wesley called. The vampire was frowning, clearly not following his and Cordelia's exchange. "Do you have an idea what spell was cast?"

Angel forced himself to focus on Wesley's words. "What? Oh. I don't know. Where's Gunn?"

He had a very bad feeling at the pit of his stomach that Gunn was in trouble. He got up, grabbed his coat and car keys and quickly made his way to the door.

"I'm going to check on Gunn," he called over his shoulder and walked into the night.

4

Gunn paced the deserted alley behind the shelled-out factory. A half-hour earlier that lady cop, Lockley, had called him. She'd wanted to meet him here. Actually, one of her informants wanted to meet her here, but would only talk to her through him.

The price you pay for saving a kid's life is being inconvenienced now and then, he thought irritably. He didn't like being here without any backup. This wasn't the kind of neighborhood you came to alone in the middle of the night.

He jumped when what sounded like a choked-off scream broke the silence and his train of thought, his heart triphammering in his throat. He started in the general direction of the sound when a stray cat leapt past him into the night. He cried out and grabbed for his heart that just skipped a beat or two.

"Jeez! Come on, Gunn! It was just a stupid cat," he chided himself. Gunn turned back to the alley and cried out again, taking a step back.

"Jesus! Angel! Give a guy a heart attack, why don't ya!" Gunn gulped in some air to force his heart back down into his chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Angel answered. "You're in danger. Don't you have any of your crew here to watch your back?"

"They know where I am. But you know that if you're here," Gunn snapped. He shrugged past the dark-clad frame, peering into the shadows. He didn't want Lockley's guy to be scared off by a nosy vampire with bad timing.

"Look, I'm expecting someone," he prodded, looking back over his shoulder. "And he doesn't want company…"

Angel watched the shadows intently, trying to see any movement that might be a person. He slowly did a 360° turn. "But you're in danger," he said.

Gunn cursed under his breath. Damn stubborn vamp, he grumbled. Out loud he said to Angel's back, "What danger?"

"That would be me!" Angel turned on Gunn with a growl. His hand shot out, grabbing the shocked black man by the throat. The vampire lifted Gunn on tiptoe. No sense in killing the boy slowly. That wouldn't be any fun.

Gunn clawed for the stake in his back pocket. He closed his fist in a death grip around the wooden shaft and lunged as best he could from his precarious position.

Angel smirked as his hand closed around the wrist holding the wooden stake and squeezed. Gunn cried out in pain as Angel slowly, slowly crushed the bones in his wrist.

"My God, he's enjoying this," Gunn thought panicked, watching the glee dancing in Angel's almost black eyes at the sound and feel of bone scraping and snapping against bone.

His stake clattered to the concrete ground.

"Oops. Did you drop something?" Angel laughed shrilly. He breathed in Gunn's fear and pain, and smiled. He pulled Gunn in close to him, making sure the scared young man could see only him and nothing else. Angel watched with pleasure at the terror lighting up Gunn's eyes.

Gunn was mesmerized by the sight of Angel's canines slowly descending into razor-sharp fangs, Angel's brow pushing forward over glowing golden eyes. The nails on the hand clasping his throat pushed painfully against his skin, and his heart jumped at the sensation.

"Do you want to beg for your life, my young friend?" Angel sneered, laughing visciously at the feel of Gunn's quickening pulse under his fingers. "Or maybe you want to trade in mortality for something more lasting?"

"Go to Hell!" Gunn hissed out through clenched teeth and brought his knee up between Angel's legs.

Angel felt Gunn's muscles tense a split second before Gunn's move, just enough time for the vampire to glance out of the way of the questing knee. He threw back his head and bellowed laughter.

"Good!" he said, catching Gunn's eyes with his own. An evil glint flashed in his yellow, demonic eyes when he said, "I've wanted to taste you from the first moment we met."

Gunn's body went rigid as Angel's fangs sank into his throat. He tried to cry out against the blood rushing out of his body down the vampire's throat, but it was getting harder and harder to breathe. His heart pounded in protest to the fast diminishing supply of blood in his body. Darkness was crawling into the edges of his peripheral vision, coaxing him into unconsciousness, into death. He thought he heard someone calling for the vampire to stop, but that could have been his mind's voice being drowned out by the whirlwind buzzing in his ears.

Sudden pain flared in his neck when Angel ripped his fangs free from his throat. Angel let go of his prone body and

he crumbled into a boneless heap on the ground. Gunn tried to focus through the black spots floating in his line of vision, and saw light flashing off blonde hair. Kate, he thought as the light faded from his consciousness.

Kate raced down the dark alley. She had gotten into the habit of carrying a wooden stake on her person the day she saw Angel's true face, and now she had her other service weapon at the ready. This vamp's dust, she thought, hate making her icy blue eyes flash.

She was nearly on top of the two men when she cried, "Stop!" She saw the vampire was very tall and dark, but in her eyes he was just another bloodsucking fiend that needed some killing.

It was the victim she was worried about. She had called Gunn earlier and asked him to meet her here. Alone. She insisted, even threatened a little. It would be her fault if she allowed that undead son of a bitch to kill him.

And Angel would kill me if I found out, she thought too. She would never admit it, but she was scared of the private investigator/vampire that's saved her life on more than one occasion.

She watched as Gunn sank to the ground. Her body hummed with tension, ready to spring into action the moment the vampire turned to her. A familiar voice spoke her name, and all the strength left her battle-ready form.

"Kate," Angel said in a voice that could melt ice. He turned to her, still wearing his true demonic face, and fixed his heated gaze on her.

Kate swallowed. "Angel?" she asked. Her mind couldn't… wouldn't accept what her eyes were seeing.

"Sorry, sweetheart. You must be confusing me with that soulful asswipe goody-goody. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Angelus…" The tall vampire lashed out with his fist, backhanding Kate and sending her flying into the alley wall. "…but you can call me Master," he finished, just as Kate blacked out, blood from her split lip trickling into her mouth.

He closed the distance between them in two easy strides, picked up her slack body and strode away, a happy spring in his step. Angelus hasn't had this much fun since he tortured the Slayer in Sunnydale.

5

Kate was jarred awake when freezing cold water cascaded over her, soaking her to the bone. She tried to scramble away, but cried out in pain. Her chained arms didn't allow for much in the way of scrambling.

She flung her wet locks out of her eyes to look at the man standing over her with a bucket in his hand.

"Ah, my beautiful Detective Lockley," Angelus drawled, clearly enjoying her discomfort. "I'm glad to see you've joined the land of the living again."

"Go to Hell!" she spat at him. She tried to lunge at him, but was rudely thrown back into the wall when her arms reached their maximum mobility.

Angelus moved in close to her, his lips to her ear. "I've been in Hell ever since that creature's soul infected my body," he said. He could smell the fear in having him this close to her. His tongue darted out and ran the path of her ear's outer shell. Kate jerked away from him, her eyes wild with fright.

"I like being free," he said, smiling at the taste of her.

"I'm going to kill you," Kate promised Angelus. Her crystal blue eyes spat angry little darts at him.

Angelus bellowed laughter. 'She's feisty', he thought. 'Like Buffy. I'm going to like practicing on her.' He said, "You've threatened to kill me, or him rather, so many times, thinking he was this great ultimate evil."

He was still laughing when he turned back from the cell door. "We'll see how you like getting to know the real ultimate evil behind your Angel's face."

Kate felt cold to the core at that comment.

It's true, she admitted. She always raked Angel, the man who's helped so many innocent people in the past, her included, over the same hate filled comb as all the other vampires, demons and fiends stalking the night. She's read about his exploits before he changed, and tried to imagine him still in that role, but could never quite succeed. He always rubbed some good deed over her mental image. She never truly believed what she read because of that.

But now she was faced with the terrifying, deadly truth. And she's afraid to her very soul that this truth was going to kill her… and enjoy it.

*********************

The black convertible roared down the alley and stopped just short of the still body. The feeling of impending doom has reached a fever pitch throughout Angel's being, his non-beating heart jumping when the GTX's headlights fell over the body lying in the street.

Angel gracefully leapt from the car to the body's side. He carefully turned it over to the sight of Gunn's slack face, and roared with anger and grief.

The young black man was ashen from lack of blood, the whites of his eyes showing between his lids. The breath that escaped his parted lips were weak, almost non-existent, but visible to the vampire holding him.

Angel felt for a pulse at Gunn's throat, grimacing at the puncture marks under his fingers. It was there. Barely. His friend was slipping away quickly. He had to hurry if he wanted to save him.

"Hold on, Gunn," Angel begged the unconscious body, lifting him carefully and placing him in the car's back seat. "Just hold on."

Angel sent up a quick prayer to whoever might be listening to keep his road clear. Time was of the essence and getting into an accident was not in the game plan as Angel pushed his car to the limit, racing down dark streets. His prayers must have been answered, because he screeched to a stop in front of the nearest hospital's emergency room less than five minutes later.

"Help me!" he shouted, holding Gunn's body protectively to his own.

"What happened?" Three doctors and a nurse quickly had Gunn away from Angel and onto a gurney, checking his vitals, ordering tests and flying down the corridor to the nearest empty trauma room.

"I found him in an alley. He'd lost a lot of blood. He was unconscious when I found him, his pulse very weak. Will he be okay?" Angel recounted, trying to push past the medical staff in his way, wanting to be by Gunn's side.

One of the doctors, a blonde man with alert green eyes, asked, "Is he on any medication?"

"Um… No. No medication. No drugs. He's clean. Will he be okay?" Angel asked again, still trying to push past the doctor blocking his path.

"No pulse!" one of the nurses called, causing everyone to jump into frantic action. Angel shoved at the doctor's chest, panic lighting his dark eyes, but still the doctor restrained him. A male nurse came to the doctor's side to assist in ejecting Angel from the room.

"You have to wait outside. Let us work," the doctor reasoned with Angel. "Please, Sir."

The doctor's words sank into Angel's panicked mind. He looked down into the young man's green eyes and ordered, "Save him."

"Please, Sir." The doctor squirmed under the taller man's intent gaze. 'What would he do if the kid dies?', he wondered and shuddered.

Angel stepped back and allowed the door to whisper shut. He closed his eyes to the commotion inside and whispered another prayer.

"Please."

"Angel!"

Angel lifted his face from his hands at the sound of his name. He rose to meet Cordelia and Wesley rushing down the hall to the waiting room where he's been sitting, waiting, praying.

Cordelia threw her arms around his neck and he gathered her close to him, taking comfort from her.

"What happened? Is he…?" she asked softly, lifting her chocolate eyes to meet his. She's been crying, Angel saw and the anger flashed through him again.

He shook his head miserably and said, "I don't know. No-one's told me anything."

Angel spotted the doctor walking their way and let go of Cordelia to step into the doctor's path. Cordelia and Wesley turned from their friend and employer to face the doctor, the same question on all three their faces.

"He's alive," the doctor answered their questioning gazes.

"Oh, thank God!" Cordelia breathed, tears springing to her eyes anew.

Their relief was short-lived however when the doctor interrupted, "There were complications, however. Does Mr Gunn have any family that can be contacted?"

Wesley answered the doctor, "No. We're the closest thing to family he has in the city. What complications? He's going to be alright, isn't he?"

The doctor, his name tag identifying him as Jackson, scanned the three faces staring back at him and tried to decide what he could and should tell them. He took a deep breath and started, "Mr Gunn had suffered severe blood loss. We have him on a transfuser right now. But he suffered…. um… his heart stopped. We managed to get it started again, but there's no way to tell if he suffered any brain damage. We'll only be able to do that once his regained consciousness."

"Okay, and when will that be?" Cordelia asked worriedly.

Doctor Jackson faltered. Now for the hard part. He continued, "Due to the extended and severe depletion of oxygen supplied to Mr Gunn's brain…." He looked into three pairs of terrified eyes and decided to this over as quickly as possible. "He's in a coma. He could regain consciousness in five minutes, five months, or never. There's no way for us to know. All we can do now, all you can do now is wait and pray. I'm sorry."

Angel's already pale face blanched. Wesley caught the sobbing Cordelia in his arms and held her tightly.

"Your friend is being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at Cedar Sinai. You can follow the ambulance and see him there. I am sorry." Jackson touched Angel's rigid shoulder lightly and left the three to their privacy.

"Oh God! Gunn!" Cordelia wept against Wesley's chest.

Wesley looked over the dark head at his boss. Angel hadn't moved. His lips were a nearly invisible line and the muscle in his jaw jumped in time with his flexing fists. The Brit knew how he felt. He was feeling it too. The helplessness, the anger at being so damned helpless. He asked, "What do we do now?"

"We find the fuck that did this and we make him pay!" Angel snarled through clenched teeth. He looked at Wesley with eyes glowing nearly golden. He was battling to keep the demon inside from breaking free. He turned on his heel and stalked out of the hospital, Wesley and a still crying Cordelia following him.

Wesley was driving, following the ambulance through the late night traffic. Cordelia sat in the back seat. She still sniffled, and her eyes were still wet, but at least the tears were gone for now. Angel just stared out the passenger side window, his mind racing, trying to make sense of what has happened.

"How could this happen?" Angel asked out loud. "Gunn was always on his guard. A vampire couldn't have jumped him. And even if a vamp did get the jump on him, he wouldn't have gone quietly. How could this happen?"

Wesley frowned. Angel was right. Gunn was gung ho, maybe, but not reckless enough to wait until a vampire was on top of him to attack.

"Didn't he have anyone watching his back?" Cordelia asked from the back seat, her voice still a bit shaky.

Angel shook his head. "No. Gunn told his people he was asked to come alone."

"Asked by whom? Do you think he perhaps knew his attacker? It would explain how the vampire could get in close enough." Wesley glanced quickly at Angel and turned his attention back to the ambulance's taillights.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's possible," Angel said, running his fingers frustratedly through his dark hair. "We're here."

They followed Gunn up to Intensive Care, and for the next few days hardly left his side. They watched as he slept. They watched for some telltale movement behind his eyelids, in his still hand that would mark his awakening, but he slept. They watched, wondering if he was trapped in some never-ending nightmare being attacked over and over again, not knowing the only image repeating in Gunn's comatose mind was that of the moonlight reflecting off Kate Lockley's blonde hair.

6

"You have beautiful eyes, Kate," Angelus said softly, running the pads of his thumbs lightly over her eyeballs.

"No… please, no," Kate whimpered, begged. She tried to pull her head away from his probing thumbs, but Angelus held her head immobile between his powerful hands.

"Don't worry, Kate. I won't take your eyes," Angelus replied, looking down into her hopeful eyes when the burning started.

Kate blinked furiously against the pain, whipping her head from side to side, the burning cresting to searing agony as the world around her went hazy, and then completely dark. Her keening denials rose in volume until she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

Angelus leaned against the door frame, a pleased little smile pulling at his mouth as he took in his handiwork.

"Yet," he amended, leaving his pretty little toy to her panicked, painfilled screams.

Ma'hlak was waiting for him outside the cell door. He knew better than to disturb his master when he was 'at play'.

"I don't understand," Ma'hlak questioned. "The potion only blinds her temporarily. Why not just rip her eyes from their sockets?"

Raz'lah demons, even those of mixed heritage, never did understand the finer points of torture, Angelus mused and answered his servant, "What torture could be worse than stealing her hope? Inflicting physical pain may be fun, but nothing is better than killing that little flicker of hope in another creature's eyes that the pain will stop, that she might actually get out of this with her life."

He looked back fondly at the shaking woman in the cell, relishing in the tears that were cleaning tracks through the blood staining her face and smiled. If Kate was able to see that smile, she would, without a doubt, have been nudged over that narrow little ledge of sanity she was clinging to so desperately.

Angelus started to walk down the hall to the stairway leading up to the main house. His prisoner's screams had made him hungry. Ma'hlak followed behind.

"Joshua has returned with news," he said.

"And what does my young minion have to say?" Angelus asked, entering the kitchen.

"He is waiting in the study, Lord," Ma'hlak answered. His vampire master had a tendency to kill messengers with bad news, and Ma'hlak liked his life.

Angelus caught Ma'hlak's avoidance of his question, but decided to let it go.

The vampire jumped at his master's voice booming, "What do you have to report?"

"Master…" Joshua gulped nervously. He didn't know how his lord would take his news. "Gunn…"

Angelus was getting impatient with the young fledgling and growled, "Spit it out, Joshua!"

"He's still alive. In a coma. At Cedar Sinai. Master, I'm sor…" Joshua sputtered, but was cut off by his Sire's laughter.

Angelus shook his head in amazement. He was impressed. The boy had to have great willpower to survive his feeding. The last person to survive such a feeding was Buffy. And she was the Slayer after all.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Lindsey asked angrily, storming into the study.

Angelus's eyes flashed with immediate and deadly anger. He turned his attention to the cowering vampire still kneeling before him, completely ignoring the human that so rudely spoiled his good mood, and ordered, "Keep watching them. Tell me where they go, who they see, everything. And keep a close watch on the kid's condition too. If he dies, I want to know before those goody-goodies do. Take Janice and Zack with you. Now go."

The minion scrambled to his feet and disappeared out the door. He didn't want to be anywhere near the mansion when his master tore into that foolish mortal.

Lindsey could feel the tension descending on the room. Angelus was not pleased with his interruption, but frankly, he didn't give a flying fuck what the vampire thought! He had a schedule to keep, the Senior Partners were sniffing after his liver, and Angelus was only making things worse.

"Did you hear me?" Lindsey demanded. "You are here for a reason. And that reason is not putting Angel's people in the hospital. We tried that, remember? It didn't work. It only pissed him off more!"

Lindsey didn't even see Angelus move until he was thrust up against the wall, choking. Angelus growled at him, "You want to see pissed off, little man? Do that again and I'll show you 'pissed off'!"

He dropped Lindsey and stepped back. "Now. Would you like to try that again? Perhaps with a bit more respect for your elders?" he asked, the warning very clear in his voice and in his face, which had morphed to reveal one very irritated demon.

Lindsey gritted his teeth and gingerly fingered his bruised neck. He pulled himself up slowly, taking the time to get his temper and nerves under control before meeting Angelus's challenging glare.

Lindsey was amazed to note that Angelus had risen to power in nearly the entire demon and vampire population in Los Angeles in just three days. When he called, every fiend, monster and undead freak answered.

That could be a problem, Lindsey realised. How do you control a creature with an army like his?, he wondered again, crushing that little voice in the back of his head that was more interested in the other question playing at his nerves. How could I loose this creature on the world?

He shrugged the doubts aside and said, "The Restoration is a little over two weeks away. The Senior Partners went to a great deal of expense to ensure that Angel not interfere. We were hoping the spell that freed you would kill him, as it should have, but since it didn't, the Senior Partners feel it's up to you to finish what was started."

Lindsey eyed Angelus, trying to gauge if it was safe for him to continue. His throat still hadn't recovered from their first meeting, and adding even more bruises on top of the old ones was not on his 'To Do' list for today. Angelus only glared at him, murder still burning in his eyes. He was hungry. Hunger made him testy.

"The Senior Partners are concerned. They feel you haven't lived up to your end of the deal. Angel is still alive. And as such, the Senior Partners feel that Angel is still a threat. A threat they want eliminated as soon as possible. They …." Lindsey paused, choosing his words carefully. "They suggest you stop messing about with unimportant mortals like Gunn and Lockley, and fulfill your part of the bargain."

Angelus closed his eyes, as if deep in thought. He looked down the mystical line that connected him with his soulful half. A cruel smile curled at his lips.

"I seem to be holding up my end of the deal pretty nicely," he said and opened his eyes. "Do you want to know what my 'lighter' half is doing right now? Nothing. That's what. He's not out there combating evil or seeking justice for that bald little punk. He's just sitting in that hospital room, holding the kid's hand, and feeling all tortured over not being there to save him!"

He moved in behind the huge mahogany desk, sat down on the leather chair and propped his feet on the desk's edge. "I will kill Angel in my own time. But first, I have a score to settle with Feelings Boy."

He dropped his feet and leaned over the desk, looking intensely at Lindsey, and said with a voice that brooked no argument, "And the next time you barge into my house, shouting orders at me like I'm your lapdog, I will kill you."

Lindsey shuddered. 'I will hurt you like I'm hurting the woman before I'll consider killing you', is what he read in the vampire's soulless eyes. That little voice of doubt hiding in Lindsey's heart moaned miserably.

*********************

They've been sitting with Gunn in shifts. Angel's shift was almost over. He was tired. He hadn't slept at all in the last three days. When Cordelia or Wesley relieved him, he either went to the alley where he found Gunn to try and find some little clue as to who did this, or he disappeared into his office at the Hyperion and poured over the dusty old volumes in his extensive library, trying to find out what spell Ma'hlak might have cast.

The others thought they understood why he felt so guilty over what happened to Gunn, but they didn't. Not really. Hell, he didn't even understand it properly, but he kept feeling like this was his fault, that he was guilty of this crime. And that's not possible, right? So he researched and he investigated and he watched and waited for Gunn to wake up.

"Angel," Cordelia whispered his name, lightly touching his shoulder.

He jumped and looked at her with tired eyes. "Cordelia," he smiled and squeezed her hand still resting on his shoulder.

"You should get some sleep, Angel. You look terrible," she said worriedly.

"I will. When he wakes up." Angel looked at the still figure lying on the bed and slowly vacated the chair for Cordelia. He stretched. His body was sore from sitting in the same position all night, but the pain felt good. It felt real.

Cordelia sighed, "Well, if you're going to sleep, at least eat something. You need your strength. Well, that and you're starting to remind me a little of Kate Moss around the eyes."

Angel couldn't help but chuckle. Cordelia has been his rock. He didn't know what he would do without her. His heart contracted with the love he felt for the dark-haired beauty. She was the sister he'd once had and lost, and he wouldn't lose her too.

Cordelia squealed surprisedly when Angel pulled her into his powerful arms and hugged her. She smiled against his shoulder and returned the hug with all her strength.

"Go," she said, quietly ushering Angel out of the hospital room. "I'll call if there's any change."

Angel paused in the doorway and looked back at the tired young woman easing herself into the chair he was occupying not five minutes before. A strange thought crawled over his mind, 'I bet her blood would be sweet as syrup.'

He frowned, shaken to his core at the excitement that rose in his belly at the thought of sinking his fangs into her slender neck, and hurried out of the hospital and away from temptation as fast as he could.

In his dark study, Angelus grinned with pleasure. "Cordelia," he purred, his voice dripping venom.

The dark figure rose and walked out of the study, heading for the cells located in the basement of the mansion. It was time to vacate his favourite cell for its new occupant.

7

Kate was shivering. Her hair and what was left of her clothes were soaked again. It seemed her captor liked hurting her to the point where she soils herself, but disapproved of her sitting in her own filth. At least her vision's returned. It's not all back, but she can live with blurry halos.

Her eyes fell on the table with its grim little inventory of bloody implements. That was her blood, her skin, her flesh drying into the wood. She dropped her eyes, tears creeping down her cheeks, burning where their salty tracks crossed the paper-fine cuts on her face, and shivered harder. Maybe being blind wasn't so bad after all. Maybe not living would be good too.

"How are we doing this morning?"

Kate's eyes flew open. She tried to shrink back from the leaning figure in the cell doorway, whimpering in utter terror. 'What more can he do to me?' her mind cried out. 'Oh God! Let me die! I can't… not again… the pain…'

Her whimpers increased in volume. Angelus laughed at his cowering little rabbit chained in her cage.

A gut wrenching sob escaped Kate's throat as she wailed, "Oh God! No, please… no more! Why are you doing this to me?!"

The question seemed to amuse Angelus to no end. Evil malice lit his eyes and smile when he answered, "Why? Because I can. Because I want to." He strolled over to Kate, making her shrink back even more for fear of another beating. If she could, she would melt into the wall at her back.

Angelus kneeled down beside her and said, "Can I tell you a secret? I've dreamt of this for months. Every snide remark that rolled off that delicious little tongue of yours," He placed a light kiss on Kate's quivering lips. "Every frozen glance from these pretty eyes." Kate jerked, clamping her eyes shut as Angelus traced the line of her face down around her cheekbone, barely touching the dark lashes wet with her tears. "I wanted to teach you some respect, teach you the consequences of your actions. And now I finally have the opportunity. So, tell me, my dear. Are you learning yet?"

Kate sucked in her breath in pain when her dark captor's long fingers clenched around her jaw. She tasted fresh blood in her mouth from where the insides of her mouth got cut on her teeth. Then Angelus forced his tongue into her mouth, violating her, tasting her blood. He opened fresh cuts in her gums and on her tongue with his razor sharp fangs, and sucked on the wounds.

Kate started to buck under his pressing weight. She was fast suffocating from lack of oxygen. Dark spots were crawling over her eyes. She was passing out. If he didn't stop soon, she wouldn't wake up.

Angelus tasted the panic in her blood, and grinned when he released her. Suffocation was not how he planned on killing her, but the adrenaline made the blood oh so very sweet.

Kate gasped, choked on some blood and spat. She slumped forward. Only her pinned arms kept her from falling. With great effort, she lifted her head to look at Angelus, a spark of anger flashing up at the vampire. She spat again, her aim perfect. The red-tinged spittle slowly dribbled down the toe of Angelus's boot.

Fury surged through Angelus. 'The insolence of this creature!', he thought growling. His foot snapped out and caught Kate just under her chin. Hard. Her head whipped back and slammed into the wall with a wet crunch. The whites of her eyes rolled up in her sockets and she slumped down again. Unconscious.

The wish flittered across Kate's mind just before the blackness claimed her again. She prayed to die before she woke, because she knew there would be a universe of hell to pay for what she did. Angelus's curses and angry footsteps out the room promised her that.

"Fucking BITCH!" Angelus ranted, storming up the stairs. He threw the door shut with such force, it splintered out of its bearings.

One of the Master vampire's minions yelped, startled, at the crash.

"Master…" he began. He didn't know what to say to calm the murderous glare burning in his Sire's eyes. He didn't have a chance to say anything more as he turned to dust under the wooden spoon sticking out of his chest.

"Anyone else have something to say!?" Angelus roared, his powerful voice booming through the mansion, reaching every one of his servants' ears. They looked at each other and ran. Only a suicidal fool would get in their Master's way now.

Joshua pushed his unbeating heart down his throat with great effort. How was he going to survive telling the enraged elder vampire that Gunn had woken up?

'Maybe I can wait until he's calmed down a bit', he thought, but quickly discarded that idea. Angelus had ordered him to report immediately if Gunn's situation changed. If he didn't, his Creator will destroy him. He'll just stay far away from his Sire's fast and deadly hands.

With a deep, in this case very needed, breath for courage, Joshua edged to Angelus's study door. He started to poke his head around the corner, but pulled it back quickly when a crystal decanter flew directly at it. He cringed when it crashed behind him. 'Maybe behind the door is just as good', Joshua decided.

"Ma-… ummm….. Master?" Joshua called, his voice sounding like a mouse squeak in his ears. "I…umm" he swallowed. His mouth had gone so dry his tongue kept sticking to the roof of his mouth. "I have news. Of Gunn, Sir."

"Don't make me come out there after you, boy!" Angelus growled.

He watched with grim amusement as his fledgling servant all but crawled into the office. At least this pup knows his place, Angelus thought sourly.

"Report," he ordered.

Joshua jumped at Angelus's voice. He wouldn't raise his head to meet the elder vampire's eyes.

Just keep it short and sweet and get your undead ass out of this office in one piece, he told himself and started to talk very fast. "Master, Gunn's awake. It happened about half an hour ago."

When only silence met his ears, Joshua risked a peek out from under his brow. Angelus was staring at the curtains guarding them from the poisonous sun, not moving. 'I did say that out loud, didn't I?' Joshua wondered.

"Sir?" he called carefully.

"Do they all know?"

"Sir?" Joshua asked confusedly.

"Cordelia. Wesley. Angel. Do they all know? Are they all there now?" Angelus explained, his irritation rising again.

"Yes, Lord. The Watcher arrived just as I left. But your Other wasn't with him. He's not there yet."

A malicious smile creeped over Angelus's dark features. "Perfect," he purred. "Go back to the hospital. Watch them. I want to know the second Angel shows up at the hospital. Don't let me down, Joshua. You've done so well up until now. I would hate to have to destroy you now."

Joshua nodded furiously and stumbled-scrambled-leapt-ran out of the study to do his Master's bidding.

Angelus started for the dungeons again, purpose and urgency in his forceful stride. It was time to stop teasing Kate, and get down to the business of killing her.

The massive vampire burst into Kate's cell. She was still slumped over and blood was slowly trickling down her arm and chest from the scalp laceration where her head had hit the wall and cut under her chin.

"Wakey wakey, Sleeping Beauty!" Angelus called with renewed glee and stuck the cattle prod to the sensitive underside of her bare foot.

The smell of sizzling flesh filled the room. Kate jerked up and away, fully awake and awash in the pain pulsing through her foot up to her splitting skull. She groaned, but quickly swallowed the sound for fear of being kicked again. Or worse.

"I come bearing good news, dear heart. Your young friend from the alley is not dead," Angelus declared with a sweeping gesture that made Kate flinch.

"Gunn?" Kate asked, not believing, not daring to believe that the only person who knew she was here with this monster, might be alive and able to tell.

Angelus swept in close to her face, their noses nearly touching. "Yes," he said. "Gunn. Alive. Able to tell your knight in shining fangs where to find you, where to save you."

He planted a quick, hard kiss on her bruised lips and swirled away, continuing, "Of course, he probably won't be too happy to see our soulful buddy. Seeing as how "Angel" did try to kill him and all. But I'm sure your presence at the scene will come up between accusations and staking attempts."

Kate's heart beat harder and harder in her chest with every word, the hope flaring from a dull ember to a raging bonfire in her soul. Maybe, just maybe, she will get out of this with her life, she dared to think.

Angelus was picking up and discarding tools off his little table of torture all the while, testing each tool in his hand before picking up the next.

"Yes, your heroes are probably scurrying around right now, beating up every snitch in the city limits to find out where I am, where you are…" Angelus mused, his back turned to Kate. "They'll be charging in to rescue you by nightfall tonight by my educated guess."

Kate was trembling with the thought, the hope, the promise of rescue. She was getting out of here. She was getting out of here alive and in one piece.

"Too bad you won't be able to see it," he said venomously and turned back to her, his toy of choice glinting in the light.

Kate's attention was drawn to the shiny metal in the leering vampire's hand. Cold stole over her mind and leaked into her nerves. She felt the hope in her heart squashed and replaced with numbing fear, her eyes locked on the extractor in Angelus's hand.

She'd seen the tool before. And she knew its purpose. Kate ripped her gaze away from the vicious blades to Angelus's face, and read the horrible truth there. He was going to take her eyes, just pluck them from her sockets in the most painful way possible.

"Nononononono…." Kate begged.

She whipped her head from side to side in furious denial. Blood sprayed over the wall from her reopened head wound. Angelus advanced on her with panther-like grace. Kate started to kick out wildly, trying desperately to ward him off. She ignored the pain that knifed through her body from her shoulder that Angelus had dislocated the previous day.

"NONONONONONO…" she cried, kicking at him, seeking purchase, but finding none.

Angelus easily sidestepped her flying legs and caught them deftly to his side. He jerked his body sideways in one fluid movement, and grunted his satisfactory as twin snaps sounded out.

Kate shrieked in agony when her oddly bent legs hit the floor, useless. Angelus stepped up to her, straddling her, and nimbly caught her face in his left hand, holding her utterly immobile against the wall.

Kate wanted more than anything in her life to close her eyes, but the light reflecting off the cruel blades held her wide-eyed stare. She pleaded with Angelus to stop, please stop. Don't do this. No, please. Oh God, no! PLEASE NO!

"Such pretty eyes," Angelus remarked and slid the extractor's blades into her flesh.

Kate's wails grew in louder with every inch of the implement's path. Loud when the skin was broken, louder when the eye's protective lid stretched and tore free, loudest when the intensifying fire in her eye burst to heretofore-unknown levels of torture, when panic gave way for rushing insanity.

Angelus laughed merrily at the sound of the shrill keening notes issuing forth from the blonde woman's throat.

Kate's howls reverberated through the mansion, bouncing off walls, finding ears to bear witness to her pain, her insanity.

Lindsey's blood froze in his veins at the terrible screams boring into his ears.

"What have I done?" he asked the empty foyer, horrified. He didn't want to imagine what his monster… Yes, his monster, Lindsey admitted to his cringing soul. This was all his doing. Her blood, her sanity was on his hands. He had let that thing loose on the world, foolishly under the impression that he could control him.

"How could I have been so stupid? So very blind?" he wondered, running from the house. "I couldn't control him when he had a soul. What made me think I could control him when he had no restraint at all?" The questions raced through his mind as he raced down the streets away from the mansion, from those inhuman wails.

Lindsey's car drowned out the sudden silence as deep beneath the great structure Angelus slid his hand from Kate's eyeless face to her throat. His perfectly kept nails found purchase around her larynx. He applied a little pressure and felt the skin break and give way under his fingertips.

Kate still screamed when he slid his long bloodstained fingers into her throat and closed his fist around the opposing flesh of her windpipe. The instant silence was broken by a wet splat, Angelus dropping Kate's severed larynx on the floor next to her graying body as the last of her life's blood escaped through the empty pits where her eyes used to be and the gaping rip under her chin.

Footsteps bounced back to Angelus's ringing ears. She had a pair of lungs on her, he mused and dropped his prize into their little jar.

"Pretty eyes indeed," he said to the silence and smiled.

8

Cordelia launched herself into Wesley's arms. He planted his feet solidly and caught her firm lithe figure, gathering her close to him.

"He's going to be okay," Cordelia sniffled. "Gunn's awake and he's going to be okay."

"Thank God," Wesley breathed into Cordy's hair. "Has Angel arrived yet?"

Cordelia untangled herself from her friend's arms. "No, not yet. He was just leaving Caritas when I called, so he should be here soon."

A shadow crossed the young Englishman's face as he studied Gunn's gaunt face. He whispered, "He still looks so weak."

"I know," Cordelia whispered worriedly. "The doctors say he's going to make a full recovery, but it's going to take time."

A hand fell on their shoulders.

"How is he?" Angel asked quietly, not wanting to disturb his young friend's slumber.

Cordelia lifted her hand to Angel's face, tried to smooth away the worry lines etched deep into his cold brow, and said, "He's going to be fine."

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to limit Mr Gunn's visit to five minutes. He is still very weak, and we don't want to overstimulate him right now," the doctor in charge of Gunn's care said from behind them.

Angel maneuvered the doctor into the hall away from the open door, still speaking softly. "When will he be released?"

"Not for a few days at least. Mr Gunn will be kept here for observation …."

Wesley tuned out his boss's conversation with the doctor at focused on a slowly awakening Gunn. He and Cordelia tiptoed to their pale friend's bedside, calling his name softly.

Gunn groaned. His surroundings swimmed into focus before his eyes, and he smiled at the sight of the young brunette and the lanky Englishman scrunching their faces with worry.

"Hi," he croaked.

Cordelia grabbed a cup of water off the bedside counter and held it for Gunn to drink. He frowned at the tightness in his throat. It hurt to swallow.

'But what did he expect?' Gunn thought frustratedly. The memory of having his throat caught in a vise grip, the pain as his jugular tore open, the thundering roar of his departing blood in his ears… He remembered everything and shuddered.

Wesley's question cut into his reverie. "Your attacker? Who was it? Can you describe him?"

"What?" Gunn asked, confusion clearly written on his still-ashen face. 'Didn't they know?' he wondered. 'How could they not know that Angel ……'

All thoughts left Gunn's head. The beeping monitors hooked to him started going crazy as his heart thumped faster and faster in his heaving chest. He tried to cry out, but only squeaks escaped his lips. His eyes screamed where his voice couldn't.

Cordelia and Wesley whipped their eyes from Gunn to the monitors to each other and back to Gunn, their terror and confusion mirror images of one another.

"What? What's wrong?" Cordelia cried.

She was shoved aside by the doctor. "Please! You all have to leave. Now. You can come back later when your friend's calmed down."

Wesley raised his shocked eyes to the tall vampire standing in the shadow of the doorway, reading the shock and understanding on his face. He lowered his eyes back to the mask of terror that's now covering the young black man's face and swung them back to Angel.

Before any of them could utter a word, they were all deposited into the hall by the invading doctors, nurses and orderlies.

"What the hell was that all about?" Cordelia asked shrilly. Her hands were shaking.

Wesley still stared at his employer, waiting for the elder man to speak first, to explain.

"It's me," Angel said, shock registering in his deep voice.

Shock and … was that admittance? Wesley wondered.

"I don't - I can't be here. I'll meet you at the Hyperion." Angel didn't look at the two people. He didn't have answers for the questions their glances were asking. He didn't understand the answers his mind was forming to their questions. He left an astounded Cordelia and Wesley gaping at his billowy-coat exit.

A loud crash marked Cordelia and Wesley's arrival at Angel Investigation's offices.

"Just shut up, Wesley!" a very angry feminine voice echoed through the building. "Gunn was confused. That's all! He saw Angel standing in the shadows, remembered the attack and associated Angel's vampireness with his attacker. He was scared of a vampire, not Angel!"

A British accent answered, "He knows the difference between a vampire and Angel. And he saw Angel! He didn't associate with anything. Besides, I saw Angel's face. He all but admitted it was him!"

Cordelia turned on Wesley in a fury and snarled, "Angel didn't do this! He's the good guy, remember? Battles the minions of evil? We've helped him do it?"

Wesley took a breath to counter the fiery woman's arguments, but Cordelia cut him off, "If you say he tried to kill Gunn again, I swear I will hit you into next Tuesday!"

She spun on her heel and stormed off to the offices behind the reception counter.

Wesley followed her, continuing the argument even though Cordelia clearly signaled its end, "And I'm not saying Angel did try to kill Gunn!"

"Yes you are!!!"

"Alright, I am! It wouldn't be the first time for Angel to turn on his friends. He's been acting very strange lately. Admit it! Haven't you even wondered if maybe, just maybe…?"

"No! I haven't! Unlike you, I trust my friend and employer."

"And you think I don't?!"

"ENOUGH!"

The arguing couple snapped their mouths shut at the furious bellow resounding from the top of the stairs. They watched as Angel thundered down the stairs to where they were standing.

"Angel, it's not…"

"We didn't mean…"

The vampire's icy stare made the stammering two swallow their words.

"I don't want to hear it. Now I am going to say this once and then it'll be done. I did not attack Gunn. I did not try to kill Gunn. Got it?" he growled.

The ex-Watcher and ex-cheerleader dropped their eyes, cheeks flaming red under their undead boss's withering glare. They nodded, mumbling that they got it.

"Good. Since we're all in agreement, let's find out why Gunn would be under the impression that I did attack him," Angel said, calm again. "Wesley, have you…"

"He's under the impression you attacked him, because you did."

The staff of Angel Investigations jumped at the voice coming from the courtyard.

No-one even saw Angel move until he had Lindsey dangling in the air by his throat, a low growl emanating from behind his exposed fangs.

"Lindsey," Angel said, and squeezed the lawyer's badly bruised neck enough to make him wince.

"You want to know what happened to your young friend," Lindsey croaked. "I have answers. But first you'll have to let go."

The vampire looked at the lawyer suspiciously. "Okay, talk," he said and dropped Lindsey unceremoniously on his butt.

Lindsey sat on the floor, looking up at the ensouled vampire he spent so much time trying to destroy and rubbing his neck. He shook his head and mumbled as he got up, "So different and yet so very alike. Scary."

"What are you mumbling about?" Angel asked irritably. Lindsey was the last person he wanted to see now.

Lindsey glanced at him, one brow cocked. "You even sound alike when you're pissed."

Angel was fast loosing his temper again. He didn't have time for games. "Who? Look, Lindsey, I'm having a bad day, and if you're going to waste my time by talking in circles, I'm just going to beat you to a bloody pulp and get rid of some of my tension."

Lindsey held up his hands in defeat. He sighed. "Okay, okay. Just hang on now. Can we perhaps go into your office to talk?" He eyed the two statues staring at the little soap drama unfolding before their unbelieving eyes, indicating the need for privacy.

Angel nodded, standing aside for Lindsey to take the lead. "Wesley," he called over his shoulder, jarring the stunned Englishman into action.

"Take it or leave it," Angel said when Lindsey frowned. Lindsey just shrugged and walked into Angel's office. Right now he needed this vampire on his side. It would be stupid to cross him.

Angel settled his muscular bulk behind his desk, resting his feet on the desk's edge. He looked at Lindsey, who seemed very uncomfortable and very nervous, and waited.

Lindsey pulled in a deep breath and held it. How was he going to tell his enemy what he'd done without getting killed?

"I need you to help me stop someone," the lawyer said.

"Who?"

Lindsey laughed at the question. The hilarity and horror of the situation was just too much. "You," he said and swallowed a laugh that wanted to turn into a sob.

"I don't understand," Wesley said, confused. "You want Angel to stop himself?"

Lindsey nodded into his hands. He sighed and told his story.

"We… um… Wolfram & Hart… we have been trying to get rid of Angel for so long." He raised his eyes and spoke exclusively to the vampire across from him.

"You were always getting in the way. We tried to bring you over to our side, but every plan we could come up with failed. You saw to that. But then a luck fell into my lap. A wizard came to town."

"Ma'hlak," Angel stated.

Lindsey nodded. "Yeah. He said he could ensure that you wouldn't interfere with… that you wouldn't interfere. He cast a spell that called the Gods' Lightning. It was supposed to kill you, but I should have known you wouldn't die that easily."

Wesley interrupted, "The Gods' Lightning? I've heard of it, but…"

"It's a separation spell. You know, Ying from yang, man from woman, light from dark?"

Angel moved uncomfortably in his seat. He had a very bad feeling he knew where this was headed.

Lindsey caught Angel's eye, seeing the understanding blooming in the dark, soulful depths. How different their eyes are, he mused and said out loud, "Ma'hlak said that the spell would divide your being. The demon from the soul. And once the demon in you was removed… um… set free, your body, being 250 years old, would die. But that didn't happen. Instead, the demon divided. My guess is that your soul wasn't about to give up so easily and grabbed onto a part of the immortal being to keep itself alive.

Anyway, Ma'hlak took Angelus to a safe place after the separation. I thought…"

"Angelus?!" Wesley and Cordelia (who had been listening at the door) cried, effectively stopping Lindsey's words.

The lawyer's head whipped up. "Yes. Angelus," he explained. "That's what the separation spell did. It…"

"Are you INSANE!?" Cordelia shouted. She jabbed her finger at Angel, who hasn't said anything about this yet, and shouted some more, "Do you have ANY idea what he did the last time he went evil?! He's a fucking psycho without his soul!"

The brunette flashed a quick glance at Angel and amended, "No offence."

"None taken," Angel said neutrally.

Lindsey couldn't sit anymore. He started pacing, his agitation showing.

"I know!" he exclaimed. "I thought Ma'hlak and I could control him."

Angel's derisive laugh shut him up again.

"Control?" Angel snorted. "You thought you could control me? Him?… Us? Whatever! You have all these records on me before and after I was cursed. Tell me, Lindsey. Where, in all those files of yours, is it recorded that I followed orders? Ever? I was the Master. Not the servant. I'm sure Darla told you that. You are a bigger fool than I thought possible."

"I was wrong, okay! Is that what you want to hear?" Lindsey cried, close to tears. "He's crazy, and I can't stop him. I don't know how."

Cordelia chipped in, "Well duh! What did you think? It would be easy to shut him down?" A ringing sounded. Angel caught his Girl Friday's eye, nodding to the reception area. "Fine, I'll go see who it is," she said, turning on her heel and stalking off.

The vampire turned his attention back to the deflated lawyer slouching in his chair again. "Is there a counter spell that can undo the separation?"

Lindsey shook his head, not raising his face from his hands. "Once it's done, it can't be undone. Angelus has to be killed. But there's a problem." The deep breath Lindsey took for the next lot of bad news brought him upright in his chair. "You're connected to him. With the demon. He can kill you with no adverse effects, but if Angelus dies, the demon dies. And since it's the demon in you that's keeping you alive…"

Wesley finished for Lindsey, not liking the words coming from his mouth one bit. "Angel will die."

Silence descended on the office, but was short lived as Cordelia's blood freezing scream cut through it. The three men rushed out to investigate.

"In there…! Oh my God!" Cordelia sobbed, tears streaking down her sheet white face.

She was pointing a violently shaking hand at a package on the reception desk. It was made up with shiny red gift wrapping, the black bow that sealed it lying beside it.

Angel peered inside cautiously. He inhaled sharply at the sight of their "gift".

"Oh God! Kate," he breathed, not able to pull his eyes from the human head gaping up at him, blonde hair streaked with blood, gaping eye sockets locking his stare.

Wesley cleared his throat and read the card that came with, "Be seeing you, brother."

The shaken vampire steeled himself against the horror in the box. "Did you know? Did you know he had her?"

Lindsey blanched at the fury in Angel's voice. "Yes, I did," he squeaked. "I didn't know he would kill her. I heard her …."

Angel's crushing hand around his throat cut the words off. He growled, vamping out, "You knew?! You knew what he was doing to her, and did nothing?!"

"Angel," Wesley said, placing a restraining hand on his arm. He felt the rage flow through Angel's arm like a live current, but the vampire managed to reign in the demon wrenching at its chains.

Lindsey began to weep uncontrollably, sinking to the floor in a miserable heap.

"I will take care of Angelus," Angel hissed through his exposed fangs. "I will clean up your mess. You got what you wanted – my help. Now get out."

Lindsey swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump blocking his voice. "But he'll know I was here! He'll kill me!"

"If you don't leave right now, he won't have to." There was murder in Angel's golden eyes. He wanted to kill the sniveling little shit-for-brains with every cell in his being. And from the looks on his colleagues' faces, he wasn't alone.

"You heard the man," Cordelia sneered. "Get out."

Lindsey peered at the three people in front of him, his only hope, and saw only hatred radiating from them.

"I'm sorry," he said, echoing the feelings crushing his heart and soul, and stumbled out the only sanctuary he had to meet his destiny.

9

"What do we do?" Wesley asked, awaiting orders to jump into action and battle the new evil.

Angel squared his shoulders and faced his colleagues. "I go deal with my demons once and for all."

"No! You'll die!" Cordelia squealed, holding up her perfectly manicured hands to stop her boss. She turned pleading brown eyes to Wesley and said, "Wesley? Do something."

The ex-Watcher didn't need any encouragement. "Cordelia's right. If you kill Angelus, you'll die. We can find another way to…"

"No," Angel interrupted. "He has to be stopped before more innocent people die. Again."

The unbidden memory of ravaging his young link to the Powers, of drinking in her fear and draining that very proud and brilliant life force with the powerful blood coursing through her veins, surfaced in his mind, making him shudder. He turned away from his friends. He didn't want them to see the want, the hunger burning in his dark eyes.

Wesley's accented voice broke through his thoughts, "Angel, it wasn't you who attacked Gunn and killed Kate."

"Wasn't it?" Angel asked, guilt colouring his rich voice. "I may not have done it physically, but Angelus and I… we're still the same person. We're linked to one another through this demon infesting my body. And if finally ridding the world of this demon means my death, then so be it. Maybe that will make up for all the wrongs I've done in my life."

Tears were forming in Cordelia's eyes again, making them seem black. "I don't accept that," she said defiantly, choking back a sob. "The Prophecy said you would get to live and die as a human, not die as one 5 seconds after saving the world. They can't be cruel."

"Cordelia…"

Angel didn't know how to comfort the young woman now hugging him so tightly to herself. He didn't want to think about his disappointment or all the dreams he had of living out a normal mortal life dashed. So he held her and drew from the strength she offered him.

Stepping out of the Seer's embrace, Angel said, "We don't have a lot of time. By now, he knows that Lindsey has betrayed him and he'll be coming for us. First thing we do is move Gunn to a safe location."

Wesley, who's been gathering together weapons for the coming battle, stilled his movements and asked, "You think Angelus will go after Gunn again?"

"I would," Angel said with finality, grabbing his fighting axe and leading the team out back to the car.

*********************

A dark figure skulked in Gunn's hospital room door. A nurse, pretty and perky in her white uniform, spotted the watching shadow.

"He's fine. This morning's episode didn't cause any damage. He'll be sleeping for a while though. Perhaps you can visit him later when he's awake again?" she said in her soft 'comforting-and-reassuring-the-family' voice.

Angelus smiled his most sincere 'I'm-so-worried-about-my-friend' smile. Having a soul for a hundred years really paid off for faking these good guy expressions, he thought.

His heated glance took in her naturally blonde hair, her ample bosom and the way her spotless uniform strained against their fullness. He let his gaze linger on that spot on her throat where the neck meets the shoulder. His vampiric senses could discern every ebb and flow of the wondrous blood being pushed and pulled by her living heart. He was hungry.

The nurse never had a chance to utter one yelp before Angelus thrust his fangs onto the spot he was studying so carefully just a second before. He shuddered with pleasure as the hot fluid burned over his tongue down his throat and into every cell throughout his being.

The sound of her body hitting the tile roused Gunn from his nightmares, only to find himself face to face with the very demon that played a starring role in every one. He registered the pile of dead human remains lying in his doorway. My turn, he knew. As if reading his mind, Angelus smiled.

Slowly, the massive vampire walked into the room, letting the door whisper shut behind him. "I'm impressed, young one. Not many mortals could survive a draining like yours," Angelus commented. "Maybe it would be worthwhile to turn you instead of killing you. You have great potential."

Fire blazed in Gunn's eyes when he spat, "Over my dead body!"

"That's the point, kid!" Angelus laughed, sitting down on the bed's foot.

The bed shifted under the darkly clad immortal's weight, but Gunn quickly balanced it out by scooting back against the head board. He wanted to be as far from this monster as he can get.

Angelus sighed. He loved playing the cat to Gunn's mouse, but unfortunately time wasn't on his side anymore. He could feel the Other growing closer.

"I wish I had time to draw this out, but alas time is not my friend tonight," he lamented. With a loud growl, the vampire pinned the young black man to the pillows and visciously ripped into his throat.

Gunn cried-gasped. The pain grew as the fiend at his throat clamped down harder on his flesh, seeking deeper entry, and then… No pain. No teeth. No vampire.

The deathly pale young man opened his eyes, surprised that the demon would leave him alive (again), and did a double-take at what he was seeing. It must be the medication on top of the blood loss, Gunn thought wildly, still trying to get his eyes to see only one Angel.

"Get Gunn out of here!" Angel ordered, struggling to hold his twin off.

Angelus let loose a great roar and brought his knee up into his Other's midsection. Angel hissed when he felt his ribs break, and returned the favour by crashing his elbow into Angelus's nose, breaking it in short order.

The two let go of one another, circling each other. Growls escaped bared fangs, muscles tensing as the two powerful creatures prepared to pounce.

"Did you like the little gift I sent you, Brother?" Angelus sneered.

Anger and hatred flared in Angel's amber eyes, making them flash golden. "You'll pay for what you did to Kate," Angel growled at his soulless twin. "And you are not my brother. You are nothing to me, but another demon that needs killing."

Angelus grabbed Angel, forcing himself right up into Angel's face. "Fool! You think you can deny me? I am you!"

"No, you're not. You are an abomination!" Angel spat back in his demon's face. "You take pleasure in the destruction of innocence. I don't."

Angelus laughed contemptuously and said, "That soul has made you a good liar, Brother. Let me show you the truth."

Angel jerked in Angelus's grip, images flooding his mind. He tried to dislodge his Other, but Angelus just tightened his grip, hissing, "Can you feel it?" Images of Gunn growing weaker, images of Kate howling, the smell of flesh burning as red-hot needles are forced under her fingernails. "The power of another's life… yours to break and take at will." Images of a hundred… a thousand faces begging to be spared. "The pleasure of distinguishing hope in a mortal's eyes." Images of Cordelia… her neck exposed, ready to be taken, ready to be drained. "The hunger for living blood burning its way through your body, awakening every nerve it touches. Deny what you are! Deny it with your vampire eyes, with your fangs itching in your mouth! I dare you."

Angel was shaking in the evil vampire's hand. The link between them was ripping him apart from the inside. The demon still in him howled to be fed, to be sated, but he fought it down. With great mental effort he reasserted the soul's human features over the demon and said, "I deny the demon." He brought his free hand out from beneath his coat. "It will never harm another living soul again."

Angelus noted the movement from the corner of his eye. He saw the stake in his soulful Other's hand and smirked, "You don't have the guts to kill me. I die, you die. Remember?"

"I will see you in Hell, Brother. Where we belong," Angel said determinedly and lunged the stake at his twin's heart.

Angelus blocked the lunge. The two vampires wrestled for possession of the deadly piece of wood when the world started shaking, throwing the fighting men into opposite walls.

Cordelia cried out and grabbed for her head as a vision tore into her mind. She fell to the floor. Angel automatically moved towards her, wanting to ease her pain while the vision plays out behind her hazel eyes. He stopped, eyeing Angelus getting to his feet.

The evil version of himself was grabbing onto whatever he could to keep himself upright while the floor undulated beneath his feet. "What to do? What to do?" Angelus mocked. "Do I stay with my pretty Seer to fight the new evil being force fed to her by the Powers? Or do I stop my evil lookalike from killing every human that ever meant anything to me?"

"AAANNNNGGGEEELLL!!!!"

Cordelia's terrified, painfilled wail decided for Angel. He rushed to her side, pulling her in close to him to shield her from debris sifting down on her.

"This isn't over," Angel called after the fast-disappearing Angelus.

Angelus just laughed and threw over his shoulder, "Later, Soulboy! I'll give the Slayer your regards."

Angel closed his eyes against the guilt knifing through his unbeating heart. He scooped up the dark-haired beauty in his arms and weaved his way out of the shaking building.