All the usual disclaimers apply. The characters are not mine, I am merely a fan who makes no commercial gain from writing this story.
Sequel to "I, Angel" - if you haven't read that and want to catch up, please click on the link to Soo W above and you'll get there
"...you wanna know the deal? human weakness. it never goes away..."
Faith paced the lobby of The Hyperion, nursing a cup of coffee and assessing the room, as she did with any room, in terms of escape routes, blind spots, and furniture and fittings that could be used as weapons, if there were a fight. "Any luck yet, Wes?" she asked, for about the tenth time that hour.
Wesley barely looked up from the book he was studying. "Faith, this would really go a lot quicker if you'd shut up for five minutes and let me get on."
"What are you looking for, anyway?"
"I *told* you. Anything which will help us get Angel back. Revivification ceremonies, mainly."
"There must be hundreds..."
Wesley nodded, "Thousands..."
"So," Faith said, exasperated. "Pick one! Where's the problem?"
"Most of them require large amounts of blood."
"Could we use Angel's stash?"
Wesley put the book down. "Faith. Angel kept a few pints of blood in the fridge. It's gone off by now. These ceremonies... most of them mention rivers of blood. We're talking gallons and gallons of fresh, living..."
"OK! OK! I get the picture. We need a lot of blood. For all of 'em?"
"All the ones I've found so far, yes." Wesley tossed the book to one side and picked up another. "It seems to be a common feature."
Faith made a face, "I guess Angel wouldn't be too thrilled..."
"If we sacrificed thirty virgins to bring him back?" said Wesley sarcastically, "No, I guess not."
Faith wandered away and continued pacing the office. She picked up a paperweight and studied the flecks of colour buried in the glass. Then she weighed it in her hand, calculating how much lift she would need to give it to fell, oh, say a Fyarl demon standing about where Wesley was sitting. She noticed Wesley looking at her, his shoulders tensed, so she put it down and gave him a winning smile. The fax machine was nearby and, out of boredom, she reached out to punch a random button.
All the lights in the building went off.
"Faith!"
"I didn't touch it!"
A clanking, whirring sound came from the basement, and the lights came on again, as abruptly as they had been extinguished.
"There's a back-up generator?" Faith was amazed.
Wesley shrugged, "Er... it would seem so. First I know about it, but this is an unusual building."
"Didn't you pay the bill?"
Cordelia marched into the office. "Hey guys."
"Cordy," Wesley waved, "We seem to have had out electricity cut off. Are there cash flow problems again?"
Cordy frowned and shook her head. "I paid them last month!" Then she looked around the room, "Seems to be working OK..."
"Back-up kicked in." said Wesley knowingly.
Cordy's mouth dropped open. "We have a back-up?"
Steps approached the main door of the hotel, and all three of its inhabitants turned to see a large envelope appearing through the letter box. Cordy stepped over and picked it up. "Those bastards."
Wesley and Faith crowded round. "Who? What is it?"
"Wolfram and Hart. Trying to evict us again. This is a notice that if we don't leave by five minutes ago, they'll cut off the juice."
Faith looked confused. "The lawyers that hired me?"
Wesley was muttering. "Bunch of blood-sucking, hard-bitten, cowardly, evil... LAWYERS!"
"Seems a little petty for them." Faith continued. "I mean, last I heard they were trying to kill him. Now they want to move into hotel management?"
"They've done much worse than try to kill him," Cordy confided, "They used a prophetic scroll to bring Darla back and tried to make him evil again, and..."
Faith screeched, "Darla?"
"Yeah..."
"His sire?"
"Yes."
"The vampire?"
"Uh-huh."
"And this scroll is now..."
Wesley frowned, "In the basement, I think."
Faith looked towards the heavens dramatically. "Help me out here, big guy, I'm dealing with idiots..."
"Oh!" Cordy caught on and turned to Wesley, "Yes! Why not?"
Wesley looked blank, "Why not what?"
"The ritual," Cordy grabbed his arm, "Why can't we use it to bring back Angel?"
"Well," Wesley said, "Because... because..."
Four raised eyebrows mocked him. He spun on his heals. "I'll just go and fetch it."
In the prison, Fred rolled over and tried to get to sleep. She knew from her long imprisonment in Pylea that sleep was necessary. Sleep stopped you going mad. Sleep was a good way to escape reality.
And now, sleep was also a way to find Angel.
"Can you hear me? Fred?"
Fred nearly cried with relief. He was back. In her haste to say something to stop him disappearing again and his haste to apologise, their words tripped and tumbled over one another, like spring lambs gambolling in the fields.
"Angel? You came back. Don't... don't go. I didn't mean to question you like that. You don't have to tell me anything."
"I wanted to say... I'm sorry. For leaving you all like that, for putting you through that."
She couldn't stand the weight of sadness in his voice. "Don't... it doesn't matter now."
They paused, and eventually she heard him again.
"What's happening? Where are you?"
"I'm sleeping. In a prison."
"Prison?"
"Faith's prison. We switched places for a while."
"Why?"
"We needed her on the outside. To speak to The Powers. We're trying to help you. We're going to ask them to bring you back."
There was a long pause, and finally, a faint, "That's not possible. They won't help. They... gave up on me some time ago, I think."
"Wesley thinks not." There was silence. "He'll work it out." Nothing. "Angel... you do want to come back, don't you?"
As suddenly as if he'd pushed her away, she was back in her cell again. Sleepless.