Gunn looked around Cordelia's room, as if he expected Kate to walk out of a closet.
"She was here a moment ago."
In contrast, his companions were transfixed, staring in the direction of the bed. Wesley was the first to speak.
"Well, she's ... I mean she's clearly ..."
"A vampire," Gunn tried to speak matter-of-factly.
"Yes," Wesley gulped, "It's a good thing you thought of the chains soon enough."
"It's a good thing we were here."
Wesley sighed.
"We've been through all this, Gunn. I really don't see any point in blaming each other. It's ... happened. We have to deal with it. At least she's not ..."
"What?" Gunn retorted, "At least she's not dead? Hell no, it's a lot worse than that!"
Cordelia rattled her chains, and looked from one to the other, before her gaze rested on Angel.
"Hello, Angelus."
"Wake up, sleepy-head."
Kate became aware of the ground first. It was hard, man-made, shiny, unyielding. Her shoulder blades were testing it, and coming off a poor second.
A disembodied voice echoed in her ears - so unreal, she almost dismissed it as part of a dream.
"You have to wake up. We must have our little chat. No sense in putting it off any longer."
Kate tried to ease her shoulders forward, to stretch the muscles and test for real damage, but then it became apparent that her hands were tied at her back. Neither could she separate her ankles, and her feet were numb.
"You know, anyone would think you weren't happy to be here."
She knew the voice, but couldn't place it for a moment. Feminine, insinuating, pregnant with menace. Dieter Kramer. Darla.
Kate opened her eyes. She was in a white-tiled room, something like a public toilet, but bare. Darla stood a few feet away dressed in red, a streak of violent carmine against the bleached, clinical surface.
"An old surgical facility. Nice isn't it? Quiet, abandoned, no-one to hear us. Easily sluiced."
Kate wriggled inside her bonds and gasped as all the bruises and scratches she'd sustained since being captured made themselves known. Darla continued to soliloquise.
"And it still has that faint hint of blood and fear. Or maybe that's you I can smell? What do you think?"
"Chiefly," thought Kate, "I'm thinking: why aren't I dead already?"
Angel closed the door on Cordelia rages. He spoke quietly, without emotion.
"What are we going to do?"
The question focused everyone's attention, and the three looked at each other, each hoping someone else would suggest the solution. Angel spoke again.
"We need to decide."
Gunn laughed bitterly.
"I think you need to stay out of it."
Wesley shook his head wearily.
"Gunn, I've already told you Angel was with me. I don't know what else to say to you. This attitude isn't helping Cordy."
"I mean it." Angel ignored them and carried on. "I don't want her like this for any longer than necessary."
Gunn stood and tucked his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He drew out a stake.
"That's soon fixed. So is one of you gonna stake her? Or shall I?"
"No-one is getting staked!" Wesley shouted.
Darla was clearly enjoying Kate's physical discomfort, so Kate made a huge effort and managed to sit up. She couldn't balance herself on her arms but managed to curl her legs to one side and gain some stability. True, if Darla gave her a good push she'd be flat on her back again, but at least she'd have proven something. She could still sit up.
And speak, she could certainly still speak.
"What do you want?"
"This isn't about me, honey."
"So, tell me what it is about."
"I've come to give you some friendly woman-to-woman advice."
"Like you did with Cordy? Thanks, but ..."
"Not her!" Darla spat, "I'm not interested in her."
"Then why did you turn her?"
"Why not?"
Angel slipped into Cordelia's room, and shortly afterwards the screaming died away.
"No-one is getting staked." Wesley continued in a low voice. "There's got to be another way."
Gunn threw his stake from one hand to the other.
"You're just putting off the inevitable."
Angel reappeared and whispered fiercely, "Nothing's inevitable."
"I've got it." Wesley's face brightened. "We restore her soul. Make her like Angel."
Gunn spluttered, "And this would be a good thing, why?"
"I have to agree, Wes." Angel shook his head. "I don't want to put Cordelia through what I had to go through."
"But don't you see," Wesley babbled, "It won't be the same. Not at all. You had no-one. She'll have us. She'll have friends."
Gunn bit his lip and turned away as Wesley continued eagerly.
"For heaven's sake, she'll have the only other souled vampire in the world to help her through it. She's not going to be alone for a century like you were."
Angel shrugged.
"I don't know, Wes ..."
"Don't you think having people to turn to would have helped?"
"Maybe." Angel shrugged, and then saw the disappointed expression on Wesley's face. "Yes. Of course it would. You know how much. But ... she's so young, Wes. What if she can't handle it? Even with us?"
Kate frowned. Darla's reply had slipped out quite naturally, as if it were the matter-of-fact truth. Perhaps vampires were better liars than people, but Kate couldn't think why she would lie about this. And yet, it didn't add up.
"You turn people pretty much at random, then?"
"Well, there was the additional bonus of it being a nice surprise for him."
Kate groaned inwardly. She was getting a definite feeling of deja vu.
"Who?"
"You know who I mean."
"Lemme take a wild guess ... Angel."
"The one and only."
"And that's why we're here."
Darla peeled herself off the tiles like a cat and slunk over to where Kate was sitting.
"You think you're going to be with him."
Kate sighed and relaxed the muscles of her neck, letting her head slump forward. Keeping up an impression of equality despite being bound hand and foot was hard work, and became impossible when your captor chose to stand less than a foot away. No matter how many years you've been on the force and how much crim psych training you have under your metaphorical belt. She answered honestly.
"No. Not just lately."
"Don't lie. I've watched you."
"Then you'll know how little there has been to see. Now, could we just get to the part where you kill me? I've had just about as much Angel as I can take for one day."
She felt Darla's cold fingers grasp her chin, and gasped as her head was wrenched backwards.
"No, Kate. Now we have the place to ourselves, you and I are going to get to know one another."
She released her hold and lowered her voice to a whisper.
"It's going to take me a good long while to kill you. And you won't be coming back."
Wesley polished his glasses and looked at Angel.
"Well?"
"I suppose it's worth a try. Can you do the ritual?"
"As far as I know, it's not difficult. We can wire Giles for the incantation and other details."
Wesley shook Gunn's shoulder gently.
"Are you going to help us?"
"You'd never really be able to trust him, have you thought of that?"
Darla was in full flow. Kate listened passively, watching as the vampire paced to and fro, while surreptitiously testing the twine that held her wrists together.
"You may think he's all soulful, but sooner or later, that demon's coming out to play. I nearly had him before. You're confusing the issue. I want you out of the picture."
The knots were tight, but they were workable. Kate waited until Darla turned her back and shuffled into a kneeling position. She snagged the bonds on the heel of her boot and leaned slightly forward as if in pain, placing pressure on the knots. Luckily, Darla was much too busy ranting to notice.
"You'd never truly understand what makes him tick. He looks human. He likes to pretend he's human. He does a passable impression of being human. But sweetie, he isn't human, and we both know it."
As the pinching around her wrists began to give slightly, Kate tried to formulate a plan. The room was utterly devoid of weapons, almost completely empty, in fact.
Apart from an old fashioned mop and bucket, abandoned in the corner. She stared at the wooden handle, as if it was a miracle.
"Kate!"
Her attention switched back to Darla. The vampire's eyes were psychotic and blazing.
"Listen to me, when I'm talking."
Kate made sure she cowered in the right direction, as Darla approached. When the blow came, she was propelled several feet in the direction of the mop.
After the others were gone, Gunn switched off the lights in Cordelia's apartment room by room. He took time to make sure all the doors and windows were locked. However unlikely Cordelia's return was, he wanted to be sure her home was still here for her if it ever happened.
From the front window, he could see them in the car. Angel had knocked Cordelia out with a single, efficient blow and secured her to the back seat. He'd taken the seat next to her, just in case. Wesley was revving the engine. It was time to go.
In the hallway a coppery glint from the carpet by the door caught his eye. Expecting a fragment of glass from an ornament, he stooped to pick it up, and found a plain ring, too dark to be gold, and too big to be Cordelia's. Attached to it was a long gold chain, as if someone had been wearing it around their neck.
"Guys!"
He raced out of the building towards Wesley and Angel, waving the ring in front of him.
"Recognise this?"
Angel nodded. "It's the Band of Blacknil. Where did you get it?"
Gunn gasped for breath. "Carpet. Inside. With a broken chain. Torn off in the fight ... see?"
Angel looked at the ring in horror. "It's her! Darla. She had it ... I gave it to her ... when I ... when we ..."
"When you shagged? How very traditional." Wesley said, dryly. "One might almost say chivalrous. She must have been here, tricked her way in somehow. This wasn't a random killing, she must have been after Cordelia ... or ... or ..."
For the first time that day, the three friends spoke in unison.
"Kate!"