PART SIX
The employees of Angel Investigations sat in silence as they waited for Wesley to finish reviewing the Prophecies of Aberjian. After Wesley had announced his findings in the Aiterion Scrolls, it had suddenly struck him that he had read something similar before -- in the Prophecies of Aberjian -- over a year ago, when he had been trying to translate the passage on Angel and his eventual 'shanshu'.
"Here it is," Wesley finally announced, pointing to a section of the Prophecies that he had spent some time trying to translate the year before. "I had marked this passage before as one that I would need to look further into--the language and references used here are very archaic--but then I came across the references to Angel, and this sort of slipped my mind. I hadn't been able to translate much of it then, but what I did get was a reference to the Aiterion Scrolls, which was the reason I purchased them in the first place."
"And?" Gunn prompted.
"Well, the only thing I could get out of it at the time was a vague reference to what could be a second Warrior."
"A what?" Angel exclaimed.
"I know I should have mentioned something like this sooner, especially if this person is to have the same type of impact on events that you're destined to have, but the Prophecies of Aberjian don't go into much detail about this person. They simply make a vague reference to him, then mention the Aiterion Scrolls. I had wanted to get a bit more information before jumping to any conclusions, but with everything that's happened this past year..."
"No one's blaming you, Wes," Angel quickly interjected, "it's just, if Wolfram & Hart also have this information..."
"There's no telling what kind of havoc they could wreak," Cordelia understood Angel's unspoken thoughts.
"But how would this apply to what you just read from the Aiterion Scrolls?" Willow directed her question to Wesley.
Wesley exhaled as he looked back down at his translation. "Darkness and Light..." he murmured softly. "I can't be sure," he looked up to meet Angel's gaze, "it would seem to imply that the Warriors will be on opposing sides, but-"
"But you'd need the rest of the scroll to find out more," Angel finished for him. Wesley nodded.
"Well, the sun's down," Fred remarked.
"Yeah, I know. And I think it's high time I paid Lilah another visit."
***
"You know, I wondered how long it would be before you came barging through those doors," Lilah greeted Angel smugly as he entered her office, "but to be honest, I expected you to come charging in as soon as the sun set. Mind if I ask why the delay?"
"Actually, I do," Angel growled, stalking towards her desk. "And I'd prefer we cut right down to the chase. I want the scrolls back."
"Scrolls?" Lilah asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't mess with me, Lilah, not today."
"Well, aren't we in a bad mood? But then again, that's not really anything new, now is it?" At Angel's glare, Lilah snickered. "I'd like to help you, Angel, I really would, but you're going to have to be a bit more specific. I happen to have a lot of scrolls in my possession. Which set in particular are you looking for?"
"The ones you stole from my office today," Angel's words were clipped, "you know, when you left the dead body behind?"
"You know Angel, if you're going to insist on tossing around these baseless accusations--" Lilah was cut off as Angel picked up one of the chairs by her desk and hurled it across the room.
"I'm really not in the mood for your games tonight," Angel snarled.
"That was a very expensive piece of furniture you just destroyed," Lilah retorted.
"And I'll start in on those show-pieces over there if you don't hand over the Aiterion Scrolls."
"Is that what you're after?" Lilah's laughter was strained, "you should have just said so in the first place." Retrieving the scrolls from her desk drawer--where she had placed them just minutes before sunset--she waved them before Angel. "These?"
Lilah let out a gasp as Angel reached over and swiftly snatched the scrolls from her hand, not even giving her time to register his movement. Another moment passed, and Lilah was once more left alone in her office.
"You're welcome," she muttered to the absent vampire.
***
"Sunnydale?" Lilah raised a dubious eyebrow as she listened to Eugene's latest ramblings.
"Yes, yes, I'm quite certain that's what these scrolls are referring to," Eugene nodded his head emphatically, obviously quite pleased with himself for deciphering his latest puzzle.
"And how did you come to this brilliant conclusion?"
"You remember the section I was able to translate earlier? Well, it makes a reference to the 'Mouth of Hell'. Now, the word that I've interpreted here as 'mouth' has strong similarities to this word here," Eugene pointed to the characters written on the scrolls, "which translates to 'gate' or 'entrance.' So it would be practical to assume that in this context, 'mouth' would also refer to some type of gateway or entrance."
"So the 'Mouth of Hell' would be like an entrance to Hell?"
"Mouth, entrance, portal, whatever you wish to call it."
Lilah's face lit with realization, "And Sunnydale sits on top of a portal to Hell."
"Precisely."
"Why, Eugene, I do believe you've outdone yourself this time," Lilah smiled as she patted the man on the back.
Eugene blushed slightly at the compliment. "Well, there is one more theory that I've been working on."
"Enlighten me."
"The second half of that section, which I've translated as 'the Gate of Heaven will heed her call', also uses some rather tricky characters. It turns out that 'call' was a slightly inaccurate translation. I've cross-referenced that character with some others, and it seems to indicate something along the lines of 'summon'."
"Summon? In relation to Heaven? You mean like a spell-caster summoning a god?"
"Well, I'm not sure what was summoned, but if something *was* indeed summoned, then that would imply--"
"A witch!" Lilah exclaimed, cutting him off. "Oh, this is great! Eugene, you are a genius, and I am going to make sure that you are well-rewarded for this."
"But as I've said, this is just a theory--"
"A theory that makes sense. You told me earlier that the Prophecies of Aberjian say the Warriors are going to balance each other, right?"
"Yes..."
"Well, who better to balance someone with superhuman physical powers than someone with superhuman magickal ones?"
"I suppose."
"And if we're right about this, then all I need to do is get some psychic readers to hone in on Sunnydale and locate the most powerful witch in the vicinity."
"Witch?" a new voice asked from the doorway.
Lilah whirled around to face a rather pleased-looking Gavin Park. "What the hell do you want?" she scowled.
"Well actually, I've been looking for you," Gavin smiled, stepping into the room. "Apparently we have some things to discuss. What's this about witches?"
"None of your business."
"Is that so? Eugene?" Gavin directed his piercing gaze at the ancient texts translator.
Eugene gulped. It was bad enough having to deal with one of them at a time, but the two of them *together* was just terrifying. "Uh..." he trailed off as Lilah shot him a death glare. Why did these things always have to happen to him?
Fortunately, he was temporarily saved as Lilah cut in, "Why don't you just go back to issuing your little building code violations, and leave the real work to the professionals."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Gavin's attention returned to the woman. "Either you tell me what's going on, or I report today's little incident to the Senior Partners."
"How did you find out about that?" Lilah's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I have my ways."
"Spill it."
"I tell you what. I'll share my little secret if you share yours."
"All right then. You first."
Gavin smiled as he led her out of the room.
***
"Tell me, Lilah, do you understand now the full scope of what I've been doing these past few months?" Gavin asked snidely as Lilah gazed at all of the machines set up in the room.
"So you bugged the damn building," Lilah sneered, "you expect a medal?"
Gavin chose to ignore her comment and continued, "And imagine my surprise when I read this little transcription." He handed her a stack of papers.
"'Angel: Wesley and Fred are working on those scrolls, trying to get some clue as to what information they hold; Unknown Female: to try and find out why someone would want to steal them'," Lilah read the lines that Gavin had pointed to. "So that's how you found out."
"Yes," Gavin nodded, "though you really should read the rest of that. It was really quite amusing hearing them almost catch onto our little operation here, then completely miss the bulls-eye."
Lilah snorted as she quickly skimmed over the rest of the transcription.
"So," Gavin continued, "now that you know about my operation, let's hear about yours."
"Do you have any information on this new 'unknown female'?" Lilah asked instead, setting the papers down.
"Actually, no. A lot of the conversation was too blurred to transcribe. But let's try to stay on topic, shall we?"
Lilah paused for a moment before replying, "All right. You want to know about my operation? I'm headed to Sunnydale."
END PART SIX
The employees of Angel Investigations sat in silence as they waited for Wesley to finish reviewing the Prophecies of Aberjian. After Wesley had announced his findings in the Aiterion Scrolls, it had suddenly struck him that he had read something similar before -- in the Prophecies of Aberjian -- over a year ago, when he had been trying to translate the passage on Angel and his eventual 'shanshu'.
"Here it is," Wesley finally announced, pointing to a section of the Prophecies that he had spent some time trying to translate the year before. "I had marked this passage before as one that I would need to look further into--the language and references used here are very archaic--but then I came across the references to Angel, and this sort of slipped my mind. I hadn't been able to translate much of it then, but what I did get was a reference to the Aiterion Scrolls, which was the reason I purchased them in the first place."
"And?" Gunn prompted.
"Well, the only thing I could get out of it at the time was a vague reference to what could be a second Warrior."
"A what?" Angel exclaimed.
"I know I should have mentioned something like this sooner, especially if this person is to have the same type of impact on events that you're destined to have, but the Prophecies of Aberjian don't go into much detail about this person. They simply make a vague reference to him, then mention the Aiterion Scrolls. I had wanted to get a bit more information before jumping to any conclusions, but with everything that's happened this past year..."
"No one's blaming you, Wes," Angel quickly interjected, "it's just, if Wolfram & Hart also have this information..."
"There's no telling what kind of havoc they could wreak," Cordelia understood Angel's unspoken thoughts.
"But how would this apply to what you just read from the Aiterion Scrolls?" Willow directed her question to Wesley.
Wesley exhaled as he looked back down at his translation. "Darkness and Light..." he murmured softly. "I can't be sure," he looked up to meet Angel's gaze, "it would seem to imply that the Warriors will be on opposing sides, but-"
"But you'd need the rest of the scroll to find out more," Angel finished for him. Wesley nodded.
"Well, the sun's down," Fred remarked.
"Yeah, I know. And I think it's high time I paid Lilah another visit."
***
"You know, I wondered how long it would be before you came barging through those doors," Lilah greeted Angel smugly as he entered her office, "but to be honest, I expected you to come charging in as soon as the sun set. Mind if I ask why the delay?"
"Actually, I do," Angel growled, stalking towards her desk. "And I'd prefer we cut right down to the chase. I want the scrolls back."
"Scrolls?" Lilah asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't mess with me, Lilah, not today."
"Well, aren't we in a bad mood? But then again, that's not really anything new, now is it?" At Angel's glare, Lilah snickered. "I'd like to help you, Angel, I really would, but you're going to have to be a bit more specific. I happen to have a lot of scrolls in my possession. Which set in particular are you looking for?"
"The ones you stole from my office today," Angel's words were clipped, "you know, when you left the dead body behind?"
"You know Angel, if you're going to insist on tossing around these baseless accusations--" Lilah was cut off as Angel picked up one of the chairs by her desk and hurled it across the room.
"I'm really not in the mood for your games tonight," Angel snarled.
"That was a very expensive piece of furniture you just destroyed," Lilah retorted.
"And I'll start in on those show-pieces over there if you don't hand over the Aiterion Scrolls."
"Is that what you're after?" Lilah's laughter was strained, "you should have just said so in the first place." Retrieving the scrolls from her desk drawer--where she had placed them just minutes before sunset--she waved them before Angel. "These?"
Lilah let out a gasp as Angel reached over and swiftly snatched the scrolls from her hand, not even giving her time to register his movement. Another moment passed, and Lilah was once more left alone in her office.
"You're welcome," she muttered to the absent vampire.
***
"Sunnydale?" Lilah raised a dubious eyebrow as she listened to Eugene's latest ramblings.
"Yes, yes, I'm quite certain that's what these scrolls are referring to," Eugene nodded his head emphatically, obviously quite pleased with himself for deciphering his latest puzzle.
"And how did you come to this brilliant conclusion?"
"You remember the section I was able to translate earlier? Well, it makes a reference to the 'Mouth of Hell'. Now, the word that I've interpreted here as 'mouth' has strong similarities to this word here," Eugene pointed to the characters written on the scrolls, "which translates to 'gate' or 'entrance.' So it would be practical to assume that in this context, 'mouth' would also refer to some type of gateway or entrance."
"So the 'Mouth of Hell' would be like an entrance to Hell?"
"Mouth, entrance, portal, whatever you wish to call it."
Lilah's face lit with realization, "And Sunnydale sits on top of a portal to Hell."
"Precisely."
"Why, Eugene, I do believe you've outdone yourself this time," Lilah smiled as she patted the man on the back.
Eugene blushed slightly at the compliment. "Well, there is one more theory that I've been working on."
"Enlighten me."
"The second half of that section, which I've translated as 'the Gate of Heaven will heed her call', also uses some rather tricky characters. It turns out that 'call' was a slightly inaccurate translation. I've cross-referenced that character with some others, and it seems to indicate something along the lines of 'summon'."
"Summon? In relation to Heaven? You mean like a spell-caster summoning a god?"
"Well, I'm not sure what was summoned, but if something *was* indeed summoned, then that would imply--"
"A witch!" Lilah exclaimed, cutting him off. "Oh, this is great! Eugene, you are a genius, and I am going to make sure that you are well-rewarded for this."
"But as I've said, this is just a theory--"
"A theory that makes sense. You told me earlier that the Prophecies of Aberjian say the Warriors are going to balance each other, right?"
"Yes..."
"Well, who better to balance someone with superhuman physical powers than someone with superhuman magickal ones?"
"I suppose."
"And if we're right about this, then all I need to do is get some psychic readers to hone in on Sunnydale and locate the most powerful witch in the vicinity."
"Witch?" a new voice asked from the doorway.
Lilah whirled around to face a rather pleased-looking Gavin Park. "What the hell do you want?" she scowled.
"Well actually, I've been looking for you," Gavin smiled, stepping into the room. "Apparently we have some things to discuss. What's this about witches?"
"None of your business."
"Is that so? Eugene?" Gavin directed his piercing gaze at the ancient texts translator.
Eugene gulped. It was bad enough having to deal with one of them at a time, but the two of them *together* was just terrifying. "Uh..." he trailed off as Lilah shot him a death glare. Why did these things always have to happen to him?
Fortunately, he was temporarily saved as Lilah cut in, "Why don't you just go back to issuing your little building code violations, and leave the real work to the professionals."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Gavin's attention returned to the woman. "Either you tell me what's going on, or I report today's little incident to the Senior Partners."
"How did you find out about that?" Lilah's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"I have my ways."
"Spill it."
"I tell you what. I'll share my little secret if you share yours."
"All right then. You first."
Gavin smiled as he led her out of the room.
***
"Tell me, Lilah, do you understand now the full scope of what I've been doing these past few months?" Gavin asked snidely as Lilah gazed at all of the machines set up in the room.
"So you bugged the damn building," Lilah sneered, "you expect a medal?"
Gavin chose to ignore her comment and continued, "And imagine my surprise when I read this little transcription." He handed her a stack of papers.
"'Angel: Wesley and Fred are working on those scrolls, trying to get some clue as to what information they hold; Unknown Female: to try and find out why someone would want to steal them'," Lilah read the lines that Gavin had pointed to. "So that's how you found out."
"Yes," Gavin nodded, "though you really should read the rest of that. It was really quite amusing hearing them almost catch onto our little operation here, then completely miss the bulls-eye."
Lilah snorted as she quickly skimmed over the rest of the transcription.
"So," Gavin continued, "now that you know about my operation, let's hear about yours."
"Do you have any information on this new 'unknown female'?" Lilah asked instead, setting the papers down.
"Actually, no. A lot of the conversation was too blurred to transcribe. But let's try to stay on topic, shall we?"
Lilah paused for a moment before replying, "All right. You want to know about my operation? I'm headed to Sunnydale."
END PART SIX