Chapter Twelve
The Hyperion

Angel wandered through the lobby and up the stairs the silent hotel echoed the rhythm of his footsteps as he climbed the stairs slowly and opened the door to his room everything was as he had left it the bed unmade the shirt Cordy had slept in crumpled by the pillows. He mindlessly undressed leaving the clothes where they dropped not bothering to clear them up he got in the bed and slept a dreamless sleep the shirt untouched.

Fred's Cave

Cordelia rolled onto her back eyes open and alert; she had just had the best nights sleep for at least a week on a pile of skins and woollen rugs, she sat up and stretched, her stomach growled in protest she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning. She stood up and began collecting the makeshift bed into a bundle and slung it over her back and headed back to the castle.

The Hyperion

"Does he often sleep this late?" Xander said looking up the stairs "I mean I know Vampire equals not a daytime person but I thought we had work to do?"

"All the time" Gunn said looking up the stairs, "Coffee?" he held a cup out to Xander.

"Thanks"

"I guess it's back to the work?" Gunn just nodded the affirmative and headed back to the desk. "Tell me why it is the women get to shop and we get this?"

"Come on bro, your not telling me you want to shop are ya"

"Good point"

The Mall

"Oooh look!" Dawn gushed the rest of the group headed to where she was pointing, "Look at all those shoes"

Groo looked puzzled he knew his princess had many of these feet coverings he himself only had a single pair before he had come to L.A. to be with Cordelia. She had given him another pair much different to what he was used to. They had gotten the bath products, namely various scented bath oils, bubbles and bombs around an hour ago but Groo was waiting for his moment to sneak away. It looked like it may take a while; Buffy had left them half an hour ago on her own errand the shoe store seemed to be the best bet. The girls filed through the door held open by Groo and they began milling through the shoes each exclaiming at different parts of the store, soon they were sitting on benches attended by guys working their way through some college degree or another. Groo took his chance and edged out of the door.

He headed straight for the library he had to get back to his princess as soon as possible he had been gone longer than planned anyway and he didn't want to worry her.

He pushed the heavy wooden door open; it had taken just under an hour for him to run to the Library. He passed the main desk where the attendant was working she looked up as he arrived then returned to her computer. The Foreign Language section was to the rear of the library and very quiet the best place for this type of book some citizen he returned the book when they had found it in the middle of the road and it had only taken Groo a while to track it back to the library when his princess had wanted to go to Pylea, Groo checked the area for anyone he might know and reached under the bookcase he felt around for a while then pulled the huge tome from the space. He scanned a page and then replaced the book, he recited the passage and a swirling portal appeared in front of him and he jumped.

"Guess he wasn't up for Harvey Nicks after all" Buffy shrugged and reached into the hollow where she watched Groo put the book. "I didn't think I could throw him very far anyway, good job the others were so trusting. She headed for the front desk brandishing Fred's library card.

Motel

Jamie picked at the chocolate muffin picking out all the chips, it wasn't the most thrilling lunch she had ever eaten but it was all she had she glanced at her purse laid on the bedside cabinet she had precisely $4 and 2 cents, her bank accounts were nearly bone dry she didn't know what to do next. She wrapped the remains of the muffin in a napkin and shuffled under the covers, turned off the light and tried to ignore her stomachs rumbling complaints.

She sat up straight heart in her throat beating faster than she ever thought possible, was it a dream or did she hear something. There, there it was again not a thud or scratching she didn't know how to describe it, she reached for the lamp and hit the switch she turned and scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary, nothing the room was just as she had left it she shook her head and that when she saw it she looked to the window and screamed knocking the lamp off the table smashing the bulb she was plunged into darkness.
The Hyperion

Angel headed down the stairs flipping through the file in his hands; he looked up to see a crowd of faces staring up at him. "There's been another death," he said simply picking up the remote and changing the channel. The screen was filled with pictures of crime scene tape surrounded by people and police officers trying to secure the area surrounding the motel. "Same M.O."

"We got the book" Fred gushed she couldn't wait to see his face when he knew they could get to Cordelia.

"Put it back." Angel said busying himself with various pieces of paper on his desk; the gang followed him into his office.

"Yo dawg we got the book to go to Pylea get Cordy back." Gunn said puzzled, maybe Angel hadn't realised they meant that book Fred wasn't exactly specific.

"Put it back." he said again his tone flat; no feelings crept into his voice.

"Angel?" Buffy stepped towards him, what was wrong with him. His head snapped up but still no emotion showed it was like he had withdrawn into a shell and Buffy knew he was good at that.

"I left this case too long, I have to go check out the scene see if I can find anything." With that he picked up his jacket and strode past the shocked gang and out of the door

"Am I already in another dimension and nobody told me?" Xander broke the shocked silence in the office.

Maria sped along the interstate in the rented car she didn't know where she was going but she knew she had to go. She wiped her face the tears had stopped a while ago but her skin was stiff from the salty water. The music on the radio stopped and the voice told the listeners of breaking news Maria's stomach plummeted her throat caught as she listened for more, her fears were confirmed. She switched the radio off as fresh tears flooded down her cheeks she reached into the pocket of her jacket instinctively looking for tissues trying to concentrate on driving half blinded at the same time, she gave up and signalled to leave the interstate, she pulled up as soon as she could and reached for the tissues again she reached into the other pocket in the jacket and pulled out a card, she frowned she didn't recognise it, she looked on the front a small picture of an angel next to a phone number and an address it said Angel Investigations and the name on the card was Charles Gunn. She stared at the card for around five minutes, then she realised the couple from the diner the day David had died. They had said they helped the hopeless or was it helpless? Well she was both but she didn't know whether they took her sort of case, the only way she'd find out she figured was if she went to them. Tears stopped she turned the car around and headed to the address she just hoped they had mad opening hours.