DISCLAIMER: none of the characters are mine...

SUMMERY: The Angel Investigations is hard at work, they've found a lead...But well are not so sure about it...As for Angel...Let's just say he's got quite a problem...

PS: You are probably wondering about the rating...It will come in affect probably chapter 3...

Chapter two

Part 1:"Please give us a clue..."

Cordy rushed through the door of the Hyperion "I'm sorry I took so long guys but there is a huge traffic jam...Is he OK? Has he woken up?"

Wesley looked up from the books "No such luck I'm afraid..."

"Oh! Ah! Wesley! Wesley! WESLY! I think Gunn found something!" Fred popped out from the back room book in her hand Gunn coming out right behind her...

Gunn looked like he was about to belch "Another hour of looking through letter and picture filled books I would 'ave puked"

Look at this she placed in front of him the large book her boyfriend had been searching through

Gunn smiled feeling a little proud of himself "It's called an Omerta demon..."

Wesley's eyes lit up "Of course! The Omerta! Legendary demons really...If they can really be called demons."

Cordilia walked over and looked at the picture in the book "EEEWWWW!!! That is the ugliest thing I've have ever seen! And believe me I have seen a lot...Nothing that looks like that can be anything but demon!"

Wesley laughed "Don't be too sure of that..."

Fred looked at him "What do you mean?"

"Well" Wesley continued "These... things they have a connection to The Powers That Be... they do their dirty work, thereby are not completely demons...Or so it is said... Whether that is true or if it is just a rumor in the demon underground that is something else... The only problem is ..." He looked up at them " they are supposed to be extinct... Not one has been seen for over 30 000 years...After a certain period and time, the powers did not need them therefor were rid of them..."

Fred's eyes moved over the text in the book "Doesn't say that in here...Oh wait yes it does..."

"I don't see it..." Fred looked at Cordelia and pointed to big block letters at the very end of the page reading * THOUGHT TO BE EXTINCT*

Cordy's mouth formed a perfect "O" then nodded "Well that's bad...Well you know... Maybe not bad but...well it puts a very brutal end to this solution..."

Wesley shook his head "Let's not cancel this out just yet... It's our only lead..."

"Ok... so what do we do?" Fred asked

"Well... I Gunn how about going out and hit some demon bars-"

Gunn smiled "Does hitting demon bars include hitting demons?"

Wesley shrugged "I guess so..."

Gunn smiled a slight bounce in his walk "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

Wesley turned to Cordy "How about you pay a visit to Lorn, ask him if he's heard anything."

Cordy looked down "Well I'd rather stay here and watch over Angel if that's Ok..."

Fred nodded "Yeah, I'll take Lorn duty, I like Lorn he's nice..."

Wesley shrugged "Suit yourself...I'll stay here and do some more digging..."

With that the gang parted, with Fred and Gunn walking up the door, hugging then going there separate ways; Wesley slumping back down over his books and Cordelia walking up the stairs to Angel.

She walked into the room and watched Angel straight lifeless face...She grabbed his hand and touching his cheek she bent and whispered in his ear

"Angel...Angel can you hear me? Come on Angel... You are scaring all of us half to death... Please give us a clue..."

Part 2:"...where the problem comes in..."



"Well well well, looky what we have ... If it isn't Angel cake..." The voice whispered, it stayed in the dark but Angel knew he was sneering...

"What the hell?!" was all Angel could mutter...

"Aw common you moron! Is that all you can muster...After all the torture you have put me through and all you come up with is 'What the hell?!'!"

"This isn't impossible...Where am I?..."

The man in the shadows flung his head back and laughed, a loud wicked howl. Then looked down "Dear, dear me Angel! Aren't you getting dumber by the second... Can't even ask the right questions..."

"What do you mean?" Angel question

"What I mean, smart ass, is that you should bloody well know where you are..."

The man stood in the shadows leaning against the wall he had just appeared through... "Take a good fucking look around you!" The voice growled angrily...

Angel did take a look around. Like he had noticed before it was a dark and twisted place. Evil lurked and twirled...Evil was a little girl in here. All giddy and sheepish, but it was also pissed off. Dark vines grew over the walls and they looked nasty like dark veins terror the only life giving substance within it.

"Dear God! I'm asleep! I'm dreaming!" Angel sounded astounded.

The man was silent for awhile. Then exhaled he was obviously pissed off about something...

"Well that's close enough...In a sense this is a dream but it's far more real- far more dangerous then a dream..." With that Angelus walked out of the shadows a huge grin on his face... "And that's what's going to make this soo much fun..."

Angel huffed "I have no time for this..."

Angelus laughed again, one of his long mocking snickers "What wrong Angel...You got places to burn? People to fuck?... Cause really, if that is the case I will be glad to let you go..." Angelus looked down and looked back up "But then again...that isn't the case is it? Oh, well guess you are stuck in wonderland..."

Angel looked at him "What do you mean you won't let me go! This is my dream! My head! I decide when I want to leave! You can't stop me"

Angelus rolled his eyes then shrugged "Fine, if leaving this place is as easy as squashing a bug...LEAVE! Just go ahead...Click your heals Dorothy! Tell me just how 'There is no place like home' maybe you'll be out of emerald city and into that mooky hotel of yours..."

Angel didn't say anything he just stared...

"What's wrong? Not as easy as you thought heh? Yeah, you know how I know" Angelus looked down then rushed towards Angel, he had vamped out "BECAUSE I'VE BEEN IN HERE FOR THE LAST 100 AND SOME YEARS!!!!" He looked away

"Sure I have had some brief interludes...But like I said they have been very BRIEF..."

Angel looked at him "Yeah? So what? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You take over my body and-"

Angelus stared at him with his golden feral eyes for awhile, then interrupted "You are really stuck on that aren't you? Really...This is not your body...it was once ours but now it's only mine! You are just a fucking virus making my unlife very fucking difficult!"

"I'm a fucking virus! Me? You are the one who live off other people!"

"Well you are the fucking one who lives off me!"

"I want you dead!"

Angelus smiled "Well Angel... I want you dead too..."

Angel smiled back, their faces exactly the same, the only difference being the hellfire that burned in Angelus' eyes...

"There is only one difference Angelus"

"Oh really and what is that? Angel cake? You going to share your good deeds with me t'ill I die?"

Angel smiled "No but I'm going to stake you t'ill you die."

With that Angel lunged forward, a stake in hand aiming for Angelus' heart would be... Angelus stood back and gave Angel a round house kick sending the stake clattering to the floor. They sent each other punches and kicks which led them absolutely nowhere as the other always blocked it in time as if dancing some never-ending waltz. Angelus let Angel get in a final punch then backed up...

"You know something Angel, you really shouldn't let your rage blind you so much...You get so dumb when you get emotional...It's pathetic really...Really terribly pathetic!"

"You are the one who's pathetic Angelus...look at you locked in this place! You are never getting out and that's what kills you so much. You can't live with the fact that something as good as a soul could live with you...So close to you and you can't even do anything about it...You stole a soul's body an-

Angelus snickered "Aw Angel, trying to beat me at my own game...Sorry SoulBoy! Never going to happen! The truth is, if I wasn't going to get out of here, you wouldn't be stuck in here! And you see... This body was never yours alone... I didn't steal this body, the soul in it gave it too me... Hmm Angel you have so much to learn... "

Angel laughed "Sure, I'll learn everything after you leave...Or should I say t'ill you are dead-er..."

"A see Soulboy, that's where the problem comes in...You can't kill me..."

"And that's why you were backing away from the stake?"

"Oh no, see, you can stake me and kill my mind... but what you forget is that it is me that is keeping you alive...Without me... Without the demon essence in me, you my little buddy are dead...You Soulboy have no body...Now you don't want that to happen now do you... A couple of years ago you would have excepted that fate. Accepted death over life...But not anymore... I know you better then anyone alive, or dead, on this planet Angel and I know that that is no longer something you want. You have ties to the earth world... And you can't let go. You aren't ready to die."

"I would give myself up for my friends..."

Angelus smiled "Yes I believe that...But you forget, this body, this mind is as much mine as it is yours, I can conjure up fireballs as easily as you thought up that stake...And we can be stuck in this eternal war of ours... So why don't we play nice, pretend to like each other while I explain the rules of the game..."

Angel looked at him...Suspicion in his eyes...

Angelus smiled looking quite like the angel his sister thought he was, the night he had risen to his new demon life "I promise...I'll play fair..."

The Hellfire glittered in his dark eyes, telling Angel a different story. A story Angel knew a little too well.