Part 3

After they dropped off Dawn at Anya's, they were on the road to the city of Angels.

"Is this it?" Xander asked, pointing to a hotel. Willow looked out her window from the backseat. "Yup," she confirmed and nodded. Xander made the turn and whistled.

"Wow. Dead Boy's got it made." He stopped the car in front of the building and turned to Buffy in the passenger seat. "You ready Buff?"

For the second time that night, she let out an elongated breath. She rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants and nodded.

"Yeah let's go."

Xander, Buffy, and Willow stepped out of Xander's car and through the doors.

When they walked in, they saw a green demon with red horns and eyes, dark blond hair, and in a colorful suit going around a painted symbol on the floor, and putting down magical ingredients.

A black man and skinny brown haired girl stood in the office area, watching the demon.

The demon, most likely Lorne, said something in a weird dialect and the girl said something back in the same language.

"Did we miss the spell? Did English suddenly go away?" Buffy made her appearance known.

All three people in the lobby looked at them.

"No. It's Pylean, Cupcakes. I said, 'I may be prepared to shout a joyful chant.'" Lorne explained. "And I said 'May your words please the gods," the brown-haired girl added.

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LORNE AT THE NIGHTCLUB: "Ok first of all, she didn't say 'May your words please the gods,' so much as 'May you orally please the gods.'

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"You must be Buffy, Xander, and Willow. I'm Lorne, that precious Texas sweetie is Fred, and the muscle over there is Gunn." They all acknowledged each other and then the doors swung open again.

"Wesley," Buffy greeted, "You're looking...rugged."

"Hello Buffy, Willow, Xander. You're doing well I assume?" Wesley greeted back in his rough British voice.

"We're handling," Buffy replied.

"Hey Wes. You look different," Xander said, "Hey, what is that? Is that a scar on your neck?" he pointed to the healed cut he received from Justine.

Wesley cleared his throat, "In a nutshell, I ended up getting my throat slit."

"Oh. Ouch. Sorry man."

"Yes, well, if you'll excuse me." He moved in front of Fred. After having a few words with her, Wesley moved to the office, followed by a glaring Gunn.

"Yikes," Willow spoke up for the first time, "Not really feeling much of the friendly vibe."

"Yeah, well, let's just say we've had it rough," Lorne cryptically answered.

"Don't feel all too special," Buffy retorted.

"Buffy," came a soft, deep voice. She turned to the stairs to their left, along with the others. She gave a small smile to the ever-so-handsome guy.

"Angel," she greeted her undead hottie ex.

"I'm glad you came."

"Thanks. It's been a while."

"It has." they stared at each other and there was silence.

Xander broke it after a moment, "Hey Angel, how's the unlife?"

"Oh Xander. How I missed you," Angel said sarcastically and rolling his eyes.

"So where's Cordy?"

"Right here," another voice came from behind Angel.

"You're Xander," she pointed to the carpenter and then to the redhead, "Willow. And you must be Buffy." She pointed towards the slayer.

"Great!" Lorne exclaimed, "Now that everybody's here we can let the game's begin."

Buffy turned to Willow and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Will you be okay?" Buffy asked concerned.

"Um. Yeah," Willow nervously answered, "I-I made sure. I called Giles before we left. He told me it was okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah it'll be fine."

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LORNE AT THE NIGHTCLUB: "See what I didn't know was that this cutie patootie red-head went all magic crazed and veiny. And she's just recovering. See where I'm going with the annoying and unreliable magic thing here?"

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