Where do we go from here: SIGNS

Chapter summary—Willow and Faith prepared to return to Sunnydale; Lindsey tries to find out what has happened to him and Angel meets an old friend of his whilst trying to find out some information.

Morning in LA. It had not been long since the sun had returned, the vampires had retreated and some form of order returned to the busy city. Of course, no one had no idea what had caused the current strange phenomena—earthquakes, rains of fire, endless darkness…Fortune tellers and astrologist dived in at the possibilities for telling futures and predicting what would happen next. The pessimists all believed that the end of the world was coming and they were not far off really.

Faith looked around the room as she put her boots on. Most of the clothes she had were either bloodstained beyond cleanable or torn to pieces by various vampires, Beasts and more to the point, Angelus. Since staying in LA for the past few days after Angel's return, she'd gone out at night for Slayer Patrol, sometimes with Conner although it was evident the stubborn teenager preferred to work alone. Faith could deal with that. She didn't want to say it to Angel's face but she hated the little brat. He was obnoxious, bad tempered and…

'Faith?' Willow asked, appearing at the doorway, noticing how as Faith got angrier with each thought of Conner, she would tie her laces more savagely. 'Are you okay? You look a bit…well, stressed is probably the right word.'

'No kiddin',' Faith answered sighing and flopping back on the bed. 'It's just all this, I haven't got off the tension yet. You go out, you dust a few vampires and it doesn't really make you feel better.'

Willow nodded understandingly and with her hands together, walked towards her on the bed. 'Buffy gets that way sometimes, when she's stressed, or got work on her mind, or got boy trouble…she goes out on patrol but doesn't come back any better. I guess, as a Slayer you don't really get that much…." She paused and thought again for the right word…"Well, release."

Faith sighed. 'It's just things here are so different…it's not like it was before, and major from what you've say back in Sunnydale. I mean, Angel's different, he has a kid, who's a little fucker, Cordy…well, what can I say, and Wesley, if anyone's changed more it's him."

Willow agreed. "I know, he does seem very different—desolate—almost kind of lonely." She shrugged. "But I get the feeling he doesn't want to talk about it. We shouldn't probably leave it." There was silence for a moment and the red headed witch looked at Faith. "What's wrong? My little witchy itch tells me there's something more to it than changes."

Faith put her hands together and leaned forward. "Yeah, not so much changing but what's stayed the same. I…I don't know if Buffy will want to talk to me. So much has happened. Prison…it's like being stuck in time whilst everything else has been moving around you.'

The witch leaned forward and met her. 'Faith, I know this is hard, and I know that you're probably scared a bit. But you don't need to worry. All you need to be is yourself. You're coming to fight another bad evil and whether Buffy likes it or not, you're going to have to get along to do this. This evil could literally destroy the whole world. It's…it's the reason for evil. Buffy needs all the help she can get.'

Faith nodded. 'Well, I intend to put up a hell of a fight, if that helps.'

Willow smiled brightly. 'That's the attitude. You'll soon find out what to what and not say. Now, come on, get your bags or anything you have. We're going to be going soon. Angel managed to get us a car.'

Faith watched her leave for the door and tried to say something. Emotional talking never really came easy for her but she needed to try and it seemed like a good opportunity. "Willow?" The witch turned around. "Hey, I know that things have happened before—between you and me, Buffy and me, Angel and me…but do people hate me. Do you hate me?"

Willow stood by the door. "It's not about hate, Faith. No, I don't hate you. I know things have happened. But what you've done here since coming out of prison has proven to me that you can be a good person. You can be rehabilitated and you do have your priorities. It just took a while coming and I'll stand beside you when I know that you're right.'

'Thanks, Will.' Willow closed the door and left, leaving Faith still sitting on the bed. After a few minutes of thoughtful thinking she got up and headed downstairs herself to see what was going on. Life within the Hyperion seemed very quiet and desolate at the moment. Willow was talking to Fred, obviously in deep conversation about something. Angel was in the office, studying something. Cordelia, as usual, was nowhere in sight. Gunn was cleaning out weapons in the cabinet. And further off to the side sat Wesley, going through an ancient text of some kind. Somehow, talking to Wes seemed easier than it used to be now that he had his own tortured soul now.

'Hey,' she said, talking over to him and turning a chair backwards to sit on it.

Wes looked up from his book. 'Hey,' he said himself. 'Had a good sleep.'

Faith smiled at him. 'You ask this every time I get up in the morning and it's always the same—yeah, I slept well only the occasional dream that keeps on swinging back and fourth in my head like a bowling ball.'

'Since when did bowling balls swing?'

'Since I made them.' Faith smiled, slightly embarrassed by Wesley's confused gaze. The man may have changed a lot for the better but sometimes he could be completely oblivious to certain things. Faith looked down to the text he was reading. 'What you studying?'

'An Archaic form of the Dianshu Language. They were…mystical priests who specialized in the occult. I'm trying to see whether it can be of any help to us in finding the Beast's Master.'

'Oh, are we looking for that now. Never a dull moment at Angel Investigations. What, did they write prophecies or something?'

Wesley nodded. 'Sometimes. Some of them were seers that could see into the future, many of them wizards in fact.' He shut the book and rubbed his eyes. 'And strangely enough, it seems as though there's nothing in there that can help us.' He looked at her for a moment, feeling rather awkward. Then quietly, 'What time are you leaving?'

Faith shrugged. 'Sometime in the evening probably. I'm not quite sure what Will over there has decided and she looks too busy for me to distract her…'

Faith was cut off by the sound of Angel coming out of the office and slamming the door behind him. Gunn jumped from cleaning the weapons. He turned round to look at him. 'Nothing coming, huh?'

'There is no reference to such a thing anywhere. Even pan-dimensionally, what we can find that has ever made contact with the Beast, even when it was banished, has all been lost somehow. Lost, or never existed and I don't know which is worse. It's all hopeless.'

Willow looked up. 'Maybe you could try and Mystical Translocation Spell?'

Wesley shook his head. 'No, that wouldn't work. We don't know what the Master is. It could be a demon, it could be human, and it might even be some kind of supernatural form, it's impossible to tell.'

The door opened to the lobby and Lorne came down the stairs, smiling brightly. They all turned to look at him and he lost the smile on his face. 'Jeez, who died and forgot to tell me?' he asked. 'No luck with the books, then? Well, I got new that'll cheat all you beating—or in your case un-beating—hearts a flutter, kiddos. Two things actually. One, my mojo mind reading ability has returned.'

Fred jumped up smiling. 'Really, how?'

'By the power of magic and a really useful telephone number that Cordy kept for emergencies and deals with these kinds of things. It's amazing the amount of trash you keep in this office, Angelcakes. But secondly, I think I might have someone that'll help you with your little overseer of evil problem.'

'What, the Master?' Angel asked.

'Uh huh. It's a demon…a mind reading one such as myself who happens to see more than a batchful on a good day. Here's the address and…' he stopped as Angel grabbed the address from out of his hand and already walked out the door without a word. The others watched but made no comment. Lorne simply shrugged. 'Oh well. Do we have any more of that tropical fruit juice left? I could really use a mild drink.

*  *  *  *  *

One Year Ago…

They sat Lindsey down in a chair. He was still in shock. Not only had his hand set fire to his cousin's shirt but it still hadn't stopped glowing. Someone handed him a drink and he was glad to see it was still alcohol. "What happened?" he asked dumbly. "I don't remember anything that happened." There had bee a door…light…and suddenly he found himself flying in the air only to ram against a wall and find his hand glowing.

Keith looked as perplexed as him. He had taken his shirt off the minute he had caught alight and dressed up in a new one. 'I have no idea. He was performing a ritual, something a little stronger than usual to find out why the vampires were all flocking here. It had been on the agenda and we decided to do it tonight. But you opened the door and all the energy transferred to you.'

'Then why?'

The other occultists just looked at Lindsey and his hand. They found it equally as fascinating but kept their distance except one who spoke up and carried on from where Keith left off. 'We had another person in our group today. He was new and claimed he could help. Even before we joined hands, I could sense that there was something different about him. He was very powerful. He is someone who could…well potentially do a black-out would be the least amount of damage he could do that was critical.'

'Was he the one that held my hand?' Lindsey asked quietly

The occultist nodded. 'I don't know who he is. None of us did. He just wanted to help he said and we agreed. The more than formed the circle for the spell the better and he gave us a lot of the energy.'

'Where is he?' Lindsey demanded, standing up.

Keith shrugged. 'We have no idea, Lindsey. He ran off, just after he finished with you. God knows what he's done to you.'

The occultist looked at him. 'He's given you power, the kind of power that he has. I can feel it in you, Lindsey. You have suddenly become a very powerful person—the ability flows in you.'

Lindsey stood up. 'I don't want that kind of ability. I don't want power. That's what drove me out of my own job. I want nothing to do with anything weird except dusting a few vampires because that's all I know. Everything else can go to hell.' Lindsey got up and put his hands to his temples. His right hand had calmed down now and no longer glowed but he wanted to get rid of it. 'Where can I find him? I need to talk to him?'

Keith pulled out a card from his pocket. 'He gave us an address just before he left in such a hurry. You can go there if you want although I don't advise you to.'

'I'm going,' Lindsey said firmly, putting on his jacket and glaring at his cousin, daring him to defy him. Sighing in defeat, Keith handed him the card.

'Be careful.'

'I have a stake, it can kill anything.' With that Lindsey walked out of the door again, looking at his hand again, expecting it to suddenly glow again and do something weird. He tried to get to this man as soon as possible in case he did some real damage. He saw a few potential vampires but so far they were doing no damage and at the moment, he didn't care for their damage. He cared about the damage done to him.

His investigation to the man led him to a series of apartments. His number was 107 so Lindsey headed up, knocking on the door. It was silent inside and there seemed no light coming from it. He knocked again. 'Hello?' he asked. 'Is anyone home?'

'It's open,' a man replied, sounding incredibly weak, and he coughed once. Lindsey didn't know whether the voice sounded familiar. He was too far out of it beforehand to notice his voice.

Lindsey opened the door to a very shabby apartment. A small lamp glowed in the corner and an old large TV was switched off. There was a man on a torn couch, leaning over as though he was about to be sick. Perspiration dripped from his forehead and for a moment, Lindsey was stunned. He rushed over to the man. 'What happened?' he asked. 'Did someone do this to you?'

The man shook his head. He seemed young, only in his mid thirties and yet suddenly, in the pain he looked much younger. He smiled slightly. 'No, no one did this to me. I did it to myself.'

'What? Why?'

'You know why,' the man answered, gasping in pain for a moment and Lindsey clutched his shoulders. The man nodded towards his hand on the shoulder. 'That is the reason.'

Lindsey paused for a moment. 'So you were the one that did this to me? You gave me this power!' Before he knew it, he found himself standing up and shouting. 'Why did you do this to me? I didn't ask for it. This hand has been through enough in a short space of time to manage anything more!' He shook with anger, despite the fact that the man was in obvious pain.

'Let me explain, I don't have a lot of time,' the man replied quietly. Lindsey found the man's words so sincere that it pained him as well. 'The power that I have…had…is a very old ancient kind of power. I don't know what it is but it has been passed down from century to century, through old monks in Chinese Dynasty to people. It was first used to revive a human. It's an incredible power, one that Evil would kill to get their hands on.'

'Why did you give it to me?'

'You were going to die,' the man answered. 'That was beyond a doubt. I could sense it. The power that you have can tell you a lot of things. It can do incredible damage, small or big and it gives you a sense. I could sense that you were going to die and you have a great amount of potential. You're on a redemption mission and sometimes people need help along the way.'

Lindsey shook his head. 'I don't want it. Take it back!'

The smile smiled weakly. 'I can't. Only you can do that.'

Lindsey grabbed the man's hand, holding it hard between his own. He waited for something, a sensation? A feeling of energy rushing out of him? The other man's hand to start glowing but nothing. Nothing happened to take it away. The other man started laughing.

'It doesn't work like that kid. Well, you got the holding hand part right but that's about it. It takes practise to work it. I only had it for three years and it took me a while to master. You'll get there eventually. Don't underestimate it. It's not a curse; it can bring you a great deal of joy and fulfilment. You can do great things with it.'

'I want to do it my own way.'

The man shook his head. 'It's help. Trust me, you'll understand at some point that I have given you great help.'

Lindsey shook his head in disbelief. 'Why sacrifice yourself? Why give up your life to give this power to me?'

'You rely on the power now. It keeps you alive. Draining it from you into someone else is so exhausting and it's like your battery has run out. I didn't need the power anymore. I didn't need it anyway. It was only given to me because someone was about to die. He didn't want the power to die with him or be lost. It has to be passed down to me. Now I pass it onto you because you have a reason.'

Lindsey sighed. 'What am I supposed to do with it?'

'Do good with it! It's a good power, not an evil one, unless it finds its way into the wrong hands.' He nodded out of the window. "That abandoned house across there, is a nest full of vampires that arrived last night. Use your power to kill them, destroy the building or whatever. The power can defend, attack or heal.'

Lindsey walked towards the window and stared at the building. 'How?'

'Focus.'

'How am I supposed to focus? I don't understand what that means. You…you're talking in code to me or something, just…." Lindsey turned round to look at the man and his eyes widened. He was lying on the couch, his eyes open. Lindsey rushed to check the pulse when he suddenly realized, he could already tell the man was dead and it wasn't just through his eyes. It was through a sense. 'This is beginning to feel like the Sixth Sense itself. Next I'll see dead people.'

Lindsey turned towards the building. He had no idea whether this was going to work but he needed some kind of proof. He braced himself and held out his right hand. His sleeve lifted, revealing the faint scar where the operation had taken place. He took a deep breath and stared at the building opposite where the vampires supposedly were.

"Focus,' Lindsey said. 'Focus on what? The building? The power?' He extended his hand out towards the building and imagined it falling to the ground. It was the first thing he could think of and as he stared intently at the building, his hand began to glow again and he stared in shock. He began to lift it back down in shock but then, something shot out of it, a bright white light, that shot across the street and to the other building.

He cried out in surprise and jumped back. His hand had stopped glowing, but the building opposite was now on fire. Already, people had begun shouting and screaming inside. He even saw a vampire turn to dust near a window. Lindsey frowned. 'Well, setting it on fire wasn't quite what I had in mind. I think it may need a little bit of practise.'

*  *  *  *  *

Angel threw the demon to the ground, glaring at it. 'I don't care what came to you,' he said threatening. 'I don't care if all of hell is opening and threatens to open you up. All I care is to find out about the Beasts Master, no matter what it means, and what it can do.'

'It's evil,' the demon replied.

Angel carried on moving forward. 'That, I got. What I don't' get, is who he is and what he plans to do. That's what I really want to find out. Lorne says that you're the only one that can help me.'

The demon's eyes widened as he looked at him. 'Lorne sent you?' the demon asked and got to his feet. He rolled his eyes in exasperation. 'Why didn't you fucking say so in the first place? Here I am, thinking Angelus had come to kill me and you say Lorne had sent you. God, people are right when they say you're cryptic.' He brought out a cigarette lighter and lit himself one. 'Scared the daylights out of me.'

Angel looked puzzled at him for a moment and then rolled his eyes himself. 'Fine, sorry I didn't mention it beforehand.'

'Do you know hard it is to keep up this 'I don't know anything, don't kill me' act. I do it almost every day to random vampires and demons that want things. If you had said Lorne sent you, we could have avoided this whole fist in my face thing. I think I'm gonne bruise for ages."

Angel could see how he and Lorne got along. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you. I've been very stressed lately with this whole thing. Can you just tell me what you know and I'll just disappear.'

The demon nodded. 'Well, there hasn't bee much information surfacing around. Apparently everyone's mind has gone a-blank. But from my ability, I've seen that you're going to have your hands full. A second evil is going to come. If they bind together, it's going to make your life a living hell.'

Angel sighed. 'Great. That's just what I needed. What about the master.'

'It's pissed off. Majorly. I don't mean the whole, "oh you stole my best friend" sort of hate. I mean, "You killed my friend, I'm gonna kill you." It wants to cause more trouble for you than ever before and if you're not careful, it's going to go for your friends.'

'What kind of evil is it?'

'I don't know. 'That I haven't seen. All I know is that it's going to be very close to home, for your friends anyway. Be careful. Any signs of a second evil then stop it.'

'Easier said than done.' Angel handed him a few dollar bills. 'Thanks.' He walked out through the sewers to get back to the Hyperion in time and tell everyone to be on the their guard. As he went along though, he smelt something. To him it smelt very familiar but he couldn't quite place it. Then he smelt the faint smell of cigarette smoke and followed the trail through the sewers. He quietly crept towards the edge of a corner and prepared to strike.

He whirled around and caught the other person by what he presumed was the throat. The sewers were dark and he could barely see. He made an attack which was blocked, and then blocked the other one back and the silent fighting continued for a moment until Angel realized something. The person had no heartbeat; he knew all of his attacks and smelled familiar…

…'Spike?' he asked quietly, feeling his temper beginning to boil.

'Oh look who it is, the bloody ponce.'

'What the hell are you doing…?' Angel paused and cocked his head to the side. In the darkness, so did Spike. 'Did you hear that?' It sounded like a creaking noise from somewhere. Then the ground started to shake and rattle before them. 'Earthquake!' No sooner than he said it then the rumbling and tremors got worse that none of them could keep their balance and toppled to the floor. Angel looked up as he saw parts of the sewer, including a trap full of stakes and swords, falling right towards their path.