Another little rant in process. Excuse the fact I write as slow as a snail (although snails don't write) Schoolwork is burying me. I can't tell me algebra papers from my story papers!

Thanks for the reviews everybody! Really appreciate it. Feed me more, I starve for any kind of feedback.

ZoeCB, luv u always my best beta reader! The Lemons still rule.

Where do we go from here: KARL

Giles put down the phone silently. "There's no answer," he simply said. "I've tried ringing, and even the operators seem incapable of getting me through. Something is obviously wrong with the line to the hotel. We'll try again later."

Buffy shook her head. "Something's wrong, I can feel it," she said. "Willow said there was an apocalypse. Something must have happened there. I'm going."

"Whoa, whoa, Buffy," Xander said, standing up quickly.

Giles grabbed Buffy's arm. "You can't go," he sternly.

Buffy shook his arm off. "Spike's there. Willow's there. Angel and people I know might be in trouble."

"This is not your fight, Buffy," Giles stated. "If there is an apocalypse they can deal with it. They have enough people. We have a much more serious matter here. You responsibilities with these Potential Slayers. You cannot abandon them like this."

Buffy stared at Giles. "Fine. I'm staying. But if I don't hear anything soon, I'm going. Xander, where are the Potentials?"

Xander looked at her. "Some of them are downstairs with Anya training. Andrew has some of them outside. He's taping their progress."

Buffy frowned. "That's it. I've had enough of that camera."

*  *  *  *  *

Karl stepped down from the platform. He was dressed in a blue rob which covered his face but now he let it down. He was fairly young for a vampire, less than a hundred years old but with enough power and knowledge to cause damage. His human self had been a musician…an unsuccessful one during the 1920's with a wife and a son. He soon gave up his music career when he was turned and his family was killed. Now he spent most of his time to the dark arts.

He had dabbled a lot in black magic, conjured up many evil spirits and caged them so they could not be set free. He was trying to find the right time to release them. But until someone noticed him that had never been an option. He had been to other dimensions as well. No one seemed to care until a certain something happened to cross paths with him one day.

Karl smiled as he came down the platform. "Today is a glorious day," he shouted. "Today, we finally can feel like we have accomplished something. We have a reason for all the hard work we have done. This massacre…this earthquake we have conjured up today is the beginning of the signs to release the evil and show him to the world. He shall make his grand entrance."

The other vampires of his cold smiled. "How many more do we need?"

"There is yet much preparation to go," Karl said. "The First needs much energy before he is strong enough to enter at full peak. We shall continue with the spell casting. The death of thousands adds to its strength and eventually, we finish with the sacrifice."

One of the vampires stood up. "We have been talking about the sacrifice. An ordinary LA worker or child will not do. Surely the First will require something more…appealing."

Karl nodded and sat down on his chair. He smiled and crossed his legs. "Yes, I'm glad someone had said that. Fortunately, the First has put its trust in us. We shall not fail it. There is a very promising sacrifice that has been under our noses the whole time."

The rest of the cult looked at each other and then at Karl. "Who?"

"A vampire, like the rest of us, only inside himself, he is different. He kills his own. He has been cursed by the soul from Gypsies and now he roams, finding his so-called-redemption." Karl spat down on the ground. "His life is worthless if he cannot accept what he is and his strength and age makes him perfect. He has power from forces above. We shall sacrifice Angel."

The other vampires looked slightly worried. "But, sir, Angel? He is by far stronger than us! He has forces working for him, human, demon and spiritual."

Karl seemed unfazed. "I believe it should be easy to capture him. As for sacrificing, that's even easier. Besides, Angelus should remember me. I am a small meagre part of his history but enough to remember."

One of the vampires nodded. "As long as you are confident."

Karl stood up, going into game face and his eyes lighting. "Are you defying me?" he demanded angrily.

"N-no," the other vampire said worriedly, backing away.

"I hope not," Karl said, releasing some of the fire that had been smouldering before them. It attacked the vampires and he burst into flames in front of them. All the other vampires looked up with a new sense of fear. "If anyone else has any qualms about this, let them speak now or hold their tongues. We shall fulfil our duty to the First and help it into this world with power and strength. We shall kill Angel even if some of us must sacrifice for it and from that we shall get out reward. Now go."

Karl sat back down as they all dispersed. A girl came up to him and sat on his lip. Karl smiled as she turned his face towards her and kissed him. "Calm down, baby," she said. "Don't get so uptight. We need all these guys to get somewhere."

Karl sighed. "I suppose you're right baby. Some of them don't understand, I can see it in them. They are here for the fun of dabbling in black magic. They don't understand the full extent." He got up, leaving his girlfriend in his chair.

"Everyone's gotta start somewhere. Don't tell me you started at the top, sugar."

Karl shrugged. "These are crucial times. No one understands what the First could do for us. That's why all the vampires are flocking here. They just think something amazing will happen. Many of them are afraid to even try. They know the First will reward those who side with him. It will give LA to us once more what Angelus and the Beast failed to do."

Serpentine smiled. "Of course, honey."

*  *  *  *  *

The hotel door opened quietly. The creak seemed ominously loud in such a quiet place. "Holy smokes," the person said and looked around. "Angel cakes? Wesley? Fred." A panic shot through as he thought of them all dead but then he calmed down. Quickly, he ran towards the office through his now adjusted eyes, looked at the sight of the ruined offices. The shelves had toppled over and books were sprayed everywhere. From the side, he grabbed a candle and struck a match to look around.

He spotted Willow inert form on the ground, underneath a bookcase. "Aww, honey." He ran out into the lobby, knowing he couldn't lift the shelf by himself. "Angel!" he cried, noticing that the vampire was sitting up, dazed and confused.

"Lorne," Angel said, his senses finally returning. "What happened?"

"I don't know but some mystical mojo definitely whammied us almost into the earth's core. I don't know about you, but I don't think this is a natural earthquake."

Angel looked around. "Where is everybody?"

"Willow's in the office. I think that's Spike beside you there. I almost tripped over lawyer boy on my way over."

Angel stood up just as a moan came from the bottom of the stairs. He walked over to the noise. "Gunn," he said, kneeling down, helping the other man, sit up. "Gunn, can you hear me? Wake up, come on."

Gunn squinted and opened his eyes, a hand going to the back of his head. "Holy crap, what's happening?"

"Something evil. C'mon, get up, we need your help."

The three of them together, Lorne, Angel and Gunn, managed to get the bookcase off from Willow and help her into the lobby. They lit the room with candles and electric lamps to help find their way around. Lindsey woke up soon afterwards due to his power senses. They detected Spike and pulled him out as well.

"Who's left?" Angel asked.

"Faith and Wesley," Lindsey said. "They were outside." The garden was equally as much as mess as indoors. Parts of balcony's had collapsed as had walls. Plants and shrubs had been crushed. Faith and Wesley were easy to spot. They were lying on top of the rubble. Faith was already half awake but extremely disorientated.

"What happened?" she asked, looking around at the three men demon.

"Earthquake, sweetie, don't worry about it, just yet."

Faith looked to the side of her. "Wes? Wesley, come on, wake up," she said, taking his shoulders and shaking him slightly. Gunn knelt down to help Faith pull him up and even Angel noticed the amount of concern Faith gave to her ex watcher. Now everyone was assembled inside.

"Lindsey, go upstairs," Angel said. "Be very careful. Try and find Cordy and Conner." Lindsey nodded and walked carefully upstairs. The darkness worried him slightly but from his hand he lit up a small flame that brightened the corridor and he continued walking. In darkness, the Hyperion seemed even larger and more threatening. He had no idea what was lurking there.

He didn't think it would be anything dangerous but he knew that the common human mind seemed to exaggerate such circumstances. Then again, he had been part of a dodgy law firm that dealt in more extravagant situations. He shouldn't have been worried. Yet, faced in an apocalypse in which he was on the good side made him worry. More often than not, bad guys had the advantage at first. Lindsey knew that from experience.

"Cordelia? Conner?" he said edging towards their room. He half expected someone to jump out at him but he knew that his power could stop almost anything. He just kept calm. "Hello?"

A laugh sounded from somewhere. "Stop it, this isn't funny," he said into the corridor. "Come on and show yourselves. You think you can take me on. Let me see."

He looked into Cordelia's and Conner's room. There seemed to be no one there. Yet the laugh still continued. He narrowed his eyes at the room and turned around. Slightly worried, he headed downstairs again.

Lindsey shook his head as he headed downstairs. "Nope, they've gone."

Angel banged his fist on the table, jumping everyone in the room. "Damnit." Everyone was awake now. Spike sat on the couch silently, not feeling any pain at all. Willow seemed to have regained her strength as well. Fred had a bruise on her cheek and the bleeding on the back of Wesley's head seemed to have stopped. "It's obvious they would have made a move now. But why take Cordelia with him."

Gunn shrugged. "You know Conner. He always thinks that we're against him. Let's face it, he and Cordy was little bunnies up in that room. They just saw the opportunity and split."

"I thought your boy had some kind of evil," Spike said.

"He is not evil," Angel insisted. "He just brought an evil through."

Lorne looked around the hotel and shivered. "And I can sense it."

All the head's turned to look at him. "What? Fred said uncertainly. "There's an evil…here in the hotel."

Lorne looked over at Willow. "Surely you can feel it, honey."

Willow simply nodded. "He's right, Angel. There's something here, I can sense it. It's not a body kind of evil. It's like…well not even a spirit. It's a force. It probably can be seen, though, we just need to look carefully. But this evil, it's enough to give anyone scares."

Angel grabbed his sword. "All right. Then we go and find this thing and chop its evil head off. If this is our only evil, then we can get it over and done with straight away. We go in teams. Wes, you come with me. Lindsey, you go with Faith. Spike, you go with Gunn and Fred, you with Willow. Let's see how easily we can get this thing. Arm yourselves and be on the lookout."

*  *  *  *   *

Buffy looked out of the window sullenly. The sky was dark again and she was worried. "Heya," Xander said, coming up behind her and making her jump. He noticed the look on her face. "Don't do that look. That looks means something's up and in my experience, those looks of yours end up being right."

Buffy smiled weakly. "It's nothing."

"That's not a nothing. Come on, spill it."

Buffy turned away from the window. "I'm just worried that's all. It's been so quiet here. That hasn't been a rumble of the First or any Bringers. It is worrying. In fact, more action seems to be happening in LA and they don't even have a Hellmouth. There could be an apocalypse there and I have Willow, Spike and Angel over there."

Xander nodded. "They'll be fine."

"I'm sure. But I still want to know what's going on. You know me, slayer curiosity and all. I just want to…protect them."

Xander sighed. "Buff, you can't protect everyone forever. At some point, you're going to have to protect yourselves as well. There's a lot of bad stuff happening, it seems to be that kinda year again. No doubt Angel has stuff on his mind and if it's bad enough that Willow and Spike feel the need to stay then let them. The First seems to have hidden its evil behind anyway."

Buffy nodded as the door suddenly opened and Giles came in. He looked slightly flustered and looked around. "Giles, what is it?"

Giles spotted them and came in. From the doorway, Andrew and Dawn came in as well to listen in. "Oh, Buffy, there you are…I was just going to say that we may have encountered another problem. It seems there has been an earthquake in LA. That may be the reason for all the dead phone lines."

Buffy immediately stood up. "Oh, God. Then we don't know if…"

Giles shook his head. "No one knows anything yet. And I suggest we continue checking hospitals and the Hyperion to see if we can find anything out. I'm sure they're fine, there should be nothing to worry about.

"I doubt that." Buffy stood up. "We can't worry. Things are quiet here in Sunnydale."

"That's no excuse to go to Sunnydale," Giles reminded her. "It could exactly what…"

All of them suddenly stopped as someone walked through the door. He smiled at Buffy sadly and she stopped, trying to figure out if this was true all not. The sounds of the potentials rang through the garden. Andrew looked over past Buffy. "Who's that?" he asked casually.

Buffy smiled slightly. "Angel…you're all right."

Angel suddenly laughed and looked at her. Buffy's smiled wavered.

"Buffy, it's not Angel," Giles said, stepping back, taking Buffy and Xander back with him. "I believe the First has come back to Sunnydale."

Angel/The First shook his head. "Poor naïve little Buffy. Your heart just melts when it sees me doesn't it. And don't be so fooled. I haven't left Sunnydale. I'm everywhere. I can appear whenever I want. I can come back to wreck havoc here whenever I want and it's so appealing with the Hellmouth and all. I just came to give you a warning."

"What could you possibly have to say to us as a warning?"

Angel smiled again. "They're all going to die," he said darkly. "And I know you care about them. They are deep in your heart because that's what you're all about Slayer. I'm there for the soul reason of making damage inside you. They're all going to die. I'll kill them all."

Buffy advanced on it. "Don't touch them. Don't you dare lay a finger on them. I'll try even harder to kill you."

"Would it just be those that you care for closer that you'd be responsible for?" Angel/The First said. "Angel, Willow, Spike…what about Willow and Wesley and Angel's friends. You don't really want their blood on your hands. The Slayer, you, the one who loves and people love back—you're all about the good and the righteous—all about doing what's right for the sake of mankind."

Buffy moved forward with her hands on her hips. "What kind of threat is this?"
Buffy said, trying to prove that the fact the First had taken over the form of Angel was not unnerving her. "What do you want me to do? You have no mercy; I'm not going to beg for their lives because it will get me nowhere. But why hurt them."

"They mean a lot to you…all of them, deep down inside even though you push them away at times. Besides, LA has energy. I have a lot more supporters there than I do here and its without the energy of the Hellmouth or the seal. I warn you that I am everywhere. You have a base out in LA. You will have nowhere to go. I will crush them."

With that, the First disappeared again, leaving a blank space where it had been. Xander put his hands on his hips. "Well, cryptic, as usual, I must say."

"Giles, what was he talking about? What has LA got to do with any of this?" Buffy demanded, turning around to face him.

The ex-watcher shrugged. "Buffy, there are an any number of reasons, although Los Angeles does not have a Hellmouth of its own. LA could be another centre of mystical energy but of a different kind. It could attract all the demonic evils, such as vampires to it. The vampires probably think it's safer there because there is no slayer."

"Or," Dawn said, standing into the room, "it could be because of the people. Think about it, most evils thrive on massacres, population Sunnydale versus population LA…weigh up the odds. Which would have a higher total death count."

"Los Angeles is a centre," Giles said. "It may not even be a mystical reason. Maybe it's because people see it was one that it will plan to take it down early."  

Buffy turned around. "It's going to kill them. All of them in LA unless we put a stop to it. I can't afford that, Giles."

Giles shook his head. "It just doesn't sound right. It doesn't sound like a plan something as complex as a thing like the First would do. It seems a little too bitty, there's something more involved here. Until I can talk to Angel in LA, we sit tight here, eventually something will turn up."

"Yeah," Xander said happily. "Something always does."

*  *  *  *  *

It was near midnight. All the Potential Slayers were asleep. Once in the middle of the night, Amanda had come to get some milk but she didn't notice. Everyone else was asleep. Buffy, Xander, Giles and Anya were in a particularly troubled sleep with what was happening in LA but they kept it quiet. Now, at this dark time, only Andrew was awake, huddled in the corner of the kitchen. It was the only place he wouldn't be noticed.

Not that he was usually noticed anyway.

He held the knife close to him, with shaking hands. Fear tingled through him, a fear that so far he had concealed with naivety and jokes but was now taking its toll. Tears streaked down his face uncontrollably but he kept his sobs to a minimum in case sleepers in the other room heard him. Again, he clutched the knife harder.

A sound came from the doorway and he tensed again. Hopefully it would be another restless potential going to the fridge. She wouldn't even bother turning the lights on and just walk away without noticing him again. Unfortunately, though, this person had good hearing.

"Is someone there?" a girl asked. The odds were it would be a girl. Andrew could see her bare feet underneath the kitchen table. A sound caught in his throat as he realised the girl was Dawn. "Hello? Who's there?" Dawn flipped on the lights.

"Don't do that!" Andrew cried, standing up behind the table and pointing the knife at her.

Dawn sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Andrew, this isn't the time to play some fantasy hero game. Just go to sleep so the rest of us can. And put that knife away, you'll hurt someone with…" She paused and looked at the boy more carefully. "Andrew, have you been crying?" She rounded the table.

Andrew backed away like a frightened rabbit. "Don't," he whispered with a pleading tone.

"Andrew, I don't want to do anything. What's wrong?"

The boy blinked and rubbed his face quickly to hide reluctant tears. "I saw them. I keep on seeing them, in my dreams, through the First and they just won't leave me alone." He put his hands up to his head. "I want them to go away, especially him."

Dawn frowned. "Especially who, Andrew?" she asked calmly.

Andrew sobbed and dropped the knife. It clattered to the floor with a clang. He followed the knife down onto the ground and started to cry. "Jonathan. I want him to go away." Dawn moved forward and put her arms around the trembling boy in an attempt to comfort him. Andrew looked at her. "Make him go away, Dawn. I can't take it anymore, it's too much. Do I need this much guilt on me?"

Dawn shook her head. "No one needs it, Andrew. The First is messing with your mind, making you see Jonathan and Warren and making you do unspeakable things. You can't let it control you."

Andrew picked up the knife again and sniffed. Dawn held him closer, feeling the shaking through his body. "I killed him," he stated blankly. "I killed him with the knife, drove it through him and fed the seal the blood it wanted. Warren made me do it. I swear to God I thought it was him."

Dawn looked at him. "Andrew, it's not your fault. You were forced…"

Andrew looked down and shook his head. "I had a choice. I could've said no. The First couldn't do it itself, what would it have done to me."

"Killed you. Andrew, let it go. Put the knife down and start over. You're working with us now."

"Buffy hates me. You all hate me…"

"No!"

"You still see me how I was back then. I wanna change, Dawn, and do something worthwhile."

More people suddenly entered the room and soon Xander, Anya and several potentials were in the doorway. Andrew immediately jumped up with the knife again, dragging Dawn with him. "What's going on here?" Xander demanded and looked at Andrew. "What's going on here? You're making a racket. Some of us want to sleep and what are you doing with that knife."

Andrew looked at the knife, not even hearing Xander. "It opened the seal. The blood cut from this knife opens the seal. I can't let it happen again. I'm going, far, far away." He ran out of the door.

"Andrew!" Dawn shouted, trying to run after him.

But Andrew had already disappeared. He left the front door open as he ran through the streets of Sunnydale in a desperate attempt to get out and take the knife away from the Hellmouth, as far away as possible. He ignored the cries of people, Buffy's friends but not his, especially Dawn's and carried on running until he could get away from the torment.

Help needed! It'll get updated and I have ideas but I need to find out what people want, cos I'm stuck on them.

1) Who should die??!! Someone has to die!

2) What other Buffy characters apart from SIT's n Buffy should I bring over?

3) Another Angel character pairing!!!