disclaimer: see previous chap (which says 'see previous chap' so basically, see chap one)

a/n: hey, sorry this took so long to get up. i'v been busy with school and everything, and I couldn't find my copy of Midnight Predator when I needed to check something, and, well, I'm just making up excuses that I suppose you don't want to hear...anyway, enough of me rambling on like a nut...enjoi

The days till Friday seemed to pass quickly. Angel Investigations had gotten a lead on another case, that briefly took their minds off the mysterious empire Felicity had given them word about. Felicity had been so worked up with preparing for her last show of the season, that her nightmares had briefly subsided. Her 394th birthday passed on Thursday. No one (save Lorne who sent her a card and a balloon)remembered, not that she really expected anyone too.

Before long, Friday rolled around. Show time. For those of you who have ever performed on stage, you know that its one of the best things that you could ever do. Felicity felt that way to an extreme. She had really learned to act back in Midnight, with Gabriel. She had to lie about so many things that she learned to act, making her lies all the more believable. Its very easy to learn and master things when it quite literally is a matter of life and death. The show went without many mistakes. Though Carmen forgot some of her lines, and started making them up, leaving Jonathan to have to improvise the entire speech he was supposed to say at that part so it would fit what Carmen said, and Larry (who was, well, let's just say he was a little more than overweight) tripped over the set, and landed on top of Felicity. Other than that, it was a great show.

After the show, Angel, Cordelia, Fred, Wesley, and Gunn showed up backstage to congratulate her on a wonderful show (Fred and Gunn also asked if broke any ribs when Larry accidently fell on her... a question that many of her co-workers had asked as well). She introduced Angel to everyone as her Uncle Al and his co-workers. Carmen pulled her away for a quick word shortly afterwards.

'Your uncle,' she said. 'Is he married?'

'Yes,' Felicity answered, trying not to laugh.

'To who?'

'My aunt, genius.'

'Oh right.'

'Besides, he's too old for you.'

'He doesn't look that old.'

'He's, er, a lot older than he looks.'

'Whatever.'

Felicity was packing up her things and about to head off to Karatas with Angel and his people, when she felt a chill rundown her spine and the presence of someone she had nearly forgotten.

She spun around quickly, coming face to face with Daryl. (a/n: this story takes place a little while before Midnight Predator does, simply because I need the presence of Daryl and Jeshickah)

'Fancy seeing you here,' she said coldly.

'You know, I never liked you simply because you didn't know when to keep your mouth shut,' he answered.

'And no one has ever liked you, Daryl,' she said with a grin. 'So, why are you here?'

'Well I saw your name and figured that I should see if it was really you. Your name has been talked of a lot lately, by Gabriel in particular.' Felicity tried not to flinch at the sound of her old masters name. 'He's looking for you again, you know,' he added as an after thought.

'Oh, Daryl, I didn't know you were playing the part of Gabriel's messenger boy now,' she said with contempt. His news about Gabriel sent another wave of chills down her spine. If Gabriel really wanted to find her, than she couldn't stop him; she was blood-bonded to him, and he could find her as easily as he could find another vampire in his line. Blood calls to blood. Fortunately, she also knew that if she managed to offend Daryl enough then he would conveniently forget to mention to Gabriel that he had seen her, making it only slightly more difficult for him to find her.

'What did you say,' he hissed.

'I said I didn't realize that you were Gabriel's messenger boy. You're doing a lovely job though.'

Daryl backslapped her with ease; not as hard as he could of, but hard enough to make her stumble a bit. Reflexively, she raised her hand to her cheek, pulling it back, she saw blood on her finger tips.

At this point Angel noticed that something was going on, and came to check on Felicity, making sure she didn't do anything stupid.

'Who's this?' Daryl asked.

'This is Angel,' Felicity said.

Daryl looked at Angel for a bit. Sizing him up, seeing if he was worth the trouble of fighting at the moment. Apparently he decided not to, because he turned to leave. As he did, he silently told Felicity: Gabriel will find you. And when he does, I'm just going to laugh. You deserve everything that you're going to get.

'Who was that?' Angel asked.

'Just...just someone I know, and hate,' she said, her voice dripping with contempt.

'Are you still coming to Karatas with us?'

'I don't think I'm up to it now,' she said.

'Ok, then, I'll walk you home.'

'Ok– wait, what?'

'I'm going to walk you home...make sure that guy doesn't show up again.'

'Angel, you don't need to do that. It's just Daryl, he's not as strong as he would like to be. I can hold my own...I'll be fine.'

'Felicity, you're our only lead on this case. We need you. If you get hurt or something, and aren't able to help us with this, well, we're screwed.'

'If it's really that important to you, then fine. Just let me finish getting my stuff together.'

As Felicity finished haphazardly throwing things in her bag, Angel went to tell the others what was going on. He returned just as she tossed her make-up bag in.

'You ready?' he asked.

'Yeah,' she said.

'Do you have a car, or did you walk?'

'Oh, I walked,' she said. 'My apartment is only a couple of blocks away, so I typically walk.'

'I see,' he replied. they headed outside and started to walk in silence, until Angel asked, 'That vampire, Daryl is what you called him. Is he pert of this empire?'

'Yeah, or at least I think he was. He was a big supporter of the sl–er, empire a couple centuries ago. It would make sense that he'd be a part of it now.'

'Is he the vampire that you're bonded to?'

'No, thank goodness. I would have gone mad by now if I was bonded to Daryl. He's just one of those people that you can't stand being around.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean. If you don't mind me asking, though, how did you learn about this empire?'

Felicity sighed. Leave the trade out of this, she told herself. 'The vampire that I am bonded to is a fledgling of the vampire who created it. It's only natural that I would know the empire.'

'I guess that makes sense. The other day, when we first met, you said that if I sent anyone into this empire, they'd be killed...if they were lucky. What would happen if they don't get killed?'

They most likely e sold into the slave trade, and spend the rest of their life knowing that they have no control over it, she thought. 'I'm not sure, exactly. It depends on who you send in, how they get caught, who catches them, amongst...er...other things.'

Angel stared at her for a moment; the type of stare that you give people when you know they're not telling you the whole truth. He decided, however, not to press the subject. She obviously didn't want to talk about it. Angel knew from experience that it was not a good idea to pressure people into talking about their pasts. If they didn't want to talk about it, there was normally a reason behind that, most commonly was because their past was painful.

They reached Felicity's apartment soon after their conversation ended. Felicity invited Angel in, but he declined, saying he needed to get back to the hotel. She dumped her stuff on the chair inside her door, and started to fix herself some dinner. She sat and ate in silent contemplation as she thought about what she had found out that night. Gabriel was in fact looking for her, and she was going to try everything she could to not be found. She had worked hard to remain hidden from Gabriel, and she wasn't going to blow it all now. unfortunately, she knew of only one way that she'd be able to hide successfully. She was going to have to sing for Lorne. she had sworn long ago that she'd never do that, but she was stuck, and had nowhere else to go. If she wanted to keep her freedom, she was going to need Lorne's advice.

a/n: plz review, y'all. I'll try (key word being try, here) and get chap 4 up soon