Chapter 2

The atmosphere was filled with tension and concern from all who knew Faith. Illyria sat on the sofa. In front of her sat her un-eaten slice of cold pizza as she examine the memories of her vessel Fred, as to who this Faith was. But her attempts failed as over the years the memories of the vessel faded away as the sands of time.

"Faith? Who is this entity you refer of?"

"You don't remmember?" Angel asked.

"If I recalled the name of this entity, I would not be asking," Illyria responded curtly as even to this day the loss of her ancient powers were still a touchy feely nerve as Spike referred to it.

"Lovely girl," Spike interjected. "Black leather pants, demons in her closet, rogue vampire slayer. Have I missed anything?" Spike directed his question to Angel.

"A vampire slayer," Illyria tilted her head to one side as the term was not familiar to her.

As Angel listened to Illyria, he turned to Spike and nodded his head. "Get the book."

Spike saluted smartly and left for Angel's office.

"What's the situation we're looking at here?" Gunn inquired.

As Angel was about to respond to the question, Spike grunted in the other room. "What shelf?"

"Third shelf from the top. Second from the left," Angel shouted back.

"Ah, found it!" Spike remarked as a second later he returned to the lobby and handed Illyria a leather bound book. "Here you go love, Vampire Slayers for Dummies."

"I am no dummy," Illyria responded in an offensed tone.

"The situation is we know little to nothing about the situation," Angel answered.

"One of those cases," Gunn announced as he had lost his appetite and placed the slice of pizza back in the box.

"Andrews acting liasion between us and the Watcher Council--"

"Ah,. Excuse me," Spike said raising his hand. "But last I heard, the Watchers didn't much care for our little group. Since your big idea of taking Wolfram & Hart that is. Bloody, they weren't even there to help us. And by the way, I wanted to slay the dragon."

"It's been two years, Spike. People's visions of others have a habit of changing. You got to kill two slaers and at least I got to slay a dragon.

"Indeed," Illyria said as she continued to read the contents of the book. "I once believed that Spike would double cross your leadership, Angel. In fact, I had what entities called: "lost a bet."

"Really?" Spike raised an eye brow.

"Yes," Illyria answered as she looked over to Gunn sitting in the chair across from her. "By the way Gunn, you still owe me what you call "twenty bucks."

"And what does the former Miss Goddess of the Universe think of me now?" Spike snarled.

"Your blonde," Illyria replied shortly.

Spike chuckled as he began to see the coldness that Illyria displayed against him continued to fade away since their endgame against Wolfram & Hart. How they managed to survive the battle continued to amaze him.

"Buffy wants us on this and I don't blame her."

Spike's eyes dazzled from the reference of the only vampire slayer close to his heart. A former enemy turned former lover. The universe had the weird means of portraying life indeed he once wrote during his days as being known for his bl;oody awful poetry.

"Fascinating information," Illyria declared as she closed the book and placed it on the coffee table. "It is highly improbable that Spike managed to best one of these warriors."

Spike looked to her and glared intently. "I wasn't always known to have a soul. I've had a few skeletons in my closet. How bout you?"

Illyria glared in response to the insult. "The one that collected this information was indeed a warrrior at heart hidden beneath the spirit of a scholar. Who was this entity?"

Angel glanced at Spike then back to Illyria who was staring at him with her cold ancient eyes. "Wes," he responded as even to this day the death of their former comrade was still a fresh wound. Even to Illyria who's cold ancient eyes morphed into the eyes of a human with emotions blossoming until fading. Somewhere inside her, Fred was still alive. But she was beyond saving.

"The plan is to check all our contacts and resources on the streets. Why they're bringing her to LA is anyone's best guess," Angel stated.

"Perhaps it's the time of year," Spike remarked.

"Who captured her? Have they asked for any ransom?" Gunn asked.

"Not so far. But when Andrew called the event was only half a day old. If there's going to be a ransom demand, it'll happen in the first twenty four to thirty two hours," Angel stated. "But we all know that there won't be any ransom demands. This is a Slayer people.

"So, we have no idea who captured our beloved rogue slayer, and we're going to save the day as always," Spike remarked as he reached for his bottle of beer that he found was empty of its content. "Sounds like fun as always," as Spike smirked as he headed off to the kitchen with the empty bottle in hand.