Chapter 1

Isobel crouched in front of the gravestone, her fingers tracing the letters of the name. Liam. She didn't understand what had drawn her here, why this grave called to her. She lifted her fingers to the locket around her neck, wondering why it was warm now, when it was normally cold. The demon frown, puzzled.

Her fingers brushed over the gravestone again, committing the name and dates to memory. There was something important there, though she didn't know what. Something she was determined to eventually figure out.

Natalie woke up from the memory with a start, jerking against the chains that held her to the bed. She sighed, letting her head fall back against the pillow.

"Morning, Natalie." She recognized the voice of Wesley, and sighed again. He's been there every morning, with questions, or an attempt to draw her into a conversation where she might tell him something about herself.

"Don't you have someone else to annoy?" She turned her head to look at him, a scowl creasing her face.

Wesley shrugged. "Not really. Alexa throws things." He paused. "Actually, at the moment, she appears to be having Spike scare off any potential visitors."

"And the others? Can't you bother them?"

"Angel isn't exactly himself, and he's in a very bad mood. Lindsey is being completely unreasonable, and at least when I look in on him, completely irrational. Which is your fault."

"Why would that be my fault?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

Wesley set aside the book he was looking through, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "You had Shannon kidnapped. Even though she's his ex, he's still very protective of her. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have come, actually."

"And?"

"So, if anyone brings up a subject that isn't rescuing Shannon as soon as possible, they're met with a scowl and stony silence. If they're lucky."

"And if they're not?" A smile was twitching at the corners of her lips.

Wesley grimaced. "He's been threatening to shoot the next person who bothers him."

"He'd even shoot Angelus? When it wouldn't do him any good?" She gave him a curious look, and Wesley shrugged.

"He hasn't bothered Lindsey yet."

Natalie echoed his shrug. "It would be amusing to see, if it happened." She tugged at the chains again. "Couldn't you loosen these chains a bit?"

"Sorry." Wesley shook his head. "Alexa would have my head on a platter."

"Why are you afraid of her?" Natalie snorted. "She hasn't been a particularly challenging opponent in the past. Not even particularly violent, for that matter."

"You don't know Alexa very well. And granted, I hadn't really met her often back home, but her brother is my friend, and he told me quite a bit."

"Such as?" Natalie gave him a raised eyebrow again, and Wesley shook his head.

"Her ex-boyfriend tried to kill her, and she broke his neck. He's paralyzed from the waist down. She could have easily killed him, and sometimes James commented that she should have, considering she nearly died that night, but she says that his fate was worse than death, and he wasn't good enough to kill."

Natalie blinked. "Interesting."

"That's one way of putting it," muttered Wesley.

"Spike, get out of my way." Alexa glared at the blond vampire who was leaning against the door to her room.

"Not yet, muffin. You're still healing."

"And if the brooding snot tries to bite me, I'll deck him. And let someone stake him, no matter how fond Shannon is of him." Alexa scowled, her eyes narrowing. "Wesley hasn't gotten any information out of that demon by being nice, and Lindsey isn't the only one getting impatient."

"I'm not moving, muffin." Spike crossed his arms, watching Alexa as she began to pace, doing his best to ignore the voice in the back of his head that demanded to be fed. Angelus wasn't the only hungry vampire around the hotel.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and he turned, peering out the peephole. Jillian stood there with a raised eyebrow.

"Jillian!" Alexa pounced on her friend as soon as Spike let her in. "So, anything?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked yet this morning. But nothing as of last night." Jillian rolled her eyes at Alexa's growl. "Patience, fire-eater."

"Well, if he hasn't gotten anything out of her, what did you come to bother me about? Or did you come to get me out of here, and away from the overprotective blond?"

"I can't keep Spike from following you around if he wanted to." Jillain sighed. "I have the security system set up, and I'll give you the codes in a moment. You can't get in or out the windows, or even open them without setting off the alarm. They'll also go off if they're broken, or someone cuts the glass." She grinned. "Same principle as behind the machine."

Alexa hushed her with a hiss, glancing over at Spike. He was looking supremely bored with the conversation, though she almost frowned at the intensity in his eyes when he met her gaze. She shook her head, turning back to Jillian. "And?"

"The only door that someone can get in and out of without needing a code is the front door. And I can switch that on after business hours, as it were. Or we can have someone keep an eye on it most of the time."

"That will work. Give me the codes, then go tell Lindsey. Someone will have to tell Wesley, and Angelus, but we can deal with that later. Wesley isn't likely to be going anywhere, and Angelus I would as soon stay here, where we can keep an eye on him." She wrinkled her nose. "I wish Shannon hadn't let him out. We don't need him causing trouble."