Author's Note: QueenC, I'd email this to you but you were too cowardly to leave your email. If you don't like the story, don't bother reading it. Unfortunately for you, you're not the boss of what I post.

Previously on Angel: Angel's soul, temporarily removed to allow Angelus to surface, was stolen from the hotel. Lilah Morgen, once of Wolfram and Hart, snuck in to try and kill Angelus; when caught, she offered to help the team stop the Beast.

Deirbhile: Calvary

Deirbhile wandered down into the lobby later on; she sat on the back of the seat, legs crossed, and watched them for five minutes before actually asking what was going on.

"We're going to re-ensoul Angel." Cordelia told her.

"Wu Pang needs all this stuff?" Deirbhile gestured at the herbs and talismans.

"No, we do."

Deirbhile blinked. "Cordelia, I've been upstairs for nearly two days. What's going on?"

"Connor didn't tell you?" Fred asked.

"No. He didn't. What is it?"

"Angel's soul is missing." Fred explained. "Cordelia had a vision, and there's a spell we can use to re-ensoul him. That's what we need all this stuff for."

"Complex spell." Deirbhile eyed it cautiously. "Why is Lilah here?"

"She snuck in." Lorne said. "You OK, kiddo?"

"Not, no." She shifted slightly. "Do you want help?"

"I think that's a bad idea." Cordelia said from behind her.

"Why?" Lorne asked.

"Because I'm an Elf. I have magic, and sometimes it…reacts badly with other magicks." Deirbhile shrugged. "I don't care."

The door banged open, and everyone automatically looked over to see Gunn and Connor come in. Gunn was holding a severed head, which he set down on the counter. Connor glanced at Deirbhile, but before he could say anything, Cordelia reminded them the head had to be skinned, and he and Gunn were sent to do it.

Everyone but Wesley drifted away after that, and Lilah came downstairs. The lawyer had been carefully avoiding everyone until now. "So who are you? You haven't been here before."

Deirbhile glanced up, looking a little bemused. "Excuse me? What, are you recruiting? Wolfram and Hart's dead, Lilah. At least for now."

"A girl can't be curious?"

"Not when the girl's you. Wesley, please ask your girlfriend to leave me alone."

"She's not my girlfriend, and if she was she still wouldn't do anything I told her to."

"Wesley?" Fred came out of the inner office, halting on the threshold. "Cordelia had…a question."

"The spell's almost ready." Connor said a few minutes later. Skull cleaned, he'd come back to the lobby and settled beside Deirbhile.

"Yeah."

"Are you coming?"

"Can't. Elf magic doesn't mix with what you're doing."

"But you don't have to do anything."

"I know. The magic's part of me." She looked at him curiously. "What happened while you were out? Did the soul eater try to eat your soul?"

"We dealt."

"You like Gunn."

"He's…an adequate warrior."

"He's not on your level, I agree, but then who is? Except Angel, of course."

Connor stared at her. "I can never figure out where your conversations are going."

"I'm a bit loopy at the minute. It'll pass."

"Loopy?"

"Crazy. Sorry." She suddenly looked up, sliding off the seat. "Did you call Turtle Cove?"

"Yes."

"What? Why?"

"Because you're sick."

"Yes, but you shouldn't…oh, Stephen, you're making this harder."

"Why? I thought…I thought they'd want to know."

"Undoubtedly, they'd want to know." she reassured him. "But now that they know they're gonna want to come here. I barely got rid of Merrick the last time."

"I thought they could help."

"You…" She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. You're right…you did the right thing. Thank you." She turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To find Merrick. He's coming into town, and he won't be going to the house."

"Look…" Connor caught her arm. "You can barely stand up. You can't go out there alone."

"I'll be better out there, Stephen, and they need you here for the spell." She pulled away from him. "I have to go. I'll be back in a while."

"Promise?"

"Promise. Go re-ensoul Angel. I'll be here later." She stopped suddenly, staring at the door. "Stephen?"

"Yeah?"

"It's been three days, hasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"But nothing's happened."

Connor shrugged. "Maybe Cole was picking up Angel's dream. We were attacked here, right? In his dream?"

"Yeah, but I don't think…that doesn't sound right." She shook her head quickly. "I guess I shouldn't be complaining. I'm gonna…" she gestured to the door, and Connor nodded, watching her leave.

She came back just as they were leaving to find Angelus, as it turned out; Connor gave her a quick, 'Stay here' and left Cordelia to explain it to her.

"Where have you been?" Cordelia asked.

"Out. Why is everyone panicking?"

"Angelus is loose." Lilah told her.

"Oh. Oh well." She shrugged and turned to go upstairs.

"Where are you going now?" Cordelia demanded.

"Upstairs. See? These are the stairs, and I'm going up them."

"Not funny. Angelus is loose out there!"

"And we're in here. Did you uninvite him?"

"Public housing. No invite necessary." Lilah reminded her.

"He's not going to attack me anyway. Angelus knows who I am." Deirbhile sat down on the bottom step. "I'll sit here and chase him away if you want."

"We wouldn't want to put you out." Lilah said. Deirbhile shrugged again and got up.

"Okay. I'll be upstairs then." And without looking back she went upstairs and left them in the lobby.

"Idiot!" Cordelia said sharply.

"What? I don't even know who she is. How was I supposed to know she was serious?"

"It's called not shooting your mouth off, Lilah!"

"It's called give me a break, Cordelia."

"Shut up the both of you." Deirbhile was standing at the rail above.

"Why? You want to give an inspiring speech?" Lilah asked mockingly.

"No. I'm serious, Lilah, shut up for a minute." Lilah snorted, glancing at Cordelia. Cordelia, for her part, was watching Deirbhile.

"He's here, isn't he." she said quietly. Deirbhile nodded.

"Almost. The others won't be back in time." She looked down at them. "I can't stop him. There's nothing for me to work with in here. He won't attack me but I can't keep him away from you."

"We'll manage." Cordelia said. "Go hide; he doesn't know you're back, and we want to keep it that way."

"Won't he smell her?" Lilah protested.

"No. He won't." Deirbhile hesitated briefly, looking down at them. "Be careful, Cordelia."

"Go, before he gets here." Cordelia said quickly. Deirbile nodded and headed quickly down the corridor and out of sight again.

"So now what? We sit around and wait?"

"Yeah." Cordelia sank back into the chair, touching her head lightly. "It won't be long."

"Cordelia…" Lilah started, but she didn't have time to finish before Angelus was standing in the doorway.

Lilah fired, six times, aiming straight at him. But the vampire was too quick for her, dodging and ducking the bullets. Cordelia fired her crossbow; he caught the bolt and flung it back at her, catching her in the leg. Lilah bolted, running for the nearest corridor.

In her room, Deirbhile sat crosslegged, tracking them as best she could. The hotel was difficult to use like that; it was very old, and there was little life left in it. But she could get snatches; she knew Cordelia was down, and she knew Lilah had run past her door a minute ago. She had no idea where Angelus was, but even if he came into her room, he wouldn't touch her; she knew Angelus was afraid of her, as most demons were.

She opened her eyes and rose to her feet, leaving her room.