Darla and Drusilla walked the corridors of Wolfram and Hart like women with a mission. They had been sent for by the senior partner, who they had yet to meet.

Lindsey had told Darla that he would meet them in his office and take them to the meeting personally. As they arrived he was sitting at his desk looking over paperwork.

'Ladies,' he said in greeting. He got up. 'Follow me.'

Angel sat brooding in his room when he sensed a presence.

'You know, after all this time I thought you would have given up broodin' as a hobby and moved on to somethin' more fulfilling. Like stamp collecting.'

Angel spun around and saw Doyle standing, large as life, in the centre of the room.

'Are the Powers that Be raising everyone from the dead?' Angel said with more calm than he actually felt.

'Me? Na. I'm still mortally-challenged. I'm here on a pass. Little bird told me you could use some cheering up.'

The conference room was in semi-darkness as Lindsey entered, followed by Darla and Drusilla. In one corner of the room three figures in monks robes chanted over a low stone alter.

'Where's the Senior Partner?' Darla wanted to know.

'Right here,' a voice came from nowhere. A figure appeared at the head of the conference table. The First.

Having no tangible form of its own, it chose it's most comfortable visage. The manifestation of Angel's victim and one of his greatest betrayals. Jenny Calendar.

'I'm unhappy with the way things are progressing with our little project,' she said. 'I expected to see results by now.'

'He's strong. Stubborn,' Darla replied. 'We'll drive him over the edge soon.'

'Why drive him when a gentle nudge is all that is required. The poor boy is sick, ladies. You said it yourself, Darla, just before he killed you. He's sick. And there's only one thing you can give him to make him well again.'

'When I was sick, Spike gave me Angel's blood to make me strong again,' Drusilla realised. 'The blood of the sire,' she sang.

'If we give him his sire's blood, my blood? That will turn him? Angelus will be restored?" Darla was giddy at the thought. At last Angelus would be returned to her.

'That's my girls,' the First replied. 'Didn't think I'd have to spell it out for you.' She nodded to one of the Bringers, who set a scroll down on the conference table. 'Get it done.'

With that, the First disappeared.

An hour later Angel left his room, his spirit a little lighter than it had been in a while. Kathy was waiting for him in the foyer.

'How'd it go?'

'Well, he's no shrink, but I feel a little better.'

'Good. Cordy and Wesley have headed back to their office and Gunn checked in. He's meeting them their. No word on where the Harbingers or Darla and Dru are. He'll keep looking though.'

'You should join them. I'm going on patrol and it's not safe here at night.'

'I'm not sure it's safe for you to go on patrol right now. Not without someone to cover your back.'

'I'm a big boy,' he said stubbornly. Then his tone softened. 'Please, go to Cordy's. I'd feel better knowing you're safe.'

'Okay, but check in with us every few hours.'

'Every few hours,' he promised.

'Pick up. Pick up,' Cordy paced as much as the phone cord would allow her. Fear rang through her. If they were really going to face the First, they would need all the help they could get.

An answering machine picked up. 'I'm not at home at the moment,' said Giles' pre-recorded voice. 'Please leave a message, or you can contact me at the Magic Box on 555-6236.'

'The Magic Box?' Cordelia wondered as she punched in the new number.

In two rings it was answered by a very perky Anya.

'Magic Box, Anya speaking. We cater to your every magical need.'

'Anya? What are you doing there? Where's Giles?'

'Who's this?' Anya wanted to know.

'It's Cordelia. Is Giles there? It's important.'

'Yeah, hold on.' Anya was less enthusiastic when she realised that Cordy wasn't a potential customer.

She heard voices in the background that she recognised as Willow and Xander. Then footsteps as Giles hurried to pick up the phone.

'Cordelia? What's wrong?' asked his British ex-librarian.

'Giles, we've got a problem. I think we need Buffy.'

'Things are rather difficult here at the moment. Does Angel really feel that ...'

'Angel doesn't know I'm calling. He ...' she felt she might as well be honest, 'He said he didn't want her told. But we're facing something big, and I think Angel is in real danger.'

Giles was silent for a moment, weighing up what she was saying. Cordelia didn't know what was going on back in Sunnydale, but she could hear the tension in Giles' voice. Things sounded more than difficult.

'What is it you're facing? Exactly?'

'The First.'

Things were quiet on the street tonight.

Too quiet.

Angel felt something stirring in the air. Something evil. It sent shivers running along his spine. He could find none of his snitches tonight, and that was a bad sign. Either they were in hiding, from him or something else, or something else had already gotten to them.

Angel knew he would never have had this trouble back in Sunnydale. All he needed was Willy the snitch to get by there. Here it was a different story due to the sheer size of the town. He had several informants, and even they weren't always enough.

Especially now.

He looked at his watch and realised that almost three hours had elapsed since he saw Kathy. He switched on his cell phone to check in.

She picked up in three rings.

'It's me. I'm still on the street, patrolling. Things are really quiet.'

'I'm on my way to meet Cordelia and Wesley. I stopped at home for some books and then I was at the library.' The line was bad, but he could hear the relief in her voice. She had been worrying about him.

'I'll make a couple more sweeps and then meet you back at Cordy's.' He said goodbye and hung up as something sharp stung him in the neck. Before he could even turn around, another dart hit him in the back.

The world became a blur as he fell to the ground.

Giles hung up the phone looking troubled. He had much to prepare, but first he had to talk to Buffy.

The other Scoobies were quiet as he walked past them and into the back training room where Buffy was working out.

She was oblivious to Giles as she worked off her frustrations on the punch bag. Giles watched her for a moment with fatherly concern. She had spent the most part of the past three months worrying about her mother, worrying about Dawn, and now she was upset over Riley's departure. It was a lot to cope with, even for the slayer. He was not sure how she would handle this latest piece of bad news.

'Buffy.' The slayer stopped her exercise and turned to face her watcher. She immediately saw that not all was right.

'Giles, what's wrong?'

'Cordelia just phoned. They may need your help in LA.'

'Giles, you know I can't leave right now. Mom's still recovering from her operation and Glory's out there looking for Dawn. I can't just up and leave. Tell Angel he'll have to handle it himself.'

'I'm afraid Angel is part of the problem Buffy.' The watcher adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath. He didn't know where to begin. Moving closer he gestured for her to sit down. 'It involves The First.'

"No,' she said defiantly, as if she could make his words untrue with just her voice. 'We stopped it. It gave up and left him alone.'

She paused, remembering what she and Angel went through the last time The First manifested. 'He hasn't ...' She couldn't finish the sentence. It was too awful to put into words.

Giles knew what she was thinking. 'No. Angel hasn't lost his soul. But he has been put through a great many torments in the past few months.'

He paused, not wanting to go on, but at the same time knowing he had to tell her everything.

'Darla has been resurrected by The First. She and Drusilla are in LA right now causing havoc. And Cordelia believes that they have a plan to bring forth Angelus and to cause the next Armageddon.'

'The end of the world?' she paused, before adding weakly, 'Again?'

Giles was silent, waiting for her answer. Buffy ran her fingers through her hair and stood up.

'I guess we're going to LA.'

Kathy arrived at the new Angel Investigations office to find Cordy and Wesley still hard at work. Wesley was poring over the prophesies of Abergion looking for anything he might have missed before.

'Any luck?' Kathy asked.

'Nothing promising,' Wesley replied. 'There is nothing that mentions The First directly. Apart from the basic information we already knew.'

'Gunn's gone back to his safe house for the night. To keep an eye on his crew and get them up to speed on the creepy monk guys,' Cordy told her.

Kathy looked at the front door. It was pitch black outside, and the door wasn't strong enough to hold off a gang of vampires if they decided to attack. The thought sent a chill through her.

'Maybe we should head over to your place,' she suggested. 'You know, somewhere that people actually live. Just to avoid any unwelcome guests.'

Darla poured over the scroll as Drusilla looked on excitedly. Dru could sense the power in the scroll, the evil. It sang to her like the cold earth and the night sky.

For Darla, it contained the answers she had long sought: how to bring back her beloved Angelus. The scroll laid out for her the ritual that could make it happen. All it needed was her blood and the presence of Angel.

The door opened to their motel room and four vampires entered carrying the now unconscious vampire. They tossed him down on the bed and waited for their orders.

'You can go,' Darla said, standing up. 'But stay nearby.'

They nodded and left.

Lindsey was standing near the door. 'I don't think anyone followed us,' he told Darla.

'Good,' she replied, gazing at her former lover. 'We wouldn't want anyone disturbing our touching reunion.'

'And you're positive this will work?' He wanted to be sure.

'Trust me. Less than twenty four hours from now the most dangerous vampire ever to walk the earth will be unleashed upon it once more.'

She gentle touched Angel's cheek and spoke softly, as if to a child. 'Now my precious. You're sick. But Darla's going to give you something to make you well again.'