Chapter 11

Somewhere in LA

Branna lifted her head and opened her eyes. Everything was distorted. She saw a figure moving toward her and she tried to rub her eyes to clear them. But her arms wouldn't move.

"Who's there? What do you want with me?" She pulled on her restraints and realized she couldn't use her magic.

"There's no need to struggle." The figure finally spoke. Branna's eyes widened as he stepped closer. She still couldn't see very well, but her ears were working fine.

"Dad?" she whispered. Angelus chuckled.

"That's right. I'm your real father." He stopped about a foot away from her and smirked.

"Why can't I use my magic?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Now, now, I think you know why. Those are the same cuffs I used on your mother. As to the question of what I'm going to do with you, I'd like you to meet one of my friends. He's a shaman, and he's going to put your soul in this bottle." Angelus said holding up a clear medium sized bottle and stepping back, allowing the shaman to approach and take it. "Just relax, Bra. It won't hurt."

The shaman began to chant and Branna's breathing started to quicken and Angelus could smell her fear and hear her heart speed up. There was a flash of light and the shaman turned to him.

"It is done." He walked away, placing the glowing bottle in Angelus's hands. He set the bottle down and walked up to his daughter and lifted her hanging head. Her eyes were pitch black and lips were curved into an evil smirk.

"Hello daddy."

The Hyperion hotel

"How long has she been in there now?" Buffy whispered to Spike as they stood in the doorway of Wesley's library, watching Neala look through book after book.

"Since this morning, and it's almost two o'clock. We got to get her to eat something." Spike whispered back.

"You two know I can hear you, right? I'm not deaf." Neala told them, not taking her eyes off the book in front of her.

"Yeah well, you do need to eat something. What would you like? I'll bring it to you." Spike said. Neala finally looked up at them.

"Pizza." She looked back down at her book and turned the page.

"Comin' right up." Spike turned and headed to the kitchen, leaving Buffy with the 439-yr-old Huntress.

"This is it. I found it." Neala said standing up and picking up the book. She gestured for Buffy to follow her out of the room. She and the Slayer entered the kitchen and found everyone in the room.

"I got it. It says here that, besides a moment of happiness, the soul can be taken from Angel with a specific chant performed by a shaman. It says to put the soul back we have to find an extremely powerful sorceress, but it doesn't say where we can find her." Neala read to them.

"Aren't you powerful enough to do it? I mean, Willow put his soul back the first time." Buffy said sitting down next to her sister.

"When the soul is taken out by a shaman, it's different. Don't ask me how, it just is. We have to figure out how to find our sorceress. I think I need to visit the Powers." Neala said setting the book on the counter. "Willow, I'll need your help." She walked out of the room with Willow following her out.

They entered the living room and lit a couple candles and sat on the floor in Indian style. They began to chant and soon they found themselves in a plain white room. Two chairs were placed in the center of the room with a man and a woman seated in them. Neala got right down to business.

"We need to find a powerful sorceress." She said before they could greet her.

"Do you not greet us anymore, Huntress Neala Winthrop?" The woman said.

"We don't have time for pleasantries. We need you to tell us how we can contact the sorceress powerful enough to restore Angelus's soul." Neala told them. Willow raised her eyebrows at Neala's tone. She didn't know Neala had gone to the Powers before.

"You seek the one called Skye? She is the most powerful sorceress known. We know of no other." The man said. Neala groaned.

"Where can we find her? Or how can we contact her?" Willow spoke up, wondering why Neala had reacted that way. The woman looked at her.

"You can find her in London. As for contacting her, a simple spell will alert her to your problem and she will come to you." She said. A table materialized in front of the two girls with a single piece of paper sitting on it. Neala picked it up and suddenly found herself back in the lobby of the hotel.

"Oh, so they bug me about not saying hello, but they can't say good-bye?" She said helping Willow to her feet. "Let's let the others know what's going on and then get started on this spell." She and Willow went back into the kitchen.

"Were you able to contact the PTB?" Cordy asked as the witches entered the room. She was sitting in a chair feeding Connor a bottle.

"Yeah. They gave us a spell to contact Skye. Our sorceress." Willow told them.

"We just wanted to let you know before we do the spell. Let's all go into the lobby. I want us all to be there when or if she comes. Oh and just a warning, she use to think she was all high and mighty. I haven't seen her in a while so just be prepared for a 'Greater that thou' attitude." Neala turned on her heel and walked out of the room, the others followed her out without asking any questions.

Neala and Willow again sat on the floor while the others sat themselves on the couches and chairs. The witches began to chant and soon there was a shimmering of light at the far end of the room as a figure appeared. A woman stood there in the place the light had come from. She was wearing a long black cloak, tight black leather pants and a royal blue halter-top, and had long straight red hair

"Whoa." Xander said. Dawn elbowed him in his side. The woman smiled warmly.

"I am Skye. I believe someone summoned me." She said in a thick British accent as she stepped toward them. Neala jumped to her feet.

"We did." She said as she pulled Willow to her feet. "We need your help."

"Neala?" Skye said stopping in front of Neala. The Huntress smirked. "You are quite a powerful witch. What could you possibly need my help for?"

"Long time, no see, Skye. I'm not nearly as powerful as you. We believe Angelus has been released by a shaman. We need your help to put back his soul and bring Angel back." Neala told her. "Will you help us?" Skye looked around the room at the others in the room.

"Why do you wish to restore the vampires soul? For your benefit or for the lives of innocent people?" Skye asked turning back to the Huntress. Neala rolled her eyes as her face scrunched in confusion. Leave it to her to get me confused before we even get any thing started. She hadn't really thought about why, she just knew it had to be done.

"I. . .I guess for both. I never thought about it. I want it done so he can't hurt anyone." Neala turned away. "Or me."

Spike easily heard her voice crack. Neala took a deep breath and turned back to Skye and narrowed her eyebrows.

"If you're not going to help us, I'll do it myself. Even if it kills me." Neala turned and headed toward the front door.

"You will not need to do it alone." Skye materialized in front of her, stopping her from going any farther. "I will help you." A scream behind them caused them to spin both to jump.

Cory was holding her head with one hand and trying not to drop Connor at the same time. Fred grabbed the him while Gunn held Cory up. The Scoobies and Neala looked at each other in wonder.

"Vision." Wesley stated. They all nodded and waited until cordial stopped screaming before walking over to her.

"You ok Cordy?" Gunn asked sitting her up.

"No." They all raised their eyebrows. "I just saw Branna killing humans."

Neala collapsed to the ground and sat there as silent tears slipped down her cheeks. Dawn approached her slowly and kneeled down next to her.

"You need to be strong Neala. We need to find Angelus and restore his soul before he does any damage." She said.

"He's already done damage Dawn. If she's killing humans, he's taken her soul." Neala put her head in her hands and sobbed.