A/N: Hey guys!

Sorry about the lack of author's note last week; I was quite literally walking out the door to go on holidays, which is also, Merykey, why I'm late updating. Never fear! I should hopefully be back on a regular schedule by the end of this week.

Angel-wings: what a great long review! Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying it, and yes, I do try and end each chapter in a way that'll encourage you to come back. As to more Champions and characters…you just opened a can of worms there. Probably next week, depending on the chapter breakdown, there will be a sidebar to this story which will introduce some more characters. There are going to be a lot of changes in Tara's life. I spent a lot of time getting her to somewhere where she's happy, and now I'm going to start tearing her down again…watch out for a return to Powers, and two new sections called 'Pocalypse and Lost Ones.

Stary: I'd love to answer your question about Connor and Tara, but your email addy didn't come through. Can I get it from your bio page, or do you want to email me direct?

MeryKey: You knew I wouldn't leave you hanging, didn't you?

Anyone else who read but didn't review: Enjoy.

Chapter Two

Wesley paced back and forth across Angel's office.

"I believe I remember peist." he murmured. "Small, winged snakes, correct?"

"Yeah, except they don't exist. They're kid's stories."

"I've never heard of them." Fred protested.

"Irish kid's stories." Angel clarified. "I heard them when I was young."

"OK, so what do they do?" Gunn asked.

"They don't do anything. They just are. They're not even vicious."

"They have been attacking people." Wesley pointed out.

"None of the reports mentioned injuries." Fred mused. "Or, at least, there was a sprained ankle, but…"

"Fred?" Angel prompted her.

"It's just there's no bite marks or claw marks."

"So maybe they weren't attacking." Wesley picked up her train of thought. "Maybe they were just retreating, as they did to us, and the civilians overreacted."

"It's possible." Angel agreed. "But we still have a flock of peist flying around downtown LA somewhere. We need to find them and do something with them before anyone else gets hurt."

"My department's still working on the readings I got last night." Fred offered. "We might be able to…"

She trailed off at a knock on the door. Deirbhile stuck her head around, looking from one to another of them. "Hey. Bad time?"

"No." Angel gestured her in. "What do you know about these demons?"

"Nothing." She shrugged. "Only that they're wrong. They shouldn't be here now."

"Now." Wesley repeated.

Deirbhile frowned, looking at Angel. "You do know what they are."

"Peist."

"Right. There's no way peist should be showing up here and especially not now. They've only ever lived in Ireland and they haven't lived there in centuries."

"Any theories on how they could have shown up here?" Wesley asked.

"Nope." She turned towards the door again. "Only that…they're not the last."

"What?" Angel asked sharply.

"There's more stuff coming. And no, I don't know what and no, I don't know when."

"Not much help then, are you?" Gunn muttered.

"Sue me." Deirbhile returned, leaving the office before he could answer.

"Would if you existed." Gunn muttered.

"Where've you been?" Connor asked as Deirbhile came back into the house.

"Worried?" she asked absently.

Connor snorted. "No. Merrick called."

"Oh?"

"What's up with these flying things?"

"The peist? Not sure yet."

"Who came up with that name?" Connor asked.

"It's always been their name. They're from Irish mythology."

"Whatever. How do we kill them?"

"Fred's working on it. If we could just drive them out of the city, that'd do it. They don't have to be killed."

"Save the pests?" Connor asked dryly.

"No, stupid. Peist."

"I know."

Deirbhile grinned. "You see, you do have a sense of humor."

"Whoop-de-doo." Connor said dryly. "I'm going out."

"Have fun. Hang on!"

He halted at the door, looking impatiently back at her. "Yeah?"

"Merrick?" she prompted him.

"Just checking. Felt like maybe something was wrong."

Deirbhile nodded. "OK; thanks."

"OK." Angel said patiently. "So your team" he looked at Fred "hasn't found a way to get rid of them, and your team" he looked at Wes "can't figure out what they're doing here."

"Right." Fred agreed. "They barely registered on our scanners, and the impressions we got aren't so much…"

Angel's phone rang. "Hold on a second." he told Fred. "Yeah?"

"Angel." Deirbhile sounded mildly out of breath. "Where are you?"

"In my office. You rang me."

"I know. Who's there?"

"Everyone. What's…"

"Put me on speaker." she interrupted him.

"What?"

"Put me on the speaker, Angel! We have a problem here!"

Angel turned the phone speaker on. "OK. Now what?"

"Can you hear this?" Deirbhile asked.

"Yeoch. I can." Lorne winced. "That does not bode well, honey."

"No. I mean, I know. Anyone else?"

"I can." Angel offered after a minute. "If you mean the…"

"Shush." she interrupted him. "Wes, Fred or Gunn?"

"Just you." Wes told her.

"Get Harmony."

"Deirbhile…"

"Get her! We need to know if only demons can hear this, and in about two minutes your switchboards are going to be flooded and she'll know then, so get her!"

Fred was already at the door; a moment later Harmony came in.

"Did you want me, boss…" she faltered, listening. "What is that?"

"She hears it." Angel told Deirbhile.

"Right." Deirbhile sighed. "Lorne, please take Wes out of the office, tell him what you hear, and come back in."

"Is there a reason for this, Deirbhile?" Angel asked.

"Yes. I'm testing a theory. That's the last thing I need to do, Angel, I promise."

Angel gestured Wes and Lorne on, and they left the office with Harmony, whispering for a moment before coming back in.

"Wes?" Angel prompted after a minute.

"I hear it." His tone was mildly wondering.

"Damnit." Deirbhile muttered. "Angel, this is a problem. You know what this is?"

"Bean sidhe." Angel said grimly.

"I'm standing outside a hospital downtown. Angel, once someone knows it's there, it follows them. It's spreading."

"That's not how it works." Angel protested.

"And peist don't live in this time or place, either."

Angel nodded slowly. "Can you come in?"

"On my way now."

"Both of you."

She hesitated. "I'll ask him."

"Fair enough."

"What's going on?" Gunn asked.

"Bean sidhe." Angel repeated. "Banshee."

"What's a banshee?" Fred asked.

"An Irish ghost." Wes supplied. "Said to cry at the time of death."

"There's no…" Gunn's expression changed. "Hell." he muttered. "That going all along?"

Fred's eyes widened as she heard the howling.

"This isn't…bean sidhe's not indiscriminate like this." Angel said. "She only calls for certain families. This is wrong."

"People keep saying that like it means something." Deirbhile commented. Angel looked down in surprise; he hadn't realized the phone was still on. "Really, it doesn't."

"We get that." Angel told her. "You just get Connor and get in here."

"Aye aye, Captain." The phone beeped as she hung up.

"Wes…" Angel started.

"Research. On it."

Angel nodded. "Fred?"

"Something to capture a banshee?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yeah. That'd be nice."

"I can try. Maybe some kind of ectoplasmic conversion…" she trailed off as she turned to leave the office.

"Won't work."

Gunn jerked in surprise, turning to see Deirbhile and Connor standing in the doorway. "How'd you do that?"

"Magic." She stepped forward, eyes on Angel and Fred. "It's not really bean sidhe."

"How do you know?" Wes asked.

"I lived in Ireland long enough to know one. This is…it's something else. I can't pin it down."

"And it's spreading." Connor added. "All over the city."

"Who hears it?" Wes asked.

"Demons. All demons, across the board. And anyone who's told it's there." Deirbhile sank into Angel's couch. "It's not…if you're not told you can't hear it."

"How does that work?" Gunn asked.

"My dagger does the same thing. If you don't know it's there you can't see it." Deirbhile reminded them.

"Yes, but that's only on a small scale."

"We're looking at this backwards." Wes said suddenly. "It's not that we can't hear it without being told it's there. It's not there until we're told it is."

"No, because demons are hearing it."

"Yes, but who started that?" Wes asked.

"No, I know what you're thinking, but Angel and Lorne weren't told it was here. The first they heard of it was when I rang them." Deirbhile glanced at Angel. "Do we see a connection?"

"Peist and bean sidhe? Yeah. Someone's digging around in Irish myths." Angel leaned back in his chair.

"Bean sidhe's not the only harbinger of death, but she's fairly unique." Deirbhile mused. "In Russia packs of wolves howled when people died."

"Most cultures have something similar." Wes agreed. "But that doesn't help us much."

"I know. I'm brainstorming."

Connor shifted. "That sound's not actually going to stop, is it."

"Fred's working on it." Angel said.

"Come here." Deirbhile said to Connor. Taking the dagger from the sheath at his hip, she studied it for a minute before looking back up. "Better?"

"Yeah." He took the dagger back.

"What'd you do?" Angel asked.

"Blocked the sound for him. No," she added quickly. "I can't reproduce it. Just for Connor."

"Great." Angel said, leaning back.

"If I can do it for him, the Powers must be able to do it for you." Deirbhile pointed out.

"Unfortunately, we're not on speaking terms." Angel reminded her.

"Yeah, they don't wanna get brooded to death." Spike said from the door.

"Hi Spike." Deirbhile said absently.

"What are you doing here?" Angel demanded.

"Heard the screams. Figured there was somethin' goin' on."

"Yeah, well, we're handling it, so you can…"

"Handling it?" Connor repeated. "No you're not."

"Connor, let the boys fight." Deirbhile said, gaze going from one to the other. "Havta learn to trust each other somehow."

"Who says we want to, pet?" Spike asked.

"Don't call me pet, or I may accidentally light you on fire." she retorted.

"I like this one." Spike said to Angel.

"I care so deeply." Deirbhile retorted. "Bug off, Spike."

"Spunky." Spike said approvingly. "So what's going on, then?"

"Bean sidhe." Angel said. Spike rolled his eyes.

"Pesky little fairy things. What the hell are they doing in LA?"

"They're not really bean sidhe." Angel continued.

"Don't forget the peist, Angel." Deirbhile reminded him.

"Right, and there's peist wandering around LA somewhere, but we don't know where."

"Hey."

Everyone looked up to see Buffy Summers standing somewhat uncertainly in the doorway. "Bad time?"

"Buffy." Angel said, something approaching wonder in his tone.

Deirbhile turned and began to whisper urgently in Connor's ear.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked, coming a little further into the office.

"We're handling it. I thought you were in Rome." Spike said, managing to pretend he wasn't interested.

"I was." Buffy agreed.

"So what're you doing here? Come to tell me to my face how much no one trusts us any more?" Angel asked bitterly.

"How's Dana?" Spike added.

"Doing better. And, no. I came for Spike."

"What?" Angel demanded.

"I came to ask Spike to come and help us." Buffy's gaze never left Spike's face.

"Spike?" Connor rose to his feet. "Spike, she's not here."

"Connor, just…" Angel started.

"Listen to me! She's not here! Smell her, Spike. It's not her. This is something, a glamour. Someone's trying to distract you! It's not her!"

"What's he talking about? Who is he?" Buffy asked. "Spike, you know me."

"Where's Dawn?" Spike asked suddenly.

"Wh…what?" For the first time, Buffy seemed to lose her stride. "Spike, why are you…"

"Where is she?" Spike insisted.

"She's in Rome. You're not…"

"You left her in Rome on her own?"

"She's a big girl now. I wanted it to be just us."

Spike took a step back, away from her. "Sorry, pet. Not buying."

"Spike, you…"

"No way Buffy Summers puts me before the lil' bit. No chance. Whoever you are, you're not Buffy."

"Phooey." Buffy shrugged, folding her arms. "Doesn't matter. I'm not the last."

Deirbhile pulled the dagger from Connor's belt and stood, watching the Buffy-impostor carefully. "Who made you?"

"Bite me." the thing retorted.

"Not hungry, thanks." Before any of them saw her move, Deirbhile was beside her, dagger tip resting lightly at her throat. "Who sent you?"

The thing arched an eyebrow and looked over her head. "Last chance, Spike."

"Yeah. Whatever." Spike snorted.

The thing shrugged and lunged forward, impaling herself on Deirbhile's dagger.

"Ick!" Deirbhile jerked backwards, pulling the dagger free and watching the thing dissolve into goo.

"What the hell was that?" Connor demanded.

"Does it matter?" Deirbhile asked, stripping the goo from the dagger with a shudder. "Urgh."

"Everything happens at once." Connor muttered.

"Yeah. No time to handle one thing before the next comes along. Shame. Angel, what the hell was that?" Deirbhile demanded, turning to face him.

Angel held out his hand for the dagger and she flipped it in her hand, holding it out hilt first to him. He studied the traces of goo left on it. "Can we borrow this?"

Deirbhile glanced at Connor, who shook his head quickly. "No."

"All right. Will you bring it down to the lab, to Fred?" Looking from one to the other, he added, "She won't hurt it."

"Couldn't if she tried." Deirbhile said, in automatic, unthinking defense of the weapon she'd carried for so long. "Yes, we'll do that."

"We will?" Connor asked, snatching it from Angel's outstretched hand.

"So far all we know is Elven silver turns those things to goo, and if we don't find out more you're going to be run a little thin keeping up." Deirbhile stopped short. "I just said that, didn't I?"

"Yeah." Connor looked back at Angel grimly. "There'll be more coming."

"We'll be ready." Angel said, equally grimly.