A/N: Blessed be for the easter holidays- I'm getting so much writing done. Not only have I written another chapter of this story, I've started another Angel-fic entitled 'Evermore' (plug, plug), and completed my latest CSI fic ('First Date or Second Thoughts' - plug plug, if you like that sort of thing...)

So, now the cross-over can begin in earnest - Willow and Tara make an appearance and Angel has a small freak-attack as the result of the (hopefully temporary...) loss of the two women in his life. But first, some action...

Please Read and Review, before I'm forced to end this story in one chapter that'll go something like - Fight Fight, almost lose, win the day, save the girl, the end... No one wants that, do they? Do they?

And now on with the show...


The realization hit Angel like a fist. 'He's going after Kathy. We need to get back to the hotel,' he said, glancing at Wesley and Gunn, who were flanking him.

'Oh, you're not going anywhere, Vampire,' the messenger told him. The remaining dozen monks surrounding him took up battle positions.

Two of the monks aimed crossbows at the vampire and let the bolts fly at him. Batting one bolt out of the air, Angel grabbed the second one before it imbedded itself in his chest. Without pause, he flung it back towards the monks, impaling one of the archers in the neck.

These guys weren't just threatening him and his crew anymore. They were threatening his sister and Cordelia, who was alone with the witch at the hotel. Angel was now seriously pissed off. As the first wave of monks came at him, he decapitated two of them with a single stroke of his sword. Without slowing down, he stabbed another, and knocked a fourth out cold with one punch.

Gunn took out a monk with his axe, before another kicked it out of his hands. Engaging in hand to hand now, he matched his opponent blow for blow, before delivering a fierce kick that sent the monk flying into a wall. He hadn't even finished sliding to the ground before another robed figure had taken his place in the fight with Gunn. Dodging an attack from the new monk's weapon and rolling to the left, Gunn retrieved his axe. He figured he'd need it against the really big broadsword the monk was packing.

Underestimating Wesley's skill with a blade, the first monk rushed at him, only to be sliced across the chest. The next monk was more cautious, taking time to size up his opponent. Seeing Wesley's injured arm, he attacked from that side. Wesley moved his sword swiftly and blocked the weapon before it connected. Parrying another blow, he delivered one of his own. The monk grinned though the pain and kicked out, connecting with Wesley's leg. Letting a yell out from the pain, Wesley dropped to the ground, and rolled into a better position. Thinking that he'd fallen, the monk moved in for the kill. But Wesley was ready for him, plunging his sword into his opponent's chest.

Angel cut through his final two opponent with relative ease, and turned to confront the messenger. But he had disappeared like a shadow in the night. Turning back to his friends in time to see Gunn slice through the final monk, he started back towards the car.

'Come on,' he told them urgently. 'We need to get back to the hotel.'


Angel burst through the doors of the hotel, afraid of what he would find on the other side. His worst fears were confirmed when he saw Cordelia, unmoving, lying the centre of the lobby floor. Kathy was nowhere in sight.

'Cordy,' he yelled, racing to her side and scooping her up into his arms. Cradling her gently, he shook her, trying to elicit some sort of response. Her eyes remained firmly closed. Smelling something, he looked down and saw several drops of blood on the tiled floor. It was Kathy's.

Picking Cordelia up, he took her to the couch and laid her gently down on it.

'Oh god, is she…?' Wesley couldn't finish the sentence, afraid of the answer.

Angel shook his head. 'She's alive. But unconscious,' he replied. He looked around the lobby. 'It's a long shot, but can you check the perimeter Gunn? See if you can see what way they went?' With a nod, Gunn ran out of the lobby.

Angel continued to crouch near Cordy, stroking her hair and whispering. 'Wake up, Cor. Come on. Wake up. I need you here.'

Wesley watched the scene, real fear coursing through him. What had happened here? Did the monks simply knock Cordelia out when they took Kathy, or… The prospect sent a chill through him. He knew that Kathy was going to be working with Cordy that night, tapping into her mind to try to ascertain how to alleviate the vision headaches. What if they were in the middle of this when the monks attacked? What if Cordelia's consciousness was now… elsewhere? A ringing telephone interrupted his thought process. He picked it up merely to silence it.

'Angel Investigations,' he said tersely into the receiver. 'Willow, I'm afraid this isn't a good time.'

'Sorry, Wesley, but this is urgent,' Willow replied at the other end. 'I need to talk to Kathy now. I've got information on those monks she called me about.'

'I'm afraid Kathy isn't… She called you about the monks?'

'Yep, we've been researching like crazy here. Found out that your first victim, Melissa Simpson, was a customer of the Magic Box. Giles dug up her account. She bought several books and potion ingredients from him in the last few months.'

'What were the books?' Wesley asked. She now had his attention.

'Rhiannon's Grimoire, an almanac, a couple of general spell books and something called the Lewe Seën text, which Giles tells me is about...'

'Shamanic rituals,' Wesley cut her off. He added urgently, 'does Giles have another copy of the text, by any chance?'

''fraid not. But we do happen to have a commentary for it,' Willow replied, before faltering. Wesley didn't sound too good.

'Willow, I really need to see that commentary,' he said in no uncertain terms.

'Wesley? What's wrong?'

'The monks we're after. They've taken Kathy. And Cordy's unconscious. We don't know what's happened to her.'

'How much time do we have,' Willow asked, with concern for both her friends.

'According to the pattern, they keep their victims for two days. Then…'

'I'll be there in a couple of hours,' Willow told him before hanging up and running to find Tara.


Angel was complete torn. One half of him was desperate to go out and start trying to track his sister. Although he knew that they had around 48 hours before she was killed, he knew that the monks would be spending that time torturing her, and he couldn't bare the thought of Kathy going through that kind of pain. The other half of him didn't want to go anywhere until he knew that Cordelia was okay. So, unable to reconcile his two opposing halves, he paced.

Cordy had not stirred from her resting place on the lobby's couch for the past hour, and Angel was beginning to fear that this might be more than mere unconsciousness. Wesley had shared his thoughts on the matter with him after getting off the phone with Willow. It might be a mystical coma. She might have been in a deep trance when Kathy had been taken. And without Kathy, they couldn't be sure of getting Cordy back.

Gunn had returned after half an hour of searching the area with nothing positive to report. It was likely that the monks had transported Kathy from the hotel in a vehicle of some kind, but there was no trace of it to follow. After reporting back, he had gone out again, tracking down sources.

'Angel,' Wesley broke the silence that had descended between the two men. 'I know you don't want to leave Cordy, but…'

'I should be out their tracking Kathy,' Angel acknowledged. 'I know Wesley. It's just… I'm afraid to leave her. What if…' He couldn't finish that sentence. What if she never woke up? What if she slipped away while he was gone?

'I'll stay with her, Angel,' Wesley reassured him. 'And Willow will be here soon. We'll fix this. Cordy will be up and about, bossing us around in no time.'

Angel's gaze fixed on the unconscious brunette. 'I hope you're right,' he replied softly.

Moving to Cordy's side once more, he stooped down and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. 'I'll be back soon, Cordy. You just try and wake up. Okay?'

Cordy didn't stir. Taking one last look at her, he turned to Wesley. 'Take care of her,' he told the Englishman, before grabbing some weapons and heading out into the night.


Water was dripping somewhere, echoing across the large room. As Kathy slowly opened her eyes, she saw the warehouse that had been in Cordy's vision. Groaning, she realized that the back of her head was throbbing. When she tried to move one of her hands up to her head to inspect the damage, the clinking of chains alerted her to the fact that she had been chained to a wall.

As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she saw a figure lying on the floor, several feet away from her. The figure had been so still, Kathy almost jumped several feet in the air when it groaned and shifted slightly on the cold, stone floor.

'Hello?' Kathy asked tentatively. She was answered with another groan. 'Hello? My name is Kathy. What's yours?'

The girl on the floor didn't answer, but shifted again, apparently slowly coming to. Kathy tried again. 'Hello?' she said, a little louder this time. 'Can you hear me? My name is Kathy. What's your name?'

The girl's eyes fluttered open slowly. She looked at Kathy, the relief that briefly flashed in her eyes quickly replaced by fear. 'I'm… I'm Ashley,' the girl replied, her voice sounding hoarse and parched.

'Nice to meet you Ashley,' Kathy said, trying to keep her talking. Keep her conscious. She needed information if she was going to get them both out of here. 'How long have you been here?'

Ashley's eyes closed for a moment. Kathy thought she'd slipped back into unconsciousness, when they fluttered open once more. 'I don't know,' she said. 'A day? Maybe two? I lost track.'

Kathy took a closer look at the girl. Blood encrusted her clothes. Her face was battered and bruised. She was sure she saw burns on one of the girl's arms. 'What have they done to you, Ashley?' Kathy said, tears building within her. The closer look had confirmed her fears. This was the girl she saw murdered in the vision she had shared with Cordelia. 'I need you to stay awake, Ashley,' Kathy told her. 'I need you to stay with me. We're going to figure a way out of here, you and I.'

Ashley shook her head, tears running down her battered face. 'No we're not. I saw what they did. I saw it. They killed her. They killed that other girl.'

'Denise?'

'Yes,' Ashley's voice shook with terror. 'They tortured her. And cut her. Then they… they slit her throat.'

'You saw all that?' Kathy's heart broke for the pain this young woman had endured, both physically and mentally.

Ashley couldn't speak. Terror rocked through her, causing her body to shake convulsively. But Kathy saw her nod her head. She closed her eyes, trying to hold back her own tears at the result of this woman's pain and fear. Please, goddess, don't let the vision come true, she silently prayed.


Angel's initial attempts at tracking Kathy turned up a whole lot of nothing. Her scent from the hotel only led him to her apartment, which was several blocks away. Then he decided to get smart, and went back to the warehouse district where he, Wes and Gunn had been ambushed by the monks. Several times, he though he caught her scent, only to lose it moments later.

Two hours later, he was beginning to get royally pissed off. He could sense something in the area. Something powerfully magical. Whatever it was, it was stopping him from pinpointing where they were keeping Kathy. And it wasn't as though he could search each warehouse individually. Hundreds of the buildings covered a two mile radius. It would take too much time. Time Kathy didn't have.

Acknowledging defeat, he decided to head back to the hotel. They would need magical help to track Kathy down.


Less than two hours after Angel had left the hotel, two familiar faces came through the front doors of the Hyperion. Getting up from his vigil at Cordelia's side, Wesley smiled in greeting.

'Willow! Tara! Thank you so much for making the trip,' he said warmly, despite the worry that was still present in his voice. He glanced at his watch. 'Less that three hours from Sunnydale to LA? Must be some kind of record.'

'Well, we kinda put a magical turbo boost on the car,' Willow confessed with a sheepish grin.

'Yeah. We figured time was of the essence,' Tara added.

Willow approached Cordelia's unmoving form. 'How is she?' she asked softly.

'We don't know,' Wesley confessed. 'She hasn't moved since we found her. I've been reading through Kathy's books and I think I've found the meditation technique she was using with Cordy at the time. She was trying to tap into her mind in the hopes of easing the pain Cordelia's been experiencing.'

'From the visions?' Tara asked.

Wesley nodded. 'They've been getting much worse lately,' he told them, holding out the book to Willow. 'I think this is the technique in question.'

Willow read the page of notes, written in Kathy's hand. Tara stood close beside her, also reading the open page. The technique was a straightforward trance in which Kathy could connect with Cordelia's mind and interpret the images she found there.

'I don't understand how this could have happened,' Willow told the ex-Watcher. 'There should have been no danger for Cordy. Unless…' she had a sudden thought. Meeting Tara's eyes, she could tell her lover was having the same idea. 'You said the visions were getting worse? How much worse?'

'Very violent,' Wesley told her. 'The aftermath was lasting a great deal longer that normal.'

'She must have had a vision in the middle of the trance,' Tara said in her soft voice.

'That's the only explanation,' Willow agreed. At Wesley's somewhat confused face, she continued, 'this type of meditation it … it opens the mind up. Which is fine, Cordy would have been all nice and floaty and relaxed. But…'

'But if a vision comes along at the same time, especially a violent one, instead of filtering in through the normal pathway, it rushes in all at once. Disrupts the brainwaves,' Tara continued.

'Think of it like a gate. If you only have the side part open, then there's a filter present. Only one person can get through at the one time, or in this case, one element of the vision at a time. But if the entire gate's open, or worse, if there is no gate at all…'

'Then everything hit Cordy at once,' Wesley began to understand. 'And her mind couldn't take it, so it splintered off from her body?' Willow nodded. Wesley looked down at Cordelia's supine form. It looked like she was only sleeping. 'So, what can we do?'

'Well, we can try and get her back, but…' Willow hesitated. 'We probably won't be able to do it without Kathy. She was the witch working the mojo, so she'll have the best fix on Cordy's psyche. Without her, Cordy might be gone for good.'

'Then we better find Kathy,' Angel's voice said behind them. 'Because I'm not losing either of them.'


To Be Continued...