Chapter 2: What's Going On?
The gang was all up in Angel's office brainstorming on what they could attempt with Illyria. Dakota and Danielle were frantically looking up different potion ingredients and cross-referencing side effects. Dalton and Gunn stood toward the back of the office standing with their arms crossed across their chests, looking at everyone talking and thinking about ways to do something that seemed impossible. "Eureka!" Wesley stood with a single book in his hand, knocking all the rest off his lap.
"Eureka?" Gunn and Dalton said in unison. They both sounded surprised and looked at everyone else who had stopped moving. "Danielle, did you accidentally freeze the room?" Dalton looked toward her sister. Everyone turned and looked at Dalton, "K, guess not then."
"What is it Wes?" Angel asked, looking at the ex-watcher interestedly.
"I think I've got something. Of course there are possible side effects but—
Wesley was cut off by a ringing sound to the tune of Linkin Park's 'In the End', Dakota looked down to see her cell phone's antenna lighting up red and blue to show it was ringing. "Sorry." Dakota blushed; she then turned around to answer her phone. "Hello?" There was a pause. "Really? I kinda forgot about it... Yeah, I've been spending a lot of time with my sisters lately... Oh yeah I still want to go out on Friday..." Dakota continued to talk when Angel looked at Danielle and Dalton for answers.
"It's probably Connor, her boyfriend." Dalton replied.
"Connor." Angel got the deer in the headlights look.
"Yeah, okay why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Danielle asked the vampire.
"Or are about to get ran over by a 18-wheeler." Dalton added, folding her arms and expecting an honest answer.
"Nothing." Angel lied, Dalton rolled her eyes and was about to say something sarcastic when suddenly red flashing lights started going off and a recorded voice came over the intercom that was ran throughout Wolfram & Hart saying: Containment Cell 314 has a security breech, Code Black, all exits shut down.
"Gotta go, call ya back, K?" Dakota hung up her phone. "It's Illyria isn't it?" Wesley nodded. "What do we do?" The oldest witch asked.
"We do what we do." Dalton uncrossed her arms and picked up a sword that was propped up against the wall.
She looked at Angel and Wesley who looked reluctant to go charging in with all the guns loaded, it obviously hadn't worked right the last time. "Maybe this isn't the best idea." Wesley stopped Dalton halfway out of the door.
"We can't just sit here." The blonde sister growled toward the watcher. She didn't want to hear this, but she didn't want to hurt Fred. Although, her rebellious side was kicking in.
"Doll, listen. We can't hurt Fred, especially if we can still save her." Danielle stopped her.
"We need a plan." Dakota agreed.
Illyria wandered through the streets of Los Angeles wearing the face of the person she killed to be brought into this dimension again. The bright lights and cars were new to the ancient goddess; she didn't know what to think of it. The goddess began to wonder if she should have stayed with her host's friends, at least long enough to figure out. She didn't quite know what to do with herself, but she'd find out.
"You actually think you're going to regain your old power?" Dalton's voice came from beside her. Illyria looked down to see the blonde Slayer in a Wolfram & Hart car, a Honda S2000 that was painted black with silver fleck glitter mixed with the paint. The goddess rolled her eyes at Dalton. "They didn't send me to do this, they think I'm getting together something. Don't really know, was too busy devising my own plan. So Lyrie... I can help you get it back." The witch stopped the car.
"Do not call me that." She thought for a moment. "If you're lying I'll rip your limbs off one by one." She said uncaring and mercilessly.
"Okay fine, Illyria. I'm not lying. I need you as much as you need me." Dalton replied.
"What is this place?" Illyria asked, looking around the old Victorian house that was just outside of Los Angeles. Almost everything was covered in dust, but despite all the dust and dirt in the unused home, there was a fire going in the fireplace. Dalton walked into the front living room where the fireplace was going, and Illyria followed her.
"I had to come somewhere where no one would know where I was." Dalton replied after an extended pause. There were old paintings on the wall of women that looked like they were being eaten by the fire painted around them.
"Such disturbing imagery." Illyria looked at the painting above the fireplace.
"One of my ancestors, at the Salem witch trials. Our family was destroyed by the accusers; they killed half the women in our family." Dalton said, she stared at the picture but showed no emotion.
"Why do you seem not to care?" Illyria stopped looking around the house, and then looked at the blonde witch in front of her.
Dalton didn't respond for a moment. "I know the place is a dirty piece of crap right now, but Angel thinks I went looking for you. So I have to go back and tell him I couldn't find you. You have to stay here until I come back."
"Why must I stay here?"
"Because if you go anywhere else they'll be able to track you down. This house has centuries of anti-magic on it, no magic can affect anyone that walks inside." Dalton explained. "If you get hungry call a pizza, not sure if ancient goddesses eat pizza, but you can try if you want."
"Locating can't track her, it's like she's disappeared." Wesley reported to Angel as he entered his office where Angel and Gunn were waiting.
"She can't do that, can she?" Gunn asked.
"No, so far she's only shifted time. I don't think she can just magically vanish without leaving behind enough magical residue for us to notice." Wesley replied.
"So how do we find her then?" Angel asked.
"I'm not sure, I've got my assistants working on it." Wesley told his boss.
Two more people reentered Angel's office: Dakota and Danielle. "Hey boss man, we all three went our separate ways and neither one of us could find her. We don't know about Dalton though, she didn't meet us back when she was supposed to." Dakota explained, then plopping down in a chair.
"What would happen to Dalton if she found Illyria without you two?" Gunn asked, leaning up from his seat on the couch beside Angel.
Danielle sighed, "We're not sure. I think she would have called us though, she's not stupid enough to try to fight her on her own."
"Are you sure? I've seen her in a fight, she thinks she can hold her own better than she can." Angel retorted.
Gunn snorted, "You didn't see her during the fight simulation with Illyria did you?"
"Break it up boys. This isn't a time to get something going." Dakota interrupted.
Just then a white light sparkled in the middle of Angel's office and Brian appeared, "Hi guys." He smiled toward the two sisters in the office, and then looked back toward Angel. "The Elders are sure she hasn't jumped dimensions, she's still in this one somewhere." The white lighter reported, he scanned the office again. "Where's Dalton?"
"Asking the wrong people." Danielle replied.
"I'll try sensing her." Brian suggested. Everyone got quiet, and Brian closed his eyes and focused, a moment later he opened them. "She's on her way here." He replied.
"Does she have Illyria?" Dakota asked impatiently.
"No, she's alone." Brian replied.
"I'll call her cell phone." Dakota sighed, pulling her own out of her pocket and dialing her sister's number.
"Holidae In, this is Shawtie. How may I help you?" Dalton answered.
"You have to stop answering the phone like that. What happens one day when your boss is calling you and thinks they have a wrong number?" Dakota rolled her eyes.
"Number one, don't have a boss. Number two, I have caller ID. So, what'cha want?"
"Where are you? We were supposed to meet back at Starbucks an hour ago, we waited on you but you never showed so we came back to Wolfram & Hart."
"I am on my there. Sorry, there was traffic."
"Where were you? I tried to call you, but you never answered."
"My service died while I was stuck in traffic." Dalton lied.
"Okay, hurry up." Dakota snapped.
"Yes masta!" Dalton said sarcastically, she snapped her phone shut. She threw her cell phone into the passenger seat of the car and turned into the parking lot of Wolfram & Hart.
"Angel—okay, so the rest of the world is in here too." Dalton mumbled as she entered the vampire's office.
"What is it Dalton?" Angel asked, standing up from behind his desk.
"Uh, nothing it can wait." The blonde witch lied. "So, what do we got?"
"A whole lot of nothing, without Illyria." Wesley replied. "I thought I had something, but I'm not sure if it will work. The first time I looked at it I thought it would work, but I looked at it again and it seemed to have changed." He told them.
"Change? How?" Dalton asked.
"It seems as though someone rewrote the spell and results while we weren't looking." Wesley replied.
"To do that you'd have to go back in time right?" Gunn asked, looking over at the ex-watcher.
"Yes, I believe so." Wesley replied.
"Sahjhan." Angel said.
"Do you think he had something to do with this?" Wesley asked.
"Oh yeah." Gunn agreed. Dalton lowered her eyebrows, but quickly put a concerned look back on her face.
"Wesley and Gunn go to your resources and talk to them to see what they can about Sahjhan. Brian, I hate to ask again, but could you ask the Elders? Dalton, Dakota, Danielle, see if you can to a multi-dimensional locater spell on him." Angel ordered everyone. Everyone started off to there missions when Dalton's voice stopped at least her sisters from moving.
"Not the greatest idea, yet. Danielle, why don't you and Dakota go and work on finding Illyria, there are some things I need to talk to Angel about." Dalton said. Her sisters looked at her strangely, but went anyway.
"What's wrong?" Angel asked.
"Nothing...Yet." Dalton pulled a talisman out of her pocket and a yellow light passed over the room.
"What—
"Never mind that right now, I have 10 minutes to tell you everything."
"About?"
"What's really going on in this city."
A/N: That took like forever and a few days to update, but HEY! I finally did...another will be up soon, cause I'm out of school for summer. Have fun! XOXO Charlize
