"I corrupt both good and evil."
Spike and Dev bring the fight to each other in New York City while Elektra tries to maintain control in Cleveland. Meanwhile, Angel offers Debbie some unwanted help.
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Tuesday after school, Melanie, Danielle and Diego go over to the vampires' apartment to see why they haven't been answering their phones. They knock several times, getting no response. It would be very odd for the vampires to be out in the daytime. Diego uses the key Sidney gave him, and they enter. There are signs of a struggle, and three piles of dust on the living room floor. "No. No," Melanie gasps, putting her hand to her mouth.
"Who would do this," Diego asks. They stand in silence for a few seconds.
"Has anyone seen Deb," Danielle wonders.
That night, Angel decided to pay the rogue Slayer a visit. She's sitting on the floor, staring at the wall. Her cheeks are red from crying. Debbie looks through the peephole. "Oh no." She reluctantly opens the door. "Get off my property."
"Debbie, I want to help you."
"Get out!"
"It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself."
"Get Out!"
"Right now, I think you need someone to talk to." She punches him in the nose.
"Right now, I think you need to go back to LA."
"If you need anything, just call."
"Need something? From a vampire?" She laughs.
"Being a Slayer doesn't mean being alone." She steps onto the porch and kicks his chin with her right foot. Angel falls down on the grass.
"You are not part of my life. You can never be part of my life. Now go back to Spike and leave me alone."
"You're a good person."
"Really. What do you know about goodness? Or people? I'm going back inside for a crossbow and some holy water. And if you're not gone by the time I get back - "
"I'm your friend."
"Like hell!"
"I don't want anything from you. I just want to help." She slams the door.
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Spike answers his cell, phone, hoping it's Flash. "Where are you," Claire asks, disappointing him.
"In New York on business. Sorry I didn't call. It's been a little hectic."
"Sure. I mean, why bother to tell your girlfriend you're going all the way across the country?"
"I said I wus sorry."
"When are you getting back?"
"I don't know."
"This weekend?"
"I can't say. Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have lives to save. I'll call you when I get home."
"Fine." She hangs up, disappointed.
Spike enters an abandoned town house in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan. Three white vampires are raping a ten year-old black girl. "Now that's just disgusting," Spike says, going bumpy. "Can't you at least wait until she's nubile?" Two of them turn around.
"What's your problem?"
"I have many. You're at the bottom of the list." He knocks the vampire down with a right hook and bodyslams his friend. Then he stakes in the back the vampire that's still assaulting the poor girl. The other two vampires run for the front door. Spike leaps forward, grabbing their necks and slamming their heads into the brick wall. He impales one vampire on a broken bannister and lands a few punches to the body of the remaining vamp. "I think this is the point where you beg."
"Fuck you!" Spike lands three left crosses to his face, knocking the vampire down on his face. He then slams the face through the hardwood floor. "Okay, okay! What do you want?" Spike picks the vampire up and lands a right jab to his nose. "What the hell was that for?"
"Cuz I felt like it. And cuz you're a disgrace to our kind." He looks at the girl, who's crying. "But that's not important. I'm searching for a vamp named Devlin."
"The Slayer scourge?"
"The wut?"
"He killed that Slayer. Stake through the heart! It's the coolest thing I ever saw online. Way better than Paris Hilton."
"Saw? Never mind. Where is he?"
"Is he in town? I have got to meet him. He's my new hero. A Slayer killer!"
"Wonderful. Find Devlin and betray him to me."
"Why? You got a hard on for Slayers?"
"Yes, but, no. Never mind." He knocks the vampire down with another punch. "The name's Spike. Wut's yours?"
"Chuckie." Spike laughs.
"Can't you people think of anything original?" He kicks Chuckie in the mouth. "I work for Wolfram & Hart. Have you heard?"
"Yeah! They're like a big consulting firm or whatever."
"Whatever. They can protect you. Give you money. Get you women. Adult women. And a nice place to live. Make it so you're no longer scraping the bottom of barrel."
"What do they have against a Slayer killer? Ain't he on our side?"
"OUR side?" He punches Chuckie again. "Do I look anything like you?" He grabs the man's hair and drags him along the floor.
"Sorry. I'm sorry! Dammit! What is your freakin problem?"
"Vampires who ask too many bloody questions. Do wut you're told, your life gets better. Don't do what you're told, and I kill you. Got it, Chuckie?"
"Roger that." Spike shoves his card into the vampire's bloody mouth and hurls him through the boarded-up bay window. Then he slowly approaches the girl. She screams. He returns to his human face.
"Don't worry. I'm not gonna hurt you." She shakes her head and cries.
"No, no, no," she softly says. Spike gently picks up the girl, who still keeps saying no. "It's over. You're safe now." She keeps saying no. "Stop that! Sorry. Didn't mean to get cross. The bad men are gone."
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"You are so fucking amazing," Hector says to Elektra as she gets out of bed late Wednesday afternoon.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"We're gonna kill the Slayers."
"Maybe. But first I'm going back to Cleveland."
"We're goin' to Cleveland?"
"No. I'm going to Cleveland," she replies as she puts her pants on.
"What? We're a team. We're great together. We're meant to be together." Leks laughs.
"Silly boy," she says, caressing his face. "You're cute." She kisses the tattoo on his left shoulder. "And sweet." She puts her right hand on top of his bald head, cuts his scalp with her fingernail and licks the blood. She can feel him tremble, and smirks with delight. "But I'm a very important vampire. Maybe the most important in all of America. And I have big responsibilities. By the way, I'm taking Justin with me."
"What? He's my homey. Whom I gonna fight the Slayers with?"
"Sire some minions. You'll be fine. And maybe after you kill the enemy, we'll have a day together that will make today look like recess. Bye Hector. For now." He rushes over, taking Leks in her arms.
"I love you." He kisses her passionately. She pushes him onto the bed. "Don't give me that romantic crap. We're vampires."
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Angel arrives at the cafe, where Nina is talking to Oz. She sees him. "You're late."
"Sorry. Work."
"That's my cue." Oz gets up and leaves. Nina smiles at him.
"I hope you haven't been here too long."
"It's okay. Oz kept me company. So what was the emergency?"
"The usual."
"Saving some fair maiden?"
"Not as fair as you."
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Three male and two female vampires showed up at the subway train repair yard in the Bronx at five o'clock Thursday morning to hear Devlin speak. Included in the crowd are Flash and Chuckie. "Is this all that's left?"
"There are a few more in the outer boroughs I think," Vivian, a teenager with short blonde hair, replies.
"This city can comfortably support eighty vampires. Clearly you have Slayer problems."
"And vampire problems too," Chuckie reports. "This wacko named Spike killed my friends." Devlin smiles.
"Good. Not that your friends are dead, but that he's around. We can make this work for us. But first I have to get you people showers and a warm bed. You can't defeat Slayers if you're a mess." This doesn't appear to make sense to them. "Just trust me on that." The vampires are not terribly impressed and start to mutter to one another. "Hey! There were two Slayers in Cleveland who were stronger than the two in New York, and I killed them both! You're gonna be free by the end of the week. And don't worry about this Spike character. I handled him in LA, and I can handle him on the East coast. Now hotwire a car and follow me to our camp. By which I mean a seedy motel up the road. The sort of place that's out of a Slayer's range." He makes his way back to his car, where Flash approaches.
"You're Spike's, I mean, Spike's your sire."
"Yeah."
"Cool."
"How so?"
"I mean, he's strong, so you must be strong. I mean, you killed a Slayer."
"Two." He takes his cigarette out of his mouth with his left hand and runs his right hand through her hair. He'd slept with girls in the past who really wanted Spike and saw him as the next best thing, and he didn't mind. Also, there was something about this girl which excited him in a sinister way. "Your hair. It's like hers."
"Whose?"
"The last Slayer I killed." He smiles. At the motel, Dev hands out two room keys. "Viv, you stay with Chuckie." He smiles. "And you two get the other room."
"What about me," Flash asks.
"You're in my room, Vi."
"It's Flash."
"No, it's Vi." Devlin assumed Spike was staying in a hotel in midtown or downtown Manhattan. Since he can only sense Dev within a few miles, he should be out of range in the North Bronx. After the spirited role-playing, Devlin enjoys his first good day of sleep in close to a week. It's rare for him to sleep into the night.
"Morning," she jokes.
"What time is it?" He looks around for his clothes. She gets on top of him and takes off hers.
"You were growling in your sleep. Well, your stomach was."
"I'm okay."
"I know the feeling. It's been hard to get a good meal around here the past couple months."
"It was the same way in Cleveland. But I took care of that." She smiles and rubs his chest.
"Do you know how sexy that is? Killing a Slayer?" She kisses his neck. "I just can't keep off of you."
"Not now."
"Why not?"
"We have to strike."
"After." She stands up on the bed and holds the sheet behind her like a cape. "You gonna say no to this?" Devlin playfully rolls his eyes. Flash leaps on top of him.
"Grab the stake." She picks it up off the night table with her left hand.
"Are we doing this again," she complains.
"Do it, Slayer." She jabs the point against his chest, exciting Dev.
"You want me dead?"
"Yes."
"But I make you happy?"
"Yes. Yes." Once Devlin immerses himself in the sick fantasy, he forgets his troubles. Until he hears a thump on the door, which swings open. Dev looks to his left and sees Spike. He pushes Flash off the end of the bed and rolls off the right side of the bed, grabbing his gun off the floor. Spike leaps over the bed and is about to pounce on Devlin when he's hit in the chest at point blank range. Two more shots knock him to the other side of the bed. Flash covers herself with the bedsheet and screams as if this is a surprise. Spike takes out his stake and leaps towards Dev, who aims and fires. Spike lands on top and goes for the kill. His son holds him off with both hands, then notices the blood seeping out of Spike's left leg. He starts kicking the leg with his right foot. Spike groans in pain. Dev pushes him away, stands up and throws Spike back across the bed. When he stands up, he realizes the last bullet went through his left kneecap. Now he has a taste of how Dev made all those Slayers feel. Dev points the gun at Spike's head.
"You don't have the stones," Spike says, gritting his teeth in pain.
"Buffy won't want you if you're a vegetable. Say hello to eternal life as a retard. Then again, isn't that what Angel thinks you already are?"
"Wut's the matter, son? Afraid of a fair fight?"
"What the hell's going on," Flash asks, pretending to fear Spike, but at this point fearing Devlin since Spike failed to kill him. The other four vampires race in to Spike's left, having heard the gunshots.
"I'll take that as a yes," Spike says, answering his own question. He goes bumpy.
"Don't let his looks fool you," Dev tells them, standing there stark naked. "He's a good guy, and he's here to kill us." Chuckie, who's also in league with Spike, attacks and is surprised to get knocked down with a hard right. Spike tosses another male vampire through the wall behind him, shocking the guests in the next room, who were already terrorized by the gunshots. Though he's immobile, Spike can still take these four vamps.
"Actually, I'm here to kill HIM," he jokes, blocking the third guy's punch and putting him on the bed with a left hook. "I don't give a fig about you wankers." Viv kicks him in the chest. He grabs her throat, pulling her feet off the floor, and goes to stake her. She screams and puts her left hand up defensively, but the stake goes clear through and is headed for her heart when Dev fires his gun, putting a bullet through Spike's right hand, knocking the stake from his grip. It remains lodged most of the way through Viv's hand, while the bullet goes into her right shoulder.
"Nice try, Spike. Now be a good bloke and catch the number six train back to Manhattan." Dev uses this respite t finally put his pants on. Spike looks at the four vampires surrounding yet cowering from him. Flash makes a belated show of loyalty by charging Spike with her stake. He puts her on her back with a right jab and limps out of the room. The motel manager rushes in.
"What in God's name is going on here?" Dev walks over.
"In His name? Nothing." He pulls out his gun and fires a round into the poor fellow's forehead, splattering blood and brains on the wall behind him. "Like a Jackson Pollack painting," he jokes.
"So that's Spike," Flash says, still on the ground.
"Nice try. Poor try, actually." She stands up.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I should have known a sexy girl like you wouldn't really be interested in me."
"That is so not true."
"Get dressed. We're taking a walk."
He leads the group into a nearby vacant lot and gives Chuckie his camera. The other two male vampires hold Flash's arms. She's on her knees. "Action. Given the pressure we're under, it's natural to try to make a deal with the enemy to save your scalp." The hypocrisy is Dev did the same thing for five months by teaming up with a Slayer. "But it doesn't work. This is what we do to traitors." He takes out his knife and cuts off the vampire's scalp as she screams. Chuckie nervously films what could happen to him if Dev finds out he made a deal with Spike. When Devlin is done he shows the scalp to the camera, then motions for a close-up of the victim. "And cut. That's a wrap. Let her go." The vampires gleefully pull Flash to her feet and push her away. "Maybe you can catch up to Spike before your brain dries out." The five of them walk away. Dev grabs the camera.
"Can't believe she'd do that," Viv says. "I mean, even if he let her go, the Slayers would still take her down." Chuckie thinks about this.
"I guess this means we have to move again," he says.
"Doesn't change things for you, Chuckie." This makes him worried. "You three gentlemen will head south to Washington Square Park, where each of you will kill one person before decamping to the Waldord-Astoria for the night, where you will stay in my room." He hands Chuckie his key card.
"Wow, this is just like the Apprentice," another male vampire says. "Except, you know, with scalping instead of firing."
"Off you go. Stay clear of you-know-what. Here's some subway tokens." They leave, eager for a good meal.
"What about me," Viv asks.
"Right. Sorry about shooting you." She laughs. He reaches into her shoulder and pulls out the bullet. "Now about your hand." She's still got the stake stuck in it.
"I though if I pulled it out, it would just bleed more." He pulls it out and wraps his t-shirt around her wound.
"You don't find many vampires with defensive wounds. I need someone with your survival instincts."
"Is that all you need?"
"For now."
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Spike knew it wouldn't be easy to take Devlin down. He thought about strategy as he rode the subway back and ignored the stares at his bullet wound. Time was such a thing wouldn't have caused a scene on the tube in the Big Apple. Now if only he could find the Slayers who had so frightened the vampires.
Devlin took one of those frightened vampires to a nice hotel room in White Plains, putting him further away from his powerful enemies. Viv sits at the desk watching Dev kill Vi on his computer. She keeps rewinding to the part where he stakes her. "When can I use it," Dev asks while he sits on the bed watching the local news.
"Sorry. I just gotta see the other one and them I'm done. Ya know, you're really brave."
"Not really. Just opportunistic." He walks over, puts his right arm around her waist and kisses her left cheek and earlobe. She watches him kill Vi some more to get in the mood. Then she turns and kisses him. He looks into her blue eyes, feels her short blonde hair, and looks at her long neck. She's tall, leggy, almost perfect. He pushes her away. "Sorry. Wrong opportunity." He sits down at the computer.
"What is your problem?"
"Where do I start? You don't want to get caught in my orbit. I corrupt both good and evil. It doesn't matter."
"I've know jerks. My sire was one."
"It's amazing how many vampires hate theirs. Seem my experience was quite rare."
"You're not a jerk."
"I'm worse."
"You're hungry."
"You can get some food if you want. But bring it back to the room. The police find a body, the Slayers find us."
"Isn't that why you sent the others downtown? To keep them off our trail?"
"No. To bring them right to us. When the time is right."
"When's that?"
"Tomorrow night." She smiles.
"That's when we kill 'em?"
"No. That's when they kill some of us. But not you. You have to survive. Even if it means abandoning your current comrades. They don't matter. You do."
"Look, if you think they're competition, the truth is, I'm not even interested in them."
"You got me wrong, Vivian. Sure, you're pretty. Very pretty. But that's not what I want you for. You're going to kill a Slayer."
"What? I don't have powers. I'm - "
"Just a girl? So are they. That's the point. Older vampire guys prey on younger human girls. The Slayer exists to even the score. Those vamps are doomed to a dusty death. But you, you don't fit the profile. That's why Elektra won. Your kind throws the system out of whack. Evens the score, as it were, so that the Slayers fear us as much as we fear them. That's the way God planned it."
"I can't kill them. Not like she did. I don't have any moves."
"But you have this." She looks at what he pulled out of his pocket.
"A key?"
"To a locker in Penn Station that contains your secret weapon."
"Magic?"
"Better. Go there after the fight. Become empowered. Make a name for yourself." Vivian starts to feel like Devlin's partner. Like Elektra.
"But what about Spike? Who kills him?"
"He's already dead inside. Besides, Spike goes where I go. I leave town, he's no longer your problem."
"You're leaving me?" Suddenly he's no longer so partner-like. Dev stands, up, picks up a bottle of gin out of the ice bucket and takes a few gulps.
"We have to keep on the move in this new world. You too. After the Slayers are out of commission. They'll send more."
"I have to do it myself?"
"Maybe. You'll find a way. Vivian, it's in you."
"No it's not. I'm no hero."
"You don't have to be. No go kill something. I have work to catch up on." He gets back to finding out how things are going for his sister in Cleveland.
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Elektra returned to Cleveland Thursday night, almost seventy two hours after leaving. She found the situation in chaos. The demons were gone. The Slayers had laid waste to the Hellmouth. Wood had convinced the city to tear down the abandoned factories and implement their long-dormant redevelopment plan. A half-dozen Slayers during the night and a construction team during the day were taking apart the demons' habitat. Killing Rona and Vi had only made things worse by inciting a vicious counterattack. This was not how things were supposed to play out in the week after her triumph.
The demons had dispersed to subterranean hideouts. She tried to reorganize them, but they were in no mood to fight. Fortunately, vampires continued to arrive. Vampires who knew of Elektra's victory but not of the backlash. But defeat had taught her to be cautious. "When do we kill the Slayers," one of the new arrivals asks.
"What do you know about Slayer killing?"
"You promised us rivers of blood."
"Patience, dude. You're not getting any older. We gotta lull them back into a false sense of security." Yes, that was the line.
"You got nothing," a skeptical vampire declares. "We don't need you."
"Say that to my face!" He walks over with his gang. Elektra's few loyal followers step in the way. Elektra thinks she'll have to kill a few to establish order. She takes out a throwing star. A girl threatens Kat. Ricky sticks up for his girl. Soon enough a brawl is under way. But before Leks can participate, she is dragged away by two men. Her fighting friends don't notice the absence. Leks kicks and screams, trying to break free. Two more men grab her legs, and the four of them throw her in the trunk of a car. As they drive away, she bangs on the top, causing fist-sized dents.
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On Friday afternoon, Devlin drives Vivian in his tinted car into Manhattan. They surprise the men in Dev's suite, who can't believe he drove there in the daytime. He agrees to give them a ride, asks about their kills, then gets down to the business of obfuscation. "Tonight's plan is ambitious. But I believe in all of you. With just one other vampire, I killed two Slayers. With the four of you, I can kill two Slayers and a vampire. Excuse me. I mean we can. All of us together." He gets into character to convince the worthless rabble of their greatness. "Slayers win because they work together, and we don't. They don't believe we can cooperate. They don't believe we can trick them. And that is why we can. Two Slayers wiped demons off the Hellmouth. And two vampires, fighting as a team, slayed them. Two other Slayers turned the Big Apple in the Big Empty. And they will meet the same fate. By the time they realize they've been outfought, outsmarted, outplayed, it will be too late, and their blood will be pouring into your stomachs.
"Your work last night loaded the trap. They will show. As will Spike, even though he's lame. I spring the trap by doing some more killing. Spike will be the first one to stop me. The Slayers will see two vampires fighting over corpses, and attack us both. One of them kills him before he can convince her he's one of the good guys. I get to work on the other. That's when you four swing into action. Surround the Slayer who's just killed her last ally, her would-be savior, and take her down, while I have my way with the other. She's less experienced than the one I killed in Cleveland. It shouldn't be too hard. You four will encircle your target. Make her attack. She can only attack one of you at a time. When she does, the other three attack her. Whoever she turns to, you back off while the other three attack. She won't last long. The only thing you'll have to worry about is getting away before the cops show up." The vampires fondly recall when the police were their leading worry.
The ride around Manhattan was memorable for these vampires. They haven't seen it in the daytime since they were human. After the sun sets, he takes them back to the hotel, tells them to get pumped up and be on the scene by ten, which is when he shows up. As expected, Spike stands near the monumental arch, where he sired Dev. "Brings back memories." Spike turns to see Devlin under the arch, leaning against a wall. He's wearing his black tank top, but no trenchcoat, indicating he has nothing up his sleeve because he has no sleeves. Spike suspects a double trick.
"You think you can make me feel guilty?"
"I wanted to make you feel nostalgic. I do. Is this your first time back since you-know-what?"
"You know where I wus then."
"Mourning Buffy. I guess 9-11 didn't change much around the Hellmouth."
"It changed your life," Spike asks incredulously.
"Not as much as I'd hoped."
"You wanted to hunt down your old friends."
"They were never my friends."
"You were on the same side."
"Okay, I get it. There's irony. You're not the first to point that out. Elektra can't STOP reminding me." Spike worries she's around. Maybe that's the trick. "Have you gone there?"
"Why would I? Nothing's left."
"That's the point. Our home was down there. I lost my virginity down there. Now, it's a void. Sort of like our relationship: destroyed beyond repair."
"You can still fix that. You can still make things right."
"By getting a soul?"
"It's the only thing that will save you."
"Maybe I don't want to be saved. Maybe I can't go back. Maybe there's as much chance of me going good as there is of you and mom getting back together. You broke with your past. I've broken with mine."
"That's right. You gave up the killing and joined with Debbie. But you went back. Least you're trying to. That's the bloody problem, Dev." By the fountain, some people with guitars are singing "Country Roads, Take Me Home." Devlin starts laughing.
"I think we both can spot the problem." He points. Spike can't help but chuckle. "Killing them would be a public service."
"Problem is, you wouldn't stop with them." Dev's glad to know Spike can still joke a little about the deaths of innocents.
"So you'd let me?"
"Those two. The rest would learn their lesson."
"This is my problem with Giuliani. He made the city safe for douchebags. Used to be, only the strong survived."
"They still do. The trouble is, you're no longer the strongest." Dev slowly shakes his head at the threat.
"You're not gonna let the Slayers do your work for you?"
"I fight my own battles." There's several seconds of awkward silence. The sort that occurs before two old friends have to fight to the death.
"In front of all these people," Devlin asks.
"That's up to you, son."
"How bout a hug? One last time." He grabs Spike's jacket and rests his head against Spike's chest, who pushes him away.
"I'm sorry it has to end like this. We could've been a great team again. But you had to bollox things up."
"I am my father's son." Devlin grabs a woman. Spike punches him, saving her. Devlin scales the friezes on the front of the monument. Onlookers gasp. Dev leaps off when he gets twenty feet up and proceeds to run through traffic. Spike chases him, despite the bad knee. When Dev gets to a side-street, Spike hops on top of a car and jumps thirty feet through the air off his one good leg. He tackles his son. While Dev ran, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a condom filled with holy water. Now he tries to shove it in Spike's mouth. Spike knocks it away with his left hand, gets burned and goes bumpy. Dev wriggles out from under Spike, and they both stand up.
"That's funny. The Catholic Church opposes condoms," Devlin points out. "By all rights that shouldn't have worked." He is cornered between a staircase and the front of a townhouse.
"You'd really rather get yourself killed than convert?"
"To Catholicism? I don't think I can."
"You know wut I mean."
"Maybe I'll fight my way out." Dev tries a right roundhouse kick that Spike blocks. He also parries a left jab and right cross before landing an overhand left and a right hook, knocking Dev into the wall. He adds a left hook to the ribs and a right uppercut to the chin. Dev kicks Spike in his left knee. As Spike howls, Dev tries to make a run for it, but is tackled by Spike before he can take two steps. Spike stands up and throws Dev face-first into the staircase. Dev spins, blocks Spike's left hook and connects with a left cross. But Spike blocks a right hook and nails Dev with four consecutive right punches. Dev falls to his knees and punches Spike in the left knee. He cries out again in pain, and Dev leaps to his feet. But Spike grabs Dev's throat with his left hand, slams his back against the wall and reaches into his right pocket for a stake.