Hey everybody here is the next chapter. Just so you know I have been put marks between different scenes but for some reason sometimes they don't show up. If that happens I'm sorry I'll try to have the problem fixed.

Faith still paralyzed was still desperately trying to find away to move again but with out much luck. There was no fucking way she was going to let Ryan go through with this.

As for Ryan himself, he was still sitting in front of her getting more and more drunk. She always knew he liked to drink but in the past few years it had obviously gotten a lot worse. For now he was just babbling on incoherently.

"You know you're a hard one to find….and….and…catch." he slurred not even looking at her. "I wanted to find ya but….yes I did. I promise the knife wont hurt much either."

This drew backs Faith attention though he probably didn't notice. The only part of herself she could really move was her eyes.

"You know…don't you know…you know…put the Cortez knife in the body of a slayer betrayed by a love under the full moon…that's what we've go to do. Then it'll make me immortal, has to be me with the betrayal and all…..don't worry I can bring you back…then you'll always be mine, you'll have to listen to me…you and me Faith, forever."

Why is there always a spell? And a knife? What ever happened to the good old days when a girl just got kidnapped and tied to some railroad tracks?

"You know…" he let out almost an insane laugh. "We tried to get you a couple times on our own. First time we were outside…" more drunken laughter. "I…I….dropped the gun, bullet went straight threw the window. They didn't know…dad…Wolfram…babbling on to them didn't know….tried breaking in and got our asses kicked. Kicked our asses. Gotta love that."

Well that ties up some loose ends, thought Faith sarcastically. He watched him blither on like an idiot for a little while longer but soon figured he wasn't going to say anything else helpful or even vaguely interesting.

At least he's still drinking, that's at least one thing that's gone my way. She kept hoping he'd pass out, hopefully long enough for the drug to wear off so she could kick his ass. She thought she was getting some feeling back in her lower legs but she couldn't be completely sure.

It was going to be a close one.

"Wait, who has her exactly?" Wesley said starring at Angel who had just literally burst through the hotel room door.

"Ryan, old boyfriend, at our hotel, now he has Faith and we have to get her back in the next six hours."

"Not that I don't want to get Faith back too, but why in the next six hours?" said Gunn matching Wesley's concerned look.

"The two guards I was left with got the information from one of them. This Ryan guy is going to use Faith in some kind ritual to make him immortal and it's happening in about six hours."

"Why would he just willingly give you that kind of info?" Cordelia asked.

The two friends just starred at each other for a minuet.

"Oh" Was all she said after that.

"Now when you say immortal what kind do you mean? Like that Sunnydale mayor wanting to be a demon or just so he can't die?"

"What has that got to do with anything that point is that he's got Faith, who cares what he's going to turn into."

"What he wants to become may be key in finding him and Faith. Many rituals like these require some sort of specific location, height, or large number of people. At least that should narrow it down some."

"Cortez knife, there was something about a Cortez knife do you know it."

"No but it sounds vaguely familiar. I've brought some of my books with me just in case of an emergency." Said Wesley heading over and beginning to open his bag.

"What about this Ryan guy?" Gunn questioned in.

"What?"

"Isn't there any lead on him besides being Faith's ex."

"He's from a rich family, he might still have a connection to some girl named Julia, and he owns the hotel."

"What hotel? This hotel!" Cordelia said looking around an almost searching motion.

"Yeah."

"Well you think that might be a little useful to know?" he said heading toward the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Front desk. Manager will probably know a lot more about the owners the anyone working for room service." He said closing the door behind him and quickly heading down the hall.

"Here." Wesley said passing out books to Angel and Cordelia. "There might be something in these books. Angel you've got the one on immortality rituals, Cordelia yours is on the names of demons, witches, et cetera and I've mystical objects. Between the three of us we should be able to manage to find something."

Faith could finally begin to feel her body. It felt heavy and she still couldn't move very much but she could still feel it. As far as she was concerned that was a step in the right direction.

Ryan however had moved way to close for her comfort. He was currently sitting on the floor leaning against her legs. She didn't like it but at least it was better then him touching her face, which is exactly what he had been doing earlier.

He was still intoxicated and a little out of it. That made her relax some. They weren't going to perform any kind of magical ritual with him drunk out of his head, were they?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud knocking at the door.

"Sir, it's getting late, it's about time we leave for our destination. Your father has already called four times. He refuses to wait another month. He is very excited about your soon to be ascension. He's waiting."

There was a long period of silence. Faith was still unable to speak, the man at the door was apparently waiting for Ryan to come to the door or answer him in some way and Ryan who was near unconscious was definitely not going to be saying anything anytime soon.

Then there was another knock as loud as the first one.

"Sir?"

Another loud knock this time much louder then the previous ones.

"Sir can you hear me?"

Which was of course followed by more knocking.

"Sir? Can you hear me? Sir?"

Faith rolled her eyes wondering how long this was going to go on for. Ryan was completely out of it and the guy at the door was no genius. However this little episode did support her theory that Ryan wasn't supposed to be drunk tonight.

With any luck Ryan's previous state would have the whole thing delayed.

Delayed for what?

Eventually that guy was going to get in here and soon after that she would probably be getting another drug dose. Her only chances were if the doorman was as stupid as he sounded or if her friends came and rescued her.

That's if they still knew who the hell she was. Ryan hadn't said when Wolfram and Hart were going to perform the mind washing spell. What if it had already happened and her friends didn't even know she existed?

But then again maybe he was just bluffing about that. Trying to make her give up hope for escape, or maybe Wolfram and Hart lied about the whole spell thing to him, or maybe they wouldn't do it until after the ritual was performed. They had a deal with him about getting Angel. What if Angel had gotten away? Wouldn't that conceal the deal? They didn't really seem like the type who would waste even a drop of their power unless they were getting something out of it.

There were too many 'what ifs', right now all she had to do was concentrate on what she could do and that was try to get out of here and find Angel and the others. If she could just move a little. The knocking was more frantic.

Maybe that did mean this stuff was going to lose it's effect soon. That's why 'door man' was getting so nervous. He thought she had already gotten out.

Clinging to that she tried harder to move, to flex her muscles. She decided all she needed was a little more effort and a little more time, then she'd be out of here. She just had to focus on that.

"I've found it." Said Wesley putting the book flat down on the hotel room table. "The Cortez knife. Forged by the Spanish sorcerer Cortez in the 1600's. It has powerful abilities to bring in mystical forces from other realms. Only one was ever made. It can be used in changing a being into another form or be used to endow special gifts. Oh dear."

"Somehow I just knew there was going to be an 'oh dear' nothing that good can come at a cheap price." said Cordelia looking over his shoulder.

"No it doesn't. In order to work it has to drain a powerful life force from something that carries the essence of the most ancient of incorporeal demons."

"That's good though, right? I mean that means their not going to have to do anything to Faith to get it to work."

"Not exactly."

"What do mean?" asked Angel in a hard voice. "Faith has nothing to do with an ancient demon."

"Angel, Faith has everything to do with an ancient demon. Haven't you ever wondered where slayers get their power from? Eons ago a girls was taken and infected with the essence of a demon through the most blackest of magic's."

"Are you saying that slayer power is actually demon power?"

"From what I've heard. I don't actually know the whole story. But I suppose it makes sense. Fighting fire with fire."

Angel was getting more agitated by the second. "So they're going to use this knife and kill her?"

"Yes, but there is good news. The ritual has such specific requirements that it can only be done a total of five different places on earth. Two are very close. One in California which is, not surprisingly, just a few miles east of Sunnydale, the other is here in Nevada. Three hours drive into the desert north of Los Vegas. Considering where we are and the amount of time there is left I'm guessing it will be the latter."

"So all we have to do is get out there before anything can be done."

The door opened and Gunn walked into the room.

"Good news. Manager said that the people who own this place have a big secluded mansion near the desert."

"How did you get them to tell you that?"

"Are you kidding me? I had this guy convinced we were old friends. Now all we have to do is go out and get Faith. What did you guys find?"

"A lot. Come on we'll tell you on the way."