I'm sorry this took so long. From now on updates will be less frequent as I have exams coming up and I need to do the whole revision crap. In addition to that I still have CRAPPY DAMN WRITER'S BLOCK which is just a little irritating at the moment. However, I fully intend to finish this story though it'll probably have more chapters than I planned. Meh, whatever. Anyway the main thing is I AM BACK!

empath89: Numbers? Which numbers? (frantic) There were numbers? (breaks down in tears) I hate numbers… This chapter is longer by a few hundred words or so… I think…

Claire: Wow… really? Yeah I liked that line. Couldn't resist.

Ka-mia: Yep, spot on. It was the scythe. I always wondered where the thing was from so I made it a history. I'll try not to be so depressing from now on.

m3: Your favourite character is Doyle? Really! Gosh I couldn't tell! (that was my sarcastic voice btw) He shall be back (probably next chapter) still has a BIG part to play.

Insane Troll Logic: Okay I won't. Can't say the same for some of my characters though…

jewel21: You are too nice to me. Hopefully the writer's block will go away soon but it does mean shorter chapters. However, I shall prevail!

nin: (blush mumbles) It's not that great… As for the Mishka Doyle healing thing… well, maybe it will have a side effect, maybe it won't (I have everything planned out) I'm trying to keep my writing unpredictable so hopefully I'll still have a good few surprises in store for you all (smirks) you'll just have to wait and see.

Malakhim: Yeah I have a bad habit of throwing in lines that completely destroy the atmosphere. (sigh) I also enjoy torturing/humiliating/murdering my characters. It's a hobby. Thank you very much for the compliments. I would never have been able to continue this without my reviewers' support.

ANYONE WANTING TO SUE ME CAN GO BACK AND READ THE DISCLAIMER ON THE FIRST CHAPTER! LIKE I'D BE WRITING FANFICTION IF I OWNED THE BLOODY SERIES! Now I've got that out of my system... let the chapter begin! Well… the line first. Then the chapter.

(See? The line! I'll go away now...)

"Cordy! Get back here!"

Angel cursed viciously in several different languages. The pronunciation was actually pretty impressive, considering some of those words were used by creatures that ate through their ears and possessed no recognisable respiratory system.

"God dammit," he looked around helplessly, his eyes falling back to the unconscious werewolf at his feet. He couldn't just leave Oz here undefended, but at the same time he couldn't let Cordy rush off on her own. If he carried Oz with him it would merely make him an easy target if they ran into any enemies. He could not defend himself and Oz at the same time. He looked back up at the passage Cordelia had taken in her anxiety for her dear friend.

It was unlikely that any other enemies would be coming through here, especially if this ritual thing Kaeden had been harping on about was happening tonight. Most likely all the bugs would be clustering around the centre of their hive, waiting for the action to start he thought grimly. And then of course, there was Kaeden himself. Angel suppressed a mental shiver as he remembered the expression on the warlock's face before he had taken off surrounded by dark magic so powerful that they had been physically unable to pursue him for at least two minutes.

"Oh screw it."

He took off after Cordelia.

Cordelia's breath rasped harshly in her throat, her lungs burning, eyes stinging. She willed herself to keep on running. That scream she had heard was playing through her mind again and again, the terror and pain behind it making her feel sick. God, if he was hurt or… no! She shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed.

Not dead. Not dead. Not dead.

He couldn't be. She still hadn't said –

Her frantic thoughts were rudely disrupted as she ran headlong into something. The something grabbed her throat.

"You know, little girls shouldn't run around with their eyes closed," an amused voice hissed into her ear, making her skin crawl, "they could hurt themselves." She glared defiantly up at her captor as best she could. Her eyes widened as she recognised the warlock who had attacked with the creepy hunter guy the first time around.

"You!"

"No, really?"

She hissed and twisted in his grasp.

"Get your slimy hands off me! Where's Doyle? What did you do to him?"

Prarl smirked. "Whatever makes you think we've done something to him?"

"Uh, duh, you're evil! And I heard him! Where is he!"

The warlock's features twisted into a hideous parody of pity and sadness. "Oh I'm so sorry. I forgot to mention to you all last time we met, I have this really irritating quirk of spontaneously screaming in other people's voices for no apparent reason."

Cordelia's heart plummeted, "You…" Prarl tutted, lifting her chin with a finger, "Oh no, don't you go crying, you'll ruin your pretty eyes." She glared at him, eyes flashing, "Get. Off. Me."

"ARGH!"

Prarl dropped the girl, staggering backwards in agony. He glared up at her.

"Bitch!"

Cordelia winced, flexing her toes as she straightened up. The high heels had come in handy after all.

"Tell me where he is or the next one will be higher," she threatened. Prarl sneered maliciously at the young actress. "Even if I did tell you where he was, there is nothing you can do to stop us now. The main phase of the ritual commences in less than an hour. You'll never make it in time."

"You know you can tell you're not the main evil."

"What?"

"The head honcho. The CEO of the evil scheme."

"What are you on about?"

"It's your evil speeches that give it away. You keep saying, 'WE will succeed' and 'you cannot stop US.' The main evil guy always says 'you cannot stop ME' and 'I am invincible' you know? They're the most egocentric, self-obsessed – " Prarl stared incredulously as the girl rambled on, talking animatedly about the various attributes of 'proper' bad guys.

And these people accuse us of insanity?

" – and they NEVER have hair that greasy if they're serious and – "

A dark shape hurtled out of the shadows, tackling a rather confused warlock and throwing him bodily away from Cordelia. Prarl landed hard on his back and sat up, glaring at his assailant. Angel flashed sharp fangs in a smirk.

"Sorry, didn't see you there."

"… I hate you."

"Nice to know I'm doing something right."

Cordelia huffed indignantly, "You took your own sweet time getting here! I had to think up a clever and subtle way of stalling for time until you caught up."

Angel turned to stare hard at her. "Yeah well I figured it wasn't the greatest idea to dash headlong into a situation, not to mention leaving a friend behind when he is injured and unconscious."

Cordy hung her head guiltily, scuffing the floor with her battered shoes.

"Well… yeah… but I heard the scream… and… well…"

"As interesting as it is listening to you two chit chat," Prarl gathered a swirling ball of dark magic in his palm, "I have better places to be."

Angel shifted into a casual fighting stance. "Yeah I was planning on sending you to a better place. Well… a different one anyway."

"Don't make me laugh vampire."

"Oh you won't be."

Angel lunged. Prarl, anticipating the attack, swiftly sidestepped, bringing his magic-enwreathed arm sweeping down towards the vampire's shoulder. Angel ducked under the blow with ease, bringing his fist up with lightning speed. Only a hasty step backwards prevented the vampire's fist separating his head completely from his shoulders. As it was, the knuckles clipped his chin, snapping his head backwards and lifting him about a metre into the air. He snarled, flinging a disc of dark energy at the vampire's head.

Angel backflipped, allowing the attack to graze harmlessly under him. He landed in a catlike crouch before springing into an attack, using the wall behind him as leverage, leaping up and slamming a kick at the side of Prarl's head. The warlock conjured a flickering shield into existence, Angel's foot slamming into the magical resistance. He hissed. His foot was stuck. Prarl smirked, tendrils of spitting energy winding around the struggling vampire, pinioning him in midair.

"Gotcha."

He easily threw Cordelia back as she tried to rush to her friend's aid. Angel twisted in the tenacious trap, still held in midair. Prarl held up his hand.

"I'm going to crush you like the pitiful insect you are."

"I hardly think you are in a position to be calling anyone pitiful."

Prarl didn't have time to turn before the huge blast of dark magic hit him. He somehow managed to pull us his shield, but even so he was thrown a good thirty metres down the dark passageway. Cordelia stared, dumbstruck. Angel got slowly to his feet and turned already knowing what he would see.

Wreathed in dark violet flames, strands of dark magic crackling around him like disjointed lightning, two obsidian orbs blazing dark rage. Cordy gulped. Well… that was one of them found anyway. Prarl stood up slowly, wiping a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Kaeden."

The rogue warlock's eyes were fixed on the eel-like man's face as though he could see something else there. Something very small and slimy. A leech. A leech that had sucked the life out of his baby sister. A bead of sweat rolled down the slimy warlcok's forehead, trembling in a bulbous droplet at the end of his nose. The light from the aura lashing around Kaeden caused light to curve across the inky black orbs, his eyes seeming to glow with a demonic light. Prarl watched his former ally with wary eyes, black magic flaming up his own arms.

"Are you going to try and stop us?"

Kaeden seemed to consider the question.

"No."

Angel tensed. Prarl he could probably deal with. Kaeden on the other hand… he had seen pissed off warlocks before. Admittedly they weren't as bad as pissed off witches but still…

"I'm not going to try. I'm going to succeed."

Angel breathed a soft sigh of relief. Prarl backed away slightly, eyes narrowed, sweat dripping down his face.

"You'll never find them," his voice was trembling slightly, "the chamber hall is in the middle of the maze. You can never – "

He was cut off as Kaeden raised an arm, a horrible amount of deadly magic lashing itself around his fist.

"The middle of the maze eh?"

Without warning, he flung out his arm. Stone shattered. Angel flung himself in front of Cordy, protecting her with his body, wincing as sharp chips of rock slashed through his skin. Kaeden smirked.

"I'll cheat."

Angel looked up and his eyes widened. The magic had blasted clear through the rock, creating a pitch black passageway, dust still showering from the newly cut rock. It didn't look too stable. Kaeden turned his head to look at Angel.

"That should take you to the party. Go get your friend."

Angel returned the gaze with narrowed eyes.

"What about you?"

Dark eyes shone with a sick kind of joy as they fastened back on the now quivering Prarl.

"I'll clear up the mess."

Angel nodded wordlessly. Standing in one fluid movement, he reached down and pulled Cordelia to her feet.

"Let's go."

Cordelia nodded silently, following the vampire into the dark tunnel, holding tight onto his arm, blindly following as the vampire's keen night vision guided them through the stuffy atmosphere of dust and scorched earth.

Both of them heard Prarl's scream. Neither spoke.

Fear not Doyle fans, he will be in the next chapter! But I need reviews! I need inspiration! I need a drink... excuse me (wanders off muttering)