Chapter Two

Day Two

12:00 p.m.

Woodlands/Cabin/Voldemort's Lair

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"Uhm, Spike? Are you sure you know where we are?" Spike shot a frown at his gloomy companion before returning his attention to the road.

"We're on the main road that leads to the little cottage we're meeting our informant at." Spike responded.

"Spike, you don't even know the name of the road we're on." Angel grumbled. "You probably don't even know the name of the informant." Spike raised his middle finger from the steering wheel and Angel grunted. "Tell me again why we're doing this."

"We are following up on an important lead. One that points to the possibility of an apocalypse." He paused. "Poofter."

"And you got this lead from…." Angel asked.

"A guy called the office." Angel sighed. "Whats with the broody sigh?"

"You're such a dumb childe sometimes. Even after 100+ years of unlife." Spike bristled. "What's to say the guy that called wasn't an enemy? Setting us up maybe." Spike bit his lip.

"He sounded sincere." Angel grunted incredulously. "What? He did!"

"Maybe he called because there IS an apocalypse. One that WE are needed for, and he started?" Spike tilted his head.

"Never thought about it." Angel groaned and shook his head. His groan was however cut short by Spike's exclamation. "Here it is." The blond vampire pulled the jeep into the gravel that served as a driveway and cut the motor. "Let's go then, see who this guys is and what he wants."

"If you get us killed you idiot childe, then I'll personally stake you." Spike ignored his Grandsire's grumbling in favor of trotting up the drive and pushing the door open. "Spike, wait up!"

"Whoa!" Angel nearly ran over the blond vampire on his way in, as Spike had frozen in the doorway. "Talk about bad house keeping."

The little cabin was bare of furniture. The hardwood floors were dusty, the fireplace was un-kept, and the windows were cracked. "Maybe this is the wrong place." Angel suggested.

"No. It smells wrong." Spike argued, his nostrils flaring. He shifted uneasily as a breeze drifted in through the cracked windows and opened door, unsettling dust. Angel sniffed uneasily. "It smells…evil."

"You're right. Let's gout out of here." Angel's last statement was said softly, suddenly nervously. Spike turned around to see why, and froze.

There was a tall man standing in the doorway. He wore a long black robe-like garment and held an odd looking mask in one hand. "It took you long enough to get here." He muttered sarcastically. Angel and Spike shifted closer to each other, sniffling and straining their ears to try to catch a heartbeat or smell off of the human.

"What the bloody hell are you?" Spike finally asked.

"Oh! Pardon me. I am a wizard. My friends and I knew you would be hostile towards us so we masked our scent and sounds form you." A crackle of energy shot through the room, making the hairs on Spike and Angel's necks stand up. Almost immediately Spike was able to locate ten other humans in the room, and at least twenty more outside the cabin. All of them reeked of darkness.

"What do you want?" Angel asked warily.

"Our master, Lord Voldemort, wishes for you to join him in his quest to purify the world." Spike and Angel glanced at each other.

"And how does he hope to do that?" Spike asked cautiously, if not a little sarcastically.

"By eliminating the humans who do not wield magic, and those born to magic-wielders." Spike frowned.

"Joy, another Hitler." The man tilted his head in confusion. "Never mind. What if we don't want to do that?"

"Then you'll pay the price." The man said with an evil glint in his eyes. As soon as the words left his mouth, the newly revealed men shouted a jumble of off phrases at once, all of which sounded like they were Latin.

The vampires were too slow in dodging, although they gave it a good go, and were soon knocked to the floor. Invisible ropes as strong as chains pulled their wrists behind their backs and bound their legs. Gashes appeared all over their chests and backs, bones in their legs were broken and mended only to be broken again, and then it felt as if their insides were being poked with hot rods.

Angel was the first to pass out. The curses were lifted and Spike fought to keep his eyes open. "Take them to his lair. Eventually they'll come around to our way of thinking." Spike passed out as their bodies were magically lifted….

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Around 3:00…..

Spike woke from his dream as Angel shifted restlessly behind him. Both vampires were hurt badly; bloodied and bruised, starved nearly to a coma. But of the two, Spike was the worst off.

"Need to learn to keep my gob shut." He mused to himself, wincing at the pain radiating from his broken ribs. He was about to drift back to sleep when the cell door opened to admit three figures. He stiffened, thinking for a moment that the death munchers were back for round eight.

He was surprised when the figure in the middle was thrown into the cell instead, slamming into the wall next to them. The body, which belonged to a small boy by the looks of him, lifted his head and looked around in a daze before collapsing.

"Angel, I think we have a problem…."

TBC

Note One: The paragraphs and words in italics convey dreams. The words in italics on the top, underneath the "Chapter Two" show where the dream was about.

Note Two: I can't write Spike's accent, so you'll have to imagine it's there.

Note Three: I have two jobs now. My dog is really sick and I need to take care of her. I'll try to post a chapter next week some time but don't count on it.