Hours later, Buffy, Dawn, and the Angel Investigations team were not in the greatest of spirits, despite their recent success in capturing the Brillcrall demon. Angel had expected it to resist revealing any of Adamson's secrets for a while, but he had assumed that after sufficient torture the demon would cave in. It hadn't happened yet though, and Angel was beginning to doubt it would.
Angel had tried every torture trick he knew, in order to get the demon to give them the information they needed, but he would say nothing. Not even Angel's brutal torture methods, those he borrowed from Angelus, could get the Brillcrall to betray his master. This worried Angel and Buffy greatly, as creatures for hire were not generally known for their loyalty. What made Adamson so different? Why would this demon endure such torture rather than simply give in and die a quick death?
"I say we just waste him now." Gunn suggested as the group convened upstairs in the hotel to discuss the problem with the Brillcrall. "It's obvious he aint talking. Any minute now, Adamson is gonna figure out what we did. Since this thing seems so loyal, there's a chance his master's gonna want him back. When he does, he'll come here to the hotel...and he'll come in force. From what we've heard of this guy, it's not something we wanna see happen."
"Gunn's right," Cordelia agreed. "If we want to keep a low profile, we can't have this thing any longer than we need it."
"I refuse to believe that this thing won't give us any information at all." Angel muttered in frustration. "I've tried everything. Even things that I haven't done since..." He didn't have to finish the sentence. Even Dawn knew he was referring to Angelus.
"What a shame." Connor said, his eyes dark. "I've heard so much of your talent and appetite for torture."
"If you're referring to anything Holtz told you, that was a different man." Angel replied, teeth clenched with anger, "not me. Of course maybe in this case having Angelus here wouldn't be such a bad idea. I can't seem to summon up the same brutality."
"It's better that way Angel," Buffy told him with a small smile. "We don't need Angelus or his brutality. We'll find another way."
"In the meantime though, what will we do?" Fred questioned. She looked apprehensively towards the door to the basement. "I don't like the thought of Adamson sending demons like that thing in here to get it back."
"I'm with the little Texan on that one," Lorne agreed. "You know Angel I don't just read songs, I can read screams as well and that demon you got down there....well that's more pain than I care to read. I can even feel it up here. Putting it out of it's misery just might be the best for all of us."
"That DEMON down there murdered children!" Buffy exclaimed angrily. "In my opinion, it deserves whatever it gets and more. There is no room for sympathy towards it here, you got that?"
"Whoa, Buffy calm down." Dawn exclaimed. "I'm sure Lorne was just trying to be helpful. He's an empath demon Buffy, you can't expect him to feel nothing."
"You always try to see every side of things, don't you Dawn?" Connor murmured appreciatively. Dawn blushed at his words, and Buffy turned her glare from Lorne to Connor.
"Look, Angel, we need to stop arguing and do something." Cordelia said decisively. She crossed the room and sat beside Angel, touching his arm gently in a gesture of support. Angel looked to her gratefully. "I'm sure you tried your best, but keeping it alive is only endangering everyone here and getting us nowhere in the process. Let's just kill it and start again. I'm sure there are other ways to get information about Adamson."
"There are no other ways!" Buffy snapped, harsher than she intended. She didn't like the way Cordelia was looking at Angel, nor did she like the way his gaze responded. The two shared a friendship closer than any of the other Angel Investigations team. He listened to her, took advice from her, trusted and relied on her. The two of them were partners in every sense of the word. Equals. The way Angel and Buffy herself used to be. Even now, despite the fact that some feelings remained between them, something had been lost along the way. She felt estranged from him. Alone, in a way that she had never been. He had always understood her strength, had always been on her side, trusted her as not only a fellow warrior, but as the woman he loved as well. Now he placed his trust in Cordelia as well and Buffy felt as if he were leaving her all over again. "Angel listen to me, we need this demon! You think Adamson is just going to leave clues all over LA for us to sniff out? This is all we've got. All we need is a little more time!"
"The demon is near dead as it is." Gunn interrupted. "More torture is only gonna piss him off more."
"What about other ways?" Angel wondered allowed. "Maybe we've been wrong with the brute force idea all together."
"You mean like magic?" Connor was skeptical.
"A truth potion?" Dawn wondered, here eyes lighting up at the idea. "You mean they really exist? That is so cool! There are a few people I could use that on at school that I wouldn't mind finding out the truth about."
"Do they?" Buffy asked curiously, "exist?"
"Well," Fred began, pushing her glasses nervously up on her nose. "I've heard rumors, read things about the possibility of truth potions. Historically the Romans believed that..."
"Do they or do they not exist Fred?" Angel persisted, slightly impatient.
"Maybe." Fred replied. "I'd have to do some checking."
"I'll lend a hand there," Lorne offered. "Just as long as it cuts down on the screaming in the basement. It's terribly hard on the spirit."
"Fine, you guys check up on that." Angel said decisively. "In the meantime, we should get to work enchanting the weapon to kill the demon with for when we're done."
"Can I help?" Dawn wondered. She had always enjoyed watching Willow and Tara work with magic and took the opportunity to do so herself whenever she was allowed.
"It's a simple spell Dawn, but you can help if you want." Cordelia offered.
"We should stand guard." Buffy suggested, indicating that she was speaking to Angel, Gunn and Connor. "Just in case we are attacked. If Adamson knows anything, he knows it was the four of us that were responsible. I don't like the idea of him coming after anybody else, especially Dawn."
"Good idea." Angel agreed. "We'll patrol the perimeter of the hotel in teams until everything is ready."
Connor looked towards Gunn and began to speak.
"I'll go with..."
"You'll come with me." Angel replied firmly. Connor looked as if he were about to protest, but Angel continued, interrupting him. "Buffy and I are the strongest warriors here. It only makes sense for the two of us to be on different teams. Your fighting style mirrors mine Connor. Gunn's is more like Buffy's. It will work better this way."
Connor wanted to protest further, but a look from both Dawn and Buffy told him that it wouldn't be a good idea. Nodding, he set his mouth in a firm line and followed Angel towards the door.
"Angel you two take the back of the building, Gunn and I will take the front. Fred and Lorne can let us know if they come up with anything that will get this demon to talk. How long will it take to enchant the weapon?"
"With the spell and instructions Willow gave us, it shouldn't take too long." Cordelia informed them, slightly relieved that Angel and Buffy would be on different patrol teams. "About half an hour at the most."
"Good." Buffy replied. She gestured to Gunn to follow her and gave Angel a coded look that pleaded with him to be careful of both external and internal dangers. She still did not fully trust Connor not to attempt to harm his father. Angel understood her glance and managed a brief nod and a half smile. "You guys get to work. We can't afford to lose any time."