Hypnosis
Angel was asleep.
Angel was dreaming.
Not under the influence of the Calynthia powder, as he was supposed to be, but under the influence of Darla.
She hypnotised him, with her seductive looks and moves, and with their memories. In his dreams, Angel was happy. There was no guilt, no redemption, and no need for it, either. There was just him and Darla. She was all he needed. Of course, during those dreams Angel's subconscious was practically screaming that this wasn't real, that he had to wake up before he became a prisoner of his own illusions. But then again, wasn't he already? Didn't he live to become human, to earn redemption? He believed, was made to believe, that some day he would indeed become what he most desired: a man with a heartbeat, but who knows, that may all be an illusion as well.
Angel just wanted to escape. Escape from all the lies that may or may not be actual lies. He was just too tired to think about what they were. Darla was a great help to that. With her hypnosis, she gave her boy just the escape he needed, and not the paranoia 'she' needed from him. Maybe Darla knew her dreams weren't as effective as they were supposed to be. If she knew, she didn't care. Because she was looking for an escape too. If she would stop being Wolfram & Hart's puppet, then she knew the soul would eventually get to her. Then the thought of what she once was would undoubtedly haunt her down and eat her up inside-out.
And Darla couldn't have that.
No, she really couldn't and therefore also, voluntarily, chose to be a prisoner of her very own illusions. Wolfram & Hart had nothing to do with this. They thought they did, though. They were almost a 100 percent sure that they had full control over Darla, but that was their illusion.
Because Darla didn't let anyone control her.
And neither did Angel.
That was one of the very few things they had in common.
Angel had been fighting the good fight for a very long time now, and he still wasn't sure where he belonged. Of course he wouldn't tell Wesley and Cordelia, his willpower was the reason why they were still here. If he wouldn't tell them he had faith in them helping people they would be long gone by now.
Angel let them live in their own world of illusions.
Maybe his life at Angel Investigations was a lie. And maybe the dream world Darla brought him to through hypnosis was a lie, too. It probably was, but it surely was a much better one than all the others.
Angel was a prisoner of his own illusions, but somehow, he just didn't seem to care.
Those were the thoughts and memories going through Angel's mind as he locked at least a dozen Wolfram & Hart lawyers in with Darla and Drusilla. He had been their illusion. The lawyers had expected him to save them, and Darla and Dru had expected him to kill them, or at least fight with them. He did none of these things, though, and therefore freed them of their own illusions.
Holland Manners and all those others were struck by reality as the two vampires bit into them. Angel thought of that too, and realised a world of dreams and illusions really was a better place, because after all, and this was proven by everyone died in that wine cellar on that particular night, reality might kill you.