The group milling around the lobby jumped at the scream that echoed around the hotel. Illyria fell to the ground, clutching the bloody wound in her stomach. The woman stood over her, a twisted smile playing across her lips as she pointed a gun at the group, the bloody knife dripping at her side.

Xander and Oz backed away from the steps at her feet as Giles rushed out of the office, skidding to a stop beside Willow and Connor. Angel took a step forward, manoeuvring himself to shield Buffy.

The woman moved away from Illyria, anger and revenge glinting in her eyes.

"Hello Angel."

Without looking, he felt Buffy's shocked and inquisitive eyes bore into him. Folding his arms, he sighed heavily, trying not to look at Illyria writhing on the ground.

"Hello Eve."

The smile disappeared as she took another step forward, still brandishing the revolver.

"Thought I should pay you a visit and congratulate you on escaping the wrath of the Senior Partners. At least for now."

Angel couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, congratulations on doing it yourself. How have they not killed you yet?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"You proved to be quite a distraction."

Her gaze shifted behind him.

"So, who's the blonde? Get bored of your werewolf chippy, huh?"

Angel felt Buffy tense up behind him and tried to position himself fully in front of her again as he spoke.

"What do you want, Eve?"

She stared at him for a moment, incredulous.

"What do I want? What do I want?"

Angel shrugged, not letting himself show her any fear despite the fact that Illyria had stopped moving altogether. Eve pointed the gun right between his eyes, her rage spilling over as she spat her words at him.

"All I wanted was for my Lindsey to come back to me but you put a stop to that."

Buffy leant forward, whispering to Angel.

"She's gay?"

Before Angel could answer, Eve was pointing the gun right at the Slayer.

"Don't you dare whisper about him, insulting his memory! You didn't know him, what he was really like!"

Angel snorted with laughter.

"Well, I think his constant attempts to kill me and my friends sort of gave me a clue. What did you expect me to do? Just send him on his merry way to try and kill me again as soon as my back was turned?"

Eve was waving the gun around as she got increasingly angry, her face flushed with rage. Xander backed away but Oz stood his ground, eyeing the revolver warily but concerned for Illyria.

"You were supposed to send him back to me, but instead you got your karaoke lackey to shoot him. He was supposed to come back to me, you promised! We would have left you alone."

Angel rolled his eyes.

"I somehow find that very hard to believe. Maybe it was all the attempts on my life that did it."

"You don't understand! How could you? You've obviously never loved someone, never lived or died by what they thought and felt. You killed me when you killed him. How would you feel if the love of your life, the person you couldn't imagine spending a single second apart from, was killed. Huh? What would you do?"

Instinctively, Angel glanced at Buffy and caught her eye. The emotion in that one quick look was palpable and Eve didn't miss it. She started to laugh as she waved the gun in their direction.

"Oh, look at this, the vampire with a soul has a heart too? Well, isn't this interesting! What's your name, sweetheart?"

Eve got no reply. Sneering, she began examining the bloody knife in her hand.

"A knife this sharp, it just slides through like butter. How about the redhead, huh? She made of butter?"

She looked up, her eyes flashing with rage.

"If you don't tell me your name, I'll soon find out."

Buffy swallowed back her anger, her words still dripping with venom when she finally replied.

"My name is Buffy. I'm the Slayer."

Eve couldn't suppress a fit of giggles as she shot a look at Angel.

"You dated a girl called Buffy? Seriously?"

Angel shot her a look right back.

"You dated a guy called Lindsey? Seriously?"

She glared at him, aiming the gun right at Buffy's head.

"How would it feel, Angel, if you lost her? If you watched me murder her right in front of your eyes, suck the life right out of her little blonde body? Just how much would that hurt?"

Angel took a step forward, the anger rising up within him.

"Nowhere near as much as what I'm about to do to you."

"Too late, lover boy, time to say goodbye to your girlfriend."

The next few minutes seemed to happen in slow motion. The gun went off just as Angel spun around, realising he was too far away to pull Buffy to safety. As he heard the gun fire for a second time, Angel dived in to the path of the bullets, just as an enormous blue flash illuminated the lobby, sweeping over him like a wave. Hitting the ground hard, the pain from his previous injuries blurred his mind, almost making him pass out.

Hearing a scream, he looked back up at Eve to see Spike bursting through the door, his coat smoking from the sunshine. He had grabbed Eve by the neck and thrown her to the ground while the wave of blue light caught the bullets in mid air. They hung there for a moment before erupting in to tiny balls of flame and a shower of ash. The wave kept moving, sweeping over Spike, Eve and Illyria's bleeding body. Both the gun and the knife glowed blue for a moment before turning into dust on the breeze.

Eve burst in to tears and jumped to her feet as Oz swooped in to check on Illyria. Eve began throwing wild punches at Spike, eventually getting in a good backhand that nearly knocked him unconscious and set the wound on his temple to bleeding profusely again.

Keeping her at arm's length, Spike threw Angel and Buffy a questioning look.

"I know I'm a white hat and all that these days, mate, but please can I punch her?"

Buffy had rushed to Angel's side and was checking him over, her voice cold as she looked up at Spike.

"If you don't, I will."

Spike grinned at her.

"Cheers love."

He spun round, delivering a fierce backhand where he felt his knuckles practically crush her cheekbone. Unconscious, Eve crashed to the floor. He turned back to the group with a look of pure satisfaction.

"I've wanted to do that for months."

Xander sauntered over, casting a worried eye over Oz's shoulder.

"Turned you down, didn't she?"

Spike ignored the comment and turned his gaze on Willow.

"Hey Red. Nice work on the glowing wave thing over there but think you can do something for big blue over here."

Willow rushed forward, pushing Xander out of the way, with Giles a step behind. Connor practically sprinted across the lobby to help Buffy pull Angel to his feet before they too joined the group watching over Illyria.

She was even paler than usual, her body armour split where the knife had entered her stomach. The carpet beneath her on the landing had turned a deep shade of sticky red. Oz looked at Willow and shook his head, implying the worst was coming.

Swallowing hard, the young witch rubbed her hands together and started chanting under her breath. No one else dared to speak as a strange purple-pink glow started to emanate from Willow's fingertips. The smoky tendrils swirled around her hands and gradually moved towards Illyria's wound, snaking in and out of her armour and round and round her waist.

After a few minutes, Willow stopped, looking utterly drained. Oz leant forward, his fingers gingerly examining the skin under the rip in Illyria's clothing.

"It's healed. Nice work, Will."

She smiled faintly but otherwise barely moved. Connor was still concerned, leaving Angel behind as he tentatively moved in for a closer look.

"Are you sure? Will she be ok?"

Willow smiled up at him, her eyes hooded from exhaustion.

"Hopefully she'll be fine in a few hours. I gave her a kind of magical sedative too, just to make sure she'd stay still while everything's getting properly fixed up inside her."

"But she's not gonna die though, right?"

Buffy leaned in close to Angel, whispering conspiratorially.

"Guess it's not just redheads Connor's got a thing for."

Angel smiled, whispering back.

"I think it's the leather."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Like father, like son…"

Oz was staring at Willow now.

"Are you sure you're ok, Will?"

She smiled at him absently.

"Yeah, fine. Fixing mortal wounds is kinda draining, you know? I'm just gonna lie down for a minute."

Both Connor and Xander were immediately on either side of her, guiding her to the sofa. Buffy didn't even see her best friend's feet touch the floor once.

She turned and looked at Angel, seeing the pain flickering in his eyes.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

He frowned, inching toward the circular sofa in the middle of the lobby as he clutched his aching shoulder.

"Shouldn't have done what?"

She rolled her eyes at him again as she helped him over and sat him down.

"That whole diving in front of the bullet, Captain America hero thing you did before. I do have superhuman speed, in case you've forgotten."

He smiled and took her hand, pulling her down to sit beside him.

"Yeah, but faster than a speeding bullet? I guess I'm just reading the wrong comic books. And anyway, if I got shot, it couldn't kill me. I could never take the risk of seeing anything happen to you, Buffy, especially if there was anything I could do to stop it."

She smiled back at him as she seated herself beside him, carefully wiping blood away from the small graze on his forehead.

"You're so sweet! But how about next time, you just get me flowers or candy?"

He laughed and she hugged him, careful to avoid the sore spots as he rested his chin on the top of her head. Still cradled in his arms, Buffy looked over at Eve. Spike was leaning on the pillar, keeping an eye on her while he lazily smoked a cigarette, staring at the crumpled body at his feet with disdain.

"What do we do with her?"

Angel shrugged.

"I don't know."

Buffy shifted slightly so she could look up at him.

"How about we tie her up and serve her to the demon hordes as an appetiser?"

Angel grinned and kissed the top of her head.

"As tempting as that sounds - and believe me, it really is - she used to be the Senior Partner's liaison. I doubt she knows anything useful but it can't hurt to ask."

Buffy practically growled.

"Well, it might hurt her…"

She caught the amused expression on Angel's face and raised her hands in defence.

"What? The bitch tried to shoot me!"

Angel just grinned.

"Tell you what, information first, torture later."

She grinned back.

"In my experience, it usually works best the other way around."

Giles cleared his throat loudly beside them to announce his presence. Buffy smiled up at him but it soon faded.

"What's wrong?"

He sighed heavily.

"I think we need to get that information sooner rather than later, whether by torture or not."

Buffy shrunk under his disapproving glare and Giles continued.

"My research has not been particularly fruitful. I have found numerous references to the End of Days but the problem is that every group that tries to bring about an apocalypse claims it'll be the end of all life on earth and a return to the time of the Ancient Ones. It's a little hard to narrow it down."

Angel shrugged.

"Well, as soon as Eve comes round -"

Giles cut him off and Buffy was surprised and a little scared to hear a hint of fear in his voice.

"We don't have time."

She frowned.

"But there's still one more portent to be fulfilled, right?"

Giles waved in the direction of the sofa behind him.

"I think you'll find that our god was just silenced."

As if on cue, the light suddenly began to dim. Within seconds, it was pitch black outside and Connor rushed round the lobby, turning on lights. A distant rumbling was beginning to grow louder and louder as far off screams pierced the night.

Giles turned back to Angel and Buffy, not bothering to hide the abject terror in his eyes.

"Welcome to the End of Days."