High

Chapter One: Dream's End

The club was dark. Dark, hot and crowded. As the young man walked through the club, he passed a dark haired girl talking to two tough looking guys. He passed an elderly gentleman obviously staring at the attractive blonde next to him, and a very drunk red haired girl making out with a foreign looking guy. He ignored all the people he passed, as he made his way to his target, a wiry man in the corner of the club. The man was strange and very creepy but the man only wanted one thing. Juice. The figure handed him a vial of bright green liquid, and without a word, left. The man raised the vial to his lips, and the world went red…

"You have a good night out last night Faith?"

Angel walked over to the dark haired slayer.

"You and Laura have had it hard these past few weeks, especially with her getting the plague..."

"It was interesting, to say the least." said Faith.

"Are we talking interesting fun, or interesting the world's going to end?"

"Well, I was talking to these two guys in the club, and suddenly this skinny dude went insane and started trashing the place. The bouncers went to stop him, and he put one of their heads through a wall. I stepped in to try to get him. The guy was wicked strong, nearly as strong as me. I managed to knock him back, but he ran."

"What was Laura doing when this kicked off?" said Angel.

"Well, uh, she had gotten really drunk. I didn't see any point in dragging her into..."

"Faith, what was she doing?" Angel interrupted.

"Some foreign guy, in the toilets I..."

Faith saw Oz standing there.

"Oh god, Oz, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry."

"It didn't mean anything, I'm sure. She was really drunk…"

"Faith, leave it. It's her business, not mine."

With that, the werewolf walked out upstairs.

Spike walked down a short time after.

"What's wrong with dog boy?" the blonde vampire said. "Him and Red have a tiff? Wish those two would hurry up and get it on, it's making me sick."

"Shut up Spike." muttered Angel.

Angel turned back to Faith.

"We should start looking into this guy at the club. I want to know if he is a demon, if not, where he got these powers from, and I want to know how to take him down."

"On it boss. Before that though, I had better do a bit of damage control."

Faith turned around and headed towards Laura's room.

An hour later, Laura walked into Oz's room. He was setting up his meditation area.

"Oz, I'm sorry."

"What for?" Oz said.

"Faith told me you heard her talking about last night."

"Yeah." He said. "I did."

"It didn't mean anything. I was very drunk."

"I don't want to talk about it. It's your business who or what you do, not mine."

"Oz, please, just talk to me."

"What do you want me to say Laura?" Oz said. "That it hurt? That I felt sick? 'Cause it did. I don't want to talk about it because it just makes me feel worse."

"I'm so sorry."

"You said that already."

Oz unrolled his meditation mat.

"I'm going to meditate now."

"Can I join you?" Laura said.

"No. I need to be alone."

Laura stood up slowly, and left the room.

"I got some news on our fruit loop Angel." said Faith.

"Go on."

"Well, I have hit a lot of the demon bars in the area of the club. It turns out the guy's name is Jimmy Crash. He is a runner for one of the local gangs, the Hellions."

"So how did he get all supercharged?" said Spike.

"It looks like there is a new drug hitting the streets. The junkies call it Juice. It's a part mystical drug that is supposed to turbo charge a user's strength, speed and toughness for a couple of hours, and gives them one hell of a buzz. It seems that the local gangs have picked up on the benefits of using it, and have been buying it in bulk."

"Crap," said Angel. "Mystical drugs are never good news."

"Tell me about it," said Faith. "Last time I took a trip with one, I went for a ride down Angel memory lane with Angelus."

"Bet that was a barrel of laughs…" said Spike.

"Right," said Angel, "We need to find who's pushing this junk, and we need to put a stop to it now, before these doped up gang boys cause some serious damage."

Meanwhile, in a darkened warehouse, a robed figure stood over a mystical altar, silently praying to the gods of chaos. Another man entered the room holding a brown package.

"I think I have a delivery for you sir." The man said warily.

The figure motioned for the man to leave it on the side.

"I-I just need you to confirm your name sir."

The figure turned around and drew back his hood.

"Very well. The name is Rayne. Ethan Rayne."