Notes: This chapter is short, I know. I promise the next one will be longer. Hope y'all still enjoy. I really appreciate the feedback, thanks a batrillion if I haven't already thanked you personally :)
I think this chapter's "mostly filler." Key word there... mostly.

Also, Alice rocks my world ! Danielle... it's all your fault if this chapter sucks.

Irrational Resistance

"ANGEL!"

Angel watched Buffy's eyes widen while he was brought into her sight. What she didn't know was that the last thing Wolfram & Hart wanted was Angel dead. They needed him... as a tool, a pawn... a puppet- you name it, but they didn't want him dead... anymore. Had the vampire had enough time, he probably would have been able to explain that minor detail to her. Then again, he really didn't think it was going to end up being an issue at all. Still, Angel was regretting not being able to sputter that small fact any sooner because it would have saved a bit of the headache that followed. All he could do now was hopelessly gaze up at her while he tried to figure out exactly what his next move would be. See Angel, he was actually not as dazed as he appeared to be, but the longer he could play it out for the better chance he had for a window of opportunity. Once that window was open, he'd definitely seize it. Regaining consciousness and all of his vision had not been an easy feat, however. Really, Angel just wished he could go just collapse back into unconsciousness and bask in the few favorable memories he was able to unearth.

He couldn't give up- or give in. He had promised that much to Doyle before they parted. So what if Doyle was still a creation of his own mind... at least Angel was going to uphold his promise. Sure, having an entire branch of lawyers working around the clock to drive him insane (and somehow oddly motivated by their next paycheck) was exhausting. It wasn't exactly a question as to whether they were succeeding or not, it was really more of a question as to how well their success was showing through.

Buffy bolted across the room, disregarding the fact that Angel was being held back by two strange-looking and clearly unfriendly demonic guards. Each one had a vicegrip hold on one of Angel's arms with their gnarled and disgusting-looking claws. She deduced that the only reason the vampire was currently on his feet at the time was due to the fact that they were holding him up. He couldn't possibly stand on his own by the looks of his condition, and the position he was in happened to be closer to that of a defeated slouch. Defeated. That was not usually a word Buffy liked to use when referring to Angel. It was a curious way of describing him because it was just so unlike the ensouled vampire. The demons restraining him looked very similar to overgrown salamanders. Red overgrown salamanders with yellow stripes, orange eyes, and... in black cloaks. Must they always have dark evil cloaks? There was something about the billowing robes that just was too cliché.

Times like this made Lilah wonder why she hadn't tied the wretched blonde up. It truly did not matter though, Buffy was not going to get very far. Had the slayer a brain on her shoulders and not such a rash personality, she probably would have been able to recognize the potential danger. Then again, perhaps Angel was able to draw out that side of her. She surely couldn't have survived this long if she jumped into every situation in the very same way. The next few seconds proved to be rather amusing for the Wolfram and Hart lawyer. As soon as Buffy lunged closer to Angel, one of the guards raised it's hand and set off an invisible blast of energy which led her to bounce backward straight onto her bottom. "Ow..." she grumbled, raising a hand to her head to try and aide the rush of pain by rubbing her forehead gingerly. "I gotta say, that was pretty rude," she rolled her eyes, shuffling to get up and determined to get her way. She'd expected some sort of resistance, but definitely nothing along the lines of magical barriers that knocked people back into last week.

"You didn't really think I was just going to let you run up to him, did you? Wow, for being a slayer, you're really stupid," Lilah childishly retorted, throwing Buffy's own words right back into her face. "At least that other slayer was down to Earth... a bit skeptic on our motives, but she was able to realize that we weren't complete idiots." With that, she casually leaned against one of the nicely painted white walls of the office room.

Buffy still had no idea where exactly Lilah had taken them to, but it wasn't in Los Angeles... or Sunnydale. Seriously, this place was about as welcoming as a psyche-ward. It was then that she began wondering to herself how nice an asylum actually sounded right now. The fact that she almost found four padded walls and dimly lit windowless cells semi-comforting made her shudder a little. Okay, so that wasn't the best of topics to be thinking about.

Whipping her head around to face Lilah in disbelief, Buffy narrowed her eyes. Just the acute reference to Faith set her off into a whole new session of fury, and it wasn't helping that the strange overgrown lizards were holding Angel captive. As the anger bubbled up inside of her, she did her best to try and control herself, but couldn't find rhyme nor reason why she should. Buffy's eyes flashed with with an unreadable expression that could only account as a mixture of emotions while she allowed a rather comfortable silence to overtake the entire room. Her voice was low and cracked when she finally managed to snap her highly intelligent response back at Lilah, "Shut up!"

"Oh, you're going to make me?" Lilah taunted, crossing her arms in waiting. The smug smile she had been keeping on her face only inched a bit wider while she challenged Buffy's words fearlessly. "Go ahead and try."

Marching up to the lawyer fearlessly, Buffy drew back a fist with the grinding potential to fire it straight into the lawyer's face when her arm- through no power of her own- lowered itself back to her side. Her eyes widened in disbelief of the tingling sensation that rang throughout her body and for a moment, she faltered. It was almost as if she had died again, lost control of her own body- the ability to move her limbs taken for granted. It took her a few seconds to break out of this trance. It was not unlike many of the others she'd had since being resurrected... always the same... The fear, the isolation... the concept of knowing that, although your heart was pumping circulation throughout your revitalized body, your corpse would remain numb and motionless. That is, of course, until you could muster up enough strength and motivation to actually get up and start moving again. She did not like being afraid, fear was a weakness that she usually chose not to express. Buffy would never admit this to anyone- the fear of what she had been through... what she had yet to face. If she let that take over her now, if only for a moment, surely this crazy madwoman would get the best of her, and then it would be over.

Looking down at her hand in disbelief and shock, her painstricken eyes were unable to meet Lilah's. She had to hand it to the lawyer, at least she wasn't as stupid as Buffy had thought- although that still was not saying much. Those lizard things, how dare they interfere like this! Any more setbacks, and Angel would probably be dead before dawn. "What," Buffy closed her eyes, taking a few moments to gather her thoughts and focus on the careful wording of her question, "do you want with me?"

"You know, I was asking myself the same question earlier. Why would a law firm such as Wolfram and Hart have any interest in supernatural abilities of a slayer?" Lilah pushed herself off from the wall she'd been leaning against.

"Let's just say... I want you to bleed a little," Lilah retorted, while giving Buffy a slight shrug. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Wait- wha?" The clueless expression on Buffy's face only led her into a whole new realm of thoughts. Thoughts that had, in fact, led her to the conclusion that her death was sure not to be in vain. Ideas sparked that gave her reason to believe that her altruistic act would actually work.

"Why blood? Why Dawn's blood? I mean, why couldn't it be like a, a lymph ritual?"

"Cause it's always got to be blood."

"We're not actually discussing dinner right now."

"Blood is life, lackbrain. Why do you think we eat it? It's what keeps you going. Makes you warm. Makes you hard. Makes you other than dead. Course it's her blood."

Was she being literal here? Was her blood that intriguing? Shaking the thoughts that had plagued her memory- the bantering between Xander and Spike that took place prior to her heroic sacrifice- she closed her eyes. Right, heroic... hardly. Buffy tried doing something honorable... memorable and completely selfless in order to better the world... but wait, was it really that selfless? She had actually wanted to leave the world... then, at least, she wouldn't have to live in it. Her expression softened a little while she tried to make sense of what the lawyer was saying to her. Then again, understanding a Wolfram and Hart employee should probably be some sort of offered college degree, "B-bleed?"

"Oh don't worry, Buffy, we'll give you a good fight. I mean, it's only a matter of time before Angel wakes up. I really don't want to be around when he does," Lilah looked over at the unmoving vampire with intrigue. Her hand reached into her pocked while she fingered with a small box inside. As long as she still had that, things could still go as planned. If she screwed this up, the Senior Partners would be pretty angry, that was for sure.

Then, breaking Lilah's thoughts of eternal glory, Buffy cleared her throat. Crossing her own arms now, Buffy chose to disregard the comment about Angel. The lawyer was right, she definitely wouldn't want to be around when he was back in commission. The renewed strength hidden behind thoughts like this led Buffy to be able to muster up a rather convincing threatening tone and make a rather curt and cold demand, "Let him go."

"Or you'll what? Slice my head off?" Lilah rolled her eyes. The blonde had no visable weapons on her, not to mention thar she was in the presence of demons employed by the law firm soley to honor Lilah's own protection. She was far from petrified of what Buffy could possibly do to her. Either way, if the going got tough, all she would have to do was escape. Nobody would think any less of her for doing so, just as long as she got the job done.

Just then, an unexpected laughter overcame everyone in the room, making their spines tingle. "No, but I might," Angel snorted, sporting an all-too-cocky half-grin. His head snapped up to glare Lilah in the eyes darkly. The creepy thing was, the glossed-over confused and dazed look had escaped his eyes completely. "The thing I can't decide is... if I rip your internal organs out before... or after the fact. I kinda wanna hear your screaming." His sneer only widened with the narrowing of his eyes as he ran his tongue across his lips with visible delight, "Just writhing and squirming helplessly for your pathetic life."

Just the way he'd annunciated the torturous and promising words made Buffy uncomfortable. After swallowing softly, she allowed actual words to escape her lips, "A-Angel?... What's... happened to you?" She had to admit, she hadn't heard him talk like this for... well, quite some time. She had also intended to keep it that way. Not wanting to believe what they could have done to him, Buffy began to bargain with herself. Something about the phrases made her insides ache, while managing to send shivers down her spine. He didn't just say what she thought he did, did he?