The noise of Angel's movements blended with the sounds of the night as he crept through the shadows to the meeting place. Angel always moved silently. Even when he had lived in the (relatively) peaceful Sunnydale, few could hear his approach.

Outside of the raucous Nosferatu Bar & Grill in downtown L.A., nothing could have heard him.

Angel looked up at the glaring neon sign, an image of a bat flapping its wings. "Subtle," he muttered. He pushed open the door. Instantly, the large group inside fell silent and eyed him suspiciously. No one moved.

"Why didn't you just hire a banshee to scream, 'Here they are'?" said Angel.

"Angel!" cried Spike from a corner barstool. "Or should I say Angelus?" He stood up and sauntered to the front of the crowd. "The apocalypse makes friends of us all."

"I don't see why," Angel countered. "It never has before."

"Spoken like a truly jaded…" and Spike leaned in for the last word: "…soul."

"What are you doing here, Spike?"

"Same thing you're doing. Trying to stop the Convergence. Strength in numbers and all that."

"We don't know what having so many vampires together will do," said Angel. "It may only strengthen the draw on the demon life-forces."

"Then it's better that we're all here together, isn't it?" asked another vampire, stepping out from her place in the crowd.

"Yeah. It's like a bloody family reunion," snapped Spike. "Get back, Harm." Harmony did as she was told. "Just what do you think you're going to do here, anyway?" he asked Angel. "Last time I checked, you were killing demons and vampires. All you seem to care about anymore are the puny living people. Which makes me think that if it came down to having a vampire possessed by a demon against his will, or having a human explode like a cat in a microwave…."

Another vampire burst through the entrance. "The first wave is coming," he said. "I barely escaped them. The other vampires who were with me weren't so lucky."

"Good work," said Spike. Before anyone knew what was happening, the newcomer had been impaled. When the dust cleared, Spike's weapon was already hidden again. "Demons can lie," he said to Angel, then turned to face the crowd. "As of this instant, no one enters or leaves. Anyone who comes could be demon-possessed already. Anyone who leaves could give away our position." A general murmur of assent came from the assembled group. Some of those who were more hesitant to listen to Spike were "convinced" by the scowls they got from their neighbors.

"Keep the noise level up," Spike reminded. "Looks even more suspicious otherwise. And you!" He pointed to a vampire with traces of blood on his fangs. "I told you to stay away from the meat locker!" He smiled mirthlessly at Angel. "The burdens of command. It's almost like old times."

"But without all of the feeding and the sire-ing."

"All in good time. We can get back to business as soon as this Convergence is over and done with."

"True," said Angel. "Demon possession doesn't stop the desire to feed. Vampires are resilient like that."

"There isn't going to be any demon possession," snarled Spike. "Now shut your yapper before you make the natives restless."

A window across from the bar shattered, showering glass down on the gathering. The hand that stretched through the opening was human. And though the arm was lacerated and bleeding, none of the assembled vampires looked hungry.

"I don't get it," said Cordelia. "There are, like, 20 people in that picture, and we only have three. Four if Angel ever shows up. Shouldn't we call Buffy and the gang?"

"Buffy's probably dealing with a lot of her own problems," said Wesley. "Sunnydale is the Hellmouth, after all."

"So why is the Convergence not happening there?" asked Cordelia. "Don't tell me the forces of evil lost all sense of direction."

Doyle watched Wesley's face go blank as the latter tried to think of a plausible explanation. "You can say 'I don't know,'" he said. "'Cause you're certainly not going to trick us into thinkin' that you do know."

"Does it really matter why it's happening here?" Wesley asked. "I thought you two wanted to help me to stop it."

"You're in a powerful hurry all of a sudden," said Doyle. "Well, then. Let's get to it."

"The three of us can't do this alone," said Wesley.

"I just said that!" exclaimed Cordelia. "Did I not just say that? Face it, you can't ever admit that I'm right."

"Bigger issues, Cord," warned Doyle.

"The recitation of the spell and the simultaneous movement of those participating in the ceremony are meant to invoke the same sense of cacophony that mass demon possessions would. It can't be performed with three people."

"You're sayin' we're not rowdy enough?" said Doyle.

"To put it crudely, yes."

"So we just go and recruit some more people," suggested Cordelia.

"And no one at all would suspect us of being out of out minds," Wesley said.

"It's L.A. We can say it's an audition for something."

"I'm not sure that would work," mused Wesley. "The very earnestness and urgency of the first enactment of the Rite of Merkoris may have played into its effectiveness. We need true believers."

Cordelia frowned. "Just where are we supposed to find 20 people who have no problems believing in the Convergence?"

The human male stood in the center of the room, panting. He was only 100, maybe 110 pounds, Angel noticed. Not exactly a force to be reckoned with, under normal circumstances. Tonight, everyone in the room shrank back from him. His eyes were faintly glazed over; Angel sensed that the demon life-force was nearing complete possession. He reached down and picked up a long shard of glass, then traced the point down the left side of his neck, then the right.

At the sight of so much blood falling to the ground, three vampires lost their concentration and slipped into feeding mode. As they leapt at the intruder, Angel expected to see other vampires interfere, but none did. He glanced at Spike, who coolly watched as the three vampires fought over their prize. But when Angel moved to help the human, Spike made a sign to some vampires standing just behind him, who rushed Angel and tackled him to the ground. Two screams erupted from the center of the room. One was the high-pitched shriek of the vampire who had just realized what her victory over the other two meant. Quick to follow was the deep-throated yell of triumph from the demon whose life-force had just been liberated. Both came from the same mouth.

"Remember," rose Spike's voice as the screams died away, "that we could have stopped you from returning to this planet as a being of power. We could have let you remain human. All that much easier for us to deal with, if you chose to side against us."

The demon's voice came once again from the vampire's throat. "I serve myself," it growled.

Spike clapped his hands, and the vampires who were restraining Angel lunged at their former colleague. The crush of bodies made it difficult to see the disappearance of the center vampire.

"You said you were sure that would work, Spike!" cried Harmony.

"I didn't count on it being a Jytir demon," muttered Spike. "Stupid brutes, they are."

"And not that loyal," said Angel, who had risen from the ground as soon as he was released. "Good idea appealing to the sense of self-preservation, though. I'm sure the next demon will take you up on your offer, seeing as how you yourself look so trustworthy."

"You're one to talk," Spike started, but at that moment Angel's cell phone rang.

"Always at the most inconvenient times," he shrugged, reaching into his pocket. "You'll excuse me for a moment, won't you?"

"Angel?" came Cordelia's voice over the line. "Are you alone?"

"Not exactly," said Angel, turning slightly away from Spike, who was openly eavesdropping.

"Good! Are you at that Place of Resistance…place that Spike told us about?"

"That Spike told you about?" Angel repeated. Spike tilted his head and listened harder.

"Anyway, Wesley thinks that vampires would work. I mean, in the ritual we have to do. To end the Convergence?"

"Uh-huh," said Angel, not quite following.

"Give me the phone," came the voice of Wesley faintly. Then he spoke to Angel. "If we have a collection of personages in one room who earnestly desire that the demons not take over their world, we can perform the Rite of Merkoris. We don't have enough people here, but vampires may work just as well. Here is how the ritual works…."

"Hold on a second," said Angel. He covered the mouthpiece of the phone. "Anyone have a pen and paper?"

Spike looked at him incredulously. "What for, writing our grocery lists?"

"For exorcising a few demons," Angel replied.

Spike shrugged and glanced back at the crowd of vampires. "Anybody?" he asked.

Harmony pushed her way forward again. "Here's an order tablet and a pencil," she said. "I found it behind the bar."

"Well, bravo for you, Harm," said Spike, snatching the proffered items and handing them to Angel. "Back in line."

"Okay." Angel balanced the cell phone on his shoulder and held pencil and paper ready. "Shoot." He scribbled down the diagram that Wesley described and the incantations that he read.

"We're going to try to reach you," said Wesley. "We have more elaborate information than you can get over the phone."

There was a hammering on the door. "No!" said Angel. "Stay where you are. The odds that you'd reach the place alive aren't good. We'll give it our best shot." The door began to shake. "And we'd better do it as soon as possible." He hung up and turned to Spike. "Now, I know you might not like…."

"What's the plan?" said Spike unexpectedly. The two vampires locked eyes, and Angel nodded in acknowledgment of the sudden truce. He handed the papers to Spike and called to the room in general, "We need something to mark the floor with. Any chalk around here?"

"I don't like this sitting," said Cordelia. "I'm not used to sitting."

Doyle uttered a mild oath and slammed the cabinet door. "Not a drop of alcohol in the whole place."

Wesley alone remained unnerved. He was still poring over the pages of a book, trying to find back-up plans in case the Rite of Merkoris fell through. "You two could be occupying your time with more useful things," he remarked casually.

Cordelia turned a page absent-mindedly. "It's just so hard to concentrate," she said. "Angel's all alone."

"He's not alone," said Wesley. "He has dozens of vampires with him."

But the look on Doyle's face showed that he understood her meaning.