††††††††††
Angel kicked the demon in the chest, as it grabbed him and threw him aside, before smacking Wesley into the other wall. Angel was on his feet in a flash, grabbing the demon by the shoulders and spinning it around, delivering three swift punches to its torso. The demon snarled and sent Angel crashing into the wall, as Wesley, who was lying on the floor, shot it with his crossbow. The demon cried out and smashed through the window, as Angel helped Wesley up
"Come on, we'll go back to the office
††††††††††
Cordelia finished making tea and turned around, jumping when she saw Barney before her, a grin on her face. A grin, which she noted, was quite evil looking
"What do you want now?" she asked
"I just realized something," Barney grinned, "How pathetic you really are. Oh, and those eyes of yours. A lot of people, including myself, would kill for those guys"
Barney's grin widened and he lunged at Cordelia, who ducked him and headed for the door, but Barney grabbed, throwing her onto the table, before pulling her hands behind her back and tying them with a cord he had ripped from the lamp
"Wait, wait, wait," Cordelia cried, cringing, "I'm having a-"
"Vision?" Barney asked, pulling her around to face him
"Yes…a vision…demon…you! In…great…pain!"
She drove her knee into the place where it hurt the most and tried to make a break for it, but Barney grabbed her and pulled her back
"Hate to hurt you. Bruises bring the price down"
Cordelia opened her mouth to scream, as Barney struck her, knocking her out
"But not by much"
††††††††††
Angel and Wesley arrived back at the office, finding the apartment empty
"What happened here?" Wesley asked
"Where's Cordelia? Barney?" Angel asked, looking around, "What happened here?"
It was then he noticed that the kitchen was a mess. Spilled tea and smashed cups littered the floor, the lamp was missing its cord, and there were signs of a struggle
"Oh no," he said to himself, "Cordelia"
"The demon is a Kungai," Wesley said, grabbing a book, "It's of – Angel, is everything okay?"
"Cordelia's gone," Angel said, "Barney must have taken her"
"Right then. If we can find the Kungai, then perhaps it can lead us to this Barney character and also Cordelia"
Angel headed towards Wesley, stopping when he saw Cordelia's pad on the couch. He picked it up, studying the picture she drew, recognising it, as Wesley located the Kungai in the demonology book and began reading up on it
††††††††††
Cordelia opened her eyes. She was lying down, her hands and feet bound, a gag in her mouth. She looked around, horrified by what she was seeing. There were various body parts, mostly from demons, all in jars or on cushions, each with a price tag. She heard voices and closed her eyes, assuming the unconscious pose
"I wanna do the extraction," complained the young man
"Hank, you're embarrassing yourself," Barney said, "Stop it. I'm doing it. It's a delicate job"
"But you said I could do it"
"Hank, shouldn't you be cataloguing gypsy flesh? Go catalogue"
Hank left, as Barney went over the items, satisfied with what he had. He was gonna be rich!
††††††††††
"Okay, so all we got from the Kungai demon was Ku'kla," Wesley said, "I have no idea what that means however"
Angel and Wesley had tracked the Kungai demon to Chinatown, where they found the demon dying in the back room of an herbalist shop. Before the demon died, however, it had told Wesley in its native tongue about its murderer. Wesley had some trouble translating for the Kungai, but worked out that it was talking about an empath demon who had taken its Tak horn, resulting in its death. Simultaneously, Angel worked out that the empath demon was Barney and now both were trying to figure out where Barney was with Cordelia
"Okay, Cordelia's picture is that of an art object," Angel said, working on a computer while Wesley was using the books, "La Femme Beauty. Was at the Roosevelt Hotel until 1976, then it was sold to-"
"I know what Ku'kla means now," Wesley said, "Caller sale"
††††††††††
"Sold to the gentlemen in the third row for fifteen thousand," Barney said, banging his gavel, "Now, we have something special for you today. The eyes of a seer"
Hank brought the bound Cordelia out, as she surveyed the crowd
"Oh god, it's an auction," she thought, "And I'm for sale"
"We'll start the bidding at two thousand," Barney said, "Do I hear three thousand?"
"Angel, please hurry"
"Four thousand. Excellent. Four gets me five. Do I hear five? Eyes of a seer, people, very exquisite. Do I hear five? Going once"
"Okay, stall them, Cordelia. You know how?"
"Five thousand dollars?" Cordelia said, "I'm worth a lot more than five grand. You have no idea what the eyes can do"
"They're connected to the Powers That Be," Barney added, "Your very own pipeline"
A man with white hair and beard raised his mark. The person next to him with make-up, messy orange hair and gothic attire also raised his mark. They kept going, reaching twelve thousand with the white-haired man winning
"Twelve thousand, people," Barney said
"Don't let Whitey walk all over you people," Cordelia cried, "These eyes can see…buried treasure"
The goth raised his mark and the battle was on again, until the goth snapped Whitey's neck, placing him as a winner on sixteen thousand
"Sixteen thousand," Barney said, "Going once, going twice-"
"Thirty thousand," cried a lawyer from Wolfram and Hart
"Sold. Thirty thousand to the lovely lady from Wolfram and Hart," Barney grinned
††††††††††
"Okay, got the place," Angel said, "Let's go"
He grabbed his coat, as Wesley taped a knife to his calf, before following after the vampire into his Plymouth. Angel tore off onto the road, hoping to get to Cordelia in time. He reached the hotel and entered with Wesley close behind
"Where's the auction?" Angel asked
"I'm sorry, there's no auction," said the curator
Angel was furious. He grabbed the curator, letting his demon take over and growled out a deadly 'where?' He was pointed downstairs to an empty room where the auction had just taken place
"We're late," Angel said, his game face still on
A man came out from the backroom and was sent flying back with a powerful blow from the enraged vampire. Angel burst into the backroom, as guards raced to engage him, but he fought against them, as Wesley went to help untie Cordelia
"Wesley, what are you doing here?" she asked
"Saving you," Wesley said, trying to get his knife, but fell over, having taped the knife too much
He spied the Tak horn and used that to untie Cordelia, as Barney attacked him. Wesley fought back as best as he could, until Cordelia grabbed the Tak horn and stabbed it into Barney's back. The two then watched as Barney's life force was drained by the horn, as the battle-weary and vamped Angel joined them
"I knew you would find me," Cordelia cried, throwing her arms around Angel's neck, "I never doubted you for a second"
She kissed Angel on the lips, ignoring the fact that he was still vamped out
"Well, I had help," Angel said, "Had a rogue demon hunter on my side"
"Glad to be of service," Wesley said
††††††††††
"This I dedicate to Doyle for saving my life," Cordelia said, framing her picture, "And that something of his is still here"
She and Angel shared a small smile, as Wesley put on his leather jacket
"Farewell, Angel. Who knows when our paths may cross again?"
"Wesley"
The pair shook hands, as Wesley headed for the stairs
"Do you know where you're headed?" Cordelia asked
"Rogue demon hunters rarely do," Wesley said, "Wherever evil lurks, wherever the forces of darkness gather, I'll be there"
"Keep in touch," Cordelia said
"Yes, I will," Wesley said, placing a foot on the stairs, "Evil bids me onwards. Through rain, fire, storms, famine…deep, painful hunger…I go"
"Breakfast?" Angel asked
"Ooh yes please"
Wesley took his jacket off and sat next to Cordelia, as Angel prepared them breakfast
"He's surprisingly a really good cook," Cordelia said with a grin at the vampire
"Astonishing," Wesley agreed
††††††††††
