"Hello, You've reached Logan with today's inspirational message. 'Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.' Alan Watts. beep
"Logan? It's me, I need your help. Get to Wallace's house and check on his mom. I think she might be in trouble. Call me as soon as you get there O.K.?"
Veronica hung up her phone, and turned to Wallace with a teary expression. They were back in Gunn's room. Angel and Spike went out looking for clues and information at the local bars, while Xander tended to a still drug-happy Willow.
Wallace stared back at her. disbelief all over his face.
"So that's it? That's your big plan, call Logan?" He shook his head in frustration. "That's not good enough Veronica!"
"Wallace..." Veronica started.
"NO! That's my mom and my brother and you expect Logan to help?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Veronica asked, offended on behalf of her boyfriend.
"It means I'm not sitting here on my ass, while some rich white boy goes looking for my mom!"
Gunn threw in his two cents. "Well, you can't do much else." Wallace glared at the attorney. "You got a broken arm, you don't know where the kidnappers are, and even if you did, you wouldn't have the first idea how to stop them."
Wallace wasn't hearing reason. "I'd find a way. It's my family."
"It's my family too. Or did you forget whose father started this trend?" Veronica reminded him.
"Then why the hell are we just standing here! We gotta do something!"
"We are. We're waiting. The last thing we need to do is lose our calm. If we do, then we end up making mistakes. Fatal ones." Veronica sighed wearily. "I'm not really a big fan of this idea either, but we don't have enough information to do anything yet. We don't even know if the ones who kidnapped Alicia are the same... things," she spat out bitterly, "who got my dad." Veronica put on a brave face and tried to reassure Wallace. "Heck, we don't know that anythings even wrong. Maybe your mom just went out and forgot her cell phone. That's why I called Logan. If he can confirm or deny, we'll have more info to work with."
Gunn nodded. "Lady's right. We need more information before we can do anything serious."
Wallace shook his head. "Maybe you do." He stormed out of the room. Veronica went after him.
"Wallace!" He stopped, but didn't look at her. "You can't go."
At that, Wallace turned. "Since when do I need your damn permission!" he raged. "Who the hell are you to tell me I can't go!"
Veronica grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall. "I'm your best friend, you jackass! And If anything happened to you..." Tears were freely falling from her eyes as Veronica let him have it. "If my dad dies, you'll be the only family I have left." She pulled him into a desperate hug. "So you have to stay, because I can't lose you too."
Wallace said nothing. After a long moment, he returned the hug, clinging to her just as desperately.
-
"Aw hell. Not you! You wrecked my goddamn bar!"
Angel smirked when he heard Sammy curse. "C'mon Sammy, hasn't it been long enough? Are we just going to continue living in the past?"
Sammy the Bartender, owner of Sam's Bar just glared at his unwelcome guest. He was an older man of around sixty, with white hair and a cheerful face. He looked like the kind of guy you'd want to be your grandpa. "That's rich coming from someone wearing clothes that were fashionable in the late nineties."
The vampire frowned and looked down at his outfit. "I thought I looked cool." He muttered to himself. Clearing his head, Angel went up to the bar. "I didn't come here to discuss my shirt. I want to know what you know about Innocents."
Sammy paled. "All I know is that it's just about the worst thing I have ever heard of! It's one thing killing a man, it's another thing taking his baby's soul." He looked around, as if they weren't alone. "The pushers like to work outside my bar. They ain't there now, but they usually show up around 1:00 in the morning. I don't know what they got, but it probably won't hurt to ask."
"I think it will." Angel smiled darkly. Sammy was glad that he wasn't the focus of the vampire's attention this time. "What do they look like?"
"They wear white hoodies. It's like their open for business sign. Oh, and they're Thesolo demons."
Angel's dark expression quickly transformed into alarm. "Thesolo demons have four arms. And they breath fire."
Sammy shook his head in sympathy. "I guess you're right. It will hurt to ask."
-
Xander had put Willow down so she could sleep the effects of the drugs off. He didn't know why his best friend had such a severe reaction. Her skin was pale and clammy. She developed a fever that had nothing to do with her injuries. While she was given vicodin, it was only 500 mg. Willow was given similar medication after she suffered head trauma during her first attempt at restoring Angel's soul. It didn't knock her for a loop that time. O.K. Maybe a little, but it was a cute loopiness. Full of endearing babbles and lovable confusion. Not the 'I'm-sleeping-and-won't-wake-up-because-I-like-to-make-Xander-panic' sort, that she was so blatantly enjoying now. Xander performed a little trick he learned in Africa. It was very minor diagnostic spell meant to aid the healer, kind of like a magical X-ray, to determine if the patient was suffering from mystical, or natural injuries. If they glowed blue, they were all naturale. Red meant mystical and a whole slew of unfunny. Xander prayed for blue.
Willow glowed red.
"Oh God." Xander pulled out his cellphone. "Giles? Willow's been poisoned. Yes I'm sure. I did the X-ray spell thingie and got a redness that has nothing to do with her hair." He checked her pulse. "It's steady, but slow. Uh--huh. Cold and clammy, that's right. She's pale too." He smiled ruefully. "Paler than usual anyway." He pulled out her prescription. "Yeah, it says vicodin." He opened the bottle and looked inside. "I'm supposed to know what vicodin looks like how now?" Xander shook a pill out, and described it to Giles. "Oval. Kinda pink, with a touch of green." He pulled his head away from the phone as Giles blasted him for not taking this seriously. "Giles! This is Willow. How can I not be taking this seriously? It a pinky-green pill. Seriously." Xander listened to what Giles had to say. His face fell. "I understand. I know it's tough to figure out something like this over the phone. I'll mail you a sample of her blood and a pill. Keep me posted. Bye." He hung up and sat down next to her.
"Come on Will," he whispered, taking her hand, "you promised me you wouldn't leave me alone until I got over Africa." Xander brushed an errant strand of hair from her face. "Don't be a liar. I'll have to set your pants on fire. And really, nobody wants that. Except Faith. Faith might want that. But she doesn't get a say, so screw her. Just not literally. Or maybe literally. She is ridiculously hot. And you're always telling me I need to get back on the horse. Although I don't think Faith is the horse you meant."
Xander continued to ramble aimlessly about everything and nothing.
-
Spike had ditched Angel a while ago. He figured the old man could handle shaking down a few stoolies on his own while Spike did his best to track down Illyria. Seeing as she has no scent and an untold era of practice being stealthy, he didn't have much luck. Also, it was day. Still, it wouldn't do to get discouraged. She was alone out there with the memories of a life the creature Illyria couldn't understand, and the experiences of an existence too alien for the mortal soul of Fred to handle. All in all, she could do with about two bottles of Jack, and a good cry. Now only if he could find her.
-
After Angel left, Sammy wiped the sweat off his forehead and poured himself a stiff drink.
"Good work Sammy, nobody messes with Thesolo demons." The voice came from behind him, and the bartender's drink fell to the floor.
"Jeez! You got any particular reason for scaring me all the time?"
The demon smiled a horrible smile, full of sharpened and yellow teeth. "It's fun."
"Yeah well, fun's over. You don't wanna mess with that vampire believe me."
"We aren't. What we're after has nothing to do with him."
Sammy laughed. "Yeah O.K. You guys deal in Innocents, right? So what the heck do you think we were talking about?" The fearsome demon let out a soft growl. One that promised a painful conclusion to this conversation. "Listen." Sammy said quickly. "The guy can hear my heartbeat! I couldn't exactly lie to his face. Besides, all your guys gotta do is say they don't know nothing about nothing, and he'll leave." The barkeep thought for a moment. "It would probably go better if they give him some information. On one of your competitors maybe. That way, he'll go take care of them, instead of you."
"You told him we used Thesolos, what makes you think he'll be back?"
The tired old man sat down at his bar and poured another drink for himself. "He's a champion." He caught site of his reflection on the bar's wall mirror.
"And when he arrives to see no Thesolos? What then?"
"Then your guys get beat up, maybe killed, and if they do their jobs right, Angel will take out some of your competition."
The demons smiled again. "I like the way you think human. It proves to me again and again that letting you live was the right idea."
Sammy downed another drink. "In that case, happy to be of help." He got up from his barstool, unable to look himself in the face any longer.
-
Angel walked down a darkened alley to shield himself from the afternoon sun. The vampire was quite aware Sammy lied to him. Thesolos won't work for anyone other than themselves. They were too brutal and proud. Sammy was as knowledgeable as any watcher when it came to demon behavior. It came from surviving thirty years as a proprietor of a demon bar. One had to know how demons behaved, especially if one was human. So the question became: Why did Sammy tell Angel what he did? Was he just naming the first demon to come to mind, or did he mention them on purpose? He had to know that Angel wouldn't believe him. The old man was too smart not to. He was behaving oddly as well. A little paranoid. You wouldn't really notice it unless you've spent the last couple of hundred years causing just such a reaction from people.
Angel pulled out his cell phone and called the hotel. Xander picked up. "How's Willow?" He let out a subtle growl upon hearing her condition. "Do you need me to come over?" Angel opened a sewer cover. "Listen, the reason I called was to ask if you knew anything more about the demons running the drug ring." He started down the latter, pulling the cover over him. "Do you know if they use Thesolos for pushers?" As he listened to Xander's answer, an annoyed expression came over his face. "Yeah, I know they breath fire. Do you know what kind of demons they do use?" Angel's face turned ugly. "They use humans? How do you know?" He was surprised at the answer. "Buffy told you? But how would she ...? What do you mean ' It's classified?" He rolled his eyes. "I know the definition of the word Xander. No, I get it. 'Mission Impossible.' But you don't have to sound so happy about my being in the dark. I can hear you smirking. Knock it off." Angel told Xander to call Gunn. If anybody knew of a way to get Willow some help, it would be him, then he hung up the phone and tried to call Spike. When the call wouldn't go through, he looked down at he screen. "No signal?" He glared at the phone as if it personally offended him. "Stupid piece of crap."
-
Illyria stared out over Los Angeles. She stood, undisguised, atop a look out point outside of the city. Her odd appearance caused some of the tourist to look at her instead of the beautiful vista before them. A pair of foolish young men came up to her.
"Lonely?" The first one asked. "Because if you are, my friend and I could keep you company."
The second one guffawed. "Yeah, absolutely."
Illyria turned and faced her two admirers. "Leave me. For if you do not, then I shall be forced to suffer the unpleasantness of hearing your screams as you fall from this summit."
They looked at her for a second. The first one smiled, clearly amused. "Hah!" he laughed. "You're funny."
The second one seemed a bit more intelligent. "I don't think she's joking."
The first one looked at her, I mean really looked at her, and quickly changed his opinion.
"Yeah. O.K. Sorry to bother you. Have fun. Bye." He said, said quickly as he and his friend hurried away.
Illyria turned back to the city with just a hint of satisfaction.
