Chapter Four

Viggo hurried forward, followed closely by the rest, and he made a gagging noise when he looked in the room.

"No, Judith," Angel tried to stop her from looking in, too, but it was too late.

Judith clapped a hand to her mouth and forced her stomach to keep the filet mignon down. The coppery, tangy smell of blood saturated the air as thickly as the blood from the staff woman saturated the carpet; an oozing pool that crept closer to them as if sentient and trying to find a new body to flow through. The woman was propped up in a chair, a look of utter terror on her face and the tears still wet on her cheeks. On her left cheek was etched a deep, bloody cross.

Her throat was torn out.

Judith coughed and tried to look away; but then she noticed that all of the woman's fingers and toes were missing, too.

Sam swore under his trembling breath, Julian vomited in the hall, and Judith couldn't keep it down any longer: she turned and vomited, too. She felt Angel's hand on her back and coughed again, unsure if his presence made her feel any better or not. She closed her eyes tightly, but the image of the woman was seared in her vision like bright sunshine.

"She didn't even have time to struggle," Sam said weakly behind her.

Judith heard the soft click of the door closing. She straightened slowly, her arms around her nauseous stomach and eyes still tightly shut. Her throat burned. Angel's hand fell away from her back.

"I know," Viggo replied, just as weakly. "What in God's name could work that fast?"

Angel straightened a bit beside her. "Don't you mean 'who'?" he asked.

Judith opened her eyes and glanced at him. She caught a hint of worry on his features, though in the darkness and knowing him so well, she was pretty sure no one else could see it. She turned around slowly, taking a few steps to Angel's other side to get away from her pool of sick on the carpet. It was then that she noticed the way that Viggo, Julian, and Sam were looking at them. All were shaken by the woman behind the door, but there was an underlying cool caution to their expression: a fearful logic that they shouldn't have had.

"No," Viggo replied in a soft, yet sure tone. "I mean what."

"Unless of course," Julian said slowly, pale and also stepping away from his own pool of sick by the opposite wall, "the thing responsible is you, Vampire."

Judith gaped at Julian in shock. She tried to say something, but nothing would come. They knew? About Angel? About vampires?

Judith looked at Sam, who was regarding Angel with the same cold certainty as the others. In fact, Judith was the only one who seemed at all shocked in the situation.

"How long have you known?" Angel asked.

"About you?" Julian shrugged. "Personally, I've only been sure for about five minutes. Vampires always go straight for the blood. But you've been dropping clues all night."

"Or maybe you're just not very good at hiding yourself among humans," Sam interjected, his tone not-quite biting.

"Sam," Judith said, both a little scolding and a little pleading. The whistling started again and Angel tensed beside her. He put a hand on her lower back.

"Perhaps a more important question," Viggo said, stepping back to Julian's side while Sam moved forward to his other side, "is not how long we've known, but why Judith would conspire to knowingly bring such a dangerous creature into our midst. Unless it's hypnotism?"

Judith narrowed her eyes as Angel said, "That's the most important question you can come up with? Do you not hear the whistling? Whatever did that," he pointed to the door that hid the dead woman, "is coming back." Several doors slammed in the distance and Judith's heart caught in her still-burning throat. He was right. "Something is coming for us. And we left everyone else alone downstairs."

"They'll be alright," Viggo replied. "Alejandro is excellent at protective spells."

"What?" Judith cried, barely as loud as the screeching wail now overcoming them like a wave.

Suddenly, it stopped.

"Get down!" Angel cried, and pulled Judith to the ground just as something icy cold swooped over them. The others yelled and Viggo cursed as they, too, fell to the floor, which shook under them with the impact. Judith glanced up. A dark shadow disappeared down the staircase and her stomach turned again. The four of them breathed heavily in the complete silence for a moment. Angel was deathly still.

"We should get back to the others," Angel finally said, standing up and offering a hand to Judith, who took it. "We need to get out of here."

Julian groaned as he sat up. He put his fingers to a spot on his left cheek; they came away dark and shiny.

"Are you alright?" Judith asked worriedly, crossing the few steps between them and bending over to look at the long scratch—half of the cross on the woman's face.

"It got me…" he said.

"Just a little," Angel replied. "It'll stop bleeding soon." He was suddenly just behind Judith and offering a hand around her to help Julian up. "We should get to the others."

Julian, Sam, and Viggo looked up at Angel with utter incomprehension. Finally, Julian said, "I thought vampires were evil."

"We are," Angel replied.

"So why shouldn't we kill you?"

Angel blinked once, suppressing the bit of dark humor in his eyes, probably at the thought of any of them actually attempting to kill him. "I was cursed with a soul. It's a really long story, so you're just going to have to trust me right now. Or if you can't trust me, trust Judith."

Julian, Viggo, and Sam looked at Judith. She smiled as encouragingly as she could and nodded. "You can trust both of us, upon my word," she said. "Julian, Viggo…" She looked at her ex-husband. "Sam…" she said imploringly.

They hadn't shared a look of such deeply intimate knowledge of each other since well before the divorce. For a moment, Judith was transported back to a time when they were the love of each other's lives, when secrets were shared with whispered passion and confessions given as freely as kisses; when reserve and guards were strangers and suspicion was a mortal enemy. Judith had tried to figure out what had happened between them since it was, ironically, communication that had been their ultimate downfall. The best that she could come up with was that the secrets were of passion, not trust, and the confessions of indulgences, not necessity. When that kind of forced intimacy dried up, the foundation crumbled like charred wood.

Still, charred wood was a monument to what had consumed it, and she knew that Sam remembered it, too. She knew he must.

Sam's eyes hardened and in a cold, low voice, he said, "What the hell are you doing?"

Angel lowered the hand he'd offered to Julian.

Judith kept it together, but only just. She closed off, too, caging and locking away the emotions that wanted to bite out angrily at him behind her belief that rationality was the key to peace. Folding her arms in front of her chest, she took a step backward, brushing shoulders with Angel.

"Alright, then," Sam said, and pushed himself up. He held out his hand to Julian beside him, who glanced between Sam and Angel. Julian and Viggo both looked much less sure than Sam, but she took that as a sign that they were thinking with reason, not emotion. Good. Julian did not take Sam's hand, pushing himself to his feet instead. Viggo also stood.

"So what did that, then?" Julian asked, nodding toward the door and avoiding Sam's eye contact, and no one but Angel actually looked back toward the room.

Angel swallowed. "I'm not sure." He looked like he was about to add something; but instead he took Judith's hand and moved forward, pushing between Julian and Viggo, leading the way back down the staircase.

The whistling started a third time just before they reached the dining room. They found everyone restlessly muttering to each other around the table, and as soon as they entered, Georgiana and Eliza gave cries of relief.

"What happened?" Eliza exclaimed, jumping up to examine the cut on Julian's cheek.

"Everyone," Viggo announced authoritatively, "I regret to announce that we must cut our evening short and leave immediately. It is clear that this is a situation for the police to handle."

Angel and Viggo shared a quick glance. The whistling grew louder.

"Let us wait for the cars outside, shall we? A little spring evening air will do us good. Dear, would you alert André that we need the cars immediately and that all the staff are dismissed? Thank you. Julian, go with her, please. Alejandro, a word?"

As chairs shuffled and people murmured nervously to each other as they prepared to go, Claire hurried over to Judith and Angel and demanded to know what was going on.

"We don't know," Judith said, "but it's not good." The chandelier above the table began to clink ominously with tiny shudders, as if it were shaking in its own fear.

Claire folded her arms across herself like she was suddenly chilled. She lowered her voice. "Worse than Rankos?"

"Probably," Angel replied, shifting his weight.

Judith narrowed her eyes at him. "How much do you know that you're not telling us?"

Angel swallowed. "Not much. But I can sense…"

"Bad things are coming?" Claire finished.

"No. Well, yes. But I sense anger."

"Because of what you did here in 1769?" Judith asked. Angel just looked at her.

There was another scream and they all jumped. The whistling was gone.

"Georgiana!" Viggo yelled, and sprinted toward the door. No one stayed behind this time.

Georgiana was easy to find; she screamed until they found her gripping onto an even paler Julian in the hall outside the drawing room. "This is just too much," Julian said weakly as Viggo took his wife into his arms.

Angel peered into the drawing room; and Judith didn't know why, but she looked, too.

André was sprawled on his back on the drawing room floor, his eyeballs torn out and shriveled dry. A cross was scratched onto his cheek, too, and on his neck were deep puncture wounds. Judith stifled a sob and covered her mouth.

"I didn't do that…" Angel said quietly. Judith glared at him so fiercely that Angel jumped a bit when he turned to look at her. He was about to say something, but then Claire shrieked right behind them and they both jumped.

"Claire!" Judith admonished, holding her ears. Angel quickly shut the door and barred the way now that everyone else was trying to look in, too. Several of the terrified staff had joined them now.

It took several minutes for Angel to convince everyone to ignore what was behind the door so that they could leave, and it was when Viggo added his voice to the argument that people started to move toward the front door. One hand around his wife, the other digging out his Palm to call for the cars himself, Viggo led the way with Angel and Judith following behind the tightly-packed group. Judith placed a hand on Claire's shoulder, trying to give her what comfort she could.

"That was André, Judith," Claire wept. "He's always been here…"

"I know," Judith said as soothingly as she could through the lump in her throat. She tried to ignore the way Angel shifted guiltily beside her.

They stopped at the front door and Judith tried not to remember the first time she'd met André. He was young and well-trained, but he did not yet know about the slightly raised floorboard by the head of the table in the dining room. He had tripped and sent champagne spraying across the entire company. Judith would never forget the look of utter relief in his beautiful dark eyes when Viggo laughed rather than fired him, and the incident became a longtime running joke amongst them all. Those beautiful, sparkling eyes…

A ripple of panic passed through the crowd that made the hairs on Judith's neck stiffen, though she had no idea what had happened now. "Il ne veut pas ouverte! Il ne veut pas ouverte!" the staff members cried out to each other.

"It won't open?" Judith said as a weight of dread plunged into her stomach like a large rock in a deep lake. "The door won't open?" The group buzzed with nervousness, and Judith and Adele caught eyes as they looked around. Neither could offer the other anything but assurance that they harbored the same sense of fear as the other. Angel broke the eye contact when he passed between them, and it was only then that Judith noticed that he was pushing his way toward the front.

She barely heard him say, "Let me try," before there were several deafening bangs of his foot against the wood door. A tiny part of Judith winced at the thought of such beautiful antique wood doors splintering into pieces, but of course if it would get them out of there…

The banging continued for several long seconds. When it stopped, Judith stood on her toes to look at the door. It was perfectly intact. She saw the top of Angel's head make its way toward the glass window beside the door, heard the crack and the loud curse as Angel's fist tried and failed to break it, and Judith's mouth suddenly felt very dry. They couldn't really be trapped, could they? Was that possible? She suddenly remembered, a long time ago, William telling her how he and Calder couldn't get into the Hyperion Hotel when they were in the 1950's because of some invisible barrier. Of course it was possible.

Judith glanced around behind them as if she could find another way out, and she saw something that made her blood run icy cold.

A thick, dense layer of fog rolled through the estate hallway floor like a gray carpet inviting them to walk their way elegantly toward death.

"Angel?" she called, and everyone turned. Several of them screamed. Angel was somehow through the crowd and at her side in seconds.

"The gallery! Through there!" Viggo called, pushing his way to the nearest door off the hall. Jack Goldberg was the first to arrive at the door, and it swung open easily. Bottlenecking through the doorway, everyone pushed their way blindly into the dark room. Angel was the last one in and he paused before closing the door.

"What do you want?" he shouted at the fog. A sound like rushing wind in a thick forest roared down the hall and the river of fog rose up like a mountain high over Angel's head. He slammed the door shut just before the fog reached him and locked it. Alejandro stepped up to it, placed his hand on the wood, and murmured something. There was a flash of a shimmer like heat on a summer day around the door-Judith was likely the only one of the women who noticed it, since the others wouldn't have expected it-and Angel nodded at him with a sense of approval.

Angel looked around. Everyone was staring at him, but he ignored them and went straight for the windows, trying and failing to break each one. He cursed again softly.

"Viggo, what's happening?" Georgiana sniffed.

"I don't know, my love," he replied quietly, stroking her golden hair as her head rested on his shoulder. "I don't know."

There was an eerie silence in the house that seemed to last forever. Judith wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks, trying not to think of André and the other woman—whose name she didn't know.

All of the couples held tightly to each other, as did the handful of staff members that had managed to join them. Sam stood apart, his expression cold, and Angel stood with his back to the group, staring out the window at something—or perhaps at nothing. Judith made no move to go be with him. His words replayed over and over in her mind about André (I didn't do that…), and how he hadn't said anything of the sort about the other woman…

"Gentlemen," Viggo suddenly called, and everyone but Angel looked up. "A few words, please."

The men - and Laurie - reluctantly let go of their wives and followed Viggo over an empty corner of the room. Judith joined them without thinking about it, leaving the other ladies and the staff to huddle together. Jack Goldberg started to gently protest, but Viggo stopped him.

"It's alright, Jack. She knows."

There was an interested murmur from Jack and Alejandro, which Judith pretended to ignore as she settled into the space between the two. She eyed each of them steely. So they were all in on this.

"Angel," Viggo called. "You're included."

Angel hesitated, but joined them at the spot between Viggo and Julian that they created for him. Shoulder-to-shoulder, they stood circled, everyone but Angel and Judith with the solemn, self-important expressions of turn-of-the-20th-century aristocrats, on the cutting edge of intelligence and sophistication, the pinnacle of human minds that would save them all.

That was the first time Judith thought that they all might actually die that night.

Viggo began the orgy of ego masturbation with, "Now is the time to put our knowledge into practice gentlemen. And lady," he nodded toward Judith, who would rather not have been so included. Laurie was also in the group, with an expression perfectly matching the other men, and seemed unphased at being addressed as one of the gentlemen.

Viggo continued, "We aren't demonologists for mere intellectualism. Now: what can we deduce from the events of tonight?"

"It's certainly paranormal," Jack said at once from Alejandro's other side.

"Si, and very powerful."

"It is corporeal," Julian added, "considering what it did to…" He cleared his throat. "So it's more likely a demon than a spirit."

"Contrariwise," Jack objected, adjusting his wire framed glasses. "We have seen many strange occurrences tonight that require incorporeality. The breeze that snuffed out the candles, for instance. Since there are many species of non-corporeal beings that can manipulate the corporeal world, I do not think we can rule out spirits."

"But of course," Alejandro said, "a corporeal being, as we know from our own experience, does not have to be physically present in order to manipulate the corporeal world."

There was an appreciative chuckle around the circle from everyone but Judith and Angel-who looked at each other with the same, I would laugh if we weren't going to die expression-and Sam, who maintained a stony stoicism. The positions of the three of them in the circle formed a triangle, and the lines of tension were palpable.

"What about the fog?" Laurie asked. "That was certainly not typical. I think it must be an important clue."

"Excellent point," said Viggo. "Now think, gentlemen, what sort of demon or spirit might be able to summon and manipulate fog? And why?"

Julian glanced sideways at Angel. "A vampire comes to mind…"

"Angel was with us the entire time," Judith said coldly. "And anyway, the fog part is a Draculan myth. Find something else to blame."

"He's a vampire?" Alejandro asked beside her, stunned. Jack gave Angel a wary glance and shifted back on his heels a bit; Laurie's jaw dropped in shock.

"He is," Viggo replied. "But on our side, at Judith's word."

Alejandro turned to Judith. "You knew about all this? You know that they're… I mean..." He lowered his voice, "A vampire, Judith?"

Judith's tone was even and clear enough for all to hear. "Angel has a soul-a conscience. He has saved William's life more times than I care to count. Actually, he's saved my life more times than I care to count." Even once was more than enough for her. "I trust him to save ours this time." She glanced over at Angel. "Sorry to put the pressure on."

Angel shrugged. "I'm used to it."

Jack leaned forward a bit. "Some of us have been studying the occult for more than 20 years, and practicing nearly as long. We're not so incapable."

"Have you ever killed a vampire?" Angel asked. "Exorcised a spirit? Slain a demon?"

Jack glanced at the others briefly before turning back to Angel. "Not as such," he admitted.

"Look," Judith said, slightly irritated, "this doesn't have to be a Whose Is Bigger contest." Everyone else shifted uncomfortably, but Judith felt unrepentant. "We can work together on this, and then, when we've survived," she caught eyes with Sam, "talk about what the hell we all think we're doing."

"Yes, quite so," Viggo agreed after a moment. "We need a plan. Does anyone have any ideas? Angel, you've apparently done this a while. What are your thoughts?"

Angel glanced once around the circle. Judith knew it was coming before he said it, and part of her winced for their sake while the other part self-righteously relished it.

"My thought is that you're all idiots."

Several jaws dropped open in shock and protest.

Angel continued, "Something in this house is seriously pissed off and bloodthirsty. We're trapped in here with it, and all you can come up with is that it's a fog-summoning demon-spirit-thing?" Judith allowed herself to feel satisfied at this and caught Angel's eye briefly. She nodded her approval.

The circle was quiet for a moment. That was as far as her approval went with Angel, though. They weren't going to get anywhere until they got answers from him, and so, feeling only the tiniest bit guilty for throwing him under the train, Judith took a breath and asked, "What is it so angry about, Angel?"

The others watched the weighty stare between Judith and Angel with baited breaths.

"I think we should know exactly what you did here," Judith continued quietly. "It may be that this entity is after you; not the rest of us."

The only sounds that could be heard were the distant slamming of doors and anxious whispers of the other women and staff in the middle of the room. Someone elsewhere in the house let out a gurgling scream, like they were choking on their own blood.

Finally, Angel spoke. "I was here in 1769 with my sire, Darla. I didn't have a soul at the time, and we were monsters. They called us the Scourge of Europe."

Julian interrupted suddenly, "We've all read about the Scourge of Europe, but that's almost legend now. I thought the name was Angelus?"

"I changed it," Angel replied shortly.

Julian paled somewhat as the realization sank in that he was standing next to the legendary Scourge of Europe-or half of the Scourge, anyway.

Judith paled slightly as she realized that she was sleeping with half of the legendary Scourge of Europe.

Angel continued, "We stopped here on Christmas Eve, managed an invitation in, and wreaked havoc." Angel glanced at Viggo. "We left none alive and were never caught."

There was a brief but heavy silence.

"And what did you mean when you saw André's body tonight and said that you 'never did that'?" Judith asked. She had the strong sensation that she didn't want to know the answer, but she also knew that it was probably important.

Angel hesitated, but maintained his stoicism. "We killed everyone differently," he said finally. "I was…practicing my technique. The cross on the cheek was my trademark for a while, but I dropped it about 15 years later. The woman upstairs…that was what Marie-Élise Gaudet suffered. But André… We did rip the eyes out of one of the cousins," (everyone flinched) "but we left them intact. André's eyes were sucked dry tonight—even if it wasn't really hard for vampires to do that without maiming them, we wouldn't have."

"Why?" Julian snorted. "Not enough blood in the eyes?"

"No," Angel replied. "It's gross."

Judith sighed. "So something is repeating the murders you committed here over 450 years ago."

"Yes," Angel said, "but something else is changing them. There's more than one entity here tonight that's out for blood."

"Couldn't your memory be faulty?" Jack swallowed nervously.

"No," Angel replied.

There was another brief moment of silence before Jack whispered, "Oh."

"You wouldn't know anything about Pierre Gaudet, would you?" Angel suddenly asked Viggo.

The men all stared at him in shock.

Angel glanced around. "What?"

Viggo answered, "Several of the spell books in our collection belonged to him. It was, in fact, his collection that started ours."

Angel nodded thoughtfully.

"Why?" Jack asked.

Angel looked at him. "I remember he tasted kind of funny. Can I see the books?"

"They're in a secret room in the cellar behind the wine shelves," Viggo answered.

"Great. Let's go," Angel said to Viggo.

"Now?"

Angel sighed. "Or we could wait here until whatever it is gets in-that sounds like a super plan to me. Look, if this is a curse, we need to know which one it is to break it, and even then..."

"Even then?" Julian asked.

Angel gave a half-shrug. "Well, I'm not even sure I'm going to survive this, and I'm already dead."

As if to prove Angel's point, the ceiling above them shook like a giant was trying to punch a hole through to reach them, and something with claws scratched at the other side of the door.

Viggo nodded. "Very well."

"I'll go with you," Julian offered. "I'll be more use to you watching your back than guarding here."

"Wait," Alejandro held up a hand. "This is madness: you're not going to just walk out of this room, through several hallways, and down a flight of steps without whatever is out there noticing and swarming you." (Laurie and Jack murmured in agreement.) "We're all practitioners with different strengths. We even, apparently, have a vampire on our side…" He stole a glance toward Judith. "I say we pull together to win this battle from here."

Jack nodded fervently. "Yes, that's what we should do. Set up a strong base and let them come to us, on our terms. And when the battle is won, we go together to the cellar to break the curse. Our greatest asset and safety is in numbers."

"Agreed," Sam said.

"No," Angel told them in a tone of finality, like they were children asking for a later bedtime. It earned him several reproachful glares, but if he noticed, he didn't seem to care. "I'll go out there, get the book, stop the curse. The rest of you can stay here, if that's what you want. Set up your 'strong base,' and if you're the praying type...start. But you're not going to engage unless they manage to get in."

Sam let out a derisive snort and Laurie, beside him, said irritatedly, "You're new here, Angel, and you don't seem to realize that this is a democracy. We decide together what to do."

"And if you collectively decide you want to live," Angel replied, "you'll follow my lead. But hey, I won't stand in the way if any of you decide you'd rather die tonight. Where's the door to this secret wine cellar room?"

Sam's glare was now bordering on arctic-cold, and Judith wondered if she should interject. He demanded, "And what makes you the one to lead us?"

"Well, gee Sam, I've only been doing this for a few hundred years," Angel retorted.

"Oh that's right, I forgot," Sam raised his voice, "you've been doing this so long, it was your 'technique perfection' that started this whole goddamn mess!"

"Sam," Judith tried to interrupt. He was right, of course, but it was hardly the time to shout at each other.

"Here, here!" Laurie agreed emphatically. Viggo and Julian shared uncertain glances behind Angel between them.

"Damn it," Angel growled (actually growled), "we don't have time for this. Judith," he turned to her, "let's go." He crossed the circle and took her hand, but Alejandro did not move aside when Angel tried to push past him.

"Absolutely not," he said firmly. "You can go out there if you want, but we will take care of Judith."

"Like hell you will," Angel replied, a growl still in his tone. "She's safer with me out there than with you in here." His eyes flicked to something beyond their circle. "Want to back me up, Claire?"

Alejandro whirled around with the others and paled. Claire and the other wives stood just feet away, listening, arms crossed tightly over their chests. Judith assumed that Claire and Marietta had filled the others in on what they knew about Angel, demons, and magic, and that they'd put two and two together about their spouses until they decided to come and listen to the escalating argument. They looked livid.

"Alejandro, you bastardo!" Claire cried, and unleashed a tirade against him in Spanish that was only partially drowned out by the angry and frightened diatribes of the other women. The crowd shifted into temporary chaos and Judith found herself jostled away from Angel to opposite edges of the crowd.

When she regained her bearings in the cacophony of yelling, frightened, angry voices inside the room and screams, wails, and roars outside the room, she looked around frantically for Angel, but Sam found her first.

Judith held up a hand, still searching the crowd. "Now is not the time, Sam."

"I know," he replied. "I hate to say it, but I kind of agree with the vampire. Not in his barge-out-of-here-with-you plan, but we've got to do better than this if we're going to survive. I want to help."

"The vampire's name is Angel," Judith replied coolly. She spotted him at the edge of the group closest to the wall, his brow furrowed in concentration and concern. He looked like a mathematician frantically trying to solve the equation that would keep gravity from turning off in thirty seconds-or something equally catastrophic and impossible.

"I heard it was Angelus," Sam bit back. "But let's survive first, then question each other's life choices."

"Fine by me," Judith replied through clenched teeth, and was about to go over to Angel when the light of a solution crossed his face and he scanned quickly through the crowd for someone. He disappeared into the mass of shouting people.

"What's he doing?" Sam wondered out loud, and Judith shrugged. Angel emerged a moment later with Alejandro in tow and Claire shouting something at Angel, now, too. Angel rounded on her and said something quietly that looked sharp. Whatever it was, Claire crossed her arms over her chest, giving Angel a stony look. Unwilling to be left out, Judith made her way over with Sam close behind, skirting the crowd to the back wall where they stood.

She arrived just as Angel was saying something about lowering the protective barrier. All three of them looked at Judith when she stopped by them; Claire and Alejandro uncertainly, and Angel a little warily. Angel tore his eyes away to look back at Alejandro.

"Please."

Alejandro regarded him coolly. "That bit about the piandao earlier-that wasn't a joke, was it?"

Angel let out an exasperated breath. "Alright, look: yes, this whole thing is kind of my fault-"

"Kind of?" Claire interrupted derisively.

"Well I didn't curse the place, did I?" he retorted. "Listen to me. Yes, I'm dangerous. I could kill every single one of you in here without the help of those damned things out there," he pointed toward the door, "that actually want to. But this time, it could actually work out in your favor. I can get those books. I just need you to lower that barrier."

"How can you get the books, Angel?" Judith asked. She knew he was good, but it sounded like a riot out there.

He looked at her again, and this time the wariness held a hint of regret. "We'll talk about that in a second," he told her. "First I need to make sure we can get out."

"We?" she asked. He had been serious about wanting to take her out there with him. He was that mistrustful of her friends?

Beside her, Sam crossed his arms with just as much mistrust.

Instead of answering, Angel looked at Alejandro, who looked at his wife. Claire jerked her head toward Angel and said, "He saved Marietta from a demon possession once. I think he knows what he's doing."

To their credit, Alejandro and Sam choked back their shock and spared only quick glances toward Marietta. Then, Alejandro nodded. "Fine," he told Angel. "At your signal."

"Hold on," Sam interjected. "Tell us the plan first. We can't just blindly follow your lead."

"You don't have time to do anything else," Angel responded. Something heavy crashed upstairs and it shook the ceiling again.

"And it's not blind," Claire said to Sam. "All of you men are on my hit list right now, but I watched Angel save one of my best friends from a demon that was older than exorcism itself. If he's got a plan, I say we go for it."

Alejandro gave Angel a somewhat impressed look and nodded. "I must defer to my wife's judgment. I'll remove the barrier, but I'm replacing it when you're through."

"Good," Angel nodded. "Thank you." He turned to Judith apprehensively. Stepping between the Renatos and Sam, he took her gently by the elbow and pulled her away from them. She heard Sam start to protest and then Claire hissing at him to get over himself.

"Judith," Angel said quietly, not looking at her. "I know you don't have a good opinion of me right now," (Judith snorted), "but I need you on my side for this. Completely."

"I am on your side," she said. "I may not think very highly of you right now, but you'll notice I continue to defend you in front of the others."

"I did notice, and it means a lot to me. But I'm about to ask you to do something for me that's pushing a lot of boundaries and I'm not going to ask you unless I know I have your complete trust."

Judith hesitated. "Why? What is it?"

"Do you still trust me?" Angel asked.

Judith stared at him a moment, and then said, "Yes."

A brief look of grateful relief passed over Angel's eyes. "Thank you," he said. "Judith, you have no idea how much I don't want to ask you this…" He steeled himself and explained, "Just before I closed the door, when I asked what they wanted...something in the fog answered me."

Judith frowned. "I didn't hear anything."

"It was quiet," he replied. "A whisper. They want to make a deal. They're asking for a parlay."

Judith straightened with mild surprise. "Well that's good," she said. "Why aren't you out there now?"

"Because…" Angel hesitated. "They want the parlay with Angelus."

Judith took a moment for that to sink in. Then she said softly, "I think you'd better explain your plan…"

She listened with increasing numbness as he talked, hating it intrinsically, and hating it more with his sound logic behind it. But he was honest with her; down to the fact that he wasn't even sure this whole thing would work if negotiations went poorly, but that he thought it was worth the try.

"It's completely up to you," he finished. "We could think of another way." His tone of voice implied a complete loss for whatever that would be, but a willingness to try.

Judith let out a shaky breath and nodded. "Fine. We'll do it."

Angel took her face in his hands gently and kissed her forehead. He looked directly into her eyes. "I will take care of you if it's the last thing I do," he said.

And then he changed into a monster.