With an exhausted yawn, Cordelia locked her apartment door behind herself and tossed her keys on the table. She turned and was heading directly for her bedroom when the phone rang.

She rolled her eyes and wandered up to squint at the caller id. She exhaled a short, disgusted breath when she recognized the number.

"The office," she muttered, shutting off the ringer and turning down the volume on the answering machine. "Well, Angel and his nasty, acting-career-inhibiting demons can wait."

Xander fidgeted nervously, checking his watch, twisting the phone cable in his fingers as he listened to the phone ring again and again. Finally, Cordelia's answering machine picked up.

Xander flinched and held the phone away from his ear as Cordelia's piercingly upbeat message played. Finally, the beep sounded.

"Cordy? Cordy, are you there? If you are there, please pick up. It's Xander. Angel's in trouble. Please...." Xander waited awhile and eventually sighed disappointedly. "All right, when you get back from the dawn of your stardom, please call Angel's office. Please. It's important."

Xander hung up, then looked at his watch again. Suddenly, he ran to the desk, picked up the book he had been reading, and made a dash for the elevator.

Four hours later, Xander was on the phone again, this time holding a cordless between his ear and shoulder while he watched over a cluster of bubbling pots on the stove in Angel's kitchen, stirring with one hand while trying to unstop a bottle of thick green fluid with the other. He sighed as he heard the phone ring for a fourth time, and winced as Cordelia's answering machine message began to play at top volume in his ear.

"Cordy? Xander. Still at your party? Gotten noticed yet?" Xander finally opened the bottle and began to carefully pour its contents into a measuring spoon. "Hey, do you know how many ounces in a drachma?" A huge portion of the thick fluid suddenly all came out in a large clump. "Oops. Never mind." Xander went back to stirring with one hand, while searching through a forest of bottles, boxes, and jars arranged on the counter with the other. "Well, when you get in please call. The office or the apartment." Xander located a box of matches and pulled one out. "Nothing big, just a small matter of life or death." He lit the match and dropped it into the pot, jumping back when a tall column of flame shot up. "Whoa! Uh, sorry about that, just call when you get in, okay?" Xander pulled the phone from the crook of his neck and pressed the off button.

"Ouch!" Hot liquid was starting to splatter from one of the pots, which was over-boiling. Xander carefully grabbed it and removed it from the burner. "Okay, that looks done. Now what did I do with the eye of newt?"

Another three hours after that, sun was streaming in the office windows, and Xander was loading plastic bottles of a viscous gray fluid into his duffel bag. He checked that the caps were all securely tightened, then zipped up the bag, slung it over his shoulder, and strode quickly over to the phone.

His face settled into an expression of resigned annoyance as he once again heard Cordelia's answering machine.

"Cordy. Xander. Either you're back at your apartment ignoring your phone or you really got _noticed_ last night. Anyway, don't bother calling back now, I'm about to leave to try to find Angel and Doyle. If you can, meet me at the intersection of..." Xander dug out the paper Angel had given him and recited the address. "I don't have enough cash for cab fare to cross town, so I'm going to experience the adventure that is the bus system. Hopefully I'll get there some time today. Later."

With that, he hung up and quickly headed for the door.

Cordelia, sleek and pristine from her shower and subsequent morning rituals, ambled leisurely into her living room and gave a small, contented sigh as she looked at the view out her window. With great reluctance, she tore herself away from the view, and turned to tap the play button on her answering machine.

Her expression went through a rainbow of emotions as she listened to Xander's three messages, from surprised to curious to worried to confused to indignant and finally to guilty as she heard the bleak tone of Xander's voice before he hung up for the last time.

After only a moment's hesitation, she raced across the room to grab her purse and keys and then was out the door.

She found Xander staring into the entrance of an alleyway in a run-down and rather sketchy neighborhood, not far from the intersection he'd named. When he heard her approach, he turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if it isn't Little Miss Hollywood."

"Can it, dork face. What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," he said, turning back to look into the alley, "but it doesn't look good."

Cordelia turned to look and almost tripped when she immediately stepped backwards. The ground and walls were stained with large splatters of a blackened substance that might once have been blood, and the alley was littered with debris from all the overturned and dented trashcans scattered about.

Xander stepped cautiously into the alleyway and started to look around. After a moment's hesitation, Cordelia reluctantly followed.

"What did this?" she asked, nervously.

"From what Doyle said about his vision, I think it was drainer wolves."

"Drainer wolves?"

"Demons that live off vampire blood. Sort of a vampire's vampire."

Cordelia looked around nervously. "You think these things got Angel?"

Xander was about to reply, when a glint in the rubble caught his eye. He reached down to pick it up.

It was Angel's cell phone, mangled almost beyond recognition.

"Yeah," he said softly, staring at it. "I'm pretty sure." He went on with an unfelt attempt at lightheartedness, "I hope Angel isn't locked into a service contract."

Cordelia bit her lip. "What are they going to do to him?"

"They drain them," said Xander, still staring at the phone in his hand, "from the neck. They all take turns. Sometimes they'll keep a vampire alive for days, bringing it humans to feed on, then draining the vampire before it gets strong enough to escape. Then, when the vampire can't take it anymore, they..." Xander took a deep breath, and Cordelia was surprised to see that his eyes were watering. "...they drag the vampire out into the sunlight and watch from the shadows as it fries."

"Pleasant," said Cordelia, attempting to cover her disgust.

Xander suddenly hurled the phone at the wall with great violence, where it shattered into tiny shards of glass and plastic, making Cordelia jump back in surprise. "We're taking these things down," he said viciously, clenching his fists.

Cordelia gulped and stuttered nervously, "Wh-where are they?"

Xander relaxed a bit, but still did not turn to face her. "Sunlight doesn't kill them, but they don't like it. The books said they make lairs in catacombs and crypts...."

"How about the basement of an abandoned warehouse?" Cordelia asked, gesturing at a building down the alleyway, to which a trail of black stains led.

Xander almost smiled. "In a pinch."

They stepped carefully through the rubble, following the trail of gore to a dented metal door that stood slightly ajar. As Xander reached for the handle, Cordelia grabbed his arm.

"Wait a second. If these things can take down vampires, why are _we_ going in there?"

Xander sighed. "They don't attack humans. They can't feed off them. Usually."

"_Usually_?"

Xander turned to her and began to explain. "The drainer wolves were created by a warlock... sometime during the dark ages, it doesn't matter. He wanted to exterminate all the vampires in Europe, be a hero, all that. It was a good enough idea on the surface, sort of like buying a cat to kill the mice. But he goofed just a little. If a pack of drainer wolves drains enough vampire blood, they can become powerful enough to live off human blood.

"Large packs wiped out three Bavarian towns before the warlock came up with this." He pulled one of the bottles of gray fluid out of his bag and handed it to Cordelia. She frowned and accepted it warily. "It's drainerwolfsbane."

"Drainerwolfswhat?" said Cordelia, holding the bottle away from herself.

"Drainerwolfsbane. Just think of it as Raid for drainer wolves. Kills on contact. Well, actually it just horribly burns their flesh, but you get the idea."

"Just when I thought this job couldn't get any more disgusting."

Xander turned back to the door. "Ready? We're going in. Oh, and be careful with that stuff. It's got holy water in it."

Cordelia shrugged, confused. "Okay, whatever."

Xander grasped the handle, waited cautiously for a moment, then tore open the door. He and Cordelia reeled back with disgust as a foul stench hit them like a slap in the face. Xander pulled two flashlights from his duffel bag and handed one to Cordelia as they started down the metal staircase that stood just inside.

At the bottom of the staircase, they found the source of the trail of black stains. It was the mutilated corpse of some creature, a cross between a wolf, a rat, and a monkey. With horrible long, sharp teeth.

Xander grimaced. "Drainer wolves all right," he whispered. He pulled out another bottle of the drainerwolfsbane and poured a thin stream of it across the creature. The liquid hissed and steamed as it hit the flesh, slicing the creature neatly in half. "Good," Xander whispered, capping the bottle with a satisfying click, "it works."

"You dragged me down here without knowing whether this stuff worked or not?" Cordelia almost shouted.

"Shh!" Xander hushed, holding up his hand. "It works, so no problem."

Cordelia's expression indicated that she thought there was a problem, a very big one, but she said nothing, and followed Xander down the passageway. The walls were stained just as the alleyway had been, and they nearly tripped over several more demon carcasses before coming to a large central chamber.

Gore coated the walls and corpses of drainer wolves in various stages of decay littered the floor. Cordelia sucked in a breath, gagged, and then began coughing uncontrollably. Xander slowly panned his flashlight around the room. Heavily latched metal doors appeared at regular intervals along the walls. A slight whispering sound emanated from one of them, but stopped abruptly as Xander and the still-coughing Cordelia approached.

Cordelia finally managed to stifle her coughs and ready her bottle of drainerwolfsbane. Xander carefully reached for the heavy latch on the door and slowly lifted it. He slid open the door and immediately had to duck as Doyle's fist swung out at him. He pointed his flashlight upwards and saw Doyle stumbling, attempting to remain standing after his poorly aimed attack. Doyle was beaten and bruised, his clothes torn, and there was a wild, desperate look in his eyes. He quickly attempted to regain what composure he could muster as he saw who his visitors were.

"Took you long enough," he drawled.

Xander ignored him and swung his flashlight around the room. There were fewer and less grisly stains inside, but Xander's hand froze when he found a figure laid out on the floor. "Angel," he whispered. He rushed forward and knelt down, lifting Angel's head and cradling it in one arm. Angel was covered with small cuts, even on his arms, where the sleeves of his shirt had been torn away. There was a large gash across his chest that had mostly healed, but the shredded fabric told of an even more horrific wound. But the worst was Angel's neck, torn open and completely unhealed. Still slowly dripping.

"Angel," Xander said again, his voice uneven and his eyes watering.

Angel's eyelids fluttered open. "Xander?" Angel's voice was weak and rasping.

"Angel!" Xander exclaimed quietly. He reached back into his duffel bag and drew out packet after packet of blood. "You've got to drink." Angel didn't move. "Can you hear me? You've got to drink." Xander's voice was cracking again. He held a packet of blood up to Angel's mouth, but Angel still didn't move, just lay there staring up at Xander.

"Damn it!" Xander swore softly. He brought the packet of blood to his own mouth, tore it open with his teeth, and then, blooding pouring over his chin, held it up to Angel.

Long seconds passed as the blood merely poured into Angel's mouth and spilled across his cheeks.

Then, Angel swallowed. And swallowed again. Soon he was swallowing the blood as fast as it would pour.

Xander gave a small cry of joy and tore open another packet with his teeth. Angel took the third and fourth packets in his own hands and tore them himself. After the fourth packet, Angel refused any more, and with Xander's help, managed to stand. His cuts had mostly healed, and the gash on his neck had closed and was now a large scar.

"Don't you two make a grisly pair," said Cordelia.

Doyle rolled his eyes and turned to stare anywhere but at Angel and Xander.

Xander tried to wipe the blood from his chin, but stopped and looked up when he heard eerie scurrying sounds all about. "They smell the blood," he whispered. "They're coming back."

"We gotta get out of here," said Doyle, looking around nervously and edging towards the door.

"Wait," said Xander, giving Angel's hand a quick squeeze before walking over to Doyle. Xander handed him another plastic bottle. "Take this," he whispered. "It burns their flesh. Careful with it, though," he added, with a glance at Angel. "It's got holy water in it."

Doyle nodded at Xander and then looked down to examine the bottle in his hands, freezing suddenly when a raspy hissing noise came from outside the room. He looked out and uncapped the bottle. "Payback time," he muttered. Rolling back his shoulders, he stalked out the door and the others quickly followed.

Hissing, growling, and scurrying sounds came from all around them. Xander swung his flashlight around the room, but never managed to catch more than the glint of an eye or the whip of a tail.

Angel spoke softly. "They're all to the left."

Xander immediately swung the flashlight beam around and a whole group of drainer wolves suddenly appeared, flinching and growling at the light. They crouched in the corner, eyeing their prey, ready to strike. One of the demons hissed and swiped a threatening claw.

Cordelia made a frightened squeak, and splashed a jagged protective circle of the drainerwolfsbane in front of the group. The demons rushed forward at the sound, but immediately hopped back yelping as the acid hissed and burned at their feet.

One of the wolves suddenly roared and launched itself over the puddle, throwing itself at Doyle. He stepped back and swung his bottle directly at the flying creature. It fell to the ground, shrieking as its face burned away. Doyle shouted with glee and ran at the pack of wolves cowering in the corner, splashing the bane everywhere. Suddenly, the room was echoing with horrible shrieking yelps as the creatures were burned to death by the liquid.

Drainer wolves began to launch themselves from every direction. Angel fended off those he could, while Xander and Cordelia stood by him and took care of the rest with the drainerwolfsbane, Cordelia splashing it about with panicked abandon, Xander aiming with determined grim precision. Soon the floor was thick with the corpses of the demons.

As the survivors of the massacre beat a frenzied retreat from the room, Doyle ran after them madly, shouting, "Come on!"

"They're leaving!" Cordelia shouted back querulously, but just as adamantly. "That's our cue to run for our lives!"

Doyle spun around. "I'm not leaving this place until every last one of those little bastards is burnt beyond recognition."

"Feeling a little grim, Mr. Vendetta?" Cordelia shot back.

"Yeah, well, being locked in this place for a day'll do that to ya."

*****
Part 4:

It took hours to hunt down, trap, and kill the remaining drainer wolves in the maze of rooms, corridors, and ventilation shafts under the warehouse. Finally, they had the last one cornered. It cowered and hissed at their flashlight beams, and then suddenly made a jump at Cordelia.

Cordelia, who had by this time grown extremely bored with the proceedings and was paying little attention, was taken by surprise. She swung her bottle of drainerwolfsbane at the creature, scoring a direct hit and killing it, but the creature's momentum was unabated. She tried to dodge, but the creature still struck her shoulder as it went flying by, tearing the strap of her blouse. She let out a brief cry of annoyance and gaped at the torn strap indignantly as the creature fell to the floor beyond her with a loud thump.

"That was a new blouse!" she exclaimed, glaring around at the others: Doyle, who was beaten, bruised, and covered with demon blood and drainerwolfsbane; Xander, who was similarly stained and disheveled after wrestling with two of the creatures in a ventilation shaft, and still had blood on his chin and down his neck from helping to feed Angel; and Angel, who was covered with blood, both from the blood packets and the demons, and still had not completely recovered from the wounds they had given him while he was their captive.

"Forgive us if we seem less than sympathetic," muttered Doyle.

Cordelia seemed to notice none of this, but was absorbed by her now slightly flawed appearance. "Here, hold this," she said, shoving her bottle of drainerwolfsbane, dripping and slick with the liquid, into the nearest hand while she went to examine the torn strap.

The nearest hand happened to be Angel's. He gave a grunt of pain and dropped the bottle to the floor, holding his injured hand in a tight fist. Cordelia looked up in astonishment, and then realization spread across her features. "Oh, _that_'s what you meant about the holy water."

Xander rolled his eyes and walked over to Angel. "You okay?"

"Fine." Angel opened his hand, which had already healed from the brief contact.

"Then let's get out of here," said Xander.

"Finally," said Cordelia, as they began walking to the exit. "We could have left hours ago, but no, we had to chase nasty rat demons all around the basement and tear Cordelia's new blouse. Not that you could afford it, but have we discussed hazard pay?"

There was a strained silence as Angel drove Doyle to his apartment. Doyle spent most of his time staring out the window at the twilight. Angel would occasionally glance in the rearview mirror to see Xander, yawning in the back seat.

When they reached Doyle's address, Doyle silently got out and then turned back.

"That is the last time I go chasing after vampire-eating demons without researching them first," he said with a reluctant grin.

"You and me both," replied Angel, smirking. "Get some rest."

"That and some hard liquor, you bet," said Doyle, nodding and shutting the door.

Angel turned back to Xander and was opening his mouth to speak when he saw that Xander had fallen asleep. He smiled, just staring at the boy for a moment. Xander's mouth hung slightly open, his hair was tousled and stood up in tufts here and there, and there was still blood all over his chin.

Reluctantly, Angel turned back around and started the drive home.

Xander woke to find Angel coaxing him out of the back seat of the car.

"Xander? We need to shower and get to bed."

Xander smiled tiredly. "That sounds great--I mean, a shower sounds great--I mean... yeah. Definitely." He quietly followed Angel to his apartment, yawning widely as they walked into the living room. "Do you want to go first?" he asked.

"Right now, what I need is blood. Nice, warm blood."

"Gruesome as ever," said Xander, grinning, but his face dropped when he glanced at the kitchen. "Uh, you may want to be careful what you touch in there. I didn't exactly get a chance to clean up."

Angel turned to see pots and pans lying everywhere, stained in an array of colors, while an army of bottles and vials sitting beside a large cardboard box labeled "Exorcism" took up most of the counter space. Angel smiled. "I'll be fine. You go get cleaned up."

"Okay," said Xander, and quickly retreated towards the bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, Xander stepped out of the bathroom, hair still slightly wet, wearing boxers and a T-shirt. He grinned as Angel walked up to him. "That feels much better. Now, where did the guestroom go?" Xander asked, looking about blearily.

"Sleep with me." Angel's tone was uncertain.

Xander turned to look at Angel in somewhat nervous surprise.

Angel looked guilty. "I just mean, in the bed." He paused, struggling to find the right words. "I'd sleep better knowing you were there," Angel said, finally.

Xander gave a tired but relieved smile. "Same here. See you in a bit?"

Angel nodded and headed for the bathroom while Xander wandered wearily to the bed.

Xander awoke with a small start and a sharp intake of breath, looking around wildly for a moment before remembering where he was and realizing that there wasn't a pack of drainer wolves chasing after him.

He turned his head quickly and relaxed when he saw Angel, lying peacefully on his side, facing away. Xander lay there, musing, as he silently stared at Angel's back, now completely free of any sign of the horrible wounds that had been inflicted on it the night before. Eventually a broad smile spread across Xander's face and he reached out tentatively to touch Angel's bare shoulder.

Angel stirred and slowly turned over to face Xander, returning the smile and reaching out to caress Xander's cheek.

"Hello."

"Hi."

"Feeling better?"

Xander nodded. "You?"

"Much. I never got to thank you... for saving my life."

Xander stopped smiling and took a deep breath. "I've made a decision."

Angel's smile dropped and the corners of his eyes tightened, but he waited patiently for Xander to continue.

"We've almost been killed twice in the past week, and while that's unusual even for us, you never know what might happen next. So I've decided to stop wasting time."

Angel was staring at Xander intently, growing tense.

"Despite everything that's happened in the past few days," Xander continued, "I've been happier--during the calmer moments--than I've ever been in my life. I don't know if there's any chance of this working out," he added glumly, looking down, "but it's worth fighting for. At least I think so." He looked up and met Angel's intense stare. "Even if that means fighting horrific demons all through the sewers and warehouse basements of LA."

Xander paused for a moment, then continued, "And so, if the invitation's still open, yes, I'd like to move in... with you." Xander's mouth twitched nervously. "Please."

Angel was silent and motionless for so long that Xander began to look away nervously, before he suddenly found himself held tightly in Angel's arms. "Of course," Angel whispered in his ear, and stifled Xander's reply with a kiss.

Xander, however, was insistent. "There's just--" Here he was stifled again. "--one thing," he managed to get out.

Angel pulled back nervously and looked Xander in the eyes.

"Can we get..." Xander began.

Angel was immediately relieved. "A television? A video game console? A lifetime supply of Hershey bars? Name it."

"A mirror?"

Angel stared at Xander in amazed silence, then laughed out loud, and any further attempts at discussion were kindly, but firmly, suppressed.

~end~