*****

So...what should he do now? Angel was gone, and he had no idea of how to get him back. Xander once more looked at the phone, in the corner, debating if he should call Buffy. She knew the vampire's new number, didn't she? She must know it. Right?

"Who am I kidding?" The guy left without a backward glance. Well, maybe only one backward glance, but what did that do for him? Dead boy, hadn't bothered coming to search him out, had he? Nope. He'd gone to LA, and hadn't been back since.

Maybe Oz knew. After the ring incident, which no one really knew much about, Oz had come back for a little while. Xander thought about when the shorter boy, had gone off to talk to Angel, and he remembered, that he had almost gone too. Almost called up the band member, even as he tried to think of some reason that he might want to tag along. Too many questions. That was all it would have brought him.

The clock ticked loudly, in the darkening room. The day was slipping by, and shadows lengthened, to confirm the fact.It wasn't even light out anymore. Time to go to work. Xander forced himself to sit up, stretching as he did so. He felt tired all over, and thought about staying home. Might as well. What was the point of working, anyway?

There was a knock on the door, and Xander frowned. A knock on the basement door, of his parents home? That made little sense to the young boy, but still, there it was. "Yeah?" Xander shook his head, as the sound came again, and he gave a rather loud and annoyed sigh. "Coming."

Moving tiredly, he grabbed a t-shirt on the way over to the steps, and slipped it on, before making his way upward. Quiet. Nothing was coming from above, but he was on a mission now. "Hello?" and then he was at the top, and the door was opening.

"Xander?"

He stood there, handsome, and beautiful, at the same time...and Xander was speechless. He wanted to punch the vampire. He wanted to demand that he leave. He wanted to pull him into a hug, and kiss him like there was no tomorrow.

"Can I come in? I...need to talk to someone?"

Was Angel talking to him? Xander felt his angry face taking over, as his eye browns went down, and his insides turned topsy turvy in a roller coster way. "What do you want?" He demanded, as old habit took over in that very instant. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

Angels face fell, and Xander was sorry. "Please, Xander. I just want to talk. It won't take a moment."

And, before he could stop himself, Xander was stepping aside, in the too narrow stairway. "Make it fast," he said, before turning again, and walking down himself, leaving the other behind "I have to go to work soon, and I don't want to be late."

*****
Part 2:

Angel followed Xander down the steps, making no sound as he descended. So softly, did the vampire tread, that Xander had to fight the urge, to turn around and see if the other had not simply vanished. Silly thought, but then this whole thing, was high on the Richter scale of the strange.

"So, what's up?" The boy had reached the bottom, and he realized that his living quarters, weren't exactly, at the top of the house keepers, 'places you'd want to visit' list. He had the very real desire, to start picking up things, so that the vampire wouldn't think that he was a slob. Great. Why the hell would he even give a damn, what Dead boy thought? He didn't, and he was now going to put the thought very much out of his mind. Right this instant.

"Can I sit down?" Angel was looking at him with a strange tint of sorrow in his eyes. He kept looking at his hands, and twisting a golden ring, over and over again. Buffy's ring? The Cladah? or whatever it was called. No, it seemed to be another. The vampire looked up from this rotating action, and licked his lips. "It will only take a moment."

So, where could the harm be? Angel hadn't even looked at the surrounding area, let alone, commented on the pair of undergarments, scattered about the room. "Ah...sure. But, don't get any idea's. I have to go to work, and I'm already running late."

The phone rang, and Xander jumped. He was more nervous than he'd realized. "Heh. The phone." Oh, smooth. The boy almost jumped on the ringing contraption, noting that Angel had already found a place to settle himself down in. "Hello?" It was his boss. Uh oh. Not good. "Is something wrong...huh? Really? What? Oh." Very not good. "Okay. I guess..." he glanced over to Angel, feeling really strange now. "Yeah. I'll talk to you later." Xander stared at the receiver in his hand, almost mesmerized by it.

"Is everything okay?" Angel was leaning forward, watching Xander intently. "Is this a bad time? I can come back later."

Everything in Xander, at that moment, saw that this was the only chance that he would be able to get rid of the vampire, and not have any guilt. *Why should I be guilty?* But, instead, he heard himself saying, and in a very steady voice. "No. It's okay. Something's going on at work, but, it's okay. I just..." He looked up, focusing on Angel for a moment now. The vampire had probably heard it all, with his super undead hearing anyway, but so what? "There was a...robbery. Someone broke into the site. They're investigating, but I don't have to come in." Kind of strange, really. It would seem that they would want to question him, but apparently not just yet. He wondered what could possibly be at a rock quarry, that someone would want to steal. In SunnyHell, you could never tell.

*Probably, the end of the world*, his inner voice chided, with sarcastic aplomb. No surprise there, but right now, he just didn't feel like thinking about it. He had other problems. A vampire, who he hated, for one thing. "Sorry. You were saying?"

Angel made a face, that showed that he wasn't all that satisfied with the way Xander was taking the bad news, but was willing to let it go. Maybe, that shining night in him, wanted to go off and save the day...night...whatever. In any case, the vampire simply shook his head, and then leaned back again, looking off at something, that only he could see.

"Something Terrible has happened," Angel started, his eyes now closed, as his body seemed to shrink in on itself. "I don't know what to do."

Whoa. What was Angel talking about? Xander walked over, wondering what kind of thing would have dead boy looking like...well, death warmed over, and why would he think that Xander would be the one to come to? "What happened? Angel? Maybe you should, you know, call Buffy, or Giles. I'm not exactly what you would call, super powered or anything." Angel opened one eye, glancing Xander's way, and the boy rushed his speech, as though perhaps the vampire were missing some very important facts, that he really needed to know.

"I mean...really. Willow's a witch. She's got powers. Buffy...She's the slayer.Powers again. Giles? No powers, but, Well, he knows all the info. Tons of it. Me? What can I do?" He was babbling, and feeling a bit confused and cowardly, at the same time. Why the Hell, had Angel come to ask him for help? Didn't Xander have enough problems? Now he might not even have a job. Wasn't that enough?

"Xander. They can't help. Only you can. I...need you to come back to LA with me."

Stunned silence. Xander found himself sitting down, and he blinked hard at the statement. "LA? Me? Why?" He couldn't understand it, but there it was. Angel, for his part, was silent again, and Xander found himself shaking his head. "What's wrong. What happened?"

The room seemed to grow darker then, as perhaps the moon slipped behind some particularly dense clouds. Maybe. Maybe it was just a trick of his mind, and the room was just as it had been before. He didn't know, but as Angel opened his mouth and spoke, the whole world seemed to slow down, and come to an almost complete halt. Yet, he heard Angel's words flow, one horrible syllable, after the other, even as the world itself, wanted to fade away, all together.

"What? No. That can't be right." Xander could feel the room reeling around him, and he fought to keep it together. "All of them? Are you sure?...All of them?"

"Yes, All of them," and then, " will you come with me, Xander? I need you to come." Angel was beside Xander then, supporting him, and Xander had to giggle. He was going to be hysterical, he could tell, but why not? It was just one of those days. Did someone say something about the end of the world? What else was new?

"Yeah. Sure. Why not?" After all, What could he do, staying here? What could anyone do? "Let's...get going."

*****
Part 3:

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

And, with those few words, Xander and Angel were on their way. Angel drove and Xander stared out the window, trying to make sense of it all.

Something bad had happened, and his mind was refusing to acknowledge it. The young man glanced over toward the pensive driver, and then away again. "How did it happen?" His words came out softly, as though he were afraid to talk to the creature beside him. He almost hoped that Angelus would ignore him, even.

"A vision." Angel finally said. "It started with a vision." Angel paused, letting that sink in. He wasn't ure what Xander knew about, what went on at the agency. Not much information tended to be conveyed from his groups, to Xander's...but sometimes, things got through. Probably, though, Cordelia passed on certain things, just to keep everyone informed. Maybe. He wasn't sure.

"A vision?" Xander shook his head, trying to remember if he should know this one. Nothing was coming to him, no matter how hard he thought about it. "Um...could you elaborate a little, for the...'Huh, crowd?" A little lightness to the conversation, and Xander realized he was slipping into old habits. Something happens, and you have no control, or have no idea what your particular role was, in the current craziness of the week?...just throw out a good old fashioned Harrison one lined sense of humor. Still, he cringed inwardly, before being able to help it. This really wasn't the time.

"Cordelia. She had a vision," and before Xander could ask anything about that, and a whole new 'well, Doyle died', conversation could be started, Angel added. "She does that sometimes. It's not important why, right now."

Again, Xander was silent, digesting that. Cordelia, with visions? She probably used them to check out what fashions would be coming out, at the next fancy run way show. She hated being out of fashion, after all.

Then again, who knew. After the ascension, the bright and brassy teen girl, had disappeared. Xander had been so busy with, *not* caring about college, that he'd not thought about her for some time. By then, it was old news, and there wasn't much to say on the subject. The fact that Cordelia was working for Angel, had been strange, but not enough to dwell on. So...back to the vision thing.

"What did she see?"

Angel gave Xander a look, that the boy couldn't read. There was something in it, that made him want to shrink away, and at the same time...move closer. The dark eyes, seemed to peer into Xander's very soul, burning and pulling him toward Angel's gaze. Then, Angel was watching the road again, and Xander could feel a shiver radiate through his body. Jesus. It also reminded him, that vampires could be just plain creepy sometimes. Still, Xander, had to know, and so he cleared his throat, with a touch of impatience.

"I don't know," Angel said, before Xander could get to the point of asking the question again. Suddenly, the vampire, changed lanes, heading toward an exit."She didn't get to tell me."

Xander frowned, looking out the window to see where they were headed. What did that mean? and why were they going this way? It had only been 20 minutes since they had started, or maybe 40, if more was the case. No where near enough to be pulling into LA though. So, again, his mind asked, where were they going?

"What do you mean?" Xander asked instead, when another chill passed through him, and he knew exactly where they were going. To his work place, and the other question was forgotten. "Why are we going this way?" Or was that a stupid question to ask? Xander watched as they passed a sign, saying, Sanchansis Rock Quarry. He wondered if that was an actual word, or if someone had just made it up, but then realized it was a silly thing to be thinking about at this very moment. "Do you think we can find anything? My boss said they hadn't found anything yet. I mean...really. It's a rock quarry. They dig up rocks, and process them." Immediately, after he said that, the ring popped into his mind. He couldn't remember what it was called. Something like, the ring of Amora...but Xander wasn't sure. Close enough. "Oh," he said, hoping that nothing like that would be found here. That little gem, had almost gotten the Buffer killed.

Angel nodded, as he passed another sign, saying, employee's only. Come to think of it, where was everyone? If there was an investigation going on, shouldn't there be police tape, or something along those lines? And, come to think of it, how could you tell anyone had broken in at all. Things were supposed to be broken up. After all, that was what they did here. "I just want to check it out. Just in case. It might have something to do with what happened..." Angel paused, his fingers growing paler, as he gripped the wheel tightly. "I...don't want to leave out any possibilities."

Xander didn't understand it, but if Angel wanted to take time doing something that couldn't possibly be connect, who was he to stop it? Well, he was a coward, for one thing, apparently, and this was the perfect distraction. *Not a coward* his mind corrected. *Practical* after all...this was Sunnydale. You never knew what weirdness could come out of such a seemingly innocent place, and influence other places, even as far as LA.

"I don't think it will take long." Angel pulled up, in front of a small building. It had been set up, and when they were in full swing, there was even a couple of beds, for people to rest in between shifts. "I just want to look inside. See if anything obvious comes up."

Again, Xander wondered why no one was around. Where was his boss, who he had talked to, not even an hour and a half ago? The young man looked at his watch, squinting to see it in the almost full light of the moon. "Oh." It was later than he'd known. Apparently, staring out the window, into a fairly boring landscape, could make time pass, faster than he realized. It was almost midnight.

"Hmmm?" Angel had turned the engine off, and gotten out of the car. He looked over to Xander, with a questioning expression. "Did you say something?"

"Oh..No. I was just noticing the time." Xander help up his wrist, as though that would add weight to his particular exclamation. His eyebrows went up, as he added. "I didn't realize it was so..hey, what's that?" From the corner of his eye, he had seen something on the ground. Something, that looked like a foot. Not good.

Angel frowned at the sudden change of topic, and then he also turned to see what Xander had questioned about. "Oh." He walked over, with long hurried strides, getting there, just before Xander did. "Look familiar?"

Xander peered around Angel, and moaned. "I guess I won't need to return to work here, anytime soon." At Angel's intent gaze, he added. "My boss." Around the body, broken glass lay, and a hammer with blood on one end. "Can I just say...gross?" Humor in the face of disgusting scary things? Hell yes. Anything to get him by, at this point.

Angel crouched down, examining the body more, and then looking up again. There was a window, and it was the source of the glass. "We can't do anything for him. Let's go inside. See what we can find."

"Yeah. Good idea," Xander managed numbly, following after the vampire, and hoping that he didn't trip over anyone else's bodies. One dead person a night, was more than enough..even in a place they called the Hellmouth. Enough for him, in any case.

Angel stopped in front of a main door, and he looked in through the window. It too was broken, but it was too dark to see what was inside. The vampire frowned, squinting, but there seemed to be some kind of a window treatment, on the other side of the glass, making it difficult to see. They would just have to go in. He hoped the electricity was working.

Pushing on the door, Angel noted without much surprise that it opened right up. It hadn't even been closed all the way. He pushed it open even more, wondering if he would have any problems going in. Most likely not, but there was a fine line. The people who worked here, did sleep here sometimes, and sometimes, that was all that was needed to be considered a home...if the workers thought of it that way enough. "Don't touch anything," he said, as he stepped over the threshold, and found nothing holding him back. Good, but bad. It might mean that everyone was simply dead. Very very bad.

"I'm not an idiot," Xander almost growled, wondering what the hell was taking the vampire so long, to walk through a simple door. "I have been around for more than a day or two." The teen boy, managed to brush past Angel, making a face as he did so. "It smells in here."

"Yeah. I think I recognize it," Angel answered, not answering Xander's bold statement about his own competence. Of course, Xander knew not touch things...he hoped. Okay. Maybe, Angel didn't trust the boy not to mess things up, somehow, by just being himself. Even though he was sure that Xander meant best, the boy could be still be annoying, to say the least. The only thing was...he had a job to do, and Xander was the only one who could help. Lucky Angel. "A dorinian demon?"

"You're asking me?" Xander looked at the mess in the main room, after just having flicked on a light. Luckily, that seemed to be working fine. "I have no idea. I just work here." God, he's always wanted to say that. Shaking his head, at his own humor, Xander tried to see if anything like a clue might jump out.

"Very funny." Angel walked off into another direction, leaving Xander in the main room. "I'm going to check upstairs. Just...stay down here."

There was a second floor? Weird. Xander had never even noticed it. "It looks like they weren't being too careful, were they?" Xander took a step, and almost tripped on some loose debris. "Ouch." and "Oops," as a loud crash sounded from other things falling over.

Angel was beside him then, breathing on Xander's neck, though supposedly vampires didn't breath. "I told you not to touch anything," he hissed, pulling Xander sideways into another room, that Xander didn't know existed either. What was this place? A maze? "Don't talk. Someone's still here."

Xander went still, not voicing the complaint, he'd been about to express. Instead, he listened. Every fiber of his body was put into the act, of trying to detect this other person/thing, that Angel said was 'still here.'

Angel shifted behind Xander, and the young man caught a whiff of the vampire's cologne.

Xander breathed it in, and found that he liked it, though he had no idea what brand the cologne could be. Spicy, but not too spicy. Almost minty, but that wasn't right. Xander closed his eyes, taking yet another breath, and more of the smell in as well. Was it getting hot in here? Angel's body felt like it was molded to his own, and Xander was sweating with the very contact.

"Angel?" A very small whisper, but enough to suddenly get a hand over his mouth. Talking seemed to be out at the moment...at least from his end. Oh, God. Was Xander being aroused by this? Please, no. Xander deliberately thought of dead kittens, thinking very loudly in his mind. ~Stop that, right now mister. I am NOT gay. ~ But, Angel was pressing against his back, and he could smell the other, and...~Not gay. Not Gay. Not gay~

"Stop moving," Angel hissed into his ear, and Xander went stark still once more. "Someone's coming."

*****