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Chapter Two

Watching Cordelia set the phone back on it's cradle, Wes couldn't contain the anger that was over coming him, " I'm going for a walk. I'll be back before the devil shows his face." Grabbing his jacket he slammed the door on his way out.

"Well, I guess all that's left to do is wait." Cordelia tucked the stray bit of hair behind her ear. " He said he'd be here in two hours. We'll give him three hours Willow. If he's not here by then, we'll take her straight to the hospital."

Willow felt chills go up her spine. Douglass had to live. Not only for the generic reasons such as being too young, and having her whole life in front of her. But her death could create a creature of evil that could
cause horrible damage. Fighting back the nausea, she decided to check on her friend.

Gunn and Spike were doing tequila shots at the dining room table. Reflecting back over the last two weeks. Trying to figure out different scenarios, but it didn't matter much.

They were all coping in their own way, no one talking. Thoughts of their futures. Things that they had lived through, things they wished they could change. But for each of them it came down to just one thing, they were in it together.
~~~~~~
Darkness. Where were the voices? Until now the voices were all around her, but she was able to block them out whenever she wanted to slip into oblivion. There was no pain in oblivion, but there was a sense of hope when there were voices...Where were the voices?
~~~~~~~
"Angel!" Wes shouted as he shoved the hotel doors open. Stopping in the middle of the lobby, the fuming Englishman shouted again, " Angel you selfish bastard where the hell are you?" Heading towards the elevator to see if his former employer was in his quarters.

"Wes, leave something behind?" Angel asked from the stairs, bringing the Wes to a halt.

"Oh shut up you...you...sarcastic piece of ... of" Wes took a vase from a near by table and threw it against a near by wall. Angel stood there in pure
shock, never seeing this side of the man.

"Trapping a room full of lawyers is one thing. But this is too much."

"I'm not going through- ."

"Oh do shut up you freaking idiot. You knew the mess we were in; Cordelia has called you several times. How many times have we all been there for you when you needed it? Cordelia, Gunn and myself may be one thing, since we once worked for you. But Willow sweet kind Willow. She gave you back your
worthless soul. Helped you escape Hell. Excepted you back to the group no questions asked no apologies for your evil crimes you had committed against innocent people. Did this all out love for you!" Wes felt tears falling from his eyes. If he was going to sell his soul in the next hour or so he was going to get this off his chest.

"Wes I doubt that Willow is in love with me..." Angel tried to smirk at Wes, but it turned out more of a wince, and a lot less sarcastic then he wanted.

Wes snorted, " I said *loves* you, you stupid wanker. Not in love with you. Never could you earn the love of such purity." Finally feeling drained from most of his anger Wes turned to leave.

"Wes?"

"What?"

"Just how bad is it?"

"Cordelia hasn't bathed in five days, you figure it out." With that Wes let the doors swing shut behind him.

For the first time in two weeks concern for his friends surfaced. Just hearing the name Willow snapped him out of some sort of fog. He had heard the phone ringing, he just ignored it, not wanting to know who was calling or why.

Something inside him was different, off somehow. That night at Holland's house he never intended to lock those people in the room, just make them sweat a little. Something snapped in him, he had even enjoyed the sound of the lock sealing their fate. The screams of terror that followed. Something was wrong.
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Lindsey couldn't hide his shock when Cordelia opened her door, only to have it slam back in his face. He heard her gasp and a yell at someone named Dennis. Opening the door again she let him in without looking his way. Looking around the front room of her apartment, he noticed that the uptight Englishman and another occupant were also there, Lindsey recognized the third person as Gunn, a new and now former employee of Angel's, from pictures that were on file back at Wolfram and Hart.

"Who's Dennis?" Lindsey took a head count again. Still believing this could all be some scheme to take him down he wanted to stay on his toes.

"He's my roommate," Cordelia still refused to look at him when she spoke, " and He�s passed on."

"You mean you live with a ghost?" At the word ghost objects on the coffee table started shaking

" He doesn't like being called that," Wesley cleared his throat and put a hand to his temple, where only weeks before he had sported a nice dark bump from using the same word.

Lindsey looked around the apartment. It was much smaller than his, and her's had a comfortable lived in look, a look that Lindsey doubted his own place would ever have. A person had to actually be able to sometime live at their residence to get that feel.

He was still standing feet from the closed door where he could see much of the apartment. He observed the living room, dining area, and entrance to the kitchen. There was a hallway to his left, where he assumed the bedroom and bathroom could be found.

Though he could tell the furniture was second hand, it was still nice. There were feminine nick knacks cluttering tabletops and shelves. A picture on an end table caught his attention; it was a group of teens all decked out in their graduation gear. It would have looked like any other graduation picture but the look on their faces looked distant, not the happy smiles that one would expect to see. Picking it up he recognized Cordelia right away, but the others he had never seen. There were two other females, a blonde and a red head, plus a young dark haired man in the picture, nearby an older man was watching the group with what could be described as concern.

" I thought graduations were a good thing, you all look like your going to your deaths." Lindsey looked over at Cordelia who paled slightly as he looked at the picture. Does he know he was holding a picture of the slayer, a witch, and one of the slayer's best male friends in his hand, not to mention a watcher standing in the background...watching? Cordelia thought.

" Yeah, guess they usually are, if you're *not* from Sunnydale, and you *don't* have some huge snake that wants you as an after speech snack ." Taking the picture from Lindsey she placed it face down on the table.

Lindsey looked at her in confusion but didn't dare ask. "So what is it you need?" Taking a seat across from the three sitting on the couch, he waited for them to answer. It seemed like forever until finally Wesley spoke up.

" I think we should set some ground rules first, seeing that this... situation is somewhat unique." Lindsey nodded for him to go on. " We understand that there are going to be strings attached here, we're not stupid. Our situation is to be taken care of first. Your attention is to be getting this case taken care of before you start scheming your little revenge. We have no use of your *help* if that one term isn't met."

" Sounds fair so far."

" Two, if your *talents* can't get us all out of this mess we don't need your help. We can just turn ourselves in, no need to be at your disposal for only half success." Wesley held his breath knowing this was a lot to ask, praying that the young lawyer would go for it.

Lindsey sat back in his chair to mull this over. It was all or nothing, and he had no idea what exactly it was they were asking from him. " Fine. I have a condition of my own. I want your honesty here on this matter, no secrets. No keeping the little things out. It's usually the little things that complicate the matter."

Silence. It was to be expected. He had just asked these people, who had been at war for almost a year with him, not to mention the law firm he worked for, to be honest with him. Not something that was going to be easy. In the end the three nodded.

Opening his briefcase that he had sat next to his chair, Lindsey took out a tape recorder and turned it on. " So let's start at the beginning-." Before he could go on there was a loud pounding at the door, catching them all by surprise.

"Willow! Are you in there?" It was Angel, and a pissed off one at that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Spike had been sitting in the guestroom, with an unconscious Douglass, listening to the exchange from the living room. It had been decided that the witch and vampire were to stay out of sight until, the devil in Armani, agreed to their conditions, and knew of the situation. So far Lindsey had agreed to their terms, when the loud knocking came from the front door.

" Oh, now he shows his pretty face." Spike grumbled.

" Willow I know you're in there, I can smell you." Willow held her breath trying to come up with a plan. Under no circumstances could Angel come in till she could see into his eyes, she had to know for sure it was him and that the struggle with his inner demon wasn't more than he usually had to deal with. After hearing about the lawyer blood bath Willow had revoked his invitation into Cordelia's apartment without telling the others.

The sound of splintering wood snapped Willow from her thoughts. Throwing the bedroom door open she ran out before Spike could stop her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

`She's in there, I can smell her.' Angel knew her scent as he did the others he considered his friends in Sunnydale. Those teens and watcher were the first humans he allowed himself around in over eighty years, not even when he was alive did he have friendships like he experienced in that small town. He had fought with them, and beside them. They had laughed and cried together. Pounding on the door again, he finally gave into the urge to kick in the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't invite him in!" Willow came charging out of the hallway, sliding to a halt.

Seeing Willow and that she wasn't harmed calmed Angel a little. Seeing Lindsey staring at him from Cordelia's side chair made him growl in anger. " What are you doing here, Lindsey? If you're smart you'll leave NOW!" Taking a step forward into the apartment he was shocked to run into a barrier, making it impossible for him to enter.

Lindsey sat in shock, not sure what to make of the situation. At first, when he heard Angel's thundering voice he was furious that he fell for some kind of trick. Then he was confused at who Angel was calling to, who in the hell was Willow? When the door came smashing in and a redhead came flying into the room he didn't know what to think, but to see that the Vampire couldn't get in almost made him laugh.

" Willow. Let. Me. In." The growling coming from Angel grew louder.

" Not by the hair on our chiny chin chins." Spike mocked from hallway entrance. It was turning out to be a great show, seeing his grandsire losing control, and not being able to do a damn thing about it, was just plain fun.

" Spike what are you doing here?" Angel tried to take a step in again, only to walk into the invisible wall.

" Well Grandsire, Red and I eloped and thought LA would be a grand ole place for a Honeymoon." Spike smirked at Angel. " Didn't we Red?" Spike looked over at the witch to see her eyes pleading him to stop.

"Spike, if you wish to live to see another night I suggest you bring Willow out here to me." Angel said this staring straight at Willow, seeing her flinch at the edge to his voice.

Lindsey knew he needed to take control of the situation, if he wanted Angel's friends in his debt it was now or never. " Angel, it seems at this time it's *you* that's not *invited* here. I was asked to come over, they called of their own free will. No manipulation, no threats. Ask them, they'll tell you this." Lindsey waved his hand to the room of people, all holding their breath, not knowing how Angel would take this betrayal.

Willow walked up as close as she could to the door without Angel being able to drag her through the threshold. " Angel, I need to see your eyes, please. I need to see." Tears were falling from her eyes as she begged one of her closest friends to look at her. Finally he took his eyes off Lindsey's to stare into her emerald green orbs.

It was there, so close to the surface, the demon she had seen several times. Once when he grabbed her in the school hallway, and several other times after, when he mocked and terrorized the group of teens. Angel was there as well, fighting like a drowning man. Willow felt like screaming in frustration. This was her fault...

Willow gulped for air and tried to control her emotions that were threatening to consume her. " I'm so sorry Angel; you can't come in." Turning to the shocked group she continued. "I've been keeping something from you all, but I have no time to explain now." Turning back to Angel, she wished she could touch him, to let him know that she'd fix everything. Make everything go back to normal. " Please leave Angel, do this for us."

Angel felt the fog come over him again, turning from his friends he left. Without any concern to their fate.