As Lorne disappeared up the stairs to tell Tara and Spike the good news about the sanctuary spell, Angel turned toward his friends, a look of cautious satisfaction on his face.

"Well, that's that. As soon as they're finished, we can just focus on figuring out what's happened to make Buffy like this, and how to fix it...and in the meantime, Spike and the others will be safe here."

"Provided she doesn't show up in the next twenty minutes," Wesley put in dryly.

"Great, Wes," Gunn muttered, shaking his head. "That's just great. You know what's going to happen now, right?"

Cordelia dismissed his warning with a careless wave of her hand and a soft huffing sound. "Not possible. Sunnydale's eight hours from here. There's no way she could get here that fast...assuming she was even headed here in the first place...which she's not. You said she believed you, right? That you hadn't heard from Spike?"

Angel nodded. "I was totally convincing. She completely bought it..."

"Please! You were an evil, sadistic monster at times...but you were *never* a good liar, Angel."

The group gathered in the lobby of the hotel looked up in startled dismay as the Slayer and her friends instantly materialized in the center of the room, Buffy smiling coldly at her former lover.

And then, for a few brief seconds, everyone seemed to be speaking at once.

"Just had to say it, didn't you, Wes?"

"Buffy!" Angel gasped in disbelief. "How...I was just talking to you a few minutes ago, and you were in Sunnydale...how did you...?"

"This way, ladies...we'll be right with you to discuss your...your case..."

Fred's voice was a bit louder, a bit brighter, than it should have been had she really been speaking to new clients, as she ushered the Muses, who were still chanting quietly, into Angel's office and closed the door firmly behind them, leaning against it for a moment as she turned an almost manic smile on each person in the room in turn.

"Helps to have a powerful witch on your side," the Slayer smirked in response to Angel's shock, nodding toward a weary, exhausted Willow, barely standing beside her, struggling to catch her breath from the obvious effort of performing such a feat of teleportation. "But then...you wouldn't know anything about that...would you?"

"No, of course not!" Fred replied too quickly, her words punctuated by a nearly hysterical giggle. "Of course we don't know anything about any witches, how would we know anything about anything like that? Nope...not a clue what it's like to be around witches...haven't been anywhere near a witch in..."

"Fred."

"Shutting up."

The Slayer just smirked in amusement, one eyebrow raised as she glanced between the unfamiliar but obviously terrified little brunette, and the much more familiar girl who had silenced her with a single sharply spoken word. She acknowledged her with a curt nod, receiving just as friendly a greeting in response.

"Cordelia."

"Buffy."

"I see your bullying skills haven't suffered for your career in fighting the good fight."

"I hear yours have improved."

"And just who did you hear that from, Cordelia?" Buffy's eyes narrowed as she took a step toward her former rival.

The brunette did not seem at all intimidated, matching her step as she replied, "None of your business, *Buffy*."

"Can we just...*skip* the personality portion of the Miss SoCal competition for now?" Lorne remarked, rolling his eyes as he made his way down the stairs, glancing between Cordelia and Buffy with a nervous smile as the attention of the Sunnydale group turned to him. " ‘Cause, wow...you're so both going to lose. Anyway...so good of you guys to drop in like this...uninvited, and unexpected, and all...Can we...help you with anything?"

Buffy's eyes turned sharply on the green-skinned demon, with a cold intensity that made him feel a sick quivering sensation in the pit of his stomach. In that moment, he was reminded with flawless clarity of just why it was that most of his kind so feared this slender girl now staring at him with such fierce assurance. The look she gave him was that of a predator toward its prey, and Lorne suddenly found himself regretting speaking up at all.

*Could have kept my mouth shut and let Angel-cakes handle this one...oh, shoot...too late now...*

The Slayer was already crossing the room, stalking toward him with the lethal stealth of a jungle cat, her eyes narrowed in undeniable menace. Seconds after the words had left his mouth, Lorne found himself bent halfway over the banister at the base of the stairs, the Slayer's hand gripping his throat.

"And just who do you think *you* are?" she demanded coolly, her demeanor still calm and unperturbed...still smiling.

"Hey! Buffy, back off!" Angel demanded indignantly, quickly crossing the room to her. "He didn't..."

"*You* back off!" Buffy snarled, and Lorne winced as her grip on his throat tightened with the force of her response. Without looking up at the brunette vampire, the Slayer went on, "Angel, you *know* I can take you down and if you come any closer I will...after taking out *this* thing..."

"*Buffy*!" This time it was Willow who spoke up in protest, alarm in her voice. "Buffy, I know him! He's okay, I promise!"

"Looks slayable to me," Buffy sneered, her cold smile still focused on Lorne.

"Buffy...Buffy, just relax, okay?" Xander said in a quiet, slightly trembling voice, taking a cautious step toward her with one hand held out in a warning gesture. "I think we all just need to calm down for a few minutes and figure out..."

"She's the one who needs to calm down, instead of walking in here, into somebody else's home and place of business, and threatening people just because she feels like it!" Cordelia snapped at her ex, as she also took a frustrated, hesitating step toward the tense tableau at the base of the stairs, clearly wanting to do something to stop it, but painfully aware that she didn't stand a moment's chance against the Slayer's power . "She can't just *do* this kind of thing just because she's the Slayer and she thinks she can get away with it!"

"She's worried about her sister, okay?" Xander shot back angrily. "Spike took Dawn! And that...that whatever he is...she's the Slayer, Cordy, what do you expect? See demon, kill demon...that's kind of part of the package, you know?"

Lorne had frozen completely the moment Buffy had grabbed him, wise enough to know that he could not overpower her, and that any abrupt movements could be enough to set the Slayer off, and cost him his life. He watched her closely, and saw the change in her expression as she heard the building argument between her friends and Angel's crew. He saw the calculating look in her eyes as her lower lip began to tremble, and she forced tears to come, before looking over her shoulder at Angel, her shoulders heaving with feigned sobs.

"I don't care if he's good or bad! I don't care what you've meant to me, Angel! Spike took my sister! And if *anyone* tries to stand in the way of my getting her back, I don‘t care *who* they are, I will *take them apart*!" the Slayer cried out in a hoarse, tearful voice that was impressively convincing.

To anyone not an empath.

"Okay...okay, Buffy," Angel turned his attention on her fully, and his own expression was unreadable. "I understand, okay? I know you just want to find Dawn...I understand that...but I don't know why you would think that she's here, or that any of us had anything to do with whatever happened to her. Buffy...I *love* you...you know that! I'll do *anything* I can to help you...but you have to calm down." He paused, before adding softly, "You have to let my friend go."

Lorne thought that Angel was a much better liar than Buffy had given him credit for.

The other possible explanation for the sincerity, the concern in his voice, did not even bear thinking about.

After a tense, silent moment during which no one dared to move, Lorne felt the Slayer's powerful grip easing, and she released him, allowing him to stand up again, though he immediately doubled over, clutching his aching throat and gasping for breath. He looked warily up at her, and felt nothing but disgust for the tears that streaked her face as she looked at Angel, a look of hurt and betrayal on her face as she shook her head slowly.

"Angel...Angel, I know this isn't your fault...I know you wouldn't willingly do anything to hurt me...or Dawnie..." she said in a low, hoarse voice. "But...but I heard you...on the phone. I know they're here, somewhere. I know you're protecting him...but I know you wouldn't be, if he wasn't...controlling you, somehow..."

Angel stared at her for a long moment, grimacing at her revelation of how his own technological ineptitude had given his childe away, before letting out a harsh burst of disbelieving laughter as her last words registered fully with him. "Con...*controlling* me?" he echoed. "Buffy, Spike's not controlling me! How would he? I'm his *sire*, for..."

"Thrall." Buffy shrugged bleakly. "A spell? I don't know...I just know that he took my sister...and he must be doing something to you to force you to help him."

"Spike doesn't have a thrall," Angel informed her flatly. "Never had the focus or concentration to develop one. And he hates magic. Hates it. He would never use it, Buffy."

"Unless he knew he had no other choice."

Her lies held no interest for the green empath demon, who discreetly met Fred's eyes, a question in his own. The little brunette was still standing between Buffy and Angel's office, where the Muses were hopefully nearing the completion of the sanctuary spell. Her little grimace of anxious uncertainty was not terribly reassuring; all Lorne could do was hope that they could stall the Slayer long enough to allow them to finish it.

Once the spell was in place, the sadistic little wench could rant all she wanted; she would not be able to do any of them any harm.

"Buffy..."

"Angel, I don't know what he's told you...what he's made Tara and Dawn tell you...but he took them, against their will." The Slayer's voice hardened again with those words, and Lorne could hear the deadly quality to it as she continued with false apology, "And I really don't want to have to hurt anyone...but I am *going* to find them. If I have to search every room in this hotel, and go through every last one of you to do it."

There was total silence for a few moments, before Angel drew in a deep, unnecessary breath and stepped directly into her path. His expression was resigned, yet determined, as he met her eyes solemnly.

"Then I guess you'll have to start with me."

*****************************

"Tara...bloody hell...Tara, she's here...she's here, she's gonna..."

"*Spike*. *Stop*."

The shaking blond vampire froze at the firm, authoritative sound of Tara's voice, as she took him firmly by the arms and focused her gaze intently on his, refusing to allow him to break it. He stared at her through wide, terrified eyes, silently pleading with her for the answer he seemed to believe that she held for him. The mere announcement of Buffy's presence had him on the edge of breaking...and Tara knew that they would likely have to face much greater dangers before this was over.

She had to get him through this.

"You have to stay calm, Sweetheart. You can't let her get to you when she doesn't even know you're here. Okay? You have to calm down."

Spike stared at her blankly for a long moment, before her words finally registered, and he nodded hurriedly, looking down as he struggled to focus his thoughts on something other than his instinctive terror of the small blonde girl downstairs. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he looked back up at her, a new fear in his eyes.

"Tara...*Dawn*!"

Her heart dropped to her stomach as she remembered the teenager, whose safety she had not even considered before. She wondered if Lorne had thought to seek her out and warn her as well. If he hadn't, she could innocently head downstairs at any moment, unaware of the danger that awaited her there.

If he had, she was likely terrified, alone in the room where she had been by herself.

Making a quick decision, Tara released Spike's arms and took his hand instead, leading him as far as the doorway before turning and facing him again.

"We have to be completely quiet," she reminded him. "Don't make a sound...don't let her hear anything...we're going to the room where Dawn is. We'll be safer together."

Spike looked at the door with a terrible dread in his eyes, and for a moment Tara thought that he would not be able to bring himself to walk out that door, even a single step nearer to the where the Slayer was.

"I'll go," she offered. "I'll bring her here."

"No!" Spike protested in a loud, hoarse whisper, his hand tightening on hers until it was nearly painful. "No, I...I'll go with you...I can...I can do this, Tara...I can bloody well do this...it's just a few steps, yeah? I can...I can do this..."

"Yes," she agreed with an encouraging smile, though her eyes were solemn and troubled. "Yes, you can." Without giving him time to second guess his own courage, she added, "Now come on. Let's go."

Within moments, they were relatively safe, in the room where Dawn had gone to be alone, huddled together on the bed, holding each other in silent comfort as they waited for the twenty minutes Lorne had promised to pass...hoping that the Slayer would not make her way up the stairs and into this room before they did.

And as they waited for their fate to catch up with them, Spike thought that, despite his terror, there was no better place to face one's worst nightmare, than locked in the embrace of those who loved him most.