"Looks like Angel hasn't been all that big on electricity since he lost...." Cordelia's voice trailed off as her eyes got used to seeing without benefit of any real light.

"Good Lord," Wesley said softly. He took a few hesitant steps further into the lobby, unable to quite believe what his mind and eyes were telling him was there.

The lobby had been entirely destroyed. The couch still sat upended where Angel had left it. Stuffing lay scattered across the floor. One of the file cabinets was tilted over on its side, the metal sides battered and chipped of paint as if someone had kicked it repeatedly and furiously. The files themselves littered the floor in a hopeless mess.

"Is it just me, or did I fire both of you?" Angel spoke from the top of the stairs. Wesley and Cordelia merely gaped at him, still stunned by the evidences of violence they were seeing. Angel took a few slow, predatory steps closer to them. His eyes were flat, cold. Even as Angelus they had at least possessed some life. The utter lack of it was somehow worse. "No, not me. I'm *sure* I fired you. This leads me to another question. What the Hell do you think you're doing here?"

Wesley ignored the threat in Angel's tone and posture. "Angel, look around you. Look at how close you are to being lost. You need our help."

"Do I?" Another slow, catlike step. "You're in a building alone with a vampire. I'd say you're the one in need of help."

"I don't think you're going to hurt us, Angel. I don't think you've forgotten your humanity that much." The first stirrings of fear rose in Wesley, but he was proud of himself for not allowing it to show. A few short months before, he reflected, he would have immediately dismissed anyone who had told him that he could fear Angel.

A short bark tore from Angel's throat. "Humanity? I believe you've forgotten who-what-you're talking to do." His voice swiftly morphed into that of the demon, all brow ridges and wicked fangs. "*This* is what I am, Wesley. This is what Wolfram and Hart wants. This is what I plan on giving them."

"That's not who you are," Wesley called up to him gently. "Not as long as you still have your soul. In all the ways that are important, you are a human."

Angel's eyes narrowed, but he moved no closer to them. Rather, he turned, preparing to go back up the stairs. "You don't work here anymore," he told them flatly. "Now get out." He turned his back on them and began to walk away.

"I had a vision," Cordelia called to his retreating back. "About you." Angel stopped but did not turn. "You're in danger, Angel. I saw something controlling you. Something evil."

A second went by, then two, in which it appeared that Angel might actually be hearing them, and Cordelia started to let herself hope a bit. Then, "I said get out." Angel continued up the stairs without glancing back, leaving Wesley and Cordelia staring after him in hurt.

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

Despite Angel's order, they didn't leave immediately. The vampire could hear them lingering in the lobby, talking in low tones. No doubt he could hear the conversation if he really focused, but what was the point? He already had a good idea of what was being said. 'I don't think you've forgotten your humanity that much.' Angel growled. The joke was on Wesley, he was beginning to wonder if he had had any to begin with. Or if humanity ever existed at all, anywhere. How could it, when creatures like Wolfram and Hart were people and he was the monster? Stalking back down the hallway to his room, Angel had to resist the urge to bury his fist into the fragile plaster of the wall. It wasn't right that they should be able to feel the glories of sunlight and happiness while they committed so much evil and he should be condemned to darkness. It wasn't right that he should be expected to protect them from the very creatures they had called forth when any one of them would have left him to the same fate with a smile and wink had the situations been reversed. Maybe by the old rules, but he was sick of playing by them.

Angel's hand was just coming to rest on the doorknob leading into his bedroom when he was suddenly struck by the now familiar dizziness that had been attacking him over the past several days. Recognizing it for what it was, Angel braced his hand against the wall and fought hard against the darkness, able to push it back for only a few seconds before it immediately jumped forward to attack again. It was a losing battle and Angel soon slumped to the ground, Wesley's voice echoing as his last conscious thought. 'Angel, look around. Look at how close you are to being lost. You need our help.'

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

Wesley moved slowly through the ruins of the of the lobby, hardly able to believe that the Angel he knew had done such damage. 'The one you used to know,' Wesley corrected himself, remembering how cold and callous his former employer and friend had been. 'They hardly seem to be the same person now.'

"What do we do now?" Cordelia asked softly. She sounded very young and very lost. Cordelia normally acted so mature, Wesley had to remind himself that she was barely twenty. "Do we just...just walk away, even though that if we do something horrible is going to happen? Do we try to help Angel even though he doesn't want us to?"

"I don't know," Wesley answered softly. He rubbed his eyes and said, mostly to himself, "I imagine this is very close to the decision that Angel himself had to make."

Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, then that just decides it. We *can't* walk away. We have to help him."

"How?" Wesley challenged her. "How shall we do that, Cordelia?" He threw his arm out in a broad gesture to include all the destruction. "Please, tell me, how do we pull Angel back from a brink such as this? Because I haven't got a bloody clue."

Cordelia flinched back. "I don't know," she whispered.

The hair on the back of Wesley's neck abruptly came to attention. A frighteningly sure feeling of being studied by a malevolent force spread over him and Wesley turned, his eyes immediately going up the stairwell, somehow knowing though later he wouldn't be able to explain how. "Cordelia, start moving towards the door."

"What's-" Her head swiveled towards the stairwell and for the first time since Cordelia had known her, Cordelia Chase was rendered speechless. She immediately began doing as she was told in slow, hesitant steps, her eyes growing wide.

A creature that looked like Angel stood at the top of the stairwell and stared down at them fixedly. Looked like Angel, but was most wholeheartedly not. It wasn't a difference that was seen so much as *felt*. When one looked at him a dark cloud seemed to creep over the soul.

"You're not Angel, are you?" Wesley asked, while beginning to inch towards the door himself. He was hoping that by keeping the thing's attention fixated on him rather than Cordy, at least one of them would have a chance if the situation turned hostile. Slow shake of the head as the Angel-thing processed Wesley's words. "You're not Angelus, either."

"Good guess." Three leaps, and the Angel-thing had covered the distance between them before Wesley had time to blink. Flat dead eyes stared into Wesley's. The mockery of the vampire he had once called friend now stood between him and the door. Over its shoulders Wesley was able to see Cordy, with a clear avenue of escape but hesitating while he was still in danger. Wesley wanted to shout at her not to be foolish when she couldn't hope to win, but was afraid that doing so would only turn the Angel-thing's attention onto her.

Blur of movement, flash of pain along his jaw, and suddenly Wesley was flying. He crashed painfully into the overturned file cabinet, rolling over it in a graceless tangle of limbs. Wesley had time to berate himself for allowing his attention to slip, but it wouldn't have made any difference. The Angel-thing had reacted more wickedly fast than the true Angel on his best day. Wesley got painfully back to his feet, almost certain that several of his ribs had been broken as a result of his impromptu landing. "If you're not Angel and you're not Angelus, who are you then?"

A slow smile spread across the Angel-thing's face. Bold little mortal. Few others would have been able to stand up and address him with such calm after receiving a blow such as that. He scanned briefly through his host's memories until he came to Wesley. Yes, it was mentioned that the human had more to than the appearances on the surface. "I am Sakan," he replied easily. "And to you I am Death." He started towards the mortal again.

WHAM! Sakan suddenly lurched forward, clutching at the back of his head. Cordelia stood in the space where he had been, wild-eyed. She held a shaft of wood from the destroyed couch with both hands. "Wesley, are you all right?" she cried.

"Run!" Wesley shouted, but she didn't heed his warning in time. Sakan recovered and spun back around with more speed than Cordelia could ever hope to avoid. Snarling, he tightened his fingers around Cordelia's throat and lifted until her toes dangled a good foot from the floor. Her first cry of indignation dwindled into a whimper as Sakan began to squeeze and Cordelia's lungs had to fight for air.

"Stupid little bitch," Sakan growled into her face. The back of his head throbbed and he could feel the slow stickiness of the host's blood trickling down the back of his neck. A lucky blow. She wouldn't get another.

Cordelia's vision began to get dim. Her eyelids fluttered and she fought hard to for one more lungful of air. Sakan had learned from his first mistake and swung around so that he could keep Wesley in his sights. There would be no more surprise attacks.

Wesley dipped his hand into his jacket pocket. "If you know you're in a vampire's body then you realize that you have the weaknesses of that body," the former Watcher said calmly. "I happen to have a bottle of holy water in this pocket. Put her down without causing her any further harm or I can guarantee that you will be in a great, great deal of pain." Words delivered with perfect calm despite the fact that Sakan could taste the fear coming off him.

Sakan chuckled in a sickening parody of Angel's rarely heard laugh. "You're bluffing, human."

"Try me." Wesley met Sakan's gaze without flinching. "You have five seconds to decide whether killing her is worth receiving holy water in the face. Five..four..."

Sakan considered until Wesley started to say one whether two humans were really worth the pain to himself. Alive or dead, they would still be unable to stop him and the dark, devoted woman who had brought him forth. Smirking just slightly, Sakan lowered Cordelia until at last her feet were on solid ground again. The young woman's knees immediately buckled and she drew oxygen in near-sobs. Wesley stooped and helped his barely conscious friend stand, backing them both towards the door. Sakan watched, a cruel little smile toying with his lips. Cordelia's soft warmth leaning on him was all that kept Wesley from lunging across the distance between them, reckless and stupid though it might be.

When they reached the threshold, Sakan called out, "You're an honorable mortal. If the roles had been reversed, I would have used the holy water."

Wesley smiled. "If I had any, so would I." He whirled himself and Cordy out the door seconds before Sakan reached the place where they had been. 

A pair of hands grabbed him roughly and spun him around, dragging him into an alley and slamming him against the wall of a building. The air was knocked out of Lindsey momentarily and it took him a few moments to recognize his attacker. Lindsey laughed, a low, hollow sound. "Hello, Angel." He had wondered when the vampire would come to finish the job Darla and Dru had left off.

"Tell me what you did," Angel growled, slamming the attorney against the wall again and sincerely hoping he wasn't just imagining the crack of ribs under strain. "Tell me what's happening to me!" He had come to in late afternoon in the lobby, surrounded by the lingering scent to fear and, barely noticeable beneath that, the tempting sweetness of blood.

Lindsey studied Angel and noticed for the first time that his enemy was paler than was normal even for a vampire and dark half-moons marked the flesh beneath his eyes. All together, the vampire seemed twitchy and unfocused. "If I had to hazard a guess I'd say you were having a breakdown," Lindsey replied, striving for a light tone even though he was really in some pain. "What, is leaving over a dozen people to die beginning to weigh on you?"

Angel flinched very slightly, but Lindsey didn't catch it. "You don't count as a person," he spit back at the attorney. "Now answer the damn question."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." A hard fist was driven into his stomach and Lindsey bit his lip until he tasted blood to avoid groaning and showing weakness in front of his enemy.

"Lying. You're lying." Angel's face morphed into that of the demon's. "Now, I am going to give you one more chance to tell me what you and the rest of those bastards at that law firm are trying to do to me. Otherwise," Angel leaned close enough to smell the scotch on Lindsey's breath, "things are going to get very painful for you, Lindsey."

The attorney stared back at him. "Little late for that," he murmured.

Angel blinked, but before he could comment or threaten any further he felt himself slipping again, the other thing asserting it's control. He growled and tried to rally himself, but the change came about many times too quicker than it ever had before. Angel had hardly begun to sense the shift in control before he was sucked down into darkness.

Sakan blinked, looked around himself, noticing the human and dismissing him as inconsequential in the very same breath. He was able to take control from the souled vampire more quickly now, and keep it longer. This was good. Sakan wondered briefly where his disciple Miller was, so that he could thank her for the years of blood and rituals that had given him the strength to take over this vampire, the most perfect of all possible hosts.

Sakan swung back towards the human, who foolishly hadn't even attempted to run. The mortal narrowed icily blue eyes at him, insolently showing no signs of fear. Sakan was planning on simply killing the mortal to slake the thirst of the host body, when a memory from the vampire's mind made him pause. "You work for Wolfram and Hart."

"Yes." The human continued scrutinizing him, aware that the situation had changed but unable to pinpoint in exactly what way. "You know that."

"I believe you have met my disciple, Anna." Sakan's face moved into a smile.
"Which means that you are partially responsible for my return to this plane."

The human continued watching him cautiously, but Sakan saw the look of enlightenment cross his face as realization dawned. Lindsey began to look vaguely ill. "Anna... Miller?" he asked.

"My devoted disciple. I owe her greatly for this."

"And you are?" Cautious, calm, knowing that if whoever this was was truly using the vampire's body he would be able to smell any hint of fear.

The thing's eyes twinkled. "Don't you even know what it is your working towards?" For just a moment Lindsey looked slapped, before the thing in Angel's body moved on, making note of the reaction for possible later use. "All right, then. I am Sakan. Now of the glorious return." Sakan stepped back and Lindsey began to breathe slightly easier as he got his personal space back.

"Hey, what's going on here?" The owner of the bar stepped into the alley, blinking angrily at the two figures shrouded in shadow. "Look, I don't care if you make your deals somewhere else, but I don't want any drugs on my property, so get out of here before I call-" Sakan moved lightning quick before the poor man could finish his sentence, twisting his head cruelly to the side and burying his fangs into his neck. The man struggled briefly, eyes wide from fear and pain, before slumping in death. Sakan threw the body to the side and licked the stray drops of blood from his lips. Turning towards Lindsey, he asked introspectively, "Why is it that Angel ever gave up live blood in the first place? It's incomparable to the carrion swill he kept at the hotel." Lindsey didn't answer. He stared half-disbelievingly at the crumpled heap that had once been a person, the tiny trickles of blood running from the man's neck to disappear beneath the collar of his shirt. Smiling cruelly, Sakan clapped Lindsey hard on the shoulder and nearly unbalanced him. "See you around." He brushed past the attorney.

Lindsey continued staring at the body until long after Sakan had left him. The rolling in his stomach abruptly increased in intensity. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, his mind insisted. Angel was supposed to be the one to suffer, only Angel. A sudden image of Rachel yanking down her shirt collar to display the angry wounds sprinted through Lindsey's mind. He jerked and tried to knock the image away, but it only came back fiercer. This man had been something to someone before his life was snatched away in a dark, grimy alley. Son, brother. Friend. Maybe even husband or father. And now he was dead, never to see or touch those people again because of a chance encounter with the ... the *monster* that he, Lindsey, had helped to set free, smiling all the while because his revenge was finally so close.

Abruptly the nausea became too much. Lindsey leaned over and vomited the drinks he had consumed all in a rush, heaving over and over again until there was nothing left to lose. 

Lindsey didn't sleep for the rest of that night, instead roaming restlessly around his apartment and examining all the possessions that had been paid for by monsters like Sakan, like himself. As a result when he came to the office the next morning he was exhausted and missed the supposedly genuine smile on Lilah's face, which should have immediately set warning bells to clamoring. Lilah was incapable of giving genuine smiles, only false ones when she thought it might benefit her. "Good morning, Lindsey."

"Screw off," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. There was too much on his mind to deal with Lilah's changing moods and loyalties.

His coworker laughed lightly. The sound immediately set Lindsey's nerves on edge and made him grit his teeth together. "What kind of attitude is that, Lindsey? I would expect you to be pleased."

Lindsey rubbed his eyes. Coffee. He needed lots of coffee. "What do you want, Lilah? Other than to continue baiting me, that is."

Again that smile. "Haven't you heard? The Senior Partners are thrilled with you and, since we're working on this project together, me."

"Yay for us." Lindsey accepted the cup of coffee his secretary offered him and took a gulp. It was black and nearly scalding hot, but it helped to shake him out of the near daze he had been walking around in. Lindsey's waited for last night's nausea to rise again, was grateful when it didn't. He was in control of his life and he would live it any way he saw fit. 'Even when it causes that deaths of innocent people?' Lindsey set his jaw and pushed the voice away, as he had been doing for months. Where it had at first been weak, over the past few days it had grown into a near din.

Lilah had said something, Lindsey realized, and in his distraction he had missed it. Not a wise mistake to make. No one could take a person's weaknesses and turn them on a person faster than Lilah Morgan. "What?"

Lilah's eyebrow went up. Lindsey was slipping. 'Just keep it up,' Lilah thought gleefully. 'I'll have this job all to myself yet.' She pasted her carefully chosen and perfected smile across her face again. "I said, Mrs. Miller is in your office. And she has a guest with her."

"Sakan?" Lindsey inquired softly.

"No other." Lilah strode ahead of Lindsey, acting as if the office were hers. Which, Lindsey reflected, it would soon be if he couldn't manage to get a hold of himself.

Miller broke into a broad smile as she caught sight of Lindsey. "Mr. McDonald! How charming to see you again." The matron gestured to the man standing next to her, turning her gaze to him as a puppy stares in adoration at its master. "I told you I would take care of the problem of the vampire with a soul for you, did I not? This is Sakan."

"Yes, you did," Lindsey murmured, fighting an urge to shiver at the deadness in Sakan's eyes.

"We've met." Other than a small, cruel smile Sakan dismissed Lindsey entirely after the words, turning instead to Lilah. Her eyebrows went up very slightly, but she didn't argue with the switch in control and Lindsey didn't try to take it from her. "Now that I'm back, I intend to stay that way," Sakan said. "Hell is far from a pleasant place, even if you happen to be a human rather than a human fool." Sakan plucked at the sleeve of his shirt. "This body ... it is the most suitable vessel for me. I don't want to give it up." Sakan looked up suddenly and pinned Lilah with a fierce, penetrating gaze. "You want me to keep Angel's body occupied so that he will be unable to play his destined role in the final days." Lindsey furrowed his brow slightly and glanced towards Lilah. but she seemed undisturbed by Sakan's words. "Fine, then. I require you to render me some services as well. As long as Angel's soul remains in his body he can continue to fight me for control. You can see how that is an annoyance. Therefor, I want it gone. Make it happen, I don't care how."

"We will," Lilah assured him, "you can be certain of that. Wolfram and Hart will do everything in our power to help you. It may take a bit of time, though."

Sakan's eyes narrowed. "Not too long, I hope." He leaned closer to Lilah. "You have no concept of just how much Angel hates this firm. If I were to suddenly lose control, who knows what would happen?" Sakan didn't wait for a response. He exited the office, Miller trailing obediently along behind.

Lilah didn't breathe easily until she received word from security that the pair had been escorted from the building. She glanced over at Lindsey, fully expecting a snarky comment about her one-upmanship of him, but Lindsey was staring into space with an unfocused expression. "I hope you may more attention than that in court."

Lindsey reactivated and looked back at her. "Are you really sure we should have promised that?" he asked softly, forgetting for the moment who he was talking to.

Casting him a bewildered and mildly suspicious look, Lilah asked, "What are you talking about?"

Lindsey caught himself and said quickly, "The kind of ritual that's going to be necessary to bind Sakan into Angel's body is going to cost. Are you sure you can justify that expense if Sakan turns out to be a wild card?"

"You mean can *we* justify that expense?" Lilah smirked. "This isn't solely my project, Lindsey, though I seem to be pulling most of the workload. We're both going down it fails. I don't know about you, but I've got a damn long ways to fall, so I plan on making good and sure this venture is a success." Eyes glinting, Lilah finished with, "We're on an equal playing field now, Lindsey. Don't think for a second that I'll hesitate to take you out of the picture if you become a threat to me," before stalking out of the office. Lindsey stared after her for a moment before slumping into a chair and putting his head in his hands. He stayed that way for a long time, trying to make sense of the mess he was in and how he could untangle himself from it. When Lindsey lifted his head there was a new resolve in his eyes that almost, but not quite, hid the fear.

Lindsey left his office and headed to the firm's library, where there were nearly as many texts on demons as there were on law. If he was really planning on doing the crazy thing 'the right thing' like he was suspecting he would, then he had best go prepared. It was time to hit the books.

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

Hitting the books was getting them absolutely nowhere. Cordelia resisted the urge to either throw her book across the room or burst into tears, with an option on doing both. Somehow sensing how close Cordelia was to losing it, Gunn murmured, "Easy, there. One member of our team having a melt down in the last month is enough."

Cordelia looked up and struggled to smile, but it was hard. "I just feel helpless here," she admitted.

"So do I." It wasn't an emotion Gunn was used to feeling and it wasn't one he relished. He flipped the page in his book listlessly, resisting his own urge to toss it aside in frustration. Between Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia, they had done enough research to inform them that Sakan was a very bad thing and Angel was in very big trouble. Considering that he had tried to kill them in the hotel, they figured they all ready had that base covered.

On Cordelia's couch, Rachel sighed in her sleep and turned over, brow puckering for a moment before her sleep became easy again. The exhausted young woman had been fast asleep when Wesley and Cordelia had returned and she hadn't woken up since. They were leaving her undisturbed for now so that she could catch up on her massive amounts of missed sleep. Gunn couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for her. While Alonna had been dragged under against her will rather than diving in head first as Lindsey had done, losing someone you cared about to darkness was painful. There was no way around that.

Gunn finally slammed the book shut in anger. "Wes, all these precious books of yours ain't worth a damn," he said to the Watcher, who was emerging from the kitchen where he had been pouring himself another cup of coffee.

Wesley heaved a tired sigh as he sat down and rubbed at his eyes. "I know," he answered. "We're chasing our tails. Meanwhile, Sakan could be killing an innocent person right at this instant." Wesley shook his head, looking tired. "I'm afraid we have to face the possibility that we may not be able to save Angel. We may only be able to stop the monster that's using him. Permanently." The other two looked upset at Wesley's words, but they didn't offer any argument. They couldn't, it was the truth. The ring of bruises that had formed around Cordelia's neck told him just how true it was.

The phone rang and Cordelia got out of her seat to answer it. On the couch Rachel rolled over a final time and then sat up groggily, blinking around her with the fuzzy expression of the just woken up. "Hello?" Cordelia asked into the receiver.

"I think I may be able to help you save your friend," a familiar voice with a slight southern accent said hesitantly, almost as if the speaker currently wished they were somewhere else.

"What?" Cordelia asked quickly, straightening. She caught the other three looking at her with curious expressions. "Who is this?"

A long pause accentuated only by the sound of the other person breathing, then, "Lindsey McDonald."

"What?!" If Cordelia's voice had been bordering on sharp before, not it was a screech. "Lindsey McDonald, you have a Hell of a lot of nerve for calling here-" Rachel woke up all the way at hearing her brother's name and leaned forward on the couch, eavesdropping blatantly and not caring who noticed her doing it. "-and I'll tell you right now that that we have too much to deal with to be putting up with your Wolfram and Hart bullshit, so-" At that point Wesley wrested the phone away from Cordelia before her voice could begin to do damage to their ears.

"I'm assuming you have a reason for calling?" Wesley asked tersely.

On the other end of the line Lindsey had to take several seconds to recover from Cordelia's tirade. 'Jesus.' "I think I may be able to help you save Angel from Sakan," Lindsey repeated, halfway expecting to get another verbal blasting.

Wesley remained silent for an interminably long time and his friends could see that disbelief was scrawled plainly across his features. "And this sudden change of heart has come about because? You'll have to forgive us for not taking everything that comes out of Wolfram and Hart at face value."

"This isn't Wolfram and Hart. This is just me," Lindsey said quietly. Wesley got the impression that the other man was struggling very hard to retain his self control. "And the spell...it was supposed to hurt Angel. Only Angel, no one else. But Sakan is using Angel's body to kill humans and...it's gone too far."

"How far would you consider far enough, Lindsey?" Wesley asked stiffly. "When you take into consideration that, as a part of Wolfram and Hart, you are responsible for death every day."

Across town, in the library room at Wolfram and Hart, Lindsey stiffened. Wesley was only speaking the truth, but Lindsey felt as if he had been struck by it. He struggled to to regain his cool self-assurance and failed dismally. It had been shattered beyond all repair by Sakan and what he had witnessed in the alley. "I just...this one time, I wanted to be able to do something right."

Silence from Wesley as he digested that bit of information. There was a note of rock bottom desperation in Lindsey's voice that was nearly impossible to fake. Wesley had his doubts that even a slimy Wolfram and Hart lawyer would be able to pull it off so flawlessly. "What do you know?" Wesley asked flawlessly.

Heartened by the fact that Wesley hadn't hung up on him yet, as Cordelia undoubtedly would have by that point, Lindsey returned his gaze to the book in front of him and began to read. "Sakan is one of the original demons to walk the earth before the coming of man's dominance," he said into the receiver of his cell phone. "He's an agent of pure darkness. It used to be said that wherever he walked plants would turn to ash, water to blood, life to death. In order to destroy him without destroying Angel at the same time Sakan is going to have to be forced into his corporeal form. Sakan is weaker without a host and he has trouble surviving without one for an extended period of time. Sakan was cast off of this plane and into Hell for the first time during the earliest days of the Roman Empire. The Slayer at the time battled Sakan, eventually winding up losing her life to him, but in the process she weakened him enough so that her watcher could cast the spell that doomed Sakan and prevented him from coming back until now."

Wesley asked, "What was the spell?"

There was a pause and the sound of pages being turned. "I don't know," Lindsey finally said. "This book doesn't say. I'll have to keep looking."

Wesley hesitated, weighing the risks of accepting the information Lindsey was supposedly offering. If it were true, it could very well be the difference between saving their friend and losing him forever. If it were true. "Keep looking," he said finally, "and call back if you find anything else." Wesley hung up without waiting to hear Lindsey's reply. He turned and saw that Rachel had risen from her seat.

"Was that my brother?" she asked.

"Yes, it was," Wesley told her gently.

"And he called to say he wanted to help you with your friend?"

"Rachel." Wesley paused a moment and sighed. "Don't get your hopes up. Like as not, this is a trick."

Rachel nodded obediently, but a smile she could not restrain still broke out across her face.

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

Lindsey pushed the End button on his cell phone and set it down beside the book. The risk that the office phones would be bugged had been too great. Lindsey rubbed his eyes. Insane. He was completely insane. But maybe he could still save himself from being damned.

A small microphone was set inconspicuously in the corner, at the place where the wall met the ceiling. It was so carefully crafted and concealed that Lindsey hadn't noticed it when he came in and began researching. The microphone was connected to a recorder in Wolfram and Hart's security office.

Having been activated by Lindsey's voice as he began his phone conversation, the recorder whirred on for several more minutes, calmly recording silence before shutting off and awaiting silence. 

"We just found this today, Ms. Morgan," the man said nervously, thrown off balance by Lilah's continued silence. "Got lucky. The tape from the library is only checked every few weeks or so. Generally if something worth hearing is going to be said it's going to be said in an office."

"And you're sure this is from today?" Lilah asked, ignoring the security officers nervousness and attempts to impress her. 'Finally. Got him, got him, got him. Lindsey, you bastard, I knew you would make a mistake sooner or later. And now you don't have Holland to save your ass from the Senior Partners.'

"Yes, we're sure," he rushed to assure her. "The tapes are all dated automatically. Do you want us to, ah, detain Mr. McDonald so that his disloyalty can be dealt with?"

Lilah glanced at her watch. Just a little after six. A workaholic like Lindsey would still be in the building, no doubt busily working away on his new project. "No," Lilah finally said, garnering a surprised look from the security officer. "No, we can use this. Lindsey wants to feed information to the firm's enemies? Fine, let him. We'll just be sure that the information he gets leads them both him and them right into a trap."

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

Hours more of research had turned up nothing substantial enough of any use and the last thing he could afford to do at the moment was turn any suspicious eyes on him, so Lindsey headed back to his office to at least go through the emotions of doing his job. He paused as Lilah strode towards him in the hallway. A bright, uncharacteristic smile was resting on the other attorney's face. "Something happen?"

"I pulled a few strings," Lilah said, still smiling. "Found a sorcerer who owes Wolfram and Hart a favor. He can perform the necessary rituals to remove Angel's soul from his body and bind Sakan's into it permanently tomorrow night."

Lindsey's heart sank, but he worked hard to cover it. That was a desperately short time in which to act. "Really."

Lilah didn't miss the flash of dread that flashed across her coworker's face.
'Lindsey, an actor you are not.' "Hmm-mm. Warehouse on Ninth. The most difficult part of the ritual will be actually getting Sakan there. He hasn't proven himself to be the most cooperative new client."

"No," Lindsey agreed. His mind raced over possible ways to delay the ritual and came up with a series of big fat blanks. He had been counting on having more time to plan. "Well, I have some case files to go over..."

"I'll let you get to that," Lilah said, immediately taking the hint. A broader and much more threatening grin stole across her face as she walked away. "That was pathetically easy."

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

Cordelia picked up the phone on the first ring, her face tightening as she heard Lindsey's voice. "You again?"

"Look, I don't' have time for this right now, all right? You can call me every expletive under the sun later. I have it coming," Lindsey spoke hurriedly. "Tomorrow night a ritual is going to be held that will seal Sakan into Angel's body permanently, no hope of ever forcing him out."

"Where?" Cordelia asked. Lindsey gave her the address and she hurriedly found the a pen and a pad of paper to write it down on.

Watching the flurry of activity, Rachel asked, "Is that Lindsey?" Cordelia nodded and waved at her to be silent at the same time.

Back in his office Lindsey frowned. For a moment he thought he had heard his sister's voice in the background. "I still haven't found out how to force Sakan into his corporeal form, but I'll keep looking. We're running out of time."

"We?" Cordelia asked. "Okay, Wes, Gunn, and I will be there. This had better not be a trick, Lindsey."

"It's not, I swear."

"You're word doesn't carry a whole lot of weight around here."

"I know." Lindsey winced. "Cordelia, I'm sorry, for last spring and everything I've done since then. I'm going to do everything I can to make up for it."

Cordelia blinked, taken aback by Lindsey's supposed sincerity. "Apology not accepted." She waited a few seconds before adding. "Come through for us tomorrow night and I'll think about it."

"Thank you." Lindsey hung up his cell phone. He turned in his chair until he could see out his office window. The sun had set but an optimistic pink glow still lingered over the horizon. A few more minutes and it would be full dark, leaving Sakan free to hunt with Angel's body as he pleased. Lindsey shivered. He'd done a lot of very bad things. It was about time to start making up for it with some good. 

Lindsey took a step back and tried to seem irritated. "Ridiculous."

"Vampire senses. They don't lie," Sakan said, a smile turning up his lips.

"Then apparently they can be mistaken." Lindsey struggled to keep his heart from slamming up against his rib cage any harder that it all ready was. Several deep breaths and he thought he had himself under control again, but Sakan kept watching him.

"The limousine is here," Lilah said, rejoining them. She took brief note of the light sheen of sweat that had broken out across Lindsey's forehead. So he was nervous? Well, good. He had every reason to be with the stunt he was trying to pull.

The ride to the warehouse was mostly silent. Lilah and Sakan saw no need for talk and Lindsey was too preoccupied with his own thoughts. It was doubtful that the Angel Investigations team would be able to handle Sakan and the guards that would doubtless be there on their own, so he would have to do something from the inside. But what? What could he possibly do that would make any kind of difference? As he recalled, the last two times he had tried to do something right he had gotten beaten up by a blind woman and Angel had nearly strangled him. Good just didn't seem to be in the cards for him, but evil was hurting too much. Lindsey shook his head slowly. Jesus. If his sister, who had only seen him again for a few days, could see how far he had fallen, why had it taken him this long to wake up? Why did it bring an innocent bystander lying dead in an alley to bring about the epiphany he had so desperately needed? 'Rachel was right. The brother she knew wouldn't be involved in this. Trouble is, I'm not that brother any more, and I don't know how to go about finding him again.'

His first clue that something was wrong came the moment he stepped out of the limousine. The atmosphere fairly crackled with energy. Lindsey felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand at attention and bile rose in his throat. Lilah stepped a bit too close to Lindsey for comfort, only smiling when he noticed and subtly edged away. Ambition was making her heady. "What's wrong, Lindsey?" she asked icily. "Not nervous, are you?"

He cast her an irritated look. "This ritual fails, the Senior Partners are going to have our asses."

"It won't." As they approached the warehouse Lilah nodded to the guards posted there, two burly Kaliff demons. The pair came forward and stood on either side of Lindsey. His instincts for danger hadn't been thrown this far into overdrive since he had tried to take the files. "It's quite a simple ritual, really, as I understand it. Chanting, herbs, sacrifices, and presto."

"Sacrifices." As he said it, the two Kaliffs took hold of Lindsey's arms. 'Oh, fuck.'

"You screwed up, Lindsey," Lilah said mockingly. "There isn't a room in Wolfram and Hart that hasn't been bugged by someone."

Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could he have taken such care with the phone and completely forgotten to be sure the room was clean. Lindsey began to struggle fruitlessly. The Kaliffs let him for a few seconds, until one of them brought his fist down hard against the side of Lindsey's head. Lindsey felt the starburst of pain for only a moment before he slumped in his captors' grip, surrendering to the darkness.

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

Gunn's truck idled to a step several blocks from the warehouse to lessen the chance that they would be caught. Gunn, Cordelia, and Wesley remained in the truck for several minutes after the engine had fallen silent. Gunn was the first to speak. "Do we have any idea what the hell we're going to do when we get to this warehouse?"

Wesley was tight-lipped. "Not a bloody clue."

Gunn nodded. "Just checking."

They exited the truck and walked the rest of the way with their hearts pounding so loudly that it was hard to hear their own thoughts. When the trio got close enough to see Kaliffs standing at the entrance of the warehouse they quickly ducked into an alley to avoid being spotted themselves. "Now what?" Cordelia asked softly.

After a few seconds of hesitation spent going over their dismal chances, Wesley replied equally as softly, "We'll circle around to the back of the building. Perhaps they'll be a lapse in the guard there." He sighed. "Since Lindsey was unable to find the spell to force Sakan into his corporeal form, we're just going to have to do whatever we can to disrupt the spell they're casting now, buy us some time."

"If Evil Lawyer Boy even looked," Gunn said darkly. "This is givin' me a bad vibe, Wes. Somethin' ain't right here, and I mean somethin' way beyond the obvious."

"Too late now," Cordelia said. "We can't back out now. If we don't do something, Angel's screwed." On that sobering note, they continued forward.

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

His head was positively throbbing. Lindsey blinked and came to by degrees, aware that something sticky was running down the side of his face. Blood. Well, the Kaliff had hit him pretty hard. Lindsey grunted and tried to move, only to discover that his hands were bound behind him with some kind of cord.

Giving up after a few minutes of trying to loosen his bonds, Lindsey looked around him, blinking rapidly as smoke stung his eyes and made his headache worse. He was inside the warehouse. Though the warehouse was equipped with electricity, its sole source of illumination at the moment came from scores of candles. They were lucky the place hadn't burned to the ground yet. By squinting through the smoke Lindsey was able to see Lilah on the other side of the room conversing with a man in his late thirties, apparently the sorcerer who was going to be binding Sakan. "And I'm going to be the sacrifice that makes it possible," Lindsey murmured, slumping back. He couldn't say he didn't have it coming.

"What's your name?"

Lindsey jumped, which didn't at all help the pounding in his head, and looked over to his left. A girl with dark blond hair that hung around her face and large, hopeless blue eyes stared back at him. She dressed in the ragged attire of a street kid, Lindsey noted, and he would be deeply surprised if he learned that she was over eighteen. The girl wet all ready cracked lips and nodded her head in the direction of Lilah and the spellcaster. "They're going to kill us. I'd kind of like to know the name of the person I'm going to die with."

"Oh. I'm Lindsey."

She tried to smile, but it came out more closely resembling a grimace. "I'm Marie. Under better circumstances I would say it was nice to meet you."

"You're going to get out of this," Lindsey promised the young woman softly. While he may deserve what was coming to him, she didn't. "There are some people coming. They'll get you out of here."

Marie shook her head. Her smile was sad. "I've been hear for a full day. At least, I think I have. There's not exactly a clock around this place." For a moment Marie looked to be on the verge of tears. "They're getting ready for something. Something big and I, I..." Marie's ironclad control finally crumbled and she looked down, tears beginning to fall. "I don't want to die here."

"You won't," Lindsey found himself promising softly. 'Get here,' he projected to Wesley, Cordelia, and Gunn. 'I have this coming, but she's innocent.' "You won't."

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

There was another set of Kaliffs standing to either side of the back entrance as well. "Damn," Wesley swore. "Can we take them on?"

"Do we have a choice?" Gunn whispered back.

Before either man could react, Cordelia had come out of their impromptu hiding place in the shadows and was walking towards the Kaliffs with her best actress' smile riding on her face. "Hi," she said brightly. The two Kaliffs stared, first with astonishment that she was actually strolling casually up to them, then with a growing hostility. "I don't suppose you could tell me how to get to D'Oblique from here?" The Kaliffs' expressions became more openly hostile and Cordelia forced a weak sounding laugh. "All right, guess that would be a 'no'." The Kaliffs started to advance on her and Cordelia called nervously over her shoulder, "Uh, guys? The point of a distraction is for you to take advantage of it." One of the Kaliffs growled. "Eep."

Gunn chose that opportunity to barrel out of the shadows, tackling the more aggressive Kaliff around the middle and taking them both down hard. The Kaliff snarled out a curse in a language Gunn didn't recognize and he swore back as a bony spine adorning the demon's forehead caught him in the jaw. Out of the corner of his eye Gunn saw Wesley taking on the other demon before his own opponent hurled him off and he had to scramble to avoid a left hook that would have broken his jaw if it had connected. "You know, Cordy," he grunted, "the whole distraction thin works a helluva lot better if you tell us what you're doin' before hand."

"Please," Cordelia scoffed. "Do you think I would ever be caught dead in D'Oblique? I went once, and never again." She scanned the around her until she spied a length of board that had been broken so that one end was a jagged point. She swung the board like a bat into the Kaliff's head, stunning it momentarily. Gunn then snatched the board from her hand and drove it deeply into the demon's throat. Bim, bam, boom, and he was moving on to help Wesley before his Kaliff had even stopped gagging. Between the two men the second demon guard was quickly dispatched.

"Well," Wesley gasped, staring down at the splatterings of demon and human blood that marked his shirt, "not exactly off to the most splendid of beginnings, are we?"

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

Lilah lanced impatiently at her watch. She didn't suppose it mattered whether whoever Lindsey had been talking to-and she had more than a hunch as to who it was-arrived before, during, or after the ritual, they couldn't stop it without harming the very creature it was going to destroy, but she would prefer it if they were to see Angel finally be defeated. She wanted to force them to finally realize that Wolfram and Hart was the stronger, the *better*, opponent.

"Start it now," she finally snapped at the spellcaster, some hired lackey that she hadn't even bothered to learn the name of.

The spellcaster nodded. He gestured to Sakan, who had been lounging with a lazy indifference against one of the walls. "I'll need you to stand here." The spellcaster took Sakan's elbow and attempted to guide him until the demon snarled sharply. He jerked his hand back. "Uh...just stand in the center of the room, here." The spellcaster gestured until he got Sakan where he wanted him, being careful not to actually touch the demon again. Sakan moodily did as he was bidden, pausing long enough to glare at Lilah.

"For your sake, the people your traitor spoke to had better not interfere," Sakan threatened in a low, dangerous voice. "I have been waiting for too long for this to allow a few suicidal humans to threaten it now."

Though Sakan's flat, shark-like gaze caused a shudder to go through Lilah's body, she hid it well. "We'll be sure that they don't interfere," she assured the demon smoothly. "The finest demon guards available for hire have been posted throughout the building." However plastic and reassuring Lilah's smile was, inwardly she was the slightest bit worried. She had pulled hard to have the ritual performed at the Wolfram and Hart building, but in the end had been overruled. Something about deniability should anything go wrong. Unable bear Sakan's deep gaze for any longer, Lilah looked sideways at the spellcaster. "What are you waiting for!" she snapped.

The spellcaster nodded once and strode quickly over to Marie, whom Lindsey had been talking to in a low, soft voice, helping to fight the sense of panic in both of them. In one quick motion the spellcaster twisted his fingers through Marie's hair and yanked her to her feet. Her cry of pain was partly muffled by Lindsey lunging forward and yelling, "Leave her alone!" The spellcaster didn't even spare a glance for Lindsey, but his fist came around in a vicious punch. Lindsey fell back and tasted blood in his mouth. Marie locked eyes with Lindsey for a few seconds before the spellcaster dragged her over to Sakan. The clarity of the terror in her eyes seared him. The sudden pain of having all her innocence stripped away reminded Lindsey of Rachel suddenly, of when she had confronted him in his apartment, and he had to fight hard against the urge to vomit.

Despite Marie's struggles she was quickly dragged over to Sakan and hurled at his feet. Marie looked up at that emotionless face as she gulped back tears and knew she could expect no mercy from him. The spellcaster began speaking quickly in a fluid-sounding language that she didn't recognize and yanked her head back so that she could see the gleaming dagger that he held in his other hand. "Take off your shirt," he ordered Sakan. Marie's eyes remained fixed on the knife that was held mere inches from her face. A choked whimper was pulled from her throat but she clamped down on the sound before it could become the scream that it wanted to. She could deny the bastards that. 'I won't scream,' Marie ordered herself as she watched the blade arc in towards her throat. 'I won't scream, I won't scream, I won't-'

While Lindsey watched in horror, the spellcaster jerked Marie's head back and drew the dagger across her throat in a single fluid motion. Blood poured forth in a river from the gaping wound drawn across her throat. Her mouth opened and worked soundlessly for a few seconds before the light in her eyes went out and she pitched forward. Lindsey did vomit then, so hard that he thought his very intestines might come up. The spellcaster dipped his hands in the blood before it even stopped flowing and began using it to draw across Sakan's chest. All the while he continued rapid-fire in the unidentifiable language and gradually his voice grew louder until he was nearly yelling the words. The atmosphere in the room doubled and tripled inward on itself until it was almost like trying to draw breath through Jell-O. Sakan roared in agony, his heart feeling like it might explode in his chest. Bit by bit the room grew hotter until its occupants were bathed in sweat.

A final cry tore from Sakan's lips and he fell to the ground. Two hazy forms rose over the inert body, one giving off so dark an emotion that it could only be Sakan, the other giving off no feeling at all. The spellcaster was now speaking so rapidly and so loudly that it was a wonder he didn't bite his own tongue. He strode quickly over to Lindsey and dragged the lawyer to his feet. Still in a state of shock over what had happened to Marie, Lindsey gave only the most cursory of struggles as he was forced to kneel. It wasn't until he saw the spellcaster's dagger coming close to his own throat that Lindsey reactivated, swinging his legs around and kicking out hard at the spellcaster. Lilah shouted in alarm but the spellcaster reacted quickly, reversing the dagger in his hand and striking Lindsey in the head hard enough to daze him. A few trickles of blood wound down the spellcaster's wrist from a shallow cut the dagger had made in his palm. Hovering over the body it had stolen, Sakan's essence grew stronger and more distinct. The spellcaster drew Lindsey's head back and pressed the blade against his throat, pushing down hard enough to make a crimson drop bead up under the dagger. Lindsey didn't dare move. Wesley, Gunn, and Cordelia burst into the room a bare second later and that was the scene they were greeted with: their friend on the verge of being lost, his worst enemy's blood the key. 

For an enterprise by Wolfram and Hart, the guards in the warehouse weren't up to the firm's usual standards. They had encountered three more demons in the warehouse and each one had been dispatched without any major difficulties. "Gettin' the feelin' these lawyers don't think much of us," Gunn grunted.

"Their mistake," Cordelia declared. "They won't underestimate us again after this." Her lips were set into a nearly invisible line, her eyes betraying equal parts anger and fear.

A few moments later they came into the main room of the warehouse, only to be greeted by the sight and even the smell of blood, so much of it had been spilt. Gunn had to fight a momentary urge to retch and wondered how it was that vampires could find the coppery smell so sweet.

"Dear God," Wesley breathed. Gunn looked to the center of the room and saw why. Lindsey was kneeling, wrists bound behind him, being bent back painfully to avoid the dagger pressed against his throat. Gunn could see a trickle of blood running down to disappear beneath the lawyer's shirt collar.

Lilah was several feet away, back turned to them. The faint rustle of their clothing alerted her and she spun around, eyes flashing and a sneer crossing her face as she recognized them. Before she could say anything, however, a powerful punch from Wesley knocked her to the floor and left her stunned for the moment. "Much as I detest striking women," Wesley said to his stunned friends, "that felt remarkably good."

"Look," Cordy said softly. For the first time she noticed Angel's motionless form off to the side-and the two figures hovering over it.

Gunn took a threatening step towards the spellcaster. "If you value your hide you'll tell us how to fix this," he growled.

The other man smirked. "Actually, I don't think you're in any kind of position to be making threats," he said smoothly, tightening his grip on Lindsey's hair. The lawyer winced but otherwise didn't move.

Gunn's response came in the form of an indifferent shrug. "Evil lawyer dude, no skin off my nose if he bites it." He began advancing on the spellcaster again.

"Gunn, no!" Wesley gestured at the two spirits hovering over Angel's body, Sakan's noticeably stronger now. "Lindsey's blood may very well be all it takes to push Sakan into Angel's body permanently."

The expression on Gunn's face was dangerous, but when he spoke to the spellcaster again his voice was even. "First and only warning, bro. Let him go or I can guarantee his blood won't be the last spilled here."

The spellcaster wavered for a moment, looking indecisive. Unfortunately Lilah recovered at that moment and yelled, "Finish the goddamn spell, you idiot, unless you want some literal Hell to pay!" The prospect of what would happen to him if he displeased Wolfram and Hart was enough to harden the spellcaster's resolve and cause him to lower the dagger blade to Lindsey's throat again. Lindsey kicked outward again, this time with immensely better results. The spellcaster grunted as Lindsey's shoe met his kneecap and his grip slackened. Lindsey was able to wrench free while Gunn rushed forward. Three swift punches to the gut and the other man went down, then Gunn scooped up the dagger and used it to free Lindsey's hands. "I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and say that things aren't goin' too well between you and your little lawyer buddies."

"Not as such," Lindsey replied softly, rubbing the feeling back into his wrists as well as he could with only one good hand. His eyes fell onto Marie, lying there with her eyes staring at nothing and her hair streaked red with her own blood. Of all the people there, he was surely the one who most deserved to die, yet it was starting to appear that he was going to make it out alive. Lindsey met eyes with Wesley for a moment. "Her name was Marie," he said softly.

Wesley nodded. "It's too late for us to help her now," he said gently. Wesley looked towards Sakan's ever strengthening spirit. Truth be told, at that point he wasn't sure if they could help themselves.

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

Angel wasn't aware of where he was, or even precisely what he was. He had the hazy feeling that a great wealth of time had passed since his last memory, that of standing in the alley and threatening that slime ball of a lawyer McDonald, and that if he didn't act quickly and now he was never going to be able to defeat the strange missing spells of time that were coming over him. 'Lindsey has something to do with it, I'm sure.' It was about the only thing Angel was sure of. Though he tried and tried, he couldn't manage to see anything more than a grayish haze. It was as if the whole world melted away. 'Or I did.' Angel struggled to stay in control and resist the ever strengthening urges to just let himself float away. Only the bone deep conviction that that something evil was very close to him-he could feel it, like blood gone sour-kept him connected for now. 'I can't let this win. I have to fight it, because, because...I have a mission.' The thought came into Angel's head unbidden. If he had been capable of snorting he would have. Mission? That was a joke. Wolfram and Hart had proven over and over again that his mission meant nothing, that they could and would continue to commit any atrocity they wished and still remain protected by the human world.

Wolfram and Hart. A growl rumbled through Angel, despite the fact that he wasn't precisely sure he even had a throat. That was it. Stopping them would be his purpose. Angel began to struggle as well as he was able in the strange, featureless landscape he was trapped in. Instinctively Angel focused on pushing away the heavy, oppressive sense of evil that hung around him in a cloud and fought to reclaim his sense of self. He felt as if he were struggling with an opponent made of glue. For every effort he made at escaping the terrifying sense of nothingness that surrounded him, the shadowy evil was there, impeding him. 'I don't even know what I'm fighting.' Angel focused as hard as he was able and felt a tiny crack give way in the gluey wall holding him back. Heartened by the tiny victory, Angel pushed harder. The barrier gave way in a sudden rush beneath Angel's efforts and he was struck with the impression of free-falling downward with no hope of ever slowing down or striking bottom. It happened much too fast to think, or scream, or even really register what was happening before the fall was halted as abruptly and nearly as painfully as if he had collided with a brick wall.

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

It wasn't looking good for them at all. Eight more burly Kaliffs had materialized-'Did Wolfram and Hart hire the whole damn clan of them?' Gunn wondered-and were blocking the exits. Lilah had gotten back to her feet, one side of her face already showing signs of a good-sized bruise, and looked mad as Hell. She glared at them and said icily, "Heroic effort. However, in situations like these the heroes are oft times the ones who wind up dead."

Wesley looked at the Kaliffs apprehensively. They had been extremely lucky in managing to kill even the two earlier. Eight was out of the question. "And they're oft times the ones who win," Wesley replied, mainly for the sake of bravado. Beyond Lilah he saw Angel's form begin to stir slowly and his heart sank. So they were too late, then. Angel was lost forever.

Lilah turned to follow Lindsey's gaze, brow puckering slightly when she saw Angel pushing himself to his feet. She had been told that it would take the blood of at least two to give Sakan the strength he required to take permanent control. Lilah quickly smiled and walked over to him, saying lightly, "The disorientation will pass in a few moments. Welcome back, Sakan."

"Will it?" Angel questioned softly, eyes flicking from Lilah to the group of people he had once considered friends, settling on Lindsey and narrowing for the briefest of moments before they moved on. Lilah's smile faltered and ultimately fell from her face as Angel reached out and grabbed one of the Kaliffs' heads, wrenching sharply. There was a popping sound as the demon's neck snapped, and it fell to the floor. The Kaliff's comrades let one stunned second float by, then erupted into a growling, punching frenzy. Angel reacted instantly, hurling the massive demons about as if they were nothing more than toys. Gunn let out a low, stunned whistle. If they had had that kind of fire power on their side they would have had one hell of an easier time getting in. Only problem was, Angel was so busy pounding on the demons and generally going berserk that he was neglecting the fact that he was essentially getting the hell beaten out of him at the same time.

"Angel!" Cordelia cried, ducking into the fray and grabbing at Angel's arm. "Angel, c'mon, we have to get out of here!" The vampire shook her off angrily and continued fighting. He accidentally caught Cordelia in the mouth with his elbow, knocking her backwards and making her teeth come together on her tongue. Cordelia cried out as her mouth filled with blood.

It was Cordelia's sharp cry of pain that finally pierced through Angel's rage. She covered her mouth with her hand and stared at Angel with wide eyes. "Cordelia..." Angel trailed off.

"You just hit me." Cordelia's voice didn't convey her her hurt and astonishment nearly as well as her eyes did. She shook her had abruptly, getting up without Angel's help. "Let's just leave," she said to the others before turning back to Angel. "You're safe from Sakan now. Yay for you. I just hope you realize why it was so easy for him to take you over in the first place."

"Cordelia," Angel tried again. His gaze raked across Lilah and the remaining Kaliffs and his eyes gleamed gold for a moment. "Cordelia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."

"Whatever," Cordelia said tiredly. She shrugged. "You want to come with us to talk, try to work this out, fine. Otherwise...I'm just tired of trying, Angel." She, Gunn, and Wesley walked out of the warehouse, Lindsey trailing silently behind.

Angel snarled, for a moment torn between going after them and staying to finish the job he had started, but Cordelia's quiet words had cut deep. Angel finally spun around and fisted the front of Lilah's jacket, yanking her forward. "This isn't even close to over," he growled into the attorney's face.

Lilah smirked, but its effect was somewhat undercut by the fact that Angel could smell the fear pouring off her. "You can be sure of that," she replied. Angel thrust her backwards into one of the demons Wolfram and Hart had hired at great expense-and she sincerely doubted the Senior Partners were going to be pleased with how quickly they had been taken out, in addition to the utter fiasco the rest of the night had turned out to be-and stalked out of the warehouse. Lilah straightened her jacket and glared as she watched him go. And did any of the damn Kaliffs even attempt to stop him? Of course not, though Angel most likely would have made short work of them if they had tried. But Wolfram and Hart had laid down a pretty penny for their services and Lilah Morgan expected to get what she paid for. Especially if it had the potential to hurt her position with the Senior Partners. "Damn it," she swore.

"It may not be too late to salvage your project," the spellcaster suggested softly. "Look."

Lilah looked where the spellcaster wanted her to and her eyes widened. Sakan's essence, or soul, or whatever it had been, was back to hovering over the place where Angel had lain. How that was possible, Lilah didn't know. The spell had failed. Sakan should be roasting away back in Hell by now, and yet there he was growing stronger and more distinct with every second that passed. 

Lindsey stood nervously in Cordelia's living room, unsure of what to do or say. His glib lawyer vocabulary seemed to have deserted him and he felt more insecure than he had since he was in high school and the butt of all the jokes about 'those poor trashy McDonalds, father can't even keep his face out of the bottle long enough to keep a job.' Lindsey winced. It had been largely due to those taunting, judging voices that he had been so determined to succeed and prove them all wrong, but he knew that was a cop out. He couldn't go blaming others for his choices forever.

"Lindsey?"

He turned, eyes widening as he saw his sister. She looked equally floored to see him. "Rachel?" Lindsey managed. "How...what are you doing here?"

Rachel came forward and Lindsey thought she was going to hug him. Instead she caught him with a ringing slap, hard enough to knock his head sideways. "What am *I* doing here?!" Rachel cried. "How about what *you're* doing here, huh? Rather than working for your evil law firm," Rachel gestured as she tried to find the words, "out...out...kicking puppies or something?"

"Generally Wolfram and Hart hires lackeys to do the puppy kicking," Lindsey tried. Rachel's glare told him how little she thought of the weak joke. Lindsey glanced towards Wesley and Gunn, who were doing their best not to listen in on the conversation. Cordelia was still nowhere to be seen. "Rachel," Lindsey said, leaning forward and lowering his voice, "we need to talk."

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest. "You know what? I don't really think we have anything to talk about." She raised her chin defiantly.

"Rachel-" Lindsey rubbed at his eyes as he tried to figure out how to convince his sister that he really was trying to change.

"I don't wanna hear it," Rachel said stubbornly. She tried to turn away, slapping at Lindsey when he grabbed for her elbow. "And don't touch me!"

"Now you're being childish," Lindsey said, beginning to grow exasperated.

"Childish?" Rachel trilled at him. "You're working for an evil law firm! I don't think there's really a code of behavior for this situation!"

"Rachel, I'm not working for Wolfram and Hart anymore," Lindsey interrupted her. He touched the bump on the side of his head. "I'm pretty sure I can give up the glowing reference, too."

Rachel had just been winding up for another tirade. "What?" she asked softly, not quite able to believe the information her ears had gathered.

"I quit," Lindsey said simply.

For a few seconds Rachel was silent, then she asked softly, hopefully, "Really?" Lindsey nodded. His sister's face hardened. "I'm still mad at you," she informed him icily.

Lindsey cracked a tiny smile. "I can deal with that."

The doorbell rang and Cordelia emerged from her bathroom to answer it, a few tear tracks still marking her face. She opened the door and froze. "Hey," she said neutrally.

"Hey," Angel greeted her back. "Can I, uh...can I come in?"

Cordelia stepped to the side. "I didn't do the uninvite spell," she said. "You can still come in."

Angel shrugged very slightly. "It's more polite this way." He stepped past Cordy and into the home, eyes darkening and hands curling into fists when he caught sight of McDonald. The vampire took a few needless breaths to prevent himself from throttling the lawyer, instead focusing on his former employees and, he hoped, not yet former friends. "We need to talk." Angel hesitated a moment in order to choose his words. "I don't admit that I'm wrong very often. I'm not used to it and I don't like it." The vampire sighed and looked down for a moment. "But you guys were right. I let Wolfram and Hart play me like a violin and it nearly cost me my soul and you guys your lives."

A long silence greeted the words in which Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley simply looked back at him impassively. Angel waited until he was sure they were going to tell him that he had blown his last chance in the warehouse and that he could show himself to the door. Finally, when he was beginning to consider doing just that, Wesley nodded unsmilingly. "It's good to have you back," he said at last.

"Thanks," Angel said. He looked towards Cordelia. "Cordy...in the warehouse, I-"

"Didn't mean to hit me, I know," she said. Cordelia touched her swollen lip lightly and winced when her tongue was accidentally dragged across her teeth.
"Let's just let it go, okay?" Angel reluctantly nodded, though the hurt in Cordelia's eyes told him that it wasn't even close to being let go, by either one of them.

"All right, then," Wesley said. "Now that that is more or less settled," The look on his face said he didn't think the issue was resolved any more than Angel did, but they had other things to deal with. "If Wolfram and Hart used spells and magicks to try for Angel's soul once, then it's safe to assume that they'll do it again." He looked towards Lindsey. "Any helpful information that you can provide will be most appreciated."

Angel snorted very softly. Lindsey ignored it, instead focusing on the hectic events of the past few days. "Wolfram and Hart learned of Sakan through a woman named Anna Miller," he said. "She worships him, dedicated her entire adult life to bringing him into this world." But she hadn't been at the ritual that nearly did. Lindsey frowned as a warning light went off in his brain, but ultimately he pushed it aside. "If there's any way to track down what, if anything, Wolfram and Hart plans on doing with Sakan now, it'll be through her."

"That's great." Cordelia opened her iBook and booted it up. "Does she have any kind of record?"

Lindsey searched through what little he knew of one of the single most frightening human beings he had ever met. "I think so."

"Lindsey." Angel took the lawyer's elbow, squeezing hard enough to discourage any argument, and pulled him to the side. "I know you're doing your damnedest to convince everyone here that you're trying to change." Lindsey tried to speak and Angel cut him off. "I'm not finished. I don't like you, Lindsey, and I don't trust you. You've had your chance to change before and as far as I'm concerned you threw it away."

"You don't like me? Yay for you, that makes two of us." Lindsey's face darkened. "But yeah, you really gave me a chance to change, didn't you?" The attorney felt the old resentment creeping back up on him and tried to shove it back into the darker corners of his mind where it belonged, but it hung on hard. "From the very moment I walked through the door you dismissed me, so don't give me a line of bullshit about how I had such a chance to change."

Angel growled, grip tightening unconsciously. He loosened it only slightly when Lindsey began to wince. "Nope, you don't get to do that, Lindsey. You don't get to lay your choices on someone else. You want to prove that you're ready to change, start taking responsibility for your own damn actions."

Lindsey felt the bones in his arm start to grind together as the vampire began to tighten his grip again. He yanked himself out of Angel's grip, wincing. Angel was right and Lindsey knew it, but Hell would freeze over before he admitted that to the other man. He turned and strode over to where Cordelia was working on the computer, wanting to get away from the focus of several months worth of hatred long enough to get control of himself again. Cordelia gave him a mildly surprised look but said nothing.

Angel needed a few seconds to gain control over his own anger, as well, and it wasn't until the slight girl standing to one side coughed slightly that he realized she was there at all. He raised his eyebrows. "Hello."

"Um, hi." The girl gave a slightly nervous wave. "I'm Rachel." She gestured towards Lindsey. "I'm his sister."

"Oh." 'Nice to meet you' somehow seemed absurd. "Uh-"

"Got it!" Cordelia called out triumphantly from her seat in front of the laptop. "Anna Miller: white female, aged 54. First arrested in 1976 for charges of animal cruelty. Several arrests since then, no convictions. Her last arrest was in 1989."

"That's only because she's careful," Lindsey said.

"You would know," Cordelia countered. Lindsey winced, and then grabbed Cordelia to prevent her from falling from her chair as she was struck hard with a vision. Her hand skittered sideways, knocking the iBook off the table. Cordelia grit her teeth until the images receded from her head and then opened her eyes to see Angel's worried face in front of her own.

"What did you see?" Angel asked her gently.

"At the moment, more of your pores than I ever wanted to," Cordelia quipped, pushing him away gently. She rubbed her eyes to help with some of the vision's ache, then said abruptly. "Sakan's not even close to out of the picture yet. We gotta move."

Miller parked the car brazenly in front of the warehouse and didn't even bother to lock the door as she got out. Chances were the car wouldn't even be there when she came out, but with luck she would be beyond such concerns.

No guard, demon or otherwise, molested Miller as she walked into the warehouse and towards the main room. For years her nose had been accustomed to smelling blood and now she had an almost preternatural talent in picking up the scent. Miller couldn't help but smile as she inhaled the heady sweetness and that smile only grew wider when she saw the killing that had taken place inside the warehouse. The fool that they had hired to perform the ritual that by rights should have been hers was dead. So were the guards that Wolfram and Hart had been so confident could protect them. Only Lilah remained, and Sakan was currently holding her up by the throat, the attorney's feet dangling a good eighteen inches from the floor, when Miller surveyed the scene and smirked.

"I was promised the body of the vampire," Sakan hissed into Lilah's face, which was rapidly turning blue. The demon's corporeal form was hideous, huge and hulking with skin like cracked lava, muscle fibers and the odd glimpse of bone showing from underneath. But Miller could sense that he was weak, far weaker than he should be. He needed a host.

Lilah gagged and tried to draw more air into her fluttering, burning lungs, but with each tiny exhalation Sakan tightened his grip more. Spots began to dance in front of her eyes and her thoughts turned disjointed and confused. 'It wasn't supposed to happen this way,' Lilah thought faintly. Every leader in history had to have spoken or thought those words at least once. 'It wasn't supposed to happen this way.' With a final growl Sakan spun and hurled Lilah through the air. Her head struck a crate hard and she slid in a boneless heap to the floor.

Miller didn't glance at Lilah to see whether she was bleeding or not. She didn't care. "Master," Miller breathed. The anticipation in her voice made her sound more like a young girl than the matronly woman she was.

Sakan turned to her, eyes flashing a moment with an unholy light. He masked it quickly, however. "Anna," he said jovially. "I take it you are responsible for my being here now." He gestured to indicate the warehouse.

"Yes," Miller said, expecting praise like a child.

"I see." Sakan nodded. "So I suppose I should be bending down and *thanking* you for the fact that I am currently without a body I can truly stay in, growing weaker and weaker until eventually a child will be able to kill me?"

Miller realized how dangerous the ground she was treading was and tried to backpedal hastily. "I...I'm offering myself." When Sakan merely cocked an eyebrow at her Miller felt compelled to continue. "As a host. My whole life I've been preparing for this moment. It's perfect." The breathless hope in her voice was almost pitiful.

Sakan smiled at his follower. The action made him actually appear grotesque, but it seemed to comfort Miller. "Dear, dear, Anna," Sakan said. stroking Miller's face with hands that were more properly classified as claws, then brought them down gently to rest on her shoulders. Miller smiled...and Sakan twisted her neck sharply, cocking his head as he heard the crack. Miller's body tumbled to the ground. "I think I'll take my chances with the vampire."

Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn all glanced towards Angel, remembering how easily he had fallen prey to Sakan before and the ugliness that had followed, but the vampire's face remained impassive. "Where?" he asked her.

Cordelia's forehead scrunched up as she thought. "Uh...on a street, walking." She flinched. "Killing. I can almost see the street sign, I..." Cordelia's face cleared. "On Seventh Street."

"Let's go." Angel paused to fix Lindsey with an unreadable look. "Are you coming?"

The attorney nodded. "It's my mess. I want to help clean it up."

Up to that point Rachel had been silent, her brain still having to struggle a bit to keep up with the fact that, yes, all those monsters that went bump in the night or hid under the bed were real and very, very dangerous. Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn had explained to her that Angel was...different, and usually helped people with those things that went bump in the night, but there were still a lot of holes in her knowledge. "I want to go, too," Rachel said suddenly.

"Oh, no, you don't." Her brother spun around on her. "You're not going, Rachel. No way. It's too dangerous."

"Oh, really?" she flared. "Newsflash, Lindsey McDonald. I'm eighteen and you're not my parent. I'm well aware of how dangerous it is. I want to help anyway."

Exasperated and with his mind flashing back to numerous similar arguments they had had as children, Lindsey said, "I know what's best here, all right? If you come with us you'll only get hurt."

Rachel couldn't contain her angry snort fast enough. "You know what's best? After what you're doing with your own life I don't think you're at all qualified to be making that statement, to anyone." Too late Rachel realized what she had just said and her eyes widened. "Oh God, Lindsey, I'm sorry-"

"You're right," Lindsey cut her off. "I don't have the right to give you that kind of advice, not after what I've done with my own choices. But I love you. You're my baby sister and I don't want you ending up dead."

A tiny, tentative smile crossed Rachel's face. She looked down for a moment.
"I know you do, Lindsey," she said softly. "I know." Rachel met her brother's eyes again, her expression steady and resolved. "But I want to help. I *have* to help."

"For Christ's sake, Rachel!" Lindsey exploded, running his hand through his hair in frustration. Rachel folded her arms over her chest and glared back at him every bit as fiercely as he was glaring at her.

"We're wasting time," Angel told them both brusquely. He glanced towards Rachel, then back at Lindsey. "Your call."

Lindsey continued shooting daggers at his sister for a few seconds longer. Rachel's lips turned up in a saccharine sweet smile as she sensed victory close at hand. At long last her brother sighed. "If you come, you're staying back out of the fight," he told her firmly. "I'm serious, Rachel. I don't want you to get hurt."

Rachel's smile was warm and soft. "I won't," she answered, touching her brother's arm lightly. "And thank you for caring."

Lindsey briefly covered his sister's hand with his own. "I couldn't do any less."

Cramming six people and an assortment of sharp-edged weapons into Angel's convertible was no easy feat, but somehow they managed without anyone getting seriously hurt by one of their own weapons. Cordelia wound up practically in Gunn's lap and couldn't help a self-conscious squirm moment. "Wouldn't want to do that if I were you, Cor," Gunn said cheerfully from behind her.

Cordy twisted enough to glare at him. "Try it," she said sweetly. "I dare you."

"Children," Wesley tiredly from the front.

Lindsey couldn't help a tiny smile and he watched them. Despite their difficulties and squabbles, these people were a family. Their closeness seemed foreign and near untouchable after the lonely, paranoid years spent at Wolfram and Hart. Lindsey glanced at his sister, who was staring out at the city as it moved past them, looking far more nervous than she had in Cordelia's apartment. 'Clean up your mess,' Lindsey told himself, 'and then you can see about getting your family back.'

Angel slammed his foot down on the brakes hard enough to hurl them all forward as Sakan came into sight. The demon walked hurriedly, as if knowing its remaining time was short. Shorter now that they had arrived. The screech of brakes alerted Sakan and he turned, eyes reflecting light from the car back like a cat's. An unholy grin split his face as he watched Angel exit the comfortable. He had anticipated having to hunt down the vampire. This was better than anything he could have hoped for. "Angel," he said in a voice like gravel rubbing together, "you have no idea how happy I am to see you again."

"I have that effect on people," Angel replied, dragging a large broadsword out of the convertible with him.

Sakan eyed the blade and smiled. "So it's come down to a physical fight, has it?"

"You're a swift one, anyone ever tell you that?"

The vampire's remark only made Sakan's grin grow wider and Angel itched to knock it off the demon's face. His memories of being controlled by Sakan were nothing more than an indiscernible haze, but the very thought of that...*thing* wearing his skin, committing its murders in his name, made Angel's blood somehow simultaneously run cold and boil. He hefted the sword and took a a swipe at Sakan, which the demon dodged without any real effort. Sakan's grin grew into a laugh.

"Seems to me that you're losing your touch." Angel growled and offered no returning quip. He swung the sword again, with all the strength and rage of an eternity left to live, and this time scored a deep wound along Sakan's ribs. A thick, jelly like substance oozed from the wound, but Sakan's smile barely faltered. "I was in your head, your memories, though you of course don't remember." Sakan's eyes flicked towards the hesitant group, waiting for the right opportunity to lunge in themselves, a little stunned and afraid of Angel's ferocity, and even as he used his claw like hands to slash a shallow cut down Angel's arm, "I know your mind almost as well as you do. Maybe even a little better, as I don't have to peer through denial. I saw how much you ached to destroy Wolfram and Hart, how much you still do, I'm sure. I saw how close Angelus was to the surface."

The statement, delivered with a harsh, biting mockery, struck Angel like an expert punch to the stomach and froze him for just a moment too long. Sakan backhanded him fiercely, knocking Angel headfirst into the brick side of the building. Angel felt the skin on his cheek tear and he fell back to the pavement, head ringing and mind growing fuzzy and dim for a few seconds. Angel had time to think that if he didn't get up fast he wasn't going to be getting up at all, and then Sakan was leaning down with his eyes fixated on the bloody wound on Angel's arm. The demon placed his hand against the wound and Angel felt his disorientation increase tenfold.

'Oh, God, no. Not again,' Cordelia caught herself thinking, staring in horror as Sakan almost seemed to waver in and out of reality. Infusing himself with Angel again while they just stood there gawping like imbeciles. "Screw that," Cordelia muttered. She saw Gunn rushing forward with his makeshift axe and followed suit, praying to any deity that would listen that she didn't get her head torn right off her shoulders.

Gunn's axe buried itself in Sakan's back with a meaty thunk. He howled, suddenly becoming material again, and lost interest in Angel in less time than it took for Gunn's heart to beat twice. He spun around on them, wrenching the the axe furiously from his body, which he then threw at them. Cordelia screeched and scrambled to the side just in time to avoid being cut in two. Sakan snarled and lunged blindly, in a pure killing rage now. Cordelia was dismayed to see that the deep wound in his back, while steadily weeping the thick substance that passed for Sakan's blood, hardly seemed to be slowing him down at all. Cordy swung her baseball bat, the only weapon she really felt comfortable with, and caught Sakan squarely in the face. The crunch of bone that followed was immensely satisfying to her ears.

Sakan shook the blood from out of his eyes, but still he saw red. Who did these people think they were? His contest was with the vampire, not them, and he would gut them for interfering. The demon's gaze settled on a slender young woman with brown hair. Starting with her.

Angel shook off the dizziness caused by Sakan's touch just in time to see it happen. He got back to his feet, using the side of the building for a few seconds of support, and witnessed Sakan lunging towards Rachel. "No!" Angel yelled, hoping to distract Sakan from her, even if it only bought a bare second or two of time. To the left he heard a similar cry from Lindsey.

Rachel froze when Sakan turned to come after her, eyes widening in terror. She knew she should be moving away, bringing up the enormous knife that she held to defend herself, *something*, but her brain seemed to have skipped tracks somewhere when it came to commanding her muscles. At the last possible second a thought flashed across her mind, 'You're supposed to be helping, you twit, not standing around waiting to become demon bait!', and she swung wildly with the knife. The blade cut a long line across Sakan's chest but, unfortunately for Rachel, it was nowhere near deep enough to stop Sakan or even really slow him down. The demon kept coming and grabbed Rachel about her neck with one massive fist. For an eternity of seconds Rachel hung suspended, just beginning to fight for air, and then Sakan whirled and threw the young woman with everything he had. Rachel flew through the air and was stopped by her head striking the side of the building incredibly hard. There was blood left on the brick when Rachel slid down to the ground. She didn't move again.

Lindsey's breath caught in his throat and he stared disbelievingly at the crumpled form of his sister. Sakan backed away, a sneering smile touching his lips. It was the smile that finally broke Lindsey. An inarticulate yell of rage escaped from his throat and he lunged at Sakan, grabbing up Gunn's discarded axe and swinging it like a wild thing. He got in one good shot with the axe at Sakan's arm before the demon grew angry and knocked him backwards. The attorney got back to his feet and tried to lunge at Sakan again, only to be stopped by Angel grabbing his arm and dragging him back roughly. "Getting yourself killed won't help her," Angel told him in a low voice.

Rachel's body had fallen so that Lindsey could see the mess that Sakan's throw had made of the back of her head and Lindsey abruptly felt sick. In that moment he realized that it was too late, he was never going to get his family back. "Oh, God," Lindsey said, "she's..."

"I know," Angel said. "I know. And he's going to pay for that." The vampire took the axe from Lindsey without any resistance. For just a moment Angel felt a spark of pity for the other man, gone as soon as it came. "But getting yourself killed with your sister won't help." Lindsey closed his eyes when he heard the word. Killed. He had been trying to fool his brain into thinking his eyes were mistaken.

Angel hefted the axe he had taken away from Lindsey and approached Sakan again. Inside he was cold, completely emotionless in a way he hadn't been since he made the fateful decision to lock the lawyers in the cellar, to take in upon himself to place judgment on them. Angel's mind focused on one thing and one thing only: taking this monster down. He struck at Sakan and the demon dodged, Sakan took a swipe at Angel and he dodged. They entered into a deadly sort of dance with each other, circling, each one giving and taking without ever managing to strike a real blow.

Lindsey was hardly aware that the battle was even taking place. He knelt by his sister's body, gently turning her head so that the ugly wound on the back of it was no longer visible. Her eyes were closed, at least. He didn't think he would have been able to take it if they were open. Tears sprang up in Lindsey's own eyes and he said hoarsely, "God, I'm so sorry, Rach. I'm so, so sorry. If I had just stayed away when I had the damn chance this wouldn't have happened. You would be alive and going to UCLA to start your own life, and I'm never going to forgive myself for being a part of taking that away from you." Lindsey's good hand curled into a fist and he looked up at Sakan with burning eyes. "But I can keep him from doing it to anyone else. I can do that much for your memory." The knife was still held loosely in Rachel's hand. Lindsey removed it with great care, feeling more tears well up as he touched his sister's already cooling skin, and stared at the blade. Not a single drop of blood on it. He could change that.

Sakan kicked Angel brutally in the midsection, but the vampire didn't allow himself to be knocked down again. If he did chances were he wasn't going to be getting up again. Angel ducked a swipe that would have at least ripped his face off if not his whole head and furiously tried to come up with something that could at least vaguely resemble a plan. It was fairly obvious that Sakan wasn't interested in a host anymore. He was simply out to do damage. Angel danced backwards to avoid being gutted and parried with the side of the axe. The blade sank deeply into the space between Sakan's fingers and Angel had the deep satisfaction of hearing Sakan howl. Angel wrenched the axe free and drove it deep into Sakan's ribs. Snarling in pain and rage, he astonished Angel by wrapping his hands around the axe, still buried in his abdomen, and wrenching it out of the vampire's grasp. Blood flowed from his palms and from his ribs, but Sakan was too enrage to notice or care. He swung the stolen axe in a wide arc towards Angel's head, and the vampire caught just in time to avoid having his face cleaved off. Pain arced through is own hands and blood began trickling down his wrists but he didn't dare let go. Sakan pushed the axe down harder and it became a grunting contest of strength, each one straining not to be the loser. Suddenly Sakan froze, eyes flashing open wide. Behind him Lindsey twisted the knife buried in the back of the demon's neck deeper, severing his spine. Lindsey grimly kept pushing until he had the blade buried in flesh up to its hilt before he stepped away. A few tears rolled silently down his face. A moment's worth of death rattles escaped from Sakan's throat, and then he fell forward onto his face. Angel stared down at the dead demon, then up at Lindsey, who was viewing Sakan without any kind of satisfaction. "Thank you," Angel told the attorney simply, his face expressionless.

Lindsey nodded and returned to Rachel's body, kneeling by it and bowing his head for a moment to regain control. "Are you still planning on taking down Wolfram and Hart?" he asked.

Angel nodded. "Eventually. If I can do it without losing myself again."

Lindsey nodded slowly and heard sirens begin to wail in the distance, coming closer, the racket they made finally enough to pierce even Los Angeles indifference. Lindsey took a deep breath and looked up at the vampire. "Need any help?"

"I think I could use some," Angel replied softly.

Lindsey nodded once and looked down again. A few seconds later his shoulders began shaking as he quietly started to weep.