Tile: Chaos Love

Author: Kelly

Website: I wish.

Archive: Just ask.

Fandom: Angel the Series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Pairing: Angel(us)/Wesley, Xander/Spike and eventually Angel(us)/Wesley/Xander/Spike (ambitious for my first time aren't I)

Rating: NC17 eventually

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, I'm just borrowing them for a bit. If I was Joss I would be tapping into this untapped market called slash and making a bundle, but I'm not so I'll stay penniless.

Summary & Explanation: Nah! You'll just have to figure it out as we go. Just like me.

Oh and mucho thanks to my beta Lisa who has just officially gone into typing meltdown. I hope this helps to cure her in some small way.

Chaos Love
by Kelly

Angel held the door open for the rest of the AI Team to enter the Hyperion. They had just returned from an intense fight with Kolvash Demons who had decided to take up residence in the basement of the local Coroner’s Office. It had been a long and bloody fight throughout the building which they had only won due to a spell cast by Wesley which destroyed them.

Angel sighed slowly to himself and glanced at the rest of the team as they passed into the hotel.

Cordelia was holding a makeshift bandage on her arm from where a demon had caught her as she fought. She wandered over to her desk and collapsed into her chair with a sigh and proceeded to turn and glare at Angel.

Fred helped Gunn with his axe as he hobbled over to the blue sofa chair to rest his twisted knee. Fred sat by his side after putting the axe away and then both of them turned to stare at Angel.

Wesley kept his head down as he passed Angel, he was intently studying a small tablet that he had grabbed from one of the Kalvash before it could be destroyed. Muttering to himself he wandered through to the library his quickly uttered "I’m going to see if I can find any references to this in the…..", was cut off by the door closing behind him.

Angel followed Wesley with his eyes as he wandered across the lobby.

//Mine//

/He is not yours. He isn’t interested/

//Snarl. He is mine. He is my mate and I will have him//

/How? You’re trapped in there and I won’t take him."/

//You want him just as much, why don’t you just take what you want, I am a part of you and I know you want him//

/No Angelus, I do want him but I won’t force him into something he doesn’t want/

//It doesn’t matter….//

/NO, Angel’s mind shouted, I will not let you have him and if that means I never have him then so be it/

//Don’t be too sure of that, I want him and I will have him with or without your co-operation//

/I won’t listen to you anymore, go back to your cage, Angel snarled/

As Angelus retreated Angel looked over to see Cordelia and the others glaring at him. He sighed again, straightened his spine and walked into the lobby.

He managed to reach the front counter just as Cordelia’s anger surfaced.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Angel just looked down at the counter he was leaning on. He had hoped to get into his office and think on the evening’s activities but it looked like that was not to be the case. He turned to Cordelia and sighed again.

"What?"

"What do you mean what?" Cordelia’s strident tones rang out across the lobby.

‘Damn vampire hearing’ Angel thought as he turned to face Cordelia hiding his wince.

"What was that stupid stunt you pulled, and tell me why I shouldn’t use this on you?" She brandished the small axe she had used to dismember the Kolvash.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about" Angel said with what he hoped was a convincingly innocent look.

"Don’t try it, Mister" Cordelia shouted "You know exactly what I mean, why did you suddenly dash off in the middle of a fight leaving me and Gunn to almost get killed?"

At this Angel glanced over towards Gunn and Fred. Gunn was fuming and looked ready to hold him down whilst Cordelia practiced the fine art of employee discipline with her axe.

"I went to stop one of the Kolvash from killing Wesley which would have ended the spell leaving us all to die." He answered, hoping that they accepted his story.

"I don’t think so." Cordelia answered sitting forward in her chair cradling her injured arm.

‘Damn, what else can I say I can’t exactly tell her the truth that I had to save Wesley as he is my mate consummated or not and I didn’t even notice that she and Gunn were in danger’ Angel thought frantically. ‘How on earth did I get myself into this mess.’

*FLASHBACK*

They slowly entered the dark basement, Angel was in the lead holding a broadsword extending his senses to try and detect the Kolvash before they confronted them. Wesley was following him muttering in some ancient dialect and gathering herbs together from a bag over his shoulder whilst also balancing a crossbow in his other hand. Cordelia, Gunn and Fred followed behind them each of them holding a sharp tool ready for the fight that lay ahead. Cordelia had a small hand axe, Fred was also holding an axe which made her look even smaller and thinner than usual and Gunn carried his own personal axe, the one presented to him by his crew.

The team slowly crept forward with Angel sneaking glances towards Wesley. They would all have to protect him because he would be unable to defend himself as he put all of his energy into building and maintaining the shield spell for the first few minutes until it became self-perpetuating. Angel was worried, he had grown more and more attached to Wesley as he noticed the qualities of the man and the strength with which he faced each day and each disaster until eventually his vampire nature had taken over and declared Wesley his mate. Of course, he hadn’t told Wesley this and as a result there had been no binding to make it real yet still he and his demon saw Wesley and thought Mate. He knew he shouldn’t but he was finding it hard not to grab Wesley and bind him to him, he had a soul and would not force Wesley to be bound to both him and his demon without consent so he continued to watch him from the shadows and dream about him constantly.

A small sound from up ahead brought him back to the current situation and he held up his hand halting the others.

"They are just up ahead about 15 metres."

"Good," Wesley answered "I’ll start the spell now, give me a minute then Fred can guide me as I chant into their meeting area, tonight is a full moon so they will all be gathered to perform the ritual of Hasgah, once Fred guides me into the room the spell will expand from around me until it comes into contact with one of the Kolvash, this will activate it and the shield will expand to include the whole tribe wherever they are. Once the shield expands it will fix onto the Kolvash and slow them down to about human speed, it will also prevent them from leaving once the shield is set. You must keep them distracted for a few minutes because until it is set the shield will be
vulnerable. I know it will be difficult but try to keep them in the room. They will slow down as soon as the spell touches them but the containment shield will take longer. Does everyone know what they have to do?"

"Yes" they all whispered back and nodded hefting their weapons ready to enter the meeting area.

Wesley gathered the rest of the herbs into a bowl in his hand and with a quick word set them alight. As the herbs burned he started chanting and for a second a glow drifted from the bowl to surround him before proceeding to sink into him. Angel shuddered as he felt the spell start to form and as the spell started to expand he couldn’t help comparing it to the first faint prickles he normally felt as the sun started to rise.

Brushing off the feeling he gestured to Fred to take Wesley by the arm, he would be totally cut off until the spell was set and in order to bring the spell into range of the Kolvash someone would need to guide him. Gunn stepped forward to join Angel and they moved to stand on either side of
Wesley and Fred with Cordelia taking the rear. If they stood in front of Wesley when the spell expanded it would lock onto them tying them in place instead of the Kolvash. Angel did not like it as it meant that he could not be in front of Wesley while he performed the spell which also meant he could not protect him by placing himself between Wesley and the Kolvash. His demon screamed in its cage and he gritted his teeth as he tried to keep him back, he was only partially successful as his game face came to the fore and his demon subsided only part way.

They crept forward slowly, Fred guiding Wesley with a gentle but firm grip just above his elbow. As they rounded a corner in the corridor they came to a door set into the wall. Angel turned his senses towards the door; he could hear faint murmurings and a slightly higher pitched chanting; he placed his hand on Fred’s shoulder and shuddered as a tingle from the spell passed through Fred into him. Fred turned to him and he gestured toward the door, "In there." he whispered.

Fred nodded and taking a firmer grip on Wesley she leant forward to push the door open. Angel suppressed a growl as his demon realised that he couldn’t enter until after Fred and Wesley had passed through, as the door was too narrow. Unable to push past without ruining the plan he held back and pushed his rage down channelling it into battle readiness in order to use it to protect Wesley.

Fred and Wesley pushed through the door and he tuned into the sounds on the other side. The chanting continued oblivious to their entrance but as he passed through the door behind Fred and Wesley he heard it falter as Wesley’s deeper voiced chanting was noticed. Wesley shouted a word and he felt his skin crawl as the spell crept forward towards the Kolvash. More and more
Kolvash turned noticing Angel and the team and the chanting stopped. They stood in a frozen tableau the Kolvash nearest to Wesley cried out in pain as the spell impacted and locked onto him. Angel closed his eyes as the bright light that Wesley had warned them about suffused the room. As it disappeared Angel opened his eyes to see Kolvash growling as they bumped into one another waiting for their sight to return.

Angel and Gunn stepped in front of Wesley and Fred let go of his arm to take a firmer grip of her axe while Cordelia stepped through the door also gripping her axe. Regaining their sight the Kolvash realised two things, firstly that as they tried to run towards the intruders they found that they could only move slowly and secondly they could feel the shield spell expanding to surround them.

One of the priests screamed at the gathering, this was the impetuous needed to break the tense standoff and the Kolvash picked up various weapons lying around and charged the AI team.

Angel and Gunn stepped forward to meet their charge as Fred and Cordelia surrounded Wesley as he continued chanting lost in the magic.

Those first few minutes were a chaotic free for all as the Kolvash tried to get to the door to leave or to stop Wesley before he completed the spell. The Kolvash surged forward separating Angel and the others who were trying to keep the Kolvash away from Wesley and the door.

Angel glanced quickly over to Wesley as he stood fighting three Kolvash, Cordelia and Gunn had ended up fighting back to back and Fred had been manoeuvred away from Wesley. They had only been fighting for a couple of minutes and the spell was not complete yet. Wesley stood strong in the middle of the battle chanting ignorant of all that was occurring around him.

Angel saw one of the Kolvash sneaking around Fred before launching itself at Wesley. Angel stood frozen the Kolvash seeming to move forward in slow motion. Suddenly Angel leapt away from the Kolvash he was fighting and running at full speed he placed himself between Wesley and the Kolvash charging him and with one big swing brought up his broadsword slicing the demon in two.

The Kolvash fell and silence descended on Angel, he glanced at Wesley and after reassuring himself that Wesley was fine and still chanting he glanced over towards the rest of the fighting. What he saw almost froze him again; Cordelia and Gunn were in the middle of a large group of Kolvash which now included the three Kolvash he had been fighting. Cordelia had a gash down her arm and her blouse was torn and Gunn was limping favouring his right knee whilst trying to keep his axe moving.

Angel cursed under his breath; he was torn between staying to protect Wesley and helping his friends.

//"Protect the mate."//

/I have to help the others/

//Only the mate matters.//

/No, I have to help the others now/

//Snarl//

As Angel struggled internally he heard a sound from the side and spun to face another Kolvash, before he had a chance to react an arrow suddenly sprouted from the demon’s eye and it fell to the floor writhing. Angel spun back to Wesley to find him smiling and fitting another arrow into his crossbow.

//See, mate protects mate//

/Be quiet/

"It’s done everybody out," Wesley shouted as he ran towards Cordelia and Gunn. He had managed to pick up a sword that the Kolvash he had shot had dropped and he proceeded to use it with deadly accuracy slicing at the Kolvash in his way as he raced towards the beleaguered friends.

Angel sighed internally glad that the choice of what to do had been taken out of his hands. With a short ‘Be quiet’ to his demon he raced after Wesley and back into the battle.

Fred soon joined them and they were able to quickly extricate Cordelia and Gunn from the mess that he had left them in. With Wesley helping Cordelia he grabbed Gunn and with a quick glance around he started herding them towards the door.

Howling with rage the Kolvash pushed after them and chased them down the dark corridors.

Fighting all the way Angel couldn’t help the relief that crossed his face as he saw Wesley and Cordelia ahead of him leave through the back entrance into the alley. He sped up knowing that Wesley was now safe and urged Fred ahead of him as he dragged Gunn through the door. He felt another shiver crawl up his skin as he passed through the shield spell and turned quickly as the
Kolvash howled their anger at finding that they were unable to pass through the door after their prey.

Setting Gunn on the ground with a quick glance to see that his injuries weren’t immediately life threatening, he walked over to Wesley to help with the second spell. Whilst the first one would trap them the second would tear them apart and then burn the remains magically causing no harm to anything else in the building. Cordelia and Fred had both shivered when they were told what would happen and then sighed in acceptance when it was explained that as the demons could only be killed by dismemberment this was the safest and easiest way to dispose of them, the other alternative was to keep on fighting and dismembering them one by one which left the team in danger from the whole tribe whilst doing so.

Wesley had seated Cordelia on a nearby box and after checking her arm and wrapping it in a bandage from his bag he turned to Angel.

"Ready?"

"Yes, hand me the tablet." Angel reached over and took a small round tablet from Wesley. This was the main component of the second spell and was usually carried by one of the Kolvash priests. It had been the team’s job to secure it before they left but Angel couldn’t even remember exactly who had done it. He thought back and remembered seeing Wesley stoop down and pick up a sword, as he thought back he realised that he had seen Wesley grab something else from the floor beside the demon, which must have been when he had grabbed the tablet.

Glad that the rest of the team had been working well, even if he had not been, he walked over to the door where the Kolvash were still trying to get to them. He pressed the tablet up against the barrier and as he started to say the words that Wesley had taught him he could hear Wesley chanting in counterpoint. The tablet could only be used by a demon so whilst Angel used the tablet to destroy the Kolvash Wesley was summoning the magic fire to burn their remains.

As he chanted he couldn’t help remembering the way that his skin had tingled with the warmth in Wesley’s hand as he passed him the tablet. He could still feel the places where his fingers had touched him burning. Realising that he had to concentrate to complete the spell he inhaled and used the scent of his mate to calm him enough to finish the spell.

Finished he realised that whilst he had been speaking the alley had remained quiet other than Wesley’s soft chanting. Wesley must have also used a silence spell so that they wouldn’t be able to hear the screams of the dying Kolvash.

With the task finished he handed the tablet back to Wesley, managing not to linger over the feel of his warm fingers, and he and the rest of the team staggered home.

*END FLASHBACK*

Angel turned back towards Cordelia his mind returning to the present.

"Without Wesley to finish the spell we would have all died leaving the Kolvash to finish their ritual and then go out into the city to hunt leading to the death of hundreds of people" Angel said.

"I…." The ringing phone interrupted Cordelia. She glared at Angel and reached over to answer it, wincing as her injured arm was moved.

"Angel Investigations we help the hopeless."

Angel pushed himself away from the counter and headed into the kitchen telling Fred and Gunn that he would be straight back, he just needed something to eat after the battle. Fred and Gunn nodded and he walked towards the kitchen.

He removed a packet of blood from the fridge placing it into the microwave trying frantically to think up a better excuse for Cordelia before returning to the room. He wasn’t really hungry but even the unappetising taste of animal blood was better than facing Cordelia when she was on the hunt for answers.

He couldn’t tell her the truth. He couldn’t tell her that the reason he had raced to Wesley and left them wasn’t because they needed him to finish the spell. It was because both he and his demon saw Wesley as their mate and when he had frozen his demon’s only thought was to save Wesley. How could he explain that he hadn’t left them to save Wesley, Angelus had!

Part 2

Cordelia sat in the office glaring after Angel’s retreating back. ‘I don’t buy it’ she thought ‘I saw the fear in his face as he left us for Wesley and I saw the feral glow in his eyes as he killed that demon.’

"Hello."

Cordelia was abruptly pulled from her thoughts as she realised she was still holding the phone.

"I’m sorry, how can we help you?"

"I’m looking for Wesley Wyndham-Pryce" the speaker answered.

"Can I ask whose calling?"

"Tell him it’s his cousin and it’s urgent."

"Oh, I’ll just get him for you" Cordelia placed the call on hold and turned a quizzical gaze to Fred and Gunn.

"It’s Wesley’s cousin and apparently it’s urgent," she told them "I didn’t even know he had any family outside of his parents."

"Well you two just rest and I’ll go get him" with that Fred walked off to find Wesley.

A few seconds later she returned bringing Wesley with her, his head buried in a large book.

"I understand that someone is calling for me?"

"Yes, he says he’s your cousin."

Wesley raised his head and a wide grin appeared on his face. "Great, put him through I’ll talk to him in the library." With that he turned round stuck his head back into his book and returned to the library.

Cordelia pushed a button transferring the call and turned back to Fred and Gunn. "Well at least he seemed happy."

Angel placed his cup in the sink and rinsed it, he realised that he couldn’t put off the confrontation any longer. He still didn’t know what to tell them, Cordelia didn’t completely believe him and if he told her exactly what happened then she would probably have him in chains before he finished
talking.

He looked up when he realised he had stopped in front of the door to the library. Apparently while he had been thinking Angelus had again taken the opportunity to take over and direct him to their mate.

‘Damn, not again’ he thought and turned himself resolutely back towards the lobby. As he went to walk away he heard talking coming from the room. He concentrated his hearing and realised that Wesley wasn’t talking to himself he was on the phone.

He was just about to walk away again when he heard something that froze him in his tracks and concentrated his hearing even further.

"My mate?"

"Yes Wesley, your mate, have you taken him yet?"

"That isn’t the way it works, Byron, and no I haven’t taken him yet."

"I can’t believe you, you know how important this is, why haven’t you made your move?"

"I have to play this my way, if I approach him at the wrong time then he could just walk away and all the planning will have been for nought."

"Okay, I get it." There was a pause on the line. "So tell me about him."

"You’ll never change Byron always after the gossip."

"Of course I am how else do you pass the time?"

"Okay, open those big ears of yours and listen. He’s about my height, broad shouldered and with eyes that you could drown in. He has the most perfect soul; you can see it shining through every time he laughs. When he looks at me its all I can do not to throw him down on the floor and take him. Have I mentioned his body, sculptured in such a way that when the light hits him just right he glows."

"Wesley, you are smitten."

"Yes I would say I am and I couldn’t be happier. That’s why I won’t rush it, to loose him would destroy me."

"I understand now, so got any pictures?"

"Byron, you are incorrigible."

"I know. So have you?"

"I have and I am keeping them."

Angel pulled away from the door barely suppressing a growl. He couldn’t listen to any more.

/NO he is mine/

//For once, Soulboy, you and I agree//

/I will not loose him/

//We will not loose him//

/Right we will not loose him/

In complete accordance with his demon, Angel stalked off to the lobby planning.

~

Angel stepped into the lobby intending to head up towards his rooms but Cordelia’s ‘ahem’ arrested his path mid stride.

Resigned to his fate, he started to turn back to the lobby when there was a loud wailing and darkness descended. Angel tried desperately to see through the darkness as a huge wind tore through the room, but knew it was futile as he felt the magically fuelled black cloud surround him blocking his senses.

After a few seconds of trying to remain upright listening to Cordelia and the others trying to find out what was happening the darkness dissipated. Unfortunately not everything it brought went with it. Stood by the side of each of them were men holding automatic weapons. He thought men but couldn’t be sure due to the dark clothing they wore which covered them from head to toe concealing their identities and gender.

"What do you want?" Cordelia asked.

The man next to her raised the gun to her temple.

"You will find out soon enough just be patient and don’t forget we have you all covered one stupid move from any of you and someone dies" another man walking through the front doors answered.

"Oh and before you try anything, Mr Angel, we know what you are and what you can do but even you can’t get us all before we shoot each one of your friends."

Angel glared at the man and fought to keep his demon down. He was stuck, the only way out of this was to let the others be killed and he wasn’t prepared to do that so he held back.

"Good," the man said as he leaned against the counter, "now I only count four of you, where is the other man?"

"He’s gone home," Cordelia answered.

"No, I don’t think so, we have been watching you since you returned and he didn’t leave, therefore he must still be here somewhere." He gestured toward the man holding Fred, "Kill her."

"No." they all shouted.

"Then tell me where he is." The man said holding up his hand to halt the man holding Fred. "Get him out here or she dies, then another one and another one until there is only you, vampire."

They all looked at one another and it was decided.

"He’s in the library." Gunn told them.

"Then get him out here and don’t try anything or she will die." With this the man holding Fred once more raised his gun.

"Yo, English, get out here a second." Gunn called towards the library.

There was no answer and Gunn turned towards Cordelia. "Is he still on the phone?"

Cordelia glanced at her desk. "No the light’s gone off."

Angel walked nearer to the library with his shadow following him closely. All the men tightened their grips on their weapons as he shouted.

"Hey, Wes, can you come to the lobby for a minute." Angel gritted his teeth as he waited for an answer his demon screaming at him to kill them all, nothing must hurt Wesley, nobody else mattered.

Angel pushed Angelus back and prepared to call for Wesley again.

"One minute Angel, I’m coming." Was heard from the library.

There was a collective sigh throughout the room and everyone watched as the door to the library opened.

Classic Wesley, Angel thought as Wesley walked into the room with his head buried in a large tome.

"You won’t believe this, Angel, that tablet has some very interesting information written about it and…" Wesley stopped as he looked up and noticed the men around the room and the position his team were in.

Wesley pushed his glasses up on his nose as he quickly scanned the room, his gaze finally settling on the man leaning on the counter.

"What can we do for you?"

The man laughed. "Got to love you Brits, polite to a fault. What we want is simple, we are looking for someone who is a danger to our boss and must be eliminated for his plans to be carried out."

The members of AI turned to look at Angel.

"Oh no," the man gestured to Angel, "we don’t want the vampire. We’re after bigger game."

The team looked at the man confused.

"I.I.If you don’t want Angel," Fred stuttered, "who do you want?"

"OW."

Everyone turned round towards where the cry had come from to see Wesley standing over one of the gunmen who was holding his wrist in pain.

"What the hell happened?" the man in charge shouted.

"Well," Wesley started, "He tried to forcibly grab the book I am holding. This book is older than all of you and is priceless. I have no intention of letting him destroy it by putting his grubby hands all over it."

Everyone gaped at Wesley.

Angel felt Angelus laughing. Unlike the others who had been busy concentrating on what was going on in the middle of the room Angel had let Angelus come nearer to the surface in order to keep an eye on Wesley whilst he concentrated on what was going on.

As the others talked one of the other men had walked over towards Wesley obviously intent on making sure that he was covered like the others. He had quietly told Wesley to put the book down and step further into the room with the others. Wesley had refused saying that the book was priceless and he was not about to drop it on the lobby floor where anyone could step on it.

At this, and seeing that Wesley was determined to keep hold of the book, the man reached forward with one hand to grab the book. That had been a mistake as, with a speed that continued to amaze Angel, Wesley knocked the gun out of the man’s hand with the book, the man drew his knife and slashed at Wesley who ducked under his swing and thrust the book into the man’s stomach. As all the air flew out of him Wesley grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the knife and with a sharp twist broke it sending the knife flying. The man cried out bringing the attention of everyone else in the room.

The man in charge walked over to Wesley.

"Do you want to die?"

"No."

"Then why did you do that?"

"He told you, he was going to damage the book and if you knew who you were dealing with you wouldn’t be surprised." Angelus answered with a smirk on his face.

The man turned to look at him and Angel forced Angelus back down.

"That might be but I’m afraid that he is going to have to put the book down, I can’t allow anyone to be armed," he said with a wry glance at the book Wesley held.

At this Angel could hear Wesley chuckle.

"Maybe they should create a new saying ‘The book is mightier than the gun’," he said as he walked over to the counter holding the book out in front of him so as to appear less threatening.

After placing the book on the counter, Wesley turned towards the other man.

"Now unfortunately I am going to have to end this. You see I cannot allow you to hurt my friends and I must insist that you leave. I am steadily loosing my ability to see the amusement in this situation."

The man just stared at Wesley. "You can’t be serious what do you expect to do, you are unarmed," he smirked with a look at the book now on the counter, "and if you try anything we’ll just start shooting."

"Oh, I have no doubt you would try, but I won’t give you the chance."

Wesley’s voice had become menacing and Angelus once again rose up inside Angel listening with rapt attention.

"As I said what do you expect to do?" and the man started laughing.

"This." Wesley said whereupon he opened his hand and spoke one sharp word "INTAGIO."

The man abruptly stopped laughing as a bright light shot out from Wesley’s hand impaling him through the stomach, as the other men saw what was happening they started to bring their guns to bear, but they didn’t stand a chance. The light piercing the first man branched out forming new strands which proceeded to impale the other gunmen. One tried to hide by pulling Fred in front of him and using her as a shield but the light passed through Fred and continued on. Fred gasped but felt nothing, the man’s hold loosened and she stepped away finding that she was able to pass through the light with no harm.

Everyone looked to Wesley.

//Magnificent//

/Beautiful/

Angel and Angelus were in thrall as they watched Wesley’s eyes turn black with the spell.

"As I said," Wesley’s voice rang out deep and strong, "I have had enough and it is time for you to leave." With that he placed his other hand over the light in his palm and spoke the word again "INTAGIO."

With that each of the men along with their weapons disappeared. The rest of the AI team stood around in shock looking at Wesley. Wesley, however, seemed unaffected as he walked over and picked up the book again.

"As I was saying there is some truly interesting information in here both on the origins and usage of the tablet…." he trailed off as he realised that everyone was staring at him.

As usual it was Cordelia who broke the silent tableau.

"How did you do THAT?"

"I am trained in the art of magic Cordelia."

"You know what I mean."

Wesley sighed "I prepared the spell whilst waiting for them to find me in the library."

"Waiting for them to find you? You mean you knew they were here, English?"

"Yes, Gunn, I would have to be blind and deaf to miss their entrance and even then I would have felt the magic which poured through the hotel."

"Why didn’t you come out?" Fred asked blushing and lowering her head.

"Because I didn’t need to, I used a quick scrying spell to glance into the room in order to see what was happening before barging right in. I had to be careful; I knew it was someone well prepared and powerful by the magic they used."

"So you watched them, then what?"

Angel almost growled at Cordelia, why was she being so hostile? Wesley had saved them all at the risk of his life. He would be a truly perfect mate and so powerful. Angel had felt the amount of power that Wesley had used and he could see that he was exhausted faint trembles travelled through his body as he tried to maintain his calm façade.

"Then I put together the spell I used to banish them back to their master."

"You sent them back." Cordelia shrieked, "Why? We don’t know who they are and now we have no one to ask? What if they come back? How do we fight them? How do we stop them?"

"I don’t know, Cordelia, I only had a few minutes until they came for me, it was all I could do in the time, it may have looked impressive but it was only a simple banishment spell. I didn’t want them to hurt any of you."

Wesley slumped against the counter the strain of doing too many spells in such a short time taking its toll.

"Wesley needs to rest he’s used a lot of energy tonight. Now they aren’t going to be back for a while and as we still don’t know exactly what or who they were after I don’t think we should stay together too easy a target."

Cordelia looked chagrined as she saw how tired Wesley looked, but at Angel’s words she quickly regained her glare.

"Wouldn’t we be safer sticking together?"

"No," ‘please Cordelia just go along with this I have plans and you would only interrupt them,’ "You can’t stay anywhere they know where to find you. You need to go to the safe areas that we set up for cases like this."

"No," Cordelia paused, "what do you mean you? Aren’t you going to hide?"

"You heard them, they aren’t interested in me and that will give me the opportunity to try to find them while you are all safely away."

"I don’t like it," Gunn said hobbling over to the counter with Fred’s help, "what if they come back and take you out."

"I can disappear quicker if I don’t have to worry about all of you. As soon as I know anything I will contact you."

//Get rid of them, they are in the way, why don’t you just kill them so we can get on with it?//

/Shut up, I’ll get rid of them but I’ll do it my way without hurting them/

Angelus shut up but continued to growl in Angel’s mind.

Angel turned to them ready to try one last time.

"Angel’s right, we need to scatter, give him time to work, we will only slow him down."

Everyone turned to Wesley who seemed to have regained some of his energy. He turned his intense look onto each of them in turn.

"I did not almost drain myself in order to save us all just to see us die when they come back and find us all here like sitting ducks. My spell will prevent them from returning for a day or so, but I do not have enough power to stop them indefinitely. We need to leave." Straightening up, he faced each of them in turn. "Fred, Gunn go and pack some things, then you can both go with Cordelia while she gets her own things, then you must disperse. Go to the prearranged areas. Fred can stick with Gunn, once they enter his territory no one will find them unless he wants it, right Gunn?"

"Right Wesley. Come on Fred lets go pack."

With that Gunn and Fred disappeared up to their room Fred supporting Gunn.

Cordelia slumped down into the nearest seat and glared at Angel and Wesley. "So what are you two going to do?"

"I’ll stay here and use my contacts to try and find out what I can." Angel answered. She turned to Wesley.

"I am going to gather together the relevant books and then disappear myself after reinforcing the wards that the spell set. The spell used their magic against them so I might be able to change it slightly and use it to protect the hotel for a few extra days."

Cordelia subsided at their answers and set herself to wait for Gunn and Fred. Angel walked over to Wesley and helped him into a chair.

END PART 2