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#35
Xander's safehouse at the harbour area, LA:


He was a liar, but a very convincing one. If she had not
known better she would have fallen for the lie - him
behaving like some remotely decent person.
Cordelia still wasn't able to really believe Xander ever
would let her go. It was all a sinister trap.
She got fed, cleaned up and clothed however. She wasn't
mistreated any more (which didn't endear ger to Harmony
so much or Harmony to her...) and Faith just used the
level of force to get what they wanted from her.
No useless torture, no cruelty aside from Harmony's old
grudge against her.
She even got an offer of sexual activies by Faith. Was
really the last thing she wanted to do with her...which
she didn't lie about. She wanted to see them all dead,
preferable sooner than later.
She didn't even like to admit they weren't exactly the
standard evil suckers - Harmony was the worst and she
was pretty much harmless after Xander put her to her
place. Still, she got a soul.
Or had had one, at some point.
Cordelia was not sure about it still being there yet the
idea of the other two haviong souls as well - yikes, it
was ten times as unsettling. Cordelia did not even want
to have an incling of that.
They must have put a lot of brains into this story.

Aside from this they recovered quickly. First all the
visible injuries healed and then the invisible ones.
And Xander got better over the course of some days,
much better.
The same time her hopes for a rescue party dwindled.
She even heard Xander talk about this Game and the race
of Immortals, their rules and customs. It was madness.
Was there really a race of people who had no known
family, lived forever and watsed their eternity with
hunting each other out? What an act of madness!
Still, there was no denying something had happened.
She didn't heal like that for no reason at all. But she
supoosed it would be his doing, some spell or whatever.

After two days he was walking again, four and he stopped
eating solid food again. Six and he and Faith spent two
hours a day sparing at a corner.
Fighting each other with a calm ferocity Cordelia had
never seen before. Not at all the entertainment she was
going for.
And then, another two days later, they were ready.
She was not told about how but they said they would
leave town and head for greener pastures again.
She never was told where exactly she had been staying,
they knocked her out and put a sack over her head as
they transported her away one night.
She got dropped of a block from Angel's place.
Which was awfully nice from them.
She even got a phone number, just in case she decided to
change her mind within the next few days. Days during
which they probably prepared their new home and cleaned
out that dirty little hideaway of theirs.


#36
Angel Investigations office, LA:


Life seemed to have it in for him, Angel mused as he
watched Buffy while the tape played. Or her.
There were a lot of informations in there he did not
expect. Like the Watchers hiring Tarakkan assassins,
making moves to get their charge killed and the general
tone of this.
"They work toward something big," Angel mused, after the
recording had reached it's end. "Something that is bound
to happen very soon and involves a Slayer."

"You don't think they're doing apocalypse stuff?"

"Not the usual breed. They do not want you dead so they
can go about their business," Angel sighed, looking at
the desk. He still had not hired a new secretary and the
paperwork grew into a real plague. "I'd rather say they
think you might get dangerous to them in some way."

"How?" Buffy wondered, rubbing her little nose in a
gesture that was simply cute. At least in Angel's own
opinion. "They think I'm going to be evil or what?"

"Maybe," Angel stated. The reference to him being a
hand of Them let him assume they were talking about the
Powers That Be. Which meant things really got quite
complicated and nothing could be taken for granted
anymore. He took his time to study her reactions while
her pondered this point. "The question is what is their
hidden agenda."

"Aside from killing me?"

"Maybe," Angel nodded, and if he had needed to breathe
he would have stopped so as it hit him. The Watchers
mentioned favors with the PTB which would aloow them to
ask for him to eliminate Buffy. There wa sno way he'd do
that, ever. Even for the world. He could not do it. "I
don't think this is just about you, though. They seem to
be concerned about your thinking for yourself."

"They...oh yeah, that," Buffy snorted. "You tell me they
want another Kendra? Jesus!"

"Need I remind you that Kendra was even one of the more
independent Slayers?" Angel rasped out, shocking her.
He didn't know so much but this he did know well. She
was allowed to go on her own for days or weeks at times.
"The Council would well be able to terminate you for you
being rebellious."

"Cute," Buffy croaked disgusted, the facial muscles
playing. She was angry as hell could be. "I get to die
just because they have this sick control fantasies..."

Angel closed his eyes, wondering what was going on. The
Council mentioned a new age, so they assumed there would
come many changes in the next years. The idea of the PTB
having a stronger influence on Buffy had yet not been so
strong with him. Although, in hinsight, things got a lot
more obvious.
Whistler showing her to him years ago, the way she was
able to defeat the master, the affair with Accathla.
Whistler had directly intervened with her, then.
As for meeting the First Evil - who knew?
And now they said the same of Faith, being an unwitting
pawn of the powers. Angel could only think of Kakaistos,
Mr. Trick and the mayor. Not even to mention the very
dangerous Sisterhood of Jhe, which had eben too powerful
to be overcome by them without Faith's help.
The mayor had died because instead of giving in to his
hunger and feeding he went after Buffy for revenge after
Ascension.
With him being a premier bad guy this wasn't exactly the
typical behavior. Had Faith been made to worm her way
into his black heart, somehow?
Angel shivered as he thought it possible. The Powers had
that grand picture and even minute details gained great
signification in that regards. They played looking into
the future a lot, as it seemed.
Sometimes their schemes spanned centuries and were part
of thousands of individual lives that never knew what
they were doing.
Looking at the blonde before him Angel decided she had
some favor with the Powers. And then there was Giles
mentioning something called the undying ones.
Saying that there were two and they were important to
keep Buffy alive. With Xander being one of them. Now
that was scary.
The boy had never been anything special to Angel, just
a very annoying human. Although one with brains. He
had been useful at times, close to essential. And it
was a fact, he thought, that Buffy's Slaying was not
the same as before since he had left.
Harris was the levelheaded brave man in the back, the
one whom everyone ignored most of the time. And who
could be quite deadly.
Looking at the traces he and Faith had left Xander was
quite on the verge of becoming someone. And not just
another powerful vampire with not much regard to the
rules and traditions...not by a long shot.
He had used Xander and Faith to take Adam out and it
had worked...and he also guessed Xander was still in
the game. Maybe weakened, maybe with a renewed grudge
against Angel - but still present.
A future problem.
Angel almost twitched as he remembered his suspicions.
Maybe Xander had a soul, as did Faith. Maybe - and if
they had there was just no way to tell what they were
out to do.
Now, if Xander was somehting other than human and in
his own way as much an anomaly as Faith was, it would
explain how he got so powerful so fast.

"Angel?" Buffy asked, agitated. "You look like you're
in overbrood mode again. What's buggering you?"

"Xander, in particular," Angel stated flatly. "I think
our assessment of him is mostly incorrect."

"What?"

"Buffy, the old Xander - how did he react to threats?
Running away, hiding and hoping they would go away?"
Angel said icily, remembering how Angelus had stared
into his eyes in front of a hospital room. Funny, he
still wasn't sure what had made him back off then. It
wasn't as if he'd be that unhappy to cause a scene.
"I think he was helping you a lot more than we all
would have believed possible."

"Comeon, he couldn't have been that important!"

"I think the answer is rather to the contrary, Buffy.
If Giles is right Xander was a major good luck charm
for you," Angel stated roughly. "Thinking about it, he
is the only man I know who went up against prophecy and
came away the victor..."

"What?" Buffy chocked out, a pained laugh following.
"Comeon, he...when would he have done it?"

"When he made me follow him into the master's lair,"
Angel stated. "Like it or not, Buffy, things seem to
happen around him...and didn't you come to me and said
he had a secret source of power?"

"You can hardly say he's some sort of mystical creature,
like me," Buffy defended herself. "Maybe he found some
odd artifact."

"Why?"

"Why what, why he would have picked it up?"

"No. Why can't we say he's not quite normal human?"
Angel spoke his mind. If the Watchers had known of her
seventeen eyars ago and before, a lot of things would
start to make sense. "Face it, we are involved with
prophecy stuff. OLD prophecy stuff."

"So what? Every Slayer is."

"Most Slayers never face any end of the world crisis,
Buffy," Angel stated back. "We do so more or less in
regular intervalls."

"We did?" Buffy wondered. "But Giles...I mean, the
hellmouth's a fake...surely..."

"Now is it?" Angel frowned. "The hellmouth is very real
and it IS in Sunnydale. That much we know. Maybe it is
not in the library, as Giles made us believe, or he had
it somehow hidden..." The souled vampire showed a dark
grin as he grasped what he said there. A fake hellmouth,
a dummy to lure everyone in to the place where they
could be taken out. And if something went wrong they
got another chance...something like that. "I think this
is a brilliant move of Giles."

"Mhm, maybe, but he could have told us!"

"And risked that we learn what level of magic he is
fooling around with? Not to mention capable of? And if
we didn;t know we would fight harder," Angel replied
genuinely amused. "I can't see why he had to tell us."

She eyed him darkly and muttered the question on whose
side he was - hers, what else?
Right when he was about to start to talk about issues
with the VampXander and VampFaith he fell silent. He
heard the doors opening and a visitor come in a second
before Buffy and when the office was entered they were
waiting and ready for battle.
Angel was stunned as she came in, Buffy was worse. She
paled and croaked out how she could be alive if she had
been at this person's funeral.

"Great job," Cordelia Chase snorted annoyed. "I got
abducted out of the morgue by Faith, she said she
covered for me. So much for my hopes on you doing
smart work, Buffy."

"Faith? Does that mean they are..."

"Alive and well again, yeah," Cordelia nodded as she
fell into a chair. She looked normal but also very
worried and disturbed. "Don't ask me how I got here but
I'm still the same old unique me...at least I hope so.
Angel, have you ever heard of a people who, uh, call
themselves Immortals?"

Angel picked his brain and then groaned, making a few
connections. "Only legends," he said after a short
moment of hesitation. "Darla once mentioned them and
others did as well...I never met one, though. They are
said to pass as human and to be next to unkillable. Oh,
they usually carry around swords and happen to be the
nastiest warriors you never want to meet on the other
side...but that's all just a legend."

"You can't tell me they are real or not?"

Angel grimaced but then stared at her. Undying ones.
"Don't tell me you and Xander are...?"

"How the heck doe you know Xander's bullshit?" Cordelia
asked dumstruck. "Yeah, he tried to sell that to me...
it's a long story and, oh yeah, if you ever play guest
to him you better be ready to donate blood a lot."

"Donate...!" Buffy croaked, raising her stake. She
gritted her teeth. "He hurt you?"

"Not he. Harmony, she did. Before he woke up and told
her to stay put," Cordelia said, utterly disgusted as
she began to tell her story to them. She didn't even
make so many words about it and that she thought it
all was jsut a huge deception and a spell with her.

"I'm afraid it looks to be the other way around," Buffy
finally managed to get out. Looking very, very hurt.
"Uhmygod...he had a soul, all the time...and we tried to
stake him upon awakening!"

"Small wonde rhe hooks it up with Faith?" Cordelia
asked. "Puh-lease. What would he ever see in THAT slut?"
She made a face. "I mean, with that psycho."

"She sired him so he's already bound to be attracted to
her. Then she saves him from Buffy," Angel answered in
his distanced professional voice. "And then we have him
being closer with Faith than anyone thought. Frankly, I
can quite understand his decisions."

"Gee, supportive a lot, are you?" Cordelia barked back
between her crunched teeth. She looked around the
office. "Just for the record - what the hell has been
happening? And who put me in the morgue..."

"That was Oz. He went wild...killed himself over his
deeds in that night the next day," Buffy said, having
dealt with this a while ago. Cordelia had not and she
was deeply wounded. "It was all Spike's fault. He had
betrayed us by working with them..."

"Outtime, Miss Slayer, Spike didn't work for them,"
Cordelia said. "If you think he told me nothing but
the utter truth he never mentioned Spike being with
him. All he said was that Angel engineered things."

"What?" Buffy spat, eyes opening.

"Well, Angel made Adam go after them and he handed
Harmony that disk...Adam came to take it, ate it and
the next moment was fried," Cordelia burst out. She
grimaced. "Not exactly a very likely story. It's about
that french psycho with the martial arts tick...he
said he was an Immortal and they fought...and he's
been sick since."

"Was he?" Angel inquired.

"Damn, he looked like he was," Cordelia admitted.
Her nails dug into the chair and left marks there.
"Oh great, this is so great...he...they didn't lie?"

"No," Angel said. "I used you to fool Adam. When Faith
came for you she played right into my hands, though I
had no idea of Xander's state of health. I then got the
disk with the virus delivered to them through Harmony,
she kinda worked for him..." He shrugged and stood up
to Buffy's sceptical glance. "I expected Spike to make
a mistake or maybe even drop some hints later on, but I
never thought he'd come across as such a traitor."
Such a sucessful traitor.

"You KNEW he was going to sell us out?"

"Buffy, he's a demon! What else were you expecting
from him, to fall for you?" Angel snapped back and
wished he had not the next instant. To his amazement
she kept her mouth shut and then groaned, nodded and
said she was stupid to have believed anything else.
"Now that this is settled, the plan worked out although
I never expected it to work so fast. We got rid of Adam
that way and we also got rid of our lovingbirds."

"Nothing lost there,' Buffy hissed out.

"Are you sure?" Angel asked, staring at her. "Remember
what Giles said to Travers? About them helping you?"

"That was a long time ago."

"I think not. Remember, you just had to keep near her
and the demons kept storming out of the woodworks," the
vampire chuckled. The face Buffy cut was even worth the
daggers Cordelia stared at him. "And tell me how often
you got into troubles because of Xander - real ones."

"Let's see...the pack comes to mind. That time he
nearly made me jump him with that lovespell and made
me become a rat," Buffy began to count. "Then there is
our...mhm. Numerous occasions are there."

"And how often has he helped you?" Angel asked in a
sober return. He knew Harris had helped her a lot more
than he got her into troubles. "Or, let me ask that
diffeent. How easy or hard was it to replace him?"

"Very easy," Cordelia sang out. "What else! He's some
trailer trash looser hangng out with a psycho, Angel."

Buffy's grimace was brought out by the look Angel
gave her. She breathed out and admitted Xander was
rather hard to replace, though she had no idea why.
"Doesn't it strike you as somewhat odd...?"

"I think you never knew what he really did," Angel
answered, taxing Cordelia.

"Well, whatever. Can't you ring up Giles and get the
troups move it?" Cordelia exploded. "I can still get him
to meet me...it would be a perfect trap..."

"You're not on the running, 'Delia," Angel sighed as he
involuntarily glanced at the surveillance tape. "Giles
is still with the Watchers and they have their own dark
agenda."

"What, opening a couple of bookstores?"

"No. Hiring assassins to take out Faith and Xander,
making my mom get terminally ill and get in some new
nasties to keep me from asking questions!" Buffy told
the former cheerleader in a paper dry voice. "'S not
exactly like we can trust Giles in our backs anymore,
Cordy."

"Oh shit," Cordelia whispered, slumping down and
shaking her head. "You...you mean that, do you? Fuck.
Fuck squared. You wouldn't say that if it wasn't true.
Damn you, buffy! Whenever I turn my back to you all my
world comes crashing down and things appear to get me,
you know that?" She spat the words out with a lot of
anger and venom in it. "Not just you tell me I'm some
freaky thing that isn't really human and lives to cut
off other freaks heads, oh no! You also tell me there
has been a big mistake and the guy who just had me
abducted, chained and drained a few times happens to
be one of our - no, make that YOUR - friends now?"

"I never said Xander was still my friend. Just a very
possible ally...and an old friend," Buffy defended
herself annoyed. "Besides, if he wanted you out he
could have done it - couldn't he? Cut off your head."

"He's a friend," Angel stated, a crooked grin appeared
on his face. "And I think we can use all the friends we
can get right now."

"For what?"

"To decide how to deal with Giles and the Council,"
Angel reminded them. "Get real. Alone neither one of us
will make it. I can't run this office without you,
'Delia. And Xander will never be able to hide from the
assassins so he needs help. And then we got a Slayer who
won't make it without her friends either..."

"Are you proposing what I am thinking? You've lost your
bloody damn rest of whatever working mind you maybe once
had, Angel!" Buffy groaned out, almost trembling. "Tell
me you do not even think of asking THEM for help!"

"Why not?"

"They're...they're villains, I mean..."

"They are not exactly the folks I would want to keep
around, true. But think what they can do for you. They
know they need any chance they have now, so you'll be
able to deal with them. Oh Buffy! They're perfect."

"He's mad, is he?" Cordelia said. "Tell me he just got
a happy."

"He's not trying to kill us," Buffy muttered, unhappily.
"At least I think he doesn't...or do you, Angel?"

"I try to keep you very much alive, thank you all so
much for making this any easier."

"Calm down," Cordelia begged. "Just calm down. My head
hurts from all this...!"

"Sorry, we don't have that much time," Angel answered
the remark. "Call him and tell him I want to meet him.
At a place and time to his choice."

"Make that a we," Buffy grimaced. "What if he's gonna
kill us?"

"That is why you will stay out of this," Angel said
calmly. Buffy was way to emotional for now. Months of
hate and loathing and this new desperation issue didn't
exactly serve to make her more fit to deal with the
vampire that formerly had been her friend.


#37
Dock area, LA:


Xander had no idea what made Angel act like that. If he
felt particularly suicidal today he could have done it
way easier. So, if Angel hadn't lost his mind or had
some incredible backup hidden away, the man wanted to
meet and talk to him about stuff.
After cursing Cordelia and getting sworn at by both his
Faith and Harmony for even allowing it to happen he said
yes and named a place and time.
No joy in giving them any more time to work something
out, of course. And he didn't have so much backup to
take care of either.
Xander found all this rather surprising when he walked
up to Angel, who stood at the waterfront and stared out
at the ocean. Sunrise was merely three hours away now.
It was quite the thrill to walk up to Angel unnoticed,
who did look at his wristwatch at one moment. Obviously
impatient and obviously not noticing him yet.
"You wanted to talk to me, Angelus?" Xander broke the
silence as he came closer and saw Angel turn around,
looking a bit stunned. Xander knew he wasn't able to
sneak up to the man so close - but still closer than
Angel had ever let him.

"Xander," he said, gathering himself again. "It has been
a while."

"Yeah, yeah," Xander snorted, yawning. "Tell me another
one, asshole." He wanted to deck Angel a few times for
the prank he pulled with Adam. "Do you know what that
club was for me? My chance at some life without always
looking over my shoulder, waiting for some bunch of not
that sneaky wannabe-assassins to appear!"

"Better wait for the pros, then."

"Oh, you want to give it a try?" Xander moaned, his
right hand moving to his coat. Ready to pull out the
sword and finish the brooding bastard Xander stood there
but Angel only shook his head and kept standing at ease.
Made it a point not to be threatening.

"You got a soul, don't you?"

"Doesn't make that much of a difference," Xander stated
and felt a bit sorry for that. No, not exactly sorry. It
wasn't his fault to overlook that people still could do
evil or screw up. "And it's no great secret I retained
mine. But, hey, tell it to Buffy. Maybe she'll pause to
drive that stake of hers inside of your ribs to tell you
how much it means to her..."

"Very funny," Angel groaned. Straigthening and looking
at him in that annoying way of his - like he knew more
than everyone else and was aware of it. Geez, who ever
had thought Angel was some petty little smartass in his
black dead heart? "It was a mistake of hers. One she
starts to feel sorry for."

"Whatever!" Xander spat disdainfully. As if it meant
anything anymore what holier-than-thou-slutty felt at
any particular time. "What do you want, Angel?"

"I came to make an offer, Xander. One to you and Faith,"
the man said with a straigth face. Better to remember he
was one great act of a liar, not showing so much of his
emotions anyway. "We need help, from you and Faith."

"Ah, what would I care?"

"You might. The Watchers Council decided to put two
unlimited contracts out with the order of Tarakka.
Remember the assassins?" Angel said sternly. "The ones
Spike hired while he abducted me and Kendra came into
town?"

Xander remembered that only too well. As good as the
time spent in Buffy's basement (he seemed to spend a
lot of time in her house in that basement), hiding from
yet another monster. At least he had been with Cordy.
Now, why did that cheer him up? There wasn't so much to
feel good for in there. Or anything at all.
He cut a face. "They sent assassins after us? How many?"

"So many that either you wipe out the order or get to
see the insides of a dustbin," Angel answered frankly.
"All. That's what an unlimited contract means."

"Shit," Xander spat, feeling very vulnerbale right now.
"That's not exactly good news." Then he stared Angel in
the eyes and his gaze didn't waver. "Why did you tell
me?"

"As I said, we need help," Angel answered flatly. "It's
about the Council. There have been some developments."

"What's new with the bunch of the world's most pompous
tweed fags?" Xander snorted. He didn't have much respect
for the Council left, if he ever had any.

"They only tried to kill you to make you go after
Buffy," Angel informed him wrily. Dropping the first of
quite a number of bombshells. The Council having money
and other assets to spare, secret schemes and Giles had
been working for them all along. Fooling the gang into
believing they had split up.

Xander listened to this. At first startled and then
alarmed, finally enraged. Manipulated for years. By a
stammering, tweed wearing son of a bitch named Giles.
If anyone but the souled version of Angelus had told
him that he wouldn't have bought it.
He swallowed his shit-statements (they weren't so very
useful anyway) and looked at his feet. Giles. Giles
was an enemy to them all. Arranging for their battles
and even using a FAKE hellmouth.
Now that he'd never had believed otherwise.
"How much of it was real?" Xander whispered.

"The mayor, the master. The dead bodies. Spike and Dru
and me and Accathla," Angel answered. "Beyond that? I
just don't know."

"I could get the answers," Xander muttered, thinking
about a little trip tomorrow night. Catch the G-Man and
his friends unaware, take them to a place of his choice
and start the thrid degree on them.

"And tell the Watchers we know?" Angel said softly, as
if he could read his mind. Which probably wasn't hard at
this moment, Xander realized. "It's more complicated
than that."

Why did I expect it to be easy? Xander thought and gave
the other vampire a short nod. He felt very sick right
now. "It is about Buffy, in the end it always comes down
to her." And he hated it. His live should not revolve
around that woman so much, after all she was mortal and
he wasn't...she would be dead within ten years or twenty
and he would remain unchanged.
Xander looked forward to that a lot. Reducing her to
nothing worse than a footnote in his memories.

"A lot," Angel admitted unhappily. "They want her dead
and they want her..." He reffered to a set date and
complex schemes. They wanted her to die in battle.

"It doesn't make sense. If they wanted her dead they
could do it. A knife in the back, some wrong training,
some bit of poison. Those freaks know all about this
alchemy gig or don't they?" Xander mumbled, thinking.
"Doesn't make sense to me what they do."

"They have their reasons. We just don't know why yet,"
Angel said soberly. Distanced as always. "You can't go
and grab anyone in Sunnydale without raising attention.
But maybe if one of them came to me..."

"I'll arrange some instant abduction?" Xander sighed.
"They tend to walk around during daylight hours, man."
And daylight was able to fry him, even if he could
withstand a lot more of it than most older vamps. "We
need a Watcher and we need one that will talk to us."

"Got not much of an idea about that."

"Mhm, actually I have," Xander grinned viciously. Once
more astounded that he actually listened to Harmony.
"I think someone fucked up so big they fired him. He's
hanging out in LA, trying his hand at freelance demon
hunting." With that guy it came down to wanton suicide,
of course. "I probably could get him."

"I haven't heard...?" Angel said and shook his head.
"I don't even want to know names." Made acting surprised
easier.

"Good," Xander nodded. "Now, they probably don't keep
tabs on you or this thing is blown already."

"You realize we can't be seen connected," Angel said,
wincing at the thought. "If you want an alliance it's
not going to be doing you so much good."

"Bah, thinking back to before, we faced worse odds,"
Xander gloated. Hoping he could convince himself of it
more than he did to Angel, who wasn't that convinced.
"I think we can work something out."

Angel sighed, turned away to look at the sea. That
seemingly endless amount of water that made the horizon
blurr into it at some time. It looked strangely in the
dark, a lot purer and more mysterious than at daylight.
Then you couldn't see the junk floating in there.
"Of course," he said. "I owe you for Adam, don't I?"

"And for my club. Cordy told you about the blood?"
Xander asked amused. "Hope you can sleep easily with
knowing how many will die because of this."

"I tend to rest well enough, if I get around to it,"
Angel stated flatly. "It's not as if we dream."

Xander sighed. Dreaming. He still did that, a bit. Not
as much as he liked to. Not half as much. "You owe me.
And Buffy will, too."

"You could get something out of it," Angel said after
a moment. "She came across remains of the Initiative.
Money and weapons, information. You could get a share
of that."

"Now that sounds better," Xander chuckled. As if he
needed it so much. What he really wanted they could not
give to him...the sort of quiet life that he had lost
the day he and Willow and Jesse followed one new girl
in town unto a cemetry. A girl named Buffy Summers.
"Think I need it?"

"With Tarakka after your hide?" he asked, pointed.

Xander didn't bother to answer, he just felt his ever
present depressions grow another notch. If he didn't pay
attention to that he would end up brooding for sure. And
worst thing was, it didn't even look that bad anymore.
"Right," he whispered. "We'll work something out about
that share."

"I'll talk to Buffy."

"Then tell her I'm not her toy anymore, either. Now for
the last issue...giles doesn't know about Cordy, does
he?"

"He has not heard anything yet."

"Good," Xander nodded. It was very good. Giles still was
forced to be on his guard in the search for the second
Immortal around Buffy. Which was kina spooky, how the
heck did he knew about them anyway? "I want her."

"What?"

"Comeon, man, we got to stay in hiding! Can't walk out
to hunt or trade," Xander reminded the vampire. As long
as everyone thought them dead or severely weakened they
had to make use of this. "And she's dead, too. If Buffy
has bought that..."

"What use would she have to you?"

"I could get a few ideas. Mostly how to get us fed,"
Xander answered acerbicly. "And you can't protect her
anyway, Angel."

"While you can?"

"I can train her for the Game," Xander admitted. He had
laFollet's memory and a greater part of all the martial
arts the man picked up in the course of his life. "Can
you do the same?"

"I...no," Angel answered unhappily. "How do I get her to
agree, Xander? Answer me that and I'll help you." He
sighed. "And then I'll have to get some other secretary,
do you have an idea how hard they are to get?"

"Actually I know how you feel," Xander chuckled. The
club manager had complained about that all the time.
"Still...?"

"Of course, of course," Angel resigned. "Now how do
you think Cordelia will...?"

"Take a gun with you and just go out with her."

"What?" Angel coughed out, baffled.

"You heard me. Pack a gun, take her out. I bet it won't
take much more than a week until she gets a headache and
meets someone ready to therapy these headache with an
impromptu surgical solution," Xander grinnied nastyly.
"Wait till they go into an alley and then shoot this
other guy in the back and run...make her realize that
she can't do as before anymore...then convince her to go
to me."

"She'll hate me for that."

"Would you rather prefer her to love you and loose her
head for it?" Xander sighed dramatically. Wishing his
old drama teacher could have seen it. Guy had thrown him
out of the course at first lesson, said he had no talent
for acting! Ha! "So. Tell her she needs someone. And
make her aware the Watchers will be after her as well,
once they learn."

Angel stared at him and then smirked. "You're some
devious bastard, Xander!"

"I'd rather settle for practical man," Xander answered,
wondering what else to say. All that counted now was his
survival. "Besides, this is hardly forever."

Angel looked at him strangely and then hinted at a small
headshake. "You won't let her go back."

"I'll let her go if she wants to," Xander promised. He
even meant that. Damn Faith and her predictions, he and
Cordelia were just plainly over. "You think she'd be
keen to hang out with me and Faith anymore?"

Angel looked at him, right into him and then his eyes
narrowed. "You ARE just a boy," he then said. "So much
left to learn."

Xander groaned, asked the vampire if he thought he was
just playacting being a grownup here. Which Angel just
answered with a disdainful remark about professionals
just being guys who acted more convincingly, whatever
that meant.
"But there is another factoid!" Xander switched the
subjext. He was not going to hang on to Cordy, for all
freaks' sake, he'd probably wish her away within less
than a week!

"Which one?"

"Tarakka. Once this is over and we still live I'll get
help to take that bunch of assholes out of business for
all times," Xander said rigidly. If they had to fight he
would prefer to be the hunter rather than the hunted.
"The Watchers have some things on them. I want that."

"Oh, I'll help, I'll help," Angel waved his hand. Taking
the mostly demon assassins out was something long since
overdue. "But you realize you probably will die on the
road, don't you?"

"We will see about who dies first," Xander responded
with great determination. He was sick of being hunted by
anyone. He'd show them once and for all what he thought
of that. And then maybe he could spend a decade or two
in peace and ge to enjoy eternal life with Faith.
There was so much in the world he had not seen yet.
Damn it, laFollet had left a lot of memories in his head
which dealt with all kinds of places and experiences. It
showed him what was there to be enjoyed yet.
The cities, the sights, the dances...even if he had been
restricted to the night, he had Faith and forever now.
FOREVER! And damn the world and anyone who dared to try
and take either from him!
"We stay in contact, okay?"

"How?" Angel asked.

"I'll think of something, deadboy."

"Can't use that on me anymore, Xander," Angel declared
amused at that moment. "You come up with something new?"

"Uh god, don't remind me of my missing vital signs!"
Xander groaned unhappily. "I'll think of something. For
the contact. Probably I'll send a courier with a package
to you. And then we use a mailbox to stay in touch...I
will just leave some signs around your office or an odd
phrase in a newspaper add. Whenever you got news in
there we will..."

"How did you get that idea?"

"Jesus, you think I spent all my time fighting or simply
fucking with Faith?" Xander declared. "I never really
knew I enjoyed reading. By the way, Alistair McClean is
not so bad at all...though I do like Tom Clancy more."

"Christ! You take your ideas out of cheesy spy novels!"
angel shouted, stunned. "Have you completely lost it?"

"Well, they seem to work," Xander grinned. So far it had
served him well to play the game called life more by
ingenuity than brute force. "Oh, and we need a few bags
to pass the days...I think a crate should do. I'll tell
you where to drop it by tomorrow. Little sign of trust.
See ya."

Angel was left to figure out of he should mope or laugh.
This situation wasn't just discomforting and deadly, it
also started to get into the ridiculous ranges. Which
was no good reason for laughter at all but for tears.
Angel figured tears were more like it, yet crying wasn't
exactly his style. Not just because he cried blood
instead of tears but because he long ago had lost all
tears he was due. Or for it looked uncool.
As if he'd ever bother with being cool!
All that was left to him was to move on, as always. As
for the crate of bloodbags - not so impossible to get
his hands on it. He was certain Xander would test it
before he used it, it wasn't as if he would not do it
when the tables were turned against him.
He had some bad experience that made him do it himself.
It would be a sign of trust indeed. His, Xander's and
Faith's trust. Not to mention the question whom would
Cordelia Chase trust afterwards - if anyone anymore?