Title: Redemption is at hand
Author: Kirsten Tapp
Feedback: [email protected]
Standard Disclaimer: Buffy, the vampire slayer doesn't not belong to the
author, but to Joss Whedon,
WB,etc. The characters of Cassandra, Stephen, Stephanie, Marcus, Philip,
Carly Morris, Kyle, Kerin,
Karl, Kendrick and Keith, (Vendetta demons) however do belong to the author.
No copyright
infringement intended.
Rating: PG - some graphical violence

Redemption is at Hand
by Kirsten Tapp

The quiet LA Streets echoed with the sound of stiletto heels running across
it's hard surface. A woman
raced through the alleyways, past the closed stores, occasionally looking
over her shoulder at the vampires
chasing her, struggling to keep up.

It shouldn't have been so hard to catch this woman, after all she was
running in high heels. It was then the
lead vampire realised this was a trap. That and the sight of Angeles
reaching out one arm to catch the
running woman and spinning her around, both of them armed with stakes. Two
of Angels' associates
walked up behind the group of vampires.

Angel glanced down at the petite redhead. "Did you have a nice run, Cass?"
He grinned when he saw the
look of recognition cross the group of vampire's faces.

Cassandra shrugged her shoulders. "Not bad. Now I have to work out my
arms." She took a step
forward and staked the vampire closest to her as the others followed her
example, leaving nothing but a
pile of dust.

Cordellia brushed the dust off of her clothes. "And you said we never do
anything fun." She shot Wesley
an accusing look.

Wesley frowned. "No. Actually you said that."

Cordellia tossed her long mane of hair. "Whatever. Anyway I was right.
This was the same thing we do
every night. Why can't we go clubbing or something?"

Angel put his arm around Cassandra's waist. She was starting to lean on him
which usually meant she was
worn out. "Well, if you want to go without an evening's pay, Cordellia,
then you can go clubbing. Now if
you two will both excuse me, I think that I will take Cassandra back home
and then I guess that I should
go and see Kate. Someone is bound to have reported seeing a group of really
ugly guys chasing a
gorgeous redhead down the street to the police." Without waiting for a
response, Angel gently guided
Cassandra to his car and drove off.

Cordellia turned to Wesley. "So, do you want to go clubbing?"

Kate stood in his doorway, hands on her hips. "I'm guessing that I should
probably ignore the reports that
a woman was seen being chased through the streets by a gang of" she rolled
her eyes. "I'm not even going
to repeat the description I was given." Kate saw Cassandra lying on Angel's
bed through the open
doorway. "Is she alive?"

Angel frowned and looked over his shoulder as though he had no idea what
Kate was talking about. "Cass
has been dead for about a hundred years. What's your point?"

Kate gave him a 'are you taking the piss out of me' look. "OK. So is she
dead again? Like for good,
cause she's not moving a whole lot."

Angel tried not to laugh. "No, she wouldn't move, seeing as she is dead,
but at the moment Cass is just
asleep. I'm not prone to keeping really dead people in my bed." He
shrugged his shoulders. "It's makes
too much mess."

Kate felt a little stupid asking if a vampire was dead. "Sorry. It's just
that she's so still. You're so close
that if anything happened to her, I thought that you would probably hold
onto her till you were forced to
let her go." The truth was that Kate had put way too much thought into the
unusual relationship that
Angel and Cassandra had.

Angel watched the detective cautiously. "If Cassandra were to die, she
would probably turn into a pile of
dust, Kate." He turned and walked over to the bedroom door and shut it.
Cassandra needed her sleep.
"We got rid of a few vampires on the corner the sports wear shop is on.
Cassandra was playing bait."

Kate frowned. "I don't think we're talking about the same attack." She
turned and walked out the door.
"I'll get back to you."

Angel shook his head as he watched her go. Turning he grabbed his mail as
he walked into his bedroom,
quietly opening the door, stepping into the room and carefully closing the
door behind him. For a moment
Angel watched Cassandra sleep. To a stranger, she looked so peaceful. Her
red hair flowed across the
pillow making her pale skin looked even more pale. Angel sat down in a
chair beside the bed and propped
his feet up on the bed. Even when they had been strangers, he had seen the
sweetness and purity about
her. The closer they got, the more Cass let him see. The pain, the
loneliness and the strength. "So much
inner turmoil for someone so full of compassion." Sinking down into the
chair, Angel closed his eyes.

"You'll give yourself a backache if you sleep like that." Cassandra smiled
at Angel. "The bed is big
enough for both of us."

"I didn't want to disturb you." Angel opened his eyes and moved to lay
beside the Princess. "How's
Stephanie and Marcus?" Angel knew Marcus would stay at the mansion while
Cassandra was in LA. Part
of the reason behind this was so that Cassandra wouldn't worry, the other
was so that he could keep an
eye on his baby sister while Buffy was out on patrol.

Cassandra closed her eyes again. "They're fine. Joyce checks up on them
after work in case they need any
help. If I could have gotten around being away from home again so soon, I
would have." She tried to
hide a yawn. "Never mind. I'll make it up to them when I get home." As
she drifted off to sleep,
Cassandra snuggled further down under the covers.

Cordellia stood in the doorway of Angel's bedroom. They looked so peaceful
that she hated to distrube
them. Though she hated to admit it, she had become rather protective
towards both Angel and Cassandra.
Quietly moving towards the bed, she reached out and gently shook Angel's
shoulder and waited for him to
open his eyes. Cordellia jerked her head towards the door and walked out of
the room.

Angel carefully moved off of the bed, watching that he didn't wake
Cassandra, which wasn't hard as she
was under the covers and Angel slept on top of the covers. He frowned as he
walked towards Cordellia.
"What's up? I was having a really good dream."

Cordellia smiled at him teasingly. "Redhead or blond?" When Angel's face
remained expressionless,
Cordellia continued with what she had come for. "We have a client. One
that wants to pay us to help."
Still no reaction. "Well, here's the thing: She's sort of nervous and as
you're so happy to constantly
remind me, I have no people skills."

Angel looked over his shoulder at the sleeping Princess. "Can't they come
back later when it's darker."

Cordellia shook her head. "I don't think so. She seems pretty scared. I
can watch Cassandra while you
meet with Carly." For a moment, she thought Angel was going to refuse.
"Look, we'll be fine. Just tell
me what to do if she has another one of her nightmares."

Angel ran his hand through his hair. "Alright. Gently wake her up if she
has another nightmare." He
walked towards the lift. "Emphasis on the gently, Cordy." He glanced once
more at Cassandra as the
door closed. Angel realised he was over concerned about Cassandra, but ever
since she had channelled the
magic of twelve people through her, she had been having nightmares. Marcus
had told him that it was
some sort of side effect and eventually they would stop.

All of Angel's concerns about the Princess were pushed aside for a moment
when he saw the woman
Wesley was quietly talking to. The woman was practically shaking. "Carly?"
The woman looked petrified
but she nodded. "My name is Angel, how may we help you?"

Carly looked up at Angel. Angel's towering form seemed to reassure her
slightly. "I'm being stalked. I
don't know who it is, but it started with the letters, then the photos and
now I'm being sent dead roses. I
don't know why this is happening to me. Can you help me?"

Angel raised an eyebrow. "You don't know of anyone that you may have
offended?" He wasn't surprised
when she shook her head. Nobody ever thought they were in the wrong. "Do
you have copies of the
letters and the photos?" Wesley handed him a box. "How long has this been
going on?" The box was
rather large and very full. "And why come to us instead of the police?"

Carly shrugged her shoulders. "The police couldn't help me. There's no
return address with the letters
and who ever is taking the photos appears to know how to develop them,
themselves. The police couldn't
find anyone who had seen the photos before and apparently, alot of people
buy the ingredients for
developing photos. You're sort of my last resort."

Angel looked over the photos. Somebody had managed to get very close to
Carly. There were photos of
her asleep in bed, watching the television, even one of her in a bubble
bath. "The police couldn't find any
witnesses?"

Carly shook her head. "No. Everyone is my street seems to prefer to keep
to themselves. I don't suppose
I can blame them. I can't say that I would want to get involved if the shoe
was on the other foot. So will
you help me?" She was pleading with them.

Angel nodded. "We'll certainly try. Wesley will follow you home and watch
your house until I can relieve
him. Whoever took these photos got very close to your house. Even with a
telescopic lens nobody could
have gotten these photos without being seen."

Wesley nodded in agreement. "These photos look as though they were actually
taken from right outside
your house." He helped Carly put her coat on. "Come on. I'll take you
home."

Carly actually looked relieved. "Thank you."

Angel smiled kindly at her. "Don't thank us until we've got whoever is
stalking you." He looked over at
Wesley. "Cordy and I will go through the letters and see if we can find
anything. Call if you see
anything."

Wesley nodded. "Ofcourse." He followed Carly out of the door. Wesley knew
Angel was just supplying
their client with an excuse for not going out of the office until sundown.

Angel made his way back to his hotel room with the box of letters and
photos. He could get Cordy to go
through the photos while he went through the letters. Cordellia had a knack
for picking up things that
would be easily missed by most people. Unfortunately it usually came
jumbled up with a ten minute speech
on how unfashionable their house had been decorated.

Cordellia looked up from the magazine that she had been reading. "So are we
working again?" She
looked at the box Angel put on the table in front of her. An annoyed look
crossed her face. "So am I
working again?"

Angel smirked. "I need you to go through the photos. See if you can find
anything that will give us any
clues as to who took the photos. I'll go through the letters and Wesley is
watching the house." He looked
towards the bedroom. "Cass still asleep?"

Cordellia nodded. "She started thrashing around a bit before, but then she
seemed to calm down." She
picked up a handful of photos. "So we're trying to find a peeping Tom?"

Angel shook his head. "A stalker. Whomever took those photos and" He
picked up a handful of letters
and glanced through them. "Wrote these letters knows Carly's every move.
What we need to find out is
why and what do they want."

Cordellia spread the photos out on the coffee table. "Go and get some
sleep. I'll man the phones from
here." She looked over her shoulder. "She's twitching again."

Angel put the letters down and walked into the bedroom. "Cass?" The moment
Angel pulled her into his
arms and his hands touched her bare arms, Angel saw into Cassandra's dream.

Cassandra walked down the dark corridor into the ballroom. She paused
briefly and took a deep breath
before she walked into the crowded room with a dazzling smile on her face.

Prince Philip of Denmark walked up to her and reached out his hand.. Slowly
they danced around the
ballroom. Philip smiled adoringly down at Cassandra, but Cassandra looked
as though she would rather be
anywhere than in his arms. The crowd around them watched in wonder as the
elegant couple danced
gracefully before them.

The crowd gasped as someone tapped Philip on the shoulder and gently pulled
Cassandra into his arms.
This time Cassandra's smile was real as she looked up into Stephen's face.
The crowd looked on
disapprovingly as the lovers moved closer.

Stephen was roughly pulled away from Cassandra. The look on her face turned
to pure horror and a
sword came crashing down across Stephen's shoulders.

Cassandra let out a bloodcurdling scream. "No!" It echoed around the now
empty ballroom. She sat on
the floor looking around her. Loneliness written over her face. A pair of
arms wrapped round her and
pulled her back into a hug. "You can't choose the people that we save."
She looked up into Angel's
face. Then she jerked awake.

Angel held Cassandra until she stopped shaking. "I take it, that wasn't one
of your visions." Cassandra
shook her head. "Why did I see your dream? That's never happened before."

Cassandra sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. "You touched bare
skin." She saw the confusion on
his face. "You and Marcus have been so protective of me lately that you've
been tucking me in like a
child. When you wake me, I'm usually covered with a tonne of blankets. It
sort of like when I have a
vision and you hold my hand, you see it too." She saw Cordellia watching
them from the living room.
"Do you have a new client?" She could see the photographs in Cordellia's
hand.

Cordellia nodded. "Yeah. A woman's hired us to find out who's stalking
her. And they say nobody has
hobbies anymore." She waved one hand towards the box of photos and letters.
"This person is into
writing and photography. Now there's a person with many talents."

Cassandra smiled at Cordellia's sarcasm. "Well, I'll just go and take a
shower and then I'll head back to
Sunnydale. I think you're going to be busy."

Angel gently took hold of her hand. "Are you sure you're well enough to
travel?" He had expected the
dreams to have stopped by now. It was worse knowing what she had dreamt.
It was too much like
watching a preview to a movie of his life.

Cassandra squeezed his hand. "I'll be fine. Besides I miss my children."
She walked into the bathroom
and closed the door.

At that moment the phone rang. Angel picked up the phone and sat down and
started skimming through
the letters again. "Hello."

"Angel. It's Wesley. I've just spotted someone taking photos outside Carly
's house, so I'm following
them. I don't think that it's a good idea to leave Carly alone though."

Angel couldn't believe it was that easy. "I'll send Cordellia over. What's
the address." He wrote it down
and handed it to Cordellia. "Let me know where you end up." Angel said
goodbye and hung up the
phone.

Cordellia grabbed her purse and her car keys. "Bye Cass. Thanks for the
car." She yelled through the
bathroom door as she waved goodbye to Angel and left the room.

Cassandra had realised when Angel and the others had started working out of
the hotel, that they couldn't
all use Angel's car. She had offered to provide the business with a few
essentials like a company car, a
decent coffee machine and coffee, plus a lap top computer so that Angel
could on occasion work form
Sunnydale, for a small percentage of the profits, (when there were any.)

It was starting to get dark outside when Cassandra emerged from the bathroom
wearing a bathrobe. "You
know, I think that I liked your other place better. I keep getting a
strange vibe off of this place." She
stopped for a moment and frowned. "Wesley's at a night-club called
'Redemption'." She shook her head
as if to clear it. Her red mane flying around her. "It could be trouble."

Angel nodded. "If you're having a vision, that's usually what it means."
He hugged her. "Have a safe trip
home." He kissed the top of her head and started towards the door. "Stay
out of trouble." He heard her
chuckle as he closed the door behind him.

Cordellia smiled kindly as she accepted the cup of coffee that Carly handed
her. "Thank you. You have a
beautiful home." She looked around her. The paintings on the pastel
coloured walls caught her eye. "Do
you know the artist?"

Carly followed Cordellia's gaze. "Yes. My ex used take photographs of
places that reached out to him.
Then he would develop the photos and paint the scenes." Her smile barely
touched her lips. "It's funny.
If you saw the photo and the painting side by side, you wouldn't have
thought they were of the same
place."

Cordellia thought her words out carefully before she spoke. "I take it, the
two of you just grew apart?"

Carly shook her head, tears filling her eyes. "I came home one night and
found him tearing our bedroom
apart. He was convinced that I was cheating on him."

Cordellia was confused. "Why? What on earth made him think that? Do you
work a lot of late nights or
something?"

Carly wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. "No. You see, most
of my friends are guys. I have
a younger brother and I grew up with his friends, so most of them became my
friends. But Kyle didn't
believe that a woman could just be friends with a guy, so he just assumed
that I was sleeping with them."
Carly took a deep breath before she confirmed. "Kyle got violent and I
ended up calling the police and
having him arrested. He was sent to a mental institution, last I heard. I'
ll never forget hearing him keep
screaming redemption is at hand as the police put him in the police car."

Cordellia didn't want to alarm Carly, but she had to ask her next question.
"Do you know where?"

Carly nodded. "A place right on the city limits. I have the number around
here somewhere." She started
searching the desk drawers in the hallway. "Yes, here it is. I wanted to
make sure that Kyle was still
locked away safely and not outside my bedroom window. I even had a Wicca
friend of mine do a binding
spell to ensure that Kyle couldn't escape."

Cordellia took the scrape of paper and moved towards the phone. When she
picked up the receiver, there
was no dial tone. "There must be a problem with the phone lines."
Cordellia pulled her cell phone out of
her purse and dialled the number that Carly had given her. "Hello. I'm
calling on behalf of Carly Morris.
We're just wondering if Kyle .... Oh you've just come from giving him his
medicine. So he's still there
then? Thank you for your help."

Cordellia frowned. "I should have known that would have been too simple."
She put her phone back in
her purse. "I guess we'd better get back to the photographs then." She and
Carly sat down on the couch.
Cordellia picked up a couple of photos, glanced at them, then put them back
down on the coffee table. As
she moved onto the next photo, something caught her eye. "Wait a minute."
She reached for the photo,
but before she could pick it up the lights went out. "That's so not funny!"

Angel looked around him. He had spotted Wesley straight away. It hadn't
been hard. The club looked as
though it was filled with pimps and hookers. "Redemption. Not exactly the
name I would have picked for
this dump."

Wesley looked down his nose at the people around him. "I gather sleazy pit
of despair was already taken."
He gestured over to the door. "Our man went in there but it's pretty well
guarded. We need some sort of
diversion. Any ideas." Somehow, Wesley didn't think starting a fight would
be of any help.

Angel grinned and dialled a number on his cell phone. "Hey. What are you
wearing? Great. Why don't
you come down to Redemption? See you soon." He ordered a drink. "One
diversion coming up.

Kate stretched her arms up over her head. It had been a long day but she
had promised Angel earlier that
she would check in on Faith. As she got closer to Faith's cell, Kate heard
what sounded like a fight.
Quickening her pace, she turned to corner to find some sort of creature had
Faith in a choke hold. Kate
was surprised to find the cell door was still locked when she ran forward to
help the young woman.
Picking up a nearby broom, Kate jabbed it through the bars into the creature
's back as Faith bracing herself
against the wall, brought her legs up and pushed the creature away from her.
Although the creature loosen
it's hold it didn't appear to be injured. It grabbed the broom handle and
gave it a tug causing Kate to loose
her balance and hit her head against the bars. The creature watched as the
police detective tumbled to the
floor. Convinced that Kate would be no more trouble, it turned and started
back towards Faith. It hadn't
even taken two steps away from the bars, when an elegant arm wrapped around
it's neck holding it's body
still while the other arm jerked the creature's head in the opposite
direction. With a deafening crack the
creature fell to the ground.

Faith looked up at the woman on the other side of the bars helping Kate up.
"Oh, you have just got to be
Cassandra."

Cassandra smiled. "I see Angel has been a regular visitor. How would you
like to get out of there for a
couple of hours?"

Kate frowned and rubbed her head. "Are you crazy. You can't just take
Faith out for a night on the
town." Kate was starting to wonder how much damage channelling magic
through Cassandra had done.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "That's why you're coming with us." The
Princess laughed at the disbelief on
Kate's face. She pointed at the creature on the floor. "That sort of demon
tend to travel in packs or
families. The fact that it was in Faith's cell makes me think that Faith
may have killed one or two before."

Faith nodded. "It looks sort of familar. So where are we going?" She
could sense some sort of urgency
with Cassandra, but it seemed as though they were going to have trouble
convincing Kate.

"I don't have the keys." Kate crossed her arms in front of her. Her
confidence faded when Cassandra
waved her hand across the lock and heard it click open. "Well, that solves
that problem. What's the
hurry?"

Cassandra reached into the cell and pulled Faith out and started walking to
the door, knowing Kate would
follow them. "Angel needs some help and I don't have time to choose whom I
should help. We can't
leave Faith here to be attacked by demons so she'll have to come with us.
Those sort of demons aren't too
smart so I think they'll give up when they can't find her here. Now are
there any more questions because
we are running out of time."

Faith shrugged her shoulders. "I'm clear. Can I get something else to wear
though?"

Kate groaned. "We'll discuss it in the car. And Faith." She looked
pointedly at the young woman. "You
don't leave my sight."

Cordellia stumbled around the house. "Carly have you got a torch or some
candles or something?" She
reached the window and pushed the curtains aside. The rest of the street's
lights were still working. "And
maybe something we can use as a weapon."

Carly reached into a drawer and pulled out a torch and switched it on.
"What the hell is going on?"

Cordellia saw someone moving outside of the house. "I'm not sure but I
think we are about to meet your
stalker." She stood and made her way towards Carly. "Which way is the
kitchen?"

Carly led the way, keeping the torch pointing to the ground. "This way."

The two women rummaged through the drawers. Finally Carly armed herself
with a rolling pin and
Cordellia had a carving knife. Cordellia couldn't believe this was
happening. Wesley was supposed to be
tracking the stalker, not getting them trapped in a darkened house with him.
"O.K. When he comes in the
door, hit him over the head."

Carly nodded and then frowned. "How do you know the stalker's a him?"

Cordellia rolled her eyes. "Alright. Hit it over the head." She stood
with the knife raise. "I hate this
part." She muttered under her breath. She realised her plan needed
revising when the stalker melted
through the door.

Carly looked over at Cordellia. "Now what?"

Cordellia concealed her panic. "Plan B." Putting her weight behind her
arm, she hurled the knife at the
creature, stabbing it through the heart.

For a few moments the creature looked as though it was having a fit while it
was pinned to the door with
the carving knife. Then it discintergrated into a pile of parts.

"Yes." Cordellia couldn't help herself. "I did it." She composed herself
when she saw the stunned look
on Carly's face. "Oh right. Let's get out of here." She grabbed Carly's
hand and her purse and raced out
of the house to the car.

"So any idea how we are going to be a distraction?" Kate sat in the back of
the car, still not convinced
that this was a good plan. "I mean, Redemption is a pretty sleazy club. I
don't think your poise and grace
is going to work this time, Princess."

Faith looked at Cassandra in surprise. "They're at Redemption?" When
Cassandra nodded a grin covered
Faith's face. "I have an idea if you're game for it Princess. We're going
to have to break into a
department store for a change of makeup though."

Cassandra kept her eyes on the road as she drove through the dark. "Faith,
I'm loaded. We will buy me a
change of make up." She raised her eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

Faith reached out hand. "Take a look." Angel had told her about the
mixture of powers the Princess had.
She waited for Cassandra to pull the car over and take hold of her hand.
Then she closed her eyes and
pictured her plan. When she opened her eyes she saw a look of doubt on
Cassandra's face. "Trust me.
This will work."

Cassandra turned the car off and grabbed her purse. "Alright. Let's go and
buy me some trashy make up."
She climbed out of the car with Faith following her.

"Hey!" Kate clambered out after the two women. "Care to let me in on the
plan?"

Angel looked down at his watch. "What's taking her so long?" It wasn't
like Cass to keep them waiting
so long.

"Maybe she ran into trouble." Wesley offered, not really understanding what
Angel was talking about.
Before he could get a response, he felt the mood of the crowd change. "What
going on?" He was
surprised to see a look of amazement on Angel's face. "What?" His own jaw
dropped when he followed
Angel's gaze.

"I think our distraction's arrived." Angel's gaze followed the length of
Cassandra's body as the music
started pounding.

The clothes Cassandra wore were still the same: Black jeans, stiletto boots
and a bright three quarter
sleeve top. The make she wore was darker. Crimson lipstick, black
eyeliner, pink and grey eye shadow
making her blue eyes beam out of her pale face.

Faith and Cassandra moved to the centre of the room and started to dance
with each other, while Kate
watched closely from the side lines. As the two women rubbed up against
each other the crowd roared in
encouragement. All eyes were on Faith and Cassandra.

"Come on. Let's go." Angel tugged on Wesley's sleeve. "Let's find out
what's behind door number
one."

Wesley couldn't take his eyes off of the floor show in front of him. "You
go ahead. I'll make sure Faith
and Cassandra are safe."

Angel rolled his eyes and grabbed Wesley by the collar of his jacket and
dragged him through the door
behind him. Even Angel took a second look though. He gave Wesley a shove
in front of him. "Try and
remember Cassandra is like a sister to me."

Wesley grinned at his friend. "Yeah. We all want sisters like her." He
turned serious as they made their
way down the corridor.

As they got closer to a door, they could hear voices. Standing by the door
they listened for a moment.

"Nobody refuses my brother and gets away with it. Who does that bitch think
she is." The speaker
laughed. "She thinks hiring the friend of the Slayer will stop us."

"Karl. I have just received word that Keith was killed trying to eliminate
the Slayer." There was a pause
before the second voice spoke again. "Kendrick hasn't checked in from the
woman's place either. To
make matters worse, Kyle called and said that some spellcaster in the next
room is screaming about a
Princess all day and night."

There was the sound of breaking glass as someone threw what sounded like a
vase against the wall.
"Damn it. Doesn't Kyle ever stop complaining? Go to the house. See if
Kendrick's done what I sent him
for. And Kerin, don't fail the family."

As Kerin opened the door, Angel punched him in the face knocking him back in
the room. "Your mother
had a thing for names starting with K, didn't she?" Angel walked into the
room with Wesley following
close behind. "I suppose it would be too much for you to pay attention when
I tell you to stop stalking my
client for your physco brother."

Karl roared with anger and lunged for Angel, knocking them both through a
two way mirror window. The
two men landed at Faith and Cassandra's feet. Angel jumped to his feet
standing between Cassandra and
Faith, who had taken fighting stances.

When Karl stood he had turned into the creature that had attacked Faith.
"You'll regret messing with my
family boy. That slut you're working for, isn't worth the money she's
paying you."

"I disagree." Angel had taken on his demon form. He made a point of
brushing the broken glass off of his
jacket as he looked down at Cassandra. "Aren't you going to put your scary
face on Cass?"

Cassandra stared at her friend sarcastically "No. I thought my make up job
was scary enough."

At that moment Wesley and Kate joined the group. Faith looked
disapprovingly at Wesley. "Took you
long enough, Wes." Before Wesley could respond, she turned back to face the
creature in front of her.
"Hey, the Princess broke the neck of one of your family. Sort of ugly, ain'
t ya?"

Karl looked over at the redhead in front of him. Even with the new make up
job, Cassandra looked regal.
"You killed my brother?"

Cassandra shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, I have anger issues."
She felt Kerin's presence
behind them. "Faith!"

Faith grabbed a stake from Angel's inside pocket as she turned throwing it
at the creature that had been
Kerin. "Bullseye!" She spun back around into her original position as the
creature fell to the ground
grasping it's chest. "That used to be more fun."

"There's hope for you yet." Wesley eyes never left the creature in front of
him. "I'm thinking Vendetta
demon?"

"Looks like it." Cassandra had never felt so uncomfortable in her life.
The demon, she could fight, but she
hated being the centre of attention. "You know what that means."

Kate nodded. "That we have to take the whole family out?" She smiled
smugly. "How many more can
there be?"

"Just this one and the one that's been bound to a physicatic hospital."
Cordellia walked up beside them.
"The same hospital that Cassandra bound Ethan to in fact." Cordellia
flashed everyone an award winning
smile. "Hi. What did I miss?"

"Nothing." Karl sneered at her. "I'm about to kill your weakest link." He
lunged for Wesley only to have
Wesley produce an axe from under his jacket.

Wesley swung the axe decapitating the demon. He turned to Faith. "That's
what took me so long. I
stopped off for supplies."

The rouge Slayer grinned. "You're getting better at this."

As the group turned, the crowd parted to let them pass. Walking out into
the night air they split up and
went to their separate cars. Cordellia took Carly home. Cassandra dropped
Faith and Kate off at the
police station before heading back to Sunnydale. And Angel and Wesley
headed back to the hotel.

Sitting down over a cup of coffee, Wesley began to chuckle. When Angel shot
him a strange look, Wesley
explained himself. "As long as I live, I don't think we'll ever see
Cassandra as we saw her tonight. That
had to be Faith's idea."

Angel nodded. "Next time I think I should explain what I mean by
distraction."

The two men laughed over their coffee while they waited for Cordellia to
return.

THE END