Part 7

"Well, well, well. That was a very interesting show that you gave us."

Willow jumped at the sound of the voice coming from the hidden speaker, grabbing the sheet and pulling it closer to cover herself. Angel held her body close to his as he felt her nervousness over their situation come back ten fold. Angel leaned down, grabbing his shirt and handing it to Willow to put on. She gratefully accepted the shirt, digging under the bed to cover herself. Angel grabbed his boxers and put them on also.

"So self conscious all of a sudden. I don't know why, considering what the two of you just did," Walsh mocked the couple who were scrambling around trying to get covered. Angel got up, grabbing his pants, pulling them on.

"Go to hell," he spit out.

"Oh I don't think so, Hostile." Walsh voice dripped with malice. "If anyone will be going to hell when they die, it will be you."

"I've already been there," Angel spat out as he went back over to the bed as he saw Willow emerge with his shirt covering her body. (Damn she looks good in my shirt. No, can't go there right now.) He helped her to her feet and together they faced the mirror, defiantly raising their heads together.

 Walsh took in Angel's comment about being to hell, as she watched the couple look at her through the two way mirror. She and Riley were shocked by the display that they had just seen between the two people in the room. They had never seen such affection come from a hostile and the fact that the human girl willing allowed him to feed from her, not once but twice, just left them flabbergasted. It didn't help that they knew that the implant that had been placed in Angel's neck should have prevented him from feeding from the girl. They needed answers so that they could fix whatever default was in the mechanism.

"Why did you feed from her?" Walsh asked Angel. "I thought you said you did not eat from humans."

"She offered herself to me," Angel replied simply. "And I have never been able to deny her anything." Willow gave Angel's waist a squeeze when he said that.

"The first time was the only time she offered. But what about when the two of you just had sex?"

 "We didn't have sex," Angel corrected the woman. "We made love. And I bit her because she is my mate, that is, if she wants to be." Walsh looked on as Angel's gaze shifted from her to the red head at his side. Willow smiled up at him, her love and happiness evident on her face.

 "Of course I do." Angel leaned down and gave Willow a deep kiss.

 "How touching," Walsh sneered. The affection between the couple was making her sick. She couldn't understand how a seemingly bright girl, who was aware of the true nature of vampires, would give of herself so willingly to one of them. She was disgusted at that notion.

 "What now, Walsh?" Willow questioned, taking her strength from the man at her side. "Is this where you threaten to kill us if we don't answer your damn questions? Or do you and Riley not bother with getting your hands dirty and just leave it to someone else?"

"Oh no, the two of you are much to valuable as subjects to be injured in anyway. There are too many questions to be answered."

 She smiled as she watched Willow and Angel look over to where the door to the room was opening. She knew what the couple was seeing. Forrest and Graham stood in the doorway, waiting for Riley to enter first. All three had some kind of gun in their hands. Angel pushed Willow behind her, shielding her body with his. Riley stepped forward, motioning for the other two to grab Angel.

 "It's time to go loverboy," Riley said. "Tell the little lady goodbye." Forrest and Graham grabbed Angel's arms and the vampire tried his hardest to resist, but then the pain from the implant came back, causing him to howl in outrage.

"Angel!" Willow screamed, running over to her lover, trying to get him free from the two commandos. "Let him go, damn it." Forrest pushed Willow away, causing her to fall and hit her head on the wall. Angel watched as the woman he loved slipped into unconsciousness.

"No, Willow," he shouted, afraid for the red head. He watched helplessly as Riley went over to her, checking her pulse.

 "She'll be fine, but that could easily change if you don't begin to cooperate." Angel saw the look on the man's face and realized that he was more than willing to kill Willow if Angel didn't do as they asked. He stopped his struggles and allowed himself to be led out of the room, glancing back at the small form on the floor. (I will get us out of this, my love. I promise.)

*****

 Anya was wandering the park, trying to calm herself down. She had just had another fight with Xander and Buffy over the disappearance of Willow. It had been four days since anyone had heard anything from the hacker and Anya had a really bad feeling about it. She didn't understand how the hacker's friends could be so nonchalant about the fact that Willow has seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth.

"You know, you really shouldn't go taking walks alone at night, pet. It could be mighty dangerous here in Sunnyhell." An accented voice broke through Anya's thoughts and she stopped walking.

 Without even turning around to see her probable attacker, Anya replied, "Go away Spike. I am so not in the mood for you tonight." The blonde vampire was not used to his dinner talking back to him with anything other than fear and he was curious as to why Anya wasn't afraid of him.

 "And what kind of mood are you in for, Pet?"

 "The kind of mood that requires me to break things, preferably over the head of a very dense boy and a slayer," Anya replied as Spike moved to stand in front of her.

"And why is that?" Spike was intrigued. He knew that Anya and the slayer weren't close, but he had no idea that she was that angry with her.

"Why?" Anya replied. "You want to know why? Because the two of them are off happily doing whatever while their supposed best friend is missing. But do they care? Nooooo, they just want to go off and have a good time." It took a minute for Anya's words to filter into Spike's mind, but when they did he was reeling.

 "Wait a minute. Are you saying that Red is missing?"

"Duh. Guess not all vampires are stupid," Anya sarcastically replied. Spike growled at the obvious put down.

 "How long has she been gone?" He asked the former demon. Granted he may not like the slayer and her friends, they had a nasty tendency of screwing up his plans, but he had a healthy respect for the little witch that he had kidnapped last year. There was something about her that just made him like her, not romantically, but as a possible equal.

 "She's been gone four days, supposedly she went out of town, but no one has heard from her since," Anya stated, her anger slowly dissipating at the look of worry that had unknowingly crossed Spike's face. She suddenly felt better when she realized that she wasn't the only one concerned at the hacker's disappearance.

 "Bloody hell, that doesn't sound like the Red that I know. She always told the slayer where she was going, that is, when she was actually going somewhere."

 "Exactly," Anya agreed. "Now you see why I'm worried. And Xander and Buffy just keep telling me that I'm overreacting. But I'm not. I just have this really bad feeling that something has happened to her."

 "Those two are bloody clueless," Spike told the girl. "So, what are you planning on doing about it?"

 "I'm trying to find out some information, but I'm not having much luck," Anya admitted. "I mean, I'm not that scary anymore, considering I don't have my powers."

"Well, then, allow me to offer my services," Spike offered his arm to the teenager.

 "And why would you want to help me find Willow?" Anya questioned, not sure why she thought she could trust the vampire.

"Because, she actually treated me pretty decently, even though I was threatening to kill her," Spike answered truthfully. "Not many have her kind of courage and it would be a shame to see something happen to it." Anya nodded her head at the same time as she took Spike's offered arm.

"In that case, let's go find us a red headed witch." The vampire and former vengeance demon walked off in search of Willow.

********

Los Angeles

"So, what say you and me take advantage of the boss being gone and go have us a good time?" Doyle asked Cordelia, who just rolled her eyes.

"No thanks. I already have plans tonight," she told the Irishman. "Me and Dennis have a date with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire."

 "You're turning me down to watch a movie with a ghost," Doyle feigned injury. "I'm hurt."

"Oh please, like I'm gonna buy that bit." Doyle grinned at the brunette who was busy gathering her things so that she could head home for a night of mindless entertainment and ice cream. The bantering between the two of them had become common and they both enjoyed it, although Cordelia refused to admit it.

"Fine, I see how it is,' Doyle conceded. "By the way, speaking of the boss, have you heard from him since he left to go back to Sunnydale."

"No," Cordelia admitted, "but he said that he had a feeling that Willow was really going through a tough time with the whole Oz leaving thing, so he's probably trying to cheer her up."

"So that's what they call it nowadays,' Doyle grinned.

"Mind out of the gutter, Doyle," Cordelia admonished. "He's her friend and she's hurting. He's just helping her get through a rough patch."

"Yeah and it has nothing to do with the fact that Angel has a major thing for her?" Cordelia just stared at the half-demon. "Oh come on, you have to have noticed how he gets this happy face whenever he gets an email from her. I mean, if he could get any higher, he would be in the clouds." Cordelia thought about it for a minute, remembering how Angel had reacted to Willow's messages, especially after he found out about Oz cheating on her with that other werewolf. He was ready to go and hunt down the boy for hurting Willow the way he did.

"Okay," she conceded, "maybe he does have a thing for her. That doesn't mean that he is going to act on those feelings. I mean, he is Angel and this is Willow. Between his brooding and her shyness, they would never admit that they liked each other."

"I see your point. Especially after what happened to her with that wolf boy." Suddenly Doyle's hands flew to his head as a sharp pain entered his mind. Cordelia flew to his side, supporting his weight with her own. Images and feelings passed through Doyle's mind, letting him know exactly where the trouble was. Then the pain and the images were gone.

"Whiskey," he whispered. Cordelia went over to the cabinet and pulled out the bottle of liquor that was kept there for times when Doyle got his visions. He took a long sip, the vision bothering him more than the others that he had. Once the whiskey started taking effect, Doyle looked over at Cordelia, concern clearly evident on her face.

"What did you see?" She asked, worried. She had never seen Doyle so affected by one of his visions before.

"Angel and Willow were being chased by a group of soldiers." Doyle heard Cordelia's gasp. "There were two others with them. We've got to get to Sunnydale and quick."

Cordelia nodded, quickly grabbing her purse. "I'm driving," she said and Doyle didn't argue. He knew that if they wanted to get to Sunnydale quickly, the fastest way was to let Cordelia drive. And they had to get there fast. He saw the worried frown that had made its way to Cordelia's face over the fact that two of her friends were in trouble. He gave her a quick kiss.

"Don't worry, princess. We'll get them out of whatever jam they are in and then everything will be just fine," Doyle reassured the girl, although he wasn't exactly sure if that was true. There was something in his vision that he hadn't told the former cheerleader. That was the fact that the people that should have been there protecting Willow weren't going to help them search for her. In fact, they were going to turn their backs on the red head just when she needs them the most.
 
 
 

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