Cordelia Must Die

By missmorganpryce

Prologue


Lilah runs down the hall panting for breath. Leaning against a door, she removes her hand from the hole in her belly and looks despairingly at the blood on her fingers. If Angelus doesn’t manage to kill her, the blood loss will finish the job. She starts to limp towards the staircase. She needs to get downstairs, find Cordelia, call Wesley, get out before Angelus gets up---

A hand abruptly grabs her by the neck. Angelus! Lilah gasps and blinks, seeing… Cordelia?

"He’s going to kill us," rasps Lilah. It had been Cordelia the whole time, hadn’t it? The Beast’s mistress? Cordelia’s acting was much better than Lilah gave her credit for.

Cordelia pulls out a large ornate dagger and runs her eyes up and down the blade. With a satisfied smirk, she stabs Lilah in the neck, piercing a vein, letting her lifeblood drip out of her body as Lilah falls to the floor. The last words she hears are Cordelia’s, cruel and mocking. Fitting last words, considering that Lilah had lived her life that way.

"You stupid bitch. Why do you think I let him out?"

One: The Mission

Lilah does not expect to wake up on a very nice Armani leather couch, in an empty room painted soft tones of beige with dark corners. There are no doors or windows.

She lies still for some moments, recalling Cordelia and the dagger. She touches her neck and feels the holes the dagger made. The Beast inflicted wound is still raw and oozing, but no longer aches.

"Hello? If this is Hell, where’s the welcoming party? The fire and brimstone, Ole’ Scratch and his pitchfork?" calls out Lilah.

No response.

"Am I destined to live for eternity in a box? Hey, it could be worse."

She hears a chuckle, and a figure emerges from the shadows.

"I knew it," says Lilah, "my first experience in Hell would have to be seeing you again."

Linwood attempts to stare her down, as he did in the old days. Like in the old days, it does not work.

"Hello to you too, Lilah."

Linwood is wearing the same suit he was wearing the day Lilah chopped off his head. His shirt collar does not hide the place where his head meets his neck. Linwood catches her staring.

"Looks like you got the crap beaten out of you," says Linwood with a smirk. "By a vampire no less. Was it our friend Angel?"

Lilah fingers her neck again.

"Angel didn’t kill me. The evil cheerleader did."

"And that brings us to why you are sitting in a room instead of being introduced to your accommodations for the next eternity or so. There is a problem," says Linwood.

"What, I got into Heaven? I’m being transferred?"

"Lilah, something very wrong has happened. Miss Chase and the Beast should have never destroyed Wolfram and Hart. Sadly to say, you weren’t supposed to die either. Something’s gone wrong in the cosmic order of
things."

Linwood paces across the room and continues.

"As you may or may not know, there is more than one reality existing at any given point in time. To tell us more about this is your favorite co-worker, Gavin."

Gavin enters the room from the shadows and smirks at Lilah. He has pale, dead skin and blemishes all over his skin, blood splattered on his clothes; the look of a zombie.

"So nice to see you again, Lilah. I knew we’d always work together again in the end."

"Gavin, get to the point please. You’re probably wasting time that could be better spent licking Hell’s public relations representative," says Lilah sweetly.

Gavin grimaces and begins.

"There are multiple realities existing at once. They are identical realities that may or may not be running the same as our own. Apparently one of the Powers committed the unforgivable offence of tearing open a portal between our reality and another, and the events have blended."

"So you’re saying that in another reality, Wolfram and Hart is meant to be destroyed, and everyone killed, but someone interfered and did it to our reality as well?"

"Yes. When Cordelia went to join the Powers, she was persuaded to join this plot by one of them, who’s known as ‘Jasmine’ for her supposedly sweet personality. Cordelia was to prepare this reality for her, and
then Jasmine would descend and rule over it."

"And in Wolfram and Hart’s best interests this cannot happen," interjects Linwood.

"But we’re not allowed to turn back the clock and erase the events. We need to eliminate Cordelia before she succeeds in preparing the world for Jasmine. If we can kill Cordelia before she finishes, Jasmine will not be able to come to this reality. She needs Cordelia to draw her here," explains Gavin.

"You come in here," says Linwood. "You’ve survived longest with Angel and his little friends, and the Beast. Hell, you want revenge more than anyone else, and you’re getting a chance to accomplish that. So you’re going back down there. Your mission: you’re going to kill Cordelia and no one’s going to see you do it. There is to be no Wolfram and Hart connection. So be discreet. If you do well, you may manage to be promoted from filling tax returns for eternity." Linwood tightly smiles at her.

And before Lilah can utter a word in protest or consent, she is gone.

~

Lilah wakes up again, this time in a very uncomfortable place. It is dark and dank, and tight, and she momentarily panics when she feels plastic wrapped around her face and body. Desperately trying to breathe, she manages to tighten the plastic, but relaxes when she does suffocate.

She is in a grave. The clump of dirt in her eye confirms this. Lilah frees her hands and begins the slow and tedious job of digging her way out her tomb, trying not to become hysterical. She has been through so much today: a chase to a death by the hands of Cordelia, a trip to Hell, and being trapped under six feet of dirt is enough to make a girl frantic.

It takes hours for her to clear enough dirt to push her hand through the surface of the ground. Her fingers, broken and bleeding, clear a wide enough tunnel for her to drag her dead body out of its resting-place.

Lilah has never been so glad to see a tree.

She does not know how much time has passed since her death. Time in Hell may pass differently. One thing is for sure; the sun is still out.

Lilah takes in the scenery. Her gravesite is quite attractive, a narrow cliff overlooking a stormy sea. A half-buried object catches her attention. She picks it up and sees that it is a plaque, simply engraved with ‘Lilah.’

Tears form in Lilah’s eyes as she contemplates the plaque. Too much care had been exercised in the choice of location and the plaque. Wesley must have taken her body here and buried her.

Lilah banishes thoughts of Wesley from her mind and tries to focus on the object at hand: Cordelia’s imminent death.

~

Her dead body walks slower than her live one. It takes hours until she finds a deserted gas station, with several cars still by the pumps.

She slides into one, and sees the keys in the ignition, the wheel still clutched by the driver in a death grip. A pretty blonde young woman with still open brown eyes. Lilah pries the dead hands off the wheel and dumps the body on the pavement.

When she drives out of the gas station, she hears a crunch, and realizes that she has driven over the body.

~

Lilah drives around aimlessly, unsure of her where to head. She finds herself drawn to the Hyperion Hotel. Like a ghost, she wryly thinks. She stops the car a few blocks away and leans back in the seat.

The city is quiet. No cars, no dogs barking, people talking. Just a cool night with a full moon.

Lilah does not know what to do now. She needs information and help. But she is not allowed to have contact with anyone. This will be tricky.

She closes her eyes and starts to think of a plan devious enough, sophisticated enough, and just good enough to work.

Two: Lurking In The Shadows

Lilah learns about patience in the long hours that she spends quietly sitting and waiting, watching the hotel from the shadows in the street. This is where it all began, this is where it all will end, and this is where it all will happen.

The night drags on and Lilah still waits. And finally, she gets a break. Five shadowy figures, three men and two women, leave the hotel, heavily armed and huddled together. Lilah counts the seconds until they turn a corner, then slips into the Hyperion through the front door.

She heads over to the computer and goes online, checking a news website. It has been ten days since she has died. Lilah does not understand how ten days could have passed, it seems as if only hours ago she had been on the third floor with a dagger to her throat. She must have been dead, as in really dead, for a while.

The website tells of the abandoning of Los Angeles, and the evacuation of those who would not leave voluntarily. A murderous serial killer is on the loose, a man who is bold enough to attack large groups and leave
a bath of blood wherever he goes. It must be Angelus, thinks Lilah.

Lilah pokes around the office, but does not find anything interesting. She makes her way up the stairs and walks to Cordelia’s room. Maybe there is something Cordelia needs desperately that she can steal. The door is locked, but a well-placed kick opens it.

She goes over to the chest of drawers and begins throwing clothes all over the floor. Nothing unusual is found in the drawers, save for a bizarre pair of neon green panties.

Lilah pulls up the mattress and rips up the pillows, and scatters feathers on the carpet. In frustration, she pulls a large picture off the bare wall, and tosses it to the floor.

Glaring at the sparse, messy room, she cannot think of where else to look. Angrily, she steps on the painting, and notices a glint of gold. She bends down and pulls the back off the frame, and discovers a large ruby on a gold chain and a piece of parchment covered in runes.

"I don’t think this is a gift and letter from her ex-boyfriend," Lilah dryly says to the empty tomb of a room.

A sudden noise startles her and she hears voices from downstairs. Hastily, she runs out into the hall and opens a large window, and jumps. She’s dead already, jumping out of a window won’t do any more harm she presumes. The landing in the bushes produces a few more scratches to add to her multitude of bruises.

She returns to her car and decides to leave the area, study her discoveries and decide on a course of action.

~

Lilah considers the parchment and necklace in her hands. She needs to have these runes translated. Wesley could do it, but how would she retrieve the translation? Longingly, she remembers the spy devices that Gavin had installed in the Hyperion a year ago. Angel has never found out about them. Maybe she can reactivate them somehow, or install new ones?

The cameras and recorders had been purchased from a small, discreet shop tucked in a corner of Melrose. Lilah finds herself there in a matter of minutes. With no one on the roads, she goes well over fifty miles, just because she can. Speeding through yet another meaningless stoplight, she neatly stops the car and exits. The shop is still there, untouched by looters, and she breaks open the window and enters.

The cameras are easy to find, and the instructions are surprisingly comprehensible. They are combination camera/sound recorders, the size of a walnut, with a handheld screen to transmit data to. Just what she is
looking for.

Her next stop is a pharmacy. Lilah is experienced in the way of drugs, and finds the tranquilizers without any effort. She selects a liquid form guaranteed to knock someone out quickly, similar to the type used in mental asylums. She fills a few syringes and takes the rest of the bottle along with some extra needles.

From Home Depot, Lilah lugs long chains out to her car, some locks and a fine toothed saw. On the counter here she spots a loaded gun, in the hands of a rotting corpse and takes it along as an afterthought.

Mission complete, Lilah drives back to her shelter in the shadow of the Hyperion. She pens a note to the Fang Gang, written in a different handwriting to make sure Wesley cannot recognize it. In clear block letters the note reads "Angelus was spotted in a bar in West LA and will be there for another hour at least. Hurry."

She places the note on a step and throws a rock at the glass door. It shatters with a startlingly sharp sound, so loud in the silence of the shadows. Lilah retreats into the darkness and watches as the door opens and a crossbow is shoved out, then Lorne’s head appears. He notices the note, picks it up, and with a quick muffled conversation, all of the group leaves, hurrying towards their SUV, and drive away.

Lilah watches the disappearing exhaust fumes from the car with satisfaction and enters the hotel alone.

Efficiently she assembles the cameras, placing one above Wesley’s desk, one in the corner of Cordelia’s room and the last by the front entrance. Lilah doubts that anyone will suspect listening devices when Angelus is on the loose. She places the parchment on Wesley’s desk and goes upstairs to check out the status of Cordelia’s room again.

It has been cleaned up. Lilah deliberately ransacks the room again. Maybe someone will wonder why Cordelia’s room is being searched, and wonder what she has to hide.

She leaves the hotel and slips into the shadows, idly waiting for them to return.

But they do not return first. Lilah watches as a dark haired man strolls over to the hotel and notices the note.

"I'm at a bar in West LA? Funny, it seems like I have a lookalike buddy."

Lilah freezes momentarily as she realizes it is Angelus. He is holding a human head by its long black hair, blood still dripping from the neck. She stands completely still. She has no heartbeat or breathing and she smells like a dead body, so hopefully he will not notice her. Angelus opens the door and enters without a glance in her direction. Lilah flees to her car and pretends to be a lifeless corpse.

A couple of minutes later he leaves the hotel, without the head, and casually heads down the street. Lilah waits until he is a block away, and turns the car on. She steps on the gas and catches up to him within seconds. Angelus turns his head at the roar of the engine, but he is caught unaware. Blinded by the high beams, he tries to run, but Lilah hits him at forty miles head-on. The car ploughs into a wall, crushing Angelus between metal and brick.

Lilah reverses the car and prepares to run him over again. Sure, the front of her car is totaled and she is in pain from the collision, but it is all worth it just to hurt Angelus.

But Angelus does not appear to need to be run over again. He is lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious, bleeding heavily. Just to make sure he really is unconscious, Lilah shoots him through the chest. There is no reaction.

Lilah grins and exits the car to check on her victim. Finally she has Angel in the position she has wanted him for ages: defenseless and injured. She can stake him right now and visit him in Hell. Or, she decides, she can wrap him up and give him to Wesley as a gift.

Lilah decides on the latter.

As a precaution, she ties him up with the chains that had been meant for Cordelia, and injects him with enough tranquilizers that would kill a human. He will not be waking up for a long time.

Then she drags his limp body into the Hyperion and deposits him on the circular couch. She stands back to survey her work. Angelus looks like someone has beaten the hell out of him. And she has done it all by herself. Being able to hurt Angelus in this way makes her feel just a little bit better about being dead.

Lilah cannot wait to hear what they will say when they walk in and discover Angelus trussed up like an animal.

She turns to vacate the hotel, leaving behind her gifts to Wesley, and melts into the shadows again. Now officially a creature of the night, she lurks in the darkness, waiting for his return.

Three: First Plan

The look on Cordelia’s face is priceless, Lilah decides, watching the group re-enter the hotel on her screen. First anger, then replaced by fear, Lilah knows Cordelia is trying to determine who is behind this all, undermining her plans.

Shots ring out as Gunn and Wesley simultaneously shoot Angelus with even more tranquilizers. That guy will not be waking up for a year, Lilah thinks.

"Oh my God," says Fred, lowering her weapon and going closer to the vampire. Gunn immediately pulls her back.

"Fred, he could be faking it again!" Gunn tells her.

Fred pushes him away.

"Faking that he got driven over by a bulldozer? I don’t think so."

"I don’t think we should care how he came to be here. Let’s get him downstairs."

Wesley’s voice comes over the connection loud and clear and makes Lilah’s heart beat faster… a figure of speech, as Lilah’s heart does not beat.

Lilah watches them lug Angelus downstairs to his cage, their voices getting lower as they move away from the recorders.

Cordelia runs up to her room again, and Lilah smugly smiles at her retreating figure.

"So Angelus really wasn’t at a bar, was he?" muses Lorne, "Which means someone lured us out the hotel to drop him off for us."

"We have a friend in the night," says Cordelia from the balcony sarcastically.

Wesley clomps up the basement stairs and goes to his desk, slumping in his chair. Lilah refocuses that camera and zooms into his face for a second.

He picks up the parchment and examines it closely. Lilah sees him shifting into research mode.

Cordelia hurries down the stairs to see what has Wesley so enthralled. She noticeably pales when she realizes that he is holding the parchment that had been in her room.

"Looks like our guest didn’t only drop off Angelus," Wesley murmurs.

Lilah smiles and silently cheers him on.

Cordelia runs up to her room once more, and Lilah switches screens to see what’s going on up there.

The door slams shut loudly, and Lilah winces at the sound, turning the dial to ‘medium.’ Cordelia grabs what Lilah took to be a crystal ball paperweight, sits down and closes her eyes.

"This is not the time for yoga," says Lilah chidingly, peering at the screen.

The globe starts to glow the same shade of eerie green as the panties Lilah found in her room. It rises out of Cordelia’s hands. Lilah hums along with the glowing globe. Cordelia’s eyes fly open, and they are pure white, just like they were when Cordelia had the vision telling them how to restore Angel’s soul.

A voice issues from Cordelia’s lips. But it is not Cordelia’s voice; it is soft and soothing, almost loving.

"My dear, what’s wrong now?"

Now Cordelia speaks.

"They’re gone."

Cordelia’s voice hisses like a snake.

"The ruby and the spells are gone. Have you seen anything? Do you know who did it? Who brought us Angelus?"

The soft voice is soothing, even to Lilah, but the words chill her.

"One who is dead."

"You mean a vampire?" hisses Cordelia.

"Not necessarily," says the voice lovingly.

"Who else do I know who’s dead? Jasmine, tell me."

The soft voice comes from Cordelia again.

"Dear, you’ll have to look into yourself for answers. But be careful. She will be coming to see you soon."

"Can you muster up anything a little more vague?" Cordelia spits out angrily.

"Cordelia, my child, your anger will destroy you in the end. Soothe yourself. It will be alright."

The voice pauses, and Cordelia’s lips are still.

"She is out for your blood. I know no more. I will discuss this with my First. Oh, and Cordelia, your efforts are not in vain. The Hellmouth plan is successful so far, so even if Los Angeles does not fall completely, it will work out satisfactorily. "

The globe flashes with light and drops to the floor, and Lilah ponders all she has heard.
~

Cordelia stays in her room for hours. Lilah alternates between watching Cordelia and Wesley. Wesley is immersed in the parchment, and already is making headway. He determines that these spells were used to remove the sun.

Cordelia seems to be deciding what to do now. She paces in her room, back and forth, wearing out a track in the carpet. By the sixth hour in the dark morning, it seems that Cordelia decides on a plan.

She goes downstairs and announces she has had a vision.

The gang crowds around her as she describes what they will need to bring the sun back.

"Now that we have the spell, we’re going to need – Gunn, trust me, it’ll work this time."

"Cordy, I’m not saying I don’t trust you, but remember that vision telling us how to restore Angel’s soul?"

"That was different," insists Cordelia.

"We had nothing before but my vision to lead us on, and now we have the spell. We just need some things to make it work. The Powers are on our side."

Lilah smiles sadly.

"No, they’re not."

But the Fang Gang takes Cordelia’s words to heart and disperse confidently to find the objects needed. Now that Angelus is locked up, the Beast isn’t nearly as scary. Wesley stays behind to mind Angelus and continue translating.

Cordelia has left with the group as well, and Lilah begins to wonder what the plan is. Cordelia answers her by doubling back to the hotel and knocking Wesley out from behind with a crowbar. Angelus is still unconscious.

She enters the lobby and Lilah watches her stand in the pentagram still painted on the lobby floor. She holds the globe and begins to chant again, but Lilah cannot stand the wait any longer. She’s going to kill Cordelia, it will be okay if Cordelia sees her murderer.

Lilah hides the car in an alley, and walks back to the hotel.

She interrupts Cordelia in the middle of her conversation with herself.

"Always nice to see old friends again, isn’t it?" says Lilah.

Cordelia’s white eyes turn to her and Lilah meets her empty gaze. Cordelia puts the globe down and shakes her head. The color is restored to her eyes.

"You," says Cordelia with a touch of fear in her voice.

"Me," agrees Lilah with a smile.

"So you were the one who caught Angelus. What were you hoping, that he would jump on us and have a blood bath? Cuz that was my plan."

Lilah continues to smile.

"You’ve come back to get your revenge, haven’t you? Bitches like you never learn."

Lilah is knocked to the floor by a swift kick from Cordelia. Cordelia grabs her head and leans in close to whisper in her ear.

"Now that you’re dead you really won’t be that hard to take down in a fight. Not like it was hard the first time."

Lilah lies still as Cordelia slaps her around a little.

"Not revenge," says Lilah with a fake smile, "just wanna know why."

"You came back from the dead to find out why I killed you? That is so pitiful. I expected more out of you."

"Well, actually the firm wants to know, but hey, let’s not quibble on specifics."

Cordelia grabs her by the wrists and drags her body to the basement door.

"I guess I’ll just make sure your dead body’s really dead-"

Cordelia drops Lilah’s wrists as she feels a needle penetrate her wrist. She tries to shake Lilah off, but Lilah drags her to the ground and forces the rest of the contents of the syringe into her arm.

Cordelia responds by kicking Lilah with enough force to propel her across the floor. Lilah gets up, pulls another syringe out of her pocket and attacks Cordelia with it.

Cordelia’s attempts to fend off her attack are clumsy. The drug is not taking complete effect. It must be the demon in her, realizes Lilah.

But sluggish is good too, and Lilah barely manages to drag her to the couch and chain her up like she had done to Angelus. Weakly, she sits down in a chair in front of her.

"Cordelia, it looks like I have the upper hand now. Why don’t you tell me about your little ploy to take over the world and I’ll see what I can do about sparing your life?"

"I don’t believe you." Cordelia spits the words out at her.

Lilah kneels in front of her.

"Cordelia, Wolfram and Hart has always had this policy of not killing Angel. And even though I could have killed him I never did. Wolfram and Hart doesn’t want you killed as well, and since I’m putty in their hands right now, I think I’m going to listen."

Lilah keeps an emotionless face throughout her speech. If Cordelia thinks she is going to kill her, she will probably go to the grave with her secrets. Wolfram and Hart might give her extra points for finding out the motivation and plans.

Cordelia considers her words.

"Although if you don’t talk they said it’s ok to kill you. They’ll interrogate you in Hell instead, and let me tell you, if you think it’s bad here… And as a bonus, I won’t tell your beloved friends about you."

This convinces Cordelia and she glares at Lilah.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, I don’t really need a motive. World domination is always a biggie. So how ‘bout you tell me about how it was going to happen?"

"Basically, one of the Powers was going to harness the power of all the Hellmouths and create a field of energy that could trap the world. The other Hellmouths aren’t so heavily guarded, so she’s focusing on Sunnydale."

"What is she doing in Sunnydale? Who’s her First?" Lilah remembers the reference from spying on Cordelia’s conversation.

"The First isn’t a Power, but he’s really strong as well. He’s sort of a king of the dead. He can appear as anyone who has died. He wanted to up his status up there. His goal is the spread of evil-wait that sounds just like Wolfram and Hart- but Jasmine doesn’t mind sharing."

"L.A. isn’t a Hellmouth though."

"No, but I’m here, and she needs me to anchor her to this reality, so she’s decided to make this her headquarters. Anything else?"

"Why this reality?"

Cordelia stared at her.

"How do you know so much already?"

"I was briefed."

"The Powers claim realities for themselves, and Jasmine wants one too. She wants a world she could rule and manipulate the way she wants. Technically there is supposed to be at least one reality that is not tampered with, and this was it. Now there aren’t any untampered realities left, it could get messier."

"Aren’t there infinite realities?" asks Lilah.

"It gets confusing," admits Cordelia, "sort of, but not really. I don’t quite get it."

Lilah considers this information for a long moment. Abruptly, Cordelia rises and shakes off her chains.

"It was nice talking to you," she sneers as she goes for the kill.

Lilah is caught off guard. She must not have chained her properly. Cordelia wrestles her to the floor and bangs her head on the marble repeatedly, hoping to crack her skull it seems.

Each bang makes a noise, which becomes rhythmic after a while. With the pounding in her head, Lilah almost can hear voices.

Cordelia must die, they demand. Cordelia must die, they scream. Cordelia must die, they whisper.

The pounding in her head increases, each pound accompanied by ‘Cordelia must die.’

Cordelia must die, and Lilah must kill her. She breaks away from Cordelia and drags her weak body across the floor. Her fingers come into contact with the paperweight that Cordelia had used to speak to Jasmine. She lifts it up and brings it down onto Cordelia’s forehead. Once, twice, three times, each time lessens the pounding voices in her mind, until Cordelia lies motionless on the floor with blood pouring from her head.

Lilah drops to the floor in pain, both physical and emotional, and everything she has been holding in since her death comes pouring out in torrents. Sobs rack her throat and reduce her to a quivering shape on the bloody floor.

Lilah cries for the pain she is going through, for the life she should still have, for Wesley, for everyone.

She sits next to Cordelia’s unmoving body and laments her fate in this world, salty tears running down her cold cheeks, washing away the last of the whispers that murmur ‘Cordelia must die."

It is over.

Four: There & Back Again


It has only been minutes, but Lilah feels like hours have passed. Slowly, the tears stop and she calms herself down. She has accomplished her mission. Will Wolfram and Hart pull her back to Hell immediately?

She listens to the silence around her. There are three dead bodies in the hotel, including hers and Angelus’.

Wesley might wake up soon. Lilah pulls her dead self off the ground, looking disdainfully at her bloodied clothes.

Lilah goes down to the basement and surveys the unconscious men.

She picks up the crowbar Cordelia used and raises it over Wesley’s neck-

"Sorry Wes, but this is for your own good-" and brings it down on him again, ensuring his silence.

Angelus gets tranqued yet again, and she haltingly drags each man out of the basement, out of the hotel, onto the sidewalk.

Barely able to walk anymore, she returns to the hotel and scoops up the paperweight, ruby and parchment.

The ruby is eerily glowing as it seems to suck a thin stream of red light from Cordelia’s dead body. This must have been the power source for Cordelia, thinks Lilah, and now that she is dead the power is returning to it. As she clutches the ruby, her hand absorbs some of the light, giving her a little more energy, enough to strike a match and fling it onto Cordelia.

The flames eat the body up like it was made of flammable material, and flicks of fire travel on the blood as fast as oil.

Lilah watches the flames consume the lobby in a burst of glory, and leaves when the heat gets too close.

She kneels by Wesley’s still body and deposits her treasures into his arms. Leaning over him, she kisses his warm cheek with her cold lips.

Then she staggers as far away she can get before her body collapses in the gutter. Dimly she sees the rest of the Fang Gang return, their cries and screams as the fire guzzles up the hotel. They find Wesley and Angelus on the floor and Lilah drifts off with Fred’s agonizing scream wafting in the smoky air.

"Cordy!"

~

Lilah does not expect to wake up in the street. She should be back in Hell by now, she’s completed her mission.

The sun is shining. She feels the warmth kiss her pale cheeks and shoo away the dark.

Lilah turns her head and sees the looming burnt hulk of the Hyperion. There is no one around.

She drags herself to her feet and wonders when she will be yanked back to Hell. What game are they playing with her, letting her stay reanimated for a little while longer? Maybe this is a token reward. Maybe the ruby affected her.

Suddenly, Lilah remembers her empty grave. What if Wesley comes upon it one day? He would worry and think someone stole her body, or that she really isn’t dead. Lilah doesn’t think she will be resurrected anytime
soon, and until that happens, he should move on with his life.

So Lilah decides that she should cover her grave, maybe even lie back down in it. The car is still parked in the alley.

~

By the time Lilah reaches her gravesite, the sun has set. She gets to work filling in the holes she created when she dug her way out. She is almost finished when she hears Gunn’s voice.

"This is a nice place."

Lilah stiffens and jumps to her feet. Why are they here?

But Gunn is further down the cliff, with Fred, Lorne, Angel, Wesley, what looks like an urn and some shovels. They must be here to bury what’s left of Cordelia.

She watches from behind the trees as they silently dig a small hole and almost reverently place the urn in it. Then they stand silently and stare at the mini grave in the ground.

Angel breaks the silence.

"Why wasn’t Cordelia dragged out of the hotel too? Why?"

"Maybe there wasn’t enough time," says Fred tearfully. "At least you two were saved."

Wesley stands somberly looking at the grave.

"You do know that we have no idea even now why someone removed the sun and released the Beast," he says softly.

"You did a good job restoring Angel’s soul," Fred says meekly.

"And Angel did a good job killing that big bad hunk of rock with that big shiny ruby," says Lorne, staggering to a tree to hold onto. It is obvious that he is very drunk. "Who’s got it now?"

Wesley holds it up.

"I have all three items. Why they left us a paperweight…" his voice trails off.

They will never know that Cordelia was the bad one, realizes Lilah. She will let them have that peace of mind. They don’t seem to have anything else.

Angel bends to the ground and touches the urn.

"Bye Cordy."

A sob breaks from his throat.

Gunn silently begins piling dirt onto the urn.

"What are we going to do about Wolfram and Hart?" asks Gunn gently.

"Nothing," says Angel angrily. "Screw them. We don’t need them."

Lilah’s ears perk up. Wolfram and Hart? No one and nothing is left of that place.

"They offered it to us. We need to give them an answer before they stop waiting and kill us instead."

"We’re at Cordelia’s funeral and this is all you can think of!" yells Angel.

Lilah has heard enough. Wolfram and Hart must be up and running again, and that is where she should go next.

She sees Wesley break away from the shouting match that has started between Gunn and Angel and walk towards her grave. Thank goodness she has covered it up again.

He stands there and looks at the grass.

"Just wondering how many more people I care about are going to die," he says bitterly.

"No more deaths for you," whispers Lilah. "I think it’ll get better."

She blows him a kiss from a distance and leaves behind an empty grave and an urn.

~

Wolfram and Hart indeed has come back, along with traffic and howling dogs. She enters the building. It is not much different than before. She stands in the lobby for a minute or two, taking it all in. A voice comes from behind.

"Your fingernails aren’t so pretty anymore."

Lilah whirls around and sees a young woman walking towards her. Where has she heard similar words before?

"Angel really did end up killing you, huh? Not for me, though."

"You’re from the White Room," states Lilah.

"You remember me? I’m flattered. All growed up now."

"Sorta hard to forget," Lilah says ruefully. "So what do they call you, little girl?"

The woman smiles. "Eve. Isn’t that great?"

"You just can’t wait to corrupt everyone can you?"

"Personal bit of thanks from me. I had issues with that Beast."

"You’re welcome. No big deal. Why are you here?"

"I’m going to be the liaison between the Partners and Angel Investigations when they take over this firm."

"You mean if," says Lilah.

"I mean when," says Eve with a wicked grin.

Eve gestures to Lilah to follow her and they enter an elevator.

"So you’ve made your way back here after saving the world. Just like the Partners said you would."

"Out of curiosity, what would have happen if I never came back?" asks Lilah.

"Your body would have rotted away. Reanimated corpses tend to decompose quickly. I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long."

Lilah glances down at her hands. They are grayish with pieces of skin flaking off. The energy from the ruby must have rejuvenated her a little.

"So what happens now?"

The elevator doors open onto a gray room with many doors. Eve opens one and Lilah follows her. They are in a long hallway with many more doors.

Eve halts in front of a metal door with a tiny glass window.

"You’re lucky. Get in."

"Why am I so lucky?"

Eve opens the door with a clang.

"Your body is going to be preserved. The Partners sometimes need someone to do a little dirty work. If you’re good, they may pick you sometime."

Lilah backs away.

"I’m going to be trapped in a small room for eternity until they might need me? Nu uh."

"Weren’t you heard saying that there were worse things than being trapped in a box for eternity? No, just your body. The rest of you will be heading back to Hell. They have a lot of paperwork to do."

Lilah steps into the cramped space and faces the window.

Eve slams the door on her and smiles through the window.

"Enjoy," she mouths at Lilah.

Lilah closes her eyes and feels herself drifting away. The evil lawyer has saved the world and helped the hopeless. She has really made a difference, a good one, even if it was for selfish reasons. Maybe they’ll
take this into account….

Lilah doesn’t know where she’ll wake up this time, but she is ready for whatever they have in store. As she leaves her body, her last thought etches a permanent smile on her face. Who knows, she might be back someday, bigger, better and shinier, just like Wolfram and Hart has returned. There are always possibilities.

~Fin~