Giles Howled in pain and displeasure, like someone had ripped his unbeating heart
out of his chest.   Anything that wasn't nailed down was hurled across the cave in
his rage. The floor was covered in shards of glass and crumpled up pages of books.
  
Willow cowered on the floor in the corner. On the floor beside her, was the
motionless body of the bass player Anya had seduced earlier.  He wasn't dead yet,
but he may well wish he was when he awoke.   

"SLAYER!!!! I'm going to rip your heart out," Giles yelled, causing Faith to cover her
ears. 

Giles moved over to Willow and placed his hand on her head. He clenched his fist
enclosing a hand full of her bright red hair.  Then thinking the better of dragging
her up by it, he let go and cupped her chin with his hand lifting her face towards
him. 

"I know it wasn't your fault and I'm grateful for this pathetic excuse for a human
that you've brought for me, but we must move quickly now.  We can waste no more
time with these stupid books," he said, then turning to Faith,  "I know you've
studied hard but the time has come for action.  You must go above and find the
watcher. Make her help you. In the meantime..." he turned to the unconsious boy
on the floor, "He will have to take the place of the child we lost tonight." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Cordy blew the dust off the book she'd pulled down from the shelf. It was late, well
into the next day, and she was tired; but she really had to research the prophecy
about Giles' gaining access to the world they lived in. At the moment, he was stuck
below, but she had to figure out what the key was to his release. She only had two
more nights to figure it out. 

She was so occupied that she never heard the footsteps till it was too late. She
turned and found herself confronted by Willow, Faith and the newly made Xander.
The latter was eager to feed and already wore his game face.  

With as much calm as she could muster Cordy stood up. "And what can I do for
you?" 

Xander stepped towards her, "You can be lunch."   

Willow's arm shot out and held him back, "But first, we need to ask you a few
questions....." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Angel, Spike and Oz walked back to Angel's house. It was dark inside, but Joyce
had told them she would be working late, so they weren't concerned.  

In the kitchen, Angel hunted for a first aid kit and Spike put the kettle on to boil.
This made Angel snicker. He never thought he'd see the day Spike became
domesticated. 

Although it seemed to be healing already, Angel attended to Oz's neck wound "So
Oz... What's the story here?" 

"What do you mean?" Oz replied. 

"You're a werewolf right?" 

Oz was clearly shaken, "How'd you know?" 

"Just a guess. You were a werewolf in my....." Angel stopped and looked at Spike,
who raised his eyebrows. 

"It's a long story, and now is not the time. I think we should go check in with
Cordy." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The magic shop was shrouded in darkness.  That, in itself struck Angel as strange.
 They approached the door and found it ajar. Walking in, Angel called out to Cordy,
but his voice just echoed round the shop. 

Spike groped the wall for the light switch. Finding it, he flicked it on.  The scene
that met their eyes was devastating. Glass all over the floor, shelves over turned,
books strewn everywhere, and then there was the blood.....There were pools of
blood everywhere.  Angel rushed forward, searching for Cordy, or what was left of
her, but the shop was completely empty.  Angel wished he had his vampire sense of
smell now, for all the good it would do him. 

Spike started to pick up a book. "CHRIST!!!!! what the hell happened here?" 

Oz shook his head. He was feeling slightly queasy at the smell of all the blood.
"Looks like a massacre went down if you ask me."

Angel came over to him and guided him to the door. "This is really bad guys,
perhaps you should go home OZ."

"Nah, it's ok I rather be with you guys anyhow." 

"Ok, well I think we should maybe tidy this place up a bit and try find some clues as
to what went on.  If Cordy's still alive, we need to move quickly." 

"Agreed." 


TBC