Cordy was weak, she tried to move but her body would not respond, she had 
lost a large amount of blood, her clothes were soaked, the smell sickened her.
She tried to see where she was but found she was having trouble focusing.  She 
realised that she wasn't alone when she was kicked in the back. A voice swam 
into her muddled mind. 

"Oh so our little watcher is awake is she, not to worry sweetie you'll soon 
have company." 

She heard footsteps moving away from her but she couldn't make out where they 
had gone.   The lights from a car swept over her and then the car stopped and 
the engine was turned off, she heard someone open the car door and get out. 
There was rustling and then the door was closed.  Footsteps came towards her.  
Cordy heard a gasp and heard a bag drop to the ground. 

"Cordy, what the hell happened? Can you hear me?" 

she realised that the voice belonged to Joyce. All Cordy could do was groan 
in response.   She wanted to tell her to run but the words wouldn't come. 

"Don't try to talk, I'm going to call the paramedics, I'll be right back." 

Joyce stood, and went to moved pass Cordy towards the door, but before she 
could open it she was grabbed by the waiting vampires. 

"That's very nice of you Mrs Summers but I'm afraid it's a little too late to 
save the watcher," Willow smiled at her in full game face. 


Angel, Spike ad Oz ran towards the summer's residence. As they rounded the 
corner they saw Joyce's car squealing out of the driveway and race away down 
the street. Rushing up to the porch of the house, they found a bag of groceries
spilt everywhere surrounded by a large pool of blood. 

"That's your watchers blood." Oz said sniffing the air, "And your mother was 
here too." 

"No shit Sherlock!" Spike snapped 

"That's enough Spike! There's no point taking it out on one another, we have 
to work together if we're going to save them both," Angel said, trying to keep 
the emotion out of his voice.   

"We need help Angel, the three of us can't do this alone." 

"We need Buffy." 

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


Buffy sat on the reception counter in the foyer of the large hotel reading.   
She heard them before she saw them and immediately knew that something was 
wrong.   Dumping her book on the counter, she dropped to her feet and walked 
towards the three men that had just entered. 

"Liam?" 

"Buffy...they've taken my mum and Cordy.." Angel gasped out of breath. 

"When?" 

"Cordy vanished earlier and when we got to the house they were just leaving 
with Joyce, we think Cordy was there too, her blood is all over the porch."
Spike answered. 

Buffy came over to Angel and hugged him. 

"Don't worry we'll get them back." 

"But we have to be prepared, they may be dead or worse..." Spike 
interrupted. 

"Ever the pessimist I see Spike. I don't think they'll kill either of them 
yet. Giles needs Cordy to get up to the surface, he'll keep your mom as a 
bargaining tool for the minute, so we still have time, but we have to hurry." 


"We better break out the big guns for this one, Spike." She said calling over 
to him,"The keys for the weapons locker are in my office, and you....Who are 
you?" she looked at Oz.

"Oz, I was rescued earlier tonight by the two of them." 

"Ok, well we need all the help we can get right now so you can stay, go with 
Spike and he'll show you where the protective gear is, better kit yourself out." 

"Liam?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Now is not the time to dwell on what's happened, this is not your fault, you 
can't protect everyone." 

"I wasn't even...." 

"Yeah, you were, don't forget I know you babe. I know exactly what's going on 
in the mind of yours. Right now I need for you to show me on the maps where 
you fought these vampires tonight ok?" 

"Yeah sure," Angel managed a smile for her. 

Quickly, they all set to work on their given tasks. Spike ferried an 
assortment of weapons in from the weapons locker and Oz found a flack 
jacket and put it on, it was a little on the large side but he didn't 
care as long as it did the job. 

Angel and Buffy tried to figure out the location of the vampires lair. They 
had a Pretty good idea where it was, but just in case they made a list of 
other locations not too far from the cemetery.  With a quick double check 
of their weapons they finally headed out an hour later. 

TBC