Previously on Angel:

Angel: You Denver?

Denver: No other cat but me.

Denver: A vampire wanting to slay a demon in order to help some grubby humans? I just don't get it.

Thesulac: There is an entire hotel here full of tortured souls who could really use your help.

Angel: Take them all.

Angel: I'm trying to atone for a hundred years of unthinkable evil. News flash! I never can. Never gonna be enough. Now I have Wolfram and Hart dogging me. It's too much!

Holland: You've been doing stellar work Lindsey. Don't think the Senior Partners haven't noticed.

Angel: Darla had a shot at redemption, but they took it from her.

Lilah: For god's sake, help us.

Holland: People are gonna die.

Angel: I just can't seem to care.

Angel closes the doors.

Darla bites Holland.

A shot of the pile of bodies left in the cellar.

Wesley runs up behind the Cop in The Thin Dead Line.

Wesley: Wait! Officer, wait!

The cop shoots Wesley.

Kate: You learn to live with a lot of things, don't you? This job is making me crazy.

Angel: I know the feeling.

Teaser

We see some dark, deserted corridors littered with trash and hear some strange, low screams. Angel comes around a corner, looking for the source of the sounds. He opens a door, steps into the room and pulls the chain of the light bulb dangling from the ceiling to reveal that the room is stuffed full of goats. Sees a door at the other side of the room.

Angel opens the door to see two men preparing to sacrifice the goats.

1.Man: What's next?

2.Man reading from a booklet: Make sure all troths are securely fastened and sacrifices tilted as shown in diagram F-12 to ensure full drainage into sacred offering bowl.

1.Man: Yes, yes, and?

2.Man: Using a clean, diagonal motion slit throat of sacrifice with the pre-blessed ceremonial dagger provided. I didn't see that in the box.

1.Man: Look under the packing. Hurry up!

2.Man digging through box: It's not in here.

Goes to look through another box.

1.Man reaches for the booklet: Just-just gimme-gimme this...

Angel playing with the dagger: You know... (The two men spin to face him) I've (chuckles) well, I really couldn't help but notice the goats. Yeah a lot of goats. (Saunters closer) Goats, many. Those are goats, guys!

2.Man: Hey, that's our pre-blessed... (Angel slams the dagger into the wall and bends it over) ceremonial dagger?

Angel: So sue me. Or better yet, have your bosses do it. This building is owned by Wolfram and Hart, right?

1.Man: What, what do you want?

Angel: I want to know what they're having you worship.

1.Man: That's none of your business. Who are you?

Angel smiles: Me?

Angel flashes across the room and pins the two guys against the wall by their throats.

Angel in vamp face: Well, I'm just the type of guy who hates to see good blood go to waste.

1.Man: Look, man, we just get paid to do the slaughtering and say the prayer.

Angel: What are you praying to?

2.Man: We don't know!

Angel: How can you not know?

1.Man: The ritual it's, it's all in Latin. They said we should just sort of, you know, sound it out.

Angel: They?

1.Man: Like you said, Wolfram and Hart.

2.Man: All we know is that the sacrifice got to be done by midnight or something out there will be real pissed off!

Angel looks from one to the other: Good.

Lets them go and begins to trash the place as the two men flee for the door.

Intro

Gunn is checking the back of Stephanie's head.

Gunn: I don't see anything.

Wesley sitting in a wheelchair next to them: Not a trace.

Cordy to Francine: When she goes back to school the other kids will never even notice that there was a third eye growing back there. (Pats Stephanie's head) And this should come back in before you know it.

Francine: What?

Cordy: The hair? The... I meant the hair that was in...in the back there... Not the third eye! Because that won't come back. (Aside to Wesley) Right?

Wesley: No reason it should. (Hands Stephanie a sucker) The curative charm seems to have worked like a charm, really.

Francine: We can't thank you.

Wesley: Oh, don't give it another thought.

Gunn: It's what we do.

Cordy: Kind of a mission.

Francine: No, I mean, we can't thank you and we can't pay you either. (Holds up a piece of paper) This bill is ridiculous.

Cordy takes it: What do you mean? We didn't even charge you for the mandrake.

Francine: My husband says it's outrageous.

Wesley: Does he? And just what would your husband consider to be a fair price for the removal of the third eye from the back of your child's head, Mrs. Sharp?

Francine: Well nothing. Steve says that since it's impossible to be bitten by a demon and have a third eye grow in the back of one's head, that obviously you people are running some sort of scam, and you won't squeeze one red cent out of us. (Grabs her daughter's hand) Come on, Stephanie.

Cordy: Scam? The back of your kid's head was blinking!

Wesley: No, let her go. Clearly it's easier for the Sharps to cast us as con artists rather than to accept the grim reality that Skilosh spawn nearly hatched full grown out of their child's skull.

Gunn: Gee, wonder why?

Cordy: Great. So while they're indulging their denial, we have bills to pay!

Gunn: You know she's right.

Gunn goes and grabs his coat.

Wesley: Perhaps, given time, the Sharps will come 'round.

Gunn: Right! Because that's what people do. They come around.

Cordy: Where are you going?

Gunn: I think I'll see what's happening in the neighborhood. Got a feeling I do more good there than sitting around here with you two.

Wesley: Things'll pick up. They're bound to.

Cordy: Yeah. It's LA. The evil's probably just tied up in traffic or something.

Gunn: Well, you let me know when it get here, right?

The office corridors at Wolfram and Hart are bustling with people. Some elevator doors open and Lilah steps out, walks down the hallway.

Lilah: Lindsey, I've been looking everywhere for you. (Lindsey keeps walking and she falls in beside him) Where're you going?

Lindsey: Lunch.

Lilah: Lunch? You really think now's the time for lunch?

Lindsey: You mean lunch time?

Lilah: The review is in two days.

Lindsey: I'm aware of that.

Lilah: So is everyone else. Look at them. It's like they've had the fear of... well, 'god' would probably be the wrong word.

Lindsey: They're just running scared.

Lilah hands Lindsey a manila envelope.

Lilah: They should be. I dug up everything I could find on the last seventyfive year review. It's all in there. Makes the Christmas purge of '68 look like fun old times. Nearly half of mid-management was sacked. And Lindsey, they use actual sacks.

Lindsey: I'll read it, Lilah.

Lilah: You better, because it's not just your ass on the line. It's mine, too. We're supposed to be running this division together, remember?

Lindsey: Right.

Lilah: I've included some suggestions on how we could plump up our portfolio before Friday.

Lindsey: Look, either we pass the review, or we won't. You really think that a few last minute dark rites and rituals are gonna make a difference now?

Lilah: Everybody else seems to think so. I heard Henderson actually pulled her firstborn out of company daycare to offer it up to... Brown noser. My mother was right. I should have had children.

Lindsey: We'll stand on our records. It's the only thing we've got.

Lilah: Then we're dead! Do I have to remind you of our collective screw-ups?! Two of which are still out there somewhere. You haven't heard anything, have you? You would tell me if they contacted you.

Lindsey: He set them on fire, Lilah. Even vampires as strong as Darla and Drusilla need time to recover from something like that.

Lilah: Well, it would be just like them to pop up now!

Lindsey: I wouldn't worry.

Lilah: Someone's got to! We don't get a second shot at this, Lindsey. Nothing can happen between now and Friday to screw this up.

Angel is talking while following Kate around the police office.

Angel: Blood sacrifices, black masses, totems... I don't know what it means, but it's happening all over town. I mean, it could be a raising, but, you know... I I really don't know. I mean the prayers, the rituals, I think they're too generic for that, you know, boilerplate. They could be preparing the way for something.

Kate: Maybe they're just trying to make it rain. Why is this so important to you?

Angel follows her back to her desk.

Angel: Because it's important to them.

Kate: Oh right! And therefore it must be stopped.

Angel: Kate, look, I need your help. I don't have the resources...

Kate: My help? You need my help?

Angel: Yeah. (Sighs) At the very least they're butchering animals without a permit. You can get them on that.

Kate: No, I can't. I can't get them on anything, Angel. I'm on desk duty pending a hearing on Friday.

Angel: Hearing?

Kate: You remember Atkinson? The captain at the two-three? He's blaming me for granting access to some lunatic who broke into his office and beat the ever holy crap out of him. He's filed a formal complaint.

Angel: He was raising zombie cops and setting them loose on the streets.

Kate laughs: And I'm sure once I explain that to Internal Affairs this will all just go away. And they've just been looking for an excuse... And you know what they say about me. I am a cop. That is all I've ever... I can't take a suspension... I would just...

Angel watches her pace for a moment.

Angel quietly: I'm sorry.

Kate: Are you? (Opens a drawer and pulls out a file) Because they might just want to know about this, too.

She drops one picture after another onto the desk. All of the corpses in the wine cellar.

Angel: You had nothing to do with that.

Kate: Didn't I?

Angel: No.

Kate: Hmm, so it's funny how these dead people were threatened by an intruder at their offices. An intruder I picked up and released on the street three hours before the complainants were found massacred.

Angel: You know who's responsible for that.

Kate: Yeah. But I can't figure out though is why forensics is now telling me that it looks like the suspect or suspects didn't break in. They had to break out. The victims were locked in that wine cellar with their attackers and I think I am done helping you now.

Kate walks off.

Lindsey enters his dimly lit apartment.

Lindsey: Sorry I'm late. I would have come home for lunch but everything's crazy at the office with the review coming up.

He sets his attaché case on a chair, holding a bottle in a brown paper bag he goes to sit down on the edge of the sofa.

Lindsey: And I would have called, but I didn't want you to have to get up to answer the phone. How do you feel?

Darla is lying on the sofa wrapped in a light blue afghan, fading burn scars still visible on her face, looking weak.

Darla: Stronger today, I guess.

Lindsey: Good. You're getting stronger everyday.

Darla: Only because you saved me. I'd still be in that sewer if you hadn't found me. I don't know how you did.

Lindsey: Drusilla. She came to me. Remember I told you?

Darla: She's gone.

Lindsey: Yeah, she'll be back.

Darla lifts her head a little: No. You're the only one who hasn't abandoned me.

Lindsey: And I never will.

Darla strokes the side of his face. Lindsey pulls the bottle out of the bag and hands it to her.

Lindsey: Here.

Darla opens the bottle.

Darla: It's cold.

Lindsey: Yeah. It's the only way to keep it fresh.

Darla: Not the only way. (Smells it and smiles) Hmm, at least it's human.

Lindsey gets up: I'm gonna take a shower.

Darla: You always take a shower when you come back from that place. Don't know why. You're never dirty.

Lindsey unbuttoning his shirt: I'm always dirty.

Darla rolls her eyes, then as Lindsey closes the door to the bathroom behind him, she pushes the blanket aside and gets up. Stretches. Sets the bottle down and as the shower begins to run she starts to go through Lindsey's briefcase. Finds Lilah's envelope and looks through it while sipping the blood.

Angel is walking into Caritas, where the host is talking to the bartender.

Host: Substitute it with something. I don't care. Be creative. I know you can. (To Angel as he sits down next to the host) Can you believe this? Not even ten o'clock and we've already run out of yak's bile.

Angel: We need to talk.

Host: And you should have booked in advance. I don't think we can get you on stage tonight.

Angel: I'm not here to sing.

Host: Oh, is that what we're calling it now?

Angel: Something's coming.

Host: Really? I thought it was just the complimentary nachos bringing in the morally ambiguous crowd.

Angel turns as sees that the place is packed with humans in business attire.

Angel: Lawyers.

Host: Easy, big fella. I know what you're thinking. And the throwing yourself across six tables and twisting their necks off part? Not a good idea.

Angel: You've read them. You've seen it. You know what's coming.

Host: Now, Angel-cakes, you wouldn't appreciate it if I were to blab your personal stuff to every Tom, Dick and vampire that walked in the door, would you?

Angel: Is it bad?

Host: Oy. But I really can't divulge to you what I read in another being. But I can tell you what I overheard in the men's restroom. It's coming Friday. And it's got all their legal briefs in a twist about it.

Angel: What?

Host: Well, every seventy-five years your friends over at Wolfram and Hart have this review. I think the general angst isn't so much about the review, but more about the reviewer. And let's just say it ain't Rex Reed.

Angel: What is it?

Host: It's evil. It's dark. It's merciless. Actually, now that I say it out loud it sounds an awful lot like Rex, doesn't it?

Angel: Maybe you could just tell me in one word what it is.

Host: Not likely. But I can tell you in two. Senior Partner.

Break

Two lawyers are singing a duet of Reunited on stage at Caritas. Angel walks over to the table where the host is sitting watching the stage and sits down next to him.

Angel: I need more.

Host: Well, we all need more, darlin'.

Angel: More information.

Host: What you need more of is tether. Because you're about at the end of yours.

Angel: Look, I get how this works. I'm not asking you to rat out their destinies. I don't care about that. But getting to the Senior Partners, that's my destiny.

Host: Is it? Because I haven't actually featured a destiny with you in it lately. It's all kind of murky. Look, all these messy rites and rituals you've been crashing all over town? They don't mean anything. Nervous children. Trying to score as many brownie points as they can before daddy gets home. I got news. Daddy? Not impressed. Anyhow, stopping them won't prevent 'it' from passing into our world on Friday.

Angel: What is 'it' and how do I stop it?

Host: I don't know and you don't.

Angel: Can it be killed?

Host: Most anything that can manifest in order to move in this dimension can be killed. Kinda the down side of being here. That and the so-called 'musicals' of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The host takes a sip from his drink while Angel just keeps staring at him.

Host with a sigh: The band of Blacknil. Don't ask me what it means. I don't know. I shouldn't even be giving you that much.

Angel: Thanks.

Host: Sure.

Angel starts to get up, but the host puts a hand on his arm to stop him.

Host: Hey, Home office. I picked it up from half a dozen of them tonight.


Angel: What does it mean?

Host: Could be the source. Who knows. Now stop pestering me.

Angel gets up and starts walks away.

Host calls after him: Oh, and I am picking up one other thing. (Angel turns to look back) They'd really like to see you dead.

Angel turns his head to see a bunch of lawyers giving him hostile stares.

Angel is searching through his books at the Hyperion. Scratching his head he walks over to the almost empty bookshelf, checks the few books there, dropping them on the ground, then looks around with a sigh.

Angel opens the door and walks into the new Angel Investigations office, not bothering to close the door behind him.

Wesley: Good Lord.

Cordy: Angel.

Wesley: May we help you?

Not even looking at them, Angel walks to the bookshelf behind the desk and starts looking at the books there.

Wesley: Excuse me, that that area is for employees only!

Angel: Yeah. You took all the books.

Cordy: Yeah, well, you got the waffle iron.

Angel takes a book and starts to leave but Cordy snatches it our of his hand.

Cordy: Hey! No! You can't take this, I-I-I'm in the middle of it. (Puts the book back on the shelf and shoves a phonebook at him) Here, take this one.

Angel takes the phonebook, throws it to the side and leans in close to Cordy, who refuses to move our from between him and the bookshelf.

Angel: Don't make me move you.

Wesley: Give him the book, Cordelia.

When Cordy only keeps looking at Angel, Wesley pushes himself up out of his wheelchair and to his feet.

Wesley: Just give him the damn thing! Let him get the hell out.

Cordy looks over at Wesley, then pushes Angel a step back, turns, takes the book and shoves it at him.

Angel takes it and walks towards the door.

Cordy: Here. I don't even know what you are anymore.

Angel: I'm a vampire. Look it up.

Angel slams the door closed behind him and Wesley slowly collapses back into his chair.

Cordy: What a jerk.

Wesley: Cordelia...

Cordy: I mean if it was anybody else I would just say 'get laid already!'

Wesley: Cordelia...

Cordy pacing: But no, not him. One decent boff and he switches to evil psycho vamp. (Huffs) Which, in a way, would be better for everyone. Better for him because he'd get some, and better for us because then we could (makes a staking motion) stake him afterwards.

Wesley: Cordelia, ambulance?

Cordy looks in horror at the spreading stain of blood on Wesley's shirt.

Cordy: Oh my god.

LAPD headquarters, day.

Man: If you have anything to offer in your defense, Detective Lockley, anything at all, now would be the time.

Kate remains silent.

Lou: For god's sakes, Kate, say something.

Kate: What am I supposed to say, Lou? They've dredged out every ugly detail of the last eight months. Spill it out on the table as if nothing had a context and I'm supposed to explain? I was doing my job.

Man: Actually what it appears you've been doing, detective, is isolating yourself. You've withdrawn from the stabilizing influence of your fellow officers, developed this morbid fascination for cases of a bizarre and macabre nature, and even you can't seem to give an explanation as to why. Now your father, he was a respected veteran of this department. And you were the one that discovered his body after he was murdered, is that right?

Kate: Yes.

Man: And the case was never solved?

Kate: No arrests have ever been made.

Woman: That must be very frustrating for you.

Kate: I dealt with it.

Woman: Did you? You took no personal time off after his death. You went right back on the job.

Kate: That is none of your business.

Man: It becomes our business when it affects performance.

Woman: It is very important when you suffer a loss of this nature to take the proper time to grieve. So, we understand. We want you to know, we're not judging you.

Kate: No, you're only firing me.

Man: You stopped being a part of the force a long time ago.

Kate: What am I supposed to do?

Woman: We will of course make available to you psychological counseling at the city's expense as part of your severance.

Kate takes a deep breath and lets it out.

Kate: You people have no idea what's going on in this city.

Man: Is this the part where you start to talk about monsters? (Kate doesn't answer) We'll need your gun and your badge.

Kate swallows, takes her gun and badge from her briefcase and closes it. Gets up and goes to lay her gun and badge on the table in front of the man. Lou watches her.

Lou as Kate slowly walks to the door: I'm just glad your father's not around to see this.

And old man wearing glasses sits in a bookshop watching TV.

Angel: You Denver?

Denver looks up: I don't believe it.

Angel and Denver are looking through books in the back room.

Denver: You know you changed my life that day. I mean, a vampire comes into my place looking to kill a demon to save human beings? I figured if something like that could happen there really must be good in the world.

Angel: Right. So you never heard of that term before 'home office?'

Denver: Hey, how'd that go anyway? It was a Thesulac, paranoia demon, if I recall.

Angel: Yeah. I don't know. I think he killed everyone.

Denver: Oh. Well, point is, you tried.

Angel: Actually, I pretty much walked out and let the demon have the place and everyone in it. So we can't be sure where this home office is, but you think this Senior Partner is a Kleynach demon?

Denver stops staring at Angel and looks down at his book.

Denver: Right. Kleynach. A lot of dark entities use the form of a Kleynach to manifest because the Kleynach doesn't have to rely on being conjured or brought forth. They can come and go as they please with that ring.

Angel: Tell me about the ring.

Denver points at an illustration.

Denver: The band of Blacknil. Simple thing, plain. You wouldn't give it a second glance in a pawnshop, but it's the source of its power to move between the dimensions, and that's what it'll use to get here... and get back.

Angel: Get back?

Denver: Well, sure.

Angel: Well, can anyone use this ring?

Denver: How do you mean?

Angel: Will it get me back to the home office or where ever it came from?

Denver: Might... if you're insane! You realize what this home office probably is?

Angel: I think I have a pretty good idea.

Denver: Hell! Why the heck do you wanna go to hell? (Angel doesn't answer) You're gonna try and go down there and destroy the whole lot of them, aren't you? Well, that'd certainly make up for the time that... (Angel looks up at him and Denver trails off) Still, not a terrific idea. It's suicide, really.

Angel: Look, will the ring get me there or not?

Denver: Well, you got to get it first. And to get the ring you've got to kill the Kleynach.

Angel: How?

Denver: You happen to be looking at the one guy who can tell you how.

Angel: How?!

Denver: To kill the Kleynach and get the ring you need the glove.

Denver goes and takes another book from a shelf.

Angel: Okay, now you're making this up.

Denver carrying an open book: Legend says that the Kleynach rose up from their demon world, raped and pillaged the villages of man and all who fought against them were incinerated, whether they struck with fist or sword. But one brave and worthy knight he had a glove. (Drops the book in front of Angel, displaying a rendition of the glove) Fashioned and blessed by all the powers of light. And whoever wore this glove could kill the Kleynach just by grabbing it at the throat.

Denver walks into another part of his store and comes back carrying a mailed glove.

Denver: Picked up in '75 in a yard sale in Covina. Been using it as an oven mitt. Now, I give it to you. No charge. 'cause the truth is you did change my life. And I got a feeling this time things are gonna go...

Denver's eyes suddenly pop open and blood spills from his mouth. Angel looks down to see the tip of a bloody sword protruding from Denver's belly. He reaches out to catch Denver as he begins to fall and someone drives the sword through Denver and into Angel. Darla straightens up behind Denver.

Darla: That's right, Angelus, go towards the bleeding mortal, because that's smart.

Angel collapses backwards to the floor and Darla picks up the glove.

Darla: The ring's not about vengeance, Angelus, it's about power. (Kicks Angel in the face) We'll get to the vengeance part soon.

With that Darla walks out while Angel pulls his body slowly off the sword. He looks in the direction where Darla just disappeared, then just lies there gasping.

Break.

Wesley is sitting on the sofa in his apartment wearing a bathrobe.

Wesley: And that's the important thing.

Virginia: But you couldn't have done it metaphorically? You know, in with a stern word? You had to do it in the actual I'm-standing-up-now-and-popping-six-stitches way?

Virginia sets a tea tray on the table as she sits down on the sofa and begins to pour them some tea.

Virginia: I guess before all this happened I never really considered just how dangerous your work was.

Wesley: Well, of course what I do is dangerous. You forgetting how we met? You were strapped to a sacrificial altar while the goddess Yeska was called forth from the nether regions to consume you.

Virginia: But I grew up with all that sort of stuff. Creepy crawlies and scary monsters I can handle. But guns? Kind of makes it all a little too real, you know?

Wesley: The gun was fired by a zombie, if it makes you feel any better.

Virginia: You know, strangely, it doesn't.

Virginia carefully scoots closer and lays her head on Wesley's chest. Wesley kisses the top of her head and strokes her hair.

Virginia: Does it always seem like it's a battle worth fighting?

Wesley: Some less than others.

Virginia: Collectively, I mean. Most people, they don't even acknowledge the evil, let alone try to fight it. And they don't have to wrap themselves in bandages to keep their insides from falling out.

Wesley: That's true.

Virginia: I don't suppose you'd ever consider maybe giving it up for something else?

Wesley: Could you be with someone who would?

Virginia: I don't know. But sometimes I feel like I should be wrapped in bandages to keep my insides from falling out.

Wesley swallows: This is difficult for you, isn't it?

Virginia: I just don't like to see you hurt.

Wesley: No. I mean I mean breaking up with me.

Virginia looks up at Wesley, but doesn't say anything.

Kate walks into her apartment carrying a box with the stuff from her desk. Puts the box down, takes off her jacket and pours herself a stiff drink. Sees the shelves holding her trophies and plaques and goes to knock them off while trying to hold back tears. Picks up a photo of her dad and starts to cry.

A black car pulls up in front of Wolfram and Hart's office building at night and Lilah and two bodyguards get out.

Lilah: You two stick close.

As they near the front doors, Angel jumps out behind the trio and knocks both guards unconscious before they ever even know he's there.

Lilah: Crap! (Kicks one of the unconscious guards) I knew you guys were a waste of money.

Angel: I noticed you're not parking in the underground lot anymore Lilah.

Lilah: It's not safe. What do you want?

Angel: I want the same thing from you that I took from Lindsey.

With that he takes a hold of her right hand.

We see Lilah press her right thumb to a scanner in the secure elevator.

Voice: Good evening Miss Morgan. What floor please?

Lilah: Fifteen. You know of course you'll lead security wherever you go the moment you step inside.

Angel: I'm counting on it.

Angel winces a little in pain and Lilah notices him lifting a hand towards his middle where Darla stabbed him earlier.

The phone rings at the new Angel Investigations and Cordy picks it up.

Cordy: Good evening. Angphlel Investigations, we help the helpless, how can we help you?

Wesley on phone: What in god's name is Angphlel?

Cordy: Oh, there are just some names I'm not saying at the moment. Well, what is it, Wesley?

Wesley: It's just... I'm not really feeling that great.

Cordy: Oh, well, your guts opened up.

Wesley: Uh, I'm thinking maybe I'm not coming in tomorrow.

Cordy: No big deal. It's not like they're beating down the door. No, you should stay home, spend time with Virginia.

Wesley after a beat: Yes. Uh, and you. You should get out yourself. You're young, single. It's a Friday night in the city of... Angphleles? There must be someone you can call.

Cordy: Ah, no, because then I'd actually have to have some friends. I don't.

Wesley swallows: That's not true.

Cordy after a beat: You don't count.

Wesley: Thank you.

Cordy: You know what I mean.

Wesley: Things are gonna get better Cordelia...for all of us. You'll see.

Cordy: I'll call you tomorrow. See how you're feeling.

Wesley: That'd be nice.

Cordy: Good night, Wesley.

Hangs up the phone.

Wesley: Night.

Cordy is on her way out the door when the phone rings again.

Cordy turning back around: Oh, geez, Wesley. Zippity duh-dah, alright?

Picks up the phone: Hello?

Francine is twirling her hair with one hand while holding the phone with the other.

Francine: Ms. Chase?

Cordy: Oh. Mrs. Sharp!

Francine: We were hoping you were still in the office.

Cordy: The back of your daughter's head is still okay, right? Because, it's not like we offer a money back guarantee. But then, you never paid us, did you? You do? Right now? No, that's great! Uhm, you're on my way home, give or take thirty miles. Personal check, uhh...normally not, but-but but fine. Uhm, will you give me the address again?

Turns on the desk light and scribbles the address down on the pad lying there.

Cordy: Uh-huh okay. Great, I'll see you soon.

Francine hangs up the phone and turns around to look up at an ugly, white skinned demon.

Francine: Uhm, one of them is on their way here now.

The demon reaches out to stroke Francine's hair and she looks away. The demon puts his other hand on her chin and breaks her neck with a quick snap.

Back to Wolfram and Hart.

Some robed figures are pacing around a pentagram painted on the floor swinging incense burners. The room is filled with lawyers. Lindsey checks his watch. Reed steps up next to him.

Reed: I don't see your co-vice-president here, Lindsey. It doesn't look good.

Lindsey: Yes, sir.

A man comes and whispers something in Reed's ear.

Reed: Well, find it. Deal with it!

The man leaves.

Lindsey: Is there a problem?

Reed: Someone just let a vampire onto this floor.

Lindsey scans the crowded room and sees Lilah coming in with Angel herding her.

Lindsey points: There!

Lilah elbows Angel in the gut and runs off. Angel forces himself after her, still hunched over. Lindsey hurries across the room, pushing people out of his way.

Reed: Security.

Security men start moving, listening to their ear pieces.

Angel reappears in another part of the room and scans the crowd. Pulls out a bottle of water, and, popping the top off, wades into the crowd. Grabs a hold of the long black hair of a small woman and pulls it off to reveal blonde hair underneath. Throws the water into Darla's face as she turns and vamps out.

Angel: Vampire!

As the crowd mills around them Angel tries to pull the glove off Darla's hand.

Darla knocks in the head sending him flying back. Two Security guards tackle her with stakes, but she bats them away and heads for Angel.

Lindsey stares at them fighting.

Reed sinks to his knees behind one of the robed figures as the air above the pentagram begins to shiver and a red robbed demon materializes. Angel finally gets the glove off Darla's hand and kicks her to the side. Security converges on the downed Darla with stakes while Angel pulls on the glove.


Lilah: Stake the bitch!

Lindsey knocks Lilah across the chin and heads for Darla, knocking the last security guard off her.

The red robbed Kleynach turns around and Angel launches himself at it from across the room, grabbing it by the throat with the glove. As soon as the glove touches it, the Kleynach begins to dissolve with a scream, while it and Angel are falling backwards through the window. Lindsey helps Darla up and towards the door. She turns to look at him for a moment, then hurries out.

Lilah, the corner of her lip bloody, looks at the broken window.

Angel is plummeting the fifteen stories to the ground, and lands, still clutching the robe, in a shower of glass. The ring lands beside him with a metallic clink.

Groaning a little Angel grabs it and forces himself to his feet. There is a homeless man sitting on a planter in the background, watching.

Angel: Okay. Home office. (He slides on the ring.) Let's finish this.

The ding of an arriving elevator sounds and Angel turns to see the doors of it open on the outside wall of the office building behind him.

Break

Holland is standing in the open doors of the elevator slowly clapping his hands.

Angel walks slowly closer.

Holland: Congratulations. Great victory.

Angel: You're...

Holland: Holland Manners.

Angel: ...not alive.

Holland: Oh, no. I'm quite dead. Unfortunately my contract with Wolfram and Hart extends well beyond that. (Gives Angel a big smile, then motions his head) Hop on in. You certainly earned it.

Angel slowly steps in, looking at Holland, who laughs.

Holland: No. Not a ghost here. No, it's just me. Dead me. (Pulls the collar of his shirt aside to show Angel Darla's bite marks, then reaches for the elevator buttons) See? Home office, wasn't it? I should mention the trip is one way.

Angel stands in the elevator looking out, not saying anything.

We see a homeless person pushing a loaded down shopping cart across the plaza in front of the elevator.

Holland: Well, if there are no objections, I suggest we get going. It is rather a long ride.

Holland pushes the 'down' button. The doors close and we see the elevator descending down the elevator shaft.

Angel and Holland are standing side by side in the elevator as the lights from the floors it is passing flash by and typically annoying elevator music plays in the background.

Holland: Well, this is exciting, isn't it? (Smiles) Going straight to the source. So, what's the big plan, Angel? Destroy the Senior Partners, smash Wolfram and Hart once and for all?

Angel: Something like that.

Holland: Hm-mm, now tell me just what do you think that would accomplish? In the end, I mean.

Angel: It'll be the end.

Holland: Well, the end of you, certainly. But I meant in the larger sense.

Angel: In the larger sense I really don't give a crap.

Holland: Now I don't think that's true. Be honest. You got the tiniest bit of 'give a crap' left. Otherwise you wouldn't be going on this Kamikaze mission. Now let me see, there was something in a sacred prophecy, some oblique reference to you. Something you're supposed to prevent. Now what was that?

Angel: The apocalypse.

Holland: Yes, the apocalypse, of course. Another one of those. Well, it's true. We do have one scheduled. And I imagine if you were to prevent it you would save a great many people. Well, you should do that then. Absolutely. I wasn't thinking. Of course all those people you save from that apocalypse would then have the next one to look forward to, but, hey, it's always something, isn't it?
The elevator shaft and cable dissolve as the elevator continues to plummet into a hellish red glow.

Angel: You're not gonna win.

Holland: Well no. Of course we aren't. We have no intention of doing anything so prosaic as 'winning.'

Holland laughs and for the first time Angel turns his head to glance in Holland's general direction.

Angel: Then why?

Holland: Hmm? I'm sorry? Why what?

Angel: Why fight?

Holland: That's really the question you should be asking yourself, isn't it? See, for us, there is no fight. Which is why winning doesn't enter into it. We go on no matter what. Our firm has always been here. In one form or another. The Inquisition. The Khmer Rouge. We were there when the very first cave man clubbed his neighbor. See, we're in the hearts and minds of every single living being. And that, friend, is what's making things so difficult for you. See, the world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us.

And with that the elevator comes to a screeching halt.

The doors open and Angel looks out to see a homeless person pushing a loaded shopping cart across the plaza in front of the Wolfram and Hart Office building in LA.

Holland: Welcome to the home office.

Angel: This isn't...

Holland: Well, you know it is. You know that better than anyone. Things you've seen. Things you've, well, done. You see, if there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there, (Angel watches as some people in the plaza start yelling at each other) why, they wouldn't be people. They'd all be angels.

The glove drops from Angel's right to land on the floor of the elevator and Angel slowly shuffles out of it.

Holland calling after him as the doors close: Have a nice day.

Angel slowly walks the streets of LA, seeing a prostitute and a potential customer having a verbal disagreement, a woman yell at a girl.

Kate opens the door to her bathroom cabinet and takes out a bottle of pills.

Angel slowly walks down the street passing a homeless man with a brown-bagged bottle under his arm, a young man standing by a lamp post that has a passing resemblance to Gene from Happy Anniversary.

Wesley is lying in the dark on the sofa in his apartment, staring at nothing.

Cordy is getting ready to leave the office.

Angel enters the Hyperion Hotel just as the answering machine goes off.
Cordy's voice: Hi, you've reached Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless. Leave a message and we'll get right back to you. (beep).

Kate's voice: You did it, didn't you? You bastard...

Kate is sitting on the floor of her apartment her head leaning back on the seat of a chair, holding the phone so she can speak into it but with the other end resting on top of her forehead instead of against her ear. There is an empty bottle of booze sitting next to the phone, and the bottle of pills is lying beside it. White pills are spilled out on the floor.

Kate: You made me trust you. You made me believe. No, it wasn't you. (Lies back on the floor, knocking over the bottle) It was me, right? I couldn't take the heat...

Angel walks over to where the answering machine is sitting on the counter.

Kate's voice: That's what they're gonna say. Then you're gonna feel all bad or you won't care. But then, then I won't care either. I won't feel a thing.

Leaning on the counter, Angel turns down the volume on the machine, then turns towards the stairs.

Angel enters his apartment, stops a few steps in.

Angel: What do you want, Darla? (Holds up the ring and looks over his shoulder) You want this?

Angel drops the ring on the floor and Darla hurries over to pick it up. Before she can, Angel grabs her arm and sends her stumbling towards the wall.

Angel: Or maybe what you really want is this! (Pushes her up against the wall and gently brushes the hair back from her face) That may be what you really want, isn't it?

Kisses her softly, then, when she doesn't react, a little harder. Darla pushes him away.

Darla: Don't play games with me.

Angel: I'm not playing. I just wanna feel something besides the cold.

Pushes her back onto a table, lowers himself on top of her and kisses her again. Darla reaches up and pushes his jacket off his shoulders, kissing him back. Angel strips off his jacket with her help, still kissing her. Suddenly Darla begins to laugh and Angel pulls back the same time she pushes him and gets up.

Angel: Why are you laughing?

Darla continues to laugh, not answering him, and Angel hits her, sending her crashing through the glass doors leading to his bedroom. Angel slowly walks after her as she rolls over and looks up at him.

Angel: Don't you feel the cold?

Angel grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her up.

Darla: What're you doing?

Angel: It doesn't matter. (Strokes the side of her face) None of it matters.
He kisses her again and she responds. They fall back onto the bed and strip off each other's clothes.

The camera pans form the curtains in the open window, billowing in the wind of the thunderstorm outside, over some books dropped on the floor, over their discarded clothes and up to the bed. Angel and Darla are lying on the bed asleep, Angel on his back, Darla on her side with her back to him.

A loud crack of thunder rings out and Angel suddenly sits up with a gasp.

FADE TO BLACK