Wow, this has been a long time coming. Sorry about the wait folks. I wanted to work out some ideas before continuing. Also, when I originally typed this chapter, it was a lot longer. I ended up having to find a place to break it up, as I felt that too much had happened in one chapter.

So... I don't own Buffyverse.

arrivals

It was almost noon and Illyria was getting restless. Connor was still asleep on the couch with the thick books spread all around him. As for Grace, the quarter demon had yet to call them, so Illyria could only assume that meant she and the Host hadn't yet arrived. She was unwilling to leave Connor while he slept, so this left her pacing the two small rooms. She was glad when a knock on the door forced her out of this monotony.

She quickly reverted back to Fred's form before opening the door. Ever since the incident in the diner, Illyria had been cautious about returning to this form, but she knew Connor would be unpleased if she exposed her true identity to a mortal. Standing in the door way was Dawn Summers.

"Oh, good you guys are here. You must have forgotten to flip your sign this morning, I was afraid no one would be here," the girl rambled as she came into the office. Illyria remained silent as she let the girl past, and closed the door after her. Dawn didn't seem to notice the other woman's silence, as she continued speaking. "So, here is the last book for your reference collection. Though, if you need more help on any 'cases,' you guys can always give me a call, I'd be more than willing to help."

"I'll be sure to relate that message to Connor when he wakes," Illyria answered after a moment of silence she realized she was expected to fill.

"What?" the girl asked.

"Don't worry about it, I'm up now," a groggy male voice came from behind. "I forgot you were due in today," Connor muttered to Dawn as he rummaged around the coffee station. "It's a good thing though; we've run into a bit of a crisis thing here."

"What happened?"

"Wolfram & Hart dug up Angel's ashes the other night. We're pretty sure that it means that they are going to try bringing Angelus back. We brought back Spike's ashes so they couldn't come back for seconds." He nodded to the jar on top of the bookshelf. Dawn found that all she could do was stare. To hear that Spike was dead was one thing, but to actually see his faces in front of her was another thing. They sat there, confirming that the snarky vampire was indeed gone. Finally, the first part of what Connor had actually said registered in her mind.

"Shit."

"Pretty much," the boy said, taking a swig of warm soda.

"Come on Gracie, time to wake up."

The young woman on the back seat of Lorne's car groaned. Her shoulder and arm still felt like shit, and sleeping in the back of a car probably didn't help matters. She looked around and saw that they were on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

They had taken turns driving the car almost nonstop to get to the city in record time. Lorne had insisted on taking longer shifts driving, saying Grace needed to rest her arm and if she drove them off the road because she blacked out from blood lost they wouldn't be to do anyone any good.

"What?" she moaned as she pulled herself through to the passenger seat.

"Good morning to you too sunshine. I need you to tell me where to go from here."

"We need to get to the office probably. Can we stop at the Hyperion first though? I would really like being out of these clothes."

"I can understand."

The drive to the hotel was a quite one. The silence was only broken when Grace told Lorne where the new office for Angel Investigations was located. Lorne pulled up in front of the hotel and looked sadly at the dark building. "I think I'm just gonna drop you off here, maybe circle around the block a couple of times. I may be back, but I'm not ready for a trip down memory lane just yet."

"I can understand that," Grace said kindly. It had been hard for her to go into the hotel the first time, and she had never physically been there. "I shouldn't be more than ten minutes."

He watched her climb out of the car and head up the pathway. As he drove off, he couldn't rid himself of the nagging feeling that something very bad was coming. He hoped it was just because he was back in LA.

Grace was on edge the moment she stepped into the Hyperion. Something was wrong. There were burnt out candles on the floor, and the entire place felt off. Not daring to explore and see what else had changed she went as silently as she could to the room she had been using, keeping her back to the wall as much as possible.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath. The door to her room was slightly ajar, and she knew she had shut it before leaving. She tried to remind herself that Illyria could have gone in. The has-been god king still didn't fully understand privacy, and wouldn't think to close a door after her. Reassuring herself that it had been Illyria that left the door like this, she crossed the door way quickly.

Today was not a good day she realized. In fact the past 24 hours hadn't even come close to decent. She had been threatened, shot, crammed in a small car for hours on end with a demon with an obsession for Karaoke Classics, and now there was an effing hooded stranger in her room. He had his back to her, but by his build she was going to assume he was a demon. She now wished that she had replaced the rooms blown light bulb so she could get a better look at the stranger. Her mind quickly whirled through her options. She had lost her only knife in Lindsey and she had left his gun on the back seat of Lorne's car. Fighting wasn't an option, her wound wasn't fully healed and the swift climb up the stairs had been enough of a trial on her sore and tired body. She eased back to the door slowly; her best chances of survival were to...

"Running away?" the stranger mocked.

Grace froze. She knew that voice. It had been so long since she had last heard it she almost didn't believe it.

"I'm surprised you made it out here so swiftly," the demon said as he lowered his hood.

"Carlen?" Grace gasped. Standing before her was the demon that had helped raise her. The man she thought of as her father before going into her comma so many years ago. "Where have you been? I asked at the hospital, but they had no idea where you were since you were using a bloody return address in Siberia. Where's Mom, how is..."

Carlen cut off her line of questions. "I've been here and there. The scourge ceased to be a threat a few months into your coma, but I still moved around. As for your mother, well she and I parted ways and she... settled down."

Something was wrong Grace realized. She hadn't left the hospital staff any way to find her. In fact, with the exception of a few airline personnel, no one in Ireland knew she had come to LA, let alone this long closed down hotel. "Carlen, how'd you find me?"

The older demon paused a moment. "Some associated of mine helped me track you down when I found out that you were awake. They've been interested in you for a few years now. Your sight would be very useful to them Grace, and they wanted me to extend an invitation to you. If you impress them enough, you might even be brought into their inner circle."

"Now now, let's not give her the wrong idea. To get into the circle she would have to impress me, not all the Partners." A silky voice said from behind. Grace turned quickly and found herself making eye contact with a certain dark haired vampire for the first time.

"Angel," she wasn't sure if she actually said it or if the sounds had just escaped on her lips.

The man smiled. "Close, so close, just a soul off really."

"Angelus," she snarled.

"Gracie," he purred. "So, what do you have to say to our little offer?" he asked as he made his way towards her. She tried to keep an equal space between the two of them, but soon found herself being pinned still by Carlen. Angelus finally closed in on the girl, the smirk not coming off his face. "I'm still waiting for that answer Gracie. You do understand that this is a onetime only option, right? And now is the best time to join, with Wolfram & Hart just reopening there will be plenty of opportunities to move up on the ladder. And, if you impress me, you'll be in the Circle of the Black Thorn in no time. And judging by what I see," the vampire's eyes scanned her from top to bottom hungrily, "I think I could be very impressed." With the final words he caressed her cheek.

She finally pulled free of Carlen's grasp and the demon took a step back. She glared into Angelus's eyes. "Screw you," she hissed.

"Is that an offer?"

"It's a no."

"That really is too bad." Angelus made a swing with his fist, and Grace barely avoided it by ducking. She tried to kick the vampire away, only to get her leg ensnared in his iron grip and find herself thrown to the ground. She quickly struggled up and made a bolt for the door. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder as Angelus hissed, "No you don't." This time, he threw her across the room with much more force. Her body collided with the balcony's glass doors, and she gasped in pain as thousands of pieces of glass went into her back and side as she passed through the door frame. She tried to get up, only to be rewarded with glass cutting into her palms. Before she could even get onto her knees, someone was by her side and pulled her up by the front of her shirt.

Once more she was looking into his dark eyes. She was aware of Carlen watching from the shattered doors. The demon had never tried to intervene for her during this short fight. She watched Angelus's face, choosing not to acknowledge the traitor. He smirked, "I do love the taste of psychic." Before she could react, his fangs were in her neck. She tried to force him away, but it was no use. Her body was too broken, her blood loss too great. The world around her faded to black, and soon her eyes closed.

Angelus finally came away from his meal and looked at the limp form in his arms. She was no longer breathing, but he twisted her neck as a precaution, smiling when he heard the tell tale sharp crack. With ease, he tossed her body over the railing and watched it fall three flights before colliding with the hard walkway below.

He smiled again as he saw an old red car pull up and a brightly colored figure jumped out. Lorne rushed to the girl's body and then stared up at Angelus. The vampire gave a quick wave before going back into the building. He had no intention of going after the green coward. He would let Lindsey take care of him. Without a word, Carlen followed the vampire through the hotel's long empty halls. There was no emotion on his face, though Angelus knew the demon was probably irked that his weapon had denied the training he had been priming for her.

Below, Lorne tried to scoop up Grace's body as gently as he could without wasting time. He placed her still and bloody body in the backseat. After doing this, he realized that his hands were shaking. He got behind the wheel and sped off. He began to recall where Grace had told him to find the new Angel Investigations. AS he drove into the night, he fought back tears of anger, frustration and sorrow.

So let me know what you think, that's what the review thing is for. The next chapter will be up soon.

-SK