TITLE: Whiskers Of Fury
AUTHOR: AussieBullDog
RATING: R (occasional violence and language issues ahead)
FEEDBACK: See, it's this thing where you read someone else's fic, then you tell the writer what you thought of it. The writer gets enough good feedback, they keep writing. Everybody wins. (Email it to me at philsroom@dingoblue.net.au, or post it to me at the Bronze Beta. Or better yet, you can find this story at fanfiction.net and review it there.)
DISCLAIMER: Joss Whedon? Yes. Me? No. Enough said.
DISTRIBUTION: You want it? You can have it. Just let me know where to see it.
SUMMARY: BtVS/Angel crossover. The Scooby Gang and the Angel Investigations crew are brought together to face their toughest enemy yet. And it's an enemy that none of them ever would have expected ...
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Consider this fic set at some point after Buffy season 5/Angel season 2. A few months, maybe.

***

CHAPTER 21

***

"Window."

"Nope."

Angel raised his eyebrows. "Not window? Okay, uh ... walls."

Fred grinned and shook her head, giggling slightly. She was sitting cross-legged at the foot of the room's single bed, while Angel sat nearby in the room's only chair. "Nope," she said again.

Angel smiled back at her. "Not window or walls? This is tricky. Uhh ..." Fred continued to grin as Angel looked thoughtfully around the room, up and down, left and right, before finally facing her again and shrugging. "I give up. What is it?"

Fred's grin grew even wider. "Water."

Angel looked confused. "Water?" he asked her. "There's no water in here."

"Yes, there is." Fred pointed past the vampire. Angel turned in that direction, and now noticed a small pool of water in the far corner, staining the carpet a darker shade of brown. "I think there's a leaking pipe somewhere."

The vampire looked back at her. "I guess I'm just not cut out for this game."

"Well, you know," Fred mocked playfully. "Some people have it, some don't."

Angel looked surprised. "Oh, is that a fact, Fred? Well, maybe I can stump you as well."

Fred giggled again. "Go on, then."

"Okay, I will." Angel looked around the room for a few moments, trying not to clue Fred in on the direction he was looking in. "Eye-Spy with my little eye, something beginning with ..."

The door opened, and Angel broke off. He and Fred both turned to face Lorne as he came into the room. The green-skinned Pylean was moving quickly, almost jumping in through the doorway, before quickly slamming it shut behind him. He turned toward Fred and Angel, and answered their questioning looks with a deep exhale. "I'm trying to stay incognito, I really am, but honestly, it's like a game of Hide N' Go Seek with these people," he told them. "Everywhere you look, someone's carrying a stack of sheets and knocking on someone else's door. Normally I wouldn't bother trying to stay out of sight - I'd just stroll on up and say howdy - but if we're gonna keep a low profile here, I'd prefer the proprietors of this fine establishment remain immune to the fact they've got a green guy with horns bunking in one of their deluxe suites."

"In Sunnydale, they probably wouldn't give you a second glance even if they did see you," Angel responded.

Lorne looked unimpressed, almost wounded. "So I'm just run-of-the-mill in this town, is that it?" He moved to the other side of the room, and looked out the window. "Angelcakes, it's all about standing out from the crowd. Making a statement. You know that."

"The other guys aren't back yet?" Fred asked him.

"No, not yet." Lorne sighed, turning back to face her. "I wish they'd hurry up, though. I haven't eaten a thing since last night, and I turn into Captain Cranky if I haven't had any breakfast. They'd better have brought my jelly donut."

Angel sighed. He was getting a little impatient himself, and more than a little anxious. He recognised this anxiety, because he had seen it in Cordelia's eyes before she had set out with Wes and Gunn. Being back in Sunnydale was giving him butterflies. "Look, they'll be back when they get back, alright? All we can do right now is wait for them."

Fred looked at Angel again. "So, you spy with your little eye, something beginning with ..."

Lorne smiled. He liked this game.

***

As vampires, the reflexes of Darla and Drusilla were so quick that the door had already slammed shut in his face by the time the vial of holy water had left his hand. The vial smashed against the door, fragments of glass raining down on the pavement, and some of the water splashed across his shoes.

He stood still for a few moments, breathing hard, mouth hanging open. In the back of his mind, he was relieved to have found the holy water in one his jacket pockets, but his brain was barely functioning above autopilot right now.

He heard a muffled slamming sound, or thought he did. The back door of the butcher shop? If so, then Darla and Drusilla had already fled, not a threat for the time being. It was daylight, so they wouldn't have left the building unless there was nearby sewer access.

He could now hear a pounding sound, and realised it was his own heart, thudding in his ears. He was slowly regaining his breath now, but the events of the last minute and a half were still sinking in. He was clear-headed enough to know that his eyes hadn't tricked him, and it was Cordelia he had seen lying on the floor behind the two vampires, not moving. Lifeless.

"God, no," Wesley Wyndham-Pryce whispered. "Not like this." His face was pale, his eyes wide open in shock.

But he was collecting himself, and beginning to think more rationally. Two things were clear to him, maybe the only two. One ... Cordelia was dead. The second ... He had to find Angel, and fast.

Wesley bent down and picked up his stake, then turned and started running back up the street.

***

Amy Madison was less than happy.

Spike and Anya sat on opposite ends of Spike's coffin, watching Amy as she paced back and forth. Neither of them were all that eager to open their mouths and say something which might aggravate the witch further. Spike had just finished filling the women in on the events of his night out, and both he and Anya knew that Amy had reacted badly to the news.

Amy stopped pacing, then turned to look at Spike again, putting her hands on her hips. Spike almost flinched at the near-fury in her eyes, but managed to maintain his outwardly calm facade. "Two Slayers?" Amy repeated, staring Spike dead in the eye. "Not one, but two."

"Yep." Better to keep his answers short and simple, Spike figured.

Amy turned back away from the vampire and started pacing again. "And not only that, but those vampire floozies of yours as well? Darla and Drusilla are here, two Slayers are here, and you're sitting there like there's nothing at all to worry about?" She gave Spike another angry look, and glanced at Anya as well to let her know that she was adressing both of them with this question. Anya looked blankly back at her, then looked at Spike questioningly.

"Relax," Spike told them. "We'll be out of here soon enough, and it won't matter how many old friends have been lured back to Sunnyhell."

"Won't matter," Amy repeated. "Do you know how important today is, Spike? For all of us? Have you forgotten? Is that chip eating away at your undead brain? We can't risk anything or anybody jeopardising everything we've worked for! Everything we've planned! Not when we're so close! God, I can't believe you ran into Darla, Drusilla and Faith and let them all get away! If they knew what the three of us were doing, we'd be screwed!"

"But they don't know," Spike responded firmly. "Which is why I let them get away. No sense in going around attacking everybody and arousing their suspicions. We're too close, like you said. The Scoobies think Anya's dead, they think you're dead, and none of them are going to send out a bloody search party if I suddenly disappear."

"Right," Anya said, nodding enthusiastically. "And if Darla and Drusilla are back to stay like Spike says, then Buffy and the others will be too busy fighting them to even notice anything else that's going on."

Amy stopped pacing, letting her arms fall to her sides. She let out a slow, deep breath, and seemed to relax. "Alright," she said, sounding calmer. "They've got no reason to suspect anything yet. But we're still putting everything at risk as long as we stay here."

Spike opened his mouth to say something else, but he was cut off by the sound of the crypt door swinging slowly open.

Amy turned toward the door, her eyes open wide, a smile starting to form on her face. Spike and Anya stood up and followed Amy's gaze. As the door opened, their leader entered the crypt, and in that moment, all of them knew that everything was going to be alright.

Miss Kitty Fantastico looked up at her minions, her green eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.

T.B.C.