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Chapter 19
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"Lilah! I thought you were supposed to be curled up next to some roaring hell fire roasting your buns for all eternity." Angel headed towards the mystery woman.

"Funny things happen when dimensional portals start opening up and residents of hell are invited to a dust-up in an alley. Sometimes a few strays find other things to do. Hello, Angel. Any of your crew manage
to survive?" Lilah was grinning as she sauntered across the room. "Heard a rumor Gidget got an upgrade. Good for her, maybe her new status will give her a godlike appetite and she’ll put on a few pounds."

"You know this person, Angel?" asked Giles.

Angel nodded and replied, "Oh, yeah. Don’t turn your back, Giles. You don’t know what you might find sticking in it."

"That’s not fair, Ace. I never pretended to be your bestest buddy, now, did I?" Lilah sat at the desk chair and crossed her elegant legs, making herself completely at home. "Heard YOU played the knife in back trick on Lindsey though. Oh, right, it was the gun in front trick. Had the Jolly Green not-so-Giant do it, too! Low blow. had to mess with Okie’s sense
of importance. Good move! Damn, wish I could have been there to see it!"

Lilah looked at Giles and addressed him, "So you’re the Watcher that didn’t stay fired. Poor Wes, he never really recovered from that failure. Did you like the red paint? Nice touch, I thought."

"You! You’re the mystery woman? The one leaving the notes everywhere?" Angel looked alarmed.

"Well …yeah. Who’d you think it was? Eve? She’s not forgiving like me. You screwed her, used her, tossed her out on her skinny ass, then killed her boy toy. Nope she’s got no interest in giving bullets to you unless they’re shot from a gun."

"Why would you think I’d believe YOU want to help us? You’ve never played for the home team. The closest you’ve ever come to good was when you touched Wes and the good was all him." Angel was angry now.

"Hey, Wes said I was great! Made a real man out of him. Wesley all growed up, gotta love a man with stubble and a shotgun. Seriously, Ace, you know I always back the winning team. You caught the Senior Partners with their pants down. That hadn’t happened before. Really shook them up. I figure you’ve got a real shot at takin’ em down this time, so I drafted myself. Sort of a mid-season trade." Lilah smirked.

"This the bint who got you to take the deal to run the law firm from hell?", asked Spike. He looked her over carefully. "Heard about you, missy. You do your research, know your enemy and tempt like Satan himself. Why’d you start with the clues? Since it led to springin’
the Poof, I gotta wonder if you’re sweet on him. That it?"

"You must be Spike. Hmm, bet you were a cutie in the Hope diamond knock-off. Sorry I forgot to mention the burning to ash part of the deal … oops! Really thought the Gloomy Avenger was going to wear the jewelry, play the hero and dust. No, not sweet on… what did you call him? Oh yeah, the Poof." Lilah laughed at Spike’s name for Angel.

Willow had sidled up to Giles and whispered, "Should I do some sort of truth spell on her?"

"You do that and she’ll be mute, Will. Nothing but lies comes out of her mouth", Angel warned.

"Why did you give us those clues? They was obviously intended to help in the rescue of Angel and Illyria. What could you possibly gain by that?" Giles didn’t trust her one bit, yet so far all she had done was help.

"All right, enough of the friendly banter, time to get serious. I’m really glad to see you were smart enough to paint those wards and wear them as talismans. I was counting on the Challenger to remember Lindsey’s
one brilliant move." Lilah had nodded towards Spike at the word Challenger. "Lindsey could be a doofus, but he was smart enough to find out how to shield his plans and movements from the Senior Partners."

She looked straight at Spike and smiled. "Good job, Soul Boy! No wonder Angel’s worried you’ll nab the prize. Gotta love you, you must drive him crazy! Got the soul for yourself, got the girl…looks and brains, too…must really fry his oysters to think you’re the one after all."

"You’re wasting our time, Lilah. If you think we’ll believe anything you have to say, then you got seriously stupid in hell." Angel looked at her with loathing.

"Hey, gift horse here! The symbols worked, didn’t they? Helped you plot and plan unseen? I pointed the cavalry to the right dimension, got the directions to the other one, too. Can save you lots of time trying to
figure out where the big boys stashed the Slayer." Lilah had a sing-song tone to her voice, enticing them with her information.

"What’s in it for you?" Giles didn’t doubt she had the information and only wondered at her motives in helping them.

"Well, see, that pesky Standard Perpetuity Clause on my employment agreement didn’t seem like such a big deal until I was moved to my permanent location. I like it hot, but I’m thinking more like the Bahamas, if you know what I mean. Wesley took that deal to come over to W & H so that he could destroy my agreement and free me. Sweet, sweet boy, Wesley. Didn’t work, of course. The paper just kept regenerating, kinda like the blonde cutie over there. Burn it up and it just comes back."

"I got where I am by seeing opportunities and being ready to move. The Partners opened the portal and I slipped out, used the symbols Lindsey already found and made contact. I figure you win, you’ve got the best
chance anyone ever has had in history, and my contract finally ends. Lilah gets a ‘get out of hell free’ card. Win-win, Angel, can’t complain about that."

"I can tell you where Buffy is. I can tell you what you have to do to get her out. So, what’s it to be boys and girls? Ready to take a chance, roll the dice, maybe all come out winners?" Lilah leaned back in the chair and put her put her arms behind her neck. "Work with me and there might even be extra goodies in it for you…"

"Word of warning though, kiddies, no bag of magically beating hearts will get you back with the Slayer. You’re going to have to get bloody, really bloody to do that. This isn’t just a battle, gentlemen, it’s full out
war, winner take all. I can help with the getting in, but you’re going to have to do the fun parts." Lilah looked directly at Spike as she said the words. "Time for that whole cup thing. Only this time, no Mountain Dew. Oh, and as for that little detail, that’ll have to wait until you put the three Seniors out of our misery. Me, I’m expecting a bit of
gratitude from all of you and maybe even those Higher Powers who have you by the short hairs." She included Angel in her look that time.

~~~

"You show me written ramblings of fools. In my time and place, I WAS language. There was no confusion. This library is filled with half-truths and fiction. You would have me learn anything from them?" Illyria looked at Xander closely. "Wesley put much store in the writings, but he checked them for accuracy. Much of this world’s trouble is traceable to such inefficient listings of knowledge. Truth is here." She
pointed to her head. "And here." She pointed to her heart. "Not in pulverized trees and recycled rags."

Xander had finally gotten the whole Pope confusion straightened out. Illyria was going to be much more of a challenge than Anya had ever been. Xander wondered if the rewards of helping her would pay off as well.

"Giles is better at following his instincts and taking this stuff with a grain of salt than the last group were. Hey, maybe you could help with the truth checking later? " Off her look, Xander decided to amend his suggestion. "Or you could just do as you please. I thought you might want to show the world all your superior knowledge by getting this straight, but maybe not."

"I shall consider your request. Too much knowledge in the hands of children such as yourself is dangerous. I must think on this further. The vampire and my pet can assist in changing these to reflect reality. This is a fitting project for them. The vampire must be challenged for the truth of what he offers, however."

"Couldn’t have put it better, your worshipfulness." Xander wondered idly why Giles had never quizzed Angel or Spike about vampires long before now.

"You may call me Illyria, or Greatness. Other words are superfluous and do more to demean than honor. I shall call you Cyclops as you remind me much of Poseiden’s son in looks and manner."

"Um… could we maybe just shorten it to Cy?" Xander pleaded. "I’d hate
to give Spike another reason to laugh at me."

Illyria tilted her head and stared at him for a short while before replying. "This does not displease me. It shall be done."

When they arrived back at Giles’ office, Illyria immediately spotted the newcomer sitting at the desk. She stopped in her tracks, causing Xander to run into her back. Illyria’s eyes narrowed as she stared at Lilah. "The Fred entity knew this one. The memories are not positive ones. This one is dead yet not a spirit. It reeks of the Wolf, Ram and Hart, why is it here?"

"Nice to see you, too, Twigs. Gotta say, that new voice… lots sexier than that high Texas twang. Blue looks good on you, too. Wardrobe could use a little toning down though."

Illyria started walking towards the desk, causing mild alarm amongst the rest of the group. Clearly Illyria didn’t suffer fools lightly and Lilah was being singularly foolish in her taunts. "This one is like the tomes
my guide just showed to me, filled with half-truths at best. This does not make a good ally. Does our leader choose to lead us into folly as did the vampire?"

"Hey, everyone was on board with that for his own reasons", Angel objected.

"What offers have you come to make this time, liar?" Illyria reached the other side of the desk and was peering deeply into Lilah’s eyes.

"A pretty good one, actually. I tell you where to find the Slayer and how to get in. You defeat the Senior Partners and I get to move to a dimension a bit cooler than the one I’ve been in. Everybody gets what
they want. Got a problem with that?"

"Still workin’ on why we should trust you at all. I’m with Blue on this one, don’t reckon you’ve earned any trust points with any of us. As for your housing problem, seems like you had to know where you’d be spendin’ eternity; you’re a smart bird. Also sounds like you pretty well earned it, too." Spike had moved to stand next to Illyria, facing Lilah.

"You know, those travel brochures just never really capture the reality. Besides, I was young. Thought I was going to live forever, or at least to be an old woman. I changed my mind. Didn’t give too much thought to the possibility that I could change circumstances until Wesley tried to free me. Haven’t thought of much else since then."

"Wesley tried to free you? Yes, the Fred memories do say that you were of importance to him. You were not a good influence to Wesley, yet he cared about you. For this we will listen to you, for Wesley." Illyria didn’t take her eyes off of her as Lilah squirmed in her chair.

"I’m playing straight for a change. Too much for me to gain not to be on the level. This isn’t some trick or lawyer wiggle here. I want a better place, you want your Slayer and we both want the Senior Partners gone permanently. Distrust me all you want, but don’t dismiss me."

"Look, I’ll tell you what I know. Lots of it you already know or have figured out. The Partners plan to make out like bandits in the apocalypse they’ve had planned since they first seized power millennia ago.
Then came this one here." Lilah pointed to Angel. "All souled up and looking to rock the boat. For almost a hundred years, all they had to do was keep tabs on him, ‘cause he wasn’t doing much except not killing. When he started playing the do-gooder, we kept closer tabs, especially when he moved it to our town."

"That prophecy on the Scroll of Aberjian had all our mystics and scholars busy. It was pretty vague. All that stuff about a vampire with a soul who might play on our side or against us in the apocalypse. If he went against us, there’d be these rewards, but it wasn’t a sure thing he would go against us. We had entire divisions set up to make sure Angel came over to our side, believe me."

"Then came the wild card: you." Lilah pointed to Spike. "Who would have ever expected a vampire to go out and GET his soul back? I mean who wants a conscience anyway, much less after a century of killing? Now we had two contenders and no way to know which. You flamed away and we were happily back to just Angel. Then, poof, you’re back. Lindsey wasn’t responsible
for that, by the way; that was a Higher Powers thing.Lindsey never had that kind of power or pull! That’s when the Partners got the brilliant idea to call in their marker with de’Medici, the Immortal. He’d been playing his way around Europe for centuries on a free ticket, after all."

"See, one of the things you boys have in common is that you love this Slayer. The Partners felt if they had their man there controlling things with her and ready to jump in as needed, they would have a hold over
both of you. She was a sort of trump card. Then you got impatient." She pointed an accusing finger at Angel. "Had to start things on your own. They had Eduardo teleport your Slayer to the home office. Yeah, where they are, the Senior Partners are. What you need to know is how to get to them." Lilah sat back in the chair and waited for some indication that
they were willing to accept her help.

"You said nothing of the leaving, liar. The only way to leave that place is through the blood of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart. They cannot be left to live." Illyria added.

"It’s always the blood, like I said, always the blood. Well, I’m ready to get my hands dirty and don’t mind a bit that it means taking those three out. Guess Blue here needs to fill us in on all she knows about this trio." Spike took Illyria by the arm and led her to the small conference table and pulled out a chair for her.

"This must be my apocalypse, the battle where I go against them." Angel said with excitement in his voice.

"What makes you think it’s your battle, you pillock? Could be mine. No way of knowin’ is there?" Spike sneered.

"Actually there is", Lilah hinted.