"Anything?"

Willow lifted her tired gaze away from the computer screen to answer Giles. Oz' absence showed in the dark circles around her eyes.

"N... not yet. I'm getting dozens of messages from witches and psychics who are picking up backlash effects from the Sepulcher spell, but nothing specific enough to isolate a location. They say something is... interfering or something. As if some dark power was smothering the city."

Giles frowned.

"That supports our hypothesis regarding the involvement of the First."

Willow nodded earnestly. "I remembered what Buffy told me about the First and the Harbingers. I've been contacting everybody I could think of, asking them for reports of dying vegetation and the like. I'm still waiting."

"Very good, Willow." Giles sighed, massaging his sore eyeballs. "Now, I have one piece of good news, and another not so good."

Xander perked up, emerging from an unsteady pile of thick volumes - his hand bringing further disarray to his already tousled hair.

"Go with the good, G-man. I could do with a happy right about now."

"I've found mention of a counterspell."

"What?" asked Xander, stunned.

Willow started jumping up and down on her desk chair, like a bunny on poppers. "That's great, Giles. It means there's a chance Morghane doesn't have to kill herself to save her soul."

"Wait," Xander interjected, bringing Willow's victory dance to a screeching halt. A bitter memory of the last time they had found a miraculous cure popped up. "What's the bad news? She has to drink the blood of a Slayer too?"

"Nothing as drastic, Xander."

"Then... then it's okay..." babbled Willow.

Giles shook his head slowly. "The allusion to the spell is extremely obscure and I have been unable to cross-reference it with any of my other volumes. The spell isn't even described in details. Its existence is mentioned as well as the fact that it has never been cast successfully."

Willow's face dropped. "That would be the bad, then."

"Does the book explain why?" murmured Xander, laying a comforting hand on his best friend's shoulder.

"From what I was able to decipher... the counterspell requires the presence of the original spellcaster."

"So?"

"So, assuming that they even knew who the caster was, it stands to reason that a Guardian who had been attacked with the Sepulcher would have been too weak to go after their assailant and prevail." Giles' expression darkened. "Now that I think about it... We've been so absorbed with first finding a counterspell then locating the successor, Morghane and the First that we've forgotten to ask ourselves one fundamental question..."

The Watcher trailed off, lost in thought.

"And that question would be?" wondered Xander, restless.

"What? Oh, uh, sorry... We never asked ourselves why Morghane's attackers let her go free after assaulting her in Sunnydale. Keep in mind that the Sepulcher hasn't been used that often... but from the few accounts I have found in the Diaries, the Guardian has always been kept prisoner in some remote location after being attacked. It... it stands to reason that their aggressor would want to hasten the outcome."

"In other words... torture them," concluded Xander, subdued.

"Yes. But also ensure that the Guardian would be unable to find assistance elsewhere."

"Like the Slayer?" piped Willow.

"Precisely. There's an instance of a Guardian escaping and committing suicide - one of Morghane's predecessors who sent the Sepulcher back to the ethereal dimension. That's all. I can't see why anyone or anything would go to all the trouble of getting the Sepulcher out of the spiritual plane, drawing Morghane to Sunnydale, attacking her - mobilizing a whole cadre of vampires in the process - and beating her up, only to let her go, knowing a Slayer guards the Hellmouth in the exact same town."

"You're right, Giles," said Willow, leaning back in her chair. "And why lead her to Sunnydale in the first place? Why so close to the Slayer?"

"The old 'two birds, one stone' routine?" Xander speculated out loud.

"You mean whoever did this is going after Buffy as well?"

"What Xander just proposed makes a lot of sense, actually," mused Giles, absorbed. He ignored Xander's little 'why, thank you' theatrical bow. "Think about it. You have Morghane, Buffy and Angel all in one city - soon in one place if we succeed in locating Morghane. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that our mysterious opponent would have taken the Guardian as bait sooner or later."

"Morghane knew this, didn't she?"

Giles looked at Xander, an eyebrow arched in question.

"That's why she left, isn't it? Buffy said she didn't want any of us involved in the first place - except when it came to protecting the successor. She must have suspected that the First was behind the attack and she knew we had no chance of defeating it. So she left... she probably planned on sending the successor to Buffy... and then ending her own life."

"Do you think she's dead?" asked Willow - her voice wavering a little.

Xander frowned. "I think something happened." He looked warily at Willow. "Or... or Oz would have contacted us already."

The young witch paled. Xander's words echoed her worst silent fears.

"Which also means that they are still alive," Giles hastened to point out, lightly touching her arm. "They'll... they'll want to keep... to keep Morghane alive as long as possible."

A small whisper from Willow. "What... what about Oz?"

Giles tried for a reassuring, compassionate smile.

Xander had to look away. He faced the wall, trying to come up with a comforting comment.

Something else occurred to him.

"Giles... if there ever was a counterspell to the Sepulcher... what are the odds that Morghane knew nothing about it?" He bit his lower lip, answering his own question. "Okay, if it's really obscure and the Sepulcher has been banished to this other plane so long ago, she might not have known what the spell was..." His lips tightened around a hard line, a frown etched on his face. "But the Watchers... the Council... Giles, they do this stuff for a living. Don't you think these guys would know about the counterspell... or at least about its existence?"

Giles blanched. "You're not suggesting..."

Xander shrugged. "Of course, I'm suggesting. It's the Watcher Council. Like anything could surprise me anymore coming from those people."

"It's... it's murder."

"And what do you call trapping a powerless Slayer with a mad starving vampire?"

Giles flinched.

"Giles!"

They heard Buffy's call coming up from the stairwell.

In an instant they were hurrying down the stairs to Angel's apartment.

They found Buffy by the sewer entrance, helping Angel up and out of the manhole.

Before asking any question, Giles rushed to assist her and together they led the dark-haired vampire to the nearest couch. Spike emerged next from the hole in the wooden floor. Immediately he came up behind his Sire, clasping a strong hand on the older man's trembling shoulder.

Angel was pale, sweating and shaking weakly.

"What happened?" asked Willow, hovering nervously behind Giles.

Angel shook his head and gently swatted Buffy's worried hands away. "I'm okay, now. I'm okay," he husked.

"Yeah, right," grumbled Spike. "That's what you said twenty minutes ago and then you collapsed again."

"He was coming in and out, Giles. And his eyes... his eyes were glowing - like Morghane," explained Buffy, holding Angel's hand.

"The link?" asked the Watcher.

Angel nodded carefully, looking down at Buffy's death grip on his fingers.

"It was never like that before. I... I've felt emotions, sometimes. N... nothing like this..."

Giles had never seen the vampire so distraught when Buffy's life wasn't in immediate danger.

"Morghane possesses natural shields to protect herself from psychic attacks. But... not... not anymore, I'm afraid. That's... that's why..." He didn't try to explain in any more details. "What... how was... what happened?"

Angel lifted his eyes to Giles' face.

Sad, frightened, lost eyes - Morghane's eyes.

And Giles surprised himself, wishing that Angel would just close them or turn his head away again.

"There... there was pain - overwhelming pain - and... and hopelessness. I... It felt like Hell all over again."

"Was it... the end?"

Angel swallowed painfully. "Someone... someone was hurting her. Badly."

Willow hid her face in the crook of Xander's shoulder and whimpered in anguish.

Buffy and Spike looked grim and worried, still holding onto Angel as if their lives depended on it.

Giles trailed a tired hand over his creased brow. "She's been captured." He caught his breath. "Do you still... feel her?"

"N... no. I... I think she's beyond feeling now. She must be un... unconscious."

"Do you know where...?"

Angel shook his head.

Giles crouched in front of Angel, grasping his knee to get his attention. "You're the one who will have to put shields up now, Angel. We can't have you... incapacitated by Morghane's pain."

"But she's alone..."

"Oz isn't with her?" interjected Willow, frantic.

"I... I don't know."

Angel's mouth was tightly drawn in grief.

This, this sharing of Morghane's suffering, still clouded his eyes like the phantom pain of a missing limb. Still there - and yet not. He felt hollow and full at the same time. Overflowing with both rage and despair. Emotions that weren't his - and yet were.

"Hey, guys. Why with the long faces? What happened now?"

They all turned to face the latest visitors.

Doyle and Cordelia stood in the doorway that led to the stairs. The former May Queen swayed slightly. They were both dripping wet. It was raining again.

"It looks like Morghane's been taken prisoner by whoever is behind this little nightmare," explained Buffy - not bothering to get into more details. "What have you found?"

Doyle faltered for a moment, then directed a somewhat green Cordy to the closest chair. Xander disappeared in the bathroom for a second and reentered the living-room with two dry towels in hand.

Doyle thanked him with a short nod.

"Someone contacted us. A Watcher."

"What?" exclaimed Giles.

"Yah, the lad was assigned to the successor, Lisandra. I'll spare ye the details, but he was tricked into releasin' her identity and whereabouts to some demon, shapeshifter or other. A bunch of vamps tried to silence him afterwards, but he escaped. Barely."

Cordy shuddered.

"Dear Lord," murmured Giles, visibly stricken.

"Said he didn't want to get in touch with the Council, because someone gave the vamps his name in the first place - so he didn't know would he could trust."

"Better and better," growled Buffy, softly.

They had met their share of rogue Watchers before. Sometimes she wondered if Giles was the only decent Watcher out there.

Okay, so maybe she could add Wesley to the very short list.

"When did this happen?" asked Angel, struggling to his feet.

Spike got closer and Buffy stood by her lover, steadfast.

"From what we could make out, a short time before Morghane was attacked in Sunnydale."

"So what does it mean?" wondered Willow out loud - and her worried gaze found Giles.

Giles sighed wearily. "In a way, it reinforces our initial suspicion that the First is somehow involved. From what I've read, the First is limited in the manner it can manifest itself in this plane. It needs to empower others so that they'll do the dirty work in its place. It needs the Harbingers to summon spirits of the dead. Just the same, it would have required some sort of vessel or an intermediary to perform the Sepulcher spell."

"And what would be better than a powerful mage?" inserted Buffy, comprehending.

"Indeed," approved Giles. "Yet, I can't see the successor voluntarily assisting the First in such an endeavor. Which means..."

"Lisandra has been turned."

Eight heads shot up brusquely and mouths hung open in surprise.

Willow gasped, startled, then shot out of her seat and into the arms of her boyfriend, ignoring his wet clothes.

Oz stood where Cordelia and Doyle had already made their entrance a few minutes before.

Willow, consumed by the relief of having him back alive and well, didn't notice his disheveled appearance, the grim set of his mouth or the burning deadness in his eyes. She didn't even realize that he hadn't brought his own arms around her to return her fierce welcoming hug.

The others did though.

Angel was torn between giving the two lovers a moment of privacy and his raw need to grill Oz on Morghane's location.

Could the werewolf have escaped but left the Guardian behind?

For one blazing second, Angel felt the demon stir and roar - fueled by his desire to grab Oz and shake him until the young man explained his presence here alone. But the vampire ruthlessly crushed his instinctive response. Oz wouldn't have left Morghane alone and hurt if he had had any other choice. Angel knew that much about the werewolf and he respected Oz too much to doubt him now.

Gently but firmly, Oz pushed Willow away and took a few steps forward - stopping in front of Angel.

The dark-haired vampire steeled himself against Oz' next words.

"We have to go now, Angel."

The vampire tensed. "Do you know were she is?"

Oz shook his head.

"They dumped me somewhere in the sewers. But I think I can track her."

"Can we take the tunnels? There's still an hour to go until sunset."

"Wait," objected Willow. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"They didn't touch me."

Spike repressed a growl of fury. It meant they had touched Morghane.

"How did you get away?"

Oz' face closed off even more than it already was. "Lisandra let me go."

"So she's been turned," confirmed Giles, fighting to keep the defeat out of his voice.

The werewolf nodded.

"I met Morghane at the door when she left Angel's apartment this morning and I drove her to a bookstore on Falson street."

"That's the address the Watcher gave us," observed Doyle.

"It's a sanctuary of sorts for both Guardian and Slayer - at least that's what Morghane said. She'd called Lisandra and they had agreed to meet there. When Lisandra arrived, Morghane realized immediately that she had been turned, but it was too late. We were surrounded by a dozen vampires and we couldn't escape. They took us to an abandoned warehouse and... kept us there."

Angel flinched, and the torment on his face was painful to behold.

Giles had to look away.

"What did they do to her?"

"Angel..."

"Did they... torture her?" asked Buffy.

Oz nodded, slow and reluctant.

The dark-haired vampire looked deeply into Oz' eyes - and not for the first time, the werewolf felt the pull of a kindred spirit as he returned Angel's intense gaze. He might take Morghane's advice after all and talk - really talk - with Angel. If they survived this insanity.

He still couldn't close his eyes for more than a fraction of a second.

What Lisandra had done to Morghane... He had no words.

He focused on Angel again. Knew that the vampire had found all that he needed to know in Oz' troubled orbs. And then some.

The vampire bit his lower lip to keep from keening in anger and despair. He had known. Since he had collapsed in the sewers under the onslaught of Morghane's psychic projection - he had known.

He felt more than heard Spike growl low in his chest. Buffy held his hand tightly and released a shocked, muttered "Oh, God". His Childe and his lover had deciphered the shadows in Oz' eyes too.

Angel shouldn't have been surprised, really. Rape was a vampire's weapon of choice where torture was concerned. He knew from personal experience that Morghane had suffered this indignity before.

A shiver of disgust and self-hatred snaked down his spine.

She would survive and go on - because she was that strong. Or maybe just because she was that old. Jaded. To her, to him, to Spike - sex was a weapon like any other. Yet he would have given anything to spare her this kind of pain again. He didn't doubt for a second that Lisandra hadn't restricted her own brand of torture to sex.

And his last words to Morghane had been of anger and loathing. He couldn't bear the thought of her dying thinking he hated her.

He couldn't bear the thought of her dying period.

"Is she badly injured?"

"She was... in a lot of pain. But Lisandra insisted that they made sure not to... damage her. Lisandra herself took very little... blood."

Buffy frowned. "I thought Guardian's blood would restore a vampire's soul."

A flash of something very much like pain crossed Oz's face, but he shrugged. "Then Lisandra's immune."

They turned to face Giles - who had been uncharacteristically quiet so far.

The Watcher became aware of their inquisitive gazes and cleared his throat - trying to appear less alarmed than he truly was.

He didn't fool anyone.

"That's... that's a possibility. I've never heard of this happening before... It's..."

He couldn't go on, drowning in the dreadful implications of Lisandra's change.

"Come on, Giles," said Buffy, impatient, "what does this all mean for us? Can an undead successor channel Guardian magick?"

"I have no earthly idea," confessed Giles, defeated. "A Guardian is always marked - a magickal seal that directs the magick to them during the Rapture. Guardians are marked much like Slayers are chosen. We don't know how or why it happens. The only thing that we do know is that only two mages are ever marked at one time. The current Guardian and the successor. If the Guardian dies, the successor goes through the Rapture immediately. If the Guardian doesn't die, the successor goes on living their lives until their mortal death. When the successor dies, another mage in training somewhere receives the mark." Giles started pacing. "What we need to do is contact the Council again and have them look for a mark among the other mages. That way, we'll know. If none of them bear the seal, it'll mean that Lisandra is still an active successor despite her undead status." He swallowed painfully. "The fact that she's impervious to the traditional effect of Morghane's blood is... not a good sign though."

"If Lisandra is the next Guardian, it's a win-win situation for the bad guys," concluded Xander. "Whether Morghane ends her own life or not doesn't change a thing."

Oz' eyebrows drew together. "I don't think so. Morghane was pretty adamant about that. She said that if her soul was saved, it would link with Lisandra's on the ethereal plane - and together they could take over the successor's body."

"A vampiric Guardian?" observed Doyle.

He was holding Cordelia's hand. His girlfriend still looked a bit green around the gills, but the seriousness of the conversation was doing wonders to sober her up in record time.

"I guess it would allow for Morghane's experience to be preserved until it could be passed on to another mage."

"That makes sense," agreed Giles.

"She tried, didn't she?"

The question came from Spike and the room fell silent once again.

"Yes," was Oz simple answer. "That's why Lisandra..." He took a good look at Angel's drawn, pale face, and didn't continue down that path. "But I think she's too weak, now. She's got nothing left."

"Until we hear from the Council, we must plan our strategy as if Lisandra was still the successor," advised Giles. "Prepare for the worst-case scenario."

Xander looked at Giles tiredly. Didn't they always?

"You must go to Morghane right away," said the Watcher, addressing Angel and Spike.

The blonde vampire snarled warningly.

"You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, Watcher."

Angel tensed next to his Childe. In his grief, the older vampire had missed the dark undertones of Giles' command.

"Spike, I don't like it anymore than you do, but we must plan for all eventualities. There's so much at stake here..."

"No."

Angel's cold injunction surprised them all. Even Buffy jumped.

"I don't want to hear it, Giles. We'll go there to get her out of Lisandra's clutches - but certainly not to act as the Council's assassins."

"Angel."

"No." He shook his head roughly. "No. I won't allow it."

Buffy's eyes widened. "You're... Giles, you can't... You would ask them to... to kill Morghane? It's cold-blooded murder."

The mere thought of it made her skin crawl. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Angel felt.

Giles straightened, trying to gather some authority around him. "I don't want Morghane to die. We will do anything in our power to save her." He scowled. "I thought that went without saying." Buffy had to look down, sheepish. "But Morghane's life is not the only issue here. She knows that. Better than anyone. If we discover that Lisandra is the successor or if we fail in locating a counterspell, we'll have to resort to such an extreme measure - or we will have an apocalypse on our hands."

Giles' voice had risen steadily as he got closer to the conclusion of his tirade. He was practically shouting.

He stopped and consciously forced himself to lower the volume of his voice, breathing deeply.

"It doesn't mean that we're not going to keep looking for all and any alternative solutions. As I was telling Willow and Xander before you got back, I have found mention of a counterspell." That brought everyone to attention. "However, I didn't find a detailed description of it. I know it requires the participation of the caster - that would be Lisandra. In what capacity, I have no idea. But it adds yet another twist to this little nightmare. We can't kill Lisandra."

A reluctant murmur from Oz. "Morghane insisted that Lisandra had to be destroyed, just in case..."

"I'm sure she did," acknowledged Giles. "We'll just have to take this one step at a time and reevaluate the situation as we go along. Right now, we must focus on finding this counterspell if it does exist. By my count, we have a little over three days left. We must also evaluate the exact strength of our adversaries."

He didn't bring up Xander's suspicions about the Council. Now was not the time. The situation was discouraging enough as it was.

"Lisandra is protected by a whole battalion," said Oz. "I didn't see anyone else. But Lisandra did say that she was still waiting for a friend. That could have been the First. I don't know."

He seemed uncertain on how to continue.

"Oz," asked Spike, calmly, "why did she let you go?"

The werewolf closed his eyes against the pictures rushing in front of his irises. It didn't help.

"Lisandra was using me to control Morghane. Subdue her. And then she said something about counting on your presence. She released me because she knew I would find you and lead you to her lair. I also think that she wanted me to tell you... what she was doing to Morghane. She... insisted... that I watch."

Willow gasped.

Oz only had eyes for Angel. "I didn't want to leave... but I had to get help if I could, and Morghane knew it."

The vampire nodded slowly, incapable of uttering a word to comfort the younger man. Torn between the relief that they had a lead on Morghane's location thanks to the werewolf's presence - and the knowledge that his friend was now facing her tormentors alone.

"So what do we do now?" Doyle wondered out loud.

"There's only one thing to do," murmured Angel, eyes downcast. "Spike and I will go to Lisandra's lair and surrender ourselves to her."

"What?" shrieked Buffy. "Are you insane?"

Giles said nothing. He could see where Angel was going with this.

Oz nodded approvingly. He had expected as much from the dark-haired vampire.

Spike didn't seem concerned that his Sire had taken upon himself to play so liberally with their unlives.

Angel turned a placating, pleading gaze towards his lover.

"Buffy, listen to me."

"There's no fucking way in Hell..."

"Listen." He didn't raise his voice, but she quieted nonetheless. "We can't attack the warehouse up front. It's a trap. Lisandra is obviously waiting for us. She'll be prepared, she's still an incredibly powerful mage - and the cadre of Nehemia is nothing to be trifled with. Launch a major offensive and we risk Morghane getting killed in the crossfire or Lisandra whisking her away before we can get to her. Furthermore, the First is still an unknown quantity. We can't send all our forces in one go. If we fail, there'll be no one left to bail us out. The only way to do this is from the inside."

"So you want to go in there to make sure Morghane is okay until we find a counterspell, distract Lisandra, hoping that she doesn't kill you, and then you want me to come charging with guns blazing when we finally know how to restore Morghane and destroy the successor," stated Buffy, coldly.

"More or less."

"What if we don't find the spell?"

"Then we'll have nothing to lose. We'll have to throw all our forces against Lisandra and hope that we can destroy her. But that should be our last resort."

Angel raised his eyes to catch Giles' gaze.

The Watcher nodded his approbation. It was the only plan that made sense.

The only one Morghane had any chance of surviving.

Angel's voice lowered to a mere whisper when he faced Buffy again.

"I won't let her die alone, Buffy. I won't."