"So this is Wolf and Heart," Dean said speculatively as the impala came to a halt outside.
"It's quiet," Sam noticed.
"Yeah. Too quiet," Dean was determined to get away with lying as long as he could.
He pulled the impala into a nearby parking lot and shut her off.
"Sam you go around back, I'll take the front."
"What about security?" Sam asked.
"I don't think they need much, what with all the demonic employees and all," Dean mused, "we'll be fine."
Five minutes later, Dean was walking through the front door casually, but armed nonetheless even if it was just for show.
Angel, Serafina, Lorne and Gunn
"Boss?" Harmony's voice chirped through the intercom into Angel's office. "Someone just breached the back security."
Angel rubbed his eyes and stood. He looked at Wesley and they both head out to the lobby, ready to get the rest of security, where Angel saw Dean.
"You," Angel said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What are you doing here?"
Wesley looked between them. "You... ah... know each other?"
~*~*~*~
Serafina was hanging around out the back, waiting for Luke, when she noticed someone lurking around. She sniffed and then shrugged.
"K, you can stop lurking. I know you're not evil. We have a front entrance though."
~*~*~*~
Lorne and Gunn came out of Gunn's office, both staring at a document in Lorne's hands when they stopped at the scene.
"Well," Gunn said, taking it in. "This seems a bit tense."
Dean & Sam
"Why would it be tense?" Dean smirked, "I'm just here to visit an old friend, that's all."
***
Sam cautiously raised his pistol in Sera's direction, slowly making himself visible.
"Who are you?" he asked, "and where's Faith?"
Angel, Serafina and Faith
Angel turned to Harmony somewhat reluctantly. "Page Faith."
Harmony looked awkward, but did as he requested. "Boss, she's in the gym and the last time I paged her there she almost staked me."
"Harmony," Lorne said gently. "We won't let her kill you. Please?"
"Fine."
~*~*~*~
"Serafina. I'm Angel's daughter. Faith is... somewhere. Training, I think. Come on, I can help you find her."
Serafina looked at him when he was more visible.
"Mmm, you smell tasty. Come on."
~*~*~*~
Faith looked up as she was paged. She walked over to the intercom.
"Harmony, you really like to push your luck - "
"Lorney-tunes says you can't kill me! But there's someone here to see you."
Dean
"Thankyou," Dean grinned at Angel, "now... should we just all stand here awkwardly or do you want to introduce me to the class?"
***
Sam frowned, confused.
"You're a vampire?" he asked, not moving.
Angel, Gunn, Lorne and Serafina
"Fine," Angel said, through clenched teeth. "This is Dean."
"Sorry?" Gunn said, quite enjoying the moment. "Who is it?"
"Dean," Angel said again. "He's... he knows Faith."
"Ah," Wesley said, polishing his glasses and sharing a smile with Gunn. "Nice to meet you, Dean. I'm Wesley, this is Charles - "
"Gunn," he cut in. "And the green guy - "
"Hey!" Lorne protested. "The green guy took offence to that. You don't get referred to as 'the bald guy'."
"I shave my head!" Gunn replied. "Anyway, that, is Lorne."
Lorne nodded. "Nice to meet you."
~*~*~*~
"Half," Serafina replied. "I play nice with the humans though, don't worry. I'm half Cat Godling too. Long story. But I have a soul and I don't eat humans."
Sam & Dean
"And I should just take your word for it?" Sam's eyebrows rose.
***
"Ditto," Dean nodded to them in turn, turning to put his weaponry in a corner in case it was casting a bad impression.
He lookedup a Lorne.
"Dude, don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell are you? I take it that's not makeup, considering we're ten months from Halloween."
Serafina and Lorne
"Well, if you want to see Faith. I mean, we can throw down here, and look, I get it, you're tall and you look like you can hold your own, but I'm the product of a vampire and a Goddess. And I'm technically only 3. So you probably don't want to fight me," Serafina said, shrugging. "So, come on. Because I actually have things to do here."
~*~*~*~
Lorne frowned a little.
"I get that a lot. I'm an Anagogic Demon. We're harmless really. Pretty useless in the fighting sense."
"Oh Lorney-tunes, that's not true," Harmony called out. "You sing a mean song!"
"Thank you Harmonica."
Sam & Dean
"And again, I just take your word for it? I was told Faith's in trouble," Sam scowled.
***
"Right. And that means... nothing to me," Dean shrugged and clapped his hands together.
He looked around at the rest of the small group.
"So is anyone here human? Or am I flying solo tonight?"
Serafina, Gunn, Lorne and Angel
"Faith in trouble?" Serafina laughed. "Nope. She's been here while Gunn and Wesley have worked out a deal with a demon. Which, they have. So she's pretty much been coming and going since yesterday."
~*~*~*~
"Well, me," Gunn said. "And Wes."
Lorne shrugged. "We're about 50-50 here. We don't discriminate."
"Sometimes we should," Angel said, looking at Dean.
Sam & Dean
"Hey, I can play nice," Dean grinned broadly.
"So what do you bad boys do? Stand around all day scoping out the random people that walk through the door? Or do you have work to do? Oh and Angel? My brother's coming up back. Armed. I told him Faith was in trouble so he'll probably have a go at anyone that doesn't look human. Just so you know."
***
"Ad I'm supposed to believe you over my brother?" Sam cocked his pistol.
"Not likely."
Angel, Gunn and Serafina
"Serafina was out back," Wesley said to Angel.
Without a word, Angel had swooped off to rescue his daughter from what could be danger. More or less, he needed to be far away from Dean.
"Well," Gunn said, scratching his cheek. "I should go check in with Fred, but I am kind of interested to see what happens when Faith arrives. So..." He sat down in the nearest chair. "I'm staying put."
"Charles," Wesley sighed.
"Wesley," Gunn countered.
~*~*~*~
Serafina smiled lightly as she sensed her father arriving. "Dad. He won't come in and I'm playing nice and everything."
Angel touched her shoulder.
Sam & Dean
"Angel?" Sam lowered his gun, confused.
"I was told you were... what's going on here?"
***
"Careful, it could get R rated," Dean winked at Gunn.
"If I'm lucky anyway."
Angel and Gunn
"You mean, aside from you skulking around out here and your brother being a general pain in the ass in my lobby?" Angel asked, folding his arms.
~*~*~*~
Gunn made a face. "So did not need to hear that."
Sam & Dean
"...Oh," Sam gulped slightly, quickly holstering his gun.
"I'm sorry, I just... Dean said... Faith..."
***
"Hey, you wanna watch the show, figured you might want a warning," Dean shrugged.
He looked at Wesley.
"And what's your deal?"
Serafina, Angel and Gunn
"I'm off to meet Luke." Serafina kissed Angel's cheek. "See ya, and I know. I'll be careful."
Angel watched his daughter leave, then turned back to Sam.
"Yeah,.he's asking to see her, so you may as well come in."
~*~*~*~
Gunn was flicking through the papers he'd been holding.
"My deal? I'm head of the research department." Wesley coughed.
Sam & Dean
"Ah... yeah, sure," Sam agreed.
He watched after Serafina as she left, then walked past Angel and through the doors. Where he soon spotted his brother.
"Dean?" he said in a low voice.
"Finally! You're here. Guys I'd like to introduce my geek little brother, Sammy."
"It's Sam," he corrected, walking straight past Dean and grabbing the bag of weaponry to put his own in.
Faith, Lorne, Angel and Gunn
Freshly showered and dressed in a pair of shorts and a singlet, Faith came down the stairs, humming to herself as she pulled her still wet hair back into a pony tail.
"Who's Sam?" Lorne asked, hearing Faith sing.
Faith stopped short where she was, while Angel glared at Sam.
Gunn looked from Faith, to Angel, to Sam and to Dean.
"Boy, I'm glad I stayed for this show," he said to himself.
Dean & Sam
Dean's eyebrows rose, but pointed to his brother.
"That's a Sam," he said, ignoring the annoyed-but-intimidated look his brother gave him.
"Hey Faith."
Faith and Angel
"Hey," Faith said, pointedly not looking at Sam. "What are you doing here?"
"Good question," Angel put in.
Dean & Sam
"What do you think I'm doing here?" Dean's head tilted coyly.
Sam's eyes shifted between the people in the room, before he threw the duffel bag over his shoulder.
"I'll take a raincheck. Was nice meeting you," he nodded to everyone and turned to leave.
Dean watched after him, finally picking u that Sam's exits were getting ruder.
Faith, Angel, Gunn and Lorne
Faith's mouth quirked up in an amused grin. "I see. Cross country booty call."
"Ugh," Angel said, turning and heading for his office. "Lorne? You wanted to talk about your budget?"
Gunn hid his smile and retreated to his own office as Lorne stifled a grin and followed Angel.
~*~*~*~
Wesley, meanwhile, had gone after Sam.
"Ah, Sam?" he called uncertainly.
Dean & Sam
"It's as good a reason as ever to come to Hollywood, right?" Dean mused, advancing on her and leaning in for a kiss.
***
Sam stopped in his tracks and turned to look over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" he asked, cautiously.
Faith
Faith laughed and slid her arms around his neck.
"Well, it's kinda flattering that I'm worth the mileage."
~*~*~*~
Wesley stopped to clean his glasses again.
"I'm Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. I'm the head of the research department... uh, your brother... mentioned... I was wondering if you'd... there are some texts you might like to look at."
Dean & Sam
"Well hey, I'd rather do you than Lindsay Lohan," Dean chuckled, "want tot ake this somewhere else in case grumpyface comes back?"
***
"My brother said I was a bookworm," Sam said for him, "yeah I get it. Sam Winchester."
He extended his hand for Wesley to shake.
Faith
Faith grinned and took him by the hand, leading him back up the stairs.
~*~*~*~
Wesley shook his hand and nodded, then indicated back inside.
"So... um, yes. Texts."
Sam
Sam nodded.
"Sure. What kind of text are we talking? Ritual stuff? Demonology?"
Wesley
"A little of both," Wesley said, leading the way back inside.
"While we were somewhat hesitant to accept the offer to run Wolfram and Hart, it certainly has provided resources that I couldn't've imagined."
Sam
"I ca't wait to see your library. A friend of ours has a house stacked wall to wall with age old books, but if you have anything he doesn't it's sure to be helpful."
Sam pulled the bagfurther over his shoulder as they stepped back into the building.
"So what do you people do here anyway?"
Wesley
"Well," Wesley said, opening the door to his office. "That's a matter for debate. This was meant as a rather elaborate bribe for Angel to be evil again."
He paused, and went over to his desk, pushing some papers out of the way.
"But it never really panned out that way. So now, we use it to continue what we were doing before. Helping the innocents. Fighting the good fight."
Sam
Sam looked around the office, putting the bag down on a nearby chair.
"How do you accomplish that as a business though?" Sam was honestly interested.
"We seem to spend our lives in hiding and secret. Not telling anyone what we do unless we have to. Always on the run from the cops for something we didn't do. Having to steal to make our way. You get the gist."
He started looking around at some of the books.
Wesley
"Well, we're a law firm," Wesley explained, sitting down.
"Gunn, he's our hotshot lawyer, but we have others working for us. And we have a science division, which Fred - you didn't meet her - she runs. So that brings in some money too. And Lorne, he organises entertainment, he's a big name in LA. So, we have our fingers in all sorts of pies, if you will."
Sam
"So it's not so much supernaturally based, it's more just open to the idea," Sam nodded, taking out a particular book and leafing through it.
"Whereas we're pretty much just full time on the road tracking down evil."
He looked up after a moment.
"Sorry. I take it you don't run with the hunting crowd too much."
Wesley
"Well, I was a rogue demon hunter for awhile... it didn't really work out."
Wesley pushed his glasses up.
"We fight, and we fight evil, but we also have to make a living. Slayers, in general, they fight and only fight. And Faith has managed to get herself set up so she won't have to work."
Sam
"That's kinda funny, actually," Sam mused, going back to the book.
"I was a pre-law in college until..."
He cut himself off, then cleared his throat.
"We don't work either, but we've found ways around that. They're not always legal or hygenic, but we make do with what we have."
He returned the book to the shelf it came from and picked up another one.
Wesley
Wesley smiled kindly.
"I was sorry to hear about your father," he started. "John was a good man."
Sam
"He was a good hunter, but a good man?" Sam was too engrossed in the book he held to catch on.
After a second, he looked up.
"You knew my Dad?" he stepped aside a little, full attention on Wesley all of a sudden.
Wesley
"Dig around in the right places and you find interesting rescources," Wesley said, taking his glasses off.
"I was apart of the Watcher's Council. We... they oversee the training of Slayers. Your father, he... he was looking for answers."
Sam
"What kind of answers?" Sam squinted slightly.
"About the demon?"
Wesley
"That was one question," Wesley answered carefully.
"I was on my way out to Sunnydale, where I was going to be overseeing Faith's training, when he came to us."
Sam
"Did you know it was Azazel back then?" Sam put the book aside, more concerned with their current topic.
Wesley
"We had a fair idea," Wesley replied. "From what your father had described to us, we gave him all the help we could, even offered the help of the Slayer - which would have been Faith."
He was silent for a moment.
"But, and I'm sure you're well aware, your father was always a loner."
Sam
"Yeah we are," Sam's face fell as he tucked some hair behind his ear.
"We didn't even know about other hunters until he died. Minus a few that he worked with. He kept us in the dark about a lot of things, Azazel included. But at least we got him in the end I guess."
Wesley
Wesley regarded Sam thoughtfully.
"Sometimes," he said, after a moment. "Fathers think they are doing things for their childrens own well being. And, more often than not, they are wrong."
He smiled wryly in memory of his own father.
Sam
"That's pretty much it," Sam shrugged.
"But he taught us to fight and defend ourselves, so we've gotta give him that. Just..."
He shook his head. He hesitated a moment, ten took a step forward and sat across from Wesley's desk chair.
"How confidential is this movement?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
Wesley
"Well," Wesley said, pausing to think. "More so now, but we did bring a lot of our clients over, back when we were 'Angel Investigations'."
He looked at Sam.
"But if you tell me something in confidence, it will stay that way."
Sam
"I have demon blood in me," Sam said straight out.
He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dean doesn't know, no one does. Azazel told me. Well, showed me, actually. The night our mother died, he was after me, not her. He infected me with his blood. And about two years ago when Dad went missing, I started getting these headaches. No, actually, it was before that. I was getting dreams. I dreamt that my girlfriend Jessica died the same way our Mom did, and three days later it happened."
He gulped slightly at the memory.
"Anyway, as it turned out, there were more. People, like me. All the same age, all with an ability, and all were approached by Azazel on the night of their six month birthday. I'm guessing he did the same thing to them. And they all had abilities, like super strength or telekinesis or mind control. Last time I saw any of them they were starting to get new abilities too, like controlling demons."
He stopped himself for a second and frowned.
"I think my Dad might have known what was happening," he finally relented, "but we still have no idea how much he knew."
Wesley
Wesley let Sam talk, listening carefully to what the younger man was saying.
"You are, of course, welcome to any information we have here, regarding what is happening to you. And I will continue to research it once you have moved on."
He paused, trying to phrase his next statement correctly.
"It might be an idea to talk to Angel. He has an experience in this that I do not."
Sam
"I understand that you might be uncomfortable with this," Sam insisted, "I know that it's probably not every day that you get someone tell you they have demon blood. But I'd appreciate it if we could keep this quiet. ven just for now. I mean, I think that this could get me into a lot of trouble. More than I'm already in. And I don't need it to get much worse."
He bit his bottom lip.
"See, I was chosen to be a soldier. For an army that Azazel was building. And the night the devil's gate opened in Wyoming, that army was let out. When Azazel died, there was no chain of command. I was supposed to be in charge of this army. Only I didn't know it at the time. And when these demons all scattered, and some would have refused to work under me anyway, someone else sorta... took over the ranks."
Wesley
"I'll keep it quiet for as long as you need me too," Wesley promised. "But I still think you'd benefit from a chat with Angel."
He smiled slightly.
"He's not as... scowly? As you might think. Unless he thinks you're going to hurt Faith. Different matter altogether then."
Sam
"It was Lilith," Sam went on, practically dismissing Wesley's advice.
"You know, first woman. First female demon. Mother of all demons and all that. Long story short... I'd like anything you have on her."
Wesley
"Help yourself," Wesley said, leaning back slightly.
"I can contact the reformed Watcher's Council for more information. And then there are people here who are experts on demonology. Cordelia might be one to speak to, seeing as she spent some time as a higher power. If you were curious about what this demon blood was doing, you could speak to Fred. She's head of the science department."
His tone was almost dreamy when he mentioned Fred.
Sam
"Ok," Sam's eyes shifted, his head didn't.
"I need it in five days."
Wesley
"We'll do what we can."
Wesley ppered at him from over the book he'd lifted.
"I take it, you'll be staying for five days?"
He should probably warn Angel that Dean would be staying then.
Sam
"I guess so," Sam nodded, "we kinda need all the help we can get right now."
He turned his head, his mind racing for a moment.
"What do you have on hell hounds?" he asked.
Wesley
Wesley reached for his rolledex and pulled out a number. He handed it to Sam.
"Andrew Wells. His brother, Tucker, raised some hell hounds while he was in high school."
He almost shrugged.
"Not very social, from what I understood. But Andrew has a fair idea of hell hounds and whatnot."
Sam
"I know what deters them and all that, devil's shoestring and such. I'm more hoping for a way for someone who isn't about to die to be able to see them," Sam hinted, taking the number anyway.
"Like, maybe there's something to use to make it visible to anyone..."
Wesley
Wesley put his glasses back on.
"Fred would be the best person to talk to about that, in terms of a physical thing. Cordelia and I could help you with incantations to make them visible."
Sam
"That's really all I need," Sam assured, "thank you. Really. It means a lot."
He stood and went back to the book he'd been holding earlier.
Wesley
"You're welcome."
Wesley let his eyes wander back to the book he was reading.