•••

"Stop fidgeting!" Cordelia said to Xander as the foursome stood outside the gallery. They were waiting by a grungy looking building that Cordelia swore looked just like an art gallery.

"I don't like suits," Xander whined. "They're uncomfortable."

Oz reached a hand up to stroke soothingly on Xander's neck. The Raphe leaned back a little and calmed a bit, no longer pulling at his tie.

"When was this supposed to start?" Wesley asked a bit nervously. He was a bit uncomfortable just standing on the street, and he we would have thought that the college students who were supposed to be attending would have shown up by now.

"Half an hour ago," Cordelia replied a bit impatiently. "This is ridiculous. Let's go." She stomped her way to the door of the gallery and burst in, the others right behind her. "What the—"The young woman's statement was cut short by a vision graphic enough to interrupt her speech. "Oh boy," She murmured, looking over at the others. "We've been had."

"We have so been had," Xander reiterated, obviously having a vision himself. "We need to get out of here right now!" Wesley and Oz looked around, seeing demons surrounding them in the otherwise empty building. They looked for an alternative exit to the now-barricaded entranceway. Seeing none, they turned to push their way out.

"Move!" Cordelia shouted. "These demons are going to—"

All of a sudden, everyone froze in horror as every mistake they had ever made was thrust into the front of their minds. Xander doubled over, falling to the floor. Oz had to shake himself hard before he was able to reach down to help the Raphe, who was shaking uncontrollably, his stripes beginning to show. Wesley and Cordelia weren't in much better shape.

Xander tried to get up, to move, or at least support himself. Every time he even considered it, though, the mental torture got worse. He flinched as rather graphic memories of Faith trying to kill him replayed in his head over and over, each time emphasizing a slightly different thing he'd done wrong—something he said or did to provoke her. Xander could tell Oz was near him, but that was about it. Not only was the Raphe enduring his own memories, he was also feeling all the pain coming from the people surrounding him. He knew it was too much—he wouldn't be able to stay conscious for very much longer.

The investigators were so caught up in the Eraen demons' manipulations that they didn't even notice when their attackers began to pick them up until they were headed for the door. Cordelia struggled, scraping her feet along the floor in an attempt to slow them down. Oz punched and kicked, although his blows had little force due to the mental distractions he was suffering. Still, he managed to knock one demon against the doorway hard enough to cause damage.

After that the mental pain got much worse, to the point that Xander passed out. The others were reduced to paralyzed masses of flesh, which the demons piled into the back of a nondescript van. Less than a minute later, they were gone.

•••

"Wha—" Cordelia groaned as she was unceremoniously dumped onto a cold concrete floor. Her voice was cut off by a whoosh of air forced out of her lungs by the impact of the fall. A moment later Wesley came down beside her, landing hard. Xander and Oz were also pitched out of the back of the van, falling roughly on the floor. Cordelia tried to stand up but found she was still weak and woozy from the Eraen demons' attack on them.

Wesley had also regained consciousness and was attempting to gain his footing, but the demons returned to deal with the investigators before anyone could actually make it up. The foursome was pulled up and dragged over to a support column, which was used to support them as they were bound tightly. Xander woke during the ordeal but a sharp mental jab from one of the demons knocked him out again.

"Wes?" Cordelia whispered once the demons were gone. "You awake?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Wesley replied groggily. "As is Oz, although Xander seems to be unconscious still. Do you have any idea where we are?"

Cordelia looked around their prison. "I think it's a warehouse," She answered after a moment. "There are some boxes over there, but I can't read them."

"Shh," Xander hissed as he regained consciousness once more. "Talking loud."

"Xander?" Cordelia whispered. "How are you?"

"Bad," Xander replied, unable to muster his usual level of witty reply. "You?"

"Not good. I can't get out of these ropes," Cordelia said. She'd been trying, but between her own exhaustion and the superior knots the demons had used, she was immobile.

"What did you see?" Wesley asked the seers. They hadn't gotten a chance to tell anyone about their visions before they were attacked.

"Kids, lots of them, bleeding and screaming," Cordelia said shakily.

"Adults too," Xander added after a moment. "The same thing that happened to us."

"And you had a vision about it…" Wesley began. "Perhaps that's why we were tricked into going to the gallery. With you out of the way, Angel and Wil wouldn't know to try to stop them."

"Yeah, picked that up from the whole vision thing," Xander snarled. "So, how long do we get to wait before the big show starts?"

"I wouldn't think very long," Wesley said, looking around the warehouse. "Xander, could you…do you think you could sense anyone outside this building?"

Xander thought for a moment. "I doubt it. I'm pretty well fried from earlier. Besides, what good would it do? We can't contact anyone."

"True, but we may be able to determine what the demons' plans are," Wesley replied.

"We know what their plans are—hurt a bunch of people!" Xander shot back angrily.

"Yes, the visions showed that, but…" Wesley's voice faded slowly as he began to recall his experiences in the demon dimension. "I believe we may be about to find out just what the demons have planned," He managed to say as the visions overtook him.

•••

Angel, Wil and Lorne had to park several miles from the theme park, since police, state patrol, National Guard and Army personnel blocked all the access roads. The demons took off at a run, quickly covering the terrain between where they'd abandoned the car and the park. The main gates were, of course, swarming with uniformed officers, so Angel led them around to a service entrance. It too had people all over it, but there weren't quite as many. The threesome managed to sneak in between two groups of patrolling guards.

"How are we supposed to find them?" Lorne hissed under his breath. "This place is huge!"

"We can't split up, not with this many people wandering around," Angel replied. "We'll just start here and work our way around. Wil and I will be able to sense them if we get close enough."

"What if they've already been found?" Lorne asked quietly.

"Then we'll get them out of wherever they are," Wil replied flatly.

The first hour produced nothing; nor did the second. It was a slow search—avoiding all the armed guards took up much of their time. Granted, most of the people in the park were preoccupied with evacuating all the comatose people lying around. Still, darting between rides and displays was eerie in the dark. "They're here," Wil said as they sidled up next to a warehouse near another service entrance.

"Are you sure?" Lorne asked, looking around. There weren't many guards at this end of the complex.

"Yes," Wil replied, easing one door open. "Come on."

Angel followed Wil into the warehouse. It didn’t take long to find their friends. The foursome was tied up on the floor, slumped over unconscious. Blood ran from their ears and noses, pooling on the floor. Angel pulled out a knife and freed their friends while Wil checked for signs of life. "How are they?" The dark vampire asked softly.

"Alive," Wil replied. "How are we going to get them out of here?"

Angel looked around. He hadn't really thought about that yet; carrying them was risky due to all the guards and they had no transportation. "Aren't there tunnels below this place?"

"Yeah, but they don't connect to the main sewer system," Wil replied.

"They don't have to—so long as they get us out of the park and away from all these people," Angel said in reply. "Get Lorne and we'll find a way out of here."

Lorne was close by and immediately began to look for a way to access the maintenance tunnels Angel was sure existed. As the vampire had suspected, tunnels did run underneath the park—and Lorne found a stairwell leading right down to them. Angel hefted Oz and Cordelia into his arms, while Wil took Xander and Lorn carried Wesley. The access tunnels were better lit and much drier than sewers, so they were slowed down little by that. Of course, carrying four bodies was a strain in and of itself.

"Do you know where we're going?" Lorne asked after several minutes.

"Out of the park," Angel replied.

"And you know where that is how?" The green demon queried.

"The signs say we're going toward the north end of the park, which is where we left the car. It doesn't matter how far we get outside the place as long as we're not in the middle of a bunch of trigger happy soldiers," Angel answered.

"Because two vampires and a green man carrying around four bodies tend to arouse suspicion in even the most calm and rational police officer," Wil added. "If we're lucky they'll just shoot at us."

"Be quiet," Angel hissed, hearing footsteps above them. The others fell silent, glancing up at the ceiling as they continued. Half an hour later, Angel paused at a sign indicating that they were near the service entrance they'd started at. "Ok, once we're past this, start looking for a way out."

It took another twenty five minutes before Wil spotted a ventilation shaft in one wall. "Angel?" Wil whispered, cocking his head toward the shaft. "I know it only works in the movies, but…"

"I'm game," Lorne said, peering into the tunnel. "Maybe one of us should go on ahead and check it out." Wil nodded and placed Xander carefully on the floor before scurrying up the shaft.

"It's clear," Wil said as he climbed back out a few minutes later. "I took the grate off and left it outside. We should probably get going, though."

Wrestling the unconscious investigators through the ventilation shaft was slow, difficult work. Xander's arms kept catching on the walls and Lorne couldn't help but bump Wesley's head now and then. Once they were all outside, Angel ordered them to rest for a moment. "We still don't know how far we are from the car," He said, looking around. They still had maybe three hours before the sun started to come up, which was pushing it.

"I don't suppose we can call a cab, can we?" Lorne griped as they started moving a few minutes later. A noise off to their left stopped Wil's snarky comeback. "Soldiers!" Lorne hissed.

Angel peered into the darkness, seeing that a group of soldiers was heading toward the ventilation shaft. Shit! There must have been sensors attached to the thing. If they got caught… He took off at a dead run, moving faster than any human could despite his burden. Wil and Lorne kept up, although it was a strain for the green demon. He wouldn't be able to maintain that pace for very long.

Fortunately for them, they were a lot closer to the car than they'd thought. Angel had led them over two low rises and through some shrubbery until the highway appeared in front of them. They were perhaps two hundred yards from Angel's car. He backed them up into the low trees by the road and began to jog toward the car.

"Can we go home now?" Lorne asked as they piled everyone into the car. Due to space restrictions, three of the four comatose people were piled in the back, propped against each other for support. Lorne was back with them, making sure everyone was breathing. Wil and Angel were relatively more comfortable in the front seat, with only Xander between them. They looked a lot like the end result of a bachelor party; most were passed out and the ones that weren't looked about ready to fall over.

"Yeah, home's a good idea," Angel said, starting the car. He tossed his cell phone to Wil. "Call Gunn and Fred. They need to come back."

Wil shuddered. How did one tell a person that their lover was…well, comatose? "Fred?" Wil asked when someone finally answered the phone.

"Yes?" Fred said, wondering why Wil was calling. They'd had their usual check-in a few days ago.

"You and Gunn need to come back to L.A. as soon as possible," Wil replied.

"Why?" Fred asked, nervous.

"Cordelia, Wesley, Xander and Oz were hurt. We're taking them back to the hotel now, but you should be there as well," Wil explained.

"What happened?" Fred demanded angrily.

"They were attacked by Eraen demons, and it messed with their minds. We're going to get them fixed, Fred, but you need to calm down and get Gunn and yourself back to the Hyperion," Wil said firmly. After another moment or two of discussion, he hung up.

"That went well," Angel commented.

"And you could have done better?" Wil snapped. "Sorry, it's not easy breaking bad news."

"I know," Angel murmured.

•••

Angel and Wil had just gotten the last body into the hotel and situated in a bed when Gunn and Cordelia arrived. "What the hell happened?" Gunn demanded, advancing on Wil. The blonde stepped back, raising his arms in defense.

"Eraen demons, gallery, Disneyland," He murmured desperately.

"What?" Fred asked, confused.

"They went to a gallery opening by some Eraen demons. It was a setup; they were kidnapped and taken to Disneyland, where—" Angel was cut off by Fred.

"The nerve gas?" Fred whispered, having heard about it on the news.

"It wasn't nerve gas; it was the Eraen demons. They feed on emotional pain," Wil explained. "They tortured all those tourists to feed."

"And why did you let them go to a gallery full of these demons?" Gunn demanded.

"First, they wanted to go, I didn't," Angel grated out, angry at being accused of negligence. "Second, there were supposed to be others there—a class full of UCLA students. What was I supposed to say, 'No, Cordelia, you can't go out like a grown-up would, because you can't take care of yourself?' Gunn, she goes to places full of demons all the time—including ones much more dangerous than Eraen demons."

"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" Fred inquired calmly. It didn't add up—they hadn't angered any Eraen demons lately, not that she knew of.

"Wolfram & Hart were involved," Wil said coldly. "They probably recruited the demons, or paid them, or something. Lilah knew about it and them."

"And she tried to kill us," Angel added.

"No, she didn't. Lilah can't kill us—you're obviously too important alive," Wil reminded him. "She did want us to suffer a bit, though."

"What about Delia and the others?" Gunn demanded.

"Time," Lorne said from the entrance to Caritas. "It's the only way for them to heal. Once their minds have gotten over the worst of it, they'll wake up again."

"How long will that be?" Fred asked worriedly.

Lorne shrugged. "A few hours, a few days…It depends on how hard they were hit—and it looks like they took a beating, especially Xander. Empaths and Eraens shouldn't mix."

"Great. We can't do anything but wait until the just wake up?" Gunn summarized.

"Looks that way," Wil replied softly.