•••

Wesley looked around the room one more time, trying to gauge the readiness of his coworkers. Everyone looked tense and unhappy, which was both expected and worrisome. Each of them had multiple, valid reasons for being discontent, but the ex-Watcher was afraid that their current states might affect their performance. There wasn’t anything he could to about it though, so he shoved his worries to the back of his mind.

“Can we get this over with?” Gunn asked irritably, pacing up and down his narrow strip of floor. He wanted nothing more than to be done with this whole project. The idea of dealing with demons like this—tricking them into a fight, just to put on a show for the Watchers, bothered him a lot. Something was going to go wrong. Of course, the fact that he hadn’t been able to lay a single finger on Cordelia for the past week hadn’t helped one bit. The only thing that had kept him sane though that was the knowledge that most of his friends were in the same boat. Only Oz and Xander had been allowed contact with each other, since neither of them were going to be meeting with any nonhumans.

Oz’s edict that Cordelia was off-limits, due to the sensitive noses of the werewolf pack, quickly spread to anyone who would be dealing with either group of combatants. Angel couldn’t smell like Wil and Fred couldn’t smell like Wesley. Gunn, of course, was already banned from being near Cordelia. Giles had taken great delight in laughing at them as they struggled to keep ‘clean’. It was quite difficult, since they couldn’t touch anyone at all—they had to smell like nothing but themselves.

At least Oz had taken pity on them and had assigned himself and Xander to cleaning the house. Once the place had been scrubbed top to bottom, each of them chose a place to sit and a separate place to sleep, one that no one else touched. By the end of the week, they were as clean and odor-free as people could get.

“Does everyone know what they’re supposed to be doing?” Xander inquired.

“We’ve done our parts,” Giles reminded him. He and Wesley had set up the Watcher contacts and were now with Wesley, Wil, Oz and Xander on damage control.

“The Dhois accepted our initial overtures,” Fred added quietly. Wil and Oz had spent much of the last week causing damage to different areas—attacks to be blamed on the werewolves. Fred and the others had helped plan those attacks. After a brief wait, she and Gunn had approached the Dhois in their guise as hunters-for-hire with information about the attacks. So far, their plan had worked perfectly.

“And I’ve got the script down pat,” Cordelia finished. She’d practiced ad nauseum and was sure she’d be able to get the werewolves out to where the confrontation was to take place.

“Then we should get going,” Wesley stated. They filed out of the flat, each group taking a separate route. Angel and Cordelia set out to hit a few trendy bars they’d managed to make contacts at, to establish the evening’s cover. Wil shadowed them while Wesley took up an intermediate position near the werewolf pack’s headquarters. Meanwhile, Gunn and Fred took a different route, quietly making their way to the Dhois’ headquarters via several dummy streets. Xander was their shadow, with Oz at a midway lookout position. Giles was responsible for watching the Watchers they’d set up to witness the event.

“Something’s going to go wrong. It has to,” Angel murmured as he hit the stairs. Cordelia punched him on the shoulder—an allowable action, since he was now her bodyguard and some contact between them would be expected.

“Don’t say it. Don’t even think it, mister,” She warned as they made their way to the cab they’d called earlier.

•••

Gunn and Fred waited silently in the anteroom of the Dhois’ headquarters, where they’d been standing for several hours. It wasn’t difficult to do so, since the place smelled incredibly foul. They were both slightly afraid that if they opened their mouths, they’d vomit and ruin the entire charade. True, grizzled hunters-for-hire wouldn’t care about the stench of rotting flesh, no matter how overpowering it was.

“You can go in now,” One Dhois guard commanded to the pair. Gunn nodded once to the sickly brown-gray demon as he ushered Fred inside the main room. When they got inside, they found themselves facing the same midlevel bosses they’d seen the first time they’d approached the Dhois. Initially, Gunn had been disappointed that they’d not met the highest-ranking Dhois, but he soon realized that it just wasn’t going to happen.

“So, you still have information to sell us?” The ranking Dhois hissed to Gunn. Fred stood silently, knowing that the demon would never address her.

Gunn nodded curtly. “Yeah, exclusive information.” He knew that the Dhois had tried to find out for themselves who had attacked their territory. Of course, they weren’t about to learn that, since it was Gunn’s own coworkers.

“And your price?”

“€50,000,” Gunn replied.

The Dhois spat on the ground at Gunn’s feet. “Before, it was €40,000.”

“Inflation’s a bitch.”

“You have no one else who would want that information,” The Dhois protested.

“And you have no one else to get it from,” Gunn retorted. “And I hear the exchange rate is getting worse and worse.” The Dhois argued amongst themselves for several minutes. Fred listened intently for the cue words Wesley had taught her. They hadn’t had time to actually learn the language, but he’d shown her the words for ‘kill’ and ‘force’ and a few others that might mean the Dhois were about to attack them.

“Fine,” The elder said angrily. They needed the information, regardless of how much it cost—they couldn’t afford to be attacked any more. Gunn handed over a folded piece of paper. It held the number of a U.S. bank account, the destination of their payoff.

“Give us the information,” The Dhois demanded.

“Give us the payment,” Gunn replied. The Dhois grimaced. “Pay us and we’ll do better than tell you who attacked you—we’ll take you to their place.”

“Agreed,” The Dhois said quickly. Gunn knew that the offer was the perfect sweetener—the Dhois would have solid proof that there was a group acting against them. Also, it gave them a chance to remove Gunn and Fred, and Gunn knew that the Dhois would have a way to get their money back from that account. Well, they thought they did. The account was one of Wolfram & Hart’s—one that the U.S. Government kept an eye on. Because it was monitored, the law firm kept all things flowing into and out of the account completely legal. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch them scramble around when a bunch of foreign money just showed up there?

“Come on, girl,” Gunn snapped at Fred as they led the Dhois out of the building.

•••

“Come on, dance big boy!”

Angel stared stonily at a spot about a foot behind Cordelia’s head. She was twirling around him, trying to make him join her. Actually, she was just putting on a really good show, and he knew it. It was something of a competition between the two of them to see if she could make him crack a smile. So far she’d failed.

After a couple of minutes, Cordelia made a grand show of giving up on her staid bodyguard and took another sip of her drink. It was really strong, so she swished it in her mouth and let it run back into her glass. She’d done that with the last three drinks, at the last three places they’d been to. The werewolf needed to smell inebriated, not be that way, so she gargled alcohol, letting small amounts of the stuff drip on her skin. It made her feel icky, but it worked, blending with her sweat to make her appear drunk.

“Let’s go, I’m bored,” She said to Angel, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward the door. They’d spent enough time building their cover—it was time to act.

The cab driver certainly bought into her performance, shaking his head at Angel as he drove them to the pub Cordelia’d asked for. He even made sure that she really wanted to go into *that* part of town, but she insisted in a slurred voice that she did. Angel just rolled his eyes and glared at the road.

Once they were dumped outside and the cab drive had driven off, Cordelia tugged her scrap of material this way and that, for a more dramatic effect, and headed toward the door. She only had one shot to pull this off, so it had to be good. Angel stayed exactly two steps behind her, just out of reach of clicking heels and razor-sharp nails.

Cordelia swung open the door and strutted inside, completely ignoring the first four guys she passed. “Where’s the party?” She shouted in a loud, friendly voice. “I came here for…”

Her voice dropped off as several dozen inhuman eyes turned toward her. Angel stepped closer, acting in his role as bodyguard. When one of the men stood to approach Cordelia, he growled menacingly.

“Oh, stop that, Hubert. They’re harmless—just a pack of natives,” Cordelia scolded. Angel backed off slightly, but still kept a close watch.

The werewolf packed looked around at each other. Normally they disliked outsiders, particularly Yanks, but this one was pretty…and protected. Yeah, they could overpower one female beta and her vamp bodyguard, but they’d get hurt, seriously hurt, in the process. Besides, she did come in for a party…

“Party’s right here,” One said with a leer, ogling the young woman’s attributes. Cordelia grinned widely and slid onto the proffered stool.

“Oh, good thing that,” She cooed. “Much better than the last place we were at. What was it called, Hubert? The Lame Duck?”

“The Purple Eunuch,” Angel mumbled quietly. The werewolves looked to each other in amusement.

“You’re better off here,” Her admirer stated. “We’re more fun, by far.” Drinks were served and Cordelia forced one into Angel’s hands. The mega-hormones Cordelia was putting off riled up the werewolves quite a bit and soon they were squabbling amongst themselves and crowding against her.

“Ooh, look Hubert! I’ve got a bunch of bodyguards now!” She shouted over the din. To one of the werewolves she said, “And that is sooo good, you know? Hubert’s fantastic, but one vamp is nothing against a big ugly bunch of Dhois demons.”

“Dhois? Where’d you run into them?” One werewolf asked angrily. They hated Dhois—they smelled bad and did dirty business.

Cordelia waved her hand in one direction. “Oh, over that way. They sounded funny—like they were foreign or something. Anyway, they were looking at me—you know, down my dress, and grabbing at me. Actually, they were just a couple of streets over, near that other pub…Hubert, what pub was it down the street?”

“Which street?” Angel asked, stalling.

“That one just a couple of blocks down,” Cordelia replied. She noticed that the werewolves were taking notice of what she was saying. Any street that close would be well within the pack’s territory and any demons there would be seen as a threat. Sure enough, the pack began to mobilize and move toward the door. “Hey, where are you guys going? It was just getting good here!”

“We’ll be back around, so stay put,” One growled, motioning toward the bartender. The man pulled out a huge knife and a crossbow, laying both in front of him on the bar. At one werewolf’s shove, Angel took a seat next to Cordelia. Apparently they were staying here for the duration.

“Um…if they’re all leaving, I’m going too. It’s no fun here by myself,” Cordelia whined to the bartender. He just grunted and pointed the knife at her.

“You stay.” Angel growled, which got him a nudge with the crossbow. “You stay too, Hubert.”

•••

Giles nodded to Wesley as the faun joined him at his perch. He was the last to arrive—Oz, Wil and Xander had already made it to the meeting point. In less than three minutes, both the Dhois and the werewolves would be there. With any luck, Gunn and Fred would manage to get out of the way before anything bad happened.

“Is everything as planned?” Wesley asked Giles. The elder man shook his head.

“Cordelia and Angel didn’t leave the bar.” The plan was for them to exit as quickly as possible.

“Are they alive?” Wesley asked.

“Yes, but the bartender is holding them.” Wil had seen them inside, but had had to follow the pack.

“Look!” Wesley exclaimed. The Dhois and the werewolves had both appeared—and had seen each other. They could see the tension, even from their vantage point several stories up.

Gunn looked down the street at the werewolves and reached for Fred. “That’s the ones who tore up your place,” He said to the Dhois elder, even as he moved away from the demons. The pair slipped by their Dhois guards and ducked into their appointed hiding place—an abandoned building with sewer access. From there they were to go meet up with Giles and Wesley. Unfortunately, a Dhois behind them saw where they went and decided to follow.

“Gunn!” Fred hissed as she drew her sword. The Dhois made to attack, but Gunn fired a crossbow bolt at it. The bolt hit in the thing’s neck, which only slowed it down. Fred raised her sword high and sliced open the demon’s skull, spraying greenish glop everywhere, including all over both of them.

“I hope, I mean I really hope, that I’m not allergic to Dhois,” Gunn muttered as they made for the sewers. They heard others enter the building behind them. “Shit, they’ll follow us.” Fred nodded and ran back toward the side exit. They had to get the Dhois out onto the street, not into the building.

The Dhois followed Gunn and Fred back into the streets, where the rest of their clan was fighting with the werewolves. They saw no sign of Angel and Cordelia, which was good, so they headed for their ‘plan B’ hideout, a subway station nearby. They hoped the Dhois stayed up to fight with the werewolves instead of following them.

Wil saw Gunn and Fred duck into the subway station. “We’ve got trouble,” He said to Xander and Oz, even as he headed for the stairs. Xander signaled to Wesley before following the blonde to give aide. They used the sewer access tunnels to get over to the subway station—not an easy feat—just in time to see Gunn thrown down onto the platform by two hulking Dhois. Fred was being held by a third, who easily evaded her punches.

Xander leapt across the tracks, distracting one demon, while Wil vamped out and took on the one holding Fred. The vampire ripped its head off, tossing it down the tunnel, even as he turned to take care of the third Dhois. Gunn regained his footing and helped Xander out, attacking the distracted demon as Xander ran around it.

“Thanks,” Gunn panted once the three demons were taken care of.

“Man, they really stink,” Xander complained, wiping his hands off on his jeans.

“We need to get going,” Wil said curtly. The others followed him back to the access and climbed back into their watchtower-building.

The site they found when they returned was beyond their wildest imaginings. Yes, they’d predicted that the two groups would inflict heavy damage upon themselves in their fighting. No one, however, had predicted this. It was nothing short of a massacre.

The Dhois had strength on the werewolves, but he shapeshifters were much faster and worked as a pack, whereas the Dhois weren’t so coordinated. As a result, the smaller werewolf pack was holding its own against almost twice as many Dhois—and both groups were losing members quickly. Bodies piled up in the narrow street and blood covered the buildings and pavement. Oz watched in horror as one Dhois lifted a young werewolf up by the throat, squeezing until its head simply rolled off to one side, bouncing on the ground. The demon proceeded to rip the body limb from limb, ignoring the blood that streamed down his arms. The werewolves were being similarly bestial. By the time a Dhois fell to the ground dead, it was missing most of it’s skin, as though it had been flayed alive. Their blood, a pale green, contrasted with the red of the werewolves, creating an odd jade and ruby mosaic of gore.

“We should go,” Wil said after a few minutes. “Angel and Cordelia may need help.” The others gladly tore their eyes away from the sight below them and moved toward the sewers.

Wesley and Giles were waiting when they arrived. From the looks on their faces, it was obvious that they had witnessed the same thing that the others had. “I had no idea…” Wesley began weakly.

“None of us did,” Wil replied. “We thought there’d be a dozen or so of each, not that many.”

“Or that violent,” Xander added. As they’d neared the sewers, the sound of police sirens resonated through the building. Louder than that, though, was the sound of the fighting outside. It was clear that the two groups fighting were so far gone that they didn’t care about the police finding them.

“Angel and Cordelia?” Giles inquired impatiently. The group nodded and headed toward the werewolves’ pub.

They used a subway entrance to head toward the surface right next to the pub. Compared to the mayhem just a few blocks over, this place was deadly quiet. As one, they moved toward the drinking establishment—until Wil stopped dead. “Blood.”

Oz tested the air. “Vampire and werewolf—“

“Angel and Cordelia,” Wesley added. They took off at a run toward the pub.

Inside they found Cordelia and Angel, bloody and bruised, standing over a decapitated, torn up and battered werewolf. “Hi How went the altercation?”

“That, times a hundred,” Xander said, pointing to the mass on the floor. “By the way…what is that?”

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Cordelia said darkly. She reached for a napkin and wrapped the bloody knife she was holding, before handing it to Oz. He pocketed the weapon and checked for other evidence of their presence. After retrieving Cordelia’s purse, he rejoined the group.

“We need to leave immediately,” Giles said, looking at the door. “The police will come here.”

They took off without another word, heading back to the sewers. They trekked for several blocks, before stopping on a subway platform. A few minutes later, a train stopped and they all got on, Cordelia covered by Wil’s coat and Angel ducking behind Giles to mask his bloody appearance. Gunn and Fred also made themselves invisible—well, as much as they could whilst covered in rank demon gore. Luckily for them, no one was on the subway at the time, and they made it across the city without incident. Just to make sure, though, they got off several blocks from home and used the sewers to return to their flat.

“I call the shower,” Gunn said as the opened the door.

“I’ve got the other one,” Fred added, running for the bathroom.

“Um, guys?” Xander called out after them. “Nobody’s arguing with you.”