She sat on the couch with her feet tucked up under her. Chin on her knees, her arms wrapped around them tight enough to mask the fact she still had the jitters. Angelus sat at the other end of the couch, draped elegantly across it, his eyes on her.

“So?” She stared at him, daring him not to answer.

He frowned and plucked non-existent lint off his sleeve, not looking at her as he replied,

“We have been invited somewhere, but you will not be going.”

She felt a jolt of betrayal and snarled at him, “not going? What The Hell!? You’re just going to swan off and leave me here? I thought you said you’d protect me!”

He surged to his feet and started pacing the length of the loft.

“I am protecting you! It is too dangerous for you to come with me!”

Standing up she limped angrily after him, jabbing a furious finger in his chest, punctuating each word with a hard jab.

"No! To hell with you! You don’t get to decide that! I’ve spent the past twelve hours terrified out of my mind and now you want to leave me here to face gods knows what, because apparently I’m the delicious newbie snack all the assholes out there want a piece of!”

He stared down at her and she took a step back from the blistering rage on his face

“You. Do. Not. Understand. Gretchen!” Each word contained bitten off fury.

Crossing her arms she glared back, leaning in to yell in his face, “So explain it to me magic boy!”

Grabbing her shoulders he shook her till her teeth rattled.

“’Lus!”

His hands dropped like she’d burnt him and he stalked to the other end of the loft, staring out the grimy steel bared window.

Warily she limped after him, “’Lus?”

He sighed and some of the tension dropped out of his shoulders.

“Ira has found me, us,” he turned to look at her.

“Who the hell is Ira? You’ve mentioned his name before, but not who he is,” she stopped just out of his reach and glared at him.

“He was the one who taught me magic. He was…” he rubbed his face, “he was my friend, my mentor, and he betrayed me, twice, he used me. He is dangerous Gretchen, I am powerless against him.”

She released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

“And he wants to meet me?”

Angelus’s dark eyes sought and held hers, “and he wants to meet you.”

“So what are we gonna do?”

He ran his hands through his hair leaving it in disarray, “I will go face him, and you will stay here, where it is safe.”

“Bullshit! If he knows I’m here what will stop him just taking me huh? Wouldn’t it be better to have an actual plan?”

He sighed, “you are right, I am not thinking straight, I just…” he trailed off giving her a helpless look.

Gretchen bit her bottom lip

“What did he do to you that has you so rattled?”

Angelus walked back to the couch and sank into it, his head buried in his hands.

“When I first became immortal I met a woman, she was…” he shrugged helplessly. “I was young, impressionable and stupid. I feel in love. Ira approached me around the same time, offering to teach me magic in return for information on The Society.”

He raised his head for a moment to look at Gretchen.

“I was easily swayed by pretty words and promises and I agreed. I was a fool and worse still I was a traitor. Ira convinced me to make her immortal then they stole away together, leaving me to face The Society and possible death.”

“Damn.” Gretchen hissed.

Angelus rubbed his face.

“I was lucky, The Society was more interested in grilling me on everything I knew about Ira than actually putting me to trial, but I was cast out. No longer privy to their doings and left to fend for myself. I am sure they kept an eye on me, but they offered no help. I met another outcast a few centuries after that, but Ira managed to separate us too. The Society only let me rejoin their ranks about a hundred years ago.”

Gretchen flopped down on the floor, pulling Valiant in for a hug.

“So you think Ira wants to use me somehow?”

“I am sure of it, he has been known to approach new immortals before, some of them then disappear.”

“And messing with you is just icing on the cake I guess?”

Angelus shrugged “I have to assume so.”

“So what are his weaknesses? How can we fight back? I’m sure as hell not going down without a fight and I won’t let you either!”

Angelus stared at her for a moment then shook his head and smiled.

“Reckless, but incredibly brave.” He rubbed his hands together, “Ok, his biggest weakness is his ego, so we have to work on exploiting that. How are you at playing the femme fatale?”

Gretchen froze, and then back-peddled across the floor away from him.

“Oh no, oh Hell NO! I am not wearing a dress! I don’t do that feminine shit, no, no god-damned way!”

He held up his hands placatingly

“It was only a suggestion, I would never force you into something you were not comfortable with.”

She relaxed a little, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

“Any better ideas magic boy? Ones that don’t involve me feeling as uncomfortable as shit?”

He tapped his lip a few times, thinking, and then motioned her closer

“How about…?”

With their heads close together they outlined a plan.