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Gilt, an older man with graying hair, and the two mages sat on the hotel bed, watching the scene before them. Trisn and the 6 warriors had just returned without Angelus or the girl. "What do you mean you retreated?!?" Beshok asked.
"They were beating us and we had one man unconscious, so I called a retreat," Trisn explained between clenched teeth.
"How could a vampire in the sunlight and a girl beat up 7 warriors?"
"Angel is unaffected by the sunlight so that made no difference. He is an experienced fighter you know, but she-"
"What?!?"
"She was stronger than she should be," Trisn finished, trying to hold his temper.
"A puny, teenage GIRL beats up 7 warriors and all you can say is 'she's stronger than she should be'?"
"It's true. She was stronger than any of us," one warrior chimed in.
"She knocked me out in one punch," the groggy Penok added.
"This could be a sign," one of the mages suggested.
"It's a sign that we shouldn't have attacked this girl. She's done nothing to us!" Trisn exclaimed.
"She's Angelus's girlfriend. She would give the beast pleasure, when he should suffer!" Beshok shot back.
"Maybe she doesn't know about his past," one warrior suggested.
"Yes. She might not know. We could tell her the truth and turn her against him. Wouldn't that be fitting revenge?" another asked.
"Yes, it would," Beshok said evilly, "But if she will not turn against him, we will torture him by torturing and killing her in front of him." A smile crossed his lips, as he thought of all the ways he could torture her.
"She's too strong!" a warrior cried in fear.
"Lies!! What are you really afraid of?!? Tell me!" Beshok ordered.
"Excuse me, sir," Gilt interrupted quietly. All heads turned toward the quiet spy. "I have seen this girl fight at night with Angelus in the past few days. She's easily as strong as a vampire. She might be like Angelus. Human during the day and a vampire at night."
"Then why was Angelus only as strong as a normal man?" Trisn asked.
"I don't know," Gilt said simply.
"Well find out!! If we can't capture them, we will capture one of the girl's friends as bait, but only if we need to. Only Angelus and the girl should have to suffer, for now," Beshok said. He was answered by a chorus of "yes, sir". "We shall have vengeance!!" A chorus of hurrahs was heard as Trisn and another warrior slipped out of the room, of the hotel.
"I can't take it anymore! Did you hear him, Jer? It's crazy!" Trisn said, remembering the bloodthirsty look in Beshok's eyes and wondering at how his fellows could follow him so easily.
"That Buffy girl never did anything to us," Jer replied, a little shaken by Beshok's reaction to their failure.
"No, not just about that. Did you see how happy they were together? I saw his eyes before we attacked. Those aren't the eyes of the cold-blooded killer Angelus we were told about," Trisn said as the walked down the street, remembering the happy couple he'd seen and the letters Yanna had wrote him.
"Of course they were Angelus's eyes," Jer snapped, the childhood tales of the enemy Angelus nagging at the corners of his mind.
"But Angelus is a killer. Those weren't the eyes of a killer. Yanna wrote to me about this, but I didn't believe her until I saw it with my own eyes," Trisn said wonderingly. Jer gave him a confused look. "Don't you see. The demon and the soul are like two separate people. She said they were like two completely different people, Angel and Angelus. We're torturing the soul, Angel, when we should be torturing the demon."
"Yanna told you this?"
"Yes."
"But...even if it were true. What can we do? The clan is convinced that he should suffer," Jer replied, torn between the evidence before him and his loyalty to the clan.
"Yanna lied to the clan and did nothing to torture Angel, but that's not enough. We should help him, we should warn them," Trisn said, thinking of the injustices that Angel must have suffered.
"We can't work against the clan!! The clan is our family. Are place is with them. Yanna had been away too long and was on the verge of being thrown out. She was probably crazy. We should go back and help," Jer said stopping, pleading with Trisn. He could not imagine life without the clan, and he feared for his friend who seemed to be talking of not only leaving the clan, but working against them.
"No! If anyone's crazy it's Beshok. He proved that a few minutes ago," Trisn said gesturing back towards the hotel. Afraid he was losing Jer to the clan he took a deep breath and continued a little more calmly, "They're wrong and we both know it. You saw the look in Angel's eyes, when the knife was drawn on the girl."
"Yes," Jer agreed reluctantly, "But I will not work against the clan."
"Fine, but we will not help them either. Agreed?" Trisn asked.
"Agreed."