Unknown Factors (Book One)

Ch.106: Well it filters through

  "Who?" I slammed my hands onto the table while baring my teeth, and Gunn jolted from the unexpected action. "Knox have a partner?"

  "I'm-I'm working on it."

  "Oh. You're working on it. Good for you, Charles. Not a moment to lose." Wesley spoke with thick sarcasm.

  "Wes. I know you're hurting. Keep your footing. I need you sharp, all of you, for Fred's sake."

  "There's no Fred anymore."

  "You don't know that."

  "I watched it gut her from the inside out. Everything she was is gone. There is nothing left but a shell."

  "Then we'll figure out a way to fill it back up."

  "The thing only took over her body. Just the tip of the theological." Spike waved his hand.

  "It's the soul that matters." Angel added.

  "Trust us. We're kind of experts."

  "What about her- if her organs have been liquefied?" Gunn asked.

  "Flash fried in a pillar of fire, saving the world." The bleached-blond raised his hand and shrugged. "I got better."

  "You really believe there's a chance of bringing her back?"

  "Fred's soul is out there. Somewhere. We'll find it, we'll put it back where it belongs. Then we'll make every son-of-a-bitch that had a hand in this pay." Angel got to his feet, but my gaze lowered to the table in front of me.

  "I'm only saying this from experience....but what if she's in Heaven? Or a place similar to it?" The room went quiet, and I glanced around at them. "Coming back here from that took a long time to recover from."

  "We'll help her through it. It wasn't her time yet- she deserves to live her life." Wesley pointed at the ground before turning to Angel. "Where do we start?"

  "With the big guns."

  "Willow."

  "Won't be the first time she rattled the dead. Last time I heard, she was in South America." Spike stated.

  "We'll track her down and get her here as soon as we can. In the meantime, we need to contain Illyria. Wes, you're the only one who had contact. Any ideas where she's headed?"

  "No."

  "Even if we find Illyria, how do you plan on dealing with it?" I questioned. "The Old Ones are pure demons, powerful- they make a Turok Han look like a chihuahua." The guys glanced at each other before looking at me. "What?"

  "Aud....you're the strongest one among us. You may not be a pure demon, but you should be just enough to capture Illyria with our help."

~

  "Told you guns wouldn't work." I said while hunched over the table.

  "Look, it was worth a try before making you go in." Angel huffed while taking a blade off of the wall behind his desk.

  "Back in the lab, she was standing right there in front of me but there was no scent, nothing. It was like she wasn't even there." Spike stated, putting his hands on his hips as I tossed back my head and chugged the contents of the bottle.

  "I know."

  "Look I want Fred back as much as any of us, but seeing her there like that- Maybe she really is-"

  "No." I slammed the bottle down, briefly pausing in scarfing down the food on the table in front of me. "I'm going to get Illyria, and we're all going to get Fred back. A-A soul is a soul. If I can be brought back, she can be brought back."