***********

Chapter Three: Confirming Suspicions

Buffy and Doyle made their way to Caritas, Buffy driving the sports car her father bought her for her eighteenth birthday and Doyle riding shotgun. Giles hadn't been very helpful but he did seem to carry the suspicion of something bad coming their way as well. Los Angeles rarely had a quiet vampire and demon community... and when it was quiet, it was often a silent omen of something big brewing.

Doyle's power of premonition had not yet reared it's ugly head and Giles, as ever the informative watcher, did not seem to have any answers. To say they were at a loss was a big understatment.

So now they were heading for their last resort... karaoke. God, they must be *really* desperate.

Doyle glanced at Buffy in frantic deperation. "Ya know, Buffy, maybe the old brit was wrong. I-I mean, I'm sure there are other books he hasn't looked into yet. We can still find something elsewhere!"

Buffy smiled at his hesitation. Some girls might have fallen for the pleading puppy dog expression he was giving to her now, but not her. He could save that look for Cordelia. "Nope. This is the only way, Doyle. If I have to go through with this then so do you."

"I don't like to sing," he protested weakly.

"What are you talking about? You sing all the time when you're drunk."

Doyle shot her a glare. "Well, the green queen of music doesn't seem to be very cooperative in loosening me up. I don't like singin' in front of a club full of demons when I'm sober."

"Yeah, I know. But today you don't have to worry about the club full of demons part. You're forgetting that Lorne is only open during the night hours... as for the non-alcohol rule, I can't really say I blame him. You nearly started a brawl when you came to sing drunk."

"It was the other demon's fault!"

"Was not."

"He insulted my mother!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Its not the other demon's fault, Doyle, that you're such a mama's boy."

"Hey! Well, you're one too!"

"I take no offense to that... the only difference between us is that you like to resort to violence over name calling."

"Oh, yeah right!"

Buffy grinned suddenly. "Well, I have to admit that I loved it when you punched out Jake Stawson for me."

Doyle couldn't help but chuckle at the memory. The stupid jerk had slept and discarded Buffy during her freshman year at UCLA. When he confronted the manipulative bastard afterwards, he couldn't resist the urge of hurting him. "Well, that little shit got what he deserved."

"And I'm still thankful to you for preserving my reputation as not being a tremendous slut."

"Always glad to help."

***********

Dragging Doyle into the bar hadn't been very easy, nor was placing him on stage to actually sing. After about five minutes of pure silence, the irishman had finally given in and sang out 'Danny Boy' in a loud, booming voice. He didn't sound too bad once he started to put a little effort into it. Buffy, however, was another story entirely.

"Okay, we sung, got any answers?"

Lorne smiled slyly. "Well, Sunshine, I'm not going to lie to you, you're right on the money. You and Irish here have a nice unnatural disaster coming your way."

"Any thing else like, I don't know, details?!" Buffy asked, frowning from across the table. She had to sing Barry Manilow for *that*.

"Can't tell what I don't see," Lorne answered with a shrug. "All I can tell you is that *she* will come to *you*... and believe me, you do *not* want that."

"Gee, just knowing the gender of your future enemy is really informative and comforting," Buffy muttered sarcastically, not bothering to hide her annoyance. "Okay, so much for good help... come on, Doyle, let's go."

"Hey, I didn't say I was done!" Lorne protested, motioning for her to sit back down.

"Oh, there's more then?"

"Yeah. You're both going to need to partner up with someone and I have just the right guy in mind for ya."

"Please don't tell me it's someone incredibly slimy... wait, you're not going to suggest we work alongside Wolfram and Hart again, are you?"

Doyle eyed him suspiciously. He would never forgive Lorne for setting him up like that... being stuck with Lilah Morgan was no picnic.

"Ha, absolutely not! No, no, my warrior kitties this is *alot* better. In fact, I think you'll actually enjoy working with him," Lorne replied, winking in Buffy's direction and smiling as the Slayer gave him a strange look. "I'm going to set the two of you up for a meeting with him. I'll tell you what, I'll call him before hand and I want you two to swing by the Hyperion Hotel around ten thirty tonight. He'll be there up front for show and tell. He goes by the name of Angel, by the way."

Buffy quickly set her questioning gaze on Doyle. "Good for you?"

"Yep."

"Fine. We'll be there."