"Darion?" Taylor whispered.

The dark haired woman turned from her silent contemplation at the window sill. Snow was falling, bathing the dirty city in a fresh white blanket of new promises. "Hmm?" Darion moved from the shadows to the bedside.

"It would be safer if you left the hospital... " Taylor reached a hand out for Darion, withdrawing it almost immediately, "and went to the police."

"Safer for who?" Darion asked. "I won't leave you here, alone."

"Angel doesn't leave loose ends." The hacker said softly.

"Angel is dead." Darion replied harshly, regretting it as Taylor shrank back into the bed.

"Even if Angel is dead she's working for someone. She- she has contacts, people who will avenge her death." Taylor blinked back sudden tears. "I brought you into this, and I can't... can't let this happen again."

"Again?" Darion regarded shimmering green eyes from her less then casual posture on the bedside chair.

"I-I-" Taylor choked on the words.

"Julie," Darion suddenly realized, "who is she?"

"Darion, I can't-" she turned away, "I can't talk about this."

Darion leaned forward in the chair and gently cupped Taylor's chin in her hand, turning, till troubled eyes met her own. "Taylor, whatever you may think we are in this together. I won't leave you alone. I can't. I care about you." Maybe more then I have any right to, Darion thought.

"Why?" Taylor blinked heavy eyelids, sure the drugs were taking affect, and she wasn't hearing Darion correctly. Why should she care?

"Why what? Why... do I care?" It wasn't something Darion had thought about to any great length. She just knew this young woman was important to her, that in the first moment she'd met Taylor that nothing would be the same, and that it was alright. That she'd been waiting for this moment, this woman, to walk into her life and steal her heart and soul.

"Yeah," Taylor whispered, "why do you care?" When no one has before?

"Because... because I do, and I can't explain it." One dark, quizzical eyebrow rose to hide beneath her bangs, and she shrugged, releasing Taylor's chin.

"Alright." Taylor accepted the truth quietly. "What now?"

"Now? Now would be a good time to fill me in on the details." Darion smiled wryly. It was a little late for details, after being shot, kidnapped, tied up, and blown off the pier.

"Geez, where do I begin?" Taylor's voice was slurring, the morphine dragging her into the darkness. Her body following without her consent. "Lay... ter." She mumbled.

Darion watched Taylor's eyes close, heard her breathing level out in sleep, and rose, exhausted, from the chair. It was the waiting room couch for her tonight. Tenderly she kissed the young woman's forehead, and bade her sleep well.

_______________

"Don't fuck around with me, people. I want answers and I want them now." Commanded a voice from the shadows.

Roger, the errand boy, sucked in a ragged breath. Don't kill the messenger, don't kill the messenger... "Sir, I have no answers. Just what I was told."

"Get out." The dark, angry voice demanded. He preferred to stay in the shadows a moment longer, to study his subordinates.

Edgar Jones owned First National Bank, and a few dozen smaller ones. Grace Hansen, with her long, straight brown hair, and gorgeous blue eyes, owned Fashion Magazine, and a large number of off-shore oil rigs. Teddy Ferrell owned a chain of 'Family' Restaurants, and dealt drugs and weapons over seas. 'K' was a representative- leader for two street gangs, that had banded together in the last year. 'Dodger' owned another, rival to 'K' and his gang. There were half a dozen others, all owning something big, gaudy, rich- what-have-ya, taking claim to power.

The only one missing was Tony Finelli, and of course Angel. Tony was a loose end to be taken care and Angel... well Angel was Angel, he grinned.

What an odd little group, the dark man almost chuckled. All of them had pledged allegiance to the 'Dark Angel', ultimately pledging their loyalty and their lives to him. He smiled proudly, things had gone so well this time. Except for that little... brat. Again he frowned. "I am tired of this little girl destroying my plans. I want her taken out of the picture... is that understood?"

Suddenly the door burst open. The dark man's body guards reacted instinctively and placed their bodies and weapons in front of their leader. He held up a hand for silence.

"Y-you...w-e..." The young man desperately gulped air. "We found her." He clutched his chest and bent to his knees.

"Where?" The voice in the shadows demanded.

"Crylor County Hospital. She came into the ER last night, spent the night in ICU, and this morning she's being transferred to a private room." The young man straightened and waited to be dismissed.

The dark man in the shadows suddenly chuckled. This is too easy, he decided, but fun, nonetheless. "Very well." His voice lowered an octave till it seduced everyone in the room with it's magic. "You know the plan."

A dozen set of eyes turned to the shadows and nodded silently. They trusted no one, liked no one, but for power... just what would they do? They were about to find out.

The young messenger could feel the tension in the room, the anger and the pulsing power. It frightened him. It surged around him with a feeling of déjà- vu. As the dark man stepped out of the shadows, the messenger boy stepped back towards the doors, frightened.

Brilliant blue eyes scored the room.

The boy stopped, frozen.

"You." A long finger curled out in the boy's direction. The boy blinked. "I have a message for you to deliver to our little Taylor, boy."

The young man gulped, but nodded.

"She didn't fight the darkness this time. You did. And you are loosing." The dark man dismissed the confused boy with a wave of his hand, and retreated to his office. All in due time, he smiled, all in due time...

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