Written by Kristina

Angel is tracing his fingers over the cracked wall in the nursery, when Groo comes up to him. Groo tells Angel that since they have fought many battles together, his advice must mean something to Angel. He tells Angel that "Pomegranate Mist" is not the right colour to paint a champion's room. Fred chimes in and says that since they have to repaint the room anyway, why not change the colour. Angel won't hear anything of it - he wants things to be as close to the way they were before as possible. As Cordy begins talking to him, a snow globe he bought for Connor distracts him. He's not sure why he bought it - it doesn't even snow in Southern California. Cordy reminds him that once it did. In an abrupt change of subject, Angel says they should be working on cases instead of painting his room, but they haven't had a case in over a week. He heads down to the lobby in case someone should walk in.

Philip Spivey enters the hotel's lobby. He looks around, but doesn't see anyone. He scans the lobby, when his eyes fall on the blood pentagram on the floor. He turns to walk away, when a translucent slug creature jumps on his face. It props his mouth open, and slithers inside. Angel notices Philip and approaches him. Philip turns around, looking pale and disoriented. When Angel tries to talk to him, he turns around and walks out of the hotel, proclaiming that "we are thirsty."

That evening, Philip Spivey is in a juice bar, chugging peach drink like there is no tomorrow. He is thinner and paler than he was in the morning. The customers and employees of the juice bar look at him cautiously. He slurps the last of the moisture from the cup, then throws it down on the floor, already littered with empty cups. He has been there for six hours. He demands more, but having no cash left, he throws his credit cards onto the counter. When the manager says they don't take credit cards, he throws him to the ground. The employee soon joins the manager on the ground.

Lilah is outside of the office water cooler, when Gavin comes to congratulation her on her success with Angel. She is wary of his comments, because she knows Gavin will try to backstab her. Gavin chuckles, and he remarks that Angel tried to kill a human (Linwood). He's closer to his dark side now. It might make up for losing the baby. Lilah reminds him that Angel tried to kill Wesley, used dark magicks and tortured Linwood on her watch. He congratulates her again, and they part.

Fred and Gunn are watching Angel go through case files at Wesley's old desk. Fred finds it odd, but Gunn reminds her that it was Angel's when he first arrived here. The snow globe is perched on the edge of the desk. Fred approaches Cordy, who has been trying to remove the pentagram from the lobby floor. It won't come off, so Cordy gives up, and asks Groo to help her clean up. He grabs a bucket and goes to dump it. Before Fred can say what is on her mind, Cordy tells her no. She won't talk to Angel about Wesley. Wesley made his choice, and Angel is her first priority. Groo comes back in, and hears this. He doesn't look happy. Cordy reminds Fred that she was demonised for Angel. She trails off in mid-sentence as she has another vision. It is of Angel. His clothing is ripped, and he is staring in astonishment at his attacker. Cordy turns around to see who it is, and the vision is gone. She tries to tell Angel about the vision when Lorne walks in. Something big is happening across the street, and he thinks they should check into it.

Philip now has three dusty cracks across his face. Cordy tries to tell Angel about the vision she had, but he won't listen. They have business to take care of. He recognises Philip, and tries to reason with him. Philip won't listen. He is thirsty. When he tries to attack Angel, Angel punches him out. Looks like they have a case after all.

They bring him back to the hotel. Angel is completely in charge now. Cordy tries to tell Angel about the vision, but he says they can worry about this later. Philip's case is more important. Philip wakes up from the punch, and gets up. Another crack has opened on his face. Before falling to the lobby floor and crumbling into dust, he tells Angel that this is all his fault. The gang stares in shock at the remains of Philip. Angel wants to know why he said that. Lorne points out Philip didn't say it, the slug did. The slug crawls out of Philip's remains, and skitters off into the hotel. Angel still doesn't know what it has to do with him, until Cordy notices that Philip fell in the centre of the pentagram.

Angel is at his weapon's cabinet. He is distributing weapons. They split up to search out the slug - Angel and Lorne take one floor, Cordy and Groo take another, and Gunn will make sure nothing will happen to Fred while she does research.

Angel and Lorne are in hallway, searching for the slug. Lorne wants to know if doing the spell was worth it, and Angel says he would do it again, in a heartbeat. Before they can continue, they hear a slurping noise. They follow it into one of the rooms. Angel turns off the lights, and spots the slug by the bluish lights it emits. He throws a dagger at it, pinning it to the floor; however, it tears free and hides again.

Downstairs, Fred is having no luck with the research on thaumogenesis. She has to keep cross-referencing books, and she's just no good at this. They need Wesley. Gunn tells her that he is no longer there, and she's just going to have to get used to doing the research. Fred and Gunn are both so wrapped up in their conversation that they don't notice a crackle of electricity in the lobby. Two slugs fall from the space where the electricity crackled, and head off in different directions.

Lilah is sitting at her desk, reading e-mails, when she is asked for a secret password. She presses a button underneath her desk, and a door opens in the wall behind her. She opens up a box that was behind the doorway, and pulls out a tarantula. She places it on the keypad, and it types in the password for her. The body of the e-mail (about Bio-plasmic infection) comes up, just as Gavin comes into her office. Seems that he has received the same e-mail, because of a bug in the system. He wonders what the senior partners will think if Angel is killed as a result of a spell he cast while Lilah was around. He guess they won't know since Linwood is away -- unreachable. As abruptly as he entered Lilah's office, he leaves.

Cordy and Groo are patrolling their area of the hotel, when Cordy finally realises Groo heard her say that Angel was her priority. She reassures him that Angel is only her work priority. He tells her not to move, and raises his axe - there is a slug behind her. Before Groo can strike, Cordy whirls around and slices the slug herself. Groo wouldn't have let harm come to her, and is hurt that she didn't listen to him. They follow the slug, and meet up with Angel and Lorne. Angel tells Cordy they are going to shut down the lights in the hotel, because the slugs glow in the dark. They go down to the lobby, and give Fred a lantern so she can continue her research. She locks herself in the office, while Gunn and the gang go to the basement to shut down the power. Fred continues with her research, when she senses something behind her. A slug. She turns in horror, and it attaches to her face, and props her mouth open.

Angel, Cordy, Lorne, and Groo are headed towards the south wing of the hotel. Angel has kept it boarded up because they had no use for it. They hear what sounds like birds from inside a boarded up room, and Angel kicks the door down.

Gunn returns to Fred in the office. She seems to be engrossed in her books, and when she looks up, her face is paler. She's very scared. Gunn suggests that when all of this is over that they should go on a holiday like Groo and Cordy did. Maybe to Baha. He hears a noise, and looks over at Fred in shock. She has broken the snow globe and is drinking the water out of it.

Cordy, Angel, Lorne and Groo are in the ballroom. Lorne wonders if Angel would consider turning the ballroom into a nightclub. Cordy senses something behind her, and turns around to see Gunn leading Fred into the room. She is drinking voraciously from a bottle of water. Angel and Cordy realise what have happened. Gunn wants to get her out of there, and to a hospital. Angel tries to reach Fred, and she has to fight the slug's control to answer his questions. It is a strain on her, but she won't let Gunn take her out of the hotel. That is what the slugs want - to spread. Fred begins to succumb to the slug again, and drinks her water noisely. The slugs do not like Angel. Gunn goes to pick Fred up, and leave with her, but Angel won't let him. How would Fred feel if she was responsible for the deaths of innocent people? Gunn and Angel begin a heated debate when Groo finds the source of the noise. He begins to bash in the floor, and reveals a pool underneath the ballroom - a pool full of the slugs. They run and barricade themselves in the kitchen, with the slugs in close pursuit. Angel looks at the ovens, and gets an idea. They are going to heat up the air, and remove all the moisture from it, making the slugs as uncomfortable as possible. Fred screams - Gunn is nowhere in sight.

Lilah has just gotten off the phone. She has contacted a shaman to clear out Angel's office, and has several commandoes at the ready. When Gavin enters, yet again, she sends them out. Gavin is playing mind games with her, because now he says he contacted Linwood, and he wants all the employees of Angel Investigations to die. Apparently, Linwood believes that Lilah has overstepped her bounds, and that he will deal with her when he gets back.

An apartment building. Gunn is pounding on a door. The door opens, but Gunn can't make eye contact with Wesley. He needs Wes' help.

Cordy and Lorne are trying to comfort Fred. Her breathing is becoming sporadic and wheezy. There are too many slugs outside the kitchen for the gang to battle their way out. Angel crosses over to Fred, and takes away her water. He holds it in front of her, just out of reach. He wants to talk to the slug inside of her. The slug says that they are here to live, drink, and escape from what is hurting them. They are fleeing the harbinger of torment - the Destroyer, but it isn't after them. It is after Angel.

Gunn is trying to explain to Wes what has happened at the hotel, but Wes doesn't care. He expects Angel will be able to find a way to take care of it. Gunn doesn't care about killing them; he just wants to know how to get them out of a person. When Wes heads over to his liquor cabinet, Gunn gets exasperated. Fred is dying. Without betraying any emotion, Wes reminds Gunn that he was also dying. And he fought to stay alive to tell his friends his side of what happened. He hands the liquor to Gunn, and says he is only helping because it's Fred. None of them are welcome around his apartment after this.

The slugs are screaming in pain from the lack of moisture. Fred has deteriorated rapidly, and is still drinking water from the bottle. Angel grabs it away from her because he wants more information. The slug screams and lunges at Angel. A crack opens up on Fred's face, and she pleads for help. Angel has made up his mind - they are going to get Fred out of there. He tells Lorne to shut off the ovens, and turns on all the taps. They are going to flood the kitchen to distract the slugs so they can get out. He will stay behind to distract the slugs, while Groo gets Fred to a hospital. Before leaving the kitchen, Cordy turns back to watch Angel fight. Instead of following Groo out, she stays to fight with Angel. Groo looks heartbroken, but leaves with Fred and Lorne.

Just as Lorne and Groo are about to leave the hotel, Gunn shows up. He orders them to put Fred down, then tells her to drink. He offers up the liquor. She takes a swallow of it, then spits it out. Lorne and Groo hold her down, while Gunn makes her drink the rest. She begins choking, then coughs the slug out of her system. Groo grabs a sword, and kills the slug.

Angel and Cordy are engrossed in fighting the slugs. A slug is headed for Cordy's head, and she reaches out with her arm and catches it. She and Angel stare in amazement as the slug's glow begins travelling down Cordy's arm. She glows whiter and brighter, and the glow spreads throughout the room. The slugs begin screaming, then disintegrate. The lights come back on in the hotel.

The gang gathers in the lobby of the hotel. Groo is impressed with Cordy's power. Gunn tells the group that he got the idea about using alcohol because it dehydrates the body. He knows he bailed when things got rough, but Fred was dying, and he had to do something. Angel gets that. Lorne reminds them that all is not well though. The Destroyer is coming. Cordy wants to know when this Destroyer is coming, and as a dimensional tear opens in the hotel, Fred says "now." A large demon drops through the tear and stares down Angel. Before either of them can move, a teenage boy drops out of the tear, and kills the demon. Angel is standing as he did in Cordy's vision. The teenager turns to Angel, points his weapon, and says hi to his father.