Fred and Gunn are both a little leery about hiding from the company they’re supposed to be running, but Angel thinks it’s necessary, and Wesley demands to know if Fred can trust “him”. He quickly amends that to them, but he does press the point by wondering why Fred blindly trusts Knox. She tries to explain that it’s all professional, but it comes out as one big sexual innuendo and she finally gives up.

They are all agreed, however, that the Senior Partners *are* evil, and they need to know why they were given this position of power. The problem is, with the running f a company, they really haven’t had time to investigate. Wesley suggests that Gunn might know something, and it’s obvious that he’s voicing the opinion of the group. Gunn protests that he made a deal with Wolfram and Hart, the same as anyone else, but he’s the only one who’s accepting that. He doesn’t know any more than the rest of them. They all acknowledge what they’ve gained: Angel got an orgasmic collection of cars, Fred got all the science and research equipment she could ever want, Gunn got law knowledge, Lorne got the Nancy Sinatra collection in original 45s, and Wesley got a sterling silver pen. (Wait. What? That’s it?! More on this one later!)

Which Angel requests the use of, right before he takes off running.

Cut to a girl fleeing, horror-movie style, from a dimly seen opponent. It knocks her flat and starts biting.

Enter our hero, who promptly stabs the monster, which is now obviously a werewolf, with the pen. It drops dead and turns back into a bearded old man. The girl runs away before Angel can stop her.

Back at Wolfram and Hart, Angel and Gunn discuss L. A.’s newest werewolf girl, as well as the former werewolf. Angel obviously has some guilt about that, but that only steels his resolve to help the girl

Fred is working the case, as well, but is pestered by Spike, who wants to see results about his phantasmic situation, telling her that it’s getting worse. His trips to the netherworld are lasting longer, and soon he might not come back.

Fred says that they should go to Wesley, but Spike insists that they can’t. He and Wes have a history. It was right after Wesley got out of the Watcher’s Academy, and they ran into each other. A battle of wills, blood letting, and vendettas ensued.

Fred realizes that he’s absolutely full of crap.

Spike deflates and admits that he doesn’t want this getting back to Angel, so he only wants to work with Fred. She agrees to help, but she also has more pressing issues. She promises that things’ll work out. After all, they have access to everything.

Which, apparently, isn’t enough, because they’ve got nothing on their mystery girl. They’re looking, but all they have is a sketch and a very dead werewolf. Wesley’s crypto zoologist, Dr. Royce, tells them that this is a very rare breed, unseen in North America until now. Angel really doesn’t care about the specifics, as long as he can help the girl.

In her bedroom, our werewolf girl, named Nina, awakens, with distorted vision and a heightened sense of hearing. She’s slept all day and is still a little out of it. As she comes downstairs, she meets her sister and niece, insisting that she tripped on her run. She looks at the hamburgers on the stovetop, staring at the blood. As her niece calls out to her, Nina turns and visualizes three deep slashes gouged across her niece’s throat. She gasps.

Meanwhile, back in the law firm, the entire gang is working frantically. There has been a siting of the girl in East Hollywood, and they can figure out the general make of her car. However, it’s Lorne who has the brilliant idea that Nina wouldn’t have really been heeding traffic lights after what she experienced. Gunn checks the traffic monitors at that time, while Wes runs through the DMV database, and together, they find a match: Nina Ash, and, more importantly, an address. Now, they have to hope they get there before she hurts someone.

And Nina is presently babysitting that niece of hers, whose name is Amanda. Things seem to be going well until Nina feels ill and goes to her room. Amanda hears her fall to the floor and goes up to investigate. On the other side of the door, Nina goes through her very first transformation into a werewolf as Amanda reaches for the doorknob.

Even as she grasps it, though, a head appears at Nina’s window. Angel’s head, to be more specific. He calls to the werewolf, who dives out the window after him, and they fall to the ground a story below. It’s looking like a nasty fight but then the werewolf keels over with two tranquilizer darts in her chest. Wesley stands, calmly gripping the tranq pistol and surveying his work.

Amanda enters the room and looks confused as Nina is nowhere in site and the sound of tires peeling away can be heard.

The next morning, Nina awakens with no memory, in a cell, naked. Conclusions are drawn, and when Angel comes to retrieve her, she tries to run, calling him a “psycho-rapist”. He insists that he just wants her to see something. He shows her the security footage of her transforming back from a werewolf and Nina is floored. He tries to explain that he understands, and when she doubts it, he lets her know that he’s a vampire. He understands what it’s like, and knows he can control it, just like her. He’ll help her. He can’t cure her, but he’ll keep her safe.

Angel emerges from his office and tells Fred and Dr. Royce that she’s agreed to stay in a holding cell that night, but she’s scared. Royce warns them that she might hurt herself while a werewolf in a cage. Angel suggests tranquilizing her, but that doesn’t seem so smart, because it’ll only make things worse in the long run. However, Royce suggests that it might be helpful if they got some things from her home to make her feel more comfortable and familiar. Spike shows up to criticize, but all he really manages to do is disappear and give us another good view of our wrestling mail main. Hola, Senor!

Cut to Fred (who came along to Nina’s house because they didn’t want crispy-fried Angel), and Nina in a van with three security guys. Nina’s a little put off about all of this, but Fred insists that Nina isn’t a prisoner, it’s just very important that she stay with them for the night.

Meanwhile, Gunn is trying to tell a distracted Angel about sending the dead werewolf’s body back to his family. In an attempt to get the vampire’s attention, he goes off on a tangent about sending the body to Santa. When Angel finally realizes that he should be listening, he’s more than a little confused. It’s obvious that Angel isn’t handling the whole situation well, but when Gunn tries to talk to him about it, Angel snaps at him to do his job. Gunn decides to do said job far away from the moody vampire.

As he leaves, Lorne enters, catching a heap of the grouchiness as he passes Gunn. He sits down and tells Angel exactly what he needs to hear: that Angel has so many battles to fight that his punches are getting sloppy, and his friends are caught in the crossfire. He needs to remember those who are watching his back.

Nina’s no happier than Angel, meanwhile. She’s terrified about what her sister’s going to say about her sudden disappearance, and with good reason. Big sis goes off like a volcano at Nina, yelling at her for leaving Amanda, and not calling. Fred tries to help, but to no avail. At last, Nina just leaves as Fred grabs a picture and a stuffed animal on the way out . . .

And they discover their van door ajar. They open it to reveal all their security guys unconscious. They try to run, but are beset by masked men who knock Fred out and take Nina with them. They call a man, who tells them to take her around back. He just had the floors done.

She’s taken to a room, hosed down, her clothes are clipped off, and a woman starts buffing her skin as the man on the phone watches.

In Wolfram and Hart, Lorne is busy reading Dr. Royce while the others discuss what could have possibly happened. Fred blames herself, but Gunn insists that there was nothing she could have done. As Angel mentions Spike, Fred realizes that no one’s seen him for hours. She gets worried as Royce comes in with a list of various suspects who might have caught Nina. Fred’s gaze wanders, however, and she sees a nearly transparent Spike walking through the lobby, apparently unaware of his surroundings. She chases after him, eventually following him into Royce’s office, where she accidentally knocks some things off his desk, one of which she stares at. Royce comes in, wondering if there was something she wanted. She insists that it’s just Spike, and then clocks Royce on the head with his own lamp.

Turns out, the thing that Fred was staring at was a vial of calendula, which blocks psychic readings, and it allowed him to fake his reading with Lorne. Along with that, they discover a few photographs (which we really don’t want to know about) and . . .

A menu.

A garnished Nina is rolled out to a waiting crowd of well-dressed connoisseurs, all discussing the fine taste of werewolf. There is a knock at the door. It’s Royce. The door is opened, and Gunn promptly knocks out the guard. He, Angel, and Wesley all pile into the room, Wes with a gun to Royce’s back. Angel lets the man know that they’re here to pick up a friend as Gunn pulls out Wesley’s shotgun.

Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones with guns. As Wesley concludes as he gets a gun to the back of his neck, they’ve run into a snag. Angel isn’t deterred, though, and rips into them after loosening Nina’s restraints. The sun sets and she turns, attacking the nearest guard. Gunn also goes at it as Wesley stands calmly with a gun still to the back of his neck. As the werewolf lunges at Gunn, he calmly pulls out a tranq gun with the hand that isn’t currently holding a handgun and shoots her. She drops.

The man, Mr. Crane, insists that he needs a werewolf to satisfy his guests. Nina lunges up and bites Royce’s leg. Wesley calmly shoots her again. Angel tells Crane that, in a month, he’ll have one. Royce is dragged away, sobbing. Wesley shoots Angel an unreadable look.

Back at the lab, Fred goes into her office to find ghostly Spike waiting. He’s been to the place he goes, and it’s obviously taken a toll. He’s nearly incoherent. He insists that she can’t tell anyone, and finally she fiercely tells him that she’s going to help him.

Nina goes home, unsure if she can live with having murdered one of the guards. Angel insists that she’ll get used to it. She asks if he likes being a vampire, and he admits that “being nearly indestructible is cool”. She wonders if she should just leave, but he concludes that, if you separate yourself from the ones you love, the monster wins.

(After Angel tells Nina that he’s a monster)
Nina: So, what? You’re, like, a Frankenstein?
Angel: What? No!

(Re: Fred’s description of the group)
Nina: Like a family?
Fred: Yeah . . . a demon-fighting, helpless-helping . . . dysfunctional . . . family.

Wesley: An underground, monster-hunting military organization? It’s happened before.

(Re: Nina strapped to the table)
Angel: Geez, they *garnished* you?!

Wear:
Still not much to say. Fred still has yet to discover the women’s department in the stores. Wesley is still Indiana Jonesing it. Gunn looks good, and Angel wears black. Status quo.

Wesley:
He’s back, with a vengeance (and his motorcycle finally makes a reappearance! Hooray!)! Making up for lost time, we finally get to see Wesley in combat mode. It’s really fascinating. He’s almost icy as he fights. Totally calm, as opposed to Angel and Gunn. And yet . . . that look he gave Angel as Royce was being dragged off . . . almost like he was asking how far he would let things go.

I think, of all of them, even more so than the newly morally ambiguous Angel (has he done anything that was purely good yet this season, aside from his brief rescue of the girl in the pilot? Think about it. Angel has new shades of darkness to him, and they’re a lot more subtle. Kudos to the writers!) Wesley is the least affected by Wolfram and Hart. Why? Because, of all of them, Wesley got the least out of the deal.

Let’s look at facts: Angel can stand in sunlight without burning. He gets a beautiful apartment, not to mention those amazing cars.

Fred gets her “gigantamous” lab, all the gizmos and problems she could ever want, plus, one assumes, another apartment (because she’s not living with Gunn any more, which meant that she was living in the Hotel.)

Lorne got what sounds like control of Hollywood, plus his Nancy Sinatra collection. And, while we’re at it, he probably has an apartment there, too!

Gunn got that law knowledge, as well as a new sense of self-worth he’s seriously been lacking. He is a man coming into his own, and finally realizing his potential.