Double or Nothing

Author: Lysa Whitmore

Parts: 26 - 30

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Part 26

 Two hours of sleep was usually enough for the Slayer. If she’d gotten two hours in, but she had not. Buffy yawned her way through most of her first period class. She’d come in late after spending extra time in the bathroom trying to disguise the dark circles under her eyes. They were even more noticeable because her complexion was abnormally pale today.

“Late night?” Whispered Willow from the desk next to her own. Obviously, she was thinking that Buffy and Angel had been out all night on their date. The redhead had that dreamy expression that suggested she was coming up with all kinds of scenarios in her busy little brain.

Buffy squirmed in her chair. The date had been cut short, but she kept replaying the events of the night over and over in her head. “Stuff kept me awake.”

“Stuff,” Willow snorted thinking that sex with Angel was enough to keep anyone awake. Not that she ever thought of Angel that way. After all, he was Buffy’s Angel and she had Oz. “Just don’t fall asleep at the Bronze tonight.”

The teacher called for their attention and Willow dutifully gave her all. Buffy was not quite as quick to focus on schoolwork. Her mind was still back on the beach. Fighting the demon. Not the reptile creature with the long tail. Angel. The more she thought about it, the more their…lovemaking?...seemed like a fight.

Angel was right, she realized with a sick churn of her stomach. It wasn’t lovemaking. He’d fucked her and she demanded he do it. That realization nauseated Buffy, but looking back it was not a decision she would have changed at the time. They battled each other for dominance, trying to gain control. What happened between them last night was nothing like their first time making love with heartfelt tenderness. Wholly different, this was dark, brutal and dangerous.

Part of her loved it. That’s what scared Buffy the most. It was primal, instinctive and called to something within her that made her want to show Angel what it would be like if she really played to win. Except that he’d bitten her. Placed his fangs on her throat, pierced her neck and sucked down her blood like it was the best thing he’d ever tasted.

“Sleep?” Buffy murmured. She doubted sleep would come anytime soon.

After the first period ended, Buffy and Willow separated to go to their next classes. They planned to meet up again for lunch in the cafeteria. She managed to avoid Cordelia all morning long. Somehow, Buffy knew that talking with Cor would not be a pleasant activity. She felt certain that Angel wouldn’t tell anyone he lost it like that, but explaining the band-aid on her neck was going to be difficult without going into details.

“Hi, Buffy,” Cordelia caught her coming around the corner. Her smile faltered a bit when she took in the Slayer’s appearance. Neat and tidy clothes, but her face looked haggard and pale. Normally, Cordy would have to make a snarky remark just to point out that Buffy could do better, but knowing what happened made her hold back on any cutting remarks.

Cordelia’s simple greeting was lost on Buffy as she stared at the brunette. She didn’t realize until coming face-to-face with the cheerleader the extent of her jealousy. The fact that Angel hadn’t shut up about Cordelia all evening long hinted at things that no girlfriend wanted to acknowledge. During her night of wakefulness, Buffy had convinced herself that these feelings stemmed from Cordelia’s close relationship with Angelus. That whatever it was that made it so easy for them to connect seemed to be a mystery to her.

Connecting with Angel on any level other than the physical wasn’t happening. Even that wasn’t right anymore.

“Buffy?” Waving her hand in front of the blonde’s face, Cordelia gave her a worried look. “Earth to Buffy. Come in Buffy.”

“Wha—?” Buffy had completely tuned Cordelia out. “Sorry, Cor.”

Trying not to stare at the flesh-colored band-aid on Buffy’s neck, Cordelia held a tight reign on her tongue. She wanted to ask the girl so many questions about last night. First, to see if she was okay. Other than looking like death slightly warmed over, Buffy was apparently physically fine. Despite what Angel told Cordy about the bite, he had not been specific about the type of bite.

She knew that Angel dipped into a deeper, darker place. Otherwise, he would never have touched Buffy in that way. He just gave in to his vampire instincts long enough to take something he wanted. The fact that his bite hadn’t been a sign of love had nothing to do with the fact that it might have been a claim. Cordy wanted to know if Angel’s bite meant that he officially claimed Buffy.

Should’ve asked Angel. He would tell me. Cordelia wasn’t so certain that Buffy would tell her even if it was true. So she decided to wait until later and ask Angel himself about the claiming part. Doesn’t mean I can’t ask whether she liked it.

Cordelia opened her mouth and was about to question Buffy when Harmony strolled up. The blonde let out an exasperated sound. “Can you believe Mr. Perkins assigned homework on a Friday night? Doesn’t he understand it’s the weekend? I have stuff to do.”

“Like going to the Bronze tonight,” Cordelia nodded in understanding. She looked at Buffy who was inching away. There was no way Cordy was going to talk family stuff in front of Harmony. “You’ll be there tonight too, right Buff?”

“Yeah. Tonight. Gotta run. I’m meeting Willow and Xander for lunch,” Buffy told her.

Harmony, your timing sucks, thought Cordelia as she watched the Slayer walk away.

“So, Cor,” Harmony sidled up closer. “Will they be there too?”

“Angel and Angelus?”

“Duh! I wasn’t talking about the Geek Patrol,” Harmony rolled her eyes. “I wanna see Double Trouble. The hunk and the hottie. Tall, dark and delicious times two.”

Hands on her hips, Cordelia sent her friend an irate stare. “I didn’t realize you could multiply, Harm.”

Harmony looked confused. “I can add. Especially when it comes to adding up totally gorgeous men.”

“Well add up somebody else’s men. Leave mine alone,” Cordelia snarled at her. She didn’t care if Harmony was just teasing. It just seemed important to let the other girl know they were off limits.

“Geez! Didn’t know you were so greedy, Cor. Now you’re hogging Angel, too?” With a laugh, Harmony sauntered off toward the cafeteria leaving Cordelia with a wide-eyed expression on her face as she leaned up against the lockers.

Did I say MINE?

~*~

From the corner of the hall, Rupert Giles watched the brief exchange between Buffy and Cordelia. Having expected Buffy to come talk to him, the Watcher’s concerns only grew with her failure to do so. After Angelus’ revelation, it was all the vampire could do to hold Giles back when his first instinct had been to find Angel and stake the bastard for daring to bite the Chosen One…his Slayer.

Buffy was more than just his charge. To Giles, it was almost like being told his own daughter had nearly been drained by a vampire. Only one thing stopped Giles from following his urge to take Angel out. Not even Angelus could have prevented that without physically restraining him. It was the fact that Giles knew Angel was only following instincts while following the narrow path the Fates set out for him.

Now, I must find the root of the problem and its cure, Giles told himself. Before something else happens. Before someone dies.

Turning into the library, Giles went into his office to continue research. He had several borrowed texts that might have leads. Burying himself in his work, the Watcher had no idea what amount of time passed before the interruption came.

“Giles?” The sound of Buffy’s voice called out from the doorway.

Thank God! She came after all. “In here, Buffy.”

Glancing at the clock told Giles that his Slayer was skipping class, but at this point he really didn’t care. They needed to talk about what happened to her last night. Even if it was difficult and a subject that might be uncomfortable for them both. It was too early to tell her everything, but she had to be prepared for something if the worst came to pass.

“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Giles asked by way of a conversation opener.

Nodding, Buffy admitted, “Yes, but I need to talk to you. It’s about Angel.”

Giles encouraged her to speak, trying to gently elicit her response rather than bulldozing his way into asking for details. “What is it?”

“I’m worried about him,” Buffy told him as she entered the office and sank down into a chair. “Something happened last night that’s never happened before and it scared me. I don’t think Angel is acting like himself.”

“Can you give me some examples?”

Buffy took a deep breath and then blurted, “He bit me.”

Deciding not to reveal that he already knew the information, Giles found that he did not have to pretend that he was angry or surprised about it. The sudden way Buffy gave him the information caused him to sit back sharply in his chair. There must have been something in his expression to tell her that he was not happy about the fact that she had been bitten by a vampire, especially when that vampire was Angel.

“We were— on a date when it happened.”

It didn’t take much for Giles to interpret that correctly. He wasn’t blind when it came to Buffy’s relationship with Angel. After all, intimacy had to be one of the primary reasons the vampire sought to secure his soul in the first place.

“I see.”

Yes, he did, realized Buffy. Well, she wasn’t going into details. She came here with one purpose and hoped that her Watcher would supply her with the truth. Giles did not always tell her everything.

“Giles, do you remember the day that Angel first brought Angelus to the library?”

“Yes, of course.” Only an amnesiac would forget that.

Buffy asked directly, “What was it Angel told you that day in your office?”

Oh, bloody hell. She asked the one question I can’t answer.

“Angel explained that he had made a deal with the Moirae…the Fates…to secure his soul. By doing so, it necessitated giving Angelus his own existence.”

There had to be more. Buffy hounded Giles with questions until the Watcher had no recourse left, but to tell her, “This deal is highly dangerous, a risk that Angel should never have taken. While Angel’s soul may be secure in its own separate physical form, both he and Angelus are vulnerable to the psychological effects of being separated.”

Wide-eyed, Buffy stared at Giles. “Are you suggesting that Angel is going crazy?”

“Not exactly,” her Watcher responded while pushing his glasses down to pinch the bridge of his nose. “He is more likely to be influenced by his vampiric instincts.”

Shaking her head in denial, Buffy suggested. “It should be the opposite. Without Angelus in his head, he should be more human. More like he was before Angelus was ever part of him.”

“I’m afraid it hasn’t worked out that way,” Giles gave her a sympathetic look. “Look at Angelus. Being soulless, he has only the mystic controls placed upon him to shape his behavior and prevent him from following those same instincts. How often have you witnessed those controls being required?”

“Just once,” admitted Buffy thoughtfully. “It was at the football game when some jerk made comments about Cordelia.”

“Far less that one would imagine.”

“Yes.” Buffy had thought she’d be forced to reign Angelus in on a daily basis, but he had completely surprised her.

Giles let out a deep breath, trying to relax into his chair. This entire situation made him tense. Seeing Buffy physically damaged, even though he knew that her Slayer healing abilities would quickly restore her, left him angry and looking at the bigger picture. His fears were coming to fruition. What affected Buffy also affected the safety of Sunnydale and the stability of the Hellmouth. If things got worse and Angel lost all control, only the Fates themselves knew what trouble lay ahead.

“Whatever the Moirae have done,” Giles explained, “it could be deadly. To Angel. To Angelus. To you or anyone else involved if the wrong set of circumstances come into play.”

Deadly. That was what Angel had told her from the beginning and Buffy hadn’t really given it much thought since then. Not since Angelus arrived. “I thought the dangers were only during their separation. Angel will be okay, won’t he?”

“I don’t know, Buffy. I’m conducting some research. In the meantime, I suggest that you be careful about your interactions with Angel. Further intimacy could lead to another loss of control,” Giles cautioned her.

Blushing at the fact that Giles had referred to her having sex with Angel, even in his roundabout way, Buffy assured him. “It won’t be a problem.”

She was out of her chair in a flash and headed toward the door before Giles had an opportunity to make his point again.

~*~

“Where is that vamp? He promised me he was coming. I am so gonna kick his ass if he doesn’t show,” Cordelia paced in front of Angelus who watched her with a frown on his handsome face.

His reasons for concern were far different from Cordelia’s. It didn’t bode well that Angel had skulked off on his own immediately after sunset. Having spent most of the day in his rooms or down in the training room beating the hell out of the punching bag, Angel had not been in the mood to talk to Angelus about anything. So he’d let it go meaning to catch him before they headed out to the Bronze with the girls.

What the hell is he doing out there on his own? Even as the question formed in his head, Angelus was hit with a sudden sense of irony. This was the same concern the Slayer and her Scooby Gang had shown about him after his first day back in town with his own existence.

“Oh, he’ll be here,” Buffy assured Cordelia. You’re here, aren’t you?

Angel was the only one missing from the group. Curled up next to Oz on the couch, Willow was also sitting next to Xander who slunk down low on the couch cushion positioned with his feet up on the table. He chuckled at Cordelia’s determination that her little Bronze outing was going to go as planned. “Dead Boy just doesn’t want you to force him to dance.”

“Grmph!” Cordelia stopped pacing and glared at Xander. “Buffy will have to dance with you and that’s not much of an improvement.”

Xander glanced over at the blond Slayer. “Looks like you’re being foisted off on me, Buffy.”

She flashed him a grin, “It may not be pretty, but dancing with you is always fun.”

As she spoke to Xander, the turn of her throat revealed the flesh-colored band-aid plastered there. Leaning up against a pillar, Angelus couldn’t help but tease the Slayer about it. “What’s that you’re hiding, Buff? Angel give you a hickey?”

Xander sat up to defend Buffy as if Angelus’ hickey accusation was horrible and defiling. “A hickey? Not! Just something she got in a demon brawl last night.”

So that was the spin the Slayer was putting on it, Angelus mused. “That was some brawl. What kind of a demon was that again?”

Inwardly seething at the idea that Angelus was making fun of her, it was all too apparent that the vampire knew all about the wound on her neck. Glancing over at Cordelia who was unusually quiet, Buffy wondered whether she knew about Angel biting her as well.

Looking at the band-aid again, Cordelia felt her tension escalate. She already knew the answer to Angelus’ mocking question. A vampire put that mark on her throat. One of my vampires. Angel.

The thought unsettled Cordy who immediately moved to Angelus’ side. Tucking her head against his, she sidled up against him. Putting his arm around her, Angelus held her close wondering at this sudden need to touch him.

Willow scoffed at Angelus’ hickey theory. “Girls use makeup to cover hickeys, not band-aids.”

Even Buffy managed to generate enough curiosity to ask, “How would you know Will?”

“Uh…I-I read.”

Oz sat there quietly, not saying a word, but a close observer could detect the slight curl of his mouth at the corners.

“Uh huh.”

Angelus didn’t care about the antics of the witch and her werewolf. He was too busy toying with the Slayer. “Looks like Cordelia wasn’t the only one to have a run in with a vampire last night.”

Pulling away from Angelus’ shoulder, Cordelia nudged his side with an elbow. “Stop goading Buffy. Play nice, Bad Boy.”

Xander slowly connected the dots. Staring at Buffy and the covered area of her neck, he realized that it was no hickey. “You were with Angel last night. On a date. He— bit you!”

Furiously, Xander flew off the couch and stomped over to check out the band-aided area on her throat. “Don’t be so naive, Xander,” he heard Cordelia’s voice behind him defending Angel’s actions. “Hello! Vampire.”

“That’s no excuse,” Xander fumed. “He shouldn’t snack on his girlfriend.”

Willow looked agog with the news. Buffy had lied to her. Well, maybe not directly, but she certainly hadn’t given her that juicy, if scary, detail. “Angel bit you? I’ve read Vampires claim their mates with a bite. Don’t they? Unless they— uh…can’t.”

Staring at Angelus, the redhead found herself blushing. It didn’t seem right to talk about biting when it was something that could be so intimate to vampires. Even if it was something they did everyday for food. When it was their partner, biting was wholly different. According to the books, anyway. Not that Angel or Angelus were in any position to go around biting people for food. Still, the fact that Angel had bitten Buffy for any reason came as a surprise.

“Let’s see it, Buff,” challenged Angelus. “It’s mostly healed by now, I would imagine. Show everyone so they’ll know you’ll live unscarred.”

Buffy didn’t know what Angelus was getting at, but she followed through with his suggestion. Xander and Willow weren’t going to be satisfied until they knew Angel hadn’t scarred her for life. Reluctantly, she pulled off the band-aid only to see an angst-filled acknowledgement pass over Angelus’ face.

“What is it?”

Angelus muttered as he looked at the appearance of the bite which proved to him exactly what his brother had in mind the moment he set fangs to throat, “Nothing, Slayer. Nothing you want to hear.”

Abandoning Xander’s attention, Buffy walked forward until she stood in front of the vampire. Totally aware of Cordelia’s scrutiny as she stood beside him, Buffy ignored it as she demanded, “Tell me.”

Those firm male lips twisted into his trademark smirk as Angelus gazed down at the Slayer. Lifting his hand, he brushed the fingertips along the smooth strands of her silken hair. Then he grasped her jaw, turning her head to expose her throat to his gaze. “I always thought it would be me, Buff. Though I promise you I would have finished the job, not just taken a taste.”

Buffy instantly pushed him back against the pillar, stepping out of his reach and glaring at him with a fury edging close to dangerous. She balled her hands into fists and held them at her side, determined that she would somehow let this pass without resorting to a fight in the middle of the Bronze.

“Angelus!” Cordelia couldn’t believe that her mate had said that. Not about Angelus’ admission that he thought he would be the one to kill her. That was old news. “Stop implying Angel would purposefully hurt Buffy. You know that isn’t true.”

“You don’t have all the facts,” Angelus responded gruffly at the way his mate came to his brother’s defense. “I think he can defend himself if necessary, Cor.”

“He’s not here,” she countered vehemently.

Watching the exchange, Buffy realized that Cordelia was being protective of Angel to the extent that even Angelus noticed. She thought about the little bondage game at the mall and the way Cordelia had responded to Angel tying her up. It hadn’t been a response to the bonds alone, but to the one who was holding her captive. Angelus had come in and Cordelia was so into him that it was difficult to believe what Buffy thought she saw was real in the first place.

Maybe she was still imagining it, Buffy thought as jealousy warred with confusion.

Cordelia suddenly changed the subject, directing everyone’s thoughts away from the vampire with a soul. “We’re supposed to be here for a good time, people. I want fun and I want it now.”

“Dancing?” Willow liked the idea. All of this talk about biting gave her the wiggins.
Holding her hand out to Oz, he took it and rose from the couch. They made their way onto the dance floor just as a new set was starting.

“C’mon, Bad Boy,” Cordelia nodded in that direction. “Let’s show ‘em all how you can strut your stuff with style.”

“After you, babe.” Chuckling, Angelus followed behind Cordelia watching her hips sway to the beat of the music.

Xander glanced over at Buffy who was staring after the vampire. “I guess that leaves us, Buffster. Wanna dance?”

“Sure.”

Two hours passed by before Angel put in an appearance sweeping into the Bronze in a swath of black on black. Dipping into the shadows as was his habit, the vampire let his gaze wander over the club in search of the others. He picked them out of the crowd one by one. Or rather two by two.

Angelus and Cordelia were locked into a tight embrace performing moves on the dance floor that appeared to belong in their bedroom. Apparently Cordelia’s lessons had paid off, because they looked good together. Willow and Oz were out there too, but dancing far more sedately than the vampire and his mate. Buffy and Xander were by the bar placing an order for drinks.

Noticing the empty couch where their coats and other belongings were piled, Angel sat down dead center and stretched out his legs in front of him. This was not where he wanted to be tonight, but he had made a promise to Cordelia to come to the club, so here he was. He watched from his position on the couch as Cordelia and Angelus slowly made their way back across the dance floor. Angelus had his hands all over her causing Angel to growl low in his throat.

It was obvious that their dancing had aroused them both to a point where being in the center of the dance floor had its disadvantages. Angelus groped her ass as Cordy fisted the short ends of his hair holding him to her as she opened her mouth to the probing invasion of his tongue. Finally, they arrived back at the couch, barely sparing him a grunt of acknowledgement. Fine. He wouldn’t have to explain his tardiness.

Angelus moved his hands up to Cordelia’s shoulders, his eyes hot with passion as he gave her a push toward the couch. Tumbling backward, Cordelia let out a little gasp of surprise as she fell against the statue-still form of the vampire sitting there. She had no time to say anything to Angel because Angelus descended upon her mouth to smother it with more of his skillful kisses.

Any second now, Angel was going to put a stop to this. His brother had Cordelia in a position that practically draped her across his side, her back up against Angel’s left arm and her bottom pressed up against his hip. This was worse than the theater. It was dark there compared to here. At least they were in that space tucked away behind the stairs, but anyone could see in here if they glanced this way. Angel didn’t care about the audience, not when Cordelia’s hand accidentally brushed along his thigh.

Just a little higher, sweetheart. The irrational thought was guilt-free as her hand clamped down on the muscle just holding on as Angelus made her forget her own surroundings.

A strangled gasp sounded as Buffy and Xander rounded the corner carrying sodas. The display in front of them was mind-numbing and neither could manage to speak. Angelus and Cordelia were necking on the couch. No shocking surprise there since they had seen something similar every time those two were together. It was the fact that while all this was going on, Angel’s head was turned toward Cordelia, his eyes closed as he seemed to be scenting her hair.

Xander’s gasp startled the kissing couple and Angelus pulled away long enough to note that the boy was staring at Cordelia’s misplaced hand. The vampire glanced at Angel whose face gave away nothing of the lust he felt. Taking Cordelia’s hand away, he placed it high on his own thigh and continued to kiss his mate.

Glaring at Angel, Buffy felt like throwing the sodas at the three of them just to cool them all off. He’d just been sitting there, letting Cordy touch him and sniffing at her hair like he was trying to memorize her scent. Angelus didn’t seem too upset at Cor’s mistake. Maybe it was obvious to him that she hadn’t done it on purpose. Or maybe, just maybe there was something going on between the three of them.

Buffy’s jaw dropped open at the thought. No, surely not. That would be…the two of them…hot in a totally weird and disgusting kind of way. Angelus was too possessive to let someone else look at Cordelia, much less touch her, she assured herself.

“Time for a cold shower,” Buffy’s voice was just as icy. “Break it up or I’ll have to settle for my soda.”

Cordelia was still seeing stars when Angelus straightened them both up. She glanced at Xander who appeared to be in some state of shock and then realized he was not looking at her, but at Angel behind her. She vaguely recalled seeing him, but hadn’t realized he was sitting quite so close. When’d he get there?

“A-Angel. You made it,” Cordelia’s smile instantly melted his stony expression. “I knew you’d get here.”

“No you didn’t. You were probably plotting to kick my ass,” Angel said knowingly.

“Duh!”

Angelus rose from the couch holding out his hand to Cordelia. “I think it’s actually time we left, babe.”

Peeking up at him, Cordelia smiled that impish grin. “Five minutes? Angel just got here.”

In fact, Cordelia was a little concerned about leaving Angel alone right now with the Slayer. Buffy was looking rather pissed off and it was no wonder considering how late Angel had left it to join them. She might still be mad about being bitten if what Angelus hinted at earlier was close to the truth.

“Promise me that you’ll try to have some fun,” Cordelia faced Angel again who was looking like he found fun contrary to his existence. “Dance. At least try to dance.”

“Angelus inherited all of the rhythm in the family,” he deadpanned right back.

Cordelia laughed in spite of the fact that she knew that wasn’t true. Anyone watching the way he moved would know Angel could move gracefully. He just thought too much about what he was doing when on the dance floor. “Funny, but it won’t score you any points tonight. Buffy’s had to put up with Xander all evening and you know what that’s like.”

“Hey!” Xander sounded a protest.

Angel never bothered looking in the boy’s direction. He was too entranced by the green-gold lights in Cordelia’s eyes. Then his hand came up to her throat as he fingered the gold choker with the sign of the Order of Aurelius. Looking at what was essentially his mark displayed around her neck, Angel found the temptation to kiss her getting to be difficult to ignore.

Then Cordelia leaned forward and whispered something into Angel’s ear that left him laughing in a way none of them had ever seen before. The sound was so surreal that it was almost scary. Buffy stared at Angel’s beautiful smile like it was a sunrise she’d seen for the first time.

Overhearing Cordelia tell Angel to try out the Bunny Hop if the moves got too complicated for him, Angelus simply rolled his eyes and waited for the five minutes to pass. Time was ticking.

“I think it’s time for you to go,” Angel told her catching his brother’s impatient look. No matter that Angelus stood there watching them. Any longer and he wasn’t going to stop himself from taking what he wanted. Not that it would stop with a kiss, he told himself. Cordelia deserved more than just a damn tattoo and a choker to signify her importance to them.

Reading something in his eyes, Cordelia found herself agreeing. She joined Angelus as he stood next to the stairs. “See you at home?”

“I won’t be late,” Angel nodded.

Cordelia and Angelus were barely out of hearing distance before Buffy exploded. She just couldn’t take it anymore without confronting her boyfriend. “Can’t wait to leave? You sound like you can barely stand to be near me.”

Rising from the couch, Angel towered over the petite blonde. “Are you sure you want to have this conversation here?”

The vampire glanced in Xander’s direction making Buffy aware that they were not alone. Xander felt his own fury growing and the hatred he always felt for Angel was welling to the surface. This was what he’d been afraid of all along. That the vamp would lose it and hurt Buffy. He’d bitten her! Now he was practically drooling over Cordelia in spite of Angelus’ presence.

Xander watched, his mouth a tightly drawn circle, as Buffy and Angel stared at each other across the small space separating them. An almost palpable vibe passed back and forth between the two as if some dark counterforce was signaling danger ahead. It was the Slayer’s defensive stance that shocked him, her unconscious method of moving into a position while facing an enemy not a lover or a friend. The look on Angel’s face caused him to freeze into position as if sensing the vampire’s predatory nature for the first time.

Reminds me of Angelus, he gulped down the lump forming in his throat. Except that the soulless vampire had been doing a terrific job of playing Good Guy. Plus, he actually had a sense of humor and knew how to have fun unlike Dead Boy.

“We’ll go out back,” Buffy told Angel. “To the alley.”

Angel quipped, “So no dancing?”

Xander took it back. The vampire did have a sense of humor. It just made people want to kill him.

Irked by Angel’s attempt to joke about this, Buffy set her soda down on the table top with such force that it sloshed everywhere. Whirling on her heel, she headed to the back exit of the Bronze. Angel was about to follow when he felt himself held back by a hand grabbing a fistful of his leather coat.

“Harris.”

“Angel.” Their usual cool greeting extended into a warning on Xander’s part. He didn’t care how frightening the vampire could be or what he had on his mind when he bit Buffy or sniffed at Cordelia’s hair. “Be careful what you say and do. Buffy may be able to physically defend herself if necessary, but she still has feelings.”

“Remove your hand, Xander,” growled Angel with perfect cold clarity, “before I permanently remove it for you.”

As fast as humanly possible, Xander dropped his hold on Angel’s sleeve. Inwardly wigging out, he realized that maybe it did matter how frightening Angel could be. Hell, he was damn scary! Letting Angel go, he watched until the vampire passed through the exit door before deciding what he needed to do.

Pacing back and forth like a caged tigress, Buffy stopped mid-motion as Angel came into view. She didn’t wait for explanations. Baldly, she barked, “I’ve had enough.”

“Enough?”

“Yes, Angel,” she confirmed. “Enough of this. Of us. If there ever was an us.”

Angel watched her mouth tremble, but it was adrenalin and not fear that caused it. She went on and he let her. “I know we had something, Angel. I loved you. I really did and I know that you loved me, too. What happened to that? Was it just my imagination?”

“No,” he admitted. “We had something real, Buffy.”

The Slayer noted bitterly that he also used the past tense to describe it. “Was it real enough to fight for? Real enough to do anything not to let it go?”

“You tell me.”

Giving him an odd look, it took Buffy a minute to figure out what he meant. Licking her lips, she realized what it was. “The deal with the Fates.”

“I wanted more for us,” Angel reminded her. “What we had was a dream of what we thought we could be together. I wanted to make it real for both of us. Thought I had found a way.”

“You were wrong.”

The accusatory tone in her voice made it clear that Buffy was still angry about his decision to bring Angelus back as a way to secure his own soul. “Yes, I was wrong. The deal is done and there is no going back to the way it was, Buffy. The Moirae just don’t work that way.”

She watched as Angel circled around her, a habit of many vampires as they paced around their prey. Buffy refused to wheel around to watch his progress. She stood her ground and kept her senses open to his movements.

“What is it about this deal you made? I know there is something that Giles hasn’t told me. He refused to say anything more than I already know. You told me that this could be deadly, Angel. I never realized that you meant it could be deadly to me.”

Angel stopped dead-still as he listened to what she had to say. “I never intended to kill you. Not consciously.”

“You would’ve if you hadn’t realized what you were doing.”

He couldn’t deny it.

“You never even told me you were sorry about it,” Buffy yelled at him.

He admitted quietly, “I am sorry it happened. I don’t want you hurt.”

“Well thanks for that,” Buffy returned sourly. “I loved you, Angel. Truly, I know that I did, but I’ve changed too. I’m not the same girl I was a year ago…before I thought I killed you and sent you to that hell dimension.”

Silently, Angel listened to her speech. He couldn’t say that he disagreed with any of it. Buffy told him that she realized, “We want different things. It’s way beyond the physical stuff…y’know…sex.”

Even now, she had trouble saying it to his face. Angel braced himself against the inner laughter that threatened to pour forth sensing that she would not take it well.
“You’re the Slayer, Buffy. I find myself reacting to you as a vampire rather than a man.”

“You are a vampire, Angel.”

A slow smile crept onto his face, one of irony. “There was a time when I wanted you to see me only as a man, Buffy, but I came to realize that I needed you to accept me as a vampire. That was something you couldn’t do. Until I bit you.”

“That will never happen again,” she informed him slowly enunciating every word like a warning. “You see, I’ve decided I’m not going to take that chance anymore. You’ve changed just as much as I have, Angel. This deal with the Fates has made you into someone that I just don’t recognize anymore.”

Angel had to admit there were days he barely recognized himself.

“So that’s it, Angel,” Buffy shrugged the heavy weight of despair from her shoulders and stood determinedly before him. “I quit.”

Moving with sudden speed and accuracy, Angel gripped her shoulders pulling her close. Despite the fact that the Slayer was giving him an easy way out, Angel found that it riled him. He grasped her hair in his fist staring down at her with the sudden release of his own anger. “You don’t quit me unless I say so.”

Buffy pushed him away using her Slayer strength. “Just listen to you. This isn’t like you, Angel. You’re not the man who gave me that Claddaugh ring. We’ve just been living a lie these last couple of months trying to be something we are obviously not.”

“Then what are we, lover?”

“I-I don’t know, Angel. Please, let it go for a while.”

“Did my bite frighten you so much that you would give up the rest of it?” Angel knew that she enjoyed the sex. He may not have enjoyed it to the extent that he wanted too, but she certainly did.

Holding her hand to her throat, Buffy admitted, “Yes, Angel. It scared me. I let my guard down because it was you. Biting me was never something I would have let you do if you’d asked for permission.”

“Maybe that’s why I didn’t ask.”

She let out a mad laugh, a trill that came across as something he might hear from Drusilla. “Just listen to yourself. You’ll realize why I’m not taking any more chances. This bite had nothing to do with love. It took me a while to realize the truth, but I finally understood the reason why.”

Angel looked puzzled. If he didn’t understand it, how could the Slayer possibly hope to do so?

The look on her face caused Buffy to laugh harshly. “Forget about the biting and the deal with the Fates. I think I have more than enough cause to be mad at you right now.”

Wondering what else he had done, Angel stared back at her with a dense expression. “So clue me in, Buffy. What’s the problem?”

Buffy used her words like a weapon, striking at him with everything she had. “You’re so into her you don’t even know it. You don’t think anyone else can see it. I’m not stupid or blind, Angel. Maybe it’s taken me a while to believe it, but there is only one thing I can’t tolerate in a boyfriend…the fact that you’re in love with someone else.”

Dumbstruck, Angel simply stared at her as the words slowly penetrated his mind. In love with someone else?

“Like I said, you don’t even know it.”

No sooner had the thought sunk into his mind than Angel accepted it as the truth. Cordelia. She was talking about Cordelia. There was no doubt in Angel’s mind that he wanted Cordy. No doubt that he was irrationally possessive about his brother’s mate. The idea that he loved her stunned him and yet he found that denial was impossible. That word…love…it linked up perfectly with those feelings that seemed to free-float in his system. Feelings he had never felt for anyone before, not even Buffy.

The thought was enough to take him to a place where he was already planning ways to take back his rights to claim Cordelia as his own. He needed time and patience and planning, for such a task would not be easy considering that she was Angelus’ mate. There might be protests from Cordelia, too. After all, she professed to love his brother. Despite that love, he knew there was an attraction between them that had nothing to do with the fact that he and Angelus were look-alikes.

“Say something, Angel,” demanded Buffy. “I’m breaking up with you, accusing you of being in love with Cordelia and you can’t even tell me to shut up or that I’m wrong?”

“You’re not wrong.”

“Oh.” Buffy felt the tears welling in the corners of her eyes. Fighting against it, she blinked them away. Suspecting was one thing, but hearing a confirmation was quite another.

“Face it, Buffy,” Angel surrendered to the idea of their relationship ending, “whatever we had it started in spite of who we were. Slayer and vampire. The physical aspect simply complicated matters. It brought out our diametrically opposed natures.”

“You’re saying we were never meant to be together,” she realized sadly.

“You need someone human, Buffy. Someone whose instincts don’t oppose yours. A man who won’t kill you if you try to dominate him.”

Blushing at that last statement, Buffy realized the extent to which Angel hated the fact that she needed to control him during sex. It had to be part of her Slayer nature in response to him being a vampire.

“I can’t do this anymore, Angel.” Looking at him with wide soulful eyes, she asked him, “Let me go.”

Despite the fact that he knew this was the right thing to do, Angel felt torn between his naturally possessive feelings about Buffy and relief that she wanted to end their affair. Weighing everything in the balance, Angel realizes the decision is easier than he thought. His feelings for Cordelia tipped the scale.

Nodding his consent to the decision, he told her simply, “It’s done. Over. If that’s what you want, Buffy, we’re finished.”

Angel turned on his heel walking down the alley toward the front of the club. He sensed her watching him, but he also sensed something else. More precisely… someone else. Passing a nearby dumpster, Angel stopped in his tracks.

“You can come out now.” Angel waited until Xander poked his head out from behind the trash bin. “It’s over, Harris. She’s all yours.”

Seeing that Xander had been listening in, Buffy stalked up to his side demanding to know why he was spying on them.

“Uh— Buffster, can you wait to ream me out until Angel leaves?”

“No.”

Angel decided it was time to escape before he got caught in the middle. Reminding them both, “I’ll be seeing you two around. Angelus and I are still tied to Sunnydale and fighting the Good Fight as long as this deal with the Moirae is in effect.”

Looking startled by the idea, Buffy hadn’t really considered spending that much time with Angel, Cordelia or Angelus after breaking up with her boyfriend. The strange truth was that she was a little relieved. She didn’t want them to disappear from her life.

“Yeah. See you around.”

Xander and Buffy waited until the tall figure turned the corner at the entrance of the alley, his dark coat billowing behind him. In an instant, they were arguing again.

“I was worried about you,” Xander defended his actions. “Considering the biting and all.”

“That doesn’t give you spying rights,” Buffy complained. Then she decided to give up on the argument. Tonight had already been rough enough without dragging anything else into it. “Let’s go.”

The Bronze had little appeal left as far as Xander was concerned. At least for tonight. “I’m all danced out. Wanna rent a video and call out for pizza?”

Buffy considered the offer. “Sure, but let’s do a routine patrol first. I’m in the mood to dust a few vamps.”

Part 27

 Angel heard her approach from the hall long before Cordelia appeared in the kitchen doorway. The clickety-clack of her high-heeled shoes was a dead giveaway and she seemed to be in a hurry. He hadn’t intended to talk to her again tonight. Not after his breakup with Buffy and realization that his feelings for Cordelia went deeper than anything he had ever felt before.

A little time and distance was what he needed to plan things appropriately. What he wanted needed to be handled delicately if it was to be done right. Digging down deep to the part of him that was meticulous and patient, Angel felt certain that he could do what had to be done without making a complete mess of things. Until she walked in the door.

“What are you doing here?” Cordelia stopped short at the sight of Angel washing out a mug at the sink. He was supposed to be at the Bronze having a good time.

“Live here.”

Rolling her eyes, Cordy walked toward the refrigerator only to pause half way there as she decided not to let him get away without answering her question. “You didn’t stay long at the club,” she prompted.

“Nope.” Angel set the mug on the counter as he realized she was neither wearing her outfit from the club nor her nightclothes, but something else entirely. Walking slowly around the island to get a better look at what she was wearing, he didn’t bother to hide his burning curiosity.

Cordelia huffed in frustration. These one and two word answers were not getting her very far. Then she noticed Angel’s dark gaze shifting over her body in a purposeful manner. “Staring much?”

Not denying it, Angel found that appearance fascinated him. Her mahogany hair was twisted up into a loose knot at her nape. She wore one of her silk robes, but there was something beneath it other than her usual nightgown. Black stockings which she had not been wearing at the Bronze tonight covered her legs in sheer silk. Her feet were encased in shoes with four-inch heels.

A catch sounded in his voice as Angel asked, “Going somewhere?”

“Duh! The refrigerator.”

“I meant tonight— with Angelus.”

“We just got back,” Cordelia reminded him. She was suddenly wondering if Buffy had conked him over the head with the pool table.

“So you’re not going anywhere else tonight?”

“No,” Cordelia answered impatiently while trying to move around him toward her target destination. “We’re staying in.”

“In that outfit?”

Glancing down at herself, Cordelia suddenly realized what he was getting at. Teasing him came only too naturally. She pointed out, “Robes are usually worn at home.”

“The outfit that’s under the robe, sweetheart,” he clarified. When Cordelia wasn’t being bluntly direct, she could dance around a subject better than anyone he knew.

“Vamps don’t have x-ray vision, Angel. For all you know I’m wearing granny panties and a Wonder Bra.”

I doubt that.

“Outta my way, Grrr Guy. I need something.” He let her move past him while trying to figure out what she had on beneath the robe. Then Angel saw what she pulled out from the refrigerator and found himself gawking as his imagination kicked in. There were two cans of whipped cream, one in each hand, chocolate flavored and vanilla.

“W-Whipped cream?”

“Nosy much?” Cordelia asked, but flushed at the fact that he was obviously thinking about the potential uses. “It’s for— uh, my ice cream sundae.”

Angel saw the lights dancing in her eyes and concluded, “Liar.”

Commenting hastily, Cordelia countered with, “I’m no Pinocchio.”

Wooden boy? That would be me at the moment. Except my nose isn’t the site of the growth spurt. Angel didn’t know what Cordelia had on beneath that robe, but she wasn’t leaving until he found out. There was something dark and textured that caused the robe to drape over her breasts in such a way that made them seem like an offering for any willing worshipper.

There was amusement in his eyes, but Cordelia detected something more than just curiosity. Something else was hidden in that look which caused her to react to it in ways she shouldn’t even be considering. She didn’t even have the excuse of him barging into her bedroom wearing only a pair of body-hugging boxers. Not that she’d looked…much.

Dressed in his usual black on black ensemble minus his leather duster, Angel looked more dark and mysterious than she’d ever seen him. It really had nothing to do with his clothes; more like an invisible aura surrounding him enhancing qualities that she thought he no longer possessed. Any trace of light-hearted fun faded from that gaze leaving behind something that made her heart pound in her chest.

Something powerful and predatory stared back at her. “A-Angel?”

He made no move toward her, his hard body motionless while effectively blocking her way out of the room. “Liars have to pay a forfeit to get out of the kitchen.”

Confused, Cordelia wasn’t certain if she was supposed to be laughing or complaining. For some strange reason, her whole body was quivering at the thought. “They do? Such as what?”

Angel’s raised brows signaled a challenge. “Come here, Cordy. Find out.”

There was something in his quiet tone, a deep sensual thread that shook Cordelia to the core making her body hum in response. Was he doing that on purpose? Making her react in ways she had no business reacting. He hadn’t really done anything. Just stood there watching her. He hadn’t said anything wrong, just acted curious about what she had on. Determined not to move an inch, Cordelia somehow found herself in front of him anyway.

Geez! How did I get here? Cordy asked herself realizing that she was now only inches away from that broad muscular form. It was a good thing her hands were full because she was hit with the sudden urge to press them against his shirt just to feel the hard wall of his chest and rake her nails over his sculpted torso.

With a dangerous, satisfied gleam in his eyes, Angel told her, “Maybe I don’t get to participate in the games tonight, but I’d say giving me a peek at what you’re wearing will be forfeit enough.”

Participate in what games? Realizing suddenly what he hinted at, Cordelia gave him a shocked stare. He had to be joking in a so-not-funny way. Convincing herself that this was some stupid amusement on his part, Cordelia’s mouth curved into a playful smile. “Perv. You’re such a MAN-pire. Go ahead and look if you’re so curious.”

Closing in the short distance between them, Angel took hold of the end of her belt, his fingers toying with it as he stared deeply into her eyes watching for her reaction. Enraptured by the gold-green lights in her hazel orbs, Angel tugged slowly on the end of the belt without bothering to look down at his progress. It felt like he was back at the damn boutique in the mall tying her up again, except now things were happening in reverse. He was unwrapping hidden treasures.

Just as the belt started to give way, loosening the flaps of her robe, Cordelia felt a moment of panic. Any pretense that this was a silly game faded, replaced by the realization that she desperately wanted to see his face when he saw what she was wearing. That she needed to see Angel’s reaction knowing that she could make him feel something that had nothing to do with their friendship.

Omigod! How wrong is that?

In the seconds of silence that passed between them, Angel soaked up her body’s reactions like a thirsty sponge. The flush high across her cheekbones, the soft swell of her lips parted slightly to suck in a desperate breath of air, the nervous flutter of her pulse and the visible quiver of her lush body hidden beneath her robe. He heard his own rumbled reaction deep in his chest, an automatic response that could not be silenced.

Cordelia suddenly decided this was a bad idea. “Wait! Maybe you shouldn’t.”

Her ineffective protest sounded like a half-hearted suggestion. Angel took it that way and continued his steady pull on the belt loosening the knot. He said nothing, simply continued that slow tug. That rumbling sound seemed to be tugging too, she realized with a start. Tugging at her heart until the warmth spread with molten fire down to her loins liquefying everything in its path.

“Angel,” his name sounded as a wanton whisper, forbidden and unstoppable.

Saying nothing, Angel’s eyes bore into her own surrounding Cordelia in their dark depths sucking her in with the inescapable power of a black hole. Primal. Irresistible. Dark. Sensual. She barely noticed when his strong hands settled on her shoulders. His thumbs curled under the silk material, bunching it up in his fists to slowly peel it away from her skin.

Cordelia felt the silk float down her upper arms gathering at her bent elbows. Finally, after what seemed like eons of time, Angel’s gaze shifted downward roving over her exposed skin and the tantalizing outfit that hugged her body in ways only his hands could improve upon. She forced herself to voice a reminder that she had dressed this way for Angelus. “Think he’ll like it?”

With his hands still gripping the silk, Angel’s eyes darted back up to hers now ringed by amber lights. The mention of his brother acted as a harsh reminder that Cordelia had no idea that she belonged to him. Every inch of her. Every lush curve now bound by the leather corset. It propped up her breasts in their demi-cups barely covering the darker tint of her areolas with some stretchy material that didn’t seem to belong there. Matching bikini panties left the soft curve of her lower belly exposed while a dark garter belt held tight to the silky stockings covering her long legs.

He had the greatest urge to touch the bare skin of her inner thighs showing between the panties and the stockings. “Stupid question, sweetheart. He’d be a fool not to like what he sees. Tell me. Are you in charge of the games tonight?”

More talk of games between her and Angelus. It seemed a strange way to refer to their lovemaking even if it was a lot of fun. Mocking his query, her voice came out as a husky promise, “I don’t play games.”

Cordelia moved her hands closer together, unconsciously putting up a natural barrier between them. The cans of whipped cream clinked together causing her to react with a slight jerk of surprise at the sound they created. At Angel’s silent stare, she asked, “Satisfied?”

That male mouth curled at one corner drawing her attention to its firm surface. “Far from it.”

Trying to step back, Cordelia found that Angel still held her robe within his firm grip. “I think you’ve seen enough for one forfeit.”

“Who said I planned to stop with just looking?”

“Y-You did,” Cordelia reminded him, completely startled by that question. “Just a peek, you said.”

He seemed to recall saying something like that. “Too bad I didn’t mean it. Just stand still for a minute, sweetheart. Just for a minute.”

Cordelia dragged her tongue over her suddenly dry lips as she realized that she could not move even if she wanted to. He held her close, but her legs felt like jelly. Angel lifted a hand to her hair, tossing away the comb that held the twist in place. Her hair fell loose tumbling into his hand. Pulling her against him, Angel’s cool skin soothed the fire burning her cheeks as one hand came up to cup her jaw and his face pressed against hers in order to bring her scent closer.

Her hands were trapped between them, keeping them far enough apart that his body wasn’t doing more than brushing across hers. It was enough for her to feel the proof of his arousal hard and huge trapped behind the zipper of his pants. Cordelia wished the damn whipped cream cans would disappear so she could run her hands along that bulge. She shouldn’t be standing here or thinking about any of this or letting Angel touch her this way, but Cordelia felt mesmerized by his will alone.

Then Angel’s cool tongue traced the curve of her earlobe, sucking it into his mouth and eliciting a moan that emanated from her solar plexus. It pulled from her very center sounding in his ear like a carnal plea. His mouth whispered across her cheek an answering growl of pleasure and then hovered just above her sensitive lips teasing them with their closeness.

“Don’t,” Cordelia sounded out the word so softly that it took his vampire hearing to catch it.

“Don’t what, sweetheart?” Angel asked her while moving his hands down to curl over her firm buttocks. “Don’t want you? Don’t touch you? Don’t need you?”

“Yes.” Cordelia’s eyes blazed with lust even as her troubled voice sounded out the word that served as an answer to all of those questions.

“Don’t ask for the impossible,” Angel warned an instant before his mouth closed over hers.

Cordelia moaned into his mouth as his lips captured hers. All she could think of as she hungrily kissed him back was that while he tasted just like Angelus, he had his own way of touching her. Those large hands of his were massaging her ass cupping the cheeks directly beneath her panties now. He angled himself so that his hard-on rubbed along her aching center.

By the time Angel pulled his mouth away from hers, Cordelia’s head was spinning with arousal. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she was still conscious of the fact that Angelus was waiting for her upstairs. “Let me go, Angel.”

His hands didn’t move. If anything, Angel managed to part her legs with one of his own in order to press his erection closer. “Is that really what you want?”

Denying her arousal was impossible. Cordelia knew there was no hiding it from him. That didn’t make it right. “I belong to Angelus.”

The amber tint to his eyes deepened and she watched as Angel’s features changed from human to vampire. “Not quite. You’re mine, sweetheart. You’ve always been mine and you will be again.”

Cordelia thought about screaming, but figured that would only make things worse. It would bring Angelus down here within seconds and then someone was going to get hurt. She didn’t want that.

“Angel, please don’t do this. I should never have let you see me like this,” Cordelia tried to take the blame for it just to give him a way to back out. “Just forget that you kissed me. Forget that you ever asked for the damn forfeit.”

“You’re not that naive, Cordelia,” came the gruff laugh that left her shuddering in its wake. She knew then that Angel wasn’t about to forget anything. Nor was he going to drop this sudden determination to have her for himself. The excitement generated by that thought was equaled only by her intense abhorrence of her body’s reaction.

With a slight tremor in her voice, she started to voice a demand for her release only to have it come out again as a needy whisper, “Angel.”

“That’s right,” Angel encouraged her wanting Cordelia’s complete awareness that it was him touching her. “Say my name again.”

Gasping softly, Cordelia found herself doing just that as his hands moved across the skin of her bottom. “Angel.”

“The sight and scent of you have me hard as stone,” he told her as his groin thrust against her pantied crotch with a slow rhythm. The friction was bringing her to a hard and fast boil as her hips echoed with counter movements. “All I can do is think of you on your knees lapping whipped cream from my cock with your hot tongue.”

Her knees buckled causing Angel to hold her steady, but the shock of his words also caused her hands to clamp down on the release valves of the cans. Whipped cream squirted skyward colliding with bits and parts of their faces and plummeting back to spread over other exposed areas. Cordelia dropped the cans to the floor as if they were deadly weapons that she had accidentally set off.

Stunned, Angel and Cordelia stared at each other for drawn-out seconds looking at the bits of white and brown cream clinging to their skin. At any other time, such an accident might have been funny. Something to giggle over as they wiped away the evidence. Things were already too enflamed for laughter and even Cordelia found it impossible to ignore the feelings that exploded like sunbursts within her.

Grabbing him, Cordelia wrapped her arms around his neck and met his descending mouth with her own. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth tasting the chocolate cream dabbed there while being careful not to pierce her with his fangs. Cordelia let out a tiny moue of pleasure and curled her fingers into his hair. Angel’s cool tongue darted into her mouth massaging hers and running across her sensitive palate before moving back so that his lips could slide across hers.

Cordelia found herself following along, echoing his actions. Only her tongue danced with his and licked carefully along the edges of Angel’s fangs before pulling away to seek out areas dotted with vanilla and chocolate goodness.

“Mmm. Angel. Gotta stop.”

Distracted by a dollop of whipped cream lying invitingly in the valley of Cordelia’s breasts, Angel ignored her plea dipping his dark head low to lap up the sweetness on her succulent flesh. A strangled gurgle sounded from her throat at the sensation of his tongue delving into her cleavage. Then his hands crept up to join his mouth as they curled around her plump breasts. In a matter of seconds, Angel manipulated the stretchy material covering their upper curves tucking it into the leather half-cups beneath and exposing her fully to his heated gaze.

Raising his head, Angel met her gaze for a moment, awaiting the protest that did not come to her lips as his thumbs traced patterns across the delicate flesh and teased at her distended nipples. Cordelia found the words of dissent stuck in her throat. She trembled beneath his touch, wanting more, but at the same time hoping Angel would see reason before this went too far.

If it hasn’t already gone too far. A flash of fear showed in her eyes as Cordelia thought of Angelus and she felt the pain of regret stabbing at her heart.

Whatever interpretation Angel made as he read her expression, it brought forth a stunning confession from the depths of his soul. “I’m in love with you, Cordelia.”

The words brought instantaneous tears to her eyes as she was assailed by a mix of joy and despair. Shaking her head in denial, Cordelia gasped, “You can’t be.”

“I am.”

“You can’t be,” she repeated. “You’re in love with Buffy.”

“No, I’m not.”

He spoke with such surety that Cordelia reeled at the news. “I don’t understand.”

Never mind that she was standing exposed under his gaze and to his skillful touch, Cordelia found that she could not process the information. She stumbled back a few steps connecting with the refrigerator door.

“I think I’ve made what I want perfectly clear, Cordelia,” Angel moved toward her with powerful strides and boxed her in against that door just as he had once before. “My plan was to take this slowly, to make Angelus see that I was simply taking back what was mine from the start. To give you time to adjust to the idea, but then you had to walk in here.”

“You didn’t have to look at my outfit,” Cordelia pointed out angrily.

Angel let out a dark laugh. “I said that all you had to do was walk in the door, Cordy. It didn’t take anything else.”

“Oh.” The breathy sound was all she could manage at the moment. Then his hand was at her throat, his fingers moving along the cords of her neck in soft rhythmic strokes. She wanted to tell him to stop, to demand that he stop, to remind him that she was in love with his brother.

Under Angel’s intense gaze, Cordelia found herself closing her eyes and tilting her neck toward his touch. Exposing her throat at its most vulnerable position. Trusting that he wouldn’t hurt her. Wanting something she had no right to ask for even in silent supplication.

Angel’s fingers stilled as he watched her. If he had a heartbeat, it would have stilled from the shock at her submissive posture, something he never would have expected from Cordelia Chase. He licked across his fangs, teasing at their sharp points as if testing his own readiness.

He found himself breathing reflexively. The motions of his chest moving up and down in some automated response to his own anticipation actually provided Angel with instant clarity. “Does your curiosity burn so much that you would actually let me bite you just to find out if it can make you come, Cordelia?”

Flashing open, Cordelia’s hazel eyes turned on him with startled fury. His accusation was uncomfortably close to the truth. He remembered the question she’d asked him last night. Yes, she was curious, but that wasn’t the only reason she found herself giving in to something they both wanted. The fact that Angel hadn’t bitten her was a huge relief and Cordelia suddenly felt she had a chance to get out of this kitchen without further betraying her love for Angelus.

“Move aside, Angel,” she demanded. “Maybe you think you have some right to lord over me because you like to play master. That doesn’t change the fact that Angelus is my mate. That I love him.”

Dropping his arms to his side, Angel straightened to his full height staring down at Cordelia with cold resolve. “Love him, Cordelia. Just understand that someday soon, you will have to acknowledge your feelings for me.”

“Now who’s the egomaniac?” Cordelia scoffed at him. So what if he was right and she did have feelings? She had no right to have them, dammit. “You want to bite me, Angel? Go ahead. Do it. Mark me. Just don’t expect it to mean anything to anyone but yourself.”

Angel reacted so swiftly and with such fury that Cordelia barely had time to think before she felt his fangs scraping against her throat. She sucked in a deep breath of air and held it in horrified anticipation awaiting his bite as he bent her over his arm and held her hair aside. Seconds passed. Seconds where his mouth and tongue circled her pulse point tasting the spot grazed by his sharp teeth.

Just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, Cordelia felt herself thrust away. Angel let out a harsh growl, his predatory gaze upon her and his shoulders bunched tightly as if fighting for control.

“Go!”

Cordelia caught herself against the kitchen table, standing with a rocky balance. She hadn’t expected him to release her. Goading him— how stupid was that? Only the fact that she had wanted his bite in spite of everything she said to him made her understand the depths of her own foolishness.

“I-I’m not leaving it like this, Angel,” she sounded shaky, but it was the best Cordelia could manage under the circumstances. “I’m s—”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry, sweetheart,” Angel growled and then morphed back into his human features. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Are you going to tell Angelus?”

A long sweep of his dark eyes suggested to Cordelia that it wouldn’t require words to explain anything. She watched as Angel moved across the kitchen picking up the two cans of whipped cream and the silk robe that had somehow fallen off without being noticed. Cordelia realized that the leather corset was still exposing her to his view and she hastily pulled out the stretchy material to cover herself as he set the cans down on the table top next to her. Angel’s gaze never left her as she struggled with tucking everything into place.

“Give me that.” She snatched the robe from his hands and put it on only to have him twirl her back to face him.

“No, Cordelia. I’m not going to tell Angelus anything tonight.” Angel finally answered her question as he proceeded to tie the belt with the same loose knot he had undone to begin with. “I won’t have to.”

“He’ll understand,” Cordelia assured him.

Angel countered with a harsh stare. “I’m confident he won’t.”

“I’ll make him understand,” she huffed.

He raised his brows in a doubtful manner. “If you think he’ll listen.”

“He will.”

“He won’t.”

“Will too.”

“Won’t.”

Cordelia gritted her teeth and growled in fury. “We’ll just see about that, Angel. You just remember to keep your vamp paws to yourself.”

“You happen to like my vamp paws.” Just to prove his point, Angel swept his hands down her spine and pressed her close to him. She shuddered with pleasure at his touch and her hips automatically curled forward to crush her aching center along the tumescent ridge of his penis. “Apparently, it’s not only my hands that you like, sweetheart.”

“Bastard!” Cordelia grumbled at his teasing as she held on to his thickly muscled arms trying to push him away.

“For your own sake, stop squirming like that, Cordy,” Angel ordered. “I’m trying to let you go.”

“Yeah. That’s why your arms are around me and your hands are on my ass again.”

“It’s a nice ass,” he smirked giving it a squeeze.

Looking at Angel as if he had gone completely insane, Cordelia told him once again, “Move aside. Angelus is waiting and I have some explaining to do.”

Angel stepped back, letting her go. He watched in silence until she reached the open doorway. “Forgetting something?”

Glancing over her shoulder, Cordelia sent him a questioning look. “What? A goodbye kiss?”

That confident smirk was back on his roguishly handsome face. “If you want to give me one, I’ll take it, but I was referring to the whipped cream.”

Blushing furiously, Cordelia stalked back across the kitchen to snatch the cans off of the table. With a clipped tone, she told him, “Goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Cordelia disappeared out the door and headed up the stairs, Angel slowly headed toward the living room. With a certainty that could only be felt by someone who had lived with a separate personality echoing in his head for a century, Angel voiced with grim confidence knowing exactly how Angelus would respond, “Oh, I think it will be a lot sooner than that.”

~*~

Taking in a deep breath, Cordelia tilted her head from side to side trying to loosen up her tense neck and shoulder muscles. Holding the whipped cream cans with one arm, she pushed open the door with the other glancing hesitantly around the bedroom for Angelus. He emerged from the bathroom almost simultaneously, wearing his navy blue robe and toweling his wet hair.

“You’re just getting back?” It was clear that Angelus gauged the length of time he had been in the shower with her absence from their bedroom. He glanced toward the bedside table where Cordelia’s bowl of ice cream sat melted and uneaten.

Cordelia licked at her lips nervously, unaware that the action brought her mate’s attention to their kiss-swollen surface. Devoid of all traces of her lipstick, her mouth looked bruised and bee-stung as only thorough kissing could produce. “A-Angelus—,” she began with a quiver only to falter as the words she had practiced on the way up the stairs vanished from her head.

Her vampire mate dropped the towel to the floor, striding to her side with swift steps that left no doubt in Cordelia’s mind that he already guessed what had happened.

“Look at you,” Angelus growled. “You left this room without a hair out of place. Now you’re wild and rumpled and wearing your dessert.”

His fingers pulled whipped cream out of her hair.

She looked at the evidence with guilty surprise. Damn Angel for not warning her that she was still covered in the stuff. Not that there weren’t other obvious signs.

“I can explain.”

“No explanations are necessary, Cordelia. I can already tell what happened. Do you want a play by play rerun?”

Shaking her head, Cordelia had no doubt that Angelus knew what he was talking about. His vampiric senses were picking up scents and signs that gave away all kinds of frighteningly accurate details.

“It started out as a joke. A forfeit for lying.” Except that I was actually telling the truth.

“Do you think I care how it started?” Angelus paced before her and his anger kept escalating until he could no longer control his urge to break something. He grabbed one of the cans of whipped cream and threw it with powerful force against her vanity mirror shattering it and causing the vanilla cream to explode and drip between the broken crevasses.

Cordelia jerked back at the noise it created. Then she told Angelus, “He said he loved me.”

“You think that I don’t know what Angel feels? The fucking idiot just realized what he’s been trying to suppress for so long because now he’s suddenly answered the Call of the Wild and is following his instincts.”

Angelus pulled at Cordelia’s robe opening it up and examining her for marks and bruises, knocking the other can to the ground in the process. He yanked the robe off and dropped it to the floor. Angel’s scent was everywhere intermixed with the sweet whipped cream, but he also smelled a trace of blood. Pushing the long strands of her hair away from her neck, Angelus stared at the superficial scrapes on her neck that indicated just how close his brother had come to claiming precedence over Cordelia.
 

Cordelia trembled under his burning gaze as Angelus turned back to her. “You’re scaring me,” she complained. “Stop being an ass and listen to me!”

“You’ll get your turn, baby.” Angelus took her by the arm and dragged her over to the bed. Tossing her down on its firm surface, he leaned over her. “Stay put. Angel and I are going to have a nice brother to brother chat. After that, we’ll discuss your punishment.”

Angelus swept out of the room before Cordelia even had time to let out a protest at his mention of punishing her for kissing Angel. Except that it had been far more than just kissing and most of the time she’d been letting him do it. Opening her mouth to let him in, kissing him back with a passion she had only ever given to Angelus. Worst of all was egging him on by exposing her neck to him, encouraging his bite just to satisfy some dark desire. Just to fulfill that one lasting need Angelus could not sate.

Betrayal ate at her insides as Cordelia curled up on the bed. Angelus did nothing to deserve this. He’d changed everything that he was because she asked him to behave and fight the Good Fight. He’d proven himself to the Scooby Gang and to an extent even to Giles who would rather cut off his own right arm than to extend a hand of friendship to the vampire who had killed his lover. He’d accepted a truce with Buffy and fought at her side through thick and thin over the past couple of months.

What’s more…Angelus had given Cordelia everything, including his love and his trust. Only to have it trampled upon. She ignored the tears dripping along her cheeks just letting them fall and watching as they formed tiny circles of moisture on the sheets.

Angel was right, she realized. Her mate had not given her a chance to explain. No chance to tell him that nothing irreparable had happened. Except that Angel loved her. She’d managed to squeeze that in during his rampage. That wasn’t something to be erased with a few choice words.

Sitting up on the bed, Cordelia wiped away her remaining tears. Where was the recognition of her loyalty? She hadn’t given in to her desires. Yes, she had them, but she’d said no. Told Angel to buzz off. Not in so many words maybe, but it had ended without biting or any other form of penetration that might be construed as cheating.

Punishment? The more Cordelia thought about it, she knew that was one thing that wasn’t happening tonight. Pfft! Vampires aren’t the only ones with basic instincts. I deserve a medal for ignoring mine.

A huge crash sounded downstairs followed immediately by a series of smaller ones. Leaping off of the bed and ignoring the order to stay put, Cordelia headed out the bedroom door as fast as she could go. Racing down two sets of stairs and following the audible trail, she found both vampires in the midst of a fight in the middle of the living room.

“Stay out of this, Cordelia,” Angel ordered as he caught sight of her standing in the doorway.

Angelus glanced over his shoulder at her only to be grabbed by his brother. “Fighting dirty now, Angel? Can’t say it to my face?”

“How’s this?” Angel sent a hard fist crashing into Angelus’ jaw.

Angelus snarled, “Not bad, Soul Boy. I almost felt that.”

“Stop it, you idiots!” Cordelia demanded stomping her high-heeled shoe against the carpeted surface. It made little noise and her command went completely ignored.

“Let’s see if you feel this,” Angel growled, whirling in the air to send a powerful kick across the same spot sending the other vampire reeling back against the already overturned sofa.

“That’s more like it, brother. Now it’s my turn.” Angelus leapt forward wrestling the souled vampire to the floor, his legs pinning Angel and using his forearm to provide pressure against his throat. Had he been alive, the force would have crushed his windpipe. “How many times do I have to tell you for it to sink in? Stay the fuck away from my mate.”

Angel used a lucky move combining it with his strength to flip them over. Punching him across the nose, he told Angelus, “She may be your mate, but Cordelia belongs to me. I rule this clan whether you like it or not.”

“The hell you do.” They wrestled across the floor knocking into the sturdy leg of the pool table before rolling back the other way.

Cordelia had her hands on her hips, tapping her shoe against the carpet, growing more and more impatient with every passing second.

“Before this is over, you’ll believe it,” Angel assured him.

“Is anyone interested in how I feel about this display of testosterone?” Cordelia had to get her two cents in.

“No,” both vampires sounded out identical denials.

They continued to fight and argue their way from one side of the living room to the other resulting in broken furniture and stereo equipment. The fish tank had a close call as Angel was tossed against the wall narrowly missing it.

“I saw your handiwork on the Slayer’s neck tonight,” Angelus struck a painful chord. “Was this another preliminary for more of the same? You’re in so deep that soon no one will be able to pull you out of it.”

“This has nothing to do with the Fates,” Angel pounded into his gut with alternating blows. “Not. A. Damn. Thing.”

Doubled over, Angelus had to admit that he was probably right. His brother’s feelings for Cordelia existed long before the Moirae got their hooks into him. Angel was close. Too close and leaning over for another attack allowing Angelus to strike with a head butt that lifted the vampire’s jaw with a heavy impact.

Cordelia cried out as she saw Angel crash to the ground and watched in equal horror as her mate looked at her with fury in his dark eyes. His swollen and bruised jaw was set tightly as he faced her, momentarily able to do so without constant pummeling.

“I thought I told you to stay put upstairs,” Angelus growled at her as he moved in her direction.

“You expect me to stay up there when you two are down here trying to kill each other?” Cordelia yelled at him and then streaked past him toward Angel who was still lying on the ground trying to shake off the last blow to his head. Putting herself between them, she whirled back around to face her mate. “I love you, Angelus. If you don’t know that by now you don’t know anything about me.”

“Come over here, Cor,” Angelus ground out the words slowly as he watched his brother rise from the floor directly behind her. The dangerous predatory stare from his souled double suggested that he might do anything.

“No,” Cordelia refused to move, unaware of the closing presence of the vampire right behind her. Crossing her arms across her waist, she stood her ground defiantly. “You two need to go to your separate corners and rethink this whole fight strategy. Ding, ding! The round is over.”

Angelus inched forward keeping his gaze on Angel who appeared to be staring at the curve of Cordelia’s neck. If there was rethinking, it appeared to be going on right now as Angel’s expression darkened into one of pure vampiric desire. “Don’t even go there, Angel.”

Glancing up, Angel smirked at his brother while closing his hands over Cordelia’s upper arms. “How fast can you get over here to stop me?”

Cordelia wrested one arm free, elbowing Angel in the stomach. It barely phased the vampire, who promised, “I was only teasing, sweetheart. We can’t kill each other and there is far too much fight in both of us to stop now. Angelus is right. You should go back upstairs until this is over.”

Gaping at him, Cordelia turned around in disbelief. “Angel, I have only one thing to say to you right now.”

Watching her mouth close into a pinched circle, Angel wondered how she could get the words out. Then he let out a yelp of pain as her heel crashed down onto his toe. “Cordy! Dammit, that hurt.”

“Good.” She smirked triumphantly.

Instantly, Cordelia found herself in Angel’s arms where he proceeded to wipe away that smug expression with a mind-numbing kiss. Releasing her just as quickly, he found his own smile dropping away as Angelus caught her flailing arm and pulled her close.

“I think you deserved that, babe,” Angelus held her against his chest. “Teach you not to interfere when you shouldn’t. Now it’s my turn to get the point across.”

Cordelia suddenly thought about using her heel on him too. Except that he wasn’t wearing shoes like Angel and she didn’t really want to hurt him. Just make her point.
She found herself reconsidering as Angelus suddenly hauled her over to the upturned couch and flung her face down over the side. Before she could do more than issue more than a squawking protest, the vampire had pulled her panties down to her knees and proceeded to spank her bare ass.

“Angelus!” She cried out his name, but his hand came down again on her bottom leaving it stinging and hot.

He didn’t get more than two whacks in before Angel grabbed him and threw him across the room onto the top of the pool table. “Cordy?”

More embarrassed than hurt, Cordelia straightened up and pulled her panties back into place. “I’m fine,” she grumbled as she stared across at Angelus who was now sitting on the edge of the table.

“That’s enough punishment for you tonight, I think,” Angelus told her as if he was being generous with doling out the painful smacks. “We’re not finished down here just yet. Angel and I still have a few things to straighten out. So move that sweet ass of yours, Cor. I want you back in our bed by the time I come upstairs.”

Cordelia was still breathing hard as she looked back and forth between her mate and his brother. It was impossible to deny that she had feelings for both of them. Right now she certainly had lots of feelings and they wouldn’t like any of them. Her anger was so close to the surface that Cordelia wasn’t certain how she was able to fix the smile on her face, but she flashed her teeth in a megawatt grin.

“My sweet ass is more that either of you can handle,” Cordelia told them. “Proceed with the pummeling if that’s what you want, but I won’t be in anyone’s bed tonight except my own.”

Angelus fumed at his twin, “See what you did? You have no business kissing her that way.”

“At least I kissed her!” Angel pointed out. “You spanked her in front of me.”

Turning sharply on her heel, Cordelia walked straight to the foyer. Grabbing her car keys from the hall table, she headed out to her Corvette. Ignoring her exotic attire, she climbed behind the driver’s seat, turned on the engine and sped off into the night uncertain that she would ever be coming back.

Part 28

 “Stubborn vamps,” Cordelia muttered under her breath as she screeched her car to a halt on the circular drive in front of the Chase family residence. “Can’t treat me like property and get away with it. Possessive much? Pfft!”

Slamming the car door, she jabbed at the button for the electronic car lock as if pushing the button would send a thousand jolts of electricity straight at Angelus and Angel. That might get their attention, a sinister glare crossed her face followed fast by the upward curl of her lips.

“He spanked me! Angelus actually spanked me.” Cordelia fumed as she stalked up the brick stairs to the front door shoving her key in the lock. “Couldn’t wait for the private punishment session. Nooooo. Had to do it in front of Angel. Make sure Master Vamp saw who was really in charge.”

Letting herself inside, Cordelia was too caught up in her own thoughts to notice that the house alarm was turned off as was the automatic lighting system. The hall light brightened the flared staircase leading to the second floor landing. Another beamed white light from the direction of the kitchen. Closer scrutiny might have caught the sliver of a golden glow peeking from beneath the door to the study, but Cordelia noticed nothing.

Just for good measure, she gave the front door a hard slam enjoying the satisfyingly loud sound that it made. Almost as satisfying as jabbing Angel in the foot with her four-inch spiked heel. If only she had done the same to Angelus before she stormed out of the mansion, it might have been a perfect exit.

“Home sweet home,” she sighed miserably and puffed air at a stray strand of hair still sticky from whipped cream residue. Tossing the car keys down on the marble-topped table by the door, Cordelia realized suddenly that there was already a set of keys placed there.

Whirling around, Cordelia saw the study door open and her father emerge from its restricted confines. Responding to the noise, he appeared prepared for battle as he held a letter opener in his left hand. Appearing at the railing above, her mother let out a startled gasp realizing that the person standing in the foyer was her daughter.

Omigod! They’re here early. They weren’t supposed to come until Monday. This is so not good.

Plastering a wide smile on her face, Cordelia greeted them. “You’re home! That’s so great. How was Europe?”

Moving with slow, deliberate steps, Emelia Chase let her fingers trail along the wood spindles of the balustrade as she descended the stairs. Ignoring the question posed to them, her expression altered from surprise to scrutiny as her green eyes swept over Cordelia from head to toe. “It’s a little late for Halloween, darling. Even then, I doubt that outfit would be acceptable at the Country Club’s Autumn Costume Ball.”

Outfit? Oh, fuck!

“Language, Cordelia!” Daniel Chase snapped at the filth that poured from his little girl’s mouth.

I said that aloud? Oh, shit! I said that aloud. Thoughts again poured forth as words from her slack-jawed mouth.

“Yes, you did,” her father looked red-faced with anger. “Is this what you’ve become in the few months we’ve been away— a foul-mouthed slut?”

“Daniel!” Even her mother appeared shocked at the accusation. She held a hand to her chest as if she might faint from the words alone. “I’m certain that Cordelia has some kind of explanation for this…this…costume. As for her language, I’d say she gets that from you.”

Sputtering, Daniel lowered the letter opener. He wasn’t used to his cultured daughter spouting such expletives. Cordelia normally had her own turn of phrase, but it had never been so foul-tongued. Defending himself, he grumbled, “Does not, dammit.”

Emelia rolled her eyes at her husband. “See what I mean?”

“Y-You didn’t tell me you were coming home early,” Cordelia pointed out. She would have been certain to be ready. “I thought Monday.”

“There was no answer here at the house,” Emelia commented. “I couldn’t remember your cell number, darling, so it was just impossible to call you directly. There was no one here to answer the phone. Where is Rosaria?”

At the mention of the housekeeper’s name, Cordelia nibbled at her lower lip before answering. “Rosaria? Umm. Her sister was having a baby, so I gave her a vacation. For the next three months.”

Instead of being upset, Cordelia’s parents met each other’s gaze and seemed to let out simultaneous sighs. Weird much?

“How delightful for Rosaria,” cooed Emelia as if her housekeeper’s niece or nephew was the best thing since the invention of sunless tanning lotion. Making her steady approach, she was now standing directly in front of Cordelia. Her keen intellect was too sharp to be fooled by such generosity. “How convenient for you, too. Harmony’s mother tells me you haven’t been over in the past couple of months. From the state of the empty refrigerator, I’d say you haven’t been here either.”

Cordelia suddenly felt that her leather corset was a little too tight. It seemed to pinch at her sides making breathing difficult. Confirming, “I haven’t been here.”

“We gathered that much,” Daniel Chase told her as he tossed the letter opener onto the table next to the keys.

“Are you involved with someone? In some kind of trouble?” Emelia actually managed to look teary-eyed as she made her queries. “Talk to us, darling. Is there something we should know?”

Sucking in a deep breath, Cordelia found that the interrogation was too much on top of her already frayed nerves. “There are a lot of things you should know, Mother. If you could bother to remember my cell phone number or let me know which hotel you were staying at, I might be able to tell you what’s going on in my life.”

“Well—,” Emelia gasped.

“Yes, there is someone,” Cordelia freely admitted. She had no reason to hide the news from them no matter the circumstances of her relationship with Angelus. They were going to learn about it one way or the other. Better to know now than when the vampire came storming up to the house to bring her back to the mansion. Not that she was going to go until she was ready. “I love him. I’ve been living with him the past couple of months.”

When his wife fell silent at the news, Daniel Chase decided it was his turn to get his point across. “Cordelia, you have always been more mature than other girls your age simply because you have experienced more of the world. That does not mean that you are old enough for a relationship that involves living with a guy who likes you to dress up like a tramp.”

“Actually, it was my idea,” Cordelia quipped.

Raging, her father pointed toward the stairs, “Get up to your room, wash that…stuff out of your hair and change into something decent.”

“Fine.” Cordelia stormed past her parents and headed up the stairs only to stop half way up. Turning back to her father, she wanted to make sure he knew she was doing this because it was something already planned and not because he was trying to play master of the house.

As she opened her mouth to speak, Emelia cut in with, “If you’ve been living with this man…”

“Angelus,” Cordelia supplied his name at the obvious pause.

“…then why are you home tonight? You weren’t expecting us to arrive until Monday.”

Gripping onto the handrail, Cordelia wallowed in the irony that was her mother’s sudden interest in her life. “We had a fight.”

Emelia walked to the end of the staircase looking up with seemingly genuine concern as she asked, “Why?”

Because he spanked me after I kissed his brother. Oh, yeah. That’ll go over real well. Not.

“You wanna know? It’s because I love him too much. Too much to let myself betray his trust. Too much to be treated like his possession. Too much to do as I’m told and not as I see fit.”

A furrowed line appeared between Emelia Chase’s eyebrows. She glanced behind her at her husband, silently urging him to speak. Daniel came forward, taking his wife’s hand and giving it a squeeze. Cordelia noticed that it reeked of conspiracy. Though her parents had always been passionate people— toward each other— hand-holding was not one of their usual little signals.

“Come back down, Cordelia,” her father sounded almost nervous. “Your mother and I have something to tell you. It might as well be now.”

Daniel Chase rarely showed any emotion that might be construed as weak. Some might call him overly confident, but he was never so obviously edgy. Now Cordelia started to feel that way as if her father projected his anxious state to encompass her. She returned down the stairs at a slow pace, sensing that her own shocking news might be eclipsed.

“What is it, Daddy?”

“Your mother and I won’t be back in Sunnydale very long. We have a flight booked at the end of the week.”

“Oh.” This was the news? The only surprising thing was that they were staying an entire week before jetting off again.

Emelia explained, “We’ll be gone indefinitely, so it was necessary to come back to Sunnydale to tie up a few loose ends. We aren’t really planning to return.”

“Am I one of the loose ends?” Cordelia had to ask the question. “I hardly see you as it is, even when you are in town.”

Gasping at the misunderstanding, Emelia Chase rushed to correct it. “Darling, no! I assure you that you’ll see us every day.”

“You’re coming with us,” Daniel informed her. Especially after seeing what you’ve been up to.

Cordelia’s head was spinning. Her parents were planning to leave Sunnydale for an unspecified period and wanted her with them? “What’s the deal? I have school.”

Daniel and Emelia exchanged looks again. “Things are much better for your father’s business in Europe right now,” her mother explained with a hasty smile. “As far as school goes, it’s not as if you really need to bother. There are oodles of handsome, rich and eligible young men. They’ll be falling all over themselves to catch you.”

“I’m already caught,” Cordelia responded dryly. “I’m not interested in some Prep School loser who calls me Ducks and insists on drinking tea every half an hour.”

“Not all European men are like your cousin Cecil, darling,” promised her mother.

“Thank goodness for that! If I ever wanted to jump into another gene pool it was when we visited that branch of the family.” Dearest Cecil had invited himself along on their trip to Tuscany the last time Cordelia had accompanied her parents to Europe. What a horrid shock considering she thought they were going to St. Croix. No one suffered like she did that summer.

Shuddering at the memory, Cordelia told them, “I’m not interested in meeting any men, European or otherwise. As for getting out of Sunnydale for a while…I’ll think about it.”

Part 29

The doorbell rang Saturday afternoon at the Chase residence and since there was no housekeeper to respond Emelia Chase ended up staring through the peephole. Even though she had let the young redhead in through the front gate after deciding she didn’t look like an official, Emelia remained cautious enough to check again before opening the door.

“Hello, dear,” Emelia put on her brightest smile. “Are you one of Cordelia’s friends? I’m afraid she’s still asleep. She was up all night long.”

Willow stared at the woman thinking that it had been years since she’d seen her. Not since Parent-Teacher Night in Elementary School. Mrs. Chase had been in charge of organizing all of those cute little cakes along with the cookies and punch. Other than rare pictures in the Society section of the paper, no one had seen her in years. There was a running joke about Emelia Chase being a hypochondriac, but the woman didn’t look sick. In fact, Willow thought she looked beautiful. A lot like an older version of Cordy herself except that her hair was lighter. No wonder Cordelia was so pretty.

“Umm. Cordelia does that.”

“Does what dear?”

“Stays up at night.” Willow clarified and then snapped her mouth shut. She supposed that Mrs. Chase might want to know why and then she’d have to make up some lame story that no one would believe anyway.

“Why is that?” Emelia motioned for the girl to come in and led her into the formal living room.

Willow was busily looking around at the house when she remembered the question. “Umm. Stays up at night. Yeah. Astronomy Club. We’re all into checking out those stars.”

Strange. Emelia Chase was fairly certain that the only stars her daughter was interested in were prefaced by the words movie or television. “Is this visit about Cordelia’s boyfriend? He’s not an actor, is he?”

“No,” Willow assured her as she sunk down onto the cream-colored sofa. The room looked immaculate except for a little dust as if no one ever came in here. Like the house wasn’t really lived in. Kind of cold. “Definitely not an actor.”

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, the woman smiled and informed Willow that she would awaken Cordelia and send her downstairs. “I’m afraid there is nothing in the house to offer you. Not even ice water.”

Knowing that Cordelia had shut down everything except the security system when moving in with Angelus, it didn’t really surprise her. “Not thirsty. Thanks.”

Mrs. Chase disappeared much to Willow’s relief, but Cordelia didn’t come rushing down the stairs to demand an explanation of her presence. Twenty minutes passed with excruciating slowness before the brunette made an appearance during which time Willow visually examined everything within sight and counted the expensive knick-knacks in their specially-designed knick-knack cabinet.

Willow’s jaw dropped at the sight of Cordelia descending the staircase in almost regal fashion, looking more immaculate and designer-garbed than she had seen her in the last two months. Standing up and meeting her at the living room threshold, Willow figured that she knew Cordelia Chase well enough to recognize that her appearance represented her own personal armor.

“Willow.”

“Cordy.”

Facing off with the witch, Cordelia knew that Willow was here on a mission. Nothing else would have brought her except for an express request. “Angelus called you.”

“At four o’clock this morning,” Willow moaned and then noted there was no look of sympathy in response.

“So you hopped on over here at….” Cordelia glanced at the gold-plated mantel clock, “half-past two. Not exactly a quick response, but good delay tactic.”

“I fell asleep,” Willow grumbled. “Otherwise, I would have come over right away.”

“What are you— his minion?”

“Apparently,” Willow grumbled. “I already spent half the night talking to Buffy and then Angelus calls just after I get to sleep. He told me you left him and that you weren’t answering your cell phone.”

Cordelia smirked triumphantly. “I turned it off. He doesn’t have the private number to the house.”

“He tried to come over, but you have that heavy security gate.” Figuring that news would at least let Cordelia know Angelus was trying to get to her, Willow waited for some hopeful response. “It wouldn’t budge. Not even with vamp strength.”

“Daddy only buys the best,” Cordelia explained coolly. She’d been emotional all night long screaming her frustrations into her pillow and finally staring at the ceiling while trying to convince herself not to drive straight back to the mansion.

The sudden sound of voices from upstairs startled Willow. It seemed strange to see Cordelia here instead of the mansion and even more strange to actually know that Mr. and Mrs. Chase were here in town. “So your parents are home.”

“Two days early.” Cordelia nodded and then moved into the living room to sit down on the edge of the couch. She didn’t really want to talk about her parents and was not about to mention the fact that she was considering leaving the country for an unspecified period of time. Better to get Willow talking about something that would keep her off-target. “So what was Buffy’s problem?”

Willow leaned forward, blinking as if it might help her hear the question again. Was Cordelia saying that she had no idea why Buffy would need to talk to her best friend for most of the night? “I-I thought Angel would tell you.”

Sounding bored already, Cordelia asked, “Tell me what?”

“That he…,” Willow faltered. “That Buffy…”

“What?”

“They broke up last night.”

The long silence after her announcement was shattered as Cordelia launched off of the couch and knocked into the coffee table in the process. Some expensive looking glass candle holders tipped shattering against the marble edge of the table top.

Willow watched Cordelia pace back and forth in front of her like a caged tigress. It seemed obvious, but the redhead asked it anyway. “So you didn’t know?”

Running a hand through her loose hair, Cordelia left it in a tangled state as she turned to Willow, her eyes wide with shock. Freaked out by this news, all she could say was, “No.”

Squirming on the end of the seat, Willow really didn’t want to be the one to talk to Cordelia about this. All she was here to do was to tell her that Angelus wanted her back at the mansion. That he loved her. The vampire had made certain to remind Willow to stress that when she spoke to Cordelia.

Except that Angelus wasn’t the only vampire at the mansion with those kinds of feelings. “Buffy said—”

Willow really couldn’t go on. Her vocal chords seemed to be paralyzed.

“Tell me!” Cordelia demanded with such haste that Willow nearly fell off the end of the couch.

“Eep! Okay. Buffy…well, you see— uh. Angel was there. Umm. Cordy, I really don’t think…I mean I think he should do it, not me. I’m just the messenger.”

Despite Willow’s ramblings, Cordelia understood what she was trying to avoid saying. “Angel is in love with me.”

“Y-You know?”

“He told me last night after he got back from the Bronze.”

Gauging the timing suggested that the breakup had occurred before the declaration to Cordelia, Willow let out a sigh of relief. Having only recently developed her friendship with Cordy considering their childhood rivalry and Xander, she was reluctant to put Cordy in the role of the Other Woman. Especially considering how Cordelia and Angelus felt about each other.

Until the fight.

“I’m an idiot when I’m sleep deprived,” Willow suddenly realized what the fight was all about. “Angelus never said why you left him. Just that he loved you and wanted you back. It was about Angel, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Now Willow had to stand up. She felt a wave of nausea hit and pacing opposite of Cordelia’s direction seemed to ease the feeling a bit. Except that moving also made her dizzy. Stopping, she turned around to face Cordelia who paused upon seeing her tortured expression. “Did something happen between you and Angel?”

“NO!” Cordelia shouted her response. “That’s just it, Willow. It didn’t happen.”

Sighing, Willow’s mouth crept up into a relieved smile. “So nothing happened. Then why did you two fight about Angel? Why did you leave?”

Cordelia sank down onto the couch again. “Something— almost happened.”

Willow followed her move, sitting next to her. “Cordelia, you love Angelus.”

“Duh!”

“Then why would something almost happen with Angel?” Willow asked even before she realized that she was the last person who should be asking Cordelia Chase that question.

Cordelia let it slide, choosing to forget for a moment the fact that Willow knew all too well the temptations of being attracted to a friend. “Close your eyes, Will.”

“Uh— why?”

“I’m not going to conk you over the head with a blunt object,” Cordelia rolled her eyes. “I’m making a point. Sheesh! Go with me on this one. Close your eyes.”

“Closed.” Willow shut them tight.

Angling herself so that she could speak softly into Willow’s ear, Cordelia decided a little guided imagery might explain the entire incident. “Think of Angel. Picture him in your head.”

“Huh?”

“Just do it. Tall, dark, hot and broody.”

“Mmm. Uh. Yeah. Tall, dark and broody.”

“And hot. He’s a hottie. Don’t leave that part out.”

Willow frowned, but imagined it anyway. Angel was technically Angelus’ double, so it might be permissible for Cordelia to thinking of him as being hot. “Got it.”

“Now picture him naked.”

“What?” Willow had to scrunch her eyes closed just to stop from opening them to stare at Cordelia. “Are you saying he was naked when he said…you know.”

“No. That’s not the point.”

“There is one, right? A point?”

“I’m just saying that I know what he looks like naked. Not because I’ve seen him naked. I just know.”

“Oh! Because of Angelus.”

“Duh!” Cordelia rolled her eyes thinking that Willow was probably envisioning her sneaking into the bathroom while Angel was in the shower. Sheesh! As if she’d ever even think of that.

Willow pointed out, “You may know what he looks like, but I don’t.”

“Don’t pout about it. You can picture it anyway, can’t you?”

Concentrating for all of three seconds, Willow said, “Check. Got it. Naked Angel. Picturing that right now. Oh, my! Apparently, I have a very good imagination.”

“Thought so,” came Cordelia’s wry response.

“Why am I imagining naked Angel?”

“So you can imagine being in my shoes. To understand what happened.”

Willow thought it would be faster and more efficient just to tell her, but imagining naked Angel wasn’t a terrible thing either. “Okay. Still naked here. Are you? Naked, I mean?”

“No. That’s not the point.”

“Oh.” Willow sounded a little disappointed.

“Neither one of us is really naked.” Cordelia figured she didn’t need to point out that she was halfway there at the time.

“Naked Angel. Not really naked. Got it. Not really, though.”

“He’s naked in your brain. You know what he looks like without that shirt hiding his hard chest and his sculpted abs.”

Willow wondered if she was ever going to be able to look Angel in the face again. Or Angelus for that matter. Two of them. Oh, my. Her circuits were getting a little fried imagining stuff she shouldn’t be imagining. “Naked brain. Got it.”

“Angel. Naked Angel.” Cordelia corrected. “He’s your friend. He’s standing right there in front of you while you’re wearing…a silk robe. And he’s naked in your brain when he starts kissing you. Then he says he’s in love with you. What would you do?”

“Kiss him back?”

“Thought so,” she commented smugly. Now Cordelia felt vindicated.

Willow opened her eyes, realizing that a lot more than nothing had happened between Cordelia and Angel last night. “Was that it, Cordy?”

“Except for the whipped cream.”

“The—,” Willow couldn’t even repeat it.

Cordelia barely noticed. “Do I get credit for saying no? No!”

“You said no to naked Angel and whipped cream?”

“Angel wasn’t naked,” Cordelia reminded. “You’re supposed to understand why I said no, not try to convince me I should’ve said yes.”

“You really said no?” Willow had to ask again because Cordelia had filled her head with so many images of naked Angel and whipped cream kisses that it seemed crazy to think that had been her response.

“Of course I said no,” Cordelia snapped at her. “I can’t stop Angel from feeling what he does. I’m in love with Angelus.”

Looking as confused as she felt, Willow asked, “Then why are you here?”

So much for her guided imagery technique. Willow didn’t get it. “Because Angelus doesn’t trust me. He acts possessive and obsessive and enjoys fighting with Angel. Now he thinks he has an excuse.”

“But he’s a vampire,” Willow pointed out. “Those things are normal.”

Cordelia played her trump card. “He spanked me. In front of Angel.”

Willow sat in still silence trying to assimilate the information into her overtired brain. It was just too much. Naked Angel and kissing and whipped cream with fighting and possessive vampire behavior. Glancing over at Cordelia, she could imagine the other girl turned over Angelus’ knee with her bare bottom in the air and his large hand on her smooth skin. Her smooth reddened skin.

Having and imagination can be scary, Willow concluded

Feeling fire flaming her cheeks at the thought, Willow jumped to her feet. She had to leave now before Cordelia said anything else because all this talk was just getting to her in frighteningly weird ways.

“Willow, go back to Angelus. Tell him I’m not coming to the mansion anytime soon. In fact, I’m not coming at all.” Cordelia watched as Willow gulped down her response obviously choosing not to protest. “While you’re playing minion, you can pick up my clothes.”

“Hey—,” Willow started to complain, but grumbled her agreement. It was obvious that Cordelia thought she had a good reason not to go back to the mansion. “Sure. Just ask Willow. She listens to everybody. Does everything people ask. Good ol’ Willow.”

Cordelia heard the redhead mumbling under her breath as she ushered her out the front door. “Thanks for doing this, Will. I’m going to Harmony’s this afternoon, so I might not be home when you come back. Just come alone, okay?”

Turning, Willow gave her a startled look. A thank you from Cordelia Chase? What a weird day. Spankings and naked Angel and whipped cream kisses. Hmm. I wonder if Oz likes whipped cream?

Part 30

 “Fuck that, Willow! Not one stitch of her clothing is leaving her closet. Not one dress, not one pair of shoes, not even one pair of her silky panties,” Angelus just growled at her for daring to suggest that she take Cordelia’s clothes away.

Having to let herself into the mansion as no one came to answer the doorbell, Willow found Angelus brooding in the dark, sitting behind the desk in the study. Until now, she hadn’t realized that vampires could be depressed, but it certainly looked that way to her. He was taking Cordelia’s departure very hard.

It wasn’t until she turned on the light that Willow saw his face. Letting out a gasp of shock, she realized that she’d never really seen a vampire with bruises before. These were already in that greenish stage of healing and she figured they would disappear by morning, but the fact that they were there in the first place indicated that Angel had not gone lightly on his brother. The fight between them was obviously physical and Willow wondered whether Angel was just as badly beaten.

Now Angelus prowled across the room looking like he wanted to wring someone’s neck with his bare hands. Willow’s fingers found their way to her throat as she started to protest on Cordelia’s behalf. Yep, she diagnosed his problem. Depressed and angry.

“But—.”

“No.” Angelus snapped at her. “Cordelia can run around in that damn leather corset before I’ll let her have them.”

“Did you say—,” Willow swallowed the words. Leather corset? “Won’t Cordelia just buy more clothes?”

Angelus glared at her for pointing out the error in his plan to deny Cordelia what she wanted, preferably forcing her to come get them herself. “How did she look? Okay? I hate the idea of staying in that place by herself.”

“Oh, Cordy looked beautiful. She’s got some of her old clothes, because she wasn’t wearing a leather corset when I saw her,” Willow told him and then realized he didn’t want to hear that either. “And she’s not alone.”

“Who’s with her?” Angelus reacted instantly with further interrogation questions. “Not Harris?”

Jealous much? “No. Her parents are home.”

“I thought they weren’t arriving until Monday.”

“That’s what Cordy thought too. Surprise! Anyway, she says she has to stay with them.” Then Willow shared something she had forgotten to ask Cordelia about. “It doesn’t look like they plan to stay long. They were packing stuff. Paintings were off of the walls like they were taking the expensive stuff with them.”

Angelus’ gaze narrowed as he asked Willow, his tone clearly suspicious or at least curious. “What do you know about Cordelia’s parents?”

“Not much,” she admitted. “The Rosenbergs and Chases don’t exactly mix in the same social circles. Mr. Chase is a bigshot business guy. Lots of foreign travel. I think corporate stuff that takes him out of town a lot. Maybe consulting. Not sure why they still live here in Sunnydale. Seems like L.A. would be better, but Cordelia’s family has been here longer than mine and that’s four generations.”

Thinking about it, Angelus made a decision that had everything to do with the fact that he was going to pursue every angle possible to assure that Cordelia came back to him. “Willow, I need you to do something else.”

“Who do you think I am,” Willow suddenly snapped at him, putting her hands on her hips and glaring, “your minion?”

The vampire pointed out, “You sound like Cordelia. That’s something she would say.”

Blushing, Willow admitted, “She did say it. Accused me of it, actually.”

“Wouldn’t make a very good one,” Angelus complained. “I called you at four this morning and now it’s almost five o’clock in the evening. What took you so long?”

“Umm. I fell asleep, woke up late, went to Cordy and then I-I was afraid to come over and tell you that she wasn’t coming back,” Willow admitted.

Although he scowled, Angelus told her, “Never fear, Will. I wouldn’t take it out on you. Especially when I’m asking for another favor. You are my friend, right? How’re the fish?”

Despite knowing he asked just to make a point, Willow answered him with a smile. “Swimmingly good, thank you very much.”

“So…will you help?”

Grumbling to herself again, Willow answered, “Yes. As long as I’m not sworn to secrecy or anything, because I really have a problem with that.”

“So no blood oaths or threatening to punish you if you tell someone what I’m after? Damn! I was looking forward to that,” he made an effort to joke about it.

Willow’s mind had stopped working at the word punishment. She fixated on the image in her head of Angelus spanking Cordelia and it just wouldn’t go away. “Does this favor have something to do with Angel?”

At the mention of his brother’s name, Angelus snarled, “No.”

“Um. Where is Angel? Sleeping?” Willow wasn’t really certain what time the vampires normally woke up. It seemed kinda late. She wasn’t certain that Angelus had been to bed at all.

“I wouldn’t know. When we couldn’t get into the blasted gates at the Chase house, he wandered off somewhere. Never came home.”

Willow’s eyes widened. “You mean Angel is out there right now?”

“He’s not dusted if that’s what you’re worried about,” Angelus scowled at her. The trespassing bastard. Why worry? “Nothing has happened to Angel because I’d know about it if it did. I’d be a pile of dust too. No, he’s holed up somewhere until nightfall.”

A sigh of relief fell from Willow’s lips until Angelus added with a frown, “Unless he’s stalking around town.”

Glancing at her watch just to confirm the time again, Willow asked, “In the daylight?”

“In the shadows, Willow,” he clarified. “Vampires just have to stay out of the direct light to avoid turning into a scorching ball of flame. Angel is experienced enough to stay safe.”

That wasn’t what Willow was worried about. “Angelus, tell me what this favor is all about. I’ll do it only if won’t take too long. I’m— uh, supposed to meet Xander about a thing we have to do.”

“Xander’s thing isn’t my problem.”

~*~

As Cordelia let herself out the front door of Harmony’s house, she heard her friend turn up the stereo in her bedroom so that it blasted through the upstairs window. Her blond friend never bothered to see her to the door.

Visiting Harmony had been completely relaxing. Once Cordy made it clear that she didn’t want to talk about Angelus, Angel or her parents, the afternoon turned into one of their old mindless chats about movies and the latest male hottie currently on-screen. This debate actually lasted for some time with Cordelia claiming triumph when Harm couldn’t name every movie her favorite had made within the last three years.

While Cordelia had been tempted to talk to Harmony about her issues, she decided that she was happy having chosen not to do so. Telling the blonde that she had a fight last night with Angelus would only prompt more questions about Angel and whether either one of them was now on the market for a new girlfriend. Harm would be the first in line to apply for the role.

Neither did she say anything about the possibly leaving the country with her parents. While the idea had some definite appeal, she wasn’t one hundred percent certain she would do it. She needed time and space away from both vampires, but Cordelia wasn’t certain that it required that much space.

Standing under the porch light, Cordelia opened her purse to search for her car keys. The sun had nearly finished its turn in the sky and she didn’t want to hang out any longer knowing her mate and his brother might be camped out at the front gate of her parents’ home if she gave them enough time to get there.

Before Cordy could find the key, she was forcibly grabbed from behind. A large hand clamped over her mouth just as a powerful arm curled around her waist. She was carried under the cover of the evening shadows around the side of the house and released almost as suddenly as she was taken.

“Angel!” Cordelia voiced her complaint as soon as the hand was removed from her mouth. Smoothing out the wrinkles in her silk blouse, she demanded to know, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Lurking.” Angel readily supplied the information knowing it would garner a rapid response— likely anger. Any reaction would feed his obsession. It was what he wanted, some show of feeling from Cordelia no matter what emotion came pouring forth and if it wasn’t love, so be it.

The sudden flash of anger that caused her heart to race was already diminishing leaving irritation behind. “Stalking is more like it, buster,” she corrected. “Geez! You scared the bejeezers outta me. I might have expected Angelus to do this—”

Angel’s curt growl cut her off. Talking about his brother was not something the vampire wanted to discuss. Their fight provided an outlet for their aggression and a release of tension, but resolved none of their issues. Angelus continued to refuse any acknowledgement of Angel’s rights to the Order of Aurelius and therefore associated rights to Cordelia.

If anything, the brawl only brought Angel to the point where he no longer cared what his brother thought; he was simply going to claim what was his.

Only one thing ran as a repetitive theme in Angel’s mind the remainder of the night and during his long vigil during the day. One idea that made utter sense to him now that Cordelia Chase stood within arms’ reach. One thought so simple that it sprouted from the depths of his soul as well as the primal thread of his demonic existence. It echoed in his head urging action.

Mine.

The vampire never considered the reasons why stalking and seizing Cordelia seemed so right; he’d just done it. Now she stood so close, her soft perfume and natural scents filling his nostrils as he took in a deep breath of air because it seemed vital to hold her essence inside him.

Noticing that Angel didn’t look very apologetic for the snatch and grab routine, Cordy felt a strange vibe pass between them. Something that made her nervous as Angel stared back at her with such intensity that his gaze alone made her feel crowded. A deep shudder passed down her spine and Cordelia found herself glancing elsewhere just to escape the direct contact of his eyes.

The sky became her target and Cordelia instantly noted that the golden glow along the clouds now faded quickly with the last moments of daylight on the horizon. Dusk fell softly deepening the shadows they were standing in. Then Cordelia realized, “The sun just set. How did you find me so fast?”

“I’ve been lurking for a while,” he smirked at her confused expression. So she really thought she was safe out in the sunshine. Figured he couldn’t track her or touch her when he wanted. Angel decided he’d have to prove her wrong on that last thought, too. Before long, he’d have her begging for his touch.

“You’ve been following me,” Cordelia let the idea sink into her head. “During the day. Out in the sun. Are you trying to turn into a big cloud of dust? That’s insane. Why?”

I needed you. Angel skipped the details on how he had followed her. “I needed to see you. Just to know that you were okay and safe.”

“I was better and safer before you grabbed me.” Sheesh! Obsessive much? Cordelia paused for a moment and then asked him, “How is Angelus? Any less bruised than you are?”

She was tempted to reach up and touch the dark area on his left cheekbone knowing that it had to have been much worse last night. Resisting that urge, she wrapped the fingers of both hands around the handle of her purse and held tight.

Angry that she brought up his brother again, Angel growled out his rage at her clear interest in her mate. “I don’t want to talk about him. I want to talk about us.”

Cordelia licked her lips and sighed. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. “Us?”

She saw the distance between them diminish with the ominous approach of Angel’s muscular body. Layered in black, his darkness seemed to surround her, swallowing her whole. There was something in his stance and his eyes that made her nervous. Glancing furtively over her shoulder, Cordelia saw that they were hidden from the road by thick hedges.

Angel trailed a finger along the curve of her face, tilting her chin and caressing it in the same silky movement. “There are so many things I want tonight. So many things I’m going to do to you.”

“W-What?” Cordelia’s voice cracked. Not just what Angel said to her, but the tone in which he said it. She felt the deep timber of his voice thunder through her settling in her belly and stirring emotions of lust— and fear.

Cordelia didn’t realize that she was moving backwards until Angel reached out with one large hand to grab her wrist. Pulling her to him, he let out a rumble of discontent at her subconscious effort to escape. “You heard me, sweetheart. Your choice of location, but I’m not going to let my feelings overrule my rights like I did last night.”

Realizing that Angel was all too serious, Cordelia reacted instinctively. She let out a loud curse and whacked the vampire over the head with her purse before turning to run. Except that her path carried her in the wrong direction sending her toward the sheltered side of the house. Only seconds passed before she found herself tossed to the ground and he was upon her.

“Right here is good for me,” Angel confirmed as he trapped her with his powerful frame, pinning her wrists to the ground on either side of her head.

Gazing down at her with eyes that sparked of mischief and desire, Angel didn’t seem like himself at all. This went beyond love, obsession and sibling rivalry. Cordelia was experiencing a frightening case of déjà vu. It was just like the cemetery. That time during Angelus’ first appearance in Sunnydale after Angel had lost his soul to perfect bliss with Buffy. The soulless vampire had knocked her to the ground and provided a detailed description of what he had planned for her. That night her life flashed before her eyes and she was certain Angelus was going to kill her.

Avoiding his gaze, Cordelia automatically turned her head to the side only to realize seconds later that it gave the vampire a perfect view of her throat. She whipped her head back to the center and stared Angel in the eyes as fear curled deep in her belly. From his response, just the barest curve of his lips, Cordelia knew that Angel read her response in her eyes.

“Let me up, Angel,” Cordelia demanded in spite of that fear. “You’re acting like a whacko. You’ve got no right to do this.”

The memory combined with his closeness and behavior rattled her to the extent that her heart pounded madly. Angel’s firm mouth twisted into that knowing smirk before smoothly rising to his feet and taking her with him. Except he wasn’t releasing her, only maneuvering her toward the brick wall of the house and Cordelia felt a scream gathering in her throat despite the fact that she wanted to talk him out of this crazy behavior.

“I have every right,” he countered confidently.

“Angel—,” she began onto to have his thumb press down on her lower lip testing its ripe curve and revealing the tender pink flesh inside opening her to his view while effectively stopping her from speaking. All Cordelia could manage was a shaky sigh as she watched Angel close the distance, his mouth slanting over hers.

Mine, he thought with such a rush of possessiveness and desire that there was no way any words of Cordelia’s would forestall this another day. There was nothing here to come between him and what he wanted. I found her. Tracked her. Cordy is mine, no matter that Angelus denies it. Since he refuses to play nice, I’ve made the decision for him. Cordelia belongs to me.

So many responses from the warm woman in his arms kept tickling his need even higher. Sweeping his tongue into her mouth, Angel tasted coffee with vanilla and cinnamon. Underneath, he found pure Cordelia intoxicating. Angel listened to her heart thudding, her moans of protest overlapping with those pleasurable moues as she fought against her own reaction to his soft, wet kisses. He delivered them so tenderly, so invitingly that Cordelia barely remembered that he was forcing her response.

Breaking the kiss, with her mouth still hovering close, Cordelia quivered at the loss. Realizing what his expert technique was doing to her, Cordelia protested. Snapping at him while trying to wrest herself from his grasp, “Stop that. I thought your brawl with Angelus last night would have settled things.”

Angel let her talk. He was busy shifting his hands over her arms, pulling her purse out of her clutched grasp and tossing it to the ground. Returning his hands to her, Angel pressed one flat palm against her spine holding her in place while the other traveled the course of her body from collar bone to hip and back up to settle just under the curve of her breast. He leaned in again, this time with his face against hers scenting her skin and hair and the heady perfume of her arousal.

His chest rumbled against hers and Cordelia felt her nipples react to the pressure of that wall of muscle vibrating with the sound of the vampire’s purr. Something told her she should be screaming in protest no matter the noise of Harmony’s stereo blasting from her open window above, but she couldn’t seem to fight her way past the distraction of his touch.

“Sweetheart, I don’t know what’s making me harder,” Angel murmured gruffly into her ear, “the fact that you’re already wet for me or that you’re afraid of what’s going to happen.”

That does it! Cordelia’s eyes narrowed accompanied by a flash of anger that caused her to lash out at him. Since pummeling his chest had no effect whatsoever, in her mindless rage she grabbed his head and bit him on the jaw leaving behind an angry red pattern.

Instead of reacting in anger, the hard bite only seemed to turn him on even more. He wound one hand into her loose hair, pulling back just enough to watch her fume. “You want to play rough, Cordy? I can do that too.”

“Get your hands off me you fucking bastard. This isn’t a game, Angel,” she declared. “You know I love Angelus.”

“Changes nothing.” Angel appeared to care less about any feelings of hers. He was far too focused on his own emotions, primarily his raging lust and obsession with her. “I love you. I want you. I own you. That’s all you need to know.”

Still struggling, helpless against his superior strength, Cordelia screamed at his face, “Well, I don’t want you. I’m nobody’s property, especially yours.”

He nibbled at her earlobe. Catching the fact that she’d skipped over it, Angel asked amusedly, “You love me though? Just a little?”

“Angel, you’re acting crazy. I do love you, but not like this. You’re my friend. Please don’t do this,” she pleaded. He was alternately rough and tender, driving her senses into a state of confusion so that her body didn’t know how to react.

“I’m so much more than your friend, Cordelia,” he kissed his way back down to her mouth ravishing it.

Cordelia’s hands had been clutched closed at her sides until she’d raised them to pound at his chest. Now, subconsciously, they unfurled to rub over the places she had hit. Then her nails curled into the loose material of his shirt, holding onto him. Despite her own denial, Angel had her whole body humming in response to the extent that it didn’t want to let him go.

She was breathless again by the time he lifted his head, her lips kiss-swollen and cheeks flushed. Angel chuckled at her wanton appearance. “I’d say you do want me, sweetheart.”

The tone in his voice dared her to deny it. Cordelia snapped at the chance as soon as she caught her breath. “You can make me want you, Angel. Kudos for the technique. You’d wring a response from a turnip. Take my kisses if you insist on acting like a raving lunatic, just don’t expect me to give you any.”

Angel let her words wash over him as he nuzzled her throat, pressing his mouth along the cord of her neck and following the stream of pulsing blood that called out to his senses. Cordelia subconsciously turned into his questing lips with a soft huff of air. Damn, that feels good. Realizing angrily that she was doing it again, she slapped at Angel’s head, pulling at his ear. “Stop that! What are you doing?”

“Thinking about tasting you,” Angel replied with brutal honesty.

She watched the amber hue shifting into his eyes, a sure sign that the vampire was doing more than simply thinking about the idea. Though there was still a part of her that burned with curiosity, Cordelia was determined not to let it show. In her mind, only one vampire had the right to taste her blood and that was Angelus.

Cordelia didn’t understand why Angel was so bent on acting on his feelings for her. All she knew was that he seemed to be bordering on losing control, on taking her no matter her opinion on the subject. The fact that he might actually do it wasn’t half as frightening as knowing that he could make her want him. He’d proved it yesterday and the knowledge had kept her up most of the night. Though she loved Angelus more than she ever would have imagined, there seemed to be something deep inside her that remained attracted to Angel.

The thought itself seemed like a betrayal, but Cordelia cursed herself and him for having acted on it. “I want to go home, Angel.”

“Back to the mansion?” Angel queried in surprise. He’d agree to that. Better to have Cordelia back under his roof than living with the virtual strangers who professed to be her family.

“No. My parent’s house,” Cordelia corrected.

“Forget it.” Instantly squashing that idea, Angel suggested, “Now, what say we pick things up where we left them last night?”

Hadn’t they left off at biting? Cordelia heart felt like it was somewhere lodged in her throat. She wanted one thing made perfectly clear to the vampire. “No biting me, dammit.”

Angel merely smirked at Cordelia’s adamant stipulation amused by her vehemence in light of the fact that every time his mouth neared her throat she tilted toward him. It was a subconscious move on her part, but a telling one. Her furious statement made him wonder what other responses he might get as he asked, “Shall I tell you all the nasty, wicked, wonderful things I’m going to do to you tonight?”

“No,” Cordelia was fighting him again until he latched on to both wrists and pushed her bodily against the house.

“Oh, I think so.” Angel moved his hands back down her body, releasing her wrists. Instantly, she pushed back at his shoulders again, but they were as immovable as the brick wall at her back. Undaunted, Cordelia brought up her knee. Lightning fast, he moved to avoid the blow and then trapped her legs with his body. With a harsh warning, Angel pinned her against the wall. “Try that again, Cordy and I’ll give you an ass-whipping to go with the one you got last night.”

Now Angel was actually doling out threats to go along with his already frightening behavior. There was something so not right going on in his vampire brain right now. This was so far beyond what Angel would normally say and do that, it was clear to her in this moment that something else was going on. Maybe feelings of love and possessiveness were in the mix, but Angel seemed to be driving on pure instinct.

As Cordelia met his heated stare, she realized that cooperation was her only way out of this. It scared her, the idea of giving in. Not only because of Angelus, but because Angel seemed to be feeding off of some dark force within him. His demon was at the fore and if it didn’t have an outlet for this aggression, Cordelia knew it would come back to bite her…literally. She wouldn’t put it past him, considering what he’d done to Buffy the other night, only this time forgetting to stop.

Despite that fear, she’d be damned before letting Angel threaten her and get away unscathed. Any perceived weakness on her part would give him a distinct advantage and Cordelia knew that the scent of fear was as much an aphrodisiac as her arousal. The only real way to fight that was to stop quivering in fear and give back as good as she got.

“Spankings aren’t the way to go to handle me or my ass,” Cordelia reminded him of her words last night.

“We’ll explore spankings and your sweet ass another time,” promised Angel with a leer that only made him look more appealing. Moving his hands to the plump curves of her breasts, he watched them fill his hands as he curled his fingers around them. “Let’s start here, shall we?”

“Angel—”

“Shh!”

“Don’t shush me,” Cordelia snapped at him.

He merely smirked back at her while continuing to fondle her breasts.

Realizing that Angel had no intention of taking her back to her parents house or going anywhere without following through with whatever mad plan was going through his head, she glared furiously. “Get on with it and leave me the hell alone, Angel. If you’re going to do this, don’t fuck around. I don’t want your teasing touches.”

“We’ve already established that you like them,” Angel reminded her. He was tempted to rip her blouse away and bite into those lush globes. His mouth watered at the image in his head even as he fondled her breasts through the soft barrier of her blouse. “Let’s find out what else you like. Unless you have the nerve to tell me.”

Cordelia couldn’t prevent the little moan from escaping her throat at the challenge in his voice. All of the things he was suggesting just made her weak in the knees. She watched him through heavy-lidded eyes as his fingers deftly unbuttoned her silk blouse exposing the rounded beauty of her lace covered breasts. They ached, greedy for his touch. Wanting his mouth there even though it was wrong.

Angry at herself for that response, Cordelia clutched his thick wrists as if to pull him away. “If I have to put up with that nasty, wicked tongue of yours just be prepared for the consequences.

A deep chuckle sounded from Angel as her words sparked an idea in his head. “Bet you’ll taste divine on my tongue.”

Staring at him, Cordelia found there was a momentary disconnect between her brain and her mouth as he went on to describe exactly what he’d do, asking Cordelia if she wanted it. The only thought in her head was that he sounded so much like Angelus at his most playful.

Those words coming from Angel’s mouth shocked her senseless. An unwanted shiver of excitement wracked her body as her loins flushed with heat.
“Geez, you weren’t kidding about the nasty talk.”

“Excited, sweetheart?” He could sense it, but wanted to hear it from her own mouth.

Denying him that, Cordelia admitted to the one emotion she hoped would prevent this from going any further. “Scared.”

“Now I know you’re lying.”

“I don’t want to cheat on Angelus. Not with you. Not with anybody. I may be pissed at him right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love him. Angel, you’re not acting like yourself,” Cordelia told him honestly. “You’ve bitten Buffy, gotten a taste of blood in your mouth and now it’s like you can’t get enough. You’ve picked me as your next victim.”

Angel refuted that accusation with such controlled fury that Cordelia wondered how he managed to do it. The full extent of his emotions showed clearly in his eyes and the tightness of his jaw. Taking his hands off her as if afraid that he would break her in two for daring to suggest what she did, Angel pressed them into the brick wall behind her.

“It’s not cheating,” Angel added to his defense, his jaw clenched. How many times had he run through the scenario in his own head? “I rule the Order and those who belong to the Order also belong to me.”

“Me, me, me,” she mocked him despite her fears. “Is that all you can think of? You may not care about what Angelus thinks, but he’d never bow down to you. He’s your brother not your minion.”

“Angelus is many things, Cordelia, but he’s not really my brother.” Angel pointed out the use of that term had always been an indulgence for her. “His place in the Order is not my whim, but a reality that he does not want to face.”

“Your double, your twin, your brother,” Cordelia ranted. “Call him whatever you want because it doesn’t matter anymore now that you’re ruining everything.”

He was nuzzling at her neck again as if the scent of her was irresistible. “Nothing will be ruined, Cordy. Just accept it and I swear that you’ll be happy again. Angelus and I will give you anything. Just accept that you belong to me.”

“Never, Angel.” Sheesh! He’s like a broken record. “Claim anybody you want, just not me.”

“Especially you,” he countered quickly. Angel had her back in his arms again, holding her up against his aroused body and stirring her automatic response despite her fury at him. Angel stressed, “Only you. I’d never hurt you Cordelia, but I will have you.”

She stomped on his sore foot the same one she’d jabbed with the four-inch spiked heel. Angel let out a surprised yelp of pain followed by another as she scraped his neck with her nails. “I warned you about playing rough,” he pushed her back up against the wall and kissed her until her breath ran out and twinkling lights flashed behind her eyelids.

While Cordelia sucked in a deep breath of air, Angel told her, “Don’t play games you can’t handle. I know what you’re doing, sweetheart. Trying to make me mad. Trying to prove your point.”

Was that what she was doing? “Lunatic, I was trying to escape.”

“That isn’t going to happen.” Irritated by her refusal to acquiesce, Angel decided he’d been talking about it way too much.

Both hands moved up to her breasts, brushing against their silk-covered curves as he listened to the soft gasp caught in her throat. Without bothering to remove her bra, Angel curled the material beneath her breasts one cup at a time to lavish them with attention. Until Cordelia clapped her hands over her breasts shielding them from his hungry gaze.

His partially covered hands removed the obstacle to his interests with a simple flick of the wrists. Angel smirked as if to say that there was nothing she could do to deny him what he wanted. Returning his hands to their resting place, worshipping her feminine beauty for a few moments with his hot gaze, he descended upon them with an almost animalistic need to taste what he was touching. Squeezing softly, Angel lathed and caressed them until they seemed to swell under his attention, until her nipples pebbled into mouth-watering targets begging for his mouth, tongue and teeth.

Unbidden, a moan left Cordelia’s throat. Angelus always said I was a noisy lover. Why couldn’t I be the quiet type for once in my life? Determined not to make any more noise, she clamped down on her lips holding them shut. It lasted ten seconds.

“Dammit, Angel, get off me.”

Ignoring her, the vampire continued to nibble and nip at her soft skin with his mouth as his hands wandered down her frame stimulating everything along their path. He was forcing a reaction that Cordelia did not want. She pulled at his hair, but any pain it caused only made him rumble against her flesh.

Damn, he knows how to use that tongue. “Do whatever you want with that tongue, Angel, but you’re not getting any response from me.”

She wasn’t certain, but Cordy thought she heard a chuckle.

At first, Cordelia thought if she closed her eyes, she could think of Angelus and pretend that this was not happening with her mate’s brother. But she could tell, even with her eyes closed that he was different, that he was Angel. She could sense the difference in the way he touched her. There was no pretending and so Cordelia didn’t bother to keep her eyes closed. She opened them up and stared down at the vampire who was making her senses go wild knowing that soon he was going to do things to her that she could only have imagined when she first saw him walking into the Bronze.

Don’t think about it. Cordelia tried to picture herself doing something she hated in order to avoid focusing on her body’s arousal. Homework. That ranks up there. Dirty dishes. Laundry.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Cordelia knew that she should be screaming like a banshee and fighting him tooth and nail to get away no matter the fact that it was a futile effort. Her distraction technique kept her moderately disassociated with what was going on until Angel rimmed her navel with his cool tongue while holding down the waistband of her skirt. A jolt of pleasure shot down to her groin causing Cordelia to instinctively thrust her hips forward. Her hands automatically latched onto his hair again.

Biting back the, Holy fuck that was rattling around in her brain, Cordelia knew she was not going to be able to stop herself from giving in to the pleasure that he was so adept at creating. The vampire was teasing her and drawing this out just to make his own point, taking from it as much pleasure as he was giving.

Angry that she was enjoying his caresses, Cordelia gave him a dark stare, “Why don’t you just fuck me and get it over with?”

Angel lowered himself to his knees, shifting his hands along both firm thighs. He leered knowing how aroused she was getting. “Anxious? You’ll get fucked when I’m ready.”

Cordelia wanted to slap his face silly. She released his hair from her clutched, but kept her hands close, curling along his scalp and neck. Not so much holding him as instinctively preparing in case he tried to bite her again. He’d promised not to hurt her, but she felt certain that did not include making his mark. That didn’t necessarily mean it would be on her neck.

Angel pressed his cheek against the soft curve of her belly. Palming her thighs with both hands, his thumbs pressing down into the muscle and then moving slow circles. A husky tone sounded while asking curiously, “What color are your panties?”

“Blue,” she told him while forcing her thoughts back to laundry detail. A secret smile lifted the corners of her lips accompanied by a small grunt of satisfaction. Angel had no idea what was going on in her head. Couldn’t claim her thoughts, could he?

“Hmm. Silk?” Angel asked at the same time as he noted the smirk appear on Cordy’s face. “What’s on your mind, sweetheart? Thinking about me reaching up and ripping those panties away?”

Glancing down, Cordelia commented, “No. Actually, I was trying to decide if I could get the grass stains out of this skirt. What do you think— dry cleaning?”

“I’m not interested in the skirt,” Angel refused to be distracted by her attempt to throw him off his game. “I asked about your panties.”

Cordelia growled at him in frustration. If she didn’t tell him, Angel would certainly follow through with his idea. Defiantly, she described her panties hoping he would drop the subject, but knowing that this was just foreplay to the vampire. “Dammit, Angel, it’s a thong, a baby blue silk thong. Satisfied?”

“Far from it.” Glancing up to meet her intent gaze, he moved his hands around to the back of her thighs and slid them up until he was palming both bare cheeks sending a shudder through her body. Cordelia’s skin flushed from her cheekbones down to her chest at the touch of his large hands cupping her ass knowing he felt her response. Angel suggestively raised his eyebrows. “Maybe we should reconsider that spanking.”

Laughter welled at his naughty suggestion and Cordelia practically strangled herself in trying to hold it back. It was clear that he meant something that would result in more pleasure than pain, but the wicked expression and the mischief in his eyes was so rare from Angel that she couldn’t help but respond to it.

“That’s not funny,” Cordy protested despite her other contrary emotions telling her that laughter was so out of place. She couldn’t even claim hysteria to defend herself. So much for not showing any emotion during Angel’s exploration. Gasping, panting, sighing and laughing were not the reactions she wanted to express to him for doing this against her will.

Angel yanked up her skirt to ring her waist and buried his face in the warm crevasse at the apex of her thighs. “I can taste you already. Just the scent of you on the back of my tongue.”

Opening his mouth, he bit down with his rounded teeth on her silk-covered mound eliciting a moan from Cordelia who watched his every move with growing hunger flashing from her eyes. He was teasing her still, letting his thick fingers slide over the damp silk at her crotch.

Her hazel eyes sparkled with passion and anger. “Don’t make me hate you, Angel.”

Angel lifted his gaze back to her, his eyes just as dark and lustful as her own. She could fall into that deep, dark gaze and never get out again. Cordelia clutched at his shoulders as he played with her, moving those fingers beneath the elastic edge and dipping into the hot moisture clinging to her tender flesh. Watching her tremble at his touch, he elated in the equal parts of arousal and rage flooding her features.

Dark determination shadowed his gaze. “You don’t have to love me to be mine.”

Sucking his fingers into his mouth, Angel gloried in her taste, deciding that he wasn’t going to wait a minute more before taking what he wanted from her. Ripping the thong from her body in one rapid motion, he heard Cordelia’s gasp as the elastic snapped against her skin a little too sharply. Angel growled in anticipation, tossing the panties to the ground and then lifting one of her legs over his shoulder.

Cordelia watched for as long as she could keep her eyes open. The sight of his dark head buried between her thighs as his mouth and tongue moved over her was too erotic to be missed despite her fury. Except that she couldn’t seem to focus on the necessary commands to tell her body what she wanted it to do. Her head lolled back against the brick again and Cordelia closed her eyes, focusing only on her pleasure and letting the sounds of Harmony’s stereo wash around her.

His cool lips brushed against her labia, kissing her petaled junction and gently pulling them apart to stroke along her inner lips. Teasing her flesh, Angel expertly tongued her sensitive folds, moving up and down her entrance before dipping his tongue in rhythmic fashion into her heated core. Then his fingers replaced his tongue as two of them entered her with long sure strokes allowing his mouth to move back to the spot she was now begging him to taste.

Angel’s tongue continued to tease her for a few moments denying her the direct contact. Instead, he lapped around her tight bundle of nerves pushing against the outside of its little hood moving in an upside down U. Up and over and down in a pattern that drove her wild repeated several times with the continued stroke of his fingers.

Cordelia’s hips lurched upward as his fingers circled slowly inside her core finding her g-spot, lightly pressing down until she screamed out his name. Only then did he flatten his tongue against her clitoris, rolling it in circles with the same pace as his fingers circled against that slightly raised spot inside. Flexing her leg to pull him closer, Cordelia came apart at the seams, her juices flowing onto his lapping tongue.

Angel didn’t stop there, voracious and unstoppable in his need to take in every drop of her essence. Writhing against his mouth, Cordelia continued to whimper his name in pleasure as he eked out yet another mini orgasm building onto the last. Her hands continued to clutch him closer as her body focused entirely upon itself.

Slowly, her senses returned along with a strong feeling of betrayal. Even if it wasn’t her choice, how could she respond that way? Then Cordelia felt the bones of his face shifting against her skin. Angel’s fingers kept up a slow steady rhythm even though his tongue left her clit. His mouth trailed kisses across the silken flesh of her inner thigh. He lapped at her femoral pulse, scented the blood beneath the surface as his fangs traced atop her skin.

Sensing what the vampire was planning, Cordelia grabbed his ears and tugged hard. “No biting, dammit.”

He actually growled in protest, his dark ochre eyes staring up at her. “For now.”
A reprieve, Cordelia realized that he did not intend to allow it to remain a long one. Settling her leg back on the ground, Angel smoothly rose to his feet and morphed back into his human features. Lifting one finger to her lips, Angel directed, “Taste yourself.”

Glaring at him angrily, Cordelia took his wrist in both hands and sucked his index finger into her mouth tasting the tangy substance that was her own unique flavor. She let her teeth rasp along his thick finger, wiggling her tongue around his digit and sucked it deep and hard watching the dark fire in his eyes.

Seeing him relax for an instant, she chomped down hard. “Owww!”

While Angel jerked his finger back completely surprised by her action, Cordelia took the opportunity to dash toward the front porch. It was the first time that he hadn’t been holding her in some way or blocking her in. If she could get inside the house, he couldn’t follow her. The vampire’s surprise gave her a few seconds head start, but it wasn’t enough.

He caught her by the wrist hauling her up against him, fury darkening his features, but to Cordelia’s surprise his they remained human. The amber lights faded from his eyes leaving them mysteriously intent. “A-Angel?”

Threading his fingers through her hair, smoothing the riot of long waves, Angel held back the urge to toss her to the ground. “Don’t run, sweetheart.”

Cordelia tried to pull away from his touch, but Angel caught her jaw, lifting her face up for a heated kiss. Then he stopped, easing away from her lips.

“Don’t call me that…Sweetheart, I don’t want to hear it anymore,” Cordelia told him as she pushed at his chest.

To her surprise, Angel released her leaving her standing in front of him as he spoke the other words she didn’t want to hear. “I love you.”

“Hah! You almost raped me.” Cordelia jabbed a finger at his chest. “That’s not love.”
The word angered him, but Angel couldn’t deny that was exactly where he’d been headed despite the fact that Cordelia responded to his touch. It was for just that reason he stopped. He’d forced her to react, made her come despite professing not to want him.

He could tell her that his vampire senses revealed more of her true feelings than she would ever admit too. There was no doubt in his mind that Cordelia wanted him and Angel felt certain that judgment was not clouded. He’d known that fact even before Angelus came into his own existence. Now, despite the fact that Cordelia was his brother’s mate, she continued to want him.

“Hate me now, Sweetheart?” Angel asked ignoring the fact that she didn’t want him to call her that anymore.

Cordelia stared at him. Breathing hard, she spouted the word, “YES!”

“Good.”

“Good? What’s so good about it, Angel?” Confusion set in as Cordelia wavered on her feet.

“Because your hatred is far better than nothing.”

Cordelia felt tears gathering and stinging at her eyes. “It wasn’t nothing, you stupid vampire. My friendship isn’t nothing. My feelings aren’t nothing.”

“It’s not enough, Cordelia,” he told her. “I want more. Love me or hate me, but I will claim you. Take tonight. Take tomorrow night if you must. Settle whatever it takes with your parents, but come home.”

“How generous of you to give me time to think about how you plan to BITE ME!”

She was shouting at him, but Angel held on to his temper. Cordelia hadn’t really ever seen his temper before and he was certain that she didn’t want to. With a clarity of purpose, Angel coolly voiced his agreement. “You’re right. We should just do it now,” he told her while vamping out.

With a surprisingly silent move, Xander appeared out of the darkness swinging a baseball bat at Angel’s head. “I don’t think so, Dead Boy.” It connected with a hard thunk and despite the teen using his full strength only managed to stagger the vampire.

Willow yelped as Angel vamped out in a furious response. She urged Xander to try it again before the vampire could recover his full senses. “Hit him harder, Xander.”

The bat swung hard connecting again with Angel’s skull toppling him to the ground. A cry of outrage sounded as Cordelia turned her fury on her two friends. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Rescuing you?” Willow didn’t sound so certain, but she was too busy staring at the brunette’s tantalizing exposed curves to provide a more coherent answer.

Xander’s attention remained fully focused on the now semi-conscious vampire. “I’m gonna take care this bastard once and for all.”

Lowering the baseball bat, he tossed it aside pulling a stake from his back pocket. Seeing his determination, Cordelia threw herself across Angel’s supine body and turned her angry gaze back on her ex-boyfriend. “Get away from him!”

“Cor, he was attacking you. Forcing you to…to—,” Xander couldn’t even say it. Looking at the state of her clothing, it was all too clear.

“Just put down the stake,” Cordelia ordered as she continued to protect Angel by covering his body with her own. “I don’t want him dead.”

“Already dead, Cordy,” Xander reminded. “Vampire, remember? Except you should know that considering you seem to be into necrophilia.”

“Eww! Gross much?”

“I speak the truth,” Xander shrugged trying not to focus on the fact that her lush breasts were propped over Angel’s face and pert bottom peeking out from beneath her scrunched up skirt. “Stop protecting him Cordelia. You saw Buffy’s throat last night. He’s a killer again, soul or no soul. If not for being the Slayer, Buffy would have died from that bite.”

“Angel hasn’t bitten me,” Cordelia snapped at him. At this point, she wasn’t about to admit that he planned to.

Xander moved to pull her off of the vampire. Having overheard her arguing with the vampire, he knew the intent had been there. “He just threatened to do it. I’m not gonna give him another chance. I’m staking the bastard.”

“No!” Cordelia gripped hard onto Angel’s chest denying Xander the opportunity to get close enough to stake him. Despite the fact that she had just proclaimed her hatred to Angel, she found herself saying, “H-He loves me, Xander. I don’t want him hurt. Staking him will kill Angelus too.”

Thinking back to a quip he’d made the first day the two vampires strolled into the library together, Xander’s mouth curled into a dark smile. “Two vamps, one stake. I like that. Now get off him.”

“Move, Cordelia,” Angel’s voice sounded below her with that deep predatory tone she knew to be dangerous. He was fully conscious again and obviously pissed at being attacked. His hands were moving up the outline of her body preparing to put her aside in order to protect them both from the boy’s ire.

“Don’t,” she begged him. “Please. It’s just Xander and Willow.”

“The Slayer’s minions,” Angel commented snidely as he lifted Cordelia along with him into a standing position.

Willow grumbled. “Am not! Why does everyone think I’m minion material?”

No one bothered to answer. Xander was too intent upon following through with his plan despite the fact that the master vampire was now fully recovered. He held out his free hand toward Cordelia encouraging her leave Angel’s side. “Cor, why don’t you come over here?”

“Don’t try it, Harris,” warned Angel as he pulled Cordelia behind him. “If there is one thing that will piss off a vampire more than trying to stake him, it is touching what belongs to him. Lay one finger on Cordy and I’ll kill you.”

Xander kept his stake at the ready, but dropped his other hand realizing Angel was in no way kidding about killing him. “You’ve lost it, Dead Boy. I don’t pretend to know what’s going on in your warped brain, but it’s not something Cordelia should be messed up in. Certainly not with you.”

“Mind your own fucking business, boy,” Angel glared menacingly. “You’re walking a fine line between punishment and torture right now. Don’t push it.”

“P-Punishment?” It was Willow who asked the question. Agape, she glanced from the vampire over to Cordelia who hadn’t bothered to stay behind the vampire, though she did take the opportunity to fix her bra and straighten her skirt.

“Don’t think I won’t include you, Willow,” his dark promise made her shiver in her shoes. “Why do I get the idea that you had something to do with planning this interruption? Xander couldn’t rub two brain cells together if he had them.”

Eep! Willow let out a tiny sound as her mind wandered off to a place where it wasn’t quite so scary. Unfortunately, the vampire expected an answer. As he growled out her name, Willow responded with a lurch. “I-I knew Cordelia was going to be here.”

“So you decided to hop over to Harmony’s for a visit?” Cordelia snorted. “Pfft! How did you know Angel was going to be here when I didn’t?”

Angel queried curiously, “Was it magick or intuition that brought you here?”

“Angelus told me you never came home last night,” Willow revealed. “I-I got the impression from Cordelia that things happened between you to set off the fight.”

“They did,” he confirmed with a smirk. Then countered his admission with a deep sigh, “Almost. The only thing you need to know is that Cordelia is mine. I have no plans to kill her, so you can take your nosy busy-body asses back to Angelus and tell him I don’t appreciate having his little friends follow me.”

“Oh, it wasn’t Angelus,” Willow quickly explained, not wanting the other vampire to get into any trouble. Before thinking about the further consequences, she revealed, “It was Giles.”

“The Watcher,” Angel stared off into the distance as if he was picturing in his head all of the things he would do to Rupert Giles for causing interference with his plans for the night.

“W-We were supposed to keep an eye on you,” Willow further detailed. “Only we did not expect you to roam around town during the day. You got a head start on us.”
Angel laughed at her. “Don’t let me catch you at it again, witch. I’ll let you go this time.”

“What about Xander?”

There was a pause as if the vampire was weighing his options. Cordelia whacked him on the arm. “He’s leaving with Willow and so am I.”

“Escape while you can, sweetheart. We can play this game a little longer,” Angel told her with a soft expression filled with promise, lust and determination.

“It’s not a game, Angel,” Cordelia answered back letting herself be drawn closer to his body as he curled a hand around her waist. Glancing over her shoulder at Willow, Cordelia instructed her to pick up her purse and take out her keys. “Go wait by my car. I’ll be there in a minute.”

She needed to get Willow and Xander away from Angel before the vampire decided changed his mind about letting them go. Despite the fact that he could make her want him and apparently had enough power over her to make her forget he was threatening her while doing it, Cordelia realized they were all still at risk.

“A-Are you sure you want us to leave?”

Cordelia gave her a hard stare. “Yes, Willow. Geez! Buzz off for a second, will ya?”
Willow wasn’t certain that it was a smart idea, but she grabbed Xander’s shirtsleeve and forced him to follow her. “C’mon, Xander.”

As soon as they were gone, Angel asked her, “What makes you think I won’t just carry you off?”

“Because I asked you not too?” Cordelia wasn’t clear on the theory herself. “Angel, this can’t happen. Not now. It’s not a game and I’m not the door prize. Don’t you see that?”

Touching her tenderly now, Angel reigned in any lasting urge to rip their clothes off, wrap her legs around his waist and take her up against the wall. Brushing the back of his fingers against her cheek, he turned them over palming her face and slanting his mouth over hers for a slow, passionate kiss. A moan left Cordelia’s throat at the feelings it stirred within her.

In the back of her mind, she admitted those feelings were nothing akin to hatred.
As her arms wrapped around his neck to pull him close and that soft moan turned into a needy cry, Angel pulled her away from him. Stepping back, he left her devoid of his touch and the welcome hardness of his body. Left her wanting and frightened of her reaction more so than she had been to the threat of his fangs.

“This is more of a game than you know, Cordelia. I’m playing to win,” Angel told her somewhat cryptically. “Maybe this wasn’t the time for us, sweetheart, but soon it will be. I promise you. Next time, there won’t be interruptions.”

As she watched the vampire disappear into the shadows, Cordelia still felt the soft pressure of his lips upon hers, his tender kisses more lasting than any other. Lifting her hand there, she marveled at the reaction he could eke out of her while still terrifying her to the core. Thank God that Angel had been willing to leave it at that.

With shaking fingers, Cordelia buttoned her blouse as she walked toward the front of the house where her Corvette was parked on Harmony’s front driveway. Climbing into the driver’s seat, she noted that Xander and Willow were already in place. As Willow handed her the keys, Cordelia turned on the ignition and sped away from the curb.

“What were you playing at back there, Cordy?” Xander demanded an explanation.

“It wasn’t a game, dorkhead,” she glanced daggers at him via the rearview mirror. She was getting really tired of that word. “Look, I appreciate the rescue. Really. No kidding. But if you ever come at either Angel or Angelus with a stake again, you’ll find it lodged up your ass. Got it?”

Xander gulped hard at that visual. She wasn’t kidding. “Got it.”

“Cordy, we were worried about you,” Willow explained.

Gripping the steering wheel a little tighter, Cordelia asked, “Have you been following me? Do I have Stalk Me. written on my forehead?”

“Umm. No. I told Angel the truth. We were actually supposed to trail him,” she answered sheepishly. “Considering what you told me today, I guessed he would be following you.”

“You’ve been spying on Angel?” Cordelia glanced at Willow who sat in the passenger seat as if she might want to fling herself from the car if any more questions were asked of her. “At Giles’ insistence?”

“Yep.” Xander was quick to admit it. “Actually, we just started today. This was our first stake-out except that Dead Boy got an early start. We planned to follow him from the mansion, but he’d been out all day— stalking you.”

Willow finally noticed the direction Cordelia was driving. “We’re not going to Giles?”

Glancing at the redhead, it seemed that Willow was certain Cordelia would head right on over to the Watcher’s house. “I have enough problems without letting Giles add to them. He’ll be all about what I had to do with Buffy and Angel breaking up. Next thing you know, it’ll be my fault that he bit her.”

“Cordy, you did have something to do with the breakup,” Xander pointed out. “Fang Boy thinks he’s in love with you, remember? For all we know, it’s vampire tradition to drain your current girlfriend before stealing your brother’s.”

Slamming on the brakes, Cordelia left dark tire treads along the road. “Get out! Both of you. Get out and walk back to whatever rock you crawled out from under.”

While Willow unbuckled her seatbelt, she asked Cordy, “You gonna tell Angelus what happened tonight?”

Cordelia had already made that decision. Despite Angel’s behavior, it had nothing to do with her mate’s own abominable response to what happened last night. Angelus didn’t trust her. She wasn’t going back to the mansion any time soon and now she’d make sure that neither one of them could follow her.

Xander’s last comments were the final straw. “I’m saying nothing to Angelus. You see, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to leave Sunnydale for a while. My parents are going out of the country soon and I’m leaving with them.”

“Is that a good idea?” Willow asked while biting down on her tongue to stop herself from saying too much. Managing to curtail spouting information that wasn’t any of her business to tell, she did have to ask, “What about graduation? What about Angelus? That’ll leave him alone in the mansion with Angel and I don’t think they’re gonna take it very well if you go away.”

“Tough.”

Hedging, Willow was torn between running to tell Giles about Angel’s aggressive moves on Cordelia and going to warn Angelus about his mate’s plans. “Leaving isn’t going to make it any better, Cordy. There is something going on and if it gets any worse, the vamps are gonna take the brunt of it out on each other.”

It was nearly impossible to harden her heart against them. They brought this on, not her. If Angelus had listened to her, they could have talked to Angel together. As a couple. As a family. Noooo. He had to run off and use his brother as a punching bag.

“I don’t want to start a war between Angel and Angelus,” admitted Cordelia, “but I’m not putting myself in the middle of their squabbles.”

In Willow’s opinion, this had already gone beyond the squabbling stage. Cordelia was already firmly ensconced in the middle of it. Like Helen of Troy, Cordy was caught between two men who loved her. Two vampires, anyway. Except that Cor was not about to choose sides, she was escaping to leave the battle behind her.

“You couldn’t be more in the middle than you already are,” Xander grumbled on his way out of the car following behind Willow.

“That war you mentioned,” Willow told Cordelia with her hand on the car door. “It’s already started. When you change your mind about running away, call me.”

Cordelia barely waited for Willow to slam the car door. She pressed her foot down on the gas pedal and sped toward home. Her parents’ house. It seemed strange to call it that again. But then, she wouldn’t have to call it that much longer.

Watch out Europe, you’re about to get a taste of Queen C.

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