The First Connection

Author: Lysa

Rating: NC-17 for sexual situations.

Category: smut, humor, angst, BtVS1-3

Content: C/A & C/Aus in BTVS & other conventional/unconventional pairings.

Summary: The Oracles to the PTB reveal a timeline altered through magick by a certain Green-Eyed Monster. The Cordelia/Angel dynamic takes a premature twist in the BTVS universe. The consequences of this magick are far-reaching, not only changing the path of our heroes’ lives, but potentially affecting future apocalypses. Watch as the world falls into chaos for the Chosen One, Warrior and Seer-to-Be.

Spoilers: BTVS Seasons 1 - 3

Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.

Distribution: Anywhere but let me know

Notes: Communications from the Oracles are in italics. For the storyline, I have taken liberties with various scripts giving them a twist for my own naughty purposes. This drive off the beaten path can be very subtle (see if you can spot the differences) or shockingly obvious. A few characters have been temporarily lost by this author on the way to Sunnydale, namely Oz, Faith, Anya and Kendra.

Feedback: Want it. Love it. Need it.

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Part 1

Lower being, you have come before the Oracles with questions in your heart. Such selfish pursuits are normally unworthy of our attention, but the actions of our champion have granted you passage this day. Know that the answers you seek are already within you. Though it is within our power to fold time, to turn back the clock, such action is not always for the greater good. Behold the moments of truth leading to this moment.
 

“Hello, salty goodness!” Cordelia Chase forgot all about Buffy Summers and Owen Thurman the instant she spotted the university hottie making his way into the Bronze. The Cordettes hovering behind her were equally aware of her discovery. “Pick up the phone, call 911. That boy is gonna need some serious oxygen after I’m through with him.”

Vampire hearing. Even in the noisy confines of the Bronze, it was impossible for Angel to miss the sensuous promise in the voice. Instinctively, he knew the words were meant for him. Through the mixture of sounds and smells infusing the crowded room, he heard her increasing heart rate and caught a flash of feminine arousal. Sensing the approach of the human huntress behind him, Angel’s groin tightened in automatic response even as his eyes continued to sweep the room in search of his quarry. And there it was—in the form of a petite blonde.

Instantly putting out of his mind the distraction behind him, Angel made a beeline for Buffy Summers, the vampire slayer whose innocent face, beauty and innate sensuality had already called him from the shadow of his undead existence.

“Why is this happening to me?” Cordelia saw her target reach his destination and could not believe it. For the second time in one day Buffy Summers had the attention of a man she wanted for herself. Well, obviously there was something defective about them if they chose that weirdo magnet over Queen C.

One of the Cordettes made a catty comment watching their spurned leader return sans man attached to her side. Cordelia stared her down with a single scorching glance and Aura giggled nervously in response.
 

Human nature evokes a base attraction designed to propagate the species. The female is drawn to the male, yet sees not his true form. A demon with the face of an angel, a creature of lust and darkness bound by a soul, now following the call to join forces with its natural enemy.
 

Buffy glanced up at Angel through the veil of her lashes, trying to contain the secret thrill sending shivers through her taut body. He was here in her room, having slept next to her bed the night before. Maybe being attacked by those three vamps, getting caught by her mom and the oh-so-embarrassing discussion about her diary was worth this moment.

“I did a lot of thinking today,” Angel revealed making Buffy’s heart flutter at the wicked thoughts flashing through her head. Then he said, “I really can't be around you. Because when I am—”

Rushing to forestall that line of thinking, “Hey, no big. Water over the bridge, under the bridge—”

He was close. So close. Buffy leaned in, Angel’s dark head tilting toward her as he kept on despite her interruption, “—when I am, all I can ever think about is how badly I want to kiss you.”

Muttering turned into surprise, “—over the dam. Kiss me?”

As his hand caressed her face, Angel knew this was trouble. Trying to be sensible, “I am older than you, and this can't ever— I better go.”

But he didn’t seem to be moving. “H—how much older?”

Trick question. He wasn’t planning on answering that one. “I should—”

“—go,” Buffy finished with a sigh, spreading her warm breath across his skin. As she met Angel’s intense gaze, Buffy’s plush lips parted. “You said—”

The kiss was intense. It felt cool and hot at the same time. Like nothing Buffy nor even Angel had experienced before, both tender and overpowering, innocence and passion melding together. Caught up in the sensations of Buffy’s tiny frame pressed up against his hard body, the scent of her arousal and the sensation of the red corpuscles pumping through her arteries and veins called upon the part of Angel he constantly fought to control— his demon nature. Buffy sensed the shift even through the haze of her passion.

Angel tried to hold back, to stop the change, but the feelings evoked by having Buffy in his arms were too much. This couldn’t happen. Not here. Not now. Not with her.

“What? What is it? What's wrong?” Suddenly, Buffy held a vampire in her arms and an involuntary blood-curdling scream erupted from her throat.
 

Truth: the essence of all that is and ever will be. Denial: an action of futility when faced with truth in its purest form. Slayer. Vampire. Opposites, yes. Enemies from the first dawn of their existence. Until love strikes its arrow unseen into the heart of the undead and blooms in the presence of innocence. A human emotion that will not be denied even in the face of death itself.
 

Darla’s fangs gleamed beneath the curl of her vampiric smile. The Slayer’s life was hers for the taking. After all, Angel would not stop her, not her beautiful boy. She had made him. He was hers for eternity despite the pollution that was his soul.

Enjoying the impromptu violence of her encounter with the Slayer, the vampire urged her opponent to keep up the fight. “C’mon, Buffy. Take it like a man.”

Suddenly, a wooden stake plunged from the darkness piercing her chest. Turning to face her attacker, Darla caught the look of pain on his face. In the instant before she turned to dust, Darla felt her heart burst with a pain sharper than the stake imbedded there. Love for a childe driven into the shadows, denied for a century because he was cursed with a soul. Her childe. Her lover. Her— “Angel?”
 

Opposites. Enemies. Fate often brings them together despite natural obstacles in their path. Slayers and Vampires. The same is true for all lower beings seeking what they need and finding it where least expected. Love. Companionship. Survival on a Hellmouth.
 

Cordelia Chase caught the shocked expressions on the faces of Buffy, Willow and Xander after she had come hurtling through the library doors. Even Mr. Giles, the school librarian, seemed surprised to see her. “What? I knew you'd be here.”

“And you thought you’d make our day by showing up?” Xander snorted.

Ignoring the irritating oaf that had recently ruined a two-hundred dollar pair of her shoes, Cordelia took a deep breath and approached Buffy Summers. “Look, Buffy, I— uh— I, I know we've had our differences, with you being so weird and all, and hanging out with these total losers—”

Buffy’s irritated appearance caused Cordelia to veer in another direction. “Ooo! Well, anyway, despite all of that, I know that you share this feeling that we have for each other, deep down.”

“Nausea?” Willow cut in wearing a guileless expression.

“Somebody is after me! They just tried to kill Ms. Miller? Uh, she was helping me with my homework. This is all about me! Me, me, me!”

Xander huffed at the thought. “Wow! For once she's right!”

“So you've come to *me* for help.” Cordelia Chase was actually asking—almost begging for help.

Cordelia could not deny it. This was hardly her choice. There wasn’t anyone else to turn to. She explained, “Because you're always around when all this weird stuff is happening. And I know you're very strong, and you've got all those weapons. I was kind of hoping you were in a gang.”

Seeing that he was going to have to be the grown up, Giles ushered the distraught teen toward a chair. “Please. Sit down, Cordelia.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Watching her for a moment, Giles realized, “You know, I— I don't recall ever seeing you here before.”

Her response was automatic, “Oh, no, I have a life.”
 

A human life now entwined with that of her rival. A life bound by fate to a future as yet unseen. Opposites are they in the form of the Chosen One and the Seer-to-Be with only a single common connection between them. Fast forward now to the crisis that brings our Warrior into play.
 

Angel peered into the dumpster. The increasing sound of a single beating heart revealed there was someone in there. The pitch and rate suggested it was a female. He decided to make enough noise to scare the culprit into showing herself.

A shaky voice emerged. “Xander Harris, if this is some kind of sick joke—.”

Raising a dark eyebrow, Angel was surprised to see the owner of the voice emerge from within. “Cordelia. This is the last place I expected you to hang out.”

“Oh, God! God, it’s you.” Relieved to see someone she recognized Cordelia was even happier to see Angel. “There was someone following me.”

“Xander,” Angel suppressed a growl. “The thought of him scared you into hiding in the trash?”

Gripping the side of the dumpster, Cordelia was momentarily confused. “Scared of that moron? Hardly! I thought it might be the killer zombie looking for more victims.”

“Killer zombie,” Angel rolled over the idea in his head and remembered that this was the Hellmouth. Being located at the center of a mystical convergence here in Sunnydale, anything was possible here. Waves of fear emanated from the beautiful cheerleader.

She shifted her feet amongst the trash bags, trying to maneuver herself closer to the top of the pile. Cordy defended her actions, “You can’t blame a girl for not wanting to become zombie dinner.”

“So you decided to hide amongst his leftovers?”

“W-what do you mean?” Cordelia gulped as she followed Angel’s gaze. From this angle, with the light of the street lamp shining down she realized that the bags of trash were littered with castoff hands, feet and miscellaneous other human body parts.

Letting out a loud shriek, she scrambled out of the dumpster with gymnastic ease if not grace. Instantly, Cordelia was wrapped in Angel’s strong arms, trembling against his muscular frame. Gripping tightly to each other, providing and seeking comfort, both felt a strange shock pass through them.

Cordelia thought back several months to her first sighting of Angel at the Bronze. Ever since then she purposefully avoided contact with the college boy who had missed out on the greatest opportunity of his life by seeking out Buffy Summers instead of noticing her. School and cheerleading had kept Cordelia busy, but even the distraction of the football players could not make her forget her gut-wrenching reaction to seeing Angel for the first time. Despite numerous sightings of Angel appearing at the Bronze with Buffy and her little undead playgroup, this was the first time they had been within touching distance.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Cordelia’s warm breath brushed against his cheek as she pulled back from their embrace.

“Uh—”

“Following me.” Was it just a coincidence? He was looking a little guilty.

Lately, whenever Buffy wasn’t in the immediate vicinity, Cordelia often caught Angel watching her, almost staring at times. It was difficult to read beneath the surface to see what he was thinking. Maybe he was simply catching her watching him. Unless he was remembering the completely fake stories Willow and Xander liked to tell everyone.

Cordelia felt a flash of anger. No one dissed Queen C and got away with it. Noting the irate expression on her face, Angel quickly replied. “I'm looking for Buffy.”

Naturally, she thought. What else would he be doing? Cordelia told him, “Buffy? Well, she's, uh— big shock, she's at the graveyard.”

“She said she'd be home.”

“Well, she lied. Isn't she a rascal?”

Apparently so, thought Angel as he found himself somewhat annoyed. No doubt the Boy Wonder was tagging along for the ride. Suppressing a growl, Angel turned his attention back to Cordelia. “Well, you're in luck. It just so happens that my night is free and it appears that you could use my company. This is not a night to wander around the streets of Sunnydale alone.”

“I have my car,” Cordelia wanted to slap herself for admitting it. Switching gears, “But I’m still fragile. Can you take me home?”

Months had passed since Angel had first taken notice of Cordelia Chase. Though Buffy had captured his attention as he entered the Bronze, Angel was completely aware of the huntress approaching him. While his conscious thoughts were on the Slayer and the discovery that she was there on a date, a part of Angel was focused entirely on imprinting the scent of the woman behind him.

Apples and cinnamon. Heated arousal and stirring blood. As much as Angel’s inner demon rebelled against his growing feelings for the Slayer, it craved the source of those sensations with equal intensity. Cordelia Chase. Wanted the heat, cum and blood. Wanted that intoxicating scent surrounding him.

As Cordelia drove towards home with Angel beside her in the passenger seat, she wondered what she was doing. Her parents were in Europe. They would be alone in the mansion. One glance toward him and she let her worries fly out the window. Hello, Hottie! Besides, he was staring at her like she was hot chocolate topping over his ice cream sundae; she felt like feeding him dessert.

Brrring! Brrring! Cordelia’s cell phone rang.

“What?!” Instead of a simple hello, her greeting echoed her inner frustration at the interruption. The caller better not be Harmony or Aura whining about their lackluster performance at cheerleading practice.

“Uh—Cordy? Is that you?”

“Willow?” Why was Willow Rosenberg calling her cell phone? “How did you get this number?”

“I hacked into the telephone company database,” the redhead sounded sheepishly proud of her achievement.

There was a long pause as Cordelia waited for Willow to reveal the reason for her call. “Not that I care that you’re such a geek, Willow, but surely you didn’t call my private number just to tell me that you could.”

Having pulled up to a stoplight, Cordelia turned her head to find Angel watching her, obviously listening in on the one-sided conversation. She rolled her eyes and caught the corner of his mouth twitch into a small smile.

“Could you come to the school library?” Willow asked, strangely nervous.

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Why now?” A pleading tone crept into her voice. This chance with Angel was not likely to come again.

“We’re back from the graveyard.” Willow revealed. “It involves cheerleaders, so we figured you need to know the scoop before school tomorrow.”

Cordelia let out a deep sigh. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Trouble?” asked Angel.

“With Buffy, Willow and Xander, there always is.” Cordelia put the phone down and turned her car in the direction of Sunnydale High.

Within minutes, Cordelia and Angel arrived back at the high school. After putting the car into park, the cheerleader caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. “Oh, God, Angel! Why didn’t you tell me that I look like this? They can’t see me like this.”

Frantically, Cordelia began smoothing her hair with both hands, but stopped upon meeting Angel’s dark gaze. He raised one hand to her face, his thumb rubbing her right cheek. “You’re beautiful, Cordelia. Just a little smudged.”

Then his hand fell away and he reached for the door handle. Cordelia sat stunned for a moment until she realized that Angel was waiting for her. She turned off the engine and stepped out of the car.

“Well if it isn’t the return of the living dead,” Xander saw the library door swing open.
Cordelia misinterpreted the remark as being directed to her rather than Angel. “I may look like zombie leftovers, Xander Harris, but there is no need to insult me.”

“I’d say there was every need,” Xander quipped. “Can’t let an opportunity like that go to waste even if I was talking about—.”

“Angel!” Buffy caught sight of the vampire standing in the doorway as she emerged from the library office. This was a surprise. After last night, she had not expected to see him for a while. Accusing him of being jealous of Xander just because she had danced with him had not made for a pleasant midnight stroll through the graveyard.

Though he met Buffy’s startled gaze, Angel’s attention was focused on the dark haired boy who seemed to be constantly at her side. Cooly, he acknowledged his presence as if ensuring that his human rival for Buffy’s affections knew he was aware of the game.

“Xander.”

“Angel,” sounded the equally cool response.

With that over, Angel focused once again on the Slayer. Commenting, “I thought you were taking the night off.”

“I— I was— um—but something came up.”

“Cordelia told me the truth.”

For the first time, Buffy saw that Cordelia was standing next to the vampire, clinging to him so closely that Angel’s arm was tucked between her shoulder and the plump curve of her breast. His hand was entwined in both of hers as she clutched them together.

“What are you doing here with my— with Angel?” Buffy face flushed red as she realized that she had almost called him her vampire. Even calling him a boyfriend was a stretch.

Willow reminded her friend, “You asked me to call Cordelia, remember?”

“Huh?” Buffy was flustered. “Oh, yeah. That still doesn’t explain why she is here with Angel.”

Angel raised a dramatic eyebrow in Buffy’s direction. Now who is the jealous one? She got the message. He offered her no other explanation.

Giles, who had followed Buffy out from his office decided to get back on track. “Um, as long as you're here, Angel, perhaps you could be of some help.”

The stoic vampire merely waited. Giles prodded Buffy to take the hint and stop staring at the way Cordelia Chase’s nubile body was pressed against the stock-still form of the vampire’s. Clearing his throat, “Hmm? Hmm?”

Glancing from Giles back to Angel, she told him the reason for their sojourn to the graveyard. “We were investigating. Somebody's been digging up the bodies of dead girls.”

To everyone’s surprise, Angel told them, “I know. We found some of them.”

Meaning you and Cordelia found them together? Buffy thought the question, but actually asked, “You mean you found, like, two of the three girls?”

“I mean— like some of them. Like parts of girls.”

With a gasp, Cordelia remembered what Willow had told her on the telephone. “Oh, God! They were cheerleader parts, weren’t they?”

Angel saw the horror on Cordelia’s face and automatically squeezed her hand a little tighter. She had good reason to be terrified. It was only natural that she was still a bit clingy, even if the sensation of her heartbeat so close to his arm was causing his body to react even with Buffy only a few feet away. The demon inside him delighted at the pained look of green-eyed jealousy on the Slayer’s beautiful face, especially since she had far less cause for jealousy than he did. After all, Angel had been comforting a scared girl, not gyrating and rubbing himself against her like Buffy had done when dancing with Xander at the Bronze.

“Non-Sunnydale cheerleader parts,” Willow rushed to reassure Cordelia.

Giles explained about their discovery of the recent auto accident that killed three girls from another high school. They were all cheerleaders. Though their initial research had not been specific, the theories still in play ranged from necrophiliac grave robbers to cultists intent upon creating zombies.

“We are unclear if the car crash was an accident or whether the three cheerleaders were targeted by whomever dug them up,” Giles revealed. Removing his glasses, he tapped one end on his teeth. “We thought it best to warn Cordelia since she was already aware of our— uh, research. As one of the varsity cheerleaders, she could keep an eye on the rest of them. Especially considering that there is a game tomorrow night.”

“She’s not going,” Angel heard the words emerge vehemently from his throat.

“What?” Cordelia was not the only one to say it. Buffy and Xander had also asked the question in response to his surprising comment.

Ever since finding Cordelia at the bottom of the school dumpster, Angel had been feeling this overprotective vibe. The more he heard, the less he felt like letting her leave his side. Until now, it had not been a problem with all of the pressing and clinging. Until Cordelia moved away sharply leaving his shoulder devoid of her warmth.

“Nobody tells me what to do, Angel,” the cheerleader warned standing with her hands on her hips in an obvious show of irritation.

Angel defended his comment. “If the school cheerleaders aren’t safe, Cordelia, I think you should stay out of harm’s way until we catch this guy.”

“No way I’m gonna let someone wacko get his hands on *my* girl parts.”

Xander snickered.

“Shut up, Xander!” Cordelia was livid when she realized what she had said. “You wish. Just keep your hands and thoughts to yourself.”

Still grinning, Xander rolled his eyes and glanced at Willow who was still sitting by the computer. “Cordy has girl parts.”

“No kidding,” Willow frowned at her lifelong friend. Cordelia Chase and her many perfectly formed parts were a sore subject for the petite redhead who thought herself lacking in comparison. Having Xander’s attention focused on curvy girl parts that weren’t hers was strangely upsetting.

All eyes in the room were on Cordelia and while the seventeen-year old was confident of the perfection of her form, “This isn’t a strip show, people. Geez! Stop staring at me like I’m gonna start yanking my clothes off.”

Angel forced himself to look away, closing his eyes for a second at the image she lodged in his brain. Hell, she didn’t need to strip. He wanted to rip the clothes from Cordelia’s back and throw her to the floor burying his cock and fangs inside her. Despite her protests, Angel could smell Cordelia’s reaction to the attention— she was wet, suddenly aroused. Fighting to control the change, Angel felt his teeth extend into fangs and the sensation along his forehead that acted as a precursor to the shifting of bone into his full game face.

Opening his golden eyes, Angel felt Buffy’s hard stare. Instantly sober, his fangs receded and Angel realized that Cordelia and the others were too caught up in their own thoughts to notice what had happened. Even if Buffy was fully aware of it, and obviously angry. Guilt washed over Angel like a cold shower. This was all happening because they were trying to make each other jealous. Sometimes being around Buffy made him act with the emotional maturity of a seventeen year old, but Angel couldn’t stop himself from wanting her— or loving her.

Giles was the first to break the silence even though he found himself stammering. “I— I have to agree with Cordelia. I believe her parents are out of the country for a few weeks.
She will be far safer in a crowd than at home.”

Xander wasn’t so sure about that. “You obviously haven’t seen the security gates at the Chase house.”

Ignoring Xander’s comment, Cordelia shrugged as though it did not matter that her parents had left her alone. “They are on a business trip. I suppose my father informed Principal Snyder who asked you to keep an eye on me.”

“No,” Giles had no idea if Mr. Chase had left such a directive. “I read it in the newspaper. South America, I believe.”

“Oh.” Cordelia seemed puzzled by the news. Last time she checked, South America was not in Europe.

Giles quietly suggested she stay with Buffy at the Summers’ house. Both girls reacted with instantaneous horrification. Recovering, Buffy plastered a fake smile on her face.
“I am sure my mother wouldn’t mind lending you the spare bedroom for a day or two.”

Catching on to the fact that his suggestion was less than welcome, Giles altered it, “Or maybe Willow would—”

Willow’s eyes were wide saucers, but she could only squeak a response. “Eep!”

“Next you’ll suggest that I stay at Xander’s house,” Cordelia huffed. “Does that mean I get the top bunkbed?”

“How about the couch in the basement?” Xander challenged already knowing her answer.

“Pfft! I’d rather sleep in the dumpster.” Cordelia addressed the entire group. “I am going home now. I have to take a long, hot bath and burn my clothes.”

“You have to go?” In mock disappointment, Xander appeared devastated at the news before twisting his mouth into a smirk. “Aw, too bad. Keep in touch. Buh-bye.”

Before she could storm out of the library, Angel reached back to grasp her slender wrist. “Wait, Cordelia. We haven’t finished the discussion about you staying safe.”

“We have so finished it, mister,” she tugged against the hold that was now just short of bruising.

“H-have not.”

“Have too!”

“H—,” Angel realized this was not how he had intended this conversation to go. What was it about Cordelia Chase that had him stammering like an idiot one minute and his demon emerging the next? With a low growl, Angel pulled her closer until it dawned on him what he was doing. An instant later, he released her again. “Do what you want.”

“I will.” Cordelia snatched her wrist up to rub away the sensation of his fingers there.

“I’m going home and I’m going to the game tomorrow. Hello, Cheerleader! I’m the apex of the pyramid. People depend on me. I have to be there.”

Buffy’s hand brushed against Angel’s arm. It was sweet that the vampire was concerned about her friends— even if Cordelia wasn’t one. Surely that was the reason for his weird behavior. Unless he was trying for some payback for Xander.

“I doubt even a bodysnatching necro-whatsis would bother with Cordelia Chase. The first thing he would want to cut out would be her tongue.”

“And that would be a bad thing?” Xander asked.

“Bite me, Harris!”

“You’d leave a bad taste in my mouth,” he protested. “Besides, I don’t bite. That’s a job for—.”

He started to say ‘Deadboy’ when Giles finally tired of the entire scene and offered to walk Cordelia to her car. “Come on, my dear. You head home and try not to dwell on your dumpster experience. The rest of us will do what must be done to stop this from happening again.”

As the library doors swung shut behind them, Angel restrained the urge to follow behind. Then it occurred to him that Cordelia Chase was not his despite his temporary role as her protector. Buffy’s gentle touch as she caressed his arm distracted him from his thoughts. When she smiled up at him with her bright eyes everything else faded.

Willow looked on with a smile. Every time she saw Buffy and Angel together, her body turned into a big puddle of goo. They looked so good together. Small and tall. Light and dark. What did it matter that they were Slayer and Vampire when there was an obvious connection there? Even if Willow’s own love life was non-existent, it made her happy to see her friends happy and there was no doubt that Angel was the center of Buffy’s happy world.

Upon Giles’ return from the parking lot, he noted that his Slayer was once again lost in making goo-goo eyes at the vampire. Despite his many lectures on the matter of getting emotionally tied to one’s prey, the Watcher realized he was standing in the path of a runaway train. Still, he would schedule another lecture for tomorrow during their training session.

An illegal search of the Science Club’s lockers suggested the identity of the grave robber. Copies of Gray’s Anatomy, Mortician’s Desk Reference and Robicheaux's Guide to Muscles and Tendons were found in Chris Epps’ locker. “Looks like we’ve got a suspect. Yuck! To think this sicko really is a high school student,” Xander shuddered.

Angel watched over Buffy’s shoulder as she opened another locker. There was a collage taped to the inner door of a pieced-together girl. “Eric’s got the Bride of Frankenstein in his locker. Well, it’s her picture anyway.”

“What is this?” Xander asked. “Build your own girlfriend?”

Replacing the issue of Scientific American found in the locker she had been searching, Willow took a look at the picture. Realizing the connection between it and the body parts found by Cordelia and Angel, she made a face. “Ugh! Eric's sick enough to do something like this, but what about Chris? He seems like a human person.”

“Sometimes, they’re the most insidious,” Giles pointed out.

Buffy suggested that they split up and check out Chris and Eric’s houses. “The cops can deal with anything we find. Giles, it’s late. We’ll fill you in on the gruesome details in the morning. Since it looks like it is just corpses being collected and not something mystical, I think we can handle it. Will. Xand. I want you two to check out Eric’s place. Angel and I will handle the Epps’ house.”

“Call me,” Giles watched his Slayer depart. Now that they were gone, he had important planning to accomplish. He was taking Jenny Calendar to tomorrow’s game and hadn’t a clue what to say to her without getting tongue-tied.

Chris Epps’ mother let them in, barely muttering an invitation to enter the house. She was haggard and obviously still in mourning for her football star son, Daryl, the Sunnydale High running back. Good old #5, who was the champion of last year’s playoffs. Cordelia Chase even clamored after the rugged player last year according to Willow, but being only a sophomore at the time even the supreme Queen C had been judged unworthy by the senior.

With Mrs. Epps staring at the television screen replaying the moment of her eldest son’s triumph, Buffy and Angel freely made their way through the door marked with warning signs. It lead to the basement where they found detailed anatomical blueprints for piecing together body parts. Then Buffy’s hand brushed over a pile of photographs.

“These are the pictures Eric was taking,” she realized upon recognizing herself.

The next one was of Willow looking wide-eyed and holding the clipboard for the Science Fair Projects List. To think Willow was worried that her project on fruit flies would come in second place. Somehow, Buffy doubted that creation of a zombie girl would qualify as Chris’ entry in the competition.

“Who’s this,” Buffy saw that the next picture was cut into pieces. “The head is missing.”

Angel flipped through the blueprints, finding one with a photo attached. As if a cold hand punched him in the gut, he choked on the name, “Cordelia.”

They were up the stairs and out of the house within seconds, never noticing that the dank smell of the basement was also accompanied by the acrid odor of slightly decayed flesh. Daryl Epps watched them depart. His brother and Eric would have to act quickly if they were going to fulfill their promise to him. Soon, the head of Cordelia Chase would be one part of his beautiful bride-to-be, someone to love him forever.

With a burst of Slayer speed, Buffy caught up to Angel. He was running like a posse of demons was on his tail, making a beeline for his destination. Suddenly, the vampire stopped in the middle of the empty road causing Buffy to crash into him. As Angel kept her on her feet by pulling her close, he looked down into face.

“What is it? Why did you stop?” She asked in confusion. “We have to warn Cordelia.”

Angel confessed. “I don’t know where she lives.”

Pointing in the exact direction that he had been going, Buffy sent him a strange look, “It’s that way. Vampire instincts much?”

As much as Angel hated to admit it, Buffy was dead-on target. There was no time for him to dwell on it. “Let’s go!”

A ten minute run brought them to the gates of the Chase mansion. Assessing the height and width of the barred gate attached to the wall encircling the complex, Angel realized that even he would have a difficult time getting inside. “I see what Xander meant about these gates. There is no way a human could get through or over these gates without the right equipment.”

“Unless Cordelia *lets* Chris in,” suggested Buffy. “After all, he was Daryl’s brother.”

“Who’s Daryl?” Then Angel made the connection to the tape the woman at the Epps’ house was watching. “Oh, the football guy.”

Explaining about the circumstances, Buffy told him, “Cordelia had a thing for him, but he apparently broke her heart. Thus possibly proving its existence.”

The tag-on stab was typical of the comments Angel had heard them make about Cordelia Chase. From what he had seen, she could be self-centered and haughty, but also beautiful and vulnerable. There was just a hint of domineering bitch that reminded Angel of Darla, his sire, but in a way that stirred his bloodlust rather than reviled him.

Buffy did not notice his stoic reaction as she walked up to the intercom and pressed the buzzer. It was only after a few tries and several minutes that Cordelia responded. It reminded Angel of the way she answered Willow’s call on her cell phone.

“What?!”

“It’s Buffy.” Then she added, “And Angel.”

“Go away!” Cordelia huffed. “I’ve had enough grossness tonight.”

“Look, we have to talk,” Buffy told her, but got no response. “Cordelia? Cordy are you there?”

Angel shrugged when Buffy appeared to be at a loss. He reached around her to press and hold the buzzer. The intercom button lit up again. “I told you to go away. My bubble bath is getting cold.”

“Let us in, Cordelia,” commanded Angel.

“N-no. I’m naked and have plans to spend quality time with my loofah,” she blurted out her refusal.

Buffy muttered, “What a moron. We’re trying to save her life and all she can think about is scrubbing with bubbles.”

Blinking away the image in his head, Angel tried again. “Cordelia, open the gate. We’ll wait. There is something you need to know.”

Still on the thought of soaking in a piping hot bath full of foamy white bubbles, Buffy had to admit, “Geez that sounds really good.”

There was no further response from Cordelia Chase. Apparently, she had abandoned the intercom and gone through with her plans for a long, hot bath. Ignoring them.

“Damn that stubborn—,” Angel stopped himself from going further.

Buffy piped in with suggestions, “Cheerleader? Bitch? Vapid slut? Skanky—.”

Her voice trailed off as she realized that Angel was staring at her in a non-pleasant way. Admitting, “Maybe that was a bit much.”

“We have to get word to Cordelia,” Angel was open for suggestions. “Maybe Willow can get her home phone number.”

“Cordelia probably left it off the hook if she didn’t want interruptions.”

Frustrated, Angel ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. “I’m not leaving. If Chris or Eric show up tonight, I’ll be waiting.”

Realizing that she did not like the idea of her almost-boyfriend to be hanging out at the Chase mansion even if it was outside the walls, Buffy suggested, “We could leave a note taped to the gate. You know, one telling her that Chris and Eric are zombie-making mad-scientists who want to cut off her head?”

“I’m not leaving.”

With a sigh, Buffy realized it was the only safe option. “I’ll check in with Giles. Willow and Xander should have reported in by now.”

“Get some sleep, Buffy,” the vampire implored. “When the sun comes up, Cordelia will have to depend on you to protect her.”

The serious tone to his voice and his obvious concern for her Sunnydale arch-nemesis was disconcerting. Nevertheless, Buffy agreed that his plan made sense. “Cordelia is in some of my classes. I should get an opportunity to tell her to stay away from Chris and Eric. If they even bother showing up tomorrow.”

“Search the school. Since the extra body parts were in the dumpster, there is a chance that the rest of the evidence is there.” Angel silently berated himself for not connecting things earlier. “Those two little cretins probably have their lab hidden at the school. Where else would they get the equipment?”

Buffy shuddered to think about it. “Hopefully, they don’t keep the parts in the cafeteria freezer.”

Pulling her into a tight embrace, Angel kissed the top of her head. “See you after sunset.”

The night passed uneventfully. Several more attempts at the gate intercom continued to be ignored. Angel was tempted to scale the wall, but he felt certain that Cordelia would ignore him knocking on her front door as easily as she did the buzzer. So he stayed and paced and lurked in the shadows outside the Chase mansion until his vampire senses were tingling with the coming of the sunrise. Reluctantly, he headed for the shelter of his own apartment.

Angel awoke at sunset, the sound of sirens alarming in the distance. He thrust himself up from the bed with one thought, “Cordelia!”

Dressing quickly, Angel ran in the direction of the sounds finding Buffy sitting on the hood of a car next to a boy he did not recognize. One of the older school buildings was on still ablaze, but the Fire Department was at work putting out the blaze. Policemen were all over the scene.

“I saw the fire,” he told Buffy. “I figured you’d be here. Is everyone okay?”

Buffy glanced up at Angel with a sad smile. She and Chris had been talking about his reasons for doing what he had done. He and Eric had planned everything. Chris was okay with it until the plan suddenly involved killing a live girl. Cordelia Chase had nearly died today because of him.

“Yeah,” Buffy somberly assured him. “We’re okay.”

Though relieved by her words, Angel’s gaze darted through the crowd and the smoky haze settling into the area in search of Cordelia. Giles was standing close to an attractive woman huddled in a blanket. Moving on, he spotted a long-limbed cheerleader walking toward Xander and Willow who were standing together next to one of the trucks. It was Cordelia. She was covered in sooty smudges, but appeared to be uninjured. With a sigh of contentment, Angel felt the tension leaving his body. Relaxing, he leaned back against the car waiting for Buffy to finish her talk with Chris Epps.

Xander dragged his eyes away from Buffy and Angel before falling upon Giles and Ms. Calendar also huddled closely together. “Well, I guess that makes it official. Everybody's paired off. Vampires get dates. Hell, even the school librarian sees more action than me.”

Sympathetically, Willow stood by and listened closely. Xander asked, “You ever think that the world is a giant game of musical chairs, and the music's stopped and we're the only ones who don't have a chair?”

He was so right, the clueless cutie, “All the time.”

Their moment of friendly bonding and self-pity was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Cordelia Chase. The cheerleader could not believe Xander Harris had saved her life. It wasn’t Buffy. It wasn’t Angel. It wasn’t even Giles. She owed Xander Harris her life and to was necessary to give him his due.

“Xander?” Cordelia began nervously, but he was so used to ignoring her that her words were barely registering. “I just wanted to thank you for saving my life. What you did in there was really brave and heroic, and I just wanted to tell you if there was anything that I could ever do to—”

“Do you mind?” Xander cut her off. Indicating Willow’s presence, “We're talking here.”

Taken aback by the rude response to her overture of thanks, Cordelia rolled her eyes and turned away in disgust. Some things never changed. A hero? Pfft! Xander Harris was just a big clown trying out the old cape and tights routine. In the shadow cast by the truck, she glanced over her shoulder. Then again, recalling the way he had leapt onto the stretcher in order to roll them through the barrier of the spreading fire, Cordelia admired his quick thinking. Xander Harris? Huh!

Cordelia headed for her car with a smile on her face.

Strolling through the mist of the cemetery, Angel held loosely to Buffy’s hand. They had been patrolling together for hours and recounting the events of the past couple of days. Seeing that Cordelia Chase was alive and out of danger had soothed Angel’s protective instincts for her into dormancy. She was human and needed someone to watch over her, unlike Buffy whose Slayer abilities made her more than a match for Chris and Eric.

“God, the whole thing was so creepy,” Buffy shuddered against his arm. Then she let out a little huff of air. “Well, at the same time, I mean— he did do it all for his brother.”

“Sounds like he took it a little over the edge,” Angel wasn’t about to condone it.

Whether intended or not, Chris’ collaboration nearly caused Cordelia’s beheading. When he got a chance to question Cordelia, he better find out that they hadn’t touched her other than to tie her to the gurney. Just the thought of their hands on her smooth flesh infuriated him, although Buffy had promised that no harm had come to anyone. Still, the teenager should consider himself lucky that Angel didn’t rip him apart.

“Love makes you do the wacky,” Buffy quoted Willow.

Startled out of his dark thoughts, Angel asked, “What?”

“Crazy stuff,” she clarified. “Chris doing all this to keep his brother alive. To make him a zombie girlfriend.”

“Oh.” Angel digested the information. Denial was futile. He was certainly guilty of just as much wackiness if that was the gauge for his feelings. Muttering, “Crazy, like a two-hundred-and-forty-one-year-old being jealous of a high school junior?”

Blinking, Buffy recalled their conversation from two days earlier. Her accusation that he was jealous. “Are you fessing up?”

Angel shoved thoughts of Cordelia away, realizing the reference that Buffy was making. “I've thought about it,” he admitted truthfully. The sight of Xander Harris standing next to Buffy at the library yesterday had been enough to raise his hackles. “Maybe it bothers me a little.”

“I don't love Xander.” Buffy hinted at her true feelings without actually saying the words.

“Yeah,” the vampire acknowledged. Angel knew that she had feelings for him, “but he's in your life. He gets to be there when I can't. Take your classes, eat your meals, hear your jokes and complaints. He gets to see you in sunlight.”

Melting inside at the sweet poetry of his words, Buffy gazed at him with adoration in her eyes. Teasing, “I don't look that good in direct light.”

“It'll be morning soon,” he sensed an end to the night.

“I should probably go.” Buffy did not want it to end. Hand-holding and cuddling and talking was nice. Very nice, even if it didn’t involve kissing or touching. Soon, she hoped, even though he is a vampire. Kissing and touching sounded very, very nice. In the meantime, “I could walk you home.”

Lower being, humanity is awash with emotions and the free will to pursue choices that do not always follow the path set out by the Powers that Be. Our Warrior is stained by the emotions that tie him to Sunnydale. A vampire with a soul not yet attuned to the course of his destiny or that his fate is forever entwined with the two human females he constantly finds in his thoughts.

Part 2

 Lower being, humanity is awash with emotions and the free will to pursue choices that do not always follow the path set out by the Powers that Be. Our Warrior is stained by the emotions that tie him to Sunnydale. A vampire with a soul not yet attuned to the course of his destiny or that his fate is forever entwined with the two human females he constantly finds in his thoughts.
 

Cordelia spotted Angel sitting alone at the Bronze. No doubt, he was waiting for Buffy. Still, he looked so uncomfortable as he waited. Alone in the crowd. In an instant, Cordy made up her mind to join him. They had never really talked after the whole Chris Epps thing where she was almost made into a zombie.

“Is the Bronze so not happening, or what?” Moving a little with the music, Cordelia came up to Angel with a smile that took his breath away— at least it would have if he had any breath.

He gulped down his reaction at her sudden appearance. With her silky brown hair swept up loosely, makeup perfect, eyes sparkling and that form-fitting mini-dress clinging to every curve, she was certainly looking hot as usual. Angel tried to be calm, “Oh. Hi.”

“Hi!”

Quickly, Angel explained, “I'm waiting for Buffy.”

“Great! I'm supposed to be meeting Devon, but he's nowhere to be seen.” Cordelia was not going to let him think she was here on her own. “It's like he thinks being in a band gives him an obligation to flake. Well, his loss is your incredible gain!”

Initially nervous, Angel realized that it was because being with Cordelia suddenly meant that conversation was required. This interlude involved no life-saving or silent comfort. Still, as Cordelia chattered on about Devon’s band, Angel found himself relaxing. She did not ask pushy questions. Everything she talked about was very Cordelia-centric by nature and that had Angel leaning in to hear more. Even the nonsensical information that made no sense to him.

“So I told Devon, 'You call that leather interior? My Barbie Dream Car had nicer seats!'”

Suddenly, they were laughing together. Angel certainly understood car humor, even if he never cracked a joke. He’d had nothing to joke about for the past hundred years since Angelus had been cursed with the soul by the Kalderash gypsies.

Cordelia’s hand was on his arm and their eyes met with amusement over the silly story. It touched him in a way Angel had not experienced since before Darla sired him. Even then, Angel had doubts. As Liam, he had never been at a tavern with a woman as beautiful as Cordelia and done anything except successfully charm his way into her skirts. Strangely, Angel was content to sit back and just listen to her voice.

As their laughter subsided, Angel and Cordelia caught movement at the periphery of their vision turning as one to see a bedraggled Slayer standing before them.

“Buffy?” Cordelia slowly removed her curled fingers from Angel’s arm, now sensing the Slayer’s proprietary stance.

Jumping up, Angel rushed to her side, checking for visible injuries as he went. “Buffy!”

“Hi! I'm—”

“Late.” Angel finished the sentence. As an excuse it was obvious.

“Rough day at the office,” she explained.

Eyes sparkling, Angel pulled straw from her hair. “So I see.”

“Maybe it’s the new seasonal look,” suggested Cordelia sourly. She couldn’t explain why Angel’s sudden abandonment left her feeling bereft. “Love the hair. It just screams street urchin.”

Buffy knew the other girl was simply speaking the truth. “Know what? I need to go— put a bag over my head.”

He had spent all of this time waiting and now she wanted to leave? “Don't let Cordelia’s little joke get to you. Please. You look fine.”

Joke? Hardly! Buffy and Cordelia shared a knowing glance that suggested the man was a clueless dork. With a little laugh, Buffy told Angel, “You're sweet. A terrible liar, I have to admit, but very sweet.”

Still confused by her appearance and tardiness, Angel began, “I thought we had—”

“A date?” Buffy nodded. “So did I. But who am I kidding? Dates are things normal girls have. Girls who have time to think about nail polish and facials. You know what I think about? Ambush tactics. Beheading. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.”

“Let’s not talk about beheading,” Cordelia shuddered at the too recent memory.

“Let’s not talk at all,” Buffy suggested that the girl should get lost.

Cordelia realized Buffy thought she was after Angel. Tempting, but if she had really been trying, the two of them would have left the Bronze long before Buffy arrived looking like she had been running amok in the cemetery. “I’m waiting for Devon.”

“Oh.” Buffy remembered that Cordy was dating the Dingoes Ate My Baby singer. Devon was a hottie, but had nothing on Angel.

“We were talking,” stressed Angel as it appeared Buffy’s imagination was conjuring up another scenario.

Moving back toward the small hightop table, Angel climbed back into his seat. Buffy took one at his side, leaving the vampire sitting between them.

The Slayer realized that Cordelia was not taking her hint to leave and Angel did not seem to be shooing her off either. “You two were laughing when I came up.”

Angel laughing? Had she ever seen him laugh before? “What was that all about?”

“Nothing important,” Cordelia shrugged, pursing her lips into a smile.

“I’ll bet,” muttered Buffy suspiciously.

Stumbling to explain the innocence of their conversation, Angel got everything mixed up. Consequently, Cordelia was struck by gales of laughter. Grabbing the material of his shirt at his left elbow, she pulled herself close enough to whisper in his ear, “Dumbass.”

“What?!” Buffy demanded to know what was said. Other girls just did not whisper things into her boyfriend’s ear. Certainly not with her sitting there.

“I called him a dumbass.” Blatantly honest, Cordelia saw no reason to lie. “He was totally screwing up the story.”

Repeating the tale for Buffy’s benefit, the cheerleader even got a smile out of the Slayer. “I guess I can see why it was funny.”

“So what is the story of you two, anyway?” Cordelia realized that she had never had the opportunity to get the 411 on Angel and Buffy. The only ones who really knew anything were Willow and Xander, but interrogating those two geeks would be torture. “I assume you go to Sunnydale University, Angel. I never see you around.”

“Not during the day anyway,” scoffed Buffy.

Holding back her laughter, Buffy realized that after all this time Cordelia Chase had no idea that Angel was a vampire. As for Angel, he could see what was coming and did not like what he saw one bit.

“What do you mean?” Confusion crossed Cordelia’s face, her brow slightly furrowing. Angel seemed so mature for his age, so independent. Facing him, she asked, “Don't tell me you still live at home and have to borrow your dad’s car?”

Before Angel could come up with a gentle way to break the news to her, Buffy pointed out, “Cordelia, I think his parents have been dead for a couple of hundred years.”

Relieved that her image of Angel had not been debunked, Cordelia was visibly happy to hear it. “Oh, good. I mean— What?”

It was too late, Angel realized as Buffy leaned over the table. “Can you be more clueless, Cordy? Angel is a vampire. I thought you knew.”

Right! Buffy expected her to fall for that one. The Slayer knew she hated vampires. After all the times she had nearly been bitten because she happened to be within ten feet of Buffy and her little slay-pals, Cordelia had developed a healthy fear of the local demon population.

“Oh, he's a vampire. Of course!” Cordelia put an arm around Angel’s shoulders and then rubbing his chest with her free hand, “but the cuddly kind. Like a Carebear with fangs?”

“It’s true,” Buffy smugly folded her hands on the table.

With her arms still around him, Angel caught hold of the hand that was subconsciously massaging his chest muscles. Cordelia realized what she was doing and attempted to pull away, adding an apology. She found than he wasn’t letting her go. Instead, Angel moved her hand over to the left side of his chest and held it in place over his heart.

Slowly, Cordelia realized what Angel intended to show her. Without speaking a word of confirmation, he let her discover the truth. Beneath her hand there was no beating heart, no rise and fall of his chest. Lifting her head, Cordelia forced herself to meet his gaze. A moment passed that drowned out all the sounds of the Bronze surrounding them. Tears gathered in her eyes, but did not fall as Cordelia held back the scream of denial that was rolling around inside her.

Watching as Cordelia’s plush lips trembled beneath his gaze, he wanted to pull her closer into his arms. Kiss those lips. Make her acknowledge and accept him for who he was— a vampire that needed her essence inside him, surrounding him and forever by his side. It was a futile thought for more reasons than Angel could count, not even a dream, but more a fantasy his demon liked to share.

“Angel?” The plea in her voice begged for him to release her.

Reluctantly, he let go of her wrist. He caught the fear in her eyes, the telltale increase of her heartbeat. As she slid off of the stool, Angel found himself gripping her hip to prevent her escape. His fingers curled along silk covered bone and the firm curve of her buttocks. “Don’t go, Cordelia. There is no reason to be afraid of me.”

With her heart thudding in her throat, Cordelia shook her head in denial. This couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be true. But it was. He had shown her the truth. It was truth. Angel was a vampire. Oh, God! Angel was a vampire!

The grief and terror in her hazel eyes made Buffy’s discovery of his vampiric state seem mild in comparison. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn’t screaming. Angel knew Cordy could scream with the best of them, having witnessed the event much to the detriment of his super-sensitive hearing. Buffy wasn’t saying anything. It was clear she should have kept her mouth shut as no one appeared to be laughing at the fact that Cordelia had been so oblivious to the truth.

Blinking away the tears, Cordelia steeled herself against the emotions churning inside her putting on the same cool face she did every morning when she went to school. Queen C would never cry over a man in front of Buffy Summers, especially when said man was a vampire and also the Slayer’s boyfriend.

The thought made Cordelia pause, her panic subsiding as it transformed into deep pooling anger. “Buffy, I thought it was your job to slay vampires, not date them.”

The grip on her hip tightened, though Angel made no move to pull her closer. Wetting her lips, Cordelia waited for Buffy’s response. “He has a soul,” the blonde revealed. “I made an exception.”

“A soul?” Glancing back at Angel, Cordelia had to admit to herself that she was uncertain what that had to do with anything. She had not been paying enough attention to Giles and the slaygroup to learn any details about vampires, just the important stuff. Crosses, garlic, stake through the heart.

“I was cursed with my soul, Cordelia,” Angel’s words were soft enough to be heard only by herself and Buffy. His tone was soothing even if his words were not. “Yes, I am still a vampire, but I feel things in ways that others of my kind do not. I have a conscience and feel remorse. Not a day goes by when I do not remember who I am and recall the faces of my victims.”

The brunette closed her eyes against the suffering in his eyes. She shuddered in pleasure at the gentle movement of his large hand as it left her hip to caress the bare curve of her spine. This was how he did it, she realized, feeling the effects of his touch. How vampires seduced and distracted their prey in order to claim their blood. God help her because he must have had a lot of practice if all it took to have her wanting to fall into his arms was the sound of his voice and the barest touch of his cool fingers along her flesh.

It wasn’t until Buffy saw Cordelia’s head tilt back to expose her elegant neck that she realized Angel was touching the other girl. Snapping out of her own haze, the Slayer jumped off of her stool to stomp around so that she was standing next to them. When it became obvious that neither vampire nor cheerleader had noticed her arrival at their side, Buffy grabbed Angel’s wrist and pulled it away.

The vampire reacted instinctively. He let out a growl and pushed. Startled, Buffy toppled to the ground and sat staring up at Angel’s golden eyes.

Instantly, Angel realized what he had done. “Buffy!”

At her side, he knelt down to help her to her feet. “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

“You pushed me,” Buffy’s face turned cherry red. Anger and embarrassment mixed. The crowd around them had taken notice with interest. “You were all over Cordelia! Right in front of me. In another second you would have had her doing a lapdance.”

“That is so not true,” Cordelia defended even as she stepped further away from the pair.

“Hah!” Buffy glared at her. “Just go look at yourself in the mirror.”

She didn’t have too. Cordelia knew she was flushed with arousal. Her skin was hot. Her nipples hard and pointed. Her breasts and groin were heavy with an aching need that only Angel could sate.

Breathing heavily, Cordelia met Angel’s gaze knowing that he was equally aware of her condition. It didn’t matter anymore. Maybe Buffy Summers consorted with vampires in more ways than one, but not her. Not Cordelia Chase.

“I’m leaving,” she told them. “Buffy, you’ve proven your point. You can have your fun with Angel. Just remember, when it comes to dating real men— I’m the slayer.”

Cordelia Chase turned, flipping her long chestnut hair over her shoulder and walked out of the Bronze with her head held high. It wasn’t until she arrived home, carefully parked and locked her car, entered her house and closed the door behind her that she let the tears fall. Oh, God! Angel was a vampire.
 

Discovery of the truth. A human heart closed off to the path of its own desires. Denial: a futile effort against the forces of destiny. A challenge awaits our Warrior. To become our champion, he must face both his past and his future. One must conquer the other for the Warrior to prevail.
 

The park at dusk was quiet with only the occasional birdsong to break the restful silence. In the distance, approaching fast with the acerbic sound of a radio turned to full blast was a classic 1958 Dodge Desoto FireFlite. The squeal of tires left dark tracks on the ground as it rounded a corner to deliberately crash through the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign as it screeched to a halt.

The driver-side door thrust open as a blond vampire emerged dressed in black leather and his game face showing. The ride and music were just too good not to let his demon have a little fun. Ambling over to the curb and lifting his arms, he took in a deep breath of the Sunnydale night air holding it in long enough to taste it. A smirk appeared on his face at the chaos he had caused with his arrival, noting the complete destruction of the town’s cute little sign.

“Home, sweet home,” Spike chuckled gleefully as he lit up a cigarette. “So. Who do you kill for fun around here?”
 

The hand of chaos arrives in Sunnydale accompanied by his visionary sire, a vampiress of the darkest nature. Drusilla, childe of our future champion, driven mad by the one who turned her and now in need of her sire’s blood to cure her ills.
 

“I was dreaming,” Drusilla told her demon childe. Her words were as weak as her frame was gaunt from the wasting sickness.

Spike gently soothed her brow, “Of what, pet?”

Her mouth made the effort to curl into a smile. “We were in Paris. You had a branding iron.”

Kissing her forehead, he told her, “I brought you something.”

Drusilla kept describing the contents of her dream, “—and there were worms in my baguette.”

Stepping away, Spike knew there was only one way to get her attention where he wanted it. Stepping through the door, he was back in moments dragging the unconscious form of a solidly-built vampire in his strong arms. “Your sire, my sweet.”

Raising her head, Dru’s black eyes sparkled with happiness at the sight of her sire. “My Angel?”

“The one and only,” Spike grinned in satisfaction. Dropping Angel to the floor, he again went to sit on the bed next to Drusilla. “Now all we need's the full moon tonight, and he will die, and you will be fully restored. My black goddess. My ripe, wicked plum. It's been—”

Evil laughter welled in her chest as the vampiress completed his thoughts, “Forever.”

Their lips clashed together as Spike pulled his sire into his embrace. Tongues clashed and sharp teeth nipped at each other until they caught the iron taste of blood in their mouths. As she licked her lips, Drusilla pleaded breathlessly as she stared over his shoulder at the beautiful form of her sire. “Spike, let me have him. Hmm? Until the moon.”

Never one to deny Drusilla anything, Spike readily agreed with her wishes. “Alright, you can play, but don't kill him. He mustn't die till the ritual.”

Clapping her hands in delight, she held out her arms. “Bring him to me.”

Spike pulled the other vampire to his knees dragging him before Drusilla whose eyes washed over the bruises over his face and chest. Looking into the brown eyes that opened in recognition, her mirth turned as dark as her long black hair. Raising her hand, she sent a resounding slap across Angel’s face.

“You've been a very bad daddy.”
 

Family. So many meanings to that word. So many permutations. Even the undead have such a thing. This family reunion comes with the portent of an apocalypse brought on by those who bear our Warrior’s blood, but first she who is tied to the future wraps herself in a cocoon of lies, one shaped from the clay that gives birth to human emotion. Cordelia Chase and Xander Harris. Is it love binding them together or gratitude? Nemesis. Lover. Two states of being which are diametrically opposed caught up by a spark of passion’s flame. What burns in their hearts for two others, goes unseen as the flames burn brightly in the darkness of their own adversity.
 

Willow looked up as the library door swung open, “Hi, Cordy. Looks like you made it after all.”

Smiling at the computer nerd, Cordelia told her, “When you said Giles was in trouble, I cancelled my afternoon hair appointment. I’m all yours.”

The thought made Xander cringe. “Ooh, gang, did ya hear that? A bonus day of class plus Cordelia. Mix in a little rectal surgery, and its my best day ever.”

Buffy rolled her eyes at her friend. Not that she didn’t enjoy a good stab at Cordelia Chase now and then, but she had to admit Giles was a bigger priority. “We have work to do. Will, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon.”

“I'll try the 'Net, but 'Mark of Eyghon' sounds like Giles and his books sorta deal.”

Agreeing with the idea, Buffy answered, “Then we hit the books.”

Thinking further, Buffy queried, “Xander, how do you feel about digging through some of Giles' personal files and seeing what you can find?”

“I feel pretty good about it,” he looked serious for a moment. Then asked her, “Does that make me a sociopath? Nah.”

Cordelia stepped up to Buffy, an eager smile on her face.

Frowning in response at the strange phenomena, Buffy could only stare at the other girl. Finally, she found her tongue, “What?”

“What about me?” Cordelia was actually asking for a research assignment?! “I care about Giles.”

“Uh, work with Xander.” Cordelia never volunteered for research. Never. This had to be the Twilight Zone.

As the boy’s name was mentioned, Cordelia’s hazel eyes darted toward him. He too wore a mask of horror. “Well, when I say *care*, I-I mean—”

“Cordelia—,” Buffy’s voice was full of warning.

“Okay, okay!”

Willow sighed and turned back to her computer screen. You didn’t have to be a science whiz to know that Buffy Summers had just made a terrible decision. Since Giles was in trouble, she supposed her friend’s judgment might be a bit off. Putting Cordelia and Xander together on a project was like mixing combustible chemicals.

It didn’t take very long for the chemicals to react. “Do you know what you need, Xander, besides a year's supply of acne cream? A brain.”

“That's it!” Xander threw the file in his hand to the desktop. “Twelve years of you and I'm snappin'! I don't care if you're a girl or not, I'm throwin' down! Come on!”

Cordelia scoffed at him. “I've seen you fight. And don't think I can't take you!”

“Give it your best shot,” Xander said and he wasn’t certain he was kidding.

Calling into the office from the main section of the library, Willow yelled, “HEY! We don't have time for this! Our friends are in trouble! Now, we have to put our heads together and, and get them out of it! And if you two aren't with me a hundred and ten percent, then get the hell out of my library!”

Meekly, Cordelia chirped, “We're sorry.”

“We'll be good,” Xander’s sheepish response sounded.

Willow sat back at her computer with an impressed smile on her face. “Wow! I even convinced myself.”

The truce lasted only as long as the two childhood nemeses were in the confines of the school library. Over the next couple of weeks, Willow quietly noted that both Xander and Cordelia seemed to start an argument over any little thing. Their bouts of verbal abuse came frequently and in all settings. Neither Buffy nor Willow had a clue how to fix it. But since the arguing often came with amusements for the audience, perhaps it was an even trade. Some days, all they needed was popcorn and a soda to enjoy the show.

Pacing, Cordelia was muttering, “I can’t believe we’re stuck in the basement.”

“Could you sit down, or change your pattern or something?” Xander watched her move back and forth like a tennis ball across a clay court. “You're making me queasy.”

“At least I’m doing something,” Cordelia returned as she leaned up against the washer. “Because you're just sitting there. You should be thinking up a *plan*.”

Xander looked at her as though she missed the obvious. “I have a plan. We wait. Buffy saves us.”

“How will she even know where to find us?”

“Cordelia, this is Buffy's house. Odds are she'll find us.”

“Well, what if she doesn't? What am I supposed to do? Just waste away down here with you?” Cordelia righted herself and glared at him. “Haw, haw, no thank you!”

As she moved toward the stairs, Xander moved to stop her. “What are you doin'?”

Did she really have to spell it out? Cordelia stopped and turned to face him. “Going to see if he's gone!”

“That's brilliant! What if he isn't?”

“Oh, right!” Cordelia raised her palm to her head. “You think we should just slack here and hope that somebody else *decides* to be a hero?”

Three determined strides brought her back to the washer. “Sorry, forgot I was stranded with a LOSER!”

Leaning back, she crossed her arms and continued to glare in Xander’s direction. He was not about to let that one go.

“And yet I never forgot that I'm stuck with the numb-brain that let Mr. Mutant in the house in the FIRST PLACE!”

Yelling back, Cordelia reminded, “HE LOOKED NORMAL!”

Scoffing loudly, Xander asked, “What, is he supposed to have an arrow with the word 'assassin' over his head?! All it took was the prospect of a free makeover, and you were practically licking his hand like a big, dumb dog!”

“You know what?” Heading for the stairs again, she told him, “I'm going.”

Raising his eyebrows, Xander appeared ready to let her go. He was watching as she moved across the room. Then Cordelia stopped at the foot of the stairs and faced him again. “I'd rather be worm food than look at *your* pathetic face!”

With a shrug, Xander waved toward the stairs. “Then go! I'm not stopping ya!”

Some hero. “I bet you wouldn't! I bet you'd let a girl go off to her doom all by herself!”

“Not just any girl.” Xander nodded, “You're special.”

Cordelia fumed at the irony of it all. “I can't believe that I'm stuck spending what will probably be my last few moments on Earth here WITH YOU!”

The bitch just didn’t know when to quit. Moving forward, he told her, “I *hope* these are my last few moments! Three more seconds with you, and I'm gonna—”

He found himself a step closer to Cordelia. Angrily, she also stepped toward him. Daring him to finish his sentence. They were practically toe to toe. “I'm gonna what? Coward!”

“Moron!”

That did it. Cordelia summoned up all the rage churning inside and told Xander Harris the absolute truth as she saw it. “I *hate* you!”

Not to be outdone, Xander echoed her sentiments. Only louder. “I HATE YOU!”

Their hatred burned in their locked gazes as Cordelia and Xander were hit by the same impulse. For a single second longer, each saw the same thing. Then they were all over each other, grabbing and pulling closer. Lost in a mad, passionate kiss, they held on until they had no breath left. With a simultaneous gasp for air, they broke apart. Each stared at the other with utter bafflement.

Xander was the first to speak. “We *so* need to get outta here.”

Nodding, Cordelia could only manage, “Mm-hm!”

Sworn to secrecy, neither Xander nor Cordelia ever mentioned their lustful moment in Buffy Summer’s basement. As much as they tried to fight it, the mad passion they felt was reenacted again and again. Usually in broom closets or behind the bleachers. Their friends were completely ignorant of their secret rendezvous. Both liked it that way.

Until Xander opened his mouth at the wrong moment, things were just fine. “Hey, Cordy! Nice outfit.”

“Oh, very funny,” Cordelia tried to play off his compliment as a backhanded insults.

Puzzled, he frowned at her angry stare. “Not really.”

“What are you saying?” She tried to get the hint across. Hello! Buffy and Willow were right there sitting next to him.

What was he trying to say? Oh yeah! “Nice outfit?”

Moron! “Well, why don't you just keep your mouth shut!”

Cordelia stormed off as fast as she could, no longer certain where she was headed. With a quick glance at Buffy and Willow, he jumped off the bench to go after her. “Would you guys excuse me for a sec?”

Struck by a weird feeling, Willow asked Buffy, “What's up with them?”

Having caught up with Cordelia who was now strolling calmly along the outer corridor of the school, Xander stepped up beside her. Flashing him a dark look, she asked, “What's wrong with you?”

Still confused, Xander pointed out, “I gave you a compliment.”

“In front of your friends! They're gonna know!”

“Know what?”

“Please!” Cordelia rolled her eyes. “It's too traumatic for me to even say it!”

Now he got it. “That we kissed?”

“Uhhh!” Glancing around, Cordelia was relieved to see that no one was within hearing distance.

Xander didn’t know why he was so insistent upon following this instinct, but he couldn’t stop himself from following through. “Look, I'm not gonna tell, they're not gonna know. Not your friends, not my friends.”

He paused briefly when Cordelia seemed to settle into the idea that things would remain a secret. “You wanna go to the utility closet and make out?”

“God! Is that all you ever think about?” Cordelia huffed loudly and then reconsidered, “Okay.”

Secrets were kept and there was much kissage and gropage in the closets of Sunnydale High. Until, “So— Buffy's party. Mañana.”

“Well, just because she's Miss Save-The-World and everything, you have to make a big deal?” Cordelia pointed out, “I have to cook! And everything.”

Xander was both surprised and somewhat scared by the idea. “You're cooking?”

“Well, I'm chips and dips girl.”

Xander pulled of a fake shudder. “Horrors! All that opening and stirring.”

“And shopping and carrying.”

Grinning at the beautiful girl, he slyly suggested, “Well, then you should have a person who does such things for you.”

Not getting it, Cordy told him, “Well, that's what I've been saying to my father, but does he listen?”

Trying again, Xander fumbled over the words. “Um, so, uh— you’re going, and, and, and I'm going. Should— we maybe— go?”

“Why?”

Her flat response wasn’t giving him a lot of hope. “I dunno. This— thing with us, despite our better judgment, it keeps happening. Maybe we should just admit that we're dating.”

“Groping in a broom closet isn't dating,” she countered. “You don't call it a date until the guy spends money.”

As usual, Cordelia had his head spinning. “Fine. I'll spend, then we'll grope. Whatever. I just think it's some kind of whacked that we feel we have to hide it from all our friends.”

“Well, of course *you* wanna tell everybody. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I, on the other hand, have *everything* to be ashamed of.” Cordelia stared at him as though that should be obvious. Her fall down the social ladder of Sunnydale High would be complete if anyone found out what she was doing with Xander. Already on shaky ground because of her little adventures with the Scooby Gang, Cordelia wasn’t about to jump willingly into shark-infested waters.

Fed up with it all, Xander tried to stop the emotion from showing in his eyes. “You know what? 'Nuff said. Forget it. It must've been my multiple-personality guy talking. I call him Idiot Jed, glutton for punishment.”
 

The Powers give pause to honor love in all its myriad forms, but only as fits with the plan they weave. There is no time left for petty posturing. With the dark goddess restored and the childe of chaos mending there is cause for celebration as the Chosen One reaches a milestone of her existence.
 

Angel brushed his hand across the silky blond hair of his girlfriend. Concerned, that she seemed distracted, he caught her attention. “Hey. Is everything okay?”

Looking up at him, Buffy nibbled at her plump lower lip. “That's what I was gonna ask you. You're okay, right?”

“Sure. I— I'm fine. What's up?”

Looking down again, Buffy told him, “Um— I had this— dream that Drusilla was alive.”

Angel knew that Slayers had dreams that were actual portents to the future. Was this one of them or just a nightmare? “What happened?”

Hardening herself against the memory, Buffy found that she was unable to hide the pain that it caused. She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself with her hands. “She killed you. Right in front of me.”

“It was just a dream,” he tried to assure her. “It wasn't real.”

Protesting with tears in her eyes, “But it felt so real.”

Holding onto her now, Angel felt the need for a little comfort himself. “It wasn't. I'm right here.”

“Angel, th—this happened before. The dreams that I had about the Master, they came true.”

“Still, not every dream comes true.” The vampire hoped that wasn’t the case. “I mean, what else did you dream last night? Can you remember?”

After a long and weary pause, Buffy told him, “I dreamt— I dreamt Giles and I opened an office supply warehouse in Vegas.”

His lips curling upward, “See my point?”

Nodding, “Yeah, I— I do, but— what if Drusilla is alive? We never saw her body.”

“She's not.” Angel spoke the words, but hoped he wasn’t lying. As Dru’s sire, surely he would have felt her death being so close here in Sunnydale. He used to have a close connection with his childer, but it had been so long since he had seen them that the link had faded. “But even if she was alive, we'd deal.”

Buffy did not think she could deal with Angel’s death. God, she loved him so much! It was too much to deal with. “W-w-what if she is—.”

Cupping her face, Angel pressed his mouth to hers.

“What if what?” He asked after a few moments, their lips parting.

With her arms inching up the vampire’s broad chest to encircle his neck, “I'm sorry. Were we talking?”

Their lips met again. This time Buffy sighed into his mouth opening herself up to the invasive seduction of his tongue. Soft and wet, it massaged her own before darting back into the safe cavern of his mouth.

Breaking away, Buffy muttered a heart-wrenching apology. This had to stop. “I'm sorry. I, um— I have to go to school.”

As Angel bent forward for another kiss, he whispered into her mouth, “I know.”

Their kisses became numerous and heated. One melded into another. Angel pulled Buffy as close as he could practically lifting her off her feet to press her up against the evidence of his arousal.

“Oh, God, you feel—,” Buffy’s brain seemed to be short-circuiting as the unspoken came only as an echo in her mind. You feel so good. So hard. So mine.

Reluctantly pushing her to the floor and removing her arms from his neck, Angel tried to put a stop to things. He wanted her badly, but Buffy was still so young. “You have to go to school.”

“Right. I know.” Leaning up into another kiss, Buffy smooched her way across his chin until he brought his lips down to hers again, “This is me. I'm going.”

Buffy gripped onto Angel’s shirt, feeling the hard muscles of his abdomen beneath her touch. Mmm! He felt so good. Was there a better kisser in existence? Her fingers drifted down to his belt buckle and her eyes opened in naughty merriment as her vampire gave her a hard stare.

Now holding the wandering hands in his own, Angel pointed out, “You still haven't told me what you wanted for your birthday.”

Pouting that her fun was ending, Buffy simply said, “Surprise me.”

“Okay. I will.”

Turning seventeen only came once. And with Angel at her side, Buffy was certain that her birthday would be a memorable one. Reaching a hand up to caress his cheek, Buffy kissed the corner of his mouth before resolving that it was time to go. Smiling at him with her heart reflected in her eyes, she told him, “This is nice. I like seeing you first thing in the morning.”

Smiling too, he countered, “It's bedtime for me.”

“Well, then I like seeing you at bedtime,” she corrected her statement only to blush at the accidental connotation. “Uhm— uh! Heh. Y-you know what I mean.”

With an ache in his heart at the beauty of her innocence, Angel kept smiling. “I think so. What do you mean?”

“I like seeing you,” she admitted. He knew that. What he might not know was, “The part at the end of the night where we say good-bye— it's getting harder.”

Thinking of the ache in his groin, Angel could only voice an agreement. “Yeah. It is.”

The day went by in a whirlwind. It turned out that Angel was not the only one who had planned a surprise for the Slayer. This was an end of the world, apocalyptic kind of surprise that Buffy would much rather have done without: Drusilla and Spike’s assembly of the Judge, a demonic beast whose only purpose is to destroy humanity by burning it from existence.

Buffy and Angel burst into his apartment. Having narrowly escape death by JUDGEment, they fled the warehouse where Drusilla and Spike had holed up. Angel flipped on the light while Buffy closed the door behind them. Removing his heavy coat, Angel put it aside, leaving him mostly dry. Buffy, on the other hand, was soaked through. Her thin shirt was plastered to her skin.

“You’re shaking like a leaf,” he noted with concern.

Teeth chattering, Buffy could only answer, “Cold.”

“Let me get you something.” Moving over to his armoire, Angel reached in and pulled out some sweats and a t-shirt. Handing them to her, he instructed, put these on. Get under the covers, just to warm up.”

Walking over to the bed, Buffy sat down only to look up at him with a silent question. He quickly turned his back to her, providing her with a semblance of privacy.

“Sorry.” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t turned around automatically. He was just standing there waiting for her to take her clothes off. Cordy was right— you are a dumbass.

Angel nearly jerked with surprise as the thought hit him. He hadn’t had a serious thought with Cordelia Chase in it in ages. He hadn’t let himself. Not after she made it entirely clear to him that night at the Bronze that she wanted nothing to do with him as a vampire. Oh, she had been civil whenever their paths crossed. Too civil.

Now the beautiful hothead had started keeping secrets from her friends. Did she think he hadn’t noticed Xander frequently smelled of apples and cinnamon? The boy was lucky to be alive. Still, it had to be what she wanted. There was no denying Xander’s humanity.

With Cordelia avoiding him, Angel and Buffy had been able to focus on their growing feelings for each other. Every day that passed, they fell more and more in love. Angel had to smile, calling up the memory of giving Buffy her birthday present. Despite the events of the day, nearly being forced to leave Sunnydale and Buffy, Angel found the time to give her the claddagh ring that marked her as his in the only way he felt she would allow.

“It's beautiful,” Buffy had whispered as she gazed at its intricate design.

Angel explained its significance. “My people— before I was changed— they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty— and the heart— well, you know. Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this.”

Lifting his hand, he showed her the ring on his own finger with the heart pointed to him. Buffy had touched his hand, leaned over and kissed the ring.

“Put it on.”

Angel was reliving the moment of placing his ring on Buffy’s finger when he heard her wince in pain. Swiveling around despite the intent to give her privacy, he found her to be struggling with her shirt. “What is it?”

“Oh, um— it's okay. I just have a cut or something.”

How had he not noticed that? Angel’s hands were itching to ensure that she was okay. “Can I—? Lemme see.”

Buffy clutched her shirt to her chest. Whispering, “Okay.”

Sitting down on the bed behind her, Angel gently touched her back and looked at the cut. “It's already closed. You're fine.”

Leaning back into him, unable to resist his closeness, Buffy cuddled her face to his. Then his arms came around her. Trembling at her cold state and the colder memory, Buffy was still shocked. “You almost went away today.”

“We both did.”

Sobbing, Buffy called out his name between her sniffles, “Angel— I feel like I lost you. You're right, though. We can't be sure of anything.”

The steady rhythm of her heart Angel thumped beneath his hand as it rested along her back and the sweet vanilla smell of her mixed with the clear scent of the rainwater. She was warmer than he despite the cold she felt. The memory of her smile earlier in the day gave him warmth for she was like pure sunshine.

“Shhh.” Angel shushed her softly. She was so close. His ring pressed into his palm as she clutched his hand. Temptation and innocence personified. He was on a fine edge. “I—”

Buffy turned slightly to look at him. Something about the way he watched her made her heart race faster. “You what?”

“I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop.”

He said the words. Buffy stuttered, “Me— me, too. I can't either.” She could never stop loving Angel.

Kissing. It was so easy to get lost in just the kissing. They had certainly practiced enough by now. Buffy no longer felt the cold. All she felt was Angel’s strong arms reeling her in. Then he pulled back, breaking off the kiss with a suddenness that left her gasping for more.

“Buffy, maybe we shouldn't—.”

“Don’t.” Stopping his from delaying this moment any further, Buffy pressed her fingers over his mouth. “Close your eyes. Just kiss me.”
 

A moment of succinct joy. Utter happiness. That a merging could cause such convergence is kin to irony itself. Is it destiny? A twist of fate? The wrath of man? The Warrior cannot become our champion without facing his past. Though his childe and hers wreck havoc on the Hellmouth, they are not best qualified to judge him nor to choose his future’s path.

Part 3

 A moment of succinct joy. Utter happiness. That a merging could cause such convergence is kin to irony itself. Is it destiny? A twist of fate? The wrath of man? The Warrior cannot become our champion without facing his past. Though his childe and hers wreck havoc on the Hellmouth, they are not best qualified to judge him nor to choose his future’s path.
 

Angel awoke with a start, gasping in pain at the crushing pressure in his chest. A flash of lightning lit the edge of the closed curtain. The sound of thunder still echoed near. Sitting up, he noticed that Buffy was still asleep beside him, her nude form wrapped snuggly in the blankets. Something was wrong, he realized as the pain worsened.

Leaping out of the bed, he grabbed for the clothes discarded on the floor. Dressing as fast as he could, Angel knew for certain that he had to get out. Get away from Buffy before it was too late. The only time in his existence as a vampire that he had felt this way was the night the Kalderash cursed him with his soul. It had filled into an empty layer of his being with all the pain of birth.

“Ahh!” Now he grabbed his chest as he stumbled into the alley. Knocking into several overflowing trash cans, Angel fell to his knees on the pavement. Something instinctive told him the cause even as it happened. He screamed out his love’s name as his soul burst forth, released from its connection to an unnatural host.

“Buffyyyyy!”

The cry brought aid in the form of a lone streetwalker, her appearance leaving no denial as to what she did for a living. Still, she responded to the anguish in the voice of the man on the ground. Bending down from the dangerous height of her four-inch heels, and still precariously holding a cigarette in one hand, she asked, “Are you okay, mister? You want me to call 911?”

Rebounding to his feet with his usual athletic form, he slowly rubbed one hand across his chest. “No. The pain is gone.”

The hooker remained concerned. “You sure?”

“Yeah.” Spinning around before the woman could even acknowledge his demonic visage, he grabbed her shoulders and brought his fangs to her throat. Ripping into the vulnerable flesh he drained her body of its blood sucking her life away in seconds.

Dropping her dead body, the vampire tilted his head up to blow the smoke he’d just inhaled through her neck from her lungs. “I feel just fine.”

Looking up at the curtained window of his apartment, he knew Buffy would still be dreaming of her true love. There was still plenty of time to play with the Slayer and she wasn’t the only one. Angelus had one duty to perform before the games got underway. He had family in town.

Arriving at the warehouse, he sauntered up to Spike and Drusilla only to be challenged by their large blue demon, the Judge. From his wheelchair, Spike ordered the demon to burn Angel as it would do to anything drenched with the humanity of a soul. Spike had lost all respect for his grandsire over a century ago, when the souled vampire abandoned them to wallow in despair. Even Darla, his own sire, had kicked him out of her bed, tossing his undead ass onto the streets.

The Judge placed a large hand over the center of the vampire’s chest as Spike awaited the eruption of fireworks. He did not notice that Drusilla cocked her head toward the dark vamp, peering at him as though comparing him to something from one of her visions.

“Hurts, doesn't it?” Spike smirked.

After glancing down at his chest, Angelus looked back at the blond vampire. “Well, you know, it kinda itches a little.”

Angry that the blue demon had not gone ahead with his command, Spike ordered, “Don't just stand there. Burn him.”

Relaxed in the face of potential destruction, Angelus quipped, “Gee, maybe he's broken.”

Growling in frustration, Spike caught Drusilla’s dark gaze. “What the hell is going on?”

Confusion of Drusilla's gaunt face transformed and her eyes darkened into inky pools, glittering with wonder at the sight before her.

“This one— cannot be burnt.” The Judge’s deep voice informed the vampires who were now in control of his actions. Removing his hand from Angelus’ chest, the demon rendered his verdict. “He is clean.”

“Clean? You mean, he's—”

“There's no humanity in him.”

Angelus faced Spike again after watching the Judge move away. With a twist of his lips, he had to admit, “I couldn't have said it better myself.”

Breathless wonder sounded in Drusilla’s voice as she received confirmation of what she already sensed. “Angel.”

“Yeah, baby. I'm back.”

Spike was still in shock. “Is it really true?”

Laughing at the tone in Spike’s voice, Angelus walked around the table surveying the territory again. “It's really true.”

Following his path with her eyes, Drusilla realized that her vision had been true. The stars had told her this would happen. “You've come home.”

“No more of this 'I've got a soul' crap?” Spike demanded as he wheeled after him.

“What can I say, hmm?” Striking a match on the table, he lit a cigarette from the pack he had taken from the hooker he had drained. “I was going through a phase.”

Hell, yeah! Spike wanted to shout it out to all of Sunnydale. His grandsire, the fearsome Angelus was back. What havoc they would create. After the Judge decimated this quiet little burg, they’d move on to something better. The Scourge of Europe may be one vamp short of the Fearsome Foursome, but Darla was dead and Spike never liked that bitch of a blonde anyway.

“This is great! This is so great!” Spike pumped his fisted hands and let out a triumphant shout.

Now on the table, Drusilla waved her arms in the air. “Everything in my head is singing!”

Angelus laughed at her antics. He had missed his loony childe. There was nothing more dark or dangerous than a crazy vampire— as the Slayer and her little undead playgroup were finding out. Reaching out with her long, slender hands, Drusilla grasped her sire’s shoulders as he helped her off the table.

“We're family again.” She was all smiles at the idea. Leaning in close, she bared her teeth to him. “We’ll feed.”

“Grrr,” she growled lusciously as she caught Spike’s gaze.

Then leaning contentedly against her sire’s broad chest, she raked her sharp nails over his shirt. Desire dripped from her voice as she added, “And we'll play.”

“I've got to tell you,” Spike turned serious, “it made me sick to my stomach seeing you being the Slayer's lap dog.”

Angelus growled, grabbing Spike by the shirt. For a moment the blond vamp thought he was about to bite him. Then the fangs vanished. Kissing him on the forehead, Angelus dropped the invalid vampire back into his chair, stepping back. Bursting with laughter, both Angelus and Drusilla found it infectious and joined in.

Fingering her sire’s dark hair, Drusilla asked, “How did this happen?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Angelus knew that was no lie. The other vamp would never understand what the soul had done to him. Was there truly anything worse to a demon? What would Spike’s reaction be if he told him, “Tonight, I shagged the Slayer. She fucked the soul right out of me.”

“Oh, who cares?” Spike decided he didn’t need a reason. Angelus was back. That was all that counted. “With Big Blue over there it’s four against one. Those are the odds I like to play.”

Drusilla nipped at Angelus’ ear with blunt teeth before whispering, “Psst. We're going to destroy the world. Want to come?”

Playing with his cigarette, he thought it over. *Boring*. Angelus had seen enough of the blue demon. He had other things to do before turning his attention away from Sunnydale and none of them involved turning his prey into charred toast. Not unless he was the one to do the charring.

Angelus’ lack of enthusiasm for the plan was apparent as he yawned, “Yeah. Destroying the world. Great.”

What the hell? Spike was confused. Shouldn’t Angelus want to take up the reigns and be the first to screw the humans? They had cursed him with a soul, the bloody bastards.

“I'm really more interested in the Slayer,” his grandsire explained.

“Well, she's *in* the world, so that should work out.”

Not the way he wanted. “Give me tonight. Hmm?”

“What do you mean?”

“Lay low for a night,” Angelus told him. “I guarantee you by the time you go public she won't be anything resembling a threat.”

Spike had killed two Slayers himself, but he had never toyed with them the way Angelus seemed to want to. “You've really got a yen to hurt this girl, haven't you?”

“She made me feel like a human being,” Angelus told Spike with a rumbling growl deep in his chest. “That's not the kind of thing you just forgive. After tonight, you can do what you want. Breaking the Slayer is my right and I know just the way to do it. Besides, she has something of mine. I won’t have you burning down Sunnydale until I get it.”

Back at the Sunnydale High library, Willow was on the phone with her distraught friend, trying to come up with reasons for Angel’s sudden disappearance.

“Ok. No, no, he didn't, but I'm sure he'll— Well, Buffy, he probably has some plan, and he's trying to protect you. Well, I-I don't know what. I'm not in on the plan. It's his plan. No. Don't even say that! Angel is not dead.”

Cordelia Chase flipped through one of the Watcher’s dustier books as she passed the counter. Stretched out on top was Xander, also studying while Giles had holed up in his office to research this latest threat. Willow was the only otherwise occupied. Her ear was plastered to the phone listening to Buffy.

Cordelia stopped in mid-stride at Willow’s words. God, no! Did Buffy really suspect that Angel was dead? There was a nauseating pain centered in her solar plexus as she waited to hear more.

“Say 'hi' for me.” Xander called out, totally unconcerned at the potential news.

Flashing her serious face at Xander, the redhead turned back to the phone, “Yeah, Buffy. Of course we'll be here. Okay, bye.”

Hanging up, she quickly walked over to the counter where Xander’s nose was back in his book. The computer hacker quirked, “Say *hi* for me?”

Xander asked, “What's the word?”

Willow’s face fell into a pout. “She's checked every place she can think of. She even beat up Willy the snitch a couple of times. Angel's vanished.”

Giles emerged from his office and was now standing in his doorway. “But he does do that on occasion, no?”

Nodding, “Oh, yeah, but she's extra wigged this time. I guess 'cause of her dreams. God, what if something really happened to him?”

“Is she gonna join us here?” Giles inquired.

“Yeah. She's just stopping at home first. Says she needs a hot bath.” Willow thought it was strange to detour now, but suggested, “Possible slayage.”

Slamming his book closed, Xander jumped down from the counter. Picking up the book, he headed toward the stacks to get another, indicating that this one had, “Nada.”

Rounding the corner, he found Cordelia leaning up against the bookcase looking kind of pale. “You okay?”

Straightening her frame, she let out a long breath of air. “Yeah. I think all the research is getting to me. Moldy, dusty, gross books with moldy dusty demons.”

“Did you find anything?” Xander shelved his book.

Cordelia pointed to the book she had put away. “This book mentions the Judge, but nothing useful. Big, scary, no weapon forged can stop him, took an army to take him down. Blah, blah, blah.”

It was the best they had found so far, but as Cordy suggested, the info seemed less than inspiring. “We need some insight, a weak spot.”

“Well, we're not gonna find it here.”

Realizing that he had Cordelia alone in the only area of the library cut off from the main room, Xander moved closer. “Sorry I snapped at you before.”

“Well, I’m reeling from that new experience,” Cordy rolled her eyes. Not the first time. More like the millionth.

“I’m crazed. I wasn’t thinking.”

Glaring at him, she said, “I know. You were too busy running off to die for your beloved Buffy.”

She paused long enough to feel a stab of jealousy. It was always Buffy this, Buffy that. “You’d never die for me.”

“No, I might die *from* you. Does that get me any points?”

“No.”

Xander pleaded with the brunette. “Come on, can't we just kiss and make up?”

“I don't wanna make up,” she snapped. Watching him turn away, Cordelia added smiling, “But I'm okay with the other part.”

Returning her smile, Xander leaned into the kiss she offered. They smooched for untold moments until Cordelia giggled, pulling away with a grin. As they moved apart, both realized they had an audience. Willow was standing behind them, looking completely confused and upset.

Xander was stunned. “Willow, uh—”

Without saying a word, she darts off. Instantly, Xander ran after her trying to explain what she saw. “We were just— Willow! Willow!”

Cordelia slowly emerged from the stacks, walking down the steps in plodding fashion. It had finally happened. They had been caught in the act. Found kissing. By her childhood nemesis, Willow Rosenberg, the smartest girl in school. Best friend of her boyfriend.

Geez! It took her long enough to figure it out, Cordy realized.

Dashing out of the library, Xander was right behind Willow. She looked like to be headed all the way home when he called out, “Willow, come on!”

The sound of his voice stopped Willow in her tracks. Whirling around, she shook her finger at him. “I knew it! I knew it! Well, not 'knew it' in the sense of having the slightest idea, but I knew there was something I didn't know. You two were fighting way too much. It's not natural!”

“I know it's weird—,” Xander did not really understand it himself.

Gasping in disgust, her nose crinkled in reaction. “You call it weird? It's against all laws of God and man! It's Cordelia! Remember? The 'We Hate Cordelia' club— of which you are the treasurer.”

“Look, I was gonna tell you,” he pleaded understanding.

“Gee, what stopped you?” Willow’s voice turned sour. “Could it be shame?”

“All right, let's overreact, shall we?”

Willow’s face was paler than usual and she looked to be on the verge of tears. Pain and confusion were etched on her expression. “But I'm—”

Sighing, Xander tried to make her see that it was not that big a deal. “Willow, we were just kissing. It doesn't mean that much.”

“No,” she countered. “It just means that you'd rather be with someone you hate than be with me.”

Running from the hall, Willow left him behind to consider her words. After a minute, he reluctantly turns to go back into the library.

Willow never stopped running until she reached home. She passed her mother without a word and Sheila Rosenberg barely noticed her passing while browsing through her issue of Psychology Today. Mother-daughter bonding was not easy in the Rosenberg home, especially now that Willow had taken a keen interest in mysticism and magick. Somehow she had a feeling that her parents would freak.

Slamming the door behind her, Willow flopped down on her bed and stared toward the ceiling. Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase dueling tongues in the library. Her library! Getting secret smooches. Somehow, this was all Cordy’s fault. The tall brunette could have any guy she wanted, yet she had to pick on Xander. Dumb Xander! Falling into the cheerleader’s clutches.

Obviously, Cordelia Chase— the skanky ho— had worked her way down the alphabet at the Sunnydale High student registry and was now on the letter ‘X’. It wasn’t fair. Why did it have to be Xander? Cordy and Xander had been at odds since kindergarten. She was the snooty princess and he the class clown.

Willow felt the tears trickle down the corners of her eyes to her cheeks. This school year Willow’s feelings for her friend had taken a new turn. She had never felt more than the love of friendship for her lifelong pal. It was Buffy’s fault actually, now that Willow gave it a little thought. Xander was infatuated with the blond Slayer and everyone knew it, but Buffy Summers offered only friendship. He held out hope in his own fruitless fashion. Then Angel came on the scene and no one was left in any doubt that Buffy was his girl.

With Buffy’s feelings fully pinned on the vampire with a soul, Willow hoped that Xander would finally take notice of her. She remembered their almost-a-kiss at the end of the summer, brought on by an ice cream incident. Then school started up again and Xander’s Buffy obsession seemed to be as strong as ever despite Angel’s frequent presence. Then Cordelia Chase came creeping into their lives like an insidious plague. Willow actually thought she was starting to like the girl. How wrong was that?

“She can have anyone she wants,” Willow muttered. “Anyone. Why does it have to be Xander? I’d like to see Cordy really in love without the hope of it being returned. Then she’d know what I feel.”

“Anyone,” Willow grumbled. Cordy apparently had the ability to charm anyone with a Y-chromosome. Unrequited love? Hah! Even Giles whimpered a bit around Cordelia. He holds out her chair in the library. Escorts her to her car. The only guy around Sunnydale Cordy didn’t have on a leash was Buffy’s Angel.

Hmm. Angel.

Flying off of the bed, Willow yanked open her closet door and pulled out a cardboard box of magick supplies. She grabbed a book of spells from its hiding place flipping through it until her gaze fell on a certain page. Looking at it, a slow smile crept across her face as she realized precisely what she was going to do.

What better way to get back at Cordelia than by making her want something she could never have? Buffy’s vampire would never think about another girl that way. You could just tell by the way he looked at the blond Slayer. She was his soulmate. They were in love and there was nothing Cordelia Chase would ever be able to do to change that.

The spell would be easy and Willow already had all of the components required for it.

An hour later, Willow Rosenberg returned to the Sunnydale High library. She was calmly walking down the hall when Xander emerged from the bathroom. Catching sight of her, he gulped down the thick lump in his throat and jogged over to meet her.

“Will.” He was behind her.

Hugging her arms around her thin frame, Willow turned to face him. “Hey.”

“Where'd you go?”

“Home,” she told him the truth. They had always told each other everything. Until now.

“I'm glad you came back.” Xander reached a hand out to touch her shoulder lightly. She flinched, but did not pull away. He noticed, frowning. “We can't do this without you.”

Taking a deep breath, Willow shared her anger. “Let's get this straight. I don't understand it, I don't wanna understand it, you have gross emotional problems, and things are *not*
okay between us. But what's happening right now is more important than that.”

“Okay.” What more could he say?

They stuck to a safe subject— their research on the Judge and potential ways to stop him. It wasn’t until Willow mentioned the need for an army that a thought struck Xander. And then another. Followed by another that seemed to be making sense. Until the lights went out overhead— literally. Sunnydale High was bathed in darkness.

Xander tagged on another thought, “Now I’m having a wiggins.”

“What's going on?” Willow looked around, but did not see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

Xander suggested, “Let's get to the library.”

Out of the darkness, a familiar voice called out to them. “Willow. Xander.”

Both recognized Angel’s voice and were not surprised at his ability to suddenly sneak up on people. After all, he did it all of the time. They turned together, noting that he seemed to be uninjured. With all the concern that Buffy displayed regarding his disappearance, it was a relief to see him in one piece.

With their usual ritual, Xander acknowledged his presence with a nod. “Angel.”

“Thank God you're okay.” Willow sighed deeply. “Did you see Buffy?”

“Yeah,” Angelus revealed truthfully. He just came from the Summers house where he played the part of his soulful self. Poor little Cry Buffy. He left her whimpering with the news that her vampire lover didn’t give a damn about inexperienced little virgins like her. Even though that was far from the truth. Just the first step in his game to tear the Slayer apart from the inside out. “What's up with the lights?”

Xander told him, “I don't know. Listen, I think I have an idea.”

Oh, Research. Angelus wasn’t interested. “Forget about that now. I— I got something to show you.”

“Show us?” Willow wondered if that was why he left Buffy alone. He had found a way to destroy the Judge.

Angelus nodded, “Yeah. Xander, go get the others.”

“Okay,” Readily agreeing, Xander ran off to get Giles, Jenny and Cordy.

As soon as Xander was out of sight, the vampire motioned to the tiny redhead that stood staring at him. “And Willow. Come here.”

Completely trusting him, Willow walked slowly forward. “What is it, Angel?”

“It's amazing.”

Down the hall, Xander suddenly stopped in his tracks. A bad feeling crept over him as he glance back over his shoulder in the darkened corridor. He remembered the school lights went out just as Angel arrived. Turning around, he darted back in the direction of Willow and the vampire.

Willow looked up at Angel, curiosity filling her expression, when Jenny Calendar made an appearance across the hall. Holding up a large cross, she urged the girl to step back. “Get away from him, Willow.”

Stopping in her forward approach, the young witch wondered if her computer teacher had lost it. “What?”

“Walk to me,” Jenny’s voice carried a strange urgency.

“What are you talking about?” Completely baffled, Willow wondered if somehow Jenny Calendar did not recognize the leather-garbed vampire. “It's just Ang—”

The move came swift and sure as Angelus snuck up to grab Willow by the throat. Letting out a frightened yelp, Willow was pulled up against the vampire’s rock hard frame. Eep!
Then Xander burst through the door from the connecting hall.

“Don't do that!”

Angelus smirked in delight. “Oh, I think I’m already doing it.”

“Angel—,” Xander started to issue a warning.

Jenny cut him off. “He's not Angel anymore. Are you?”

The challenge was met by the vampire tightening his grip on Willow’s slender throat. “Wrong,” he countered. “I *am* Angel. At last!”

“Oh, my God,” Xander realized his worst nightmares about this vampire were coming to pass.

“I got a message for Buffy.”

“Why don't you give it to me yourself?” Buffy’s voice was as hard as steel, but she still wanted to hear the answer. There was something strange going on here. She was starting to suspect that things were not alright in Angelville.

Spinning around and taking Willow with him, Angelus faced the Slayer. “Well, it's not really the kind of message you tell. It sort of involves you finding the bodies of all your friends on your doorstep.”

This time Willow let out a yelp of real pain as his grip tightened further. Buffy looked on with confusion, pain and a measure of fear.

“This can't be you,” she denied.

Tilting his dark head, “Gee, we already covered that subject.”

Taking a single step forward, Buffy pleaded, “Angel, there must be some part of you inside that still remembers who you are.”

“Dream on, schoolgirl.” Oh, he remembered. He just didn’t care.

Xander yanked the cross from Jenny’s hand, moving rapidly toward Angelus. The vampire had not yet noticed his advance. He was too busy toying with Buffy. “Your boyfriend is dead. You're all gonna join him.”

“Leave Willow alone, and deal with me.”

Pinching her pale cheek, he gave a mock protest, “But she's so cute and helpless. Really a turn-on.”

Xander arrived immediately behind Angelus, shoving the cross into the vamp’s face from behind. Reeling back, he dropped Willow who cried out as she fell toward Xander as they both collapsed against the wall. Angelus turned to Jenny and warded her off with a hand as he moved back down the hall. Still in shock, Buffy found herself forcefully taken by the shoulders and shoved up against the corridor wall.

Inhaling in fright, Buffy felt her limbs tremble in response to the demonic face of her lover. He promised with a soft whisper, “Things are about to get *very* interesting.”

Pressing a hard kiss on her mouth, Angelus dropped her to the ground and started to back out the door. Willow and Xander— despite their own trauma— moved over to check on their friend.

“Buffy, you okay?”

The Slayer was still staring at the door.

“Buffy.”

It took some effort to get Buffy to the library. She seemed to be moving in slow motion. Now there, they explained their encounter to Giles whose eyes widened. He started to pace the floor, stopping periodically to clean his glasses.

After hearing it all, Giles still had to ask, “And we're absolutely certain that— that Angel has reverted to his former self?”

“Yeah, uh, we're all certain,” Xander thought that was obvious. “Anyone here not feeling certain?”

Willow spluttered, still in a haze of disbelief. “Giles, you wouldn't have believed him. He was so— He came here to kill us.”

Cordelia sat silently through the whole discussion trying to make sense of what they were saying. Since learning that Angel was a vampire, she had made an effort to find out more about him. Not personally. No she had avoided him as much as possible. But Giles’ many books and records contained numerous details about the vampire, some of which she had discovered. There was no way the Watcher’s Council would allow Angelus to live, even if Buffy spared him the stake.

Not that Buffy seemed in any condition to take out a fledgling right now, much less a master vampire. Meeting Giles’s gaze, Cordelia asked him, “What are you planning?”

“I'm leaning towards blind panic myself,” he answered honestly.

Jenny censured him, “Rupert, don't talk like that. The kids.”

Realizing that he was not being the strong and supportive Watcher for his Slayer and her friends, Giles apologized. “I'm sorry. It's just that things are bad enough with the Judge here. Angel crossing over to the other side— I-I-I wasn't prepared for that.”

“None of us were,” Jenny sighed as she watched Willow place an arm around Buffy’s shoulder.

Willow was asking, “Are you okay?”

The only response was the sad shake of Buffy’s blond head.

“Is there anything I can do?”

Shaking her head again, the broken-hearted girl blurted, “I should've known! When I saw him at the house, he was different. The things he said—”

“What things?” Giles was curious.

“It's private,” Buffy responded drawing an arched look from her Watcher.

Jenny found it strange that the reason wasn’t obvious. “But you didn't know he had turned bad?”

Puzzled, Willow had to ask Jenny, “How did you?”

Her eyes widening, Jenny seemed a bit rattled by the question. “What?”

“Well, you knew,” Willow pointed out. “You told me to get away from him.”

Struggling for an answer, the computer teacher found one. “Well, I saw his face.”

“If only we knew how it happened,” Giles wondered as he sat down at the table next to Buffy. She asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, something set it off,” Giles told her. “Some, some, uh, event must've triggered his transformation.”

Cordelia suddenly pushed away from the table, her chair hitting the floor behind her. “It was you, Buffy. What did you do to Angel?”

Still in shock, Buffy stared back at the tall brunette. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to hold back her tears. “N-nothing. I— we just—”

Suddenly, Giles realized that Cordelia was right. He gently asked Buffy, “Did anything happen tonight t-that might—”

“Giles, please, I can't.” Buffy darted out of the library.

Calling after her, the librarian tried to stop her. “Buffy, I'm sorry, but we can't afford to—
Buffy!”

It was Cordelia that turned to him, “Giles, shut up.”

Xander jumped at his girlfriend’s stern tone. From her accusation of Buffy to telling Giles to shut up, Cordy seemed to be aware of something he wasn’t. “Don’t you read your own Watcher Diaries? Angelus did not gain his soul because he was a good little vamp. He was cursed with it.”

As his mouth gaped open, Giles realized that Cordelia had been sneaking into his office to read the books that he kept apart from all of the others. Since Angel had become such a large part of the Slayer’s life, he tried to protect her from the details of his most gruesome days. Now he realized it was a mistake.

“Someone uncursed him,” Cordelia pointed out when the Watcher made no immediate reply. “It was Buffy. I know it.”

“Why would Buffy get rid of Angel’s soul?” Willow did not follow the logic. “It’s a little like wanting a puppy, but settling for Cujo instead.”

Rolling her eyes, the cheerleader figured the girl had no clue what she was talking about. “Clueless dork. You said it yourself, Willow. How did Jenny know about Angel being evil? Did he look any different?”

“More leather,” Xander commented with a shrug.

Willow shook her head. “I didn’t notice. Until he grabbed me by the neck.”

“Just how did you know Angel was Evil Vamp, Ms Calendar?” Cordelia’s hands were splayed over her hips in a determined stance. “Did you know this was gonna happen?”

Standing, Giles appeared to be livid. In defense of Jenny, he wagged a finger at the girl. Thundering, “You can't go around accusing everybody—,” until he was interrupted by the woman he was defending.

“Rupert, I didn't know— exactly,” Jenny said carefully while confessing that Cordelia was on-target. “Cordy is right about Buffy, although I am sure she doesn’t understand the reason for it. I was told— Oh, God. I was sent here to watch Angel and Buffy. They told me to keep them apart.”

“Pfft!” Cordelia wondered who had put her up to that impossible task.

“They never told me what would happen,” Jenny Calendar confessed

Surprised and confused, Giles could only react, “Jenny!”

“I'm sorry, Rupert. Angel was supposed to pay for what he did to my people.”

Her words made sense now to both Giles and Cordelia. While the Watcher was still lost in thought, Cordy had no trouble saying, “You’re one of them. A gypsy. One of the— uh, Balderdash Clan.”

“Kalderash,” Jenny corrected.

“The whosiwhatsis?” Xander was lost.

“The gypsies who cursed Angelus with a soul,” explained Cordelia. She had not forgotten what Angel told her that night at the Bronze when she first learned that he was a vampire.

Giles straightened his eye glasses. This night was hell. The woman who had found a way into his heart was a fake. She had lied to him about her reasons for being in Sunnydale. A spy no less, for a clan of gypsies. What other lies had she told?

“So you did it?” Willow was still thinking about Cujo as she asked Ms Calendar, “If the gypsies gave Angel a soul to make him good, why would you take it away now?”

Moistening her dry lips, Jenny realized that this was complicated. Explaining, “My clan did not give Angelus a soul to create a good vampire, but to make him suffer for eternity. He killed a beloved daughter of my people. They used the magicks at their command to curse the vampire. It gave him a soul which brought with it the pain, anguish and remorse that comes with humanity.”

“Angel suffers with the memory of every death caused at his whim,” Giles realized. He knew the number was in the thousands. Tens of thousands.

“Precisely,” Jenny nodded. “As long as the soul remained intact, so did the suffering.”

Cordy was getting the full picture. “Enter the blond bimbo.”

Jenny Calendar blinked for a second, and then realized the reference. “Buffy has been the one danger that my people have feared.”

“She loves him,” Coated with emotion, Cordelia’s voice seemed to strangle on the words.

“Yes.” Everyone present was in agreement on that one.

Giles demanded more details. “I still don’t understand. What’s love got to do with it?”

Suppressing a snort, Xander covered his mouth and sat back to listen. Hopefully, one of them would say something that made sense.

“The curse is all about regret and pain and anguish. It’s about hating yourself for what you are, but being forced to live with it because your soul won’t let you forget.” Jenny let out a long sigh. “Love has everything to do with it, Rupert. To break the curse, all Angel needed was an instance of pure contentment and self-acceptance. True happiness. Utter bliss.”

Oh, dear! Giles removed his glasses yet again. They had to be the cleanest glasses in Sunnydale, but he was still seeing spots. “W-w-w-h-h-how do you know Buffy was a danger?”

While Xander sat back in his chair with a weird expression on his face, having finally got it, the women all stared at the librarian who seemed to be in a state of denial. “They’re in love, Giles!” Cordelia finally growled at him. “Buffy isn’t a total loser when it comes to recognizing what she wants. Hello, hottie! Can’t blame the girl for wanting to crawl all over that hunk-o-vamp.”

Willow’s eyes widened as Cordelia got deeper and deeper into her description. The other girl’s hazel eyes were glazed over as if a delicious memory had just popped into her head. With a sinking feeling, the redheaded witch realized two things. One was that Buffy and Angel had made with the wild monkey love, causing the vampire to have a soul-defying moment of bliss. The other was that the spell she had cast on Cordelia was in full effect.

“Cordy, don’t say that,” Willow gulped down a cry. “Angel’s not a hottie. No. Unh, uh! He isn’t even Angel. He’s— Angelus, right? Evil vamp.”

But the cheerleader wasn’t really paying attention anymore. “Gotta tell ya Giles, I know Buffy. She may pretend that I don’t, but deep down the girl is a lot like me.”

“Uh, Cordy?” Now Xander was looking green.

“We know what we want and we take it,” Cordelia told them. “Want. Take. Have. Simple really when you think about it. With me, it’s usually about buying shoes. With Buffy, it’s all about vampires. Especially that vampire.”

Giles sank back down onto the edge of the table. “Oh.”

They all stared at the floor for countless minutes until Jenny Calendar broke the silence. “If there is anything that—”

“Curse him again.” Cordelia was quick to suggest.

Taken aback, Jenny held her hands up in denial. “No, I-I can't. I mean, those magicks are long lost even to my people. They no longer possess the power to cast such a spell.”

“You did it once. It might not be too late to save him,” Giles suggested.

Jenny nibbled on her bottom lip before answering. “I’ve been working on a translation. It has to do with the curse. Even if it is possible to interpret the text, it would take someone of incredible power to cast it.”

Thinking of his acquaintances in England, Giles wondered if they would know someone.
“Keep at it, Jenny. You translate the curse whilst I focus on finding someone to invoke it. If we cannot restore Angel’s soul, I fear that Buffy will be forced to destroy him.”

“She won’t do it,” warned Cordelia almost defiantly.

Minutes later, Jenny Calendar headed home and Giles wandered back into his office. He shut the door behind him. An obvious sign that he wanted to be alone. That left Willow, Xander and Cordelia gathered at the center of the library. They stood staring back and forth until Xander finally broke the silence between them.

This was not a good time to bring up the Cordy kissing incident, so he chose to focus on two of their other immediate problems. “One of us needs to check on the Buffster. Fill her in on Ms Calendar’s little spy game.”

“I’ll go,” Willow knew she had to be the one even if that did leave Xander and Cordelia together. Another flash of jealousy reminded her that her little tiff may have been a very bad thing. This seemed like a bad time to have a mystically-induced and uncontrollable attraction to a certain vampire. “Where does that leave you two?”

“Gotta get some stuff,” Xander told her. “I have a plan to beat the Judge.”

“Care to let me in on the plan I'm a part of?” Cordelia queried.

“No.”

“Why not?” Xander having a plan was scary enough. Not telling her about it— was probably a good idea.

“Because if I tell you, then you won't do it. Just meet me at my house in half an hour.”

“Okay.”

Before walking off he raked his eyes over her dress, “And wear something trashy—er.”

Incensed, Cordelia followed behind him telling him that it was so not a trashy dress. It was a one-of-a-kind original, but if he wanted trashy that was what he would get. Curious as to the reason for it, she did not find out until they arrived at the Army Depot an hour later. Xander’s plan to raid the depot actually worked thanks to the residual memories from his Halloween stint as a soldier.

They returned to get an update from Willow who was going to stay overnight with Buffy. The Slayer was not taking the news well that having sex with Angel and providing him with a moment of happiness had caused him to lose his soul. Only the fact that Jenny was working on a way to save Angel gave her any comfort.

Cordelia dropped Xander off at his house and went inside for a few minutes. Just long enough to help him take the stolen weapon down to the basement. “I am so not keeping that thing in my car!”

Saying goodbye at the door, Xander leaned forward to kiss her goodnight. “Oops! My car keys,” Cordy quickly bent down to picked them up off the ground. In doing so, she was now out of arms reach. Neither one was certain if she had dropped the keys on purpose.

Cordelia waved goodbye and watched as Xander closed the door. She stood there for a second, smoothing down the edge of the tight red leather mini dress then pulled her thin silk wrap around her shoulders. It was too cold for this outfit, but it certainly distracted the soldier at the depot. When she got home, there was definitely going to be a hot bubble bath in her future.

“Hello, Cordelia,” the voice came out of the shadows as she made her way to her car.

“Angel,” she gasped.

“Baby, you look good enough to eat,” the vampire strolled up the sidewalk. “I came to see Wonder Boy, but I suppose he can wait.”

She made no move to run. That would be fruitless, especially in these heels. Truthfully, Cordelia was uncertain that she wanted to escape until she had a chance to talk to the vampire. He was not wearing his game face. He looked the same as always except for the rakish grin. Not to mention the black leather. Geez, that made him look hot!

Moving to stand only a foot away, Angelus let her scent waft over him as he breathed it in. Apples and cinnamon. Strangely, he did not sense any fear coming from her. Surely the Slayer’s Scoobies informed her of his threats. This called for a little test.

“What have you been up to tonight, Cordy? Though I love the look, that dress is hotter than usual,” Angelus commented as his eyes dropped to her prominently displayed rack. “Playing tonsil hockey with the X-boy?”

He knew! Did everyone know about her and Xander? “Eww. Don’t call it that. And no, that is so not what we were doing.”

Angelus waited for further details. If Cordelia thought she could dress like a whore for another man without hearing about it from him, then she would soon learn differently. Then she explained, “We have a plan to stop the Judge. This is my costume.”

“I don’t think the Judge is your type, Cordelia.” He smirked in amusement.

“Duh! Like I would get off on a big blue demon.” Rolling her eyes, she said, “This was a distraction technique so we could steal the stuff we need.”

As his tongue flitted over his teeth, Angelus couldn’t resist the question, “What type of demon does it take you get you off, baby?”

The gorgeous hazel eyes popped open a little wider on that one. “Stop teasing me, Angel. Oh! Do I still call you that now?”

“Huh?” He’d been distracted by her long legs and the thought of them gripping his back.

“I thought vamps had super hearing,” Cordy let out a little laugh upon seeing where his gaze had fallen. “Do I still call you Angel or is it Angelus?”

She did know. That surprised him considering the fact that they were actually having a conversation. With a shrug, the vampire told her that he didn’t care which name she used as long as Cordelia understood who she was dealing with. Darla and Dru had used the name Angel interchangeably with the more formal Angelus for decades. Spike rarely used either name and usually picked some descriptive moniker that amused him.

“Should I be screaming?”

“Probably,” answered Angelus. “There is no need to be afraid of me, Cordelia.”

Remembering, “That’s what you told me at the Bronze when you still had your soul.”

“Meant it then, too.” The vampire looked sincere enough. He had not made a threatening move.

Cordelia shifted her weight from one leg to the other, not noticing that her sheer wrap had fallen to the ground. “So you don’t plan to bite me and drain me dry?”

“I’m not gonna kill you, Cordy,” he answered cryptically. “Not tonight.”

“Good news.”

Reaching out and pulling her hard against his tall frame, Angelus shifted into his game face. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want a taste.”

He expected the screaming now, but instead found an eagerness that rivaled his own. Cordelia’s hands were on his upper arms, holding herself close. Her eyes fluttered shut and emitting a moan she tilted her chin upward to expose her neck to him. This seemed a little too easy, even for Cordelia Chase. Angelus had planned to *take* what he wanted, not have it handed to him on a platter. What human in her right mind would stand there begging for it?

Pausing on his way to her throat, Angelus pulled back just enough to look down at the brunette with a hint of suspicion. “You’re not on something, are you?”

She didn’t smell any different, except for the tangy scent of arousal that seemed to be more and more evident in the night air. Opening her eyes again, she met his golden gaze questioning his hesitancy. “No.”

Reaching up, Cordelia ran her fingertips across the rigid brow and down the blade of his cheekbone. She stopped just under his bottom lip, pushing gently at his chin to reveal his sharp fangs to her gaze. “I suppose this will hurt,” she sighed with a tinge of longing.

Angelus was surprised at the thought that she was resigned to him biting her. “Only at first,” he told her. “Then you will know sweet pleasure as your blood becomes mine.”

Her hand dropped down to his chest and she followed its path with her gaze. Looking up again, this time very seriously, asking, “It won’t leave a scar, will it?”

Laughing at the self-centered question that only Cordelia Chase would have the nerve to ask a vampire, Angelus touched the smooth skin of her neck. “That is the point, Cordy. I bite you. I mark you. I make you mine.”

“Yours?”

“Gonna deny it? You were mine before we ever met, Cordelia,” there was a growl in his voice in anticipation of her denial. “If it hadn’t been for the soul, you’d have been marked as mine that first night at the Bronze.”

He noticed! Angel hadn’t ignored her. “What about Buffy?”

“Don’t mention the B-word to me again, Cordy,” he warned. “I get seriously pissed when I think about what she put me through.”

Confused by his words, Cordelia pointed out, “She set you free, dumbass!”

“Never thought of it that way,” Angelus realized. “Maybe I should be thanking her now instead of—.”

He broke of with the realization that he was about to tell Cordelia Chase of his plan to torture and kill everyone Buffy Summers cared about. Hell, she’d probably figured that out on her own. So he told her anyway.

“—leaving the corpses of her friends on her doorstep.”

“Eww! Gross much?” Cordelia knew the vampire was not kidding about it. “If that is why you came to see Xander, you can just forget it, mister.”

“Maybe you don’t get a choice,” he stopped her as she tried to pull away. “You’re mine. Xander Harris had been a thorn in my side since the moment I met him. That boy is way past his expiration date.”

Cordelia decided it was best not to shout at the vampire. Quietly, she reminded Angelus, “He is my friend. They’re all my friends. I don’t want them dead.”

With a knowing smirk, Angelus whispered in her ear, “You’ll think differently once you join the family.”

“Family?” Cordelia queried. “I already have a family.”

“No you don’t,” he countered sharply. “Those pathetic humans barely take notice of you leaving you alone for weeks at a time. Bet they’re not even home.”

“You win. They’re visiting some friends in New York.”

“Our family won’t ignore you, Cordy. They’ll treat you like a queen.”

Suddenly, she realized just what family Angelus was referencing. “Spike and Drusilla?”

“They’re not the most obedient childer, but they know how to have fun.”

“That lunatic and her half-baked British boyfriend?” Cordelia certainly did not want to play happy families with those two. “Giles says if the Judge is let loose, humanity will be destroyed. That’s not vamp fun, it’s stupid.”

She added, “Kinda difficult to enjoy the victory party if you’ve burned all the munchies.”

“I agree it was a stupid plan,” Angelus shrugged. “Definitely a bore, but I don’t wanna deny them their fun while it lasts.”

Cordy muttered under her breath, “This whole conversation is a bore.”

She was pouting? Angelus felt like his head was spinning. Cordelia was running her hand along the lapel of his leather jacket. Up and down, touching the smooth fabric with her fingertips. Then it was her palm rubbing against his chest, the hand moving underneath the jacket. Soon it was both hands.

Taking both of Cordelia’s hands in his own, he pulled them down behind her back and crossed the wrists so that he could maintain a single-handed grip. It tilted the rest of her aroused body up against him. A smile was hovering around the corners of her mouth as she looked directly into the vampire’s eyes. Her legs were shifting against his as she felt moisture seeping out from beneath her thong panties, causing her hips to brush against Angelus’ rapidly growing erection.

“Where did you get that costume?” The vampire wondered if this was Halloween all over again. Suddenly, Cordy was acting like the Happy Hooker.

“My closet,” she debunked that idea with a grin. “Shut up, Angelus. Never thought you were all talk and no play.”

The hand holding her wrists pulled her closer into his hips, rubbing his hardening erection into her groin through the double layer of leather. Cordelia moaned into his mouth as he kissed her. Nipping her lips and tongue with his fangs, Angelus licked and sucked at the tantalizing drops of blood until the girl in his arms was shuddering in pleasure.

Kissing his way down her jaw to the long expanse of her slender neck, Angelus lifted the veil of her chestnut hair out of the way. Cordelia gasped in need as his fingers brushed along her thundering pulse. The fingers went away, replaced by his cool lips and warm tongue.

“Touch me!” She pleaded.

Reaching between them, Angelus moved his hand under the easily accessible mini to rip away her thong panties. They dropped to the ground next to the forgotten silk wrap. She felt herself lifted off the ground and moved a short distance where the vampire released her hands and pressed her back against the hood of her own Corvette.

Hands free, she yanked hard on Angelus’ head brining him back down into a kiss of pure passion. The vampire pushed her skirt upward, exposing Cordelia’s sopping center as he parted her legs. Driving her mad with desire, the vampire brushed his fingers across her labia in a teasing manner. Avoiding the swollen nub of her hooded clitoris. “Enough! Enough!” She begged for completion.

Angelus released his erection from his pants, making Cordelia gasp as she gazed down with her glazed vision. Fisting his huge erection, he pumped himself once, twice, three times as she watched him. “Is this what you want, baby?”

One of her hands dropped to touch him. Big, she thought. So big. So hard. So mine. She found herself licking her lips. Angelus purred as she stroked him until his aroused flesh was wet with pre-ejaculate. Guiding him into her, Cordy gasped as the head of his penis made her stretch. No, no, no! It had to fit. Please, let it fit. She needed him inside her.

Sensing Cordelia’s state of near-panic, the vampire took her hands again. Leaning her all the way back against the hood of the car, he raised her arms above her head and pressed them onto the metal. “Don’t move your hands,” he ordered.

With his own hands free, Angelus moved them down to her hips and buttocks. Each hand taking hold of the smooth cheeks of her ass. With a patience Angelus did not know he possessed, he allowed Cordelia to adjust to the intrusion of his sex as he pressed himself slowly into her center. She was so freakin’ tight. Just as tight as the blond Slayer whom his souled self had bedded only hours before. Surprise overcame the vamp as he realized that the sexy cheerleader beneath him was also virgin territory.

How unexpected was that!

The thought made him lose control. He thrust past Cordelia’s virginal barrier to bury himself to the hilt. She cried out in pain, but never moved her hands from the hood of the car even though a momentary panic caused her to attempt to shove him off with her legs.
Feeling her tightness surrounding him, Angelus soothed her trembling legs, pulling them around his back as he began to pump back and forth inside her. Short strokes at first, then longer. Shallow and deeper. Soon she was writhing beneath him, her eyes closed and her head lolling from one side to another.

Watching the pleasure overtaking the pain of their initial joining, Angelus brought Cordy closer to climax. Closer. Closer— then slowing down to ask, “Are you mine, Cordelia?”

Her hazel eyes burned closer to a shade of amber as her eyelids opened in surprise at the question. Meeting his gaze, Cordy found it difficult to speak. She could only feel what he was doing to her. Filling her, pumping into her. Lost in a haze, she forgot what he asked.

“What?!” That tone of frustration was back, indignation at an interruption of her pleasure.

“Are you mine?”

Cordelia rotated her hips, trying to force him to move. The vampire had stopped moving altogether, waiting for her response. “Yes, you dumbass!”

Smirking, Angelus soon had her writhing again. Leaning down, his gruff voice sounded in her ear, “I’m gonna make you cum, baby. When you do, I’m gonna mark you as mine forever.”

“Yes!” Cordelia instantly turned her head to the side in submission to his desire. Then she started repeating the word as if holding him to a promise, panting with each thrust, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Angelus kissed the deep cleft of her cleavage as his hand reached down between them to rub her clitoris. This was no longer teasing, but stimulating in a way that brought her to a fast and powerful climax. As the first sensory-overloading wave burst through Cordelia’s body, she felt something at her neck, barely noticeable at the moment. A pinprick of pain and the warm spread of liquid were followed by a gentle suction.

As she came down from the height of this first orgasm, Cordelia realized Angelus was at her neck. He was still thrusting the length of his hard penis inside her, causing her insides to continue their delicious spasms. Suddenly, he reached his climax filling her with a pool of salty goodness. Cordy tried to keep her legs around him, holding Angelus inside her, but she was feeling strangely lightheaded.

As Cordelia’s legs slipped from around his back, Angelus lifted his head from her neck. His mouth and chin remained covered in blood. Eagerness had turned him into a messy eater. Lapping up the excess blood, the vampire realized he had fed a little too long. It had only been his intention to claim her tonight, not drain her into unconsciousness.

“Damn,” he grumbled noting that Cordelia now lay completely still beneath him.

Still hard, he kept thrusting until he came again. Wasn’t quite as fun this way, but he still got off on it. And to think— not only was Cordy now his, but he had taken her virginity directly in front of Xander Harris’ house. Too bad Wonder Boy hadn’t been tied up for a ringside seat.

Tucking himself back into his leather pants and closing the zipper, Angelus realized that his bite had gone deep. Cordy was gonna be pissed. Not only would it leave a scar, but it was going to be very evident. Smirking, Angelus felt a flash of satisfaction at the thought. Everyone would know she was his.

Pulling the girl to him, Angelus placed his lips over the still oozing marks. He ran his tongue across the openings on her neck, allowing his saliva to permeate the wound. It would seal it to prevent further bleeding. Cordelia’s blood tasted of ambrosia. It made him want more, but Angelus was determined to be patient. This wasn’t the time to turn her, not with Spike and Dru going on and on about their idiotic plan to end the world.

He couldn’t deal with a newly created childe right now. They required so much more care and attention than other fledglings. Besides, he didn’t want to screw this one up the way he had with some of the others.
Cordelia Chase was going to be a vampire that would have made the Master proud. To do so, Angelus needed to prepare himself for the blood ritual that would create a powerful childe. For that, he needed to hunt and feed until he was completely sated. The store of pig’s blood that had been Angel’s diet was not good enough for his Cordy.

Temporarily leaving Cordelia on the hood of the car, Angelus walked over to pick up her small purse and car keys from the ground. Then he saw the shawl and panties. Wouldn’t Xander just love finding those in the morning? With an evil smirk, he left them behind.

“Wh-where are we going?” Cordelia opened her eyes, finding herself in the passenger seat of her own car with Angelus at the wheel.

“Home.”

“So soon?” She didn’t want to play happy families with Spike and Dru. Wasn’t that made clear?

“Can’t get enough of me, babe?”

“I’m sore,” she complained. Did he want to do it again tonight? Okay. “My neck hurts.”

“Yeah.” Angelus hoped he wasn’t around when she found a mirror.

“So— I’m not dead,” Cordelia realized as she checked the pulse at her wrist. It was weak, but still there.

“Alive and kicking.”

“Why?” She sounded almost sad about it.

Angelus drove through a red light and turned onto Revello Drive. “Not the time. Need to get through this thing with the Judge. See how it plays out.”

“This is Buffy’s house,” the cheerleader noted as Angelus stopped the car along the curb. “I thought you said we were going home? Isn’t that the warehouse? Or your apartment?”

“I told you, it’s not time for you to be with me,” his words stabbed into her heart. She felt like whining. “Tonight and every night until I come for you, this is where you stay. I will not have the Judge screwing up my plans.”

Cordelia glanced down at her hands which were resting on her bare thighs, studying the red tips of her polished fingernails. “Won’t Spike and Dru send the Judge here? It’s not as if her house isn’t listed in the phone book.”

“Nah!” Angelus knew his grandchilde too well. “It’ll be somewhere public. Somewhere crowded. Gotta make a big scene.”

“You mean— not the mall!” Cordelia was horrified at the thought of her favorite stores going up in flames.

“Just stay out of it,” Angelus told her.

Glancing over at the darkened house, Cordelia pleaded with the vampire to change his mind. “Take me with you. Or at least take me back to my place. I-I can’t go in there like this. Mrs. Summers will freak. Buffy and Willow— they’re gonna know about us.”
When the vampire did not answer, Cordelia wheeled her head around and saw a dark gleam in his eyes. She knew then that the scenario she described was precisely what he wanted. “Oh, God! This is about getting back at Buffy.”

She was about to abandon her car and flee down the sidewalk when Angelus stopped her from grabbing the door handle. “Wait, Cordy.”

“Why? You’re just toying with me. Using me,” she wailed as tears slid down her cheeks.

“You’re mine, Cordelia,” Angelus reinforced his claim. “The Slayer and her friends are never going to change that. You said you want them alive?”

Nodding, she gulped deeply tasting traces of her blood with the tears.

“Do this for me and I will let them live,” he told her. “As long as your heart still beats, as long as you belong to me, I promise not to hunt them down.”

Angelus would probably lie to his own mother if he had one, Cordelia knew, but that did not make her want him any less. And if it kept her friends alive, so be it. “Okay.”

“That’s my girl.”

Licking at her dry lips, Cordelia requested instructions. “What do you want me to tell them?”

“Just the truth,” he smirked. “That I found you. I fucked you. I bit you. Then I let you go. Tell them I promised to come back for more. Say it for me. Buffy will understand. She’ll get the message.”

A thread of uncontrollable laughter poured from Cordelia’s throat. “Buffy will kill you for that. I never thought she would be able to do it, but I swear this is gonna push her too far. I still want you, Angel. It may be really stupid, even I realize that, but I can’t seem to stop myself.”

“Get going, Cordy,” he nodded toward the house.

Cordelia grasped the door handle, but paused long enough to ask. “When will I see you again?”

Hell, she made him want her all over again every time she looked at him. Pulling her over across the gearshift, Angelus pressed a series of soft kisses across her face before meeting her mouth. This was the first time he had kissed her with his human face rather than with his vampiric features showing. Cordy’s hands came up to touch his face memorizing the feel of his smooth features. Her tongue ran across his blunt teeth. As her explorations ended, Angelus pulled out all the stops putting his two hundred plus years of experience to use as he kissed her.

With a sigh, Cordelia broke away. Urging him to answer her question, “When?”

“Soon, baby,” he promised.

“Not soon enough, obviously,” the pout appeared on her lips again. She opened the door and stepped out. He followed suit, handing over the keys as he came around to her side of the car.

Angelus felt a reluctance to let her go, but knew he needed to if his plan was to work. “I won’t stay away long, Cordelia. I keep what’s mine.”

“Possessive, much?”

Tilting her chin up for a final kiss, he answered, “Definitely.”

Part 4

 Making her way up to the door of 1630 Revello Drive, Cordelia paused long enough to see Angelus vanish into the darkness. Somehow she knew he would wait long enough to make certain she went inside. Once inside, there would be no turning back. With a sigh of resignation, Cordelia Chase lifted her finger to the doorbell.

There were no lights on in the house. It was late, even past Buffy’s usual slaying hours. The persistent sound of the doorbell ringing again had everyone in the house awake and grumbly. Poor Buffy had only just managed to drift to sleep, the ever-watchful Willow long-since crashed out next to her. Emerging from the bedroom, both girls found Joyce Summers knotting the belt of her robe.

“Who could that be at this hour?” Joyce yawned.

Buffy flipped the light switch for the stairs, descending down the passage with as much worry as her mother. Though vampires normally didn’t knock, she wouldn’t put it past the now evil Angel to pay a pre-dawn visit. Grasping the stake she had brought with her out of the bedroom, she opened the door letting it swing wide.

Standing before her was the most shocking sight. Cordelia Chase. Dressed like something out of a police station lineup. Her hair tossled and sticking out from its clip. Her usually perfect makeup smeared, lips swollen and bare of lipstick. There were bruises forming on her neck, where a large vampire bite showed clearly on her throat.

“Cordy?” The Slayer dropped her stake, pulling the cheerleader into the foyer.

“My God,” Joyce Summer gasped at the horrific sight. Though the girl had never been to her home before, nearly everyone in Sunnydale knew Cordelia Chase. “You poor thing! Are your parents out of town again?”

Nodding, Cordelia stepped into the room. “I-I couldn’t go home to an empty house. Not after tonight.”

“What happened?” Willow was at her side gazing at the wound on her neck. That much was obvious, but she had other things on her mind. First of which, “Where is Xander? I thought you two were— doing your thing.”

“What thing is that?” Joyce looked down at the girl’s scandalous clothes.

Remembering that Mrs. Summers did not know that Buffy was the Slayer nor about the existence of vampires in Sunnydale or elsewhere for that matter, Cordelia did not see how she was going to get through this conversation. “Uh— just a party, Mrs. Summers. We even got the stuff we needed. You know, Willow, the thing for the Judge.”

“Oh, right!”

Joyce Summers’ concern continued to grow. “Judge? Are you in legal trouble, Cordelia?”

“What? N-no.” Cordelia realized that she could not do this in front of Buffy’s mother. “I just need a place to stay for a while, Mrs. Summers. Staying alone at my house is not an option right now.”

“You’re welcome to stay,” responded Joyce, crossing her arms, “but I think I deserve to know why it’s necessary. You look— pale and I think you’ve been injured.”

Taking a quick glance at the wounds, Joyce stepped back suddenly. A frown came over her face. As she said, “Buffy can help you get cleaned up and find you some pajamas,” she reached for an almost imperceptible, but similar scar on her own neck.

Seeing what was happening, Buffy herded Cordelia and Willow back up the stairs. “Get inside,” she shoved them both into the bathroom and closed the door.

“Mom still thinks she had an accident with a barbecue fork,” Buffy reminded Willow of the time the vampire Darla had bitten her mother. “This is not the time to open that can of worms.”

Cordy agreed, but she had a much larger and much wormier can of her own than Buffy could ever imagine. Sitting down on the closed toilet seat lid, she reached down removing her high heeled sandals releasing a sigh as her bare feet touched the cool floor. She was so tired, but there was a job to do here.

Getting back to her original question, Willow asked, “Where is Xander?”

“Home safe,” Cordelia assured the redhead. “We got what we needed from the Army Depot. Xander tricked a guy into thinking he was a soldier. I was there as the trashy girlfriend.”

Willow’s mouth twisted as she corralled the sudden urge to respond. Trashy girlfriend—
Huh! She figured it wasn’t much of an act. “Were you two attacked?”

“No, not Xander,” she revealed. “Just me.”

“Well, you do look like vamp bait,” Buffy pointed out.

“It was Angelus.”

“What?!”

“Angel?”

“Not Angel, remember?” Cordelia tried to reinforce the difference. She got the feeling that it was the only way the blond teenager was going to be able to accept what happened.

“You’ve been bitten, Cordy,” Buffy pointed out with a flash of anger.

Before she could respond, Willow noticed something else. A look of pure nausea hit her as she gasped, “Is that— b-blood on your thighs?”

Glancing, down at herself, Cordelia noticed that the skirt of the mini-dress had ridden up. Her inner thighs were coated by a thin layer of crusting blood and semen. The memory of how it got there made the aching flesh a little more tolerable. “It was Angelus. He—”

“Raped you?” Buffy pressed her shoulders against the bathroom door, forcing herself to stay conscious. Angel— he could never do such a thing. It was evil. Pure evil. The things he had done to her in love less than twelve hours ago, he had taken from Cordelia.

“I’m sorry!” Willow squeaked, crying. Her face was red as tears flowed down her cheeks. “You did nothing wrong, Cordy. I-it’s—,” she found she could not admit the truth.

Willow knew that this was her fault. “Did you— uh, what I mean is— How did you find him?”

“Angelus found me,” Cordelia countered with a frown. “He was waiting for Xander. To kill him, I suppose. Got me instead.”

“Vamp bait,” Buffy reminded and was uncertain if that sounded like an accusation or not. Maybe Angel wouldn’t have touched the girl if she had not dressed like a slut.

“What happened?” Some eerie fascination hit Willow. She wanted to know. Was this her spell or just an evil vampire at play?

Cordelia didn’t want to share the details, but knew that this is precisely what Angelus had commanded her to do. If she did not tell, he would find out. How? Buffy wouldn’t try to kill him if she did not know, but obviously would be miffed at the discovery that her now evil boyfriend was screwing her friends. Especially since Cordelia was less a friend than a rival.

“We talked. He visited Spike and Dru. Says they’re likely to take the Judge on a shopping trip to test him out. Sunnydale Mall.”

“Angelus was giving you helpful tips?”

Shrugging, Cordelia admitted, “I don’t think he cared. Other things on his mind.”

“You?”

Shaking her head, “Not really. Just you Buffy. I think he— hates you now.”

Though her lower lip trembled, Buffy did not cry. She had been doing that for the past few hours.

“Angelus let me go, Buffy, because he wanted to give you a message,” Cordelia told her honestly.

Buffy thought back to the encounter at the school where soulless Angel had said those same words. “He already told me that his message would come in the form of the corpses of my friends.”

“He didn’t kill me, obviously,” Cordy said, “but I am the message.”

“What?” Buffy hugged her arms around herself. “That he can do what he wants? That he can take what he wants? Angel— hurt you, Cordy. He bit you. Raped you—”

“No!” The denial was out of her mouth before the brunette could stop it.

“What do you mean by ‘no’?” Willow gulped.

“It— wasn’t rape, Buffy.”

Slowly, Buffy moved a step away from the door, standing up straight and looking down at Cordelia Chase like she was a butterfly trapped in her net. “Y-y-you let him?”

Thoughts of Angel touching Cordelia made her see red, but there was too much evidence that this was not lovemaking. It was sex, vampire style— the stuff in books the Giles had hidden away in his office rather than let her read. That was precisely what had happened to the other girl.

“He said he just wanted a taste,” she shivered in pleasure reaching up to touch her throat. “I let him, Buffy.”

“You slut!” Suddenly, she didn’t care if this was evil Angel. Cordelia Chase just admitted that she willingly allowed a vampire to suck down her blood. “Eww! That is just so sick.”

Willow felt like throwing up, but managed to suppress the urge. “Angel would never do it to Cordelia— bite her. This was Angelus. No soul. No conscience.”

“That doesn’t excuse Cordy’s behavior,” Buffy responded angrily. “And Angel did more than just bite. Didn’t he? What else happened?”

“What? You want details?”

“He’s my boyfriend, Cordelia. What do you think?”

“N-no, Buffy,” Willow jumped in. “I just told you. It was Angelus, not Angel.”

“I want to hear it, Will,” Buffy steeled herself for the truth. Determined to hear the full story, “If Angelus sent me a message, I want to hear it.”

Licking her tender lips, Cordelia began, “He ripped off my panties.”

“What?” Willow sank onto the edge of the bathtub.

“Oh! No, you’re right,” Cordy went back to the beginning. “First, he kissed me. Then he ripped off my panties.”

She left out the part where she had begged him to do it.

“There was definitely more kissing. I remember trying not to cut myself on his fangs,” Cordelia commented thoughtfully.

“He was in game face?”

“Well, duh! Vampire!”

“Oh.” Wide-eyed, Buffy remembered the first time Angel kissed her. Just across the hall in her bedroom. When Angel’s vampiric mask slipped into view, she had screamed at the top of her lungs. Of course, she hadn’t known he was a vampire then, but Buffy could not imagining kissing Angel when he looked— so evil.

“I can’t remember much, it happened so fast. One second we were in Xander’s front yard and the next I was on the hood of my car.” Cordelia’s eyes looked a little hazy as she told the two girls what happened next. “One minute he was holding me down. Then he was just holding me, pushing into me.”

Breathing rapidly, Cordelia placed a hand on Buffy’s arm. “He was HUGE, I mean— it was so big and hard. I’d never gone that far before, all the way. It hurt, but it felt good at the same time.”

“You were a v-virgin?” Willow’s jaw dropped as Buffy asked the question. The evidence appeared to be on the cheerleader’s thighs. “I thought he didn’t like inexperienced girls.”

Cordelia’s attention refocused. The shaky tone to the Slayer’s voice revealed a lot. “Is that what he told you, Buffy? Don’t believe it. Just read Giles’ Watcher Diaries one of these days. You’ll learn a lot.”

“Giles let you read the Watcher Diaries?” Jealousy coated Willow’s question.

“Stole them,” Cordy admitted. “Read them. Returned them. Virgin blood is like vampire catnip. They love it. Something about sexual innocence making it taste better.”

“Eww!” Willow responded, recalling that the vampire pinched her cheek as he called her cute and helpless. Calling it a turn-on. Guess he meant it. Gulp!

“Angelus bit you,” Buffy pointed out, “he didn’t bite me. Neither did Angel.”

“Hello, Slayer!”

Willow had to agree. “Bite neck of Slayer. Meet Mr. Pointy. Besides, Angel loves— he loved you, Buffy.”

“I-I think he did,” Buffy looked at them with sadness in her tear-glistened eyes. “He said he loved me. I believed him.”

Cordelia wanted to tell the blonde it was *her* Angel wanted. That the bite on her neck was not just a sign of a late-night snack, but a warning to other vampires: stay away from what’s mine. It seemed strange, but Cordelia felt the same way.

“I know Angel loved you,” Cordelia told the Slayer, “so don’t think of him that way now. This is not your vampire, Buffy.”

He’s mine.

“I can tell,” Buffy answered bitterly as she glared at the mark on the cheerleader’s throat. “When did he do it? When did he bite you? Did you provoke him?”

“No.” She had already told Buffy about the bite thing. “He wanted to taste me. I let him.”

“When, Cordy?” Somehow, the answer seemed important.

Shifting on the seat, Cordelia glanced nervously around the room, settling on Willow for a moment. The redhead was looking paler than Cordelia and did not have the excuse of blood loss. “Why are you so curious?”

“I just wanna know.”

“It happened— when we were doing it,” she admitted. “Angelus was inside me. Fucking me. I can’t pretend it was anything else, but it was so good. So big and hard—.”

“Yeah.” Buffy’s mouth was a firm line.

“Well, it was,” Cordelia was still awestruck. “You know I’m not exaggerating. Though how *you* could take it— you’re so tiny.”

“Get on with it,” ordered the Slayer. She was not going to recount her experience with the other teen, though that part had surprised her.

“Yeah. Big and hard. At first it hurt, but then I started to feel like I was flying. Never felt so good. Maybe it’s just me, but that vampire knows what he’s doing.” Cordelia smirked at them, realizing that the memory was making her wet again. “It happened when I- uh, had an orgasm. He told me he was gonna make me cum and when he did, he bit me.”

“Oh.”

Willow was amazed. She also knew for a fact that Cordelia Chase would never have let Angelus seduce her, much less bite her, under normal circumstances. The cheerleader would have screamed to the high heavens and tried to run. The vamp would have caught her and tortured her and left her corpse on Buffy’s front porch. In fact, it seemed strange that he had not done that anyway. Cordelia’s magically-affected feelings had nothing to do with how the vampire felt about her.

Figuring that Cordelia’s night was just as traumatic as Buffy’s, the witch suggested the girl take a hot bath. “I’ll get you some jammies. I know where Buffy keeps them.”

Nodding, the cheerleader walked over to the tub and turned on the water so that it ran hot. She had her back to Buffy, but knew that the girl was watching her every move. “What is it, Buffy?”

“There is more, isn’t there?”

This was what Cordelia had wanted to avoid. She started to undress, releasing her hair from its clip and undoing the zipper to her tight red minidress. As a cheerleader, Cordy was used to showering in front of other girls after games or practice sessons and had developed an unconscious ease with her body. As the tiny dress fell to the floor, Buffy let out a startled gasp.

There were bruises on Cordelia’s hips and legs in addition to the blood on her thighs. The evidence showing all too clearly. “D-did he hurt you, Cordy?”

Turning off the taps, she noticed that Buffy was staring at her bruises. “I’m just sore.”

After a pause, Buffy admitted, “Me too.”

“At least you have super-duper healing. I’m gonna be sore for days.” Cordelia’s generous mouth quirked as she tried not to smile. This was definitely not the bonding moment she imagined she might have with Buffy Summers. Her smile fell away as she remembered her task.

Willow returned suddenly with the night wear only to find Buffy talking to a very naked Cordelia Chase who seemed oblivious of the fact. “I— uh, Buffy’s pajamas are gonna be too short on you. So I brought you a long nightie.”

“Thanks. Can I borrow a brush? And how about some towels?” Willow jumped swiftly to the task. Eep! Naked Cordy. No wonder the Y-chromosome didn’t think with its brain. It was certain that Angelus was not immune.

“There is one more thing,” Cordelia said as she stepped into the tub, lowering herself into the water. “Angelus wants me to stay here with you.”

“Huh?”

“When he dropped me off at your house, he told me that he would be back.”

“Back? As in return to collect you?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“He wants me again. Maybe Giles can explain it. I thought Angelus would turn me into a vampire, but he didn’t kill me. He let me come here instead.”

“He expects me to protect you,” Buffy realized with a strangled gasp.

“Won’t you?”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Good.”

“Buffy?” Cordelia queried as she moved her soapy hands over her skin. “This has been a strange night. I’ve been afraid of vamps since I learned they existed, but I didn’t feel any fear tonight. Even after reading what I’ve read about Angelus back in the day. His touch made me burn, I just wanted him. Even if he is evil, he’s still a hottie.”

My hottie, Buffy wanted to say, but didn’t.

“I suppose nearly two and a half centuries of seducing women will give a guy experience, but I gotta tell ya, your quiet Angel sure has a way with words.”

“W-what did he say?”

“Stuff.” Cordelia sounded reluctant to admit it. “Well, you know— afterward. He was just kissing me breathless outside your house, just him this time without the vamp face. Mmm! The guy can kiss. He said— geez, he’s so sweet for an evil vampire— he told me that I tasted like apples and cinnamon. Virgin ambrosia, blah, blah, blah! Then said that of all of the virgins he’s had over the years, I was the best.”

The door suddenly slammed shut and Cordelia looked up to see that she was now alone in the bathroom. With a sigh, she leaned back in the tub and felt the tears well in her eyes. It wasn’t a pleasant task that she’d accomplished, but it would keep her friends alive. Even Buffy, she hoped, although Cordelia somehow doubted that the Slayer would ever think of her as a friend. Not after today.
 

Lower being, the trial of past and future only begins with the Day of Judgment. Now the Slayer and the soulless Warrior are at odds. The forces of darkness stir and thrive as they always do under such circumstances. Our future Seer is caught between the forces of Order and Chaos in the form of the Chosen One and the vampire. Battles are not always fought and won with weapons of steel, but sometimes with the most basic of instincts.

Part 5

Lower being, the trial of past and future only begins with the Day of Judgment. Now the Slayer and the soulless Warrior are at odds. The forces of darkness stir and thrive as they always do under such circumstances. Our future Seer is caught between the forces of Order and Chaos in the form of the Chosen One and the vampire. Battles are not always fought and won with weapons of steel, but sometimes with the most basic of instincts.
 

Willow Rosenberg glanced around the empty library looking for Giles. He wasn’t in his office. Finally! Did the man sleep here? Well— yes he did on occasion, but that was not the point. If he knew what she was up too, he might banish her from the place altogether and that would not be good.

Creeping into the librarian’s office, Willow rummaged through his desk to locate the extra key to the cage. This was where Giles kept all of Buffy’s sparring equipment and the weapons, but more importantly it was where he kept the spell books. He told her she wasn’t ready for the magick in those books, but Willow figured she would rather find out for herself.

As she selected a particular volume, the redhead thought she heard a noise coming from another part of the library. Was it Giles? Darting out of the cage, she locked it behind her as quietly as possible. Placing the key in her skirt pocket, she knew that Giles would not miss it until she could return the book. There was only one other reference that she might need for this spell. It was in the demonology section on the upper level of the library.

“Mmm!” A muffled voice sounded. It was coming from behind the upper stacks. “Ah.”

Willow was so light upon the stairs that there was no sound of her approach. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Surely it wasn’t Xander and Cordy up there. Not after Cordelia had been with Angelus. The cheerleader seemed smitten despite her former fear of all things demon. And Xander— poor guy! He had found Cordelia’s ripped panties on his front lawn. Learning of Cordelia’s ‘ordeal’ from Buffy, he was enraged that Angelus had done this. Vowing to dust the vampire, Xander had helped Buffy patrol every night for the past week, but Angelus and his kin were nowhere to be found.

Though Cordelia had assured Xander that she did not need his hero tactics, she rebuffed his attempts to comfort her. Stating, “Don’t touch me, Xander. I don’t want your hands on me.”

Cordy had been staying at Buffy’s house since that first night. Apparently, Mrs. Summers forgot all about the wound on the girl’s neck since she used turtlenecks or scarves to cover it up. It seemed as though Buffy was simply having a friend stay at the house while her parents were out of town. Denial, thy name is Joyce Summers. Things were tense at the dinner table, but otherwise the girls stayed apart.

Creeping up the library staircase, Willow wondered who she would find. The sounds of moaning and lip smacking were getting louder. This wasn’t good. Before Willow reached the top of the stairs, the noises stopped causing her to wonder whether she had made any noise herself. She hadn’t, but she had been discovered just the same.

“Willow, Willow, Willow,” Angelus stepped out suddenly from behind the bookcase to smirk at her.

With one hand on the railing and the other holding her borrowed spell book, Willow gave a fleeting glance at the bottom of the steps. Intending to run, she turned to her back to the vampire. Tripping over her own feet, Willow felt herself falling. Angelus moved past her with supernatural speed, stopping her fall. Tossing her over his shoulder, he headed back up the stairs. When reaching the top Angelus deposited her on her feet to stand between him and— Cordelia Chase.

“Going somewhere?” Angelus’ voice was darker than she had ever heard it. Including the night he lost his soul. Noting the book held tightly in her arms, “You’re up to something, witch.”

“N-no,” Willow denied. “Not a thing.”

She glanced at Cordelia, who was busily licking off a drop of blood from one corner of her mouth. “Just here at the library. Looking for a little light reading.”

Angelus grabbed the book from her, causing her to gasp in alarm. “Whatcha got? This is a translation of the Mortivaricus Incantations.”

Wide, innocent green eyes stared up at the vampire, “Oh? Looked interesting.”

“Giles know you have this?” It was a tome of rare magicks, many of them dark spells.

“I borrowed it,” Willow pointed out. Then she realized she was defending herself to an evil, soulless creature that had no say at all in what she did. “Give it back!”

“Oooh, Cordy,” Angelus grinned baring his fangs. “The little red witch is gonna hurt me if I don’t return her book.”

Standing cross-armed and still irritated that her smooch session was interrupted, Cordelia simply rolled her eyes at the pair. She whined slightly, “We’re wasting time talking to her when we could be kissing. I have to go back to class in another fifteen minutes.”

Angelus had planned on doing a hell of a lot more than kissing when he arranged to meet Cordelia in the library. He had sent Giles off on a wild goose chase that would keep him thoroughly occupied for at least another hour. With a knowing smirk, he told her, “You’ll be late.”

The thought made her melt inside, even as her eyes darted over to Willow Rosenberg. A look of pure open-mouthed shock showed on her red face. “I-I’ll just be going now.”

“Not so fast,” the vampire gripped her wrist and pulled the redhead close. He pushed her up against the shelves, standing next to Cordelia who was watching curiously from her spot. “I didn’t walk through sewers during the daytime to be forced to leave before I have what I came for.”

“Cordelia?” The girl gulped nervously.

“Got it in one, brainiac,” Cordelia told her. “Get out of here and keep your mouth shut.”

Willow knew that was impossible. The second she left this room, she would be running to tell Buffy or Xander or Giles, if she could find him. Even Ms Calendar would do in a pinch. Pressing her mouth closed tightly, Willow mimed a zipper being pulled across her lips. “Going now!”

She moved swiftly toward the stairs, only to get as far as an arm length away. Angelus was still holding her wrist in an iron grip. Eep! “Drop the book, Willow.”

Carefully, Willow set the book on the floor. She saw that Cordelia’s face was intent, but there was no attempt to countermand the vampire.

“Good.” The vampire nodded, slipping back into his human mask. “Get your ass back over here.”

When the redhead arrived back at her original position along the shelves, he ordered her to stay put. “I want you where I can see you. Don’t run. Don’t scream. As soon as we’re done, you can go back to class.”

Eew! “You don’t intend t-to— do stuff to Cordy with me here?”

Even as she said the words, Angelus’ hands were already on the cheerleader’s curvy body exploring the curve of her trim waist. He didn’t bother answering the obvious. He looked as evil as he obviously was. “Scared, little witch?”

Willow thought she nodded, but couldn’t be certain. She was too busy staring at Cordelia who was pressing herself into the vampire with an urgency that surprised the redhead. It was as if Cordy had forgotten her presence. Her hands were all over the handsome vamp.

Angelus felt the Cordelia’s hand move from his chest, down past belt of his black leather pants, fondling him through the tight material. A gasp sounded beside them as Willow’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Cordy?”

“Mmm?”

“I’m still here,” she reminded meekly.

“Mmm-hmm.” The brunette was too far gone to be bothered with another interruption.

Willow wasn’t gonna stand here and watch! She was leaving. Now. In fact she did try to shuffle her feet a bit, but Angelus was apparently aware of her movements. He kept hold of her wrist. She was going to protest. Tell him that he was an evil bastard. Tell him that Cordy didn’t really want him. That it was a spell of magick and vengeance making Cordy lust after him.

“Oops! Did I say that aloud?” Willow realized her horrible mistake as Angelus thrust her to the floor. He was now lying on top of her. The erection that Cordelia had so effectively created was now hard against her leg. Back in game face, Angelus pinned the redhead to the hard floor while baring her neck for his bite.

Snapping out of the haze of lust that had her in its thrall, Cordelia saw the petite redhead in immediate danger. Grabbing at the vampire’s shoulders, she pulled on his jacket. “Get away from Willow! You promised not to kill my friends.”

Ignoring Cordelia, the vamp growled at Willow. “You’re a sly one, little witch, innocent on the outside, but with a thread of darkness running to the core.”

Willow kept her mouth shut. It would be lucky if her rambling didn’t get her killed. But she couldn’t prevent the confusion on her face.

Pulling the girl to her feet, Angelus glared at her with his hawkish golden eyes. “Lucky you! Cordelia wants you alive, Willow Rosenberg.”

Good thing Cordelia had missed the part about Willow’s spell. Otherwise the cheerleader might not have been so eager to stop her vampire lover from killing her. It also seemed a little strange that the evil Angelus was listening to the brunette.

Angelus growled at Willow, issuing a warning. “Don’t ever say things like that about my Cordy. Don’t even think about trying to separate us. I’m not sure what you’ve done with your little spell, Red Willow, but if you try your magicks on me and mine again I won’t give a rat’s ass about promising to let you live.”

Cordelia held onto the vampire as if she was afraid he would disappear. They had not seen each other in over a week and this had been their first opportunity to be together since Angelus took her virginity. Not a day had gone by where she did not think or dream about him constantly. Having to listen to Buffy and Xander plot his demise was too much to bear, so she had been avoiding the two. This was a bit difficult while being the house guest of the Slayer.

Trembling with fear, Willow summoned up a tiny measure of bravado to remind both of them, “Angel loved Buffy.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Willow cried out in pain as the bone in her forearm crunched under the pressure of the vampire’s tightening grip. “Aargh!”

“Let her go, Angelus,” demanded Cordelia.

The vampire backhanded Cordelia, slamming her into the flat end of the bookcase. She fell to the floor in a slump, lying unconscious. Realizing what he had done, Angelus was infuriated. “That was your fault, little bitch.”

Willow flinched, half-closing her eyes as she expected to feel his fist or fangs. She was too scared to scream and couldn’t think of any magick to protect herself against the angry vampire. “N-no, it was the truth, but you’re not him.”

“That’s just it,” he told her with a slight lessening of his fury, “I *am* Angel. I told you that once before, but you didn’t believe me. The soul loved Buffy, but now it’s gone. All thanks to her.”

Breathing shakily, Willow couldn’t think of a word to say. She only prayed that someone would come into the library. Hopefully, Giles. Maybe then the vampire would leave.

“Did Buffy tell you about it?” The vampire was standing close, leaning toward her ear as he whispered the question. He was back to his Angel-face again, looking softer and less of a threat. “No?”

Angel was touching her hair, running his fingers through the silky red strands. He sensed Willow’s heart beating wildly as she supported her broken arm. Even through the pain it was clear that she responded to his touch.

“Wanna hear what it’s like for a vampire to take a virgin Slayer, sweet Willow?” Angelus’ tone was as soft as his caress.

She leaned into it, before realizing with shock what she had done. “Don’t touch me!”

“I won’t kill you,” Angelus told her. Reminding, “Promised not to. Doesn’t mean that I can’t touch you or torture you a little. That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“Cordy will be mad,” Willow hoped that would have an impact.

Angelus laughed. “Not just mad. Pissed. Very pissed.”

“So don’t do it.”

“I like it when she’s pissed. Cordelia Chase is a firebrand at her most charming, but when she is ticked off that girl is really hot.”

Willow was suffering from severe TMI. Too much information. “W-what are you gonna do?”

As he looked down at the girl, Angelus smirked. “You’ve been a naughty little witch,” he explained. “Giles isn’t due back for another forty minutes. Plenty of time to teach you a lesson in minding your own business.”

Gulping down her fear, Willow pointed out, “Broken arm, here. That taught me a lot.”

Angelus had finished talking. He dropped to his knees, yanking Willow back down to the ground so that she fell prone across his lap. In an instant, he flipped up her skirt giving a tug on her tights and panties exposing her pert ivory bottom to his gaze. He had his large hand on her flesh before Willow had had time to do more than let out a decent yelp of surprise.

Feeling his cool hand rub over the small globes of her buttocks, Willow looked back over her shoulder meeting the vampire’s intent gaze. She watched as his hand lifted and came back down with a stinging slap. Jerking in reaction to the sensation, Willow felt warmth across her skin as the blood rushed back into the capillary beds where the pressure of his hand had temporarily blanched the skin. He did it again. She gasped aloud, not so much in pain, but in surprise that it actually felt kinda tingly.

“S-stop,” Willow pleaded. She didn’t want this. The vampire wanted to teach her a lesson not excite her. Right? Oh, geez! That one was harder.

After the next slap, Angelus let his hand cup one glowing cheek. It felt good, like a cool cloth against her hot flesh. There was a look of ecstasy on the witch’s face making him hard in response. She smelled of juicy strawberries and suddenly the vampire knew she was wet with arousal. Angling his hand, Angelus let his fingers drift down the cleft of her buttocks, moving past the puckered opening to the closed petals of her sex.

Willow jerked sharply as he touched her, moving his fingers around the sensitive labia and gathering the moisture he found there. Moving directly to her clitoris, he rubbed the engorged flesh causing her whimpers to begin. She was still looking over her shoulder, her green eyes large and pleading. Stop. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.

Her legs opened of their own accord, providing the vampire more room to maneuver his hand. Soon, Willow’s hips were bucking in his lap. She could feel the erection beneath her still encased in the leather pants. Just as Cordy described. So big. So hard. So— not mine!

“You shouldn’t,” she finally squeaked out a protest.

Then he slipped one long digit inside. “You’re a tight one, too.”

“Mmm!” Willow agreed as her eyes fluttered closed.

A second finger followed. Her hips were soon moving with his finger thrusts. Willow thought wildly that this was much better than doing it to herself. Bigger, longer manpire fingers.

“What?!” Willow’s eyes snapped open at the sound. Cordelia’s harpy voice was what Xander called it. Yep. She was pissed.

Angelus did not stop his rhythmic finger movements. In fact, he picked up the pace. “What does it look like?”

“Y-you’re—” Cordy did not know what to say other than the obvious. With Angelus, it had to be something else. Scooting over so that she was side-lying next to them, she had an eagle-eyed view. “Maybe you better tell me before I decide to look for a stake.”

“Tell Cordy what I’m doing, little witch.”

Panting now and getting close to climax, Willow told the other girl, “He’s punishing me.”

Blinking in confusion, her eyes glued to the sight of Willow lying across Angel’s knees, she said nothing as she watched them. A flash of jealousy hit, but was smothered by a strange fascination. The vampire’s hips were lightly thrusting upward into her groin. The girl’s butt was bright red as if it had been thoroughly spanked. Now she watched as Angelus brought his two fingers out of Willow’s pussy to rub against her tingling clit.

“Willow!” Cordelia gasped as the girl met her gaze. There was a look of pure ecstasy on the girl’s face that made her shiver in response. She knew it the moment it happened and Cordy was gasping along with her. “Oh, Willow.”

Her hand went to Willow’s head, smoothing out the hair that had become tangled. Then it followed the curve of her back, gently providing a comforting touch as the vampire pumped his fingers back inside, bringing her through the shuddering aftereffects of her climax. As Willow’s entire body relaxed, Angelus removed his fingers from her depths holding them up to their view. They glistened with gooey fluid and a tinge of blood.

Cordelia saw Angelus close his eyes as he inhaled the essence that was Willow. Then he opened his mouth and sucked the fingers inside. The vampire lapped and sucked at them until he had consumed every drop. When he finished, Angelus eased the exhausted girl from his lap onto the floor, but promptly moved over to Cordy. Kissing her, Angelus ran his tongue over hers, letting her taste what he had done to Willow Rosenberg.

Breaking away briefly, he explained. “She threatened us, Cordelia. I couldn’t let that go without extracting punishment.”

“So you gave her an orgasm?” Cordy was still confused at the whole display. “That is so not the form of torture I thought you used against your enemies.”

Gently caressing her already bruising cheek, Angelus told her the truth. “I promised not to kill your friends. If I had done what I wanted, I would have snapped her neck. Instead, I took the blood of her virginity.”

“Eew!”

“Just a vampire thing, Cordy,” he shrugged. “No big.”

After pausing to respond to the kisses he brushed across her lips, Cordelia felt uncertain. “Is that what you did to me?”

“No!” Angelus nearly vamped out in response. “I claimed you as mine, baby. Our little red-assed Willow needed a lesson, so I took something that she can never get back.”

Cordelia’s hands brought his head down as her lips met his with another spine-tingling kiss. “Yeah, but you gave her an orgasm. I thought you were here today to give *me* one.”

Rapidly removing their clothes, Cordelia and Angelus were soon tangled in each other’s arms as their bodies merged. From her prone position on the floor, Willow struggled to stay awake. Her body didn’t want to move. Pain and pleasure kept pricking at her senses.

She looked at the pair her magick had brought together. This was so not right, but it made her head spin to think about it. Cordy and Angel looked so beautiful together. Not Angel, the witch reminded herself. Angelus. Evil vamp. Not good.

Made me cum so hard. Bad vamp!

Willow’s eyes drifted closed. She awoke to the gentle shaking of her shoulder. Blinking, she saw that it was Cordelia. The vampire was nowhere in sight, so it figured that he must have left the scene. Not good to be caught by Giles in the middle of the library during the daytime. The thought of the librarian had Willow struggling to sit up.

“Giles will be coming back soon,” warned Cordelia as she helped Willow to her feet. “I think we need to get you cleaned up and take you over to see the school nurse. Between my face and your arm, we’ll have to tell her something she’ll believe.”

“Cat fight. Fell down the library steps.” Moaning, Willow cupped her broken arm. She tried to pull up her tights, but it was not possible one-handed. “Can you help me?”

Cordelia efficiently re-dressed Willow. With panties, tights and skirt all in place, she met the girl’s pitiable gaze. “This is all my fault,” Willow confessed.

“Pfft!” Cordelia waved a hand in the air. “As if you could stop Angelus from doing it to you. Hello, vampire strength!”

“N-not that, Cordy.”

“So— you’re *not* sorry that Angelus spanked you and made you cum?”

Beet red, Willow couldn’t answer that question. “It is my fault that you want him like you do. I cast a spell to make you lust after Angel, to want him like I want Xander.”

“What?! You want Xander? So the green-eyed monster was at work when you found us here in the library?”

“Exactly here, actually,” Willow reminded. “This seems to be your favorite spot.”

“With Xander, it was actually the broom closet,” Cordelia grinned widely. “But we never got past the kissing and groping stage.”

“Eew!” TMI again, noted the redhead.

“What do you mean? Obviously you’ve thought about kissing and groping with Xander or you wouldn’t be so jealous. Besides, I highly recommend it. Xander is a dork, but he had great hands.”

“And the kissing part?”

“Let’s just say that you will benefit from the results of my tutelage,” Cordy winked. “He can’t compare to Angel. Mmm! Those kisses just defy description. But Xander— I have to say that he kisses with his whole heart. Really puts a lot into it.”

Willow was fascinated at the thought, but realized that the other girl had somehow gotten her away from her confession of guilt. “If you liked Xander so much, Cordy, why are you suddenly in lust with a vampire?”

“I—,” Cordelia found she had no answer. The feelings that she had for Angel were wiped clean when he revealed himself to her. More precisely when Buffy outed him back at the Bronze. Willow mentioned a spell. Was that supposed to mean something to her? All she knew was that Angelus wanted her and claimed her as his own. She wanted him with just as much intensity.

Willow took the other girl’s silence as confusion. Maybe she was getting through. There could not be any real feelings between Cordelia and Angelus. She knew for a fact that Angel had no feelings for the cheerleader. He was Buffy’s Angel.

The young witch swore to make things right again. Buffy needed Angel. If Ms Calendar managed to be successful, Angelus would regain his soul. Angel would return. All would be right with the Slayer and her vampire.

All was not so right in Xander’s corner of the world, she knew. He was distraught over Cordelia. Though not really in love with Cordy, he was slowly turning his feelings into a strong bond of friendship, which was a complete turn-around from his days as the I Hate Cordelia Chase Club treasurer. Finding his girlfriend’s silk shawl and torn panties on his front lawn had driven him a little mad, especially upon learning Angelus deserved the credit for it.

Xander was Willow’s lifelong friend. She loved him more than anyone. If Xander needed Cordy in order to be happy, then that was what needed to happen.

As for Cordelia— well, Cordy really didn’t need anybody. It was just this wacky love spell that kept her dependant upon a vampire for her happiness. She would heal Xander making things right with him again. Willow figured that the cheerleader discarded men as easily and frequently as she did last year’s shoes, but if Cordelia eventually rejected him at least Xander would know that it was for another man, not a vampire with or without a soul.

Resolved in her course, Willow suggested that Cordelia take her to the nurse. Before they left the upper level, the redhead pulled a small book from the shelf. “Could you get that big one on the floor, Cordy? I need it for something I’m working on.”

“Why was Angelus so worried about this book?”

“No reason,” Willow lied and felt a flush heating her cheeks.
 

One unpredictable variable in an ironclad plan. Jealousy. A human emotion that rages in defiance of all logic. A spell cast, changing the course of the predictable. Altering the scheme set out by the Powers for the Chosen One, the Warrior and the Seer-to-be. The future depends on fruition of the plan, but one variable frequently leads to yet another and another and another.
 

Cordelia pressed the ‘lock’ button on her car keychain. After the confirming beep and flash of lights indicating that the car was secure, she made her way up to the front porch of the Summer’s house. They had given her a spare key, so she pulled it out to open the door. Joyce, as she now wanted Cordelia to call her, was working late at the gallery. A new shipment had come in. Buffy was on patrol as usual, an activity that held no appeal for Cordelia— less than it ever had anyway— now that her lover was a vampire.

“Look at what we have here, luv,” an accented voice came out of the shadows. “A ripe juicy plumb for the picking. Must be one of the Slayer’s friends. A sister maybe?”

Cordelia’s keys dropped to the ground as she was approached by not only one, but two vampires. Grabbing for the key ring, she fumbled with it trying to find the right key to open the door. It was useless. The female vamp knocked them back out of her hand. They were standing a little too up close and personal.

Taking a deep breath, Cordelia looked from one vamp to the other. Game faces reverted to their human masks; she recognized them both from the time Angel had been captured. Trying to sound casual, she greeted them with a smile. “Spike. Drusilla. What a thrill to see you again.”

“She smells like my Angel,” commented Drusilla inhaling deeply.

“So she does, my black beauty,” Spike noted that the girl was drenched in the scent of the elder vampire. “How long you been fucking my grandsire, chit? And why aren’t you dead yet?”

Cordelia was still in her cheerleader uniform. As soon as the sun had set, Angelus arrived at the school. The practice session for tomorrow night’s game was over, but the area was still milling about with the players and her squad members. Despite the danger of being seen, Angel brought her behind the bleachers and stripped her naked. Her long legs were thrown over his shoulders as he rammed into her. He bit her again, but did not drink as much as the first time. Cordy had lost track of her orgasms.

“He wants me alive,” answered Cordelia easily. “As for how long we’ve been together, Spike, that is really not your business.”

Drusilla reached out to touch her arm, forcing Cordelia to hold her ground. The female vampire took on a dreamy-eyed look as she gazed at the girl. “The stars shine for you, Cordelia. They twinkle. Soon they will sing as they twinkle.”

Crazy, much? And how did she know my name? Cordelia had no clue what the vampiress was getting at. “Twinkle, twinkle little star?”

Giggling, Dru hopped over to Spike massaging the bare bicep accentuated by his tight red shirt. She took his earlobe into her mouth, sucking on it for a second before releasing it with a slurp. “My Spiky thinks you’re pretty.”

“Uh—,” Cordelia’s hazel eyes widened at the blond vampire smirking in her direction.

Before she could form a sentence, Drusilla reached over to fondle one of her firm breasts. “I think you’re pretty, too.”

Where were those keys?

Cordelia found herself being pulled forward into the arms of the female vampire who was suddenly kissing her as if they were long-lost lovers. Trying to pull away, the girl was not able to break free. She heard Spike laughing in amusement in the background. Drusilla’s long nails raked through the brunette’s hair, holding it back from her neck and tilting her head at the same time.

Leaning in to take a bite, Drusilla suddenly pulled back with a gasp. Spike gently pulled her away to see what had startled his sire. “What is it, luv?”

“My Angel.”

Gasping for air now that the vampiress had released her, Cordelia found herself grabbed by Spike. He wasn’t looking for kisses. Pulling her hair aside none too gently, the vamp found what he suspected might be there, but was reluctant to reveal— Angelus’ mark.

“He claimed you.” It wasn’t a question. The mark proved it.

“So?”

“This is Angelus we’re talking about, not the soddin’ poof he was when he had his soul.”

“Again, so what?”

Spike held her chin, tilting her face up to meet his gaze. “Didn’t he tell you? That you’re his forever. Angelus doesn’t keep pets. Never. That means that while he keeps you alive, it is for his own reasons. That one day, he will kill you and turn you into a vampire.”

“Eew! Not in that much detail.”

Spike looked the teenager over, wondering what it was about this one that made Angelus want to keep her for eternity. “Dru is right. You’ve got great tits. Legs too. Peaches must love to wrap those legs around him and hang on tight. Can't wait to try you out. Bet you’ll be a sweet ride.”

“Daddy will be mad if you don’t play nice,” warned Drusilla.

“It’s okay, Dru my luv. Just getting acquainted with our future Mummy Dearest,” Spike grinned evilly.

Cordelia realized that Spike’s words indicated he was rather confident of discovering her rideability. As if it was a foregone conclusion. “Gross, much? As if I would ever want to touch you or your wicked bimbo!”

“Oy! That hurts, chit.” Spike raised a dark brow. “Just being friendly. Angelus doesn’t mind sharing. We just have to ask first.”

“Pfft! Well, Bleach Brain, you’re not getting my permission.”

Swiping his tongue across his lower lip, Spike told her. “We don’t need your permission hotcakes, just his.”

“So not gonna happen!”

Spike and Drusilla shared a look then burst into gleeful laughter. The chit still had a lot to learn about vampires. He had to wonder if she would make the discovery before or after she became one. This was just too much fun to resist. Spike couldn’t help but tease the cheerleader. Pulling her close, he put his hands beneath her shirt to cup both breasts. She let out a strangled gasp, wondering if she would end up dead if she put up a struggle.

“No bra?” Raising an eyebrow, Spike figured she would need a little support with all of that bouncing around that cheerleaders did. Then it occurred to him. “Oh ho! Lost it did you? Angelus rip it to shreds or did you just forget to put it back on?”

Cordelia was beyond her fear and now getting pissed. The vampire’s palms were curved around her boobs, the thumbs brushing the areolas in a soft rhythmic fashion. Her nipples were traitorously hard and even through her anger she felt a twinge of arousal.

“Get your vamp paws off of me.” She growled at him and pushed against his arms. The hands stayed where they were, still touching and caressing her swelling flesh. Then they moved to the front, completely palming her and pressing her hard nipples into the center of his cool hands.

An involuntary moan escaped from Cordy even as Spike’s fingers trailed across a gash on the curve of her breast. It had been carefully tended by Angelus to ensure the bite mark was closed. Now the blond vampire discovered the recent wound, his fingers pressing into it just enough to open it up again.

“What do we have here?” Spike brought his fingers out to look at them in the moonlight. They were tipped with fresh red blood.

Drusilla looked as though her childe was holding up an ice cream cone. “Oooh! Let me, let me!”

Cordelia watched in horrification as the vampiress lapped up her blood from Spike’s fingers. Then the two demons were macking on each other like there was no tomorrow, sharing the taste of her blood. The cheerleader found herself caught up by Spike’s arm as it had moved from her other breast to wrap her waist. Even distracted by Drusilla’s kiss, he managed to find his way down to squeeze her ass.

“That’s it!” Cordelia was fed up with the vampires. Simultaneously kicking Spike in the leg and hitting him with both hands, she got his attention. “If it’s permission you need, I think you better go get it. Because if you keep this up and start sucking down my blood, Angelus is gonna dust your skinny undead asses.”

Drusilla was pouting as Spike stepped away to release the girl from his hold. “The chit is right, Dru. Peaches will know about this as it is.”

“We smell like her,” realized the black-haired vamp with a gleam in her eyes. “Yummy. Cinnamon, apples and Angel.”

“Best to be patient,” Spike decided. Looking down at Cordelia, he reminded her, “We’ll be waiting, pet. Sooner or later, Angelus will bring you into our little family.”

Struck with the realization that Spike was telling her the truth, Cordelia was awash with conflicting emotions. She loved and wanted Angelus. Needed him just as much as she needed air to breath. At least it felt that way. What had Willow told her? Something about a spell forcing her to want the vampire. Was it all just an illusion? There was only one thing she was certain of and that was that she had no intention of being a vampire. Her lover had hinted at it when he talked about bringing her to live with his family.

“Look, Spike,” Cordelia sighed deeply. “If you’re not gonna kill me, please go. I’m hot and sweaty. I need a bath.”

“We could help with that, pet,” he suggested with a leer. At her agitated stare, “Or not.”

Drusilla was still pouting. “I wanted to play.”

“Not today, luv,” Spike started moving down the steps to the walkway. “Got a busy night ahead of us. Places to go. People to kill.”

“I would have liked you to meet Miss Edith,” Drusilla told Cordelia sadly. Then she bent forward to place a soft kiss on the cheerleader’s lips.

Cordelia knew better than to protest the kiss or to ask about Miss Edith. As the vampiress joined Spike on the sidewalk, she took his hand in hers. The picture of a loving couple— even if they looked a little mismatched. Cordelia knew that she and Angelus looked good together, but the vampire was not the hand-holding type. In point of fact he was really the I’m-Here-To-Do-It-Behind-The-Bleachers type.

Something was wrong with this picture and Cordelia Chase was suddenly aware of the fact that Willow wasn’t exaggerating in the description of the effects of her spell. Cordy was a little too eager to be with Angelus— all of the time. But why? He was a vampire. Just like those two. An evil twisted vampire whose glory days had been spent delighting in the chaos he caused, the spirits he broke and the bloodbaths he sated himself with.

“Spike,” Cordelia called out to the vamp after she had stepped across the threshold of the Summer’s house. Both of them paused, turning to face the human. “I’ve got a message for Angelus.”

“What’s that, pet?”

“Tell him it’s over.” Cordelia felt like crying as she said the words. “Tell him I can’t take it anymore— being with him. A vampire.”

Before Spike could respond, Cordelia had closed the door. Drusilla wore a knowing smile on her face. “Don’t worry, Spiky. I see them in the stars.”

“Angelus is gonna shit a brick.” This was one message he loathed to deliver. Spike knew what would happen. His grandsire would take all of his anger out on himself and Dru. It didn’t matter if the cheerleader was the one sending the message. They’d be the first in line for the fucking torture session to follow. Or was that the torturous fucking session? With Angelus, you never could tell.

If the chit thought it would be that simple to get rid of Angelus, she was a clueless twit. If she even imagined that the vampire would leave her alone, reality was about to hit. Spike reasoned that he had even told her about the significance of the bite mark on her throat. It wasn’t something Angelus was going to forget about. Whether the girl wanted it or not, she had been claimed. She was his forever and this little message would likely ensure that she would become a member of their vampire family a helluva lot sooner than even Angelus might have planned.

Spike and Drusilla did not return to the mansion until close to dawn the next morning. No sense giving Angelus the message too soon. They needed to feed and store up on blood if they were going to survive the dark vampire’s wrath. Besides, the chit might as well be granted one more day of life. He felt certain it would be her last.

“Hey, don’t kill the messenger,” Spike held up his hands submissively when his grandsire grabbed him by his shirtfront.

Angelus threw the smaller vampire across the room before turning to his childe. “Get over here, Drusilla.”

“Yes, my Angel.”

He fingered a strand of her dark hair. Moving his nose along her cheek, he took in her scent. “You both smell like Cordelia. What did you do to frighten her? What did you do to make her reject my claim?”

Spike decided that he had made a mistake. Not in telling his grandsire the chit’s message, but in waiting until it was too late for Angelus to head over to the Summer’s place. Now he had all day to conduct his interrogation and torture session.

Angelus waited until sunset. He gave himself a little time to cool off because he realized that he might end up breaking Cordelia’s neck rather than keeping her alive long enough to turn her. The little bitch was going to explain herself and then she was going to pay for what she had done. To reject him was cause enough for death, but to do so in front of his childer. Well, that was— he did not really care.

“She’s mine!”

He appeared at the Slayer’s house, driving his black convertible and screeching to a halt. Jumping out, he sprinted up the walkway to pound his closed fist against the door. After a moment, the door opened and Angelus found himself face to face with Joyce Summers. As recognition settled on her attractive features, she appeared as a mother lioness.

“You’re not welcome here, Angel,” she told him firmly.

Angelus figured he didn’t need another invitation and tried to push his way in finding an invisible barrier. Somehow the Slayer had found a way to disinvite him. “What did Buffy tell you about us?”

“Look, Angel. You’re a college student and too old to be meddling with the feelings of high school girls.” Joyce acknowledged the fact that the young man was handsome, but he had to be able to find girls of his own age. “Buffy told me she wants you to leave her alone. After tutoring her in history, you took advantage of the situation. When that did not work out, you started in on Cordelia.”

“That is why I’m here, Mrs. Summers,” Angelus explained while wishing the woman would step onto the porch. “I need to see Cordy.”

“She doesn’t want to see you,” Joyce stressed and started to close the door in his face. “Just go away. Leave her alone.”

“I-I can't. I can't do that.”

The past eight hours had been distressing for Joyce as she returned home to find Cordelia crying on the living room couch. Buffy was there, pacing the floor and telling the girl to shut up. Joyce was not so thick that she did not notice the girls rarely spoke to each other, despite the fact that Cordelia had been living with them for a couple of weeks. Then it all came pouring out from the girls. Buffy had fallen for Angel. Slept with him. This man had taken her daughter’s virginity only to cruelly reject her. He immediately seemed to become someone she did not know. Then he turned his affections to Cordelia who also seemed to be frightened.

“You're scaring her.”

“You have to help me. Joyce— I need, I need to be with her. Y-you can convince her. You have to convince her.”

Visibly angry now, Joyce gripped the doorknob tighter. “Look I'm telling you to leave her alone.”

“I know Cordy is in there.” Angelus was helpless against the barrier, but knew they had to come out sometime. “You have to talk to her for me, Joyce. Tell her I need her.”

Angelus was starting to lose his temper. “You don't understand, Joyce. I'll die without Cordelia. She'll die without me.”

The tone of his voice was dark and dangerous. Joyce took a step back, still holding onto the doorknob. “Are you threatening her?”

“Tell Cordelia Chase to put her ass in gear and come speak to me,” Angelus demanded. “I got a message from her earlier and I deserve a little face-to-face time.”

“Don’t talk to my mother that way, Angel.” Buffy suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. As she descended, he saw that Cordelia was right behind her.

Finally, Angelus would get some answers.

“I'm calling the police now,” Joyce told Buffy only to have her daughter hold up a hand to stop her.

“Not yet, Mom. Angel will behave if he knows what’s good for him.” Buffy asked that her mother let them have some time alone with him. Things needed to be said.

“I don’t want him in the house,” Joyce glared at the young man.

Cordelia’s mouth curled into a slow smile. “Don’t worry Joyce. I can guarantee he won’t be invited in anytime soon.”

Still concerned, Joyce reluctantly left the room. “Call out if you need me.”

“Sure, Mom.”

“What do you want, Angelus?” Buffy crossed her arms.

“Just what’s mine.”

Cordelia stood behind the Slayer looking a little scared. It was the first time she had shown any fear in his presence. About time! Angelus ignored Buffy and focused on the woman he had come for.

“I don’t take betrayal lightly, Cordelia,” he told her. “Your messengers are going to be under the weather for a while.”

“Spike and Dru?” She looked at him curiously. “What did you do to them?”

“Provided them a little lesson in not touching what belongs to me.” Angelus had been serious about making them pay for their participation in his lover’s decision.

Buffy was torn between defending Cordy and wanting to scratch her eyes out. This evil version of the vampire she loved was obsessed with the cheerleader. What Cordelia had described to her in the wee hours of the morning, long after Joyce Summers had gone to bed, made her weep along side the brunette. The girl was obviously just as obsessed with the vampire as he was with her.

Still, Cordelia Chase had decided that enough was enough. Willow’s involvement was still a fuzzy side-note that Buffy needed to figure out. She was initially told that Willow’s arm was broken by a fall in the library, but Cordy explained that it was actually Angelus who was pissed at being interrupted.

“I don’t belong to you, Angelus,” countered Cordelia. “You bit me. Marked me. It’s only a scar. A little plastic surgery and— poof! As long as I am human the only person I will ever belong to is me.”

A growl sounded from deep in the vampire’s chest. Angelus wanted to tell her she would not be human much longer if he had anything to say about it. “You want me, Cordelia Chase. You still want what we have together.”

“Maybe I do,” she agreed reluctantly, “but I choose to ignore it. And I will succeed.”

“You won’t.”

“I will too!”

“Won’t.”

“Will too!”

“Won’t!”

“Will!”

Buffy was getting dizzy from the verbal ping-pong. “Angelus, just accept the fact that she doesn’t want you.”

His gaze turned golden. “Is that what you’ve done, Buffy?”

Struck silent, Buffy realized the personal impact of her words.

“Have you forgotten what it was like, lover?” Angelus sneered. “How you moaned and came in my arms? How you gave it up to a vampire— your mortal enemy? You haven’t forgotten any more than I can forget her. I won’t just accept that Cordelia has suddenly changed her mind.”

“It was a spell, Angelus,” explained Cordelia as she tried not to burst into tears again. “I don’t love you. I don’t! It’s just magick.”

“Bullshit! I don’t believe that.”

Buffy promised him, “It’s true.”

A dawning light came on in Angelus’ head. “That little bitch! I knew she was tripping on the power. Playing with spells she shouldn’t.”

A little worried now that the vampire had made a connection to Willow, the two girls were glad that the Rosenberg residence was already protected by an uninvite spell. It was highly likely that the girl could become a target. Angelus’ next words confirmed their fears.

“Do you realize what you’re doing, Cordelia?” Angelus’ lips curled into a sneer. “You have released me from my promise not to harm your friends.”

The evil glint in his eyes was all the proof they needed. Buffy reminded him, “Those are *my* friends you’re talking about. Do not threaten them, because you’ve already got a ticked off Slayer to deal with. You don’t wanna make me really, really mad.”

“Step out of the house if you mean that, Slayer,” Angelus’ full game face appeared. “I can deal. Let’s get it on.”

With a sigh, Buffy realized that she was still not ready to kill him. Tonight had been so emotionally draining that she just couldn’t face the idea. “Go home, Angel.”

Seeing that the Slayer did not want to play, Angelus turned to Cordelia. “This isn’t over Cordy. Not by a long shot. I’ll be at the mansion if you change your mind. Either of you.”
 

Lower being, our Warrior finds himself in a dark place. Rage blooms within him at the whim of Chaos. Interference and betrayal have awakened a driving force that exists in you all. Passion. Unwanted and unbidden it stirs within. Without his soul to guide him, Angelus is ruled by that passion as it opens its jaws and howls. Passion. It leads the way and our Warrior obeys.
 

Jenny Calendar looked up from the computer at her desk. It was broad daylight outside, though the blinds were shut. There was a vampire standing in the middle of her empty classroom. “Angel— How did you get in here?”

“I was invited.” Angelus moved a little closer as he explained. “The sign in front of the school— 'Formatia trans sicere educatorum.'”

She understood his meaning. Quoting, “Enter all ye who seek knowledge.”

“What can I say? I'm a knowledge seeker.”

Shuffling through some of the papers at her desk, Jenny tried to be calm. “Angel, I-I-I've got good news.”

“I heard. You went shopping at the local boogedy-boogedy store.” The discovery was a surprise to Angelus who had been blaming Willow for casting spells. It looked like there was another witch associated with the Scooby Gang. “Been buying items that sound like they have to do with me.”

“Well, yes,” Jenny started to explain only to be cut off by the vampire’s oration.

“The Orb of Thesulah,” Angelus spotted it on the desk and carefully lifted it. “If memory serves, this is supposed to summon a person's soul from the ether— store it until it can be transferred.”

Licking her lips, Jenny Calendar wondered what else the vampire knew. She supposed he might have studied the transference rituals in order to learn more about the curse.

“You know what I hate most about these things?” Angelus gripped the orb in his hand. “They're so damn fragile.”

As the glass orb burst, Jenny jolted in fear. The vampire was now leaning against her desk. “Must be that shoddy gypsy craftsmanship, huh?”

Angelus had her cornered behind the desk. Jenny wanted to convince him that she was trying to help, but it seemed obvious that he looked on it as a threat. “So you are more than you pretend to be, Janna of the Kalderash people.”

Flashing a look of panic, Jenny realized that Angel knew the truth. The only way he could have done that was to get to her Uncle Enyos, an elder of their clan who was in town keeping a watchful eye on her progress. What had he been forced to reveal?

“I never cease to be amazed how much the world has changed in just two and a half centuries. It's a miracle to me. You, you put the secrets to restoring my soul in here—”

Angelus shoved the computer onto the floor watching with satisfaction as it broke into pieces. The monitor shattered, sending out sparks and started to burn. Walking to the computer printer, Angelus ripped off the printout.

“—It comes out here.”

Reading, “The Ritual of Restoration. Wow! This brings back memories.”

Even in the midst of her distress, Jenny tried to stop him from destroying the paper in his hand. “Wait. That's your—”

“My cure?” Angelus scoffed, “No, thanks. Been there, done that, and deja vu just isn't what it used to be. My— isn't this my lucky day. The computer— and the pages. Looks like I get to kill two birds with one stone. And teacher makes three.”

“No!” Jenny cried out and took the only opportunity to run she had found.

“Oh, good. I need to work up an appetite first.” Instantly, Angelus moved with vampiric speed to grab his victim. “Sorry, Jenny, this is where you get off.”

Snapping her neck, Angelus felt a wave of satisfaction roll from his chest to his groin. “Ah— I never get tired of doing that.”

It was the first death amongst the Chosen One’s crowd. Not the one Angelus thought he would start with, but his fortunate discovery made rearrangement of his plans necessary. If he could not get to Cordelia, he would pick off the Slayers other friends one by one until Buffy was the only one left protecting her.

As Angelus lifted the dead body of Jenny Calendar into his arms, a dark grin spreading across his face, he spoke to her still form. “Now then, gypsy girl, it’s Valentine’s Day. Let’s get you home to your man.”

Buffy clung to Giles as they walked away from the gravesite. He was immersed in grief and heartbreak. “In my years as— Watcher— I’ve buried too many people. But Jenny was the first I’ve loved.”

Tears dripped onto her curved cheeks as Buffy’s own feelings about Angel and Angelus finally came to a head. She felt responsible for Jenny Calendar’s death by refusing to fight the vampire.

“I'm sorry!” Buffy pleaded her case. “I'm sorry I couldn't kill him for you— for her—when I had the chance. I wasn't ready. But I think I finally am. I can't hold on to the past anymore. Angel has gone. Nothing's ever gonna bring him back.”

Patrols brought no sign of Angelus. Buffy wondered if he was waiting for Spike and Dru to recover from whatever torture he had unleashed upon them for delivering Cordelia’s message. He was biding his time. Planning. Plotting. After what Angelus had done to Giles, displaying Jenny’s broken body on the Watcher’s bed and spreading a romantic trail of roses from the front door to the bedroom, she believed him capable of anything.

Willow had been asked to take over Jenny Calendar’s computer class until a suitable replacement could be found. The girl found herself feeling guilty at the pleasure it gave her to lead the class and being recognized for her skill. After a week, she was no longer having any problem and took delight in adapting Jenny’s lesson plans with her own sense of style.

Now Buffy was sitting next to her at the desk after pleading for help with her homework. As her pencil rolled onto the floor, the blonde noticed a computer disc lodged between the desk and the adjacent two-drawer file cabinet. Picking it up, she gave it to Willow. “I think you dropped this.”

Taking it, Willow examined the disc. “Not mine. It might be something belonging to Ms. Calendar.”

“This feels kinda morbid,” Buffy admitted as her friend popped the unlabeled disc into the computer.

Willow had moved past that. With a series of mouse clicks, she had the program open and running. Pointing out, “I've gone through most of her files already.”

Questioning the girl, “Does that make it *less* morbid to you or *really* morbid?”

Sighing, Willow reminded her, “I had to teach her class.”

“Relax, Will. I was making with the funny.” Buffy glances over at the screen then caught the title. “Does that say 'restoration'?”

Willow nodded silently as she read over the text. “It's one of her spells, Ms. Calendar was not a practicing witch, but she did dabble—”

As the redhead’s voice trailed off, Buffy grew anxious. “Willow?”

This was an enormous find. Willow glanced over at her friend and spontaneously gave her a hug. This was the answer to her prayers for Buffy and Angel. Excitedly rocking her back and forth, Willow chanted, “Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.”
 

Sometimes, these divergent paths veer back to the center. Realign with the ultimate plan. Sometimes not. A twist of fate led to discovery. Creating opportunity. Creating a chance for redemption.
 

Willow’s glee was boundless at the discovery of the soul restoration spell. Ms Calendar had come through for the gang even after death. With the Mortivaricus Incantations, Jenny’s spell and the demonology book on vampires, Willow felt confident that she could restore Angel’s soul. However, her weeks of misery and a little soul-searching of her own had brought her to a decision.

Buffy’s Angel was cursed by the gypsies to ensure his suffering. Only perfect bliss in Buffy’s arms could counteract the curse and bring Angelus back to the world. If Willow could restore the vampire’s soul, but somehow make his soulmate the link that kept him stable— then Buffy and Angel could be together again. All she needed to do was tweak the spell. Not that she was adept at tweaking, but Willow reasoned that it was worth a try.

“What are you saying?” Giles stared at Willow and Buffy trying to make sense of it.

Buffy held up a paper printout. “We thought that the information on Angel’s curse was destroyed along with Ms Calendar’s computer. “We were wrong. This is it.”

Not quite, Willow thought as Buffy held out the tweaked version of the restoration spell to the Watcher. “Looks like Ms. Calendar finished her translation of the original curse. To restore Angel's soul again.”

This was the first Giles had heard of its completion, but there was a chance Jenny had it finished on the day of her death. Valentines Day, when she told him that she had to work just a little later than planned. Staring at the printout, Giles reminded them of her original response to Cordelia’s request that the gypsy restore Angel’s soul. “She said it couldn't be done.”

“No. Ms Calendar said *she* couldn’t cast the spell, not that it couldn’t be done,” Willow sounded optimistic.

Xander was sitting at the table next to Willow. “What a prince! Angelus killed her before she could tell anyone about the spell.”

“This is good, right?” Cordelia ventured. She had so many mixed feelings about this idea. “I mean, we can curse him again.”

Buffy paced like a caged tiger across the library floor, thinking.

“Um, well, this, um— certainly points the way,” Giles started to advise the girl against getting her hopes up, “but— the ritual itself requires a greater knowledge of the black arts than I-I-I can claim.”

Willow realized that this was the time to fess up. “Well, I've been going through her files and— and researching the black arts for fun or educational fun and I may be able to work this spell.”

Turning swiftly, Giles stared at the redhead with deep concern. “W-Willow— I, I, you can’t just— channeling such potent magicks through yourself, it could open a door that you may not be able to close.”

Though Buffy had been heartened by the news that Angel might be saved by this spell, she admitted, “I don't want you putting yourself in any danger, Will.”

Willow agreed. “And I don't want danger. Big 'no' to danger, but I may be the best person to do this.”

Xander couldn’t believe this discussion. It was only last week that Buffy had sworn to do away with the evil vampire despite the love they had once shared. After all, Angelus had seduced Cordelia away from him and killed Jenny Calendar. “Hi! For those of you who have just tuned in, everyone here is a crazy person.”

Rising from his chair, Xander walked to the end of the table. “So this spell might restore Angel's humanity? Well, here's an interesting angle— who cares?” he added harshly.

“I care.” Buffy looked at him sadly.

Cordelia added her two cents. “So do I.”

Xander found that he was not surprised. Sourly, he looked at the two girls. “Is that right.”

“Let's not lose our perspective here, Xander.” Giles tried to keep them focused.

Even Willow seemed unwilling to see his side, Xander realized, and she still had a cast on her arm thanks to the vampire’s super-strength.

Standing his ground, Xander pointed to himself. “I am Perspective Guy. Angel's a killer.”

Willow cautioned, “Xander—”

“It's not that simple,” Buffy told him.

Disgusted, Xander yelled, “What? All is forgiven? I can't believe you people!”

Cordelia stood next to him as she thought about what they were planning. If it worked, this spell would save Angel. If it didn’t Buffy wouldn’t stop until one of them was dust or dead. If it worked, Angel would return to his souled existence and regret every moment that he had spent in Cordelia’s arms. After all, even Angelus himself had admitted that it was the soul that loved Buffy. With it restored to the vampire, the soul would once again consign Buffy’s love in that empty place in his heart.

Selfishly, Cordelia did not know if she could live with that. Her feelings for Angelus had not gone away simply because she chose to stop seeing him. “Xander has a point.”

His former girlfriend had remained distant during the weeks since their break up. Xander automatically raised his voice to snap at her. “You know just *once* I wish you'd support me— and I realize right now that you were— and I'm embarrassed, so I'm gonna get back to the point— which is that Angel needs to die.”

Giles shook his head. “Curing Angel seems to have been Jenny's last wish.”

Xander pointed out harshly, “Yeah? Well, Jenny's dead.”

Approaching Xander angrily, Giles glared down at the boy. “Don't you *ever* speak of her in that tone again!”

Yelling back, Xander thought the Watcher would be on his side. “Can't you hear what I'm saying?”

They began to argue heatedly. Buffy rushed over and put herself between them as a small physical barrier. “Stop it! Stop it!”

Silence permeated the room as Xander and Giles separated to distant corners. Buffy saw them glaring at each other. Turning away, Buffy went back to Willow looking as though the tears were getting closer. Giles started pacing, also very upset while Cordelia stood in silent misery with her arms hugged around herself.

Willow quietly asked her friend, “What do you wanna do?”

Sighing, Buffy responded in the same tone. “I-I don't know. What happened to Angel wasn't his fault.”

Overhearing, Xander said, “Yeah, but what happened to Ms. Calendar is.”

Buffy and Willow stared at him in disbelief. He wasn’t seeing the point, but then again Xander Harris never liked Angel to begin with.

“You can paint this any way you want,” Xander’s voice sounded cold, “but the way I see it is that you wanna forget all about Ms. Calendar's murder so you can get your boyfriend back.”

Meanwhile, Angelus and his growing band of vampires acquired a little piece of history from the Sunnydale Museum. It was now sitting in front of the fireplace at the vampire’s recently acquired mansion— the one he had moved Spike and Dru into in preparation of the enlargement of their clan. In the adjoining suite next to his expansive set of rooms everything lay prepared for Cordelia Chase— an arrival the girl swore would never come.

So be it. If he couldn’t have what he wanted, neither would anyone else.

“It's a big rock,” Spike assessed the object. “I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big in their living room.”

Angelus rolled his eyes. “Spike, boy, you never did learn your history.”

“Let's have a lesson, then.” Lounging back on the couch, Spike propped his muddy boots atop the coffee table. Angelus wasn’t into pet rocks or robbing museums, so this had to be something of interest.

His grandsire’s voice took on a mysterious tone, as if he was wallowing gloriously in the idea that he had found this artifact just when he wanted it. “Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world.”

Oh! Spike realized this could get interesting indeed.

Strolling over to the obelisk, Angelus explained. “He was killed by a virtuous knight who pierced the demon's heart before he could draw a breath to perform the act.”

Spike saw a plan forming on his grandsire’s face. “Acathla turned to stone, as demons sometimes do, and was buried where neither man nor demon would want to look.”

“Unless of course they're putting up low-rent housing.” Spike quipped.

With a smirk, Angelus ordered two of his fledglings into action. “Boys—”

The vampires reached up with crowbars attempting to pry open the tomb. The lid crashed to the floor, stirring up dust. Inside was a tall stockily-built horned stone demon with a sword protruding from the right side of its chest.

Drusilla closed her eyes as she caught sight of it. Raising her hands to the sides of her head, she began to sway it back and forth. “He fills my head. I can't hear anything else.”

Sitting up, Spike met Angelus’ gaze. “Let me guess. Someone pulls out the sword—”

“Someone worthy—”

Spike nodded his head at the plan. “Mm. The demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues.”

Drusilla opened her eyes, lowering her arms to her side. Her voice was full of portent. “He will swallow the world.”

Angelus walked up to Acathla for a closer look as he responded to his childe’s words. The perfect vengeance. “And every creature on this planet will go to Hell.”

Trying to maintain a poker face, Spike realized that his grandsire had gone over the edge. This went far beyond Drusilla’s little stint with reassembling the Judge, which Spike had supported at the time. Angelus’ plan was different. This wasn’t about causing a little carnage here or there. This was about not getting what he wanted— Cordelia Chase. This was all about vengeance and death, even his own.

Facing the other vampires in the room, an evil smile appeared across Angelus’ face. “My friends, we're about to make history— end.”
 

We come to a crossroads. A landmark in the footnotes of this history. A point at which enemies and friends exchange roles. Where one demon fights to destroy the world while his kindred seeks to save it. And the Chosen One must destroy that which she has held most dear to her heart. Our Warrior will be lost to the confines of hell. Our Seer-to-be consigned to a future without him.

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