Chapter 6: The Dark Avenger
Angelus strolled toward the Bronze keeping to the shadows out of habit. After the demon thrashing earlier in the week, things had slowed down for the Slayer and her little gang of misfits.
Not that Angelus included himself in that number. He was just the extra muscle they called in for those special cases. Strangely, the vampire found that he was bored and wished that there would be a hell raising, demon hatching or anything remotely interesting to deal with.
Surely there was something else worth paying attention to around this Hellmouth haven. Fighting the Good Fight wasn’t exactly his deal. Angelus wasn’t certain what he wanted. A little action would be a welcome change from listening to the Soul ramble on about the fact that he had brought Cordelia to the mansion the other night.
Angel just wouldn’t let the subject go.
He’d noticed her lingering scent and had questioned him about it after the Slayer left the mansion. There was nothing to hide after all, so Angelus filled him in on some of the details.
“Cordelia was here?” Angel seemed surprised that she would come into the mansion as she had never done so before now.
Angelus remembered his attempt at keeping it low-key. “Yes.”
But truthfully, he’d never been a low-key kind of vamp. When Angel pressed him for more details, he didn’t mind lathering on a little extra just for fun. “Cor was thrilled at the idea of giving me a ride. She couldn’t wait to get here.”
A long silence followed as Angel tried to reign in his response to the sexual context Angelus gave to his statement. Naturally, Angel’s twisted imagination took him right down the path he wanted. That soul not only turned him into a wimp, but a simpleton whose head was now filled with images that had nothing to do with her Corvette. Thoughts of that delectable body riding him to ecstasy.
“You’re lying, Angelus,” he finally commented, words as rigid as his posture. “What was Cordy doing here?”
“I already told you.” Angelus smirked at his double’s reaction. “She followed me right inside.”
The steel-jawed question that followed wasn’t especially brilliant, but it appeared to be all Angel could muster without giving in to the urge to grab him by the throat. His hands were balled into tight fists at his side as he demanded to know, “Why?”
“She wanted to check out your etchings,” Angelus remembered laughing at the look on his double’s face, “but I told her you were otherwise occupied. Guess it must’ve been a real turn-off knowing you were up there with that blonde pistol of yours.”
That really twisted the knife a little deeper. Angel didn’t seem to like him eluding to Cordelia and his little bedtime bunny in the same breath. It actually lit a little fire in the Soul, animating that usually calm exterior with just enough rage to make things interesting. “Buffy is my business. Try minding your own.”
“Oh, I am,” he’d answered quite sincerely. Cordelia Chase was every bit his business. At least, she would be.
Angel wasn’t stupid. He knew. “And stay away from Cordy.”
Promising nothing, Angelus merely smirked at the threat. As if that insipid warning would stop any vampire from trying to take what he wanted. Not any vampire worth his salt, that is. “Just saying your romps with the Slayer aren’t a secret to anyone. Who could miss seeing that irritating glow all over her face. Cor didn’t care to hear what puts it there.”
“Keep your mouth shut,” Angel’s growl was telling. “My relationship with Buffy is not up for discussion. I won’t have you making snide comments to her friends.”
“Don’t need too. They do that quite well themselves. Cordelia might’ve joked about the elephant herd tromping around upstairs, but she knew it was you. Guess those dreamy plans of making love to your girlfriend aren’t quite as soft and sweet as you want them to be,” Angelus leered cruelly. “I think the fact that the chandelier shook so hard it nearly came out of the ceiling clued Cor in to what was going on upstairs.”
Angel looked like he’d swallowed a bad batch of pig blood. Cursing loudly, he paced at a slow skulk in front of Angelus who had to admit, “I thought it was funny.”
A low growl followed. “You would.”
Then Angelus scoffed, “It’s not like the whole Scooby Gang doesn’t know about your extracurricular activities with their little blond Slayer.”
“Will you stop talking about it that way,” demanded Angel. “I love Buffy. Do I have to remind you that she is the reason that you have your own existence? I did this for her.”
“Right,” Angelus did not quite believe that. “Tell it to someone who hasn’t been in your head lately.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“If you don’t know, Soul Boy,” Angelus used Xander’s nickname just for a little added torment, “I’m not telling. I have my own interests to think about.”
Angelus didn’t wait around to hear Angel’s reaction.
No doubt his twin would quickly realize he’d been stretching the truth about Cor’s visit to the mansion. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Angelus wanted the brunette for himself. Though he doubted Angel would figure he stood a snowball’s chance in hell of actually winning her. Fine. That just gave him opportunity to come up with a way of handling the little hellcat.
Without the constraints forced upon him by the Moirae, Angelus wouldn’t have any trouble figuring out how he wanted to do this. Dozens of delightful scenarios popped into his head and that was just a taste. Unfortunately, the trio of higher beings had him on a short leash.
Now walking through the small parking zone, Angelus stopped next to the Corvette with ‘Queen C’ emblazoned on the license plate. Cordelia was at the club. Well that added a little promise to the night ahead. A game plan started to take form. He felt his body rush with an unnatural anticipation. It irritated him to be so eager to lay eyes on her.
Just the thought of her set off sparks of arousal. There were so many things Angelus wanted from Cordelia. So many, too many to name. All of them tied to his deepest instincts. Angelus didn’t really want to resist them. He wanted to fulfill every base desire that came to mind including tasting her blood, feeding her his and siring her.
Only that was nothing more than a fantasy now.
Those damned Fates warned him what would happen if he chose to call upon the darker depths of his demon nature. He would regain his soul. So Angel had some incentive to keep him in line and Angelus certainly didn’t want to be bogged down with Soul Boy’s problems. This garbage with the Slayer was unnatural.
Fucking the enemy had a certain ring to it, but to love the enemy? That was so not right, as Cordelia would say. The last time he dealt with the Slayer one-on-one was during his obsessive revenge scheme, when his plan to let Acathla suck the world into hell had gone up in flames. Spending decades in that time-warped dimension had been torture. Sharing memories of that time with Angel, he too felt fortunate that they were fading to an almost distant dreamlike state. There was only one thing that came out of the whole experience that Angelus would never verbally admit.
Buffy Summers might be his mortal enemy, but he had greater respect for her as a fighter than he ever had before their encounter. He had beaten her down, taken away everything that could possibly give her hope and yet the girl had fought back using herself as her only weapon. In the end, not only had the Slayer defeated him, but she thrust a sword through Angel and sent him to hell in order to save the world.
Maybe he’d been right about Angel’s balls, because the Slayer certainly seemed to have a set of her own figuratively speaking. From here on out, Angelus reckoned he’d let Angel handle the Slayer. As long as she did not directly interfere with him or what he wanted, things would stay neutral between them. Right now, his focus was on Cordelia Chase. Just the thought of being able to harass her tonight, to tease her mind and body into a state of arousal considerably perked up his spirits.
Entering the Bronze, he walked to a shadowed spot and surveyed the crowd looking for Cordelia. He saw her groupies, the Cordettes, hanging out in their favorite spot, but no sign of the brunette. After a few minutes of watching the crowd, Angelus was still unable to find her.
Striding over to the Cordettes, who immediately awarded him with eager smiles and batting eyelashes, Angelus resisted the urge to break their necks.
“Hi!” Harmony gushed vapidly. “Wow, you’re here. I thought you’d call me.”
Ignoring her comment, Angelus demanded information, “Where is Cordelia?”
Harmony pouted, but answered, “Around somewhere. Little girl’s room maybe.”
The vampire was about to turn away when the blonde grabbed onto his arm. “Don’t go, Angel baby. Dance with me.”
Glancing down with slight irritation, “Name’s Angelus, remember?”
“The evil twin name? So Buffy and Cordelia were serious?” Apparently, Harmony was still clueless about the truth.
“That’s right,” Angelus was getting anxious as Cordelia had still not appeared. Her car was outside, so where the hell was she? He was about to pull away again, when the blonde stepped around him blocking his path. “Move it, Harmony.”
“But don’t you want to dance with me?” Harmony ran a fingertip across the edge of her low-cut dress. “We had lots of fun the other night. It was amazing. I’d like to do it again.”
Angelus knew exactly what she was asking for, but he had other things planned for this night and none of them included repeat events with blonde bimbos. Frankly, Harmony was the type he would have drained dry just to shut her up. Even if it was possible, he didn’t have the time to do it justice. Reaching out, he picked up the cheerleader and set her down behind him.
“You were a one-time fuck, Harmony.” Angelus wiped the smile off her face with the cruel words. “You’re quite the little cock-sucker, I must admit, but you bore me.”
Turning, Angelus walked away pushing his way through the crowded dance floor on the short cut to the ladies bathroom. He received several angry looks from the couples that he bumped into, but did not even notice their glares. Harmony had taken up too much of his time and he had a bad feeling about not finding Cordelia. She wasn’t the type to hole up in a dark corner for a quick bang against the wall with some pimply teenager.
If he found her that way there would be hell to pay. First off, the little prick who dared to touch Cordelia would be lucky to survive his wrath. Then he would have to figure out a punishment worthy of Cordelia Chase’s crime against him. It didn’t matter if she thought she wanted nothing to do with him as a vampire. It was his decision that counted.
Angelus pushed the door of the ladies restroom open and walked inside heedless of the squeals that sounded in the air. After a quick search, he realized that Cordelia was not there. Leaning down to pull one cowering teenager from the floor, Angelus demanded information, “Where is Cordelia Chase?”
The girl looked puzzled for a second and then told him, “I-I think that she went out back with a couple of the guys from the band.”
Growling in response, Angelus frightened the girl who whimpered and fainted into a dead weight in his arms. He dropped her to the ground and headed for the back exit leading to the alley behind the club. Outside, Angelus immediately noticed Cordelia’s scent in the air and heard muffled sounds emanating from around the far corner.
There was a hand covering her mouth or else Cordelia would have been screaming. As it was, she continued to put up a struggle and this time managed to latch her teeth onto one of the fingers pressing against her mouth. Her assailant let out a sharp cry. “Ow!”
Yanking her arm away from his grasp, Cordelia tried to run only to find herself faced with the larger of the two boys. Letting out a shrill scream, she used the distraction by angling a swift kick toward his groin. Though it hit him, she missed the target.
“Ugh!” The blond grunted an angry whisper. “You bitch! You nearly kicked me in the balls.”
“That was the idea, brainiac,” Cordelia retorted as she continued to put up a struggle. The two jerks had found her coming out of the ladies room and told her that one of her friends was waiting for her in the alley. Figuring it had to be Buffy, one of the Scoobies or either one of the vampires, Cordelia had gone outside only to find the band boys following her.
Grabbing Cordelia by the shoulders, he thrust her to the ground and started ripping at her clothes. The other one was calling out encouragements and starting to unbutton his pants. “You deserve what you get, May Queen. We’re tired of putting up with insults while you cheerleaders lift your skirts for every guy on the football team. It’s time you put out a little for the band.”
“Get your hands off me, you asshole,” Cordelia tried to push the teenager off of her, but he was too big. Her bravado was quickly waning. As she heard the sound of tearing cloth and the rush of air over her skin, fear started to overwhelm her anger. There were tears gathering in her eyes as she begged, “Please don’t do this.”
“Dude, check out these tits,” he gaped down at her exposed chest.
The brunette was already staring, but hurried his accomplice by urging him to, “Rip off her panties, man. We don’t have all night.”
Cordelia tried to cover her chest. “I-I don’t do football players— or high school boys for that matter.”
There was a rush of cool night air as the blond boy pulled off her underwear. “Teasing bitch. I told you this one was worse than the others. She thinks no one is good enough for her. Now she’s gonna learn different.”
A gruff voice sounded from the shadows, “You’ll be eating those words in a minute, you little prick.”
“What? Who’re you?”
Without bothering to answer, the vampire reached down and lifted the boy lying on top of Cordelia to his feet. Glaring down into his eyes, Angelus told him, “It doesn’t matter who I am, just know that I am going to rip you limb from limb.”
“Angelus,” Cordelia gasped his name. Maybe they deserved it, but things hadn’t gotten so far that she wanted them dead. “Let them go.”
“Not a chance.”
Both boys let out fearful gulps, but one said, “There are two of us. We can take him.”
The vampire released a chuckle that resounded from the depths of his chest, dark and full of meaning. Reaching his free hand toward the larger kid’s throat, Angelus fully intended to snap his neck for what he had done. Seeing Cordelia on the ground with her torn dress and her panties lying next to her, Angelus had no intention of letting the asshole who had tried to rape her live another five minutes much less let him go.
The instant Angelus’ hand touched the human’s neck his own body was struck by intense debilitating pain. Reacting unexpectedly, Angelus screamed in agony. “Aaarrrgh!”
Cordelia screeched in shock at the sound as did the blond boy whose neck had been in serious jeopardy only a moment before. The other kid shouted to his friend, “Get him!”
Both teenagers jumped on the vampire knocking Angelus to the ground and punching him as many times as they could muster. The added sensation was more of an irritant than anything else. With his strength, Angelus pushed both of them away causing them to fly up a couple of feet and land hard on the ground. Residual shocks of pain hit again as the boys landed on the ground.
Realizing that the pain was part of the Fates’ deal, Angelus growled in frustration and anger. He was avenging Cordelia. Couldn’t those bitches tell when it was okay to kill a human and when it wasn’t? Angelus stalked closer to where the teens lay on the ground. One of them was cradling a broken arm, which caused him to curl his mouth into a smile of satisfaction.
“Get your pathetic asses up off the ground,” he commanded.
Struggling to their feet, both teens complied. Cordelia continued to watch in shock at the whole incident from her position nearby.
“Look, mister,” pleaded the brunet with the broken arm, “we were just trying to get our share. She’s a cheerleader, you know. They always tease the band members, but put out for the football team.”
Angelus wondered how fast he would have to move before the pain caught up with him. “Why this cheerleader?”
“Duh! She’s hot, man.” Then he added, “That’s Cordelia Chase.”
“I know,” Angelus informed him coldly. “She’s mine. Consider yourselves extremely lucky that I came along when I did because if you had actually raped her nothing on Earth or in the dimensions above would save you. As it is, I know your faces, boys. Count on seeing me again. Next time, I won’t be alone.”
The blond teen defiantly pointed out, “You can’t prove anything. You ain’t a cop.”
Deadly serious, Angelus warned him, “You’re already guilty in my eyes. That’s all it takes. It won’t be the police that come for you. I’ll be bringing someone who looks just like me,” he vamped out.
Screams of terror followed as both teenagers fled down the alley. Watching them, he gripped his frustration into tight fists. Two scrawny brats and he hadn’t been able to give them what they had coming. Apparently, this deal with the Fates not only kept him from killing humans, but it severely limited his ability to inflict damage or pain.
Still, his threat against the boys was not an empty one. Angelus fully intended to tell Angel about this incident. He felt certain that his twin would be just as pissed about this as himself. While it was unlikely that Angel would be willing to kill the bastards, dealing out some punishment would be quite another story.
Whirling around to face Cordelia, the vampire suddenly seemed to loom over her. Angelus’ ochre eyes traveled from head to toe assessing her bedraggled appearance and lingering on her exposed breasts. Fury raged in his eyes. Cordelia’s own gaze traveled the length of his tense body trying to gauge what he would do next.
Crouching down, Angelus picked up the silk panties from the ground holding them out to her. She barked at him, snatching them out of his hand. “Don’t touch those.”
“Just trying to help.”
“Help?” Cordelia all but snapped at the vampire careless of the fact that he was still in game face. “Who the hell do you think you are? The Dark Avenger, sweeping in to save the day?”
“I did save it,” he pointed out, confused at her anger toward him. When he held out a hand to help her to her feet, she refused it.
“Huh.”
Angelus pulled back, stunned at the rejection of his offer after he had saved her from the bastards who would’ve raped her. “Are you hurt? Did they do something before I got here?”
Rising to her feet, Cordelia held an arm across her chest while her opposite hand crept down to smooth her skirt around her hips and thighs. “No.”
“Come here, Cor,” Angelus held his hand out again. “Let’s get you home.”
“No!” Cordelia jerked away from his hand even though he hadn’t touched her. “I’m not going anywhere with you, Angelus. Don’t you get it? You’re no better than they are. In fact, you’re worse.”
Concentrating, Angelus shifted back to his human features hoping that she would settle down. Trying to remind himself that Cordelia was probably in shock and was reacting to what happened by taking things out on him, he calmly asked, “What do you mean?”
Letting out a shaky laugh, Cordelia responded by reminding him, “You’ve tried the same thing with me before. That night in the cemetery when you whispered the things you planned to do to me. Just the other night, you told me you wanted all that and more.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Angelus defended himself, now getting angry that she was comparing him to those two little creeps. Maybe it was true that he would still follow through if he had the chance, but now he was willing to settle for anything just to have her. “I want you, but as my lover not my victim. What happened a year ago is water under the bridge. We were different then.”
“Not so different.”
“I just saved you from would-be rapists,” he pointed out with a confident gleam in his eye. Where were his kudos for heroism? “I wouldn’t have done that a year ago.”
“Of course not. A year ago you were the would-be rapist,” Cordelia retorted. “In fact, there is no would-be about it. Maybe I was lucky to escape you thanks to Buffy, but how many others weren’t?”
Angelus was seriously offended. “I rarely forced anyone. They usually begged me for it.”
Insufferable bastard, she thought. “Egomaniac! What about those who didn’t? Bet you didn’t let them go.”
Got him there. Damn, even in shock Cordelia Chase was too quick delving through the bull to find the point she wanted to make. “So I admit it, but I am a vampire not some pimply-faced weasel who preys on his own kind.”
“That makes no difference to me. You’re still a killer, Angelus. The Fates may have you on a leash, but nothing is going to take away that history.” Cordelia’s fear seemed to have vanished. He no longer sensed it. Unless it was his own discontent with the direction of this argument, Angelus realized that Cordelia was not even afraid of him despite the fact that she named him a murderer.
Angelus thought about it and almost missed the sensation of her fear. However, he hated this reaction to him. She was taking this entire incident and turning it back on him as if he was the one at fault. Then it occurred to him that Cordelia didn’t treat Angel this way. He was a vampire. He had the same past.
“What about Angel? Are you going to shove this crap down his throat as well?”
Cordelia pursed her lips before commenting, “Angel isn’t you anymore, is he? You’re the one responsible for killing Ms Calendar, for torturing Giles, for threatening me. Maybe Angel has your memories, but they’re still yours.”
Got him again. Angelus admitted, “I did all those things. I enjoyed it, Cordelia. Is that what you want me to say? What do you expect? Do you want me on my knees begging forgiveness for doing things that are in my nature to do? Fuck that! I won’t apologize for the past. I can only move forward from here.”
“Pfft! You want redemption?” Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Like you could earn it. Not! You have no spark of goodness in you. No soul to guide you. The only reason you came to save me was because you want me for yourself.”
A low growl sounded as Angelus reached the limit of his patience. “Whatever the reason, Cordelia— I did save you.”
“Thanks,” the word practically dripped with sarcasm, “but don’t expect me to give you any more than that.”
There wasn’t a shred of real gratitude in her heartless little statement. Angelus was pissed at Cordelia’s reaction. His first thought was to throw her down on the ground and bury himself inside her just to live up— or rather down— to her expectations. For someone who could be so tantalizingly hot or subtly sweet, she could turn into a sub-zero cold bitch at the drop of a hat. One other thing that frustrated him about this entire deal—Cordelia Chase would make one helluva vampire and he could do nothing about that.
Angelus was forced to react when he preferred to be proactive. If he had his way, Cordelia would have been his long ago. Now he was all but tied up by the Moirae preventing him from doing what he wanted causing him to have to stand here and take what Cordelia doled out. She stabbed him deeply with her figurative knife and kept on twisting until it opened up a wound that could only be healed by her touch.
Even after her ingratitude and insulting comparisons, Angelus wanted Cordelia now more than ever. That thought came as a shocking realization because he had never wanted any relationship with a human. Buffy Summers was Angel’s choice and Angelus had simply been obsessed with the idea of making her pay for the emotions that she produced within his souled self. Angelus wanted Cordelia in his bed and by his side, but the chances of that becoming reality looked rather remote. Why he cared or wanted to pursue such a possibility was a complete mystery to him.
Angelus could walk back into the Bronze, pick any girl he wanted and have her in his bed within the hour. If it even took that long. Hell, if it was Harmony, he’d just get what he wanted without leaving the club. Despite Cordelia’s statement to Angel about her sexual experience, Angelus had enough sense to know that she was stretching the truth. What she said to her two assailants confirmed it. Despite her beauty, popularity and cheerleader status, Cordelia was not an easy lay.
Maybe it was just the idea of the challenge itself that made him want this. That sounded reasonable, but the seduction of Cordelia Chase would be no easy task for anyone, much less a vampire. Especially one whom she saw as being a soulless killer without a shred of goodness. Once, there was a time Angelus would have worn that description proudly as some wore a badge of honor.
“I can prove to you that I’m more than just a killer,” Angelus vehemently promised. “The fact that I’m a vampire will never change, Cordelia, but I promise to stick with this Good Fight deal.”
“You have too, dumbass! That’s the only way the Fates will let you have your own body to run around in,” Cordelia pointed out clutching at her torn bodice with one hand and gesturing with the other. “Besides, do you really think you can do it?”
“Yes.” Angelus felt certain that he could commit himself to anything. “Baby, I’m gonna show you just how good an evil vampire can be. While I’m doing that, you are going to see a side of me you never imagined existed.”
Cordelia simply dared him, “Bring it on.”