Part 4
“She woke up.” Wesley sat down heavily on the brown leather couch as Angel, responding to Cordelia’s body language, enveloped his girlfriend in a comforting hug.
“I took too long to find a way to save her.” the ex-watcher reproached himself, absolutely devastated by his imagined failure.
Angel held Cordelia close for a few moments, then pressed a soft kiss to her temple before releasing her to sit down next to their dejected friend.
“Wes – this is not your fault.” he reassured the ex-watcher, patting him soothingly on the back.
“What else did the hospital tell you? How did she escape?” Wesley lifted his gaze to question Cordelia; his blue eyes filled with trepidation as he hoped for the best, but feared the worst.
“She attacked one of the nurses – stole her clothes and car.” the seer quietly informed him, seating herself besides Angel and threading her fingers through his; she was not quite ready to let go of the recently re-established bond between the two of them just yet.
“Dear God!” Wesley exclaimed in horror as he nervously removed his glasses to clean the lenses – the action a classic symptom of distress in the dark-haired Englishman.
Cordelia reached over Angel to lay a comforting hand on Wesley’s forearm. “She’s going to be all right.” she rushed to appease her stressed out friend. “Faith – I mean the Orb – broke her wrist, but otherwise she’ll be fine.”
“This doesn’t change anything.” Angel put in. “It’s a setback, but it’s not too late to help her. We’ll carry on as planned and free Faith from the Orb’s influence.”
“We’ve got to find her first.” Wesley glumly reminded the resolute vampire, his shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I don’t think that will be too much of a problem. If I know evil, and I do, then the Orb is going to try to eliminate anything or anyone it views as a threat – Faith is probably headed in our direction as we speak.”
“What if she’s not?” the ex-watcher continued to play devil’s advocate.
“Then she’s on her way to Sunnydale.”
Angel’s broad forehead creased into a thoughtful frown as he stood up and started to pace up and down like a general inspecting his troops. After a few moments of silent contemplation, he stopped his relentless to-ing and fro-ing and turned to face them, the expression on his handsome face suddenly all business.
“Listen to me guys – we are *not* going to give up just because things have taken an unprecedented turn, okay?” he told them with steely determination.
The ex-watcher and seer nodded in silent unison, staring wide-eyed at the vampire who loomed large over them, his posture brimming with an awe-inspiring level of self-confidence.
“Will you need Willow for the spell to re-seal the Orb?” Angel demanded of Wesley who instinctively sat up straighter at the vampire’s authoritative tone.
“I believe so yes. The spell is extremely dangerous if cast incorrectly – Willow is the only one with enough magical power to pull it off.”
Angel nodded, then turned to quiz his girlfriend. “Cordy – you keep in touch with her right?”
Cordelia, somewhat surprisingly, did. It had started with the occasional phone-call when the then secretary of Angel Investigations, had needed help with the computer. Slowly over time though, a tentative on-line friendship had developed between the two girls. They now regularly exchanged emails once or twice a week, keeping each other up-to-date with the respective happenings in LA and Sunnydale.
“Go and call her.” the vampire directed. “They need to be prepared if Faith shows up there.”
Buoyed up by Angel’s total belief in their ability to save Faith, Wesley determinedly sprang to his feet, his composure finally returning full force.
“I’ll go and sort through my notes – the potion to banish the Orb requires some special ingredients. We’ll need to locate the lines of supply for them in LA.” he murmured thoughtfully to himself, then industriously scurried out of the living area, once again intent on his self-imposed mission to save the brunette slayer.
With his inherent supernatural ability to sense another’s gaze on him, Angel gradually became aware that Cordelia had her hazel eyes carefully trained on him. He turned around to face her, taking note of the coy smile that hovered on her lips and tugged at the corners of her generous mouth.
“What?” he enquired, crossing his eyes impatiently at her.
The seer’s face split into a beaming smile at her boyfriend’s puzzled question, but she enigmatically didn’t reply to his query. Instead, she stood up and calmly walked towards him, a decidedly wicked twinkle gleaming in her caramel orbs. Angel’s pupils dilated with arousal and his nostrils flared, completely mesmerised by the intoxicating sway of her curvy hips as she first approached, then sexily sauntered by him on her way to the phone.
“I love it when you get all take chargey.” she purred throatily with a saucy wink in his direction. “It gets me all hot and bothered.”
All the borrowed blood in Angel’s body immediately rushed south at her subtle teasing, but he was astounded to discover that he was also highly shocked by her playful bantering. Their lives had been so full of angst recently that he’d virtually forgotten the easy-going and comfortable nature of their relationship prior to Doyle’s death.
Cordelia giggled at the stunned expression that washed over her boyfriend’s strikingly handsome features at her mischievous actions, but her laughter trailed off when Angel’s face fell and his forehead crinkled into a characteristic broody frown.
“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly, disappointed that her attempt to lighten the mood had fallen flat.
“Nothing.” Angel tersely replied, then groaned inwardly, quickly recognising his predictably defensive response to his girlfriend’s diffident question.
You have got to face up to your problems and talk them through with her, because sticking your head in the sand and hoping it will all go away isn’t going to make things right between you again.
Wesley’s earlier words came to mind, illuminating a light bulb of self-awareness in Angel’s brain. Instinctively pushing Cordelia away was par for the course just lately, but the vampire knew that he had to break that cycle if he and his seer were to ever find their way back to each other.
Heeding his friend’s sensible advice, Angel took a deep un-needed breath and tried again, making a conscious effort to explain his feelings rather than bottling them up inside.
“I mean … It’s just … well … I’ve missed this.” he stammered, gesturing between the two of them with a jerky wave of his hand.
Cordelia had grown quite adept at deciphering the meaning behind her boyfriend’s nervous stuttering, so she quickly cottoned on to what the tongue-tied vampire was trying to articulate to her.
“Yeah me too.” she softly confessed, her voice thick with unshed tears.
Relieved that he was finally starting to open up to her, Cordelia stepped forward and flung herself into Angel’s arms, locking her upper limbs tightly around his neck and burying her face into the hollow of his throat.
“Promise me we can make this right again.” she mumbled beseechingly against his cool skin as tears involuntarily escaped from the corner of her eyes to run down her cheeks.
As his arms closed around her trembling form, Angel felt the backs of his own eyes sting with moisture, her pleading words striking an emotional chord deep within his soul. They stood wrapped in each others arms, holding on for dear life, until Angel eventually pulled way.
The normally stoic vampire rested his forehead lightly against Cordelia’s and gazed down into her tearstained face, brushing a few damp strands of dark hair out of her eyes before opening his mouth to speak.
“We need to talk.” he choked out, his voice hoarse with suppressed emotion. “We’ve not been communicating properly lately, have we?”
Digging her fingers into the ropy muscles of Angel’s lower back, Cordelia stood on her tiptoes and bridged the small gap between them to press her warm lips against her boyfriend’s mobile mouth in a brief, but heartfelt, kiss.
“No we haven’t.” she tearfully concurred with his statement when they drew apart. “How about we remedy that?”
Angel cupped the side of her face in his hand, and stroked his thumb over her cheekbone in a gently rhythmic caress. “Cordy – I want to, I really do, but what with everything that’s going on, this isn’t the right time. There’s ….”
“Faith – I know.” Cordelia cut in, reaching up to curl her fingers around the hand that was tenderly cradling her cheek. She turned her face to kiss the hollow of his palm before stepping back out of his arms.
“I should go and call Willow.” she murmured, gesturing towards the phone on the other side of the room. “You promise we’ll talk soon?”
“Yeah – we’ll talk soon.” The vampire echoed her words back at her.
As Cordelia turned and walked away from him, Angel was suddenly reluctant to end the conversation without taking one more step towards reconciliation. He quickly reached out with one hand to prevent her from departing. “Cor?”
His seer turned back to face him and looked up into his face with questioning eyes. Angel took one of her hands in both of his and lifted their joined fingers to his mouth to press a sweet kiss to the backs of her knuckles.
“I just wanted to say – I’m not angry with you anymore over … well … you know what.” he whispered falteringly, obliquely referring to the cause of their destructive argument a few weeks ago.
“I really am sorry about not telling you Angel – you know that right?”
“Yeah, I know.” The vampire palmed her face in his hands and rubbed his nose against hers in a soft Eskimo kiss. “I love you – please don’t ever think that I don’t, okay?”
“Okay.” Cordelia nodded, a shy smile creeping over her features as his sincere words warmed her from the inside out.
Angel gently pushed her way, a rueful smile on his lips. “Go call Willow.” he instructed, desperately wanting to keep her close by his side, but knowing that they had to deal with the Faith situation before they took the time out to work through their problems.
“Yes sir.” Cordelia saluted him cheekily. She graced him with her wide beautiful smile for the first time in several weeks, much happier now that their relationship was on the road to recovery.
Angel felt himself return her sunny expression with a smile of his own, which broadened at the words that she affectionately threw back over her shoulder at him as she headed across the room.
“I love you too by the way broody boy, and don’t you *ever* forget it.”
***
Buffy smoothly ran through the series of Tai-Chi exercises that Angel had taught her several years ago, seeking to assuage the vague sense of unease that had been nagging constantly at her recently. Her new boyfriend sat on the bed in the college dorm that she shared with Willow, watching her graceful movements with quiet appreciation.
Riley’s silent scrutiny made the petite slayer feel warm and tingly inside, but the emotions he engendered within her seemed commonplace in comparison to the power and passion of her first love. Riley knew about her slayer status, but Buffy had yet to tell him about Angel, her gut instinct telling her that the soldier would never understand about her two year relationship with the souled vampire. The blond slayer knew that she would have to tell him soon, because one of her friends was bound to let the proverbial cat out the bag before long.
Buffy had heard on the grapevine that Angel’s relationship with Cordelia was still going strong which surprised her enormously. In the slayer’s opinion, they were complete polar opposites with nothing at all in common, so she had assumed that, once the physical attraction had died down, the two of them would fragment apart.
This hadn’t happened though and it appeared that Angel was carving out a new life for himself in LA, a life that didn’t include her. This state of affairs filled Buffy with sorry regret – she had tried so hard to forget about him but even now, seven months on, there was still a part of the slayer that hankered after the tall, dark vampire.
Buffy purposely shook off her unsettling thoughts and threw a bright smile in Riley’s direction, crossing the room to confidently straddle his strong thighs. She ran her fingers through his shock of sandy hair and bent her head to kiss him, attempting to banish the niggling memories of her ex with some hot smooches from her new boyfriend.
The shrill ring of the phone, a few seconds later, interrupted their passionate embrace; Buffy nimbly hopped off Riley’s lap, and quickly crossed the room to answer the call. “Hello?”
There was a brief pause on the other end of the line and then a familiar voice spoke. “Buffy?”
“Cordelia.” Buffy flatly acknowledged her rival and former classmate.
“Umm – is Willow there?”
“No, she’s still in Class.”
“Oh.” Cordelia momentarily fell silent, then took a deep breath and carried on speaking. “I guess I’d better fill you in on the situation instead then.” she decided.
“What situation?”
“We had a phone-call – Faith woke up and escaped from the rehabilitation centre this morning.”
“Oh God!” Buffy closed her eyes and sank down into the chair by the dressing table, completely stunned by this unexpected turn of events.
“Angel reckons she’s either heading our way, or to Sunnydale, so we rang to warn you.”
“Why did you ring Willow? Angel should have called me.” Buffy exclaimed, hurt that the witch had been their first port of call.
“Cus we need Willow to help Faith that’s why.” Cordelia impatiently explained to the petulant slayer. “Wesley is back from England and he’s found a way to free Faith from the Orb. He wants Will to cast the binding spell that will seal it back in the ground.”
“Is he there?”
“Who – Wesley?”
“No Angel!” Buffy burst out, annoyed by Cordelia’s apparently clueless response to her question.
“Oh right – yeah he’s here.”
“Put him on.” the slayer instructed imperiously.
For a second Buffy thought Cordelia was going to refuse, but then the former cheerleader let out a resigned sigh and the quiet murmur of voices could be heard in the background.
Moments later, the rich deep timbre of Angel’s voice vibrated over the phone line, sending shivers down the length of the blond slayer’s spine. “Hello Buffy.”
“Hi.” she replied, cringing in embarrassment when her voice came out all soft and breathy. The mortified slayer coughed and cleared her throat. “How ya doing?”
“I’m good.” was Angel’s short to the point response. “You?”
“Good – I’m good, we’re all good. So – about Faith?”
“Wes has found a way to save her, but we’re gonna need Willow’s help.”
“So Cordelia said.”
“My gut feeling is telling me that she’s either en route to LA or heading towards Sunnydale.”
“Again with the ‘so Cordelia said’ line.”
“I need you guys to sit tight until she shows up somewhere.” the vampire continued. “If that turns out to be Sunnydale, then give us a call and we’ll be there ASAP.”
“All right.” Buffy agreed. “So how are things going in LA? Willow says you’ve opened a detective agency” she continued conversationally.
“Look Buffy, I don’t have time to stay and chat.” Angel said. “Wes is chomping at the bit to get the ingredients we need for the exorcising potion. I can’t let him go out alone – not with Faith on the loose.”
“Oh. Okay then.” the slayer replied, disappointed. “Shall I tell Will to ring when she gets back?”
“Yep, that would be good. And Buffy?”
“Yes?”
“If she shows up, don’t do anything rash okay? We’re facing the essence of pure evil combined with Faith’s slayer strength – I don’t think that’s something you should, or even could, fight alone.”
“All right, I’ll be careful.” Buffy promised; butterflies starting to flutter in her tummy as his logical assumption about her fellow slayer’s present capabilities hit home.
“That cuts both ways Angel.” she pointedly reminded him, deliberately squelching the fear that was tying her stomach up in knots.
“I’ll speak to you later.” Angel replied and the line went dead before she could lodge a complaint about his avoidance tactics.
Buffy replaced the receiver in its cradle with a heavy sigh and nervously began to chew on her thumbnail, turning the potential nightmare that was about to descend over and over in her head.
She almost jumped out of her skin when Riley’s voice sounded from behind her – she’d totally forgotten that he was there.
“Who’s Angel?
***
The bell above the door tinkled as they entered the small shop that was tucked away down a rat-infested back-street in downtown LA. The three friends had spent the last four hours traversing the length and breadth of the city, gathering supplies for their impending confrontation with the Orb-possessed Faith.
Despite her protestations, Angel had refused point-blank to let Cordelia remain behind in the relative luxury of their apartment; declaring that until Faith showed, neither she, nor Wesley, were leaving his side for a minute. The vampire was not about to let another member of his surrogate family die because he had failed to protect them.
Logically Cordelia knew her boyfriend was right; he was the only one with a cat in hell’s chance of holding his own against Faith – she and Wesley were vulnerable by the simple virtue of their humanity. Understanding the necessity for them to stick together didn’t make this little trip around the seedy underbelly of LA any easier for the seer to stomach though.
Cordelia hoped to high heaven that this was their last stop – she was yearning for a long hot shower, desperately needing to wash off the corruptive stink of the demon underworld that she had just been subjected to a highlighted tour of.
With the sun still shining for the first couple of hours of their shopping trip, they had been forced to take the sewers to make their way around LA. The stench down there was gross – Cordelia felt the urge to hurl just thinking about it; not to mention the fact that her – very expensive designer – shoes were ruined from the stagnant water pools that she had been forced to step into. Sometimes working for the Powers That Be was a real bitch.
“Hullo?” Wesley called out into the seemingly empty shop interior. “Anyone home?”
A small figure suddenly materialised out of thin air in front of them, causing Cordelia to start with surprise and almost drop all the precious packages that she was holding.
The little man was about three feet high and was, for some unknown reason, dressed like a pantomime elf – he wore a pair of khaki lederhosen and a dark green hat with a brown feather sticking jauntily out of the top of it.
“Greigor – I presume?” Wesley asked, seemingly indifferent to the little fellow’s astonishing appearance.
“Aye – how may I help you?” Greigor’s voice was high-pitched and tinged with a vaguely Irish accent.
“We need some goat’s entrails please.”
Eww!!
“I don’t serve vampires.” Greigor replied, his face hardening as his eyes fell on Angel’s mid-section.
Great – another shop assistant who needs ‘persuading’ to part with the goods. Why can’t he be open to bribery like his more intelligent counterparts? Does he have his head screwed on backwards or what?
Cordelia slowly backed away towards the safety of the far wall as Angel regarded Greigor with a raised eyebrow, highly amused by the little guy’s frankly comical refusal to assist them. The stubborn elf had to know that he could separate his head from his body in seconds.
“He’s not a normal vampire.” Wesley explained. “This is Angel.”
“The vampire with a soul? The Power’s Champion?” Greigor stared up at Angel in awe, tilting his head so far back to observe the vampire’s face that he almost toppled over.
“The one and only.” Angel agreed solemnly, trying not to laugh at the wonderment shining in the elf’s bright green eyes.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise. I’ll go and get your entrails right away.” Greigor burst out frantically, almost genuflecting to the souled vampire and tripping over his tiny feet in his haste to serve them. He escaped into the back of the shop, searching for the items that they required.
“I see your reputation precedes you.” Wesley commented, tongue firmly in cheek and his blue eyes sparking with amusement at the elf’s hero worship.
“Looks like.” Angel replied, shooting a proud, shit-eating grin at the smiling ex-watcher.
“Pfft!” Cordelia crossed the room to join them. “They’ll be starting up their own fan website next – www hello I’m a sad loser dot com.”
“Hey!” Angel protested.
Wesley laughed and Cordelia grinned impudently up at her boyfriend as she slipped one hand through the crook of his arm and lightly squeezed the hard muscles in his upper arm.
The vampire shook his head and laughed. “I’m so glad I have you guys around to burst my bubble of self-importance.”
“I don’t think you need it.” Cordelia remarked. “You are the most modest dark avenger I know.”
“There are some people around who could do with a good dose of humility though.” she added under her breath, thinking back to Buffy’s arrogant demand to speak to Angel a few hours earlier.
Angel wisely let that pass, not wanting to bring the subject of his ex-girlfriend into the arena, especially as his relationship with the beautiful seer was still on somewhat shaky ground. They waited in silence for a few minutes until Greigor re-emerged from the store room, struggling to carry a large jar of body parts.
“You want it gift-wrapped?” he asked, overly eager to please his auspicious customer.
Cordelia wrinkled her pretty nose in distaste at the repugnant contents of the glass screw-top pot. “Excuse me while I barf – you do know those are the most disgusting things ever, don’t you?”
“My stock comes from the best suppliers, young lassie.” Greigor told her indignantly, frowning at the gagging brunette.
Wesley took the jar of entrails from the elf and stashed it in one of the sacks they had brought with them. “How much do we owe you?”
“It’s on the house – anything to help the Power’s Champion.” Greigor replied, beaming up at Angel.
“I think it’s time to leave before he asks for your autograph or starts kissing your feet.” Cordelia stood on her tiptoes to whisper in her boyfriend’s ear.
After bidding the ecstatic elf farewell, the three of them ventured back into the dirty, smelly, pitch-black alleyway outside.
“Can we go home now?” Cordelia asked plaintively, clinging to Angel’s hand as they quickly made their way towards the orange hue of the streetlamp ahead, all of them conscious of the faint skittering sounds that could be heard from all around.
The vampire nodded. “I think that’s everything – right Wes?”
“Yeah – we’re done. When we get back we’ll need to …” Wesley broke off and quickly span around as he heard the sharp twang of an arrow being released from a crossbow.
Cordelia’s world went into slow motion as she watched the steel-tipped dart head with unerring accuracy towards its intended target – Angel’s unprotected chest. To her intense relief, the vampire’s lightening reflexes enabled him to catch the wooden stake in one hand and he halted its progress mere millimetres away from his heart.
The seer gasped and her heart began to race in terror as a familiar figure emerged from behind a metal dumpster to block their path.
“That was so cool.” Faith commented, the streetlight illuminating the cruel smirk on her face and the fiery red glow of her Orb-possessed eyes.
“This is going to be fun.” she added and, with that, disappeared off into the night.