Chapter 3
Buffy and Willow were walking along licking ice-cream cones, Willow had decided after Angel had left the house, that rather than put up with an evening of Buffy moaning, she would take the Slayer out and treat her to some sinful sweet creamy goodness, hopefully putting her in a better mood. Tara as usual, hadn’t wanted to come and had elected to stay with Dawn.
Buffy had spent most of the time going on and on about her job or lack of one and her crappy life, Willow sighed to herself thinking how self-centred the blonde was, Buffy never seemed to consider anyone else’s feelings unless it benefited her. The red head had enough problems of her own, her relationship with Tara was rapidly deteriorating, due mainly to the fact that Tara thought she was relying too much on her magic’s, but also the fact that Tara was very nervous since her attack by Glory, so much so that she rarely went anywhere other than to the college classes and then straight back home.
Willow thought a little support from Buffy, one of her closest friends, would have been nice. She wondered briefly what had happened to Xander that evening, but assumed he was trying to worm his way into Anya’s good books again.
Willow shrugged as she walked along, she should be used to it by now, everyone dumping their problems on her. Such as Xander and his on off relationship with the vengeance demon. Dawn with all her school troubles, and even Giles, before he had returned to England, had been known to treat her rather as an unpaid servant, expecting her to research various demons and such on her computer, at the drop of a hat.
The girls were walking past the cemetery when four youths ran out looking spooked.
“I wonder what they’re running from?” queried Buffy, “I think I need to investigate.”
They made their way slowly through the cemetery until Willow spotted a coat lying beside a grave; she went over and picked it up.
“Hey, I’ve found something here,” she called to Buffy, the slayer walked over to the witch.
“These flowers look fresh, and look it’s Cordelia’s Grandmother’s grave, a wonder if it’s her coat?” said Buffy.
Willow gingerly put her hand into the coat pocket; she really hated this part of the job, but all she found was a set of car keys with no identification of any sort. She dug in the other side pocket and triumphantly held out a cell phone.
“See what I’ve found, we should now be able to trace the owner,’ she declared with glee.
All for a sudden Buffy exclaimed as she bent down and picked up a stake “this is Angel’s,” she cried, “it’s one from his wrist holster, see they’re specially shaped to attach to the mechanism.”
She looked more closely at the ground and was horrified to see a large pile of dust close to where the stake had been. She looked at her friend, eyes bright with tears.
“Willow, do you think he’s been dusted?” she cried. She pocketed the stake then looked more closely at the surrounding area finding another smaller pile of dust.
Willow wasn’t sure what to think, it was a large pile of dust and it was one of Angel’s stakes, she just hoped that the en-souled vampire hadn’t met his end; she quite liked his quiet, calming presence around the house. If it was Cordelia’s coat she couldn’t imagine the brunette staking Angel, unless she’d mistaken him for Angelus, also she didn’t think Cordelia would be able to overpower the vampire.
The girls looked around for further clues, but not finding any, turned to go home and see if Angel had returned. They took the coat with them; Willow decided she would log on to the internet, when she returned home and trace the cell phone number, if it was Cordelia’s it would be ok, but if not thought she would take it and the coat to the cops in the morning, on her way into classes.
***
After much swirling and twisting Angel and Cordelia were eventually ejected from the portal, to land in a sunny patch of ground. They untangled themselves, Angel panicking trying to pull his long coat over his head to protect him from the sun; he quickly rolled into the shade of the bushes before realising that he wasn’t catching on fire. Cordelia looked round and noticed they were in a small clearing among some trees.
“Uhh, why am I not on fire?” he thought, before groaning as his body reminded him of the agony it was in, and his head started thumping from the previous hits the chip had inflicted on him. Cordelia looked at the vampire her eyes round with fright.
“What the hell just happened?” she cried, and stood up turning in a slow circle taking in the tall trees that surrounded them. She walked over to Angel who was still lying where he’d rolled. “Are you all right and how come you’re not a big pile of dust?” she added.
Angel just groaned and managed to stagger to his feet, he knew he wouldn’t be able to go far without pulling the bullets out of his body, he could feel the blood running down his back and legs from the holes they made.
“I don’t know, but we need to get somewhere safe until we find out what the Hell’s going on,” he said. He looked up into the sky and was amazed when he saw two suns. Cordy followed his gaze, a puzzled expression on her face, as she put her arm round Angel and attempted to help him take a few steps towards a rocky outcrop that stood a little way from the clearing they were in.
“We really need to get you somewhere so you can rest, let’s try up there among those rocks,” she commented. She half dragged the suffering vampire into the mouth of the cave, it was relatively dry inside except in one front corner where there was water running from a crack in the rocks above into small pool, and overflowing down the hillside. “This should be OK for a while” she said.
She helped Angel remove his leather coat and wrist holsters, then hurriedly scooped up some of the dry leaves and dead grass lying on the floor of the cave together, to form a crude bed. Angel sank to his knees in pain and started poking about in his back trying to remove the slugs embedded in his flesh.
“Here, let me do that,” said Cordy, digging around in her bag, she thought she had a manicure set in it somewhere, hopefully it would contain tweezers or at least a file.
Angel looked at her with amazement as she undid his shirt then pushed it off over his shoulders, and then she gently pulled his black muscle shirt over his head. “Lie on your front, I’ll get the rest of these out,” she said.
Angel lay on his stomach trying to work out if this was the same Cordelia he had known three years ago. Figuring, she couldn’t do any worse than he was doing, what with not being able to see, he let her get on with it, she couldn’t put him in any more pain than he was causing himself.
Cordelia went and dipped his black under shirt in the little pond in the corner of the cave, and gently bathed his back to find out exactly where the holes were. She noticed there were three holes in his back, but he also had more in his ass and thighs, she could see the holes in his pants. Luckily the bullets weren’t very deep; the leather of his coat had slowed their momentum somewhat.
“Can you undo your pants?” she asked, “there seem to be some lower down.”
Angel fumbled about and managed to undo his belt and zip, she carefully peeled them down hiding a smile as she noticed his underpants. If he could have blushed he would have, for the black, stretchy, close-fitting boxers he wore had little red angels complete with haloes and a cheeky expression, all over them.
“Umm, laundry day,” he muttered.
“I thought you’d be more of a silk boxer man,” replied Cordelia still smiling, as she rolled the boxers down to get at the slugs.
“I am usually, Willow bought these for me one Christmas, they are always at the bottom of the pile and don’t get worn very often,” he replied.
“How is a good old Willow?” asked Cordelia, “still all “witchy’ and mooning over Xander.”
“Actually she’s moved on, she now has a “girlfriend’. We all live together, in Buffy’s house,” replied Angel.
“Oh well, that answers my next question,’ thought Cordy, arching her eyebrow at the thought of Willow being gay. She’d been about to ask him of he was still with Buffy.
He winced as she dug out a particularly deep slug, “sorry that one was a bit deep,” she carried on digging around. The last slug was just above his knee, and before she could remove it she had get to rid of his pants. She undid his boots and slipped them off and had to have another smile when she saw the rainbow striped socks he was wearing. “Laundry day again?” she said, as she carefully removed his pants leaving him in just his boxers and socks.
“Yeah, and Willow again,” Angel replied, “she seems to think I need colour in my life.”
“Well, I can agree with her on that,” Cordelia looked at the black-on-black clothes he had been wearing. She dug the final bullet out and after gently cleaning the area, pulled his boxers back up and sat back on her heels. She couldn’t help her eyes travelling over the near naked body of the vampire before her. She knew he looked good in his clothes, but boy did he look even better without them. His broad shoulders, with the black tattoo standing in stark contrast to his white skin, and the corded muscles of his back, tapering to a slim waist. The stretchy material of his boxers clinging temptingly to the contours of his ass, with long muscular legs stretched below. She tamped down lustful thoughts, her enquiring mind wondering how he looked from the front. She stood up and went back to the small pond and rinsed the shirt out. By now Angel was feeling very weak from the blood loss.
“I’m gonna have to rest for a bit to recuperate, don’t go anywhere will you?” he gasped, before falling unconscious.
Cordelia went and sat in the entrance of the cave studying the surrounding area, when she was convinced that there was no one around she decided to explore a little. She went back to her bag to see what Dennis had packed for her and was pleased to find a pair of running shoes along with clean blue underwear, top and jeans. With a quick glance towards the unconscious vampire, she shimmied out of her suit and blouse, replacing them with the top and jeans, then kicked off the stilettos and pulled on the running shoes with relief. She set off out of the cave climbing towards the higher ground, figuring that would be the best place to see the whole area. When she came to the top she carefully kept her head down until she knew what or who was the other side.
There are still didn’t seem to be anybody around, there were a few odd looking animals grazing on the sparse meadow. Cordy was surprised how quiet it was, of course after living in LA, the city that never sleeps, she was used to noise all around her. She went back down the rocks taking a slightly different route and was pleased to find a natural pool, which appeared to be fed from an overhead stream falling down over shear rocks in a gentle waterfall fall, to over flow into a narrow stream that disappeared round a bend into the distance.
She washed her face and hands at the pool’s edge and then decided to return to the vampire. The suns appeared to be setting as she made her way back to the cave wondering where on earth they were or even if they were still on earth, judging by the two suns, probably not. She’d heard Wesley talk about alternate dimensions but had thought they didn’t really exist.
Angel was exactly the same position as she had left him, so she scooped up more of the dry leaves and grass and made herself a crude bed on the other side of the cave and after removing her shoes, top and jeans, lay down to try and get some rest. She dozed off but after a couple of hours woke feeling chilled, by now it was quite dark, with very few stars lighting the sky. She got up and pulled the vampire’s abandoned leather coat over her as a blanket, the comforting smell of the leather and Angel soon sent her off to sleep again.
Angel woke in the middle of the night feeling very hungry; he looked around a little disorientated, until using his vampiric eyesight, noticed Cordelia lying in the corner under his coat, her bare shoulders and one long lean leg peeping out from the side of it.
He looked down at his body finally noticing how nearly naked he was, he stood and went to the mouth of the cave to find that Cordelia had laid his relatively clean muscle shirt on a sun warmed rock to dry, and that it was practically dry. He pulled it over his head and then went back for his pants and boots quickly pulling them on and tying the laces.
He sniffed the air intent on finding a meal of some sort not knowing what creatures would live in this obvious alternate dimension. He walked past the pool Cordelia had found earlier thinking it would make a good place for bathing, the rock sides stopping the grass and mud from dirtying the water. He decided he would have a wash on his return after his meal, his whole body felt dirty and sticky. He sniffed again and could smell animals of some description but he wasn’t sure what, they smelled like horses and cows combined. Angel walked over the ridge and down the other side where the trees were sparser, he could now see there were a herd of animals with mule like bodies but cow like heads, almost like red deer, except they were a dull grey in colour.
Most of the animals were lying down half asleep; he crept up to the nearest one trying not to startle it, hoping he could snack on it without it struggling too much, they were not large animals and he thought he could probably manage to hold one-down if he had to. They almost seem domesticated and not bothered about him being among them, he crouched down beside his chosen beast and after gently patting and scratching its neck he lowered his head and morphing into game face sunk his fangs into its neck and took deep draughts of the rich, warm blood. He didn’t take much not wanting to weaken the animal, so he moved to another and repeated the same procedure until he felt sated. He thought it was possibly nicer than pig’s blood, which was what he had existed off for the last few years.
Angel stood up and popped his back straight then decided to head back to the cave. On his way past the pool the tempting water was too much and after a quick glance round he stripped off his clothes and slipped naked into the pool. He was pleased to find it was about 5 ft deep he grabbed his boxers from the rock where he’d left his clothes and using them as a washcloth scrubbed the remainder of the blood and grime off his body. He climbed out of the water and while his body was drying slipped into the cave to pick up his shirt, he took it back to the pool and rinsed it along with his boxers and socks, he put them to dry on the flat rocks at the entrance of the cave. He then pulled his vest and pants back on his now dry body, picked up his boots and went back to the cave to lie down and get some more rest. He fell asleep and quickly started dreaming, his body still exhausted from the night’s exertions.
***
Back in Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy had returned home Dawn took one look at the expensive looking coat and wondered where it came from.
“We found it in the cemetery beside Cordelia’s Grandmothers grave,” said Willow. Buffy butted in with “beside one of Angels wrists stakes, has he been back, we can’t find him anywhere?”
The girls hadn’t noticed the light over the cemetery that had plucked Cordelia and Angel from the cemetery. The youths running from it certainly hadn’t stopped to talk.
Willow sat down and booted up her computer, she soon hacked into the phone company listings and discovered the phone was registered to Cordelia. “Well, it is hers,’ she commented, “I suppose we could keep her things, she’s bound to realise we would have them, after all she knows you patrol at night.’
“Yeah whatever, it’s been a long day,’ remarked Buffy, “I’m going to bed,’ and yawning as she made her way upstairs. The rest soon followed behind her.
***
Cordelia woke first in the morning and looking over at the still sleeping vampire, curled half on his front and half on his side, and realised he had been up in the night as he was now dressed in his shirt and pants. She stretched and pushed his leather coat to one side and gathering up her fresh underwear, top and jeans slipped out of the cave and down to the inviting looking pool.
She stripped off and climbed into the water or marvelling at how warm it was, she rinsed her under wear while her body was drying. Then donning the fresh underwear top and jeans she made her way back to the cave, draping her washing on the rock beside Angel’s now nearly dry things.
Her stomach rumbled ominously, she’d risked having a drink of water from the waterfall before it ran into the pool and it had tasted fine but it seemed a long time since the chicken salad sandwich yesterday afternoon.
Cordy sat in the mouth of the cave waiting for Angel to wake up, and studied him. She couldn’t get over how young he looked when he was asleep, when all the weight of his sins was forgotten. He was mumbling in his sleep.
Angel opened his eyes and noticed the brunette girl lying beside him, under his leather coat. The coat had slipped enticingly during the night to reveal a deep crimson strap over her delicate shoulder. He carefully peeled away more of the coat to reveal the sensual body beside him wrapped in wisps of crimson lace. He felt a growl rumble in his chest as he eyed the delightful sight. As he studied her she opened her eyes and lifted her arms in an invitation for him to move closer. He kissed her lips tentatively, and on not being refused, licked her bottom lip begging an entrance into the warm cavern of her mouth. He couldn’t stop a moan of pleasure from escaping, as he tasted her, angling his head to deepen the kiss, his tongue exploring and tasting, before moving to kiss a path down her slender neck where he nipped at her pulse, causing her to shiver with arousal.
Her small hands undid the pearl buttons of his black shirt, revelling in the pale, firm muscular chest she revealed as she parted the halves, and pushed it off his shoulders. Her fingers slid back to his nipples and gently scraped the dark chocolate nubs, soon bringing them to small hard points. Angel made short work of the front clasp on her bra and peeling it back, had to swallow another growl at the perfection revealed to him. He moved his mouth to suckle her breast, rolling his tongue round her nipple as she arched her back in response, his other hand paying the other one the same attention she had paid to him. He unconsciously ground his erection against her hip and her hand went to caress him through the material of his pants, before moving to the belt and fastenings. Angel slid his hand down and hooked it in the top of her thong. Just as he was about to achieve his goal he looked up to see Buffy standing in the doorway and unreadable expression on her face.
“Buffy?” he murmured, before waking and finding it was all a dream. He rolled onto his stomach quickly, to hide his obvious arousal.
When he groaned in his sleep Cordelia looked at him, she couldn’t help noticing the front of his pants tenting, and then when he had said Buffy’s name she realised he must be dreaming about the blonde slayer. Little did she realise he was actually dreaming about her.
“Hi, how are you, did you sleep well?” he asked, when he surfaced sufficiently to taking his surroundings and realise it was all a dream.
“Well, it’s not exactly the Ritz, but I managed. I take it your wounds have healed?” she asked.
“Yeah, I got up in the night and found some food for me, but we need to find you something, I can hear your stomach complaining,’ he said, grinning at Cordelia’s obvious embarrassment.
Cordelia thought how good he looked when he smiled; it lit up his whole face. “I think we need to pool our resources and see what we have between us,’ she commented, and began to empty out the bag Dennis had packed for her, glad to be doing something. She hadn’t wanted to start rustling about was the vampire was still sleeping figuring he would need to rest to heal his wounds.
Angel picked up his coat, but after a few minutes fumbling only came up with a box of matches, two stakes and a dagger. “I’m afraid I travel light’ he commented, as he looked at the growing pile of things she was finding in her bag.
Cordy held up the small revolver triumphantly “I knew I had it somewhere,” she said. Angel ducked and moved over to take it away from her.
“Don’t wave it around,’ he said, grabbing the gun from her and checked the safety catch was on, before laying it down out of reach of Cordelia.
“Stop panicking, I do know how to use it,’ Cordy replied, she rummaged right to the bottom of the bag. “That’s about it, apart from a few samples of hair products and a lipstick Dennis packed for me.’
Angel’s eyebrows rose when she mentioned Dennis, he should have realised the beautiful vibrant girl would have a boyfriend. “I don’t suppose you have any hair gel?’ he asked hopefully, heaven knew what his hair would look like without it, he thought.
“No sorry, don’t use it,’ she replied, looking at the small amount of makeup she had, “oh well it’s back to nature then,’ she thought.
“Can we go find some food, I’m starving?’ she asked.
“I think I remember smelling something sweet like fruit last night, let’s take a look,’ Angel replied, and stood up straightening his sore back, even though his flesh had healed there was still a certain amount of internal pain from the bullet wounds.
Chapter 4
Angel and Cordelia set off from the cave and past the rock pool. Angel thought it was wonderful to be in the sun, something he hadn’t been able to do for over two centuries. Cordelia linked her arm in his as they walked, he looked down and smiled, that was something Buffy never did, the blonde was always ready to run off after something and too keyed up to relax. Angel enjoyed walking in the warmth and light, with a beautiful girl on his arm. After a short walk they came to where he had noticed the fruit last night.
‘I can’t understand it, there seems to be no sigh of human life,’ murmured Cordy as she skipped ahead when she spotted the fruit. ‘What is it, do you think it’s ok to eat?’
Angel picked one up it looked like a cross between a peach and a mango, ‘it smells like edible fruit to me,’ he said, sniffing the fragrant skin, and pulling the dagger from his belt, he cut into the fruit, juice ran out as he sliced off the hairy, firm skin. Cordy grabbed the piece he held out and nibbled it tentatively.
‘Umm, sweet and juicy,’ she moaned, when the first bite hit her taste buds. Angel bit back a groan as the tip of her tongue poked out and licked the juice off her lips; he thought he’d never seen anything so erotic. He quickly looked away, and chastised himself for thinking about Cordelia in a sexual way. She has a boyfriend, he reminded himself, but the dream he had just woken from was still fresh in his mind and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He cursed his vampire eyesight that enabled him to see the crimson strap of her underwear when she had been asleep, an image reinforced tenfold when he noticed it set to dry on the rock by the cave, just two tiny scraps of lace.
They walked further into the trees and Cordy was pleased to find some nuts under a towering dark green tree. ‘These look edible as well, at least I won’t starve,’ she commented, as Angel cracked a couple together in his hand to remove the hard shells, and offered her the contents.
‘I can try and get you some fish, I noticed some in that stream where the rock pool overflows, the water’s so warm they look nice and plump,’ he said.
‘How are you gonna catch them, we don’t have any net or line?’ she asked, arching a questioning eyebrow at him.
‘Well, when I was a boy I was taught how to ‘tickle trout’, I think I can remember how to do it,’ he replied.
‘Umm, fresh river trout and almonds,’ sighed Cordy, licking her lips, ‘I think I’m liking that idea more and more’
They continued on their walk and caught up with the strange animals again. Angel tried to approach one but the herd moved out of the way. ‘I’ll wait ’til dark,’ he said, ‘they were much more cooperative last night.’
‘Eeew, did you kill one?’ gasped Cordy, they weren’t pretty animals, but she didn’t like to think of them killed just for their blood.
‘No, just took a little blood from a couple of them,’ Angel replied, ‘I don’t think they missed it, they’re big enough to cope.’
They turned and retraced their steps, stopping beside the nut tree to pick up handfuls of the fallen nuts; Angel stuffed them into his pockets. When they’ve walked past the fruit trees Cordelia picked up a couple of the fruits. They ambled back to the cave, the suns were beaming down directly overhead and it was getting uncomfortably hot, and they were glad of the relative cool shade in the cave.
They spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with each other’s lives over the last three years, and then deciding what they were going to do about the predicament they were in. Neither said much about their love life, or lack of it, each assuming the other was happily settled. Angel was amazed to find out about Cordy’s visions and that she had met up with Wesley and a street fighter and his gang and was actively involved in fighting the evils of the night. He was even more astonished to find out she was now part demon, he just couldn’t imagine anyone being put in the situation she had found herself in, say nothing of carrying on Buffy’s mission but in LA.
‘I often wondered what had happened to Wesley, I quite liked him. After he came to see me and admitted he was wrong to capture me when I tried to help Faith, we had a few pleasant evenings chatting, he’s quite a knowledgeable guy, you know, of course Giles and Buffy didn’t know about it,’ Angel mused, thinking back to the time before the Mayor had been vanquished.
He was even more astonished to find out she had taken lessons to learn how to fight and defend herself; of course he’d seen an example of her in action in the graveyard.
Cordelia was horrified when he spoke about the chip embedded in his brain, ‘so even if you get the big happy and go evil, you can’t hurt humans?’ she asked.
Angel thought about what she’d said for a minute ‘God no, I hadn’t thought about that before, it certainly hasn’t been an issue lately. Actually if Angelus was free he would go berserk and try everything in his power to get it removed.’
‘Yep I can imagine he would,’ she replied. She thought about what he had said and realised he had hardly spoken about Buffy; perhaps all wasn’t well with his relationship with the blonde bombshell. They chatted for a while longer until Angel decided as dusk was approaching, he would go and try to see if he could catch a fish for her supper.
Cordelia went to sit in the mouth of the cave, her back against the sun-warmed rocks, she had been going to go with him but decided in case he was unsuccessful, that she didn’t want to embarrass him, so would just wait and see how he fared. After the suns had set and the temperature began to cool, she moved to the nearby trees and started to collect some of the fallen twigs and branches in anticipation of having a fire that evening and maybe even something to cook over it.
Angel came back about an hour later proudly holding two fish out to the stunned girl.
“See, told you I could,” he said, grinning at her shocked face, and set about lighting the firewood she had collected. He had already cleaned the fish but had left the heads on, figuring he could suspend them over the fire to cook. He soon had the small fire cheerfully crackling in the mouth of the cave, Cordelia held out her hands to the warmth. It was surprising how soon the air cooled down after it had been such a hot day. It didn’t take Angel very long to cook the fish, holding them suspended on a stout stick over the flame, for they weren’t that large.
Cordelia looked at him and asked “how you know they’re cooked, and don’t look at me, I can hardly boil water successfully?”
“Trust me, they’re done,” he replied, smiling at her and carefully removing the smaller of the fishes and laid it on a large leaf he had washed. He cut off the head and tail with his dagger then peeled the charred skin away carefully lifting the flesh off the bones and offered it to Cordy. She carefully picked up the section of the pinkish flesh and after blowing on it to cool it, popped it into her mouth.
“Umm, delicious,” she sighed, as the delicate flavour of the fish hit her taste buds, “you’d make somebody a lovely wife.” Angel smiled wryly, thinking of all the meals he’d cooked for the girls in Sunnydale.
Angel took the other fish away from the heat and prepared it for her. He then laid a few larger pieces of wood on to the fire and soon had a healthy blaze going, the warmth from it penetrating to the back of the cave. Cordelia finished her meal with a few nuts and a piece of fruit, and then went to have a drink from the fresh water supply trickling into the pool.
She came back and sat down in front of the fire, welcoming its warmth as the evening became cooler. After a while Angel sat beside her, neither speaking, each lost in their thoughts.
Cordelia rested her head on the vampire’s shoulder, “I could really get to like it here, except for the lack of sanitation and shop’s,” she murmured, feeling comfortably full.
She stared into the mesmerising light of the fire and soon found herself drifting off, she lifted her head, and yawning looked at Angel, “I think I’m going to turn in I feel exhausted, even though I haven’t done a great deal today, I think this climate is very draining,” she said.
“I think I’ll go and find a meal before I turn in,” said Angel, thinking it would give her time to get to sleep, and him time to quell his increasingly lustful thoughts.
***
Meanwhile back in Sunnydale, Willow was woken by the sound of a cell phone ringing. She reached out and plucked Cordelia’s phone from the bedside table. “Hello” she mumbled still half asleep.
“Hello, Cordelia, is that you?” said a British voice.
“Uum no, it’s Willow,” the witch replied, “who is this?”
“Oh.. Miss Rosenburg, this is Wesley Wyndum Price, please may I speak with Cordelia?” asked Wesley.
“No sorry, she’s not here, we don’t know where she went, we found her coat and this phone in the cemetery,” replied Willow.
“Are you in Sunnydale?” asked the former watcher, “I wonder what she’s doing there” he murmured half to himself, ‘would you mind asking her to call me when she returns?’
‘Yeah, sure, how are you?’ asked Willow.
‘Oh you know, researching and other things’ he replied, the Sunnydale gang had always treated him with contempt and he had no reason to think they would be different now, he certainly didn’t want to tell them of his demon fighting activities in LA, he could just imagine Buffy’s amusement.
“You should come and see us sometime, catch up with the events of the last few years,” said Willow, thinking she would find out what Cordelia had been up to.
‘Err, yes perhaps later on,” said Wesley, not wanting to commit himself.
Then Willow’s alarm clock burst into life, Wesley heard it through the phone and it gave him an excuse to ring off, reminding Willow to ask Cordelia to call him as soon as she could.
Willow said she would and rang off thinking it was strange to hear from Wesley suddenly after all these years, he had obviously been keeping in touch with Cordelia and she wondered if the crush the cheerleader had on the watcher had blossomed. She sighed as she thought about her own love life. She noticed Tara had got up early again, as though trying to avoid being alone with Willow. She had been in bed, asleep when Willow and Buffy had returned from patrol last night, Willow climbed out of the warm bed and yawning went into the bathroom to prepare for the day.
***
Angel and Cordelia found over the next few days that they were beginning to get closer, of course Cordy always fancied Angel, but had pushed those feelings firmly back when she realised he was only interested in Buffy. But seeing him nearly naked had rekindled those feelings, and she had a job to stop herself staring at him when he rose in the late mornings wearing his boxers that left very little to the imagination. She sighed and wondered if he knew what he was doing to her.
Angel had started to have feelings for Cordelia rekindled from his Angelus days and when she had first appeared on the television show, especially when Buffy had turned so domineering with him.
They fell into a pattern of days, mostly hunting for food and collecting firewood, with Angel hunting at night, occasionally bringing back a small mammal or bird, to cook for her. Luckily he’d cleaned them first so she didn’t see what they were They spent long hours talking about their lives, Angel was surprised how much Cordelia had changed from her spoilt, rich bitch Sunnydale days, he told he a little about his life with Buffy and the girls. Cordelia got the distinct impression all was not rosy in the Summer’s household. She was interested to learn about Willow and her girlfriend Tara, even though Angel mentioned he didn’t think they would last, as Tara seemed to be drifting away.
Cordelia had taken to spending the mornings whilst Angel still slept, lying in the sun on the grassy bank above their cave. It didn’t seem to get really hot until the afternoon. She was amazed to find that the sun hadn’t burnt her at all and that even Angel looked as though he may be getting a tan. She thought it suited the vampire, when they had first arrived in this strange land his skin had looked grey and washed out, now he almost looked healthy and alive.
She lay in her underwear not quite daring to lay naked, just in case Angel or anyone came across her. After a couple of hours she pulled her jeans and blouse back on and went to the rock pool to bathe. By the time she had finished and donned her dry clothes from the previous day, she knew Angel would be stirring. They would then spend the afternoon foraging for firewood, fruit and nuts. He had found some mushrooms the other day in a damp shady spot, she had nibbled a small piece raw and on not having any ill-effects decided to go and find some more, they would be a pleasant addition to her meagre diet.
They made their way over to the nut trees and Cordelia skilfully climbed the tree that had the best nuts on it and started throwing them down to Angel waiting below; she mischievously aimed them so they landed in his hair, which with no gel was now flopping messily all over the place, even though he kept pushing it back.
“Hey monkey, you just wait till you get down here, you’re just asking for a spanking,” said Angel, grinning up at her. He was still amazed to see the changes in Cordelia, and would never have imagined her climbing trees like a tomboy. He leaned against the trunk of the tree arms folded waiting for her descent. “You can’t stay up there all day,” he added.
Cordy grinned down at him thinking how young and carefree he looked when he smiled and how devastatingly sexy as well. She climbed down the tree and was preparing to jump the last few feet when her foot snagged on a branch, she fell and would have landed awkwardly had it not been for Angel quickly moving to catch her and break her fall. He held her close their lips inches apart staring into each other’s eyes, Cordelia thought she would drown in his warm chocolate depths. She watched mesmerised as his lips descended on hers, softly massaging the plump fullness, and licking her bottom lip, begging for entry. With a small sigh she opened her mouth slightly it was all the invitation he needed and his tongue darted in to explore the warm cavern of her mouth, her tongue tentatively moved to his mouth delighting in the coolness she found. Angel groaned and deepened the kiss, massaging her lips and slanting his head. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of the honeyed taste of her, the fruit she had eaten earlier blending with her own natural taste. He plundered her mouth mercilessly, only allowing small pauses for her to breathe. All he wanted was to be embedded deep inside this wonderful body, with cock and fangs, and claim her as his.
He pulled her flush against his hard body bringing him fully into contact against her; Cordelia groaned as a wave of longing shot through her, he was really good at kissing, she could only imagine what a good lover he would be. Her whole body responding, her nipples hardening and moisture flooding at the apex of her thighs, as her womb clenched with longing. Angel lifted his head, he could smell her arousal and it made him yearn to possess her. He suddenly realised what he was doing and all of a sudden pulled harshly away.
“I’m sorry, Cordelia, I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that, please forgive me,” he gasped, and turned and was gone before a dazed Cordelia could draw breath to speak.
She put her hand to her mouth in wonder at the feelings Angel had awakened in her and turned to see where he had gone, but the forest was empty. She collected the nuts in a dream and turned to make her way slowly back to the cave, her emotions spinning wildly.
Angel ran deep into the forest, he had to get away before he did something they would both regret. He finally stopped and leaned against a large tree. He gasped for breath he didn’t need, and couldn’t rid himself of the wonderful intoxicating feel of her warm pliant body pressed against his. His cock surged into renewed life at his thoughts and he just knew he would have to get some relief before he could go back. He took a few more calming breaths hoping to quell his passion, but it was no good, he knew the minute he saw the beautiful brunette again, it would do something to embarrass him.
He undid his pants and pulled out his tumultuous erection, and taking himself in hand he imagined Cordelia doing the same or even better taking him in her mouth. He groaned at the images he’d conjured up and it didn’t take long for him to spill his seed on to the forest floor. He wiped himself on some handy ferns and redressed, he knew he ought to be getting back, he didn’t like to leave her too long on her own and at least now with some relief hopefully he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of her. He wished, not for the first time, that he had been wearing his leather pants when he’d been sucked into this dimension; at least they would give him some control over his unruly body.
***
In LA Lilah Morgan was feeling very proud of herself, her contacts had reported that it seemed she had been successful in removing Cordelia Chase from this dimension. They had discreetly asked around in the demon karaoke bar and the haunts where the demon fighters usually hung. It seemed no one had seen the seer for over a week and rumour had it her gang were getting seriously worried about her.
‘That should ensure me a few bonus points with the senior partners,’ she thought. She couldn’t care less what had happened to the irritating brunette, and now she ruled the roost as top bitch.
The TV station Cordelia worked for had given out that she was on holiday, so obviously there were no problems there. She smiled and sipped the large bourbon she had poured herself, ‘life was good right now,’ she decided, and leaned back to enjoy the classical music softly playing in the background.