Chapter 5: Vampire Wrestling
Angelus pushed open the library door and walked in with a confident swagger. There was going to be some kickass fun in the old town tonight. The Slayer and her Scooby Gang were gathered together along with Giles and Angel at the central table pouring over a pile of books.
“Here I am to save the day,” Angelus held out his arms awaiting the usual flurry of grumbling insults and recognitions.
“C’mon in Mighty Mouse,” Xander encouraged with a wave. “Without our resident evil vampire, werewolf and cheerleader, research has been a bore.”
Willow looked up from the computer terminal she was sitting at. Seeing Angelus always gave her the shivers. She reasoned that as long as he stayed over there, it would be okay. Then the redhead found herself explaining, “Oz is with the band tonight and Cordelia is at cheerleading practice. She’ll be late.”
“I’m missing practice?” Angelus thought of all those ripe teenagers bouncing, bending and gyrating. Glancing at the door, he wondered if he could still make it.
“Yes,” Angel confirmed giving him a hard stare. “You’ll continue to miss it. We could use another set of eyes on this demon we’re trying to find.”
Angelus strolled up to the table and picked up a book to glance at its title. Tossing it back to the surface, it landed with a hard thump. “This is a waste of time.”
“Proper research is never a waste.” Giles defensively pulled the book across the table. “It provides us with invaluable information about our enemies.”
“Well, I’ve heard a helluva lot about a certain demon-gathering scheduled to take place tonight,” Angelus revealed with a triumphant smirk. “If you’re interested in learning something that didn’t come out of a book.”
Giles looked very interested. “Oh? Where did you hear this information?”
“Willy’s.”
Buffy snorted, “Like that’s reliable.”
“I’d say it was pretty close to the truth,” Angelus promised. “Almost as good hearing it from the horse’s mouth. After I beat a little sense into the demon that was trying to hold back on the details, he was quite willing to share.”
Angelus gazed down at his reddened knuckles. They were almost healed from the gashed, bloody state resulting from his tête-à-tête with the Baraska demon. If he was going to be forced into joining the Slayer on her little do-gooding sessions, Angelus was determined to do it his way. He informed the group of his findings and was pleased to note that they all had to suck up afterward.
“That is very useful information,” Giles grabbed for another one of his books and was flipping through pages to follow up on an idea the vampire’s findings had given him.
Xander was doing a little happy dance at the end of the table now that research was over. “Free at last.”
“That’s my line,” Angelus joked.
Willow exchanged a look with Xander and then commented, “Thanks, Angelus. You just made our night a whole lot simpler.”
Giving Angelus a suspicious glare, Buffy told him, “We’ll see how this works out. If half of it is true, the Fates will have to give you a gold star.”
“Good job,” Angel was forced to admit the fact that Angelus had come through for them. The other vampire could easily have kept the information to himself. “I can’t fault your tactics despite the brutality factor.”
“There was a time when you would have done the same,” Angelus derided him. “Playing lap dog to the Slayer has softened you. I think Buffy must have swallowed your balls the last time she went down on you.”
Angel was on his feet in seconds and standing nose to nose with his double just before he let his fist crash into Angelus’ face. “Bastard!”
“Don’t talk about mom that way,” Angelus laughed while curling his hand into a large fist. He rammed his sore knuckles across the other vampire’s jaw.
Deciding that his evil half deserved it, Angel figured to give Angelus the ass-kicking of his undead life. Being evenly matched, this idea was not as easy to accomplish as it had sounded in his head. Soon, the two vampires were brawling on the floor. No amount of pleading from Giles or the gang had any effect. Even Buffy’s threats against Angelus had no marked response.
Buffy was on her feet trying to get in close enough to break up the fight. If only she could tell which vampire was which, she’d jump right in to lend a hand, but both of them were similarly dressed tonight. The usually more colorful Angelus was still dealing with the dark wardrobe of his souled counterpart.
“What’s this?” Cordelia’s voice sounded from the doorway. She had her hands on her hips and consequently her pom-poms were positioned so that she looked like she was about to lead a cheer. “Vampire wrestling?”
“Hey there, babe,” one of the vampires called out. Obviously Angelus, but the scuffle continued so that by the time Buffy glanced down again she still couldn’t tell who was who.
Cordelia walked closer trying to gauge what was happening other than the fact that both vampires seemed determined to beat the crap out of each other. Staring down at them, she met Angel’s gaze for a moment.
“That’s really mature, Angel,” she huffed. “Which one of you started this? I’d expect this of Xander, maybe. Not you.”
“Hey!” Xander protested from the sidelines.
Buffy glanced up at Cordelia with surprise. Was the cheerleader just guessing which one was Angel? While her eyes were turned away, Angelus was pushed onto his back. Taking a moment, he gazed up the long expanse of Cordelia’s bare legs. “Great view from this angle.”
“Leave Cordy out of this,” Angel growled as he snuck in another punch.
Cordelia looked expectantly toward the Slayer, “Aren’t you going to stop this?”
Shrugging helplessly, Buffy wasn’t certain how to handle it. Angelus deserved whatever Angel could dish out, but neither did she want her boyfriend to be on the receiving end.
Rolling her eyes, Cordelia tossed her pom-poms to the floor. Jumping into the fray, she grabbed the first vampire. “Get off of him, Angelus.”
Just as she curled her hands around his bicep attempting to pull him away from Angel, he released another forward punch. The move swung her body down unintentionally sending Cordelia crashing directly on top of Angel.
“Oof!”
Cordelia let out a whoosh of air as she connected with the hard body beneath her. Out of breath, she couldn’t speak for a moment as both of the vampires called out her name in obvious alarm as the fight came to a sudden end. Gasping for air, Cordelia stared into Angel’s concerned eyes. For a moment, all she could do was react to the sensations strumming through her body as Cordelia realized she was sandwiched between the two of them.
Her one free hand moved to brush her fingers over the swelling bruise that marred Angel’s cheek. Then she glared over her shoulder at Angelus, “Would you get your big hulking body off of me?”
Sensing the quickening of her heartbeat, Angelus released a dark chuckle. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
The vampire’s hand traced a path from her hip up to her rounded breast giving it a squeeze. Cordelia released an outraged gasp and squirmed only to realize that her awkward position left her pressed up against their loins. The cotton panties of her cheerleader uniform provided only a thin barrier. A heavy jerk from below signaled Angel’s involuntary arousal, which she figured was just an automatic response to being up close to such a hottie like herself.
She could have shrugged that off, but she felt something equally stiff against her buttocks as Angelus purposefully held her to him. Both of them hard and wanting her. With the added spine-tingler of Angelus’ words softly spoken in her ear, “Just feel what you do to me.”
Cordelia sucked in a deep breath of air, glancing down at Angel with sheer surprise registering on her face. He was just as stunned by their present predicament and for a moment could think of nothing else except the sensation of having her on top of him. Hell, if he closed his eyes, Angelus’ words would be nothing more than hearing his voice back in his head urging him to thoughts and behaviors better left ignored.
Angelus moved his free hand to cup the other breast, taking full advantage of every second of time the pair below him remained too dumbstruck to react. It didn’t matter that the Slayer, her Watcher and Scoobies stood by. That only gave him an added thrill as commented on the obvious, “You make me so hard.”
Her mind made note of the words, but Cordelia couldn’t seem to react to them. To tell him to move. An angry swarm of butterflies flitted inside her uncertain if they were supposed to be excited or just freaking out. This was Angelus, after all. He might be planning to rip her throat out even as he copped a feel, but his big body felt so good and his hands felt like they belonged wherever he touched.
It was the same with Angel and in some ways that was just as bad as her reaction to Angelus. He was her friend. Angel’s physical response distracted her from Angelus’ potentially murderous intensions. Her long hair fell in a cascade around them, blocking them from the onlookers. For an endless moment, they simply stared into each other’s eyes. Drawn to their intensity, his pulled her attention like a blackhole. Just in case his huge boner wasn’t enough to clue her in that Angel wanted her, his eyes certainly gave it away.
Only seconds of time elapsed. Cordelia’s fingers traced the edges of the darkening bruise on Angel’s cheek. The breathy surprise of sudden desire a soft sound on her parted lips. Eyelashes fluttering down as her gaze dropped to his mouth. Tempting, so tempting. Just inches away.
Angel’s fingers slid from her shoulder up to the slender nape of her neck and then eased forward to follow the line of her jaw. Once there, his thumb brushed softly across her bottom lip as his tongue traced his own.
“Get the hell off!” screamed Buffy loud enough to startle the trio. She wasn’t quite sure who she was saying it to, only that it needed to happen now.
“I’d love to get off,” Angelus chuckled, twisting her meaning as he slowly ground his bulge into Cordelia’s bottom despite the audience.
Before Cordelia reacted, Angel pushed at the vamp’s shoulder lifting him away from her. “Move!”
“You’re no fun,” Angelus complained and shifted back to his feet. That left Cordelia pressed flat against Angel, their legs were tangled and the back of her short skirt was squashed around her waist.
Xander couldn’t help but stare at the sight of Cordelia’s rounded bottom in those dark red panties. It reminded him of things she’d told him he was no longer allowed to think about since their relationship was long over.
Looking down at them, Buffy realized that it was her boyfriend the cheerleader was now plastered over, “You can move anytime, Cordelia.”
Angel’s hands automatically moved to support Cordelia so they could get up. Awkwardly moving her legs out so that her knees moved to either side of the vampire, she used her arms to push up. He had his hands high on her waist curling up to her ribcage just inches from the ripe breasts swaying so close to his mouth. The realization that his mouth was actually watering at the thought made Angel slide his hands down to her hips setting her onto the tops of his thighs with a swift move.
The effort to make this an easier way of extracting Cordelia from him only made things worse as he moved them into a sitting position. Now she was straddling his lap separated only by the barrier of their clothes. Her weight felt so good pressing down on him and for a split second Angel didn’t care if Buffy, Angelus and the whole Scooby Gang looked on.
The scent of her arousal was maddening, intoxicating. Her name echoed silently in his head as he imagine how tight she would feel surrounding him, how her bare breasts would feel in his hands, how her silky hair would feel cascading over him as she rode him hard.
Only a second or two had passed by as Angel felt the almost imperceptible squeeze of her thighs against his. The reality of it snapped him out of the fantasy his mind had slipped into. The first question that hit him was: did she want it too? Then Angel caught the red flush creeping up Cordelia’s neck and he realized instantly that this was going to be a highly embarrassing situation for both of them if things didn’t cool off immediately.
He’d done it again, Angel realized. This time he didn’t have the excuse of recent Slayer-induced frustration. If anything, he shouldn’t even be capable of moving much less reacting every time he came within two inches of Cordelia Chase. Nor did he have the excuse of having Angelus sounding off in his head encouraging him to go for it and take what he wanted.
Angel found it highly ironic that the behavior he had blamed on his demon had nothing to do with Angelus and everything to do with Liam. Without the demon overshadowing the human side of his nature, Liam’s personality now acted as his inner voice. The Fates hadn’t warned him about that. I have learned nothing in the past two hundred fifty years. Is that how it’s going to be? Once a selfish lustful prick, always selfish?
Cordelia grabbed for her pom-poms which were fortunately lying right next to her. She was about to thrust them at Angel and suggest he hold onto them while she got up, when suddenly she was snatched off of Angel’s lap by his double. Dropping the fluffy cheerleading gear, she let out a squeal as Angelus brought her to her feet.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Angelus demanded to know.
Glancing back at Angel, she saw him get to his feet holding the pom-poms in a strategic position in front of him. Licking her lips, she looked up at Angelus guilelessly. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Putting yourself in danger like that,” the vampire growled out his anger. “You could’ve been hurt jumping on us the way you did.”
“Since when do you care?”
That got him. Angelus gave her a little shove so that she moved away from him taking her intoxicating scent with her. “I don’t. Your friends might have a different opinion.”
“That was kind of dangerous,” Willow pointed out, deciding it was easier to focus on that than the memory of Angelus fondling Cordelia’s breasts.
Xander added, “Even Buffy didn’t dive in like that and you’re no super-chick.”
“I’m not the problem,” Cordelia let out a surprised gasp as everyone seemed to be mad at her for trying to break up the fight. “Tweedle Dork and Tweedle Dumb over here are the ones you need to worry about.”
A snort of laughter came from Giles direction, but he covered it up by removing his glasses for a vigorous cleaning.
Buffy wasn’t as amused as her Watcher. Standing so close, she had noticed the looks on Cordelia and Angel’s faces and found herself pouting at the unspoken connection that was apparent in their eyes. She couldn’t tell what they were communicating, but it was clear some message was getting across. Mutual surprise, concern, something else that she didn’t even want to think about because it would mean that she would have to kick someone’s ass?
It was the jealousy again. Buffy realized she was feeling it rise within her. Being with Angel last night had been incredible. Though Harmony had been referring to his evil twin at the time, her words certainly applied to Angel as well. The vampire certainly knew what he was doing when he touched her. Strangely, it was different. Each time was different. Maybe that was to be expected considering the whole splitting of his life thread to create Angelus and secure his soul.
“Cordelia has a point,” Buffy paced back and forth between the two vampires.
“I do?” Blinking in shock, she was surprised to find the Slayer agreeing with her.
“Yes. The Tweedle Twins, remember?” Buffy quipped. “Fighting each other is getting us nowhere. We have a real battle ahead of us tonight and I would prefer to go in with both of my vampires capable of offering some resistance.”
“Your vampires?” Cordelia caught onto the words.
Buffy stared at her for a second before clarifying, “Vampire team members.”
“Careful how you phrase things,” Cordelia commented wryly. “The evil version of your boyfriend may start to get ideas.”
Angel caught her emphasis of the word boyfriend. As if he needed another reminder of that right now. At least Cordelia had not gotten the notion of using her knee or foot to get her point across. He probably deserved that too. He felt like he needed to sit down in a dark room and figure out why the hell he was being such an ass. Except Angel suspected if he stopped to brood about this, he would only find himself fantasizing about Cordelia again.
Putting his glasses back on, Giles told them, “Now that the petty bickering and fighting is over let’s concentrate on tonight’s demon-gathering. We need to come up with a strategy to stop this from happening.”
Cordelia excused herself to shower and change clothes. The others could fill her in on the details later. She figured no matter what they came up with her job as bait would still be the same. As long as that didn’t involve Angelus using her as his pet again, Cordelia was fine with the arrangement.
***
Entering the girl’s locker room, Cordelia found that it was dark and quiet. Apparently, the others had already headed home directly after practice. She had gotten into the habit of bringing extra clothes because she usually met up with either Giles or the gang afterward. Opening her locker, Cordy pulled out her clear plastic shower caddy with her shampoo, conditioner, body wash and loofah. Setting it on the bench next to her, she undressed and headed into the shower stalls grabbing some towels along the way.
As Cordelia stepped under the hot spray of the shower, she could not help but think of the events of the past few minutes and the things Harmony had shared with her earlier in the day. Letting out a sigh as the water sluiced over her body, she ran her fingers through her hair to soak it with the hot spray. It felt so good, relaxing her muscles and taking away the tension in her shoulders. Not from practice— the tension had crept in during the last few minutes straddling Angel’s erection. It only worsened as Angelus yanked her away with his possessive move.
Opening up her shampoo bottle, Cordelia squeezed a dollop into her palm and proceeded to massage it into her hair and scalp. Thinking back to last night, Angelus had a lot of nerve going to the Bronze. Talking up her friends. Flirting with them— and her. The vampire had clearly followed through with his plans to get laid if everything Harmony had to say was close to the truth. Cordelia had never had reason to doubt her. Harm was too much of a ditz to lie about sex.
Though Harmony had not yet had the time to give her all of the details as she normally did after a hot date, her teammate did share a few tidbits that had left Cordelia squirming in her chair the rest of class. She had been glad for the workout at practice after school.
As she rinsed her hair, Cordelia couldn’t stop thinking about what Harmony had told her. About the commanding way Angelus had taken the lead and never let it go, about the hot kisses that were like no other she had experienced. Harm had gone on and on about the damn kisses. Then she started in on describing Angelus’ hard body. Every inch of it. And the description combined with what she already knew of his physique had left Cordelia silently screaming in denial.
After repeating the shampoo, she reached for the conditioner going through the motions automatically. While Cordelia was not a virgin, she had nowhere near the experience that her blonde friend had. Harmony was a pal when she wasn’t being a snob. Admittedly, she was the embodiment of every nasty cheerleader stereotype that Angel playfully suggested the other day in the library. In getting Angel to talk, Cordelia hadn’t lied to him, just done a little truth-stretching.
If I haven’t done it, I’ve heard about it.
Well, she hadn’t done much, but Harm certainly told her a lot. Cordelia had always found high school boys so immature, which was really ironic considering that she had dated Xander Harris. Their relationship hadn’t gotten to the point where she was willing to give up everything to him, though their groping sessions in the closets of Sunnydale High were certainly exciting. After their Buffyless summer, Cordelia no longer thought of Xander in a romantic way at all. He was too much of a goofball and they had fallen into a steady friendship instead.
Cordelia hadn’t walked away from Angelus last night just because she was afraid of him, she had to admit to herself. Yes, he was basically an evil blood-loving corpse who would probably just as soon snap her neck as kiss her as he had done before they entered the warehouse that night. Even Angel, despite being the souled good guy, was also a creature of the night. Cordy had never gotten over the fact that he was a vampire. Never forgiven him for it, she supposed.
Rinsing out the conditioner, Cordy picked up her loofah and the container of vanilla-scented body wash. She squeezed the loofah under the hot spray until it bubbled up and then ran it from her wrist to her shoulder. The clean scent permeated the steamy air of the shower as she followed through the motions by habit.
Right arm. Shoulder. Left arm. Shoulder. Then squeezing the bubbles down her back.
Closing her eyes, Cordelia let the water sluice over her skin washing away the bubbles before lifting the loofah to her chest. The gentle scrub with one hand was followed by the soft motion of the other against her spreading the soapy bubbles around and letting the water rinse them away.
Angel— what was with him lately? He was acting like a fallen monk locked in a room with her as the only company. Scratch that. He was the tiger in her cage during mating season. This deal was supposed to let him and Buffy be together and put an end to the old frustrations of his self-enforced celibacy. She had no idea why he kept reacting to her if things were now hunky-dory in Buffyville. Whatever was causing it, Cordelia could not deny the reaction of her own body despite the fact that he was a vampire.
Today, straddling his lap and feeling him hard and ready underneath her, Cordelia had a moment where she didn’t care about her vampire phobia or the fact that Buffy was less than three feet away. The way Angel had looked at her, the lust apparent in his gaze was breathtaking in itself. She could almost read his thoughts they were so obvious as Angel dropped his gaze to her plump cleavage and held it there like a firm caress.
Cordelia brushed her hand under the curve of her right breast sweeping up the bubbles that were clinging there. She let out a little gasp as her fingers ran over the sensitive tip of her distended nipple. Was that why Angel had been staring? She imagined that he’d done more than stare at her. He lifted her knit top over her head and tossed it at Buffy’s feet. Yanked down the straps and cups of her bra exposing her breasts.
The loofah’s string slipped around her wrist as Cordelia lifted her hands to curl around her own curves brushing her thumbs along the outer curves as Angel had done the other night in the library. Would he touch her that way again in this little mind trip? Take her into his mouth and use his tongue? A rush of pleasure shuddered across her flesh as Cordelia tweaked her nipples before releasing the swell of her breasts in favor of trying to finish her shower.
The loofah was circling her abdomen and Cordelia felt the pull of need deep in her loins. Not fair. Not gonna. Ignore it. She bent down to cleanse her right leg. Front. Back. Inner thigh. Repeating the action with the left leg. Front. Back. Inner thigh. The naughty nature of her thoughts had her tingling all over. Not gonna. Ignore it.
Only when lifting the loofah to the wet curls at the apex of her thighs, did Cordelia finally give in to her desires. Not gonna ignore it. There was no one around to see or hear. This was just her alone with a harmless little fantasy that wouldn’t hurt anyone.
He’d been so close. Aroused and wanting her. Even if it was just an automatic male response, it was real. Right now, she could pretend that he meant it. Just for a few minutes.
Angel lay beneath her. All she had to do was lean down to kiss him. Her lips on his. Would they be cool like his hands? Would they warm under hers? Endless kisses. An eternity of them. His hard body beneath hers. Those expert kisses keeping her mind swimming. Never enough.
Hands tangled in her hair, touching, massaging, guiding, buried in its softness as it draped them in a curtain of silk. Hands at her breasts, teasing, cupping, tweaking the tight buds and dipping beneath her bra, skin on skin. Simultaneous stimulation. Too many hands. Cordelia tried to ignore the cause. This was her fantasy, after all, and an evil vampire should have no place in it.
Angelus was there too, refusing to disappear. Behind her, his hands on her flesh, his words in her ear. Those cool, skillful hands left her breasts and Cordelia moaned her protest into Angel’s mouth. Sandwiched between them, such a very naughty thought. One she shouldn’t be thinking, but this was just for now, just for a moment. Just long enough to… feel Angelus’ hands ripping her panties away. His cool fingers on her bottom, on her thighs, touching her.
Slicker than the water, Cordelia’s fingers slid easily. Right where she wanted them. Again and again as images danced in her head. Angel kisses and Angelus living up to one of his wicked promises: touching her, taking her.
A cry left her throat, her free hand flying up to the shower wall for support, palm slapping on the wet surface. She came apart, sparks igniting inside her, a hot rush of honey between her thighs. A name echoed in the empty shower chamber, ringing in her ears.
“Angelus!”
Cordelia felt her body jerk as her pleasure shuddered across her wet body, the cooling spray of the shower still spritzing over her skin. She sank to the floor of the shower, stunned at her own behavior and the fact that her fantasy included not one, but both versions of the vampire.
Truthfully, Fantasy Angel was no huge surprise, but Angelus? Evil Angelus who had threatened her life now brought her pleasure in this wild, wicked fantasy.
Hugging her arms around her bent knees, Cordelia buried her head and let the water beat against her back. She sat there trying to understand what she was feeling. Shame floated its way to the top of the list. She wasn’t a slut. Not like the Harmonies of the world. Just thinking about Angel— Buffy’s boyfriend— put her in a not-so-nice category much less fantasizing about his evil alter ego. That was so not right!
Cordelia determined that she would forget the whole incident. Never happened. Despite the fact that her body still hummed with the aftereffects. Twirling her loofah back into her hand, Cordelia added more soap and washed off again. This time she kept her eyes open and her thoughts focused on getting out of this shower before she turned into a prune.