Part 7
Cordelia reclined on the sun-lounger, her long, slender legs stretched out in front of her and a trashy novel resting in her lap. Glancing up from her book, she looked over at Angel. The vampire sat perched on his tall chair, surveying the pool with an eye out for trouble, demonic or otherwise.
His penetrating gaze returned to rest on her at regular intervals though, sending shivers of anticipation running down her spine and butterflies fluttering about in her belly. They’d not spoken since their earlier confrontation, but these long meaningful glances were threatening to raise the temperature in the room to that of the adjoining sauna.
Looking away from her contemplation of Angel, Cordelia glanced over at the large digital clock fixed to the wall – 20.15; the place would be closing soon. The other lifeguard had left twenty minutes ago, and it looked as if the few remaining patrons were also getting ready to leave.
The seer set her book to one side and removed her sarong, feeling the sudden need to take another dip in the cool water. She swam several lengths, her lithe body cutting through the water with elegant grace, and then paused to take a well-earned breather, her arms resting on the poolside.
When she turned around, a short while later, she yelped in shocked surprise to find Angel right behind her in the water. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard him enter the pool and swim across to join her.
“Geez! Give a girl a heart attack, why don’t ya?” she exclaimed, making a desperate grab for the side to stop herself from going under.
The vampire swiftly caught her around the waist to steady her, and then manoeuvred her backwards so that her spine was flush with the edge of the pool. They were in the shallow end, so once she’d regained her equilibrium, Cordelia’s feet easily found purchase on the tiled floor. With nowhere else to put her hands, she rested them lightly against Angel’s chest and looked around.
“Shouldn’t you be…?” she started to ask, but the vampire interrupted her question.
“Everyone’s gone,” he informed her.
“Oh.” Cordelia awkwardly dropped her gaze to her hands, her nervousness returning with a vengeance.
There was a pregnant pause, and then Angel slipped a crooked finger under her chin and lifted her face to his. “Let’s get one thing straight,” he said firmly. “I’m not playing games here, okay? I would never do that to you.”
He was looking her directly in the eye as he spoke, and the seer could see the honesty of his words in his gaze. “I know… it’s just…”
“Just what?”
Cordelia swallowed hard, trying to screw up the courage to lay her heart on the line. “If we do this, it has to be all or nothing, Angel,” she blurted out in a rush. “This is a big deal for me. I need you to be totally committed. I can’t – I won’t – settle for anything less than that.”
Angel nodded and cupped her face in his hands, rubbing his callused thumbs over the soft skin of her cheeks.
“Listen to me, I love you – I’m *in* love you. When you were so sick, I’ve *never* been so scared in my life – I thought I was going to lose you. Sometimes it takes an experience like that to make you realise what’s important. And you’re it, Cordy. I don’t know how, or when for the matter, it’s just something that is, and I don’t want to run away from it anymore.”
“Me neither,” Cordelia whispered in return, sagging in relief at his soft declaration, her hazel eyes brimming with tears.
“That’s good because I’ve had quite enough of your running away, thank-you,” the vampire said, softening the sharp censure of his words with a warm smile.
The seer blushed and slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Ang…” she started to protest, but broke off when she found herself engulfed in the heady maelstrom of their first kiss.
Keeping the embrace relatively chaste to begin with, Angel brushed her damp hair out of her eyes and planted a series of sweet, nipping kisses on her upturned lips. As he tenderly traced out the delicate arch of her cheekbones and ran his fingers and thumbs down the smooth column of her neck, Cordelia let out a soft sigh of pleasure and her eyes fluttered closed.
The vampire increased the pressure of his kiss then, opening up her mouth under his, his tongue playfully teasing at her lower lip, begging for admittance. His hands swept down the length of her spine to settle in the concave curve of her lower back, and Cordelia moaned low in the back of her throat, instinctively leaning into his body. Returning his kisses with growing fervour, she wound her arms tightly around his neck and slipped out her tongue to invite his into the unexplored cavern of her mouth.
While their tongues tangled together and fought a spirited battle for dominance of the heated embrace, Angel hooked a hand around the nape of Cordelia’s neck and tugged her closer. Pressing his inflamed body against hers, he let her feel the full extent of his passion for her. The seer gasped as she felt him hard and urgent against her belly, and instinctively ground her hips into his, her arousal cutting through her inhibitions and making her uncharacteristically wanton.
After what seemed like forever and a day to Cordelia, Angel finally dragged his mouth away and looked down into her face, his chocolate brown eyes dark with desire. Leaving her gasping for breath, he bent to nuzzle at her neck, curling the wet tendrils of her hair around his fingers as his tongue flickered out to savour the peaches and cream taste of her skin.
Beside herself with hot, clenching desire, Cordelia clutched at his short spiky hair and held him to her, her soft whimpers of pleasure echoing around the pool as the determined vampire kept up his unrelenting oral assault on the silky smooth skin of her neck and throat.
“Tell me if this isn’t okay,” he murmured hoarsely in her ear.
At first, Cordelia wasn’t sure what he meant, but then she felt his hands busy at the back of her neck, deftly untying her top. That accomplished, his purposeful fingers stroked down between her shoulder blades and unhooked the strap of material across her back. The garment loosened, but did not fall, the suction of the wet Lycra against her skin holding it precariously in place.
Cordelia tensed, suddenly realising where they were. “What if someone comes?” she whispered nervously, her hands rising to stop her bikini top from slipping.
Angel lifted his head and looked down into her flushed face with a grin. “I was hoping we both would,” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.
“Angel!”
The vampire laughed and then his expression turned serious. “We can stop,” he said, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable.
Cordelia considered that, but her mounting desire quickly won out over common sense. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t stop, I don’t want you to stop.”
Angel groaned at her breathless acquiesce and pressed a hard, brutal kiss to her swollen mouth, making her dizzy with want. Releasing her lips, he insistently brushed away her hands and slowly peeled away the wet swimsuit from her upper body, his eyes intent on the voluptuous flesh he was revealing. Tossing the top aside, he traced the full, round shape of her bare breasts with his fingertips.
“So beautiful,” he murmured reverently.
His open appreciation made Cordelia feel like the most desirable woman in the world, and she arched her back, trying to increase the pressure of his feather-light touch. “Please!” she moaned softly, not really sure what she was asking for.
Angel’s response was to hook his arm around her middle and lift her bodily out of the water, forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist and grab hold of the side for balance. Then, with the flat of his hands supporting her back, he dipped his head and drew the tip of her right breast into his mouth. He suckled lightly on the puckered nipple and the seer gasped out loud from the sheer pleasure of the sensation.
“Oh, oh god…” she whimpered, as the insistent tugging on her breast triggered a wave of feminine moisture at the juncture of her thighs.
Humming in the back of his throat, the vampire switched his attention to her other breast, lazily circling her areole with his tongue and then biting down lightly on her sensitive nipple. Cordelia cried out again and restlessly began to shift her hips against his taut abdomen, desperate for something to relieve the throbbing ache between her legs.
Angel finally lifted his head from her breasts and reached down to unwind her legs from around his waist. Lowering her gently back down into the water, he kissed her again, wrapping his strong arms fully around her and pulling her close. Stirred by the slow rocking movements of their entwined bodies, the cool liquid lapped gently at their skin, adding a deliciously erotic overtone to the heady, sensuous embrace.
Cordelia was focused entirely on their kiss; so when Angel’s wandering hands cheekily slipped down the back of her bikini bottoms and playfully squeezed her curvy bottom, she jumped in startled surprise. The vampire chuckled at her reaction and ducked under the water to trail a stream of kisses down her torso to the elasticated waistband of her panties. Sliding his fingers into the sides of the navy bikini bottoms, he drew them down and off her legs, then, rearing up out of the water like Poseidon, discarded them with her top on the poolside.
He immediately made to dive back down under the water, but Cordelia stopped him with a questioning hand against his chest. “What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
The vampire paused to drop an affectionate kiss on the end of her nose. “No need to breathe, remember?”
“Yes, but…”
Before she could finish the sentence, Angel disappeared below the waterline again and her heart lurched inside of her chest as she felt his nuzzling lips against the delicate skin of her lower abdomen. He had unerringly discovered one of her secret erogenous zones, and her pelvic muscles jumped violently in reaction, making her gasp. Stroking his palm down the back of her left thigh, the submerged vampire then hooked his hand under her knee and lifted her leg over his shoulder.
Although she couldn’t see, Cordelia knew she must be completely opened up to him in this position, and her breathing began to come in sharp, shallow gasps in nervous anticipation of what he planned to do next. She had never been this intimate with a man before and it was both frightening and exhilarating in equal measure. She trusted Angel implicitly however, and so closed her eyes and waited for the touch of his fingers or tongue, not really knowing which to expect.
The vampire chose to use his mouth and the seer couldn’t stop the impassioned cry that escaped her lips at the first lash of his tongue against her sex. It was exquisite torture and she instinctively dug her heel into the hollow between his shoulder blades, pulling him closer. She could have sworn she felt Angel smile against her slickened folds at her positive reaction, but then decided she must have imagined it.
What she wasn’t imagining though were the deep shuddering waves of bliss that radiated out from his busy mouth, making her head spin and her world tip on its axis. Moaning almost continuously now, she rhythmically thrust her hips into Angel’s face as his enthusiastic tongue licked and probed at her centre, all the while pushing her higher and higher towards the pinnacle of her pleasure.
Just when she was getting to the stage where she couldn’t take anymore, an unexpected splash of water caught her directly in the face, making her cough and splutter. Opening her eyes in astonishment, her startled surprise quickly turned to panic when she saw the huge swell of water that was hurtling towards her.
“Angel!” she screamed, frantically reaching down into the water to attract his attention.
The vampire resurfaced in a flash, immediately detecting the rapid change in her body language. Casting one quick glance behind him at the approaching wave, he wrapped his arms tightly around the petrified seer and catapulted them both out of the pool like a ball out of a cannon.
“Get back!” he said, jumping in front of Cordelia as the gigantic swell of water hit the edge of the pool and reached out towards the two of them with finger-like tendrils of pure, churning liquid.
Slipping and sliding on the wet floor, the seer scrambled back out of the way, flattening herself against the wall, her eyes wide with horror. Angel wasn’t so lucky however; the spinning vortex of water encircled him in an instant, sucking him back into the pool with a huge splash.
“Angel! Oh God, oh no!” Cordelia cried out as she watched his struggling form sink like a lead weight to the bottom of the pool, the water eddying and churning around him with the violence of a hurricane until she couldn’t see him anymore.
Swallowing huge mouthfuls of water, Angel tried to get free of the demon that had him in its tenacious grasp, but it was extremely difficult to fight against something that had no solid form. The vampire was quite certain that if he’d been human, he’d currently be having the life systematically choked out of him. However, owing to his lack of need for oxygen, the water that filled his lungs just burned unpleasantly instead of drowning him.
As it realised that its attack was having no effect in subduing its victim’s violent struggles, the creature’s fury slowly grew. Increasing its efforts, it tightened its grip on the vampire, constricting his chest until several of his ribs cracked under the pressure. The sharp stabbing pain of his bones breaking caused Angel to vamp out with an angry growl. Kicking out with his legs, he propelled himself upwards, his stronger demonic form taking over and shaking off the liquid shackles holding him imprisoned at the bottom of the pool.
Breaking the surface, he immediately struck out for the edge, his arms slicing through the turbulent water like the spinning blades of a propeller. Reaching the side, he hauled himself out of the water and staggered back out of the demon’s range, falling to his knees and expelling the liquid in his lungs with great, tearing coughs.
Roaring with rage at being thwarted, the water demon proceeded to work itself up into a complete frenzy, turning the once calm swimming pool into the eye of a rampant storm at sea. As the resulting wind and spray rained down over them, Cordelia crawled over to Angel, who pulled her into the protective circle of his arms, despite the pain this caused to his broken ribs. Unaware of his wound, the seer clung to him tightly, her body trembling with relief at his fortuitous escape.
After a while, the creature’s spectacular temper tantrum subsided and it slunk away to lurk once again in its lair in the drainage ducts under the pool. The former tranquillity of the water returned and Angel slowly rose to his feet, one hand pressed to his injured ribs and other around Cordelia’s waist. Wrapping her arms around his back, the seer turned and buried her face in the hollow of his throat. Her warm lips pressed frantic kisses to his skin as she allowed his solid presence reassure her that he was safe.
“Cordy, someone’s coming,” the vampire warned, gently pulling away as his sensitive hearing picked up the distance sound of running footsteps.
The seer raised her tear-stained face and looked at him blankly.
“I’m thinking you might want a towel,” he explained, looking down at her nude form with one eyebrow raised.
Cordelia flushed and dashed over to the sun lounger area to cover herself up while Angel hobbled over to retrieve her discarded bikini from the water’s edge. Just as she tucked the towel over her exposed breasts, the staff access door unceremoniously banged open and the leisure centre’s female manager burst in.
“Oh God! It happened again, didn’t it?” she exclaimed, her face white as a sheet. “I heard the noise and… oh God!”
“Everyone is okay, but you need to seal the pool and close it off to the public,” Angel instructed, his tone effortlessly commanding.
“I… I wanted to, but the owner wouldn’t hear of it. This is a highly profitable business for him, you see.”
“Tell him the chlorination tanks need servicing or something,” the vampire said impatiently. “Look – I can help you, but only if you do as I say. I’m not a lifeguard, I run – sorry, work for a detective agency – Angel Investigations – and we specialise in unusual cases like this.”
“Our research team is working on it as we speak,” Cordelia put in helpfully. “I’m sure they’ll find a way to get rid of your – umm – infestation.”
The young manager hesitated, and then nodded her head in agreement. “All right, but if he ever finds out the truth, I’m so fired. Still, rather that than more people getting killed.”
“You’re doing the right thing,” Angel assured her. “We’ll go get dressed, and then call our colleagues for help. We’ll figure it out, I promise you.”
***
At the pool, half an hour later…
“It doesn’t make sense,” Wesley said, removing his glasses, his brow creased with puzzlement.
“What doesn’t?” Angel asked patiently.
Fully dressed now, he and Cordelia were sitting opposite the Englishman on one of the sun-loungers, whilst Fred sat cross-legged on the floor at his feet. Gunn was prowling restlessly around the pool like an army sentry.
“I felt sure we were dealing with a Merlock demon – everything fit to a tee. It’s known to merge its essence with water to remain undetected, has a four-day feeding pattern, even the mode of attack is spot on, but this latest attack just doesn’t fit the profile.”
“How come?”
“Miss Monk says the last incident occurred three days ago, not four, so why did it attack today?”
“Maybe it got hungry?” Cordelia suggested, wondering why Wesley was so worried about such a trivial detail.
“It doesn’t work like that, Cordelia. The four-day cycle is key to this type of demon’s survival. If the Merlock attacked today, I’m either wrong about the species, or something caused it to act out of the ordinary.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe if you tell me what you two were doing before it attacked?”
Cordelia felt a rush of colour rise to stain her cheeks at Wesley’s innocent question, and she ducked her head in embarrassed discomfiture. Angel, on the other hand, just grinned like a Cheshire cat as he remembered her enthusiastic – and loudly vocal – responses to his touch.
“Whoa, way to go, man!” Gunn said, catching the tail end of the conversation as he walked by. He held up his hand to high five the vampire, and the two men slapped their palms together.
“Excuse me! I am sitting here, you know,” Cordelia said, huffily protesting at their macho posturing, her face still red as a tomato.
“In a swimming pool?!” Wesley cut in then, his blue eyes aghast as he stared at the two of them.
“Do we *have* to discuss it?” Cordelia lamented, wanting to crawl into a hole and hide her head in shame.
Gunn laughed and she turned to bury her flaming face in Angel’s shoulder. The vampire wrapped his arm around her and dropped an affectionate kiss on the top of her head.
“I suppose that would explain the Merlock’s uncharacteristic behaviour, it was probably attracted by the – err – sexual energy you were generating with your – umm – activities.”
“So, do we have any idea of how to kill to it?”
“We’ve come up with a possible idea – well, Fred did anyway,” Wesley replied.
The soft smile, which the ex-watcher threw at the woman sitting at his feet as he said this, reminded Angel that his impromptu trip to Cordelia’s apartment last night had put the kibosh on his friends planned date.
“So what’s the plan?” he asked, resolving to make it up to them somehow.
“Electricity,” Fred replied triumphantly.
“Electricity and water don’t mix.”
“Exactly!”
“There’s just one problem,” Wesley took over the narrative. “We’re talking about more than a mains power cable or a car battery here. Fred has already rigged up a suitable weapon, but I’m afraid…”
“I’ve not quite figured out how to stop it from electrocuting the person who wields it,” Fred finished with an apologetic shrug of her shoulders.
“I can do it,” the vampire volunteered immediately.
“Angel – I’m not sure you quite understand,” Wesley said worriedly. “The weapon will discharge a several thousand volt shock – it’s likely to cause severe burns to your hands and arms.”
“But it won’t kill me, will it?”
“Well no, but…”
“All right then,” Angel said, cutting off Wesley’s objection. “What do we do? Wait until tomorrow for the demon to show itself again?”
“That seems like the most sensible option, yes. The Merlock has to feed; a human presence in the room should lure it out of its hiding place easily enough.”
Angel nodded and fished in his back pocket for his car keys. “Okay, the pool is all sealed off. The Merlock is not going anywhere, so why don’t you take Fred out for that meal you promised her? You can take the Plymouth if you like, seeing as it was my fault that you had to cancel last night.”
“Are you sure? I mean – don’t you and Cordelia want to…”
“I think we’re just going to spend a quiet night in at the Hotel,” Angel interrupted. “We’ve got unfinished business to attend to,” he added with a sly wink, earning himself an indignant slap from his new girlfriend.
“That’s what you think, buddy,” she said haughtily. “I might be busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Washing my hair,” Cordelia immediately shot back. She childishly stuck her tongue out at him and then burst into fits of uncontrollable giggles.
Angel rolled his eyes and looked over at a grinning Wesley. “Remind me why I wanted this again,” he said drolly.
“I believe you mentioned something about loving her. I did try to tell you that you’d taken leave of your senses.”
“Hey!”
Wesley laughed and got to his feet. “Just kidding,” he said, bending down to plant a sound kiss in the centre of the pouting seer’s forehead. “I’m very happy for you both, really.”
“Do you want a lift back to the Hyperion?” he turned to enquire of Angel.
The vampire pressed his fingertips to his ribs, testing out the progress of their healing. The bones seemed to be knitting together nicely. “No, I think we’re okay to walk,” he replied. “It’s only a couple of blocks.”
Wesley nodded and held out his hand to Fred, helping her to her feet. Gunn sighed mournfully as he watched the two of them leave, hand in hand. “Everyone’s getting some except me,” he complained.
“I don’t think Wesley’s the type to bed a girl on the first date,” Angel remarked with a smile. “Not one he really likes anyway.”
“Typical!” Cordelia said. “Fred gets the gentlemen, whereas I get stuck with the caveman.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining earlier.”
“Okaay, so now I’m definitely leaving,” Gunn drawled. “There’s only one thing worse than knowing everyone else, but you, is at it – and that’s having to hear about it.”
“I can be a gentlemen,” Angel said quietly when they were alone again.
“Angel, I was only teasing. It would be different if we weren’t already so close, but it’s not like we don’t know each other, is it?”
“No, but I don’t want you to think that I don’t respect you.”
“I don’t think that.” Cordelia cupped his worried face in her hands and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Rising to her feet, she held her hand out towards him.
“Come on, Tarzan,” she said brightly. “Jane wants to go back to the Tree house of lurve.”
Angel laughed and swept her up into his arms, ignoring the faint twinge of pain from his bruised ribs.
“Anything the lady wants,” he murmured, smiling down into her laughing eyes as he carried her towards the door…