Part 8
“So, how you going?” Angel asked, squatting down next to the table that Willow was working at, with Wesley’s meticulous research spread out on the flat surface in front of her.
“Oh – umm good.” The red-headed witch looked up from her studies. “Wesley’s notes are pretty comprehensive – they’re cross-referenced and everything! I thought Giles was super-organised, but Mr Wyndam-Pryce is in a league of his own.”
Angel chuckled. “Sounds like Wes. So you think you can whip up a batch of the exorcising potion without too much trouble?”
“Yeah boss – shouldn’t be a problem. From what I can figure, the hardest part is finding and weighing out all the ingredients accurately, and Wesley already did that.”
“What about the binding spell?”
“Well that one’s a bit trickier, but I reckon I can handle it. My success rate with the magic has risen by several percent in the last year or so.”
“That doesn’t exactly inspire a great deal of confidence, Will.”
“Don’t worry, it should be fine. After all, when it comes to dangerous, saving-the-world spells, I’m a pro – it’s just the normal everyday stuff that I have problems with. Like this one time – I was trying to help these plants in our dorm room along a bit; because it was Buffy’s turn to water them and she’d so totally forgotten what with her slayer duties and everything. Anyhow, they were all wilted and droopy, so I thought I’d give them a little magical encouragement to wake them up again, but it sorta got a teensy bit out of hand.”
“I’m not sure I even want to ask.” the vampire commented, his deep brown eyes twinkling merrily.
“The Professor of Botany at College was fascinated by the eight foot high pot plants that punched a hole through the ceiling into the dorm room above – he’s writing a paper on them, I believe.” Willow told the vampire with a sheepish grin.
Angel laughed, tickled pink by the consequences of her blunder. His amusement quickly died down however, when he glanced over to where Buffy and Riley were deep in conversation on the other side of the room.
“Do you reckon I’d be able to persuade Buffy to stay behind while I go to Wolfram and Hart?” he queried, his mind returning to the task at hand. He already knew the answer to the question, but asked it anyway.
“Nada – not a hope in hell. You don’t honestly believe she’d sit here twiddling her thumbs when she could be in the thick of the action, do you?”
“Not really, no.” Angel replied. “I suppose if she goes, Jungle Jim will have to tag along too.”
“Riley Finn.” Willow corrected, struggling not to giggle at the vampire’s rather apt nickname for the Initiative soldier.
“Whatever – I don’t like it; he’s too much of a loose cannon in my opinion. Lorne could have been our only witness to what happened here earlier, and what does Smiley Finn over there try and do – drug him into insensibility for several hours – how *so* not smart was that.”
Willow smiled at Angel’s last comment, thinking how cute it was that he had unconsciously taken on some of Cordelia’s mannerisms.
“I know it probably doesn’t seem like it Angel, but compared to the other soldiers in his unit, Riley is actually pretty open-minded. He’s just having trouble coming to terms with the whole ‘my girlfriend lost her virginity to a vampire’ thing, that’s all. Buffy only told him about you a couple of days ago – cut the guy some slack, okay?”
“Humph.” The sceptical vampire tactfully decided not to pursue the subject any further; he still wasn’t entirely happy with the situation, just hoped that the slayer had the sense to keep her idiot boyfriend under control.
“When are you leaving?” Willow asked.
“As soon as Cordy’s ready.”
“You’re taking her with you? Is that a good idea?”
“Probably not,” the vampire replied sagely. “But until Faith is rid of the Orb and it’s sealed back in the ground where it belongs, I’m not letting her out of my sight. I can’t risk anything else happening to her, Willow – she means far too much to me.”
The strength of feeling that infused Angel’s heartfelt words made Willow realise just how pointless Riley’s unreasoning jealousy of him was – not to mention how futile Buffy’s lingering hopes of reconciliation with the vampire were. Time had obviously only served to deepen the love that Angel and Cordelia held for each other – they appeared closer than ever, despite the slight undercurrent of tension that she had detected between them a short while earlier.
“I should probably go and check on her actually – she’s been up there on her own for a while now.” Angel said, voicing his anxious concern as he rose gracefully to his feet. Lifting his arms over his head, he cracked his knuckles before turning towards the door that led through into Caritas’s private quarters.
As she watched Angel retreat upstairs, Willow reflected on the mild friction that she’d observed between the couple forty-five minutes previously. It wasn’t anything particularly noticeable, but the rather snappy way in which Cordelia had brushed off her anxiously hovering boyfriend had set alarm bells ringing in the observant witch’s head.
Willow had put the subdued tone of her friend’s recent emails down to her sadness over her fallen comrade, but now realised that there may have been more to it than that. The seer had rarely mentioned Angel in any of her correspondence over the last few weeks – not in any kind of personal capacity at any rate, and that was strange, considering the brunette usually couldn’t type more than two paragraphs without finding some way to bring her boyfriend into the subject matter.
It all kind of took its toll on us for a while, but I think we’re coming out of the other side of it now.
The cogs gathering speed in her quick brain, the young witch recalled what Angel had said about Doyle’s death in the car on the way to Caritas. It had seemed a fairly innocuous statement at the time, but took on a much greater significance in light of what she’d just witnessed.
Suddenly ashamed of her internal gossip mongering, Willow made a conscious effort to empty her mind of her speculative thoughts regarding the state of her friend’s relationship. Their personal problems – if they existed at all – were none of her concern, and besides, Angel’s words had suggested that he and Cordelia were patching things up, so she really ought to mind her own business and let them get on with it.
Tucking her titian hair behind her ears, the witch returned her attention to her studies, bending her head over the piece of paper that had the Orb binding spell written on it in Wesley’s carefully precise handwriting. Although it wasn’t strictly necessary for her to learn the enchantment off by heart, Willow always found that her magic flowed better if she was at least vaguely familiar with the convoluted phrases that she was reciting.
She was all too aware that she couldn’t afford to make a mistake with this one – Faith’s well-being and the Fate of the World depended on it.
***
Regaining consciousness with a painful jerk, Wesley gagged in reaction to the copper taste of his own blood in his mouth, and winced as zigzags of white light flashed before his eyes while his head throbbed in unceasing agony.
Forcibly swallowing his churning nausea, the ex-watcher struggled to clear his foggy brain, trying to make sense of his unfamiliar surroundings. It was as black as midnight and he couldn’t see anything, apart from a tiny pinprick of light that illuminated almost nothing and provided no clue whatsoever to his current location. He could hear the muffled sound of loud rock music however – the relentless noise tormented his sensitive eardrums, and set the walls of his metallic prison to a continual vibrating.
I’m in the trunk of a car, Wesley finally realised, when the speeding vehicle suddenly executed a sharp corner to the left, causing his bruised and battered body to be indiscriminately tossed about inside the claustrophobic enclosure. His hands were tied behind his back and his feet bound tightly together, the abrasive rope cutting deeply into his tender skin, and preventing him from stabilizing himself as he unceremoniously pitched about in the back of the moving car.
With a high-pitched squeal of tyres, the vehicle swung violently to the right, and the ex-watcher’s head cracked hard against the side of the trunk. As darkness descended once more over Wesley’s world, he vaguely heard the sound of car horns blaring out into the night, loudly protesting at the hazardous manoeuvres of the erratic driver at the wheel.
***
Angel hesitated outside the door of the room that he and his girlfriend were sharing while they stayed at Caritas – Cordelia had tersely rejected his offer of comfort downstairs, and he was cut to the quick by her brusque withdrawal.
It seemed to Angel that whenever they made progress towards reconciliation, something always happened to cause one of them to retreat behind the self-protective walls that they’d built up in the tumultuous weeks since Doyle’s death.
The vampire was altogether sick of the situation though – if it wasn’t for the fact that Wesley and Faith ran a close second in his life, he would have left Buffy to deal with the Big Bad and spirited his treasured girlfriend off to a private retreat ages ago.
Angel was anchored by the deep ties of affection that he held for his closest friends however, and he simply couldn’t contemplate abandoning them in their time of need. He was therefore forced to endure this undesirable delay, while he selflessly devoted himself to his role as the Powers-That-Be’s favoured champion.
Angel sighed heavily; he shouldn’t be procrastinating about this, Wesley was at the mercy of the Orb’s malevolent whims and time was rapidly running out for his friend. Twisting the door handle, the vampire quietly entered the darkened bedroom, and his stomach burned with self-reproach when his ears picked up the sound of anguished sobs emanating from the on-suite bathroom.
Silently chastising himself for leaving Cordelia up here alone for so long, Angel hastily crossed the room and pushed open the bathroom door, unintentionally startling his weeping girlfriend who jumped as if she’d been bitten. Swathed in a pale blue bathrobe, the seer stood in front of the circular mirror, gazing tearfully at her transformed reflection in the shiny glass.
Her heart leaping into her throat, Cordelia swung round to see who the intruder was, immediately relaxing when confronted by the worried vampire. She had been struggling to hold back her sobs, but dissolved into tears again under the onslaught of her boyfriend’s compassionate gaze. Reluctant to show any outward emotion in front of Buffy, the distraught young woman had been waiting for Angel to come to her, desperately craving the comfort of being enveloped in his supportive embrace.
“Ssh baby, ssh.” Angel quickly moved to bridge the gap between them, wrapping one strong arm around her waist and cupping the back of her head in his other hand. He gently kissed her forehead before bending his head to murmur soft consoling words into her ear, cuddling her close against his solid muscular chest as he did so.
“Why didn’t you come upstairs after me?” Cordelia sobbed out in distress, burying her tear-wet face into the hollow of his throat, and clinging to him like her life depended on it.
As it slowly dawned on him that he had completely misinterpreted her earlier behaviour, Angel was consumed with a familiar sense of remorse. “I’m sorry – you pushed me away and I thought… God, I’m so sorry.”
“Geez – we’re a right pair, aren’t we?” Cordelia laughed shakily, hiccupping with a mixture of emotional sobs and giggles.
She ran her hands up and down the smooth planes of her boyfriend’s shirt-covered back, silently communicating her acceptance of his choked-out apology.
“Tell me about it.” Angel agreed wholeheartedly, his guilt rapidly diminishing at her softly-spoken words and reassuring gesture.
Slowly rocking his girlfriend in his arms, the vampire turned his head to press a soft kiss against her temple, and soothingly stroked his fingers through the dark strands of her now chin-length hair. The cruelly shorn locks, still wet from her shower, were mussed by her increasingly fraught attempts to style them into some semblance of order.
Pulling back slightly, Angel cupped her chin in his hand and looked down into her red-rimmed and puffy eyes, tenderly brushing the damp strands off her tear-stained cheeks.
“It’s no use!” Cordelia wailed, as he tucked the dark tendrils behind her ears and smoothed down the spilt-ends. “Look at me – I’m ugly!” she exclaimed, spinning around to stare at her reflection in the mirror again.
Despite knowing it was wholly inappropriate under the circumstances, Angel couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the ridiculousness of her self-pitying statement.
“Cordy – it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d shaved your whole head, you could never be anything but stunningly beautiful.” he told her assuredly, placing his hands on her shoulders and gently massaged the tense muscles at the nape of her neck with his callused thumbs.
“I’m sorry.” Cordelia whispered softly, looking down at her hands and studying her fingernails. “It’s only that Little Miss All-American downstairs is looking so gorgeously proper and perfectly made-up, while I resemble a scarecrow on a bad hair day! I bet she just loves this.”
Angel sighed at his girlfriend’s insecurity, recognising that their estrangement had a lot to do with her current lack of self-esteem. As he absently curled her silky locks around his fingers, a germ of an idea came to mind.
“Do you have any scissors?” he asked.
“Yeah – there’s some in my vanity case – why?”
“Come with me.” Angel stepped away from the seer and, taking her hand in his, tugged her through into the bedroom. Leading her over to the dresser, he pulled out the plush velvet stool, and indicated that she should sit down on it, facing out towards the centre of the room rather than towards the wall though.
Cordelia did as he asked; watching as he retrieved the pair of scissors and picked up a comb from the dresser surface. Running the plastic implement gently through her dark hair, the vampire deftly separated and untangled the delicate strands, combing them straight so that they hung in a vertical curtain around her heart-shaped face.
Biting his lower lip in concentration, Angel knelt down on the floor and proceeded to snip carefully around the bottom of her hair; evening out the length, and removing the damaged ends in attempt to tidy up Faith’s earlier hatchet job.
Finally satisfied with his efforts, the vampire set the scissors to one side and reached for the hair-dryer, turning it on full-blast. He made short work of drying his girlfriend’s hair, using his fingers to curl the dark locks under, his higher than normal pain threshold making him oblivious to the scalding heat coming from the dryer’s vent.
Once finished, he bent, lifted the stool – with Cordelia still perched upon it – and turned the seat around to face the dresser mirror, the muscles in his upper arms rippling with effort. “So what do you think?”
Pursing her lips, Cordelia critically surveyed her reflection in the glass – Angel had shaped her hair into a blunt jaw-length bob, and it actually didn’t look that bad. The cut was overly severe, but she could easily remedy that with a trip to the hairdresser’s in a few days time – at least she no longer looked like a reject from Scarecrows-R-Us. With the right clothes and some judiciously applied make-up, she would still give the blonde perfecto-slayer a run for her money.
Watching as all manner of unreadable emotions crossed Cordelia’s expressive features, Angel waited on tenterhooks for her verdict. He wouldn’t win any hairdresser-of-the-year awards he knew, but he thought his efforts weren’t half bad for a total amateur. The seer’s face suddenly split into a beautiful wide smile, and he sighed in relief as she sprang up from her seat, and flung her arms around his neck, hugging him in gratitude.
“Thank you.”
“Any time.” The vampire said softly, returning her hug before releasing her from his embrace.
As Cordelia stepped back, Angel noticed that her towelling robe had come loose with her movements, and he felt a rush of unexpected desire as her garment gaped open and revealed a tantalising hint of creamy cleavage and one rosy pink nipple to his perusal.
“Jesus – keep your mind out of your pants for once, man!” he muttered under his breath, his groin tightening in response to all that delicious feminine flesh on display.
Completely unaware of his predicament, Cordelia proceeded to make his escalating condition infinitely worse by she shrugging out of her robe, and padding naked across the lush carpet to retrieve some clean clothes from the chest of drawers that stood against the far wall.
“Is something wrong?” she asked, as a low groan of frustration escaped the aroused vampire when she bent over to rummage through the bottom drawer.
“No… I …” Angel deliberately cleared his throat when his voice came out hoarse and raspy. “Umm, I mean – I’m fine.”
Cordelia suppressed a smile as her boyfriend shifted uncomfortably, sticking his hands in his pockets and adjusting his pants over his straining erection. The fact that she possessed the ability to turn him on in the most inappropriate of circumstances filled her with delighted satisfaction.
“Got a little problem have we?” she queried, turning around to face him, one eyebrow raised in jest.
The seer was aware that this wasn’t exactly the right time for starting anything, but she desperately needed to feel like a sexy, attractive woman again. Her earlier ordeal had stripped her of her dignity, and robbed her of one of the chief elements that made up her female identity so, a determined look crossing her attractive features, she slowly began to approach the target of her affection.
“Scratch that – make that a big problem.” she continued, eyeing the impressive bulge that was clearly visible in the crotch of the vampire’s pants.
“Cor-dee-lee-yah.” Angel protested, dragging out the syllables of her name as her curvy hips swayed seductively from side to side, and her full breasts bounced slightly with her movements. “We don’t have time for this – Wesley’s in trouble and…”
“We’ve got ten minutes.” Cordelia replied, cutting off his objections by placing two fingers over his moving mouth.
Powerless to contain himself, the vampire opened his lips and slowly drew her forefinger into his mouth, curling his tongue around the digit and sucking lightly, before taking hold of her wrist and pulling her hand away from his face.
“I don’t do ten minutes.” he growled throatily.
“I know.” the seer said, placing her hands on her hips. “That’s really very remiss of you, you know.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Well – you’re the first man that I ever slept with…”
“And the last.” Angel reminded her possessively.
“Uh-huh – so that means that my sexual education is your responsibility.” Cordelia continued with a come-hither look sparkling in her hazel eyes. “I only ever remember ‘quickies’ being on the lesson plan once. How am I supposed to graduate if my teacher doesn’t give me any suitable practise?”
Angel knew he shouldn’t be capitulating to her beguiling efforts at persuasion, but this playful banter had been missing from their relationship for so long that he just wanted to gobble it up and savour every last second of it.
The vampire also recognised his girlfriend’s intrinsic need to reaffirm her femininity in the wake of the possessed Faith’s casual decimation of her glorious mane of dark wavy hair. Hell, it was only ten – well maybe fifteen – minutes of their time; Wes and the real Faith wouldn’t mind, would they?
Sensing her vampire’s wavering resolve, Cordelia decided she’d help things along a little, so stepped forward and purposely began to unbuckle his belt, her fingers oh-so-accidentally brushing against his rapidly hardening shaft as she pulled the soft leather through the fabric loops on his pants.
Angel grinned at her audacity; she really could be a little vixen when she put her mind to it. Not that he was complaining of course – he loved that his seer regularly pampered her lush sensuality; he would certainly never say no to the – not so inconsiderable – rewards that he reaped from her frequent self-indulgence.
Her bewitching hands started to reach for his zipper, but Angel quickly halted their progress, and pulled her flush against his hard muscular body instead, lowering their joined fingers to the small of her back.
“Lesson number one.” he said, his voice low and seductive as he bent to nuzzle behind her left ear. “A man can be ready for sex in an instant – it takes a woman a bit longer so with quickies, foreplay has to be all about her.”
“Okay teacher – guess I can live with that.” Cordelia agreed breathlessly as the vampire’s hands wandered downwards to cup and squeeze the twin globes of her bare bottom in his cool palms.
“Thought you might.” Angel replied, nipping at the soft skin of her neck with blunt teeth before stepping away from her to undress.
Cordelia raised her arm and showed him her digital wrist-watch, setting the stop-watch and pushing the start button.
Angel laughed as he lifted his feet in turn, and quickly pulled off his boots and socks, before divesting himself of the rest of his clothes in record time. He then sank to his knees in front of the woman that he was fully intent on worshipping like the goddess she was.
Picking up the seer’s right foot in his hands, Angel softly traced the delicate arch of her instep with his finger, and kissed the end of each toe before placing her foot flat on his shoulder, and opening up the pink flesh of her womanhood to the talented manipulations of his fingers and tongue.
“Lesson number two.” the vampire continued conversationally, slipping a hand between her thighs and slowly running his fingers up the length of her sex, delighted to find her already moist with desire for him. “This isn’t about gradual build-up – it’s about lighting the blue touch-paper and counting down from ten to blast-off. Therefore, it’s best to go for the most sensitive spots first – because that’s where the rocket fuel is located.”
Cordelia wanted to laugh at his terminology, but found that she could only moan with spiralling pleasure as Angel expertly coaxed her body to soften in readiness for what was to come, and deliberately circled his thumb around the sensitive nub that guarded the entrance to her femininity like a sentry.
“Angel – Oh God!” A sharp cry of passion involuntarily tumbled from her lips and her inner muscles clenched, as the vampire suddenly pushed two fingers up inside her and bent to draw her throbbing clitoris between his cool lips.
Her breath heaving in sharp gasps, the incoherent seer reached down and clutched at Angel’s spiky hair, holding him to her whilst he sucked and licked at her responsive bud. Curling his long fingers inside her hot channel, he searched for the spot that would prompt a further flood of liquid arousal to gather at her already slick centre.
“Oh fuck!” the curse erupted unbidden from Cordelia’s mouth as her boyfriend’s probing fingers finally found what they were looking for, and her body spasmed in mini-orgasm in response to the erotic stimulation.
Angel smiled in triumph, lifting his mouth away from her pulsating clit and extracting his fingers from her wet core. He sucked her creamy essence from his hand and licked his lips to savour her sweet taste before speaking.
“See, I told you that’s where the rocket fuel was located.” he commented slyly, pushing himself up into a standing position.
Cordelia blushed a rosy pink, as the vampire took her hands in his and drew her over towards the bed. She rarely cussed, but sometimes Angel had her swearing like a trooper as he set her body alight with fiery passion, and released her darkest desires from deep within.
Releasing her fingers, Angel sat down on the edge of the bed, his feet flat on the floor and his rigid member jutting out proudly from the cradle of his thighs.
“Come here.” he said, crooking his finger at her in invitation, as he languidly pumped his straining erection with his other hand.
Her whole body throbbing in sensory anticipation, Cordelia obediently straddled his lap, looping her arms around his neck, and leaning in to kiss him. Angel’s hands swept up over her round buttocks to trace a path up and down the curve of her spine, as their mouths fused together and their tongues played a spirited game of thrust and parry.
“Lesson number three.” Angel said with a gentle smile, when he eventually had to lift his lips from hers to allow her to breathe. “Quickies can sometimes be about pure physical release, but at other times it’s essential to find a way to communicate the love that exists between consenting partners.”
The vampire paused, fingering the dark strands of Cordelia’s hair and softly brushing his thumb over the purple bruise on her cheek. “This is one of those times.” he continued gravely, gazing deep into her wide hazel orbs. “That’s why it’s important to adopt a face-to-face position, so that you can look into each other’s eyes and see the love and devotion shining there.”
“Angel…” the seer whispered brokenly, her eyes filling with tears of emotion at his words.
The vampire pressed a sweet kiss to her lips, and then gripped her hips in his hands, positioning her so that the tip of his erection slipped an inch or so inside her waiting warmth.
A soft soughing sound escaped Cordelia’s throat as she lowered herself down over her lover, slowly taking his body into hers. She wasn’t as open and ready as she normally was when they made love and, because of this, his hardened sex stretched her vaginal muscles to the edge of discomfort as she leisurely began to ride him, holding onto his broad shoulders for purchase.
“Are you okay?” Angel asked, savouring the exquisite sensation of his girlfriend’s hot walls gripping his rigid shaft in their unyielding embrace.
“Yes – feels good.” Cordelia gasped out, her body continuing to rise and fall over his thick length, the slight pain from his initial penetration dissolving into a sea of overwhelming pleasure.
Satisfied that he wasn’t hurting her, the vampire wrapped one arm around her waist to support her movements, and then lifted his other hand to cup her right breast in his palm, teasing the dusky pink tip with his thumb.
Really wanting to make this last for as long as possible, but knowing that time was of the essence, he lowered his head and latched his mouth around her swollen nipple, suckling hard and eliciting mewling gasps of pleasure from the woman atop of him.
“Oh yes! Oh Angel!” Cordelia cried out, her movements becoming frenzied as the strong pulling sensation of his cool lips on her breast sent shockwaves straight to her core.
Angel’s body had begun to call for blessed release, provoking him into lifting his hips and pushing up into her tight wet heat in earnest.
“Open your eyes.” he demanded harshly.
The seer did as instructed and, with their eyes locked together, they hurtled in unison towards the ultimate culmination of their passion.
Angel, sensing his climax fast approaching, reached down and rapidly circled the seer’s swollen clitoris with his thumb, and Cordelia cried out as she felt her body begin to convulse in the ecstasy of release. “Oh Angel! Oh Yes! Oh, I love you!”
“Oh Jesus – that feels so good.” her vampire lover groaned, as her grasping inner muscles tightened around his painfully hard shaft, and milked him of his essence as he erupted into mind-numbing bliss shortly after her.
“Lesson number four.” Angel said, as he collapsed back onto the cool bedspread, pulling the exhausted seer down on top of him. “Never give in to your girlfriend’s demands for a ‘quickie’ when you’re supposed to be ridding the world of an evil presence!”
Cordelia giggled against his neck, her breath warm against his rapidly cooling skin. “Only nine minutes.” she said, glancing at her watch, before lifting it to his face to show him the clock ticking over from 8:59 to 9:00.
“I guess I do, do ten minutes then.” her boyfriend replied, running his hands soothingly up and down her sweat-covered back.
***
“What’s taking so long? I suppose Cordelia’s acting like she’s getting ready for Prom night or something.” Buffy said, stopping her relentless pacing for a brief moment.
Willow sighed; disappointed at the slayer’s lack of compassion over the seer’s recent ordeal, but not really surprised by it. Buffy still insisted on treating the former cheerleader as if she was the vain and insensitive Queen C of their early High School years, but how the slayer could fail to take note of the obvious character development that Cordelia had gone through since they were all naïve sixteen year olds, just beggared belief.
Anyone who knew Cordelia Chase back then and observed the poised young woman that she was now, and yet still couldn’t see the transformation, was either blind or stupid, but Willow knew that Buffy was neither. It was simply that if the petite slayer accepted that the seer possessed more than a shallow shell of a personality, then she could no longer blame the pretty brunette for the breakdown of her relationship with Angel. While Buffy acknowledged that her partnership with the vampire had had its problems, she still believed that they could have worked them through, if Cordelia hadn’t muscled in and garnered all of Angel’s attention.
“I’m going up there to find out what’s going on.”
“Err – I don’t think that’s necessary, oh mighty one; I’m sure Angelcakes and the princess will be down shortly.” Lorne hastily stepped in front of the determined slayer, barring her path upstairs.
“See – there they are now.” he continued brightly as the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by footsteps descending the stairs, could be heard from above.
Willow suppressed a smile, noting the green-skinned demon’s obvious relief at the couple’s timely re-emergence.
“You’re an empathic demon, right?” she asked, directing her question towards the unusual proprietor of this strange establishment.
“Yes – of sorts anyway, little chica.” Lorne replied, nodding affably at the curious red-head – Willow was the only Sunnydale resident to have spoken directly to him since their arrival a couple of hours ago.
“My witchy senses have really been developing this last year – I’m much more in tune with Mother Nature now. I can sometimes feel vague vibes from people’s auras too – it must be *very* interesting to experience that on a more intense level.” Willow observed, her brown eyes twinkling at the green-skinned demon in crafty amusement.
So, I’m not the only one who’s picked up on the hot and smoochy vibes coming from the boudoir upstairs then. I think I could get to like this girl.
“Oh yes, sweet-cheeks – it’s an experience and a half, that’s for sure.” Lorne replied, slyly winking at the young witch.
Their attention was diverted when the door marked ‘PRIVATE’ opened and Angel and Cordelia emerged through it, their hands clasped together. Apart from the fact that his dark hair wasn’t quite so immaculately styled, the vampire showed no outward sign of their recent sexual activity. Cordelia, however, was a different story – her colour was heightened, two bright pink spots clearly visible in the centre of her cheeks, and she seemed to glow from the inside out with sensual fulfilment.
The seer wore a pair of low-slung navy blue hipster jeans, a mint-green v-neck t-shirt, and fashionable, but low-heeled boots. The soft cotton material of her top clung to her voluptuous upper body like a second skin, and exposed a two inch strip of toned golden flesh where it ended just above the waistband of her jeans. Although Cordelia was dressed relatively casually, the outfit had obviously been selected to highlight her curvy femininity to the maximum, and sent a subtle ‘screw you’ message to her blonde rival on the other side of the room.
“Finally.” Buffy huffed impatiently, a scowl threatening to mar her pretty features, as the two lovers walked across the room with their fingers still tightly entwined. “Are we going then?”
Angel retrieved his car keys from the bar and tucked a wicked-looking knife into his leather jacket’s inner pocket, before replying.
“Yeah – let’s go sample the dubious pleasures of Wolfram and Hart.” he said, and then led Cordelia up the stairs and out of the club, leaving Buffy and Riley to follow in their wake.
***
This time when Wesley emerged from unconsciousness, he did so gradually, regaining his senses one by one. The pounding rock music could still be heard, but the volume had been reduced to a background hum. His ears also told him that he was no longer moving, because a sense of balance had been restored to his confused brain.
The throbbing pain was still very much in evidence, but at least it didn’t feel like someone was playing a staccato drumbeat inside his skull anymore. The area around his collarbones ached painfully, telling him that his hands were still tied behind his back, his shoulder muscles pulled into an unnatural position.
As awareness of his surroundings slowly seeped back, Wesley finally forced his eyes to open and found himself looking at a beech-coloured laminate floor. He could sense the oppressive presence of another person in the room, and defiantly raised his head to look directly into his captor’s glowing red eyes.
Faith was seated opposite him, straddling a plain wooden chair, and sitting backwards so that her forearms were resting casually on the polished edge of the back-rest. She had changed clothes and now wore a pair of shiny black leather pants and a red Lycra tie-dyed top. A slow smile spread across her face as she became aware of the ex-watcher’s bold scrutiny.
“Hey baby – you’re back. That’s so great – torture is always better with audience participation.”