Part 3
The atmosphere in Giles’s car was tense. Buffy sat in the passenger seat, mesmerized by the passing scenery. Willow sat anxiously in the back, reading from the mountain of ancient volumes piled next to her. She had a small flashlight that shone over the pages, and she was infinitely grateful that she wasn’t prone to carsickness. They didn’t have time to waste on something so trivial.
Buffy was in no condition to help with the research. The pain in her head had lessened somewhat with the medicine Giles had given her, but she was by no means normal. She felt weaker than usual, fragile even, and was scared by what that meant in the long run. She knew that if they arrived to rescue Cordelia and she hadn’t improved, there was no way Buffy would be able to slay vampires and save her. Maybe with a crossbow, but definitely not in hand to hand combat.
She’d avoided telling Giles how bad she actually was because she had hoped it would go away after awhile. An hour into their trip, she realized that nothing was changing. She had been drained of her slayer powers by that black orb, as well as not coping with pain that would’ve normally been shrugged off, and her watcher needed to know.
“Giles,” she said softly, her voice sounding loud in the silence of the car’s interior.
He turned to look at her briefly before returning his attention to the road. “Yes, Buffy?”
“I’m not getting any better. In fact, I think I might have lost my ability to fight when that thing did . . . whatever it is it did.”
Giles grimaced as he stared ahead of them. “I was afraid that might happen. When you said that you felt weak, I thought that might be the case.”
Desperate to find answers, Buffy worked over possibilities in her mind. She suddenly remembered the phone call from earlier, right after she’d had the premonition.
“What did Wesley say when he called?”
“Not much. He said that Cordelia had activated the device they had, and she was enveloped in a white light just as you were.”
Buffy nodded. “Did Wes say if she’d had any side effects?”
Giles turned thoughtful. “Yes, as a matter of fact he did. He said that she was stronger than normal. He said that she’d just thrown Angel halfway across the room.”
There was a pregnant silence as that information activated their thought processes and brought them both crashing into the same conclusion. Their heads turned and their wide eyes met as they both realized what had happened.
“Oh, god,” Buffy said, her face incredulous. “Cordelia took my slayer power.”
Giles returned breathlessly, “I think its more than that, Buffy. Wesley and Angel had both told us before that Cordelia gets visions of people in trouble. I think you switched powers.”
Willow spoke up from the back seat. “That would make sense, Giles. I’ve found a picture of the orbs in one of your books.”
“Finally, something helpful,” Giles sighed in relief, glad they were making progress. “What does it say?”
There was a pause as Willow continued reading. Then, “Ah, Giles, I think you’d better drive faster. There’s more to all of this than we thought.”
***
Cordelia wiped her mouth daintily with a napkin, finally feeling full after scarfing down four slices of pizza. Gunn had used his cell phone to complete Fred’s order, and everyone was glad for the diversion and thankful for the sustenance. Angel and Wesley had just stared as Cordelia had practically inhaled the food. She was usually so conscious of what she ate, afraid that she would gain weight. Tonight it looked as though that was the last thing on her mind.
“So, we going out to hunt vamps tonight, or what?” Cordelia said, looking pointedly at Angel.
“I thought you said you were afraid to do that, Cordelia.” Wesley said.
“Pfft. Whatever. You’re looking at wonder woman, here, Wes. If I can kick Angel’s ass, I think I can handle a couple of fledgling vampires. Just give me some wood and I’ll find a place to stick it.”
Angel nearly choked on his dinner and Wesley, Fred, and Gunn stared at her open mouthed.
“What?” she looked at them, confused.
“Maybe you should say ‘stake’ instead of ‘wood’ from now on, Cordelia,” Angel said carefully. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, Cordelia’s unintentional double entendre having left him with some wood of his own to deal with.
“Okay. . .weird, much?” she said, still not comprehending. Suddenly, her eyes went wide as she realized just what she’d said and a fiery blush swept across her face. After a moment’s mortification, she decided to go with it. Angel seemed kind of uncomfortable, and Cordelia never missed an opportunity to exploit that.
She rolled her eyes, the blush all but gone and her sultry vixen face firmly in place. “Geez, you guys are such prudes. What’s the matter with a little sexual innuendo? Afraid you can’t handle it?”
Angel’s eyes narrowed as her insinuation hit home. “I can handle anything you throw at me, little girl.”
“Oh, yeah? You’ve never seen me really let loose, Angel. If I did, I’d have you on your knees and begging for me.”
“Oh, I’d be on my knees, alright, but you’d be the one begging. Screaming, in fact.” Arousal pushing aside reason, Angel forgot all about their gaping audience, his eyes darkening with an enticing mixture of lust and anger.
Wesley’s nervous voice broke through the heated discussion. “Well, I think we’re all a little keyed up around here. Maybe we should just take a break for a few minutes, go cool off.” He cleared his throat.
“I am cool, Wesley,” Cordelia said sweetly, never taking her eyes off Angel. “But I think if I’m going on patrol with Mr. Broody here tonight I should go change clothes. What I have on isn’t exactly appropriate.”
“It could never be appropriate,” Angel growled, remembering his earlier demand that she change the skimpy velvet and gauze outfit.
Cordelia ignored him. “As for comfort, well, this one isn’t exactly that, either.” She sighed and turned thoughtful. “You know, I think that whipped cream and cherries has got to be the most comfortable outfit I’ve ever worn. Nothing says ‘relaxation’ like edible clothing.”
She watched with barely disguised glee as Angel’s eyes nearly crossed. She could see the exact moment when he pictured that very “outfit” on her and his eyes flooded with pure, undiluted lust. Her body liquefied with age-old feminine satisfaction, and she arched her back, pushing her breasts in his direction. Allowing herself a small, content smile, she continued her little game.
Sighing again, she shook her head in mock resignation. “But whipped cream won’t exactly work for tonight, either. Guess I’ll go upstairs and find something that will be easy to fight in.”
Cordelia sauntered past Angel as she headed toward the stairs, purposefully twitching her hips as she walked. She paused at the bottom of the staircase, one hand on the railing, and looked back at him.
“Angel, do you mind if I borrow your shower? I’m so hot and sweaty after all that fighting. It would feel so good to have steamy, hot water pounding into me.” She ran one finger down the edge of her neckline, stopping at the place where the two halves of her shirt met between her breasts. She played with the tie and bit her full bottom lip, looking back at him with a sultry stare.
Angel jerked visibly at her words, then his jaw clenched and he growled. Cordelia knew instinctively that she’d gone too far.
“Just shut up, Cordelia. Go change. I’m leaving in ten minutes, with or without you.”
Her eyes narrowed again and she glared at him.
“Fine. I’ll be ready.”
She stomped back upstairs, mad at him, but more angry with herself for pushing too hard. She did want Angel panting after her, but she wanted him to love her, too. Shoving her boobs in his face might make him jump her, but he wouldn’t appreciate being coerced. She’d lose him forever if she did that.
Watching her as she disappeared upstairs, Angel felt a mixture of relief and frustration. She hadn’t been too far off the mark when she’d said she’d have him begging for her. He’d practically lost all control earlier after their fight when he’d nearly kissed her, and there was no doubt in his mind that they would’ve ended up giving a free live porn show to their closest friends if Wesley hadn’t come in.
There had already been a few other times recently when he’d been just shy of throwing caution to the wind. And now, with her new penchant for double entendre, he was having a difficult time keeping his body in check. His love for her was the only thing that kept him from grabbing her and ravishing her. He knew that if he did that, she’d regret it, and he might lose her forever. He couldn’t risk that, so he’d tried to keep a lid on his feelings. Maybe someday, she’d love him, too, and they could make it work.
Ten minutes and thirty seconds later, Cordelia marched back down the stairs. She was much more appropriately attired. Angel felt as though she’d be sexy in a burlap sack, so he still wasn’t happy with what she chose to wear. She had on a pair of navy blue workout pants with a set of baby blue stripes running up the sides, the drawstring tied firmly. They settled low on her hips, an enticing stripe of skin showing between them and the hem of her baby blue V-necked T-shirt. She had on running shoes, halfway hidden by the wide legs of her pants. A navy hoodie was tucked under her arm.
“Let’s go,” she said, looking at Angel.
He just stared at her for a moment, then turned to Wesley. “We’ll be back in an hour or two. Call me on my cell phone if you hear from Giles.”
“Of course,” Wesley said.
Angel nodded, and turned to follow Cordelia out the door. He swore under his breath as he caught the rear view of her outfit. In bold, baby blue letters, the word “ANGEL” was emblazoned across her backside, the “G” disappearing and reappearing between the firm halves of her butt as she walked. There was a little halo positioned right above the “A”.
In that moment of unwelcome renewed lust, he cursed clothing designers everywhere.
SunnyDale
“What are you trying to say, Willow?” Giles asked, anxious at her cryptic statement.
“This book doesn’t say much of anything, Giles. It references another text, one that we don’t have. I hope Wesley does.”
“What does it say, Will?” Buffy said, worried.
Willow’s eyes came up to lock with Buffy’s. They were a mixture of dread and sympathy. “All this book says is, and I quote, ‘Anyone who uses these orbs knowingly numbers his days, sacrificing his life for the good of mankind. The transference of the demon’s powers will end the life of the righteous, but with his noble death, evil will be no more.'”
Buffy raised an eyebrow, perplexed. “But neither Cordelia or I are demons. Why would this even work with us?”
Giles, as usual, had a theory. “The orbs probably latch on to whatever supernatural power they find and transfers it to the person without the power. Because both of you had supernatural power, they just switched places.”
Willow added, “You may be right. But what concerns me is the talk about death. We have to find this other book, Giles. This one says that the other will have a translation of the writing on the orb’s surface. Maybe there’s a way to reverse it.”
“We could just do it again,” Buffy said. “We could twist the orbs at the same time and just change back.”
“I don’t think it is as simple as that, Buffy,” Giles said worriedly. “There’s a big piece of the puzzle missing here, and we have to find it.”
“Either way, with my slayer power, Cordelia should be able to handle herself in the situation I saw in the vision. Maybe we didn’t need to come after all.”
Giles shook his head. “No, we’ll stick with the original plan. Didn’t you say you felt fear and pain, Buffy? Cordelia hasn’t been trained like you have. She’s never fought vampires and known she could win. She might have frozen from fear in your vision, and you have to be there to help her. Slayers aren’t invincible, Buffy. You should know that.”
“I know,” Buffy said sadly, remembering her own death and the loss of Faith and Kendra. She glanced down at her watch. “We need to hurry, Giles. We don’t have much time.”
“We’re ten minutes away from the hotel, Buffy. That gives us about a half hour to get to the site of your vision, if Cordelia hasn’t left yet.”
L.A
Cordelia looked back surreptitiously at Angel as he trailed behind her. She knew her choice of clothing had provoked his anger, and she couldn’t say she blamed him. She’d bought the pants out of a junior clothes magazine, finding them too funny to pass up. She’d never intended to wear them in front of him, especially not in such a “screw you” gesture. She sighed and decided it was time to break the ice.
“So what are we looking for, Angel?” she said, slowing so that she was walking beside him.
“Vampires,” he said curtly.
Cordelia was annoyed by that. “Duh. I meant how do we look for them?”
He shrugged. “I usually just go to where I know they congregate and then I wait. Vampires aren’t very stealthy if they feel secure, especially young ones. And L.A. is full of young, cocky vampires.”
She couldn’t resist. “I can agree with the cocky part,” she smiled. “Add ‘arrogant,’ ‘broody,’ and take out ‘young,’ and you’ve got it just about right. “
He frowned at her, but it didn’t last long in the wake of her smile. “Ha, ha. And I am not arrogant.”
“Yeah, and pigs fl—” one hand clamped over her mouth as she spoke. She looked at him with barely concealed irritation that quickly fled as he gestured ahead of them. A vampire had a young woman pinned to the wall behind a bar, his head descending toward her neck.
Angel ran ahead, Cordelia close at his heels as they closed the distance between themselves and the younger vampire. They were nearly too late. Angel pulled the vampire off the woman viciously, snapping his neck and watching him disintegrate. Cordelia caught the unconscious woman as she fell. There was a pulse, but it was weak.
“We have to get her to a hospital, Angel.”
“Oh, you two aren’t going anywhere.” The cold voice sent chills up Cordelia’s spine, and she turned with dread to face what was behind her. Seven vampires were advancing on them in a semi circle, effectively trapping them against the wall of the building. She felt Angel stiffen next to her and watched him vamp out and lunge at the leader, only to be grabbed by two of the fledglings. They held him still, and the leader grabbed Cordelia around the neck, pulling her roughly against him.
“Don’t touch her,” Angel warned, struggling against the two vampires that held him. If her were alone, he could easily escape their grasps, but he knew that doing so would cost him her life.
The leader of the vampires ran a cold finger down the side of Cordelia’s exposed neck. “She’s so young, so vibrant. What’s a lovely thing like you doing with a killer like him?”
“Like you’re not a killer?” Cordelia retorted, trying to calm the fear in her heart.
He chuckled, smelling her fear and salivating. “Of course I am, but I don’t hide behind a soul. Oh, yes. I know who you are, Angelus. Everyone knows who you are.”
“It’s good to know that my reputation still means something,” Angel growled. “But I don’t know who the hell you are.”
“I’m Devin. Or I used to be, before I turned. Haven’t gotten around to changing my name yet. Seems like all you ancient, washed-up vampires like to have some rock star name. Must be compensating for a lack of . . . other things.”
Angel struggled violently against his captors, tearing one arm free and lunging at Devin. The younger vampire pulled Cordelia back further and vamped out, flashing his fangs and grazing them against the soft skin of her neck. Angel froze as he witnessed the contact, and the two vampires who’d held him regained their holds.
“She’s nothing,” Angel said, trying to distract him. “You don’t want her, do you? You can fight me, instead. I could teach you a thing or two.”
Devin just laughed. “I don’t think so, old man. I’m looking forward to tasting this one. Slayer blood is so sweet, or so I’ve heard.”
“How do you know that?” Cordelia asked, his words shocking her out of her silence.
Devin looked down at her scathingly. “What, did you think you’d just received that little bauble in the mail by chance? My employer knew exactly what he was doing. You may be the slayer now, but you have no idea how to fight me, to kill me. You have to have skills to go with the power, and you don’t have any.”
She had a rapid flashback to her fight with Angel earlier that evening. She had kicked his ass, but she knew he hadn’t really let loose. She’d teased him about how he’d fought his hardest and she’d still beat him, but she knew it wasn’t true. Angel couldn’t fight her full force; he wouldn’t allow himself the possibility of hurting her. Cordelia was the queen of verbal comebacks, the slayer when it came to words, but when the confrontation became physical, she was mediocre on her best day. The truth was, she might have the strength now, but Devin was right. She had absolutely no technique. She knew she would die if she tried to escape, and probably see Angel turn to dust for her efforts. She didn’t even have a stake, and she was scared so bad she was shaking.
Devin closed the distance between his mouth and her neck, his cold lips against her skin bringing her screeching back to reality. Stopping right at her ear, and whispered, “Say goodbye, Cordelia Chase.”
In that moment, his words hit home. This time, Angel couldn’t save her. She was going to die.