Part 11
A long time ago in a green and pleasant land far far away Rupert Giles once had a simple life, a life that had revolved around books and learning, his days spent reading of slayers and demons, prophecies and apocalypses.
Learning beautiful languages that wrapped around his tongue in the late afternoon sun as birds sang their sweet song outside. He would find himself lost in a wonderful sea of words, fingertips smudged with grainy ink as the gentle hum of silence enveloped the council library, hours slipping by in quiet rumination.
He’d liked that life.
It was a life in which he wasn’t pulled into the hormonal soap opera existence of teen America. A life in which seventeen year old red headed girls didn’t burst into his office looking like they were a hairs breadth away from a nervous breakdown.
“Now, is this Hellmouth related? Is it something to do with the prophecy we’ve been researching?” Giles asked the petite redhead as she sat wide eyed, wringing her hands together as though it were indeed the end of the world.
“No.” Willow shook her head gravely. “It’s so much worse than the Hellmouth.”
“I very much doubt….”
“Angel’s having an affair with Cordelia.” The words burst out of her mouth quickly, as though by getting them out would release her of the burden she’d been carrying all day.
“Oh…I…oh.” Giles blinked, this he didn’t expect.
“Well, I think they’re having an affair….” Willow worried her bottom lip with her teeth.
“What do you mean you think“
“Well, you see, I was at the Bronze last night and…well….” Willow had a very clear sense of deja vu.
“And….” Giles urged her on gently not wanting her to start rambling insanely again.
“I kinda saw them….” Willow gestured wildly with her hands. “Doing…stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“You know….stuff.”
“Ah…I see.”
“And Angel stood Buffy up last night and Cordelia wasn’t in school today….”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
“Or, you know, it means everything.”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation Willow.”
“Yeah, that Angel’s a great big cheating bast…”
“Willow.”
“Sorry.”
“Willow, I really don’t see how this is any of my business.” Giles sighed and cleaned his glasses for the fourth time since his student had barrelled like a tsunami into his office.
“You’re Buffy’s Watcher!”
“Yes but….”
“You’re meant to be looking out for her, hence Watcher.”
“Now really Willow you don’t have to take that tone….”
“This is my I know a secret that could possibly break my best friends heart tone Giles, I’ve never had to use it before and I never want to use it again, its making me sound squeaky and whiny and I can’t help it!”
“I’m sure everything will be OK.” Giles weakly attempted to placate her. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work.
“No, not OK. Very not OK! Angel is Buffy’s boyfriend and Cordelia is…well, Cordelia” Even as she spat out the head cheerleader’s name Cordelia’s words, You can’t keep making me want what isn’t mine, buzzed in the corner of her brain, once again making the redhead believe that there was more here than met the eye.
“I wasn’t even aware that Angel and Cordelia particularly knew each other.”
“Me neither but from what I saw the other night…there was all kinds of knowing going on.” Willow wiggled her eyebrows at the Watcher in a very Xander-like way.
“Ah, well, I’m sure it’s all just a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding? A misunder…Giles! I know what I saw! There was no misunderstanding, there was some standing but no missing, a lot of kissing and even more groping but no misunderstanding!“
“Willow try not to overreact….”
“I’m not overreacting. Giles, if Buffy finds out….”
“If Buffy finds out what?” Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and leant against the doorway.
Oh crap. Willow Rosenburg felt her heart leap in her throat while her stomach knotted painfully.
“Hey Buffy, I didn’t…didn’t hear you come in.”
“Aparently not. Now, would one of you like to tell me exactly what’s going on?”
***
Cordelia had thought that if she stared at the mirror for long enough she would be able to see the change in her reflected on her face. Would people be able to read the truth in her eyes, in the curve of her smile? Would Harmony and Aura be able to tell just by looking at her that she had spent the day making love to someone else’s boyfriend?
No, she wasn’t going to think about that now, wasn’t going to think about Buffy Summers and three little words that kept forming in her mouth whenever she looked at Angel.
Instead she continued to look for the truth in her reflection. Eyes, mouth, nose, chin, cheeks. Flushed skin and red lips. Messy hair so unlike Queen C. A secret smile crept over her as she pressed a finger to the slightly purple mark where her neck met her shoulder. A hickey. Cordelia had always thought them tacky and vulgar, teenage boys trying to declare to the world that they’d been there, that they’d touched the untouchable…but this was different, no fumbling hands, no hot breath panting in her ear, no expectations borne of what people thought she should be.
Just Angel colouring her skin as she had coloured his. It hadn’t been teeth and yellow eyes that had worshipped her neck, the skin was unbroken and smooth, but it still told anyone that were to see it that Cordelia Chase had been touched. Been touched and adored it, craved it, hungered for it and would never be the same again.
She ran her fingertip over the small blemish, a souvenir that would let her know that this wasn’t just a dream in the morning and would flush crimson memories down her neck until it faded. Angel was raw and all consuming in her bed, seemingly inexhaustible in his passion as the day slipped by far too quickly. Cordelia wanted to hold this day in her hands and keep it safe from prying eyes, to keep it a secret that would never be sullied by the outside world. Yet she knew that sooner or later they would have to open the door and take that small step into reality, what would happen then?
What were they going to do when the blanket was pulled from the window and they were forced to look what they had done in the eye? What they had done and done and done and done.
And done.
Standing naked in the small bathroom Cordelia turned to look at the sleeping vampire in her bed, handsome face buried into her pillow and arms stretched out possessively across the mattress. Her eyes followed the smooth line of his back, muscles resting dormant in slumber, her gaze raked knowingly over the firm globes of Angel’s butt and solid strength of his legs. Male perfection etched in stone and honey that she’d learnt and memorised with her fingers and lips.
Cordelia leant her hip against the cool basin as she stole a moment of pure happiness. Who cared what was waiting for them outside this room? Cordelia was in a world of their own making and it was glorious, a world not just of knee shaking desire and lust but of easy conversation and rumbling laughter, of comfortable silence and teasing humour.
In under twenty four hours Cordelia Chase was quickly falling head over heels into the big ‘L’ and it both thrilled and scared her. The woman that had stared back at her may have looked the same as the girl that had lived in a mansion and worshipped Cosmo but Cordelia knew the change went deeper than lip gloss and perfume, it ached in her thighs and squeezed at her heart.
She felt gloriously female and horribly guilty at the same time. Cordelia decided to ignore the guilt, lock it away and throw away the key and simply enjoy the way Angel looked sleeping naked on his front in her bed.
The sensation of steam licking at her skin pulled her out of her sweet revelry, the shower she had turned on as soon as she had slipped out of the circle of Angel’s arms was filling the air with a damp haze. Rolling her eyes at her own self involvement Cordelia padded across the small bathroom and reached for a towel.
Her situation, the situation she’d barely thought about while her thoughts were consumed with Angel, came crashing down around her polished red toenails as the biggest cockroach Cordelia had ever seen skittered from between the folds of the scratchy white towel and over her hand.
“EWW!!” Cordelia yelped and jumped back in disgust, the back of her legs hitting the toilet and knocking the head cheerleader off her balance, bringing her tumbling to her knees with a thud on the grimy tiled floor.
“Ouch and EWW!” She exclaimed again as the reason for her painful descent into reality scurried like a thief into a crack in the wall. Her view was suddenly obstructed by a very naked vampire crouching in front of her, she hadn’t even noticed him coming into the room.
“What’s wrong?” Angel asked her frantically, Cordelia’s cry of pain had snapped him out of his sleep in an instant and with a speed that had so often been used to induce fear he’d come to her before he even knew he was doing it. It was instinct, instinct to protect the one he…the one he…Angel couldn’t think about that now.
“I live in a roach motel.” Cordelia said desperately as Angel quickly surveyed her body for injuries.
“What happened?”
“I live in a roach motel.”
“Cordy you already said that, have you hit your head?” He frowned and ran his fingers over her scalp, confused as to why Cordelia was sprawled on her knees in the bathroom when the last time he’d checked she was asleep in his arms where she belonged. Again, Angel decided not to pay too much attention to that thought.
“Angel, I live in a roach motel!“
“Still not understanding Cordy, why the scream and crash?”
“Big, big cockroach, in the towel…in the towel in the bathroom of the roach motel that I live in!” Her voice gradually grew shriller with every realised word.
“Ah…OK, I’m with you now.” Angel brushed a strand of wild dark hair behind her ear.
“I don’t like it here Angel.” She whispered as though the walls had ears.
“I know you don’t.” The vampire cradled the side of her face in his palm.
“What am I going to do?” The desperation that shadowed Cordelia’s face twisted Angel’s gut painfully, he hated seeing her unhappy, he wanted her to smile and laugh.
“We’ll figure something out Cordy, I promise.” Angel tangled his hand in Cordelia’s thick hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead, he needed her to realise she wasn’t on her own in this anymore, that she didn’t have to be scared and hold it all inside.
“You still trying to be my knight in shining armour?” Cordelia smiled softly as the truth shone through Angel’s eyes just as it shone through hers.
“If you’ll let me.” He leant his forehead against hers, drowning in the hazel depths that showed him the sun inside the harshly lit bathroom. Cordelia’s hands crept up his chest and cupped his jaw, drawing him into a soft kiss that made her toes curl and her heart beat loudly in her breast. It wasn’t a kiss of great passion and need, of lust and all consuming desire that could blind and condemn. It was….
Love.
Unspoken and terrifying with the power to wound and destroy as well as set free and let fly the two hearts in the bathroom.
“OK.” She whispered into his lips as she pulled away, giving more to him in that moment than just her virginity, her body.
“Cordy I….”
“The floor’s cold.” Cordelia said quickly, cutting off the vampire’s sentence before his words could echo around the room and settle into her heart. Frowning slightly Angel nodded and uncurled himself from the floor, taking Cordelia’s hand in his and helping her to her feet. The vampire leant past her and turned off the now cold running water with a flick of his wrist then led the brunette out of the bathroom.
“Put some things in a bag.” Angel said as he walked across the room looking for his pants.
“Why?”
“Cos your gonna come stay at my place until we’ve figured out what we’re going to do about your living arrangements.” The vampire found his pants behind the bed, he wasn’t entirely sure how they got there but didn’t spend too much time thinking about it as he pulled them on and went in search of the rest of his clothes.
“Ooooh bad idea.” Cordelia shook her head vigorously.
“Why?” Angel halted his movements, his sweater half on half off, the sweater that held both their scents, the sweater he decided he was never going to wash again.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because your super strong girlfriend has a tendency to drop by unannounced?” She said then instantly kicked herself for saying the forbidden ‘g’ word. Angel looked at the nude girl in front of him, not just nude but naked, her heart in his dirty hands and her scent on his clothing. He knew that as soon as they stepped out of the motel room a decision would be made, a decision he’d tried to pretend didn’t exist as they had cocooned themselves in each others arms.
“I…I’ll deal with that.” Angel said gruffly and continued to dress.
“Look Angel….” Cordelia sighed and pulled on her robe, knotting it tightly at her waist.
“Cordy, please, get dressed, put whatever you need in a bag and come stay with me, I have a roach-less shower and I’ll even cook you dinner. I just…I can’t have you living in this place anymore.”
“I don’t….”
“Please.” Angel implored her and watched as Cordelia’s resolve fall into broken pieces against her will. Her desire to be in his bed, in his arms outweighing all the sensible arguments against this in her mouth.
“Dinner huh?” Cordelia let the corners of her mouth tug upwards in to a smile, they hadn’t exactly been thinking rationally before this so why start now?
***
Buffy Summers might not be known for her razor sharp intelligence but she knew when there was something going on behind her back. Willow’s strange behaviour during the day had been so out of character for the redhead that it had instantly put her on alert. The slayer had hoped that Willow would talk to her about whatever was causing her to stare out of the window with a trouble look shadowing her fine features during last period but the redhead had fled out of the class room in a blaze of determination before Buffy had even picked up her books.
There was something going on, something that had caused Willow to avoid her for most of the day, something that Giles knew about, something that involved herself and the not knowing was making Buffy crazy.
“Well, if I find out what?” Buffy crossed her arms and pinned Willow with her gaze when long minutes of silence ticked by.
“I…I…er….” Willow darted a ‘help me’ look at Giles desperately but all the Watcher did in response was clean his glasses.
“Willow, if it involves me I have a right to know.” Buffy softened her tone not wanting to be too hard on her nervous looking best friend.
“I…Buffy….”
“Willow and I were discussing your upcoming birthday, unless you want your surprise to be ruined I suggest you stop interrogating Willow and get on with some training.” Giles said as he rose our of his chair, slipping on his glasses and lying to Buffy straight in the eye.
“It didn’t seem very birthday surprisey when I came in.” Buffy frowned, not buying it for a minute.
“That’s cos its a big big secret.” Willow said weakly, silently thanking Giles for his quick thinking.
“Hmm.” The slayer scowled but decided to drop the subject for now. Sooner or later she’d find out what the hell is going on here even if it killed her. When Buffy turned and wandered out of the office Willow sagged with relief, the tension that had kept her spine as stiff as board from the moment Buffy’s voice echoed around the office seeping out of her body.
“Thanks Giles.” Willow whispered to the Watcher who was busy sorting through papers on his desk.
“I don’t like lying to Buffy Willow, but I also don’t think you should tell her about…well, you know, without being sure of it. If anything it should be Angel that’s the one to tell her.” Giles pursed his lips and wondered when exactly it was he’d got so tangled in these young peoples lives to such a degree.
“I was thinking that…maybe you could talk to Angel….”
“Me?”
“Well yeah, cos he’s a guy and you’re a guy, he’s older, your older….”
“He’s a two hundred year old vampire Willow…” Giles trailed off as the truth of that statement sunk in, Angel two hundred and some year old vampire who may very well be playing with two young impressionable girls hearts.
“I’ll talk to him.” The Englishman decided firmly. He had a responsibility to these young people, not to just Buffy but to Willow and Xander and even Cordelia. If what Willow told him was true then he couldn’t allow Angel to be so careless and irresponsible with his charges.
Buffy stood outside the office listening to the whispered conversation, her frown hardening when her boyfriends name was mentioned. Something was going on, something that involved Angel and they were keeping it from her.
The slayer would have been worried if she weren’t so pissed off.
***
Angel was rather proud of the fact that he and Cordelia had made it all the way to his apartment, even stopping at the grocery store, without mauling each other. OK, that’s a slight lie, they had spent a long moment kissing next to the deli counter but apart from that Angel had been able to keep his hands to himself. Mostly.
The vampire just couldn’t be in the same space as the beautiful brunette and not touch her, not run his fingers through her hair, wrap his arm around her shoulders, kiss her lips until they were red with passion. Angel knew he had the tendency to be possessive and well, obsessive too if the issue were pressed but he didn’t care because this girl had crept under his skin and Angel liked her there.
So, yes, Angel was proud that he’d managed to show some restraint…that was until he’d unlocked his apartment door and watched Cordelia’s hips move seductively from side to side as she entered his home…it was at that point that he dropped the grocery bags with a soft thud and grasped Cordelia’s arm, pulling her to him and pressing her up against the closed door, her lips parting with surprise and then desire as Angel claimed her mouth in a kiss that blurred her vision and made her fist his sweater in her hands. Cordelia tasted of life and woman, the sun moon and stars, elemental and fertile and Angel wanted to drown in her.
“What was that for?” Cordelia panted when the vampire pulled away to let her breathe, a broad smile lighting up her eyes.
“No reason.” Angel grinned and nipped the full flesh of her bottom lip. Cordelia’s hands snaked beneath his sweater of their own volition, her fingertips blazing a trail of fire across his cool skin, making Angel press his body closer to hers.
“I thought you were going to make me dinner?” Cordelia raised an eyebrow at him when the evidence of his desire pressed against her abdomen.
“Mmm…I never said when I was going to make dinner.” Angel murmured as he leant in to worship her neck with teasing licks and kisses.
“Now who’s arguing the semantics?” She sighed, her eyes slipping shut as Angel’s thumbs drew circles across her ribs, inching towards the full swell of her breasts.
“You must be rubbing off on me.” His words were muffled as he trailed a row of kisses up her neck and finally to the sensitive spot behind her ear. She pressed her hands to the small of his back, nails grazing fire over marble making his hips rock instinctively against her.
“I think you’ll find that’s you rubbing off on me.” Cordelia chuckled as she noted his bodies response to her light touch.
“Minx.” He grinned and captured her lips once again only to be halted by a deep rumbling growl.
“That wasn’t me.” Angel raised an eyebrow at her.
“I’m hungry and you promised me food.” She said as her stomach grumbled again, desire overshadowed by her empty belly.
“I did, didn’t I?”
“Yep, so feed me Seymour.” Cordelia nudged his shoulders and slipped out of his embrace.
“Who’s Seymour?” He scrunched up his face in confusion.
“Your showing your age old man…” She glanced down at the tented material of his pants, her eyes shining with amusement and her lips quirking into a knowing smirk. “…among other things.”
“I’ll show you age girl.” Angel flashed a heated look at her as he pounced in Cordelia’s direction making her squeal and dash across the room.
***
“So…” Buffy stretched her arms behind her back as she wound down from her training with Giles. “…big Buffy birthday surprise huh?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, big…surprise.” Willow smiled weakly at her friend then buried her nose back into the book she was reading.
“Uh huh.” She eyed Willow suspiciously. “Possibly with cake and streamers, maybe even the odd balloon?”
“The whole birthday extravaganza.” Willow nodded without looking up.
“What surprise? I wasn’t told about a OUCH! Willow!” Xander yelped as the redheads foot connected sharply with his shin.
“Shh. Research.” She scowled at him and prodded at the tome in front of him.
“Uh…huh.” The slayer squinted them sceptically, Willow was a bad liar, her cheeks would flush with the smallest of white lies and her friend was practically glowing like a beacon. “Well…how very curious.” Buffy rolled her shoulders enjoying the slight pull of her muscles.
“Quite.” Giles groaned as he dragged himself up off the floor, wincing as his back disagreed with the movement. “I think that’s more than enough training for tonight Buffy.”
“Sorry Giles, I kinda pummelled ya.” Buffy smiled apologetically at her Watcher.
“That’s quite all right Buffy, why don’t you head out for patrol while I go ice down my…everything.” Giles said then limped into his office.
“D’ya want a patrol buddy?” Xander asked her hopefully, anything to get away from the torturous research that had some how become his only after school activity.
“That’s OK Xan, I thought I might see if Angel wanted to come with.” Buffy shrugged on her jacket, her gaze fixed to Willow to see for the redheads reaction, she wasn’t disappointed.
“Angel? I er, I thought you were mad at him for the no show last night?”
“I’m not the kinda girl that holds a grudge Will.”
“Oh, it’s just, you know, if it were me…”
“Is there a particular reason why I shouldn’t go to Angel’s apartment Willow?” Buffy asked her pointedly. Xander’s gaze flicked back and forth between his two best friends, confusion etching his handsome face.
“I…no?” Willow paled.
“Uh huh.” The tapped her foot against the library floor waiting for Willow to say more, when it was evident that she wasn’t going to share with the class Buffy turned on her heel and strode out of the library.
“Oh dear.” Willow bit her lip as she watched the double doors swing with the slayers absence.
“OK, anyone wanna fill in out of the loop guy?” Xander frowned.
***
Cordelia let out a long happy sigh as the hot water rained down on her face, washing away the grim of the motel while the scent of everything that was Angel surrounded her.
His home, his possessions, his soap, his shadows wrapped around her senses as she stood in the spray of the shower, eyes closed and with a soft smile playing at her lips. Cordelia could hear the chink of china echoing from the small kitchen as Angel put away the dishes he’d used to make dinner and even that made her want to smile like an idiot, grin at the world and shout look what I have everyone! A blast of cold air interrupted her revelry as the shower door opened and closed behind her.
“Hi.” Angel dropped a kiss onto her wet shoulder.
“Hi.” Cordelia leant back against his chest as his arms circled her waist.
“Feel better?”
“Mmmm much, clean hair, full belly, naked vampire…what more could a girl ask for?” She turned around in his embrace and slipped her arms around his neck.
“Who would have thought Cordelia Chase would be so easy to please?” Angel kissed the tip of her nose, his hands running over the small of her back so deliciously that Cordelia thought she might purr.
“Tell anyone and I’ll stake ya.” The cheerleader scowled playfully at him.
“It’s a deal.” The vampire chuckled as he nipped at the succulent flesh of her bottom lip. “Turn around and I’ll wash your back.” Cordelia did as he asked, yet another sigh slipping from her lips as she felt Angels strong hands massaging soap into her shoulders and down the line of her spine, his thumbs drawing patterns in her skin that only they would ever be able to see. Steam warmed the cool fingers that ran over her skin, turning her muscles to molasses under his touch.
“S’nice.” Cordelia murmured, feeling hypnotised under the knead and stroke of his hands. Angel’s reply was to run a trail of kisses across her shoulder, silent words spoken with his lips while his hands meandered a soapy path over her ribs and stomach. Cordelia leant against his chest knowing that he wouldn’t let her fall, she wound her arms up and around his neck, her fingers twining in the short hair on the back of his head.
She felt rather than heard the soft rumble of a purr vibrate through the vampire as his hands possessed the full swell of her breasts, worshipping her with a reverence that erupted a low moan from the young woman. Cordelia arched into Angel’s hands as his thumbs dragged over her nipples, sensitive flesh teased and adored by a man with more than two hundred years of experience.
Angel thought he could spend the next forever with Cordelia’s breasts in his hands, their supple weight cupped in his palms as he listened to her the husky sighs of pleasure that whimpered in the back of Cordelia’s throat whenever he brushed his fingers tantalisingly over the erect pink flesh.
“I think you’ve turned me into a breast man.” The vampire whispered as he tasted the familiar essence of her neck, tongue and teeth hitting the spot that made Cordelia shudder.
“You weren’t before?” She managed to find the cognitive thought to speak.
“No…legs…that night I slept on your floor, in the morning your legs were tangled in the sheets and god I wanted to run my hands from toe to hip so badly…taste the skin behind your knees…bite the inside of your thigh…feel them wrapped around my waist…you have no idea how difficult it was to walk out of that room and not have you….” Angel murmured hotly into her skin, his words of desire inflaming her own as knowing fingers trailed fire over her abdomen and expanded heat between her thighs.
The hot water beat down on their bodies, steam licking and swirling, spreading the scent of soap and desire around the bathroom in a bewitching perfume.
“I wanted to taste you, run my tongue over every part of you, drink you in and make you mine….” The vampire’s last word was punctuated with the graze of his teeth over her shoulder as he ran a tormenting finger over the most intimate flesh of her desire.
“Yours?” Cordelia panted as Angel teased the swollen bud of her clitoris, thick and wet with more than just the water that crashed down on her breasts and trickled down her thighs.
“Mine…I wanted to sign my name on your beautiful skin, sink in my teeth and taste your life, your passion, make it mine and no one else’s.” Angel savoured the delicate shell of her ear as he whispered his need into her soul.
“Oh god….” Cordelia groaned to whatever deity had blessed her with this god whose words and body made her hips rock in rhythm with his hand, her legs parted to gain better purchase as Angel took over her body, demanding fingers dipping and thrusting inside her slick womanhood.
Cordelia’s breathing was shallow and fast, desire that would never be fully sated burned molten need in her womb, she ground against him unashamedly because even though the fog of desire she could feel the insistent press of the vampire’s hard flesh on the small of her back, letting her know that whatever she felt he felt too.
“Your so beautiful….” Angel kissed the line of her shoulders as he worked her body to near madness. Lips, fingers, hips, demanding, teasing, electrifying, Cordelia’s head fell back with a loud moan that bounced off tiled walls and thundered in Angel’s ears.
She was so close, desperate and wanton because she knew the ecstasy that waited for her around the corner would explode and contract her world, split her universe into a million delicious pieces. Cordelia’s fingers bit into the back of Angel’s neck as her hips jerked against his hand, a wild cry was wrenched from her throat as the vampire scraped his thumb over her aching nipple. Angel was desperate to feel the rapture of being gloved inside the searing heat of Cordelia, to lose himself in her depths and find redemption in her honest eyes.
Cordelia’s eyes flew open in surprise when she felt her back hit the damp tiled wall, so lost in the sensations Angel was creating in her that she hadn’t noticed their sudden change in position, whatever she was going to say though was swallowed by Angel’s mouth as he claimed her lips. She gripped the corded muscles of his upper arms as Angel grasped her thighs and lifted her, her legs wrapping around his waist. She wrenched her lips away from to breathe but the air got stuck in her throat as Angel thrust into her in one long fluid movement.
Cordelia’s silent cry of pleasure shook the walls as steel and silk joined together, deep and full and sparking lightning behind her eyelids and explosions in her womb, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, all that was left of Cordelia Chase was a thrumming heart and nerves on fire.
“Cordy, open your eyes.” Angel ground out, chest heaving with unneeded air as he was engulfed in her tight warmth. It took all her strength to do as he asked but when she did the breath she’d been fighting for was finally pulled into her lungs with a gasp as she saw the hunger in his eyes, hunger for her, dark and enthralling and so much more that was still unspoken. Angel pressed an almost chaste kiss to her lips, a contradiction to the primal way they were joined.
“Keep them open.” He whispered against her lips, Cordelia nodded mutely as her world teetered on it’s axis then threatened to implode as Angel hips rocked into her in a rhythm older than sin, so deep inside of her that she wanted to cry out but couldn’t find the words as his eyes held her captive. Cordelia’s fingers bit into the marble strength of his arms, her nails leaving welts on his pale flesh that would heal long before morning but would etched forever in his skin.
The pleasurable pain caused the vampire to jerk his hips roughly into her and the groan that had been brewing in Cordelia finally erupted from her mouth as Angel hit the part of her inside that would herald her sweet down fall.
“Don’t stop….” Cordelia panted as their hips crashed together roughly.
“Never.” Angel’s tongue slid over her bottom lip, sucking, tasting, owning, remembering, mouths open and panting, eyes fixed and unflinching as vampire and cheerleader crashed together towards oblivion. In the far off distance of his body Angel felt the familiar sensation of his forehead shifting and ridging, teeth elongating as his demon won the internal battle for dominance. Cordelia didn’t quail as his ochre eyes bore into hers, she didn’t turn her head and try to pretend he wasn’t what he was, didn’t close her eyes and deny the truth.
Cordelia looked into the eyes of a demon…and kissed Angel.
It was their undoing, his desire and her acceptance slammed together as flesh slick with desire met and demanded in a stucco beat, moving as one, overwhelming, demanding, sweet and oh so good. Angel couldn’t hold back as he slammed into her, Cordelia urged him on with the rake of her nails, more, harder, deeper, alive as he thrust harshly once, twice, again and again until night became day and Cordelia shrank and exploded, cries muffled by red lips, sharp and almost too much as wave after delicious wave of never ending electricity swept through her body and clenched tightly around Angel who let go with her, spasms tugging roughly through him, roaring, crying, begging as his climax ripped through his body and merged with hers.
Shaking from the intensity they kissed as the warm spray of the shower continued to beat down on them as though the world hadn’t just turned inside out beneath their feet. Angel leant his forehead against Cordelia as his knees threatened to buckle under him. Neither trusted themselves to speak for a long moment, scared of the words that yearned to fly from both their hearts as seconds slipped by like molasses. Three words that would be so easy, so freeing…so dangerous if one heart was alone in it’s desire.
“That was….” Angel was the first to break the loud silence.
“Intense? Mind blowing? Multi-orgasmic? Knee shakingly amazingly sweet Jesus! we should get an award for this…good?” Cordelia offered breathlessly.
“Yeah.” The vampire’s lips tugged into a satisfied smile.
“Don’t let it go to your head.” She grinned and kissed him with all of her heart.
***
Buffy tapped her foot in annoyance as she glared at Angel’s apartment door. She knocked harder this time, her patience wearing thin and threatening to snap at any moment.
Another knock.
Nothing.
Buffy pressed her ear to the wood but could hear no sign that her boyfriend was inside like she expected him to be.
“Dammit. Where the hell is he?” The Slayer muttered and flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder. Irritated beyond words Buffy decided she’d just go inside and wait him out, Angel would be back from where ever he was sooner or later and then they she could finally get some answers. She twisted the door handle only to find it unyieldingly locked.
“Yeah, well, of course.” Buffy sighed in defeat. “One quick kick and I could open it…” She mused out loud. “…and then I would be officially insane.”
The blonde weighed her options and realised she didn’t actually have any.
“Someone’s gonna feel the business end of my stake tonight.” Buffy muttered as she rooted through her purse for a piece of paper and a pen.
***
In the hazy moment between sleep and waking Angel had a vague feeling that something wasn’t as it should be, that something was missing and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. Something that was there but then it wasn’t and it left a gap that couldn’t be filled by anything but the one thing that was missing.
Warmth.
That was part of it, he’d been warm and now he wasn’t. His cool skin had been enveloped by a fragrant heat uncommon to him but now there was nothing but…well…nothing.
Warmth and more importantly he realised as he dragged himself out from his slumber, Cordelia. There was a Cordelia shaped gap next to him in his bed and the vampire didn’t like it one bit. Fuzzy from sleep Angel sat up and scanned his apartment, her scent was still heavy in the room but he knew that would linger long after she had left the apartment, it was in his skin, coating his soul and blanketing his demon.
He ran his hand roughly over his face trying to shake the last vestiges of sleep from his brain, had she fled, left without saying a word? Had he scared her, silently asked too much? A raw panic began to swell in Angel’s stomach as a hundred confusing thoughts and possibilities raced through his foggy mind. Where was she? Why had she left without….
“Hey handsome.” Cordelia smiled at him as she crossed the apartment from the bathroom.
Boy did Angel feel like an idiot. A two hundred and forty one year old love struck panicky idiot. He breathed a sigh of relief nonetheless and decided to keep that particularly embarrassing moment to himself.
“Where are you going?” The vampire asked her fully dressed brunette that was pulling her into a ponytail.
“School.” Cordelia rolled her eyes affectionately at him then sat down on the edge of the bed to slip on her shoes.
“Yeah I don’t think so.” Angel shook his head in the negative and deftly pulled her on top of him before Cordelia could scoot away.
“OK, this is why I didn’t wake you up.” She said as he settled her atop of his body.
“There was a lack of Chase in my arms so I woke up anyway.”
“I have to go to school Angel.”
“Why?”
“Because…because I just do.”
“I’m sure Sunnydale high will be able to function without you for another day.”
“But who will insult the audio visual nerds and flirt with the football team?” Cordelia fluttered her eyelashes at him.
“Flirt with the… you’re definitely not leaving now.” Angel scoffed.
“Caveman.” She murmured and sipped a quick kiss from his lips, just as Angel was about to deepen it Cordelia wriggled out of his arms and sprang off the bed.
“Hey!”
“Go back to sleep Angel, and don’t sulk, puppy dog eyes are not going to work on me either.” She chuckled as she straightened her shirt and smoothed down her skirt.
“Can’t blame a vampire for trying. You want me to make you breakfast?”
“No that’s OK, I’ll grab something on the way. You can cook me dinner again tonight though if ya like.”
“I’m just a man slave to you aren’t I?”
“You betcha.” Cordelia winked at the grinning vampire, she picked up her book and shouldered her purse, her gaze flicking away from the deliciously sleep fuzzy vampire to the scrap of paper she had found slipped under the door when she had woken this morning. Neither of them had noticed it the night before, too consumed with each other to care about anything else as they’d tumbled exhaustedly into Angel’s bed.
“I found this.” Cordelia passed Angel the note, proud that she hadn’t succumbed to the desire to read whatever it held inside. Frowning Angel unfolded it, the frown deepening as he read it’s contents.
“Buffy wants to me to come to the library tonight.” Angel murmured, guilt twisting his stomach as the thought that his girlfriend had been here last night waiting for him while he was making love to Cordelia Chase.
“Oh.” Cordelia tried to sound nonchalant and failed.
“Yeah….” He refolded the letter and placed it on his bed side table.
“Well…I should go or I’ll be late.” She said a little too light-heartedly, she turned on her heel and made her way to the door only to be stopped before she was even half way there.
“Wait.” Angel snagged her wrist and forced her to halt.
“Angel I’m…” Cordelia’s words were cut off as Angel kissed her, long and slow as he tried to vanquish the resignation he had seen mask her beautiful face when he had read aloud the note. His palms cupped her face as he slowly ended the kiss, a smile tugging at his lips at Cordelia’s increased breathing and slightly dazed expression as she opened her eyes and blinked once, twice, trying to get the world back into focus.
“Meet me in the library after classes?” Angel asked her, Cordelia nodded mutely as her tongue snaked out and ran over her bottom lip capturing the taste of him on her tongue. Buffy shmuffy She thought as the vampire’s eyes held her in his gaze.
“I should…” Cordelia nodded towards the door, she knew if she didn’t leave now she would indeed miss another day of school.
“You should.” Angel ran his hand over the sleek drop of her ponytail.
“I’m going.” Cordelia said with determination but still didn’t move as Angel’s lips stole fleeting kisses from her.
“I can see that.” He smiled and nipped at the seductive flesh of her bottom lip.
“Any minute now.” She sighed and ran her hands over his naked chest .
“Sure.” Angel murmured as he trailed a path of wet kisses along her jaw.
“Off to…school.” Cordelia’s eyes slipped shut with pleasure.
“Uh huh.” His voice was muffled by her neck.
School could wait a little while longer.
***
Cordelia rubbed the back of her neck as she silently thanked the heavens that the day was over. She’d survived another day of school without being killed, attacked, poisoned by the cafeteria food or kidnapped by insane nerds who wanted to cut off her head. And lady luck appeared to be on her side for once because she hadn’t run into Buffy all day.
Of course that had meant dodging into the ladies room and tying invisible shoe laces on more than one occasion when Cordelia had seen the blonde in the corridor, but that was more favourable than looking the Slayer in the eye, scared that she’d be able to see the secret her boyfriend had written in Cordelia’s skin, a red letter A stitched into her shirt that would probably leave her with a broken arm and blackened eye.
When she had stumbled into class twenty minutes late this morning the sideways glances and whispered conversation hadn’t escaped her notice, apparently her little lap dance at the Bronze was still the talk of the school. Cordelia had managed to ignore them though, a icy glare here, a distainful eyebrow there and she was good to go.
Even Harmony’s acerbic comments had been little more than a blip on her radar as her thoughts were stolen time and time again by the vampire she’d unwillingly left naked in his apartment. Cordelia had found herself staring dreamily out of the classroom window on more than one occasion, images of the two nights before flitting before her eyes and blushing her cheeks pink. As she’d made her way through the emptying corridors on her way to the library the tired ache in her thighs whispered secret memories of never ending passion and release in her ear, new found pleasure that had swept her away and had no sign of ever abating.
Cordelia had darted a quick smile at Giles as she’d almost sprinted across the library before Buffy and her Scoobies invaded the place, she hadn’t noticed the concerned look he had passed her way as she mumbled something about a English paper she needed a book for and no, she didn’t need any help, thank you anyway.
So here she was strolling around the dimly lit stacks, running her fingers over the row upon row of books as she hummed a tuneless song while she waited for Angel. Cordelia could hear the muffled conversations of Xander Willow and Buffy as they talked about research on the bottom landing, a private circle of friends that seemed impenetrable in its closeness…not that she wanted to one of the Slayer’s Scoobies, she had better things to do than wander around a cemetery with those tweekos Cordelia told herself sternly.
Willow was kind of cool though, in her own corduroy dress wearing way. And Xander had saved her life and apparently not told anyone about there meeting in the Laundromat the weekend before. And Buffy…Buffy…
Cordelia was having an affair with her boyfriend so the less said about the slayer the better, she told herself guiltily.
The not so stealthy creak of a floorboard behind her brought the cheerleader out of her musings, she felt rather than heard him approaching her, his presence prickling goose bumps over her skin in anticipation. Cool lips pressed a kiss to the back of her neck as strong hands settled on her hips.
“Mmmm….Giles….” Cordelia sighed happily, an impish smile stealing across her lips. The vampire spun her around to face him, eyebrow raised in amusement.
“OK, that was disturbing.” Angel grimaced comically.
“What? He’s an attractive man, intelligent, British, markedly younger then you by the way, fit, sexy, I bet underneath all that tweed-” Cordelia said innocently
“Cordy, please, for my sanity, don’t finish that sentence.” The vampire begged her, the grin on his face betraying any seriousness in his words.
“So…did ya miss me?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.” He pouted at her theatrically.
“Ya big dork.” Cordelia chuckled and wrapped her arms around Angel’s neck and kissed him hello until the urge to breathe pushed insistently at her lungs. Even then she didn’t want to pull away and lose contact with him, she felt as though she could spend the rest of her life in the shadowy stacks with Angel’s hands running up and down her back and never want for another thing.
“Oh we so can’t do this here.” The brunette wrenched her lips away from him when she felt Angel’s hands slipped down the curve of her butt to mould her into him.
“Why not?” He murmured and cheekily squeezed the curvaceous globes.
“Would you like a list of reasons?” Cordelia said but betrayed her words by tracing her hands over the hard planes of his chest, her fingers teasing at the buttons of his shirt.
“Not really, I’d much rather have this.” Angel’s words were punctuated with nip of his teeth on her earlobe.
“Angel….”
“Hmmm?” He continued his sensual assault on her ear and neck.
“This isn’t us being smart.” Cordelia sighed as his hands began to roam inquisitively, fingers walking the length of her ribs and finally settling just below the swell of her breasts.
“Uh huh.” Angel walked her unresisting until her back hit the bookcase.
“In fact…this is us being stupid.” She groaned as the vampire palmed her breasts in his hands, the knowledge of where they were and who was not very far away was pushed to the corner of her brain.
“OK.” And then he took what was his, her lips, her tongue, her sighs and soft moans, Angel devoured her, oblivious to their surroundings, to the people on the landing below, to the young blonde girl that hadn’t slept the night before as a million thoughts and scenarios crowded her brain leaving her worried and angry at three in the morning while he had laid in another woman’s warm embrace.
None of this registered in his Cordelia filled mind as he pressed her closer to him, lips demanding but not crushing, so soft and brutal like the vampire himself. Cordelia whimpered an annoyed grunt in the back of her throat when he pulled away to let her breathe, something in his brain reminding him he had to do that every so often. He had spent the day pacing his apartment, unable to settle while the feeling brewing inside him went still unspoken.
“I need to tell you something.” Angel whispered and covered her hand in his, pressing his lips to her palm, his tongue tasting the slightly salty essence of a day spent away from him on her skin.
“You do?” Cordelia swallowed heavily trying to get her brain and body to function at the same speed, Angel sounded serious but the way he kept grazing her palm with his teeth was slowly driving her insane.
“Yeah…this probably isn’t the best place to get into it though.” He frowned thoughtfully.
“Pfft, now you figure that out?” She rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. “C’mon, spill already.” Her tone was gentle though, concern shining in her hazel eyes as she ran her hand over his jaw. “You know you can tell me anything Angel.”
“I know.” The vampire smiled and the cheerleader relaxed.
“Go one then….” She urged him on, fisting his shirt in her other hand, not letting him pull away even if he wanted to. Which he didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t, not when this divine creature was pressed up against him, hips, eyes, chests touching, no part of them not wrapped in each other in the shadowy stacks of Sunnydale High school library.
Angel took a deep unneeded breath and settled his cool hand over Cordelia’s beating heart, tub thub, tub thub, a rhythm that sounded in his ears and gave him the courage to say what he wanted to say.
“Cordelia, I think I’m in-“
“Ahem.” Giles cleared his throat making Angel and Cordelia spring apart from each other as though they’d been electrocuted.
Or caught.
Which they were.