Title: Hypnotized
Author: Katie
Posted: September 08, 2006
Email
Rating: R/PG-13
Category: suspense, angst, darker Angel
Content: C/A
Summary: A seemingly ‘normal’ mugging brings things to light that will change Cordelia’s role in Angel’s life completely.
Spoilers: Season 3
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Just ask
Notes: I don’t quite know if its dark enough and all. It took me a whole month to finish this and I think you can see this; I’m not really happy how the second part turned out but… I’m never satisfied.
Thanks/Dedication:
Feedback:Would love to get some.
If Cordelia Chase knew one thing, it was that she could count on Angel when she needed him in certain pressing situations. Not that she wasn’t able to take care of herself but sometimes, just sometimes, she needed a little saving from her champion. It was like calling for Superman and the guy came running.
She couldn’t even quite remember what had actually happened in the last minutes. One second she was on her way to her apartment and the next she felt how a knife was being pressed into her neck’s skin. Then a voice was whispering, “Give it to me or you’ll die.”
Cordelia knew she should be scared or at least afraid, but she wasn’t. In fact, she tried hard not to laugh at the guy. His voice reminded her of Mickey Mouse and his body odour, well he could definitely do with a bath or five to get rid of his refuse skip stench.
Why did this always have to happen to her?
As it was, luck really didn’t seem to be on her side tonight. She was about to tell the man that he could shove his threatening where the sun doesn’t shine when three more figures appeared. Now, she did fear for her life because those guys were an altogether different calibre, all tall and muscular with shiny big knives. It was time for panicking alright.
“Angel, little helpless victim here. Where are you when I need you?” she thought with agitation while struggling with her captor to get free somehow.
Unfortunately it only made the guy aware of the fact that she was everything but a weak little girl. Not a good thing when you wanted to escape three and a half deadly serious looking men. Immediately two of them bound her hands behind her back with a rope. So tight that all too soon it was cutting into her wrists’ flesh.
“Tell us where it is,” they demanded to know.
This was all like a very bad joke, “Listen, I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’ll excuse me now, I’ve got better things to do than argue with you smelly people.”
It might have been the wrong thing to say. She doubted they liked her uncooperative manner but she was royally pissed. Professionals they couldn’t be or they wouldn’t take ages to actually say what exactly they wanted. Still, she better be careful now as they seemed to be unpredictable in their reactions.
And then, all of a sudden, he was there saving the day. He definitely had the Dark Avenger thing down to pat with his coat billowing behind him and all. She would’ve appreciated it even more if she didn’t have a knife at her throat. She felt like laughing again because those guys hadn’t noticed yet that they were in for some serious ass-kicking.
“Let her go,” Angel simply said his voice dripping with power, resolution and something she couldn’t quite determine.
The next two minutes were kind of blurry for Cordelia. The idiots finally discovered Angel’s presence, not that they could do much with the information. One after the other fell to the ground unconsciously, seemingly out of the blue. She knew that the vampire had done it with a well-placed kick, some technique he’d picked up in China or somewhere.
The smelly guy joined his companions on the ground in the same way a moment later just when he opened his mouth to protest. Finally she was free of the damn knife but the burning sensation told her that it must have cut her skin a little during her struggling.
“Are you, okay?” Angel asked full of concern for her after disposing the four men in the next refuse skip. It wouldn’t do much difference to their smell anyway. “I’m fine,” she told him like she always did, even if it was rarely the truth. Luckily he let it go this time.
Silently they walked to her door. The air between them had hardly felt so uncomfortable. His hand on her back didn’t make her feel safe but uneasy tonight. She also had the feeling she was somehow being manipulated.
It took her a while to figure out under the circumstances but then she knew something was very off here, “Were you following me, Angel?”
“No,” he replied but they both knew it was lie. No twinge of remorse in Angels face. Her anger at the situation she found herself in grew and grew. “I can take of myself just fine. So stop your creepy stalking thing right now or…”
“Or what?” he interrupted her with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. In the darkness she completely missed it. The first thing that came to her mind was that he was rude, the second, that he was staring at her neck and the third, well, she preferred to ignore that one.
All the while she was fumbling with her key trying to get it into the hole, unsuccessfully. Noticing her irritation with him and the door, he quickly diverted her attention. “You’re hurt,” he said with that caring voice again.
He was really creeping her out now with his fascination for her neck and being way too close for her liking. This reminded her of those bad vampire movies – the handsome undead following the pretty girl home and seducing her. Cordelia was shivering at the thought. Ever since this morning she’d had a strange feeling whenever her vampire was near. If she could only figure out what was going on.
“Listen buddy, you’re…” This time he stopped her tirade with putting one of those long fingers on her lips.
The anger was bubbling higher and higher inside her but he didn’t seem to care at all. She put her hands on his chest to push him away but she could’ve tried moving a brick wall instead and got the same result – nothing moved.
He was even closer now and Cordelia was about to freak out. Angel just didn’t act like that around her. Mentally she went through her options but didn’t even get to number two. Suddenly she felt cool lips closing over the cut on her throat, and forgot how to think at all.
She’d never ever experienced such a sensation like that. A slightly sucking feeling, tender lips, then a cool tongue sliding over her abused skin and all the time Angel’s gentle hands moving up and down her back. She was shuddering under his ministrations.
Having a vampire so close to her jugular vein should scare her but it did anything but; his vampire ways were turning her on incredibly.
The moan that escaped her lips brought them both out of their trance. Angel left her neck but not before giving it another long lick with the flat of his tongue for good measure. Her arousal went up another notch. Hypnotized she could only stare at him as he moved that devilish tongue over his lips to taste her, enjoying it immensely.
They were still close but now it wasn’t close enough for Cordelia’s liking. Grabbing his lapels she roughly pulled him closer but didn’t quite know what to do then. The urge to kiss him was strong and it was hard resisting those lips that seemed to call out for her but something was stronger.
A thought was nagging in the back of her brain again. “You were following me,” she stated breathing hard. This time he didn’t deny anything, simply said, “I need to take care of what’s mine, Cordy.” She knew with certainty that this was as much a statement as it was a promise – with all its consequences. Those shivers down her back made a strong return.
“I’ll be back,” he whispered close to her ear a second later, his lips nearly touching.
And then he was gone as sudden as he came. The door behind her back swung open. In that moment she simply knew that he’d somehow played her. Worse was that she hadn’t resisted, and didn’t want to.
***
When Cordelia arrived at the hotel the next morning, she had simplified the events of the past night and then pushed any thoughts about them to the far back of her mind.
Now it were nothing more than some relatively harmless muggers and Angel just happened to be nearby. Everything that had taken place afterwards was apparently erased from her brain for now. It was her way of dealing with bad things, otherwise she would go crazy.
With a sunny smile on her lips she greeted Wesley. He was deeply immersed in one of his numerous old and smelly big tomes and didn’t even look up. “Sometimes I seriously wonder what has got you so addicted to those things day and night. But do I really want to know?”
He did notice her arrival, though; he just wanted to finish reading this important paragraph. “Angel brought to my attention what happened to you last night. It was pure luck he was nearby. You could have been seriously hurt or… even worse. I would be quite interested in an explanation for your chipper mood today when, in fact, you should be anything but.” Well, there went her nice morning.
Cordelia decided to simply ignore his question and get on with life, “Is Angel still sleeping?” She was halfway up the stairs before he could do anything more than nod. Avoidance was definitely a helpful tactic.
Not even once did she hesitate before pressing down the handle to Angel’s room and entering it. They were friends and it wouldn’t be the first time she came in unannounced. Despite the events of last night it never occurred to her that she might see things she’d never seen before. Life holds many surprises after all; you just don’t know when you’ll get them.
It took her eyes a while to get used to the darkness. The thick drapes covering the windows were blocking out every ray of sunlight that could harm the vampire. Then, finally, she was able to spot him lying on the bed, seemingly unmoving.
Of course she knew that you shouldn’t startle sleeping demons but she was also sure in her knowledge that Angel would never hurt her. So, without thinking she went over to her sleeping friend to rouse him.
Just as she was about to shake his shoulder gently, Cordelia noticed that he wasn’t as still as he at first appeared to be. It were subtle motions but they were there. Fascinated she kept on watching. He reminded her of a big cat, fluid and elegant – purring sounds out of his throat, his back arching, his legs moving, his hands sensually touching his own body, occasionally a deep rumble escaping his throat.
If she didn’t know better… but no, Angel was a eunuch, wasn’t he?
There was only one way to find out. Her yes slowly followed his right hand’s path over his large body. A whisper across his neck, a lingering moment of twisting his nipple, for a while up and down his firm abs, then lower still and slipping under the black blanket covering him from the waist downwards.
It was all too obvious; she had her answer. “Not so much a eunuch then,” Cordelia thought blushing slightly the next moment when she caught sight of his hand’s rhythmic movements underneath the sheet. She was as much shocked as she was mesmerized. Her eyes were glued to her best friend’s body although she knew she was invading his privacy.
A louder moan now full of hidden pleasures, then one word only, “Cordy.” It was the sweetest sound she’d ever heard and it hit her right in her heart and soul. She didn’t know what was the better option, run away scared or stay and watch events unfold she had so far only fantasized about in her wildest dreams.
Her eyes closed of their own accord and she turned around to try and get a grip on her rollercoaster-riding emotions. A didn’t give her the chance to. She felt his presence behind her before the rustling of the bed sheet registered in her brain.
It felt like a déjà vu then. His tempting lips were on her neck again, close to the wound of last night. Angel was definitely playing her — licking, sucking, kissing once more right there in all the knee-buckling gentleness and intensity. With one exception it was all the same: his hands never once touched her body.
“Angel, I…” She never finished the sentence. Suddenly it was all too much. Her body and heart on fire she ran, out of the room, down the stairs, further down into the basement. Hiding from him, hiding from herself.
How long she sat on that last step of the staircase she didn’t know. It could have been five minutes or five hours. Her brain was a blank mass of nothingness for quite a while until, finally again, her common sense returned. At first it told her to be angry at Angel for everything he did but then she realized she was readily enjoying the attention he gave her. None of it had crept her out, on the contrary.
It was so not like her to run away if things got… hard, in every sense of the word. She usually went headlong into things believing into her inner strength and knowing that somehow it would all work out.
So, what had changed now? Maybe that was the point where she had spent the last five hours, throwing arguments back and forth. Going back to Angel or not; admitting that she liked what he did or not; risking her heart or not; telling him she liked him more than just as best friend or not; saying she wanted it all and much more or not.
In the end it was an easy decision, made on the way up the stairs. Someone once said, “You only know what you had when you’ve lost it.” She definitely wasn’t going to take that chance.
The lobby was empty and silent, the lights switched off. “Definitely more than five minutes then,” Cordelia shrugged giving the staircase a look of longing. Would she find heaven or hell up there? Time for being courageous, only one way to know. She breathed in deeply to get her wits together; she’d never done something like this before after all.
In the end, it all happened the same way as the first time she went up there. Suddenly she stood on front of Angel’s room and went in without a second thought. She was smiling and nervously smoothing out invisible creases in her top.
When she finally had the strength to look up from the carpet she found him looking at her. “Took you long enough, “ he simply said seemingly indifferent and got up from his bed. He put the book he’d been reading aside and came over to her with long, sure strides. She knew with definite clarity then that he’d played her, seduced her in his vampiric way.
All the fury from the night before was back. Just as she wanted to tell him what she thought of it, he did it again – one long finger was placed over her lips to stop her from speaking. That look in his eyes had never been there before, though. It spoke of longing, wanting, loving and possessiveness. She was his before she’d even agreed to it.
Cordelia didn’t know why nor what made her do what she did next but she was sure it was the right thing. Tilting her head she bared her throat and with it her cut to him, leaving her completely vulnerable.
And that was it. He gently touched her face with his left hand while his lips moved to her jugular, dangerously close to her life force. His right hand brought her flush to his body as if never wanting to let go again. She believed without a doubt that she was save in his arms. Even as his teeth elongated, fangs scraped over sensitive skin, she wasn’t scared.
“You’re mine in every way. Your heart, your soul, your body – it all belongs to me,” he told her with a sugar-sweet voice. The truth of his words was clearly written in his eyes. Slowly she nodded, telling him she understood.
Still, she wouldn’t be Cordelia Chase if she didn’t have to add her own paragraph to this deal. With a firm voice she said, “That’s nice and all, buddy, but that only works both ways. You only have me if I have you.” Angel had to smile at this; he hadn’t expected anything less from her.
***
Another night, another vision, another demon to slay. It was a night like any other at Angel Investigations… only not. Cordelia has accompanied Angel despite his usual protests and now she was watching him fight. There they were again, those quick catlike movements that left his opponent no chance to survive.
It was turning her on incredibly and Angel knew. The demon was killed quickly and faster than she expected she was pulled into a side alley. Obviously she wasn’t the only one feeling hot. Angel pressed her back against the brick wall with so much force that it was close to painful.
“As much fun as it is to make out with you in a dumpster-like place, it isn’t.” He quenched her protest with a deep, hard kiss that left her more than a little breathless. “Get used to it,” he all but growled and sealed her lips again with his.
She wasn’t someone who put up with being manhandled but she also knew that Angel liked to play rough and aggressive after a fight. He would be all the more gentle later.
If Cordelia Chase knew one thing, it was that she could trust her vampire to never hurt her heart even if her body had a few scratches. Not that she always liked the latter but sometimes, just sometimes, she knew you had to take the bad with the good. And what were some scratches if you got all that Angel loving?
He was a vampire, and he was all hers.
End
Katie
Author note: I just realized that I never explained what it was those guys wanted from her. Sorry, I hope it’s not too distracting.