Promise of the Night.1

Title: Promise of the Night        
Author: Lysa
Posted: 06/17/03
Email
Rating: NC-17 for sexual situations and vampires at play.
Category: Smut, BtVS2
Content: Vamp C/Aus
Summary: Angelus’ newest childe awakens to the promise of the night. Now a vampire, Cordelia explores her new identity with the guidance of her sire.
Spoilers: BtVS Season 2
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Anywhere but let me know
Notes: By request, this is the sequel to Open Invitation.
Feedback: Want it, love it, need it.
Thanks/Dedication:

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Part 1

Even in death, Cordelia Chase looked stunningly gorgeous as she lay in the open casket lined with silk and scented flowers.

Her dark chestnut hair cascaded across the pillow in a wave that curled over her shoulders. Dressed in black, Cordelia’s face contrasted sharply with the dark color of her clothes. The makeup the funeral home had used was slightly glossy compared to Cordelia’s usual style, but her face was perfect.

“It’s been three days, Giles,” Buffy stared down into the coffin. She had been patrolling the morgue and the funeral home for the last two days, but there was no sign of Cordelia rising from the dead.

This was the third day when her parents had miraculously returned from overseas and swept in to finalize the arrangements.

There was a memorial service at school today, but Buffy found that she could not go. She felt accountable for Cordelia’s death. Though he had left no note claiming responsibility for taking the brunette’s life, Buffy knew that it was Angelus.

After all, Cordy was killed on the same night Angelus vowed to leave a trail of her friends’ dead bodies on her front porch.

Cordelia was the first, though it surprised Buffy that Angel had started with her rather than Willow, Xander or Giles.

The Watcher kept a comforting hand on the Slayer’s shoulder. “He may not have turned her, Buffy. Perhaps Angel’s purpose was just to kill Cordelia.”

“Don’t call him that,” Buffy looked pained at the use of Angel’s name. “It’s not him. Not without his soul. Angelus did this.”

Xander stood next to Buffy with one hand on the coffin. “That vamp is dust.”

“Angel-us seemed to turn his other victims into minions as soon as he got the chance,” Willow pointed out that the vampire was trying to increase the numbers of his clan. “Why stop with Cordelia?”

Giles commented, “I’m not certain that he did.”

“It’s been three days,” stressed Buffy. “I’ve never known a vamp to take so long to rise. I think she’s just dead.”

Frowning, Giles removed his glasses and tapped his mouth with the tip of the ear piece. “There is one possibility that we should not ignore.”

“What’s that?”

“According to what we know— meaning the Council— vampires drain their victims to the point of death then feed them their own,” Giles reminded them. What they probably did not know was, “It does not take much of the sire’s blood to turn the victim and a fledgling will normally rise by the next sunset. However, master vampires have the ability to create childer in addition to mere minions.”

“Childer?” Xander asked.

“Drusilla is Angelus’ childe,” Buffy understood the relationship. “He created her, but she is more powerful than the regular vamps.”

“Yes. Drusilla later created Spike as her own childe, but the vampire hierarchy remains that Angel— Angelus is the sire of their line. They are the master vampires of the Order of Aurelius while the others are simply their minions.” Giles explained his theory. “It could be that Angelus intends for Cordelia to become one of his childer.”

“What’s that got to do with the three days?”

“More blood is shared by the sire,” Giles said. “The conversion process takes longer, but the result is a more powerful vampire.”

“Oh.” Buffy gazed back into the coffin again. “Then Cordelia would be part of Angel’s family? Like a— daughter?”

Giles squirmed a bit and started to clean his glasses. “More likely, she would be his mate as long as Angelus remains interested in the relationship. Though there is still a bit of a parent-child bond in the beginning when the newly risen vampire is learning to hunt and feed. Dependance upon continued supplementation of the sire’s blood is built into the bond for the first few days until the childe attains full strength.”

The Slayer stopped listening after Giles’ comment about Cordelia being Angel’s mate. A flash of jealousy hit her solar plexus spreading out like a wildfire across her body. “What was she doing with Angelus in the first place?”

Willow reminded Buffy that the brunette had not been present when Angelus arrived at the school and announced his identity. She had gone out the other exit near her car. “He probably tricked her into thinking he was Angel.”

Upon hearing about Cordelia’s death, Willow had a guilt-trip of her own. If she had not reacted like an idiot at seeing Cordelia and Xander kissing in the library, the other teen might not have left the library so quickly. She might not have run into Angelus in the school parking lot. She might still be alive.

“That vamp is dust,” Xander parroted his new mantra.

“What now?” Willow asked. “Do we keep up the vampire vigil or come back for the funeral in the morning?”

Giles hated to suggest this, but there was one way to ensure Cordelia did not rise as a vampire. “We could decapitate her.”

“Eep!”

“What?! Giles!”

“That vamp is dust.”

Holding up his hands in mock surrender, Giles retracted the suggestion. “Forget I even mentioned it.”

“I’ve done enough already,” Buffy sighed. “If I have to stake her, then I’ll deal. Until I know she’s a vampire I’m assuming she’s just dead.”

The group exiting the building was more dry-eyed than the funeral director might expect, but he had no clue that their tears were held in reserve for the final news about the fate of their friend. They were the last visitors of the day and he had allowed them their privacy.

Outside, Buffy suggested that the others go home for the night. “I’m sticking around for a while.”

“I hope things are— peaceful,” Giles nodded his understanding.

With a little wave, Willow followed after the Watcher. “Goodnight, Buffy.”

Xander barely noticed that the other two were leaving. He kept staring back at the funeral home door. “It’s my fault, Buffy. I sent her off to get ready for my stupid plan to raid the Army Depot. Told her to dress trashy. I left her alone.”

Placing a hand on Xander’s shoulder, Buffy reminded him, “It wasn’t a stupid plan. It did work. The Judge is a pile of charcoal. This isn’t your fault.”

She was hugging him close trying to make him understand that if it was anyone’s fault, the blame belonged to her. Xander pulled back. He didn’t want to be comforted, but saw the pain on Buffy’s face. He pressed a kiss on her forehead before turning to leave. Over his shoulder he vowed, “Angelus will pay for this.”

Buffy wasn’t certain she was ready to let Xander stake him. She knew she wasn’t ready to do it herself. There had to be another way. Please God, let there be another way. A way to save him. Maybe Angelus was pure demon. An evil, soulless creature of the night who had started on victimizing her friends. Somewhere out there was the soul the Kalderash gypsies had cursed him with. The soul that made him Angel.

Jenny Calendar promised to search for the curse. Buffy had been pissed to learn that Ms. Calendar was really planted at the school to spy on her relationship with Angel. One of the descendants of the gypsy clan that cursed him, she might have a slim chance of doing some good if she could locate the means of reensouling the vampire.

Patrolling around the building, Buffy noticed the funeral director lock the doors and leave for the evening. He had worked late hours preparing everything for Cordelia’s parents. They wanted the best and had probably paid for it.

As Buffy took a seat on the front steps, she leaned back to stare up at the full moon. It was huge and bright overhead. The sunset had left the sky with a tinge of red that now faded to black. Waiting for any sign of trouble, any twinge of her Slayer senses telling her that trouble lurked nearby, Buffy started counting stars to pass the time.

***

Sire.

Desperate need gnawed within her as Cordelia awakened. There was a thirst so great she felt desert dry. Thirst— and hunger. A need that was something more than just the need for liquid, but the sustenance provided by the one liquid that was mother’s milk to a newborn vampire. Blood. She craved it. Needed it. Thurst, hunger— and want. Yes, she acknowledged. There was something more that she wanted. Needed it even more than the blood.

Sire.

He was close— the one who made her. Angelus. The want that filled her was more than mere desire though the memories that filled Cordelia’s head proved that existed before her turning. It a was basic, primal and demonic need driving her to awaken and seek him out.

Climbing out of the coffin, Cordelia took in her surroundings. There was no doubt in her mind what she was just as there was no confusion about who she used to be. The fact that Angelus had turned her against her will was overshadowed by the fact that he had given her this life. That he was her sire and she belonged by his side.

“What am I wearing?” Cordelia noticed the black funeral garb. “Ugh! This is terrible.”

She removed the black jacket her mother had obviously chosen. Beneath was a simple one-piece dress with a halter-type top that left her back bare. Since she did not own very many black dresses, the jacket was apparently an attempt to make the slinky dress more appropriate for a funeral. Sheer nude stockings covered her long legs and her feet were thankfully strapped into a pair of designer sandals.

“Ah! Much better.”

Pausing at the front door with her hand already on the lock, Cordelia sensed something she had never felt before. So many sensations were new, but what was this one? It was unpleasant. Not at all like the thoughts connected to her sire. This was more akin to a bad case of goosebumps.

Unlocking the door, Cordelia discovered the reason for her disagreeable feelings. Buffy Summers was standing at the bottom of the steps with an impatient look on her face. “I was hoping you were dead for good, because now it looks like I’ll have to stake you.”

“Hello, Slayer,” Cordelia let the door close behind her. “I can tell that you’ve missed me.”

Buffy was trying to come up with a quip that would keep things impersonal, reminding herself that this was no longer the Cordelia Chase she knew. Had Buffy acted quickly, there was opportunity enough to stake the vampire, but she was so caught up in staring at the fact that Cordelia was the most beautiful vampire she had ever seen. The demonic face with its slightly ridged brow, golden eyes and pointed fangs seemed to enhance rather than hide Cordelia’s features.

Then Buffy found her voice. “Y-You’ve changed.”

“That’s what happens when little girls grow up to be vampires,” Cordelia’s mouth curled into a smile as she stood on the top step.

“I meant your clothes.”

Hands on her hips, the vampiress rolled her eyes. “I left the jacket in my coffin. After all, I can’t meet Angelus looking like a reject from last year’s funeral.”

As Buffy mulled over the fact that she was discussing funeral fashions with a vampire that used to be her friend, Cordelia was gazing at the Slayer’s throat. She could almost see it beneath the pulsing vessels— the red flowing blood. Her ears detected the steady thump of the blonde’s heartbeat. Lub dub. Lub dub. Lub dub. No scent of fear about this one, naturally. Not from the Slayer.

Cordelia marveled at her new senses, even this sense of smell which the human Cordelia had thought a little too personal for vampires to possess. Now she knew how wrong she had been. Oh, the many scents she could detect just from Buffy much less those coming from the surrounding area.

Vanilla perfume. Ivory soap. Something fruity she had eaten recently. Blood, that flowed within her close to the surface and running deep. There was another familiar scent, one she realized was noticeable to her only now with her enhanced senses. Xander. His scent was clinging to her clothes.

Before Cordelia could call her on it, Buffy realized that she was fooling herself. “This isn’t you, Cordelia. It’s just a demon wearing your skin.”

Realizing that the Slayer was psyching herself up to kill her, Cordelia looked for an escape route. “I like my skin intact— minus the holes from stakes or other sharp objects.”

“You should have thought of that before letting Angelus bite you.”

“I had a choice?”

Forgetting her this-isn’t-Cordelia speech, Buffy asked, “How did it happen, Cordy? I think I deserve to know.”

So the Slayer was jealous, Cordelia recognized the look in her eyes. Moving down the steps, she edged down the sidewalk. “Shall I tell you, Buffy, what it was like making love to Angelus? Do you want to know how incredible it felt to have him inside me?”

Buffy’s eyes were huge with shock. “You had sex?”

Not once had she imagined that Angelus had done that to Cordelia. Bit her. Drained her dry. Not anything about sex. Buffy found Cordelia sitting in the passenger seat of her car which was parked right in front of her own house. She had been dressed at the time.

Sire. Closer now. So close.

“My sire knows how to please a woman.” Cordelia purred gleefully at the Slayer’s obvious discomfort with the direction of this conversation. “I think you know that, don’t you Buffy?”

“What?”

Buffy snapped out of her thoughts where images of Angel and Cordelia entwined on a bed were giving her the wiggins. She repeated her question, “What did you say?”

“Angelus didn’t tell me everything,” Cordelia explained. “He hinted, but he didn’t kiss and tell if that’s what you’re worried about. He mentioned his curse. With the soul gone, it’s obvious that something happened to set it loose. I’m thinking you have something to do with that.”

“I’m not talking to you about it,” Buffy gripped her stake. “Why don’t you ask your sire about it? I’m sure he’ll share all the details with his new vamp ho.”

Laughing at the insult, the vampiress seemed suddenly confident despite the fact that she was facing the Slayer and possessed the full knowledge of what she could do to the newly risen. The blonde was practically spitting with fury not even noticing the danger. Angelus suddenly gripped Buffy’s arms pulling her back against him.

“Hello, lover,” Angelus pressed a cool kiss behind her ear where her neck met her jaw. “I see you’ve met my Cordelia. Scrumptious, isn’t she?”

“Haven’t tasted the goods like you have,” Buffy elbowed Angelus in the stomach and powerfully kicked back with one leg. “Not that I care too.”

As soon as Angelus released her, Buffy rolled to the ground and was back on her feet in seconds. He wasn’t alone, she realized, quickly counting five other vampires. “You knew that I would be here.”

“I’ve come for what’s mine, Slayer,” Angelus told her. “Give me what I want and you are free to go.”

“Not a chance.”

Cordelia’s head was spinning with bloodlust. The Slayer was so close. Her heart was pumping much faster now with Angelus present. Oh, yes. There was more here than puppy love denied. Then Cordelia recalled what Angelus told her human self about the big break up the night after Buffy’s birthday.

Smirking, Cordelia wondered if her sire had taken the girl’s virginity before or after he lost his soul. Then suddenly, the thought of Buffy Summers being intimate with her sire was unacceptable. No matter that it happened before Angelus claimed her. The Slayer was a threat and not just because she hunted down vampires as her calling.

Lunging at Buffy who was positioned between herself and Angelus, Cordelia leapt onto the Slayer’s back. Though startled, Buffy made a swift move that left the vampiress flat on her back. Buffy was poised above her with her stake raised in the air.

“Back off,” Angelus growled as he backhanded the Slayer throwing her off of Cordelia. Pulling his childe to her feet, he placed her safely behind him. “No one touches what’s mine.”

Buffy had never seen Angel look more threatening. She lay on the grass propped on her elbows gazing into the dark amber of his eyes. This was one more proof that he didn’t want her. He said as much the night they made love and again at the school. Oh, she knew he didn’t have a soul then, but Buffy couldn’t understand why its loss would leave such hatred behind.

The other vampires were maneuvering around the perimeter. She had no time to ponder the reasons. No time to wonder why Angelus was so possessive of Cordelia. Even now he had turned away to face his childe who was clinging to him in such a way that it seemed she wanted to crawl inside him.

“Sire,” Cordelia sighed as she nuzzled against his neck. “I need you. Make this terrible hunger go away.”

As she started to lap at his throat, Angelus pulled her head away. “Soon, baby. You’ll get what you want. First, let’s leave the Slayer to her new playmates.”

Cordelia glanced over to see Buffy in mid-staking of one of the vamps. He burst into a cloud of thick dust. “Ugh! That just doesn’t give me the same gung-ho feeling that it used to.”

“Not when you’re fighting for the other side,” Angelus commented with a wry expression on his face. Turning serious, he took Cordelia by the arm. “Don’t ever make such a stupid move on the Slayer again. Stay away from Buffy.”

“You too!”

With a laugh, Angelus understood. Blind female jealousy had combined with instinctive vampire possessiveness causing Cordelia to attack the Slayer. “Wait until you’re a day old before you start bossing me around, tigress.”

“I meant what I said,” Cordelia glared daringly at her sire. “You called her lover. Kissed her. Your kisses are mine.”

Yanking her to him, Angelus let his mouth hover over hers. “My kisses are mine to dole out. If you are especially good, you might just get some one day soon.”

A note of panic peeped from Cordelia’s throat. One day? Did he really mean to withhold his kisses? That would be torture.

“Sometimes it’s good to be bad,” Cordelia’s eyes sparkled as her tongue lightly caressed the edge of her fangs.

“That’s what I’m counting on, baby.”

Angelus and the other vamps had arrived in his black Plymouth. What had been a tight ride coming was roomy now that the others were left behind. He doubted any of those who eagerly volunteered to keep the Slayer at bay would survive. Oh, well. There were always plenty more of those to be created.

He sensed that Cordelia would be powerful once achieving her full strength. During the ritual, Angelus had let her feed from him more than he had done before when creating a childe. Even he was surprised at the length of time it had taken for her to rise, not sensing her awareness of him until this evening. Cordelia’s beauty pleased him almost as much as her fiery spirit and Angelus wanted her beneath him— soon, but first there were lessons to be learned.

Pulling up along the moonlight benches of Sunnydale Park, Angelus noted that several couples were out for a romantic stroll. He turned to Cordelia, his hand brushing her soft hair. “Care for a snack?”

Cordelia was already eyeing the potential candidates. “Mmm!”

“Before we get out of the car,” Angelus tucked a finger under her chin to turn her face toward him. “Lesson one.”

With a small shake of his head, the vampire willed his human mask to fall into place. The demonic bone structure shifted back leaving only the compellingly handsome human man behind. “It gets easier with practice, but try to keep your human face on when stalking your prey. Otherwise there is a lot of yelling and screaming. I prefer to catch them before the screaming begins.”

Concentrating, Cordelia felt her facial structure moving back into what she was familiar with. “Good?”

“Beautiful.”

Smiling, Cordelia waited until her sire came around to help her out of the car. Angelus fell back on his old-world manners at times— helping ladies out of carriages or in this case convertibles. Despite her hunger, she found the thought of a moonlit stroll through the park on Angelus’ arm rather appealing. After a couple of minutes the sensation of having him so close was getting to her.

Sire.

Angelus instantly turned to look at her noting her lustful gaze. She had said nothing, but he could swear that he heard her voice. Maybe it was just the fact that Cordelia kept rubbing up against him. It was his own lustful thoughts rattling in his head. Thoughts of shocking every one of these pitiful humans right out of their moral platitudes by burying himself inside her up against the nearest tree.

Later, he promised himself. There was a purpose for being here. His childe was hungry and needed to make her first kill.

“There’s a loner,” Angelus nodded toward an elderly gentleman who sat on a bench with a cane across his lap. He was watching the younger couples stroll by with a smile on his face.

“Eew!” Cordelia made a face. “Hello, he’s an old geezer!”

“Smells healthy enough,” Angelus shrugged. “Not everything you eat is going to look like— who’s that movie guy you always mention?”

“Keanu Reeves?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but next time I get to pick dinner.”

Angelus instructed, “We’ll stop to let you rest on the bench. Strike up a conversation with him. When there is no one else around— make your move.”

“Ooooh! This is like acting,” Cordelia thought she could get into that.

They strolled up closer to the bench with the old man and suddenly Cordelia started to limp along. “Honey, I think I have a pebble in my shoe. Let’s stop for a second.”

“Mind if we join you?” Angelus asked the man.

The old gentleman moved his cane to his other side. Motioning to the empty spot beside him, he smiled at the attractive couple. “Please do. Wonderful evening, isn’t it?”

“Perfect.” Angelus returned the smile and then crouched down to retrieve the imaginary pebble from his childe’s shoe. His hand curled along her calf as it moved down eliciting a look from Cordelia that suggested he was playing with fire.

“Do you come to the park often?” Cordelia asked the man. “This is my first time.”

As he responded to her question, the vampiress found herself listening to the rhythm of his heart and sensed the blood stirring within him. She could smell it. Practically taste it on her tongue.

“So it was your young man’s idea to take an evening stroll. Don’t get so many romantic notions from youngsters these days.”

“My Cordelia wants a night to remember.”

Chuckling, the man remembered his own youthful days of dating and romance. “Do you always give her what she wants?”

“Hmm. Good question.” Cordelia leered up at her sire.

Angelus was on his feet again and reaching out to cup her chin tilting it upward. Bending down, he pressed a kiss against her lips. “It’s time, baby. Take what you want.”

Releasing her, Angelus stepped back as Cordelia lunged eagerly at the startled old man. He barely had time to notice her game face before he felt her fangs at his throat. She drank him down in seconds, pulling back to look at her sire with a new understanding of what she had just accomplished. There was life inside her again. Feeding her, sustaining her and making her strong.

There was blood spread across her lips and chin. Angelus looked down with amusement. “We’ll have to work on your table manners, but I’d say that was a success. Come here.”

Cordelia stood before him trying her best not to touch him with her bloody fingers. He reached down for her hands, licking the fingers clean one by one. “Not a bad vintage,” Angelus grinned kissing her palm.

Now she had her hands on him, grasping his leather jacket to keep him close. Cordelia licked at the blood at the corner of her mouth until Angelus told her she was being greedy. “Let me have a little more.”

He lapped at the blood until her mouth was completely clean and then pressed her lips open to touch his tongue to hers, kissing her until discovery became dangerous. There were still others in the park, but Cordelia could care less. She lifted her arms around his shoulders, leaning in close. Then one long leg curled around his thigh bringing her hips against his groin.

Sire. Want you.

Breaking off, Angelus pushed her away. “You are an impatient little bitch, Cordelia. For that, you’re going to wait a while longer. Come with me. It’s time you met the rest of the family.”

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