***
Cordelia opened her eyes as the music stopped only to stare into the eyes of her sire. The sight brought joy, confusion and horror. She had not sensed him standing there, nor even sensed him in the Bronze or in Sunnydale in general. She thought him dead.
It was the reason for her return. The fact that the Slayer had killed him was the reason for Cordelia’s plan to avenge Angelus. Now he was standing at the edge of the dance floor and Buffy Summers was hovering at his side. Then she realized what was different and why she had not been able to sense him.
That pesky soul was back.
Taking a single step toward her, Angel noted that Cordelia appeared suddenly skittish. He felt his chest tighten up at the sight of her vibrant and beautiful as ever. A curl of desire flared in his loins, an automatic response to her presence and the memories of their time together. Angel was suddenly hit by the need to assure himself that she was not in any form or fashion a hallucination, wanting to use all of his senses to prove that she was real.
Moving forward only caused Cordelia to mirror his steps in backward fashion. “Stop.”
Buffy tugged at Angel’s elbow. “Let her go. She knows you’re not Angelus.”
The vampire suddenly turned his gaze on Buffy with a look of irritation. “Stay out of this, Buffy. Soul or not, Cordelia is still my childe.”
He added silently, “Still mine.”
“I don’t think she feels that way,” the Slayer pointed out. “Just hope that Cordy isn’t here to cause trouble.”
“Give me time to find out,” Angel knew that Cordelia’s return to Sunnydale would likely come with a purpose. She had wanted out so badly a year ago. Why come back now? “I will call you later.”
Cordelia had taken the opportunity to slip out the back exit of the club, but she hadn’t gone far— just into the alley knowing that Angel would follow. The door flew open with a bang as the vampire looked quickly toward the street before spotting her in the shadows of the building’s fire escape. She warily watched his approach.
Now standing only a few feet away, he looked tall and imposing, but Cordelia could tell the difference in him. It confused her, especially since she remembered what Angel was like with a soul. A wannabe good guy and Buffy’s boy-toy. This was almost worse than thinking he was dead.
Strawberry shampoo, Angel recognized the scent as he breathed her in. Sight, sound and scent all told him that this was no mere vision, no dream of Cordelia— but the vampire was not satisfied with that. He needed his other senses to confirm it.
Impatient, Cordelia started to demand answers to the questions filling her thoughts. How had he survived? What was he doing with the Slayer? And what about the soul— was this another curse?
“Ang—?”
Cordelia barely had time to get out the first syllable as her sire yanked her into his arms and silenced her with his mouth. His tongue quested for entry, being granted only due to the surprised gasp that followed. Brushing against her tongue, running its tip across the roof of her mouth, he tasted her and then retreated. Angel pressed against her lips as if testing their shape and fullness. His mouth ate at hers sucking in her lower lip only to nibble at it gently with his rounded teeth.
Even as Cordelia pushed against his chest, she was moaning in response to his voracious kisses. His strength was too great even against hers and Angel did not budge. If anything, he moved closer with his muscular body pressing his hard response into the slight curve of her belly and down to her groin. Taking her shoulders in hand, Angel tilted her so that his kisses could trail down her throat tasting her skin.
The feel of his lips on that highly erogenous zone had Cordelia writhing against him. She curled her leg around his calf to rub herself against the bulge of his erection. Trailing a sharp nail along the side of her throat that was currently not getting attention, Cordelia opened up a small trail of blood.
Scenting this, Angel’s head darted up to meet her lustful gaze before turning his head to the other side of her throat. Opening his mouth, the vampire lapped at her blood drinking in the teasing trickle. He felt his fangs descend to scrape along her neck at the temptation of sinking into her flesh.
Controlling the urge, Angel retracted his sharp fangs and closed up the superficial wound with his tongue. This immediately brought a protest to Cordelia’s lips. “No! Bite me. I want your fangs. I want you inside me.”
Angel’s hands moved up from her shoulders to her face, cupping gently and tracing his thumbs against the high curve of her cheekbones. Then he was kissing her again, but now softly. Every time Cordelia attempted to deepen the kiss, he lifted away only to bring his mouth down again like a whisper over her lips. Smooching gently. Adding the lightest brush of his tongue along the inside of her lower lip.
This was too much. Too much after the shock of seeing him. After the realization that he was not the Angelus she knew, but Angel again. Mmm. He touched her differently with his soul intact, Cordelia realized somewhere in the back of her mind.
Angelus could be a gentle, playful lover— when he wanted to be. That wasn’t what she needed now. Not what she wanted. It had been too long. Too long without him.
Cordelia curled her fingers into his leather jacket and gave him enough of a push to put a tiny distance between their mouths. His continued to hover over her as his eyes told her that this interruption was not going to last long.
“Stop toying with me,” Cordelia insisted while dropping her hands to his belt. She’d had enough of gentle. Grazing her nails across his clothed erection, the vampiress demanded, “Fuck me with that hard cock until I can’t stand up anymore.”
“I’m not done tasting you,” Angel let out a short growl holding her still. Letting her have her way too soon would give her control that he couldn’t relinquish. Not now that she had been without him for a year. Not until he was certain she truly recognized him as her sire and her mate. “Spread your thighs for me Cordelia.”
Next best thing. Panting in need, Cordelia leaned back against the wall moving to comply with his wishes. The anticipation curled in her belly as she watched him sink down to his knees with his hands following along with her curves until they reached the bare skin of her thighs.
Angel pushed up her skirt to ring around her waist like a belt exposing her lacy purple panties to his view. At first, he simply rubbed his face over her covered crotch scenting her arousal. Then his fingers curled into the edges to slowly tug the panties down over her hips. When they reached the lower curve of her bottom, he paused to press his mouth against the soft mound of curls eliciting a groan from Cordelia as she watched his every move.
The panties now stretched over her parted thighs and Cordelia felt like ripping them away herself, only Angel stopped her. “Keep your hands over your head.”
“I want to touch you,” she grumbled even as she crossed her wrists and rested them atop her head.
“Not an option right now,” Angel wasn’t certain he could take it. So he concentrated on her. Lifting two of his fingers, the vampire delved into the cleft of her sex gathering the moisture there. He removed them to suck them into his mouth, staring up at Cordelia at the same time.
The taste of her essence on his tongue caused his eyes to roll closed for an instant, pure pleasure streaming through his body as he confirmed that it was her taste alone. Nothing in her scent or taste hinted at Cordelia being intimate with anyone— recently. He tried not to think about the rest of the year they had been apart.
Cordelia was breathing in short gasps of unneeded air, her breasts straining and swollen against the clingy material of her dress. Opening his eyes, Angel saw those lusciously large nipples pressing hard up against the covering of her no-doubt matching bra and the outer covering of her dress.
Then Angel closed his hands over her thighs, squeezing gently and moving his strong fingers up and down her flesh. Until they connected with the barrier of her panties that were still stretched tightly between her thighs. With a sharp tug, he ripped them away, tossing the shredded material over his shoulder.
Returning his fingers to her wet center, Angel stimulated her until Cordelia was keening with pleasure. He moved one of her thighs to his shoulder, opening her up to his view and then lowered his mouth to her intimate flesh.
“Mmm. Ohhh! Uh— do that with your tongue.” Cordelia encouraged him as her eyelids half closed.
She leaned her upper body back into the brick wall as she gave herself up to the feelings that Angel was evoking. He was so good at this. Knew just what to do. Knew just where to touch. What gave her the most pleasure. His tongue was flicking across her hard nub as he pressed two of his fingers inside searching out the spot that drove her wild.
“Angel!” She called out his name careless of the noise. It was good. So good. So fucking good. There was only one thing she could think of that would make it better. A random thought popped into her head— Buffy Summers.
Get out here, you blonde bitch. As Cordelia glanced toward the doors, she found that the Slayer was already emerging from the darkened doorway.
Buffy’s eyes were huge in her heart-shaped face while soaking in the shocking sight of the two vampires. Angel was on his knees with his face and fingers buried between Cordelia’s legs, pleasuring her with obvious enthusiasm and with the brunette vampiress submissively positioned along the wall with her arms above her head. Buffy wanted to run, but she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away.
The anguish on the Slayer’s face was enough to send Cordelia over the edge. She cried out Angel’s name as her orgasm made her forget about the onlooker— everything except the sensations coursing through her body. By the time she opened her eyes, the blonde was gone and Angel was on his feet again.
Cordelia’s mouth curled into a smile of satisfaction. “That was amazing.”
Especially with a little Slayer fun on the side.
Taking her chin between his fingers, Angel kissed her thoroughly letting her taste herself on his tongue. “You’re mine, Cordelia,” he enforced his thoughts, lifting his head to stare down into her eyes.
The smile dropped away. “No, Angel.”
“No?”
“I belong to Angelus,” she told him while tugging her skirt down around her legs. “Don’t get me wrong— I love the way you make me cum. But you’re not my mate.”
Was he going to have to give the ‘I am Angelus’ speech again? Angel sighed, trying to ignore the erection pressing hard against the front of his pants. “You’re wrong, baby. It may take me a while to convince you, but it will happen.”
“Pfft! So tell me, Angel— were you just teasing me?” Cordelia asked pointedly. “Did you ever plan to fuck me tonight? Is it even possible with your soul in place?”
“The curse!” Truthfully, Angel hadn’t even thought of it. Gasping at the dangers, he realized that the actions he had taken might have given Cordelia precisely what she wanted: Angelus.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Cordelia glowered. “Still say you’re my mate? An impotent one.”
“I am not impotent!” The vampire growled at her pointing out his obvious erection.
With a shrug, Cordelia commented, “Might as well be.”
“I see what you’re doing,” he told her.
“What?”
“Trying to trick me into having sex with you.”
“Hah! What were we doing, dumbass?”
“You know what I mean,” Angel’s dark glare looked dangerously rife with frustration.
Cordelia stepped away from the wall moving back out into the moonlit area of the alley. “Trick you into sex? Just pretend you have a headache, honey. I’ll leave you alone.”
Angel wasn’t finding that funny. He wanted to wipe the smirk off of her face and had thought of two or three pleasurable ways to do it. Only it would be dangerous to follow through with those plans.
He took another approach, leaving sex out of the conversation. “It doesn’t matter if my soul was restored, I’m still your sire— and your mate.”
“Then why couldn’t I sense you were here at the Bronze?”
Stumped him again, dammit! “I don’t know that yet.”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s probably just the time we’ve spent apart,” Angel rushed to provide an explanation of any kind. “The fact that we haven’t shared our blood. It’s been a year for you. Longer for me.”
Confused, Cordelia still wanted to know what happened to her sire, but she wasn’t certain that she wanted Angel telling her. It would be too much of an acknowledgement of his claim upon her and frankly she didn’t know if she could handle being tied to a cursed vampire. Especially now that she was so close to avenging her sire’s loss. Was it now a moot point? Or was the restoration of his soul enough to merit fruition of her plans?
Cordelia decided to let Angel give her the answer. It was obvious that Buffy Summers had some link with him even after the battle. Even after the Slayer had nearly killed her. Even after Angelus had attempted to destroy the world. Whatever that link, could Angel walk away? Could he leave Buffy and Sunnydale behind to give her what she wanted?
“Take me away, Angel,” Cordelia suggested. “The reasons I came back to Sunnydale may no longer exist. If you are my mate, take me away from here. Take me to LA.”
Angel knew this meant trouble, but he couldn’t go back on his word or his mission. “I-I can’t leave Sunnydale. Not yet. I promised Buffy that I would continue to watch over her until I received a sign telling me that my mission was over.”
She waited silently for the penny to drop, but Angel obviously didn’t get it. Did she have to paint the sign in red letters on her forehead? Sometimes, he really was a dumbass. She had never thought that about Angelus.
“Don’t go to LA,” Angel urged that she stay here in Sunnydale.
Cordelia realized that her plans for this town and the Slayer were still a go. “I’m staying at the mansion in the master bedroom. You’re welcome to sleep on the couch.”
“My mansion, my bedroom— and my couch— which neither one of us will be sleeping on by the way. You’ll be in my bed,” Angel countered determinedly as he followed her out of the alley toward her car. “As will I.”
