23: The Library, Sunnydale High School, Southeast Sunnydale
Despite the rough start, Cordelia, Xander and Willow actually managed to get the job done without bringing up their former relationships, cheating, or the fine art of boyfriend stealing. They stuck to discussing Cordelia’s adventure at Willy’s place. That’s when things rapidly went downhill.
“Stand there,” Cordelia instructed Xander as she reenacted the events. Grabbing something from the counter, she explained, “Pretend this is a bottle. Now come at me.”
After taking one step forward Xander froze on the spot. “You’re not really gonna hit me with that are you?”
Cordelia rolled her eyes and huffed loudly. “Forget it. Guess you just had to be there.”
“So Angel stepped up after you hit the guy,” Willow prompted her to go on even though she had heard the story twice now.
She nodded and went on describing the way the fight had ended. “Then we sat around and talked until it was time to come back here.”
Xander didn’t like the idea of Cordelia spending so much time with Angel and he was quick to admit it. “That vampire can’t be trusted. I don’t care if he has a soul or not. He’s a killer.”
“Angel’s a good guy,” Cordelia dropped her makeshift bottle and thrust her hands on her hips. “You don’t even know him.”
“Neither do you,” Xander countered. “You’ve been on patrol a couple of times. Big deal! I just don’t like you being around someone like him.”
Willow kept to the sidelines, her eyes bouncing back and forth between them like the ball on a tennis court. “Jealous?” asked Cordelia, husky with laughter.
Walking further away, Xander glanced over his shoulder to answer, “No.” Then he stormed back, “I’ll tell you what I told Buffy. It doesn’t matter what he does now. It doesn’t change the fact that Angelus killed Jenny Calendar. Deep down, he’s still the same undead guy he was when he broke her neck and left her at Giles’ house.”
Despite that she had been struggling with her own conflicting feelings on the subject, she found herself defending Angel. “He’s different, Xander,” she yelled back at him, her anger growing exponentially. “There’s a big difference between Angel and Angelus. Maybe I don’t know him very well, but I know enough.”
“That vampire eats little girls like you for breakfast, Cor,” Xander shouted.
She knew it was well intended for her sake. Cordelia did get that, but she didn’t want to hear another bad word about Angel. “He’s done nothing except give his all since he came back. You try fitting back in after being in hell for a week.”
Willow finally found her voice, “He was gone longer than that.”
Clapping her mouth closed, Cordelia realized what she’d said. Angel had been gone for a few months Sunnydale time. She had been the one hospitalized for a week. “Oh.” Taking a deep breath, she barked, “Whatever.”
Then much more calmly, she explained to them that as long as Buffy Summers kept her lips and other parts to herself that there would be no need to worry. “Am I right? I think I’m right.”
“Worry about what?” Willow asked after a long silent pause where Xander was refusing to speak.
Cordelia wondered if there was just too much information floating around in that genius brain of hers to assimilate stuff. “Hello, curse. You should be familiar with that one.”
Willow nodded looking thoughtful. “It doesn’t seem so risky at the moment. Buffy’s kind of having a hard time adjusting to Angel being back. Y’know, after killing him.”
With a pfft of agreement, Cordelia added, “We’ve probably all wanted to stab our boyfriends at one time or another.” She ignored Xander’s hurt look. “Buffy needs to get over it or move on.”
Finally ending his silent pout, Xander put in his two cents, “I vote move on. For reasons I’ve already mentioned,” he harrumphed, “plus it’s just not natural. You know. There’s that slayer / vampire thing that just makes it all so wrong.”
“Um, you guys wanna grab lunch at my house?” Willow offered when everyone had their heads so full of Angel and Buffy that it kinda made them dizzy.
“Yeah,” Xander jumped at the opportunity for food and a change of subject.
Cordelia shrugged, “Okay.”
Scene 24
Angel’s Mansion, Crawford Street, Central Sunnydale
It was late afternoon when Cordelia finally decided to head over to Angel’s place. She passed several large estates, each one quite unique, but none with the same creep-factor of the mansion on the top of the hill. Despite the size of the houses most of them were a little run-down. To Cordelia’s knowledge, none of the owners were members of the Sunnydale Country Club.
The circular drive was made of cobblestone and Cordelia had to slow down to a crawl so the eerie noises made by the tires didn’t sound quite so loud in the open car. On either side, overgrown plants and bushes blocked the view of the grounds beyond. There was only the three-story front of the mansion and the fountain in the center of the drive visible ahead. Its stone bed was dry and the tubby cherub on top smiled down at her despite the mold growing along its edges.
Cordelia pulled up at the bottom of the wide stone steps and parked the car. She could see some of the devastation from the fire from this angle. Nothing was left of one part of the house. It was open to the elements and to the tangled growth from the untended gardens. The house was dark, broken windows boarded up from the inside.
Playing Truth or Dare in Sunnydale was always risky. There was always a real scare-factor when it came to doling out Dares. She remembered coming here back in junior high with some guys and girls. They had to get here on foot, at night and throw stones at the third floor windows until one broke.
“Lucky no one was home,” Cordelia shuddered at the thought. Had it been Angel, he would have ignored them or given them a good scare just for the hell of it, but some other vampire wouldn’t have been as quick to indulge in their little haunted house tales.
At the door, she looked for a bell, but there didn’t seem to be one, only a door knocker. Lifting it, she banged it against the front door and waited and waited and waited. “It’s not like he’s expecting company.” Cordelia decided to jiggle the door handle for the heck of it.
“Sheesh! It’s open,” she heard the click and pushed open the door. A long squeak sounded as the hinges creaked in complaint as if they were not often used.
“Angel?”
His name echoed in the huge foyer. Figuring he had to have heard that, Cordelia took another step inside and closed the door behind her. The room fell into near darkness. Only a few rays of sunlight filtered through the half-circle of stained glass above the huge doors. They danced randomly across the floor as she moved closer, the heels of her shoes clicking against the floor.
Cordelia turned around. She could see the shadow of the stairs leading upward into the darkness and there were doorframes outlined against the wall. It was cold in here in the dark away from the sun and a chill crept down her spine. She licked at the dryness of her lips, eyes wide as she wondered whether Angel was still sleeping soundly somewhere above or if she was truly as alone as she felt.
“A-Angel?” There was a tiny crack in her voice as she called out to him again.
Just as she was about to bolt for the door a soft rumble sounded almost directly in her ear, “I’m here.”
A piercing scream followed and when Cordelia turned to see Angel standing in the shadows, he had his hands over his ears. “Was that really necessary?” he asked.
“You have the nerve to ask me that? Geez, buy a bell,” she snapped. “And a few candles while you’re at it. Have you noticed that it’s kinda dark in here?”
Angel chuckled and walked closer out of the depths of the shadows. Reminding her, “Vampires like it dark.”
The sound of that little laugh had Cordelia’s skin tingling again, but this time the vibes were way more friendly chasing away the last remnants of her fear. He was here and that warm circle of safety his presence provided had her relaxing almost immediately.
Enough to notice he was just wearing sweat pants and a thin black muscle shirt that clung to his moist skin. My, things were certainly muscley looking today. And sweaty, which was something she didn’t know vampires could do. “Why do you look so hot… and sweaty?” she corrected speedily, her eyes snapping up to meet his.
Angel held a small towel in his hand. He draped it around his neck and held onto both ends. The left corner of his mouth quirked in reaction as he heard that little slip. “Just training down in the basement. What are you doing here, Cordy?”
The sound of the shortened version of her name suddenly had her heart beating a little faster again. It had been so long since anyone called her Cordy, since she let anyone. It felt good to hear it again.
He stepped away, moving back again. Ducking her head just a tiny bit, Cordelia peeked at him through her lashes. Then silently cursed the darkness because it was hard to see what she was looking at. “Dammit, Angel, I can’t see you,” and she followed him deeper into the shadows of the hall.
His hand slipped along her arm, floating down around her wrist to grasp it. Angel led her across the foyer, down the hall toward the back of the mansion. A glow flickered along the floor ahead, under a door at the end of the hall. With the twist of the knob, he pushed it open and led her to a space he obviously used a lot. As soon as they were inside, Angel released her and waited in silence as she looked around the room.
There was a large stone hearth surrounding a fireplace. Even now, there were logs burning with low blue flames. Thick candles of yellow and red were scattered throughout the room, their wicks dark with drippy wax surrounding them on the tabletops. An antique couch with a gold and burgundy pattern had matching throw pillows, but these were on the floor on top of a furry white rug. A small pile of books that looked even older than the couch was stacked nearby.
Angel lit a few of the candles and a soft yellow glow spread across the room. He didn’t look as pale in candlelight, she noticed, her breath catching in her throat as he stepped close again to repeat his question, “Why are you here?”
Standing like this she could smell him, and not in a bad way, all clean salty sweat and pure male that made her want to grab a handful of his cotton t-shirt and drag her tongue across his skin. That thought signaled loud alarm bells in her head. This was Angel, not a random hottie. No matter her defense of him to Xander, her ex still had a point. This guy was not just a man, but a vampire, one with a curse.
“I’ve got news,” she told him, “about our assignment tonight.”
For a split second, Cordelia thought he looked disappointed. Angel simply gave her a brief nod and encouraged her to tell him. That took all of a minute and a half. He seemed to be thinking about their game plan for tonight, lost in thought. Cordelia suddenly felt a little out of place again and when she glanced over her shoulder toward the door, the action irritated her.
How could someone make her feel so safe and so nervous at the same time? It didn’t seem possible.
“Do you want to leave?” asked Angel as he sensed her subtle jitters.
Cordelia defiantly answered, “No,” even if it was herself she was trying to convince.
“Then stay a while.” The offer sounded hesitant as if he was surprised he was actually suggesting it. He ran his fingers through his damp hair rubbed the back of his neck. “I should take a shower, though. You could wait here or explore a little.”
He pointed toward the candles and Cordelia held up her hands at the thought of it. “Explore a haunted mansion…I don’t think so.”
Angel wryly explained that the mansion was hooked up to the Sunnydale power grid. The central part of the house and its habitable wing still had electricity. “I keep the lights off most of the time to maintain a low profile.”
Guessing that every authority in town would be up here in a heartbeat if all of the lights suddenly came on, Cordelia could understand his penchant for candlelight. Angel already said he didn’t really need the light, but the books piled up on the floor told her that he spent a lot of time reading.
“Is this what you do when you’re not fighting demons?” she wore a curious smile. Picking up one of the leather-bound volumes stacked on an antique table, she rubbed her hand over the smooth leather cover. Then glancing at the gilded letters on its binding recognized it as an old classic.
He looked like she’d caught him doing something illicit and his answer came on a hesitant breath, “Yes.”
Cordelia realized that she had no idea what vampires did with their time off. Then again, minus the immortality it was not like being undead came with lots of fringe benefits.
What with the severe allergy to sunlight, it was not like they could lounge around the pool and work on their tans. Did Angel miss being human and soaking up the sunshine? Then too, there was the vampire aversion to garlic. She’d have to make a point of asking Angel if eating Italians ever gave him heartburn.
There were many questions forming a queue in her head and Cordelia was now certain that she wanted to stay. Not just to prove she was not afraid to be here, but because she had already learned more in the past couple of minutes about who Angel really was than during the past two years, just from this room alone.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” Cordelia told him dismissively sending Angel off to take his shower. She turned to stroll around the room, the fingers of her free hand fluttering over the textured fabric on the couch.
Feeling his eyes on her, she peeked over her shoulder to find him staring back, a slightly mystified look on his handsome face. Then he was gone, fading into the shadows of the hall, his footsteps as silent as the grave.
