Part 8
Day 34…
It was around 8 am when Cordelia woke up, instinct had her reaching out for him, but all she found was an empty space where he had been. She yawned long and tears welled up in her eyes, her jaw cracking as it drifted off into a sigh. Blinking, she sat up and realised she was no longer on the couch, but in her bed and still in her slob clothes. She sighed again, this time with an affection which she ignored.
How weird it was that he was gone and still she could smell him. She put that down to the fact she’d used his jacket as a blanket last night. Oh well, she couldn’t slob in bed all day. A good stretch had her feet poking out from under her sheets and her toes spread wide, vaguely reminding her of chicken feet. She snorted. Chicken feet indeed.
The carpet was cool, but her warm skin welcomed it, and she hummed with delightful relief. Another yawn hit and a rather odd noise came with it. “Shower,” Cordelia muttered through it. “That’ll wake me up.”
She point her feet in the direction of her en suite, stripping as she walked. Her top coming off first and then her bra, pausing long enough to shimmy her pants down and kicking them up to be caught. A free hand raked through her hair and fingers wiggled out some of the tangles, nails scratching in a pleasant way.
Angel didn’t need to leave. He could have loaned some of her father’s clothes and had the use of a lovely power shower complete with a massagery head thing. She didn’t know what the plumbing was like in the mansion, but she figured it couldn’t be that good since it looked like it’d been built in the Iron Age or something.
Her panties were the next thing to come off and she had all clothes ready to be dumped into the laundry, thus allowing her to dive straight into a delightfully hot shower. She had pondered over whether or not a tub might be better, but they usually sent her into the arms of the Sandman. Nah. A shower would set her up for the day.
“One, two, three, four, tell the people what she wore,” she sang in an upbeat and perky voice. “It was an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka dot bikini that she wore for the first time today…”
Her impromptu song ended when the bathroom door was pulled wide open and Angelus made to step out. Her jaw dropped and she stared at a set of dark, dark brown irises that stared back at her, watching as her gaze lowered down to a muscled neck and broad shoulders. His arms were gently sloped with relaxed biceps and triceps, while his forearms were taut.
Her lower lip wobbled a bit as she went lower to a wet, naked chest and small male nipples, hard from the sudden drop in temperature. A whimper escaped her throat when she followed the muscle lines down to where his pale skin went disappeared in her favourite canary yellow towel. She couldn’t stop staring no matter how hard she tried.
Her body clenched and shut down, her eyes glazing over as it got too much to handle. Something inside her dropped, forcing a rush of hot liquid to trickle down her thighs. She didn’t see the look on his face that said he knew, as she couldn’t seem to stop staring there.
Angelus face split into a huge smirk full of arrogance. His gaze dropped to where a neat triangle of curls hid her pussy from view and he licked his lips. She was getting so wet, he could taste her on his tongue and it was a delicious prelude of things to come.
It was only when the towel moved that her vocal chords kicked in. “Oh my God… Get out!” Cordelia managed to shriek. “Get out!”
She wanted him to get out? “Okay,” and he made to step out of the bathroom.
“I mean in. Get in!” She practically slammed the door in his face, then she leaned against the door and had no choice but to listen to the deep, humorous chuckles coming from inside.
While she was busy dying of humiliation, the vampire was busy savouring everything she had to offer a man. Full breasts sported beautiful baby pink nipples that hardened under his intense focus. They led the way down to a trim waist and flat stomach that flared out into a set of hips designed specifically for his hands.
They were really good hips, but still had the essence of youth, and God, was it ever a sight for sore eyes. Of course, he hadn’t seen her long enough to see it all, so his brain filled in the blanks and he felt the first flicker of arousal. He had one word to describe her and that was sweet.
Considering he hadn’t seen a naked female in, oh, over a week, she was exactly what he needed. Angelus glanced down at his erection and let out a laugh. Few women could get him excite him with looks alone. Trust her to be one of them.
He slid the towel from around his waist and used it to dry off a bit more since he doubted she’d appreciate a wet floor. While he did this, he continued listening to her fast breathing and faster heart, letting the arousing sounds do what he couldn’t. He also thought about pride. Mainly, his pride and how it was the sole reason why she wasn’t in here, getting screwed till she bled.
Now he was in another world entirely. A world where she stared up at him through teary eyes and begged him for it, a world where she was tight and wet around him. A world where his cock was coated in a warm, copper liquid that came with pain and pleasure.
She’d bleed him for him, he knew that. He’d make sure she did.
It was this which brought home the realisation that it wasn’t pride or the bet that kept her virtue intact, but reality. Sure, he could out there now and take it whether she wanted it or not. In all honesty, that sounded like a pretty good idea and he considered it for a moment or two. He doubted he’d get much resistance on her part, what with her being all juiced up.
Breaking her in like that was one hell of a fantasy and so damned tempting, but he had an agenda and that agenda was to get her round to his way of thinking. She wasn’t quite ready yet. She was still flighty around him, though the impression she gave was to the contrary.
Although she couldn’t be that wary of him. After all, he was the one she called when she got scared last night. Paying those kids to throw stones was a stroke of genius and he stored the idea away for future reference. Still, Angelus wasn’t so foolish to believe he’d fully won her over, but he had plenty of time to deal with that little problem and then he’d have what was fast becoming his favourite obsession.
Until then, he’d wine and dine her, play the boyfriend, the friend, the damned boy scout before he got to play the lover.
The towel was once draped over the railing; he pulled on his pants and ran his hands through his drying hair, the smirk on his face never left.
He exited the bathroom and entered an empty room. Well, empty except for the shapely lump hiding under the duvet. He shook his head, and moved to stand next to her bed.
“Hm,” Angelus said in a very dry, very sarcastic voice. “Where could Cordelia be?”
The only reply he got was a huff from the shapely lump.
“Is she in here?” He noisily opened the top one of a six drawer set, offhandedly glancing along her CD collection. “Nope, not in here.”
He still got nothing.
“Guess I’ll have to check this drawer over here.” Angelus walked to the nightstand and picked the top drawer again. He pulled it open without a thought for her privacy. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
He plucked the journal out of its home, turning it this way and that as he studied the swirly purple pattern. He flipped it open to the first page, and then spoke in a voice full of mockery. “First day back at school…”
Cordelia didn’t believe he was going through her diary. He wasn’t that stupid and so she stayed right where she was.
He continued without a care in the world. “First day back at school after spending an entire summer in Hawaii with aunt Sylvie. God, that woman makes Santa look miserable.”
Her eyes popped wide open. Either his imagination was extremely good, he had x-ray vision, or he really was reading her diary.
Angelus flipped to another page. “My parents have booked a skiing trip to Aspen for next year.”
Oh God. He was reading her diary. She was just about to yank the covers from over her head and snatch it back when the pages rustled again, and again he began reading aloud.
“Angel is such a dumbass, I mean really. His girlfriend practically ditches him for another guy and what does he do? Runs back with tail between his legs when she bats an eye in his direction.” His grin went unseen.
Cordelia cringed, rethinking the plan of coming out of hiding. If she wasn’t mortified before, she certainly was now.
“Interesting perspective.” Angelus scanned the contents of each page until he came across one that really stood out. “Can’t write too much because it hurts to move. I’ve never been so humiliated in my entire life. I loved him, I really did, but he threw it all back in my face. I hate him. I hate them. I hate seeing them shove it in my face; just how stupid I was not to have noticed anything.”
Angelus didn’t need to be a genius to know she’d been writing about the Harris boy and his affair with the witch. He made a mental note to talk to the boy about how to treat a lady. He skipped back on the off chance he missed something about him. “What else has she written about me, I wonder.”
“I hid in a dumpster, can you believe that? Turns out I was hiding from Angel…” He glanced at the shapely lump. “Deja vu. There I was heading for my car after the game when I heard these creepy footsteps behind me. I did what came naturally to an unaccompanied vulnerable young woman on the Hellmouth and ran. Way to show Angel your trashy side, Cor.”
“You were certainly dirty,” he said with a chuckle and continued to read. “To save me the trauma of totally reliving the nightmarish night, I almost lost my head to a zombie and got set on fire. Xander Harris saved me. Yes. The same Xander Harris who said the world would be a better place without me. Of course, his niceness didn’t last as he blew me off when I went to say thanks for saving my life.”
He paused and frowned. What the hell did she see in a dick like Harris? God, it hurt to think about that. Thankfully her eyes had been opened to what a moron Harris was. His thumb slipped out and he lost his place, so he flipped it to a random page with the header notes at the top. Angelus frown turned to one of confusion, then intrigue, and finally complete amusement.
According to this particular note page, Angel loved Cordelia Chase ninety two percent, and Angel loved Buffy Summers ten percent. How in the world had she come to that conclusion? A wicked smirk crossed his face. “If only Angel saved me. I wouldn’t hesitate in showing my gratitude to that gorgeous hunk of a man. I swear, he’s so hot, I can’t stop thinking about him.”
Wait a minute. She never wrote that. “Gimme that.” Cordelia shoved the duvet off her head as she sat up and tried to snatch her diary back, but he held it out of reach and kept on reading.
“He’s just a big ball of vampire sex,” Angelus dodged another grabbing attempt. “If he knew what I thought about him, he’d blush.”
“Stop it!” She jumped up on both feet, using the height provided by the bed to come closer to saving her thoughts from a mad man.
He held the diary upside down and away from her as he continued. “I go all of a flutter when he looks at me and, oh, I wanna pin down that body of his and just ravish him for all eternity.”
“Give it back!” Cordelia jumped up and he responded by moving further from the bed, so she scrambled around only to get her feet caught in the blankets. She wobbled at the edge of the mattress, and then felt herself falling.
He wasn’t quite quick enough to catch her and she landed face first on the floor, the impact making her teeth cut painfully into her lower lip. “Owfa,” came the muffled response. “Ow.” That hurt.
The scent of blood filled the air, sending his senses into a spin and he took a deep breath designed to tamper down the urge to taste. Angelus kept hold of the diary as he knelt down to help her sit up.
“Ow.” Cordelia gripped his arm with one hand and gingerly touched her lip with the other, hissing at the sudden shot of pain. “Ow, ow, ow.” That really freaking stung.
“You okay?” He asked, his fingers cupped her cheek and tilted her face to the side. A tiny trickle of red coming from her lower pout. She must have bitten her lip as she fell. “You’ve burst your lip.”
That would explain the stinging. “Great… Ow!” Okay, so smiling wasn’t such a good thing to do with a burst lip. She ducked her head down as she lifted the hem of her top up to dab away the blood, grimacing at the nasty sensation. “Damn. Gone?”
Angelus nodded, a smirk still on his face. “So, I love Cordelia Chase ninety two percent. Wanna tell me how you got that?”
He was immensely pleased to see a glorious red blush stain her cheeks. Oh well, in for a penny, in for pound. “Actually, you love me ninety three percent. Angel loves me ninety two percent.”
“I’m waiting.”
Cordelia rolled her eyes and took her school bag out from under her bed, then opened it. A pad of paper was pulled out, as was her pencil case. He took a good look at said case, eyebrows rising when he saw the many signatures scrawled all over it.
“What?” She asked as she popped the case open to retrieve a pen.
“Just looking at the names…” Angelus copied her and rolled his eyes, then slapped his forehead. “I forgot I was dating the Cordelia Chase, Mz. Popularity.”
The word dating wasn’t noticed by either of them.
“Ass. Here, watch.”
The pad was flipped to a clean page and she began to write her name, then the word loves, and then the name Christian Bale. Who was Christian Bale? He never got the chance to ask.
“We start with the L’s. He has one L and so do I, so that’s two.” The number two was written on the line below. “I have an O, but he doesn’t, so that’s one O.” The number one was written next to the two. “There are no V’s in our names.” Zero was written next to the number one. “There are three E’s… See where I’m going?”
Angelus nodded. “Okay,” Cordelia continued after pausing to lick her wound, something he really wanted to do. This bet was cutting into his social life.
“Now you add the numbers until you get two single figures. 2, 1, 0, 3, 2.” She looked to see if he was following. “We add the 2 and 1 to get 3. Next, we add the 1 and 0 to get 1. 0 plus 3 is three, then 3 plus 2 is 5.”
“Let me.” He took the pen and pad from her, and began to do it himself. “3, 1, 3, 5…” He added them up. Four, four, eight. “Eight, twelve. That means eight plus twelve, right?” Off her nod, “Which means you love Christian Bale twenty percent.”
“Well done!” Cordelia clapped as she ignored the fading sting to smile at him. “Your first crash course in teenage stupidity and you get a gold star.” Her smile drifted into one of sheer amusement. “I love you more.” She realised how it sounded. “I mean with the ninety three percent compared to twenty percent.”
His grin was huge. “You love me more.” Off her look, “You said it yourself. Ninety three compared to twenty. You must love me a lot.”
She ignored that. “Lemme do you.”
It was irresistible. “I’m right here, baby. Do me if you want.”
Her already pink cheeks turned a lovely shade of red. “Not like that, dumbass. Who do you like?”
Angelus treated her to a smile that would make Romeo puke. “You.”
“Stop it,” she said and hit him with her pen. “Who do you like celebrity wise?”
He thought for a moment. “I met Lauren Bacall at Bogie’s birthday party. She was pretty sweet.”
Cordelia blinked. “You met Lauren Bacall? As in the Lauren Bacall?” She shook her head. “Okay, Lauren Bacall it is.” She wrote it down. Angelus Loves Lauren Bacall. “4, 0, 0, 2, 1. You work it out.”
He took the paper and pen, adding up the way she instructed. 4, 0, 2, 3. He followed it through. 4, 2, 5.
Angelus looked to her to see if he was doing it right. “Uh-huh.,” she said. “Four plus two is six and two plus five is seven. So…”
“I love Lauren Bacall sixty seven percent. That means I love you more, and it also means I love you more without a soul than with.”
He had no idea what he did right, but whatever it was put a smile on her face and made her avert a set of twinkling eyes. He said it many times before and he’d say it again. Women.
Cordelia shrugged off the tingly feeling. “I’m gonna take a shower. You play and think of something for us to do later… Unless you have plans, of course.”
He’d need to feed, but other than that, “No plans.”
“Great. Now help me up. My leg has gone all weird.”
Angelus stood, easily picking her off the floor as though she weighed nothing. Her dead leg caused her to stumble a tad and she grabbed a tight hold of his arms so she didn’t fall again. Her mouth fell open when her fingers barely covered half his arm, and she couldn’t stop stealing a quick squeeze if she tried. His muscles were thick, but not overly so, his skin was smooth and not horribly stretched, and he had no protruding veins like a lot of body builders.
Cordelia found her eyes focusing on his pectorals and oh so innocently slid her groping little hands up over his shoulders, and down to said muscles. Angelus stood there, letting her explore, his arrogant amusement going unnoticed as she stole yet another sly squeeze.
“Am I the first man you’ve touched like this?”
She numbly nodded. “You like it, don’t you? How I look?” She was close enough for him to feel her nipples tighten against his chest, and it was sweet little sign of arousal. “Yeah, you like it.” He grinned. “You like it ninety three percent.”
He just had to go and ruin her mood. “Oh, shut up. I’m going in the shower.”
“Take my advice and have a cold one.”
Cordelia slapped him, her face expressed disgust at the arrogant attitude. He merely grinned and gave her a small shove backwards, which caused her to shove him in return. “I could so kick your ass.”
“Of course you could. Go make yourself pretty for me. I’ll fix you breakfast. Any requests?”
Her eyes lit up at the mention of food. “Maybe some bacon and eggs, please? Not too crispy and not too runny. Ooh, with toast and butter. Lots, and lots of butter.”
Angelus shook his head. “Leave it in my manly hands.” He walked past her while turning her in the direction of the bathroom, only to have her stop him short. “What?”
“You never told me you had a tattoo,” she accused. “When did you get it? Did it hurt? How much was it? Did you design it?” He felt her staring at it and though he couldn’t see her face, he knew she was drooling over it. “That is sooo cool,” she said in an awed tone. “I want one, but daddy would have my hide. I want my navel pierced too, but…”
“Daddy would have your hide,” he finished for her. “I got it years ago before I left Ireland, it cost nothing, it didn’t hurt too much, and I got the design from the book of Kells. As for daddy, why not get one in a place he’ll never see?”
Cordelia took that into account as she walked back round to face him. “Like on my butt or something? I don’t think I could have some strange guy stare at my ass for hours on end.” She watched as he thought for a few moments.
“What if it wasn’t some strange guy?” Angelus asked as the idea began to take shape in his head. “I wouldn’t mind staring at your ass for hours on end.”
“Um…” She blinked once or twice. “You’d give me a tattoo?” He nodded. “I don’t know. Would it hurt?”
“Your ass is a muscle, so yes. It’d hurt. You don’t have to get it there, you know. You could always get one on your lower back, but that would also hurt since it’d be on your spine. You can get something to dull the pain.”
She was quiet and fingers fiddled with the hem of her top as she pondered his offer. “You’d really do that?”
“If you trust me enough and if you really, really want one. Remember it’s for life, Cordelia.”
“What would you do?”
She seemed to have made up her mind. “Go take a shower, leave the details to me.”
*~*~*~*~*
Three hours later saw Cordelia and Angelus sitting in a sunlight free part of the kitchen. He was in deep concentration over sheets of paper and coloured pens, while she watched with increasing fascination. She could hardly believe that not only was he designing her a tattoo, but he was also going to be the one to put it on her. The decision had been mutually made to have it on her lower back and not her ass.
His design was an artistic mix of sharp lines and gentle curves coming out of a really cool shaped sun. There wasn’t much colour in it yet, as he hadn’t been able to choose which bit should be what. Apparently, the colours she wanted weren’t right for her personality, something which she huffed at, but let him continue nonetheless.
“I’m not a big pink fan,” she quickly said when he picked up the pink felt tip.
Angelus rolled his eyes in frustration. “Can you be quiet, please? I’m trying to work here.”
“Sorry, but I’m not. What about lilac? A dusky, kinda greyish-purplish lilac? Like the colour you get at twilight.”
He paused, imagination creating the colour she described and he pictured it as the gradient between the black, grey and white. “That would work,” he said at length. “That’d really work. Good choice.”
She preened under the praise and airily replied, “I try.”
Angelus swapped the pink for the light purple pen, made a test bit at the top of the page, then went over the shading with a dark grey before making a few light strokes with the light grey. He definitely liked it. “Are you sure you want me to do this?”
“Yeah!” Cordelia exclaimed enthusiastically. “I can’t wait. The girls are gonna be so jealous of me.”
He stopped and spared her a serious look. “You’re not doing this for that reason, are you?”
“Not at all, the envy is a bonus. Honestly Angel, I’ve wanted a tattoo for ages.” She tried to find a way to explain why. “I feel normal, you know? One of the crowd. I guess I just want something to set me apart from everyone else, something that makes me distinctive so to speak.”
“I get that. And the navel piercing?”
“Oh that’s just a fashion accessory.”
He shook his head, but chuckled and continued to draw. “What would you get?”
Cordelia shrugged. “I dunno. Butterfly or dragonfly maybe, but my cousin warned me not to get into that trap.” Off his look, “My cousin only wears butterflies or dragonflies because they all look good.”
“Ahh,” he said in understanding. “The safe option. I’m familiar with that myself. Do me one favour.”
“What?”
“Don’t buy any crosses.”
Cordelia laughed and gave him an assuring pat on the head. “No crosses, I promise. Hey, could you do that? Pierce me, I mean?”
Angelus graced her with a sideways glance, a sly gleam burned in his eyes. “Already told you to pick a vein.”
Like she was gonna do that. “How about one that’s not mine?”
“Why? What’s wrong with yours?”
“Nothing if you like coffee… Speaking of, you want?”
“Coffee or a vein?”
“Coffee, dumbass. Nice try though. Milk and sugar?” She moved away from him and toward the coffee maker, taking a second to decide between java and Kenyan. She choose the strong Kenyan for a change.
“Milk, no sugar. I’m sweet enough.”
Her patent eye roll went unseen as she got on with the business of fixing the drinks. “That was a pretty nice breakfast you whipped up this morning, Angel. Dare I ask how a vampire learned to cook so good?” If he said what she was thinking, she’d run screaming for the hills.
Angelus glanced up from his drawing. “I’ve picked up a few things over the years.”
Cordelia brought out two cups, subconsciously designating one specially for him. “Like?”
“Tattoo design for one.” He held up the finished product and shook it, watching as she all but screeched in excitement and raced to his side so she could take a good, hard look at it.
Her eyes were wide and filled with total delight, taking in every single detail. The colours, the lines, the sun… It was perfect. “This is gorgeous. I mean seriously gorgeous! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” She ended with another screech, then he found himself with a set of slender arms being flung round his neck and a pair of warm, soft lips pressing noisily against his cheek.
He was so surprised at the outburst that he didn’t react and his arms hang limply by his sides until she started bouncing up and down. Not having a Goddamn clue what to do with this, Angelus slowly returned the hug. How had he never realised just how tiny she was?
His hands were bigger than her waist, his arms were practically doubling over, and he had to hunch down. This hugging thing was nice, really nice, and got nicer when her hands smoothed over his shoulder blades. Before he had a chance to really enjoy it, she pulled away, but not far enough for his arms to fall from her waist, and he saw exactly how happy she was.
“Can you do it tonight? Please? I’ll do anything you want. Please?”
Angelus looked at her clasped hands and pleading hazel eyes. “Sure. Piercing too?”
“Yeah… Um, I mean if it’s okay by you.” The smile on her face was the one she used when she wanted daddy wrapped around her pinkie.
He struggled to keep the knowing smirk to himself. “Best get them both done at the same time. You finish the coffee while I go call Karl, tell him to set things up in my quarters at the club. I have to stop by, so we’ll do it there.”
Cordelia screeched again and again her arms were thrown around his neck. This time, she pretty much squished him and smooched his ear lobe. “I owe you for this. Tell you what. I’ll get my beauty stuff out of retirement and see if I can’t work on these callouses.”
“You didn’t seem to think I needed work earlier.” He grinned when she glared. “You don’t need to thank me for something I offered to do.”
She remained silent for a while to get her thoughts in order. She did need to thank him, but not for the things he’d done for her. How could she say that without it sounding stupid and him laughing at her? She couldn’t think of anything, so she kept it simple. “Yes Angel, I do.”
Angelus watched as she went about finishing with the coffee, his eyes constantly straying to her lower back and the point where her ass curved out. A look of pain crossed his face at the image of grabbing tight hold of that piece and turning it delicious shade of red.
He had one thought, and that was the bet was getting old.
****
She’d been fine all day. Had been fine when she walked into the club, fine when other vampires stared at and talked about her, fine he took her to his private quarters, fine when she removed her shirt, and fine when he sat her down in a armless plastic chair and facing away from him.
It was when she heard the buzzing from the tattoo instrument that she hadn’t been fine.
Cordelia bravely tried to control the terrified shaking and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to picture herself elsewhere, like a place free from tattoo needles. She was absolutely crapping herself as she prepared for the worst pain ever. Worse than a rebar sticking through her gut, worse than getting hit by a thousand ton artic truck, worse than being eaten by a shark.
The pain dulling spray wasn’t going to work and it was going to be so bad, she’d faint or start bawling like a baby. Ohgodohgod. She so didn’t want to look like a total idiot by crying for mommy and sucking her thumb.
“What’s going here, then?”
A nervous hazel eye inched open to see Spike standing there with a large glass of amber liquid in his hand.
“I’m getting a tattoo and my belly pierced,” Cordelia said with a half smile. She couldn’t quite bring herself to be nasty, not when one of her dreams was about to come true.
“Well, aren’t you just the rebel. Let’s have a look at it.”
Before she could point to the picture, Angelus spoke up. “What do you want, Spike?”
“Curious is all. Heard my old sire had himself a tasty bit back here and came to see what all the fuss is about.”
“Go be curious away from me,” was the short response. “I’m busy.”
Spike chuckled. “Come off it, mate. It’s not every day you drag a filly to your bat cave. You’ve never had a filly in here.” Oh yeah, this was going to go in his favour.
Cordelia shot a wide eyed stare at Angelus. “You’ve never had a woman in here?”
A golden glare went Spike’s way. “No.”
“Why not?”
The blonde answered. “If he did, the filly in question would be getting ideas of grandeur. Ain’t that right?”
“Grandeur?” Cordelia’s confusion made Angelus smirk.
“Since Darla and the Master are dust, I’m House master.”
“Oh,” she grinned. “And the idea of being tied to the Big Kahuna is delicious, I take it.”
“Something like that,” Spike let his grandsire off with a simple version. He watched her face screw up in fright when the buzzing got louder when Angelus took it close to her back. Poor chit. “Get this down you, pet.” He handed her his drink.
After her last encounter with his brew, no way in hell was she touching that. “It’s fine.” To her great embarrassment, it sounded as though Pinky and Perky had taken up residence in her vocal chords.
The vampire shook his head at the mule, but it was Angelus who spoke. “If you’re scared, Cordelia, I won’t do this.”
Wasn’t that just a challenge? “No, no,” she said and fully opened both eyes. “Thanks Spike.”
He was amused to have the glass snatched out of his hand, more amused to see her down the contents in one, and severely amused to see her try not to make faces at the awful burn in her throat. “An acquired taste is that,” he told her.
“Really?” Cordelia snapped, then her tongue kind of wiggled as she blahed. She glanced behind her at Angelus to give him a nod. “I’m ready. Can we get this over with, please? My arms are starting to cramp.”
“That’s my girl.” He grinned. “Tell me to stop if it gets too much. Now, try not to tense up and sit as straight as you can. If you’re staying Spike, make yourself useful.”
“Okay. Sitting straight and not tensing.” Buried under all her terror was a sliver of excitement, like the kind of excitement a person got before they went on their first roller coaster or drove a car for the first time.
Angelus caught Spike’s eye and gave him a nod, then took the needle to her skin.
“So,” Spike spoke casually. “How’s school been these days?”
Cordelia glared at him. “Fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “It’s fine.” Fine, fine fine.
“Exams coming up soon?”
“Do you mind not talking? You’re giving me a oooh…” Her retort was sharply cut off when sudden vibrations went right through her. It wasn’t so bad. In fact, there was a strange tickling sensation and she fought the urge to giggle.
Spike’s grin was filthy. “Good with giving oooh’s, if I do say so myself. Just ask my Dru.”
“Do you have a tattoo?” She relaxed a bit when she felt Angel’s thumb stroke her skin. That was nice.
He shook his head. “Had my eyebrow done in the seventies.”
Hazel eyes rolled. “Lemme guess, a spike right?”
“How well you know me.”
“You’re simply predictable… OW!” Damn, that hurt. What the hell was he doing back there? Playing Knickknack Paddywack on her spine? “Geez Angel.”
Angelus ignored the complaint. “Stop tensing,” he chided. “Spike, go get my lady another drink.” He paused and gently wiped the blood from her skin, then resumed his work.
“No,” Cordelia denied. “No more drinks. That one was quite enough, believe me.” She hissed and bit her lip when the stinging increased. Tickling sensation her ass. It was more like a thousand pinpricks all happening at once without any reprieve.
Spike ignored her. “Name your poison, pet. This place has the lot, including arsenic. I’m sure you won’t be shelling out.” If he could just twist this a little more, he could get more than a win out of it. “Ain’t that right?”
“She can have anything she wants.” Angelus was too busy concentrating to pay much attention to what was being said.
“Hear that? You can have whatever your tasty little heart desires. How’s about some bubbly?”
She jumped when the needle ran over a seriously painful part of her spine. “Ow, yes. Whatever. I don’t care. Ow! Damnit!”
Angelus gave her a moment of relief when he took the instrument away to mop up the blood that was now starting to flow a tad more. “Calm down, Cordelia,” he advised.
She took a deep breath and tried to slow her heart rate down. A minute or so passed before he got the go ahead to continue. “Just keep going. I want it over with. Angel?”
“Yep?”
“If I ever decide to get another tattoo, you have my express permission to knock some sense into me.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t give you another one, anyway. Only another fifty five minutes to go.”
“Only?”
The banter faded in Spike’s ears as he watched the look in his grandsire’s eyes. There was more going on here than met the eye. He’d just have to corner the cheerleader and wring it out of her.
While he took his thoughts with him to get the requested drink, Angelus never once let his focus slip, not even when his soothingly trailed up her side or when her sports top strap slid down her shoulder. He kept working and re-checking every inch just in case a miracle happened and he made a mistake.
With Spike gone, Cordelia felt the atmosphere between her and Angel get thick with a tension she couldn’t quite name, and her hands gripped her arms as her skin prickled with heat. The needle buzzed over her back, but it wasn’t as bad since she’d gotten used to it.
In fact, it was getting strangely relaxing, and relax she did. It wasn’t long before a slow, deep breath left her and she was humming.
“That good?” Angelus asked, his voice a husky shell of its normal tone. Christ, any harder and he’d be busting out of the seams.
“Uh-huh.” She felt the fingers of his free trail constantly up and down between each pause of the needle. Her eyes were beginning to close, and she wondered how that could happen during a tattoo.
With her in nothing but low riding pants and a sports top, he had a first hand view of her trim waist and tanned skin, and just how soft it was. She had a few freckles here and there, plus a tiny beauty mark above her left hip. Nothing more was said, leaving only a quiet buzz and her humanity to fill the room.
There were only a few weeks left. He’d be fine. He could hold out a few more weeks. At least, that’s what he told himself.
