Part 4
All the way home, Connor had chatted happily about his little adventure in the grocery store and in the Magic Shop. Boasting about his bravery and how mister Giles said he would make it so he could take off his cloak.
His dark brown eyes shone like polished oak as he continued to play with the two stakes he’d been given, drumming them off the dashboard until Cordelia had snapped and taken them off of him.
His legs hung off the edge of the passenger seat, he was bouncing up and down while regaling his mother with excited and exaggerated tales of their night out. The five year old made it all sound so unbelievably thrilling, talking in a dramatic voice and making grand gestures with his gloved hands that made Cordelia smile and laugh.
“Can you tell me some stories, mom? One of those real cool ones with the monsters and the vampires?” Connor begged as he tugged on the sleeve of her shirt.
A wistful sigh fell from the ex-cheerleader’s lips as she glanced at the small boy openly pleading with her for a story. “Okay” she began with a firm voice and a fierce nod of her head, “Did I ever tell you the story of the evil cheerleader who could swap bodies?”
He went wide-eyed as his childish imagination ran wild, shaking his head Connor kept the eager gaze on his mom’s face and prepared to hang onto her every word. “It all began years and years ago. A super cheerleader called… Wicked Madison” she couldn’t remember the name of Amy’s mother so the first name sprung to mind. “She was the greatest cheerleader in alllll the world, she won every trophy, every competition and the heart of every football player”
“It isn’t a gooey love story is it?” Connor asked, disgust evidently clear in his voice and expression.
“Listen!” Cordelia stated in a ‘trust me’ tone that made him nod. “When she got too old to cheerlead, she got angry and bitter and became very, very evil. She turned into a wicked witch and swapped bodies with her daughter, Amy, just so she could cheerlead again”
“Uh-huh?”
Casting a sneaky sly glance at the five year old who loved the tails of her high school days, Cordelia had to bite back a grin when her pause for dramatic effect had Connor scowling at the interruption. “But” the brunette finally got to the point, “Amy couldn’t cheerlead to save her life and so Wicked Madison was trapped inside her daughter’s body unable to do anything but pretty much look stupid”
“One by one, all the other cheerleaders became mysteriously ill. One girl, Amber, was suddenly set on fire, another girl was suddenly fatally ill and I became blind”
“Wicked Madison made you blind?”
“Um-hmm”
“Mom, are you telling porkies?”
“No, this really happened” Cordelia vowed seriously, “I swear. She made it so I went blind when I was taking drivers’ education. I was able to stop the car, get out to call for help but I was blind and never saw the other car coming…” she trailed off purposely.
Connor could see it all in his head like he had been there, he waited impatiently for his mother to continue. When it seemed like she wouldn’t, he urged her to finish the story. “Mom!” he whined and gave a tantrum-like shake of his body.
“So there I was, in the middle of the road unable to see the car speeding towards me until I was saved by a girl who thought nothing of her own safety and jumped right out in front of car” it was anticlimactic for the five year old who glared at Cordelia in disbelief.
That bit didn’t sound right to him at all, girls weren’t brave and they were too scared to save people. “I don’t believe you, girls can’t save people mom, unless it’s you. You saved that kid from falling off the big slide remember?” as far as he was concerned, his mom was the only girl hero in the world.
Raising an eyebrow at her son, the brunette tilted her head to one side “Just who exactly put that chauvinistic idea into your head, scrat?” as much as she had never liked the blonde slayer, she had saved her life on more than one occasion. And Cordelia would dearly love to see the expression on her son’s face if, no when, they met. She had no doubt Connor would be fascinated by the blonde’s strength and her collection of all things sharp and pointed.
“What’s chowinistic mean?”
“It means believing that boys are better than girls”
“Oh… But ‘Licia’s little sister told me that girls had to be saved by princes, was she chowinistic?”
“Show-vin-is-tic” Cordelia pronounced in a way he could follow. “And no, that word only describes boys. Kelly only believed princes should save girls because she wanted to have a prince of her own”
“Yuck! Girls are awful” Connor pulled a face as he finally sat still in his seat.
She passed another sneaky glance at the five year old with a grossed out scowl scrunching his features up, “I seem to remember you saying you wanted to be Kelly’s prince, Connor” a sly grin spread across the brunette’s mouth when her son directed his disgusted expression in her direction. “Didn’t you tell Kelly she was real pretty when you went to her Halloween party last year?”
“No”
Cordelia was too lost in poking fun at her son’s childish crush on their old next door neighbour to realize a man in a leather jacket had walked out into the road. Hazel eyes went black as her pupils dilated when she felt the car hit the man and watched him roll a few feet away.
“Stay here, lock the doors and windows” she snapped to her son as she hurtled out of the drivers’ side, cursing herself for the lack of concentration.
“Oh shit! Please be okay and please don’t sue me, it was an accident” she panicked as she raced headlong towards the still man in the middle of the road. Kneeling down at the man’s side, Cordelia was more than relieved to hear him grumbling and moving slowly onto his side to relieve the pressure of his undoubtedly sore back.
“Oh my God, mister are you okay?” the brunette began to pat his body, checking for places he might be injured.
“Anybody catch the bloody truck?” he had a deep voice with a strong, broad British accent, he looked familiar but she couldn’t place him as she only had near-by street lamps to light the scene. “Bleeding hell you stupid bint, next time watch where you driving. Could cause a fellow some serious damage”
A head of shockingly bleached blonde hair, exquisite features curled up in a pained frown and a leather jacket draped over his fallen body. There was something so very, very familiar about this man but she couldn’t…
“SPIKE!” Cordelia snatched her tending hands away like they’d been burned. She’d just knocked William the Bloody over and was now making sure he was still alive.
Before the vampire laying on the road could fully realize who had knocked him over, the ex-cheerleader ran back to her car and dove inside. With a highly serious expression at Connor who was watching everything with huge eyes. “Cover your eyes baby… In fact, unbuckle your belt and get in the back seat, lay down and stay there until I tell you it’s okay. Do it now!”
Connor nodded, not having a clue what was going or why his mom wasn’t helping that man in the middle of the road.
She waited until the little boy had done what he was told before flooring it, heading directly for the blonde haired vampire now struggling to stay standing up. “Alright you son of a bitch, this is for the time when I was locked in a closet with Willow scared out of my mind” the car sped up a little more as she aimed the front end straight at him.
Hearing the engine, Spike turned his drunken sorry gaze behind him and found himself pinned into place by bright headlights that were getting increasingly closer. Too stunned to react, he was knocked through the air by the car-shaped blue blur. Landing directly on his already injured back with a heavy thud, he felt his head bounce off the tarmac road and no doubt split wide open.
The scent of his own blood confirmed his suspicions of a split head, the headache from this was going to be a bloody bugger to get rid of, even with the added benefits of being a vampire. A squeal of tires alerted Spike to the car turning round and the bright headlights that shone on him was warning enough for him to roll his hurt body out of the way of the oncoming homicidal maniac.
The move stung like a bitch but it was necessary to prevent his head being squashed like a melon under the tires as the car once again roared towards him. Where the bloody hell was his woman when he needed her?
They say that if you speak of the devil, they turn up.
Faith had just exited the mini shop with some candy bars when she saw Spike laying in the middle of the road with a car turning round and aiming for him.
“Fuck!” the brunette slayer swore deeply as the all but forgotten about candy bars fell to the ground next to her booted feet. With a swift shake of her head, she took off with every intent to get the vampire out of the way of the car that was raring to once again drive over him.
She used every bit of speed and strength at her disposal to dive in front of the car, scoop Spike up and haul him to the safety of the road side. Furious brown eyes watched heatedly as the blue car turned to face forwards but never moved for a few seconds before speeding away.
The blonde vampire glared at the back of the car, memorizing the number plate, vowed he’d find the damn driver and get some rightful revenge on the maniac.
“Hey Billy Boy” Faith shot one last glance at the parting vehicle and returned to the task of making sure the vampire struggling to sit up was okay. “You okay?”
Shaking off the daze caused by both hits, Spike rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes and shook his head repeatedly. “Bloody hell” he cursed harshly as he searched his jacket for cigarettes. “Gonna have one hell of headache” already, the ache in his body was receding to bearable levels enabling him to sit up without the help of the brunette slayer.
“Cheers love, good to know not everyone’s a maniac who throws themselves in front of cars”
“Sure you okay?” she asked with a concerned but amused eyebrow, it didn’t take a genius to figure out the driver of that car held a grudge against him. They wouldn’t have aimed directly for him twice if they didn’t. “Wonder who it was”
“Got the license plate number, gonna find the git and bloody kill him” Spike vocalized his vow with a serious sounding death threat, “Bloody knew who I was didn’t they?” through the hazy fog of near unconsciousness, he vaguely recalled his name being screeched in a loud, shrill and horrified voice.
The driver was about to help him until they’d realized who he was. As the shrill voice got louder in his head, Spike caught onto the fact that he’d been hit by a female who was obviously in the know about him and wondered if he’d had a past confrontation with her at some point. “Make that he a she, pet”
“A girl?” Faith mused thoughtfully, wondering if it could possibly an ex-girlfriend with a grudge and payback on her mind for all the wrong doings he’d done to her. “Cool” she could live that “Let’s get you back to your crypt Billy Boy, you need help walking?”
“If you’re offering” Spike waited until the slayer was standing before allowing her to pull him up off the concrete ground. Once balanced on his slightly shaking feet, the blonde vampire peered up and down the street, checking for other cars with maniac drivers controlling them.
In the air, there was a scent that he found a little familiar. He had a hunch he should know who the softly spicy scent belonged too but just couldn’t place it.
When you’d lived as long as he had, placing scents to the owners was a complicated task. There was a lot of faces to name and a lot of smells to place, he couldn’t remember every person he’d ever came across in his long life. That was impossible, he’d slaughtered far too many for him to be able to do a task like that.
But this scent stirred a memory Spike couldn’t quite remember. The name of whom it belonged too was on the tip of his tongue but it just wasn’t clear enough.
“Let’s away love, I want some food”
“For a skinny guy, you sure do eat a lot” Faith commented as they began the slow walk back to where they spent most of their time. Spike had a large crypt that he called his home in the middle of Restfield cemetery; the whole thing about it amused the slayer endlessly.
It had a small set of stairs that led down to a dungeon style cave that included a double bed, sofa, chairs and drawers. The whole upstairs-downstairs thing was a constant source of joke telling amongst them all. She’d often told Spike to get Xander to build him a white picket fence to add too the homely vibe.
“I have a voracious appetite pet, you should know that” the blonde commented with a suggestive leer at his currant love interest. The low-cut, thin strapped top skimmed her powerful upper body, giving Spike a delicious glimpse of her cleavage while the hem gave a small flash of her flat, toned abdomen.
Dark red in colour, the top went perfectly with the leather pants secured by a black belt and an engraved silver buckle. Her outfit was completed by the thick heeled combat boots that peeked out from the leg cuffs.
Faith had to be the only slayer and human he could pretty much stand to be around, she was always up for a laugh, a good argument or a bit of friendly sparring. She had relaxed a lot since she’d gotten out of jail last year and, after some hefty browbeating by the other slayer, she’d begun to make amends for the murder she’d committed.
She had an amazing passion for a lot of things and that was why he liked to be around her. She understood him and she understood about his need for violence.
Buffy on the other hand, preached about nothing but the righteousness of her duties as the slayer, not a slayer. In her world, she was the only chosen one and hated sharing the specialty of that title with another. Spike had always been known for his perceptiveness and he knew for a fact that it hurt Faith every time Buffy’s band of followers overlooked her capabilities as a slayer in favour of appeasing the blonde’s need to be ‘The one girl in all the world.’
Though Spike himself was constantly on the receiving end of the jokes and death threats from the blonde slayer and her pals, he never paid attention to them at all. He had his own place to stay, a knock-out of a girl and half a pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
Not much compared to most, Spike thought, but what he had was his and that was something he was content to live with.
***
Connor hadn’t long been sent to bed for the night and Cordelia found herself alone in the sparsely furnished living room, pacing and chewing her thumb nail nervously. Of all the vampires to run into, and she meant that literally, was one William the Bloody. The brunette hadn’t dared get out of the car to help the girl who’d dragged Spike to safety though she was berating herself for the cowardice shown.
The young mom gripped both sides of her head and emitted a silent highly frustrated scream; Spike would have probably eaten that girl to help his healing. She’d just killed someone, indirectly of course, but she’d still killed someone by leaving them to deal with an injured vampire.
Getting grip on her fears, Cordelia took some deep but none-calming breaths as she continued to pace back and forth on the carpet. Maybe Spike had been too injured to feed and kill that girl, with any hope that was what happened. Maybe that girl had won him over with her show of heroism and tender loving care. Or maybe, just maybe, that girl took self defence classes and had been able to escape the jaws of death.
Anything was possible on the Hellmouth, it was that reason alone that made it both a scary and magical place to be. There was whole other world in Sunnydale besides the killing and destruction of humans by demons, there were people that saved others and did what they could to make not only the town but the world a safer place to live in.
Roaming the streets at night were creatures once thought to exist only in mythological fables and fairy stories. Creatures like vampires, demons and, if she remembered correctly, possessing Halloween costumes, could often be seen hanging around. Vampires seemed to be the most common species of demon, a mixture between a soulless human and demon, the concoction of that was nothing short of lethal.
Discounting the fact Connor’s father was also a vampire who was exceptionally acquainted with Spike, he’d more or less kept the blonde away from her and vice versa. While the younger vampire and his playmate, Drusilla, were doing God knows what in their part of the mansion, she’d all but been locked away in his rooms for ‘safe keeping’ as he’d stated to her once or twice.
The thought of what happened in those rooms brought the memory of the night her son had been conceived. Images came thick and fast, almost causing Cordelia to sink to her knees with the haunting rush of heady pleasure he’d given…
Her hot, pink tongue darted out past dry lips to taste the harder lines of his delicious mouth as he teased her lips with his. The scent of male sweat and sex strongly permeated the thickening air as the unreleased tension between cheerleader and vampire began to boil. His hands slid roughly from the feminine thigh muscles to graze her abdomen before cupping both full, pert breasts in a firm hold.
Cordelia arched her back, trying to increase the pressure on her aching chest while a whispered female moan echoed off the walls. Fingertips stimulated the dusky pink pebbled nipples with tugs and slow, taunting circles that brought a rosy red hue to the hardened peaks. Hot throbs of pleasure had shot from her breasts directly to her womb, causing a flush of hot liquid to pool between her tanned thighs.
The scent of female heat clouded the vampire’s senses, making him give into the urge to crush his hard shaft into the overheated cradle of her parted legs. Her nails scored the flesh on his solid back, making light red welts that contrasted greatly with the unnatural pallor of his complexion. He was hard and heavy as he ground his erection against the heart of the brunette’s tight body, the naked feel of her labia stimulating the tip of his cock was enough to make him groan loudly.
The feel of his lips were amazing as he wrapped them around one, perky bud and sucked roughly, using the tip of his tongue to trace the responsive skin around the areolas. Blunt teeth bit her, making her hips slam into his with the sudden rush of carnal pleasure from the slight pain. On his back, Cordelia traced the rock-like contours of the muscles, feeling them ripple under the hot, timid caress bestowed on him.
His hand curled around her other breast, kneading with firm strokes that replaced the ache with a deeply embedded need for him to touch her more. A little scream of pleasured pain escaped the back of her throat as the vampire twirled and soothed small bites on the reddened bud. She felt icy hot fingers trail a line down the centre of her torso, only stopping when his touch felt the start of her mound.
The vampire smirked down at the brunette caged by his heavier body, he knew just by watching the expressions of arousal cross her heart-shaped face. Within the fiery hazel orbs, gold flecks melted with the heat of her human body and turned the shade to a rich toffee color that flickered and flashed with intensity.
Hypnotic orbs sparkled in the dim light like black diamonds, sinful promises shone from the depths of his wicked gaze. His mouth was set in a firm, tight line as he wove strong, thick fingers through the soft, neatly trimmed curls that hid her secrets. Cordelia’s breath lodged in her throat when his hand slipped down her cleft, separating the petal-like folds to reveal the protected, pearl hard bud of her clitoris.
His fingertip drew lazy circles around the tiny jewel, creating sensations that made her body sing and react in the most natural way possible. Opening her thighs wider, the brunette moaned long and hard when he replaced his finger with his erection. The vampire hissed when the heat of her sex connected with the most sensitive part of his body, making him want to cut this little foreplay short and go for what he wanted.
That wasn’t going to happen, he wanted this to last a long, long time. He wanted to cause her to know exactly what an orgasm should feel like and he wanted to be the cause of that orgasm.
Cordelia clenched her thighs right round his waist, bringing her ankles up to lock securely around his lower back. Using her leg muscles, she pulled him completely down on top of her, crushing both his hand and cock against her sex. “Angelus!” came the pleasured cry of his name that fell from parched, kiss-swollen lips.
Angelus rubbed his fingers over her clit, stimulating the tiny bud until it was completely solid to touch. His shaft moved smoothly up and down her labia, enjoying the hot liquid that covered his cool flesh and made her delectably wet with readiness. She bucked up high, trying to urge him for more while her quiet moans turned into louder pleas.
The tip of his finger found the entrance to the alcove of the hot, lithe body writhing under him, with a slow and controlled pace, Angelus penetrated her. Cordelia’s hazel orbs were soon swallowed by large, black pupils that had a beaming corona of colour around the rims, her hands clamped down on the broad shoulders while her nails left half-moon shapes in his flesh.
Pushing into her knuckle deep, the vampire flicked his thumb over the aroused clit and growled lowly when more hot liquid rained down on his hand. Pulling back from the naked girl on his bed, he locked his black gaze onto his hand and watched in fascination as he moved in and out of her body. Inside, she was like hot velvet silk, setting his penetrating touch blazing with a delicious burn.
Her feminine muscles contracted viciously around his fingers as he slowly added a second digit, pushing in a way that allowed him to experience every inch of the private alcove. With a heavy-lidded gaze, Angelus watched as his fingers and hand began to glisten as liquid sex spilled from her body onto his hand.
Cordelia looked delicious; arousal and perspiration made the dark curls on her sex gleam under the dim light pouring in from the moon. Her femininity held a pale red blush as his fingers slid in and out smoothly. Ignoring the soft argumentative moan, the vampire eased a third, thick finger while he watched the pretty, sweetly scented sex wrap all around his touch.
“Want more, baby?” Angelus purred, withdrawing from her only to penetrate higher and harder with faster licks of his thumb which made the pearl bud throb with stimulation…
When Cordelia emerged from her most indulging memory, she felt her heart slamming in her chest and undoubtedly bruising her ribcage, her legs were shaky and breathing was heavy. That night, the vampire had taken her in some sensational ways, showing her how much orgasmic pleasure a little pain could bring.
Squeezing her eyes tight shut, the young mother covered her face with her trembling hands as she desperately willed the images of that night away. It was torture to think of him and what little time they’d been together. A month, one short and uncomplicated month. That was all it took for her to fall so far in love with him she couldn’t see the cliff she fell from.
For a supposedly unfeeling vampire, Angelus was the most expressive man she’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. If he’d been in a fight, he would be riled up, full of energy and testosterone which he would take out on her body by throwing her down onto his bed and not stopping until he was done. Lovemaking would be wild, hard, rough and passionate as he openly expressed animalistic dominance over her.
A physical declaration of just who Cordelia Chase belonged too.
After feeding he would get romantic, bringing flowers freshly picked from gardens and jewellery he had bought, even going so far as to show her the receipt after she had accused him of pilfering it off his victims. When he got like that, Angelus would sensually explore and taste every single inch of the willing female body that screamed for his touch.
An exquisite way of saying words he couldn’t say.
Then something changed between them, something that shattered the denial Cordelia had been living in about just who he was. That something had been unforgivable in her eyes and the bubble surrounding their world had been popped allowing cold, harsh reality to crash down like a lead wave of destruction.
Gone was the open, blind trust she’d had in Angelus and gone was the fantasy he hadn’t stopped her from building. In place of sheer adoration lay only a numbing ache that constricted tightly around her heart, almost shutting out the capability to function.
That something had been the murder of Jenny Calendar, her friend and favorite teacher at school.
At the funeral, Cordelia had had to watch Rupert Giles suffer with the heartbreak of losing the woman he loved, she’d had to watch Buffy Summers blame herself for the death because Angel had been her ex-boyfriend. Worst of all, Cordelia had to sit there, listen to the words said amongst the group as they plotted to kill the vampire while she bore his claiming bite mark on her breast and throat.
A few weeks after that had happened, Cordelia had discovered the shocking news of her pregnancy and the paternal side of her baby had caused a near-mental breakdown. It wasn’t possible she’d told herself over and over again, vampires didn’t reproduce, they only sired.
So, instead of lying about the paternal heritage of Connor and making herself look like someone who slept around, the brunette had taken what she could and fled.
Now, she back and looking for something and someone she wasn’t sure existed anymore because he was her only hope.