Part 13
She rolled to her side, eyes open and staring at the same curtains she’d been staring at for the last four days. They were a nice mulberry shade and if she looked close enough, the swirly pattern actually began to swirl. Of course, the swirling motion could be caused by one of two things.
Hunger and the fact she hadn’t moved in ninety six hours.
Putting on a brave face and happy smile for a bunch of stinking humans didn’t go a long way in feeding her sense of fun, and having them see her cry just wasn’t gonna happen. Last thing she wanted, or needed, was to see their faces full of pity.
Cordelia sniffed as her brow furrowed in an effort to hold back hot tears. God, she was pathetic, and if she was honest, a little on the whiffy side.
It was easy to ignore the salty drop of water on her lip, it was easier still to pretend she was in her own bed and staring at her thick velvet drapes. If she closed her eyes, she could feel her lover’s chest against her back and his hands in intimate places.
The second she heard a knock on the door was the same second the duvet went over her head. “Go away.”
“How about not?”
It was the other her. The one with the freaky deaky heart beat. The vampiress repeated herself. “Go away.”
“Again,” Giving up so soon was not on Cordelia’s agenda. “How about not? How about I stay and drag your lazy ass out of bed?”
“I’ll bite you.”
Cordelia may have taken the vampiress seriously, but talking duvets were just too damn amusing. The only signs of life were a moving head and muffled voice. She walked further into the guest room, pausing long enough to shake her head at coffee staining the wall. So that’s what happened to Giles novelty mug. “For you to bite me, you’d have to get out of bed.”
“Not if you got in.”
“And give Xander a year’s supply of wet dreams? I’ll pass if it’s all the same.”
“Your loss.”
Hazel eyes rolled, as did hidden golden ones. A count of three past and the duvet spoke again. “I know you’re still there. I can smell you.”
“Yeah,” Cordelia scoffed. “And I can smell you. Ever heard of showers, and more importantly, deodorant?”
There was a pause. “You’re not going away, are you?” The vampiress didn’t have to look to know the stubborn girl was grinning. She damned herself to hell and shoved the duvet off her head.
It was the first time Cordelia really saw herself with bed hair. Only one word fit the bill. Terrifying, truly terrifying. “Your hair looks like a bird’s nest.”
The vampiress was not to be outdone. “Fingers and sockets, my freaky human self, don’t mix.”
“Excuse me?” The fanged one did not insult her hair.
The vampiress simply smiled. “What time is it?”
Cordelia couldn’t resist. “A little after get up time. I’ve got plans tonight and you’re coming along.”
Like hell. “I’m not.”
“You really are.”
“No, I’m really not.”
“You can say no all you want, it won’t make any difference. You are so coming.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
God, the cheerleader was so damn easy. The vampiress laughed. “Not.”
“Are.”
“Not.”
“Are.”
“Will you both give it a rest?” An irritated English accent rose above the escalating voices, and both girls met an equally irritated face.
The vampiress was quicker to place blame than Cordelia. “She started it by barging in here.”
“I did not.” Cordelia looked to Giles, desperate to be believed. “I didn’t barge. I knocked.”
“And I said for her to go away. She barged and now she’s trying to make me go out, which I’m not doing.”
A manicured finger pointed in the vampiress’ direction. “You are. Giles, tell her.”
The watcher rubbed his tired face before speaking. He glanced at the bedraggled brunette. “Apparently I have to tell you.”
“Giles!” Cordelia glared at him. “I’m not doing this for the good of my health. She’s been rotting away in here for the last four days, the least you can do is help me get her ass outta there.”
His eyes went from the cheerleader to the vampiress, sighing when he saw the despair carefully cloaked with annoyance. Poor thing. “Cordelia, would you be so kind as to put the kettle on please?”
A few seconds of silence gave way to a grunted yes and she stomped off to do as asked. He smiled at the muttered grumbles following the petulant footsteps. The vampiress was pouting when his attention returned to her. “She is right, you know. You can’t stay in here forever.”
Couldn’t she? A few dead bolts here and there, a barricade or two for the windows, a slot big enough for food. No problem. See. She could stay in here forever, or a very long time.
He watched as her knees shifted close to her chest and fingers plucked at the duvet. It was strange to see a vampire look so sad. “There’s no need for that. You’re too pretty for tears.”
She snorted, but agreed. “Puffy eyes are so not me.”
Giles moved to sit on the edge of the bed, holding back a smile when she swiped under her lashes and grimacing when they came away smudged. That mascara had been there since her little detour to the drunken side. How gross could a girl be? She could only guess what she looked like. “I have got to wash my face. Hm. Getting out of bed oughta make the prom queen happy.”
“She means well, but she doesn’t understand. She’s not like you…”
“She is like me, you just don’t wanna acknowledge it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “If you’d let me finish. She hasn’t lost two families, which you have.”
Cordelia finally raised her gaze to meet his. “You’ve lost family?”
“My father suffered a massive heart attack in his sleep. I miss him very much.”
“My parents died after he tried to pull a fast one with Jorgan. What kind of idiot tries to con a vampire?”
Giles didn’t have many words of comfort, but, “I lost someone I loved to a vampire.” He didn’t tell her which vampire.
“Is that why you hunt us?”
Having been listening, Cordelia chose that moment to walk in, thus saving both the watcher and vampiress from unease. “Kettle’s on, the cups are ready, the biscuits have been found, and you my dear fangy friend, are getting out of bed.”
The vampiress was simply too proud and stubborn. “No, I’m not.”
Okay, enough was enough. Cordelia squared her shoulders and her chin came up in the age old show of ground standing. “Giles, can you give us a moment alone please? I need to have a little talk with myself.”
If there was one thing he did not want, it was getting caught between two females. More to the point, he did not want to get caught between these two particular females. “I’ll go make the tea while you have your…” Argument? Row? War? “Chat.”
He received distant thanks when he left the room.
Cordelia purposely shut the door and waited until footsteps were no longer heard. It only took a second or two for her to reach the bed, and she stood over a pair of golden eyes blinking up at her. “I fully realise you can and probably will kill me for this, but it has to be done. Sorry.”
The slap stung the vampiress cheek and was hard enough to send her head snapping to the side with a tiny crack. She was too stunned to react right away and when she did, it was a laugh full of disbelief. “First off, that hurt, and second, I’ve killed for less.”
The cheerleader clenched her hand into a fist to stop herself from saying the word ow. Damn. That freaking hurt! “Go on then. I’m waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
Duh. “You to bite me dead.” Or whatever. Hopefully Giles would hear her agonised screams and come to help before she went into the light.
“Oh.” A slow smile spread across the vampiress face as she eased out of bed. The way her cramped up muscles were complaining, she doubted she could kill herself let alone anyone else. She arched an eyebrow. “I won’t kill you. I’ll just give you nightmares.”
Cordelia snorted. “And how would you give me nightmares?”
That was easy. “Principal Snyder’s bare ass.”
There was a moment in the life of every person where they were treated to something so horrific, that the brain shuts down to block out the trauma. This was that time. Unfortunately for Cordelia, she was so busy preparing for physical pain, that she didn’t have time to register what was said until it was too late. The image was in there and it wasn’t leaving.
“That was just wrong.”
Yeah, well. “So was that bitch slap.”
“You deserved a bitch slapping. I rephrase. You needed a bitch slap. Admit it.”
“I plead the fifth. Now get out.”
“I told you. I’m not leaving you to wither away into a big pile of misery.”
Golden eyes rolled in exasperation. Fine. If that’s how the prom queen wanted to play it. The vampiress shrugged and began stripping off, talking casually all the while. Oh gross. She had to peel the top off and the stench that came with it was more than enough to send Cordelia running for the door.
“I’ll see you when you’ve rediscovered the joys of hygiene.”
Following the slamming door was the sound of the vampiress sniggering. Worked like a charm.
****
A couple of hours later saw the vampiress enjoying a third steaming hot mug of pig’s blood. She hadn’t realised she was so hungry. Who knew misery was a fantastic appetite suppressor? She oughta sell it to models.
Cordelia and Giles watched as the vampiress inhaled the first two cups, then slowly savoured the third. If this was how much a vampire could eat, then it was no wonder so many humans died of being bitten.
The last few days of her absence had given him time enough to look over the cheerleader’s suggestion of the spell, and she turned out to be correct in thinking it would only work from the vampiress’ dimension. Something which gave both pause for thought.
Someone would have to come and take her home. It was no question who that someone would be, but there was the question of if and when he would come. Neither particularly wanted to be around if and when that happened as he wasn’t a person they wanted to be up close and personal with ever again, for entirely different reasons.
The sound of the vampiress finishing with a loud slurp followed by the word yummy and the empty being slammed down on the table. Golden eyes went from Giles to her twin, and back again. “Okay, what is it?”
Cordelia didn’t want to be the one to get the vampiress hopes up, so she looked to Giles who sighed in resignation. “I’ve gone over the spell…”
The vampiress face tensed. “And? Did you find out why it didn’t work?”
He had to give her credit. After the disappointment she’d had, she still wasn’t giving up. “I did as a matter of fact.”
There was a hesitancy in his voice she really didn’t like. A lead weight began crushing down on her chest as the very worst thoughts started to creep through her brain. Please don’t let him say it was hopeless. She wasn’t sure if she could take that bombshell right about now, even if she was half expecting it. “Spit it out.”
“It didn’t work because…”
God, it was too painful. It was gonna take a millenia for him to reach the second sentence and so Cordelia jumped in. “It only works from your world.” Off the confused look she got, “The spell was done from your place, therefore someone needs to open it from your world and come get you.”
The vampiress was simply confused. “Wouldn’t that mean there would be two of us stuck here?”
Giles shook his head. “Not at all. Someone from your world would be able to keep the gates open while you’re rescued, so to speak. There’s also an amulet that can be used to retain the magic needed to keep the gates open. I did try searching for that amulet in this world, but no such luck. Sorry.”
There was obviously more to it than that, but he correctly assumed she wouldn’t want or need to know the exact details. He wasn’t sure if she could handle the fact that it may not work at all, but he had already underestimated one Cordelia, he wasn’t going to do it again.
The vampiress fell silent as she soaked up what the man was saying. Her fingers tapped off the smooth wood, lips pursed and straightened a few times over, and face portrayed the fact she was mulling over her next question. “Are you saying all I can do is wait?” A very bad thing since waiting wasn’t her strongest point at the best of times.
Now for the bit he really didn’t want to bring up. He took a deep breath before he dove in. “Have you given any thought as what you will do if, for any reason, you can’t go home?”
She sat back with a smirk as she read between the lines. “What you’re trying to subtly ask is what am I gonna do when Angelus doesn’t come for me, right?” She didn’t wait for their reply. “He will come get me, I know he will. If he doesn’t, then my sire will.” And if her sire didn’t come, then there was something very, very wrong in her world.
Neither Cordelia or Giles had given her sire a second thought. Angelus crossing over was bad enough, but the Master? Giles remembered the events of the Harvest only too well. Buffy had died, if only for a few moments, but it had been long enough for another slayer to be called. He didn’t dare think on how she would react to seeing the vampire who killed her.
Never did he think he’d see the day he wanted to see Angelus again. Thankfully, the vampiress didn’t notice the worry on their faces.
“My sire would have a field day here,” she said with a shine in her eyes. “A sugar coated Angelus, a slayer and her watcher, a human me The Bronze going to waste. He could do great things here. Don’tcha think?”
Cordelia was the one to reply. “Yeah. Really great.” Desperate to get the subject away from the Master, “I’m going horse riding later before my date. Want to come?” The plan had been to train with Angel before going meeting Xander at the Bronze, but she was sure he wouldn’t mind postponing until tomorrow night. Besides, it seemed like a lifetime since Keanu had been put through his paces, and if the vampiress did come, then they would have a chance to talk about things they couldn’t talk about in front of Giles.
If the vampiress was gonna be here awhile, then surely it made sense to inform her of what happened last year after Angel lost his soul before she heard it from less objective sources. Like Buffy and Xander, for example. Xander was still smarting over the pants thing and Buffy would use it to get one over on the vampiress, and as far as Cordelia was concerned, the vampiress wasn’t deserving of the slayer’s petulance.
The vampiress went from cheerfully hopeful to giddy with excitement in the space of two seconds. Horses appeared to be yet another passion she shared with her twin. She could live with that. She wondered if Angel shared the same passion as Angelus. If so, then tonight could go a long, long way in getting Cordelia and him to sit up and take notice of each other.
Horse riding was one of Angelus favourite forms of foreplay and if Angel was a pansy ass version of her companion, then he was going to have a damn good time watching. Voyeurism and riding combined? The joys of life sprung to mind.
“Will Angel be escorting us again?” There was a date to ruin, Angel had better be coming.
“I think you can be trusted not to do anything untoward.” Giles commented dryly. Never did he think he’d live to see the day he trusted the life of one of his kids with a vampire, but there it was.
The vampiress gave a simple shrug. “I am a vampire. I can turn at any time. Angel should definitely come with us. You know, just to keep me in line.”
Didn’t that sound innocent? Giles never got a chance to voice his suspicions when Cordelia spoke. “I have to go see Angel anyway to postpone the defence class, we can ask him then.” The absence of the vampiress the last four days had given her time to get to know him a bit more and she was beginning to genuinely enjoy his company. It saddened her somewhat whenever she went into the mansion.
He had an old, worn couch that wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, there was a small selection of juice drinks in the tiny refrigerator, which she figured were for her benefit. No TV, VCR, stereo, or anything that resembled everyday life. She’d never been in his bedroom, so she wasn’t sure what he had there, but she doubted it was much. She didn’t like what it expressed.
It was almost like he wanted to exist as little as possible.
Giles smiled warmly at the cheerleader. “How is training?”
She beamed in response, pleased someone had asked how things were going. “I’ve only had a couple of lessons, but Angel says I’m doing well. We’re sticking with basic kick boxing and judo for now, then moving onto some light weights and weapon handling. I say crossbows and he says swords. Did you know he pinched my necklace?”
The watcher’s brows rose. “Really?”
Cordelia nodded. “Um-hm. First rule of self defence. Awareness. I took his wallet, so we’re quits.” Off the identical looks, “What can I say? Years of sneaking daddy’s credit card paid off. My allowance can only buy so much pizza.”
“I hear ya,” the vampiress voice was full of understanding. “My sire usually gives me what I want, but there are times when that simply doesn’t cut it, and I don’t just mean life’s little luxuries. Gas, utilities, the occasional portion of spicy chicken wings. It all builds up.”
Now it was her receiving the looks of incredulity. “Vampires are people too. We eat, sleep, bathe. All that takes money. Then there’s the utilities on my parents’ house. Angelus and I go there every other weekend or when there’s some serious screwing to be done. With my sire, Darla, and my other siblings, privacy can be pretty hard to come by.”
“Yes,” Giles stated louder than necessary. “I can very well imagine.” He glanced at the cheerleader in time to see wide, curious eyes blink once or twice. “As I was saying. I am indeed proud that you’re taking the initiative, Cordelia.”
“He’s better than the gym. Probably has more experience, too. Then there’s the fact he knows how to work muscles I didn’t know existed. He’s mean, but in a good way.”
The vampiress was now sporting a grin that went from ear to ear. “He certainly does.” The meaning behind the statement was crystal clear to all, including the plant in the corner.
“Okay,” Cordelia couldn’t keep her face from scrunching up. “TMI. Way TMI.”
It wasn’t enough information as far as the vampiress was concerned. “Oh come on, Cor…” Her head tilted to the side. “Using my name to describe myself is really weird. You’ve never called me Cor, Cordy, or Cordelia. Thinking on it, you’ve never said my name at all. Try it. It’s kind of fun.”
Uh? “Cordelia…” She paused. “Weird. It’s like I’m talking in the third person…”
“Only not? I’m right there with ya.”
Giles watched as the two shared identical smiles and shook his head, but he had no time to comment as the vampiress yet again interrupted. “You are right, watcher man. I do need to think about what I’m gonna do if, and that’s Texas sized, nobody comes for me.”
The unexpected and swift turn in conversation startled both humans, and they looked at the vampiress in anticipation. She took an unnecessary deep breath. “I’ll still be a vampire, an Aurelius to be exact. I have responsibilities, even if both my sire and Darla are dust. I’m guessing there’s a Spike and Drusilla in this land.”
Giles sudden tension was only noticed by Cordelia, whose eyes portrayed rising panic. There had been no thought given to this situation, to any of the situations starting to arise. Of course she’d want to find what family she had. He forced back the frown and tried to ignore the heavy weight pressing down on his chest as his thoughts grew thick and fast.
He’d done what he said he’d never do and let his guard down. She was a vampire, and being a direct descendant of the Master himself, there was every possibility of her becoming exceptionally powerful. Her smiles and good behaviour wore him down so slowly, he’d never realised. Still, he said nothing, giving her leave to continue.
“I doubt it’d be too hard to find them, not with the undead grapevine putting the Enquirer to shame.” The vampiress took the silence the wrong way. “I won’t be a charity case, Rupert. I won’t live off of you forever. I can’t.”
She didn’t just mean living under his roof, either, and he knew it.
****
Disgust was what she felt the moment she entered the mansion. There was nothing there. Nothing to symbolise his family and what he was, and knowing a part of Angelus allowed himself to live in a dank, dark squalor filled her with sheer disgust.
“This is where Angel lives?” She ran a finger down the mantle, grimacing when it came away grey. Obviously, there was no house keeper or servants either.
“Yep.” Cordelia sent an agreeing glance to her twin.
“I can see the potential.” Something had to be done about that man.
“Angel? You here? I knocked, but there was no answer. Angel?”
“Right behind you.”
The vampiress doubled over as the cheerleader pretty much jumped out of her skin and shrieked like a freaking banshee. Angel’s lips flickered when Cordelia’s heart rate started hammering out the Russian national anthem, complete with extra drum and bass. A solid ten seconds went past as her brain registered the fact she hadn’t retaliated.
Her hand whacked against his chest. “You big jerk. That wasn’t funny.”
The vampiress snorted and managed to cackle out a, “Yes, it really was.”
Angel glanced down at Cordelia’s clothes, seeing she wasn’t wearing what he now knew to be workout pants. “Not training tonight?”
“I have half a mind to drop kick you after that little stunt. However, I’m feeling merciful. Cordelia and I decided to go riding, and since I was heading over here to cancel, I thought to ask if you wanted to join us.” Hazel eyes narrowed. “Not that you deserve it, of course. Meanie.”
“Pardon?” He blinked once or twice, and wondered if she really had just asked him if he wanted to go out.
“Well? I’m meeting Xander at the Bronze in a few hours, so if you wanna come, we have to go now.”
Aside from her lessons and a quick patrol later, he really didn’t have anything else to do. Still, he hadn’t ridden in a long, long time, and the last he wanted was to make a complete ass of himself. “I don’t know.”
Cordelia rolled her eyes, an exasperated puff of air was released, and hands waved around. “Fine. Stay here and wallow in your lifeless existence. No skin off my nose. C’mon, Cor. Keanu awaits.”
“I met him once,” the vampiress commented to an envious cheerleader.
“Really?”
“Tried to bite him.”
Somehow, that really didn’t surprise. “You’re a lunatic. Shall we?”
Angel watched as one Cordelia followed the other back the way they came, then listened as the door closed on the identical voices chattering away. He stood there to listen until the voices were entirely gone and turned around to stare at what passed as a living room. Silence, thread bare couch, a cold grey floor with a small rug and an unlit fire.
His gaze involuntarily went back to the door and before he knew it, he was going after them. It was only being greeted by smug, victorious golden eyes that he knew he’d just been played.
The vampiress nudged Cordelia. “Told ya he’d come runnin.”
Thankfully, the other one appeared to be more content on patting her car than she was in saying anything. “Get in. You’ll be riding daddy’s horse, Ghengis. He’ll take good care of you.”
He didn’t get a chance to reply when Build Me Up, Buttercup filled the air and she fished out a shiny, tiny silver cellphone which she flipped open with all the elegance of a mobile veteran. Angel looked down to hide his smile, trying not to invade her privacy by accidentally overhearing.
“…What do you mean you can’t make it?” Irritation fueled by disappointment had her dulcet tone a mite frosty. “This is the third time this wee… Your life doesn’t revolve around me. God knows you’ve told me enough times. It’s just been ages since we’ve gone out…”
Angel spared a glance at the vampiress in time to see her head cocked to one side with an odd expression on her face.
“…Fine. Whatever.” Cordelia was saying in a manner that had him wondering what the kid was thinking in dropping his girlfriend at the last minute. “Yeah. See you tomor…” She glared at the phone like it had done something wrong. A second later, those eyes turned to them. “He hung up. Can you believe it? I don’t know what I see in him sometimes.”
Angel wanted to ask what she saw in him at all and judging by the vampiress face, she had the same thought. Unlike him, she said as much. “He pissed his pants, Cor. No man would ever piss his pants.” More to the point, “Angel wouldn’t piss his pants.”
Yes. Bringing out the masculine qualities in Angel was definitely the way to go.
“That’s because Angel is a vampire. I doubt another vampire could scare him.”
No? “Oh my God! It’s Darla!”
Neither her pointing finger or the OTT shock in her voice had Angel impressed. He simply stood and stared at the vampiress, thinking she was indeed a lunatic.
“You couldn’t even humour me, could you?”
He offered her a small smile. “Not particularly. But you get ten out of ten for effort.”
Her twin then bore witness to not only Cordelia handing the car keys to Angel, but also him opening and closing the passenger door. The thanks he got was so sweet, the vampiress used her tongue to check for fang cavities. “Please tell me Angelus and I aren’t like that. Urgh.”
Angel would certainly be taken care of and not by Ghengis.
****
Xander lay staring up at the ceiling, his hands clutching the sheets covering his naked body while his brain struggled to register the fact Willow, his best friend, lay naked next to him. He could feel her looking at him, could see out the corner of his eye the way she bit her lip. It was one tiny hour ago that he hadn’t been able to stop his hand going up her skirt or stop hers from undoing his pants.
Now here he was and he had no clue what to do or what to think. It hadn’t been what he thought it would be. The Earth hadn’t moved, she looked to be more pained than pleasured, it was fumbled and weird and the whole thing had simply felt wrong. Not that it mattered now of course, the damage was already done and he could only find one way out of the mess they’d put themselves into.
“This was between us, right?” There’d be more than hell to pay if Cordelia found out. He’d lose his girlfriend. Yeah, the same girlfriend he stood up to have awkward sex with another girl. Then there was Oz. Xander was no fool, he knew if Oz found out, the chances of being beaten to a bloody pulp was fairly high.
Willow was silent for a moment and he didn’t dare look at her. “I-it didn’t mean anything?”
He figured it was meant to come out as a statement. “You remember your boyfriend, Oz?” It may be cruel to bring the werewolf up after having just had sex, but this whole thing between him and Willow had to end. It’d already gone too far. “It can’t mean anything.” It didn’t mean anything. Not really.
“A-and Cordelia?”
Xander ground his teeth together. The nervous stammering that seemed so adorably cute earlier was now grating on his nerves. Cordelia never stammered and she didn’t lie to anyone, least of all herself. She was too straightforward to use sugary lies to make things better.
There was a lot Willow did that Cordelia didn’t do. Nervous lip biting, being dressed by her mother, sleeping with other people’s boyfriends to name three. She didn’t flee when she got scared, didn’t freeze when things got uncomfortable.
“This is bad. So very, very bad. I’m bad. Bad Willow.”
And Cordelia didn’t talk about herself in the third person. “They don’t have to know,” he said quietly, but strongly enough to quash her rising panic. “They can’t ever know.”
“But I’m not good at secret keeping.”
At this, Xander finally looked at her. “And secret keeping isn’t what you’ve been doing the last few months?” Then he watched her face freeze like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a ten ton truck. God, he felt sick. “You do know what Cordelia will do to you, to us both, if she finds out.”
Silence yet again fell as Willow soaked up the truth of his words. The only thing to break the tense atmosphere was the ticking coming from his Spiderman clock and the sound of rapid breathing from her. He had to get out and fast.
“I should go.” He saw her nod and wasted no time in getting out of bed, getting his clothes on and going home, ready to face a sleepless night.