Chapter Thirty Seven
“Cordelia, wait up.”
But waiting up was the last thing Cordelia wanted to do as she made her way to the side of the bleachers. Bending down to retrieve a bottle of Gatorade from her bag, she hoped that Kyle had taken the hint that she wanted to be left alone. It was odd because a year ago she’d have loved to be on the receiving end of the tall, athletic blonde’s charm. Now it just annoyed her that his hair wasn’t dark, his eyes weren’t brown, his body wasn’t angles of cool, sculpted – Oh God!
The eyes that had drifted closed shot open as she realized that the picture forming in her mind was no longer of Xander but Angelus. Turning back towards the field in self-disgust, she instead ran smack into the young man she was trying to avoid.
“Hey, Chase. What’s your hurry?”
Letting out a frustrated sigh, she wanted nothing more than a little down time before she had to go back to cheering her team to a victory that, for once, she couldn’t care about less.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on the field Kyle?”
“Nah, the coach is going over plays with Matt. So I thought that this would be a good time to see what’s up with my favorite girl. I hear your back in now that you dumped that loser, Harris.”
Kyle was oblivious to the small start Cordelia gave as pain washed through her body and settled in her eyes at the thought of Xander.
It had been a week since Angelus’ gruesome ultimatum had resulted in her ending the only real relationship in her life. It was still painful, tearing at her heart when she saw him in class or passed him in the halls.
Giles had insisted that she continue to do research with the gang, most likely to keep an eye on her even though her parents had returned. But more often than not she found herself taking her book and drifting into Giles’ office, not enjoying torturing herself with cold have beens and not wanting to hinder the easy camaraderie shared by the others.
She was alone…again.
But even that was better than hanging around Kyle Sanderson.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Kyle. For all you know Xander dumped me.”
“Sure, Chase. Pull the other one.”
And with that he swung his arms across her shoulder and pulled her into his side.
“Friday night. You, me, dinner and a movie. What do you say, Chase? Ready to start working your way back up the social ladder?”
Her pain filled eyes slowly darkening with rage, Cordelia leveled her near black gaze at the foolish boy before her.
“I’m not sure what planet you live on, but if it’s one where I would ever go out with you then I hope a comet hits it and knocks it into the sun. I’m Cordelia Chase. I don’t climb social ladders, I build them. And let me tell you Kyle Sanderson, you wouldn’t even grace the lowest rung. Now you have three seconds to remove any body part from my personal bubble that you’d like to take home with you tonight.”
Kyle sneered down at her, but his bravado didn’t extend to actually testing her threat and he quickly pulled away from the seething brunette.
“You know, Chase, for a slut you’re pretty frigid. I can see why Harris would dump you.”
As Kyle made his way past the stands and into the bright lights of high school superstardom, Cordelia felt her hands clench at the unfairness that was her life. In one more burst of universal humor at her expense, the increased pressure on the bottle in her hand caused the red tinted liquid to shoot through the sports cap and rain down all over her uniform.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Muttering under her breath about Hellmouths and incompetent bottle manufacturers, Cordelia made her way into the locker room to try to wash out what she could of the cheery, red spots covering her.
Stomping over to the sink she grabbed a handful of paper towels, dampened them and began dabbing at the spill.
“Had an accident, baby.”
Cordelia spun around so fast she nearly fell over as she tried to pin down the location of that voice. Seeing the vampire resting comfortably against her locker she wondered if it was coincidence or if he knew that it housed her belongings. Rethinking that she realized that of course he knew. After all, he’d known just where her hall locker was, hadn’t he.
Starting as she meant to go on, her voice was firm as she questioned his presence there.
“What are you doing here, Angelus? Don’t you have things to kill, people to eat?”
Angelus grinned at the picture she made. He loved all of her moods, but this one, when she thought she was in control, was so adorable that he almost wanted to let her delusion continue. Almost.
“You know, I didn’t think you’d do it. I really thought you’d know better by now, Cordelia.”
Despite her resolve to retain some kind of command of this conversation, she still shivered as chills danced gently down her spine at his sinister tone. But brave to the end she tilted her chin up and faced him squarely.
“I’m not sure what your talking about, but with your endless list of rules that you seem to add to daily, that’s not too surprising. You know, for a demon you’re incredibly anal.”
Leaving crass puns by the wayside, Angelus focused instead on the original source of his displeasure. Straightening from his place at her locker where the echo of her scent had surrounded him, he made his way towards her to breathe in the real thing.
“Did you really think this would be okay, Cordelia? That I’d let you dance around in front of a sea of other men, wearing almost nothing? How could you possibly imagine that you’d be allowed to bounce up and down, exciting a bunch of witless animals who have no concept of the fact that you belong to me.”
“If you want to jump around nearly naked, I have a large bedroom waiting for us at the mansion, where you can wear all the skimpy outfits you please until I peel them off your supple, sumptuous body. Until then, if I see you on that field again, your game’s going to be called on account of massive deaths.”
Even before he had finished Cordelia was shaking her head at his words and the disturbing images they created. She could see that he was deadly serious about this new decree, but she wasn’t sure, even under the threat of torture, that she could give up one more piece of her life to this monster. Hadn’t she sacrificed enough? Panic leaking into her voice, she asked the only question her mind could form.
“God, when will you get out of my life and just leave me alone?”
Closing the distance between them, Angelus pulled her into his arms, laughing happily. His left hand pressing against the center of her back, keeping her anchored to him, his right hand came up to her chin, a long finger gently tilting her gaze up to his. With an aching tenderness so at odds with what she knew of his brutal nature, he dried the tears of frustration slipping softly from her eyes.
“Never, Cordelia. I’ll never leave you and you’ll never have a life without me in it. Don’t you understand yet? You’re mine, and eventually, you won’t be anything else. You won’t want to be anything else.”
Frightened by the certainty in his eyes Cordelia needed to infect him with the doubts plaguing her.
“You’re wrong. This bond isn’t everything. Giles says -“
Cordelia’s voice ground to a halt as she was hit with the fear that this line of defense might be putting Giles in danger. Her worries were confirmed as Angelus tensed and the warm eyes from moments before became cold and frosty.
“Giles says what, Cordelia? What ideas has our watcher been filling your head with?”
“Leave Giles alone!”
They both knew from past experience that this was most definitely one of Cordelia’s weak spots. Honing in on that and willing to make the most of these opportunities as they presented themselves, Angelus flashed his even, white teeth at her in a mockery of a smile.
“That’s not how it works, Cordelia. It goes more like this – You do as I say and I do what I want.”
Sometimes all Cordelia felt she had left was her pride, but she was willing to cast even that aside if it would keep safe one of the few people to ever really care about her.
“Please. Please, Angelus, don’t hurt him. Just leave Giles alone.”
Although her constant need to safeguard the watcher bothered him, he couldn’t deny that her begging was turning him on. Seeing this proud, stunning woman, his pet, pleading with him in a blatant admission that his will was supreme was stirring his body in pleasurable, but tonight, ultimately unsatisfying ways. And yet he couldn’t deny himself at least a taste of her luscious charms.
Looking down at her earnest expression his previous warmth returned.
“So, it’s a negotiation. Now we just need to figure out what you’re willing to offer for good old Rupert’s safety, and what I’m prepared to accept.”
Knowing that she was completely at his mercy in this matter she closed her eyes in resignation and asked the question she would give anything but a life to keep unspoken.
“What do you want?”
Not wanting to push the girl more than necessary, Angelus buried his satisfied smirk in her neck. Starting at the beckoning mark on the base of her throat, he slowly made his way upwards, trailing wet, open kisses as he went, making frequent sweeps with his tongue over satin skin to capture the warm, honeyed taste of her.
Reaching her ear he bit gently at the fleshy lobe, swirling his tongue around the dainty curves. His voice, smooth and thick with the passion she was evoking, curled its way into her overloaded mind.
“A date.”
Trying to break the ethereal chains that held her in his thrall, Cordelia blinked several times in an attempt to process what she had heard.
“A -A date?”
Setting her a step back from his hard, aching body, he captured her confused gaze once more.
“Yes Cordelia, a date. I want a night out with my girl.”
Still feeling trapped in a surrealistic nightmare, the denial came unbidden to her lips.
“I’m not -“
As his heated look penetrated the fuzziness blanketing her mind, Cordelia thought better of antagonizing the vampire when they had just reached an agreement.
“Fine.”
Cordelia’s tone conveyed her unhappiness with this outcome, but true to the nature of a teenage girl, she couldn’t help herself from asking –
“What do I wear?”
Relishing her acceptance, Angelus allowed her to put another step between them. Looking at her lithe body, barely covered in taut, flexible fabric, he knew he’d have to leave soon before his plans were sacrificed to his need to fill Cordelia with him ’til she was bursting and there would never be any distance between them again.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of that.”
Despite dire consequences this might have for her life, Cordelia couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling.
“Yeah, ’cause that worked so well last time.”
And there was his adorable girl again. Angelus turned before temptation could overtake him and made his way outside, pausing only long enough to call over his shoulder, “Friday at eight, Cordelia. Don’t make me come looking for you.”
Chapter Thirty Nine
“Come on, Kyle. Wakey, wakey. You won’t be any fun to kill if I can’t hear you scream.”
Kyle Sanderson could make out a voice as he swam up out of his unconscious state, but the words were fragmented, and what he could make out he was sure he was mishearing. Forcing his heavy eyes open, he surveyed his surroundings.
The room was dark and lit with candles, large and small and scattered across every surface and in many of the nooks recessed into the stone walls. There were no windows, or at least none that he could make out, and that being the case, he was at a loss for what time it was.
Attempting to read his watch, Kyle found that he could not move his arms. Testing other limbs he discovered that his movements, in general, were inhibited by what felt like some kind of coarse rope.
Hearing the sharp sound of metal scraping across metal, he turned his head to the side. Now within his view stood a tall, dark haired, muscular man. Realizing he must have been the one to speak, Kyle was having a difficult time reconciling the pleasant voice with the waves of menace and danger rolling from the large form.
Turning abruptly, the candlelight spilled over his captors face and Kyle couldn’t help thinking how good looking the chilling man was. Not that he liked guys or anything, he thought to himself to bolster the manhood badly shaken at being tied up by another guy.
“So, Kyle. Can I call you Kyle? ‘Cause really, if you can’t be on a first name basis with the guy who plans on peeling off your eyelids, then there’s just no interpersonal connections left in this world.”
Angelus smiled at the scent of terror that literally filled the room from floor to ceiling as his words penetrated into Kyle’s mind.
“Look man,” Kyle blathered out as he began to grasp the hopelessness of his situation. “Whatever you want, it’s done. My parents are loaded. They’ll give you anything you want. Anything, man.”
Angelus paused in gathering his tools and looked at the young man secured tightly to a large, antique chair.
“Hmmm. Negotiating. I’ve been doing that a lot recently. Tell you what, Kyle. I think that you and I need to work a few things out. But I don’t want anyone to worry about you while we take care of our business.”
“Now I’m thinking, a young, good looking man such as yourself must be fairly popular, right?”
Kyle wasn’t sure what this maniac wanted, but if discussing his life prevented anymore talk of eyelid ripping, then he was an open book.
“Yeah, I have friends.”
“And would you be willing to call one of those friends here to take your place?”
Kyle blanched at the thought, but as a twinkling light caught his eye, he realized that the man in front of him was twirling a rather large knife. Frightened beyond reason, Kyle could only say whatever he thought the deranged man wanted to hear.
“Sure man, whatever you want. Just let me go, okay.”
For the first time since he’d awakened he saw his captor’s pleasant demeanor slip and the underlying disgust shine through. Not understanding his next words made them no less chilling.
“She wouldn’t offer up her friends to me. She’d do everything in her power to protect them. What kind of man are you, Kyle.”
The friendly mask was back.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re the kind of man who touches what doesn’t belong to you.”
Although the words were all the more disturbing for the congenial way in which they were uttered, at least they had a meaning that Kyle could quickly grasp.
“Hey, is this about a girl? ‘Cause I have a girlfriend, so I don’t need to go chasing anyone else’s. Honest.”
Angelus leaned forward until he was mere inches away from Kyle’s ear. In a voice low and dangerous he enlightened the terrified young man.
“It’s not about a girl, Kyle. It’s about the girl. It’s about my girl and it’s about you thinking that you had any right to put your filthy hands on her.”
This man was deeply unstable, and Kyle knew that if he didn’t do something soon he wouldn’t get out of here alive.
“Look, I have no idea who your girl is, but if she said I touched her, she was lying. I haven’t touched anyone!”
Kyle had thought he knew the pinnacle of fear, but as he watched brown eyes submerge in a sea of amber his terror soared to new heights as he realized that he was in the presence of something inhuman.
“Cordelia wouldn’t lie. Which is immaterial since I saw you touching her. I could smell you all over her. And she’d be punished, too, except I saw her deal with your stupidity.”
Shit! Kyle knew now why Cordelia had blown him off earlier that night. This must also be why she dumped Harris. He briefly wondered if she knew her new boyfriend was a psychopath. But that thought was quickly swamped as his overwhelming fear returned full force.
“I didn’t know, man. I didn’t know you were dating her.”
Rising to his full height Angelus smirked down at his horror-filled captive.
“I don’t “date” Cordelia. I own her. She’s mine. Even if she’d wanted you to touch her, doing so would have cost you your life. But touching her when she told you to stop? You can’t even begin to grasp what that’s going to cost you.”
“Please! I’ll do anything to fix this. Anything! What can I do???”
Leaning against a wrought iron table, Angelus shot the boy a conciliatory smile.
“Well, Kyle. Like I said earlier, you and I have things to work out and I really don’t want your loved ones to worry. So here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re going to call one of those many friends you have and tell them that you’re taking off to L.A. for a while. That you’ve gotten tired of small town life. You do that and I guarantee that you’ll make it through the night alive. You don’t and -“
As Angelus stood he placed his hand on Kyle’s shoulder and proceeded to squeeze until he felt the joint dislocate. Enjoying Kyle’s howls of pain, he retrieved the cordless phone from the corner and calmly inquired as to the number he wished dialed.
“Now, now, Kyle, you have to stop screaming or you’ll give everything away. You’re tough. You’re an athlete; you know how to play through the pain. Don’t you want to live to see tomorrow?”
Finally Kyle managed to choke back his screams enough to make the call. Although his friend seemed worried at the tone of his voice, he was more envious of the fact that Kyle would be living the dream – Away from parents in a place like L.A.
Ending the phone call, Angelus replaced the phone and brought back, in its place, a long, straight edged razor. Placing it where Kyle was sure to see it, Angelus sat back and waited for the inevitable.
“No. NO! You said if I called you’d let me go.”
Angelus shook his head as he tsked the young man disappointedly.
“Do you get through school with those listening skills, Kyle? What am I saying, of course you don’t. You’re a football player. Well, if you’re not going to use them.”
And before Kyle could form a single response to what had been said, Angelus reached up, and with a flick of his wrist, neatly sliced off Kyle’s ear.
As the screams bounced off of the walls of the small room, Angelus continued talking as if nothing was amiss.
“Let me tell you something, Kyle. You’re terrible at making deals. Cordelia was much better at this than you. At least she always included “home; safe and sound” in her requirements. Not that I won’t keep my word, Kyle. You’ll definitely live to see tomorrow, but by then I’ll bet you wished you hadn’t.”
Circling around the hysterical football player, Angelus pondered where to strike next.
“You know, I’ll try not to make it too terrible. After all, that phone call was a huge favor.”
A blur of motion and a scarlet trail running down Kyle’s chest were the only evidence that a new cut had been made.
“You see, I have to kill you because you touched her. You felt the satin feel of her skin, the silky waves of her hair. You breathed in her alluring essence. And Kyle, all of those things are mine. And as I’ve already informed Cordelia, I don’t share.”
Another slash and the bones of three of the fingers on Kyle’s left hand came into view.
“But I don’t really want her to know I killed you. And you don’t know me, but that’s kind of a new thing for me.”
A gleam of light and his thigh was laid open.
“Usually, I’m a leave the corpse in your bed kinda guy. But here’s the thing. There are a lot of people in Cordelia’s life that I’m going to have to kill. But all of those deaths, they’ll break her down and tie her to me. Each one will leave her more and more alone until the only choices she has are me and the dark abyss of absolute solitude.”
A quick turn and a visible knee cap.
“But you, well, she won’t really care about you. Oh, she’ll be upset that I killed you, but you aren’t close enough to her to break her spirit, just enough to build up her resistance. So it’s all cost and no benefit.”
A silver arc and a precise incision through the naval.
“Now, Kyle. It’s getting late and your day’s almost up. So before I rip out your tongue; tell me what you know about Cordelia.”
[Challenge by Impress
I’ve read a lot of fic that has Angel(us) being possessive and thinking if so and so (usually Xander) touches Cordy again..he was going to maim or kill him. So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write that very thing. You can assume Cordy and Angel(us) are together or A is just being possessive. But either way…he acts on his vamp instinct and maims/kills the person who touches what’s his. Whether anyone finds out is up to you.]