PART 11
IN THE CAR
Cathy drove, eyeing Cordy with concern who was pale and silent beside her. Ideas of how to help her in short supply, it wasn’t so much the physical threat that was the problem right now, but the unexpected re-opening of old wounds.
“Why do you think she set us up and then let us go”? Asked Cathy, hoping that the subject would draw her out of the past.
Cordy just shrugged “I have no idea”, she rubbed her fingers over her face and forehead, massaging and leant her head back against the head rest. She said nothing else the rest of the journey home, Cathy didn’t push.
Cordy knew Cathy wanted to help, but right then all she wanted to do was go home and do nothing, what could she do, the clock was ticking and she had to face this alone. She didn’t know if she was ready to go against Drusilla or if she had a chance of winning.
A BASEMENT
“You did what”? Asked Eve, incredulous and annoyed.
“I wanted to see her” Drusilla defended herself with a pout and tucking her chin down, looking at Eve within large blinking dark eyes, the picture of innocence in a white lace shift dress.
How could this human know that when you made someone, you had to want to make them, or at least she did, she had only made one other and that had been her Spike.
“Why didn’t you just do it then” Demanded Eve
“It wasn’t the time, you can’t just do these things on a whim, you have to do it right with the proper ceremonies”
“Ceremonies” repeated Eve, what was she on about, what ceremonies.
“Yes” said Dru firmly, “I want to do it grandly and she has to be ready, like I was made ready, filled with fear and loathing”.
“Is this where you ask for a casket of soil or something” Asked Eve remembering things she’d heard about this vampire and another one she’d made for Wolfram & Hart.
“I want an audience to watch as I do it, witnesses to the start of HIS downfall. They must clap and applaud and then bury her for me and wait in a silent vigil for her to arise again”.
Eve just stared but shook her head, what could she say, this was Drusilla’s show and if she needed pomp and ceremony for it, so be it.
“We need to get recruiting then and we need to make it snappy. The longer this takes the more likely it is that Angel and Co will hear you’re back”
CORDY’S APARTMENT
The phone rang out and Cathy picked it up thinking it might be Cordelia who had gone out for the first time in days. Cordy was still not back to normal after the altercation with Drusilla, she avoided calls from her friends and Angel, who had all left numerous messages for her.
“Hello”
There was tiny silence “Who is this”, asked a deep male voice.
Oh oh, should she just put the phone down, no better not he would likely just come storming over, plus it was rude. Uncomfortable she said “This is Cathy; I’m a friend of Cordelia’s”.
“Is Cordelia there”? He asked
“No she’s out at the moment can I pass on a message for you” She asked with deliberate cheeriness. She knew why Cordy was avoiding him, she couldn’t see him until this new threat was over and she didn’t know how to put him off. He would know in an instant something was wrong and not let up until he found out what was the problem.
That sounded like a great idea to Cathy but it wasn’t her decision to make but even so she had to fight the urge to let him know that Cordy was in danger. Loyalty to Cordy stilled her tongue.
“No” He sighed deeply troubled, she could almost feel the anxiety and hurt over the line and felt the need to reassure him about that at least.
“This is Angel right”? She asked, knowing it would prolong the conversation.
“Yes it is” his voice was cautious; “She’s mentioned me”.
“Oh sure, big and handsome and something about needing handcuffs”, Cathy deliberating made her voice sound confused and laughing at the same time.
“She said that”? God he even sounded embarrassed.
She laughed again “That’s all though, I promise”. The fact that Cordy had talked to a female friend about him in a romantic way would reassure him, guys like to pretend they didn’t like girl-talk but were secretly proud to be the subject; just because this one was a vampire wouldn’t make any difference.
“Oh OK” he cleared his throat “So how did you meet Cordy”? He asked
“We met in Phoenix shortly after she left LA, we helped each other out and decided to keep the arrangement” It was the truth, cut down with a hell of a lot left out, but there was no way she was going to go into that right now and especially not with him.
“Will you tell her I called and give her my cell phone number, just in case she’s lost it” He asked.
“I will, don’t worry I’m sure she’ll get in touch soon, she’s just frantic at the moment” Oh and wasn’t that just the truth, but she took down the number anyway.
After he’d thanked her and hung up, she stood holding the receiver for a little longer, this felt wrong and it frustrated her because Cordy would not let her try and see what was coming, she was determined to face this threat alone and not put Cathy in danger, in danger of what? Cathy wanted to shout, it’s not like she was going to get killed, or at least not stay dead.
But Cordy also had a streak of recklessness to go with the stubbornness and Cathy thought that was a leftover from when she was going through what Cordy called her self-destructive phase, it had been much more than that.
The way Cordy told it was she’d tried to kill herself not long after waking from the coma, she’d gone back to the house of the family that had been killed and stood in the now empty house, seeing the way it had been and bodies strewn around, especially the little boy.
She had dropped to her knees and cried, touching the sweetly rounded face with tufts of blonde hair that existed now only in her dreams and memories. She’d not been able to bear those dreams and memories anymore.
She’d had a kitchen knife with her, long and thick for cutting meat and raising one arm at a time slashed a deep gash along each forearm, blood had poured out of her. She would have been dead in minutes but Angel had come crashing through the door and raced her to an emergency room. She’d needed surgery and she still bore the scars on her arms and to some extent in her heart.
But she’d got better and had forgiven herself and accepted that she could not have prevented it. That such a thing had been beyond her power and she had been as much a victim of Jasmine as that family in fact in a very real way, more.
She would not let her friend be put through more, Cordy was just getting a good start on fixing her life back the way it should be with a little nudging from her and no one was going to stop her continuing to help, even Cordy herself.
There was a way she could do it, without physical contact or the talisman that fulfilled that need from a distance. It was dangerous, but only to her if she was unlucky and there were demons around who would be able to sense her presence and be filled with a rabid all consuming need to hurt her. Who cares, it was worth the risk.
There was no real preparation all she needed to do was get started. She got herself comfortable on the floor and called them and they came. Spiritual elements, non-corporeal beings, ghosts whatever you want to call them and in all varieties answered her call and whispered into her heart and mind what it was they had to tell her.
After she had sent them back away, she’d fallen into the trance like state which always followed while she sorted out what she’d been told and shown.
BASEMENT
There were thirteen vampires in the basement room, including Dru herself, unlucky for some, she thought but couldn’t hold onto the thought, too wrapped up in excitement of what the night would bring. She loved rituals and ceremonies even as a human she had loved them, the incense and candles and songs and chants of the church had filled her heart with joy, but now her dead heart rejoiced in other things.
She had assigned one of them to act as leader, in lucid moments Dru could be shockingly clear-sighted and she’d known that the planning and execution would have to be managed by another. Eve had located the first vampire through another third party, who had then found the others, Dru had stayed out of sight and her name never mentioned until tonight.
The vampires still did not know who the target was or the motive behind it, they had been recruited simply because they loved to cause misery and bring about death and destruction and they been promised plenty of both. Dru had been sorry to miss it, it reminded her so much of Darla.
They were ready and had been assigned into two teams with only one aim, to hunt down a woman whose photograph they had been shown and bring her here. Eve had hired a private investigator to watch Cordelia and they knew she had finally left the protection of her home, such a happy coincidence that she had waited until they were ready.
They knew what she was wearing and where she was predicted to be going. They had even been able to get a whiff of her scent though an old item of clothing that the investigator had reluctantly retrieved from the trash as instructed.
THE PLYMOUTH
Angel was driving towards Cordy’s apartment, determined that if she wasn’t in he was going to wait until she came back. He had been reassured by her friend Cathy not so much because of what she’d said but simply by the fact that Cordy wasn’t alone.
But he needed to see for himself that she was OK. He didn’t understand what was going on and he would not sit by and wait to find out. He knew things had been fine between them when they parted. They had woken up together in her bed and everything had been good and playful and loving, so much so that he had felt more fulfilled then than he could remember ever being before. But that had been the last he’d heard from her, something was up, he could feel it in his gut.
The other thing that was bothering him was Eve, Gunn had been forced to leave the surveillance for a time to the other security guys and it was just bad luck that Eve went out and met some dark haired woman. They hadn’t been able to get close enough to really see what was going on and when they tried to follow the newcomer they had lost her almost immediately.
His cell phone rang and he picked it up, frowning at the display and steering at the same time. It was Cordy’s landline; he almost fumbled trying to answer it quickly.
“Hello”
“Don’t talk, just listen. You need to get to Cordy right now or she’s dead do you understand” it was the same woman he’d spoken to earlier.
“What the hell do you mean” He snapped angrily.
“Please Angel I’m not kidding, there is no time for explanations you have to get to her right now”. The urgency was too sharp in the woman’s voice for him to do anything but agree.
“OK, where is she”.
Cathy told him where she was and said she was going to try and head them off, “Head who off” he asked trying to understand what the threat was.
“A bunch of vampires, they want to take her to Drusilla”.
“Drusilla”, No way had he heard right, but she confirmed he had. He spun the car in a curve so tight the car nearly went on its side, until he was facing the other way and was able to steady it, then he floored the gas.
Cathy heard the squeal of tyres and knew that he would do what he could, but even so it might be too late; he was at least half an hour away. She was closer the mall was literally only across the way, if she got a cab she was maybe two minutes away.