PART 12
GOING TO THE MALL
She looked down at herself; thank god for small mercies she thought; in an effort to cheer up Cordelia, she’d made an effort with her appearance. Cordy was always after her to dress up and put makeup on and do something with her hair.
So she had, she still wasn’t as beautiful as Cordy and never would be but if she wore Cordy’s clothes in the same colours as what Cordy had gone out in, she might be able to fool a bunch of vamps that had never met the brunette personally.
She was done and out in two minutes, the cab she had called came at the same time as she reached the ground floor. She reached the mall within 10 minutes of having spoken to Angel.
The mall was crowded with shoppers and she couldn’t spot Cordy anywhere, but she didn’t need to; she just needed to locate the vampires who would be in human guise. She skirted around the edges, taking deep breaths, waiting to smell the awful stench of the soulless undead.
She found them and didn’t hesitate but plunged into the crowd after them, she knew that it would all happen fast so she rushed, pushing past them and pretending to answer her cell phone at the same time, stopping in the middle of them so that they could get a good whiff.
“Angel its Cordelia Chase I need to talk to you about some vamps”, the group around her stiffened and she knew they recognised the names and the scent off the clothes, then she was being lifted and felt a rough hand cover her mouth and nose, staying there until she passed out from lack of air.
THE MALL – CORDY
Cordelia wandered around the mall, she didn’t really have any reason for being there other than getting out of the apartment and ending her self imposed isolation. Her time was running out, Angel would only be put off for so long and she could kick herself for the time she’d wasted.
Instead of trying to figure out ways of finding where Drusilla was holed-up she’d let the vampire’s comments get to her so much that she had for short time slipped back to the way she’d been before she left LA. She had promised herself then that she would never let that happen again, and she’d not kept the promise -but she would from now on.
Enough with brooding, it wasn’t the Cordy she used to be or the Cordy she was now. She’d leave that to the master she thought with a wry smile. For now she had to find out where Drusilla was and the only way to do that was to lay a trap, so here she was acting as bait again.
“Some things never change”, she’d said it out loud and felt her spirits lift at doing something, even if it was just waiting for something to happen. She knew something was going to happen she could feel it, call it women’s intuition or “Whatever”.
She was wrong to have been so distant with Cathy and felt mean, she thought of calling her and then decided to go back and get her instead two heads where better than one, she felt in her jacket for the talisman and finding it, slipped it on.
“No more brooding and being a martyr, that is NOT Cordelia Chase”, she turned on her heel and headed for the exit.
She walked towards her car but as she reached it she found herself suddenly surrounded by a group of men, she looked at them and then at her car windows, no reflections.
“Hi guys” She made her voice bright and dumb, pasting a big smile on her face. Wishing she hadn’t parked so far from the entrance and human traffic. But she’d arrived ages ago and the place had been so full, so she’d had no choice.
No one spoke, but they all converged, she got out a scream and managed to land a few kicks and punches but did little more than drive a few of them back a bit, before they came back. There was simply too many of them and they had got too close before she realised the danger.
THE MALL – ANGEL
As Cordy had left the mall Angel ran full tilt inside it, only it was the entrance at the other end. He didn’t stop running but carried on dodging shoppers, turning in circles without stopping, searching for a familiar beloved figure. He reached the other side after completing a full circuit of the building including a few of the shops she might have entered, nothing there was simply too many other bodies.
He was just turning for another circuit when her scent finally came to him; she had been here not long ago. He darted out the door and got back up to full sprint in seconds, heading towards the car park, just as a scream rent the air.
If he’d had a heartbeat it would have stopped, he vamped out with a savage snarl and ran to where it had come from; diving between the cars and leaping over others, not letting anything slow him down. He heard an engine start from the approximate location of the scream and reached for more speed.
He was running so fast now the cars around him were a blur, finally he reached the furthest edges where the numbers of parked cars dwindled. He saw the vans lights in the distance, stopping at the traffic light for only a moment and then pulling away. He was too late.
THE KILLING ZONE
Cathy woke up to find the female vampire’s face above her own, she was lying on her back on a cold and sterile white floor. A series of bright fluorescent lights were spaced in scientific precision across the white ceiling, slightly blocked by Drusilla’s head and long dark hair.
She wasn’t certain but it looked like some kind of science or laboratory facility, bright lights, white floors and walls of glass. It was some kind of observation chamber, round in shape with an operating table in the middle and a series of hooks and lifting equipment tucked away at the end by the wall.
“This is the wrong one”, Drusilla whimpered and she backed away moaning. The moans got gradually louder and longer and louder again until she was screaming and tearing at her hair in frustrated rage.
Cathy smiled and Drusilla saw it through her claw-like fingers, she pulled them off her hair and walked back towards the woman on the floor, “Are you laughing at me” she asked in quiet interested little voice.
“Think of it as laughing with you not at you” Replied Cathy sarcastically, deliberately provoking the vampire, might as well get it over with and avoid the pummelling she thought, watching as Drusilla stalked back to her.
“Let’s see how funny you find this” she hissed, her hands outstretched, Cathy didn’t flinch as she bore down on her.
Drusilla picked her off the floor with one hand, pulling the other hand to the side and back before striking Cathy so hard her neck snapped with a crack. She then sank her fangs in deep, draining her in seconds and dropping the body back to the floor with a thud.
Finished she looked back up at the group of vampires standing and watching her with confusion and not small amount of trepidation. They did not miss the fact that they had obviously screwed up.
“You”, she pointed to them and then the exit door, almost shaking with rage “Get back out there and get me the right one this time, do you hear. Or I will tear your dead hearts out of your bodies and watch you turn to dust”, she was spitting by the end, a wild woman.
There was a commotion at the end of a series of corridors with glass doors and then the other team came into sight, dragging a conscious and scrappy Cordelia with them. They finally managed to manhandle her into the final glass chamber.
Despite their size and strength she managed to drag them all to a standstill when she saw the crumpled body on the cold floor, she wanted to hit something, she wanted to scream and curse at Drusilla, but she had to play it smart, so she didn’t let the rage take over her body.
She pretended to be grief stricken and sank to her knees, they let her thinking she was cowed now, then swept out a foot and toppled one on her right side who took his neighbour with him. Sweeping the same foot round while balancing on both hands she kicked another behind the knee, driving him down where she punched him across the face, he fell spurting blood from a broken nose.
She sprang to her feet and ducked under a swinging kick from the last of the four that had accompanied her down the stairs, before dropping to her haunches again to punch him in the groin.
She felt movement behind her and spun with a kick only to have it blocked and nearly lose her balance, she was now facing a very angry Drusilla. Three of the four she had attacked were back on their feet and there was another four vampires who had just been watching the spectacle with interest.
She was surrounded and outnumbered beyond belief. She stepped back and dropped her arms, Drusilla smiled and then had to duck herself as Cordy snapped out a fist aiming straight for her throat, but Cordy had been bluffing, she stepped closer again and drove up a knee with all of her might, the blow connected with Drusilla’s face with crunching force.
She had been so intent on inflicting some pain on Drusilla she had not cared what the others would do to her and she didn’t have time to put up a defence as they lifted her up and threw her hard against the side of the chamber, her head connecting with the unyielding glass with a crack, she fell unconscious.
Cordelia woke up to find herself strapped to something high over her head, her stretched arms were aching so she must have been hanging here a while. Cathy had been placed on the long table with her head below Cordy’s dangling feet.
She was so high she could see over the glass walls to the rooms beyond, little cages lined the walls and small animals nestled into sparse mounds of straw. Some kind of animal testing lab or something. She definitely didn’t like this location.
“What was wrong with the meat packing plant, at least it had character” She asked Drusilla, who was standing to the side watching her come round again.
“Don’t you like it, I picked it especially for you, can’t you feel the pain and emptiness in here” Asked Drusilla, happy again now that she was getting her own way. “I’ve even arranged for a view for you”, she snickered with glee and indicated the spread eagled body of her dead friend.
“What is this a spectator sport or something” Growled Cordy, eyeing the vampires lining the chamber all avidly watching and waiting for the next part of the show.
“These are my boys and they’re good boys, not dirty like some are” confided Drusilla in a whisper and a fond smile at the ‘boys’ in question.
“Yeah right, you’re gross and sick and you need therapy” Cordy couldn’t prevent a series of convulsive shivers from snaking down her body.
“If your boys are so clean minded anyone wanna tell me why I’m minus some clothes” Asked Cordy arching a cynical brow.
“It was dirty and had some blood on it, so we took your shirt off” explained Drusilla, ignoring the curling lip on Cordelia’s repulsed face.
“What do you want from me Drusilla, what is all of this about”? Asked Cordy
“Making Angel pay of course” replied Drusilla coming to look up at Cordy
“By doing what, vamping me”?
“That’s right, you’re going to be my daughter and I’ll have a family again” Drusilla lifted back her head and closed her eyes, smiling happily.
“Don’t do this please”
“Oh goodie you’re begging, I like begging, I did too did he tell you that”?
“No he never did, but then your name never comes up” Cordy was glad to be able to say, angry at having tried to get this thing to show mercy.
“Oohhh that’s not very nice, but then he isn’t Daddy not really, Daddy went away and he took his place, that nasty filthy soul took him”
“Has anyone ever told you, you have way too many ‘daddy’ issues and you’re what over a century”? Cordy’s voice dripped with scorn and helpless anger.
“I think its time” Said another voice, one of the others a big burly vampire wearing biker gear and nose rings! Eww Yuck could he get any uglier.
The other vampires where also getting anxious; they had not missed the names being tossed around either and were now starting to doubt the wisdom of having got involved, something told them the fallout might be bad. They weren’t wrong.
“Yeah well, who asked you, Asshole” Cordy yelled at him, suddenly feeling panicky and twisting around trying to get free of the ropes that tied her to the winch.
“Angel”, she bellowed his name as loud as she could, not with tears or terror, but just to release some tension and maybe in someway hoping that he might hear her.
That was it, really unsettled now, the other vampires all turned around scanning the glass fronted rooms beyond, looking for a dark mean tempered and extra pissed off vampire with a soul.
“You want to know something Dru, if you kill me”
“When I kill you” Interrupted Drusilla
“Whatever, I can promise you that wherever my soul ends up, I will enjoy watching Angel kill you” Cordy’s eyes were dark with challenge and an unshakeable confidence.
“No No my love, you mustn’t talk to Mummy that way” Cooed Drusilla, her hands reaching out to stroke her intended daughter.
Cordy managed to wrench away, even though her arms screamed in protest, that didn’t please Drusilla who called to one of the others to bring the box over. The box turned out to be a large medicine cabinet they’d wrenched off one of the walls of another room, it was placed beside Cordelia’s still swinging body.
The vampire stayed to assist Drusilla climb up so that she was level with Cordelia, then he grabbed Cordy by the waist to hold her still.
“No, NO, don’t you do this, don’t you dare do this to me” screamed Cordy wrenching desperately, tears of pain filling her eyes but she refused to let them drop. Her chin was grabbed by cold hands.
Then everyone froze as they all heard a booming crash from the entrance to the first corridor, all of the vampires including Drusilla and Cordy looked and saw two dark haired men, attacking the first glass door, booted feet crashing together in tandem to break the glass.
Cracks were appearing in the toughened glass, built to withstand an external attack from anything but an enraged vampire and his ex-watcher friend. Cordy nearly died right then and there out of pure relief, he was here.
Wesley wrenched a shotgun from behind his back and stepped back a few paces to release a shot, Angel stayed where he was and when the shot was cleared, showing a crater sized hole he followed it up with a last powerful kick that finally shattered the glass. They were through one, but there were two more to go.
Drusilla grasped Cordy’s chin again and vamped out, revealing her teeth and fangs in a show of snapping, powerful jaws, Cordy screamed his name again just as Drusilla sank her fangs into Cordy as hard as she could, intending to make it as painful as possible.
Everyone heard Angel’s roar of rage and horror, the chamber itself seemed to shake with it. Wesley shot again at the next door and Angel didn’t even stop to let him finish before he shattered the glass again and was attacking the last one, frantic to get through the barriers and prevent what was happening in front of his eyes.
Wesley went to reload the weapon with practiced ease, his breathing even despite his own overwhelming feelings of urgency.
Drusilla released Cordy whose head flopped down, she grinned evilly at Angel, watching him stand back and kick again and again trying to get to his love before she was lost to the darkness of the damned. But he was too late, she was all but dead if not undead yet.
The glass cracked and started to give way, Drusilla opened a vein in own her wrist and raised her arm to pour it down Cordelia’s throat.
Everyone had been so busy watching Angel and Wesley and then Drusilla, they all failed to notice that the still figure lying prone before them was no longer so pale, a pulse had started again in the throat that Drusilla had ripped and was now unmarked.
Cathy’s hand neared Cordelia, slowly reaching up to grasp the ankle just as the blood of the vampire was being introduced into her dying body, before the blood and done more than stain her tongue Cordy went into a spasm. So strong was it she almost unbalanced Drusilla who had not been expecting it.
Cordelia started to choke on the blood, her stomach heaving as she came back from the dark place that Drusilla had nearly led her. Blood flowed in her veins again, her heartbeat strong. The marks of the bite that she’d been given were gone as if they had never been.
Drusilla fell back stunned her hands reaching up to her lips to check that she had not imagined Cordy’s blood slipping down her throat, Cathy was still again, dead again her throat once more ripped and ragged with vicious bites.
Angel burst through the final barrier just as Drusilla fell back shocked, he seized her in a vicious hold and picked up to throw her away from Cordelia.
A few of the vampires escaped back out through the shattered doors, not wanting to get into a fight involving this one. But most remained, they all feared him and hated him for that. If there was a chance that one day they could get lucky and dust him, they would keep on trying.
Hoping that sheers numbers would help them achieve that aim they attacked as one. But they hadn’t counted on Angel when he is fighting not just for a cause but out of pure rage, his body and soul filled with not just pain and horror but more than anything an undiluted fury.
He wanted, no needed to fight to release it, even as a group he drove them back with a ferocity that stunned every bit as much as each punch and kick. He wasn’t fighting to defend; they were all going to die.
Wesley, with one look at how Angel was doing hurried over to Cordelia smoothly retrieving a switchblade from his ankle strap and flicking it open to slice through the bindings that held Cordelia to the hooks on the winch.
He lowered her to the floor and held her as she still coughed and retched the remaining blood up and out of her body. He checked the woman on the table and flinched at what he saw, there was nothing he could do for her. But nevertheless he guarded them both from further harm.
Leaving Angel to get his revenge, watching in a sort of fascinated horror as his friend tore into the group of vampires. It was a brutal display, he didn’t even bother with a stake but simply tore or kicked heads off, every blow they managed to land that wasn’t deflected he didn’t seem to feel but returned with twice the force. His face feral and pitiless.
It wasn’t so much the fighting that was surprising to the ex-watcher but the fact that Angel did not even vamp out, his face remained human. It was as if in this once instance it wasn’t the demon inside him that was being released with such ruthlessness, but the man.
The room was filled with dust and Wesley eye’s watered with it and he was forced to cover his mouth and get Cordy to do the same. Wesley saw out of the corner of his eye Drusilla edging along the glass chamber wall and he started to get up to stop her but Angel got there before him.
He’d finished off the last of the vampires and now it was just the two of them, Drusilla aware that she was not going to be allowed to escape turned to face her sire.
She said nothing just looked at him and he did the same, but this time there was no guilt only cold purpose in his dark eyes. Simultaneously they both vamped out and snarled at one another mouths glistening with sharp fangs, eyes flaring gold with demonic rage.
They circled looking for an opening, Drusilla struck out first, her arms reaching out to strike only to be deflected and herself launched through the air again to crash back against the same spot as before. Angel stalked her, every blow she aimed got slapped or kicked out of the way and was followed by another rapid fire series of punches or kicks that made her feel as if he had set fire to her again.
Finally she stood dripping blood onto the pristine white floor, her arms hung uselessly at her sides, broken. She was done for and they both knew it. She waited for him to end it and he did.
Standing directly in front of her he punched through her chest wall and grasped her dead heart before pulling back and taking it with him. He did not turn from her as she turned to dust before him.
Wesley watched the end of it with a feeling of closure, a chapter was finished the book closed. Drusilla was gone. He was not sorry for it, the world was better without her, no matter that she had once been a good person and didn’t deserve what had happened to her or even the fact the evil monster that turned her was now the vampire with a soul standing looking down at her dust.
He stood and walked over to Angel who was still looking down at the remains of Drusilla; he stood shoulder to shoulder with him and said. “Its time we took these two out of here”.
Nodding in agreement Angel walked stiffly over to Cordelia and hefted her up in his arms, she looped her own around his neck but didn’t look at him yet, she knew he was angry with her too, could feel it still inside him. Wesley gently lifted Cathy up and carried her out.
HOME OR ??
Wesley was still struggling to come to terms with what had happened during the night and it there didn’t seem to be any signs of a letup yet. The next shock had been Cordelia insisting that her friend was not dead, but would heal and then wake up.
Angel and Wesley had looked at her and then each other, was she just in denial over her friend’s death, traumatised over what had nearly happened to her maybe?
“You tell me what part of tonight makes sense, I mean c’mon guys I was about 2 seconds away from being vamp Cordy” Said Cordelia with exasperation tingeing her voice and making it sharp.
“Are you saying your friends is an immortal?” Asked Wesley, seriously confused.
“Not possible” stated Angel, “She smells human”
“Well Duh I know that” snapped Cordy angry at being disbelieved
“Well then” that settles it thought Wesley
“Just take us both home OK and I’ll take it from there”
“No way are you going to be all alone in your apartment tonight with a dead body that probably needs decapitating if you don’t want to have to dust her” snarled Angel, patience wearing thin.
“If I want to go home, then I will and Cathy goes with me” She was fuming now, tired and stressed and not willing to be pushed around just because he’d had a bad night too.
Wesley sighed when he saw they were both toe to toe, in a battle of wills that looked like it was going to take a long hard siege to finish. He wanted to go home, but wasn’t prepared to leave them to verbally slug it out.
“Why doesn’t Cordy come home with me and I will watch over them both”, there that sounded reasonable, he thought.
“You gonna watch over a dead body Wes” Angel was scowling blackly at him and he realised he’d wanted Cordy safe in own apartment at Wolfram & Hart.
“Well if you have a better idea” he tried to back up.
“No that’ll do” said Cordy, “There’s no way I’m taking Cathy inside Wolfram and Hart” she glared at Angel and crossed her arms, she wasn’t dumb either.
So back to Wesley’s they all went, Angel too; after he was sure that it was safe, he turned to leave. Wesley went with him to see him out. He stopped Angel as he was walking down the corridor.
“You’re not going home are you”?
“No” replied Angel not turning round.
“Might I ask what it is you’re planning to do” he dug deeper as only Wesley could.
“I have a message to deliver” said Angel, his voice cold
“Need any help”? asked Wesley knowing the next few nights were going to be busy.
“No this was aimed at me so the message has to come from me” Colder still.
Wesley nodded and closed the door.