Chapter Seventy Nine<\/b><\/p>\n
He observed her closely through the two-way mirror as he had for the last ten days. He knew that it wasn\u2019t exactly reasonable, but since Rupert had entrusted her safety solely to him, Matthew had felt burdened by responsibility for Cordelia Chase\u2019s decline.<\/p>\n
Not that he\u2019d expected a different outcome. No, if anything he had expected the young woman to have succumbed to the bond days ago, dying painfully like those few before her that the Council had been able to observe in similar circumstances.<\/p>\n
Rupert had told him of her strength of will, her resiliency; but he\u2019d taken it with a grain of salt believing the words to be the desperate denial of a watcher far too emotionally compromised.<\/p>\n
Now Matthew was forced to revise that opinion.<\/p>\n
Although the voluptuous figure he\u2019d been handed the week before was slowly vanishing as the shadows of bones replaced the lush softness of fading curves, the very fact that she was still conscious was an extraordinary feat that was the talk of the Council hallways.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately that very consciousness was consuming the balance of Cordelia\u2019s energy.<\/p>\n
At first, although her hysterical ramblings had been documented they\u2019d been dismissed as a natural byproduct of the bond she shared with Angelus. But as the hours passed they realized that she wasn\u2019t fighting them out of any desire to rush back into captivity, but rather to save her friends from what she seemed to believe would be a fate worse than death. Familiar with the foe they faced he knew that it was very likely that her fears were well grounded.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long for the exceptionally fatigued girl to realize that all she was doing was wasting her breath with words that were falling on purposefully deaf ears. Since that epiphany she\u2019d ceased any attempts at communication.<\/p>\n
But what worried Matthew more than the silence was her refusal to eat. If it wasn\u2019t for the fact that she was restrained twice a day and nourished intravenously she\u2019d most certainly be dead.<\/p>\n
His lips twisted bitterly as he realized that if things continued in this manner they were only working on borrowed time.<\/p>\n
Knowing at this point there was nothing to lose, he abandoned proper procedure and let himself into Cordelia\u2019s room. He knew that he would be reprimanded for this breech of protocol and he smiled wryly in appreciation of the fact that he was now engaging in the very behavior for which he\u2019d condemned Rupert a scant few days before. Finally he was beginning to understand his friend all too well. Watching the brave, beautiful girl sitting painfully still on the floor, legs pulled up tightly against her chest in what was clearly a protective posture, he couldn\u2019t stem the need to soothe her fears, to bring her back from the edge to which the vampire had pushed her.<\/p>\n
Stopping a few feet in front of the small ball of humanity huddled so despairingly in the corner, Matthew waited for a sign from the girl as to how to proceed.<\/p>\n
When none was forthcoming, not even the merest of nervous flickers acknowledging his presence, he decided that there could be no delicacy in the cessation of this ultimately fatal, downward spiral.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you\u2019re Angelus\u2019 whore.\u201d<\/p>\n
And for those words Matthew was rewarded with a most beautiful sight as Cordelia\u2019s head snapped up and her previously expressionless eyes flashed with anger.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuck you.\u201d<\/p>\n
He could tell that these were words that rarely passed her lips, but they were music to his ears although he took careful pains not to let it show.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s not me you want to fuck. Miss your demon between your legs?\u201d<\/p>\n
Weakened though they were and wracked with pain her muscles nevertheless tensed in outrage.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know anything about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
True, but God he wanted to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that you gave yourself to a being so evil that he\u2019s considered the scourge of an entire continent. I know that you submitted to him for weeks on end. I know that you fought being rescued so fiercely that you had to be rendered unconscious by the slayer. I know that your friends risked their lives to save you and you begged to stay with that sadistic monster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he knew it must be draining her already depleted strength Cordelia\u2019s body strained forward as she screamed out her anger and fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you think they\u2019re safe now? Do you know what you\u2019ve done? What he\u2019ll do because of this? You arrogant bastard! He\u2019ll kill them all. Because I left; because I didn\u2019t fight hard enough to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
They anger visibly fled her body and she began to rock gently as she curled even tighter into herself as if to halt the exodus of what little life she had left.<\/p>\n
Whispers replaced screams and carried within them an edge of weary horror that tore at the heart of the man who\u2019d thought himself immune to the sufferings that such evil brought.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll cut them open; rip out their bones. He\u2019ll make their agony last for days; and for what? So I can die in this room?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know anything at all. You can\u2019t. You can\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to have your life systematically destroyed; to be captured and trapped in a web of terror and then to hate nothing more than being freed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her head dropped to her arms as if she couldn\u2019t muster the energy to keep it raised even a moment more. It was the sign for which he\u2019d been waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod, you must have hated him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A small nodding motion was the only indication that she\u2019d heard the sympathetic words.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven more because you loved him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her body stiffened and her arms clutched convulsively at her knees before releasing the tension as she acknowledged the truth of the statement uttered with no condemnation with another tiny nod.<\/p>\n
As her small form began to shake with sobs of grief for all that had happened, would still happen, for all that she had lost, Matthew carefully sat beside her and, with gentle movements so as not to scare her, pulled the weeping girl into his embrace.<\/p>\n
It took more than half an hour for the tears soaking his shirt to subside. Sensing an end to Cordelia\u2019s cathartic release, Matthew ran a comforting hand over her hair.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about some breakfast?\u201d<\/p>\n
The nearly imperceptible affirmative bob against his shoulder was his only answer, but it was one that he\u2019d definitely take.<\/p>\n
Chapter Eighty<\/b><\/p>\n
Well, that was a disaster.<\/p>\n
Covered in burns Angelus laid on the large bed calming himself with Cordelia\u2019s fading scent as he went over the night\u2019s events.<\/p>\n
In retrospect the attack on the library had probably been a strategic error. He\u2019d thought that the element of surprise would negate the slayer\u2019s home turf advantage. He\u2019d been wrong and was demon enough to admit it.<\/p>\n
Not that he\u2019d take complete responsibility for the blunder. Ever since Cordelia had been stolen from him he could barely think straight much less construct complex and effective plans.<\/p>\n
When she\u2019d first been taken he\u2019d been confident in the power of their bond to lead him to her; but after days of trying to determine her location he\u2019d reached the infuriating conclusion that the bond was being blocked.<\/p>\n
The only good thing to come from that revelation was the realization that such a feat would take a great deal of magic to accomplish, paring down the number of suspects and possible locations in which Cordelia could be held.<\/p>\n
It was this last thought that helped him hold his fracturing sanity somewhat together. Since taking control of the Hellmouth his resources were immense. Eventually he was guaranteed to locate the epicenter of such a large expenditure of mystical energies.<\/p>\n
Angelus almost chuckled at the fact that without his recently acquired position he would have little hope of retrieving his lovely Moonbeam, and so Cordelia, who\u2019d been vital in his ascension to power, had practically engineered her own recapture.<\/p>\n
Of course in the end he didn\u2019t chuckle. How could he when the piercing agony of Cordelia\u2019s loss was burning through what was left of his rational mind leaving only a vicious and desperate animal in its place?<\/p>\n
And it wasn\u2019t just his own well being that concerned him. He and Cordelia had suited each other so well because her emotional and mental strength and his physical strength worked in such harmony. But it was in their areas of relative weakness that they would suffer. And while he abhorred the fact that his mind seemed to be unraveling, he knew that the true danger was to Cordelia. As a human her fragile makeup was especially vulnerable to the overwhelming stress of such intense supernatural pressures. He was acutely aware that with every passing moment her body would be slowly succumbing to the crushing despair that his absence would bring.<\/p>\n
Leaping off the bed he began pacing furiously as a flurry of obscenities flew past his lips. Once again he was overcome by a truly mind-numbing hatred of the slayer. He hated her insipid, pasty face, her pathetic, needy nature, but most of all he utterly loathed the hypocrisy that allowed her to pretend she was saving Cordelia when they all knew she was simply letting her die in a different location.<\/p>\n
It was this hatred more than anything that was keeping him even remotely functioning now. He\u2019d find Cordelia, he\u2019d bring her home, and then he\u2019d annihilate the slayer, her watcher, her little gang, and anyone connected to them; any trace of their existence wiped from the memory of the entire dimension. And as often as his lovely little pet had tried to stop him before he couldn\u2019t contemplate that she\u2019d do so in the future; not after her so called friends had left her somewhere to die.<\/p>\n
Forcing his thoughts from the pleasurable contemplation of violence and mayhem to more pressing matters he returned, once again, to earlier events.<\/p>\n
Things had started out well as they\u2019d entered the library. With Dru beside him, finally recovered from her bizarre and ill-timed \u201cspell\u201d, they\u2019d used the element of surprise to their advantage, quickly launching powerful attacks against the slayer and the watcher as his minions, greatly decreased in numbers by the slayer\u2019s previous two assaults, forced the lesser fighters back and out of Buffy\u2019s circle of protection.<\/p>\n
How could he have foreseen that it would be that very strategy that would signal the downfall of what had started as such a promising strategy? Although in retrospect his biggest error had been in not killing Xander fucking Harris and parading his mutilated corpse around town when he\u2019d had the chance. Who knew it would come back to haunt him at such a critical juncture?<\/p>\n
He\u2019d had the upper hand. Although the separation from Cordelia was wearing him thin, the slayer and her friends hadn\u2019t had it much better. It was clear to even his muddled mind that the White Hats were almost at the breaking point as they tried to live with their choices and failures of the past months. And as much as it pleased him to watch them crack under the weight of their unbearable guilt, it also worried him as it spoke far more eloquently than words to Cordelia\u2019s current condition. There was no way their souls would seem this heavy if their former comrade in arms was well.<\/p>\n
Putting aside his rage at those thoughts he used his knowledge of their pain to weaken them; showering them with verbal taunts and vitriolic recriminations. And it had been working until the moron had managed to make his way to the weapons cage. It had taken Angelus a moment to realize what the boy was doing as his minions began to fall, screaming in agony before being dusted by one of the other do-gooders. When enough minions had been cut down he\u2019d seen exactly what was happening \u2013 they had modified a fire extinguisher to shoot pressurized Holy Water. It was a truly ingenious weapon, but all he could think about when he saw it was that it shouldn\u2019t work. How could water possibly remain consecrated when one was spewing it out of a nozzle much like a clown with seltzer water?<\/p>\n
And yet\u2026<\/p>\n
The efficiency of the weapon had been ruthless. While it would be bulky and unwieldy to lug into battles; situated conveniently in their base of operations it was stellar in its defensive capabilities. He and Drucilla had been fortunate to be so close to the door that they were only moderately burned by the scalding, sacred liquid before they made their escape.<\/p>\n
Angelus ground his teeth at that last thought. He hated escaping. Loathed being in a position of weakness; having to run.<\/p>\n
Even as he contemplated the cosmic wrongness that was his night his attention was diverted by his childe\u2019s anguished screams from across the hall. With his sanity dwindling by the minute and no outlet for his frustrated fury, Angelus made his way across the hall in a swirling cloud of imminent threat.<\/p>\n
Angelus read the look on Spike\u2019s face as the door crashed against the stone wall. It was painfully obvious that the younger vampire was concerned about the condition of his sire and laying the blame for her injuries at Angelus\u2019 feet. He would have found it merely pathetic if it wasn\u2019t so damned annoying.<\/p>\n
But as useless as Spike was even he had a vampire\u2019s innate sense of self-preservation and it was that instinct that had him swallowing whatever angry reprimand he was planning to deliver and it pleased Angelus to no end that the death promised in his dark eyes was so easy to read.<\/p>\n
Before Angelus could fully enjoy yet another victory over his hapless grandchilde Drucilla\u2019s screams transformed into whimpers and then moans as she was overtaken by sights that only she could see.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see her. Daddy\u2019s little light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her ramblings needing little decoding, Angelus reached forward shaking the injured brunette in his desperate need to learn what she knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is she Dru?\u201d<\/p>\n
He vaguely heard Spike\u2019s protest at this treatment, but the unholy sound that clawed its way from deep inside his chest caused even the cocky blond to blanch and shrink slightly back into his chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cCold. The eyes are so cold. They\u2019re all around her. Little light not so bright.\u201d<\/p>\n
The demented giggles that followed would normally have amused Angelus but instead they infuriated him as he knew that they signaled the last usable information that would be forthcoming from his childe for a while.<\/p>\n
Angelus\u2019 gut clenched as he tried to decipher the clues that were hidden underneath Drucilla\u2019s incoherent ramblings. He knew that the answer was there but with his ever evaporating cognitive capabilities the solution eluded him, dancing just beyond his mental reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cDammit! Its right there, I know it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently Spike disagreed and had Angelus not been so consumed with the task at hand he would have shown the boy who was Master and who was only fit to serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow you\u2019re just graspin\u2019 at straws. So people are watchin\u2019 over the girl. Nothing strange in that. Her mates were hardly likely to dump her of in some sleazy motel \u2018til this thing was over.\u201d<\/p>\n
He literally felt it click and for one blissful moment his mind seemed clear. A creepy and menacing smile crept across his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re watching<\/i> her. How could I be so stupid?! Of course they sent her to the people with the magick and the manpower to guard her from me \u2013 the Watcher\u2019s Council. Fuck! I\u2019ve wasted over a week dealing with the wrong people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He began to pace once again, but this time it was with a leashed and considering manner as opposed to the frenetic energy of his earlier movements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, well, well. Apparently I\u2019m not the only one engaging in miscalculations. Could they honestly believe that the Council will protect her?\u201d His cold laughter echoed sharply as it hit the stone walls. \u201cThey\u2019re so naive. They believe that just because they\u2019re all \u201ctruth, justice, and the American way\u201d that everyone\u2019s like that. But the Council? They\u2019d sell their souls to the Devil himself if it advanced their agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angelus sighed in near bliss as hope filled him for the first time in days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be far easier than I thought. I don\u2019t need to recapture Cordelia. I just need to find something the Council wants more than they want to help one young woman that plays no part in their plans. Once I do that I won\u2019t have to go to her. They\u2019ll bring her back to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
His mind filling with possibilities, Angelus left his childe to her would be protector determined that his next plan would be foolproof.<\/p>\n
Chapter Eighty One<\/b><\/p>\n
The expressions of dejection on the faces of those seated around the library table were incongruous with the fact that a victory had just been won. The reason for the despairing looks was quickly summed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buffy\u2019s declaration was a reflection of everyone\u2019s thoughts and her somber tone matched their gloom at the complete and utter lack of ideas to defeat such a brutal and relentless enemy.<\/p>\n
Jenny fidgeted for a moment in her chair. Although she\u2019d been generally accepted back into the groups good graces she still felt as if she were somehow on probation and was thus hesitant to bring up what she was sure to be a controversial proposal. Still, she owed it to the group to let them consider every possibility for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI might have an idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
All eyes snapped to her doing nothing to decrease her uneasiness.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve developed a program to translate the original curse. If it works I may be able to recast it, to return Angel\u2019s soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheer stillness of the room was not unexpected but still nearly unbearable as the young teacher waited for some kind of response to her tentative plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAngel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buffy\u2019s tortured whisper seemed to jolt everyone from their various states of shock, but it was Xander who first recovered the power of speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. No! Don\u2019t get all moony-eyed as if we\u2019re going to save that bastard. Jenny wants to restore his soul then I\u2019m all for it. After all, I\u2019m sure once he\u2019s \u2018Angel\u2019 again it\u2019ll be much easier to get him to stand still while we stake him.\u201d<\/p>\n
For once the pain that lanced Buffy\u2019s gaze meant nothing to the fuming boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t even think about it, Buffy. You believe what you want to believe, but the rest of us know that the soul doesn\u2019t replace the vampire. Angelus will still be there. The monster that\u2019s killing Cordelia will still get to live. For what he\u2019s done to her I won\u2019t just kill Angel, I\u2019ll enjoy every second of it and dance in his dust. And slayer or not \u2013 you won\u2019t be able to stop me unless you\u2019re willing to kill me instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Buffy believed him. At the end of this terrible ordeal it would come down to Angel, her first love, or Xander, her best friend. More than anything, at that moment Buffy wished she could escape back into the barren wasteland of detachment that had surrounded her far too briefly. But she couldn\u2019t. She wasn\u2019t destined to be the slayer by default; to due her duty because she was anesthetized to the ramification of her actions. No, she was meant to care, sometimes far too deeply. Ultimately she would do what was right not because of her calling and not because of the Council, but simply because she believed in the cause and she cherished those who depended on her.<\/p>\n
As she looked at her adopted family she urgently hoped that that caring would be enough to keep her world from shattering when she murdered the soul she\u2019d come to love so deeply.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do we need to do?\u201d<\/p>\n