Title: Lost and Found
Author: Helen
Posted: 07-05-2003
Email: hwtaft@yahoo.co.uk
Rating: NC-17
Category: Angst, smut
Content: C/A
Summary: This is set in season 5. A little back history is Cordy woke up and Angel helped her get over what happened to her, but then she took off, now she’s back.
Spoilers: I have included a ‘new’ character that has been spoiled from the show itself, just so I can take pot shots and yes, I’ve described her as ‘blonde’ Hee Hee.
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution:
Notes:
Feedback: Yes please, this is my 1st so any help is good
Thanks/Dedication: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 your 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 left over 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.
A 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.
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 too she just needed to locate the vampires who would be in human guise. She skirted around the edges, taking deep breathes, 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 vampires 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 heart beat 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 where 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 their 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 your 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 where now starting to doubt the wisdom of having got involved, something told them the fall out 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 so 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 upto 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 and 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 friends 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.
“Your 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.
Part 13 WESLEY’S APARTMENT
The spray was strong and as hot as she could bear it, beating down on her bent head, the water running in rivulets down her face, neck and body. She’d borrowed Wesley’s shower gel it was a masculine scent, but nice and she didn’t think he’d mind.
She was clean now but she stayed under the spray enjoying the massaging effect of it on her tired body. Unwillingly the events of the night replayed through her head and she unconsciously rubbed at her neck, where the marks of a vampire bite should be. But found only smooth unblemished skin.
Her thoughts turned to Angel, he was angry with her; she could tell as soon as he picked her up and carried her out of there. He’d been rigid with it, his face stern if unemotional but she wasn’t fooled and she knew him well enough to know there would be a confrontation between them very soon.
She sighed and move back from the spray, reaching up to turn it off and stepping out of the cubicle. She wrapped a towel around her torso and started using another to dry her long legs.
“Oh for the days when his moods where only irritating”, she rubbed her forehead with her hand again in a gesture that was fast becoming habit for her.
Before she’d started to fall in love with him, she would have just brushed off his bad temper and either ignored him, aggravated it further, or coaxed him out of it. But they were lovers now and the all rules had gone and changed on her even more, this bad temper was very definitely going to affect her, whether she wanted it too or not. It was personal now, about as personal as it could get.
“Where the hell does he get off being pissed at me, I’m the one that nearly died, Asshole”. The anger was welcome but short-lived.
“Dammit” She was just getting into the swing of things what with work and her relationship with Angel and now this has to happen. Both had become important to her in the short time she’d been back in LA, She didn’t want to lose either.
“I should have told him when Drusilla first showed up” She thought, knowing that was a big part of what was angering Angel.
“I couldn’t remember, innocent lives at stake. I couldn’t take the risk”, she said out-loud, defensively.
“He’s going to try and insist I stop working cases on my own”
“So what if he does, what can he do”? She told the inner voice, so wrapped up in the conversation she was having with herself, she forgot she wasn’t alone in the apartment.
Wesley shouted from the living room asking if she was OK, “Yeah I’m fine don’t worry just talking to myself”, great way to come off as a mental case, Cor.
“He’s going to say you can’t cope that you nearly died and got vamped and he’s not wrong”
“Oh right and he hasn’t nearly gotten himself staked plenty of times before”
“You know he won’t see it that way, ‘over protective much’ remember”
“Well anyway he is wrong I can cope, I’ve been doing OK and maybe I’ll get some muscle in”, she visibly brightened at the idea.
“Wow won’t that bake his cookies” Both she and her inner self smiled for a moment enjoying the thought.
“Groo, I could try and find him, no wait that wouldn’t be fair, what with him loving me and me…, well me not feeling the same way”, she’d nearly said ‘being involved with Angel” but she wasn’t feeling very coupley at the moment. She drooped for a moment defeated; no-one else came to mind.
“Ya know what I don’t care, I won’t let him decide my life just because I’m sleeping with him. This is what I want to do and he’s just going to have to get used to it or get the hell out of my life”, she scowled and resumed drying her feet with rough strokes.
“Oh yeah and Mr Stubborn, Possessive and Over Protective Guy, is really just gonna back off and anyway you know you don’t want that”, the annoying inner voice taunted.
“I can stand up to him, it’s not like I haven’t before when he’s been all dark’n’broody”, she said the last with rolling eyes at the memories.
“Maybe, but he’s really, really mad this time”. Big time mad, the look on his face and the brutal fight was etched firmly on her mind.
“Oh shut up”, she slammed the towel down and got dressed, refusing to think about it anymore.
ANGEL THRU THE NIGHT
It had taken him the rest of the night to find the first one. He’d spent hours spent trawling demon hotspots and hangouts, beating up snitches and countless demons looking for the four vamps that had gotten away. Picking fights and generally making the demon underworld know that he was killing mad. He didn’t leave much room for doubt.
He’d taken more than a few knocks himself, but the battered and bruised look only made him look even more dangerous and unstable. Especially as his coat was liberally splattered with blood only a little of which was his own and his face; brows lowered over dark narrowed eyes, glittering with cold fire, was tight with reckless fury.
But now, finally he’d hit lucky and one of the remaining vamps that had hurt Cordelia was dangling by its neck from his clenched right hand, its eyes bugging out of its head with fear.
He brought his own snarling face in close and then without warning pulled back his arm and slammed the vampire against the wall again; its head hit the wall with a sickening thud while its hands still scrabbled frantically at his clenched encircling fingers.
Dust floated freely in the air from the other four vampires he’d found this one hanging out with. They were not the ones he wanted but he dusted them anyway before they’d even had a chance to defend themselves, it being morning and all, they had not been expecting visitors. He’d left this one until last deliberately, he wanted to know where the other three where before he killed it.
“Where are the others? I want names and locations now” Asked Angel with a calm deliberation that revealed the deadly purpose behind the visit. Just in case it hadn’t already figured it out.
“I don’t know”, it gasped around his strangling fingers, vampires don’t need to breath to live but they still need air to talk.
Angel flipped it in the air and slammed it down on its back, before it could recover its wits, one of his boots came to rest with crushing force on its nose and chin.
“Really I don’t know, I don’t know them, only met them for the first time for the job”, it squealed out of mashed lips.
Angel took out a knife from inside his leather duster, his boot still pressed onto the vampires face. He didn’t ask again but bent down and slammed the knife deep into its torso and turned it, the vamp screamed. He stepped off and crouched down beside it.
“You guys must have talked hangouts or favourite hunting spots”, he didn’t raise his voice or bluster, and they both knew he wasn’t bluffing.
“You’re going to kill me anyway”, it whimpered in pain, struggling over broken teeth and split lips.
“True, but I can cut you up first or not, your choice” He removed the knife as he said it, balancing it expertly in his hand ready and willing for the next strike.
It told him what it knew and then he drove a stake into its dead heart.
WESLEY’S APARTMENT (Still the previous night a few hours after getting there)
Lorne arrived at Wesley’s apartment while Cordy was in the shower, he knocked gently, nervously checking up and down the corridor in case any of the neighbours came out and saw him before he could get inside and away from human eyes.
Wesley opened the door and stepped back to let him in, “You didn’t have to come over you know”.
“I know, I just wanted to see her, it’s been a while”, he looked around hoping to see his favourite ex-seer. “So where is she”?
“Shower” said Wesley with a jerk of his head toward the sounds of running water and went back to cleaning the shotgun, currently in pieces scattered around him waiting for a turn with the gun oil and rag.
“Oh and Angel where’s he”? Lorne asked not spotting a large, dark and not so recently broody vampire, “Back to brooding after the close call with vamp Cordy”?
It was a pity thought Lorne with real regret, Angel gets to be happy for a few days after months of sliding back into dark Angel and then this happens. If he knew his boss and he did, this was going to have some very dark repercussions.
“Out” said Wesley, intentionally brief and uninformative, “Is Gunn still keeping an eye on Eve”? he knew he was having only just spoken to him but he wanted to change the subject.
He needn’t have bothered Lorne had spotted the woman on the bed through the door which Wesley had kept open. An axe was propped on this side put there by Wesley, just in case. Lorne walked into the room and over to the bed, looking down at the prone woman.
“Pretty little thing” He said, strangely enervated by the sight of her, “What’s her deal”?
“A friend of Cordy’s” answered Wesley joining the green skinned demon “Drusilla killed her”.
“Oh I doubt that” said Lorne, he sat next to the woman and picked up a hand, “She’s not dead”.
Wesley just stared at him; an uneasy crawling feeling came into life inside him. He suppressed the need to shiver with it “What makes you say that”. His eyes travelled the length of the woman, looking for whatever Lorne could see that made him sound so certain.
She looked the same as when they first carried her onto the bed, pale and still with no signs of life, just horrific wounds on her neck which were now covered with bandages.
“I can feel it, it’s so strong I can almost taste it” answered Lorne cryptically.
“Feel what”, snapped Wesley not in the mood for riddles.
Lorne looked up at him with a smile at his surliness, knowing he was driving the ex-watcher crazy and enjoying it for a moment before relenting, “The life-force Wesley, there’s no way one has been snuffed out, it’s too strong”.
He placed the hand back by her body and patted it gently before moving back out of the room, they both heard Cordelia come out of the bathroom then, not difficult considering she was all but stomping, her beautiful face flushed and wearing a black scowl.
“Hey there Princess, come and give me a big ole huggeroo” Said Lorne with a big smile and wide open arms. Who could resist Lorne; she went to him and got enfolded in a big bear hug.
“How are you doing” He asked her, leaning back but holding her to look into her face, “Hmm not good then”?
“I’ve been better” she said with a wan smile, pushing her hair back behind her ears and looking at Wesley a little sheepishly.
“So I hear” said Lorne, “nearly got yourself vamped by the bosses daughter is what I heard” and then he gave an exaggerated shudder “What that would have done to the family tree I shudder to think”.
“How’s Cathy” Asked Cordy of Wesley, wanting to change the subject and not get into what had happened earlier, she was going to get enough of that later.
“No change that I can tell” said Wesley genuinely and then genuinely curious “So how does this work with her”?
“She’ll just heal and then wake up” said Cordy simply, walking into the bedroom and over to the bed. Cautious as ever Wesley followed closely behind not wanting to leave her alone with what he still half believed was a vampire in the making.
“You’ve seen this before then”? When she nodded he decided now was a good time to dig for more “What is she Cordy, has she told you”?
For a moment Cordelia looked like she was going to ignore him, she didn’t look up from removing the bandages on Cathy’s neck to check the wounds; she smiled when she found they had closed over somewhat, the skin no longer looking so savagely mauled.
She leaned back so Wesley could see and watched him pale, he looked at her “This doesn’t mean anything; the same would happen if she was being turned”. For a moment it looked like she might actually hit him she was so infuriated. So he held up his hands saying “Look all I can go off is what I know and you’re not telling me anything I can believe in”.
Cordy blew the bangs of her hair off her face and placed her hands on hips, searching his face, for what? “Don’t you trust me”? Asked Wesley a little hurt.
“It’s not up-to me to trust you, but I will tell you some of what I know, the rest is not my story to tell, OK” She waited for his agreement, which he gave reluctantly.
“For starters this could take days to heal before she comes round. How she got the wounds makes a big difference on how quickly she heals. If she gets attacked herself then she heals very quickly but if it’s a wound she’d taken off someone then it takes much, much longer”.
“So these wounds are the ones that you got from Drusilla then” asked Wesley, incredulous, he’d actually managed to convince himself that she never got bitten by Drusilla after all. Even though he’d seen it with his own eyes.
“Yes” said Cordy. Even Lorne who had followed them in looked sceptical “I don’t know chickpea, it all sounds a bit biblical to me, but maybe that’s just me”? Wesley and Lorne shared a look.
Cordy laughed then, “I said that once and it was the first time I ever saw her angry, I mean really angry so don’t ever say anything like that to her of you want to keep your head on your shoulders”.
“So how does she do it then”? Wesley was feeling more uneasy not less, thinking of Jasmine and her ‘healing powers’.
“She calls it paying the price, the way she tells it’s like she’s come kind of, oh I don’t know cosmic credit card. Someone’s sick or something she can heal them but she has to pay the price for it, which means she takes on the problem and then she heals herself”.
“Very kind of her“said Wesley dryly “She must be busy there’s a lot of sick and hurting people out there”.
Cordy crossed her arms and aimed on of her dirtiest looks, the kind she only saved for VERY special occasions, like now. “Don’t talk about what you can’t understand Wes, she’s only one person. She has to decide who to help, can you imagine having to make that decision”. She raised a brow and waited until he dropped his own eyes before she was satisfied.
“But what is she”? Asked Lorne, wondering if he’d missed that part.
“I don’t know exactly, she’s never said but she is pretty much human though” replied Cordy, hands up in a ‘take it or leave it’ gesture.
“Pretty much human”? Wesley replied back with a great deal of ‘I beg your pardon’ in his voice.
“Yes Wesley, just, well a little more as well”, Cordy shrugged, what did he want her to say for crying out loud, what was she some kind of encyclopaedia for the strange and unusual.
“What other ‘powers’ does she have”?
Cordy stayed silent for a moment this conversation was not going well as it was, should she mention the other psychic stuff, especially as Wesley’s reaction was bad enough without it and by the same thought what would Angel’s be like?
“That’s all you need worry about”. Better not to risk it.
“Cordelia” Said Wesley in a warning tone of voice, all stern and father figureish, yeah OK Wes.
“I said that’s all you need to know OK, for gods sake she saved me from being dead or a monster, isn’t that enough”? Cordy raised her voice and glared with all of her considerable might at the ex-watcher who she also considered to be a good friend but right now was being a complete pain in the ass.
“Where is Angel anyway? He shot out of here quick enough, what happened did he have a board meeting or something”? Sarcasm and bitterness was evident in her voice and dark scowling face.
“Making sure that the threat is completely taken care of” Replied Wesley, picking his words with care, getting in between these two when they were squabbling was a game for fools.
“What threat he took care of that with unusual gusto at the lab, by the way has someone been spiking his blood again? cos that was a little too gung-ho for me” She started pacing, was this night ever going to end.
“I want to home now, there’s no point in my being here, I can take Cathy there and look after her”, she told Wesley, daring him to contradict her.
He must have had more gumption than she remembered “NO, not until we’re sure your safe, your apartment is the first place any remaining vampires who worked for Dru would go to find you”.
“Urgghh that’s rubbish Wesley, there can’t be more, she had them all gathered for the show” said Cordy with a great deal of frustration showing through.
“Nevertheless” said Wesley refusing to budge an inch. Lorne could feel the tension rise and knew Cordy was about to raise the roof, so he said “What about the hotel”.
Both Cordelia and Wesley looked at him and said in unison “What”?
Lorne shrugged and looked nonchalant “The Hyperion, its empty and available, any vamps of Dru’s won’t go there looking for Cordy and anyway they’d be too afraid of bumping into our very own prince of darkness to try anything”.
As an idea it had merit, Cordy looked back at Wesley and raised a brow “It’s either that or I go home, Wes, so make up your mind and make it snappy”.
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