Title: All the Days & Nights to Follow
Author: Lysa
Posted: 05-05-2004
Email: lysawhitmore@aol.com
Rating: NC-17
Category: AU / Smut, BtVS2
Content: C/Aus & C/A
Summary: Now re-ensouled, Angel must decide whether or not to take Cordelia up on an invitation she left with Angelus. Sequel to ‘A Night to Remember’.
Spoilers: BtVS Season 2
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Anywhere…please let me know.
Notes: ANtR was based on a challenge by Sunscorched where Drunk!Cordy and Drunk!Angelus come face to face. Together, they had A Night to Remember. Since this little sequel seems to be extending longer than most standalones (excepting mine that is), I decided to make this a short serial of 2-3 parts. More coming soon.
Feedback: Even more virtual margaritas and seabreezes for all. Cheers!
Thanks/Dedication: Since I can’t seem to write a PG or R fic around here without you Smut Fiends demanding explicitly smutty sequels…this is for you.Part 1
Chase Residence, Cordelia’s Bedroom
“What do you mean it’s happening tonight?” Cordelia barked the question into the cell phone. “Right now?”
Jenny Calendar let out a short sigh on the other end of the line, her exasperation smothered by the crackling connection. The unruly weather outside seemed to be interfering with the call, but it was one that she felt obligated to make. Anyone whose life had been touched by Angelus was in some way her responsibility and there was no doubt that the vampire had made an impact on Cordelia Chase.
Judging by his constant demands to see her during the past month, which had gone ignored by Rupert, his slayer protégé and her friends, Cordelia had also made an impression on the Scourge of Europe himself. During the past month, while Jenny searched for a way to return the vampire’s soul, he remained a captive though he had been moved to Rupert’s townhouse apartment rather than leave him in the Chase mansion.
While Cordelia would have kept him there, Rupert found it ‘highly inappropriate’ for Angelus to remain. He made the excuse of not knowing when her parents might return from their current sojourn in Tuscany. “Finding a man chained to your bed might prove…rather shocking for them, especially when that man is a psychopathic vampire.”
He’d made the comment with his proper English nose stuck in the air, hands on the lapels of his tweed jacket and looking adorably stuffy. Jenny knew Rupert had been more than just a little surprised at the news when Cordelia called him that morning. Out of an almost fatherly concern, he’d asked her along to provide Cordelia with some emotional support. Instead, Jenny ended up trying to act as referee for the teenager who was all but attacked with questions by Buffy, Willow and Xander.
Not that Cordelia appeared to want or need a referee of any kind. She more than held onto her home-field advantage and never let it go. Never once did she make an excuse to them except to say that Angelus had been drinking. It wasn’t until later that Cordelia actually sorted out that her own drinks at the Bronze were spiked by one of the guys from the football team and related that to Jenny during one of their soon-to-be many confidential chats.
The rift between Cordelia and the others seemed impossible to bridge after that day and when Rupert denied her access to his house, and therefore to visiting rights to Angelus, the brunette was forced to step back. Down, but not out. Jenny had to admire the rather mature face Cordelia had put on during the past few weeks and had secretly been keeping her informed of the progress on the re-ensoulment spell and the vampire’s status.
“Things were crazy today,” Jenny explained the delayed call. “I discovered the last piece of information I needed, but we have to move on this tonight. If I am to do this right, it must be in the Kalderash way.”
Cordelia stared out her balcony doors where the rain pelted down furiously. “If that involves any of us dancing naked under the gypsy moon, I don’t suppose you could pick a night with better weather.”
“You’re a riot, Cor,” Jenny returned drolly and then glanced over her shoulder at the activity in the other room. “We’re about to begin. Looks like Willow and Rupert are all set and waiting for me to get started. Get here now or you’ll miss it. I’ll leave the door unlocked for you.”
Ending the call, Cordelia headed straight downstairs pausing only to grab her car keys off the small table in the foyer. She darted out into the storm, the sheeting rain soaking through her clothing within seconds. Cordelia climbed into her car turning on the engine before setting the windshield wipers to maximum speed and flipping on the low-beam headlights. As soon as the security gate opened, Cordelia pressed her foot onto the gas pedal and set her Corvette in the direction of Rupert Giles’ house.
“Talk about your last-minute calls,” Cordelia complained to herself. Although, being honest with herself, she was surprised that anyone managed to make the effort to include her in witnessing Angelus’ re-ensoulment. Maybe she’d been dropped off everyone’s Christmas card list, but that didn’t mean she had no interest in Angel’s wellbeing or had no right to be present at an event that might mean the difference in his continued existence and sweeping him up in a dustpan.
No way even Jenny would see to allowing Angelus to continue to live after what he’d done to her Uncle Enyos. Part and parcel of the danger the Kalderash tribe of gypsies faced in their observation of the cursed vampire, she accepted the risk her uncle had taken because it was one she took herself. But if the soul could not be returned, then Cordelia had no doubt that Jenny Calendar would condone putting Angelus down for good and if Buffy wouldn’t do it, Giles or Xander certainly would.
As if the sky was protesting the events to come, thunder growled across the sky as white lightning shot across the horizon. Cordelia maneuvered her car through the nearly empty streets of Sunnydale, rain pelting down hard on the slick blacktop.
Jenny was right. No matter the weather, this was one event she wasn’t going to miss. What was a freak storm in comparison to the greeting she was likely to get from the gang? Pfft! Nature had nothing on the blustery windiness of Hurricane Buffy.
While some part of her recognized the fact that she had slept with the evil version of Buffy Summer’s boyfriend possibly giving the blond slayer a legitimate reason to stay mad at her, there was nothing to be done to erase the memories of that long night of passion with Angelus.
Frankly, Cordelia didn’t want to forget a single second. Not that she could remember it all. There were parts of her memory still a little fuzzy from her apparently spiked virgin margaritas. What she did recall stayed constantly in her thoughts and invaded her dreams each night with images and sensations that left her body tingling.
By the time they’d reached her house that night, Cordelia had already nearly caused two wrecks. Drunken driving and Angelus’ wandering hands did not mix. The teasing touch of his mouth on her earlobe and the slide of his large hand across her breasts had her squirming in the driver’s seat. His fingers curled around one breast, giving it a firm squeeze and tweaking her budding nipple through the barriers that separated it from him.
Cordelia moaned, pressing herself into his hand, only he moved it away to toy with her hair. Reaching up, she grabbed his hand away dragging it back down to her other breast. Angelus chuckled in her ear, “Want my hands on you?”
“Yes,” she admitted with a nod. It seemed like a necessity. It was all she could do to concentrate on driving or else Cordelia figured she’d be trying to touch him too.
“How about my mouth?” Angelus practically purred the words into her ear resulting in another needful moan. “You’ll have to let me have a nibble there, sweet Cordelia. Bite those little nubs. Suck them hard. Tease them with my tongue.”
Lusty promises sounded in her ear all the way home. Those were the tame ones and still they left her hot, aching and her panties wet. Forget the fact that Cordelia had was convinced to get her revenge against Xander by sleeping with Angelus, she just wanted him. Plain and simple. Right now nothing was stopping her from getting what she wanted and boy howdy she had an idea he could give it to her in spades.
Screeching to a halt in front of her house, awkwardly angled and practically parked on top of the first step, she shut off the engine and reached over to grab Angelus by the lapel of his leather jacket. Yanking him close and covering his firm male mouth with her plush lips, Cordelia thought she might devour him whole with her kiss just to ease some of the need coursing through her body. He’d built her up to a fever pitch and they were still in the car.
The sheer enthusiasm behind that kiss delighted Angelus. He knew the little vixen would do justice to his lustful imaginings. Not to be outdone, Angelus brought both hands up to palm her face, opening her mouth up to him and slowing the kiss down to a snail’s pace of teasing near-misses as he hovered over her. Then alternating soft butterfly tugs with his lips and the hard press of his mouth on hers. Little sounds of pleasure poured from her throat swallowed by Angelus as he let her eager tongue tangle with his.
Pushing at his immovable chest, Cordelia was the one knocked heavily into the car door, the handle now digging into her back as she sat gasping for air and focusing lustfully in Angelus’ direction. She felt tingly and aching everywhere: golden skin afire, cheeks red and flushed, lips now swollen and her breasts so sensitive that the nipples rasping softly against the silk of her bra with each breath seemed too much to bear. There was an ache deep in her belly Cordelia knew only he could sate.
Scrambling from the car, they stared at each other across the hood, both leaning against its warm surface. Through the haze of their inebriated state, only their lust for each other was more overpowering. His gaze dangerous and wicked raked down Cordelia’s throat and jutting breasts to the place where her hips pressed against the car. She could almost feel that stare touching her.
“Come over here,” the intimate croon softened Angelus’ demand.
No protests this time. Cordelia wanted her hands on him, needed to feel the hard frame of his body under her touch, to crush herself against him and get lost in his kiss. “Whatcha gonna do when I get there?” she reprised her question from their little chat outside the Bronze as she sauntered in his direction.
Angelus decided to show her instead. Trapping her body between his and the car, he clutched her silky thigh pulling it up around his waist. Then thrusting forward pressed his bulging erection into the cradle of her hips. With a gruff sound, Angelus claimed her mouth again and spent the next countless minutes giving Cordelia a hint of what was to come.
The hard frame of the car dug uncomfortably against her ass, but Cordelia hardly noticed. Their wild kisses distracted her. Not to mention the way he felt in her arms. Mmm, the vampire was all bulky, corded muscle under her roving fingertips. Hitching her leg just a little higher, Cordelia rotated her hips to meet the hard friction of his cloth-covered erection grinding against the thin silk of her panties so close to her throbbing center.
Those large hands held her, caressed her, and touched her in ways that drove her mad with wanting his skin on hers. When Angelus pulled back from her lips, a soft sound protest erupted from Cordelia’s throat. He held her steady, her breasts full, pebble-tipped and aching as they pressed into his hard chest. “Time to invite me in, baby.”
Geez, could anything be more frikkin’ obvious? Cordelia traced a hand along his jaw, asking in a throaty undertone, “You want in?”
“Unless you want to be fucked on the hood of your car,” Angelus insisted hotly as if he was considering that option right then.
Uncurling her leg from around him, Cordelia gave him a shove, which he obligingly took a step back. He watched the playful curl of her mouth as she told him, “Not the first time.”
While Angelus was caught up in thinking the suggestion was still on the menu, Cordelia moved past him to pick up her keys from where she’d dropped them as soon as he’d pulled her into his arms. She’d had much better things to do with her hands than to hold keys. Giggling at the naughty thoughts that followed, Cordelia walked up the stairs and after several attempts found it grabbed from her hand by Angelus.
“I’ll do it,” impatience sounded in his voice drawing more laughter from the tipsy brunette as she watched his hand wavering.
“Aim not so good, Big Bad Vamp?” Cordelia chuckled as he missed again. “That’s not a very good sign considering you can’t even put the lock in my key.”
Angelus paused long enough to grumble a correction, “Key in your lock.”
“You can’t do it.”
“Can too.”
“Huh.”
Then he leered, adding with a waggle of his eyebrows, “I have a very big key.”
Sucking in a gasp of air, Cordelia remembered the way he felt against her. “Mmm. Yes, you do.”
Snatching the keys back, she pushed it into the lock and then thrust open the door to step inside. Turning around, Cordelia let her gaze travel over the waiting vampire from the top of his dark head down to his black shoes, arousal apparent on every inch of him. Those dark eyes trained on her were filled with lust and expectancy as he waited for her to voice the words that would gain him admittance to her house.
“Angelus,” porch light glinted like stars in her hazel orbs as Cordelia suddenly told him, “goodnight,” slamming the door between them.
“What the fuck? Cordelia!” The vampire snarled her name and proceeded to pound on the thick door.
It opened after a few seconds to the sound of Cordelia’s amused laughter. Geez, that was funny. “Gotcha! Just kidding, dork. I invite you in already.”
Storming across the threshold, Angelus prowled around the foyer trying to decide if he wanted to spank her or reward her for that little bit of torture. For a second, he thought she’d lied to him, tricked him, teased him, led him on and aroused him only to play him for a fool on her doorstep. Damn, she could twist him up in knots without even trying hard.
Taking a handful of her silky hair in his fist, Angelus tugged just enough to force her to move closer. As he leaned down to brush his cheek along hers, the whispered words in Cordelia’s ear left her shuddering in wanton response. “Vixen, I hope you know what you’ve invited into your house because I’m about to let you have every inch of me.”
The memory alone nearly caused Cordelia to miss the turn into the complex where Giles’ townhouse apartment was located. Giving the wheel a sharp turn, she nearly ended up in the ditch, which was already flooding the street with water. Getting as close as she could, Cordelia pulled her car to a stop. The rain was still pelting down and with the windshield wipers off it covered the glass with a sheet of rain so thick that it made seeing beyond it impossible.
Weather like this was so rare in this part of California that Cordelia never carried an umbrella with her or kept one in her car. Darting out of the car, she made a run for it, but the distance between the parking area and Giles’ courtyard entryway left her soaked through by the time she reached the door.
Giles’ Townhouse, Earlier that Night
“Just leave him alone, Buffy,” counseled Willow in between setting up the magical components necessary for the re-ensoulment spell. “Angelus will stop taunting you if you quit responding to his very mean, nasty comments.”
Directing her last few words at Angelus, she tightened her mouth into a harsh little circle and nodded her head one time as if to admonish the vampire for mistreatment of her friend. Sneering at her from his chained position, Angelus maliciously told the little redhead that he would enjoy eating the tongue she’d poked out at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. They’d bolted his chains to the brick surface of the fireplace, but with his escalating fury, Angelus kept pulling against his bonds.
The manacles that held him were mystically enhanced, but not the chains nor their connection to the fireplace. With enough effort, Angelus knew he could break free and then he’d start first with Willow, followed by that gypsy bitch Jenny Calendar, then Giles. The Slayer and her loyal pet Xander would wait until he dealt with the ones who possessed the skill to pull off this re-ensoulment.
Buffy grabbed the chains, using her slayer strength to give them some slack and yanking hard enough that Angelus’ shoulders pulled back to a painful point. “Don’t try that again,” aggravation had long-since lighted the fuse to her temper and this was getting to her more than she ever wanted to admit.
He knew it too, the smug bastard. Buffy could read it in Angelus’ eyes. For a month she had hoped and prayed that Jenny Calendar’s research would be successful and that her Angel could be returned. This monster who had taken his place was pure evil and nothing like the man she loved. Not a day went by when he didn’t bring up her relationship with Angel, his words twisting and defiling it until Buffy was not certain that the memory of her love actually existed.
While Giles wanted to keep her away from Angelus as much as possible, it was still necessary for Buffy to be around him. To control him while they checked the integrity of the manacles and chains as well as during feeding time. It disgusted her having to be there as he sucked down the pig blood provided for him. She wouldn’t touch it, just held him locked in her grip while one of the others used a device that extended the mug and its straw from a safe distance.
Maybe pig blood was as disgusting to Angelus as it was to her, but he played it to the hilt pretending to enjoy every last drop and then making some comment about being eager to taste hers as he drained her. That didn’t bother Buffy as much as the rest. She’d see to it that he never got his fangs near her neck or that of one of her friends.
It was what he had to say about Cordelia Chase that really left her with a feeling of gut-wrenching agony. Even now, in the minutes before Jenny Calendar would invoke the Spell of Restoration, Angelus spoke only of Queen C. Ignoring Willow’s counsel, Buffy narrowed her green eyes and forced Angelus onto his knees. Dropping the chains, she stalked around to the front, balled her hand into a fist and threw a right hook that sent him crashing back against the brick.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Angelus only sneered at the slayer as he slowly struggled back to his feet. She let him straighten up before shoving him down onto the chair they had provided. “Shut up and stay put, Angelus. I’ve heard enough about what you two did together to give a play-by-play account. In a few minutes, it won’t matter anymore. Y’know why?”
“Go ahead and tell me,” Angelus slid his tongue along the cut in his lip.
Crossing her arms over her slender torso, Buffy defiantly pointed out, “Because you’ll be gone. Things will be back to normal when Angel returns.”
A savage laugh left his chest, deep and full of scorn, “It will never be the same, Buff. Y’know why?”
Swallowing down the fact that Angelus was making her eat her own words, she held her ground refusing to show how deeply every syllable cut into her heart. “Go ahead and tell me.”
“Because having a soul doesn’t make me stupid,” Angelus stated smoothly, that dark glint appearing in his eyes. He knew his barbs hit home. What made it all the better was the fact that she knew he meant it. “Cordelia is twice the woman you are or ever will be, slayer. It’s just not in you.”
Buffy felt the hot sting of tears welling in her eyes.
“There, there, Buffy, no tears,” Angelus mocked her as he stood shirtless and garbed only in that same pair of black sweatpants. “Everyone has their gift. Yours just does not seem to involve the ability to do anything except lay there and take it.”
This wouldn’t be the first time that Buffy had reminded him that she’d been a virgin when Angel made love to her. Nor even one of a dozen times she’d reminded him that Angel experienced bliss because of her and the love they shared. But Buffy was not about to put herself up to the same caustic responses that he’d given her before.
“Maybe I don’t care how much of a slut Cordelia is,” Buffy snapped back. “I know he loved me. I know it.”
Staring deep into her eyes, Angelus asked so softly that his words whispered across her skin, “Do you really believe that?”
Soft words were followed by that trademark smirk causing Buffy to let out a low growl of frustration. Holding out her hand, she showed Angelus the Claddagh ring on her finger. “This makes me believe it,” she answered obstinately.
Then just to prove her point in believing that the demon before her was nothing in her eyes in comparison to the one she loved, Buffy curled her fist again and hit him. Doubling over, Angelus let out a grunt of pain, but came up wearing that mocking grin.
“I just want things to be normal again,” Buffy swiped at the tears on her cheeks.
Angelus raised an eyebrow, “You’ll never have normal, slayer. If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s no wonder it took me so long to get into your pants.”
Her eyes snapped open. “YOU have never been anywhere near my pants.”
The soft sound of Giles clearing his throat behind them interrupted Angelus’ raucous comeback. “Must we have this argument again?”
“No,” Angelus answered. “Buff and I are having it. You can mind your own business, Rup.”
Suppressing his urge to take the bait and jump right into the argument, Giles instead informed them, “We are ready to begin. Buffy, if you’ll take hold of Angelus’ chains again, just in case. Xander and I will step over to the other side of the room and let Jenny and Willow take over from here.”
Angelus stopped playing verbal games with the slayer and turned his attention to Jenny Calendar. He tried to distract her with his threats and taunts, but the woman was focused on her Romani majicks. These were the ways of her ancestors and not those of a modern educator, but she was versed enough to recognize the details in the ancient curse, the amria, that would restore the vampire’s soul and bind it to him forever.
Holding out the Orb of Thesulah, Jenny invoked the spell just as Cordelia Chase burst into the room dripping wet and trailing water behind her. Before she could even call out his name, Angelus’ gaze transfixed her. Holding to the spot at the door, Cordelia felt the hot sweep of his eyes along her body only to meet them again and watch the dark light altered by the force of the spell.
The look of possessive lust glazed over to be replaced by confusion and something else Cordelia could not identify convincing her before anyone else that the Spell of Restoration worked. Angelus soul had returned and with it the emotional baggage that he constantly carried. Pressing her lips together, Cordelia acknowledged her own mixed and contrary feelings.
This needed to happen, but Cordelia could already tell by the way Angel looked at her that nothing would ever be quite so uncomplicated between them as the night they spent in her bed. No inhibitions. No regrets. Not after the initial shock had worn off anyway. Especially considering the little reminder Angelus had left behind.
That thought caused Cordelia to smile, an unconsciously brilliant grin that brought color to her cheeks and a sparkle to her eyes. Angel stared in rapt wonder at the sight and through the initial haze of confusion felt drawn to that beautiful smile and the woman who bestowed it upon him. Through clouded memories, Angel recalled flashing images of holding her in his arms, exploring silky golden skin, palming her breasts while holding her from behind and his hard cock pressing against her firm, rounded ass.
Assaulted by a wave of lust, Angel suddenly realized that this was Cordelia Chase he was remembering and that they’d found ecstasy together more than once during one hot night of passion. A night that should never have happened. They’d been drunk. He’d been without a soul and Cordelia without her natural instinct for survival. She was lucky to be alive.
Yet there she was, standing there smiling at him.
Angel was on his feet and moving forward before it even registered that he was still in chains. A sharp tug sent him tumbling toward the chair followed by Buffy’s voice, “Where do you think you’re going, Angelus?”
He could tell from Cordelia’s expression that Buffy was staring at her. So were the others. The sight of a dripping wet Cordelia made for a fascinating sight. Not that the others, with one or two possible exceptions, were thinking anything close to the same sexually-charged thoughts as him.
Her long hair was plastered to her head, raindrops clinging to her dewy golden skin, that luscious mouth moist and plump and kissable. The blouse she wore appeared sheer in its wet state topping a colored bra that hugged her breasts and highlighted her cleavage. Her pants clung to her like a second skin.
Damn, but she looked good enough to eat.
Angel knew that he shouldn’t be thinking those things. Knew that in this early stage of ensoulment that his demon side warred with the emotional influx brought by the soul. Only something was different this time. Those demonic impulses didn’t seem to be fading into the background. He had to consciously make an effort to subdue what he was feeling.
“So is it Angel or Angelus?” asked Xander while still staring back and forth between the vampire and Cordelia.
Buffy jerked on the chains again even though Angel hadn’t moved. “It’s obviously still Angelus.”
“The spell was flawless,” Jenny cut in setting the Orb of Thesulah aside.
“She’s right. You’re yanking Angel’s chains,” Cordelia told Buffy and then muttered under her breath, “no doubt in more ways than one.”
“What are you doing here?” The question she’d been expecting finally emerged from Buffy’s mouth though it wasn’t quite as angry as Cordelia imagined it would be, just seemingly resolved that she was in the picture even if she didn’t want her here.
Cordelia didn’t bother with the details. In fact, she skipped answering the question altogether. “Hello, chained vampire. Aren’t you going to release him?”
Whether there was something in Cordelia’s eyes or simply that Buffy wanted to believe her, she moved around to the front, staring down at Angel with tearful eyes and tremulous lips. Then lunging forward, Buffy threw her arms around his broad shoulders and plastered a kiss across his mouth. In his shocked state, Angel merely sat there. Slowly, noting the lack of response, Buffy pulled away. “What is it, Angel?”
“That’s quite a difference from the punishment you’ve been doling out for the past few weeks,” he commented uneasily. Face to face with her everyday, he recalled their angry bouts with complete clarity.
Fiddling with a strand of her hair, Buffy explained, “I was just controlling the demon. It wasn’t you I was hitting, Angel.”
“Felt like it,” Angel flexed his jaw noting that it still hurt from that last upper-cut. “Buffy, you seem to think I wasn’t your captive this past month; that I wasn’t here at all. No matter how much the both of us would like to forget I’m a demon, that is what I am. That’s simply the way it is, Buffy.”
“No, you’re nothing like him,” Buffy shook her head so that her blond hair flew out around her shoulders. “Nothing. You’d never do the things he’s done.”
“Actually,” Giles held up a finger to make a point, “He’s is telling you the truth, Buffy. I would have argued it before, but with Angelus’ manners being so rude I figured that it would be better coming from him at a time when he could behave himself.”
Angel sent the watcher a pointed stare, “Thanks, Rup,” he spoke with purposeful irreverence.
“Oh, you’re quite welcome,” Giles returned with nary a blink. “When you’re feeling up to it…or even sooner than that…we’ll be having a little chat about one or two things.”
If those one or two things had names that were Buffy and Cordelia, Angel wondered if there was any way to get out of that lecture. He already felt guilty enough for his own actions without Rupert Giles adding his two cents.
“Any chance someone will let Angel out of those manacles?” Cordelia tried again. She was getting impatient and felt anxious to find out if he was as okay as he looked.
A few recent bruises aside, Angel appeared to be intact. Not that she’d expected Giles or the others to mistreat him. It was just that she hadn’t seen him in so long, Cordelia needed to convince herself that her concern wasn’t just an excuse to let her gaze wander all over him.
Willow stepped up rather cautiously, sending Cordelia a questioning look since she seemed to be convinced that this was Angel. Maybe it didn’t help that Cordelia got a little impatient promising, “He won’t bite…much.”
Hopping back away from the vampire, Willow noticed that Cordelia’s words brought a little smile to his lips. Angel smiling? “I-I don’t think the spell worked.”
“You saw the effects,” Jenny countered. “I’m certain that we succeeded. Angel’s soul is back and this time it’s permanent.”
“So no more Angelus?” Hope suffused Buffy’s voice.
Jenny could tell it would take a Mack truck to get through to the slayer on this subject, but she tried again. “Angelus is always with us, Buffy. The soul guides him, gives him a conscience that does not exist in his pure vampiric state. It allows him to access feelings his demon half normally suppresses.”
The slayer was almost breathless as she suggested, “Like love?”
From across the room, Angel felt Cordelia’s gaze on him and heard the steady beat of her heart skip and move at a faster rhythm. Surely she couldn’t feel anything akin to love. Not for him. Not after he’d done everything in his power to seduce her.
“Perhaps Angel would be the one to tell you that,” Jenny suggested feeling rather uncomfortable talking to Buffy about love when she’d just spent the past few weeks as Cordelia’s confidant. Their friendship had grown at a rate equal to the demise of her relationship to the Scooby Gang.
Even Rupert had remained remote and aloof trying to save Cordelia from any further association with the evil of the Hellmouth. As if he could. Jenny had tried to twist his arm into letting her visit hoping that it would calm the vampire down and give them a few moment’s peace, but he’d continued to refuse until finally she gave up on the idea.
Feeling the tension in the air, Jenny wondered if their problems hadn’t just taken on a whole new twist. Meeting Angel’s contemplative gaze, she listened with a sense of horror as he admitted to her, “It was lucky that I did not discover your link to Enyos. Knowing you were Kalderash Romani, I would have killed you.”
Gulping, Jenny nodded, “I know. That’s why I’m glad there won’t be any more… accidents if you get happy now and then.”
The deleted clause in the spell was much more intricate than that, but it suited her to explain it that way. Simplicity was sometimes a blessing.
Turning his gaze to Willow, Angel asked to be released. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Maybe not, but you still owe me some fish,” she snapped back showing a little bite of her own. Walking over to Buffy’s side, Willow held her hands out above the manacles that shackled Angel. After speaking a phrase of majick, the lock binding his arms in place clicked open and the chains fell to the carpet with a heavy chinking of metal.
“I guess I do,” Angel nodded his understanding. Although he wasn’t foolish enough to think that buying a few fish would be all that it would take to win back her trust. Willow’s loyalty depended upon the emotional state of her two best friends and Angel knew he had a rocky road ahead of him where Buffy was concerned. Xander, as usual, was a lost cause, a battle he’d never bothered to fight.
Stretching so that his muscles bunched and lengthened releasing the tension in his bare shoulders, Angel was conscious of Buffy hovering at his side. If it wasn’t for the fact that he felt guilty about all of the things he’d said, or at least the way that he’d said them, Angel would have told her she was acting like a leech clinging to him so closely.
“Thanks for your ‘hospitality’, Rupert,” Angel gave the words a little sardonic twist that he might not normally have done, “but I think I’ll be leaving.”
“Going where?” Cordelia questioned sharply. If it wasn’t for the accompanying look of concern on her face, Angel might have thought she was hinting at something. Then she clarified, “Your evil self wasn’t the only one living at that Nightmare on Crawford Street.”
Angel realized she was right. Damn. All his good stuff was there. “Guess it’ll have to be my old apartment tonight.”
“You’re welcome to borrow the couch again,” Giles motioned to it as if he’d been a guest rather than a prisoner for the past month. “Considering the weather tonight, it may be best for you to stay.”
“Maybe I will,” Angel nodded his thanks even as he moved in the other direction, the one that took him toward Cordelia.
Xander suddenly stepped between them looking a little ornery at the fact that Angel was approaching his former girlfriend. Forget the fact that he’d joined in the Buffy Brigade when it came to cutting Cordelia out of their lives. He’d spent the first week trailing after her and begging for reconciliation and then turned away with his tail between his legs.
Now Xander had the gall to make a move that screamed of possession, as if he had any right to stop Angel from approaching Cordelia Chase. “Step away, boy,” Angel sounded out the words with a tight jaw.
“I’m not moving,” Xander returned with a defiant stare standing as tall and firmly in place as he could. “Stay away from Cordelia.”
“Take your own advice. Back off,” Angel said with such a cool demeanor that no one even suspected that in the next moment he would grab Xander by the arm moving him to one side.
By the time Xander got over his shock, Angel was already standing next to Cordelia whose attention was focused entirely on the vampire. With a pout of discontent, he walked over to the nearest chair and sat down to watch Buffy’s reactions to this little reunion.
The slayer looked tense and ready to pounce. She stood wide-eyed and watching so closely that any other movement in the room went ignored.
Sadness filled Angel’s handsome face as he looked into Cordelia’s waiting gaze. She was so beautiful; he cursed the longing that swirled heat around his chest and loins. Self-loathing crept up to fight the desire flaming inside him at her closeness. Swiping at his lips with the tip of his tongue, Angel struggled to say something to her that would equal the intensity of his feelings.
“Cordelia,” her name sounded as little more than a whisper.
Jumping in before he could say anything else, Cordelia commented, “It didn’t take long for that guilt trip to set in. Get over it.”
That sounded a little harsh. Angel stared at her watching the way the light played on the droplets of water clinging to her skin. He wanted to lick them off one by one. “Is it so easy to forget?”
“No,” Cordelia answered honestly. Her lips quirking up at the corners, “Besides, you did leave me a little reminder.”
He wasn’t smiling this time despite the hint of amusement flirting along the corners of her lush mouth. Angel’s memories were still hazy and whether that was the cause of the spell or simply that the Irish Whiskey he’d been drowning himself in that night had washed away the details, he could not immediately recall the circumstances leading to his marking her skin.
Especially there.
Biting Cordelia on the ass was not the best way to stay on her good side. Denial was futile, so why bother, “Guess I did. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Cordelia hurried to add before he could say anything specific. No one knew about that bite. Not even Jenny. “I told you we’re even.”
Angel visibly relaxed. “Good. We’ll start over from here.” The smile that broke out across her face made him realize he’d never need sunshine with Cordelia around. He was so tempted to touch her, to kiss those lips. He knew their taste, the feel of them under his.
“It’s a deal,” Cordelia held out her hand to shake his in true deal-making fashion and when he closed his hand over hers she leaned in close to whisper, “Just no biting this time.”
Dammit, Chase, you’re flirting with him. Cordelia realized she didn’t want to let go of his hand. To hell with it. I’m not going to pretend I don’t want him. I’m sure he can tell.
Reaching up with his free hand, Angel touched the back of his fingers to the line of her throat, pausing and then turning his hand to circle his thumb over her steadily thrumming pulse point. Murmuring the question, “Did we ever have a deal about that?”
Angel imagined his mouth there. More than that, he could picture himself sinking his fangs into that silken skin. Marking her. Making her his.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Angel dropped his hands away as if her skin scalded him. Angel stepped back and facing Giles again who appeared a little stunned by the sudden attention, asked if he could use the shower and if there were any clothes he could borrow. That set of sniggering from the direction of the couch where Xander shared his thought with the rest of them, “Angel in tweed.”
The only ones not laughing after that were Giles and Angel.
“I could use a change of clothes myself,” Cordelia finally commented rubbing her arms as she started to feel a chill.
“You could do with a hot shower too,” Angel pointed out completely innocently until his more lascivious thoughts suddenly put her in that shower right next to him.
Buffy overheard the comment and gritted her teeth saying, “We wouldn’t want you to get sick, Cor. Why don’t you go home.”
“I should,” Cordelia nodded in agreement without bothering to let the slayer’s tone get to her. “Giles, can I borrow an umbrella?”
“Certainly,” the Englishman answered as he popped out to the small foyer where he kept an umbrella stand. Not that he used them much, but Giles was prepared for any inclement weather. Handing one over to the drenched brunette, he went back to open up the door. “Goodnight, Cordelia.”
“Guess that’s my cue,” Cordelia laughed. Looking over her shoulder at Angel one last time and left him staring after her as she said, “Enjoy your shower. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
Almost the moment the door closed behind her the gang immediately started talking about Cordelia showing up. When Jenny Calendar admitted to calling her and stated that she thought Cordelia should be here too, they all stared at her in shock. Even Giles appeared surprised that she would do such a thing without consulting him. Then again, Jenny was a rather independent modern woman and the thought only left him wondering if he’d done the right thing in trying to shelter Cordelia by keeping her out of the picture.
Angel was already tired of the bickering. He escaped upstairs to the bathroom and turned the hot water on until it was steaming. After a month of captivity, he felt like he needed to scour his skin to get clean again.
He was still a little hazy in the memory department. The most recent memories were the clearest, those dealing with Buffy in her slayer mode on a daily basis. Being restrained and shackled had given him time to relive the more pleasant memories of the night he’d spent with Cordelia. He’d replayed that night through his head so many times, Angel wondered if it was possible Cordelia had been as responsive as he remembered her to be.
A twinge of guilt hit him at comparing Buffy and Cordelia, but he just couldn’t stop himself from doing so. Buffy had been untouchable despite their kisses, a golden girl whose bravery and determination were matched only by her innocence. He’d claimed that. Taken it from her. Lost himself inside her and forgot for just a single moment of time that he was a vampire.
Unlike his night with Cordelia when there was no pretending on either part that he wasn’t a vampire. Except for the no biting rule, which he had ignored for the most part, Angelus hadn’t bothered with too much gentility. Cordelia might not have been a virgin, but her inexperience was accompanied by a fiery enthusiasm that fed his lust.
They were both so different. Cordelia felt so good in his arms, like she fit there, like she belonged there. Maybe it was just a result of being there more recently than the Slayer. Unless you counted Buffy’s awkward kiss back in the living room or the fact that he’d slept with Buffy only a week before encountering Cordelia outside the Bronze.
Hmm. So much for that theory.
She tasted different, tantalizing and addictive. Spicy and sweet like cinnamon and sugar wrapped up in warm golden skin. The way her mouth tasted under his made Angel close his eyes at the memory of it, silently cursing at the missed opportunity to kiss her downstairs. Then just as quickly, he admonished himself for that thought. He had no business imagining himself kissing Cordelia Chase.
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