Chapter 5: Vampire Wrestling

Angelus pushed open the library door and walked in with a confident swagger. There was going to be some kickass fun in the old town tonight. The Slayer and her Scooby Gang were gathered together along with Giles and Angel at the central table pouring over a pile of books.

“Here I am to save the day,” Angelus held out his arms awaiting the usual flurry of grumbling insults and recognitions.

“C’mon in Mighty Mouse,” Xander encouraged with a wave. “Without our resident evil vampire, werewolf and cheerleader, research has been a bore.”

Willow looked up from the computer terminal she was sitting at. Seeing Angelus always gave her the shivers. She reasoned that as long as he stayed over there, it would be okay. Then the redhead found herself explaining, “Oz is with the band tonight and Cordelia is at cheerleading practice. She’ll be late.”

“I’m missing practice?” Angelus thought of all those ripe teenagers bouncing, bending and gyrating. Glancing at the door, he wondered if he could still make it.

“Yes,” Angel confirmed giving him a hard stare. “You’ll continue to miss it. We could use another set of eyes on this demon we’re trying to find.”

Angelus strolled up to the table and picked up a book to glance at its title. Tossing it back to the surface, it landed with a hard thump. “This is a waste of time.”

“Proper research is never a waste.” Giles defensively pulled the book across the table. “It provides us with invaluable information about our enemies.”

“Well, I’ve heard a helluva lot about a certain demon-gathering scheduled to take place tonight,” Angelus revealed with a triumphant smirk. “If you’re interested in learning something that didn’t come out of a book.”

Giles looked very interested indeed, but pressed him to identify a source. “Where did you come by this information?”

“Willy’s Place.”

Buffy snorted, “Like that’s reliable.”

“I’d say it was pretty close to the truth,” Angelus promised. “Almost as good hearing it from the horse’s mouth. After I beat a little sense into the demon that was trying to hold back on the details, he was quite willing to share.”

Angelus gazed down at his reddened knuckles. They were almost healed from the gashed, bloody state resulting from his tête-à-tête with the Baraska demon. If he was going to be forced into joining the Slayer on her little do-gooding sessions, Angelus was determined to do it his way. He informed the group of his findings and was pleased to note that they all had to suck up afterward.

“Quite useful,” Giles grabbed for another one of his books and was flipping through pages to follow up on an idea the vampire’s findings had given him. “Remarkable.”

Xander was doing a little happy dance at the end of the table now that research was over. “Free at last.”

“That’s my line,” Angelus joked.

Willow exchanged a look with Xander and then commented, “Thanks, Angelus. You just made our night a whole lot simpler.”

Giving Angelus a suspicious glare, Buffy told him, “We’ll see how this works out. If half of it is true, the Fates will have to give you a gold star.”

“Good job,” Angel was forced to admit the fact that Angelus had come through for them. The other vampire could easily have kept the information to himself. “I can’t fault the results despite your tactics.”

“There was a time when you would have done the same,” Angelus derided him. “Playing lap dog to the Slayer has softened you. I think Buffy must have swallowed your balls the last time she went down on you.”

“Bastard!” Angel was on his feet in seconds and standing nose to nose with his double just before he let his fist crash into Angelus’ face.

“Don’t talk about mom that way,” Angelus laughed while curling his hand into a large fist and punched back.

Deciding that his evil half deserved it, Angel figured to give Angelus the ass-kicking of his undead life. Being evenly matched, this idea was not as easy to accomplish as it had sounded in his head. Soon, the two vampires were brawling on the floor. No amount of pleading from Giles or the gang had any effect. Even Buffy’s threats to put a stop to it herself had no marked response.

Buffy was on her feet trying to get in close enough to break up the fight. Angelus deserved whatever Angel could dish out, but she did not want her boyfriend to be on the receiving end. If only she knew which one she was supposed to save. Similarly dressed, the usually more colorful Angelus was still dealing with the dark wardrobe of his souled counterpart.

“What’s this— vampire wrestling?” Cordelia’s scornful query sounded from the doorway. Propping her hands on her hips as she watched them scuffle raised her pom-poms making it look like she was about to lead a cheer.

One of them snuck in a hard jab to the jaw when the other paused at the sound of her voice. “No,” he let out an angry growl before returning the punch with a couple of his own.

Just when Buffy convinced herself that sounded just like Angelus, the other one chuckled, “Don’t worry about it, babe.”

That had to be Angelus. Was he the one wearing the black shirt, or the black and grey pinstripe? Punches flew, bodies rolled, and once again Buffy felt too embarrassed admit that she was not quite certain which one of them was her boyfriend.

Cordelia looked expectantly toward the Slayer, “Aren’t you going to stop this?”

Deciding that it might simply be better to let them duke it out than make a mistake, Buffy shrugged a shoulder. “Nah!”

No one else seemed keen to intervene. “What’s going on?”

“Angelus said…,” Willow stuttered to a halt growing wide-eyed, and unable to repeat the words, finally settled on, “a bad thing.”

Unsurprised, Cordelia flashed him an annoyed glare. “So you started this?”

He held Angel in a headlock long enough to grin proudly. “Yeah.”

Breaking free, Angel flipped around and pinned his foe to the ground. “I’ll finish it,” he promised gritting his teeth.

“Way to set an example, Angel,” she snarked unimpressed by the show. “I’d expect this of Xander, maybe. Not you.”

“Hey!” Xander protested from the sidelines.

Using his legs to gain leverage, Angelus sent Angel reeling back. They were both on their feet again for about two seconds before Angel leapt forward, wrapping his arms around the other vampire and took him back down to the floor. Landing hard, they rolled, and punched, and wrestled their way over to where Cordelia stood tapping her foot, arms crossed and impatiently waiting for them to come to their senses.

Angelus punched his double in the gut and took the second or two offered by Angel’s distraction to look directly up Cordelia’s skirt. “Great view.” He let his hand circle around her ankle stroking his fingers up her silky calf.

More fuel on the fire of Angel’s rage. She barely had time to register the sensual stroke before her friend came to her defense. Raging, “Keep your hands off Cordelia,” Angel balled up his fist bashing Angelus again.

“Not gonna happen.”

Cordelia found herself protesting. “Hey!” She just was not certain what it was she was most peeved about, the fight, the leering, or the fact that despite their kindergarten tactics, both of them looked hot doing it. Acknowledging that prompted her to move. Rolling her eyes, she tossed her pom-poms to the floor and jumped into the fray, by grabbing the closest vampire.

“Get off of him, Angelus.”

Just as she curled her hands around his bicep attempting to pull him away, he released another forward punch. The move swung her body down along with it unintentionally sending Cordelia crashing directly on top of Angel.

“Oof!”

Gasping, she couldn’t speak for a moment as both vampires called out her name in obvious alarm as the fight came to a sudden end. Not only was she plastered across Angel’s torso, but also sandwiched between the two of them. All she could do was react to the sensations strumming through her. Somehow, she did not think that was just a lucky fall, and it was not difficult to guess that Angelus was the culprit.

Yet it was Angel who sounded guilty about it. “Are you hurt?” His gaze burrowed deep into hers searching for answers. Little more than the slow stroke of his fingers stirred something unbidden inside her as he attempted to sooth her nerves.

In truth, she felt a little jittery, but it had less to do with her sudden tumble than it did being pressed up against him. “No,” she answered tremulously.

Trying to hide her reaction, she focused on him instead. “How about you? Brutus here gave as good as he got.” A dark swelling bruise marred Angel’s cheek along with a small gash across his lower lip that kept drawing her attention.

Anything Angel had to say was cut off by his trouble-making double. His amused reaction rumbled in his chest as he leaned even closer making certain he let her feel every inch of his solid male frame while also pressing her closer to the one below. The space between her lips and Angel’s narrowed fast. Almost as if he could read the temptations dancing in her head Angelus prompted, “Try kissing it better.”

Cordelia’s gaze snapped up in time to see to Angel’s startled expression as if he thought she planned to pounce on him the second he was in smooching distance. Well, she wasn’t. Glaring over her shoulder at Angelus, she demanded that he move. “Would you get your big hulking body off of me?”

Sensing the quickening of her heartbeat, Angelus brushed his mouth against her ear. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” He pulled back just enough to stop crushing her, but not so far that he couldn’t take advantage of the situation. “This could be fun,” he said softly in a way that caused a shiver along her spine because it felt like a threat mixed with a promise of pleasure.

Cordelia knew he was not suggesting an impromptu game of Twister. The huge boner straining against the limits of those tight leather pants made it all too clear the kind of fun he had in mind. Anger sparked her to thrash her hips to escape his grasp, but the move only made things worse. Her awkward position left her pressed quite intimately against them both causing her to wriggle unintentionally against Angel, too. His sudden arousal stiffened heavily between them, impossible to ignore. The thin layer of her cotton panties and the soft material of his dark trousers were less a barrier than a stimulating source of friction, and for a second she forgot they had an audience and let her hips take a deliberate, delicious twist.

“Cordelia.” Her name came out on a low moan cautioning her to take heed of their surroundings even as he grasped her hips to pull her hard against him to prevent her from moving. He had to find a way to stop this, to let her go, but her heat and scent were too enticing.

The hand stroking along her spine lowered the angle of her body as she easily flexed closer to Angel. It had to be Angelus because Angel’s hands were still glued to her hips. Whatever the reason for the move, it brought her back into kissing range just as the soft curves of her lips parted in surprise. A few too many fantasies stirred in his memory of Cordelia physically expressing gratitude for his heroics, and Angelus knew it.

Maybe she had some idea just how much he wanted to press his mouth to hers just then. Maybe they all did. Fortunately, his twin did something even more distracting. A squeak sounded from across the room, “Angelus!” just as the other vampire blatantly cupped Cordelia’s breast giving it a playful squeeze.

“How do you know that was him?” asked Xander equally outraged. “The other one’s not exactly keeping his hands off.”

No, no, he wasn’t, Angel realized, unable to stop himself from aligning her hips into the perfect position. He could feel her heat. Arousal brightened her eyes, filled his senses, making his grasp on her hips slip a little lower so that her rounded ass filled both palms. A soft grunt emerged from his throat when her skirt bunched up getting in the way.

Struggling for some sense of control over his lust, Angel watched his mirror image grope the woman he lately called friend. A spark of fury returned, but he was trapped by the sound of his own voice as Angelus praised her beauty and responsiveness. “You need a lover. We both know I’m your type.”

Hell, if he closed his eyes, Angelus’ words might as well be his own. Or the echo of it in his head urging him to thoughts and behaviors better left ignored. Maybe for the first time ever, Cordelia seemed too stunned to respond. He was too caught up by his own confused emotions to determine if it was because Angelus’ words intrigued her as much as his touch.

“Cease this at once,” Giles demanded. “If this is the type of behavior we can look forward to I, for one, think a few more restrictions might be in order.”

He lectured on, but Angel did not hear it. Cordelia certainly didn’t as her eyes fluttered closed to focus on desires that seemed to be out of her control. Maybe it was just the demon whispering sweet nothings in her ear, as he imagined his hands roaming along the bare length of her thighs, and up to briefly caress her breasts, this time teasingly, that made him want to give in to it just a little longer.

Angelus took full advantage of every second of time the pair below him remained too dumbstruck to react. It didn’t matter that the Slayer, her Watcher and Scoobies stood by. That only gave him an added thrill. He subtly curled his hips forward and felt hers buck ever so slightly back at him before gravity brought her down onto Angel.

She wanted to tell him to move. A swarm of butterflies flitted inside her uncertain if they were supposed to be excited or just freaking out. This was Angelus, after all. He might be planning to rip her throat out even as he copped a feel, but his big body felt so good against hers.

It was the same with Angel and in some ways that was worse than her reaction to Angelus. He was her friend and he was already taken, but feeling him against her like this made her head spin. Angel’s physical response distracted her from Angelus’ flagrantly sexual intensions. Every move from behind brought her closer. Her long hair fell in a cascade around them, blocking their faces from the onlookers. Drawn by its intensity his gaze pulled her attention like a blackhole. For an endless moment, they simply stared into each other’s eyes.

Just in case his erect state wasn’t enough to clue her in that something about this turned Angel on, his eyes certainly gave it away. Only seconds of time elapsed as the breathy surprise of sudden desire escaped her parted lips. His hands slid up to her shoulders, fingers cool against her flushed skin as they slid up to the slender nape of her neck easing forward to follow the line of her jaw. Once there, his thumb traced softly across her bottom lip leaving her tingling for more contact.

As irrational as it was, Cordelia wanted to taste him, to touch her lips to his and get lost in his kiss and these insane cravings for more. More of everything. She needed it. It felt phenomenal to have them both touching her. Those big male hands on her. Angel’s touch. Angelus’ almost imperceptible grind hitting all the right places. Her inner sense of self-preservation should be setting off alarm bells at the oh-so wrong way her body was reacting to being surrounded by two highly aroused vampires, but it just seemed to find it hot.

Suddenly, Buffy’s angry shout startled the trio. “Get the hell off!” She wasn’t sure who she was saying it to, only that it needed to happen now.

“I’d love to get off,” Angelus chuckled, twisting her meaning as he playfully and blatantly humped his erection against Cordelia’s bottom despite the audience.

Me too, thought Cordelia with a naughty thrill wishing the others weren’t there to intervene.

Angel snapped out of his lustful stupor to push at Angelus’ shoulder lifting him away from her. “Move!”

“You’re no fun,” Angelus complained and shifted back to his feet. That left Cordelia pressed flat against Angel, their legs were tangled and the back of her short skirt was squashed around her waist.

Xander couldn’t help but stare at the sight of Cordelia’s rounded bottom in those dark red panties. It reminded him of things she’d told him he was no longer allowed to think about since their relationship was long over.

Looking down at them, Buffy realized that it was her boyfriend the cheerleader was now plastered over, “You can move anytime, Cordelia.”

Angel’s hands automatically moved to support Cordelia so they could get up. Awkwardly moving her legs out so that her knees moved to either side of the vampire, she used her arms to push up. He had his hands high on her waist curling up to her ribcage just inches from the ripe breasts swaying so close to his mouth. The realization that his mouth was actually watering at the thought made Angel slide his hands down to her hips setting her onto the tops of his thighs with a swift move.

The effort to make this an easier way of extracting Cordelia from him only made things worse as he moved them into a sitting position. Now she was straddling his lap separated only by the barrier of their clothes. Her weight felt so good pressing down on him and for a split second Angel didn’t care if Buffy, Angelus and the whole Scooby Gang looked on.

The scent of her arousal was maddening, intoxicating. Her name echoed silently in his head as he imagined how tight she would feel surrounding him, how her bare breasts would feel in his hands, how her silky hair would feel cascading over him as she rode him hard.

Only a second or two had passed by as Angel felt the almost imperceptible squeeze of her thighs against his. The reality of it snapped him out of the fantasy his mind had slipped into. The first question that hit him was: did she want it too? Then Angel caught the red flush creeping up Cordelia’s neck and he realized instantly that this was going to be a highly embarrassing situation for both of them if things didn’t cool off immediately.

He’d done it again, Angel realized harshly. This time he didn’t have the excuse of recent Slayer-induced frustration. If anything, he should be incapable of moving much less reacting every time he came within two inches of Cordelia Chase. Nor did he have the excuse of having Angelus sounding off in his head encouraging him to go for it and take what he wanted.

Angel found it highly ironic that the behavior he had blamed on his demon had nothing to do with Angelus and everything to do with his own human origins. Without the demon overshadowing it, Liam’s personality now acted as his inner voice. The Fates had warned him about that, but he had not seen it as a problem at the time.

Have I learned nothing in the past two hundred fifty years? Once a selfish lustful prick, always selfish.

Cordelia grabbed for her pom-poms which were fortunately lying right next to her. She was about to thrust them at Angel and suggest he hold onto them while she got up, when suddenly she was snatched off of Angel’s lap by his double. Dropping the fluffy cheerleading gear, she let out a squeal as Angelus brought her to her feet.

“What the hell were you doing?” Angelus demanded to know.

Glancing back at Angel, she saw him get to his feet holding the pom-poms in a strategic position in front of him. Licking her lips, she looked up at Angelus guilelessly. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Putting yourself in danger like that,” the vampire growled out his anger. “Jumping in during the fight. You could’ve been hurt.”

“Since when do you care?”

That got him. Angelus gave her a little shove so that she moved away from him taking her intoxicating scent with her. “I don’t. Your friends might have a different opinion.”

“That was kind of dangerous,” Willow pointed out, deciding it easier to focus on that than the memory of Angelus fondling Cordelia’s breasts.

Xander added, “Even Buffy didn’t dive in like that and you’re no super-chick.”

“I’m not the problem,” Cordelia let out a surprised gasp as everyone seemed to be mad at her for trying to break up the fight. “Tweedle Dork and Tweedle Dumb over here are the ones you need to worry about.”

A snort of laughter came from Giles direction, but he covered it up by removing his glasses for a vigorous cleaning.

Buffy wasn’t as amused as her Watcher. Standing so close, she had noticed the looks on Cordelia and Angel’s faces and found herself pouting at the unspoken connection that was apparent in their eyes. She couldn’t tell what they were communicating, but it was clear some message was getting across. Mutual surprise, concern, something else that she didn’t even want to think about because it would mean that she would have to kick someone’s ass?

It was the jealousy again. Buffy realized she was feeling it rise within her. Being with Angel last night had been incredible. Though Harmony had been referring to his evil twin at the time, her words certainly applied to Angel as well. The vampire certainly knew what he was doing when he touched her. Strangely, it was different. Each time was different. Maybe that was to be expected considering the whole splitting of his life thread to create Angelus and secure his soul.

“Cordelia has a point,” Buffy paced back and forth between the two vampires.

“I do?” Blinking in shock, she was surprised to find the Slayer agreeing with her.

“Yes. The Tweedle Twins, remember?” Buffy quipped. “Fighting each other is getting us nowhere. We have a real battle ahead of us tonight and I would prefer to go in with both of my vampires capable of offering some resistance.”

“Your vampires?” Cordelia caught onto the words.

Buffy stared at her for a second before clarifying, “Vampire team members.”

“Careful how you phrase things,” Cordelia commented wryly. “The evil version of your boyfriend may start to get ideas.”

Angel caught her emphasis of the word boyfriend. As if he needed another reminder of that right now. At least Cordelia had not gotten the notion of using her knee or foot to get her point across. He probably deserved that too. He felt like he needed to sit down in a dark room and figure out why the hell he was being such an ass. Except Angel suspected if he stopped to brood about this, he would only find himself fantasizing about Cordelia again.

Putting his glasses back on, Giles told them, “Now that the petty bickering and fighting is over let’s concentrate on tonight’s demon-gathering. We need to come up with a strategy to stop this from happening.”

Cordelia excused herself to shower and change clothes. The others could fill her in on the details later. She figured no matter what they came up with her job as bait would still be the same. As long as that didn’t involve Angelus using her as his pet again, Cordelia was fine with the arrangement.

Entering the girl’s locker room, Cordelia found that it was dark and quiet. Apparently, the others had already headed home directly after practice. She had gotten into the habit of bringing extra clothes because she usually met up with either Giles or the gang afterward. Opening her locker, Cordy pulled out her clear plastic shower caddy with her shampoo, conditioner, body wash and loofah. Setting it on the bench next to her, she undressed and headed into the shower stalls grabbing some towels along the way.

As Cordelia stepped under the hot spray of the shower, she could not help but think of the events of the past few minutes and the things Harmony had shared with her earlier in the day. Letting out a sigh as the water sluiced over her body, she ran her fingers through her hair to soak it with the hot spray. It felt so good, relaxing her muscles and taking away the tension in her shoulders. Not from practice— the tension had crept in during the last few minutes straddling Angel’s erection. It only worsened as Angelus yanked her away with his possessive move.

Opening up her shampoo bottle, Cordelia squeezed a dollop into her palm and proceeded to massage it into her hair and scalp. Thinking back to last night, Angelus had a lot of nerve going to the Bronze. Talking up her friends. Flirting with them— and her. The vampire had clearly followed through with his plans to get laid if everything Harmony had to say was close to the truth. Cordelia had never had reason to doubt her. Harm was too much of a ditz to lie about sex.

Though Harmony had not yet had the time to give her all of the details as she normally did after a hot date, her teammate did share a few tidbits that had left Cordelia squirming in her chair the rest of class. She had been glad for the workout at practice after school.

As she rinsed her hair, Cordelia couldn’t stop thinking about what Harmony had told her. About the commanding way Angelus had taken the lead and never let it go, about the hot kisses that were like no other she had experienced. Harm had gone on and on about the damn kisses. Then she started in on describing Angelus’ hard body. Every inch of it. And the description combined with what she already knew of his physique had left Cordelia silently screaming in denial.

After repeating the shampoo, she reached for the conditioner going through the motions automatically. While Cordelia was not a virgin, she had nowhere near the experience that her blonde friend had. Harmony was a pal when she wasn’t being a snob. Admittedly, she was the embodiment of every nasty cheerleader stereotype that Angel playfully suggested the other day in the library. In getting Angel to talk, Cordelia hadn’t lied to him, just done a little truth-stretching.

If I haven’t done it, I’ve heard about it.

Well, she hadn’t done much, but Harm certainly told her a lot. Cordelia had always found high school boys so immature, which was really ironic considering that she had dated Xander Harris. Their relationship hadn’t gotten to the point where she was willing to give up everything to him, though their groping sessions in the closets of Sunnydale High were certainly exciting. After their Buffyless summer, Cordelia no longer thought of Xander in a romantic way at all. He was too much of a goofball and they had fallen into a steady friendship instead.

Cordelia hadn’t walked away from Angelus last night just because she was afraid of him, she had to admit to herself. Yes, he was basically an evil blood-loving corpse who would probably just as soon snap her neck as kiss her as he had done before they entered the warehouse that night. Even Angel, despite being the souled good guy, was also a creature of the night. Cordy had never gotten over the fact that he was a vampire. Never forgiven him for it, she supposed.

Rinsing out the conditioner, Cordy picked up her loofah and the container of vanilla-scented body wash. She squeezed the loofah under the hot spray until it bubbled up and then ran it from her wrist to her shoulder. The clean scent permeated the steamy air of the shower as she followed through the motions by habit.

Right arm. Shoulder. Left arm. Shoulder. Then squeezing the bubbles down her back.

Closing her eyes, Cordelia let the water sluice over her skin washing away the bubbles before lifting the loofah to her chest. The gentle scrub with one hand was followed by the soft motion of the other against her spreading the soapy bubbles around and letting the water rinse them away.

Angel— what was with him lately? He was acting like a fallen monk locked in a room with her as the only company. Scratch that. He was the tiger in her cage during mating season. This deal was supposed to let him and Buffy be together and put an end to the old frustrations of his self-enforced celibacy. She had no idea why he kept reacting to her if things were now hunky-dory in Buffyville. Whatever was causing it, Cordelia could not deny the reaction of her own body despite the fact that he was a vampire.

Today, straddling his lap and feeling him hard and ready underneath her, Cordelia had a moment where she didn’t care about her vampire phobia or the fact that Buffy was less than three feet away. The way Angel had looked at her, the lust apparent in his gaze was breathtaking in itself. She could almost read his thoughts they were so obvious as Angel dropped his gaze to her cleavage and held it there like a firm caress.

Cordelia brushed her hand under the curve of her right breast sweeping up the bubbles that were clinging there. She let out a little gasp as her fingers ran over the sensitive tip of her distended nipple. Was that why Angel had been staring? She imagined that he’d done more than stare at her. He lifted her knit top over her head and tossed it at Buffy’s feet. Yanked down the straps and cups of her bra exposing her breasts.

The loofah’s string slipped around her wrist as Cordelia lifted her hands to curl around her own curves brushing her thumbs along the outer curves as Angel had done the other night in the library. Would he touch her that way again in this little mind trip? Take her into his mouth and use his tongue? A rush of pleasure shuddered across her flesh as Cordelia tweaked her nipples before releasing the swell of her breasts in favor of trying to finish her shower.

The loofah was circling her abdomen and Cordelia felt the pull of need deep in her loins. Not fair. Not gonna. Just ignore it. She bent down to cleanse her right leg. Front. Back. Inner thigh. Repeating the action with the left leg. Front. Back. Inner thigh. The naughty nature of her thoughts had her tingling all over. Not gonna. Ignore it.

Only when lifting the loofah to the wet curls at the apex of her thighs, did Cordelia finally give in to her desires. Not gonna ignore it. There was no one around to see or hear. This was just her alone with a harmless little fantasy that wouldn’t hurt anyone.

He’d been so close. Aroused and wanting her. Even if it was just an automatic male response, it was real. Right now, she could pretend that he meant it. Just for a few minutes.

Angel lay beneath her. All she had to do was lean down to kiss him. Her lips on his. Would they be cool like his hands? Would they warm under hers? Endless kisses. An eternity of them. His hard body beneath hers. Those expert kisses keeping her mind swimming. Never enough.

Hands tangled in her hair, touching, massaging, guiding, buried in its softness as it draped them in a curtain of silk. Hands at her breasts, teasing, cupping, tweaking the tight buds and dipping beneath her bra, skin on skin. Simultaneous stimulation. Too many hands. Cordelia tried to ignore the cause. This was her fantasy, after all, and an evil vampire should have no place in it.

But Angelus was there too, refusing to disappear. Behind her, his hands on her flesh, his words in her ear. Those cool, skillful hands left her breasts and Cordelia moaned her protest into Angel’s mouth. Sandwiched between them, such a very naughty thought. One she shouldn’t be thinking, but this was just for now, just for a moment. Just long enough to… feel Angelus’ hands ripping her panties away. His cool fingers on her bottom, on her thighs, touching her.

Slicker than the water, Cordelia’s fingers slid easily. Right where she wanted them. Again and again as images danced in her head. Angel kisses and Angelus living up to one of his wicked promises: touching her, taking her.

A cry left her throat, her free hand flying up to the shower wall for support, palm slapping on the wet surface. She came apart, sparks igniting inside her, a hot rush of honey between her thighs. A name echoed in the empty shower chamber, ringing in her ears.

“Angelus!”

Cordelia felt her body jerk as her pleasure shuddered across her wet body, the cooling spray of the shower still spritzing over her skin. She sank to the floor of the shower, stunned at her own behavior and the fact that her fantasy included not one, but both versions of the vampire.

Truthfully, Fantasy Angel was no huge surprise, but Angelus? Evil Angelus who had threatened her life now brought her pleasure in this wild, wicked fantasy.

Hugging her arms around her bent knees, Cordelia buried her head and let the water beat against her back. She sat there trying to understand what she was feeling. Shame floated its way to the top of the list. She wasn’t a slut. Not like the Harmonies of the world. Just thinking about Angel— Buffy’s boyfriend— put her in a not-so-nice category much less fantasizing about his evil alter ego. That was so not right!

Cordelia determined that she would forget the whole incident. Never happened. Despite the fact that her body still hummed with the aftereffects. Twirling her loofah back into her hand, Cordelia added more soap and washed off again. This time she kept her eyes open and her thoughts focused on getting out of this shower before she turned into a prune.

“Where have you been?” Xander asked as Cordelia crept into the library to find everyone gathered around the table still discussing strategy. “Did you decide to go home for that shower?”

“No. I just felt— extra icky after practice,” Cordelia lied.

She had eked out every second in the locker room completely drying and styling her hair and putting on her makeup. When there was nothing else to be done, Cordelia decided it was time to face the music. Not that any confessing was going to take place. Omigod, no! She was just going to look both vampires and Buffy in the eye without feeling a shred of guilt.

Angelus took a short stroll around her, pausing long enough to drink in her scent. “Delicious. You must’ve enjoyed the shower, Cor.”

Glancing nervously toward Angel, she wondered just what the vampires’ senses were picking up. She hoped it was just shampoo and body wash considering the amount she’d scrubbed. “So what if I did.”

Smirking, Angelus added, “Maybe next time I’ll volunteer to wash your back.”

“Leave her alone,” warned Angel as he walked over to pull her to his other side.

Buffy missed the slightly distracted look on her boyfriend’s face as Cordelia passed in front of him. She was focused on the mission and bringing the cheerleader up to speed. “Well, you can tell Mr. DeMille that you’re ready for your close-up. If he isn’t impressed, the demons we’re fighting tonight certainly will be.”

Maybe she’d gone a little overboard. Cordelia lifted her gaze to meet the Slayer’s finding that she did not shy away from the other girl’s direct stare. Her trampled confidence was renewing itself at a fast pace as she remembered that she took crap from no one— even herself. “I’m the bait again, right?”

“Right,” everyone answered simultaneously.

The demon battle went off without a hitch. The group was organized in battle and the two vampires actually worked well together. Angelus cut a bloody swath and enjoyed every second of time spent in the heated fray. Finally, the threat was over. The prophesy that portended the rise of a master demon was forestalled and once again Sunnydale would exist in relative peace at least until the following sunset.

Buffy and Angel were in a close clutch after the battle ended. As Cordelia looked on with interest, the Slayer could barely keep her hands off of her boyfriend. That was what was supposed to happen, she lectured herself. The Fates themselves had done their thing with Angel just so they could be together. So why did that leave her with an unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach?

“We’re going to do a quick patrol of the cemeteries on the way home,” Buffy called out to the group and darted away before anyone could volunteer to help.

Angel took the hand that she stretched out to him and they walked hand in hand into the still darkness of the night. The rest of them were left to clean up.

“Did I always leave you with the mess?” Angelus asked as he disposed of severed demon parts in a nearby dumpster.

“Yes,” Cordelia commented wryly. “Buffy always drags Angel off on patrol, but I guess you know that part.”

“Patrol? Is that what you think?” Angelus chuckled.

Cordelia finished wiping off the sword that he had used and placed it back in its scabbard before putting it into the trunk of Giles’ car. She preferred weapons clean up rather than demon duty. That was just—eew!

“It’s what I prefer to think.”

Willow ran around afterward passing out hand wipes. When Angelus tossed his used wipe on the ground, she protested, “No littering.”

Grabbing it, he threw it in the dumpster, but only after sending her a dark glare that gave her the willies. It looked like Angelus might prefer to toss her in with the demon remains.

Finally finished, Giles pulled out his car keys and asked the group, “Who’s riding back with me?”

Cordelia waited as she had her own Corvette. Xander and Willow both raised their hands and walked over to Giles’ car. Then she realized that Angelus had said nothing. “Are you walking back to the mansion?”

“I thought you’d give me a ride,” Angelus shrugged. “It’s on your way.”

That would leave her alone in the car with him. “Xander, why don’t you drive with us so I can tell you about tomorrow’s game.”

“Nah! I live too close to Willow. You’d have to double back.” He opened the back door to Giles’s car and was about to climb in when Cordelia whined loudly.

“Why do I have to have the evil vampire?”

Angelus had thought she was getting used to him. Now she was whining about being alone with him? What the hell was that about? He’d done something to frighten her again, because he could see her shivering in her shoes at the thought.

“Oh, he can’t do anything to you,” Xander reminded her that Angelus could no longer harm humans. “He’s impotent— fangless.”

Grinding his teeth, Angelus held back the urge to accidentally crush Xander between the open door and the car. He would love to show that boy exactly what pain was, except that he couldn’t. Instead, he might have to show him a few things he could do to Cordelia Chase without ever making her cry out in pain. Wonder if that would set of the Fates’ warning signal?

“Fangless and impotent. Yeah, right,” Cordelia muttered as she got into the front seat of her car.

Angelus was standing outside having not budged. Pressing the button to lower the front window, Cordelia asked him, “Are you going to get in anytime soon?”

“Just waiting for an invitation.”

“Do you really need one for my car?”

“Not unless you’re living in it,” countered Angelus. “I didn’t want you to feel pressured to drive me back to the mansion.”

Seeing that the vampire was still not in the car, Giles called out, “Is everything settled?”

Cordelia answered, “Yes, Giles. Goodnight!”

“Goodnight!” he called back adding a wave.

Willow waved at them both from the safety of Giles’ front seat glad that she wasn’t with Cordelia. Before climbing into the back seat, Xander also gave a wave, “G’night Cor. G’night Mighty Mouse.”

Cordelia snickered as she heard Xander giving the big bad Angelus his nickname of the day. “Where did he get that one?”

Climbing into the passenger seat of the Corvette, Angelus growled, “If he keeps that up, he’ll discover that I can be mighty pissed off for a mouse.”

Cordelia put the car in motion and tried to control her mirth as she drove them back toward Crawford Street. It was essentially on the opposite side of the cemetery that connected with this little demon den. If Angelus’ suggestion was correct, then Buffy and Angel had headed directly there using the cemetery as a short cut.

Arriving at their destination, Cordelia put the car into park and waited for Angelus to leave. He paused reaching for the door handle. “You’ve never seen the mansion, have you?”

“What’s this? You’re inviting me up to see your etchings?” Cordelia responded drolly.

Angelus laughed. “Those are actually Angel’s etchings. You can see them if you want, but I was thinking of something along the lines of trying to get you to stop quivering every time I come within five feet of you.”

Flashing a wary-eyed glare, Cordelia questioned, “And how did you intend to do that?”

“Not by dragging you to my bedroom if that was your concern. I thought you might be thirsty after our little workout back there at the demon-gathering. Angel keeps some stuff for the Slayer in the refrigerator.”

She sat staring at him for ten seconds, thinking that this was a bit surreal. Angelus— evil vampire extraordinaire— was trying to be nice to her? There had to be a catch. Cordelia reasoned that she would not walk into the home of any other psychopathic killers. So, why was this offer intriguing her?

Curiosity, dammit. Her stupid curiosity that always got her into trouble. “Okay, but just for a few minutes. I do have a game in the morning.”

Angelus was surprised that Cordelia had agreed to come inside. He could scent the fear rising from her in waves. What was driving her to follow him if she was so frightened of him? “I’ll show you around the ground floor after we hit the kitchen. I could do with a snack myself.”

“Eew!”

“It’s a bag of O-positive not a chained captive, so relax,” Angelus opened the front door and let her walk in ahead of him.

“I repeat— eew!” Cordelia shuddered.

Only part of the mansion which was actually habitable. Parts of the place were still boarded off from the fire that had gutted the entire east wing. Fortunately, the kitchen was still in working order. Cordelia watched with horrified interest as Angelus prepared a mug of blood and placed it in the microwave. She opted for a glass of ice water.

“You did well tonight,” Angelus told her from across the kitchen island. “I only had to save you the one time. Otherwise, you kicked a little demon ass.”

Cordelia propped herself up on the stool facing him. She flashed him a huge grin which had the vampire frozen at its megawatt power. “I kick ass with the best of them.”

“Seriously,” he added, “you actually got in a couple of moves before you resorted to screaming.”

“Giles said the demons were susceptible to high-pitched noises,” Cordelia revealed one of the Watcher’s research finds. “I was just testing out the theory.”

“It didn’t do my hearing any good,” Angelus joked.

After the microwave beeped and he took out the mug containing his snack, Angelus led her into the dining room where they both took a seat at the table. Almost immediately, Cordelia noticed something strange about the chandelier overhead. It started to move. The hundreds of crystal pieces tinkled as they dinged together.

“What is that?”

Angelus glanced upward reasoning the cause within seconds. “Two guesses.”

“An earthquake?” She didn’t see anything else shaking.

“Guess again.”

The look on his face told her everything. Not that she couldn’t have guessed. Buffy and Angel were in the mansion and ensconced in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Either the floors and ceilings in this place were really thin or they were definitely going at it with a gusto that would normally be back-breaking.

Cordelia gulped down the remainder of her water. Then she gave Angelus a naive stare. “It’s really a herd of wild elephants tromping around upstairs?”

“Try my soulful alter ego and his blond bedmate… the Slayer.”

“I knew that, but I really didn’t want to know that if you know what I mean.”

“Then why ask?” He got no response, but realized, “Cordelia, you’re in denial. Why are you so afraid to admit that thoughts of sex and vampires aren’t exactly the turn offs you pretend them to be?”

“What?”

“Don’t shy away from the question,” Angelus demanded her response. “Tell me why you followed me in here tonight.”

“I was curious about the mansion.”

“You mean you were curious about me.”

Curious about Angelus? God, yes. After everything Harmony had told her who wouldn’t be curious. Not that she had come here with that in mind, precisely. Hell, she didn’t know why she had come in except that her feet just moved to follow him. Maybe she was also a little curious about Buffy and Angel, but it was all too apparent how that was going. Now she was left with facing Angel’s evil alter-ego and wondering how it was possible to be attracted to someone who frightened you.

“I-I thought you were supposed to be trying to make me less afraid of you,” Cordelia was getting antsy and kept looking up at the ceiling where the chandelier kept tinkling and shaking madly. “If this is your technique, it isn’t working.”

Rising out of his chair, Angelus set his empty mug on the table. “If it’s my technique you’re interested in, Cordelia, then come over here and you’ll forget all about being scared of me. I promise you that.”

Her heart was pounding in her ears. The chandelier suddenly stopped its rhythmic sway and the only sound in the room was her heaving breath as she panted out her confusion.

“I— I have to go. This was a mistake.”

As Angelus approached her, Cordelia leapt out of her chair. She looked like a frightened deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. “Come here,” he repeated his words this time as a command as he stopped only two feet away.

“No,” Cordelia responded defiantly while standing her ground. “That isn’t why I’m here.”

The vampire closed the space between them in a second standing directly in front of her, but not grabbing her as she expected. Cordelia let out a frightened gasp as his eyes turned a dark amber. None of his other vampiric features appeared; just the color change which she had learned was a sign of losing control.

“You think I can’t tell when you’re aroused?” Angelus let out a rumble from his chest that sent shivers down her spine. “The fear is there too, but it can’t overshadow the fact that you want me.”

“No! Stay away from me.” Cordelia tried to take a step back, but was trapped by the chair.

Lifting a hand, “You’re beautiful,” he reached up to reverently touch her face.

“W-What do you want from me, Angelus?”

Stroking her skin with his fingertips, he gave her a sensual smile. “You already know the answer to that. I told you what I want from you in vivid detail when I had you pinned down at the cemetery that night. Except now it has to be different. I want more.”

The sound of his voice nearly had Cordelia leaning into him. Her entire body was focused on Angelus and she knew that he sensed it. From her flushed skin and the obvious perky betrayal of her nipples to the scent of her arousal. There he was with his handsome Angel face and his hard body promising pleasure as easily as he offered her something to drink.

Reaching behind her, Cordelia moved the chair aside and took two steps back. “I told you to stay away from me, Angelus. Maybe you confuse me, but I still remember the fact that you tried to kill me.”

Turning, Cordelia fled the mansion never once glancing over her shoulder. Only when she reached the door and slammed it shut behind her did she realize that Angelus was not going to follow her.

CHAPTER LINKS

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