Chapter 20

“That’s the way, kitten. Not bad for your first time,” Angelus told Cordelia with a purr in his voice as she finished licking him clean. He tugged at her long hair bringing her up to a standing position. “You’re a fast learner— good, because I’ve got a lot to teach you.”

After plying her mouth with a mind-numbing kiss, the vampire tossed her onto the bed. They were at her otherwise empty house and inside her bedroom, with her cheerleader outfit and shoes piled up on the floor. Only her sports bra and panties were left to cover her flawless skin. Flawless except for the vampire’s mark visible on her throat.

“My very own personal sex-ed instructor,” grinned Cordelia as she pulled up onto her elbows to get a good look at Angelus as he stripped off the rest of his clothes. “Mmm! And what a hottie!”

Angelus leered back with equal intensity. “Today’s continuing lessons in how to please your vampire, will include following commands—”

An amused snort sounded from the girl on the bed.

“—getting me off—”

“Did that,” she interjected despite his playful scowl.

“—and fucking you senseless.”

Cordelia shifted her long legs back and forth rubbing her thighs together in anticipation. Impishly running her tongue across her upper teeth and quirking her eyebrows up, “I think I could go for lesson number three.”

Watching the scene as if an outsider, Cordelia Chase looked down upon the couple from only a short distance. Close enough to reach out and touch. Close enough to hear every word spoken. Close enough to smell the scent of sex already permeating the room. With a strange realization, Cordy came to know that she was dreaming— another one of those kinky Angelus dreams.

In fact, it had been quite a while since Angelus had been in one of her dreams. Lately, they had all been about Angel. Poor Keanu, Jude and Brad were barely there anymore, except to watch occasionally or provide helpful pointers.

Cordy knew it was unlike any Angelus dream she had before— it was so graphically detailed. Whereas she had never seen all of Angel before, even when bandaging up his wounds, this dream hid nothing. Normally her dreams just skipped over some of the good parts, but this one showed it all.

Oh, my! How is that going to fit?

Angelus had her bra and panties off in seconds flipping her over onto her knees. Then he was inside her, causing Cordelia to gasp at his entry. Any initial discomfort quickly faded as he started a slow, but increasingly deeper rhythm. The vampire stretched her full and Cordelia’s inner muscles clamped down, quivering at the sensations.

It fit. Thanks. I was wondering about that.

The vampire’s hands stayed on Cordelia’s hips until she started a responding rhythm of her own, pressing back against his forward thrusts. Then he was touching her, hands roaming to pleasure zones she didn’t know she possessed. Angelus was driving Cordelia wild with need. Her low moans and startled cries bathing him in the sounds of her desire.

‘No, no,” Cordy pleaded as his rhythm slowed and his hands dropped away leaving her devoid of their touch. She was down on her elbows with her forehead against the mattress trying to hold back, trying not to beg for his touch. Her hips curled in backward circles trying to establish any kind of rhythm along the thick shaft still buried deep within her.

But the vampire’s hands came up to grip her hips, holding her still against him. “Tell me what you want. Maybe I’ll give it to you.”

Moving back onto her hands so she could glance over her shoulder at the vampire’s face, Cordelia saw a mixture of teasing and devilish delight at this small torture. “Evil bastard! You know what I want. You. Now. Making me come.”

Would she say that? Cordelia wondered at the demands made by her dream-self.

“That’s more like it. I don’t like whiny women.” Angelus reached under and around her ribs suddenly lifting her back on him as he knelt down on his haunches. Cordelia felt impaled and yet like she was floating over the mattress. Her legs couldn’t get a good grip nor reach the bed. Though reaching back with her arms, the position made it difficult to hold on.

One of Angelus’ arms circled low on her hip and the other curled around to palm the weight of her plump breast, his strength the only thing keeping her aloft. Then they were moving again, their bodies shifting against each other until it seemed like they were flying together.

Watching agape, the dreaming onlooker heard the sound of Angelus’ name pour from her own lips as she watched herself reach a climax in the vampire’s arms. As the cry came, so did his answering growl and Cordelia turned her throat to his view allowing better access to the scar on her throat.

As his fangs descended, Cordelia came fully awake calling out for Angel with the sound of her own heartbeat thudding in her ears. Sitting up in the middle of her bed, reminding herself that this was just another of her sexy vampire dreams, Cordelia felt frustrated and a little scared. Dreaming about Angel that way was one thing, but Angelus?

A glass of water floated in from the direction of the kitchen. “Thanks, Dennis.”

“I had another dream,” she told the ghost. “Only this one had Angelus in it. Whoa, was that hot and scary! Sounded like I knew what I wanted.”

The dresser drawer slammed loudly, making Cordelia realize that the ghost was not pleased with the description. She had given him the 411 on Angel’s curse not long after she moved into the apartment. Dennis knew that Angelus was evil and certainly not someone who should be showing up in a sexy dream.

“I suppose it’s just because of Angel’s romp under the influence of Rebecca’s happy pills,” Cordelia explained with a shrug.

Glancing at the clock, Cordy realized that it was almost time for her alarm clock to go off. “Might as well get up.”

Cordelia padded into the bathroom while Dennis proceeded to make up the bed. She chatted with the ghost from behind the ajar door. “Those creepy lawyers are at it again. Wesley says that Angel will never find Marquez much less get Marquez to testify. I’ve gotta go with Angel— he’ll find that little weasel.”

The ghost knew everything about Angel Investigations despite being tied to the physical location of the apartment where his mother had murdered Dennis by cementing him into a brick wall. Cordelia was naturally chatty and loved to gossip. Never really one to pay much attention to other people’s opinions, having a roommate who couldn’t answer back was a plus. Still, Dennis did his best to make his own thoughts known to the beautiful woman who occupied his apartment.

Dennis always admired the view.

Stripping away her nightgown, Cordelia stepped into the shower. She stood under the hot stream of water, letting it melt away the tension that settled in her shoulders. Washing and conditioning her hair, Cordy kept her eyes closed against the lathering bubbles. Then suddenly, she felt a large hand move across her wet skin. Fingers trailing along her spine, moving around to cup her breasts.

“Angel?”

Cordy squinted through the bubbles, reaching for a washcloth to clear her eyes. It felt like Angel. Felt so real. What was that? Obviously, the vampire was not in the shower with her. Leftover weirdness from her dream, she supposed.

Rinsing off, Cordelia reached for her scented soft soap and a sponge. She began to wash herself when the thoughts kept popping into her head. Hands. Touching her. Soft. Firm. Seeking and giving pleasure. Oh, God! That felt sooooooo good!

Then Cordelia’s eyes snapped open. “Dennis! Are you in here?”

The toilet flushed instantly turning the water cold. Letting out a shriek, Cordelia launched herself out of the shower stall. Grabbing a towel, she proceeded to dry herself off. “Dennis, I didn’t think you were such a perv. Scrubbing my back is one thing, but enough with the hands!”

A line drawing of a smiley face appeared in the steamed-over bathroom mirror. Dennis added a halo over its head. “Does that mean you’re innocent or that Angel has something to do with this?”

The lights flickered.

“Which one?”

The lights flickered again.

Grmph! Cordelia stalked threw the towel onto the floor and grabbed her robe. Turning to the vanity mirror, she started to comb through her long hair.

“Well, I’m off,” Cordelia waved a hand in the air an hour later. She wore a simple silk top that bared her midriff and shoulders along with a matching skirt. Her crystal necklace tied around her neck picked up the red hue of her shirt. Unnoticed, two new streaks of dark crystal marred its perfection.

She arrived at the office slightly ahead of schedule for once and discovered Wesley asleep on the couch near her desk. He had his back to the room and his white jacket was folded up under his head like a pillow. Hearing her entry, Wes woke up and sat yawning.

“Why are you here?” Cordy asked as she put away her purse.

Stretching, Wesley reminded her that Doyle’s ex-wife had come to town to pick up his personal effects. Since he had been borrowing the place, Wes packed up a few things, but did not want to intrude into the rest until Harry could arrive. Cordelia and Angel seemed reluctant to go to the apartment, still hurting from the loss of their friend.

“Harry stayed at the apartment last night,” he told her. “No use staying in a hotel, plus it gives her more time to sift through Doyle’s things.”

“Oh.” Cordelia was sorry she asked.

“What time is it?” Asked Wes only to look at his own watch. “Already? Harry should be awake by now. I’ll just head back and get a change of clothes.”

Cordelia sat down at her desk turning on her computer. From the doorway, Wesley called out a question. “Cordelia? Do you think it’s too early to ask Harry out to lunch?”

“Its only nine o’clock, Wes.” Cordy rolled her eyes.

“N-No,” Wesley faltered. “I meant too soon after Doyle’s death.”

“Oh! You mean too soon to ask her to lunch,” Cordelia’s eyes bugged out a little at the idea of Wesley acquiring the nerve to make the first move. “Harry was Doyle’s ex-wife. Plus, she’s into demons. Studies them, too. Big time into demonology. You two actually have a lot in common. I say go for it.”

Wesley’s mouth turned upward into a semi-confident smile. “Go for it. Yes, I think I will.”

As Cordelia started in on her work of updating several client files, she found it difficult to concentrate. Kept thinking about her dream and the weirdness in the shower. This thing with Angel acting like Angelus had her all mixed up. Now her work was suffering for it. She felt antsy, like she needed something, but didn’t know what it was.

“Maybe its hunger,” Cordelia realized that she had not stopped to let Dennis make her any breakfast.

Walking downstairs, she pulled out a box of cereal from the cabinet setting it on the table. Opening the refrigerator, she reached in for the milk finding it next to bags of blood. She remembered something about putting blood away. Could see herself taking blood out of a little cooler and putting it into the refrigerator.

In that memory, Cordelia left one out. She poured the blood into a mug attempting to heat it in the microwave, but couldn’t seem to work the controls. “It doesn’t have a button for body temperature,” she complained.

Then Angel was standing behind her, his hard body pressed up against her back. One hand held her close while the other reached around to work the controls. “Like this,” he instructed with his breath in her hair.

Blinking, Cordelia shut the refrigerator finding her appetite gone. What was going on? She didn’t remember that happening. Since when did she not know how to heat blood? Why did she know how to heat it? Weird, weird, weird. Just more weirdness to go along with the rest of the day. Even Wesley had chipped in acting like he wanted to date Doyle’s ex-wife. Now that was definitely up there on the weirdness scale.

Sitting down at the table, Cordelia buried her head in her hands. Maybe if she went back home and started over again, this day would turn out okay.

“Cordy!”

Her head darted up at the sound of her name.

“Cordelia,” now it came as a moan.

Angel? Angel was calling for her.

Well, she wasn’t about to sit around ignoring him. Out of the chair in a flash, Cordelia hurried over to Angel’s bedroom door. She listened for a second, her ear pressed against the wood, but heard nothing. Turning the handle, she crept inside. Wondering if Angel was having a nightmare, Cordelia figured that she could wake him from it.

Creeping soundlessly toward the bed, Cordy soon found herself standing directly next to him. The sleeping vampire was as still and silent as the grave. No sound. No movement to indicate that he had called out to her.

So maybe she’d been hearing things. Or maybe the dream was over. Now that she was here, would it be so bad to look just a little? The comforter was on the foot of the bed somewhat rumpled from its original neatly folded position. A single sheet strategically covered Angel’s groin and his left leg. The rest of him was splayed out in all his naked vampire glory.

Cordelia was tempted to tug at the sheet.

She forced her grasping fingers to curl into a ball and then locked her wrists together behind her back to forestall any further ideas in that direction. No touchy-feely of the naked Angel flesh. Clothing and full body armor were the only way to go, Cordelia thought with a sense of frustration. Damned curse!

Now she knew how Buffy Summers felt— forced to walk a thin line between love and desire. Wanting without the possibility of completion. Wanting until you want nothing more.

Thinking of Buffy, she caught an inner glimpse of the blonde dancing at the Bronze. She was approaching Angel who was standing in a secluded corner— with herself? Buffy was moving toward them, her eyes gleaming dangerously with her approach. Her shoulders and hips moved with the rhythm of the music and her mouth curled seductively when Angel’s eyes met hers.

The small blonde moved in like a hunter who had just found its prey. Cordelia watched from her place next to Angel with his arm draped around her shoulders. Buffy leaned up to crush her perky breasts against Angel’s hard chest, pulling at the edges of his leather jacket so that he came within kissing distance. And kiss him, she certainly did.

Cordelia watched agape as Angel eagerly accepted the kiss. The vampire’s arm on her own shoulder moved as his hand drifted down Cordelia’s back to cup her bottom and pull her closer into his side.

As Buffy emerged from their kiss, she grinned conspiratorially, first looking one way and then the other. No one was around. “Kiss me, Cordy. It’s your turn.”

“What the hell?!” Cordelia snapped out of it with a loud screech, startling the vampire in the bed below.

“Cordy?” Angel sounded concerned as he sat up in the bed, automatically pulling the sheet a little higher. “Are you okay?”

“No,” she answered. “I’m not. This day is just too weird for words.”

First she was having sexy dreams with Angelus and now she was thinking about kissing Buffy Summers? Hallucinations. That had to be it. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After being kidnapped and nearly having her eyes ripped out and now ‘Angelus’ making an appearance, was it any wonder?

“What happened, baby?” His soft voice and the use of that pet name got her every time. He tugged her down to the bed so that she lay down next to him, using his same pillow. Side-by-side, they were turned toward each other.

“I-I had a dream,” Cordelia started to tell him. “You— I mean Angelus was in it.”

A dark look crept across Angel’s face. “A nightmare.”

“Not exactly,” she admitted without getting into the details. “It just seemed so real.”

Angel cursed himself again for letting Rebecca Lowell into their lives. He shouldn’t have taken the damned case in the first place. Wouldn’t have if Cordy hadn’t been so excited about the idea of meeting a real actress. The woman’s desire to be eternally beautiful came with the flawed idea that she would still maintain her same lifestyle as a vampire. Getting him high on the bliss-inducing drug doximal by stirring it into his drink, she got far more than she planned.

Angelus came out to play as the drug completely wiped away his restraint. The fact that it was an artificial effect meant that while Cordelia’s presence bound his soul in place, it was too uninhibited to care.

“That’s just a reaction to facing down my demon, Cordelia,” he brushed his fingers along the curve of her cheek as he worshipped her face with his eyes. “It will pass.”

Thoughts of telling Angel about the more disturbing images faded as he leaned in to kiss her. Their mouths hovered over one another for an instant before Angel captured her lips in such a tender way that it left her shuddering at its loss. He pulled back to his spot on the pillow, still watching her as if memorizing the image of her there on his pillow. One wayward finger traveled down the outline of her body from shoulder to hips.

His silence said so much, Cordelia realized. Desire stared back from the warm chocolate eyes melting into her. Tilting closer, she pressed a butterfly kiss on his throat before she let her own finger follow the same path on him. Cool bare skin beneath her hand. Her whole hand, she realized that a single finger would not do. Exploring her way down from the powerful curve of his shoulder and forward across the hard muscle of his chest, Cordelia slid her hand beneath his arm and the covering of the sheet to splay her fingers across the firm flesh of his buttock.

A wicked gleam lit her eyes as she squeezed her hand. Whispering her delight, “Angel buns.”

“Don’t tell me— your favorite?”

“How did you guess?” Cordelia reluctantly moved her hand away, but only to bring her arm up along his back.

Angel told her the truth. “Something you said to me during our lost day.”

“Oh.” There was a flash of sadness in his eyes at her response and Cordelia did not want him thinking that she was still wallowing in despair about the fact that he was no longer human.

Then Angel’s gaze drifted down to the red top that seemed to stretch across her breasts in just the right way. He touched the sensitive skin above her navel before moving up to put his hand just beneath one curving breast, not quite touching it but making her body react just the same. Her nipples poked out hard against the surface of her bra remaining all too apparent to his view.

“I love seeing you in red,” Angel had a lusty rumble in his voice.

Cordelia sent him a look. “Vamp bait. I should know better that to wear it to the office.”

“Why did you?”

“Probably just a reaction to my sexy vampire dream.”

Angel’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said Angelus was in your dream.”

“Huh? Oh. Guess I did.” Cordelia found herself blushing a hue that nearly matched her outfit.

A pause of no more than two heartbeats had Angel yanking Cordelia into his arms and rolling her on top of him. His hands tangled in her hair as he pushed the long strands out of the way so that he could kiss her mouth. Trying to drown himself in her taste.

Cordelia clutched at his shoulders. At first gasping in surprise, she quickly responded to his kisses and the feel of Angel’s hard body beneath her. Oh, my! That felt really good. Her legs entwined with his and the sheet wound around them.

“Angel,” she gasped when he let her up for a breath.

Then his mouth was on hers again, commanding silence. Refusing to let this moment come to an end too soon. Her lipstick was long gone, eaten away by Angel’s fervent kisses leaving behind only the plump fullness of her bare lips.

“Oh!” She managed to gasp as Angel’s hands slid down her back to grasp her bottom, pulling her up to sit high across his waist.

What? Cordelia’s head was spinning. What was he doing?

Then he held her under her arms reeling her body into his so that his face pressed against her breasts. Her crystal necklace clung close to her curves. His cheek moved across them feeling the soft material of her top and the pointed nipples topping the softer mounds. Angel turned his face open-mouthed against the silk covering.

Cordy cried out a throaty sob as his smooth teeth grazed across one nipple. Staring down into his eyes, she saw them shift to dark amber and felt her own hands move up to cup his face as the bone shifted to reveal his vampire visage.

“Angel,” she gasped his name again. “I want you. Oh, god! I want you, but you have to stop.”

The vampire reared up, pushing her off his body so that she landed at the lower end of the mattress. Legs akimbo, she lay back on her elbows watching as Angel rose to his knees. The thin sheet slipped from the surface of his body leaving Cordelia gaping at his hard male beauty. And for the few seconds that he allowed her to look her fill, she soaked up every inch of flesh bared to her eyes.

From the harsh demonic ridges of his face and the lustful gleam in his eyes, Cordy followed a vertical path from his head all the way down to where his knees dug into the mattress. Angel was simply breathtaking, she decided. All sculpted angles and dangerous, powerful muscle. Her eyes dropped to his groin taking in the sight of his aroused flesh with a hungry stare.

“Stop?” Angel asked the question. He could tell by the way she reacted, by the look in her eyes and by her scent that Cordelia didn’t want him to stop. She admitted to wanting him, not that he needed to hear the words. His mate was as aroused as he and wanted this just as much.

Forcing herself to look back into his eyes, Cordy reminded him of the curse. “We can’t. Or else maybe my dream about Angelus is really a vision from the PTB— warning me.”

“You’re worried about the curse.” As he said it, Angel knew that she did not remember otherwise. Until he was ready to tell her the truth or break the damn crystal it would be the only thing in her mind preventing their physical union.

Angel stared down lustfully into his mate’s eyes. The voice inside his head that was his demon’s darkest instincts told him to do what he wanted. Just take her. Just fuck her until they couldn’t even move from the bed. Make them come so many times she couldn’t deny bliss was had by all. Then Cordelia would know there was no curse— not when she was in his arms.

Then he did have her in his arms, pulling her up from the bed with a swift move. Yanking her close so that his erection rubbed against the crumpled silk of her skirt and the exposed flesh of her thigh below. “I want you, Cordelia. So badly I could take you right now and never regret it.”

“Angel,” she whispered his name against his mouth. The combination of his words and the hardness of his body pressing against her had her head spinning. Something in the dark amber of his eyes as he stared down at her, something in the growl of his voice had Cordelia closing her eyes. Then her head lolled back tilting to the side as her body made an instinctive reaction to the presence of its by mate offering her neck to his fangs.

SOULBOUND – BOOK TWO – THE NEXT CONNECTION: CHAPTER LINKS

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