Go TeamC/A
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Part 4 He was leaning into the filing cabinet. Damn Cordelia Chase and her filing scheme. How was a non-person supposed to find anything when she filed ‘neurotics’ under ‘C’ for ‘cracked’ and ‘murder’ under ‘B’ for ‘bumped off’? Of course Angel wouldn’t be the one trying to find her file if she was here. Although, he still wanted to ask he why she’d been up all night, he had a feeling his demon was less than cooperative. Seeing her current state of helpless yawning, he let her sit this day out as long as she stayed within viewable distance of the fang gang. And Wesley and Gunn both didn’t mind keeping an eye on her today. With complete disregard to her usual whining.
Giles had agreed to bring the books over around sundown and he’d even sounded civil to Angel. Angelus was running rampant with his seer. Human and half in control of her body the demon was finally getting to assert himself how he knew best. Sexually.
And meanwhile, Angel still couldn’t shake the image of Cordelia wrapped around his body, preferably naked. And just because she was sporting a shiny new demon. HIS demon dammit. This kind of sharing should have disgusted him, but he was a vampire. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was causing those soft coppery cheeks to flush with pink and he couldn’t ignore the telltale smell of her arousal while she sat cross-legged and rigid like stone. For Angel, it was strangely erotic that the voice whispering secrets and lurid fantasies was his.
SLAP!
The door to his office hit the wall.
Angel looked up startled at the distressed expression on the watcher’s face, Angel’s arms still buried in the misfiled folders.
Wesley’s shirt was untucked, the worry lines deeper than usual and the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up unevenly to his elbows. He did not look happy or comfortable.
Straightening, Angel raised an eyebrow and pushed the filing drawer shut. “I swear, whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”
“This has to stop.”
“Okay. I’ll bite. Stop what?”
Wesley glared at the vampire’s pun. “We encourage good relations with clients, but if you don’t stop Angelus’ sleazing around in her body with anything on two legs Angel, I’m going to break something; like my head.”
By then Angel was staring at him. “He’s…what?”
“Playing the proverbial office slut Angel!” The grown man broke down into a boyish whine. “Please get her out of the lobby and ball and chain her to your desk if you have to. Please? I’ll work for free! I’ll mix your blood! Please just get him to stop dangling her hopefully under every male walking into the hotel. I’ll do anything.”
Cordelia was flirting with other men. Angelus was making her flirt with other men! As if the woman alone wasn’t enough! The weariness was probably catching up to her, he concluded.
Angel didn’t know what to do, smile or glare.
So he stopped the smile that was threatening to spread across his face because Wesley looked distressed enough already. “Okay Wesley. Would you like me to go now?”
“YES!”
He bit the inside of his cheek to not laugh at the enthusiasm in Wesley’s disheveled form. Without another word he ducked out under his arm.
“Angel?”
Turning at the door Angel looked at him curiously.
“Next time she insists on helping us. Lock her in the stock room.”
“Wouldn’t do much good Wes. She’d link all our paper clips together and make origami of all the paper.”
Wesley looked beaten. “Just get her out of there before she starts to strip.”
Angel chuckled to himself as he walked out of his office and into the hotel lobby. He turned the corner and spotted the object of his search standing across the hall with a man leaning over her, one hand braced against the wall, while she stood there pleasantly trapped under him, grinning lasciviously. Instant anger burned in his belly and he narrowed his eyes as she said something that seemed to make the stupidly smitten man snicker. He was going down.
Stalking across the lobby while Gunn talked to the group of little old ladies muttering about pygmies Angel was just in time to catch her wrist as she raised her hand to slide up into the man’s hair. “Excuse me.”
The dark haired man blinked with confusion as the brunette was yanked out from under before he could react. Looking up he stared at the large brooding man dragging the squirming girl up the stairs. “Hey!”
“Let me go you insensitive prick! If you can’t get any doesn’t mean I have to go without!”
Tugging harder on the woman’s wrist Angel dragged her down the corridor and into his room. “Shut up Angelus. As long as you’re in her body, you’re not getting any. So just deal.” Kicking the door shut Angel pushed Cordelia further into the room before grabbing her shoulders “Cordy? Dammit come on! Don’t lose it on me right now.”
The lusty haze in the seer's eyes cleared slightly as she groaned softly in his eyes. “Shit! He did it again didn’t he?”
Angel sighed with guilt. “I’m so sorry about this.”
Shaking her head, Cordelia touched her head slightly. “It’s not your fault. I’m just really tired and he just never shuts up and the guy wasn’t bad looking or anything…”
“Cordy…”
“Right. Right. I got it.” She huffed softly. “He’s sulking. I’m okay.” With a soft sigh and without any warning, she wrapped her arms around his chest, her face buried in his black shirt and she finally let out a shuddering breath. Cordelia finally let the tension seep out of her body and she let him hold her weight. She really didn’t have to do this alone. Not today. A yawn caught her off guard and she muffled it into his chest. “Sorry.”
His mouth rested on her hair and he held her with a smile. “You should take a nap. I’ll stay with you so you don’t seduce some unwitting man into my bed.”
“God, did that ever sound wrong.” She chuckled softly before pulling away to look up into his face. Unable to help the tug in his treacherous muscles Angel let his hand slide down her jaw softly and for the first time in two days her mouth stretched into her widest and most beautiful smile. How the hell could anyone resist this woman? Ignoring the sudden need to inhale her scent Angel picked a safer route.
“Question.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Where’d you file ‘demon’?”
Her smile quirked into a smirk. “Under ‘B’.”
He blinked. “’B’ for?”
“Boogieman.”
He couldn’t help but laugh and gave her another squeeze in his arms before letting her go. God he loved this woman. Doyle had hit the nail on it proverbial head when he said she was the humanizing factor in his life. The one thing that didn’t make him feel like an animal.
“So you’ll watch over me?”
“To protect my seer’s honor. I see little ways out of it. Need a change of clothes?”
She stifled another yawn. “I don’t think I could bother. Just point me to the pillows. I’ll make this quick.”
Angel pulled back the covers on the bed and before he had turned the beside lamp off Cordelia had snuggled into them, her boots falling beside his bed on the carpet. One foot peeked out of the covers; the toenails screaming a wanton red and he shook his head. Angelus shared his soul’s affinity with colors. Was it just wrong that her toes were making him want to fall to his knees and suck on each one slowly? Probably, he concluded with a frown. Where the hell was his brain lately. Sans demon he was supposed to be a little less sex obsessed and to think of Cordelia this way. It was wrong.
He braved another look at her. With her hair framing his pillow he noticed she slept on the other side of the bed he usually slept on. The idea unconsciously popping into his head. This time his nagging demon didn’t tell him why, but Angel had a pretty good idea.
Dragging a chair next to her he let his chin fall on one propped up fist as he watched her. One hand curled under her cheek, her eyelashes resting against her cheeks, the steady rise and fall of her chest soothed him in a way he hadn’t expected. He always figured it was the demon just being obnoxious and horny, but this was different.
And for the first time in two years Angel pulled out his sketchpad and kohl from the bedside table.***
“What is it with women and this need for sappy love stories?”
Cordelia settled back against the pillows next to her vampire, the remote in her hand as they watched the titles appear for Cordelia’s favorite movie. “Very few of us live them anymore.”
His head twisted around almost horrified by her claim. “Are you suggesting that romance is dead?”
“You’ve lived a few hundred lives. Don’t you think?” Snuggling into the plush pillow she settled back to enjoy the ‘new cow’ theory as Ashley Judd pranced around the screen.
“Men still buy silly candies and flowers for their woman. Hell even I have on some occasion!”
“When they were not doused in human blood.”
“Okay but there was definitely candy and candlelight.”
She couldn’t help smirk at him. “When was the last time you brought me Candy?”
The frown deepened in his brow, the contours of his nose contorting slightly. He was sure he lavished her with goodies. He was a gentleman! Okay maybe Liam wasn’t that much of a damned gentleman but he was dammit. He’d brought her candy. On some occasion. Racking his brain he counted off events that had transpired and couldn’t recall sweeteners on his list. Dammit. He hated behind proved wrong. By a woman no less. “It’s not my damned fault you’re always on a diet.”
The girl chuckled softly, the sound like morning bells on a sunny day and for a second he just watched the animated mirth on her face. The squeezing shut of her eyes and the expanse of her smile seemed to chase away shadows all around the room. “Give it up already. We’re watching this movie.”
“Cordyyyyy! It’s booooring!” If bribery didn’t do it. Maybe whining would. Hey what can I tell you; I’m a vampire.
With a sigh and sacrificing the lovely images of Hugh Jackman in her head, Cordelia turned her head to look at her vampire’s face and groaned. “Oh god not the puppy eyes.”
SCORE! But he was always the kind to push a little more.
Her groan melted into a cry of frustrating. “Stop with the lip! GAH!” Reaching out she grabbed his chin and glared at him. “You are such a melodrama queen. What do you wana watch instead?”
The leer that was returned was accompanied by him reaching out and grabbing the remote from her. Before she could protest or grab it back he had pointed it to the screen and was grinning like a madman. “PORN!”
Cordelia stared at the childlike glee in his handsome face and her breath stilled in her chest. “Porn! You and me! Watch PORN! NOWAY! You have wandering hands!” She shook her head and tried to grab for the remote. What she should have done was run.
His mouth spread into a wicked smirk before his arm hooked around her narrow waist and pulled her, toppling over him. The startled girl went sprawling against his chest and stared up into his eyes with growing panic as he purred softly. “I thought you liked my wandering hands Cordelia.”
She gulped at the predatory glint in his usual chocolate brown eyes. And the sounds from the TV filtered through her fast spinning out of control brain. “Oh god!” When his grip tightened she shrieked softly and squirmed against him. “LEGGO!” She twisted and he took the opportunity to allow her enough room until her back was against him, her legs kicking above his and her ass settled comfortably between his thighs. “Let go! I’ll hurt you! I can wield a mean PENCIL!”
He couldn’t hold the chuckle as the scent of her fear and the distinct musk of her arousal tainted the air and he couldn’t help dart his tongue out and slide it across her jaw teasingly. “Oh no. I tremble in my stylishly unaffordable boots.”
Her eyes snapped open and when the scene on the TV caught her eye. She slammed her eyes shut with a squeal. “Eyow! I don’t even LIKE porn! I am so NOT looking at this! Unhand me!”
Then her entire body stilled. Oh god. Sensory overload. With eyes closed and her body humming with his proximity, he pulled the last brick in her wall as his mouth brushed the rim of her ear right before his husky voice came. “Oh but I’m looking baby. The things I could do with you tied under my body the way she is right now.” The involuntary shudder made her draw in a spurt of breath as he held her to him firmly, his arms wrapped around her waist from behind.
One of her hands loosened away from her arm which she had been trying to pry to reach back and cover the mouth whispering naughty images. When his tongue slid out and flicked softly against her palm, she jerked her hand away as if stung, an electric current zipping down her spine and pooling in her gut. Oh dear lord he licked me. “Shhhhhhh! Don't tell me!”
She felt more than saw the slow smile stretch across his beautiful mouth, her fingers itching to go back and touch the soft contours there. “Then how about I do it to you?” The suggestion was whispered into her ear and his free hand slid down her stomach slowly over the fabric of her soft cotton shirt.
Eyes snapping open, she instinctively caught his hand; her fingers threading into his with familiarity. “Tell me! Yes telling me is good.”
With her body in an erotic screaming frenzy, her eyes darted between the television and his hand gripping hers as he slowly raised both their hands above her head and her fingers slid against the side of his neck as his mouth caught her earlobe. “Hold on baby.”
With a panting gulp of breath, her fingers curled into the hair at the nape of neck as he pulled her other hands to join the first. Linking her hands around his neck and shoulders he felt her body uncurl between his, her legs stretching finally to relax onto the mattress.
“That’s it Cordelia. Just relax. Let me touch you, let my body teach you to make love with your yours until your can’t take anymore,” he purred softly into the shell of her ear and the answering shiver supplemented the soft moan building in her throat. He ran his hand slowly back down from her hands to the soft skin on the inside of her wrist, across the bone of her elbow and down the firm muscle in her forearm before dipping below her shoulder and along the side of breasts. “Hear the woman’s cries ? You’ll be screaming louder when I’m done with you.”
Her entire frame was taut with tension as his hands slide around the curve of her hip, the other arm still firmly holding her pinned back against his chest. “What is he doing to her?”
“Hmmm? You'll find out.” He slid his hand over the belt of her skirt and shifted his hips until his hand met the firm curve of her ass encased in black leather. “Did I mention how much I like it when you wear skirts?”
Her lower lip caught between her teeth, her thighs squeezing together in a last attempt to keep him out as she fidgeted slightly in his lap. “Why?”
The smirk across her ear was a testimony to his expertise when it came to Cordelia Chase. With a precision only brought about due to centuries of practice he deftly slipped his knee between hers, spreading her legs apart without missing a beat. “Because of this baby.” His hand glided under the hem of her skirt easily from behind.
She couldn’t help the shorting of her breath, her chest tightening with the knowledge that he could unwind her this easily. The ease with which he had parted her thighs almost catching her off guard. “No don't...”
The chuckle was almost sinful as the pinpricks of pleasure bursting across every inch of her skin where he touched her. “Why? Because you’re not wearing any panties my love?”
She froze, going deathly still as the realization came, her body unconsciously pressing back against his as she tried to evade his hand unsuccessfully. “I...um....laundry day,” she mumbled, her cheeks coloring with embarrassment.
“Cordy’s not wearing panties...” The amused purr was followed by his fingers dipping further between her legs to slide across the dampened trimmed curls there. “And Cordy’s wet and very turned on.” The husky chuckle was wicked and taunting but it only strung her tighter as she tried to fight the need to press back into his questing fingers.
When two fingers slipped past the soft folds of her labia she arched against him like a cat in heat, one leg sliding up, her foot resting on the mattress to give him more room. “You …you evil, wicked man!”
He chuckled softly, the hand around her stomach sliding beneath her shirt. “Oh you just pick new and improved ways to insult me don’t you?” A soft cry caught in her throat as he ran two fingers across the slick nub of her clitoris. “See what that man is doing to his woman? Sliding his fingers in like that? Think you can handle it baby?
The ragged moan was torn from her lips, her fingers tightening in his hair and shoulder. “Oh god!”
His tongue dipped into her ear and her brain disconnected from her body as she undulated there helplessly caught and surrounded by his body. “My naughty little kitten... not wearing panties on a working day.” The laugh was laced with wicked humor and immodest intent. “I should punish you.”
“Punish?” With body purring with pleasure like a harp string, taut and stretched to its limit. She could barely form words. “Oh god....I had little choice....”
“Oh Hazel…” The lusty growl in her ear was too recognizable. The depth almost snapping her right out of his arms as she twisted her head and stared up into the gold tinge of Angelus’ eyes.
“Angelus!”
His mouth twisted into a leer. “I might be good if you say you're sorry.” And then his thumb was stroking slow circles around her clit and her protests were melting into throaty moans. “Are you sorry Hazel?”
And she was whimpering softly, her body arching like a bow against him and she was screaming. “Sorry! Oh god Angelus! I'm sorry!”***
Angel looked up sharply at the groan. He’d been so busy putting the finishing touching to the contours of her face that he hadn’t noticed the soft shift in air and the heady scent escalating to a maddening aroma of pure Cordelia Chase.
Then the old breath in his lungs was thrust out of him as he saw her arch in his bed, one of her hands disappearing under the edge of his sheets and his slow brain put two and two together.
When the depth of her moans shook him to his bones he jumped to his feet, hurriedly putting his pad and kohl on the table as he rushed to her side, unable to form coherent thought at the picture she presented, his own body reacting to the sounds emanating from his best friend caught in an obviously erotic dream.
Caught between his need to see what she was seeing in her dream and rather who, he didn’t know if he should wake her or help her reach the peak she obviously wanted. And while he stood there battling his hormones and his guilty conscious, Cordelia’s back arched liked a bow, her eyes flew open as she sprang up in bed, her hands catching the sheet in fists and she cried out, “Sorry! Oh god Angelus! I'm sorry!”
And Angel stood there at the edge of the bed staring down at her like a damned fool while she panted, her eyes wild and dazed as she stared back.
Part 5Wide hazel eyes were glazed with liquid fire and held his gaze with horrified guilt. Then her lips parted and a broken puff of air was liberated in a gasp. Still no words were spoken.
With nostrils flaring at the maddening scent of arousal and blood, with the telltale trace of panicked fear grazing the edge of his conscious, Angel stood at cliff’s edge of his own control. The frenzied rise and fall of her chest was enticing against the low neck of her sweater. The sheen of sweat on her neck was golden in the veiled light of the afternoon and that was when he noticed her hand was still between her thighs while she sat there.
And demon or no demon, the vampire couldn’t suppress the sharp intake of infuriated breath. In the instant it took for Angel to cross the distance of a few footfalls, Cordelia concluded with sickening realization that Angelus had done exactly what he’d been promising to do since he was unwelcomingly put into her head.
She’d woken up in the throes of an Angelus induced erotic dream.
But of all the lurid, lewd details Angelus had been whispering, she wasn’t prepared for the biting grip with which Angel caught her wrist and yanked it out from between the sheets and her trembling thighs. It was the initial shock from his vampiric speed and the cold clench of his hand that kicked her vocal cords into action. “Angel?”
If the breathy moan was supposed to cease the spiral of heat starting from where his fingers gripped the pulse in her wrist, or if she thought anything besides her glistening fingers could catch his attention, Angel figured the damned woman was mad.
Cordelia watched his tongue slide out of his mouth and glide across his bottom lip and his usually concerned brown eyes morphed into a dusky hunger.
And then her eyes slid back into her head just as her thumb slid into the cold moistness of his mouth.
Between Cordelia’s whimper of longing and Angel’s growl of contentment, neither bothered to conceal either reaction. She was suddenly surrounded by the soft cavern of his mouth and the sensual slip and slide of his tongue. Angel was intoxicated with the essence of sunshine, cinnamon and a taste that was branded on his tongue that he would always know was pure Cordelia.
Sitting there in Angel’s tangled sheets; she didn’t have enough cognition or mental control to even try and pull her hand out of the apt vampire’s grip or his mouth. She was lost. As lost as he was to her flavor. Lost to the sensation of his lips dragging across her thumb before letting it pop out of his mouth to greet cooler air. And she didn’t hear her screaming heartbeat increase a notch when the next digit on her hand was enveloped by the vampire’s mouth. Then the other. And another. Until the fire in her belly started with her explicit dream, was stroked, and suckled into a dampened wave of unadorned bliss by the time her last finger slid out of his mouth.
Then they were right back where they started: eyes meeting wide and scared, only this time laced with something new. Desire.
And neither knew what do with Cordelia’s hand.
“Fuck.”
Angel nearly fell on his ass, when the brunette’s eyes slammed shut and she finally spoke. The shock was enough to keep him from replying with ‘hell yeah’. “What?”
“FUCK! Vision! Oh Fuck! Oh god Angel, hold me!”
And in that single sick twist of fate, Angel had to ignore the raging heat rushing to his groin and crawl over the sheets to hold the convulsing girl in his arms while the stream of profanities flowed from her lips. He willed his erection to go away as her nails dug almost painfully into his arms. He was such a dirty old man for getting excited while his best friend was in obvious pain. He should have stayed in hell.
“Holy shit! Make this friggin’ stop you prickass!” She wailed, the heel of her hand pressing against her temples, her eyes squeezed shut with the effort to ward off the pain.
Angel frowned irritably down at his demon’s screeching. “Oh just suck it up Angelus!”
“Goddamn you! You don’t know, they fucking HURT!”
The vampire ducked his head when Cordelia’s elbow almost took out his eye. “I KNOW they do! Now hold still and stop being such a damned wuss!” He couldn’t help snap while the woman struggled in his lap which was difficult to maneuver considering his previous state of arousal.
And then just like it had started, the young woman relaxed in his arms, the wailing diminishing down to painful whimpers and Cordelia opened her eyes. “Oh yuck! Oh gross much! Eyow!”
Running one hand over her brow he pushed the damp hair off her face as he cradled her against his chest murmuring soothingly. “You okay Cordy?”
“No she’s not fucking OKAY!”
She sighed slightly. “I’m okay.”
“She’s LYING!”
~Will you just shut up! Let me do this!~
~Does he know just HOW fucking painful they are?~
~No. But we can talk about this AFTER we save the nice girl.~
~She looked hot though, with the blood sliding down her…~
~ANGELUS!~
“Cordy?”
Sitting up she rubbed her palms gently over her face. “Yeah. I’m fine Angel, besides the side splitting headache which won’t go away until we do PTB bidding and Angelus’ pansy whining.”
~Hey!~
His arms felt empty. “What did you see?” Angel resisted the urge to wrap them around his seer again. Knowing a line had been crossed today and there were repercussions that needed sorting out. The line was crossed when she got my demon, but this was new dammit! I’ve tasted Cordelia Chase!
“Guts being spilled and normally I’d be turned on but goddammit that hurt!”
Angel nearly growled when her prefect forehead creased with a frown. “Will you please let her talk!”
Cordelia took a deep breath before looking up into Angel’s eyes “A stray is about to wander into a vampire nest.”
Both his eyebrows shot up. “A stray what?”
Her eyes were deadpan. “A stray kitten you poof faced ignoramus! What the hell do we eat? Human! Fresh, leggy blonde with a great pair of tits by the way.”
Cordelia winced before pushing the sheets away from her body and swing her legs off the side of the bed. “It’s down by the waterfront warehouse. A fairly new pack.”
Her eyes caught the sketchpad on the side table and her eyes widened. There in firm black lines was she sleeping on Angel’s pillow with an innocence Cordelia didn’t know she still had. Not really having the courage to face the possibilities, she grabbed her boots pretending to not have noticed the sketch or the care with which he’d drawn each eyelash.
Angel climbed off his bed as she zipped up her boots. Picking up the discarded sketchpad, he opened the drawer and slid it inside wondering if she’d seen it. But judging by the lack of disgust on the brunette’s face he figured she didn’t know about him obsessing over each fine bone in her face. So he watched her stretch to her full height as she straightened her clothes. “How many?”
“About Six.” Reaching beside him, her shoulder almost brushed his arm as she picked up her bag from his chair where she’d dropped it and looked up. The tingles were ignored on both their parts. For now. “First some aspirin. Then some butt-kicking. Followed by a shower.” She forced a confident smile as her vampire boss, who’d just minutes before had her fingers in his mouth, watched her with an amused half smile.
“The aspirin for you. The butt-kicking for me and the shower for?”
Her confident smile wavered with the color in her cheeks. Okay so Broody does not need psycho demon boy to flirt. But since when did Angel flirt? And with her?
~Since his tongue was eating away all that delicious Cordelia-nectar from her own fingers I’m guessing.~
~Clam up you crude bastard.~
~Oh I just love it when you whisper sweet nothing’s to me Hazel.”
“The but-kicking is for all of us. You’re going to need help. I’m going with you.”
“No you’re not.”
“Yes I am.”
“No you’re not Cordy.”
“Yes I am Angel.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No way!”
“YES way!”
“Cor-de-lia.”
“An-gel.”
“Oh for the love of Hades lets just fucking skip the foreplay and get off the damned frustration! You both fucking need it!”
Cordelia and Angel both blinked in surprise.
“I mean the vampire ass-kicking you daft imbeciles! This headache is killing me!”
Angel’s mouth quirked in a smirk and Cordelia bit the inside of her cheek as they walked out of his room to get Wesley.
“You’re such a baby Angelus.”
“You should be talking soulprick, savior of kittens!”
Cordelia sighed and wished she was anywhere but here.
~I hear New Zealand’s very nice this time of the year. ~
~ARGH!!!!~***
It was almost sundown by the time Angel’s Plymouth stopped outside the steel gates of the huge warehouse. The sound of the ocean wasn’t as pronounced as it should have been and the odd calm in the air unsettled him. The sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon and his fingers taped gently over his steering wheel waiting for the few seconds it took to remove the last of the sun’s rays from the sky. Turning his head to his right he watched Wesley load and tighten his bow. Then with a somnolent sigh he turned to the grumbling in the backseat. “Did the last time not teach you anything?”
Flashing hazel eyes glared back at him before the mouth twisted into a thin line. “Maybe just maybe someone will bonk you on the head Angel and get this depraved doofball out of my head.”
He wisely held back the scowl and instead threw his door open before stepping out.
Doofball.
Why did that sound to damned endearing suddenly? The blood sucking psycho was suddenly doofball?
The longer Angelus stayed in her head the more accustomed to his presence she became and it just bothered the shit out of him. It was no longer a secret that Angel found this woman sexy as hell and enticing as blood. In the past twenty-four hours, Angelus had made sure everyone became painfully aware of the importance this woman had in their lives. Ever since the dreaded neck-licking incident, Wesley had been hiding behind his books. Their resident freelancer, Gunn had been warned out of the hotel because he seemed to like Cordelia uninhibited. Angel made sure he was the first to go. But there was still himself.
And every time Angel looked at the leggy brunette with the fire his demon lighted in her eyes, Angel has this inane need to either fuck or kill something. And killing was his job.
He heard the sound of two car-doors snapping shut and tightened his fist. “Be careful.”
“You watch your pansy ass Angelboy, and leave the butt kicking to me.”
Wesley cleared his throat, watching the nerve work in their vampire boss’s temple. “Please recall you are in Cordelia’s body Angelus.”
“It’s okay Wesley, I’m a little curious to see what he can do.” There was little doubt that the saucy curiosity was all Cordelia.
And the fire was lit under Angel’s ass.
Before either of his comrades could wait for a signal, Angel’s booted heel connected with the steel door of the warehouse and it sprang open on the inside.
Cordelia’s eyebrow shot up. “Subtle.”
“Shut up!” She stared in awe as the vampire stalked inside the warehouse with a sudden air of brutal authority that just gave her the willies while she and Wesley walked behind him. The pack of vampire were frozen in their spot, golden eyes gleaming out of the semidarkness as the woman held between them let out a frightened scream. There was the distinct sound of a stake sliding into each of Angel’s hands as he tilted his head to the side to count them. “Didn’t your sire tell you one can’t feed six?”
~Wow. I look fucking cool when I’m like that.~
~Amen.~
~You have it so bad Hazel.~
~I’m not the one staring at his own ass weirdo.~
~You just let me handle this cheerleader and think limber baby.~
Cordelia could barely suppress the smile. ~Be gentle.~
~Fuck no.~
~With my legs dork!~
~Oh.~
When Angel regarded the troupe with a cocky half smile Cordelia wondered just how much of Angelus was actually Angel before he spoke. “So are you going to just hand her over or am I going to have to make you?”
Six pairs of fangs glittered in the dark as the girl was shoved behind the row of vampire who stood up before them. The taller vampire who’d been holding the girl down stepped forward slightly before he smirked and hissed his reply. “Make me.”
And then it was all a matter of mechanics. Wesley fired the first shot before he was tackled. And Cordelia let the demon’s instinct guide her muscle and bone. But it was Angel that worked like clockwork and it was a little later that Cordelia wished she’d just sat back and seen her vampire at work.
The first vampire ran past Angel and came at Cordelia, claws and fangs drawn. And if Angel had been watching her smirk would have been familiar along with the technique as she spun around in a reaping circle kick. It caught the younger fledge by surprise and he bent over in pain and obvious surprise before the stake hit home.
Cordelia’s mouth spread into a wide grin. “I did it! I DID IT! I SO rock!”
“Cordelia!” Angel grabbed the wrist of the first vampire that charged him and his leg snapped forward over his head then smashed him back into the dirt before the stake ripped through his heart. “Fight now! Gloat later!”
The second one caught Cordelia a lot quicker than she expected. Her foot struck Cordelia in the abdomen flinging her back a few paces. “AWO!”
~Fucking relax Cor, before you get us eaten!~
Her eyes widened the female vamp tried to ram her foot in her chest. “WHOA!” Cordelia rolled and flipped on her hands. In one quick motion her ankles caught the hissing vampire by the neck and rolled back to her feet hurling her into the dust. The stake met flesh before she exploded into dust. And then Cordelia was back to whooping happily and jumping around. “Did you see that! Guys! Did you see what I did!”
~You are SUCH glory hound.~
Angel had barely enough time to roll his eyes before the larger of the vampires circled around him and his boot landed in the middle of Angel’s back. Angel cried out more in rage than in pain. Spinning around with a growl and his game face he grabbed the vampire’s arm, twisted around before throwing him over his head and the blonde’s shoulder snapped as he hit the ground howling in pain. The ripples of his growl almost seemed to still time for an instant before it resumed.
And it was then that the seer took time to watch her champion at work, unable to resist the animalistic urge to appreciate every twist and stretch of muscle.
Angel at his best. Pissed and in full vamp mode.
He grabbed his last opponent's wrist as his leg hooked into the crook of the vampire’s shoulder. Then with a feral smirk, he pulled, his booted foot smashing forward into his neck before the dust landed at his feet. She couldn’t restrain the muted ‘whoa’ of appreciation as he stood there growling and dust free.
~How the hell does he do that?~
~The sad sap was probably Scotch-guarded at birth.~
“Cordelia, look out!”
The awed woman spun around still smiling and met a mouthful of dust as Wesley caught the last one of them with an arrow through his chest.
Coughing and hacking, she batted her hand in front of her face and groaned. “Oh eyow! Gross! Wesley!”
“Would you rather he had eaten you Cordelia?”
“But my new sweater!”
Angel ground his teeth before catching the last of the remaining vampires. With his shoulder dislocated he could barely escape fore Angel had grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. “You know where you’re supposed to be?” He snarled, the gold in his eyes flashing with pointed emphasis.
“Not here. I get it. Not here.” The trembling vampire could barely get the words out.
“Get out of my city,” Angel grated out before throwing him towards the door and he watched with satisfaction as the shaking half broken vampire fled the warehouse.
Then he turned, his eyes landing on his seer, the borrowed blood still pumping in his veins and the need to claim and take still simmering under his skin. But her wide hazel eyes were blurred by the weeping girl, who threw her arms around Angel, sobbing gratefully. “Oh god, thank you!”
As Angel watched, the irate fire in Cordelia’s eyes turned cold.
And while he stood there in that choking hold, he realized why he’d been so keen on showing off and dusting the pathetic vampires like a machine while his demon whispered in her head.
Fuck. I am jealous of Angelus.