Title: Dead on Arrival
Author: Scorch
Email: N-17
Category: Adult
Content: C/A, C/Aus, hints of B/A, C/X
Summary: A challenge.
Disclaimer: I own nixies
Distribution: AO, FSB, TIO, Cal's place.
Notes: I'm back!
Notes 2: The challenge…
I don't know if something similar was posted as a challenge before. I read a lot of challenges and fictions about vamp Cordy in another dimension or reality. What if Vamp Cordy ends in BTVS season 3 reality, co-existing with Buffy, Angel, Cordy, Xander, etc like Vamp Willow did at the show.?
-Angel is really attracted to Vamp Cordy (wich is really hot and sexy, BUT not sluty)
-B/A were dating at that time.
- Vamp Cordy and Angel have sex before Vamp Cordy leaves. (that could be optative, but smut is always good!!!!)
- Angel obssessive with human Cordelia and having desires of siring her. (Maybe he could hear Angelus thoughts on hi head)
It's silly, I know...
V.
DeadonArrival
Part 1
There was something about Sunnydale that she simply loved. Maybe it was the hellish power it held, maybe it was the green green grass of home, or it maybe the fact it was full of clueless idiots just begging to be eaten. Perhaps, white fangs gleamed in the moonlight, perhaps she it was because she ruled it.
Whatever the reason, Cordelia loved the Hellmouth.
She hadn't always loved it of course, but that was way back when she was human.
She sighed unnecessarily. That seemed so long ago now. "A lifetime. Literally." The vampiress muttered continued her muttering and nightly walk through the cemetery. Those days were thought of with a fondness rare in her kind.
Going on holidays to some far off place, lazing in the sun, dining in overpriced restaurants where the dishes wouldn't fill a five year old. She recalled having to be in before dark, always carrying holy water and stakes, and wearing plain clothes.
Cordelia chuckled as she ran a hand through waist length chocolate hair. She'd lived as a human for a long seventeen years, which by Hellmouth standards was a damn long time. Then, on the fateful day of September 23rd, the House of Aurelius came knocking and bringing with it her sire and companion.
Ahh, her companion. The little man who better be waiting for her at home, with a hot cup of tea and some dinner ready for her return. She smiled at the thought. Her poor companion had lost out when he took too long in turning her. He'd spent a good six months chasing her, lavishing on her his particular brand of affection until she'd cracked.
Then, after he'd gotten what he wanted, he made the mistake of leaving in order to make arrangements for her welcome to the family. After he'd left, her sire had quite literally come knocking on her door and that as they said, was that.
Her companion hadn't found out until the next day, when he arrived at the clan House only too find her sibling placing flowers in her hair. According to her dear Darla, Angelus had gone ballistic and started tearing the place apart before the Master had booted him out onto the streets, making him stay there until he learned his lesson.
"Never leave treasures laying around Angelus," Cordelia mimicked the continuously stated advice. "If a jewel is bright enough, then it will dazzle." She giggled. Poor Angelus, what he must have gone through.
More to the point, what he was having to go through again. First he had to give way to Darla, and now he had to give way to her. It was his own fault, he should have turned her when he had the chance, not procrastinated like the lazy ass he often was. Of course, if he had acted correctly, then that meant he would have thought.
"Heaven forbid." Cordelia shook her head in sheer bemusement. Damn, she got such a kick outranking her companion. Her, an ex cheerleader and year old vampire, outranking the Scourge of Europe. Just thinking about it made her snigger, particularly as there was a heirachy clause he didn't know about.
Once a lower ranking vampire mated with one directly sired by the House Master, then the mate would automatically be equal. Naturally, it was more to her advantage that this tidbit was firmly kept from his ears. It amused her to no end how he remained clueless about that, especially after living for so long. Then again, Angelus wasn't known for his love of vampiric customs.
He tended to prefer simplicity over complexity, and vampiric laws could be extremely complex. Most of the laws went over her head, but never mind. She was just a year old, what could anyone expect? A Harvard degree in the ways of the undead?
She stopped and frowned. Something wasn't right.
This was Restfield cemetary, in the heart of the Hellmouth. She could navigate her way around this place blindfolded, she'd been here so many times. Every night in fact. It had some of the prettiest headstones and the oldest graves in Sunnydale, not to mention it housed her parents' graves.
"Poor parents," Cordelia wiped an imaginary tear from her eyes and sniffled. She had no sympathy for them whatsoever. People would do silly things like try to fleece a vampire out of a few big bucks. Still, as a dutiful daughter should, she regularly put fresh flowers on the graves and kept the grass tidy.
So yes, she knew Restfield cemetery better than anyone, and she would know when something wasn't right. It was a little too quiet, too peaceful, it didn't feel like it had last night, or the night before. There was a tranquillity that hung heavily in the atmosphere.
It was unsettling.
The vampiress picked up her pace in order to hurry back home. Angelus always told her to trust her instincts, to get out of places that didn't sit well, and Restfield wasn't sitting well at all.
Huh, maybe if she was lucky, she might find something sweet and cute for her sibling.
&&&&&&
"Want me to walk you home?" Angel asked Buffy, his voice void of everything but the tiniest bit of hope. They hadn't gotten much done in the way of relationship issues tonight, what with having to trap a demon and listening to a certain person complain. God, his ears were still ringing from the high pitched shrieking.
Buffy smiled prettily and basked in the security of Angel. She'd love it if he walked her home, but she hadn't told her mom he was back yet. It wouldn't make for happy time if her mom found her and Angel on the porch. "No, it's fine. You need your rest."
"Still haven't told her, have you?" The vampire cleared his throat after the question, a noisy plea for her not too lie to his face.
The slayer bit her tongue and looked away, studiously taking in the few stars on display. "I need some time, you have to understand that." She knew for a fact her mom would have a fit if and when she found out Angel was back.
"You've had time." A whole month to be exact.
Buffy's eyes hardened. "My mom's only just found out I'm a slayer Angel, what am I supposed to say about this, about us, about you? Hey mom, you remember Angel, right? He's the vampire that tried to suck the world into hell, but don't worry. He's back, with soul, and is trying to make up for it?" She shook her head. "She'd freak."
Maybe Buffy was right. Maybe it was for the best if Joyce was kept in the dark about him being back. After all, it wasn't just her daughter who'd had an up close and personal encounter with him, sans soul. Angel shuddered, thankful nothing had happened to Joyce Summers apart from a little emotional trauma.
"Look," the slayer stated when he remained silent. "I just… My mom will need some more time. I need more time. I haven't come to terms with this myself." Deceptively fragile hands rubbed the chill from her arms. "It's so surreal. Having you, standing there in front of me, after months of believing you were dead."
How did she think he felt? There was definitely a reason he was back, but what? Did he really have a destiny? Was it here, in Sunnydale, with Buffy? Or was it somewhere else? The world was a big place, yet it seemed to get smaller everyday.
"… I wanted to die that night." Buffy said with a far off look in her teary eyes. "My mom had kicked me out, I was expelled from school, and had no place to go."
How sad. He'd spent a decade or so in a hell dimension. It wasn't hot, as expected, it was fine for a while. Then he'd started feeling safe, like maybe it wasn't going to be so bad. Then he'd learned the hard way that a person makes their own hell. Whatever he'd done soulless, whoever he'd hurt, all of it had come right back on him ten times over.
The cracking of necks, the draining of blood, the heat of melting flesh… All done to him, by him. Of course, it ended when he got out. Well, the physical aspect of it did, but the nightmares? The nightmares plagued him hour after hour, leaving him numb and hollow.
"Look, it's late already and I have to go. See you tomorrow for patrol?"
Angel nodded. "Sure." He had nothing else to do.
Buffy's smile was dim, almost strained, but still got his attention all the same. "Great. It'd be better if I meet you here. Giles and the others… They're not too comfortable around you yet."
No doubt they needed time, too. The vampire resisted the urge to lock himself away and hibernate for the rest of his existence. How the hell did he have the nerve to face people after what he'd done?
"Goodnight Angel," the blonde was saying. "Sweet dreams."
The vampire watched her leave and didn't shut the door until she disappeared. He was tired, so very, very tired. Days, weeks, he didn't know how long he'd gone without sleep, but apparently it was long enough too stop him listening to his girlfriend.
A hand scrubbed his face in a way to wake himself up, sadly it didn't work and he was left feeling raw. Stubble lined his jaw, bags were probably under his sunken eyes, and he was sure he'd give a ghost a run for it's money.
Angel's shoulders sagged and he massaged the nape of his neck, trying to ease the tension built over hellish years. Sleep. That's what he'd do tonight. Drink that bottle of whiskey left by Spike, get somewhat drunk, then pass out on the king sized bed he'd purchased when sans soul.
He was so lost in his own self pity, that he failed to hear the opening door.
Soft cool hands slid across his eyes and blanked out the dim light, a firm yet supple body closed in on him from behind and a moist lips pressed against his cheek. Rose scented perfume shrouded him and a slender leg eased between his. "Hi honey, I'm home."
Angel didn't have time to jump out of his skin before he was spun around and kissed senseless.