Xander sat in the office chair, looking at the large, Styrofoam cup that rested far on the other corner of the desk, full to the capped brim with animal blood from the butcher's. Buffy said that's where Angel had gotten his blood, and sometimes Buffy had got it for him, so that's why she knew where to go. She also had mentioned that it would be cold, so it "might not taste as good, or, uh, however it's suppose to taste." Xander had grunted and shrugged, and Buffy had then left.
Now Xander and the cup were playing the timeless tradition of the staring-down game, except the cup had no eyes. So this game was going to go one forever, and ever, and ever . . .
But he was so hungry! As much as Xander detested the thought, this was the only thing that could calm his hunger pains. Animal blood. And he was NEVER going to drink human blood, although the vampire-demon voice that whispered in his head told him that it was the most delicious thing in this world . . .
His stomach growled hungrily, and Xander groaned. The thought turned his stomach, but there was nothing else. He used to think food left him empty, but he had never really known what it was like to be REALLY hungry-mentally and physically. Now he did, and it was agonizing.
Hesitantly, more afraid of disobeying the demon than drinking the blood, Xander took the cup in his hand and peeled off the cover. An aroma drafted upwards into his nose, one that was tantalizing and revolting at the same time. Blood had never *smelled* before. But now it was like-
He held it to his lips, the rim of the cup touching the satiny folds. He stayed in that position for awhile, and then, throwing caution to the wind, he chugged down a gulp of the stuff.
And spit it right back out.
"EW!" Xander yelled, standing up and tossing the cup away, having it spill its contents all over the carpet and the book that had been resting in his lap. Xander used his free hands to wipe the remains off his lips and chins, and even went so far as to scrape his tongue.
"ECCH!" Xander yelled again for good measure, and then glared at the spreading blood stain, not making a move to clean it up. No wonder vampires drank from human victims. That animals blood was cold and disgusting. "Ecch," he repeated, a little quieter.
When he finished making disgusted faces and wiping himself clean, he looked down at the book that lay on the floor, now covered completely in blood. It was opened to a completely different page, and for some reason Xander knelt down beside it and started to read avidly.
As he read the page, his eyes began to widen in dread. He yanked the book closer to him peering at the pages as to make sure if he was reading the text right. Realizing that he was, he stood up straight, his nerves all shot. He strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"We have go!" he yelled to the persons in the room. Willow and Oz woke up to look at him with quizzical expressions. "We have to go! I know where Angel's going!"
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"No, Roberto, no! No puede sed, no puede sed . . . que paso a ti? Que paso?"
The sobbing of Roberto's mistress from Spain was interrupted by the loud sound of Cordelia sneezing into her tissue. "ACHOO!" she thundered for the millionth time that night, or as it seemed to her. This flu had been going on forever, although now it was nothing more than a little cold. But Cordelia had refused to go to school looking so gross, and so her parents, who practically let her get away with anything, let her get away with not going.
The sneezing done, Cordelia looked back up at the television screen, where Yo Vive Para Elena was playing on Telemundo. "Spanish soap operas-why?" Cordelia mused, sniffing and wiping her nose with the tissue again.
She picked up the remote and switched channels just as Roberto's mistress flung a really fake-looking book at the wall behind him. "BO-ring," Cordelia said, checking out what was on all the other 107 channels.
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Cordelia had brains-they had to give her that. But did she have to remember to lock her door tonight, of all nights? Tonight when Angelus would surely come after her.
"The book says he *always* comes after . . . well, you know, what Cordelia is to me, because of what I did to him. And the last thing we want is to find Cordelia's gutted body hanging from the school's *flagpole* or something, ok? At least I don't."
Xander did the talking thing as Buffy vainly tried to bust down the door to Cordelia's house. "What is this thing *built* out of?" she grunted as she rammed into it for the final time.
After that try, Buffy stepped back and sighed, exasperated. "The door's not coming down. I guess we'll have to climb in through the windows or something." Buffy looked up at the Chase house, all the way up to the third floor. "This could be hard."
"Um, can I try?" Everybody looked at Willow questioningly, but she just shrugged, embarrassed, and walked up to the door. She bent down, peered into the keyhole, and then pulled a hairpin out of her hair. After some careful deliberation, she jammed the hair pin in and turned the makeshift "key", the result being a satisfying click.
"I'm not limited to hacking *just* on the computer," Willow told her stunned audience. Then she jerked her head towards the door, which was slowly creeping open from the weight. "Coming?"
Buffy shrugged and went on in. Oz quickly followed, grabbing on to Willow's hand for comfort and amazed at yet another little secret Willow had surprised him with since they started to go together. Xander sighed, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and followed them.
And as he entered the doorway, he yelped in surprise as he was pushed back by some strong, invisible force.
"CRAP!" he yelled in frustration, beating at the invisible wall with his fists. The Scooby Gang turned around to see what was going on.
Willow's mouth formed into a "what," but Xander answered her question before she spoke. "I'm not in*vi*ted," he said, growling under his breath.
Buffy groaned-yet another setback-and rolled her eyes up to the sky, asking God to make this just a *little* bit more difficult for the lot of them. Willow bit down hard on her lip and gave out a little yip of pain. Oz stood there, trying to think of a solution.
That's when they heard the tiny, muffled scream from upstairs.
"Screw the front door!" Xander yelled as he heard the scream. He hit the floor running as he jumped off the porch and ran across the yard, heading for the side of house where Cordelia's bedroom was located, on the second floor.
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She had been so engrossed in watching Friends that Cordelia hadn't noticed the scratching at her window until it became a series of loud scrapes. Then she satisfied herself by saying outloud that they were just the branches of the oak outside her window against her windowpane . . . yeah, except there was no wind. So Cordelia got up, looked out the window, and then deciding she needed a better view, opened it up and peered outside.
Bad, bad, *bad* move that should not be practiced at *all* on the Hellmouth. As soon as Cordelia was half out of the window someone grabbed her by the waist and yanked her out of her room altogether. She had a short time to yelp before a strong, cold hand covered her mouth and plunked her down into the recesses of the big, leafy tree branches.
And then she and her captor were falling, falling two stories, her captor possibly landing on two feet because that's how they ended up, and Cordelia did not jump like a cat. When they stopped swaying and Cordelia regained the feeling in her numbed mind, she opened her eyes.
She was really surprised to see who stood in front of her-Xander. He was looking past her at the one who held her, and when Cordelia tried to turn around and see who it was, the hand that wasn't around her mouth reached out and held her neck in place. "Don't you move now," said the voice of her captor, his-hers?-its?-nose tickling the inside of her ear.
Angelus turned to look towards Xander, who was practically shaking with anger. Angelus wiggled his eyebrows and, unbeknownst to Cordelia, began to sink his fangs towards her neck . . .
"You *dare* and I *swear* you're dust," Xander spat out, his knuckles, being clenched so hard, turned a bright pink-a contrast against his extremely white skin.
Cordelia's fear escalated as her captor chuckled softly in her ear. "But she's so tasty . . ." it whispered, and then there was the rushing sound of air as whatever it was snapped it's teeth.
Wait . . . now she remembered the voice. "Ohmigod!" Cordelia cried, realizing that Angel was the one who was holding her.
"Don't make me fight you," Xander warned, his voice and manner testy.
Cordelia began to whimper. She was being kidnapped by *Angel* and *Xander* had come to her rescue. They might as well have left Cordelia to fend for herself. She was doomed.
"I'm doomed," she said aloud.
Angel chuckled. "There's only one way . . ." he said, taking his hand away from her mouth and tracing it along her neck. His eyes watched every invisible line that he drew. Then he turned back to Xander, eyes ablaze. "Fight me as what you are. Then we'll see if she can go."
Cordelia looked at Xander with confused eyes as suddenly he clammed up and concentrated on the ground. When he looked back up, he said resolutely. "Ok." And before the eyes of his girlfriend, he *changed.*
Cordelia's eyes widened in horror at the knowledge of being surrounded by *two* vampires. "Oh my god!" she said, her voice rising higher. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"